Apple Floundering?

There was a mixed reaction yesterday at Apple's media day to the announcement of iPhone 4S. Every was expecting the iPhone 5, but it didn't happen. My initial thoughts were that Apple was forced to show something. Yes, there were some software improvements and Siri is cool, but was it really worth the effort of the PR push? I believe some analysts who wrote about production delays on the iPhone 5 called it correctly. There was no way they could launch the iPhone 5 in October or even November, but with the Kindle Fire announcement and the upcoming launch of Samsung's Nexus Prime and Android's Ice Cream Sandwich operating system Apple felt the pressure.

Android is still experiencing leaps in growth while Apple's market share of the mobile OS pie is stagnant. Bill Gurley called it correctly months ago that Android is an unstoppable freight train, and Apple feels it coming. Samsung alone approaches iPhone's sales numbers and I stated for a while now that by 2013 Android will takeover the seemingly unstoppable iPad in the tablet market. And this is not Tim Cook's fault. Whether it was Cook or Jobs, this was and is inevitable, which is why Apple had to start a patent battle that many consider dirty or counter to all that Silicon Valley stands for.

Staying with AT&T After Switching From the iPhone To Nexus S

Since I already commented on a couple blog posts at TechCrunch and All Things Digital on the new Verizon iPhone, I thought I should provide more detail here.

Two years ago, after switching from my Blackberry on Verizon Wireless to an iPhone on AT&T Wireless, I was dying to switch back to Verizon. It was a few months in and like many others I suffered from an infinite amount of dropped calls and missed calls that never showed up on my caller ID. Numerous stories where I would have full bars and my friend would have full bars on our iPhones and we still were dropped from our call. I bought a phone not a mobile device.

I would curse AT&T and assumed many things about their ineptitude. I also questioned how they built out their infrastructure. About six months ago, one of our daughters broke my iPhone, so I decided to change to a Galaxy S. I took out my iPhone SIM card and place it into the Galaxy S, so I continued using AT&T. A couple weeks later, she broke my Galaxy S so I switched to a Nexus One. This is where I realized that the dropped calls weren't solely AT&T fault. The dropped and missed calls came less frequently on my Nexus One.

Recently I upgraded to the Nexus S and one month in I haven't suffered from a dropped call so far. I was planning to switch from AT&T to Verizon within a couple weeks since my contract runs out, but now I decided to stay with AT&T. I don't have hard evidence, but logic would lead me to believe that it wasn't all AT&T's fault but something with the iPhone's design.

Since AT&T now sells Android models, they should really do a study on the number of dropped calls between the iPhone and a few of the Android models. They might be able to redeem much of their good will that they lost over the past few years with iPhone users.


Disclosure: My wife works on the Android team at Google. I have been a Apple user and fan since the days of the Apple IIe, many Aldus products and an early gamer on Apple computers. I love my MacBook Pro, iPod Touch and Time Capsule.

Groupon will become the Sarah Palin of tech, and other predictions for 2011

My 4th annual technology prediction piece is up over at VentureBeat. Check it out!

Groupon will become the Sarah Palin of tech, and other predictions for 2011

2011 will be a year of economic recovery and continued drama in Silicon Valley, marked by the hyped battles of Apple vs. Google, Google vs. Facebook, and Oracle vs. the rest of the enterprise world. Without further ado, here is the 4th annual edition of my technology predictions.

The Groupon Juggernaut Will Slow Down
Groupon is quickly becoming the Sarah Palin of the technology world. It has its haters (Forrester’s Sucharita Mulpuru), doubters (Flybridge Capital’s Jeff Bussgang) and fans (FM’s John Battelle) like the former vice presidential candidate. Everyone seems to have an opinion of Groupon, whether through their own personal experiences or spurred by a coffee talk at Coupa Café in Palo Alto. Being from Chicago, where the company is based, I wanted to be a fan, but I have strong doubts on the sustainability of its business model. It will remain successful, but will it be the next Amazon or “Google of e-commerce” as many people predict? I just don’t see it. Maybe its critical mass and huge funding rounds will sustain its market share for a couple years, but the competitive barriers of entry are too low, so I predict its revenue growth will begin to slow towards the end of 2011. A few years from now, this darling of the ecommerce space will be a fading memory... (full article)


This was also republished in The New York Times' Technology section here.

