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Posts tagged with "apple"

2011 Isn’t 1995 For Apple→

2011 Isn’t 1995 For Apple

But I look at who is making money. Back in 1995 developers were mostly making money from DOS. Remember, this caused WordPerfect and Borland to make bad bets. They bet on DOS for too long, while Bill Gates went and built some of the first and best Macintosh apps. The lesson, though, doesn’t pass from 1995 to 2011. Today where are most of the developers making their money? iOS (according to Sephora, Starbucks, OpenTable, eBay, and many other developers). So, Android has to convince developers to switch, or do both platforms at same time. That’s quite different.

I guess the social cycle theory doesn’t really apply to technology. Maybe because the factors that influence tech progress change at a faster rate than human ones.

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Mossberg Declares iPad “Best Product of 2010”

WSJ tech journalist Walt Mossberg thinks Apple’s iPad is the best product of 2010. The iPad is “amazing” and thanks to the new iOS 4.2 and huge selection of apps available, it “continues to stay ahead of the competition”. Competition that saw devices like the Dell Streak released in 2010, which Mossberg calls a “tweener” that’s “too big to be a phone yet too small to be a tablet”. The Samsung Galaxy S and iPhone 4 both ranked third in Mossberg’s chart of best products.

As for the second place:

High-speed 4G networks in the United States took the second spot. As the world goes more mobile, the availability of faster networks is critical. Today, 3G networks are bursting at the seams, and the promise of these networks will be something to watch closely in 2011.

We might argue on the relevance of 4G networks in 2010, as they seem more “promising” than actually available right now. There’s no doubt, though, that better and faster mobile networks will expand in 2011. We look forward to seeing what Mossberg’s “best & worst” chart will look like in 2011.

iTunes 12 Days of Christmas: Day 1

As announced two weeks ago, today Apple launched the “iTunes 12 Days of Christmas” promotion across European iTunes and App Stores. Every day from December 26th to January 6th, users will be able to download a “fantastic selection of songs, music videos, apps, books, TV episodes and a film” completely for free on iTunes.

The free app for iPhone and iPad that lets you receive push notifications for daily offers is available here.

While a first free download showed up on December 17, the promotion officially starts today with “Day 1”. Today, you can download “Promise This - Christmas Bundle” by Cheryl Cole entirely for free. At least in the UK Store, as it appears a Vasco Rossi is given away in the Italian iTunes Store. The Cheryl Cole bundle includes a song and a video to download from the iTunes app.

Stay tuned for promotions coming every day until January 6.

Apple: Everything That Happened in 2010 [Video]

We know 2010 has been a terrific year for Apple. New MacBooks, New iMacs / Mac Minis and Mac Pros, the iPhone 4, the iPad. Not to mention the new & improved Apple TV, iOS 4, Retina Display on the iPod touch, the fiscal results….overall, it’s been a good year. One of those that will end up on Wikipedia someday.

The video below puts all of this in perspective by placing all the events that marked Apple’s 2010 in chronological order.

“We think it’s great.”

[via Seth Weintraub]

Financial Times: Steve Jobs ‘Person of the Year’→

Financial Times: Steve Jobs ‘Person of the Year’

When Steven Paul Jobs first hit the headlines, he was younger even than Mark Zuckerberg is now. Long before it was cool to be a nerd, his formative role in popularising the personal computer, and Apple’s initial public offering on Wall Street – which came when Mr Jobs was still only 25 – made him the tech industry’s first rock star.

Now, three decades on, he has secured his place in the foremost ranks of the West Coast tech titans who have done so much to shape the world around the turn of the millennium.

And here’s why: “The worst thing that could possibly happen as we get big and a get a little more influence in the world is if we change our core values and start letting it slide. I can’t do that. I’d rather quit.”

