Author: TheAppleBlog.com

Tuesday’s 7.0 earthquake in Haiti knocked out the country’s only direct submarine cable system, according to TeleGeography, leaving it to rely largely on satellite communications and damaged mobile networks for international communications. The undersea fiber-optic link has a transmission capacity of 1.92 terabytes per second and connects Port-au-Prince to the Bahamas and then to the U.S. Because the link came online two years ago, though, much of Haiti’s international communications still depends on satellite systems that have likely been strained in the aftermath of the catastrophe.

While most Internet service providers are still operational, a lack of electricity has limited fixed-line access for the majority of the country’s residents. Digicel, Haiti’s largest mobile network operator, said its network was damaged but is still operational. The carrier is trying to send technicians to the island to ease congestion and allow more users on the network. And emergency satellite firms such as France’s TSF are establishing secure Internet and voice systems for aid agencies, as well as setting up call centers for those affected by the earthquake.

In related news, T-Mobile USA said that it will allow free international long distance calls to Haiti through January 31, 2010, and retroactive to the earthquake on January 12, 2010. The company said that T-Mobile customers who may already be in Haiti will be able to roam on T-Mobile’s partner networks in Haiti (operated locally in Haiti under the names Voila and Digicel) free-of-charge through the end of the month.

Image courtesy Flickr user Victor Chapa.

The tech earnings season kicked off with a bang this afternoon, as Intel reported much higher-than-expected fourth-quarter profits of $2.3 billion vs. just $234 million for the comparable period the year before, and revenue of $10.6 billion, up 29 percent. ”Our ability to weather this business cycle demonstrates that microprocessors are indispensable in our modern world,” said President and CEO Paul Otellini. Still, for the decade ahead, Intel can’t count on high PC market growth and other familiar benefactors.

Among notable results for the company’s various divisions, Data Center Group revenue was up 21 percent year-over-year (there have been predictions that better times lie ahead for companies selling high-margin servers and producing chips for them), and average selling price for chips came in higher as well (so the company is selling more than just low-priced Atom chips). Intel does continue to benefit from growth in netbook sales with its Atom chips, and a possible coming wave of upgrades to Windows 7 at businesses could benefit it as well.

Nevertheless, as this decade begins, things are different for Intel compared to the start of the previous two. At the onset of the 90s and the Naughts, dramatic growth potential for PCs made it obvious that Intel’s fortunes would rise significantly with them. Although a solid rebound in the PC market helped it in the fourth quarter (keeping in mind that the fourth quarter of 2008 was abysmal for the PC market), the company no longer has the same long-term, PC-driven wind at its back to look forward to for the next decade — and even Intel’s presence inside Apple systems can’t make up for that problem.

Phones on Fire, PCs — Not So Much

Researchers at Gartner have just predicted that by 2013, mobile phones will handily outpace PCs as the predominant way for people to interact with the web. Gartner foresees the total number of PCs at 1.78 billion in three years, while the number of smartphones and web-ready phones will sit at 1.82 billion units, with rapid  growth ahead for mobile phones. The trend toward mobile usage will change the whole infrastructure of the web, and web design.

Meanwhile, despite good notices for its CES demo of the LG GW990 smartphone running Intel’s new Moorestown chip and the Moblin OS, the fact is that Intel, like Microsoft, just doesn’t have enough equity in the rise of smartphones. As ARM CEO Warren East told Computerworld this week:

“We’ve been saying that the 100 percent share of applications processors in phones that we have can’t continue. We don’t really see Intel making meaningful inroads into it, not for many years, probably never. In order [for device makers] to switch architectures, the Intel product has to be significantly better to outweigh the cost of switching.”

ARM chips are headed beyond mobile phones and will make it into netbooks, smartbooks, and many new kinds of portable devices, where Qualcomm is becoming an increasingly significant player, in addition to its existing presence in mobile phones. Qualcomm is also leaping past Intel’s 32-nanometer manufacturing technology, and will produce 28-nanometer chips. In phones and in many new types of mobile devices, that advantage could help deliver faster chips that cost less than Intel’s. AMD is behind Intel in 32-nanometer chip manufacturing, giving Intel a short-term advantage, but will catch up next year, increasing competition between the companies.

