Intel Aims New Atom Z760 Processor at Tablet Market

From The Online Reporter   

 

Intel’s latest effort at replacing ARM-designed chips in the tablet market is its Z760 series of Atom processors that run Android, MeeGo or Windows 7. By the end of May, according to Intel, they will be in tablets and other portable devices such as “mobile clinical assistants, ruggedized industrial tablets and portable point-of-sale systems.“ 

The processor is 60% smaller than previous generations with a lower-power design for fanless devices. Intel said the Z760 series offers:

- Increased battery life, up to all day

- Enhanced performance, especially improved video

- Fast Internet browsing

- 1080p video decode with an integrated HD decode engine that uses less power

- Support for HDMI output and DisplayPort

- Adobe Flash for video and Flash-based gaming

- Smaller, thinner and more efficient form factors

- Enhanced sleep to save power when it’s not active

- Intel Wireless Music

- Intel Wireless Display

- PC Synch

- Fast Boot

It’s a lot. Whether it can compete with ARM processors in the tablet market remains to be seen.

Intel said the Z760 will be in 35 tablets and other form factors from the likes of Asus, Evolve, Fujitsu, Lenovo, Motion Computing, Razer and Viliv that will run a variety of operating systems. The initial list, as best we can tell, mostly use Windows 7, not Android or the MeeGo OS Intel was developing jointly with Nokia.

- The Asus Eee PC Seashell, model 1201PN-PU17-RD has a 10.1-inch touchscreen and slide-out keyboard. It runs Windows 7.

- A tablet from Evolve that runs on Windows 7. Evolve is the Elsevier brand for electronic learning solutions that serve the nursing and health professions. 

- The Lenovo Ideapad Slate tablet that runs Windows 7.

- The Samsung Series 7 tablet has a slide-out keyboard and runs Windows 7. 

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IPAD & THE MANY OTHER TABLETS - RIM’s PlayBook Impresses NY Times Blogger

From The Online Reporter   

New York Times blogger Ian Austen went to RIM last week to see the $499 PlayBook tablet that is to start shipping next week. He was impressed with it just as we at The Online Reporter were at CES in January. He said:

- It plays the millions of Adobe Flash videos, something Apple’s iPad cannot. And it does it without draining the battery as many Android tablets do.

- RIM said the PlayBook has hardware and software that outperforms more powerful computers playing Flash videos.

- PlayBook has an HDMI out connector that connects to TV sets for playback. Austen said the HD videos looked like they were coming from a Blu-ray player. And we know people love HD.

- RIM acquired the software interface designer TAT (The Astonishing Tribe) to help it develop the look and feel of its user interface. Austen said that as a result the PlayBook “will look familiar to any iPad user but is nevertheless distinctive.“

- PlayBook is aimed at RIM’s historical base of BlackBerry users — corporates, institutions and governments.

To paraphrase what Matthew McConaughey said in the flick “A Time to Kill:“ Close your eyes and imagine doing those things with an Android-based tablet. 

Wall Street Journal’s Mossberg Says Wait for Improvements Before Buying PlayBook

 

The Wall Street Journal’s technology columnist Walt Mossberg was more negative than positive in his review of the newly available RIM PlayBook. In fact, he said wait for future improvements before buying.

He turned thumbs down on:

- The lack of a built-in cellular connection

- The lack of basic built-in apps such as e-mail, contacts, a calendar, a memo pad and the BlackBerry Messenger chat. They only show up when the PlayBook is connected to a BlackBerry, but RIM said they would be added this summer

- The requirement that automatic syncing lasts only as long as the PlayBook is connected to a BlackBerry

- The smaller 7-inch screen

- The lack of a video store

- No video-chatting software

- The app shortage and its inability to run any of the 27,000 BlackBerry apps; it’s too soon to say how the BlackBerry and Android apps will run on the PlayBook

- No functions for sharing pictures

- No one-touch icon for airplane mode

- The inability to add Web bookmarks to the ones that come pre-installed

- Battery usage of about five to six hours

- Browser is slow to load

He turned thumbs up on:

- The QNX OS that he called “handsome and quick“

- The “smooth and fast“ user interface: apps that are open show as images at the top of the screen

