Full FeedWho’s on Crack in Tech: 07.03.09
Welcome to this week’s edition of Who’s on Crack. This week was overflowing with what clearly was drug-induced euphoria. Maybe we can blame it on summer vacations? Maybe we can blame it on the torrential rains in the east. Maybe we can just blame Milli Vanilli. Whatever the blame, we’ll march these chosen examples right off to rehab. This week: Twitter your pulse out. Sony’s Walkman finally runs out of batteries? Stealing images is just wrong and AT&T confuses iLaunch with Pizza Day.
Microsoft Pink phone runs like Windows ME?
The rumored and oft-denied Pink phone by Microsoft is gaining some credibility of actually existing. According to ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley (no relation to Axel Foley, I asked), Microsoft has leaked some key information that not only says Pink is real but is going to wow an awful lot of folks. Years ago, Microsoft divided its Windows unit: NT to focus on business and ME to focus on consumers. There is every reason to believe it will try something similar for its Windows Mobile vision.
First, Ms. Foley’s claimed rumors:
- Pink will use the same ad agency that the Windows Mobile team uses.
- Pink will be based on Windows Mobile 7, but won’t look like it.
- Pink will be later than Windows Mobile 6.5
- Built by Motorola or Sharp, expect a device targeted at Sidekick users with that Zune UI everyone seems to like (or at least not hate) .
To me, this project smacks of a Seinfeld episode: “OK team, we are in trouble in mobile OS land, so I want you to do the exact opposite as the Windows Mobile 7 team.” Personally, I think it is a good idea to try some rebranding for the Windows Mobile team. The WinMo name gets dragged through the dirt and something fresh would be very nice to see coming out of Redmond.
The Danger purchase would make sense if Microsoft was bent on dividing its WinMo operation into business and consumer divisions as well. The division would likely be a shell UI difference, but might go a long way in differentiating their product as Apple and BlackBerry offer one OS to serve all markets. In light of Android’s open and no cost availability to manufacturers, MS has to pull something pretty cool here to make a dent. The Pink phone is expected to be that cool.
Will we see Zune integration? Xbox game porting? Hopefully we’ll learn more soon.
Read [ZD Net
RelatedHate your battery life? Pig pile on this lawsuit.
Does anyone take manufacturers claims about battery life seriously anymore? Apparently someone does. A law firm out of North Carolina and they want to know if you feel cheated, ripped-off or otherwise victimized by manufacturer claims regarding your laptop’s advertised battery life.
That’s right, the law offices of Girard Gibbs, LLP is interested in hearing from you
“if you believe that your laptop battery has a shorter life span than what was advertised or represented to you”
Damn lies
The law office cites reports that AMD (Advanced Micro Design) says battery test information is based on a misleading test that exaggerates the batteries life. What is AMD’s beef? They believe the battery life test ought to be more like cell phone battery info: talk time vs standby time. Currently, the test is more like just standby time.
“AMD is basically saying that MobileMark 2007 tests the equivalent of the standby time in cell phones. That’s a little unfair. Granted, the laptop is using roughly 10 percent of the system resources and there are idle times during the test that brings CPU utilization down to nil.” - PC Mag
AMD suggests that a test looping HD video should be used as well. Most people use laptops for surfing the web, document and spreadsheet editing and the like; stuff that nowhere near approaches HD video playback demands on resources. PC Mag goes on record behind the old test, citing:
Perhaps most importantly, MobileMark allows us to test consistently. It offers a fair comparison of battery life across the swath of laptops on the market, at least for the scenario BapCo has created. Of course it could use improvement, but right now MobileMark is the fairest battery test on the market.
Really? AMD wants to be accurate like cell phone battery info? Puh-leeez
Cell phone battery life is the next biggest joke to laptop battery life. Standby time is a pretty useless stat as it assumes you have no friends to call and interrupt standby time. Talk time assumes you won’t be multitasking and playing Black Jack while your parents ramble on about the squirrel in the bird feeder.
The problem with battery life is baselines are pretty useless. It is like measuring potential. Sure you have to measure something, but knowing my phone’s battery is supposed to last 19 hours doing absolutely nothing isn’t very helpful. If I wanted to get a phone to last the longest doing nothing, I’d just get a cell phone sized rock and be pleased at my cash savings.
Pig Pile on the manufacturers
Girard Gibbs wants to get the word out. Google “laptop battery life” and you’ll find their sponsored link in the #1 position in results:
Short Laptop Lifespan?
www.GirardGibbs.com/batterylife Law firm investigating misleading ads re lifespan of laptop batteries
The lawyers are now looking for laptop users unhappy with their battery life. That should be just about everyone. You can submit your info at their website and be part of the coming class action.
Internal conflict
I am having trouble putting my finger on why I think this lawsuit is a bit of a sham. Maybe it is how jaded we’ve become at manufacturers claims. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten the miles per gallon on my Ford that the EPA suggests I should if I knew what I was doing. I’ve come to take these numbers at less than face value. To me, it seems silly to argue over something I don’t believe in.
