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Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Padfone Tablet Near?

April 9, 2012 by 3 Comments

Microsoft obviously realizes two major hurdles exist in front of its push to get its Windows Phone to become an established, viable player in the smartphone space. It is way behind in the app space, and it needs apps to succeed.

So it is doing what you would expect from a company that has the vast resources of Microsoft, it is launching a variety of efforts to get developers to commit to creating apps for the platform, including paying them for the work, according to The New York Times.

The software company has a number of incentives that range from funding the development of apps, prime placement in its app store, free equipment and others. The company has also established a major app development effort with Nokia.

Problems pile up for Motorola- could this kill the merger?
First off it is investigating Motorola Mobility in two separate for using legal injunctions against Apple and Microsoft to gain an edge in the market. This investigation is rooted in complaints that both companies filed against Motorola.

Part of the question that the EU will look at is did Motorola break promises with standards setting organizations and if it offered unfair licensing conditions for its standard-essential patents. Fines for this violation can be substantial.

Then there is an apparent demand for $4 billion dollars annually as royalty payments made by Motorola to Microsoft to use its patents in the Xbox that is being heard in a US court. Microsoft is retaliating by asking a judge to block the importation of Motorola phones due to patent violations.

The net result of these and China’s delaying in giving regulatory approval to the deal is that Motorola investors are getting nervous, according to the Business Insider. Shares have been dropping in the past weeks due to the delays. However in a note on Google’s Investor Page, CEO Larry Page has a long note that mentions the Motorola deal in very positive terms and that he has great expectations for the deal.

Asus taking Padfone preorders
Asus is now taking orders for its hybrid table called the Padfone. The device has two main components. The first is smartphone that is powered by a a Snapdragon S4 dual core 1.5GHz processor running the latest version of the Android operating system, v. 4.0

Then there is a 10-inch tablet that has a docking bay for the phone, with the phones processor running the tablet. I will be very interested to see how this works because a user could then leverage their cell phone data plan on the tablet, and so not need two plans. Pricing and delivery date have not yet been announced although it is expected later this month.

Samsung’s Galaxy Notes hits 5 million in sales
When I saw the Galaxy Note at CES I was sure it would not be a winner. It was kind of a jackalope, neither a phone nor a tablet, and too big for one purpose and too small for the other IMHO. This wisdom is why I am not rich. The company, which had a record breaking quarter, sold 5 million of the devices.

Now some might point out that Apple sold 3 million of its new iPads in just three days, and that is all good and true. But this is not the only arrow in Samsung’s quiver, and the company has a range of tablets, and smartphones available. Its creative thinking looks to make it a true force to be dealt with in both market segments.

Tablet and smartphone owners multitask with TV
One of the latest news reports from Nielsen shows that globally 88% of tablet owners and 86% of smartphone owners said that they used their device at least once in a 30 day period while watching television.

In the United States 26% said that they used their tablet multiple times a day when watching television and 27% said that they did so with their smartphones. Those numbers were roughly double that of those who said that they never did.

The top purpose was to view e-mail, both during the actual broadcasts and during the commercial breaks. A popular alternative was to check out information related to ether the program, or good news for advertisers, looking up information on products shown during commercial breaks.

Apple closing on facial recognition software?
A new patent that Apple as filed for shows that the company is developing features that will enable control of an iOS device via facial recognition. The patent lists a method to create an automatic user-switching system which can lock, unlock, as well as reconfigure a device for users based on face detection using a front-facing camera.

As discussed in Ars technica the patent, “Electronic Device Operation Adjustment Based On Face Detection” it has the ability to lock out unauthorized users as well as be set for specific preferences. There is already a facial unlock feature on the Android side in v. 4.0.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Asus, Google, iPad, iPhone, Lawsuit, Microsoft, Motorola, Samsung, Tablets, The New York Times, Uncategorized

Friday Grab Bag: Intel Launches Major Ultrabook Campaign

April 6, 2012 by 1 Comment


Intel is launching its biggest marketing campaign in over a decade with what it calls a multi-faceted global push for the “New Era of Computing”. The company will be on the television, in the print media and using a variety of social media driven efforts to get and hopefully hold consumer and corporate attention to these ultra-slim notebooks.

This is not surprising first after CEO Paul Otellini’s keynote at CES earlier this year had so much emphasis on the notebooks. Second, and this is something that seems to have to some degree gotten by (at least me) under the radar. There are already 26 models available for purchase worldwide including offerings from Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Dell with additional 10 models from Acer, Fujitsu, Gigabyte and Lenovo having been announced.

