Did sagging iPhone sales slow the whole smartphone market?
The answer depends on how third quarter sales are interpreted. By one perspective, gangbuster smartphone growth is over, as mature markets saturate and economic woes in Europe zap consumer budgets. By another viewpoint, a slowdown in iPhones sales -- ahead of a product transition -- pulled down the entire market. If the latter is right, iPhone sales could be considerably larger during fourth quarter than even the fiercest Apple apologist's or investor's dreams.
Today, Gartner released Q3 smartphone sales, with emphasis on sales. Most other analyst firms report shipments, which are those going into retail channels. Gartner reports actual sales to end users, which offer more realistic perspective about the smartphone market. Two data points differentiate third quarter sales from recent others: Smartphone growth slowed sequentially and iPhone/iOS market share declined. The question: Are these two sales changes related or coincidental?
Who's buying Kindle Fire?
On September 30, I asked: "Will you buy Kindle Fire?" Based on responses to our survey, your comments and a study showing some people putting off iPad 2 purchases for Kindle Fire, the question could have been: "Why won't you buy Kindle Fire?" Many people plan to, and Amazon will make it easy. Unlike the original Kindle's debut, exclusively through Amazon, Fire sells in stores like Best Buy. Actually, Amazon plans broad retail availability, giving Kindle Fire the kind of distribution needed to take on other Android tablets and, of course, iPad 2.
Among the 1,156 BetaNews survey respondents, 31.66 percent already preordered Kindle Fire -- another 23.26 percent plan to purchase within 3 months. I'll skip to the punchline: Only 28.89 percent of respondents "have no plans" to buy Amazon's Android tablet. I've embedded the survey below for some fresh responses and expect the numbers to go up. The responders aren't qualified, meaning we don't know who they are but assume many are techies like you.
Of course iPhone 4S battery life matters
Last night, my colleague Ed Oswald made the most ridiculous statement in defense of iPhone 4S: "Battery life is not a showstopping defect", and he put it in italics! I disagree and told him so in group chat: "It's a real apologist post. Battery life is a showstopping defect". Ed's commentary responds to so called "Batterygate", where for many iPhone 4Ses the charge drains too fast. On Thursday, Apple released an update that fixes the problem for some, but not for many others. Meanwhile, the company issued a statement that: "We continue to investigate a few remaining issues".
Absolutely, smartphone battery life matters, and, yes, it's a "showstopping defect". In a survey of 23,000 phone and tablet users, conducted by SwiftKey developer and retailer/accessory maker Smartphone Experts, battery life ranked third as "essential" feature when answering "What's important when buying a new smartphone". When adding "quite important", battery life tops the list, which includes screen size, ease of typing and app availability.
Who will buy Samsung Focus S Windows Phone?
Microsoft has a perception problem: It's the new IBM -- the stodgy has-been that built an empire on a now declining market. Meanwhile, Apple is the amazing innovator that drives the new era of computing, propelled by the cunning genius of Steve Jobs. That story is repeated every day, particularly now that Jobs has left this world, his biography is fresh off the presses and Apple and its fanclub of bloggers and journalists have in his passing new praise to heap. But it's fiction, and something those of you who have used Windows Phone understand.
Six days ago I asked: "Will you buy the Samsung Focus S Windows Phone?" Many of you answered yes or proudly told how you already have. Your responses say much about what's right with Windows Phone and what's wrong with perceptions about it.
Logitech abandons Google TV, should you?
It's all up to Sony now.
Two weeks ago I started puzzling about my Logitech Revue's future. On October 28, Google announced that its next-generation TV set-top software would be available in just a few days -- from Sony, but Revue would come later. There was no date given. Then, on September 9, during its annual analysts meeting, Logitech made clear that Revue is finished. There will be no more Google TV devices from the peripherals maker.
Can you return iPhone 4S?
It's the question everyone who preordered or purchased on launch day and is having battery-life problems should ask. That's because the 30-day return window closes in two days and may already have passed for others.
