Windows Phone: Though Not Impressive, There Is Plenty To Be Excited About Nokia's First Windows Phone - Lumia 800

There is plenty to be excited about with Nokia's first Windows Phone device.  Now, we have to be careful about this because it's not necessarily a winner in terms of sales because it's not on sale yet.  And when it does go on sale, it's limited to a few European markets.

Google To Original Nexus One Users: Thanks For Buying But No Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4) For You

I don’t know about you but I find what Google is telling Nexus One users totally unacceptable.  If you’re using Nexus One, you’re stuck on Android 2.x.  You’re done.  Finished.  Enjoy it as it is because your device will not be getting Ice Cream Sandwich.

If you want it, fork over some more money for the Galaxy Nexus. Ordinarily, I would agree except for a couple of things.  One, the Nexus One is still being sold on the market.  So, basically, people who bought into it will never be able to enjoy the latest and greatest features.

Second, why won’t it work with Android 4?  Is this some sort of a revenue grab by Google?  It totally doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Just to put some of this into perspective, the Nexus One came out on January 5, 2010 and it was rolled out months after that over the world.  You’re got a device that is less than two years old.  Less than a year old for some users.  And you’re telling me it’s specs are so bad that it cannot run Android 4?

The Nexus One did not go on sale in Europe until April of 2010 and around July of 2010 in Asia.

Now, the iPhone 3GS is upgradeable and running plenty fine with Apple’s latest OS update, iOS 5.  It was released back in June of 2009.  Now, people will argue that the 3GS and even the iPhone 4 are not benefiting from features like Siri that the iPhone 4S has.  Granted.  Absolutely.  But other improvements like faster browsing and notifications are still available to iPhone 3GS users.  Wouldn’t surprise me if iOS 6 will still work with the 3GS since Apple is still selling this legacy mobile device.

I don’t know if you guys agree with me on this but like the 3GS, the Nexus has plenty of mileage left with the hardware that it has.  I know the CM guys will step and make sure the Nexus One is taken care of.  Nevertheless, Google just screwed over millions of Nexus users royally.

I think mobile platform providers should provide upgrades for up to two years at the minimum.

More at TmoNews.

What Does Record Blackberry Trade-Ins Mean?

According to Gazelle (Electronista), buyer of used gadgets and electronics, reported a record number of Blackberries were traded in last week.  And this was a record that broke another record number of Blackberry trade-in a month ago.

Amazon Had A Bad Quarter; Could Get Worse Long Term Once Apple Gets Into Payments

You know what's interesting about Apple's 30% cut from apps to movies to books?  It's 30% of someone else's money that it is taking for itself.  Now, Apple has said that the 30% take it's enforcing allows it only to operate its stores at around break-even point.  Still, as more people go digital, all that money is going to add up.

And this is even before Apple, with access to around two hundred million credit cards, begins to get into the mobile and online payment business.  I get the feeling that Apple isn't looking at credit card like transaction fees.  I think Apple wants a piece of the profit as well. Apple could leverage its considerable knowledge of its customers and move into deals with retailers in ways unlike anything we've seen before.

And Amazon, which has just reported its own Netflix-like earnings and missing expectations, expectations that were not unreasonable like those imposed on Apple, needs to be aware of that.

Apple will be working out deals with retailers not unlike one like its got for its app developers and the app store where it'll take a percentage of the transaction.  Probably not 30% but it'll want something in return.

Thus, it's unlikely that Amazon could come to some sort of a deal with Apple because of its already thin margins.  And with Apple and Amazon competing in the tablet and digital sales, Apple could possibly steal customers away from Amazon in areas where it will hurt Amazon the most.

How?  Essentially now, Amazon is uses profits from other areas to subsidize its digital content expansions and efforts.  Amazon is losing money on each of the Kindle Fire it sells, hoping to make it back through digital sales. At the same time, sales from other departments are allowing Amazon to make content deals like TV and movies for streaming or sale.

Once Apple gets into the payment business, one of two things or both will happen.  Apple will steal sales from Amazon because Apple will shepherd its iTunes users to its partners or Amazon will play ball and give Apple money.  And either way or both, Apple will wants its pound of fresh from Amazon.

Apple has built a large platform and with it a very lucrative ecosystem unlike anything we've ever seen before.  Even with Microsoft's desktop dominance, it is not able to extract the kind of money that Apple has been able to or will be able to.

The only way Amazon can escape this fate is if there is a wholesale departure of iOS and Mac users over to its Kindle platform.  Right now, Jeff Bezos and company, will need to convince investors that sacrificing  hundreds of millions, possibly billions today as it invests and builds out its digital future will bring in a lot of profits later on.

Of course, Bezos did it once just after the dot.com bubble in early 2000.  This time, Amazon will need to do it again against a vastly complicated and competitive Apple with $86 billion in the bank.

Could There Be A Run On iPhone 4S Soon?

According to a variety of reports, Apple was not the only one to have missed their forecast on iPhone sales.  Both AT&T and Verizon all saw lower number of activations - largely due to people waiting for the iPhone 4 successor.

