2013년 7월 25일 목요일
Google Unveils New Chrome And Android Devices
At Dogpatch Studios, an event space in San Francisco, Google executive Sundar Pichai unveiled new devices Wednesday morning.
Android, Google's mobile operating system, has conquered smartphones, neatly trouncing Apple in worldwide market share. But now it has set its sights on tablets.
Pichai pointed out that tablets were set to overtake sales of consumer PCs this year, largely taking over the once-thriving market for netbooks and other low-end notebook PCs. (Just yesterday, Apple reported that its iPad sales fell 14% in the quarter that ended June 29.)
The Next Nexus 7
"Nexus 7 has been a big hit, and we're going to try to follow up," said Google executive Hugo Barra, who joined Pichai on stage and unveiled a new version of the 7-inch tablet. "It's the power of Google in your hand."
The original Nexus 7 had a great form factor for watching video. Its exterior, however, was marred by a cheap plastic back and a general lack of fit and finish that made it unpleasant to hold.
The new one is even more optimized for watching clips, with a faster processor and 1080p video. Tellingly, a representative from Netflix is in the audience, and Netflix is releasing a new Android app that supports the Nexus 7's video features.
Models range from $229 to $349, with higher-end models having support for LTE wireless networking. They go on sale July 30 in the United States and in other countries "in the coming weeks," Barra said.
Android 4.3 Unveiled
The new tablet is the first to ship with Google's Android 4.3 operating system.
Android 4.3 has some family-friendly features, like "restricted profiles" for children, which should make it easier to share a tablet at home, where most are used.
Barra also showed off OpenGL ES3—a graphics technology which got a lot of talk at Google's recent I/O conference for developers—delivering what he called "a new level of photorealism" for games and other apps.
But the strength of the device, as highlighted by Barra, was less in the hardware and operating system than in Google's own portfolio of apps, like Google Maps and Google Hangouts, the new video-chat service that's rolling up Google's fragmented chat and messaging products.
Tablets Getting More Play
Google's also emphasizing third-party apps designed for tablets, making it easier to browse its Google Play store for tablet-optimized apps. Google is both automatically categorizing apps specifically designed for tablets and creating hand-selected lists of the best tablet-friendly apps.
For games, Google now has a Google Play Games app, similar to its broken-out versions of the Google Play store for books, magazines, and movies and TV shows.
And textbooks are likewise getting a category-specific app, with digital textbooks available to rent or buy starting in August.
Chromecasting TV
The new Nexus 7, like its predecessor, happens to be a great device for watching video. And Google, of course, owns YouTube, the world's largest video site.
Only 15 percent of households have figured out how to get online videos on their TV, Pichai said.
Google's solution is a tiny, 2-inch fob called Chromecast, which runs a version of Google's ChromeOS. It plugs into any TV with an HDMI input.
Google's YouTube apps—on Android and other operating systems—are getting a new "cast" button, which allows them to serve as a remote control for the TV. That sidesteps a massive problem most online-video-to-TV solutions have, which is dealing with clunky TV remote controls.
Google already has similar solutions in place with some digital-TV services, like Verizon's FIOS, through its YouTube Pair service. In fact, it works very similarly to YouTube Pair. But Chromecast doesn't require Google to do deals with TV service providers.
Chromecast also works with video apps like Netflix and music apps like Pandora. And a new feature, still being tested, will display any tab from Google's Chrome Web browser onto a television.
It's retailing for $35, and Netflix is offering three months of free service with purchase for a limited time.
What It Means
The takeaway: Google is aggressively pricing its hardware to push its services, especially video. And in the wake of a recent reorganization that brought together its Chrome and Android teams under Pichai, its showing how its mobile and desktop operating systems are growing ever more closely linked.
2013년 7월 15일 월요일
HTML5 vs. Apps: Where The Debate Stands Now, And Why It Matters
BI Intelligence
An HTML5 app is housed on the Web and runs inside a mobile browser. Unlike apps built specifically for Apple devices or Google's Android operating system, it does not need to be built from scratch for each OS. The promise is that it can be "write once, run anywhere."
