Google's Nexus One Confirms it: 2010 Will be a Tech Year for the Ages

Photo: Engadget.comGoogle just finished unveiling the Nexus One, created in partnership with htc. The phone in early reviews seems quite capable, and probably comes in above the Droid as the best Android phone. Of most interest though, is the 5MP camera and built-in flash all in a phone thinner than a pencil.

Many of the Android-powered devices seem designed to help their carriers retain customers, by closing the gap with the iPhone enough to make the move to AT&T (in the U.S.) less appealing. When/if Apple gets out of the AT&T exclusivity, it will be quite interesting to see how many Android devices thrive, and where the carriers will put their promotional dollars. If you were Verizon, and you had the iPhone and the Droid, and you knew how much brand/name recognition the iPhone already has, which handset would you want to promote.

The hardware specs, at least of the camera on the Nexus One shows that Apple can, with enough time be beaten. This may very well mean a move to two iPhone upgrades a year to keep pace with emerging camera and battery technology. All of which means better, faster, and hopefully cheaper devices for all of us.

Your move, Apple.

iPhone 3.0 software proves why competition is good

I don't have any insider info on what will be in tomorrow's iPhone 3.0 preview, and unlike some unnamed Apple prognosticators out there, I don't believe in stating features that we don't know will be in future releases as fact. There are plenty of other sites to do that.

What I do know though, is Apple doesn't take competition lightly, and the Palm Pre has been on their radar from day one. As a result, tomorrow's preview will most likely bring us features that Apple was either reluctant, or outright against releasing for the phone, and we have Palm to thank.

Sure people have been talking about the lack of cut and paste for quite some time, and that would've been addressed at some point. And I would think there would be some MMS solution, even if its only for those receiving messages. The real question focus on wildcards like background processing, running multiple apps, etc. Developers have told me they expect a system for "trusted" apps to run in the background before the end of the year. Is it possible we'll see that tomorrow as Apple stays one step ahead of, or in this case, matches Palm Pre features?

I have no intention of purchasing a Pre. I'm quite happy with my iPhone. But unlike the Zune, which hasn't really pushed the iPod at all, the Pre might be one of those products like Apple's own Newton, that influences people well beyond those who purchase it. So thanks, Palm for showing why competition is good, and for most likely pushing Apple to make a better iPhone 3.0 update than would've been likely without you.

Apple and Google On A Collision Course

It wasn't that long ago that Google and Apple looked like a dream team. We even considered a fantasy merger of the two back in July. How quickly times have changed.

Now it's iPhone vs. Android, Chrome vs. Safari, and perhaps, Apple mobile search vs. Google search. There are some interesting parallels between this situation and the early days of the Microsoft/Apple rivalry. Microsoft was a key software provider for Apple, while also ramping up its own competing OS for IBM PCs and compatibles.

So where will this end? Can Google and Apple work together against Microsoft as a common enemy, or are we seeing the rivalry of the next decade? Will the next generation of Apple users look back on Google vs. Apple in the same way many of us remember Microsoft vs. Apple? It's not entirely unbelievable to see a path in which Microsoft's influence (continues to) declines to a point of an also-ran. Look at the market gains of Firefox, and to a lesser extent, Safari. Look at the move to online applications, and the increasing marginalization of the desktop OS. Yes, these trends could affect Apple as well, but Apple has a booming hardware business Microsoft can't rely on.

With the recent delay/rejection of Apple's voice search app for the iPhone, we might be seeing this new clash of titans coming far sooner than we thought.

What do you think? Is the ultimate showdown of "Do No Evil," and "Think Different" right around the corner?

Dell, you can't be serious

Today brings word Dell plans on re-entering the portable music player market. Really, Dell? Did you learn anything from the failed Dell DJ? (pictured above) I remember nights spent during my Apple breaks heading over to the Dell kiosk to razz the staff, and pretend to actually be impressed with the DJ. They knew as well as everyone else what a dud it was: those same employees were in the Apple Store later to buy iPods.

Moving on... A few notes. First, just about everyone except Microsoft has thrown in the towel on competing directly with the iPod. Sure competition's good, but given their track record, I don't think anyone expects anything particularly innovative, or game-changing from Dell. Secondly, the future of mp3 players is blah at best. Apple, and the industry is moving on. People don't want to carry a music player and a cell phone. At long last, at least for phones and music, convergence is here. Why not start a competing home DVD delivery service to take on Netflix while you're at it?

It way too little, jaw-droppingly too late, Dell