Palm, The Pre and WebOS: Are They It Beyond Saving?

It seems just like yesterday when Roger McNamee, one of Palm's biggest backers, proudly boasted:

"You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two-year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later..."

Well, that was yesterday. Today, however, it's a very different story and despite all of Roger's previous predictions that the Palm Pre was going to kill off the iPhone, the sad truth is that for several reasons it's now beginning to look like that if any smart phone is going to be killed off, it will, in fact, most likely, be the Palm Pre itself! The Palm Pre and its much praised WebOS is one smart phone that is now beginning to look like its anything but smart, at least as far as its unforgiving investors go.

Many sites, including Palm specific ones like PreCentral, are all reporting the sad news that Palm is frankly in deep trouble. Yesterday had seen almost one fifth of its stock value, for example, go straight down the drain after Palm's CEO, John Rubenstein, reported a very downbeat forecast. As of yesterday, Palm's stock was down to a measly $6.53 per share, and its market cap was hovering around the $1 billion mark. At one point the Pre sent Palm's stocking soaring to around $19, and I can only wonder what Roger McNamee is thinking now? One thing, for sure, is that, hopefully, we probably won't have to hear too much more arrogant bragging from this very annoying guy. And that's a good thing, as his boasting really rubbed me personally the wrong way.

I hate to see any company in Palm's situation, but, on the other hand, when I remember Roger's gutter-ball bragging, and when I consider how Palm basically stole, in my opinion, almost everything that was good about the Pre and WebOS straight from Apple, including approximately some 300 former Apple engineers, and the fact that they copied a lot of Apple technology, such as its patented multi-touch, and that they deliberately flaunted and harassed Apple over its iTune syncing technology , as far as I'm concerned, all I will say is that they are now simply reaping what they sowed! Ever so sad, but ever so true!

The big question now, of course, is what will happen to Palm and its cool and highly praised WebOS? Will Dell, Microsoft, Nokia or some other giant outfit buy it out and use it to compete against Apple, or will the company finally simply give up the ghost? That is, naturally, something that I personally don't or could possibly know, but obviously someone is going to snap up Palm's assets one way or the other. I'm not sure if Steve Jobs is the forgiving type of guy, and one who would buy out Palm in order to get back its former employees or any significant Palm patents, but I think it would be pretty cool if he and Apple did. The idea of Apple acquiring the very company that worked so hard to frustrate and harass it would be poetic justice don't you think?

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Friday, February 26, 2010

Palm illustration: PreCentral

Mac Gaming To Get Some Steam?

When it comes to PC gaming, well, my Mac friends, sadly the PC still rules! That might be the case today, but, however, come tomorrow the PC's gaming position could be soon be matched by the Mac, and all thanks to the greatest game distribution system known to man... Steam!

Yes, my dear two or three readers, the makers of Half-Life and L4D, Valve, could be adding Steam's gaming distribution system to the Mac side of the equation as well, all according to a post in Gizmodo. If true, and this thing indeed comes to the Mac, then it will be great day for Mac gaming enthusiasts everywhere. The Mac may be the premier computer when it comes to multi-media, music, videos, photos and what have you, but on the gaming side the Mac takes a back seat to users of PCs. As the Giz goes on to state:

"In Steam's latest beta release, a search through its files revealed a number of OSX-specific assets, like a Steam dock icon (among loads of others). Since there's no reason for OSX resources—that I should add, are specifically labeled "OSX"—to make their way into a PC product, it seems pretty certain that, yes, Steam is coming to Mac. Hooray!"

That all sounds so promising, so I will say 'hooray' to that as well, and even though I'm hardly what you would call a hard core gamer, I still think that having lots of games and a great gaming service like Steam is very important for the Mac's overall growth in the long run. For one thing, even though there might be a dearth of gaming titles for the Mac currently, at least when compared to the selection on the PC side, Steam could and should really go a long way in equalizing that by helping to prompt many, if not most, PC gaming companies to increase something that they have been already doing of late anyway - adding more and more Mac gaming titles.

