Pac-12-Networks, Ooyala release Pac-12 Now for iPad

August 29, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Pac-12 Now for iPad opens up multi-screen viewing

The Pac-12 via its Pac-12 Networks continues to move to enhance its presence in the digital world and with partner Ooyala has now delivered an iPad app that will enable fans to watch both live and video on demand games (VOD).

The app, Pac-12 Now for iPad, is one of the first efforts from the recently formed Pac-12 Networks, an organization that is designed to bring both broadcast and streaming sports and entertainment to fans, in conjunction with its partner Ooyala. Pac-12 Now for iPad is available in the iTunes Store and on Pac-12.com.

Ooyala developed what it calls a graphic interactive program guide (IPG) that enables users to customize the app to meet their individual preferences. It allows a user to prioritize both sports and teams during setup and has a chat feature so that fans can share comments and thoughts when viewing live action via Facebook and Twitter feeds that are enabled next to the video feed so that you do not have to switch to a different app while viewing.

Going forward the IPG will also feature the ability to alert users to events that are currently live and inform them on issues such as games that are tied, close or near the final moments as well as provide social feedback via a social graph that you can ac

cess.

The two plan on continuing to expand the technology so that users with PCs, tablets and smartphones will be able to watch games when not in front of a television or to use it as a second screen, watching two events at the same time. Android is the next platformed targeted and it should be out soon.

The goal is to broadcast 850 live and VOD sporting events over the year as well analysis and commentary, statistics, press conferences, documentaries and other content. By connecting it directly to social media such as Facebook and Twitter it enables a degree of participation for fans that a simple broadcast would not allow.

Aside from the IPG Ooyala also provided what it calls a Stat Server. The Stat Server automatically imports sports stats and timecode data from third parties and tags that with live and VOD content. This enables users to search by stats or event tags and allows the information to be displayed at the proper time when an event is being viewed, regardless if it is live or VOD. The authentication is designed to make it easy to view content across multiple connected devices.

It is very interesting to look at all of the ways in which colleges are reaching out to fans and getting both sports and academic advancements out to alumni and fans. Recently the ACC added YouTube to its digital network. The Big Ten Network has already expanded out to digital devices and recently added Android support.

This is just great for fans, not just mobile ones but also fans of multiple teams or sports-they can now watch a game on a mobile device while also catching a different one on the TV or a computer, enabling them to easily stay abreast with events in areas that interest them.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Big Ten Network, Comcast, iOS, iPad, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, Ooyala, Pac-12, Smartphone, Social Media, Tablets Tagged With: ooyala, Pac-12 Networks

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Lots of Apple News- NASA uses Android

August 27, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

NASA satellites to operate using Android phones
Gizmodo is reporting that the brains that will operate a set of tiny asteroids that are being built by NASA will use the smartphones running Android. The satellites, called PhoneSats will be made from off the shelf materials and will only cost around $3,500.

The devices will be approximately 4 cubic inches and the next generation is expected to launch next year. NASA already has tested the first generation that uses a Nexus One smartphone for two way communications and other uses.

iPad Mini in October?
The rumor mill has been churning over the features and delivery date for the expected iPad Mini from Apple. The tablet is believed to be a 7-inch tablet, the first from Apple. Now Cnet is reporting that the device will officially see the light of day in October.

Original reports had the device coming to market along side the next generation iPhone, that is expected in early September but apparently Apple had different plans if the most current reports are correct.

IAC has purchased About.com for $300m
Internet conglomerate InterActiveCorp has reportedly purchased About.com from the New York Times in a $300 million cash deal. The Times was probably happy to rid itself of the money losing property, having taken a $194.7 million non-cash write down on the group last quarter.

However the Times originally purchased About.com for $410 million in 2005. About.com is similar to a property that IAC already owns, Ask.com, and is being positioned as a complementary property by IAC.

Samsung shares drop $12 billion after US Court verdict
Samsung, already stung b

y losing big in its court case against Apple in the US, with as much as $3 billion on the line took another hit after the verdict was read. Its stock dropped like a rock, with shares dropping 7.5%, resulting in a loss of $12 million in the company’s market value, according to a report from Reuters.

Apple still dominates tablet sales according to HIS iSuppli
Apple is slowly expanding its dominate market share in the tablet space according to market research firm IHS iSuppli, and now sells seven out of every ten tablets. Apple's 69.6 percent share in the April-June quarter is up from about 58 percent in the first quarter, helped by the release of a new model just as the quarter began.

