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Mobile + The Cloud: A Match made in Heaven

Gregg Borodaty — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 21:16:01 +0000

Last month, I had to exchange my Nexus One due to an issue I was having with connecting to wifi networks. I had lived with it for about a month, but it had finally become too painful to handle. I was dragging my feet about returning the device, because I didn’t want to have to transfer contacts, email, settings and all of the other things I had customized on my device. The pain of my last transition from a BlackBerry Pearl to a Nexus One was still lingering.

After trying a few things with the HTC support folks (who, by the way, were very easy to deal with), they suggested I return the device. Reluctantly, I agreed, and within a couple of days I had my replacement device.

Little did I realize how far things have come in the smartphone world in the last year, particularly with Android. I inserted and installed my old SIM and SD cards into the device, powered it up, entered my google account name and password, and within 10 minutes, my new phone was setup nearly identical to my old phone. All of my contacts, emails, wifi and network settings (including hotspots and encryption keys), and applications were on the new phone. Outside of a few miscellaneous settings and icons that needed to be arranged on the home screen, everything was just like I had it on the old phone. Best of all, it was all done over the air. No need to find any cables, hook up the phone to a computer, sync with an App Store or desktop application, or any other extra steps. In short, I was blown away!

I then realized that with Android, you are storing all of your data in the cloud. So when you change phones, all of your important data moves with you. Given the advances that are occurring in smartphone hardware these days, this is an absolutely liberating feeling to know that I can go out, pick up the latest Android device (like a Nexus S or G2), and within minutes be up and running just like before. No longer am I locked into a device, manufacturer or carrier. Without a doubt, there is serious power in the marriage of mobile computing and the cloud.

By the way, to make sure this works, you need to have checked the “Back up my data” and “Automatic restore” boxes under the Privacy Settings in Android (Go to Settings -> Privacy). Yes, I know it is a little unsettling knowing that all of your data is being stored on someone else’s servers, but I’d say the convenience is worth it.

For anyone out there who has went through the upgrade process lately with an iPhone or BlackBerry, is it as simple as what I went through with Android, or is it painful and complex?

Apple's Lost Opportunity

Gregg Borodaty — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:00:14 +0000

It would be foolish for me to argue Apple’s success with iPhone. With well over 100,000 apps, a rabid and loyal fan base, and millions of units sold, it has been a blockbuster product and cash generation machine for the company. However, Apple has missed the biggest opportunity – the opportunity to dominate the US smartphone market.

By signing a long-term contract that could last into 2012 according to Engadget, Apple has left the door open for its competitors by failing to service 75% of the US market, especially when surveys show that nearly half the people on Verizon would buy the iPhone if it were available.

The potential pitfalls of the exclusivity became evident today in an NPD research report showing Android as the number 2 smartphone OS behind RIM, the makers of BlackBerry. What do RIM and Android have in common? They are available on all four carriers and have handsets that come in multiple form factors at prices ranging from free to $299 on contract. By contrast, Apple is available on one carrier, has one model, and starts at $99, with the most people having to pay at least $199 to gain access.

While the AT&T arrangement may be a sweetheart deal for Apple, it could become the Achilles heel for the iPhone. As Android continues to proliferate the mobile landscape, Apple could find itself in an uphill battle when the exclusivity finally ends for the following reasons:

1. Mobile phones are bought on contract
People get locked into their phones for two years, at least. Even if the iPhone AT&T exclusivity ended tomorrow, many people would be forced to wait until their contract expired to get access to the handset

2. The gap between the iPhone and its rivals has narrowed
The Android Marketplace is rapidly catching up to Apple’s App Store. In fact, nearly all major productivity apps are available on both platforms, as well as most good games. In addition, the Android hardware is nearly equivalent, if not better than the iPhone. If you don’t believe it, then you have not put your hands on Verizon’s latest Droid model, the HTC Incredible.

