Mister Aaron Levie is the chief executive of enterprise cloud storage company Box.net, and he’s been so bold and so kind as to say that Google’s Android will soon be the winner in the enterprise tablet race. Why not iPad? Why not the upcoming tablet from RIM, BlackBerry PlayBook? Because Android is an open system, Levie says Android’s tablet operating system version 3.0 Honeycomb will bring with it an avalanche of enterprise applications for Android tablets. Levie notes that with this more open development ecosystem there comes more support for enterprise apps and a bigger IT community creating applications for Android.
We must assume he means “on a large enough device” since Android isn’t an extremely new operating system, and has been on handheld devices for some time now. Levie continues that since Android focuses on multiple carriers, their ability to be on the fastest network (amongst always competing groups) will be another giant bonus point.
Apparently we’re to understand that this same fellow Levie has “shot from the hip” before (his last claim being that HTML5 would kill desktop software,) but in this case we’re inclined to believe he may have a point. Several points.
On the other hand, if you’d like to play devil’s advocate, you’d note that not only is the iPad already established, but the Fortune 100 list of top companies in the world, 80 of them have begun testing or deploying iPad applications. Android devices currently take up around 30 percent of enterprise activations, while Apple scoops up a giant 65 percent. All of this of course is excluding RIM’s gigantic presence, one that we’re not sure will ever be extinguished.
Also a point to note: Box.net has recently launched its first Android application (Q4 2010) and now says they’d like to make it “as slick as its current iPad and iPhone versions,” and is in negotiations with Samsung to release the app with what we expect to be a future version of the Galaxy Tab. Box.net’s app has seen around 70k downloads in the Android Marketplace while it’s been downloaded 250k times in Apple’s App Store.
Do you agree with Aaron Levie? Will Android overtake Apple and (god forbid) RIM as well? Welcome to a world of possibility.
This is not the first time that someone’s carved out a book to put electronics inside (everyone in the worlds’ favorite case being, of course, in the The Matrix ala Neo’s hacker disks,) but it is the first time we’ve seen one with a NOOKcolor in it. And not only that, but this particular book is heavily ironic, a great choice to be cutting up: Future Consumer .com, a book by Frank Feather.
Inside of this book, carved out by XDA Developers forum member JF-WS6, you’ll find a well-out space for his NOOKcolor. Well rounded edges, perfect fit, and even a little space near the spine of the book where he can stick his finger to pop the device out should he wish to do so. Of course this is also the location of the power button, for those of you that don’t know, so he really won’t have to pop the device out at all until he needs to charge it up. Brilliant!
Google’s last Android-centric event, Google I/O in the middle of last year, treated us to a pair of delectable demos that may now finally be turning into mobile realities. One was a web client for the Android Market with OTA installations — you just browse to an app you want to install while on your desktop and choose to push it to your Android device — and the other was a cloud-based music backup and streaming service. The latter has since picked up the moniker of Google Music in subsequent rumors, and today both are receiving some speculative support for a launch at tomorrow’s Honeycomb event. Android and Me has an insider source claiming the web-based Android Market is finally ready to roll out, whereas BusinessWeek reports Andy Rubin is heading up Google’s digital music team and also has software ready for release, potentially at some point this month. Given the importance of both new additions, it’s highly logical for Google to at least announce and show them off once more tomorrow. Then we can get back to waiting for the next Android update.
Hints of the Desire HD’s emergence on Canada’s Telus have been ongoing for some time — and now that the same phone has been announced on AT&T as the Inspire 4G, it’s all coming together since both networks use 850 and 1900MHz for their HSPA+ airwaves. Indeed, Telus now has an official “coming soon” page live where you can see the device for yourself (as if you didn’t know what it looked like) and get a handy-dandy feature breakdown, though we still don’t have a solid lead on pricing or a launch date… so let the incessant page refreshing begin.
43 percent of smartphone sales are Android based, according to Nielsen. Android devices currently hold a 27% market share, putting Android in a close race with Apple and RIM. As you can see from the graph below, Android is climbing sharply, while Apple is staying roughly even, and RIM is declining.
