Keeping Secrets - But Not Really

It's always funny to see how people react to "secret meetings" of the most powerful companies in tech. Whenever a company like Apple keeps a secret, the press is immediately given a "we do not comment on rumors or speculation" and almost out of thin air, boom, an iPad (which was probably the best and worst kept secret in the tech world to date).

But what happens when other companies try to run a play out the Apple playbook? Well apparently that means a nearly 500-word piece in the New York Times' Bits Blog. In all seriousness this is probably a non-story about two CEO's meeting and trying to get some kind of strategy going for future releases or updates. We wish the best to both Adobe and Microsoft; and pretend like we didn't see Ballmer meet with Shantanu Narayen.

via The New York Times

UPDATE: Looks like Ballmer couldn't keep his mouth shut.

And Now... The Kin's Dead.

In less than 2 months after it's launch, various sites have reported that Microsoft's KIN devices are dead. And it's a damned shame. PMB will not be apologist here and say that Microsoft isn't partly to blame for their device not catching on with the masses but don't think for a second that we didn't see the potential here.

Just a refresher on the Kin: It's somewhere between being a smartphone and a feature phone. It was the next evolutionary step of the Sidekick. This made sense since this was the reason why Microsoft bought Danger a couple years back. The Kin was in the perfect position to be an alternative to the very expensive smartphones (primarily very expensive service plans) and far too dumb cheap feature phones. Microsoft had effectively launched a device that had a built in market ripe for the picking and somehow missed the boat.

We teased Microsoft for their confusing marketing strategy right here on PMB; but badvertising alone does not a flop make. No. Microsoft saw big bucks where there weren't any to be seen. Their partnership with Verizon all but guaranteed that the Kin would be a failure.

Again, the main draw of an in-between device like the Kin was price. The handset had to be free or close to it: +1 for Microsoft. The service plan would have to be tailor made for tweens/teens/hipsters (see mom/dad won't spend $80 per month for the kids' phone) and 20-somethings on a tight budget without restricting what they were looking for: access to Facebook, Twitter, and the internet. Verizon may be great in terms of coverage and coverage area but never have they been lauded for great prices.

Microsoft could've easily walked away with a considerable piece of Android's pie (Don't believe me go to your local T-Mobile store and see what's the new Sidekick - MyTouch 3G/Slide). Microsoft could've changed the smartphone scene; switching the focus from hardware to service. But for want of an exclusive carrier, they walk away heads down in defeat.

All may not be lost, both Gizmodo and Engadget have reported that (at least for now) the Kin group will be integrated into the Windows Phone 7 team. Maybe the Spot will make it to Windows Phone 7?

Microsoft Shuns Sexy Hipsters

Recently Microsoft unvieled a spot for their Kin series of feature phones which included a plethora of hipsters frolicking in all their ironic glory. Yesterday, Microsoft pulled the spot over perceived "sexting" message in the ad.

It's sad really. Microsoft pulled the ad for no reason other than a consumer watch group had a problem with a hipster showing too much man cleavage and then sending a picture to an ironically giddy fauxhemian beauty. Hell I would've pulled it because 20 seconds into the ad I had no clue they were sellin a phone.

So the question is: was the ad risqué or was it blown out of proportion?

Update: Below is the original in all it's ironic glory.



Microsoft via Gizmodo

All Your Tweets Are Belong to Bing!

Not to be out done by Google, Microsoft's Bing has sealed a deal with Twitter and Facebook allowing them to search your tweets and status updates in real-time.

Here's how it works:
"The 'tweets' will be integrated universal-search style, ranked alongside the other [different types of] results, and you'll be able to click on those results and go to a page that shows only 'tweets' and real-time updates," said Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, in an interview after her appearance on stage at the Web 2.0 Summit to announce the news. Users will also be able to restrict results to Twitter posts from the get-go using the engine's filtering controls."

It is worth mentioning there is no exclusivity to this deal and Google has also made an agreement with Twitter to search and offer them up to their searchers as well.

The War of the Search is here. Bing is definitely trying (really hard) to eat Google's lunch.

Bing Lands Deals with Twitter and Facebook via PC World

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Windows 7 Alert

Hey guys! Guess what? Not saying that Win7 is crap - it isn't- but what's the message behind selling 3 PCs for the price of ONE Macbook Pro?

Sure we can argue the merits of a low price during a recession but that doesn't seem to rain on Apple's parade that keeps reporting crazy quarterly numbers. The pricing strategy makes sense if this was a pricing war; Apple clearly does not engage in any pricing wars with their hardware instead they focus portraying their products as high-end/high-quality, crafted devices.

You're buying 3 friggin' HP PCs (a desktop, laptop, & netbook) from Best Buy; nothing in this sentence evokes 'high-end', 'high-quality', 'crafted' or even 'easy' as adjectives.

In the 90's I think this would've been the equivalent of drilling a 10-yard field goal - a no brainer as it were - but the landscape has changed. Windows is no longer a requirement to computing. Viable OS options have opened up the market and consumers' eyes. The new consumers have become more aware of the things their gadgets can do; as a result the need to accommodate their digi-lifestyle becomes not just a matter of in-store price but what you can offer for the next 2 years.

Folks, especially Mac users that must use Win OS at any given point, try out Win7. It's good for what it is. You won't switch but it isn't a dreadful experience. People on the fence go for the deal if you think it will save you money - just remember that you'll be at Best Buy fighting off the People of Walmart AND some asshole teenager that swears you need a $300 Monster ethernet cable for your wireless home network.

via FakeSteve.Net

Pink Kills the Sidekick

Though technically this isn't an Apple related post it's one hell of a story. It has all the elements of a great spy drama - a spy, a business catastrophe, and hundreds of people at least one person crying bloody murder.

For about a week now Sidekick users have found themselves without access to their precious data, contacts, and after Apple Insider published an alleged disgruntled Danger employee's take on it; folks now "know" that Microsoft seems to be the culprit.

Money quote from AppleInsider's spy:

"What's worse is that apparently Microsoft has been lying to [T-Mobile] this whole time about the amount of resources that they've been putting behind Sidekick development and support (in reality, it was cut down to a handful of people in Palo Alto managing some contractors in Romania, Ukraine, etc.)."

Now keep in mind this has explicitly been filed as a RUMOR simply cuz there's no proof that Microsoft is sabotaging a division they paid a lot of money for but there seems to be enough folks out there that think this could be a possibility.

Why Killing the Sidekick is Believable:
Although there are many customers that are quite content with their Sidekicks (my teenage cousins for one), the platform requires maintenance, development for new devices, and above all resources. Microsoft picked up Danger for the purpose of working on Project Pink - a rumored MS branded phone; killing the Sidekick would be a natural step in consolidating resources and efforts on one project.

A system-wide failure of the Sidekick would create outrage from subscribers; everyone was going to blame T-Mobile. It sucks being the front office as customers know you and not necessarily all the moving parts. Purposely creating this kind of failure or even failing to address the issue within a couple of days would put a lot of pressure on a company to find an alternative product to use; a wholly Microsoft branded phone or even phones running a Microsoft branded OS not only fills this need but gives customers assurance of an already existing product.

So is the blogosphere grasping at straws here? Maybe, but sometimes an idea may be so crazy that it may just be right.