I was a long time Blackberry user, and I lost my device in a taxi when on my way to cover the HP Palm WebOS/Tablet launch. (Oh, the irony!) Here I am today: an iPhone (on Verizon) user. However, I always have and will always maintain a sweet spot for Blackberry devices. They are good for instant messaging and are really good for email. They often have good radio performance and have solid battery life. A lot of people still use them.

And while I have stopped doing reviews — Kevin Tofel does a much better job — I find time for the Blackberry devices for old times’ sake. A few weeks ago, RIM sent me three of their new devices that ran on three different U.S. phone networks: Sprint (Blackberry Curve), AT&T (Blackberry Torch) and Verizon (Blackberry Bold). And they were all powered by Blackberry OS 7.0.

With three different models all here at once, I have not been able to give each one ample time, but the one that has me captivated for now is the Verizon Blackberry Bold. It is ultra-thin, has a comfortable keyboard and has access to a fast network.

This is their newest touch-enabled OS and has a lot of under the hood tweaks. It’s incredibly fast (well, compared to the old Blackberry I was using); it has a decent enough browser, has fantastic/fluid graphics; and it feels much more modern. It’s sort of like me going and buying slim fit jeans: On the surface, I might look mod, but in reality, I’m a guy on the wrong side of forty. But as I said, it does a good job of papering over the shortcomings.

One aspect of Blackberry OS 7 I absolutely love is the touch capabilities. You see, after continuously using the iPhone and iPad, I find devices that don’t have touch capabilities incredibly inhuman and pointless. They end up raising my blood pressure a few points. Other Blackberry owners who have upgraded from their old devices (that I have talked to) find themselves pleasantly surprised as well.

To make a short review shorter, I can say OS 7.0 is good enough, and it also buys RIM a bit of time in the marketplace. Not a lot, but when you are perceived to be fighting for your life, every second counts. Smart guys at UBS Research, in a note to their clients Friday morning, pretty much affirmed my totally unscientific perceptions and put numbers around Blackberry OS 7′s impact on RIM’s bottom-line.

Our recent store checks in the U.S./Canada (see 8/19/11 note as well) point to a decent start for RIMMs new BB 7.0 phones, esp. the Bold, which, combined with the scope of the launch (global) and a lean channel, could lead to upside to our 11.8m and 13.1m phone unit [estimates] (sell in) for 2Q/3Q when RIMM reports on 9/15.

On a mid-term basis, we will be watching the effect of competing product launches such as the iPhone 5 and several Android devices expected later this year, seasonality, especially given increasing macro uncertainty. Ultimately, we will be looking to RIMM’s QNX transition along with other signs of what RIMM can or will do to meaningfully alter the balance of power in the mobile handset world.

RIMM’s two main pillars of growth — international expansion and enterprise — are increasingly under attack and we continue to believe the status quo will likely be only good enough to just keep RIMM in the game, but will not meaningfully slow its competitors. Competing ecosystems continue to innovate at a very rapid pace, and we continue to foresee eroding market share for RIMM longer term. [From UBS Research note sent via email]

Their long-term skepticism is justified. I don’t think Android and Apple are stoppable at this point, and anyone else is essentially fighting for the third spot. And this is where RIM has as much a chance as anyone else. A UBS survey found that nearly 62 percent of Blackberry owners are likely to buy another Blackberry, that is second only to Apple (with 95 percent likely to be repeat buyers of an Apple phone.)

For Blackberry, that could be something to start with.

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All four major U.S. carriers will have relatively high prices for the Bold: Verizon, Sprint and AT&T plan to charge $249, while on Wednesday T-Mobile announced the Bold 9900 and told me it expects to sell the phone for $299. That figure is actually after a $50 mail-in rebate, so T-Mobile customers will need $350 up front for the new handset. I don’t expect RIM to win many new customers with this pricing, although existing BlackBerry owners happy with the platform may have good reason to upgrade.

