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So far Mike Feibus has created 221 blog entries.

Does Intel Have an Inside Track at Amazon?

2020-02-09T12:15:00-07:00August 1st, 2012|

If Amazon isn’t working on a proprietary operating system for tablets and smartphones, then it risks losing its dominance in retail sales to Apple, Google and Microsoft. I explain why in “The Death of Open” (which was picked up this week by InformationWeek, by the way).

Intel could have a leg up on its competitors by pairing its mobile silicon with MeeGo, the company’s nine-lives OS designed for tablets and smartphones. As it happens, no one’s making much use of MeeGo. Not long ago, that worked against Intel. But now that the platform vendors all appear poised to go it alone, a spare OS lying around could be just the thing Intel needs to win Amazon’s business.

Speculative? You bet. But think about it: who else could offer Amazon a turnkey proprietary platform today?

The Death of ‘Open’

2020-02-09T12:15:56-07:00July 27th, 2012|

When this century’s platform war first flared up, it had all the trappings of a sequel to the epic battle between Macs and PCs.

But don’t get sucked in. The current struggle between Apple, Google and Microsoft is nothing like the quaint conflict between an open and a closed system. On the contrary. In this war between the smartphone and tablet platforms, it appears that all comers agree on that issue: it is better to have a closed platform.

That plops a lot of power into just a few hands. On a closed system, the platform provider takes on the role of middleman, lodged between us and the content we consume and the stuff we buy. At a time when internet usage is shifting rapidly to smartphones and tablets – combined, they’ve already overtaken the PC in the US, according to a recent survey – this has wide-sweeping ramifications. For consumers, it might mean fewer choices and higher prices. For internet shopping outlets, it could translate into lost sales as the hardware hinders the direct line of communication you have with your customers. For Intel, Nvidia, QualComm, TI and other mobile silicon providers, it means you will need to offer an entire platform solution to compete.

Amazon, are you listening? Obviously, you are. That’s why you have your own line of tablets. And why you’re expected to come out with your own branded smartphones. It’s not a stretch to think that Amazon is developing its own OS. If I was Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, I’d already have signed the check for that investment.

The titanic platform battle now underway more closely resembles the early days of consumer Internet connectivity than the decades-old conflict between Mac and PC. Indeed, the playing field looks more like the arena that hosted the battle for our eyeballs – that’s what they called page views in those days –between companies like AOL, Yahoo and Prodigy.

They sold proprietary, pre-packaged Internet experiences. And it worked for a little while. But as the Internet matured – and consumers along with it – they got left behind. In a sense, the old guard was peddling peepholes through a three-foot-high wall. Consumers quickly learned that they could just look over the wall without them. So they did. In retrospect, it’s astounding that they remained relevant for as long as they did.

This century’s combatants have a far better chance of succeeding because they have much more control over your portal to the internet. You couldn’t buy an AOL computer. Now, though, you can buy an iPad, with a crafted internet experience that includes a direct line to the music Apple sells, for example.

Indeed, Apple isn’t really a hardware supplier any more. Today, Apple is a content distributor. And the hardware is just a means of delivering the content.

In that sense, Apple has leapfrogged the level of power and control that record labels once enjoyed. Imagine what Columbia Records, EMI or Elektra could have accomplished if they also designed and sold us our stereo equipment.

So the issue of open versus closed has been settled. ‘Open’ lost.

Increasingly, the big players are adapting to this new world order. It helps explain why Microsoft isn’t allowing competing browsers on Windows RT tablets. And why the company is developing Surface, its own line of branded RT tablets. And why it’s only allowing a few system vendors into the fold.

It also lends credence to the speculation that Google may begin to focus future Android development on Motorola Mobility now that that acquisition is consummated.

For all their newfound power, though, there are limits to how much Apple, Google, Microsoft and – one day, maybe – Amazon can exploit it. They are still operating on the worldwide web, after all, the same wide-open connected platform that proved to be AOL’s undoing.

