Apple Untethered iOS Devices At the Right Time

Many folks have been clamoring for Apple to provide wireless sync and other updates via the air or cloud as far back as iPhone 3G.  Until Monday with iCloud, Apple has never talked about it once.  And the timing of it could have not been any better.

First, MobileMe, to summarize Steve Jobs, was a disaster.  And I hope with iCloud, things will change.  We'll know soon enough.

Second, I believe Apple's mobile strategy is near completion.  Sure, we won't be able to stream our music even after Apple has match what's in our music library to what is on the cloud but most people blame dismal state of our cellular Internet than on Apple's unwillingness to do that.  

And lastly, today, Gartner released some pretty bad PC numbers and they attribute it to the iPad.  In fact, they don't mention "post-PC" the way Apple execs do but the writing is there  And they don't give iPad the whole credit but let's face it, the whole tablet market is the iPad.  I don't think I'm going out on a limb here to say that 8 out of 10 people are buying Apple's tablets.

This past point in important.  Consumers are buying iPads instead of laptops or netbooks.  And without a PC at home, there is no way to activate their iOS gears.  We still cannot do it.  However, once iOS 5 is released in the fall, we'll truly enter a post-PC era.

And as PC growth continue to slow or contract in some market, Apple untethering the iPad, iPhone, or the iPod touch could not have come at a better time.  Now, just take your new Apple gear home, charge it up and start using it.

Facebook's Lackadaisical Attitude Towards Privacy Reason It's Not A Part of iOS Like Twitter Is

Apple and Facebook supposedly had a falling out over Ping.  It was probably why Ping launched without the rumored ability for users to tie it into Facebook.  It was over some API stuff but I think I know the deeper reason why Facebook was not a part of Ping. And it's the same reason why Twitter is a part of iOS 5 but not Facebook.  It has nothing to do with personality clashes.

A few months back when Apple announced its subscription plans, publishers were upset.  Most people wrongly thought it was over the 30% cut that Apple wanted from each subscription iOS user bought.  Rather, it was the private user information lockdown that Apple instituted that publishers had no access to.  It was about the publishers' inability to resell or exploit the user information.  While it would be scary for a company like Apple to have such a fast database on its users all to itself, Apple has so far not demonstrated that they will give out that information to others the way Google, Facebook, and publishers have.

I think Facebook isn't a part of iOS and never will be until its policies regarding privacy changes.  Now, you might way that Twitter can turn around and sell our tweets.  Well, our tweets are searching by Bing and Google already.  That information is already public.  Anyone knows that I tweet about mobile tech, green tech, and sometimes politics.  It is not big secret.

In a big way, I'm glad Facebook does not live keep within iPhone and iPad.  And I hope Apple will never allow that to ever happen.

With Lion And iOS 5, Apple Still At Snail's Pace With Social Strategy

We know by now that Apple is allowing Twitter to ride shotgun on the iOS platform and Ping is likely going to get shown the door.  But it's hard to see just what Apple has planned for its social plays.  While I had hoped to hear something more substantive from Apple regarding social networks, it appears Apple will take its time.  After all, Google has throw effort after effort against Facebook and nothing has stick so far.

Here's what we know right now beyond Twitter.  We know that Game Center will gain more social features.  Turn-based support is added as is icons.  I thought I heard support for messaging is added but I can't find that anywhere on Apple's iOS 5 website.

Also, iMessage will bring messaging to iOS users.  This is a big play.  A very big play in fact.  Analysts are talking about Apple killing of SMS plans or RIM but it could be the foundation for something more.  Should Twitter piss Apple off in any way, iMessage may step in someday.  

And while this may not see like it, iOS devices are not PC-free.  Get an iOS capable device like the iPod touch, activate it without first having to go home and hook it up to your home computer, and you're mobile.  

Also, notification enhancements in iOS should also serve as a good foundation for future social network endeavors.  It can display stocks, messages, and even weather information.  I'm sure Apple can easily add more capabilities in future improvements.  

So far, there doesn't seem to be anything that ties all of the separate features with social potentials together.  Could it be iCloud?  Maybe. So far, we know about the six main iCloud apps Steve Jobs introduced on Monday's WWDC keynote event but I walked away thinking there are a few things about it that they were not ready to share with the world just yet.  Regardless, I don't know about you but I'm pretty excited right about now for iOS 6 and iOS 7 to see what social apps and functions Apple come up with.

