150M iCloud Users? Basis For Apple's Social Network

RBC surveyed 1500 iPhone users and found that Apple may have 150 million iCloud users total, if you count in the number of iPod touch and iPad users.  Is that a lot?

According to figures provided by 9to5Mac, that's about 75% of Google's 200 million Gmail users and half of Twitter users.  It's no wonder Twitter is feeling pretty good about being integrated into iOS.  Still, all of these numbers pale in comparison to Facebook's 700 million users.

On top of that, iTunes Match could add $1.5 billion to the music studios and Apple's bottom-line.

That and in of itself is a pretty huge number.  Should apple want to leverage this along with its other social initiatives, iCloud could be the basis of a social network to challenge Facebook and Google.  Should this be the case, Apple can fold the fledging Ping into it and provide a better integration with FaceTime and iMessage.  And let's no forget Apple's photo streaming features.  

All of this can be done will protecting user privacy.

Source:  9to5Mac.

Versus: A New Series To Look At Present And Future of The Major Mobile Platforms And their Viablity

I'll be sharing with you my thoughts in the various mobile platforms
regardless of their sizes today and how they can survive through
tomorrow and even thrive.

I started thinking about this last night while listening to various
podcasts during my run yesterday. I think it's critical that we
examine where things are without getting too caught up in the various
fanboyism and take a good look at how things can turn out.

The iPhone 4 death grip was an issue but to this day, I cannot say for
sure if it was such a big deal. While Apple probably got a B- for how
it handled it, things could have turned out even worse for Cupertino.

Today, everyone is piling into RIM and its aging OS that runs on the
Blackberry. As far as I'm concerned, the Blackberry OS reminds me of
Mac OS 8 and 9 which was a patchwork that Apple desperately tried to
push out to compete with the better and faster Windows 95, 98, and
XP. Still, Apple prevailed and I like to see what are the chances
that RIM can rise like a Phoenix and remain a relevant mobile company
tomorrow.

Also, Android with its never-seen-before growth has come to dominate
the mobile market. However, it's no secret that it is plagued by
malware as well as fragmentation.

And today, an analyst even believe that the release of iPhone 5 that
is like to be on multiple carriers including Verizon and Sprint could
not only further stem Android's share of thr market but begin to erode
its dominace in the US.

It'll be a fun look at the future. Maybe there will br a dark horse in
this fast evolving mobile war that comes out of nowhere and blindsided
even Steve Jobs.

WiFi Based Charging

This is something I can get behind.  uBeam - A wirelessbase charging system better than anything on the market with a farther range.  On one side, you plug into the wall socket an ultrasonic transducer and on the iPad, iPhone, or another device, an adapter. The transducer sends off an inaudible sound to the adapter which then converts the sound back into energy to charge your mobile devices.

How will this sound affect the human body?  I don't know if it will at all.  Even dogs will not be able to hear this.  And I've got a few more questions about it. Like how efficient is this system and how much it'll cost.

In the TUAW post where I found information, it mentioned that someone like Starbucks can install this and virtually free up the wall sockets.  

Source:  TUAW.

Next Gen Mobile Chips: Quad-Core Or Supercharged GPU? What's Best For Battery Life

The next step in mobile chips is naturally going to be more sophisticated and faster than the current chips that power the top line mobile devices.  Tegra 2 from Nvidia is making waves with Android smartphones and tablets while Apple's A5 chip powers its iPad and, probably, the next generation iPhone.  Both of these chips are dual-core running at 1Ghz.  Also powering these chips are powerful graphics units.  And while it took years for desktop CPU to go from single core to dual core and an even longer period of time for laptops, mobile device chips are made the move faster and there is already talk about quad-core chips.

So, I wonder what is better for overall mobile performance.  And how does that balance with the battery life?

At this point, I think the current chips are good enough for our mobile needs.  And in fact, the previous gen chips, like the single-core Qualcomm Snapdragons running at 1Ghz as well as the A4 chips powering the iPhone 4, are doing quite a good job.  Their performance supports one hundred percent of mobile needs.  And as far as handling top of the line iPhone and Android games, these chips has yet to show their age.  

For competitive reasons, the various mobile device makers has no choice but to continue to push the mobile tech envelope  At the same time, I think the older chips will continue to find a market in the low-end smartphone and prepaid markets.  

And since more operations are being off-loaded to the GPU for greater coding efficiency, I wonder if there is a need to hurry the jump from dual-core to quad-core.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm all for faster and better smartphones and tablets.  At the same time, I like to see that balanced against even better battery life.

The 10-hours we're getting from Xoom and the iPad are pretty good but I would like to safely get 12 hours out of them for the next gen upgrades.  And on the smartphone side, is there really such a thing as moderate use that many review sites like to say in their battery tests?  I think as society goes more mobile, today's heavy use may well be tomorrow's light use.  

