Android Tablets gain popularity among App Developers

By Silicon India

Android tablets seem to top the developers' priority list, according to a recently done survey. The survey shows that the developers and businesses are likely to triple their efforts in the field of application development. The popularity of mobile applications appears to be fading away with the interest shifting to Android tablets after iPhones and iPads. Even the small businesses are getting in the race by changing their strategies on mobile application so as to deal with the current trend.

The most interesting and surprising figure out of the Appcelerator and IDC Survey came from the responses on Android tablets. The tablet showed a huge leap with 74 percent developers being 'very interested' and picking up 12 points. On the other hand, Apple iPads gained only 3 percentage points.

Though Honeycomb, was considered as the key factor leading to the attraction towards Android tablets, it came fourth in the list. The survey showed price as the main reason for the tablets' increasing popularity. Price seems to be capable of deciding market share as according to developers it might be used to gain an edge over competitors.

The success of Android smart phones has also contributed in tablets' popularity among Developers as they are of the opinion that their knowledge in generating phone apps can help then in creating tablet programs.

Apart from Android smart phones, the success of Android market as a whole also increases their interests in the tablets. Many are looking forward to the upcoming Amazon's store of Android app, 8-in 10 were interested in distributing the apps in e-market and 37 percent were even eager to try the Amazon when it launches.

This survey which was conducted two weeks ago, also shows that 92 percent of the developers surveyed were 'very interested' in creating iPhone applications. However, 87 percent of the participants responded similarly for the Android based smart phones, which is a five point jump from the last survey done 3 months ago.

The survey polled more then 2, 200 Appcelerator Titanium developers. They were surveyed on topics catering to mobile development plans, mobile Operating System priorities and feature priorities in 2011.

Apple adding mobile wallet services to iPhone and iPad

By fiercemobile
Apple will embed Near Field Communications-based mobile payment services into the next iteration of its iPhone and iPad devices, enabling consumers to make retail purchases by swiping their smartphone or tablet in front of a point-of-sale digital reader unit. Citing sources including Richard Doherty, director of consulting firm Envisioneering Group, Bloomberg reports that Apple engineers are presently at work on the m-payment initiative; Crone Consulting founder and CEO Richard Crone adds the service likely will leverage Apple customer information already on file, e.g. credit card account numbers, iTunes gift card balances and bank data.
At present, Apple pays credit card processing fees on all iTunes and App Store purchases. By introducing payment services that directly tap customer bank accounts (a la PayPal), Apple could reduce its own costs and enable its partners to trim their prices of their respective products and services. Doherty adds the mobile payment service, slated to go live in mid-2011, will also introduce a loyalty points program--moreover, Apple is considering heavily subsidizing or even giving away payment terminal hardware to small businesses in an effort to accelerate the expansion of NFC technology. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
Apple's decision to embrace NFC is not unexpected. In August 2010, the computing giant named Benjamin Vigier product manager of its mobile commerce unit--Vigier previously served as product manager for mobile wallet, payment and NFC services at mobile financial solutions provider mFoundry, overseeing m-commerce initiatives for clients including PayPal and Starbucks. Prior to mFoundry, he led m-commerce and NFC efforts at flash memory manufacturer Sandisk and French operator Bouyges Telecom. From a competitive standpoint, Apple must also keep pace with archrival Google Version 2.3 of its Android mobile operating system supports NFC, with some future Android devices slated to contain chips enabling users to "bump" their phone against participating retailers' point-of-sale system, funding purchases without cash or credit. Google adds it will leverage the bump solution to enable consumers to touch Android smartphones together to share information or data.
Some insiders speculate Apple's move into NFC technologies encompasses more than payment services--buzz indicates Apple is plotting an NFC-enabled remote computing solution allowing users to wave their iPhone at any compatible Mac, loading all their personal applications, data and settings from the smartphone to the desktop. In effect, any Mac would mirror the user's own, with the original settings restored when the individual moves out of range. Look for Apple to unveil other proximity-based innovations as well.
In November, Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile USA announced plans to jointly launch Isis, a nationwide mobile commerce network enabling consumers to make point-of-sale purchases via mobile device. Isis CEO Michael Abbott--a financial services veteran most recently with GE Capital--said the ultimate goal is the development of a mobile wallet solution that effectively renders obsolete cash, credit and debit cards, loyalty cards, coupons, tickets and transit passes.
Isis plans to introduce NFC payment services in key geographic markets within the next 18 months, partnering with Discover Financial Services to build the necessary mobile payment structure. Discover Financial Services' payment network is accepted at over 7 million merchant locations nationwide. Isis adds that Barclaycard US is expected to be the first issuer on the network, offering multiple mobile payment products.

Apple Brings the App Store to Twitter

Apple has launched @AppStore, a new Twitter account for its popular iOS and Mac App Store.
The new @AppStore Twitter account only made its debut a few hours ago, but it has already amassed more than 35,000 Twitter followers as of this writing. For comparison, its sister account, @iTunesMusic, has more than 680,000 followers.
As the accounts first tweet explains, @AppStore will feature new apps in Apple’s iOS and Mac App Stores and provide exclusive offers for Twitter users. For example, the account’s second tweet provided a quick pitch and a link to Nike’s Training Club app.
Creating a Twitter account for the App Store seems like a simple and effective way to generate more buzz and more downloads about featured apps. It’s essentially the same thing Apple has been doing with its App Store Facebook Page, which has nearly 1 million fans. Apple also has five popular iTunes Twitter accounts tweeting about new films, music and TV shows.
Still, Apple is known for its lack of engagement in social media. The company doesn’t have official Facebook or Twitter accounts. While the @AppStore account is a refreshing addition to Apple’s social media roster, don’t expect Steve Jobs, Tim Cook or Apple, Inc. to be tweeting anytime soon.

