Apple Inc. has been ranked worst among 14 leading electronics manufacturers in a new Greenpeace survey that evaluated companies based on their use of toxic chemicals and commitment to recycling obsolete products.
Toxic waste arising from the manufacture and disposal of consumer electronics -- particularly cell phones, personal computers and similar products -- has become a major problem globally, and an increasing concern for environmentalists. In addition to toxins released during manufacture, many electronics are made with heavy metals or other dangerous substances. This means that the large volume of electronic waste finding its way into landfills each year -- tens of millions of tons -- has become a major health and ecological threat.
Much of this waste, which comes primarily from the First World, is shipped to countries such as China and India. In many cases, children or other laborers break it up to recover the scrap.
The "Guide to Greener Electronics" ranked companies based on the progress they have made in phasing out dangerous ingredients and enabling the recycling rather than landfilling their products. Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo came in first with a score of eight out of 10, in large part for its commitment to take back and recycle its products in any country. Lenovo's top ranking is particularly notable when compared with its ranking last year -- last place.
That spot is now filled by Apple, which scored just 2.7 out of a possible 10 points.
"Apple has made no changes to its policies or practices since the launch of the Guide in August 2006," Greenpeace said. "The company scores badly on almost all criteria."
In particular, Greenpeace has criticized the company for a limited and difficult-to-use recycling policy and vague, unconvincing timelines on the phase-out of brominated flame-retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
In addition to Lenovo, Greenpeace gave Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Dell, Samsung, Motorola, Fujitsu-Siemens, HP and ACER above-average scores. Toshiba, Sony, LG and Panasonic all received less than five points each.
http://www.newstarget.com/021867.html
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Breakthrough in printed electronics
October 16, 2005 A world first in volume printed integrated electronics circuits was exhibited at the recent Plastics Electronics trade fair in Frankfurt. The Institute for Print and Media Technology at Chemnitz University in Germany has developed a new process that enables electronic circuitry to be produced with mass printing technology. The new process will enable the mass production of very cheap integrated circuitry in paper and cardboard and can be expected to have massive consequences in manufacturing, the future of RFID and the blurring of the line between printed objects and the virtual world.The first practical applications are expected to be electronic printed maps and printed paper keyboards, closely followed by labels for clothing, luggage, packaging, ticketing and after that … almost anything.
The circuit created for the demonstration was a ring oscillator consisting of 14 transistors. Ring oscillators are basic components for more complex circuits and generate clock signals. BASF and Bell Labs contributed their experience in material science. The circuits were designed, printed and researched by printed systems GmbH and the Institute for Print and Media Technology. The researchers tested all mass printing technologies such as offset, gravure and flexographic printing.
The circuits were printed at a printing speed of up to 0.8 metres per second which although slow for printing, is a new dimension of production speed for electronics. Millionfold print runs will become possible. The polymer printing method is based on especially developed printing methods i.e. polymer molecules that are either conductive, semiconductive or isolating are accurately printed in ultrathin layers, one above the other. These polymers can be processed similar to ink. Compared to traditional printing, however, the demands on precision as well as on the chemical characteristics of the printing inks are considerably higher. A single mistake in printing will immediately lead to malfunctions of the printed circuit.
A switching frequency of 1 Hz was achieved with the used structural resolution of 100 µm. Prof. Dr. Arved Hübler, head of the Institute for Print and Media Technology at Chemnitz University of Technology whose research team already introduced the first mass printed single transistor in 2003, explains: "We have successfully met a great challenge in this project because the printing of electronics put completely new demands on materials, methods and machines different from those known from traditional printing.
The researchers at the Institute for Print and Media Technology have realised new developments in mechanical engineering and process technology in order to meet the very high demands of electronic circuits on printing characteristics."
The project was coordinated by BASF Future Business and included researchers from BASF, Lucent Technologies Bell Labs, printed systems GmbH in Chemnitz as well as the Institute for Print and Media Technology at Chemnitz University of Technology.
http://www.gizmag.com/go/4749/
The circuit created for the demonstration was a ring oscillator consisting of 14 transistors. Ring oscillators are basic components for more complex circuits and generate clock signals. BASF and Bell Labs contributed their experience in material science. The circuits were designed, printed and researched by printed systems GmbH and the Institute for Print and Media Technology. The researchers tested all mass printing technologies such as offset, gravure and flexographic printing.
The circuits were printed at a printing speed of up to 0.8 metres per second which although slow for printing, is a new dimension of production speed for electronics. Millionfold print runs will become possible. The polymer printing method is based on especially developed printing methods i.e. polymer molecules that are either conductive, semiconductive or isolating are accurately printed in ultrathin layers, one above the other. These polymers can be processed similar to ink. Compared to traditional printing, however, the demands on precision as well as on the chemical characteristics of the printing inks are considerably higher. A single mistake in printing will immediately lead to malfunctions of the printed circuit.
A switching frequency of 1 Hz was achieved with the used structural resolution of 100 µm. Prof. Dr. Arved Hübler, head of the Institute for Print and Media Technology at Chemnitz University of Technology whose research team already introduced the first mass printed single transistor in 2003, explains: "We have successfully met a great challenge in this project because the printing of electronics put completely new demands on materials, methods and machines different from those known from traditional printing.
The researchers at the Institute for Print and Media Technology have realised new developments in mechanical engineering and process technology in order to meet the very high demands of electronic circuits on printing characteristics."
The project was coordinated by BASF Future Business and included researchers from BASF, Lucent Technologies Bell Labs, printed systems GmbH in Chemnitz as well as the Institute for Print and Media Technology at Chemnitz University of Technology.
http://www.gizmag.com/go/4749/
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Tim Bajarin's 2005 Predictions
Apple Computer is on track to become the next great consumer electronics company. I believe this because they do things with electronics that few others can claim to do, which is make technology the way it should be.
Apple has always made great products, products that just work and are easy to use. Over the past few years I have observed Apple make some brilliant strategic moves that help the world understand how great their products really are. The first was positioning an Apple computer as the hub of the “Digital Lifestyle”. A few years ago at Macworld I heard Steve Jobs say “We (Apple) want to do for entertainment what Microsoft Office did for productivity”. He was making this statement while explaining the value of iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDvd. This was a telling statement about where Apple was heading.
The next great move Apple made was the iPod. They created this product around something everyone loves, music. They made this product affordable enough so more people can get their hands on an Apple product and see how great they are for themselves. Again the iPod was and is an MP3 player and more, the way it should be. Shortly after the iPod release they announced the iTunes music store, taking a model that was chaos before and creating a legitimate music service the way it should be. Even more recently they announced the iPod Photo, capitalizing on something else near to everyone’s heart, photos. With iPod photo they now expanded the iPod into more than just music and tightly integrated it with iPhoto, photo management the way it should be.
Lastly the Apple retail stores provide a fantastic way to let everyone see and use all the great products Apple creates. These stores capitalize on the notion that once you get to try an Apple product, it’s hard to want anything else. Apple’s retail presence has never been that of Windows machines. With these retail stores they control their retail presence and are in a much better position to make sales by having qualified sales reps talking to customers. Who also happen to love the products they sell, something I’m not sure many other computer retail sales reps can say.
Each year at this time I am asked for my predictions for the New Year.
I have been making my yearly predictions since 1981 and thanks to a lot of good research, spending a lot of time in tech labs as well as time with dozens of vendors around the world, my accuracy rate has been pretty good [knock-on-wood.] Earlier in my career I made predictions up to five years out, but as you know, things in tech change so fast these days, my current predictions are aimed at the next 18 months.
So, with that in mind, here are my top five predictions for 2005.
1- The emergence of a Digital Entertainment Hub.
