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Category: Mobile Roundup
October 16th, 2009
Android opens doors for Google's next-gen search, ads and tools
There’s no question that there’s been some pretty astounding growth around Android, Google’s open-source mobile phone operating system. A year ago, there was only one Android device out there - the T-Mobile G-1. Today, Android is powering 12 devices in 26 countries with 32 carriers - and there’s more on the way.
During the company’s quarterly earnings call with analysts yesterday, CEO Eric Schmidt said it plain and clear: “Android adoption is literally about to explode.” And he may be right. Earlier this month, Gartner predicted that Android - which currently runs on less than 2 percent of all smartphones - will power 14 percent of the global smartphone market in 2012.
That would make Android second only to Symbian. Yes, that means it would surpass the iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and others.
The key, in part is the applications. Apple has already proven that the app experience is a winner in mobile devices. So far, there are about 10,000 applications for Android and its touch-screen interaction is probably the best I’ve experienced aside from the iPhone. (FTC disclosure: Google gave attendees at its last developer’s conference a free Android phone. I picked one up and activated my own pre-paid account to take it for a test drive.)
Also see: Android bolsters its app market as device lineup swells
Android has good engaged base for future app growth
For other consumers to experience Android, it’s important to get the devices into as many hands as possible. Unlike Apple, which has one device on one carrier in the U.S. (but other carriers worldwide), Google is offering multiple devices across multiple carriers, including a major launch with Verizon earlier this month. Once the devices - which have deep ties to Google’s other services, such as Mail, Maps and Search - go mainstream. Google will be positioned to capture a lead in the mobile search advertising business.
Execs yesterday boasted that mobile searches grew 30 percent quarter over quarter. It was interesting to hear them acknowledge that it’s not always obvious how the company’s big investments tie together. But there are connections. On the call, CFO Patrick Pichette said:
The combination of the Android platform with all the smart phones and the momentum in there, as well as the iPhone and the rest of them, I mean, they’re just basically transforming how people live on a mobile basis… If we move forward the adoption of these smart phones by having a lower cost infrastructure because it’s open-source and you bring that, instead of taking seven years—I’m just kind of giving an illustration—all this happens in four years. Think of all the searches that will happen so much faster. So the ecosystem is incredibly vibrant right now and truly what’s interesting about these phones is there are a lot of new types of searches because you are location-specific, you are activity-specific, you are local-specific. Just a new set of areas that are to create a new set of monetization opportunities.
So, to be clear, we’ve got location-specific, activity-specific and local-specific searches being conducted on mobile devices. You also have the Internet’s No. 1 search engine integrating its own services - such as search - directly into the phone’s operating system. At the same time, the mapping application - where many of those location-based queries occur - is also deeply integrated.
And finally, don’t forget that Google is working hard on new advertising products that allow businesses to reach out to and find customers wherever they may be (even if it’s at a red-light down the street) and provide them with turn-by-turn directions on how to reach that business and a link to launch a Google Voice call to that business.
Put it all together - search, maps, voice and a mobile operating system that probably has the best chance of truly challenging the mighty iPhone - and I’d be bullish, too.
It’s no wonder that Schmidt thinks Android is about to explode.
Also see:
- Is the Google Android platform the upcoming smartphone of choice?
- CTIA: Android and Apps everywhere
- LG goes Android, but Google’s mobile OS is still swimming upstream [video]
- Motorola bullish on Android, Motoblur rollout in 2010
- It’s official: Google and Apple are competitors (especially in mobile)
- If everyone bets on Android does anyone get an advantage?
October 6th, 2009
Verizon-Google changes mobile landscape; Customers have real options again
I had to take a moment to pause and think about this new Google-Verizon chumminess and their common, yet unspoken, quest to go after the Apple-AT&T relationship with the iPhone that includes today’s partnership news and a new ad campaign.
For those who don’t know, I am a Verizon Wireless customer who is currently using a loaner Blackberry Tour. I am also one of the Apple faithful who would rather be using an iPhone but refuses to pay more than $100 a month for the hit-or-miss AT&T service. (But that’s a rant you can read in a previous post.)
What really clouds the issue for me is that I also like Google’s Android mobile OS. I have been carrying around an HTC MyTouch device running pre-paid T-Mobile service for a couple of months now. The service is OK, at best, but the user experience with the software - and the deep integration of Google’s services such as mail, maps and search - is second only to the iPhone (Blackberry has a long way to go, in my opinion).
Yes, I’m a bit torn now - but here’s the good news. I’m torn because I suddenly feel like I have options. Real options.
As my colleague Larry Dignan pointed out in his own post this morning, there has been a trade-off between cutting-edge devices and reliability as a Verizon Wireless customer. (Sorry, the Blackberry Storm didn’t make the cut as a cutting-edge device for me.) Like him, I also stuck by Verizon Wireless and its reliable service over the flashiest new devices. And, in all honesty, I’ve just been holding my breath, waiting for Verizon and Apple to bust out with an iPhone announcement the second that the AT&T-Apple exclusivity deal ends, rumored to be sometime next year.
September 3rd, 2009
J.D. Powers: Verizon tops in voice quality; AT&T, Sprint get no love
Among wireless carriers in the U.S., Verizon Wireless has the best voice quality in five of the nation’s six regions, with U.S. Cellular - not AT&T or Sprint - taking the honors in the sixth region. In the west, Verizon shared the top ranking with Alltel and T-Mobile. The honors comes courtesy of J.D. Powers and Associates, which conducts a semiannual study of voice call quality across the country.
Overall, J.D. Powers found that the wireless industry has done a good job at upgrading its networks, noting that reported problems with connectivity issues such as dropped calls and static have declined since the last report six months ago. In a statement, Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates, said:
As carriers continue to upgrade existing network infrastructure and create more robust coverage footprints, wireless customers are recognizing an improvement in performance. As customers continue to increasingly stress wireless networks with growing call volume and data usage for texting, e-mailing and surfing the mobile Web, it is critical for carriers to keep enhancing network performance by maintaining and upgrading to next-generation technologies.
