[Telecommunications]

Over the weekend, Google and Apple made significant headway in China (or at least, with things related to China). As time goes by it gets easier to wonder whether or not the two industry giants are out to get each other's throats, since their marketing strategies seem to cross on so many paths.

Let's start with Apple. Last weekend, the iPhone finally made it to China, greeted by the usual droves that go where the world's leading smartphone goes. Sales were brisk, but noticeably subdued at the same time -- while hundreds of people braved the cold rain to get their hands on an iPhone, there weren't many sellouts, unlike in Japan and the US.

Should be expected, I guess -- after all, what do you expect from China? Millions of "genuine imitations" of iPhones have been in use in China for months, and the new iPhone -- with a hefty price tag and no Wi-Fi -- isn't really as appealing as it could have been. While I think the iPhone will eventually make up lost ground in the next few months, I also hope Apple learned a thing or two about the Chinese market from the "lukewarm" reception.

Next up, Google. Now Google hasn't really physically ventured onto China like Apple did, but one of their most recent developments -- Google Voice Search in Mandarin Chinese -- make it so they might as well had. Google Voice Search is a smartphone application that lets you recite your search query instead of typing it out, saving lots of time and effort. (Hmmm... this sounds like what Yahoo! had some 2 years ago. I think I need to dig up some info on them and find out how they're faring in this area of search.)

Google Voice Search recognizes an increasing number of English accents, but stepping into Mandarin Chinese territory is a major feat. I mean, think about it -- it's China! China has two times more cellphone subscribers than the US, posing a very tempting market. Mandarin Voice Search is only available on Nokia S60 phones at this point, but if Google does things right, it poses to reap dividends over the next few months.

It's been a long time coming, but Palm's new smartphone, the Pre, finally made its debut in the United States last Saturday. It's been touted as the next, ho-hum, "iPhone killer," and it does hold several features that can give Apple a run for its money. But did the people believe the hype?

Only to a certain extent. No one expected the Pre to command those long lines of buyers that the iPhone 3G generated last year, but sales were definitely brisker than expected. Buyers didn't camp out, but many stores sold out all their Palm Pres before closing hour. It seems people really have been waiting for the Pre for a while.

The Pre has a more flexible software foundation, which is one of the sore points of the iPhone and other smartphones. If sales continue to be good over the next few months, it's probable that Palm will come up with even more innovative and useful tweaks to their OS, making the Pre even more  of an, ho-hum, "iPhone killer."

But I highly doubt Palm will break into the smartphone sales race just yet, especially since it's only tied to one carrier at the moment. It needs to expand commercially before it can hold a candle to the iPhone, so this is one issue I'll be watching over the next few weeks.

Palm isn't the only company that's hinging on the Pre's success. Sprint, the telecommunications company, has also been hurt by customer defections (Remember, Palm used to be the leader in handheld devices, too) and a damaged reputation, is leaning on the Pre's good performance for its survival. Think of all those people crossing their fingers!

The Pre's debut finally puts a long wait to an end, but I tend to wonder whether Palm waited too long to roll it out. Only a week from now, Apple is set to announce the next iPhone. Rumors are already flying around about what it's going to be like -- there's talk of a 4GB entry-level iPhone, and even a 32GB video iPhone.

If Apple rumors are enough to drown out the Palm Pre's release, you can pretty much bet Palm isn't out of the woods just yet.

It's been a little while since iPhone 3G users finally got a critically-important feature that developers left out when the iPhone was first released – copy and paste. The upgrade came at around the same time that some of the more popular Apps made it to the store. And with the little Easter Eggs found in Beta versions of the iPhone's next-generation firmware, it seems Apple really knows how to keep revenue flowing over a long period of time.

Developers have been tinkering with the iPhone 3.0 firmware beta version for a few days now, and new discoveries are being posted on the Internet until now. Of course not all of the features are available yet, but hints at several longed-for features can be seen left and right in the interface.

For instance, one of the iPhone's sore points has been the lack of video support. Some of the interface panels now have a toggle between still camera and video recording. There have also been reports of a “publish video” feature in there, although rumors abound that these were “just typos.” I'm still pretty convinced that the iPhone's slowly becoming the perfect smartphone. The guys at Apple were just taking their time after all.