Consumers will pay a premium for convenience, and that’s the opportunity that smartphones and tablets afford the platform gods. It’s why 7-Eleven thrives.

There are limits to that, as 7-Eleven knows all too well. We’ll only pay so much more for a carton of milk at a convenience store. Price it too high and we’ll just put the carton back and head off to the supermarket.

Today, our browser functions as the equalizer, the great supermarket in the sky that keeps the convenience store operators honest.  But that leverage fizzles once the platform provider closes off and controls everything from your hand to your head. Apple is already there. Microsoft and Google are close behind.  And Amazon looks like it may join the pack.

We still have an open Web.  But when it comes to mobile, it’s so far looking like any countervailing open alternatives are DOA.  Without them, consumers and companies alike are facing a dim prospect — paying far more and settling for far fewer choices.

2Q12 PC Shipments Tell Us Nothing

2020-02-09T12:17:05-07:00July 12th, 2012|

There’s a lot riding on Intel’s UltraBook initiative. The iPad juggernaut has been convincing consumers to buy tablets instead of laptops, and the computer industry is betting on UltraBooks to reverse the trend.

And now we hear from the computer counters that PC shipments dipped in the second quarter. If the blogosphere is to be believed, the data tells us that the UltraBook push is failing.

The second-quarter reports don’t bring happy news, to be sure. But there’s not one shred of insight to be had here as to success or failure of the UltraBook. It’s flat out too early to tell.

Consumers are waiting for the new generation of UltraBooks, many of which were unveiled last month and are slated to be available between now and October. Consumers are also waiting until Windows 8 is released, so they can buy the latest hardware with the latest OS.

If we’re still seeing lackluster sales data out of Gartner and IDC in two quarters, then the PC industry will have some serious trouble on its hands. Because it will have put its best foot forward. And it will have been skunked.

But a lackluster performance report for the second quarter? It doesn’t tell us a damn thing.

The Battle for Everything

2020-02-09T12:17:58-07:00July 6th, 2012|

Technology titans are waging an all-out war to control everything we do. And many of them spent the month of June trying to convince you to choose them.First, we saw a spate of exciting new Ultrabook announcements, along with some x86- and ARM-based Windows 8 tablets at Computex. Then Apple introduced new spins of iOS and OS X for tablets and PCs, respectively, at its developer gathering. Microsoft unveiled Windows Phone 8 at the Windows Phone Summit — and let’s not forget the Surface tablet. And as the month drew to a close, Google rolled out new products and concepts buckshot-style at Google I/O, showcasing its first branded tablet, the Nexus 7, and Android 4.1, just to name a few

Get Your Finances in Shape

If your eyes aren’t bugged out by now, then I’m afraid we’re going to have to pull your Geek Card, my friend. Taken together, these are the ingredients for a perfect storm that will pound store shelves this holiday season. Indeed, there may never be a more exciting time to possess a credit card. So many platform advancements on so many fronts. Not like last Christmas, when your choice boiled down to an iPad, a Kindle or a new laptop that looked like the one you already had. So start preparing now. You’ve got the summer to get your finances in shape so you don’t sprain your wallet this fall.

That said, the coming retail nirvana is only the tip of the iceberg, the most visible piece of a war between industry titans. And the stakes in this war are gargantuan. The winners will influence — and maybe control — the distribution of just about everything for years to come. From the news we read and watch to the entertainment we pay for and enjoy. From the brands and models we decide to buy to the places we buy them. And from the routes we take to the places we visit and the restaurants in which we eat.

To be sure, ours is an era of hyperbole, an era of extremes. It is an era in which journalistic oversight and balance has given way to unsubstantiated ranting on the blogosphere. It is the era of Fox News and MSNBC. Even in these times, though, it is nearly impossible to overstate what this war means to the players. Or to us.

