The touch screen is not for Apple and LG alone. Nokia has started shipping the Internet Tablet N800. With a Wide VGA touch screen display. With full browser. With music and video players. But Nokia missed what Nokia means. This device is not a phone. This is just an internet device plus a media player. What it misses compared to iPhone
- no iPOD. Well, media player is not iPOD. iPOD is iPOD and only iPOD
- no phone. Though Nokia
- even lesser talk time than iPhone! Well, guys say - wait for the real one. The N95. Things should be better
Now what it fares better is the good screen resolution. A good WVGA of 800x480! Only Steve Jobs mocking talk has a better resolution than this. iPhone chucks on 320x480.
iPhone is not the best phone. Its not the best camera on phone. Nokia N93 has a VGA video camera. And a player too. Its not the only full internet ones. Many others have. Its not the only touch screen. N800 has. LG will have soon. Its not the only media player. N93i does better. But its the only iPOD. And its probably the best all rounder?
Anyway the biggest success for Apple is the talks it has generated. Something which N93 or N800 could not.
Showing posts with label phone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label phone. Show all posts
Monday, January 15, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Apple is not alone
The touchscreen keypad for a phone is probably the first for the UI experts at Apple. But not the only one for a long time. The Koreans are coming up. Look at LG-KE850. That sounds good for Apple. The industry is picking up its new "standard"
For me, I really like the single screen multi-function idea, but not the touch screen. Apple click-wheel would have been there too?
For me, I really like the single screen multi-function idea, but not the touch screen. Apple click-wheel would have been there too?
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Job well done or Magic Jobs ?
Finally the iPhone is out. The industry has been speculating this. Papparazzis has been behind it - tracking some order that went to a Chinese company and so on. Jobs has raised the curtain now - not fully yet, though. Its iPhone finally. A new device that you can call a phone. Or an iPod. Or a PDA. Or an internet device. Or everything in one.
The Apple touch is there. Of course yes. Like the small device that caters multiple things. Nothing new. Theres Sony Mylo which is a PDA with WLAN. Theres Sharp WZero3 which is a phone with PDA with Winmobile. Though only for Japan. Then theres Nokia devices that are rugged and heavy too. All for the geeks. No one had targeted a common man. Or an apple fan. This is where Apple wants to sell. To the apple fan. Who does not want to stop biting the apple, does not want to stop listening to itunes. Still want to make a phone call. Want to look into the web. No office automation. No word, excel and outlook. Let blackberry handle that. Period.
Whats new here? Of course the Apple invention continous. The UI. First time its a phone with touch screen keypad. Apple fans will love that. Industry will study it and try to copy it. Like the Mac UI, like the iPod wheel. This is a new concept for the phone world. Time to prove how the market responds. And how robust the technology will be one year down the line. Hopefully you dont have to jump on the screen icons like you are forced to on the bank ATMs. While phone majors are trying the best of mechanical engg to squeeze in a QWERTY keyboard, Apple reuses the 3.5 in screen to come up with a keyboard when in phone mode. Though I still worry how this will be received, Jobs magic is not always as easy as the Gates one to understand.
Too many devices kill a lot of power on iPhone. The intel processor runs OSX. Hmmmm.... Neither OS-X nor Intel is supposed to be running on a battery-minded device. So it is. A 5 hour talk time and 16 hour music time max. No replacable battery. You need to put the phone or a charger everyday for sure. Even the Samsung video accelerator is new. Thats what killed the erstwhile PortalPlayer who thought Apple a day keeps revenues ever. Gone Apple and gone the company too. Anyway battery life is bad on iPhone.. at the very best.
Other features are mixed. The sensor detection to switch video into portrait and landscape modes as the user holds the phone, sorry, iPod, is probably a good feature. But the face detection - when you get the iPhone close to your face it switched into phone mode - is probably an overkill. While iPoders uses the white earphone, normal phone users are on BT headsets. Why the hell I have to remove the headset and then take the phone close to my face? I would call it an unwanted feature adding on the device cost.
