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Thursday, February 28, 2013
Samsung invites public to Galaxy S IV debut in Times Square
Samsung invites public to Galaxy S IV debut in Times Square:
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Microsoft announces new markets for Surface RT and Surface Pro
Microsoft announces new markets for Surface RT and Surface Pro:
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Google Glass is a giant chisel to pry me out of Apple’s ecosystem - Me too
Google Glass is a giant chisel to pry me out of Apple’s ecosystem:
Just cyborg me now.
The first outsider’s picture of what it’s actually like to use Google’s new assisted-reality Glass was masterfully painted by The Verge’s Joshua Topolsky last week, and thousands like and tweeted it. Glass generates that intense interest not only because it looks like a window to the future of a less-intrusive, more helpful technology but also because in it, I think, we sense the birth struggles of the new human.
Hacked. Connected. Augmented. Enhanced. And yeah, way geekier.
Because let’s face it — this omnipresent and desperately-striving-for-omniscience technology is not going to stop with glasses or connected bits of glass and metal that perch on or hang off our bodies. Fifteen or 20 generations of glasses later, we’ll have a Google Contact. We’ll lose the ‘borg and regain our bodies. After that it will be implants, running off energy your body provides. Juiced will mean something entirely new.
But that’s all far in the future. Right now, the most immediate corporate target of Glass is your iLife.
Not that Google is doing this solely as a kill-Apple project. That would be thinking far too small. Google wants to invent the future of humanized technology, which is why it’s ironic that the first response to Glass is so often a comment on the alienness of the technology. But while Android is conquering the planet just fine already, it’s a variation on someone else’s theme.
Google wants to invent the next generation of consumer tech the same way Apple has. To beat the innovator at its own game. And with that innovation leap, capture the massive number of consumers who are deep in Apple’s ecosystem pockets.
Like me.
iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air: I have all three. iMessage keeps messages synced between the three, and iCloud transfers photos and documents and calendars from device to device to device. iTunes songs play on my iPhone and iPad, and on my MacBook if I wished to use up some of that precious SSD hard drive. Or I could play them off iTunes if I paid for Match. My apps are mostly purchased on iPhone and automatically show up on iPad.
Everything just works, and everything’s connected, and everything follows the same kind of design thinking and execution, mostly. I’m in the Apple garden, and a very nice garden it is indeed. But make no mistake: Gardens have walls, and not just Apple’s garden.
There are only maybe two other gardens that really have a shot at a similar experience: Amazon and Google.
Amazon is moving aggressively into the cloud, builds its own devices on frankenDroid, has apps on every major platform, and automagically syncs your life between everything. Amazon’s garden, however, is one of watching, reading, or playing. In short, it’s a consumers’ paradise, but it’s only half the equation.
Google’s garden is perhaps the most interesting one. It’s not quite as complete or as seamless as Apple’s, but gaps in the walls allow occasional forays by invading partners bringing strange and wonderful and awful fruits of distant lands. It’s desktop (Chrome) and phone (Android) and tablet (Android). It’s cloud, with contacts and calendars and email seamlessly appearing when and where expected, and it’s content, with apps and music and movies and more. And, more so than Apple’s, it’s a producer’s garden: Docs and office apps included, by default, for free.
But Apple’s garden is so nice, so designed, so human, and Google’s has some glaring flaws. So it’s hard for Apple investees to emigrate. As someone somewhere has said, it’s not enough to be better when you want to make someone switch. You have to be much, much better. Oh, and different helps too.
Enter Glass.
Glass is coming to retail stores in 2013. Glass is voice control. Glass is the power of the Google mega-machine learning complex sitting on your nose. Glass is context. Glass is immediate. Glass is the paradox of the unobtrusiveness of technology shining into your eyes with the obtrusiveness of a device riding on your face. Glass is sexy. And I want it.
Google has said that Glass will work with smartphones, including Apple’s. But that will depend on Apple’s willingness to play nice — not a corporate strong suit in Cupertino. And it will make Apple technology a client for the first time in a very, very long time.
Perhaps iWatch is Apple’s answer. Perhaps the battle will be between the face and the wrist. If that’s the case, my bet is on the face. A watch is certainly less obtrusive, and it’s easier to check a wrist than to haul the phone out of the depths of a pocket, turn it on, unlock it, find an app, do something, and see something.
But a virtual screen overlaying reality, available while you’re doing other things, continuously backgrounding and foregrounding as needed?
That’s pure dope.
And yeah, I want one. Bad.