Korea's 1st iPhone 4 Music Video

Cool project by Wonsuk Chin, who is a film director I met a few times while in Seoul. From his post at YouTube:

"Hi, my name is Wonsuk Chin and I'm a filmmaker currently based in Seoul. I just directed and shot a music video with an iPhone 4 and I believe it's Korea's 1st iPhone 4 music video.

The song "Garosougil" (the name of the street in Seoul) is written and sung by Yang Jinseok, also a renowned architect in Korea. We had fun making it and I hope you enjoy it, too.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach me @wonsuk on Twitter."

Mobile TV in Korea on Galaxy S, FaceTime is Behind in Korea

Just a video shot (from my Samsung Galaxy S) of a Galaxy S in South Korea. My friend, Eugene, was just showing me the mobile TV (terrestrial DMB) service which comes standard on many phones in Korea. Korea was the first to launch mobile TV in the world with initially satellite DMB/TV and then regular terrestrial DMB/TV became available several months later. One source states that this was launched in 2005, but I remember some of my friends getting early access to mobile TV in Korea during 2004. Maybe my memory is fading as I hit forty.



Also since mobile video conferencing has been in Korea for several years (Apple calls this "FaceTime" like it was something they invented), Eugene talked about how it was lame on the iPhone 4 since it's limited to other iPhone 4s while in Korea other mobile phones allow video conferencing across all phone models and wireless networks.

Lunsford Group Wireless Industry Snapshot 2010

I recently update an internal document for our firm that I made which serves as a wireless industry "cheat sheet," or quick reference guide. Nothing proprietary, so I thought I would share it with all of you.

Lunsford Group Wireless Industry Snapshot 2010

View more presentations from Bernard Moon.

iPhone4 vs HTC Evo

Amusing. Ripping on iPhone4 users/shoppers. Not safe for work.

iPhone 4 Reception Problems... Maybe It Isn't All AT&T's Fault?

Numerous reports are coming in about a couple major problems with the new iPhone 4:

"Apple iPhone 4 problems crop up: screen discoloration, reception issues" VentureBeat

"IPhone 4 users reporting reception problems when holding phone" SF Chronicle

"Some iPhone 4 owners report discolored screens" CNET

After reading these various stories, I think there is some validity to my friend's analysis that the dropped calls and bad reception isn't all AT&T's fault. He believes that it's also the issues with the iPhone itself. Whose ever fault it is, I'm so tired of having full bars on my iPhone and still getting poor reception that I'm switching back to Verizon when my contract expires.

Appholes: The Daily Show on Apple, Jobs, and Being Like Microsoft

Love John Stewart. Hilarious. His rant starts at 1:23.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Appholes
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

"That Lost 4G Phone" by Scott Adams

Hilarious cartoon from Dilbert:

Unity-Authored iPad Games Available in the App Store

So I'm lazy and a puppet of PR groups :)

15+ Unity-Authored iPad Games Available in the App Store

Unity Technologies, provider of the Unity development platform for 3D interactive content on the Web, PC, Mac, Wii™, Xbox 360, and iPhone, today announced the release of Unity iPhone 1.7. With this release, Unity has extended its market-leading iPhone development and deployment platform to include support for the just-released Apple iPad. This is a free upgrade for all existing Unity iPhone customers.

Unity iPhone/iPad 1.7 adds the following new functionality:

· iPad deployment for both Unity iPhone Basic and Unity iPhone Advanced

· iPad Simulator support so developers can create iPad apps, even if they do not yet have iPad hardware

· Universal application support so that apps can be designed to automatically work on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch

Unity Technologies also announced that there are more than 15 Unity-authored iPad-specific games already in the iPad App Store, adding even more high-quality content to the more than 600 Unity-authored games currently populating the App Store. Publishers of these new apps include notable names like Disney, Warner Bros., and Chillingo.