- Beautiful screen

- Better cameras than the iPad’s

- Built-in connector outputs “gorgeous“ HD video to a TV

- Browser does the best job with Flash video and Flash sites of any that Mossberg has seen, “far better than on any Android device“

- Its sturdiness and, although 14% thicker than the iPad 2, it’s about one-third lighter

Mossberg said the necessity of connecting to a BlackBerry for apps, and connecting to a cellular network plus the promises of future software enhancements prompts him to say wait until those arrive before purchasing a PlayBook. As is, the PlayBook is “a companion to a BlackBerry phone rather than a fully independent device.“

“I recommend waiting on the PlayBook until more independently usable versions with the promised additions are available,“ Mossberg said.

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75% Now Viewing OTT Videos

From The Online Reporter   


Here’s proof of what many industry experts suspected: OTT has arrived or because more than 75% of all consumers in seven countries are viewing video over the Net, not all on the living room TV set. At least, not yet!

The numbers come from an Accenture survey called “Video-Over-Internet Consumer Usage,“ which surveyed 6,500 consumers. Responding “yes“ to OTT were:

 - 85% age 18 to 24

 - 82% age 35 to 44, the prime demographic for advertisers

 - 64% over the age of 65

They were in Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the States.

“Consumption of video over the Internet is no longer a millennial-generation phenomenon; it’s an activity that crosses all age groups,“ said Francesco Venturini, Accenture’s global broadcast lead. “Video over the Internet is well on its way to becoming a mass medium. Furthermore, it’s clear that consumers are ready and, in some instances, may be ahead of the industry in terms of the vision they have for how, when and where they watch and interact with video content,“ the survey said.

Popular Features

The main use for OTT at 40% is catch-up TV. Sorry Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft, but only 14% said they want to surf the Web on their TVs and only 11% want interactive and social networking functionality.

“Viewers want many of the same freedom of choice options that they experience when using their computers to apply to video consumption,“ said Venturini. “They value the ability to watch content anytime; however, they do not necessarily want to surf the Web and they see relatively little value in using the TV as a gateway device for other applications.“

Tablets

Over half (54%) of tablet users are interested in using them for video-on-demand and catch-up functions. Here’s good news for content developers and pay-TV services that offer simultaneous Twitter, chat or Facebook use. About 44% of tablet users are interested in the ability to interact with on-air programming to receive additional content related to what they are viewing.

Video Quality Is Most Important

About 48% of those surveyed in all age groups said clarity of picture and speed of content delivery are the most important technical features they look for in an Internet video service. HD was second at 27%.

The ease of use in search and content management ranked high with 14%. The use of recommendation engines was 11%.

Venturini said, “One of the major issues providers must anticipate and solve if they are to be successful in the IP video marketplace is the ability to handle congestion on the network and perform streaming in such a way as to deliver a high-quality experience.“

Form Factors

TVs still dominate consumers’ viewing preference (at 92%) but the diversity of electronic devices that consumers now use to view video is very evenly divided:

- 75% use desktop computers

- 72% use laptops

- 63% use mobile devices, presumably smartphones

- 21% use tablets such as the iPad, but Accenture says, 

 “It is just a question of time before that number climbs significantly.“

“These results suggest a ‘form factor’ challenge when it comes to mobile video viewing,“ said Venturini. “With broad access to video across devices with large screens, mobile video viewing will rarely be the first choice among many consumers. Because of this, providers will need to focus on creating video content specifically for smaller screens such as mobile phones and tablets or on creating programming that complements the large-TV-screen experience.“

Watching video on devices other than the TV is increasing among all age groups. Viewing increased by:

 - 35% on laptops

 - 28% on desktop computers

 - 26% on Internet-connected TVs

Multi-Tasking

The nature of the entire viewing experience, including traditional TV watching, has changed, the report said. There is no longer a single delivery channel or device that receives the uninterrupted attention of viewers. While watching TV:

 - 81% multitask with other devices

 - 48% use laptops

 - 41% use mobile devices

 - 28% use desktop computers

Venturini said, “This fragmented viewing experience may appear to present challenges to advertisers, but companies able to leverage this multi-device, multi-channel addiction of consumers across devices may gain even more viewer awareness and loyalty.“ 

And...