A few years ago, Steve Jobs announced that the Mac should be the hub of a digital lifestyle. Since then, Microsoft, HP, Dell and others have moved to try and make the Media Center PC a digital hub for the home also. Although I do believe that the PC, and especially the Media Center PC, is a great hub for managing personal productivity and personal creativity, I also believe that there is another device that will emerge this year that I call a Digital Entertainment Center or DEC for short. I believe it is destined to become the center of a home’s digital entertainment experience. Microsoft would argue that the Media Center PC can play that role given the Media Center’s ability to display images, video and any other content from the PC on a TV. To that end, they have created what they call a 10 foot interface, controlled by a remote control that allows a person to sit on their couch and access all Media Center Content, including PC games and mainstream DVD movies and personal video, from a PC that has to be located somewhere in the vicinity of the room the TV is in. They recently introduced what they call Media Extenders which lets a person extend that content to TV’s in other rooms of the house, but all of the content resides on the Media Center and is distributed through some type of wired or wireless network. I believe that this is a legitimate approach to creating a digital hub for the home, but up to now, the prices of these systems suggest they are aimed at early adopters and not the mainstream digital consumer. Prices on Media Center PC’s are coming down, but I think this DEC hub needs to be well under $500 and optimized for the TV viewing experience.
This is why we will see an alternative approach coming in the form of the DEC. This box sits next to the TV and includes key PC components such as a mainstream high speed processor, media rich OS, hard drive, Tivo like capabilities and DVD for playback at first and eventually they will have DVD recording as well. It can also take info from a PC and display it on a TV as well as having slots for compact flash, SD, Memory Card, etc. It will support USB 2.0 and wired and wireless networking formats. In fact, next generation gaming systems will be targeted at this exact space by 2006.
Although it is an actual PC in its purest sense, its key role is to manage the digital entertainment experience and serve as the platform for viewing all entertainment related content. Expect to see DEC’s in the form of soupped up set top boxes as well as smart DVD systems by mid year but by CES 2006, this will be a very hot device and category. And, they will sell for under $500 and in many cases they will eventually be subsidized by cable, telcom providers and various types of entities who want to own the digital entertainment experience. Keep an eye on the new box shown recently in Japan by Zoran, Transmeta and ZeDeon. This could be one of the more important products in this space.
2. On Demand, dynamic computing and real time solutions start taking off.
After some false starts, I expect to see a lot more activity in the area of on demand and dynamic computing, which in the end is really the delivery of information and services in real time. The concept of real time delivery of information goes back to the late 1800’s with the introduction of Morse Code and the telegraph. It evolved rapidly after the turn of the previous century with the introduction of the telephone and trans-oceanic telecommunications and data based telephony became even more important to business with the invention of fax machines. Then, the Internet, with things like mobile email, via the Blackberry, and portable based instant messaging, began introducing the concept of sending and receiving real time data and information to a broader market over the last few years. But the real missing link to making data and communications truly real time for the masses was wireless WAN’s. Thanks to WIFI and next generation cellular networks, that missing link is being filled in. These wireless backbones will become even more important with the world wide build out of 3G and eventually 4 G high speed wireless data networks that are just now starting to come to market in most of the developed world. In fact, I expect these new high speed wireless data networks to serve as a “booster” for a lot of applications that will move from batch processing to real time as these networks become widely available in the US, Europe and parts of Asia.
This, along with new enterprise class applications that are built around real time technology engines will kick start this on demand/real time emphasis for all levels of business. I expect to see new applications and solutions aimed at this on demand/real time enterprise market start increasing in 2005 and begin its march to eventually making the ability to send and receive and react to any type of customer, partner or internal business need a mission critical application and eventually reshape the way companies work and deal with customers in the future.
3. Personal video conferencing gains momentum
The idea of a video telephone was created by science fiction writers and aficionados in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s in books and articles about the future and, until the mid 1960’s, they remained the figment of some writers imagination. But when AT&T showed off a prototype of its videophone at the 1964 Worlds Fair in New York and promised to make it a mass market product within 25 years, the videophone became less science fiction and more a certain reality. Although we are 15 years past AT&T’s original prediction of when we would see a video phone in every home, we are getting much closer to the day when most of us will have and use a videophone at work or at home every day.
The recent introduction of Apple’s iSight that works flawlessly with the Macintosh has convinced me that the day when we will all start using a videophone is not too far off. In fact, I believe that we will see a lot more products and services aimed at delivering better personal video-telephony in 2005 and it will become a larger market starting in 2006.
Indeed, I believe that as more and more homes get and start using broadband services, that the videophone will even be built into next generation PC’s, digital entertainment devices and even game machines in the future. This backbone also allows for free direct Internet telephony and is ideal for that purpose even if you don’t’ want the video camera on to see what you might look like in the morning before that shower and shave.
Although 2005 will not be the year that the videophone actually takes off, I believe that we will see important developments in this area in 2005 and we will start seeing it gain more acceptance as people realize that the technology and a high speed backbone can make the videophone a reality sooner then later.
4. Hosted applications become more important to large and medium enterprise accounts.
The fact that Salesforce.com is doing well is indicative of the fact that hosted applications, especially in CRM, are starting to take off. For me the adoption by Xerox of one of the earliest hosted sales applications from Upshot, convinced me that hosted applications like this was not just for the medium sized businesses they were targeted for when they first came out. Now, the Fortune 500 list of customers that both SalesForce.com and Siebel On Demand (expanded because of their Upshot acquisition) have gotten over the last three years shows us that at least in the CRM space, hosted apps are ready for prime time. Other companies such as Antenna software, Entillium and RightNow are also doing extremely well in this space and reinforcing the idea of hosted applications for broader markets. Also, look closer at how these hosted apps are evolving. Salforce.com originally came out with a sales application but recently added supportforce.com to handle online service and support for their customers. I expect them to add a field force component and perhaps even an accounting and/or finance component or module by the end of 2005. And competitors are trying to broaden out their applications in a similar way. Take a quick look at RightNow.com and you see a pattern emerging in which these hosted applications are turning in to full application suites and you see the future of next generation hosted applications. Watch for Microsoft to expand their CRM program and add more modularity in 2005.
One other observation about this trend: The hosted applications mentioned above are still aimed at the upper end of the business market. What about the small businesses who represent 92% of the companies in the US. The prevailing wisdom on this has been that a small business is not willing to trust their financial data and other applications to an outsider over the mostly insecure Internet. But Intuit, with their very popular Quicken online applications for small business, has shown that this is not necessarily true.
Another company, SmartOnline.com out of Raleigh, North Carolina, is also proving them wrong. They have over a million customers who use their online applications to do everything from write a business plan to using applications for starting and growing a small business. I expect SmartOnline to be very aggressive in expanding their partner programs, which includes banks and magazines like INC, as well as continue to develop more applications that help small businesses grow and manage their business online
While the upper end of the market for hosted apps is hot, I believe the real opportunity lies in the ability to provide online IT services and applications for small business and companies like Intuit and SmartOnline are poised to be important players in this emerging market.
5. 3G networks will force companies to rethink their mobile and wireless work styles.
I was recently in Los Angeles where I was able to use my Verizon 3G EV-DO wireless card at the higher speeds offered in that area. Up to now, Verizon’s EV-DO networks are only turned on in cities like Washington, DC, New York, San Digeo, L.A and a few other major cities but by the end of 2006 they claim they will have at least 80% up and working at speeds up to 1.5 megs over their wireless 3G network.
