MANILA, Philippines — Protestations to the contrary aside, the technology sector is one capricious and fickle mistress. its past and current whims have been way further than the realms of unpredictability. so much so, that the only thing we can be reasonably certain of is that the future would be no less whimsical.
Products and services win or fall sometimes not due to their merits and shortcomings, but purely based on luck and other hard-to-discern-why and unexpected reasons, such as one aspiring software mogul buying a very unassuming operating system, or a guy in black turtlenecks working his way back to the corporation he co-founded but ditched him earlier.
Of course, this means that sometimes, if not most of the times, the best gadgets and outstanding services do not prosper. Instead, the second rates and the mediocre take center stage and sell millions.
Some would also assert that marketing, as in almost all the other industries, decides everything. this could mean that the better a company’s marketing strategies and their implementation are, the greater the chances are of the products or services becoming bestsellers.
Nokia Says Sayonara
Nokia is leaving Japan, one of the few markets where it has consistently failed to prosper. its mobile phones have never been popular among Japanese consumers who preferred handsets made by local electronics vendors, such as Sharp Corp., and, of course, the iPhone.
Until the high-end Vertu mobile phones became Nokia’s last toehold. And now, the Finnish giant finally throws the towel.
Nokia says it plans to focus its energy on priority businesses. by which, it probably means smartphones powered by Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system.
Here comes Panasonic
The market for solar chargers is getting crowded, with an increasing number of vendors launching their sun-powered charging devices for mobile gadgets.
Japanese electronics giant Panasonic is the latest to make its foray into the solar charger territory with its BG-BL01 charger. actually a combination device, the Panasonic tool combines a solar battery charger with an emergency LED light.
The 152 x 104 x 24mm tool comes with a USB port, two slots for AA-sized batteries, and three LED lights. it requires about 15 hours to fully charge two AA batteries. Fully charged, its LED lights can provide 10 hours of high-bright illumination and up to 60 hours when at their dimmest setting.
Technology More Useful
Advances in technology have made today’s crop of smartphones and other mobile devices impressive and, well, cool. aside from enhancing these electronics toys’ features and capabilities, these technologies also have some less glamorous but definitely more useful applications.
For example, researchers from Oxford University have incorporated some of these technologies to make eyeglasses that can help visually impaired people to see better, if not just as good as other, less visually challenged people.
The glasses are designed to help people living with age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
These glasses seem low tech. but in my humble opinion, they are way much cooler than the coolest smartphones and tablet computers.
That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.