Category: Mobile

The BBC may have postponed its planned mobile phone apps for regulatory scrutiny in its native UK – but, in the U.S., where the BBC operates commercially, its new iPad app is already a big hit.

Released in time for the tablet’s U.S. launch last weekend, the personalisable BBC News app offers text news in English and other languages, social sharing, story videos, 60-second video bulletins, full-screen video, live radio, breaking news alerts and offline syncing.

Already at #12 in iPad’s free apps chart, it rates 3.5/5 with users. Development was jointly funded by the UK BBC and by BBC Worldwide, which plans to sell ads on it outside Britain. Made by Mobile IQ, the same developer commissioned to make the iPhone apps, it offers a glimpse of the apps the BBC wants to launch in the UK – if only domestic authorities let it…

Brit apps blocked…

At Mobile World Congress in February, the BBC announced three upcoming apps for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android. It had wanted to launch the BBC News app in April, the BBC Sport app in time for the soccer World Cup in June and the BBC iPlayer TV catch-up app later in the year…

But the UK’s eight leading news publishers, through their Newspaper Publishers Association, kicked up a fuss, arguing the BBC is a roadblock to them profiting from the nascent apps space, which is much more fertile ground for charging. They won an order from the regulating BBC Trust that the BBC should delay launching the apps while it examines the idea.

The BBC says it does not need Trust approval because the apps do not constitute a new service launch (they only repurpose content from its website). Indeed, the trust is not yet carrying out the full Public Value Test and Market Impact Assessment that would normally be applied to new service launches.

Overseas loophole…

But, according to a BBC web page: “The U.S. iPad app is a commercial activity outside the UK and is not covered by the Trust review.” Hence, the upscaled tablet download was released in America before Britain. BBCWW also still plans to launch the iPhone apps overseas..

If the BBC is blocked from launching apps at home in the UK, it will mean the perverse spectacle of the British Broadcasting Corporation offering free iPhone and iPad editions only outside of Britain, whilst protecting worried commercial publishers’ ambitions to sell similar products to UK licence payers.

UK iPad plans…

For now, it’s a moot point – the iPad won’t be on sale in the UK until late April some time.

But iPad is caught up in the same scrutiny process as mobile, the Trust tells paidContent:UK: “We’ve asked the BBC to postpone the launch of all applications for smartphones etc in the UK, including the iPad, while we conduct our review.  It’s a little too early to say exactly what our review will cover, though we would expect it to cover UK apps for iPads to some extent.”

The BBC’s embrace of iPad through the news app raises a tantalising probability – that the planned BBC iPlayer app for iPhone would also be converted for the tablet, bringing the popular VOD service’s full-screen catch-up TV to the new device in the same way ABC (NYSE: DIS) has done with its ABC Player.

But the BBC is refraining from staking out its domestic iPad credentials whilst under the regulator’s spotlight. “While the BBC Trust are carrying out their assessment, we have nothing further to add than is already in the public domain,” a spokesperson said.

It’s not clear whether the Trust will decide on the apps issue by the time iPad hits UK shelves. “We’re aiming to do so in a timely manner to provide clarity for everyone involved,” the Trust spokesperson says.

“All costs associated with the international version have been fully funded by BBCWW,” the BBC spokesperson says. But the iPlayer app is unlikely to be released outside the UK, since it offers catch-up TV according to domestic rights restrictions only.

First Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), then HP… is Nokia now planning its own tablet computer? Yes, according to Rodman and Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar…

“Right now, the supply chain is being primed up for a fall release,” Kumar says (via Reuters). “It has to be on the shelf by September-October to meet demand for the holiday window.” Nokia (NYSE: NOK) declined to comment.

Reuters (NYSE: TRI) reports that Kumar said the device would likely use Microsoft’s Windows software, but several other analysts said it could also use the new MeeGo operating system, which is a collaboration between Nokia and Intel (NSDQ: INTC). Nokia has said in the past that MeeGo would lend itself well to non-phone devices, like netbooks and other consumer electronics. And an analyst in Nokia’s Native Finland reckons: “Nokia simply has to make a go at this segment, since it may end up cannibalising the high-end smartphone market substantially.”

