Bing on iPhone - Preview of Windows Mobile 7?

Microsoft released an app that allows iPhone users to use Bing, bring the three major search engines to Apple's mobile platform.  Boy, this is awkward, eh?  I want to be in the room when his guys came to his office and told him that they have to make an app for the iPhone and it'll be Bing.  

Well, it means the mobile search war is now engaged.  Google, by default, is running the mobile search show as it resides on nearly ever major platform.  Not counting Android devices, Google is the default search engine on the iPhone's mobile Safari.  Including those with iPod Touch, 80 million iPhone and iPod Touch users rely on Google for their searches.  

I'm not sure Bing coming to the iPhone is a big deal at the moment but it does mean that Yahoo and Google cannot take the iPhone platform for granted.  And I'm sure we'll see Bing on other platforms in short order.  And for mobile users, this is fantastic.  

Personally, I deleted Google's app months ago.  It was static and it doesn't offer me anything more than what I can get on Safari.  Yahoo's app was more engaging, offering social networks, news, and mail.  With Yahoo, you feel like you've got the whole portal experience on an app.

And what of Bing?  At the home page, you get a very nice interface that reminded me of Pre's own looks.  It was uncanny.  At the top is the search field and at the bottom are options for news, maps, movies, images, businesses, and directions.  

As you can see from the image, this isn't a simple mobile Bing search wrapped an app. The following are more images of searching.  I think the image search is awesome.  

It's promising and Microsoft really can design a good app if it really wants to.  Imagine what's coming for Windows Mobile 7 if Microsoft can do this for the iPhone.  Google, time to step it, man.  

Now, the question is whether Bing will be on Android.

Note:  Keep an eye on this.  Google's the new boogy-man as far as old guard techs are concerned.  Don't be surprised seeing Microsoft and Apple cozy up a bit on certain fronts.  I'm serious about this.  

Free Wi-Fi At Airports Courtesy of Some Rich Tech Companies

Free is good.  And even better is free Wi-Fi.  That's right.  This Holiday Season, Google will be offering free wireless Internet access via Wi-Fi

This will bring a whole lot of goodwill for Google as delays and other airport-related issues are likely to crop up.  So from now until January 11, 2010, you'll have wireless Internet access with your smartphones, mobile devices, and laptops.  And for Seattle and Burbank, your free Wi-Fi will remain free forever!

Why is Google doing this?  Love?  Because they want mobile warriors to get used to the fact that wireless access is here to stay and that we better get used to it!  Well, sort of.  I'm sure they have bigger mobile plans in mind and this is just a started.

In their press release, they're doing this because they know things'll go bad at the airport so this is to help folks stay connected and pass the time.  Here are some details upfront:

• Google has googles of money to be doing this.  The goodwill will be enormous.
• 100 Million folks will travel between the 47 participating airports.
• Boingo Wireless, Advanced Wireless Group, Airport Marketing Income and others are involved. 
•  Also, "once users log on to networks in any of the participating airports, travelers will have the option make a donation to Engineers Without Borders, the One Economy Corporation or the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. Google will match the donations made across all the networks up to $250,000, and the airport network that generates the highest amount per passenger by January 1, 2010 will receive $15,000 to donate to the local nonprofit of their choice."
• Here is a list of the 47 airports:

Not to be outdone, Yahoo is offering free Wi-Fi for Time Square starting today.  And for a whole year!  And where is Redmond is all this?  Well, Redmond is working with JiWire to provide free Wi-Fi for folks who use Bing.  Not a bad deal since I already use Bing from time to time.

Oh, and Macworld mentioned a few airports missing from the list that I thought would have jumped at this opportunity - LAX, SFO, and JFK quickly comes to mind.  Some wireless airport outfits charge $10 for a mere 20 minutes of access.  The shame.

One more thing.  Toyota also offers solar-powered Wi-Fi as a part of their Prius promotion using solar trees. You've got to see it.

