The app stores just keep coming. Google launched its Chrome web store today, promising to bring the simplicity of finding apps to your web browser.
There are already some excellent apps, like The New York Times, Springpad and TweetDeck. The bigger story is that we are entering an era dominated by apps. It isn’t just our mobile devices: web browsers, computers (think the forthcoming Mac App Store) and televisions have an app storefront. Continue reading
In a previous post I discussed the obsessive fanboyism of iPhone and Android users.
Despite how annoying the fanboys are, they are good for business. These users are fiercely loyal to their brand, and when it comes time to buy another device most are likely to stick with their preferred operating system.
A recent Nielsen survey confirms this. It found 71 percent of current Android users plan to get another Google-powered device come upgrade time, while 89 percent of iPhone owners plan the same. However, only 42 percent of BlackBerry owners want another model.
That is a huge problem for Research in Motion. The BlackBerry needs some defining features that set it apart from the competition. The iPhone has the best music player and zillions of apps. Android has excellent Google integration and plenty of options.
The BlackBerry has…a great keyboard. The OS in its current form is dated and still best suited to the corporate users who once made it a status symbol. An overhaul is underway with OS 6 with a needed focus on a vastly improved browser and its messaging strengths. Continue reading
The irony here? I took this picture with my iPhone.
Look anywhere on the Internet for an article or blog post that mentions Android phones or the iPhone. Then, scroll down to the comments and duck as venom will begin to spew through your computer screen.
The vitriol, name-calling and idiocy that once were the hallmark of Mac vs. PC debates has been overtaken by fanboys of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android devices.
It is one thing to enjoy your favorite mobile platform. It is quite another to ridicule and throw insults at users of the competition. It seems that many people (mostly men) get a ridiculous, Alpha Male attachment to their phone and must defend its honor when any perceived criticism arises.
The reality is each device has its distinct advantages and weaknesses. The iPhone benefits from Apple’s maniacal focus on design and control to create a smooth and minimalistic user interface. Its control of the App Store prevents some buggy and unnecessary apps from making it onto the device. Of course in exchange you surrender some freedom: your choice is only one device on one network (and for now just one color).
Android offers more flexibility and choices of devices and carriers. There is a good Android phone now on all four of the major carriers. Some have keyboards, some don’t, and two even have enormous screens. Heavy users of Google products like Gmail get tight integration with those services and are not locked into iTunes. Yet more and more Android phones are getting loaded up with bloatware and have ugly skins like Motorola’s BLUR or HTC Sense running on top of them. This forces users to wait for the latest version of Android while the carriers and device makers figure out when it won’t break their software. Continue reading
Monday night’s D8 interview with Steve Jobs was a fascinating piece of dialog. While Jobs has lost none of his hubris, for most of the night he was reflective and nuanced about Apple’s achievements and competitors. It was a welcome change to the current political-style mudslinging that has been dominating most of the technology industry lately.
Sure, he took a couple of digs at Google (they made it easy with the recent Wi-Fi snafu) but largely resisted when Walt Mossberg continued to press him about the fact they now compete with their former ally. And Jobs even described how Apple lost the platform war to Microsoft – a pretty spin-free admission.
Most of the coverage overstated Jobs’ suggestion that we were beginning to see the end of the PC era. This wasn’t a proclamation that this would happen overnight. His argument, which is largely correct, is that over time many people will begin to rely more on lighter, touch-based devices and less on keyboard-and-mouse PCs. This is a challenge to both Apple and Microsoft who both have incredible resources invested in PC hardware and software. Continue reading
This chart has become one of the most discussed on the topic of iPads vs. netbooks.
Many pundits and commentators are debating whether or not the iPad is eating into netbook sales. Some studies indicate the iPad is the stake into the heart of the netbook (see here and here.) Others say this is typical Apple-inspired hyperbole (here and here).
Getting to the truth is tricky because tech commentary lately sounds too much like our political system: polarized into overly dogmatic camps who talk at, instead of to, each other. On the one hand are the Apple fanboys, who find Apple devices as items of worship and take pronouncements from Steve Jobs as if the Pope were speaking ex cathedra. Yet there are also the Apple haters, who compare every Apple product to a Fischer Price toy and think all Apple innovations were stolen from someone else.
Instead of listening to these warring factions we should interpret the data. It is fair to infer the massive growth experienced by netbooks is probably declining because most who wanted one have bought it. Most new products that achieve popularity have a spike in sales and then eventually decline.
Continue reading