AllThingsD » Storm

Foursquare's Dennis Crowley Talks About Hurricane Sandy's Impact on NYC Start-Ups (Video)

Kara Swisher — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:01:58 +0000

While stranded in Hurricane Sandy-soaked Manhattan this week, I got a chance to chat with Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley about the impact of the epic storm on his social check-in company and other start-ups in New York City.

The weather event — which ran through the area with great force early this week — flooded the subways and plunged huge swaths of lower Manhattan into darkness after major electrical outages.

That has meant that many Internet start-ups located in the area, including Foursquare, have had to scramble to keep their businesses going amid the many issues during and after the storm.

Here’s Crowley talking about it all, in a lovely candlelit setting:

[ See post to watch video ]

NYC Late-Night Hosts' Audience-Free Monologues, Courtesy of Sandy

Kara Swisher — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:11:13 +0000

Hurricane Sandy’s impact was widespread and damaging all over the East Coast, much of it devastating.

But on a late-night comedy level, of course, it provided fodder. While Jimmy Kimmel — who usually does his “Live” out of Los Angeles — had to cancel a week’s worth of shows planned for Brooklyn, other hosts used the storm as a prop.

Here’s both Jimmy Fallon of “Late Night” and David Letterman of “Late Show,” doing their monologues in front of no one, because it was not safe to bring in audiences (although as a joke, Fallon had one dude named “Bucket Hat Guy”).

Here are the videos:

Investor Reaction to CEO Tim Cook's Dramatic Management Upheaval at Apple Will Be Delayed by Sandy

Kara Swisher — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 23:15:00 +0000

Some news cannot wait, of course, and sources at Apple said the company had planned to release news of the sudden exit of Scott Forstall, one of its major execs, this afternoon.

Maybe so, but it’s also unusual timing. Due to Hurricane Sandy — which was poised to hit landfall in central New Jersey just as Apple made its announcement about the iOS mobile software chief’s leaving, along with that of Apple Store retail head John Browett — Wall Street reaction to what appears to be a major management move by CEO Tim Cook will not take place until at least Wednesday.

That’s because the massive storm has led to the closure of the stock markets today and tomorrow, leaving investors to mull on the major reorganization without a lot of ability to react.

Apple shares closed at $604 on Friday, up about 49 percent over the past year. Its stock had declined slightly recently, after last week’s quarterly earnings did not meet the enormous profit expectations of Wall Street. Still, Apple had — for anyone else — a blockbuster fourth quarter.

The tech leader reported $8.67 per share of profit on sales of $35.97 billion.

How the departure of Forstall and, to a much lesser extent, Browett (who has been a largely unpopular exec since he was hired a year ago), will be greeted by shareholders when markets open should be interesting.

On one hand, Forstall has been a major exec at the company for a very long time, in charge of key areas of success for Apple, including the software for its hugely popular iPhone and iPad. Forstall has even been called CEO-in-waiting in some media accounts.

That said, many sources report that he has wrangled with other top execs, including Cook, and he has been known as someone with a doesn’t-play-well-with-others personality. One source told me today that Forstall had made numerous “open challenges” to the Apple leader over the last year.

While that’s not necessarily a negative at Apple — the late CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs was also someone who did not suffer fools or even simple mistakes among trusted staff — the recent troubles as it replaced Google’s mapping software with its own had clearly tarnished Forstall’s image.

In addition, while Apple does great at hardware, as well hardware/software integration, it has often fallen down in other key software efforts, such as MobileMe, iTunes and more.

This is not all Forstall’s fault, of course, but his sudden departure — which will take place officially next year — means that Cook is consolidating control over the top management.

Thus, the did-he-jump-or-was-he-pushed meme will doubtlessly increase over the next few days. Pushed seems to be the consensus so far.

But here’s a little insight into Apple’s often opaque culture to better discern management Kremlinology there: iTunes is still advertising competitors’ maps instead of its own failed product, and Forstall got no stage time at Apple iPad mini event last week.

Clearly, the removal of Browett, who had made a series of moves that were negatively greeted by Apple’s retail unit, will make Cook look decisive, especially since he had hired him. But whether that extends to how the influential Forstall was dispatched — and it looks like he was — will be another story to grok for Wall Street.

Stormy Weather: D: Dive Into Mobile Postponed Due to Hurricane Sandy

Kara Swisher — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:59:32 +0000

It is with great regret that we have to announce that, due to Hurricane Sandy, we are postponing our D: Dive Into Mobile conference, which had been set for tomorrow and Tuesday in New York City. It will be held at a later date to be determined at a place we will announce as soon as we can.

We deeply apologize to attendees, presenters and sponsors, but the situation is truly out of our hands. On Saturday evening, New York City officials were more confident that the storm would be manageable. But by today at midday, things had deteriorated and some airline flights, Amtrak trains, and even New York subway service, were being canceled.

And, just now, Mayor Mike Bloomberg ordered an evacuation of the Battery Park area of lower Manhattan, where D: Mobile was set to take place. Our first priority is to keep people out of danger, and the location in the beautiful but very low-lying tip of Manhattan is especially susceptible to flooding from storm surges.

The latest predictions we’ve seen are for surges of five feet or more in New York Harbor, which could pose a safety hazard and also cut off power. In addition, we don’t want to strand people in New York, since most of you have busy schedules.

So what are we going to do now?

To repeat: We will reschedule Dive: Mobile, and anyone with a ticket will be able to use that ticket to attend. Or, you can use your ticket to attend our upcoming D: Dive Into Media conference, set for February 12 and 13 in Dana Point, Calif. Or, we will refund the full price for those who prefer that option.

Finally, we are informed that the conference hotel, the Ritz Carlton, is giving full refunds and waiving cancellation fees.

If you are already at the Ritz, the hotel is arranging alternate accommodations uptown. You will be contacted shortly by the hotel management to inform you of your new hotel.

If you have questions, please contact our Registration and Housing Manager Meg Burns at meg@allthingsd.com.

While disappointing, we know this is the best course — and our only responsible decision — for the safety and schedules of all involved, but we want to thank everyone who had agreed to speak, demo and attend.

Most of all, we especially want to salute our fabulous conference producers, Ina Fried and Liz Gannes, who poured their hearts into creating what would have been a ground-breaking event. They will be back with another.

We appreciate your patience and thank you for your support of D.

Walt & Kara

Sandy Is Also a Perfect Digital Storm -- Google Cancels NYC Android Event

Kara Swisher — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 17:24:20 +0000

There have been storms before, of course. But few have gotten the kind of massive attention that tropical storm Sandy has gotten well before its expected arrival on Sunday across the Eastern seaboard.

Besides the high likelihood of the intense rain and winds downing power lines that will surely interrupt both cellphone service and Internet access, at least temporarily, the potential weather disaster is also felling a major tech event that was scheduled for Monday in New York: Google’s rollout of new Android products.

