DoubleTwist Promises Cloud Storage Within Months

August 10, 2009

DoubleTwist has been characterized as an iTunes for Android, Google’s phone software.

DoubleTwist also hints at Xbox support

DoubleTwist also hints at Xbox support

But it is more. That’s because the desktop software also works with the Palm Pre, the Blackberry, Nokia phones, the Kindle and the Sony PSP, acting as a management center for music and media the way iTunes does. Want to share with another device? Just drag and drop. DoubleTwist is multi-platform

Now founder Monique Farantzos says the service is coming to the cloud. Within “months” DoubleTwist will allow content to be uploaded and stored on DoubleTwist servers for portable access, Farantzos said late last week during a presentation at an SDForum event.

She also suggested DoubleTwist’s list of compatible devices would soon include Microsoft’s Xbox game console.

The 20-person company has been creating a storm of interest – in addtion to $7.5 million in venture capital from the likes of Index Ventures.

Its software has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times since in launched in February, according to a post last month on TechCrunch.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Palm Frees “GSM” Pre, Cuts Exclusive Deal With UK Operator O2

July 2, 2009
The GSM version of Palms Pre has surfaced in Vietnam. Next, the UK?

The GSM version of Palm's Pre has surfaced in Vietnam. Next, the UK?

Palm Pre second act is set to begin in Europe, a month after its launch in the U.S.

According to British daily newspaper The Guardian, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-company chose O2 as the exclusive operator for the U.K. market. A press conference will be held next week to unveil the news.

O2 is also the sole distributor in the UK for the iPhone 3GS which comes free with an 18-months contract (for the 16GB version), spurring rumours that the Pre will also be available for free with an 18-months contract.

Palm GSM Pre has been ready since February

Palm first showed the “world” version (or GSM) of its smartphone last February at the Mobile World Congress last February in Barcelona.

Indicative of an imminent launch – presumably in September – Palm’s GSM Pre has recently been seen “in the wild” in Vietnam and reviewed by a local reseller.

However it first appears that Palm’s Pre data transmission speed will not match that of the iPhone 3GS.

Here’s the video excerpt of the Palm GSM Pre review from a local Vietnamese reseller:

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Posted by TechPulse 360

H-P Unveils First Web-Connected Printer, No Computer Needed

June 22, 2009
HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web: an all-in-one printer glued to an iPod touch, with a capacitive touchscreen and Apps Store!

HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web: an all-in-one printer glued to an iPod touch, with a capacitive touchscreen and an App Store!

It’s been a very very long time since I was exciting about using a printer. A bit like using an uninterruptible power supply or a backup system!

But with it’s latest all-in one printer/scanner/fax, H-P makes printing cool again.

The Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web (with the money H-P spends in marketing, it could have easily found a more shorter and sexier name!) uses the same printing engine than the currently shipping Photosmart Premium C8180 – a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth multi-function printer which it will be replacing – but with an iPod touch-like capacitive touchscreen instead of the current smaller screen and series of buttons, and combined with H-P’s Apps Studio; yet another applications store.

H-P takes a page from the iPhone playbook and starts an Apps Store for printers

And just as with the iPhone, Palm Pre, etc., it will soon be possible to download apps for your printer!

At the launch event earlier today hosted at Al Gore’s Current TV studios in San Francisco, H-P showed apps from USA Today, Google, Fandango, Coupons.com, DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon, Web Sudoku, Weathernews as well as the company’s online site Snapfish.

With these apps, you’ll be able to customize, choose, print… daily news, maps, coupons, coloring pages, movie tickets, recipes, personal calendars and more – all at the touch of a finger.

Under the hood, the Web printer is running Linux with Nokia’s Qt application and graphical-user interface framework.

The Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web will be available in the U.S. in September for $399 (the current Photosmart Premium, model C8180, is being discounted at less than $250 on Amazon.com) and next year for the rest of the world.

Here’s an excerpt of our exclusive interview with product marketing manager Ravikiran Adusumilli, going into more details on the printer capabilities (Wi-Fi setup, touchscreen, micro-transactions, auto-duplex printing…) that took 1.5 years to get to market:

Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by TechPulse 360

Apple iPhone Vs. Palm Pre: Game Over!

