Category: Mobile

Computers used to occupy entire floors of buildings. They quickly started to shrink, however, to occupy rooms, then desks and ultimately, laps. The laptop is now the default form factor for computing, with the smartphone occupying the emerging “on the go” niche. But while the laptop replaces the desktop in most cases, the smartphone doesn’t replace the laptop; rather it’s considered an additional device.

The Apple tablet, on the other hand, will replace neither the laptop nor the smartphone; it, too, is destined to be an ancillary form factor for computing devices. That being said, it will succeed where the Kindle will fail: It will be the ultimate media reader. Ironically, however, it’s unlikely to offer the one thing that tablets traditionally offer beyond ordinary devices — the ability to draw on them.

Unfortunately pen computing has been historically uncool, but it doesn't have to be that way. (Photo courtesy Wikipedia.)

The Kindle — a black-and-white, video-less computer that you can’t read in bed without the light on — was poorly designed because its creators looked to a dying medium (paper) for inspiration. But electronic books, magazines and newspapers need not resemble their paper predecessors. Apple knows this, and as such will undoubtedly deliver a device with a screen resolution and quality never seen before — tablet-optimized content packaged with all the seductiveness of a glossy magazine.

Of course, whatever Apple tries to do, a tablet site will basically be a pretty web site. And by following the iTunes Music Store or App Store model, unlike with music or software, Apple would be taking something already legally available on the web and corralling it into a walled-garden environment under the yet-to-be-proved auspices of value-add.

Newton, the original Apple tablet. (Photo courtesy Wikipedia.)

In terms of hardware, the tablet might offer something qualitatively superior but it won’t offer much that a laptop doesn’t already. In fact, without a stand, or a keyboard that can be used with two hands while holding it, the tablet could be regarded by some as a willful, ergonomically unfriendly gimmick, one based on the idea that a digital newspaper doesn’t look right with a keyboard. Nonetheless, any sort of minimalist purity would cater to Apple fans.

Such minimalism, however, all but guarantees that Apple’s device won’t offer the ability to draw on it. That’s because drawing on a tablet would require stylus input (or at the very least, use of a regular pen) and the whole ethos of the iPhone-generation Apple interface is geared around using touch.

Touch-based computing isn’t just a feature; it’s a fundamental shift in the way we interact with computing devices in that it allows such interaction to be precise, subtle and direct. It’s why the iPhone version of the Apple OS represents the way forward for all devices, and why it will run on the tablet. But sadly, the inelegant Palm Pilot-like connotations of stylus input make it very unlikely that considerable design effort will be applied to making sure an already beautiful and precious screen doesn’t break when you apply 50 times more pressure on it than you would using a finger (which would be a shame, because precision is exactly what drawing offers over “finger painting”).

So while Apple’s new device will succeed where the Kindle will fail, delivering the most slickly packaged, optimally formatted media content to date, it may fail to take advantage of the one thing a tablet is made for: drawing. That being the case, who knows what sort of untapped potential Jobs & Co. would be leaving on the table?

David Galbraith is designer turned tech entrepreneur, and co-founder of Moreover, Yelp and Curations.

Apple, as it is wont to do, blew the roof off with its first-quarter earnings results today. Some of the most interesting comments from the company’s results call concerned Apple’s emerging market of enterprise mobility.

It appears that early skepticism about the iPhone’s appeal beyond consumers may be falling by the wayside. Apple COO Tim Cook said corporate usage of the iPhone has doubled since this summer’s 3GS release, noting “This is a key focus of ours.” Some 70 percent of Fortune 100 companies are actively piloting or deploying iPhones, and 50 percent of the FTSE 100, according to Cook, who added, “Those are some pretty staggering numbers when you think that the time frame we’ve been in the business is only two and half years.” Corporate interest in the iPhone was driven by recent features adds (aka support for Microsoft Exchange) and the 3GS launch, said Cook. Apple has also added sales staff to assist carrier staff in selling into the enterprise.

Cook said it was too early to comment on whether corporate iPhone use was driving a halo effect for Macs.

Apple faces a huge uphill battle in the corporate market, where RIM’s BlackBerry is deeply entrenched. Though Apple now has a growing corporate app library on its side, the BlackBerry is still a much better email device, and of course offers the physical keyboard.

Cook also commented in some detail on iPhone use in Asia, another emerging market for the device. He said the company has activated more than 200,000 units in China, with the iPhone growing more than 500 percent in Asia Pacific overall. Apple’s revenues in greater China tripled in the last year, though Cook said the company is fine with moving more slowly in that market as it builds a long-term brand.