Other nifty features that seem to be on their way to the next-generation iPhone include Bluetooth, landscape texting, a voice recorder (which has been getting particularly good reviews), and a way to encrypt your iPhone.

What's more, there are reports of Apple making a large purchase at Samsung, which I take as yet another indication of Apple's efforts to release a new iPhone soon. A 32 GB model would be awesome.

It's nice to know, too, that Steve Jobs himself is keeping a close eye on things. While Tim Cook does most of the day-to-day work at Apple, Steve still has a lot of control over the company's strategies and products, often doing his reviews at home. It's good to know that Apple's still in good hands.

It's been a long time coming, but iPhone 3G users can finally rejoice at this bit of news – Skype has finally become available on the App Store last week. Now iPhone users who complain of bad reception and call difficulties can now bypass the networks and make clearer calls, and disregard the alternative of putting up their own cell tower in the backyard.

Of course, Apple won't let Skype take over the revenue it gets from AT&T and the other carriers. Using Skype to make free calls through the iPhone can only be done under Wi-Fi coverage – you can't use Skype in your carrier's 3G and EDGE networks (aherrmmm... that is until someone comes up with a workaround ;)). Nonetheless, I think this is another attempt at shaking up the cellular industry – one that can change some pretty big things down the line. Probably bigger than Mobile Video + Google Voice + YouTube + Grand Central + Android. Dammit' I didn't want this article to be about Google... but theeeeere I go again.

Skype calls aren't really all that different from other telephone calls – everything is data being routed over the carrier's networks. There's no real reason to charge different rates for processing the same kinds of data. This is one of the main reasons why the “astronomically high” rates charged to text messaging has been under fire for several years. With Skype, even text messaging would feel too expensive.

The idea of having Skype on smartphones isn't all that new. Some other smartphones, like those that run on Windows Mobile, have had it for a while. The use of Skype on mobile phones have also been tried outside the US and it hasn't really made all that big of a dent on carrier revenue. So why is Apple limiting things with Skype?

It's really simple – the problem isn't about revenue. But when Skype becomes available through millions of iPhones around the world, carriers are going to have to deal with the flood of data that'll come through. Most likely the state of their current networks won't be able to handle all that.

Still, I'm thinking maybe this is going to be another big transition in the industry down the line, similar to the move from traditional mobile phones to smartphones that's going on today. I'm also pretty sure it's going to spark smartphone makers to include Wi-Fi capabilities in all smartphone models they have on the drawing board. Believe it or not, more than 70% of all smartphones today don't have Wi-Fi capabilities.

So what's next for smartphone carriers today? It's really up to anyone who has the guts to jump onto the bandwagon completely. VoIP has been around for quite a while – it's just that most carriers just weren't prepared for it to appear in the smartphone party anytime soon. If someone manages to make calling through Skype easier than calling the traditional way, they'll stand to make a killing – and even steal some of the spotlight from the iPhone and Blackberry.

Then again **hint hint* who said Apple, with their uber-successful iPhone and Mac lines, are already working on the possibilities of voice over WiFi (VOW)?  :)

Dell has always been a well-known hardware provider in the PC market, but their first attempt in the smartphone market fell flat in its face. They recently came out with two smartphone prototypes that were unanimously rejected by carriers for being too dull. But Dell wasn't about to give up – they went straight back to the drawing board, and recently came out with an announcement of an acquisition in the near future.

This got me thinking. Dell really has its hands full with its entry into the smaller-screen market, up against powerhouses like Blackberry, Apple, and Nokia. If Dell has an acquisition in the works, everyone is pretty much sure it won't be any one of those three.

Let's take a look at America's most preferred vendors among smartphone users these days, according to a study conducted by Strategy Analytics this month:

• Blackberry – 80%

• Apple – 77%

• Nokia – 41%

• Motorola – 37%

• Palm – 35%

• Samsung – 34%

• Dell – 19%

It's pretty clear that Dell has a lot of ground to cover, being at the far bottom of the pile. If it's going to make an acquisition, it's probably going to be either Motorola, Palm, or Samsung. My guess? It's gonna be Palm.

