Have a Break, Have a KitKat

Google is known for calling its release of its Android software after sweet treats and also naming them alphabetically. We have Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo (frozen yoghurt), Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean and the next was expected to be Key Lime Pie.

Today the news is that they have doubled up with the chocolate giant, Nestle to name version 4.4 KitKat.

It is hoped that the global recognition of the KitKat brand will give Android a positive association and Nestle now plans to deliver over 50 million chocolate bars featuring the Android mascot to shops in 19 markets, including the UK, US, Brazil, India, Japan and Russia.

So we hope the slogan, ‘have a break have a KitKat’ doesn’t relate to the new Android version and expect that Mars bars and Penguins are on the horizon.

How Much Is That Smartphone in Your Pocket Worth?

Once thieves broke into houses to steal your possessions, now it’s probably easier to steal your smartphone on the street. As everyone is carrying around a mobile ‘jewellery’, then the value of authentication and protection from theft is becoming a hot subject.

Nearly half of all robberies in San Francisco last year involved a smartphone, up from 36% the previous year. In other US cities the same high profile exists with Washington recording 42% of robberies and New York 14%. It is now claimed that a third of all US citizens own a tablet and the ownership of smartphones is very much higher. In the UK, the Office for National Statistics reported that 107,000 incidents of 'theft form the person' were recorded last year, an 8% rise from previous year.

Do you ‘lock’ your smartphone or is it like the majority open to use once stolen?

This week Apple, as part of their iOS7 announcement, a new iOS feature, they call ‘Activation Lock.’ The feature effectively disables the iPhone even if a thief has turned it off or erased the data on the phone. This remote ‘kill switch’ renders the stolen phone useless and difficult to sell in the black market. The phone can be reactivated only after the user logs into it with the right Apple ID and password.

Google also are taking the issue forward and have filed a patent suggesting users stick out their tongue or wrinkle their nose in place of a password. Yes they envisage we will happily look at our phone and pull a face to be recognised and authenticated. They suggest that specific gestures could prevent the existing Face Unlock facility being fooled by photos.

The patent, filed last year, suggests the software could track a "facial landmark" to confirm a user not only looks like the device's owner but also pulls the right expression and this could be; a frown, an open smile, a forehead wrinkle, eyebrow movement, or a tongue protrusion. They go on to cover a number of ways that they could further ensure the phone is not being fooled.

The patent suggests users would have to type in a password if they failed to make the right gestures

Now just imagine you are on a crowed train and you need to unlock your phone, or you are having an intimate dinner in a restaurant and the phone vibrates and you are asked to start to pull faces at the camera. Yes we see it working well at those gurning meetings and the late comedian Les Dawson would be able to give a masterclass in the art, but really there must be simpler ways to validate who you are?

As the smartphone and tablets become our mobile office, personal library and hold more than just contacts and diaries and even our email we must protect them from theft. It is not just a case of replacing them when they are lost or stolen, but maybe thinking about the identity and information that you have effectively lost. This may be more valuable to you and the thief that the smartphone or tablet.

So What Does LG know that the rest of us don’t?

Remember Palm and their operating system WebOS?

It was bought by HP in 2011 for $1.2bn. At the time HP gave it 100% backing, but much like the football Chairman who gets the backs his manager during a bad losing streak, they have decide to change. HP did launch products such as their TouchPad which ran on WebOS, but the result was poor sales.

Palm developed WebOS to run smartphones, Tablets and mobile devices but was swept aside by Apple IOS, Google’s Android and even fell far short of players such as Blackberry.

HP will retain the underlying WebOS patents and technology but will handover the source code, documentation, would be used to power its next-generation smart TV technology. The big question now is whether WebOS will fair any better against the same competitors in the emerging smart TV battleground? Will an Android dominance lead to manufactures want to create their own look and feel, or like Microsoft is doing with Windows 8 will they merely jump ship to the perceived next best thing?

To demonstrate what HP actual thinks they have just launched their first Android-powered HP Slate 7 tablet, at the 2013 Mobile World Congress.

