This week in consumerization: Canaries, Kindles, and six months with a "phablet"

Credit: Michael Sonnabend via Flickr

This week was all about mobile as Nokia (with Microsoft), Motorola (part of Google), and Amazon all had big new product announcements. If these devices take off with consumers, they'll eventually find their way into enterprises as well.

Here's a roundup of some of our favorite stories this week on the mobile platform wars, as well as other topics related to consumerization of IT.

Kindle Fire vs. iPad: the battle at home may hurt your iPad at work

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Infoworld Mobilize blogger Galen Gruman argues that Amazon is well positioned to displace the iPad from its perch as the only tablet that matters. If this happens in the home, user demand to bring iPads to work could drop. In that case, IT may return to supporting "email-only" tablet access, rather than taking advantage of the iPad's true strength: "its universe of applications."

Windows Phone's canary in the coal mine

Former Windows Phone evangelist Charile Kindel offers one simple test to determine whether the upcoming Windows Phone 8 will be a hit, or a dud like its predecessor was. Walk into a carrier store a few weeks after the launch in October and ask them to show you a phone. If they steer you to the iPhone or latest Android model, Windows Phone 8 is DOA. 

Eight questions for Dennis Woodside

Motorola's mobile announcement was arguably the least exciting of the three this week, but Arik Hasseldahl from AllThingsD sat down with Motorola Mobility CEO Dennis Woodside to get a sense of Google's long-term plans for Motorola. One interesting bit: "Five years from now the form factors are going to change radically. And the consumer is going to be thinking about wearables and tablets. They’ll still make phone calls, but I don’t know if the phone is going to look like it does now." Looks like Google really is serious about those goggles. 

Mobile-only: the halftime report

Benjamin Robbins is spending a year doing all work from one device only, a Samsung Galaxy Note. He calls it a "phablet" because it's got full telephony capabilities but a large screen and stylus as well, making it halfway between an Android smarthphone and tablet. Here, he recounts what he's learned in the first six months, including an important lesson about disposability.