It's true: In many cases, HTML5 can work just as well as a native approach. But it is not the silver bullet it is often made out to be, for several reasons. HTML5 faces a fragmentation issue of its own, since there are gaps in the range of HTML5 app features supported by the different mobile browsers.
So where are we in the HTML5 vs. native apps debate?
A recent report from BI Intelligence analyzes this very question.
In the report, we do a head-to-head comparison of the two, explain the specific reasons why HTML5 has a long term edge over native apps for mobile development, analyze the barriers to HTML5 as a development tool and explain how HTML5 is starting to overcome them, look at the current state of the performance gap between HTML5 and native apps, and get the developer's perspective through interviews with HTML5 skeptics, early adopters, and HTML5 pioneers and advocates.
Five apps that drove the App Store's success
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Apple's App Store arrived five years ago
- Users have downloaded more than 50 billion iOS apps
- Casual game "Angry Birds" is the store's top-selling app ever
- Facebook leads most-popular list of free apps, followed by Pandora
(CNN) -- "App" has been a computing term for a lot longer than five years. But, on July 10, 2008, it began its journey to becoming a household word.
That's when Apple, a year after launching the iPhone, introduced its App Store to the world.
The online marketplace launched with 500 apps, mostly for established Web companies such as Facebook, eBay and Yelp. Today, it has more than 850,000. And, a couple of months ago, it passed a mind-boggling threshold, marking the 50 billionth app to be downloaded.
Apple can no longer claim proprietary ownership of apps, those mini-programs that continue to push the boundaries of what a mobile phone can do. Google launched its own app store, now called Play, less than a year after Apple. Today, it's on a path toward surpassing Apple's number of downloads.
But the iPhone was the first smartphone most folks ever saw, and the App Store was the accessory that gave it extra usefulness. On this anniversary, we look at five iconic apps that got a huge lift from the App Store and expanded the capabilities of our phones.
'Angry Birds'
Before the App Store, video games were, by and large, for hard-core players with consoles or souped-up PCs. Now the line between who is a gamer and who's not is blurry -- and millions of people have "Angry Birds" to thank. The deceptively addictive little game, in which players fling a flock of ... well ... angry birds at their pig nemeses, is the top-selling paid app in the App Store's history.
Since its launch in 2009, the game has become a franchise, with spinoffs, toys, cartoons and even a movie making up just part of Finnish developer Rovio Entertainment's furious, feathered empire.
Google Maps
With the rise of Google's Android system as Apple's chief mobile rival, there's a certain irony that one of its products was a key to the App Store's success. But since Google Maps rolled out as a native app for the iPhone, the ability to get directions on the go has become one of mobile computing's key features. (Does anyone still hand-draw maps?)
Yes, there are other map apps out there. But Google's treasure-trove of data makes its maps a go-to for millions. Witness the mini-disaster Apple had on its hands when it bumped Google's offering for its own Maps app last year. Apple's product was so half-baked that CEO Tim Cook, in a rare mea culpa, essentially told users to download Google Maps until it was fixed.
Pandora
By 2008 Pandora already had become a popular Web-streaming service, letting users seed their own personal radio stations with bands or songs they liked. But the company was quick to see the potential in mobile computing, and Pandora was among the first apps available when the App Store went live.
Since then, it's become the second-most downloaded iPhone app in the store's history, trailing only Facebook. Its proof of concept -- that users want to be able to bring their music with them anywhere -- also helped inspire a host of competitors, from Spotify to Rdio to Last.fm.
Instagram
Mobile phones, particularly smartphones, made all of us photographers. That's a huge shift. But, sadly for most of us, it didn't make us all good photographers. Enter Instagram -- with a slate of editing tools and funky filters that can make even the most pedestrian pictures look good. Add to that Instagram's social features, complete with Twitter-like hashtags, and you've got a tool tailor-made for mobile.
Launched in 2010 by Stanford University students, Instagram now moves about 45 million images every day. Oh ... and those creators also sold it to Facebook last year for a cool $1 billion.
