Takethe5th Picks and Pans

Apple’s Magic trackpad is getting more coverage and print than a simple pointing device deserves. Takethe5th sees it as a delay in game penalty for Mac OS/X. Gizmodo, the victim of Apple’s iPhone 4 ire, sees the Magic Trackpad as a precursor to the fall/displacement  of Mac OS/X and the emergence of a new OS4-inspired OSMac  operating environ with a whole new UI experience driven by  multi-touch ; drag, swish, and drop ; other rich gestures; and context sensitive objects with flyout iconbars and menus. Gizmodo sees a problem with touchscreen with monster 27″ and larger  Apple screens being too fatiguing for the Cupertino devotee’s affinity for huge screen to manage touch screens  all day long. Hence the need for a trackpad.

Takethe5th agrees and disagrees . First, a big point of agreement – for sure there is going on right now a UI “see change”[okay, a poor pun] marked by smartphones from Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android plus the iPad phenomenon [ soon to be followed by a wave of Android and other tablets this Fall].  Yes indeed, the old 3-5 levels deep menubar and the cryptic rows of  Mayan glyph-like toolbars will largely break up and become attached to the various objects on the screen as context sensitive menus, flyouts and a  gesture controlled UI. Instead of Image | Adjustment | Resize – pinching the object will cause a resize and leave the property bar with precise adjustment fields available if required and a bounding crawling-ant border for touch adjustments.

But Takethe5th disagrees with Gizmodo’s need for a trackpad solution because of large screen fatigue. First, the laptop with swivel screen and 16-22″ inch diagonal should satisfy the bulk of users who require gi-normous screens. But many may defect to the 10-14″ iPad or Tablet size. Also there are a number of alternative solutions including pen-light stylus + spoken commands,  finger and mouse combos,  as well as the keyboard and trackpad combo proposed by Gizmodo. In fact, Gizmodo points to a good video discussing new UI approaches:

Note that Takethe5th again disagrees with 2 critical points. Mice will not be abandoned but combined with finger operations and other direct to screen point devices while huge screens will be the creative desktop exception not the rule in computing display. Also consider the possibility of a projected display on to a close screen that increases and decreases in size as the user requires – zooming the whole screen yet leaving it conveniently close to the user and pointers.
Summary
What the MagicTrackpad and the wave of smartphones plus slates and tablets indicates is a tipping point in UI-User Interfaces in computing devices. Direct, simple, easy to use  and direct contact with the objects affected are the new paradigm. Making smart-device users immediately productive is the key. No more remote controls like for TVs translated to computer screens:

Note the page for edit is highlighted in yellow above.
Rather the new UI will be more accessible directly with touch and gesture, less encumbered with menus and toolbars,  highly context and object sensitive and thus faster to use and easier to discover/remember how to use.  This is the UI Revolution being implemented on smartphones, then iPads and tablets to be followed by a computer screen near you.
Two final observations. What company based in Redmond, Washington is desperately trying to catch up with this UI Revolution with iteration 5 on  their 4 times missed mobile phone offerings? What major IT player in Armonk, NewYork is largely on the outside looking in and barely shaping these proceedings? Now where is the center of gravity in Computing?

A few moments of conciliatory silence for the legion of Apple Mac Desktop and laptop users. They will have to wait maybe for Christmas or maybe the NewYear for their multi-touch screen computers. There was no touch+gestures in the MacMini announcements this past May . Ditto again for yesterday’s iMac announcements.
This is what Mac users got – a Magic Trackpad.

Oh and Mac users got Intel’s more beefy Core  i3, Core i5, and Core  i7 CPUs – a little behind most PCs which have had them for 3-5 months, but welcome because graphics design really eats up CPU power. Not quite a touch screen and the productivity that is implied with that type of interface – no hand eye coordination required with touch screen in contrast with a mouse or even trackpad.

But there may be valid  reasons for this delay in bringing touch screens to Macs:
1)Fingers may be too fat for graphics using touch screen and the precision of a stylus or lightpen pointer may be a)incompatible with current touch screen technology or b)too expensive;
2)software vendors [including Apple itself with its Final Cut Pro, Aperture and many other graphics oriented programs] may have to make major adjustments to support touchscreen operations;

3there is a master plan for bringing touch screen + gestures to the Mac masses and that time is not now.
Whatever the reason this leaves an opening for Microsoft and Google and the thousand one tablet vendors to beat Apple on the laptop/netbook borderline. Currently, the iPad with full touch screen operations is the Apple line of defense against netbooks and laptops encroaching on it light, touch-enabled market leadership. But what if the 1001 Google Android powered tablets or a Windows 7 Touch screen land on store shelves in the Fall and in time for Christmas? Will iPad be enough to blunt this PC and smart tablet onslaught? Clearly somebody in Cupertino is a)betting that is so or b) has his own touch screen surprise up a turtleneck sleeve.

Want to supercharge your laptop? Then do consider the Super Talent UltraDrive MX SSD. This Solid state drive comes in 60GB, 120GB, 240GB and 480GB capacities [prices not available util early September. Current 64GB UltraDrives using SATA-only are in $140 range]. The UltraDrive also has both SATA and USB ports so users can mount it internally [be sure to have a laptop expert for this task] or externally through a USB 2.0 or 3.0  port. Users may want to consider getting a USB3.0 upgrade for greater throughput. Or when upgrading a laptop , ensuring it supports USB 3.0. Disk I/O is seen to improve by a factor of 2-4 times using the external USB 3.0 connection .

One of the major security problems is that data on the web often runs naked. This is due to two reasons – 1)the HTTPS protocol can be more difficult and costly to implement and 2)there is a notable performance hit to be taken in most situations. Network World is reporting work done at Stanford University that would embed encryption at the lowest TCP layer a)without incurring a large performance hit and b)without incurring huge development penalties. Well worth the intro read here at Network World and the surprisingly accessible Stanford-led original paper here. This is potentially a huge step forward in basic Web security just waiting for a Perfect Security Storm to get implemented.

