Sony CEO: We Could Have Beaten Apple

Boxing in customers is rarely a good idea, and Sony CEO Howard Stringer says he’s come around to that reasoning.

In an interview with Nikkei Electronics Asia, Stringer spoke of how his company didn’t take open technology very seriously in the past, pointing to the failed Sony Connect music store as an example. The site’s tunes came in the proprietary ATRAC format, which only worked with Sony’s music hardware and obviously displeased freedom-seeking customers. Connect was phased out beginning in 2007.

Stringer blames the store’s failure on a type of proprietary digital rights management. “At the time, we thought we would make more money that way than with open technology, because we could manage the customers and their downloads,” he said. “This approach, however, created a problem: customers couldn’t download music from any Websites except those that contracted with Sony. If we had gone with open technology from the start, I think we probably would have beaten Apple Inc of the US.”

The interview, published this month, seems slightly dated, as Stringer talks about Apple’s use of FairPlay DRM and how Sony can maybe exploit that weakness. Of course, Apple removed DRM from iTunes last month.

Beyond Stringer’s “open vs. closed” epiphanies, the interview’s other main takeaways deal with the Playstation Network. He drops some hints about an expansion of the network “to hardware other than the PS3″ and speaks of “evolving the PS3 into a platform for Web services,” but doesn’t elaborate in specifics.

With the exception of Bravia TVs and maybe the revamped Walkman X-Series, I don’t see much room for expansion. Owners of a Playstation 3 and PSP can already transfer movies and TV shows between the two, and the PS3 is the only home console that can access Hulu, albeit through the machine’s Web browser. That’s not to say those two pieces of hardware wouldn’t benefit from an online media store.

And besides, Hulu and video downloads are relatively recent developments anyway, taking hold in the second half of last year. Perhaps Stringer’s shift in thinking began a while ago.

Congratulations Michelle, It’s A Mac.

I got a phone call from my good friend Michelle the other day. She was genuinely excited. Normally these “I’m excited” calls have something to do with what she heard or saw that would remind us of our long-since-passed youth, but this call was different.

“What are you so excited about?” I asked.

She went into a long spiel about how she didn’t have the money right this second, but that she was getting the funds together for a big purchase. “I was in the Apple Store yesterday, and I started playing around with the laptops. They’re so cool! I’m getting a Mac!”

I laughed, but at the same time was genuinely pleased that Cupertino had won yet another convert. “Why’s this?”

Her reasons were much like the argument that us Mac enthusiasts put forth when comparing the platform to the PC. Its ease of use, the feature set, the asthetics. She also figured out on her own that her brand new iPod Touch 32GB would work a whole lot easier when paired with a shiny new MacBook.

(Maybe it was also the 4th Gen iPod that I gave her that opened her eyes to Apple, but I do digress.)

Michelle’s story is special for one reason. She does not fit the Mac user stereotype at all. She lives in a rural area, and is certainly as middle class as most of us. Her computer knowledge (and this is no knock against her) is certainly not technical — she’s no geek. Yet the Mac has appealed to her.

This got me to wonder — has the Mac community overreacted to the Laptop Hunters ads? Have we let Microsoft get under our skin with a PR campaign that in the end is really preaching to the choir?

I think so. Michelle’s a bargain hunter (I’ve been with her on shopping trips). Yes she could have just as easily gone for the cheap plastic Windows-based laptop, but she has decided not to.

Microsoft has overplayed its hand on price. If stories like Michelle’s are more common, could it just be even in a recessionary environment that consumers aren’t going to go cheap?

I’d argue yes. Through none of the Laptop Hunters ads did we hear anything about the value as it had to do with the system itself: instead we’re beaten over the head with the stigma that price is everything when it comes to computer shopping.

A simplistic view of the average computer consumer? Yes. Computers have become such a commodity these days where the public is actually more informed. Years ago, price played a big part in decisions. Consumers did not care what they got as long as it was a good deal.

In a more technical society, we now know what to look for. Many of these cheap PCs Microsoft has decided to hawk are exactly that — low-cost because the manufacturer decided to skimp in an effort to lower the price.

Plus, consumers know what they need. Apple has always decided to put its features first: this is their philosophy in their ads too. Take notice that price is never mentioned. Instead, the ad always seems to revolve around a feature set, which in the end drives home a argument of functionality as value vis a vis price as value.

No doubt Michelle has seen these ads. I haven’t asked her specifically, but I wonder if Apple’s campaigns are more successful because they sell the functionality first? Apparently even the average PC user is getting the message.

