Microsoft Tablet PC “Render” mock up unveiled today at Gizmodo,
A Gizmodo report today revealed a “render: image of what they believe to be one of the most talk about….a MicroSoft Tablet PC.
According to Gizmodo, the device named Courier will comes with 2 pcs of a 7 inch multi touch screen which can be opened like a book and will includes Wi-Fi and a even a camera on the reverse.
However, in the exclusive report at Gizmodo, the device is still in the “late prototype” phase, suggesting that any further changes is simply unknown. But in my experience, a “Render ID” image is really too early to tell. But I must admit, it looks really good. We will just have to wait for further update to see how this will goes.
via [gizmodo]
AT&T’s 3G MicroCell Launch to face a “late comer” Dilemma.
Ever experience a cell phone “dead zones” in your house?
AT&T’s solution to this is simple,just place a “mini cellular tower” called 3G Microcell in areas of your home where AT&T cell phone coverage is awful. There user can simply
plug the 3G Microcell to a high-speed Internet line and make and receive clear internet calls.
The technolgy behind this concept is called femtocell and is not new. Other wireless provider like Verizon, Sprint Airave and T-Mobile each had launched theru version as early as 2007 (T-Mobile’s launched Hotspot@Home ). And that’s not the only competition that AT&T will need to deal with.
Majority of the consumers, in particular the Web community don’t really like the price tag behind this late comer. AT& T’s charge a USD150 for the 3G Microcell hard ware and offer plans of $19.99 a month for unlimited use, and $9.99 if you subscribe to AT&T Wireless and home phone service. Only when you get wireless, landline and Internet service from AT&T, then its free. A quick comparison to other competitors and you will know why are thery upset about as follows
Verizon Wireless’s Network Extender
Up Front Cost $250
Monthly Fee: Zero
Sprint’s Airave
Upfront Cost: $100
Monthly fee : $5
Monthly Fee(Optional) $10 for unlimited calls.
T-Mobile’s HotSpot @ Home
Upfront Fee: Zero ( no hardware needed, only your own wireless router,
Monthly Fee: $10 a month,
Limitation:It only works with phones that have UMA support.
Nevertheless, AT&T will only be released as a public market trial in Charlotte N.C., there is no news when they will lauch it to the rest of the nation.
Sony Ericsson Smart Earphones Reads Your Mind.
The new Sony Ericsson MH907 Earphones is smart! Not only on its look, but smart in the sense that, it reads your mind!
It will play your music when you plug in the 2 ear phones into both ears, automatically. To pause your music, all you need is to remove one from one of your ears. Put it back to both ears and the music starts again. Like wise, you can answer and end a call with it, again automatically. No button to push, user interface to on a panel to mess with.
Ok, I confessed.
It did not really read your mind. Instead MH907 earphones uses a technology called “SensMe Control”, which makes the MH907 earphones the very 1st “Motion Activated” earphones in the world. And unsurprisingly, it is only compatible with Sony Ericsson phones that feature a fast port connector. The headphones weigh only 25.32 grams and will be available in two choice of color: Titan Chrome and Yellow/White.
Soft Innovations
While most mobile phones makers is competing on more hardware functions and higher spec, Sony Ericsson had somehow “outflank” the rest this time creating what Seth Godin called a “soft innovation” in his book [Free Prize Inside: The Next Big Marketing Idea].
According to Seth Godin, “soft innovation” will be the best way to grow a business in our times, where anyone can come up with clever, useful, and small ideas to make a product or service remarkable, that is, worth talking about. He calls this kind of innovation a free prize. And to create a free prize, we will need to identify the soft innovations that live on the edges of what already exists.
This smart “motion-activated” MH907 is estimated to launch in US at Q4 but we hear from SlashGear that the headset will arrive in Europe this week for 39 Euros (US$57).
Video Promo from internationally renowned animator Kristofer Ström.
In the mean time, you can checked out the video promo below from Sony Ericsson for this smart gadget companion, it is actually a animation from internationally renowned animator Kristofer Ström.
