metajunk » frank

Smartphone War Breakdown

frank — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:54:43 +0000

Breakdown by Makers and OSes. No insight to offer, just for perspective. Everybody can use perspective.

Handset Makers

Nokia 21.5M in Q1
RIM 10.6M in Q1
Apple 8.75M in Q1
HTC 3.3M inQ1
Motorola 2.3M in Q1
Samsung ~2M in Q1
LG ~1.5M in Q1

http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=16482&news=Phone+Trends+Nokia+Apple+LG+Motorola+Q1+2010

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/04/30/htc-expects-smartphone-shipment-increase-on-back-of-android/

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&tkr=SMSN:LI&sid=acHz_G4Vx.xU

Operating Systems

Symbian
RIM
Apple
Microsoft CE
Google Android
Other (webOS, Embedded Linux, Maemo, Bada [soon], etc)

http://www.canalys.com/pr/2010/r2010021.html

Working with Design People

frank — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 07:45:23 +0000

I think design concepts are interesting and getting to work in this space is pretty cool, but in the back of my mind I suspect there’s more than a few people in this industry like the guy in this video below, explaining design. Conceptually, he’s pretty far out there and first word that comes to my mind is ‘asshat’, but that’s not fair to him or others like him since I don’t have firsthand experience with the type. However, from another Core77 reference this week, a study of the links between mental illness and creativity might explain why I’m not at this guys level. These examples make me appreciate working with analytical hard-asses with unrelenting drive for delivery of facts and figures. Refer to the original Core77 link for background on this video, but it’s funny even without.

Flower Bird Market

frank — Sun, 30 May 2010 15:48:21 +0000

花鸟市场s are scattered all around Shanghai, and they’re where locals shop to get flowers, plants, garden decorations, and small pets (I assume, implied by the name even though I didn’t stick around long enough to check).

Overheard from a foreign couple:
Guy: …well, 1 you’re with me, 2 we’re foreigners, and 3 you have blond hair…
Girl: But still, $75 dollars for that plant. That’s crazy!

Just smiled because today I wasn’t getting ripped off. Today I brought my Shanghainese wife, the store owners were in trouble.

Here’s the inspiration for our trip - Kamal Meattle on how to grow fresh air via TED

Tinie Tempah – Pass Out

frank — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 07:12:20 +0000

Check out the synth, sounds like sampling from an 8-bit video game (somewhere between Kid Icarus and Dragon Quest?). Bonus sounds come 3:15 into the track, where I ask why DnB ever went away.

HTC Resolution to the Apple Lawsuit

frank — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:41:16 +0000

A lot has already been said about the proxy battle against Google via HTC, brought on by Apple. And there’s several prologues to this building feud, most recently the NYT. And I just read another recent article [betanews.com] to offer a different view, which sparked my idea of how to make it really ugly for Apple. My idea -

HTC should release an official update to SenseUI that complies to all of Apple’s allegations on one hand, and with the other hand release all of the source code of the current ROM with SenseUI into the developer community. All the feature would be returned to normal by the open dev community within the week, and maybe the Hero users would finally get some of the Android 2.1 updates before the end of the year. Let Apple try to pin this lawsuit on the open source community.

I believe SenseUI is developed by another group within HTC, so they would have to give it away and forsake any revenues tied to this asset. But with enough money, just about anything can happen, right Google?

Youku Roundup Feb’10

frank — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:16:15 +0000

Just a couple of videos which might be no big deal to your average internet user, but it’s new to me in the-land-of-no-youtube-facebook-and-hundreds-of-other-blog-sites.

Recently heard La Roux for the first time even though she’s released Bulletproof [and In For The Kill] nearly a year ago, I blame my news starved situation. They’re are typical fits for my preference for female vocals, new wave synth pop, catchy riffs/chorus. Style reminds me of Kylie’s Love at First Sight MV, but too bad her looks are far from.

Speaking of Kylie, here’s a mashup vid of these two. Add in Gwen to make a threesome.

Always good for half an hour in videos, here’s King James. Best part of this highlight countdown is the quote “He turned Leandro Barbosa into a screen saver!” at 1:44.

Kick Ass trailer. Hope the movie lives up to the trailer potential, and I hope to see a career come out of this for Hit Girl.

Can’t believe they’re doing a Wall Street 2. My safe prediction, it will suck but will make more box office money than the first.

Nexus One Concept and Design

frank — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:02:26 +0000

Linked a Google-made video from Youku, since the referring site [Gizmodo] was linking from GFW blocked Youtube vid. The video doesn’t really provide any insightful design ideas, but it may be interesting to those in the process of buying one or already own one. Kind of like the opposite of buyer’s remorse, I always like to have buyer’s …affirmation. I really like my N1, as does the father of Linux.

MSFT Stock Valuation on Trefis

frank — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:17:49 +0000

I was playing with different scenarios on Trefis to see if I can divine any insight to Microsoft’s stock price, in anticipation of their Q4 earnings announcement after market close this Thursday. They sold lots of copies of Win7 and Office 2007, including a copy to me (first time I’ve ever paid retail price for XP and Office suite since the $5 student copy I bought back in ’01), and if they can get me to shell out money for software then they should be able to sell to just about anybody within two standard deviations of the desktop owning populace.

Seems technically sound, trading between very tight bands and RSI is coming down, even before last weeks market dip. Worth a gamble*

* Disclaimer: I offer no investment advice, if reading a blog is the basis of your research then investing may not be for you.

Rogers On China

frank — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:50:25 +0000

Jim Rogers has a response to Chanos (see previous post), and says Chanos does not understand China when comparing China property market to the Dubai bubble.

Basically,

Dubai + property speculation = bubble

China + hot economy ≠ bubble

“Great Britain was great once, Egypt also once and Rome once too, but China will have done it four of five times. After 300 years of decline everything is coming together for China in the 21st century”

- Jim Rogers

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2010-01/19/content_9340790.htm

Freescale Serious About Tablet Form Factor

frank — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:49:11 +0000

To show your customers and competitors that you’re serious about your target market, the reference design is the way to go. Also, collecting design feedback from an art and design school is an excellent touch. PowerPoint slides with great specs and computer rendering of unknown products, not so much.

Reference specs:

Display: 7-inch (1024 x 600) touch screen
Processor: Freescale i.MX515 processor based on ARM Cortex-A8 core
Connectivity: 3G modem (option) 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS
Memory: 512 MB DDR2
Storage: from 4GB to 64GB internal storage; removable micro SD
Camera: 3 Mpixel (video recording up to VGA 30fps)
Sensors: 3-axis accelerometer and an ambient light sensor
Adobe Flash Player support
Operating system: Android or Linux
Price: under $200