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Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Mashable to sell for $200 million?

March 12, 2012 by

TV makers missing the boat on apps?
The NY Times has a nice, short pierce on how other forms of streaming video are increasingly sidelining television viewing and that they need to add a greater degree of connectivity to compete with developments such as Apple TV and even smartphones. It asks some of the questions that likely be the basis of this conversation going forward.

How is Twitter’s Finances?
Gawker has come forth saying that the micro blogger’s revenue and profits are poor, based on leaked information that that site has received. Twitter has been pronouncing that it has seen an uptick in its performance but Gawker says otherwise.

It claims that in 2010 Twitter had total revenue of $28.5 million, a pretty good number for a startup until the fact that it had to spend three times that to earn the revenue and that for the year it reported a net loss of $67.8 million.

The company, which has 100 million active users, does not appear to have a comprehensive plan to maintain steady revenue, according to the article, which claims that it could be the greatest tech bust ever.

March Madness is here- so are the apps (for iPhones)
Appolicious has taken the time to track down and do a nice short write up on 5 apps that can help you track the tournament and follow your teams. They are both free and paid apps and cover just scores to ones that include analysis, news updates and bracket creators and tracking information.

Generation C?
Labeling generations seems to be an art, although I have always wondered why the first I had heard of was Generation X. I mean why start at the bottom of the alphabet? Well the good folks at Nielsen have come up with another, Generation C.

At least this one makes sense as the C stands for connected and its members are Americans in the 18-34 age group, or 23% of the overall population. Gen C make up 27% of online video viewers, 27% of those that visit social networking sites, represent 33% that own a tablet and 39% of the smartphone owners.

Mashable on the block?
Reuters is reporting that CNN is in talks to purchase social media news site Mashable for more than $200 million. Mashable covers a range of areas in the tech and social media sector including startup news and issues related to major players. CNN declined to comment.

One interesting aftereffect of the big Apple iPad announcement is that it seems to have unleashed a wave of rumors about pending rival products. While there is always talk about company A planning to do such and such with its next generation platform, it seems much more pronounce these days. Of course it could be that I am just now paying more attention, anyway here are a few of the more interesting ones.

Google and Asus to team on 7-inch Tablet?
DigiTimes is reporting that Google and Asus are teaming to deliver a 7-inch Android tablet that will be shipping in May. Targeted directly at the e-reader space that is currently dominated by two players, Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook the tablet is reported to be in the $199-$249 price range.

Padfone to ship in April?
It looks like Asus will be delivering its Padfone convertible next month, at least in select markets. I have to say that this is the device that I am very interested in getting my hands on. The reason is that the phone snaps into the tablet and the phones processor powers the entire device. This way a user can get a tablet with 3/4G without a separate contract, a major drawback on connecting tablets to digital networks.

The Padfone is a three piece product with the first being 4.3-inch smartphone designed for the Android 4.0 operating system powered by a Qualcomm 1.5GHz dual core processor. That can be inserted into the top of a 10.1-inch tablet, and there is a keyboard dock as well

This and that

Instagram looks to Android
Instagram is coming real soon to the Android. Founder Kevin Systrom showed, but did not give a full demo of the app at SXSW. The company said that it currently has 27 million users.

Some iPads will be late
Apple’s recently introduced iPad, set for delivery this Friday, will be missing in some areas due to an overwhelming demand for the product. The company said that it has sold out and that some buyers will have to wait as long as three weeks to get their orders.

Nvidia vs Apple Rd 1
Nvidia disputes Apple’s claim that the iPad is 2x faster than nVidia’s Tegra 3 processor. Its response can be boiled down to simply- let’s see the data. Wonder if this is the first shot in a benchmark war a la Intel/AMD from a decade ago?

Path now syncs with Nike +
For users of the iPhone app that makes a journal of your life for your friends it now enables you to share your workout stats using Nike’s Nike + technology, with more forthcoming when Nike releases the Nike + Fuelband product.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Barnes & Noble, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Live sports via mobile, NCAA Hoops, Smartphone, Tablets, The New York Times Tagged With: , , , ,

Toshiba Delivers Excite 10 LE Tablet as Market prepares for War

March 6, 2012 by

Today marks the official start of the ‘Is it an iPad killer’ season, spring edition. Toshiba has the honor of kicking off this event with the release today of its Excite 10 LE tablet, beating Apple’s latest iPad announcement by a day.

Now I do not believe that a tablet has to be an iPad killer, look at the success of both the Barnes & Noble Nook and the Amazon Kindle. Now some might argue that they are e-readers and not really tablets but so what? They found a market segment and are thriving.

There is undoubtedly a huge market segment that is currently underserved by the tablet market in the 10-inch space. Not because Apple’s iPad is not a great product but because not everyone wants an Apple iPad. Some want an Android; some may just not like Apple.

