On the second day Steve Jobs came back to lead Apple in 1997, I had a chance to meet with him and ask how he planned to revive and save Apple. Apple was $1 billion in the red and we now know they were about 6-8 weeks from possibly going under. He did not hesitate … Continue reading Why Apple Needs to take Aim at Their Core Customers
With Amazon Echo and Google Home now both in the market, dedicated device-based personal assistants have been in the news quite a bit lately. I’ve been called several times by reporters asking me whether Apple, Microsoft, or other companies need to have similar devices. But if there’s one thing the reviews and my own experience … Continue reading The Danger of a Device-Based Approach to Assistants
When I saw Google Home for the first time back at Google I/O, I was excited at the prospect of having a brainier Alexa in my home. Like others, I waited and almost forgot all about it until it was reintroduced last month when I actually could go and pre-order it. I got my Google … Continue reading Has Google Set Up Google Home to Disappoint?
When a new product is introduced at a company event, it’s the executives, design engineers, and industrial designers that get the all of the credit. But behind every new product is engineers that focus on quality and reliability that rarely get much recognition. Their role is not a glamorous job; it requires more discipline and … Continue reading The Importance of the Quality Engineer
Much has been written about how a debacle like the Note7 happened and what Samsung might do to repair its reputation. Samsung’s challenges also shed light on a unique fact about the U.S. smartphone market: the high degree of vendor concentration. Industry research houses show Apple and Samsung represent nearly 75% of smartphone share in … Continue reading Samsung’s Challenges Reveal Need for Greater Vendor Diversity
Google’s recent launch of the high-end Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones marks the company’s first self-branded entrance into the market, after dabbling via partner-branded Nexus products and a short run as the corporate owner of Motorola. Like Microsoft in 2012 and Apple decades before that, the company clearly understands that, to drive the best possible … Continue reading Pixel and Surface: Comparing Google and Microsoft’s Hardware Game Plans
One of the wonderful things about the rise of the web, twenty-something years ago, was the way in which it democratized publishing – suddenly, anyone with an idea could set up a website and make them available to anyone. Early on, publishing online required at least a rudimentary understanding of code. To be an online … Continue reading The De-Democratization of Online Publishing
It’s hard to imagine a much worse scenario. The world’s leading smartphone company debuts a new device that initially is touted as one of the best smartphones ever made. Glowing reviews quickly follow and the company’s prospects for a strong fall and holiday season, and the opportunity for regaining some lost market share, seem nearly … Continue reading Galaxy Note 7: The Death of a Smartphone
Ahead of this week’s Paris Motor Show, HERE announced how its Open Location Platform (OLP) aims to gather real-time data from sensors on board of connected vehicles to create a live assessment of road environment that will make driving more secure for drivers as well as driverless cars. In order to achieve this goal, HERE … Continue reading HERE: A Clear Case of Together We Are Stronger
Tech reviews and broad tech industry media coverage are often about the cutting edge of technology and, as a result, can be very critical of anything seen as less than stellar. But the reality is many ordinary people regularly use technology that could be much more accurately described as “good enough” rather than bleeding edge. The … Continue reading The Power of “Good Enough”
Samsung officially recalls the Galaxy Note7 in North America – by Jan Dawson Samsung has finally issued an official recall of the Galaxy Note7 phone in North America, working with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. This follows several weeks of informal recall activity, with Samsung encouraging owners to return their devices to retailers in … Continue reading Unpacked for Friday September 16, 2016
I would sure hate to be the person at Samsung who made the decision to go with the battery supplier they are using in the 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7s they have shipped around the world. Samsung has now canned this supplier and will use the same battery supplier Apple uses. As you know, there … Continue reading The Samsung Debacle and the Long Term Impact on its Reputation