It wouldn’t be the first time Nokia has followed by making a non-phone device. Noting how retailers began to bundle netbooks – and not just mobiles – with wireless contracts, it last year released its own Booklet 3G, a netbook running Windows 7 with integrated SIM slot. But the Booklet has suffered from its high price and was last seen with just two carriers – O2 Germany and Best Buy/AT&T (NYSE: T) in the U.S. Previously, Nokia also engineered the N810 edition handheld tablet, which initially ran over WiFi and then later WiMax before being canceled altogether.

Given Nokia’s strategic alliance with Microsoft, there’s also a chance this could extend to a tablet running Microsoft’s rumoured Courier tablet concept?

Nokia is already working overtime to arrest declining market share and industry perception in the core market of smartphones. An entry to the tablet computer market could treat us to an extension of the Apple-vs-Nokia patents dispute that’s been playing out in the phone sector.

Whether Nokia puts its hat in the ring or not, expect plenty of iPad imitators throughout 2010. Only in the last few quarters have mobile manufacturers released phones that truly begin to do a decent imitation of iPhone – surely they won’t want to let Apple run away with such an advantage again…

It is widely recognized that when it comes to smart phones, both Apple and Research in Motion are doing well. Add Taiwanese-company HTC to the list. Thanks to great ad-campaigns, backing from Google, carrier friendly stance and great phones, HTC just reported blockbuster results for the Q1 2010. In many ways, HTC is the polar opposite of Palm, which despite a great brand loyalty has blown an opportunity. We wrote about its strategy last year is this post, How HTC became a smartphone hero.

HTC revenues for the quarter were $1.19 billion up 19.3 percent from Q1 2009. The profit for the quarter: $158 million versus about $154 million for Q1 2009.But most importantly, it is HTC’s carrier friendly stance is paying off. The carriers are giving the company more subsidies for the smart phones. HTC is now the fourth largest smart phone maker. Its portfolio of high-profile devices includes Google’s Nexus One, Desire and Evo, a WiMAX smart-phone that will make its debut on the Sprint-Nextel’s network. It will also be launching six new phones on China Mobile’s network later this year.

HTC is winning because of its bet on Android. Of the top 15 HTC devices in December 2009, 7 were Android phones and 8 were Windows Mobile even though the company has been making Android phones for about two years. HTC’s share of the smartphone market increased from 1 per cent in Q4 2008 to 6 per cent in Q4 2009 due to the success of its Android devices in North America and Western Europe. According to our friends at mobile analytics firm, Flurry, HTC accounts for about 61 percent of the total Android handset market.

The only fly in the ointment for this company: the lawsuit filed against the company earlier this year by Apple.

Continuing with a long-standing tradition, BMW today released further details of its latest Art Car. Designed by American artist Jeff Koons, this BMW M3 GT2 will follow in the footsteps of past Art Cars and go racing. This one will compete in the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 12–13.

Although BMW has only released this teaser of Koons’s planned design—the full reveal will take place on June 1 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris—we do have a few details about what will lie under his canvas. This M3 GT2 race car has a specially developed version of the M3’s 4.0-liter V-8 engine that allows production of up to 500 hp and 369 lb-ft of torque, depending on the air restrictor size. It’s connected to a six-speed sequential transaxle for better weight distribution. And to further reduce the weight compared to a stock M3, this wide-track GT2 car is fitted with a body that makes extensive use of carbon fiber, helping to bring it down to just 2535 pounds. The sprint from 0 to 60 mph is said to be achieved in only 3.4 seconds.

The M3 GT2 marks the 17th Art Car presented by BMW since the tradition began in 1975 with a 3.0 CSL painted by Alexander Calder. Koons’s new design is said to be the culmination of collected images of race cars and graphics, vibrant colors and speed. He then layered them into a digital collage and the result is Koons’s interpretation of power, motion, and light.

While we already appreciate the art and beauty in the production M3, we’re anxious to see what Mr. Koons’s final piece looks like when it’s rolled out. Until then, check out the gallery of past Art Cars below.

[View with PicLens]

12►

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First it ate in to Sky’s Premier League lockdown by winning a chunk of live linear rights. Now it’s taken from Sky the mobile highlights rights to all 380 of England’s top-tier soccer matches, beginning from the 2010/11 season’s start, this coming August.

