Apple once again delivered a high quality experience with the “new” iPad, aka iPad 3. Like phones, Apple has again managed to deliver enough to stay ahead as they did with the iPhone 4s. The new iPad didn’t deliver a knockout blow to Android, but certainly eliminated many gaps that could drive many premium ($499+) … Continue reading What Apple Needs to do to Stay Ahead with the iPad 4
I have been speaking with various vendors of tablets lately and more than once, the topic of Apple “iPodding” them has come up. iPodding basically refers to the fact that although Apple has had the iPod on the market for over 10 years now, they still have over 70% of the MP3 portable digital music … Continue reading How Apple is Cornering the Market in Mobile Devices
When Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007 with AT&T as its exclusive partner, it made two revolutionary changes in how mobile phones were sold and managed. First, it was to be sold without a carrier subsidy. Second Apple would control both the initial software load and all updates. The first change didn’t last long. Faced … Continue reading Software Updates: Another Reason iPhone Keeps Winning
Last week in my Friday column I outlined a few of the challenges that I think Microsoft has in front of them with Windows 8. I cited lack of Windows momentum in the market along with changing software and app economics that are going to challenge Microsoft in ways they have never had to deal … Continue reading Microsoft Needs to Get its Apps Together
Windows 8, at least in its current Consumer Preview form, presents a confusing picture to folks trying it out on a conventional, non-touch PC. It’s one operating system with two user interfaces–the traditional Desktop and the new tabletized Metro–and you find yourself jumping back and forth between them a lot. But users aren’t the only … Continue reading Windows 8, Metro, and Desktop: The ISV App Challenge
The recent 2012 WW forecast for tablets from IDC which forecasts sales of 106MM units in 2012 with Apple’s iPad numbers at a little under 60MM has been widely picked up and republished across the internet. The report also predicted that Apple could lose dominant marketshare to the Android platform by 2015. Windows tablets do … Continue reading Why the Latest iPad Forecasts Are Wrong
I genuinely desire for Microsoft to succeed with Windows 8 and beyond. I believe it is healthy to have competition in the market of personal computing and I like the way I see Apple, Microsoft, and Google with Android, pushing each other. Of course everyone has their opinions on who is doing more but I … Continue reading Why Microsoft Has Big Challenges Ahead
It would be extremely difficult to make the case that any competitive tablet in 2012 and perhaps even 2013 can hold a candle to the new iPad. Not only do I not believe that Apple competitors fully understand the tablet market but they have also not been investing in the kind of technologies needed to … Continue reading The New iPad: Leaving the Competition Behind
In 1985, Apple invented computer printing as we know it. Until the introduction of the LaserWriter, the first personal laser printer, computer output emulated either typewriters or mainframe line printers. The $7,000 LaserWriter didn’t sell well and was soon overtaken by cheaper models from Hewlett-Packard, but not before enabling what came to be known as … Continue reading The New iPad Display and the End of Paper
Yesterday, Pat Moorhead took a look at Microsoft’s Windows 8 Consumer Preview on tablets.Today, I consider it from the point of view of a laptop/desktop user. Faced with the challenge of unifying the tablet and desktop user experience, Microsoft and Apple made radically different choices. The results, Windows 8 and OS X Mountain Lion, are … Continue reading Windows 8 and Mountain Lion: Same Problem, Different Answers
With the news today that Google is re-branding the Android Market as Google Play, I am forced to wonder what that says about their strategy. Is playing all Google is really focused on? I also wonder if this branding is not more confusing to consumers than the clearer Android Market brand. I don’t disagree that … Continue reading Google Play: What Game is Google Playing?