There is something for the Apple fans also to feel sad. No 3G on it. But why. 3G is not a big market and for iPod users, its still smaller. You definitely do not appreciate a $100 extra bill for an iPhone3G with 2 hour talk time. Do you? Probably this is a valid setback for the Japanese Apple fan. They cannot talk on this iPhone. Probably thats the next stop for Apple. A 3G phone with HSDPA where iTunes can be downloaded over the air. No USB. No PC.
Remember the iMac? Jobs defined it as a machine that people can use to connect to the internet. Thats it. No floppy. No printer connectors. Only USB. Many frowned. USB is yet to mature. Not many devices available. Yet iMac survived. Nay, it succeeded. USB peripherals followed. This is now a new step. Let us wait and watch. But by the time it reaches half of the world, it will be two years. The concepts would have either won or dead by that time. People in India will not have to take a risk. Prices will be down and direction will be clear by that time.
Anyway its phone companies taking their bite on Apple now. Sore or Sweet??
The Apple touch is there. Of course yes. Like the small device that caters multiple things. Nothing new. Theres Sony Mylo which is a PDA with WLAN. Theres Sharp WZero3 which is a phone with PDA with Winmobile. Though only for Japan. Then theres Nokia devices that are rugged and heavy too. All for the geeks. No one had targeted a common man. Or an apple fan. This is where Apple wants to sell. To the apple fan. Who does not want to stop biting the apple, does not want to stop listening to itunes. Still want to make a phone call. Want to look into the web. No office automation. No word, excel and outlook. Let blackberry handle that. Period.
Whats new here? Of course the Apple invention continous. The UI. First time its a phone with touch screen keypad. Apple fans will love that. Industry will study it and try to copy it. Like the Mac UI, like the iPod wheel. This is a new concept for the phone world. Time to prove how the market responds. And how robust the technology will be one year down the line. Hopefully you dont have to jump on the screen icons like you are forced to on the bank ATMs. While phone majors are trying the best of mechanical engg to squeeze in a QWERTY keyboard, Apple reuses the 3.5 in screen to come up with a keyboard when in phone mode. Though I still worry how this will be received, Jobs magic is not always as easy as the Gates one to understand.
Too many devices kill a lot of power on iPhone. The intel processor runs OSX. Hmmmm.... Neither OS-X nor Intel is supposed to be running on a battery-minded device. So it is. A 5 hour talk time and 16 hour music time max. No replacable battery. You need to put the phone or a charger everyday for sure. Even the Samsung video accelerator is new. Thats what killed the erstwhile PortalPlayer who thought Apple a day keeps revenues ever. Gone Apple and gone the company too. Anyway battery life is bad on iPhone.. at the very best.
Other features are mixed. The sensor detection to switch video into portrait and landscape modes as the user holds the phone, sorry, iPod, is probably a good feature. But the face detection - when you get the iPhone close to your face it switched into phone mode - is probably an overkill. While iPoders uses the white earphone, normal phone users are on BT headsets. Why the hell I have to remove the headset and then take the phone close to my face? I would call it an unwanted feature adding on the device cost.
There is something for the Apple fans also to feel sad. No 3G on it. But why. 3G is not a big market and for iPod users, its still smaller. You definitely do not appreciate a $100 extra bill for an iPhone3G with 2 hour talk time. Do you? Probably this is a valid setback for the Japanese Apple fan. They cannot talk on this iPhone. Probably thats the next stop for Apple. A 3G phone with HSDPA where iTunes can be downloaded over the air. No USB. No PC.
Remember the iMac? Jobs defined it as a machine that people can use to connect to the internet. Thats it. No floppy. No printer connectors. Only USB. Many frowned. USB is yet to mature. Not many devices available. Yet iMac survived. Nay, it succeeded. USB peripherals followed. This is now a new step. Let us wait and watch. But by the time it reaches half of the world, it will be two years. The concepts would have either won or dead by that time. People in India will not have to take a risk. Prices will be down and direction will be clear by that time.
Anyway its phone companies taking their bite on Apple now. Sore or Sweet??
Monday, July 03, 2006
Playing LIVE on a mobile phone near you
Thought I would touch on a technology that I was remotely watching for around 2 years now. Mobile TV. Looking through my lowest resolution, smallest , monochrome screen, cheapest available Nokia, initially I was not impressed of the idea of watching KrishiDarsan on the mobile TV. Until I saw a real one at Samsung Korea.
