IS THE MICROSOFT SURFACE TABLET GOING TO BE THE NEXT BIG THING

The mobile market is getting ready to be hit with the Microsoft Surface tablet.  Although I don’t think it will be an iPad “killer”, which I don’t think there ever will be, I do believe that it will hold up and give the iPad a little competition.

The biggest reason it will compete with the iPad is the same thing that Apple has done with all their devices, making them work together.  Apple’s OS X is getting a big upgrade with the Mountain Lion coming out this summer and it is said to be more like a mobile operating system that will work together with the iPad and iPhone.  So you can work on any one of their devices and pick up where you left off using another.

With Window’s 8 coming out and Microsoft gearing up for the desktop and mobile version along with the Surface tablet that will run Window’s 8, I believe they have seen what Apple has done and will try to create the same experience for Window’s users, which let’s face it, is over 50% of computers users today.

This is where Google’s Android operating system has failed.  They have really only focused on one device, the smartphone.  Sure, they will still keep a chunk of the smartphone market because it seems to be the “cool” thing to have now and with them keeping up with newer versions of their OS, will continue to be up there with Apple, but watch out because with this three punch Window’s 8 bit, Microsoft will be stepping up.

Usually with competition comes lower prices in order to compete, but don’t expect this with Apple.  They are in a world and league of their own and I don’t think any competition you see will make them lower any of their prices.  They have a standard and with lowering prices just to compete will bring down their high status symbol that Steve Jobs has worked hard to establish.

The only downfall I could see with this mobile version of Window’s 8 is that the current Window’s smartphones will not be able to upgrade, you will have to buy an actual Window’s 8 phone or hopefully your contract is coming up and upgrade at that point.  Apple upgrades their mobile OS, but generally will allow the last two handsets to handle the upgrade getting it into more users hands.  The iPhone 4 and 4s should be able to upgrade to the iOS 6 that is coming this fall.

Time will only tell if the iPad will see its first real competition hit the market and as long as they don’t take the Blackberry/RIM road and stupid marketing tactics, I think we will.

Talk soon,

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THE LASER VIRTUAL KEYBOARD FOR SMARTPHONES AND TABLETS

I know the word is already on the street about the next iPhone, reported as iPhone 5, and the integration of the laser virtual keyboard.  Unfortunately I don’t think the next iPhone, which I think the naming may start going along the lines of the iPad and be named The New iPhone, will have a laser virtual keyboard incorporated into it.  I think it’s to soon and it hasn’t been perfected yet to be put into smaller devices.  Also, I don’t think Apple will make that big of a jump incorporating big new tech items in the next iPhone.

There is already a bluetooth device that you can use with any bluetooth enabled device that will shine a nice laser onto any hard service, giving you access to a complete keyboard to type on just like you would on any desktop or laptop.  If you tuned in to watch the recent TV series Alcatraz, you should have caught this futuristic tech being used in their high tech control room.  Their computers didn’t have real keyboards and they weren’t using this bluetooth device either.  It was built into the computers themselves shining that bright red laser keyboard on their desk.

Tech is moving fast and the desktops are being replaced with laptops and the laptops are being replaced with tablets and smartphones.  I have found that with my iPhone 4s I can do just about anything I can accomplish with my laptop, except typing long documents or articles.  So I tend to open my Macbook Pro up for bigger projects like that.  But with an iPad or any other tablet I could get these things done, except for the keypad is not good for placing your fingers properly like you would on a normal computer keyboard.  Which to solve that problem you are seeing companies develop clamshell type devices to slide your tablet into making it into an instant laptop.

The problem I see with this is that why would someone purchase a tablet and then get clamshell dock to use with it, when you can just get a nice 11″ or 13″ laptop that has much more power and capabilities and still just as portable as a tablet?  It doesn’t make sense so I don’t see this device holding much water in the future and eventually will end up in the tech junkyard.

So there is proof that the technology exists and I find it quite fascinating that if you watch current TV shows or movies, pay close attention to the technology being used and you can get a glimpse into the future.  Just an example, but check out the movie Minority Report from 2002 starring Tom Cruise in 2002.  I bet you can see some good tech being used in the film that you are now seeing in gadgets today.  And although I don’t see it today, I can’t wait to see what becomes of the stuff that was used in the movie Avatar.

