Jun 02

Why Apple Can Afford to Phone It In With the Next iPhone

Posted in: Apple, iPhone, palm, PalmPre, Phones, pre, rumors, Smartphones, Today's Chili, Wireless

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Apple could sleepwalk through its next iPhone release and competitors still couldn’t catch up, analysts say.

In fact, that’s what Apple seems poised to do, with only minor hardware updates likely for the third-generation iPhone, which Apple may detail at its Worldwide Developers Conference next week. But even with a lackluster upgrade, Apple has little to fear from upstart smartphones like the Palm Pre, which launches on Saturday, June 6.

Apple’s dominance in the smartphone market, combined with the iPhone’s already innovative feature set, put the company in a strong position to stave off competitors, including the upcoming Palm Pre, said Roger Entner, an analyst at Nielsen Mobile.

“I think the Pre holds up very well compared to the current second-generation iPhone 3G,” Entner said. “But the third-gen iPhone will most likely up the ante again…. If you only follow Apple, you will never catch up.”

Apple’s original iPhone launched in June 2007 with a $400 price tag for its low-end model. It wasn’t until Apple released its second iPhone, the iPhone 3G, with a $200 price tag that the smartphone exploded into the mainstream. Within the calendar year of 2008, Apple sold over 10 million units of the iPhone 3G, according to CEO Steve Jobs.

The company quickly established itself as a market-share heavyweight. And recent statistics suggest the iPhone shows no signs of flagging. A research report from NPD Group shows that in terms of consumer smartphone sales, Apple sold 24 percent of the U.S. market, claiming the title for No. 2 best-selling smartphone that quarter. That’s an improvement from the first quarter of 2008, when Apple sold 17 percent of smartphones in the market and held the No. 3 spot, according to NPD.

Also, research company Gartner recently released global smartphone numbers indicating Apple’s iPhone doubled its worldwide marketshare. Apple’s share of worldwide smartphone sales increased from 5.3 percent in the first quarter of 2008 to 10.8 percent in the first quarter of 2009, according to Gartner. And in terms of iPhones sold, Apple grew from 1.7 million units in the first quarter of 2008 to 3.9 million units during the same period in 2009.

The major difference this year is the emergence of additional iPhone competitors, including Palm’s Pre. Palm in January announced the Pre at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and many tech enthusiasts have been eagerly anticipating the Pre not only because of its iPhone-like touchscreen and form factor, but also because the phone was made under the direction of Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein, a former Apple engineer who was instrumental in the creation of Apple’s iPod.
The announcement of the Pre heated up tension between Apple and Palm. In a January earnings call, Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook gave a loaded response to a reporter’s question about the Pre, suggesting Apple might sue the company for copying the iPhone.

“We are ready to suit up and go against anyone,” Cook said during the conference. “However, we will not stand for having our [intellectual property] ripped off and will use whatever weapons we have at our disposal.”

Even if Palm’s Pre proves to be a compelling device, that doesn’t mean it’s going to threaten the iPhone, said tech strategist Michael Gartenberg.

“For Palm to succeed does not mean that Apple has to do badly,” Gartenberg said. “And likewise for Apple to succeed doesn’t mean that Palm is going to go out of business. There’s going to be a lot of room in the smartphone market for several players here.”

What do we know about the next iPhone? Nothing, officially. But mounting evidence suggests the third-generation iPhone’s main improvements include a digital compass, an improved digital camera with video-recording capabilities and auto-focus, and a speedier processor.

Sound exciting? Probably not. Either way, it doesn’t matter for Apple.

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Photo: Yutaka Tsutano/Flickr


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Jun 02

Palm Pre stock levels for launch day at Best Buy leaked?

Posted in: BestBuy, palm, pre, Today's Chili

We don’t want to incite panic in big box parking lots from coast to coast or anything (or do we?), but from the looks of things, Best Buy’s Pre stock for launch day is meager at best — and distribution is a little weird. A poster over on everythingpre‘s forums threw up a bunch of alleged inventory screen shots, suggesting that Florida and Texas stores are particularly well-off — many stores are expected to get 18, 20 or more — while Illinois stores appear to be getting hosed (a trip to the Hancock location downtown, for example, will result in success for just two people). The way we see it, this could be fake — but it might just have to do with how close each store is to Best Buy’s distro centers or a balancing act with proximity to Sprint locations in the area. Worst case scenario, we figure, you can just riot.

Update: A tipster tells us these “On Order” numbers are actually the number of Pres each store’s manager has requested, which doesn’t necessarily correlate to the number they’ll actually receive. Of course, that still doesn’t explain why downtown Chicago’s Best Buy would request just two — there have to be some other constraints involved that we’re not privy to — but it’s an interesting tidbit nonetheless.