"We're really pleased to see so many Unity developers leap at the chance to bring new gaming experiences to future iPad owners," said David Helgason, CEO of Unity Technologies. "To have this volume of quality games at launch really underscores our commitment to developers, providing them with the best tools and platform to reach the most exciting devices."

Users of Unity iPhone who have launch titles on the iPad are already praising Unity's time-saving workflow:

"Unity is a phenomenal platform and made moving to the iPad a snap," said Mike Rasmussen, El Presidente of Republic of Fun, creators of iPad launch title Slug Wars: To Shell and Back. "We were able to re-use our old game assets (this is a sequal to an existing game) and get something up and running quickly."



"Getting Monster Ball onto the iPad was literally just a matter of setting up a few player preference parameters in Unity and hitting build. The Unity GUI system already took care of aspect ratio changes, so the iPad port was simple, pain free—it just works. Once again the investment of using Unity has paid off," exclaimed Monster Ball Co-Creator Thomas Hentschel Lund.



Developer Infinite Dreams notably released three iPad launch titles: iQuarium HD, Sailboat Championship PRO HD, and Jelly Invaders HD, all of which were authored in Unity. "We were able to get our games submitted and accepted to the iPad App Store without ever seeing hardware," said Seweryn Panczyniak, Lead Programmer at Infinite Dreams. "Unity is a wonderful piece of software that let us do things fast and with minimum level of frustration and maximum level of creativity."



Current and prospective users of Unity iPhone who want to develop iPhone and iPad apps can download the latest version of Unity iPhone here.


About Unity Technologies
Unity Technologies is revolutionizing the game industry and was named one of the top five game companies of 2009 by Gamasutra after just four years on the market. Today, Unity Technologies has more than 120,000 registered users worldwide – including leading companies like Coca-Cola, Electronic Arts, Disney, LEGO, Mint.com, NASA and UPS, large and small studios, independent professionals, students and hobbyists – using the Unity platform to develop high-quality interactive 3D content for the web, mobile, and console. In addition to Web, PC, Mac, Wii™, Xbox 360, iPhone and iPad deployment, Unity Technologies has announced upcoming support for PS3 and Android. Unity Technologies is one of the fastest growing software companies and is aggressively innovating to expand usability, power and platform reach so that it can deliver on its vision of democratizing interactive 3D technology. Unity Technologies is headquartered in San Francisco and has development offices worldwide. For more information, visit unity3d.com.

Apple iPad Mania

Ah, the reviews are in...

"The Apple iPad: starting at $499" Engadget

"Apple unveils the iPad – at last – and it’s $499" CrunchGear

"Apple Launches iPad
Magical & Revolutionary Device at an Unbelievable Price" Apple: Official Site

"No Flash on Apple’s iPad" VentureBeat



And from MADTV a few years ago...

Loving the Lose It! iPhone App

Since I'm fat and need to lose weight my doctor of all people recommended a great iPhone app called Lose It!. She explained that a good method for people to lose weight is simply tracking their daily calories. No fancy diet shakes or eating methods. Just knowing what your maximum calorie intake should be based on your age, height and weight and working to eat below that. There are several online calorie calculators that you can use, such as this one from the Mayo Clinic.

I'm currently 6'1" and 222 lbs. My goal is 200 by the end of the year. Let's see how this goes. Anyway, I love Lose It!'s user interface and design, and being an iPhone app makes it so much easier to track your calories versus being limited to your laptop or desktop. More on Lose It! from FreshApps here:

Succeed at weight loss with Lose It! Set goals and establish a daily calorie budget that enables you to meet them. Stay on track each day by recording your food and exercise and staying within your budget.

Enter food and exercise easily using a searchable database. Quickly re-enter foods and meals you’ve had in the past. Lose It! is the most complete and streamlined weight loss application available for the iPhone.

Lose It! will be available for free during the first six months of its release. Get it now while it’s still hot!