Maybe us Mac users need to step back, let Microsoft make a fool of itself in its ads and never mention the platform itself, and watch as PC users still decide that the package overall is more important than the price. Apple tax be damned.

Congratulations Michelle, it’s a Mac.

It’s Official: Windows 7 For the Holidays

At this point, anything else would have been a heckuva surprise, but now it’s formal: At its Tech Ed conference today, Microsoft announced that it plans to ship Windows 7 (and Windows Server 2008 R2) in time for the holidays. Until now, the company had just been saying that it planned to get Win 7 out within three years of Vista’s release, which could have left it arriving in early 2010.

I’m not at Tech Ed, but Microsoft’s press release doesn’t seem to define what it means by the holiday season. The company is presumably confident that it can get Windows 7 onto new PCs and into stores by late November. But with the Windows 7 Release Candidate seemingly in good shape and no further major pre-release versions planned, you don’t need to be a conspiracy theorist to speculate that Microsoft really thinks it can get the OS out in time for students heading off to college this fall to buy Windows 7 laptops, and that it’s saving that news to spring on us later.

If Windows 7 does indeed ship months before Microsoft’s self-imposed deadline, it’ll be good news–assuming, of course, that the version that ships is robust, and well-supported by applications and devices. It’s going to feel odd being deprived of one of the tech world’s most reliable guffaws, though: the notion that Windows. Always. Ships. Late.

5Words for May 11th, 2009

Lotsa cool-techology news today…

Steve Levy on Wolfram|Alpha.

Next generation Windows-on-Mac.

Real work with Windows 7.

Samsung’s cool E-Ink phone keyboard.

The trouble with 200-Mbps Internet.

A netbook or a phone?

Should Facebook censor holocaust deniers?

Finally, pants with a keyboard!

Ten Twitter Mythconceptions

Poor Twitter! It may be the hottest service on the Web, but it’s also profoundly misunderstood. Lots of people cheerfully admit they don’t get it. Others emphatically believe things about it that aren’t true. I encounter confusion over Twitter every day, especially in the real world as I chat with folks who have either never used it, or have tried it and then walked away. It also pops up on Twitter itself (where, incidentally, I’m @harrymccracken and a feed of all Technologizer stories is available at @technologizer).

I don’t claim to understand everything there is to understand about Twitter. (If you don’t understand that it’s impossible to fully understand Twitter…well, then you don’t understand Twitter.) I have, however, formed some strong opinions about what I call Twitter mythperceptions. After the jump, my stab at addressing ten of ‘em.

Continue reading this story…

Assuming There’s a New York Times in 2040, I Hope It’s Not This One

I just went to NYTimes.com, as I do multiple times a day. A split-second after I arrived at the homepage, it was covered up with a full-page ad overlay. That was irritating, but I’m willing to tolerate some annoyance in return for excellent free content.

I found this particular full-page ad overlay downright disillusioning, though. Here it is:

Yup–it’s a fake New York Times homepage from 2040, with jokey futuristic news stories and a redesign which consists of the Times dumping its logo, tagline, and typography in favor of a look which I’m guessing won’t end up resembling whatever is hip when 2040 does roll around. It’s a component of Intel’s big new ad campaign with the slogan “Sponsors of Tomorrow.” (Weirdly, when I go to the Intel site it links to on my Mac, I get a page that’s empty except for a splotch of tan–but maybe it works better on your Intel-based computer than on mine.)

As a journalist, I stress out when media brands lease out their good names to advertisers to make a buck, and the notion of the Times permitting a fanciful New York Times to be shown in an ad on its own site is inherently unsettling. (It’s unfortunately reminiscent of the Los Angeles Times’ appalling decision to allow a fake article to appear on its front page.) No brand in journalism has had standards higher than those of the Times, so this sort of tomfoolery is particularly out of character.

But here’s what’s really dismal about the ad: The notion seems to be that during the next thirty-one years, the main thing that the Times will accomplish is to dump the media world’s most instantly-recognizable look and feel. With reasonable people questioning the the viability of big media in general and the Times in particular, it’s an odd time to allow an advertiser to define the future of the Times–even in jest–and to say that it’ll consist of a goofy redesign.

Am I the only admirer of the New York Times who both hopes and believes that A) it’ll be around in 31 years, but its primary form will be something that hasn’t been invented as of 2009, and which won’t bear much resemblance to today’s Web sites; and B) the Times’ venerable logo, typefaces, and promise of “All the News That’s Fit to Print” will still be with us?

Do You Still Have a Landline?

