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Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Amazon Kindle Sales Soar after iPad Mini Launch

October 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

After Apple‘s executives disparaged rival 7-inch tablet makers, at least one has struck back. If you have visited Amazon’s home page you see a pretty good comparison between the Amazon Kindle HD and the Apple iPad Mini highlighting the advantages the Kindle has over the iPad.

In addition Amazon has announced that sales of the Kindle have spiked upward after Apple introduced the iPad Mini. Is the iPad Mini the hardware version of Apple’s Map apps — a second poorly thought out project that would have benefited from more time?

Apple sales soar also
However the news out of the Apple camp paints a slightly different picture as it has reported that the iPad Mini has almost sold out in pre-order. Mashable is reporting that four of the six Mini iPad SKUs are sold out at the Apple Store, and shipping dates have been pushed back because of the high demand.

It was rumored that Apple made an initial order of 10 million of the tablet devices and so if that is true the company has to be very happy about the results so far.

Samsung also claims sales increase after an Apple event
First high tech companies were planning events to steal a rival’s thunder and now it seems they are releasing press releases that claim that a rival’s new product actually help their sales. Amazon has done it with the iPad Mini (see above) and Samsung also now claims that sales of its Galaxy S3 smartphones took off after the iPhone 5 was announced. Well I guess this is better than a vaporware war.

No Google Android Event today
Google’s planned Android and possibly tablet announcement that was slated for today was rained out due to Hurricane Sandy. The event was planned for today in New York City hours prior to Microsoft’s Windows Phone Event in San Francisco.

That is too bad in one way. There have been a number of rumors and teaser videos that appear to show a 10-inch tablet that has a better screen resolution than Apple’s iPad and I would have been interested to see what they actually had in store. I am sure I will not have to wait long.

Apple working to improve Maps app
Apple has taken a good deal of heat over the quality, or lack thereof, of its new apps program that it is now using rather than Google Maps in the recently released Apple iOS 6.0. The company took time during its recent quarterly report to say that it is working night and day to improve the app and that more changes should be expected soon.

Motorola drops a few charges in Xbox case
In the ever changing set of lawsuits between Microsoft and Motorola you can now subtract a few issues, and amazingly it was not after a ruling by a judge. Motorola has asked the Federal Trade Commission to drop the Wi-Fi related patent infringement claims that involved in its lawsuit with Microsoft. The request does not affect the rest of the issues at play in the two’s global lawsuit battles.

Filed Under: Amazon, Apple, Apps, FTC, Google, iOS 6, iPad, iPhone, Lawsuit, Microsoft, Motorola, Samsung, Tablets, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report Friday Grab Bag: 3D at MLB Playoffs — New Galaxy Note Coming

September 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Is Google adding ads to Maps?
WebProNews is reporting that Google appears to be preparing to monetize its Maps app. The company has applied for a patent for Online Map Advertising. It looks as if this will allow the company to insert ads directly into the maps that you are viewing.

However on the plus side it looks like it might just be targeted at third party sites that use the maps as part of an effort to show people where their place of business is and they might include an ad in the space.

Also Google has said that contrary to rumors it has not submitted a new maps app to Apple for approval in its App Store. However the company is not ruling out doing so in the future.

Did the Lingerie Football League help settle NFL Ref strike?
Seattle fans are pointing to the team’s last second, replacement referee assisted, win over Green Bay as the straw that broke the camel’s back and forced the NFL to settle with the regular referees, who will be manning the field this weekend.

However a funny piece in Deadspin about the officials from the Lingerie Football League notes that it has a tougher standard for its referees that the NFL did for its replacements. The logic behind this was that apparently the LFL fired some refs for incompetence and they ended up doing NFL games as replacements. True or not it is pretty funny.

Are HTC and Nokia the next patent litigants’?
DigiTimes is reporting that Nokia and HTC may be about to meet each other in a court over potential patent issues. The problem appears to be that the Windows Phone 8 that each company has released bears a great deal of similarity to the one its rival introduced.

The article states that Nokia has already lodged a complaint with HTC over the belief that HTC has copied the design of Nokia’s Lumina 820 for HTC’s Windows Phone 8x offering.


Toys “R” Us sued over tablet
The battle for tablet supremacy has apparently spilled over into the toy aisle as Fuhu is suing Toys “R” Us for coping Fuhu’s Nabi tablet and using the technology in the recently released Tabeo. The suit claims that the two companies also had a deal signed in October 2011 under which Toys “R” Us had agreed to distribute the Nabi and to promote the product.

Fuhu is claiming that the product was not adequately advertised or promoted and that Toys “R” Us deliberately tanked the product in favor of its own Mateo that was then under development.

