The heart and soul of any good piece of application software—regardless of the device on which it runs—is its ability to allow you to achieve a task, find a piece of information or essentially get something done. Well-written software is built from a solid awareness of the steps that go into achieving a particular outcome … Continue reading Multi-Device, Multi-Platform, Companion Apps
There continues to be a lot of talk around tablets which are larger than the traditional 10″ screen sizes. Rumors have it that Apple is working on a larger iPad and that Samsung is as well. While I don’t think it makes sense for Apple to make a larger tablets, and Samsung will experiment with … Continue reading Big Tablets Could be a Big Trend
We track, analyze and oftentimes promote technology because of its overarching, mostly positive impact on our own lives and throughout the world. It’s many disparate parts, incorporating intellectual property and global manufacturing, hardware and software, content and creativity, when brought together at exactly the right time, in exactly the right way can be both uplifting … Continue reading 2013 Winners And Losers In Tech
1) We all know that sales of smartphones and tablets are are growing fast, however… 2) Those sales are growing even faster than we may realize, and… 3) The implications of this new wave of computing devices is going to be enormous; is going to impact us sooner than we anticipate, and… 4) We have … Continue reading The Mobile Wave
Tablets represent one of the greatest opportunities to expand and enhance computing. However, it is a very mis-understood product. I want to share some statistics about tablets and then add some key points on the market as it stands today as well as a projected outlook for Q4 and beyond. 85% of tablets sales have … Continue reading The State of Tablets in 2013
The smartphone has quickly become our primary interface to the world. The app has become our primary interface to the smartphone. Apps matter. Therefore, app developers matter. Unfortunately, too many apps, too many app developers, likely in pursuit of riches that shall never come, continue to offer copycat apps, apps poorly designed, apps that value ads … Continue reading An Open Letter To App Developers
Benedict Evans has a must read slide deck from his mobile is eating the world presentation. I’m going to piggyback on his title a little and tackle the narrative that Android is eating the world. It is the narrative that is hard to escape and it would be a significant point if it was a … Continue reading Android is Eating the World
It’s a privilege to write here, and a joy to focus on the long-term trends in technology, the rise and fall of companies and leaders, and the impact this region has upon not only America, but the entire world. I suspect Silicon Valley’s output will come to equal the impact of Detroit, my hometown, which … Continue reading Truth And Lies Of Silicon Valley
Horace Dediu joined Benedict Evans and I on our weekly podcast. Horace wrote something that got me thinking in his post the innovators curse. In this article he used the analogy of the golden goose. As I read that I interpreted the golden eggs to represent innovation. While I pondered his insight, what it led … Continue reading The Golden Goose and the Process of Innovation
Qualcomm Technologies is bringing console quality graphics with 4K capture and display capability to mobile devices. The company has introduced the new Snapdragon 805, expanding the already widely popular Snapdragon applications processor SoC family, and promises to change the landscape of mobile entertainment systems and communications. The new SoC has an advanced Adreno GPU, the … Continue reading Qualcomm Moves to 4K with Snapdragon 805
In 2003 I began a series of lectures at conferences entitled “Three Screens of the Digital Lifestyle.” Starting in 2000 I began researching how people were using various screens in their lives and made the assumption that over the next 5-7 years all of our screens would be digital and would have some type of … Continue reading Smartphones are Becoming the Hub of our Digital Lifestyles
Microsoft Achieved Its Goal Microsoft had one of the greatest corporate mission statements of all time: “A computer on every desk and in every home, running Microsoft software.” And guess what? Incredibly, THEY ACHIEVED THEIR GOAL! ((For a wonderful take on this, I highly recommend Ben Thompson’s article entitled: “Skating Towards The Goal“)) There IS … Continue reading Microsoft: Failing By Design
