Why We’ll see a 8-9” iPad – Because Kids Don’t Need To File Their Finger Down (Plus, They’ve Got Better/Newer Eyes)

First of all, we’re been pecking on our 3.5” iPhone screen for years now and we’re doing just fine.  On top of that, Steve Jobs, who’s known for misdirection on what Apple will or will not ship, said that we would have to file down our fingers just to use the icons on them useless 7” screens.

Well, as limiting as those 7 incher screens are as far as screen real estate goes, I can life with a 8 or 9 in because I’ve tried it with the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and it works great.

So, we’ve got years of great multi-touch experience on 3.5” iPhones, not just one finger touch and proof from Samsung that their 8.9” tablet works great, what is keeping Apple from releasing an 8” tablet?

Oh, them fingers that need to be filed down?  Don’t worry.  8” iPads would be great for kids.  First, they’ll probably be cheaper to make and sell.  On top of that, those grade-school kids have little hands and fingers.  I’ve been them on my two, five, and eight years old nephews and seven year old niece.  Their fingers will work great on an 8” iPad.

So, I’m wagering we will definitely see a sub-10” iPad, maybe not in 2012 but beyond.  Keep in mind that when Steve Jobs was blasting away at the Android tablets, he specifically referred to the 7” models.  He never said anything about bigger sized screens like an 8 or 9”.

Apple Like to Buy Twitter Before End of the Year

This is just my prediction:  Apple will eventually take over Twitter and integrate it more into its ecosystem for its Mac and mobile users.  So, folks who want dividends, sorry, I hope you don’t get it.  I rather have Apple spend its money in this manner.

How did I come to this conclusion?  Well, of all the social media properties out there, only Twitter seems to be more open and less about selling user information than the likes of Facebook, My Space (yes, they’re still around), or Google+.  The reason is because Twitter users, more than anyone else, are more open with their tweets knowing that what they broadcast is for general consumption.

On Facebook, your updates may be for your friends or a group of friends on a list but Facebook still sell that information to the highest bidder.  The same could be said of Twitter but the vast major of Twitter users don’t go turning on the feature only their followers or a subset of their followers to get their update.

And this works better for Apple than others.  And should Apple eventually buy Twitter, Apple is likely to integrate its own ad system, iAd, which is on life support at this time after failing to “revolutionize” the mobile ad space.  And Twitter’s social network would probably be similar to what Apple would create had it done so from scratch.

And today, we learn that Apple’s upcoming OS X update, Mountain Lion, will gain the same Twitter integration as iOS 5 devices have.  And with a Twitter buyout, Apple would instantly gain hundreds of millions of users that it could potentially convert and add to its ecosystem.  Apple is likely to sweeten things up by offering iCloud integration, making Twitter the social component of Apple’s cloud strategy.

Right now, the lack of a cohesive social network for Apple’s other social efforts like iTunes (forget about Ping), Game Center, iMessage, and iBooks could be solved with a Twitter buyout.  I mention iBooks because a virtual book club is just something that Apple can go next with its ebook effort.

You’re arguing right now that Apple can achieve all this now without buying Twitter.  Absolutely. Just without the control that Apple traditionally have.  Keep in mind that the disagreement between iTunes data with Facebook has kept Ping from being something that Steve Jobs hope.  And Twitter could well become someone else’s takeover target in the future.

After the Twitter buyout, Apple should and will continue to keep Twitter as we know it now the way it is.  The only different will be seen by those who use Twitter along with iOS devices or Macs.

I believe the deal between Apple and Twitter in iOS 5 was just a test run for Tim Cook and company.  It’s worked out great for both and in the coming year (I’ll allow myself to stretch that into 2013), Apple will make Twitter officially a part of the family.

Mountain Lion - What It Means For iOS Users

For many of you, you might be on a Mac running Lion or a variant of the Leopard OS, regular or snow.  But today, Apple unveiled "Mountain Lion", an update to Lion that was released almost a year ago.  It gained many new iOS features like iMessage and greater iCloud integration.  Oh, and for gamers, Game Center is coming your way.

I've left my Macbook Air at home backing things up while downloading Mountain Lion.  You'll have to be an Apple developer in order to do that.

I'll check back with actual user notes later this evening.  I can't way to try out iMessage.  Oh, by the way, iMessage is free to download right now. You' don't need to be a developer in order to do that.  So, go give it a go!

Privacy Should Be Apple's Stronghold But It Let Users Down - Twitter Steals Contacts

Bad Apple!  That’s about all we can say about the Twitter accessing user contact information without telling people about it and without asking for permission first.  What’s up with that, Apple?  This is just plain stupid and wrong.

