Will Robertson's Blog

A less talked about feature of the latest update to the iPad’s operating system, iOS 5, was the inclusion of a new split keyboard. This keyboard is the iPad’s keyboard, split in half, shrunken down, and moveable to different positions on the iPad. Hard to put in words, so just check out the screenshots in the post.

This may sound like no big deal, but it is actually a great improvement to typing on the iPad. The smaller keys hugging opposite sides of the screen make thumb-typing possible. It is more like typing on an smartphone, just with your hands further apart.

The ability to have the keyboard further up the iPad’s screen makes for better balance when holding it to type.

While it definitely takes a while to adjust to, I have found it to be much faster than the standard keyboard. However some apps do not function correctly when using it (looking at you Facebook app). Another neat feature is that the autocorrect works as if the keyboard is not actually split, so for example, if you are going to hit “y” and instead hit “t”, it often still corrects to “y” even though technically you were nowhere near it.

When I think about how I use my tablets the most, my usage falls into three main categories:
- reading (books with Kobo and magazines with Zinio)
- writing (blogging with WordPress and documents with Docs To Go)
- communicating (Twitter, Facebook, and Email)

Can the Kobo Vox cover these needs? I haven’t had a chance to get my hands on one yet, but I am betting the answer will be yes. Hopefully I will find a Kobo to test out at AndroidTO tomorrow or when I check again at Chapters on Thursday.

Apps

The Kobo Vox is built around reading, and obviously comes loaded with Kobo’s Android app. The app appears to be a special version, providing Kobo’s latest features Reading Life and Pulse for more interaction with your books and other readers. But going beyond Kobo’s own app, the company has partnered with my favourite magazine newstand Zinio. The Kobo Vox will come preloaded with Zinio’s Android app, ready for users to explore magazines and quickly subscribe to their favourites.

Since Kobo decided to build their tablet/eReader on top of the Android operating system, there is already a thriving app ecosystem for Kobo to tap into. Apps such as Email, Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress already exist for Android, so Kobo can simply pre-load these apps on the device to give users a full-featured solution.

While it looks like Kobo has not partnered with Google for access to the Google Market, the Kobo Vox will come with the GetJar app store. GetJar claims to have over 15,000 free apps available in it, which will ensure no shortage of apps for Kobo users. It remains to be seen if Kobo will follow Amazon and create its own app store, but I seriously doubt they would want to take on that distraction.

Hardware

The price point of Kobo’s tablet is a major part of what makes it so interesting: $200. To hit this low price, it looks like some corners were cut. The device lacks front and back facing cameras, so do not expect to video chat with this tablet. No on-board microphone, so you will not be making VOIP calls or recording audio. Limited storage space of 8Gbs, however it is expandable with a 32Gb MicroSD card. Limited memory of just 512Mb, which could make multitasking and peformance less graceful than on more equiped tablets.

Positioning

Kobo’s latest positioning seems to be around the idea of “openness” and “freedom”. Their new company tagline is “Read Freely” and the Kobo Vox gets its name from “vox populi, the voice of the people”.

In regard to eBooks and eReaders, this positioning can been seen as an oppositite approach to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Apple’s eReading services, which are all much less open than Kobo’s service. Kobo’s competitors are limited in terms of how you can access the content you buy (specific devices or apps only) and where you can buy (less international than Kobo).

Competing against such large players in the ecommerce world has put Kobo is a situation of intense competition. They can not beat Amazon on price, so the alternative has led them to differentiation. Kobo wants to come off as the nice, friendly, and open eBook provider, and paint their competition as controlling and restrictive.

This latest device is an interesting move by Kobo, I will be interested to watch how well it competes in the tablet and eReader markets.

Today’s news went from bad to worse. It started with a rumour from the BGR blog and was later confirmed by RIM’s BlackBerry Blog: PlayBook OS 2.0 won’t be released until February 2012.

Reasons cited were somewhat expected, problems adapting the BlackBerry Messenger and BES device management system for managing users with multiple devices (BlackBerry and PlayBook). Rather than release a version of BBM that would be independent from a user’s BBM on their BlackBerry, RIM has decided to take the time to create a seamless solution, keeping things in sync across multiple devices.