So I think within a year or two you will start seeing smartphones and tablets, including Apple’s, incorporating these virtual laser keyboards.  Which will be quite interesting to see what happens to the laptop sales.

If you can’t wait for these built in virtual keyboards and want to try your hand at the virtual keyboard via bluetooth you can check it out below.

Celluon Magic Cube Laser Projection Keyboard and Touchpad

Talk soon,

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WHY DIDN’T I MENTION APPLE’S ICLOUD SERVICE, ITUNES MATCH, AS ONE OF THESE SOLUTIONS

In Part 1 I explained why I was ditching iTunes, laid out the top three services for streaming and why I believe these are much better for any music fanatic than iTunes.  But you may be wondering why I didn’t even mention Apple’s new iCloud music service called iTunes Match.

Apple has done a great job on marketing iTunes Match as having your entire music collection at your fingertips and not having to worry about syncing multiple devices because your music is stored in the cloud and is available on any Apple product.  Can’t argue, this is a “semi” true statement, but a little flawed once you take a look at the “at your fingertips” part.  First, the iCloud service as allowed me not to have to worry about syncing my devices every time I would purchase music, all I have to do is look in the purchased area on my iPhone and it’s all right there.  Here’s the interesting part, I have to download the music to my device, taking up storage.  So essentially, I don’t have my entire music collection at my fingertips.  I can download as many songs as I want that will fit on my 16gb iPhone.

This is where the iTunes Match service and Apple have missed the boat by a long shot and it’s why I didn’t mention it as a solution.  You cannot stream music from the iCloud as of yet.  So once you have downloaded what will fit on your device and want to listen to more from your collection, you have to delete the music that is already on the device so you can fit more onto it.  Kinda lame in my mind.  You have to keep downloading a deleting music so you can listen to all your music.

Apple has already released that by 2015 it will profit more from apps than it will in music.  So I have a feeling that eventually Apple will have to get into this game of streaming music.  And not just streaming your own purchased music, I think they will have to have a separate service like Rhapsody, where users can opt into a monthly fee to stream music from iTunes like cloud.

Even if they came out with an iTunes Match streaming service of your own collection, I still would stick to Rhapsody because there is still the issue of purchasing the music to listen to and with Rhapsody a small monthly fee gets you a ton more music to stream or download.

Talk soon,

P.S. Rhapsody just hit me up with a 30 day free trail to all my music fanatic friends out there who want to try it out.  The normal free trial is only 14 days if you visit their website directly, so this is an added bonus for 16 days if you hit the link below.

Try Rhapsody for a 30 day Free trial

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I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M SAYING THIS, BUT THERE IS A FAR BETTER MUSIC SERVICE THAN ITUNES

As an avid Apple product fan and music lover, I can’t even believe it myself saying that I have found a much better music service than iTunes, but I have and I’ll let you in on what it is and explain how music lovers can benefit.

For the longest time I couldn’t pry myself away from iTunes and my iPod.  I always wanted to own my own music so I could do with it as I please.  If someone wanted a copy of what I had in my collection of tunes, I could share it with them.  I also wanted my entire music collection on a single device and take it wherever I would go.

But there was one big issue I could never get over, I had to pay for each song or album.  Now if you are someone that may hear a song on the radio every so often and what a copy, money isn’t an issue.  Pay the $.99 and your done.  But if you’re like me and have a ton of music you want to purchase, this starts chipping away at your bank account fast.  So needless to say I am WAY behind on my music collection due to the costs.  What’s the solution? Well, it’s hard for me to say, but renting some one’s entire music collection for a monthly cost.

I think we are starting to get into the era of streaming music from our mobile devices and the old hard drive music players are on their way out.  Even Apple’s biggest iPod, the iPod classic, is starting to see big decreases in sales and I think they will start looking at discontinuing them.