It’s Coke or Pepsi

There have been battles for control of distribution channels before. Like Coke and Pepsi’s war for control over restaurant soda machines. (And Dr. Pepper, for you Windows Phone fanboys.) Or like Wal-Mart and downtown America. Or, more recently, like Apple’s iTunes and the record labels.

But there has never been a battle like this before. It’s an opportunity afforded by the Internet as well as an increasingly concentrated set of options for tapping the Internet. The cable TV folks, the phone companies and the wireless carriers are trying valiantly to maintain relevance. But as video-on-demand gives way to streaming services like NetFlix, as home phone lines are supplanted by VOIP, and as wireless services like AT&T Navigator are cannibalized by free stuff from Google, the role for those players is being relegated to conduit. Increasingly, we find ourselves selecting the platform and device we want.

The choice of carrier is becoming an afterthought, sort of like snatching a package of plugs and wires when we buy a home theater. We’re not there yet. But that’s where we’re headed.

So it should come as no surprise that the war pits Apple, Google and, increasingly, Microsoft. But there are others in the mix, as well. And each of them is trying to protect and extend its turf. Like Amazon, which controls a growing number of distribution channels. And like Facebook, which has helped expand and solidify our social networks to include long-lost classmates we might otherwise have the opportunity to chat with only once a decade. And hardware giants like Intel, Nvidia, QualComm, Samsung and TI, which have the power to tip the balance in the platform wars with superior solutions.

Playing to Win

With so much at stake, it’s easy to understand why the players are suing each other in courts across the globe and spending billions on intellectual property assets. But that’s not all they’re doing. Here are a few other tactics:

Acquisitions. They’re buying technologies and companies that buttress their platform packages. Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype last fall is a good example.

Proprietary Features. They are implementing proprietary features, which is a double-edged sword. It does tend to create brand loyalty. But it can also isolate your customers. FaceTime is a good example. The downside for Apple is limited in this case, however, provided it also makes competing apps like Skype and Google Voice available to its customers. Apple’s halfway there…

Partnerships. As the old adage goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. That explains why Apple joined forces with Tom Tom. And why it sidled up to Microsoft’s Skype.

Pretty heady stuff, I know. So keep an eye out. The longer the war goes on, the better it will be for our businesses and for our wallets. And we can play a role in maintaining the balance of power.

One thing’s for sure. No one is going to get knocked out this year. So rest easy for the time being. And when you dream, dream about all the stuff you’re going to buy yourself for the holidays.

Why I’ll Never Give Up My PC

2020-02-09T12:18:57-07:00June 27th, 2012|

Oh man, what a hellish 10 days this has been.

Before we get too far, let me just warn you that when the doorbell rings, this little chat will be over. I don’t care if I’m in mid-sentence. That’s it. Period. End of story.

The reason: tucked under the arm of the hand attached to the finger pressing the doorbell will be my precious Lenovo ThinkPad. It’s been 10 days now since she sputtered and failed, and five days since I’ve last seen her. I sent her off in a box last week to rehab in Atlanta and then I packed up and hopped a plane to San Jose, in the other direction.

I returned home last night. And she’ll show up any minute, her arrival trumpeted by the chime in the entryway.

Don’t worry. This isn’t a fable on the perils of casual backup. We’ve all heard too many of those. Besides, my data was backed up, so the issue wasn’t even in play. Sort of. (If anyone knows how to tease your contacts, calendar and tasks out of Outlook when it doesn’t want to expose them, I’d love to hear from you.)

Rather, it played out more as a mash-up of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol theme, with a glimpse into a present-day vision of a computer-less future sprinkled with an insight or two from Technology Past.

I decided to load present-day Windows 7 and Office 2010 onto my nine-year-old ThinkPad x31, an ultra-portable whose time has clearly passed. Not an ideal solution by any stretch. But I had real work to do, so I wasn’t going to be without a laptop. And as I like to say, I only make room for one device in my briefcase and one in my pocket. So the tablet didn’t make the cut. And so I headed off to San Jose with nothing but an old laptop. And a smartphone. With an eTrade app.

