AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

During Apple's financial call with Wall Street analysts on its most recent quarter, Tim allowed a new bit of information in such a way that was slipped into the conversation but at the same time, you know that he wanted it out there.  He wanted the world to know that the iPad was cannibalizing the Mac and he was not losing sleep over it at all.   Then he added.  There are just more PC to cannibalize than Macs.  No wonder he fine with hit.  Microsoft itself just recorded another excellent quarter itself.  Obviously, it's at the point where Apple is so far beyond Microsoft in terms of revenue and profit that it just felt kinda sad for former number technology company.  And dispute making more money, its stock did not move and in fact lost some ground during the aftermarket activity. The reason was another drop in the Windows revenue.  The collapse of the netbooks certain had something to do with it.  It remains to be seen if the back-to-school ...

T-Mobile claims that the G-Slate, a Honeycomb based tablet, is faster than the iPad 2 and Xoom.  Of course, they're talking about the 3G connection (I don't buy the "4G" claim being made by ATT and T-Mobile).  But while that claim is likely true, I have to ask this in light of the current wireless environment where data usage is limited and metered. T-Mobile, faster what?  Does it mean G-Slate users reach the end of their monthly data allotment?  Does it mean that it'll be faster for users get throttled down to EDGE? Or try to get users to upgrade to a more expensive plan? I think it's better that T-Mobile doesn't charge extra for going over their data plan allotment but it is very disingenuous for carriers to talk about speed with the goal of throttle down or charge extra like ATT and Verizon Wireless do. Source: Boy Genius Report .

I spoke with Dave the Mobile Warrior yesterday regarding Apple and Google possibly buying Hulu.  While he did not remark anything about Google, he did not think Apple would seriously consider making a bid.  They might try to help jack up the price for potential competitors like Google but that's as far as it'll go. GigaOM suggests that perhaps Apple is likely participating in preliminary discussions that would allow them to take a look at the finances and inner working of the free and subscription based video service.  Along that line of thinking, I would have to agree.   Both two blogs that I follow for mobile, GigaOM and Arstechnica both agree with Dave.  Apple would not seriously consider a bid for Hulu.   GigaOM listed reasons why Apple should buy Hulu but these same reasons pertain to other companies as well.  It's their reasons why Apple won't buy Hulu that is more interesting – particularly the one about helping its competitors since Hulu is e...

I can't recall if I've seen Paranormal Activity or Paranormal Activity 2. I'll have to go wiki them to see if the plots for those two movies sound familiar. Having said that, here is this week's Friday movie clip. If you're new to my blog, I started this tradition as a way to celebrate an old tradition at my old work. Every Friday afternoon, we take off to go watch a movie. My current job doesn't let me do that. Well, I can but I think it's not a good idea. So, this is the next best thing I can offer. Here is the trailer for the third installment of this franchise, "Paranormal Activity 3". Happy weekend!

You might think that the iPhone proliferation in China isn't a big deal to those of us in the US.  Or that it should not matter to my friends in EU, India, other parts of Asia or my new friends on Google+ from South America but it does.  China will soon have one billion mobile phone users.  And it's anyone's guess that many more phones are in actual use.  You have to assume some folks carry more than one mobile device. According to Phone Arena , China Telecom and China Mobile will join China Unicom, the only authorized iPhone carrier right now, in offering the next iPhone as soon as this fall.  If true, it underscores just how important a market that China is to Apple.  Obviously, not all one billion users will buy a smartphone but a major of them will. Even if only 50% of the Chinese market embraces the smartphones, that is 500 million users.  And if Apple capture just 25% of the smartphone market, that is 125 million iPhones.  And there is no re...

This mobile phone comes from the maker of my first MP3 player, Kyocera. It's elegant in its simplicity. And from TechCrunch's post, it seems to be marketed at elderly. I'm not so sure, I think children can use this as well. It has a pedometer, simple buttons and UI, and it has a feature that in the event of an emergency, it would trigger an e-mail to a caretaker. Again, children can really benefit from this kind of mobile tech. If I had kids and was to give them phones, I would want this latter feature. Having said all that, this could easily be duplicated within an app for most mobile platforms. There are plenty of pedometer out there that just need a few tweaks that can do what this phone can do. Apple already has Nike+ built into its mobile devices and I am sure other devices makers can do the same with similar features.