ESPN (NYSE: DIS), as a content maker, has no significant UK mobile presence, so will likely need to deliver the videos through a carrier partner. “A good offering with a strong partner is important to us both in terms of accessibility and complementing live coverage,” says ESPN’s EMEA SVP Lynne Frank Premier League CEO Richard Scudamore, in the announcement.

We would expect Virgin Media (NSDQ: VMED) to be a candidate – it already carries ESPN’s TV channels on its cable platform, carries Perform Group’s other online sports rights on its website and is keen to make good on its “three-screen” entertainment promise by adding more content toa recently-acquired Disney mobile package. But ESPN could conceivably sell the package in to mobile TV offerings carried by all the UK networks.

The rights win boosts ESPN, whose more prestigious, live package slims from 46 to 23 games next season.

ESPN says it will “deliver in-match, post-match and customised highlights, including goals” using the rights. Three and, later, Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), held the rights prior to BSkyB (NYSE: BSY). The Premier League would not confirm identities of other bidders, if there were any.

Online, U.S. sports are available to European ESPN viewers via ESPN Player, but the broadcaster is not yet in a position to offer a comprehensive European on-demand offering.

It is hard to see where and how ESPN will look to make money from these rights.  The current service – Football 24/7 – has failed to deliver any traction for the mobile operators over the last three years. Sky still has the live mobile rights and, currently, the rights revert back to the clubs 12 hours after the final whistle. So, ESPN has effectively just bought itself in game clips and a 12 hour window from after the games finish to when that deadline hits.

Update: InfoMedia Services, which provides mobile services to five Premier League clubs, writes to say: “Putting together a compelling package that people will pay for is going to be a tall order as it will get squeezed by Sky and the club’s own mobile services.

“It maybe that this package forms a nice little addition to the existing ESPN TV subscription and, as such, drives subscriber numbers for their broadcast rights, but you really do have to ask where ESPN sees this fitting into the current UK mobile marketplace.”

So I was up again in the early hours of a Sunday to watch the Malaysian Grand Prix live.

At the time (4 am), I thought the talking points were the storming drives through the field by the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, and the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, from grid positions 20, 17, 21, and 19, respectively. Indeed, Alonso’s drive, where he was compensating for a grearbox downshift malfunction, was truly spectacular.

But after the event, the real news occurred. Essentially, everyone thinks Red Bull Racing is cheating because it has far and away the fastest car in F1 this year. Sebastian Vettel would have won the first three races, but for a spark plug problem in Bahrain and a brake issue in Australia. Eventually, he romped away to a win in Malaysia.

If they’re not cheating, the thinking goes, they have at least found a clever way of getting around F1’s insane parc fermé regulations. These dictate that teams can’t alter the configuration of their cars after qualifying. This wasn’t a problem in the past, where teams qualified with race fuel on board, but has led to a ridiculous compromise under the 2010 rules, where cars can qualify on fumes but go to the grid loaded with 350 pounds of race fuel. Run the car in the optimum condition for a low-fuel qualie run, and it will be bottoming out with a full tank of gas. Conversely, set it up for the race, and the car will be set too high for the aerodynamics to work properly on a qualie run.

Other teams feel that Red Bull has found a way of running the car low in qualifying and then raising the suspension for the race, without touching it after the qualifying session is over. There’s a lot of supposition that the team could be adding extra gas pressure to the dampers or has found a clever mechanical way of raising the ride height. There are rumors that McLaren and Mercedes will appear in China with active suspensions and that Red Bull will protest them.

In the good old days, if you suspected someone was cheating, you’d raise the money to make a protest and if you were right, you’d get your money back. Wrong, the money goes away. Nowadays, though, a team makes snide remarks through the press which leads to an FIA investigation, and any smart way of getting around the rules is gone, instantly. (Unless, of course, said device is on a Ferrari.) Much prefer the old way, myself. Put up or shut up, McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes.

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Aston Martin has announced plans to campaign a mildly modified Rapide in this May’s Nürburgring 24-Hour race. Aston says the only changes from the production Rapide involve gutting the fabulous interior, retuning the suspension, mounting racing tires, and adding some extra safety equipment. Oh, and lots of sponsorship stickers.

While a four-door luxo-car might not seem like the best starting point for a race car, the Rapide has serious performance chops. When we drove a Rapide, we found it handled tightly, changed direction smartly, and packed enough grunt to finish the quarter-mile in 13 seconds flat. Last year, a modified V12 Vantage won its class in the 24-hour race; this year, the Vantage will compete again alongside the Rapide when the race commences on May 15.

