Concidence: The Winner of the Apple's 25 Billionth Download Is...

The winner of the 25 billionth app downloader from the App Store is Chunli Fu of China.  Rumor is that he downloaded Where's My Water?, which he didn't pay for since it was the free version.  Nevertheless, I want to congratulate the dude for it.  He deserves it.  Fu won $10,000 as well as a lot of recognition.

Now, comes the part that I wonder if this is just too much of a coincidence that with China being such an important market and opportunity, an iOS winner from China wins this prize.  I mean, seriously, you cannot ask for a better PR campaign than this.  It's likely that with all things Apple, this is getting a lot of positive press.

On top of that, there is the iPad trademark battle with Proview.  I'm not sure whether if Apple or Proview has a more positive image in China.  I read a post that many Chinese on Weibo believe Proview is attempting to extort money from a cash rich company like Apple.  So I reckon Fu as winner of the $10,000 prize is a very positive thing.  

Look, I have to point this out.  I'm not saying that Apple fixed it so that the winner will come from China.  However, Apple could not have asked for a better winner than Mr. Fu.

Source:  AFP.

Total Users Versus Active Users - Social Networks Could Be Losing Steam

We know that social networks like Facebook to Google+ to Foursquare love to boast their number of citizens (users). It sounds great and in Facebook's case, it helps to let the financial community know that they've got about 700 million users as they go IPO. There are also reports that Google+ is like a ghost town and only Googlers are the ones still using it after the initial interests from the media and the curious. Then there is location-based social networks like Foursquare. Personally, I can say that the number active users among my friends list has dropped by 2/3. So, what exactly is going on here?

And while Facebook claims to have hundreds of millions of daily users, not quite near the 700 million users that they have, many of them are what I called "lurkers". They're people who sign up for social networks or other services but rarely participate in general or as the network as it is mean to be.

After all, according to Wikipedia on lurkers, lurkers account for 90% of online groups. This data was collected in 2000. With some benefit of the doubt, maybe today's social networks have the ability to encourage more participation but it is doubtful there is more than a marginal improvement from 2000.

Now, it would appear that my numbers, say from Foursquare, is much better than the average Joe social network users. I have to come clean and note that I have an advantage over most other users. Looking through my list of friends, more than 50% of my friends on Foursquare work in the tech field - many for companies with social components like entertainment, gaming, and music or video.

For Facebook, one third of my friends on Facebook work in the tech or cloud industry and they account for a vast majority of status updates. And on Google+, I don't have an estimate but Google+ seems to be turning into Twitter without the 140 character limits. Going through the circles, the cirle with just my personal friends last updated on January 31. As for my other circles, those with reasons to share links, pics like art, or writings, they are constantly being updated. For about three weeks, I did not log into my Google+ account due to information overload. Hundreds of links streaming by, there is only so much I can absorb.

It's likely most users have similar experiences online. I do my share of updates, a lot through Twitter, but here isn't a whole lot for me to share either. I have vowed to take more pics and share them but that is as far as I am willing to go.

I am afraid that even as the momentum of social networks allow for them to increase the number of users, participation among users is likely to drop or 9 out of 10 new users will turn out to be lurkers. Maybe that might be fine for selling ads, it is doubtful that lurkers are clicking through the ads.

There is time for social networks to find a way to retain eyeballs. We are still the infancy state of social network growth but time is running out. Violating privacy is not going to help. Is through new innovative designs, features, and incentives that will keep us coming back.

I continue to use Foursquare to keep track of cool places I go and only regularly check in at Souplantations of the discounts. But as soon as I find another way to track myself without having to share it with Foursquare, I doubt I'll use it much. Personally, I am not much of a lurker.

I have talked about Facebook, Google+, and Foursquare. Where does Apple fit into all this?

Microsoft Casts Stones At Android And iPhone Without Realizing Its House Doesn't Even Have Walls

Meet Terry Myerson, head of Windows Phone at Microsoft, needs to talk less and work more on giving us clear answers about the future of WP phones, upgrades, and who can or cannot use Windows Phone 8. See, WP7 and WP8 are entirely different OSes and current WP7 phones are unlikely to ever see WP8.

At the Mobile World Congress, Mr. Myerson bashed both Apple's iPhone and Andoid for having shoddy updates. For one thing, he accused Apple of making older iPhones slower thrrough new iOS versions so users will be forced to buy new iPhones. Meanwhile, he said Android devices hardly ever get upgrades.

