HP Slate Readying iPad Attack: 'The Full Web'

Adobe is in full damage-control mode as it seeks to convince the world that Apple and not Flash is the true pariah in the new world of mobile computing. In the first new imagery since its introduction by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at CES, HP and Adobe present the forthcoming HP slate device and demonstrate how it provides users with access to the "full Web and not just a part of it" -- as opposed to Apple's "incomplete" Web capability.

Notice in the video below, which is a "preview of Flash player and [Adobe] Air on HP's slate device," the repeated indirect critical references to the iPad without the mention of Apple or its anti-Flash devices:

My belief is that the iPad will be a success and devices that merely reproduce the PC experience on a slate without a keyboard will fail because they're a weaker version of a laptop -- that is unless they're very cheap.

Survey: iPhone 'Addicting' for Some Students

A Stanford University anthropology professor conducted a survey of student iPhone owners (n=200), most of whom (70%) had owned the device for less than a year. Many of these student-repondents expressed the idea that the device had become indispensable to the point of "addiction" for some.

Here are the top-level findings: 

• Nearly 85 percent of the iPhone owners used the phone as their watch
• 89 percent used it as their alarm clock
• 75 percent admitted to falling asleep with the iPhone in bed with them
• 69 percent said they were more likely to forget their wallet than their iPhone when leaving in the morning
• 74 percent said the iPhone also made them feel cool

Ranking the addition on a five point scale, "with five being addicted and one being not at all addicted":

• 10 percent of the students acknowledged full addiction to the device
• 34 percent ranked themselves as a four on the scale
• 6 percent said they weren't addicted at all

And among those who didn't consider themselves completely addicted:

• 32 percent expressed worry that they would become addicted someday.
• 15 percent of those surveyed said the iPhone was turning them into a media addict
• 30 percent called it a "doorway into the world"
• 25 percent found the phone "dangerously alluring"
• 41 percent said losing their iPhone would be "a tragedy"

Next up: iPhone Anonymous

Movie Promo Uses Outdoor + Barcodes

One of the things that we've pointed out many times here is that traditional media gain "new life" with the incorporation of mobile (SMS, barcodes). A great case-in-point comes in the form of a promotion for the new horror/sci-fi movie Repo Men (not a remake of the 80s cult classic). The movie poster contains a traditional barcode that users scan for additional content and promotional information:

The barcode campaign, now taking place in 15 U.S. cities, involves outdoor creative for the movie that includes a small barcode in the corner of the posters. Users can scan these codes with an iPhone equipped with reader software from Red Laser, decode them and link to pages of apparent sales brochures for artificial hearts, kidneys, livers, eyes, and so on.

Other codes link to video clips showing a cable shopping network show touting the latest and most expensive artificial organs—"artiforgs," in the world of the movie—or to a guerilla Web site supposedly representing a movement to resist The Union, the finance arm that underwrites these costly organs and then repossesses them when the owners default.

In the absence of this the movie poster might be provocative and build awareness for the film's release. But this approach will create much more "buzz" and will likely boost sales at the box office. The only question is whether the specific mobile approach (smartphone barcode scanning) is aligned with the target audience, which might be younger and more inclined toward SMS. However, you can't do the rich media/content stuff with feature phones. 

Forget about this particular promotion, SMS and/or barcodes should be thoughtfully incorporated into more traditional media campaigns increasingly as a matter almost of routine. Not only does it make these ads dynamic and interactive, but it offers metrics on response rates as well.

A Wave of 'Kindle Remorse' As iPad Approaches

Recent ChangeWave survey data shows considerable demand for the forthcoming iPad and, interestingly, a wave of "buyer's remorse" among some of those with other tablets and eReaders. According to the survey of "3,171 consumers, conducted in the aftermath of that Apple announcement (Feb 1-10)," 57% of eReader owners are either uncertain about their purchase or would have bought an iPad.

Here are the data: 

Here's ChangeWave's "bottom line":

While the iPad launch is likely to strengthen overall e-Reader demand, the survey suggests Amazon and its competitors could well find themselves relegated to playing catch-up within just a few quarters if they don't preemptively move quickly to upgrade their own e-Readers.

iPad Coming to Stores on April 3

Yesterday I said the good folks at Gartner were effectively clueless about whether or not the iPad would sell in quantity this year. But soon we'll find out what the preliminary (early adopters, fanboy) demand will be.

