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Mobius 2005Welcome to my daily journal of Mobius 2005!Mobius 2005 is being held December 6-8 in Seattle, Washington and for the first time, I've been invited to attend. The invitation comes after recommendations from Jason Dunn at Thoughts Media (Pocket PC Thoughts, Smartphone Thoughts, etc) and Ed Hansberry (Pocket PC Thoughts, Pocket PC Magazine). Both of these MVPs have been a huge help as Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! grown and I'm very much in debt to the both of them. Thanks guys! What is Mobius?Mobius is an exclusive group of the top gadget bloggers from around the world. Mobius, which was started more than five years ago, is about a never-ending conversation among a group – now 100 strong – devoted to following and reporting on topics and news related to mobile devices. We have a very active discussion group and an annual event. At the annual event, speakers throughout the mobile industry come and speak, show new and future products and healthy discussion is encouraged. While Microsoft sponsors Mobius, not all attendees run sites dedicated to Microsoft Windows Mobile technology. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about being invited to this event. I'm excited for several different reasons. First, I'm finally going to get to meet some people that I've communicated with via email and MSN Messenger with for upwards of a year now. Secondly, I'm going to get a glimpse at the future and some insight behind some of the mobile technology of today. Over the coming days I will post news and information from the event so you too can get a glimpse of future. I hope to post not only information but pictures of devices and of the people at Mobius. Essentially this "journal" will be a blog of the events. I intend to post every day as the schedule allows but without question all of it will be up by December 10th at the latest. So Stay Tuned! Day 1 - Mobius 2005My trip to Mobius 2005 began today by taking my flight from Dallas/Fort Worth International airport up to Seattle. Having worked in the past for Avanade (a consulting firm that is a joint venture of Microsoft and Accenture), I have had the pleasure of being in Seattle many time but had completely forgotten how long the flight was up here from Dallas. That said, it did give me the chance to get caught up on some work for "the day job" and put that to rest as I get to enjoy my week up here.
We are having all of our meetings at the Edgewater hotel which is also where we are all staying. Talk about a great hotel! I've stayed here before but it has been completely redone and is just spectacular. Of course it keeps with it's rustic theme in the rooms and with the modern marvel of Wireless Internet access, I'm able to keep up with life at home - and keep you up to date from Mobius! If you are ever up in Seattle, you have to stay at the Edgewater. It's just fantastic!
Seattle is a great city - one I always enjoy coming to visit. I use to work up here a lot and enjoyed the Pike Street Market and all of the other interesting things to do here. Just remember that when you come to Seattle, pack comfortable shoes. There are a lot of hills to climb!
Our kick off meeting of Mobius 2005 happened tonight and it was just terrific! I was finally able to put some faces with some names and we all had a great time. As I talked to several people within the group and with Microsoft (Liz and Ford mostly) I could not help but be impressed by the wealth of information that was in the room. There are a lot of great Windows Mobile and Palm website out there and finding information should be easy - for everyone!
Throughout the evening there was a lot of knowledge sharing amongst the Mobians related to our various websites as well as products. Tonight I saw more genuinely cool devices - Smartphones, Pocket PCs, etc - than I have in one place. I even got the opportunity to play with an HTC Universal device for the first time! I can now see why everyone is so amp'ed about it! It has an absolutely terrific display and as Brandon (of Pocketnow.com) and I discussed, the battery life from most reports are impressive given the display and functionality of the devices. This form factor will take off, no question (if it hasn't already).
We also got to play on the new X-Box 360. That was impressive! The graphics on the games are just outstanding and I can easily see why everyone is clamoring to get one of them. Me and Ford raced against each other in Project Gotham Racing 3 - Robert, eat your heart out son! We had a nice selection of appetizers and prime rib (which John decided to use as bait to fish off the patio) as well as plenty of drinks (and soda!)to go around. At the end of the evening, John Starkweather welcomed us all to the meeting and gave us a run down of the week's agenda. To top the evening, each of us received an i-mate SP5m Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone. This device is just brilliant and I've already fallen in love with it. It has a terrific display, WiFi, Bluetooth and all the other features you would expect from such a device. To top it off, all of the Mobius attendees and staff's contact information (including photos), the week's schedule and all of our websites were loaded into the device! This was a brilliant move and is a most welcome gift within the gift.