The survey showed that large percentages of consumers are ready for a multi-device experience that goes beyond simply replicating traditional TV on another device, according to Accenture. “Content is important, quality is critical and personalization of the service is a must,“ it said.

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P1905 Looms as Next Major Development in Home Networks

From The Online Reporter   

- Combines Ethernet, HomePlug, MoCA & Wi-Fi
 
Looming even larger than G.hn (HomeGrid) over wireline home networking is the very real possibility of the proposed P1905 IEEE specification. Under development since December 2010, it promises a single standard that will serve as a bridge to and from:
- Ethernet wiring
- HomePlug AV for electrical wires
- MoCA 1.1 for coax
- Perhaps most importantly, Wi-Fi
The new versions of HomePlug and MoCA that are under development are not included. 

Noticeably missing are HomePNA that Sigma Technologies has been pushing and the coming G.hn for electrical, coax, telephone and Ethernet wires. The spec is being written so that other home network technologies could be added. A representative from HomePNA and the G.hn group said that they want their network technologies included in P1905.

It’s possible that the proposed P1905 is a ploy to prevent G.hn’s success.

Including Wi-Fi gives it the advantage of having a wireless capacity, which is something no other wireline standard has. For example, consumers could use MoCA or HomePlug to wire a bedroom where the Wi-Fi reception is weak from the central Wi-Fi router. A P1905/Wi-Fi adapter could be used for the last 10 feet or so to a TV set with Netflix or some other OTT service.
Including MoCA gives P1905 a major advantage in gaining a large base of compatible installations that includes the world’s cablecos plus Verizon and DirecTV.

Broadband and pay-TV service providers find it very difficult to switch home network standards. There are lots of people to train, thousands of installation trucks that need some of the new gear and warehouses that have to be stocked with the new technology. It would cost the providers that have standardized on MoCA billions of dollars. They would need an overwhelming technology breakthrough, an enormous reduction in costs, or both to make a change that does not include MoCA compatibility.

The P1905 Gang

A group has been set up under the auspices of the IEEE to develop P1905.1. It held its first meeting in December 2010. Atheros, Broadcom, Cisco, Entropic, Intel, Marvell, Toshiba and others are writing a draft standard.
France Telecom Orange is a main pusher, the same France Telecom that backed G.hn in its early days. “As there is not a single networking technology that ideally addresses all of today’s applications, platforms, and environments, IEEE P1905.1 represents a fundamental advancement for home networking,“ said Paul Houzé of France Telecom-Orange, and chair, IEEE P1905.1 Working Group. “Creating a bridge between the world’s most popular wired and wireless technologies will bring much-needed synergy, making home networks easier to use and elevating their overall performance.“ 

Current Voting Member of P1905
Atheros	Intel
Broadcom	Lantiq
Cisco	Marvell
Entropic	Panasonic
France Telecom	Sigma Designs
HD-PLC Alliance	SPiDCOM Technologies
HomeGrid Forum (G.hn)	STMicroelectronics
HomePNA Alliance	Toshiba
The HomePlug Alliance and MoCA are not members. However, HomePlug chipmakers Atheros and Sigma Designs are members, along with MoCA chipmakers Entropic and Broadcom.

The P1905 group said the effort is an attempt “to support an expanding array of connected consumer electronics, such as televisions, computers, game consoles and smartphones.“ It might have added tablets because it now looks as if every first-world country will have at least one, maybe two or three. 

Sharing digital content, the group said, “requires a standard capable of uniting disparate wired and wireless elements into a hybrid home network.“ A built-in QoS would automatically switch to a different network scheme if the one being used degrades. 

The objectives of the P1905 group are:
- Streamline network performance by dynamically managing packets from different wireless or wired interfaces.
- Maximize bandwidth to ensure reliable content delivery across all home networking technologies.
- Facilitate installation, setup and management plus provide better diagnostics and controls.
- Increase device cooperation, communication and co-existence in home networks.
- Enable active path selection for maximum traffic efficiency and network load balancing.
- Energy management for optimized power consumption.
The proposed standard calls for an abstraction layer that supports multiple home networking technologies. It is inclusive, not exclusive.
The abstraction layer would provide for:
- A common data and control service access point to all the home networking technologies.
- Packets arriving from upper protocol layers or underlying network technologies.
- End-to-end Quality-of-Service (QoS), which is very important to the pay-TV services. 