Apple announced this morning that pre-orders will happen on March 12 and the "magical and revolutionary" device will become available on April 3:

Apple® today announced that its magical and revolutionary iPad will be available in the US on Saturday, April 3, for Wi-Fi models and in late April for Wi-Fi + 3G models. In addition, all models of iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April.

Beginning a week from today, on March 12, US customers can pre-order both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models from Apple’s online store (www.apple.com) or reserve a Wi-Fi model to pick up on Saturday, April 3, at an Apple retail store.

There's lots of conflicting speculation and survey data on demand. Pre-orders and early sales will give the market a pretty good sense of whether this is going to be another hit or not. Price, which could be reduced, will also play a role. The "low-end" iPad, which will be the most successful of the many options, comes in at $499. This price was the big surprise at the launch event and much cheaper than the speculated $800-$1,000. 

If you recall once the iPhone gained its subsidy sales took off. I think there's no question that at the right price, which for the iPhone was sub-$200, this device will sell well. 

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As this device moves into the wild, it will be interesting to see how people use it. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson doesn't believe he'll get a lot of 3G subscriptions off the device. And I would agree; the "use case" is going to be at home, in hotels and other places that have WiFi (maybe in the car for kids and movies/games). In addition the people that buy this will have smartphones already for access to the mobile Internet "on the go." 

Gartner Has No Idea How Many iPads Will Sell

IT consulting firm Gartner said today that global PC shipments will increase by 20% this year:

Worldwide PC shipments are projected to total 366.1 million units in 2010, a 19.7 percent increase from 305.8 million units shipped in 2009, according to the latest preliminary forecast by Gartner, Inc. Worldwide PC spendingis forecast to reach $245 billion in 2010, up 12.2 percent from 2009.

That kind of projection is relatively safe given that the economy is improving and there's pent up demand among consumers and enterprises (especially) for new machines. But Gartner goes on to say:

Apple's announcement of its upcoming iPad has created much discussion in the marketplace regarding market opportunities for traditional tablet PCs and next-generation tablet devices, such as the iPad. Gartner's initial thinking is that vendors could ship up to 10.5 million traditional tablets and next-generation tablet devices worldwide in 2010.

Here's where it all breaks down and falls apart.

Tablet computers have historically failed. The Kindle is a hit but it's not a PC. The many competitive eReaders (also not PCs) have yet to enter the market (except Nook and Sony effectively). The iPad (also not a PC) will be successful in my view but its success is highly speculative at best right now. 

There will be a range of Android tablets (Nook is one such device) that may succeed (depending on price). These are also not PCs.

True tablet PCs -- flat panels or slates running Windows 7 -- are again destined to fail. That's because people will opt for Windows 7 netbooks or laptops instead, which are more functional. Tablet computers such as the HP Windows 7 device unveiled at CES are not going to sell (unless they're dirt cheap).

As for the non-PC iPad and its non-PC slate competitors (other than Kindle and Nook), any projected sales figures are completely speculative and pulled from the ether or someone's posterior. 

Quantcast: Android Growing, iPhone Not

If these Quantcast numbers are correct they provide some additional insight into why Apple may have sued HTC (and Android/Google by proxy): its growth has stalled and Android is accelerating. Partly this is about AT&T exclusivity in the US. It's also about Android flooding the marketing.

Android is growing from a smaller base so its percentage growth is going to be much higher. The decline in iPhone growth reflects that everyone who is likely to move to AT&T to get the iPhone has already moved and people are now opting for "good enough" Android devices that are becoming available from their existing carriers. 

Here are the Quantcast charts:

The figures above actually show a higher iPhone mobile Internet share than other data vendors.

Google Offers 'Gestures' As Search Input

Google is experimenting with various ways to get queries and content into the phone that take advantage of native features of the mobile handset (voice, camera). Now comes touch-screen gestures as a way to call up contacts or content on the device:

Today we're pleased to announce Gesture Search, a new Google Labs application for Android-powered devices running Android 2.0 or above in the US. Gesture Search lets you quickly find a contact, an installed application, a bookmark or a music track from hundreds or thousands of items, by simply drawing alphabet gestures on the touch screen.