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Palm Pre stock levels for launch day at Best Buy leaked? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 02

ITunes Update May or May Not Break Palm Pre Syncing

Posted in: iPhone, Phones, pre, Today's Chili

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ITunes 8.2 is out, accompanied by the usual cryptic release notes from Apple:

Version 8.2 now supports iPhone or iPod touch with the iPhone 3.0 Software Update and also includes many accessibility improvements and bug fixes.

Thanks, Apple. What it doesn’t say is “Version 8.2 breaks compatibility with competitor’s cellphones which pretend to be iPods.” Like, say, the Palm Pre.

We have absolutely no evidence that this update will stop the Pre “synchroniz[ing] seamlessly with iTunes”, but that isn’t the point. The fact is that it could break compatibility. This is fine in a free, third party hack, but Palm is a proper, grown up company which promises this syncing functionality as a feature of its new hardware. Let me ask you something: If you owned a Pre, how would you feel about iTunes updates? Would you hold off, just in case it broke things? Would you go ahead, but call up Palm when things go wrong?

Because Apple will try to switch off this hack, and eventually a bunch of unhappy customers are going to slap a class action lawsuit on Palm when an official, advertised feature just stops working. Nice work, Palm. Way to bring yourselves back from the brink.

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May 30

Palm Pre filtering into Sprint stores, indocile employee sizes it up

Posted in: hands-on, HandsOn, in the wild, InTheWild, palm pre, PalmPre, pics, pictures, pre, smartphone, Sprint, Today's Chili, webos

With only days to go before at least four or five Sprint stores begin selling Palm’s Pre, we’re already seeing at least one employee with some time on his hands give the smartphone a go. Moral of the story? Right about now would be an awesome time to know somebody who can get behind a Sprint counter without using an unlawful amount of force.

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Palm Pre filtering into Sprint stores, indocile employee sizes it up originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 May 2009 18:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 29

Sprint affirms Palm Pre exclusivity “through 2009”

Posted in: exclusive, palm, palm pre, PalmPre, pre, smartphone, Sprint, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless

Ready for your daily dose of obvious? Good. After Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam proudly proclaimed that America’s largest mobile operator would be painting the Palm Pre red “in about six months,” Sprint has come forward to make sure we know that said statement is probably right on the money. According to Sprint spokesman James Fisher: “We have the Pre through 2009.” Short, sweet and chock full of pent-up rage. ‘Course, six months after the Pre’s launch on Sprint lands us in December, giving VZW just enough time to cripple the phone’s hottest features and push it out before Valentine’s Day. Sounds pretty reasonable, no?

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Sprint affirms Palm Pre exclusivity “through 2009” originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 28

Verizon CEO: We’re Getting the Palm Pre, Storm 2 Within 6 Months

Posted in: palm, palm pre, pre, Sprint, Today's Chili, top, verizon

The Palm Pre will be exclusive to Sprint for a weirdly short six months, after which the handset will show up on Verizon, according to CEO Lowell McAdam. They’ll also get the Storm 2 at about the same time.

That the new BlackBerry Storm will be a Verizon phone isn’t surprising, since they carried the first one. The six month outer limit for an arrival date also isn’t that surprising, since we’ve seen early pictures of the device.

The big news here is obviously the Pre, which, although heralded mostly as a savior for a wounded Palm Inc, could also be a much-need exlusive boon for Sprint. From Reuters:

Sprint shares were down 18 cents at $4.89 in late morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange while Palm shares were up $1.15 at $11.68 on Nasdaq.

Well, that about sums it up. [Reuters]

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May 28

Palm Pre to Sync Directly with iTunes

Posted in: Apple, itunes, palm pre, pre, Today's Chili, top

Fortune Magazine is saying that the Palm Pre syncs flawlessly with iTunes, except for DRM songs: It works exactly like the iPhone/iPod, which I guess means you get all your playlists and album art.

If it works like they claim, it’ll be quite a clever and bold move for Palm. One of the main pilars of the iPhone/iPod strategy is their closed ecosystem and, if Palm has indeed managed to get into that chain smoothly, the Pre will be an even bigger threat to the iPhone than previously thought.

The fact that the Pre can’t reproduce protected ACC songs is not really that important. Even taking aside the fact that most people have MP3 libraries, iTunes Plus is DRM-free. The only important “but” is if Apple decides to change something in iTunes to make impossible for the Pre to synchronize. Or maybe go the legal route and claim that Pam is somehow violating some kind of patent or DRM scheme.

