RIM Loses US Government Contract - Can They Survive?

It seems like an eternity since RIM released a new and exciting smart phone for all those who love their products. The last really big release was the Blackberry PlayBook and it came with the associated problems of a device released before it had everything lined up and working. Since that time, we have been waiting to see a smart phone from RIM which can compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung in the market place. But that has not been forthcoming from them and we continue to wait. The wait for the arrival of the Blackberry 10 OS continues as well. And now the US Government is getting phones from Apple.

It is really starting to look like it may be too late for RIM to recover from the continuing slide downward in sales. It is going to be next year before we see the new line of phones from them. We have been seeing leaked pictures for over a year, but those only go so far before you actually have to deliver something. And time looks like it is beginning to run out for them.

In a public release, the Immigration & Customs Enforcement known as ICE has chosen the Apple iPhone to equip their personnel with. The primary reason given for not choosing the Blackberry is that the technology being used by the Blackberry phones of today does not match up with the mobile technology needs of the agency. And this action may well be the start of other decisions by US agencies to select either the iPhone or Android devices. RIM has just not kept up.

Their next generation phones will more than likely meet the needs, but they are not available and it is at least 3 months before they will be. And that is at the earliest because RIM continues to push out the arrival dates for their new generation of phones. They can no longer afford to do that with continuing slipping sales where they have an extremely low share of the market.

A few months back, we talked about RIM fighting a losing battle in their efforts to become relevant again. At that time, it was expected we would see the new Blackberry 10 OS and smart phones before the end of the year. That is obviously not going to happen and they need to figure out how to turn things around this year. For next year, they are going to be that much further behind. Too many things are happening to push them to the side.

Microsoft is working hard to have their Mobile OS be the one that businesses use. This is mainly because of the integration between the Mobile OS and networks. In the growing area of security, Microsoft is going to make it very tough for RIM to compete. RIM must come out with their new phones and OS in January or it will be too late for them to recover. The competition continues to grow along with ever improving technology advances.

RIM seems to be moving very slowly towards their next phones. But in the world of mobile technology, you have to reinvent things every 6 months to stay current. Just look at what Samsung has done in a few years with their Galaxy phones. They are now competing directly with Apple which is where RIM should be.

The door is closing on RIM and their Blackberry line of phones. They look like they have missed several opportunities to get back into the game, but now they are being left behind.

Do you think they will still exist in 2013?

Microsoft Becomes Hardware Company With Surface

Entry into the tablet market at a high price.

Microsoft's core business has long been software. And the focus of that software has been the desktop. Microsoft for most of its life has believed that the desktop is king and in may respects that has been correct until recently. A shift is moving away from desktop computers and even laptop computers towards tablet computers. Microsoft has made the coming Windows 8 to be the OS for tablets. But that is not enough for Microsoft. They have decided they need to be a hardware company as well. They have really been a hardware company for almost as long as the company has existed.

You just do not think of Microsoft as a hardware company. They have been producing the Microsoft Mouse for so many years along with their Microsoft keyboards. They have manufactured cards that go into PCs and so much more. It seems that they have been in the hardware business for 32 years out of the 37 years they have been in business. So, they are a hardware company, but we just do not view them as such. The reality is they have been involved in hardware for years. And that includes the xBox and Kinect which have been extremely popular for them. But, they have not really been considered a hardware company because they do not build computers.

Building a desktop computer or laptop would have moved them into being seen as a hardware maker. Given the shift to tablets, Microsoft has made the decision to move into what most would consider as being a hardware company with their Surface tablet. This is entering them into a highly competitive market with the likes of Apple and Amazon. Those two companies basically control the tablet market making the entry of a new comer somewhat difficult.

Microsoft has their new Windows 8 OS to run their Surface tablet and that may make a difference for them. Microsoft has their great marketing arm which knows how to promote products. But that may not be enough for them to be successful. The one big thing that Microsoft has going for them is the integration of their Windows 8 OS. It is immediately ready to integrate tablets into a Windows environment within companies. Its built in security within their server OS makes it an immediate success for businesses.

Whether Microsoft can achieve a level of success is an unknown. Part of the problem is the pricing they are putting out with their newest hardware product. Starting at $500, this may be a tough sell when compared to other tablets, such as the Apple iPad. If they were to come in with a price less than the Apple iPad, it would give them a sales boost. The market for tablet prices is currently facing a lot of downward pressures for price. This is especially true for the 7 inch models. At 10.6 inches, it looks to be one that is a little less portable, but could do well.

Just how well Microsoft is going to do with their Surface tablet will depend on exactly who they are targeting for this. It does not look like it is a good fit for small businesses.

Tablet Computers Move To Common Place In Stores

Seems that just about everyone is selling small tablet computers

We have been seeing so many tablets showing up this year, that we can make the statement that 2012 is the Year of the Tablet. There have been so many tablets coming out that they have become common place. And they are no longer just for the tech minded people as the prices and availability are now available for everyone. You just have to look at the impact to the market when Amazon came out with the Kindle Fire. And even Barnes & Noble came out with their Nook Tablet. These two forced the market prices lower than they had ever been before.