3 Cheers for Sony Ericsson!
Eye-Fi memory card makes your camera wireless and comes with a Free iPhone app.
Are you a digital camera fanatics, a heavy social media lover, a Mac user or an iPhone owner ? If your answer is yes, you may fall in love with this little cool gadget accessories here.
Makes Your Camera Wireless!
This Eye-Fi card serves more than your typical SD or SDHC memory card. It actually comes with a Built in Wi-Fi and with a simple set up, you can send your photos and videos to your computer or laptop like through a wireless network. Yes! Eye-Fi card makes your camera….wireless!
And it doesn’t stop there! Here are some more cool features you can find in the Eye-Fi cards
Compatible with Thousands Of Cameras
Eye-Fi cards is compatible with thousands of digital cameras in the market
Auto- Upload to Popular Social Media Sites
Eye-Fi cards can help you automatically and effortlessly upload images you take to 20 photo sharing, printing, blogging and social networking sites like Facebook, You Tube…etc.
Life Time Geo Tagging
It comes with a Life Time Geo Tagging Service where you will be able to Automatically adds geographic location tags to photos (based on nearby Wi-Fi networks).
10,000 hotspots for uploading
It even provides wireless access at more than 10,000 Wayport hotspots across the US for uploading photos.
Apple Compatible
Eye-Fi Cards even come with a Free-iPhone App and is compatible with with 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6 (Snow Leopard) for Mac user.
Depending on what you want, at the moment, Eye-Fi cards come with 5 choices of Eye-Fi Home(2G),Share(2G), Share Video(4G) Exp0ore Video(4G)and PRO(4G), with a price range of USD49.99, USD59.99, USD79.99, USD99.99 and USD149.99 respectively.
Eye-Fi cards are now available at www.eye.fi , Apple store and at other online retailers.
Sony’s PlayStation 3 Slim Launch with Aggressive USD299 Pricing Strategy!
Sony’s will be launching their latest Play Station 3 Slim at the price point of $299, the same as the previous Play Station 3, which is already a price cut version of Play Station 3.
Is this a desperate move to revamp their Game Console Business? Or is it simply a loss leader strategy to overtake other competitors? We know Sony’s as a company, had suffered great loss from the recession. So regaining their market position, especially in their super star product Play Station 3 Slim, is a crucial move they must do now, or never.
The game console market is no longer the same as before, it had evolved, the profit made no longer rely on the quantity of units sold, if any were made. Rather, we can see that all players, be it Microsoft X Box or Nitendo Wii, had been making much integration to create a entertainment platform in hope for more “up sell” items behind every unit sold.
Like what Andy House, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe mean when he spoke last week at the Gamescom trade show in Germany:
“Within the gaming world, we’re moving from a relationship that ended when we sold them [customers] a game to one where their relationship with us begins with that game, and obviously takes its life online. And also, the PS3 is a multifunctional device and a gateway into multifunctional entertainment.”
An example is Microsoft Xbox Live, an annual subscription service if Xbox 360 owners ever want to play their games online; it will cost them USD50 per year. And how about Wii’s extensive choice of add-ons companion like a steering wheel for Mario Kart Wii, gun attachments for first-person shooters…etc. And these are the obvious, other more subtle profit include royalties and licensing fees from third-party developers, hardware makers and other intellectual properties.(EG. integrating Games into Movies and vice versa). This seems to be the brave new future for the Gaming Industries
Other interesting report on the PS3 Slim we recommend.
The Play Station 3 Slim is schedule to launch on 1st September, but there is news that it is already available, in limited stock now at certain outlets. Here’s a report on this in GameSpot
You can also read another interesting view about the Sony pricing strategy on their PS3 from cnet by David Carnoy here.
My iPhone is a NON wi-fi Satellite Radio?! …A reality now with Sirius XM SkyDock.