3. It’s all about mindshare
Android is proliferating in much the same way rabbits multiply. The shapes, sizes and price points are out there to fit anyone’s taste. While I will never bet against the Cupertino propaganda machine, mindshare is shifting to the new game in town. Couple that with the fact that Android is migrating to devices other than phones like tablets, set-top boxes, TVs and appliances, and you begin to envision a world where it’s better to have an Android device over an Apple device.

Would marketshare be different without iPhone exclusivity? Results in countries where the iPhone is available without an exclusive carrier have demonstrated just how dominant the iPhone can be. Apple has turned away from that opportunity here in the US.

To give credit where credit is due, Apple is printing money these days. While you can’t argue the strategy to this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple is lamenting its decision to tie itself to AT&T two or three years from now.

Mobile Market Wrap-up for May 4

Devesh Khare — Tue, 04 May 2010 22:29:50 +0000

Well folks, looks like someone stepped up to finally save Palm and it wasn’t who we all thought, it was HP. The front runners were HTC and Lenovo but HTC backed out two weeks ago leaving Lenovo as the main candidate. This week, HP surprised the industry with a $1.2 billion successful bid for the financial-impaired handset manufacturer. My initial reaction was positive since HP’s been trying for years to jump into mobile (remember the first iPAQ?) and slowly moving all their peripherals (e.g. printers) to be connected. This gives them a solid web-based OS that is easy to use and learn. BUT… upon further thought, I’m not so positive about HP’s move. Why doesn’t HP use Android as their OS for peripherals? It’s a lot cheaper and will be more widely used by consumers. If HP wants to be in the phone business, why not just create two lines like HTC – one Android and one Windows. HP does it today with their PCs/laptops using Intel and AMD processors. I don’t get it… anyone else have thoughts? Please do share.

The mobile market really has become a soap opera. Good guys (Android), bad guys (Apple), long-term rivalries (Microsoft vs. Apple), and now petty catfights (Apple vs. Adobe). This week, Steve Jobs penned an open letter about why Apple refuses to use Flash which kicked-up flames of hatred between two companies that used to play nice. Adobe’s CEO responded to Steve Job’s letter and now the mud slinging continues. You can review the points of each and make your own conclusion of who’s right and who’s wrong. The only thing I want to point out is how Apple is slowly alienating themselves from their friends – first Google and now Adobe. Who’s next? If Apple continues down their current path, they’ll be left all alone with a cash-generating machine. All I can think of is Lehman Brothers – they pissed off everyone on the way up, so no one helped them when they fell. Will the same happen to Apple? Hmm…

Finally there was some good news for BlackBerry. In IDC’s Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker Report, RIM became one of the top 5 phone vendors in global market share. Wow! Very impressive. Now the challenge becomes staying on that list…

As always, if you see or hear anything else interesting in mobile, let us know by leaving a comment below.

Mobile Market Wrap-up for April 27

Devesh Khare — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:23:07 +0000

Over the past week, stories about BlackBerry filled up my reader – lots of articles and rumors about the new OS, handsets and their strategy. Well, the wait is over and RIM kicked-off its annual WES BlackBerry conference. Overall, what I saw is a little lackluster – much more evolutionary to get them close to Apple and Android but still nothing revolutionary that helps them leapfrog the market. I’m disappointed by a company that once drove mobile innovation.

The headline for RIM is it’s upcoming summer release of BlackBerry OS6. During the WES keynote, RIM showed the following video highlighting its new features:

The features are nice and the interface is slick but they have one major problem… no one wants their touch screen phones yet they continue to showcase features for touch screen phones. No matter how good the OS, consumers these days want devices that have “style” to them – just look at what Apple, HTC and Samsung are releasing this year. RIM announced two new handsets this week, evolutions of the Pearl and Bold… but no new touch screen device? I’m confused since they only showcase the new touch screen features in the OS 6 video. It doesn’t make sense. I’ve said it before and will say it again… BlackBerry needs a game changer, fast. They are clinging onto their dominance in the enterprise but slowly IT managers are getting comfortable with different platforms and are allowing workers to choose their handsets to match their lifestyle instead of forcing them to conform to one corporate-standard. Watch out BlackBerry, you could sleep yourself to death… a la Palm. I’m an avid BlackBerry user who’s ready to drop his handset for something fresh.

