BlackBerry 10 Built For Success In U.S. Markets

In turns out that technology writer, Ashraf Eassa was correct - a perceived lack of BlackBerry (BBRY) 10 apps is not a issue for consumers when shopping for a new smartphone. What consumers are looking for is a device that does all the basic functions well in a better, more integrated smartphone experience.

The Battle for Mindshare Continues

In an early evaluation of the Z10, Walt Mossberg mentioned some of the key strengths and differentiators of the Z10 smartphone.

Mossberg stated that the Z10 provided "the best keyboarding experience he has seen on a smartphone". A second differentiator that Mossberg liked was the BlackBerry Hub which aggregates all messages just one gesture away from any screen. Multiple email accounts, text messages (SMS), BlackBerry Messages (BBM), social network updates and messages can be peeked at with a swipe of the thumb. If an immediate response is required the user can respond while leaving their other applications running -- True multi-tasking capability.

In an article written 10 days ago, I expressed the position that BlackBerry CEO, Thorsten Heins was doing the little things right.

With Heins at the helm, BlackBerry has staggered release dates for the Z10, and Q10, while entering several international markets each week. This approach keeps the BlackBerry 10 name, image & devices in the media spotlight for technology followers, investors, consumers and enterprise/government clients. I proposed that the media fever surrounding each release was a well orchestrated "guerilla marketing" campaign that was giving BlackBerry coverage well beyond what it is spending on paid advertising.

In the past 10 days ago, BlackBerry has experienced a frenzy of negative reports, sell-side analysis and strangely interpreted data. While not as great in shear numbers, a number of positive evaluations of BlackBerry's market chances have also occurred. Michael Collins, a U.K. observer has done on the ground research which indicates BlackBerry is making decent progress in the fight to maintain and grow market share.

U.S. Smartphone Consumers

It has been stated that the maturing U.S. smartphone market may be among the most difficult for BlackBerry to recover or even maintain market share. Walt Mossberg felt a lack of available apps might be a barrier to BlackBerry 10 sales. This position has been repeated many times by numerous sources as Mossberg is felt by many to be a particularly acute technology observer.

In the past 10 days, I have found two authors expressing a differing view. Ashraf Eassa stated that if BlackBerry 10 fails, " it won't be because of 'lack of apps'". Mathew Miller, cell phones and smartphones writer at ZDNet, stated:

"The more I use the BlackBerry Z10, the more I find having tons of apps doesn't matter as much as having a solid core platform, fast and functional web browser, and hardware that is enjoyable to use.

I looked at my iPhone 5, Lumia 920, and Galaxy Note II to see what apps I really use on a daily or every other day basis. I found that the BlackBerry Z10 has what I need, and with the efficient communications core, I am able to use it as my daily driver and am enjoying the experience."

The positions taken by Mossberg, Easssa and Miller are personal viewpoints and should not carry much weight when making an investment decision if viewed in isolation.

Nielsen Data

Nielsen (the ratings company) did a report on mobile device consumers around the world. Nielsen found that only 2% of U.S. smartphone buyers cited a "wide choice of applications" as "top selection criteria" when buying a mobile device.

Further analysis of Nielson's full report reveals what users do with their smartphones. The three most common tasks were text messaging (93% of users), email (68% of users), and web-surfing (66% of users). The BlackBerry 10 platform is optimized for these three tasks and with a single gesture users can navigate between them.

The fourth most frequent use of a smartphone was for social networking (63% of users). Facebook (FB), Twitter, Linkedin (LNKD), text and BBM messaging have built in apps on the BlackBerry 10. With Skype, Oovoo and many other platforms available to download, the vast majority of users will have all their social networking needs met with a BlackBerry 10 device. The fifth most frequent use of U.S. smartphones was for applications/apps (62% of users).

There seems to be a growing consensus that BlackBerry 10 is performing as well as could be expected in all markets entered thus far. At the same time, a genuine doubt has developed regarding BlackBerry 10's possible success in the U.S. marketplace.

