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Posts tagged with "apple"

Federal Government Agencies Embrace The iPad, iPhone and Gmail

iPads, iPhones, Gmail and Android phones; typically they have been the devices and services used (and loved) by consumers around the world. Yet in recent times they are increasingly becoming a reality for employees within the confines of the bureaucratic world of government departments. An article today in the Washington Post details how ‘federal government 2.0’ has embraced consumer devices, to solve real world problems and to appease government employees across the US.

Somewhere in America, perhaps at this very moment, a bad guy is under video surveillance. He is being watched, every movement, every step — but not on a little TV. That’s so 2009. Instead, a special agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is keeping tabs on an iPad.

It isn’t just President Obama that is lucky enough to own an iPad, employees in various departments in all arms of the US government are bringing them in to work and the IT staff have stopped restricting them and started embracing them. Vivek Kundra, the federal government’s chief information officer says that it’s not that people don’t like government or corporate style technology – they despise it.

Kundra’s answer to the issue of people using unauthorized devices is simple: Give them what they want.

Agilex, one of the companies contracted by the government to integrate Apple products into government agencies has said that “the demand we are seeing now in the last 90 days has been just extraordinary.” – “It’s like everybody is saying, ‘This is really happening here now’”. Gmail too has been widely adopted across many agencies in the Federal government including the State Department, NASA and the Army . Yet the best part is that it doesn’t just make the lives of government employees better, but it is also saving the government money.

[Via Washington Post]

Apple’s App Store Processes 59% Of All Mobile App Downloads

Research2Guidance issued a new research report recently that indicates Apple is dominating other mobile app stores in terms of app downloads. In the first quarter of 2011 it is revealed that Apple’s App Store was host to 59% of all application downloads. This is despite a fall in 22% since the App Store first opened to a dominating position of serving 81% of all app downloads.

The report surveyed 58 app stores which is a significant increase from the 18 app stores that were available when the iPhone App Store launched in July of 2008. Unsurprisingly the Android Market is the strongest competitor to the App Store. It led to a deterioration of the App Store’s share of downloads in the second half of 2010, which fell by 24%.

The first quarter of 2011 has seen a stabilization of the App Store’s share of app downloads, which has actually increased by 2% - helped by the increased popularity of the iPad. Research2Guidance says in its report that the following two years will prove critical for Apple’s competitors if they want to reduce their hold over the market. In part this is solidified by the suggestion that once users spend significant amounts of money on apps, they are less likely to want to switch platforms.

[Research2Guidance via The Next Web]

MacBook Air Supplies Dwindle, June Or July Refresh Imminent

We’ve previously reported on rumors of a June or July refresh for the MacBook Air and it looks like that time frame is firming up. 9to5 Mac today reported on reports they received in which supplies and shipments for the MacBook Air are constrained – a typical pattern ahead of product refreshes.

The refresh is likely to be minor with a specification bump and inclusion of Thunderbolt ports that have so far made it on to the MacBook Pro and iMac lines earlier this year. Similarly, Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors are also expected to make it into the refreshed MacBook Air, reports from two weeks ago suggest that Intel is working on ULV (ultra-low voltage) i5 and i7 processors, which would be perfect for the Air.

Prices for the current MacBook Air seem to reinforce an imminent update, with the refurbished models selling for only $829 on Apple’s website and Best Buy selling the base model for only $938.

[Via 9to5 Mac]

Samsung’s Head of Mobile: “We Didn’t Copy Apple’s Design”

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Samsung’s chief of mobile division J.K. Shin explained why the company is heavily committed to the Android platform and why, considering the history of mobile devices, the fight with Apple won’t be “legally problematic.” In the ongoing series of lawsuits between Apple – which first sued Samsung back in April claiming the company copied the “look and feel” of the iPhone and iPad with its Galaxy phones and tablets – a document uncovered over the weekend revealed Samsung’s lawyers asked the court to get access to final versions or production units of Apple’s next-generation iPhone and iPad, so they could evaluate whether the products they’re working on could be subject to Apple’s legal action in the future. The bold move came after a judge ruled Apple’s legal department (not engineers or executives) could see Samsung’s upcoming Droid Charge, Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Infuse 4G and Galaxy S 2 – some of them unreleased devices, but teased and unveiled anyway by the company months ago.

The Wall Street Journal reports the following statements:

We didn’t copy Apple’s design,” Mr. Shin said. “We have used many similar designs over the past years and it [Apple’s allegation] will not be legally problematic.” He suggested the scale of the lawsuit could grow, though he didn’t provide more details.

