iPhone – Chris Wolfe

Another Decade of Tech

It’s finally rolling from 2019 to 2020 (a real ‘vision’ year, hardee har), so there have already been a plethora of ‘end of the decade’ type articles being thrown out there. They’re the ‘Best of…’ and ‘Worst of…’ lists, of course, plus the usual year in review critiques for 2019. Interestingly, it seems most people thought 2019 really stank and are hoping it gets lost to history. My bet is that it’s mostly related to all the crappy things that our leaders in the federal government pulled off, which are way too numerous to go into.

I looked back and re-read a blog entry I made in January 2010 about ‘A Decade of Tech’ to get a little perspective about what I think has changed or stayed the same over these past ten years. The main things I listed then were: the DVR, BitTorrent, High speed internet, Smartphones, GPS, and MP3 players. I would say that all of these (except the MP3 player of course, and who uses a DVR anymore?) have become pretty ubiquitous and ingrained in our lives and we just don’t really ‘think’ about them anymore. We take our phones and high speed internet for granted now. So my next list for what was big over this past decade kind of feels like an iteration of a subset from 2010, starting with…

Smartphones

We are actually already now in the period of time when we just refer to them as just phones… no one just casually says ‘cell phone’ in normal conversation really anymore. Blackberries are gone, and only the few remaining Luddite hold-outs still carry a flip-phone or other style of ‘dumb’ phone. In 2010 35% of Americans had a smartphone (which was mostly the iPhone I’m sure, even being only a few years old at the time), and the Android species of that era were still fairly spartan compared to the iPhone. Windows Mobile phones were around then but would only last for a few more years (I nailed that prediction, for sure). Some are saying we’ve now hit ‘peak’ smartphone… they are about as big as they can functionally be to be hold-able in one hand, and also fit in our pants pockets. They have excellent cameras, lots of storage, and batteries that will last most people a full day without too much trouble. Phone makers are struggling now to find the next big thing, which for last year and at present is them trying to foist ‘folding phones’ on the public (oh puhleease). Virtually everyone has a phone (just saw the stats, it’s 81%), from the oldest to youngest, even down to grade-schoolers and younger. Premier phones are a lot more expensive these days and people are keeping their phones for multiple years. (In fact, I used to be a New Phone Every Year dude years ago, but my current phone –Samsung Galaxy S8+– has been good enough I’m into my third year with it!) We feel naked and vulnerable if we don’t have our phone on us or handily available. There are noticeable generational differences on phone usage, ranging from the 25 and younger set whose brains can barely function without their phones, to seniors who still see phones as mostly for phone calls or texting. I’m generalizing of course! It’s safe to say, no one can envision any future where we won’t each have a phone of some sort. And maybe instead of getting bigger they will miniaturize and become almost invisible! So why are we so attached to our phones? It’s all because…

Apps Rule All

Apple coined the phrase ‘there’s an app for that’ way back, and it was prophetic. We love our phones because they integrate into about every area of life, augmenting almost all of our daily activities. Cameras are the biggest feature and apps take full advantage of them. Smartphones are, well, smart because of their internet connection; I would bet only a tiny fraction of apps are left which do not need at least a little bit of a tether to a server out there… maybe not over cellular data but at least via wifi. Streaming apps and services are where it’s at. In 2010, streaming accounted for 7% of U.S. music market, compared to 80% today. Music (Spotify) and video (Netflix) are huge: in 2010, physical sales accounted for 52 percent of the US music market and digital sales 38 percent. Both are now down to a nine percent share. That’s why phone batteries can barely keep up, everyone uses their phone all day long! So between phone technology and the software that runs on them, I don’t think it’s wrong or a stretch to say that so far in this millennium, the smartphone is the number one invention. Ugh, well that makes it sound like the printing press or the gas engine in a car, maybe should just call it the number one technical development of this century. One other mention: sometimes we even use our phones to talk to other people… lol

Smartwatches

I gave up a regular watch years ago, maybe 2011? My phone kept perfect time, of course, and I almost always had it on me. Then fitness bands and fitness-oriented watches came out, and the Apple Watch also hit the scene and that was when smartwatches took off in earnest. I tried a Pebble watch and got hooked! Of course, the Apple watch is THE most popular (because of all the iPhone users) and they’re also not just for the fitness buffs. A plethora of other brands have been released that are mainly fitness-oriented, like Garmin, but most are just glorified Fitbits. The other variety of smartwatch runs the Google GearOS but it continues to flounder, and Samsung also has a few models to choose from (I used one for a while last year).

