Phone, Tablet and Gizmo Thread #0x02

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 08 Mar 2013 11:26

fbook news feed has become junk...I see updates from friends and advertisers all jumbled up, pix are too big even for my office monitor (and too big for tablets)....

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 08 Mar 2013 11:30

I agree that the signal-noise ratio on SeekingAlpha is really low, though I filter out the opinion articles for some interesting syndicated columns that helped me make money in the past. Fruit co buying Bibi sounded dumb on the surface when I saw the article header, and wondered if there really was something to it at all. Why would chacha buy them though ? They're busy digesting motor oil mobility.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Mar 2013 11:32

For enterprise penetration.

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 08 Mar 2013 11:35

BB has few good assets to offer: Enterprise leverage plugged into infrastructure, IP and global brand/sales force.

But canadians wants to keep the dev/campus..chacha needs to keep it alive there.

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 08 Mar 2013 11:50

Android has perception problem as brought to fore by Larry Elison who called it a cheap kockoff but soon after he realized the big glasshouse he was sitting in with Java. Enterprise adoption needs a great security and manageability story that BB can provide.

There were rumours of Lenevo expressing serious interest in BB but in the same breadth and context the term "national security" was also mentioned. So, that's another data point.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Mar 2013 12:04

Enterprise still uses BB a lot despite inroads made by iPhone/iPad. So that is definitely of value to someone like Chacha if they want to challenge Mickey in that space without going head-on/toe-to-toe.

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 08 Mar 2013 12:12

Mickey and Nokia combined also looked at BB prior to BB10 release or even just prior to Win8 release. I was expecting M$ to actually finish it by now and crystallize #3 position and look ahead.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Mar 2013 12:14

For Mickey BB may or may not make sense. BB depends on Mickey for enterprise.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 08 Mar 2013 12:19

How does Chacha use BiBi's enterprise base at all ? The BES setup doesn't sound remotely compatible with Android based clients, and the push messaging as a USP no longer has the cachet it did a decade ago. They'd be buying a technology that's in the process of being made obsolete or cannibalized, no ?

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 08 Mar 2013 12:49

Mort Walker wrote:^^^So you are suggesting WP OS actually increased in market share in the 4th quarter of 2012? Maybe, we'll see later this year as the 1st quarter of 2013 closes.

Don't know about marketshare*... but WP sold close to as many Androids... something like ~300,000. Which is pretty awesome.. but TBH, I don't understand what happened that can do this.

*I think marketshare also grew... in fact most recent month is the first time that Windows(mobile/phone) have not lost but in fact gained marketshare.

But this based on what I read... let me get the link for this data.

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 08 Mar 2013 12:55

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Mar 2013 12:59

Suraj wrote:How does Chacha use BiBi's enterprise base at all ? The BES setup doesn't sound remotely compatible with Android based clients, and the push messaging as a USP no longer has the cachet it did a decade ago. They'd be buying a technology that's in the process of being made obsolete or cannibalized, no ?

For the short-term the technology (or rather its entrenched legacy tail is quite valuable). For the long-term its basically getting hold of Bibi's sales force and account managers to enable an aggressive move into enterprise.

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 08 Mar 2013 13:00

Mort Walker wrote:Android and others give up market share to iOS

Even Windows took a loss after the release of Windows 8 phones by Nokia and HTC.

Code: Select all

Microsoft 	
Jan-11 	Feb-12 	March-12 	April-12 	May-12 	Jun-12 	Jul-12 	Aug-12 	Sept-12 	Oct-12 	Nov-12 	Dec-12 	[b]Jan-13[/b]
US installed base 	4.4 	3.9 	3.9 	4.0 	4.0 	3.8 	3.6 	3.6 	3.6 	3.2 	3.0 	2.9 	[b]3.1[/b]
Percent loss 	0.2 	0.5 	0 	-0.1 	0 	0.2 	0.2 	0 	0 	0.4 	0.2 	0.1 	[b]-0.2[/b]

Market share grew for first time

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 08 Mar 2013 13:04

Raja Bose wrote:
Suraj wrote:How does Chacha use BiBi's enterprise base at all ? The BES setup doesn't sound remotely compatible with Android based clients, and the push messaging as a USP no longer has the cachet it did a decade ago. They'd be buying a technology that's in the process of being made obsolete or cannibalized, no ?
For the short-term the technology (or rather its entrenched legacy tail is quite valuable). For the long-term its basically getting hold of Bibi's sales force and account managers to enable an aggressive move into enterprise.