The search giant was expected to introduce its Nexus 10 tablet and possibly a new Nexus smartphone made by LG, as well as an updated version of the Android operating system.

But, at this moment, Android bigwig Andy Rubin will still be appearing at our D: Dive Into Mobile conference that is also taking place in Manhattan on Monday and Tuesday. Rubin is currently scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Coincidentally, Microsoft scheduled its Windows Phone 8 event in San Francisco on the same day, which is still on. Weather report for the Bay Area on Monday: 72 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny.

Also: Go Giants!

Weekend Lightning Stung Amazon and Instagram Right Where It Hurts

Arik Hesseldahl — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:10:39 +0000

Friday night’s severe lightning storm knocked out power to millions of people on the East Coast, killed more than 20 people and left a sweltering mess in its wake.

The list of damages is long, but if you go down far enough, you’ll see that the storm also disrupted service at an Amazon data center in Northern Virginia by hitting the cloud giant in a tender spot.

In a statement issued today, Amazon explained what happened. At a location where it operates more than 10 data centers — it didn’t say exactly how many — power was afffected at several after lightning strikes. But at only one of those data centers did redundant power not kick in the way it was supposed to.

The result, Amazon says, was that a “single digit” percentage of customers had their services disrupted.

But what an unlucky and select few. Among them were Netflix and Pinterest, both of which recovered shortly after the initial disruption.

Here’s Amazon’s full statement:

Severe thunderstorms caused us to lose primary and backup generator power to a portion of a single Availability Zone in our US-East Region Friday night. For perspective, in our US-East Region in Virginia, we have in excess of 10 datacenters. In the thunderstorm on Friday night, several of our datacenters had their utility power impacted, but in only one of them did the redundant power not operate correctly (which ended up impacting a single digit percentage of our Amazon EC2 instances in the US-East Region). We began restoring service to most of the impacted customers Friday night and the remainder were restored on Saturday.

A less lucky member of that select few was Instagram, whose service was more severely disrupted well into Saturday.

Also mysterious is how Instagram, now in the process of being acquired by Facebook for $1 billion, is treating the outage. Tweets on its @instagramhelp and @instagram accounts on Twitter referring to the service disruption have been deleted. Below is a screen grab of one such tweet I saw Saturday. Who can blame Instagram for wanting to forget it ever happened? But really? We’ve asked Instagram to comment and will update this story if we hear back.

Here’s a screen grab of one of the deleted tweets that now returns an error:

(Image via Wikipedia.)

Verizon's Cure for CrackBerry Addiction: Android

John Paczkowski — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:00:05 +0000

Another handful of worrisome data points for Research in Motion, which appears to be slipping down carriers’ priority lists as the BlackBerry struggles for purchase in an increasingly sophisticated market. New Verizon sales metrics from ITG Investment Research analyst Matthew Goodman paint a picture of RIM that, while not yet dire, describe a worrisome trend.

According to Goodman, who obtains his data from independent wireless retailers, 80 percent of smartphone sales at Verizon in November were Android devices (46 percent of those were Droids). Which is astonishing for two reasons. 1.) That’s a huge percentage for a relatively new mobile OS in a very competitive market. 2.) In December of 2008, RIM was touting the BlackBerry as Verizon’s best-selling device. In two years, it’s gone from a flagship to a johnboat.

And with Android continuing to lead smartphone sales growth at Verizon, it seems increasingly unlikely that the BlackBerry will ever reclaim its lost title. With sales of the Tour/Bold series dwindling and no Storm refresh in sight, BlackBerry sales at Verizon are in serious decline. They dropped 45 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of this year, and Goodman sees them trending down 49 percent YOY in the fourth.

An ugly and humiliating decline, and worrisome. Because if the BlackBerry is faring this poorly against Android at Verizon, how will it fare against Android and the iPhone, which is widely expected to debut on the carrier’s network next year?

No wonder Verizon doesn’t think the upcoming launch of BlackBerry 6 devices on its network will have a “material impact” on sales. Why would it?

Incidentally, if you haven’t yet checked out our coverage of RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis’s appearance at D:Mobile earlier this week, you should.

For RIM, 2011 Hopefully a Lot Better Than 2010

John Paczkowski — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:01:26 +0000

For Research in Motion, 2010 was a difficult year, one marked by slowing momentum and ebbing market share. But next year promises to be different. Because in 2011, RIM will be more on point than it has been in the past. This according to Barclays analyst Jeff Kvaal, who in a note to clients Tuesday suggested that the company had been taken somewhat off guard by the quick pace of advancement in the mobile industry this year.

“RIM has struggled in the U.S. during 2010,” Kvaal wrote. “Net add momentum has slowed and market share for data has ebbed. RIM acknowledges that the pace of technical advance in network technology exceeded its expectations in 2010.”

Evidently, RIM didn’t expect carriers to be quite as aggressive about moving to WiMAX, HSPA+ and LTE as they ended up being. Rather than skating to where the puck would be, RIM spent the year chasing after it–occasionally in an entirely different game.

But that’s not going to happen in 2011. With the PlayBook tablet headed to the market, perhaps along with a Touch Bold, refreshed versions of the Curve and the Storm in the works, and a smartphone migration to RIM’s new QNX OS on the horizon, the company is poised for a good year.

“We believe 2011 will bring a steadily improving line of products to the U.S. market in general, with AT&T and Verizon particularly noteworthy,” Kvaal said. “AT&T, for example, is demonstrating clear evidence of its desire to diversify away from the iPhone in recent months. We highlight the Torch and Motorola’s Android phones as examples. We also believe that Verizon is likely to be more supportive of BlackBerry in 2011 following a difficult 2010. Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has indicated that he considers BlackBerry one of the top platforms in the U.S.”

A good forecast all around for RIM, then, though with an interesting side note about Verizon’s LTE network. Said, Kvaal, “RIM’s planning process suggests to us, however, that RIM may not participate in Verizon’s 4G device launches in January.”

RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis appears at D: Dive Into Mobile later today.

BlackBerry Torch: Quest for Fire

John Paczkowski — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:35:36 +0000

Good thing the success of Research in Motion’s new BlackBerry Torch hinges more on volume sales to enterprise than lines-around-the-block launch-week pandemonium, because the latter is evidently nowhere to be found. Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski describes consumer reaction to the Torch as “underwhelming,” observing in a note to clients that her checks suggest only a modest interest in it. “Almost all of the stores we called did not sell out of the device, which is in contrast to other high-profile smartphone launches such as the iPhone, Droid X, and EVO,” she wrote, adding, “Our checks suggest the vast majority of Torch sales are driven by upgrades from existing BlackBerry subscribers.”

