This week I started writing for the MobileContentToday blog. My long time mentor in the mobile industry, Todd Ogasawara is the lead editor of the site, and asked me if I would be interested in joining him in writing for the site. My relationship with Todd goes back 13 years to when I first started using a HP Handheld PC running Windows CE and hanging out on the MSN Windows CE forum that he managed. Todd asked me to be an assistant forum manager, and that along with my own Windows CE web site lead to an important relationship with Derek Brown, who at the time was the marketing director for the mobile division of Microsoft.

Derek had the foresight to engage a small group of mobile enthusiasts in providing feedback to Microsoft on their mobile devices. One of the moments that stands out to me from the whole experience of being part of that group, and later a Microsoft MVP, is seeing the Pocket PC for the first time, well before it was officially announced. I think it would be safe to say that our group collectively had a strong negative reaction to the Pocket PC UI, which seemed to only move the Windows menu button from the bottom of the screen to the top. As I recall most of us at the time was encouraging Microsoft to ditch the Windows-like UI on the handheld for a UI tailored for handhelds that required as few taps on the screen as possible. Despite our negative reaction, Derek still brought in his boss, the head of mobile devices division at Microsoft, and we didn’t pull any punches. To Microsoft’s credit, they didn’t throw us out and they even continued to engage us, and even had us come back to be part of the official announcement to the press.

The experience with Microsoft led to the opportunity to be a writer, something that I dreamed of doing ever since I discovered Jerry Pournelle’s Chaos Manor columns in the old Byte Magazine. As you may know, I wrote four books about Microsoft’s software for mobile devices, and the last one was published in 2006. The computer book industry has changed a lot since I started in 1999,  and there simply isn’t a market for Windows Mobile books now. I could pursue writing books on other topics, but truth be told, writing books is exhausting when you are also working a full time job.

I am excited for the opportunity to write for MobileContentToday because it provides me an opportunity to continue doing something I enjoy, writing, on a topic that I know something about. The site also aligns with my own personal view of mobile devices, which is that they are more important for what you do with them, than what they are. We do cover the entire mobile industry, but our focus is on the software and content that one uses on the devices. I am looking forward this this new adventure.

In an earlier post I wrote about what I consider to be the only unique technology in the Apple iPad, it’s A4 Processor designed by Apple. The New York Post has an article on this same point that I think is worth reading.

Mobile devices that sell well address the following key features:

• Weight: The device needs to be light enough to be carried around and used with little effort
• Size: The device needs to be small enough to fit in pockets and be easy to hold with one hand
• Battery life: The device needs to be able to continue to run at least through a business day, and preferably longer
• Performance: The functions that the device performs, whether switching menus or running applications, need to complete with no noticeable delay
• Capability: The device needs to be able to provide enough functionality to justify it’s cost
• Simplicity: The device needs to be easy to use

Four of the items, battery life & performance, capability & simplicity, can be viewed as two extremes on the same scale. While there are very fast processors in personal computers, the fastest processors consume the most power, decreasing battery life. While we want our devices to be snappy, they are useless if they don’t last throughout the work day without having to be constantly recharged. Likewise, we want our devices to do everything possible but not at the price of being too difficult to be used.

Seemingly there has been little progress in battery technology, which makes processor design all that much more important in finding the right balance between battery life and performance. The balance between the two is what is motivating Apple to get in the chip design business for themselves. It is an interesting step for them to take given the current thinking in manufacturing to outsource much of the component manufacturing to other companies. Given the apparent success that Qualcomm has had with the Snapdragon processor, it might prove to be an expensive choice for Apple.

There are two ways that you can look at these Windows Mobile screen shots. One way is to conclude that because so many developers are working on alternatives to the stock Windows Mobile user interface, that must mean that the Windows Mobile user interface is bad. In other words, many developers see demand for alternatives and they are attempting to fill that demand. Generally the problem with these alternatives is that they only provide an alternative for a small amount of the Windows Mobile UI, and at some point you end up seeing and working with something that is completely different.

