Posts filed under 'Business'
Before I owned an iPhone, and a Nokia E61 before that, and a BlackBerry 7290 before THAT, I briefly owned a Danger HipTop on the FIDO network. I returned it and went with a BlackBerry mostly because of the sheer size of the HipTop. I just couldn’t justify carrying that brick around. If only it had been smaller, I might have kept it. I’ve long had a bit of a fascination with the HipTop series of devices from Danger, and they have improved on the size of their device over the years, but I don’t think the size improvements for the most part have kept up with the industry. They’re still fairly bulky.
That being said, they had a pretty decent hardware design concept, a very usable OS (although the interface was a tad childish for my taste) and a promising platform/application distribution strategy. But one thing they have never been is particularly successful in the overall handset market. So I’m a bit confused (and saddened) by this latest news that the Borg has gobbled up Danger, Inc.
“Sure, the folks in Redmond didn’t get their grubby mitts on Yahoo! (yet), but at least they picked up a little something for their mobile division, namely: Danger. According to news just crossing the wires, the monolithic company has picked up the Sidekick-creators for an undisclosed amount, and will subsequently fold the phone-maker into its mobile wing. Is there a Windows Mobile version of the Hiptop in our future? Survey says yes.â€
There’s no doubt this has something to do with RIM and iPhone’s threat to Windows Mobile, as well as the impending Google Android threat, but at first glance, it’s difficult to understand what Danger might have to offer Microsoft.
Danger used to be a hardware designer, so Microsoft may be looking to enter the handset market with this purchase. But if they wanted a cool hardware design, they could have done better than Danger, who aren’t exactly selling HipTops by the truckload. Why not buy Motorola’s mobile business instead? Motorola is officially considering divesting itself of it’s mobile phone unit, after all. I don’t think this has to do with hardware though. For one, Danger has all but given up on the hardware, just one look at Danger’s website makes that imminently clear. Other than in a YouTube video, I can’t find pictures of their HipTop anywhere.
Microsoft also runs the risk of pissing off their existing Windows Mobile license owners. Something they can’t afford to do right now. They did that in the DAP market when they launched the Zune, which has failed to make any serious inroads against the iPod/iTunes juggernaut while at the same time weakening their existing PlaysForSure Certified for Windows Vista licensing effort (what was up with that rebranding move anyway?!?).
I also find it hard to believe that Microsoft sees any real value in Danger’s software, given that Microsoft has their own mobile phone OS. Microsoft has demonstrated long ago that it doesn’t need to pay for a good software idea, they can simply borrow it and make it their own. So what is it then?
I believe the answer to that question lies in these images from Danger’s website. One depicting the “Danger experience” and the other of their new business model:
These images depict a total solutions company. A company that can offer everyone in the ecosystem value, and more importantly provide a source of income from all levels. Microsoft’s current offerings only directly targets the OEM handset makers and the end users and completely leaves out the service providers, where most of the money is. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s two biggest competitors, RIM and Apple, have already figured out how to tap into the service provider revenue stream. RIM by providing the backbone service to it’s mobile email offering, and Apple by giving it’s partners a very compelling phone to lure subscribers with, as well as back-end services like the iTunes WiFi Store as well as email/information services through partnerships with other providers such as Google and Yahoo!.
Danger, once largely a handset OS/hardware company has already done all of the legwork to turn itself into an end-to-end solutions company. So by buying Danger, Microsoft acquires much of the knowledge, technology and relationships it needs to shift from being simply the maker/licensor of the Windows Mobile OS into a complete solutions provider in a bid to better position itself against the offerings of it’s competitors.
Overall, this seems like a smart move, but how easily it can be accomplished has yet to be seen. Danger’s technology has been about open standards and the use of Java. It’s no doubt going to take a lot of work to integrate it with Microsoft’s proprietary OS and APIs, but probably not as much work as trying to develop a similar solution from scratch, especially considering Microsoft is late to the party and was obviously completely unprepared to deal with not one, but two giants suddenly entering the market.