Image credits: Google
Filed under: Business, Cloud, Gadgets, Lifestyle, Mobile, OffBeat, VentureBeat
Just cyborg me now.The first outsider’s picture of what it’s actually like to use Google’s new assisted-reality Glass was masterfully painted by The Verge’s Joshua Topolsky last week, and thousands like and tweeted it. Glass generates that intense interest not only because it looks like a window to the future of a less-intrusive, more helpful technology but also because in it, I think, we sense the birth struggles of the new human.
Hacked. Connected. Augmented. Enhanced. And yeah, way geekier.
Because let’s face it — this omnipresent and desperately-striving-for-omniscience technology is not going to stop with glasses or connected bits of glass and metal that perch on or hang off our bodies. Fifteen or 20 generations of glasses later, we’ll have a Google Contact. We’ll lose the ‘borg and regain our bodies. After that it will be implants, running off energy your body provides. Juiced will mean something entirely new.
But that’s all far in the future. Right now, the most immediate corporate target of Glass is your iLife.
Not that Google is doing this solely as a kill-Apple project. That would be thinking far too small. Google wants to invent the future of humanized technology, which is why it’s ironic that the first response to Glass is so often a comment on the alienness of the technology. But while Android is conquering the planet just fine already, it’s a variation on someone else’s theme.
Google wants to invent the next generation of consumer tech the same way Apple has. To beat the innovator at its own game. And with that innovation leap, capture the massive number of consumers who are deep in Apple’s ecosystem pockets.
Like me.
iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air: I have all three. iMessage keeps messages synced between the three, and iCloud transfers photos and documents and calendars from device to device to device. iTunes songs play on my iPhone and iPad, and on my MacBook if I wished to use up some of that precious SSD hard drive. Or I could play them off iTunes if I paid for Match. My apps are mostly purchased on iPhone and automatically show up on iPad.Everything just works, and everything’s connected, and everything follows the same kind of design thinking and execution, mostly. I’m in the Apple garden, and a very nice garden it is indeed. But make no mistake: Gardens have walls, and not just Apple’s garden.
There are only maybe two other gardens that really have a shot at a similar experience: Amazon and Google.
Amazon is moving aggressively into the cloud, builds its own devices on frankenDroid, has apps on every major platform, and automagically syncs your life between everything. Amazon’s garden, however, is one of watching, reading, or playing. In short, it’s a consumers’ paradise, but it’s only half the equation.
Google’s garden is perhaps the most interesting one. It’s not quite as complete or as seamless as Apple’s, but gaps in the walls allow occasional forays by invading partners bringing strange and wonderful and awful fruits of distant lands. It’s desktop (Chrome) and phone (Android) and tablet (Android). It’s cloud, with contacts and calendars and email seamlessly appearing when and where expected, and it’s content, with apps and music and movies and more. And, more so than Apple’s, it’s a producer’s garden: Docs and office apps included, by default, for free.
But Apple’s garden is so nice, so designed, so human, and Google’s has some glaring flaws. So it’s hard for Apple investees to emigrate. As someone somewhere has said, it’s not enough to be better when you want to make someone switch. You have to be much, much better. Oh, and different helps too.
Enter Glass.
Glass is coming to retail stores in 2013. Glass is voice control. Glass is the power of the Google mega-machine learning complex sitting on your nose. Glass is context. Glass is immediate. Glass is the paradox of the unobtrusiveness of technology shining into your eyes with the obtrusiveness of a device riding on your face. Glass is sexy. And I want it.
Google has said that Glass will work with smartphones, including Apple’s. But that will depend on Apple’s willingness to play nice — not a corporate strong suit in Cupertino. And it will make Apple technology a client for the first time in a very, very long time.
Perhaps iWatch is Apple’s answer. Perhaps the battle will be between the face and the wrist. If that’s the case, my bet is on the face. A watch is certainly less obtrusive, and it’s easier to check a wrist than to haul the phone out of the depths of a pocket, turn it on, unlock it, find an app, do something, and see something.
But a virtual screen overlaying reality, available while you’re doing other things, continuously backgrounding and foregrounding as needed?
That’s pure dope.
And yeah, I want one. Bad.
Image credits: Google
Filed under: Business, Cloud, Gadgets, Lifestyle, Mobile, OffBeat, VentureBeat
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Mobile World Congress: A reminder that the U.S. leads mobile — but don’t count Europe out
Mobile World Congress: A reminder that the U.S. leads mobile — but don’t count Europe out:
Request An Invitation 
Yesterday was an interesting day for me at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. As always the sheer size of this event is somewhat overwhelming, however there is no better place to see what the future of the mobile industry holds.