Well it makes some sense, but I am confident that Chacha wont be buying it... they can't. They are already making silly excuses about reason why they bought Motorola... buying BB would mean that Motorola was complete waste of USD 6-7 billion.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Mar 2013 14:02

Bibi serves a different purpose than Motor Oil. Motor Oil was bought as a hedge against Sammy and to ensure Chacha can go vertical in mobile devices - basically they got Motor Oil's HW expertise (the announcement about protecting patents being the primary intention for the purchase is a rich pile of bull droppings). Bibi's worth is their enterprise connection, not their HW. Sammy might scoop them up too as a means to further bolster their independence from the Android camp.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Mar 2013 14:42

It seems Chacha is cutting another 10% off Motor Oil's workforce - that should be a total 30% layoff from Motor Oil's workforce at time of acquisition.

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 08 Mar 2013 15:26

TBH it was probably combination of many small and big reasons..
Small: Patents, and as you said hedge against Sammy, Motor Oil's HW expertise.

But did those patents help Google ?
Did the hedge work against Samsung ?

Big: I think(bit lazy to google this)... Icahn used to own big share of Motorola.. and basically CEO threatened to pull Android's chaddi

....

.... or maybe I am confusing this with somethign else.

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 08 Mar 2013 16:39

i dont even known what you talking about

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 08 Mar 2013 16:45

krishnan wrote:i dont even known what you talking about

Sorry, I was being lazy.

This is what I meant: dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/in-googles-motorola-deal-icahn-gets-his-wish-again/ blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/08/15/google-motorola-carl-icahn-looks-brilliant/ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-1 ... stake.html

Obviously ignore what he says, focus only on what he does.

member_22872 · Post by **member_22872** » 08 Mar 2013 20:56

Guys are there any apps for ipad or similar which can be used to scribble/take notes? which act like an old fashioned slate?

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 08 Mar 2013 21:44

I think Chacha bought Motor Oil because they want to show they too can turn a company around like Steve Jobs.

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 08 Mar 2013 22:00

venug wrote:Guys are there any apps for ipad or similar which can be used to scribble/take notes? which act like an old fashioned slate?

Onenote, Evernote ? TBH.. this would suck on iPad.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Mar 2013 22:32

anmol wrote:But did those patents help Google ?

Not really.

anmol wrote: Did the hedge work against Samsung ?

Its too early right now since Sammy hasn't defected yet and all the X devices are not out yet. If it does, then one has to evaluate. This is long term planning by Chacha.

Anujan wrote:I think Chacha bought Motor Oil because they want to show they too can turn a company around like Steve Jobs.

Which company did the Mahdi buy and turn around?

Don't tell me Pixar.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 08 Mar 2013 22:37

Anujan wrote:I think Chacha bought Motor Oil because they want to show they too can turn a company around like Steve Jobs.

I'm more inclined to think Page and Brin were in a meeting with an intrepid Tamizhan who kept asking 'enna solu' and the enna part was mistranslated as oil, leading them to believe he was suggesting buying motor oil, leading them to seriously consider it.

Ok, that was

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 08 Mar 2013 22:44

Mahdi turned around fruit

or that doesnt count?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Mar 2013 22:45

^^^^^He didn't purchase Fruit.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 08 Mar 2013 22:46

Well he left

and was brought back.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Mar 2013 22:49

So he was purchased by Fruit (along with NeXT), not the other way round.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 08 Mar 2013 22:59

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/03/blackb ... -in-india/
Blackberry Z10 Sold Out In 2 Days In India

There have been reports by some retailers that the Blackberry Z10 is selling pretty well, and this sentiment was shared by Blackberry’s CEO, Thorsten Heins, who said that the sales of the device exceeded their expectations. Exceeded by how much, exactly? Well as far as India is concerned, Heins revealed that the Blackberry Z10 has managed to sell out in 2 days, a pretty impressive feat we have to admit. However Heins was unable to provide figures before their earnings call on the 28th of March, so we guess we will have to wait until then to see if the device selling out is merely because of low shipments or because it was truly well-received.Speaking at the Communitech Tech Leadership Conference, Heins was quoted as saying, “We shipped into the channel product that we thought would have been good for at least five days and I got an emergency call from our manager in India, saying that they were sold out in two days…” In any case it looks like the Z10 is kicking off the way Blackberry had intended, and hopefully when the figures are released it will be in line with all the reports we’ve been hearing lately. In the meantime you can check out our review of the Blackberry Z10 if you’d like to learn more about Blackberry’s latest flagship device.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 09 Mar 2013 00:06

Well think about it. If chacha did what they are doing now really really well and expand into related areas their stock would rise a little bit and maybe they will get a little fame. That is expected of them.