A second way to look at the screen shots is that Windows Mobile provides the flexibility and capability to allow developers and users to tailor the UI to their own preferences. Handheld devices are intended to be very personal, and Windows Mobile provides a greater amount of personalization than most other devices. The optimist sees capability while the pessimist sees complexity.

In short, the screen shots represent to me both the blessing an curse of Windows Mobile. It has an incredible amount of capability that is really appealing to more technical users, but it also is also very confusing to the average consumer. The problem is that the number of average consumers in the market to buy mobile phones is significantly higher than the number of technical users. Ironically, the flexibility that some would say is the root of the problems with Windows Mobile, is what is currently enabling device manufacturers like HTC to keep their Windows Mobile devices afloat while Microsoft works on Windows Mobile 7.

Just before Christmas I received my nook, and since then I have been enjoying it very much. I am a long time eBook reader, but prior to using the nook I had read all of my eBooks on either a Pocket PC or the iPod Touch, both that have LCDs with backlights rather than eInk displays. What I have found is that eInk puts much less strain on my eyes. Steve Jobs asserts that people don’t read books for ten hours, a comment in reference to the iPad’s battery life, but people do read books for several hours and I think several hours of reading on an LCD definitely puts more strain on your eyes than several hours of reading from eInk or paper. The iPad will be great for references and short time reading, and I think the ideal situation is a combination of a dedicated reader like the Kindle or nook, with the iPad for reference provided that synchronization occurs to keep what you are reading, along with notes, highlights and bookmarks consistent across all devices.

As I have been reading on my nook I have been thinking that what is missing is integration with the Internet. There is a social aspect to reading, where we like to share with our friends that which we are reading. One of the reasons why we have bookcases in our homes is to show off the books that we have read. One of my favorite Facebook apps is Books, which I can use to share what I am reading with my friends. The nook uses the the Internet to access the Barnes and Noble eBook store, and it downloads content from Barnes and Noble, so it should be able to automatically upload information about what books I am current reading and which ones I have finished reading.

Barnes and Noble provides a Profile page on their web site that I can use to share what I am reading and rated, but there is no automatic updating of that information from the nook. For example, when I finish reading a book on my nook, what if I was prompted to rate the book and provide some review comments that were automatically shared on my profile? I think this is the type of functionality that Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other companies competing with Apple will have to add to their devices.

During the iPad launch event Steve Jobs said essentially that the iPad may be the most important thing that he has worked on, what does he mean? The comment to me suggests that the iPad could mark a change in what we think of as personal computing. When you think of a personal computer today, you probably imagine a device with  a monitor, keyboard, and a square box. You know that you can do all sorts of things with the personal computer by running different computer programs. You might also consider the personal computer complicated, and that there are all sorts of commands that only geeks know to make the computer do things you don’t even want to understand. The personal computer may be made and sold by a number of different companies (HP, Dell, Gateway, IBM, etc.) but none-the-less will run the same programs. In fact, you can also use much of the same hardware peripherals (printers, scanners, hard disks, cameras, etc.) with all the different brands of computers.

The “openness” of personal computers that allows you to run all those programs and use all that hardware is a big reason why the price of personal computers has dropped so much over the last 20 years, and that in turn has made the personal computer affordable enough to pretty much achieve Bill Gate’s vision of a computer on every desk and in every home. However, the price paid for this openness and accessibility is complexity, because when you try to make so many different things work together you usually end up with some things not working at all. Many believe that the personal computer should be easier to use, and ironically, the company that started the personal computer industry, has long been the champion of an easier way, the Macintosh Way, and Steve Jobs is the author of that way.

I suspect that if you were to talk with Steve he would tell you that the Macintosh, while easier than PCs, has also become too complex. In the race to compete with PCs, Apple had to make the Macintosh perform the same functions as PCs, even if it didn’t run the exact same programs and exact same hardware as PCs. (By this I mean you can’t take a program that runs on a PC, just copy it to a native Mac, and have it run. Programs that run on both a PC and Mac have been specifically created for the PC and Mac, even if they have the same name and the same functions.) What Apple learned by making the iPhone is how to make a simpler way of personal computing. In short, the iPhone Way to simplicity is a combination of limitations and control, and both of these tenants are completely opposite to what we have known about personal computing.