Cox, the nation’s third-largest cable company, said today that it’s successfully delivered a voice call and high-definition video streaming over a fourth-generation Long Term Evolution network using some of the more than $550 million worth of spectrum it purchased during the 2006 AWS and 2008 700 MHz auctions. But while the trials held in Phoenix and San Diego may bring Cox’s 6.2 million customers closer to a quadruple-play offering of video, voice, data and mobility, they stand in stark contrast to the 4G wireless plans of Cox’s cable competitors, which all involve WiMAX.

Cox has detailed plans to deploy a 3G networking using the same CDMA technology as both Verizon and Sprint, and in December tested that service in three markets, with Sprint as its partner providing nationwide 3G coverage. Cox plans to officially launch its 3G wireless network in March in those three markets and roll out coverage to the remaining markets over time.

However, as Cox embraces LTE as its fourth-generation wireless technology of choice (using gear from Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei), its fellow cable companies have invested billion in Clearwire and its WiMAX rollout. Which puts Cox in the same camp as most of the telecommunications providers, which are also betting on LTE.

Now WiMAX and LTE are actually not that far apart, and Clearwire could theoretically upgrade its WiMAX network to one that uses LTE after it gets out from under Intel’s thumb. But that’s a big if, especially since Clearwire is racing to roll out WiMAX before the major carriers get their LTE networks out in force.

What’s odd about Cox’s LTE moves is that it’s trialing the technology relatively early (its 3G network isn’t even deployed). Plus, since Cox has an agreement with Sprint for 3G roaming, it will have to find a partner for 4G roaming that’s using LTE. Spokesman David Grabert wouldn’t speculate on whether Cox would leapfrog 3G coverage in some markets and go straight to LTE, but the news of the 4G tests raises far more questions than provides real information about Cox’s wireless plans. As to Cox’s LTE plans, we need to wait a few weeks until Stephen Bye, the company’s VP of wireless, delivers a keynote at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. As for devices, pricing and 3G plans, we’ll have to wait until the March launch of the network.

A Seattle-based startup is hoping to shed some light on the opaque world of the mobile web — a goal that, if reached, could go a long way toward boosting ad revenues in the space. Ground Truth, which came out of stealth today, collects information from network operators and infrastructure vendors to track traffic and user behavior patterns on the wireless Internet. The company is backed by Steamboat Ventures and Voyager Capital and last year raised $2.6 million in funding.

The surge in mobile applications has given rise to a small army of players that offer analytics for app usage, giving developers and advertisers valuable information about how consumers are using their specific applications and responding to ads. But the mobile web overall has long suffered for a lack of rock-solid data. M:Metrics, which was swallowed by comScore in 2008, gained traction in the space by compiling survey information, while its rival Telephia compiled data via “bill-scraping” — analysis of customers’ mobile bills — and was eventually acquired by Nielsen. Ground Truth uses information that is not personally identifiable and tracks the number of unique visitors to web sites, page views, session length and advertising clicks, as well as determining where a site’s traffic comes from and where it goes.

Ground Truth has leveraged an executive team of mobile heavyweights to gain access to carrier data, and has developed a patent-pending methodology for measuring traffic on the mobile web. If its data is accurate, it will be extremely helpful to advertisers, which have long complained about a lack of visibility in the space. And if advertisers have better ways to track their mobile ad campaigns and measure the returns on their investments, they’ll be far more likely to ramp up spending on the new medium as the economy rebounds.

Image courtesy Flickr user Darrren Hester.

Crisp Wireless this morning launched an offering that delivers ads on the mobile web that remain on the screen even as users scroll down on their handsets. Which means the wireless web is about to get even more difficult to navigate.

Crisp, a New York-based startup that has gained traction helping traditional media firms bring their content to mobile, said its Adhesion technology delivers “fixed placement” ads on smartphones as users browse the mobile Internet. The technology supports features like click-to-call and click-to-video and allows users to expand, close, save or share the ad through e-mail or social networks.

Floating ads are common on the fixed-line web, of course, and their expansion to mobile was surely inevitable. But given the tiny screen sizes of most mobile phones, they’re sure to be even more irritating than they are on the traditional Internet. Annoying ads can be effective, of course — there’s a reason why Netflix continues to use those horrible pop-ups — and Crisp touts the fact that users can simply close the ads, unlike most banners on the mobile web. But while Adhesion may be a much-needed tool for publishers looking to generate revenues as they bring their content to mobile (GigaOM Pro, sub. required), it will also give users yet another reason (GigaOM Pro, sub. required) to wait until they get to a PC to access the Internet.

Image courtesy Crisp Wireless.

By now it’s safe to say that the Apple tablet mania is in full swing. There have been various theories that have been floated as to how it would look, how it would work, what’s inside it and what functionality it would likely include.

Many have been wondering if the new device will also bring a new OS. What would happen to the thousands of apps developed for the iPhone? All this hand-wringing even before we know if the device is for real, and is a tablet. Of course, no one know if the device is for real. All we have is an invitation from Apple for a product launch event on Jan. 27 in San Francisco.

