If The Spec Is Dead So Is The Nexus Tablet

It seems the much-rumored Google Nexus Tablet is nearing release. Citing Basemark benchmarking reports, the device is supposedly codenamed Grouper, running Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and employing a 7-inch, 1280 x 768 display powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core Tegra 3. If true, this means the upcoming tablet will likely lack 4G wireless connectivity since Nvidia’s latest SoC is incompatible with current 4G chipsets. Without 4G, and since this is a forward-thinking Nexus device, it’s safe to say that the tablet will lack a data wireless radio of any sort and will instead ship with just WiFi.
Besides, even without the compatibility issues (which might be resolved), Google will not be able to launch a wireless-enabled tablet at a Kindle Fire price. They can’t in essence eat their Jelly Bean and have it too.
Much like the so-called spec, performance is dead. It’s meaningless in today’s post-PC devices. Either the device, such as a tablet, works, or it does not. A quad-core chip like the Tegra 3 used here does not improve Angry Birds. There is simply an expectation by the consumer that a device works, and if it does not, then it’s worthless. Comparing clock speed or data throughput between different modern SoCs is worthless. Consumers are shopping for functionality rather than performance. A Nexus tablet without 3G/4G is doomed to the niche market.
Google recently started selling unlocked Galaxy Nexus smartphones from the Google Play storefront. This in theory could also work for wireless tablet. For whatever reason Android tablets with wireless connectivity are strangely tied to 2 year wireless data contracts. This makes them horrible buys compared to the iPad that’s sold with just an extra surcharge for the option. Not only do these tabs generally carry a similar price, but they lock buyers into a 2-year contract that greatly inflates the overall cost. In a perfect world Google would bypass the carriers, and sell an unlocked Nexus tablet in this same storefront — expect a WiFi model to be available there, though.
The Nexus brand has always been a sort of geek device, targeting Android’s core audience rather than the general consumer. Even the name, a nod to Blade Runner, is an inside joke among its users. But a Nexus Tablet is supposed to be something different. It’s supposed to be a Google’s answer to the iPad and the Kindle Fire.
Ignoring different platforms, the iPad and Kindle Fire hold a dominant chunk of the total tablet marketshare. For various reasons pure Honeycomb tablets do not sell in overwhelming numbers. Simply put, most of the Android tabs from Samsung, Motorola and Asus are priced similarly to the iPad and do not offer a significant advantage. The Kindle Fire is different, though.
Amazon got the Kindle Fire right. By pricing it at $200 and skinning it with a consumer-friendly GUI, the tablet targeted the huge audience of curious onlookers. It didn’t need 3G wireless to sell versus the iPad. The low price was justification enough.
Amazon wisely built the tablet around its robust content offering, allowing the retailer to sell the tablet with a very slim margin. Traditional tablet makers like Samsung and Motorola do not have this luxury. These consumer electronic companies need to turn a profit from the hardware. Amazon, and Apple for that matter, can rely on retail channels to make up for the smaller margins on the device itself.
Google is going to have the same problem with the Nexus tablet. It’s unclear if Google Play can provide enough back-end revenue to support a low price for the Nexus Tab. It’s rumored to retail for $199 to $249, providing a Honeycomb (or even Jelly Bean) alternative to the Kindle Fire. Today’s rumor peg the device with a top-of-the-line Tegra 3 SoC and a quality screen. These are not inexpensive parts like Amazon uses in the Kindle Fire. Samsung sells its less capable Galaxy Tab 7.0 for $349. But without wireless connectivity, the only advantage Google has will be price. Without a low price and wireless connectivity, the Google Nexus Tablet will be just another also-ran Android tab.

11:09 by Robert dawne · 1

Why Microsoft Is Being Left in the Dust

Alex Goldfayn’s new book is called Evangelist Marketing: What Apple Amazon and Netflix Understand About Their Customers (That Your Company Probably Doesn’t). He is CEO of the Evangelist Marketing Institute, a marketing consultancy with clients that include T-Mobile, TiVo, and Logitech. Follow him @alexgoldfayn.
There are now a number of companies — Apple, Google, Amazon, and others — that have Microsoft in their rear-view mirrors, disappearing quickly on the horizon in a cloud of dust.
That kick of dust in the company’s face is being emitted by Apple’s iPhone and iPad, Amazon’s Kindle, and Google’s search and cloud domination. Microsoft’s own wild lunges into various technology segments are also contributing considerably to it being left behind. Take the company’s recent partnership with Barnes & Noble, where it took 18% of the Nook e-reader for $605 million in cash and future guarantees. This was a move to compete with Amazon, but can it really compete?
If you want to know why Microsoft’s share price has been flat for 11 years while Apple, Amazon, and Google shares have soared, this is why. Microsoft is not innovating aggressively. It is not leading categories or blazing trails. No, it’s acquiring aggressively as a shortcut to innovation. That isn’t working. Its own history suggests as much.

