‘Apple’

The Apple and Samsung patent battle has been going on since April 2011. The giant Apple has sued Samsung for infringing on their iPad and iPhone designs. The patent infringement case is battled across borders from Australia to Europe.

Ban of Galaxy Tablet and Smartphones in Australia Lifted

The Samsung Galaxy Tab. 10.1 as the alleged patent infringing object was removed from the shelves of Australian shops because of an injunction filed to court by Apple. It obviously was a strategic move as the court order came only days before the big shopping spree for Christmas started.

More recently Samsung Australia admitted that because of the court ordered injunction the Samsung brand name got free and welcoming publicity. Indeed, it seems as if the court order backfired against Apple in their patent battle. With the public prepared and now in waiting for the Samsung tablet that will be returning to the shelves after a sales ban on the Galaxy tablet, orders have already rolled in for the tablet.

Galaxy Nexus

The Galaxy Nexus will also ride on the free publicity gained through the patent battle. It is perhaps something worth waiting for as it is the first smart phone that will have features such as facial recognition for user identification and with the cool bump app available, the phone users will be able to share information and pictures with other users by simply bumping their phones against each other.

Bump App

Although reviews about Bump seem to indicate that it is a slightly more complex process than advertised, it is still a feature that will be well appreciated by Android-based mobile phone users. Although Samsung certainly received a lot of free publicity because of the patent battle, the company has lost a lot of money because of the retraction from the shelves.

Free Advertising for Samsung Galaxy

According to reports, no indication has been given regarding the exact amount lost, but Samsung has indicated that they appreciate the awareness created for the Galaxy Tab. The company plans to take Australia by storm with units and looking at the orders already rolling in, it seems that a shortage can be expected in the market. This can in turn drive up market prices as well as create even more desire for the tablet.

What will perhaps count in Apple’s favour in terms of market share is the pricing of the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Previous indicators have shown that consumers are not so eager to pay just as high prices for Android-based mobile phones and tablets as will be the case for iPad and iPhone technology.

Samsung Market Growth

The expectation is that Samsung will take larger chunks of the market in the coming 24 months, putting it just behind Apple on the top tablet chart. Fans of Android tablets will be glad to know that the 7.7 inch version is expected to hit the world market early in 2012 with the 8.9 inch version to be released only later. Samsung has already reached the top spot in the Australian mobile market in 2011.

Google took a risk with the Galaxy Nexus with the Android platform, but at the end it paid off. iPhone may still be in the lead overall, but one must take note of the underlying patent battle between the giants. As competition heats up, more court battles may become everyday news. Although Samsung has been delayed in the release of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 through the Apple court injunctions, with the ban on sales lifted just before Christmas, it has indeed come in their favour.

Although media attention focused on the Australian court battle, many markets around the world suffered the consequences of the ongoing Apple and Samsung patent battle, including the USA and Europe. Tyler McGee, who is the VP of Samsung telecommunications in Australia, has noted to news reporters that the whole patent infringement court battle between Apple and Samsung may have contributed to a loss of marketing sales drive because of the severe interruptions.

Mere curiosity can lead to consumers reading up on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and also to experiment more with Android tablets and smart phones in the upper price range.

Is it the End of the Apple vs. Samsung Patent Battle?

Maybe in Australia, Samsung has won the battle for now, but similar patent infringement battles are still in the pipeline in countries around the world. The prices of the two giants are similar and because the products fall within the same class, the competition is just starting to heat up.

Apple has failed to convince the High Court to give them a hearing. As a result the decision reached by the Federation Court was duly overturned in favour of Samsung. The battle has been going on for several months over two aspects only. Apple has accused Samsung of infringing on their intellectual property rights in terms of the multi-touch browser capacity as well as heuristic features.

It is not only in Australia where Samsung has been victorious, but also in California USA, where Apple’s request for a ban on sales of the Galaxy smart phones and tablet was rejected. Apple has indicated that they plan to appeal.

Retaliation by Samsung

If anyone has ever questioned the value of a patent, they should just follow the gigantic court battle between Apple and Samsung. Although Samsung has been on the receiving end of accusations, the company has also moved to take legal action against Apple for technologies used. In a similar manner, Samsung was defeated because their request for a ban on sales of Apple iPhone 4S in France was turned down.

With Samsung’s Galaxy SII being the direct competitor of the Apple iPhone 4S, the company went dirty in its fight with a pan indented ad about the capabilities of its smart phone pitted against the iPhone in a rather subtle manner.

The end of the Apple and Samsung patent court battle is not even near. With some 30 or more patent battles fought in numerous countries, it should be good reading for the next couple of months.

