Welll, in just under 10 hours I should be on a plane to Las Vegas, NV for CES. The show properly is Thursday-Sunday, but there are press events Tuesday and Wednesday which I’ll be attending. During the show itself I’ll be splitting my time between working Sling Media’s booth and trying to visit other vendors as a blogger. As is usual for me, my first victim, er, target of the show will probably be TiVo. Since I’ll be working half the show my time for seeing the rest is cut in half, but I’ll try to do what I can.

Going into this CES I’m not sure what the big deal is going to be this year, if there is one. The economy is down and I haven’t really felt any particular buzz about any given area of the market. HDTVs get bigger while getting thinner and faster (refresh rates). We may see some interesting 3D technologies which will start to enter homes in the next few years. Palm is expected to announce Nova and new hardware, but I’m not excited. I was a die-hard Palm OS user for many years, since 1998, and still carry a Treo 680. But after five or more years of waiting for Palm OS 6 Cobalt Nova I just don’t feel that inspired. I’m already focused on Android as my next likely platform, and it would take a lot for Palm to sway me. Even if they produce an incredible OS, they have an uphill battle ahead to win over developers. I don’t think they have a real chance at this point to gain significant market share. And without that the developers won’t come – and the apps really make the platform.

Going forward I think the mobile market will effectively be, in no particular order, Windows Mobile Professional, BlackBerry, Symbian S60, iPhone, and Android. The original Palm OS is the walking dead, and I don’t see Nova/Palm OS II carving out enough market share to be viable. Symbian UIQ is effectively dead as SonyEricsson and Motorola have pulled out and the Symbian world is focused on the S60-based open source effort. Windows Mobile Standard (aka Smartphone) is rapidly dying as Professional-based touch screen devices move into the lower end of the market where Standard used to focus. I expect Android, which is basically just coming into the market, to post the biggest gains as more devices land. I think the LiMo/LIPS effort will falter and expect to see some of the vendors who have been working on it switch to Android. I think those five platforms will provide the bulk of the smartphone market, anything else will be a small niche.

We’ll probably see more tru2way devices on display from a number of vendors this year, but I don’t know that we’ll see anything revolutionary in that market. I’m hoping TiVo may be showing off their ‘Series4′ tru2way-enabled model, which they’re believed to have been working on for a while. And they may be showing their new DirecTV software, which I expect will be running on the HR20/21/22 DirecTV DVR Plus hardware. I’m not expecting anything else major, maybe some new content partnership announcements and perhaps plans to bring TiVo to more countries. (I’m surprised they haven’t re-launched in the UK yet with the DVB-T model actually.)

The past couple of years the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD fight provided some interest. But that was effectively over with CES2008, and officially ended when Toshiba threw in the towel in February. There aren’t likely to be any big announcements in the Blu-ray world, aside from more content partnerships like LG adding CinemaNow and YouTube to Netflix on their players. Maybe someone will be showing off higher density disc or 3D content concepts.

I’m hoping to be surprised by something at the show, something just unexpected. If you know of something I should be on the look out for, do let me know. And if you’re going to CES drop by the Sling Media booth and say hello. I believe I’m on the afternoons of Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, and on Friday morning. I’m also scheduled to present for Sling Media at CntrStg on Saturday. Frankly I’m nervous as hell about that. It has been years since I’ve done a presentation or talk at a tradeshow and never at anything as big as CES.

OK, off to finish packing.

The good news, if you buy an unlocked Nokia N96 smartphone from Amazon through December 31, 2008 you not only save 47% off MSRP, but you’re eligible for $9.95 worth of free downloads from Amazon Video On Demand. The N96 is quite an impressive phone – Symbian S60 OS, 2.8-inch 320×240 screen, quad band GSM (850/900/1800/1900), dual-band 3G HSDPA (850/1900), WiFi, A-GPS, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Optics (which can also capture 640×480 video), a second VGA camera on the front for use in video calls, 16GB on-board storage with a microSDHC slot for expansion, FM radio, N-Gage application support for games, and more. This is truly a loaded phone.

And now the bad news. Sure, you save 47%, but that’s 47% off the $1200 MSRP! Yes, one thousand two hundred dollars. You pay $639.99. For a phone. OK, sure, it is an uber-device that can replace your phone, camera, PMP, and perhaps more. But that’s still not impulse buy territory.

Sling Media today launched the next in their lineup of SlingPlayer Mobile clients, this time for Symbian UIQ. It joins the existing SlingPlayer Mobile clients for Palm OS, Windows Mobile Smartphone, Windows Mobile Professional, and Symbian S60. And it will be followed by clients for Blackberry and iPhone/iPod Touch which are currently in development.