Citigroup’s Jim Suva was similarly unimpressed. “Our checks in several locations across the U.S. revealed no customers lines upon store door openings and no product stock outs,” he told clients today. “While many may say the Torch launch should not be compared to an iPhone launch, we remind investors that the BlackBerry Storm launch (November 2008) indeed had lines outside of many stores and many stores sold out on day 1.”

‘Course the Storm also arrived at market a week before Black Friday and the ramp-up to the annual holiday consumer binge, so folks were in more of a buying mood. And their appetite for RIM (RIMM) smartphones hadn’t yet been ruined by the Storm, which would be branded a clunky, bug-ridden disaster a few months later.

So I’m not sure it’s all that surprising that there aren’t lines around the block for the Torch, nor am I sure that it even matters. As I noted earlier, RIM’s bailiwick is enterprise, and enterprise isn’t one for camping out on sidewalks.

New BlackBerry Software Not Friendly With Older Touchscreens

Jennifer Valentino-DeVries — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:08:21 +0000

BlackBerry introduced a new operating system Tuesday that is designed to work better with touchscreens, which are increasingly popular on smartphones.

But in the list of older phones compatible with this touchscreen-friendly system, two devices are conspicuously absent: BlackBerry’s own older touchscreen phones.

BlackBerry’s newest phone, the Torch, has a touchscreen and will come with the BlackBerry 6 operating system. The Torch, which also made its debut Tuesday, combines a the screen with a slide-out keyboard to entice BlackBerry’s traditional business user.

But the latest operating system is leaving the older touchscreens — the Storm and Storm 2 — behind, despite the fact that the Storm 2 came out only late last year. BlackBerry acknowledged that the new system does not work on the Storm phones.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

No BlackBerry 6 for Storm and Storm2?

John Paczkowski — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:34:29 +0000

Research in Motion’s new BlackBerry 6 OS will first ship with the Torch on August 12. But it will come to the company’s other devices soon enough. While a firm timetable hasn’t yet been set, RIM said today that BlackBerry 6 will reach the Pearl 3G and the Bold 9700 and 9650 “in the months ahead.” Two devices it evidently won’t be reaching: The Storm and Storm2.

An App With a Knack for Contacts

Katherine Boehret — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:08:08 +0000

In the same way cellphone address books helped people stop memorizing phone numbers, the magic of auto-complete helped them stop memorizing email addresses. This feature, which is built into most email programs, lets users type as few as one or two letters before seeing and selecting from a list of addresses that may or may not be saved in the email program’s address book. Too bad auto-complete on your mobile device doesn’t work the same way.

[ See post to watch video ]

On mobile devices, the suggested names in the “To” line only include those of contacts that are saved in a device’s digital address book. This leaves people stuck mid-thumb, trying to remember an email address, or worse, being forced to wait until they return to their desks to send a message.

This week, I tested an app that generates contact information for every person a user has ever communicated with in Microsoft Outlook—or if Outlook isn’t a factor, just with the device. I tested Xobni Mobile for BlackBerry, available as of March 16 at http://xobni.com/mobile. Xobni Mobile costs $10 as a stand-alone app from Xobni Corp. or $7 if it’s bought with Xobni One, the company’s new cloud-based storage service that costs $4 monthly. One year of Xobni Mobile with the Xobni One service costs $40.

I tested Xobni Mobile on my BlackBerry Curve 8900 and used the Xobni One service to connect with Outlook, which was running on my PC with Xobni’s desktop program installed. This app makes a big difference for people like me, who rarely sync their devices with their PCs, don’t primarily correspond with people in their corporate Exchange networks and don’t like taking the time to manually add names, email addresses and phone numbers into the Contacts section of the BlackBerry. This app also uses Xobni’s analytics feature to rank people, thus returning results sorted according to how much a user emails with someone.

More Meshing

Xobni Mobile could stand to do a better job of meshing with the BlackBerry’s operating system, especially considering that the company worked with Research in Motion (RIMM) to build a deeply integrated app. I’ll admit that it comes close—a finger swipe up on the email-compose screen opens the Xobni app. But as my high-school economics teacher always said, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. The process required to open the app, type the contact’s name, select the name from within the Xobni app and return to the compose screen can feel too long and a bit clumsy.

Another downside is that the Xobni Mobile app doesn’t yet integrate with text messaging or dialing numbers, so rather than pull up a phone number from within the device’s texting or dialing interface, users must open the app and select a contact before calling or texting. A Xobni representative said the company is working with RIM on deeper integration.

Xobni (“inbox” spelled backwards) started a couple years ago with its namesake product, a downloadable add-on for Outlook that analyzed and indexed all emails and ran in a side panel within the email program. Since its introduction, Xobni for Outlook has added enhancements, including the built-in ability to display an email contact’s Twitter and Facebook profiles. And some of these spill over into the mobile app.

Souping Up a Device

The Xobni desktop program currently works only on PCs (not Macs) that have Outlook installed, and runs only on high-end BlackBerrys, including the Curve 8900, Tour, Storm, Bold and Bold 2. The Xobni Mobile app connected to Xobni for Outlook using Xobni One considerably soups up the experience, adding an average of 10-times more contacts than the BlackBerry alone. The top 6,000 contacts (according to the analysis of who you email the most) will be stored locally on the device, as well as each contact’s photo, which gets pulled in from Outlook, LinkedIn, Facebook or a Xobni account. Additional services connected to Xobni include Hoovers, Twitter and Salesforce.

People who don’t use Outlook and/or don’t want to pay for the Xobni One service can still use the app by itself with Web-based email programs running on the BlackBerry.

Finding Mom

I found myself using Xobni on my BlackBerry a lot, despite its extra steps and slightly cumbersome interface. For instance, it gave me three different emails for my mom, rather than the one outdated email of hers that I long ago manually stored in my BlackBerry Contacts and hadn’t updated since. I also liked Xobni’s way of pulling photos for many contacts onto my device.

I didn’t see a noticeable change in my BlackBerry’s battery life while using the Xobni app, though its battery will be taxed when it grabs large bunches of contacts and photos from the server. By default, this only happens when the BlackBerry is charging.

The Xobni One service demonstrates the company’s move into the increasingly crowded realm of backup software programs. When the BlackBerry is charging, this service updates the PC’s Outlook program with any changes on your BlackBerry and sends new contact data added to Outlook to the BlackBerry. If I lost my BlackBerry tomorrow or changed jobs next week, I’d still be able to retrieve several years’ worth of Outlook contacts and their profiles on a new BlackBerry using my Xobni One log-in credentials. (These same credentials, an email and password, are required when installing the app on the BlackBerry.)

Xobni hasn’t announced any definite plans for integration with other mobile devices, but a representative said that the company is considering making iPhone and Android apps.

If you use a PC, Microsoft Outlook and a BlackBerry, Xobni offers a smart solution for automatically organizing all of your contacts into one place and allows for your contacts to be stored somewhere other than just in Outlook or just on your mobile device. If it was a little easier to access on the BlackBerry, I’d like it even more.