The main ‘feature’ for the smartwatches is notifications, and yes we’re getting lazy about just pulling out our phones, but it’s quite nice being able see at a quick glance if it’s important or not (also seems more polite when with company). And it’s SUPER convenient to screen an incoming call seeing how most calls are spam these days! Many people are tracking their steps and workouts via their watches so they’ve helped with people being overall bit more conscious of their health. The Apple watch also has ton of apps (imagine that) and integrates with music playback (wireless earbuds are also popular these days, especially Airpods… imagine that).

The main issue I find with all these watches is battery life. Apple watches I think have to be charged pretty much nightly, GearOS watches are a close second on that, and even the Samsung watch I had needed to be charged at least every other day. It’s a crappy experience to have your watch conk out mid-morning because you forgot to charge it…

Regardless though, the smartwatch is a sweet tech development in these recent years since they integrate with our phones, provide us with quick information, are relatively cheap enough for the average tech spender (or giftable), are easy to operate, and are a ‘drop-in’ replacement for an accessory everyone already had. Hopefully they will continue to upgrade in features, decrease in overall size, and learn to stretch out what little power they have in their super small batteries.

Online Gaming

I don’t game but enjoy watching the releases of new games and consoles and gear. Gaming drives many areas of computer tech, with GPUs, laptop design, virtual/augmented reality, and need for increasing wireless speeds and throughput. Professional gaming/E-sports is making and burning huge amounts of cash (Fortnite!). Besides video, I bet the second-most feature use for phones is gaming (gotta admit, a quick light game helps with all levels of boredom!). From the old Xbox Kinect to the imminent PS5, you can’t talk about computing without mentioning gaming.

I might mention a few other developments in the past decade:

Artificial Intelligence has really grown and is finding its way into niche areas like medical analysis, banking/insurance, data brokerages… basically anywhere there is a huge amount of data where patterns can be found. Nope, we are no closer to the Singularity and humans are quite safe. 🙂 Cloud computing/storage is also huge now and is in many ways tied to AI.

Robotics have become more advanced but are still incredibly niche, like AI, and some are pretty cool (looking at you, Atlas and Spot!). When will we get fresh robotic tech that’s affordable and for the average consumer? Doubtful it will be in the 2020’s.

Battery tech still basically sucks. Over time I’ve seen some interesting reports on energy storage research developments… but until my PHONE can go for days with normal usage on a single charge, just… (yawn)

That’s it for another decade. See ya in 2030!

Apple snap

Seeing how it’s the eve of the iPhone X preorder day (er, morning, early morning), I figured I’d get my thoughts down for why I won’t be there. After many years of loving iPhones and really enjoying the experience, it’s pretty much over. And no, it’s not to switch to Windows Phone, heh.

The months leading up to the annual new iPhone launch back just last month were exciting and a bit dreadful. The rumors were pretty ripe with info on the next generation of iPhone, and the specs looked awesome. What caused a bit of trepidation was the expected cost of this flagship phone, easily $1000 and more. I’d say probably 90% of the soothsaying nailed it, with the new OLED screen, screen style and size, internal hardware specs, overall size…. and unfortunately they were spot on for the cost of the beast. I think they missed the whole Face ID feature though, and of course no one knew what the new camera specs would be, but it’s nice to be surprised a little. Yup, it’s fine-looking… if you can get over that notch, er… monobrow 🙂

My beefs with the iPhone X:

Expensive (yeah I know, $1k is not a whole more than another new flagship phone from Samsung, see below…)
Face ID is new tech, what could go wrong? =)
Screen “surface area” is actually smaller than the iPhone 8+
Apple’s very first run with an OLED screen on a phone
Low production numbers/availability
As with the 7, no headphone jack
Sorry, just can’t get over that monobrow…

Apple also announced not just the new iPhone X, but also the new 8/8+. Not much to say about that, except it should have been called the 7S (or even just 6SS fercryingoutloud). Basically it’s just a jump in specs and not much more. Gut feeling? It’s almost retro how in looks… I mean, check out those bezels! Isn’t this 2017?! 😀

So, that was the big announcement in September and since then have been review after review, equal parts iPhone 8, since it’s already out, and analysis of the X specs. From then til now, and after much soul searching and mental anguish (heh, joking!), I’ve come to the realization, barring some kind of angelic proclamation or the equivalent, that I’m done with the iPhone, at least for the next couple of years.