If there was any doubt that fitness measurement, whether using wearable devices or sensor-equipped smartphones, is going mainstream it should have been settled Nov. 14 by UnderArmour’s purchase of startup Map My Fitness for $150 million. Of course, devices such as the Fitbit or Nike FuelBand and associated fitness apps for iPhone and Android have been … Continue reading UnderArmour Deal Shows Fitness Tech Going Mainstream
Recap I hate people who are intolerant. ~ Dr. Laurence J. Peter I hate intolerant people. ~ Gloria Steinem Last week I wrote about intolerance — how we tend to believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, unless, of course, their opinion is too different from our own, in which case they are … Continue reading Mocking Our Customers (Part 2)
There’s something I don’t understand… there is this thing that people do – a lot of people – that I just do not understand and I will likely never understand…it’s been going on for years, almost a decade now, and it just doesn’t make a lick of sense… It didn’t back then… It doesn’t now: … Continue reading Tech Intolerance (Part 1)
For my birthday two years ago, I treated myself to an 11-inch MacBook Air. I bought it with the intention of using it mainly as a writing machine away from home, for my blog and for school. It was (and still is) a terrific little dynamo of a computer, but I eventually grew tired of … Continue reading Making the Case for Better Document Management on iOS
With the endless arguments about tablets’ productivity or lack thereof, I decided to take a close look at the computing tools in my life. The result is a seemingly contradictory conclusion: We truly live in a post-PC era in which the traditional PC remains a vital player. I think my habits are fairly typical of … Continue reading Tablets, Desktops, Laptops: How the Tools Fit My Life
I was rather intrigued by the comment made by a Microsoft executive after the iPad was announced that basically stated that Apple’s iWork is not for real work or productivity. For that, he says, only Microsoft Office is a true productivity tool. I took personal offense to this remark since I use many of the … Continue reading Why Microsoft will regret not doing MS Office for iOS
I believe a profound transformation in retail is now underway, one set to equal the changes in buying and selling formed during the modern industrial age. Only, it’s not what you think. It started with Apple, which launched the smartphone wars. With smartphone in hand, we can now assess competitor price, global availability, level of service, … Continue reading Smartphones Are Transforming Retail Not With Technology But With Messy Humanity
J.D. Power caused a bit of a stir today when it put out a new survey in which Samsung had displaced Apple as the leader in U.S. tablet satisfaction. While the headline of the McGraw-Hill Financial unit’s press release declared “Samsung Ranks Highest in Overall Tablet Customer Satisfaction with Tablet Devices,” the featured table (above) seemed to tell … Continue reading J.D. Power Explains Its Inscrutable Tablet Rankings
A few years ago I started making the point that our behavioral research findings kept indicating that once consumers started using iPads that their PC usage declined. My overall point was not that the iPad was being purchased to replace a PC but that it was being purchased because they could do more with it … Continue reading The iPad and PCs
Motorola created a lot of buzz this week with its announcement of Project Ara, a sort of Lego kit mobile phone that would allow users to pick and choose components. I know this is going to be a disappointment to the folks who build great things from Arduino boards and Raspberry Pi computers, but Project … Continue reading Why Motorola Won’t Offer a Modular Phone
With the iPad Air, Apple has created the world’s thinest and lightest full size tablet. And by adding their 64-bit A7 processor they have made it extremely powerful as well. After using the iPad Air for the past week I’m convinced that it is the perfect personal computer for the masses. Thinnest and Lightest I … Continue reading The iPad Air –A Truly Mass Market Personal Computer
“(O)ur share of tablets in education is 94%. I mean, it’s sort of unheard of. I’ve never seen a market share that high before. ~ Tim Cook Which Computing Form Factor Is Most Likely To Dominate Education? Phones? No way. Too small. Notebooks? Possible. They’re so much smaller and lighter these days. And they can … Continue reading Tablets: The Future Of Education
I genuinely love the industry analyst business. I love the role we analysts, our data, and our commentary play in helping companies make strategic decisions. However, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend. ((It’s a “Jump to Conclusions” mat! You see, you have this mat, with different CONCLUSIONS written on it that you could JUMP TO! — … Continue reading When Genuine Data Leads to Disingenuous Conclusions
