LG G-Slate: Walt Mossberg Still Prefers iPad 2

"I’ve been testing the (LG produced) G-Slate, and in my view, it performs pretty well overall—about as well as the first Honeycomb tablet, the Xoom. But it isn’t nearly as good a choice as the iPad 2," says technology reviewer Walt Mossberg.

"Of its three big differentiators, the only clear winner is the 4G cellular capability, which is much speedier than cellular data on the iPad, or on any other Honeycomb tablet I know of," says Mossberg.

"The 3-D feature, which requires the use of 1950s-style colored glasses, seems like a parlor trick to me," Mossberg adds. "And the in-between size, while potentially attractive for one-handed use, is undercut by the fact that, somehow, despite being smaller, the G-Slate is actually a bit heavier than the iPad 2, and a third thicker."

As has been the case recently for other tablet devices, the Apple iPad in its Wi-Fi-only, 16-gigabyte version costs just $499. If you buy the G-Slate without a phone contract, it costs $750. The comparable iPad 2, with the same 32 gigabytes of memory offered by the G-Slate, both Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity, plus its bigger screen, is $729.

Aside from price, the relatively undeveloped state of the apps available for Android devices is an issue, though that is a problem that corrects itself over time, as was the case for the Android Market for smart phones.

Honeycomb Tablet Has 4G and 3-D But Is No iPad

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Mobile Shopping Search Grows 181% in U.K.

In the first quarter of 2011, total retail search volumes grew by 29 percent compared with the first quarter of 2010, the British Retail Consortium reports, while mobile retail search traffic grew by 181 percent over the same period.

Mobile searches accounted for 11 percent of total retail searches in the first quarter of 2011, the BRC says.

Retail searches grew fastest for multi-channel retailers, usually those using physical stores and the internet, with search growth of 42 percent, year over year. Searches for online-only retailers grew 19 percent, year over year.

The number of overseas consumers searching for U.K. retailers grew by 27 percent in the first quarter of 2011, year over year, while the number of UK consumers searching for overseas retailers grew by 21 percent in the first quarter of 2011, year over year.

same period a year earlier.

http://www.brc.org.uk/brc_show_document.asp?id=4231&moid=7379

Android Market Eclipses Apple App Store for Free Apps

The Google Android Market eclipsed the Apple App Store for iPhone in terms of free applications and now has 134,342 free applications, while the Apple App Store iPhone has 121,845 free applications, Distimo reports.

If all application stores maintain their current growth pace, approximately five months from now Google Android Market will be the largest store in terms of number of applications followed by the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad, Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, BlackBerry App World and Nokia Ovi Store.

The rise of Windows Phone 7 and the relative decline of BlackBerry and Nokia as leaders in the smartphone category might have something to do with the state of the respective app stores. Some observers would say that the Microsoft deal with Nokia, which has Nokia essentially abandoning Symbian for Windows Phone 7, will vault Microsoft into position number three in the smart phone OS market, eclipsing RIM.

Looking at history, one would be hard pressed to imagine why RIM would remain a force, or perhaps even viable, in a market so dominated by the iPhone and Android, with Microsoft claiming the third spot, in terms of share. There is not much precedent for a viable "number four or five" provider in the mobile OS ecosystem. So as shocking as the assertion might be, it appears RIM's best days, even its existence as an independent company, are at grave risk.

The Windows Phone 7 Marketplace will also be larger than the Nokia Ovi Store and BlackBerry App World prior to the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace being available for even a full year, Distimo says.
One year after launching the iPad, Apple will be confronted with its first serious competition as both BlackBerry and Google enter the emerging tablet market.

Apple has already seized momentum and grown the App Store for iPad in the first year to 75,755 applications developed by 21,975 publishers. Daily downloads in the "Top 100 Overall" paid and free applications for iPad combined exceed 500,000, while the daily revenue in the Top 100 paid is approximately $400,000 excluding in-app purchases.

http://www.distimo.com/publications/

Studios Split on Selling Content to YouTube

Hollywood’s major studios do not always march in lockstep over key industry issues. It appears they are divided over licensing of content to YouTube for its new movie on demand service.

Fox and Paramount have said they will “not move forward with any deal at this time." Disney hasn't said anything final, one way or the other, while Warner Bros., Sony and Universal have just concluded deals to license content to YouTube for rental.

Executives at the hold-out studios reportedly are not opposed to a deal, but want more assurance from Google that it will take a harder line on piracy, specifically linking to pirate sites in Google searches or selling advertising on such sites.

But it seems likely all the studios ultimately will want to work with YouTube. Its 130 million potential buyers represent a huge audience, and are especially interesting demographically. YouTube viewers skew younger, and probably are the sorts of viewers unaccustomed to buying video and might be only lukewarm about the theater experience.

In the online video business, it often is the content owners who dictate the pace of movement, even when other partners are willing.

Why Fox, Paramount, Disney Are Holding Out on the YouTube Deal | The Wrap Movies

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How do you use 1Gbps Internet links? Chattanooga residents find out

With the caveat that much will depend on how Google prices its symmetrical 1-Gbps service in Kansas City, Kan., results from Chattanooga, Tenn. suggest that prices will have to be substantially lower than anything consumers yet have seen, to entice people to pay for a full 1-Gbps worth of capability. See http://chattanoogagig.com/.

EPB's fiber network currently covers all 600 square miles serviced by the community-owned Electric Power Board, which has also provided electricity for decades. EPB rolled out a 1-Gbps upgrade in the fall of 2010, but it "hasn't been flooded with calls" for the service, says David Wade, EPB COO.

Indeed, even this may be overstating current demand; only six or seven Chattanooga residents and "several businesses" have ordered the high-end service, which launched with a $350 per month price tag.

Most customers likely are buying the typical triple-play packages of video, phone and broadband access at speeds up to about 30 Mbps that EPB sells for about $120 a month. EPB also sells 50 Mbps connections and 100 Mbps connections as well as the top-end 1-Gbps service.

In November 2010, EPB said it was "ahead of our business plan projections. Since our launch last September (2009), we have signed up 18,873 homes to our EPB fiber optics services."

That is a 15.5 percent take rate. The EPB goal is a 35 percent take rate, and EPB believed in November 2010 that it would reach that level by 2012 or early 2013. See http://www.muninetworks.org/tags-90.

So Google faces a bit of a quandry. Does it really want to make money providing access, or does it want to provide a testing ground for new applications and consumer behaviors. The goals might be contradictory.

How do you use 1Gbps Internet links? Chattanooga residents find out