So the phone market have been pretty miserable for Microsoft. 6% is where Microsoft is and let me tell you it looks like it is getting smaller. So what could Microsoft do to get people interested in this? Well they could be putting Windows 8 into their phones in the coming future. There are some clues that this is exactly what Microsoft is planning to do. When I first saw the preview videos of Windows 8, with its touch and tile-based interface, people thought immediately of Windows Phone, which has a very similar looking interface. Instead of app icons, both use tiles which can display data and images from the underlying apps without opening them. The tiles themselves become a dashboard displaying the real-time data behind every app. This could be a step in the right direction for Microsoft. The fact that they are late to the party is a bad thing but could of been a great thing. They could really make sure they had top tier product by learning from the mistakes of Android and iPhone but yet they seem to sticking to the bottom, so they weren’t able to leverage anything. Maybe this Windows 8 speculation will give their phones more buzz and a change to get a bigger share of the market.
Through my travels online I always try to find the cool and great products coming out for consumers. The Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet A1 is a 7-inch Android unit and from what I have read it will be carrying the Gingerbread OS from Android.
Now there are plenty of poor excuses Android tablets out there, but most have weak construction and many are locked out of the Android Market — meaning no Gmail app, no Maps, and none of the other built-in Google goodies. That’s not the case with the A1, which is running Android 2.3 Gingerbread on a single-core Cortex A8 processor. It has front- and rear-facing cameras (the back one rated at three megapixels) and a 7-inch, 1,024 x 600 display. Not too shabby if you ask me.
For $199 you’ll get 8GB of storage, but a 16GB model will go for $249, 32GB for $299. Only the 16GB and 32GB models will be shipped to the US, which is a bit of a shame, as with both microSD and SD expansion it’ll be fairly easy to add more. Connectivity is limited to WiFi, but there is a GPS in there, so it could make for a passable navigation device. Don’t forget this is a Lenovo product so even though it is cheap you would have to believe it is quailty.
It is being reported that Sprint will be selling the newest Apple iphone in mid October which would give Sprit the number three spot for sure in this battle that has only really been 2 big cell markets. This also gives Apple another carrier to sell their phones. This report does seem to shed some light on when the Phone will be coming out which is later than expected from most. Many thought September was the month since the fourth quarter closes for Apple in September. The reports also say that Sprint will also carry the iPhone 4 on top of it. Richard Doherty, director of the research firm Envisioneering Group, said that the addition of the iPhone would help Sprint retain many of its customers itching to upgrade. The iPhone will also increase foot traffic in Sprint stores, which should help the company to sell high-margin iPhone accessories. “Sprint needs it,” said Mr. Doherty. “There are a lot of families that will embrace the iPhone.” It looks like Apple really wants to stick it to the droid and seems to be carried in the three major cell markets now.
It has been less than six months but it looks like Apple is really moving in on the phone market of Verizon. The Android share of phones sold went from 51.4% to 41.1% which shows a major shift amongst many Verizon users. Chitika Insights has shown a breakdown of the end of March in which Verizon was the biggest Android carrier. Now the newest study which is about 5 months later shows that major decrease in Verizon’s slice of the US Android pie just after the launch of the iPhone 4. This might not bold well for Android in the coming months with a new iPhone 4 and 5 coming out in the September/October. It looks like the Droid will have to make a strong push in the coming months with better phones and the ice-cream sandwich OS which should be a very special OS.
So if you are using a jail broken iPhone on the AT&T service and you decided to tether well you are in for a big surprised. Your plan will change without your consent. I was just informed that as of Thursday August 11th 2011, if you use MyWi or any tethering on the phone or using the phone as a modem, AT&T will automatically change your unlimited plan to a 2Gb tethering plan for 45 dollars without the customers consent. This is for those who received emails or texts about the use of tethering without an AT&T tethering plan.
This has been confirmed with AT&T. So for those out there that tether and use a jailbroken phone to do so please becareful, you might lose your unlimited data plan and who really wants that?
Skype had to pull it’s iPad app yesterday stating that they had prematurely released the app for the iPad. In statement released by Skype they had this to say.
?To ensure your best Skype experience, we?ve temporarily removed Skype for iPad which went live prematurely today,? the company said in a posting on its Twitter account. ?We know you?ve been eagerly awaiting Skype for iPad and apologize for the inconvenience.?
The big thing about this app is that it is going to allow audio and video calling over wi-fi and 3G networks. So they would want to get this right before they release it. No one needs a buggy video call. Although the app does seem close to release unfortunately just not yet.