And here is Twitter’s response after getting caught red-handed:  “We want to be clear and transparent in our communications with users. Along those lines, in our next app updates, which are coming soon, we are updating the language associated with Find Friends — to be more explicit. In place of ‘Scan your contacts,’ we will use “Upload your contacts” and “Import your contacts” (in Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Android, respectively).” (Source:  Media Bistro)

Seriously, this is the type of behavior I expect from Facebook, maybe even Google, but certainly not Twitter, Apple’s iOS social partner.

What now?  Certainly, apps like Twitter and Path last week should never have had access to user contacts with their explicit approval.

Now, Apple is saying that future apps will need to get user permission before getting access to those private data.  

Congress will certainly be looking into this because privacy is becoming a hot topic due to past bad behaviors from Facebook and Google.

What Apple needs to do now is review the whole approval process as well as app policies to make sure this doesn’t happen again.  And Apple has to be very transparent about privacy.  Done right, it could make Apple the champion for the average mobile warrior and force competitors to follow.

Google First With NFC But We Still Need An iPhone With NFC To Make Mobile Payments Ubiquitous

I saw my first Google Wallet payment system over the weekend at a gas station of all places.  There are probably more in my area that I am not aware of.  But let’s be honest, Google, for most folks, is about search and gmail.  Androids they know about but that’s about it.  And even with the attention given to the Galaxy Nexus with its NFC feature, there simply isn’t enough of them out there for merchants to begin rolling out mobile payment systems.

Even a leading Android blog, Droid-Life, admits that until Apple has an iPhone featuring NFC will mobile payment actually begin to take off.  Just ask Starbucks about their app for mobile payment.  It’s taken off as more and more iPhone users embrace it.  Helps that you get rewards for using it.

Unless Google is willing to “pay” or reward users to use NFC to pay for goods and services and has enough devices with NFC capability to reach a critical point, it’ll be a long time before I can pay for my bean burritos at Taco Bell or my nephews’ Happy Meals at MacDonald’s.

But we’ll definitely get there faster if Apple adds a NFC chip to the next iPhone and they begin to flood the market by the tens of millions.

So, if you’re a mobile warrior looking to leave your credit or debit cards at home, I personally look forward to the day when I can leave my wallet at home, then let’s hope Apple comes through for us soon.

iPad Trademark In China Isn't About Who's Right - It's about the Two Million Apple Employs

Apple is in a dogfight with a small money losing company called Proview in China that claimed to own the “iPad” trademark in China.  And now, they’re looking to milk it with a Chinese legal system that is less about law and more about who you know and what political points can be scored in the long run.  And let’s not forget that there’s a transfer of power in Beijing at this moment.  Not sure if that’ll have an impact.

Here’s a summary of this.  Apple bought the rights to the trademark “iPad” worldwide from Proview’s Taiwanese counterpart.  Proview in China said that sale doesn’t include the use of the name in China.  Hence, the lawsuit that for the moment looked to be looking good for Proview as it has won a case against Apple.  Apple is appealing, obviously.

Now, Proview is looking to exert pressure on Apple by requesting that China ban export of iPads.  The legal details aren’t important to us mobile warriors.  What’s important is how Beijing will react to all this.

Will it try to strike a blow against a foreign company that also employs about a million or two of its workers?

Yeah, tough call on the surface but if you come down to it, it’s not.  You want political stability and to enhance your reputation about rules of the law or try a go at nationalism.  And Beijing cannot allow underlings to handle this because they’re looking for their own self-interests, not that of their country.  So, they’ll need to step in and reach some kind of a deal on this quickly.

Oh, not that anyone in China is reading this blog but trying to get Apple to capitulate by taking away few dozen iPads is not going to scare anyone.  If anything, I reckon this is just a show until Apple “wins” its appeal or a deal is struck.

This is just the political and economic reality in China.

Wireless Providers Behaves Badly And Only the Media Seems Surprised

No one should be surprised by what wireless carriers or providers do anymore.  A contract isn’t a contract like the old days when they’re allowed to change them on the fly.  Or contracts that say they can change terms on customers whenever they want.

This MSNBC post that customers are surprised by AT&T’s move against unlimited data strikes me as disingenuous because the writer cannot possibly believe the crap AT&T is giving him for the article.  This isn’t about bandwidth or anything of that nonsense that AT&T used to try to buy T-Mobile.

It’s about money and control. The industry lost their control when the iPhone-lead and then Android waves hit them.  We’re used to doing wireless a certain way and they want to control that.  Furthermore, they want to milk as much as they from users as they risk becoming the dumb pipes they deserve to be.

Why?  Well, the wireless industry was slow to react when Apple and Google assaulted the wireless market with their innovations and revolutionize the mobile industry.  And this is the only way they can try to slow things down or buy time until they can figure out how they would respond.

And the wireless lobby in Washington has scared the politicians in Washington and made the FCC impotent.

And this teethless MSNBC post does nothing except to tell us what we already know.