What gives? The Samsung Galaxy S8 is what smote me. It came out back in April and immediately had my attention. Full-on edge-to-edge screen, great specs, very nice camera. Amazingly thin, even the big brother S8+ (which is really only a little taller than the S8… so worth it). And after its release and the reviews rolled in, this looked like a worthy competitor to the iPhone 7. BUT, this was only a few months before September (new iPhones!) AND there was already also talk back then about the new Galaxy Note 8 and that it would probably have a lot in common with the S8, like screen size/quality, bezel-less, and with the S-pen/other features; it was figured to be announced around the same time as the iPhones. Ah, that did come to pass, and the Note is a tiny bit bigger than the S8+, tiny bit thicker, tiny bit less battery (!) than the S8+, but quite close in specs and all. Right now it’s around $100 more than the S8+, and pushing into iPhone X cost range, ugh. Other than that (and just to acknowledge that these phones aren’t perfect) yes the fingerprint sensor on the back is in a bad spot, and that dedicated Bixby button is just, well, wrong. At least as of today it can be disabled…

Samsung Galaxy S8+ :

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 :

There’s more. The LG V30 was also announced in this same time frame. Even more: Google just recently announced the Pixel 2 / 2 XL, too! I wanted to keep an eye out for them as well, to see just how hot this competition was going to get. Competition is good but they’re all out of contention as far as I’m concerned; the reviews have come out for these phones, and it’s bad. The only thing the V30 has going for it is excellent sound. The Pixel 2 XL is getting scorched because of bad screen tech, with bad coloring and burn-in (Google’s taking a major hit on this). The Pixels are supposed to have excellent cameras and picture software, and the screen on the Pixel 2 is fine. There are a couple other niceties there, but even without the XL debacle, I don’t see enough reason to buy it over the Samsung phones.

So since last spring, through the long summer and early fall, I chose to just wait it out. And now my patience is starting to wear thin. 🙂 I’m ready to jump ship from the iPhone (I’m still on the 6, btw, from 2014!) and join the Android collective. I’m trying to decide between the Galaxy S8+ and the Note 8… just need to spend a bit of time with them (…already have been to the AT&T store once, lol…) and I’ve told myself to go just one more month, which gets us well into the November Black Friday timeframe. Given that the iPhone X is imminent, I am hoping that Samsung will feel the pressure and start dropping prices on their phones. I’ve got my money saved up and am ready to click that BUY button…

P.S. Yeah, I kind of went full-on geek mode doing my homework on the new phones. 🙂 I submit as evidence Photo 1, comparing the true sizes of the different new phones:

And, well, I wanted to know just how big that Note 8 would be, to test for pocketability and all, so I made a mock-up of the phone from a good ol’ piece of #2 pine with the same dimensions. Don’t you judge me! lol

[2017.11.08 Update]

The iPhone X’s are now out and a few people I know have one. They are very happy. But I’m confused. I just want to ask, why? Why is it worth all that coin? Yes the screen is nice, but so it is for any of the other recent phones with big OLED screens (or to clarify, SAMSUNG OLEDs). I understand that the FaceID unlock is pretty cool… but Animoji? Sure it takes nice pictures, but so do other phones… are you really going to put bokah on every picture you take, or change the backlight on each of them? I will give you a few extra points if you are upgrading from a fairly old iPhone and just want the most excellent new iPhone available, it is truly Apple’s future vision. You wrung every last penny from your older iPhone purchase, and that’s where I am today. But wow, $1000 is a bunch, and double-wow if you got the 256GB model. Don’t drop ’em on the sidewalk!

Oh, and… just.. this, SO funny:

[https://lifehacker.com/how-to-hide-the-iphone-x-s-ugly-notch-with-a-custom-wal-1820262216]

How to Hide the iPhone X’s Ugly Notch With a Custom Wallpaper

“The iPhone X design might be perfect if it wasn’t for that notch. The bit of bezel at the top of the screen may be necessary for Apple’s new Face ID to work, but that doesn’t mean we don’t hate the way it looks.

If you’d rather have a regular black bar along the top of the iPhone X instead of an awkward notch, there’s a simple solution: just get a custom wallpaper designed to hide the remaining bit of bezel. These wallpapers work by adding a virtual black bezel on either side of the notch so you don’t even notice it.”