It is my belief that Steve Jobs views the iPad as an implementation of the iPhone Way to personal computing, and because that the iPhone Way is completely opposite to how we have always thought of personal computing, there are a lot of negative reviews of the iPad. You see arguments like “the iPad does not multitask (run mulitiple programs at the same time) so it is not a real computer,” or “the iPad does not have any USB ports to plug in hardware peripherals, so it is not a real computer.” I think both of these intentional design limitations were made to make the iPad simpler to use, because, who is to say that our definition of personal computing today will be the same definition ten years from now.

The other important tenant to the iPhone Way is control to insure that the vision of simpler personal computing is realized. Control is important because smart people tend to find ways to get past limitations. Control is what the iTunes App store is all about. Programs intended to break through any design limitations are not approved and cannot be installed on to the iPhone / iPad through the normal installation process. Apple will control the manufacturing of the iPad so that the limitations in the hardware design, such as few buttons and no USB ports, remain. All of this control by one company, and possibly one man, is all for the sake of simplicity.

Many people will say that the control tenant is the Achilles heal of the iPhone Way, because geeks naturally fight control. They will say it is impossible for Apple to maintain control because the geeks will always find a way around limitations. For example, geeks can replace key programs on the iPhone with their own programs in a process called rooting to make the iPhone do things like connect computers to the Internet (tethering) in a way that the iPhone is normally limited from doing. Rooting the iPhone was popular before Apple released the iTunes App Store because initially it was the only way to run applications on the iPhone, however, after the store came out many people stopped rooting their iPhones because it was no longer necessary and/or more problem than it was worth. In short, while there is a way to overcome the control of the iTunes App Store, many people chose to give up that freedom for the sake of the simplicity that the iPhone Way provides.

I am an “old school” computer user and therefore have a bias against the limitations and control of the iPhone Way. All of my choices in personal computing over the years have been choices of openness over closedness. For example, when it became obvious to me that the Apple Newton was going to be put to rest, I picked Microsoft’s Windows CE handhelds over the Palm Pilot because the Palm Pilot did not provide the expansion capabilities of the Windows CE devices. Handhelds running Microsoft’s software have always been viewed as more difficult to use their competitors, and I guess the fact that I wrote four books of around 400 pages each on how to use these handhelds is evidence of that fact.

As a geek, capabilities and even complexity is more attractive to me than simplicity, however, my geek brethren and I are a minority and I know simplicity is very attractive and the market for it very large. It may not come to pass that the iPhone Way reinvents  personal computing, but what if it does? I find the possibility disturbing as does Alex Payne. I find myself living in a time when people are willing to give up control (see education in the U.S.) and freedom (see airport security) because it makes their lives easier and safer. However, by allowing other people to make decisions for you, which giving control to others is really about, is giving up freedom. When one company controls the means of how you get information, will they allow access to any information that company does not want you to see?

I’ve had fun today reading all of the iPad commentary, and found a few points that I had not thought of that I think are worth highlighting. A ComputerWorld article says:

Apple’s pricing for the iPad is “ridiculous,” a hardware expert said Wednesday, as he argued that the $130 price difference for models with 3G means buyers of those tablets subsidize the lowest-priced $499 model.

The article makes an interesting point about what could be Apple’s strategy behind the multiple priced models, but if it is true, I think it may be a dangerous strategy if more people buy the cheaper models than the 3G models. I expect that after the iPad ships we will see some articles on the web about the real cost of the device.

In today’s issue of MobileTechRoundup Kevin Tofel makes the case that the iPad is a Smartbook, pointing out that the same questions that people have about the  iPad (what market does it serve, do people really want one?) were being asked about Smartbooks. Honestly, I have not been listening to the Smartbook talk because it hasn’t made much sense to me, so I guess Kevin may have a good point.