Unfortunately, there’s very little doubt that the current Danger mobile OS’s days are numbered, much to the sorrow of current HipTop/Sidekick fans. Less clear is the fate of the HipTop swivel screen form factor. Microsoft might choose to develop it further and use it to release it’s own handset (a.k.a., the Zune phone), or they might continue to license it out for others to build and brand as their own. What they choose to do really depends on how big the market is for the swivel device. Given that it wasn’t that wildly successful to begin with, Microsoft might just let it die a quiet death.
So HipTop/Sidekick fans, what’s worse? The form factor disappearing altogether, or living on it’s existance running the uninspiring Windows Mobile OS? Sound off in the comments or discuss it in the Art Of Geek forums!
February 11th, 2008
[Update 5] AppleInsider’s report today on a new Rogers wireless $20 unlimited on-device browsing package called the $20 Communicate Value Pack got me super excited about finally having a data plan worthy of my iPhone:
Canadian wireless carrier Rogers Communications, often criticized for its exorbitant data rates, has just introduced a $20 per month unlimited data plan that could knock out one more barrier to an official iPhone launch in Canada.
The Toronto, Ontario-based carrier said customers could start adopting the new plan, dubbed the $20 Communicate Value Pack, beginning today. In addition to unlimited on-device mobile browsing, it also offers 2500 standard outgoing text messages, 1000 outgoing picture or video messages, call display and voicemail.
I immediately called Rogers to find out more about the package and sign up if it was true. I was connected with a sales rep who seemed adamant that the unlimited browsing was limited to a 3 month promotion period, afterwhich it was limited to 5MB of data. So I jumped on Rogers website and found the plan listed exactly as AppleInsider had reported here and here. I took the following screenshots, just to prove it, in case the website changes:
I pointed this out to the customer service rep, and she seemed to disagree on what the website actually said, continuing to argue that the unlimited browsing was for the promotion period only, no matter how hard I tried to convince her that the website didn’t mention that at all. So I asked to speak with a supervisor. After a good five minutes on hold, the supervisor finally came on and after she was sure where I was coming from, she put me on hold for another five to ten minutes before coming back, apologized sincerely and explained that it was an error on the Rogers.com website. The plan is only a 5MB data plan, with unlimited browsing for only the first 3 months. Apparently I raised a serious shitstorm over at Rogers HQ, because she said they were working to have the error corrected on the website, and thanked me for bringing it to their attention.
Needless to say, I was quite disappointed, but pleasantly surprised when she then offered to credit my current $10/10MB data plan AND give me unlimited data for the next 6 months. I guess I couldn’t argue with that deal. I would have rather been able to pay $20/month for unlimited data forever, but 6 months of unlimited data for free is a pretty good consolation prize. I guess I was so pleasantly surprised because for once Rogers actually offered to try and make me happy without me having to get mad or threaten to cancel my service. If I’m really lucky, Rogers will actually start offering an unlimited data plan for $20/month by the time my 6 month freebie expires. 
If any of you actually manage to get the $20 plan as was advertised above, or a sweet payout like I got, please post your experience in the comments below or discuss it in the Art Of Geek forums!
Update 1 - 2/6/2008, 2:35 pm: Well, if the plan posting on Rogers website is a mistake, they’re taking their sweet ass time correcting it. I’m starting to doubt the information provided by the rogers reps I spoke to, but I would caution anyone adding this plan to their iPhone to be extra careful that you have them confirm that it will work with an iPhone, and make a note of the person’s name and the date and time of your call to Rogers in case they try to bill you additional charges. The fine print listed on the first page I link to above states the following:
* Plan includes unlimited on-device mobile browsing only. Plan is available on select phones only (PDAs such as Blackberry or Windows Mobile devices, PC cards and non-Rogers certified devices are not eligible). Data usage incurred on ineligible devices, incurred while tethering (using device as wireless modem for laptop) or incurred using non-Rogers (3rd party) applications downloaded to your device will be subject to pay-per-use charges of 5 cents/KB.