In conclusion, thanks to recent record breaking sales of Macs, the iPhone and iPod Touch, and now the upcoming iPad, having Steam on the Mac is important and I'm predicting that it could bring a flood of high quality gaming titles to the Mac market that otherwise may not have been the case. This is great news indeed for the Mac platform overall and it could help add to the Mac's already many strengths and thus, in the end, it could help to also give PC users another great reason to switch from the dark side over to the Mac.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Thursday, February 25, 2010

Illustrations via: Gizmodo

Will The iPad Be Apple's Next Block Buster?

For all the iPad doom sayers out there please note: I got some news for you ....... a recent major survey has just revealed that there are now even more people interested in buying an iPad than there ever was for the original iPhone and we all know how that one turned out, now don't we!

As John Paczkowski, writing for Digital Daily noted, one of the main reasons the iPad unexpectedly beat the iPhone in this pre-launch survey, seems to because of the iPad's unexpected price points, which was originally expected to be around $1,000! As also noted, the iPad seems to have really hit the sweet spot on both the lower and higher end models, and John goes on to list the following interesting quote from RBC's Mike Abramsky, who stated:

“This data, while preliminary, suggests iPad may have greater potential than expected, to expand Apple’s addressable PC, iPod markets and to capture a segment of the home PC market (est. 35M+ units/yr).”

Well, I'm no analyst, but the more that I read up on the iPad, the more interesting it is becoming and tempting for me to personally buy one. The low price points is not the only reason either, because the truth is that I, like a lot of other people, really love the iPod Touch, but the big problem is that damn small screen. Apart from the fact that you can easily park it, out of sight, in your pockets, is rather nice, but its limited screen real estate, you have to admit, severely limits it in various ways. No, you can't exactly place an iPad in your pockets, but neither can you do the same with a netbook, but look how those things are selling. The iPad's larger screen poses some problems in the portability department, but otherwise it has a lot more positives going for it then it has negatives.

So, does RBC/ChangeWave's recent survey point out that the iPad will become another huge success for Apple, and, who knows, maybe even bigger than the iPhone?

Well, first of all, as Gigaom recently pointed out, if anyone has the ability to predict that something will be a technological success it has got to be none other then computer pioneer Alan Kay. As they point out, he's not exactly known for buying into hype and has been unusually successful at predicting what will, or what will not be the next big thing in tech! Case in point: it was he that personally came up with the idea for a portable or laptop computer, among others, and that particular one goes way back ..... all the way back to 1968 in fact!

Interestingly enough, in 2007 Steve Jobs directly asked Alan Kay about the iPhone, and his response, in retrospect, was:

“When the Mac first came out, Newsweek asked me what I [thought] of it. I said: Well, it’s the first personal computer worth criticizing. So at the end of the presentation, Steve came up to me and said: Is the iPhone worth criticizing? And I said: Make the screen five inches by eight inches, and you’ll rule the world.”

So, back to the big question: will the iPad be Apple's next big block buster?

Well, based on RBC/ChangeWave's recent survey and, as well, based on Alan Kay's comment, then it's beginning to look that way! In conclusion, all I will say is that there are a lot of iPad doom sayers out there that are about to end up with a lot of egg on their faces, just as many did after the iPhone initially came out, and quite frankly, I think it will look good on them! In fact, I'm now beginning to feel that it's becoming entirely possible that the iPad just might end up becoming the one device to rule the world after all!

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Graphic via Gizmodo:

Gartner's 2009 Smart Phone Growth Leaders: The IPhone and Android

According to figures recently released by Gartner, Apple, RIM and Android were the big winners when it came to smart phone growth in 2009. Nokia and Symbian, however, still very much dominates the landscape, but their growth has been on a decline and slowing significantly.