MySpace trying for resurgence
An interesting piece in Gizmag reports that MySpace, once the power in social media but a backwater since the emergence of Facebook a few years back, is currently undergoing a major redesign and I seeking to reestablish itself.

The site will have a much more visual look from the previews shown and it will have a new interface, in part influenced by the emergence of tablets. One interesting feature will be your ability to import all of your Facebook contacts.

Samsung’s next generation Galaxy Note out next month?
There is going to be a major Samsung event in New York on Oct. 24th, according to a press release that Samsung Mobile has sent out to the press. While the company has been mum on what it will be unveiling at the event, the rumor mill seems to think that it knows.

The answer is the next generation Samsung Galaxy Note, the Galaxy Note 2. The hybrid smartphone tablet has already been unveiled in South Korea and has been expected to be released in the States soon.

TBS to add 3D imagery to baseball playoffs
TBS has said that it will be adding “3D hologram imagery’ to its playoff broadcasts this fall. It will use the technology to illustrate different pitch grips and to show how the pitch will work. It will also be used to show pressure points, release points and ball rotation.

I guess using real live pitchers to show the same thing would be too complicated. While I think that this could be interesting I also am afraid that it will cause the station to miss a number of live pitches. The channel will also be tripling the number of super slo motion cameras that it uses compared to a regular season game.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Baseball, Facebook, Google, HTC, iOS 6, Lawsuit, Major League Baseball, NFL, Nokia, TBS, The Big Lead Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: New Kickstarter Rules, Wal-Mart Kicks out Kindle

September 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Kickstarter has imposed a set of rules that will limit the type of products that can be promoted for funding on the crowdfunding site. Gone now will be renderings of projects that are being promoted and instead the site will require an actual working prototype of the project.

It will now also require that the project creators provide a “Risks and Challenges” section that will enable potential investors to have the needed information to make an informed decision about the obstacles that the development might face. In other words, you need to let potential “kickstarters” know that your cool idea may, in fact, not ever happen.

Wal-Mart dumps Amazon’s Kindle
Many smartphone users have probably “showroomed’ — used their phone to check out a price of an item that they are looking at in a store against what Amazon offers it for, and retailers have been seeking ways to slow this trend.

One way is to make Amazon less welcome and now Wal-Mart has said that when its current supply of Amazon Kindle Fire Tablets is sold it will not renew the product offering. The fact that there is almost no profit on the product may have helped with the decision. Target ceased selling them several months ago.

Apple asks judge for more
Apple has requested an additional $707 million in damages from Samsung, on top of the $1 billion that it was awarded by the jury. Among the parts of the request was for an enhanced award of $535 million for willful violation of Apple’s designs and patents, approximately $172 million in supplemental damages using an enlarged period of time for the violations and it is asking that the court to review damages that the jury awarded that were less than Samsung’s expert calculate that the damages actually were.

Apple loses two in Germany
Apple’s cases against both Motorola Mobility and Samsung were tossed out in a Mannheim court after it ruled that the two companies did not infringe on patents that Apple owns relating to touch screen functions.

Other bad news for Apple
One of the bigger pieces of news prior to the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 introductions was that Apple was jettisoning Google Maps, a preinstalled app since the beginning of time, or the first iPhone hit the market at any rate.

Instead Apple was including its own map technology, which with its elimination of some towns and the moving of other landmarks it is apparently the company’s most advanced software ever as it can see into the future. Or it is terrible. It is unusual for Apple to release something this raw and unfinished and the company it is now saying it is still a work in progress.

To make matters worse Google is mocking Apple’s failure with an ad that shows an Android phone using Google Maps showing an accurate vision of a street while Apple’s app shows a basically barren road.

Google sued for patent infringement
Of course it is not all smooth sailing for Google either as, for the second time in as many years it finds itself being sued by Skyhook Wireless, this time over patent infringement. The issue revolves around geolocation technology and WLAN-based positioning systems.

There are a total of 9 patents involved in the case, which was filed in US courts in the District of Delaware by Mass.-based Skyhook, according to Foss Patents.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Google, iOS, iOS 6, iPhone, Lawsuit, Motorola, Samsung Tagged With: , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: No Kodak Patents, iPhone 5 Sales Soar

September 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Kodak has indefinitely postponed the auction of its imaging patents with the move coming after the company has already postponed the auction more than once. In the works since August the company, currently in bankruptcy protection, has been seeking to sell approximately 1,000 imaging patents.

Now it looks like the company is looking at alternatives to auctioning the patents off and that includes keeping the patents in house.

Will existing patent law seriously harm Android?
An interesting piece at ZDNet brings up the point that under current patent law there is the possibility that the Android ecosystem could wither and die if Apple wins additional rounds versus Samsung on Apple’s patent claims.

Part of the issue is that the utility patents which govern the way things work are harder to develop work arounds than the look and feel issue, which simply requires a new design paradigm. Head over here to read the piece.

