Yes- the open platform of Android is killing it.  This is just in track with my prediction.  Mobile will “touch everything”.  From traditional media, retail, consumer products, auto’s, etc.. etc… Apple’s model is just not one to scale. Scale is created when every major manufacturer uses your system to build product and Google has achieved that.  Even with Nokia’s move to MSFT, they will get a smaller market spot then what Google has achieved overnight.  Can Nokia-Msft convince carriers from shipping Android and have them move to this new dynamic duo?

Google seems to have the momentum at this point.

As they say, “the calmness after the storm”, but as it is several days before the F8 conference to take place this Sept 22nd, I could not help thinking about how we are basically experiencing a certain “calmness” before the storm to hit this Thurs in the mobile/online world.

We have all settled in a bit and have felt the war on mobile is basically the OS war between Google Android and iOS.  As Apple prep’s to make their announcements this coming October with iPhone 5, it is not serendipitous that Facebook is looking to make an announcement 2 weeks prior.  Over the last 5 years there has been a massive shift in behavior online to social.   The Google and Apple fight seemed to pass by Nokia without even a battle.  Nokia abandoning Symbian has now embraced the old online incumbent Microsoft with the Win7 platform as their next generation strategy of smartphones.  In my mind, this was such a strange decision as there was so much opportunity still to focus as a first priority with Meego, and not throw the “baby out with the dishwater” in the panic attack to enter the market again Google ( now Google-Motorola) and Apple.

However, I think the game could have been played out much differently if Nokia kept to its guns and supported Meego first and foremost with these two major strategies moving forward.

1) Web OS  ( getting rid of all native Apps for an HTML5 Responsive based ecosystem first)  *More on this in future posts

2) Taking a bolt step with Facebook, to make Meego the right open-source lower level  architecture with UI integration, and working with Facebook as the entire Application level OS as a strategy.   This thinking would be very US focused, but a plan nevertheless for a global competitive position for the next generation Social OS.

Instead of trying to develop an OS to compete with Apple and Google, give a strong ownership position of the Meego OS over to Facebook.   Not only has Facebook been the #1 App of choice across Android and iPhone, given the fact that mobile has always been about communicating and sharing ( the core DNA of a mobile device to begin with)  partnering with a company like Facebook at that strategic level several years ago would had been a unique position for even the likes of Nokia to bridge to the next shift in the future of mobility and just about everything- Social.   I am convinced the next generations of OS will be a Social Operating System, and there is no better then Facebook to make that happen when Nokia was the #1 in Smart phones several years ago.   We are seeing Google come back into the game with Google+ that in my mind will be the core to Android devices in the future.

With Nokia now dependent on Microsoft and Win7 now to drive the strategy, how will this be an advantage? Especially since with Social as a core strategy, it does not leave Nokia with much.   The right relationship with Facebook, would had been a strategy that could had given users the best position for this next wave.

Now that Facebook will be potentially launching Spartan at F8, It seems like that ship has left that station now even for Nokia, and the future opportunity to grab the “bull by the horns” with the next generation OS might now just be a drawn playing card.

I am excited to see what Facebook announces this week at F8 as well as the future of SPARTAN.    I have been a big believer in the future of the Web standards of HTML for the future of applications and connectivity cross-media.   Having a platform that works cross-mobile, online, tablet and social with HTML5 is an exciting future to be laid out with the Social Media OS.

Although, maybe Facebook will do this on its own? Have they enticed Device Manufacturers to join the camp such as HTC, Samsung, and others that are now looking for other options since the Motorola Acquisition by Google?  Nokia is still sitting in a good position with its patents, that the Nokia-Facebook Alliance ( even the Blue-Logo’s and the Connecting People expression make sense together) would make sense?  Could we even see Facebook buying Nokia before Microsoft does? That would be an interesting twist of events.

In any event these are all just thoughts that came to my mind before Facebook’s big F8 event on Thurs…. Here is also a modified Comscore chart with Facebook added.

Here is some good commentary on the “Social Media Wars” on ABCnews

It was just announced that Nokia will solidify its go-to-market strategy with its product line-up to include a deep partnership with Microsoft. What happened Nokia? With this new focus on Windows7 together with Microsoft change the game against iOS and Android? How will they now focus on Symbian, MeeGo and now Windows7? Why not make MeeGo the platform to really compete in this game?