Just as you think that now you have seen it all, the tech world stuns again with something as amazing the Siri personal assistant in the iPhone 4S. It is the ultimate replacement of the secretary on the go. Not that secretaries will ever be replaced, but if you want a mobile one in your pocket then you will adore the stunning new features of the iPhone 4S.

What can the Siri Personal Assistant Do For You?

Say you are driving and want directions without having to type in a search in Google Maps. Simply speak to your iPhone 4S and get it to locate the place on the map. If you quickly want to find a restaurant nearby ask the assistant to locate such. It will take some time to learn exactly how to phrase the question, but once you have cleared up any misunderstandings with the Siri you will find it to be rather responsive and accurate.

Directions are not the only reason for getting the iPhone 4S with Siri. If you for instance, want a meeting to be setup with one of the persons in your contact list, all you have to do is to give the command, and the Siri will check your calendar. If it is open for the particular time frame, it will request permission to go ahead in notifying the person about the meeting. Once given, the phone will do such and schedule it as well as remind you about the meeting in due time.

Two functions don’t make for the perfect mobile phone, agreed, but if you want the Siri to play a particular song or remind you of something that has to be done or even write a note, it can be done by simply speaking to it. The best of all, it will be done immediately.

Glitches as Part of Growing Pains

The Siri personal assistant is not without flaws, not yet. It has to deal with network problems which may occur from time to time and then there is the problem of sounds in the background which can cause confusion.  You have to learn how to structure questions to ensure it understands such and you will also have to refrain from talking again until it has carried out the instruction as to avoid confusion. Siri is the voice recognition feature now available with the iPhone 4S and with it also being part of the Apple product stable, it can be seen as a direct threat to Google, especially the controlled searching features of Google.

Is Siri More Accurate Than Google?

With Google one gets the familiar list of blue lined results. Although Google is certainly known as an accurate search engine, it does save time to just ask Siri and get the perfect answer.

Is Siri a Serious Threat to Google?

With the Siri concept, artificial intelligence is optimized and with thousands of users added in a short time, one can expect a large database of knowledge to develop in a short period. The estimate is that the personal assistant will shortly be able to answer questions with the same speed and accuracy as can be expected from a human. Shortly, however, means around two or three years of learning. This should give Google enough time to develop a counter strategy, although some feel that Google doesn’t have enough time to respond to the artificial intelligence threat posed by Siri.

At present Google allows interaction, but not at the extent offered by Siri. You have to speak in a voice similar to that of a bot. It still has to grow a bit before reaching the ideal level, already accomplished by Siri. Speech recognition is still at infancy stage with Google, whereas the personal assistant is more natural and allows for greater interaction. You will certainly not feel that you are speaking to a robot. With an eloquent voice and a human like feel, it leads the way for human and computer interaction of the future.

The iPhone 4S is the Next Generation Phone

Gamers have become used to bots and on many forums, bots answer the questions. Teaching your computer to answer you is not new, but having an intelligent phone with the potential of becoming just as efficient as a personal assistant on the move, is something that is revolutionary.

Apple is Happy with Siri

Apple apparently did not anticipate the many uses and popularity associated with the personal assistant, but with all the potential now discovered, it is possible that Apple will allow for other developers to create even more applications to ensure a competitive edge in the mobile market and especially to oust all the Android driven phones.

Third party developers, at this stage are not involved since the basics are not yet fully established. Although the personal assistant has an exceptional accuracy level it is not at a rate of more than 96% of the time. The day is coming and with that then the preference of users to rather interact with Siri than ask a human a question. Humans tend to have moods and can be slow at times. A reliable machine doesn’t have all that and if consistency is what you want then a mobile personal assistant will be the answer in future.

Personalisation is the Key

The Siri can be personalised to understand a particular user and the general queries, commands and needs of the user. It may very well become the next best friend of many mobile users. Apart from travel arrangements, entertainment location, and meetings, the personal assistant can further more do a bit of ecommerce bargain hunting. For people regularly buying online, Siri can develop a profile of preferences and do automatic buying without involvement of the user. Let’s hope the personal assistant never gets shopping mad.

Google has a real contender with the iPhone 4S Siri personal assistant. If a consumer has the choice of not having to deal with ads, the choice seems obvious and the days of structured searches may be at an end.

Google Voice MMS has been up to now, non-existent. Although Voice is certainly a cool tool for texting, it has not been MMS enabled, leaving users without the ability to send and received pictures and videos.

With that then, support for Google Voice has been somewhat limited, but it is about to change with the roll-out of MMS support for the Voice users. Don’t expect it to happen all at once though, since the plan is a gradual roll out. If you have thus considered another tool for texting and multimedia sending and receiving, just be patient.

Sprint Users Have an Advantage

At this stage only Sprint users can user Google Voice MMS – that is only the Sprint sender. Receivers can be from any carriers. You must have email forwarding set for your Google Voice account. This will allow for forwarding of multimedia from the Sprint user to your GV email inbox facility.