That same $299 price buys an iPhone 4 with 32 GB of memory; the new Bold only comes with 8 GB of storage, although it is upgradable through a microSD card slot. High-end Android handsets usually top out at $199, although Verizon’s LTE handsets often cost $249 as a premium for the faster 4G network.

The 9900 may be the best BlackBerry yet, but in some ways it’s still behind a year or more in terms of the application ecosystem and user experience. The latter should change when RIM debuts smartphones with its newer QNX operating system, but for now, BlackBerry is still playing a game of catch-up, even as it arrives with premium prices.

While the bulk of a smartphone’s cost over its lifetime is in the monthly plan pricing, the Bold 9900′s up-front cost could still seriously affect the product’s success or failure in terms of sales. Price it too high and customers may opt for a cheaper but as-capable handset. Price it too low and the company has to hope it can make up for the difference through volume. The ASP on RIM handsets, which is the full sales price paid by a consumer and a carrier, has been flat to declining over the past few years, as noted by this Business Insider chart:

As of nearly a year ago, RIM stopped providing the ASP of its handsets on investor calls, leaving analysts to estimate the figure based on total handset sales and the revenues they generate. RIM’s sales are actually growing, although they’re not keeping pace with the overall market: The company’s 10.7 percent year-over-year handset growth beat out only Nokia’s in the most recent quarter. On the revenue side then, boosting the full retail price of handsets could then raise the ASP and in turn, profits for the company.

I’m not suggesting that RIM should race to the bottom of the market and take losses on its hardware. But until the company brings QNX to phones and shows that it can offer more value and a better experience than competing handsets on alternative platforms, a $299 BlackBerry is a tough sale to all but devoutly loyal customers. And those aren’t the customers that will grow the user base, since they’re already a part of it.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr user americanistadechiapasResearch In Motion’s new flagship phone, the BlackBerry Bold 9900, is commanding a flagship price in stores: Subsidized costs range from $249 to $299 with a two-year contract and after all applicable rebates. The smartphone is earning good reviews, but few who have used the phone suggest it over one running iOS or Android, aside from those who are current BlackBerry users. At these prices, is RIM trying to boost its average selling price (ASP) per handset until the next generation of BlackBerrys arrives?

All four major U.S. carriers will have relatively high prices for the Bold: Verizon, Sprint and AT&T plan to charge $249, while on Wednesday T-Mobile announced the Bold 9900 and told me it expects to sell the phone for $299. That figure is actually after a $50 mail-in rebate, so T-Mobile customers will need $350 up front for the new handset. I don’t expect RIM to win many new customers with this pricing, although existing BlackBerry owners happy with the platform may have good reason to upgrade.

That same $299 price buys an iPhone 4 with 32 GB of memory; the new Bold only comes with 8 GB of storage, although it is upgradable through a microSD card slot. High-end Android handsets usually top out at $199, although Verizon’s LTE handsets often cost $249 as a premium for the faster 4G network.

The 9900 may be the best BlackBerry yet, but in some ways it’s still behind a year or more in terms of the application ecosystem and user experience. The latter should change when RIM debuts smartphones with its newer QNX operating system, but for now, BlackBerry is still playing a game of catch-up, even as it arrives with premium prices.

While the bulk of a smartphone’s cost over its lifetime is in the monthly plan pricing, the Bold 9900′s up-front cost could still seriously affect the product’s success or failure in terms of sales. Price it too high and customers may opt for a cheaper but as-capable handset. Price it too low and the company has to hope it can make up for the difference through volume. The ASP on RIM handsets, which is the full sales price paid by a consumer and a carrier, has been flat to declining over the past few years, as noted by this Business Insider chart:

As of nearly a year ago, RIM stopped providing the ASP of its handsets on investor calls, leaving analysts to estimate the figure based on total handset sales and the revenues they generate. RIM’s sales are actually growing, although they’re not keeping pace with the overall market: The company’s 10.7 percent year-over-year handset growth beat out only Nokia’s in the most recent quarter. On the revenue side then, boosting the full retail price of handsets could then raise the ASP and in turn, profits for the company.