Next week is the start of corporate earning reports and I will be very interested to hear what Intel executives say about the sales of notebook computers as well as how its effort to establish itself in the tablet space are going.

Recently Apple talked about the death of the PC but really what are you going to use to write the apps for the iPhones and iPads? I kid, I think that the desktop PC may become a dinosaur but notebooks will have a strong demand from a large segment of the corporate and consumer market.


Is Tiger Woods the true #1?
Or at least so says Rory McIlroy, currently the #2 ranked golfer in the rankings. He said that if Woods is on his game he is the best golfer in the world, adding that you cannot judge a player on how they have performed in the last few weeks. If we go by that it really does not look too good for Tiger, but then this is a nice change from the usual trash talk that happens in sports. This weekend could also change his opinion.

iPhone to reach regional carriers later this month?
Apple Insider is reporting that five regional U.S. carriers are going to announce that they will begin selling Apple’s popular iPhone on April 20. The carriers are Alaskan Communications, Appalachian Wireless, GCI, Cellcom and nTelos.

The report also states that the carriers will for $50 less than the so-far subsidized price at other carriers, with phones starting at $150 for the 16GB model, $250 for 32GB, and $350 for 64GB. The older iPhone 4 will be available in an 8GB version for $50.

Samsung and Apple hurting HTC sales?
Smartphone developer HTC has reported a 70% drop in profits while revenue dropped 35% from the same quarter in the previous year. The company has recently expanded its offerings with four additional smartphones, all running the Android operating system.

At the same time Samsung has reported record quarterly profits of $5.15 billion, with very strong results pulled in by both its smartphone business and its Galaxy Note hybrid tablet/smartphone products.

Is Google really losing billions on Android?
A piece at Yahoo.com argues that the company is and that it is because of a number of reasons, however I found it rather unconvincing. With 300 million Android phones out on the market and 15 million tablets the company has a huge installed base and seems poised for huge additional growth.

NBA to sell ads on jerseys?
Over at HoopsHype the bet is that the NBA will very soon have ads on players game jerseys. It makes a persuasive argument about how, among otrher things. MLB is a business and it just does not make sense to leave money on the table.

Baseball has twice, to my knowledge, played a series with ads on its uniforms. Both were in Japan and so not seen by most American fans. It seems inevitable that ads do come to that space and as the article points out, the Dallas Mavericks came out with ads on their uniforms in 2009.

I think it will be interesting to see what types of rules the league, and others when they follow, will set for who is acceptable and who is not. Can Hooters advertise? Alcohol? I am pretty sure tobacco companies need not apply.

Joe Posnanski departs SI
While a bit late on this but for fans of Joe Posnanski, his work at this weekend’s Masters Tournament will be his last for Sports Illustrated as he is leaving to join the growing USA Today/MLB Advanced Media joint venture.

If you are not familiar with him, you should give him a try. I feel that he is one of the best sports writers around, offering solid information backed by facts, all with a good dash of humor. He was at SI for roughly three years and he will be hard to replace.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Google, HoopsHype, HTC, iPad, iPhone, Major League Baseball, NBA, Samsung, Smartphone, Sports Illustrated, The Big Lead Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: BlackBerry still in the Red

April 2, 2012 by 2 Comments

Research in Motion has revealed in its quarterly earnings call that revenue for its current quarter was down 19%, $4.2 billion compared to $5.2 billion in the previous quarter, for a net loss of $125 million. The results that have resulted in a management shift and a change on corporate focus. For the quarter the company shipped approximately 11.1 million BlackBerry phones and 500,000 tablets.

Out is former co-CEO Jim Balsille who has resigned from the board of directors. Also gone are COO of Global Operations Jim Rowan and CTO David Yach. This coincides with a much stronger emphasis on developing and delivering products focused on the needs of the coporate IT department and the corporate user.

So security, reliability, manageability and messaging services will be the keywords going forward as it seeks to leverage what it views are corporate strengths-enterprise services and devices that handle them. On the flip side areas such as consumer oriented capabilities such as media consumption will be placed on a backburner.

The key to all of this, and for the company to successfully rebound, will hinge on the BlackBerry 10 launch, executives said. The release is due at some point later this year and will finally give the company a high end smartphone to compete with the Android and Apple devices that are already so prevalent. It has been working hard to develop a strong app ecosystem as well.

