Adobe Has “Moved On” From Flash On iDevices Says Adobe CEO

The Telegraph has published a very interesting interview with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen. Most of the interview focused on the Flash on iDevices circus with this comment being made by Narayen:

“They’ve made their choice. We’ve made ours and we’ve moved on.”

I’m guessing that “moving on” has something to do with the fact that Flash was recently released for the Android phone platform. And that won’t be the last mobile platform that you’ll see Flash:

Indeed, Adobe has cemented its role as a partner to other technology groups in recent years, working with 19 of the world’s 20 top mobile phone handset companies, including Motorola, HTC, RIM, Hewlett-Packard WebOS and Google, to bring Flash Player to their mobile devices.

I’m also guessing that Adobe is taking the view that if everybody else has Flash, and if Flash gets widespread acceptance, Apple will have no choice but to let Flash onto their shiny iDevices. A guess backed up by this quote:

Is the door to Apple completely closed, then? “Our doors are open,” says Narayen. “You will have to ask them about their part.”

We’ll see how this plays out, but I suspect things are about to get interesting.

Apple iPod Battery Issues Resurface

Apple really have a lot of issues that they have to deal with. First there’s “antennagate” and now there’s a report that an iPod overheated in a Tokyo subway causing a delay. This hasn’t been the first time that this has happened:

Apple, the world’s largest technology company by market value, has come under scrutiny in Japan since the trade ministry last month ordered it to improve safety warnings following cases of overheating in its first generation iPod nano music players.

There have been around 60 such incidents in Japan, including four cases involving minor burns, according to the ministry.

Apple for its part has had no comment. But in Japan, Apple has offered to replace batteries in iPods:

In a brief statement Tuesday, Apple Japan acknowledged “very rare cases of overheating” in some units sold between September 2005 and December 2006, and said the malfunction links back to a specific battery supplier, which it didn’t identify. It also offered to replace the batteries of the affected first-generation devices.

Sorry Apple. 60 cases doesn’t sound all that rare to me. I’ll also note this that this action came only after the Japanese government twisted the screws on Apple:

“We’ve been asking they outline the preventive actions that have been taken for two years, but we question whether enough has been done so we took official action,” said Seiji Shimagami, a ministry official who works in consumer product safety.

I’ve previously noted that Apple has threatened owners of iPods that exhibit this behavior. Not only that, they’ve apparently attempted to keep the media from investigating this in the past. So it will be interesting to see how Apple deals with this so that this doesn’t turn into “batterygate.”

A “Source” Claims That RIM Has Caved To Indian Demands

As I suggested last week, RIM appears to have ceded to Indian demands to hand over access to BlackBerry data:

“They have assured partial access to its messenger services by September 1 and agreed to provide full access by the end of the year,” a senior government source, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

At this point it is really bad that RIM hasn’t come clean on this nonsense. They don’t have to give all the details as they likely wouldn’t even if they were asked. But they should at least clear the air once and for all as this really isn’t helping the situation any. Not to mention that their stock value isn’t looking too good right now.

Are Skype And Google The Next Targets Of India?

I didn’t notice this earlier when I posted this story that there was this statement in The Globe And Mail article that I used as a source:

The authorities have for more than a year been looking at Google’s messaging, Skype and other providers of communication in India.

“Wherever there is a concern on grounds of national security the government will want access and every country has a right to lawful interference,” a senior interior security official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.

So does that mean that Skype and Google have to circle the wagons? If so, then it’s high time that any company that in this situation tells India (or any other company for that matter) to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine. No matter how big the population is in India and how many dollars a company could make off of them, it isn’t worth this hassle.

Google Claims Oracle Lawsuit Is “Baseless”

Google has decided to respond to Oracle suing them for their use of Java in the Android OS. First there was this tweet from Tim Bray who is a Android evangelist at Google. I won’t spoil the surprise so click on the link to see what he thinks of the lawsuit. Next is what Google said via a sock puppet spokesman:

Oracle’s lawsuit is a disappointing and “baseless” attack not only against Google but also against the open-source Java community, Google spokesman Aaron Zamost said via e-mail on Friday.

“The open-source Java community goes beyond any one corporation and works every day to make the web a better place. We will strongly defend open-source standards and will continue to work with the industry to develop the Android platform,” he said.

Get ready for years and years of legal action!

RIM Denies Any Deals Were Made…. Or Pehaps Not

Here’s a plot twist. According to RIM, they haven’t folded up like a cheap suit. At least that’s what a statement posted to their website yesterday said:

No changes to the security architecture for BlackBerry Enterprise Server customers since, contrary to any rumors, the security architecture is the same around the world and RIM truly has no ability to provide its customers’ encryption keys.

And:

RIM maintains a consistent global standard for lawful access requirements that does not include special deals for specific countries.

Interesting. But earlier in the same statement they also said this:

Although RIM cannot disclose confidential regulatory discussions that take place with any government, RIM assures its customers that it genuinely tries to be as cooperative as possible with governments in the spirit of supporting legal and national security requirements, while also preserving the lawful needs of citizens and corporations.

So that sounds like they’re trying to co-operate with the various countries who want access to the BlackBerry network.