A friend of mine, Sebastian, called this morning to tell me that he had arranged return of his iPhone 4S. He's displeased with battery life -- "five hours, not even a full day. If a phone doesn't work as a telephone it's worthless, it's a brick". Since he was contract-free before ordering iPhone 4S, he hasn't seen meaningful battery-life improvements from iOS 5.0.1 and there are enticing LTE alternatives, Sebastian wants to get out from the new two-year commitment while he can. But doing so proved arduous, although it looks like he succeeded. You might not be so lucky.
What's so special about 11-11-11? Droid Razr for $111.11
Verizon waited until 11-11-11 at 11:11 am to launch the Motorola Droid Razr. If that's not enough lucky ones for you, AmazonWireless has more. New Verizon customers can snag the Droid Razar for $111.11. Sorry, existing customers pay more -- $229.99 for an individual account and $244.99 for family account. Verizon sells the smartphone for $299.99.
Droid Razr brings to seven the number of 4G LTE phones Verizon offers, with far greater national coverage than AT&T, which has just two LTE phones -- HTC Vivid and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket. The new smartphone also marks Motorola's attempts to capitalize on and revive the hugely successful Razr, while leveraging the still successful Droid brand. If you want one, that one-eleven-eleven price is hard to beat.
Win Windows Phone
How would you like to snag a Windows Phone running Mango? As part of its launch promotion and "Inner Circle" tour, Microsoft has graciously offered BetaNews one Windows Phone to give away to a lucky reader. That could be you.
Microsoft's design and marketing strategy for Windows Phone is "glance and go" -- let people get what they need from their smartphones quickly rather than be consumed by them. Conceptually, Windows Phone enables people to live better rather than spend their lives tap, tap, tapping on the touchscreen. That concept, and the task-oriented user interface behind it, makes Windows Phone remarkably different from either Android or iOS. It's also inspiration for our contest. Please tell us why glance and go appeals to you and how you would benefit from it. You can respond in comments below or email joe at betanews dot com. We'll accept entries until November 14, 11:59 pm ET.
Yusuf Mehdi is the best thing to happen to Xbox in years
Somehow I missed yesterday's rather startling Microsoft exec move, but, whoa, it's a doosey. Yusuf Mehdi, the sole-surviving executive of stature from the Online Services Business' better days, is stepping aside and taking up a new marketing role over Xbox -- and, whoa, is that a good thing. It's helluva loss for OSB, but Mehdi wasn't going up the executive ladder there anyway. His loyalty is worth something, and there's chance to distinguish himself at Entertainment and Devices the way he did during OSB's brief period of profitability (back when it was called something else).
Mehdi was one of Microsoft's young, rising stars during the early Noughties and he worked as part of the leadership that turned MSN from Money Pit to Black Gold. I beta tested the online service before its debut with Windows 95. Microsoft launched MSN in response to online services AOL and CompuServe, while failing to see the more important World Wide Web rising above them. The MSN group lost money from day one and continued to do so into the new century. There was a joke among some Microsoft employees that MSN was on the "red side of campus", because it was perennially unprofitable.
Android fragmentation doesn't matter
I've gotten off my purest high horse and come to look at Android differently. Starting with my purchase of the HTC-manufactured Google Nexus One in January 2009, I used pure Android smartphones, untouched by hardware maker or cellular carrier mods; no skins, no extras. Pure Android was the best, I believed. But over the last couple months, I've come to realize that the best thing about Android is what third parties -- and not Google -- do to make it better. Go ahead, eat that Ice Cream Sandwich on Galaxy Nexus. Gingerbread is good enough for me.
Pundits of all types harp about fragmentation -- that it holds back Android and makes competing against iPhone harder. Oh yeah? If 550,000-plus Android activations a day is a problem, give it to me. What a failure to have. At the end of September, Android smartphone OS share, as measured by US cellular subscribers 13 or older, was 43 percent in third quarter, up from 39 percent at end of June, according to Nielsen. By comparison, iOS continued a year-long trend of no growth, with 28 percent share.
