Taaaa daaaaar!

Finally, after all the rumour, all the speculation, the 'Ipad' is here! And it's exactly what all the rumour and speculation speculated that it would be...which ruined it a bit really, much like taking a peek at your Christmas present before the big day. One qualm here though - Steve Jobs, if this really is the most important thing you've ever done for crying out loud put a suit on to present it! I've been reliably informed by someone who is far more knowledgeable than I that that's Steve Job's 'thing' but come on, it doesn't take a lot of effort to strap a tie round your neck does it?

Back to the main point though, and that's the new Ipad. I have to be honest, at the moment I'm failing to see how it'll become the 'game changer' it was being hyped as. Sure, it looks great and probably performs great but will it replace a laptop? No. Will it replace the Iphone? Not unless you have bigger pockets than Bill Gates.

The only advantage I can see so far is the benefit it'll have to online video and game content on the go. Which is surprising seeing as deals with major publishers seem to suggest creating a revolution in the e-reader field. But as yet, I just can't see this happening. What's easier, carrying around a big chunky screen or grabbing a paper or book to read on the train? Having suffered the London commute for one too many years I can safely say the Ipad could well spark scenes not to dissimilar to a Royal Rumble with constant head bangs and unconscious passengers. As ever, I look forward to being proved massively wrong.

Have I missed something?

I really don't understand publishers sometimes. Surely, and correct me if I'm missing something here, it is a good thing for people to link to your content? Find me a company that doesn't enjoy free publicity and I'll show you a company that is about to have 'closing down' written in large, bold letters outside it's building.

Could someone explain the logic then as to why The Daily Mirror amongst others have blocked NewsNow from aggregating content from their site? The only possible explanation I can find is those shocking people at NewsNow have found a clever way of making some profit out of service that people want...Shocking, shocking behaviour.

When the Daily Mirror finds a way of satisfying the user's needs by all means kick up a fuss about people 'stealing' content. But as it stands they don't have the answer and therefore NewsNow are actually doing them a favour! The service the Daily Mirror offer is reporting the news. NewsNow's service is finding it. Two very different things. Do you see small towns revolting against satnavs? No, and the reason is, small towns, in the main, understand how this whole 'helping in the right direction' thing works.

What's happening tomorrow?

Having seen at least 2,340,211 articles this morning about how the Apple Tablet release is set for tomorrow (if you didn't know that my guess would be you still see the VHS as a thing of the future) I thought I'd talk about something else. After all, what can I possibly add to all the rumour and speculation surrounding the announcement, other than 'it's out tomorrow' and possibly 'it's bright pink'. Let's see if that spreads.

Instead I was interested to read an interview with Bill Gates and his position on Google amongst other things. In what seemed a very laid back, honest interview with the New York Times Gates responded to the question "Is Google a monopolist?" by saying "If governments don’t care, that’s a bad sign."

It was particularly interesting to hear his take on the search engine battle claiming that "gaining ground against Google, not catching it, is the current goal" and that a gain of 1% market share is at this stage a big achievement. It certainly made it seem a determined chase, and one which only the financial muscle of Microsoft could continue to pursue.

Here's the full interview anyway, really good read actually: New York Times

Q4 Google results

(data from searchengineland)

Eric Schmidt's quote on future deals with China was great today. As Google's positive q4 results were somewhat blighted by the fact they've kicked off World War 3 Schmidt was quick to try and defuse the situation claiming that Google "wants to stay in China but 'under somewhat different terms'”...So basically theirs. And not getting hacked every five minutes would be much appreciated too.

The ongoing dispute shouldn't hide Google's positive quarter though. In tough conditions they keep on building and with more advertising budget set to move from TV to online this year the figures should only rise for the time being.

Schmidt must be worried about the American government getting involved in his affairs though. There is going to be a lot of very careful strategy between the US and China in the coming months, and Google are standing right in the middle of the battlefield frantically looking for an escape route.

Youtube pulling wool over eyes

Some PR guru, somewhere (most likely Barbados) is currently sitting with their feet up, a cigar in mouth and feeling very very smug about themselves. See this PR guru has realized that the general public haven't taken much to the phrase 'charging for online content'.

So how this legend of the field must have groaned when Youtube came to him and said 'we're thinking about charging for online content, can you let everybody know?'

But fear not, our valiant hero found a way around this. Because Youtube, although obviously trialing the ability to charge for online content, are apparently not. No, no, they're going into the 'movie rental' business. Every press release I've seen has worded it the same way. Everyone likes renting a movie! Pizza, beer, a cosy sofa. The wool is so far over the eyes it's actually making eating difficult!

Utter genius, enjoy your beach pad sir, you've earnt it...

Slow and steady, but will it win the race?

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about Bing becoming the default web browser on all HP machines. If I remember rightly (and to be honest I probably don't - yesterday is often a struggle) the piece concluded that Bing signing deals such as this would slowly but surely eat away at Google's dominance.

If that move didn't frighten the metaphorical pants off of Google then perhaps today's rumours of a deal between Apple's I phone and the Microsoft search engine might. Talks are apparently ongoing to make Bing the default search engine across the board on I phones, a move which, considering the mobile usage trends, would most certainly be a big deal.

A search report from Comscore for December showed Bing gained the most search share in the month (+0.4) which, although small still shows it is heading in the right direction. If the trend continues at the same rate for the next year Bing will replace Yahoo as number two leaving only one giant obstacle standing in the way of poll position. Although Google may not be quaking in their boots just yet, the progress must be causing a little bit of tension at head office.

Strap in, this could go very quickly

It seems the New York Times weren't the only ones striking up a deal to coincide with the Apple Tablet lauch. Just a day after those rumours began it now seems publisher Harper Collins is ready to pen an agreement with Apple to shake on a very similar deal.

With the launch of the Tablet set for the 27th January, expect to see this kind of headline cropping up again and again over the coming weeks.

Now wait a minute, Harper Collins. Is that the same Harper Collins currently under the wing of News Corp? I've heard somehwere those guys would quite like to make some money off of this whole e-reading thing. Let rumour commence!