iPhone's Siri Threatens Google

Answering questions posed by the U.S. Senate antitrust subcommittee, Google chairman Eric Schmidt called the personal voice assistant in the iPhone 4S, named Siri, a "significant development" in the search market. Schmidt went so far as to say that Siri represents a threat to Google's search business, which is the company's bread and butter.

He could be right. Here's why.

I've been using Google's voice-assisted search tool for years on iPhones and Android smartphones. It's a great tool when you don't want to (or can't) take the time to peck out search queries on a touchscreen. It's not 100% accurate, but it works well enough most of the time that I prefer it to any other search method.

That is, until Siri came along.

With the iPhone 4S, I pose all questions to Siri (when it's working). Is Siri a better search tool? Does it provide better results? Is it faster? Not necessarily, but it's a hell of a lot more entertaining. And if Siri doesn't succeed on the first try, you have the pleasure of awaiting its sassy response. This is clearly a case where personality actually counts for something.

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"Even in the few weeks since the [previous] hearing, Apple has launched an entirely new approach to search technology with Siri, its voice-activated search and task-completion service built into the iPhone 4S," he wrote, reports AppleInsider.

Of course, Schmidt's motivation for calling Siri a competitive threat isn't because he's actually scared of Siri's impact on Google's search business. No, he's trying to allay the Senate's concerns that Google is a monopolistic entity that needs to be regulated. Schmidt is going to call up every competitor he can think of to shore up Google's defense.

"Google has many strong competitors and we sometimes fail to anticipate the competitive threat posed by new methods of accessing information," Schmidt noted. "Apple's Siri is a significant development--a voice-activated means of accessing answers through iPhones that demonstrates the innovations in search."

Innovative? Yes. Competitive? Yes. A real, immediate threat to Google's core business? Well...

Siri will not impact Google's position in the search market anytime soon. Despite the entertainment value in Siri's search powers, it's not going to dislodge Google's dominant position in the search market, at least, not for a while. While iPhone 4S users may skip Google search on their iPhones, that's one very small segment of users and doesn't account for Google's desktop search business, which is huge.

Google owns 65% of the U.S. search market, 94% of the European search market, and 97% of the smartphone search market (thanks in no small part to the raging success of its Android smartphone platform).

Siri might have an impact eventually, if Apple brings it out of beta and expands it to more than a single device. For the time being, however, Schmidt's statements ring a bit false.

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Posted in: Google,iPhone

Verizon Trails AT&T On New iPhone Activations

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Slideshow: Verizon iPhone 4 Teardown

Verizon Communications delivered its second quarter earnings report Friday, and the numbers from its wireless unit look pretty good. The company added a total of 2.2 million subscribers, including 1.3 million postpaid subscribers, making for a grand total of 106.3 million connections. This equates year-over-year growth of 6.6%.

That beats AT&T's numbers. AT&T's subscriber base grew by 1.1 million (only 331,000 net postpaid additions) to reach 98.6 million customers. Verizon said its total churn--or customer turnover--was its lowest in three years, at 0.89%.

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Notably, the percentage of smartphone users on Verizon's network is far smaller than AT&T's. AT&T reported that 49.9% of its postpaid subscribers are now using smartphones. Verizon's smartphone usership is much lower at 36%, up from 32% last quarter. The actual numbers, however, show that Verizon isn't that far behind. Verizon has 32.29 million smartphone users compared to AT&T's 34.2 million.

When it comes to iPhones, Verizon Wireless also trailed rival AT&T. Verizon Wireless activated 2.3 million iPhones during the second quarter, compared to 3.6 million activated by AT&T. Together, Verizon Wireless and AT&T accounted for 5.9 million--or about 30%--of Apple's total quarterly iPhone sales.

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The more important story being told by Verizon Wireless is the status of its Long Term Evolution 4G network deployment. By July 21, Verizon's LTE network blanketed 102 markets with 4G service, covering some 160 million points of presence (POPs). Verizon says it is on track to expand to 175 markets covering 185 million POPs by the end of the year. This far outpaces AT&T's LTE deployment, which will cover a maximum of 75 million POPs by the end of the year.