I think the mobile TV, if the current interest and pace are to be believed, will be a reality in India too soon. Well, let it come. How is this going to change our life? So many technologies come and go. This could be just one of them. May be. May be not. I was just trying to visualise the way TV has changed the world we lived.
I was around 10 when I had the first chance to see a Television. When I went to Madras, there was a B&W TV broadcast there. It was interesting to watch the news with video clips. It took another 5 years to have a TV in Kerala. Local language still had to wait. It was interesting to watch LA Olympics on the mini screen. We used to go to the basket ball ground where Stalwarts Club had put up a TV. Or to the Children's Park where HMT had put up TV for the dwellers of the colony.
Down the years, there was a huge transform. KrishiDarsans moved away to accommodate more and more Serials and Mega Serials. I think TV serial is probably one large factor in Kerala culture now. I used to avoid visiting someone on Sunday evenings, when the Malayalam movie was scheduled on Doordarsan. They will talk to you staring on the TV. Same was true for Sunday 11AM during Ramayana. You were not supposed to press calling bells during that time. With more and more channels now, I am not sure if there is any timeslot for people visiting. More and more local channels meant more and more serials, more and more "serial actors/ actresses" - not to rhyme with "serial killers". Mini screen is affecting the culture in a mega way. For many retired people, acting in serial is an income earned in leisure. For many new aspirants, it is probably like the silver screen entry, but much more wider and apparently easier. How many recent rapes/prostitutions are being linked to these "serial" aspirations?
Now the mobile TV could be a second stage of screen revolution. From mini-screens to micro screens. Looking just at the current broadcast technology, possible changes are not huge. In many of the available technologies, it is either the same digital TV transmission or only a reformatted transmission to fit the micro-screen. Things of interest are going to be a huge shift in prime time and another milestone into converting advertisements into enquiries. As people drive to office, or like in Japan ride trains to office, they could now be watching TV. Ladies travelling to office in Trivandrum by Kannur Exp could be watching "Sthree" on the mobile. The evening 7-9 prime time will now extend to include 8-10 in the morning too. Then again 4-6 in the evening. More serials, more serial actresses, more aspirants, more Kiliroors and more Vithuras. When Mamukka comes up on the Paragon Chappal ad, a small hyperlink will appear on the screen. Click on that, buy your chappal and wear it the next day.
So far it looks good. But I think there is more to this. The current mobile TV is viewed as an independant technology. Other than the user clicks (and user subscription authentications in some standards) this has no relation with the mobile "phone" or with the other features on the phone. The new phones to come up will be having a high quality video camera that can record BluRay formats at DVD quality. The blog revolution could bring in a new video jouranlism and new video blog streaming services. The broadcasting corporations might give way for new amateur broadcasters cooperations. Like we have free blog hosting services now, there could be free mobile broadcastings, with ads or adsense. And the boradcast might quickly adapt to internet too. Which could mean virtually uncontrolled "mobile TV" producers and stations? This is what I am trying to visualise. I do not think this is too far a future. This might well happen.
Those of you interested in the real technology behind mDTV - there are multiple standards across the world now. DMB in Korea (Digital Media Broadcast. There is one for Terrestrial and one for Satellite T-DMB and S-DMB as they are called), ISDB-T in Japan (Integrated Services Digital Broadcast-Terrestrial. This one is common for normal digital terr TV and mobile phones) DVB-H in Europe and parts of US (Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld) and the Qualcomm proprietary MediaFlo. Japanese and Korean standards uses MPEG2-TS streams and DVB-H employs IP datagrams in transport.
Have a good week and make sure your mobile phone is under control...
I think the mobile TV, if the current interest and pace are to be believed, will be a reality in India too soon. Well, let it come. How is this going to change our life? So many technologies come and go. This could be just one of them. May be. May be not. I was just trying to visualise the way TV has changed the world we lived.
I was around 10 when I had the first chance to see a Television. When I went to Madras, there was a B&W TV broadcast there. It was interesting to watch the news with video clips. It took another 5 years to have a TV in Kerala. Local language still had to wait. It was interesting to watch LA Olympics on the mini screen. We used to go to the basket ball ground where Stalwarts Club had put up a TV. Or to the Children's Park where HMT had put up TV for the dwellers of the colony.