Here’s my thinking behind this whole renting thing.  Let’s say you just purchase one album at $9.99 a month, what do you get….one album.  Sure it’s yours, but in my years of owning my music I’ve only burned a couple of albums for others to listen too.  So, if you’re like me, I could spend about $25 or more a month just getting caught up on old music I want and also new releases.  And, I would be paying for music the rest of my life.  That’s going to leave a mark for sure.

So, I changed my thinking.  I could rent a music collection of 13 million plus songs and have all of my music on one device just as I wanted for $9.99 a month.  And the best part is, they keep adding music to their collections weekly.  Honestly this seems like a no brainer and should have thought of this a long time ago.

So let’s take a look at the top three music collections for streaming music on the iPhone and what I found.

I checked this one out because it just came out in the U.S. and people were raving all over social media about it.  I took it for a free trial spin and only after about two days cancelled this one.  Their music collection is only about 11 million right now.  I checked out one of my favorite country music artists that has been out since 1993 and they only had one of their albums.  Moving on……..I checked out more of my favorites and found a lot of albums missing.  Sure their collection will grow with time, but does me no good right now.  So as far as I’m concerned, Spotify just ain’t all that.

This service I had read about searching Google for the top music streaming services.  I went ahead a got on board for the free trial.  I have to admit this seemed like the one.  I really like their iPhone app, simple and easy to use.  You could add any song or album to your favorites and listen to them whenever you wanted.  The streaming part was great, no hiccups and sounded great.  It also has a feature that allows a play queue, so it was really like a on the go play list, which you could clear out at any time.  Also, it has a feature that when you play a song, it lists other songs in that genre that might appeal to you.  Pretty cool for finding new music, but only suggests up to about five or six songs.  One downside, which didn’t really matter to me, but may for you is that you cannot create play lists from the iPhone app.  You have to create play lists on your computer that automatically syncs to the iPhone app.  There music collection is quite impressive too, although it is missing some of my favorites.

I really had forgot about this little gem, until a friend of mine reminded me of it.  I had read some reviews about their iPhone app and weren’t that great.  Reviews were saying that it crashes a lot which is not good if your streaming music and can be a huge issue, one that could stray customers away.  So I dug a little deeper and found that their music collection was even a bit better than MOG.  So I had to try it to see what their iPhone app features were and if the reviews were true.  I have found that it will sometimes crash, but nothing significant and doesn’t get annoying.  The one thing I found that MOG is better than Rhapsody is when you are looking at an artists album within Rhapsody, some of the songs are greyed out and you can’t play them.  This is because you can’t stream or play them unless you purchase them.  This could be a problem if there was a certain song you wanted off the album.  It’s not often and I haven’t came across a “had to have song” that was greyed out.  Their iPhone app is pretty slick and has a lot of features that MOG doesn’t.  You can create a play list right from within the app.  Another feature I use often to find new music is a feature called related artist.  Once you click on a singer you can go to the related artist tab to find additional related music.  Very cool.

These three services are a like in many ways and it really depends on ones own preferences. So as you may tell, after trying all three I went with Rhapsody for the $9.99 per month option.  This allows for you to use it on your computer and up to one mobile device.  You can opt for the $14.99 per month and it allows you to use it on up to three mobile devices.  The only problem is you can’t stream music at the same time on all three devices.  So don’t think you can load it on to your spouses or friends device and all enjoy streaming music, won’t work.

The biggest limitation you will have for streaming music is your data plan.  If you have an unlimited plan you should be ok.  Although this may put you into a pinch because cell phone companies are now throttling unlimited data plans.  This means if you are within the top 5% of their data users per month and you hit a certain usage ceiling, they will slow your speed down to a crawl after hitting that mark for the month.  After that month is up, you get your top speed back until you hit the ceiling again and so on.  The only good part is, if there can be in this situation, is the company should let you know if you are getting into that 5% and you are getting close to having your speed downgraded for that month.  I have an unlimited data plan and use my iPhone for simple things like browsing the internet and email.  I also steam music for about 4-6 hours per day and have never received this type of notification from my cell phone company.  I have checked and as of January 24, 2011 I have used 2.7gb of data on my unlimited plan and my billing cycle doesn’t end until February 11, 2011.  So we will see if I get a notification and what this ceiling may be.