Tomorrow will be a packed day and I can't wait to see all of the new devices and talk to the developers and engineers - as well as my fellow Mobians! Rumor has it we will actually get to see a Palm 700w... Oh happy day! Day 2 - Mobius 2005As expected, day 2 of Mobius 2005 was absolutely packed with information! We heard from a variety of groups from Microsoft as well as Sling Media and the discussions surrounding what we heard was outstanding. One of the things that Microsoft has told the Mobius attendees is that they want our feedback - good and bad. I wasn't real sure if that would happen - after all this is a Microsoft sponsored and paid for event - but I was pleasantly surprised by the honest and straight forward discussion that happened. All of the points brought up were not just complaints but were constructive criticisms or complements of Windows Mobile 5 and Microsoft's mobile direction in general. We started the day with a general overview and discussion of Windows Mobile 5.0 and applications by Ford Davidson. Ford started his presentation by giving a brief but detailed history of the cellular industry and showed us some great examples of "modern" technology from back-in-the-day. How many of you remember the StarTAC with REX Backpack?
After the history lesson we discussed several issues related to Windows Mobile 5.0, generally circling around the user experience. As Jason stated during the meeting, Windows Mobile 5.0 is light years ahead of everything else out there. That said, there are some difficulties in the OS such as POP and IMAP email setup and a general Exchange-centric view of email. The entire Mobius group provided a great amount of conversation back to Microsoft and hopefully some of the user experience issues we brought up will be addressed by the Microsoft and the OEMs. That point was made several times today and one worth repeating. Not all of the "issues" related to Windows Mobile 5.0 are Microsoft issues. Because of the freedom that Microsoft gives to OEMs, some of them have hampered applications by other processes or applications on the devices. I made the point during the meeting that perhaps things would be better if Microsoft dictated more to the OEMs instead of it being as non-restrictive. While I still stick with that idea, I understand that being dictatorial to the OEMs bring up an entire new set of issues which, in the long run, may be more detrimental to the products. I'm not sure if there is a "perfect" balance to be found. Ford also mentioned and showed the group an example of Office for Smartphone. This new product, which is primarily a viewer, will be available in 2006 and would make a great addition to any Smartphone. He also announced a OneNote Mobile viewer as well although there was no date announced on it.
Perhaps one of the more anticipated events of Mobius 2005 was the viewing of the Treo 700w. For many of us, this was the first time we had actually seen the device and while we were not able to play with it - still some parts of it under wraps - it looks fantastic. The display was excellent and the feature list is nothing short of impressive. I really believe this device will be a huge seller in both of the traditional mobile camps - Palm and Microsoft.
Beyond the Treo, we saw several other devices such as the HTC Prophet as well as applications such as Virtual Earth Mobile. Lastly we saw the new Sync Center for Windows Vista. Essentially this will be a replacement for ActiveSync as the client will no longer stand alone - it is part of the Operating System. While I'm sure that UI will change between now and Vista's release in 2006, it was still great to see some of the forward thinking that is happening at Microsoft as it relates to device connectivity.