Down the years, there was a huge transform. KrishiDarsans moved away to accommodate more and more Serials and Mega Serials. I think TV serial is probably one large factor in Kerala culture now. I used to avoid visiting someone on Sunday evenings, when the Malayalam movie was scheduled on Doordarsan. They will talk to you staring on the TV. Same was true for Sunday 11AM during Ramayana. You were not supposed to press calling bells during that time. With more and more channels now, I am not sure if there is any timeslot for people visiting. More and more local channels meant more and more serials, more and more "serial actors/ actresses" - not to rhyme with "serial killers". Mini screen is affecting the culture in a mega way. For many retired people, acting in serial is an income earned in leisure. For many new aspirants, it is probably like the silver screen entry, but much more wider and apparently easier. How many recent rapes/prostitutions are being linked to these "serial" aspirations?
Now the mobile TV could be a second stage of screen revolution. From mini-screens to micro screens. Looking just at the current broadcast technology, possible changes are not huge. In many of the available technologies, it is either the same digital TV transmission or only a reformatted transmission to fit the micro-screen. Things of interest are going to be a huge shift in prime time and another milestone into converting advertisements into enquiries. As people drive to office, or like in Japan ride trains to office, they could now be watching TV. Ladies travelling to office in Trivandrum by Kannur Exp could be watching "Sthree" on the mobile. The evening 7-9 prime time will now extend to include 8-10 in the morning too. Then again 4-6 in the evening. More serials, more serial actresses, more aspirants, more Kiliroors and more Vithuras. When Mamukka comes up on the Paragon Chappal ad, a small hyperlink will appear on the screen. Click on that, buy your chappal and wear it the next day.
So far it looks good. But I think there is more to this. The current mobile TV is viewed as an independant technology. Other than the user clicks (and user subscription authentications in some standards) this has no relation with the mobile "phone" or with the other features on the phone. The new phones to come up will be having a high quality video camera that can record BluRay formats at DVD quality. The blog revolution could bring in a new video jouranlism and new video blog streaming services. The broadcasting corporations might give way for new amateur broadcasters cooperations. Like we have free blog hosting services now, there could be free mobile broadcastings, with ads or adsense. And the boradcast might quickly adapt to internet too. Which could mean virtually uncontrolled "mobile TV" producers and stations? This is what I am trying to visualise. I do not think this is too far a future. This might well happen.
Those of you interested in the real technology behind mDTV - there are multiple standards across the world now. DMB in Korea (Digital Media Broadcast. There is one for Terrestrial and one for Satellite T-DMB and S-DMB as they are called), ISDB-T in Japan (Integrated Services Digital Broadcast-Terrestrial. This one is common for normal digital terr TV and mobile phones) DVB-H in Europe and parts of US (Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld) and the Qualcomm proprietary MediaFlo. Japanese and Korean standards uses MPEG2-TS streams and DVB-H employs IP datagrams in transport.
Have a good week and make sure your mobile phone is under control...
Monday, June 26, 2006
nanni munni bachi teri mutti mein kya hai?
What the common man in India needs is not phone and TV. Give them good job (means wages not really work) and rice - used to be the slogan of the communist parties in Kerala during the Rajiv Gandhi era.
Ten years later. A lot has changed and everyone is now on a mobile phone. Communist Party office was said to be giving instructions to Police chiefs over mobile phone on how to handle a BJP bundh in Trivandrum.
Back in Bangalore, one day I was rushing to office in the morning and pulled in to a petrol pump to quench the thirst of my car. There rings my Nokia 1100.
"Good Morning sir, I am so-and-so from so-and-so company" goes the sweet voice
"Good Morning......."
"Sir sounds like you are at a gas station now. Shall I call you later"
Please do not. Finish off and go to hell ..
"that's fine, go ahead"
"Sir, we have a great loan offer for you......."
"Oh! Sweet. Is that an interest free one?......."
Since I had been in the lowest rent scheme from my carrier - Airtel - probable that these telemarketing guys made more business than Airtel from my connection? Credit Cards. Loans. New phone connections. Vacation packages.......
