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Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Samsung’s Note a Tablet-Smartphone Hybrid

January 16, 2012 by

Microsoft Windows will soon have an app that enables Skype, hardly a stunner since Microsoft purchased the company last year. Still this will be good news for users of the popular VoIP technology, even if it is a bit later than originally promised, according to the Verge.

According to the report the first version will not be deeply integrated with the rest of the Windows Phone software but that future releases of the Skype app will be more tuned with future releases of the Windows Phone OS.

Huawei venture into high end smartphones
One of the more interesting corporate pushes at CES came from Huawei, with a range of products and technologies across the show. One of the products that caught my eye was its high end smartphone, the Ascend P1 S.

Touted as being the slimmest smartphone available and with a very clear and precise screen, if and when available it could be the next hot buy. While I only got a very brief demonstration of the device there are a number of good hands on pieces available to get a good evaluation of the product.

Tablet News

Samsung’s Galaxy Note-a bit of everything mobile?
Samsung introduced its Galaxy Note at the CES show and it’s kind of a tweener product, not clearly a phone for some and not clearly a tablet for others. The device has the largest display for a phone at 5.3-inches, or is I one of the smallest displays for a tablet?

It serves as a full smartphone, includes a camera and comes with a stylus for input but also has full touch capabilities. It has a memo app that allows for the taking of notes as in a paper and pen scenario but also has the capabilities to allow a user to annotate any image or screen capture.

Not sure yet how I feel about the product. It has a range of features that separate it from the everyday smartphone including advanced security programs but is its size going to be detrimental? Also if I use my tablet as an e-reader a great deal, is this a step down due to the smaller screen? A lot of unanswered questions and what segments of the market adopt it will be very interesting.

E-Readers spur book sales
Have you written the Great American Novel and yet no one has the vision to publish? A growing coterie of writers is going it alone, and some are finding a good deal of success. The Guardian has a nice piece on some who are doing quite well pushing books using tools from Kindle and other platforms.

It is not all tremendous reviews and instant fortune and the amount that you ear could be nothing or a very small sum, but it does show the impact the e-readers are having on the book business from two sides, publishing and consumption.

More iPad 3 rumors…
The latest rumors about the forthcoming iPad 3 is that it will have a quad core chip that should provide it with a nice performance boost as well as being compatible with LTE a wireless standard called long-term evolution that is just now starting to see widespread deployment by cellular carriers.

The resolution on the screen is expected to match that of the current generation of iPhones and that combined with the new processor is expected to ensure that videos and images are razor sharp. Rumors still have the expected delivery date sometime in March.

The usual legal issues…

Oracle vs Google spat sees trial delay
Ars Technica is reported that the case, originally expected to go to trial by March will now see another delay. The judge, William Alsup, has decided to wait until Oracle can propose a reasonable methodology for measuring damages.

As usual the fight is over patents; in this case one’s that Oracle claims it owns related to Java that is incorporated in the Android operating system’s custom Java runtime environment and compiler

The judge has been impatient with both parties as they have worked to deliver what he views as an appropriate methodology for the damage assessment and seems to have been very critical of Oracle’s most recent efforts. I bet this trial gets another delay.

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

Friday Grab Bag: Bud is Back!

January 13, 2012 by

Selig has two year extension in the works-I assume it is guaranteed

The Good people at HardballTalk, among others, are reporting that MLB Commissioner Allan “Bud” Selig will sign a two year extension to remain at the helm of the sports. The deal is expected to be announced at the owners meeting taking place in Az. this week.

It comes as no surprise that he is staying there, who wants to give up an $18.4 million annual salary. I imagine he will dedicate the next two years to keeping players salaries down. Did anyone really think that he planned to retire?

Microsoft notches another win in its patent push
Microsoft and LG Electronics have signed a broad cross patent licensing agreement that gives LG coverage for Microsoft patents for LG’s lineup of devices that run Android or Chrome operating systems.

Included will be LG’s phones, tablets as well as other current and emerging consumer electronic devices. This is the 11th company that has entered into this type of licensing agreement with Microsoft and others include Samsung, Acer and HTC.

Apple gets egg on face, store after iPhone cancellation
After an abrupt announcement that the store would not be selling Apple’s iPhone 4S on the first day of availability in Beijing, the large crowd that had formed outside one of Apple’s stores in China became unruly and started throwing eggs at the building.

According to a piece at IDG a crowd had formed prior to the store opening and when an employee announced that there would be no phones available that day and gave no reason why.

Rams sign Fisher- Dolphins feel used
The St. Louis Rams have signed Jeff Fisher as its next head coach, according to ESPN and other sources. Details have not been released but I think it will be very interesting to see what he managed to squeeze out of them.

This has apparently irritated the owner of the Miami Dolphins, the other major suitor for his services. He had seemed to vacillating between the two and it seems Miami now was just using it for leverage in St. Louis.

