Microsoft Launches First iPhone App Seadragon

Microsoft’s Live Labs group launched Seadragon Mobile on the Apple iPhone. Its available through the iTunes app marketplace. Seadragon Mobile enables you to view gigapixel images from any device.  Microsoft calls the technique of viewing large images “deep zoom” and its a key technology in their Photosynth product.

What is interesting about this move is Microsoft is making Seadragon Mobile available on Apple’s iPhone even before you can get it on the Windows Mobile platform. Is this a change of heart for Microsoft? Probably not. Seadragon Mobile uses graphics accelerated hardware and there are not many devices on the market today that take advantage of those capabilities. Microsoft is probably using this as an opportunity to test some technology early and also doing a little bit of hedging.

PlayStation Virtual World Comes Alive

Sony recently rolled out its PlayStation Home service. There have been nearly 17 million PlayStation 3 sold worldwide. Sony is calling the roll-out a beta, meaning Sony is still working out the bugs. PlayStation Home has been delayed by over a year and includes the PlayStation Network which has been playing catch up to Xbox Live ever since it launched.

The 3-D social network which is also being positioned as a gaming community is the most photo realistic environment compared to Xbox Live and Wii network.

Sony just recently cut 8,000 people and are in tough financial position. They are in a difficult position in the console wars. Sony is in third place from a unit perspective, PlayStation 3 has lacked blockbuster game titles, and its online network is way behind Xbox Live.

Netflix and Tivo Team Up

Netflix has been on a rampage of sorts doing deals to get distribution of their online service. Engadget broke the story tonight that Netflix and Tivo teamed up to offer Netflix’s on demand service. Now people can access thousands of movies both standard definition and HD movies from their Tivo.

Similar to the Xbox 360 Netflix service that recently came out, the functionalty is at no additional cost, you just need a Netflix account to use it. Engadget also got an early hand on experience. They said it is not as flashy as the Xbox 360 experience but the performance was noticably better. Netflix is certainly making a major bet on online distribution and they are moving fast to lock up key distribution channels from Blockbuster.  The recent deal that Microsoft and Blockbuster made to create a Live Mesh application is going to make this a game of chess and not checkers. 

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Flip Video MinoHD Takes HD Video Mainstream

First it was cheap HD TVs, then it was more and more HD channels on TV. Now the YouTube generation gets a device that will take HD video into the mainstream, the Flip Video MinoHD camcorder. This little device claims to be the smallest HD video recorder. The Flip Video MinoHD comes equipted with 4GB, capable of storing 60 minutes of 1,280×720 resolution (720p) video. Thats pretty compelling for a device that only weights 3.3 ounces and is ultraslim. The battery is an integrated lithium ion rechargeable battery which gives you about 2 hours of recording time. One of the obvious things it lacks is a HD output connection. It only includes a standard definition AV output jack.

The Flip Video MinoHD is definitely geared towards the social netowrking crazed genreation. With just one click I can upload my videos to YouTube, MySpace, and AOL. It includes FlipShare software that runs on the MAC and PC. HD recoridng is getting cheaper and cheaper. The Flip Video MinoHD, can be bought for around $200 and is a red hot gift for the holidays.

Apple to Sell $99 iPhone at Walmart

According to BGR Apple(AAPL) is planning on selling a $99 iPhone at Walmart(WMT). If this is true, everyone in the mobile business should get a little scared. This means that Apple has hit a very important price point. Most of the 1.2 billion phones sold every year are below $100 price point. This will make sales of iPhone sky rocket at levels not seen since iPod. Now it seems Apple has the largest retailer on the planet behind them and Walmart and Apple are primed to sell 10′s of millions of units. Engadget even has pictures of at&t manuals with Walmart logo on them. Looks real to me.

Nokia who owns over 40% of the phone market should start getting a little worried. They sold over 430M units last year and their bread and butter segment was at price point below $100 for low end feature phones. This move by Apple can be a real game changer if it proves to be true.