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Cinéma Vélocité: Provide your friends with undeniably convincing evidence that you’re every bit as smooth as Senna was.

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Palm has fired the creators of its ineffective Pre advertisements, but tossing Modernista overboard isn’t going to right this sinking ship. Palm’s hoped-for comeback is floundering, not merely because of the bad advertising campaign, but because of bad timing, an ill-chosen launch partner and a lack of developer support. Above all, Palm’s experience proves that even in the world of dumb pipes, the carrier can still make or break the brand.

At CES 2009, when Palm announced its plans to rise from ashes much like the proverbial phoenix, everyone applauded. Palm was a beloved brand and many believed that a new operating system, revamped hardware and marketing blitz would help the company stage a comeback. But Palm’s webOS-powered devices aren’t selling well in carriers’ stores. Instead of pushing them as high-value handsets, carriers are holding the equivalent of fire sales to rid themselves of excess inventory. Advertising Age blames Palm’s marketing missteps.

But the choice of a strong launch partner may have had more of a role.  Motorola, which is also attempting a comeback, provides a counterpoint to Palm’s failures so far with the success of its Droid and Backflip handsets. Mark Sue, an analyst with RBC, credits some of Motorola’s success to the support of its carrier partners today in a research note.  But for Palm, a 6-month exclusive launch with Sprint as the carrier struggled with subscriber churn didn’t help. And that exclusive window meant that the other CDMA carrier in the U.S. — Verizon Wireless — had time to pump $100 million into a marketing blitz to promote the Motorola Droid, not Palm phones.

So now Palm is trying to stay in the game by engaging customers at the point-of-sale with brand ambassadors in Verizon and Sprint retail locations. Enabling sales staff to understand the benefits webOS brings to a device is a step towards recovery but the road will be long. The problem is that many consumers enter a phone shop already knowing which device they want based on marketing they’ve already seen.

As a former Palm Pre owner — I waited in line on launch day for the innovative device and shared first impressions — I agree that advertising efforts didn’t help matters. But choosing a different partner or limiting exclusivity to a single carrier for less than a half-year — nearly a full product lifecycle on some mobile tech calendars — could easily have vaulted Palm into a formidable challenger.

Erin Kutz wrote:

Brightcove, the Cambridge, MA-based online video hosting company, has pulled in a $12 million Series D funding round, led by Accel Partners and General Catalyst Partners, the company confirmed in its corporate blog today. Existing Brightcove investors, including AOL, Hearst, AllianceBernstein, Maverick Capital, and Brookside Capital, participated in the financing round, which will go toward new product rollouts, expansion in Asia and Europe, research and development, and possible mergers and acquisitions. Last week Wade wrote about the company’s plans to expand its offerings to non-Flash devices such as the iPhone and iPad.

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Wade Roush wrote:

How do you sell 300,000 of anything on the first day it’s in stores? By convincing people that it’s going to be even cooler than the last incredible thing you built. Steve Jobs and his crew pulled that off with the iPad, which has been breaking the sales records set by the iPhone in 2007. Now all of us brand-new iPad owners have to decide whether we’re still convinced.

I’ve spent three solid days with my iPad, including one work day, and I’m still a believer. For sheer whiz-bang amazement, this machine (which I’m using right now to type this review) definitely represents the best $499 I’ve ever spent on a computer. It has its flaws and weaknesses, which I will gladly enumerate in a moment. But I think it has to be acknowledged up front that the hype about the iPad was largely justified; that the device is useful in a genuinely new way, and represents the beginning of the end of the mouse-and-keyboard era of personal computing; that for Apple, lightning can strike five times (IIe, Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad); that if there were a Nobel Prize for product engineering, Jobs would be on his way to Stockholm.

There, I said it. I laid my fanboy credentials bare. Now let’s talk about the real question, which is, should you get one? Assuming that you’re in the market for a computer, and you aren’t one of those early adopter alpha geeks like me who has to get an iPad just to maintain his street cred, what compelling advantages does the product have over similarly priced machines—which, at the moment, means netbooks and low-end laptops?