It does not really matter, the issue to date has been that no one has really tapped into that market successfully yet, but that day is nearing. Expect to start seeing available for purchase tablets that were announced last year, at this year’s CES and last weeks’ Mobile

Back to Toshiba, it has a stellar offering in its latest design, originally announced at CES, that at least of today is the lightest 10-inch tablet available and is available in two models starting at $530.

It features a backlit 10.1-inch color display with 1280 x 800 resolution made with Gorilla Glass to help prevent scratching. It is powered by a Texas Instruments 1.2GHz dual core OMAP 4430 processor and is only .3-inch thin (or 7.7mm) and weighs in at 1.2 pounds.

While it currently runs Android version 3.2 operating system the company has said that when Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) is available the tablet will be upgraded to that OS. The Wi-Fi enabled tablets are available in a 16GB version for $530 and the 32GB version for $600.

The tablets feature a 2MP front camera and a 5MP rear facing camera as well as featuring the ability to record 1080p video. It features a variety of interfaces including microUSB, microSD and HDMI ports. Toshiba said that the 10 LE will have an expected battery life of 8.5 hours.

It is interesting to see how much Toshiba has changed its design philosophy from its last generation Thrive models, which compare very poorly to the 10 LE. It is probably that the company simply rushed the delivery of the first generation and would have been better served to sit back and wait to deliver a better product and let others make the mistake in delivering poorly designed ones. Ah hindsight is such a wonderful thing.

Now that Toshiba is out, with the iPad tomorrow and a number of others expected in the following weeks the drum beat will start about iPad killers rather than asking the more important question of which tablet meets your price range and meets your usage needs.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Barnes & Noble, iPad, Kindle, Tablets, Toshiba, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , ,

Battle of the E-Reader Tablets: Nook vs Kindle Round II

February 22, 2012 by

Barnes & Noble has unveiled its next generation Nook tablet

Barnes & Noble, seeking to provide a much more cost effective product to the market, has released its next generation Nook e-reader that will feature 8GB of memory in a 7-inch format with a $199 price tag, significantly lower than its $249 previous offering.

The tablet will feature a 1020 by 600 pixel display, has 1GB of RAM and a 1GHz processor. It includes a microSD card slot that permits the user to add as much as 32GB of additional storage. It has a longer battery life than the earlier version, now running for 11.5 hours reading time or 9 hours viewing videos.

The specs are almost identical to that offered by rival Amazon in some of its Kindle models, which is obviously the player that the Nook is targeted at, but could also erode sales of the company’s Nook Color, which is also very similar. That could be why at the same time as the rollout Barnes & Noble cut the price of its Nook Color, which had been priced at $199, down to $169.

Amazon’s Kindle, driven by the Kindle Fire has been a runaway best seller for the company and has propelled that platform into the second spot in the overall tablet space. Barnes & Noble is generally viewed as the 4th place device manufacturer, but had very strong sales during the holidays, so much so that the company has talked about possibly spinning off the tablet group as a wholly owned subsidiary.

Others not idle

At the same time Research-in-Motion, struggling to make inroads in the tablet space after the poor reception of its initial offering has released the BlackBerry OS 2.0 for its PlayBook tablet. The updated OS includes a greater degree of integration with social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

More importantly it also addresses some of the major deficits that the original version contains including a native calendar, contact and messaging apps. The company also said that there is a growing number of apps in its BlackBerry App World site for the PlayBook.

Tablet market leader Apple is expected to revamp its lineup with the iPad 3 on March 7th, as you may have read, well everywhere. Since it is the market leader it almost inevitably it gets compared to every other offering in the tablet space I believe that the Kindles and Nooks of the world serve a slightly different market.

There is of course overlap, but most users that I know with an e-reader use it for only that, and that is all they want. 10-inch tablet users are often looking for a great deal more in terms of function and applications, a reason that probably helped lead to the poor reception of the initial PlayBook, for instance.

Filed Under: Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Facebook, iPad, Kindle, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Mobile World Congress is Coming!

February 13, 2012 by

LG is touting a new phone that it will debut at the Mobile World Congress as a “revolutionary smartphone.” According to Pocketnow there should be some very interesting features in the phone starting with the LG X3 which will be its flagship Android smartphone.

Another offering expected at the show from LG is the LG CX2, a follow-up product to its Optimus 3D. This phone is expected to feature a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, NOVA autostereoscopic display for glasses-free 3D, 8GB storage standard as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities.

Acer preps CloudMobile for show
Acer is showing its CloudMobile smartphone in advance of the MWC trade show in Barcelona at the end of the month. The company is being very clever in its leak, giving base information but not enough details so that when it officially shows the phone for the first time the public will not already know the details, according to Pocket-lint.