How people tweet [infographic]

By GuyKawasaki

Why Mobile Shopping Could Be As Big As Online Shopping

Although few consumers make purchases using their phones, smartphones are playing a critical role in purchasing decisions, according to a study released by ForeSee Results on Monday.
The study, which surveyed 10,000 visitors to top e-retailer sites, found that 11% of them made a purchase using their phones this holiday season, compared to only 2% at the same time last year.
Thirty percent of visitors, however, used their phones to compare product details, look up prices, or find store locations. In 2009, only 11% of consumers surveyed said they used their phones to do this kind of research. Shoppers who were highly satisfied with a retailer’s mobile experience were 30% more likely to buy from that retailer both online and offline.
Mobile’s role in retail today has many parallels to the Internet's role in retail when online shopping was in its infancy. About three years after Amazon (1995) and eBay (1996) launched, estimated online sales totaled $6.1 billion — only 0.2% of total retail – according to a Gartner Survey quoted in a Time Magazine cover story that ran that year.
As the study suggests is the case with mobile users, many Internet users started making relationships with retailers online long before they purchased from them there. In 2000, a Pew Internet survey found that while 46% of surveyed Internet users had made a purchase online, 73% had used the Internet to research a product. Even so, forecasts in the early years of online shopping estimated as much as a 233% increase over two years.
The future looks similarly bright for mobile shopping. eBay reported that mobile shopping on its app increased 134% this holiday season, and Amazon is bringing in $1 billion annually from mobile sales. A report by ABI Research found that mobile online shopping in the United States rose from $396 million in 2008 to $1.2 billion in 2009. The same survey predicted that mobile would bring in $119 billion by 2015.
That’s not to say that mobile commerce doesn’t face some significant obstacles in becoming mainstream. A 2009 survey put smartphone penetration at about 17% in the United States. That still leaves out a lot of potential customers. But so did Internet access before it became nearly ubiquitous.
“I question if it’ll ever be big,” one man told the Time Magazine article’s authors about online shopping in 1998.
As online retailers brought in more than $1 billion on last Cyber Monday alone, this comment sounds a bit silly today.
While smartphone penetration is still low, smartphone sales are soaring. Might mobile retailers one day have similarly smug feelings toward today’s critics of mobile commerce?

All iPhones Will Get The Mobile Hotspot Feature This March

By BusinessInsider

All iPhones will get the mobile hotspot feature hyped at yesterday's Verizon iPhone announcement, Boy Genius reports.

The feature will be part of the next iOS update, 4.3, and will most likely require carrier support to use.

Boy Genius's source says the update is due in March.

We already know Verizon plans on taking advantage of this feature.

AT&T said yesterday they are evaluating the hotspot for their subscribers.

There's still no word from Verizon about how much the hotspot feature will cost, but the carrier does charge $20 per month for 2 GB of data on other phones.

Three New Technology Stocks That Will Skyrocket This Year Thanks To Mobile Commerce

By BusinessInsider

Technology is in a sweet spot where new products are being introduced with incredible frequency. From an investment standpoint this is fantastic. There is no longer a decade between significant or disruptive new technology themes; now we are presented with new investments ideas every 12-24 months.

This is a direct consequence of fundamental advancements in the technology itself. Computer simulation and modeling software, rapid prototyping along with other advancements of product development have hyper charged product introduction timelines. 

When I started researching companies it was often easy to get excited about a technology that may not make a meaningful impact for years to come. In spite of significant prospects anticipated, the stocks would languish for extended periods, messing with my need for immediate gratification, and, worse, tying up capital in nonperforming assets. Oh opportunity costs!

Currently, new technology products appear offering tremendous investment opportunity with great regularity. The most recent theme to pique my interest is mobile commerce. I have identified three names you may not be aware of that are well positioned to benefit.

The Mobile Wallet

We are headed for a cashless society. The majority of daily bill paying transactions have already moved to the Internet and it is a major convenience. It only makes sense that the final step in the transition to a truly digital society is the point of sale (POS) transaction.

To a large extent this has already occurred with credit and debit cards but to make this entire process seamless all those functions are about to be incorporated into your mobile device. A short range communication technology called Near Field Communications (NFC) will facilitate more sophisticated transactional capabilities between mobile devices and POS terminals/receivers.

The transaction market is very lucrative for the companies that offer consumers payment services. VISA (V) and MasterCard (MA) have developed into financial behemoths facilitating credit and debit card transactions for consumers. Now everyone is vying for a piece of the new NFC wireless transaction pie.

Visa is developing applications for NFC-enabled wireless payments using enhanced memory cards. MasterCard is beginning to offer its PayPass service for NFC-enabled phones. Wireless providers AT&T (T) and Verizon(VZ) are teaming up with Discover Card to compete with Visa and MasterCard and Google (GOOG)and Apple (AAPL)are also rumored to be getting in on the competition as well. Here are small cap companies that should benefit from these developments.

The Transaction

On Track Innovations(OTI) (OTIV) is a global leader in contactless smart card solutions for homeland security, payments, electronic passports, national IDs, petroleum payments and other applications. From the company’s website:

OTI’s technology offers commercially available, field-proven, contactless solutions, based on OTI’s significant patents and intellectual property covering the entire value chain, including manufacturing techniques, product design and applications. OTI delivers cards, readers, operating systems and complete solutions that are scalable, offering high functionality, security and flexibility.

OTI supplies key components to contactless payments programs developed by the major card associations – MasterCard’s PayPass, Visa PayWave, Discover Zip and ExpressPay from American Express. OTI supplied solutions for more than 20 million cards and 130,000 readers in projects around world in support the MasterCard and Visa’s global contactless EMV applications and the US market.

The company recently released a new NFC product called COPNI(TM) (Contactless Payment and NFC Insert) for mobile phones that attaches to the existing SIM card and enables mobile wallet solutions including secure NFC transactions. OTI indicates in the associated press release that it is already in advanced discussions with several mobile operators and thatCOPNI supports existing contactless payment applications from major card associations, mass transit ticketing (with MIFARE support) as well as loyalty programs and other proprietary programs.