If you do have a limited data plan, streaming music may not be an option for you and you would have to download your songs to your device for listening.  Each one of these three services allows for unlimited downloads so that won’t be an issue, except for your a limited to the data storage on you device.  Below I have included a chart so you can see how much data you will use if you stream music.

Here’s how many hours of music streaming you can do on a 2GB data plan.

96kbps (Radio Quality) — 45.76 hours of streaming per month

160kbps (3G Quality) — 27.52 hours of streaming per month

320kbps (CD Quality) — 13.79 hours of streaming per month

I believe all three services are the same.  If your streaming on your 3G data plan it plays at 160kbps.  If your are streaming on a WiFi network, it would be at the 320kbps.  But on a WiFi network you shouldn’t be using any of your data plan, so this should only come into play while using your 3G data plan.  Keep in mind this is just streaming music and doesn’t include data for anything else you may use it for.

As a side note.  Streaming music does eat up battery life, so have some type of charging device handy.  Although I have noticed it doesn’t drain it as quick as when I listen to the radio using TuneIn Radio.

What’s your thoughts?  Is there any top notch service I have left out?  Leave a comment and let me know your experience or opinions.

Talk soon,

UPDATE:  It looks like data throttling is set to around 5gb per month on an unlimited plan.  Although looking at some of the tech blogs, once you reach this limit still doesn’t mean that you will start seeing a drop in network speed.  The company states that throttling is based on a case by case scenario built around many factors.  See the pictures below, I reached the 5gb mark and received the text from hell stating I was now in the top 5% of users and had to use wifi to avoid reduced network speeds.  The day the text came in was the last day of my billing cycle, but I did test the speed and my iPhone was still seeing some highend speeds on 3G.

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ONE MONTH REVIEW OF THE IPHONE 4S AND SIRI PERSONAL ASSISTANT-READ THIS BEFORE MAKING THE DECISION TO UPGRADE

It’s been a month now using the new iPhone 4s and it’s built in personal assistant Siri.  If you don’t already know I’m an Apple product freak and believe Steve Jobs was a true visionary in the tech world.  Hell I was watching a 1997 video of him speaking at the big Apple convention and he was already talking about cloud services before anyone knew that they would become a part of our lives.  He could see computers not having any “working” parts in them and seeing us just having a keyboard and screen.  None the less, I do like Apple products.  I currently have a 13″ Macbook Pro, iPod Classic and just upgraded from the iPhone 3gs to the 4s.  And what I’m about to reveal and tell you may be shocking after hearing my praise of Apple products.

I can say after owning the 3gs for two years and upgrading to the 4s, there was quite a bit of difference.  First going from the curved edges and back of the 3gs to the candy bar slab of the 4s was remarkably different.  And I have to say I don’t agree with most that the curvy casing is better.  I happen to really like the candy bar style of the 4s.  Next up is the camera and WOW, what can I say.  I now enjoy shooting photos.  The pictures turn out excellent and the colors are realistic to what was shot as opposed to the 3gs.  Now that the 4s takes video in 1080p, I can now ditch my Flip video camera and carry one device with all my goodies.  No need to carry around a phone, camera and a video recorder.

Since I decided to go straight to the 4s and skip on the 4, I really didn’t get a feel for what the difference was between the two devices.  But, after purchasing the 4s and wondering if I could have saved a Benjamin, I began testing the two devices between my friends and I.  I was really in shock on my discovery.  First, let’s take a look at the major differences between the iPhone 4 and 4s.

iPhone 4:

• 5 megapixal camera
• 720 Video Recorder
• Single Core Processor A4 Chip
• 8gb

iPhone 4s:

• Better Camera (8 megapixals)
• Better Video Recorder (1080p)
• Siri Personal Assistant
• Dual Core Processor A5 Chip
• 16gb

After testing both of the major differences here was my conclusion.

CAMERA

I took two shots of the same photo using both devices and found that the iPhone 4 was a bit brighter and did have great color and was a great picture.  After looking at the two I got a little miffed because it seemed there was not much difference.  But after taking a closer look, the 4s captured the true color of the photo.  The orange in the 4 photo was very bright orange and the actual color was more of of a burnt orange that had a hint of red, which the 4s captured.

