Category: Mobility

Apple by Joe WilcoxJun 16, 200911:58 am

Answering the Snow Leopard-Windows 7 Question

Yesterday, someone asked me if “Apple has got a realistic chance with Snow Leopard?” competing against Windows 7. He was particularly interested in Macintosh uptake in the enterprise. I gave him my answer, which I will blog here with additional analysis.

My answer to his question is “No.” Snow Leopard won’t convert many more businesses to the Mac, particularly with Windows 7 launching three to six weeks later and likely appearing on new PCs before Apple’s new operating system ships. Later this year, Microsoft and its partners will cover the planet in Windows 7 marketing, which will help further marginalize Mac sales. I’ll further explain my reasoning.

Mobility by Joe WilcoxJun 15, 20091:16 pm

White Nokia E71: A Teen Girl’s Video Review

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/5170920]

My daughter offers her first product review for this Weblog—a teen’s perspective on the Nokia E71, with some criticism of the iPhone. Timing is perhaps appropriate, or not. Today, Nokia formally announced the E72, which packs a 5-megapixel camera; the E71 has a 3.2MP digicam. The iPhone 3GS goes on sale June 19. Yeah, on Friday.

It’s coincidence that this E71 vlog review runs the day after my Nokia N97 preview. My daughter recorded the vlog more than a week ago—at about 1 a.m., and it shows. This vlog was the second take. The original video was livelier, but she misidentified the handset as the N71. I decided to use the second take as is, rather than splicing new intro onto the first version.

Apple by Joe WilcoxJun 14, 20098:48 pm

Nokia N97 First Impressions

Late Friday, I started using Nokia’s hot new smartphone, the highly-anticipated N97. My first impression is “WOW.” This is the cell phone—eh, smartphone—I always wanted.

Apple by Joe WilcoxJun 10, 20094:46 pm

iPhone 3G Whiners Should Just Get a Life

Historically, early technology adopters have paid more to get their goodies. Pick a category: Big-screen TV, color TV, Blu-ray player or recorder, car phone, cell phone, digital camera, DVR, high-speed broadband, MP3 player, VHS player, VHS recorder, Walkman, etc., etc., etc. Early adopters paid a price premium. If they want the newest thing, they pay more.

But with iPhone 3GS, that “pay more” comes at a price hard for some people to accept. Many existing US iPhone 3G owners are whining about not being eligible for discounted iPhone 3GS pricing. I say: Tough luck. You want the newest thing, you’re going to have to pay for it.

Society by Joe WilcoxJun 8, 20095:53 pm

Apple's Day of Wall Street Heart Attacks

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference 2009 keynote was the strangest ever—and not just for CEO Steve Jobs’ absence. Apple cut prices where unexpected, while keeping them high where Wall Street analysts expected cuts. The $29 Snow Leopard upgrade is simply stunning.

Everyone should ask: Why Apple is asking so little for seemingly so much? That from a company that normally charges more for products.

Apple by Joe WilcoxJun 8, 200911:18 am

Quick Quotes: WWDC 2009 Edition

Editor’s Note, March 29, 2010: For about six weeks during summer 2009, and following my April 30 layoff from eWEEK, I put out my shingle as an independent analyst. I had worked as an analyst for JupiterResearch from 2003 to 2006. But the role just didn’t feel right, particularly given the economy. This post represents a feature of “quotes” for journalists to use in their stories.

This second installment of Quick Quotes focuses on Apple’s announcements from the Worldwide Developer Conference.

Mobility by Joe WilcoxMay 27, 20098:50 am

D7 Ushers in Web 3.0 Era

Web 2.0 is dead, dead, dead. Thank God!

Last night, in Carlsbad, Calif., D7 Conference organizers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher declared: “The Web 2.0 era over.” Hell, it’s about time someone did, and why not at a big, splashy conference?

Mobility by Joe WilcoxMay 26, 20095:04 pm

Ovi Store Squeaks at App Store Giant

My initial reaction to Nokia’s Ovi Store is “Huh, this is it?” Today, the mobile application marketplace opened for business in nine countries—Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom and United States. I really expected more, as in content. Where are those supposedly tens of thousands of applications already available for Symbian OS variants S40 and S60?

Apple by Joe WilcoxMay 20, 20091:43 pm

Microsoft Finally Finds a Lifestyle It Can Sell

The most successful companies share several attributes in common. Among the most important: They sell a lifestyle. Apple has effectively done this with multiple products, which is unusual. There are separate, yet related, iPod, iPhone and Mac lifestyles. But many buyers pay a premium price to join the Mac club.

There are plenty of other examples. The Harley Davidson lifestyle is the graying, middle-aged guy, dressed in leather and riding his hog or the stereotypical Hell’s Angels type. Pepsi sells a lifestyle, too. In my youth, it was the “Pepsi Generation.” Now it’s the active, youth sports lifestyle around Mtn. Dew, among other Pepsico products.

Apple by Joe WilcoxMay 7, 200910:12 am

I was Wrong About Laptop Hunter Sheila

She is an artist, and, on second consideration, Sheila certainly does look like a filmmaker.

Sheila Dvorak is star of Microsoft’s newest “Laptop Hunters” commercial, which is currently airing during U.S. prime time. I saw the ad last night, I believe during Fox’s “Fringe,” which I had previously recorded.

Apple by Joe WilcoxMay 4, 20091:56 pm

‘I’m a PC,’ Says My Daughter

Today is moving day for my teenage daughter. She will be switching from a Mac to a PC running Windows 7 Release Candidate. My PC buying experience for her could have been a Microsoft “Laptop Hunters” commercial.

My daughter, who online goes by “Morripopp,” had been using the higher-end aluminum MacBook. I knew she would be giving it up. On Wednesday, April 29, I told Apple that Thursday would be my last day as Microsoft Watch editor; I was joining the ranks of unemployed journalists. On Friday, I got the expected but dreaded e-mail: Apple wanted the MacBook loaner back by May 6.

Apple by Joe WilcoxMay 4, 200912:21 pm

Did Laptop Hunter Sheila Find Treasure?

Microsoft’s newest “Laptop Hunters” commercial, embedded below, is the most ambitious yet and perhaps most misleading. The buyer’s budget is bigger and her laptop criteria slaps Apple where it hurts: Among core constituency of artists, designers and filmmakers.