Versatile Amphibian

I’m of the belief that participants in the TMT industry need to read widely in order to understand the present and future dynamics of the market. To that end, this post is a collection of the articles that have caught my eye – a late posting this week as I was on holiday. Lucky me! This week: Apple and Amazon beat Microsoft on Black Friday, Volvo goes self-drive but Cambridge warns of robogeddon Digital media ITN launch a citizen journalism on Youtube. Perhaps one of the aforementioned citizens can post a story about why ITN would do that. http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/itn-production-s-citizen-journalism-youtube-channel-launches/s2/a551300/ Technology Jawbone were one of the first companies to launch a wristband activity monitoring product. Seems like they’re still learning. http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671325/jawbone-up-20-ambitious-beautiful-and-still-fatally-flawed#1 Tiresome tech wannabe Will.i.am launches an add on gadget that turns the iPhone into a c...

It seems that the new iPhone is getting a larger screen - a bump in size from 3.7" to 4" to bring it a little closer to the mammoth devices being launched by Samsung, HTC et al. 4.8" is the norm for these manufacturers at the pinnacles of their phone ranges. If the rumour mill is to be believed, then Apple will also launch a 7" version of the iPad to address an untapped market in (a) poorer people (!), (b) commuters & other mobile users. So what I wonder is whether we've reached an apogee in phone screen size. As one of my colleagues likes to point out, you'd need giant hands to find a 4.8" screen device comfortable to use . And the benefits for media consumption are marginal when judged relative to even a 7" tablet. Part of the reason why I'm more convinced than ever about 7" tablets is that people are becoming more comfortable with the benefits of the tablet for consumption (as opposed to creation). But the 10" tablet ...

Last week it was Microsoft , this week Google’s turn to launch an own-brand, own-operating system tablet . Now all of the tech majors have their own platform and the games are well and truly afoot. Google scored an early hit against Redmond by promising imminent release of their Nexus 7. As I wrote about recently, Microsoft’s marketing strategy seems rather flawed. In my view one of the key pillars of the Apple marketing model is the “here’s something amazing... which you can pre-order now and buy in stores in 2 weeks” promise. Microsoft have shown us something really interesting, but it’ll be months before we can actually buy a Surface Tablet. And when we can there’s another problem: which one to choose? Another Apple trick is the simplicity of its product range. One tablet (albeit with 6 minor variations), one phone (3 variants), 3 notebooks, 3 desktops. They don’t launch them simultaneously. 2012 was a Macbook Pro refresh year. Next year will be Air and so we go on – it’s always...

So now we know. The iPad 2 is dead – long live the iPad! Amidst the disappointment that we didn’t get super-Siri, haptics, a button-free fascia or even just a “3”, the iPad launch actually taught us a lot about Apple’s future strategy and marks a new phase in the growing war between the West Coast tech superpowers. For the first time, Apple have not just produced a beautiful-looking “wow” device, they have also created a new baseline for technical specifications. The combination of A5X, quad core graphics, LTE and Retina display is a leap ahead of the competition and demonstrates how Apple’s spending power on talent and IP are giving them the ability to out-design the competition in silicon as well as in user experience. Google, Microsoft and now Amazon will have to respond, and fast. This all reminds me of the multidimensional competition between the USA and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. This too is a global conflict, fought indirectly through proxies, rather than face to face...

Ahead of Apple’s announcement of the next generation iPad, I thought I’d jot down what I expect (and don’t expect) from the new tablet. I’ll be keeping score :). Retina display What it means: a much sharper picture than the current iPad, great for HD movies and games and even sharper magazine and web browsing experiences. Likelihood: 100% - a safe bet as without this feature it isn’t worth refreshing the iPad 2, which is already the industry leader in the category by a colossal margin A 5+ MegaPixel camera on the back What it means: sharper pictures to go with your new Retina display Likelihood: 100% - it costs Apple nothing and enables a slightly better user experience Siri What it means: voice search comes to the iPad Likelihood: 100% - I expect this to be a major “buzz” feature at the launch A 5+ MegaPixel camera on the front What it means: a really sharp camera to enable high definition video conferencing using either Facetime or 3rd party apps. With iPad increasingly penetr...