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Is Apple 'killing the World Wide Web'?
That's a really nice internet you have there. It'd be a shame if anything were to happen to it. That's the threat Apple's app-centric approach has leveled against the World Wide Web as we know it, according to Roger McNamee, co-founder of the private equity firm Elevation Partners. "There's a titanic clash for control of the internet. Fundamentally, this is between the world-wide web on the one hand and Apple's app model on the other," McNamee told CNBC in an interview. "Right now Apple is just killing the World Wide Web. Apple will do almost 100 million [iPads and iPhones] this year -- the numbers are staggering." McNamee contrasted Apple's "staggering" success with two of the biggest players in the internet space: Microsoft and Google. Apple's iPhone and iPad are eroding Microsoft's once formidable stranglehold of the web. For example, McNamee says the Redmond-based company's share of internet-connected devices will fall below 50% this year -- down from 97% a decade ago. Similarly, McNamee thinks Google, who he characterizes as a good company and leader of the world-wide web group, is losing its influence. Google's primary search business is losing ground to specialized sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp. Much like Microsoft, Google has watched its 90% share of the search market shrink to less than half in the last few years. The Elevation Partners co-founder said Google's core challenge is overcoming limitations in the underlying software for the web, HTML, which hasn't changed for a decade. But, he says, Android is "too wild west" to be successful. Google will need to address some significant security concerns and prove the platform can support a commercially-viable ecosystem for developers and hardware manufacturers before it can be considered a long-term challenger. Meanwhile, Apple's app model offers an innovative new approach to deploying engaging content and experiences to the web. As more customers buy iPhones and iPads, the Cupertino company will build momentum at the expense of its rivals. He sees the company entering a 10-year cycle of growth that will boost the technology sector as a whole. Is Apple killing the web as we know it or simply making a killing with its popular mobile devices? Keep reading to state your case in the comments or watch the CNBC interview with McNamee.
Roger McNamee self-parodies his Palm Pre superlatives: "it eats iPhones for breakfast"
The ever-quotable, perennially unkempt Roger McNamee of Elevation Partners fame indulged in a bit of self-parody in a mock-commercial screened at D7 before he and Jon Rubinstein took the stage. While incredibly entertaining, the video also acts as a bit of damage control for Roger, who infamously stated that there would be a massive and sudden exodus from the iPhone to the Pre once those original iPhone contracts are up. Palm naturally distanced itself and "clarified" the comments, but that doesn't seem to have dampened McNamee's spirit: in the video he calls the Pre, among other things, "better than Viagra." Unfortunately for McNamee, he might've been better served by a damage control video after his time on stage with Walt and Kara: his semi-sexist "It has a mirror on the back... there's never been a phone like this for women before" line -- not to mention a general disregard for sane conversation -- isn't winning him many points with the crowd. Video is after the break.
Roger McNamee's wild predictions shot down -- by Palm itself
Remember wild-man McNamee's predictions last week of death to the iPhone and all sorts of other Pre-related wonderment? We read and we chuckled and we moved on, but someone took his statements a little more seriously -- Palm. Yes, the company Roger was talking up, the company in which his firm Elevation Partners owns a particularly large stake, submitted a document to the SEC that summarily disputes all of his hyperactive talking points. It's full of facts and figures and is completely dry, but, like an episode of Yes Minister, is also full of comedic brilliance. Here's the company's reaction to our favorite bit, about the death of the iPhone:The statement in the second paragraph of the article that "not one" person who bought an Apple, Inc. iPhone on the first shipment date "will still be using an iPhone a month" after the two-year anniversary of that day is an exaggerated prediction of consumer behavior pattern and is withdrawn.It's good to know that, even in these tough times, there's still some comedy left in the corporate world. More boardroom humor after the break.[Via Palm Infocenter]
CE-Oh no he didn't! Part LIX: Elevation's McNamee predicts death to iPhone on June 29
Roger McNamee, founding partner of the Palm-rescuing investment firm Elevation Partners, has had some interesting things to say about what to expect from the Pre. Now, though, he's really out done himself with what he has to say about the iPhone. In an interview with Bloomberg, McNamee (aka "Chubby Wombat Moonalice" when playing bass) predicted that the Pre will bring the downfall of Apple's wunder-handset, saying:June 29, 2009, is the two-year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later. Think about it -- if you bought the first iPhone, you bought it because you wanted the coolest product on the market. Your two-year contract has just expired. Look around. Tell me what they're going to buy.We don't know the future, but we can sure tell you what we're not buying right now. And besides, we don't know too many early adopter types that could resist the siren call of 3G halfway through their existing iPhone contract, thereby re-upping their contract for another few millenia. That should be plenty enough time for Apple to whip up something new... or at least for Roger to get a haircut. [Via Daring Fireball]
Palm investor McNamee details Pre's neat location-based features
As much as we've heard about (and played with) the Pre this month, there's still a whole lot yet to be revealed about webOS; Palm clearly has a little bit of work left to finish and polish the platform, so what we know so far has much more to do with UI glitz, glamor, and flashiness than the actual trench warfare of using a phone day in and day out. Yahoo's Tech Ticker had a chance to chat with Elevation Partners' Roger McNamee -- a figure whose cash infusion has been central to Palm's survival this past year or so as they've raced to throw together the Pre -- and in between Houdini-esque reveals of seemingly hundreds of smartphones on his person, he's slipped a couple cool location-oriented features we can expect in webOS. First up, the phone can be configured to check out your calendar every morning and automatically download all sorts of information about the people, places, and companies you're going to visit, including maps -- an especially awesome feature if you're dealing with spotty 3G coverage. Even cooler, though, has to be the lateness notifier -- the phone uses GPS to determine where you are, compares it to where you're supposed to be at the moment, and if it figures out that you're screwed, it'll let you know. What's more, it can automatically email people to let them know that you've screwed up (just blame it on the traffic -- we always do). Follow the break for Tech Ticker's full interview.[Via PreCentral.net]