HP is not thought to have recouped the money it paid for Palm for WebOS..

Samsung Add Another Galaxy to the Mix

Samsung is about to throw in another tablet to the mix, the Galaxy Note 8.0.

The device is neatly positioned to start to offer Samsung users a range of devices that vary merely in their size and unlike the Apple world these in the main offer the same or similar functionality without the defined walls created by Apple. In other words you have the Galaxy phone with pen, the Note II, 7 & 8 with pen all with the same SIM size and all capable of being tethered or being a phone. Apple like to separate their media light device iPod, from their phone, Iphone from the Tablet, iPad.

The point is that all mobile devices are converging in technology and are all underpinned by a common platform but separating in how we use them. Do we want different devices to do different things or do we want all devices to inherently offer the same but vary in their form and footprint? We may want a basic phone tethered to a sophisticated larger form tablet / server. We may want this reversed so we have the smaller footprint on the go with the option to tether the tablet when required. The world is not about having devices that perform X or Y but a mobile platform that offers choices and interoperability.

It is not hard to envisage a mobile server which is ‘connected’ to slave mobile devices, each with its own specialised usage and with a common set of functionality. This year we shall see the ‘glasses’ and the wrist ‘watch’ and we already have the earpiece.

Ask yourselves what the difference really is between ASUS, Acer, HP, Dell, Samsung, laptops? Then what is the difference between these and a Mac?

Maybe it is down to Android versus IOS and for some that may be Déjà vu.

Technology Skills In Demand

What do you think is the technology skill in most demand today?

As all companies fight to be seen in the ever expanding digital arena then the demand for the right technology skills increases. It’s a simple case of supply and demand.

Freelancer.co.uk claim that job adverts for top digital jobs grew between the second and third quarters of this year from 189,917 to 230,614, that’s over a 20% hike in demand. Following the redesign of the EBay site demand for developers there rose some 44%.  Facebook advertisers and Internet marketing demand was up 12%, search engine optimisation 12%, HTML some 8%.

An interesting trend was the continued increase in demand for Android app developers, which was up some 16%, compared to Apple iOS’s demand growth of 8%. This clearly demonstrates that Android is now holding its own and Apple is being pegged back by the onslaught of devices from the likes of Samsung. However, the biggest demand growth was associated the ‘paperless office’ and the transition from paper documents to online and cloud based services.

Technology is changing and with it the skills and demand for developers and support to exploit it. Nearly a quarter of a million jobs were reported for skills which did not exist a few years ago and itself again demonstrates the volume of demand in the marketplace.

Bad News If You Have A Microsoft 7 'Swiss Army' Smartphone

The smartphone is getting smarter and and as we all migrate to the platform its usage changes significantly such that a recent survey of O2 customers claims users spend twice as much time browsing the web, and also they spend more time checking social networking sites, playing app-based games and listening to music than they do making calls. Checking Emails now follows making calls followed by text messaging, watching TV and films and reading books and taking pictures. The smartphone is becoming the device that now not only connects people but is rapidly becoming even as important as your wallet which it could even replace soon.

However it is still an evolving technology and no one can claim that they have found the mobile solution for the future, just the one for today. We are all aware that Blackberry is going out of fashion and running out of puff. It had a good run, created the mobile email world we now all live in, but somehow never moved on. Apple continues to be the design icon and tablet solution to have and despite all the denials, looks to be on the path to converging the iPhone and current tablet with the first step being a smaller tablet later this year. Android is no longer a contender, but the player who is the winning the marketshare and claiming just over 50% share. And then there is Microsoft who promises lots and just delivers confusion.

The issue often in the marketplace is fragmentation. This is were the underlying operating system is not uniform across the market and this is exacerbated by devices taking a specific release and developing on it and so potentially restricting their ability to be upward compatible with future releases. Amazon’s adoption of Android is an example of this. However trying to keep all devices, apps all compatible with a rapidly developing OS can be a challenge unless like Apple everything is from the same stable and brings other issues.