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Microsoft Has Not Capitalized on its Partnerships and Acquisitions

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Last year, Microsoft announced a broad strategic partnership with Nokia, presumably to use Windows operating systems and software on Nokia’s smartphones. This was 15 months ago. But last week, a report found that Apple and Samsung generated 99 percent of the profits in the mobile phone category. Nokia, which once enjoyed more than half of all mobile phone profits, made zero.
In 2009, Microsoft acquired a 10-year license to use Yahoo’s core search technology, which later became the Bing search engine. Today, Google’s search market share is a dominant 66%, with Microsoft’s Bing a very distant second at 15%. After spending billions building and marketing Bing, Microsoft is barely visible in Google’s rear-view mirror.
Finally, what of Microsoft’s Skype acquisition a year ago? It’s too early to tell, but here’s a fact worth noting: The Wall Street Journal reports that 85% of Microsoft’s revenue comes from Windows and Office software. The rest of it? Barely a blip.
And so, Microsoft is proving, like many have before it, that acquiring companies outside your core competencies are recipes for failure. Remember when Cisco purchased the Flip video camera, at the time one of the most popular consumer electronics products on the planet? How did that work out? In 2010, HP bought Palm for $1.2 billion, but we haven’t seen any industry-altering smartphones from HP.
Conversely, consider Apple’s acquisition of Siri: a technology that immediately and profoundly complimented and enhanced its iPhone. It fit obviously and very successfully.

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Microsoft Does Not Need to Compete with Amazon

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Another major problem with Microsoft’s partnership involving the Nook is that there is simply no need for it to compete with Amazon. This is like Best Buy focusing all of its efforts on its ecommerce site while neglecting its one major competitive advantage: its brick-and-mortar stores. This is also like Research in Motion spending a year building its atrociously received tablet, the PlayBook, while neglecting its core competency of Blackberry smartphones.
Microsoft dominates the competition in computer operating systems and software. Computers are dying, right? And yet, in May 2012, there is no Microsoft Office for tablets and smartphones. Millions of iPads and Android tablets are being adopted in corporate environments, and most of those customers would be happy to spend $70 on Microsoft Office for each device. Except, it does not exist.
I can only guess why: because with its many categories, acquisitions and partnerships, Microsoft is physically incapable of putting its full focus behind converting its desktop products to mobile devices.

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Microsoft is Going Wide, Not Deep

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Which brings me to the third and final big problem with Microsoft’s Nook play. It is keeping with the strategy of going as wide as possible. Microsoft is not, and cannot be, all things to all people. In fact, no company can.
Here’s the truth: The wider you go, the more priorities you focus on, the less chance you have to be successful. But when you go deep, you can dominate. (See Apple, and Amazon.) When you go deep, you can continue perfecting. You become the world’s expert on a certain specialty. Apple is seen as the world’s expert on smartphones and tablets. Amazon is the accepted leader in online shopping and electronic reading. It’s because these two companies relentlessly focus on their strengths, saying no to nearly everything else. No. That’s a word Microsoft should consider trying out before it gets left in the dust permanently.

12:05 by Robert dawne · 1

Intel Releases Rugged Education Tablet for the Developing World

Intel has launched the latest device in its line of classroom computers: a tablet, Intel studybook.
The Intel studybook is built to be both a rigorous education tool and a sturdy playmate. It comes loaded with Intel’s Learning Series software, including an interactive ereader and LabCam applications. The rugged water and dust-proof design is constructed from a single piece of plastic, with shock absorbers surrounding the screen. It’s also drop tested from 70 centimeters, the height of a child’s desk, onto concrete.
“Students today live in a virtual world and this device can give a valid scientific experience for students in emerging economies, ” says Wayne Grant, director of research and planning for Intel’s Education Market Platforms Group, as he throws the tablet across the table to demonstrate its robustness. “Representations of knowledge are changing. Tools are now based in tablet environments.”
The tablet has a 7-inch screen, 1060 x 600 pixel resolution, and can run either Windows 7 or Android Honeycomb software. Some additional features include front and rear-facing cameras, a microphone, multi-touch LCD screen, light sensor support and mobile learning environment. It runs on an Intel Atom Z650 processor.