Gartner shows Android increasing its market share by some 3.5 percentage points, while Apple, on the other hand, saw its market share increase by a very healthy 6.2 percent. Gartner also mentions that Android's success in the future is likely to increase as more manufacturers add more Android products, but it's not guaranteed as they state below:

“Android's success experienced in the fourth quarter of 2009 should continue into 2010 as more manufacturers launch Android products, but some CSPs and manufacturers have expressed growing concern about Google's intentions in the mobile market,” Ms Cozza said. “If such concerns cause manufacturers to change their product strategies or CSPs to change which devices they stock, this might hinder Android's growth in 2010.”

The really big losers, however, in the overall smart phone race were Windows Mobile and Symbian, which declined by some 3.1 % and 5.5% respectfully. Again, as stated above, Nokia, despite its recent decline, still leads with some 36.4 % of the market. As far as the rest goes, their rankings of Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating Systems, are as follows:

- Research In Motion - 19.9 %

- iPhone OS - 14.4 %

- Windows Mobile - 8.7 %

- Linux - 4.7 %

- Android - 3.9 %

- WebKit - 0.7 %

- All other OSs - 0.6 %

One thing of note, and of particular interest to me, regarding the Linux numbers, is that Android and WebKit are both Linux based OSs, so you could easily argue that Linux's real numbers are a much more respectable 9.3 % of the market!

The rise of the two market growth leaders, Apple and Android, has been nothing short of astounding, but the big question will they be able to continue leading that growth now that Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 Series will be hitting the market later this year? That's hard to say, because even though a lot of people have been wowed by Microsoft's recent mobile OS, they still have a lot of challenges ahead of them, such as attracting developers to write apps for it , especially considering how some of those developers actually really feel about Windows Phone 7 Series, that might not be as easy as Microsoft would have hoped.

In conclusion, the overall smart phone growth ratings will not only depend on just how Microsoft's new offering, as well as others, will be perceived, but, more importantly, it will be based on just how much of an impact will Apple's next iPhone make! The iPhone has completely changed the overall dynamics of the smart phone market, and I suspect that its next model, if Apple doesn't completely blow it, will continue to be the biggest factor in de-terming the overall direction and growth of the smart phone market for the foreseeable future, and much more so than the others.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Photo via: DivisTech.com

SDK Reveals Future iPhone and iPad With Video Chat Capabilities?

Yesterday 9to5Mac sighted evidence that future iPhones and iPads could very well end up being a two camera affair, implying that the next versions are about to become both real and honest-to-goodness video-chat devices! Above, as you can see, some sharp-eyed bloke has discovered that buried deep within the iPad's 3.2 SDK there definitely appears to be some kind of video chatting calling feature coming to an iPxxx device near you and soon.

If this is true, and I have no reason to doubt that it won't be, then all I will say is - "Whoopee!"

Video chatting, on the iPhone and iPad, if done right, could really give them both a major leg up over their competition, and thus turning them both into a type of Star Trek communicator! Video chatting, if true, of course, might make it a little harder on your carrier and on your battery, but let me tell you, here and now, it would be well worth it! Below you can see two more screen shots from 9to5Mac that also lend credence to the idea that Apple's mobile devices are indeed about to get video chatting features in their next release.

9to5Mac points out that: "While it is possible that Apple brought code over from its Mac telephony products, it is unlikely that they also built icons and compressed them into the iPad SDK for such a product if it weren't being built for future release."

I too can't see them building and compressing video chat icons into the iPad SDK if they weren't dead serious about bringing video chatting to the iPad and iPhone either. Fortunately, since the iPad will be out at the end of next month and the new iPhone sometime around this June, we don't have too long to wait and see if this will be the case here.

As far as the iPhone itself goes, it really could use a video chatting feature, among others, to really help it stand out from the crowd, and thus to help it ward off some of the fierce competition coming from the likes of Android, RIM, Symbian and all of the other iPhone wannabe's out there. The competition has been relentless in its pursuit of killing off the iPhone, and their advances have been quite considerable of late, and if Apple expects the iPhone to continue to remain as the very pinnacle of smart phone technology, then the next iPhone model is going to have to go all out and really differentiate itself from the rest of the pack and video chatting could, in part, really help Apple to do just that.