Google furthermore plans to have the multimedia also receivable and visible in the GV inbox later on. This is what is meant with a gradual rolled out of MMS capabilities for Google Voice. When exactly it will happen is still a mystery.

Why Now?

Why Google has decided on rolling out MMS for Voice now is not a mystery. Speculation has it that it the whole launching is done in response to the iO 5 iMessage capabilities from Apple. Users can send and receive multimedia between them, and if Google waits too long to get on the wagon, the Voice users may easily migrate to Apple products.

To do it all, Google needs support of mobile operators. Sprint has made its willingness to support GV MMS, but is not the only one. Names such as Verizon and AT & T have been mentioned through the grapevine as carriers that will support GV MMS. Reports are still unconfirmed though.

The lack of multimedia sending and receiving capabilities has been criticized by GV users and is perhaps the single most requested feature of GV. Google listened and their teams have worked around the clock to enable such for Androids. If somebody now sends and MMS to a GV user it will get to the user through the inbox. The user must first activate text to mail forwarding in GV account. Once done, they can enjoy the modern world of pictures and videos shared through messaging.

Google has announced that at the beginning only Sprint phone users will be privileged enough to have Google Voice MMS, but some sites have reported that Virgin Mobile users can also enjoy the feature.

Numerous Requests for MMS

A quick look at the Google Help for GV section and you will notice hundreds of requests and some lengthy discussions about how useless Voice is without the multimedia functionality. Users have added requests for it for a long time now and frustration has built-up. Being slow to respond to user demands for MMS, Google Voice has lost a lot of cloud and had to get up to speed with Apple, if they didn’t want their Voice feature to lose all support.

How much of a difference it will make in usage stats is another mystery. Some users have indicated that they really don’t care. The fact that they can send and receive text messages for free has pretty much been the reason for their Google Voice support so far.

The younger crowd, especially the school kids, however, love to send MMS and since they still have a couple of years to go (thus the future generation of consumers), what they think counts. Google hopes to get more users on its Voice because of the little MMS feature.

Limited Service to be Expanded Soon

It is not a full blown multimedia service as there are still some complexities to deal with. Users don’t receive the MMS in their GV inbox directly, and email forwarding still applies. Google has indicated that they plan to change such in the near future. Sprint users certainly have an advantage, and even though the carrier has already made a deal with competitor Apple to be one of the iPhone providers, it has chosen to support the feature for Google. The sooner other carriers give their support, the quicker the complete roll-out can be.

Roll-Out Disappointment

A big bang roll out would have created the stir hoped for, but with a limited and gradual roll-out plan announced, the 14^th of October 2011 came and go with little excitement. The world didn’t stop turning and Apple users did not return their iPhone units for GV MMS enabled phones. Nobody switched carriers and there were no riots and no company take-overs.

One has to ask why Google has not put in a bit more to ensure a huge launch and a storm of the market. It may be because they don’t find MMS all that important or because they have die-hard Voice users who would have used them whether MMS is possible or not.

It seems that the hype may be a bit overstated. First there was Google Plus One, then Google Author Rank, and then Google Plus – alternative to Facebook and none have seemed to get the desired responses. Nothing has been overwhelming and the Google Voice MMS launch needed to be big to put down the Apple competition. It wasn’t, so users are still waiting for Google to roll-out something that will inspire them. The service will retain existing customers, but may not be what is needed to get more Voice users.

Exciting users have come to realize that most of them will have to wait a bit longer since carriers supporting the GV MMS are yet limited. Some more work will be needed and then a big re-launch might very well do the trick.

Although seemingly disappointing at first because of the long wait, Google has come through for its users, and being the giant it is, one can hope for a few new features to set Google Voice MMS apart from the rest.

Mobile sites and their usage grow by the day. Also known as mobi sites or as some write it mobisites, are fast overtaking normal desktop based websites. According to a DotMobi study the growth of new mobisites is enormous showing that from over 149 000 in 2008 to more than 3 million such sites have been registered in 2010. In addition, the social media networks such as Facebook have large numbers of users which login to the social applications by means of their phones. According to Facebook the figures suggest more than 199 million users which login to their site via their mobile phones.

With every new technology there is resistance and there is embracement. The resistance normally comes from those who have already invested a lot into an existing technology and don’t want to re-invest in the new technology, but a business owner that wants to survive changes must adapt. The pc website market is shrinking and mobile market growing.

One may argue that there is no reason to create a mobile website if the users can login from their phones in any case, but there are several differences between mobi sites and the conventional websites which should be noted. In short, the mobile user doesn’t find the conventional website mobile friendly. With loads of heavy graphics, Java scripts, Flash and other bandwidth intensive design tools, the mobile user gets a slow loading page which isn’t easy to navigate.

