Google Nexus One Fine Print: Customer Service Won't Be What You're Used To.

"Getting help with your 'superphone' could be trickier -- or at least different -- than what you're used to...

If it becomes a problem, Google may have to hire phone support, or figure something else out. Customer service is not cheap to provide, but Google has ambitious plans to disrupt carriers here, and those plans may have to include reinventing customer support.

People are going to have high expectations for Google's 'superphone' and should have high expectations for customer service. So if there are gaps in support, it could be a potential issue for Google's aspirations as a bigger player in the phone business."

The Home Is at the Heart of 4G M2M.

"The two efforts underscore the importance of M2M revenues for carriers, which are facing eroding margins from voice and network-congestion problems from consumer mobile data services. The technology exists to support many such offerings today, and bandwidth for M2M services will ramp up dramatically as 4G networks come online in the next few years. The carriers face a major challenge in building complicated new business models to leverage the space — a home health service, for instance, might require a revenue-share agreement between the health care provider, the equipment manufacturer and the network operator. But as cellular moves far beyond phones into a host of devices, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the home will be a crucial component of M2M revenues as 4G networks are deployed."

Google's Web Store Is Today's Mobile Disruption.

Stacey Higginbotham writes: "My guess is the Google phone will be less disruptive to the carriers, but a real problem for the handset makers which are already seeing their profits erode. But if Google helps make the store into a place where consumers can make sure their Android device can run the apps they want to use, it will likely win."

Nexus One: The Best Android Phone Yet.

Om Malik writes: "Bottom Line: If there was no such thing as an iPhone, I wouldn’t hesitate to say that the Nexus One is the best touchscreen smartphone available. It certainly is the best Android device on the market, hands down. But compared to the iPhone, it’s not as smooth or effortless to use. Perhaps in time it will be.

And at $530 a pop, the Nexus One is expensive. Plus, it’s married to a frail 3G network. T-Mobile USA has been rolling out its high-speed network across the country, but in San Francisco, the performance was lukewarm at best. If you can overlook these problems, and if you don’t like the iPhone, then this is the smartphone for you."

Google Nexus One: The TechCrunch Review.

Michael Arrington writes: "Google is calling this the first of the Super Phones. And they may not be exaggerating all that much...

The Nexus One is an important milestone in the smartphone market. This is a software company, frustrated with making compromises with hardware manufacturers, that has taken the product bull by the horns. HTC makes the phone, but the branding is mostly Google and it’s clear that they directed every aspect of the development of this phone. It’s Google’s vision of the perfect Android device, from the huge and beautiful screen and massively fast Snapdragon processor to the software elegance of Google Navigation, Live Wallpaper and the Voice Keyboard. When combined with Google Voice there is no phone on the market today that can touch the Nexus One."

Experience Mobile Mobile.

Experience Mobile Mobile from James Théophane Jnr on Vimeo.

Will the Mobile Web Kill Off the App Store?

"The debate over the longevity of native software continues. Mozilla, creator of Firefox, claims that its new browser for smartphones will contribute to the death of smartphone app stores.

Scheduled to begin appearing on devices at the end of this year, the Firefox mobile browser, code-named Fennec, will be packed with features to make it the closest thing yet to a real, desktop-class browser... Mozilla claims it will have the fastest JavaScript engine of any mobile browser, allowing developers to produce HTML- and JavaScript-coded apps for Fennec rather than for multiple smartphone platforms, such as iPhone OS, Google Android or Windows Mobile.

'In the interim period, apps will be very successful,' said Jay Sullivan, vice president of Mozilla’s mobile division, in an interview with PC Pro. 'Over time, the web will win because it always does.'"

As AT&T Complains, People Notice That It Has Decreased Infrastructure Investments, But Wireless Revenue Is Way Up.

Techdirt writes: "While we agree that creating a denial of service attack is not a good idea, AT&T's response to all of this has only sunk the company in deeper. It's making a ton of money, and its network sucks... and despite claims of fixing it, they've been spending less and less on the network. It seems like that's a lot more irresponsible than worrying about a random fake CEO."

Dean Bubley's Predictions for 2010: Mobile Winners and Losers.

"It's mid-December, so it must be time for the annual prediction season. I've tried to keep them short and sharp and to the point - there's plenty of detailed argument behind each of these if people are interested."

... very good reading, here.

InnoPath Delivers a Green Christmas Over The Air.

"In a single year, the positive impact of the InnoPath solution on North America alone is therefore almost 33M Kg. With a typical lump of coal weighing in at approximately 110 grams, this is enough to head off at least one lump of coal for the stocking of every man, woman and child in the United States, regardless of how naughty or nice they may be."

Symantec updates smart phone management suite.

"In addition to a variety of mobile device management features, Symantec Mobile Management 7.0 will allow administrators to deploy applications and updates to the mobile fleet. The other two products include Symantec Network Access Control Mobile Edition 6.0 and Symantec Endpoint Protection Mobile Edition 6.0, which together will protect devices against malicious threats and unauthorized access to the corporate network or Microsoft Exchange server.

The security giant said that while these products are only supported on Windows-based phones, the company is exploring Google Android and Apple iPhone solutions.

Rick Maddox, senior manager of product marketing with Symantec, said the updated product line will give security staff a single console for provisioning, managing, securing and retiring enterprise smart phones."

Smartphone, Heal Thyself: Droids, OTA Updates and FOTA.

"FOTA adoption has been a little bit slower in the United States, but this is quickly changing. In 2009 alone, more than 3.5 million devices were updated in the field using FOTA. While the problems addressed may not be earth shattering, they do include things like excessive power consumption, PTT issues, dropped calls, audio issues, problems with the contacts database, and problems with blue tooth connections. In short, a whole bunch of little things that would slowly drive a person mad.

Customer satisfaction and reducing churn are just part of the goodness of FOTA. Taking a greener, more global perspective, every time bugs are patched over-the-air, a trip to a store is eliminated, saving resources and reducing pollution. Maybe not much, but repeat even a very small thing often enough and it becomes a much bigger thing."