June 8, 2009
The Palm Pre stands no chance to compete against a cheaper iPhone 3G. And even less so against a much better featured but equally priced iPhone 3G S

The Palm Pre stands no chance to compete against a cheaper iPhone 3G. And even less so against a much better featured but equally priced iPhone 3G S

The $200 Palm Pre and its 18 applications stand no chance against a $99 iPhone 3G with 50K+ applications and even less so against a souped up iPhone 3G S.

In announcing the newest iPhone at the company’s software developer conference – where pundits thought there would be no hardware news! – Apple further extended the gap with its competition, at least for another year.

It took 2-years for the first real competitor to the iPhone to show up a.k.a the Palm Pre; and it will probably take at least 2 more years for Palm to catch up on the software side, if ever.

Developers can’t go wrong with the iPhone

Actually, I think the game is over for Palm. Why would a developer bother? The users are on the iPhone, new business models (subscription, micro-payments) are now available.

Perhaps Android – which Apple mentioned during the keynote – might have a chance to grab enough market share and become a distant second, with its open source model.

But for Palm, RIM, Nokia/Symbian, they are relegated to be niche players in an mobile Web world dominated by iPhones.

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Posted by TechPulse 360

[Web 2.0 Expo] Palm Woos Web Developers With Mojo SDK, Open Bar

April 1, 2009
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Palm senior VP of applications Michael Abbott is inviting Web developers to try out Palm's Mojo software development kit for the Pre smartphone. Photograph copyright James Duncan Davidson

What is Palm doing at Web 2.0 Expo?

If you wonder as well, don’t worry because even Palm’s boss of application development, Michael Abbott, asked himself the question.

His answer?

  1. Palm is bringing the Web as a platform to the mobile environment with its WebOS operating system for the Pre smartphone. WebOS applications are actually standard Web applications. And Palm needs to convince Web developers to get onboard, use the developer’s kit and start writing applications for the Pre;
  2. Palm WebOS’ Mojo software development kit is now available to developers that apply for here. Although it seems there are no limit in terms of number of developers that will be allowed in the programme, Palm is trying to keep the quality bar high;
  3. And host a cocktail reception for all the conference attendees as soon as the keynotes are over.

I’m glad to know where some of the $50 million Palm recently raised is going… and I’ll drink to that. Cheers!

Here’s a short video excerpt of Abbott’s keynote at the Web 2.0 Expo conference:

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Posted by TechPulse 360

Palm Has Enough Money To Launch The Pre; And Then What?

March 20, 2009
Dismal financial results have not slowed down the ever-optimistic Palm CEO, Ed Colligan

Dismal financial results have not slowed down the always-optimistic Palm CEO, Ed Colligan

According to Palm CEO, Ed Colligan, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-company has enough money to launch the Pre smartphone, in the coming 15 weeks.

“I think we have adequate capital. You know, this latest raise really, I think, put us in a position to be able to launch the Pre very successfully,” said Colligan.

But Palm’s financials are just dismal. $98 million loss for $90 million in revenue for the last quarter. The more the company earns, the more it goes into the red.

Expect a disastrous quarter in advance to the Pre launch

And the Pre launch will just make things worse, as manufacturing, marketing and advertising expenses ramp up; a month in advance from the actual launch, confirmed Colligan.

So for Palm, the launch of its new smartphone is just the beginning of a long journey that will inevitably require more money as the hardware company expands internationally and broadens the family WebOS devices.

Colligan already suggested a cheaper, simpler Pre, probably positioned like the entry-level Centro, which represents about 70 to 75 per cent of Palm sales today.

“The Palm Pre is our first shot at a great integrated product, kind of the all-in-one, do-everything, incredible product. But there are certainly opportunities for going downstream and taking functionality out or building better cost hardware around it.”

Stay tuned then.

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Posted by TechPulse 360

Palm Makes Good On Plan To Raise Millions

March 9, 2009

Palm said Monday it would raise just over $100 million dollars to support the launch of its Pre smart phone.

The Treo maker said it would sell 18.5 million shares of common stock – or 49 percent of the preferred stock and warrants its investor, Elevation Partners, acquired in January 2009.

Palm will use the money to support its Pre launch

Palm will use the money to support its Pre launch

At today’s price of $6.02, that would bring in about $111 million, of which $49 million will go to repay Elevation for its investment.