(And, uh, my MP3 player. OK, two MP3 players.)

Tell you what: let’s cut right to lessons learned. Because as I said, once that doorbell rings…

1. Size does matter. Manipulating multiple inter-connected spreadsheets felt arduous on the X31’s 12.1-display, even though it was only 1.3 inches less than my ThinkPad X220. (Now where is that UPS driver?) Once in the Bay Area, though, I was able to reverse that deficiency thanks to a delightful 27-inch display made available to me. Except in the most extreme instances, most of us would choose a laptop over a smartphone for any serious content creation. That’s obvious.

What may not be as intuitive, though, is that the bigger-is-better tenet applies across the spectrum. For work, a 13.3-inch laptop beats a 12.1-inch laptop. And a 12.1-inch laptop trumps a 10.4-inch tablet. Sure, there are advantages to the tablet. But getting work done isn’t one of them.

2. Storage capacity does matter. Try to find a tablet with more than 32GB of flash. Yes, I know they’re out there. But $699 for a new iPad with 64GB? Hell, I can’t even squeeze everything I want into my 32GB MP3 player! Storage was a big deal on my trip. I frequently swapped files with a couple of flash drives and a USB hard disk. And the X31 has a 100GB hard drive!

3. The cloud does matter. I much prefer to physically have what I need in hand, locally. That said, the past 10 days would have gone much smoother had I been taking advantage of all those storage services up there in the sky. Nothing like leaving the barn door open to teach you what you needed to know yesterday.

Hmmm. Come to think of it, maybe this is a why-you-should-back-up story. Whatever the case, I can tell you that next time…

Computer’s here. See ya!

Next Week, the PC Gets Interesting Again

2020-02-09T12:19:53-07:00June 1st, 2012|

May you live in interesting times. It’s an ancient curse. Or is it a blessing? There are volumes devoted to that age-old issue. In my world, though, there’s nothing gray about this topic. I get paid to answer questions, so interesting times are a blessing. Straight up. When clients don’t have any questions, now that’s a curse.

These are blessed times we live in, my friends. At least it is in my world. It’s hard to believe that it’s only been two years since Apple sold the first iPad. The year before, the tech world marveled at the vitality of the PC. Incredibly, shipments grew in 2009, defying gravity at a time when the rest of the economy seemed to be in a free-fall. My, how things have changed.

Today, many of you now are busy chiseling the epitaph onto the face of the laptop’s tombstone. Sorry, I don’t mean to spoil the ending. I know you’re still working. But from what I gather, it’s going to read something like this:

“Here lies the laptop
Sluggish, heavy, unresponsive
We’d miss you
If we didn’t all have iPads”

You might want to put the funeral plans on hold for a while, though, because the PC is about to get interesting again. The ecosystem, sparked by Intel’s Ultrabook initiative, has been hard at work trying to erase its shortcomings, which together singed a hole in the market wide enough to drive more than 100 million media tablets through.

I’m fond of saying that equilibrium for personal electronics stands at two devices, one in the pocket and one in the briefcase. When we buy a third device, it’s for picking up the slack for one or both primary devices.

If you’ve strolled down the aisle of a commercial flight during the past year, you might conclude that what the iPad brought to the computing world was Solitaire. I’m being facetious, of course, though the real answer is interrelated.

First and foremost, the tablet is tackling the laptop’s deficient battery life. It’s giving us a chance to read, watch a movie — and yes, play Solitaire — without siphoning any of the juice needed for productivity apps.

That’s how the tablet pushed its way alongside the laptop in our briefcases. That it’s a more recline-friendly form factor, that it boasts superior battery life, that it’s easier and quicker to engage and access is why we’re turning to it more and more.

Many of us still opt for the laptop for more creation-centric tasks. But because the tablet is more accessible, it wins out for anything that we can do equally well on either device, like researching something on the web.