I love it!

[2017.11.11 Update]

And now there’s even an app for that!

[http://coolmaterial.com/tech/notcho-app-hides-iphone-x-notch/]

This App Will Hide the Notch in Your iPhone X

“What would Steve Jobs say if he were alive for notch-gate? We think he’d be down with the removal of the Home button on the new iPhone X, as he was said to have despised buttons, but the notch seems to be a design flaw he wouldn’t have let out of Cupertino. If you bought the iPhone X and want to channel your inner Steve Jobs, you can download Notcho. Notcho is a free iOS app that gets rid of the unsightly notch. If you’re an Apple fan because of clean design, but you still had to have a talking poo emoji, you can download Notcho and feel a little better.”

Ok, I’ll try to stop now… or not!

There is no best browser

Pet peeve time. It’s long past time for tech writers to give up their click bait attempts with articles about which internet browser is BEST. These pop up at least once every week or two on the tech blogs. They are usually a head-to-head comparison to the top four or so: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari, and sometimes Opera or others. Here’s a recent example:

[https://www.pcworld.com/article/3213031/computers/best-web-browsers.html]

Best web browsers of 2017: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Opera go head-to-head

We take a look at the performance and features of the big four internet browsers to see which one will serve you best in 2017.

Let me just ask, who uses only one browser? I realize there are grandmas and kids and other less techie people in the world who might just use whatever came on their pc or laptop (IE, Edge, Safari…) but most people I work with, and every person who I’ve every helped over the years, use at least two or more browsers at the same time. Yes, there are strengths and weaknesses to every browser (every class of software), but there is no BEST one.

For myself, I gravitate to Firefox because of the extensions and it has a somewhat smaller memory footprint than Chrome. But even to this day, leaving it running for days on end and having multiple tabs open will result in FF sucking down a massive amount of memory. And it gets slower, and slower… and s l o w e r. I found the only way to stop that is by saving my sessions, killing the FF process, and firing it up again… starting the whole cycle again. FF can also get all locked up by a single rogue tab. I know the developers are working on these problems, but as of today (v56) it still has these and other problems.

Chrome is nice but does take up a lot resources, as each tab is a new system process, though this does help by not letting one tab crash all of Chrome. I always feel I have to be more ‘miserly’ with my Chrome tabs than with FF. New versions come out very frequently and I believe that they were the first to get a functional 64 bit version out than FF (sorry, too busy to google that). I keep all my Chrome sessions across all my devices synced to the same account so that extensions stay in sync, and I can keep track of open tabs on all of the different devices.

Edge: ha, who uses Edge? Still no good extensions, still does not work with all sites. No other words necessary.

Safari: Not a Mac guy, but it works very well on the iPad and iPhone. Tightly controlled by Apple, just like everything else. I think once, a very long time ago, I tried it on a Windows PC. Not sure if normal people still use it on PCs. Chrome is a good alternative on iOS.

Opera seems pretty solid, but to be honest, I only use it to log into my Facebook account. Why not connect to FB on FF or Chrome? You must have missed it when it was discovered that FB can track you ALL OVER THE INTERNET from the browser you are using, EVEN AFTER YOU LOGGED OUT. Sorry to get all caps locked on you there, I just can’t believe how bad that speaks to FB and privacy. And it’s not just about using cookies and clicking on the Like buttons. You think FB really ever lets you go?

Ah, but another great browser is Vivaldi! Spunky and still relatively fresh to the scene, it also is pretty solid and reliable. But again, like Opera, I really only use it to stay logged into my personal Gmail account. Using Google products is funny and slightly annoying as they seem to still think, in this grand year of 2017, that people have and use only one Gmail/Google account. 🙂 So, needless to say, I don’t use my main Gmail account (open in Vivaldi) for much else in the Google environment, hence that’s why I don’t use Gmail from FF or Chrome because outside of Incognito mode they only let you have one account logged in at a time. (So yeah, it gets a bit unwieldy when you need to use four or five Google accounts on your computer at one time.. but it’s manageable!)

Just for grins, there was also the standalone portable QtWeb browser back in the day. I just checked their site and the last update was 2013! Guess they just couldn’t compete with the PortableApps group, which are the versions of Chrome and Firefox that I use… highly recommended!