The study measures wireless call quality, based on seven problem areas that impact overall carrier performance: dropped calls; static/interference; failed call connection on the first try; voice distortion; echoes; no immediate voicemail notification; and no immediate text message notification.
Also see: NYT: Customers Angered as iPhones Overload AT&T
Scrutiny of wireless service becomes increasingly important because, in the wireless game, carriers are quick to alter the message to meet their needs. Case in point: AT&T touts the “most bars worldwide” and yet it has been the subject of much ridicule in major cities across the U.S. because its voice and data service on the iPhone is considered to be among the worst. Maybe if I were somewhere else in the world, AT&T would be a good choice - but I’m not much of a global traveler.
After trials with AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley region - and a small handful of other places around the country - I’ve stuck by Verizon Wireless because, for me, it offers the best coverage. The others were hit or miss around the region, though Sprint and T-Mobile were strong contenders. For me, AT&T isn’t in the race (which also means I don’t own an iPhone.)
For a long time, I’ve been advising friends and family (and even readers of this blog) to shop the service instead of shopping the phone. It can be the coolest and sexiest device in the world - but if the service sucks, what’s the use?
Of course, with the carriers offering 30-day no-obligation trials of their devices and service, I would strongly encourage phone shoppers to take a test run first. At least you know what you’re getting yourself into before you get locked into a two-year contract.
Previous coverage:
August 28th, 2009
Will the FCC's inquiries about wireless market be a waste of time?
The wireless industry is about to find out what it’s like to be under Washington’s microscope. The FCC this week announced efforts to further study competitive landscape of the mobile wireless market and determine whether consumers have the necessary information they need to make informed decisions about mobile phones and mobile phone service.
The notices of inquiry announced by the FCC comes on the heels of replies from Google, AT&T and Apple over government’s inquiry surrounding the controversial Google Voice app for the iPhone. Earlier this month, word spread that Apple had rejected the Google Voice app - though Apple says it’s still “pondering” it. It was believed that the reason for a rejection of the app was because it cut into the voice service revenue stream offered by Apple partner AT&T. That’s not exactly the case, as I keep explaining in blog posts, but it was enough to spark some interest in Washington.
The announcements of the formal notices of inquiry are here, here and here.
Also see: FCC’s more proactive stance: Should we cheer or worry?
Washington has raised some questions earlier this year about exclusivity deals, such as the multi-year exclusive agreement between AT&T and Apple for service on the iPhone. In its notice, the FCC wrote:
Wireless mobility has become central to the economic, civic, and social lives of over 270 million Americans. We are now in the midst of a transition from reliance on mobile voice services to increasing use of and reliance on mobile broadband services, which promise to connect American citizens in new and profound ways. A robustly competitive mobile wireless market will be essential to realizing the full benefits to American consumers and channeling investment into vitally important national infrastructure. The FCC is seeking to ensure that competition in the mobile wireless market continues to bring substantial benefits to American consumers.
My biggest concern with the inquiries out of Washington, though, are that the FCC is reacting a bit too late and will move slowly - with new deals and new technologies coming out before any sort of conclusions are reached, potentially making the government’s issue a moot point.
August 11th, 2009
My smartphone affair: Cheating on Verizon and Blackberry for a taste of Sprint and Pre
I’m going through a bit of a smartphone mid-life crisis - so I’ve quietly started a smartphone affair with Sprint and the Palm Pre.
You see, I’ve been using a Blackberry on Verizon Wireless for some time now and, in all honesty, I’m a bit burned out. Don’t get me wrong. The Blackberry is still an effective device at bringing together my work and personal e-mail, calendar, contacts and some useful apps, too. And I’ve had no problems with the Verizon service in my home, around the neighborhood and in my travels.
But, lately, I’ve been wondering if the grass is greener on the other side of the smartphone fence. I already know I love the iPhone but am not willing to become an AT&T customer. Windows Mobile just reminds me of Windows - and regular readers know that I’m no fan of Windows - so I don’t even bother looking at any of those devices.
A couple of months back, I spent 30 days playing with the free Android phone that was given to attendees at Google’s developer’s conference, along with 30 days of T-Mobile service. I liked the phone and the Android user interface and even was OK with T-Mobile’s service. But the pricing for T-Mobile seemed kind of high - plus I was still locked into my Verizon account.
But now, with less than 60 days left on my Verizon account, I’ve started lurking around mall kiosks and other places where more seductive smartphones can entice me into picking them up and taking them home. Over the weekend, I ducked into a Sprint store to look around. Next thing you know, I was walking out with a Pre.
Over the next 28 days or so, I’ll put the device - and the Sprint service - through some usage tests (and seeing how I use Google Voice, I don’t have to worry about the phone number issue.) and decide whether or not to keep it. At the end of the 30 days, I’ll post again with my decision of whether to keep it or return it.
You see, folks, I’m practicing what I’ve been preaching for some time now. I am taking advantage of the 30-day, no obligation return policy that the carriers have in place. If I decide in that time that I don’t like the device or the service, I simply return it for a full refund (even though I’m still on the hook for one month’s worth of service.) At the same time, I’m resisting the lure of a flashy phone by putting equal weight behind the quality of service by the carrier. That was my issue with the iPhone when I gave it a 30-day test run earlier this year - iPhone was great; AT&T sucked.
When the Pre came out last month, I ducked into a Sprint store to take a look. Of course, they were sold out - but I did learn a lot about pricing and found that I could probably save $120 or more on my monthly family plan bill by switching to Sprint.
Saving money is great but I’m more turned on by consistently reliable service. Truth be told: the iPhone, Pre and Android devices may be pretty to look at but if the service sucks, there’s no use switching.
Wouldn’t you agree?
June 23rd, 2009
Verizon, T-Mobile plan Android phones by year's end; boost for Motorola
A lot has changed in the smartphone game since last October.
That’s when Motorola first announced its intentions to tap Google’s open-source approach toward smartphones with the Android OS - a move that was part of a larger strategy to turn around the troubled mobile handset division.
Also see: Motorola’s mobile woes: Can Android turn things around?
Months earlier, the company brought in former Qualcomm exec Sanjay Jha as CEO of the division, giving him the task of healing the division at a time when the economy was tanking.
