Apple TV: Square Enix Loss Shows Why Apple Is Being Careful About Apps

Source:  Destructoid.

You and I both want an app store for our Apple TV.  Games galore and whatever fancies you.  However, it's a no-go yet even as others experiment with it.  I think I know partly why that is so.

Square Enix, despite having awesome titles still have not managed to make a buck last year on the consoles. That's Playstation, Xbox, and the Wii.  It seems to be doing a better on mobile like on the iPhones and iPads.  I'm sure developers will be pleased when Apple TV gets an app store.

Of course, it's anyone's guess.  Apple has always been very careful about these sort of things.  Until they figure out a perfect way for users to access apps, it won't happen.

In the post, SE blamed the mess that the console market is in.  They blame the cost of doing business which inflates the prices of the games which users shied away from.  Apple is very likely looking to avoid the console makers' mistakes.

I also believe that once Apple decides to launch the app store for Apple TV, gaming will be a major marketing ploy.  Both Apple and publishers will have to sit down and figure out just how they can make sure users can stay engaged while not repeating any of the issues console makers have had to go through.

5-Inch iPhone: Rumblings, Cravings, And Lots of Speculations

I’m sure Apple has iPhone prototypes in Jony Ives’ lab ranging from 3” all the way up to 6”.  It makes sense that Apple would play around with different screen sizes and UI to see what is best for users.  Now, it’s anyone’s guess whether Apple will ever release an iPhone with a bigger than 4” screen current on the iPhone 5.  


Momentum/Issues

However, momentum is building within the Apple blog circle that Apple could conceivable release a 5” iPhone and they speculated how Apple could go about it.  The way they’re doing it is through mockups, speculating about resolutions, DPI, and icon sizes.  I read just about every post I could find on it and love every one of them and hope to God that they’re right.

Here are the more recent ones in the last week or so (Marco, iMore, Daring Fireball).

There are just a few problems.  One is Tim Cook saying that they found the perfect size with the 4” screen that is great for one handed use.  However, Apple has a history of saying one thing and doing another.  What Apple tells us today is what they want the media and its customers to think for today.  Tomorrow is another matter.  It’s an issue but not a major one.  Apple has been known, rather notoriously, for saying one thing only to do the complete opposite a moment later.

The second is that many of these mockups and speculations talk about the 5” DPI being less than the Retina Display.  If falls somewhere between the iPad mini and the iPad Retina Display.  Between this issue and the one-handed use, I think this is much more problematic.  It would not be Retina anymore by Apple’s own definition (as it is today).  Okay, fine.  Neither is the iPad mini or the iPad 2, two Apple products on sale that do not have Retina Displays.

However, a 5” iPhone will be considered a flagship device that will go just against competing flagship phones from Samsung, HTC, Nokia, and RIM.  And basically any punk on the mobile mean street looking to knock off Apple.  By keeping the same as the 4” at 1136x640, Apple leaves itself to cheap marketing shots by its competitors.

In fact, the upcoming Galaxy S 4 will have a 5” 1080p display.  That’s about 440 dpi.  If Apple keeps the 5” display at 1136x640.  I see the marketing from just about everyone who wants to tear one into Apple even if they don’t succeed in destroying iPhone’s good name.


What I Like Apple To Do

What Apple has to do increase the resolution again to keep the DPI within the parameters so that it can call its 5” iPhone display a Retina Display.  Go even as high as 2272x1280, twice the resolution of today’s iPhone 5 display and 4X the number of pixels. There will be added cost but Apple is free to price this higher than the regular 4” iPhone display.  I’m okay with even a 1.5X increase in resolution at 1704x960.  It’s quite feasible from a technical standpoint.  As for the apps, well, I believe app developers will fall in line.

And you know what? I’ll buy it.  Tens of millions of Apple fans will buy it.  Millions will wait eager wait in line for it.  At 2272x1280 or 1704x960, it would blow my socks off!

It would be Apple’s crowning achievement in mobile but it would cost more.  For instance, I see Apple release a 5” iPhone with a $100-150 premium over a comparable 4” iPhone.  And it’ll come with a 32 GB as a base model rather than 16 GB and go all the way up to 128 GB.  Depending on Apple’s willingness to absorb some margin hit and it has shown that in the last couple of financial quarters, Apple could really take the 5” and up segment of the market from Samsung.

My guess is that Apple has already laid the ground work for this.  For one thing, Apple already has the chips capable of running in the iPad 4 when it refreshed the 9.7” iPad with a better CPU just before the Christmas.  According to Apple, the A6X chip inside the iPad 4 has about 50-100% the processing and graphics power as the iPad 3.  And they both run the same display.  So you have to ask yourself what kind of awesomeness this chip will do in a 5” iPhone.  (If you like tech analysis and benchmarks, check out BareFeats and Anantech on the A6X chip.)


Will It or Won’t It?

All these speculations aside, which I’m loving it, it’s hard to say if Apple is going to go for it.  Times have changed since the original iPhone came out of Steve Jobs’ pocket in 2007.  A lot.  The incumbent leaders in mobile have come and gone with Palm being gone and Blackberry look at its new Blackberry 10 devices as make or break for 2013.  Microsoft has yet to mount a comeback (though I think Redmond’s patience will win the day eventually).  Nokia is in the same bed with Microsoft.