Although I did not get speeds in the 1.5 meg range, I did consistently get speeds close to 300 K and after only having 2.5 G speeds of around 90K in the past, this seemed like a speed demon by comparison. As more and more people get access to EV-DO and ATT’s 3G Edge networks, the ability to be connected at pretty good speeds all the time has major ramifications for businesses of all types. I believe that the reality that 3G is going to be available in the US in most of the country in 2005 (albeit at a high prices at first) is going to become a bigger issue for IT and that they will start factoring these 3G networks into next generation applications and services in the New Year.
Some other general predictions:
PC vendor consolidation will continue.
Gartner recently published a report that said that three out of the top ten PC companies will be out of the business by 2007-2008. Within days of this reports release, the NY Times reported that IBM had decided to get out and some speculation has out that suggested HP would be next. I don’t buy that theory. I believe the next company to jump ship will be a Japanese company who will weigh the cost of being in this low margin business and make the decision to get out of the PC market sometime in the next 18 months.
Low, Low costs PC’s will get more attention.
The recent announcement of AMD’s Personal Internet Communicator did not get a lot of press and that is a shame. I think this is one of the most important new product concepts to hit the PC market in the last decade since these PIC’s as they are called sell for $185 and are aimed at the third world or developing countries. AMD’s first foray with this PIC is into India, and will eventually go to other markets like Mexico, certain areas of the Caribbean and then places like South America, parts of Asia and the African content, etc. At this price, there are very low margins if any since they must be at this price given the fact that their potential audience or family makes only about $1000-$2000 a year. But these devices could have a dramatic impact on the education and communications of these users in these markets and be extremely important for the financial growth of these countries and help towards getting them out of poverty.
PC vendors need to see this market as giving them another 1. 5 billion new customers and although they won’t make much on the device itself, they need to think more creatively around services and applications they can deliver to add value to the device itself and make money that way. Keep an eye on this space as it should get more play and think time from the PC vendors in 2005.
Apple extends lead in MP3 Players.
Thanks to the partnership with HP, I believe Apple is poised to sell over 15 million iPod’s world wide in 2005. While Apple has done a great job of increasing their own distribution of the iPod through their stores as well as outlets like CompUSA, Fry’s and even some mainstream consumer stores, HP gives them an additional 15,000 plus selling points WW thanks to this strategic partnership. And the first Motorola phones that are iPod based that can use the iTunes store should hit the shelves in 2005. I think these will become the hottest phones on the planet. Apple could have one of its best years of its life just ahead.
Google adds more online apps to their program.
Google’s acquisition of Picasa, a photo management tool that is now online and free on their site, gives us a glimpse of where the company is going in the long term. Although they have already added specialty features such as the Google desktop and Goole search, I believe their long term play is to provide a host of applications for managing your personal digital lifestyle through their site and become a major aggregator of consumer and entertainment content for the WW mass market. More importantly, they want to be your single stop for digital lifestyle management and give the apps away free but make oodles of money through the contextual advertising links. Yahoo and MSN are going down similar paths but Google is leading this charge right now. Look for Google to make at least two more product acquisitions in 2005 that helps them bolster their online digital consumer management strategy.
My best guess is that they will add photo search and video management and search tools to their stable of products as well as instant messaging, IP telephony and perhaps even the videophone links in the next year.
There is a great deal of skepticism by other analysts as to whether or not these strategies will lead to more computer sales for Apple. I believe it definately can and will. However the bigger question is does Apple see it's PC sales as being the biggest money maker in 5 years, or do they view selling more high margin products and consumer electronics products. Even though I believe Apple's strategies will help them sell more PC's. A more important point is that these strategies will help them sell more products that aren't PC's as well.
As I look closer at what Apple has done to get them to where they are today, I truly believe many of the building blocks are in place to expand their market share. They have succeeded to become a brand people are excited about. One thing I always loved about Mac users, myself included is the passion for the brand. Those that use a Mac love it and would never consider anything else. I believe as Apple continues to innovate and create technology products they way they should be, more of the world will buy Apple products.
http://www.csinsights.com/index.php?action=pg_article&id=53
Apple has always made great products, products that just work and are easy to use. Over the past few years I have observed Apple make some brilliant strategic moves that help the world understand how great their products really are. The first was positioning an Apple computer as the hub of the “Digital Lifestyle”. A few years ago at Macworld I heard Steve Jobs say “We (Apple) want to do for entertainment what Microsoft Office did for productivity”. He was making this statement while explaining the value of iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDvd. This was a telling statement about where Apple was heading.
The next great move Apple made was the iPod. They created this product around something everyone loves, music. They made this product affordable enough so more people can get their hands on an Apple product and see how great they are for themselves. Again the iPod was and is an MP3 player and more, the way it should be. Shortly after the iPod release they announced the iTunes music store, taking a model that was chaos before and creating a legitimate music service the way it should be. Even more recently they announced the iPod Photo, capitalizing on something else near to everyone’s heart, photos. With iPod photo they now expanded the iPod into more than just music and tightly integrated it with iPhoto, photo management the way it should be.
Lastly the Apple retail stores provide a fantastic way to let everyone see and use all the great products Apple creates. These stores capitalize on the notion that once you get to try an Apple product, it’s hard to want anything else. Apple’s retail presence has never been that of Windows machines. With these retail stores they control their retail presence and are in a much better position to make sales by having qualified sales reps talking to customers. Who also happen to love the products they sell, something I’m not sure many other computer retail sales reps can say.
Each year at this time I am asked for my predictions for the New Year.
I have been making my yearly predictions since 1981 and thanks to a lot of good research, spending a lot of time in tech labs as well as time with dozens of vendors around the world, my accuracy rate has been pretty good [knock-on-wood.] Earlier in my career I made predictions up to five years out, but as you know, things in tech change so fast these days, my current predictions are aimed at the next 18 months.
So, with that in mind, here are my top five predictions for 2005.
1- The emergence of a Digital Entertainment Hub.
A few years ago, Steve Jobs announced that the Mac should be the hub of a digital lifestyle. Since then, Microsoft, HP, Dell and others have moved to try and make the Media Center PC a digital hub for the home also. Although I do believe that the PC, and especially the Media Center PC, is a great hub for managing personal productivity and personal creativity, I also believe that there is another device that will emerge this year that I call a Digital Entertainment Center or DEC for short. I believe it is destined to become the center of a home’s digital entertainment experience. Microsoft would argue that the Media Center PC can play that role given the Media Center’s ability to display images, video and any other content from the PC on a TV. To that end, they have created what they call a 10 foot interface, controlled by a remote control that allows a person to sit on their couch and access all Media Center Content, including PC games and mainstream DVD movies and personal video, from a PC that has to be located somewhere in the vicinity of the room the TV is in. They recently introduced what they call Media Extenders which lets a person extend that content to TV’s in other rooms of the house, but all of the content resides on the Media Center and is distributed through some type of wired or wireless network. I believe that this is a legitimate approach to creating a digital hub for the home, but up to now, the prices of these systems suggest they are aimed at early adopters and not the mainstream digital consumer. Prices on Media Center PC’s are coming down, but I think this DEC hub needs to be well under $500 and optimized for the TV viewing experience.
This is why we will see an alternative approach coming in the form of the DEC. This box sits next to the TV and includes key PC components such as a mainstream high speed processor, media rich OS, hard drive, Tivo like capabilities and DVD for playback at first and eventually they will have DVD recording as well. It can also take info from a PC and display it on a TV as well as having slots for compact flash, SD, Memory Card, etc. It will support USB 2.0 and wired and wireless networking formats. In fact, next generation gaming systems will be targeted at this exact space by 2006.