That sounds a lot like Rogers might very well be able to get out of honoring the “unlimited on-device browsing” for iPhone customers by claiming that it’s not one of the ’select phones’, or is classified as a PDA, or is ‘a non-Rogers certified’ device. I have to say though, if they do want to play hardball, they’re going to have a bit of a legal issue if their customer service reps aren’t explaining this to customers and the fine print is missing from the 2nd link I posted detailing what’s included in the plan.
Update 2 - 2/11/2008, 4:05 pm: The news has finally been picked up by the mainstream media. CBC.ca posted this article earlier today:
Rogers ‘unlimited’ cellphone plans draw fire.
Update 3 - 2/11/2008, 4:25 pm: Ars Technica is covering the story as well:
Rogers Unlimited data plan not so unlimited after all. Do you think if they get enough bad publicity over this that they might do something about it? Yeah, I know, wishful thinking. This is Rogers we’re talking about…
Update 4 - 2/12/2008, 6:20 pm: The Register, a little late to the party, has also picked up this story:
Rogers wraps ‘unlimited’ mobile browsing in small print
Update 5 - 3/7/2008, 1:30 pm: Well, I just got screwed. Just got my Rogers bill, and they have switched me to the $20 Communicate Value Pack, even though I had explicitly told them I didn’t want my plan to change. Now I’m being told they can’t put things back the way they were because the $10 Mobile Internet Plan no longer exists. They still can’t give me a straight answer about the iPhone and the $20 Communicate Value Pack or $7 Unlimited on-device mobile browsing. So in 6 months when my unlimited data runs out, I’m probably going to have to either take a cut in data usage, or start paying more than I used to, maybe even for less data than I was getting before. The Data representative told me they only have $30/8MB or $60/30MB plans available now. This is progress?!?
February 5th, 2008
OK, take this with a grain of salt, but this is a true story.
My mother in-law, who lives in Texas, is coming up to visit next week, and she asked my wife if she could bring anything as a gift for me. My wife, being the dutiful little Apple fan that she is, jokingly responded that her mother could bring us both an iPhone if she wants. My wife proceeded to try to talk her mother out of trying to get us iPhones because of how expensive they are, how impossible it will be to get one in the first few days and the likelihood that it wouldn’t work in Canada anyway.
They ended the call and my wife thought nothing more of it.
A little while later, my mother in-law calls back to say she had telephoned Apple in Cupertino and spoke to a very nice lady in customer service who explained that the iPhone was only initially being launched in the U.S. and was exclusive to the AT&T network, but that Apple was planning on launching in Canada in September on the Rogers network. Now last I remember, Apple has not made any statements specific to when the iPhone would be available in Canada, and neither has Rogers. It’s important to point out that my mother in-law is neither an Apple fan, or an iPod or Mac user. She didn’t even know what the iPhone was until my wife told her about it today.
If this turns out to be true, then my mother in-law may have just gotten the scoop first on what is sure to be the biggest Canadian consumer electronics story of the year. A scoop that is yet to be reported by any of the typical Apple blogs and rumor sites, nor the mainstream press. Maybe all these years Apple has trained it’s staff how to avoid being tricked into spilling the beans on company secrets from conventional geek journalists and paparazzi, but have failed to anticipate the threat from unassuming grandmothers. Who knows. If my mother in-law ever gets tired of nursing, I think she has a shot as an investigative technology journalist!
I certainly hope this rumor is true, because I think 3 months is about as long as I’m willing to wait for the iPhone before I break down, get one from the U.S. and spend whatever amount of time and money is necessary to get it unlocked to work in Canada. Â Now lets just hope when the iPhone does come to Rogers, that it brings those affordable unlimited data packages with it. Hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?
June 27th, 2007
Today’s announcement by Apple & EMI about plans to offer EMI’s music catalogue in higher bitrate, DRM-free versions on the iTunes Store for $1.29 per song is huge. I don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet to the majority of people in the industry, or the web, just how huge it is. It’s pretty much a given that the rest of the music labels will be forced to follow EMI’s lead and open up their catalogues to high-quality DRM-less music downloads as well. Not only because they’ll bow to the competitive pressure from EMI’s soon-to-be success, but because they’re too greedy to pass up the opportunity to boost digital revenues by an extra 30% almost overnight. So it’s only a matter of time before all music sold through iTunes is offered in higher-quality 256kbps Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format, completely free of digital rights management.