Netflix Xbox 360 Service Rocks But Needs Some Work

I finally got a chance to play around with the new Xbox Live experience and specifically the new Netflix app. Ever since Microsoft announced the Netflix partnership I was eager to see it in action. I have to say I was really impressed with this new service. But there were a few parts that seemed disconnected. 

The best part of the product is just watching movies. Netflix (NFLX) has standard definition movies and a limited selection of HD movies. I went on a 30 Rock marathon watching the HD version of season 1 and 2. The video quality was very good on a 1080p Samsung LCD. The speed of using the service was also impressive. Movies loaded fast and the navigation was pretty intuitive. But there were some areas that need improvement.   Read more

There is No Money in iPhone Apps

Apple has created the new shareware marketplace with iPhone Apps. In August Steve Jobs was standing on his soap box and beating his chest because he claimed sales of iPhone Apps hit $30 million in the first 30 days. Jobs claimed that iPhone apps would be a billion dollar business.

Now 10K apps later the #1 “paid” app on iTunes is Koi Pond. This is a joke. Gizmodo gives an entire breakdown of the apps by category. The iPhone app marketplace has really blossomed into a freeware marketplace. The only really successful apps that will be high volume will be free. There is no money in building small little consumer apps.

The only reason Apple got 10K people to build apps was the hope it would lead to getting users. iPhone will create a concentrated set of users using a common platform. But similar to Facebook apps no one really looks at Facebook as a real application platform. It’s just a way to get access to a 120 million people that are all socially connected. And the only reason established companies will build apps is to stay relevant to iPhone users.

Developers are also constrained by Apple’s closed system approach. Similar to Chinese capitalism it looks and smells like a open marketplace but its not really open. I can’t wait until 2009 where Pong will be the #1 “paid” iPhone app.

Nokia Unveils N97 Phone

The countdown is finally over, we finally know what was behind the Nokia teaser Web site. The Nokia N97. Scoble calls it the ultimate Facebook device. Its packed with features including a 5 mega pixel camera, a large high resolution 16:9 screen, a touch interface with a QWERTY keyboard, 32GB of memory, Nokia is calling it the world’s most advanced mobile computer. Nokia is calling it the world’s most advanced mobile computer. The N97 will launch with a retail price set at around €550 ($693) excluding subsidies and taxes, phone to ship in H1 2009. Engadget posted an exclusive video.

Nokia seems to have created a lot of buzz or has really bad infrastructure. When I went back to the teaser site it crashed and gave me a server error. Nokia seems to have fixed the problem. The site now just redirects you to the Nokia World Web site where the keynote is being webcasted.

Nokia Teases New Product at Nokia World

How unoriginal is Nokia? They launched a new teaser website with a count down clock. Engadget is predicting Nokia will launch a major new product at Nokia World in Barcelona.

Robert Scoble is saying Nokia execs are walking around bragging that the blogosphere has no idea what they are going to announce. Engadget is guessing they will launch a touch device similar to the touch communicator that was leaked earlier. Whatever they launch I hope its more creative than their buzz campaign.

Wii World

The Wii took the world by storm in November of 2006. It caught everyone by surprise especially Microsoft and Sony. It launched with cheesy comercials that could have been taken as a spoof. But Nintendo did something that no one had accomplished yet in gaming, go mass market. They did this through a little innovation called the Wii Remote/ Nunchuk. This little device made the Wii a must have product that made it go on to sell over 35 million units world wide.

With all the success the Wii has brought Nintendo, they still are not fully realizing the opportuntiy and taking advantege of the mometum. Supply has been one of the Wii’s biggest missed opportunities. The demand has always outpaced supply and even last year you could not find a Wii any for Christmas. Now, two years later instead of the Wii console being the #1 seller on Amazon its not its the Wii Nunchuck controller. The Wii console is sold out again on Amazon. Read more

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