HP Cancels Windows 7 Slate

In a move that quite likely is related to its purchase of Palm, Hewlett Packard says it is dropping development of a Windows 7 tablet device. Microsoft itself recently decided to cancel its own tablet project based on Windows 7. link

HP may also be abandoning Intel-based hardware for its slate lineup simply because it’s too power hungry. That would also rule out Windows 7 as an operating system.

HP has been looking at  Google-powered devices, but the Palm WebOS has been cited as an important tool for HP as it looks to compete in the smartphone market, and WebOS also has been talked about as suitable for slates as well.

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Smartphones for $65?

If smartphones represent the future for mobile phones, the cost of acquiring one will have to drop, and that appears to be precisely what HTC Corporation has in mind with its new HTC "Smart," a smartphone designed for use in all sorts of markets where cost might be an issue.

The HTC Smart will be available this spring across Europe and Asia, selling for a suggested retail price of Php 12,900 (Philippines pesos), or $65 in U.S. currency.

HTC Smart uses the HTC "Sense" user interface, allowing personal customization of each person’s own phone experience.  It also provides a quick and easy way to see what friends are up to via various social networks as well as quickly communicating over the phone, through text messaging or email.

HTC Smart uses Qualcomm’s "Brew Mobile Platform,"  a popular mobile operating system that enables smartphone devices to be offered at more aggressive price points.

Such developments are important because they make smartphone features available to users beyond the advanced regions of the world.


Is it possible that simple tools, such as low-cost mobile phones, can have more positive economic and social impact than our typical large-scale government-to-government and typical development aid efforts? The aid establishment might not like the question, or the answers, but MIT NextLab project staff seem to believe the answer is "yes."

“Traditional aid does little for the very poor,” says Jhonatan Rotberg, founder and director of the NextLab program. “Only a fraction of the donated money trickles down to those who need it most."

"But with a mobile phone, poor people can get ahead," he says.

By any measure, recent progress, especially over the past few years, has been quite dramatic: mobile cellular penetration in developing countries has more than doubled since 2005, when it stood at only 23 per cent.

Last year, mobile cellular penetration in developing countries passed the 50 per cent mark, reaching an estimated 57 per 100 inhabitants at the end of 2009. Even though this remains well below the average in developed countries, where penetration exceeds 100 per cent, the rate of progress is remarkable.

Android might be the next big evolution, not that voice and text messaging are propagating. Using Android, devices could be customized for any number of applications that might otherwise be run on a PC, an important development in markets where device cost and access to electricity are issues.

Already, over four billion mobile phones are in use in the world today. The next billion new users, Rotberg says, will be spread out in the developing countries, mainly in Africa and Asia. Android could be important in that regard.

Not since abour 2006 have there been more fixed broadband lines in service in the most-developed broadband markets than emerging countries, and by 2009 a group of about 15 nations, including the BRICs, as well as countries in Southeast Asia, South American and Eastern Europe had surpassed the developed countries in total subscribers.

These days, the 15 emerging countries have the biggest share of broadband lines and the fastest growth rates as well, says Point Topic.

It's worth pondering that for just a moment. In 2000 there were 738 million global mobile subscribers. In 2010, there are 4.3 billion mobile subscribers, and most of those subscribers live in the developing world, according to the International Telecommunications Union.

It took just four years to double the number of global mobility users, from 2000 to 2004, and just another four years to double yet again, from 2004 to 2008. That sort of growth does not happen much in the telecom business, and has not happened before in the developed world.

Broadband growth is likely to assume something of the same pattern, but likely will be driven by mobile, not fixed access. Mobility has proven to be a raging, unexpected success story for people in developed regions. Broadband is about to repeat that feat.

Quietly, without much fanfare, communications really has become a capability available to all the world's people, after many decades of attempts by policymakers and providers to figure out how to do that. In the end, better technology has made all the difference. We don't use wires, we use airwaves. We don't use analog, we use digital. We don't use physical goods; we use electronic goods.

By 2014 just 15 developing nations will account for over 320 million broadband lines, 43 percent of the world total of 740 million broadband lines, by that time.

The fastest-growing group of 15 countries will have broadband growth rates of 14.2 percent annually. Another group of 12 countries, including the United States, Japan, Greece and Taiwan, will see annual growth of about 5.5 percent each year through 2014. Some 13 countries, including Western European nations, Canada, South Korea and Hong Kong, will see 4.6 percent annual growth rates.

All of those statistics are important for one compelling reason. Global subscriber and revenue growth for voice services, mobile services and broadband now has shifted to developing regions of the world.

Apple Gets Ready for 3G iPad Launch

You might think the launch of the 3G version of the Apple iPad, able to use both Wi-Fi and mobile broadband access, will not get the attention the initial launch itself has gotten. Apple will launch the mobile network version today, April 29, 2010.

But it appears every Apple retail location will be closed for one hour, starting at 4 p.m, in order to prepare for the launch of the iPad 3G. 

Apple might be expecting lines. It's a non-scientific, nearly random observation, but two Apple iPad owners I know of already plan to give their Wi-Fi-only versions to other family members and buy a 3G-capable unit. There could be lines. 

Apple Calls the Tune, Again

Apple might not yet have remade the notebook or netbook business, and might not have conclusively proved there is an undiscovered new consumer electronics niche for tablet devices, but it has caused Microsoft to kill its existing slate project, known as "Courier."

Microsoft’s Courier originally was conceived as the tablet of the future, Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s iPad, with two screens. Apple might disagree that the iPad is a "big iPod Touch," but Microsoft apparently has concluded that a two-screen device with a book style form factor is not what the market will want.