Targeted sales is not a new concept. Many niche industries were doing this. But with the widespread coverage of mass media, everyone started to sell to a general market with limited success. And huge sales expenses. The same got repeated onto internet during the big bubble during 90s. Free homepages. Only thing is they can host a free ad on your page. The free ad could now be for a free photo hosting page. That will be sponsored by another ad. Another free service? The link continued and finally burst.
Google is now in the process of - if not fully succeeded in- bringing targeted sales to the internet mass media. Let it be the news you read, the search you do or the emails your friends send you, they put related ads. What about a resort in Cochin, asks my friend in a mail and my gmail page is full of Kerala resort ads. Adsense makes sense, right? Concept is simple. Like earlier, do not assume the basic usage of the web service as a revenue generator. Use these as windows to people. Now Google went one step ahead. Understand the guy and then sell him what will best fit. Track what he reads, what kind of mails he sends, what all searches he does, what are his vacation schedules from his calendar, which are the communities he is involved with etc. Now create a character code for him and match the ads. I am not sure how Americans are allowing Google to do such a deep study of someone and keep a database of his character!
Softbank Japan has bought the ailing Vodafone KK (Japan arm of Vodafone UK) for a huge sum. The new company will be called Softbank Mobile in a couple of months from now. Softbank already has proven to Corporate Japan that they think better ways and means. And after the takeover, Softbank demonstrated what they mean by quick actions by having Vodafone offices move to Softbank premises in just two days! Vodafone KK has been losing their subscriber base for a long time against DoCoMo and au. What does Softbank has in hand - other than $$$ - to revive this ailing business. What is the motive behind entering the limited size, already at max penetration market, and again by buying a loss making carrier?
Being in the industry, this is a good food for thought for guys like me. Some recent analysts thinking are interesting. Just look at what Softbank did with the ADSL magic. The little thing that the Yahoo! BB guys and gals distributed in front of all railway stations has made ADSL a huge success. They not only routed VoIP and internet connections but slowly started into providing more Yahoo and BB services. Like Yahoo Auctions which is unbeatable for eBay in Japan. Like the new BB-TV with so many channels to chose from. All on the same ADSL. Get a guy, give him basic services for zero or minimal fee, then sell him additional higher value services. While Google provides a platform for ads, Softbank directly arranges to sell the services.
Looks like the same concept might run on Softbank Mobile too. You get the Yahoo homepage (Softbank holds majority stake in Yahoo) as the mobile handset background image. Then a host of services. Net shopping. Softbank might prefer the end to end control like the Japan style it seems. Not just selling platform. The cell phone will no longer be a cell phone per se. It will be a personal device that has a mobile phone function. A WLAN function. VoIP function. PDA function. GPS function. Camera function. Digital TV function. Embedded Credit card function. Embedded railway pass function. That lets you access many things at home and elsewhere. And would let many Softbank services reach you. How is WLAN, PDA, Camera, and DTV functions going to help the carrier? Unless they have their own services to tap this? I think this is what Softbank is targeting. Provide the infrastructure. Create business using the infrastructure.
Now if Yahoo Japan wants to add an Adsense kind of targeted ads too, I guess it is a huge potential on a mobile than it is on the web. It can track where you go (GPS), whom do you talk to (Well, that's what the device was known for), what TV programs you watch (DTV), how much money you spent in what kind of shopping (Embedded credit cards) etc. in addition to what is available on the net.
Wait and see. Or may be another bubble waiting to burst?? What if you are getting more ads than you can afford to buy? Specifically the google adsense have no idea of the buying potential. With more and more internet connectivity in the third world, we are getting a good chunk of the ads - and do we buy?? May be Softbank is better positioned with their mobile handset (not mobile phone anymore).
Ten years later. A lot has changed and everyone is now on a mobile phone. Communist Party office was said to be giving instructions to Police chiefs over mobile phone on how to handle a BJP bundh in Trivandrum.
Back in Bangalore, one day I was rushing to office in the morning and pulled in to a petrol pump to quench the thirst of my car. There rings my Nokia 1100.
"Good Morning sir, I am so-and-so from so-and-so company" goes the sweet voice
"Good Morning......."