I’m not suggesting that RIM should race to the bottom of the market and take losses on its hardware. But until the company brings QNX to phones and shows that it can offer more value and a better experience than competing handsets on alternative platforms, a $299 BlackBerry is a tough sale to all but devoutly loyal customers. And those aren’t the customers that will grow the user base, since they’re already a part of it.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr user americanistadechiapas

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All five handsets run on BlackBerry 7 OS, which is a stop-gap platform until RIM transitions its smartphone lineup to the QNX-powered operating system it uses for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. That means for most, these new handsets are incremental upgrades in terms of software, because a new generation of BlackBerry handsets running a completely different operating system will be forthcoming. RIM expects carriers to begin selling the new handsets by the end of this month. AT&T has already announced it will offer the 4G BlackBerry Torch 9810 this month and later follow with 4G versions of the Bold 9900 and Torch 9860.

In terms of software, RIM is touting a speedier Internet experience with an improved WebKit browser that’s 40 percent faster than BB 6 devices and twice as fast as older BB 5 smartphones. Helping to boost performance is RIM’s Liquid Graphics technology. The latest BBM client and voice-activated universal search add to the experience. On the hardware side, RIM is using 1.2 GHz processors to boost performance and high-resolution displays to improve the user experience. The new 3.7-inch screen of the Torch 9850 and 9860, for example is 800×480 resolution. The two Bold models include support for near-field communication (NFC) chips that could be used for mobile payments. And high-definition video recording is a staple on the handsets as well.

Still, when RIM announced the two new Bold devices in May, I said the upgrades weren’t aggressive enough. And although the new handsets show positive evolution and will surely sell to the BlackBerry faithful, I keep coming back to one thought: RIM is trying grow its smartphone business in 2012 with phones and a platform that evokes thoughts of 2010. That doesn’t mean these handsets will flop. Some will buy them and be happy — but not enough to counteract RIM’s slowing sales figures in a market that’s growing overall — but I say 2012 because we’ll be entering the final third of 2011 when the first of these new BlackBerry devices arrive. They’ll power sales (or not as the case may be) at least through the first half of 2012.

Remember that RIM purchased QNX in April of 2010, mainly for the platform and strong Adobe Flash operation in the QNX operating system. Instead of building a new smartphone platform with the sale, RIM spent a year building a tablet, which in hindsight, may not have been the best approach. The tablet market is only just beginning; there’s time to build a solid product there and still compete. But the smartphone market is RIM’s bread and butter. The company should have made a fast transition to QNX on the handset where it would have benefitted faster from the tens of millions of smartphones sold every quarter.

Ultimately, the problem for RIM’s handsets comes down to 2007, however. Apple introduced the iPhone that year, and only Google responded by creating a solid touchscreen experience and growing Android ecosystem in 2008. We’re closing in on 2012, and RIM’s best response is still in the works.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr user americanistadechiapas

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The Bold 9650 supports both GSM/CDMA networks for voice and HSPA/EVDO for wireless data, allowing for potential support on all major U.S. carriers and use by international travelers. Such network flexibility comes at a price, however — talk and standby times for the Bold 9650 are 5 hours and 13 days, less than the 6 hours and 17 days of battery life on the currently available Bold 9700. Nearly all other features and known specifications of the 9650 are comparable to the 9700, including the 3.2-megapixel camera, integrated GPS radio and optical trackpad.

The new Pearl 3G — HSPA only, no EVDO — is also comparable to current BlackBerry models, but gains 802.11n Wi-Fi support for faster wireless transfers over a greater range. Gone is the trackball from the new Pearl 3G, which is replaced by the same optical trackpad found on the new Bold model. The Pearl’s camera sensor is bumped to 3.2 megapixels and supports auto-focus, 2.5x digital zoom and video recording. Based on the supported frequencies, the Pearl 3G will work on both the T-Mobile and AT&T networks for voice and high-speed data in the U.S.

