How Apple Can Disrupt The Tablet Market

iPad Event InvitationI have long espoused that there is no tablet market, just an iPad market. But with the introduction of the Kindle Fire and to a lesser degree Nook Tablet there is a competitive threat to be dealt with. Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble were smart to not take on Apple straight up as Samsung and others have done, and failed, with Android tablets. No, they developed highly customized user experiences centered around reading and content consumption and carved out a foot hold with price. And like what Android did with smartphones over time, you can extrapolate the same course might be taken in the tablet space with incremental improvements and “good enough” solutions at prices half or less Apple charges for the iPad.

So it will be interesting to see what Apple does next week when they announce the iPad 3. Rumor has it they will keep the iPad 2 on the market as an entry level device and might even field an 8 GB model. That would be most interesting but to fully disrupt the nascent tablet market they would have to hit the $299 price point. Since refurb original iPads sell for that today it would be conceivable that the 8 GB iPad 2 could retail as low as $299. If that’s the case, game over even for the Kindle Fire.

There is also a ridiculous rumor Apple will announce a 7.85 inch iPad before the holiday season at $199 to compete head to head with the Kindle Fire. This is just not how Apple rolls, especially since they are sure to introduce a new resolution for developers to deal with, so I still think it is more likely to see a 4 inch iPod Touch at the end of the year based upon the iPhone 5. This would retail in the $199 price point but would not run iPad apps. I think Apple could command at least $100 over competitors especially if they are delivering a larger and more capable device.

We’ll see what happens next week but this will fully play out over the next 6 months.

Head To Head: Siri Vs. Google Voice Actions

Some interesting findings here… apparently Siri is just a personality layer on top of search.

Google Bids High for Hulu (via AllThingsD)

My money is on Amazon winning here. Instant Video + Hulu would give Apple’s Netflix + iTunes a run for their money.

10 Days With Android

A week ago last Saturday I walked into a T-Mobile store in Orange, CA and walked out with my first Android phone, a Samsung Behold II. I had been thinking about making the move from my aging, but still quite usable, T-Mobile Dash for a while and it was a blog post about a trade-in offer for the Behold II that got me in the door. But after just a few days with the Behold II, I was ready to go back the the Dash or exchange for another Android phone. Why? No upgrade path and something called TouchWiz.

I spent some time with both the Samsung Behold II, the Motorola CLIQ and CLIQ XT before I made my choice. All these phones run Android 1.5 and sport the same processor as the venerable G1 but can be had for $100 or less on contract. When I picked up the Behold II it was $150 but the $75 smartphone trade-in made this what I thought was a pretty good deal. The phone felt good in the hand and the OLED screen was bright and very readable. For some reason, however, Samsung has skinned this phone with the same user interface as their feature phones. This TouchWiz interface is supposed to make things easier but for me it only made things more frustrating (and reminded me of the layers you sometimes have to dig with Windows Mobile 6.x). But the thing that had me returning the phone on day five was a show-stopper: no OS update.

I’m not sure if Samsung has made a definitive statement but it looks like the Behold II will be stuck on Android 1.5 for the duration which was enough for me. There were other issues besides TouchWiz. Battery life was terrible. The GPS only locked onto satellites outside and never in a building. The amount of available space for apps didn’t seem enough for what I wanted to install. So last week I returned that phone and exchanged it for a Motorola CLIQ XT.

The main selling point of the CLIQ XT, other than price at just $99 on contract, is the optimization of hardware and software. And it doesn’t stop with stock Android or their MOTOBLUR home screens. Unlike the Behold II with a pretty lame keyboard addition and little else, the CLIQ XT has some pretty compelling software included. QuickOffice is a welcome addition and saved me $10 but they have also included everything a social media connected person needs. Their social media client, Happenings, connects you with Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and more right from the home screen. And MOTOBLUR live updates all these services without going into any app. But the Swype keyboard is the most compelling addition here making this phone usable for more than just short text entry.

But all this has a downside as the battery life, without quite a bit of tweaking, is pretty bad. So I’ve turned nearly all of MOTOBLUR off to save battery, along with 3G, wifi and GPS when I’m in the house. Right now I get about 10 hours of runtime; I think I might be able to get something close to 20 hours with more optimization.

Android itself is very usable but still not nearly as polished as the iPhone OS. Yes, this is only Android 1.5 so I’m hoping many of these issues will be taken care of in the forthcoming 2.1 update. But the bottom line for me is that Android is a lot better than Windows Mobile 6.x so I’m glad I made the move. More to come after further use.

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Links for December 13th through December 23rd

Shared links for December 13th through December 23rd:


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Attack of The Google Election 2008 Gadget

The folks at Google have put together a great maps mashup of election results.

G1: Openness Takes On Cool

Earlier this week Google and T-Moblie announced the first phone to run Google’s new Android OS, the G1 (a.k.a. HTC Dream). What I find most interesting about this device is the totally open source approach Google and, for their part, T-Mobile have taken with the G1. In stark contrast to the closed system of Apple’s iPhone, the G1 and Android platform will be an technology to watch in 2009.

But it’s not yet clear if Android will become the Chumby of smartphones or an open source alternative to iPhone. There are quite a few good signs that it might be the latter as the G1 seems to be a solid product. In addition to the on-screen keyboard they provide a slide out hardware keyboard. This was one of my own problems with the iPhone (along with price, which has recently been addressed). And since the G1 is on my current mobile carrier, upgrading is much less of a hassle than moving to the Apple/AT&T world.

So I’m going to keep watching this space and see what develops in coming months. My T-Moblie subsidy runs out next May, so we should have our answer by then. And I do believe openness can overtake cool if enough developers embrace Android. Let’s hope they do.