In any event, this was a bit shocking news but not unexpected.

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Nokia jumps from ‘burning platform’ and forges alliance with Microsoft
By Ed Owen, marketingmagazine.co.uk, 11 February 2011, 09:20AM

Nokia is turning to a strategic alliance with Microsoft to compete against rival smartphone manufacturers and is splitting its operations into two divisions.

Nokia N8 series: ‘it’s not technology, it’s what you do with it’ campaign

The tie-up with Microsoft covers mass market mobile phones and partly sidelines Nokia’s ailing Symbian platform.

Nokia was widely expected to abandon its operating system following a leaked internal memo from its new chief executive Stephen Elop earlier this week.

Elop was scathing about his company – which remains the world’s largest handset manufacturer – and said it needed to change.

In Elop’s memo, the man jumps. Elop, a former Microsoft employee, said: “We too, are standing on a ‘burning platform’, and we must decide how we are going to change our behaviour.”

The mobile giant’s new strategy will be to:

Use Microsoft to develop its primary platform.
Focus on connecting a billion people in developing markets to the internet through their phones.
Generate new “disruptive” technologies to take the creative initiative back.
Elop, today, said: “Nokia is at a critical juncture, where significant change is necessary and inevitable in our journey forward.

“Today, we are accelerating that change through a new path, aimed at regaining our smartphone leadership, reinforcing our mobile device platform and realizing our investments in the future.”

Two business units will be formed:

Smart Devices, to be led by career marketer Jo Harlow, former head of marketing for Nokia’s North American division, developing high-end smartphones to use Microsoft, Symbian and MeeGo platforms and develop business services.
Mobile Phones, to be led by Mary McDowell to push mass-market devices powered by Microsoft’s platform, pushing another billion customers in new markets.
The link with Microsoft will be symbiotic, with Nokia providing mapping for Microsoft’s Bing search engine and AdCenter ad platform. Nokia’s Ovi app store will be rolled into Microsoft’s Windows Marketplace offering.

Microsoft will now provide the developer tools needed for apps. Nokia had been subsidising app development to try and keep pace with Apple and Android.

Recently appointed marketing chief Jerri DeVard remains in position, and holds a place on Nokia’s executive board.

The Symbian mobile platform will not be dropped completely, but will be used as a “franchise platform” to retain existing users, and the company expects to sell an additional 150 million Symbian devices in the years to come.

Nokia’s other mobile platform, MeeGo, developed for tablets and other mobile computers in a deal with Intel, remains under development and Elop says a MeeGo product will be shipped later this year.

Nevertheless, board member Alberto Torres, who had responsibility for MeeGo development, leaves the company.

Nokia reported an increase in profits in full-year results last month, with growth coming in new territories, particularly Latin America and China.

Nokia remains in various court battles with Apple over who developed interactive browsing features typically used in smartphones.

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk

These latest stats from Canalys shows that Apple’s Market position stayed fairly constant at 16% with  RIM showing some decline as well as Microsoft and others.  The interesting fact is that Nokia was the one that  just got the crushing blow by  Google down 14% from 44% to 30%.

• As of November, the ratio of iOS to Android users was more than 15 to 1 at AT&T.
• iOS at AT&T has twice the users as Android at Verizon
• Although T-Mobile had the Android franchise to itself for all of 2009, it was overtaken by Verizon within four months
• T-Mobile Android consumption has also been nearly matched by Sprint within a year

In Addition, this extension by Apple and Verizon shows that we are moving into a new era of advanced devices and connectivity that will lead to an exciting 2011 in the ecosystem of mobile internet and cross-media applications.

Given the fact that the Verizon iPhone is still not the LTE 4G device, there is room for the release of the iPhone 5 during this year with an exiting evolution to not only the network capabilities, but also the link to rich-media.

At CES this year, there was a plethora of new innovative 3D services and video delivery systems.  Group video with Skype and being able to consume video at a signal action on the device will only get better and better.  The use of the device as a remote control tied to a users TV set will keep evolving and the ubiquitous nature of having all kinds of vertical applications leveraging real-time communications will make the device more and more personal in our daily lives.  With this growth, there will be all kinds of new business models and we grow more mobile in this next decade.

Skype Acquires leading Mobile Group Video provider on Android- Qik

(Las Vegas)  Introduced today by the New CEO, Tony Baits, Skype’s strategy of ubiquitous communications with strong focus in Group video and mobile was outlined today at the CES conference.