Email mossbergsolution@wsj.com

Write to Katherine Boehret at mossbergsolution@wsj.com

Google Acquires AdMob for $750 Million in Stock (Plus the Press Release and Video With CEO)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:33:49 +0000

Google has acquired AdMob for $750 million, a huge price for an innovative start-up that has pioneered online ads on mobile and now smart phones.

BoomTown visited AdMob last fall and posted about how it was likely to eventually be acquired by…Google (GOOG)!

(Google has provided a primer on the sale, which you can read about here.)

The move is a major one for Google, which has been pushing hard into the mobile advertising space as it seeks to grow its already considerable Web search business. AdMob is arguably the most innovative and fastest out of the gate in the nascent arena.

As I wrote previously about the company’s prospects:

While there are very few bright spots to look at in the start-up space in Silicon Valley these days, especially those relying on online advertising, the San Mateo, Calif.-based AdMob is at least slightly shiny.

The mobile advertising marketplace, backed by Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners, just got a big slug of funding–almost $16 million–to keep pushing to get ads on mobile phones, which has gotten a huge boost from the popularity of the iPhone.

The massive data usage by users of the popular mobile device by Apple (AAPL) has clearly turbocharged AdMob’s prospects, which were already on the rise. Compared to a year ago, the company said, the number of ads it served more than tripled the number of ads served on a monthly basis to 4.5 billion.

Obviously, the better quality and more actionable nature of ads on improved screens is the reason for the shift, which should accelerate as more smartphones like Google’s G1 and the newest Blackberry Storm from RIM (RIMM) become more popular too.

Most importantly, even now, AdMob is cash flow-positive, which is not a bad thing to be in the current econalypse. It also has a cushion of cash–AdMob had previously garnered $15 million in funding from Sequoia and Accel.

It’s not all sunshine and daisies, of course, since the ad market in general is headed for a deep slump, and new markets are not going to grow as quickly, as marketers pull back from spending.

But, when the economy turns, the mobile advertising market is clearly going to be a fast-growing arena, with big players like Google, Yahoo (YHOO), Nokia (NOK) and Microsoft (MSFT) as AdMob competitors (or potential acquirers, especially Google).

With the money it just raised, AdMob said it would be getting ready for that race, and also use it to expand internationally.

Here’s a video interview with Omar Hamoui, founder and CEO of AdMob, on all this and more, as well as a tour of company’s offices:

[ See post to watch video ]

And, here’s the press release:

Google to Acquire AdMob

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire AdMob, a mobile display ad technology provider, for $750 million in stock. This acquisition will enhance Google’s existing expertise and technology in mobile advertising, while also giving advertisers and publishers more choice in this growing new area.

“Mobile advertising has enormous potential as a marketing medium and while this industry is still in the early stages of development, AdMob has already made exceptional progress in a very short time,” said Susan Wojcicki, Vice President of Product Management at Google. “AdMob is the quintessential Silicon Valley startup–generating impressive year on year revenue growth–and we’re excited to welcome this talented team to Google.”

“I think people underestimate how important ads have been to funding the development of innovative content on the Internet. Our goal all along at AdMob has been to make it possible for developers and publishers to bring their products and ideas to mobile with the same business model,” said Omar Hamoui, Founder and CEO of AdMob. “We’re proud of the progress we’ve made towards accomplishing this goal, and joining Google will only accelerate this process, ultimately leading to very real benefits for end users around the world. As publishers and developers generate more revenue from their mobile products, they will invest more, and their mobile offerings will become richer, more creative and more robust.”

The deal will help Google in its efforts to develop more effective tools for creating, serving and analyzing emerging mobile ads formats. As this ecosystem continues to grow, the company expects these new marketing media to offer significant benefits:

Advertisers will be better able to engage mobile users with AdMob’s ad formats

Publishers and developers will be able to monetize their content more effectively, which has benefits for the wider mobile ecosystem

Users will see more relevant ads and ultimately get access to more ad-supported content and applications – improving their mobile experience

“Attracting the world’s top engineering talent and people with entrepreneurial vision to Google has always been crucial to our success. AdMob’s proven track record in innovating at speed will help maintain that culture–which is why we are so excited to be working with them,” added Vic Gundotra, Vice President of Engineering at Google.

Both companies have approved the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions.

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

The CLIQ, Storm2 Join Long Parade of iPhone Threats

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:02:09 +0000

(See Correction & Amplification below.)

It’s raining smart phones. No, make that super-smart phones, the type of hand-held computer, like Apple’s iPhone or the models powered by Google’s Android software, that browse the Web well, have sophisticated communication functions and are made to run a wide variety of modern third-party apps. This holiday season, new super-smart phone models seem to be appearing weekly.

[ See post to watch video ]

So far, the king of this new field, in my view, remains its pioneer, the iPhone. Apple’s phone has its limitations, but its design, usability and versatility have kept it ahead. There’s a well-equipped iPhone model available for as little as $99, and the platform offers a staggering 85,000 downloadable apps. By comparison, there are around 10,000 apps for Android, 3,000 for the newer models of the Research in Motion (RIMM) BlackBerry, a few hundred modern apps for phones running the latest versions of Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Mobile software, and even fewer than that for Palm’s (PALM) Pre and its soon-to-be released little sibling, the Pixi.

But nobody is conceding the game to Apple (AAPL). A flood of new Android models is upon us, and RIM, which has a fanatical following for its BlackBerry models, is still potent despite the disappointment surrounding its first touch-screen model, the Storm.

Motorola CLIQ

I’ve been testing two new contenders, and both represent second chances of sorts. One is the revised version of the BlackBerry Storm, called the Storm2, from Verizon (VZ). The other is the first super-smart phone from Motorola, the fading former phone leader. It’s an Android-based model called the CLIQ, which will be offered by T-Mobile.

Here’s a quick look at these two new pocket computers.

Motorola CLIQ

The CLIQ is a hefty slider phone, with a touch screen on top and a slide-out physical keyboard underneath. It has a smaller screen than the iPhone or Storm, and comes with just two gigabytes of memory versus 16 gigabytes for the $199 iPhone. But the CLIQ claims six hours of talk time, an hour more than Apple’s device, and, unlike the iPhone, it has a removable battery and expandable memory. It also has a higher-resolution camera—five megapixels versus three megapixels.

It boasts all of the standard Android features. But what sets the CLIQ apart is that it’s built around the idea of consolidating all your communications and social networking, and making them easy to access. Motorola (MOT) does this with special software called Blur, part of which exists on the device itself and part on a special Motorola-run server.

Blur takes the form of special on-screen widgets. One constantly displays your own status on various services, such as Facebook and Twitter. Another, called Happenings, shows your friends’ latest updates on social-networking services, without requiring you to enter separate apps. A third, called Messages, offers a quick snapshot of current emails and text messages from all your accounts. Each entry in your address book also displays the person’s social-networking status and information.

