More Mean Ads From VW, Moto, And Google

You know those ads from Verizon Wireless?  They've been hitting ATT and Apple's iPhone pretty hard and it just got harder.

But you know what?  I absolutely love it!  It's like the PC-Mac ads Apple put out but without the humor.

I think this will get Apple, Steve Jobs in particular, pretty pissed off.  And you don't want Jobs pissed off.  I think the gloves are off as far as Apple and Google are concerned.

Why is this good?  Let's be frank.  The iPhone has not had real competition for years now.  Plural.  I'm not sure that Droid is the iPhone killer.  Certainly, no one is saying that it is.  That boat sailed a long time ago.  Now, it's about coming as close to the iPhone as possible and giving Apple a good scare.

And with the strong marketing, Droid might just be the device.  So how will Apple respond if at all?

• Accelerated product roadmap.  Tablets, next generation of iPhones, new iPod Touches.
• The iPHone running on t-Mobile.  And if Sprint and Clearwire does their job, even a Wimax version of the iPhone?
• Look for Apple to hit Google where it hurts.  Search, ads, and maps.  Before Google bought mobile ad company, Admob, it was rumored that Apple demonstrated some interest.  Google wants to sell ads.  It hasn't been successful at other ventures so far.  Even if Android takes a sizable share of the mobile market, it's about ads for Google.  Look for Microsoft to employ a similar strategy and hit Google where its bottom-line is. Microsoft and Apple just wants to make sure Google doesn't continue to have billions of cash added each quarter that can come back to hurt them.  
• People buy Apple products for the whole ackage.  Not hardware alone.  Not software alone.  Apple can continue to leverage this like no one else can.  
• Beefed up MobileMe.  Free to all iPhone and iPod Touch users. Or reduce the cost of subscriptions.  Even provide a small business version of the Me service.  Hit back at Google and Microsoft at the same time.

As you can see, there are plenty of options for Apple to strike back.  It's about timing and no one is better at this game than Jobs and Co.  I imagine that Apple will have a lot to say about its mobile and cloud plans in 2010.  As a fan, you gotta love what Google's doing.

Meanwhile enjoy this new Droid ad and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Note:  Microsoft is bring Bing over to the iPhone.  Gotta love that too.

Reading On A Smartphone Is Good Enough?

The first thing I did this morning after I woke up was to reach for my G1 and see what e-mails I got while I was in a happy place with three beautiful...ah, too much details.  So I reached for my G1 to catch up on e-mails and scanned the headlines.  Then I took my toast, coffee, and  G1 out to the backyard to enjoy the day before I go to work.

But this act of taking out your mobile device to catch up on news, reading the latest Tweets or Facebook updates, or ereading is taking place all over the world that many mobile warriors do many times through out the day.  In lecture halls, taxi rides, waiting in line for a Starbucks latte, and many countless instances.

And that’s exactly the point that this NY Times article is talking about.  We can do so much on our Blackberries, G1s, and iPhones, having a secondary device dedicated to a specific function, in this instance, a Kindle, is not necessarily for a lot of mobile users.

So the question NYT asked, a valid one, is if the future of reading lies with Kindle-like devices, including the forthcoming Nook from Barnes and Noble, or a mobile multi-purpose device like the iPhone with its 3” screen?

More importantly, I think it’s accessing the information that is the main issue here.  How easily accessible to books and news can an iPhone be and how it is presented to readers.

Let’s examine the issue and focus on just what we can do today.  Also, let’s just narrow that down a bit more and focus on our behaviors.  When I woke up and started having breakfast, it’s my G1 I reached for.  When I get my Nook in a month or so, I might reach for it when I want to read a book.  Makes sense right?  Bigger screen, save battery life on my G1.

When I leave for work or to run an errand, I will take my iPhone but I might take my Nook as well.  If I’m waiting in line at the post office or the supermarket, it’s more convenient to use my iPhone to do any reading.  If I was to go a coffee house where I might sit down for any length of time, I might use the Nook.