What is expected is a smartphone that features a 4.3-inch HD display, Dolby sound and will be running Android 4.0 when it ships in the second half of this year. A key attribute of the phone will be the integration with AcerCloud technology that offers, among other things, unlimited web-based storage.

The Motorola/Google deal expected to get EU approval
Following on last week’s rumors that the $12.5B acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Google was going to get the thumbs up from the U.S. Justice Department comes word that it is expected to get the OK from EU authorities as well.

According to sources the deal should go through with little or no alterations despite the fact that there were a number of objections filed, including one by a US-based consumer protection group.

Can Google Wallet be picked?
Unfortunately the answer looks to be yes. While hacking the wallet is not easy it can be done according to researchers, who have outlined how to do it for those so inclined. What is frightening is that simultaneously with the researchers posting their findings another blog reported a much easier manner to get access.

The part that should make users nervous is that to hack the wallet might not require extra software, root access, or pretty much any deep-seated hacking skills. Head over to Cnet to see why you might need to be more than a tad concerned.
The Patent Wars

Apple tries new angle in latest suit
Apple has filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent Motorola Mobility from asserting patents against Apple in a lawsuit being heard in Germany. Apple claims that Motorola’s efforts violate its patent licensing agreement with Qualcomm.

The gist of the suit, reported by Reuters, is that Apple believes that as a Qualcomm customer it is a beneficiary of the third party agreement between Motorola and Qualcomm and that under that agreement Motorola cannot assert these patents against Apple.

Apple vs Samsung-The latest Round
Apple continues to go after Samsung and has now filed another injunction to halt sales of a Samsung product. The latest product to be targeted by Apple is Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone, as reported by PC Advisor.

In the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Apple is seeking a preliminary injunction that bans the sales of the phone in the US while its case that Samsung is violating four of Apple’s patents is heading through the court system.

Apple claims that “”The smartphone market is at a critical juncture, as the overwhelming majority of consumers move to smartphones, and the consumers’ long-term preferences and purchases may be determined to a great extent by the operating system on their first smartphone.”

This and that

Electronista is reporting that a leaked presentation from USA Todaybreaks down mobile downloads by platform and that iPad users dominate at a 7x rate over Android and other users. Apple’s download lead in smartphones is significantly smaller.

Kindle Fire to burn larger?
A report is now coming out that says to expect a 9-inch Kindle Fire by mid-year, a move that could drive sales from an estimated 12.7 million in 2012 to 14.9 million, according to the analyst.

Samsung and Apple own smartphone profits
Wealth management firm Canaccord Genuity has reported that between Apple and Samsung they garner 95% of all of the profits in the smartphone space with Apple owning a lion’s share of 80%.

New iPad in first week of March
A variety of sources have narrowed down the release date for the forthcoming Apple iPad 3 to the first week in March — we will see I guess.

The Air Force about to make one tablet maker very happy
US Air Force’s Air Mobility Command is planning on purchasing somewhere between 63 and 18,000 tablets of as of now unknown manufacturing origins. They are seeking to replace the pilot and navigator bags that can weigh as much as 40 pounds. Currently it looks as if the iPad 2 is in the lead for the deal.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Kindle, Motorola, Samsung, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Does Facebook make no Money on Mobile?

February 3, 2012 by


Is a patent war in Google’s future?

No not the one with Apple that it appears to be fighting by proxy but rather one where it uses the patents it will acquire in its Motorola Mobility acquisition. The Guardian puts forward a well reasoned piece that strongly suggests that this is the only way that the company can recoup its $12.5bn investment.

The most recent financial statement from Motorola shows that it will have a negative effect on Google’s results, possibly dropping earnings per share by as much as one third. Google has long stated that one of its goals in the purchase will be the patents, and it seems that since it is already using Motorola as a tool in its on going war with Apple over patents, it now will take it to a new level.

But it is also likely that it will be more aggressive in using the patents overall, possibly to exert more control over Android handset makers and their software. The one company that could be harmed by this approach might be Amazon whose Kindle uses a basic version of Android but with all of the other Google features such as Gmail stripped out so that a user would barely know what OS it is running.


Amazon’s Kindle sales triple in last quarter
Amazon’s revenue grew 35% in its just concluded fourth quarter, reaching $17.4 billion and said that the sales of its Kindle eReaders tripled in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, 2011, but did not disclose the exact number sold.

However the sales growth did not meet analysts’ expectations and the company said that net income dropped significantly, down to $177 million, a 57% decline from the same period a year before. Part of the issue was a huge investment into expanding its sales fulfillment centers, a move it said will help grow the business in the long run.

For the current quarter it is predicting sales of between $12 billion to $13.4 billion and that it could post an operating loss of as much as $200 million to a profit of $100 million

Turner Broadcasting System and Intel Capital invest in iStreamPlanet’s Series A
iStreamPlanet has closed its Series A funding round with both Intel Capital and Turner Broadcasting Systems participating in the round. The amount of funding was not disclosed. iStreamPlanet develops automated video workflow technology.