Shazam
It seems like a little thing, until you stop and think about it: What if your phone could listen to a few seconds of a song, then tell you what it is? That would have sounded like magic not so many years ago. Now, we take it for granted. Shazam started in the UK in 2002 as a Web service.
But it was front and center at the beginning of the mobile revolution, and is now among Apple's Top 10 downloaded apps, with 350 million users.
2013년 7월 10일 수요일
WebTV Comes To An End At Last
This September, an Internet legacy will be Error 404: WebTV will be dead.
I know what you're thinking: WebTV was still alive?
Indeed it was, but this mainstay of the very early days of the World Wide Web will be shut down after an 17-year run, according to its owners, Microsoft, which had re-branded the service as MSN TV in 2001.
The thin-client Internet browsing service, which provided Internet access via television sets, will be shuttered on September 30. Microsoft revealed the news in an e-mail to subscribers and an FAQ posted to its Web site.
WebTV (later called MSN TV) started in 1996 with the goal to bring new people "online" and to give those already online an easy, hassle-free means of accessing the internet from the comfort of their homes. Later, MSN TV 2 was released with vastly greater power and features. Since then, the web has continued to evolve at a breathtaking pace, and there are many new ways to access the internet. Accordingly, we have made the difficult decision to end the MSN TV service on September 30th, 2013. We are working with our customers to ensure the transition is as seamless as possible.
Users of the service, now dubbed MSN TV 2, will be able to access some of their content online using Microsoft's existing cloud services. Favorites saved in the television web browser will be accessible via SkyDrive. E-mails and contact information will be available through Outlook.com.
Photos will also be available on SkyDrive, but users will need to run through a few steps to make sure the photos will be carried over.
All of this, of course, is contingent on users having Microsoft accounts, which is urged in the FAQ documentation.
At its launch in 1996, WebTV was actually a very forward-thinking way to get Internet access to users in a marketplace where PCs were nowhere near real penetration in the home. Use of the Internet, particularly the Web, exploded in the mid-1990s, after the National Science Foundation allowed commercial use of Web sites. But the expense of PCs in those days, not to mention the scarcity of dial-up services, made Internet use in the home a patchy affair.
WebTV, with its integrated dial-up and a simple-to-use set-top box, made Web surfing at home a relatively painless process. Emphasis on the relatively:
For all its flaws, WebTV and MSN TV did bring manage to introduce a fair amount of users to the mysterious world of the Internet, and as such, deserves a little show of love. Remember the days of dial-up Internet fondly, for it was these brave pioneers that would one day bring us LOLcats.
Summary; The once-pioneering Internet service was innovative and yet oh so mockable.
2013년 7월 9일 화요일
Inside Responsive Design: The Pros And Cons Of The Popular Mobile Strategy
BI Intelligence
Responsive design, a technology that stretches or shrinks Web pages to fit differently sized screens, has emerged as the most-often recommended manner of optimizing content for mobile devices. This dominance was cemented in mid-2012 when Google recommended responsive design as the best strategy for smartphone-optimized websites.
As the iPhone, Android phones, and iPad became bestselling consumer gadgets, businesses realized their Web presence needed to translate to those smaller screens. Otherwise, their websites would bear tell-tale signs of a business clueless to mobile: tiny text, tinier links, and a jumbled layout. They risked lost traffic and sales.
These days, responsive design is recommended as the gold standard. But as with most technologies in a multi-device world, it has disadvantages, and it's not right for every business, or every application.
In a new report from BI Intelligence, we describe what responsive design is and compare it to other mobile optimization tools, analyze responsive designs pros and cons, examine data and statistics that track responsive design adoption and performance across mobile, and evaluate whether dedicated mobile websites have their place, and detail the ramifications for HTML5 development.
Here's an overview of the main mobile optimization tools:
- Mobile apps: Particularly at the beginning of the mobile boom, when some believed apps would channel virtually all mobile activity, businesses rushed to create apps. Apps may be dominant in some mobile markets like the U.S., but consumers use their mobile browsers too — and not just for casual browsing, searching and information look-ups. A great deal of e-commerce happens in the mobile Web browser, not in native apps. Not to mention: Apps are expensive. Apps are not the be-all, end-all for mobile.