But on the other hand, they bought a failing business and completely turned it around, like say how steve jobs did to apple, they will become really really famous.

I think this is the reason why chacha bought Motor Oil.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 09 Mar 2013 01:29

Samsung to use PHOLED display on S4.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 09 Mar 2013 04:27

Currently the best display in a phunwa out there in the market is probably the Lumia 920's display though it is IPS and not AMOLED. Let's see how the PHOLED one compares. The Sammy software features I find very gimmicky and annoying. They have put in just about every effing combination of gestures in their TouchWiz on the GSIII latest update and whats more annoying is the darn thing keeps asking you if you want to turn gesture XYZ on and by default that notification keeps coming till you check the box to turn it off. Last thing I want while taking a picture with the phone's camera is some stupid notification about enabling some gesture popping up in my face and waiting for explicit user response. Sammy needs to learn UX before it can pretend to create its own vertical offerings.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 09 Mar 2013 04:31

^^I liked their SmartStay though, where the phone keeps tracking your eyes and doesn't dim the screen if you are looking directly at it. Very useful. I was worried it might be a battery hog,but haven't had any such problems .

Compared to Sammy's media blitz for the GSIII last year, the GSIV release seems muted.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 09 Mar 2013 05:33

That one is a useful feature but 95%+ of their gesture stuff (and the upcoming eye triggered scrolling) is crap.

GSIV will do well becoz the Galaxy lineup has pretty good brand equity.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 09 Mar 2013 10:10

Samsung has hit back today at the apple emi scheme in india with one of its own...every high end samsung down to the grand duos at 21k is up for emi from today.

Good checkmate that. Apple is back to square one peddling its smaller screen and weaker specs

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 10 Mar 2013 00:09

RB,

You can criticize Sammy all you want. A duffer like me has had no trouble turning off such "features" so I dont see any problem.

Sammy has made great progress since the original Galaxy S.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 10 Mar 2013 02:42

^^Saar, why do I have to switch off "features" which shouldn't be turned on in the 1st place and why should I be harangued about them by the device all the time? Your argument is the same argument which was used by myriads of Symbian fans for many years and look at the horrible UX they had and what happened to Symbian when a phone with good UX came along (iPhone). Always remember I am a much bigger duffer than you.

My beef with Sammy is they have no clue about UX and just push in features for the heck of it, with no thought about whether it helps or hinders the user. All they want is a list they can flaunt around like they did in that GSIII ad last year. This is like what GB used to with in their Symbian days. I can see how such idiotic stuff gets pushed in since I know a whole bunch of the Sammy UX teams here - every directive comes down from Korea, every design decision is made by a suit who probably has no clue about UX in the first place and lower ranks are just expected to follow orders. It may sound like Fruit Co a lot but then in Fruit Co the head suit was a guy who understood UX - most corporate suits in other companies come from sales/bean-counting and don't have any idea or the desire to learn and are loath to give control of those decisions to those who do know. This is why mango people still buy iPhones - not everyone is an iSheep, some just want to get the job done with minimum fuss, bling bling and bloat.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 10 Mar 2013 03:09

The "features" are useful some of the time and Sammy has to go to effort to put them in. The Sammy UX has improved considerably in the last 3 years and their is less bloat. Their sales indicate that it works, I don't know if it helped GB in their Symbian days, but for Sammy it is a plus.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 10 Mar 2013 03:20

Raja Bose wrote:So he was purchased by Fruit (along with NeXT), not the other way round.

Well, I was thinking "turn around" is the operating word, not "purchased". disclaimer: i don't think mahdi was another edison.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 10 Mar 2013 03:51

I think chacha wanted to buy Motorola solutions but realized they bought Motorola mobility after they paid for it.