I think that is the operative question. I don’t see much point in the debate, taken up by Jobs himself in his January 27 iPad debut speech, about whether there is room for a “third category” of devices between netbooks and laptops. Yes, the iPad belongs to a new category, but average computer buyers don’t care about categories: they just need to get stuff done, and between projects they want to be entertained. What’s important is whether the iPad helps with those things, and does so better than an equivalently priced netbook or laptop. I believe that it does, and that it will only get better over time.

Work

For all the talk about the iPad being a media consumption device, it is also a pretty good information management device. The built-in apps, such as Mail and Calendar, take the tasks knowledge workers do all day long and make them more fun. I am already very fond of the Mail app, which, like most iPad apps, resembles its iPhone counterpart but has many improvements that take advantage of the iPad’s larger screen. In landscape mode, for example, Mail lists incoming messages in the left pane and shows the full text of those messages in the right pane.

There’s nothing revolutionary about panes—until you realize that this arrangement, together with multitouch, lets you plow through your inbox and deal with each message with two-handed efficiency. With your right hand, you can …Next Page »

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UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS

Canonical, the company behind the popular linux distro Ubuntu, has teamed up with Funambol to provide Mobile Phone syncing support with UbuntuOne.

In case you do not know, UbuntuOne is an online storage and backup service owned by Canonical. It is currently available for free to everyone, although users can pay for more storage space. Funambol is an American corporation that earns revenue from its dual-licensing business model that includes commercial software and free open source mobile data synchronization software based on the Funambol core project. (from Wikipedia)

This new service that Canonical is introducing in UbuntuOne means that UbuntuOne users will now be able to sync the contacts in their mobile phone with UbuntuOne’s Contact. The new mobile sync feature is built upon the existing Contact sync feature that UbuntuOne already has. Users need to synchronize the contact in their computer  (Evolution and Thunderbird) with UbuntuOne first, then they can synchronize it with their mobile phone.

Since Funambol is provideing the mobile syncing functionalities, the Mobile Sync feature in UbuntuOne already supports most of the mobile handset models. For iPhone users, there will be an app available in the app-store soon.

Right now this service is available to every UbuntuOne user for free. However, once Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx is released, this feature will become a part of the UbuntuOne paid service and will be available only for a 30-days trial to non-paying users of UbuntuOne.

You can read more about the how to set up this service in your phone in the Ubuntu Wiki.

[via Ubuntu One Blog]

Don’t miss these Related Posts:

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Join Techie Buzz on Your Favorite Social Networking Sites

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Stitcher, a service that lets talk radio listeners move programs to their mobile devices, has completed a $6 million second round funding. The round was led by Benchmark Capital. Previous backer New Atlantic Ventures also participated, as did individual investors Ed Scott and Ron Conway. San Francisco-based Stitcher plans to use the proceeds for general product and platform development.

Stitcher’s service is free and resembles what LastFM and Pandora do for music. Users pick their radio programs and add it to a customized “station” on their mobile device. The two-year-old Stitcher previously raised $3 million in funding.

Doing research to attract more women to our Mobile Summit on May 7, 2010, I revisited some of ReadWriteWeb’s past articles on gender and tech. In January, we discussed “‘Sexy Girls,’ Smart Women and Tech” in an open thread where we asked for readers’ opinions and had an open discussion on women’s issues, like whether it’s true that some good-looking women get flaunted as sex symbols, while other women get overlooked, are underpaid and not taken seriously.

Sponsor

Commenters, among other really interesting discussion points, asked for stats to back up statements. In Harvard Business Review Magazine this month I stumbled across a rather depressing recent study [PDF download], which, on the bright side confirms that looks have little to do with pay scale, ability to secure a leadership role, or smarts. However, on the dark side, it showed gender still very much does matter.

Findings of the study show women’s transcendence to leadership roles has not occurred, inequality remains entrenched in terms of pay, career advancement, as well as career satisfaction. Shockingly, study respondents weren’t just any other Joanne or Joe Schmo in the workforce. The study tracked the smartest and brightest grad students from elite MBA programs, around the world, from 1996 to 2007. These are motivated and talented men and women.