At the time, the company said the phones wouldn’t be available until late 2009. Today, the Wall Street Journal is reporting plans by Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile to offer Motorola Android phones before the end of the year - right on schedule.
But, again, a lot has changed since last October, notably the arrival of the Palm Pre for Sprint and a new iPhone 3GS this week. Apple said yesterday that it sold more than one million iPhone 3G S devices over its launch weekend. And Blackberry maker Research in Motion said in its quarterly earnings call last week that subscriptions were up, new products were on the way and the outlook is solid.
Also see: Palm reviewers: The Pre has a puncher’s chance
Smartphones are where the growth is expected and, increasingly, the lure is less about the device itself and more about the software that’s running on it. The Android OS, for example, is integrated closely with Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, search and other Google favorites. And several carriers around the world are on-board to carry Android devices.
Translation: the field is crowded, times are still tough but Android has been getting some positive reviews that are helping it rise above the noise. That’s a good thing for Motorola, which could use a growth injection from some excitement around Android.
Previous coverage:
June 17th, 2009
Washington digs in on text message pricing; asks about carrier exclusivity
Congress continued to take the wireless carriers to the mat over the wrong issue, specifically the cost of a text message. Now, it looks like there may be an effort to pin them down on a matter that will likely resonate with a greater a number of people: carrier exclusivity for a specific device, notably AT&T’s hold on the iPhone.
Yesterday, lawyers for AT&T and Verizon testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee on the allegations of collusion over the pricing of a single text message. Sen. Herb Kohl has been leading the charge on this matter since he learned that the price of a text message doubled from 10 cents to 20 cents for the major carriers.
He was right to smell a rat there but the wireless carriers did a good job yesterday of denying any sort of collusion between the carriers while highlighting the irrelevance of the pricing for a single text message, also known as a pay-per-use, or PPU. Most customers today, by far, subscribe to some sort of bundled plan that includes either a bucket of text messages or an unlimited plan for a flat monthly rate. In prepared remarks, AT&T general counsel Wayne Watts said in his testimony (PDF):
… less than 1% of AT&T’s postpaid text messaging volume is handled on a PPU basis. Instead, the vast majority of our customers take advantage of AT&T’s multiple messaging pricing plans, including those that provide a package of messages for a flat monthly rate. These plans include: 200 messages per month for $5.00, for an effective rate of 2.5 cents per message; 1500 messages per month for $15.00, for an effective rate of 1 penny per message; and unlimited messages for $20.00. For $30.00 per month, families can enjoy unlimited text messaging.
He went on to note that 99 percent of all text messages sent or received by AT&T customers are covered by one of those packages. As a result, he said, the per-message rate actually dropped from $0.043 in January 2007 to $0.014 in March 2009, a decline of nearly 70 percent in two years.
Last fall, I chimed in on this by saying that Sen. Kohl was fighting the wrong battle with the wireless carriers. From my own experience, I have no complaints with the flat-rate unlimited text plan I have through Verizon. With teen and pre-teen kids on my plan, I feel like I come out ahead every month.
Instead, I’d like to hear more about the latest effort being launched by four Senators on the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet who want to know whether carrier exclusivity agreements - such as the AT&T/iPhone deal - “unfairly restrict consumer choice or adversely impact competition in the commercial wireless marketplace.”
Duh! That’s a gimme, don’t you think? As a consumer, my choice is restricted. I would rather have an iPhone but - even if I was willing to tolerate AT&T crappy service - I can’t get one through my existing carrier, which has me tied to a two-year contract.
On the surface, it looks like the senators want the FCC to look at the impact of these agreements on rural customers. But there’s an interesting line in a letter penned by the four senators that screams Apple/iPhone. The senators are asking the FCC to determine “whether exclusivity agreements place limitations on a consumer’s ability to take full advantage of handset technologies, such as the ability to send multimedia messages or the ability to “tether” a device to a computer for Internet use.”
You’ll recall that Apple’s latest iPhone 3G S allows MMS messaging and tethering - except in the U.S., where AT&T is still not ready to open those technologies to its customers.
On another related note: AT&T appears to be caving to the pressure of unhappy iPhone customers who are locked into a contract from the purchase of the iPhone 3G last year and are not eligible for upgrading prices on the new iPhone 3G S. John Paczkowski reports on his Digital Daily blog that the wireless carrier is adjusting those upgrade dates to allow some additional flexibility.
It’s still a big confusing mess of dates and prices. And certainly not all iPhone customers will be satisfied. But such is the price you pay for being an early adopter, I suppose. Maybe those customers can find a way to petition Washington to next start scrutinizing the fairness of two-year contracts.
May 27th, 2009
A Day For Dumping on Texting: Give It Up
Sending short text messages from mobile phones have become arguably the most popular method of instant communications among teenagers and young adults.
That was established last fall, when Nielsen reported not only that the average mobile customer placed 357 text messages and only 204 phone calls in the second quarter of 2008. More trenchantly, mobile users aged 13 to 17 placed 1,742 text messages a month and those 18 to 24 790.
So now it seems time to rain on texting’s parade. The touchpoint was The New York Times’ report on the possible skewing of the results of the “American Idol” vote last week that crowned Arkansas’ Kris Allen over the expected victor Adam Lambert.
The Times reported:
Representatives of AT&T helped fans of Mr. Allen at the two Arkansas events by providing instructions on how to send 10 or more text messages at the press of a single button, known as power texts. Power texts have an exponentially greater effect on voting than do single text messages or calls to the show’s toll-free phone lines. The efforts appear to run afoul of “American Idol” voting rules in two ways. The show broadcasts an on-screen statement at the end of each episode warning that blocks of votes cast using “technical enhancements” that unfairly influence the outcome of voting can be thrown out.
And sites around the Web picked up the report with glee or furor.
Read the rest of this entry »
May 4th, 2009
RIM beats Apple in one-hit wonder quarter. What's next?
From what the numbers show, RIM’s buy-one-get-one-free Blackberry promotion was a first quarter smash, sending consumer sales figures skyrocketing past the competition - namely, the iPhone. (Techmeme)
Now what?