In Taketh5th’s coverage of the  Summer IT  Soap Opera, one of the most commented and controversial stories was the status of Windows Phone 7. The tech reviewers were all over the place on the July 2010  revealed developer editions of Windows Phone 7 on a Samsung smartphone. Here is the must reads to date:
Gizmodo – July 19th Windows Phone 7 Review is upbeat with caveats
Infoworld – July 15th Windows Phone 7 : Don’t bother with this disaster
ZDnet – July 18th technical preview of Windows Phone 7 – a winner come Christmas
Note these three must-reads reviews could not be more different in their conclusions
Given the importance of WP7 to Microsoft, a recent, thoughtful preview by Engadget is worth reading as well:

Here is an telling excerpt from that article:

By any measure, Microsoft’s got its back against the wall in the mobile game, and becoming competitive quickly is vital to the company’s success — and in that regard, we understand why they’ve been so adamant about getting Windows Phone 7 on shelves in time for Holiday 2010. The thing is, putting out a product that’s half-baked risks alienating early adopters at the worst possible time, especially considering that we see a clear-cut (and pretty painless) path to fixing the most egregious shortcomings. Seriously, if the WP7 team put their heads down and added a clipboard and some rudimentary multitasking, Microsoft could have an exceptionally solid version-one product in Windows Phone 7 — especially when coupled with the company’s fierce outreach to developers.

Of course, that’s a big “if” — the clock is ticking on Windows Phone 7, and the industry has already proven that it won’t wait around for companies to play catch-up. It’s not about lapping the competition at this point, it’s about just being in the race — and if Microsoft doesn’t know that by now, it may already be too late.

Readers are encouraged to peruse the full preview.  Engadget editor, Joshua Topolsky, certainly catches here the importance of WP7 for Microsoft. If you divide Redmond’s business in 3rds: Server Software, Windows, and Windows Client Apps – the success of Windows Phone 7 ensures the viability of Windows and Windows Client Apps going forward; failure [and if WP7 does even 10 times Kin, that is failure] means Google and Apple apps will do unto Windows and Windows Client Apps what Firefox and fellow browsers have done to the once proudly 90%++ market share IE franchise.

Summer Theater is well …. soapy, meller-dramatik, and often tainted with fits of outrighteous comedy and unexpected self-satire. And this season’s IT Summer Stock is packed to the gilt edge with certified Box office bonanzas. First there is a new Summer Stock Valuation leader – AAPL, displacing vaunted enemy number one, MSFT from the top of the IT Market Capitalization Heap. Next there are those brash Mountain View college boys goog-ing and getting into every nook and cranny of the Cloud they have searched 10 to the 100th times. In the process, GOOG is thereby increasingly displacing MSFT and AAPL into 2nd place position in many a market. And MSFT has developed a persistent shank shot when teeing off into new markets with Courier, Kin, Mobile 6.5, Zune all doing the Vista Poo.

What makes the Summer Season even more eventful is the players. Take AAPL’s Steve Jobs, the new Emperor of Innovation, is taking swings at ADBE and its Flash when the real problem appears to be that AAPL has under-engineered the graphics drivers [or allowed contractors to do the deed]on its hardware. So all this time AAPL has been selling at double if not triple prices graphics inferiority to its carefully cultivated design & graphics acolytes. Now that is real meller drammer material! But not to be outdone MSFT’s CEO, Dancin Steve Ballmer [ why he hasn't done Dancing with the Stars is a mystery to all us fans] is swatting back at the new Emperor and vowing to swat down the iPad and iPhone with a horde of new tablets and Windows Phone 7 smartphones by Christmas[which Christmas is not stated].

So with these players and shows going on this Summer IT Soap Season, it seemed appropriate to see what the various IT  reviewers had to say about the Season . Several key shows are on tap this Summer – lets see how well the IT Tech Press has covered them. Note that stories/reviews marked in green are must-reads on their “shows”:

1)Will Microsoft Windows Phone 7 make the mobile market cut – this is Redmond’s 5th and last swing for a presence in the rapidly emerging and huge mobile and iDevice markets. They have already had swings and misses with Windows Mobile 6, Mobile 6.5 , Zune, Courier and Kin – another miss would see Microsoft out of the fastest growing and most influential IT market. How has the Tech Press covered this?

BNet – sets the “what is at stake table” with So Where’s Microsoft ?
BusinessWeek - mid July & Ballmer promises presence in Smartphone and tablets

Computerworld – Hints of trouble with Window Phone 7 and reliance on Zune software

Computerworld – Humor - Why was Russian spy working at Microsoft?
Engadget – Looks at 5 gadgets that failed including Microsoft Kin as prelude to WP7
eWeek – Lists ten markets misses for Microsoft, Mobile phones is at the top
eWeek – Sets out 4 key success factor for Windows Phone 7
NYTimes – has hinted at problems with Youthful market spurns the wares of Microsoft
Gizmodo – July 19th Windows Phone 7 Review is upbeat with caveats
Infoworld – July 15th Windows Phone 7 : Don’t bother with this disaster
Note these three must-reads could not be more different in their conclusions
ZDnet – July 18th technical preview of Windows Phone 7 – a winner come Christmas

PCWorld - grave reservations on Windows Phone 7…it maybe Vista again
theRegister – Humor – Vista hating Microsoft throws poo at Apple iPhone 4
ZDnet – a second, more cautionary take on Windows Phone 7

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2)Apple’s Steve Jobs has done a PR no-no: openly disparaging Adobe’s Flash software while cutting off Java and program generators from use on Apples iDevices – Is Steve’s harsh criticism of Flash justified? Why include Java and program generators as banned software tools? Is Steve’s HTML5 to replace Flash solution viable ? What is behind the ban?
AllthingsD – If Steve Jobs Is a God, How Could He Be So Wrong About HTML5 vs. Flash for Us Mere Mortals?
BusinessWeek – lays bare Steve Jobs attacks on Adobe Flash
Gartner Blog – very early on in debate defines some of the key trade-offs on Flash, Java, and HTML5
Gartner Blog – compares the Apple developer economics to Facebooks
Gizmodo – Apple takes developers hostage in War on Adobe – how far Apple goes to ban Flash
Infoworld – Java developers are left outside of all iDevices
Keep an Open Eye – Apple vs Adobe: Vetting Steve Jobs Flash Assertions
NYTimes - Is Apple a victim of Sour Grapes briefly mentions Apples ban of Flash
O’Reilly – YouTube and Hulu voice caution about replacing Flash with HTML5 video
theRegister - Humor – Apple reels as Steve Jobs Flashturbates
Wired – decidedly for Flash replacement by HTML5

