Tablet PCs - And the Winner IS... Apple (For Now)

There was a pretty interesting article in DigiTimes that said that most of the major hardware manufacturers were going to throw in the towel in terms of the tablet PC market, and instead focus on "ultrabooks" (not "netbooks" like they did 2 years ago).

Hmmmm....

If you don't know what an "ultrabook" is here's a video that explains it. Basically, think of the MacBook Air. It's a thin notebook PC that lacks an optical drive, has an "instant on", and will periodically "poll" the network for RSS updates, etc.

I guess hitting the "refresh" button on your web page was a little too cumbersome for some folks.

Oh yeah, and it has a physical keyboard.

YAWN.

"Ultrabook"? Really?

It's more like: "Hey we know how to build notebooks, but since we can't compete in the tablet market because our operating systems are too bloated with crap - let's just invent a new 'category' of devices because that's something we can control."

It's so funny to me that rather than try to make their mobile operating systems (Android and Mobile Windows 7 or 8) - work well and quickly on the more modest hardware of the tablet - they are just giving up and going back to the old status quo.

Oh sure, it has some brushed aluminum, and it's thinner and lighter than a "traditional" laptop or notebook - it's essentially the same thing.

And it's already be "done" - again, by Apple.

I know that Amazon's Kindle Fire is selling like gangbusters - but have you checked out their own product review page? People are saying - "it's cool - for what it is."

Meh.

People were really looking for a fast, elegant, responsive - and less expensive iPad. They thought - "Hey, it runs Android, has a browser... will be a perfect gift as a tablet PC for my loved one."

It turns out that most people who bought one (disclosure: I did not!) see it as a disappointing "knock off" that's slow, unresponsive and basically unusable as anything other than a nice eReader.

They were expecting a device that was just like the iPad but cheaper. Unfortunately (for them and for Amazon) all they got was cheaper not better.

Now, to be fair, Amazon says they are going to push out an over-the-air update in the next two weeks - and they're hinting around that there is a Fire 2.0 in the works. However, I think the damage may already be done. You don't really get a second chance to make a first impression (ummm... no physical volume buttons - really?).

Apple gets this.

Amazon doesn't. RIM doesn't. HP doesn't.

Even though the first iPhone had only a handful of apps (as did the iPad on launch); they got the experience correct. The look and feel. The buttery smooth interface animations. The small, light, yet "solid" feel of the hardware. The aesthetics. The simplicity of use.

Those things really resonate with customers - especially the performance and ease-of-use. Once you've used an iPhone or iPad for any length of time - just try puttering around on an Android phone or tablet...

It just feels like a cheap knockoff of the original in terms of both the interface experience (it's slow and jumpy and hard to click the tiny icons) and the hardware (bit kunky with multiple physical buttons at the bottom).

On the other hand, non-Apple devices are less expensive (on the whole).

Alas, it appears as if no company has come up with the have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too tablet...

Palm: "I'm not dead... yet"

With HP's announced acquisition of Palm yesterday - the geek press is full "whoa" mode. They're busy speculating on what devices HP will put Palm's "webOS" (yeah, I know - crappy name) and whether or not they'll have an app store like Apple, if HP is going to give Apple a run for its iPhone/iPad money, etc.

Ummmm.... yeah, well... I think the bigger questions is whether or not HP can court developers to make apps for yet ANOTHER mobile operating system with it's own languages, own web store, own ecosystem, etc.

When Palm first announced its webOS in January 2009 - it was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread. It's a proprietary GUI on top of a Linux kernel - that uses a "card" metaphor to switch between applications. However, the interesting thing is that developers can use HTML 5, CSS and JavaScript to create applications. There are LOTS of developers in the world that know HTML 5, CSS and JavaScript.

On the flip side, you have to be a "real" object oriented programmer to grasp Objective C for iPhone/iPad applications or Java on Android (or Blackberry) phones or C# (or C++) for Windows Mobile applications. Now, don't get me wrong - there are TONS of professional programmers/engineers that know these languages like the back of their hands.

In the past, I've tried to learn C++ but, unfortunately, my mind imploded before I could get a good enough handle on it to use it creatively to solve problems. Objective C is a little better in 2.0 with the built-in garbage collection (but not on the iPhone/iPad version!) - but there are thousands of really, really long-named functions that take a very long time to become proficient in. Straight Java is no picnic, but it's still a bit easier than C.

So where does this leave the content-expert "hobby" developer? Or the GUI-focused web developer? Sure, they can build web applications - all modern mobile platforms have browsers and Internet connections - but except for Palm's webOS - they're basically out of luck in terms of leveraging their existing skills to building native mobile applications.

There are a couple of companies that have built excellent platforms that will allow developers to use HTML/CSS/JavaScript and then either generate native C (or Java or Objective C) code and create "real" native applications, or they have native applications that allow programs to run inside of them (a native application "layer").

Two examples that come to mind are Appcelerator and Runtime Revolution. Well, since Apple has changed its Terms of Service for the Apple Developers Program in a bid to stop Adobe from allowing Flash developers to cross-compile their code to work on the iPhone/iPad - these two companies are in real danger of losing their mobile strategy in terms of the Apple platform.

At the end of the day, developers have to make up their minds on where to spend their time and money developing applications. Right now the 800 pound gorilla is Apple. Will HP's marketing muscle be enough to goose Palm's webOS into higher adoption rates? Android seems to also be picking up more devices and more steam, and Symbian has yet to unleash their open source mobile operating system... sheesh!

