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Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Mostly Apple Edition

March 19, 2012 by

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: , , ,

Sunday Sermon: Bleacher Report’s Team Stream Shows Us How to Share Content

March 18, 2012 by

I have seen the immediate future of sports content sharing, and if it’s not the ultimate winner than Bleacher Report’s Team Stream feature will be something others will quickly copy. The main reason why I think it will be so successful? The best part of Team Stream is B/R’s willingness to embrace content that isn’t solely its own, to better serve the fans. That sharing attitude is going to make Team Stream a go-to feature that may eventually be more popular than any single site’s collection of reporters and columnists.

If you haven’t seen Team Stream yet, just go to the B/R site and set up a “stream” for yourself. It works either online, in an email newsletter, and most importantly, on mobile devices. The basic premise is, B/R’s team of web-watching editors sifts through everything that is out there and sends you a bundle of content centered around the teams or sports you are most interested in. The key is that unlike other media outlets, some of whom won’t link or mention competitors, B/R provides links to anyone and everyone, from major content creators to bloggers and tweeters. That’s the secret sauce that will make Team Stream taste great.

A screen grab of a Bleacher Report Team Stream newsletter on golf.

My blogging mentor, Om Malik, had one big rule for creating content — don’t waste the reader’s time. Team Stream embodies that ideal perfectly. Instead of me having to maintain links to multiple web sites, follow multiple people on Twitter, I can just “stream” the best stuff for my teams and save myself a lot of hunting time. And after visiting the B/R offices last week to see their energetic, massive bench of editors engaged in finding the best content out there I’m pretty confident that they’re going to serve up enough good stuff every day on my teams and topics to keep me from needing to go everywhere else.

So far I’ve been following the Chicago Bulls and Golf Team Streams as a test, and I can say right off the bat the golf one is a champ. Today’s newsletter, for example, gives me links to stories from Bleacher Report itself, but also from Yahoo Sports, from PGA.com, from Golf.com and from the AP — a much better mix than any traditional newspaper or sports site, which primarily include content only from their own staffs or partner “wire services” like AP. And I haven’t yet tried the new iPad version of Team Stream but I can only guess that the bigger screen size will make activities like watching video replays just that much easier.

Keep your eye on Team Stream, and see how many folks try to copy what Bleacher Report is doing. The power of sharing and smart editing is a winning combination.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, bleacherreport, iPad, iPhone, Sharing Sports Media, Sports Social Media Tagged With: , ,

PumpOne teams with Cybex for Advanced Exercise Workout Apps

March 16, 2012 by

With the long winter almost behind us, the issue that many face (not me of course) is that they might have put on a bit of extra insulation as they watched the seasons change from warm to cold and are now looking to remedy that situation.

There are a number of methods to pick up an exercise regime, and one of them is to use apps that were designed by any number of health and fitness gurus. A new one has entered the mix, and during the winter months you may have seen the products used on the television show ‘The Biggest Loser”

Cybex International is the official fitness partner to the show as well as a manufacturer of exercise equipment and has teamed with PumpOne, a developer of training programs for both professional athletes as well as the weekend type, to create apps for personal training.

There are several ways in which the two are partnering. PumpOne already has an app presence with its FitnessBuilder platform and has iPhone, iPad, and Android apps available as well as pod casts already available with a total of 2,000 exercises.

Cybex will be adding to the exercises featured in the apps, but that is just part of the story. There will now be full workout programs available in the future available from FitnessBuilder. The programs will be designed by Cybex Research Institute, Cybex’s research arm.

This seems to be a natural merging to talents and it will be interesting to see how well this works out. A major issue that will be facing them is just to overcome the sheer amount of releases you see in an average week in all areas of apps. It is increasingly hard for potential customers to judge what is, and is not a solid app, or one that meets their specific needs.

The fact that the two have been around for some time and have a history in their market has to be viewed as a major asset. Of course television coverage does not hurt either.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, iPad, iPhone

Friday Grab Bag: Kindle and iPad Drove Q4 Tablet Sales

March 16, 2012 by

Global tablet sales surged in the 4th quarter of last year, driven by the demand for Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPad tablets. An IDC study as reported by Cnet shows that overall tablet shipments grew by 56% on a sequential basis in the fourth quarter of 2011, to 28.2 million units, and a 155% increase from the same period in 2010.

The top players in this sector were led by Apple with a 55% market share with 15.4 million tablets. Second was Amazon’s Kindle Fire at 4.7 million in the quarter, good for a 16.8% market share. Samsung trailed with a 5.8% share and then Barnes & Noble with a 3.5% share.

IDC has upgraded its estimation for worldwide tablet sales in 2012 to 106.1 million, up from its previous estimation of 87.7 million. I wonder what percentage of those sales would have gone to PCs a few years ago?


Did the NFL collude against the players?
The NFL’s very odd decision to fine the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys a combined $46 million in cap space could turn out to be a major mistake, if the league actually goes through with its decision, multiple outlets are reporting.

