Palm and Microsoft: Still in the smarphone game?
The two progenitors of the smartphone market now see themselves in a precarious position as both iPhone and Android gain market share, while the perceived value of Windows Mobile and the Palm Pre continues to dwindle. Is that really the case? We ask Rob Enderle of The Enderle Group and our own Iyaz Akhtar.
Guests:
Microsoft Courier, Apple’s tablet, plus CrunchPad: What’s the future of the tablet?
We've long been waiting for the era of the tablet computer to take hold, and peering on the horizon are three interesting candidates to take tablets from speculation to spectacle. Among them: Michael Arrington's recently delayed CrunchPad, Microsoft's booklet-style Courier and the oft-rumored Apple Tablet. Will tablets actually be something people are interested in this time around? We ask Rob Enderle from the Enderle Group, and Harry McCracken from Technologizer.
Guests:
Adobe to add Flash to multiple phones, except iPhone
Adobe says its planning to add Flash support to a number of phones, including Android devices and the Palm Pre, but that it won't be adding it for the iPhone. What does this mean for phone buyers and users? We ask Wendy Sheehan Donnell from PC Mag.com, and analyst Rob Enderle from Enderle Group.
Wendy reminds us that most people only use Flash for video, and since the iPhone has a native YouTube app, the bigger loss is for Adobe than iPhone users. Rob's take is similar, though he sees it more as Apple slighting Adobe for its application development environment AIR than the actual web-based flavor of Flash.
What's your take? Do you use Flash? Would you miss it on your phone? Sound off in the comments.
[Update: Sound didn't work, but hit the Engadget link for more info.]
Guests:
Napster’s rebirth goes for broke
Consumer electronics retailing giant Best Buy recently acquired the brand name to Napster, the first mainstream P2P music sharing client. Now, Napster's service is getting a makeover from a DRM-laden $13/month service to a $5/month service, which includes five MP3 tracks, and unlimited on-demand streaming of seven million tracks from Napster's catalog. Is this rebirth enough for people to sit up and take note? We talk to John Falcone from CNET, and Rob Enderle from the Enderle Group, a consumer electronics research and consulting firm. John thinks the service is nice, but when you compare it to the likes of Last.FM and Pandora, it might be $5 too expensive for the average consumer. Rob's not too optomistic either, as he's not sure consumers are going to want to be limited by their on-the-go access. I'm still reserving judgement for the whole thing. It doesn't seem too far fetched to spend $5 a month on music, so if Napster can provide an excellent music discovery experience and couple that with an iPhone app, or other proper ecosystem methods for accessing music anywhere, I might give it a shot. If not, there's always Pandora and Last.FM.