Digital Zone 202: ‘Pre’ Bankruptcy

Posted by Patrick Wiscombe on March 29, 2010 under Digital Zone Podcasts | Be the First to Comment

In this edition of the Digital Zone, we talked about:

Pre bankruptcy
Line2 bypasses AT&T
iPhone remains dominant OS
iPhone for the masses
iPad Wall Street Journal content pricing
20 for $200 million

Slashdot is reporting that an internal Palm memo has been released showing support for Android to replace the webOS on the Palm Pre Plus. The memo cited competition with the iPhone and exponential growth from the Android operating system – specifically mentioning the Motorola Droid. The memo partially states: “While Palm is incredibly proud of our engineers who spent timeless work and effort to bring us this advanced operating system, consumers simply have not caught on. To provide a better future for ourselves and our customers, the only logical choice is to transition our hardware and software to the Android platform.” WebOS won’t officially go away (the UI and notifications feature into the Android platform) according to the memo. Software engineers are to begin working on Palm’s own builds of Android as soon as the device maker officially joins the Open Handset Alliance, which other executives at Palm say could be as soon as next week.

Line2 has created an app that can make calls where AT&T’s signal is weak and can turn an iPod Touch into a full-blown cellphone. The app gives an iPhone a second phone number — a second phone line, complete with its own contacts list, voice mail, and so on. The company is betting users will distribute the Line2 number to business contacts and the regular iPhone number to friends and family and your second line can be an 800 number. The Line2 app looks like the iPhone’s own phone software. Line2 also turns the iPhone into a dual-mode phone. That is, it can make and receive calls either using either the AT&T airwaves as usual, or over the Internet. Any time you’re in a wireless hot spot, Line2 places its calls over Wi-Fi instead of AT&T’s network. Line2 also runs on the iPod Touch which means if a person is in a Wi-Fi hot spot, the Touch is becomes a cell phone. The Line2 service costs $15 a month (after a 30-day free trial).

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AdMob is reporting that online ad networks have seen an increase in traffic from Android-based phones, but the iPhone remains the dominant OS. AdMob said they examined worldwide traffic to its ad networks for February 2010 in three categories: smartphones, feature phones, and mobile Internet devices. The company found that smartphones account for 48 percent of its traffic, up from 35 percent the year before. In the U.S., the top smartphone was the iPhone, with 44.5 percent of the market. That was followed by the Motorola Droid at 15.2 percent, and the HTC Dream at 3.2 percent. For the record, Google is going to purchase AdMob. ComScore, on the other hand, found that RIM remained the dominant smartphone OS platform, at least in the United States, with 43 percent share versus 25.1 percent for Apple. Feature phones accounted for 35 percent of traffic, down from 58 percent last year, as more and more people switch to smartphones. The top feature phone manufacturers were Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and LG. Mobile Internet devices had 17 percent of the market, with the iPod touch consuming 93 percent of that traffic, followed by the Sony PSP and Nintendo DSi. AdMob found that 11 percent of smartphone users are interested in purchasing an Apple iPad.

Some Mac friendly sites are displayed an image of an internal company memo saying U.S. customers will have to pay full price for an iPhone at an Apple Store but won’t have to sign an AT&T contract. However, in that same memo, there was no indication that the iPhone is unlocked, meaning the customer will still need to arrange some kind of AT&T service. The memo, addressed to “All Employees” at Apple, said customers can purchase an iPhone at a price not subsidized by AT&T and without proof of a contract. The prices are $499 for the 8GB iPhone 3G, $599 for the 16GB iPhone 3GS, and $699 for the 32GB iPhone 3GS. There is a limit of one unsubsidized iPhone per customer per day, and 10 non-contracted iPhones per customer.

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PODCAST SPONSORS: Please support the companies that make the Patrick Wiscombe podcast network go and take advantage of the special offers only available to our listeners.

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The Wall Street Journal plans to charge 17.99 dollars a month for a subscription to the newspaper on Apple’s upcoming iPad. The electronic edition of The Wall Street Journal for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader costs 14.99 dollars a month. The New York Times is reporting that advertisers are spending heavily to buy advertising space on the iPad applications from various media outlets. The Times said credit card company Chase Sapphire has bought out the newspaper’s advertising units for 60 days after the introduction of the iPad. They also said FedEx has bought advertising space on the iPad applications from The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and others. The Wall Street Journal said six advertisers, including Coca-Cola and FedEx, have agreed to advertise with the Journal, and a four-month ad package costs 400,000 dollars.

A computer hacker from Miami was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he apologized for stealing credit and debit card numbers that cost companies, banks and insurers nearly $200 million. Albert Gonzalez pleaded guilty to breaking into the computer networks of retailers TJ Maxx, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Barnes & Noble, OfficeMax, and Dave & Buster’s. Gonzalez said he did it not out of greed, but because of his internet addiction and said he did not give much thought to people whose credit and debit card numbers were stolen. Authorities said he used the $2.8 million he used to buy a Miami condo, a car, Rolex watches and a Tiffany ring for his girlfriend. He said he and his two co-defendants would drive past retailers with a laptop computer using open wireless Internet signals and install “sniffer programs” that picked off credit and debit card numbers and sold the numbers overseas. He was first arrested for hacking in 2003, but was not charged because he became an informant, helping the Secret Service find other hackers. Authorities said that over the next five years, he hacked into the computer systems of Fortune 500 companies while providing assistance to the government. Authorities found more than 40 million distinct card numbers on two of Gonzalez’s computer servers. Under the plea deals, Gonzalez must forfeit more than $2.7 million of the $2.8 million that authorities say he stole. He also must give up his condo, car, a Tiffany ring that he gave to his girlfriend and Rolex watches he gave to his father and friends.

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PODCAST SPONSORS: Please support the companies that make the Patrick Wiscombe podcast network go and take advantage of the special offers only available to our listeners.

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