In the words of Harvard Business Review, “Pipeline’s Broken Promise, examines the past two decades in which leaders have counted on parity in education, women’s accelerated movement into the labor force, and company-implemented diversity and inclusion programs to yield a robust talent pipeline where women are poised to make rapid gains to the top. ”

The survey took into account experience, time since MBA, first post-MBA job level, industry and global region of work at the time of survey, and found that:

• Men were twice as likely as women to be at the CEO/senior executive level.
• Men’s pay out paced women’s.
• Men significantly outpaced women moving up the career ladder when starting out in similar level roles.

These findings are not specific to any industry, including technology. Even I was shocked looking across this Microsoft org chart. For some reason seeing things in list format made the differential of men to women in Microsoft management even more striking. Note this isn’t for lack of women candidates as women make up almost half (49.9% in October 2009) of the workforce – no, we aren’t leaving work to have babies either!

I am stereotypical myself. I personally have clawed my way all the way to middle management after 20 years working in the tech industry, while men younger than I hold more senior roles. Is this simply because I am a woman? These findings would say, “Well, yes.” So what is it about men and women? Will there ever be a time where women aren’t looked on as women in the tech industry, but just as smart people with skills that fit a certain role, best?

I personally know a lot of extremely smart women, all of whom that have had to go out on their own to make it above the glass ceiling. So is it just men in management holding us back?

I find this study pertinent, not just to my own work experience, but also as we are a month away from the Mobile Summit in San Francisco on May 7. Looking to encourage a stronger female presence, we felt compelled to get out and ask women and men alike the following questions so please take the survey – it is just three questions.

Your thoughts and comments please.

Also see these related articles on other websites from Clay Shirky, Jeanne of Feministing, danah boyd and Gina Trapani, which have some interesting comments and counterpoints on why the glass ceiling still exists.

Photo by Faakhir Rizvi.

Discuss

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) will have to justify why it is launching two separate mobile-phone projects after it presents the much-rumored “Project Pink” devices next week to a crowd of journalists.

The software giant invited the media to an event on Monday in San Francisco, which sources tell Reuters is designed to announce two mobile phones that will be sold by Verizon Wireless. The phones, which are reportedly based on the Sidekick software that Microsoft acquired from Danger, will focus heavily on social networking and other Microsoft services, like Zune. The code names for the devices have been Turtle and Pure.

If the phones do not run a version Windows Phone 7, which is coming out later this year, Microsoft will have to explain how it intends on supporting a two-pronged strategy that could result in consumer and developer confusion. The market is already extremely fragmented with several different operating systems, so there has to be good reason why it makes sense for two software platforms to come from one player.

In leaked photos, the phones look a bit like a Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre in that it has a slide out keyboard and a large touchscreen display. The devices are likely to be made by Sharp, which makes Microsoft’s Sidekick.

Related

• Microsoft At MWC: Windows Mobile 7, Yes; Project Pink, No
• Microsoft’s Dual Track Strategy for Mobile May Include Sidekick Refresh In 2010

Less than a week after the introduction of the iPad, Apple plans to share details on “the future of iPhone OS” at a press event this Thursday, where the company is widely expected to lift the wraps off version 4.0 of Apple’s mobile operating system, which will add new functionality to current iPod touch, iPhone and iPad devices. The event will also shed light on what you can expect from Apple’s next-generation iPhone handset. Although Apple has sold a large number of devices running the iPhone OS — an estimated 40 million iPhones, more than 20 million iPod touches and now 300,000 iPads — there’s always room for improvement in the operating system. Here’s a short list of what to expect (including what I’d like to see!) from iPhone OS 4.0.

Multitasking — The ability to run more than one third-party application at a given time has long been a user request from the masses. The iPhone OS of today is capable of multitasking because the feature is currently supported on some native Apple applications – listening to music in the iPod app while web surfing or checking mail is a good example. So while the OS supports multiple apps running concurrently, it imposes limits to help ensure a positive experience with core functionality. But as some consumers look to the iPad as a potential laptop replacement, multitasking with non-Apple software titles is desirable (not everyone, of course, but for certain people). My own blogging activities would be far easier on the iPad if I could multitask to get web links and edit pictures while creating posts, for example. And I wouldn’t be surprised if only the iPad gains a multitasking function — or one that’s considered less constrained than on an iPhone.