In conclusion, adding a really compelling video chat capability built into the next iPhone probably isn't the only thing that Apple must do in order to keep the iPhone itself at the forefront, but it could be a big plus, a very big plus. Video chatting is something that I, as a child, used to dream about all the time and now, if 9to5Mac's hunch is correct, then I might just finally get to live to see it!

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, February 22, 2010

Apple's Future: How Bright Does It Burn?

Yesterday I read an interesting post from Research and Market. The post is entitled: "The Future of Apple" and they highlight some really interesting things, such as the following quote below:

"Since the turn of the century Apple evolved from a secondary computer company into the most potent force transforming media. It is the premier Digital Media innovator as evidenced by the iPod, iPhone and most recently the iPad. Basically each introduction defined a new product category or enabled an incipient one to “cross the chasm” into mass market acceptance. More of the same is expected in the future, not only from products but also from transactional services. Most any business affected by the future of media will be directly impacted by Apple’s future innovations. Moreover, its existing product lines alone will carry the company past the $100 billion revenue threshold in less than five years."

Wow, 100 billion dollars per year!

Now that's what I would call a pretty sizable business, and one that I believe is considerably larger than that of any of today's tech company's, Microsoft included. Apple is already over half of that size now! Naturally, all of this is not necessarily set in stone or anything, because the truth is that anything can happen between now and the next five years.

Phil Leigh, as well, also has an excellent audio post on Apple's future over at Inside Digital Media's site entitled, "Inventing the Future at Apple". This post largely focus's on Apple's upcoming iPad and one of the most interesting things that Phil brings out is, and I quote:

"As Xerox PARC pioneer Alan Kay once put it, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it”. Much like it did with the iPod and iPhone, Apple again invented the future when it introduced the iPad tablet computer in January."

Yes, Apple has a history of inventing the future, including making the graphical user interface popular through the Mac, and also with its App Store, iTunes, iPod, iPhone and now with the iPad. Phil Leigh also brings out one thing that I never really thought of, and that's the fact that the iPad is foremost, and more than anything else, a 'cloud based' device, something that Google has been championing for some time now, but it looks like it might be Apple that will actually make it happen in a big way!

Also, and not to be outdone is BusinessWeek, which has dedicated a special report on the "The Future of Apple" which the covers six different and separate reports as listed below:

- Finally, a Chance for Apple to Flourish

- Why OS X May Be a Growth Factor

- Thinking Different about Apple's Stock

- Toward a Hack-Proof Mac

- Can Jobs "Think Outside the Pretty Box"?

- A Talk with Apple's Mr. Marketer

So, just how bright is Apple's future?

Answer: Very, very bright, if not down right blindingly bright!

Of course, in conclusion, only God Himself really knows the future, be it with Apple's or anybody else's, but as far as I'm concerned and baring a complete world-wide financial collapse, or a catastrophic world-wide war, or something along those lines, then, if you ask me, there's not too much standing in Apple's way, other than the competition of course. Things could always change and change for the worse, of course, as I said, but presently, and barring the above unforeseen events, then I think that it's safe to say that Apple's future does indeed appear will burn the brightest of any tech company out there.

In fact, and despite all of the fierce competition coming from the likes of Google, Microsoft and others, it is still Apple that has the most future potential to not only influence every other company out there in a major way, but even more importantly, it is Apple that has the best chance of influencing and having the biggest impact on the majority of consumers as well, whether that be directly through its own products, or indirectly from the competition's answer to them, and that includes little old you and me!

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Friday, February 19, 2010

Can Asus Achieve Its Goal Of Becoming The Next Apple?

Tom's Hardware has an interesting post about how Taiwan's Asus aspires to become the next Apple, at least among the PC crowd.