Don’t get me wrong. This is a good thing for RIM - and Verizon. Market research firm NPD Group says RIM’s market share jumped 15 percent from the previous quarter up to nearly 50 percent. (Apple and Palm each lost 10 percent share for the quarter). Those new Blackberry owners are now locked into the pricier data plan for a couple of years. With cancellation fees and all, they’re less likely to bail out for the shiny new iPhone or Palm Pre, which is expected to launch soon. And don’t forget that lineup of Motorola Android phones expected out for the holiday season.
RIM has long been a leader in smartphones - they were the first and, in the enterprise, they’ve been mainstream for a long time. Bottom line: they had a headstart in this smartphone game. With the competition about to heat up again and the enterprise market still singing the the economy blues, RIM had to turn to the consumer to gain some ground.
It was probably a good time for them to press that turbo boost button and shoot farther ahead to take a healthier lead. The road ahead is uncertain for RIM and it’s not just the launch of the Pre and a new iPhone that the company should be thinking about. Want to look at the flip side of this NPD report? How about the cannibalization of the enterprise business?
Last week, I chimed in about an analyst’s report that said RIM was solid in the long-term because of the pent-up demand for replacements in the enterprise when the economy starts to recover. I argued that the Bring Your Own factor could have an impact on that “pent-up demand” if companies don’t need to replace devices for employees who prefer to use their own. Thanks to the consumer 2-for-1 promo, there are a lot more Blackberrys in the hands of people who otherwise might have been issued on by their employers. Now, the boss is off the hook.
Poll: Do you get mobile work e-mail from your own device or a company-issued one?
That’s just one thing that RIM execs are dealing with. Other points to ponder:
- Can version 2 of the Blackberry Storm go head-to-head with the newest iPhone?
- What happens if Verizon and Apple team up and launch an iPhone? [video]
- Will the Palm Pre, which received a lot of buzz at CES, have a big impact on the overall market?
- And what about Motorola’s new smartphones built on Google’s Android OS?
April 1st, 2009
Cable’s Conundrum: Does It Need Wireless?
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The iPhone has been the object of the creation of more applications than any other platform, Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts noted on stage today at the 2009 Cable Show.
Now, Skype is available on the iPhone. Besides Skype, there are and will be other ways to use wifi and broadband Internet connections to turn handheld devices into phones – without connecting to wireless phone networks.
So what should cable do about wireless telephony?
Comcast and a few other big cable system operators are working with serial disruptor Craig McCaw to provide wireless phone services through his Clearwire broadband wireless. Cox Communications bought its own spectrum and is developing the back office and other systems needed to deliver its own wireless services, as well as working with Sprint. And smaller operators, such as St. Louis-based Suddenlink Communications, are taking a “wait-and-see” approach.
After all, a prior joint venture between big operators and Sprint, called Pivot, died. And, if Skype on an iPod Touch is all you need to have a wireless phone, why reinvent the wheel? It’ll just help sell your Internet service. As long as you make wireless access to the Internet part of what you do throughout your service territory as Cablevision Systems is doing.
“Wireless is a conundrum in the cable industry in how we take that first step,’’ said Roberts.
But there is really less to this conundrum than meets the ear. Because neither the Comcast nor the Cox approach is about delivering phone services. They’re not about the ear.
They’re about the eyes. How to deliver services that incorporate features that the cable operators already deliver, with television and Internet services, that they can somehow marry to voice services or even just deliver straight to handheld devices, in some unique fashion.
What that “killer application” or applications might be, no one knows. But the operators want to take from a tried-and-true playback of building the capacity so that the apps and the users will come.
Clearwire’s McCaw, on the same stage as Roberts, noted that his company has assembled more spectrum than has been put together before, in a civilized nation for civilian purposes. Cable operators will be flying Boeing 777s, he indicated, compared to the “regional jets” of rivals.
But, in the end, whatever emerges will still be based on what is inside the cable network, generally a regional infrastructure itelf.
“The most valuable asset (we) own is still the last mile to the home,’’ said Cox president Pat Esser. “Wireless does not change that.”
It, he said, would be an overlay.
March 11th, 2009
When The Smartest Phone Is A Dumb Phone
A recession is when your friend loses a job. A depression is when you lose yours. Similarly, privacy is not a concern, until you lose yours in an overt way.
So it is with smart phones. There are all kinds of privacy violations you can imagine and get worked up about. Businesses need to worry about whether they are making it too easy for employees to peer into company databases – and facilitate the transfer of carefully guarded information to other phones and computers. Employees can get worried that their company-issued phones are being used to track their whereabouts, during or after official business hours. And consumers can get worried that marketers may know so much about their purchasing habits and their whereabouts that they’ll never get away from advertising pitches targeted at their every move and mood.
But there are practical measures to counter every one of these issues. Businesses can limit access to their servers to approved devices, user by user. Employees can elect not to accept company-issued phones. And consumers will find ways to block or ignore the marketing pitches.
In fact, when it comes to location-based privacy issues, there’s a good chance they’ll resolve themselves. Smart smartphone makers will provide the ability to turn off GPS tracking, temporarily or permanently. They’ll sell more phones that way. Smart merchants will be judicious about how they use even the anonymized data about customers’ habits and whereabouts they obtain, or they’ll be shunned. And smart consumers who don’t want to be tracked will not buy GPS- or other location-identifying phones.
In that regard, kerfuffles to come about how to keep your whereabouts private and still use location-tracking cell phones will have a bit of the flavor of the indecency debates involving another electronic communication device, the television.
If you don’t like the language or amount of flesh being aired on a particular channel, change the channel. Or stop subscribing. Or turn the TV off.
Same here. If you think your phone is being used as a portal into your world, rather than you using it as a portal into the world around you, you’ll find ways to block the intrusion. Or turn the phone off. Or change phones.
If the tracking becomes too obtrusive, the smartest phone may be a dumb phone.
December 24th, 2008
Laptop Power Out of Thin Air And Other Christmas Wishes
Santa and his reindeer will be flying around, dropping down your chimney with a 3G iPhone, Amazon Kindle, GPS device or other techno gee-gaw you’ve been lusting after.