But I certainly won’t cry over it if I had to read on my iPhone instead.  I reckon that this is probably what a lot of people would do anyway, forgoing a dedicated ebook reader completely.

Now, while we were just talking about our behaviors, technology can change that. So, what will technical advances will alter how we read and what we use to read books?

That’s the key question that has many baffled.  It is whatever technology that can best duplicate the experience of reading a real newspaper or book.  It must also make it easy for people to work beyond just reading.

One area where the NY Times post doesn’t address is the education sector.  Kindle had trial runs at some universities and failed miserably.  Why is that?  Simple.  It’s just a device that fits textbooks inside.  Some simple notes can be taken with it but not much more.  For the ereader to succeed in the educational environment, it has to augment and facilitate the learning process.  Oh, let’s not forget that the Kindle’s e-ink display isn’t in color.

Here’s how I think the future will unfold.

• Books aren’t going anyway.  There’s too much of us traditional literalists for that to happen.
• Newspaper and magazines outfits will continue to evolve.  Print will shrink and turn up on devices like Apple’s forthcoming iTablet or mobile devices.  
• People will rediscover reading on their mobile phones.  Whether it’s on a 2” or 3” screen, enough young people growing up with smartphones will create a market force demanding more literary materials to be used on their devices.
• eReaders like the Nook will continue to have its audience and will be able to do more than reading in order to survive.  The Nook already runs on Android.  It’ll be a shame if it doesn’t access Google apps.

At the end of the day, it’s about convenience.  It’s convenient to use the multi-purpose device in your pocket.  And when it’s convenient to do so, people will read a real book or on their dedicated ereader.

More at NY Times.

Mobile Devices Without Phone Contracts Is The Future

I don't dare envisioning the days of the Jetsons.  I doubt we'll see flying cars in cities that float on anti-grav, you know, stuff.  However, I do see robots doing chores around the house and I certainly hope Roomba or somebody else is working on that.

But closer to the present day, I do envision a day when white spaces, a true open 700Mhz network (hear that, Verizon?), or a national wireless network that allows us to be freed of the shackles the wireless providers, self-appointed gatekeepers, placed on us.

Right now, there are a lot of limitations with respects to the wireless networks, what you can do on those networks, and how much of it you can use.  Earlier this week, I blasted ATT once again for trying to tell iPhone users what they can or cannot do.  The same situation goes for Verizon only that the increasing number of app stores, changes in the mobile habits of their subscribers, and presence of new technologies and players like Apple has forced our wireless jailers begrudgingly adopt some changes to their business models.

However, you might say that well, you have the option to not get wireless services and stick with landline Internet or cable access.  While that may be true, it is an option that I cannot afford.  Certainly not in the monetary sense but as society becomes increasingly mobile, certainly, a professional these days cannot afford not to be tethered to the Internet for too long a period in a given work day.  Hence, the term "crackberry" if you recall.

So many issues comes to mind.  How fast is society change with respects to mobile computing and wireless Internet uses?  Is is society that is pushing wireless innovations or are these innovations changing how we do things and freeing us from offices and offices and allowing us to enjoy the freedom of working and playing wherever we want?

Another issue that comes to mind is the hardware.  You've heard of smartphones.  Devices like the ubiquitous Blackberry.  That's what I consider to be a smartphone.  But then there are also devices like the iPhone that I hesitate to call a "smartphone" but rather think of it as a mobile computing device that fits in the palm of your hand that happens to make phone calls.  Going back, the Treo is closer to the iPhone than the Blackberry as the Palm OS first existed as a computing platform before telephony functions were added.

However, this smartphone or mobile device debate will not matter too much soon as more true mobile platforms emerge.  You've likely heard of Google's Android that has so far existed on the G1.  Let's not forget the Windows Mobile platform.  Like Palm, it was a mobile computing platform that had telephony services added.

And that is where Blackberry OS and Symbian will be headed.  Soon, every mobile hardware company out there will have true mobile platforms that serve as the backbones of mobile devices that happens to make calls.