I see the legal suits point and I am sure there are many customers that are genuinely surprised when their battery runs out well before they expect. Is it class action worthy? What is your take? Let us know in the comments.
Class action page: [Girard Gibbs] via [Semi Accurate]
RelatedPalm Pre to get battery with 2x life? Sweet.
Here’s one more thing that separates the Palm Pre from Apple’s iPhone: the removable battery. A new battery from Innocell promises longer standby and talk time than the original. The additional battery life is crammed into the exact same specifications as the original battery and costs just $44.95.
Battery life is the bane of smartphones. Many believe the next big thing in smart phones is battery advances as it doesn’t matter if your phone has GPS, Bluetooth, a billion Apps; if your battery runs out of juice, it is just as handy as a brick. Manufacturers are very aware of fine line they walk in keeping weight and size to a minimum while trying to eek out significant battery life.
But smart phones like Apple’s iPhone have a non-replaceable battery. This means users must plug the phone in or slide the phone into a battery pack such as Mophie’s Juice Pack, a clever work around that adds some bulk but carries more charge than the original battery.
According to Seido’s online store, Innocell is developing a super-duper extended battery that will include a rubberized battery door to accommodate the slightly bigger size. From Seido, “This Innocell extended battery provides up to nearly twice the capacity than the standard battery. Even with heavy phone and data usage, this battery will keep your Pre charged and ready to go.” Price and availability has yet to be announced for this battery.
For those traveling with their Palm Pre, extra batteries make a whole lot of sense. Having the ability to change out a common wear item, such as a battery, makes the Palm Pre a smarter smartphone.
Product Page: [Seido] via [PalmInfocenter ]
RelatedWindows Mobile doesn’t want your silly apps
We at Gadgetell talk a lot about third party applications for mobile phone operating systems and how they might make or break a platform. The news comes today that Microsoft Product Manager for France let slip that Windows Mobile Marketplace will launch with 600 applications. Microsoft is expected to launch this Marketplace this fall. Is 600 enough to launch with?
600 sounds like a lot of applications, but at the same time also sounds lacking compared the runaway train Apple built now. One site, suggests the App Store has over 52,000 applications. With over 240 applications submitted per day, is the App Store catch-able? Is Microsoft even interested in catching Apple?
Microsoft wants your application, developers
A recent promo video to get developers to submit applications to their Marketplace. Microsoft is aiming to entice developers to reach the millions of Windows Mobile users around the globe. The main developer page says:
Go global! We’ll make it easy. Windows Marketplace for Mobile makes it easy to manage and distribute your applications, and will directly connect you with millions of Windows Mobile users worldwide. Marketplace will be pre-installed in every single Windows Mobile 6.5 device allowing you to reach a broad audience.
Microsoft to developers: just kidding
Apparently, the humor doesn’t stop at making funny YouTube videos. If the promo video and website promising fame and fortune was enough to get you excited to start coding for Windows Mobile, the response from Microsoft is, according to one report:
“Thank you for joining the Windows Marketplace for Mobile developer program. We are not ready to accept your Marketplace submissions. We will notify you as soon as the portal is ready to accept your applications.”
What could be worse, the Marketplace won’t be available to all those Windows Mobile 6.1 and older customers. The Marketplace will only work with 6.5. Now the potential good news for some phone owners with 6.1 is there may be an update path for you, but that is up to the manufacturer and I wouldn’t hold your breath for it. If my experience with the Samsung Blackjack that took forever to update to the 6.0 is similar, manufacturers have little interest in helping a phone they’ve already sold you.
Palm received (and continues to receive) a lot of guff over a mostly unavailable SDK and few apps in their webOS app store. Clearly, Palm Pre fans are interested in applications with over a million downloaded already from choice of just 30 applications. Applications have become de rigeur for a successful smartphone thanks to Apple’s involvement. Palm relied on third party developers back in the day but it took Apple to take the stage to make the apps seemingly essential for daily life. Need to breathe? There’s an app for that.
So who are the chosen 600? Microsoft Partners? Will they be essentials? We’ll see in just a few short months.
Source: [WMExperts]
RelatedWho’s on Crack in Tech: 06.26.09
Welcome to this week’s Who’s on Crack. This week we look at some of the stuff they tried to pull over our eyes yet again and who is headed for a month program “upstate.” Here we go: Nokia is eying Palm? View the many faces of Android. Adobe Flash on phones except Apple. Sony’s back on crack with new laptops.
Palm admits, “We were out of the race,” releases dismal Q4 report
Times are tough for Palm but not as bad as Wall Street expected, so the outlook is a bit rosy for the smartphone maker. Since the Palm Pre was launched after the close of Palm’s Q4 and is not included in the numbers, analysts seem to have hope for the company. Indeed, after-hours trading brought Palm shares up as much as 16%, a vote of confidence not only in their webOS but also in their new CEO, John Rubenstein.