More at info:

• Google Press Release
• Free Holiday Wifi
• Macworld
• Unwired View
• Muni Wireless -Yahoo provides free Wi-Fi for Time Square
• Daily Wireless
• Daily Wireless - Microsoft and JiWire offers free Wi-Fi for using Bing
• JiWire and Microsoft
• Wireless Week
• Popular Science
• Muni Wireless - editorial on free Wi-Fi
• Gotta Be Mobile
• Onxo - Toyota Solar Trees with Wi-Fi

Yahoo! T-Mobile And Glue - We're Down, Not Out!

Yahoo seems to be on our minds lately at Onxo.  And for good reasons.  Pretty much everyone, not users, are dumping on them.

But just to prove everyone wrong, Yahoo comes charging out with three announcements this week so far.  First, we know Yang is out.  He did what he thought was right for Yahoo and in a perfect world, I agree.  Alas, while I'm hopeful we'll get there some day, the world is far from perfect.  Yahoo needed vision and Yang did not provide one.  Yahoo needed a partner and Yahoo walked away from Microsoft.

All is not lost.  This is huge.  Yahoo made a deal with T-Mobile USA (apparently T-Mobile's international ops as well) to become the default search engine on T-Mobile's phones.  A great coup consider T-Mobile launched the G1 along with Google last month. 

That was the second announcement.  The third announcement is Yahoo! Glue.  What is it?  It's their new search result implementation.  It provides users with text, images, and other results like videos all on one page.  I think it can work well of novice users who are looking for the latest and most commonly searched items.  More at Yahoo's search blog.

Will I be using this?  Sure, I'll give it a try.  It's limited now and Yahoo will need to move fast to increase searchable topics to get folks interested and hooked.

Impact:  So long as Yahoo remains in contention, it's all good for mobile warriors.  In fact, they are doing better than Microsoft.  More competition, the better.

Note:  A Yahoo-Microsoft partnership for mobile search might make sense.  I would use Microsoft's engine at the back end and Yahoo's front end.  Yahoo's UI seems to be more user-friendly and consistent.

Source: Yahoo! Glue, WSJ

Yahoo Makes It Onto ATT phones

Yahoo News is reporting Yahoo Search and likely other services are making their way onto ATT's phones.  This opens up Yahoo to about 70 million users.  However, Google recently made a similar move with Verizon Wireless for their 70 million or so users.

Of course, Yahoo is left off iPhone users as the default search on Safari is Google.  Still not a bad save for Yahoo.  After all they certain can do with this victory.  On a personal note, I've been with Yahoo since my days at UCLA when my roommate, Dave, showed me all the Robotech gears and news I could find on Yahoo's very simple listing at the time.

My, how they've grown.  Still, Google truly rocks.  And I doubt Android users will be using Yahoo's services all that much if it's tired into Google and, potentially, mobile Chrome in the future.

Nevertheless, this is the kind of things mobile warriors love.  Suffice to say, Yahoo Search is geared towards finding limited but more direct items where as Google is a bit more comprehensive.  Yahoo's Search may have more appeal to users.

My suggestion as far as Yahoo is concerned is for them to develop a Google app like the one on the iPhone.  This way, even if they're not the default search engine on another service, this offers them a back door to users on other services.

Apple Pissed Off Beijing? Mistake or On Purpose?

Here's the gist.  Sydney Morning Herald is reporting a blogger in China Apple support told her that her access to iTunes was not being blocked at their end.  Why is this significant?


An album called Songs For Tibet was being downloaded and offered for free to Olympics athletes as a means of protest.  The album was launched on August 5 on iTunes.  The Art of Peace Foundation offered the album free of charge to the Olympians.  By downloading and and listening to the album, it was a way for the athletes to show their support for the Tibetan people.  

It not clear if this was something Apple was aware of.  After all, could Apple really not catch this before allowing music that is likely to piss off the overlords of the biggest consumer market in the world?  Well, sure.
It's possible given how stretched Apple is with the launches of iPhone worldwide and the problems they're having to deal with such as MobileMe and 3G connectivity issues.  