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3)Google’s Android is coming from behind to challenge Apple’s iDevices with an Open Development and Support model in contrast to Apples Closed Ecosystem – Do the two ecosystems make a difference in consumer and/or corporate buying decisions? How well is Android doing in the mobile phone and tablet markets? How is Apple fending off the OS leads that Google has?
BusinessWeek – 10 best Smartphone Apps for college – iPhone-10, Android-6, BBerry-2
Computerworld – the iPhone 4 vs Android battle
Engadget – Nielsen says iPhone has 3 times market share of Android phones
eWeek1 + eWeek 2- 2 must-reads cover major trade-offs between iPhone4 vs Android2.2
Gizmodo – great graphic summary:The-dogs-of-war: Apple vs Google vs Microsoft
PCWorld – one of several very good articles on Android vs iPhone
theRegister - Humor- The “truth” about the iPhone 4 antenna problems
theRegister – superb analysis on developer advantage Android has over iPhone

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Summary
The Tech Press acquitted itself reasonably well in covering these issues. First, there is a surprising amount of good if sardonic humor. One could easily double the number of humor articles. The traditional Tech Press acquitted itself well with eWeek, Infoworld, and ZDnet all bagging must-read articles. The nouveau gadget press also is well represented with AllthingsD and Gizmodo showing up in the must-reads. TheRegister easily took the humor crown with some deliciously funny send ups that The Daily Show or Stephen Colbert would flash green with envy at.
What was surprising were three things: not much presence of the Business press with just BusinessWeek, Gartner and NYTimes catching mentions [if Gartner and NYTimes can be thought of as Business Press]. I looked at Forbes, theEconomist, Fortune, WSJ… and they were doing latest news stories on these fast moving, big events in IT but certainly not the Brobadingnagian Battle Story. Second, the Android vs iPhone story got a lot less coverage than expected. After all these are former near partners now swinging tooth and nail with Apples iDevices’ Design++ and Closed Ecosystem vs Google Android and Chrome’s Massive Competence and Open Source Ecosystem. This is legendary Business Case material – only BusinessWeek showed up with big view articles.
However, the most interesting trend was the widely diverse opinions on Windows Mobile 7. Gizmodo and ZDNet loved it; Infoworld was thorough, but curt with its assessment – “Don’t bother with this disaster”. PCWorld was middling, but favoring caution. This is no small matter because if Microsoft shoots itself in the foot a fifth time for Mobiles – the train has left the station. And what brought Microsoft to so much power in the IT industry, its UI and Windows, will surely wither away over the next 3-5 years barring a major merger or acquisition.
In sum, the IT Press coverage was a lot better than expected. I suspect the young guns like Engadget, Gizmodo, TechCrunch [just missed on 3 stories] are keeping all the players more committed to following the IT game. With the two Steves out there pitching their IT wares and throwing a lot of high heat – there are big Summer Blockbuster stories just waiting to be written.

Picnik is one of the best online photo editors – it is now a part of Google’s Picasa line of free online photo albums.  The good news is that Picnik is fast and has some of the best online photo edit features plus context-sensitive help & hints.

The system seems to be a bit slower on startup than benchmarks on the same machine two years ago [20 seconds then 32 seconds now, but that may be online service variations]. But the operations are still fast and responsive. More interesting are three things Google has done with Picnik.

First, Google has barely changed Picnik at all from a functional and feature viewpoint. What you saw before is what you now get. Second, they have retained the $25/year Picnik Premium edition which adds a number of creative effects and special features to Picnik’s photo editing capabilities. This is an important decision because traditionally Google has not charged for its consumer web services – letting advertisements pay the freight. For example Maps and Gmail on the consumer side have added features that could be thought of as premium but they have not charged for them. Picnik appears to be a testing of the waters for charging for premium Google Online services.

The most important aspect is that Google continues to invest in Picasa and “social” image processing.
Google now has in Picasa roughly equal online web album features as Flickr or Facebook but now with a)unlimited free web storage of images; b)more useful image editing  than Facebook [but not Flickr which uses Picnik too]; and c)recently improved discussion capabilities to match Flickr,  Facebook and other online photo services. See here for Picasa’s nifty Explore page, which like Fotki and Flickr, watch the Photo Pulse of the World day in and day out. Clearly along with Buzz, Calendar, Reader, and the upcoming Google Wave, Google is lining up to face the growing Facebook challenge for eyeballs and online advertising space.

The first post on iDevices argued that the currently breaking wave of new iPhones, smartphones, iPads and tablets represent a major new face to personal computing. The common denominator among these iDevices is high portability, Web and WiFi connections, touch+gesture powered ease of operations, plus small but dense screens that are visible in most lighting conditions. But other characteristics distinguish these gadgets. Their OS are major rewrites with greater security, reliability and speed of operation. They are packed with sensors, camera, and audio devices that compliment the wide array of media supported. They have public APIs that allow 3rd party developers to write now hundreds of thousands of apps that allow users to customize their iDevice exactly the way they want.

But this customization works the other way too. 3rd party vendors can hop aboard any  iDevice [note this could be Apple but also Google Android, HP webOS, RIM Blackberry OS, etc]  they choose  by simply using their APIs in developing an app for that iDevice. The 3rd party can then  tie their specialized tool, say a geodometer for survey work,by means of the selected  iDevice API and then have a well know and often used interface as a value add for their equipment. This could also true of PCs and laptops but they are not nearly as light, portable nor have full working day battery life plus touch and tap interfaces to match iDevices.

Finally, what makes iDevices a new category of PC  is the various trade-offs engendered in their design. These trade-offs  include  weight+size [smaller screens than PCs, no big hard drive or GPU, etc], no connectors needed [neither mouse nor keyboard required and few ports for cable connectors relative to PCs and laptops] and battery life of at least 7 hours [no use of high speed dual core CPUs or GPUs or battery guzzling hard disks]These design patterns  bring unique functionality to iDevices which  distinguish them as  a new type in Personal Computing.

True by adding a docking station with keyboard, mouse, and external hard drive, an iDevice becomes an average laptop but with touch and tap easy use. But free an iDevice of these constraints and it becomes a highly portable remote display and controller connected not just to the Web but likely hundreds if not thousands of tools and gadgets by WiFI, HDMI, etc.  This is why any company  in Personal Computing better also be into iDevices.

The final distinguishing characteristic of iDevices is their rapid evolution. True, iDevices were preceded by PDAs – Personal Digital Assistants like the Palm Pilot, Apple Newton, and Windows Mobile of 10-13 years ago. These devices pioneered the ideas of light weight, high portability, longer battery life, and an array of  built-in apps to choose from. However, lead by Apple with its iPod, iPhone and now iPad the winning trade-offs and design characteristics of iDevices have  rapidly evolved in the past 3-4 years.

