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Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is here-Let the iPhone Comparisons Begin!

May 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Samsung is the leader in the tablet space- the non-Apple tablet space that is, and has expanded its offerings with the full size Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, a 10.-1 inch device that will naturally being comparisons to Apple’s iPad offerings.

However it seems that it is much more than just a competitor to Apple, it has to shone above the existing Android tablets and hold its own above the hope that will start coming from the Windows 8 tablet crowd.

The tablet uses the latest Android 4.0 operating system (Ice Cream Sandwich) is powered by 1GHz dual-core OMAP processor from Texas Instruments and has a 1280 x 800 display and has a 3.2 megapixel rear camera and a VGA front facing camera. An entry level model with 16GB of storage will have a $400 price tag.

It is doubtful that the big selling point for the tablet is going to be the hardware since it is pretty clos to what Samsung offered in its Galaxy Tab 10.1 but rather the full package which means lot of Samsung software and apps as well as the fact that it is $100 less than an iPad with the same storage at least a new iPad.

Among the software app that is included in the tablet are Peel smart remote, AllShare and Samsung Media Hub, and SoundAlive. In a review over at including Mashable the Peel app was rated pretty poorly, but there are a number of additional programs on the device as well.

Most sites that have reviewed the tablet give it at least a lukewarm approval rating, but I believe that Samsung should have shot for more. Its display is not as good as Apple’s nor is its camera. While it has a strong position in the Android space, it is about to face a huge wave of competition very soon.

PC World does a very nice job providing a roundup of what is expected throughout the summer, based on statements from the companies involved as well as rumors that seem to have some creditability. New or improved offerings from Apple, Google, Barnes & Noble and Amazon are all expected.

Then there will be the Windows 8 players sometime around the end of the summer. Hewlett-Packard has said it will be there as has Dell, although neither has said when. Then Microsoft’s new relationship with Barnes & Noble could bring that popular platform into the fold. Lenovo is making a major research and development effort n this area and could come in as an Android player, a Windows 8 or both with future offerings.

With this in front of it I am surprised that Samsung did not deliver a stronger offering although I suspect that this is a stopgap effort and that by the back to school season we may see yet another tablet from the company.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Asus, Barnes & Noble, Dell, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, iPad, Kindle, Lenovo, Mashable, Microsoft, Nook, PCWorld, Samsung, Tablets Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag — Come for the Red Sox Game, Stay for the Bootmobile

March 30, 2012 by 4 Comments

For Red Sox Fans & L.L Bean Aficionados: Two venerable institutions are celebrating their 100th Anniversaries this year and what could be more natural than L.L. Bean teaming up with Fenway Park to celebrate that event? A lot you say, well quiet down.

Of the most interest to the average fan I believe will be the display of a large and unique collection of baseball artifacts that were collected by the founder of L.L. Bean, including letters between Leon Leonwood Bean and Babe Ruth and Ted Williams.

The L.L Bean Bootmobile will kick off the festivities when it drops by Fenway for the 2012 Season Opener, prior to the Bootmobile leaving on the 2012 Bootmobile Tour. It will be your chance to get your photo taken with the iconic vehicle, I kid thee not. There will also be ticket giveaways and a variety of other events centered on the joint anniversary.

Want to develop for the Windows Phone? There is AppCampus!
Of course it might help to speak Finnish. Microsoft has teamed with its partner Nokia and to continue their strong push of the Windows Phone platform with the creation of AppCampus, a venture that is designed to fuel development of apps for the platform.

The effort will be managed by a third partner, Aalto University School of Science and Technology, which was formed in 2010 in Helsinki with the merging of The Helsinki School of Economics, Helsinki University of Technology and The University of Art and Design Helsinki.

The three year venture, which will see Nokia and Microsoft invest approximately $24 million, seeks to garner thousands of applicants developing along a range of mobile apps. Aside from Windows development the effort will also encompass development for Nokia’s Symbian operating system.

Miss your Android apps on your PC? Look for that to end
BlueStacks, a developer of technology that is designed to allow Android apps to play on a PC has released the beta-1 version of its technology that should enable that feature. Called the App Player, the release is the second from the company.

A quick visit to its site confounded me on more information since it had a hot button to download the app but none to give me general information about the program, such as minimum system requirements etc… Maybe I just looked in the wrong place, would not be the first time.

According to PCWorld the app emulator runs on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 and enables you to use apps from a variety of Android app sites and run them on your PC, which would be cool, and lead to an even greater loss of productivity on my part. In the future the company is reportedly aiming at also allowing Macintosh users to play Android games. I wonder what Apple will try and do about that?

The Patent Wars
TiVo sues Time Warner & Motorola Mobility
TiVo, not wanting to be left on the sidelines in all of the lawsuit fun after ending a suit against Microsoft that apparently ended in a draw has filed a lawsuit against Motorola Mobility and Time Warner Cable, Venture Beat has reported.