One thing that really stood out on day one is that Samsung, which has one of the largest stands here by far, has chosen not to launch its flagship product for the year, the Galaxy S4. Instead the company opted to use social media to announce that the S4 will be unveiled to the world at a special event in New York on March 14 (which will also be streamed online). This is one of the clearest indications yet that the center of the mobile industry has seen a shift from Europe to North America.
Traditionally MWC, and Europe in general, was the dominant market for mobile innovation. Major companies such as Nokia, Ericsson and Vodafone have long held the power and driven industry innovation.
Now the power has shifted to the U.S.. Apple and Google are the leading players in the mobile market with their superiority rooted in software for smartphones. For competitors to rival these big players, they need to be seen on the other side of the Atlantic in Apple and Google’s domestic market. This is without doubt part of Samsung’s rationale for launching the S4 in New York.
However this transfer in epicenter does not mean that the European mobile market has died. In fact, the shift has given rise to a new, thriving market for app development. In the UK in particular the market for mobile app developers, building new products for smartphones, is producing some genuinely brilliant businesses, which are catching the eyes of investors. A great example of this is SwiftKey, which topped the Google Play paid app charts for more days than any other app in 2012.
An example of how the app market has developed in the UK is the Smart UK Project, a competition run by the UK Trade & Investment, which held the final of its contest today here at MWC.
Beginning with 70 UK based mobile companies, a shortlist of 20 was selected and this was then reduced again to five, who had the privilege of presenting to a panel of six judges at the show, of which I was one.
This year’s winner, OpenSignal, is a brilliantly innovative app that can help users to understand the quality of the network coverage they have in any given region. Despite fierce competition, OpenSignal has really wowed the judges with its innovation and practical application. Knowing which mobile network operator best covers where you live is an attractive proposition for consumers and will certainly increase competition among operators.
There has been a clear shift in where the mobile industry considers its main market to be, representing a change in business strategies for handset manufacturers and telcos. This has given rise to new business and investment opportunities, especially in the burgeoning app market. As always, the UK finds itself a hotbed of innovation and creativity and with competitions such as the Smart UK Project, investors don’t have to look far to find their next opportunity.
Frederic Lardieg is a principal at Octopus Ventures. You can follow him on Twitter at @FredLardieg.
Photo: MozillaEU/Flickr
Filed under: Business, Mobile, VentureBeat
April 1 - 2, 2013
Sausalito, CA
Sausalito, CA
Yesterday was an interesting day for me at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. As always the sheer size of this event is somewhat overwhelming, however there is no better place to see what the future of the mobile industry holds.
One thing that really stood out on day one is that Samsung, which has one of the largest stands here by far, has chosen not to launch its flagship product for the year, the Galaxy S4. Instead the company opted to use social media to announce that the S4 will be unveiled to the world at a special event in New York on March 14 (which will also be streamed online). This is one of the clearest indications yet that the center of the mobile industry has seen a shift from Europe to North America.
Traditionally MWC, and Europe in general, was the dominant market for mobile innovation. Major companies such as Nokia, Ericsson and Vodafone have long held the power and driven industry innovation.
Now the power has shifted to the U.S.. Apple and Google are the leading players in the mobile market with their superiority rooted in software for smartphones. For competitors to rival these big players, they need to be seen on the other side of the Atlantic in Apple and Google’s domestic market. This is without doubt part of Samsung’s rationale for launching the S4 in New York.
However this transfer in epicenter does not mean that the European mobile market has died. In fact, the shift has given rise to a new, thriving market for app development. In the UK in particular the market for mobile app developers, building new products for smartphones, is producing some genuinely brilliant businesses, which are catching the eyes of investors. A great example of this is SwiftKey, which topped the Google Play paid app charts for more days than any other app in 2012.
An example of how the app market has developed in the UK is the Smart UK Project, a competition run by the UK Trade & Investment, which held the final of its contest today here at MWC.
Beginning with 70 UK based mobile companies, a shortlist of 20 was selected and this was then reduced again to five, who had the privilege of presenting to a panel of six judges at the show, of which I was one.
This year’s winner, OpenSignal, is a brilliantly innovative app that can help users to understand the quality of the network coverage they have in any given region. Despite fierce competition, OpenSignal has really wowed the judges with its innovation and practical application. Knowing which mobile network operator best covers where you live is an attractive proposition for consumers and will certainly increase competition among operators.