Our next presenter and discussion was from Pete Bernard who is the Portable Media Center Group Manager. Pete shared with us a lot of new information related to the next generation of these devices which are due out in 2006. Some of these new features include integration with the XBox 360, a single portal and a better overall user experience. Don't be surprised to see some of these devices with the FM tuners, the ability to record that FM radio, PVR, DVB-H and other features as well as a host of codec's. Best of all, the ROMs are flashable so if an OEM decides to add a codec, they can release a new image for the devices. There were a lot of things in Pete's presentation that I can't discuss here but it is sufficient to say that you should pay attention to this space in 2006. There are a lot of big, key announcements coming soon that will put the PMC market solidly on the map. Next up was Brian Holt who discuss devices other than Windows Mobile. I know, sounds strange but it was actually very insightful. Brian discussed several of the key competitors to Windows Mobile such as RIM and Nokia. Brian showed us the new RIM Blackberry that sports a color display and a 300MHz processor. The device looked great but the traditional Blackberry users isn't going to be thrilled about the severely diminished battery life. He also made an interesting comment about Nokia: They will have no less than 14 devices in 2006 that come with built in FM tuners. Clearly Nokia feels this is a big part of the market now and it will be interesting to see if Windows Mobile devices follow suit. After Brian's discussion we had Andre Vrignaud of the Microsoft XBox team discussing the XBox 360. It is clear from all of the online aspects of the 360 as well as the user interface that this is not just a gaming device. The 360 is really a piece of A/V equipment now, given that it can display in High Definition, has a built in DVD player (no need to buy it seperately now) and can play back audio as did the original XBox. The User Interface is outstanding in the 360 and the online aspects really tie things up nicely. Like before, users will create an online profile but this time the system has a Zone setting which allows you to describe the type of player you are and better matches you to online players with your same interests and skill sets. This makes it a bit safer for younger players and more fun for everyone as you "know" your opponents skills before starting up a game with them. Some key things on the 360: The system is flashable so updates can be done via Live or will be included on games after the updates are released. You can connect an MP3 player or digital camera or a PC directly to the XBox. You can even go to http://live.xbox.com/member/GAMERTAG (GAMERTAG being the other person's online profile name) and look up your own or someone else's profile and game stats.
Our first non-Microsoft presentation of Mobius came from Jeremy Toeman of Sling Media. Sling Media is the developer and manufacture of the Sling Box, a device which allows you to view your local television stations, PVR, DVR or Tivo recordings from anywhere in the world. I was impressed by two key things on the Sling Box as Jeremy presented it to us. First, the setup process is amazingly simple and completely wizard driven. It could easily be done within a matter of minutes and even displays the user's television output during the process as a visual cue that they have set their cabling up correctly. Secondly, the device itself is amazingly simple. There are just a handful of interfaces on the back of the box itself and very clearly marked on what cable goes where.
Sling Media also has an add-on device named Sling Link which allows users to use their home's power sockets to connect the Sling Box to their router if the two are in different rooms - a common problem given that most people do not have Ethernet running to their television area today. Jeremy also showed the group a Sling client that will run on Windows Mobile devices. Although it is still in beta, you can expect to see this sometime in 2006 for both Pocket PC and Smartphone. Jeremy and Sling Media were kind enough to give each of the Mobius attendees a Sling Box for our personal use. I'm excited to get this home and see just how well it does. All reports are it is terrific and you can be sure I'll post a review or editorial on it.
Probably one of the more interesting discussion of the day was when Erick Eidus presented on trends in the industry. Erick discussed some of the upcoming features that can be expected to be seen in future releases of Windows Mobile including the ability to run Quality of Service (QoS) at the device level. This could throw open doors on these devices, allowing them to run applications such as Instant Messaging, Voice over IP and other real-time functionality. Our final presenter of the day was Peter Wengert from the Windows Automotive Group. This group is responsible for the automotive applications of Windows Mobile 5.0 and I was amazed to hear just how much Windows Automotive is in use today. For example, in most Ford and BMW cars, the OS behind the navigation systems and other displays in the car are based on Windows Automotive. Peter told the group of a new car in Japan that is a joint venture of Microsoft and Toyota. This sub-$10,000 car essentially is a mobile device in itself. The care is connected continually to the Internet so email, streaming content and messaging can be done from the car. Thanks to some 13,000 kiosks throughout Tokyo, owners can purchase Karaoke tracks, music, videos and other things and have them sent directly to the car. Now that is true mobility! Peter also selected a few of us to ride to our karting event in the Microsoft Automotive Hummer. I was selected for this and I don't think I've ever seen such a wired vehicle. It had every thing you could think of including a massive Plasma display in the back which we played Project Gotham Racing 2 on as well as in the head rests so the back seat riders could play (Paul beat Jason handily by-the-way. But, in fairness to Jason, he was having to try to see around Ryan's arm... we had a LOT of people in the Hummer!).