Today, Flurry, a San Francisco-based market research firm, is offering anecdotal evidence that gives credence to the existence of a new kind of device. More importantly, the data collected by the company shows that Apple is not going to jettison the iPhone OS and instead will leverage it to its advantage. The company claimed:

Through applications in which Flurry Analytics is embedded, Flurry has pinpointed testing activities to a set of Tablet devices on Apple’s campus (we have verified both by IP address that map to Apple servers and GPS coordinates). We have identified approximately 50 devices do not leave Apple’s campus and are running a yet to be released OS. Many of these applications (about 200 that we can see) match the kinds of apps that have been presumed to run on the Tablet, per what has been covered in the press to date.

Flurry says that while the first signs of testing of this device emerged in October 2009, the process has accelerated over the past few weeks.

Flurry has observed around 200 apps being tested, led primarily by Game Apps. While news and information apps are high on the apps-being-tested list, it’s clear that this new device isn’t going to be the savior the media industry expects it to be.

Historically, tablet devices have been considered substitutes for anything where workers use clipboards, note pads or day runners. In more industrial settings, they could be used for inventory management, taking purchase orders or data entry. However, there was a surprising dearth of applications that support these use cases. Instead, the largest category was games. With a larger screen, more memory, multi-touch and multi-tasking expected, games will play better than ever on Apple handheld devices.

The mix of applications observed comprises mainly of media and entertainment consumption as opposed to enterprise, productivity and computing. Specifically, popular tested apps include news, games, entertainment and lifestyle. In particular, there was a strong trend toward news, books and other kinds of daily media consumption, including streaming music and radio.

What’s most interesting about Flurry’s report is the fact that Apple might be using a new variant of the iPhone OS.

A noteworthy observation is that the Apple hardware we detected was running on OS 3.2, which has not yet been released. Currently the iPhone and iPod Touch are running on OS 3.1.2. Historically, Apple releases OS upgrades just before releasing new hardware. With significant expected changes (e.g., multi-touch, multi-tasking) for the tablet device operating system, there was concern among application developers that the tablet would not support existing iPhone applications.

Here is an alternative theory: Apple could be introducing a new, more powerful iPhone that does multitasking and has a bigger screen with higher resolution. Not to mention the impact it would have on the current generation of iPhones out in the market.

Related Posts:

• Suddenly, Verizon Loves Wi-Fi — What’s That Apple Tablet Got to Do With It?
• 10 Features That Would Make iPad a Hit.

Photo of iPad courtesy of Gizmodo.

Yelp, which recently launched “check-ins” via its iPhone app in a move that put it on the same playing field as Foursquare and Gowalla, is making those check-ins an integral part of its user-review services. As shown in the screenshot below, a review of a particular retail outlet or service in Yelp will now show whether that user has checked in at that location, and if so how many times. Users who check in frequently will get small “R” logos beside their names to show that they’re a regular at that spot.

Yelp — which was rumored to have had talks with Google recently about a possible acquisition of the company — is also looking for financing instead of either being acquired or going public via an IPO, according to what Bloomberg calls “a person familiar with the matter.” This source says Yelp has been in talks with Elevation Partners LP about ongoing funding, something other sources have reported as well.

Although Yelp doesn’t mention Gowalla or Foursquare in its blog post, it’s pretty obvious that the user-review site is feeling the heat from the two location-based upstarts (at least one Foursquare founder was irked by what he said was Yelp’s copycat response, a post that was taken down but not before being captured by one fast-thinking Tumblr user).

As Om pointed out in a recent post, the combination of Twitter reviews (from friends and other trusted sources) and Foursquare tips and reviews from those who check in regularly makes a pretty compelling competitor to Yelp. In his post, product manager Eric Singley makes a point of noting how large the company’s user base is:

Last month, 26 million people connected with local businesses via the (now!) 9 million reviews on Yelp. Yelp Check-ins is a natural extension of our core product: increasing the ways users can share their information about local businesses with their friends and other users, as well as adding a way folks can contribute meaningfully to the site without writing a review.

Although some users of location-based services are signing out for good because of privacy concerns, the growth of Foursquare and Gowalla and similar apps seems to show that they have plenty of steam left in them. The big question dogging Yelp is whether check-ins added to its reviews will be enough, or whether Foursquare and/or Gowalla make for a simpler user experience and therefore a significant competitive threat. (For Gowalla’s perspective, see Om’s recent video interview with that company’s CEO.)

The Yelp blog post says that check-in information will be appearing only on specific reviews and user profiles for now, but that the company is working to integrate that data into other spots as well, and will also be providing statistics about user check-ins soon to retailers and other establishments through its Yelp for Business Owners service. Apps with check-in capabilities are also coming soon to other mobile platforms, he said.