But if you’re looking for something really cool, you may want to start putting together your wish list for Christmas 2009 or 2010. Start with power that comes out of thin air for your laptop or your cell phone.
Behind the doors of a suite at The Venetian hotel, electricity will be pulled out of the air for manufacturers of all sorts of electronics gear as the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show starts on January 8.
This is “the next big thing” promised by the WiTriCity startup whose founders hail from MIT and first demonstrated the ability to power a 60-watt lightbulb through the air in June 2007.
The outfit has been developing commercial versions of its technology in stealth mode since, its engineers and scientists using about $5 million from Stata Venture Partners and Argonaut Private Equity.
As its CEO, it’s hired Eric Giler, who was the founder of telecommunications network gear supplier Brooktrout Technology and later CEO of Groove Mobile, a wireless music service.
In its suite at CES, Giler and crew will be putting on demonstrations for computer, phone and other manufacturers of its ability to charge devices which consume less than 100 watts of power at a time, through the air.
The two main demos will be recharging of a conventional laptop, with approximately a 15-inch screen, and a combination TV and DVD player.
But don’t think that you’ll just be able to walk around, anywhere, and get a charge.
This will work much like the wireless communications network in your home. You’ll need a power source (think: base station) that will send out the electricity over the air and a “power capture” module in your device that will suck it in (think: witri card).
In some cases, the mobile warrior might not be able to tell much difference from carrying out extra batteries. One power source, for instance, might be a mat that sits on a chair that transmits the power.
The technology will add “minimal cost” to a laptop, phone or other device, according to David Schatz, WiTriCity’s Director of Business Development & Marketing. But he declines to define what that translates to.
WiTriCity will be talking to “virtually every manufacturer of laptops” at CES and sees a market for all kinds of mobile devices, including PDAs, cell phones, music players, and medical devices, such as battery-powered pacemakers, defibrillators and pumps.
In effect, “hot spots” will have to be set up for WiTriCity. But avid users of mobile devices will be happy to walk around their homes and maybe offices at first, charging up their machines wherever they sit, without plugging in.
Which leads to other items to put on the wish list for Christmas in the near future:
• Universal wifi: Here’s hoping Barack Obama, in his infrastructure modernization campaign, figures out a way to create a national network of always available Internet access. We could build an interstate highway system in the ‘50s. Fifty years later, we should be able to figure out how to place wifi connections along all paved roads and in all public places. And create a single sign-on, even if there’s a low-cost subscription fee.
• Digital library storage and services: Sure, you get gigabytes of free storage from Google, Yahoo or other commercial sites. But you will never know how your email, activity and contents are mined for marketing of products, services and messages. Local libraries would be a logical place to set up storage centers, where you could store your personal data “in the cloud” and without commercial intrusion. Print books won’t go away, but this would also set up libraries to play an ongoing role in supplying content in the digital age. Want to borrow a particular digital book, music file or movie, your librarian will transfer it into your data locker for a specified period of time.
Probably won’t happen. Google is setting itself up to be the global library, with Google Books and organizing of all the world’s information it can put its hands on.
But, if smart entrepreneurs can pull power out of thin air, universal wifi and localized digital library services can at least make the wish list.
October 27th, 2008
Mobile You: Taking Fewer Devices ... Or More?
Worldwide, smart phones are now outselling laptop computers, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal by Nick Wingfield. The implication: Professionals are now more inclinded to leave laptops behind and use their smart phones as their digital computing devices, while on the road.
Now, only 3% of folks citied by an In-Stat survey in the report actually supported that, saying they left their laptops behind when mobile.
And, it’s probably never really going to become a widespread habit. The contention here: We’ll take more devices, rather than fewer. We’ll just use them in different ways that suit us on the road.
Reducing the number of electronic devices on our persons usually ends with the removal of an ancient machine: The watch. It’s no longer needed, when you carry a cell phone or computer.
But the “smart” road warrior probably now carries:
–A smart phone, to handle email, some document management and basic Web access, while meeting business contacts or visiting customers or suppliers.
–A laptop computer, for more intensive work back at the hotel or in presentations.
–A thumb drive, to make sure all really important files are always available and on one’s person, while moving about. This allows use of most any computer, when available.
–User name and password to an online data storage service, in case the jump drive gets left behind (it’s easy to forget).
Then there are other devices that no longer seem optional. To wit:
–Compact digital camera, with decent resolution. No, it’s not about taking pictures in meetings or of one’s dinner, for a personal blog. How many conferences have you been in where you can’t take down data on a presentation screen that will prove useful later on? Take a snapshot. The camera is an instant note-taker, in any setting.
–Digital voice recorder. You never know what speech or meeting is going to produce useful information — or need to be fact-verified later on. Digital recorders are tiny and inobtrusive. Files are easy to upload and review. Why not?
The number of devices for the Mobile You is more likely to be going up. The laptop most likely won’t be left behind. It just will get driven to be slimmer and lighter (see netbooks and MacBook Air).
That’s likely where getting weight off the shoulder will come.
Are you reducing or increasing the number of devices you take with you, on the road? And, if it’s up, not down, what’s the best way to deal with the device load?
Or overload.
October 21st, 2008
Apple’s New Numbers: Dialing Up Its Mobile Phone Results
The most notable number from today’s Apple earnings call: 39%.
That is the percentage of its sales that Apple says went to the iPhone in its fourth quarter, which ended Sept. 27.
All told, Apple said it sold $4.6 billion worth of iPhones worldwide, in the quarter. In unit terms, it sold 6.9 million, propelled by the launch of the iPhone 3G. Suddenly, it is past its 10 million units goal for all of 2008.
Now here’s the mathematical rub: If you took that number and divided it by Apple’s official sales for the quarter, $7.9 billion, you’d get the impression that Apple is, in one fell swoop, more of a mobile phone company than a computer company. After just 15 months in the business.
After all, $4.6 billion divided by $7.9 billion woud be 58.2% of sales.
But the $7.9 billion is based on generally accepted accounting principles, aka GAAP. The $4.6 billion is not.