I can't say that Android devices hardly get upgrades. They're slow in coming and only one or too units that I can think of, the original Samsung Galaxy S, isn't slated for Android 4, Ice Cream Sandwich, but that matter still has not been quite settled yet.

As for Apple purposefully making older iPhones slower through updates, I've often often about that. As a matter of fact, I think all software companies do that. The biggest culprit is Microsoft itself. In fact, as a Windows user for since Windows 3, I can attest to the fact that it became an tradition to wonder if new versions, including updates, makes systems slower on purpose

And I am not just talking about going form Windows 98 to Windows XP. I am referring to even simple updates. I am also referring debacles like Vista. If anything, Vista was about getting users to upgrade. Buying new PCs is means also new Windows sales.

At least, iPhones are upgradeable for at least three years after their initial purchase. And with Android devices, there is always the option of the Android community pulling together to get new versions into the hands of users.

Now, let's talk about Windows Phone a bit. WP7 is vastly different from Windows Phone 8, which is based on Windows 8 itself. And WP7 is based on the older Windows CE kernel. It'll take a lot of work for Microsoft to get WP8 to work on older hardware, some of which as less than a year old.

So, I ask you. Who is forcing users to upgrade their phones on purpose here! In less than a year, no less?

More at Neowin.

 

Brazilian Manufactured iPhones Now On The Market - How Did that Happen?

News now that iPhones made in Brazil are on the market. With the statements made that jobs like manufacturing consumer electronics not coming back to the US, specifically attributed Steve Jobs to President Obama, we have to wonder how is Brazil about to get Apple and Foxconn to invest in a local manufacturing plant?

Now, let me put this out: can Apple do something like this in Mexico? Or maybe the US? We can forget about blue states like California but how about red states like Texas?

Foxconn likely received a large incentive from the national and local government to do this. At the same time, we have to wonder just how they can achieve the infrastructure to do this.

Labor issues aside, I like to see government officials look into seeing how this was achieved and how feasible is this go duplicated in the US.

My guess is that even with the technology and logistics solved, special interests like labor is going to make things very difficult to convince Apple or others to invest in an infrastructure to build iOS devices here.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Apple IIc Running OS X - Sorta

We have an old Apple IIc in the garage. Last I checked, it still booted up. Also, last I checked, it was still running BASIC. And yet, someone found a way to get OS X to run on it. HOW?!

There is a G4 Mac Mini in there. Not sure why they didn't fit the newer and slimmer Mac mini in there if they're going to go through all this trouble. Anyway, this has me thinking about dusting off the old IIc and fire it up and relive my childhood.

More at Mental Hygiene.

 

Friday Movie: Avengers!!!

It's been a while sense we added a Friday movie.  This week, it's none other than the Avengers, 2nd Trailer!

If you've not seen the first one, go duckduckgo it your self.  Okay.  I'll post it for ya.  This is the first must see 3D movie, since, well, Avatar really.  One that I will eagerly pay whatever the amount they'll be charge us this summer.

Enjoy!

The Avengers - Official Trailer 2 by DailymotionTrailers

Here's the first trailer!

The Avengers by teasertrailer 

 Have a great weekend!!!

Note:  sorry about the ads at the beginning of the video. I think it's kinda dumb...what can you do?

Throttling Might Not Be Bad If It's 3G Speed

Let me be very clear.  Unlimited in my world, presumably yours as well, means just that:  unlimited.  However, in the wireless industry, especially for our esteemed GSM carriers, AT&T and T-Mobile (they deserve each other by the way - not in a merger but when you wish them ill) has a very different definition of unlimited.  However, if users are throttled from 4G down to 3G, will you be pissed?

I read this GiGaom post on the possibility that AT&T might sunset EDGE.  So, if that happens, does it mean that users who get the nasty text from AT&T are forced to go at a slower 3G speed when EDGE goes away?

T-Mobile is doing something similar as it attempts to move from its current 3G (not buying the 4G nonsense) to LTE by 2014 - there were reports in late 2011 that some users were getting 3G speed on the T-Mobile network when they ought to be getting EDGE only.

Time will tell just how this plays out.  I'm more interested in how the unlimited data plan users will be impacted by this.