This unqiue piece of plug and play gadget is called XM SkyDock , an iPhone and iPod companion which once plug into your iPhone and iPod base, can not only act as a car dock and charger, but also as a satellite radio antenna!
All you need is simply get an free tuner app into your iPhone or iPod Touch.
Not only can you use the SkyDock to receive Internet streaming channels from existing Sirius XM app ,you can also taps into XM’s satellite radio signal which all other known Sirius iPhone app can’t. And the best part is, SkyDock doesn’t need a mobile phone or wi-fi signal to work! Meaning, it will work in the anywhere and evrywhere! A good news for iPod Touch owners as it do not have a cellphone signal.
According to it’s creator, Sirius XM, this “i Gadget” companion is still under evaluation and had granted “preliminary” approval by the FCC. They plan to launch it during fall this year at the price point of USD120.
Yes! Your iPhone or iPod Touch Satellite Radio is Now a reality with Sirius XM SkyDock.
via[ Reuter]
Another AT&T Cash Injection Deployment with Sony’s 3G Wireless EBook Reader!
Looks like the EBook Reader and EBooks market will be getting more heated competition.
We all know that Barnes & Noble announcing last month their launch of E-Bookstore with a exclusive distribution deal with Plastic Logic Super Thin E-Book reader. Then yesterday we also reported Barnes and Noble will also be partnering with Netherlands’ EBook reader company iRex for a 8.1Inch Touch Screen E-Reader to further expand their reach. Google on the other hand also had revealed their plan in creating some kind of platform that would enable publishers to do direct-to-consumer sales(Many says it will be another E-Book Store.)
AT&T 2nd EBooks Market Deployment
Now we have AT&T making their second move to provide wireless access for Sony’s upcoming 3G Wireless E-Book Reader. Their 1st move were made earlier this summer that they will do the same for Plastic Logic. Now we know what they, be it Google, Sony, IRex, Plastic Logic, Barnes and Noble, AT&T and perhaps many more in the future are going after, they are all going after the same market that Amazon Kindle had been taking the lead(so far)—The Emerging E-book Industry.
Now some quick random over view of the Sony New 3G Wireless EBooks reader:
- It will be called Reader Daily Edition and will be
- Schedule to be released in December.
- It will come with a 7inches Touch Screen
- You can read it vertically or horizontally
- Can store up to 1000 books
- External Memory Slot for memory expansion
- Also support Word, PDF and other documents that can be stored or downloaded directly in it.
Price Point for reader and service
Price point will be USD399, higher than all their previous SONY e-reader. But hey! is 3G and WIRELESS! And Wireless is just what all previous version lack to compete with Amazon Kindle which employ the network of Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) so we can buy books, magazines or newspapers wherever, whenever.
What’s in it for AT&T?
The question people are asking is:” what’s the deal for AT&T here?” Since they had never mentioned how they will monetized with these moves. But surely there is money in it, as a NASDAQ report put it:” The deal with Sony reflects a concerted effort on AT&T’s part to maximize use of its wireless network and develop new revenue streams.” The report on NASDAQ mentioned that most likely AT&T would get their profit based on the sale of each electronic publication.
And that alone can be very lucrative, consider an estimate sales of 1 million Amazon Kindles and tens of millions of e-books sold since Kindle was introduce 2007. And we are still in the tips of an iceberg as the growth potential is really limitless.
Another Barnes and Noble eBook Reader?
We reported on July that Barnes & Noble to Revamp their business with a online book store and Plastic Logic’s Super Thin e-Book Reader. And we all thought that is pretty much it.
But yesterday, we read a blog post on WIRED that Barnes & Noble will also be partnering with iRex, a Netherlands-based company in particular on iRex 8.1-inch touch screen e-reader that also comes with a stylus-based navigation and 3G wireless connectivity.
According to the Wired report, Barnes & Noble hopes to expand its reach with iRex,a spin-off from Royal Phillips Electronics. The company’s name stands for ‘Interactive Reading Experience.