Google announced this week that they scrapped plans to release the Nexus One for the Verizon network. I read a few articles that criticize Google or that it’s a step back for the giant, but I don’t think so. HTC just released the Incredible for Verizon, that is… well… incredible. Should Google care? No! Why not? Because the phone runs Android, so all Google cares about is getting its OS in as many hands as possible. Google is not in the phone business, it’s in the ad business.

To end this week’s summary, I’ll give a quick update of Palm. Last week there were rumors of several possible suitors for the financially-troubled company with HTC being the “crowd” favorite. HTC officially stepped down this week (probably because Palm’s financials are just too scary). So, that leaves Lenovo as the front runner. And the troubles continue for Palm…

As always, if you see or hear anything else interesting in mobile, let us know by leaving a comment below.

Mobile Market Wrap-up for April 20

Devesh Khare — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:20:29 +0000

The big story since my last post (which I know was two weeks ago… oops) has to be the leaked iPhone 4G. Many are calling it Apple-Gate 2010. Gizmodo reported the story in which they detail how an Apple engineer left a prototype he was testing at a beer garden one evening. An anonymous stranger found the phone and tried to return it to Apple who was unresponsive, so he sold it to Gawker Media (Gizmodo’s parent company) for $5000. Hmm… something doesn’t seem right. It’s a great story with plenty of online media coverage (my reader is going nuts), but if something sounds too go to be true… it’s probably a publicity stunt. Apple’s lawyers have sent a letter to Gizmodo to request prompt return of the next generation iPhone to which Gizmodo obliged.

I’m not sure if it’s just my opinion of Apple (which should be pretty clear if you read this blog regularly), but I don’t think it’s any accident. Apple is the BEST at creating hype for their products and manipulating the media to do what they want. In the past Apple has been very secretive with their phone launches and everyone expects them to do the same this time. BUT…the market is no longer the same. New smartphones are being released, leaked or reviewed daily that shadow the current iPhone 3GS… bigger screens, faster processors, lower prices, better carriers, etc etc. Just this week I read several articles about Verizon’s new Droid Incredible by HTC. It’s a great handset. If I were a loyal Verizon consumer, I would seriously consider this device. Apple doesn’t have the luxury of waiting anymore since the market isn’t waiting for them. Times have changed and Apple’s feeling the pressure. Does that mean we’ll see more changes from Apple?

In other rumors this week, screenshots of the much needed BlackBerry OS 6.0 that’s expected to launch in July were leaked. They look good but nothing I see is revolutionary – there’s multitouch, pinch-to-zoom, and WebKit. The blogs seem excited but I expect more from BlackBerry. They need to leapfrog the competition, not just release a product that their competitors have been selling for over a year. I’ve said it before and will say it again – I love my BlackBerry but they are not giving me much reason to hang on. Sad.

To finish this week’s wrap up, I want to point your attention to Palm. I’m sure all of you heard about their financial problems and being up “for sale” with several possible suitors. Instead of speculating about their future, let’s go down memory lane and celebrate they impact they made over the years. Gregg wrote an excellent post about his experiences over the years and we would love to hear your stories as well.

As always, if you see or hear anything else interesting in mobile, let us know by leaving a comment below.

Mobile Market Wrap-up for April 2

Devesh Khare — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 19:15:23 +0000

I know that typically I talk about the biggest news in the mobile market but not this week. The big story last week was the release of the iPad… lots of stories, reviews, excitement… and I just don’t feel like discussing it (my mom always said if I can’t say anything nice, not to say anything at all). So, I want to focus this week’s update on HTC – the handset manufacturer we’ve used for years but never knew. HTC made a big push into the US market under their self-branded label last year and are reaping the benefits. HTC shipped approximately 6 million smartphones in the US in 2009. They stated that sales of their Windows Mobile and Android-based phones rose 19 percent in Q1 and are seeing faster growth in the US market than other regions. Wow… I really like their phones and am not surprised by their success.