I'm thinking a Dell-Palm merger is a more potent combination than a Dell-Motorola or Dell-Samsung one in breaking into the top three smartphone vendors bracket. Palm is currently touting its “iPhone killer,” the Palm Pre, which will be out in a few months, which will definitely help Dell's case. I have my doubts that it'll match up to the iPhone or any of the Blackberries, but it does stand a good chance of knocking Nokia out of the top three.

Of course, the Pre also makes things harder for Dell to acquire Palm. It's probably Palm's biggest bargaining chip yet, and it's going to make things a bit more expensive if Dell wants to buy Palm over the next few months. Let's just wait and see.

It's been a while since I've seen Dell making a splash in the market. They were pretty much making it a few years ago with their Axim series, back when handheld PC's and PDA's were still the rage. Now that the market is making a rapid switch to smartphones, they recently came up with their own prototypes – only to be unceremoniously rejected by all the major carriers. The reason? Their smartphones were too dull.

Apparently Dell's prototypes didn't have anything new or original enough to set it apart from all the other smartphones flooding into the already-tight market. This has sent Dell back to the drawing boards, but don't count it out yet – the smartphone market is going to keep growing for several more years, and Dell seems determined to get its share.

This episode has unfortunately cast a bad spotlight on Dell. The blogosphere has had a field day on the recent rejection. While Apple, Google, Palm, and everyone else is out to snag the “smartphone” synonym, the word “Dell-like” has won the “boring” synonym almost overnight, thanks to some very ballsy bloggers and reporters. (And here I thought Windows Mobile was going to win that dubious award first, but it'll have to be happy with “WinCE,” I suppose...)

Of course, with all the negative publicity, coming up with a smartphone that's actually good might catapult it into popularity soon.

This story struck me as ironic, because I was just writing about the endless “form vs. function” debate with regards to design. Yesterday I wrote about the departure of Google Lead Designer Douglas Bowman, whose criticism of Google's data-centric design culture led to a healthy discussion between form advocates and function hardliners.

In my last article, I implied that it's also important to strike a balance between usability and form factor, unless of course your company depends on either extreme as your brand identity. What I probably failed to mention is that while there are billions of gray areas in between those two extremes, it's important to find a shade of gray that's totally and exclusively your own. I guess Dell encroached in too many gray areas that Nokia, Palm, and the other smartphone developers already had covered.

So what should it do now? I think Dell needs to come up with something truly original. At this point, making their next prototype considerably more interesting should already be a giant leap forward.

There's no doubt that Apple's iPhone 3G is the most flexible smartphone in the market today, both for consumers and software developers. Today, Apple announced new improvements in its software architecture – let's call it iPhone 3.0 – and iPhone users everywhere will be thrilled to know they can finally copy and paste on the darned thing.

I've a fair bit about how those little Netbooks (or ultraportables, or MID's – Mobile Internet Devices – or whatever you want to call them) have been grabbing a good chunk of market share from traditional desktop PC's and laptops these days. We also know how smartphones are slowly but steadily edging mobile phones off the market scene. But can these mobile devices really coexist with each other?

There have been rumors going around for several months that Microsoft was coming up with its own smartphone, to try to reclaim some precious market share from Apple and Blackberry. The big guys at Microsoft have repeatedly denied that the company has any plans to get into the mobile hardware industry (virtually all of its mobile tech efforts are focused on developing software), but that doesn't mean they're not out to play hardball with Apple.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Microsoft was on the way to coming up with its own “App Store” marketplace, which Apple heavily leveraged the release of the widely-popular iPhone 3G. In addition, Microsoft is also coming up with a new WinCE OS version, more sophisticated than anything it's come up with in the past.

(If you're not familiar with the WinCE mobile operating system, Microsoft calls it “Windows Mobile” now. I just like “WinCE” better, because, well... it says so much.)

The Mobile World Congress is set to assemble, but apparently the guys at LG can't help but raise the curtain just a little to show the world what it has in store. With the smartphone industry picking up speed and competition, LG seems more than happy to throw its own creation into the mix – the sleek LG KM900, also known as the LG Arena.