Although it is an actual PC in its purest sense, its key role is to manage the digital entertainment experience and serve as the platform for viewing all entertainment related content. Expect to see DEC’s in the form of soupped up set top boxes as well as smart DVD systems by mid year but by CES 2006, this will be a very hot device and category. And, they will sell for under $500 and in many cases they will eventually be subsidized by cable, telcom providers and various types of entities who want to own the digital entertainment experience. Keep an eye on the new box shown recently in Japan by Zoran, Transmeta and ZeDeon. This could be one of the more important products in this space.
2. On Demand, dynamic computing and real time solutions start taking off.
After some false starts, I expect to see a lot more activity in the area of on demand and dynamic computing, which in the end is really the delivery of information and services in real time. The concept of real time delivery of information goes back to the late 1800’s with the introduction of Morse Code and the telegraph. It evolved rapidly after the turn of the previous century with the introduction of the telephone and trans-oceanic telecommunications and data based telephony became even more important to business with the invention of fax machines. Then, the Internet, with things like mobile email, via the Blackberry, and portable based instant messaging, began introducing the concept of sending and receiving real time data and information to a broader market over the last few years. But the real missing link to making data and communications truly real time for the masses was wireless WAN’s. Thanks to WIFI and next generation cellular networks, that missing link is being filled in. These wireless backbones will become even more important with the world wide build out of 3G and eventually 4 G high speed wireless data networks that are just now starting to come to market in most of the developed world. In fact, I expect these new high speed wireless data networks to serve as a “booster” for a lot of applications that will move from batch processing to real time as these networks become widely available in the US, Europe and parts of Asia.
This, along with new enterprise class applications that are built around real time technology engines will kick start this on demand/real time emphasis for all levels of business. I expect to see new applications and solutions aimed at this on demand/real time enterprise market start increasing in 2005 and begin its march to eventually making the ability to send and receive and react to any type of customer, partner or internal business need a mission critical application and eventually reshape the way companies work and deal with customers in the future.
3. Personal video conferencing gains momentum
The idea of a video telephone was created by science fiction writers and aficionados in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s in books and articles about the future and, until the mid 1960’s, they remained the figment of some writers imagination. But when AT&T showed off a prototype of its videophone at the 1964 Worlds Fair in New York and promised to make it a mass market product within 25 years, the videophone became less science fiction and more a certain reality. Although we are 15 years past AT&T’s original prediction of when we would see a video phone in every home, we are getting much closer to the day when most of us will have and use a videophone at work or at home every day.
The recent introduction of Apple’s iSight that works flawlessly with the Macintosh has convinced me that the day when we will all start using a videophone is not too far off. In fact, I believe that we will see a lot more products and services aimed at delivering better personal video-telephony in 2005 and it will become a larger market starting in 2006.
Indeed, I believe that as more and more homes get and start using broadband services, that the videophone will even be built into next generation PC’s, digital entertainment devices and even game machines in the future. This backbone also allows for free direct Internet telephony and is ideal for that purpose even if you don’t’ want the video camera on to see what you might look like in the morning before that shower and shave.
Although 2005 will not be the year that the videophone actually takes off, I believe that we will see important developments in this area in 2005 and we will start seeing it gain more acceptance as people realize that the technology and a high speed backbone can make the videophone a reality sooner then later.
4. Hosted applications become more important to large and medium enterprise accounts.
The fact that Salesforce.com is doing well is indicative of the fact that hosted applications, especially in CRM, are starting to take off. For me the adoption by Xerox of one of the earliest hosted sales applications from Upshot, convinced me that hosted applications like this was not just for the medium sized businesses they were targeted for when they first came out. Now, the Fortune 500 list of customers that both SalesForce.com and Siebel On Demand (expanded because of their Upshot acquisition) have gotten over the last three years shows us that at least in the CRM space, hosted apps are ready for prime time. Other companies such as Antenna software, Entillium and RightNow are also doing extremely well in this space and reinforcing the idea of hosted applications for broader markets. Also, look closer at how these hosted apps are evolving. Salforce.com originally came out with a sales application but recently added supportforce.com to handle online service and support for their customers. I expect them to add a field force component and perhaps even an accounting and/or finance component or module by the end of 2005. And competitors are trying to broaden out their applications in a similar way. Take a quick look at RightNow.com and you see a pattern emerging in which these hosted applications are turning in to full application suites and you see the future of next generation hosted applications. Watch for Microsoft to expand their CRM program and add more modularity in 2005.
One other observation about this trend: The hosted applications mentioned above are still aimed at the upper end of the business market. What about the small businesses who represent 92% of the companies in the US. The prevailing wisdom on this has been that a small business is not willing to trust their financial data and other applications to an outsider over the mostly insecure Internet. But Intuit, with their very popular Quicken online applications for small business, has shown that this is not necessarily true.
Another company, SmartOnline.com out of Raleigh, North Carolina, is also proving them wrong. They have over a million customers who use their online applications to do everything from write a business plan to using applications for starting and growing a small business. I expect SmartOnline to be very aggressive in expanding their partner programs, which includes banks and magazines like INC, as well as continue to develop more applications that help small businesses grow and manage their business online
While the upper end of the market for hosted apps is hot, I believe the real opportunity lies in the ability to provide online IT services and applications for small business and companies like Intuit and SmartOnline are poised to be important players in this emerging market.
5. 3G networks will force companies to rethink their mobile and wireless work styles.
I was recently in Los Angeles where I was able to use my Verizon 3G EV-DO wireless card at the higher speeds offered in that area. Up to now, Verizon’s EV-DO networks are only turned on in cities like Washington, DC, New York, San Digeo, L.A and a few other major cities but by the end of 2006 they claim they will have at least 80% up and working at speeds up to 1.5 megs over their wireless 3G network.
Although I did not get speeds in the 1.5 meg range, I did consistently get speeds close to 300 K and after only having 2.5 G speeds of around 90K in the past, this seemed like a speed demon by comparison. As more and more people get access to EV-DO and ATT’s 3G Edge networks, the ability to be connected at pretty good speeds all the time has major ramifications for businesses of all types. I believe that the reality that 3G is going to be available in the US in most of the country in 2005 (albeit at a high prices at first) is going to become a bigger issue for IT and that they will start factoring these 3G networks into next generation applications and services in the New Year.
Some other general predictions:
PC vendor consolidation will continue.
Gartner recently published a report that said that three out of the top ten PC companies will be out of the business by 2007-2008. Within days of this reports release, the NY Times reported that IBM had decided to get out and some speculation has out that suggested HP would be next. I don’t buy that theory. I believe the next company to jump ship will be a Japanese company who will weigh the cost of being in this low margin business and make the decision to get out of the PC market sometime in the next 18 months.
Low, Low costs PC’s will get more attention.
The recent announcement of AMD’s Personal Internet Communicator did not get a lot of press and that is a shame. I think this is one of the most important new product concepts to hit the PC market in the last decade since these PIC’s as they are called sell for $185 and are aimed at the third world or developing countries. AMD’s first foray with this PIC is into India, and will eventually go to other markets like Mexico, certain areas of the Caribbean and then places like South America, parts of Asia and the African content, etc. At this price, there are very low margins if any since they must be at this price given the fact that their potential audience or family makes only about $1000-$2000 a year. But these devices could have a dramatic impact on the education and communications of these users in these markets and be extremely important for the financial growth of these countries and help towards getting them out of poverty.
PC vendors need to see this market as giving them another 1. 5 billion new customers and although they won’t make much on the device itself, they need to think more creatively around services and applications they can deliver to add value to the device itself and make money that way. Keep an eye on this space as it should get more play and think time from the PC vendors in 2005.
Apple extends lead in MP3 Players.
