moses choi

With Nokia’s hold on the smartphone market worldwide at around 50%, Windows Mobile taking a big chunk of the market and RIM’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iPhone capturing the rest of the market, is Google’s Android platform going to be a disruptor or just another player? I have been thinking about this since Google’s announcement of the Android platform but wasn’t sure how to answer this until I saw this, an official demonstration of Android. It really makes analysis easier when you see something in action instead of trying to visualize an abstract description in your head. After watching the demonstration, I’m convinced that Android has the potential to be a disruptor, however there are hurdles involved in that there are huge incumbents that can throw money at development and to a large extent replicate the experience. The hope would be that with the release of the Android SDK, the development community, as a collective force, can create innovative software. To provide incentive, Google has set aside $10 Million in prizes for the best applications developed.

Google will likely bid on the upcoming 700Mhz spectrum auction and if they end up acquiring it with or without a carrier partner, it is a huge step for the search engine. What started as an extremely sophisticated search algorithm has morphed into a company with the 4th largest market capitalization in the US and the backbone of the internet. It is without a doubt one of the most innovative companies of this generation. The purchase of spectrum and the release of Android signifies what pundits all over the world have been talking about for years, that the internet will move to the mobile wireless arena and its growth will be exponential. Just recently there was a report published saying that global handheld sales outpaced that of desktop PCs. Convergence of the internet, wireless service and computers will continue and only those companies that can re-invent itself will be left when the dust settles.

Android, internet, spectrum and the organization of the world’s information are the ingredients for Google’s strategy in these rapidly converging industries. I think in the longterm, Android will end up becoming a huge threat to the Windows Mobile platform and will overtake them. As for the BlackBerry software, there is nothing, that the Apple or even Google (with current information) can do to penetrate the enterprise market that RIM holds so dear (as for the consumer segment, the jury is still out on that). The main difference between RIM’s strategy and everyone else’s is that they provide end-to-end solutions for email starting with the email server, network infrastructure to hardware to the OS. This is the crux of RIM’s strategy, success and survival from the enterprise perspective. As long as they can keep that barrier to entry by way of defending their IP, they will be good for many more years to come in the enterprise space.

What makes Google so dangerous to the traditional carriers, handset manufacturers and software developers is that they aren’t jumping into wireless to make money in the same way that everyone else has been, but to provide yet again another platform to deliver its services like Gmail, Google Search and Google Checkout, which all of course serve as platforms to deliver targeted ads. The more accessible these services become, the more sticky or convenient it is for people. It will be through the way Google operates itself in wireless, rather than through the actual product they offer that it will disrupt wireless.

Whatever the outcome of the spectrum auction or the adoption of Android, I would love to see Google, RIM and Apple battle it out for the consumer space. Competition from these guys will only benefit the little people like myself.

Back in March, I wrote that I would love to see the next iPhone without the telephone functionality as a future ipod.  It was probably expected by many, but when the announcement came about the new iPod Touch, I was happy to see the form factor and also that what I desired came to fruition (sans the voip) but was disappointed with the storage capacity.  Given some time, the iPod Touch may end up taking the place of the iPod Classic as the regular iPod when storage capacities allow.

I haven’t actually played with the iPod Touch, but if it’s anything like the iPhone, I think I will be pleased with the experience.  However, as much as I’d like to fork over some money to get the updated iPod Touch, I will wait until I see at least an 80gig flash HD in the unit. Until then, I will have to continue using my 5th gen ipod.

I was able to get a pretty good deal on a pair of the acclaimed Shure E4C IEMs. I’m looking forward to them and will be posting my thoughts on them when I do get them sometime this week. I’ve always been a fan of inner ear monitors (IEM) as they provide the isolation I want and usually good bass. Back in 2000, I got my first pair from Pacific Mall in Toronto from an importer of audio goodies from Asia; they were the Sony EX71s. I loved them while I had them and used them with my MD players and later with my 3rd gen. ipod. However, my tastes evolved and over the last year and a half, I was able to experiment with some other IEMs and headphones such as the Grado SR80s, Koss KSC 75s, Senn CX300s, JBL 220s and briefly the Shure E2Cs. The E2Cs blew me away and was what convinced me to put down the big bucks for the E4Cs.

I’ll be selling my Senn CX300 and JBL 220s, so if you’re interested in them, let me know!

On to the ipod. We all know what the iPhone will look like and by the time it comes out, we’ll have seen the LG Prada phone and the Samsung touchscreen either online or in stores, depending on what country you live in and how passionate you are about cellular devices. I think the new ipod should keep the iPhone form-factor and take out the cellphone functionality, keep the wifi, and – this is what I think could be killer – make sure that there’s VOIP functionalities on the phone. So, basically, wherever there is an internet connection via wifi, the user can use the phone interface on the ipod to make/receive calls! Now whether that is through some sort of iChat solution, or an independent VOIP solution, or a product from Cisco would be up to the brilliant guys in Apple product development to decide. However, the Cisco solution is interesting because it can actually happen because of the deal between Cisco and Apple which put to rest their patent lawsuit.

I really hope the new ipod can also have fantastic battery life too….One can dream right?

Maybe by the end of the year, I can be using my E4C with a brand new ipod!