Higher resolution — Let’s face it: The iPhone’s HVGA display was nice back in 2007, but it’s a little dated now. Many new handsets at the same price point offer generous 800×480 (or better) displays over the iPhone’s 480×320 screen. Look for iPhone 4.0 to support higher resolutions for the next-generation devices expected in a few months. This could help iPad owners as well. iPhone apps do work on the iPad today, but the pixel doubling of lower-resolution software makes apps look blocky and blurry.

Support for a second camera — Surely, the camera in the next iPhone will be bumped higher than the current 3-megapixel sensor. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see a second, front-facing camera for video chatting in iPhone OS 4.0 — it’s a feature we’ve been calling for since late last year. Perhaps it would be similar to iChat’s video offering on a Mac. We could even see third-party apps take advantage of such a change, although Apple may not allow access to such hardware for non-native apps.

A unified inbox — While I like to keep my work and personal lives separate most of the time, the one place I want them together is in my email. iPhone 4.0 should be bringing us a unified inbox so we don’t have to tap, tap, tap our way from one mailbox to another. Perhaps, like the once-missing copy-and-paste feature, Apple is still developing an elegant solution to the problem.

Enhanced voice-to-text features — Google added this highly useful function to Android 2.1 and it ought to be a staple in any modern smartphone. Apple added Voice Control in version 3 of the iPhone OS, but it’s limited by comparison — all you can use it for is to call a contact or control your iPod. Google’s implementation integrates throughout the operating system, making it easy to search the web, create a text message or even compose an email simply by speaking. Such a function could give Apple more insight to what iPhone OS users are searching for on the web — and would support a rumored Apple move into the search market.

Music in the clouds — iPhone 4.0 could be the first time we see the benefit of Apple’s LaLa purchase, which took place in December of last year. As I said in a GigaOM Pro report (subscription required) just days before the deal, if Apple doesn’t offer iTunes streaming over the web, others like Amazon could easily jump in the game. Consumers don’t mind carrying their music around, but storing content in the cloud offers nearly limitless capacity to hold media. And if Apple decides this isn’t a feature for the iPhone OS, I’ll just keep doing what I do today — store and stream my music with a cloud storage service like SugarSync or another provider.

Related iPad Content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d)

Beginning this year, Jaguar will include a one-day course at its newly established Jaguar R Performance Academy with the purchase of a 510-hp XFR or XKR. (The same deal is retroactively applied to owners that purchased a 2010 model last year.) Several journalists—myself included—recently had the opportunity to sit in on the driving school’s second meeting at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for an introduction to the program and, of course, to have some fun with a couple of big cats.

The R Academy currently is a traveling road show of sorts that will visit various race tracks throughout the year near the company’s key markets, which include Las Vegas, as well as Miami (Homestead Miami Speedway), Los Angeles (Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California), and New York (Monticello Motor Club); a permanent home base for the school is still being looked into.

While the program is more of a responsible way for Jaguar to introduce new owners to the limits of their cars—rather than a full-on track school for experienced handlers—the lessons and exercises that are taught are crucial for anyone who enjoys driving quickly yet safely. And free track time never hurts; I’ve spent a considerable amount of time on race tracks, including another driving school, and still found the program to be both helpful and very enjoyable. The R Academy also brings Jaguar up to par with other premium carmakers, nearly all of which offer their owners some form of high-performance driving instruction, albeit for a fee. What we like about Jaguar’s setup is that it’s included in the sticker prices of the XFR, XKR coupe, and XKR convertible, which start at $80,000, $96,000, and $102,000, respectively. Jaguar says that only XFR and XKR owners are eligible for the R program and that participants must use Jaguar’s vehicles; those that have a 2011 XJ Supersport on order are out of luck.

Although the setup may differ slightly by location, each event includes a classroom lesson on vehicle dynamics and safety, along with autocross exercises and follow-the-leader lapping of a proper road course in both XFR sedans and XKR coupes. Upon settling into the massive media center at the sprawling LVMS complex—which includes 1.5- and 0.4-mile paved ovals, a smaller dirt oval, a 2.5-mile road course, a quarter-mile drag strip, and several off-road tracks—we met our panel of instructors, including racers Roberto Guerrero, Davy Jones, and Adam Andretti (Mario’s nephew), among others, all of whom broke down the intricacies of car control and smooth driving.