The rise of iDevices follows from the 80-20 rule.

80% of users employ only 20% or less of their PC’s functionality. Think of iDevices as computing that matches a big chunk of those 80% of users. How?? By catering to their media, display and messaging needs. These users are looking for access to computing power around their  voice and text messaging ; music and images; games and video; and finally a panoply of web access services. Note that all of these uses tend to be Low I, High O => Low  Input/High Output in  device activities. In contrast, many important activities on the PC are the exact opposite – comparatively high input to lower output ratios.

iPod delivered the music and images first and best. Then iPhone delivered voice and text messaging plus Web services with all that iPod could do yet still in a handy portable fashion and extended touch screen ease of use.  Many of the  iPhone ease of use features  with touch + gestures  were added to the IPod Touch. And soon everyone in the smartphone and tablet market did so or at least intended to do so.  But most important of all iPhone added all day battery service and not thousands but hundreds of thousands of apps for customizing what “your” iPhone could do.

The final winning touch has been that  the iPad  deliberately eschewed any keyboard, mouse or tethering connectors – to deliver a highly portable viewing device suitable for Web pages, movies, games and email/Web connections. Yes, iPad is emphatically not just a PC [although with a docking station it can quickly become one]. iPad is important for what it does not have:

1)lets repeat – no keyboard, no mouse, no tethering connectors to tie it down;
2)no 4 hour or less battery life – with 7-9 hours meeting most workday needs;
3)no great weight – light and highly portable;
4)no problems reading the screen in many lighting conditions – an eReader with color;
5)no great slowdowns in response time – with a native 1GHz CPU delivering consistent speed;
6)no hesitation in how it works – as the simplicity of touch and gestures prevail;
7)no throwback OS – to encumber with old install, response time, and security problems;
8)no overwhelming size or added plugins to discourage taking an iDevice anywhere.

Following in the style of Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, the common appeal of these iDevices for many users are: Mobility, Mobility, Mobility; Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity; Security, Security, Security; and Profitability, Profitability, Profitability. Lets look in detail at each factor in turn.

Mobility

The attraction of iDevices is that they are PDA-Personal Digital Assistants that are now touch+gesture easier to use and with about 200,000++ more apps and ways for users to customize to their precise needs and hearts content, whichever comes first. Better, the price and task of downloading and installing the exact app a user wants is a lot cheaper, easier and faster than most corresponding software buys and installs.

But the essential here is that iDevices are mobile++. This means light in weight, fit in a shirt pocket and/or backpack and thus can be easily carried to class or work. Second, their battery life is 7-10 hours or more – equal to a working day and much better than most PC laptops and even many netbooks. Third, iDevices allow users to carry their phone/data connection with them wherever they go. So can PC  laptops but not for a full day nor with such mobility and high touch simplicity[see below] as iDevices.

Do not dismiss the attraction of highly portable and connected. High mobility has arrived at the same time as highly connected has become so attractive -games, geolocation, social media, rich [video] or swift[text] messaging and web browsing are iDevice norms. Add to that the advantage of having your chosen data profile about yourself, your location, plus conditions and events in your surrounding environ available – and suddenly apps can deliver innovative value to you wherever you. Query and find the nearest restaurants. Check the route to the plaza and restaurant.  And check the  balance in your chequing account to make sure you can cover the bill.

PC laptops or netbooks barely serve these  connected query needs. They don’t have the battery life or convenient portability. But most telling of all, laptops lack the onboard  sensors, touch sensitivity and app programs of iDevices that provide so many value add services.  The parade of iDevices  has been lead by Apple but Google with Android is close behind . And just behind again is a gaggle of competitors from RIM through Dell and HP to Intel/Nokia and  a slew of East Asian players like Acer, Asus, HTC, Samsung, etc.

Simplicity

Touch+gestures deliver a new level of simplicity and ease of use to computing. A  friend, a PC phobe, loves her iPhone. As she says – “even my parents borrow and use my iPhone”. iDevices have brought, by means of no keyboard and no mouse, simplicity and ease of operation back to computing. True, there is a trade-off  with iDevices – with only a software keyboard, large amounts of text input can be a tedious task. But there is another key factor in iDevices favor.

Smartphones and tablets have allowed software developers to rethink program design .Limits of screen size and computing power plus demands for game-like quickness of operation have meant a return to simplicity and ease of operation. In contrast, these GUI virtues have been slowly but surely drained from PCs – be they Linux, Macs or Windows powered. Just ask anyone who has to use word processing, spreadsheet, or report writing programs in any of those OS.  PCs have become so  hard to learn or to remember how to use. The reverse 80-20 rule applies- 80% or more of users know only about 20% or less of a program’s commands and functions. However, it is important to note that touch screen + gestures can be implemented on both PCs and notebooks thus potentially neutralizing one key iDevice advantage.

Another key is that simplicity of installation and use coupled with lite, compact and easily accessed apps make these devices very attractive. iDevices means  having a self-customized Swiss Army knife/electronic gadgeteer that is distinctively setup for personal use.  iDevices are true  Digital Assistants which  allow users to communicate  and interact with friends and business colleagues  in many novel ways.

Security

“You have got to be kidding!” - No, security is better on iDevices for 3 reasons. First, the OS on most popular iDevices are brand new so the hackers don’t have a huge kitty of zero day virus  and repertoire of hacks available to crack into the OS. Second, the iDevice vendors have deliberately targeted their OS to be highly secure. One of the advantages of Google’s Android and Chrome OS operating systems is that they have been built using the Linux kernel – still one of the safest OS around. In addition, Google is putting extra effort into securing operations on these two OS. But that is true of all the vendors: Apple iOS4, HP’s webOS, Intel+Nokia’s Meego, Microsoft’s Phone 7, and RIM’s Blackberry OS.  All are new OS so they have no excuse for fumbling security – they know the problems that exist and have a lot of software defenses to secure their OS operations. What will be interesting to see is which OS performs the best after the first onslaught of iDevice hack and virus attacks.

But the third reason for iDevice’s greater security is that both users and companies have been chastised. No more short cuts by users in providing for their own security. For example, as more financial transactions get done online and through iDevices, financial institutions are only allowing transactions if basic security protocols have been observed. Also there are more and easier to use apps to verify that your iDevices are properly locked down. This more vigilant security will become more important as mobile phones are already being used in parts of Africa and Asia as major payment devices in lieu of cash or credit cards.

