Doh, of course Microsoft should open lots more retail stores
Matt Rosoff, a former analyst covering Microsoft and now working for Business Insider, has a startling and disturbing report today. Citing unnamed sources, Rosoff claims that Microsoft's leadership is divided about opening more retail stores.
Geez Louise, it's not rocket science. Open lots more stores, Microsoft. Actually, you can't open them fast enough.
You can't trust Gartner's smartphone OS forecast, or any other
Gartner and IDC agree on something: Microsoft's mobile operating system will rank second to Google's by 2015. Both analyst firms largely, and possibly wrongly, assume that Windows Phone 7 will take over share given up by Symbian -- as Nokia swaps its mobile OS for Microsoft's. Meanwhile, Windows Phone would have little, perhaps no, organic sales growth. I don't believe it, and neither should you. The smartphone market is too volatile to predict that far ahead. The problem isn't specific to Gartner; every analyst firm is in the same boat trying to find land in stormy seas.
Gartner released its smartphone OS forecast today, and it is more bullish about the Symbian-Windows Phone switcheroo than IDC. Gartner predicts that Symbian will go from 19.3 percent market share this year to 0.1 percent in 2015. Windows Mobile will have 19.5 percent share, Gartner claims. IDC sees Symbian with 20.9 percent share this year and Microsoft's smartphone OS with the same percentage in 2015.
Microsoft will take Toyota cars to the cloud
In the "Back to the Future" movie series, cars can fly in 2015. Flying cars aren't likely in the immediate future, but they will go to the cloud. Today, Microsoft and Toyota announced a telematics deal connecting electric and hybrid vehicles to Azure services.
The first vehicles with the joint telematics solution will go on sale next year, with a global platform being available by 2015. During a joint presentation with Toyota, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer described the solution as "telematics in the cloud" and a "backend platform for a wide range of applications" delivered to Toyota vehicles.
100,000 Motorola XOOMs sold isn't bad, it's good
I'm puzzled by reaction to estimates of Motorola XOOM tablet sales. Deutsche Bank estimates 100,000 units over the first two months, which is much better than I would have expected. Of course, those people pooping all over XOOM are comparing to iPad 2, and that quite literally is Apple to oranges.
Deutsche Bank cleverly got the number by looking at the percentage of Android devices running v3, or Honeycomb, and slicing against other analyst firm's unit shipments. According to official Android Developers stats, 0.2 percent of Android devices ran Honeycomb as of April 1.
Can Mozilla shame Firefox developers to do better?
I sure hope so. Mozilla has posted what Stan Schroeder, writing for Mashable, calls a "Wall of Shame." Firefox users, is this new? I'm just getting back to using Firefox after more than a year -- part of my experiment to purge all Google products and services; I haven't followed Firefox enough recently to answer. New or not, it's a simply brilliant idea. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Opera any other browser developers should copycat this one.
Praise is the carrot. Shame is the stick. Browser makers should use both -- or at least look to see how the stick works for Firefox. Mozilla's main list is 10 "Slow Performing Add-ons," but there are another 40 available to view. The poster-application for good behavior is add-on Firefox Sync, which doesn't slow performance at all. Linkular's FoxLingo - Translator / Dictionary tops the list, slowing the browser's performance by 74 percent. Firebug ranks second, also saps by 74 percent.
'Apple's lead will be very difficult to beat'
Today, Gartner piped in on the fierce debate about media tablet platforms, by giving huge nod to Apple. Uh-oh, so much for Android 3.0 "Honeycomb." The message is intended for CIOs, whom the analyst firm also encouraged to begin supporting media tablets now.
"Fundamentally, the market battle will not hinge on features and specifications; on the fit and finish of a given device; or even on a device at all," David Willis, Gartner research director, says in a statement. "The platform that will prevail will have a strong supporting ecosystem of developers producing a wide range of applications. And in this area, Apple is far ahead of any competition."
Can you give up Google?
I'm going to try. Would you like to join me?
Google has come under increased scrutiny for being a monopolist -- heck, I've lobbed accusations, too. In December, the European Commission opened an "antitrust investigation into allegations that Google Inc. has abused a dominant position in online search." Google sure seems to offer lots of necessary services that businesses or consumers seemingly can't do without. Or can they?
AT&T makes you pay even more for iPhone
The rumors are true. AT&T has raised iPhone prices by 50 bucks for people who don't yet qualify for subsidized pricing. It's foreshadowing. Just wait until AT&T gets its grubby, greedy hands on T-Mobile subscribers. Can you say "price hikes" post merger?