HTC has done it right by spreading around high-profile phones across all the major US carriers so everyone has the opportunity to touch on of their handsets. T-mobile seems to have embraced them the most and are rumored to be starting an iPhone replacement campaign where iPhone users might be paid up to $350 for switching to the HTC HD2 (and T-mobile of course). I’ve played with the HD2 and it’s a nice device, a little big, but nice. I’m really curious to see how it goes.

Finally, here are a few other stories that I found interesting but didn’t have time to write about:

Windows Phone 7 Series now just “Windows Phone 7″. Who cares… Microsoft really needs some branding help. If they spend as much time on product development as they do on trying to brand, they might actually release “Windows Phone 7”

Starbucks now letting you pay for your coffee fix via iPhone in 1,000+ Target stores. Pretty interesting concept and I’m looking forward to trying it out. I think it makes a lot of sense but it should also tie automatically into a loyalty program so regular users get some incentives.

Samsung already working on a Galaxy S Pro, complete with physical keyboard? If it’s real, this will be my next phone.

As always, if you see or hear anything else interesting in mobile, let us know by leaving a comment below.

Mobile Market Wrap-up for March 26

Devesh Khare — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:32:13 +0000

Last week I attended the CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas. Overall, it was a pretty uninspiring conference with lack luster keynotes or energy. There just wasn’t the “buzz” I expected with all the mobile excitement in the marketplace right now. The most interesting keynote was from Dan Hesse, the CEO of Sprint, who discussed their 4G rollout fairly candidly and showcased their new 4G handset the HTC Evo. Sprint has a great vision but I’m just not sure if they can execute or get the subscribers to make it happen.

Here’s a quick summary of my highlights from the conference:

Android, Android, and even more Android. Google did not have a booth at the show nor did they participate in the keynotes, but they were definitely present. Android was everywhere! Every booth I seemed to stop at had something to do with Android – new handsets, gadgets, apps, etc. The Google marketing machine is in full force and has taken a life of its own.

Samsung GalaxyS has the best screen I’ve ever seen. I want one! I stopped by the Samsung booth and played around with the GalaxyS. It’s a very iPhone-like device with a similar form factor and icons, but the GalaxyS has two things the iPhone doesn’t – an amazing screen and fast processor. Samsung’s new super AMOLED screens are truly amazing. The device and screen are very responsive and web pages load at blazing speeds. Best of all, it’s based on Android, so the interface is fairly intuitive. Samsung has not announced a US launch date or carrier but I’ll let you know when I find out.

Windows Phone 7 demo was “interesting”. As expected, Microsoft was there in full force giving demos of their upcoming Windows Phone 7 OS. It’s a clean user interface that can differentiate them in the marketplace (which is good) but sometimes I felt like it was too gimmicky. Unfortunately the demos were “guided tours” so I won’t really know what it’s like until I get my hands on a device.

BlackBerry really needs help. BlackBerry had a large booth to showcase their…umm…aging technology. Very very boring! I’m a huge BlackBerry fan and am clinging onto my handset hoping they will do something disruptive, but if this show was any representation of where the company is headed… all I can say is bring on Android.

Text-to-speech apps are everywhere, why? I saw at least a dozen text-to-speech companies on the show floor that all looked the same. I understand the value but I still find it very boring. My car has now become the cone-of-silence… my place for solitude from being connected all the time. I use the time to listen to the radio or music and enjoy having my phone on silent.

That’s it for this week’s update. As always, if you see or hear anything else interesting in mobile, let us know by leaving a comment below.

