does anyone really buy blackberry products?

i find it difficult to understand, with all of the various android handsets and the almighty iphone, and even some windows 7 mobile phones, how people still continue to buy blackberry devices, including the playbook. so it isn't surprising when i read this:

http://www.bgr.com/2011/05/20/blackberry-playbook-sales-miss-targets-by-90-at-major-retailer-much-higher-return-rate-than-xoom/

the playbook, built on a new os, and with an impressive ui from qnx, seems decent. but having to connect your blackberry to access mail? really? even with a native mail app, i would find it difficult to understand the purchase of a playbook. if you have an android or ios device, you've probably bought or downloaded free apps, which you could conceivably use on your tablet, and some of these apps you may have become dependent on by now.

i understand that many corporations still use blackberry, and therefore employees use/buy blackberries, but it seems like the way that rim has responded to the android/ios tidal wave isn't nearly enough. their products are old, un-innovative, and definitely not competitive in almost any aspect.

market share vs revenues.

one of the most interesting battles of recent time:

http://www.bgr.com/2011/05/19/android-grabs-53-of-global-smartphone-market-share-ios-50-of-application-revenues/

xperia arc, play, to get 2.3.4 update next week?

now this is blog-worthy. according to engadget, the xperia arc and play will get the android 2.3.4 update next week, the first non-nexus/google phones to get this update.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, Arc getting Android 2.3.4 update next week, Facebook integration in tow

this is pretty cool. what would be even cooler is if it would fix my phone, although i think it is a hardware issue for my particular handset. i'll have to try seus as soon as its confirmed 2.3.4 is available.

Sony Ericsson Lt15i Mobile Phone Sony Xperia Arc *Silver* Internationa...

one update on my constantly rebooting phone, i have found one setup where it will not reboot over and over again when it feels like it. plugged in and charging on my mac, with keep screen on when charging checked on. i got a full 6 hours of constant uptime in that setup. as soon as the phone was fully charged and the screen went to sleep (not plugged in), it rebooted again. still trying to figure out what the issue is, i'm fairly sure it is defective, but it is such a weird defect that i really want to know what it is now.

SONY ERICSSON XPERIA ARC SILICON SKIN - BLACK

want to use air video on android? try mirage beta.

i use both an iphone 4 and a (sometimes functional) xperia arc on gingerbread. one of the apps that i use on my iphone and wanted to use on android was air video. i thought there would be a huge number of similar apps, only to find a bunch of media player apps with somewhat cumbersome interfaces to access my nas. even when it accessed the folders, it would not play all files.

air video uses a server installed on a pc or mac and converts on the fly while streaming to an iOS device, and does it very, very well. after trying a bunch of apps from the android market and googling air video and android, i came across an app called "mirage beta" that was recommended on the xda forum. it uses the same air video server, and is just a client that works on android. since i already have the air video server on my network, i tried mirage beta, and just like what was said on the xda forum, it worked like a champ. 

immediately recognized the existing air video server and as i tried streaming a 2gb file encoded in xvid, the video played smoothly, possibly even better than on my iphone. this is with a conversion queue being processed by air video server on this machine too. i have heard that plex also works well for android, and you also need to install the plex server on your desktop/notebook, but it costs $5. for now, mirage beta seems to fit the needs of air video users who want something similar on android.

download from android market: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.bw.xplayer.ui

steve does it again?

a very interesting article on how the whole cloud music topic is supposedly developing:

http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/18/apple-cloud-music/

if what this post says is indeed the case, despite what your feelings may be about apple and steve jobs, this potentially a huge benefit (at a price i'm sure) for the modern digital consumer. in a matter of weeks to have to upload songs to be able to just scan your (legal) collection and stream to your device? sounds pretty good to me. thanks amazon and google!

What a game.

So much for my prediction that the sharks would dominate, instead they got dominated. The sharks looked fatigued, and it didnt seem like they could control their penalties. Akthough to be fair, canucks got two double minor non calls, high stick on setoguchi and thornton, both drew blood, and both  were not called on the nucks. Thats 8 minutes of potential pp time for san jose early in the game. And also a holding the stick of wallin by one of thw sedins.

Its pretty easy to blame the refs, but these were blatant non calls. Still think the sharks can win this series, they just need to stick with their game. As soon as the heat is on, the nucks are a sure bet to go into meltdown mode.

galaxy tab 10.1 pre-orders up, same pricing as ipad2.

Samsung Galaxy Tab (Wi-Fi)

according to this post from engadget, the galaxy tab 10.1 is up for pre-order from j&r for $499 (16gb) and $599 (32gb).

http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/18/galaxy-tab-10-1-goes-up-for-pre-order-at-jandr-makes-june-8th-see/

not sure how to think about this. the galaxy tab 10.1 seems to be a fabulous tablet, as all the reviews of the le version from google i/o indicate, but it's also an android device, which maybe unfair to say, but should be cheaper than its apple equivalent.

Managing Brand Equity

not to say that the excellent components inside the galaxy tab 10.1 aren't worth the price tag, but if any competitor is to try and bite into the success and sales of the ipad2, it better be priced lower. it can have specs that dominate the ipad2, but the one area that it needs to bow down to the ipad2 is on price. it isn't for no reason that apple is capable of charging what it wants and people still lining up to buy it. the apple brand has been resurrected by steve jobs for many years now, and it has earned the type of brand equity that it is now enjoying, and therefore they can charge a premium which consumers are happy to pay for. when you factor in the tight integration between software and hardware, and their complete control over both, a good number of consumers will also find that a reason to divvy up more cash because it just works. no hacking or rooting really needed, just charge it up and it's ready to go, as boring as that may sound to some.

to simply my stance, when you walk into a store, and see the ipad2 and the galaxy tab 10.1 side by side, with the same price and same capacity, your average joe schmoe will most likely buy the ipad2. it has the name, it has the fame, and in some ways it is the practical choice between the two devices. but if the galaxy tab 10.1 were even $50 cheaper than the ipad2, it would be a safe assumption to say that joe schmoe is now thinking, and asking questions, and assuming they get the right answers, now knows that the galaxy tab 10.1 is better on specs and has some nice features that may make it a better fit for their needs than the ipad2. but again, when it's the same price, the smart money is on joe picking up the ipad2.

Apple iPad 2 MC769LL/A Tablet (16GB, Wifi, Black) NEWEST MODEL

Apple iPad 2 MC770LL/A Tablet (32GB, Wifi, Black) NEWEST MODEL