Category Archives: Apple

Microsoft Surface – Beating Apple to the Punch?

. Android, Apple, Blackberry, Government . , , , ,

The Microsoft Surface is exactly the type of product I was expecting to come out next from Apple.    I’ve been waiting for Apple to deploy a version of OSX as their main OS across tablets, smartphones and laptops – but it looks like Microsoft may be there first – at least for tablets.

The main strengths of the Surface is that it is a full Windows environment when on an Intel powered tablet – not a restrained mobile device OS.    They have bridged the tablet to laptop nicely with the cover-keyboard.  The device will slide easily into a consumer, government, or enterprise environment.  There are a bazillion x86 applications available.   There are also a bazillion designers who know how to program on an x86 Windows platform.

The main weaknesses are likely to be performance, cost and battery life.   But no data is available on those points yet.  Also the Windows RT OS which runs on the ARM powered tablet will be very limited in the applications it supports, i.e. no bazillion x86 applications.

The biggest losers are likely to be those hardware vendors who are selling Microsoft-based laptops as this device will certainly cannibalize that market.

My prediction is that this device will receive strong acceptance in the government and enterprise markets where it will offer a great platform for electronic documentation and mobile workers.  In those environments it will offer a much stronger value proposition then the iPad.  I don’t think it will see strong adoption in the consumer market unless the cost, performance and battery life are exceptional compared to iPad and Android tablets.

Assuming Microsoft gets the penetration in the enterprise and government environment they will be very well positioned to then push Windows 8 on smartphone mobile devices outward.

Strategically a very nice move by Microsoft.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

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Android a Money Loser for Manufacturers and Software Developers?

. Android, Apple, Blackberry .

Vendors selling Android phones are not seeing profits – or brand loyalty - according to recent reports.

Android also does not appear to be working out very well for app developers in general – according to Distimo (May 2011) around 20% of the free apps available in the Android Market have not achieved 100 downloads, and the majority (51.8%) of free applications have been downloaded less than 1,000 times to date. More significantly, 80% of all paid applications have failed to get more than 100 downloads.   And those developers who are making sales are having difficulty getting paid by Google.

New Stats on Smartphone Consumer Preferences… Apple #1

. Android, Apple, Blackberry, Trends

Some recent published studies find that iPhone is preferred over Android.

ChangeWave said it surveyed 4,163 U.S. consumers and found that consumers, when asked which mobile OS they would prefer in the next smartphone they planned to purchase, favored Apple’s iOS by a significant amount.

About 48 percent of those surveyed said they actually plan to buy an Apple iPhone. The firm also showed that those that purchased an iOS device were the happiest with their purchase.

…..

Customers also expressed a strong preference for the iOS operating system in general over Android, according to the survey.About 46 percent of consumers said they would choose an iOS phone like the iPhone 4, versus 32 percent for Android and just 4 percent for RIM.

Another recent survey by Piper JAffray finds:

Nearly half of all Android and BlackBerry users plan to switch to an iPhone.


Android May Yet Fade Away…

. Android, Apple, Blackberry, Trends

Android may yet fade away. As a platform it has several very large problems, all of which seem to be increasing as time goes by.

Android is under siege from Microsoft, Oracle and Apple (and others) who are aggressively attacking Android with patent infringement claims and licensing fees.  Google recently expressed concern about the patent infringement threat to Android’s future viability.

Android’s much vaunted openness is gone as Google exercises selective censorship over apps in Android Market.

Android’s claims of delivering a level playing field is also a thing of the past as Google exercises control over who gets access to Android and when.

Android’s golden promise as a “write-once works-everywhere” solution has never been realized and is a pipe-dream – fragmentation across service providers and vendor devices will rapidly surpass Blackberry’s self-created fragmentation.

Android as a consistent and intuitive user experience has yet to be realized. There is wide variability in launch pages and app behaviour… even for the most simple elements of phone, home, menu, hang up, search and return buttons. Android is not an intuitive user experience and is not consistent across Android vendors or even devices within vendors.

Android does not appear to be working out very well for app developers in general – according to Distimo (May 2011) around 20% of the free apps available in the Android Market have not achieved 100 downloads, and the majority (51.8%) of free applications have been downloaded less than 1,000 times to date. More significantly, 80% of all paid applications have failed to get more than 100 downloads.

Vendors selling Android phones are not seeing profits – or brand loyalty - according to recent reports.

Android does not have strong consumer support among those that have purchased an Android device.   Recent surveys find that among existing Android users - 42 percent planned to switch to an iPhone.  For consumers planning to purchase a new smartphone, about 48 percent of those surveyed said they actually plan to buy an Apple iPhone.

Android does not have strong corporate support.  iPad activations to Android Tablet activations were 30:1.

Android app discovery (i.e. finding apps) is a challenge, the Android Market is increasingly a garbage dump of poor quality apps and spam apps.

Android is not a secure platform and is the second most popular malware haven.  It is remarkably easy for users to compromise their smartphones by installing  malware apps or app add-ons. The platform itself has security holes that can expose personal data while accessing the web.  And Android is susceptible to phising and malvertising.  This is likely just the tip of the iceberg. Security is hard to get right…. that was and is one of RIM’s big strengths.

All of these problems for Android add up to a huge opportunity for HP WebOS, Microsoft Windows Phone 7 (and RIM QNX if they were to consider aggressively licensing it to other vendors)… to redefine the mobile playing field by attacking the many weaknesses of Android.

RIM, RIM, RIM

. Android, Apple, Blackberry, Business

We were interviewed for some articles on RIM over the last few weeks about our experiences and opinions:

We develop and deploy apps for all platforms and our experiences can be summarized as:

Blackberry is highly problematic to develop and deploy apps for, particularly when compared to Apple or Android.  Blackberry developer support is best characterized as “indifferent”.   (It is worth noting that this fact is widely recognized, apparently even among some RIM executives!)

Customers always ask for Apple first, (increasingly Apple Tablet second), Android and rarely Blackberry.

End-user consumption of Blackberry apps is generally low – in cases when we have shipped the same apps to all three platforms, we have seen Apple to Blackberry download ratios of 20:1 or higher.

With the introduction of the new Blackberry OS and uncertainty around platforms and the future of RIM, I don’t expect that customer demand for Blackberry app development is going to change anytime soon.   A good indicator is demand for developers on sites such as Freelancer which report weak Blackberry job figures.

What is the future for RIM?

In the near-term?   Layoffs, increased uncertainty, more bad market news, shareholder revolt, more layoffs, and leadership change.   One only has to look at the various mobile handset adoption, device usage, app store stats and market trends to see the writing on the wall… RIM sales are about to go into free-fall.

In the future?  RIM seems to be overly focused on handset “super phone” technology… personally I don’t believe that is where the future is for RIM (or any mobile vendor who wants to be the leader).  Smartphone technology is rapidly becoming commoditized, much like feature phones.   I believe the future will be in the software and the cloud services associated with the software that will allow any phone to be a “super phone”.  I really do believe that with the right software and strategy, the Playbook could be their game changer… but the team in place is too close to the past to see the future.

What do you think is the best bet for RIM’s recovery?