25% of all calling minutes in 2010 were via Skype that was a big jump from the 12% in 2009.  Of that figure they have achieved 190 Billion min a year with 40% being video calls.  As a strategy they are pushing to grow their video capabilities as a core strategy and with the addition of the Qik them they can pursue cross-platform and cross-carrier in the mobile space more effectively.

Although they have not yet to disclosed a video chat feature for the Android Skype clients, during NYE they  had 4 million D/L with over 1M users taking advantage of the video calling feature on their iPhones.

Today  in North America, Skype has partnerships mobile operators such as Verizon and Qik with Sprint and T-Mobile as a pre-load.  This acquisition was intended to give further footing to mobile video calling and group calling.  They will be continuing with the $8.99/month pricing.

The Qik client is pervasive across all of the Android products and has been one of the top Applications in the Android marketplace.   Their products cover the spectrum with ntegration up to Android 2.2 Froyo.

Rick Osterloh, VP Product Management Skype, mentioned that Skype has always been strong with the interaction of the contact book in Android Products. One of the key aspects of Qik was their strong technology at an integration level with the contact book and with cloud contact management.

Further advances to their developer API around SkypeKit will be a key launching pad for Skype to bring new opportunities for its partnership strategy.

There where many exciting announcements today around Android from AT&T, Motorola, Sony, Sharp, Samsung, LG, Panasonic at CES, but the main them was around TV/3DTV and some unique concepts between PC/Mobile and Tablets configurations.  It also seems like there is a new trend of Global releases these days with Android, from companies like Panasonic, Sony instead of the regional launches.

The hot, exciting release today in my mind was from Motorola with Atrix and two other products Smartphone products. The Xoom showed promise to be one of the top Tablets this year.  It really looks like Motorola is making big come backs in the mobile arena.

Motorola Atrix

This was the flagship of the series and the most powerful of the three new Smart Phones. It showed a unique feature to doc into a laptop empty. Specifications include a 1 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 4 inch qHD pentile display (that’s 960 x 540 pixels), Android 2.2, HSPA+ data support, front and rear facing camera, biometric fingerprint reader, a huge 1930 mAh battery, and 16GB internal storage with the microSD card slot. They announced that AT&T will get the Atrix in Q1 2011

• Small light 4G product
• Worlds most powerful Smartphone
• America’s 1^st Dual Core Smartphone
• Worlds 1^st Smartphone with 1930mAh Battery
• Worlds 1^st Smartphone with 1GB Ram
• Innovative Fingerprint Reader
• The only Smartphone that delivers larger display, keyboard and mouse experience

Droid Bionic

The follower that will launch on Verizon Wireless will be the successor to the much acclaimed Droid X.  Specifications include a fast 1 GHz dual-core processor, 512 MB RAM, 4.3 inch qHD display, dual cameras (rear one is 8 megapixel), and support for Verizon’s new LTE 4G data network. With LTE support this may be the fastest Android device available this year. No pricing or release information was given in the today to the press.

Motorola Cliq 2

This version 2 of the series, the Cliq2 will be on 19 January via T-Mobile. Specifications include 3.7 inch display, support for HSPA+, 1 GHz processor, funky slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and WiFi hotspot capability. It is an Android 2.2 device with a 5 megapixel camera, and MotoBlur.

Motorola Xoom

The Motorola Xoom is powered by a dual-core 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset, Android 3.0 Honeycomb, 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen with 1280 x 800 resolution, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, 32GB of built-in memory, 5-megapixel camera on the back with 720p video recording, and a battery which can handle 10 hours of continuous video

AT&T exciting news that they will have 20 new Smartphones and 12 of them Android products coming has spread through the community that Android is the platform to be reckoned with now moving forward in 2011.  The ran a successful developer day as well in parallel that had some interesting facts on how to best develop for Android from Motorola, with new launches around their Ad network for developers to monetize applications for iOS and Android

Sony’s release of Xperia Arc is the next generation Android ( Google), but even though Sony had a lot of exciting things to show with 3D TV, Gaming and Blue-Ray,  the exciting Qriocity platform that works with Google TV, will not yet be connected completely to mobile. When will we see the real unique connectivity as a remote control between these two different Google platform products with Sony unique offerings?  They did bring on interesting features such as Bravio TV on mobile and the HDMI connector true ubiquitous of the Sony content world is just beginning.  It is going to be an interesting extension to the Xperia series with the product out in the market Q1.  Most likely an AT&T network product, but still not confirmed.