OK, so the news really is much worse. The price increases apply to other smartphones, too. But I specifically checked on iPhone using my AT&T Wireless account manager this morning. Sure enough, the 32GB iPhone 4 is now $549, up from $499, for example. There's also $150-more pricing when opting for one-year contracts on some smartphones.
There's a new sheriff at Google
Today Google cofounder Larry Page officially resumes the role of chief executive, a position he abdicated to Eric Schmidt 10 years ago. The elder technologist will remain as chairman, in part as Google's ambassador and as grandaddy to Page and other cofounder Sergey Brin. The question: What next for Google?
It's a question I've been asking during the transition phase, which started with the January 20th announcement. Something certainly is different at Google. Two recent Android pullbacks are evidence of that, and I can't help but wonder how much they reflect Page's influence, because of timing.
Can Android be stopped?
It's the question I'm asking after reviewing ComScore's most recent mobile market share data. One in three American smartphone users have Android -- that was at the end of February. It's April now, so the numbers are surely higher, based on the three-month trend. Holy Moly.
Two months ago, ComScore disclosed data for the three months ending in December. For that period, Android market share rose 7.3 points; 7 points during the more recent three-month period. Since the end of September, then, Android market share rose from 21.4 percent to 33 percent. To be clear: This is actual subscriber share, meaning the install base of U.S. cellular users, not units shipped over three months.
Microsoft should make Google the April Fool
Google has given Microsoft a great competitive opening, and it's one the software giant shouldn't let go. Opportunities like this just don't come `round often enough, or so rightly timed.
Twice in about a week, Google has cracked down on Android licensing. From one perspective, the search and information giant is asserting needed leadership. From another, Google is closing the door on so-called openness of its software. Either way, Microsoft has a hook to grab developers and encourage further OEM adoption of Windows Phone 7.
Spam accounts for 124% of email, spammers complain
Editor's Note, April 2, 2011: This was an April Fools gag post
According to a new report released today from Male Bomber LLC, more than one out of every email sent is spam. I knew the number was high, but 124 percent? That's what Male Bomber claims, and the company should know. Male Bomber specializes in targeted spam, working outside the jurisdiction of law enforcement. Well, so the company claims. Executives won't reveal exactly where they operate, and Male Bomber uses sophisticated botnets, rather than its own servers, to dispatch spam.
Hey, Google, Microsoft payback is a bitch
What goes around comes around, and Microsoft proved the point by filing an antitrust complaint against Google. I'm not so much surprised by Microsoft's action but why it took so long. Google dogged Microsoft with European trustbusters for years, now it's tit-for-tat time.
Microsoft "decided to join a large and growing number of companies registering their concerns about the European search market," Brad Smith, general counsel, writes in a blog post today. "By the European Commission's own reckoning, Google has about 95 percent of the search market in Europe." Say, doesn't that figure sound familiar -- like Windows on x86-based PCs when U.S. trustbusters targeted Microsoft in the late 1990s?
Craig Mundie questions whether tablets have a future -- does he or Microsoft without them?
Some people are so smart, they're dumb when it comes to everyday things. They lack common sense, or fail to appreciate viewpoints other than their own. It's the only way I can explain Microsoft chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie questioning whether the media tablet has any future.
"I don't know whether the big screen tablet pad category is going to remain with us or not," Mundie said in Sydney earlier today, during a lunch event sponsored by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia. This is the same man who in summer 2009 predicted that the future of the PC is a room. During Microsoft's Financial Analyst Meeting 2009 he looked into the future and saw "a world where the room is the computer" and asserted that "there will be a successor to the desktop [PC], it'll be the room."
iPad generated nearly 100% of media tablet revenues in 2010
Today, Gartner revealed that spending on media tablets was $9.6 billion last year. Based on Apple financial releases, iPad generated $9.566 billion in revenue during the year -- well, the three quarters the tablet was available. By that reckoning, the other media tablets generated just $34 million in revenue.
I find $34 million to be astonishing, and puts a different perspective on IDC's media tablet shipment data, which gave iPad 83 percent market share for 2010. Until real competitors emerge, iPad owns the media tablet market. Cash is king, market share is the court jester.
Joe's Bio
Joe Wilcox is BetaNews executive editor. His motto: Change the rules. Joe is a former CNET News staff writer, JupiterResearch senior analyst, and Ziff Davis Enterprise Microsoft Watch editor.
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