We have recently touched on the problems that Research In Motion face and how they are trying to get shot of their first forays into the tablet arena with a mass of Blackberry Playbook offers.

The playbook range of tablets from RIM, that to all intents and purposes was built on great software, unfortunately lacked that added element of functionality over and above what the limited blackberry eco-system offered.

“The people, them want more!”

How to solve the RIM application problem?

In a report via Barrons, analyst Peter Misek claims that agreements are already in place to license Blackberry 10 to HTC and Samsung, and I personally believe this is absolutely critical for RIM to survive the next 24 months.

Only with the help of third party device manufacturers can RIM hope that their new operating system will benefit from the scaling of its user base which has dramatically dropped in recent months.

You are only as good as the Apps in your market:

Arguably, Apple do so well in the mobile space because their application market is far superior than the Android offering, (despite Android growing dramatically) I am talking in pretty much every sense, and Apple sell this to you when they advertise their products.

Take a look at this music track done using only a few iPads, no other mobile operating system has applications that come close to this and there are countless other examples of other application niches other than music where Apple shine through over their competitors.

But as you can see, Android have benefited from allowing their operating system to be open and this would seem to be a good way for RIM to move, no one wants 99% of 1% so perhaps this method would make more sense.

Unless of course they super niche themselves into the most robust but fully functional O/S going with a device to match, and perhaps aim purely for the corporate and government sectors, which may actually work…but, they need the other device manufacturers to be on board that is for sure.

It is therefore paramount that these other mobile tech companies are involved in helping propagate the use of more new Blackberry 10 enabled devices, otherwise their will be no chance that any developer will start to create applications for a market that is dead.

It really is very simple.

Without a market you get no apps, without any apps no one wants your mobile operating system, or devices that run on it.

Blackberry has also lost its cool a long time ago, and RIM need to create some sort of attraction to win those iPhone loving, Samsung S2 digging people back, who once would have given the blackberry operating system a real close look, and are currently turning away in their droves.

Uncool and unreliable:

One thing RIM does do well is to keep data more secure than other mobile operating systems, and for this it got lots of government and corporate attention.

As a result, RIM focused their products on delivering services to these people, but failed to realise that these same people were also getting iPhones for their personal use and then started to look at the difference in overall design, user interface and functionality and ask pretty deep questions.

This was OK though, as it was still much “safer” to use your blackberry after all.

However the unfortunate state of play where RIM managed to have a total black out for days, was the cause of so much headache and concern, that this one last glimmer of hope has perhaps faded and people are now much more open to alternatives, as Governments and corporations now look at Android and others.

With the overall problems this last year their core business users, ever fearful over security concerns are now asking the question;

“Is this fear over security worth the risk of losing days of no communication. and is the functionality on offer enough to allow our organisations to utilise smoniel technology to its maximum capacity?”

Single-Device superphone strategy:

Like Apple before them, could RIM reinvent themselves with a brand new superphone and fantastic O/S, and save their company with a device that will genuinely be easy to understand the benefits of, work well for users who are used to Android and iOS phones, and also compete with them in terms of power and functionality?

Yes the Canadian firm are in troubled waters, but they CAN be saved.

So will their saviour come in the form of banking chief Barbara Symiest, or will the two CEO’s continue their current reign?

And how do you think RIM can claw back its user base and instil confidence that they have the operating system of choice, devices to match, and are worth taking another look at?

With Ice Cream Sandwich rolling out across many different devices, we have already covered the problems that many faced in upgrading to Ice Cream Sandwich on the Samsung Nexus S, and now we get news that LG will be rolling out their own updates to the Android operating system so here is the information we currently have.

Dates for LG Ice Cream Sandwich updates:

According to their facebook page, the roll out of ICS for LG devices will occur between April and September 2012:

“LG will be offering the Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) OS upgrade for a range of LG smart-phones which were introduced this year. The global upgrade schedule will begin in the second and third quarters of 2012, which will be followed by a global roll out,”

Which models are due the upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich?