Ars Technica has reported on a National Center for Health Statistics survey that shows the percentage of respondents who have only a cell phone surpassing that of ones who have only a landline for the first time. Slightly over twenty percent of those surveyed aren’t bothering with a landline these days–a fact which one of the NCHS report’s authors reasonably asserts is in part because of the economic state we find ourselves in. If your cell phone gives you decent sound quality, free long distance, and lots of minutes for a reasonable price, paying for it and a landline may sound pointlessly redundant these days.

(Me, I still have a landline–a Comcast VoIP one, to be precise–but I’ve made a grand total of three calls on it in the nine months or so I’ve had it. I keep it for use as a fax line and because I occasionally guest on radio programs whose producers are happiest if I’m not on my cell. But I use my cell most of the time, and Skype as a backup, and if I’m still paying $40 a month for a landline I almost never use a year from now, I’ll be startled.)

How about you?

Google Chrome Gets the TV Treatment

When it comes to advertising, Google believes in eating its own dogfood–it uses its own ad platform to promote some of its own services, but it’s rare to see Google self-promotion off the Web. But not unheard of: There used to be billboards in San Francisco touting the GOOG-411 information service, for instance. And Google blogged today it’s going to try advertising its Chrome browser on TV, starting this weekend.

Here’s the ad, which was produced in Japan, originally for online use:

It’s fun to watch for sure. But although I’m a Chrome fan, in part because of its uncluttered feel, I must confess that I didn’t get the point of the ad until I read Google’s post. It’s saying that Chrome is simpler and more streamlined than other browsers. Wonder what percentage of couch potatoes will figure that out–or even understand that Chrome is a Web browser?

I was going to say that this may be the first time a browser has been advertised on the boob tube. But then I found this Internet Explorer 7 ad–also a rather oblique sell, and apparently from A Country That Isn’t The U.S.:

And the Firefox community produced scads of user-generated, TV-style ads for Mozilla’s Firefox Flicks contest a few years ago, although I’m not sure if any wound up on TV:

Any guesses as to whether browser market share will perceptibly change based on Chrome’s exposure on TV? (Side note: Around seven percent of Technologizer visitors use it.)

Book of Nintendo: Thou Shalt Not Emulate

If we can all agree that an Intellivision compilation for the Nintendo DSi would have been pretty neat, than we can all mourn together, because it’s not happening.

The reasoning is most peculiar. Nintendo says games from two of its virtual storefronts, WiiWare and DSiWare, must not run under emulation — that is, software that pretends to be hardware, such as an old game console. So while Nintendo will happily let you buy old video games through the Wii’s Virtual Console, it’s not cool for third parties to do the same on their own, at least according to Intellivision rights holder Keith Robinson.

IGN, which broke the story, has already performed the necessary speculation, wondering if this news foreshadows a store for classic games on the DS. With no comment so far from Nintendo, you can’t read into the story any further than that.

Still, this is disappointing given DSiWare’s track record so far. The most recent update to the store consisted of an Animal Crossing-themed clock and calculator, and most of the actual games are derivatives of existing Nintendo DS or Game Boy Advance releases. It’s certainly not the hub of unique indie games that WiiWare has been since launch.

It’s worth noting, as IGN does, that Apple has already approved the compilation, officially dubbed Intellivision Lives!, for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I hope Nintendo shifts DSiWare into gear and starts competing.

Amazon Launches a URL Shortener

Amazon has launched a URL shortening service to make it easier for customers to talk about its products on social networking sites–especially Twitter, where every character in a URL counts.

I have argued that Twitter is overhyped, but I acknowledge Twittering as an activity will continue to be influential on how people use the Web. In response to that activity, Amazon created its URL shortening service to generate URLs for its products without having to use third party services such as TinyURL.

It makes perfect sense for Amazon to do this, because some sites, including Yahoo’s forums, prohibit URLs from the TinyURL domain. Amazon’s URLs are unlikely to be blocked, because there has to be a product behind the shortcut as a requirement.

Amazon’s shortened URLs are generated when a user takes an product identification number and pastes it after “amzn.com/’.”

TechFlash has reported that customers may use ASIN numbers (Amazon Standard Identification Number), book ISBN numbers, or Wishlist ID numbers. That kind of control makes Amazon’s URLs safer than ones that are provided by third party services.

This was a very smart move on Amazon’s part. It is making it easier for companies that sell products through its e-commerce site to promote their products, and it will increase search engine exposure for products by associating then with a single URL. While this service is intriguing, Amazon isn’t the first, nor will it be the last to leverage new trends in technology.

