It’s a big week for Sling Media, which will be at both Macworld Expo in San Francisco and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, showing off their latest video placeshifting hardware and software. The big news from Sling at the Macworld Expo is that they’re demonstrating an upcoming version of SlingPlayer Mobile for Apple’s popular iPhone and iPod touch handhelds, and a new web-based SlingPlayer for Macs that will enable HD streaming to the desktop or laptop.

We’ve been looking forward to SlingPlayer Mobile for the iPhone since Sling showed an early prototype to Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) attendees last year. SlingPlayer Mobile promises to put our home television experience in the palm of our hands, with full support for changing channels on your home set-top box, viewing and pausing recorded content on a TiVo or other DVR, and select new programs to record. The company says they’ll submit a finished version to Apple for release in the online App Store later this quarter, and pricing is yet to be determined.

For Mac users, Sling will be showing off the new SlingPlayer for Mac HD, a web-based version of SlingPlayer that will be available on sling.com. The player will support Safari and Firefox web browsers on the Mac OS X platform when it’s released later this quarter as part of sling.com, and will support streaming HD content to a Mac desktop or laptop computer from Slingbox PRO-HD hardware.

These Apple-centric announcements follow the recent release of a new SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Mobile Professional and Standard devices, with support for fifteen new handsets and four new screen resolutions. The software is $29.95 for U.S. users, and is available as a free 30-day trial for those who wish to try before they buy. Last week, Sliing also posted a public beta version of SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry handhelds, officially supporting several BlackBerry Bold, Curve, and Pearl models with 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity. The company says users may also find BlackBerry smartphones with slower connectivity such as AT&T’s EDGE Network will stream video successfully, but Sling will only officially support 3G and Wi-Fi connections.

We’re expecting more news from Sling Media at CES later this week, and we’ll keep you posted.

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.

Amazon has a couple of decent smartphones for the AT&T network at significant discounts when purchased with a new two-year service plan.

The AT&T Fuze, which is their branding for the HTC Touch Pro, carries an MSRP of $499.99, but Amazon is selling it for $174.99 plus a $25 rebate, making it $149.99. The Fuze is a Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 smartphone with a 2.8″ 640×480 (VGA) display, full keyboard, 3G, WiFi, GPS, 3.2MP camera, and more.

The AT&T Tilt, aka the HTC TyTN II, launched with an MSRP of $599.99, but Amazon is selling it for just $0.01, and it has a $50 rebate – making it -$49.99. That’s right, you make $49.99 when you buy this phone, with a new service plan of course. The Tilt is a Windows Mobile 6 smartphone with a 2.8″ 320×240 (QVGA) display, full keyboard, 3G, WiFi, GPS, 3MP camera, and more.

And since I work for Sling Media I just have to say it – both of these phones make great platforms for SlingPlayer Mobile.

Blockbuster has teamed with Microsoft to bring digital video to mobile devices using Microsoft’s Live Mesh technology. It sounds like this will still be a download service and not streaming, based on the suggested use case of buying content from an airport kiosk to sync to a mobile device to use while traveling. Though you might think otherwise from this quote:

“Eventually, we’ll give customers instant access to any movie on any device with an internet connection and a screen,” vowed Blockbuster Chief Information Officer Keith Morrow in an interview with the Dallas Morning News.

When I read “instant access to any movie on any device with an Internet connection and a screen” my first thought is instant streaming access, not download to watch. But that’s marketing spin for you.

Picked up from MarketingVOX.

I’m, shocked, SHOCKED I tell you!

Well, OK, no, I’m not even mildly surprised.

According to Register Hardware, Palm is delaying Palm OS II, aka Nova, again. Palm OS II was originally expected on phones in 2007, then delayed until 2008, then late 2008. Now they say it’ll be ‘finished’ by the end of 2008, but we won’t be seeing any handsets using it until the first half of 2008. And, frankly, I wouldn’t place any bets on it. I’ve been a Palm OS user since 1998, but I’m not sure Palm is really relevant as an OS vendor anymore. They make some great Windows Mobile based devices, if I were in the market for WinMob the Treo Pro would be a top contender, but the existing Palm OS is terribly out of date. And now they’re going to be launching a new OS into a market full of WinMob, iPhone, Symbian, and two major Linux platforms – LiMo and Android. As a third Linux platform I don’t know that they’ll be able to garner developer mindshare. I really would rather see Palm take Android and work their magic on it as they’ve done to WinMob.

On the bright side for Palm, one of their major competitors, Windows Mobile, is also facing a delay. CNET reports that Windows Mobile 7 will be delayed from early 2009 to the second half of the year. That could be good news for Palm as WinMob 6 is starting to age and WinMob 7 promises a number of significant improvements. The delay means Palm’s Nova won’t be going directly against WinMob7 – unless it is further delayed, of course. The delay is also good news for Android, which, unless you’ve been under a rock, you’re probably aware launched today with T-Mobile’s G1. We should be seeing more Android phones and the WinMob delay gives Android more time to grab market share.

Picked up via Gizmodo.

I’ve been swamped with work so I haven’t been able to do more than skim most of today’s coverage of the Android launch and read a few of the reports in full. I have mixed feelings. The platform itself looks solid to me, but I think I’ll wait to see some more phones using it. I don’t like the G1’s lack of 3.5mm headphone jack, I can’t believe they left that off after the backlash against other phones. But that’s HTC and not Google or Android. And some of the features I’d need, like Exchange support for work, are being left to 3rd parties. I am 100% sure the hole will be filled, and can actually appreciate that approach – no native app makes the market more attractive to developers – but I’ll have to give it time. Still, I like what I see and think that with a little polish (this is the 1.0 release after all) it will probably be my next phone OS.