Android is the fastest-growing platform and the market direction is headed toward Android so we’re riding the wave,” added Younghee Lee, senior vice president of sales and marketing. Samsung also aims to differentiate itself from Apple and other tablet makers by continuing to offer various sizes, Mr. Shin said.

Samsung is a key partner in Apple’s production chain for iOS devices, as also confirmed by Apple’s Tim Cook at the Q2 2011 earnings call when directly asked about what effects the lawsuit against Samsung’s mobile division would have on the collaboration between Apple and Samsung’s component business. In fact, whilst LG’s shipments of iPad displays in the first quarter of 2011 reached only 3.2 million units, a report claimed Samsung shipped 4 million iPad displays in the same quarter. It is unclear at this point what Mr. Shin meant by “not legally problematic” referring to a lawsuit that could grow in the coming weeks, though it appears none of the companies is willing to back down until the court decides or a settlement is reached.

TypeTool Chooses The Right Font For Your App, Becomes Powerful With Photoshop Touch SDK

Earlier this month, Adobe updated Photoshop to support the new Photoshop Touch SDK, which allows developers to build mobile apps that tie into and complement the full desktop version of Photoshop. Adobe themselves built three iPad apps that demonstrated the capabilities of the SDK, whilst they are neat we have been waiting to see how other developers would take advantage of the SDK in building innovative mobile apps.

TypeTool from appland is one of the first apps that takes advantage of the SDK. In essence, TypeTool is a simple app that aims to make the life of an iPhone designer or developer that much easier by assisting them in choosing the right font and font size for their app. There are two main features in TypeTool, the first of which is a size chart where you can preview what various fonts look like from sizes of 9pt to 32pt. The second key feature is the Typesetter where you can build up a basic UI, trying different fonts and font sizes to see how they look together.

Where the Photoshop Touch SDK comes in is with the Typesetter, previously TypeTool would let you email yourself the details of what fonts you choose, and a screenshot of what the fonts look like. However you can now opt to directly send your configuration into Photoshop, which will create a document that mirrors what you see on the iPhone with the specific fonts and sizes that you specified. From there you could either build up the rest of the design around the imported text or choose to copy over the text into an existing Photoshop document.

TypeTool is available on the iPhone for $2.99, to export to Photoshop you will need to have version 12.0.4 and be on the same network. The developers are considering building an iPad version as well as adding some more “designer tools” and increasing the usage of the Photoshop Touch SDK within the app.

If you’re you a developer of an iOS app that takes advantage of the Photoshop Touch SDK or know of a really innovative app that does, please let us know! Jump the break for some more screenshots.

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Samsung’s Lawyers Ask Apple To See iPhone 5 and iPad 3

As part of the ongoing lawsuits between Apple and Samsung, started back in April when Apple sued Samsung over the “look and feel” of the Galaxy phones and tablets, This Is My Next points to an interesting piece of information that details how Samsung’s lawyers have asked Apple’s legal team to hand over “final, commercial versions” of the next-generation iPhone and iPad, whether they’ll be called iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 and iPad 3 or not. Samsung is also asking to see the retail packaging design of the devices to evaluate if their future products, like the Droid Charge and the Galaxy Tab 10.1, could share similar features with them and be subject to legal action from Apple – that is, assuming both Apple and Samsung products come out at the same time in the next months.

This move comes after a judge ruled Samsung should hand over prototypes of the Droid Charge, Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Infuse 4G and Galaxy S 2 to Apple’s external legal team for evaluation in regards to the lawsuit. Similarly to Apple’s request, Samsung says only the company’s lawyers would be able to see the iPhone 5 and iPad 3, with no one else inside the company (hardware engineers, executives, and so forth) getting access to the units.

Samsung’s asking for a court order requiring Apple to produce “the final, commercial versions” of the next-generation iPhone and iPad and their respective packaging by June 13, 2011, so it can evaluate whether there’ll be confusion between Samsung and Apple’s future products. If the final versions aren’t available, Samsung wants “the most current version of each to be produced instead.

Samsung says “fundamental fairness” requires Apple to give up its future products, since Samsung had to do the same. Tellingly, Samsung doesn’t reference any precedent or law to bolster this line of argument — it’s basically just asking the court to be nice.

