The MoPR Blog

Google Aims To Remake Computers

Quentin Hardy at Forbes details Google’s plans for the Chrome OS and an “ultra-cheap” portable computer in time for Christmas next year. Google is definitely a company with its head in the Cloud. With a host of Internet-based applications, Google is banking that users can do most of their computing online. Years after Sun’s John Gage first said “the network is the computer,” could Google be on the verge of making that vision a reality? Read Quentin’s article to find out.

King of the Cloud

Speaking of cloud computing, Steve Hamm at BusinessWeek reviews Saleforce.com CEO Marc Benioff’s (with Carlye Adler and Josey-Bass) new book, “King of the Cloud”. Based on Hamm’s review, this book looks like a great Christmas present for anyone in technology (hint hint).

By the way, The Economist had a very interesting debate about whether cloud computing is ready for primetime. In this debate, Benioff squared off against Microsoft Business Division chief, Stephen Elop. I already told you how the book review turns out; I won’t spoil the debate. If you want to know the outcome, you’ll just have to read it yourself.

Sending Shockwaves Across the Indian Telecom Industry

Many mobile markets around the world are or are approaching saturation. Some markets count their penetration rate above 100 percent. But at more than 400 million mobile subscribers, India is a hot growth market in a country of 1.14 billion people. As India’s telecom providers build networks and innovate services, a recent move by one of India’s GSM providers, Tata Teleservices (TTSL) is sending shockwaves across the country’s telecom industry. In India Today, a major business publication in India, Kushan Mitra explains the impact of the company’s new per-second pricing plan. TTSL’s per-second pricing plan is the only plan it offers, costing subscribers 1 paise (the Indian equivalent of a penny) per second. To put that in perspective, US carriers charge roughly 360 percent more than TTSL (excluding unlimited calling plans). AT&T’s 1350 minute personal plan runs $79.99 per month. At today’s exchange rate, 1350 minutes would cost $17.40 using TTSL’s 1 paise per minute pricing.

In a second article, Mitra explains how Tata executive Anil Sardana, newly appointed to run TTSL, not only fixed a broken company, but has become a transformative figure in the Indian telecom industry.

In case you miss it

On the other hand, as the US mobile market approaches saturation, a different market dynamic in the competition for mobile subscribers is taking hold. Last week ZDnet blogger Jason Perlow had an excellent post explaining the machinations of the US smartphone market and its ecosystem of carriers, handset manufacturers and smartphone operating systems.

Jailbreak Community Battles Apple for Control of iPhone

Wired has an interesting article from Brian Chen in its Gadget Lab detailing the history of the jailbroken (jailbreaked?) iPhone, Apple’s efforts to thwart hackers and even a link to an application that will easily jailbreak your iPhone in two minutes.

And while you’re on the Wired website reading this article, be sure to also check out Brian’s article from August this year, “6 Reasons to Jailbreak your iPhone.”

Bada, Samsung’s New Open-Source Operating System: What’s the Beef?

“Does the world really need another OS?” asks Addy Dugale at the start of this Fast Company article about a new smartphone operating system from a handset manufacturer that already produces devices running Windows Mobile, Symbian, Android and LiMo. With four smartphone OSs in their lineup, why would Samsung launch its own operating system? Perhaps the Apple iPhone’s 17 percent share of the smartphone market has something to do with it? Read Addy’s article to get all the details, and be sure to watch the Samsung Bada video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlUCPcos3o4:

For a little more detail in video format, Mobile Gazette has its own explanation of Bada http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpjxHGvnevc:

Coming to CES…

“In case your smatphone/netbook ain’t cutting it” was Engadget’s rhetorical statement last May regarding smartbooks, a new category of devices that are slightly smarter than a smartphone and slightly phonier (as in more phone) than a netbook. Some news out this week from Qualcomm and some Engadget discovered from Mobinnova are profiled in two articles that gives us a little more detail about this new device category certain to make — or at least attempt to make — a splash at next January’s Consumer Electronics Show.

In case you miss it

Verizon and AT&T have been having a war of words that seems to be escalating into a war of attorneys over Verizon’s “There’s a Map for That” advertising campaign. The Verizon campaign, which plays off Apple’s “There’s an App for That” iPhone campaign, shows two maps, a red Verizon map of the US indicating robust wireless data coverage and a blue AT&T map indicating sparse coverage. Eric Zeman at InformationWeek shares a letter that AT&T posted publicly refuting Verizon’s claims. This tit-for-tat battle between the two largest wireless carriers in the US is just ramping up and will certainly produce more fun moments as the two companies fight for new customers and ARPU in a market reaching saturation. When you choose your carrier, TheMoPRBlog wants to know: are you a red stater or a blue stater?

I love smartphones, and in particular the new touch screen smartphones based on the Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Web OS and yes, even Windows Mobile operating systems. With so many of these phones now competing against one another, we’re witnessing prices drop and adoption soar. It won’t be long until all phones are what we consider today to be smartphones.

One of the best features of this new breed of smartphones is the large screen that lets people surf the Internet, watch videos and easily manage the apps they’ve installed, all with by sliding their finger(s) across the screen.

The other day I was comparing my G1 Android phone to my iPhone (yes, I have an Android and an iPhone… I also have a BlackBerry and a Windows Mobile phone too, and I covet the Palm Pre). The G1 has a noticeably smaller screen than the iPhone. But because of the way HTC designed this first Android phone, the form factor isn’t much smaller. I noticed the G2 also has a smaller screen than the iPhone. I wondered if the iPhone is the large-end of the smartphone category and what this size differential means for usability?

Well if size matters, Sony Ericsson’s first entry in the Android category will have jaws dropping. Clearly the design team behind the Xperia X10 believes that bigger is better. Everything on this phone is big. While some features like an 8.1 Megapixel camera or an 8 GB microSD card may be welcome additions, the Xperia X10 boasts, or maybe I should say flaunts, a 4-inch touch screen with 480×854 resolution.

I don’t know if that 4 inch dimension is the height or the diagonal measurement of the screen (I assume the diagonal), but the iPhone’s screen is 3.5 inches along the diagonal (from upper left to lower right corners) with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels.

Sitting next to the iPhone, the G1’s screen looks puny, but measures 3.25 inches along the diagonal. That means the Xperia X10 is huge. Just how big? Well see for yourself in Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10 commercial:

For people who like to keep their phones in their pocket, this might not be the device for you. Do the Xperia X10’s dimensions presage a new trend in smartphone design? Will bigger mean better? Or is the Xperia X10 the Hummer of smartphones, gaining some interest as a status symbol until ultimately the public becomes aware that it’s just too big to be practical?

Time will tell, but for now the Xperia X10 is yet another exciting new addition, among many new additions to the Android lineup coming to a mobile operator near you.