Plus, the title of the album sounded harmless enough.  With sounds, videos, and movies added all the time, it's entirely possible the addition of a politically charged album was given the same treatment of any other music.  According to SMH, the proceeds would go towards projects favored by the Dalai Lama.  Ouch. 

But suppose Apple did know about this.  Think differently, are they?  Just about ever Western companies have capitulated to the will of the Beijing government.  It's as if the nation of 20% of the world's population was more important than the rest of the 80%.  


I'm not going to get political here.  But folks should know what it's like to deal with the Chinese government.  A lot of times, it's their way or, well, just their way.  It's the nature of capitalism.  Just ask the Chinese guy Jerry Yang helped Beijing locked away.

That said, suppose Apple knew about the charged nature of the album and the situation it can create but decided to roll the dice and see what they come up with.  Would it be such a bad bet standing up to Beijing?

Outside of China, there are five billion plus consumers would may appreciate a company that finally stood up to a totalitarian government everyone from GM to Coke to all the foreign leaders who showed up for the opening ceremony.  Standing up to the Communist government is a claim Yahoo and Microsoft cannot claim.  For all the worth of "do no evil" mantra adopted by Google, it simply is not willing to walk away from 20% of the search market and relinquish it to Microsoft, Yahoo, or Baidu.  

Sure, Chinese patriots will rip Apple and profess never to buy a Mac or an iPod.  But there could be more outside of China just might look look at Apple's iTunes protest favorably enough to decide to make their next phone an iPhone or their next laptop a Macbook.  Imagine folks in Congress starts to mandate the federal government only deal with companies that does not bow to the will of the Chinese government.  Apple could sell more iPhones and Macs than they ever dream of in China!

What a story this would be but let's face it.  Apple is a corporate entity whose purpose to is make as much only as possible.  As digital music news said best, "Ultimately, Apple, Google and other high-flying companies are forced to modify their content and approach, or risk exclusion".  

More reading related this issue:

• Sydney Morning Herald
• digital music news
• the MacObserver
• Salon
• Rolling Stone
• Mobilewhack

We'll follow up on this once the news outlets and tech blogs pick up on this.  This could be interest if Apple affirms this ploy or an "honest mistake" by Apple.

Mobile Update for August 5, 2008

The biggest news while receive little mainstream coverage is the Department of Homeland Security's directive allowing its authorized officers to conduct search and seizure of your electronics, books, and even printed or written material. There is no reason to believe the government is creating a wholesale database of everything a visitors or resident, going overseas or return, carry. It's simply something we want to keep an eye on. In our follow up, Onxo explore the summary of the DHS directive and examine its purpose. On to today's Mobile Update:

Onxo Udpates:

• Access, major OS provider, saw its first and only phone to use its OS cancelled.
• Is Android better than iPhone? Maybe.
• Steps, an app that turns the iPhone into a pedometer, will get a second chance today when I go on a run to see if it has gotten any better.
• Steve Jobs tells Apple troops MobileMe launch was a disaster but will do better next time. It's smart consider it saves him from a public apology.

Mobile Device Updates:

• Verizon dropped Blackberry prices. Verizon reported stellar earnings and saw no impact from the iPhone 3G onslaught. It will launch a counterattack later this fall with a barrage of Samsung and Blackberry phones. Some Bold and Thunder, anyone? (Blackberry Sync)
• Mobilecatcher is saying a Nokia And Microsoft collaboration in bring Zune media to Nokia phones. Last week, Onxo thinks Microsoft is the one we need to be watch, not Apple, for any surprises. (Mobile Catcher)
• Onxo has no idea what this phone is but it's got a nice picture. Hello! (ixploria)
• Electonista is reporting new phones from Motorola. While they seem like regular updates, there is a picture of the next smartphone from Motorola that will join the smartphone war. We've seen and and we're wondering if Mot is even trying anymore.
• CNet is reporting Microsoft R&D is at an all time high. Again, they need to be watched this fall.