It's going to be interesting to see what happens in the marketplace - whether Apple can hold on to the #1 spot, or whether it will get cocky and implode or continue to dominate the consumer landscape. Because, at the end of the day, developers are just like all other business people - they tend to follow the money.

Fred Flintstone Tech in White House

I was reading a story in the Washington Post about President Obama's campaign team was met with Flintstone-esque computers and software on their first day in the White House.

It seems that the Mac-loving staffers were greeted by outdated computers running a 6 YEAR old version of Microsoft Word, no cell phones, were forbidden to use outside email addresses, forbidden to use IM, were told they couldn't use Facebook... and were basically cut off from their digital "life lines."

Yeah, that's the kind of welcome you're hoping for after running one of the most tech-savvy campaigns in history.

NOT!

I can only imagine the let down and the general de-motivation they felt (and probably still are). First of all, for a Mac user to be forced to use a PC is bad enough - but a vintage one running vintage software to boot? Oh yeah, on a DESKTOP machine (whatever that is!) - say it ain't so!

Now, I get the need for the White House systems to be secure, and for there to be processes and regulations regarding what can and casn't be done. I'm also aware that all the "official" work has to be saved under the Presidential Records Act. I have no problem there.

But, one would think that one of the technological superpowers of the world - a country in which the computer revolution was invented - a country that touts one of the most innovative hardware and software epicenters (Silicon Valley) - maybe, perhaps, could get a freaking clue.

After the moronic here's-some-money-with-no-strings-attached bank bailout (version 1.0), and the ill-conceived billions more thrown at antiquated, stupid and wasteful car companies - maybe there's no money left to update the hardware to run Vista - that part I can understand.

However, I'm sure that Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, William Amelio, or Mark Hurd could would be more than willing to cough-up some hardware - and probably Mr. Jobs and Mr. Ballmer would trip all over themselves to offer up a few gratis licenses of their current software.

Make a phone call, people! Oh, that's right - you can't. Well, borrow a quarter, drive to a 7-11 and use something called a "pay phone" ( TIP: Call collect and save the taxpayers some dough, while you're at it) - but make the call.

As for security - we have a couple of little-known agencies called the "FBI" and "NSA" and "CIA" (all with secret budgets, by the way) that just MIGHT be able to help you get some secure phones, secure laptops and can PROBABLY work out how to keep the Viagra spammers from getting the launch codes even though you use Gmail and Facebook. Call them, people!

Barak Obama is the President of the United States of America. One of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. He has promised a new era of transparency into the workings of government, into updating our national infrastructure. We're going to spend over 1 TRILLION dollars helping rescue the economy from the effects of corrupt, stupid and greedy business people - and the Chief Executive's staff can't get a laptop and a cell phone?

Yeah, America - at least we have our priorities straight...

The Day The Net Went Dark

I've never been accused of being an optimist - and maybe it's just the rainy, humid weather here in Amsterdam, but my thoughts today returned to the pessimistic side of my personality.

Hey, what can I say?

I was thinking about the botched launch of the iPhone, the fact that Yahoo is closing its music portal, and the merger is XM and Sirius digital music services... and I was fantasizing on what it would be like if all of a sudden all the popular services (the "cool kids") suddenly went dark.

What would it be like if Salesforce.com just shut down its servers Monday morning? How about Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and eBay? What if, when we woke up on Monday, all these "staples" of our digital lives didn't exist? Worse yet - what if Google took a huge dump, along with all their related sites and services? What if the entire Internet crashed - and it took 30 days to reboot?

What would happen?

Chaos.... for about 3 days.

Then people would (gasp!) pick up the phone to schedule meetings, they would get on an airplane and actually meet people IRL (In Real Life). We would all start buying stamps and go to the (gasp!) post office to actually "mail" invoices and send "letters" to people. We would go to the corner drugstore to get (gasp!) "printed" pictures.

We would be forced to tell people to their face what we thought of them - rather than just typing crap on a "blog" - and fax machines all over the world would be pulled from closets and fired up.

Xerox and HP would sell a record number of toner cartridges and getting an appointment with a copy repair person would be like trying to get someone to install an air conditioner in Phoenix in August.

Paper companies and airlines and travel agents would be riding high - as well as hotels, rental car companies and restaurants. People would return to nightclubs and comedy shows and good old-fashioned dinner-and-a-movie dates.

People would actually buy "newspapers" (daily printed paper with world wide news that happened in the last 24 hours) and gather in "coffee shops" to talk about pressing national and international events.

There would be a minor "baby boom" as couples... well... coupled. Kids all over the world would actually get to talk to the adult "strangers" they call "parents" who previously occupied the dinner table with their Crackberries visible (on vibrate - of course) and their eye on the real time stock ticker and after hours trading on their NIKKEI index hedge funds.

Lines at government offices would get longer - and service would still suck. People would stand in line to make deposits and withdrawals using human "tellers" (people who actually work at a bank!). People would actually go to their mailboxes and receive mail that wasn't 100% spam advertisements.

At work people could finally concentrate on whatever it was they did before responding to the Pavlovian "ding" of arriving email. Bosses would be forced to actually "talk" to their employees and there would be a run on "interoffice mail" envelopes at office supply stores.

FedEx and UPS stock would be the new Wall Street darlings while the tech sector would be in the "fire sale" bin. Companies would be forced to hire "people" to answer their phones - and for one brief period, the entire population of India wouldn't be inundated with tech support and credit card activation calls.

Then, finally, after 30 long days of living in the "dark" ages... things would thankfully return to "normal."