Of course, just about every company would like to become the same thing as well, but Asus is the one company that apparently has that as a stated major goal or objective. Unlike Apple, however, Asus doesn't plan to be so inward looking, but rather instead it will depend a lot on others for input such as Google and other open sources, which is rather very unlike Apple.

What really has my interest piqued, and no doubt many others, is the statement coming from Jonney Shih, Asus's CEO, that they have a killer product coming that should be ready for June. He's not saying much other than that - that its coming out, which is very Apple like, unfortunately for we the curious.

The real question is: can Asus, or any other company actually become exactly like Apple? Well, in theory I suppose it could happen, but, in reality, I'm a little doubtful. The main reason is that even though other companies can certainly try to copy certain aspects of Apple's software and hardware, such as HP's Envy laptops shamelessly copying the external look of the MacBook Pro, etc., there is certainly, on the other hand, one thing that Asus and others simply can't copy or clone in any way shape or form, no matter how long or how hard they may try. This would be the most important of all Apple assets - Steve Jobs himself!

After all, when it comes to all things Apple, nothing quite defines Apple like Steve Jobs does. He's the very heart, mind and soul of what otherwise would be a company that would have long ago became nothing more than a relic of history without him. Not only was Jobs the one that rescued Apple from the brink of extinction, but it was he that went on to guide and inspire it to become what it is today, one of the largest, most successful companies on earth, and definitely, and, by far, the most influential electronic giant of the modern era!

As the heart and soul of Apple, many analysts have even worried that without Jobs Apple would quickly flounder and lose its competitive edge, and possibly even die in the process! Fortunately, Steve has successfully instilled in the rest of the Apple culture, including its top executives, his own spirit and vision that should live on and ensure its future success and survival when he is gone. Apple's survival is no longer really in doubt, but it's probably safe to say that Apple wouldn't be quite the same without his hand firmly at the helm.

So can Asus really achieve its goal of becoming the next Apple?

In conclusion, the answer is a simple no, at least in totality!

The reason is quite simple: because, in the end, it's virtually impossible for Asus, or any one else for that matter, to totally become quite like Apple. They may achieve it in part, but in totality - never! That's because, quite frankly, even though it's easy for them to copy some of its hardware and its software designs as already stated, it's virtually impossible for them to copy Apple spirit, and the main driving force behind it - Steve Jobs! Unless, or until they can do the impossible, namely copy and clone Steve Jobs himself, they will never really be able to exactly copy Apple's overall spirit and essence, and therefore its success!

That's something that is virtually impossible for anyone to copy.

Sorry Asus!

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Thursday, February 18, 2010

Jobs mosaic photo via: TechFresh and Flickr

Is This Proof Of An Upcoming 2010 MacBook Pro?

Is the above photo, via Gizmodo, really proof that finally, after long last, the latest and greatest 2010 MacBook Pro is about to make an appearance soon?

After all, it has been awhile since the last MacBook Pros were updated and these BestBuy SKUs certainly could be the proof that we need that its coming, but then again they could also just be another Photo Shopped fake. Personally, I think they very well could be the real deal here, because for one thing, this isn't the first time that this type of leak has surfaced. The Giz and others reported similar leaks just recently, so having this latest BestBuy dummy SKU show up tends to help support the first BestBuy dummy SKU report, leading me to believe they are the real deal.

What is especially interesting about the recent dummy SKU leak, however, is that it's also showing what could be another new iMac? Could this be a new iMac such as the recently rumored 22 inch multi-touch model, or could it be as one Giz commentator, 'Thee Sea', recently stated:

"I wouldn't be surprised if the new iMac SKUs were just to denote 27 inch iMacs models without the yellowing issues. Apple has done that in the past to get around annoying serial number range issues for large recalls."

Even though the above might be the case here, I still can't but hope that Apple will indeed refresh the iMac line with a newer model, especially that 22 inch multi-touch model. Also, if they could also throw in an option for a wickedly fast, large and affordable SSD drive that would also go a long way in making my day.