The specs will include procedures, protocols and guidelines to add devices, set up encryption keys, extend network coverage and provide network management features, such as neighbor and topology discovery, path selection, QoS negotiation and network control. 

Any and Every Device
 
Perhaps the most important aspect of P1905 is that it could eventually be built into TV sets, Blu-ray players and smart TV adapters like Apple TV and Boxee’s many boxes, assuming the price of the chips is a reasonable add-on cost. That would make P1905 the standard for home networking, and it would truly deliver plug and play.


Broadcom’s Views
 
We asked Broadcom’s technical director Stephen Palm about P1905. Broadcom is an active member in the P1905 movement. 

Palm: The standard will benefit all broadband and pay-TV service providers because they are also deploying their services to mobile/tablet devices as well as to wireline devices like TV sets and PCs.
 TOR: How long could it take to get to a standard? To get chips? 2012?
 Palm: Chips are expected late 2011 or 2012, but always depends on the IEEE process. For some vendors that already offer multiple network interface technologies, it is a software upgrade.
 TOR: Will it be an expensive chipset?
 Palm: Some vendors are very adept at combining several technologies and specifications into cost-effective SoCs.
 TOR: Shouldn’t DLNA have done this? Isn’t that what DLNA is about? Multiple network technologies inside one interface?
 Palm: P1905 is basically an enhancement to layer-2 (MAC) functionality. Technically it is a bit more. P1905 wraps and abstracts one or multiple MAC/PHYs. From the application (e.g., DLNA and others) point of view, P1905 will be seen as a “single“ device instead of different MAC/PHYs, each requiring a unique management, security and QoS method.

While DLNA points to some layer-2 technologies such as Wi-Fi, Ethernet and MoCA, the bulk of the DLNA specification is at layer-3 and above.

P1905 is the kind of technology that DLNA could point to in the future. 

Next Generation MoCA & HomePlug

MoCA 2.0 reportedly has 400 Mbps of net throughput compared to the existing MoCA 1.1’s 175 Mbps. A channel-bonded version of 2.0 will operate at 800 Mbps. Production of devices with MoCA 2.0 are expected in early 2012.

HomePlug v2 reportedly offers net throughputs in the 200 Mbps to 500 Mbps range compared to the existing HomePlug AV’s 40 Mbps to 90 Mbps range.
The new MoCA 2.0 and HomePlug v2 will reportedly interoperate with their existing standard.

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Samsung Results Reflect Comedown after Tablet Overhype

From The Online Reporter   

- Price Wars in Mobile Devices and Disappointing Tablet Sales Among the Factors 

Beyond the strong sales of the iPad 2, there is an increasingly disturbing gulf between high hopes and the reality about the tablet space. On the hopes side, we have an enthusiastic outlook from Qualcomm, and the promise of an early release of models running all kinds of new delights — Ice Cream, the next Android release; Windows 8; Intel’s Oak Trail processor; HP’s rethought webOS; and RIM’s QNX. All this, though, when sales of tablets running the existing options — Android Froyo or Honeycomb, Windows 7, and Snapdragon — are repeatedly disappointing. Over-optimistic expectations and disappointing performance in tablets were the key theme of Samsung’s first-quarter results and could be a template for the whole sector. It was almost a relief to hear a senior Microsoft executive dismiss the hype around the new form factor as a “flash in the pan,” not because Microsoft doesn’t have its own agenda here, but because it sounded like a dose of reality. 

The Tablet Chill

This is not to say that tablets will not become a significant market. The iPad has shown one type of demand for such a product, and there will be many others in enterprise and industrial segments, not to mention new routes to market, such as the pay-TV providers. Three US cablecos have recently announced iPad services, and some will start to sell the gadgets themselves.

But as companies like Acer and Sony, to name just this week’s entrants, pin their hopes on the tablet market for growth, they should be cautious in their pronouncements and work towards a medium-term opportunity rather than an overnight sensation. 