The company has exposure to a variety of other interesting secure wireless microprocessor based markets as well as mobile wallets. These include parking payment solutions, Secure ID and petroleum payment solutions. All of these markets offer growth opportunities for OTI. In the most recent quarter the company reported nine month GAAP profitability on 93% revenue growth to $43.6 million. The balance sheet is solid and projections for next year are for full year profitability on revenues of $60 million. With a market valuation of just over $80 million and 54% gross margins any increased revenue derived from NFC should significantly drive bottom line profitability. If NFC takes off like the big players in the space are betting OTI’s shares should take off as well.

Enhanced Digital Marketing

Once retailers have consumers using mobile wallets on their phones all efforts will be focused on exploiting new marketing capabilities. If consumers can transact instantly, companies will attempt to capitalize by tying online commerce and promotions into traditional commerce and marketing. Businesses can now embed additional complementary online information/marketing in traditional advertising and environments to expand a consumer’s purchasing options. One way to do this is with digital watermarking technologies and one of the leaders in the space is Digimarc (DMRC).

From the company’s website:

Link from Print-to-Web

Digimarc technology can transform print ads, posters, product packaging and more into an interactive media using a mobile phone. Consumers can use the handheld devices they use daily to instantly read the watermark in printed images, logos and other graphic elements and automatically connect to additional information on the product or service. The watermark includes a digital identifier that links to a database to enable any number of different actions — communicate pricing and where to buy locations, provide information on complementary products, engage the consumer in an interactive contest or game, or complete the sale by linking to the company’s web site.

This is just one aspect of my thesis on Digimarc as a strong new technology investment. Digital Watermarking has many applications in a digital economy beyond embedding additional information in print and other media. Digital watermarking is a critical technology for securing and tracking online content. As content continues to shift to the net and P2P sharing of media overwhelms conventional outlets like Apple’s (AAPL) Itunes and Netflix (NFLX), securing and tracking usage of digital properties like film and music and software becomes critical to protecting ownership and compensation. Digital Watermarking offers a compelling solution and company’s like Neilson are already using Digimarc’s technology to track online content usage.

Digimarc is a leader in the space with over 600 patents and partnerships with leading media companies like Nielson, Adobe and Thomson. Digimarc was profitable in the most recent quarter and is projected to be profitable for full year 2011. The company has over $40 million in cash and no debt. With a market cap below $300 million this new technology leader is blazing new trails in tracking and securing content usage and adding expanded content offerings to traditional media and commerce. Digimarc looks like a nice acquisition candidate for a large technology/security company and a company that can grow on its own merits into a much larger technology leader in the new digital economy.

Securing the Transaction

One obvious issue arising from the transition to mobile commerce is security. We have discussed securing content and the wireless transmission of the transaction between device and receiver but now we need to secure the consumer. This is where I am looking to biometrics; Authentec (AUTH) offers the smallest fingerprint reader with navigation capabilities for mobile devices. This is one of the last public biometric security companies left after recent acquisitions of both L1 Identity (ID) and Cogent (COGT) both at significantly higher valuations.

Authentec has lagged in the past but I believe this is about to change. The majority of commercial activity in the biometric space to this point has been large scale commercial or government deployments for securing agencies or organizations. The consumer market for these devices has been negligible. Now that is about to change as the consumer is faced with new options like mobile wallets in cell phones that require an added layer of security. This is where Authentec is well positioned.

Analysts believe revenues will grow 55% next year to about $70 million. Management has already indicated it expects momentum to build in 2011 as design wins start to come to fruition. Being one of the last independent publicly traded biometric companies, with strong projected growth, it may not stay independent for long. Either way the need to secure new NFC enabled mobile devices for consumer transactions should drive growth for Authentec and the share price significantly higher.

Mobile Broadband Will Hit 1 Billion Users In 2011

By BusinessInsider

Most exciting news of the day? Mobile broadband will hit 1 billion users, says Ericsson. (Reuters) It's pretty exciting. It's also huge.

This is huge for several reasons:

• It's obviously a huge opportunity for plenty of mobile startups and services. Think of Foursquare and other mobile social networking apps, Twitter, news and more. Think of how price comparison apps are going to change retail.
  
• Mobile broadband is growing faster than anything we've ever seen. Mobile is growing faster than the old dialup internet or broadband internet. Mobile is personal for consumers, which means adoption is faster and deeper.
  
• Mobile broadband now means the full internet. Thanks to the iPhone and Android (and other mobile platforms following in their wake), the mobile internet is going to be as good as the full internet -- perhaps even better, with HTML5 and apps.
  
• Mobile is the future. Plenty of countries are leapfrogging the fixed internet and going full mobile. If you want to see the future of mobile and the internet, you have to read up on Africa. In many sub-Saharan African countries, but also in many other developing countries, people use mobile phones for payments, news, social networking, listings, etc. Mobile is also the future of web design. 

iPhone Faceoff: AT&T vs. Verizon

By Mashable

Now that the Verizon iPhone is official, U.S. smartphone users have an additional choice of carrier when it comes to picking up Apple’s smartphone.

The Verizon iPhone will be available on February 10, 2011. Spec wise, this phone is virtually identical to its AT&T brother, but the difference in network technologies means that there are a few differences in what the phone can do.

We know that a lot of users are going to want to know how the AT&T iPhone compares to the Verizon iPhone. That’s why we created this infographic highlighting the various differences.

Verizon wouldn’t get into specifics on pricing plans, so for the data plan, we just used its existing smartphone rates. It also isn’t clear if Verizon will be charging for hotspot access on the iPhone (as it does with some of its handsets) or if it will be a free feature.

As you can see, the big difference — aside from carrier quality — is that the AT&T iPhone can use a simultaneous voice and data connection, meaning you can talk on the phone while tethering or browsing the web. Verizon’s CDMA network doesn’t allow for this sort of simultaneous connectivity, so keep that in mind (if you are an existing AT&T customer) before making the switch.

