Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the most expert gadget pundit of all?

by Glen Burchers — With the launch of the iPad smartbook tablet (noticed how I worked smartbook into that description), the pundits are coming out of the ether. And since it’s the season of the Academy Awards, Freescale thought it only fitting for us to establish the first annual (and perhaps only ever) Smart Mobile Device Pundit Award – the umbrella that includes all things smartbooks, smartphones, eReaders, tablets, etc. So push your black horn-rimmed glasses up toward the bridge of your nose and click over to our smartmobiledevicepundits nomination page to vote for your favorite smart mobile device blogger, writer, prognosticator or even frequent commenter. Heck, you can even nominate yourself and tweet to all your followers to vote for you. Let’s thank those most deserving tech geeks who tirelessly scour the internet to bring us the latest video feed of those gadgets we love to read about.

Who will it gain the most votes? Will it be one of those already nominated? Or will it be someone entirely new?

We’ve started the list with these clearly deserving individuals. But feel free to nominate your own if your fav is not listed.

• CNET, Dan Ackerman
• ZDNet, Larry Dignan Kindle vs. iPad: It’s Not Zero Sum
• TechCrunch, Matt Burns
• Engadget, Darren Murph
• jkONtheRun, Kevin C. Tofel Which will Find Success: MIDs, Media Tablets or Smartbooks
• All Things D, Walt Mossberg Mossberg Discusses the iPad on “The Charlie Rose Show”
• ArsTechnica, Jon Stokes
• New York Times, David Pogue
• Wired, Priya Ganapati
• PocketLint, Stuart Miles

We’ll compile the community feedback and announce the list on February 19.

eReader vs. Tablet a.k.a. Kindle vs. iPad

by Eric Braddom — Market analysts often ask me to compare the iPad with an eReader.  Having been working closely with customers, both ODMs and brands, in the eReader market (yes, it is true, Freescale had 92% share of unit shipments in 2009), analysts often ask me this question.

There are many factors to consider.  The total cost of the iPad is much higher than a typical eReader, especially if you subscribe to the 3G service comes with a monthly fee. The Kindle eReader offers free 3G service for downloading electronic books. eReaders like the Kindle are easier to hold in one hand and some may argue that the bi-stable screen is more like paper and easier on the eyes. So for users that are avid readers, I think the eReaders still have have significant market potential.  And perhaps the widespread availability of electronics books on many devices and platforms will benefit the growth of electronic publishing and distribution overall. However, for consumers that are more interested in social networking and on-line entertainment, the iPad with its color LCD screen and online access is a better choice.

In summary, while there may be some overlap in target customers, for now, there is room for both platforms to achieve substantial growth.

A backlash on Adobe for missing Flash on the iPad?

by Glen Burchers — Were you surprised that Apple decided to not support Adobe Flash on the iPad?  The user community seemed at first to be worried that this would render the iPad less useful on thier favorite sites.  How can we watch Youtube, Hulu and our CNN videos withoug Adobe Flash?

Adobe seemed disappointed.  Adobe even posted a blog scolding Apple for their shortsighted mistake.

But now the reaction of the developer community is clear.  Over 90% of the comments from developers on the Adobe blog are running against Adobe and their Flash plugin.  Kudos to Adobe for approving the comments. 

I don’t know if HTML5 can truly replace Flash 10.  But if any company can help an open standard to develop, Apple is the one to do it. 

And remind me never to scold Apple on a blog.

If you read books for pleasure, the iPad is not your device

by Glen Burchers — Freescale currently owns over 90% of the application processor market for eReaders.  It’s a market we study exhaustively.

So, if you like to read, should you buy a Kindle or an iPad? 

The average Kindle reader has two common traits.  First, Kindle buyers are addicted to reading books for pleasure.  Books are their primary leisure pass time.  Second, they buy considerably more books than non-readers.  They buy at least two books per month.  In North America, our data shows that these two criteria fit about 10% of the population.

For this group, the Kindle’s easy-on-the-eyes screen, two week battery life, free wireless connectivity, and elegant lightweight slim design make it an ideal product.  The only thing standing in the way of the eReader completely replacing books for this crowd is the $259 price.  And that price is going to come down.

The iPad may offer an eReader function, but no one for whom books is their number one concern will be satisfied with an iPad over the Kindle.

Apple’s Tablet – Pondering the Processor

by Steve Sperle — It’s great fun to see the excitement around an Apple tablet and the speculation regarding the device’s size, shape, capabilities and of course, the hardware behind it. The processor will be the heart and soul of the device, and the blogosphere and press are certainly filled with speculation about which processor will power the tablet. I think they’re missing a fundamental element to what really makes a device tick – it’s not solely about the processor, it’s about all of the components in a device, including the screen interface, graphics, software, and how the hardware works together with the software and services to enable a compelling user experience.

Apple is famous for making ground breaking devices, but it is never just about the processor selection. Instead, the genius of Apple is the balanced engineering approach. The processor is only one segment of the overall infrastructure, yet it’s often the component that gains an immense amount of attention, thanks to a multi-million dollar educational effort done by Intel years ago around the processor itself.

I think the processor of a system is similar to the engine of a car. It is a lot of fun to dig into detailed specs, but it certainly does not make sense to focus solely on the engine. Who buys a car based just on the maximum RPM of the engine? It certainly makes a lot more sense to look at the whole picture.