We are yet to determine the price point of iRex ebook reader. Seems that now, we will be having more choices for an ebook gadget. What will be your choice? Will it be an Amazon Kindle DX, a Sony Reader, Plastic Logic or an Irex?
Via [Wired]
Is Nokia Ready for the Net Book Diversification?
A report from Reuters had confirmed that Nokia, world’s leading cellphone maker will revamp their business with a product diversification— Enter Nokia Booklet 3G! The very 1st netbook from Nokia.
As if the netbook market is not crowded enough, we all know that Netbooks are basically simplified and low-cost version laptops optimized for surfing the Internet and performing other basic applications. The 1st player is Asustek in 2007, other brands such as HP and Dell quickly followed.
Many worry that entering this ever competitive market will hurt Nokia already declining profit. After all, it is no secret that Nokia has seen its profit margins drop over the last quarters along with a drop of cellphones demand. But when Reuters interview with Kai Oistamo, the head of Nokia’s key phone unit, he said that Nokia is fully aware about the low margin level in the PC world.
Perhaps the “growth” potential of Netbook Market is simply too good for Nokia to miss. According to Research firm IDC, the growth of netbook shipments this year alone is expected to be more than 127 percent from 2008 to over 26 million units, which will outperform the overall staled PC market and a shrinking phone market..
At the moment, the only specification we know about the Nokia Booklet 3G offers are as follows:
- Software- Microsoft’s Windows
- CPU- Intel’s Atom processor
- Battery Life- Up to 12 hours
- Weight:- 1.25 kilograms.
Other details about the very 1st Nokia net book will be revealed on 2nd September 2009 .
So is Nokia ready for this netbook diversification? We think their chances of success is high, as long as they uphold their core values of their brand: Human Technology. And we can only find out on 2nd Sep.
Via [ Reuters]
Microsoft and Apple’s market warfare goes hardware with Zune HD Portable Media Player!
Microsoft announced their plans to release a touch-screen version of the Zune portable media player on 26th May this year with the intention to compete with Apple’s iPod Touch. And now is ready to launch, and the name….Zune HD.
According to a report on Cnet, Microsoft will launch Zune HD’s sales campaign on 15th September at a price point of USD219 for 16GB and USD289 for 32G in 2 color options. of black and platinum.
Unique Features Not Found in IPod Touch
So what will be the competitive advantage Zune HD have over Apple’s IPod Touch? Zune HD will indeed offers several features that are not found on the iPod Touch, including an OLED display, HD radio, and high-definition video playback (using an optional dock accessory).
IE Web Browser
Other non-unique yet new features for the Zune HD will be an Internet Explorer Web browser to work hand in hand with other Wi-Fi features (song sharing, Channel streaming, and Zune Marketplace browsing). The Zune HD’s browser is optimized for the touch screen with an onscreen keyboard, but there’s no word on whether it will be capable of streaming Flash media (used by sites such as YouTube and Pandora), a capability that is currently lacking in the Safari browser for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
HD Radio Tuner Integration
Another interesting feature of the Zune HD will be it’s ability to integrate an HD radio tuner which can also transmit artist and song data, very useful for it’s exiisting FM radio song-tagging and download feature.
Other regular features like a photo viewer, games, podcast management, and Zune Pass music subscription integration, will remains
Longer Battery Life
One important improvement as compare to Zune’s previous model will be it’s battery life. Microsoft said that it can have 33 hours of music playback and 8.5 hours of video (with Wi-Fi deactivated). We do hope this figures are accurate as one of the main complain of Zune previous models are none other than their poor battery performance.
Video, Games and Movie Rental Downloads
On the “software” side, Microsoft also plans to dramatically beef up the video download selection of its Zune Marketplace online store, and use the improved storefront to power the movie and TV downloads available to the Xbox gaming console. The new storefront will support movie rentals that can be transferred to Zune hardware (similar to iTunes movie rentals) playable from either your computer or from the Zune HD.
Zune HD will be available at launch directly from Microsoft’s Zune Originals online storefront.
[via CNET]