This is another innovation that recognizes the limitations and challenges of keying in queries on the keyboard. It also shows how the PC and mobile experiences are diverging, although gestures will be a part of tablet computers as they penetrate the market to varying degrees. 

Currently this only works for contacts, apps and other content resident on the device (as opposed to the Internet). 

Google: PC 'Irrelevant' in Three Years

So here's a bit of an aggressive statement from Google's European Chief John Herlihy: "In three years time, desktops will be irrelevant." Herlihy was speaking at a technology conference in Ireland.

The expanded notion behind the provocative quote is that Google is now doing everything for the cloud with mobile devices in mind. Herlihy cited Japan as a leading indicator of where the market is going. The Japanese example cannot be generalized to all cultures and countries however. 

Herlihy's remark is too strong but it is correct that mobile devices will become "primary" for many people in the next three to five years. The usage patterns of PCs and mobile devices right now are highly complementary. However many people will begin to turn to mobile devices first in a number of use cases. There will be some "cannibalization" of PC usage by mobile devices, especially if tablets take off. PCs and mobile devices will increasingly be connected -- or more precisely as Herlihy suggests more content will be in the cloud and "platform agnostic." 

Desktops will not be irrelevant in three years but considerable search volume and other types of content access will be taking place on mobile handsets. Most marketers and publishers, despite their rhetoric to the contrary, are generally unprepared for this seismic shift. Indeed, marketing on mobile devices is evoling to become quite different than on the PC. In many cases its more effective but can be considerably more challenging. 

While the Herlihy comment is extreme it reflects the new era of computing that we're rapidly moving into. 

Apple vs. HTC (Android): It's Not about Money

In the labyrinth of patent language and law it's almost impossible to predict the outcome of a dispute such as Apple vs. HTC, which is really Apple vs. Android (Google). There's a ton of discussion and analysis on Techmeme this morning about the case.

Google is not a defendant but you can be sure that Google will be involved behind the scenes and at the PR level. To that end, the company sent TechCrunch -- the ultimate tech PR outlet -- a statement that it "stands behind" its Android partners:

“We are not a party to this lawsuit. However, we stand behind our Android operating system and the partners who have helped us to develop it"

Google basically dictated the user experience on the Nexus One and HTC built it. The Nexus One comes closest to the iPhone of any of the Android devices to date. So for Apple to sue HTC and not Google is like blaming the car for the accident and not the driver. But Apple is being very purposeful. 

Google probably should be a party to the litigation. However, as a piece in the NY Times points out, the decision not to name Google is part of a legal strategy:

Apple is simply going after a less powerful company first, one with much smaller pockets than Google.

“It clearly involves some form of litigation strategy of picking off the weaker members of the herd first,” Mr Zittrain said. “They can always add Google to the suit later on.”

There are 20 patent claims that Apple asserts against HTC in the case. It's almost certain that at least some of those claims are valid. It's possible that the case could settle but the case really isn't about money; it's about functionality. 

Apple is suing because it has seen with Droid and the Nexus One that Google and its partners can build devices that come close enough to Apple's iPhone to take the wind out of its sales. Furthermore, Apple's decision to stick with AT&T as the exclusive carrier in the US for the time being means millions of potential lost sales at Verizon. Meanwhile Verizon will continue to pound away at AT&T's network and build the Android brand.

What Apple likely wants is to make Android and all the phones that use it less capable of delivering iPhone-like experiences. If we step back, Apple did in fact reinvent mobile phones, although HTC has had touch screen devices for years. The rest of the industry then came in and basically copied what Apple was doing: touch-screen handsets (no stylus) and app stores. 

My guess is that Apple wants certain types of features or functionality eliminated in future Android phones. It wants the iPhone to remain a relatively unique device in the market so that consumers cannot satisfy their appetite for it through an alternative such as the Nexus One. 

Any judge/jury is going to be unlikely to give Apple everything it seeks because of the fact that there will be a bias toward preserving "open competition" -- Google will now likely take it's Android "open" rhetoric to the next level -- and because there are a lot of people who already have these devices. What we're likely to see then is one of the following scenarios:

• HTC wins completely (unlikely)
• The case settles (maybe, depends on concessions HTC would be willing to make; Google is likely to try and prevent settlement [even behind the scenes] where Android is potentially compromised)
• Apple wins competely (unlikely)
• Apple wins a partial victory on some but not all claims (the most likely outcome)

As a practical matter the case would take at least a year to get to trial and then, if Apple wins, there would be an appeal. That might mean nothing would change in the near term. There's also the issue about how the potential for an Apple victory might affect other OEMs. That's not yet clear.