Turner has already worked with iStreamPlanet in the past on a variety of live sports broadcasts going as far back as the 2010 NASCAR Coca Cola 400 at Daytona Speedway. Other events that iStreamPlanet has helped broadcast include the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, NBC Sports’ Sunday Night Football and the Championships at Wimbledon, along with the US Open Golf, Notre Dame College Football, Ryder Cup and the Kentucky Derby.

Aside from automated video workflow technology the company also has multi-screen technology as well as cross platform ad insertion capabilities.

Will BCS move games to campuses in 2014?
That is what is being reported as a possibility by Brett McMurphy over at CBSSports. He said that at least on athletic director has proposed moving many Bowl games onto school’s campuses rater than at the neutral sites where they are played today.

The new cycle of BCS begins in 2014 which is the earliest that the change could most likely occur. One of the driving forces behind the idea is the poor attendance that many of these Bowls and would call for on-campus games after the top 16 games are filled. Also under consideration would be requiring a minimum of seven wins to be bowl eligible.

Facebook revenue absent in the mobile space
As Facebook opens its books in advance of its $5 billion IPO a number of interesting facts have emerged about the company. It has obviously seen very strong growth since its inception and now has $3.7 billion in revenue.

Oddly enough none of this revenue, zero, comes from the mobile users of the social media. With 425 million of its 845 million users accessing the site via a mobile device this is astounding. However it shows that there is huge room for revenue growth for the company.

As reported at Forbes, Facebook said that it is devoting substantial resources to expanding its platform in the mobile space and seeks to create engaging mobile products. The company said that it anticipates mobile users’ rate growth to outpace its overall growth rate.

Feds keep pressure on illegal Super Bowl streamers
For the second year in a row the US Government has cracked down on a number of sites that provide sports streaming and has taken control of their domain names. Users heading to those sites will get a redirect notice from the DOJ/ICE.

Among the sites included are Firstrowsports.tv, Firstrowsports.com and Soccertvlive.net. and as reported by Torrent Freak this is the second time around for the Feds to shut down sports streaming sites just prior to the Super Bowl, although some sites are already back up under slightly different incarnations.

The shutdown struck at least 307 domain names and the effort was called ‘Operation Fake Sweep’ with the bulk of the sites charged with selling fake NFL merchandise and only 16 for illegally streaming sports video.

AMD to enter tablet and Ultrabook space
AMD introduced analysts at its annual meeting to its newest processor roadmap that will include a pair of low powered chips that will target the tablet space and showed an Ultrabook design that looks to undercut Intel’s offerings in hat space.

According to EETimes coverage of the event AMD has added Hondo, a 40 nm processor for tablets due this year and plans to follow up with Temash, a 28 nm chip next year. The company has been slow to enter this space but its rivals here are more from ARM-based chips and the OMAP processors from Texas Instruments, Intel has been slow to make headway in this area as well.

AMD showed an Ultrabook that was developed by Taiwanese company Compal using AMD’s Trinity chip in a thin an ultrabook reference design made by Taiwan’s Compal. It said that the computer could have a $599 price tag, possibly starting a price war with developers using Intel’s developers ultrabooks.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, BCS, Intel Capital, Kindle, Motorola, Super Bowl, Tablets, Turner Sports Tagged With: , , , , ,

Idolian Develops sub-$100 Tablet that Targets Kindle Fire

January 27, 2012 by

Idolian, a telecommunications firm in Newport Beach, Calif., has entered into the 7-inch form factor tablet space with its IdolPad, a product it touts as being a viable product for both consumers and small businesses.

The IdolPad will be used to anchor the entry level position in the company’s expanding lineup of tables, which now feature eight separate models and top out with the high end TouchTab 10, with its 10-inch display. The IdolPad sells for $99.99, getting under $100 by the thinnest of margins.

The IdolPad is powered by a 1GHz Cortex 9 CPU with 512MB of RAM and runs on the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system. It has a 7-inch multi touch resistant screen with 400 x 800 resolution and comes with a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera.

It ships with a 4GB hard drive and can support up to a 32GB microSD expansion card. It ships with Wi-Fi but no Bluetooth support and the company claims that it has a 4-6 hour battery life and supports HDMI 1080 resolution.

With the ability to serve as an e-reader, stream NetFlix or be used as a Skype device Idolian is positioning the IdolPad as an alternative to the much better known and wildly popular Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook lineups.

With no hands on experience it is hard to give an accurate impression of the device but it supports color and as a lower cost rival to the $199 Kindle Fire it could be very viable. It does essentially the same things, but features an unaltered version of Android, which the Kindle does not.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Barnes & Noble, Kindle, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,
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