Even though only a few Android tablets have hit the shelves, some are already rumored to be underperforming, including the first major Honeycomb model, the Motorola Xoom. Investment bank UBS has lowered its target price on Nvidia, whose share price patterns have mirrored those of the tablet sector, which the firm addresses with its flagship processor, Tegra 2. The company enjoyed an impressive 71% rise in value between November and February but has seen a fallback of over 16% in the past month. 

Samsung’s Performance

To be fair to Samsung, it had done little to whip up the tide of enthusiasm for its first tablet, Galaxy Tab. It attracted attention largely because it was the first big-brand offering that wasn’t from Apple, and a first chance to see how the iPad would fare against a well supported rival. Samsung was clear that the device was a stopgap — limited to 7 inches because Google had not yet released Honeycomb, the version of Android that supports larger displays, lacking key Samsung hallmarks like an AMOLED screen. Like Samsung’s first underwhelming Galaxy Android phone, this was a product that could be rushed out quickly to establish a foothold before the tablet deluge began. But users would have to wait for subsequent models to see what Samsung could really do. This will be seen when its new, larger Galaxy Tabs ship in volume. 

But the markets did not want to hear such a downbeat story, and in the light of disappointing quarterly results, Samsung insiders profess themselves frustrated at the misguided expectations for Galaxy Tab. Intensifying competition in mobile devices hit Samsung’s first quarter, as the firm posted its second consecutive quarterly fall in operating profit. The firm’s shares slumped on fears that full-year profits may be hit by the price war in phones and tablets, despite Samsung’s progress in market share in those sectors. 

As well as price pressure even on high-end mobile devices, operators are reducing the price of the Galaxy Tab amid competition from the new iPad 2. 

“People have only limited budgets to spend on technology products,” Lee Jin Woo, a fund manager at KTB Asset Management in Korea, told Bloomberg. “There are all these smartphones and tablets in the market, and their incomes are not rising.” 

Most analysts agree tablet sales have not lived up to over-optimistic expectations, and that the limitations of the first Tab were often not taken into account in rosy forecasts. NH Investment & Securities cut its earlier estimates for Samsung’s 2011 tablet sales. 

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Rovi Brings Advertising to Smart TVs

From The Online Reporter   

Rovi has spent 10 months building the Rovi Advertising Network, which reaches over 30 million North American households through the electronic program guides at pay-TV companies and via CE makers that embed its technology in their equipment. It is now looking for companies in addition to Carnival, Brightline and Brightline’s clients to test their ads on Web-enabled devices, such as with Samsung’s smart TVs. 

It plans to launch additional field trials of the Network in the UK and Canada in the second half of this year.

The Rovi Advertising Network also includes the Web-based entertainment sites Sidereel.com and allrovi.com. 

Rovi Advertising Network viewers are consumers looking for something to watch on TV — join the club! The Rovi Advertising Network offers advertising on Rovi guides — a “home page” of the TV where consumers can find out what’s on TV and interactive platforms including STBs, smart TVs, and Blu-ray players. 

“Often used an average of eight times and 10 minutes daily, Rovi guides offer advertisers a way to reach engaged and active consumers,” said Corey Ferengul, executive VP, product management and marketing at Rovi. He said the Advertising Network simplifies the process for advertisers by allowing them to apply their campaigns against a broader distribution and reach multiple types of TV viewers, transcending time-shifting and working with only one advertising company. 

The company breaks its service into three parts:

- Standard Portal, where consumers can record, set a reminder, watch content or learn more about a product or promotion

- Video Portal, where consumers can click on the interactive banner by the guide, leading directly to video content or links to VOD folders on other pay-TV platforms for deeper audience engagement

- Dynamic Portal, which consists of video, graphics, text, programming and/or interactive content, offering consumers a variety of content choices accessed directly from an interactive banner by the guide, differentiating product and enhancing the consumer experience with a variety of user-driven content choices

“TV advertising is changing fast, said Jeff Siegel, senior VP of advertising at Rovi. “To reach an increasingly fragmented entertainment audience, it is critical for brands to be at the leading edge of new methods for reaching consumers.” 