This TechCrunch article says that the initial target of the iPad is current iPhone and iPod Touch users because the iPad improves the user experience for either device because how the user interacts with the device is the same. I own the original iPod Touch and admit that when I consider purchasing the iPad it as a replacement of the Touch. However, the main way that I use the iPod Touch is for listening to podcasts, mainly because I bought a cradle for my car to connect the iPod Touch to the car stereo and listen to podcasts.

Hivelogic writes about, what to me is the only new technology that is part of the iPad, Apple’s A4 processor. No one can confirm Apple’s claim of 10 hour battery life until they can get an iPad and test it, but I think it makes sense for Apple to do their own processor considering that tight integration between the processor and operating system is so important for longer battery life. I also think this is a pretty loud statement on how little battery technology has progressed over the years, and it also shows Apples commitment to mobile devices. I expect we will see the A4 in future editions of the iPhone and iPod Touch. Can one envision a time in the future when Apple doesn’t sell desktop or notebook computers?

One of the more puzzling parts of Apple’s announcement is their continued support for AT&T’s wireless network. The biggest knock against the iPhone is AT&T’s spotty 3G coverage, particularly in key areas were most geeks live. My guess is that the only reason why the iPad is launching on AT&T is that Apple has so much leverage that AT&T was willing to provide the $30/month data service at no additional cost to Apple. How can AT&T justify a lower cost for unlimited 3G service for a data-only device, and charge more for a 3G data cards, iPhone data plans, and tethering that will use as much, if not less data? This tells me that AT&T must have huge margins on their DataConnect Plans.

Of all the gadgets in the world, the tablet computer might just garner the most extreme of reactions. You either love them or hate them, or at the very least don’t know what to do with them. Bill Gates tried to get us to buy them, though his vision of a tablet had a digitizer and stylus, and some came with a keyboard. Bill’s tablets never sold because they were too expensive, and in my opinion the reason why is that the hardware companies choose to sell tablets as premium devices.

Today Steve Jobs showed us his idea for a tablet. Actually, from what I have read so far, it seems to me we’ve have known Steve’s idea for some time, it’s a larger iPod Touch. I have yet to learn of any feature of the iPad that isn’t available in a smaller size on the iPod Touch, save for one. The iPad has a new processor that will be manufactured by Apple as opposed to Intel or some other company. Apple claims the processor enables the iPad to have ten hours of usable battery life, and those ten hours are impressive when compared to notebook computers, though some netbooks already obtain nearly the same amount of battery life.

So, unless I just have not yet read about the feature that makes the iPad really whizbang, I got to ask the question, why the heck did it take Apple this long to bring it to market? Since there doesn’t appear to be any new technology in the iPad that wasn’t available a year or two ago, why the wait? Perhaps Apple believes that it needed two years of built up hype to create the market it claims the iPad now serves.

One of my main questions going into today’s announcement was, just how much would the device cost? A starting price of $499 is better than I expected, but I wonder whether the device is attractive enough to general consumers at that price. The geeks and Apple fanboys will most likely go for the higher priced models, with the 64 GB model that supports Wi-fi and3G costing a more normal Apple price of $829.

It appears as though Apple is also pitching the iPad as their alternative to a netbook. It’s understandable from their point of view because they don’t want to eat into sales of the Macbooks, but I think that while the iPad is a computing device, it is not a personal computer. It doesn’t have a keyboard (though you can attach a keyboard, but who want’s to carry one around?) for high volume data entry and it doesn’t do full computing tasks like running more than one application at a time. Netbooks are small personal computers, with keyboards, that run full operating systems and therefore can run full software and multiple applications at a time. People who need a netbook will not find an iPad a good alternative.

For myself, I am waiting to learn more about the HP Slate, which HP and Microsoft announced at CES. From what I can tell, it will run Windows 7 that supports touch input, however, what I really want is a slate that supports both touch and stylus (digitizer) input because I want to write notes in digital ink and store them in Evernote. HP and other companys already sell computers with touch screens and digitizers, and even have keyboards (they are what are known as convertible Tablet PCs), but I think they are too expensive and too heavy.