MiLi Pro: iPhone, iPod Video Projector

Very cool iPhone accessory launching in September 2009:

Announcing the PhoneSuit MiLi Pro...
The MiLi Pro is a breakthrough in iPhone and iPod accessory technology. It's an iPhone / iPod compatible, rechargeable, micro video projector. The power of the PhoneSuit MiLi Battery has been coupled with the convenience of a portable video projector and speaker system. Watch all of your movies, video clips, podcasts and more with ease! Now you can carry your own personal movie theater with you, anywhere you travel.

Innovative Micro Projector Technology
The MiLi Pro incorporates the latest in technology, an LCOS, LED driven micro projector. This ultra-compact projector fits in the palm of your hand. It has the capability to display 640x480 high resolution images on most any viewing surface. Use the focus wheel to fine tune your image quality. Scale your iPhone's video up to a 40 inch for screen for eye strain free, relaxed viewing.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky Hammering Apple's Image for Microsoft

Crispin Porter + Bogusky's ad campaign for Microsoft is working against Apple so far. It seems that they might turn around Microsoft's image as they did for Burger King. Except from the Fast Company article, "Microsoft's "Laptop Hunters" Campaign Eating Away at Apple":

"A BrandIndex survey of 5,000 people shows that among the 18-to-34 year-old demographic (that's right, young people) Apple's "value perception" has taken a nose-dive. BrandIndex rates a brand on a scale of -100 to 100 (zero meaning the brand is getting equal positive and negative feedback) by simply asking customers whether they feel they get a good value for their money. Apple enjoyed a value rating of 70 as recently as last winter but has plunged to 12.4 since then. Microsoft, meanwhile, has rebounded from an indifferent zero in February to 46.2 today, indicating that its latest attempt to portray Apple as overpriced is hitting home with customers."

I Am Ninja Game Launches on iPhone

Our friend's, Hamid, game just launched on iPhone. "I am Ninja"! 10% of the proceeds will go to the Deep Search Foundation. Check it out!

VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi has a write up here, "The iPhone’s I am Ninja game asks where you learned to blow"

Creator of Popular iPhone App, Doodle Kids, is Nine-Years Old

Here's a boy genius, Ding Wen:

"This young prodigy from Singapore is fluent in six programming languages, according to a BBC report this week, and his newest creation, an iPhone drawing game called Doodle Kids, has racked up over 4,000 downloads in just two weeks. He wrote it for his younger sisters, who love to draw."

Adium... IM Application for Mac OS X

HatTip to Sam. I just recently came across Adium, which is a third-party instant messaging application for Mac OS X users. It's been around for a while, so I assume some of you Mac users already know about this.

I found this app convenient since it allows you to access your multiple IM accounts (e.g. AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, Facebook, etc.). It's Trillian or Meebo for your Mac desktop.

Apple, Job's Health, and Its Future

Joe Nocera's article, "Apple’s Culture of Secrecy," brings up questions of Apple's integrity with regards to Steve Job's health.


NYTimes: Steven P. Jobs in September 2003, before he had surgery to remove a tumor on his pancreas, and in June of this year, right. Recently rumors surfaced that Mr. Jobs was sick again.

Dan Lyon's has a good post on this issue,"PR Rule #1: People who are telling the truth about themselves do not insist on being ‘off the record’"

Valleywag has more, "Steve Jobs admits Katie Cotton lied for him"

InsideWork 52 App for iPhone

InsideWork is one of our portfolio companies where I serve as the VP of Business Development until we get a better person to fill the spot :)

InsideWork is a unique business site since it's for the spiritually interested. One useful tool that we provide is the InsideWork® 52 is a weekly Scripture verse and quote designed to stimulate your thinking. If you have an iPhone, you can download our app for it. More here:

The quotes come from a diverse group of thought leaders representing business, economics, theology, history, sociology, technology, and the arts.

Juxtaposed next to the Scriptures, the quotes stimulate one’s thinking — sometimes by supporting the text, sometimes by challenging, but always creating the mental tension that leads to better insight and understanding of a biblical worldview.