Profitability

Consumers love iDevices because they cater to their needs by being app-packed and customizable; hence iDevices are very profitable to most consumers. No need to buy a cellphone and a game console and a media player and an eBook reader- just get a Google Android like Droid X. And if you later decide you need GPS locator there is likely an app for that from Apple and Google and pretty soon RIM, HP and Microsoft too. Consumers love the profitable dollar savings engendered by iDevices with the bonus that they are much easier to use than many PCs.

Telephone company’s love iDevices because they, even with $150-300 rebates, recoup the dollars invested with added services and monthly data plans. Yes,  the days of unlimited data plans are rapidly coming to a close. The  day of reckoning is justified by  the 10-90% rule which Telecoms believe  has to be broken  - that is a very small set of users [around 10%] eat up 90% of iDevice bandwidth on their unlimited monthly usage plans. And with AT&T in the lead that new direction has been reached. This will allow telephone network providers to price on usage and recover bandwidth and revenues lost to the download hogs. Since Takethe5th is a download hog, one can be assured there are some unhappy users.

Small to medium size developers love iDevices because they are back into  money-making for their software.  PC vendors like Apple, Microsoft, and yes even Open Source had either completely cut them off from traditional  markets or  had squeezed their revenues down to a trickle. With iDevices the top level prices are not huge; but the volumes in millions of units can certainly make up the difference.

Finally, gadget makers including Apple, HTC, Acer, etc love iDevices. Its a huge, growing, and still very profitable market. Its not controlled by Microsoft; but Apple is doing its utmost to recreate that monopoly situation on iDevices. Google, RIM, Nokia/Intel and HP are trying to avoid that no-Win situation again. But right now iDevices means profitable growth for those ready to deliver nifty light touch devices  - and  preferably by Christmas 2010.

Why Light Touch  Has Won a Huge Market

One can cite the above 4 reasons and a few more rationales as to why light and touch+gesture savvy  iDevices took off. Here are some factors in the surrounding IT and personal usage industry that helped to propel iDevices to the forefront. Think of these as some necessary pre-conditions   for iDevices to take-off.

PDAs and iPods first had to pioneer with tiny apps, high mobility, and long battery life – the success here confirmed that there was a big market for customizable mobiles.

CPUs with high GHz, low cost, and low power consumption had to become available – hedging its bets even Intel supplied Atoms and other micro CPUs.

Flash memory had to become low cost,  more reliable and higher capacity – and it did.

3G and WiFi had to  deliver – and they do with enough network capacity to handle calls, simple videos, and reasonable email and web browsing.

Vista had to fail badly sewing discord into the Windows brand and monopoly – It is clear that  Vista failed for any number of reasons but most critically it was harder to use, more expensive and slower than its predecessor, Windows XP. Also for many users older software, games and peripherals that worked in Windows XP did not for Vista. Finally, before fixing Vista Microsoft took Windows XP forcibly off the consumer preloaded PC market- users had to pay more for a downgrade to Windows XP and do the re-install on their own. This drastically changed the consumer mindshare against Microsoft – they were perceived as being part of the problem in getting computing and PCs working effectively for many consumers.

Microsoft had to fumble tablets – despite having almost free reign for 10 years in tablets and Pen OS, Microsoft and partners failed to deliver a compelling tablet in either the consumer or corporate PC marketplace. Admittedly this was a difficult task because it required moving off the Windows suite spot. However, this failure confirmed for many users that they would have to look elsewhere for device innovation to meet their needs.

Creation and/or Development had to take a back seat – many PCs are powered as if everybody was a super-user or core developer or high paid graphic designer that needs all the  screen area , computing power, peripheral connections possible. Laptops have become mini software development or video/media creation machines or huge 3D game enthusiast platforms. This is maybe 20-35% of the total consumer PC market. But for many users all they want is email, web browser, word processing, picture and video taking, Picasa-like image processor for those images, some simple games and maybe 3-5 other simple specialty apps a few of which they already get on the Web. What they would prefer is all this accessible  in one device  -  voice, image, video recorder operations and then the ability to store and forward those media  objects with ease, simplicity and speed.

One can see the shifts in emphasis enabled by iDevices in their rapid evolution – back to ease of use, customer primacy, better security, light weight and handy mobility, etc. But there are new features and functionality as geo-location, motion sensors, and media devices like a video+still camera are brought on board. Takethe5th hates software installs and updates. They can be long and tedious, require a reboot, or require a redo because of faulty configuration or shades of .DLL Hell. Then the ever present updaters constantly resident, taking up memory space and CPU cycles, and constantly nagging you to Update Now! So far many iDevices have gotten this rite right. But Takethe5th is from Missouri – show me this kindness for many more years.

Summary

The last observation is key to understanding iDevices. They have and are still evolving very rapidly. The demands of quarterly profitability may change the vendors “consumers first” tune [Apple appears to be doing that with the iPhone 4 antenna problem]. Finally, there is an absolute wave of new products coming to market in the next half year. The last installment on iDevices will examine these new trends plus the winners and losers as iDevices establish their position in the Personal Computing market.

Peering into ongoing innovation is like  looking at a prism. One can see images of what is emerging but the various shapes of an evolving idea in the market are like the facets of the prism – each one sees different forms, strategy and structure.  iDevices presents just such a kaleidoscope image as a  mix of iPhones, smartphones, iPads, tablets, and slate computing devices that have emerged from PDAs-Personal Digital Assistants  in the past 3-5  years.  iDevices, pioneered  by Apple Computer and hence the name, imply a highly personalized computing device. iDevices take  PDA’s  light and  mobile factors  and go well beyond  with  much better Web connections,  impressive computing power  which supports new levels of ease of use  fostered by touch+gesture savvy yet still carrying at least a full day of battery power.  iDevices are not only Web connected but also media proficient by presenting dense but highly readable  and maneuverable screens powered by on-board digital still and video cameras, microphones, motion sensors, GPS locators, etc.  But the icing on the cake is the hundreds of thousands of plugins or apps that can be used to extend and customize what an iDevice can do for each individual user.

But perhaps the biggest departure for iDevices is that they represent a rewrite. Not just a rewrite of the operating systems that control them[iOS4 for Apple, Android and Chrome for Google, webOS for HP, Meego for Intel/Nokia, and Microsoft Phone 7 are all new Operating Systems]  but also of the way users are served by computing devices. Thus,  by means of touch screens and on-board sensors, iDevices know where you are, how you are holding them, what is nearby but most importantly –  what you want them to do for you. Touch + gesture savvy iDevices are like Web 2.0 – they take computer interfaces to a new level of re-dedication to personalization and ease of use.