The evening was capped of by some intense and great fun karting. All of us ran well and Ford Davidson survived a crazy final race to win. Paul (MoDaCo) was 2nd while Arne (the ::unwired) was 3rd. Each received trophies and some great Windows Automotive shirts. Tomorrow is the last day of Mobius and it looks to be another busy but exciting day! Oh, and after the karting... nothing else happened. Day 3 - Mobius 2005The final day of Mobius was packed! We covered a large amount of material including discussions from Motorola, Jupiter Media and from Microsoft. We also broke out into small groups, each group focused on a small area with the goal to design a "perfect" Windows Mobile device. The results were surprising.... We started the day with a discussion from Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Media. Jupiter Media does a great job of collecting information and matrix's about how people use mobile devices including PDAs, cellular phones, portable media players and so forth. Michael gave us a lot of information from the past two years and gave all of us some interesting insight into the consumer world of today. A tell point he had during his discussion was may seem obvious once you read it but most of us do not think about it today: The lines between corporate and personal are blurring. Michael used a great example of how we mix work and home life constantly such as checking email from the sofa while watching television or taking a work related call from home. Because of this blending, he suggested that mobile developers and manufactures should appreciate that they are designing for "people" not "corporate". Michael also brought up the fact that over 60% of people carry at least one portable item with them and prefer to carry one item but will carry more if necessary. In my view, this shows that the idea of putting media players, phones and PDA's all in once devices makes complete sense. Some other interesting tidbits from Michael and Jupiter Media:
Next on our discussion agenda was the leading designers from the project Photon group of Microsoft. Photon, as some of you may know, is the next version of Windows Mobile. The vast majority of the discussion from the group was off the record so I cannot discuss any specific details (no, emailing me won't get you the details either!). What I can tell you is this:
In addition to Photon, we were also told about Crossbow. Crossbow will be a "second edition" like release between Windows Mobile 5.0 and Photon. There is no release date for Crossbow at this point nor is there any real information available on what exactly Crossbow will consist of from a user perspective. After our discussion with the Photon group, Motorola presented on their cellular and Smartphone products. Paul Pierce, the lead designer for Motorola, discussed the Razr and Pebl, two feature phones that look, feel and perform exceptionally well. The group was able to see the new Pebl which has been released in Europe and will be the North American market in early 2006. We also the next version of the Razr as well as the A910, a phone that will be out in 2006 that sports an 8x digital zoom camera built-in. I have to hand it to Motorola: If there is a cellular phone manufacture that knows how to design sleek and instantly recognizable phones, it is them.
Along with the cellular phones, we also were able to see the Motorola Q, their new Smartphone that will be out in the first quarter of 2006. The Q had the look and feel of a Blackberry but was far slimmer and sported Windows Mobile 5.0. It has an integrated thumb board and a terrific square display. I've never been crazy about Blackberry's but I could get use to using a Q. I've always felt that Blackberry's were a "one trick pony" (and I know they are not - just a personal feeling) but the Q gives me all of the PIM features and other rich content of Windows Mobile. You can expect to see the Q out soon but it will only be CDMA initially. G2/G3 devices will be out later.
Motorola was nice enough to give each attendee a Razrwire, the Bluetooth enabled sunglasses. They are pretty slick if I may say so and thanks to them. The remainder of the day was spent in small groups tasked with developing and designing what, in our view, was the ultimate or "perfect" Windows Mobile device. The groups consisted of areas such as hardware design, applications, operating system and so forth with each group creating a list items and the rest of the group voting on what they felt was really important to see in a device. The process was long but very interesting with a good list of what works well and what needs to be improved in current devices listed. The resulting "perfect" list was given to Microsoft for them to take back internally. Previous Mobius meetings have had some of their ideas in similar exercises make it to production so it will be a matter of waiting and seeing if our ideas make it as well. It's hard to put into perspective the amount of enjoyment and excitement this week has generated for me. I've already mentioned the getting to know others that I've talked to or emailed with over time. That was really my key goal in coming to Mobius. In addition though, I got to see a new side of things, heard new ideas and perspective, ideas on how to make my site better and all of it was greatly appreciated. Seeing some of the new technology both in hardware and in software was terrific and I can't wait to see some of this make it to market. For all of the Mobians who attended, thanks for everything. John Starkweather, you rock! Thanks to all of the Microsofties (Liz, Ford, Wes, Paul and others I know I've forgotten).
And still nothing happened after karting.....
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