Android powers ahead

Android is taking the smart phone market by storm. The graph above shows the latest data from Nielsen - pretty self explanatory. Android (green line in graph) market share up to 27% , actually overtaking Iphone for the first time too. RIM Blackberry and Windows Mobile are sinking fast. What's amazing is how fast Androids market share is growing.

Its an easy guess who will be leading the smartphone market by the end of the year....

Sony ericsson proves Nokia wrong?

Whilst Nokia have insisted on “their” Symbian as the OS for their phones, Sony Ericsson have decided for Android and just launched 3 Android phones: the Sony X10 Xperia, X10 mini and X10 mini Pro. I guess Nokia must feel it can not differentiate on the hardware alone and must “own” the OS too, whereas Sony is confident it can still differentiate with good hardware and a standards based OS. And in fact the Sony Xperia are good looking quality phones, with the X10 mini being a small format phone, even smaller then most “standard” mobile phones. Nevertheless it still has all the features of a smartphone and its priced competitively too.

As soon as Sony Ericsson got into the Android market I had to have one. I have always liked Sony Ericsson phones, they are very user friendly and durable. My first Ericsson was the T39 – It still works even though its more then 10 years old and it spent a couple of hours at the bottom of swimming pool once!!

I have owned several smartphones since, ranging from the dead slow Nokia, the atrocious Windows mobile up to an Iphone and recently a Google Nexus. The Iphone is a good phone, but it has its draw backs. The Google Nexus has a similar form factor but its battery life is just way to short and in my opinion its too large (as is the Iphone)

Enter Sony Ericsson X10 mini. Its compact, very usable (I like the “skin” sony made for Android) and has excellent battery life, especially compared to other smartphones. You can watch videos, answer mail and of course answer your company extension using 3CXPhone for Android.

In short its an excellent phone and its form factor, design and price could proove a big success for Sony Ericsson. Sony Ericsson have proven that you can compete by making excellent hardware, even though you have not developed the core OS of the phone. I sure hope Nokia and other “stubborn” mobile phone makers will follow soon and bring standards based, open smartphones to the masses!

3CX launches softphone for Android

Android is clearly going places and my guess is that Android Smartphones will be the "Desk phones" of the future, delivering true, seamless mobility to employees. In the office you will dock your Smartphone and allow it to charge - and use the phone with a bluetooth headset. The touchscreens offer usability far beyond the usability of current desk phones. When not in the office, you can use your office extension anywhere there is wifi or 3G and have seamless access to the PBX without having the hassle of setting up call forwarding and so on.

It should come as no surprise then that we have developed a version of 3CXPhone for the Android platform. A beta of our Android SIP phone is available here. 3CXPhone for Android is based on a proven Android SIP phone, SIPagent, which was purchased by 3CX recently. And we are not leaving it at that - we are planning to add many features to the phone. At the same time we plan to keep it Free and open standard.

You can take a look at 3CXPhone for Android by going to the Android market place from your Android based Smartphone (Google Nexus, Sony Ericsson Xperia, Samsung Galaxy, Motorola Droid and more are supported). If you dont have an Android phone - get one! :-)

MS CEO Steve Ballmer on the iPad

I should have posted this video with my last blog post, but seeing it again its crystal clear to me that Steven Ballmer is not seeing the threat of tablets and smartphones to the PC. Clearly Steve Jobs lost the 'battle of the PC', so what he is doing now is obsoleting the PC.... A process that will take quite a few years but its well underway. The Windows client needs to get mobile and fast!

Android and Iphone/Ipad/Itouch - the future consumer OS?

I was reading Steve Ballmers comments at the D8 Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, recently in which he said that Microsoft will win the tablet race and beat Ipad and Android tablets. He also said the desktop PC/Notebook is here to stay claiming that tablets will be purchased in addition to your notebook or desktop. I’d disagree.

As Android and the Iphone/Itouch/Ipad OS become more and more powerful, many households will require less notebooks/desktops with Windows and at some point maybe none at all. In my house we have several notebooks, but with the advent of the Ipad/Itouch, they have become less and less used. You can easily check your email, read a webpage or watch a video on an Itouch /Ipad and its faster, easier to navigate and starts up immediately.

These devices are unlikely to replace the corporate desktop. However, isn’t home use how Windows conquered the corporate desktop? In the early nineties, Windows was used at home first and people simply demanded to have Windows at work since they knew how to use it. So with home users switching to Ipad/Itouch/Iphone and Android powered devices at home, the long term “attack” on Microsoft's cash cow - the corporate desktop - has started.

Which is why it is so important that Microsoft makes an impact with Windows Phone 7.

And things are not looking good. Windows mobile was a disaster. A terrible OS, that has been steadily loosing market share in recent years. So Windows Phone 7 enters the market with a history of failures in its name. And it gets to compete with the cult like Iphone & Ipad, and with the booming market for Android based phone and tablet devices.

