Now we wait for netbook prices to drop

This week saw the release of the much hyped iPad tablet from Apple, and while it wowed some it left others pretty disappointed. The iPad received very mixed reviews, with some calling it a revolutionary device while others called it an oversized iTouch. For me the iPad was what I thought it would be: a very cool toy but not a 'game changer'.

Of course, I still want one, because like I said it's a very cool toy, and I like shiny new toys. My plan for a while had been to buy a netbook, but then I decided that I would wait to see what the iPad would look like and then make my decision, just in case Apple delivered a product I simply couldn't resist. The iPad is pretty sweet, but at $499 without 3G and $629 with 3G and a $29.99 a month data plan I don't think I can justify buying this shiny new toy any time soon.

So now the new plan is to wait a bit and see how long it will take for netbook prices to drop $100 or so before I buy one. I think they'll have to in order to survive against the iPad. Right now you can buy a netbook for around $300-$600. At the higher end of that range you can get an iPad, and there will definitely be consumers who will prefer the sleeker design of the iPad and opt for it over a netbook. Netbook manufacturers will have to drop their prices a bit so they're not competing directly with the iPad. I think we'll also see e-Readers like Amazon's Kindle drop their prices over the next couple of weeks (or disappear entirely, according to some analysts).

I'm hoping netbook prices drop sooner rather than later, because I'm really itching to buy a new device. I'll probably buy a mid-range model and use it as a toy that I keep in my work bag all the time. I've heard about iPhone tethering for netbooks, so I'll probably try that out for a while. We'll see how long I can stick with this no-tablet plan. I know as soon I start seeing iPads out in the real world I'll want one really bad. Knowing Apple as soon as I buy one they'll drop the price by $200. Actually, once all the other manufacturers start releasing their own tablets Apple might have to drop the iPad price down a notch. With all the new product launches planned for this year, mobile devices could be getting real cheap real soon.

Microsoft's Project Pink

Slowly but surely the buzz around Microsoft's mobile strategy has been building up these past couple of weeks. It started out small and unassuming, with little snippets here and there about Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7, but this week Microsoft's Project "Pink" is making a big splash.

For the past couple of months any article you read about Windows Mobile tended to be pretty down on Microsoft. I wrote a couple here and there but Colin Gibbs from GigaOm really went to town on Microsoft in his articles 'Microsoft + Mobile Consumers = FAIL' and 'Has the Window Closed for Windows Mobile'. The articles are a bit harsh on Microsoft, but Gibbs makes great points about Microsoft's shortcomings in the mobile consumer space.

A couple weeks ago I started hearing a bit more about Windows Mobile 7. A co-worker forwarded me this article from Windows IT Pro, 'Microsoft's plan to save Windows Mobile'. The article talks about Windows Mobile 6.5 and the fact that it was a rushed product that was not a true reflection of Microsoft's mobile vision. The next generation of Windows Mobile would uproot the archaic layers underneath 6.5 and would deliver a smoother experience to the user. I didn't read too much into the article at the time, as anyone who has played around with Windows Mobile 6.5 can tell you that Microsoft really needed to revamp its UI if it wants to keep up with the iPhones of today.

Then earlier this week we heard that Windows Mobile 7 would (finally) be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in February. The big news was that this new version of WinMo would be a whole new platform, completely different than previous versions. In fact it wouldn't even be compatible with older version of the mobile OS. It would essentially be a copy of the Zune HD's kernel, and the UI would look and feel like a Zune HD interface. This got me thinking 'Alright, now we're getting somewhere with this.' It seemed that Microsoft had finally heard the cry of its (small) legion of Zune users who felt the device was ready for the big show. However, even with this news I felt that Microsoft would still have to integrate into the phone hardware if it wanted to have a real chance in the mobile market. WinMo7 would get Microsoft part of the way there, but it would still need to take one more big step after that.