With certain Samsung models deemed not powerful enough for a legitimate ICS upgrade, we inform you of the models that will get an Ice Cream Sandwich make over in the new year for LG.

“During the second quarter of 2012 upgrades will begin for the following smartphone models: the LG Optimus LTE, Prada phone by LG 3.0, the LG Optimus 2X, the LG Optimus Sol, the LG my Touch Q and the LG Eclipse.”

Optimus Black and Optimus 3D owners will have to wait until the end of summer for their upgrade to Android 4.0 ICS:

“These upgrades will be followed by upgrades for the following smartphone models during the third quarter of 2012: the LG Optimus 3D, the LG Optimus Black, the LG Optimus Big, the LG Optimus Q2 and the LG Optimus EX.”

We are not convinced that the upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich is all that amazing, so see no reason for owners to feel aggrieved if you never actually even see that slightly newer operating system grace your beloved smartphone.

Impatient ones could always go for the rooting option and go check out cyanogenmod.

Via: Facebook

Alibaba is a strange beast, as anyone who has looked into packaging and trade internationally will have realised.

As a website it works as a kind of hub for manufacturers, suppliers, exporters, buyers, and providers of all sorts of s services to come together and pitch for business with would be traders globally.

Very powerful and very popular.

So how and why have Alibaba, a traditional e-commerce type business decided that a new mobile operating system based on cloud technology would be a good way to move forward?

Alibaba already have a mobile OS:

Firstly they have already got a Chinese version of the Aliyun OS working that has been trialled since July.

This version of the OS has currently only been available via one Chinese device manufacturer called TianYu, Dr Wang Jian the Chief architect of the project has stated that they are now..

“discussing with at least three global [hardware] vendors”

The time-scale for releasing the OS and accompanying smartphones and tablets to the global market seems to remain slightly unclear but very much the grand plan for Alicloud and Alibaba.

Wang Jian went on to say that an iPad rival will appear “in two month’s time.”..though there is no mention of the manufacturer or if this will be available outside of China initially.

The reason they have gone into this field is quite clear. After creating the Alicloud division a few years ago, the company has seen that more and more time is spent by users on smartphone and tablet devices connected to the Internet, as an internet based company now is the perfect time to devise a means of capitalising on their exiting traffic, size and power, with inherent ties with Chinese and global manufacturers and geographic base within an ever more powerful China.

Technical details of the Aliyun OS and Alicloud:

Currently the “Aliyun OS.” works on the K-Touch Cloud-Smart Phone W700 and is the only device that is offered currently.
Wang Jian, president of Alibaba Cloud Computing states that:

“Mobile users want a more open and convenient mobile OS, one that allows them to truly enjoy all
that the Internet has to offer right in the palm of their hand, and the cloud OS, with its use of cloud-
based applications, will provide that,”

Mobile developers helped also:

He then goes on to say that you cannot separate ‘mobile’ from ‘cloud’:

“One cannot succeed without the other. The mobile internet right now is just a structure. We now think we want to make the internet mobilized. Introducing cloud apps to mobile devices not only brings a whole new user experience, but also greater ease for third-party mobile software developers who will be able to use Internet technology
such as HTML5 and JavaScript to reduce the complexity in the app development process.”

With the Alicloud feature being at the heart of the Aliyun OS, users will require less need to download applications and it should ensure that data is safer and easier to transfer to other applications that are hosted on their cloud servers.

This could be something that Amazon, Apple and Google will look further into. Amazon already have their own very successful cloud based Amazon servers (EC2) and their new foray into a Amazon kindle tablet like device.

Aliyun users will be offered a 100GB of storage on their Alicloud servers and probably offer additional space if that is needed.

In design terms this should help reduce the overall size and processor power needed and could help to ensure that smartphones and tablets use less power and last longer once charged.

