5 Gadgets That Didn't Live Up To Their Hype

A lot of iPhone 6 owners have been complaining this week that their new gadgets are becoming ‘bendy’ when they’ve been in their pockets for a long period of time.

With a lot of hype revolving around the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, this news is surely going to have a negative effect on the sales of the device, which experts were predicting would go through the roof. With this news, we thought it’d be good to look at four other gadgets that might not have lived up to their full potential.

The Segway

The Segway was one of the most anticipated gadgets of its time (2001) and had been called the ‘new-age scooter’ and although there are still a number of celebrities spotted on these around their homes, very few ‘normal’ people can afford the $5,000 price tag. Not only was the Segway overpriced, but when the President George Bush fell off one in 2004, it was the end of the road.

Blackberry Playbook

Blackberry were living the high-life for a few years with their mobile phones aimed at the business market, but as the years rolled on, more people opted for the iPhone and less for the Blackberry. So, when Blackberry introduced the Playbook in 2011, they thought this could be their way back to the top … they were wrong. They released this tablet but a lot of its features only worked if you owned a Blackberry phone, so its market was limited.

Nokia N-Gage

Nokia are another company that have fallen by the wayside recently, and although they dominated the mobile phone market for a few years before Apple got involved, one of their nails in the coffin was the Nokia N-Gage. This half phone, half game controller was released in 2003 and cost $299 at the time. They even ended up releasing an N-Gage 2, but that didn’t do too well either.

Google Nexus Q

Google make the list too. Usually, they’re a company that get things right, but when they introduced the Nexus Q in 2012, it was a bit of a disaster. Despite looking like something out of Star Wars, it was overpriced ($299) and wasn’t all that useful. The idea was to make media consumption more social, but in theory all it could access was Google’s content.

What To Expect From MWC 2014

It’s that time of the year again (well, it will be come Monday) and the Mobile World Congress is back.

MWC 2014 kicks off on the 4th February in Barcelona and is hosted by none other than Mark Zuckerberg, where we get a chance to see what smartphones are coming in the year ahead.

This annual mobile technology event, where virtually every mobile phone company will share their latest models for the following spring/summer contract renewal market, is likely to be jam packed with some interesting technology.

So what can we expect? Well, Samsung have been dropping subtle hints for some time now that they could be giving us a glimpse of the Galaxy S5. They have sent out invites in advance of the event covered with little number 5’s, we’re no rocket scientists but it’s pretty nailed on we’ll get to see that.

What we’re unsure of though is whether they will show us one variant or two.  Rumours are saying we could see one encompassing a metal frame with a high-resolution screen and the other a polycarbonate version that follows the traditional 1080p display.  Other rumours are dropping hints at Samsung bringing the Galaxy Gear sequel to the event too – exciting stuff!

Nokia are another company we are interested in seeing. After partnering with Microsoft and having a couple of successful months since releasing the Lumia 1520 and Lumia 2520 tablet, we could end up seeing a few more tricks from the sleeves of Nokia. One smartphone heavily tipped to feature is the Nokia Normandy and this is the big news to come out of Nokia according all of the people in the know.

The third company we are hoping to see is HTC. HTC used to be a banker during the MWC but it turned its back on the event in 2013, so we hope they will change this in 2014. We’re not entirely sure what they will unveil at the event but we just hope they turn up and bring some interesting gadgets.

So, some interesting technology is expected to come out of the Mobile World Congress 2014 and we can’t wait.

Massive Move For Microsoft

Just weeks after the release of its Surface 2 tablet, Microsoft has announced another massive feat, the merge with Nokia.

Microsoft’s takeover of Nokia’s device and services came to the press this week and was met with two thumbs up by the US department of Justice and the European Union.

Microsoft, who has been regarded as inferior to competitors Apple and Samsung in the mobile market, is looking to reverse this perception by merging with Nokia’s line of smartphones. With the Windows Phone 8 operating system, increasing improvement and growth of their app store and Office 2013 software, the future for Microsoft-Nokia smartphones looks bright.

In fact, the recently released Nokia Lumia has sold over 8.8 million units so far, which is even better news for Microsoft.  Nokia was once a front-runner in the mobile world, but until the Lumia (which runs the Microsoft software); their sales were down 27% when compared to last year.

The deal was anticipated to take place in the first three months of 2014, but the move was announced this week, much to the delight of Microsoft.

Microsoft Chief Executive, Steve Ballmer, described the deal as a big, bold step forward. He also said, “Microsoft is a company that was once only known for its software and PCs, but is progressively becoming a company focused on devices and services.”