The company that once again appears to be lost is Microsoft with its mobile OS offer. First there was a company desperate to catch up with the others and with windows 7 to launched their platform to compete. They even got the other lost soul, Nokia, to effectively drop their OS hot-potch of an offer and come on board. Nokia Lumia was heralded as the new benchmark, the new platform, the new dawn. Now Microsoft have dumped Windows 7 and started again with Windows 8. Its not upward compatible and so those who bought the Windows 7 package effectively bought a pup that would always stay as a pup.

Windows Phone 8 is a clean break with Windows Phone 7, which only launched in autumn 2010 as a clean break from Windows whatever. Importantly for developers and users it has a completely new kernel and no forward compatibility for apps and built specifically for Windows Phone 8 won't run on 7.8 devices. Microsoft obviously could wait until windows 8 so brought out windows 7, but the question is, how long Microsoft knew that they were effectively selling a dead end road, as its certain that Windows 8 didn’t drop out of the sky overnight!

So as we all get more hooked on our smartphones and as they become the true mobile ‘swiss army knife’ we only need to be careful that our attachment to any one device or OS is limited to our contract term and expect to change sides as loyalty will not to always be rewarded.

Peace on Earth and Goodwill to Technology Competitors?

Christmas is the time to think about others less fortunate than oneself.

Well one has to think that the spirit of Christmas doesn’t extend to the corporate world of telecoms as the battles between the giants continue unabated and patent disputes are more common that fights in the school yard and everyone tries to outsmart each other.

Today British Telecom filed a lawsuit in the state of Delaware claiming that six of its core patents have been infringed by the Google Maps, Google Music, location-based advertising and Android Market products on Android. The patents relate to location-based technology that underpins navigation and guidance information and personalised access to services and content. The suit could have serious financial implications on Google with even penalties being due on every Android set sold! HTC and Samsung have already yielded to patent claims by Microsoft against Android and are paying a per-handset fee for every one they make. If held up in the US the BT suit could then move to Europe.

With the number of lawsuits being fought by Google one wonders if they have any friends to sit around their Christmas table let alone send greetings to!

Meanwhile Apple have just scored won a narrow victory over HTC as a court ruled that the HTC copied Apple’s touch screen software for clicking on phone numbers in documents from the iPhone. But the world of patents is not simple and the U.S. international trade commission ruled in favour of HTC on another three claims by Apple that its software had been copied. These are mere skirmishes in the raging patent wars. It should be noted that originally Apple accused HTC of infringing 10 patents so they won more than they lost but with the US being their single biggest market any loss could prove damaging.

So is it all about smartphones?

Well in the 6 months we shall see Amazon Fire grow into a furnace and Apple yet again contradict itself and produce a smaller screen iPad. But the interesting one could be the introduction of a Google Nexus tablet. This would be interesting not just because it’s Google, but also given their Chairman Eric Schmidt’s employment history. We wonder if he took any ‘secrets with him’.

Google has already ‘contributed’ in the development of the Motorola Xoom, but like other Android tablets, it has not delivered the sales but Schmidt in the Christmas spirit is reported saying that ,’competition between Android smartphones and the iPhone will be “brutal”.’

Fancy an Ice Cream Sandwich?

As Google unveils its latest edible operating system upgrade, Ice Cream Sandwich, we consider what this means to the consumer on the street?

What is clear is that the mobile battle has Apple squaring up the Andriod and it landscape will be very familiar to those who remember the early PC days when Mac squared up to Microsoft. Then the battle was really decided by the weight of manufacturers who sided with Microsoft and today one can see a similar pattern emerging.

Android handsets account for close to 50% smartphones shipped to retailers in August, compared to 19% for Apple devices and are being supplied by manufacturers such as HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. The new Amazon Fire will also work on a Android platform.

Ice Cream Sandwich or Android 4.0 was launched in partnership with Samsung and their Galaxy Nexus handset and a new Droid smartphone from their acquisition Motorola, the Droid RAZR. Meanwhile Samsung separately battle it out in the courts over copyright infringement accusations and counter-claims.