During the quarter, Verizon introduced a number of LTE-compatible devices, including smartphones such as the Samsung Droid Charge and the LG Revolution, and mobile hotspot products such as the Novatel Wireless MiFi 4510L. The company activated a respectable 1.2 million LTE devices during the quarter, and more are on the way. Verizon expects the LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will reach the market by the end of July.

Verizon Wireless' service revenue amounted to $14.7 billion, up 6.6% year over year. Data revenue accounted for $5.8 billion, which is up $1.1 billion, or 22.2% year-over-year. Postpaid average revenue per user climbed 1.9% to $54.12 per month. Data accounted for $21.26 of that total, up 15.2% from a year ago.

Verizon said that guidance for the rest of the year is on target.

"In terms of earnings growth and the acceleration of revenue growth, this has been one of Verizon's best quarters since the 2008 economic downturn," said chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg in a statement. "We expanded sequential margins in both our wireline and wireless businesses, and in the second half of the year we expect Verizon to build on this strong, positive momentum to continue to drive profitable, sustainable growth."

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Posted in: iPhone

Top Reasons Why iPhone 5 Would Outclass Android Smartphones

Apple Inc. is gearing up its production of iPhone 5 for a possible September launch.

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Added to this, Apple's projection of selling 25 million iPhones by the end of 2011 coincides with the expectation that the release is round the corner.

What are the features of the next iPhone is a question that has given rise to a vast range of speculations. Over the last few months, several iPhone successor features were discussed by tech websites and in the blogosphere.

Some rumors were supported by image leaks, sources from manufacturing partners while other features were thought based on what competitors offer.

However, it is more or less confirmed that iPhone 5 will run on Apple's latest mobile operating system iOS 5 and will have a superior ecosystem comprising of iCloud.

Meanwhile, Apple has a complete ecosystem as its app store has 425,000 apps. Recently, Apple announced that its App Store has topped the 15 billion download mark.

As a result, if Apple adds the following features then it may effectively outclass a flurry of competing Android devices that is expected near-term.

Worldphone:

Apple is expected to release iPhone 5 as a 'Worldphone' - both GSM and CDMA compatible. It is conjectured that the phone will have a SIM-less design with 3-4 antennas.

Another rumor suggested that the iPhone 5 will feature a SIM card slot for other countries except US. This will allow users to insert any SIM card in iPhone when traveling abroad.

Better Camera:

Apple has really improved the camera department on its iPhone 4 by fitting a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash.

Apple's iPhone 5 is expected to sport an 8 megapixel camera. It has been reported that OmniVision/Sony would supply 8 MP camera sensors.

Processor

There is also near unanimity in gadget circles that Apple will bring its A5 chip on to the iPhone 5. The A5 processor is the same which Apple rolled out to power its iPad 2.

Apple lists the A5 to be clocked at 1 GHz on the iPad 2's technical specifications page, though it can dynamically adjust its frequency to save battery life.

Apple may boost the speed of its A5 chip in the range of 1.2 or 1.5 GHz as several Android smartphones are coming with 1.2GHz processor.

Meanwhile, reports have come out that Apple is working on an A6 chip.

NFC Support

Apple may fit a near-field communication (NFC) chip in iPhone 5 as some high-end Android devices such as the upcoming Google Nexus 4G will have NFC chip.

NFC allows for simplified transactions, data exchange, and connections with a touch. A smartphone or tablet with an NFC chip could make a credit card payment or serve as keycard or ID card.

NFC devices can read NFC tags on a museum or retail display to get more information or an audio or video presentation. NFC can share a contact, photo, song, application, or video or pair Bluetooth devices.

Better Display

Apple is rumored to increase its screen size to compete with Android smartphones, probably going for a 4-inch screen. iPhone 4 has a 3.5-inch screen.

However, Apple should not compromise on the weight of the phone or its battery life.

Better Battery Backup

We can expect a great battery life in iPhone 5 as Apple has a record of improving battery life with its every coming product. The iPhone 4 has 40 percent more talk time than the iPhone 3GS.