Well, now AllThingsD is reporting that Project "Pink" (aka the Zune Phone) is back in play. Not only will Microsoft unveil WinMo7 (or just 'Seven' as it may be known) at the MWC, but it may also debut a Zune-like phone at the event. The device is rumored to be a combination phone, Zune player, and XBox mobile gaming device. It is Microsoft's direct response to the iPhone and Nexus One. The phone may not be in production until 2011 though, which still leaves a lot of time for Apple and Google to make further advances against Microsoft.

We'll see if Project "Pink" can turn around Microsoft's mobile fortunes. I personally have a bit of a soft spot for Windows Mobile, since my first smartphone was an HTC Wizard loaded with Windows Mobile 6. Looking back at it now and comparing it against my iPhone, the thing was a slow clunky beast, but I loved it. It's kind of like your first car... sure it may have been a bucket of bolts but you'll never forget how it felt the first time you fired it up and took it out for a spin. Microsoft still has a long way to go in the mobile market but I'll continue to quietly root for WinMo and wait for the Zune phone to come out.

Checking in

Last Friday Yelp released an updated version of their iPhone app that could spell trouble for Foursquare and Gowalla. The biggest new feature for Yelp users: the ability to check-in.

I've been playing around with a bunch of geolocation apps recently, including Yelp and Foursquare, and so far each of them has felt like it was lacking one thing or another. I was actually compiling a set of notes for a future article about the features I would like to see in an ideal geolocation app. Here are some of those notes:

Ability to check in at venues (like Foursquare). At each venue you should be able to pull up information (like Yelp or Wikitude). You should also be able to see relevant tweets about the venue, and then be able to expand that out to see relevant tweets about the area. Friends list should come from an established social networking site like Facebook or Twitter.

The new Yelp app has a lot of my desired features rolled into it, so in my book its emerging as one of the top contenders. The check-in and gaming features were some of the cool things about Foursquare and Gowalla, but that's not too hard to copy since Yelp and MyTown now have something similar built in. I think the success of these services lies in the the size of the user base, and right now Yelp has a lot more users than Foursquare and Gowalla. (Yelp has 1.25 million users, MyTown has 500,000 users and Foursquare has 150,000 users.) On top of that Yelp also has a large database of user generated content and reviews about locations. No wonder Google just recently tried to buy them out. Of course, the real question is when will Facebook enter this space. With its massive installed user base Facebook could quickly crush the competition if it wanted to.

Pete Cashmore said 2010 would be the year of Foursquare, and Time just featured Foursquare in its magazine, but if Foursquare doesn't step it up soon it could quickly be surpassed by its rivals. Location will be big in 2010, that's for certain, I'm just not sure if Foursquare will be the one leading the charge.

Do I really need a tablet?

Tablets garnered a lot of buzz last week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It seemed like every electronics company out there is launching a tablet product, including Apple, HTC, Microsoft, HP, Nokia, Dell and Lenovo. Reading all the reviews and technical specs behind these devices I can't help but want one. They look pretty slick and powerful and I know I'll want to play around with one as soon as they come out.

But really, do I NEED a tablet? Does anyone really need a tablet? Some folks are calling tablets "game changers" but quite honestly I can't see the void that this product is going to fill in a consumer's life. The tablet is supposed to fit in between a smartphone and a laptop... but technically a netbook can fill that space for 1/2 the price of a tablet, and provide you with more functionality. Anything you would really do on a tablet like surfing the web, watching a video or reading an ebook can be done just as well (if not better) by other devices. Do you want to surf the web on the go? Use your smartphone. Do you want to watch video on the go? You can use a tablet, but you're not going to be walking around and watching video at the same time, you're going to be sitting down to watch your video At that point you might as well use a netbook. Do you want to read an ebook? Well, they have specialized reader devices just for that, and they seem to do the job pretty well. Overall, at an estimated cost of $600-$1000 I'm not sure if anyone can really justify the cost of buying a tablet.

