The author of this blog, James Robertson, passed away in April 2014. This blog is being maintained by David Buck (david@simberon.com).
Amidst all of the uproar about whether Apple should support Flash on the iPhone and iPod, I came across Kevin Tofel trying Flash out on his Nexus One. Keeping in mind that he tried it on a fast WiFi connection, the results were less than exciting. If this is what Flash looks like on mobile devices, Steve Jobs has a point.
Looks to me like Adobe has their work cut out for them if they want to have something that approaches usable on small devices.
It's another episode of "no one is entitled to a business model". The NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) wants to mandate FM receivers in all smartphones, probably due to the audience drop they're seeing. This is all part of the RIAA and NAB fighting over the remaining crumbs in the broadcast music business:
NAB, in an effort to expand radio audiences, has been seeking an FM receiver mandate for digital devices for several years. But the proposal doesn't make sense, with many smartphones able to stream music and other content from the Internet, including streams from commercial radio stations, said Jot Carpenter, CTIA's vice president for government affairs. Several mobile devices available in the U.S. have FM receivers, but they are not among the top-selling devices, he said.
When I'm listening to music, I tend to do one of three things:
I haven't turned on the radio more than a handful of times in the last year, and those times happened because I forgot my phone. The sales numbers for devices that include radios show how much demand there is for that (virtually none).
Add to that another reality - many (most?) radio stations now stream live on the net. So I can already get radio stations over wifi or 3g if I want to. I don't want, or need, another radio draining battery in my iPhone, thanks.
Google and Verizon are about to jump into the Tablet game:
Launch is pegged for Black Friday on November 26, and apparently the plan is to offer the device for extremely cheap or free on subsidy, which makes sense -- it is just a browser, after all, and "free" sounds mighty nice compared to the iPad's $499 entry point. (Of course, you'll undoubtedly be tied to a Verizon contract, but we'll just let that slide for now.)
The subsidized PC model didn't work, but it's worked well for phones - I think Apple is about to get some competition...
This is a situation Microsoft never really had to deal with: OEM's making major mods to the OS that resulted in older versions of the OS going out on different vendor hardware. However:
Just this month, both the Dell Streak and Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 debuted running Android 1.6 under custom skins. I'll be blunt: There's absolutely no excuse for a brand new Android device to be shipping with a year-old version of the operating system. Froyo aside, Android 2.0 has been out since last October, and Android 2.1 has been around since January. Despite the two manufacturers' vague promises of upgrades -- Dell has said its Streak will receive the current version of Android sometime this year, while Sony has promised to bring the Xperia X10 up to version 2.1 before New Year's -- it's simply embarrassing and unacceptable for new hardware to be launching with such outdated software.
Now, contrast that with the iPhone - with Apple in control of both the hardware and the software, you get integration. Not without issues, as iOS 4 showed - but with a whole lot less confusion. This kind of thing is going to give Google fits for as long as it keeps happening.
PCWorld reports on the legions of iPad competitors that are about to show up. I don't expect Apple to drop prices on the iPad much (if at all) - they'll hapily stay at the high end, like they have with laptops. They may end up with less market share than some other players, but they'll keep most of the profits...
Microsoft is nothing is not persistent - the XBox has finally moved past the Wii in yearly sales:
The Wii may be tumbling at last, as Microsoft's Xbox 360 outpaced it by several hundreds thousand units in NPD Group's July 2010 retail sales. The games industry was steady, year-on-year, losing a few points in software and accessory sales but gaining notably in hardware sales.
To me, the two devices are in separate spaces: the XBox is for more devoted gamers - people who are willing to invest a lot of time in a game (like, say someone who'll play ME2 on Insanity). The Wii is a casual gaming device - big at parties and get togethers.
The loser in all this? The PS3.
The city has pretty much mandated that reception will have problems:
According to the SF Examiner, a proposed bill by Supervisor John Avalos could bar new cell-tower installations based on aesthetics alone. In other words, if an ugly cell-phone tower blocks someone's view, the resident could protest and request a public hearing.
At some point, the weight of well intentioned regulations is going to make just about everything impossible :)
Technorati Tags: cell tower, sfo
I've been figuring "no", for the simple reason that simultaneous data and voice on CDMA is problematic, and that would make a CDMA iPhone a downgrade from a GSM one in one big way. However, if anything could sway Apple, it might be this:
Apple is now believed to have had a change of heart on CDMA. It once described the standard as "dead" since a clear majority of cellular networks use GSM and HSPA, but the company has reconsidered after recognizing length of time to transition to LTE for 4G and, more importantly, the threat of Android. Verizon is the world's largest Android carrier and has helped Google thrive with HTC and Motorola phones being "safe" from Apple.
Still... I'm not so sure. My guess is that it's not happening - but I guess we'll know how this rumor pans out in a few months.
I have to admit that this "e-reader review" is funny, but I disagree with the point being made. I've been reading voraciously ever since I got my iPad - in some ways, it's almost too easy to read with it. I never have to be without a book unless I don't feel like reading, regardless of the time of day. I don't have to drive to a store, and anything I buy arrives in seconds. I also don't need to worry about bookmarks, because the device does all of that for me. All in all, it's a great thing for reading.
Some people say that history doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme. Well - look at smartphones, and you'll see echos of the PC/Apple battles of the late 80's and early 90's. Microsoft eventually crushed Apple in that arena, and ended up with something like a 95 percent share of the OS space.
Google is doing something similar with Android, and in much the same way: Apple is the sole vendor with the iPhone and IOS, while Google has licensed Android to anyone who wants it. The numbers are kind of stunning:
As worldwide smartphone sales grew by 50 percent during the second quarter, Android was the big winner, as it became the third largest operating system and sales passed 10 million units for the first time, according Gartner.
Things are way less clear in the phone space right now:
Symbian is still the largest smartphone operating system in the world. Sales totaled 25.4 million units, up from 20.9 million a year earlier, but its market share dropped from 51 percent to 41.2 percent.
But - if you think back, you'll recall that there were other PC players in the beginning: TI, and Amiga come to mind. Personally, I think Apple will end up doing better in this space than they did in the computer market. Their pricing isn't as far out of line as Macs were (when I first bought a PC, the differential with a Mac was $2k, and the Mac had less memory and less disk). As well, Apple has gotten a pretty good jump with the iPhone and iPad. Over time, I expect the smart phone space to look more like a lot of other markets - a strong number one (Google/Android), a powerful number two (Apple), and then everyone else.
Who would have guessed that Microsoft was going to be in that "everyone else" category a few years ago?
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