Intel doesn’t sell any of its line of classroom PCs, rather it licenses them to original design manufactures throughout the world, in the countries that will be using the devices. It’s then up to the manufacturer to determine the price. Grant cites one Portuguese manufacturer’s estimate to sell the tablets at just under $200.
“The tablet is not prescriptive,” Grant says, “Here’s the tool, go discover the world.”
More than 7 million children in more than 2,000 classrooms in 36 countries around the world currently use Intel classmate PCs.
“An Intel studybook offers students limitless opportunities to enhance their learning experience,” says Kapil Wadhera, general manager of Intel’s Education Market Platform Group. “Expanding the Intel Learning Series portfolio of affordable, purpose-built educational devices brings us closer to our vision of enabling more students and teachers to participate in high quality education.”
To improve the classroom environment, the Intel Learning Series also added Teacher PC criteria for Ultrabook and Notebook systems. The criteria is created with the goal of keeping teachers up to speed with the new tools.
A recent study showed that One Laptop Per Child, another rugged classroom PC innovator, did not increase language and math test scores in the classrooms where laptops were used. This gap, the study found, is due to insufficient teacher training with the new technologies.

16:02 by Robert dawne · 0

IDC: Apple’s iPad Rules Tablet Sales Today But Android Makers Will Overtake It By 2016

With news of Apple’s new iPad selling out its first run due to overwhelming demand, 2012 is off to a galloping start for the tablet market; and because of that IDC is upping its forecasts for how many “media” tablets will be shipped this year. The analysts predict that the number will top 106.1 million units, up from their previous forecast of 87.7 million units, due in part to strong demand for that new iPad, but also a number of other devices at a range of price points.
Indeed, while Apple will continue to be the single biggest tablet maker on the market, Android, collectively, will continue to hold its own against it, with some notable devices like the Amazon Kindle Fire doing particularly well. But it will not be until 2016 — four years from now — that IDC thinks that Android shipments will outnumber those of iOS.
Even though the Kindle Fire was available only in the U.S. in Q4, IDC says that the $199 device accounted for 16.8 percent of all tablet shipments in Q4 2011, or some 4.7 million units, making it the largest “Android” vendor. Samsung, despite its multiple Android tablets, was bumped down to second-biggest Android maker with a 5.8 percent share of the market. Barnes & Noble and Pandigital, the other top Android tablet makers, both saw their shares of shipments slide. The tablets to watch, it seems, are those that combine low price with high content promise.
None of that was a match for Apple, however, which accounted for 54.7 percent of all shipments in Q4, or 15.4 million units. While that was a rise of 110 percent over the year before, that still did not outpace the overall growth of the tablet market, which IDC says grew by 155 percent between the two quarters. Overall, Android tablets accounted for 44.6 percent of all sales, while RIM’s PlayBook slipped down to 0.7 percent from 1.1 percent a year before.
A couple of things worth noting about IDC’s numbers, taken from its quarterly tablet and e-reader tracker:
Although many predict that e-readers will eventually die a death blow dealt by tablets, for the moment their fortunes look okay. They grew less than half as well as tablets did — up by 64.3 percent between Q4 2011 and 2011 — but they are still on the rise, with e-reader makers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo in total shipping 10.7 million units in the quarter.
IDC gives no weight to Microsoft and its new, tablet-friendly Window 8 platform in its “media tablet” forecasts. As we saw last month, there are a number of devices being built on the OS, and if you believe all the reports, there will be more coming from the likes of Nokia to add to that. These are not expected to start shipping in earnest until much later this year. In its forecast, “others” apart from iOS and Android account for only a tiny sliver of overall shipments — and, by default, sales.
And that’s the other point always worth remembering about shipments. This tends to be the metric tracked most closely by analysts, because they get their numbers from device makers but also the channels that receive and distribute them; the shipment numbers are based on estimated demand. Ultimately, though, sometimes these shipments are out of sync with how a product actually gets bought — although analysts usually say that in the long run those corrections are accounted for with fewer shipments in subsequent quarters.