Mobile Issues Update:

• Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google are working on a way to deal with China's less than open Internet and the occasional demand from Internet companies information to be used to jail dissidents. Last week, the IOC gave in to Chinese demands to curtail Olympics reporting.
• Sprint has joined Verizon and ATT in capping the amount of 3G usage (at 5GB). Then they can cut off the service. (Gizmodo)
• Yesterday, Intel introduced their dedicated GPU. Today, they announced plans to introduce their next generation mobile platform, Calpella, in the third quarter of 2009.

Mobility Impact from Google-Yahoo Deal

Wired has an article not just about the deal between Yahoo and Google but a bit of analysis.

Here's a quick rundown of potential winners and losers and how the deal impacts mobile warriors.

Potential Winners:

• Google. Not "potential". They won this round.
  
• Yahoo publishers and users. Better ads that is directed at them.
  
• Microsoft. Only if they quickly put this distraction behind them and Balmer focuses on other deals for advertisement. Video advertisement is somewhere they are doing better than Google. They need to go out and step up their game. Those are the deals they need because its high profile. No buyout deals for shortcuts.
• Office equipment manufacturers.
• Yahoo employees. Expect more letters and cheerleading from Yang. After working so hard, I can imagine a lot of the people who worked so hard on their new ad engine very demoralized. Afterall, it was not their fault for series of delays on the part of Yahoo executives.
  

Potential Losers:

• Yahoo shareholders. Oh, those billions. Only Yang and his confessor can really know why he kept declining Balmer's marriage proposal. Even if this deal with Google goes as plan, they will not be looking at those billions any time soon.
  
• Advertisers. While Google has not demonstrated a mean streak like Microsoft with their desktop monopoly, it sucks to have only one guy to deal with and not three guys to play them off each other.
  
• Search. Less competition. Less innovation. While Google still has to contend with Microsoft, Microsoft really has not demonstrated itself to be threat. Ask a typical user out there if they know the different between MSN and Live. I bet they probably don't know Microsoft operates Live. Microsoft has no centralized strategy beyond buy Yahoo at this point.
  
• Microsoft. Balmer seems to be taking this quite personally. More chairs and tables destroyed? Here's the different between Gates and Balmer. Gates is very passionate about Microsoft's technology and impact. Balmer is just very passionate. And with no focus, it's not good for Redmond.
• Yang. From founder to CEO to potentially being spoken in the same breath as the captain of the Titanic.
  

For mobile warriors, it really depends on where you're coming from. For users who routinely use the Internet as a part of their work, we are not likely to see any wholesale changes. For our mobile devices, the change will come depending on how the deal helps Yahoo. It's currently doing well in the world of mobility but there will be a lot of distractions within Yahoo for months to come. This can affect innovation and deployment.

Yang will have to deal with a proxy fight with Icahn. An ugly fight will lead to some Yahoo people leaving the company particularly if the severance plan adopted in the early days of Microsoft's failed takeover is triggered. This will likely impact mobile innovations from Yahoo if they start focusing their attentions else where.

Also, in the recent discussions regarding the 700Mhz auction, Yahoo was not a factor. Maybe that might not be a big deal because I haven't heard Microsoft making a play or their opinions public either. It is likely both companies knew the telecom giants were going to win in the end and simply did not want to antagonize the winner.

Google will likely remain vocal as it as a lot at stake with Android-installed phones scheduled to be released 4th quarter of 2008. A clear victory will give Google a bigger voice in the mobile realm. Here, Yahoo and Google are still competitors and an already weakened Yahoo could mean Google gaining more of a foothold onto the screens of mobile devices. This could be more evident with Android phones.

How about Microsoft's plans for mobile users? There's nothing different between the various versions of Windows Mobile that grabs users. Perhaps, in Mobile 7, we'll see a lot of iPhone features simply copied over and Balmer will labeled them as innovations.

So far, everything is speculation. Everyone is in a wait-and-see mode. For mobile warriors, new features and services will still be coming but not necessarily from Google, Microsoft, or Yahoo. Regardless of how ads are implemented, we will not be impacted greatly in the near future.