"Sir sounds like you are at a gas station now. Shall I call you later"
Please do not. Finish off and go to hell ..
"that's fine, go ahead"
"Sir, we have a great loan offer for you......."
"Oh! Sweet. Is that an interest free one?......."
Since I had been in the lowest rent scheme from my carrier - Airtel - probable that these telemarketing guys made more business than Airtel from my connection? Credit Cards. Loans. New phone connections. Vacation packages.......
Targeted sales is not a new concept. Many niche industries were doing this. But with the widespread coverage of mass media, everyone started to sell to a general market with limited success. And huge sales expenses. The same got repeated onto internet during the big bubble during 90s. Free homepages. Only thing is they can host a free ad on your page. The free ad could now be for a free photo hosting page. That will be sponsored by another ad. Another free service? The link continued and finally burst.
Google is now in the process of - if not fully succeeded in- bringing targeted sales to the internet mass media. Let it be the news you read, the search you do or the emails your friends send you, they put related ads. What about a resort in Cochin, asks my friend in a mail and my gmail page is full of Kerala resort ads. Adsense makes sense, right? Concept is simple. Like earlier, do not assume the basic usage of the web service as a revenue generator. Use these as windows to people. Now Google went one step ahead. Understand the guy and then sell him what will best fit. Track what he reads, what kind of mails he sends, what all searches he does, what are his vacation schedules from his calendar, which are the communities he is involved with etc. Now create a character code for him and match the ads. I am not sure how Americans are allowing Google to do such a deep study of someone and keep a database of his character!
Softbank Japan has bought the ailing Vodafone KK (Japan arm of Vodafone UK) for a huge sum. The new company will be called Softbank Mobile in a couple of months from now. Softbank already has proven to Corporate Japan that they think better ways and means. And after the takeover, Softbank demonstrated what they mean by quick actions by having Vodafone offices move to Softbank premises in just two days! Vodafone KK has been losing their subscriber base for a long time against DoCoMo and au. What does Softbank has in hand - other than $$$ - to revive this ailing business. What is the motive behind entering the limited size, already at max penetration market, and again by buying a loss making carrier?
Being in the industry, this is a good food for thought for guys like me. Some recent analysts thinking are interesting. Just look at what Softbank did with the ADSL magic. The little thing that the Yahoo! BB guys and gals distributed in front of all railway stations has made ADSL a huge success. They not only routed VoIP and internet connections but slowly started into providing more Yahoo and BB services. Like Yahoo Auctions which is unbeatable for eBay in Japan. Like the new BB-TV with so many channels to chose from. All on the same ADSL. Get a guy, give him basic services for zero or minimal fee, then sell him additional higher value services. While Google provides a platform for ads, Softbank directly arranges to sell the services.
Looks like the same concept might run on Softbank Mobile too. You get the Yahoo homepage (Softbank holds majority stake in Yahoo) as the mobile handset background image. Then a host of services. Net shopping. Softbank might prefer the end to end control like the Japan style it seems. Not just selling platform. The cell phone will no longer be a cell phone per se. It will be a personal device that has a mobile phone function. A WLAN function. VoIP function. PDA function. GPS function. Camera function. Digital TV function. Embedded Credit card function. Embedded railway pass function. That lets you access many things at home and elsewhere. And would let many Softbank services reach you. How is WLAN, PDA, Camera, and DTV functions going to help the carrier? Unless they have their own services to tap this? I think this is what Softbank is targeting. Provide the infrastructure. Create business using the infrastructure.
Now if Yahoo Japan wants to add an Adsense kind of targeted ads too, I guess it is a huge potential on a mobile than it is on the web. It can track where you go (GPS), whom do you talk to (Well, that's what the device was known for), what TV programs you watch (DTV), how much money you spent in what kind of shopping (Embedded credit cards) etc. in addition to what is available on the net.
Wait and see. Or may be another bubble waiting to burst?? What if you are getting more ads than you can afford to buy? Specifically the google adsense have no idea of the buying potential. With more and more internet connectivity in the third world, we are getting a good chunk of the ads - and do we buy?? May be Softbank is better positioned with their mobile handset (not mobile phone anymore).
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