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Android Fragmentation: FUD and Facts

How do you create an open platform that can be used by dozens of hardware vendors and hundreds of software developers without some fragmentation? You don't. Yet to hear all the complaints about Android fragmentation, you would think that Google must either lock down its OS like Apple does with its iOS or try to run it as a Linux-like free-software collective. The former certainly works for Apple, but it doesn't really play to Google's strengths. The latter is pure folly. Instead, Google is trying to walk a middle road here, and, whatever the pitfalls, it seems to be doing a pretty good job so far. Android has 33 percent of the U.S. smartphone market share; not bad for a fragmented OS.

Android fragmentation has been an issue since the platform launched, but it became newsworthy again this week because of a report from Robert W. Baird & Co. In a survey of 250 Android developers, 55 percent of Android developers found OS fragmentation to be a meaningful or huge problem. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say I can't code a lick. And yet, from a developer's perspective, I can certainly understand the issue. Multiple screen resolutions, hardware configurations, and OS versions must be a pain. At the very least, they present a challenge.

Got an Apple iPad? Here's What to Do With It.

Image via CrunchBase

Without a doubt, the Apple iPad was the most coveted and gifted gadget this holiday season. With prices starting at $500, it isn't a casual purchase, but nonetheless it made the top of almost everyone's wish list. Even among children age 6 to 12, it was the number one gadget request, leaving the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PaperJamz guitars in the dust. So let's say you were lucky enough to snag an iPad, now what?

Read m ore on PCMag.com.

The Apple iPad is Winning

Apple launched the iPad 2 today amidst the predictable buzz and hype. The technical improvements are relatively modest, but that won't matter much. The real story is that one year after the iPad's launch, the rest of the industry still has nothing that can touch it in terms of usability, platform strength, or even price. Yes, there will be a LOT of tablets hitting the market this year. The HP TouchPad, BlackBerry Playbook, and Honeycomb-based devices, like the Motorola Xoom, are all seem very promising. But don't kid yourself, as Charlie Sheen would say: the iPad is Winning.

Just to recap today's new: faster, thinner and the same price. The new A5 CPU will be twice as fast, the device will be 33% thinner, and the WiFi version will start at $500. The addition of Verizon as a carrier is nice, but otherwise there isn't a ton new hardware here. Front and back cameras will enable FaceTime—a feature everyone wants and nobody will use. The most important detail we got was that the iPad will go on sale March 11—that is when Apple can start collecting cash en masse again.

Sub Warfare: Google and Apple Offer Rival Subscription Payment Plans

People still think of Apple as a hardware company that builds MacBooks and iPhones, but the subscription payment plan announcement shows its real value is as an e-commerce platform. Likewise, Google may be the first and last word in search, but the company can't seem to help sprawling into everything from robotic cars to digital book making. So it only makes sense that it would offer a rival payment system, called Google One Pass. Both moves are great news for consumers—it is about to get a lot easier to buy everything from newspapers and magazines to software and services online. For companies that make all that digital media, the prospects are a lot grimmer. It may not yet be time to "go to the mattresses," but it is definitely time to pull out the calculators.

Palm is Dead. Long Live HP's WebOS

HP announced no less than five products yesterday at a San Francisco event that tried for two hours to match the enthusiasm that Steve Jobs can create just by walking on stage in black turtleneck and pair of jeans. (Be advised, longer is always better, and that goes for product announcements, men's jeans, and other things.) The products seem promising, a slimmed down smartphone (HP Veer), a Pre 2 successor (Pre 3), and perhaps most promising an iPad-like WebOS tablet (HP Touchpad). Missing from the stage was any significant mention of the Palm brand. Palm is finally done. The question now is whether or not HP can make something of the portable pioneer's most significant achievement: the WebOS. To my mind, they have a shot if they move fast.

Read More on PCMag.com.

Apple's Jobs Jabs at Android & RIM

Image via CrunchBase

Apple reported a quarterly income of more than $20 billion yesterday, which, for most CEOs, would make for a very good day. Not Steve Jobs. In an uncharacteristic move, Jobs jumped on the analyst call and proceeded to trash his smartphone competitors, including RIM and Google. I can't think of another industry where a CEO would pull a move like this, but it makes perfect sense in the technology business. For Apple, selling hardware and software is about selling ideas. And, despite its leading position in in the mobile market, Apple is still in a pitched battle with RIM and Google for hearts and minds.

Read more on PCMag.com..

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The Kindle, FlipBoard for the iPad, and the Connected Reader

When Jeff Bezos launched the latest edition of its Kindle eBook reader , he did so with a solemn commitment to maintain the device's dedicated reading experience. Bezos's vision for the Kindle has always been the reader, the book, and almost invisible device between the two. It is a pretty thought, no doubt more comforting than the idea of pitting the mono-function Kindle against the multimedia powerhouse that is the Apple iPad. Still, it is fundamentally wrong. Bezos is quite correct to focus the Kindle on readers, but consider this fair warning, the way we read is changing.

Read more at PCMag.com. 

How to Get Over Apple iPhone 4 Envy

On the off-chance that you missed it, the Apple iPhone 4 went on sale this week. By all accounts--PCMag's included--it's an impressive device. (Check out mobile expert Sascha Segan's Apple iPhone 4 review.) It's faster, sharper, and more powerful than its predecessors and has access to a vast library of applications only a few clicks away. Most of us, however, won't buy one. Either we are trapped into contracts or AT&T's coverage stinks in our hometown. Still, the appeal of the iPhone is palpable—and Apple hasn't even started airing commercials yet. How are the vast iPhone-less masses to deal with the inevitable iPhone envy? I have some suggestions. 

Read my entire iPhone 4 column at PCMag.com.

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My iPad Media Marathon

From FoxNewsChannel  —  April 01, 2010  — Inside look at hottest Apple product before it hits the shelves. Interview with Shepard Smith.

Other interviews:

David Ushery's Guide to the Apple I-Pad

Will iPad Disappoint? interview with Neil Cavuto

Bloomberg: PCMag.com's Costa says Apple iPad 'Amazing' Device

FOX Business: Apple iPad just a Rotten iFad?

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• Apple iPad (Wi-Fi) (Tim Gideon/PC Magazine) (techmeme.com)

What's the Apple iPad's Killer App?

I'm no Apple fanboy, but seeing Steve Jobs on stage in person is exciting, and it isn't just about his personal magnetism. Apple has $29 billion in the bank and Steve seems determined to spend it building really cool stuff. The iPad certainly fits that bill. Just a little slab of a display lets you play games, browse the Web, watch movies, view pictures, read eBooks, get directions, send e-mail, manage your calendar, and, well, anything else developers want to write applications to do. But after the ridiculously hyped build up and the dramatic launch event, I'm still not sure what most people will use it for. What's the iPad's killer app? Continue reading...