I guess that the team learned nothing from its pursuit of Jim Harbaugh last year. Not only did it jack up what Harbaugh earn as a 1st time NFL head coach, Miami then had to salve its current head coach’s feelings.

I cannot wait until Miami goes on a search again- I suspect they will now massively overpay one of the former head coach/announcers out there like Gruden.

3D for Apple iOS
According to Mac Daily News Apple has filed for a patent that shows it will be developing a 3D GUI for its iOS-based mobile products. Apparently this is just one of several 3D products that are/were nder development at the company Will I be able to interface with my phone like they in “Minority Report”?

Mizco delivers cross platform USB charger for phones, tablets
Mizco International has delivered a cross platform charger that it claims will handle a wide range of smartphones and tablets, something that could make traveling with multiple devices significantly easier in the future.

Called the Cross-Brand Tablet and Smartphone Charger it is from the company’s Digipower division and is designed to support USB charging for products from all of the major manufacturers.

The $29.99 charger has a featured called a SmartSwitch that can be set in one of three positions and is capable of optimally charge USB-powered tablets from major manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung, HTC and BlackBerry as well as USB-powered Smartphones.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Baseball, iPhone, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, NFL, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , ,

Who Will Build a Kindle for Sports? Millions of Fans Await the Answer

January 12, 2012 by

One great comment I heard at CES in Las Vegas this week was that tablet computers are “the killer app for watching video.” To that I would add a caveat: Tablets could also become the complete killer app for watching sports in a mobile fashion, if and only if the leagues, cellular providers and broadcasters could come to some workable agreement on viewing rights. What could make all that happen quickly? Why not something like Amazon’s Kindle, but instead of books, have it devoted to sports?

The real revolution started by the Kindle isn’t the cool technology behind the device itself. Instead it’s the simple pricing and content procurement method which eliminates the need for consumers to care about the cellular connection and simply allows them to pay for the books they want to read. If only sports could be so simple.

In the real world, we know it’s far from easy to get sports content on your mobile device. Just trying to definitively describe how you could get Monday’s BCS Championship game to show live on a mobile device took a weekend’s worth of reporting and numerous email exchanges with the supremely helpful ESPN folks. It’s not all ESPN’s fault that its mobile offerings are so constricted, but the fees ESPN charges cable providers play a part in the snarl of rights and access barriers that make mobile sports viewing such a pain in the rear.

The hope here at MSR is that all parties concerned learn some lessons from the digital music business, where a simple store and powerful simple device — iTunes and iPod — led to an explosion in sales of music, videos, podcasts and now books too. The Kindle is an extension of the iPod/iTunes simplicity to the mobile ecosystem, eliminating the concerns about how much data you’re downloading and whether or not you are exceeding your monthly mobile limits. Why not build one tailored for sports, with the connectivity costs and rights fees built in? If half a million people went through the maze of tasks necessary to watch the BCS game online, what could the size of that audience be if folks could walk down to Best Buy, pick up a “KindleSports” and start watching immediately?

At another CES panel I heard representatives from the major motion picture houses talk about how mobile video is no longer a future thing, but a booming business already grabbing millions of viewers and the associated advertiser interest. It’s time for sports entities to get into the game in a similar big way, and a KindleSports would be a great way to start. I would be just one of the millions waiting in line to buy one.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, AT&T, BCS, ESPN, ESPN3, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NCAA Football, Tablets, WatchESPN Tagged With: , , , , ,

iBike Delivers Powerhouse Fitness Plans

January 11, 2012 by

Velocamp has expanded its iBike platform to help transform it into a tool that everyone from the most casual of riders to ones with dreams of possibly participating in the Tour de France can take advantage of to improve themselves.

The latest from the company that has delivered a variety of cycling performance tools is called iBike Powerhouse Fitness plan, and it comes with four different plans each targeted at a different customer profile so that it does not try to shoehorn a wide variety of riders into one program and then disappoint them when it does not meet their needs.

John Hamann, Velocomp’s chief executive officer said that while there are lots of expensive tools for professions that enable them to track progress and work on better results, the more casual types are really left out.

The Powerhouse Fitness Plan uses a 5 minute ride along with monitoring equipment to measure your current physical state and then creates a custom plan within a basic framework. The framework is designed to achieve specific goals and track your usage and can modify plans if you fall behind or are advancing faster than expected.

The hardware required for the system includes the user owning an iPhone or iPod Touch, software, sensors that mount on the bike to measure power and other factors. There is a mount for the front of the handlebars where a waterproof case is attached so that the information is fed real time into the iPhone or iPod Touch.

The Plans

The plans were developed by Hunter Allen, one of the top cycling endurance instructors with specific expertise in using power meters. There is a basic program that allows you to develop a program and then track and display your results as well as provide feedback and changes to the program.

