The CEO Game

Another one of Apple’s notorious gimmicks or a spoof? A prototype of the new, yet to be released IPhone 4G had been found stranded alone in a bar in Redwood City (San Francisco Bay Area), California. It seems an Apple employee had forgotten the phone either accidentally or deliberately in the bar and Gizmodo, a trustworthy and familiar site was able to obtain it. According to Gizmodo, they have dissected the phone and found that all the internal parts and components were clearly labeled as Apple and not a knock off as many believed. So has Apple done it again?

iPhone 4G

The first analysis shows that the device contains new components. These new parts found, may suggest that the new IPhone is not just like the previous 3GS, only suited up with a new case, but more. So, without further ado, here are the big additions: A new front-facing camera (will probably enable video chat), an improved regular back-camera (they claim the lens is noticeably larger than the old one), camera flash- a feature many Apple groupies yearn for quite some time now.

Moreover, the device has a slot for a Micro-SIM instead of a standard SIM (just like the one the new iPad uses), the guys at Gizmodo also claim the forgotten device has improve display (it’s unclear if it’s the 960×460 display thrown around before). In addition, there seems to be a secondary mic for noise cancellation, on top of it, next to the headphones jack. The volume button has been splitted into two different buttons. The volume button as well as the mute and power buttons got a new metallic look.

What’s changed? Well for starters, the back of the phone is entirely flat, made of either glass (more likely) or ceramic or shiny plastic in order for the cell signal to poke through. An aluminum border going completely around the outside. Slightly smaller screen than the 3GS (but seemingly higher resolution). The phone has a new drastically different exterior- a more “squared off” look. Now you have a thinner body, with no wasted space and lots of hard lines. The phone is 3 grams heavier too. The phone’s batter is 16% Larger, while other internal components are shrunken, miniaturized and reduced to make room for it.

Unfortunately, they claim the phone had been remotely disabled by Apple, so no one was able to test out the new features on it. Whether it is true or not, the entire story seems too good to be true anyways, and it would come as no surprise if it was just another one of those publicity stunts, Apple is so famous for. When connecting the phone to a computer it behaves exactly like an iPhone does when it is plugged, with the proper boot sequence and “connect to iTunes” restore functionality. Maybe a sign of its authenticity. However, the Firmware cannot be loaded, since it is tied to the device model, and in this case there is no firmware yet for the 4G.

Why do they think it’s real? The people at Gizmodo said that after playing around with the phone for a week “the overall quality feels exactly like a finished final Apple phone—and after disassembling this unit, there is so much evidence stacked in its favor, that there’s very little possibility that it’s a fake. In fact, the possibility is almost none”. What the feeling like? “Freaking amazing. As a person who never really liked the round mound of a back in the 3GS, the sleeker, flatter, squarer design is super welcome. It feels sturdier than the 3GS, and much less plastic. The metal buttons give it a heftier feel—less of a toy—than all previous generations”.

Currently, It is rumored Apple will officially announce on the IPhone 4G in June, so this “gag” could be getting close to a final retail model. Up until then it is all speculation on if this is real or not. If it is real, either Apple did it intentionally, or perhaps one of Apple’s employees could be looking for a new job. And what do we say? Out with the old and in with the new.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game

Microsoft announced earlier this week on Kin, their new line of phones, which puts the emphasis on social networks, SMS-texting and sharing. In a press conference held this week (Monday), Microsoft has launched their brand new mobile devices which plan to stay ahead of the competition, by appealing to younger audience. According to Microsoft, the whole purpose of the Kins is to make using and interacting with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter convenient and easy. On top of that, they promise a relatively low price.