Also, you have to think about all these data plans that they're touting for the tablet. Do we really need another monthly data plan? Right now I already pay around $30 a month for my iPhone data plan, so do I really need another $9.99-19.99 a month data plan on top of that? I don't know if my pocketbook can handle another subscription on top of my current data plan. I wonder if AT&T would allow me to group both my phone and tablet data plans together. Considering that AT&T is already having a hard time handling the data usage just for iPhone users I doubt they'll go along with that approach.

Back to this year's CES. The tablet that generated the most buzz despite not being scheduled to be revealed in Vegas? Apple's iSlate of course. The iSlate is scheduled for a big 'reveal' at the end of the month, and will go on sale in March. I might head over to the Apple store and play around with it a bit, but will I buy one? Probably not. I really just can't justify it right now. I know I'll want the iSlate, but I really don't need it for anything just yet. There will certainly be people out there who will buy a tablet as a "cool toy" rather than as a device that will serve a real purpose, but overall I think Apple and other manufacturers will have a hard time convincing folks to fork over so much cash for another computer/toy.

Evernote update

I've been using Evernote for a month now and so far I've gathered 163 notes totaling 17 megs of data. I have 43 different labels in my notebook ranging from 'Apple' to Zune' and '2010 Predictions' to 'Social Media Case Studies'.

So far I'm happy with the Evernote organization structure and have found it easy to keep track of my notes and search my data. I run the Evernote Windows client on my home machine and have loaded various browser plug-ins at other computer terminals I use. As I research different topics on the web it's been relatively easy for me to add content to my Evernote notebook. I've also used the iPhone app a couple of times to search for information in my notebook while I'm away from a computer.

Anything I find online that I think I'll want to reference later I clip into my notebook. I'm a pack rat in real life, so Evernote is really suiting my need to gather anything and everything and collect it in some fashion. Right now I'm well under the 40 meg per month data limit, so it looks like I shouldn't have bandwidth issues anytime soon that will require me to upgrade to Evernote Premium.

My only real issue is with the Windows client. The application runs a little slow and is very resource intense at times. Evernote 3.5 is still in Beta and hopefully they'll release an updated version soon that has better performance.

Microsoft in 2010: Make or break year for mobile

2009 was a stumbling block for Microsoft in the mobile phone market. The continued growth of the iPhone and the introduction of Google's Android platform (and upcoming Nexus One device) stole significant market share away from Microsoft's Windows Mobile system. Microsoft so far has failed to respond to these smartphone threats and some industry analysts have gone so far as to call for Microsoft to exit the consumer phone game.

For 2010 it looks like tablet PCs will join smartphones as the next hot mobile battleground. This year's Consumer Electronics Show will showcase a lot of the new products set to be released in this latest category. Apple is scheduled to release an 'iSlate' tablet by the end of the month, and Google is rumored to be working with HTC to create a Google tablet running the Android platform. Microsoft also has its own dual-screen tablet in the works called Courier. There aren't too many specs out yet for the Courier device, so a lot remains unknown. Will Microsoft be able to keep up with Apple and Google in this new tablet market?

On the Zune HD front Microsoft looks like it's pushing to get Xbox Live games on Windows Mobile platforms, which will be a good step towards making WinMo phones relevant again. There's also speculation that Microsoft may announce some big Windows Mobile news soon during upcoming conferences. Maybe we'll see details on a full fledged Windows/Zune Phone? The Windows Mobile 7 OS was delayed until the second half of 2010, so Microsoft really needs something big here if it hopes to shake up the order of the current market leaders.

There's a lot at stake with mobile platforms like the smartphone and tablet as we move towards consuming more and more data on the go. 2010 will be an exciting year for innovative mobile products, and I expect to see great things from Apple, Google, Microsoft and others.

World map of URL shorteners

I found this cool map of URL shorteners over on Wired. It covers most of the popular country domains in use today by URL shorteners such as Bit.ly, Goo.gl, FB.me (Facebook), Youtu.be and GOP.am (Republican party). Read the full article here.