These 7 inch tablets altered the market. This all followed the HP TouchPad fire sale which wet the appetite for lower priced tablets at $99. While there were few to be had, this clearly showed that people wanted cheaper prices for tablets and the current price model was not going to meet the needs of the current masses of people. The Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet have shown the popularity for 7 inch tablets. But just how popular are tablets becoming?

It seems they are coming mainstream as stores such as Kohls are selling them. The picture above is from their online store and there are periodic ads for them selling 7 inch tablets. Sears, Kmart and Target have pages of tablets for sale in their stores. The number of stores where you can pick up a tablet computer continues to grow. Even Toys R Us has a pretty good selection of tablets. And if a department store does not carry tablets, they are carrying accessories for tablet computers. We are seeing tablets becoming common place just about everywhere that we go and that is a good thing.

This holiday season there are going to be a growing number of tablets on sale at some very good prices. Some will be name brands that you will recognize and others will be of less quality at some very low prices as compared to others. We are starting to see brands from just about everyone, such as Polaroid, the camera and film company. Tablet computers are being made by well known companies as well as those we have never heard of. And that is going to continue.

It seems that tablets are becoming very popular for gamers as well. A recent survey shows that 23% of app gamers are using smart phones and tablets to play games. Given that number, the gamer community is going to be looking for tablets to play games on in increasing numbers. All of this is looking very good for tablet sales. The result of all this is we are going to be seeing tablets being carried around by everyone in the same way as smart phones were 5 or more years ago. It is going to be very commonplace.

The recently released Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7 show there is a large market for tablets out there. Microsoft is talking about their Windows 8 OS for tablets and we should know more about tablets for the holiday season running Windows 8. There are growing rumors of Apple releasing the Apple iPad Mini some time this month, so it is obvious that tablet computers are going to be the holiday big seller. Much of this can be attributed to the lower price point and better products in the market.

If you have not been paying attention to the tablet market, now may be the time to take a look. Tablet computers are extremely portable for you mobile usage.

Android Fragmentation Will Never End

Gingerbread remains majority share holder for Android OS

Another report of the state of Android Fragmentation has come out and Ice Cream Sandwich is now at 23.7% and Jelly Bean is at 1.8%. The two combined have finally broken the 25% barrier and are going to continue to rise. But that rise is dependent on new devices being purchased to make that shift. The Galaxy S3 has done a lot to move the percentages higher with its great sales. But that is only one device among the large number of phones and manufacturers in the market. While we are now approaching the 1 year mark for Ice Cream Sandwich being available, being at only 23.7% is not speaking volumes for the version of Android. Even the recent Jelly Bean seems to be growing faster an Ice Cream Sandwich did.

Android Fragmentation has been a topic of conversation for the past few years. And it is not going to go away. It will continue to be discussed for many years, primarily because of the market place that it supplies the Android OS to. Unlike Apple, which controls both the hardware and the OS, Google must handle many different layers in order to provide their Ice Cream Sandwich and of late Jelly Bean to new phones. Apple is in control of the process and can chose to bypass wireless carriers in order to maintain a level of control not achieved by Google or even Microsoft with the Windows Phone OS. For Google, there are just plain too many layers they have to go through to get a phone updated with the latest OS.

One of the other big problems is that many of the phones which are able to support Gingerbread cannot support Ice Cream Sandwich, limiting the ability to reduce the fragmentation which is going on. And that is going to continue to be a problem until those phones limited to Gingerbread are retired. But that is not going to happen any time soon. Gingerbread OS phones are still being sold today and that does not look like it is going to be altered. Cheaper mobile devices will not support Ice Cream Sandwich and that is a fact.



Is there a solution for Google to try and resolve the adoption of Ice Cream Sandwich? There may be, but it will take far more effort that Google is probably willing to do. The current process works with Google releasing a new version, such as Jelly Bean. That version is then released to manufacturers who then test it on their mobile phones and add their pieces to it. Once that is done, the manufacturers turn it over to the wireless carriers who then add their pieces to the OS until it is finally ready to be released to owners of a particular phone. It is not in the best interests of wireless carriers to keep putting out updates. I have been with Verizon for a number of year and can expect to see only 1 significant update to the OS. For the Galaxy S3, that will be Jelly Bean. I would like to see what comes after Jelly Bean, but past history says that will probably not happen.

The solution for some of this may be to cut out the addition of all the pieces to the Android OS. The Nexus phone is pretty much a pure Android OS and Google could go down the path of trying to implement the idea of a pure OS being distributed to the owners of mobile phones. But doing that is going to take a lot of effort from Google to get those agreements from manufacturers and wireless carriers. That entails a lot of discussions and negotiations.

It is doubtful that we are going to ever see the Android Fragmentation issues ever be resolved as some hardware is never going to support the current Android OS, what ever it is. The goal should be to see a majority of the Android devices being on the latest OS within 1 year of its release. For Ice Cream Sandwich, that is not going to happen. And for Jelly Bean, it does not look likely right now.

