I love the movie “Searching for Bobby Fischer” and I think that most who’ve seen it would agree that the best scene in the movie is when young Josh offers his opponent a draw, saying: “You’ve already lost, you just don’t know it yet.”

When it comes to the tablet device game, this might as well be Apple’s slogan. The iPad already reigns supreme in early adoption and while other companies (Motorola, HTC, Samsung, etc.) are rushing to get their own competing devices to market, I don’t know if they realize that they’ve already lost.

Sure, they might compete when it comes to specifications - the Xoom even has the current iPod outmatched with it’s dual-core processor, higher resolution screen, additional memory, better camera, and so-on.  That pretty much concludes the discussion of where current tablets best the iPad, though.

In the technological chess-match currently unfolding, here is where the competition has already lost.

Operating System - While Android has made great leaps and bounds in trying to catch up with iOS, it still isn’t there yet.  Even when it comes to cellphones, an area in which Android outnumbers iOS, it has taken a custom-modded ROM (Cyanogen) to deliver the performance and features and experience that I want from my phone. On paper at least, Android can match what the iPad can do, but the experience is far different.

Apps / Content - First of all, there are just more applications available in the iTunes app store right now.  Because of this, game creators, media outlets, and technology companies are going to create their apps for iOS first.  Second, love it or hate it, the fact that Apple maintains a stringent approval process for applications tends to weed out more of the crap than does Android.  Finally, not only does the iPad offer more applications it also provides seamless access to all sorts of content.  I don’t think that users are going to be satisfied with only hulu, youtube, and manually managing new media on competing devices.

Price - The iPad isn’t cheap, but the fact remains that the entry-level model comes in at $499.  Other options, such as the Samsung Tab, can be found for a lower price point, but not without a $30+ monthly data plan and a two-year commitment.  The Xoom might boast impressive specs, but at $800 I don’t see a compelling case for paying up for it at this point.

Apple has made a bit of noise over the past few months regarding their efforts to buy up supplies of components well in advance.  Not only does this allow them to get parts at a discount, but it means that competing devices are going to have to scramble to find suppliers and pay more for the same stuff when they do.

Availability - This may be the most important reason of all.  The Mororola Xoom or the RIM Playbook sound great and all… but you still can’t buy one!  What happens if Apple announces and releases it’s second generation iPad (which many rumors suggest could happen as early as next month) and the competition still hasn’t gotten their own products to market?  More people who have been waiting to get into the tablet game might go ahead and pull the trigger instead of waiting any longer.  For every person that goes with Apple, that’s one less from the pool of folks that have to be split up by all the rest.

At the end of the day I know that technology companies are going to try and capitalize on any new market, but throwing yourself headfirst into a losing battle just isn’t smart.  Learn a lesson from very recent history: when Apple brought the iPod to market the boom was on.  Companies like iRiver, Sansa, and even Microsoft with its ‘Zune’ tried to get in on the game, but did any of them come close to competing?  Did anyone even turn a profit?

Competition is essential, but rushing a half-baked product to market helps nobody.

Let us know!  What are your thoughts?  Who’s the ultimate winner in your book?

So it’s just a matter of time before people start re-hypothesizing that cellphones give you cancer, especially in light of recent news that Steve Jobs is on indefinite hiatus.

Rather than take the high-road, we decided to be first into the pit, and created this clever infographic to illustrate how the iPhone 4’s antenna might be a game-changer.

We encourage you to sign up for Tumblrs for Humanity if you are offended (or even if you aren’t).

It’s official.  According to market research group NPD, the Android OS has surpassed Apple and RIM for the number one mobile operating system in the US.  Based primarily on the success of Motorola and HTC handsets, nearly 1 in every 3 new devices sold is loaded with Google’s Mobile OS.

According to the press release (see link above), Android owned a 33% share based on Q2 sales while RIM (28%) and Apple (22%) rounded out the top three.

Given that Android 2.2, otherwise known as Froyo, is preloaded on the new Droid X and is already rolling out to several other handsets, it’ll be interested to see if the reported enhancements will continue, or even accelerate, this trend.  Also, it would appear that RIM is preparing yet another salvo with their upcoming OS 6 in hopes of staying in the game a little while longer themselves.