A little less than a week ago, Microsoft launched to the public the Windows 8 Consumer Preview (CP). This is a follow-on to the Developer Preview (DP) that I’ve been using on a tablet and all-in-one desktop since it was introduced last September at the Microsoft BUILD partner conference. After 6 months and reportedly 100,000 … Continue reading Windows 8 CP Tablet Experience: Distinctive yet Risky for Holiday 2012
At this years Mobile World Congress HTC made an announcement that I found interesting. They announced that their latest and greatest smart phone the One X will run Nvidia’s latest processor named Tegra 3. Granted, Tegra has been making news winning a number of handset and tablet OEMs but the news that HTC has chosen … Continue reading HTC One X: A Big Win for Nvidia’s Tegra 3
The question that was raised at the initial announcement of the PS Vita was whether or not a dedicated mobile gaming unit could survive in a world where casual mobile games on smart phones exist. The answer is of course it can and there are several key reasons why. To set the foundation I will … Continue reading Why Smart Phones Won’t Take Down The PS Vita
Apple finally made it official yesterday: The third-generation iPad will be unveiled at an event in San Francisco on March 7. (Score one for The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple, who departed from the conventional wisdom and predicted an announcement on Wednesday, not the traditional Tuesday.) I’m not going to indulge in guessing about the details of … Continue reading The iPad 3’s Impact on the Industry
With the Nexus One and their recent purchase of Motorola, Google has more then signaled that they will soon be in the hardware business in a big way. And the recent rumors that they are building a 120,000 square foot consumer experience testing center on their campus suggest that they will test their own hardware … Continue reading Why Google Must Commit To Hardware
I have been an advocate of modularity before it became popular to do so. The theory seems straight-forward to me, in that if the capabilities of a smartphone were outpacing the usage model drivers of a rich client PC, then consumers someday could use their own smartphone as a PC. Large displays, keyboards and mice … Continue reading NVIDIA’S Tegra 3 Leading the Way for Smartphone Modularity
UPDATE: On about the 10th try, I finally got both the personal hosted and corporate Exchange accounts working. I have no idea why the setup failed repeatedly and an identically setup eventually worked. I’m hoping for some explanation from RIM. —– If any evidence is still needed that one-time leader Research In Motion has become … Continue reading PlayBook 2.0: Is This the Best RIM Can Do?
One of the things my firm focuses on is spotting trends within the technology industry. As a part of our constant search for trends we employ a concept we call “live the future now.” What this means, is that we as trend analysts, ourselves being early adopters, attempt to look for and implement things into … Continue reading You Can Never Have Enough Tablets
In my many weekly conversations with industry insiders we discuss Intel’s chances in mobility markets, specifically smartphones. Few people are betting against Qualcomm and for very good reason in that they are entrenched at handset vendors and their 2012 roadmap, at least on paper, looks solid. What few are discussing is how Intel will pick … Continue reading The Case for Intel’s Future Smartphone Success
After years of lagging behind Apple in terms of innovating around their user interfaces on both their smartphones and Windows, Microsoft finally took a big step towards competing with Apple head on last year with the introduction of their new Metro UI. Introduced first on Windows Phone 7, this new Touch UI, which uses a … Continue reading The New Microsoft and Apple OS Wars–Game On
Apple’s announcement of Gatekeeper, an anti-malware component of the new version of OS X, has set off the predictable horrified reactions among tech bloggers. Many are warning that this is a step in Apple’s plot to turn the Mac into an iPhone-like walled garden. But the reactions seem to be made of up equal parts misinformation and … Continue reading Mountain Lion’s Gatekeeper Is Not a Slippery Slope
Apple is on pace to bring a new OS X release on an annual cadence. They released today the first bit of information as a developer preview for their latest OS X release called Mountain Lion. The big story around Mountain Lion is iCloud. Apple, with Mountain Lion, has taken another step in tightly integrating … Continue reading My Experience With The OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview
When I met with Motorola at CES and they showed me the Droid Maxx I suspected they were on to something. What is interesting to me as an analyst about this device is that it is not just another Android device that is thrown into the sea of sameness. Motorola took a great design like … Continue reading Motorola Droid Razr Maxx Commercial–Best Droid Marketing Yet
It’s silly season again in Apple-land. As usual the company is holding off on an announcement of its next announcement until the last-minute, but there’s a general consensus in the tech world that Tim Cook will unveil the next version of the iPad the first week in March. I don’t know what Apple is going … Continue reading Apple Rumors: Separating the Probable from the Impossible