VIDEO RECORDER

Again, it’s obvious that the iPhone 4s 1080p recorder will take a better shot for you than the iPhone 4 720p video.  The biggest difference I saw was that the 4s has video stabilization feature that does help if you tend to have shaky hands.

STORAGE

With Apple reducing the size of the iPhone 4 to 8gb, your losing a bit of storage for music, videos, audiobooks, etc.  But if you mainly use your phone for apps and a little playlist of music, I think the 8gb will suffice.  Photos don’t take a ton of space so I don’t think you would run into any problems.

PROCESSOR

Apple did a great job hyping up the new A5 chip with dual core processor, but it’s just that…..all hype.  This to me is the first fail for the new iPhone 4s.  One day after my purchase of the 4s, I sat it side by side a very dilapidated iPhone 4, meaning it had seen it’s last leg so to speak.  It had been dropped several times, the left front corner of the screen was completely busted out and the home button didn’t work.  I actually have seen this phone slammed on the floor several times just to try to get the home button to work.  So with that being said I thought for sure my brand new iPhone 4s would demolish this thing in speed.  Guess what?  I was completely wrong.  Performing several tests with app loading, internet speed and even downloading news feeds.  My iPhone 4s only beat this damn thing once and not by much.  Honestly after a month of use I only notice two items that seem to be just a tad faster than my iPhone 3gs, updating and installing apps and uploading photos to my Photobucket app, that’s it.  So if your thinking your getting a huge boost in speed with your upgrade think again.

SIRI PERSONAL ASSISTANT

This is the second fail on the iPhone 4s.  It seems this new talking to your phone era is a joke.  I see more people using Siri as a novelty more so than an actual assistant.  Asking it stupid questions to see what she’ll say.  I have to say it’s quite amusing on some of her answers.  I don’t find myself using it over my fingers doing the talking, like texting and searching the internet for my answers.  When I have used Siri to text, if I don’t speak VERY clearly what I want it to say, it comes back with gibberish which I have to back out or say don’t send and then try again.  If Siri doesn’t catch what you say the first time, it could take up to 4 minutes just to send a text.  Not very groundbreaking in my mind.  I have found myself at times, when I think of it, to ask it to call a business, which seems helpful.  But guess what, this isn’t a huge discovery that Apple has uncovered.  You can get the same service for free on an Android device and it works just the same.  I have seen video of the two in action side by side and at times the Android version comes back with faster and more accurate answers.

My take is that I don’t think we are in this era yet of talking to our devices, TV’s included people.  I think Apple is to quick to pull the trigger with this technology that just isn’t ready for us to accept.  We are still in the “finger” talking with text and search era.  I have a feeling we will get there, but it’s a ways away in my mind.  Apparently other companies think we’re ready to just jump into this tech and their spending big money to incorporate this into their products.  Microsoft is trying to be the first on the market to have humans speak commands to their TV before Apple has a chance to launch their Apple TV product with Siri built in.  They have put this software into their Xbox Kinect so you can talk to your TV.  I just don’t see this stuff taking off like these companies do.  Just as I don’t think 3D TV will. (Which is a whole nether subject I could go on about, but not here)

So there it is, my one month review of the new iPhone 4s.  I would say if your using the iPhone 4, I would stick with it until the unveiling of the iPhone 5.  If you’re a iPhone 3gs owner, it’s your call.

Talk soon,

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AMAZON HAS RELEASED THE KINDLE FIRE AND IT’S NO MYSTERY OTHERS ARE CALLING THIS THE IPAD KILLER

Well the time has come once again with what some are saying is the next iPad killer.  Amazon has released their new Kindle Fire with an all new look and OS.  It’s just Android with a lot of tweaks Amazon is saying.  So why is this the next big thing that will kill the iPad?  Bigger companies like Samsung and Motorola released their tablets and guess what, they were said to be the next gadget to put the iPad in it’s grave.  Neither one has succeeded, so why does Amazon think they got what it takes?