The package with the basic plan has a MSRP of $269. There are a set of six additional plans that can be downloaded for $9.99 each. Among the additional programs is one called iSlim, a program designed to help the user lose weight. Then there is ExpressFit designed for quick results; Weekend Warrior is for those that really only have two days to try and get fit each week. Then there is Brazilian Butt, designed to shape your lower body. Other programs include Heart Healthy and Kid Fit.

The Trouble with Android

iBike, as could be guessed by its name, is an Apple house and currently only supports a pair of products for its computer, Apple’s iPhone and its iPod Touch. It is not that the company wants to miss out on the hundreds of millions of users of Android and other platforms, Hamann said.

Apple has a consistent form factor while the Android form factors, including connectors and overall device sizes vary all over the map. By just supporting Apple it simplifies stocking for both the company and its retail outlets, but he does not rule out moving to new platforms in the future.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Cycling, iBike, iPad, iPhone, Tour de France Tagged With: , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Google vs. Amazon in Tablet Wars?

January 6, 2012 by

Pending Google Tablet to rival Kindle Fire?

Multiple reports are claiming that the long pending tablet from Google will be targeted more at the Kindle Fire market than the iPad market. While there is some overlap in the two markets currently I see them as serving different groups of primary users, although that will change.

The Google Tablet is expected to be in the 7-inch form factor and will have a $200 price tag upon its expected delivery in late March or early April. The web company is expected to first create a web site that is designed to specifically cater to expected customers of its Android-powered tablet and will make apps. Movies, books and music will be made available at that site.

This will make an interesting battle as Google’s deep pockets and ubiquity of its browser will enable it to reach a wide audience via advertising on its pages as well as in other media. A similar thrust by Barnes & Noble for its Nook has cost that company dearly but the impact for Google should be significantly less due to its much greater resources.

Twice as many Americans own 4 TVs as opposed to 1
The latest State of the Media: Consumer Usage Report from Nielsen has a number of interesting facts across the broad markets that it surveyed, with the one quoted above being just one of them.

The number of people age 13 and older that own a mobile phone is fast approaching the number of people that own at least one television- 232 million to 290 million. Satellite did much better than I had expected when compared to digital cable- 95 million compared to 145 million.

The full survey covers usage and trends across TV, mobile, online and social media and can be downloaded from the company’s site.

TiVo Delivers Android version of its App

TiVo has had an app for customers using products powered by the Apple iOS and has now greatly expanded its audience with the delivery of the app for the vast Android space as well, according to a piece in Cnet

The free app is designed for use with both smartphones and tablets and enables a user to participate in social media such as Facebook and Twitter while viewing programs that are currently playing from a TiVo box.

TiVo has also announced that it has settled pending patent litigation with AT&T. In the deal AT&T has agreed to a mutual patent licensing agreement and will be making payments to TiVo that include an initial payment of $51 million and reoccurring payments that will run until June, 2018.

Apple files for patents that cover photos and fitness.
Patently Apple has reported that Apple has won patents for Photo Booth and a sports related one that covers a fitness center app. The site has a great deal of information of the Fitness Center App and said that it covers a range of issue facing exercisers including motivation and how to use equipment.

Apple also appears to have a range of additional related patent claims pending that could help it gain a strong presence in this market, or a future in additional litigation as others imitate its direction. I wonder how all of the makers of fitness apps in the iTune store feel about this?

Additionally Apple has been awarded a patent for Photo Booth so that users of Apple devices, initially just the iPad but expected to cover both other iOS devices’ as well as OS X products to manipulate images that have been taken with the devices’ built-in camera.

Other Apple News

Apple has also filed for a pair of patents that indicate that it is seeking to develop a hydrogen fueled battery that it is speculated could power its devices for weeks between recharges. I would be happy to make it through the day right now.

According to the latest from iLounge new code found in the iOS 5.1 release points to a future that has devices powered by quad-core chips. The site said that it believes that products with quad-core chips could be delivered as early as March of this year.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Barnes & Noble, Facebook, iPad, iPhone, Nielsen Ratings, Social Media, Tablets Tagged With: , , , ,

NFL: Thursday Night Games Average 450,000 Online Viewers

December 26, 2011 by

In case you were still wondering whether or not online access hurts regular-television audience numbers, here’s another data point to confirm that it doesn’t: The NFL said Monday that TV views of its Thursday night NFL Network games is up 8 percent over last year, while its online audience is averaging 450,000 unique views per game.

The 450,000 number isn’t broken down between viewers of the streaming coverage at NFLNetwork.com or folks watching via Verizon Wireless’s NFL Mobile app, but either way the aggregate total is impressive, and a signal that there may be even more of an appetite for NFL content than was previously thought.

With the Super Bowl slated for online streaming, it is the guess of MSR that the days of online access being a novelty have ended and now an online outlet will become the norm rather than the exception. How that plays into rights contracts and teams’ marketing campaigns is something still in its infancy, but it will be a compelling story we’ll follow closely in 2012.

Filed Under: iPad, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NFL, NFL Mobile, NFL Network, Super Bowl, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: , , ,
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