“The definition of television is clearly evolving as the TV has now become the home theater, video store, games arcade and much, much more,” said Sasha Savic, chief commercial officer at the MPG ad agency. “Smart TVs now offer a more interactive, targeted, quantifiable medium for our clients.” 

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The Cablecos That Kicked the Hornets’ Nest

From The Online Reporter   

 

Time Warner Cable (TWC) knocked down the hornets’ nest of streaming live TV to iPads, but it is Cablevision that kicked it. Cablevision is taking the same path as TWC but offering more live channels as well as on-demand videos. Comcast, the world’s largest pay-TV service, has promised to do the same by year-end. 

Cablevision released an iPad app that offers nearly 300 linear TV channels and 2,000 on-demand videos. This summer, the app will let subscribers also control their DVRs. Unlike TWC, it does not require users to have a broadband subscription with it. 

Cablevision says the iPad functions exactly as a TV set does in the home, giving it the right to stream live shows to the iPad. 

“This application allows the iPad to function as a television, delivering the full richness and diversity of our cable television service to a display device in the home,” said Tom Rutledge, Cablevision’s COO. “It gives our customers the additional flexibility and convenience of watching television throughout the home, in places where set-top boxes might not be ideal or even practical, like the kitchen, bathroom or workroom. This is the future of Advanced Digital Cable televisions served with virtual set-top boxes, and just one of many digital displays we are going to be serving through a variety of applications.”

It makes the point that the shows are not delivered over the Net but over a secure home network. The app, it says, merely turns an iPad into another TV. 

“Cablevision has the right to distribute programming over its cable system to iPads configured in this way under its existing distribution agreements with programming providers,” the company said. “Cablevision has been serving customers with switched digital cable for more than five years. Advanced Digital Cable allows the company to switch in multiple digital formats, as its customers continue to buy the latest display devices.”

Cablevision said it plans to add apps with similar functions to other tablets and display devices that function as TV sets. 

Time Warner Removes 12 Channels, Adds 25

 

The cablecos know that the more their subscribers watch content from Netflix, Hulu and other OTT video services, the less they are watching what the cableco offers. Netflix continues to add must-see content; this week it added all “Mad Men” reruns on an exclusive basis. 

Last Thursday TWC removed 12 channels from its app that streams live channels to iPads in the home, including MTV and FX, after receiving complaints from Discovery, News Corp and Viacom. The content companies evidently want the pay-TV companies to pay them more for such apps. They offer their own apps for in-home streaming. 

TWC said it would replace the channels with 25 others including Bloomberg, CNN, the Lifetime Movie Network and the Golf Channel. 

TWC said it believed it had “every right to carry the programming on our iPad app” in the home but “for the time being, we have decided to focus our iPad efforts on those enlightened programmers who understand the benefit and importance of allowing our subscribers — and their viewers — to watch their programming on any screen in their homes.” 

It said it would “pursue all of our legal rights against the programmers who don’t share our vision.”

TWC said the response by subscribers has been positive: “The enthusiasm of our customers and the programming partners who have embraced the app, rather than those who are solely focused on finding additional ways to reach into wallets of their own viewers, have convinced us more than ever that we are on the right path.” 

It is doubtlessly on the right path. The question is whether it has the legal right to stream live channels to tablets in the home. Do the contracts it has with the media companies give it the right to transmit their channels to secure and authenticated devices in the home and not specifically only to the TV set? In short, is the tablet just another TV screen? 

“We will continue to fight to ensure that our customers have access to the content they pay for, no matter which screen in their home they choose to view it on,” the company said.

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Global Music Sales Fall $1.5b in 2010

From The Online Reporter   

IFPI has released its annual numbers for the recording industry. The big takeaway is that at the global level, recorded music revenues fell by 8.4% last year, down to $15.9 billion. 
 

According to the report, physical sales dropped 14.2% to $10.4 billion, while digital sales rose 5.3% to $4.6 billion. Digital sales now account for 29% of total recorded music revenues. 

Most major music markets saw double-digit growth in digital sales, such as the 21.6% growth in the UK, but the US was mostly stagnant with only a 1.2% increase in digital sales. 