I see this latest research by Nielsen as changing the perceptions. It opens the door a little wider for BlackBerry to walk or perhaps squeeze through. While US consumers may not run into a store knowing they will purchase a Z10 - the Nielsen information regarding consumer tendencies can readily be used by sales associates to demonstrate how this particular phone can meet their needs. A satisfied customer and word of mouth advertising might open up doors for BlackBerry that analysts have been unaware of.

The viewpoint expressed by Walt Mossberg and others (that a lack of apps would hurt BlackBerry10's chances in the marketplace) were personal viewpoints that were repeated so many times as to become accepted as fact. The Nielsen data based on consumer research throws significant doubt on this point of view.

While Nielsen's data may or may not reflect how consumers will ultimately behave in the marketplace, it would seem to carry more weight than one man's opinion.

View the original article here

BlackBerry launches Z10 in India amid claims of poor sales

BlackBerry Z10 launches in India. Another final gasp of air in an emerging, burgeoning market? (Credit: CNET)

BlackBerry has launched its latest Z10 smartphone in India, the up and coming enterprise powerhouse, the Canadian phone maker said today.

But the news comes at the same time that two industry analysts suggest that sales in BlackBerry's latest smartphone platform have been slow, bordering on abysmal.

According to The Guardian, both Cannacord Genuity and Pacific Crest analysts have cut their estimates for the number of smartphones sold through retailers after speaking to sources in both stores and the upstream supply chain. 

Pacific Crest said that "any benefit from the Z10 is likely to be at least partly offset by cannibalisation of [BlackBerry] Bold 9900 sales," pegging between 1 million to 1.5 million Z10 smartphones will be shipped—not sold—by the end of the fiscal year, compared to 3 million to 4 million. 

The worst case scenario, the analysts say, is that BlackBerry may have sold just 300,000 new Z10 smartphones, which could put the company in deeper trouble after investing its last-ditch attempt to stave off drowning in the mobile market place in the platform.

Only today, similarly beleaguered phone maker Nokia announced it would aggressively target China and Asia markets with a mid-to-high end Windows Phone 8-powered Lumia 720, along with two feature phones to fill the lower-end of the market. 

Do you see a pattern emerging? For both BlackBerry and Nokia, it's all in or get out. 

While Nokia targets China, BlackBerry heads up India, a place it has invested heavily. The company recently folded to Indian government requests and set up a PIN-sharing agreement with authorities. In a bid to cut crime and the ongoing threat of terrorism, BlackBerry had to play ball with the country in order to keep its strong (albeit modest) presence in the country, which has a booming population of business users.

The BlackBerry maker finally gave in to pressure amid pressure from the Indian government and built back-end infrastructure and data servers in Mumbai in 2011.

(via The Guardian)

View the original article here

Google Glass Listed on eBay, Bidding Tops $15K

The hype surrounding Google's new Glass wearable computing device reached new heights last week when the company announced that a select few would have the chance to pony up $1,500 for the device.

Since then, a number of experts have weighed in on the relative benefits and potential pitfalls of a society in which people no longer have to hold up a smartphone to take photos, record events, and search for information while interacting with others. Some of that skepticism has gained traction, but the enthusiasm around the device hasn't waned, as the hysteria over an eBay listing for a pair of Google glasses might suggest.

The seller, listed under the moniker "bla7kcat," claims to be one of those selected to purchase Glass under the new "If I Had Glass" program. Black7kcat listed the device on eBay last week. After just one week, the price has jumped from $1,500 at the start to $15,500 as of this writing.