Upgraded handsets are usually welcomed by consumers, but these two devices are only prolonging the inevitable for RIM. To continue growing market share against the likes of Android and iPhone, the new BlackBerry operating system needs to arrive sooner rather than later. And it must include that WebKit-based browser that RIM has in the works, too. BlackBerry devices may be king of email activities, but consumers are already using the web for social networking more than they’re emailing. It’s time for Research In Motion to get in motion on the new OS.

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With its hard QWERTY keyboard and big screen, the Curve (a longtime favorite of Om’s) has stood the test of time and beat out higher-end competitors such as Apple’s iPhone, Palm’s Pre and T-Mobile’s G1. Although the iPhone being limited to the less-than-stellar AT&T network likely plays a role in these rankings. But the Curve wasn’t the only RIM BlackBerry smartphone model to place in the top five, as the list below shows. Here are IDC’s top-selling smartphones in the U.S.:

IDC compiles the list by counting vendor sales to mobile carriers, consumer electronic stores, online retail stores and independent distributors, and excludes counting the sell-through to consumers (so thankfully for Palm, the Pre’s creepy commercials don’t play a factor in the results).

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According to data collected by Chetan Sharma Consulting, the U.S. wireless data market grew 7.3 percent in the third quarter to hit $8.8 billion in data services revenue. Despite the recession, many in the industry are of the opinion that wireless data sales aren’t going to fall, and in fact will stay strong for the foreseeable future. A report from London-based research firm Analysys Mason predicts that “mobile network operators in developed regions should prepare for a tenfold increase in wireless network traffic by 2015.” Here are some interesting findings from their report:

• By 2015, developed regions will account for about 25 percent of the cellular user population but those users will generate 65 percent of total global wireless network traffic.
• Average wireless network traffic per cellular user (for all voice and data services) in developed regions will increase to eight times its 2008 level by 2015, rising from 56MB per month to 455MB per month.
• By 2015, data will account for 94 percent of total wireless network traffic in developed regions.

Such a data explosion, however, means that mobile network operators will have to spend a lot of money to upgrade their networks in order to keep up with the demand. As Dr. Alastair Brydon, the Analysys Mason report’s co-author, notes, “In the short-term, underutilisation of 3G networks allows mobile operators to offer low-cost USB services, but operators may be forced to rethink their strategies when they are confronted by the need to make further network investment.” Indeed, we have already seen how Verizon, Sprint and others are imposing data transfer limits on their “unlimited data offerings.”

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Today I got my hands on the much-delayed BlackBerry Bold that was launched on the AT&T network in the U.S. After less than an hour it was clear to me that this might just be the best BlackBerry on the market — and a must-buy for folks who can’t live without a physical QWERTY keyboard.

Here are my impressions of this device:

It’s got the look: Despite its thicker dimensions, this is much better-looking device when compared to older BlackBerrys, and makes you overlook the weight of the device. However, if you looked closely you see that there is a certain chintz-like quality, but overall the good bits mask some of the shortcomings. For instance, you can access the memory card by opening a slot on the right hand side of the device. In the past, you would have to open back and take out the battery before you got to the memory card.

Overall, it has a certain European aesthetic to it — it’s shiny in an understated sort of a way. For many of our readers, especially those who run their own companies or those who finance them, my advice: Upgrade to this device today – it is a much better fit with your station in life. (If you don’t already have an iPhone, that is.)

Built strong: It retains the heft of the BlackBerry 8800, but has a keyboard that’s more comfortable to use than the BlackBerry Curve. A powerful 624 MHz processor and a half-VGA 480 x 320 display makes using this device a joy. The screen quality will completely change the way you view BlackBerry devices.