Ouch, yeah, in a world full of $199 iPhones, the Palm Treo Pro is $549. Though that does include a free international power adapter and free shipping. Yay? Don’t get me wrong, I think the Treo Pro is a very nice phone, and if any Windows Mobile phone were to sway me to the dark side it would probably be this one. I might even seriously consider paying $549 for it over an iPhone, since a physical keyboard is a big deal to me. (I’m not going to buy either of those – the Android phones are due soon.)

Why so much more than the iPhone? Well, the iPhone is only that cheap because it is sold with a subsidy lock tying it to AT&T, and they make up the money on the back end with the contract. The Palm Treo Pro has not been picked up by a carrier in the US, so it is only available unlocked – so it is usable on any GSM network. Just pop in your SIM and go.

It is a very nice smartphone. Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional running on a 400MHz CPU with 128MB RAM and 256MB storage (100MB user accessible). 320×320 screen, HSDPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS/GSM – tri-band UMTS and quad-band GSM, 802.11b/g with WPA/WPA2, GPS, BlueTooth 2.0+EDR, 2MP camera, microSDHC slot (up to 32GB), a real 3.5mm headphone jack, micro-USB connector, and a real QWERTY keyboard.

It is really aimed at high end business users, a more powerful alternative to the Blackberry. (And no having to decide between GPS and WiFi!) But not being available with a contract for a cheaper price is probably going to really hurt sales.

It has been perhaps Palm’s worst kept secret, long rumored as the ‘Treo 850′ with leaks posted on many sites, but Palm has finally officially announced the Palm Treo Pro. The Treo Pro is the latest in Palm’s Treo product line, though it looks more like a next-generation Centro than past Treo models. But while the Centro is an inexpensive entry-level smartphone running Palm OS, the Treo Pro is a high-end smartphone running Windows Mobile Professional 6.1.

The Treo Pro is fully tricked out with a 400MHz CPU, 256MB memory (100MB user accessable), 128MB RAM, 802.11B.g WiFi, 3G cellular support with HSDPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS/GSM (tri-band UMTS, quad-bad GSM), GPS, a 320×320 touchscreen, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, microSDHC card support, a 3.5mm headphone jack (aka a standard jack, not the tiny 2.5mm jack on many phones that requires an adapter), and a 2.0 megapixel camera. And Palm has done their usual job of enhancing the WinMob interface to make it much more usable.

Since it is a GSM world phone it should work on pretty much any GSM-based carrier, such as AT&T or T-Mobile, but it won’t work on CDMA carriers like Verizon or Sprint. Palm is also touting the ability to use the Treo Pro as a high-speed cellular modem for your laptop, aka tethering, over USB or Bluetooth.

I think it is a sharp looking phone with a very clean, functional design. If I didn’t dislike WinMob so much I’d really be tempted, and with Palm’s tweaks WinMob 6.1 might even be tolerable. But I’d really love to see something like Google’s Android on that kind of hardware. Maybe there is some hope for Palm’s own ‘Palm OS II’ Linux-based OS, it might be nice on a phone like this.

If you like what you see, it’ll set you back $549 for an unlocked model. It apparently hasn’t been picked up by AT&T or T-Mobile, so it isn’t available for less with a contract at this time.

Palm posted a video “featuring three of the Treo Pro’s very proud parents — Stephane Maes (VP of product marketing), Peter Skillman (VP of design), and John Moses (VP of customer relations)” in their blog.

The new Palm Treo 800w has been released for Sprint customers. The 800w runs Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 and it is a substantial upgrade over the last WinMob Treos, the 700w|wx and 750. The 800w has a sleeker form factor, which more closely resembles the Centro than the older Treos. And, due to the improvements in the new version of WinMob, the screen is 320×320, the same as the Palm OS products, instead of the 320×240 the older WinMob devices were restricted to. The 800w does have the ’smile’ curved keyboard arrangement, as on other Treos, which I find to be easier to use than the straight rows of the Centro’s keyboard. The 800w has support for Sprint’s EVDO Rev A high-speed 3G data network, as well as 802.11g WiFi, and it has built-in GPS as well. It has all of the features of Windows Mobile Professioanl 6.1, plus Palm’s ’secret sauce’ usability enhancements, and additional features unique to Sprint, such as Sprint Navigation. Palm’s blog has some more informationor you can order it directly from Palm. Prices start at $249 – after rebates and with a qualifying two year service and data plan. They do go up to $599 if you don’t want to commit to a plan.

Palm has also released a new color of Centro for AT&T users. In addition to the existing ‘Obsidian’ (Black) and Glacier (White) AT&T colors, you can now get it in ‘Electric Blue’ (kind of a light, metallic blue). Prices start at $99.99 – after rebate and with qualifying service plan, and they go up to $349 if you don’t want to commit to a plan.

I still think the Centro is a great ’starter’ smartphone, or a step up for anyone who is considering one of the ‘feature phones’ which tend to cost more but offer less flexibility. The 800w looks nice, and if I didn’t dislike WinMob so much I’d consider it myself. Well, no, because I’d wait for a GSM version, but you get the point. It does give me a little hope that, if Palm ever manages to release Palm OS II, they may once again have some really nice products. And if I haven’t jumped on Android by then I might even try them.

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.