So there’s a lot riding on the PC ecosystem’s response, which kicks off in earnest at the Computex trade show next week in Taiwan. It will be the coming-out party for dozens of new laptop models. They’re sleek and sexy. They’re more responsive. They boast better battery life.

Many of them are convertible clamshells that double as tablets for reading, gaming and watching video. Some have touchscreens or offer them as an option.

If you have a tablet and a laptop, these new portables probably won’t convince you to go back to one device. But if you’re deciding whether to buy your first tablet or replace your current system, I’ll bet that one of these new laptops will lure you in.

All in all, a good first step toward bringing us back to equilibrium, and a good reason to put off finishing that tombstone.

—-

Original post: http://betanews.com/2012/06/01/say-ipad-idolaters-dont-write-the-laptops-epitaph-just-yet//. Reprinted with permission.

Would Apple Dump Samsung for Intel? It’s No Pipedream

2020-02-09T12:20:48-07:00May 29th, 2012|

Intel CEO Paul Otellini told investors this month that Apple could build its iPad and iPhone lineup on the Atom family of microprocessors any time it wants to. And he’s going to do everything in his power to make that prospect so enticing that Apple can’t refuse. Pipedream? Not hardly.

Now, I understand why some of you would consider this to be pure fantasy. Intel has been trying to pry its way into the smartphone and tablet markets for five years now, and until this year the company has had little to show for it.

One reason for the slow start is that Intel has had to retool itself in order to compete in these markets. The performance-per-Watt tradeoffs are necessarily different for smartphones and tablets than they are for notebooks, desktops and servers. Intel has been learning that, and also discovering what else smartphone and tablet designers want.

That’s all understandable. Anytime you attack a new market, you don’t know what you don’t know until you dig in and get your hands dirty. Intel’s hands now are finally dirty. And now, finally, Intel has a competitive part in Medfield, the latest Atom iterant. Design wins are beginning to materialize as a result.

OK, Atom is now better than it was. It’s in the stable of options. So what? That’s not going to get Apple’s attention.

Apple will want a solution that stands out from the field, not one that’s just now making its way into the lineup of viable options. And Apple will want custom variants made exclusively for its devices. Building custom parts isn’t a problem for the high-volume, standard parts manufacturer, Otellini says. He told investors that Intel is slowly bringing up a foundry business, and would entertain the notion of producing made-to-order chips for “strategic customers”.

Apple likely would fall into that category, yes? Yes.

That could be a strategic move for Apple, as well. Today, Samsung builds the custom processors inside Apple’s smartphones and tablets. And it’s no secret that Apple views Samsung’s smartphone and tablet operation as possibly its fiercest competitor. The two are employing battalions of lawyers as they sue each other in courts around the globe.

Apple can’t be happy with the situation. But for the time being, it doesn’t have much of a choice. Because Apple wants its chips made at a leading-edge facility, and right now, the choice is down to two. One of those is Samsung.

And the other is Intel.

But Intel’s not an option for Apple’s processors. Not today, anyway. Because while Apple is strategic, the processors inside its iPads and iPhones are not. They’re ARM-based processors. And Atom, along with most every processor Intel builds, is x86.

Otellini loves to say that Intel collects margins twice on every chip it builds: once for the manufacturing work and second time for the chip itself. Pure foundry work, or contract manufacturing, would mean no double-dipping. So as long as Intel can keep its fabs filled with x86 chips, any foundry business the company takes on would cut into profits.

Otellini says that Intel can keep its fabs busy with x86 through the 22nm generation now ramping — and possibly 14nm as well. Which means he won’t consider building someone’s ARM chips for quite some time.

Alright, so it’s reasonable to assume now that a compelling product offering from Intel will get Apple’s attention. So when might that happen?

That could be as early as next year. Intel hopes to outpace the competition by pulling Atom up sooner into its leading-edge manufacturing processes with each generation. In 2013, Atom chips will be made on Intel’s 22nm manufacturing lines. And in 2014, Intel plans to bring Atom to 14nm.

