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      Verizon takes after Palm without pioneering an OS

      October 19, 2009 /

      Motorola Droid.On Saturday night, Verizon publicly declared it would be going after the iPhone with a new Android phone from Motorola. To do so, Big Red is using the same tactic Palm did, but it will probably see a much higher success rate. The reason: the OS.

      It’s not just that I think Android is a superior platform (which I do), or that Palm continues to botch almost everything it tries with regard to the App Catalog (which it does). It’s really that Verizon isn’t trying to pioneer a new OS against the world’s most successful smartphone. Android is not the thriving development community it could be, but it’s not brand new either. That means there will be plenty of app support on launch day, but more importantly that developers are familiar enough to create apps that take advantage of specific features of the new Motorola phone – a big part of what makes the iPhone so good.

      On top of that huge advantage, the phone looks really nice. It’s sleek and slim, has a landscape keyboard that far outstrips the cramped POS on the Pre, and it’s on Verizon. I don’t think I need to mention all the other features Verizon’s new ad points out.

      This isn’t something Apple will take lying down, though. We should see the rebuttal in what promises to be a snarky little ad war before long.

      iPhone, Mobile

      Eric Schmidt says Android is about to blow up

      October 17, 2009 /

      Android's about to get big.I’ve been cautiously skeptical about Google’s Android operating system as a successful mobile platform. I love the features, I love the UI, but the phones were seriously lacking. Google CEO Eric Schmidt made some comments during the company’s earnings conference call that may change my mind, though.

      Schmidt says Android Adoption is set to blow up, and it’s because of those crappy phones the system currently runs. It’s not the phones themselves, but the number of them. There are currently 12 phones running Android, and more phones and netbooks coming out monthly it seems. As that number continues to grow, it gives developers more and more reason to spend time on the platform.

      Mobile is Google’s next great frontier, and where analysts expect most of the company’s growth to come from over the next couple years. With more Android adoption, that growth is essentially guaranteed. Hopefully 2010 will see the release of a phone that might make me consider getting rid of the iPhone. I love a healthy competition.

      Mobile, News

      YouTube bandwidth costs just might be zero

      October 17, 2009 /

      YouTube logo.This summer gave us a lot of speculation about the actual cost of running YouTube. Now the video site serves up nearly 100 billion videos a year, making some analysts wonder where all the bandwidth money is coming from. As Arbor Networks, a net flow monitoring hardware provider, has it, there is no money changing hands. Google’s YouTube is being run on the good ol’ barter system.

      “I think Google’s transit costs are close to zero,” says Craig Labovitz, Arbor Network’s chief scientist. Google also said earlier in the year that standard pricing models just don’t apply for YouTube. Google has bought up a bunch of unused fiber-optics known as dark fiber through which it sends data to other networks. Those ISPs then trade traffic with Google. It’s a system I’ll admit I don’t completely understand, but when you think about the sheer amount of traffic Google generates, it seems logical they could trade some of their own fiber-optic space for a little bandwidth here and there.

      As my source article at Wired points out, this is a fundamental shift in the way the net is carried. It used to be run by smaller ISPs, paying into larger ISPs, paying into intercontinental networks. But when Google sends 10% of all internet traffic around the web, it’s bound to find new ways to compensate the bandwidth providers, which is exactly what the company has done for YouTube.

      The Wired article is a great read, and full of some cool information for anyone curious about the Net’s structure and where things are headed.

      Digital Media, Video

      Reading Material: Can in-app sales and the iPad save publishing?

      October 16, 2009 /

      Apple tablet concept.There’s a good read up on Wired’s Gadget Lab about Apple’s recent removal of in-app purchase restrictions for free iPhone apps. The article suggests that the move, when implemented with the Apple tablet, could be the defib the publishing industry needs.

      There are already a couple apps out there using this model, though they weren’t free to begin with. The McSweeney’s app, for instance, allowed you to purchase six months of content on installation. From there it was a subscription service for more of the premium goods. Wired thinks newspapers and magazines could use this model to differentiate premium quality content from the everyday stuff like blogs and user content.

      The key to the publishing transformation, though, is the Apple tablet. For my part, I really don’t like to read content exclusively on my iPhone. I love the flexibility to do so as I please, but having content limited to just that little screen is exactly the reason I’ve avoided the McSweeney’s app. It’s just too small to use for all of my daily reading. A tablet would change that, offering the real estate necessary to make daily reading an enjoyable experience.

      For more on Apple’s plan to pluck a struggling industry from the brink, check out the original post at Wired.

      Apple, Apps, Computers, iPhone

      Apple allows in-app purchases for free apps

      October 15, 2009 /

      iPhone App Store. Apple has decided to lift yet another App Store restriction, one that has bloated the App Store (that app count isn’t entirely accurate) for some time. Developers are now allowed to have in-app purchases in free apps, a move that spells the demise of all those “lite” apps.

      As things used to be, developers were required to charge for the download of an application if they also wanted to charge for content to be added later. By lifting the restriction, Apple has finally enabled developers to make just one version of an application that can then be unlocked through in app purchases.

      I know this makes trial or limited downloads a lot more appealing. Downloading two apps for one purpose always seemed like a hassle to me. I’m glad things have finally turned the corner.

      Apple, Apps, iPhone, News

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