Thanks to the partnership with HP, I believe Apple is poised to sell over 15 million iPod’s world wide in 2005. While Apple has done a great job of increasing their own distribution of the iPod through their stores as well as outlets like CompUSA, Fry’s and even some mainstream consumer stores, HP gives them an additional 15,000 plus selling points WW thanks to this strategic partnership. And the first Motorola phones that are iPod based that can use the iTunes store should hit the shelves in 2005. I think these will become the hottest phones on the planet. Apple could have one of its best years of its life just ahead.
Google adds more online apps to their program.
Google’s acquisition of Picasa, a photo management tool that is now online and free on their site, gives us a glimpse of where the company is going in the long term. Although they have already added specialty features such as the Google desktop and Goole search, I believe their long term play is to provide a host of applications for managing your personal digital lifestyle through their site and become a major aggregator of consumer and entertainment content for the WW mass market. More importantly, they want to be your single stop for digital lifestyle management and give the apps away free but make oodles of money through the contextual advertising links. Yahoo and MSN are going down similar paths but Google is leading this charge right now. Look for Google to make at least two more product acquisitions in 2005 that helps them bolster their online digital consumer management strategy.
My best guess is that they will add photo search and video management and search tools to their stable of products as well as instant messaging, IP telephony and perhaps even the videophone links in the next year.
There is a great deal of skepticism by other analysts as to whether or not these strategies will lead to more computer sales for Apple. I believe it definately can and will. However the bigger question is does Apple see it's PC sales as being the biggest money maker in 5 years, or do they view selling more high margin products and consumer electronics products. Even though I believe Apple's strategies will help them sell more PC's. A more important point is that these strategies will help them sell more products that aren't PC's as well.
As I look closer at what Apple has done to get them to where they are today, I truly believe many of the building blocks are in place to expand their market share. They have succeeded to become a brand people are excited about. One thing I always loved about Mac users, myself included is the passion for the brand. Those that use a Mac love it and would never consider anything else. I believe as Apple continues to innovate and create technology products they way they should be, more of the world will buy Apple products.
http://www.csinsights.com/index.php?action=pg_article&id=53
What Apple is Doing Right
Apple Computer is on track to become the next great consumer electronics company. I believe this because they do things with electronics that few others can claim to do, which is make technology the way it should be.
Apple has always made great products, products that just work and are easy to use. Over the past few years I have observed Apple make some brilliant strategic moves that help the world understand how great their products really are. The first was positioning an Apple computer as the hub of the “Digital Lifestyle”. A few years ago at Macworld I heard Steve Jobs say “We (Apple) want to do for entertainment what Microsoft Office did for productivity”. He was making this statement while explaining the value of iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDvd. This was a telling statement about where Apple was heading.
The next great move Apple made was the iPod. They created this product around something everyone loves, music. They made this product affordable enough so more people can get their hands on an Apple product and see how great they are for themselves. Again the iPod was and is an MP3 player and more, the way it should be. Shortly after the iPod release they announced the iTunes music store, taking a model that was chaos before and creating a legitimate music service the way it should be. Even more recently they announced the iPod Photo, capitalizing on something else near to everyone’s heart, photos. With iPod photo they now expanded the iPod into more than just music and tightly integrated it with iPhoto, photo management the way it should be.
Lastly the Apple retail stores provide a fantastic way to let everyone see and use all the great products Apple creates. These stores capitalize on the notion that once you get to try an Apple product, it’s hard to want anything else. Apple’s retail presence has never been that of Windows machines. With these retail stores they control their retail presence and are in a much better position to make sales by having qualified sales reps talking to customers. Who also happen to love the products they sell, something I’m not sure many other computer retail sales reps can say.
There is a great deal of skepticism by other analysts as to whether or not these strategies will lead to more computer sales for Apple. I believe it definately can and will. However the bigger question is does Apple see it's PC sales as being the biggest money maker in 5 years, or do they view selling more high margin products and consumer electronics products. Even though I believe Apple's strategies will help them sell more PC's. A more important point is that these strategies will help them sell more products that aren't PC's as well.
As I look closer at what Apple has done to get them to where they are today, I truly believe many of the building blocks are in place to expand their market share. They have succeeded to become a brand people are excited about. One thing I always loved about Mac users, myself included is the passion for the brand. Those that use a Mac love it and would never consider anything else. I believe as Apple continues to innovate and create technology products they way they should be, more of the world will buy Apple products.
http://www.csinsights.com/index.php?action=pg_article&id=50
Apple has always made great products, products that just work and are easy to use. Over the past few years I have observed Apple make some brilliant strategic moves that help the world understand how great their products really are. The first was positioning an Apple computer as the hub of the “Digital Lifestyle”. A few years ago at Macworld I heard Steve Jobs say “We (Apple) want to do for entertainment what Microsoft Office did for productivity”. He was making this statement while explaining the value of iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDvd. This was a telling statement about where Apple was heading.
The next great move Apple made was the iPod. They created this product around something everyone loves, music. They made this product affordable enough so more people can get their hands on an Apple product and see how great they are for themselves. Again the iPod was and is an MP3 player and more, the way it should be. Shortly after the iPod release they announced the iTunes music store, taking a model that was chaos before and creating a legitimate music service the way it should be. Even more recently they announced the iPod Photo, capitalizing on something else near to everyone’s heart, photos. With iPod photo they now expanded the iPod into more than just music and tightly integrated it with iPhoto, photo management the way it should be.
Lastly the Apple retail stores provide a fantastic way to let everyone see and use all the great products Apple creates. These stores capitalize on the notion that once you get to try an Apple product, it’s hard to want anything else. Apple’s retail presence has never been that of Windows machines. With these retail stores they control their retail presence and are in a much better position to make sales by having qualified sales reps talking to customers. Who also happen to love the products they sell, something I’m not sure many other computer retail sales reps can say.
There is a great deal of skepticism by other analysts as to whether or not these strategies will lead to more computer sales for Apple. I believe it definately can and will. However the bigger question is does Apple see it's PC sales as being the biggest money maker in 5 years, or do they view selling more high margin products and consumer electronics products. Even though I believe Apple's strategies will help them sell more PC's. A more important point is that these strategies will help them sell more products that aren't PC's as well.
As I look closer at what Apple has done to get them to where they are today, I truly believe many of the building blocks are in place to expand their market share. They have succeeded to become a brand people are excited about. One thing I always loved about Mac users, myself included is the passion for the brand. Those that use a Mac love it and would never consider anything else. I believe as Apple continues to innovate and create technology products they way they should be, more of the world will buy Apple products.
http://www.csinsights.com/index.php?action=pg_article&id=50
Tim Bajarin's 2006 Predictions
Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to get involved in some projects with the entertainment industry that has helped me develop some great relationships and contacts in that industry. One of the primary reasons I have willingly immersed myself in these projects is because I know how much the technology industry needs Hollywood. Yet the single fact remains that these two industries, technology and entertainment, operate on very different levels. So I embarked on a journey to mingle and develop relationships with people in the entertainment industry who know that industry better then anyone else. My hope is that now that I have a fairly deep understanding of the entertainment industry and how they work and conduct business that I can act as a bit of a middle man between the technology industry and the entertainment industry. The funny thing is I believe only a neutral trusted source can do this and it can’t be any one company acting as the middle person. The reason for this is the constant fear on both sides that the other is trying to rip them off. This is especially true in entertainment; I have never met so many distrusting people in my life. Which is the biggest reason that they all operate by relationships. I have been fortunate enough to develop such relationship with movers and tastemakers as they call them in the entertainment industry. This group is made up of promoters, managers, agents and celebrities themselves. It is my hope that these relationships and myself as a trusted source to both sides can help bridge the gap even if only in the smallest way.