It’s true; we all know Microsoft for its impressive software and tablets, but there is a lot of potential in the mobile market for a company the size of Microsoft (and Nokia) to compete with the likes of Samsung and Apple.

The deal, that may sound very prosperous for Microsoft, has come at a cost though.  It is thought to be in the region of £4.6bn and will include around 32,000 employees transferring to Microsoft from Nokia. The takeover deal has also included a 10-year licensing arrangement with Nokia, so the Nokia brand can remain on current mobile phone products.

This is no doubt an exciting time for Microsoft and it could be an extremely exciting one for us as the consumer too.

The Winners and Losers of Technology

We are often talking about new technology that is due to be released or a review of technology that has already hit the streets, but very rarely do we talk about what good or bad has come from it.

So, that is exactly what we are going to do. We will mention some winning technology and some, well, losers.

Let’s start with the winners:

•    Apple iPad – I’m sure many people already had this in their head’s when thinking about innovative technology that is a winner, but the Apple iPad has completely reshaped the use of computer technology. The ability to move with a computer more freely than a laptop, having your apps at your fingertips wherever you go and a great design means that the iPad is featured as one of the technology wins of our past time.

•    Nokia and the Windows Phone – Maybe not as influential as the iPad, but … and it’s a big but, without the gamble on its Windows Phone Nokia could quite have well been dead and buried, so for that, it’s a win in our eyes. This gamble has paid off, especially with the decline of Blackberry.

Talking of Blackberry, let’s turn to a couple of losers within the technology world:

•    Blackberry Playbook – Blackberry in general is on the decline like we mentioned, but the Playbook didn’t help matters. The Playbook was extremely rushed to get it onto the market and it didn’t turn out to be all we expected. In fact, it didn’t even have any email or calendar apps … not very convenient for a tablet. It didn’t help that it was outshone by the iPad.

•    3G – European operators have spent billions on their 3G licenses (£22.5 billion in the UK) and the idea at first was gold dust, but in reality, many of us still don’t get 3G today. So for that reason, it is a loser.
So, here we have a couple of examples for the winners and losers of technology in recent years. There is a whole bunch more but we might save that for another time when some new technology hits the street, like the Apple iWatch we mentioned last week.

5 Top Tips for Mobile Apps in 2011

Here are my 5 top tips for what I believe will be the big news in the mobile App world for 2011:

1. Apps are here to stay
Currently more than half a million apps are downloaded every hour and the average smartphone user has 22 of them installed (source: Borrell Associates data). 2011 will see an even higher number of Apps on smartphones; and importantly this same App model will appear on tablets (iPad, Android tablet), TVs (Google TV, Apple TV), desktop (Intel AppUp, Mac App Store, AllMyApps for Windows, etc.) and Web browsers (Google Chrome Web Store, Mozilla Open Web App Store, etc.)

2. M-Commerce
Until now virtually all App revenue has come from users buying the App in the first place. While 2010 has seen momentum gathering of in App purchasing (just a few weeks ago a lot of the top grossing iPhone Apps were free but generated revenue using in App purchase) 2011 will see true m-commerce coming to the fore. Until now there haven't been many options for in App purchase but this is changing. Just recently PayPal have introduced App integration (which we have working in an App!) so expect others to follow suit.

3. Smart Notifications
It has already been proven (source: Mobclix survey) that Apps using push notifications (for example, if you're using the Ebay iPhone App a popup appears to warn you of auctions about to end even when the App isn't running) are opened up 4 times as many times as a non-push App. In 2011 expect more and more push Apps as well as linking this to location based services to deliver timely notifications based on your preferences.

4. Apps hit the mainstream
The average smartphone user now spends 2.8 hours per day using apps and 3 in 5 people first turn to an app before searching the Web (source: Mobclix). Apps have gained more popularity over the browser this year (source: Parks Associates) as consumers under 30 are now using mobile Apps rather than the mobile web. With more smartphones and platforms emerging in 2011 with even tighter App integration this number is set to increase dramatically.

5. Platform Wars?
2010 marked the beginning of the smartphone platform wars, which was mainly a battle between Apple and Android. Expect more fun, games, and marketing stunts in 2011 not just between Apple and Android but also with Microsoft Windows Phone 7, Nokia, RIM (who make Blackberry's), and Palm.


There are lots of other things to look out for such as augmented reality (check out our App www.festfind.co.uk to discover what AR is all about), growth in business and enterprise App space, common mobile App standards, and a huge growth of in App advertising. All this should make for an interesting year!

Article written by Richard Eaton of Appware - www.appware.co.uk