Once the instructors went over the settings for the cars’ chassis electronics, we split into groups for a morning of autocross lapping; one group on a conventional multi-turn course of cones, the other on a short, tight oval that was designed to help you find and hit the proper entry and exit points of a corner. Drifting is not the fast way around a track and the instructors were adamant, at first, that we learn the cars with all the safety nets enabled. That didn’t last long, though, as deactivating the cars’ stability controls and using their 5.0-liter V-8s’ 461-lb-ft of torque to pivot around corners was too much fun to resist. So much fun, in fact, that the back end of an XFR stepped out on me and clipped a cone on my final timed autocross run—a three-second penalty that bumped me from first to third on the podium for the day. Bummer.

After a warm lunch back at the media center—and a deluge from the heavens out at the track—we saddled up for an afternoon of laps on LVMS’s soggy 2.5-mile road course. The unassuming track is mostly flat as it snakes around a layout that can be configured into either the full 2.5-mile course or a pair of smaller, 1.5-mile tracks. Offering a mix of surfaces, a lengthy main straight, and an array of tight yet tricky corners, I found the track to be a challenging venue, particularly in the pouring rain. As the tarmac slowly dried throughout the day, we alternated between one-on-one seat time with an instructor and solo lapping in a procession behind one of the hired shoes, the latter being especially helpful for learning how to find the proper line.

The R Academy is not a racing school, but the instructors kept a watchful eye on our progress and gave us plenty of opportunities to run hard and take the cars to their limits of adhesion, which on a wet track with these powerful rear-wheel-drive vehicles was more than exciting at times. It also was highly instructive; the XFR and XKR are practical cars that can be driven daily in a range of weather conditions, and the slippery track forced us to be both smooth and patient when applying the throttle and transitioning at high speeds—we’d all be safer if every motorist took such care when driving home from work on the highway.

Overall, we came away impressed with the Jaguar R Performance Academy, and applaud the company—and every other carmaker that has a similar program—for helping to make its customers better, safer drivers. If anything, I think schools such as this, which allow you to safely explore the limits of both your skills and your vehicle under the guidance of a professional, should be mandatory for all motorists. And I think Jaguar made the right move in including its driving academy in the purchase price of its cars; the couple of owners that attended the school with me completely agreed, noting at the end of the day that they felt both more comfortable about their purchase and safer on the road.

As of this writing, Jaguar is seeing how the school’s first year works out before it announces plans for the future, but a continuation for 2011 with even more venues is likely if all goes well. The R program currently includes just the track element; participants are responsible for travel, lodging, and meals away from the facility. Guest drivers are not allowed, and attendees must be 21 years old and, of course, have a valid driver’s license.

Watch the video below to see some of the day’s snarling antics.

For more information on the program, visit jaguarperformanceacademy.com.

Related posts:

1. Copy Cats: Jaguar Introduces a Performance Driving School
2. Jaguar to Show Hopped-up XKR, 225-mph XFR at Goodwood
3. 2010 Jaguar XF / XFR – Auto Shows

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Android’s U.S. smartphone market share jumped by an impressive 5.2 points in the three months ended in February to 9 percent. Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone share remained relatively flat, comScore finds.

If those trends continue (and, that’s a big ‘if’), Google could catch-up to the iPhone by the end of the year. Still, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion remains the pack leader with a dominating 42.1 percent share of the smartphone market.

The big differentiator that Google has going for it is the number of handset makers that are pumping out Android phones. ComScore (NSDQ: SCOR) said the top handset makers in the U.S. are Motorola (NYSE: MOT) (22.3 percent); LG (SEO: 066570) (21.7 percent); Samsung (21.4 percent); Nokia (NYSE: NOK) (8.7 percent) and RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) (8.2 percent).

Of those, the top three are all making handsets based on Android. It’s important to note that these figures are based on current ownership, and not sales, so likely there’s still a ton of Motorola Razrs out there skewing the figures.

Also interestingly, Android and RIM were the only two handset makers to grow in the past three months. RIM grew by 1.3, and Android grew by 5.2 percent. Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) dropped the most, losing 4 percentage points and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) lost 0.1 percent.

Here’s the chart:

1. RIM: 42.1 percent, up 1.3 percent
2. Apple: 25.4 percent, down 0.1 percent
3. Microsoft: 15.1 percent, down 4 percent
4. Google: 9 percent, up 5.2 percent
5. Palm (NSDQ: PALM) 5.4 percent, down 1.8 percent