Ultimate networker: I love the connectivity options on this device — 3G (HSDPA), EDGE, GPRS and GSM networks, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. From a consumer’s standpoint, it has a 2-megapixel camera with flash and zoom that can take great photos, and you can save them on 1GB on-board memory (expandable to 32 GB via microSD/SDHC media cards); it also has GPS and full multimedia options. (I have left the connections on and will update the post after getting a better grip on the battery life of this device. After 9 hours the device had used up one fifth of its total capacity.)

Play it again: I was thoroughly impressed by the jitter-free video and also the quality of the audio playback. There is a way to sync your non-DRM tunes with iTunes on a PC using BlackBerry Media Sync but since I don’t keep my music on a Windows machine, it is hard to test this feature out. (Maybe later this weekend I will try it out.)

Again, it’s got the look: What really blows me away about the Bold is its interface, which is a vast improvement over previous generations of BlackBerrys (though its miles behind the iPhone). There are a lot of subtle improvements, from icons to folders (both hi-res) to the ability to sift through a lot of applications with a smooth rollerball.

Texter’s delight: There are five applications I use on my mobiles: Google Talk, Google Mail, Facebook, Twitter and Truphone. Even though I have become very, very proficient with the iPhone’s touch screen, they all are easier to use with the BlackBerry keyboard, including this one.

Weak browser, weaker friends: One of the main reasons why I put up with the iPhone is its excellent browser and big screen size. Unfortunately, this is where the Bold fails me: The browser is weak. Why?

The phone is married to what is quickly becoming the worst wireless network in the U.S. – AT&T. The high number of dropped calls and slow 3G speeds have dampened the joy of using Bold in the brief time I have tested device, which is a shame, because it is the Audi A8 of smartphones: good-looking, durable, easy to use and a texter’s delight. It would be perfect on Verizon’s EVDO network.

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As a Canadian I have been in the fortunate position of having experienced a BlackBerry Bold since its launch on Rogers in late August.

It’s not simply a new smartphone or “replacement” for an older BlackBerry. The Bold, finally available at AT&T, is a game changer when it comes to not only exchanging information but also its role in both your personal and business life.

So what drives this new mobile life?

The BlackBerry Bold’s screen must be seen to truly appreciate how stunning it is. As I worked with emails, web pages, Google Maps, Twitter and other applications, the screen’s text fonts and photo and video renderings “grow” on you. For example, Wall Street Journal for Mobile and New York Times have a quality that extends their renowned website visual branding as a quality publication to the BlackBerry. Crisp, often small, fonts and vibrant colors make the reading experience just as good as, if not easier than, a newspaper. Google Maps satellite views distinguish buildings while showing street names in small, yet sharp, fonts.

The most important game changing feature of the display is the half-VGA display resolution.

It means you can follow most web pages without horizontal scrolling. It eliminates the constant urge to boot up a laptop while on the road to keep current with not only email but also time sensitive documents, Skype chat sessions via iSkoot and Twitter message streams as well as blog activity and news.

Combining the enhanced keyboard with BlackBerry’s reputation for robust, secure and reliable email is just the start. Entries for Twitter feeds, document editing, instant messaging, website URLs and application purchases at the CrackBerry.com application store all benefit from the speed and accuracy associated with having a keyboard. The trackball pointer is a valuable assistant for precisely accessing text insertion points; a magnifier icon assists zooming.

But two way communications is more that text and media exchange. During recent neighborhood cable outages, I was able to access a daily one hour Calliflower conference call via iSkoot and its support for Skype-based calling with the only cost being local wireless minutes. I quickly realized that it was actually more convenient to have the device mobility when interrupted by activities that took me away from my desk.

The Bold’s 3G mobile connectivity is complemented by its support for WiFi when in an accessible WiFi zone. It means faster download of web pages and multimedia, eliminating or reducing buffering of streaming video, such as available on YouTube.