One of those just might be prove to be the tipping point. Or not. Nothing’s assured here, obviously.

But nothing more than a pipedream? No, not hardly.

—-

Original post: http://betanews.com/2012/05/27/smartphones-put-privacy-on-the-tsunami-hazard-map/. Reprinted with permission.

Google, Apple Beware: Privacy Revolt Threatens Your Dominance

2020-02-09T12:22:21-07:00May 27th, 2012|

Now, finally, the tide of public opinion on Internet privacy begins to flow in the other direction. Consumers are becoming more hesitant to share their data and are less tolerant when those with access to their data violate trust. That presents a tremendous threat to some of the titans of our day — and an equally monstrous opportunity for others. Apple, Google, are you listening?

Honestly, I’m amazed that the issue was ever able to germinate and flower, particularly here in the United States, a country that distinguishes itself on the right to privacy. And a country that spent much of the last century wringing its collective hands over the Orwellian nightmare that awaited us down the road of technological advancement.

Discount Cards and the Dystopian Vision

Then in the 1990s — the decade after the one in which George Orwell set his oppressive dystopian vision — grocery stores kicked off their discount card programs, which enticed consumers to surrender personal information in exchange for lower prices. Consumers by and large agreed.

Privacy became a bit more of a concern in the “oh-oh’s” with the explosion of social networking. To be sure, there’s no shortage of tussles along the way between consumers and the likes of Facebook, for example. For the most part, though, consumers have continued to participate.

I’m not sure exactly when the perception started to turn, though I suspect it was sometime last year. Maybe it had something to do with persistent reports that reveal what Apple and Google know about us. Or maybe it was the outcry over the discovery of Carrier IQ’s tracking software on smartphones from US carriers.

But you don’t need a tidal chart to see that the waves now are crashing closer to shore. A survey released a few weeks ago by University of California-Berkeley professors found that 79 percent of Americans “definitely would not allow” their phones to share information with stores they visit but don’t buy anything. Another 17 percent said they would “probably not allow” it.

Smartphones Make Privacy Personal

Nielsen earlier this month released a study on smartphone attitudes and behaviors that suggests consumers are quite concerned about privacy. According to the report, 73 percent of smartphone owners worry about the issue of personal data collection. That’s up a bit from an already high 70 percent in 2011.

Even if we can’t determine exactly when the tide changed, it’s not difficult to pinpoint why.

In a word, smartphones.

Our loyalty cards are basically walled gardens of personal information. We know exactly what we are divulging. Even Facebook is a walled garden to an extent. Obviously, the walls encompass far more than what you buy at a single store. But we still exercise control over what’s published and shared about us.

There’s nothing penned in, though, about what our smartphones know about us. Our calls pass through them. So do our texts, IMs and emails. They know where we are and where we’ve been. And the more useful our smartphones become, the more we integrate them into our lives.

The more we integrate them into our lives, the more they know about us. And the more they know about us, the larger and more hostile the waves of anger become. Count on it.

This sentiment should be top of mind for every strategist and decision-maker in the smartphone ecosystem. For Apple and Google, yes. But also for hardware vendors, carriers, app developers — even cloud services. If your goods or services have the ability to collect or store our data, then you should consider your sales and profits to be on the tsunami hazard map. So prepare.

Gain More by Collecting Less

One of the better suggestions I’ve heard for tackling this issue proactively comes from Ian Chen, a longtime colleague and friend now at Sensor Platforms in San Jose: establish an Office of Privacy. Hire a big-name lawyer to head it up, and have him or her report to the CEO.

Establishing an Office of Privacy is an opportunity for a company to distinguish itself as a sentry for consumer data. The company that succeeds in building that perception will have an inside track against its competition. It will be the provider that consumers trust at a time when trust in the smartphone ecosystem is eroding.