Take the Atrix which is used to power an Android-netbook setup.  Also consider the ASUS Transformer  Both of these devices can lay claim to better battery lives only with the hope of the added battery in their respective keyboard accessories  That doesn't work for me.  

Apple allows mirroring through its Airplay implementation to a HDTV or monitor.  With a BT keyboard, we can be looking at a whole new setup for our future computing needs.  If the iPhone or iPad that is simultaneously used as a mirroring device and for wireless input, that has got to sap the battery life.  

It would be great to see the next generation mobile devices used in this capacity without much of a penalty to the battery life.  And used as a standalone device, go from today's 10-hours to 12-15 hours.  

So, it'll be interesting to see if these companies will try to increase the mobile processing power with higher core counts and/or GPU but hold the line for battery life at the current level or go with a smaller increase in processing power while pushing the envelope on the battery life.

RIM Buyout Scenario and Questions

RIM is now cheaper to buy than Yahoo.  Even with a twenty percent premium, RIM can be had for $18 billion – plenty of companies are capable of buy them out with just even the cash reserves on hand.  

Microsoft quickly comes to mind.  Intel.  Cisco.  Google.  Oh, and then there's the unlikely candid that is Apple. 

Three questions need to be asked about a RIM buyout scenario:

1. Who's more likely to pull the trigger?  
2. How would it change the landscape?
3. And is Apple really not as likely to be a RIM suitor?

I think we'll know in the next few months just how likely RIM is going to survive and in what form.

Ani-Virus Maker Wants An Open Insecured iOS So They Can Sell Anti-Virus Apps

Kaspersky, anti-virus maker, thinks Apple ought to open up the iOS because it is concerned that Android is kicking the iPhone's butt.  That concern is heart felt if not for the fact that the iOS as a whole is a bigger mobile platform than Android (including iPod touch and iPad) and that its has not been able to make money off of Apple's success like other app makers are.

According to Kaspersky CTO, he's worried about Apple's walled garden being competitive with Android.  

Okay...dude, just come out and say it.  And open iOS means you can sell anti-virus softwares to users who currently don't have a need for it.  And open iOS means it'll be inherently more insecure, allowing a bunch of apps with malware to enter the app stores like what's going on with Android.  

Just, this week, Google removed 10 apps with malware alone.  What Kaspersky should be doing is to promote its services to Android users like myself worried the increasing malware threats.  Not trump up idiotic statements like the iOS needing to be open so it can be competitive.

Even Android blogsite, Phandroid is promoting the idea that Google needs to lock down the marketplace some more.  So, Kaspersky dude, better do what you can before Google makes you obsolete too.

Source: computing.co.uk.

RIM: Making Money Still, Worry Is That It'll Stop With Increasing Competition

Research In Motion, maker of the iconic Blackberry and Playbook (not as iconic), got clobbered yesterday as its stock is down more than 21% as of this writing.  As a publicly traded company, making hundreds of millions isn't enough to stem the ire of stockholders.  

I know, it's all about being able to compete in the marketplace and RIM's mobile gears are not doing so well.  And while the two CEOs reminded financial analysts during the call yesterday night, RIM is still very profitable.  However, the fear is that it'll stop making money all together if it doesn't get its acts together.

Increased competition from Apple over the years stunted RIM's growth and lead to losses of market share.  

While management has pleaded for patience until new products reach the marketplace, those based on its QNX operating system, investors and bloggers think it might already be too late.  References to Palm has kept cropping up during user commenters on various blogs as the financial call started.  

Also, the iPhone has made great progress into enterprise, the last of Blackberry stronghold and the halo efforts of the iPad has made the iPhone more of an attractive alternative to the BB.  Furthermore, these troubles at RIM could for IT to rethink their commitments to Blackberries.  After all, they need to keep an eye to the future.

Then there's the tablet market.  RIM said it has shipped 500K units.  Immediately, many took that as a good sign.  But after sitting back to look at the wording, "shipped" does not meant "sold".  When pressed on this issue, one of the two CEOs said that RIM has no firm number.  But a moment later, he said that he was happy with the sold-through.  So which is it?  Now can RIM be happy about a figure they don't have?

Furthermore, layoffs are on the books.  And while many want the co-CEOs to be among them, it's not likely to happen. And it's beginning to look like if they're still in charge, a turnaround is less likely to happen any time soon.  Meanwhile, Apple will continue to eat away in enterprise.  

Just wait until Apple releases the next iPhone and, quite possibly, a budget version.  If you think things are bad now for RIM, you haven't seen nothing yet.