CES Tablet Extravaganza: Motorola, RIM, Toshiba & Asus Stand Out

By InformationWeek

The tablet tease is finally over. Even if nothing new has shipped, if pricing and availability have yet to be revealed, if mobile operators are still being courted, and if a viable underlying tablet platform (besides iOS) has yet to be made available, there is little left to learn, other than the answer to that pesky question about which device will dare challenge Apple's relentless success, or at least emerge as the leading also-ran. Motorola is the early favorite, but there are equally compelling competitors, including Asus, Toshiba and RIM; and a few cool twists, like dual-screen devices, slide-out keyboards, and 4G connectivity.

Most new tablets will run Android, but since Google hasn't shipped version 3.0 (aka Honeycomb) -- the version that promises a better tablet experience -- it's best to focus on hardware. The iPad exceeded consumer expectations despite plenty of griping about what else should have been possible (like cameras). Almost a year in and there's no sign the device is wearing around the edges. But the next wave of tablets does offer significant hardware improvement: dual-core processors (1 GHz), both front and rear-facing cameras (the latter at 5 megapixels; 2 megapixels for the former), 1GB of RAM and at least 16GB of storage (how useful more storage will be in a web application world can be our next debate), USB (mini and regular) and mini HDMI (for video out). Hold out for everything.

Size matters. Certainly content consumption is possible -- even acceptable -- at seven inches, which fits even the smallest hand. Ten inches is better where web browsing and video viewing is constant. We saw 8 and 12 inch devices as well. But size comes down to buyer preference. It's also likely that Honeycomb will allow developers to detect and adjust for screen size and resolution.

None of the newly-announced devices ship now; some don't even exist. Most will wait for Honeycomb. Buyers would be wise to do the same (and wait for whatever Apple has next). It wouldn't hurt to take a closer look at RIM, whose seven-inch PlayBook is likely a prelude to other form factors (video demonstration below); nor would it hurt to hear what HP (Palm) is expected to unveil next month.

The Clones

Beyond that, buying a tablet is going to be like buying a PC: brand preference will matter, and feature differences will seem insignificant. Price will factor heavily.

Motorola Xoom. Motorola is regaining its footing with a slew of popular Android phones, and that momentum has carried over into Xoom, its new tablet. That's great news for Motorola, and certainly itsoffering is plenty packed with all the right hardware, although the 512MB of RAM is half of what most of the other devices carry -- indeed, half of what Motorola's new 4G phone will provide. Motorola was the only company with an early build of Honeycomb -- a somewhat meaningless achievement, unless garnering headlines or being "first" matters that much. By the time all of the latest tablets actually start to ship, Honeycomb will be shipping and all of the tablets will run it.

That the Xoom is upgradeable to 4G (in Q2) is compelling, but the rest of what it offers depends on Honeycomb -- the 3D Maps, the video chat, and the ability to create your own widgets, for example. Motorola was only demonstrating a pre-recorded video of Honeycomb, anyway.

Motorola also demonstrated its Atrix "virtual laptop" (a laptop dock, which the company calls a "webtop") powered by the company's new Atrix 4G phone; if the Xoom can also power the Webtop, the role of the laptop could well become scrutinized, especially considering that you can run virtual sessions using a Citrix Receiver client. Others are also offering the laptop/docking functionality.

BlackBerry tablet will be a winner: Market analysts

By SiliconIndia

Toronto: With its monopoly in the business handset market under onslaught from Google's Android devices and Apple's iPhone, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has now shifted its focus entirely to its tablet Playbook.

In the projected 55-million tablet market this year with iPad in the clear lead, RIM is trying "everything right first time" before it launches the tablet in March, according to market analysts.

Accordingly, at the just concluded Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the top Canadian technology company went out its way to show how PlayBook stacks against the pack of tablets - many yet to be unveiled.

Through hands-on demonstrations, RIM took pot shots at rivals by showing how PlayBook will be unbeatable in terms of the multitasking capabilities and versatility of its Web browser vis-a-vis Apple and Android tablets.

The demonstrations tried to highlight how PlayBook browser is built on open Web standards and thus supports Flash which Apple's iPad does not, and how PlayBook is capable of simultaneously running Flash browsing, desktop applications, 1080p video games, mobile desktop, 3D games and apps.

While almost all tablets from major players run Android operating system - barring Apple's iPad which runs on Apple's own operating system, BlackBerry maker's PlayBook uses a new powerful QNX operating system which RIM specifically bought only for its tablet.

Technology analysts say these features give unique advantages to PlayBook against the rival tablets.

To target its BlackBerry-totting business and corporate subscribers, RIM has also integrated PlayBook with its smart phone through BlackBerry Bridge.

At 7-inch compared to the iPad which measures 11 inches, PlayBook will a lot more easy carry around on business trips. RIM has also not ruled out with bigger versions later on.

While the PlayBook Wi-Fi version hits the market in March, the 3G/4G wireless version will come in the summer.

With RIM's future so much hinging on its tablet, Mike Abramsky of Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets in Toronto says multi-tasking, power and apps will definitely make PlayBook a winner in the fast crowding tablet market.

"Some aspects of PlayBook ( such as apps) are being polished; however, RIM appears determined to get PlayBook right out of the gate, including competitive battery life (via power management from its QNX-based OS," he was quoted as saying in the local media.

With iPad selling more than seven million units since April, RIM has priced Playbook at $500 to cut into Apple sales.

Smart Phones and Tablet sales to rise and PC and Mobile sales likely to fall

By SiliconIndia

Bangalore: Arrival of the new technologies seem to be surpassing the existing ones prominently. In the past PC made the way for laptops and sale of landline phones got affected because of the telecom industry getting captured by mobile phones. Nobody knew that even they were not here to stay for a long duration. According to the survey conducted by Accenture, rate of
"The research findings raise the question as to whether, in the long run, desktop and laptop PCs at home will be increasingly replaced by a group of newer technology alternatives such as tablet computers, notebooks, Smartphone and e-book readers," Mark Joseph, Senior Executive with Accenture's Electronics & High-Tech Practice, South Africa said. He maintains that if we go by unit sales then computer still remains the biggest giant among all the other technologies. 93 percent of the respondents for the survey own PCs. If the growth rate is seen then sale of PC has reached its saturation and might get diminished in the long run.