Dallas and Washington’s crime was apparently spending more money during the uncapped year than the other owners wanted, giving them an ‘unfair advantage’ by actually investing in their teams rather than simply pocketing the money.

It looks like the owners of the two teams are now considering suing the league, a move that looks like it might then result in an additional lawsuit from the players union as it would show collusion and violation of antitrust. While the league has limited antitrust immunity, it does not cover this kind of action. Baseball did the same thing some time back and was expensively slapped by the courts. I suspect the NFL may quietly backtrack on this issue.

Apple and Motorola talked cross licensing–last year?
A series of talks between Motorola Mobility and Apple last year regarding a proposed deal to cross license their patent portfolios, or portions of them, has come to light as part of the EU’s discovery process on the Google/Motorola merger.

It looks like Motorola was demanding that it gain access to Apple’s entire patent portfolio in order for Apple to get access to Motorola’s standards-essential patents (SEPs). It was noted in The Register that usually SEPs are cross licensed for other SEPs, not the entire portfolio.

They did discuss the ‘scope of a possible settlement’ after Google announced its purchase of Motorola for $12.5 billion. According to Foss Patents, Motorola wanted to broaden the scope of the deal to include all Android licensees while Apple wanted it between the two companies.

Yahoo sues Facebook over patents
Yahoo has dropped the other shoe in its face-off with Facebook and has filed a lawsuit contending that the social media giant has violated Yahoo patents that cover a range of features including news feed generation, social commenting and advertising.

The issue initially emerged a few weeks ago and many thought that the effort by Yahoo was just part of a positioning move by the company to show that it has a valuable patent portfolio as it seeks a buyer. The timing of the move is interesting because it coincides with Facebook’s IPO.

Now it looks like it may get the chance to prove that contention via court filings and possibly rulings on its patents. Yahoo is seeking unspecified damages, and has requests that any such amount be tripled due to Facebook’s willful actions.

Sony’s Xperia smartphone features ‘floating touch’ technology
Sony, using something that sounds like it came from a Geisha house has incorporating ‘floating touch’ navigation that allows a user to browse the web without touching the screen, simply by hovering a finger above the screen and moving it to move the cursor.

The phone also features a 1GHz dual core processor, Android 2.3, upgradeable to 4.0 later this year, and a 3.7-inch Reality Display.

Nokia working on Windows 8 tablet
Nokia, one of Microsoft’s strongest supporters in the Windows smartphone market has said that it will be joining Microsoft in the tablet space in the near future. Reuters reported that the company’s design chief is spending a third of his time developing the tablet and that the company is seeking to take a different approach from rivals in creating a product that will challenge market leader Apple and its iPad.

Intel invests in eye-tracking company
Intel Capital has invested $21 million in a third funding round for Swedish company Tobii, that has been working on eye-tracking technology that can be incorporated with laptops, tablets and other hardware. Tobii said that the investment will give Intel a 10% stake in the company.

Tobi has previously raised $14 million in 2007 and an additional $26.8 million in 2009. It said that the investment will help the 12 year old company maintain a steady research and development schedule. Tobii recently unveiled its latest eye-tracking device last week at CeBIT, the Tobii IS-2 Eye Tracker.

It is interesting that Intel is investing in this type of technology. Over a decade ago I saw a demonstration of eye tracking technology at an Intel Labs demonstration and have wondered why it has never seen the light of day. I guess it was red lighted and so the company is now looking to outside sources.

Going to London for the Olympics? Free Wi-Fi!
Well at least it will be free in the Tube, or subway system. The service will run from July 27 to August 12 and will be provided by Virgin Media. After the Olympics end the service will be available to Virgin subscribers.

USC football players live for Twitter
Interesting read at CBS Sports about Twitter and specifically on how a pair of USC athletes use it. Shows how prevalent that technology is becoming.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Athlete to Follow, Barnes & Noble, CBS Sports, Intel Capital, iPad, Microsoft, NFL, Olympics, Samsung, Tablets, Twitter Tagged With: , , , ,

MLB Looks to Embrace Latest iPad

March 15, 2012 by

With the new iPad just a day away, lines are already starting to form at Apple stores for customers who hopefully already have a confirmation that their order is in. Otherwise they may have to wait as long as three weeks for a second batch of tablets to arrive, according to Apple.

Stores are planning at opening at 8 am rather than the 10 am or 11 am that they usually do to handle the crush. The iPad will initially be available in 10 different markets. Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray is predicting that Apple will hit that number today, the firs in which its latest iPad will be officially available.

Apple has already acknowledged that it has sold out of its initial run and that current orders may take as long as three weeks. Others in the industry have estimated that Apple sold 300,000 of its first generation iPads on that products initial day of sales.

However it is not just the everyday fan that is waiting for the latest and greatest from Apple. USAToday has reported a growing interest in Major League Baseball for the tablet, and indications that use of the Apple table is already extremely widespread.