Apple Sues HTC (Android by Proxy?)

Apple announced that it has filed suit against HTC for violating up to 20 patents. The notion of 20 patent violations/infringements suggests that the company has been thinking about this for some time. The recent inclusion of multi-touch on the Nexus One may have been the final straw. Apple owns the multi-touch patent.

The press release doesn't explain the precise nature of the claims:

Apple® today filed a lawsuit against HTC for infringing on 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture and hardware. The lawsuit was filed concurrently with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and in U.S. District Court in Delaware.

The interesting question is whether Apple is really going after Google/Android here indirectly. The answer: probably yes. Google is not named as a defendant but at least in the case of the Nexus One, HTC merely carried out Google's design specifications. The Nexus One is the most iPhone-like of the Android handsets and the most competitive with the iPhone (many people think it's superior). 

Nokia and Apple have sued each other after the failure to negotiate a licensing agreement. And there are several other lawsuits among handset OEMs going on as well now.

It's unclear what relief or remedy Apple is seeking in this context (e.g., licensing fees, blocking certain features). However it would appear that Apple is trying to hold on to and potentially "own" a certain kind of user experience here.

An early, unsuccessful suit by Apple against Microsoft after the original Windows came out enabled the PC OS to go on to dominate the market. In this scenario and context, Android plays potential Microsoft to Apple's Apple. 

AT&T Subs Yahoo! Search on Android BackFlip

AT&T's first Android phone will be the Backflip, made by Motorola. It's basically a CLIQ, with a few tweaks.

The interesting twist is that the carrier is making partner Yahoo! the default search provider on the handset and not Google. This appears to be a first, certainly in the US. There's apparently also discussion that some of the native Google apps (e.g., GMail) could be stripped out as well. 

This type of substitution was certainly contemplated for Android. The thing is it hasn't happened in the market until now. Will others (OEMs, carriers) see this and make a similar move? AT&T and Google are intense rivals over net neutrality. And Google is creeping into AT&T's turf as an ISP with its "dark fiber" broadband "experiment." 

Sorry Matt, Nexus One Isn't Better

Tomorrow I have to give back my loaner Nexus One so I decided to reflect again on my experience with it over the past 30 days. Google's Matt Cutts wrote a much cited post, Leaving the iPhone. He's adjusted to the Nexus One and doesn't intend to go back to the iPhone:

It took a little while to adapt to Android, but I’m very happy with my Nexus One and I don’t plan to go back to the iPhone. Both the iPhone and Android are great operating systems, but it’s important to me that I can write or run the applications I choose on my phone.

Consider this my "leaving Nexus One" (involuntarily).

If there were no iPhone then Nexus One (notwithstanding other Android devices coming) would be the best phone on the market. There's no question of that. There are many things to celebrate there; voice for (almost) every text field is great, voice search is great too. (The latter is also on the iPhone from Google, Nuance, Microsoft and others.)

Much of my email is now generated by voice on the Nexus One, which works well most of the time. That's a feature I really love. However Google Goggles, which I had great hopes for, basically doesn't work at this stage of the game. I assume it will continue to improve over time.

I love and genuinely use Google Navigation, and love its integration with Maps and search. I like multi-tasking as well. The T-Mobile network . . . not so great. I hate the HTC keyboard; it's weak.

The Nexus One is not an apps device. I know that AdMob and a few others offer data and commentary to the effect that Android and iPhone users display similar behavior. On the iPhone and iPod Touch apps are primary, mobile Web is secondary. It's the opposite for me on Android.

This is now my second Android device and for the most part I just don't use apps. My Android behavior is consistent with my behavior on the PC Internet. While I download and play with apps there's no sustained usage. Mail, Calendar, Navigation/Maps and Facebook are notable exceptions. My conclusion from observing my own behavior over time, with the MyTouch3G and now the Nexus One, is that Android is about the mobile Internet and to a much lesser degree about apps.