As with previous years’ versions of this report, the IFPI put the blame of reduced revenue squarely on the shoulders of piracy. According to IFPI’s Frances Moore, “The demand for new music seems as insatiable and diverse as ever, and record companies continue to meet it. But they are operating at only a fraction of their potential because of a difficult environment dominated by piracy.”

Industry	2010 Revenue (millions)	Total Revenue Decline 2000-2010	Total Forecast Revenue Decline 2010-2016
Wireline telcos	$154,095.00	-55%	-37%
Newspaper Publishers	$40,726.00	-36%	-19%
Rentals of DVD, Game & Videos	$7,839.00	-36%	-19%
Video Postproduction Services	$4,276.00	-25%	-11%
Record Stores	$1,803.00	-76%	-40%

 
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BT Weighs in on Music Subscription Offering

From The Online Reporter   

 

Virgin Media has been out ahead of the pack in the UK when it comes to music plans, but BT might finally be moving in for the kill on its own music services. 

“We are very keen to launch a music service in the near future, but it will have to be with a model that customers will want and can work financially for BT,” the company told PC Pro. “We are in the early development stage so we are not currently in a position to comment further.”

According to leaked reports, BT expects to launch the service before Q3 and will likely not charge for the service for the first six to nine months, likely signaling it’ll offer the service for free to its customers before introducing a charging system — likely a premium offering such as mobile support. 

Spotify is said to be interested in the service and is currently in talks over integration.

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Amazon Launches Cloud Music Service

From The Online Reporter   

 

- Fires a Shot Across Google’s Android Bow

- Legal Issues Immediately Arise

This week, Amazon caught almost everyone by surprise when it launched a cloud locker service for music and other content, beating Google and Apple to the much-anticipated punch. 

Amazon’s Cloud Drive, Cloud Player for the Web and Cloud Player for Android are live in the US. They let users store music on Amazon’s servers and access it from PCs, Macs and Android devices. We’ve also been able to get the service to work on a single-song basis on an iPad. 

The service requires users to upload music to Amazon’s servers, and from there they can build playlists and playback either individual songs, albums or playlists. The service works with both AAC and MP3 files. 

Anyone and everyone can sign up for the service and get 5GB of free storage for their music. Users that buy an Amazon MP3 album will automatically get upgraded to 20GB of storage for no extra cost and any songs purchased through Amazon MP3 don’t count against these storage limits. 

The storage can be used for anything a user wants to back up. Regardless, music is the main focus right now, largely for two reasons: there’s a built-in player for songs, and Amazon MP3 is integrated. As storage goes up — whether through more offers or from users paying directly for it starting at another $20 — and if a video player is introduced, Hollywood may weigh in. 

While most are seeing this as a direct challenge to Apple, Amazon appears to be actually positioning itself against Google to become the chief of Android content.

That is, unless the labels have anything to say about it. 

Here There Be Lawyers

“We don’t need a license to store music,” Amazon’s director of music Craig Pape said of the service. “The functionality is the same as an external hard drive.”

Maps of the ancient world often used the words “Here There Be Monsters” to mark unknown regions of the ocean. Here in the cloud, there be lawyers. 

Amazon is in uncharted territory with the service since it encourages users to upload music for playback, but claims that it isn’t true playback that comes from the cloud, merely the download of a song and then playing the download through a dedicated music player.

The question is: if the content was purchased legally and Amazon isn’t streaming content that it acquired from its servers, is there any need for a streaming or performance license? 

The answer is: We dunno and the law isn’t clear, but Amazon may still be in hot water. 

Copyright law hasn’t caught up with the Web and the swift evolution of technology, so there’s nothing that really directly covers streaming or download services in terms of licensing. There’s no language covering the issue and since the law is unclear, there’s no real way to direct a challenge or be sure of one’s own safety. 

MP3tunes has been fighting legal battles with labels over streaming rights and content management issues associated with locker services for a little over three years. 

Amazon is pretty much in the same boat as MP3tunes — which offers a locker and playback just like Amazon’s Cloud Player — but Amazon’s dingy is a bit leakier since Amazon is also a music retailer, which means it has made licensing agreements with major labels covering what it can and can’t do, which will likely be used against it in a court of law. 