Accompanying the auction is a message that indicates that the seller is indeed willing and able to deliver on the promise: "I've been selected as an early adapter for Google's upcoming release. You are buying a brand new unopened pair of Google's Project Glass glasses. I will be personally attending and picking up my pair in either Los Angeles, or New York at Google's Project Glass launch event, which will take place some time after Feburary 27th. As for what colors will actually be available, will vary, if I am offered a choice, I will choose the color of your choice…"

As for Google's part in all this, the contest guidelines don't appear to prohibit reselling of the device. However, there is one line in the contest's guidelines that could prove to trip up the final transaction if Google attempts to figure out the identity of the seller. Google's contest rules state: "Google reserves the right to disqualify you from #ifihadglass if, in Google’s sole discretion, it reasonably believes that you have attempted to undermine the legitimate operation of #ifihadglass by cheating, deception, or other unfair playing practices…"

Whether auctioning off one's Glass device constitutes cheating is open to interpretation. But, based on the exclusive nature of the program, reselling the device seems like something the company would attempt to shut down.

So far, the Glass offer has received 34 bids from interested parties, indicating that, despite the high price, this will likely result in a successful auction. And while the seller has good ratings and reviews on eBay dating as far back as 2009, that data point doesn't necessarily guarantee that the auction will put Glass in the winner bidder's hands. The seller doesn't reveal their identity or what they wrote to be accepted into the program, but whatever the seller actually wrote to win the right to buy the Glass device, it probably wasn't the truth, which would have read: If I had Glass, I'd sell it on eBay. 

Update: It appears your chance to spend $15,000 on Google Glass is no more. The eBay listing has been yanked; the link now directs to a page that says "Item 221192598719 is no longer available."

View the original article here

Sergey Brin Explains Google Glasses

James Duncan Davidson Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, on Wednesday at the $7,500-a-seat TED conference in Long Beach, Calif.

Why did Google create Google Glass, its glasses with a heads-up display?

To hear Sergey Brin, Google co-founder, explain it, it was to prevent social isolation.

He got on stage Wednesday at the $7,500-a-seat TED conference in Long Beach, Calif., and looked down, pretending to use his smartphone. “That is why we created this form factor,” he said.

He said rubbing the screens of buttonless and knobless phones was strange. “I feel like it’s kind of emasculating,” he said. “You are just rubbing this featureless piece of glass. There isn’t anything to feel.”

“You want something that frees your eyes,” he said. Also, he said, “We wanted to free up your ears.” The sound goes straight to your cranium.

He said original prototypes did not have a camera built in, clearly a flaw. He said, “It’s been really magical to capture moments spent with my family and kids that I would never have done with a camera or a phone, on a swing, in the air, whatever situation.”

But he also discovered a drawback to the glasses. When he takes out his phone, he said, “I look as if I have something very important to do. This takes away that excuse.”

The company will sell the glasses for $1,500 each to people who write a convincing essay on what they will use the glasses for.

View the original article here

Google Glass eBay Listing Removed

Seth Fiegerman2013-02-27 14:45:36 UTC

Google Glass won't launch for consumers until later this year, but someone is already advertising a pair on eBay.

UPDATE: The Google Glass listing is no longer on eBay. In a statement provided to Mashable, eBay said the listing was removed because "it was in violation of our presale listings policy."

In a spelling error-filled post, a seller from Cleveland, Ohio, claims that he or she has been selected as an "early adapter" for the high-tech glasses and will be picking up a pair this week at a Project Glass launch event in New York. The auction started at $1,500 — the going price of Google Glass — but quickly skyrocketed and is now nearly $16,000. The auction ends tomorrow.

"If i am offered a choice, I will choose the color of your choice (see listing picture for variants)," the seller writes. "Project Glass will be shipped with Insurance at my expence, and signature upon delivery, so please use an address you can accept delivery in person."

Google has held a couple hackathons this year to let developers play with Google Glass. The company also opened up pre-orders for the device to consumers who explained how they would use the product. Google's plan, as of right now, is to have a "fully polished" product available for consumers to buy by the end of this year.

For what it's worth, the seller has pretty positive ratings on eBay for previous auctions, which include several "high quality sheet metal paperclips," a 16 GB flash drive and a body pillow, among other items. But if you add up all of those items, they still are just a fraction of the current asking price for Google Glass, so we suggest using caution before making a bid.

