From Farmer’s Truck to Newest Lamborghini: Transition Inevitable
June 3rd, 2010
A PC is like a good old truck, driven by a farmer while tablets are like a new and posh kind of cars, driven by extremely fashionable people. At least Steve Jobs, a guru of the high-tech, preaches it. According to Steve Jobs opinion, delivered in his interview to Wall Street Journal, the migration from PCs to tablets is inevitable. Remembering all the advantages of the PCs one should not forget that it is extremely uncomfortable. I wonder what our grandparents would say who used to work on machines occupying the whole room.
The major problem, according to Apple’s CEO, is that people got to like the PC and can feel a bit uneasy having to get used to a new form factor. But once they experience all its advantages they are going to like a tablet too. Though it is still unclear how much time the transition will take especially taking into consideration the price for the existing iPad models as well as the quality, or its lack, to be more precise, of other gadgets presented in the same class.
All the minor inconveniences like keyboard or additional ports issue will be handled in the process. First analog computers did not in the least resemble quite slick compact PCs most of us are having now.
None yet
Another Scream of Joy from Cupertino, California
June 1st, 2010
Apple has announced that the iPad sales have reached two million items in just 2-month period of time. Quite a significant number was topped due to the launch of the international sales which started last Friday bringing the magic gadget to the UK, Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan.
Some other states will join the list of lucky iPad distributors in July and later in the year.
However despite quite a considerable experience of the iPad handling, users can not agree on its usefulness. Some share the company’s point of view, perceiving it as a magic device while others seem to be severely disappointed claiming it an oversized iPod touch.
On hearing the news on the sales volume from Apple’s headquarters some people begin picking on the company stating 2 000 000 gadgets are not enough especially when compared with annual netbook sales. But guys, take one single netbook and its amount of sales during the first 2 months. If there was any gadget of the class which surpassed 2 mln mark, only then feel free to call the iPad a failure.
In addition, it is necessary to mention that the international sales have just started and it’s no good claiming about a week of the sales in quite a few European and Asian countries all the company can get from the international release. Besides, many people are keeping to quite a wise strategy of fence-sitters, waiting for some other alternatives by HP, Microsoft or Google to hit the market by the end of the year or the time when Apple will lower prices and release the second or third generation of the magic product.
None yet
Blackberry to Meet the Challenge
May 25th, 2010
While Apple and Android continue to fight over the issue who is the best at the smartphone market, RIM is just keeping on its everyday activity and its Blackberry model is still, by a healthy margin at the top. Its advertising, marketing and promotion is not aggressive when compared to the hoopla surrounding Apple’s products. Its software does not impress developers with a multitude of possibilities provided by Android open source platform but still the company delivers gadgets at affordable prices and efficient performance which can not but lure crowds of customers all over the world.
RIM is currently the second biggest smartphone company in the world with market share of 19%. And it doesn’t seem that with the advent of new players its development has slowed down. According to the earnings report, presented to the company’s shareholders, during the first quarter, RIM added 4.9 million new BlackBerry subscriber accounts. Everything seems to be just fine but the heated competition between Android and Apple platforms to excel each other has influenced the company as well revealing its major drawbacks and weak points.
BlackBerry devices represent a rather traditional approach to smartphones being synonymous with mobile e-mail, while lack of touch and 3G phones in Blackberry line-up shows that the company is losing this market segment. In addition contemporary Blackberry models can not compete with more advanced devices by other manufacturers which can provide consumers with gigabytes more memory, faster processors, slicker software and better browsers.
The only silver shining is that RIM is aware of all the problems it has to face and ready to make a step ahead. At the company’s corporate conference called WES the management was ready to present its new way-out based on a new OS that will drive the company to higher profits and will allow to prove its top position at the market. The new OS, called BlackBerry 6, has a new user interface, a WebKit browser and is to debut next quarter.
According to some analysts the company’s strategy is to compete in the lower-end mass market as it provides rather huge opportunities. No doubt, the company and its brand will lose some of their reputation but it is this market segments that promises growth in the next few years. According to some estimates almost 80 percent of the market has not yet upgraded to a smartphone, while more and more people are inclined to have a smartphone as their next phone. So we seem to be on the verge of a new era when a smartphone will be a usual communication device and RIM wants its share of the juicy pie.
None yet
Google I/O: the Beginning
May 21st, 2010
The first day of the Google I/O show turned out to be disappointing for everyone salivating over the news about Google’s Froyo or reported “Google TV” platform. The key points dealt with such issues as HTML5 technologies, in particular a new video codec provided by Google, a hearty welcome of third-party apps developers to Gmail and luring enterprise customers to Google’s cloud.
Google’s pursuit of the enterprise is becoming an overwhelming company strategy. Recently it has released App Engine for Business which allows large businesses to take advantage of Google’s application-hosting infrastructure. But though Google is viewing the business community as its next big partner, the latter has not completely agreed to it, at least so far.