In any case, this is a very interesting development that will bring some more heat into the Palm vs Apple fight. [Fortune]

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May 27

Palm Pre camera used, results shared at long last

Posted in: camera, palm, palm pre, PalmPre, pre, Today's Chili

Palm’s official Twitter account just tweeted about testing out yfrog, the image / video sharing site — and as you might expect from a manufacturer, it wants to share pictures snapped with its own equipment. Thanks to some helpful EXIF data parsed out by the site, we know the image you’re looking at here was taken using a Pre, apparently smack in the middle of enjoying a few 5-cent horsey rides. As far as we can tell this is the first shot we’ve seen posted from the Pre’s camera, and we’re cautiously optimistic about what the 3 megapixel sensor has managed to do here. Sure, blowing the image up to full size reveals some nasty artifacting and muddy details, but when you get right down to it, that’s what cameraphone shots are all about, right?

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Palm Pre camera used, results shared at long last originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 May 2009 18:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 27

AT&T expects to sell Palm Pre when Sprint’s exclusivity ends

Posted in: att, breaking news, BreakingNews, palm pre, PalmPre, pre, Sprint, Today's Chili

We’ve heard in the past that the Palm Pre would be available at other carriers “next year” sometime after Sprint’s exclusivity period is up, and now we have a vague verbal confirmation from AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson that he “sees” AT&T grabbing hold of the Pre once it’s available. The remarks were made today at the D7 conference. If this pans out, it fits with rumblings we’ve heard of the Eos being AT&T’s low-end, Centro-style webOS device, with the Pre snapping up the higher end.

[Via Phone Scoop; image courtesy of PreCentral.net]

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AT&T expects to sell Palm Pre when Sprint’s exclusivity ends originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 May 2009 15:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 26

Palm: ‘We Can’t Afford to Sell the Pre to the Wrong Customers’

Posted in: leak, Phones, pre, Today's Chili

pre-nup

Oh Palm. If you’re going to badmouth potential customers in your secret documents, at least keep them, y’know, secret. The above statement is one of many juicy tidbits inside the Pre Business Launch Guide, a 22-page document “leaked in its entirety” this weekend.

The document reveals Palm’s plans for domination of the business world, its traditional marketplace. Sample points taken from the manual:

  • The device can be supported by existing IT infrastructure and will make many IT managers’ standards list.
  • [Non-Palm] charging solutions may not work properly.
  • Due to anticipated high demand, employee availability will delayed to first meet the needs of our customers.
  • The sealed form factor of the device makes repairs challenging and the potential for damage is significant.
  • Palm ® Pre™ Smokes the Competition

(This last point is to be delivered with a high-five)

Price plans are equally detailed, running from $70 per month for 400 minutes (on a shared plan) or 450 minutes (individual plan), topping out at a reasonable $100 for the individual “Simply Everything” plan which includes unlimited talk time. Like the iPhone, you will have to buy some kind of data plan as “legacy plans” are prohibited.

In addition, corporate switchers coming from other carriers may be eligible for a $100 credit on service, which isn’t a bad way to tempt people across.

Also revealed are prices for accessories. The Touchstone and car-charger we have seen already, but now we know that the Premium Holster (a fashion disaster that could only be loved by the be-suited exec) will cost $32, the micro-USB travel charger will be $35, the Leather Pouch $40 and phone covers will start at $30.

There’s more. We already know about the official launch on June 6th, but there are a few other secret and exclusive events. On Friday 5th June, there will be a New York Executive Breakfast along with various Sprint promos in “10 Flagship Stores” and an invite-only “VIP Event”.  On the 3rd, we’ll see a “Hollywood Event”.

And the statement in the title? That’s one of the best parts of the whole document. The text appears in big pink lettering on page 11 of the guide, which explains the the Pre is not for everyone. Titled “Sell the Palm Pre to the Right Customer”, the official line is that the Pre is “best suited for non-IT Centric business users.” That sounds to us like the Pre isn’t up to the job of being a proper business smartphone, and it’s for the exact same reason that the iPhone was a hopeless business phone on launch — web apps.

The Pre can’t run proper applications, instead using the WebOS, essentially a way to run web pages locally using javascript and CSS. Rememeber the iPhone’s web apps? This is the same kind of thing, albeit with local storage for offline use. Palm admits as much. The questionnaire reads thus:

  • Does your company have specific application requirements?
  • Does your line of business require specific product features on mobile devices?
  • If YES, then the Treo Pro is your best mobile device option

Yes. According to Palm, if you are a business customer, you should buy the Treo. The Pre, the much-hyped Palm-saviour, is not good enough for you. Full marks to Palm for being honest, but this is a somewhat suicidal statement given the company’s precarious position. It hurts me to do this as I’d love to see the Pre succeed, but I predict a big fat fail. The Pre is no more an iPhone killer than the Zune was an iPod killer. There will be a big bang on the opening weekend followed by a slow and quiet spiral into obscurity.

Sprint’s Pre business launch guide leaked in its entirety [Engadget]


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