Image via Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images

View the original article here

Google Glass will transform “emasculating” smartphones says Google boss

Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, took to the stage at the Technology, Education and Design (TED) conference in Los Angeles to speak about Google Glass, saying the technology could free us from “emasculating” smart device addictions.

The augmented reality technology, Google Glass, could be hitting the markets this year apparently releasing consumers from their unnatural smart phone addictions and redefining the search engine experience.

“Is this the way you’re meant to interact with other people?” said Brin, referring to the use of smartphones. “It’s kind of emasculating. Is this what you’re meant to do with your body?”

Of course, with Google’s huge investment in its Android mobile phone operating system, Brin had to appear like he was suffering from the same bad smartphone behaviours.

“I have a nervous tic. The cell phone is a nervous habit – if I smoked, I’d probably smoke instead, it’d look cooler. But I whip [Google Glass] out and look as if I have something important to do. It really opened my eyes to how much of my life I spent secluding myself away in email.”

Brin believes that Google Glass will a step towards the technology giant’s ultimate goal, transforming the current search engine experience to one that brings you information on command.

“When we started Google 15 years ago, my vision was that information would come to you as you need it. You wouldn’t have to search query at all.”

Google Glass may not be exactly this vision, but with hands free interactivity and information displayed directly in your field of vision, it’s certainly a step closer.

Google Glass Features
First demoed in at the Google I/O conference in May last year, Google has recently released fresh details on its augmented reality technology in the form of a YouTube video that displays the Google Glass features.

Voice recognition will be the primary interaction method for Google Glass, coupled with a small touch pad and button mounted on the side of the glasses behind the camera. Speaking a set of pre-set phrases instructs Google Glass to take photos, record videos, send message, start Google Hangouts or access Google Maps for directions, all starting with the phrase “Okay Glass”.

So far we’ve only seen a handful of the future Google Glass features, with the head of the Google Glass project Babak Parviz confirming “the feature set for the device is not set yet.”

All the information is fed to the user via the Google Glass’s small, translucent square perched in the top right-hand corner of the wearer’s field of vision. The latest images of the augmented reality technology show that this glass panel is considerably smaller than that seen at last year’s Google I/O event.

According to Brin, Google Glass should be available to the general public sometime this year, perhaps undercutting the original early 2014 estimate set by the Google launch timeline.

Would you be happy to be seen sporting Google Glass technology? Do you think we have an unnatural obsession with smartphones? Give us your thoughts via the TrustedReviews Facebook and Twitter pages or the comment boxes below.

Via: TED

View the original article here

LG Optimus G vs BlackBerry Z10: Android And BlackBerry Premium Handsets PrizeFight

LG Optimus G vs BlackBerry Z10: Android And BlackBerry Premium Handsets Price Fight | Mobile - Gizbot Oneindia Classifieds

Well, after months of prolonged delay, LG has officially released Optimus G in India at an event in Mumbai on Wednesday. Launched at
Rs 34,500, the handset is already available on online retailer sites as well. With the pricing and hardware, it is quite evident that the South Korean tech firm is aiming to take over all the flagship models.

Optimus G was first launched in South Korea back in September 2012 and was expected to hit global markets in November. However, LG delayed the launch and until now in India. The reason for the delay remains unknown, but, as it has come in a couple of days after the release of BlackBerry Z10, it can be said that LG is aiming to take over even the Canadian firm's offering.

When it comes to BlackBerry, after fighting a shaking off battle for a couple of years with the tech titans, the company has put in all its effort in launching BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 smartphones based on its new operating system.

While consumers were eagerly awaiting the launch of Z10 in India, BlackBerry has crashed all the expectations with its hefty price tag of Rs 43,490 for Z10. Such an amount is considered as a whopping investment for many, especially for a BlackBerry handset, the company which has not been in the market for a long time.