Apple uses what is called “subscription accounting,’’ in its official reporting of its fiscal results, for both the iPhone and the Apple TV. This is because the company may provide new features and software to power these two products, over their expected lives. As a result, it only recognizes, in any given quarter, a straight-line percentage of their revenues and costs. And if a loss is expected, it is taken up front.
So, for the first time, in a move trumpeted by CEO Steve Jobs, in a rare appearance on an earnings call, Apple will begin reporting “non-GAAP” results each quarter, in addition to its results that meet official accounting standards.
Here’s how the reported numbers (on the left) compare with the new numbers (on the right):
Those alternate results account for all sales and all costs with the iPhone and Apple TV products as the units are sold. This is how sales of Macintosh computers are recorded.
So, if you take the same approach to all Apple products, then Jobs is saying Apple can be considered an $11.7 billion company now, not $7.9 billion. And its bottom line would be $2.4 billion, more than double its official report of $1.1 billion.
If you then take the $4.6 billion of iPhone sales against $11.7 billion of sales in Apple’s alternate, new numbers, you get 39%.
Meaning: Phones are still a minority of sales. But, hey, in little more than a year, the mobile communications business has become almost half of Apple’s business.
In fact, if you were sad to see Motorola sink as a pre-eminent homegrown supplier of mobile phones, don’t worry. Apple, Jobs submits, is now the third largest supplier of mobile phones in the world.
His accounting:
Nokia, $12.7 billion
Samsung, $5.9 billion
Apple, $4.6 billion
Sony Ericsson, $4.2 billion
LG, $3.4 billion
Motorola, $3.2 billion
Research in Motion (Blackberry), $2.1 billion
All told, Apple picks up $3.7 billion in sales, by converting subscription accounting to more conventional accounting of sales of electronics sales. It picks up $1.3 billion of net income, as well.
You have to believe most of that $3.7 billion in jacked-up sales came from the iPhone. But Apple did not break out the “GAAP” number for iPhones or the non-GAAP number for Apple TVs.
So if Apple is trying to give “added transparency” with the second set of numbers, as Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer contends, , there’s still a step left.
Apple should break out both the old and new numbers by product line: Mac desktops, Mac portables, Mac music (iPods and iTunes), Mac communications (iPhones and app sales) and Apple TV.
Nonetheless, Apple has transformed itself from a computing company to a personal digital devices company, seemingly overnight. In this quarter, a front-rank mobile phone company clearly emerged.
The GAAP numbers show it. The non-GAAP numbers show it even more.
October 2nd, 2008
Texting? Pull Over ...
So, it looks official. The train engineer who never slowed down before ramming his commuter train into a freight train in California was indeed sending text messages right up to the time of the crash.
That’s bad enough. Twenty-five people died and 135 were injured in the worst train wreck in 15 years.
But, you have to believe that more people — particularly young ones — are dying from texting. Not in trains, but in cars.
It’s the young who think driving and texting mix. One recent study found that almost half of US motorists aged 18 to 24 years old have sent text-based messages while on the road. In the United Kingdom, 37% are texting while driving.
This is worse than drinking or smoking pot while driving. According to research in the United Kingdom, texting while driving slowed reactions by 35%. Pot? 22%. Drink? 12%. So we’re supposed to take comfort that driving while drinking … ain’t so bad?
Here’s one mother’s poignant recounting of the fatal effects of texting while driving. The key part: All the photos of young people who have died as a result. This is a train wreck in itself.
Bicyclists are dying. Innocent youngsters are dying. One by one. But it adds up.
Maybe it took the death of 16-year-old Kayla Preuss in Highland, Calif., in August to seal the deal, but at least in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarznegger has at least signed a ban into effect.
But laws can only do so much. At some point, you have to use your head.
To look ahead.
In the United Kingdom, they’re now putting wrappers around streetpoles, because one in 10 Brits injure themselves walking while texting.
If you’re a train engineer, a driver or a walker, pull over. Texting is not a mobile activity.
September 23rd, 2008
Apps for Androids: Will Google Map Out An 'Open' Platform?
Smartphones are no better than the apps that they run. So, if you’re going to follow the money on Google’s bet on its Android operating system for mobile phones, you also have to follow the apps. That’s where an Android phone will have to distinguish itself from an iPhone or BlackBerry or other handheld device.
Even if they get to run the same Web-based service from Google.
Also debuting Tuesday was Google’s latest edition of its transit mapping service, available now in New York City, the nation’s largest metropolis. And probably the locale most dependent on combinations of trains, subways, buses and feet, to get around.
This is the 70th city around the globe to get Google Transit on Maps, according to product manager Raphael Leiteritz. But you would have thought it was the first, if you walked through Grand Central Terminal. Google Transit was being promoted inside and out with pamphleteers handing out paper transit maps and demonstrations were ubiquitous, with proselytes showing what was possible with overhead screens, strapped to their backs.
Google had also taken over the Metrazur restaurant that overlooks the main concourse, affixing a series of green and one huge red pin, next to a New York map, to draw attention. What usually is a bar was for this day another demo station.
What Google was trying to show was that its approach to mapping out local movement was “much broader” than the existing services trying to fill the need to know how to get about a dense urban area efficiently, according to Tom Sly, a Google new business developer. These, in the New York area, would be HopStop, Trips123 and the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s own Trip Planner.
To Sly and Leiteritz, Google Transit on Maps is not so much a trip planner, as a new form of local search. A business-friendly app for mobile customers.
Here’s the New York version. If you’re finishing your glass of chardonnay in Metrazur and want to figure out how to get quickly to Zabar’s to pick up some smoked fish and caviar for a quick meal to continue your commiseration of the day’s losses on Wall Street, you type in “Metrazur” as the starting point and “Zabar’s” as the destination. You select the right location (Metrazur, in Grand Central Terminal, for instance) from options given, opt for “public transit,” instead of “walking” or “car,” and right away get shown symbols that tell you to take the Times Square Shuttle and then the 1 line on the subway to get where you’re going. And if you want to see exactly what Zabar’s looks like, if this is your first visit, you can of course throw up the Street View.
But a mobile app is only good as its connectivity. Demonstrations on BlackBerries on the main concourse and on the Metrazur mezzanine both failed. Perhaps Google was trying to show off too much of a good thing to too many folks, at one time. Only computer-based demos, this day, were reliable.