There are expectations that the upcoming iPhone should improve on its battery metrics to handle its sophisticated features.

iPhone 4 offers talk-time of up to 7 hours on 3G; up to 14 hours on 2G (GSM model only) and standby time of up to 300 hours. On internet usage, the device offers up to 6 hours on 3G and up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi.

iCloud

Apple's iPhone 5 is expected to feature the new iCloud service in operating iTunes for wireless remote access of music from all computers and mobile devices.

iCloud will also store photos, apps, calendars and documents without storing them onto the phone's memory storage. Apple also placed itself in top position of the cloud war by inking deals with top music label companies to license songs for the iCloud service.

Added to that, there are rumors that Apple is stepping into the movie scene by attempting to license deals for films with movie studios.

iOS 5

iOS, known as iPhone OS before June 2010, is Apple's mobile operating system. The user interface of iOS is based on the concept of direct manipulation, using multi-touch gestures. Interface control elements consist of sliders, switches, and buttons.

Apple's iOS 5.0, which is the newest of the OS versions, was announced on June 6 at the WWDC 2011 keynote address. The new iOS 5 is expected to come with 200 new features that will include Improved Notifications System, News Stand and iMessage.

Apple's iOS 5 will introduce the iCloud service and the Notification Center, as well as improvements to native apps such as Camera. The operating system also features new applications, such as the Reminders app and Newsstand, an application resembling Folders and iBooks.

Unlike other applications, Newsstand is the first native application to actually run on the homescreen. iMessage is an application that allows iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad users to communicate, much like a chat service only used between these devices. The iMessage feature has been integrated into the SMS/MMS application used originally on the iPhone models.

More Carriers

Apple is expected to release iPhone to more carriers in the U.S.

When iPhone 4 was launched at AT&T, it faced several complaints of dropped calls and network outage, especially in New York and San Francisco. However, when Verizon began carrying iPhone, there are not many issues with the network.

If both AT&T and Verizon simultaneously carry iPhone, it's also possible that the migration of some AT&T iPhone customers to Verizon will relax some of the AT&T's network.

There were also reports that the next iPhone may come to Sprint.

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Posted in: Android,iPhone

Google launches Photovine app for Apple's iPhone, not Android

Google quietly launched yet another new social networking effort this week -- a new photo-sharing app called Photovine for the Apple iPhone.

Yes, the iPhone. Which runs Apple's iOS, the smartphone operating system nemesis of Google's Android.

The app allows users to take a photo from their phone and share it to friends in the app, sort of like the popular app Instagram. The big difference with Photovine, however, is that photos can be shared into a pool of other pictures centering around user-created topics called "vines."

In a teaser video posted to the YouTube, which is also owned by Google, a Photovine user takes a picture of a Pomeranian puppy (which looks a lot like the Facebook-famous Boo) and creates a vine of photos called "warm and fuzzy."

Others using the app in the video see the cute dog photo and share their own riff on the warm and fuzzy theme, including a cuddling couple sitting in a San Francisco park and later a guy at a swimming pool snapping a shot of a friend with a hairy chest and tiny blue trunks.

Photovine, which hit Apple's App Store on Thursday, is so far nowhere to be found in the Android Market. In fact, on Photovine's website and in the teaser video that hypes the service, the Google logo and name are also nowhere to be found.

On the Photovine website's Privacy Notice page, it reads "Photovine is offered by Slide (part of Google Inc. ...)."

Despite the lack of noticable Google branding anywhere, Photovine is following in the Google tradition by starting off in an invitation-only testing mode; a move also made with the popular Gmail email service and the growing Google+ social network launched about two weeks ago.

The invitation-only tactic means that not all iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad owners can doanload the Photovine app yet. But the app will eventually make its way to the public -- or at least that's the plan.

An email sent to those who request an invitation, as I did, from the "Photovine Team" places potential users on a wait list.

Google officials were unavailable Thursday to comment on when the app would be opened up to the public or if it would make its way to Android.

"We'll be slowly rolling-out invites starting later this month," says the waiting-list email, which has no mention of Google. "We're very excited about Photovine and can't wait for you to join us! Thanks again for signing up and for your patience while we distribute invites."

Check out the Photovine teaser video below.

Source :http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/07/google-launches-photovine-photo-sharing-app-for-apples-iphone-not-android.html

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Posted in: Android,Apple,iPhone