In my tests, all of these Blur features worked nicely and proved handy, except that I couldn’t get it to consolidate both of my Gmail accounts.

My biggest gripe was with the physical keyboard, which I found cramped and hard to use. The top row is too close to the bottom of the screen and, on the bottom row, I kept hitting the symbols key when I was aiming for “M” or “N.” So I found myself constantly resorting to the virtual on-screen keyboard, which worked pretty well.

BlackBerry Storm2

The original Storm, RIM’s first phone without a physical keyboard, didn’t convert droves of traditional BlackBerry lovers. This was partly because it had an odd typing mechanism where the whole screen moved with each tap on the virtual keyboard. Also, the phone lacked Wi-Fi and, when held vertically, the device offered only a cramped on-screen keyboard with multiple letters on each key.

BlackBerry’s Storm2

The Storm2 fixes all those flaws. The screen now stays still when tapped, providing tactile feedback electronically instead of mechanically. This allows for faster, smoother typing. The new model also has Wi-Fi. And you can now use a full, albeit squeezed, virtual keyboard in vertical mode.

In addition, while the dimensions haven’t changed, the Storm2 looks sleeker and has a few user interface refinements, like an on-screen Send button.

Overall, I found the Storm2 worked well in my tests. Battery life was decent, with 5.5 hours of claimed talk time, and typing was much improved, though I doubt it will satisfy lovers of physical keyboards.

The browser is still inferior to Apple’s, Google’s and Palm’s. And the traditional BlackBerry interface cries out for a major overhaul in a touch device like this, especially when you add a lot of apps. RIM’s menu and folder metaphor seems tired on this device.

Verizon hasn’t set a launch date or price for the Storm2, but it’s likely to appear in November at around $200.

The super-smart-phone war is still in its early stages. There are more and even better devices on the way, and Apple will have plenty of clever competition.

Corrections & Amplifications

The Motorola CLIQ comes with two gigabytes of memory and the $199 iPhone comes with 16 gigabytes. A previous version of this column incorrectly expressed these figures as megabytes, not gigabytes. An earlier version of this column also mistakenly stated, based on a BlackBerry fact sheet, that the Storm2 will ship with two gigabytes of memory. Wednesday night, after the column was published, the company said the Storm2 will actually ship with 18 gigabytes of memory.

Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

New Perspective On BlackBerrys And iPhones

Katherine Boehret — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:02:04 +0000

The old adage that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence can be extended to our technology cravings. Even the person holding the shiniest new gadget can’t help but eye a neighbor who has a different device and wonder, “What does that do that mine doesn’t?”

Thoughts like these are especially prevalent when it comes to the devoted owners of BlackBerrys and iPhones. All too often, the people carrying these smart phones are curious about what one device has that the other lacks. This week, I’m going to save you the trouble and outline some of the personal usage ups and downs to each device.

Because I regularly use both gadgets and am accustomed to their different features, I have included fresh observations from five people who recently switched from BlackBerrys to iPhones. At my request, these people kept track of their impressions, noting the things they missed on their BlackBerrys along with things they preferred on the iPhones. This column isn’t meant to promote one device over the other; rather, it is a summary of some people’s sentiments, combined with my own observations in hopes of enlightening readers. I inevitably left out some differences.

The most outstanding observation from my switch group in favor of the iPhone was an appreciation for its applications, or apps.

They used things like driving directions for the first time because these apps looked and worked better on the iPhone than on the BlackBerry. And they went through a downloading frenzy during which time they found all sorts of apps for the iPhone, such as games, entertainment and those that enhanced business-travel productivity. “Browsing for games. Probably should leave the office now,” said one person’s notes.

Though Research in Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerrys also run apps (including some of the same ones as for the iPhone), BlackBerry’s App World offers only a little better than 2,000 apps. Apple’s (AAPL) App Store boasts more than 65,000. A shortcut to the App Store ships preloaded on iPhones. BlackBerry App World is preloaded or virtually preloaded by carriers at their discretion, so a shortcut to App World may not be visible.

My switchers were frustrated by the iPhone’s battery life and complained of running low on battery. One person said, “I need to charge my iPhone a couple of times throughout the day which can be inconvenient, especially when traveling. With my BlackBerry I just charged it while I slept and it was good to go for the day.”

Granted, these people were all using the iPhone 3GS and had previously used various models of BlackBerrys that ran on slower networks and had smaller screens—two features that require less battery. Still, worrying about running out of juice is a hassle. One person said his iPhone’s weak battery was a tribute to the fact that he used it more often and for more things than he did the BlackBerry.

The most obvious difference between iPhones and BlackBerrys are the keyboards. The iPhone uses an on-screen keyboard, while the BlackBerry (except the touch-screen Storm model) uses a tactile QWERTY keyboard. As expected, the switchers had trouble using the iPhone keyboard–especially for the first few days. But after about a week, most people in the group had adjusted well to the on-screen keys and the iPhone’s auto-correct feature that fixes mistakes as long as you keep typing rather than stopping to fix an error. One person said, “I was a skeptic, and didn’t think the typing would work for me at all, but it actually hasn’t been too bad.”

Another said typing can be a real challenge at first, but that this could be overcome with a bit of practice.

Several people said they were still able to use their thumbs for iPhone typing as they did on the BlackBerry, though most preferred turning the screen horizontally to do this with slightly larger keys. Some said that they weren’t typing quite as fast as with the BlackBerry’s QWERTY keys but that they weren’t too far off.

The BlackBerry keyboard’s static position below its screen means all letters, numbers and symbols must come solely from pressing those keys; this is done by pressing ALT or Shift keys for numbers and symbols. Some switchers noted that pressing a button to change the iPhone’s on-screen keyboard from letters to capital letters or numbers took a bit longer than on the BlackBerry.

My switchers were ecstatic about using the iPhone’s Safari Web browser. They enthusiastically said searching, browsing and reading were all made much better and more visually pleasing compared with their experiences on the BlackBerry browser.

If you are a BlackBerry user, you know that all received and sent emails are listed on the same screen. The iPhone behaves more like a computer, storing sent emails in a special folder you must back up to open. This takes a little while to get used to.

Some switchers said they wished the iPhone had something like BlackBerry Messenger, the always-on messaging system that works to allow communication between all BlackBerrys.

The iPhone automatically changes its time when you enter a new time zone. BlackBerrys remain set to their home time zone for time stamping all emails with that time–unless you change the time in settings.

RIM prides itself on being able to run multiple applications at once; the iPhone allows this with its own preloaded programs like Mail and Safari, but not with other apps.

One switcher, for example, was frustrated that Pandora, a radio-like app that plays music according to user likes and dislikes, turned off when he opened Mail to read emails while listening to songs.