Did Apple start the patent war?  Yes, and they're going after anyone that they receive to be a threat.  And while this is a point that I agree with Acer head, Wang, I disagree with his assessment on this matter. Essentially, everyone is accusing Apple of not allowing business to go on as usual.  Companies copy each other.  That is the nature of business.  So compete in the marketplace.  Let the customer choose.  Heck, Apple has been known to copy from others.   There is now a very popular term in Appledom called " being sherlocked ".  But with a preliminary ITC ruling alleging that HTC infringed on two of Apple's patents, this could spill over to other Android device makers.   And Acer does have a lot of sour grapes to eat.  By betting on the netbook strategy, it worked out very well in the couple of years as these cheap computers, cost as low as $200,  But when Apple released the iPad as well as the timing of a global economy ...

Apple is giving employees bikes to use so they can ride between campuses.  It's a brilliant idea. I'm sure they're not the first to do this but they're probably going to get a lot of attention for this because, well, they're Apple. And no, these are not for sale for the public though I reckon they can sell more than a few of these if they wanted to.  Some people will buy anything that has an "i" in front of it. Source: 9to5mac .

9to5Mac is reporting that T-Mobile is offering micro SIM cards for the iPhone.  Could be that the iPhone is coming to T-Mobile just as I am quitting the service? The possibilities on this is incredible.  I wonder if they can be used in the iPad.  This is important because there are currently no iPad plan with unlimited data where as T-Mobile, despite, throttling, does still give us EDGE even after the 3G allotment has been reached. I had previously cut up my SIM card and used it with my iPad 2 and it worked well.   Oh, the possibilities this presents.  

Today, Microsoft, by most standards, hit it out of the part with its most recent quarterly earnings just as competitors Apple and Google did.  But there is some gray clouds on the horizon.  Dispite great Windows 7 adoption, Windows revenue is down.  This would mark the third quarter of decline, pretty much in line with increases in iPad sales.  And I reckon that Apple's sales of Macs and particular the 9+ million iPads that Apple sold (not shipped) and put into the hands of consumers will increase and we can expect Windows sales to further decline. Another analysis of the Business Insider figure I brought to your attention was fault because it did not figure the iPad numbers.  With the new figure, MacObserver pointed out that iPad accounts for almost 10% of PC sales. And whether analytics firms want to categorize the iPad as a media tablet and not a true tablet, they cannot ignore much longer the fact that these "media tablets", particularly the iPad, is taki...

I'm seeing more than a few posts about the so-call reserve scrolls that come with OS X Lion that some people have issues with.  I call these people "homo sapien extinctus".  Seriously, people, get with the program.  What you've been doing in since 1984, when the Mac first came out was with the mouse.  Now, its about touching, no more clicking and dragging with a mouse. Now, you've got touchpads on the laptops and touch screens that require you to scroll differently.  This is how true mobile warriors "scroll" if you will.  That is also the order of things are with you buy an Apple product.  And it is not as if Apple is trying to screw with up.  Apple is training you for the future.  And soon, this will be how things are done on Windows as well once Windows 8 tablets are released. This is how it's done on Android devices as well - smartphones and tablets. The main different now is that Apple has brought reverse scrolling onto the Mac.  The...

With all the talk about how well the iPad is well, you would still think that it controls 80-90% of the market still.  For better or for worse, the iPad accounts for more than 60% of the market while Android now has 30%.  The rest is split between "others". However, the first that released the report, Strategy Analytics, have been known to skew things one way or another.  And there is no indication of how they account for the tablets - Android for smartphones installed on tablets or Honeycomb on tablets.   Regardless, this is a clear indication that the tablet market is viable and is beyond just a niche market for Apple's iPad.  Even Windows 7 tablets have its fans as well with 4.6% of the market. All the numbers above in of itself seem believable until you take into account RIM's numbers.  3.3%.  with 500K shipped and RIM unwilling to divulge the actual sell-through number, we can only assume that SA's report needs to be taken with a grain of salt. ...