AMD targeting tablets with Hondo
Advanced Micro Devices is looking at entering the rapidly growing market for tablets with its Hondo microprocessor, a chip that was designed for the market. The chip will be initially only support Windows 8 when AMD launches it, but unlike the Clover Trail family of chips from Intel, AMD’s processor will also support Linux at the same time.

Apple wins a round in Germany vs. Motorola
In the ongoing patent wars between Apple and Motorola/Google, chalk one up for Apple. It has won a judgment against Motorola in Germany that calls for the banning of select Motorola products that use its ‘rubber band’ technology.

The court ruled that Motorola must recall all Android tablet and smartphones that infringe on a select Apple patent, one that was also part of Apple’s victory over Samsung in its case in the US. Apple will be required to post a bond to cover enforcement.

Speaking of Samsung the company took another loss in the U.S. court system as a judge has denied the company’s request for a ban on imports of Apple’s iPad, iPhone and iPod devices due to their supposed infringement on Samsung patents.

iPhone sales break records over weekend
According to AT&T the iPhone 5, which went on sale last Friday, broke all previous sales records for iPhones at the carrier. Records were set both on Friday and for the overall weekend. The company said that the preorders will start to be filled on Friday, Sept. 21.

Hewlett-Packard to eventually enter smartphone space
HP CEO Meg Whitman has said that the company will enter the smartphone space; it is just a matter of when the company will do so that is at issue now. During an interview on Fox Business Network.she said that the company is already working on the development of a smartphone.

Tablets and smartphones now top memory consumers
The PC has been dethroned, at least as the top consumer of DRAM memory chips. The chips, which are a key technology for all computing devices has seen their demand shift from the PC space, the long term top consumer of the technology since the 1980s, to the merging tablet and smartphone space.

According to a report from research companyiSuppli showed that in the second quarter of 2012 PC consumption dropped to 49%. However it is not just tablets and smartphones that comprise the remaining 51% as a host of other devices also use DRAM.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, AT&T, Intel, iOS, iPhone, Lawsuit, Microsoft, Motorola, PCWorld, Samsung, Smartphone Tagged With: , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: New Kindles this Week?

September 4, 2012 by

It is sounding like Intel is finally landing a major, known customer for its microprocessors targeted at the smartphone space. It is being reported that Motorola Mobility and Intel will be making a joint announcement on Sept. 18.

Actually it had already been announced that they were working together but now we finally get to see the fruits of their joint labor. According to PhoneArena the companies are now starting to send out invites for the event.

Amazon to dump Google Maps
It looks like competition in the tablet business has lost Google another customer for its popular maps program. Apple has already shown that it will not be including Google Maps as a standard feature in its next generation iOS and now Amazon is following its example.

According to a report in Rueters Amazon will instead be using technology from Nokia Oyj as the mapping technology of choice in its next generation Kindle Fore, a device that could be available as early as the end of this week.

Sony launches upgraded tablet
Missed amid preparations for Labor Day last week was news that Sony upgraded its tablets and has rebranded them under the Experia name, the same as it uses for its smartphones. The company also recently showed a trio of Experia smartphones including the Experia T with a 4.6-inch display.

Delays on iPhone 5 due to lack of screens?
http://www.electronista.com/articles/12/08/31/sharp.experiencing.production.glitches.with.in.cell.display.tech/
The Wall Street Journal via Electronista is reporting that Sharp, one of three display manufacturers tapped to provide displays for Apple’s next generation iPhone has been experiencing manufacturing issues.

This is not the first time that Sharp has had issues deploying next-generation technology, and it has hurt the company at its bottom line as its recent $1.2 billion loss testifies to. The lack of these displays could lead to a constrained supply of the phone when it is released.

Apple and Samsung agree on something
Apple and Samsung have agreed that any payment or bond that Samsung may need to make can be put off for at least a few months according to Foss Patents. It seems that since Apple buys significantly more than the amount of the fine from Samsung on a regular basis it sees no reason to burden its partners.

The author speculated that the issue also was influenced by the fact that with cases pending against each other in 10 countries it makes sense to waive posting bonds rather than being forced to do so in a variety of jurisdictions.

While the two are agreeing on some things at the same time Apple is seeking to add both the popular Samsung Galaxy SIII and the Galaxy Note to the list of eight other devices that it is seeking to have banned from import and sale in the United States.

Apple and Google in Patent talks
In some of the least secret talks in recent years, if true, Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and Google’s CEO Larry Page are having talks about how to settle the patent disputes that have been an ongoing bone of contention between the two companies, and in Google’s place the licensees of its Android operating system.