The changes we find very interesting in Android 4.0 include:
The ability for the system to recognise the owner’s and unlock the system. This obviously is far superior security than a code and unless taken by your twin makes theft a bit difficult. Mind you I you can’t have a serious haircut or apply loads of make-up girls!

The ability 4.0 users to use Android Beam feature to swap web content or links to apps by ‘kissing’ or simply touching their phones together.

Open voice input recognition which is continuously listening out for instructions. This could cause some interesting embarrassing moments and we think needs to carry a serious health warning

A cool new panoramic camera mode enables you to stitch together multiple snapshots to create a larger scene and includes a slider to help you align your multiple shots.

Google have also changed how you browse your contacts with a new People app, which combines high-resolution photos and updates from Google+ and other social services. This tighter integration between the device and O/S could make for some very interesting developments.

There are other more predicable features in Android 4.0:
• Devices have no physical buttons but equivalent on-screen icons.
• Apps and shortcuts can be grouped by dragging icons onto each other.
• Redesigned of the multi-tasking screen.
• Support of nested email subfolders

So what will the next upgrade be called? We have had Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo and Gingerbread so why not Jammy Dogger?

See You In Court

Are the only real beneficiaries of the new technology age the lawyers?

We have seen the music industry take legal actions on copyright infringement sometimes at the sharing of a file. We read last week of the UK Publishers Association’s drive to go after the pirates and the inevitable legal bills. We have technology companies all apparently filing cases and counter claims against each other over patent infringements. We have seen no result but plenty of lawyers earn out of the Google Book Settlement.

Now as if to add fuel to the legal fires a judgement by a Texas jury against Google has found them guilty of infringing a patent related to the Linux kernel and fined them $5m. The money may be chump change for Google but the implications could be far reaching for open source devotes and Google’s server platforms and Android mobile platform.

The case was brought by Bedrock Computer Technologies who have also sued Yahoo, MySpace, Amazon, PayPal, Match.com and AOL. It could create a wave of patent toll booths and raises question on just how ‘open’ open systems and source code are?
Google states that it will continue to defend against such claims on the open source community. More lawyers fees and money into the legal world to defending old and questionable patent claims.

It has been estimated that in the last 14 months there have been 41 patent infringement suits levied at Google's Android platform and its rapidly growing developer ecosystem.

Just this week Apple said it was suing Samsung Electronics for allegedly copying the design of its iPad and iPhone. Samsung has in turn countersued Apple claiming the Iphone and Ipad infringe 10 of its patents.Microsoft have lodged a suit against the Nook e-reader and Nook Colour tablet. Oracle have claimed that Google's Android technology infringes on its Java patents.

Interesting Mobile stories that caught our eye.

Where are You?

Ex England Rugby captain Will Carling left his iPad on the train but was determined to get it back. He used the built in GPS to follow the device as it went literally around the houses and updated his progress to his 46,000 twitter followers.

Logging on through his PC he could track its movements via MobileMe app and even sent a message to it telling the people who had it that it was being tracked. The device was eventually handed into the railway station’s lost property office and reunited with its owner.

Above the law?

Users who watch BBC TV via their Anroid and iPad /Phone devices with no TV licence are unlikely to be caught. The new free app enables users to watch and listen to the BBC on the move and appears to be genuinely ‘free’. Mobile devices be they tablets or phones can’t be tracked and so can avoid the £145.50 licence fee. The detection is still very much based on addresses with 97% of households holding a licences and although the BBC plans to force a registration to catch offenders this would appear an easy one to avoid.

Mobile Facebook

We have all enjoyed Facebook apps on mobiles an dthey are some of the popular apps but now Facebook have gone one step further new HTC and INQ, Android smartphones that offer greater Facebook integration. A dedicated button will take the user straight to Facebook and will place Facebook features prominently on the home screen.

The Facebook phones will feature video and photo alerts as well as text and home screen that instantly updates as friends post messages and pictures on the Facebook.

This is not only a win for Facebook users but also Google’s Android platform. It offers retailers opportunities to seel and promote more on Facebook Places, which shares the user’s location with friends and provides special offers from retailers.