3D TVs, tablet computers, e-book readers and Smartphone are expected to gain hike by 500 percent, 160 percent, 133 percent and 26 percent respectively in the coming year. Survey was conducted in eight countries and focused on the usage and the money being spent on the tech products among 8,000 consumers. Countries include both emerging markets and developing economies: Brazil, India, China, Russia, France, Germany, Japan and the United States.

Research also highlight the usage of tablet PCs for the works that were earlier done on desktops. Usage of basic mobile handsets dropping from 79percent in 2009 to 65percent in 2010. Same period saw the intrusion of Smartphone in the mobile world and the sale went up by 32percent. According to the survey respondents Smartphone becomes a natural choice because it enables them to surf net while basic phones doesn't have features other then voice capability.

On the other hand Google said that it expects the rates that companies pay for search ads on mobile phones could surpass the rates of its existing PC-based ad business, thanks to the growing popularity of powerful Smartphone. They noted that the number of Google searches on mobile phones have increased five-fold in the last two years. 

BlackBerry tablet will be a winner: Market analysts

By SiliconIndia

Toronto: With its monopoly in the business handset market under onslaught from Google's Android devices and Apple's iPhone, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has now shifted its focus entirely to its tablet Playbook.

In the projected 55-million tablet market this year with iPad in the clear lead, RIM is trying "everything right first time" before it launches the tablet in March, according to market analysts.

Accordingly, at the just concluded Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the top Canadian technology company went out its way to show how PlayBook stacks against the pack of tablets - many yet to be unveiled.

Through hands-on demonstrations, RIM took pot shots at rivals by showing how PlayBook will be unbeatable in terms of the multitasking capabilities and versatility of its Web browser vis-a-vis Apple and Android tablets.

The demonstrations tried to highlight how PlayBook browser is built on open Web standards and thus supports Flash which Apple's iPad does not, and how PlayBook is capable of simultaneously running Flash browsing, desktop applications, 1080p video games, mobile desktop, 3D games and apps.

While almost all tablets from major players run Android operating system - barring Apple's iPad which runs on Apple's own operating system, BlackBerry maker's PlayBook uses a new powerful QNX operating system which RIM specifically bought only for its tablet.

Technology analysts say these features give unique advantages to PlayBook against the rival tablets.

To target its BlackBerry-totting business and corporate subscribers, RIM has also integrated PlayBook with its smart phone through BlackBerry Bridge.

At 7-inch compared to the iPad which measures 11 inches, PlayBook will a lot more easy carry around on business trips. RIM has also not ruled out with bigger versions later on.

While the PlayBook Wi-Fi version hits the market in March, the 3G/4G wireless version will come in the summer.

With RIM's future so much hinging on its tablet, Mike Abramsky of Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets in Toronto says multi-tasking, power and apps will definitely make PlayBook a winner in the fast crowding tablet market.

"Some aspects of PlayBook ( such as apps) are being polished; however, RIM appears determined to get PlayBook right out of the gate, including competitive battery life (via power management from its QNX-based OS," he was quoted as saying in the local media.

With iPad selling more than seven million units since April, RIM has priced Playbook at $500 to cut into Apple sales.

Will 2011 be a DoubleClick for mobile?

By Moma Solutions

As 2011 gets underway, we are starting to examine the major mobile advertising issues of the new year.
The fact that mobile is no longer a fringe medium cannot escape mention. Smartphones account for 40 percent of all phones sold nationwide, and the overall adoption of smartphones and tablets is increasing dramatically around the world.

To aid in smartphone adoption growth rates, AT&T, Verizon and other wireless carriers nationwide have moved away from all-you-can eat data plans and reduced a major barrier to smartphone adoption by introducing cheaper, limited-data mobile plans.
Yet at the same time, fragmentation in the mobile ecosystem is steadily increasing, and maintaining consistency across the disunited mobile landscape will be a challenge for mobile advertising technology companies.
I would like to outline what I believe will determine winners in the mobile advertising space, as well as point out significant trends and challenges facing mobile advertisers in 2011.
We will likely see the emergence of mobile’s own DoubleClick equivalent: a service that connects advertisers with publishers and ad networks, simplifies the mobile advertising value chain with simple but effective tools that can repurpose online ad content, creates rich mobile ads cost-effectively, and guarantees high-quality delivery of ads across every ad network and publisher.
Here are the trends.
1. Bandwidth-capped mobile data plans will prove problematic for video and rich media advertising
We saw carrier networks in 2010 progressively change their strategy from unlimited data plans to lower-priced and data-capped plans, which allow the user only a fixed amount of data usage per month.
While this may attract new smartphone users and increase mobile advertising’s overall reach, the bandwidth cap will impose a heavy limitation on rich media and video advertising.
As a content publisher, two options arise: either downgrade advertising content to simple banners, or seek solutions that sidestep the data limit, such as mobile advertising platforms that pre-cache video and rich media ads while the device is connected to Wi-Fi rather than stream or download ads on the carrier data network.
2. Tablets will rise as a new mobile advertising medium
There has been quite a bit of buzz about tablets becoming a separate, new medium, complete with its own applications and distinct advertising opportunities.
With promises of new, shiny tablet gadgetry on the horizon – the Nexus S, the BlackBerry Playbook and the rumored iPad 2, to name a few anticipated devices – expect to see new advertising units that put the increased screen real estate to effective, creative use.
3. Cross-platform standardization will continue to be a major issue
With increasing fragmentation of mobile screen sizes and platforms – Android has released 7 versions of its operating system to date – cross-platform capability will continue to be a major obstacle for advertisers.
While HTML5 and JavaScript have been acclaimed to provide standardization for rich media advertising, it still does not offer a true solution for delivering the correct ad sizes to the correct devices, nor does it offer consistency in call-to-actions across mobile Web and mobile applications.
To gain maximum reach and achieve true standardization across different native platforms and screen sizes, cross-platform enablers will be keys players in the mobile advertising value chain.
4. Mobile Web and mobile applications will compete neck to neck for advertising dollars
U.S. mobile ad spending is projected to reach $5 billion by 2015, and application developers and publishers will naturally follow suit by focusing on creating more advertising opportunities within their products.
Investment in both mobile application and mobile Web advertising is key to a well-rounded, 360-degree mobile marketing strategy. That is why, in 2011, we can expect to see a boom in mobile advertising, both in-application and on the mobile Web.
5. More accountability, analytics and insight
As mobile ad spend grows significantly in 2011, advertisers will demand independent third-party verification of ads and dynamic tracking of ad performance across ad networks and publishers, as well as demand-side ad creation platforms to guarantee high-quality ad delivery to mobile devices.
All in all, the industry shall see the true DoubleClick of mobile emerge in 2011.