Okay, lets assume that RIM is telling the truth….. How do they explain this:

Research In Motion will provide India with technical solutions next week to help read its encrypted data that New Delhi sees as a security threat, a senior government source said on Friday.

It sounds like to me a deal was cut.

RIM, can you explain this?

Oracle Sues Google Over Android’s Use Of Java

The news is hitting the wires that Oracle is suing Google over their use of Java in the Android OS:

“In developing Android, Google knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle’s Java-related intellectual property. This lawsuit seeks appropriate remedies for their infringement,” said Oracle spokesperson Karen Tillman.

News.com gives a lot more details including listing the patents that Google is accused of violating. There’s also this little piece of info:

“Google has been aware of Sun’s [Now owned by Oracle] patent portfolio, including the patents at issue, since the middle of this decade, when Google hired certain former Sun Java engineers.” Google CEO Eric Schmidt led the team that developed Java at Sun prior to becoming CEO of Novell, and later Google in 2001. Urs Hölzle, senior vice president of operations and a Google Fellow, also played a significant role in Java’s development in the 1990s, and apparently other Sun engineers have joined Google in the intervening years.

Ouch. That sounds like that Oracle thinks they have a smoking gun.

Meanwhile, you have to believe that “The Steve” is sitting back and enjoying this.

BlackBerry Bold 9700 – One Week In

I’ve had my BlackBerry Bold 9700 for over a week now. It’s the second generation Bold and having previously had a Bold 9000, I can say that the 9700 is a significant improvement. But all is not perfect. Here’s the pro’s and cons of this BlackBerry:

Pros:

• The keyboard is top notch.
• It’s sleeker, faster and lighter than the 9000 and it feels good in your hand.
• The screen is sharp and vivid.
• It now has a 3.2 megapixel camera, up from 2 megapixel which gives you sharp photos.
• It comes with BlackBerry OS 5 which is a step up from the previous BlackBerry OSes in function and user interface.
• The speed of the device is great… By BlackBerry standards.
• It doesn’t drop calls when you grip the bottom where the antenna is…. Unlike the iPhone 4. Sorry Steve.
• The audio playback abilities are good enough that it’s replaced my iPod Nano.
• The video playback abilities are impressive.
• The ability to use WiFi will keep your data charges low.
• Battery life is impressive.
• The trackpad ROCKS!

Cons:

• It now has a Micro USB port. That means you’ll have to ditch those mini USB cables that you’ve used with previous BlackBerry devices.
• The MicroSD card slot now requires you to remove the battery cover to insert and remove the MicroSD card. The 9000 had a separate door for that purpose.
• The web browser that comes with BlackBerry OS 5 is weak compared to iPhone and Android smartphones. Thus this device needs OS 6 in the worst way to make it rock.
• It smudges easily.
• Video recording abilities are kind of lame compared to an iPhone 4 which does 720p video.
• Hey RIM, how about a bigger screen?

Bottom line: If you want a quality BlackBerry, consider Bold 9700. It’s well built, fast, and a great choice for a smartphone. Now if RIM will kick out OS 6 for it, it will make good piece of hardware great.

HP Shareholder Sues HP Board Over Hurd Dismissal

I guess Mark Hurd had some friends out there. News.com is reporting that a ticked off shareholder is suing the HP board over Hurd’s dismissal:

The suit was filed on Tuesday in California’s Santa Clara County Superior Court. Besides breach of fiduciary duties, the board is accused of gross mismanagement, waste of corporate assets, violating the California corporation code, misappropriating information, and unjust enrichment, according to the complaint.

The suit says HP’s board failed to notify shareholders of the investigation into Hurd, when it began in late June. It adds that according to his employment contract, Hurd was not entitled to receive such as large severance package, which includes a payment of $12.2 million.

People will sue for just about anything these days. As usual, the only people who will win are the lawyers. Regardless of the outcome of this suit, HP is likely going to regret dumping Hurd because of all the static that this is generating.

Top HP Staffer Follows Hurd To The Exit

It seems that Mark Hurd had at least one loyal employee. Caprice Fimbres McIlvaine, who used to be head of internal communications at HP, has decided to quit without any explanation according to Fortune:

McIlvaine was the key conduit in hiring Jodie Fisher, the actress-turned-corporate hostess/”marketing contractor” who later filed a sexual harassment suit against Hurd, setting in motion the chain of events that resulted in the CEO’s resignation on Aug. 6. McIlvaine resigned effective Aug. 9, HP confirmed Wednesday.

But it gets better. McIlvaine was a ‘chief of staff’ to Hurd:

Importantly, McIlvaine organized the gatherings of top customers — dubbed CEO Summits — at which Hurd spoke and Fisher acted as a greeter for those customers. What precise role McIlvaine played in hiring Fisher couldn’t be learned. It is unusual at HP, or any large company, for a series of top-level gatherings to be coordinated by the office of the CEO, as opposed to a corporate marketing group that does this sort of thing frequently.

Seeing as their stock is in free fall, they can really use someone like her right now to get big enterprise customers to buy their gear.

Now, if we can only get the facts on what really happened.