Even though I am not overwhelmed by the iPad announcement, I do think it may be a milestone in the developing personal computer timeline. With the iPad Apple is attempting to create a market through Steve’s will, and if any company can do it, Apple can. While I have long been a fan of tablet computers, I know today it is not a market of any significance. It remains to be seen whether Apple will succeed in finally making tablets a legitimate member of the personal computer family.

If you follow the tech blogs, you will know that the buzz this week has been about the Google Nexus phone that runs Android 2.1. One of the new features of Android 2.1 is speech-to-text for any text input field in any application on the device. Earlier versions of Android support speech recognition in search and maps. During my recent trip I extensively used Google maps and navigation and attempted to use the speech recognition, and what I found is that because the speech recognition is done on Google’s servers rather than on the phone, you must have a good network connection for the recognition to work. Unfortunately, I had several instances where the network connection wasn’t good enough and I ended up having to type in the text.

I have long been a champion of speech recognition on mobile devices, so I am very happy to see Google incorporate it in Android. However, speech recognition has got to be on the device so that it is as reliable has accessing the on-screen keyboard. Most people will not be patient enough to keep trying to use it if it is constantly failing.

Well, after a month of being away from the home office in West Bloomfield, MI, we made it back from Colorado this past week. Ruth made it home first because she had to work and Monday morning Ruth called asking me how to get the Cave back online, as she couldn’t connect to the Internet. I suspected the problem was that during our absence there was a power outage that caused the home network to not restart as it should, so I walked Ruth through the process of restarting the cable modem and then the home router that connects the rest of our network to the Internet.

Unfortunately, we found that a simple restart would not do, and at that point we began a time of frustrating troubleshooting because I couldn’t see what Ruth was seeing and I couldn’t exactly remember how the LEDs on the cable modem look during normal operation. One thing that I have done since is to take pictures of these components and uploaded them to Evernote so that I can look them up in the future where I am located. (Note, a good use of Evernote!)

Monday turned out to be a lost day for Ruth, and I thought that the problem was on Comcast’s side rather than in our house, so I told Ruth to call Comcast. She tried some of the troubleshooting tips that Comcast provided on their phone, but didn’t have the patience to wait to talk with someone. On Tuesday she went to the local library to work while we waited for Comcast to restore their service. I returned home Wednesday evening and noticed that while the cable modem indicated it had a connection, I couldn’t pull up any web pages. When I pinged www.google.com, I saw either dropped responses or very slow responses. Thursday morning I tried resetting the cable modem a few times, and even tried connecting the cable modem directly to my laptop to confirm the problem wasn’t with my router before I called Comcast to talk with an agent. The agent attempted some things on her side, but concluded that the problem was in my home and so we scheduled a service call for Saturday morning.

At this point I was certain the problem wasn’t with my router and I expected that the cable modem had gone bad. My suspicion was supported by comments made by the Comcast agent I talked with on the phone who said she was seeing errors on the modem. The tech arrived Saturday morning as scheduled and spent an hour testing cable connections and ruled them out before deciding to replace the cable modem. He told me that in their training they are told that problems are almost never with the equipment, which in this case caused him to spend more than an hour ruling everything out. I somewhat understand the approach given that it very likely there are cable connection problems either inside or outside the home. Since I live in a condo, I have had instances where my cable service went out because a tech had accidentally disconnected it while fixing another customer’s problem. On the other hand, it would have been much faster to test the service using a known, functioning modem (plug it into power, plug in the cable and observe) rather than walking through all the cable connections with the cable tester. If after you plugged in the good modem service wasn’t restored, you pretty much know the problem has to be with the connections, either the cables inside or outside the home, or on Comcast’s network. If service is restored then you know the problem is with the modem and you can quickly replace the old modem and go on your way.

The end result is that we now have a new Cable modem. I also observed the provisioning process that required the tech to activate the new modem at our house, answering a question of whether I could buy my own cable modem to replace the one I “rent” for $5 per month from Comcast. Clearly, I can’t just replace Comcast’s modem with my own and have it work.

I know it has been longer than usual since I have written something. Unfortunately the reason is because of a family crisis that has me in Colorado for the month of December. More later.