Several analysts and tech experts have been predicted that Blackberry has missed the last chance to win the enterprise users with its Z10 due to its price tag. Moreover, when compared with the other flagship offerings, Z10 lacks many key elements, which again pulls it back to some extent.

However, as LG has come up as a competition to BlackBerry in India with both the handsets being released in the same week, Gizbot has decided to compare both Optimus G and Z10. Read it below.

Form Factor: Of the duo, Optimus G measuring 131.9 x 68.9 x 8.5 mm and weighing in at 145 grams is obviously heavier than Z10, which boasts a lighter dimension of 130 x 65.6 x 9 mm and weighs around 137.5 grams.

Speaking of display, Optimus G comes with a 4.7 inch True HD IPS+ LCD capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 x 768 and a pixel density of 318 ppi approximately.

On the other hand, Z10 has a 4.2 inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels and approximately 355 ppi pixel density.

Optimus G features the Corning Gorilla Glass protection, which makes the display scratch resistant and protects it from everyday wear and tear. Also, the IPS+ display will offer wider viewing angles.

Processor: In this segment, Optimus G is equipped with a 1.5GHz quad core Qualcomm MDM9615/APQ8064 processor, while Z10 dual core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

Theoretically, quad core processors offer efficient multi-tasking capability and hence, better performance.

Operating System: This is a contracting aspect of the comparison as Optimus G comes with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS and Z10 has BlackBerry 10 OS.

Detailing on software features, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS has features such as Project Butter, which offers faster, smoother and responsive performance, on-screen navigation buttons, expandable and contractible Android notifications, resizable App Widgets functionality, high resolution contact photos, Android Beam app and more.

At the same time, BlackBerry 10 OS comes with new features and enhancements including BlackBerry Hub, BlackBerry Flow, BBM, BlackBerry Balance, Story Maker, BlackBerry Remember, BlackBerry Safeguard and BlackBerry World.

Camera: In here, Optimus G is a sure winner with a 13MP rear camera accompanied by features including autofocus, LED flash and a 1.3MP front camera for video calling. In comparison, Z10 has an 8MP rear camera with autofocus and LED flash and a 2MP front camera.

Storage: When it comes to storage, Optimus G has 32GB internal storage and Z10 has 16GB and 2GB RAM. However, Optimus G lacks a micro SD card slot while Z10 has a micro SD card supporting up to 64GB.

Connectivity: Optimus G features Wi-Fi, Bluetooth with A2DP, NFC, HSDPA, HSUPA, LTE, GPRS/EDGE, micro USB 2.0 and USB Host.

On the other hand, Z10 also comes with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth with A2DP and EDR, NFC, HSDPA, HSUPA, LTE, GPRS/EDGE and micro USB 2.0.

Battery: In this segment, non-detachable Optimus G comes with a 2,100 mAh Li-Po battery offering up to 135 hours standby and 15 hours talk time, whereas, Z10 comes with a removable 1,800 mAh Li-ion battery delivering up to 10 hours talk time and 312 hours standby.

Price: On the pricing front, Optimus G is priced at Rs 34,500 and and BlackBerry Z10 is priced at a whopping Rs 43,490.

Other Features: When it comes to the software features, Optimus G comes with Dual Screen Dual Play capability, which allows mirroring of an image onscreen with a TV or monitor. The handset also has features including Qslide, which shows two different screens simultaneously and QuickMemo, allowing users to take notes using the finger as a stylus. At the same time, Z10 has integrated social networking, instant messaging features and 3X digiital zoom in front camera.

Verdict

Both Optimus G and Z10 are high-end smartphones that come with impressive spec sheet and other features. However, these handsets will definitely have their pros and cons.

If the concern is better camera performance, big internal memory storage, quad core processor for increased performance and a relatively lower price tag, Optimus G might be the right choice.

On the other hand, if a light weight handset with expandable storage support and superior battery backup is your requirement, BlackBerry Z10 could be a better option.

View the original article here