And Google Transit on Maps still hasn’t quite figured out the last mile problem, at least in this metropolitan area. If, say, you want to figure out how to get from your home in Connecticut, a couple miles from a train station, to your office at 28th and Park in Manhattan, Google Transit on Maps won’t put you on a train. It’ll only send you by car. You have to enter the name of your train station as the start point, which is easy enough to do. But you have to figure this out on your own, right now.
That kind of kink will work itself out. The bigger question will be: Will Google really keep apps like this open to all Web browsers and all Web phones (read: iPhone, etc.) — or will it follow the likes of Apple and Microsoft before it, and find ways to tie the use of its apps to a particular technology platform … like Android?
VIDEO: Is Google’s Android ground-breaking?
September 14th, 2008
Learning From The Train Wreck Of Text Messaging
Don’t kill the messaging technology, when the alleged messager is already dead.
But the possibility that text messaging was at the root of Friday’s fatal train wreck in California should be enough to give us all pause. Isn’t it about time we called a timeout on our compulsive need to communicate at all times, from any where, almost without regard to whatever else we’re doing?
The National Transportation Safety Board rightly says it is continuing to investigate, before it confirms or denies whether the engineer who failed to see one or more warning lights to stop the commuter train in his charge was exchanging text messages at the time he blew through.
But a 15-year-old has claimed to be conducting a series of exchanges with the engineer, up until a minute before the wreck.
If this bears out to be true, 25 people or more are dead because of this addiction to communications that seems now so ingrained in us all. Somehow, the proof that we are somebody important and that our lives reflect our status seems to have gotten acculturate d as: I am always on call. I am always making a call. Or I am always getting a call. On phone, or some other mobile device.
Even if it proves not to be the case — the 15-year-old could just be seeking attention — let’s take these 25 people’s lives and give them practical worth, now and into the future. Use these tragic deaths to head off any future train wreck, because of instant messaging. Or unnecessary phone calls. Or any form of unnecessary out-of-cockpit communication.
Whether it’s a plane, train or automobile, let’s stop right now. No pilot, driver or engineer should be allowed to communicate on any channel other than an officially approved one, for the express purpose of guiding the plane, train or automobile.
Professional calls only. No personal calls. Nothing in the driver’s seat except eyes in the air, on the track or on the road. No attention allowed anywhere else.
Seems so self-evident. Not draconian at all.
If the call or the message is so important, we should each stop what we’re doing and just deal with the message.
Otherwise, just steer.
Not just our own lives are at stake.
September 11th, 2008
100Mbps. 2010. Over The Air. Don't Be Surprised.
What if WiFi could square off or even beat WiMax or other approaches to broadband access to the Internet, over the air?
If you listen to comments from Tom Rutledge, the chief operating officer of Cablevision Systems Corp., at the Merrill Lynch Media Fall Preview, you get the clear impression he thinks he’s sitting pretty on his plan to rollout WiFi throughout his New York, New Jersey and Connecticut footprint. And that he plans to let his 3 million cable customers get not just Internet access, but phone service and video service without a wire at all. Maybe as soon as 2010.
You may have read that the company plans to spend $300 million on the rollout by mid-2010 of WiFi service to its entire footprint.
But that $300 million does not just upgrade its cable network to include WiFi access to the Internet. It also includes the costs of upgrading its network to be able to transmit data at more than 100 million bits a second. This is something made possible by the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification 3.0, which is more easily talked about as providing “wideband,’’ instead of “broadband,” access to the Internet.
Here’s what Rutledge said about the spending on the WiFi rollout:
“We announced that we thought we would spend about $100 a customer. We would do that over three budget cycles. Or over two years, from the middle of ’08 to the middle of ’10. So that’s a little over $300 million. In that is also our DOCSIS wideband product that will allow us to take our speeds to well over 100 megabits over our data network.’’
Now that’s the kind of speed you expect to find on a wired implementation of DOCSIS 3.0. Comcast is planning to begin delivering the capability in about 20 percent of its markets by the end of this year, through a cable. It’s been up in Minneapolis-St. Paul, for a while.
Cablevision did not join with Comcast and Time Warner Cable in the Clearwire-Sprint WiMax joint venture, which is designed to bring broadband-like speed to their customers, over the air. Rutledge said Cablevision never got asked if it was interested. But, given that spectrum for WiMax services can cost billions of dollars, you have to think he would have said “no,” if the question was put to him.
Here is more of what he said:
“Our WiFi strategy is a here-and-now strategy to provide very high-speed data to our customers…
In the New York metropolitan region, we’ve got very high market share and we have a very fast network and we think that there’s a proliferation of WiFi devices. Half of our customers already have WiFi routers in their homes. Almost every device being built today, whether it be iPods or iTouches or cameras or PCs have WiFi radios in them.
So it’s a ubiquitous common standard and we don’t have to buy the consumer electronics devices that go on the other end of it like you do when you have a cell phone company and you don’t have to pay for the spectrum in a WiFi spectrum, because it’s unlicensed.
And here’s the kicker. He says “ultimately, the network is capable of voice and video” and “it’s got all the functionality of our DOCSIS high-speed network.”
Here’s more:
“So, we get to extend our product at a very low cost and extend our customer relationships, so this WiFi will be free to (the) 80 percent of the people who have high-speed data in the New York metropolitan area in our footprint. We think it’s a real value add. Ultimately the network is capable of voice and video, it’s got all the functionality of our DOCSIS high-speed network. We think it’s inexpensive on a per-sub basis and adds tremendous value to the overall consumer proposition.”
So, maybe it won’t be 100 Mbps. But it will not be your father’s WiFi either. It’ll deliver a wireless triple play of voice, video and Internet services with “all the functionality” of a DOCSIS high-speed network.
And, oh, yeah, the $300 million being spent on the WiFi rollout also includes the rollout of DOCSIS wideband functionality.
