Chrome OS—The big announcement this week is that Google is planning on shipping an OS dubbed Chrome OS targeted at netbooks.  Much of the speculation is that this is just a first step toward a full fledged competitor to Windows and OSX.  My guess is that it will be an “instant on” OS that is lightweight and will allow its users get to a browser quickly.  To do this, it will more than likely do away with a lot of the features of a traditional OS.  If you look at the Chrome browser, this is exactly what it is.  It lacks most of the features of IE and (especially) Firefox, but it gets to the web quick.  I use it on a daily basis just for this reason.  It opens faster and loads pages faster than any other browsers.

In theory, it sounds like a good play for Google.  But, I can see a number of potential pitfalls.  The first is that, for the most part, people do not restart their computers on a regular basis.  I have a Macbook that I only reboot to switch operating systems and a PC that before I had overheating issues I rebooted only a handful of times.  Restore on both OSX and Windows 7 is fast enough that any sort of quick booting feature seems unnecessary.  The second problem I see is that its aim is netbooks.  Right now they are underpowered and run best with older operating systems, but with how fast hardware prices fall, I am pretty confidant that they will soon have similar specs to our current laptops.  And, we are already seeing a lot of news around Windows 7 on netbooks and a possible future Apple netbook.  So, it is not like Google is entering an overlooked segment.  The final problem I see with Chrome OS is that it is entering an extremely competitive market where the two primary competitors have strong products.  It would be different if Google would have launched a competitor a couple years back when Vista was getting torn to shreds in the PR department.  But after using Windows 7 for the last couple months, I can tell you that MS is back with a great product.  And, Apple has the high end of the market locked down with OSX.

In the end, we will have to wait and see.  I do believe that in order to break into the OS market, Google will need more than just its name;  it will need one or more killer features.  And, I honestly do not have any guesses as to what those will be.

Nokia’s Future—Nokia has been blasted the last couple weeks in the blogosphere.  First, Gizmodo proclaimed Nokia is doomed in its N97 review and then Scoble followed up with a blog entry on how Europe (primarily Nokia) no longer matters in mobile.  After using my e71 for a couple months now, I think that both of these articles are right on point.  I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the company is doomed, but based on my experience, Nokia has a lot of problems.  The e71 itself is a pretty good device.  The hardware is amazing, but the Symbian OS leaves a lot to be desired.  The out-of-the-box experience (which unfortunately is what most reviewers rely on) is not good.  It took me months to find a theme that I thought was comparable to the Blackberry and iPhone themes (out-of-the box).  But even then, the app switching and general user experience of the device is not good.  Yes, Nokia devices can do everything that most of its competitors can do.  But, it is like putting a Cadillac engine in a Malibu.  Sure, it can compete on specs with its competitors, but overall you don’t get the same feel.

But that is not the only problem I have had with the e71.  Outside of the OS, the second most important thing in smart phones these days are apps.  I am not saying that Nokia’s app store (Ovi) has to have as many apps as the iPhone, but they do need to have their bases covered.  And, Nokia definitely has some big gaps.  First and foremost, Nokia still does not have a Facebook application for the e71.  To me, this is crazy.  Nokia Labs is off designing all these crazy apps like a Mobile Web Server, Diary, and Sports Tracker.  But, they still do not have a freakin’ Facebook app for all their devices.  Are you kidding me?

To wrap this up, my experience pretty much follows what the big tech blogs are saying.  Nokia needs to make some big changes and soon.  And a good start would be filling some gaps in their app lineup.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 8:52 am and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.