Can you imagine if Microsoft took this approach?
That's the question a BetaNews reader asked me earlier today, when forwarding news that esteemed researcher Charlie Miller had gotten the shaft from Apple. Miller released an app that exposed a serious security flaw in iOS. His reward: Banishment from Apple's developer program, for one year. Perhaps longer.
I asked colleague Ed Oswald to write the news story. My followup here seeks to answer the question asked by the reader: "Can you imagine if Microsoft took this approach?" No, because that would go against Microsoft's security policies. But I can imagine the response had Microsoft done something like this -- punish a respected researcher for bringing a major security flaw to its attention. Vilification. Condemnation. Damnation. In blogs. In news commentaries. On social networks. And Apple? There is little noise at all. Once again Apple can do no wrong.
Comcast pushes IPv6 forward
But it's going to be slow going, and for good reasons. Despite all IPv6 promises, there is still much, much testing to do before it's ready for prime time.
Today Comcast revealed that it has started an IPv6 "pilot market deployment" as first step leading to nationwide rollout next year. Broadband providers like Comcast haven't rushed the switch to IPv6 -- despite an increasing shortage of IPv4 network addresses -- because of lacking support, ranging from operating systems to network switches and other devices. Then there are security questions that only real-time use can answer.
Apple has a new way to take your money
It's easier than ever to pay your "Apple Tax" -- that price premium the company collects for its products. Well, that's how Microsoft refers to the price gulf between Windows PCs and Macs, as do many BetaNews readers. If you enjoy paying the tax then perhaps the Apple Store 2.0 app is just for you.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company updated the retail app earlier today, adding new features for taking your dough. Now you can order that shiny new Mac, iOS device or other item from your phone and pick it up at the local Apple Store within the hour. The option is a great benefit for those who forget birthdays, anniversaries or other events and need that last-minute, pricey gift that shows they care. Order while you drive and pick up the item en route to the gift's destination -- assuming there's no major freeway pile up while you shop in the car.
Want an Apple but can only afford a Dell?
I rarely post about vendor deals, but Dell sent promotional email today that caught my attention. Spend $649 on a Dell PC and get a Canon ELPH 100HS digicam, Adobe Elements 9, Premiere Elements 9 and Shutterfly photo book free. The goodies only come with select systems, and Dell is promoting this as a "Holiday Photo Solution".
I'm a sucker for good marketing, and the email subject line -- "Our Gift to You" -- caught my attention. That would be a good subject for phishing mail, too, but I saw that it was from Dell and previewed without images. (Tip: Turn off automatic image loading in email; this helps prevent spam containing "web beacons" -- hidden, clear images -- from identifying a valid address.) There's value here. The ELPH 100HS retails for $179.99 (137.99 from Amazon). The Adobe Elements software, as a bundle, is $79.49 from Amazon. Dell values the Shutterfly photo book at 30 bucks. It's a pretty good pre-holiday deal, that is assuming you want to buy a Dell.
You missed the AT&T LTE phone sale that wasn't, or was it?
I spotted something really bizarre last night. AT&T apparently dramatically dropped the price of its new 4G LTE phones one day after offering them for sale. The HTC Vivid fell from $199.99 to a cool hundred bucks on the company website. The Galaxy S II Skyrocket listed for $149.99, not the original $249.99. What? Did AT&T's LTE phone launch not go as planned? Did the company respond to Verizon's upped LTE data plan caps? Or was it a terrible glitch AT&T might regret?
The pricing, captured in the two screenshots here, simply stunned me. Suddenly I was ready to trade in my standard Galaxy S II for Skyrocket, after all. Why not save 50 bucks (since S2 still listed for $199.99) and get faster data (whenever LTE comes to my area)? I also wanted to score information to offer readers who bought S2 Skyrocket on Sunday and might want partial refunds.
Joe's Bio
Joe Wilcox is BetaNews executive editor. His motto: Change the rules. Joe is a former CNET News staff writer, JupiterResearch senior analyst, and Ziff Davis Enterprise Microsoft Watch editor.
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