Google needed and still needs apps to compete with the overall proposition offered by the iPhone, but it's clearly ambivalent about apps. The Android Market is a necessary albeit "transitional" mechanism for consumers from the iPhone-centric apps experience to a rich Google-centric mobile Web experience. That's not my view of how the mobile Internet will evolve but it's essentially the vision Google has articulated. My view is that apps will continue to thrive in pockets as the mobile Web becomes richer and more functional. (And the "mobile Web" is distinct from the PC Internet as rendered on a mobile browser.)

Developers appreciate Android because they can constantly revise and "iterate" without the iPhone App Store approval hassle. I've been told this by several developers (a rationale for moving to HTML5 as well). In the end, however, Android apps just aren't as polished as the iPhone. They're not as "crisp."

The iPhone is overall a better device with its own limitations. The iPhone's limitations have been chronicled at length elsewhere so I won't go through them. But the chief limitation in my mind is AT&T exclusivity.

Make no mistake the Nexus One is a formidable device and it, as well as those about to roll out on its heels, put tremendous pressure on Apple to provide a new iPhone that offers multitasking, a better camera, faster processor speed, longer battery life and so on.

Here's hoping that Apple rises to the challenge.

Gartner: Apple Displaces Windows Mobile at #3

Gartner has come out with its full year 2009 smartphone data. According to the IT consulting firm, Apple has displaced Windows Mobile (now Windows Phone) as the global number three player. RIM and Android also showed solid growth. According to Gartner:

The two best performers in 2009 were Android and Apple. Android increased its market share by 3.5 percentage points in 2009, while Apple's share grew by 6.2 percentage points from 2008, which helped it move to the No. 3 position and displace Microsoft Windows Mobile.

Here are the marketshare charts by hardware OEM and operating system:

Compare recent IDC smartphone estimates. Both IDC and now Gartner contradict Nokia's claim that it grew marketshare in Q4 2009.

Window (Mobile) 7 was unveiled at Mobile World Congress to much fanfare but won't be out until "holiday 2010." That means that Window Mobile's slide will accelerate as buyers either abandon or wait for the new OS to come out. 

Millennial Media Offers 2009 'Year in Review'

Millennial Media has compiled a number of top lists from 2009 and put them together in a year in review report. The data are drawn from Millennial's own network and associated ad campaigns but the company says "Millennial Media is the largest mobile ad network, [so] we anticipate much of this data is fairly representative of the mobile ad industry as a whole."

Here are a few of the lists (covering all of 2009):

Campaign distribution by objective:

• 70% brand
• 30% performance 

Growth of mobile sites/applications (YoY): 117%

Advertiser growth (YoY): 54%

Top handsets by share of impressions:

1. iPhone
2. BlackBerry Curve
3. BlackBerry Pearl
4. HTC/Google G1
5. BlackBerry Storm 

Percent of advertisers using rich media in mobile: 17%

Top ad spending "verticals" in 2009:

1. Portals & directories
2. Entertainment
3. Telecommunications
4. Dating
5. CPG
6. Retail & restaurants
7. Finance
8. Travel
9. Automotive
10. Health 

Compare the IAB's top online spending categories/industries:

Here's Millennial's December report for comparison.

Handicapping Palm's Future

Notwithstanding Windows (7) Phone's launch yesterday, some people believe that the only smartphone platform truly competitive with the iPhone is Palm's WebOS. But Palm's handsets are being overshadowed by Android, RIM and the iPhone -- and maybe Windows later this year when 7 handsets start coming out.

By most accounts Palm's handset sales have not met expectations, although the company is rolling out with other carriers in the US and abroad. However if sales don't improve the company will be under tremendous pressure. That raises again the question of an acquisition. 

However the most likely company to buy Palm, Microsoft, now says with the launch of Windows Phones it doesn't need to:

Asked whether Microsoft might ever buy a more fashionable rival, like BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, Ballmer said: "The word 'ever' is a big word but I certainly don't feel like that's the right strategy for us today."

He also said no major change should be expected in the company's policy of charging license fees to handset makers for its mobile software. Microsoft is the only major company to still charge a fee for using its mobile operating system.

"We don't comment generally but there's nothing that interestingly new," he said. Later, he told a news conference: "We plan on staying with the model that we are on."

