WebOS/MeeGo: What Would You Have Done Differently?

Two amazing mobile platforms have succumbed to the insurmountable forces of neglect and disinterest: WebOS and MeeGo. Both platforms had their strengths and weaknesses. What they shared, however, was a huge amount of potential. The only major fault of both was that the owner(s) dropped the ball. Whether it be poor resource management, lack of marketing, or fractured roadmap/schedule, may never be known. Ultimately we’re left with a single option: choose from one of the few big platforms offered by Apple, Google, Microsoft or RIM.

If we were in charge of HP we would have put a considerably greater amount of in-house developers and company financial resources behind the webOS platform. Because MeeGo is/was open source we would have been a lot more proactive than the mishmash of supporters have been thus far and advertised the hell out of it. (How is anyone supposed to get excited (read: care) about your platform if they don’t know it exists?)

But we’re sure there are at least a few other good ideas out there. What would you have done? Leave it in the comments after the break…

MeeGo Killed, Folded Into New “Tizen” Platform. Bonus: Nokia N9 Officially Released.

Remember how the powers that be said MeeGo would live on despite one of the more prominent backers (Nokia) bowing out? Yeah, well they lied. MeeGo executive director Jim Zemlin revealed via the Linux Foundation Blog that MeeGo as we know it — independent — will be folded into another, new open source OS called “Tizen”. According to a CCS Insight analyst, Geoff Blaber, Tizen will “unify a number of marginalized Linux based platforms”.

But can it actually steal marketshare from Apple or Google much less Microsoft or RIM? It’s highly unlikely, really. MeeGo never went anywhere much to our dismay. The same story is likely true for this new, “re-aligned” open source effort to.

In other news: Nokia announced their first (and only) MeeGo powered device, the N9. Timing is everything…

Look for the first Tizen devices to start popping up early next year.

RIM: “PlayBook Retail Pricing Not Changing. Gift Cards OK.”

We’re beginning to think RIM really can’t see the massive amount of denial they’re in. How else would you describe their response to recent reports of PlayBook price slashing, gift cards, and promotional pricing galore? Last time we checked, the PlayBook hadn’t “established” anything except an image of mediocrity, an absence of updates, and complete lack of apps. Hopefully RIM doesn’t drop the ball with QNX phones like they have with the QNX powered PlayBook.

RIM:

“The official retail price of BlackBerry PlayBook has not changed. However, as mentioned on the Q2 earnings call on Sept. 15th, we have a number promotional plans in place for the fall with our retail partners that are intended to drive sell-through and increased adoption of the BlackBerry PlayBook. We are already starting to see some of these promotions being implemented in the form of instant rebates and gift cards within the consumer channel, and expect these promotions to continue into the holiday season. The BlackBerry PlayBook has established itself as a high-performance tablet, and we are confident that these activities, along with the upcoming software upgrade, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, will help to generate an increase in demand and sell through of the BlackBerry PlayBook over the upcoming months.”

In short: RIM is spinning any price drops as strictly retailer-controlled and hinting that the PlayBook 2.0 update, whenever it comes, will wow people into picking up new PlayBooks.

We’re not so sure RIM really understands what’s going on here anymore…

Droid 4 (Maserati) To Add LTE To The Mix.

The DROID 3 was almost perfect in our eyes. It had a spacious keyboard (for those of you who like that sort of thing), a less repulsive version of MOTO BLUR, a pixel packed qHD display and speedy dual-core processor. One important thing it didn’t have: LTE.

The Droid 4 (aka: Maserati) will fix that according to a new rumor originating from Howard Forums tonight. Details are few and far between but include a few obvious clues such as ~4″ display and hints that Moto may move to a still replaceable, but not easily removable battery. Interesting.

More as it develops…

Sorry Wives, Your Husbands Have A New Love — Sharp Announces Gargantuan 80-Inch LED Back-lit TV.

Looking for the ultimate Super Bowl big screen? Look no further than Sharp’s new LC-80LE632U 80″ behemoth which boasts a 6,000,000:1 Dynamic contrast ratio and 120Hz refresh rate. Naturally, Sharp says this TV is the largest LED back-lit panel on the market. Add to that “smart TV” functionality by way of Netflix, CinemaNow and Vudu plus built in WiFi and you’ve got yourself a pretty sweet display that will handedly swallow up copious amounts of time.

Of course, there is one major negative to a display this big that packs a paltry 1080p resolution. This gigantor TV won’t be as…ah em… sharp as say a 55 incher of the same resolution. Bigger isn’t always better oh so it seems.

All you’ll need to do to score one for yourself is prepare a small $5,500 parting gift. Look for them to hit the market this October.

CDMA Based Sprint Direct Connect Launching October 2nd. Final Nail In iDen’s Coffin.

Let’s be honest with each other for a minute. The only — yes, the only — reason anyone still cares about iDen is because of Push-to-Talk. And even then, the number of people, nationally speaking, that use the feature is relatively tiny all things considered. Unsurprisingly Sprint has been looking to get away from the grossly outdated 2G network for a couple of years now, though had to make sure the transition for legacy PTT users was as seamless as possible.

That day of new beginnings starts October 2nd. On this day Sprint will officially launch their CDMA-based Push-to-Talk service. Widespread coverage (reportedly 3x the square mile coverage of the current iDen-based Push-to-Talk network) is expected by 2012.

Making use of the new CDMA service will be three new phones, two of which are the Kyocera DuraMax and DuraCore. The third device is likely the as of now unannounced Motorola Admiral rugged Android phone.

We’re pretty sure a few corporate entities will be tickled to hear their vocal text messaging — because that’s what it essentially is — is finally entering into the world of 2008.

T-Mobile Outs The HTC Radar 4G With Windows Phone 7.5 Mango.

If the Android packin’ Samsung Galaxy S II or HTC Amaze 4G aren’t your cup of tea, perhaps T-Mobile’s just announced HTC Radar 4G will tickle your geeky fancy. The Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) powered device comes with a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, 512 MB or RAM, 3.8″ 480 x 800 display, 5mp and VGA cameras (front/rear), DLNA support, FM radio, and support for T-Mo’s speedy HSPA+ network. The only blanks left to fill are price and date, which we expect to make their presence known shortly.

The specs aren’t exactly record-setting — look no further than two new Android devices such as the DROID Bionic and Motorola Electrify which both feature 1 GHz+ dual-core processors and 540 x 960 qHD displays. As the saying goes, however, “specs aren’t everything”. So far the few WP7 devices we’ve played with have performed far better than Android devices with specs considerably faster. Make of it what you will.

Is a Radar 4G in your future?