Freescale recently announced a tablet reference design that’s based on a holistic view to address customers’ desires for portability, great performance, for web browsing and multimedia playback, long battery life, thin form factor and affordability. It will be interesting to compare and contrast the Freescale design with the Apple design.

I look forward to looking under the hood of the device once Apple makes its announcement.

Apple Tablet – the eReader for Every(rich)Man

by Glen Burchers — On the phone recently with some eReader analysts, they told me that their data indicated that about 10% of the buying public in America would fit the target market for the current Electronic Paper Display eReaders (Kindle, Nook, etc.)  That buyer is one who buys more than 2 books a month and for whom reading is an addiction.

However, if you were to add more widespread functions such as TV watching, movie watching, magazine reading and gaming, then you will have a product that appeals to a much larger audience – perhaps ten times larger.  It’s doesn’t take an economist to figure this one out.

The Wall Street Journal’s recent article about Apple aligning with media publishers shows that they plan the capability to offer books and magazines to their current content library of music, TV shows and movies.  Now they have a product that appeals to a broader audience. 

Until we know the price structure, I’m hesitant to predict the number of buyers who will be able to afford this new Apple toy. 

Next week, I’ll offer proposals for how to cost reduce the Apple Tablet so that everyone can afford it.

Who needs a smartbook tablet anyway?

by Glen Burchers — “I already have a notebook, a smartphone and a netbook.  If I want to surf around the house, I’ll grab one of those.”  Have you heard comments like this before?  I heard them at CES and read some as well.

For those of us tasked with creating the next generation of digital must-have gadget, predicting the future is a daunting task.  We’re limited by the amount of data we can gather and too often, we use our own lives as marketing case studies thinking “If I like it, millions of others will like it as well.”  Or more often “I don’t see a use for it, therefore it will fail.”

Freescale has tried to grow beyond this mindset and actually spend time with potential end users.  We’ve just finished our third round of extensive end user research and have started a fourth round this month.  We are maniacally focused on finding out the ideal device and user experience that will satisfy the 1.5 billion people who are fascinated with the internet.  Specifically, we’re focusing on the large subset of these (typically younger) users who spend upwards of 5 hours a day online for recreational purposes.

Our data shows significant dissatisfaction amongst this group when using the  typical computer for web browsing.  It’s either too expensive, too slow to boot, the battery does not last long enough, or it’s not portable enough.  Smartbook tablets need to  address these issues to be successful.

If you were born after 1980, you might not buy a smartbook tablet for yourself.  But the research shows that you’re likely to succumb to the nagging of your 13 year old and buy her one for her birthday.  And that’s enough to drive the innovation this market needs.

Freescale demonstrates a tablet reference design at just the right time.

by Glen Burchers — Starting this Thursday January 7th, if you are at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, you can see, touch and feel a working smartbook tablet prototype.  Freescale will demonstrate our Smart Application Blueprint for Rapid Engineering (SABRE) for smartbook tablets.

This is a concept product made using Freescale processors, accelerometers, RF chips and power management.  We’ve produced this tablet to spur activity in the tablet market and to help our customers get to market quickly with a similar product. 

You can read the detailed specs of this 7″ touchscreen tablet smartbook here. 

Later on this year, perhaps you’ll have one of these in your home.  In your favorite color, of course. 

Why tablets will succeed this time and why Apple will lead the way.

by Glen Burchers — The web is filled with hundreds of stories and blogs today about the imminent release of Apple’s tablet – perhaps the iSlate.   Some are concerned that Apple’s new tablet will go the failed way of all previous tablets (even Apple had a tablet in 1993 called Newton).

But there is a major innovation that we now have that wasn’t around in 1993 for the Newton or the Palm or the Gridpad or other tablets.

It’s the internet.

The number of internet users has tripled in only the previous 5 years.  And most of the internet’s users are too young to even remember what happened before the internet.

Freescale has conducted three rounds of end-user research in the last 12 months on young internet users (12-25 years old.)  This age group dominates the amount of online bandwidth consumption.  And these users want a smart mobile device to access the internet.  They don’t need or want a PC for internet access.  And they want a larger screen than their smartphones provide.

This time the tablet will finally succeed.  Finally.

When the Kindle kills bookstores, where will the coffee shops go?

In consumer electronics we study the “S curve” of adoption.  It shows that in the early phase of a new device’s life, only a few early adopters will buy the new device and sales grow slowly.  Later, as more people own a device, it starts to enter the collective conscious of our society and more people want one.  At this point, the sales growth starts to skyrocket exponentially during a period in which everyone starts to want this new device.

The eReader has clearly entered the growth phase of the S curve.  Amazon reported that the Kindle was their number one selling device in the recent record-setting Christmas sales season.  That’s quite amazing noting that during their peak sales day, Amazon was selling 110 items per second all day long.

And perhaps a more telling clue, on Christmas day, Amazon sold more Kindle books than print books.  Of course, new Kindle owners were trying out their Kindles on this day, but still the statistic is noteworthy.

Some people think that this spells death for bookstores just like the iPod and iTunes killed record stores.  Thankfully, Starbucks has plenty of stand-alone coffee shops.