What do you think?  Is iOS still the true leader?  Does RIM stand a chance with their upcoming OS or the release of the Torch?  Can Android’s continued evolution be matched?

With all of the iPhone vs. Android debate, I forgot people still buy Blackberry devices. 

It seems that more businesses are allowing “bring your own mobile device to work,” and people are opting to connect their personal iPhones and Android devices to business networks.  Until now, most would agree that Research in Motion’s niche was business mobile.

Is Apple or Android the future of business mobile computing?

Unless you’re living on the Moon, I think pretty much every internet user has heard about the debacle Apple is facing regarding the iPhone 4’s antenna.  Here’s the short version: Apple introduced the iPhone 4 (and highlighted its antenna), and pretty much the next day there was a YouTube video showing a user putting his hand on top of the little line on the left-hand side of the phone.  In other words, hold your hand in the wrong place and the phone loses signal.

Apple’s defense up until this point was:

1. Ignore the problem, ignore your users, and hope it goes away
2. Tell users to hold the phone differently
3. Attempt to wow consumers with some nifty looking foam pieces that I swear are from the scene in Armageddon where Bruce Willis is testing his space 4x4 before shooting off to the asteroid (Hint: maybe you shouldn’t publish the photos where the machine is holding the phone)
4. Inform users about how every other phone manufacturer has the same problem

Seriously?  Steve, you sold us on the iPhone in the first place because it was the smarter smartphone!  Do you really think your users, some of the smartest people on Earth, are going to go along with this half-assed reasoning?  In all honesty the only thing this has led us to believe is that you are disconnected from reality.

How did this happen?  From 2004-2008, Apple was innovating like no other, providing products that consumers needed and came to love.  Although there were the occasional failures, and some products that just didn’t seem to make sense or weren’t entirely developed, for the most part users came to feel that Apple understood their needs and PC manufacturers didn’t.  I mean hell, they survived the epic of all disasters when the iPhone started dropping calls everywhere.

Then came the unibody: the obsession with making products out of one piece of metal.

It is my firm belief that unibody theory has driven Apple away from its users.  After all, who really cares that their PC was made out of one piece of metal?  I could understand if every device worked perfectly and the only factor in peoples’ minds when they were buying a computer was industrial design, but come on!  You were successful because you made complex things like making movies easy.  You were successful because you run an operating system that isn’t the primary target of malware providers.  You were successful because people like having access to more than one artist at a time when they’re listing to music.  You were successful because we didn’t need both an MP3 player and a phone in our pockets.

YOU WERE NOT SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE YOU MADE A PRODUCT OUT OF ONE PIECE OF ALUMINUM.  You were successful because your laptops looked cool and were light and easy to use.  Over the past two years Apple has been obsessed with unibody theory, putting the unibody in every one of its laptops.  People don’t care that you paid millions to construct the housing around my keyboard with laser guided drills.  People care that their laptop looks cool, is light, and can stand up to a beating.  My favorite laptop of all time was my IBM ThinkPad, because it had steel hinges.  To this day that laptop still opens and closes securely.

I think that a lot of people think that the other shoe will drop when a memo gets leaked from the testers in Superman’s Fortress of Solitude that advised Steve that if you held the phone a certain way, it loses signal.  After you have worked in a large enterprise, one understands that it didn’t matter what any of the testers said.  Why?  Because the CEO is obsessed with design, and the iPhone 4 was designed from the start to use an antenna on the sides of the phone.  It is obvious to me that Apple no longer holds user experience as the first priority — instead, we’ve got a groupthink mentality where the company thinks what really matters is precision engineering.

Steve, it’s time to abandon your obsession with unibody theory.  People don’t care that the product is perfectly engineered.  They care that when they pick it up, they can place a call easily and quickly.  You designed a phone where people who are left handed interfere with the signal.  It’s time to admit you need to encase the antenna in plastic, and you’re going to give away bumper cases until you do.  If you’re obsessed with microns, shouldn’t you be obsessed about the 1% of calls being dropped on the 4 vs. 3GS?  Motorola, RIM and Nokia seem to be able to put antenna performance above exterior design.

And please stop complaining about the issue being blown out of proportion — you’re right, it has been, but when you claim you’re the best you have to face the fact that smaller problems are going to be your biggest issues.