There has been a clear shift in where the mobile industry considers its main market to be, representing a change in business strategies for handset manufacturers and telcos. This has given rise to new business and investment opportunities, especially in the burgeoning app market. As always, the UK finds itself a hotbed of innovation and creativity and with competitions such as the Smart UK Project, investors don’t have to look far to find their next opportunity.
Frederic Lardieg is a principal at Octopus Ventures. You can follow him on Twitter at @FredLardieg.Photo: MozillaEU/Flickr
Filed under: Business, Mobile, VentureBeat
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Lab-grown sapphire smartphone screen shrugs off scratches
Lab-grown sapphire smartphone screen shrugs off scratches: 
Smartphone manufacturers that want a scratch-proof phone may want to take a closer look at GT Advanced Technologies’ man-made sapphire slabs. With sapphire sitting atop your phone, you’d never have to worry about scuffing the display up if you happened to carelessly stuff your keys into the same pocket. The only thing you’d really ever [...]
Smartphone manufacturers that want a scratch-proof phone may want to take a closer look at GT Advanced Technologies’ man-made sapphire slabs. With sapphire sitting atop your phone, you’d never have to worry about scuffing the display up if you happened to carelessly stuff your keys into the same pocket. The only thing you’d really ever [...]
Corning says flexible Willow displays are three years out, simpler uses still expected this year
Corning says flexible Willow displays are three years out, simpler uses still expected this year:
There's no question that Corning has had a big impact on mobile devices in recent years with its Gorilla Glass, and it's hoping for similar success in the years ahead with its new Willow Glass technology. It looks like there's still a bit of a wait in store before we'll see products that fully take advantage of the glass's bendy properties, though. Speaking with Bloomberg, Corning president James Clappin says that products with flexible displays are likely still three years out, adding that it's now busy making "a lot of effort" to teach what it describes as "very big name" companies how to fully use the product. Clappin did reiterate the company's earlier that we will see some products using Willow Glass as early as this year, although those will likely take the form of simpler products; he offered a flexible barrier for solar panels and a thin film behind touch panels as some examples.
Filed under: Displays, Mobile
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Source: Bloomberg
Filed under: Displays, Mobile
Comments
Source: Bloomberg
Apple has sold 3M iPads directly into US education over past year and 4.5M total (Update: 8M worldwide)
Apple has sold 3M iPads directly into US education over past year and 4.5M total (Update: 8M worldwide):
Apple today issued a press release to announce some big numbers for iTunes U (a billion downloads to be exact), but it has now also provided an update on iPads sales in the education market. In a statement to AllThingsD, Apple said it has sold a total of 4.5 million iPads direct to U.S. education institutions.
Apple previously announced around a million units sold to U.S. schools in Q2 2012. It later said sales for iPad 2 in the K-12 market doubled y-o-y in Q3 2012 thanks to a price drop to $399. It appears Apple has since been selling even more into the sector every quarter, and the iPad mini’s $329 price tag, as well as even further discounts to iPad 2, could very likely be driving growth. Like previous iPads, Apple is selling Apple 10 packs of iPad minis to education for a discount.
At Apple’s New York City education event in January 2012, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller provided some updates on education. He noted that around 1.5 million iPads were in use at U.S. education institutions, and this means Apple has sold around 3 million iPads to education over the past year.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has reiterated several times during the company’s earnings calls that it plans to be “very aggressive” in the education market going forward.
Update: Apple has confirmed in a statement to TechCrunch that it has sold 8 million iPads direct into education institutions worldwide. That’s a total of 3.5 million outside of the US to date.
Apple today issued a press release to announce some big numbers for iTunes U (a billion downloads to be exact), but it has now also provided an update on iPads sales in the education market. In a statement to AllThingsD, Apple said it has sold a total of 4.5 million iPads direct to U.S. education institutions.
Apple previously announced around a million units sold to U.S. schools in Q2 2012. It later said sales for iPad 2 in the K-12 market doubled y-o-y in Q3 2012 thanks to a price drop to $399. It appears Apple has since been selling even more into the sector every quarter, and the iPad mini’s $329 price tag, as well as even further discounts to iPad 2, could very likely be driving growth. Like previous iPads, Apple is selling Apple 10 packs of iPad minis to education for a discount.
At Apple’s New York City education event in January 2012, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller provided some updates on education. He noted that around 1.5 million iPads were in use at U.S. education institutions, and this means Apple has sold around 3 million iPads to education over the past year.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has reiterated several times during the company’s earnings calls that it plans to be “very aggressive” in the education market going forward.