Nano-SIM standard vote delayed
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) after dueling proposals caused a rift. On one side is Apple, and select allies, and on the other is Nokia, Research in Motion and Motorola Mobility. TechWorld reports that a vote was scheduled last week but was postponed for at least a month due to strong differences between the two camps. The purpose is to develop a new, smaller form factor SIM card, officially called 4FF or fourth form factor.

Slow Tablet sales not Google’s fault?
An interesting piece from the good folks at The Motley Fool, or at least from Evan Niu, ponders why Google has not been able to transfer its tremendous success with its Android operating system in the smartphone market to the Tablet market. There are a variety of reasons mentioned but much of it boils down to the fact that many of the apps are simply slightly altered smartphone apps. It then ponders how Microsoft will do when it makes its big splash with its Windows 8 OS.

Google to sell self-labeled tablets?
An interesting sidebar to the while Android tablets are not doing well is the current rumors that not only will Google sell its own line of tablets, but will do so from its own store. Originally reported by the Wall Street Journal, the story is that Google will turn to partners, possibly Samsung and Asus to build tablets that Google will then sell under its own label.

In addition to selling under its own label it will also be selling them direct, much like Amazon does with its Kindle offerings and Apple with its iTunes store, among others. It is also expected to subsidize the cost of the tablet, a move that could alienate some of its hardware OEMs.

Google has already gone down the co-branding path once with HTC Nexus One a few years ago. Know anybody that has one? Well Google execs have said that the company plans to double down on Android tablets this year so it will be an interesting time. According to eWeek Google admitted that it has 300 million Android smartphones but only 12 million tablets in customers’ hands.

EU antitrust about to step in on Apple/Motorola Mobility/Microsoft patent issue?
Reuters is reporting that the head of the EU’s antitrust agency said that the group is considering opening an investigation into the patent disputes that are ongoing between Apple, Microsoft and Motorola Mobility.

While the EU has given the Motorola/Google $12.5 billion purchase a thumbs up it also said that it retained the right to investigate ongoing issues including the patent problems that have been a source of considerable litigation.

The group is already investigating if Samsung’s tactics in this area against Apple are a violation of EU antitrust rules. Google has said that it will offer Motorola patents on fair and reasonable terms once the deal is completed.


More Money = Less Entertainment apps on phones
The research firm The Luxury Group has done a study that shows that the wealthier an owner of a smartphone is the less likely to use it to play games or send tweets. It studied app usage among wealthy consumers, ones with income over $150,000.

The news is not really that startling as the users that fell into this area tended to have families and demanding jobs and tended to select apps that met those needs rather than ones for personal entertainment. Still it is sad on which side of this discussion I fall.

Hi-Tech a boon to local bookies
Automation has led to efficiency in so many areas since the days of Henry Ford, and now it looks like local bookies are getting in on the action, according to the New York Times. Rather than stand on street corners singing ‘Luck be a lady tonight’ all they need do these day is set up a web site, post odds and then direct the locals to it to place bets. Must make it real easy at tax time to see what you owe the government, and yes I know that is not where the song was sung in the movie.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Asus, BlackBerry, Google, iPad, Kindle, Lawsuit, Research in Morion, Samsung, Smartphone, Tablets, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal Tagged With: , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Kindle and iPad Drove Q4 Tablet Sales

March 16, 2012 by 5 Comments

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: , , , ,

Mobile Bracket Apps: ESPN’s Rocks, Which One are You Using?

March 13, 2012 by 2 Comments

Being old enough to remember the days when we had to sketch out NCAA brackets by hand, do a bunch of photocopying and then massive all-night scores tabulations for hoops pools, I can only sit back and wonder where technology has brought us… to having my bracket live on my phone.

As an ESPN bracket user (please join our bracket challenge) I noticed today after downgrading my Syracuse picks that there was a phone app available for tracking my bracket. A quick download, a quicker sign in and… presto, my brackets and groups were live and ready for viewing. And even more importantly, there was a quick way to change the name of my entry which as many of us do, depending on the fate of our picks.

Will be interesting to see how quickly the mobile platform updates when the games start — so far ESPN servers seem to be working overtime, but as we all know it gets different when the ball is tossed up in the air. Anyone else using a different bracket service or mobile app? Let us know in the comments.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, ESPN, NCAA Hoops, Samsung, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: The Almost iPad III Edition

March 5, 2012 by 1 Comment

Apple is expected to deliver its heavily anticipated next generation iPad later this week. Rather than print all of the massive amount of rumors we are just noting at this point and will fill in the gaps when the company takes the wraps off its latest product.

