Archive | March, 2011
Your Predictions for Apple’s iPad Event
1. March 2011
Sleep in Wednesday morning. See an early movie. Perform admirable charity work. Do whatever you want–you’ll have the time, because you won’t have to keep tabs on Apple’s iPad event, because the Technologizer community has made its traditional, traditionally uncanny predictions about what will transpire. And here they are.
Oh, okay, I jest. Actually, I hope you’ll attend our live coverage at 10am PT over at Technologizer/ipad2. I’ll be reporting from San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center and will be joined in the Technologizer newsodrome by Ed. We’ll also have a special guest star from Techland: Doug Aamoth. And much of the color commentary will come from…you guys.
Back to your predictions. More than two hundred of you made ‘em, and as usual, I’ve aggregated them all into one unified set of prognostications. For questions in which you were only allowed to make one prediction, we’re going with the answer that a plurality of you chose. If you were allowed to make multiple predictions, then any one that got at least fifty percent of the votes counts. Got that?
Verizon’s iPhone Honeymoon Ends: Tiered Data Plans This Summer
1. March 2011
As expected, Verizon will phase out the unlimited data plans currently available to iPhone customers, instead opting for a tiered data plan structure. The change will come around the time of the new iPhone on the carrier, expected this summer. The comments were made by Verizon chief financial officer Fran Shammo at a tech investor conference sponsored by Morgan Stanley.
Interestingly enough, Shammo did not mince words when she spoke about the introduction of a new iPhone model. Verizon fully expects a backlash from customers under contract with an iPhone model that was made obsolete within months of its release. In addition, the new iPhone wouldn’t be financially beneficial to the carrier: margins would be much less.
Call me crazy, but isn’t this a good reason why Verizon should have just waited a few months to prevent pissed-off customers? Then again, I guess they must have seen something in their customer base that told them the benefits of releasing the phone outweighed the negatives–and certainly what we’ve seen from actual numbers show that there was definitely a pent-up demand for Apple’s iconic device.
The Chances are 14 Percent That You’re Reading This on a Portable Device
1. March 2011
Yesterday, TechCrunch’s MG Siegler reported on the operating systems used by visitors to that site. It currently breaks down like this:
Windows: 53.84%
Mac: 27.64%
iPhone: 6.72%
iPad: 3.47%
Linux: 3.28%
Android: 3.06%
iPod: .62%
MG also included historical data, and his main point is that if the trend continues, the majority of TechCrunch visitors will visit the site using an Apple device–Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad–within a couple of years.
As usual when I read numbers of these sorts, I rushed off and looked at equivalent stats for Technologizer. Here’s February 2011…
Valve Plots Living Room Takeover With Steam
1. March 2011
Steam is a popular gaming service for PCs with over 30 million player accounts worldwide, but it’s missing out on the huge audience that prefers video game consoles and gaming in the living room.
That may change with a couple of new efforts from Valve, which runs the Steam service. The company announced that it’s building a “big picture mode” with controller support and navigation designed for big screens. Valve’s intent is to help gamers play from their couches without a mouse and keyboard.
In addition, Valve is bringing a version of Steam to the Playstation 3, starting with the release of Portal 2 in April. This will allow PC and PS3 gamers to play together, and may someday allow players to resume their saved games across both platforms.
Copyright Hits New Low as WMG Silences “Forget You” Sign Language Video [Update: It's Back]
1. March 2011
[Update: The audio is back, and WMG's copyright notice is gone. Original post below.]
Iunderstand that record labels need to protect their copyrights, but sometimes, they ought to make exceptions, as with this sign language adaptation of Cee-Lo’s “Forget You” (as the PG-13 version is known).
The YouTube video, put together by a college student named Anna, has been viewed over 1.3 million times since she uploaded it in December. As the audio track plays in the background, Anna delivers the lyrics with emphatic sign language.
Only now, the audio part is gone, thanks to Warner Music Group. In its place is a notice: “This video contains an audio track that has not been authorized by WMG. The audio has been disabled.”
The Nookcolor for $199
1. March 2011
Barnes & Noble’s Nookcolor is a good e-reader that leads a secret double life as a reasonably-priced Android tablet. And now B&N is selling them on eBay for a startlingly low price: $199.
Your Predictions About Wednesday’s iPad Event: Make ‘em Quick, Please!
1. March 2011
On Wednesday, March 2nd at 10am PT, Apple will hold its iPad event. (I’ll provide live coverage from San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center.) That gives us very little time to speculate about the new tablet and related matters–and as usual, I’m going to ask you guys to do most of the speculating so I can avoid looking foolish.
Click here, and you’ll be able to spend a few minutes making predictions about the next-generation iPad, the next generation of iPad software, and other aspects of Wednesday’s announcements. (Please take the survey by 10pm PT tonight, March 1st.) As usual, I’ll aggregate your results into one collective set of predictions by the Technologizer community. We’ll publish those before all is revealed at Apple’s event–and then come back to them afterwards to judge just how uncannily accurate you were this time around. (At past Apple events, your track record isn’t perfect, but it’s still way better than I’d do on my own.)
Thanks in advance for participating, and I hope to see you at Wednesday’s liveblog…
Since When is One Million Phones Sold Bad? When You’re Verizon
1. March 2011
I’m amazed with some in the tech blogosphere who consistently harp on Verizon for its “poor” sales of the iPhone 4, even as the company disclosed over the weekend that over one million units had been sold. Quite a bit of bloviating occurred in the hours and days after the launch occurred, as the anticipated iLines never occurred.
Verizon Wireless chief Dan Mead noted that six in ten iPhones were preordered, a possible explanation for the light lines. Add to this that the iPhone 4 is now an aging device–eight months old–and the carrier’s numbers seem respectable.
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