I own the Pre and I've grown to dislike the phone over time, from ambivalence at the start. However, I think the major failures are ones of marketing and branding rather than design. Still, in retrospect, the Pre launched with too few apps. In addition, the absence of voice search or voice control and a virtual keyboard were and are also problems with the user experience. 

There were some poor choices and miscalculations by Palm executives. While the WebOS and new handsets offer a big improvement over the Windows Mobile Treo and Centro, they aren't dramatic enough to capture consumer attention in a market that is crazy with new product launches and competition. 

Palm will be in an increasingly tough position unless it gets a boost from newer carriers or overseas. Perhaps if it had launched originally with Verizon instead of Sprint it might have achieved more sales. We won't know. Now, at Verizon, Droid and BlackBerry dominate. Maybe the Pixi (as a low-cost feature phone upgrade) will see some adoption there. 

I suppose Nokia is potentially a candidate to acquire the company -- althought that's also a longshot with the company now developing and building on two operating systems.

Windows (7) Phone: Where Is Voice?

I saw most of Steve Ballmer's Windows 7 keynote at Mobile World Congress this morning. Most of the phone's features were demonstrated and there are some cool ones. Mostly the phone looks different than other things in the market, even as it borrows certain elements from Apple and Google.

However, one of Microsoft's core mobile competencies -- voice and voice search -- was not on display in the demo. I would have expected deeper integration of Tellme's technology into 7 and that this would be one of the differentiators or would-be differentiators for the company. Yet it was nowhere in evidence. 

I'm sure that voice search will be available for Bing; but will it be available at a deeper level in the way Google is trying to integrate voice on the Nexus One? That wasn't the case today and it's not clear how and whether Microsoft will use voice as the devices roll out late this year. If the company is smart it will seek to voice-enable as much as possible on the device.

Here's a quick demo of local search from MobileCrunch on the scene in Barcelona: 

Microsoft Shows Zune-Like Windows (7) Phone

Microsoft has just unveiled its Windows 7 Phone. It "disses" apps, relies more heavily on widgets and promises a more integrated experience -- a "new beginning" in the smartphone story. It borrows elements from both the iPhone and Android but combines them in a new, visually distinctive way (kudos to Microsoft on interface design, except for the homepage, which I don't particularly like).

I don't have one in my hand so I'll rely on third parties and the press materials. It offers a very Zune-like interface (with Xbox Live integrated) and is a complete redesign vs. 6.5.

From the press release:

With Windows Phone 7 Series, Microsoft takes a fundamentally different approach to phone software. Smart design begins with a new, holistic design system that informs every aspect of the phone, from its visually appealing layout and motion to its function and hardware integration. On the Start screen, dynamically updated “live tiles” show users real-time content directly, breaking the mold of static icons that serve as an intermediate step on the way to an application. Create a tile of a friend, and the user gains a readable, up-to-date view of a friend’s latest pictures and posts, just by glancing at Start.

Every Windows Phone 7 Series phone will come with a dedicated hardware button for Bing, providing one-click access to search from anywhere on the phone, while a special implementation of Bing search provides intent-specific results, delivering the most relevant Web or local results, depending on the type of query.

Here's the Ballmer GSM keynote replay; here are Windows (7) Phone screens. Here are some first impressions (with a lot of blanks) from:

• Engadget
• Slashgear
• TechCrunch
• More on Techmeme 

Ballmer is still on stage as I write this, promising this as a next generation device and user experience. He envisions lots of Windows Phones but wants more consistency in the user experience and says that Microsoft will work more closely with operators than it has in the past. Here's is the initial partner list:

Mobile operators AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, and manufacturers Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC Corp., HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm Inc.

Microsoft is trying to position itself as more operator-friendly (vs. RIM, Android, Apple), "They're not just dumb pipes," says Microsoft's Andy Lees who shared the stage with Ballmer. Two key operator partners will be Orange and AT&T. This is a jab at Apple and AT&T asserting its independence a bit too. 

It won't be available apparently until "holiday 2010." We'll need to hold one and use it before any assessments can be made about its competitiveness. It does look much better than 6.5 however. There's no way this is an "iPhone killer," the question is whether it can compete with Android handsets. Regardless, it's good for everyone if Microsoft is more competitive in the smartphone market. 

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Related: See Bloomberg video/interview with Steve Ballmer (Windows Media only)