There seems to be a big misconception about the AAC format. Many people seem to think it’s an Apple owned format, but that is incorrect. AAC is an open standard, and was developed by Dolby, Fraunhofer, AT&T, Sony and Nokia to replace MP3; it was declared a standard by the MPEG group back in 1997. Apple chose AAC for it’s iTunes Store because it was the logical industry standard format for their needs. It offers better quality audio at smaller file sizes and supports features like 5.1 surround sound and DRM. Apple’s DRM solution is called FairPlay, and is used to encrypt the AAC file so it’s playback can be limited to authorized devices. Remove FairPlay and you’re left with an open, industry-standard music file which will never, and can never, be controlled by Apple or any other single company. AAC has already gaining widespread support in the consumer electronics industry – even Microsoft’s Zune can play DRM-free AAC audio files.
Microsoft’s Windows Media Audio (WMA) format, in contrast, is a proprietary format. Only companies and devices that license it from Microsoft can use it. It was created so people would require Microsoft’s products in order to play back their music and by extension, make Microsoft lots of money. But in order to convince third party music sellers and device makers to support WMA, they needed to offer value. That value came in the form of a digital rights management system that could be licensed, saving everyone from having to make their own DRM system, the way Apple did. The record labels wouldn’t allow their music catalog to be sold digitally without some form of copy protection, fearing it would contribute to online piracy. So company after company came knocking on Microsoft’s door seeking to license their WMA/DRM solution, later branded “PlaysForSure”, in order to get a slice of the music download action. The record labels were set to hand Microsoft it’s music monopoly.
Apple no doubt saw the risk of letting Microsoft take over the digital music market. They were already seeing what Microsoft’s domination in the web browser and office suite markets was doing to lock people into the Windows OS. To combat the WMA threat, Apple at first decided to try promoting the MP3 format by releasing iTunes in early 2001 and the iPod, later that year for the Macintosh – both of which were promoted as “MP3 players”. But it was Apple’s decision to take iTunes and the iPod to the Windows platform a year later that was the trojan horse that would eventually lead to the death of WMA. In 2003, Apple launched the iTunes Music Store, later renamed the iTunes Store, and cemented their position as the leader in digital media, bringing AAC along for the ride. The rest is, as they say, history.
Once iTunes goes completely DRM free, competing stores will be forced to go DRM free as well, in order to compete. They’ll also jump at the chance to finally be able to sell music to iPod owners, something they’ve been begging for ever since the iTunes/iPod duo took over the market. But there’s one little thing–the iPod doesn’t play WMA formatted music. So one by one, Microsoft’s former media partners, no doubt still smarting from being locked out of Microsoft’s Zune party, will start selling DRM-free music in AAC format. Why? Because WMA, and even MP3, require royalty payments to use. AAC does not. There’s no point whatsoever in continuing to sell WMA formatted music, if you aren’t using Microsoft’s DRM copy protection.
So as the whole world adopts industry standard audio formats over the coming years, where does that leave Microsoft and their closed, proprietary WMA audio format? Dead in the water. Microsoft will be forced to adopt AAC for their Zune Marketplace, otherwise they’ll lock themselves out of all the consumer devices that are developed to support AAC, but won’t support WMA. Not to mention, even Zune owners won’t want to buy WMA formatted music for fear of not being compatible with future device purchases. WMA has lost it’s value proposition and will die a slow death along with Microsoft’s aspirations of obtaining a music format monopoly. It’s a great day for music lovers as well as the consumer electronics and music industries, and no doubt will be seen as the day Microsoft lost the music format war.
April 2nd, 2007
Holy penguins Batman! Terra Soft Solutions has just announced plans to release Yellow Dog Linux for the Sony Playstation 3! For those not familiar, Terra Soft got it’s claim to fame for it’s Yellow Dog Linux distribution for PowerPC based Macintosh computers, and even did some good business selling Macs with Linux pre-installed–the only company to ever get authorized by Apple to do so.