The INQ Cloud based phones, which will also integrate the Spotify music on demand service.

Two Lost Souls Join Hands

Earlier this week we wrote about the dire straights Nokia now find themselves i9n today as everyone seems to be passing them on their journey down the charts.
As if to compound the issue they have now announced that they are to partner with Microsoft and that it will now use Microsoft's Windows Phone as its main smartphone platform, cutting research and development in its own platform which is dying on its feet. However some woulkd suggest that putting to lame dogs together doesn’t make a good one it merely puts two dead dogs together and could hasten the decline of both.

The once dominant Finnish phone market looks as if it is going to experience terminal decline and the appointment last year of Stephen Elop, a former Microsoft executive, as CEO looks like it set the agenda and there are even rumours that he may relocate to Silicon Valley.

Combining Nokia with Windows Phone platform looks ill conceived and is highly unlikely to draw users away from the rampant Android and iPhone platforms.

What is the most popular technology device?

Figures from International Data Corporation reveal 100.9 million smartphones were shipped in the final quarter of 2010, compared to 92.1 million PCs. This is the first time smartphones have overtaken the PC and they are currently enjoying a massive 87.2% year-on-year increase whilst PCs are only achieving just 5.5%

Google’s Android operating system is driving the agenda and now is fast becoming the cornerstone of multiple manufacturers' smartphone strategies. Over 302.6 million smartphones were shipped worldwide throughout 2010.

Does this mean that the PC era is coming to an end and we are in the era of the smartphone, or that the door is now opening wide for the tablet device to bridge? Convergence is unavoidable as technology shrinks and portability of applications rise through the rise in apps. We have yet to see the impact of dual Core processors which are due out later this year. Smartphones are no longer phones and now are mobile devices that pack a lot of power and being able to slip that into a pocket will always win over larger format devices.

Android's Honeycomb Is Unveiled

Google has unveiled it's tablet Android OS ‘Honeycomb’ which has been specifically optimised for tablets. To day over 145 devices running on Android, including a handful of tablets and as we reported earlier this week it is now the number one operating system on smartphones.

In light of the ambiguous noise coming out of Apple this week, Honeycomb includes the ability to buy applications from a tablet, buy features inside the app, video chat and improved graphics. The in-app purchasing feature will enable developers make money by selling virtual goods and upgrades in their apps to users. Some of the new Honeycomb features are expected to find their way onto Android smartphones very soon.

As we previously reported Motorola will be the first to bring Honeycomb to market with its Xoom device. but LG and T-Mobile are expected to follow with their G-Slate tablet.

Google's has also changed Android Market and announced a web-based version that will enable users to browse and buy apps directly from the web. With Google’s cloud, users can send apps directly to any Android device in a few clicks. This is a vast improvement for both users and developers and it is the later that Google are clearly appealing to. Today Android may have over 100,000 apps in its store, Apple ahs over 300,000 in its store.

Will Honeycomb compete with Apple’s iPad? Some suggest that if it is widely taken up by the manufactures, like with smartphones, it’s like spread betting as one or a number of tablet are likely to shine under it and Apple only have one iPad.

Google Android Is Number 1

According to research firm Canalys, Google Android is now the No.1 mobile operating system in the world,.

The claim is made in a new report from Canalys and states that 32.9 million Android-based phones shipped worldwide in the fourth quarter. That is greater than the 31 million Symbian-based phones that shipped over the same period. The rise in take up of Android is breathtaking with a growth from just 9% to 33% in year on year figures!
Symbian has dropped from 44.4% to 30.6% market share, whilst Apple achieved 16.2 million or 16% share and in forth place RIM 14.6 million and 14.4% share.

Meanwhile Microsoft has clearly lost what ground it had and only achieved 3.1million compared with 3.9m in Q4 2009. Its also worth noting that some 2 million of these were Windows Phone 7 OS which clearly indicates that it isn’t making the impact they desired and a third of shipments were still on the old Windows Mobile OS.