Sharp’s release of Galapagos was part of the highlight, but the exciting update of the new organization in North America that will bring both the eBook and tablet size specifically for the North America later this year as an Android product instead of Japanese Linux version.  They commented that the products would be coming to America, but the specs were not yet announced in full.

Samsung releases today array of Android products.  They are working hard in this category to bring seamless interaction as a strategy.  After the successful release of the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab in 2010, 2011 will be another showcase year for Android and Samsung. The Samsung representative mentioned that they are the #1 Android providers including Google’s new Nexus S with 2.3 Gingerbread.

They also announced Infuse 4G that was previewed as AT&T’s thinnest device in the Android Category with the super 4.5 inch AMOLED and a 1.5GHz processor.

LG did release two Android devices with the following highlights:

The Optimus Black is an Android phone that weights 3.8 oz, is 0.36 thick and introduces the “NOVA” display. 700 nit. vs. the traditional 450 nit. This is the dual-core phone we’ve been hearing about. This is an Android 2.2 product.

The Optimus  2X  will be the first NVIDIA Tegra 2-enabled “super phone”–a generation beyond the Smartphone, The Optimus 2X, an Android-based which will ship in Korea this month, does not currently have concrete plans to be available in the U.S

They said that due to the ecosystem of the carriers as their main partners they have nothing to announce between the connectivity with their new TV launches.

"The Lenovo iPad" LePad

An iPad look-a-like?  Lenovo launches its colorful LePad Series!

( Las Vegas) CEA expected 80 Tablets, but they said there might be over 100 at CES, Leading PC Manufacturer Lenono Releases its iPad look-a-like LePad. If you like the way iPad looks and feels, well you have a new option in with this colorful and a sexy new Android Tablet launched today at the unveiling session at CES.

What makes this product more unique is that it normally runs on Android 2.2, but they claim that as soon as you plug-in the keyboard you can switch to Windows 7.   It was designed for the mobile lifestyle.  It can be purchased separately, and even though the target for the product is China, they claim it will be available in the US with Android 3.0.

The product houses a 10.1 inch touch screen (same as the iPad), 3G as well as a front facing camera to enable video calls.

As Lenovo has build a very strong business model through Enterprise sales, will this device become a standard around the office?  More coverage on this device as we cover the event over the next couple of days..

The estimated pricepoint is $520 for the tablet alone.  This is a bit higher then the average prices presented at the CEA press conference between $300~400, but is looks like the right prices for this product that I may just want to buy.  In addition, I have always loved the Thinkpad red nipple

I Just arrived here at CES…. Clear day, but cold here for the desert! Definitely Android’s presence at this major Consumer Show will help warm up the mood.  2011 is going to be a great new year in the mobile industry in North America as both Apple and Google battle it out for the leading market share of smart phone devices.

#1- Devices, Devices and more  Devices

We are all looking forward to some of the new devices that will hit the street with Android.  As an open system and an entry platform into the mobile area the competition with ensue between Consumer electronic manufactures, PC manufactures, incumbents and anything you can embed an OS.

The Apple vs. Google’s Android (24.6% vs. 23.5% respectively according to Comscore) competition has first of all made a major dent in RIM’s leadership.  Will Blackberry move from #1 to #3?

At CES this year we expect a fresh taste of many of the new devices to come.

#2-  The blurring line between Smartphones and Tablets

This jostling is not only in the Smartphone race, but in the tablet market as well.  Apples iPad with its 44% marketshare getting nibbled to death from Android’s estimated 39% marketshare by 2010 according to the Piper Jaffray’s estimates.

Although there has been polarization of the different formats, a new breed of formats occupying that middle ground has started.

What makes this interesting is in the multiple forms of display sizes from the 3.5 inch Retina displays, advanced OLED’s all the way up the spectrum to the 10.1 inch and larger.  How will content itself polarize for these different formats? Or maybe not?