Back to the next 2010 MacBook Pro update, both of the above options would also be very welcomed, if not an absolute necessity. Lower prices for both products, as always, would also go a long way in helping the Mac compete better against an ever increasing threat from the PC camp, one that has really been going all out to best both the iMac and the MacBook Pro by copying their every move. Even the new HP Envy looks an awful lot like the MacBook Pro these days, only with a much lower price point and higher internal specs.

The really big thing, and the one thing that the new 2010 MacBook Pros really needs to have are some of those new Intel i5 and i7's cpu's and I bet you my last Oreo cookie that they will be getting them too. Apple is already late when it comes to the i5 and i7 party and frankly it puts Apple and its sexy MacBook Pro at a very real disadvantage to be offering last years specs when everyone else is offering today's better specs and for a lower price point. Also, the upcoming 2010 MacBook Pro refresh will, hopefully, also be offering beefed up graphics as well to go along with that increased Intel iron.

In conclusion, regardless of these, or other recent SKUs leaks, one thing that I'm pretty dang tooting certain of is that new MacBook Pros are imminent, and I mean like any day now! If there is anything that I personally would love to have it's a new updated MacBook Pro, because no matter how cool, how different or how desirable the new upcoming iPad will be it won't be replacing the MacBook Pro anytime soon. Of course, being the greedy little twerp that I am, I would love to have them both, but if given the choice then it's really no contest - I'll take that new beefed up i7 2010 MacBook Pro, thank you very much!

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Desperation Leads Mobile Companies To Gang Up Against The iPhone

One of the more interesting things coming out of the recent World Mobile Congress, besides Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 Series, is the announcement that 27 of the largest companies in the mobile space are all ganging up on one single company - Apple and its iPhone platform!

This new group is called the Wholesale Application Community, and it claims that it is being created for the following altruistic reasons:

- Will establish a simple route to market for developers and provide them with access to a customer base of over 3 billion customers.

- The alliance aims to unite a fragmented marketplace by involving players from all related industries to create a community based on openness and transparency to the benefit of all.

- We believe our model presents the most compelling format on the market where developers will thrive and customers will reap the benefits of greater choice.

But is that really the case?

The answer is a resounding no!

No, the truth of the matter is that the Wholesale Application Community is being created, out of desperation, and for the simple reason that they all know that even if their members are capable of creating phones that can match or exceed the iPhone on the hardware side, that unless or until they can also match or exceed the iPhone's App Store, with its 150,000 apps, that none of them have a chance of a snow-ball-in-hell of ever hoping to seriously challenge, or let alone kill off the iPhone!

In other words: their altruistic claims of wanting to just open up innovation, and thus give developers and consumers more freedom and choice is nothing more than a big fat lie! It's all based on desperation, greed and jealousy! No, the simple truth, however, is quite plain for any one with eyes to see - they are simply trying to hijack and steal Apple's thunder by stealing its developers base and all of their 150,000 plus apps in the App Store! They are hoping that their attempt will level the playing field, thus making their phones much more viable against the iPhone - plain and simple! Their claim that their goal is to make all apps available to all people, and on all devices, is nothing more than another big fat lie, because somehow I seriously doubt that making them available on all phones will also be including the iPhone itself, the very phone that they are desperately attempting to steal from?

People are pointing out that it could be some time before this new, so called, open and free system will be able to deliver so much as a single app, on so much as a single phone, so despite all of their bragging that the new group represents some three billion customers, it could be a long, long time before so much as one of those users gets to download anything from their new community store, and if you ask me, that might just be never!

All I will say is good luck on this one boys, because your going to need it. As far as my 2 cents goes, anyone who actually thinks that they are just going to waltz in, and suddenly all apps are going to be suddenly usable on all of the various and different types of phones out there, well they just might as well go out and buy themselves a lottery ticket, because the odds of them hitting the jackpot is probably a lot better than them getting all these apps to work on all of these myriad and different phones, complete with their different processors, graphic capabilities, different sized screens, and their numerous and different OS's, etc. As far as that goes, well they just might as well try to solve the Middle East crisis and world poverty while their at it, because their chances are pretty much the same too, namely - impossible!

