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The battle for the Smart Phone is on!
The industry seems desperate to find an alternative to the iPhone so far with no success. Palm (the inventor of the category in a way) launched last week the “pre” a successor to the “pro” (pretty creative naming) that is supposed to be what we’re all been waiting for. Based on what Palm calls WebOS (do not try to pronounce it in Spanish) which is really a WebKit browser on top of a Linux kernel. It is to me just another “clever phone”, pretty well designed, but just a follow up.
It is not about the gadget
Reading through my June 2009 Bicycling magazine – which I typically do cover to cover, ads and all – the article from the editor Loren Mooney caught my eye. The author does a great piece on how keeping logs has changed and the the amount of data available for the casual rider thanks to multiple cool gadgets in the market. Technology combined with biking, what can go wrong? I then ventured to find my first logs too. Although I will not reveal the content, I found out that keeping a log by hand did not work for me not only because I was not too good, but because I was – actually still am – lazy too. However, towards the end of 2008 I snatched the Garmin Forerunner 305® on a huge sell that couldn’t resist. Given my definition of good weather, I have been able to try it out a couple of times only and I now realize this is the only real way to create a log.
What's next after the iPhone?
We all have seen the success of the iPhone, what it has done to AT&T, and how it has changed the way we look at our phones. Blackberry maker RIM, Nokia, Motorola, HTC, LG, Samsung, and others have touch phones (the last three mostly with Windows Mobile or Android) that arguably perform similar functions. App store clones are popping up like there is no tomorrow, carriers are warming up to WiFi, GPS is now a standard feature, and web browsing on a phone is a no-brainer. We can’t help but question what’s next? The problem with technology that took the industry by surprise is that it is very tough to follow. Sure there is a 3.0 upgrade in store for the iPhone but it is evolutionary at best. We all heard the potential improvements (a real keyboard, the ability to run multiple apps, a replaceable battery for crying out loud! etc.) but no analyst or company has come up with the next best thing. A truly smart smartphone is what’s missing.
Will WiMAX take off?
Sprint is touting its recently launched 4G service. It is a result of a joint venture with Clearwire. The underlying technology is called WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access). WiMAX is a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access with performance expectations similar to those of wired broadband like cable or DSL. WiMAX provides fixed, nomadic, portable, and mobile wireless broadband connectivity without the need for direct line-of-sight with a base station. In a typical cell radius deployment of three to ten kilometers, some WiMAX Forum Certified™ systems can be expected to deliver capacity of up to 40 Mbps per channel, for fixed and portable access applications.
Is there still room for a landline?
We may feel nostalgia for out traditional telephone lines or what the industry calls POTS (Plain old telephone system) but is the world still in need for something so 20th century? Every year millions of landlines are being canceled in the US and Western Europe and in some places in the developing world they were never even installed. It seems that the world is doing away with wires in lieu of wireless or cellular telephony. Vonage and other VoIP (Voice over internet protocol) providers have given a bit more life to the traditional telephone but in some places cellular is the only phone. Why hasn’t it totally moved over? Continue …
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