#3- Apps and Media Marketplaces

The big differentiator in this new era of advanced internet devices is in the content.   Apple’s leadership in the iTunes marketplace ( more then 300K strong)  has not been threatened yet, but with Android’s openness as the angle for developers to bring in new and exciting things in parallel to the shear volume of content.  The Android Marketplace has will quickly reach the 200k level and continue to grow strongly!  HTML5 mobile apps and content that blend web experiences on native app experiences is something we should keep an eye out for this year with the overall Android App and Marketplace experience.

#4 NFC and the mCommerce explosion

It has been a long-time coming to see this opportunity of Near Field Communications baked into devices.  The quiet release in Google and Samsung’s Nexus S with the Android 2.3 and the NFC chip is an indication that these enablers will be aggressively now released into the market as part of the competition to bring in these new business models. Apple, RIM, Microsoft as well as the mobile operators have all entered this foray becoming the next big battleground for local and location based payments.

#5 Connected and Suggest Advertising

2011 will be a year of advertising innovation beyond the basic impression based CPM models of past.  Android will be a unique platform where Google will bring out is best of ideas of mobile and local advertising that will go beyond the basic behavioral response, but to include the context of location and push.  How will this be mitigated so that our social privacy is not evaded? The debate will continue as the competition ensues.  Google’s Admob vs. Apple’s iAd will be two of the big battle grounds, but expect to see all of the local retailers, commerce and media companies bringing in new and exciting formats to make it more relevant for advertisers in this cross-media, physical and local connection.   The shear volume of Android handsets entering the market should make this a very dynamic addition to Google’s strength, but with Facebook’s Places Mobile Application and the opportunity to bring advertising into this mix as social ads will be another interesting spike in this evolution.

#6  Application Search… the other blurring line

Up until now, Applications have been silo’ed creatures that had activation to content only when downloaded and launched.   I would expect this to be another unique battleground as the plethora of content grows, access in-app will become more and more important as well as the indexing of relevant content on the go.  Twitter search has had the make-up to be the next big thing in the search space, but now will the growth of endless applications paralleling websites as the content for mobility; search will take a potential exciting new direction in the coming year with Applications.

#7  TV and Rich-Media Convergence

Android should make an exciting platform for the future of TV.  In 2010 we saw Google TV, Apple TV and the evolution of real-time video streams anytime, anyplace as a growing trend, now in 2011 with the advances in LTE and more and more content becoming available online this will be another battleground for the mindshare of consumers.

As the Android OS continue to show up everywhere in 2011 ( taxi’s, airplanes, billboards, etc..) this opportunity will make way for interactive video everywhere on the go.  However, how long will it last before content owners hold back from licensing content to Google’s TV initiatives?

This trend is also bringing in new entrants such as Vizio that has been a top Flat-panel manufacturer now entering into the smart device area as well.

#8 Chrome OS vs. Android OS cross-platform

Google has been strategic in keeping these two different platforms separated as they build within the two different marketplaces of mobile and online, but how long will this last. Android platform has been strong with the evolution of the opensource Webkit Browser based on a Safari core.  The Chrome Browser vs. The Safari browser dynamics has now put Google in a unique position for moving forward with its own enablers in parallel with taking the best from both worlds.   2011 will be the year of the Cloud when it comes to the connected OS cross-platform.

#9 Android , Google Music and Content Distribution

It seems like Apple has enjoyed the luxury of being predominant player for the last several years in the mindshare of the music industry. With the shear volume of Android handsets and tablets flooding the market, it would only make sense to see some unique play into the music space by Google.  This space has been a minefield of content rights licensing and business models.  In 2001, the world will begin to relook at the Limewire’s and the Bit torrents of the world that have made such dent on the business models of music.  Intel will launch a new architecture for content protection embedded on its chips that will find their way into the Android devices to come and the App Marketplaces will evolve with new dynamics for business models around the distribution and rights of music to attempt to give content owners more choices in revenue generation.

#10 Social Relevancy and the Android OS

It was rumored in 2010 that Facebook was attempting to launch their own devices the same way Google brought the reference platforms of Nexus One and Nexus S into the market.  There is no stopping Facebook from moving forward with this strategy, but it is clear that further enhanced and improved Social Relevancy will become a key part of the entire OS of Android in the near future starting with Android 2.3.  Facebook and Google have not always shared similar views, but with the large market penetration of Android moving forward they will find the right mix of cooperation strategies that will make this a platform that will leverage social interactions and conversations as a core to the overall user experience.