In conclusion, this new 27 member group can try all they want, but the odds of them actually succeeding is so small that I wouldn't be too worried if I were in Apple's shoes. Sure, it's something that they have to take in consideration and something that they have to watch closely, but in the end, it's still all nothing more than an attempt to legalize the theft of Apple's developers and their App Store apps, and one that I also predict is far more likely to fail than succeed!

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Photo via: BusinessInsider

Windows Phone 7 Series Is A Winner, But Is It An iPhone Killer?

Well, it's official: Steve Ballmer has unveiled the new Windows Phone 7 Series, and as Gizmodo says, "Everything is different now"! They have a video seen here, the very first that I've seen - and it looks very interesting to say the least.

Yes, its interesting, but can it take on the iPhone - is it the real iPhone killer?

That I don't know yet, but the word's biggest software company sure has taking a long time developing this baby, but as the Giz also points out "it's awesome".

One of the biggest things going for it is how it plans to take on the iPhone in gaming, and it's one word: Xbox! Yes, they are bringing the Xbox 360 to its new OS, which is a brand new OS and not some modified old Windows Mobile apparently!

Another big feature will be Windows Phone 7's social connectivity, or as the Giz explains:

"The People hub might be the best social networking implementation yet on a phone: It's a single place to see all of your friends' status updates from multiple services in a single stream, and to update your own Facebook and Windows Live status. Needs. Twitter support. Badly. But you have neat things going on, like the aforementioned live tiles—if you really like someone or want to stalk them hardcore, you can make them a tile on your Start screen, which will update in realtime with whatever they're posting, and pull down their photos from whatever service.

All of your contacts are synced and backed up over-the-air, Android and webOS style, and can be pulled from multiple sources, like Windows Live, Exchange, etc. Makes certain other phones seem a little antiquated with their out-of-the-box Contacts situation."

Well, in conclusion, the new Windows Phone 7 platform sure looks like its a winner to me, but could it possibly be the real iPhone killer that people eventually believed would emerge at some point, or is it more of an Android and Symbian killer?

That I honestly can't say, but I will say its a great start and head over heals better than Microsoft's past attempts, which were pretty pathetic if not down right laughable! The really big question now, however, is what and how will Apple respond to Microsoft's latest and greatest with its own next release of the iPhone, the G4?

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, February 15, 2010

Photo via: Engadget

iTunes Big CountDown And Celebrations

Seven years later and iTunes is fast approaching another milestone - its 10 billionth download, and you can join in on the celebrations!

First, however, let me say - wow, this is really quite impressive, and especially when considering that it took a whopping three years for the now ubiquitous service to reach its very first billionth download! iTunes was launched in April of 2003, and now it is the largest distributor of music period, bar none, selling more music than any other music provider, be they online or in brick-and-mortar stores.

And, as stated above, you can help celebrate this historic event since Apple has decided to throw us a little love our way in the form of a countdown-contest, and one which will award the lucky guy, or gal, a cool $10,000.00 U.S. iTunes gift card!

Entering the contest couldn't be simpler: all you have to do is to buy a tune from iTunes and el-presto - your automatically entered in the contest! Otherwise, you can simply enter absolutely free by applying online (up to 25 times daily) here.

The countdown for the 10 billionth song began yesterday and is open to residents of the U.S., Canada, Germany, France and others countries who's residents are 13 years and older. The official rules can be found here.

Personally, for me anyway, I can't imagine what I would do with a $10,000 iTunes gift card, since that is more music than I'll probably could ever hope to listen to for the rest of my life, but hey if Apple, or anyone else, wish's to gift me with a $10,000 iTunes card I won't exactly turn them down, though I might be tempted to turn a few cartwheels in the process!

iTunes has grown over the years, adding not only more songs, but more features including variable pricing, which one music executive lamented has resulted in slower sales than was the case when Apple offered its original 99 cent feature for all songs across the board! It was the record companies themselves that insisted on that change, but apparently they shouldn't have.