Not only is this the first time Symbian has been overtaken but it seriously questions where Nokia are going and whether they are losing their grip of this new smartphone market. It also shows the brilliant strategy adopted by Google to focus on the system and not try to create a one stop environment. It reminds us of that killer move Microsoft made against Mac way back when Windows was accepted by all the manufacturers and Mac was let by itself.

Google first unveiled Android in late 2007 and was widely accepted by carriers and manufacturers alike. Google are currently working on 3.0 version of the Android platform, which is being configured specifically to run on touchscreen tablet computers. They again have chosen an inclusive approach.

Acer Tablet Cometh

Tablets are to become the device of 2011 and the choice will be wide but they will all be chasing the iPad. Among the Android followers is Acer's 10” which is rumoured to be powered by Nvidia's dual-core Tegra 2 platform. A number of leaked videos start to show some of the things in store such as the tablet's gyroscope to allow touch-free page turns and for zooming in and out of photographs without using fingers allowing the user to flip through pages merely by tilting the tablet from side to side.

These may not be great videos but they show some of the many crude demos we are going to get from CES next month!

Tablet Divisions

A lot of the debate between the Galaxy Android tablet is to do with whether you are a Apple fan, or sceptic looking for options and alternative deals. Steve Jobs has a knack of creating iconic devices, but at the same time an equally annoying knack of alienating many with his moral high ground approach. Some sits on the other side of the fence to Apple and suggest that Jobs lacks the ability to compromise, but then others love him for the same reason.

The Galaxy Tab is smaller and lighter than the iPad, has two cameras, runs Flash, offers multitasking and is cheaper. Apple are likely to address the camera issue in their next model and what new benefits the Galaxy has today may be short lived. Apple are expected to enable multitasking under iOS 4.2 and are dismissive, in the way they only can, of the smaller screen form and of course of Flash.However, there's a lot of Flash content out there today and anyone who thinks differently, should browse the Web with an iPad and see just how much there is!

Some believe that apps are the clear difference between Apple and the Android offers. However all the major apps are available in multiple platforms and one has to question just how many of the more niche ones actually matter. It is also interesting that iPad buyers don't appear to buy many apps as opposed to the number they buy on the iPhone. There is new rumour that Apple now are about to change their app policy again and restrict applications that are mere content ‘wrappers’. This could be an issue for publishers who have started to create single title apps. The issue maybe that there may be a danger of there being just too many apps! The question if this were to happen is how apps for 'enriched' titles will be treated. Those who believe that it would not impact them should note Apple's latest stand on moving music unilaterally to 90 second samples on iTunes, irrespective of what anyone said.

So as we await the next new tablet the world looks to be polarising and reminds us of those early PC versus Mac, OS2 versus Windows days when you either liked the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.

Microsoft Out To Spoil The Rise of Android

Microsoft has reportedly come up with a new way to compete with Google and that is to charge royalty fees to prevent the likes of Acer from adopting Android and Chrome OS in their netbook and tablet offerings. Interestingly, Microsoft has chosen to charge the manufacturers and avoid a direct fight with Google.

Microsoft plans to impose royalties of US$10 to $15 per handset "for using its patents in e-mail, multimedia and other functions." HTC is apparently paying the fees and some suggest that is because it was cheaper than a lawsuit and that could retrieve the money from Windows Phone 7 licensing deals.

So why is the open source market so upset by this latest move by Microsoft? The answer is that the royalty is claimed against patent usage not the software used as the software is open source and has not licence fees!

Today everyone is patenting the future, and then suing when everyone makes it to the obvious next step. Microsoft has already been found guilty of predatory practices in violation of anti-trust law and some would suggest it's patents could become unenforceable if they are found to be abusing them. Some suggest Microsoft is aiming to head off what seems a tide of manufacturers adopting Linux OS on mobiles, netbook and tablet devices. If Microsoft loses this new market it will be severely restricted to the PC segment and their operating system monopoly.

Microsoft’s big problem is that they have to support layers of legacy. Today nobody needs to upgrade their OS to the latest Microsoft offer except when they buy a new computer. This breaks their old model and significantly dilutes the opportunity to pull through an Office upgrade sale.