HIS iSuppli’s top 5 in the second quarter of 2012Here are the top five manufacturers of tablets in the second quarter, as released by IHS iSuppli:
Apple 69.6 percent share
Samsung Electronics Co. 9.2 percent.
Amazon.com Inc. 4.2 percent
AsusTek Computer Inc. 2.8 percent
Barnes & Noble Inc. 1.9 percent
Other, 3 million, 12.3 percent
It will be interesting to see the next two quarters as the Microsoft Windows 8 show as well as the very popular Nexus 7 could have an impact on the standings.

ITC provides Apple with an additional win
The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in Apple’s favor last week wjhen it stated that the company did not infringe on three of Motorola Mobility’s patents, in a complaint that has been ongoing since 2010. The ITC remanded the investigation of a fourth patent that is under dispute by the two to an administrative law judge.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google, iOS, iPad, Kindle, Lawsuit, Microsoft, Nook, Samsung, Tablets, The New York Times, Windows 8 Tagged With: Android, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung

Apple Beats Samsung in Court: Will Microsoft Benefit as Well?

August 27, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

The mammoth Apple vs. Samsung case has been decided and Apple has emerged a strong victor as the jury ruled that Samsung copied Apple’s iPhone look and feel and awarded Apple $1.049 billion. An appeal is expected on Samsung’s part.

Apple is expected to ask the judge to triple the damages, to roughly $3 billion since the jury unanimously found that Samsung willfully violated Apple’s patents. Among the technologies copied were the ability to zoom text at the touch of a finger and to “bounce back” when scrolling off the page.

The judge has set a late September date for hearing Apple and Samsung’s points, including Samsung’s request to throw out the verdict and Apple’s request to ban importation of a range of Samsung devices.

The victory is widely viewed as having the potential to provide a damper on the smartphone and tablet markets which have seen explosive growth in the past few years by increasing licensing costs and slowing the adoption of new technologies.

The company that appears to be the most impacted by the decision is not Samsung but rather Google, who provides the Android ope

rating system that features some of the technologies that were at issue in the case. The question that many are wondering now is will developers seek indemnification from Google to shield them from potential Apple lawsuits?

The flip side of this is that a potential winner, aside from Apple, is very likely Microsoft, which will soon be pushing its new operating system for smartphones. Microsoft has a patent licensing agreement with Apple that also features an anticloning caveat that prevents Microsoft from delivering a knockoff of Apple’s look and feel.

There are plenty of comments now that this will have a tremendous impact on the market, and could hamper the growth of smartphones as developers have to find ways to either skirt Apple’s patents in their own development or work out licensing agreements with the company.

However the other side of this seems to me that it also opens the door to additional innovation, by forcing developers to look at the issues from a new point of view. This hopefully could lead to a new wave of products that offer features that might not be available today.

The case, originally filed in 2011, revolved around several issues. Apple claimed that Samsung violated a number of its patents and that Samsung closely copied its iPhones and iPads. The jury came down heavily in Apple’s camp, finding a wide range of devices, but not all, had violated a number of Apple patents.

Samsung had its own suit against Apple, claiming that Apple used its wireless technology improperly and was asking for $399 million. It lost its suit. This will obviously not be the end of this as the two have lawsuits against each other in South Korea, Germany, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain, France and Australia and Samsung is set to appeal the verdict if the judge does not.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Google, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Lawsuit, Samsung Tagged With: Apple, Google, Samsung

Wednesday Wi-Fi Whispers: DAS, but no Wi-Fi, for Niners at Candlestick

August 22, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

There’s already buzz building in Silicon Valley for the new Niners stadium being constructed in Santa Clara, as the team is already out front saying the facility will be an example of how to do stadium technology right.

Unfortunately for Niners fans, the next two home seasons will still be played in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, which has historically been one of the worst places to try to get a cellular signal. Though a new Distributed Antenna System (DAS) deployment should help matters some this season, there is no stadium-wide Wi-Fi in the cards, a bit of a bummer since the team’s new game-day app features lots of video — which you need Wi-Fi to watch.

With an edict from the commish Roger Goodell to put Wi-Fi into every stadium, teams across the league are moving quickly to figure out how to get that done (see the second part of this post about Carolina’s new spiffy network). Caught in the middle of this deployment strategy is Candlestick, which has to be one of the worst geographic locations for wireless traffic. Not only is the stadium hidden by a small hill directly to the west (which can block signals from nearby cell towers), it is surrounded on its three other sides by the San Francisco Bay — in case you weren’t aware, wide open spaces of water also play havoc with wireless signals, and you don’t see too many antenna towers floating around.