Here we go again.  With $76 billion in the bank, stupid people on Wall Street and greed hedge funds are asking for stock buybacks and dividends. People, do me a favor if you're near someone who is asking or writing saying that Apple should use the cash to buy back shares or give money back to shareholders (I've got a couple of Apple shares myself), rudely change the subject and take their laptop and slam it against the wall. Had Apple done what these idiots said they should, Apple may not have had the resources to outbid Google for the Nortel patents.  Or Apple would have put itself in a position where it could not have cash for other uses.   Had Apple done what these idiots said they should, Apple may not have had the resources to prepaid for the LCD screens, memory for the iOS devices, or research into the unibody Macbook designs.   Had Apple done what these idiots said they should, Apple would not have a $76 billion figure that scare the scrap out of competitors –...

Google lost to Apple in the Nortel round but it looks like Patent Bidding War II is coming real soon.  According to MacdailyNews via Bloomberg, a company most of us never heard of, InterDigital Inc, has hired a banker to help them auction off 1,300 mobile related patents.   The value is considered to be worth more than $3.1 billion.  Considering that the Nortel bidding opened with a $900 million bid from Google and ended up being $4.5 billion offered by Apple and friends, this could cost the winner quite a bit. Apple and Google are obvious contenders as are the parties involved in the Nortel bid.  And judging by the sickening $11 billion added to the bank by Apple in the third quarter, Apple and a couple of anti-Android companies can go nuts (Google added $3.5 billion...which in and of itself is no small change either). What I like to see is that HTC, Samsung, Motorola, and maybe Lenovo help Google out.  The last time, Sony, an Android device maker, sided with A...

Hundreds of housands of people join the rank of becoming mobile warriors by activating a various of mobile devices - Blackberries, Androids, and iPhones.  And they're treated with 720p video capture and some very decent camera for still shots.  But it's the video that is become more and more popular each day. iSmashPhone has some simple tips for beginners on capturing video. Head over for a read.  they provide some common sense tips that we sometimes don't think about all that much if we are in the middle of trying to capture a moment. Stability, stability, stability.  That is key for anyone trying to capture video or take a still shot.  I'm notorious for making people feel ill after looking at my video.  But I'm working on making better video. Also on editing, you might want to consider spending a few bucks (I wouldn't pay for more than $5 - iMovie for the iPhone is $5) and do some quick edits.  Seriously, raw footages are sooo 2000s.  These day...

T-Mobile supposedly released new data plans that do no include penalties if the subscriber goes over the limitation of the data plan.  I thought it was like this all along.  Interesting that this is just now getting attention by several blog sites.  It's the upcoming value plans that allow family or multi-line plans to share data that is more significant. In the past, T-Mobile had always advertised its plans as unlimited.  And once a certain allotment of 3G access has been reached, T-Mobile will throttle the user down to EDGE speed  Of course, this pales in comparison to true unlimited data plans offered by Sprint.  Still, what T-Mobile is doing is better than the two biggest and most greedy mobile carriers, ATT and Verizon Wireless do:  they charge customers extra for going over their data rations. What is more significant is the new value plans is T-Mobile is offer. They offer data plans even for family with different amounts of 3G data.  Once t...

Apple' stock is now up on a slow Wall Street day.  And after blowing even the most ambitious estimates out of the water, Apple's stock isn't doing as well as Google did when their quarterly earning also vastly exceeded estimates. As of this post, Apple is up little more than 3% .  Seriously, Wall Street, show some respect here.  What other company are you going to find that has this kind of earnings potentials for years to come.$7.3 Billion in profit and $11 billion more added to its piggy bank.   What more do you want?

Loop Insight was lucky enough to chat with some Apple executives regarding today's Lion release and the refreshed Macbook Airs and Mac Minis. I came away from the post thinking "differently" regarding Thunderbolt cinema display.  As mentioned in the post, it is the perfect docking station.  There isn't a whole new device that you have to hook your Air or Macbook Pro to.  Just a cord.   I suppose it is one of those things that you don't think about until someone mentions it.  Maybe a Mac Mini with 8 GB could be in play here... More at Loop Insight

Someone on Google+ shared with me this post about the Bachelor or Bachelorette Show and how it relates to mobile.  And it's a brilliant analogy.   We shop, research, inquire about potential mates.  And we pretty much do the same with our mobile devices.  Android with its freedom better or the ease-of-use and coolness of Apple's iOS ecosystem? Or is the Blackberry your preference choice with the excellent messaging and  But unlike picking our significant others, smartphones have a 14 to 30 day return policy.  So it got me wondering.  Wouldn't the world better if we could return our partners/spouses if things don't work out within 30 days?  I can see a slew of excuses: Sorry, I have to return him.  It takes a while for him to wake up from his sleep mode. His/her battery life just doesn't last...if you get my drift. Let's just say I was unable to disable the excessive "notifications". Anyway, picking the right mobile device is very importan...

