KenC

The Ongoing Smartphone Revolution

"The second buyout should be Nintendo buying RIM. Once again a perfect fit. "

Please explain the "perfect fit" in detail.

You know, the less you write, the less likely people are to think you a fool.

The Ongoing Smartphone Revolution

Bruce said, "Apple (highly profitable) should buy Sony (currently making massive losses). This is such a brilliant fit at so many levels that you wonder why it hasn’t already happened. Apple would bring their software and sexy design to Sony products. And in return Apple would become a world class consumer electronics company overnight. "

Wow, are you just trying to save Howard Stringer's bacon, or what? Sony already has "sexy design", and Apple is already a "world class consumer electronics company". Can you explain any of the technological or product mix "fit" that makes you think this is "brilliant"?

The Ongoing Smartphone Revolution

Bruce says, "But they have the potential to steamroller over everyone. The Zune is a great bit of kit but, relatively, it is a commercial failure. What gives Microsoft the capacity to come out of their corner fighting is Xbox Live, a mobile version of this would give AppStore more than a run for the money. And if I know this then so does Microsoft. Meanwhile they are still third overall in the smartphone market with 12.5% of handsets, so they have something to build on."

Oi, there's that word "potential" again. Wow, someone thinks the Zune is a "great bit of kit". Wow. Boggles the mind. Oh, sure, specs look good, but execution was lousy. Oh, just what we all need, more points. And, are you so sure a mobile version of X Live will give the AppStore "more than a run for the money", I mean, just about every MS backed music service killed the iTunes Music Store, right?

As for MS's market share. You do realize that their share is falling rapidly, and will fall even faster when Palm goes WebOS, and HTC continues to gravitate to Android, and Motorola goes toward Android. I mean, if Android is so great, how can that be good for MS? I mean, didn't they pay a huge amount of money to get LG on board? I thought they were supposed to get paid for their mobile OS, not pay!

The Ongoing Smartphone Revolution

Bruce said, "Android has more potential in that it is already better and it is open source (unlike the proprietary Apple) so could very well be taken up by the big Chinese, Korean and Taiwanese handset manufacturers"

Can you backtrack and provide the evidence that Android is "already better", and what exactly is so great about open source, and how is that benefitting users? I mean how is Linux doing on the desktop? Why isn't LiMo doing better then? Symbian has gone open source, and they have a head start with its existing relationships with 3 of the largest mfrs already.

The Ongoing Smartphone Revolution

Bruce wrote, "If I were in the market right now, I would want a Google Android device. The combination of features and benefits puts it at the top of the heap. Unfortunately Google, for all their technical brilliance, are very bad at marketing. So Apple, who are absolutely brilliant at marketing, continue to outperform with their inferior iPhone. But such is the intensity of this war that Apple are playing catch up with a downloadable upgrade for existing iPhone users that brings in 100 (yes 100) new feature"

So, we have a HTC G1, and other Android devices rumored to be coming. What is it about the buggy G1 that "puts it at the top of the heap?"

Oh, btw, are you a marketing consultant, because the above implies that perhaps, you are fishing for a marketing job with Google. Google has shown some brilliance in the area of search software. They have not shown any hardware brilliance.

Please recite all those things that are "inferior" about the iPhone, and please do not mention the camera. Noone buys a cell for its camera.

You write as if you believe Apple's latest OS is somehow a response to Google's Android? How do you know this? Do you mean that Apple held an unusual presentation that it has not held exactly at this time last year? Do you mean that Apple has offered to release a new OS in the Summer, something it has never done before? Where is there evidence that Apple's latest release is anything but what they planned years ago in their approach to the smartphone market?

The Ongoing Smartphone Revolution

Bruce said, " And they are developing at a frightening pace where something six months old can easily be obsolete."

The beauty of the new model in smartphones, as epitomized by the iPhone is that it's a blank canvas. It can constantly be updated. An EDGE iPhone that is 20 months old can still have all the application goodness that the latest 3G iPhone has. It is not obsolete in any way.

The Ongoing Smartphone Revolution

Bruce said, "Like anywhere I am on the face of planet earth I can use my phone to record events as a movie (in full colour and with sound) and within just a few seconds I can make that movie available to the whole world’s population"

Wow, are you in marketing, cause you know hyperbole, like it's going out of style. One, you can't do this "anywhere..on the face of planet earth". Two, a video clip is NOT a "movie". Three, what do you define as "full colour", because no one would describe the color gamut of a cellphone clip anywhere near the color gamut of a "movie". Four, "within just a few seconds", are you kidding? Uploading video over a cell network takes more than "just a few seconds". Five, sadly, the "whole world's population" does not have net access.

That was just the beginning of this long bit of gibberish.

The Ongoing Smartphone Revolution

WOW! There is so much wrong with this, one hardly knows where to begin!