Until Google alters the current working model for distribution of updates, Android Fragmentation will continue.

Online News Viewers Surpasses Newspapers

Advertising for print media continues to slide as well

We have been seeing how newspapers have been declining in readership for many years. This pretty much goes for all print media as the quickly changing world of technology has been providing easier and better options for getting your news. With Yahoo and then Google, the idea of getting your news on a computer screen has shown the coming change. And while it took longer than I would have expected, the primary source for getting news has now changed from newspapers to online. And even more interesting is that online news has even surpassed that of news on the radio.

In the chart above from Statista.com, it shows how this trend has been changing over the past 6 years as online news has been steadily increasing. For printed news, it has been seeing a steady decline since the mid-1990s. And with the growing number of tablets in the market, this trend is going to continue to see changes. And the future for printed media is facing unprecedented challenges from the ability to get your news online instantly. And you do not have to wait for it to be printed and then delivered.

While this may be a change in readership, the bigger issue is revenue for printed media. As people move away from newspapers, it has a big impact on the ability to get revenue for newspaper owners. As readership declines, the amount they can charge for advertising is going to be strained. And advertising online continues to see increases that do not look like they are going to be slowing down at all. And it is not just the advertising for businesses that is making it tough for newspapers.

All of the advertising for selling cars, garage sales and jobs is seeing big shifts as well. And it is especially true in the area of job advertising. Over the past 20 years, the web has been providing more and more options in trying to find a job. And the listings for jobs in newspapers has been seeing significant declines. Online job sites have exploded over the past 10 years and there is nothing on the horizon which is going to change that.

Printed newspapers are going to continue to see declines over the next 5 years in readership. The future for newspapers is to make sure they are providing online news. And most are. But the bigger issue is how the generate revenue from that operation. While it is far cheaper online, the costs for printing and delivering printed news continue to increase. Online, there are no printing and delivery costs as with printed news.

Some online newspapers are attempting to employ paywalls to force people to pay for the privilege of reading their news. Others employ schemes of letting you read so many free each month before they attempt to charge you. Others just let you have the news free and hope to offset that with online advertising. The last option is the best way to go. When I hit a news site that wants to charge me, I just move on to another site to get the news. And I am not alone in that.

Printed news is at a point where changes to the operations are going to have to happen to insure their survival.

Apple iPad On The Verge Of Losing Tablet Market Control

Recent survey shows Android tablets growing to majority

The Apple iPad is a desirable device that has set the bar very high for all the other competitors in the tablet market. There current screen resolution is what everyone else is trying to achieve. And it is because of the quality of the product, Apple has pretty much controlled the market. But there are glimpses that there is a change afoot where Apple may be losing their leadership position in the world of tablets. And it is all because of Android and the 7 inch market segment.

Based on a very recent market study by Pew Internet & American Life Project, things are changing. They were measuring ownership and usage of tablets by adults in the US. In the comparison between 2011 and 2012, there are some obvious shifts in the information. One of the startling numbers produced is that 68% of those surveyed purchased their tablet in the last year. That number tells you just how fast things are changing. And they are going to continue to change.

In the Pew Internet & American Life Project survey, the startling number is the difference in market share between 2011 and 2012. In 2011, Apple pretty much controlled the market with a share of 81% in July. That shows the power that the iPad had. Android had a 15% share and everyone else had a 4% share. The Blackberry PlayBook is lost in that 4% share. Things looked very good for Apple.

But then things seem to be looking different for the future. Amazon announced and then released their 7 inch Kindle Fire before the holidays. And the sales took off. Barnes and Noble release their Nook Tablet which has been doing a decent job with sales. All of this after the previous survey results. Now we come forward to the July 2012 results and see a shift in the share. The iPad has dropped from 81% to 52% and that does not look good for Apple retaining control. The Android tablets grew from 15% to 48% and that is likely to increase significantly with the next survey. All the other tablets, such as the Blackberry PlayBook are not even showing up in the results.

This does not look good for Apple. And to make the situation even worse for them, these results were provided before 2 key events. The first was the release of the Nexus 7 from Google. The other was the announcement of the Kindle Fire HD. Both of these tablets are going to have an impact on the market share that Apple has. And they are both a 7 inch tablet, which is smaller than the current iPad.

The only potential to slow the slide would be for Apple to release the iPad Mini, At the moment, that is only a rumored device with no confirmation from Apple. The most current rumor has Apple sending out invites on October 10th with the official announcement happening on October 17th. If the rumored pricing is correct in the range of $249 to $299, Apple could retain some of what we expect them to lose. If they hit the $200 price point, they could make a big splash in the market and take back the majority share.

All of this looks to be inevitable for Apple and even with the release of the 7.85 iPad Mini, there are just too many competitors out there for them to keep up. It is like the iPhone as compared to Android smart phones. There is just no way they can stop the growing tide from over taking them.

Whether you prefer Apple's iPad to the Android tablets, the Android tablets probably have already taken the majority share. That is unless the iPad Mini comes out as rumored.