Google is trying to move as many people possible to the Web from closed corporate networks, thus raising the possibility of making them future customers of Google’s extra services and support, thus generating a stable and long-lasting revenue flow. But the task to persuade companies to let their application being hosted by Google seems a rather challenging endeavor as the concept of trusting application hosting to a third party seems rather weird. Defense industry contractors, as some sources state, just laughed at the idea and I can quite understand them.
The other topic to cover was Gmail and third party applications now allowed to it. The company’s move is quite in line with the overall company strategy to promote cloud computing. New services will ensure Gmail position at the market, which is now endangered by Yahoo mail, revamped Hotmail and a range of old-school desktops apps like Outlook and Exchange.
But the biggest event of the first day is, of course, the presentation of a new HTML 5 video codec which is supposed to put an end to the Flash – non-Flash environments war. Google has finally unveiled its open-source, royalty-free video format called WebM, which is said to be supported by Mozilla and Opera in their browsers. No doubt, the release was possible only due to the company’s acquisition of On2 Technologies in August 2009.
Though in general, in terms of quality WebM probably isn’t as good as H.264, but, in fact, it doesn’t have to be: it’s a significant improvement over Theora (another codec browsers sometimes use not to pay royalties for H.264), and thus can be viewed as the only other reasonable free video option.
Adobe has already announced its Flash player will support the new VP8 codec and now developers have another reason to adopt Flash technology because Flash Player 10.1 is coming with a free support for VP8. If Apple, as it states, have always been supporting open standards, it has to support VP8 as well but so far there were no official comments from company’s representatives, while at the one of the web resources appleinsider.com an article appeared that the new codec is a very close imitation of H.264 codec and thus can be an object of patent infringement claim.
The first day of the Google developers conference, though a bit dull, quite clearly represented the overall company’s strategy and the key directions of its future development – cloud computing and further confronting Apple.
None yet
Google Has to Curtail its Plans on Nexus Delivering
May 18th, 2010
From the very beginning Google did not like the way consumers got their phones and phone-related services. No wonder, the Internet -powered company dreamt of moving Nexus sales on-line, thus depriving mediator retailers of their profits. But the experiment seems to be facing the end as Google announces it will stop selling handsets online and instead partner with carriers to sell the Nexus 1 in-store. The web-site will be used for promoting other models of phones developed on the base of the Android platform.
The reasons for cutting down on the initiative are multiple and seem quite serious. First of all customers would like a hands-on experience before spending a considerable sum of money on a phone. In addition, no carrier except for T-mobile proposed any subsidies or a more interesting data plan and customer service support had a number of drawbacks. For example, for live tech support a user had to call either HTC customer care number or T-Mobile one depending on the issue. International users had to survive a much longer chain of “Hold on, please”.
It seems the end of N1, which has never been a very successful seller even in comparison to other Android phones, for example, Motorola’s Droid. Both Verizon and Sprint essentially refused the N1 in favor of the bespoke Incredible and EVO 4G. It’s still unclear what further Google strategy will keep to though the death of the retailing scheme will hardly affect Android as a whole or hurdle Android application development.
None yet
Weird Microsoft Roadmaps
May 14th, 2010
Microsoft is going to put its main smartphone products (Kin and Windows Phone 7) closer. The two platforms are to become more interrelated in future, at least one of Microsoft officials promised it as well as downloadable apps which is definitely a piece of good news for Windows Mobile developers
But it’s rather doubtful whether the Kin that you have paid a sack of money for will ever have those nice features such as maps, apps, and Xbox integration.
Microsoft roadmaps seem quite weird, as it is quite difficult to develop 2 different GOOD OSs at the same time. It is a lot easier to take one OS and differentiate it around a line-up of products and smartphone models.
The more info we get about the Kin generation of Microsoft smartphones the more it seems like a mistake. In fact, both Kins are smartphones with quite a narrow target audience of tweens and hipsters, though with a rather high pricing plan. I wonder when a Microsoft Phone able to compete with iPhone or some Android phones will appear.
None yet
The Google Tablet Is Coming
May 12th, 2010
It seems that the iPad success bringing money to both Apple and AT&T is bothering other companies which are salivating at the possible profits.
Another wave of rumors was provoked by the statement issued by Verizon Chief Exec Lowell McAdam who said that the carrier is working with Google on a tablet computer. It is still unclear whether the remark is anticipating reality or some research and development is really going in the background.
The market seems to be prepared for an Android tablet release. People has spent much time playing with the iPad learning its strong and weak sides and now want something that will cover the iPad’s disadvantages. What’s more, Google has to be quick as a quite unexpected partnership of HP and Palm can lead to fruitful cooperation and, who knows? maybe to a Slate running WebOS.
The shining scenario would be a hardware delivered in some 6-7 month or at least till the end of the year, produced by some serious high-profile hardware manufacturer like Motorola, running Android OS (not some clumsy Chrome OS) backed by a major carrier with attracting plans and an interesting data pricing strategy. That would be really nice and give users some alternative as well as a load of work to Android developers.
