Apple's Other Portable Devices: Macbooks Deserve More Face Time From Apple's Marketing

Here, I've spent a lot of time talking about iPhones and iPads.  And I felt that I've left Apple's Macbook line out of the discussion for the most part.  And it's not just me.  It's virtually everyone who write about tech, specifically, Apple's mobile tech and vision.

Perhaps, it is because we just at the beginning of the post-PC era but are now well into it.  It doesn't mean that PC will go the way of the dinosaurs.  They'll remind a big part of our lives.  It is just that we will not be talking about it in ways we've done in the past.  

Two things will happen.  The personal computer will continue on an evolutionary trajectory.  Faster, lighter, longer battery life.  But no more beyond that.  It is possible that it may be folded into something like that tablet.  And if needed, it can be turned into a PC with a docking station at home, school, or the office.

Motorola's Atrix that runs on Android could be a glimpse of this future.  Our iOS devices will take on more PC roles as it gains more processing and video power.  

Or, it could morph into something unrecognizable by today's standard.  I had envision a home server that acts as a private cloud for other mobile devices to work off of and to store files or stream media.  

Either way, those futures are still a long way off.  I'm loving my late-2007 unibody Macbook and my late 2010 Macbook Air.  And they've got a lot of milage on them of years and years to come.  And I hope Apple continues to make great portable PCs and promote them just as hard as they do the iOS devices.

Google Plus Has Only 10 Million Users; Privacy Issues Surface

A few updates on Google Plus.  It's growing...and fast.  I had a feeling given the number of people already on Plus and the interests (folks begging for invitations), this is the fastest growing social experience ever.

According to Minyanville, we'll have ten million on Plus by tomorrow.  With a confident 99% accuracy rate, Ancestry.com's Paul Allen did some estimates with people's names and the US Census data.  But wait, what about the tons of people that I invited from overseas.  EU, the Middle East, India, and Asia

Which has led me to believe that Plus may be bigger than just the 10 million figure.  And yes, my fellow mobile friends, size does matter (just in this case...just in this case).  I don't think Google will be issue any press releases for a while.  After all, given Google's past "beta" experiences for their webapps, it'll be like this for a couple of years.

Privacy However, not all is rosy.  Aside from the on and off invitation issues, running out of space, and occasional slowdowns, I still am watching the privacy issue very close.  The biggest deal for me is that Google is forcing everyone to use their names.  According to CNet, Google is "trying to build a service without pseudonyms, anonymous cowards, or impersonation".  

Hey, I am all for that but there are instances that can be worrisome.  First, you can bet that all our Plus profiles are searchable online regardless how well you try to limit your exposure.  You can hide your e-mail from the public but there is much we are still learning about Plus.  Furthermore, with each new feature Google implements on Plus, we have to watch carefully the implication it has our on privacy issue.  

Nevertheless, the ease of use compared to Facebook has very reassuring at the moment.  

I like to see Google address the profile issue more. I understand Google's reasoning behind there (through there is a potential sinister tone to it if Google decides it wants to do away with "do no evil").  In CNet's post, it brought up a very good point.  Facebook and Twitter was important helping foster changes in a couple of Middle Eastern nations.  By Google's Plus rules, that would have been impossible.

And on a level closer to home, what about harassment?  Cyber-bullying?

Digging deeper into the CNet post, the issue of avatars came up.  It is not fraudulent, and simply a digital/cyber representation of the real person.  And much of the time, creating avatar instead of using one's real name goes back to the issue of protecting one's privacy.  Nothing more and nothing less.

Here's where things stand at the moment.  Plus is still in beta and we'll need Google to acclimate the service to reality and the needs of its users.  

Here's a quick Google search on "Plus privacy issues" that I encourage all who plan on using this social network going forward.  Personally, that Plus is a strong competitor to Facebook is good enough at this stage.  And yes, this is a multi-year beta.  I'll give it a year before I make a call on it.  

So far, I'm loving.  

Just ten million?!  As far as how many people are using this?  I think it's upwards of twenty million.  Seriously, the Internet is more global and spread out than ever before.  While totally unrelated, consider today's box office receipts.  I like numbers and in the last decade, Hollywood movies with big budgets rely more on global market to make money while relying the domestic market to recoup the cost of production and marketing.  

Consistently, I'm seeing a 1:3 spread for receipts.  Now, I doubt at the moment that Google Plus is seeing this kind of a ratio.  But having one US Plus user for every user outside of the US isn't impossible.  Facebook today has a 4.5:1 ratio, global to North American user (750 million global; approx 165 million in the US and Canada).  

So I peg my figure close to twenty million.  And even if I'm wrong, 10 million users just after a couple of weeks ain't bad at all.  As defections continues, new ways to use Plus find its way into the network, and, if positive word of mouth continues, we could find ourselves closer to 100 million users by the end of the year.

Apple Can Turn Notification Center Into A Social Media Aggregator

Can Apple's Notification Center become a center piece where all app notifications, gaming, and social updates converge – an umbrella or sort that ultimately make it irrelevant which platform the user supports?

I can simply go to the NC and read updates, post comments, retweet, or simply lurk as some on social network users do, reading up on updates from friends and families.  All of this is done without leaving NC.

Or I can get an invitation, reminder, or meeting time from other calendars (Google) and important to my iCloud calendar with ease.  Again, without having to go into a specific app or entering my iPhone's calendar app.  

Obviously, it cannot do everything but it can probably do everything well enough and eliminate the couple of steps to go into an app, wait for it to launch, and then work through it. 

