Friday Grab Bag: An Apple Phablet in the Works?

ESPN to kill 3d channel
If you are pondering a new flat screen and were thinking that 3D might be nice because eof the in your face action that sports provide you might want to have a second thought as ESPN, probably the greatest advocate for 3D sports, has said that it is killing its 3D channel by years end.

The channel went live in 2010 is dying due to lack of interest according to the sports giant, as reported by The Verge. The company said that low adoption of 3D was a leading cause but that it will be looking at other forms of enhanced broadcasting such as Ultra High Definition television. So maybe look for one of those televisions.

Electronic Arts delivers FIFA 14 for everybody- but one.
Fans of soccer will be happy to learn that EA has announced FIFA 14, the latest in its franchise soccer program and it will support about everybody, PCs, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 but oddly one platform it was on previously, the Wii, is absent.

Depending on the day you looked the reason is that either Wii U does not support the Frostbite engine or that the release of the previous version of the game, FIFA 13, did very poorly. EA has backed down from saying that it will not be developing for Wii, so at least there is some good news here.

Apple to offer two different size iPhones?
Cnet is reporting that it now looks like Apple will be taking a page from Samsung’s book by offering smartphones in multiple screen sizes. According to multiple reports the next generation iPhones will be available in a 4.7-inch model as well as a 5.7-inch model.

The 5.7-inch model would be Apple’s first venture into the phablet market, one that seems to be increasingly popular as the device can double for a small tablet as well as a phone. It has also been reported that Apple is looking at offering it in multiple colors.

New Android flaw discovered
If imitation is the highest form of flattery then Windows has been flattered by the latest Android Trojan which is taking a page from malwar that has plagued Microsoft’s operating system for some time, although Android device users might not appreciate the effort.

A recently discovered Trojan that has been named Backdoor AndroidOS Obad.a by Kapersky Labs enables remote users to issue commands on an infected device and has the ability to evade detection, according to piece in Computerworld Singapore.

Look out Apple and Samsung- here comes Microsoft

Microsoft was a late player in the tablet game but has been working hard to make up ground. Its latest move is to highlight its products, including non-tablet ones at Best Buy stores with dedicated sections, much as its rivals do.

The Windows Stores, they will average between 1,500 to 2,200 square feet and will include not only Surface tablets but also a host of other Microsoft products including phones, PCs and Xbox products, according to SlashGear.


Beer App upgrade in time for Fathers Day

The beer app SaveonBrew has just been upgraded so if you are looking for a deal on the latest six pack of lager or hoping to find a place within driving distance that sells Pliny the Elder this could be the app for you.

It features more than 50,000 retail outlets covering as many as 300,000 beer specials that you can use by simply applying you zip code. Its web site also has some handy information such as a list of hangover cures.

Verizon Extends NFL Mobile Deal for $1 Billion

Verizon Wireless and the NFL have extended their current deal around mobile viewing of live NFL games, with a $1 billion, 4-year extension announced this week.

The billion-dollar deal does not, however, cover mobile viewing on tablet devices, a distinction noted by this story in Sports Business Daily and one we will bet is going to be kept by the league for its own video streaming plans. There will be more to this story later, but the good news for football fans who have Verizon phones is that for the 2014 season, you will be able to watch all live games — including CBS and Fox broadcasts — and not just the Thursday-Sunday lineup now available.

No word yet on ESPN’s plans to pay for mobile access for sports fans. On the Verizon side, the NFL Mobile viewing access is still apparently priced at $5 per month, but I bet that increases with the increased game schedule in 2014. Got to pay for that $1 billion bill somehow!

Friday Grab Bag: ESPN Gets US Open, Qualcomm Adds Kaspersky

The dangers of getting malware and viruses on Android devices could be lessened greatly due to a deal that has Qualcomm preloading security firm Kaspersky Lab’s mobile security products into Qualcomm’s silicon that is used to power over a 1,000 different smartphones.

According to Kaspersky the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor can be found in 770 commercially available or announced products as well as in another 550 products that are in some stage of the product design pipeline.


ESPN Gets US Open

ESPN has once again expanded its tennis coverage with the signing of an 11-year deal with the USTA, taking the coverage away from long time USTA broadcast partner CBS. The $770 million deal will start in 2015.

This deal will move the entire tournament to cable after an over the air broadcast run on CBS that started in 1968. CBS will be broadcasting the next two tournaments before its current contract expires.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone making market gains
Microsoft’s Windows Phone is slowly gaining a stronger position in the overall handset market and according to the latest numbers from market research firm International Data Corp. (as reported by Pocket-Lint) it has now passed the BlackBerry OS and moved into third place.

The leader, by a hefty margin, is the Android operating system, which has a 75% market share in the first quarter of 2013 followed by Apple’s iOS which has a 17.3% market share. Windows has 3.2% while BlackBerry has 2.9%.

Will Microsoft remake Windows RT
PC World has an interesting piece on the future of Windows RT, the alternative to Windows 8 for tablet users in the Microsoft world. Met with at best lackluster acceptance, analysts are saying the OEM pricing has to drop and the focus needs fine tuning.

Microsoft has said that it has no intention of killing the platform, which it is positioning as an alternative to the Android and Apple iOS platforms for users that do not want the Windows option either. However right now Apple still has a great deal of cache in the market while Android is offered for free so developers can easily undercut Windows RT devices.

