Google and a Popcorn

Where’s the Android Tablets?

For retailers, Christmas Holiday 2009 was the year of the Netbook. Thanks to the iPad, industry insiders are predicting that Holiday 2010 will be the year of the Tablet.

Of course, the iPad will be a big seller, but others like me are not in the Apple camp and looking for the opportunity to purchase a tablet powered by Android or another operating system.

Since Microsoft hasn’t stepped up to the plate with either its Windows Phone 7 or Windows CE to encourage tablets, I’m now waiting lustily for an Android powered tablet (note to manufacturers, I’m ready and willing to do reviews of all your products).

Problem is, finding an Android Tablet is almost impossible. Here’s a list of what we have found out there, if you’re clamoring for an Android tablet:

Augen Gentouch 78: On paper, these specs make for a winner device (7″ diagonal viewing, Android 2.1 and on sale at Kmart for $149). Opps… Google revokes this device’s access to the Android Market making it a glorified paperweight.

Archos 7: Archos is a solid company, but this was one of the first tablets out there. Limited by Android 1.6, this 8gb tablet with 7″ screen is really a glorified movie viewer. Now selling for less than $200, its ok, but still a reason to wait.

Dell Streak: Hitting stores on August 13th, 2010, the Streak is really more of a large 5″ Android cell phone instead of a tablet / content viewer. Still, the largest screened Android phone (HTC Evo is 4.3″) makes for an interesting purchase. Biggest drawback is the price – $549 direct from Dell or $299 with a 2 year contract from AT&T.

aPAD: Surprisingly, this Chinese Clone of the iPad, is the closest to a real Android competitor of the lot. A 10″ screen, Android 2.1 and 256mb of onboard memory but supporting up to 16gb via the SDCard slot, could the aPAD be the real thing? Not sure – folks have ordered these from Chinese distributors on eBAY, DHgate and other US retailers who are importing the devices. No word yet on functionality, speed and ability to access the Android Market.

IN CONCLUSION… Don’t throw your money at any of these tablets. We all have our fingers crossed that a real Android tablet contender will be available by October (the time retailers start to stock their shelves for their Holiday sales). In the meantime, monitor developments on the Android Clone tablets at our friends androidtablets.net

Google / Verizon’s Net Neutrality

Wired has a great write-up on the whole Google / Verizon deal on Net Neutrality.

In case anyone is wondering whether Google and Verizon hate their Internet freedom, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg insisted they don’t, calling their vision “a path to an open Internet.”

The net’s top tech journalists and bloggers are not convinced. Their write-ups range from slightly to completely skeptical of the proposal, even if they can’t agree on what to call it:

1. The Huffington Post’s Marvin Ammori thinks that the Google-Verizon “pact” makes them worse than BP. He compares the proposed $2 million liability limit “after all the loopholes are met,” to BP’s $75 million clean-up liability limit, in light of the billions the disaster response actually cost. ”You have to hand it to Google. Going from ‘Don’t Be Evil’ to “Greedier than BP” overnight is a pretty impressive trick,” he said.
2. The New York Times has a pretty standard take on what it calls the “Web Plan from Google and Verizon,” but skimps on the outrage.
3. The Economist blog Babbage unpacks Verizon’s recent fondness for the term “internet ecosystem,” stating flatly that “the internet is not an ecosystem,” and pretending that it is is nothing more than a ploy by Verizon to blur the lines between its expanding industry interests to avoid regulation:
   

   “The word ‘ecosystem’ is so meaningless that it obscures valid distinctions among Verizon’s different lines of business. And it obscures the fundamentally different incentive structures between maintaining a network and offering a service over that network.”

4. Regarding the “Google-Verizon net neutrality statement,” the USA Today technology blog voiced concerns from consumer advocates who feel “‘betrayed but not surprised’” by what it views as Google’s decision to abandon support for net neutrality.
5. Richard Adams of The Guardian noted that even though the initial excitement about the New York Times piece has died down, (the story was widely misread to see an operational “deal” between Google and Verizon) “the truth has turned out to be less dramatic but potentially more worrying for US consumers and net users.”
6. According to Stacey Higgenbotham at Giga Om, Google is “selling out the tech and startup community so it can advance its own economic interests.”
7. The Christian Science Monitor isn’t quite as negative about the companies involved in “the Google-Verizon compromise,” proposing that it is “the public that must ultimately decide the worth of their proposed governance of the Web.”
8. Dan Gillmor of Salon.com was uncomfortable with “ominous reference to the ‘public Internet,’” during a conference call with Google and Verizon. “I have no reason to disbelieve him,” he said, referring to Google CEO Eric Schmidt. “But plans change, managements change, and corporate goals change.”
9. One of the most muted voices was Cecila Chang of The Washington Post, which published the Google-Verizon op-ed Tuesday. Of the “Google-Verizon accord,” she said only that “some academics said the agreement appeared lopsided, favoring the positions of network carriers that have been loath to see new rules.”
10. On the other end of the spectrum is Jeff Jarvis of Buzz Machine, who has a bleak vision of the end of the Internet and the dawn of the age of the “Schminternet,” which is different from the Internet only in that it’s the Internet that you try – and fail – to access when you’re mobile.

Read More @ Wired

Step #3 of World Domination Plan: Control Smartphone OS Market

No need to repeat what numerous news outlets have reported; Android has now overtaken iOS (iPhone’s OS) and become the #2 smartphone OS in the United States.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone both in the industry and on the sidelines:

• First, the software is FREE. Hardware manufacturers have been looking for royalty free operating systems for ever. Computer manufacturers WISH there were viable OS alternatives to Windows, but linux hasn’t been ready for ‘prime time’. Manufacturers don’t want to pay a license to Microsoft to license Windows Phone in order to keep their materials costs down. That leaves Symbian. You could join the Symbian alliance but that gets me to my second point
• Second, Android is currently the only other viable smartphone OS. Microsoft screwed Windows Phone up royally. They had an OS that had the support of developers for years since they first created Windows CE back in the late 90′s. However, a lack of innovation and strong moves by Apple and Google have rendered their Windows Phone 6.5 platform antiquated. Microsoft’s only response is to start over with Windows Phone 7. Will they be too late to the party? That’s a subject for another day.
• Lastly, RIM. Poor RIM. The Blackberry had a stranglehold on the corporate smartphone world. Too bad a lack of innovation cost them their lead. As seen on the accompanying chart, its just a matter of time before Android eclipses RIM to take the #1 place in the industry.

UPDATED: NPD (rival to Neilsen) said Android reached the #1 spot in the smartphone market displacing RIM with iPhone in 3rd place. (link: REUTERS)

Introducing ‘The Google Observer’

Welcome to Day 1 of ‘The Google Observer’.  Produced by Observer Network Publishing, LLC (Observer Network), our network of sites are based around familiar companies in the technology space.

We’re looking to provide a different blogging experience than you’ll find at other sites. Sure, we plan to provide scoops on new products, highlight controversies, and speculate on industry trends. What we seek to do differently is provide you the reader an industry-insider perspective on how these companies think and help you understand and anticipate why they make the decisions they do.

Please let us know how we’re doing. If there are posts you like, let us know. If you have feedback and suggestions to improve we really want to know and hope you’ll use our contact page.