More and more mobile users migrates to the mobisites specifically designed to fit well on their mobile screens, load faster, browse easier and take up less bandwidth as well as memory. Of course mobi sites are not as visually stimulating as the conventional websites and don’t show the same versatility, but users on the move want sites which can be used on their mobile phones with ease.

One can continue to design only the conventional website and have the mobile users struggle to use the site, but if they find something more user friendly, they will leave the site immediately, never to return. The younger generation of Internet users are also experts on mobile usage and if you don’t want to see your market dying a slow and agonizing death, you will need to create a mobisite and a conventional website.

Don’t think of the mobi site as portable site only. It is far more than that. It is an innovative and advanced way of interaction with the visitor. Modern consumers carry powerful computers in their hands and pockets; used as phones as well. They want to get value for their money and with more mobility offered rather browse from their phones and tablets than from desktops. Studies have shown that desktop usage is still huge during the day, but mobile usage surpasses that during the evenings. The users browsing during the day do so from their offices at work where desktops are connected via the network, but once they leave office they migrate to mobile usage. As such website owners need to take notice and adapt their interaction with users.

Some important considerations for creation of mobi sites are:

• Create a site that can use the mobile device capabilities.
• Mobisites must be created with loading time in mind. The site should load in two clicks and thus under ten or twelve seconds.
• Browsing should be easy without the need to zoom in.
• The mobile site must provide enough incentive for interaction through means of competitions, discount coupons and prize draws.
• People on the move love sharing and the mobile site must make it possible as well as be so addictive as to ensure return and viral marketing.
• Convenience is another reason for using mobile websites. People want to interact where they are and as such you need to ensure that the mobisite can be used on the spot and in-store for specials.
• Mobile users want to find information rather quickly and as such they don’t want to wait for pages to load or have to go through several menu steps to get the information.
• Don’t just re-design a desktop website to fit on a smaller screen, but run two distinct sites which can ensure that both desktop user and mobile user requirements are met.

Smart Phones are Taking Over

Bandwidth changes to 4G and the lower lag enables mobile users to surf fast. With that then, more users migrate to mobisites in South Africa because of our slow connectivity via desktop. The majority of new handsets can connect to the Internet. With four times more mobile users than desktop users in the world including South Africa, there is thus a big untapped market available for the innovative thinker, willing to create a stunning mobisite. Studies furthermore indicate that about a third of mobile browsing is done for local content. This means that the mobile user is on the lookout for businesses in their immediate environment and thus more geographically targeted.

Google Android and South Africa

The Google Android platform is already widely used worldwide and although still not the most popular platform in South Africa, it is making inroads in the mobile operating market. Google Android is growing rapidly with more than 17% of the market already belonging to the platform as evident in the sales figures of more than 190 000 Android mobile handsets sold daily. Android is currently just behind the Symbian and closing in on the gab. The secret to a successful mobisite is adaptability for various platforms. As such it is extremely important to cater to Android, Windows, Symbian and Apple to name, but a few of the big players.
The implications are important for any business owner. Whether you are a publisher of content or a seller of products you need to also cater to the mobisite user. Many website owners still only think of mobile platforms such as iPhone or Blackberry, but with Android mobile handsets becoming more popular the web browsing is fast moving from desktop to on the go mobile browsing via mobile handsets. New entrants to the market will also mean more platforms to cater for and as with any new trend, businesses that want to capture a large share of the market, need to move fast to get a foothold in the new browsing environment.

You can make your current website mobile friendly or you can create a custom mobisite to ensure targeted design for various platforms. Google has indicated that mobile browsing has grown even more than expected. The news headlines have shown that mobisites have grown with more than 2000 percent, not something that can be ignored if you are a serious marketer. The top performing websites also offer mobi sites to their users. Even if your site doesn’t count under the top 10 000 or so, you can easily ensure a user friendly mobisite experience.

Google Androids are so successful because Google has ensured variations. There are various types ensuring more choices for the consumer. Androids are well priced and personalisation is not compromised. Full integration with various Google applications is possible including vital applications such as Google Maps, YouTube, Chrome and Gmail. With Androids running on open source Linux, new developments are possible while the consumer is not expected to pay additional license fees for such.

It has been said that Android products can easily outperform Blackberry products in South Africa. Although South Africans are slow to catch on to Android when compared to the US, the Google Android mobile market is growing steadily. The mobile networks in South Africa need more development to ensure that unlimited data offerings can become a reality. The networks need upgrading to be able carry larger number of mobisite users. With the expectation being that South Africa will also receive more bandwidth over time because of the cable which has been laid under the sea, business owners have a lot to look forward to.