Google Android Tablet Optimized Apps — Two Years Too Late
On Monday, (Google) published a “tablet app quality checklist” on its Android Developer website that urges developers to build tablet-optimized apps… ~ Wired I’d like to applaud Google for this move, I really would. But … Continue reading
The Return of the Tablet PC
Microsoft’s decision to offer tablets in two flavors–Intel-powered slates running full windows 8 and ARM-powered units running Windows RT–has created a marketing and branding problem for manufacturers: How these very different products going to be … Continue reading
Windows 8 Mail App: Better, but Still Bad
The good news is that the lame Mail app in Windows 8 is about to get better. The bad news is that it will still fall well short of any reasonable expectations of a modern … Continue reading
Integration Gives iPhone an Unbeatable Advantage
There was only one real surprise when iFixit.com did its by-now ritual teardown of the new iPhone 5. The phone sports a 1440 milliamp-hour battery just a hair bigger than the battery in the iPhone … Continue reading
My Favorite Things About iOS 6
Having used every version of iOS and Android since inception, I am always very excited to jump on the latest and greatest smartphone operating system. You see, operating systems say as much about a company … Continue reading
Oops! Apple Needs a Remapping [Updated]
When I looked at the area around my house in the new iOS 6 Apple Maps app, I noticed something seemed to be missing. There was a big pink patch for the Bethesda naval hospital, … Continue reading
For Apple’s iOS Owners, It’s Christmas In September
On Wednesday, September 19, 2012 iOS 6 will go live. For tech devotees, this is old news. But for the vast majority of iOS (iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad) users, iOS 6 will deliver about … Continue reading
The iPad Is Selling like Mad And Making The Competition Sad
At the iPhone 5 event held on Wednesday, September 12, 2012, Tim Cook announced these facts regarding iPads: 1) Last quarter, Apple sold 17 million iPads. 2) Apple sold more iPads than any PC manufacturer … Continue reading
Mac Attack
At the Apple Special Event held on Wednesday, September 12, 2012, Tim Cook announced these facts regarding Apple’s Mac Computers: 1) Mac notebooks rank #1 in market share in the U.S. for the last 3 … Continue reading
Why Apple Couldn’t Go to Micro USB Charging
No feature of the new iPhone 5 has come in for as much criticism as Apple’s decision to drop the venerable 30-pin iPod connector in favor of a new, reversible 8-pin plug called Lightning. Some … Continue reading
Ultimately, HP, You’ve Got To Do Something
Via All Things D: “We have to ultimately offer a smartphone…” ~ Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman When exactly is this “ultimately” going to be? “My mantra to the team is: ‘Better right than faster than … Continue reading
Can iPhone 5 Really Boost Economic Growth? [Not much]
JP Morgan analyst Michael Feroli made some news this week with a three-paragraph research report claiming that the introduction of the iPhone 5 could boost U.S. economic growth by as much as half a percentage point. It … Continue reading
Why The New iPhone Will Be Roundly Panned And Why It Will Still Sell Like Crazy
What would you say the new iPhone’s greatest feature or features will be? Will it be the hardware? The operating system? A new service like maps or passbook? Nope. It won’t be any of those … Continue reading
A Smartphone Patent Pool: A Way Out of the Litigation Thicket
One major misconception arising from Apple’s legal victory over Samsung is that Apple now has some sort of monopoly over critical components of smartphone touch screen interfaces. Patent lawyer Gene Quinn of IP Watchdog explains the … Continue reading
Windows RT Grows More Mysterious as Launch Nears
I expected we would be seeing more clarity on the distinctions between Windows 8 and its Windows RT sibling (for ARM processor devices) as the expected late October launch grows closer. But the picture seems … Continue reading
A Cautionary Tale About Market Share
My colleague John Kirk’s series of posts about Android, iPhone, and the importance–or lack thereof–of market share brought back memories of some fights over share in the PC business. The moral of all the stories … Continue reading
What if Samsung Was a Band?
I’ve been reading a lot of articles the last few days all on the degree in which Apple’s success in a US court over Samsung is good or bad for the industry. In the midst … Continue reading
Patents: Who Has a Portfolio With Clout
One thing that put Samsung at a serious disadvantage in its patent fight with Apple was the weakness of its own portfolio of relevant patents. Conflicts between companies with roughly comparable portfolios almost always end … Continue reading
What Does Microsoft Have Against Email?
Email in Windows 8 is a catastrophe. I know the cool kids think email is last decade’s technology, but the fact is that it remains a vitally important communications tool for both businesses and consumers. … Continue reading
The Twitter Kerfluffle: You Gets No Bread With One Meatball
The world of Twitter has been a-twitter for the last few days over changes the microblogging service is making in the third-party access to Twitter APIs. In general, the rules restrict or outright block the … Continue reading
Why We Hate Carriers (AT&T Edition)
Watching folks try to untangle themselves from messes of their own making is often painful. No, I’m not talking about Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, but AT&T and the trouble it has made for itself … Continue reading
The Windows 8 UI: Microsoft Makes a Tough Marketing Problem Worse
Over at ZDNet, Mary Jo Foley, master of all things Microsoft, reports sources tell her that having lost the name Metro in an apparent trademark dispute, Microsoft will call the new tile-based user interface for Windows … Continue reading
Boingo+Cloud Nine=Free Wi-Fi+Ads
Wi-Fi service provider and aggregator Boingo announced today is was acquiring privately held Cloud Nine Media, a Wi-Fi add network. The result is likely to be growth Wi-Fi services that are free- but supported by … Continue reading
Is There No One At Google Who Knows How To Say “No”?
Google, in an email to those that pre-ordered a Nexus Q: We also heard initial feedback from users that they want Nexus Q to do even more than it does today. In response, we have … Continue reading