The BlackBerry’s AC adaptor takes up two power outlet spots, while the small, square iPhone plug occupies only one outlet, making it more versatile and able to charge in more locations.

The iPhone only works on one cellular service: AT&T (T). The BlackBerry is available from Verizon (VZ), AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint (S) and other carriers. My group used T-Mobile before changing to the iPhone’s AT&T service.

There will always be something on someone else’s device that looks more appealing than the one in your hand.

But the experience of using apps on the iPhone–and the huge selection of apps in the App Store–significantly enhance Apple’s device.

RIM is continually improving its own store, but it needs to move quickly to keep its loyal users contented.

Edited by Walter S. Mossberg

Write to Katherine Boehret at mossbergsolution@wsj.com

Hell of a Way to Get Out of Your AT&T Contract, Varney…

John Paczkowski — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:15:11 +0000

Earlier this year Christine Varney, the Justice Department’s new antitrust chief, said she planned to return the Department to a policy that led to landmark antitrust suits like the one against Microsoft (MSFT) in the ’90s. And she delivered on that promise in short order.

Since Varney’s confirmation in late April, the Department of Justice has seen a sort of Trustbuster renaissance. The DOJ has begun inquiring into potentially anticompetitive recruiting practices in Silicon Valley. It opened an investigation into the Google Books (GOOG) settlement. And now, the Department is scrutinizing cellphone exclusivity deals like the lucrative one between Apple (AAPL) and AT&T (T). Sources close to the DOJ tell The Wall Street Journal that the agency is probing such deals to see if they adversely restrict consumer choice or hamper competition.

The inquiry, which is in its very early stages, follows recent calls for the Federal Communications Commission to open a similar investigation, and it remains to be seen what, if anything, will come of it. For while exclusivity deals may undermine consumers, there’s little doubt that they benefit them as well. After all, AT&T’s iPhone deal with Apple scared the hell out the entire industry, forcing innovations in handsets and networks alike. Were it not for that deal, we might not be seeing the network improvements now occurring–the deployment of high-speed downlink packet access and long-term evolution, or LTE, networks, for example. And we almost certainly wouldn’t have devices like the Palm (PALM) Pre and the BlackBerry Storm.

Hell of a Way to Get Out of Your AT&T Contract, Varney…

John Paczkowski — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:15:11 +0000

A Kick Start to the Sidekick's Social Side

Katherine Boehret — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:14:02 +0000

If you’re tired of the basic BlackBerry design (small keyboard with a small screen) or the iPhone design (a virtual keyboard on a large touch screen) you might prefer a device with a roomy physical keyboard that stays out of your way, hiding under a large screen until you need it. Over six years ago, a small company called Danger introduced just such a device, called the Sidekick.

Since then, Danger has been acquired by Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), and there have been many iterations of the Sidekick. This Monday, yet another version of the Sidekick will be released: the Sidekick LX. Its swing-out screen design hasn’t changed much over the years, but competitors have since produced several other devices that also have screens that move to reveal QWERTY keyboards — including the Google (GOOG) Android G1 phone, whose chief designer also helped create the Sidekick.

[ See post to watch video ]

This week, I tested the T-Mobile Sidekick LX to see how this old chestnut fared with some new polishing inside and out. It still bears the flashy, hip features that distinguished older Sidekicks, and newly integrated social-networking apps for Facebook, MySpace and Twitter enhance these traits. A Download Catalog works like Apple’s (AAPL) popular App Store by bringing games, apps, themes and sounds directly to the device.

But this Sidekick’s pricing doesn’t make much sense in our current recession: It will cost $250 after a mail-in rebate for new T-Mobile customers who sign up for a two-year contract; current T-Mobile customers who are eligible for an upgrade will pay $200 after the same discounts.

For $200, you could buy Apple’s iPhone or Research In Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry Storm, which both have touch screens and come with Microsoft Exchange support that synchronizes the device with corporate email accounts. (T-Mobile says the Sidekick LX should be able to get Exchange support from the device’s Download Catalog “in the coming months,” but wouldn’t be more specific.) The Sidekick also lacks Wi-Fi capability, which is also true for the BlackBerry Storm but not so for the iPhone, which works with 3G or Wi-Fi networks.

The absence of a touch screen is glaring on such an expensive device, especially one with a screen this large. It’s easy to imagine using a finger to flick and spin the Sidekick’s on-screen menu wheel, tapping on one to open it. Instead, you’re stuck using a trackball to repeatedly scroll through a crowded, 15-menu wheel.

The T-Mobile Sidekick LX has the device’s traditional swing-out screen but is the thinnest Sidekick yet.

The LX is the thinnest Sidekick yet, but it still looked rather large lying next to my BlackBerry Curve 8300 and an iPhone; it measures 1.3 and 2.16 cubic inches larger than each, respectively. Compared with past Sidekicks, this one has a design that feels flatter thanks to a thin flip-out screen that smoothly blends into the device in its closed position. You have to lift up the nestled-in screen before it turns to flip out, and I found it a little harder to open with just a push of my left thumb.

The Sidekick LX, however, has some hearty extras including a generous 3.2-inch display, a 3G connection that makes it easy to use for quickly browsing the Web, built-in GPS and a 3.2-megapixel camera (like the BlackBerry Storm and new BlackBerry Curve 8900 cameras). It comes with a 1-gigabyte microSD card, but this memory card can be accessed only by pulling off the device’s back panel instead of via a card slot on the side.

I brought the Sidekick LX with me for a weekend in Boston and its good-quality camera came in handy as I wandered Copley Square and snapped photos of still-blooming tulips in bright colors. I signed into my Facebook and Twitter accounts, and updates from these networks flashed across the top of the screen in banner-like news flashes.

The Sidekick LX can play YouTube videos, and can record its own videos for uploading and sharing to Web sites. Its colorful screen has over twice the resolution of its predecessor and is 0.6-inch larger.

But a few awkward software designs left me scratching my head. After I uploaded a photo from the Sidekick LX to Facebook, I was left in the Facebook app, rather than my device’s photo album, where I started and wanted to be. MySpace updates are pushed to the Sidekick LX as they happen, but Facebook automatically updates only once an hour. Twitter can be set to check tweets as often as every five minutes, but, by default, it’s set to check only every 30 minutes — a glacial pace for Twitter fans.

I used the Download Catalog to buy a few apps, games and ringtones for my Sidekick, including a $6.99 game of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire 2009″; a $2.99 flashlight app; and a $2.49 ringtone that played 15 seconds of Katy Perry’s song “Thinking of You.” T-Mobile says there are thousands of items in this catalog.

Calls placed and received on the Sidekick were remarkably clear-sounding to me and the friends I spoke with. Dialing numbers could be a little frustrating because, as was the case with former Sidekicks, you’ll need to open the flip-out screen to dial the number and then close it so you can hold the phone up to your ear. But most people will call friends in their address books and won’t need to use the number keypad.

