Google, of course, stands to make some money selling the things, but with advertising on apps expressly disallowed (for now) and with a very, very limited user base for the foreseeable future, where's the revenue?
Walmart.com stumbled early on from a poor user experience and offers limited personalization and recommendations, which companies like Netflix and Amazon use to drive sales and higher engagement.
Facebook users can ask for restaurants their friends visited recently and see reviews, but considering the fact that each user has only a limited number of friends, this query is likely to generate very few answers.
Consumers are less than ecstatic over the limited content and painful user experience offered by newly christened WAP networks.
Blackberry Balance sets up a "work perimeter" on the phones so that data belonging to the user's employer can be limited to approved apps, while photos and other personal information can be used across a wider range of software.
To our surprise, Kupervas told us that the First Else was eventually ready and he even had two customers, but by that point it was too late and "it didn't feel right" to launch the comparatively limited phone, despite its great user experience.
ENGADGET: Emblaze Mobile's ex-CEO: First Else was eventually ready but the market had changed
In contrast, BlackBerry's bread and butter is the smartphone, and so much attention was clearly paid on delivering a user interface that could cram key information on the limited screen real estate without disrupting other apps.
The choice to think long-term and build its user links through sales of Kindle Fire at cost has limited short-term profits, but every action Amazon has taken to grow has paid off handsomely because they accelerate the natural trends and position Amazon as the leader.
Following an investigation by the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, Facebook in June limited applications to accessing only the public parts of a user's profile, unless the user grants additional permission. (Canadian officials later expressed satisfaction with Facebook's steps.) Previously, applications could tap any data the user had access to, including detailed profiles and information about a user's friends.
WSJ: Facebook in Online Privacy Breach; Applications Transmitting Identifying Information
There is processing done at the camera and on the XBOX, but the user must stand in a certain place in the room and games are limited to non-complex titles that take minimal compute resources.
Another big take-away: the amount of public information Facebook requires you to display is now limited to your name, profile picture, gender and any networks the user joins.
FORBES: Facebook's New Privacy Settings: Could Still Be More Private
The devices are derided sometimes for being limited in their reliance on apps, but those apps can allow a user to accomplish a myriad of tasks, from simple word processing to completing business projects.
Facebook recently clamped down on developers' ability to automatically post items on a user's wall and customize messages for people, and ran a test that limited how some developers can send alerts to members.
While some services could no doubt be compelling on the TV, the lack of proper platforms, standards and user experiences make them awkward to implement, and the current TV widget platforms are simply too limited make much headway in capturing the consumer.
You get what you thought was going to be your white (or brown or black) Zune home just to find out you've got a limited edition -- great, except that of all the colors to surprise a user with, statistically speaking pink might be the worst selection.
ENGADGET: Zune oddnesses: Zune pretty in pink; Zune on a Mac
Kin's user interface is best described as having a "comic book" feel to it with a limited color palette, blocky, chunky text, and oversized, zoomed-in images -- it's stylish, but in a very different way than the spartan "Metro" design DNA that Microsoft is baking into Windows Phone 7.
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