Now the first time I realized this gap was gigantic was when I witnessed Grammy parties from both sides. Intel threw a Grammy party, which I witnessed and Kayne West threw a Grammy party, which I witnessed. To say these parties were distinctly different would be an understatement. After spending some time in the entertainment industry I am convinced that we here in the technology sector don’t throw enough parties. However I truly believe we should not throw any parties without the help of folks, promoters in particular, in the entertainment industry. That being said the entertainment industry throws parties literally all the time. The funny thing is they love having sponsors at these parties. Usually they are fashion and beverage sponsors but the one thing that really peaks celebrities and Hollywood’s attention is technology. I was recently at a party at a mansion in Beverly Hills. It was a party thrown by a PR agency called the House of Hype and they were putting this party on because it was the day before the MTV Movie awards. This party had literally 10-15 sponsors. Mostly made up of fashion, beverage and beauty companies. There were two I would consider somewhat technology centric, VTech and Vivendi video games. Now the intelligent question is why does anyone care to sponsor such an event. The answer is because these parties have many celebrities and tastemakers at them. So they hope to get celebrities interested and in many times give them their products with the hope that they get on TV with them or talk about them etc. Now one thing happened that was interesting. The guy who was throwing the party is a DJ and his name is DJ Skee. Now Skee had the Motorola Q and he had just got it that day. Of course he knew everyone at the party and he never put the Q in his pocket because as the saying goes in Hollywood “You’re only as cool as your cellphone.” Now all though there were tons of fashion and other companies there giving away free stuff what do you think was the most popular item at the whole event. If you guessed the Q then you were right. Mobs of people were always around this guy checking out his phone. There were probably 100 or more people who went home that night and ordered it. I witnessed at least two celebrities get on their phone and call their manager with the order to buy them that phone. Now where was Motorola at this event? Well no one thought to talk to them why because the entertainment industry does not talk to the technology industry. As amazing as it sounds that these folks are obsessed with gadgets and technology the industry at large was absent from this event. That is where I hope to lend a little help given now that I have connections in both sides. Let’s just hope for the sake of consumers we bridge this gap sooner then later.
http://www.csinsights.com/index.php?action=pg_article&id=84
Now the first time I realized this gap was gigantic was when I witnessed Grammy parties from both sides. Intel threw a Grammy party, which I witnessed and Kayne West threw a Grammy party, which I witnessed. To say these parties were distinctly different would be an understatement. After spending some time in the entertainment industry I am convinced that we here in the technology sector don’t throw enough parties. However I truly believe we should not throw any parties without the help of folks, promoters in particular, in the entertainment industry. That being said the entertainment industry throws parties literally all the time. The funny thing is they love having sponsors at these parties. Usually they are fashion and beverage sponsors but the one thing that really peaks celebrities and Hollywood’s attention is technology. I was recently at a party at a mansion in Beverly Hills. It was a party thrown by a PR agency called the House of Hype and they were putting this party on because it was the day before the MTV Movie awards. This party had literally 10-15 sponsors. Mostly made up of fashion, beverage and beauty companies. There were two I would consider somewhat technology centric, VTech and Vivendi video games. Now the intelligent question is why does anyone care to sponsor such an event. The answer is because these parties have many celebrities and tastemakers at them. So they hope to get celebrities interested and in many times give them their products with the hope that they get on TV with them or talk about them etc. Now one thing happened that was interesting. The guy who was throwing the party is a DJ and his name is DJ Skee. Now Skee had the Motorola Q and he had just got it that day. Of course he knew everyone at the party and he never put the Q in his pocket because as the saying goes in Hollywood “You’re only as cool as your cellphone.” Now all though there were tons of fashion and other companies there giving away free stuff what do you think was the most popular item at the whole event. If you guessed the Q then you were right. Mobs of people were always around this guy checking out his phone. There were probably 100 or more people who went home that night and ordered it. I witnessed at least two celebrities get on their phone and call their manager with the order to buy them that phone. Now where was Motorola at this event? Well no one thought to talk to them why because the entertainment industry does not talk to the technology industry. As amazing as it sounds that these folks are obsessed with gadgets and technology the industry at large was absent from this event. That is where I hope to lend a little help given now that I have connections in both sides. Let’s just hope for the sake of consumers we bridge this gap sooner then later.
http://www.csinsights.com/index.php?action=pg_article&id=84
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Low Cost PC's for Third World
One of America’s funniest comedians was a fellow named Rodney Dangerfield whose one liners where legendary but his funniest lines almost always started with “I get no respect.” The folks from AMD know just how he feels. For years, they felt that they were on par technologically with Intel and, in many cases, had even better technology, but the industry gave them no respect. But that perception seems to be changing. Their thrust into 64 bit computing that allows for backward compatibility with 32 bit apps is starting to catch on, and the last major hold out on adopting AMD chips, Dell, has finally admitted that AMD’s chips are really good and that Dell will soon be using them in their servers and computers in the coming year. Even more interesting is the fact that Intel has concluded that AMD was correct in creating a 64 bit platform with backward compatibility to 32 bit apps and is now scrambling to follow in AMD’s footsteps.
Add to that Intel many blunders over the last year and all of a sudden, AMD looks good to a lot of customers who spurned their advances in the past.
I recently met with AMD officials at their annual analysts briefing and was pleasantly surprised to find that their 64 bit chips are finding their way into all types of servers and applications. They are especially being welcomed in engineering and scientific applications and at the event, officials from Ferrari’s racing team showed how AMD’s high speed 64 bit processors gives them an edge when it comes to designing Formula One race cars. While I am encouraged to see them make serious strides in the industry and gaining acceptance even from folks like Dell who have been long time holdouts, for them to really be successful, they need to see more software vendors supporting 64 bit apps as well as Microsoft speeding up their development of a 64 bit OS that supports this new computing platform.
Although AMD’s advance in high speed computing is important and exciting, there is another product that they showed that I am even more excited about.
For many years, I have been a major proponent of creating a very low cost computing platform that could be used to bring poorer and developing nations into the information age. Last fall, AMD introduced a product that I believe is very important in the quest to bring the rest of the world into this digital age. The product is called the Personal Internet Communicator (PIC) and with keyboard and mouse, it sells for $185.00.Add a 15 inch monitor and the total cost of the package is $285.00. This is not a high powered computer by any means of the imagination and uses only an AMD Geode 500 MHz processor and has a puny 10 gig HD and basic 56K modem. However, to people in India, Mexico and other developing nations where their yearly incomes are extremely low, this computing device is a God send. AMD’s first major partnership for the PIC is Tata in India, which is a $15 billion dollar technology company that will handle the selling and distribution of these systems within India. AMD says that they will soon have partners in Mexico, China and other countries where this type of computer will be attractive due to its bare bone pricing yet real world Internet connectivity and PC functionality.
The PIC marks what I consider a serious milestone for the PC industry. At Comdex in 1999, just as the PC industry was really discovering the value and potential of the Internet, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and a telecom partner, held an unscheduled press conference to announce what he called the “Internet PC.” He argued that the PC itself was too expensive and too hard to use and that what was needed was a low cost system that had a connection to the Internet. And, more importantly for him, he was going to be the one to champion this concept and get the Internet PC out so even developing countries could afford to be a part of the information age. At the time, the median price of a PC was about $1700. But an interesting thing happened after Ellison complained about PC pricing and its lack of affordability for use and adoption in developing countries.
