Category: Gear

Apple by Joe WilcoxJan 7, 20109:14 pm

Nexus One Foreshadows Google Mobility That Could Get Ugly for Apple and Microsoft

Microsoft and Apple underestimate how quickly Google is consolidating its mobile platform—clearly so do geeks reviewing Nexus One. Google isn’t just going for one piece of mobility but the whole shebang. Google is putting together the pieces to offer a single mobile lifestyle, with no PC required, supported by search and other Google informational services. Like everything else the company does, free is the glue sticking everything together.

Google’s decision to sell Nexus One direct, even the carrier subsidized model, is part of the strategy. Open-source licensing has its limitations and risks fragmenting Android. As I explained in March 2009 post “There’s an App for That,” Apple changed the rules for mobile operating systems by breaking carrier control over updates. Apple distributes iPhone OS updates, preventing the kind of fragmentation typically caused by carrier distribution. By selling a handset direct, Google takes control of Android updates for a flagship phone that also acts like a baseline design model for handset manufacturers licensing the mobile operating system.

Gear by Joe WilcoxJan 5, 20103:47 am

Understanding The Device Agnostic Internet

A tablet is a natural extension of the iPhone experience, and will ready the user base to accept new and other devices, like internet flat panel television sets. If Apple tried to launch an internet […]

Apple by Joe WilcoxNov 9, 20094:40 pm

Two Stories of Smartphones Stolen

Yesterday someone stole my daughter’s new smartphone from a school locker. On Friday, a good friend’s iPhone 3GS disappeared from a car dealership, while he was talking on it. Both stories, which go oddly together, are cautionary tales about social media, cloud computing and the risks of identities stolen with the hardware.

Stolen phones used to conjure fears of minutes usage overages or big bills from calls placed to faraway places. Now the cost could be you.

People by Joe WilcoxNov 5, 20097:56 pm

The Story Carl Rytterfalk’s Camera Tells

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-W2Ia9tar8]

Before there was Twitter or before Facebook gained popularity, I followed people online directly through their Websites or RSS feeds. I’ve long favored personal blogs over professional news sites. The best stories are told by and are about people.

Fast forward five years, people are what make the social Web work so well, and why my profession, journalism, is in state of chaos. Why read something filtered by a reporter/editor when the single, or even crowd, source is available? Interaction is more personal and direct.

Apple by Joe WilcoxNov 4, 20099:30 am

iPhone’s Chinese Disconnection?

Yesterday, several Wall Street analysts swallowed their pride and iPhone sales projections after the first four days of official iPhone sales in China amounted to 5,000 units. Whoa, 5,000? I’m stunned China Unicom sold that many. At $730 to over $1,000 price range, iPhone goes oddly—seemingly quite badly—together with average Chinese incomes. Apple’s mobile costs way too much for the market—or does it?

Several blogs, including All Things Digital, described iPhone’s China debut as a failure, feeding off analysts’ glum reaction. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, one of Apple’s biggest cheerleaders on Wall Street, described sales as “soft.”

Gear by Joe WilcoxSep 25, 20093:04 pm

Now This Is Advertising!

Only Microsoft could be so bold. As I explained in my last post, TechFlash’s Todd Bishop and I have been bantering back and forth about what is advertising. Oh, these IM arguments can be brutal. Anyway, […]

Apple by Joe WilcoxSep 1, 200910:27 pm

Nokia and the iPhone Hype Problem

Nokia World convenes for two days in Stuttgart, Germany (local time there, 9 a.m.). It’s an event that many US analysts, bloggers or journalists will look at with disdain. If hype were the only measure of success, Apple would be the world’s largest handset manufacturer. But for all the iPhone bark—much of it coming from the United States—Nokia has got way more bite. Not that most Americans will hear about it.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 31, 20097:26 pm

Katydid Does

This morning, a Katydid temporarily took up residence on our screen door. I used it as opportunity to test the iPhone 3GS auto-macro mode. Pics were all crap. But this one (and others) taken with […]

Gear by Joe WilcoxAug 31, 20096:13 pm

Netbook Plague Kills 1 in 5 Notebooks

The netbook scourge continues unabated, and PC manufacturers are host on their on petard. Could anything be more putrid? DisplaySearch has ruined the last official day of summer holiday by releasing netbook shipment data. In May, I blogged that netbook US retail share approached 20 percent.

Society by Joe WilcoxAug 30, 20098:16 pm

Laptop Hunter Sheila's First Post-Hunt Big Project

Say, do you remember Sheila Dvorak? The filmmaker who bought an HP HDX 16t, in one of those Microsoft “Laptop Hunters” commercials? The stereotypical filmmaker uses a Mac, running Apple’s Final Cut Studio. But not Sheila. She’s completed her first project using the HDX 16t.

Apple by Joe WilcoxAug 28, 200912:03 am

My Nokia N97 is Gone

I am mad at Apple and Nokia. Apple has the best mobile software and services platform anywhere. Nokia offers the best hardware platform—granted, HTC closes in. This difference has forced me to choose one company’s smartphone over the other, leaving behind dissatisfaction with the compromise.

Apple by Joe WilcoxAug 18, 20098:46 pm

No Thanks: Full-Screen iPhone Ads

Look what popped up on my iPhone 3GS while reading a New York Times story. A full-screen advertisement. I would rather skip the ads and pay the Times, say, five bucks a month for content. […]