The company is an experienced hand at this game, and a successful one, winning or resolving cases against several foes in the past including a deal that called for AT&T to pay the company at least $215 million. It also has a suit pending against Verizon.

In the most recent case TiVo is claiming that the two companies are violating three of its patents including ones that cover “multimedia time warping system,” and “system for time shifting multimedia content streams.” I do not envy the judge or jury in these cases.

Dell kills smartphone development — for now
Dell is once again rethinking its mobile strategy and this time I is its smartphone effort that is on the chopping block. It has already killed its tablet offerings, although the company is expected to return with a Windows-based offering by year end.

The company is killing in the United States its Venue Pro which runs a Microsoft OS and its Venue line that runs Android operating systems. It said that it will continue to sell the phones in Europe. The company did indicate that it intends to return to the U.S. market with new products at some point in the future.

FTC looking at establishing a “Do Not Track” option for consumers
The Federal Trade Commission has said that it is developing a “Do Not Track” option for consumer data and that the agency will seek to encourage the industry to adopt this as a standard feature that companies will be encouraged to adopt across the board.

At the same time it has indicated that it would like Congress to enact a law that would allow consumers access to the data that has been collected on them, much the way that you can access your financial standings.

Will this kill Facebook and Google? I am being facetious but they are top data harvesters, but I imagine they will simply provide an option to opt out and many, possibly most will not. Of more real interest to me is when I start hearing from sites I did not know where tracking me. I wonder what this will mean for the cookies market, if anything- any ideas?

NFL passes new rule changes
I sort of tune out the NFL right after the Super Bowl hype dies down. Sure there is free agency signings but it takes a while for the dust to settle and you can get a feel for how your team was helped or harmed. Possible aside from the Jets this year.

So while I knew that the NFL had changed some rules I did not realize that they changed 5 and that at least one more may be altered before all is said and done. Some of the changes were no-brainers like making the overtime rules the same in regular and post season and making the 12th man n the field penalty a dead ball foul.

The other moves include having Replay Officials initiate reviews on some types of turnovers, adding the recipient of a crack back block being added to the growing list of defenseless players and adding loss of down to kicking a loose ball. Was the last one really screaming to be added? There were a couple that was not approved as well, but it is still early in the offseason. Head over to SB Nation for a look at what did and did not pass.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, Baseball, Boston Red Sox, Dell, FTC, Microsoft, NFL, PCWorld, SB Nation, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Mostly Apple Edition

March 19, 2012 by 2 Comments

Flush from releasing its latest iPad, its stock price hovering near $600 and with billions in cash in the bank, Apple has announced plans to launch a dividend and share repurchasing program. The two programs will result in the company spending approximately $45 billion in three years.

The plan calls for Apple to spend $10 billion in a share repurchase program that will begin in September 30, 2012. Its goal is to help neutralize the impact of dilution from future employee equity grants and employee stock purchase programs. This program has already been approved by the company’s Board of Directors.

The second program calls for a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share sometime in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2012, which begins on July 1, 2012. This is still pending approval by Apple’s BoD.

Apple loses key ITC ruling
After a strong winning streak in its patent battles Apple is starting to lose a few again. The latest comes with an Administration Law Judge at the International Trade Commission ruling that Motorola Mobility did not infringe on three Apple patents. Apple had appealed an earlier ruling on the topic, and will now likely take the issue to court, so it is far from over.

Conde Nast to give advertisers viewer data
Conde Nast is finally relating the information it has been harvesting from readers of its iPad edition of its magazines. For the last 2 years a variety of its publications have been available on the tablets and I has been tracking a variety of information including basic data such as how many readers it has, the breakdown between paid and single issue sales and how long readers view articles and ads.

I would love to hear what some of this information and home the publisher will reveal some details to the public about what impact tablets have had on its business model, both pro and con. Publishers will start receiving data on specific issues 10 weeks after it hits the stands.

Windows 8 Tablets on the Horizon.
There seems to be a lot of breathless talk that when Windows 8 is released a slew of tablets will be released and crush Apple’s iPad, returning the tablet market to the righteous. Who cares? I hope that the tablets are good and have the options I want, not how they compare to Apple. But I digress.

There is a lot of talk about who is going to have tablets when Windows 8 is available, and a list of probables and a few features is included in this piece by the International Business Times. No real surprises, Hewlett-Packard, Nokia, Dell and some others but worth a look so you have an idea of what is on the way.

Kindle and Nook in for a fight from new Nexus tablet?
The site Android and Me is reporting that a Nexus tablet from ASUS is a done deal and expects that the tablet will come in at a very nice $149. It is reporting that Google has selected ASUS to produce the next generation Nexus tablet and that it will have a 7-inch form factor and that all other details are unknown at this time.