In the Crosshairs

In addition to these issues, Intel is under intense scrutiny for any exclusionary or anti-competitive practices that regulators can dredge up, and is ensconced in a wave of bad PR. Nvidia had to be dancing in the streets as the FTC recently sued Intel, claiming that it abused its market power and cut competitors out of the marketplace. Nvidia wants to make sure vendors can buy and use its Ion processors that accelerate graphics inside netbooks containing Intel’s Atom chips without paying a higher price for the Atom chip.

The FTC’s move follows a huge fine from Europe last year, and Intel also paid out $1.25 billion last year to settle long-standing disputes over business practices with AMD. The company is even drawing criticism for what many people feel are exclusionary practices toward proposed industry wide-standards such as USB 3.0.  The new standard is much faster than USB 2.0, but Intel has guaranteed its slow adoption by pledging not to support it until next year.  Why would it do that? The answer is that it favors its own LightPeak connectivity technology, which has little industry traction.

As long-time Intel CEO Andy Grove used to say when the soaring PC market was guaranteeing Intel quarter after quarter of success, “only the paranoid survive.” With mobile phones reshaping tech usage and the web itself, the PC market growing more slowly now, scrutiny from regulators, and more, Intel’s sterling results from today certainly don’t mean the company shouldn’t be paranoid about tomorrow.

Image courtesy of Intel.

Between Gmail, Google Docs, Zoho, Facebook, Basecamp, Flickr, Twitter and countless other applications, much of our data now sits in the cloud. But few people ever stop to think about where that data is stored or how it might be accessed or used. So who exactly does own your data and who has access to it? And how much privacy can you expect?

These questions get all the more complex because many web application providers are using cloud services from the likes of Amazon and Google, which means data doesn’t necessarily sit on the app provider’s servers. Additionally, there is an increased use of APIs to facilitate greater interoperability among web apps, meaning that your data may be used in many ways that you don’t expect. How can you learn more about the rights you have to your data, as well as the rights others have to it? GigaOM Pro (subscription required) this week has a great report by Simon Mackie that tackles these questions. The report delves into two main issues:

Data Privacy. When it comes to the U.S., the Fourth Amendment states that people should “be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures…” But web-hosted applications and cloud services are too new for the courts to have been able to provide far-reaching guidance on data privacy online. Issues related to data privacy get even more complex when data is stored outside of the country. Some cloud services, such as Amazon’s, let you choose the region in which you want your data stored; and some, such as Google’s, don’t.

Data Security. There are any number of threats to your data online. Your application or service provider could go belly up, you could fall prey to hackers or you could simply be locked out of your account. The good news is that data portability and security policies are being scrutinized closely by several organizations, and there are steps you can take to reduce your vulnerability in the could.

For much more on these and other issues pertaining to your data and the cloud, see Simon’s full report.

Citrix’s GoToMyPC, among the most widely used applications for controlling remote computers, has always had a glaring hole: an inability to connect to Mac systems from anywhere. That’s changed with a free version of its remote control software for use with Macs and is favored by many users and IT administrators. LogMeIn is also Apple-friendly enough to offer a remote control application that works on iPhones and iPod touches. WebEx’s PCNow also offers iPhone control of remote Mac computers. (Citrix still doesn’t offer a version of GoToMyPC for the iPhone.)

GoToMyPC is available for $19.95 a month for use from one computer; the plan for two computers runs $29.95 a month. Businesses can take advantages of volume pricing deals, which vary. You can watch a demo of how GoToMyPC works here.