Here is the spec page for the new Macbook Air, the new heir to the Macbook and all that is cool about Apple design, ergonomics, and lightness. Specifically, I was concentrating on two things.  Memory and battery life. For either the 11" or the 13" model, the maximum of allowable memory is still at 4 GB while the battery life remains the same - 5 hours for the 11" and 7 hours for the 13". Until one or both of those specs improve, I think my refub late-2010  Macbook Air from last year stands out pretty well. I know that the processor has been given a great upgrade.  For someone who uses his MBA, to hack out writing, I won't be too jealous of proud owners of these 2011 Macbook Airs.  Well, maybe just a bit.

It appears the white Macbook, the original and longest surviving holdover Apple laptop, was retired. When you type in the URL "http://www.apple.com/macbook", it just takes you directly to the Mac page with the picture of the Air.  I think some explanation will be forthcoming.   And it does say quite a bit about the future of Macbooks.  If the Air is suppose to be the heir of the Macbook, it looks like Apple could be looking to slim down all the rest in future updates.  

One of China's dark industry is the counterfeit of intellectual properties.  DVD, Blu-Rays, electronics, and software.  Heck, just about anything you can think of, it's been counterfeited.  Fake Apple goods galore - they're everywhere.  But here is one counterfeit that one would not even think some enterprising Chinese businessmen would go this far to do.   They duplicated Apple Stores.  Not the App Store.  I'm talking about duplicating the whole physical Apple retail stores.  Decorations, blue shirts, gadgets - everything. Yes, everything.  The stairs.  Play area for the children.  And even the Genius bar.  According to 9to5Mac , the people there even believe they work for Apple. I eagerly await Apple's response.  And then I eager await the response of the local government.  It's highly unlikely that these thieves did this without the backing or support of some local political boss.  On top of that, I wonder if ...

I'm jealous.  I want to have sources.  Any kind.  Like the ones that 9to5Mac has who gave them the specs for the upcoming Mac updates. And what just is being updated?   New Macbook Airs will come out tomorrow along with OS X Lion.  The new MBA will get new i5 and i7 Intel chips.  ( Link Here ) New Mac Mini based on Sandy Bridge chipsets - there does not seem to be concrete information whether they will include Thunderbolt interface.  However, it makes sense for Apple to include them. It appears that the maximum memory is 4GB.  I think it ought to support up to 8 GB.  This is the year 2011 after all.  ( Link Here ) I doubt we'll see a significant increase in battery life for these 2011 Macbook Air.  This post is being typed on the late 2010 11" Macbook Air.  4 GB with 128 BG SSD and 1.6 GHz.  I'm loving it.  My only gripe is that the battery life isn't longer.  It's good enough to serve my needs but you can never ...

As many as there are Apple friendly blogs out there, there are just as many if not more that cannot stand the success that Apple has garnered since the return of Steve Jobs.  Through the 14+ years, Apple has turned out hit after hit.  No one has been able to duplicate such success   And it is as if some of these people are waiting for Apple to take a fall so they can finally say "see, I told you so.  All that was luck!" Where do we start? Oh, the iMac.  Then the iMac in colors.  Then there was OS X that to this day, Microsoft's copiers have not been able to fully and adequately copy.  Let's move onto the iPod.  I still remember the nonchalant way Steve Jobs pulled it out and showed it to the world.  Who knew then that it would be the foundation upon which the "halo effect" of one Apple product brought to another.   The move from PowerPC to Intel chips went smoothly and was ever bit as impressive as ever.  Ask another company to try ...