However this will go directly against the two popular e-readers out there, from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, which currently are the second and fourth most popular selling tablets. A good price war is always popular with consumers and I am looking forward to what they do if this turns out to be true.

Americans willing to pay for tablet content aside for news
A recent Nielsen study on tablet content purchases found some interesting facts about European and American users. Americans are willing to pay for almost all types of content, with 62% having purchased music, 58% purchased books and 51% have purchased movies, but only 19% paid for news.

That is not too far out of line with the European countries surveyed about news, aside from Italy which had 44% purchasing news content. The Europeans showed they were much less likely to buy books, movies and music than Americans.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Barnes & Noble, Dell, Google, iPad, Kindle, Lenovo, Motorola, Nielsen Ratings, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Kindle Sales Still Burn Bright

January 2, 2012 by 4 Comments

Tablets the tops for Small and Medium businesses
According to market research firm NPD Group, the demand for tablets is expected to grow in the small and medium business market, which is companies with less than 1,000 employees, over the next year with Apple’s iPad leading as the most popular tablet choice.

According to the group’s SMB Technology Monitor for the third quarter 73% of respondents said that they intend to purchase a tablet in the next 12 months, up from 68% in the second quarter survey. 90% said that they plan to spend the same or more than in the previous year.

The largest firms, 501 to 999 employees, in the survey are the most likely to purchase tablets, with 89% indicating intent to purchase while in the smallest group, under 50 employees, only 54% expect to buy.

Amazon reports Kindle sales still sizzling
Amazon reported that it sold over 1 million Kindles each week of December, making it a very happy holiday for the on-line retailer. While other tablet manufacturers have struggled to gain traction in a market that has been dominated by Apple and its iPad since its introduction, Kindle has been a nice exception.

Amazon said that since the introduction of the Kindle Fire it has been the top selling product on its site for 13 consecutive weeks. It should be noted that Apple is expected to sell 61% of all tablets in the quarter but Amazon is starting to make a dent in Apple’s overall market share.

Will the next generation Android OS work in my device?
Always a good question. At first it seemed (maybe just to me) that 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich, would work on any existing Android device. ICS, built to work on both smartphones and tablets, will apparently not be backwardly compatible with all current devices. The people at International Business Times have gone to the trouble of listing many of the devices that will and will not be upgradeable.

Dell steps back into the Venture Capital market
Dell has returned to the venture capital market, its second effort in this space. During the heyday of the dot com boom and beyond Dell was an active investor with its Dell Ventures effort and reached over $1bn invested at one time. It started departing the space when it sold off the bulk of its portfolio in 2005 and then quietly exited afterwards.

Well now it is back with the formation of Dell Capital Ventures and has hired Northwest Venture Partners executive Jim Lussier as managing partner and Ingrid Vanderveldt, who has experience in founding and spinning off startups as the ‘entrepreneur in residence.”

The investment effort will focus on early stage companies and Dell has not indicated what type of funding the effort will initially receive. According to the Wall Street Journal Dell will seek to eventually establish the program as its own business unit inside the company with its own resources and budget.

Microsoft’s new mobility
Will 2011 be the year that is remembered as the time when Microsoft breaks the tether of its desktop software/Windows business and embraces mobility and a more flexible software development approach as eWeek posts? If so that would make for an interesting company- you have to wonder how many solid products have been killed over the years due to turf wars dominated by the Windows team.

Cnet chimes in with a list of 5 things to look for from Microsoft in 2012, and includes its Windows 8 tablets due to the company’s decision deliver its tile-based OS rather than the Windows interface users are accustomed to. The piece also expects an increase in litigation from Microsoft towards Google’s customers for its Android and Chrome software.

This week in lawsuits
An intellectual property firm claims that Apple could make $10 per device in royalties from the vast array of Android manufacturers if it dropped its lawsuits and went the licensing route. Just over the holidays there were nearly 4 million Android activations. But where is the fun in settling? Intel and AMD once spent over $1 bn in legal fees in their dispute over x 86 technologies.

Do nice phones finish last? Or do people just not want Microsoft phones?
Is Microsoft’s lack of an intimate relationship with carriers the reason the Windows handsets have not been flying off the shelves? Well that is the position put out by former Windows Phone General Manager Charlie Kindel in a blog posting. A few interesting takes on his comments here and here. If you feel like it you can find more comments on the posting.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Dell, iPad

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Who likes Motorola’s Xyboard?

December 19, 2011 by 2 Comments

BlueSprig lands $10 million investment round
Mobile security software startup BlueSprig has secured $10 million Series A funding and has debuted a beta version of its forthcoming app for Apple iOS and Android devices. The funding came from IDG-Accel’s China Growth Fund.