The Mobile Patent Fight Loser

Gregg Borodaty — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:18:50 +0000

When I opened up my reader yesterday afternoon, the number of unreads was way, and I mean way, higher than normal. I knew something had to be up, and boy was it. Apple filed a patent suit against HTC, and by proxy Google, in both federal court and the ITC claiming infrigment on 20 patents. (The nitty-gritty details of the patent claims can be found at Engadget)

Now, not being a lawyer, I have no idea if Apple has a case or not. In fact, I am not even sure why Apple is filing the lawsuit. Apple has been wildly successful lately, generating tons of profits, gaining marketshare, and waging a patent fight against a large entity like Google is sure to end in a stalemate. I can only figure that Apple is trying to achieve one of the following:

Apple needs to show they are enforcing their patents to make their Nokia case stick. Earlier this year, Nokia went after Apple, claiming patent infringement. Of course, Apple retaliated and sued Nokia for patent violation. Nokia has a history of defending and licensing their patents. Apple – not so much. Apple’s legal team may need to establish patent defense in order to win their Nokia case.
Apple wants access to HTC or Google patents. I would suspect that Apple would be more interested in Google ad patents, especially their recently granted patent on location-based advertising. Perhaps Apple is concerned that Google would try to block their advertising intentions and want to head any suit off before it gets started by establishing a cross-licensing arrangement.
Apple is defending market share. Even though Apple is gaining market share, Android is grwoing much faster (albeit from a smaller base). Apple could feel threatened by Android, although I don’t perceive Apple as being that paranoid – they haven’t been in the past.
Apple is getting greedy. Perhaps Apple wants to eliminatelimit competition by handicapping key features in the competition’s handsets. The problem with this strategy is that there are so many patents flying around that the iPhone is inevitably infringing on patents held by either HTC, Google, or others. Patent lawsuits between big companies almost always end up in cross-licensing agreements.

I haven’t been able to wade through my reader far enough to see Google’s response to all of this, but I’m willing to bet big dollars that HTC or Google will file a countersuit listing all of the patents that Apple violates, either with the iPhone or other products. In the end, a cross-licensing agreement will be reached and no one loses, except, of course, us.

Yes, the big loser in the mobile patent war between Nokia, Apple, HTC and Google will be you and me, the mobile consumer. Filing, executing, and defending patents costs money, a lot of money. The work required to investigate and license patents slows innovation and delays the arrival of new features and innovative handsets. The costs of patents is passed on to us through higher costs for handsets. In effect, patents have become a tax that businesses assess the consumer.

It’s unfortunate that the manufacturers in the mobile market are resorting to patent lawsuits to slow each other down, raise costs and hinder innovation. I hope that these companies, who are supposed to be servicing us their customers, not fleecing them, come quickly to their senses, reach an amicable agreement, and continue to compete in the marketplace where we, the consumers, determine the winners and losers, and not in the courtroom where judges determine the winners and losers by the letter of the law, not by the rules of the marketplace.

Mobile Market Wrap-up for February 26, 2010

Devesh Khare — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:06:16 +0000

Once again I’m a little behind in getting out my weekly wrap-up, but this week I have a really really good reason. As most of you should know, last night was the gold medal hockey game between the US and Canada. I’m a huge hockey fan (comes with my Canadian roots) and yesterday’s game was one of the most exciting I’ve ever seen. In the end, the better team one (of course, I’m biased). Needless to say, I didn’t get much work done yesterday, hence the delay in today’s wrap-up.

Last week’s mobile news was a little sparse but that was expected following the flurry of activity around the Mobile World Conference. One of the more interesting stories was about mobile at the Olympics. Yahoo said they saw huge spikes in mobile searches related to every aspect of the Olympics. This doesn’t surprise me. The mobile web is fast becoming an integral part of our daily lives and with quick accessibility to info and news anytime, anywhere. What did surprise me are some of the key stats for searches on Yahoo last week:

Searches “ice skating rinks” were up 607%
Searches for “red Olympic mittens” were up 182% (um, there were searches for this before the Olympics?)
Searches for Lindsey Vonn were up 1,446%
Searches for “Shaun White snowboarding” were up 1,921%

Yahoo also built a specific mobilesite for the games sharing info, announcements, and results. This is truly the future of sporting events as the mobile web allows attendees to enhance their in-venue experience and for non-attendees to follow along. Well done Yahoo!