I don't know how to describe this other than to say "wow".  Yes, yes, Apple blew way even the most ambitious out-of-this-world earning estimate.  Yes, yes, Apple sold nearly 3x the number of iPads versus a quarter ago.  Yes, yes, Apple's Mac growth has once again outpaced the general PC market.  It was in the midst of telling us all this that Apple execs casually let slip that OS X Lion is coming tomorrow. I'm trolling through the Web and the trend is still on Apple's $76 billion in cash, $28.6 billion in revenue, and crazy number of iOS devices sold.  Hardly anyone is talking about OS X and trying to predict when Apple will release it, which new Mac could potentially accompany this launch, or how Lion further blur the line between PC and mobile devices.   I guess it's one of those days.  I am sure in a few hours, the focus will come back to the here-and-now and Apple's last quarter performance will be yesterday's news.  But don't think that pe...

Business Insider did some interest math here and came to the conclusion that the data companies like Gartner would not care go into:  Apple is the second biggest PC company in the world and iPad is cannibalizing the PC market.   With the PC market growing at a snail's crawl, what happened to the rest of the growth that Gartner was predicting?  According to PC Magazine , the PC market in general grew only 2% while we learned today that Apple's Mac sales grew 14% and the iPad sales grew almost 3x from a year ago. What does this mean? Add the Mac and iPad sales together, Apple would immediately become the second largest computer maker in the world.  And yes, iPads are computers.  The fact that Gartner refuses time and time against to acknowledge that is a major farce.   With 84.4 million PCs shipped in the last quarter, the iPad would account for 11% of the PC market.   BI made an assumption that if the PC market was split evenly between the consumer and...

The Google+ app was released this morning (PST) for download.  I just checked the App Store and there is already an update.  The update deal with bug and performance issues.  If you haven't download your version, now is as good as any other time to do it.

I have been watching Star Trek: The Next Generation almost nonstop since it became available on Netflix.  So far, we have dealt with the Ferengi, Romulans, a close call with the Borg at sector 0-0-1, aliens from other dimension, and, now,  Ardra the devil.  While watching this, I considered the current mobile war and the major players involved and tried to see who is which major power in the Star Trek universe. You have Google that is young, perhaps a bit foolhearty, and very eager.  Google started out trying to make peace with everyone and be everyone's friend.  It is also never to start skirmishes but looks like it is learning fast. Then there is Apple that keeps its users within its borders.  It is proud, perhaps arrogant. It has a charsmatic leader with the level of authority an emperor would be comfortable with.  It was happy to be left alone and expand at its own pace.  But it was provoked and lashed out by instigating proxy wars.  A...

There was not a lot of talk today about post-PC on Apple's financial call.  But there was a bit of talk about Cannibalization of the Macs and PCs. In fact, we should see more of this going forward as Apple's iPad gains acceptance and added functions that will allow users to see it as their main source of mobile computing needs than PCs.   iPad sales has grown nearly 3x from a year ago to 9 million iPads,  According to Techcrunch , Tim Cook, COO of Apple is fine with the loss of Mac sales to iPads because there are more sales to be taken away from Windows-based PCs.  And truly, Apple is in an enviable position.  It has virtually a sole ownership of a new market while it takes sales away from rivals.   And this could potentially continue for years as consumer and enterprise sentiment regarding tablets becomes increasingly more positive.

#Apple:   20 million iPhones sold! 9.5 million iPads, 3.95 million Macs (they blew it...), 7.5 million iPods Revenue came in at $28.57 billion and $76 billion in cash. On the Mac number, most people thought Apple would achieve 4 million Macs sold.  

"Hogwash".  To be more exactly, Daring Fireball reportedly said Steve Jobs answered "I think it's hogwash" when asked about a WSJ report that Apple's board was looking to replacement. I agree.  Apple isn't a company that you think will look for a new leader given the condition Steve Jobs is in without already having something planned.  In fact, given the lack of any kind of actual evidence that Apple had before looked for a replacement for Steve Jobs, is looking for someone to replace Steve Jobs, or has plans to start looking for a replacement for Steve Jobs, the answer is obvious. It's someone from within Apple.  My money's on Tim Cook.  