Given that there will not be too many new developments on the PlayBook and BlackBerry front, I am going to scale back my blogging on all things RIM. I still have faith and enthusiasm for the PlayBook and RIM’s vision with BBX, but until RIM delivers the goods they have lost my focus.

The PlayBook 2.0 release will have to have some really impressive updates if RIM it is to rescue the PlayBook.

Starting tomorrow with the AndroidTO conference – a conference in Toronto for Android developers and enthusiasts – I am going to open up my blogging to focus on the mobile industry in general, not just BlackBerry.

The next version of the BlackBerry PlayBook’s operating system will feature the ability to run Android apps. Using a developer beta of this update, I have begun installing Android apps to fill some gaps in what is available for PlayBook.

Thanks to the fine folks at CrackBerry Forums for testing and uploading Android apps (free ones only, these guys are not jerks) for use on the PlayBook.

WordPress users, please ask the team behind the Android WordPress app to submit it to App World so that everyone on PlayBook can use it once PlayBook v2.0 is publicly released.

If you have read the other posts on my blog, you are likely wondering why I am blogging about AndroidTO, a conference for developers and users of Google’s mobile operating system Android. While I am BlackBerry user, a few things have driven my interest in Android.

• Android Player for BBX – RIM has created a virtualized version of Android that runs on top of the BBX operating system that powers the BlackBerry PlayBook and future BlackBerry smartphones and tablets. This means Android developers can submit their applications to BlackBerry App World with little effort, and have them running on the BBX platform in no time. This opens up a whole new realm of apps to PlayBook users, and has given me a taste of Android from running some essential apps on my PlayBook that are missing natively, such as Zinio magazine reader.
• Kobo Vox and Kindle Fire – following in B&N’s footsteps of creating a low-cost content focused Android tablet, Kobo and Amazon are both releasing their own 7-inch Android tablets. the Kobo Vox is incredibly interesting, for enough reasons to warrant its own blog post soon, and it will likely be the first Android device that is interesting enough to me to purchase.

The AndroidTO conference seems like the perfect opportunity to get a better sense of what Android is all about, as well as learn about the mobile industry from the great lineup of speakers they have put together. But do not take my word for it, check out AndroidTO yourself and sign up to go! (Discount code TAUG will get you 80% off)

Following the BlackBerry Network downtime last week, RIM has announced plans to provide a number of apps for free to all BlackBerry users as an apology. Rather than provide a reimbursement for the downtime, RIM is offering “a selection of premium apps worth a total value of more than US $100 will be offered free of charge”.

RIM made some strategic decisions when deciding to give away apps and picking which apps to give away. Here are three underlying goals that RIM may have been considering:

Get Users into App World
BlackBerry users are not rabid app downloaders like users on competing platforms such as the iPhone. Getting more users into App World – potentially for their first time – should increase demand for apps, something RIM should be trying desperately to do if they are to be successful in building a strong BlackBerry platform. Increased awareness of App World and the concept of loading your BlackBerry with apps will be a good boost to App World’s usage and developer’s sales. The Photo Editor, Nobex Radio, and Shazam all provide useful capabilities and are a small taste of what App World has to offer.

• Photo Editor Ultimate – Ice Cold Apps
• Nobex Radio™ Premium – Nobex
• Shazam Encore – Shazam

Promote BlackBerry Gaming
When someone sees a BlackBerry, gaming is not the first thing that leaps to mind. RIM wants to put the BlackBerry devices on equal footing with iOS and Android in this respect, and has done a lot of work to ensure BlackBerry devices are suitable for high quality games. Giving BlackBerry subscribers a number of good games will get them into the gaming mindset, and likely lead them to explore App World for more games when they get tired of the free ones.

• SIMS 3 – Electronic Arts
• Bejeweled – Electronic Arts
• N.O.V.A. – Gameloft
• Texas Hold’em Poker 2 – Gameloft
• Bubble Bash 2 – Gameloft

Siri is not the only Virtual Assistant/Voice Control Out There
It can not be a coincidence that RIM decided to give away a “virtual assistant” app at the same time Apple is making headlines with their own virtual assistant for iPhone, “Siri”. While these voice control and virtual assistant apps may not have the same hype as Apple’s Siri, RIM likely wanted to capitalize on the buzz for this type of app and make BlackBerry users aware of the solutions already available for them. Giving BlackBerry users Vlingo and Drive Safe.ly will make sure they are not left out of the voice control fun.