- Dedicated mobile websites: Some usability gurus advocate for separate mobile sites that offer a stripped-down version of its content and carry their own Web address (often with the URL that looks something like this: m.website). These mobile-only sites tend to perform very well in terms of load speeds.
- Responsive design: In responsive design, the same Web code or HTML is delivered to every device, but tweaks to CSS code — which determines the layout of Web pages — allow it to determine the device size and adjust layout accordingly. The website maintains the same Web address or URL regardless of what device it's seen on. In sum: The fluid layout means that content adapts to all form factors, even smart TVs — a fast-growing source of Web traffic.
- Responsive Design With Server-Side Support. This is a variant of responsive design. The difference is that the computer server that hosts the website will deliver different batches of HTML and CSS Web code depending on what device the user is on. This method solves some of responsive design's performance issues, but requires device detection. It means a company can use responsive design and enjoy its advantages where it wants, but deploy more customized components too. It may deploy responsive elements across mobile, while keeping a more traditional fixed layout for the PC. It may even deliver customized experiences for certain device models (like a feature that only works on retina screens, etc.).
WEARABLE COMPUTING: Inside The New Mobile Market That Is Taking Shape
BI Intelligence
Those betting big on wearable computing believe an assorted new crop of gadgets — mostly worn on the wrist or as eyewear — will transform the way in which we interact with the rest of our devices.
But wearables won't just complement smartphones. What is perhaps most intriguing about them is that they will serve new purposes too. Because they are designed to be worn close to the body, they're ideal for monitoring our vital signs and health. They'll track how active we are, our sleep quality, how many steps we take during the day. Consumers of all sorts — fitness buffs, dieters, and the elderly — will come to rely on them.
Or... will they? Overall consumer awareness is still low. Speculation on the future market for wearables devices is a confusing mix of skepticism and hype.
In a recent report from BI Intelligence, we make sense of the muddle and analyze various growth forecasts for the wearable computing market, explore the products and prospects of each component market - including bracelets, smartwatches, and eyewear, examine the various barriers to entry for each, and look at how wearables could bring along new platform wars.
Here's a brief overview of the wearable computing market:
- Market sizing estimates vary: According to IMS Research, the wearables market is poised to grow from 14 million devices shipped in 2011 to as many as 171 million units shipped by 2016. In a more recent estimate, ABI Research pegs the wearables market at 485 million annual device shipments by 2018. We believe this number is too high because of the uncertainty surrounding eyewear and smartwatches. We see global annual wearable device unit shipments crossing the 100 million milestone in 2014, and reaching 300 million units five years from now.
- Bracelets: Right now, driven by their aptness for fitness and medical uses, bracelets dominate the wearables market. Even if wearable computing doesn't go mainstream, smart bracelets will always have a place in the burgeoning industry for smart medical devices, according to IMS Research. We believe fitness and medical wearables, taken together, will account for roughly 60% of the wearables market this year, and even a larger share in the future.
- Smartwatches: Like fitness bands, they are employing wireless links — invariably, Bluetooth — to link up with a smartphone. But instead of collecting information, like most fitness bands, watches will display it. Promoters of smartwatches also highlight the fact that users will no longer have to constantly reach into their pockets for a smartphone — an action becoming more awkward as phone screen sizes grow. But we see the advantages of a smartwatch display over a smartphone screen as minimal.
- Eyewear: In contrast to virtual reality, augmented reality lets you see ambient information while interacting with the real world. The most ambitious wearable product aimed at the consumer mainstream is Google Glass. Marketers see great potential in Google Glass. They are already familiar with augmented reality since they have experimented with print materials that are readable by smartphone applications and can create complementary ad experiences on-screen.
2013년 7월 4일 목요일
The Next Billion Smartphone Users Will Have An Awesome Mobile Computing Device
Lost amid the heated and increasingly dull iPhone versus Android rhetoric is the prospect of the world on the cusp of placing amazing personal computing technology—smartphones—into the hands of not just a billion people, but billions of people.