App Store Approval Now Contingent on OS 3.0 Compatibility

Want your app in the Apple’s App Store? Better quickly make sure that it’s compatible with the latest beta of iPhone OS 3.0 or it won’t get approved. Apple shocked the developer community Thursday with the announcement that it was mandating that all apps henceforth be compatible with iPhone OS 3.0, or they would be rejected.

Here’s what Apple said:

Beginning today, all submissions to the App Store will be reviewed on the latest beta of iPhone OS 3.0. If your app submission is not compatible with iPhone OS 3.0, it will not be approved.

Existing apps in the App Store should already run on iPhone OS 3.0 without modification, but you should test your existing apps with iPhone OS 3.0 to ensure there are no compatibility issues. After iPhone OS 3.0 becomes available to customers, any app that is incompatible with iPhone OS 3.0 may be removed from the App Store.

There are potential issues here. OS 3.0 is still in beta. There’s no saying that Apple may have screwed something up on its own, which breaks an application in the current beta, but may not necessarily in the final release.

It could mean additional work for some developers, which could be a headache. While Apple is certainly right to want developers to start thinking in terms of OS 3.0, testing apps on a beta release just doesn’t seem too foolproof, don’t you think?

Windows 7 Release Candidate: It’s Buggy!

Actually, it’s been running quite well on my test machines for a pre-release operating system, but I have encountered a couple of instances in which it seemed to be fussy about what folder I installed an application into. Now it’s looking like I may have run into a major bug. Ed Bott has the news:

Yesterday, Microsoft published Knowledge Base article 970789, which provides details of a problem that affects the 32-bit (x86) English-language version of Windows 7 build 7100. The problem, in short, is that the installer incorrectly sets access control lists (ACLs) on the root of the system drive.

Microsoft Releases a Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

If you’re contemplating trying out the Windows 7 Release Candidate but are worried about system requirements and compatibility issues, check out the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor that Microsoft released in beta form today. It scans Windows XP and Windows Vista machines and responds with a report about whether their system specs are up to running Windows 7, along with whether any drivers or applications are likely to cause trouble. It also alerts Windows XP users to the fact that they can’t install 7 on top of XP and will have to do a fresh install.

Continue reading this story…

5Words for May 8th, 2009

Saw Star Trek, expected Tribbles…

An EeePC that’s a tablet.

Nokia preps giant app store.

How to research: copy Wikipedia!

Blu-Ray sales up 72 percent.

I’ve pointed cameras at TVs.

Big Sony e-reader in works?

Stardates for your Google Calendar.

SugarSync adds a free version.

Hulu tiptoes towards international expansion.

Hey, my HDTV’s a Vizio.

Where No Pitchman Had Gone Before

In case you hadn’t noticed, the Star Trek movie opened tonight. Which, here on Technologizer, is an excuse to bring you a YouTube clip that never gets old:

Oh, and if you didn’t catch Ed Oswald’s story on Star Trek technology that’s no longer science fiction when we published it a few weeks ago, check it out here.

WiGig: A Cure for Living-Room Cable Clutter?

Dell, Intel, Microsoft, and Panasonic are forming an industry consortium called WiGig Alliance that will create a new high-speed wireless specification for PCs and devices capable of transmitting the contents of a DVD across a living room within a matter of seconds.

WiGig transmits data at 6 gigabits per second–far beyond the maximum transfer capacity of today’s Wi-Fi networks. In comparison to Wi-Fi, WiGig has a limited range and cannot work across a large household.

Instead of wiring the entire home, WiGig would be used to connect an ecosystem of home entertainment devices such as set top boxes and Blu-ray players, in addition to networking digital video cameras and cell phones. It is backed by a cadre of companies ranging from chipmakers including Broadcom, Marvell, and MediaTek to consumer electronics companies such as LG Electronics, NEC, and Samsung.

The WiGig Alliance will likely compete with Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDi), a specification that was designed by another group of companies for the same purpose. It should also supercede WirelessHD (which Intel also supports), a specification that is limited to connecting TVs with DVD players.

Something like WiGig will play a critical role in the evolution of the digital home. The tangle of wires that we have all grown accustomed to should become a relic of the past. As more people upgrade to broadband services and digital cable, the alphabet soup of acronyms that exists today will be whittled down to a few core standards.

I hope that the ultimate WiGig specification is open when it is published, and caution against adopting the technology if it is not. A consortium does not count as a standards body. There could be clear, affordable and nondiscriminatory licensing terms for its use in devices and software. Ideally, WiGig should be submitted to a standards body such as ISO International.