Perhaps the bigger deal, perhaps obvious in retrospect, is that although the device would have been "touch" capable, it somehow fails to offer an experience similar to the iPad. Make that one more case of Apple disrupting the conventional wisdom about user experience and user interface. And it apparently hopes to do the same in the mobile advertising businesss.

Apple never likes to play at the low end of any business, so we should not be surprised to see Apple taking that tack as it attempts to show what its iAd network can do on devices such as the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

Apple also is famously "controlling" about the "user experience," so you should not be surprised to hear that Apple is making "initial demands for greater control over advertisers' marketing campaigns."

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is looking for placements priced about an order of magnitude (10 times) higher than is typical.

If you recall the demo Apple put together for its iAd announcment, you can understand why: Apple is aiming for content-rich campaigns that may involve branded characters and expensive production.

Apple Inc. aims to charge close to $1 million for ads on its mobile devices this year and perhaps even more--as much as $10 million--to be among the first participants.

Ad executives say they are used to paying between $100,000 and $200,000 for similar mobile deals.

Obviously, Apple is attempting to pull off a couple "hero" campaigns that likely cannot be replicated too widely in the future because most campaigns will not be able to afford the high rates.

One example Apple has been showing advertisers is an ad for Nike's Air Jordan basketball shoe.

When a user is in an application, an animated banner ad appears on the border of the screen, along with an iAd logo. If the user taps on the ad, it expands across the screen, displaying a video, an interactive store locator and exclusive offers at local stores, among other features.

Apple is planning to charge advertisers a penny each time a consumer sees a banner ad, ad executives say. When a user taps on the banner and the ad pops up, Apple will charge $2. Under large ad buys, such as the $1 million package, costs would rack up to reach $1 million with the various views and taps.

Marketers will be able to target ads to groups of users based on consumers' download preferences from its iTunes store, according to ad executives. For instance, a marketer could choose to show its ads to people who have downloaded financial applications or reggaeton music, horror movies or comedy TV shows.

Marketers also will be able to target ads to users in a general location like a city, although they cannot target ads to individual consumers or access personal details.

Apple is seeking high quality ads from big-name marketers for the launch, ad executives say. The ads will go through an approval process, and Apple will build the ads itself during the first couple of months to make sure they work well and attain a certain aesthetic and functionality, ad executives say. Eventually, Apple plans to create a developer kit so that agencies will be able to design and create the ads themselves.

The process is causing tension among some ad directors, who are hesitant to give up control. Welcome to Apple's world.

About 1/2 of 1 Percent of Time Warner Cable Customers Buy 50 Mbps Service

It's likely fair to keep in mind, as ISPs, regulators and policy advocates ponder future service offerings at speeds of 100 Mbps, or even higher, that few U.S. consumers appear to want to buy service at speeds of 50 Mbps or higher.

Time Warner Cable  added 212,000 high-speed Internet subs in the first quarter, with about 1,000 buying the ultra-high-speed Docsis 3.0 services. That represents about one half of one percent of new customers, roughly in line with the few figures that have emerged from other ISPs able to sell 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps access services in Europe or North America.

The number of wideband subscription adds in the first quarter are consistent with recent trends at TWC, the only major US MSO so far that's even been willing to share those numbers. In January, TWC said it added only about 2,000 wideband subs in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Comcast, which has 80 percent of its plant wired up for wideband and intends to finish the job later this year, hasn't disclosed any D3 subscriber figures.

AT&T noted during its first quarter conference call that 59 percent of its customers buy access at speeds of at least 3 Mbps. What that might suggest is that most consumers still do not buy ultra-fast connections, preferring medium-speed connections instead.

Layar Launches First Augmented Reality Content Store

You might be wondering whether "augmented reality" is a feature or a business model. Layar hopes to prove it can be a business model, by introducing an AR content store that allows publishers to offer AR experiences on multiple mobile platforms such as iPhone and Android.

The content store is seamlessly integrated into the Layar "Reality Browser", which is already used on more than 1.6 million mobile devices globally.

The Layar Payment Platform supports multiple payment providers and multiple currencies, ready to serve the different local markets.

Layar deals with legal, administrative and tax rules enabling the publisher to focus on their core activities. The first payment provider is PayPal, supporting payments to residents of United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. More countries, currencies, payment methods and payment providers will be added regularly, the company says.

Publishers can set up accounts at http://site.layar.com/create.

Among the developers that already have signed up are Berlitz City Guides, Mouse Reality for Disney World, UK Sold Prices and Disneyland and EyeTour.

UK sold prices allows users to check the latest UK residential sold price information while users are out and about.  Berlitz helps people experience the city’s highlights: the best attractions, coziest restaurants, most comfortable hotels, coolest places to shop and most fashionable nightlife.

Mouse Reality for Disney World and Disneyland helps users find and navigate all attractions, shows, shops, dinning, transportation, and more in Disneyland and Disney World.

EyeTour helps users explore Puerto using exclusive video content of historical sites, museums, restaurants, parks and more.

Looking ahead, the company believes it can use AR to create a business offering a marketplace for content, services and goods, says Raimo van der Klein, Layar CEO.

Publishers can start selling their content without upfront investments while Layar facilitates payments between the end-user and the publisher. Publishers receive 60 percent of the net proceeds.

Android users who are residents of United States, United Kingdom, Canada or Australia can start buying layers right now after installing the new version of the Layar Augmented Reality Browser. The iPhone update is soon to follow.

Layar describes itself as the world’s leading Augmented Reality Platform on mobile. The Layar Reality Browser currently has more than 1.6 million users and comes pre-installed on tens of millions of phones from leading handset manufacturers and carriers by the end of the year. Over 500 layers are developed by the global community of 3000 Layar publishers.

The free Layar Reality Browser is available on Android devices and iPhone 3GS.

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HTC Incredible Goes On Sale Today at Verizon Wireless