Windows Phone is dead

So… that only took about seven years to crash and burn out. Microsoft announced Windows Phone 7 in the fall of 2010 but they never had a chance against the iPhone or the Android vanguard. It’s been interesting to watch the slow tank over the years and just a twinge painful because Nokia was involved and they used to make solid phones. Sure, there were a couple or three flurries of news bites where MS would make some grand announcement, like when they released Windows Phone 8 and WP10, but there was generally no interest from NO body. They were never a contender.

I used to be a MS basher, but to be truthful I changed my mind when Ballmer finally stepped down around the summer of 2014 and passed the CEO reins to Nadella, and I watched what happened with the company. Ballmer leaving was a shot in the arm that MS needed and they were able to really get to work on new versions of Windows and other initiatives, even focusing on their software to run on their phone competitors (smart!). I was interested in the platform enough that a couple years ago I bought a lower-end phone running WP7 so I could play around with it. Even with the low phone specs, it ran well and I did enjoy seeing what it offered. It’s true that one very big reason for the phone’s failure was always the lack of apps.

So I’ve softened my stance since 2010: it’s too bad that Windows Phone didn’t work out, only because competition is good for everyone involved. I’m not saying this is true about their phone at all, but in the tech industries, the best does not always win out. WP was classy and different. MS is cutting the fat and culling the herd… looking back now it seems like it was just kind of a big experiment, anyway.

[https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/9/16446280/microsoft-finally-admits-windows-phone-is-dead]

Microsoft finally admits Windows Phone is dead

“In a series of tweets, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore has revealed that the software giant is no longer developing new features or hardware for Windows 10 Mobile. While Windows Phone fans had hoped Microsoft would update the platform with new features, it’s now clear the operating system has been placed into servicing mode, with just bug fixes and security updates for existing users.”

iPhone 5

Oh yes, I was one of the “early” adopters for this phone… and I am incredibly happy. From beginning to end, it was as seamless a process and any could hope for.

This latest model went up for pre-order at 2am Central on Friday 9/14, similar to the roll-out for the 4S from back in October 2011 (which I was up for back then, too). Before heading to bed I had my laptop browser set on the Apple store home page, ready for a quick F5 when the time came. For some time now, the Apple Store app has been available, and I had read a blurb recently from a writer that had used it last year to order his iPhone, so I decided to see if it was a viable option for getting the 5. I fired it up before heading to bed and used it to verify that I was eligible to get the new phone without having to pay an early upgrade fee… so everything was looking good and I set the alarm for 1:57am.

Next thing I knew it was a few minutes to 2am, and I grabbed my phone and headed to the laptop. Top of the hour rolled around and Apple’s page was not refreshing, just spinning. Decided to see what AT&T was offering, but their page just showed the countdown page (I think), and also wasn’t doing much. So I hopped on to the app on the phone and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was letting me jump through page after page of options, with hardly any lag. Was able to pick the 32GB Black slate iPhone 5 and submitted the order… and it was only 2:10! I almost couldn’t believe my luck. It felt like I had used a Most Glorious Fast Pass to jump to the head of the line! So within a few more minutes, I was tucking myself into bed again, very much content and feeling a little smug, too.

From that Friday (from later daylight hours, anyway) through the 21st, lots of stories were coming out from everyone’s experiences with the pre-order. The biggest news was that within an hour after pre-order started, Apple was showing ship time slipping from one to two weeks, or more. Last year I didn’t get in until like 4am so I was glad I got in and out so fast. And again, like last year, I am SO glad I didn’t try the process through AT&T’s site, since it sounded like they were being inconsistent with the ship time, even for those who ordered early. My phone didn’t show as shipped until Wednesday 9/19, but was set for mid-morning delivery on Friday 9/21. It arrived right on time (thank you, wonderful UPS drivers!), and I had to wait until getting home from work to see my beauty. Was so hard not to take off early for “personal development”!

And a thing of beauty it is. Don’t think I am still not fond of the 4S, it’s very classy with its good proportions and glass back. I’ve appreciated it’s awesome screen, speed, and reliability for the past year. But the iPhone 5 just ratchets up the exquisiteness by another factor. Sure, just looking at it only shows that it’s taller than the 4S, but it’s also thinner (front/back) and lighter and just feels even better in the hand. I thought I was “protective” in using the 4S, but this thing makes me even MORE paranoid! It is a lovely design, and combined with the new features of iOS 6, it is now the top contender in all things cell phone. There is NO way any android will match its elegant grace for some time to come, if ever.