Cablevision, the nation’s fifth-largest cable provider, has been fighting the rules that require it to carry certain local broadcast stations in areas it serves, and hopes to get the Supreme Court to hear its lawsuit regarding those rules. These so-called “must-carry” rules ensure that the local access channels are watchable on cable in addition to the larger broadcasters like Fox or NBC. However, if the Supreme Court hears the case and sides with Cablevision, then cable providers could dump those less popular stations, and the rejects, finding it hard to stay alive, could end up relinquishing their valuable broadcasting spectrum.

That’s a lot of ifs, but analysts at Stifel Nicolaus believe that if the Supreme Court hears the case it’s likely to overturn aspects of the must-carry rules, setting off a chain of events that could benefit the cable companies and the wireless business, while hurting smaller, local broadcasters. From a note the firm released today on the topic:

We understand that roughly 40% of full-power stations are must-carry, and many of the stations that rely on must-carry for their MVPD/multichannel carriage would probably not survive without it. Those stations tend to be in larger cities, where wireless spectrum needs are greatest. Given the FCC’s search for additional spectrum for wireless broadband, a cable victory could present an important opportunity to reallocate spectrum from broadcasters seeking an exit strategy. In effect, rather than recovering some spectrum from all (or many) broadcasters, it could recover all spectrum from some broadcasters.

Each broadcaster has a 6 MHz chunk of spectrum in each locale that’s generally within a range that’s good for providing mobile broadband. Now 6MHz of spectrum isn’t a lot when compared to the 100 MHz or so that wireless carriers tend to have in large cities, but given the capacity crunch carriers like AT&T are obviously experiencing in places like New York City and San Francisco, getting that broadcast spectrum looks appealing.

However, in order to ensure your iPhone stops dropping calls, a lot of spectrum trading would have to occur because it would be difficult for a wireless carrier to offer devices that work in too many disparate bands of spectrum. For more on this, check out why Google’s Nexus One doesn’t work on the AT&T 3G network. So if a broadcaster goes under in Long Island  it may give up spectrum in a band that’s different from a failed station in New York, creating an environment where third-party investors may have to come in and aggregate the spectrum in order to sell it to an interested carrier.

In other words, any benefits to the wireless industry would likely be a long time coming. However, cable providers would benefit immediately as they could dump the stations and free up capacity for more high-definition channels on their network. Consumers would happily trade “Wayne’s World”-type programs for Comedy Central in HD and the possibility of better mobile broadband. For certain stations, that may be a fair trade, too.

Image courtesy of Flickr user adamsofen

Aircell, the Itasca, Ill. company behind the wildly hyped GoGo in-flight broadband, has raised $176 million in funds from an undisclosed group of investors. (Don’t worry — we asked, but they wouldn’t tell us who invested in the company.) The funds will be used for network expansion, among other things.

GoGo, which is currently available on more than 700 commercial aircraft, and has commitments from a total of nine airlines, needs to build out its network aggressively if it wants hype to meet match reality. As it has grown, GoGo’s connection quality has declined as the strain on its network has gone up because of increased usage.

In many ways, the hype around GoGo has met reality. The uptake of the service is pretty low at present. Some say it might be as low as six users per flight. I think the pricing has something to do with the reason why many travelers are not so keen on paying for in-flight broadband just yet. The low uptake might be the reason why Aircell is figuring out a way to sell the service to the carriers itself for more backend functions. The good news — if you can call it that — is that the competing Row44 service (on Southwest) is actually worse off.

Josh Williams, chief executive officer and co-founder of Alamofire, a Austin, Texas-based company behind the location-based mobile application Gowalla, stopped by our office last week to discuss his company and its future. (How Gowalla and similar apps work: You visit a place, you fire up your app and check in on your mobile phone, announcing to your friends that you’re at that location.)

Gowalla, which recently raised nearly $8.4 million in venture funding from the likes of Greylock, Shasta Ventures and Maples Investments, is still relatively young and has far fewer users than Foursquare. I’ve heard that the company has between 85,000 and 100,000 users — and that’s despite the backing of web celebrities (startup founders and angel investors) Kevin Rose, Gary Vaynerchuck, Chris Sacca and Jason Calacanis — who have been pushing it hard.

In the past, I’ve made it clear that I’m not such a big fan of Gowalla, primarily because I find it to be a not-so-fun copy of Foursquare, another location-based application, which I absolutely love. Despite that, Williams was a gentleman, stopping by to tell me his story and how Gowalla accidentally found itself in the location arena. He also explained that the company would soon be launching a new feature that allows it to harness the data it’s collecting and help surface interesting things based on one’s location and social graph. He also talked about how he’s worried that Twitter will eventually get into the location biz.

After finishing this conversation, I took him to Sightglass coffee, where we talked some more before he went on to celebrate his 30th birthday.