Most new smartphones these days are destined not for America, but for India, Africa, South America and Asia. This giant market will forever alter the personal computing industry. More importantly, it will almost certainly have a sizable and cascading impact on the Web itself, on cultures and economics, and on how people connect with one another.
Emerging Market Growth
IDC expects about a billion smartphones to sell this year alone. This is a 33% increase over last year, and is fueled primarily by "emerging market demand."
Smartphones have become increasingly common in emerging markets and it is often the first affordable means of computing for these markets.
What's driving emerging market demand, however, is the rapid drop in price. In 2012, smartphones priced at $250 or less—no contract required—comprised 37% of all sales. Yet the market for smartphones priced between $75 and $100 grew an astounding 750%.
Prices are continuing to fall. IDC notes that smartphone prices fell 8% in 2012 and will drop 9% in 2013.
Yet this market is far from saturated. While smartphone demand is growing at nearly 50% in the U.S., by global standards that's anemic. This chart from Flurryreveals how few people in select areas of the world yet own a connected smartphone or tablet.
Testing The Nokia Asha
Just as surprising as the rapid drop in price is the rather astounding functionality of these devices. For example, the small, attractive Nokia Asha 310, available for only $100—that's full price, with no carrier subsidy—offers the following:
- Phone and messaging
- GPS/maps
- Capacitive touchscreen
- 3MP camera
- App store/Music store
- Acceptable sound quality
- Facebook, Twitter and several EA games pre-loaded
- Popular apps like WhatsApp
- Exchange, Gmail and Yahoo Mail can be configured on the device
- It's even possible, according to Nokia, to edit Microsoft Office documents, although I did not try this
I've been using an Asha loaned to me by Nokia (it is typically not offered in the U.S.). While the device has some significant failings, including surprisingly poor WiFi reliability, I was still repeatedly struck by its capabilities.
Along with the features listed above, the Asha 310 offers dual SIM support, which allows users to operate the phone for work and personal use and to take advantage of the lowest calling rates. This is an important feature in some parts of the world.
The Asha does not offer multitasking, does not support 3G, and its "Xpress Browser" doesn't offer the full Web experience. Nonetheless, the Asha 310 does nearly everything you can do on an iPhone, excepting video and video calling—just not as well, not as fast, not as easily. But it's only $100!
Smartphones For The Next Five Billion
Despite all that, I'm still not convinced there's a long-term future for the Asha. Android, which already accounts for at least 50% of the global smartphone market, shows no signs of slowing down. Just last month, for example, Google opened Android Nation in India—a brick-and-mortar retail store and a clear sign of Google's determination to grow Android in one of the world's largest markets.
Google is planing to open several such stores throughout India. Android Nation serves as an "Android experience center"—think Apple Store, but for Android.
Nonetheless, the market is so big and growing so fast that it's equally difficult to believe that only Android, or only Android and iPhone, for example, will dominate the planet. Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs—out promoting the new Firefox OS for smartphones—said his organization is aiming at the next "2 billion smartphone users."
I find it impossible to understand how 3,4,5 or 6 billion people are going to get their diverse needs satisfied by one or two or five companies, no matter how delicious those companies.
Low-cost Firefox OS smartphones will soon be available in select areas of the world.
Look East, Look South, Look Everywhere
Smartphones are not a status symbol, but a productive, creative communications tool used by more than a billion people seeking to improve their work, increase their wealth, add to their joys and connect them to their region and the world.
A $100 smartphone, amazing as it is, is not great. Not yet. Nonetheless, consider all that it can do for this price. Soon, billions will connect to Facebook and Twitter, to Google and medical resources, to learning and job opportunities, on an actual personal computer at a price once thought all-but-impossible. In this new reality, debates about iPhone versus Android have quickly become superfluous.
Consider this video Apple put together for developers at WWDC showcasing how (iPhone) apps can reach everyone and benefit anyone. If you can get past the Apple self-glorification, it's a powerful illustration of how smartphones are connecting and empowering us all in ways we never imagined.
Today's premium, costly iPhone 5 is likely 2016's every-phone.
That is great news for the world.
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