The PC industry started to squeeze their own margins and beat suppliers down on costs and within two years, they had fully loaded PC’s out the door for under $1000. And since then, prices have continued to slide, so much so that Ellison’s own quest to create a sub $500 PC with only Internet connectivity was squelched altogether. He also made two assumptions at the time about the Internet PC that turned out wrong. He believed that high speed connectivity was just around the corner and that would mean that applications could reside on the Internet and not on the PC itself. Consequently, he also concluded that there would not be any need for local storage since all applications and info would come directly from the Internet. Well, it turns out that we are still years away from ubiquitous broadband and, in some developing nations, they don’t even have telephony connections. But there are at least another 2 billion people in the world that, although they have low incomes, could find away to buy a PC that is at this price point and thanks to even a basic modem connection, can be brought into the digital age and reap the benefits of the Internet with its links to information and communication.
With that in mind, the PIC from AMD and their partners, which include Microsoft, Samsung, Seagate and others, is well on the way to help them in their quest to create what AMD calls their “Global Planetary Computing” platform.
There is another twist on this low cost concept that could be even more powerful in the future. The PIC is a great entry level device and I believe will be successful within the markets AMD is targeting. However, there is another school of thought that says that there will be a device that sits next to the TV and yet has all the functionality of a PC. But, the missing link is a DVD playback system that is not in the PIC as of now. The reason that this is important is that it could potentially become not only a person’s gateway to the Internet but could also become their digital entertainment system. Of course, in higher income markets this device could take the form of a game system or even a next generation set top box, but there are companies developing a device that has been dubbed a “digital entertainment center” and while it does get info and data from a PC to display on a TV, its real purpose in life is to become the hub of a person’s digital entertainment experience. A recent announcement of a partnership that includes, Zoran, Transmeta and Zedeon is proposing such a system. Although aimed at American and European markets at first, this sub $400 product includes a DVD, PVR, 40 gig HD, audio subsystem and X86 based OS and consumer user interface that is optimized for a TV. While clearly an up market device now, at this price, it could be attractive to even markets like China and other parts of Asia where DVD’s are an important part of a family’s entertainment experience today. And if the TV is the monitor, its sub $400 cost is not that far off from the $285 PIC with even more value being provided to the final customer. The bottom line is that the activity of creating a low cost PC or PC derivative for the under-developed world is now in full swing and the potential of bringing billions of more people online may be a reality sooner then many think.
http://www.csinsights.com/index.php?action=pg_article&id=54
Add to that Intel many blunders over the last year and all of a sudden, AMD looks good to a lot of customers who spurned their advances in the past.
I recently met with AMD officials at their annual analysts briefing and was pleasantly surprised to find that their 64 bit chips are finding their way into all types of servers and applications. They are especially being welcomed in engineering and scientific applications and at the event, officials from Ferrari’s racing team showed how AMD’s high speed 64 bit processors gives them an edge when it comes to designing Formula One race cars. While I am encouraged to see them make serious strides in the industry and gaining acceptance even from folks like Dell who have been long time holdouts, for them to really be successful, they need to see more software vendors supporting 64 bit apps as well as Microsoft speeding up their development of a 64 bit OS that supports this new computing platform.
Although AMD’s advance in high speed computing is important and exciting, there is another product that they showed that I am even more excited about.
For many years, I have been a major proponent of creating a very low cost computing platform that could be used to bring poorer and developing nations into the information age. Last fall, AMD introduced a product that I believe is very important in the quest to bring the rest of the world into this digital age. The product is called the Personal Internet Communicator (PIC) and with keyboard and mouse, it sells for $185.00.Add a 15 inch monitor and the total cost of the package is $285.00. This is not a high powered computer by any means of the imagination and uses only an AMD Geode 500 MHz processor and has a puny 10 gig HD and basic 56K modem. However, to people in India, Mexico and other developing nations where their yearly incomes are extremely low, this computing device is a God send. AMD’s first major partnership for the PIC is Tata in India, which is a $15 billion dollar technology company that will handle the selling and distribution of these systems within India. AMD says that they will soon have partners in Mexico, China and other countries where this type of computer will be attractive due to its bare bone pricing yet real world Internet connectivity and PC functionality.
The PIC marks what I consider a serious milestone for the PC industry. At Comdex in 1999, just as the PC industry was really discovering the value and potential of the Internet, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and a telecom partner, held an unscheduled press conference to announce what he called the “Internet PC.” He argued that the PC itself was too expensive and too hard to use and that what was needed was a low cost system that had a connection to the Internet. And, more importantly for him, he was going to be the one to champion this concept and get the Internet PC out so even developing countries could afford to be a part of the information age. At the time, the median price of a PC was about $1700. But an interesting thing happened after Ellison complained about PC pricing and its lack of affordability for use and adoption in developing countries.
The PC industry started to squeeze their own margins and beat suppliers down on costs and within two years, they had fully loaded PC’s out the door for under $1000. And since then, prices have continued to slide, so much so that Ellison’s own quest to create a sub $500 PC with only Internet connectivity was squelched altogether. He also made two assumptions at the time about the Internet PC that turned out wrong. He believed that high speed connectivity was just around the corner and that would mean that applications could reside on the Internet and not on the PC itself. Consequently, he also concluded that there would not be any need for local storage since all applications and info would come directly from the Internet. Well, it turns out that we are still years away from ubiquitous broadband and, in some developing nations, they don’t even have telephony connections. But there are at least another 2 billion people in the world that, although they have low incomes, could find away to buy a PC that is at this price point and thanks to even a basic modem connection, can be brought into the digital age and reap the benefits of the Internet with its links to information and communication.
With that in mind, the PIC from AMD and their partners, which include Microsoft, Samsung, Seagate and others, is well on the way to help them in their quest to create what AMD calls their “Global Planetary Computing” platform.
There is another twist on this low cost concept that could be even more powerful in the future. The PIC is a great entry level device and I believe will be successful within the markets AMD is targeting. However, there is another school of thought that says that there will be a device that sits next to the TV and yet has all the functionality of a PC. But, the missing link is a DVD playback system that is not in the PIC as of now. The reason that this is important is that it could potentially become not only a person’s gateway to the Internet but could also become their digital entertainment system. Of course, in higher income markets this device could take the form of a game system or even a next generation set top box, but there are companies developing a device that has been dubbed a “digital entertainment center” and while it does get info and data from a PC to display on a TV, its real purpose in life is to become the hub of a person’s digital entertainment experience. A recent announcement of a partnership that includes, Zoran, Transmeta and Zedeon is proposing such a system. Although aimed at American and European markets at first, this sub $400 product includes a DVD, PVR, 40 gig HD, audio subsystem and X86 based OS and consumer user interface that is optimized for a TV. While clearly an up market device now, at this price, it could be attractive to even markets like China and other parts of Asia where DVD’s are an important part of a family’s entertainment experience today. And if the TV is the monitor, its sub $400 cost is not that far off from the $285 PIC with even more value being provided to the final customer. The bottom line is that the activity of creating a low cost PC or PC derivative for the under-developed world is now in full swing and the potential of bringing billions of more people online may be a reality sooner then many think.
http://www.csinsights.com/index.php?action=pg_article&id=54
Command and Control: New A/V Receivers
Receivers have come a long way from their humble two-channel stereo receiver roots. A modern audio/video receiver serves as the central hub of a technologically advanced home theater system, and it does a lot more than power a set of speakers. In addition to amplification, an A/V receiver performs video switching, digital processing and a host of other essential functions, and some even serve as a powerful control center for satellite radio and digital audio playback. A/V receivers are available in a wide range of capabilities and prices to meet just about anyone's needs and budget.
Pioneer VSX-816-K
Surround-sound home theater receivers originally provided five channels of amplification plus a passive subwoofer output, but today's receivers now have as many as seven powered channels. One affordable seven-channel receiver is the Pioneer VSX-816-K, with an MSRP of about $300, which produces a generous 110 watts of power per channel and throws in a few surprises. This black unit is also available in silver as model VSX-816-S.