The main thing that can be used against Amazon — we believe — is that it likely has an agreement with labels that prevent it from letting users download purchased content multiple times. Apple’s iTunes has similar restrictions as do most MP3 stores, so it’s relatively safe to assume Amazon has the same restrictions in its agreements. The problem here is that the cloud service basically allows users to do exactly this — upload their content from one location and download and play it from as many supported devices as they want. 

Not only does Amazon appear to deliver an exact copy of the recording the user uploads — we verified this with recordings that Amazon presumably doesn’t have the rights to since they’re either not for sale or only for sale in one specified location that isn’t Amazon — but there’s an issue that may come up with its downloading. A report has surfaced that the songs will still play from Amazon’s Cloud Play even if the user blocks the application from actually delivering a download. We were shown this through a live stream and are working on verifying it on our machines. 

Lawsuits are going to come over this—it’s only a matter of when. All Amazon can do to avoid them in time is secure licensing deals with the major labels, despite Pape’s initial words. Amazon is reportedly actively courting all of the major labels and many of the minor label groups, but it is going to have a tough time of it. Not only is Amazon possibly going against its current licensing and pushed a possibly infringing service through to users, but according to our sources the company didn’t give everyone much of a heads up — a week is the longest lead time we’ve heard about.

  Google, Android Take Note

With all of this going on, it’s hard to focus on where Amazon is going with the service. There’s a lot of speculation that Apple is the key target since it is reportedly preparing a cloud-based music service with the revamp of its Mobile Me offering. Google is mentioned as collateral damage since it is also working on a cloud-based music service. We’d argue that these two need to be switched because of one key factor: Android. 

Amazon recently launched its own Appstore for Android apps. The service covers a wide variety of apps and allows users to test drive apps for 30 minutes within their browser, meaning there’s no need for an initial download or payment. Not only does it allow users to test out apps, but this covers most of the favorite apps users have for Android. The Appstore even has a free version of the wildly popular Angry Birds app, which it bills as an exclusive. 

Add this in with the announcement that Cellular South will sell the HTC Merge handset with the Amazon Appstore pre-installed, and Amazon seems to be in a key place to become the de facto locale for apps. Toss in a new music service from Android that works on your PC and Android device with no synching required, and there’s no need to load your phone with songs or wait for Google’s cloud service to come. 

Since users can also buy songs from Amazon, which are automatically added to their cloud storage, they don’t have to open up multiple apps to get new content and then play it. 

If Amazon can secure label licensing to keep it safe and then adds in a real-time recommendation engine, there’s no stopping it from grabbing some market share from the likes of Pandora, MP3tunes, Rhapsody and others. It’d even give Spotify some trouble if they ever make it into the US.

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Telstra to Sell Cisco’s Cius

From The Online Reporter   
 

Cisco’s Cius could be a major competitor to RIM’s PlayBook tablets in the corporate market. Telstra, the incumbent Australian telco, will by year-end be selling Cius tablets to corporates, and, it hopes, in large lots. 

Cisco’s Cius Tablet Being Stationed

on Its Docking Station 

The initial units are Wi-Fi-only but 3G and 4G models are to come later this year, which makes the point about how far Apple was ahead of other technology giants in tablets.

Telstra is looking forward to the 4G models because it’ll have some of its 4G network up and running by year-end. 

Cisco’s selling points are Cius’ compatibility with its Teleprescence business video platform and its collaboration software. It’s also emphasizing Cius’ ease of developing and distributing apps. 

Otherwise it’s just another tablet and one with a 7-inch screen: Android 2.2 (not Honeycomb), 600 pixel touchscreen, 52 grams and 32GB of internal memory plus an SD slot. It has an HDMI out port, which will help in making corporate presentations on TVs. There’s also a mini-USB port. It plays video in 720p HD video at 30 frames per second. Its rear-facing camera can record 720p HD video. 

Cisco is undoubtedly working to get all the world’s telcos selling Cius’ because telcos have thousands of sales reps that are in frequent contact with large corporates and government agencies that are already their customers, something that Apple doesn’t have.

 To see 4 free editions of The Online Reporter, the weekly source for competitive intelligence about digital content, online entertainment services, mobile media and wireless networks, visit www.onlinereporter.com/trial_copies.php