Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs:

New Tablet Hardware: Specs and Speculation
And the mobile market rolls on. Two tablets launched last week are worth a look – for consumers and content publishers alike. RIM’s Blackberry Playbook and LG’s Android G-Slate.

Imavex Does Live Streaming to Roku and iOS
If you’ve always dreamed of having your own live Roku channel, now’s your chance. Limelight customer Imavex has launched a service with encoding partner Kulabyte for live content streaming to Roku boxes and Apple iOS devices.

Video Distribution in a Box – Limelight with mgMEDIA
What’s interesting about this news is that it’s another signal showing we’ve entered into an age of democratized distribution. Anyone, from the biggest broadcasters to the smallest start-ups, can now get content out to audiences everywhere.

9 thoughts on “Digital Media Bytes”

  1. “Two tablets launched last week are worth a look – for consumers and content publishers alike. RIM’s Blackberry Playbook and LG’s Android G-Slate.”

    What is the over/under on how long until someone outside Cupertino produces a tablet that is more user-friendly than a Vulkano godbox?

    I’m guessing we’re still 12 to 18 months away…

  2. You know, I had high hopes for Honeycomb. But it’s still rather unpolished. And, based on the Playbook reviews, while RIM’s (acquired) platform has promise the product is unfinished. Guess that leaves HP and webOS as the final 2011 contender.

  3. “You know, I had high hopes for Honeycomb. But it’s still rather unpolished”

    As Talking Silicon Valley Barbie™ says, “Building platforms is hard.”

  4. Honestly, the best thing that has happened to Android tablets so far is B&N Nook Color (esp. when new update hits) which has been a huge hit with tweakers. Insofar as truly mass-market adoption is concerned, I am bullish on upcoming Amazon tablet which, if Peter Rojas is correct, will one-up Nook Color because of a wider variety of Amazon services (B&N doesn’t do music & video) and will offer a true competitor to Apple eco-system.

  5. Yeah, I’ve been pretty tempted by the Nook Color as you know. If only I’d picked up during that insane ebay sale. But now I’m content to see what Amazon delivers. Although, iOS 5 on the iPad might just end the debate. All will be revealed soon…

  6. “I am bullish on upcoming Amazon tablet”

    If Amazon gets into the general purpose tablet market, they’ll do it well. Just like Apple, they’re willing to do hard things well. Just like Apple, they’ve got a credit-card base. And Amazon seems to understand how to do customer relationships even better than Apple does. (I trust Amazon while I don’t trust Apple, for example.)

    But the jury is still out on using Google as an underlying platform.

  7. I’m as bullish on Amazon as anybody, given their media cred which is something sorely lacking on Android, but I don’t see them entering until they can do a solid product, and to me Honeycomb isn’t ready yet. It needs to be bug free, the flash issues need to be worked on, and there need to be more tablet apps. I’d say even if Amazon had the hardware ready (not convinced yet they’re doing one, but whatever) it would be fall before we’d see it announced.

    One of the things we’re going to have to watch with Honeycomb is how the whole update situation works out. Honeycomb needs some serious work and yet we have no idea how long it will take the various h/w manufacturers to rollout updates. Unless its a virgin Google device like the Xoom, the ones with skins add risk that the vendor will take their time. At least with the wifi models you don’t have the additional delay of a carrier in the mix as well. I wouldn’t buy a tablet from a vendor with an unproven track record of providing updates until they prove their mettle at least once on Honeycomb honestly.

    So my guess? Won’t be till next year that we’ve got real competition as far as a quality product for non-hackers.

    The Playbook will sell to their captive audience even as unfinished as it is, which will create the motivation to continue working on it. It’ll get better over time. Might always be an odd duck, not convinced it’ll sell to the general consumer but it’ll do okay with BlackBerry addicts.

    HP? Dunno. It will be a quality product, but won’t have lots of hardware variants, won’t undercut the iPad on price, and won’t have many/any hardware options (SD card slots etc) that you can’t get on the iPad. It’ll just be an alternative kinda like the iPad. Without all the ads. I’m not convinced it’ll do any better than the Pre unless they can differentiate themselves. But maybe if all the Android tablets suck the Apple hater crowd will latch onto it. The wild card here is if they can do something interesting with touchscreen desktops.

    Honeycomb WILL succeed EVENTUALLY. I’m not sure the numbers are going to be there this year though, kinda doubt it with all the early negative reviews. I think people will hold off for a while, even if they fix those problems.

  8. “One of the things we’re going to have to watch with Honeycomb is how the whole update situation works out. Honeycomb needs some serious work and…”

    I’m still not sold on the notion that Google is ever going to be a reliable platform supplier partner. They are a bit autistic as a company. I’m agnostic about whether or not they’re ever going to become that supply partner.

    “Honeycomb WILL succeed EVENTUALLY.”

    No. Some commodity mobile platform to take on iOS will succeed eventually, but there is no necessity that it comes from Google. Others will succeed if Google fails.

  9. So, my question for you, Dave:

    When you post an item on the PlayStation, how does it happen that you’ll get a hundred comments within half an hour?

    Where does your link appear to drive that kind of fanboi traffic?

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