This is particularly interesting when you consider that this huge climb in marketshare has happened in just one year. This is likely helped by the fact that the Android platform is available on a large range of devices, while the iPhone OS and the RIM BlackBerry OS are only available on their branded devices. Likely, this growth will continue over 2011, with the Android OS quickly becoming dominant.
We’ve already heard of some changes that Google’s planning to make to boost app purchases in the Android Market, and it looks like it’s now also undertaking a considerable in-house effort to increase the number of quality apps that are available. According to The Wall Street Journal, Google is planning to hire “dozens” of software engineers, product managers, user-interface experts and “others who have ideas for mobile apps,” and it’s apparently already shifted some of its current employees to work in this new “apps lab.” As you might expect, that’s being done at least in part to close the so-called “app gap” with Apple, and it looks like the new apps will reach far beyond Google’s usual properties — the WSJ even specifically mentions games as one area they’ll focus on. The apps would also apparently all be free (but possibly ad-supported), and Google is said to be trying to woo developers with its distribution power, noting that it will be able to promote the apps in the Android Market and even have them pre-installed on many phones.
Take a peek at Google’s newest mobile offering – an upgrade of Google Latitude that includes a “check in” option that’s bound to scare the pants off the folks over at FourSquare. This new functionality starts in Google Maps 5.1 today. Where before you were only able to show your location to friends (and foes,) now you’re able to do that in specific locations with names, names such as Big Brain Comics, Pump’n Joes Gas, or Punch Pizza.
In this new version, you’re using Latitude to do the following things with the following features:
Notifications: turn on check-in notifications so that you’ll get a notification to check in at each location you enter.
Automatic Check-Ins: just like it sounds, this option checks out in automatically when you enter locations (but only locations you’ve pre-specified, so no Big Brother.) Check Out: Latitude automatically checks you out of locations once you’re out of range.
Also, features include: Place Page: Each location that’s integrated into this system already has a Place page with reviews, links, directions, etcetera. Status: Like FourSquare, you can earn special statuses if you’ve checked into a place enough times, (and possibly if you’re the one with the most check ins, though its unclear at the moment.) You can be Regular, VIP, or Guru.
Sharing: Google is careful to note that everything in Latitude is 100% opt-in, from sharing your location to allowing your location to be automatically shared. Share with the whole world, your friends only, or just with yourself. Coming later this week you’ll be able to see your whole history of check-ins at google.com/latitude on your computer.
To begin your journey on this new system, download the latest version of Google Maps from Android Marketplace, [DIRECT LINK FOR ANDROID USERS WITH VERSION 1.6 AND HIGHER], and join Latitude from the main menu. If you’re using iPhone, check out the new Latitude app to see your cool Android friends’ check-ins, and Google will be updating your app soon so you’ll be able to check in as well.
We’re honestly surprised it took this long, but Google is finally employing a social hook that so many of its peers (Foursquare, Facebook, Yelp, and so on) have long embraced: the location-based check-in. Coming to Google Latitude with today’s Maps 5.1 for Android, the company hopes to set itself apart from the competition with features like check-in notifications (disabled by default), automatic check-ins for your most frequent establishments (case-by-case activation), and “check out” that detects when you leave a location.
So what’s the incentive to use the service? Not much at this point — no badges, no sharing through third-party services like Twitter (Latitude-only at the moment), no support for simultaneous check-in with other services, no special vendor discounts (Google told us there’s nothing to announce yet), and no ability to create a venue like your apartment (Places only). What it does right is a tiered system of special statuses based on check-in frequency — you can become a regular, VIP, or Guru (Google says it’s not definite yet on how many check-ins each status bump will require). iOS Latitude users will be able to see where their Android friends check in, but at this point the option to pimp your specific location is for Google’s platform only. If you’re a fan of Latitude already, this is probably a no-brainer, but for everyone else, don’t expect mayoral coffee discounts just yet.
You could argue that Motorola still has some work to do to emerge the hole it dug itself while pushing back major version updates for its early Android devices time and time again, but it’s definitely improving — and it looks like a Blur-ified build of Gingerbread for the Droid X is already starting to leak. As you might recall, Moto’s 4.3-inch beast launched on Eclair before getting Froyo a few months later, so the fact that the company is seemingly preparing its second big update already is notable to say the least; it looks to be basically the same thing they’ve already shown on the Atrix, which is definitely a marked improvement from the Blur of old. No word on how the source got these shots, but we can only hope it means the over-the-air update isn’t too far off.
