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Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Is Android in Trouble?

April 30, 2012 by


The Kindle Fire Rules Android Market
A recent study by comScore shows that Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet has remained a hot property, doubling its market share in just two months. According to the study the tablets share of the Android market jumped from 29.4% in December 2011 to 54.4% in February 2012.

The report does not count Barnes & Noble’s Nook due to classifying it as an ereader and not a multipurpose tablet, but if you combine the two they have a huge share of the Android market, and it appears that Android users opt for the lower cost offerings from Amazon and Barnes & Noble rather than the pricier ones from players like Asus.

So with Apple dominating the high end and these two at the low end of the tablet market what else is there. I suspect lots of room to grow in both. Many of the first generation Android tablets were touted as iPad killers and were not. They should instead seek to meet specific market needs and stop worrying about other players’ products.

Google Patent Trial shows past expectations.
One piece of evidence that has come out during the Oracle vs Google trial around Java patents has been the revelation of what Google’s expectations for Android were two years ago according to a presentation at the trial.

Some of the information listed was highlights that included device activation and searches while the lowlights noted that the company was behind in music, video and books and said that Apple was maintain momentum with strong product launches.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of information available from the trial, and The Verge has a full readout on what is going on as well as a great deal more data on Android sales and expectations.

Has Google lost control of Android?
Joe Wilcox over at Beta News makes a strong argument that Google has lost control of Android and that it could have very negative repercussions to the developer if it does not actively and quickly reassert control over the platform.

Fragmentation is occurring, and as he noted the most successful implementation of Android that used by Amazon in its very popular Kindle line, does not greatly resemble the version that is available elsewhere. Proprietary versions of the operating system can cause big problems.

The old saying that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” certainly resonates here. This issue occurred with DOS before Microsoft exerted control over the OS. Then again with Sun Microsystems’ Java, which it just barely managed to prevent fragmentation, interestingly enough, at the hands of Microsoft.

So I imagine that Google’s first priority if to get the Oracle lawsuit finished prior to any work on the OS but I would not be surprised if shortly afterwards the company announced a developer conference and new guidelines for developing on the platform.

Samsung is the King-of smartphones
Samsung released its sales figures last month and it has knocked off Nokia as king of the hill in smartphone sales. Samsung has shipped 93.5 million phones in the first quarter and of that number 44.5 million were smartphones.

Nokia had been top dog for 14 years, with a very brief sojourn at the top for Apple. In the first quarter Nokia is estimated to have shipped 82.7 million phones while Apple shipped 35.1 million in the same period.

According to market research firm Strategy Analytics Samsung’s strong quarter helped move its overall market share to 25.4% from 19.3%, year over year while Nokia went in the opposite direction falling from 30.4% to 22.5%

For the quarter Samsung posted a $5.2 billion profit on $39.8 billion in revenue. Aside from the strong growth in handsets the company also experienced strong sales of its tablet products such as its Galaxy Note.

Winklevoss twins announce venture capital firm
The Winklevoss twins of Facebook fame have launched a venture capital firm called Winklevoss Capital. The firm will focus on early stage, disruptive startups. They said that they expect to close a couple of deals within the next few months.

A $20 trillion rock?
I love all of this space mining talk. The value of what they are doing just keeps going up and up. In case you missed it a company called Planetary Resources and bills itself as an asteroid mining company was announced last week.

Among its backers are Ross Perot Jr., James Cameron, some Google billionaires and Microsoft. The plan is to develop not only the capability to mine asteroids but also to have space-based refilling stations for spaceships.

I have no idea if this will get off the ground but I really hope it does because it sounds like it will be very interesting to follow. The first asteroid that it has its eye on has an estimated value of $20 trillion dollars.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Asus, Barnes & Noble, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Lawsuit, Mashable, Samsung, Tablets Tagged With: , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Harvard Bass Fishing?

April 27, 2012 by

MLB has teamed with Kinect Star Wars to present what it calls the “Ultimate Father-Son Sweepstake” in which participants can win a variety of prizes including a grand prize that includes 2 tickets to any 2012 MLB game and 2012 Opening Day game of their choice and a $200 MLB gift certificate.

What strikes me as odd is that of course in Star Wars the father spends the bulk of three movies trying to kill his son (and daughter) and is only reconciled on his deathbed. Not quite the message you might want to send.

App helps you see what apps are stealing your info
With all of the news about how insecure some apps are, and that they harvest data from your smartphone, tablet or elsewhere, the question is how do you find out which are secure and which are not?

Well one company, research firm PrivacyChoice has a program called Privacyscore for Facebook that it claims will explain which are and which are not to be trusted. The program explains the degree to which your information is protected, if you are being tracked and if so by whom.