Motorola Ramping For Big Xoom Tablet Sales

By InformationWeek

Component makers such as Taiwan-based Catcher Technology and Foxconn Technology are supplying parts for the Motorola Xoom tablet. Based on the orders placed with them and other vendors, Motorola plans to manufacture between 700,000 and 1 million Xoom tablets by the time the first quarter of 2011 closes out.

Considering Motorola's Xoom tablet will be one of the first worthy competitors to Apple's iPad, it's not a big stretch to imagine it doing well in the market. Motorola has had a successful 15 months, thanks to Google's Android platform. The Xoom runs Android 3.0 Honeycomb, which is optimized for tablet computers. Motorola has chosen a strong partner -- Verizon Wireless -- with which to launch the Xoom. With Long Term Evolution and Android 3.0 Honeycomb on board, the Xoom will be appealing to many, no doubt.

Motorola itself hasn't projected how many it hopes to sell and neither has Verizon Wireless. The device hasn't been given a release date nor a price point, both of which will play a large role in determining its eventual success. (By way of comparison, Apple sold 1 million units the first weekend the device became available.)

The Xoom stands apart from the Apple iPad in interesting ways.

The Xoom has a 10.1-inch display, which is larger than the iPad's by a smidge. It has a widescreen touch display with 1200 x 800 pixels, and is powered by dual-core 1GHz processors. It will ship with a 3G radio for wireless broadband, but can be upgraded to 4G Long Term Evolution through a hardware modem swap later this year. (Motorola said this requires a technician.)

Other hardware specs include support for 1080p HD video playback and Adobe's Flash Player. For gaming, it has a gyroscope, accelerometer, e-compass and a barometer. The main camera shoots at 5 megapixels and can capture 720p HD video. The Xoom has a user-facing 2 megapixel camera for video chats.

Will Motorola sell 700,000 to 1 million of them by April 1? It's certainly possible.

Motorola Xoom and Atrix beats Apple ipad and iphone at CES

By SiliconIndia

Las Vegas: Motorola Mobility's Xoom tablet computer powered by new "Honeycomb" software from Google was crowned the best gadget at the giant Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Along with being declared the top creation at the dazzling gadget extravaganza, Xoom was also honoured yesterday as the best of the scores of tablets introduced here as fresh competitors in a market dominated by Apple iPads.

Motorola also scored a victory with its Atrix smartphone designed to work with high-speed 4G wireless networks and which can be used in a dock to power a laptop.

Atrix won the top spot in a smartphone category at the official Best of CES awards.

"We took big risks and they paid off," said Motorola Mobility chief software engineer Seang Chau. "We didn't know if people would get it; but obviously they got it.

40% of All Tweets Come From Mobile

By Mashable

 

At CES, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo revealed that 40% of all tweets come from mobile devices, demonstrating mobile’s increasing importance to the social media company.

On stage at the AllThingsD event at CES, Costolo bantered with Kara Swisher about why Twitter is at CES, its plans to become simpler and more consistent across platforms, and the impact of its celebrity users.

During the course of the conversation, Swisher asked Costolo which devices and operating systems are the most important to Twitter’s future and its health. Costolo responded by saying that 40% of all tweets are now composed on mobile devices, up from around 20% to 25% a year ago.

Twitter mobile usage exploded with the release of the company’s official iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry apps. The mobile web site, SMS, Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for BlackBerry are the most popular Twitter apps after the company’s website.

Costolo also revealed that Twitter now has 350 employees, 100 of whom were hired just recently in Q4 2010.

Verizon Will Give iPhone Users Unlimited Data Plans

By BusinessInsider

Verizon plans on offering iPhone users unlimited data plans when it starts selling the phone in a few weeks, the Wall Street Journal reports.

AT&T only offers capped data plans for its users, though its monthly prices are lower than Verizon.

At Verizon, iPhone owners will be able to pay $30 per month for unlimited data. AT&T's most generous plan is $25 per month for 2 gig of data.

While 2 gigs is plenty, Verizon could use the "unlimited" data as a marketing pitch to steal customers.

Though, obviously, the number one selling point will be that iPhone owners can finally make phones calls without worrying about dropped calls.

It's an uphill climb for iPad rivals: Forrester

By SiliconIndia

Bangalore: When Apple's iPad was launched, it created an uproar in the market. The success story of iPad led many others to jump into the tablet bandwagon. However here is a piece of advice for the iPad competitors from Forrester. Ted Schadler, Analyst, Forrester says that its a tough road ahead for them to woo the enterprise customers, who like to carry their own products to work.

Many of the companies that are launching tablets will sell the products directly to the enterprises and not to the consumers. Schadler believes that the reason why iPad has had phenomenal success with the enterprise consumer is because it sold directly to the people and not the companies.

