Google to Open Online Tablet PC Store

Our favourite internet behemoth – Google – is planning to open an online store to sell tablet PCs directly to consumers, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Google’s online store would offer tablets made by Samsung and Asus based on Google’s Android software, according to the WSJ report.

Google briefly sold a specially-designed Android smartphone – Nexus One – directly to consumers in 2010, but closed the store after four months saying it had not lived up to expectations. Google now relies on retail and carrier partners to sell Android smartphones made by a variety of handset makers and Android has become the world’s No.1 smartphone operating system, ahead of iPhone-maker Apple Inc. Read the full article »»»»

Samsung Phablet: The Galaxy Note Set to Sell 10 Million Units in 2012

Reuters Jeremy Wagstaff describes it as “a piece of toast” it’s wearing labels like “a device for elephants and a throwback to the good old brick of the 1980s” Snickering aside, Samsung has sold 5 million Galaxy Note phone/tablets and plans on selling 10 million units this year.

Galaxy Note is much more than a freak hit! Tech-consumer, design experts and gadget analysts reckon the surprise success of the “phablet” marks a much deeper shift in the fast-paced world of mobile devices. Launched in late November 2011, the Samsung Galaxy Note is a standout product. The most obvious thing about the Note is its size. Its 5.3 inch screen is almost as wide as the iPhone’s screen is long.

…then there’s the stylus. Apple’s co-founder, the late great Steve Jobs famously ridiculed the idea of using a pen to interact with a screen, Samsung however has embraced pointy ended accoutrements, they’ve partnered with Japan’s übercool Wacom, the market leader in digital pen technology, to come up with something less clunky than, well chunky!? Granted the stylus or s-pen is still kind of chunkyish, try writing or sketching with your finger!! Read the full article »»»»

Hewlett Packard’s Schizoid WebOS Turn Around? No Phone, But Yes to Tablet PC!

Hewlett-Packard chief executive Meg Whitman said Friday that the company plans to manufacture a WebOS tablet in 2013, even as the company winds down the WebOS-based TouchPad tablet. The HP TouchPad was such a disaster that the company canceled it 49 days after it launched. But that was under its previous CEO, Leo Apotheker. Apparently new CEO Meg Whitman wants to take another shot. In what is the latest sideways vertical move for HP on it’s WebOS platform, CEO Meg Whitman and board member Marc Andreessen have told TechCrunch that the HP will definitely manufacture a WebOS tablet. Whitman has said previously that the company is committed to the tablet market. An HP spokesman, asked to confirm the report, said that a WebOS tablet would be made only if the market was “viable”. In August this year HP anounced that it was pulling out of consumer electronics all together, August 19,2011:  Hewlett-Packard is pulling out of it’s consumer PC business, the company chose its Q3 earnings call to drop the bomb. The tech behemoth under Mark Hurd’s watch focused on  splashing out $7 billion to buy Palm, 3COM, and 3PAR, only to fold it all in on itself months later. And if you thought that was the end of the discussion, hold your breath. Whitman and Andreessen are quoted as saying that HP plans a tablet based on Windows 8 for 2012. Ooh, and WebOS is about to become open source. The timing for all this? some time in 2012, or maybe 2013!

Oops! Samsung Galaxy Table Banned Again?

UPDATE!! The behemoth that is Apple has won another temporary injunction to stop rival Samsung from selling its Galaxy tablet computer in Australia. On Wednesday – just 2 days ago – we reported that the Federal Court had lifted a previous injunction, meaning Samsung could start selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 at 4pm (AEDT) today. But Apple later launched an appeal to the High Court. The injunction means Samsung cannot sell the tablet computer until the case goes before the court on December 9. Apple says the South Korean company’s Google Android based Galaxy range of tablets and smartphones is too similar to its iPad and iPhone. The companies have been waging a battle in 10 countries over smartphone and tablet patents since April.

Saga: Apple vs Samsung, A Galaxy of Litigation

We missed out on the Cretaceous Period, got our start in the Devonian Period,  woke up to ourselves in the Pliocene and have been running straight toward the Litigious Period. As megaliths and behemoths battle it out over who owns what patent, and which gadget belongs to who, the consumer is likely to be the victim in what looks to be a long and fierce battle. There seems to be the distinct possibility that more products will be blocked from sale. Samsung says its mammoth tit-for-tat patent battle with Apple could have been avoided if the latter wasn’t so trigger happy. This latest round sees the Korean behemoth attempt to ban sales of Apple’s iPhone 4S in Australia. In the Federal Court in Sydney this week, it was decided that the patent infringement case would go to an early full hearing in March 2012,  in return Samsung agreed to pause its attempt to temporarily ban the iPhone 4S between now and then. In an amusing turnaround – Apple has consistently argued it wants litigation NOW, and has repeatedly stated it wants this hearing to go ahead immediately – In this latest case, Apple has argued that it could not be ready for such an early final hearing. In what seemed like a replay of arguments in the Samsung vs Apple Galaxy Tab case, Apple, which wanted to ban the Samsung tablet from sale due to patent infringement, was seeking an early final hearing, while Samsung was arguing it could not be ready in time. This time the shoe was on the other foot. READ MORE

FORBES: How to Be an Optimist in a Pessimistic Time, A Techonomy Manifesto

It’s no secret that technology is changing the world. Unfortunately, there are a surprising number of people who don’t get it. Many of them, even more unfortunately, are important leaders in business, other powerful instutitions, and governments. To meet the challenges that face us—whether as leaders of organizations, as leaders of countries, or as the global community addressing our collective challenge—we will only be successful if we unreservedly embrace technology and innovation as essential tools. The Techonomy conference, which begins in Tucson on Sunday November 13, aims to underscore that idea and send a pointed message to leaders that Luddites have no place in the 21st century.

For those of us who believe in the vast potential of technology to solve problems, it is both an exciting and a frustrating time. The world’s people are embracing cellphones. More than two billion people use the Internet. Facebook continues its extraordinary user-empowering spread, and the Weibos fill a similar role in China. Advanced companies around the world are redesigning their systems and management to accommodate the new realities of a flattened, technologized business environment. The people of the world have recognized that technology can alter and improve their lives. Read the full article »»»»