Originally Syndicated via RSS from Geek Gestalt – CNET News

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Geek Gestalt – CNET News

An interesting article in USA Today gives us some interesting stats about smart phones and stats. First off, 30% of all phones in the use in the US now are internet connected “smart phones” . 19% of users have downloaded some sort of travel related App. Most importantly, 47% of travelers have used their phone GPS to find a destination or location. That is a significant uptake in the use of GPS devices in phones. Also, many people (29%) are using their internet connected phone to shop for airfares and hotels, which suggests that it is very important for travel related sites to be mobile friendly. Certainly, this is a major shift in the public’s use of cell phones over the last couple of years, at least in the US.

Suggested product: Garmin nüvi 255W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator (Factory Refurbished)

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Broadband Wireless Access

The Apple App Store has apparently reached a significant milestone, with now more than 250,000 apps in store, according to this report in Fortune (and to be fair, they are quoting yet another site to get to that number). However, that number may include “versions” of an app made for a different location or city, or some other minor variation. There are about 50,000 publishers, so on average they have 5 apps each. Some companies have hundreds of apps, often variations on a theme. This number doesn’t include a signficant number of adult / sexy apps that were removed in the last little while as well.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Broadband Wireless Access

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Geek Gestalt – CNET News

I found this story over at Reuters about the company ISuppli that has looked into the tablet market, and has decided (somehow) that no matter what happens, Apple will continue to dominate the tablet marketplace. The most telling quote from the story is that they firm doubts that anyone will match the “overall performance experience” of the IPad, which would include it’s performance as well as the many apps and such available for it.

However, I have to say that this seems to fly in the face of the growing number of tablet style devices in the pipeline. In the mainland Chinese market, many companies have already developed knockoffs of the ipad running all sorts of different operating systems, and as the production of these devices ramps up, the costs of the components continues to drop.

Major players such as Microsoft and Google are both on track to have various companies using their operatings systems on tablet devices, especially as 2011 rolls around. Micorsoft may be a very strong competitor in the business marketplace, and Google’s ever expanding Android operating system continues to see huge improvements in it’s app offerings. It is very likely that within a couple of years, there will be little difference in Apps between Apple and other companies.

While Apple may enjoy the first mover position, they are very likely to be facing stuff competition. The real question is the actual size of the tablet marketplace, which may be in it’s infancy, similar to what happened when the original Palm Pilot style devices came out. Almost all of the players from that initial market have fallen to the wayside, and the devices have morphed into the smart phones we know today. Perhaps today’s tablets are nothing more than a step towards something much more useful and robust.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Broadband Wireless Access

ACTA is a trade agreement and treaty between many nations (most except the usual suspects), which seeks to define and redefine the nature of copyright works, distribution, and such. It’s a complex subject, best covered in this article. It has far reaching implications, and the one that has the vocal minority of moochers and file traders upset is provisions for a “3 strikes” or similar structure that would require ISPs to be a little more diligent about what their networks are used for.

In simple terms, the current internet is a wild west scenario. Everyone has a horse, a gun, and a covering over their face so nobody can recognize them, and many choose to use this to steal from others. They will say it isn’t stealing, just “copying”, but in the end, they have something of value without having either paid for it or having the rights to it, which in most people’s worlds is either stealing or receiving stolen property. Either way, there is a small but vocal part of the internet user community that is concerned that ACTA will pull away their masks and leave them exposed, suddenly unable to do all the “free” things they have been doing before.

News flash for the freeloaders: If you cannot do it in the real world, why the heck should you be allowed to do it online? You cannot carry your laptop into Best Buy, open a DVD, and make a copy for yourself and leave, why should you be allowed to do it online? Worse why should you have anonymous protection to do it online, with the ISP standing in the way shielding you? It is insane to think that basic acts which would be illegal in person in the real world should suddenly become legal because you can do it remotely.

Too bad for those who would mooch everything and pay for nothing: The free ride may be coming to an end.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Stuff Channel

The marketplace on smart phones continues to evolve rapidly, often growing faster than the infrastructure. Taiwan based HTC has been a leader, a company that has gone from almost no market share outside of it’s home market to a market leader in a very short period of time.

It is one of the reasons that HTC’s move to build specific Windows Phone 7 based phones is interesting. Obviously, Microsoft is putting a lot of time, money, and effort into it’s new mobile OS, and HTC has snatched up the chance to bring it to the market place. Not only is HTC going to market, but they are very confident in their product placement.

In this writer’s opinion, HTC is doing the smart thing by hedging it’s bets all around, not getting caught up in any single operating system or with any single partner company. By producing phones that run Android and others that run Windows Phone 7, they are buying themselves potentially a bigger part of the market, and minimizing the risks if one or the other turns sour at some point.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Broadband Wireless Access

However, there are problems, and most of it has to do with where the real world hits the virtual wireless world – at the towers. Clearwire is the company that is building out much of the 4G networking for companies like Sprint, and they are facing a daunting task: Negotiating for tower placements in big cities. While the phones are churning out fast and the take rate on the 4G phones is incredible (apparently the HTC 4G phones were hard to find, because demand was too high), it can take 12 – 18 months to get permission for a new tower, and in a bigger city, it takes many towers to do the job.

I found this interesting article at CNET that pretty much explains the problem, and shows where the real world realities can get in the way of technology advances. So while 4G phones are gaining popularity, it may still be a while before the network services to support them will be available all over the US.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Broadband Wireless Access

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Geek Gestalt – CNET News