The other big story this week that caught my attention was Gartner’s latest worldwide smartphone sales and marketshare numbers. Overall, smartphone shipments were up 24% from the year before. The iPhone doubled its smartphone marketshare to 14% taking most of their growth away from Symbian (which is used by Nokia and I’ve discussed their slide in previous posts). BlackBerry ended up with 20% marketshare which represents a growth of 3%. So, for all of you who keep telling me that the iPhone is stealing marketshare from BlackBerry, it’s just not true. The iPhone is gaining ground but at Nokia’s expense, not BlackBerry.

As always, here are the latest handset rumors, announcements and reviews I found this week:

To finish off this week’s update, here are a few other articles I want to share with you:

See or hear anything else interesting in mobile. Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Nexus One Wrap-up

Gregg Borodaty — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:25:22 +0000

It’s been 6 weeks since I received my Nexus One, and after my first two reviews, I wanted to write a final wrap-up summary. Writing a review after a couple of hours with the phone isn’t very fair, but 6 weeks of use has given me some time to figure out what I like and don’t like, and to do some comparisons.

What I’ve Liked
No contract: Owning a device without a contract is liberating. Knowing I can switch devices without worrying about a contract or termination fee is worth the extra up front money.

Google tool integration: If you’ve been captured by Google’s tractor beam like I have, then you’ll love the Google branded Android experience that exists on the Nexus One as well as the Droid and myTouch.

Navigation: This feature alone makes the device worth its weight in gold. It’s extremely easy to use and works. Best of all, there are no fees and no worry about having to update maps – it’s all done magically by Google.

Web experience: Incredible. With my BlackBerry Pearl, accessing the web was a means of last resort. Using the Nexus One to access the web is enjoyable. In fact, it makes me why I waited so long to have a mobile device that could access the web so easily.

Display: The resolution and vividness of the screen is great. It strains a bit while in the sun, but by adjusting the viewing angle, I’ve been able to use it with no problem. On the other hand, the touch screen needs work – more on that below.

Design: The device is very solid and has a great feel to it. I get an immediate “Wow!” reaction everytime I show the device to someone. While the iPhone was a looker in its time, the design has definitely aged and been surpassed by the Nexus One and others.

Phone quality: My first impressions weren’t great, but after 6 weeks, the phone quality is among the best I’ve ever used in a mobile phone.

Trackball: Many have panned the trackball, but I like it. It really helps to pick items out on a crowded website, particularly those that are crowded with lots of clickable links.

What I’ve hated
Lack of keyboard: I’m a tactile person. It’s gotten better, but using the on screen keyboard remains a chore.

Touchscreen: The touchscreen needs to be more accurate and responsive. There have been too many instances where either the screen has not responded or I’ve clicked on the wrong thing.

Comparisons to the incumbents
iPhone: Despite all my praise for the Nexus One, it doesn’t blow the iPhone out of the water. In fact, choosing the iPhone over the Nexus One/Android is a matter of preference. If you are interested in lots of apps and are bought into iTunes, then the iPhone is a better choice for you. On the other hand, if you are heavily invested in Google tools and want to stand out from the crowd, then the Nexus One is a must-have for you.

BlackBerry: Up until my experience with the Nexus One, I was a loyal BlackBerry user. The Nexus One clearly blows my Pearl away in all areas except for one – Exchange/corporate e-mail support. Until Android has enterprise-class Exchange support (or until we make the corporate switch to Gmail), I have to continue to carry my BlackBerry, but I never use it except to check e-mails. When Android gets reliable Exchange support, BlackBerry needs to be concerned.

Overall
I’m very satisfied with the Nexus One. I would definitely recommend it, especially for those heavily invested in Google’s tools. In the battle between my Nexus One and BlackBerry Pearl, the Nexus One is far and away the clear winner.

By the way, for Verizon users, a CDMA version of the Nexus One has cleared the FCC, so it should be available on Verizon soon.