The historically terrible cellular situation at Candlestick was brought even more to light by last year’s “blackout” game, a Monday night tilt against the Steelers that saw the stadium lose power not once but twice. Though we didn’t hear any reports of fan panic (no shaking) we did hear from a lot of folks about how nobody knew what was going on because nobody could get a cell signal to check Twitter.

To help alleivate the problem the Niners and the top three wireless carriers — Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility and Sprint Nextel — collaborated on the installment of a DAS system at Candlestick, essentially a bunch of small cellular antennas mounted inside the stadium to make it easier for fans to connect. Apparently there is also a day-of-game Wi-Fi network in service at Niners games, though we haven’t been able to find any press material telling us where the service can be accessed. While we wait for the Niners’ reps to get back to us we will take a wild guess and post that it is a parking-lot or concession-area only network, and not something you can use at your seat.

So, Niners fans — even though there is a spiffy new game-day app, you probably aren’t going to get much use out of the video component at Candlestick. And since it doesn’t make sense to drop a few million bucks on a Wi-Fi network that will only be used less than a couple dozen times before the team moves south, unless the Niners can figure out how to bring in a portable Wi-Fi network the Candlestick fans are probably stuck with the DAS deployment as their best connection. Though DAS deployments are better than nothing, they simply don’t have the bandwidth that a robust Wi-Fi network can bring to the table.

Carolina Gets Stadium-Wide Wi-Fi, Courtesy of AT&T

In stark contrast to the situation at Candlestick is the news from the Carolina Panthers, who will have a powerful new Wi-Fi network at Bank of America stadium in Charlotte this year, courtesy of Ma Bell.

You can read the press release and from it what jumps out at us is the 460 Wi-Fi access points, a huge number that should keep everyone there connected. According to the release the Wi-Fi access is free and easy for AT&T customers, with users of other carrier systems having to connect via a “simple login.” Anyone out there in Panther land sample the new network yet? If so give us some SpeedTest results in the comments.

NFL’s Mobile Device Stadium Strategy Slowly Coming into View

There is no official announcement we have seen but if you peruse any NFL team web page you will see a bunch of little widgets popping up saying things like “Watch 49ers games online” with a link to the new preseason and rewind tablet apps that Greg Quick wrote about last week. There are also several teams, like the Niners, who apparently have some kind of GameDay Live-branded app — if this reminds you at all of MLB.com and its AtBat app strategy, it’s not a coincidence. You don’t need a press release to see what is happening, albeit a bit slowly — the NFL, like baseball, is moving to a single app for live mobile-device action, and it will cost you a bunch of extra dollars to watch it.

I think the fly in the ointment right now is the NFL’s current exclusive deal with Verizon for the NFL Mobile app, but I think that contract is up soon and I would be surprised if the NFL renews it. More likely we will see an MLB.com strategy emerge, where you purchase mobile-device access on a monthly or season-long basis. For the current year the NFL will take baby steps as it tries to help teams get networks put into stadiums. But I bet by next year there is a cohesive digital device content strategy that will cost fans a few more bucks. Might be worth it though, to get other games and RedZone while you are tailgating or waiting through halftime.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Apps, AT&T, DAS, iPad, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Major League Baseball, NFL, NFL Mobile, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Video Streaming Tagged With: Candlestick Park, DAS, Mobile Sports Report, NFL, Niners, Paul Kapustka, San Francisco 49ers, Wi-Fi

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: HP, Lenovo tablet plans, Apple/Samsung go to Jury?

August 20, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

Apple and Samsung met to try and narrow their dispute in the ongoing patent case that is now being heard in a federal courthouse in San Jose, Calif. At the judge's request the two met but could not come to any resolution in narrowing the scope of the case.

With this failure the case is likely to be handed over to the jury for deliberation this week. Apple wants the ban on Samsung tablets to be continued and that the ban also expend to Samsung’s smartphones, both of which it claims infringe on its patents.

Kodak patent sale gets complicated
Kodak, faced with an industry that does not hold its patents in quite the esteem, or at least the dollar value that it does, is said to be considering keeping the over 1,000 patents that it had put up for auction. Once believed to be worth several billion, bids came in significantly lower than it has expected, in the $150-$250 million range, according to reports.