One example demonstrates the power of the combination of display quality, connection speed and processor performance. Previously I mentioned the quality of Google Maps satellite views; however, recently Google Maps Street View became available for the BlackBerry (for U.S. locations only). Stroll down a street or rotate about an address, the Bold’s connectivity and processor come into play for downloading and rendering the resulting images. The result is not only high quality images of the surrounding buildings and scenery but also rapid image updating with minimum pixelating as you move about.

The Bold also includes a media player supporting both stereo audio and video; its support of microSD memory cards allows easy memory upgrades as your media collection builds. Music can be synchronized from iTunes via BlackBerry MediaSync. During a recent flight I was able to transcribe an interview, recorded from a Skype call as an MP3 file via Pamela (and added to iTunes), where the Bold’s trackball pointer provided the required precision to easily access and replay segments of the interview with an accuracy no touch screen can approach.

So what’s the downside?

While the display provides the ability to keep up with much more information than via email exchanges, the browser still needs some work to come up to the quality of the iPhone browsing experience. But it never prevented me from executing time sensitive work activity. While the Bold readily switches between WiFi and 3G when entering and leaving registered WiFi access points, registering those WiFi access points is not quite the single step stress-free iPhone process.

There are many features left to try out; I am constantly downloading applications and shortcuts. But the overall experience is best summed up by a business professional aquaintance who, after six weeks with the Bold, reported that “I’m beginning to think my Bold is more powerful than my notebook.” A sentiment I started to feel during a recent trip to California where all these factors came into play and I found I was ignoring my laptop, yet keeping fully current. But BlackBerry Bold is a device you have to see to truly appreciate its full potential.

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John Sangiovanni

To describe the segmentation of the mobile phone marketplace, analysts and industry professionals use a common lexicon to group similar devices by their relative features and capabilities. The majority of mobile phones that have graced retail shelves in recent years fall into two distinct categories: featurephones and smartphones. Lately, however, a new category has begun to emerge, that of the superphone.

Featurephones are so named, counterintuitively, because at one point in recent memory they defined the higher end of the device strata, due to their support for basic WAP browsing, the inclusion of a basic web browser, and possibly a color display. They offer no branded operating system, no open software API, and no (or limited) PIM sync capabilities. Today, such phones define the low end of the market in developed regions.

The next segment, smartphones, are devices that provide a more substantial, general purpose computing platform: Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Palm and certain devices powered by Series 60. In recent years, these devices have penetrated deeply beyond the enterprise market for which they were designed. It is possible, albeit painful, to write third-party software for smartphones, and they boast robust over-the-air synchronization with mainstream email, calendar, and contact management systems.

Featurephones and smartphones have defined the strata of mobile phone offerings in the mainstream marketplace for the past five years. However, now it’s clear that we see a new category emerging, with an impact on the wireless business that is difficult to overstate. With vastly better performance, desktop-grade web browsing, and high-resolution displays, a new category is born. I call them “superphones,” and they are achieving tremendous traction with consumers and professionals alike.

So what makes a superphone a superphone?
Though many try, it is difficult to dispute that the product that created and continues to define the superphone category is the iPhone. The iPhone offers an elegant user interface powered by an impressive array of integrated hardware, all wrapped up in a masterwork of industrial design. And within months of the iPhone’s release, several manufacturers rushed to market with devices that industry blogs would soon call the “iClones” — devices that were seemingly similar to the iPhone in design (large, high-resolution touchscreen) and a few core functions (high-quality integrated web browsing), but lacking the deeper foundational technologies that made the iPhone a platform.

Nevertheless, some of these devices were forged through ambitious collaborations, such as the Instinct (from Samsung and Sprint) and the Dare (from LG and Verizon). Although they didn’t achieve nearly the buzz or sales of the iPhone, these devices suggest that maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks.