The Sidekick’s 15 menus are simply too many to scroll through. I would prefer it if several categories were combined into one, such as Phone, myFaves (T-Mobile’s list of five friends you call), Phone Messaging and Address Book. Currently, these are listed as four separate menus. Simultaneously pressing the Sidekick’s Jump and Cancel buttons brings up a Quick Access view of recently opened menus and unread messages, and this eases navigation.

For its price, the Sidekick LX should be shipped with Microsoft Exchange already working, and all of its social-networking apps should have better updating capabilities. But most of all, the Sidekick’s big screen is just begging for multitouch in place of a trackball. If these features were part of the Sidekick LX 2009, it might be worth its price.

Edited By Walter S. Mossberg

Email us at mossbergsolution@wsj.com. Find this and other columns and videos online free at the All Things Digital Web site: http://solution.allthingsd.com

BlackBerry Curve More Popular Than iPhone

John Paczkowski — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:19:17 +0000

Question for you: What was the best-selling consumer smartphone in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2009? What’s that? Apple’s iPhone?

Wrong. According to market researcher NPD, the best-selling smartphone was Research in Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry Curve, which slipped past the iconic device in market share, bolstered by Verizon’s (VZ) Buy One, Get One promotion.

That deal, which ran from Feb. 6 to March 31, offered a second RIM handset of equal or lesser value with the purchase of any Blackberry and a two-year contract–an attractive proposition and one that many a consumer took the carrier up on. NPD says RIM’s consumer smartphone market share rose to nearly 50 percent in the first quarter, an increase of 15 percent. Meanwhile, Apple’s (AAPL) and Palm’s (PALM) shares both declined 10 percent. “Buy one, get one free” trumps “what are the handy things about the iPhone” every time.

NPD’s Top 5 rankings:

RIM BlackBerry Curve (all 83XX models)
Apple iPhone 3G (all models)
RIM BlackBerry Storm
RIM BlackBerry Pearl (all models, except flip)
T-Mobile G1

“Verizon Wireless’s aggressive marketing of the BlackBerry Storm and its buy-one-get-one BlackBerry promotion to its large customer base contributed to RIM capturing three of the top five positions,” Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at The NPD Group said in a statement. “The more familiar, and less expensive Curve benefited from these giveaways and was able to leapfrog the iPhone, due to its broader availability on the four major U.S. national carriers.”

It’s not likely we’ll ever see a similar “buy one, get one” free deal from Apple for the iPhone, although if we did, one wonders how long the BlackBerry would be able to hold on to the top spot.

BlackBerry Curve More Popular Than iPhone

John Paczkowski — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:19:17 +0000

Question for you: What was the best-selling consumer smartphone in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2009? What’s that? Apple’s iPhone?

NPD’s Top 5 rankings:

RIM BlackBerry Curve (all 83XX models)
Apple iPhone 3G (all models)
RIM BlackBerry Storm
RIM BlackBerry Pearl (all models, except flip)
T-Mobile G1

How BlackBerry Models Differ

Walter S. Mossberg — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:12:02 +0000

Here are a few questions I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.

I get confused by all the different models of the BlackBerry — Bold, Storm, Curve, Pearl and so on. Can you briefly explain the differences?

There are too many models to list here, because RIM, the maker of BlackBerry, makes varying versions for competing wireless carriers, and these may have different features, even if they look the same. However, here’s a quick breakdown of the main flavors.

The Bold is the top-of-the-line BlackBerry, relatively large and costly, with a wide keyboard and a big, vivid screen. The Curve is its little brother — still sporting a good, full, keyboard, but lower-priced, smaller and lighter. The newest Curve, called the 8900, has a beautiful screen and is even sleeker than its predecessor.

The Pearl is a slimmer, low-priced, more fashion-oriented model with a truncated keyboard that has two letters on each key and relies on software to guess which one you meant to hit. The Pearl Flip is much like the Pearl, except, as its name implies, it’s a flip phone.

The Storm is the BlackBerry line’s most direct competitor to the Apple iPhone. It’s the only BlackBerry without a physical keyboard, instead relying on a large, beautiful touch screen for typing and navigation. Unlike on the iPhone, however, the Storm provides physical feedback each time you press down on the screen.

I’d be interested in the new, tiny iPod Shuffle, except that I dislike Apple’s earbuds. And, because they have now moved the playback controls to the earbud cord, I can’t use my favorite third-party set. What are my options?

Well, one option is to buy the old model of the Shuffle, which Apple is keeping on the market. It’s larger, but still very small, and has the controls on the player itself, rather than on the earbud cord, so you can use plain old earbuds or headphones from other companies. Plus, at $49, it’s $30 less, though it has only 25% of the capacity of the new one and lacks the new model’s voice features.

Another, costlier, option is to buy better earbuds that have the new controller built in. Apple sells a pair of $79 in-ear buds with a control module on the cord. They were designed for the iPod Touch, but the company says they work perfectly with the new Shuffle. Several other headphone companies, such as Klipsch, have announced plans to offer either headphones or adapters with Shuffle-compatible controls in coming months.

Is it safe to upgrade my Vista PC to the beta version of Windows 7?

Since it is a beta version, there is always some danger of problems. But I have upgraded a couple of Vista computers with no special tricks or help, and with no significant problems. Still, there are a couple of caveats. First, Microsoft will be replacing the beta with a more polished “release candidate” that could involve a re-installation process, so you may want to hold off. Second, Microsoft isn’t guaranteeing that every hardware feature on every computer or peripheral will work properly under the pre-release versions.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

BlackBerry Storm: Press and Be Depressed?

John Paczkowski — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:35:16 +0000

Are Research in Motion customers opting for the company’s Curve and Pearl BlackBerries over the BlackBerry Storm, its new touchscreen smartphone? Or are they trading the Storm in for one of those older models? That would seem to be the implication of the company’s announcement today that its fourth-quarter profits could fall on the low end of forecasts despite good growth in subscriptions.

RIM (RIMM) expects earnings in the fourth quarter to be at the low end of its earlier target of 83 cents to 91 cents a share. An interesting data point to consider in light of the company’s claim that it had “record levels” of net subscriber additions during the month of December and predicts subscriber additions for the quarter ending Feb. 28 to be more than 20 percent higher than previously estimated.

“RIM achieved a very strong start to the holiday buying season and the momentum carried on stronger than expected during the past seven weeks despite a seasonally slower time frame and the challenging economic environment,” co-CEO Jim Balsillie said in a statement. “We are pleased with our leadership and momentum in the market after shipping our 50 millionth BlackBerry smartphone in January and introducing a range of new products that are achieving exceptional early results and helping attract record levels of new customers to the BlackBerry platform.”

Unfortunately for RIM, those “exceptional early results” and “record levels of new customers” don’t appear to be enough to ease investor concerns that its profits are waning. Shares in the company slid more than 17 percent in early trading today.