They don’t and no tablet has yet to meet the makers match.  All the Kindle Fire is is a glorified e-book reader with some extra punches, without a camera, mic and doesn’t come in 3G.  Sure it’s a great device, but no where near what an iPad has to offer.  I really do like all the 7″ tablets that are coming out and I think Apple needs to start considering offering a 7″ version of the iPad with a lower price.  I think what’s going to draw people to the Kindle Fire is the price.  We just saw the HP Touchpad go on sale for a record low $99 and completely sold out of stores and online in record time.  People were then reselling them for up to $250 and still selling out of them.  So we know price point is huge in the tablet world.  With this thing selling for $199, it’s definately going to a good thing for Amazon.

Now if Amazon really wants to compete with the iPad, it’s going to have to drop the Kindle name and start with a new fresh and hip name.  When the Kindle was first introduced it was nothing more than an e-book reader.  Each version after that added a couple extras, but still it was an e-book reader in peoples minds.  So Amazon has cornered themselves with this Kindle name and it’s going to be hard for people to think of that name as a true media tablet like the others.

I think the Kindle Fire is a nice tablet, but just isn’t close to kill the competition.  What are your thoughts?

Talk soon,

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THE IPHONE IS NOT THE COOLEST SMARTPHONE TO OWN THESE DAYS…..THE THREE BIGGEST NAMES IN SMARTPHONES BATTLE IT OUT TO WIN POPULARITY CONTEST

It looks like the iPhone is falling short in the popularity contest with the kids and college crowd.  And the reason is “because my dad has an iPhone.”  Guess the kindergarten attitude is coming out a little in the gadget world.  It looks like what’s being carried around one major campus is HTC and Samsung devices, not the iPhone according to the Boy Genius Report.

This is interesting because HTC and Samsung have been hitting the market hard in the last year or so with new devices every couple of months it seems.  And Apple continues to only release one upgraded iPhone per year.  They each started out doing the same thing Apple did with the iPhone, release one great smartphone, and then follow it up within a year.  But it seemed HTC and Samsung weren’t gaining ground with the iPhone.  So they switched the game up a little to see what they could do to get get a piece of the pie.

Let’s face it, Americans want the latest and greatest of whatever product is out there.  And smartphones are falling into the same category very quickly with HTC and Samsung figuring this out, Apple not so much.  The iPhone was the best and coolest device to have for a long while when smartphones started becoming the thing to have.  So as usual, other companies wanted in on the action so the battle starts.  The only two major players that have risen to the top are HTC and Samsung.  But they noticed that by following Apple’s lead, they would never catch up because everyone just waited until the next iPhone.

What HTC and Samsung have figured out is that since smartphones are in almost everybody’s pocket now days, every two or three months millions of subscribers were due for an upgrade.  And guess what, Apple couldn’t deliver on all these upgrades and the American desire to have the latest and greatest cool gadget, so these two giants are now able to quinch peoples thirst by having a new device ready and waiting.

Does Apple really care?  I don’t think so and never will.  Steve Jobs didn’t build it this way.  I don’t think his company would be where it is today if he came out with a new iPhone, Macbook, iMac or any one of their products every couple of months to satisfy this desire.  He wanted his company to stand out and this is exactly what it is today.  I put Apple in the same category as Bose.  Bose is the premiere company that gives its customers the best quality sound in many different formats.  Yes they both produce products that follow where the market is going, which is what all companies do, but Apple and Bose look at the way they do it in a very unique light.

So what do you think about all this “hip to be square” stuff?  Which device are you using right now and why?

Talk soon,

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IS THE HP TOUCHPAD WITH WEBOS SAYING BYE BYE FOREVER OR IS HP PURE GENIUS’S?

Now that the HP Touchpad webOS fire sale is over, what will become of this low sought out operating system?  HP’s Executive Vice President Todd Bradley is reportedly looking to leave HP in search for another CEO role elsewhere.  This is due to the plans that HP will discontinue its webOS smartphones and tablets and is interested in splitting off the PC business, which Samsung is quite interesting in buying and becoming top dog in the PC world.

