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  • The Future of PC and Mobile Processors PC Magazine logo

    I've spent a lot of time with a number of hardware manufacturers recently, trying to get a glimpse into the next generation of processors and the ways in which they'll impact future gadgets and PCs. In all my meetings, one term has arisen time and again: SOC, or system-on-a-chip.

    Traditionally, chips have been created independently and then coupled together to provide multiple computing features. For example, a manufacturer would create a core processor like an Intel Centrino with a built-in Wi-Fi radio, and then attach that to a systems board, perhaps linking it together with a separate graphics co-processor, in order to deliver enhanced PC graphics. Another might take an ARM core processor and then add on additional features like extended graphics to enhance device functionality.

  • Apple's iPad: Live up the Hype? It Will....
    It was interesting to hear all the chatter after last week's iPad launch. Most reactions I heard from other analysts and media were lukewarm at best...which was what I expected. If you think about it, how can anything live up to the kind of hype leading up to this launch? But there was a lot missed in the media about the event and the product that I hope to share in order to maintain our perspective on not only the iPad but on Apple and their products.  
  • Innovation Abounds - CES 2010 Post Show Analysis

    This year's CES was very interesting. I had felt for the past few years that CES was sorely lacking in the innovation department. But this year it looks like things have changed in the technology industry. Technology companies have realized that to reach the consumer the pace of innovation needs to accelerate, and this year's CES was a start in that direction.  Several things stuck out that I'd like to highlight:  

  • Apple's Competitive Advantage

    One of the primary things about being an effective technology industry analysis firm is that we have to clearly communicate our perspectives about the technology industry as a whole to our clients. This requires more than just the regurgitation of information as we gather it in the field. It requires explaining more fundamental elements of what is happening and why. It is because of this that we seem to get one question common to many of the companies that we speak with and provide services to. That question is: "Why is Apple doing so well and what can we do to compete?"


    Particularly of interest to many is why Apple appears to be recession-proof while many others in the hardware business had a rough 18 months or so. There are more reasons then I have time to go into in this article as to why Apple appears to be unstoppable, so I will highlight just a few. I am a big picture strategic thinker by nature and I love thinking about and strategizing around competitive advantage and differentiation. That is why I love analyzing Apple, because they play the strategic game extremely well, particularly when it comes to developing strategies to defend their competitive advantage. There are three key areas that stick out to me as particularly defensible for Apple. 

Creative Strategies - Innovation and Vision

Tablets, e-Books, and the Rise of a New Creative (Writing) Class

Thursday, 11 March 2010 12:10

A couple of weeks back I explored the potential impact of the burgeoning mini-tablet space. If predictions are to be believed, these devices will sport 9.7-10 inch screens optimized for music, games, movies, and Web browsing, all with a highly portable form factor. These devices will also likely have a major impact on publishing, offering multimedia books and leading to what some have deemed the "reinvention of the book," with titles that include text, images, and video. We've already seen multimedia books—or "Vooks" (short for "video books")—on the Web, but once the mini-tablets arrive, they will let people enjoy them pretty much anywhere. I can definitely see publishers embrace this technology in a major way.

If you own an iPhone, I recommend purchasing one of these Vooks from the Book section of the App Store. These apps should give you a rough idea about where this technology is headed. The Vook, The Breakway Japanese Kitchen, is a cookbook featuring video introductions to the ingredients featured in the book's recipes. The holy grail for this technology is the ability to integrate this rich media into the book in a manner that makes it critical to the way the story is told.

Read more...

Disruptive TV - How Streaming TV is Close at Hand

Thursday, 11 March 2010 12:10

In March of this year, I canceled my service with DISH Network to embark on a simple experiment. The question was did I need my television service provider, and the experiment was to see if streaming shows from the Internet could satisfy my television habits.

 

The TV shows they are a-streaming...

In the first few weeks of this experiment, I came to find out that 90% of the TV shows my wife and I watched on a regular basis were available online from either the networks' websites themselves or from Hulu.com. What suffered however was live sports and shows for our kids, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Since I am a die-hard San Francisco Giants fan, it was very difficult for me to not be able to watch a single game the entire season from the comfort of my own home. I tried connecting to hacked streams; I tried watching them through my dad's SlingBox; I even tried MLB.TV, but since I am in the Giants local market the games were blocked out. Nothing came close to watching the game in HD on my big screen. My conclusion with live events is that they still have a long way to go when it comes to an equally or more compelling offering through the Internet.   

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The Coming Technology Explosion

Thursday, 11 March 2010 12:10

Not until Intel released and pushed their Atom processor architecture did the world wake up and realize that the vast majority of consumers have enough processing power. The latest and greatest is often more than enough when it comes to CPU’s.  A product like Atom, which is a lower cost CPU, packs enough punch to become attractive to those who seek to put more capable “computing class” CPU’s in their products. This would include products like TVs, GPS devices, next generation mobile devices, cars, etc.

 

Atom for Intel is a product roadmap that eventually gets smaller and draws very little power, something that is important for battery conscious devices, devices that currently don’t run Intel processors. Even though we don’t see an Atom processor in many of these devices yet, I believe very powerful “computing class” silicon is around the corner at price points that will allow for a great deal of experimentation and innovation.   

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The Dawning of Digital Reading

Thursday, 11 March 2010 12:10

For a while now we, at Creative Strategies, have been involved in projects within the digital reader ecosystem.  We have been talking and working with both publishers and hardware OEM’s who either have a presence or want a presence in this market.

Regardless of where we are now in the adoption cycle of e-readers one thing is now clear; The shift from analog to digital in books is happening rapidly.  

Although we acknowledge that the E-reader market is early we also acknowledge that it is loaded with potential.  

 

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Have we done innovation a disservice?

Thursday, 11 March 2010 12:10

Over the past few years our firm has done a great deal of research and thinking around this new category of computers called Netbooks.  Netbooks are, we believe, the beginning of a larger trend around classes of computing devices that have enough processing power to do a few specific things well, but not enough to do everything that a full- blown computing device is capable of—, HD video editing for example.  

These devices are quite capable of going online, checking email, and creating word documents and, spreadsheets, etc.  Quite frankly, they are good at doing what most folks do the majority of the time with their computers.   A point in which is making many in the computing industry very uncomfortable. 

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