Just an aside here: Early Friday evening, after firing up the phone for the first time, it activated right away (unlike last year when it was several hours before it could connect up and get activated) and I set it up as a new phone so that I could use it right away. I also have to give kudos to the local AT&T store… Because last year I was upgrading on my personal line (from the 3gs to the 4S), I had to use my wife’s line this year to get the new iPhone. She had the 3gs and she was also going to get to “upgrade” to my 4S, which was one of my selling points when convincing her earlier on that I “needed” the new iPhone 5! 🙂 So we both went over to the store around 6:30ish and I was wondering how busy THEY were going to be with also getting the 5’s in stock that day. Turns out they were very UNbusy, having rolled out 80 iPhones at opening and another 40 some time in the afternoon. We got right up to the counter and a very helpful girl got us a new set of nano- and micro-SIMs for our phones, and only a few minutes later we were walking out with our “own” phones. I could not have asked for anything easier to do to get the phones configured.

The only thing I’m missing is a nice case to put the phone in… I hate using it naked! Sure it looks spectacular in its bare sleekness, but I am so afraid of any kind of drop… I’m even afraid to leave it laying around. Some people are reporting that the new aluminum black backside is prone to scratching easily, so I don’t even want to leave it on its back, let alone on the front glass. Aside from that issue, it’s not all peaches and cream right now, as there have been major issues with the new Maps app (I don’t really care… I have Navigon, and Google will be getting their maps app approved through Apple some time soon) and probably other issues will come up. But I am incredibly happy with this new phone. It’s not “revolutionary” as everyone wanted, but Apple indeed hit another one out of the park. Heck, even out of the parking lot.

I do pause to wonder, though, what next year will bring… 🙂

Poor Windows Phone

Microsoft’s mobile answer to the iPhone and iOS continues to tank, just as I predicted back in 2010. Gartner’s latest report ([http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=2017015]) tells the numbers: for 1Q12, Microsoft only has 1.9% of worldwide phone sales, and that’s even down from 2.6% back in 1Q11. I guess I might have been generous saying M$ could even get 5-10% market share. This past year has been their big coming out party with Nokia, and I’ll admit that they are making some really nice hardware; if anything would have given both of those companies a shot in the arm, that was it. We’ll give it another year or two and check in on them again. IF both or one or the other is even still in the mobile space by then…

These old eyes

I once chortled when a coworker (same age as I) used his phone camera to take a pic of a serial number on a piece of hardware that was printed in a tiny font, just so he could enlarge it to read it easily. But my laughing days are over, since in the past year I’ve had to start using reading glasses to see anything up close, and I feel his pain now. Getting old is depressing.

Copland OS Enterprise

Came across this image some time ago and thought it would make a cool desktop background:

After a bit of googling and looking around, turns out it’s from an anime series called Serial Experiments Lain (see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Experiments_Lain]). In the fictional world is a company called Tachibana Industries, and it is supposed to be kinda like Apple. They make the HandiNAVI: “NAVI is the abbreviation of Knowledge Navigator, and the HandiNAVI is based on the Apple Newton, one of the world’s first PDAs.” I think that would be a good nickname for my iPhone…

Another Android strike

Sure am glad for my iPhone, as I take my grain of salt:

[http://www.pcworld.com/article/245380/ios_safer_from_malware_than_android_security_firm_says.html#tk.nl_dnx_h_crawl]

iOS Safer from Malware than Android, Security Firm Says

Windows Phone 7

So Microsoft has been announcing new phones running their new mobile OS Windows Phone 7. HTC is fully behind it and will have as many WP7 phones as they do Android. I’ve looked at the commercials and reviews of the OS, and my reaction is, “Meh.” What’s the point? It’s already 2010, the iPhone has been out like 3 1/2 years, and this is finally MS’s competitive mobile phone? Sure, the animation of the screen design looks a bit new and fresh, but there is absolutely nothing I’ve seen so far that would make me even think about switching from iPhone. If I were to jump platforms (and there’s no possibility of this, at the current time), it would be to Android. And not AT&T’s variety of Android, so this would be a bigger decision for me than just going to a new phone, it would also mean a carrier jump.

So I predict that the WP7 will be around for awhile but will never get more than 5 to 10% market share. MS, with their deep pockets, will push it for a time. But they’ll never be a worthy competitor.