If a large display and a robust web browser do not a superphone make, then exactly what is it that defines this new category? The operative word is platform. The creative potential of this next generation of hardware is defined by the ecosystem that each respective Superphone vendor’s platform will enable. When features like touchscreens, browsers, location-sensing technologies and hardware acceleration are programmatically exposed through elegant developer tools, a device is two-thirds of the way to superphonedom. Lastly, add an end-to-end international storefront, and a new medium is born.

A superphone must have:

Hardware

• Display with at least 320 pixels on the short axis
• 3G connectivity or greater (plus additional radios as appropriate…Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.)
• Location-sensing technology (GPS, high-resolution signal-strength-based location, or equivalent)
• Hardware-accelerated graphics subsystem

Platform

• Integrated web browser that supports current desktop development standards
• Published native developer SDK that allows programmatic access to the specialized hardware/software features listed above.

Distribution

• Integrated process for certification and searchable catalog distribution of 3rd-party applications. (Many will add that having a truly open distribution channel would be ideal, and I agree. However, through the publication of Zumobi’s iPhone app, we have found Apple’s AppStore certification process to be efficient and transparent.)

The next wave of true superphones promises to back up a device’s good looks with deeper platform technologies and more robust back-end services. Google’s Android platform will give way to a new breed of “gPhones” from Google’s partner manufacturers such as HTC. The much-anticipated BlackBerry Bold offers a gorgeous high-resolution display and also includes a physical keyboard -– essential for BlackBerry loyalists.

Microsoft’s response will likely be forged from the recently acquired consumer expertise of Danger (creators of the T-Mobile SideKick), together with their in-house Windows Mobile platform experience. Each is likely to provide a robust developer SDK, evolved from the toolchains that have served their platforms in years past.

The superphone promises to continue to challenge our notions of what a mobile device is and what it can do. This is neither the beginning nor the end of our mobile technology adventure, but nevertheless a notable chapter in our species’ paradoxical quest to be completely untethered, yet perpetually connected.

John SanGiovanni is the co-founder and VP of Product Design at Zumobi.

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Delivery: Similar to the Roku, Amazon will stream video directly into your home. The New York Times, which broke the story, does not mention anything about HD capabilities for the service. Given the cruddy state of bandwidth in this country, streaming could pose a problem in homes with multiple people online, but after tasting the sweet simplicity of streaming through the Roku, I’m convinced this is the way to go.

Storage: In an innovative twist (and one that would make GigaOM and Mark Cuban swoon), Amazon stores this video cloud on its end. Pull the content down only when you want, and if you purchase a movie, Amazon holds it for you — and you can access it on any connected device you own. While it’s supposed to help prevent piracy, I think a bigger advantage is that now your purchase should never get outdated by being in an old format.

Netflix Roku: Amazon’s streaming approach is similar to the Netflix’s Roku, but there are some key differences on both ends. On the content side, Amazon has Roku beat to a pulp, offering 40,000 titles compared with Netflix’s 10,000. However, Amazon is a la carte, while Netflix is all you can eat. Amazon has said that it will make its service available on other boxes, and Roku has said it is getting content from other “big name” content providers, so maybe the Roku will bring the best of both worlds?

Other Set-Top Boxes: Amazon has a deal to put the VOD store on Sony Bravia TVs, but look for Panasonic to hop on board as well. Who needs a set-top box when you can order up what you want directly from the TV? Sure, Apple has Disney movies and Amazon doesn’t (for now), but is that enough to make you buy an Apple TV? And renting movies through the HP MediaSmart Connect means downloading the content to your computer first. Who needs the hassle?

Cable and Telephone Companies: Amazon’s vast video library could make it easier to dump your TV provider, but cable and telcos could retaliate and choke Amazon at the source through tiered broadband.

Features TK: If Amazon can get firmly entrenched in your living room, it won’t be hard for it to expand its offering. Photo sharing, video sharing, web video, Internet radio, heck even buying regular stuff all becomes possible with the click of the remote.

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