As for Lion, well, a few podcasts I listened to today mentioned that it stands to gain from missing iOS 5 features.  Well, like Steve Jobs has said when they first showed us Lion months back, they've learned quite a few things from iOS like Mission Control.  So while we won't see notification, iMessage, or deeper Twitter in Lion, we probably will see more iOS features.  

iOS 5 References iPad 3 and Next iPhone

This isn't a rumor but a fact: iOS 5 has references to unreleased iPads and iPhones.  Now, take a deep breath.  We always knew that newer hardware is coming.  It's a fact of life.  Apple will always be upgrading and planning ahead.

Earlier, I mentioned that we can look at iOS 5 API for clues to any mentioned features like voice control or mobile payment.  I did not think hardware could so easily be found.  What does this all mean?

Nothing at the moment.  Steve Jobs has said that 2011 will be year of iPad 2.  And by the time iOS 5 is finally released this fall, the iPhone 4 will be 15-16 months old.  So, safe bet is that we'll see an updated iPhone before iPad 3.  

More at Macrumors.

Voice And Mobile Payment A No-Show At WWDC Keynote As Expected

Techcrunch has been at the forefront of a rumored Nuance deal to power iOS and Mac's voice control scheme but there was not a peep about it at Apple's WWDC keynote yesterday.  Nor was any mention of NFC or mobile payment.  

Both of these were not expected to be announced.  If they had, things would have gone through the roof.  So, we'll have to rely on the folks who would dig through the new API in iOS 5 and see what they come up with.  In the past, such efforts have yielded new information about hardware and new features.

I have been making my coffee and pastry purchases at Starbucks with the SB card app and I found that to be very convenient so I don't have to pull out my wallet.  Between voice control and a more robust Siri or NFC, I rather with with voice.  

We'll know in the fall after Apple releases the final version of iOS 5 and what new hardware will appear in the next iPhone.  Until then we'll eagerly wait to see if there are hidden gems in the developer iOS versions.

iCloud and iWeb

As expected, we got the bulk of what Apple has planned for iCloud.  At the same time that many questions were answered, quite a few remains unanswered.  For instance, what happens to iWeb and to people who build their websites around MobileMe?  For instance, like myself with my Greenjava site.  

Just a couple of weeks ago, I took an Apple survey just on the subject of iWeb.  Had that not taken place, I would have thought that iWeb, which was not updated in the last iLife upgrade, is being kept around in the same way iDVD is.

I'm sure we'll get the answers regarding iWeb and hosting by September.  I just would like to know as early as possible in case Apple plans on doing away with any kind of hosting.

Mac Doing To PC What iPhone Did To Smartphones

One key question I came away from the WWDC keynote is if the Mac is on the way to reignite the PC war that Apple has lost in the 90s.  After all, Mac sales has outgrown the general PC market each quarter for the last five years and in the latest quarter, while the market shrank 1%, Macs have grown 28%.  Is something going on here?  Is the Mac doing to the PC what the iPhone did to the smartphone market?

Granted the smartphone market is now dominated by Android because of Google's effort and it is a very good platform, Apple continues to play a big role in shaping it.  Not to mention that Apple has a majority of the profit in the smartphone business.  But Apple will never be able to dominate the phone market the way its iPod did to the MP3 market.

With PC, however, there is almost a staleness to Windows that people don't get too excited over even with new versions.  People get excited about new Android devices and new OS updates but that is not the case with Windows at all anymore.  And perhaps, it is just an issue of perception that Microsoft no longer innovates (which they do quite a bit).  

And the difference is that while Android devices are still growing in numbers, PC sales are down.  So what is going on here?  I know there is the thing about the halo effect from the iOS devices and iPod but there has got to be more than that.  Apple has consistently said that 50% of Mac buyers were former PC users.

I think it's the idea that we could be in a post-PC era.  People are buying smartphones and tablets instead of personal computers and for those who continue to buy computers, Macs has been granted the perception, true or not, that is has more value than your standard HP and Dell.  

Whatever the reasons are, something has changed in the last five years in the PC market that has, for the duration, shift the wind in Apple's favor