Steven Max Patterson

Author Archives: Steven Max Patterson

Inside look at Google’s Android Auto in action

Today, Google and Pioneer announced three aftermarket stereo systems using Android 5.0 for entertainment, navigation, and communications. This partnership with Pioneer moves interaction with the mobile apps from the handheld smartphone to the dashboard display, with hopes of reducing car accidents from smartphone-induced driver distraction, which the National Safety Council recently estimated (PDF) causes one in four accidents.The announcement officially means Android Auto is out of beta and also foretells that smartphone-compatible cars will soon appear in car dealer showrooms. Hyundai announced at the LA Auto Show that it will deliver Android Auto on some of its 2015 model year cars, and Google has an extended list of car maker partners expected to introduce new 2016 model-year cars with Android Auto support.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple Watch app development pales in comparison to Android Wear

When compared side-by-side, the Apple Watch and Android Wear platforms have some similarities, but not many. A look at Apple's WatchKit, the programming tools used to create apps, gives a first impression that the Apple Watch's capabilities are currently limited.The first release of Google Glass gave developers limited access for building their apps, which captured developers' imaginations. Nine months later, Google released a comprehensive software development kit (SDK.) After listening to Augmate senior engineer Mike DiGiovanni's talk comparing WatchKit and Android Wear at the Wearable Tech Conference, the Apple Watch-like early Google Glass appears incomplete, and will likely get a comprehensive SDK update after Apple has field-tested WatchKit with its developer community.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

3 big surprises from the Apple Watch event

Apple fans expected to learn more about the Apple Watch during yesterday's announcement, but to the surprise of the audience, Apple had more to talk about at its Spring Forward event on Monday.Apple bets on its retail stores to sell the Apple WatchApple's 453 retail stores give it an advantage in the smartwatch market. Apple has made its watch stand out with so many options and price points, starting at $349 with different styles, sizes, straps, finishes, and materials – even an 18-karat gold version starting at $10,000. But such a diverse product line doesn't lend itself to ecommerce sales. Given the complexity of choices, Apple's stores will be the consumers' starting point.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Pebble smartwatch sets second Kickstarter record, and it’s not done yet

With 23 days to go in its latest Kickstarter funding campaign, Pebble has raised over $15 million. Last year, Pebble shipped more smartwatches than Android Wear. This year, the company might ship more than Apple.The smartwatch maker went back to Kickstarter, where it initially found enough funding to enter the smartwatch market, to fund its next watch, and again it set a record.Pebble set a Kickstarter record once before. Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky started the company in his college dorm room in the Netherlands, eventually becoming a fledgling startup selling BlackBerry smartwatches. Migicovsky and his team had a new idea for growth – the original Pebble smartwatch that worked with iPhones and Android smartphones – but they needed an investment to build it.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How Samsung’s Galaxy S6 stacks up against Apple’s iPhone 6 line

Samsung hit its mark with its Galaxy S6 announcement at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona this week.The company came prepared with an entirely new smartphone design and a concise explanation of the powerful hardware, rich display, strong security, great camera, and intuitive Android Lollipop software. The Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge stood out as high-end hardware designed to compete with top-tier Apple and HTC smartphones.The S6's design and engineering afforded Samsung the luxury to concentrate on just the most important features during the announcement. It eliminated the temptation to add a bloated feature list that consumers often ignore and which mobile device companies are so often inclined to add during product announcements out of a desperation to differentiate me-too devices.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Samsung Pay could overtake Apple Pay in mobile payments

Apple may have lost its lead in contactless payments yesterday when Samsung introduced its universally accepted Samsung Pay at Mobile World Congress. This may be somewhat surprising considering just last September Apple convinced the mobile industry that it had revolutionized credit and debit card payments with Apple Pay.The combination of Apple Pay's strong security, brand name, and broad support from top banks and merchants impressed Apple fanboys and critics alike. People who never would have trusted contactless smartphone payments were suddenly interested.Samsung also has strong security, brand awareness, and the gravitas to win the support of top banks like Citi and top credit cards like Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. Unlike Apple, it doesn't need the cooperation of merchants because of the Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology Samsung got when it acquired Looppay. MST generates a magnetic field that emulates the swipe of a credit card when the Galaxy S6 is positioned within close proximity of a magstripe card reader at an ordinary credit and debit card payment terminal.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Can anyone catch Apple and Google in the smartphone market?

IDC's recent report on smartphone operating system market share points to Apple and Google squeezing out Windows Phone and BlackBerry again, making the smartphone market a two-horse race. Melissa Chau, IDC Senior Research Manager, said: "Instead of a battle for the third ecosystem after Android and iOS, 2014 instead yielded skirmishes, with Windows Phone edging out BlackBerry, Firefox, Sailfish and the rest, but without any of these platforms making the kind of gains needed to challenge the top two." With just Apple and Google as serious contenders, Apple has to maintain its iPhone 6 momentum from the fourth calendar quarter of 2014, when the company boosted unit shipments to 74.5 million, compared to just 51 million units during the same quarter of 2013.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple Watch launch projected to be 7 times more successful than Android Wear

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Apple placed its first Apple Watch orders with its manufacturing partner Quanta for 5 to 6 million watches. That's extremely bullish for Apple because only 720,000 Android Wear watches shipped in 2014 from such companies as Motorola, Samsung, and LG, while Pebble shipped 1 million smartwatches, according to market watcher Canalys. Apple's rosy forecast for its premium-priced watch appears aggressive when one considers that Canalys reported a total 4.6 million smart wearable bands shipped in 2014.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Why Apple isn’t likely to compete with Tesla

With nearly $200 billion in cash on its balance sheet, Apple can do almost anything – including buying Tesla at a relatively affordable market cap of just $25 billion. But the swashbuckling Elon Musk's electric vehicle and reusable SpaceX rocket depend on technological breakthroughs and big capital investments over long periods before seeing a payback. That just isn't how Apple rolls.The abbreviation for research and development at Apple should be r&D (small r, big D) because the company keeps the riskier research small and invests big in development. The battery breakthroughs needed for mainstream electric vehicles are still on the horizon, and Apple doesn't have the cultural disposition to put its battery patents in the public domain to stimulate innovation as Tesla did. Nor does Apple have the stomach to make big investments to achieve speculative economies of scale needed for a mass-produced electric vehicle like Telsa has in its battery Gigafactory. No one at Apple has ever said anything like JB Straubel, Chief Technical Officer and Co-founder of Tesla Motors, has said:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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