Now some observers, like Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, would beg to differ and sees light touch devices [or iDevices]as just another PC. If you plug an iDevice into a docking station it becomes a point and tap PC. Thus iDevices can be handled like netbooks and the EEE PC – the first editions of light, mobile, and powered for a day. For  awhile netbooks allowed Linux to  make significant inroads into a consumer “PC”  market. That incursion was quickly stomped on by Microsoft in the Summer of 2008  with the resurrection of  the just discontinued Windows XP [Vista would not fit].  And users flocked   to Windows XP netbooks by a factor of 80%++. But the victory may have been Pyrrhic as Redmond was lulled into thinking an adapted Windows  could handle the new computing paradigm represented by iDevices.  But in fact  Microsoft’s Windows XP and Win Mobile OS did not support  touch + gestures interfaces, the many new sensors,  nor the low power processors which were dominating the rapidly evolving  iDevice market.  Apple’s iPhone/iPad and Google’s Android powered devices were ceded a big lead in the market.   So iDevices, as Microsoft has learned to its chagrin, are different than PCs be they desktop, laptop or notebook.

To  help underline the game changing nature of iDevices, consider Information Week’s Executive Editor,  Bob Evans, and his  very telling Open Letter  to Steve Jobs in the June 28, 2010 issue. The note describes how much iDevices have changed thinking in Enterprise Software. Bob quotes SAP Chairman Hasso Plattner:

Plattner said that the application of that new technology within SAP’s products will be dictated not by any SAP technology or product strategy, but rather by the real world experiences of the company’s customers for whom mobile access and decision-making are becoming indispensable.

“People at SAP ask me why do you insist on running a dunning program in two seconds  instead of two minutes ? No one is asking for that kind of speed for a dunning program. And I tell them you are asking the wrong question. The right question is how long will someone with an iPhone wait for an answer? And the answer is that 15 seconds is the absolute maximum amount of time people will wait before they go and start doing something else: check voice mail, send text messages, check email …This is the new reality.”
Plattner and SAP now realize that the world of enterprise applications is no longer about the complex code but about how a rapidly expanding set of users gain value from SAP Software … so Plattner says 15 seconds is the new limit….

The essential point is that iDevices with point and touch  gestures are seen as being  the optimum user interface. Many IT analysts concede that iDevices are changing how consumers  interact  with computing as they do messaging, use multimedia and play games; but the analysts  insist that iDevices have yet to have an impact on enterprises. Bob Evans  begs to differ and says look how one of the major business software vendors is reacting to the simplicity and speed of response that is built into iDevices.

How iDevices are More than Super PDAs.

iDevices are certainly outgrowths of the PDAs-Personal Digital Assistants like the Palm Pilot,Apple Newton, and Windows Mobile devices of the late 1990′s to  about 2005. But then “things changed” with the launch of the iPod followed by the iPhone. A new computing device emerged –  the media and touch savvy,  Web-connected iDevice.

The crucial difference between  iDevices and  PDAs  are low-power but much more computing power, touch sensitive interfaces, sensors everywhere[ like phone, both still and video cameras, speakers, voice mike, accelerometer, etc], expanding app program catalogs, and denser but more readable screens. All these factors have allowed iDevices to absorb, like Black Hole gadgets, other popular but limited use computing devices  like simple cellphones, mobile game consoles, eReaders for books, hand-held GPS locators, media players, etc. Markets for these limited gadgets dwindle as smartphones and other iDevices meet their needs for many consumers often with an easier to use interface. For end users the attraction is one device and low cost customization  with easily downloaded and installed apps or plugin.

Summary

iDevices reflect the need for a very easy to use interface to computing power that is light, portable and easily connected or plugged into both the broad Web and other “smart devices”. Vendors in the market are beginning to see the opportunity. iDevices are moving beyond being super smartphones or the optimum eReader or the handiest game console. iDevices with their WiFi connections and easily installed apps will become the universal remote controller, the interface of choice not just to the Web, voice and messaging but the standard connection device and interface to any equipment that has a computing server with builtin iDevice “smarts” to exchange and deliver data to the iDevice. The near future will see iDevices configuring and controlling equipment they can smart-link to. Our next post in this series on iDevices examines their rapid emergence and how they evolved to become a new face in Personal Computing.

Takethe5th modestly notes that it has scooped the NYTimes on its Apple Bully Boy story. In today’s NYTimes [June 24th, 2010] the story headlined for the Technology section is: Long the Upstart, Apple Plays New Role: Goliath. Here is  a summary of the NYTimes storyline:

Apple is now seen by some as an anti-competitive industry bully. As Apple fans line up at stores on Thursday morning for the release of the fourth iteration of the iPhone, the company is riding high.And it’s not just the iPhone. Sales of the iPad tablet are strong too, and Apple has surged past Microsoft to become the most valuable company in the technology industry. But as one success follows another, the company finds itself in a bewildering position. As the tech industry’s perennial underdog, Apple was frequently scorned and dismissed by larger and more successful competitors like Microsoft or Dell. Now, with growing frequency, the company is seen by competitors and other industry players as a bully.

Companies like Google and Adobe have accused Apple of unfairly using its clout to exclude their technologies from the iPhone and iPad. And some application developers are fretting under Apple’s tight control of those devices, even though many of them built their fortunes on the popular gadgets.

But perhaps in the clearest sign that Apple has emerged as an industry superpower, government regulators are beginning to scrutinize its every move.

The NYTimes article then goes on to describe how Apple has worked  to create a monopoly engendering ecosystem around its popular iDevices[=> iPod, iPad, iPhone] where Apple control all aspects of  their deployment. This includes taking a cut on everything- apps sold, media sold, ads sold and even a payment for whose apps and media  gets to be sold on its iDevices. But it also means tight control of whose software gets to run on iDevices  or used to develop apps to run based on non-redundant functionality, security plus reliability of the code and performance. But in applying these controls the NYTimes points out  that popular software like Google’s Voice, Adobe’s Flash, Sun’s Java and a whole host of code generation tools have been ruled “programma non grata” on Apple’s iDevices in an apparently arbitrary manner.