Satellite radio has exploded in popularity in recent years, and the VSX-816-K capitalizes on this by offering XM Satellite Radio compatibility. With the addition of an XM tuner, antenna and paid subscription (all available separately), the VSX-816-K lets you listen to XM's 170-plus channels, including 69 commercial-free music channels. This receiver even supports XM HD Surround, giving you a five-channel radio listening experience that must be heard to be believed.
Pioneer VSX-816-K seven-channel A/V receiver
Pioneer VSX-816-K seven-channel A/V receiver
The VSX-816-K includes Pioneer's MCACC (Multi-Channel Acoustic Calibration Circuit) system, which automatically configures speaker levels for your particular listening environment. For a powerful and easy-to-use A/V receiver that is easy on the wallet, take a look at the Pioneer VSX-816-K.
Panasonic SA-XR57S
The Panasonic SA-XR57S (with an MSRP of about $400) offers a host of advanced features for a very appealing price. This seven-channel home theater receiver uses precise digital amplification for a clean sound, and at 100 watts per channel, it is no slouch in the power department.
Panasonic includes its HDAVI Control system to make operating the SA-XR57S and associated components an effortless task. For example, if you want to watch a DVD in surround sound, simply hit the play button on the HDAVI remote control. With the help of user-configured macros, the SA-XR57S will then switch to the proper source input. Your TV will turn on and go to the correct input, and your DVD player will power up and begin playing the disc. It doesn't get any easier than that.
The SA-XR57S also features HDMI switching, giving you direct digital-to-digital connections with your compatible home theater components. The Panasonic SA-XR57S delivers high-end A/V receiver features without the high-end price.
Yamaha RX-V559
While the RX-V559 is the only six-channel A/V receiver in this round-up, that is no reason for this versatile Yamaha unit to hang its head. In addition to a very respectable 95 watts of power per channel, the RX-V559 (with an MSRP of about $450) proves to be an ideal control center for iPod audio.
With the addition of Yamaha's iPod dock (model YDS-10), you can control your iPod via the RX-V559's remote control. Even better, when connected to a TV, the RX-V559 lets you navigate your iPod content through an on-screen display. This home theater receiver also has an advanced processing mode that restores audio details lost during the digital audio compression/decompression process. Your digital music library has never sounded so good, and the dock will even charge your iPod for you.
The RX-V559 is XM-ready, so with an optional tuner, antenna and subscription, you can listen to XM Satellite Radio in your family room. This unit is even compatible with XM HD Surround, so you can hear certain XM stations in full multichannel glory. For all this and more, check out the Yamaha RX-V559.
Onkyo TX-SR603X
Onkyo's TX-SR603X is another A/V receiver to offer XM compatibility, but this unit does a lot more than just play satellite radio. The TX-SR603X (with an MSRP of about $500) provides 90 watts into its seven channels of amplification, and with 32 digital processing modes and adjustable crossovers, it gives you exacting control of your home theater experience.
As we mentioned, the TX-SR603X is XM-compatible. Unlike many similar receivers, however, this unit has an integrated XM tuner, so all you need is an antenna and a subscription to get you going. With an optional adapter, you can also interface your iPod with the TX-SR603X for a sound that blows away any compact iPod speaker system.
With Onkyo's Auto Speaker Set-Up and the included microphone, the TX-SR603X will automatically calibrate speaker levels and delays for optimal sound at your preferred listening position. You can even use this A/V receiver to power two rooms at once, so the kids can watch a DVD in surround sound in the family room while you listen to XM Radio in the den. With all these listening options, it's no wonder we like the Onkyo TX-SR603X.
http://products.howstuffworks.com/command-and-control-new-a-v-receivers-article.htm
Pioneer VSX-816-K
Surround-sound home theater receivers originally provided five channels of amplification plus a passive subwoofer output, but today's receivers now have as many as seven powered channels. One affordable seven-channel receiver is the Pioneer VSX-816-K, with an MSRP of about $300, which produces a generous 110 watts of power per channel and throws in a few surprises. This black unit is also available in silver as model VSX-816-S.
Satellite radio has exploded in popularity in recent years, and the VSX-816-K capitalizes on this by offering XM Satellite Radio compatibility. With the addition of an XM tuner, antenna and paid subscription (all available separately), the VSX-816-K lets you listen to XM's 170-plus channels, including 69 commercial-free music channels. This receiver even supports XM HD Surround, giving you a five-channel radio listening experience that must be heard to be believed.
Pioneer VSX-816-K seven-channel A/V receiver
Pioneer VSX-816-K seven-channel A/V receiver
The VSX-816-K includes Pioneer's MCACC (Multi-Channel Acoustic Calibration Circuit) system, which automatically configures speaker levels for your particular listening environment. For a powerful and easy-to-use A/V receiver that is easy on the wallet, take a look at the Pioneer VSX-816-K.
Panasonic SA-XR57S
The Panasonic SA-XR57S (with an MSRP of about $400) offers a host of advanced features for a very appealing price. This seven-channel home theater receiver uses precise digital amplification for a clean sound, and at 100 watts per channel, it is no slouch in the power department.
Panasonic includes its HDAVI Control system to make operating the SA-XR57S and associated components an effortless task. For example, if you want to watch a DVD in surround sound, simply hit the play button on the HDAVI remote control. With the help of user-configured macros, the SA-XR57S will then switch to the proper source input. Your TV will turn on and go to the correct input, and your DVD player will power up and begin playing the disc. It doesn't get any easier than that.
The SA-XR57S also features HDMI switching, giving you direct digital-to-digital connections with your compatible home theater components. The Panasonic SA-XR57S delivers high-end A/V receiver features without the high-end price.
Yamaha RX-V559
While the RX-V559 is the only six-channel A/V receiver in this round-up, that is no reason for this versatile Yamaha unit to hang its head. In addition to a very respectable 95 watts of power per channel, the RX-V559 (with an MSRP of about $450) proves to be an ideal control center for iPod audio.
With the addition of Yamaha's iPod dock (model YDS-10), you can control your iPod via the RX-V559's remote control. Even better, when connected to a TV, the RX-V559 lets you navigate your iPod content through an on-screen display. This home theater receiver also has an advanced processing mode that restores audio details lost during the digital audio compression/decompression process. Your digital music library has never sounded so good, and the dock will even charge your iPod for you.
The RX-V559 is XM-ready, so with an optional tuner, antenna and subscription, you can listen to XM Satellite Radio in your family room. This unit is even compatible with XM HD Surround, so you can hear certain XM stations in full multichannel glory. For all this and more, check out the Yamaha RX-V559.
Onkyo TX-SR603X
Onkyo's TX-SR603X is another A/V receiver to offer XM compatibility, but this unit does a lot more than just play satellite radio. The TX-SR603X (with an MSRP of about $500) provides 90 watts into its seven channels of amplification, and with 32 digital processing modes and adjustable crossovers, it gives you exacting control of your home theater experience.
As we mentioned, the TX-SR603X is XM-compatible. Unlike many similar receivers, however, this unit has an integrated XM tuner, so all you need is an antenna and a subscription to get you going. With an optional adapter, you can also interface your iPod with the TX-SR603X for a sound that blows away any compact iPod speaker system.
With Onkyo's Auto Speaker Set-Up and the included microphone, the TX-SR603X will automatically calibrate speaker levels and delays for optimal sound at your preferred listening position. You can even use this A/V receiver to power two rooms at once, so the kids can watch a DVD in surround sound in the family room while you listen to XM Radio in the den. With all these listening options, it's no wonder we like the Onkyo TX-SR603X.
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