Wang went on to say recently that:

“Eventually all our services will be delivered on mobile. People will spend less time in front of their computer screens and more time in front of their smartphones,”

Recent reports suggest that the Aliyun OS is Linux based, dashing reports earlier that it was a tweaked version of the Android OS. All I can say to the Aliyun team is that I hope it is as clear of patent infringements as possible when related to Apple and Google, as the challenge of exporting a Chinese OS to Western Europe and the US will not be met without a filthy legal battle ensuing if a mere hint of a legal challenge is deemed possible.

Word of warning to Alibaba and Aliyun developers and device manufacturers of the future:

It appears that the tactic of late is quite simply to drag costly litigation out as much as possible in the hope a new device has chance to enter the market to reduce the chances that the competing device takes ground….see the ongoing Samsung debate in German courts.

I will keep you posted on what happens with this new OS as more reports come through regarding their unconfirmed talks with manufacturers of tablets and smartphones….interesting times ahead!

The Death of traditional PC’s seems to be coming true ever more!

In a move that many will see as meddling with capitalist economics, the government of South Korea has been in talks with Samsung and LG, two of it’s home grown heroes in the electronics industry, and has made it known that it encourages both companies to stop relying on the Google owned Android O/S for their tablet and smartphones based on a number of reasons:

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• Google’s recent acquisition of Motorola Mobility puts them in direct competition with Samsung and LG on a manufacturing basis
• Apples battle with Google over the Android O/S could mean issues long term
• Over dependence on a third party O/S poses obvious dangers

[/arrowlist]

Government-backed consortium to create alternative to Android

In a move that will create serious concern among both Google and manufacturers like HTC who utilise the Android O/S, the South Korean government have stated that they wish to form a consortium that can work together to provide an alternative to the Android O/S for manufacturers such as LG and Samsung so they can be less in Google’s pocket when it comes to the brains behind the tablets and smartphones that they manufacture.

Are South Korea wise to upset the US markets, consumers and business in general:

While South Korea can lay claim to the worlds second and third largest makers of mobile devices in Samsung and LG, their growth has been helped in many ways by both the universities of the US and in some cases the slavish copying of design and technology that has been developed and patented in the US (or so Apple would have us all believe)

So is it wise that they start to upset a pretty large apple cart even further, pun intended.

In the plan announced by the deputy commerce minister at the “ministry of the knowledge economy” a guy named Kim Jae-hong it appears that they see long term issues with using a third party O/S and went on to state:

“In the long term, we cannot go on like this by solely relying on Google,”

Both Samsung and LG have noted that all talks are in their formative stages but both appear to be willing to at least listen to proposals.

Samsung to delay Australian launch of Galaxy tab 10.1:

It appears that Samsung will delay the launch of their new tablet in Australia until the last week in September after they have heard the outcome of the hearing that is taking place related to the patent issues that Apple are fighting hard for. Though it has to be stated there is no actual injunction against the sale currently in Australia. This is in stark contrast to many parts of Europe which have seen bans on Samsung products placed in Germany, Holland, the UK and much of Europe as a result of the international nature of the courts that the patent issues have taken place. In the case of the Galaxy tab 10.1 it has been noted that the ban has since been temporarily lifted in many countries and in the recent Samsung smartphone patent issue it appears that the issue should get resolved on time before the injunction actually kicks in stopping sales and marketing in many large European countries. (if Samsung do manage to appease the courts in what they alter).

“Following today’s hearing in the Federal Court of Australia, Samsung has agreed to delay the launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 pending the court’s decision in the week commencing 26 September, 2011. It should be noted that the court has not issued an injunction against the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and the court did not make any ruling during today’s hearing.”

Samsung is to retaliate with more of it’s own patent claims against Apple in the Australia Federal Court.

it really has been quite a month for the mobile industry, we have seen takeovers of monumental size and meaning, litigation fever and one enormous beast lie down and bow out of the PC and mobile device manufacturing process altogether.

What do you make of Google’s Android O/S currently? Could it be under threat from Windows 7 and 8 O/S and even a potential newcomer to the mobile operating system world from a number of potential developers, including a South Korean lead government initiative?