Basing on “internet reports” and “Apple’s past practice”, Samsung believes new devices from Apple are in the works, and in order to avoid future confusion with their products they’re asking the court to apply the same procedure that granted Apple’s lawyers access to Samsung’s upcoming products. The obvious difference is that, while Samsung teased / demoed / announced / gave away some of these devices for free in the past (like the Galaxy Tabs at Google I/O), Apple’s usual veil of secrecy made sure there’s no official word yet of the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 – just rumors. But as Samsung says Apple will discontinue existing devices when the new ones come out, they want to see final versions of production units of iPhones and iPads coming out later this year or in 2012. As Nilay Patel at This Is My Next points out, this is kind of strange considering Apple usually keeps old devices available for sale on its website even if new ones are available (example: iPhone 3GS).

So why is Samsung even pursuing this? I think it’s a calculated gamble for additional leverage. Apple and Samsung held negotiations for a year before giving up and heading to the courts, and I’m reliably informed that there haven’t been any substantive settlement discussions since Apple first filed its complaint. That means talks have been at a standstill for a long time now, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Samsung was trying to put some additional heat on Apple to try and kick negotiations back into gear.

The full breakdown of Samsung’s latest request can be read over at This Is My Next. After Apple’s initial lawsuit, Samsung fired back with countersuits in Europe and Asia, as well as in the United States.

Selling A Copy Every Second, The Heist Overtakes Angry Birds

A few days ago we reported on a new game to hit the App Store, The Heist, which is an iPhone game from the team behind the popular MacHeist bundle. In just a few days it has done astoundingly well, managing to knock off Angry Birds from the top of the paid apps list in the App Store – which is no small feat.

It’s first day had 25,000 downloads according to The Loop, but on day two those figures skyrocketed to 89,798 purchases. Effectivelly that means for just its second day on sale, The Heist was selling more than 1 copy a second (there are 86,400 seconds in a day), supremely impressive for a paid app, even if the app is $0.99.

With revenues approaching $100,000 and sales already well above the 100,000 figure, its obvious to see that the MacHeist team have done a supremely good job in creating and marketing the game – some of the marketing included clues that were hidden in the first Twitter for Mac client this year. Will it sustain the top spot and keep off Angry Birds? Only time will tell.

[Via TechCrunch]

Mozilla Releases Firefox 6.0 Alpha

Firefox 6, also referred to as Aurora, has just begun its development cycle and a rough alpha release is now available for testing and feedback. As with any alpha, it is in a very unfinished state at this point, but there are some notable new features that are included.

Those new features include new features for Panaorama, enhanced HTML5 support, new developer tools, improved add-ons manager and new permission manager window. The permissions manager is interesting in that it will allow users to give different sites varying amounts of permissions for cookies, pop-ups, offline storage and location access, giving users greater privacy controls. Whilst developers will likely be impressed with new features including a ‘Scratchpad’ that allows them to build and test JavaScript snippets on a site.

You may be scratching your head wondering why Aurora has gone into alpha when it was only in the past week or so that Firefox 5 went into Beta – that is all due to Mozilla’s development cycle where three major versions must be in active development at any one time. As a result, Firefox 4 is the mainstream and stable release build whilst version 5 is in Beta and now version 6 is in development as an alpha (or Aurora) build. You can download the Firefox 6 alpha here.

[Via Electronista]

iOS 5 Won’t Feature Apple’s Maps Service, Google Maps Still In?

Following today’s reports on iOS 5 coming with completely revamped notifications and widgets, 9to5google claims the next major version of iOS 5 won’t feature the maps service Apple was rumored to be working on, but it will keep using Google Maps as in the current versions of iOS.

Now, sources have told 9to5Google that although Apple is working to improve the iOS Maps application, iOS 5 will not bring an Apple developed maps service and Google Maps is still in. Besides Apple’s purchase of both Placebase and Poly9, some speculated that Apple is building their own maps service to either compete with Google or step away from their input into iOS.

The speculation on a map service developed by Apple to replace Google Maps integration on iOS devices indeed started after the company purchased Poly9 and Placebase – two companies focused on mapping softwares and location databases – also followed by various job postings Apple put up on its site, asking for map engineers and navigation experts to bring Maps for iOS “to the next level.” Putting this information together, many believed Apple skipped iOS 4 only to bring its new and improved maps to iOS 5, set to become publicly available later this year, perhaps in the Fall. Apple also briefly mentioned in the location tracking Q&A that they’re building an “improved traffic service” to launch in the next couple of years, giving more credence to the reports of Apple developing its own system, rather than an additional layer to Google Maps.

Others also suggested the disputes between Steve Jobs and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, as well as the competition with Android might be the reason behind Apple’s intention to drop Google Maps from iOS. While it might be true that Apple would rather use its own map solution rather than someone else’s, it’s worth noting that Google Maps is the de-facto solution for online maps (used by millions of users every day) and other Google services are embedded in iOS, such as Gmail integration and search.