Another rumor making the rounds is that Apple will team with Google to buy the patents from Kodak. Considering the animosity between the two this seems hard to believe. Both have huge cash reserves and at the current expected cost of the patents it would be no hardship for either to purchase them by themselves.

Google/Motorola seek US iPhone ban
The long running battle between Apple and Google/Motorola has witnessed a new front open as Google is seeking to get a ban on iPhone and iPad devices claiming that they violate select patents that Google owns.

The complaint, filed with the US International Trade Commission, claims that Apple violates seven patents including e-mail notification and location reminders. The two have been fighting in court since licensing talks ended two years ago.

HP to focus on consumer tablets, report said
The Verge has been touting an internal memo it has received that shows that Hewlett-Packard’s future tablet plans will inc

lude a big focus on consumer tablets and the group will be led by former Nokia exec Alberto Torres.

As many remember HP delivered its first tablet last year, the Touch Pad, and then quickly killed it off and the division, only to reignite the effort some months later. The previous tablet was based on technology it gained it its Palm acquisition, the new generation is expected to be based on Microsoft’s Windows 8.

Lenovo believes RT tablets will be a hot item
Lenovo said that the pricing on operating systems will allow hardware OEMs that build tablets using the Windows RT version of Windows 8 to offer significantly less expensive tablets that the OEMs that use the Windows 8 models.

According to Bloomberg the tablets will be $200-$300 less, resulting in RT tablets in the $300-$400 range while the Windows 8 tablets will be in the $600-$700 range. Lenovo has already talked about its Windows 8 tablet here.

LG Optimus Vu headed to stores globally next month
The hybrid tablet/smartphone that LG first showed back in February is expected to reach the market sometime in September. The Optimus Vu will sport a 5-inch display with an Nvidia processor, 32GB of storage and a 5MP camera. Pricing and exact availability are not yet known.

Will verdict in Apple’s favor change market?
The New York Times has a piece that speculates that a victory by Apple in its lawsuit could have one interesting consequence; it could force rival tablet and smartphone makers to truly differentiate their products.

The opposite could also be true if Samsung emerges victorious, with a lot of manufacturers doing Apple knockoffs with no real fear of legal action by Apple. One would hope that developers would try to differentiate on their own, but after looking at vanilla PCs for a decade you know it is not true.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, FTC, Google, iOS, iPad, Lawsuit, Mashable, Samsung, Smartphone, Tablets, The New York Times Tagged With: Apple, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Samsung

MSR Launches First ‘e-Report,’ an In-Depth Look at ‘The Connected Event Dilemma’

August 9, 2012 by Paul Kapustka

It’s no secret to any cell phone user that finding a good signal at a big sporting event is sometimes a challenge. But what exactly are the reasons behind why it’s hard to bring wireless access to crowded places? And what are the business opportunities for stadium and event operators, application developers and sports marketers once high-quality wireless is installed?

The answers to those questions and more can be found in The Connected Event Dilemma, the first in-depth “e-report” from Mobile Sports Report. Available as a free download thanks to a sponsorship from Wi-Fi gear vendor Xirrus Inc., our completely objective report (meaning, the sponsor did not control our research or reporting) looks at the dilemma faced by many operators of big events that draw lots of connected attendees — how do you best bring Internet access to the crowd, and what are the benefits of doing so?

In a nutshell, the report explains why traditional cellular infrastructures can’t handle the current and expected future demands of the connected fan, and why high quality Wi-Fi is needed to keep up with the rapid advancements in personal digital device technology, and fans’ desires to stay connected and to share experiences while at large public events. But there’s lots more in the 11 pages of editorial goodness, including explanations about:

– How fan behavior has recently shifted to include heavy use of wireless devices while at big events or games
– Why the current regular cellular infrastructure can’t keep up with big-event demands
– What leading teams and stadium organizations are doing to address their wireless Internet access needs, now
– How you and your organization can start crafting a plan to ensure your stadium, event or other large public space isn’t left behind

This report is designed for readers who may be part of a stadium or event ownership group, or developers, investors and entrepreneurs looking to break into the rapidly growing space of stadium- and event-focused apps. It is also a great primer for sports marketers who need to get quickly up to speed on the “connected event” trend. And the great thing is — it’s free to you for just filling out a quick contact form.

We should have a version available for Kindles fairly soon, but you can download the PDF today. Please do so and let us know what you find interesting or missing from the first of what we hope is many long-form reports.

Filed Under: About MSR, Apps, DAS, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Market Research, MSR Guides, Wi-Fi Tagged With: Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, stadiums, Wi-Fi, Xirrus