India has gone from never being mentioned on Apple earnings calls to being a frequent topic of discussion both in Tim Cook’s prepared remarks and in the analyst Q&A that follows — there were ten or more mentions of India in each of the last two earnings calls. Tim Cook recently visited India and announced … Continue reading How Apple can Grow in India
As widely reported in the press on Monday, Microsoft released an update for its preview members which included access to Cortana. Cortana will be on the Xbox One dashboard and users will be able to access her via the Kinect sensor or a headset. Initially, Cortana’s abilities will be limited to basic tasks such as … Continue reading Cortana comes to Xbox One but Microsoft Needs a Bigger Trojan Horse for the Home
In a recent column, I covered some of the challenges entrepreneurs have in getting their products into retail. This column explores the issue in more detail. It’s based on an interview I had with James Berberian, an experienced sales executive who has sold consumer electronics products for his entire career, including nineteen years with Targus, … Continue reading The Challenges of Retail for Startup Hardware Companies
Source code isn’t trivial – and that for the iPhone is closely guarded. Photo by Jason Swaby on Flickr. Let’s begin at the end – because news stories generally should start off with the most recent information. Speaking under oath to the US Congress, Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewell said: “I want to be very … Continue reading China, Apple’s iOS source code and the pursuit of unfounded speculation
As I work with tech startup companies to create and manufacture their new hardware products, one of the frequent challenges is the difficulty in meeting their sales expectations. All of the excitement and anticipation during the development and manufacturing phases invariably collide with the harsh reality of the marketplace. “Build it and they will come” … Continue reading Is Retail Hindering Product Innovation?
Despite all the marketing, TV ads, and even talk about 4G LTE and now 5G, instances of poor wireless coverage remain a common frustration among users. But even where coverage is generally good, the combination of the imperfections of RF, the hundreds of variables impacting radio signals, and sheer economics, it means we will never … Continue reading Options for Improved Wireless Coverage and Performance are Multiplying
This week has seen a slew of announcements from major smartphone manufacturers in conjunction with the global mobile industry’s annual event, Mobile World Congress, held in Barcelona, Spain. All the usual suspects, except Apple, have introduced new phones or other devices at the show, including a number of the flagship phones these vendors will sell … Continue reading MWC Smartphone Announcements Symbolize a Changing Market
This year, some 50 million fitness trackers will be sold. Devices such as the Fitbit HR, Jawbone Up, and Garmin Forerunner are among the most popular “tech” gift items this holiday season. This category has come a long way in terms of capability and functionality. 2015 was the year where “optical heart rate monitoring” moved … Continue reading What’s Next for Fitness Wearables?
One of the more interesting questions our team gets around the holidays is, what tech products we would buy with our own money. As analysts, we are given dozens of products to check out and, in a lot of cases if we want something to test, all we have to do is ask the company … Continue reading Tech Products the Tech.pinions Team would Buy
I was having coffee with a friend this past Saturday morning when I noticed his leather wallet case on his iPhone 6 Plus. I googled the brand a few hours later, found the $27 case on Amazon, and purchased it. That same evening, the doorbell rang and an Amazon driver handed me the item. This … Continue reading Sad State of Retail Apps
As popular as the iPhone 6 is, it has one huge weakness — one of the shortest battery lives of any smartphone. That’s because Apple has prioritized thinness over runtime. As an iPhone 6 user, it’s hard to get through the day without needing to charge my phone. Often, the battery is dead by 2 … Continue reading A New Battery Case from Apple
It’s been an interesting year for Apple – they’ve announced one completely new hardware product (the Apple Watch) and two major updates to existing product lines (the 4th generation Apple TV and the iPad Pro). In the process, they’ve also launched two new operating systems: watchOS and tvOS, for the Apple Watch and the new … Continue reading The Case for padOS
On Tuesday, Bob O’Donnell wrote an insightful, high-level look on voice-based smart assistants. I want to dive a little deeper with some specific research I did on how people are using Siri and other voice assistants. While my research on activities done most frequently with voice assistants is similar to Bob’s, I got a little … Continue reading Deeper Dive on Siri Usage and the Big Picture for Voice