The beta app, AirCover, is designed to protect users from a wide range of issues including malware, viruses and even theft. Aversion can be downloaded at its web site-www.bluesprig.com. Among the features the software offers are cloud backup, and system security. The company has also released full versions of its system utility tools, JetBoost and JetClean.

The company has offices in both San Francisco and Chengdu, China and is headed by CEO Jason Johnson who has a history of successfully launching companies and then selling them to larger concerns such as Global IP Solutions which Google purchased and InterQuest Communications which was purchased by Darwin Networks.

Nielsen study tracks smartphones rise
In “State of the Media: The Mobile Media Report”, one of its latest studies market research firm Nielsen has tracked the rapid rise of smartphones in the United States and highlights the growing impact they have on the consumer market.

Among the interesting facts is that the number of smartphone subscribers using the mobile Internet has grown 45% since last year and that 87% of app downloaders have used deal of the day websites such as Groupon.

In a related report it is noted the impact that teens are having on the mobile data market, tripling mobile data consumption and showing that teens between the ages of 13-17 use an average of 320 MB of data a month, a 256% increase over last year.

Saudi Prince invests $300m in Twitter
Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has continued his history of major investments in high tech companies this week with a $300 million stake in social micro blog company Twitter, Forbes has reported.

The investment was lead by Kingdom Holdings Co. an investment firm that he owns 95% of and which has invested in companies such as Apple, GM and News Corp. According Forbes the Prince is the 26th wealthiest billionaires’ in the world with a estimated fortune of $19.6bn.An interesting note is that he does not use Twitter.

Did the iPad kill the Netbook?
That is the point of a recent piece by Business Insider that says that Dell’s recent decision to kill off its Inspirion Mini line of netbooks is a sign that the netbook market segment is dead, and said that it sees the iPad as having killed the platform.

Dell has also recently killed its Streak tablet business but has indicated that it will most likely rejoin that space at some future date, for the time being it wants you to buy a notebook.

A look at Motorola’s latest tablet
Motorola is replacing its Xoom tablet, one of the original entrants into the current tablet market with a second generation product called the Droid Xyboard. There is two distinct models are the 10.1 a fast powerful model for the Enterprise and power users and a scaled down version called the 8.2.

Reviewers are pretty positive about the devices, with the one failing possibly being price. You can go to eWeek or Cnet for a look at the 10.1 review and to Engadget for an 8.2 review.

This and that
Amazon reports that it is selling 1 million Kindles a week.
Rumor has it that Apple is planning to release a 7.85-inch version of the iPad for release later this year?

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Dell, iPad, Nielsen Ratings, Startup Tagged With: , , ,

The Tablet Market Continues to Fluctuate — Dell Flames out, Kindle Still Burns Hot!

December 6, 2011 by 1 Comment

Dell now a two time loser

Dell has quietly withdrawn its Dell Streak 7 tablet from the market, its second failure in the tablet space. The company had previously withdrawn the Dell Streak 5 in August, one of the only, if not the only 5-inch tablets on the market.

The Streak 7 featured a 7-inch display and operated using the Android Honeycomb (3.2) operating system. It came with 16GB of internal storage, Wi-Fi and was powered by a nVidia Tegra processor, had a 1.3MP front facing camera and a 5MP rear facing camera.

It is doubtful that this indicates a permanent departure by Dell from the tablet space. The company said earlier this year that it was working on a Tablet that was capable of operating on Microsoft’s Windows 8 platform. Dell was one of the first to enter the market against Apple’s iPad and Apple still has a tremendously powerful position in the tablet space.

While a solid product at the time of its delivery it failed because at the point it came into the market it was just compared to the iPad. As users become more familiar with tablets, and tablet developers seek to differentiate their products by more than just “speeds and feeds” the market will open up for more players.

People can argue about the Kindle Fire, is it a rival to the iPad or is it not- it certainly seems to be to some extent. Customers that were initially looking at an iPad as a form of e-reader will obviously be a potential cross over group. On the other hand if you want to follow games while on the road the Kindle Fire probably does not fit your usage model.

Fire sales expected to remain strong

The Kindle Fire has had very strong sales, with estimates in the 3.9 million range by the end of the year, making it the number 2 selling Tablet, behind the iPad and ahead of the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Apple sold 11.12 million iPads last quarter so it will take rivals some time to catch it.

The next generation Android products based on Ice Cream Sandwich will likely start eroding Apple’s market share even further, while also growing the market. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out in a year and if we will see additional focused products.

A recent study conducted by the Google’s AdMob shows that the top use for tablets is gaming, with 84% using it for that compared to 78% searching for information and only 51% for music/videos. Why not a tablet designed specifically for this space? I expect we will see one soon.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apps, Dell, Google, iPad Tagged With: , , , , ,
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