After Apple dropped the Intel bomb at WWDC 2005, Terra Soft has stayed commited to the Power CPU architecture. They seem to have done well for themselves by switching focus away from Apple hardware towards IBMs Power and PowerPC based servers. No doubt putting Terra Soft on the short list of favored linux developers for the IBM/Sony/Toshiba developed Cell platform. Yes, this is no unauthorized hack boys and girls, according to the Terra Soft press release, they’ve got Sony’s blessing (and even their support) to release their Linux distro for the upcoming PS3 game console:
Under basic agreement with SCEI, Terra Soft was granted a unique opportunity to develop and bring to market a complete Linux OS for the Sony PLAYSTATION 3.
The video game console market is like the cell phone and razor blade business. Sell your expensive console at a loss to gain market share, and make back the money on the sale of video games, services and accessories. This is the reason why Microsoft and Sony have been so protective of their consoles and tried to thwart attempts to install unauthorized home brew software on their consoles. If you are losing say $100 per console sold, and 10,000 people buy your console just to use them as an inexpensive Linux web server, then you’re going to lose $1 million on those sales, that you’re never going to recoup from those customers. Likewise, video game piracy is a big threat to profitability as well.
So what does Sony have up their sleeves? Reading the Terra Soft press release further provides some insight into just that very question.
In development of Yellow Dog Linux v5.0, Terra Soft integrated and enhanced code from Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Sony Group, and Fedora in order to offer the following:
- kernel 2.6.16
- gcc 3.4.4 and glibc 2.4
- Cell SDK 1.1
- OpenOffice.org 2.0.2
- FireFox 1.5.0 and Thunderbird 1.5.0
- Nautilus 2.1.4
… and a suite of Personal Accessories, Development Tools; Sound & Video, Internet, and Networking applications.
There’s no doubt that the idea is to turn the PS3 into a full fledged personal computer with all the basic apps most users would need/expect. Whether you’re an institutional or corporate client who wants to set up an inexpensive supercomputer cluster, or just your average home user who wants to surf the web, send/receive email and work on some Office documents, Yellow Dog Linux has everything you need right out of the box to get started.
But Linux isn’t ready for the home user, right? Will your average PS3 gamer have any clue of how to install and setup Linux on their PS3? Well Linux has come a long way over the last couple of years. Distributions like Ubuntu are making inroads into the desktop Linux market, and Linux adoption continues to grow as every new release gets more and more refined. Usability is near on-par with Windows and installation is as simple as anyone could expect. But when a company develops a Linux distro for a very specific set of hardware, it makes it easier to focus on improving ease of use. According to Terra Soft:
A single-click installer enables absolutely anyone to install without instruction. Post-install, the default suite of applications presents an intuitive, self-guided means of exploring Linux without the confusion of multiple applications in the same family. An Advanced installer mode enables selection from greater than fifteen hundred packages, as is expected from a complete Linux distribution.
Sounds like they’re catering to everyone from your average Linux novice to advanced users as well. This is a very good thing. While Microsoft is busy patching loopholes to prevent people from hacking the XBox 360 to run Linux, Sony seems to be embracing this open source OS completely. This has the potential to greatly shift the value proposition in the PS3’s favor. Now, not only are you getting an HD capable next gen game console AND BluRay movie disc player, but a personal computer with no limits on what you can run on it. It’s now obvious why Sony made sure every PS3 configuration includes a hard disk drive.
If you think Linux on the PS3 is all about attracting users though, you’re sadly mistaken. It’s probably more about developers than it is about end users. Linux has an absolutely huge following in the developer community. After all, Linux is all about developers working together to create great software. By fully supporting Linux on their upcoming console, and being the only console that does so, Sony will instantly gain the interest and support of a huge developer community, and a huge library of software which will be a recompile away from running on their hardware. Trust me, every Linux developer who has even considered buying a video game console will be counting their pennies to get a Playstation 3.