With companies like Cisco, HP, RIM bringing their own tablets specially for the enterprises, IT companies will face a tough task to decide on which brand of tablet to adopt. Here also iPad has all chances of scoring big. The reason for this is tablets are meant to serve the dual purpose entertainment and work. However the enterprise tablets from the above said companies will lose their edge of security, application control, and control over the data plan, if they are supposed to entertain. So the whole purpose is lost.

Another advantage for iPad is that it is one year ahead in its release and has innumerable accessories and apps to its name, something that the new entrants will need time to make up for. And most importantly, the tablets are competing with the iPad version 1.0, when the iPad 2.0 is in the offing.

These factors just make the case of the iPad rivals from bad to worse. Enterprise adoption for these tablets will be a difficult one while for the iPad it will be a cakewalk.

Irrespective of which tablet PC wins the race, the sure shot fact here is that the tablets are here and the market is set to expand. Forrester research reveals that the market for tablets in U.S. alone will reach the number of 82 million by 2015. You can do the math for the rest of the world!

4G iPhone Will Launch By 2012 Or Sooner, Whether AT&T CEO Says It Or Not

By BusinessInsider

We aren't at CES, but an AT&T rep tells us that AT&T Wireless CEO Ralph de la Vega did NOT let slip any early announcements about 4G Apple devices during his speech there today, contrary to one report (which has since been updated).

But, never mind what Ralph de la Vega says or doesn't say.

Of course Apple's going to have 4G iPhones and iPads at some point, likely by 2012, if not sooner.

With Verizon's LTE 4G network already in service, and AT&T's LTE 4G network launching later this year, it's possible that Apple may even release 4G devices this year.

Or Apple may wait an extra year, like it did before employing 3G on the iPhone, and release the 4G devices next year.

Either way, it's going to happen. So don't sweat it.

Dell's Streak 7 Android Tablet Revealed By T-Mobile

By InformationWeek

"With its dual-core processor, 7-inch multi-touch screen and dual cameras, the new Dell Streak 7 tablet takes full advantage of the unrivaled power of T-Mobile’s 4G network," said John Thode, Vice President of Dell’s Mobility Product Group. "Once you have it in your hands, you won’t be able to put it down, and it will quickly become the ultimate device for the socially connected who want to do everything from watching great content, to chatting with friends, to taking high-resolution pictures and immediately sharing them with their friends and family."

Details about Dell's Android-powered tablet have been seeping out across the internet for a while, but T-Mobile made it official. The Dell Streak 7 runs Android 2.2 (no Honeycomb???), and will have a 7-inch WVGA display protected by Gorilla Glass. Under the hood, it will have a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, as well as support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1.

Other specs include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and front- and rear-facing cameras for face-to-face video chats over 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi connections. It will run on T-Mobile's HSPA+ 4G network at 21Mbps (theoretical max) and should become available in the coming weeks.

During T-Mobile's press conference at CES, it spent much of the time discussing its plans to enhance its network. As of now, it covers 200 million POPs in 100 markets across the U.S. with HSPA+ at 21Mbps. During 2011, it plans to introduce 25 4G handsets. Approximately half will debut in the first two quarters of the year with HSPA+ 21Mbps in tow, while the other half will debut in the third and fourth quarters with HSPA+ at 42Mbps in tow.

T-Mobile plans to upgrade its HSPA+ network from 21Mbps to 42Mbps throughout 2011.

"In 2010, we delivered on our ambitious goal to become America’s largest 4G network, and this year our customers will be able to experience speeds equivalent to home broadband while on the go," said Humm. "We’ll continue to focus on fueling the adoption of mobile data, by offering innovative and affordable smartphones and tablets, as well as aggressive data plan pricing and rich and compelling data services."

CES 2011: NEC's Android Tablet Twist Is Dual-Screen

By InformationWeek

NEC's dual-screen tablet -- dubbed Android Cloud Communicator -- emerged as a refreshing oddity among the clutter of me-too Android tablets at CES. Turns out it's just a prototype for now, and while it will require another set of development efforts for those who want to exploit the dual screens, some of the sample applications look promising.

NEC plans ship the unit in Japan first, sometime this Spring; and a U.S. version sometime after that. It wouldn't provide any details on price or carrier partners, but it did say the SDK is available. The unit runs a 1 GHz ARM Cortex processor. The screens are 7 inch, 800x600, resistive touch LCDs, and the first units will be WiFi and Bluetooth only, but NEC says they've left space for 3G or 4G modules inside. There is a rear-facing 3 megapixel camera (capable of 720p capture), two USB ports, and an SD card slot; there's no video out. NEC says the target battery life is five hours.

The unit has plenty of buttons, for menus, for turn book pages, and adjusting the screen's brightness, for example. In addition to supporting the normal touch gestures, it comes with a stylus.

NEC included some interesting applications to demonstrate the value of the device. Obviously a folding two-screen device serves well as a book reader, but the company's text book application lets content creators have video instruction on, say, the left-hand page of the book, with written instruction on the right. Great idea.

The Folio application is like a diary of sorts, where you can bring in photos, or web pages, and then make annotations, or, using the stylus and some nifty tools, cut out part of a Google map and pair that cutout with something else.

The big challenge is that this is a modified version of Android. That's part of beauty of the OS being open, of course, but then developers have to make choices. NEC hasn't been a major factor in consumer devices, at least in the U.S., and that will cause some major hesitation unless there's a specific application that simply demands a dual-screen tablet. Nevertheless, it's great to see some early innovation ... especially when all of these tablets are starting to look the same.

Motorola Hopes To Tackle Apple With Xoom Tablet

By InformationWeek

The Xoom is Motorola's entry into the tablet space, and it goes on sale by the end of the first quarter of this year from Verizon Wireless. The Xoom stands apart from Samsung's Galaxy Tab and the Apple iPad in interesting ways. Let's take a look.