See Lightning, Hear Thunder, Know the Storm

John Paczkowski — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:00:49 +0000

Though its launch was marred by software glitches and a chorus of middling-to-scathing reviews, Research in Motion’s (RIMM) high-profile smartphone, the BlackBerry Storm, has actually sold fairly well.

Certainly, it hasn’t stumbled as badly as some reports have suggested. Verizon (VZ) said this week that it’s sold one million Storm handsets since it began peddling them in the states on Nov. 21.

Now that’s a far cry from the one-million-sold-in-a-weekend, 2.4 million-in-a-quarter sales of Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone 3G (which, ironically, costs less to be build than the Storm), but it’s a decent figure nonetheless. And it suggests that perhaps the consumer market isn’t quite as appalled by the device as it has been portrayed to be.

Said Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski: “Our retail checks suggest that the Storm is Verizon’s best-selling smartphone, and the rate of returns is relatively low, contrary to recent market concerns and Internet blogs.”

No iPhone? No Worries: Verizon Wireless Still Growing.

Peter Kafka — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:04:34 +0000

Boomtown aside, not every consumer is swayed by the iPhone: Just ask Verizon, whose wireless operations added another 1.4 million customers in the last quarter–despite the fact that the company can’t offer Apple’s wonderphone.

The new numbers come via Verizon’s Q4 report on earnings, which were OK, considering the brutal economy: The company reported earnings of $0.61 per share on revenues of $24.6 billion. Wall Street was fine with the earnings number, but had been expecting slightly higher revenues of $24.74 billion.

Verizon’s wireless growth was slower compared to the year before, when it added two million subs. Perhaps the company could have goosed those numbers with a better launch of its BlackBerry Storm, its would-be iPhone competitor from Research In Motion (RIMM). But despite a good-size media blitz, Verizon (VZ) was only able to move 500,000 units during the last quarter, according to reports.

So if those new customers aren’t buying iPhones–which are exclusive to Apple (AAPL) partner AT&T (T)–and they’re not buying Storms, then there’s a good chance they’re signing up for run-of-the-mill “feature phones.” That’s too bad: Verizon will take growth anywhere it can get it at this point, but it would rather sell high-end phones like the Storm, which generate lucrative data fees for the company.

Goodbye BlackBerry (and Hello iFart App?)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:00:11 +0000

Hello, my name is BoomTown and I am a reformed CrackBerryaholic.

How bad was it? Here’s the worst story: I was holding my BlackBerry in my hand, inadvertently for once, when I gave birth to my son in 2002.

Long story short: I was emailing away throughout labor, suddenly had to have emergency surgery, was quickly drugged into paralysis and forgot it was gripped in my hand–all until the anesthesiologist looked at me like I was a freak.

I should have been embarrassed by that. I was not. Hence, that makes me a full-fledged Blackberry addict.

Actually, I was one.

Because over the weekend, while casting about for a good New Year’s resolution (Work less? Nope! Exercise more? Double nope!!), I impulsively decided to dump what is pathetically one of my more satisfying and reliable relationships ever for a questionable new one.

That’s right, I have finally abandoned the BlackBerry for the iPhone.

I have no idea what possessed me, but suddenly I had to change dramatically and change now. (I could blame the influence of fellow CrackBerry user President-Elect Barack Obama for that mood.)

So, I finally made the dreaded switcheroo from the devices made by the fine folks at Research In Motion (RIMM), which I have used since the first stubby little block of greyish plastic until the last stubby bigger block of reddish plastic.

To be honest, I have been flirting with the idea of leaving my longtime love for a while now.

Almost sneakily, I bought an iPhone from the get-go when it came out from Apple (AAPL) in June of 2007, because it was just too cool a device to pass up.

I was instantly delighted by the touchscreen swooshing and squinching, its breakthrough quality as a handheld media player, the Internet access that finally worked and the generally clever way of organizing contact and other information. I also liked the voicemail recording a lot.

Not so much the AT&T (T) cellular network, of course, but that was livable. What was not, as it was for a lot of people, was the poor email experience, specifically the virtual keyboard.

To say my entire life revolves around email and texting is to go overboard. But not by much. It is, in fact, the bane of my partner, who has learned to live with it grudgingly.

My obsession has even turned into mimicry by my other son, a three-year-old, who grabbed a small and rectangular block of wood recently and started tapping on it with his fingers, proudly declaring, “I’m Mama working!”

Oh dear. Like I said, I am pathetic in this regard (on the plus side, I don’t drink, do drugs or watch “Dancing with the Stars”).

But my issues with the dullish BlackBerry slowly mounted, from its too-small screen, to the substandard Internet experience to the limited ways to store emails to the overall clunkiness of it.

And when the apps came out for the iPhone, it got worse, since the ones on BlackBerry just are not as robust at all.

And with those apps, I now did not even have to really launch a browser and click away in frustration. Instead, I could largely rely on an increasingly interesting array of software that made my digital life a lot easier.

I am not including the iFart app in this group, of course, the kind of toddler programming that I had thought I had left behind when I started ignoring Facebook apps. Verdict: Eww.

In any case, my BlackBerry still had those lovely clickety-clack keys that have always been a joy to press and with which I could write a book in a very short time, I had become so adept at using them.

So, I had great hopes for the BlackBerry Storm, with a clicking-like virtual keyboard, as the solution to all my problems. Or so I thought.

When I first saw it, I knew this was not what I had been waiting for, which was underscored by Walt Mossberg’s review.

The weird push on the glass screen made me feel like it was going to break with every click. What I really wanted was the tactile feel of the keys and not the click feel.

The G1 smartphone from Google (GOOG), of course, offered a real keyboard and the big touchscreen. But it just looks and feels too much like–let’s be honest–a pair of clogs I once wore in seventh grade and have regretted ever since.

And, while there is a Palm device reportedly coming out this week with a touchscreen and a slip-down keyboard, I guess I have finally become tired of waiting for something that is perhaps not possible: A virtual keyboard that feels real.

Thus, I gave into the iPhone and learned to live with my all-thumbs typing.

And, as many have said, I am actually getting better at that. Not speedy, as I was with the BlackBerry, which–ironically–has caused me not to use the iPhone as obsessively and to put it down a lot more.

Except that, as soon as I do put it down, it is immediately picked up by my now six-year-old, the very person who had endured my incessant pregnant clicking.

As it turns out, he is obsessed with the many game apps I have downloaded for him onto the iPhone–currently “Crazy Penguin Catapult.” (Verdict: Unusually fun.)

So much so that he sneaked into my bedroom yesterday morning and spirited my iPhone away for a session while I slept late.

What can I say? Like mother, like son.

In this regard, let’s hope not.

[Photo credit: Cool, but creepy BlackBerry Baby image is from All Media.]