The UIQ handsets that will support SlingPlayer Mobile at launch include:
* Sony Ericsson P1i
* Sony Ericsson P990i
* Sony Ericsson W960i
* Sony Ericsson W950i
* Sony Ericsson M600i
* Sony Ericsson G700
* Sony Ericsson G900
* Motorola Z8
* Motorola Z10

The press release has all of the details.

Disclaimer: I work for Sling Media and was the Beta Manager for the Symbian UIQ program.

Monsoon Multimedia continues to add to their client suite for their HAVA placeshifting boxes. They currently officially support Microsoft Windows on PCs, while clients for Windows Mobile (Pro & Smartphone) and Nokia’s Internet Tablet Maemo Linux-based OS are in beta. A client for the Symbian S60 platform has been announced with an availability in 3Q08, according to a press release posted at jkOnTheRun. By way of comparison, Sling Media has released SlingPlayer for Windows and Mac OS, and SlingPlayer Mobile for Palm OS, Windows Mobile (Pro & Smartphone), and Symbian S60, while SPM for Symbian UIQ is in beta now, Blackberry is in development for release later this year, and the iPhone SDK is being evaluated.

Picked up from Zatz Not Funny.

Disclaimer: I am currently employed by Sling Media, for whom HAVA is the leading competitor.

Announced in April, SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian UIQ is now ready for beta testers. Symbian UIQ is distinct from Symbian S60 (aka Series60), an update for which was released recently. While Symbian S60 is used on phones from Nokia, Symbian UIQ is used by vendors such as Sony Ericsson and Motorola.

If you’re a Slingbox owner with a Symbian UIQ smartphone, you can apply for the beta here.

Disclaimer: I’m not only currently employed by Sling Media, I’m the Program Manager for the Symbian UIQ beta.

Sling Media today released SlingPlayer Mobile updates for Windows Mobile Smartphone, Windows Mobile Professional/PPC, and Symbian S60. There new versions are 1.6, 1.6, and 1.01, respectively. While not updated, the Palm OS client is still available as well. US versions of the clients are available here, and UK/International versions are available here. The new versions are a free upgrade for existing register users, or a USD$29.99 purchase for new users. You can try the client for 30 days before purchasing to make sure you’re satisfied before purchasing. Of course, you’ll need a Slingbox for the client to connect to as well.

The new releases add support for additional phones such as the Treo 500v, Nokia N95 8GB, Samsung i760, and Nokia N82, as well as improved video streaming on select phones such as the Sprint/HTC Mogul. Additional changes include support for additional set-top boxes, additional channel logos, and various ‘under the hood’ tweaks.

Symbian UIQ and Blackberry clients are still planned for later this year.

Disclaimer: I am currently employed by Sling Media, and I took over as the beta manager for these three beta programs on April 7th. If you’re interested in beta testing register and be sure to keep your profile updated, especially the ‘Test Platforms’ section.

ARCHOS has long been a leader in the PMP market with devices like their model 605 and 705 PMPs. And they’ve added some innovative features to their products, such as the ability to copy shows from DISH Network ViP622/722 DVRs. Lesser known is their TV+ DVR. The TV+ is a Ethernet/WiFi media player and DVR in one box, and the software seems to be based on their PMP software.

Now Archos is adding place-shifting to the TV+. Called ‘TVportation’ it will be a $49.99 software plug-in for the TV+, or free if the TV+ is registered on the ARCHOS web site. ARCHOS claims it will allow streaming of content from the TV+ to the ARCHOS 605 WiFi and ARCHOS 705 WiFi PMPs, as well as PCs, laptops and smartphones. You can also use an ARCHOS 605 WiFi or ARCHOS 705 WiFi as the streaming source, but you need to leave it docked in its base station. (So if you have two you can have one at home as the source and one as the client.) Details on the smartphone support is thin, saying only “compatible with Symbian later this spring”. Though the demo video on the website shows it running on a Windows Mobile Palm Treo.

A little exploring shows they have downloads for Windows Mobile 5 & 6 both Professional and Smartphone as well as Symbian Series60. But most curious is that all of the links are right to Monsoon Multimedia’s HAVA clients – on Monsoon’s servers! At first glance it looks like they’re leeching the clients, but perhaps Monsoon and ARCHOS did some kind of deal. Still, it looks sketchy.

There’s a lengthy demo video up on YouTube:

From the video it is clear that one client at a time is supported, so you can’t have multiple devices streaming from one TV+.

Spotted in EngadgetHD.

Disclaimer: I’m currently employed by Sling Media, which produces the Slingbox series of place-shifting products. And I suppose TVportation is ostensibly a competitor to Sling.

Monsoon Multimedia announced last week that its set-top TV place-shifting products will soon deliver television to Windows Mobile and Symbian handhelds, including smartphones and PDAs. New handheld applications for Windows Mobile are due this month, followed by a version for Symbian-based smartphones.