Here is an interesting fact, due to the fire sale and HP dropping their Touchpad to an unheard of price of $99, it became the biggest talk of the town in the tablet world.  Not iPad, Android or the Blackberry Playbook.

HP has now flooded the market with their webOS tablet, which was no where even close to competing with any iPad or Android tablet and sold out in record time.  People were lining up to lay down the cash in stores everywhere and buying several at a time, not to mention scooping them up on the internet.  So now HP has them in millions of hands with a system that is said to be obsolete in the coming days, or is it?

One thought is what HP is claiming, which is, since it seemed they had no chance in competing with the iPad or Android, they would cut their losses and drop the price so low they had to sell out of all their inventory.  Good call if they knew they would discontinue their lines of webOS smartphones and tablets.  Common sense not genius.

The price to make a Touchpad is around $318, so at $99 they are losing a ton of cash.   The lucky ones who purchased these things at $99 are selling them on the internet all day long at $250, so why didn’t HP at least try to get some of this money by selling them at this price when they knew they could get it?  Did they really lose out or was this just some smart marketing?

HP Touchpad Theory 1:

My thought is they were thinking a very smart marketing strategy called a no brainer.  At $250 buyers may have thought twice about purchasing, but when you drop the price like they did, it never ever crossed a buyers mind to purchase and purchase many at a time.  So now HP knows at this point that price is a HUGE factor in buying a tablet.  Maybe its not the operating system at all.  And they know they can sell Touchpads at $99 all day long.  The people who bought and are now selling them at $250 are selling out also.  So HP could keep producing these things and slowly raise prices until they hit that top out mark for buyers, leave the price and essentially out price there competitors.  We already know they are still producing Touchpads to fill the back inventory for buyers, so why not continue.

HP Touchpad Theory 2:

If HP does decide to phase out the webOS smartphones and tablets, they have now circulated millions of this operating system out there that will need support and updates.  This could make the bidding war start with buying the webOS.  Think Samsung.  I have always thought that putting this system on a nice slab device like Samsung would go over with consumers really well if marketed right.  Whoever decides to buy, the one step of startup marketing has already been done by HP.  They have already put it in front of the whole world now and people will soon learn that the webOS is a top notch system.  HP did a horrible job with this when first launching webOS and with this fire sale, somehow hit the nail on the head.

So which way do you think HP will go?

UPDATE:  After writing this article just a day before, 9to5Mac came out with this interesting article that looks like one of my theory’s could be what HP is trying to do.

=>PC head Todd Bradley tells Reuters HP could resurrect the Touchpad

Talk soon,

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HTC PARTNERS WITH BEATS ELECTRONICS’. WHAT WILL APPLE DO?

Big news in the gadget world today.  HTC has teamed up with a big name in speaker technology, Beats Electronics’.  They said they need to get into the mobile marketplace and HTC now has an advantage because smartphones are not known for their great speaker systems in them.  So in my mind this is a great move for HTC.

HERE IS MY TAKE

When I first stepped into the iPhone world with the 3GS, I noticed that the speakers were not all that.  And as I started using it more I wondered why the biggest player in smart phones put such shitty speakers in them.  A sleek phone like this should have been accompanied by quality speakers.  Now I’m a huge fan of Bose speakers and have a set of their in-ear buds that I listen to my music with.  Bose is top notch and if they figured out how to put their technology in a confined spot like an ear bud and still have that crisp clear sound, then surely they can fit this tech in a smart phone.

So I made a prediction a while back that Apple would someday team up with Bose to offer a high quality speaker system with the iPhone.  Now that HTC has teamed up with Beats Electronics’, I think Apple will be looking into competing with this.  It may not be Bose, but I think they will start looking for partnerships with a high quality company to offer better speakers in them.  Cost will be the biggest factor in this decision, but if Apple can partner with Bose, WOW, the iPhone will jump to the next level.

In keeping up with the iPhone 5 rumors, as of now there is no talk about a better speaker system, just cosmetic changes.  So this may not happen soon, which could be a downfall for Apple, but we’ll hope and wait and see.

Here is Engadgets take on HTC partnering with Beats Electronics’.

What do you think? Let us know.

Talk soon,

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