China, Counterfeit Goods Capital Of the World, Now Counterfeits Stores

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 they sell genuine Apple products or more counterfeits.  

New Mac Specs Unveiled - My Only Question: How's The Battery Life?

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 have enough juice.

Why Does Apple Get No Respect

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 to do that and they'll probably freak out.

Then in 2007, a year just as important as 1984 was to the Mac, Apple unleashed the iPhone on an unsuspecting smartphone market.  Then came the iPhone 3 and the iPhone 3GS after that.  The iPhone 4 followed last June and twenty million of these iconic mobile devices were sold to help Apple record their best financial quarter ever.  

Then there is the iPad released last April without a peer in the tablet market.  Many predicted that by now, Apple would have lost a majority of the tablet market to Google and its Android allies.  Then iPad 2 happened and everyone forgot about other tablets except the most hardened mobile warriors who will go to their grave vowing never to buy an Apple product (I applaud their conviction).

So, why the disrespect?  Why would Eric Schmidt yesterday, former member of Apple's board of directors, accuse Apple of not innovating but, instead, hid behind the patent laws to hinder competition?

This post from Brian Shall pretty much hit it on the nail.  There are just people out there wishing for something to happen so that Apple can be taken down a notch or two.  That they cannot see that everyone can win in the PC, smartphone, or tablet market.  That they see that for Google, RIM, or Microsoft to win, Apple must lose.  According to the post, he named about 5 things that could go wrong but probably won't that could be used as an excuse to take down Apple's stock price.

Take Apple's third quarter number and what it did to Apple's stock price the after market activity.  Apple beat even the most ambitious prediction and only managed a paltry 5% gain whereas Google last week gained 10% on a smaller beat.  

Microsoft is due up next.  I wonder how the Apple blogs will report on that.  I reckon they'll be harsh but it'll be nothing next to how Apple's been treated.

Apple Killed Today With Record Profit and Revenue, And Oh, OS X Lion Is Coming Tomorrow

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 people are done parsing financial data looking for clues about what Apple could be doing with its cash and if notes offer information about future products.

And if that's not enough, poor poor Lion also contend sharing the headlines with on-going patent war, a saga that is for the history books.

I cannot remember another time when things are this busy and interesting for Apple  So, "wow", I can't believe Lion isn't the focus when its just hours way from release.

Depending On How Do You Our Math, iPad Ate Up A Big Chunk Of the PC Market

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 enterprise market, and the the major of the iPad sales went to consumers, the iPad alone accounts for 20% of the consumer market.
• Apple is like going to take the lion's share of the PC profit - the iPhone already accounts for 50% of smartphone profit.

Again, I don't know why Gartner refuses to recognize iPads, Touchpads, Playbooks, and Android tablets for what they are.  My guess is that it believes Gartner will finally relent when Microsoft's Windows 8 is ready to ship in numbers.  After all, Gartner is in the business of manipulating numbers.  

As for where things are headed, I think the tablet market, most the iPad and an expanding number of Android tablets, will continue the march on the PC market.  With only 2% growth so far, we can conceivable see the PC market begin to shrink as tablets gain wider acceptance in enterprise, consumer, and education markets.  

Google+ Release Today; There Is Already An Update

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.

Is Google The Federation, Klingons, Romulans, Or Another Group; What About Apple or Microsoft?

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.  And in doing so, its enemies will know just how far it'll go to hold onto its powers. 

Perhaps Google is the Federation and Apple is the Romulan Empire?

Now, while the Federation is depicted as a benelovant force in the Alpha Quadrant and the Romulans as a dark scheming force, reality is not quite as clear cut. 

We the United States was seen as a force for freedom in the world during the Cold War but, today, that sentiment isn't as strong among the other citizens of the world. (Nevertheless, I would not trade places with anyone else in the world.  We, Americans are not perfect but we are a for good more often than not.)

The same could be said of the Federation and the Romulans.  So I am not necessarily saying that Apple is evil or that it is okay for Google to violate the patents of other companies.  This is just a fun exercise in my part. 

What about Microsoft, RIM, Nokia, Facebook, and Intel?  What would be their equivalent power in the Star Trek universe?