Google announces streaming music service
In case you were out of touch this week Google held its annual Google I/O conference and there was a host of announcements that burst forth from the event. Probably the one that held the most interest is the unveiling of its streaming music service.

The Google Play All Music Access service is expected to rival an expected one from Apple as well as existing ones such as Spotify. It has many features similar to what Pandora offers including a thumb up or down on songs and the ability to load in your own music. It will have a $9.99 monthly fee.

Windows “Blue” due next month

The upgrade to Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system, version 8.1 and commonly called Windows Blue, will be previewed on June 26 and will be available for free to over 100 million registered users of Windows 8.

Twitter and ESPN? We’ve Seen this one Coming

The inevitable combination of Twitter and ESPN is going to become official, according to a Wall Street Journal story today. As the WSJ story notes, the killer relationship is ESPN content — mainly video highlights — and Twitter’s distribution channel. Under the proposed deal, the story says, “people can watch the video clips on Twitter’s website and mobile apps shortly after the action happens on TV.”

Here at Mobile Sports Report we’ve seen a closer Twitter/ESPN need coming for quite some time. Here are some archived posts about Twitter and its relationship to ESPN, and how Twitter is the main disruptive technology as it relates to sports:

Could Twitter + Mobile Phones Kill ESPN? (Aug. 19, 2011)

Twitter Loves ESPN Loving Twitter (Oct. 28, 2011)

Twitter is Hammering ESPN on Penn State ‘Riots’ Coverage (Nov. 9, 2011)

Twitter and Sports: The Game Has Already Changed (Sept. 19, 2012)

ESPN Adds Twitter, Facebook ‘Share’ Buttons to In-House Commenting (March 22, 2012)

WSJ: ESPN Thinking About Paying for Your Mobile Sports Jones

You have to fight your way around the paywalls to read it, but the Wall Street Journal had a story today about ESPN talking to wireless providers about paying part of the fees for people who watch sports via cellular connections. There’s nobody on record, but when the WSJ uses the familiar “according to people familiar with the matter” dodge you know that somebody wanted this story to get out.

For the carriers, this is a kind of a holy grail thing — if ESPN starts subsidizing watching sports via cellular, you can bet that AT&T and Verizon will step up their marketing machines to sell tablets and smartphones. I’m imagining a future where you pay something like $50 a month, which gets you live NFL games and a free iPad to boot. Think you’d sign up tomorrow?

Why would such an arrangement be valuable to ESPN? With more mobile users, the worldwide leader could jack up the fees it charges advertisers since it would have incredible amounts of granular user info, right down to where the user is watching. And I’d bet you wouldn’t be able to watch any other channel on that subsidized device. But then again — would you care?

Net neutrality worries aside, it will be interesting to see if this deal comes to fruition. With Verizon’s exclusive cell phone rights deal with the NFL coming up for renewal next year, it’s the right time for something new to happen. We’ll stay tuned.

Friday Grab Bag: Microsoft Goes Small and MLB hits it Big

People seem drawn to March Madness pools like moths to a flame, and this year ESPN’s mammoth pool, 8.15 million strong had a surprise winner, Lanny Kekua. If that name does not ring a bell it is the fake dead girlfriend of Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o.

The name was used as an alias by a fan named Craig Gilmore, who won the tournament and successfully selected Louisville to defeat Michigan in the final. He is now entered into a drawing for a $10,000 Best Buy gift card.

Reebok Spartan Race hits the baseball circuit
Last year the Sparta Race held an event at a baseball park, and it proved to be very popular. So this year it is upping the ante and will be holding a series of events at ballyards, and it has announced the first four venues.

Athletes living near The New York Mets’ Citi Field, The Philadelphia Phillies’ Citizen Bank Park, The Milwaukee Brewers’ Miller Park or The Boston Red Sox Fenway Park can start practicing for the event near you.

Did Windows 8 Launch hurt PC sales?
Market research firm IDC has reported that sales of personal computers continued a downward fall, and is ascribing part of the blame to the latest operating system release from Microsoft, Windows 8. The most recent IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker report shows that in the first quarter of 2013 there was a total average drop in PC shipments of 13.9% compared to the previous quarter.

Bob O’Donnell, IDC Program Vice President, Clients and Displays said that the company’s research showed that not only did Windows 8 not provide the hoped for boost in sales that many had been planning on, it actually served as a major detriment to sales.

At Bat Starts off with hot streak
Major League Baseball’s popular At Bat program for mobile device users has been a hot download at the start of this year’s season. The program surpassed the 4 million download mark last week, five days into the season.

Last year, when the app was also on a record setting pace, it took it 45 days to reach the 4 million milestone. For the year the app was downloaded 6.7 million times in 2012. MLB’s other two major apps At the Ballpark and Beat the Streak had roughly a million additional downloads.

The Rumor Mill

Tom’s Hardware is showing what is reportedly the next generation tablet from Acer, the Iconia tab A1-810 that had been accidentally briefly advertised by a French retailer. The 7.9-inch tablet is said to be powered by a 1.2GHz Cortex A9 processor featuring 1GB of RAM.

Newly leaked images of the forthcoming iPad from Apple appear to show a device that is thinner than previous releases and has reinforced the rumor that Apple is completely redesigning the popular tablet, currently reported to have the name iPad 5.

To the surprise of no one it has been reported that Microsoft has a 7-inch tablet in the works. With the rapidly growing popularity of this form factor a better issue might be what took them so long? The Wall Street Journal, via The Hispanic Business.com said that the tablets are expected to go into production later this year.