The remainder Palm will use to launch the Pre and to strengthen its balance sheet, according to a press release. Elevation said it would use its money to buy Palm shares.

The Pre is to launch by June.

If today’s price holds, Palm would walk about with about $62 million. But of course who knows whether that will be the case.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

LG Arena Dwarfs The Apple iPhone; But Lacks App Store

March 4, 2009

The LG Arena smartphone is the most multimedia smartphone out there

The LG Arena smartphone is the most multimedia smartphone out there

It took nearly 2-years for mobile handset makers to finally catch up with the Apple iPhone!

LG’s Arena KM900 has everything the iPhone is known for – a large touch screen, multi-touch, multimedia, wireless connectivity – and much more like Dolby surround, an FM receiver/transmitter, GPS, 7.5 GB internal memory extensible to 32 GB, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, DVD quality (720×480) for watching video.

LG has own multi-touch technology

When asked about Apple’s patents on the multi-touch technology, LG executives confirmed that the Korean company is fully protected against Apple claims and that it has its own multi-touch patents.

LG App Store coming in… 18 months!

However, despite an incredible hardware, LG’s latest smartphone lacks one of the iPhone eco-system key strength: the App Store.

When asked, the LG representatives that I met in Paris this week said that an App Store is indeed in the works but won’t be available before 18 months!

When that happens, the Apple iPhone will have been out for almost 4-years! Unless Palm survives long enough to launch its Pre smartphone with multi-touch technology.

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Posted by TechPulse 360

Sprint Nextel Lost $2.8 Billion, Shed 4.5 Million Subscribers In 2008

February 19, 2009
Sprint's $20 billion debt could endanger the company's survival

Sprint's $21.6 billion debt is a concern for the company's long term survival

It’s getting much worse for Sprint before it could get a little better.

For the first time since its acquisition of Nextel in 2005, the number of Sprint subscribers fell below the 50 million mark to 49.3 million; after losing an additional 1.3 million last quarter, including 1.1 million “postpaid” customers who pay a monthly bill and are considered the most valuable.

At the end of the fourth quarter, Sprint served 36.7 million post-paid subscribers, 3.6 million prepaid subscribers and 9.0 million wholesale and affiliate subscribers, which includes Amazon’s Kindle customers.

Sprint has a massive debt load

For the full year 2008, Sprint Nextel lost nearly $3 billion on declining revenues of $35 billion. By comparison, the Kansas company generated $40.1 billion in revenues and lost $29.3 billion – including a $29 billion write-down of its Nextel acquisition – in the same period a year ago.

Nextel’s total value has been entirely wrote off Sprint’s books; another impressive destruction of value. Cisco’s CEO, John Chambers, is again correct in saying that huge acquisitions just do not work.

More worrisome in this credit crunched economy is Sprint’s heavy debt load totaling $21.6 billion, and making Sprint the financially weaker wireless carrier of the U.S. “big four” (AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile).

Is a bankruptcy or sale looming ahead? That’s definitely not a case to be discarded, unless of course if Palm’s Pre can generate the same kind of profits for Sprint than Apple’s iPhone did for AT&T and its other wireless partners.

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Posted by TechPulse 360

Freescale Adds Android Support To Mobile Chip; Aims At $100 Netbooks

February 17, 2009
Freescale's netbook chip competes head-on with Intel's Atom chip

Freescale's netbook chip competes head-on with Intel's Atom chip. Photo: Or Hiltch (http://www.flickr.com/photos/orcaman)

At the Mobile World Congress conference, the chipmaker said its i.MX515 system on a chip (SOC) processor will support Google’s Android operating system by next quarter.

The Austin, TX-company sees $100 netbooks – with Wi-Fi connectivity – coming as early as this Summer.

Freescale anticipates that netbooks powered by ARM chips could capture as much as half of the world’s netbook chip market; estimated to reach 35 million units this year, according to research firm ABI.

Last month, at CES, Freescale unveiled the same ARM-based chip with support for Linux.

The i.MX515 processor is based on ARM’s Cortex-A8 core which supports 3D graphics and high-definition (1080p) video playback. Palm’s Pre, also announced last month at CES, is one of the first smartphones to use the Cortex-A8 core.

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Posted by TechPulse 360

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