From ZDNet: “The company reported a quarterly loss of $53.4 million, or 40 cents per share, on sales of $113.2 million, excluding one-time items. Wall Street had been expecting a loss of 62 cents on revenue of $80.64 million. For Fiscal year 2009, the company reported a loss of $241.1 million, or $2.08 per share, excluding items.”
“The launch of Palm webOS and Palm Pre was a major milestone in Palm’s transformation; we have now officially reentered the race,” said Jon Rubinstein, Palm’s chairman and chief executive officer.
Palm managed to ship 351,000 smartphones during the quarter representing a quarter to quarter increase of 6% but a year-to-year decrease of 62%. Ouch. The luster is definitely off Palm’s aged phones, huh? These figures most likely show the backside of the Centro popularity curve as well as businesses holding out for something better than the older Palm OS and Windows Mobile OS Palm products.
Some real questions emerge, such as can the Pre make that much of an impact on the financials? Is Palm eyeing a Centro replacement based on webOS for just $99 as we’ve seen? If so, will it be offered to all Centro carriers (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint)? And if so, could a low-cost widely distributed phone spur developers into action to fill out the Palm app catalog? Many chastise Apple for taking a while to open the SDK to everyone, but in hindsight having a captured audience may have been a very shrewd move as it beckons developers to code for an identified population. Android and webOS don’t really have that luxury, yet.
One thing is certain: a company can only lose $50 million a quarter for so long.
Source: [Yahoo!]
RelatedFoleo to make a comeback? REDFLY drops prices in face of netbook threat
Remember everyone laughing at Palm’s Foleo? Well it seems many would be open to such a device now. Foleo was essentially a dummy terminal that relied on connectivity and data from your mobile phone to run. The immediate advantages being all your information on a bigger screen and keyboard than your mobile allows.
As our mobiles become more and more powerful, devices like the Foleo start to make more sense, especially when one considers how netbooks are faring in consumers eyes. One company, Celio has found some success in creating a Foleo-like device with their REDFLY. Billed as the world’s first and only smartphone terminal, the devices now start at a reduced $199 and $249 for a 7” and 8” version respectively.
Currently, REDFLY works with Windows 5, 6 and 6.1. More compatibility is on the way. In fact, according to JK on the run, Blackberry will become a supported OS by year’s end. Further down the line, Android has their attention.
Opening this discussion up more, how could this affect netbooks? Big time. If companies like Palm can leverage the connection through the cell phone, a netbook become redundant as all that is needed is a dummy terminal. When are you not going to have your phone with you? If we can figure out the darn battery issues, you can carry less.
Other believe devices like MiFi are going to bring about a massive shift in the game. I don’t see it. Yes, it is simple and easy, but so could be turning your mobile phone into a WiFi router. There are a couple of programs that do this already but it is not mainstream by any stretch.
Will Palm intro the Foleo and get after the business segment for the Pre and other WebOS devices? I am betting they do.
Read: [JK on the run]
RelatedNo escaping RFID: Infiltrating every mobile phone by 2010?
RFID is the future. It is if you listen to Ericsson’s vice-president of systems architecture, Håkan Djuphammar. Mr. Djuphammar expects every new cell phone to contain RFID chips by next year and these phones will usher in a whole new ecosystem of creative uses of the technology. Could RFID be a win-win for everyone?
One customer Ericsson is working with is an electric company with hundreds of unmanned stations that have a combined total of 15,000 access keys. The customer is not exactly sure where all those keys are and who has them. The solution Ericsson provided is RFID locks and enabled phones allowing the phones to act as a key and unlock these stations based on the workers proximity. Even cooler, these RFID codes can be set to allow temporary access by specific RFID enabled phones allowing the company to control who can get where.
Palm’s Pre ticking away Palm’s life. 150k units sold so far?
Take this about as far as you can throw it, but analyst for RBC Capital, Mike Abramsky says Palm sold 150,000 Pre devices since launch in the USA. These numbers are in stark contrast to the over a million iPhone 3GS units sold worldwide over the first weekend. Is 150,000 units enough to save Palm?
Abramsky goes so far as to put forth some speculation on:
- $99 smaller version will be here before the end of the year. No word on what carrier.
- More carriers in 2010 to include Verizon, AT&T and others.
Another phone so quick is an interesting move and more carriers is a no-brainer to get more interest behind developing 3rd party apps. Would a cheaper phone flop if the Palm App Catalog stays so small? My money says it might.
With the full force of the Android storm just off the coast (there are many units inbound from overseas as I type this), can the WebOS strut its stuff enough to capture some mindshare from consumers and developers alike? Is there time?
Source: [Fortune]
Related
Palm Pre Information & Updates
Palm just introduced their next-gen smartphone, the Palm Pre, and next-gen operating system, Palm webOS. Gadgetell's got the latest Pre and webOS information and news for you right here.