It looks at each app and examines the privacy policy, and notes that some basically have none whatsoever, and provides a rated listing. The program is endorsed by the FCC.

NHL jumps of PrePlay bandwagon
So PrePlay, the app developer that lets you make micro-bets on any individual event during a sporting event has extended its reach and now covers the National Hockey League games. The goal of this and other predictive games is to engage users with fans around them or online where they challenge each other to predict the outcome, in this case maybe the final score or who wins a faceoff.

The company had a Subway sponsored Super Bowl push but that did not have the blessing from the NFL while this does have the NHL’s approval. The app, which is available at iTunes, will compete with others such as GrabFan that seek to establish themselves in this area.

Apple’s latest iPad has connectivity woes?
After the iPad overheating issue cooled it now appears that the very popular tablet may have connectivity issues. According to a report in Macworld it has a range of Wi-Fi issues that are annoying users.

It appears that the device has problems finding local Wi-Fi networks, drops connections and has slow upload and download speeds, among other issues. And that is just the Wi-Fi, for people that paid for cellular connectivity it apparently also has issues with connecting to 3G networks.

Harvard has a bass fishing team?
For that matter I was surprised that there is fishing tournaments in college-man did I go to the wrong school! This nice read from the Harvard Crimson talks about the challenges of forming a fishing team in an area, and at a school, that does not have a tradition of bass boats.

The overall sport is run by the Association of Collegiate Anglers (ACA) that currently has 30,000 members across 47 states. I wonder who the holdout states are? The ACA holds tournaments, offers discounts and provides a host of other amenities.

Ice Core Beer Pitcher
With summer looming we owe it to ourselves to ensure that we have the best tools available to enjoy the outdoors. One such tool, perfect for BBQs, is this simply device that is designed to keep beer ice cold without watering it down.

Using a center core made from aluminum a user simply fills the core with ice and attaches it to the center of the pitcher, which holds 60 oz. In a pinch you could fill it with ice tea or soda, I guess.

Microsoft loses Motorola patent case
The ITC has ruled that Microsoft did infringe on patents that are held by Motorola Mobility. The issue has to do with patents that relate to wireless connections and video compression that is incorporated in Microsoft’s popular Xbox game console.

The ruling found that Microsoft infringed on four of the five patents in dispute. It will have an opportunity to respond to the court’s ruling next month and if the comments from Microsoft are any indication expect more action on this front, not less.

And Motorola beats Apple as well
The ITC also handed Motorola a victory in one of its cases against Apple, this time ruling that Apple was guilty of infringing on a 3G wireless patent that is owned by Motorola. In addition the court found that Apple induced others to do the same.

The ruling comes on a lawsuit filed in 2010 and initially covered 5 patents but as the case progressed the case was whittled down to one. There is still a lot to be seen in this case as much of the determination is still classified but Apple appears confident that it can develop a work around to the issue, either via an alliance with partners that have rights to the technology or by developing alternatives itself.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Baseball, Humor, iPad, iPhone, Lawsuit, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, Motorola, NHL Tagged With: , , , ,

Apple Still Red-Hot: Earnings Blow by Estimates as iPhones, iPad Sales Soar

April 24, 2012 by

By almost any metric you can use Apple had a stupendous quarter that ended March 31, 2012 with quarterly revenue of $39.2 billion and a net profit of $11.6 billion. Compare that to the same quarter the previous year’s numbers of revenue of $24.7 billion and net profits of $6 billion.

iPhone sales increased 88% over the same period a year ago, reaching 35.1 million units while iPad sales reached 11.8 million units in the past quarter, up 151% from the previous year. The company noted that it has sold 67 million iPads in two years.

Despite worries that iPad sales would cannibalize computer sales Macintosh computer sales rose 7% to 4 million units while iPod sales representing the one sour note with a drop of 15%, to 7.7 million units. The numbers were all well above Wall Street estimates.

The company promises that it will have a number of products delivered during the remainder of the year. The conference call is pretty interested and the Wall Street Journal has live blogged it so if you want to wander over and see how Apple execs are responding to the markets questions zoom on over.

The next few months ought to see the rumor mill go into overdrive on Apple. Never slow to begin with rumors already abound for next generation iPads and iPhones. People are not even talking about potential new computers that are likely with the new Intel processor family just released this week. It will make for fun trying to sort fact from wishful thinking.

But more that that it shows how well tablets can do when they are done right and expect a further frenzy on the part of developers to deliver an ‘iPad killer.’

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, iPad, iPhone, Tablets Tagged With: , ,

Denver Broncos the latest to jump onto iPad Playbook

April 24, 2012 by

The Denver Broncos have jettisoned its old time playbooks in favor of the bright new shiny iPad; 120 tablets in all which will feature Verizon Wireless 4G access and with most of the iPads top end models with 64GB, according to the Denver Post.