So we now have Windows 7 and importantly Windows Phone 7. Will Microsoft succeed in thwarting the Google movement or are we starting to see the real demise of a technology giant of yesterday?

Android Keeps Rising

Nielsen says Android was the most popular OS on smartphones in the first half of the year and Apple and RIM were in a "statistical dead heat for second place."

Mobile Patent Wars

Microsoft has filed a patent infringement law suit against Motorola, claiming that its Android-based handsets violate its patents it holds covering office functions. However is the gauntlet really against Google and their Android system on the launch of Windows 7?

Android proved to be very successful and clearly is capable of overtaking Apple's iOS operating system so is a clear threat to Windows 7. Apple has also launched a suit against phone maker HTC claiming that its Android handsets violated some of its patents. HTC has issued a counter-claim, saying that Apple's technology infringes HTC patents. In addition Oracle has sued Google this year, claiming that Android infringes patents it holds in the Java technology it acquired from Sun Microsystems last year.

Microsoft has filed its claim with the US District Court for the Western District of Washington and the International Trade Commission. The claim covers nine that relate to a range of functionality embodied in Motorola’s Android smartphones and include the synchronizing email, calendars and contacts, scheduling meetings, and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power. Well on that count virtually every smartphone is guilty and why Android and why now is the obvious question? Last week Apple even claimed ownership of the word POD and failed to recognise what everyone else knew.

The litigation and counter litigation culture is fast becoming a joke within the market and even those of us who believe in patents and copyright question whether the system is now being played and the only winners are the lawyers.

A Tablet a Day?

We all know that the Galapagos islands offer a unique and Darwinian experience and so its somewhat strange that Sharp has named its new tablet devices as well as a new e-bookstore, ‘The Galapagos system’.

Targeted for release in Japan the two Android tablets also include a bookstore with some 30K titles including newspapers, magazines and books. The devices are 5.5” and 10.8 and will allow for vertical writing and special Japanese characters.

Another day and another big hitter enters the Tablet races.

Apple Open Up In a Flash?

We we see a reversal of a very public position we have to ask why and what the driver is. Today we have seen a significant shift by Apple towards its App developer tools and potentially Adobe's Flash.

We have all seen the logical rise of the Android platform. It may not have been the first to the market but it certainly has the right approach today to capture the ground on what looked to be a clear category killer –Apple.

Now Apple has announced that it will relax some of the restrictions it placed earlier this year on app developers and that it will also publish review guidelines for its App Store. Is this the long overdue climb down by Apple or an attempt to placate the people who feed the market – the developers.

Apple website has more than 250,000 applications for download – but previously had vermently blocked Flash but are now relaxing their rules so that developers can write programs for it without using Apple's own software.

The move has many layers to peel back. First it negates the threat of an anti-trust investigation which had looked possible after Apple blocked apps written using Adobe software tools. Second it positions Apple to slow down the clear shift to Android.

Market Reachers IDC now predict that Android will overtake Apple’s iOS platform by 2014 and will increase its current market share from 16% to 25% whilst they predict Apple’s iOS's market share will drop to 10.9%. This is obviously just a forecast but we have to acknowledge some significant sales of Android powered smartphones with the likes of selling Motorola 2.7 million and HTC 5.4 million smartphones in the last quarter and the likes of Samsung, Dell and LG still to make their impact. Andriod through its wide adoption by manufacturers is now hitting Apple both in the US and in the wider global market.

Third it potentially lifts the threat of investigation by either the United StatesDepartment of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) into complaints from AdMob, an analytic firm Google purchased earlier, that it was being shut out of iOS and couldn't collect statistics about ads on that operating system.

In April, Steve Jobs published his infamous open letter to Adobe "Thoughts on Flash", which was very scathing on Flash's performance, security, reliability and usability on a touchscreen device. We welcome the new move and now hope that Flash can at last be used on the Apple platform and Steve Jobs will step back from forcing the industry to spend development effort in order to protect his business.

However we have to be cautious as exactly what Apple will allow and how it will allow it but the wind is certainly shifting and for the good of all.