In conclusion, just let me say that if I can't win that 'what-in-hell-am-I-going-to-do-with-a-$10,000' iTunes card, well then - I hope you do! I can only wonder just how long it will be until Apple starts offering a contest and a $15,000 iTunes gift card for its 15 billionth song? Any way, congratulations Apple and iTunes, and my best wish's for the future!

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Friday, February 11, 2010

Can The iPad Succeed In Business?

Jason Schwarz, writing for Seeking Alpha, thinks that after personally testing the iPad, he's utterly convinced that the media, analysts and others, including possibly even Apple itself, may be underestimating the potential for the iPad's success in business. As far as he's concerned, he writes (with emphasis mine):

"The iPad is Apple’s upgraded version of a netbook, only it’s better than any netbook ever built. Netbook computers took the market by storm in 2009 by growing over 100 percent year over year to sell approximately 34 million units. The real game changing element of the iPad is that it’s the first computer ever designed to be held with one hand. This simple fact is a very big deal. Because of this, the iPad is primed to usher in a new era of mobile computing efficiency that will take the business world by storm. Nobody is talking about the iPad as a must have business device but that is exactly what it is."

Jason further goes on to sight a college professor who reported that 29, out of 32 of his peers, whom he personally polled, answered that they were planning on personally buying an iPad with an emphatic 'Yes'! He also points out that many in the medical, military, manufacturing, sales and, as well, in those in the educational fields who all have an urgent need to access various data while working, will easily find themselves falling in love with the iPad once they get to hold one in their hands.

When it comes to the iPad, Jason is even predicting that it will do more than just sell well, but that it could quite possibly even become Apple's all time biggest success story yet - yes, bigger than the iPod, iPhone, or even bigger than the Mac itself, which, of course, technically is what the iPad really is, but only in a smaller and much different form factor.

Well, first let me say that Jason's not the only one who believes in the future success of the iPad. Others, like Walt-Disney's CEO, Robert Igar, has also been seduced by the iPad, and he firmly believes that the iPad could become a game changer, and one that Disney can especially work and do a lot with.

Another believer, in the iPad, happens to be Anton Wahlman, who regularly contributes to TheStreet.com and who goes on to give "Four Reasons Apple iPad Can't Miss", including:

1. Apple's own Apple Stores!

2. iTunes.

3. Apple's very smart AT&T deal of providing an unlimited, no contract deal for $30 per month.

4. The iPad puts Apple on offense in the race to a completely new interface for much of our PC experience.

Another big factor in the iPad's success should come from gaming developers, as GamesBeat.com recently pointed out in a post entitled, "Game developers move to iPhone, ignore Wii". Out of the box, the iPad can already play all of the many thousands of gaming titles from the iPhone's 144,000 App Store library, but this should become even greater as developers not only upgrade their existing iPhone games, but, in addition, write new games exclusive for the iPad, and games that can take full advantage of the iPad's bigger and better screen, beefier graphics and horsepower. etc.

So, in conclusion, could Jason Schwarz's assessment be right on the money, that the iPad will indeed be a big hit with business?

Well, despite the fact that many people may dismiss the iPad, like Bill Gates, I too firmly believe that the answer will be a resounding yes, and not only with business as Jason Schwarz believes, but also in addition with gamers and the general public at large! Other contributing factors with the overall success of the iPad could come from the iPad possibly being able to work with services such as Hulu straight out of the gate, and coupled with the fact that there is already talk of the iPad possibly getting some, if not most, of the missing features that people have been squawking about, such as a built in camera, multitasking, etc., coupled with Apple's capability to be able go much lower on the iPad's pricing, if it needs to, all helps to convince me that the chances of the iPad succeeding are by far greater than that of it ever failing!

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Thursday, February 11, 2010