06:01 by Robert dawne · 0

This Article Generating Thousands Of Dollars In Ad Revenue Simply By Mentioning New iPad

SAN FRANCISCO—According to industry sources, this news article is generating a veritable bonanza of highly lucrative advertising revenue by mere virtue of the fact that it mentions Apple's new iPad. "Current estimates show that the particular article I am being quoted in at this very moment began to accumulate thousands of dollars in ad-based profits as soon as the words 'new iPad' appeared in the headline," said market analyst Jonathan Bowers, who single-handedly and out of thin air created cold hard cash for a media organization simply by adding that the new Apple iPad will feature a high-definition screen and an improved processor. "Furthermore, any subsequent mention of the new iPad in this article—as well as any mention of the fact that preorders for the device start today—is resulting in increased reader traffic and, thus, increased revenues for your company's ad-based business model." At press time, new iPad, new iPad, new iPad, new iPad, new iPad, new iPad, new iPad, new iPad, new iPad, new iPad.

12:57 by Robert dawne · 0

LG Optimus Vu Goes Up For Sale As Pricing Info Revealed

Whether you look at them as jumbo-sized smartphones, mini tablets, or have come up with some cute portmanteau to try and cram the words together, there's no denying that the mid-size five-to-seven-inch range has been getting a lot more attention as of late. That's due in no small part to Samsung and its Galaxy Note, with a 5.3-inch display that really pushes the limits of how large a display a device can get away with while still being a phone. We learned last month that LG had been toying with a similar idea, and would be giving its upcoming Optimus Vu Android a five-inch screen in an atypical 4:3 aspect ratio. Today LG announces initial availability for the Vu, but with a price tag that may have you rethinking just how much a large screen is worth.

Sales of the Optimus Vu begin today in Korea. If you go to check out the Android at a retailer, make sure you bring a high-limit credit card, because off-contract sales of the Vu work out to the equivalent of nearly $900.

There are plenty of good reasons why smartphones are so expensive, and we could probably live with a price that was just a hundred dollars or so cheaper, but it really starts to get difficult rationalizing the sticker price as we approach the $1000 mark.

From its specs, it sounds like the Vu could be a very solid phone, and though it's not for everyone, we're sure that the unusual size and shape will win it a few big fans. Unless LG makes the handset more affordable as it spreads to additional markets around the globe, though, it could be difficult to convince consumers to give the Vu a chance.

15:22 by Robert dawne · 0

Hands On With the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 Android 4 Interface 

 

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 Edge 

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 Back 

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 is Thin 

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 Stylus 

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 Marking up Document 

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 Drawing with Paint Tool 

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 Drawing with Pen Tool

 BARCELONA: Samsung’s newest 10.1-inch tablet, the Galaxy Note 10.1, is thin, light and powerful, but it’s also among a rather rarefied — but growing — group of stylus tablets. Like its little sibling, the 5.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Note, the new tablet features a Wacom digitizing tablet interface and stylus. Unlike the smaller notepad, the 10.1 stylus does not slip inside the slate. It’s also kind of fun to use.
We got to spend a little time with the 1.29 lb. tablet and found it comfortable to hold (it’s 8.9mm thick) and responsive. Using the stylus is not exactly like using one with an Apple iPad. The big difference here is that the Notepad 10.1’s screen is pressure-sensitive, so your line weight can vary — if you’re drawing. It’s also notable that Samsung has already updated its pen technology to recognize even more degrees of pressure than you could on the original Notepad.
Inside the Android 4.0 device is a dual-core 1.4GHz mobile CPU, a 3-megapixel camera on the back and a 2 megapixel camera on the front. The device, though, is also packed with a bunch of pen-ready software, including the just-announced Adobe PhotoShop Touch, and a bunch of S-Pen Samsung apps.
We tried out the S-Note app, where we could mark up documents and draw images from scratch. Samsung warned us that while the hardware was final, the software was not. Even so, drawing on the tablet felt good and the Notepad 10.1 had no trouble keeping up.
Other notable features include a micro-SD card slot, full HD video support and the ability to work with other Wacom digitizing pens.
Samsung execs said the tablet will ship globally with HSPA+ (no LTE for now) and Wi-Fi — as well as a Wi-Fi-only version — some time in Q2. Pricing has not yet been set.

08:08 by Robert dawne · 0