Happy new year everyone!
[Via All About Symbian] Mobile industry analyst Tomi T Ahonen has written up his thoughts and predictions for the smartphone market in 2010, covering all of the major players. It’s a very interesting read (especially for my new focus this year on iPhone and multiple platforms) and gives some important perspective to a much-hyped market segment that is skewed along geographical lines (see his comment on the US market in context to the actual size of the global smartphone market).
You’ll get the feeling (especially US-readers) that the author might be a bit of a Nokia fan, but overall I think he gives a pretty balanced and well-informed opinion. I’m not sure the mention of “bloodbath” in the title of the article is in fact warranted, but I do agree that 2010 will be an even more fiercely-fought period for ALL device manufacturers than last year.
The original Chumby was the first Flash Lite 3 enabled device (of any kind) on the market, but was always difficult to pitch in terms of what it was exactly. People found it hard to work out if it was an alarm clock? a squishy toy? a game device?
Well, with the launch of the new “Chumby One“, the company seems to have taken all of that on board. From the looks of the new unit, and the marketing material released so far, it’s very much been revamped into something that people might understand a bit better, even if it doesn’t look quite as cool as the original.
The new Chumby One looks far more like a bed-side clock radio – in fact, they say right up front that “it’s an internet alarm clock”. Being pitched as a device that people understand, with the “additional” feature of being WiFi connected, means that people will have a starting context for what to expect from the device. The “Chumby” features are secondary and compliment the key features and add value, rather than distract and confuse the consumer.
I think they guys have made a positive step with the release of this new version of the Chumby. Hopefully this will mean a better return on the investment already made in the platform, and have a flow on effect for sales of the original, and more “radical”, Chumby device.
Oh and by the way, the Chumby t-shirts are among the best and most comfortable I have ever owned! Buy them, and pre-order the Chumby One (for a discounted price of US$99.95), from the Chumby Store now.
There’s been a rapid increase in the netbook market over the past 12 months that has been hard to miss. Ultra-portable laptops that carry relatively large capabilities in a smaller package – perfect for travelling, remote or mobile business, kids, etc. All the major players have gotten into the space and made it very crowded, very quickly. Then you have new players like Nokia with their 3G Booklet, who are coming from a mobility-focus and bringing some innovation while staying fairly much in the mainstream (HDMI, 3G … but running Windows 7).
Then you have start-ups like the Boston-based “litl“. litl have gone about to redfine the “netbook” into an “web-book”; stripping away much of the normal “computer”astheics and features though, and bringing web-based content closer to the user (something that reminds me of the One Laptop Per Child program). The device stores all of its data in the cloud, and has multiple viewing modes that improve the experience depending on what kind of content you are browsing. Read More
Bill Perry has uploaded his slide deck from the presentation he recently gave at Nokia World 09 – “Prospering with Ovi Store”. Bill is focusing a lot more on Ovi Store for developers these days, so if you have questions feel free to ping him on his blog or catch up with him at the Nokia booth at Adobe MAX next week.
Over at sgentrepreneurs.com there’s a short interview with Rick Treweek, co-founder at Breakdesign, on their recent Flash mobile work and plans. Rick, Stefan, and the rest of the BD crew have been working with Flash Lite for a very long time now, and have had great success with Dawn of the Fly, the Johnnie Walker Digital PA, and with securing funding through the Open Screen Fund for their upcoming Barking Seed game platform. It’s always great to see business and industry publications giving time to start-up companies in this space – well done Rick.
Check out the interview here, and also BD’s latest product – That Roach Game.