Here are a couple other things to consider:

  • Develop a privacy policy that is more restrictive than the competition’s. Don’t share consumer data, for example.
  • Even better, don’t allow your product to collect any personal information at all. Someone will notice, and spread the news. That will more than offset the sacrifice you’ll make to your data mining efforts.
  • Develop a way to have apps tap a sandbox of personal data that’s housed on the smartphone itself rather than in the cloud — and prove to consumers that app developers can’t gain access. This can be at the platform level, or on the hardware itself.

Whatever you choose to do, do something. Smartphones are becoming our companions, our confidants. And the closer they get, the more virulent our reaction will be when they violate our trust.

—-

Original post: http://betanews.com/2012/05/27/smartphones-put-privacy-on-the-tsunami-hazard-map/. Reprinted with permission.

The Kindle Fire: It’s Not Dead Yet!

2020-02-09T12:23:18-07:00May 17th, 2012|

Wow, what a swirl of good-news/bad-news last week for the media tablets aimed at the ereader market. As it turns out, the roller-coaster ride continues this week.

comScore reported that the Kindle Fire from Amazon generated far more Internet activity in February than any other Android media tablet. Then a few days later, Microsoft dumped $300 million into a Barnes & Noble ebook venture, a move spurred in part by the success of the bookseller’s media tablet, the Nook Tablet.

I wrote a column explaining why the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet, the first- and third-highest selling Android tablets in 2011, respectfully are so successful — and what that means for hardware vendors who want to make it in the tablet market.

 

And then the roller coaster began hurtling earthward.

Target confirmed rumors that it is tossing Amazon’s Kindle line-up out of its chain of department stores. Target was coy as to exactlywhy, though fellow writer Ed Oswald offered up a few possible explanations.

I suspect it has to do with Target’s new pilot program that will put Apple boutiques in 25 of its stores. (That’s possibility #2 in Ed’s article if you’re scoring at home.) Apple knows what powerful draw its products generate and exploits that in its relationships up and down the supply chain. It’s why Verizon invested millions two-and-a-half years ago to elevate Android: to level the playing field in the smartphone market by giving iPhone a legitimate competitor. It’s also why Verizon is looking to prop up Windows Phone during this year’s selling season.

And then late last week, Joe Wilcox raised another possible reason: that Target dumped the Kindle Fire because it’s no longer selling. He pointed to first-quarter data from IDC that estimated sharply lower shipments of the Kindle Fire in the year’s first quarter — 700,000 units down from 4.7 million.

I find it difficult to believe that Target, a retailer well accustomed to consumer buying patterns, would toss Amazon due to a seasonal letdown in sales. As it turns out, the IDC report, while technically accurate, is a bit misleading.

Kindle Fire shipments, or deliveries by Amazon to thousands of stores as well as to Amazon’s own warehouses, fell off a cliff, not actual sales. That’s normal for the year’s first quarter — Apple’s quarter-on-quarter shipments also dipped, as did total tablet shipments, according to IDC. You would expect Kindle Fire shipments to fall far faster than the industry during that time, because the fourth quarter was the Kindle Fire’s inaugural quarter, so retailers had to build up their holiday stock from scratch.

Sales, actual purchases of Kindle Fires by consumers, were seasonally strong in the first quarter, according to NPD. Consumers bought about 1.8 million Kindle Fires in the first quarter, compared to 3.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. That’s seasonally down, yes. But the Kindle Fire still sold “pretty darn well” in the first quarter, says NPD’s Stephen Baker.

So let’s see if we can’t get Kindle Fire news back on an even keel. One thing’s for sure: all this perceptual yo-yo’ing doesn’t change the fact that the Kindle Fire is a well-designed and well-positioned tablet that is successful because it sidesteps the iPad rather than challenging it head-on, like so many other wannabe’s in this market.

On the other hand, the Kindle Fire’s success may be why Apple has painted a target on its back — and why it isn’t welcome back at Target.