IMAGE SOURCE: hadithuna.com
September 11th, 2008
What's happening in Mobile: a peek at new products, services
Last night, I had the chance to meet with some companies who are exhibiting at this week’s CTIA Wireless conference in San Francisco at a press-only event called Mobile Focus. It was a good show - food and drink alongside some new devices and technologies in the mobile space - and a chance to get some one-on-one time with executives about their new products and services. There were plenty of new phones on display but many of the devices were there to showcase new mobile web apps, services and technologies. I talked to a handful of companies (regrets to those I missed) and even snapped a few pics. Here’s my roundup:
Lightpole: It’s been said time and time again that you can’t take a Web site designed for a standard browser and just put it in the mobile space. Lightpole takes the Web site and turns it into a mobile application - not just a mobile version of the Web page. For example, Trulia, a real estate search site, is a mobile app that you might use when if you stumble upon a neighborhood you like and want to find homes for sale in it. Yelp, another example, would let you search for restaurants and other businesses near where you are. I prefer mobile apps over a visit to a mobile Web page. In most cases, they’re more friendly to the user and are easier to navigate: two ideal things if you want users to come back.
Streamezzo: Just as developers write applications for Windows, Mac and Linux, developers of mobile apps also have to write for way more mobile platforms - Windows Mobile, iPhone, Symbian, Palm, Blackberry - and coming soon, Android. Streamezzo takes the pain out having to write multiple versions of the same mobile app by using what they call an “abstraction layer” client on the device. Basically, it’s a layer of technology between the device and the display that makes the app compatible with the OS. I kept calling it a “conversion” as I chatted with CEO Pierre-Emmanuel Struyven (left), but he said that’s not quite the right way to think about it. The cool thing is that this technology means that developers don’t have to think about it. Instead, they just build the best app they can and let Streamezzo ensure that it will work on the devices.
Synaptics: They are the technology behind the touch - as in touch-screen phones. You mean like the iPod? They wouldn’t comment on that - but they did show me a number of phones that have touch technology. At the heart of it is the “clearpad,” a transparent sensor with an attached chip. The sensor manages the accuaracy and interaction between the motion of touch and the software. The company has been around for more than 20 years and said its technology has been used in monitors, notebooks and mp3 players. Clearly, the new sweet spot is mobile phones.
iVisit: It’s video conferencing - between mobile and desktop - among multiple people. I can see some businesses needing something like this - but because it’s dependent on the mobile broadband network, 
I don’t know that it would be the best way to conduct a client meeting. It pulls about 50-70 kbps and when it slows down, the picture blurs instead of freezing, the company said. For now, it’s available only on Windows Mobile, though iPhone, Android and Symbian are coming soon. It works on both Mac and Windows. Linux wil come next year. It is also independent of carriers, which means it isn’t a service you can only get through AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and so on. Still, I suspect that, at least in the U.S., mobile broadband isn’t strong enough for a service like this - yet. Even though I don’t think I’d like to conduct a video chat with four people (left) on a mobile device screen at the same time - but I don’t know what mobile device screens will look like when mobile broadband speeds finally reach a level that would make this service with trying.
Zoomback and FindWhere: Stash a little GPS device in the kids backpack, the teenager’s car or even the employees work truck to track those moves. Zoomback’s device is small - maybe the size of a small pager - while FindWhere’s is much bulkier. Both are tied to a Web interface that allow users to track movements and adjust settings - things like boundaries that, when crossed by the GPS unit, sends an alert. So, when the teenager is supposed to be at school but the unit says he’s at the mall… Oooh, talk about Big Brother. 
But, what if the unit was tied to the car that was stolen? Wouldn’t you want to know where it was? The Zoomback model is small enough that it could easily attach to a pet - making it a snap to find the lost pooch.
September 4th, 2008
Wireless Access: What Price Speed
Is Verizon missing a trick in its trench warfare with Cablevision? Or has the maverick cable operator found an Achilles heel in the telephone operator’s methods of providing TV, phone and particularly Internet access to customers in the New York area – and possibly nationwide?
One ideal in personal computing is to be able to open one’s personal computer anywhere at any time and have instant access to the Internet.
The Verizon argument would be that that day is here and now. Pop in a broadband wireless card and you get this kind of coverage, across the country.
That compares with this kind of coverage, now available from Cablevision in the one metropolitan area that it operates in. This is the map that shows where it has so far put up wireless access at Long Island Rail Road stations, business districts in Nassau and Suffolk counties. It intends to blanket its operating region with wireless access for Optimum Online customers by the end of 2010.
This actually gives Cablevision a practical leg up on Verizon, which is trying to gain ground head-to-head with Cablevision with its FiOS TV, phone and Internet access service. Its pitch is that fiber to the home gives its customers more speed and higher quality service, than fiber to the neighborhood and cable to the home, like Cablevision offers.
But step away from the home – and it’s $59.95 a month and a separate contract with Verizon Wireless to get wireless access. Of any kind. Verizon is solely focused on broadband access for the mobile user.
And that $59.95 only gets you 5 gigabytes of throughput a month. If you were railing last week about Comcast’s 250 GB cap for its wired access to the Internet, you would be positively feeling pinned back if you wanted to rely solely on a laptop computer and Verizon’s broadband access to live your life on the Internet.
If you’re in the broad base of Internet users, who just want no hassle, Cablevision’s move to provide widespread wifi tries to screen out Verizon.
In its service area, you get mobility, everywhere. For no extra cost. If you’re a Verizon customer, you have to pay $60 a month.
There are limits. If you want Internet access on the train platform, Cablevision’s wifi will suffice. If you want it on the train or you travel a lot, you’ll need Verizon’s Broadband Access.
That is the $60 question, each computer user seeking “anywhere” access must answer, right now.
But Cablevision’s move is likely to change that, as its wifi coverage expands. Already, Verizon has started bundling wireless phone service with its FiOS Internet product.
A broadband-everywhere Verizon “double play” for small businesses has already arrived. A consumer play (with the effective cost of wireless broadband dropping) has to be next.
Meanwhile, other cable companies will be watching closely how well Cablevision’s tack works. If you want free wifi, call your operator.
Tom Steinert-Threlkeld is editor-in-chief of Securities Industry News, as well as a long-time media, technology and business journalist. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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