Microsoft's Kins

The announcement itself comes as no surprise, just a short time after launching the Windows Phone 7 operating system which is intended for Premium mobile devices. Lately Microsoft realized that the cellular market is a cash cow. So now, they seek to grab a bigger bite of this market, by creating quality phones that come along with low prices, designed especially for teenagers who make use of many social networks and texting services. They want to create a device where the users’ entire “digital life” and content comes together into a single a platform, which is exactly what the users want, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft launched two models: Kin1 and Kin2 (how original). Both of these devices look very impressive. In one button click, users can update from the Kin their status on all social networks they are members of. By moving their finger across the screen, users can decide on files that will be shared with their friends as well as decide with which friends exactly, all this- with no clicks. The device knows who are our closest friends, with whom we talk the most and respond to their social networks’ statuses. It also ranks the contacts by the frequency we make conversations with that.

Moreover, they are Microsoft’s first mobile devices which support Zune, including an option of song recommendations and requests by other users and remotely streaming songs. The Kin1 (previously known as the Turtle) is equipped with 5 MP “shooter” with flash, mono speakers, 4 GB of on-board storage, Zune media player, and a small touch screen. On the contrary, the Kin2 is a bit better and packs a 8 MP camera and ability to shoot HD video in a resolution of 720p, 8 GB of storage ,stereo speakers, a tuner, larger sliding keyboard and a larger touch screen. Some of these are quite important when texting all of the time. Because the storage is limited, Microsoft allows backing up all the content into cloud computing- which is a new concept, especially in the cellular world.

The supported social networks include Windows live, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter and using the “Loop” interface (for uploading content) users will be able to upload pictures and videos with no need to use additional software. In addition, Microsoft has just launched www.kin.com, the Internet hub for their new line of phones. The site itself is composed of a time-line with pictures which are attached along it, just like the “story of our life”.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.

Google buys web video company Episodic in order to beef up YouTube.

Internet searching giants, Google have made another big acquisition and this time it is in the video arena. Episodic, a start up web video company based in San Francisco, will become a part of Google. Thus, Episodic surpassed its key competitor Brightcove, also an American company which offers services for adding video to your website. The deal was announced on last Friday (2nd April) on the Episodic blog. Although the financial terms are undisclosed and haven’t been revealed yet, both companies are said to be very pleased and satisfied with the results.

Episodic. The Newest Addition.

Episodic offers a platform for live and on demand web videos. Content sites, advertisers and practically any enterprise use the platform in order to broadcast streaming video, analyze it and offer video content to their audience via different platforms: computers, laptops as well as mobile phones and IPTV gadgets (televisions who are connected to the Internet). Basically, the platforms allows every type of enterprise to deliver innovative technology and also to make money from it through advertising and online sales. Many experts claim that Episodic resembles YouTube and since Episodic’s technology and team are being folded into YouTube, it’s possible that we could see new ways for video creators to profit from their YouTube videos. This looks like good news for mid-level YouTube dwellers who did not have the leverage to work out money-making on their own.

Episodic also provides a content management system and offers an advertisement server, which allow clients to place adds in the videos and pay for it in credit card. Currently, Episodic supports Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android and Blackberry and intends to support Symbian devices as well in the future. On their blog, Episodic explain how they and Google also share the same ideas and goals for the future: “Episodic and Google share a common vision for video on the Web. Online video will be ubiquitous, engaging, entertaining, informative and effective. Both teams place value on creating a great experience for viewers and on delivering a powerful and flexible platform for publishers, marketers and advertisers of all kinds.”

Google’s shopping spree, or blitzkrieg if you wish, comes as no surprise. Last year Google completed purchasing the online advertising company AdMob for 750$ million in shares and Teracent for targeted display ad technology. This year, Google already bought On2 for 106.5$ million and many other companies, amongst them you can find: Docverse (a file sharing site), Appjet (a collaborative real time editor), Aardvak (social search), Picnic (photo editing). Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt claimed on September 2009 that Google plans to return to making purchases, after a minor pause, or setback if you wish, due to the global financial crisis. At the time, he also said that Google wishes to “buy a company a month” (on average). It seems that Google is definitely keen on fulfilling its chairman’s announcement.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.