This is no real surprise since going back as far as Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn players have been using video feedback on notebook computers to study how pitchers throw to them and to see how defenses are aligned against them. In the locker rooms VHS players and tapes were a common training tool, the drawback being that only one player at a time to could watch their specific at bats versus a rival pitcher or team.

The iPad simply makes this viewing easier due to it portability, and with the new Retina display, they have a high definition video playback machine that weighs in around two pounds. Now coaching staffs can tailor video for each player to view.

Players, and teams, are prohibited from bringing electronic devices into the dugout during games but there is nothing to stop a player from walking down the runway and getting a quick look at his latest at bat to get an good idea how to adjust for their next at bat.

Football has already embraced the use of tablets, often iPads for a similar reason. Playbooks are now digitized, making it much easier to carry and access rather than a 200 plus page loose-leaf notebook.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Baseball, iPad, Major League Baseball, NFL, Tablets Tagged With: , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Mashable to sell for $200 million?

March 12, 2012 by

TV makers missing the boat on apps?
The NY Times has a nice, short pierce on how other forms of streaming video are increasingly sidelining television viewing and that they need to add a greater degree of connectivity to compete with developments such as Apple TV and even smartphones. It asks some of the questions that likely be the basis of this conversation going forward.

How is Twitter’s Finances?
Gawker has come forth saying that the micro blogger’s revenue and profits are poor, based on leaked information that that site has received. Twitter has been pronouncing that it has seen an uptick in its performance but Gawker says otherwise.

It claims that in 2010 Twitter had total revenue of $28.5 million, a pretty good number for a startup until the fact that it had to spend three times that to earn the revenue and that for the year it reported a net loss of $67.8 million.

The company, which has 100 million active users, does not appear to have a comprehensive plan to maintain steady revenue, according to the article, which claims that it could be the greatest tech bust ever.

March Madness is here- so are the apps (for iPhones)
Appolicious has taken the time to track down and do a nice short write up on 5 apps that can help you track the tournament and follow your teams. They are both free and paid apps and cover just scores to ones that include analysis, news updates and bracket creators and tracking information.

Generation C?
Labeling generations seems to be an art, although I have always wondered why the first I had heard of was Generation X. I mean why start at the bottom of the alphabet? Well the good folks at Nielsen have come up with another, Generation C.

At least this one makes sense as the C stands for connected and its members are Americans in the 18-34 age group, or 23% of the overall population. Gen C make up 27% of online video viewers, 27% of those that visit social networking sites, represent 33% that own a tablet and 39% of the smartphone owners.

Mashable on the block?
Reuters is reporting that CNN is in talks to purchase social media news site Mashable for more than $200 million. Mashable covers a range of areas in the tech and social media sector including startup news and issues related to major players. CNN declined to comment.

One interesting aftereffect of the big Apple iPad announcement is that it seems to have unleashed a wave of rumors about pending rival products. While there is always talk about company A planning to do such and such with its next generation platform, it seems much more pronounce these days. Of course it could be that I am just now paying more attention, anyway here are a few of the more interesting ones.

Google and Asus to team on 7-inch Tablet?
DigiTimes is reporting that Google and Asus are teaming to deliver a 7-inch Android tablet that will be shipping in May. Targeted directly at the e-reader space that is currently dominated by two players, Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook the tablet is reported to be in the $199-$249 price range.

Padfone to ship in April?
It looks like Asus will be delivering its Padfone convertible next month, at least in select markets. I have to say that this is the device that I am very interested in getting my hands on. The reason is that the phone snaps into the tablet and the phones processor powers the entire device. This way a user can get a tablet with 3/4G without a separate contract, a major drawback on connecting tablets to digital networks.

The Padfone is a three piece product with the first being 4.3-inch smartphone designed for the Android 4.0 operating system powered by a Qualcomm 1.5GHz dual core processor. That can be inserted into the top of a 10.1-inch tablet, and there is a keyboard dock as well

This and that

Instagram looks to Android
Instagram is coming real soon to the Android. Founder Kevin Systrom showed, but did not give a full demo of the app at SXSW. The company said that it currently has 27 million users.

Some iPads will be late
Apple’s recently introduced iPad, set for delivery this Friday, will be missing in some areas due to an overwhelming demand for the product. The company said that it has sold out and that some buyers will have to wait as long as three weeks to get their orders.

Nvidia vs Apple Rd 1
Nvidia disputes Apple’s claim that the iPad is 2x faster than nVidia’s Tegra 3 processor. Its response can be boiled down to simply- let’s see the data. Wonder if this is the first shot in a benchmark war a la Intel/AMD from a decade ago?

Path now syncs with Nike +
For users of the iPhone app that makes a journal of your life for your friends it now enables you to share your workout stats using Nike’s Nike + technology, with more forthcoming when Nike releases the Nike + Fuelband product.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Barnes & Noble, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Live sports via mobile, NCAA Hoops, Smartphone, Tablets, The New York Times Tagged With: , , , ,
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