But Takethe5th readers have already read this basic storyline starting back on Feb 19th and continuing for the past 5 months:
Feb 19th – Apple vs Adobe: Take 5 … Who Cares? – Google! – tells how in unprecedented fashion Apple CEO Steve Jobs bad mouths Adobe Flash software – and unjustifiably so for some of his purported reasons. This is the start of the basic Apple-Adobe feud with Apple clearly being the heavy.
April 13th - Apple Has Mobile Monopoly Momentum – shows how Apple first starter lead in defining the nature of Lite Touch devices has given it momentum towards another IT monopoly.
April 18th – How Steve Jobs Has Scr#wed Himself – summarizes the basic “Apple as Gorilla” story. It describes how Apple has ruled out apps that clash with their own programs  or directions. Most notable has has been exclusions of any software that allows iDevice apps to be reproduced in PCs, smartphones or other competitive devices. To add insult to injury, Steve Jobs has badmouthed software such as Java and  Flash as not being fast enough. Then when Apple itself turns out to be the source of the performance/speed problems Apple switches to alleged  security or reliability defects.
April 24th – Apple versus Adobe Feud – provides a recap of the main arguments in the Apple vs Adobe battle. One interesting angle is that Steve Jobs has been promoting HTML5 but then Apple is slowing down and/or going proprietary on some key HTML5 standards. Also Google rewrote the previously Apple rejected Google Voice app in the very same HTML5 that Apple is saying is one of the key standards for development on iDevices. Apple appears to demur still on approving Google Voice for iDevices.
June 15th – Apple vs Adobe: Take 6, Apple HW is SLOWWWwwwwww – uncovers some very clever and precise benchmarking that shows Apple’s graphics are 30-300% slower than those running on identically the same hardware and software on Windows vs MacOS/X. This is conclusive proof that speed problems with Adobe Flash are really poor graphics performance on MacOS/X.
In sum, for 4 months Takethe5th readers have had the inside on the Apple as Bully Boy story. Now the latest Takethe5th Apple Tidbits  is about the end of cheap Chinese manufacturing [all  iDevices are produced in China] and the recent prediction of a $45 price for Apple [down from current $270]. Just a little more modest, journalistic self-backpatting.

Progress on smartphones and tablets which are touch and gesture enabled are moving so rapidly that laptops and PCs are in danger of becoming redundant. Well if not redundant, consigned to specialized development tasks. What has happened is that woefully untapped need for touch-enabled computing has been explosively released first with the iPhone then Android smartphones followed by the keyboard-less iPad and an upcoming flood of additional smartphones and tablets throughtout the next 2 years.
Clearly bright, portable and touch easy to use  has won the day for many computing users.
The problem for PCs is that a monopoly by Microsoft has taken its Joseph Schumpeter toll. Microsoft demolished GO and Pen OS in the mid-1990s and then simply sat on touch and stylus based technology. Redmond’s efforts were very conservative and did not meet the need for a touch screen, a wider range of gestures, and the inclusion of sensors that could detect the orientation of the device. Also light and bright technology, although picked up in netbooks, has not been emphasized in PCs.
But the critical form factor pioneered by iPhone and the Apple iDevices was to go keyboardless.
Okay, not a keyboard-less but a software GUI keyboard. Apple rightly assumed that the software-touch keyboard would be good enough for the new wave of Web 2.0 and iOS4 based apps. But what is waiting in the wings is a laser-projection keyboard and/or voice command recognition systems which can support faster input. But mobile device developers have to be careful. Any new input device will have to be small, light and not drain the batteries – one day battery life is also a key attraction of their new devices.
Finally, its worth emphasizing the key roll of the Web and Internet in the runaway popularity of light-weight, touch-enabled, portable devices. RIM has profited handsomely by serving those needs with a throwback device – a fat-finger defying keyboard and slow arrival to touch+gesture enabled phone+connection device. We call it a connection device because only RIM so far has invested in the server-side driven push technology that gets messages and emails out to Rim devices in a timely if not instantaneous fashion – no need to constantly check back.
So PCs and even netbooks got caught out a)first lacking a PDA-form factor staying light weight and bright for a full days work; and then b) not fully supporting phone connections and c)finally being derelict on becoming even easier to use with touch and gestures. The writing was on the wall when Redmond stopped all Web development for 5 years from 2001 to 2006 [no functional upgrade to IE6 browser] and, except for Skype, ignored phone connections. PC vendors have been asleep at the switch to touch+gesture. So now Acer, Dell and HP among other PC vendors are racing to catch up with their own smartphones and tablets – and they are hedging their bets. They are going Android, Meego, WebOS – not exclusively Microsoft Phone 7. And that is “deserting” of microsoft is based on survival – Microsoft Phone 7 is woefully behind.
But the capper was announced today – HTML5 touch-enabled development tools from Sencha[recently known as EXTjs, the excellent JavaScript framework developers] that work exclusively on iOS4 and Android – PC based HTML5 users are out of luck.

This will mean an explosion of Web apps that work best on Android and iOS4 – not MacOS/X nor Windows nor Linux PCs that do not have touch sensitive screens. A key indicator of this switch in emphasis is what updates Apple brings to its own laptops and PCs. My guess is that Steve Jobs will delay bringing touch screens to the Apple desktops and laptops. Apple has extended much effort [including cutting off Adobe Flash, Java, and other code generators systems] to set up a closed and highly profitable iOS4 ecosystem.  iOS4 has a big first starter lead over everybody else. When will Steve “let in” MacOSx users with full touch+gestures based screens in the future? Your guess is as good as mine. Meanwhile the timely arrival of Microsoft Phone 7 goes “hardcore” – no vacations for many Redmond developers. And the whole PC World is turned upside down and keyboard-less [for the time being].

Takethe5th has been following the Apple versus Adobe debate with a bit of a jaundiced eye – wondering how Flash video and all its broad range of applications can run so fast on Windows yet slow on Macs [and Linux too].  Adobe claims that the latest Flash player 10.1 has not been tuned quite yet and the Mac OS graphics accelerator APIs have not been available to Adobe developers on a timely basis. And Apple and  Steve Jobs bemoans the fact that Flash is too slow, insecure, buggy and without explicitly saying so – a piece of software crap.

However, a recent report in Engadget caught my eye. It point to  a comparison of MacOS/X vs Windows 7 vs Ubuntu 10.04 done at Phoronix measuring the graphics performance of the 3 popular OS on what can be nearly the same Apples and Apples basic computing hardware – its always a Mac Mini platform. In fact Phoronix has taken pains to do so.  The results [see one of several charts above]are most interesting and applicable to the Apple vs  Adobe debate.