LG says it’s betting heavily on Android to help the handset maker build its smartphone business, a move that contrasts starkly with last year’s vow to make Microsoft’s Windows Mobile its primary operating system. But in doing so, LG joins a small army of fellow manufacturers that have shifted their focus away from Microsoft’s mobile OS — among them HTC , Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Palm — and, with the lone exception of Palm, toward Android. And the revelation comes on the heels of rumors that the launch of Windows Mobile 7 may be pushed back yet again, to 2011.

In the meantime, as the mobile skies continue to darken over Redmond, we’ve compiled a few ideas that could get Microsoft back in the game:

• Make Windows Mobile free to manufacturers. That’s a strategy our friend Chetan Sharma examined more than a year ago; since then Microsoft has continued to lose market share as open-source OSes gain traction in mobile. Making WinMo free — but not open source — might encourage some manufacturers to at least reconsider moving away from the platform.
• Acquire (or adopt) another operating system and ditch WinMo. Building a mobile OS from the ground up is a Herculean task, but Microsoft has the deep pockets to pick up a newer platform and throw WinMo on the scrap heap. While rumors of a takeover of RIM seem outrageous given the price tag, Microsoft could pick up Palm’s webOS for substantially less. And while Microsoft has historically feared Linux — upon which webOS is based — it last year began indicating it may be softening its stance regarding open-source software.
• Build a top-notch app store designed for business users. Consumer-focused mobile app stores have quickly become a kind of Moroccan bazaar where users are confronted with a dizzying number of offerings on the cheap. Microsoft — like RIM — could set its Marketplace for Mobile apart from the crowd by combining high-end enterprise and productivity apps with a small library of the best entertainment titles.
• Make Windows Mobile 7.0 a worthy competitor with a focus on the enterprise. Mobile malware is sure to cause more problems as the popularity of the iPhone and Android-based devices continues to surge. In addition to making WinMo more user-friendly, Microsoft should position it as an ultra-secure platform designed to ensure the safety of mobile data for high-end executives. To sweeten the deal, maybe it should give out a free golf shirt with every WinMo device sold.

As we’ve said before, it may simply be too late for Windows Mobile to re-emerge as anything but a niche play for a small number of business users. If the gang in Redmond has begun taking mobile seriously, though, it should consider some of these ideas as a way to regain relevance in the increasingly competitive smartphone space.

Related GigaOM Pro Research: As Windows Mobile Stumbles, Which Smartphone OS Will Seize the Lead?

Nokia  yesterday extended support for its Ovi Store to its N900 via a firmware update, enabling users of the Maemo-based gadget to browse the shelves and download applications. It’s a move that may finally help the manufacturer score the carrier deal it needs to gain traction with its flagship device in the U.S.

The N900, which is Nokia’s first device to run the Linux-based Maemo 5 operating system, debuted late last year to positive reviews (which Om took as a sign that the Finns were beginning to get things right). Nokia has staked its future to Maemo — at least on high-end devices — in an effort to better compete with Apple’s iPhone, RIM’s BlackBerry and the Android OS. But while the N900 is supported by T-Mobile USA’s 3G network, the carrier doesn’t subsidize the gadget, leaving it with a price tag of $550-$700 — far out of the range of most consumers.

As Kevin noted over at jkOnTheRun, the store is a substantial improvement over the handset’s embedded Application Manager, which requires users to add software repositories in order to download new apps — a time-consuming process that many mainstream users don’t know how to do. While the selection of Maemo apps in the Ovi Store is still pretty thin, that is sure to change as Nokia expands its portfolio of Maemo-based devices later this year and beyond.

Nokia’s carrier relationships have never been its strong suit, but support for the Ovi Store may just be enough to entice T-Mobile to pony up some cash to defray the cost of the N900 and give it more mass-market appeal. And that would go a long way toward helping Nokia get back in the game in the U.S.

In-post image courtesy Flickr user SpeednutDave.

Verizon Wireless next week will begin requiring a minimum $10 data plan with some new feature phones, according to information obtained by Boy Genius Report. The move not only appears to mark the carrier’s most expensive data plan yet, it could be a sign of things to come with LTE. Verizon declined to confirm the report to GigaOM.