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iPhones and iPads Take Over The Italian Parliament

In spite of the major conflicts and debates going on right now in the Italian Parliament, it seems like every member agrees on one thing: getting an Apple device for Christmas. As noted by iSpazio, members and senators from PD, PDL (Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi’s party) and FLI are all getting iPads from Santa.

It is unknown whether the devices will be gifted as a “bonus” for personal use or will be deployed for work purposes in the Parliament. We read about the iPad being used by congressmen at the U.S. House of Representatives before, and at the White House, too. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Italian Parliament coming up with its own apps to check on daily appointements, logs and activities.

As iSpazio also notes, members of FLI will be able to choose from iPads and iPhones. Not bad!  Why not giving away some Macs as well at this point? I think members would enjoy an awesome app like Screens.

“Designed by Apple in California”→

“Designed by Apple in California”

Designed by Apple in California is usually presented dramatically and in isolation. Often you see it after opening a flap or unfolding a panel. It stands alone as a single line of type on a solid field. There is never anything that distracts from it. The early cube-shaped iPod packages were the best at this. You’d remove the sleeve, unfold two panels, and there it was. The next fold revealed the device. That I still remember this sequence says a lot about how powerful the experience was.

I remember unboxing my first iPod to find that line. I’m pretty sure Apple thinks it’s magical.

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NPR Calls Ping One of “The Worst Ideas Of 2010”

In spite of Apple’s numerous attempts to inject new features and 3rd party online integrations in it, Ping is struggling to take off. Not only does the service seem useless and too tied to iTunes to many, several publications are also calling it one of the biggest flops of 2010.

You can now add NPR to the list of Ping non-fans, as they have named Apple’s social network for music one of the “worst ideas of 2010”. Ouch.

The most popular services — the Facebooks, Twitters and MySpaces of the world — allow users to share links, thoughts, ideas, photos and music to connect with each other. Ping, run through iTunes, was supposed to be an evolution in musical connection. But iTunes, being a self-contained fortress requiring endless software upgrades and with more than a few frustrating quirks, isn’t conducive to the type of sharing Web-based networks enjoy across a variety of devices. I can access all three of the aforementioned sites from my Android phone, and I have a variety of apps that allow me to seamlessly integrate these applications into my life. To use Ping, I would have to be tethered to my iMac.

NPR also notes that Ping is a “weakened” version of Twitter only meant to drive sales to the iTunes Store. Looking at artists’ profiles and the messages they share on Ping, it’s not difficult to understand NPR’s position. Perhaps their hammer went down a little too hard on Apple’s new service, though? Sure Ping is not a massive hit, but it has room to grow.

As it stands right now, Apple wants its users to believe in Ping. The problem is, people sometimes don’t want to wait for things to get better. Here’s to hoping Ping will get insanely better in 2011.

Apple Job Posting Suggests More Speech Recognition Features Coming to iOS

9to5mac points to four new job listings that appeared on Apple’s website earlier this week and suggest the company is looking forward to implementing more speech recognition features in future versions of iOS. The job positions (1, 2, 3, 4) include one “iOS Speech Application Engineer”, two “Speech Recognition Engineers” and one “Senior Speech Research Scientist”.

Are you looking to contribute to a product that is redefining the smartphone? The iOS Application Frameworks team is looking for an exceptional Speech Engineer. You will work with our team on a wide variety of speech-related development activities. We need a team player - you will be working closely with engineers on the Application Frameworks team as well as other teams at Apple - and we need someone who is comfortable working in a fast paced environment with rapidly changing priorities.

The fact that Apple is looking for not one, but four Speech engineers may be a sign of the iOS team at Cupertino willing to catch up with Google, which already has powerful voice search and voice action functionalities on Android. Speech recognition features on iOS are limited to Voice Control and a few other App Store apps that come with their own speech technologies – apps like Siri Assistant, bought by Apple earlier this year.

If you think the pieces are coming together now for speech-related features to show up in a major new version of iOS next year, then I guess we’re all excited for voice actions to find their way on the iPhone and iPad.