Galaxy S3 clearly has the potential to rival the iPhone says Fjord

Rating: Will the market leader deaeat the style guru?
Following the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S3, design consultancy Fjord which works with mobile manufacturers and companies to create new innovative services, feels the necessity to comment on this possibly game-changing event. Olof Schybergson, CEO, with Fjord suggested, “The launch of the Samsung Galaxy S3 has been highly anticipated, and lately Samsung has had incredible momentum overall. The buzz around Samsung has been tangible, and news last week from Strategy Analytics that it has overtaken Nokia in terms of mobile device sales comes as no surprise.He continued,” The new device sports a superbly fast, quad-core processor and a super AMOLED large screen.”
“The advanced overall device experience, and the fact that Samsung will throw marketing muscle behind this device means that it’s likely to fly off shop shelves.”
“In terms of the mobile market as a whole, Apple has long been dominating the headlines and has also collected the lion share of the profits, but Samsung is starting to grab meaningful pieces of both the buzz and the profits.”
Schybergson added, “The iPhone has been an amazing success story, but increasingly there are several good device alternatives available for consumers, often at lower prices. Devices like the Galaxy S3 offer people a great overall package, where considered design meets cutting-edge technology.”
Will it be a game changer, he asks? “As style conscious consumers start to look for less ubiquitous alternatives than the iPhone, companies like Samsung could be well placed to reap the benefits, and the Galaxy S3 clearly has the potential to rival the iPhone.
Hans Cett is an established freelance author and consultant specialising in the mobile communications industry. He also writes for Countdown2MWC - http://countdown2mwc.wordpress.com/
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RIM BlackBerry 10 prototype fails to wow investors

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd gave developers a glimpse at its next-generation BlackBerry 10 smartphone on Tuesday and a set of software tools to create flashy apps to run on its new operating system, but investors were unimpressed and RIM's shares tumbled.
At RIM's annual BlackBerry World conference in Orlando, new CEO Thorsten Heins took center stage to unveil a prototype of the devices RIM expects to launch later this year. The BlackBerry 10 devices will navigate with fewer keystrokes than the legacy smartphones, relying on swipe gestures and word suggestions.
"We wanted a user paradigm that is easy and fast," Heins said, demonstrating how information from documents, emails, calendars, and address books could slide in and out from the screen's edges. "It's all about making things flow."
Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners, said Heins' presentation only served as a reminder of the tough road the company has ahead as it prepares for the make-or-break BlackBerry 10 launch.
RIM knows consumers won't buy its new phones or tablets unless developers get excited about the platform and create a wealth of apps to operate on it. A dearth of apps for the legacy BlackBerry is one of the big reasons RIM has suffered huge market-share losses to Apple Inc and Google Inc's Android in recent years.
As a consequence, shares of the BlackBerry maker have dropped about 70 percent over the past 12 months. On Tuesday, RIM closed down 5.8 percent at C$13.31 in trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
"The bulls have disappeared from the scene as far as RIM is concerned," said David Cockfield, managing director and portfolio manager at Northland Wealth Management. "There is no investor confidence in RIM at all. It will have to do something fairly spectacular to turn things around."
STARTING FROM SCRATCH
To regain its stride, RIM is essentially starting from scratch. Few of the apps available for its existing smartphones will work on the new platform, and the legacy BlackBerry won't be able to run apps created for the new platform.
Based on an operating system called QNX that's compatible with numerous open-source coding languages, BlackBerry 10 is a major break with RIM's legacy operating software, a proprietary system that turned off developers.
The prototype device that RIM handed out to developers has no physical keyboard, unlike most BlackBerry models. Known as Alpha Dev, it looks like a smaller version of RIM's PlayBook tablet, complete with a touch-sensitive frame that a user can swipe to call up a menu.
While RIM says the hardware it eventually launches will bear little resemblance to the prototype, apps built for the Alpha Dev's 4.2 inch screen will allow for a "very seamless transition" to BlackBerry 10 devices, said Christopher Smith, vice-president for application platform and tools.
As for the software toolkits, they are designed to simplify the task for app developers and independent content producers.
One of them is Cascades - a toolkit from The Astonishing Tribe, a Swedish user interface company RIM bought in 2010. It helps create apps that are rich in graphics. Developers can simply select an effect with a touch and have it written directly into their program.
QUICKER DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
RIM said it was already working with some partners to ensure content and apps are available when the devices are launched.
Among them are Endomondo, which specializes in apps to promote physical fitness; PixelMags, an mobile magazine newsstand; Poynt , a local search engine; and Wikitude, whose apps superimpose information over camera images.
Gameloft is working to bring 11 games to the new platform, including a puzzle game called "Shark Dash" and a more complex game called "N.O.V.A 3: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance."
"RIM has got it right with the BlackBerry 10 platform," said Adam Linford from Truphone, which offers local calling and data rates while its customers are roaming. "The platform's support for open-source components flattens the learning curve, enabling us to build a new application quickly and cost effectively."
YAWNING APP GAP
Impressing developers is crucial for RIM, which has expanded beyond its traditional strength in providing mobile email to office workers, only to struggle against the more consumer-friendly iPhone from Apple and the slew of devices that make use of the Android platform.
Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM has around 15,000 apps for its PlayBook tablet and 70,000 apps for its smartphones or the tablet, compared with 200,000 iPad apps, and half a million for the iPhone.
A recent survey from Appcelerator and IDC showed less than 16 percent of developers were "very interested" in creating programs for RIM, compared with 90 percent for Apple and 80 percent for Android.
Earlier on Tuesday, research firm IDC said that RIM's share of the global smartphone market had slipped to 6.7 percent in the first quarter, from 13.6 percent a year earlier.
(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Frank McGurty)

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On the Call: Comcast executive on Xfinity iPad app

Like some other cable companies, Comcast Corp. has introduced an application for iPads, iPhones and iPod touches that lets subscribers view on-demand movies, search TV listings and control their set-top boxes. On a conference call Wednesday, an analyst asked Neil Smit, head of Comcast's cable division, how the app is faring.
QUESTION: How many of your video subscribers are actively using your Xfinity TV online product? And perhaps you could give us a sense of how important you think that product had been to improving your video subscriber results. In other words, do you see that product as a key driver of your slowing video subscriber losses?
RESPONSE: We've had a little over 5 million downloads. The people who are using it, interestingly, are using the tools more than viewing the long-form content. The tools I'm referring to are Search and Remote.
We feel that it is helping our customers explore the content and get to the content in an easier manner. Our belief is that if customers can find our content and view it in an easier way and it's a better experience that there will be more customers wanting to use our service.
The other thing I'd say is that it has things like cross-platform search, and I think it enables us to leverage one of the advantages we have, which is great content: (regular TV), (video on demand), DVR, and online. And we believe that's one of the key advantages that we have.

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