May 12, 2008

Microsoft and RIM cosy up to take on iPhone

RIM, the company behind the Blackberry smart phone, and Microsoft announced an increase in integration between RIM's mobile devices and the Windows Live service. This news sets the stage for the big summer PR battle between the Blackberry and Apple's iPhone. With the iPhone adding Exchange synchronization and enterprise-friendly features by the end of June, Blackberry, Windows Mobile-powered, and other smart phones will find the enterprise phone market under assault by Apple proponents.

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Posted by TomR at 10:34 AM |

March 31, 2008

iPhone 2.0: Answering the call of the enterprise

Earlier this month, Apple announced that the next revision of the iPhone software would support "enterprise features," including a direct link to Exchange, a software development kit, and IT-friendly management capabilities. While the free update is not due for three months, it's clear that the consumer-centric iPod maker will find its iPhone is much more accepted, if not embraced, by usually anti-Apple IT departments.

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Posted by TomR at 10:15 PM |

September 26, 2007

Amazon MP3 store is the first real Apple challenger

Yesterday, Amazon launched a beta of Amazon MP3, a Web-based store that sells music without restrictive DRM and in the widely supported MP3 format. Unlike other stores based off Microsoft DRM technology and file formats, this means that Amazon files can easily be played on the most popular portable devices -- Apple's iPod family. Consumers will benefit from the store launch, and at last, Apple will be given some real competition in the digital download market. As usual, some of the major record labels still can't decide what to do, despite seeing the success of the Apple store.

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Posted by TomR at 03:22 PM |

September 06, 2007

Marketing lessons from Apple: The iPhone price drop & rebate

Apple continues to generate an enormous amount of publicity around its iPhone product line. Its preview, launch, and price cut, as well as numerous events in between, have made it this year's most covered technology product. Other tech vendors can leverage some -- but not all -- of the lessons learned during the short life of the iPhone.

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Posted by TomR at 10:59 AM |

February 06, 2007

Time for Apple to increase ITS video resolution

Later this month, Apple will start shipping Apple TV, its new set-top designed to enable iTunes Store video and audio content to be easily played on high-definition TVs and their accompanying surround sound systems. The device will help bridge the traditional divide between the PC and the TV. But with its release, the company should -- though it may not -- also announce it is upgrading its video to a high definition resolution.

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Posted by TomR at 09:53 PM |

January 29, 2007

Microsoft continues to lose money trying to make it in the CE world

Despite investing billions of dollars in the consumer electronics market, Microsoft is not profiting from its high profile ventures. Profit comes from Windows, Office, and its server offerings, but critical consumer products, such as the Xbox 360 and the Zune ecosystems, continue to lose money. Microsoft executives don't expect the consumer division to make money until 2008.

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Posted by TomR at 11:09 AM |

January 10, 2007

Apple's Jobs touts the iPhone as the next big thing

On Tuesday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs delivered his annual keynote address at the 2007 Macworld Conference and Expo. This year, the story of the show was Apple's iPhone, a combination cell phone, iPod, and handheld computer that runs the company's PC operating system, Mac OS X. While most of Jobs' keynote focused on the iPhone, he also revealed some other interesting company details and another product announcement.

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Posted by TomR at 03:13 PM |

September 20, 2006

The Zune 1.0 dud

Last week, Microsoft officially announced details of its new Zune consumer brand. The September 14th announcement came two days after rival Apple announced a refreshed iPod family, updated iTunes software for Windows and Mac OS X, and a revamped iTunes Store that now supports movie downloads. The verdict? The soon-to-arrive Microsoft device and its accompanying Zune-branded ecosystem will not slow the iPod juggernaut. Zune, in its initial 1.0 incarnation, will be a dud.

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Posted by TomR at 01:42 PM |

March 09, 2006

Origami = UMPC: A new acronym but still the same old tablet story

Microsoft officially announced its latest tablet PC effort today. For the past year, the latest iteration of its tablet PC dream had been known by the project's code name: Origami. In Germany at the CeBIT technology show, the vendor finally brought the project out into the light.It's called UMPC, or Ultra-Mobile Personal Computer. What's a UMPC? According to Microsoft it is "a new category of mobile computing devices that features small, lightweight, carry-everywhere hardware designs...

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Posted by TomR at 04:28 PM |

March 08, 2006

Microsoft and Origami: A tablet PC love affair

Bill Gates and, by extension, Microsoft, have really wanted the tablet PC to make it big. Right now, a relatively few number of people use them as mobile clipboards and form-filling devices, such as insurance adjusters and doctors. But Microsoft still believes that the tablet PC can and will become a mainstream computing device. This dream has been going on for years but with little market success despite improved batteries, cheaper screens, low-power processors, and...

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Posted by TomR at 04:31 PM |