This approach would allow Apple to make iOS' Notification Center the foundation for to build on the whole experience.  And there is talk that iMessage could be coming to the Mac as well.  I certainly hope to see a Mac version of the Notification Center in future OS X updates.  Should that happen, Apple could go a step further and eventually integrate iMessage, Calendars, Weather, and a few other widgets directly to the Notification Center, dramatically simplifying the user experience.

Great News For Developers: ASP Is Up

Apple recently boasted about its 15 billion app downloads.  By any reckoning, that is an impressive number.  And $4.5 billion paid out to developers.  That's not bad considering that most of the apps downloaded were probably free.

And according to Macnn, the average selling price has rebounded to $1.44 per app and this should only increase as the level of sophistication also increase with the release of new API, functions from new OS updates like iOS 5.  This is a reversal from a year ago when prices dropped from 2009 to 2010. 

What changed?  The sheer number of apps increased and likely users found that they can do more with their iOS devices beyond just free apps. 

I guess this is time for me to hit the iOS dev books again.

Marketwatch Post Shows Wall Street And Mainstream Media Does Get Apple's Mobile Vision

There has been a mot of attacks on Wall Street from the 2008 financial meltdown to a series of idiotic reports over the years. And mainstream media is has a lot of blame to go around.

And this Marketwatch about the iPhone only served to reinforce that view. It only served to my own opinion that the media an Wall Street is failing to take responsibility for its ignorance and erosion of standards.

The post is about how the iPhone can regain it swagger. Really? The 13 month old iPhone 4 still has an impressive adoption rates and continues to outsell individual competitors needs to regain its swagger? How ridiculous!

What's more idiotic is the suggestions offered by the writer. First, he brought up Steve Jobs. WTF!?

Then it said that Apple needs a new ad campaign. I'll give him that. I happen to think it works and since this is a subjective matter, he is entitled to his own opinion.

Then it brought up suggestions that Apple improve download speed and phone functionality by forcing carriers to bend to its demands. Seriously. I wonder if the writer met with a challenge to generate clicks and found writing something about the iPhone could probably so that.

The post also mentioned the need for a better camera. Okay. How? What features? No suggestion was offered. It is as if he read all the iPhone rumors out there and simple put this point in based on the rumors that the next iPhone could sport a better resolution camera.

Then he comes to the point about the battery life. Given my issues about today's mobile devices and battery life, you would think that I would agree with him. Yes but the flippant way he bought it up made it seem as the iPhone has the worst battery life in the market, when in reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

These idiots will be the death of our society. How can someone who so wisely decided on the iPhone as his mobile device be so...sigh.


- Posted By Mobile Means

Apple's Nortel Patent Win - To Inhibit Android But Changes Nothing For Main Street Mobile Warriors

eWeek examines Apple's consortium win in the Nortel patent win that seemingly denied Google and its allies that included Intel from owning the rights to some valuable 4G technology. And certain anti-trust enforcers are looking into the exchange.

It'll be months and perhaps up to a year before we seem what the Nortel patent winners plan on doing. Exact some blood from Google's hardware partners or simple stunt Android in the market through the courts in an attempt to kill it outright. Like the post mentioned, there are dozens if not hundreds of lawsuits against Google and Android device makers all across the world. HTC is already paying Microsoft per device sold. Microsoft reported is asking for up to $15 per device from Samsung.

Trouble doesn't end there as Apple has launched a massive legal attack on HTC and Samsung. And Oracle is going after Google over Java that could potentially cost the search giant more profit than it has made from Android so far.

Still, all the major bidders had been clear to participate in the process. So it is unlikely that regulators will block the winning bid.

What does this mean for us on main Street? The average mobile user won't see much of a change in selection of devices or functionality of any of the mobile platforms because of this.

It all comes down to access and money. There are plenty of brilliant people out there on all sides who have worked this out.

The winners cannot be too overtly eager to go after Android while they will take a hard stand. Google and Android makers will have to accept the consequence that they did not do enough to win those Nortel patents.

It would be weird to see Apple padding its profit margin through proceeds from every single device sold by its competitors.


- Posted By Mobile Means

Google's Buzz Was Hot But Interests Died But G+ Isn't Buzz

According to Google insider, via Silicon Insider, Buzz had tens of millions of initial "buzz" and looked like a winner before it just fell off the cliff. Why would Google Plus be any different?

Former Googler Sam Johnston said just as much. But maybe it's my bias but G+ has some things going for it that Buzz didn't have.

First, it is not Facebook. In it's short life, Facebook has faster than anyone expected but it has continue to give the media/blogs reasons to distrust it. Privacy violations and changes on the fly has created a backlash almost every time Facebook unveiled a new feature.

Second, one can argue that Google isn't a model guardian of user privacy, Google is currently facing a series of government fines and antitrust probes. G+ is still in beta but it is probably not too keen on giving users pause with any new feature that it is attempting to exploit user information on the scale Facebook does.

One of the reason Buzz died so quickly was the vast bad press Google generates when it was unveiled that Buzz forced everyone to share everything with just about everyone and anyone.

Third, G+ is a newer implementation that, after a short time to get used to the UI, is easier to use than Facebook. Circles is a feature that Facebook just cannot match at this time. The stream feature allows a blend if Twitter and updates feel to it.

It is too early to tell. However, I can see why there is so much optimism. Ultimately, Google has to tread lightly and continue to build on the positive buzz and momentum.

So far, G+ isn't Facebook. That alone may be enough.


- Posted By Mobile Means