If Google fails to meet the crowd’s expectations the last resort for us is HP/Palm’s yet unborn but very promising child as well as Microsoft’s put aside Courier project.
None yet
Android Second and Apple Third: Q1′2010 Sales Survey
May 11th, 2010
Android phones seem to have beaten their rival, at least in the sales for the first quarter. The survey, made by the NPD Group compiles and analyzes mobile device sales data based on more than 150,000 completed online consumer research surveys each month.
The first position belongs to BlackBerry, with 36% of the overall sales, the second goes to Android platform with 28%, and the third in the ranking is the iPhone gaining 21%.
The unexpected success is attributed to carrier distribution and promotion. For example, due to some aggressive policy of Verizon Wireless which has expanded its buy-one-get-one bonus offer to include all of the smartphones they provide, besides the RIM product. Though it is unclear whether NPD analysts have included Android phones that were given away for free as promotions. But nevertheless the market share of the Android platform is slowly rising as well as the rates of Android application development process.
Though the relevance of the mentioned survey is a bit doubtful it reflects the uncertainty of the smartphone market. With the iPhone 4 ready for the launch, HP buying Palm and the advent of Windows Phone Series 7 anything can happen.
None yet
Fennec from the Genus of Firefox
May 4th, 2010
Internet browsers don’t want to lose a vast audience of mobile web users. Following the example of Opera which delivered its customized Opera-mini web app to fit the App Store and eventually the iPhone environment, Firefox has made up its mind and landed on Google Android.
The mobile version of Firefox called (surprise! surprise!) Fennec is running on Android 2.0 or above, the app being in its “pre-alpha” version, which means rather rough functionality and presentation abilities.
Fennec has an interesting user interface that involves swiping from side to side to access functionality. The given UI would be severely criticized if landed on strictly regulated iPhone, but a much more tolerant Android would more likely leave it as it is.
In general Fennec is a very impressive and easy to use browser that maximizes small screen space. It also uses touch screen features like zooming, panning and scrolling. Fennec can easily switch orientation and allows a user to navigate between multiple tabs, but all that with breathtaking slowness. So, a lot of optimization is painfully needed.
It seems that lately a range of browser developers has joined Android application development stream. Now Android phones users can enjoy at least several alternatives to the existing mobile version of Google Chrome. Earlier Opera announced its Mini browser on Android, while Skyfire already available for Symbian and Bolt offering a Blackberry version, may be seen ported to Android soon. The biggest advantage of a poor nocturne fox is a non-profit charity nature of the Mozilla Foundation but huge performance improvements are nevertheless indispensable.
None yet
What May the Next Tablet Be?
May 3rd, 2010
Tablets today are thought to be made in one of the two ways: Upsizing a smartphone or downsizing a laptop. It seems that Apple has followed the first path, and that has brought some of Apple mobile OS’s worst limitations, which don’t make any sense for a tablet. Lot’s of users would like to get with an iPad a device that combines netbook functionality with a tablet form factor. Dreams are nice but the advent of the real iPad has ruined them all. That’s why digital geeks are waiting for someone to step up to Apple and keep on discussing a new gadget which will tramp the fabulous and magic iPad.
Having had a considerable amount of time playing with their Apple’s toys people have made up their mind on what appeals to them and what is definitely unacceptable. It seems that to be a success the next tablet computer should be everything Apple’s iPad is not. As in 2007 when the iPhone was unveiled, a new gadget is expected to rival the Apple’s product and the new gadget is rumored if not to be made in Google labs then at least to use the Android OS. So, let’s check the major options, that should be taken care of the future tablet’s developers.
People need an independent device which doesn’t need to be synced with a laptop or a PС. The iPad can’t exist on its own. Before someone can even use an iPad, the first thing he or she must do is sync it with another computer. The next tablet should be more like a computer, not an accessory. Android seems to be a sync-less OS which downloads data from the cloud, and does not demand to be connected to a host machine. If a tablet is treated more like a computer, it needs accessories of its own. To tell the truth iPad lacks accessories. All we need is a pair of USB ports that can act as hosts, and allow to connect keyboards, mass storage, and even phones.
A tablet, (Apple’s tablet is implied) is said to be a splendid tool to surf the Net and watch videos. But the iPad has some severe drawbacks concerning video support, at least they seem to be to a common user. Videos played are either those purchased from iTunes, or exported from iMovie or ripped and converted with a handbrake. So, a good video support is of vital importance.
In general, the iPad has inherited from a smartphone a bunch of highly useful features like all-day battery life, a UI sensibility designed around finger input, and a massive app ecosystem. The multitasking OS that is going to be installed at the iPad in fall will contribute to the overall system’s efficiency and represents a step into the laptop direction as well as provide greater possibilities to iPad developers. A launch of a possible Android tablet will also stimulate Android application development.