It’s hardly been a good week for Samsung. Not only has the company been forced to backtrack on its Galaxy Tab sales figures, admitting it was counting vendor shipments rather than end-user purchases, but return rates are also said to be far higher than expected. Considering the Galaxy Tab has been the poster child of Android slates so far, it’s an embarrassing showing against the nigh-unstoppable Apple iPad. Question is, was it Froyo that scuppered the Tab – a smartphone OS asked to do tablet duties it simply couldn’t fulfil – or is 7-inches simply the wrong size? And, with Honeycomb fast approaching, can Google’s new OS turn the tide?
It’s fair to say that Froyo – Android 2.2 – was never intended for tablets; even Google confirmed that. Back when we first reviewed the Galaxy Tab we praised Samsung for the work it had done on creating custom apps for the slate, replacing the native calendar, address book and other software to suit the 7-inch display and 1024 x 600 resolution. It went some way to disguise the feeling that the Tab was an oversized phone, certainly, though it was nowhere near perfect.
Still, we’ve seen a gradual flow of tablet-centric apps for Android, including some high profile launches from the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. They’ve targeted Tab owners and borrowed design cues from iPad apps to make the most of the resolution, carving out a 7-inch niche where even Google didn’t think there was potential.
However, to paraphrase Jurassic Park, just because we can, doesn’t necessarily mean we should. In the most recent SlashGear poll we asked readers to vote for what tablet screen size they were most interested in, and – as of writing – a full 50-percent of over 3,000 respondents told us they were looking for a 10-inch scale slate. In contrast, a little over a quarter preferred a 7-inch model, like the Galaxy Tab (or, indeed, RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook).
Now, we didn’t ask for justifications of each selection, so we can’t say exactly why more people prefer a larger slate than a smaller one, but there are some common reasons we’ve been hearing since the Tab was first rumored. One is a basic preference for bigger-scale web browsing, with smaller tablets not perceived as offering a big enough leap in screen real-estate over a smartphone. Another is portability; while the Galaxy Tab can fit into a coat pocket (or even your jeans pocket, if you’re not a fan of skinny fit), how many people actually do take it out with them?
The absence of phone support undermined Samsung, with carrier wariness of potentially cannibalized handset sales leaving North American Tabs unable to make regular voice calls. Whether the target audience for an Android tablet – more likely, perhaps, to already have a smartphone – would bother carrying both around sapped some of the slate’s portability potential. We’ll have to wait until European sales and return figures for the Tab emerge, given versions there allowed for voice calls and thus it could fully replace a cellphone, to see what sort of impact that artificial crippling had.
Should Samsung have waited, or avoided the contentious 7-inch size altogether? It’s perhaps telling that, of all the big-name Android slates launched at CES 2011 last month, the vast majority had displays in the 10-inch range. Dell’s Streak 7 mimicked the Galaxy Tab, but with an 800 x 480 display that’s rightly being criticized in reviews; it also misses out on Honeycomb, at launch anyway, despite having a dual-core Tegra 2 processor at its heart.
The others – Motorola’s 10-inch XOOM, LG’s G-Slate with what’s believed to be an 8.9-inch screen – plumped for more direct iPad-rivalling scale, and indeed Samsung is expected to bring a 10-inch Galaxy Tab, with Honeycomb in its sights, to Mobile World Congress in just a few weeks time. From what we’ve seen of Android 3.0 so far, it’s a vast improvement over previous iterations when it comes to accommodating a big touchscreen. It’ll work on 7-inchers, of course, just like it will work on smartphone-scale devices, but it’s pretty clear Google had 10-inch tablets in mind throughout development.
We’ll know more after Google’s Honeycomb event tomorrow, where the Motorola XOOM is expected to take center stage, and with the Android team expected to outline not only what makes 3.0 special but the longer-term vision for the platform. Honeycomb on the Galaxy tab could well be the reboot the 7-inch slate needs.