The company’s four set-top boxes already provide place-shifted viewing to Windows computers and to Nokia’s palm-top N810 Internet appliance. Like the Slingbox PRO, Monsoon’s HAVA devices support multiple video sources connected at the same time, and their high-end units can stream to multiple viewers at once on a local network, though only one at a time over a broadband connection to the Internet.

Monsoon licensed new audio and video compression decoders from On2 Technologies, Inc. in order to implement the handheld client software; handhelds pose a significant challenge for receiving decent video quality thanks to low (and often unreliable) network bandwidth and low processing power compared to home computer setups.

A beta evaluation copy of the HAVA Mobile Player for Windows Mobile (including Palm Treo smartphones based on Redmond’s OS) is available now from the company’s web site.

Sling Media Announces SlingPlayer Mobile for UIQ on Symbian OS

Company will demonstrate award-winning mobile TV solution at CTIA on a variety of Symbian smartphones including the Sony Ericsson W960i and the Nokia N95 8GB

Foster City, CA and London, UK – March 27, 2008 – Sling Media, Inc., a digital lifestyle products company, today announced SlingPlayer™ Mobile for UIQ on Symbian OS™, bringing the best mobile TV experience to this popular smartphone platform. The company will showcase its new software at the Symbian booth (#4855, Hall N4) at the CTIA Wireless Show in Las Vegas, NV April 1 – 3 2008. Separately, Sling Media is announcing that its existing SlingPlayer Mobile for S60 on Symbian OS will soon support Nokia’s popular N95 8GB, which will also be demonstrated at CTIA.

With today’s announcements, Sling Media adds to the already robust smartphone support it offers its customers and gives Slingbox owners the ability to watch and control their home TV using even more of the most popular smartphones available in the U.S. and in Europe. Sling Media expects to release SlingPlayer Mobile for UIQ worldwide this summer and expects the new version of SlingPlayer Mobile for S60 to be available this spring.

“We are excited to expand our support for Symbian smartphones, providing customers with the best possible mobile TV experience. With over two-and-a-half billion global 3G and WiFi connections the market potential for mobile TV is huge,” said Blake Krikorian, co-founder and CEO of Sling Media. “In order to meet this growing desire for mobile TV, we will continue to expand the availability of SlingPlayer Mobile to as many platforms and devices as possible. Adding SlingPlayer Mobile to such a cutting edge platform as UIQ on Symbian OS is a great step forward in expanding user accessibility to their home TV set-up.”

The personalized mobile TV experience for smartphones is enabled by the award-winning Slingbox, which allows customers to watch and control their home TV on an Internet-connected Mac or PC as well as a range of mobile phone platforms including Symbian OS, Windows Mobile, Palm OS and coming soon, BlackBerry.

Sling Media expects to support the following UIQ handsets at launch and will continue to expand handset support thereafter.

• Sony Ericsson P1i
• Sony Ericsson P990i
• Sony Ericsson W960i
• Sony Ericsson W950i
• Sony Ericsson M600i
• Motorola MOTORIZR Z8

A full list of compatible smartphones for all SlingPlayer Mobile-supported platforms can also be found at http://www.slingmedia.com/go/spm-requirements.

“SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian smartphones extends the reach of home TV viewing to a user’s phone with the same diverse line-up of viewable content. We’re excited to have the SlingPlayer experience delivered to UIQ — it’s fast, it’s fun, and it offers an enjoyable user experience,” said Jerry Panagrossi, Vice President and General Manager of North American Operations, Symbian.

SlingPlayer Mobile gives Slingbox customers their entire home TV experience, including local channels, local sports teams, video on demand, pay per view, etc. Any program that you can watch on your sofa back home, you can now watch via a PC or Mac, as well as UIQ, Symbian S60, Palm OS, and Windows Mobile-based smartphones anywhere you can get an Internet connection (3G Cellular or WiFi). In addition, SlingPlayer Mobile users can also control their home digital video recorder (DVR) to watch recorded shows, pause, rewind, and fast forward live TV and even program and watch new recordings while away from home.

SlingPlayer Mobile does not require a monthly fee or other recurring charges. Slingbox customers simply need to purchase SlingPlayer Mobile for a one-time charge of $29.99 US, $34.99 Canadian dollars or £19.99 Inc VAT British pounds. All versions of SlingPlayer Mobile include a 30-day free trial and can be purchased at www.slingmedia.com.

About Sling Media
Sling Media, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), is the world’s leading digital lifestyle company offering consumer services and products that are a natural extension of today’s digital way of life. Sling Media’s product family includes the internationally acclaimed, Emmy award-winning Slingbox™ that allows consumers to watch and control their living room television shows at any time, from any location, using PCs, Macs, PDAs, and smartphones. For more information on Sling Media or the Slingbox, visit www.slingmedia.com.