I must admit I was surprised. I engaged in my usual wake-up regime of reading the news and Facebook when I came across an article posted on wpcentral.com and USA Today. It spoke of a study that showed that while millions of people own smartphones, most barely use more than five apps on a regular basis

The central thought journalists were trying to make is for the millions of apps floating around the various stores, most users really didn't seem to care. Outside of news, weather, email, and some social network apps, most apps simply are barely used or never used; and thus it looked like apps are not the driving force behind one's decision to buy a smartphone in general or of a particular brand.

I'm sure the photo above is quite familiar to many out there who own smartphones. You're in the car, on the bus, on the train, or even on foot and you whip out your smartphone of choice to look up something, scan a QR code, check your email, or even look up directions on a map...only to find you don't have service.

This has been my story as of late. Originally I would have spotty data only on Chicago's subway system, and I accepted that mainly because I was underground. However, I'm finding that "Searching" message showing up far more often in places above ground, even in areas where one would not expect it.

I will admit that I was shocked when I heard Steve Jobs had died last night. I was sitting on a train, with people looking at me strangely when I openly said "Oh my God!" It was only a month and a half ago when Jobs handed the torch to COO Tim Cook. At the time we all speculated on Apple's future, but assume Jobs would be around for 20-30 more years before passing. This was a big surprise to many.

I guess Steve's ailments were worse than we were led to believe. For those who might now know, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004, and went on a long struggle with it, while at the same time still trying to run Apple. He finally stepped down as CEO in late August of this year.

It was the day many Apple fanboys dreaded and many anti-Apple folk dreamed of. The day Apple's beloved CEO Steve Jobs decided to step down permanently as CEO and hand off the torch to COO Tim Cook. Already speculation and fear are abound. Many lovers of Apple and their products worry if Apple will see a repeat of the mid-80s to the late-90s where the company nearly destroyed itself. Anti-Apple folk more or less are hoping and banking on that.

Now we get to find out. Will Apple survive without Steve Jobs? Can Tim Cook fill those shoes?

Today I was dealt a disappointment in a story I have seen unfold many times in the last year. I was all set to buy my first tablet, a Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet, when I saw they had raised the initial price point and made one of their much touted features a separate accessory that one has to buy at additional cost. I'll even toss in that any types of discounts were not being honored.

Sound familiar? I remember seeing the same scenario when Motorola released their Xoom tablet, and HP with their now killed Touchpad. Consumers hoping for a tablet with the "iPad coolness" without the "iPad price" end up finding a competitor that isn't offering much more than the iPad. After seeing what happened this past week with HP, it's becoming clear that price is holding back consumers from embracing tablets.

I'll confess, I wasn't planning on writing anything about the new app subscription guidelines Apple released yesterday.  All over the internet every blogger and tech web site has been all over it like reporters on the Gifford story.  It's been talked about to death like post-game shows during football season.  I felt a few comments on the blogs would be more than enough.

Despite all the fanboys defending Apple to the end and everyone else claiming he's gone too far, there is another factor that came into my mind with all of this.  Would content providers and app developers just cave like many have because Apple has such a large market share in mobile?  Or would they call Steve's bluff and pull their apps and content from the App Store and even iTunes?  How would this affect mobile computing as a whole?