—-

Original post:http://betanews.com/2012/05/08/kindle-fire-sales-are-still-hot/. Reprinted with permission.

Tyranny of Numbers II: Why 4G Won’t Fix Wireless Data Crunch

2020-03-12T18:55:14-07:00May 14th, 2012|

The amount of data that smartphone users consume is doubling every year. And the number of smartphone users is skyrocketing as more wireless customers migrate from feature phones.

But that’s OK, because the carriers are upgrading their networks to LTE. Right?

Wrong. By the time LTE is fully deployed, traffic congestion will be worse than it is today. This ground-breaking white paper explains why, details how bad it’s going to get, and reveals what the industry can do to ease the gridlock.

Read More Here …

How to Succeed in the Tablet Market if You’re not Apple

2020-02-09T12:25:08-07:00May 11th, 2012|

The best-designed Android tablets you can buy today aren’t the sleekest or the sexiest. They’re not the most powerful. And they don’t boast the largest or brightest displays. What they do have, however, are sales. The tablets? The Kindle Fire from Amazon and Barnes & Nobles’ Nook Tablet.

On a runway awash with thin, pretty models, it’s easy to overlook this pair of plain Janes. But don’t. They are two of the top three largest-selling Android tablets on the market. And their formula should serve as a model for how to succeed in this market if you’re a supplier that’s lacking a throng of breathless fanatics aching to snap up anything you sell.

According to comScore data for the US market, more Kindle Fires were in use than all other Android tablets combined at the end of February, just its third month on the market. comScore says that 54.4 percent of all Android devices accessing the Internet were Kindle Fires.

In the same breath in which comScore lauds theKindle Fire, though, it snubs the Nook Tablet. You see, comScore excluded Nook Tablet from the study, classifying it instead as an e-reader rather than a tablet.

Microsoft, however, knows a good thing when it sees it. The software giant today invested $300 million in Barnes & Nobles’  ebook spin-off, Newco.

Regardless of whether Microsoft or comScore understand, both Barnes & Noble and Amazon know they hold the keys to this market: that a successful tablet is built around what I call an “anchor” app. Yes, you can load other apps, just as you would with a general-purpose tablet. But when it’s optimized for a popular app, it’s more compelling than one that’s being marketed by its form factor.

Think about it this way: would you be more or less likely to consider purchasing a Swiss Army Pocket-able Lump?

The Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet were two of the four best-selling tablets last year. And they weren’t even available until the fall. The other two — the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the iPad — were launched in 2010.

Savvy CE manufactures have taken a lesson from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Watch for them to unleash tablets designed around other anchor apps beginning late this year. A few of the more attractive anchors:

1. Gaming. I would argue that Sony’s PlayStation Vita is a gaming-centric tablet. It’s got a browser, Facebook, Twitter and access to an online store where you can go get other apps. Just last week, in fact, Sony added Skype to its app store.

I’d be shocked, by the way,  if Microsoft wasn’t hard at work on an Xbox-inspired tablet to unveil after Windows 8 is on the market.

2. Video. I’m shocked that I still see people on planes who are watching movies on portable DVD players. Who is buying these dinosaurs? Regardless, there is obviously a ready-made opportunity for a well-designed video tablet to entice these consumers out of the disc age.

3. Personal Navigation. The window for this is limited, as the market for single-function GPS devices is already beginning to contract. Nevertheless, it is an established device market that a GPS-centric tablet could tap into and quickly exploit.

Needless to say, designing a tablet around a popular app isn’t the only ingredient for success. The Vita stands testament to that. As well, there will continue to be a market for sleek and shiny general-purpose tablets. But as Amazon and Barnes & Noble have shown, it’s much easier to coax consumers to pull out their wallets if your tablet does impeccably well what it is they want to do.

Remember: you can call it a knife and still tuck a toothpick and a fish scaler inside.

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Original post: http://betanews.com/2012/04/30/kindle-fire-nook-tablet-are-better-by-design/. Reprinted with permission.

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