The team plans to load the iPads not only with the playbook but also with each weeks game plan, scouting reports on upcoming teams and video clips among other digital data. The system will be set up so that as new plays are developed they will be ‘pushed’ onto each tablet.

In the past the team had printed a 500 pound playbook each week of the season that contained much of the information, but the sheer mass made it very difficult to quickly locate different pieces of information.

The program was co designed by the Broncos and a developer named PlayerLync and among the program’s features is the ability to allow players and coaches to annotate and highlight plays as well as provide the team with playbook security by enabling it to erase the entire iPad remotely.

The team will provide the iPads to coaches, players, scouts and other team personnel. It should be noted that while the players and coaches can use the iPads for practice and training purposes the NFL does not allow electronic devices of this type to be on the field during games.

The league has relented somewhat in that in the past these notebooks and tablets had to be off in the locker room 90 minutes prior to kickoff, now that rule has been rescinded.

This is part of a growing trend in the NFL and elsewhere; teams have found that instead of cumbersome paper notebooks, sleek iPads or tablets can not only easily replace them but enhance the value of the digital playbooks by allowing for remote upgrades and player feedback.

At least nine NFL teams now use the iPad, with five, the Dallas Cowboys, St. Louis Rams, Seattle Seahawks, Indianapolis Colts, and Detroit Lions, signing on with Global Apptitude last month. MLB has also been increasingly active in this area as well.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Apple, Apps, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, iPad, Live sports via mobile, NFL, PlayerLync, Tablets Tagged With: , ,

No Surprise: PGA Sees Huge Leap in Online Video Consumption

April 17, 2012 by

Here at Mobile Sports Report we know that many of you like to watch golf online. We know that because basically anything we write about where to watch golf gets good traffic. Now the PGA has provided some facts to back up our observations: According to the PGA, viewership of its Live@ online live golf action coverage is up more than 100 percent compared to 2011, part of an overall traffic surge to the PGATour.com site.

Mobile app activity is also up by a triple-digit margin, thanks to the PGA’s excellent Android, iPhone and iPad apps. Some highlights from the press release:

• An all-time record quarter with more than 5.8 million average monthly unique users, up 40 percent vs. 2011.
• March 2012 set an all-time record with 7.5 million monthly unique users, an increase of 62 percent vs. March 2011.
• An increase of 105 percent for video consumption over last year.
• PGA TOUR mobile products have also seen triple digit growth (139 percent over last year).

Now what we need to see from the PGA is a more thorough and comprehensive online strategy — currently the tour only broadcasts select tournaments online — perhaps embracing the wonderful online coverage from the Masters and making that the PGA standard. An online fan can only hope.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Golf, iPad, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, PGA, Tablets, The Masters Tagged With: , ,

Did you know MLB has an App Game that Could Enable You to Win $5.6 Million?

April 17, 2012 by

A few weeks ago we looked at a number of apps that Major League Baseball has made available to fans, including the ever popular MLB.com AT Bat 12 as well as the recently released At the Ballpark, both of which have been very well received.

What I missed was the app Full Count that delivers streaming content and the fact that the game that fans can participate in to try and break Joe DiMaggio’s all-time consecutive hit streak is not only an app but has a $5.6 million prize, so a short comment on both is worthwhile.

Full Count is an app that was developed in conjunction with Yahoo! Sports and it provides a range of features including up to the minute player and team stats, scores, live look-ins at key plays and in-game progress video highlights.

A user can pause a video and rewind it if they so desire and they can follow an embedded twitter feed that includes ones from analysts, commentators and MLB.com insiders. The program is free and can be accessed on iPads, iPhones and on PCs. This looks to me like the second best thing to watching a game at work.

The second app is called MLB.com Beat the Streak presented by Scotts and it involves an effort by fans to participate, but that have the potential to win a $5.6 million grand prize. To play you pick one or two players from a list supplied by MLB on a daily basis. If your player gets a hit on the first day you have the start of a streak. You keep on selecting for as many days as your players keep you in the game, if you have a day with no hits you are set back to zero, but can start again.

There is no limit to how many times you select any individual player, and you can make selections up to 10 days in advance, a boon to those with weekend duties or travel obligations. The contest ends with the end of the 2012 regular season. The first to reach 57 consecutive games wins.

To play you need to register at www.mlb.com/bts or www.mlb.com/fantasy and then download the app, which is currently for iPhones, iPod Touch and iPads only.

This strikes me as a great way to keep fans not only engaged but actively following all players to ensure that they have a hot hand and pay attention to what pitchers their selected hitters will be facing.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Athlete to Follow, Baseball, Contests, Fantasy Sports, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Major League Baseball, Smartphone, Twitter, Yahoo Tagged With: ,
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