Weekend Wrap-Up: Google Launches Project Fi! :) On its Poor-Selling Nexus 6 :(
This may have been a big week for Apple, with the launch of its Apple Watch, but let’s be real — we’ve known it was coming for weeks now. You can’t have news without the word new. Google, however, did manage to make a couple of headlines (for good reasons and bad), as did Microsoft. And Apple did manage to sneak in for a bit of a kerfuffle with its App Store, and, yes, it is related to the Apple Watch.
Let’s jump in.
Google Launches Project Fi
If you’ve been waiting for a wireless revolution — at least, something more substantial than what T-Mobile has been doing — you’ve likely kept a close eye on Google’s rumored carrier service. Consider it a rumor no more — Google launched the service, called Project Fi, this past week, and it’s doing some pretty interesting things with plan pricing. If you’re on anything other than a Nexus 6, you’ll unfortunately have to wait; Google’s phablet is the only smartphone that can use the service at the moment. Though, there may not be many Nexus 6 owners out there…
Google’s Nexus 6 Sales ‘Lower Than Expected’
The phablet market is huge right now — no pun intended — and all you have to do is look to Apple’s iPhone 6/6 Plus and Samsung’s Galaxy line for proof. So what happened to Google’s Nexus 6? The company is reporting that Nexus 6 sales have been lower than expected, though it’s anybody’s guess as to why that is. Is a six-inch phone too big? Did Apple and Samsung steal the majority of the market away from the Nexus line? Whatever the case, Google isn’t selling as many Nexus 6 smartphones as it anticipated. Perhaps Project Fi will help.
Microsoft’s HoloLens Will Run Universal Windows Apps
Microsoft, for the first time in a long time, has multiple products that I’m interested in. There’s the Xbox One, of course. There’s also Windows 10, which looks great. And lastly, there’s HoloLens. This one still remains sort of a mystery, but we did learn this past week that HoloLens will have the ability to run universal Windows applications. How you’ll interact with these applications is still up in the air, but the cross-platform support is intriguing. Maybe we’ll see what developers can do with the device at Build, which kicks off April 29.
Apple Denies App for Mentioning Pebble Support
This story made the rounds on Friday, and as someone who owns both an iPhone and a Pebble, I was rather displeased. You see, an iOS app developer attempted to publish an update for his app (which, ironically, enabled Apple Watch support). But an overzealous App Store reviewer saw a mention of Pebble support and rejected the app, basing the move on a four-year-old guideline that bars developers from mentioning any competing mobile platform in App Store descriptions or metadata. Newer reports are saying that Apple has called this a ‘mistake’, and that apps that support Pebble will continue to have a home in the App Store. That’s great news, and I’m glad Apple is making it right.