On top of that, what is scary about iPhone's potential growth is that Android and other competing devices, with newer models, did not see their sales increase.  It just sounded like people either wanted to jump ship to the iPhone 4S or that they simply wanted to see what Apple will be offering.

Then the Blackberry blackout happened.  It was an early Christmas gift for Apple.  According to a new survey, about 40% of Blackberry users now want to get an iPhone.  And this is only the beginning.  Since we do not know how this survey was conducted and who were a part of it, we can safely believe that this is only the beginning.

After all, the consumerization of IT is in full swing.  On top of that, Apple is looking like the place to be if you want the latest and greatest from the perspectives of Blackberry users and possibly Android users who are looking at the iPhone, particularly those on the Sprint and Verizon networks, now that its available to them.

The next couple of quarters is going to be very important.  Apple should be able to grow its market here in the US but it really depends on how much.  We'll be watching to see if it's enough to push RIM further back and bring Android back from the dominating position it is in right now.

As we get closer to Thanksgiving and shopping gets into full swing, don't be surprised of Apple finds itself that it cannot keep up with iPhone demands.

One more thing. Siri.  Let's face it.  If Google did not come up with an answer for it with Android 4, there is just no way RIM has something in the works that is even remotely close.

Source:  Cult of Mac.

PCs Not Going Away But Tablets Is Where Future of Mobile Computing Is At; Change Over Has Started

For those who still doesn’t get what’s going on, consider this.  The iPads alone have pretty much vanquished the netbooks and really put a hurt on companies likes Acer that had relied on netbook shipments to pad their PC sales numbers.

According to ABI Research, 7.3 million netbooks “shipped”, not sold.  On the other hand, 13.6 million tablets were “shipped”.  Again, not all of it sold.  As you can see, the volume of tablets shipped doubted that of the netbooks.  And while many research firms refused to face this facts, this started in Q2 of 2010 when the original iPad went on sale.  It’s only now that these firms realized what’s going on.

Even as Acer, which had relied on netbook figures to pad their PC shipments, was going through financial pains, research guys and analysts refused to face the facts.

Now, let’s be clear about something here – iPads alone accounted for a vast majority of that tablet figure.  Of the 13.6 million tablets, about 75% of that were iPads.  This is higher than the 68% figure ABI came up with. Close you might say, right?  Wrong.

Here’s why iPad figures should be high if you want to go with what’s shipped, not just sold.

In Q2, Apple sold 9.25 million iPads.  Sold. Not just shipped.  Now, Apple also ended up with about a couple of weeks of inventory because supplies were so tight.  So, let’s add another million to what Apple has in inventory.  That means Apple both sold and shipped closer to 10.25 million iPads.

Based on this figure, Apple accounted for more than 75% of all tablets shipped in Q2.  And no one really knows what the actual netbook sell-through rate is.  The 9.25 iPads sold could alone have doubled those of actual netbooks sold.


Source:  Boy Genius Report.

Tablet: Some Were Disappointed By iPad Sales, But Could The iPhone 4S Have Been The Culprit?

The general move to tablets is well under way now.  It doesn’t matter if you’re an iPad user which constitute a vast majority of sales (not just shipped) and near totality in Web traffic from tablets or an Android tablet, Playbook, or Touchpad user, we are a special breed of pioneers who are blazing a trail towards new means of mobile computing and entertainment.

One of the most interest things is that while Apple has sold millions upon millions of iPads, there does not seem to be a general acceptance that tablets are here to stay.  Moreover, the sales of iPads is something that is watch so closely over that any slip up is cause to disparage the tablet market in general, and specifically, something for analysts and pundits to find fault in Apple.

Apple sold more iPads than its internal numbers reported and above Wall Street concensus.  No, it did not sell thirteen, fourteen, or even fifteen iPads.  But it sold enough.  Eleven point one million iPads to be exact.  That’s a 166% increase from a year ago.

Still, if you want to find fault with this figure, I’ll give you one.  iPhone 4S rumors and the persisting rumors that went all the way back to even before the iPad 2 was introduced by Steve Jobs on March 2, 2011.  A hint, rumor, or whatever you want to call it from John Gruber of Daring Fireball hinted that even though Steve called 2011 the year of the iPad 2, we might see an iPad 3 this fall.

For the next few months, iPhone and iPad rumors worked in tandem to provide eyeballs for blogs and, worse, mainstream media – putting kids through college and food on tables through the ads displayed. Worse, sales of the iPad, like the iPhones, were put off as consumers anticipate an iPad upgrade.

So, if folks want to find a culprit to their wild iPad sales predictions, they need to lay the fingers squarely where it belongs.  The iPad sales could have also been affected by other tablet rumors like Amazon’s tablet plans which we now know is the Kindle Fire.

We’ll have to see just where the iPad sales for the Holidays quarter take us.  Keep in mind that iPad 3 are rumored to be going into production right about now so I would not be surprised if that rumor snowballs into something much much bigger.