In 4 different tests over 6 popular resolutions [from 800 x 600 screen to HDR 1920 x 1080] Windows 7 running on the  NVidia graphics hardware beat both MacOS/X and Ubuntu consistently – even when the graphics accelerators were changed.  Now consider this – Windows 7 was never beaten and the margin of victory was 30 to 300% better than Apple. Even more intriguing Ubuntu Linux, though never besting Windows 7 , also consistently outperformed Apple MacOS/X.

So this raises a legitimate question – was Steve Jobs dissing Adobe Flash  performance to distract attention from Apple’s own very poor graphics  performance? With graphics performance on Macs 30-60% slower than Windows, wouldn’t Flash video inevitably run slower on Macs [and Linux too]? Phoronix is promising more benchmarks  with other graphics software after its May 2010 posted results. I hope they include Flash Player 10.1. Here is one party that will be watching.

There is no doubt that there is an emerging  contest open now for becoming the  next and new World Financial Center. The opportunity broke with  the breakdown of financial responsibility on Wall Street and European financial centers plus the caving of  fiscal discipline [consistently running increasing budget deficits over the past 5-10 years]by many developed country’s governments. Couple this with the rise of  petro-riches and the emergence of Southeast Asia, China and India as manufacturing and service providing powerhouses  respectively – and suddenly managing the World’s money and finance does not seem to be the god-given domain of current Western financial centers.

Of course, the collective Wall Street waiver on Fiduciary Trust and discrete riders on any Code of Ethics along with Wall Street’s adamant rejection of almost all financial reforms certainly helps other financial centers. And sophistication plus capital sources are not lacking in the Emirates, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Singapore among the leading contenders now that London, Geneva, and Wall Street have systematically ruined their respective brands.

And to add to the contest, Singapore is upping the ante with its move to fiber optically wire the small island nation for broadband services at hitherto astounding, data-center only speeds.  I am talking 1Gbits/second. Just to compare, Sprint’s new 4G Wimax  network is raving about its ability to deliver 4-10Mbits/second … just barely 1/100th the speed that Singapore users will receive.  And Singapore is demanding a 2012 start-up date for its new network.

Now consider that Singapore has lead and Southeast Asia has  dominated the Educational  scores for math and science in grade  and high school for the past 15 years and one can see a strong educational base for the network to further support.  And China is not far behind in similar plans. In sum Southeast Asia is building up a brains plus technical brawn as well as entrepreneur advantage that will make their financial centers  increasingly attractive to international businesses looking for less risky and less self-aggrandizing financial services.

There have been two huge economic developments in the past few weeks that are still under the radar. By under the radar, one means that it is possible to Digg or Stumble posts about the stories and still be “the first discoverer”. Second, though some aspects of the stories are covered – there has not been the big view or analysis. Yet these developments will have decades long and world repercussions:

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1)The spate of 12 suicides at the huge 1/2 million employees Foxconn complex in Shenzen China has already a)caused wages to rise by 30% or more; b) caused major changes in how production is done at the complex; and c)may cause China to switch from lowest-labor cost model to an out-automate and out-innovate economic model [sounds like what every advanced economic country is trying to do - a crowded field]. John Dvorak writing at Marketwatch picks up the implications of this change.

Immediately all the major consumer electronics producers from Apple and Cisco to Dell and Nokia plus a whole lot of others technology giants who have outsourced almost all of their manufacturing to China are going to see their margins squeezed immediately. And probably a second time when China allows its currency to rise within the next 6-9 months.This has big implications for Tech stocks since increased competition is already putting downward pressure on prices in many tech markets.
But the long term implications are even greater. China’s leaders may be willing to bet now that China  can out innovate and develop in the biggest industries while retaining a South Korean-like high productivity advantage. Watch for this strategy to be tried in key  sectors  like non-oil energy production. This is  the green market where China has wrested the lead from technology pioneers in Europe and North America.  These governments and economies are beset with debilitating problems such  as divisive party partisanship  that means the countries can’t respond to the Chinese challenges  with any business-government co-operation set aside any agility. As well most advanced economies   are running huge budget and/or trade deficits  as  the populace’s unwillingness to fully pay for government  services at any better than 80 cenets ion the dollar. As well Southeast Asian countries have the highest maths, science and engineering scores and numbers of graduates. And US and Europe are willing to sell their pioneering patents and technology for a song. So China may speed up their conversion away from an exclusive low labor cost model.

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2)Afghanistan is sitting on $1Triilion in mineral wealth. The story in the NYTimes has the sense of manufactured fiction on some of the key events and players but the essence is likely true. So $1trillion in mineral resources could change the narcotics based $12B Afghan economy very dramatically. The problem is that Afghanistan is like Yugoslavia – the different ethnic and linguistic groups are only loosely tied to the central government in Kabul. Also the level of corruption within both the provincial and national governments is not conducive to the massive capital investments required for large-scale mineral development. But nothing spurs nation building so much as the prospect of 50-100 years of huge mining profits.

It is worthwhile point out that Google’s Apache-licensed Android is seen both by Gartner and comScore as one of the fastest growing smartphone OS. And in case you are wondering there is a flood of new Android and Chrome OS based devices reaching the market this summer and fall. And Intel + Nokia with MeeGo are also adopting Apache-like  licensing that allows proprietary extensions:

In particular, the requirement is to use licenses compatible with the OSI Open Source definition and use the software and licenses in a way that enables proprietary extensions. Users of MeeGo should be able to differentiate their MeeGo based commercial products by adding proprietary extensions on all layers of the architecture. Yet the whole MeeGo platform software available from MeeGo.com should be fully open source.

This is the new Hybrid Open Model that is taking shape in technogy development. The  result is that Linux, after years of being unable to crack into PC client market with Microsoft having so many hardware drivers and software applications – Linux is doing very well thank you in the new emerging markets of smartphones, tablets, slates and light/mobile pads. As noted above Android is doing very well and MeeGo has delivered solid beta code and will appear on phone and tablet devices starting in late 2010 and early 2011.

Now this is the same time frame as Windows Phone 7. So while Apple, Google and RIM dual out at the top end it will be interesting to see how well Meego does against Microsoft Phone 7.  Both will be without huge app libraries – so it will be hardware integration and the range of core software apps that will determine how these two OS will fare.

However, with Google Android and Chrome OS plus Intel+Nokia MeeGo, Linux will finally see market share to match its light weight and often superior performance.