Entelligence: Aiming high or another Mylo?
We heard a rumor last week that Sony was working on new handhelds to compete with devices like the iPad. It sounds like a great idea: a PSP with integrated telephony and e-book functionality could perhaps give everyone in the market a run for their money. But I’m a little skeptical — Sony’s Clié line once defined state-of-the-art PDA, but the company ceded the market to Palm long before the PDA was eventually reborn as the smartphone. If Sony’s seriously thinking about getting back to the handheld space, here’s some lessons it might learn from its efforts back in the PDA day.
1. Innovation is great but only when you really innovate. Sony led the market in innovation when it entered the PDA space. It offered the first Palm OS devices with removable storage, the first devices that could play back audio and video, and the first high-resolution color devices. All of these clearly drove the market forward. Then the innovations became less innovative and more “gadgetry.” There were 3D interfaces for the launcher that were confusing and awkward. Some devices had Bluetooth support but not others. Devices like the NZ-90 (pictured above) added so many features into the mix that it was big, bloated, and nearly useless.* In short, the innovations became less compelling and eventually stood in the way of. I’m worried that Sony’s meshing the type of functionality rumored to be its new device without any thought how it all has to work together.
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Entelligence: Aiming high or another Mylo? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Entelligence: Will Android fragmentation destroy the platform?
My friend and colleague Harry McCracken recently bought a brand new Droid from Motorola. He says it’s a “loaf of day old bread.” He’s right. The Droid and Android 2.0 were introduced with much fanfare in December, but have already been eclipsed by Android 2.1 running on Google’s Nexus One, and there are some serious ramifications for being behind. For example, Google recently touted the latest mobile version of Google Earth, which is a cool app that you won’t be able to use unless you’re running 2.1. Sure, Google says “Google Earth will be available in Android Market on most devices that have Android 2.1 or later versions,” but that’s most, not every. And what does Google mean when it says “as devices like the Droid get updated…” to 2.1? When will they get updated? Is it any wonder that some Android users are starting to get pangs of buyers remorse?
When Android was announced, I wrote that if “Google can deliver, the impact could be huge,” but I caveated a major issue: Google would need to prevent the market from fragmenting and allow it to succeed where other mobile and desktop Linux implementations had failed. Linux fragmentation remains one of the many reasons the open-source OS has failed to capture a meaningful share of the PC desktop market, and Android is rapidly following a similar path by fragmenting into different versions with different core feature sets, different users experiences and run different applications.
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Entelligence: Will Android fragmentation destroy the platform? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Switched On: Sony’s forward Dash
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
In its introductory press release, here’s what Sony has to say about the Dash, a “personal Internet viewer” that it announced at CES: “Featuring a vivid 7-inch color touch screen… Dash utilizes an existing home wireless connection to continuously deliver Internet content to its viewers.” And according to its SonyStyle.com site, here’s what that Dash has to say about itself: “I use over 1,500 free apps and your Wi-Fi connection to deliver the information and entertainment you crave… right to your bedroom, kitchen or office.” But Dash also has something to say about Sony, and for the most part, it’s an encouraging message.
Dash was one of the more distinct category-blurring products to emerge from Las Vegas in January. Its hardware is a hybrid between an alarm clock and digital picture frame and its content is a content mashup between Chumby widgets and Sony’s Bravia Internet Video Link offering. Dash was introduced just a few months after HP introduced its DreamScreen, another product that provides “glanceable” information from the cloud.
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Switched On: Sony’s forward Dash originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Switched On: Making it different versus making a difference
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
How many apps does it take to screw in a light bulb? That was the question facing Microsoft as rival mobile operating systems backed by Apple and Google added tens of thousands of applications giving users stylus-free access to a wide range of capabilities. For a company whose co-founder trumpeted the notion of information at your fingertips, it was a bitter position. The light bulb wasn’t screwed, but Microsoft looked as though it was.
Finally, though, the light bulb has turned on, and it has lit a path in the opposite direction from the guiding user interface philosophy that characterized Windows Mobile, née Windows CE, since it powered devices known as Pocket PCs. With its miniature Start menu, menu bars and icons, Windows Mobile had been designed to present a familiar interface to those used to using Windows 95. In this case, however, familiarity bred contempt. As Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore repeated several times during his introduction of the new Windows Phone 7 OS, “the phone is not a PC.”
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Switched On: Making it different versus making a difference originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Switched On: I, hotspot
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
One of the conundrums facing device makers today is how to add wireless connectivity to their products. E-readers such as the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook use internet access primarily for selling you more content, so it can be completely subsidized. Laptops, on the other hand, can consume large amounts of data, and so plans can run $60 per month and have capped bandwidth, even at that price. Apple and AT&T’s iPad pricing scheme attempts a compromise: a $15 prepaid for a minimal 250 MB per month that could serve the needs of many users (especially with a Flash-less browser and sideloaded video delivery), along with the option of a $30 unlimited plan.
For many users, though, there is another option: bring your own broadband. Last year, Novatel Wireless’s MiFi, launched in the U.S. by Sprint and Verizon Wireless, opened up the possibility for virtually any WiFi device to access the internet over 3G connections. Laptops without 3G cards could access the web from a car and the iPod touch became a functional iPhone — and in some parts of AT&T’s alleged network coverage, more functional than an iPhone.
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Switched On: I, hotspot originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Entelligence: Context is the killer application for mobile
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he’ll explore where our industry is and where it’s going — on both micro and macro levels — with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.
We live in a world of diverse mobile devices. Laptops, smartphones and everything in between define the mobile experience of the 21st century. But what is the killer application for mobile computing? We all know the theory of killer apps — they’re the reason and the purpose people invest in new devices. The killer app in the early days of PCs was the VisiCalc spreadsheet. PageMaker and the creation of desktop publishing were the killer apps for the GUI-based PC, most notably the Macintosh. But for mobile, it’s not as clear; some people think the killer app for mobile is email, while other say it’s the mobile web. Personally, I don’t think there’s one specific killer application — I think the killer app for mobile is simply context.
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Entelligence: Context is the killer application for mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Switched On: Mined the gap
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
At the introduction of the iPad, Steve Jobs showed a simple slide illustrating one of the burning questions in the industry for many years. On the left was a smartphone. On the right was a laptop. And in the middle was a gap. Apple, like many companies in the PC industry, was seeking to create a product that filled this gap. Indeed, the iPad itself reflects elements of the Apple devices that flank it. Its enclosure resembles the silver metallic enclosure of a MacBook Pro, but inside, it has the ARM processor architecture and operating system of the iPhone.
But the iPad is but the latest in a long line of products and would-be general-purpose devices that seeks to fill this gap, most of them short-lived. Some of the more recent ones include the aborted Palm Foleo, the Sony Mylo, Nokia Internet Tablets, UMPCs, and MIDs. Why are so many companies convinced there is opportunity in these products?
Let’s turn back the clock to 2002, the year Handspring launched its first smartphone, the monochrome 160 x 160-pixel Treo 180. It was the year that Verizon Wireless launched the first 3G network in the U.S. and the year MobileStar declared bankruptcy after deploying public Wi-Fi throughout many Starbucks locations in 2001. In 2002, PC World awarded its World Class Award for ultralight notebooks to the Fujitsu LifeBook P-2000. It was less than three pounds and had a 10.6-inch screen, but was 1.6-inches thick and had a starting price of $1,499. And it couldn’t access Facebook, Hulu, YouTube or Engadget — because they didn’t exist.
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Switched On: Mined the gap originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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