• DriveSafe.ly Pro – iSpeech.org
• iSpeech Translator Pro – iSpeech.org
• Drive Safe.ly Enterprise – iSpeech.org
• Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant – Vlingo

See RIM’s Press Release for more information and if you are a BlackBerry user, check App World on Wednesday to download any of the apps that interest you, I know I will be grabbing most of them.

UPDATE January 15, 2011: More information has finally come out about the BlackBerry Video Store. It is launching in February with the 2.0 release for PlayBook. Rather than QuickPlay Media powering it as I had suspected, it is Rovi with their CinemaNow service. From looking at CinemaNow, it looks like it will have a fairly comprehensive library of content and some neat features like being able to start watching the videos as they download. Unfortunately it will be US-only at launch, with support for other countries coming soon after.

Orginal post:

Tomorrow RIM will likely reveal a number of new apps, updates, devices, and services during the BlackBerry DevCon Keynote presentation. One thing that RIM has previously mentioned in passing was the BlackBerry Video Store. When discussing updates to the PlayBook, Mike Lazaridis described it:

“new… multimedia and video content including BlackBerry Video Store which will have 10,000 movies and TV shows available on-demand to buy or rent, as well as new movie releases on the same day as DVD availability. And of course with the built-in HDMI output the ability to enjoy videos on your TV without the need to buy additional system components.”

Content such as movies and TV shows has proven to be quite important to consumers, so RIM is attempting to satisfy this demand with their own BlackBerry Video Store. The naming suggests that this service will not simply be a third-party service (like 7Digital’s “Music Store” on the PlayBook), but one under the BlackBerry brand. However building a large scale content management system with on-demand streaming media and negotiating content deals with film and television studios is no small task. Did RIM partner with someone on this?

One possible partner is QuickPlay Media, a company that bills itself as a “Managed service provider for delivering video to tablets”. QuickPlay Media’s primary offering is a white label video management and delivery system for mobile devices, exactly what RIM needs. RIM has already partnered with QuickPlay Media before, to have them power another BlackBerry branded service, BlackBerry Podcasts for BlackBerry smartphones and the PlayBook. Another interesting connection between the two companies is QuickPlay Media’s movie rental app, Pocket Cinema, only available for the BlackBerry Torch in the UK. This application allows customers to rent, download, and watch movies on their BlackBerry Torch. Sounds quite similar to the BlackBerry Video Store.

QuickPlay Media’s solutions already power similar applications for wireless carriers such as AT&T and Bell Mobility, as well as content producers such as CBS, ABC, CBC, and Global TV. The company looks like a natural partner for RIM, given their pre-existing partnership and QuickPlay’s expertise and advanced solutions for this space.

Competitors to RIM such as Apple and Google already have their own proprietary content services, so RIM is playing catch-up in this respect. I was curious if RIM might instead acquire QuickPlay Media outright to make an even stronger push into this area. That would bring significant expertise inhouse and RIM could further leverage it to enhance the media capabilities on BlackBerry devices. If the rumours of RIM releasing a media streaming device for televisions turns out to be true, this might make a lot of sense. Perhaps we will see another interesting company join the Team BlackBerry tomorrow.

I do not think there has been an official statement on whether RIM will bring support for BlackBerry smartphone apps to the BlackBerry PlayBook. However a recent update to the BlackBerry website seems to suggest support is coming soon:

“Plus many of your favorite apps for BlackBerry smartphones and Android will soon be available. All in BlackBerry App World.”

This possibility had been mentioned early on, but I think this is the most official acknowledgement of the feature. It makes sense for RIM to develop this for the QNX operating system in time for the launch of the first smartphone running the new OS. This will ensure the device launches with a decent number of apps available for it. It will have access to some of the apps that make the BlackBerry great such as BlackBerry Travel and BlackBerry Traffic.