Microsoft versus Apple in tablets pretty much looks set to be a repeat of the Ipod versus the Zune. Microsoft enters the market a couple of years later with a “me too” , with little or no innovations and zero “coollness”.

So beating Android is Microsoft's best hope. Problem is, Android is pretty good, improving fast and is free. Its available in numerous form factors, from numerous vendors and there are lots of applications for it. I am running a Google Nexus, and apart from Battery life this is a pretty cool device.

So whoever heads up the Windows Phone 7 division is going to have his work cut out for him. He will face an uphill battle against formidable opponents. Its going to need an innovator, a visionary. And guess who appointed himself head of the Windows Phone 7 division last week. None other then Mr Steve “We have a good mobile phone strategy, apple sells no mobile phones today” Ballmer himself.

Place your bets ladies and Gentlemen....

Microsoft endorses software based PBX for Windows

Last week Microsoft announced that the next version of Microsoft OCS 2007 will include PBX functionality and will be renamed to Communications Server. The product will be released some time late this year.

So what does this mean to the PBX market and in particular to 3CX and our partners? Well first and foremost it’s a huge endorsement of what we have been doing until now: The market is heading towards software based PBX, and away from proprietary systems such as Cisco and Avaya and away from Linux black box systems such as Trixbox or Switchvox.

Microsoft’s marketing investment in communicating this to customers will significantly enlarge the Windows based software PBX market. This is likely to be a huge shot in the arm for 3CX marketing – we now have an ‘ally’ in explaining why your next PBX should be Windows based.

At the same time, we have ‘gained’ a significant competitor and the question is how much of this now huge Windows PBX market will choose Microsoft Communications Server over 3CX Phone System.

The days that Microsoft would enter a market and take it over are long gone. Look at Microsoft ISA server or One Care Anti Virus. Microsoft has a hard time competing against VMware. Does everybody use Sharepoint or even Internet Explorer? And in the case of telephony it does not have a big strategic advantage in terms of integration with other Microsoft products. The Office 2010 communication APIs will be available to 3CX and we will achieve a similar level of Office integration.

Sure the Microsoft brand is strong, and Microsoft will capture significant market share. But there are millions of companies out there that are searching for an easy to use, open standard and inexpensive solution and that is something that Microsoft Communications Server most definitely is not. And they will look towards 3CX........

Windows is Back!

As a long time Windows user, I remember the early versions - Windows 3.1 was a real breakthrough not only for Microsoft, but also for the industry. It brought a visual interface within reach of ‘the masses’ and spurred on the software industry. Four years later another giant step forward was made with the multi-tasking and ultra stable Windows NT 3.51/4.

Since then the progress has been down right disappointing. Microsoft got side tracked into pointless products, trying to compete in every market space imaginable, and as a result its core products got neglected.

Windows XP was OK, Windows Vista was disappointing. Enter Windows 7…..

Windows 7 feels fast, stable, looks good, is functional. Windows 7 can confidently and proudly walk in the footsteps of its revolutionary ancestors, Windows 3.1 and NT. Windows 7 is far ahead of its competition in terms of looks, compatibility, and manageability. It runs on any half decent computer. I even installed it on a 6 year old notebook and it runs fine.

Microsoft critics might talk about ‘open source’ and free Linux, or the expensive and proprietary/closed Apple (in the sense of API's and control by Apple). No chance.

Windows 7 will re-establish Microsoft leadership as the consumer and desktop OS of the future. I wrote a post about the danger of Chrome OS for the future of Microsoft and calling them to action. I believe Windows 7 is a good response to the Google Chrome OS threat. Sure, Google Chrome might do well on Netbooks, but I don’t give it much chance in the corporate world, as well as with consumers who want more then a browser.

I like Windows 7. I’ve decided. I will be holding on to my Microsoft shares :-) !

Tweeting is for birds

Twitter is becoming ever more popular, but I for one am not a fan of twitter. Millions of Twitterers (I am resisting the temptation to shorten that to “Twits”) just chirping mostly pointless “tweets” every day, or re-tweeting other tweets. But to me the verb tweeting is linked to a bird (and in fact it’s the twitter logo) – not the most intelligent of animals. Granted I do not know much about birds, but as far as I know they just ‘tweet away’, and there is little communication going on between the birds. And this bears a striking resemblance to Twitter.

‘Followers’ are supposed to read your tweets, but seeing the sheer amount of tweets I can not see how. Many of the followers are network marketers who never take any notice of your tweets. They are busy following people to boost their follower count and send marketing messages when you follow them back. Twitter is great for teenagers to follow every move of their pop idol, but for business communication or marketing I fail to see the point.

Oh, and please follow me on twitter.com/ngalea :-)