AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

A Bloomberg article was provided with information, which I surmised to be an orchestrated leak from Apple, that Apple is or was working on a $200 iPhone. Is that something that Apple can truly do?  Upon reading the article and knowing about how protective investors are about margins, I had my initial doubts.   And as the day went along, things began turning in my head that made me think that perhaps, there is something to this after all.   I'll give up a couple of clues:  payments, there's already a $200 iPhone of sort, and billions of cash in the bank. I'll get back to you later in the day and see if we come up with the same conclusion.

Sony said that content providers were being held ransom by Apple and its iTunes. Sorry, I disagree. I think it’s the ineptitude of content providers due to their archaic thinking that makes them feel this way. Here’s why. First, iTunes is very closed. Nothing on earth comes even close. Having said that, it should be easy for anyone offer a service to compete with iTunes. And we definitely have seen how easy that is can be done with all the plethora of services, brands, and devices over the year. And yet, they’ve all failed in their own unique way. What isn’t not unique is that how they’ve failed. I think it’s because of DRM and music studios trying to bleed their users and restrictions they put in deals. Even as the content battle is currently unfolding and iTunes success in the future is hardly guaranteed, the future tech and media historians will see if any failure to stem piracy and promote competition will rest in the hands of the providers who hold the media rights. And a...

I read books through iBooks app and buy through the iBooks Store. I’ve bought four books so far for myself. And just today, I was going to gift a book to a friend, I find out that I cannot do that. Why, Apple? We can easily do that with apps in the app store so I don’t understand why this isn’t possible yet for ebooks. That then led me to the larger issue about the success of iBooks. Rather, the lack of success that I am sensing from Apple. I don’t hear analysts talking about Apple’s share in the ebook market anymore. Okay, I also don’t hear about Kindle’s share either. I think it’s probably because the Kindle is totally dominating iBook in terms of number of readers and books sold. And I reckon things probably go uglier after the Holidays despite Apple’s iPad outselling Kindles because readers can simply download the Kindle app and turn their iPad into a Kindle. Being partial to Apple and its mobile vision, I hope that we will see some changes and improvements come to iBooks in ...

Quick thoughts on today's HP Web OS announcments: Palm injected much needed DNA into the boring old HP culture. Web OS integration very much like Apple's iTunes-App Store-iOS than Google's loosy-goosy implementation.  You get a sense of what they hope to accomplish. Synergy - get to know this technology.  It's important to HP's Web OS ecosystem. Willing to working with 3rd parties and give them what they want than Apple is.   Web OS is coming to PC - Desktops and laptops  Probably netbooks as well. I don't get this summer announcement.  I fear it'll be too late with iOS 5 and Android 3 coming in weeks.  iPhone 5 is scheduled to be released in the "summer" too.  Remember how the original Pre go clobbered by the 3GS? Web OS integration is what Google is unwilling to take Android 3, Honeycomb.   Web OS likes somewhere between iOS and Android in implementation. Palm with HP's deep pocket is now able to do what it could not with the original Web OS....

(Economy) Just in.  Refinery explosion in Texas.  Gas up before prices go up this weekend ( ABC ) (SciFi, Stargate) I like the idea of a small team.  Of comradery, honor, and sarcrifice.  Wrap all that into a science fiction series, you've got a great TV show.  That's what I think Stargate Atlantis is.   Rewatching it last night, I wondered how folks were on the expedition.  Apparently, there were 50 to 60 on the original trip and may have expanded to as many as 800 by the end of the series.  Good to know our guys in the Pegasus Galaxy were not without company.  ( Stargate Handbook ) (iPhone, Verizon) For those of you lucky enough to get your CDMA iPhone already, here's a video  on how to enable the personal hotpsot.  Personally, I wouldn't pay any of the carrier a dollar more than I have to, which is why if you're not totally digging for an iPhone or top of the line Android, Virgin Mobile has a great deal on some low-end Android de...

Dave the Mobile Warrior posed this question to me regarding FaceTime:  Do you think it's a flop? My response: It's a good blog topic :)   Right now, I think so...it's supposed to be open-sourced too right?  No one has seen it so far outside of Apple.  Like you said, few folks from Apple even talked about it anymore.  Apple is known for taking the long view on stuff like this.  Look at how long it has taken Quicktime to get to where it is today. But Facetime just has too many missing pieces.  It cannot do anything else other than video chat with other iOS devices unless it has a camera and with Macs installed with the beta Facetime app. I think it put the fear of God into a lot of folks when Steve Jobs demoed it but since then, life has moved on for Skype, Fring, and everyone else.  Even Google has their own video chat coming for Honeycomb (Android 3.0). Also, keep in mind that there is still no Facetime chat via 3G yet.  And yes, you can cond...

Steve Jobs promised good things coming for MobleMe, competition to Google's suite of webapps and cloud services in an e-mail to a customer. That is one thing that I am waiting for anxiously from Apple.  Currently, subscribers pay $99 a year to get services that we can already get for free from Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. What makes MobileMe special is that it is highly integrated into the Mac and iOS devices.  Still, is that worth paying $99 more?   More and more, I'm doubting it.  I'm running my own personal website and Greenjava using the MobileMe hosting but Apple has not upgraded the iWeb app in the last iLife update so I'm finding what is there a bit long in the tooth.   Still, I want to wait and see if there is anything to MobileMe that Apple can bring to the service that is worth paying for.   There is worth that many components like mail will be free.  And I think that is something that even non-Apple product users might be interested in eve...

I don't mind Apple jerking publishers around because that's what Apple does, for better or worse.  But in light of the recent follow-through on enforcing guidelines in the app store policy, there is still a lot of uncertainty. I understand why Apple needs to do that.  One, they aren't ready to talk about it yet.  In fact, at the unveiling of "The Daily", Apple has said we'll hear from them rather quickly.   Second, tipping its hands prematurely isn't good for business and it's never been Apple's policy to do that.  The few times I remember when Apple spoke before it was ready were disastrous.   Having said that, I hope Apple will clear things up for publishers sooner rather than later.  As customers, it helps to know what we are buying into or know what to avoid.

Interesting stuff I read today: (Politics, Economy) President Obama spoke at the Chamber of Commerce today and is looking to reconnect with the biz community.  This LA Times post has a good summary on the challenges facing the Administration and the biz guys. It's looking like everyone is looking for the middle ground where it's easiest to do work.  Not a bad approach except there are still issues that need to be tackled where things could still get ugly ( NYT ) (Green) EV owners in the Carolinas would be getting free charging stations for a study.  Not bad.  Still, Considering the drip-paced production for the Volt and Leaf, I think these owners will be waiting for a long while.  A very long while.  Meanwhile, CA is allowing electric companies to hike prices for EV owners because they would be considered customers who use more electricity than the average household.  Talk about an idiotic move.  I hope some kind of exception is in the works. (...

I had a full weekend.  Dinners, coffees, trips to visit friends.  And it was my iPod touch with my Clear iSpot versus everyone else who had regular cell phones, Android device or two, and a bunch of iPhones.  How did that go? Before I get into that, I want to say that I am very tempted to pull the trigger on the Verizon iPhone in the coming week.  I have said that my wireless combo of iPod touch and iSpot was how I want to go from now on.  And while it works very well for me, it isn't working too well for some friends and families. I had an okay day on Saturday when I met up with friends for lunch.  It was like the old days.  We set up a place and time a day before.  And we met on Saturday as it was supposed to be.  And it worked out.  There was no opportunities for anyone else to try to call just before we were supposed to meet up and change the venue or the meeting time.  Personally, I found that to be annoying. And since no one c...