Other Computers
iPhone Making Smartphones Mainstream
10 February 2007 10:57 AM | Permalink
Is it my imagination or has the announcement of the
iPhone from Apple suddenly
have PDA-like Smartphones becoming all the rage?
It seems like every time I turn around some new
smartphone is being announced: LG Prada, Zune Phone, Samsung.
Unlike previous smartphones which were for business cutomers and early adopters, these are the first of the smartphones for the masses. What iPhone will do/is doing is create a demand for smartphones with mainstream consumers which should heat up smartphone competition, innovation and perhaps drive down cell carrier fees.
I also suspect this will cause local search to take off and may inspire many local, bricks and mortar stores to finally get a website. Maps and driving/walking directions will also be in high demand. Email is a must. Yahoo and Google seem poised to compete in this space and I suspect MSN will not be far behind. Ask is steadily improving their local search and maps but they lack web based email and that might hurt them in the race.
The PC put the internet in our homes. The laptop got us used to taking our computing power with us. Now the smartphone looks like it will put the internet in our pocket where we will have it with us all the time.
Unlike previous smartphones which were for business cutomers and early adopters, these are the first of the smartphones for the masses. What iPhone will do/is doing is create a demand for smartphones with mainstream consumers which should heat up smartphone competition, innovation and perhaps drive down cell carrier fees.
I also suspect this will cause local search to take off and may inspire many local, bricks and mortar stores to finally get a website. Maps and driving/walking directions will also be in high demand. Email is a must. Yahoo and Google seem poised to compete in this space and I suspect MSN will not be far behind. Ask is steadily improving their local search and maps but they lack web based email and that might hurt them in the race.
The PC put the internet in our homes. The laptop got us used to taking our computing power with us. Now the smartphone looks like it will put the internet in our pocket where we will have it with us all the time.
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Freeware for Windows
20 February 2006 11:33 AM | Permalink
Restraining Myself from Trying Linux ... for Now.
03 February 2006 01:12 PM | Permalink
All this talk over the last week,
about Google's in-house version of desktop
Linux, got me to investigate Ubuntu Linux upon which it is
based. I have to say I am impressed. I was even
more impressed when I found a couple of companies selling computers
with Ubuntu already installed. Some of those
systems are in the under $900 range and I have
to say I'm very tempted.
Even though I'm very happy with my Mac's I have always wanted to play around with Linux just to see what it is like. Up until recently Linux did not sound very user friendly. In fact, part of the reason I went with a Mac was I didn't want another OS that was in my face. Anyway Ubuntu looks like it is fairly user friendly and the computers are pretty reasonable in price, but I do think I will hold off. I have a new desktop and a decent laptop so I really don't need a new computer yet. What I would like is some sort of light weight tablet or super PDA. My inner geek is screaming at me to buy a linux machine, but I'm going to show admirable restraint.
Drat.
Even though I'm very happy with my Mac's I have always wanted to play around with Linux just to see what it is like. Up until recently Linux did not sound very user friendly. In fact, part of the reason I went with a Mac was I didn't want another OS that was in my face. Anyway Ubuntu looks like it is fairly user friendly and the computers are pretty reasonable in price, but I do think I will hold off. I have a new desktop and a decent laptop so I really don't need a new computer yet. What I would like is some sort of light weight tablet or super PDA. My inner geek is screaming at me to buy a linux machine, but I'm going to show admirable restraint.
Drat.