It appears that users who buy one of nine phones — dubbed “3G multimedia” handsets — will have to sign up for one of two data plans: 25MB a month for a whopping $10 (that’s 40 cents a MB) or an unlimited option that will reportedly replace the current 75MB plan for $30 (also 40 cents a MB). That’s right, Verizon thinks 1 MB is worth slightly less than a 44-cent postage stamp. The plans are substantially pricier than AT&T’s $15-a-month unlimited web add-on for feature phones  — which, of course, is optional — and follows  moves by both Verizon and AT&T to require data plans with all new smartphone purchases.

More importantly, the requirement and suggested data plans may signal Verizon’s plans to raise data fees for users on the LTE network it will begin to deploy this year. Verizon last week said LTE users will incur a basic subscriber fee plus usage charges based on bandwidth consumption. If the rumored price hike is any indication of what it will cost to use the 4G network, the carrier may not ever have to deal with the kind of congestion issues that AT&T has suffered due to the iPhone simply because no one will be able to afford it.

Image courtesy Flickr user abbyladybug.

There’s no denying Android’s momentum: Droid sales are strong, the Nexus One is drawing positive (if not fawning) reviews, and the operating system is quickly expanding beyond phones to tablets as Google works toward its vision of the Androidification of everything. But the land of Android isn’t always wine and roses for consumers, some of whom are sharing Google’s growing pains in mobile. And while such hiccups may have been predictable, they’ll need to be addressed as Android begins to get legs with mainstream users. In just the last few weeks:

• Users of the new Samsung Galaxy have learned that they’re not in line for an upgrade to Android 2.0, which first came to market with the Droid a mere two months after the Galaxy became available. The revelation highlights the double-edged sword of open-source software, which is fertile ground for fragmented versions of the OS from different manufacturers and carriers. And as Sebastian pointed out last week, questions are beginning to emerge about just how open Google is with Android given that the Nexus One runs version 2.1 while the Droid still runs 2.0. Those scenarios can leave consumers in the dark regarding which version they’re using — and what kind of update they can expect.
• Predictably, Google has experienced a rash of complaints from customers as it takes on the role of mobile retailer. Message-board comments were being posted almost by the minute by Friday afternoon, according to one report, as consumers tried to get information ranging from T-Mobile USA’s upgrade policies to technical help. Google, in turn, encouraged Nexus One users to call HTC or T-Mobile — a suggestion that may have irritated Google’s partners.
• A rogue Android Market app was identified that tried to glean bank log-in details from users. The offering was disguised as a legitimate banking application but — in a twist on an old Internet ploy — was an effort to get people to divulge their log-in information. While such an app could make its way into Apple’s App Store — which is notoriously, if arbitrarily, policed — it underscores the downside of the less-regulated Android Market.

No player in the mobile space bats 1.000 when it comes to customer service, of course, and Google will surely experience many more headaches as it continues to expand beyond search and advertising into the world of mobile retailer and operating system developer. But wireless consumers now have several attractive options when it comes to smartphones and the software that runs on them. Early adopters may not mind helping Google iron out the wrinkles, but as Android goes mainstream the company will have to convince users it’s not the wild, wild West of the smartphone space.

Image courtesy of Flickr user Lisa Brewster.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer disappointed those looking for news about Windows Mobile at CES this week, leaving onlookers to speculate that the company will unveil version 7 of the aging operating system at Mobile World Congress next month in Barcelona, Spain. But I’m beginning to think that without a new operating system, it’s already too late for Redmond to get back in the smartphone game.