Update: Apple has confirmed in a statement to TechCrunch that it has sold 8 million iPads direct into education institutions worldwide. That’s a total of 3.5 million outside of the US to date.
Apple’s massive margin problem: The Mini is going maxi, with 55M sales projected to only 33M iPads
Apple’s massive margin problem: The Mini is going maxi, with 55M sales projected to only 33M iPads:
Shipments of 9.7-inch table panels collapsed from 7.4 million in December to just 1.3 million in January, DisplaySearch analyst David Hsieh says, meaning that Apple’s previously intended mix of tablet sales is getting turned on its head.
“Apple had planned to sell 40 million iPad minis (7.9 inch) and 60 million iPads (9.7 inch) in 2013,” Hsieh wrote. “However, the reality seems to be the reverse, as the iPad Mini has been more popular than the iPad.”
With this utter collapse in the overall market for larger tablet panels, it appears that consumers have turned to smaller hold-in-one-hand tablets, and that Apple’s expected product mix will be hit hard. According to DisplaySearch, that means that Apple will likely sell 55 million iPad Minis and 33 million iPads — less than half of what the company initially planned for 2013.
It’s worth noting that these numbers and projections are not figures that Apple has released but conjectures based on what analysts see of component orders and flow. So some skepticism — and a healthy margin of error — is in order.
But if DisplaySearch is correct, Apple’s total sales will be down as well.
Forty million Minis and 60 million iPads is 100 million, but 55 million plus 33 million is only 88 million … still a huge number, but materially down from 100 million. And the change will also affect Apple’s revenue and gross margins. The Mini is obviously cheaper than regular iPads, by a factor of $150 or so, and it has a lower profit margin as well.
DisplaySearch forecasts 254 million tablet sales in 2013: 136 million small to medium-sized, and 118 million large. If that’s correct, and if Apple sells only 88 million total tablets — or even the 100 million originally forecast — Apple will have lost its sale leadership position in tablets.
All of which makes it ever more imperative that Apple get cracking on new products: Retina iPad Minis, iPhone Minis, a full-size iPad 5 that is lighter and thinner and counteracts the sales trend to smaller devices, and perhaps even the long-rumored iWatch.
Or, better yet, something truly innovative.
That’s what Apple has consistently done in the past, as CEO Tim Cook recently said: obsolete its old products with newer, higher-margin products.
If that’s going to happen in 2013, we need to see some of that Cook’s cooking, soon.
Filed under: Business, Gadgets, Mobile, VentureBeat
Shipments of 9.7-inch table panels collapsed from 7.4 million in December to just 1.3 million in January, DisplaySearch analyst David Hsieh says, meaning that Apple’s previously intended mix of tablet sales is getting turned on its head.“Apple had planned to sell 40 million iPad minis (7.9 inch) and 60 million iPads (9.7 inch) in 2013,” Hsieh wrote. “However, the reality seems to be the reverse, as the iPad Mini has been more popular than the iPad.”
Source: DisplaySearch
Tablet panel shipments Dec. ’12 to Jan. ’13It’s worth noting that these numbers and projections are not figures that Apple has released but conjectures based on what analysts see of component orders and flow. So some skepticism — and a healthy margin of error — is in order.
But if DisplaySearch is correct, Apple’s total sales will be down as well.
Forty million Minis and 60 million iPads is 100 million, but 55 million plus 33 million is only 88 million … still a huge number, but materially down from 100 million. And the change will also affect Apple’s revenue and gross margins. The Mini is obviously cheaper than regular iPads, by a factor of $150 or so, and it has a lower profit margin as well.
DisplaySearch forecasts 254 million tablet sales in 2013: 136 million small to medium-sized, and 118 million large. If that’s correct, and if Apple sells only 88 million total tablets — or even the 100 million originally forecast — Apple will have lost its sale leadership position in tablets.
All of which makes it ever more imperative that Apple get cracking on new products: Retina iPad Minis, iPhone Minis, a full-size iPad 5 that is lighter and thinner and counteracts the sales trend to smaller devices, and perhaps even the long-rumored iWatch.
Or, better yet, something truly innovative.
That’s what Apple has consistently done in the past, as CEO Tim Cook recently said: obsolete its old products with newer, higher-margin products.
If that’s going to happen in 2013, we need to see some of that Cook’s cooking, soon.
Filed under: Business, Gadgets, Mobile, VentureBeat
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