asymco | Analysts predict iPad sales

Looks like at least half of these guys have already blown it.

via asymco | Analysts predict iPad sales.

Welcome to the new Asymco.com

blog.asymco.com is being deprecated in favor of www.asymco.com.

Asymco is now in its third home and fourth design.  After starting in February 2010 with iWeb hosted at me.com, moving a month later to WordPress.com, I’ve finally moved the blog to a proper hosting site (dreamhost) and merged the blog with asymco.com.

One reason I had to leave WordPress.com was that they required payment for the removal of ads from my pages.  Although I understand their business model, I felt that it’s more important that what users see is my content and only my content.

At the time of moving, the blog had 306 posts, 272 comments, 64 tags, 9 categories and nearly 40k hits.

This site should re-direct to asymco.com so the permalinks will still work but it would be better to rebookmark feeds and pages.

blog: http://www.asymco.com/

RSS: http://www.asymco.com/feed/

Comments RSS: http://www.asymco.com/comments/feed/

Ballmer: No plans for WP7 in tablets

We’re focused on putting Windows Phone 7 in phones, no plans for tablets.

Ballmer: No plans for WP7 in tablets? | WMExperts.

Keep pining for those fjords.

The reason Robbie Bach was fired

Vague justifications about under-performance of Windows Mobile or cancelled Courier miss the whole point.  The chronic problems with Microsoft’s consumer businesses cited as causes for dismissal have roots in core processes and priorities which management changes will not address.  The failure of Zune was evident long ago. Windows Mobile has not been competitive with RIM for years, and failed to take significant share from Symbian, never mind iPhone. Tablets were the responsibility of the Windows team.  Kin is a rogue project based on a bone-headed acquisition. From a P/L point of view, Entertainment was mostly Xbox, which although deep in the hole over its lifetime, was starting to break even.

No, the reason I believe Bach lost his head is that HP bought Palm.

Bach lost a key account; in fact, he could be responsible for having lost the biggest account that Microsoft ever had.  Ballmer is a sales guy and he knows the importance of these relationships.  A customer like HP must be managed carefully and their strategy must be steered to fit with yours.  If HP felt they needed to go somewhere else for their mobile OS, it’s a slap in the face, but if they buy the asset and IP and internalize a competing platform, then that is a dagger to the heart for Ballmer.

Consider Google’s seduction of Dell. Microsoft can tolerate Dell’s affairs (Dell even fooled around with Linux back in the day.) But in contrast, HP is effectively filing for divorce.

The blow could not have been more obvious and more cruel.

If Apple did not exist, Google would need to invent it

Google’s innovation pipeline:

• new mobile OS
• updated mobile browser
• rich mobile ads
• Google TV

It used to be that Microsoft’s agenda was written in Cupertino, now they are no longer the only ones in line at the copy machine.

Legal Tender

About a month ago, we said we’d like you to use a credit card when you buy your iPad, and that was the best way we could think of to make sure that people only brought two per individual,” said Johnson. “And then it came to our attention that Diane [Campbell], through your story, was very interested in buying an iPad with cash, and we made a decision today to change that.”

Johnson said our story triggered a company-wide policy change. As of today, anyone can pay for an iPad with cash.

As a gesture of goodwill toward Diane Campbell, the woman whose experience brought the issue considerable publicity, two employees visited her home today to offer her an iPad free of charge.

“I am just so excited,” said Campbell. “Words can’t explain right now.”

via Apple Axes ‘No Cash’ Policy for iPad Sales – Mac Rumors.

Survey: Consumers are replacing other computers with iPad

According to a new survey, 44% of iPad purchasers say they won’t be buying a notebook because of the device.

via Survey: Consumers are replacing other computers with iPad.

Count me in with those 44%.

Apple’s WWDC event sold out in 8 days

iPads sell out in days, WWDC sells out in days, can Apple deal with demand?

It might be a nice problem to have, but one gets a sense that Apple has growing pains.

AppleInsider | Apple’s WWDC event sold out in just 8 days.

Music is a $17 billion business

IFPI said that global sales of music dropped 7.2% to $17 billion for all of 2009. Late last week, Apple reported $13.5 billion in revenue for the first quarter of the year.

Why does anybody still care about music as a business?

Enemy Lurks in Briefings on Afghan War – PowerPoint

Like an insurgency, PowerPoint has crept into the daily lives of military commanders and reached the level of near obsession. The amount of time expended on PowerPoint… has made it a running joke in the Pentagon and in Iraq and Afghanistan.

via Enemy Lurks in Briefings on Afghan War – PowerPoint – NYTimes.com.

Reminds me of PowerPoint Palace.  ”It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control.”

But what’s the alternative?  Writing complete sentences?  Does anyone compose those anymore?  Does anyone read anymore?

Stranded in Oslo, John Cleese takes taxi to Brussels

The longest trip so far was from Oslo to Paris

via Stranded in Oslo, John Cleese takes taxi to Brussels: media – Yahoo! News.

Speaking of selling out…

Demand for Apple’s newly upgraded line of MacBook Pro notebooks was strong on the first day, with scattered reports of the low-end 13-inch model selling out in some retail locations

via AppleInsider | New MacBook Pros off to strong start, 13-inch model selling out.

Daring Fireball: New iPhone Developer Agreement Bans the Use of Adobe’s Flash-to-iPhone Compiler

My reading of this new language is that cross-compilers, such as the Flash-to-iPhone compiler in Adobe’s upcoming Flash Professional CS5 release, are prohibited. This also bans apps compiled using MonoTouch — a tool that compiles C# and .NET apps to the iPhone. It’s unclear what this means for tools like Titanium and PhoneGap, which let developers write JavaScript code that runs in WebKit inside a native iPhone app wrapper. They might be OK. The folks at Appcelerator realize, though, that they might be out of bounds with Titanium. Ansca’s Corona SDK, which lets you write iPhone apps using Lua, strikes me as out of bounds.

via Daring Fireball: New iPhone Developer Agreement Bans the Use of Adobe’s Flash-to-iPhone Compiler.

Nota bene:  Apple will release its own app front end that allows a simpler development environment (than XCode).

Fry on iPad

yet when I eventually got my hands on one, I discovered that one doesn’t relate to it as a “tool”; the experience is closer to one’s relationship with a person or an animal.

via Apple’s iPad: The Mothership Prepares for Launch – TIME.

Can’t wait.

Rumor: iAd App Store service on April 7th

Citing an unnamed executive familiar with the plans, MediaPost claims that Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has been touting the upcoming service, rumored to launch April 7th, as “revolutionary” and “our next big thing” amongst his inner circle. No further details were reported.

via AppleInsider | Apple rumored to introduce iAd App Store service on April 7th.

On December 30th 2009, I wrote:

I think it’s a certainty that Apple will introduce an ad serving platform for the iPhone (and any tablet) in 2010. This will amount to a checkbox that developers will check when submitting their app to the store.