While neither side is admitting to the talks it has been reported by multiple sources that they talked via phone last week and have additional talks scheduled. It has been viewed that Samsung, Motorola Mobility and HTC, all of whom are fighting Apple in a variety of courts around the globe are simply serving as Google’s proxies in the battle.

Amazon to double its fun with two new Kindle Fire tablets
There have been reports for weeks that Amazon planned to beat Apple to the punch by delivering a next generation Kindle Fore prior to Apple’s expected release of a 7-inch iPad, commonly called the iPad Mini. Now reports are emerging that Amazon will release two new Kindles, and possibly by Friday this week.

Cnet is saying that the company will have a pair of 7-inch Kindles available on Sept 6th, and that contrary to some earlier reports Amazon will not be going with a 10-inch model to take on Apple and others in the larger screen format space.

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Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Google, HTC, Intel, iOS, Lawsuit, Motorola, Samsung, Smartphone, Sony, Tablets Tagged With: , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Replacement Refs Make the Cut, Apple/Motorola Bury the Ax, Sort of

August 31, 2012 by

ESPN pays out $5.6 billion for MLB broadcast rights
ESPN will remain the broadcaster of choice for Major League Baseball for Sunday, Monday and Wednesday night baseball as the broadcast giant has inked a new deal with the league for $5.6 bn according to the Sports Business Journal.

The eight year deal will work out to be approximately $700 million per annum, more than double the current deal. Other broadcast rights are still in the process of being bid and baseball may have many windfall years ahead. I wonder what this will do to the luxury tax in the league, although I am sure that it is already covered in the CBA.

Microsoft offers SkyDrive for Android
Although it sounds vaguely like the plot for Terminator 4, it is simply Microsoft offering its SkyDrive cloud storage service as an app for Android users and they can go over to the Google Play store and pick it up. While it can run on early versions of the Android operating system it is optimized for version 4.0.

Apple’s win a loss for standard-essential patents?
While I write a good deal about patent issues due to the seemingly constant state of litigation that is ongoing in the mobile and handheld space, I am far from an expert on the topic, and do not pretend to be so. An interesting look at some of the after affects from Apple’s win over Microsoft can be found at this piece from Reuters.

An interesting conclusion I gain from the piece is that the host of patents that Google gained in the Motorola purchase may not have quite the value that the company believed that it would have, and that could make the deal a lot less valuable than previously believed.

ESPN’s top college football markets
Ever wonder why a game is on and how well it did in terms of viewership? Well ESPN did not release all of its market data but it has provided a look at the top 25 markets, but from last year and going back 12 years.

There is a lot of interesting data in there, mined quite well to show you the shifting interest in teams , regions and leagues. The only two areas that stayed in the top 5 over the entire span were Birmingham and Columbus, Ohio.

Motorola and Apple bury the ax in Ge

rmany
Peace at last? That is probably too much to ask but at least one bone of contention between the two has been buried as Motorola Mobility and Apple have agreed on a FRAND licenses in Germany. An earlier attempt had failed when Motorola asked for 2.25% revenue rate.

Apple called the deal “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory” and will call for Apple to pay Motorola an unspecified sum for all previous use of Motorola technology, Foss Patents reports. It also said that the deal is probably a result of the ruling in the Apple/Samsung case.

Images of next generation Sony tablet leaked
As the release date for Windows 8 nears more news about the hardware developers plans appear to be leaking out, intentionally or unintentionally. Sony is the latest with a very interesting looking tablet called the VAIO Duo 11.

Sony’s efforts in the tablet space have been met with less than open arms but the image shows a tablet that has a built-in, fold out keyboard in a sharp looking industrial design. The tablet appears to be running Microsoft Office, meaning that it uses an Intel or AMD processor.

NFL Replacement Refs to start season
Well one group made it through the pre-season without getting the chop and that is the NFL’s replacement reps. Not happy with this since I am pretty sure I saw a couple of 17 yard penalties marched off last week.

I suspect that no matter how well they actually do, fans for half of the teams will be blaming the refs on everything from their teams’ loss to costing them in the points category in their Fantasy Football league. I wonder how long this will go on or will the NFL change its mind in less than a week?

Samsung shows five pending Windows 8 phones
Samsung took the floor at the IAF trade show in Berlin and backed the truck up with a wide range of new and future devices including the Galaxy Note II, hybrid PCs and a new high end camera. It also previewed five smartphones that will be using Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system.

The devices, with info on them here from Gizmag, will all carry the brand name ATIV as the company appears ready to use that moniker to cover aa wide range of next generation devices including PCs and phones. The official launch of Windows 8 is in late October and expect to see more details from all of the players adopting Microsoft’s Windows 8 for a variety of products.

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Filed Under: Android, Apple, ESPN, Google, Intel, Microsoft, NFL, Samsung Tagged With: , , , ,
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