"We have seen an explosion of Android devices entering the market and, because of our successes, competitors are responding with lawsuits as they cannot respond through innovations"  Those words came from Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google, when asked about the patent wars between Android foes and Google allies.  Specifically, he was referring directly to the ITC judgment againt HTC that it had voilated two of Apple's patents (Apple has more than a dozen more patents it accused Android makers of violating). Looks like open war is coming between Apple and Google.  Today, Eric Schmidt of Google vowed to support HTC and promised that they will prevail in its struggle against Apple.  From all indications, it'll be an epic war or empty words in a moment of fleeting bravo encouraged by a friendly crowd.  Which will it be? I came from a background where you work hard, you use your smarts, and you prevail.  And if you earn it (innovate it), it's yours.  However...

The title of this post says it here.  Apple has finally approved the Google+ app in iTunes and on your iOS devices. Source: TUAW .

It's over. I love Borders but they did not move fast enough to embrace the Internet at at the beginning and then again during the ebook revolution. I got there as a child to read and buy books  I go there to study.  Sometimes after dinner in nearby restaurants, we do go there for coffee.  Now, that experience will be a thing of the past.   I guess Barnes and Noble has still around and it has been granted a life-line with the Nook.  I just hope that BN will be able to innovate and move fast enough to continue to flourish and not to repeat any of Borders' mistakes.   Source: Marketwatch .

Here's a good sobering post from PC World on the iPad (tablets in general) and the post-PC era that we are in.  Rather, than true post-PC, I like to think we're on the transitional period when tablets take a more prominent role in our lives while still have a place in our home and work for the traditional laptop. Think of it as when we transitioned from typewriter to the word processor on the DOS machines in the early 80s.  You could do a lot of things on a PC but when most people still went to their trusted electronic typewriter for the actual production of documents and manuscripts.   But as the PC became more sophisticated with the Mac and Windows, we totally abandoned the old ways of writing and only worked on the PC.  We could be headed in that general direction with the tablet.  But for now, a lot of things can still be done better and easier on the laptop.  Typing, for one, quickly comes to mind. In the post, the author pointed out the typing limita...

While this CNN post used the iPhone in its title, the general gist of the post is that mobile devices can survive some rough and tumble.  But then again, it really depends on your definition of "survive". An iPhone fell from this skydiver's pocket and continued to work despite falling 13,000 feet.  He found the iPhone through the find my iPhone app and found that the iPhone's glass had cracked.  I'd be surprised if it didn't.  What was surprising was that it was still receiving calls.   And the Apple device was in a case.  I think that is the key here.  The CNN post went to describe the general toughness of Android devices as well.   Coming away from the post, the need for a good case really makes a lot of sense considering that you're paying for a mobile device that cost about $600.  Despite the initial subsidized cost with a two-year commitment, you still are paying for it through the life of the contract and them some. But any time you've...

Though not as excited as I was when I first ready Cult of Mac's headline , that CNN is streaming live to iOS devices is still a good thing.  Since I'm not a subscriber to any cable, digital, or satellite TV, I am unable to take advantage of this service.   There was a time when MSNBC and Fox News first started their cable news networks (before they both went off the deep end with trash), they streamed content on the Web as well.  But to be able to stuff from CNN, which isn't as bad as its competitors, would be a plus for those on the go.   And let's face it, they've got the best election coverage of any news networks and people go to them for all the breaking events.   Again, it's too bad I won't be able to take advantage of it.  If CNN offers some sort of a month deal that allows people who don't subscribe to paid TV access, that could be a great revenue stream for the cable news network.

It looks like we are going to very busy week regarding Apple and Android.  Not it's not about new products but about the current products.  The iPhone 4 and the lines of Android devices out there.   On Friday, ITC ruled that HTC infringed on two key Apple patents that could be at the heart of any Android device on the market.  According to PC World , the violations is in the coding.  At the same time, it could be difficult for companies to work around Apple's patents.  I'm no patent attorney nor am I well versed on the tech aspect of this, but the flood of blogs and media chiming in on this matter tells me that this is not a small matter but one that impacts the whole Android platform.   And this isn't the end of it.  While there is always a chance that Apple could license the patents to Android makers, it could be very expensive.  Apple effectively could make it so that future Android device makers will think twice about releasing their devi...