First, the Xoom has a 10.1-inch display, which is larger than the Tab's 7-incher and iPad's 9.7-incher. It has a widescreen aspect ratio, with 1200 x 800 pixels, and it is powered by dual-core 1GHz processors. It will ship with a 3G radio for wireless broadband to start, but can be upgraded to 4G Long Term Evolution through a hardware modem swap later this year. (Motorola said this requires a technician and can't be done by end users.)

Other hardware specs include support for 1080p HD video playback and Adobe's Flash Player. For gaming, it has a gyroscope, accelerometer, e-compass and a barometer. The main camera shoots at 5 megapixels and can capture 720p HD video. The Xoom has a user-facing 2 megapixel camera for video chats. The iPad has no cameras.

In the few moments I was able to spend with the Xoom, I can say that it looks good -- if a little plain -- and the weight is about 1.5 pounds (700g). The surfaces and controls felt good. No one, however, really got a true understanding of how the user interface works.

Forrester: Tablet Sales Will Eclipse Laptop Sales by 2015 [STATS]

By Mashable

Forrester published a revised — and far more aggressive — U.S. tablet sales forecast Tuesday, estimating that tablet sales will total 195 million between 2010 and 2015. The firm also predicts the majority of these tablets will bear the Apple logo.

Forrester’s projections are still considerably more conservative than forecasts recently published by eMarketer, which predicts that 81.3 million tablets will be sold in 2012 alone, up from 15.7 million this year, and Gartner, which estimates that 19.5 million tablets have been purchased this year and that sales will multiply to 54.8 million in 2011 and more than 208 million by 2014.

The numbers from Forrester are nevertheless impressive. The firm expects that tablet sales will grow from 10.3 million in 2010 to 44 million in 2015, eclipsing laptop sales by roughly 5 million units. Laptop sales will continue to grow from 26.4 million in 2010 to 38.9 million in 2015, however, while desktop PC sales will decline from 20.5 million in 2010 to 18.2 million in 2015.

Somewhat surprisingly, Forrester expects that netbook sales will continue to progress upward, albeit modestly, from 10.3 million in 2010 to 14.2 million in 2015. The report states that Forrester sees “continued consumer demand for low-priced notebooks like the ASUS Eee PC.”

Microsoft CEO Says Windows Phone 7 Gets 100+ Apps Each Day

By Mashable

We’ve been anxiously waiting for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote tonight for a few reasons, not the least of which is our hope that he’d reveal some interesting tidbits about Windows Phone 7devices.

Without doubt, Windows Phone 7 had a huge launch. But while it’s been trumpeting the astounding successes of Kinect and Windows7, Microsoft’s been relatively mute about its latest mobile offering, revealing so-so sales figures just a couple weeks ago.

From the stage at CES, Ballmer said, “The reaction to the product has been great. We launched 9 phones across… 30 countries.”

Ballmer also gave some numbers about Windows Phone 7 app development. “Our customers get access to more than 100 new applications every 24 hours… More than 20,000 developers are keeping the pipeline full.”

In addition to touting the OS’s compatibility with games (not surprising considering Microsoft’s strong position in the gaming world vis-à-vis Xbox), a company rep also showed off a slew of apps most people will find quite handy, including deep, native integration with Microsoft Office.

And another metric of success was mentioned; customer satisfaction, said Ballmer, is high. “When people see the phone,” he remarked onstage, “they fall in love with it… Nine out of ten customers say they’d recommend the phone.” He also said users find the phone snappy, easy to use and a joy to behold.

Nor will Microsoft be backing off its strong Windows Phone 7 rollouts and promotions. Over the next few months, Microsoft will be sending out a few OTA updates, including copy/paste functions and performance enhacements. The phones will also be coming to Sprint and Verizon in early 2011.

Smartphones Still Outrank Tablets & E-Readers in Nielsen Survey [STATS]

By Mashable

The Nielsen Company has compiled a U.S. media landscape report from the results of its 2010 research, revealing that many of media devices that topped headlines this year, such as tablets and e-readers, aren’t necessarily on the top of many consumers’ shopping lists.

According to the report, smartphone shoppers are buying phones that use the Android, BlackBerry and Apple operating systems in about equal numbers. This departs from worldwide tendencies in 2009, when a study by Gartner research reported that Android held just a 4% market share, iPhone held 14.4% and RIM 19.9% (All three lagged far behind world leader Symbian, which held 47% ).

Nielsen’s data suggests that, at least in the U.S., a more equally divided market share is emerging. Android phones outsold iPhones for the first time in early 2010, and an earlier report from Nielsen revealed that Android increased its share of new smartphone buyers between January and November while Apple’s share remained about steady and BlackBerry’s decreased.

The past year was also a period of evolution for television. About 37% of homes that own a television also own a DVR, which is a 7% increase over last year. Despite early fears about how DVRs would affect television advertising, the devices may have had less of an impact than one would think. Forty-five percent of all recorded ads are actually viewed when played back. And only about 21% of television viewed in homes that owned DVRs was recorded.

HDTV was dethroned by 3D TV as the latest television content format as companies like ESPN, Discovery, and DirectTV announced plans to launch 3D HDTV channels this year. But unlike HDTV content, which now has about 65 million compatible devices in the U.S., Americans have not yet embraced 3D TVs. Only about 2% of respondents to an online survey said they owned a 3D TV, and only 6% considered buying one a possibility.

The story is similar for some other emerging devices that made big headlines in 2010. Despite Barnes and Noble and Amazon both declaring their respective e-readers to be the bestselling products in their histories, only 5% of about 27,000 consumers in an online survey said that they owned e-readers; and only 7% said that they would consider buying one.

Even fewer people who took the survey owned tablets, and only 6% of respondents saying they were thinking about making the purchase. As more affordable competitors to Apple’s iPad emerge, both of those numbers percentages should go up (thus the New York Times has declared a do-over of “the year of the tablet” in 2011).