It is likely that this week will mark the start of a number of tablet releases within the next month or so including a Toshiba offering expected the day prior to Apple’s announcement and we will try and stay on top of all of the noise and news.

Archos aims at kids market with Child Pad tablet
Speaking of tablets, Archos has unveiled the Child Pad, a 7-inch tablet running Android 4.0 that is designed for the children’s market. With a $129 SRP it is significantly lower than most tablets, aside from eReaders; the Child Pad has a number of features designed for the young consumer.

Archos is using what it calls a kid-friendly user interface and it will come preloaded with 28 kids’ apps and will have access to a Kids App Store that has 10,000 apps including games, entertainment and communications. No word on educational apps.

The tablet will feature a 1GHz processor and have 1GB of RAM and will feature parental controls. Archos said that it will be available by the end of March.

RSA Panel suggests enterprise ban smartphone BYOD
If an enterprise wants to truly have secure data it should ban the cost effective method of allowing employees to use their own phones and tablets as work devices. It said that the cost of supplying employees a smartphone that can be controlled by the organization is much smaller that the potential cost to the corporation if sensitive data is lost.

Security officials speaking at the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco last week said that patches and bug fixes are hard to apply to a fragmented phone market and that it makes more sense to have control over the devices but that often execs and other individuals push back on IT.

AT&T caves in on ‘unlimited data’ plans-sort of
After a spate of negative stories around the nation about how its attempt to throttle back the top 5% of data users who had its unlimited plan, AT&T has relented and changed its policy, at least somewhat.

One of the complaints was that users with unlimited plans would get throttled, or have their data download speeds greatly reduced, well before they hit the level that was available to users of lesser plans from AT&T, 3GBs.

While it has retired the ‘unlimited plan’ existing plan members were grandfathered in, and they pay $30 more than the 3GB tiered level, but have often found that they would be throttled as the closed in on 2GB. A recent small claims court award of $850 to a member that had his plan throttled might have had some impact on this deal. However the company said it will continue to slow down data for users’ as they near 3GBs.


Patent News: It was a busy week for Apple, Motorola, Samsung, Microsoft and a host of lawyers

Apple wins latest round in German Patent ruling
Apple has won a preliminary injunction against Motorola Mobility that could force Motorola to recall smartphones that infringe on Apple patents. I think two weeks ago it was the exact opposite-maybe they will open the door to rivals as both companies phones will be banned?

Anyway a German Court has ruled that Motorola has violated an Apple patent that deals with “portable electronic device for photo management” which apparently is something that Motorola uses with its photo gallery implementation in its phones.

According to Foss Patents, Apple has the option of having the injunction enforced which would mean a ban on Motorola smartphones in Germany. Apple has won an injunction against Motorola two weeks ago on a different topic in Germany and won on this won in a Dutch court as well. Be interesting to see if Motorola changes its tune on licensing deals for its technology to Apple.

Apple and Samsung get a split decision
Also in Germany, the Mannheim Regional Court issued a pair of rulings involving Apple and Samsung regarding patents. The court threw out a Samsung vs. Apple lawsuit, the third in a row, which has to deal with 3G/UMTS patents.

At the same time it threw out one of the two slide-and-lock patent disputes that Apple has filed against Samsung, and a decision on the second of the two is expected within a few weeks. Samsung has said that it will appeal the ruling and it is expected that Apple will do so as well.


Microsoft/Motorola ruling to be reviewed
The U.S. International Trade Commission is undertaking a review of a judge’s decision that said that Motorola infringed a Microsoft patent in Android smartphones. The ruling comes from a complaint that was originally filed in 2010 claiming that a total of 9 patents were infringed.

Two patents were dropped from the case and the judge found that one of the remaining seven did in fact infringe on a Microsoft patent. A final decision is expected sometime this spring and both Microsoft and Motorola said that they look forward to the results.

For fans of Futurama only
A group of hackers from the University have broken into the e-voting system in Washington D.C. and gotten their write in candidate to the 2010 school board elected-one Mr. Bender Bender Rodriguez, the robot from the cartoon Futurama.

The effort, from a few years past, was not some group seeking to over throw the will of the people but rather to answer a dare to see if anybody could break into the system and so was engineered by a Professor and a team of students. They found that they could change all existing and future votes in the system.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, AT&T, FTC, iPad, Motorola, Samsung, Tablets Tagged With: , , , ,
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