So the big question still stands. How is Sony going to make money off of the PS3? My guess is they figure they can afford to lose some money from the odd purchasers who buy a PS3 to only run Linux, because they can recoup more money from consumer PS3 sales than Microsoft can from the XBox 360 since they will also make money from BluRay movie sales, and licensing of BluRay and Cell technology to other companies. To Sony, the PS3 is an important part of winning market share in several different markets that they can’t afford to lose in. With this latest announcement from Terra Soft, Sony is finally starting to show all their cards. If Sony sees demand for Linux on PS3, can dedicated Cell based PCs and workstations be far behind?
I was sitting on the fence about which next generation game console I planned to buy (if at all). This announcement has just made my decision a lot easier for me. I currently have an XBox with a mod chip installed so I can run XBox Media Center on it for playing downloaded video content in my home theatre. But the XBox can’t handle HD video playback at 720p or higher, and my 50″ LCD projection TV is crying for HD content. Given that Microsoft is making the XBox 360 even harder to hack than it’s predecessor, I started to consider using a Mac mini to do the job of playing back video, with it’s great Front Row remote and on-screen interface. But if I can just install Linux on a PS3 then for around the same money as a Mac mini I’ll have the media playback capability, plus a sweet ass gaming console and a BluRay movie disc player. Sure, it won’t be able to run Mac software, but if I really want to do that in my living room, I’ll just use my Mac notebook. That’s what notebooks and WiFi are for after all.
October 17th, 2006
In my previous article about Microsoft’s latest attempt to catch up to the iPod, no pricing, ship date or official dimensions were available. Since then, more concrete details have become available. First off, Microsoft has finalized the price for their 30GB POS device: $249.99 US. That’s just 99¢ more than the equivalent capacity iPod. The device will go on sale on November 14.
Zune Marketplace will sell music for 79 Microsoft points per track, which works out to 98.75¢, since 80 Microsoft points will cost you a buck. So for all intents and purposes, songs are the same price as they are on Apple’s iTunes Store (99¢). There will also be an all you can eat subscription service for $14.99/month. This is more expensive than some of the PlaysForSure subscription services available from other vendors. Microsoft Marketplace will launch with only music for sale. Video will come down the road.
The shipping Zune player is considerably bigger than I had estimated based on the publicity photos previously released. Of course, any time you have to estimate, you’re bound to be off a tad, not to mention publicity photos could be misleading. My guess was that the device would be between the size of an iPod 30GB and iPod 80GB. The reality is it’s bigger than even the 80GB iPod, so owners of that wonderful device can still brag they have 50GB more storage AND a smaller device. The actual dimensions are 4.4 inches x 2.4 inches x 0.58 inch with a weight of 5.6 ounces. That makes it 13% bigger/2% heavier than the iPod 80GB, and 45% bigger/30% heavier than iPod 30GB it’s trying to compete directly with.
So all that extra bulk must be for a bigger battery that will beat the iPod’s battery life, right? Wrong. According to Engadget:
They were pretty tight lipped about it, but our new pal and independent analyst for Directions on Microsoft, Matt Rosoff, let us know that according to his contacts, with wireless off we can expect a 12 hours of music playback at 128Kbps, 3.5 hours for video playback, and 4.5 hours when running a slide show. Compare that to the 30GB iPod’s 14/4 hours and the 80GB iPod’s 20/6 hours, and it’s a little difficult to fully envision the payoff for that added thickness and height.
So iPod 80GB owners can also brag they have nearly double the battery life of the Zune as well. We can only imagine what the battery must be like with WiFi turned on.
Does Microsoft really think people will buy a bigger, uglier device that has worse battery life JUST because it has a bigger screen and gimmicky WiFi that is next to useless? Anyone serious about video is going to prefer the higher capacity and longer battery life of the 80GB iPod, and the casual video user will really notice how much smaller/lighter the iPod 30GB model is. Microsoft is going to learn a hard lesson from the Zune this holiday shopping season. But hey, they have to spend that cash hoard on something, nothing says it has to be successful. One thing is obvious: the Zune isn’t even fit to compete against other products on the market from the likes of Creative and iRiver, against the iPod it’s DOA.
[Edit 10/3/2006, 11:18 am: Changed "for all intensive purposes" to "for all intents and purposes". Thanks to reader "Poppycock" for catching that error.]
October 2nd, 2006
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