Microsoft’s winnowing importance in mobile is well documented, of course. WinMo has lost nearly a third of its market share over the last year, according to recent figures from Gartner, and AdMob traffic indicates that traffic from the OS on the wireless web has dropped off 70 percent during that time. Meanwhile, the iPhone continues to gain traction worldwide, Research In Motion is seeing strong demand for the BlackBerry and Google has built on Android’s substantial momentum with its own branded handset (which, notably, is manufactured by HTC — a company whose focus is clearly shifting from Redmond to Mountain View). To make things worse, Palm will soon make its webOS-based handsets available through both AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

WinMo 6.5 drew scathing reviews following its October launch, making it clear that the OS desperately a complete overhaul. But the mobile world has moved very quickly in the last year, and WinMo may simply be outdated beyond repair. Microsoft might regain its relevance in mobile with a brand new OS — I think Palm’s webOS is a great fit (GigaOM Pro, sub. required) — but anything less is likely to seal the company’s fate as a niche enterprise player. And that’s a lonely place to be in a smartphone space that is now all about the consumer.

Image courtesy of Flickr user Tijs Zwinkels.

Dell is using CES to offer a glimpse of its first tablet, an Android-based gadget with a 5-inch screen that’s a bit bigger than a smartphone but smaller than a netbook. The company is joining a crush of hardware manufacturers and software developers jumping into a white-hot tablet space, creating a buzz that has expanded beyond the tech sector to attract attention from mainstream media outlets such as USA Today and MSNBC.com. But is there really much demand for these little connected devices that aren’t phones?

source: CNET

At CES this week, Microsoft has trotted out an HP-branded tablet, Lenovo has showcased a laptop/tablet hybrid and Motorola has offered a glimpse of an upcoming tablet product, to name just a few of the companies using the Las Vegas show to flash sleek new offerings. In the meantime, Apple is rumored to be readying a tablet as well. And many of the new tablets run Google’s mobile operating system, which– as Google’s Andy Rubin rightly boasts – offers the flexibility to be leveraged on a host of different platforms (and which, as Om noted, could lead to the Androidification of everything).

But while Apple’s iPod touch — which is kind of a mini-tablet — has been a hit, tablet-like devices offered in the past from Microsoft, Fujitsu and others haven’t managed to find much of an audience. That could change in the next few years given the increasing presence of Wi-Fi and the deployment of 4G networks, and we’re likely to see a host of non-phone gadgets gain traction as connectivity comes to a wide variety of consumer electronics devices. But consumers will be asked to shell out at least a few hundred dollars to carry a gadget in addition to their existing phones — some of which function pretty well as mini-computers. Whether there are enough users willing to do so is far from clear.

Google’s much-hyped Nexus One has received generally positive reviews as a solid, if modest, improvement on the current lineup of Android phones. That kind of praise would be welcome by most handset manufacturers, of course, which are fighting for market share in an increasingly competitive field. For the Internet search giant, though, the Nexus One marks a very small step toward changing the mobile industry as it exists today. In a new research note on GigaOM Pro (sub. required), I take a look at how the Nexus One reinforces Google’s mobile strategy and reflects broader trends driving the industry toward greater openness. Key topics covered in the report include:

• Google’s vision for the mobile industry
• How federal regulation could play a role
• Which players are most threatened and how to react

Lenovo’s LePhone, announced yesterday at CES, is an impressive-looking smartphone that’s expected to come to market later this year. The Android-based handset packs in Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor and seems to showcase nearly all the impressive features of Google’s mobile operating system — except any of the Google apps. Which underscores why Android’s amazing flexibility is a double-edged sword.

The handset — which PCMag.com’s Sascha Segan christened the “nemesis” of the Nexus One — is the PC vendor’s first since buying back its phone unit in November. (It will be available initially in China, then the U.S.) And there’s a lot to like about LePhone, which — according to early reviews — has a sleek look and feel much like Google’s new handset, and features a highly customizable version of the OS. But the surprising lack of the Android Market or any other visible Google offering is the latest sign that hardware manufacturers and carriers are increasingly taking the platform and reshaping it as they see fit. That’s a great selling point for Android, of course, but it also could lead to a world where a vast number of Android-based handsets and services compete with one another. And it could be the latest step toward the kind of splintered Android universe that James over at jkOnTheRun warned about months ago.

Image courtesy of Trusted Reviews.