Let's assume you agree with me.  Where does this stand with the not-so-benevolent gatekeepers?  Certainly, losing that $65 and above a month portion of their cell phone portion of the bill wouldn't sit well with their shareholders.

And that is just one of the fears they have as a number of mobile users begin to evolve their mobile behaviors and use less of the telephone function.  It's why texting is a $6 billion a year business in the US that the wireless providers will fight tooth and nail to protect.  It's why ATT has restricted Skype app on the iPhone to Wi-Fi use only and not over their 3G network.  ATT would sooner admit to their 3G network deficiency as the reason for the restriction than admitting that they've got no answer to VOIP.

So sitting in an area of a mall with Wi-Fi access, I longed to be able to not have to consider if there is Wi-Fi access wherever I want to go to relax and do some a little work.  I'm good at Starbucks because off ATT's hotspots but no go at Borders where they only have T-Mobile's hotspots.  I'm good at some malls but the open network does prevent me from doing my bills online or checking my e-mails.

One day, those worries will be gone.  Wether it'll be the Zune phone, iPhones, iPod Touches, tablets based on WM or WebOS, mobile users will be able to use their devices to connect wirelessly to the Internet and make VOIP calls and gatekeepers will not be able to do anything about it.

The key question is how we get there.  Honestly, I have no answer.  We had not been going through a global recession, wars, fixing a failing healthcare system in the United States, I think the Obama administration might be able to turn their attentions to issues such as this one.  Nevertheless, I remain hopeful.

It's my belief that the wireless providers will face stiff competition.  The competition between WiMax, LTE, and 3G networks will go on for many years as the wireless providers battle one another for shrinking pool of available users.  New wireless technologies will also emerge to empower users.

In fact, I'm happy to say that Dell, Google, and Microsoft are moving forward in the white spaces area and hope to have a database framework for consumer devices in months - a database that will allay fears of interference.

LTE And WiMax Comparison

Dailywireless has posted a very good video describing the difference between WiMax and LTE.  Jason Hiner is the publisher of TechRepublic who provides the analysis.

• Intel is the initial backer of WiMax
• Sprint and Clearwire are supporters of mobile WiMax and are currently working feverishly to deploy it before LTE networks go online.
• Google is a player in Clearwire. From a mobile device standpoint, Android should have native WiMax support in the coming years.  
• Clearwire received a $3.2 billion investment from notable names like Intel, Google, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable.
• Verizon and ATT are backing the LTE protocol and will have the LTE network online in 2010 for Verizon Wireless and 2011 for ATT.
• Speed increases and upgrades to the existing 3G networks provide alternatives to WiMax and LTE and may even lessen the urgency for mobile providers to bring their 4G networks to the market.
• LTE and WiMax networks will co-exist together for the next 10 years.
• WiMax built to be a true next-generation open network.  LTE networks build on the existing mobile networks.  Business model differences.
• Think of LTE card are like existing 3G card.  You buy from one provider, you're locked into that network.  WiMax should provide a variety of ISPs competing for the users' business.  Think of the DSL and cable Internet access where there are different ISP's available to choose from.
• 4G network deployment will accelerate in 2010.  50 Cities for WiMax in 2010.  Verizon may have 20-30 markets in 2010.  ATT is nowhere to be found.
• WiMax Speed:  144Mbit/s downlink - 35Mbit/s uplink
• LTE Speed:  144Mbit/s downlink - 35Mbit/s uplink

Daily Wireless provides a map and list of Sprint's WiMax Deployment plans in 2009 and 2010.  For the fortunate thousands of mobile warriors who live in the following cities, 4G comes earlier:

Atlanta

Charlotte

Chicago

Dallas

Fort Worth

Honolulu

Las Vegas

Philadelphia

Portland

Seattle

Boston (2010)

Houston (2010)

New York (2010)

San Francisco (2010)

Washington DC (2010)

Source:

• Sprint press release
• Sprint WiMax
• Clearwire - clearwire press release expects to deploy WiMax in 80 cities in 2010.