For the Android device makers, they’ve gone the bigger screen route and with a lot of success.  Apple’s biggest foe, Samsung, has differentiated itself from the rest of the Android pack with brilliant branding, copy Apple’s success to one degree or another, and really innovated with the bigger screens in the Galaxy Note line.

On top of that, the 5”-ish Galaxy S line is lighting up the high-end segment of the market where Apple usually like to have all to itself.

More than just phones getting bigger, so are the habits of mobile warriors and their behaviors towards their smartphones.  Calling is out.  Texting and other forms of social communication is in.  Twitter, Facebook, blogging as well surfing the Web or using apps take up more time than before.  Bigger screens helps.

We simply don’t use our phones to make calls as much anymore.  Our smartphones are for absorbing information.

I think Apple will eventually relent just as they have with the iPad mini.  However, when it happens, it’ll be on Apple’s terms and parameters.  It will not because investors, pundits, or market forces dictate it so.

Social: Twitter Was Hacked - So Were Others LIke the NYT. Expect More Of This

All Things D.

More than 250,000 Twitter accounts were hacked. Luckily, mine wasn't among those but I'm sure that day will come. And this happened via Twitter, not individuals who were phished or something.

With today's short term media attention, I want to remind ourselves that earlier in the week, the New York Times claimed to have been targeted by Chinese government backed hackers. I know there is no evidence that Beijing had a direct hand in it but, come on, it's China we're talking about.

Later, the Wall Street Journal as well as the Washington Post revealed that they too had the honor of the Chinese probing them from the back.

Needless to say, it's only February and we've for 11 more months to go in 2013. We're looking at a lot more of this for the rest of the year and beyond.

It won't be just social media sites or media giants. I think government sites are next as are public facilities like water, gas, and power facilities.

So ATD is right. It isn't who will be the next to be hacked but who will admit to being hacked.

And what's also right is that there are companies out there that are not aware of security breaches into their networks.

So it kinda makes you wonder about any PC, phones, or tablets you own.

For mobile users, our fear isn't necessarily about our smartphones or tablets. However, it's the data that apps you download and install that we have to worry about. We simply don't know what kinda of data these apps are pulling from our devices. On top of that, we have to trust Apple, Google, Blackberry, and Microsoft to police their app stores on our behalf. The trust we put in Google is doubly more important because it make money off user data.

Just this week, up and coming social network Path was fined $800,000 by the FTC for violations. The fine was for allowing children onto their network and collecting their information. And this is a very good iPhone app that we thought Apple would have done its vetting before allowing the app into the store.

So whether it is companies or individuals, hacking is going to be the norm and the only one thing to know about this and one defense we users have.

We have to know that companies we give our information to will most definitely get hacked. And the only defense we have is common sense.

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Mobile: Thin Should Be Out, Battery Life In

Google's mobile division, AKA Motorola, is working on a new device. An Android device, obviously. No one really knows what specs the device will have but I do have one request to make.

Google, think Droid Razr Maxx HD. Think iPhone 5. By this, I mean consider the long battery life the Maxx has and what the battery life on the iPhone 5 would be if Apple doesn't go for thin.

The Maxx HD has a 3,300 mAh battery coming in at 9.3 mm thick while the iPhone 5 is 2mm thinner at 7.3 mm with only 1,440 mAh of battery.

The weight difference is more apparent with the RAZR coming in at 156 grams versus the iPhone 5 at 112 grams. However, the RAZR is a bigger phone after all.

Having said all that, I gladly take battery life over thinness any day. In the last few days, battery life issues has been a recurring theme for many bloggers and people I know as CES just ended, Blackberry just introduced the new Z10, and a wave of new Android devices are waiting in the wing.

Everyone wants longer battery life for their mobile devices. Almost everyone thinks their current device is thin enough. Instead of going even thinner, users want any space saved with each new chip or hardware change to be used for bigger batteries.

iPhones and Android devices have brought huge changes to our lives in the last five years. But mobile computing has not come close to its potential because of limits in battery life.

Not processing power, screen sizes, or other newer features like BT 4.0 or NFC.

Mobile warriors have been living on their devices and we are ready move away from laptops and cut that cord to the older PC era. We want to cut the cord to the outlet as well.

The RAZR Maxx HD is probably the closest thing to a mobile device that frees the user to do whatever he or she wants without worry about the life line of the phone dying on them before the day is up.

So hopefully, we will see tech companies put more into longer battery life than continuing the arms race of having more cores and/or going even thinner.


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Apple TV: Pending HBO Deal Shows Tech Pundits/Bloggers Are Getting Ahead Of Themselves

Earlier, I wrote about how Apple's attempt to bring HBO to the Apple TV is a good move but doesn't make sense for those who want to cut the cord or have already done so.  Here, a post from The Atlantic that agrees with that assertion.

On top of that, HBO on TV for the consoles have been around for about a year if not longer.  There are a couple of points that I like to further make on this issue.

One, Apple's history of changing lives, how do we do things, and whole industries has spoiled us badly.  Apple TV started off as a hobby for Apple and continues to be so.  A lot of deal was made about television when Steve Jobs' authorized biography claimed that he has cracked television.

What he means only he and Apple knows and Apple remains just as secretive as ever.  But this notion only serves to generate the craziness and irrational exuberance that we have come to expect from every bone-headed rumor or news about Apple.

Tim Cook only indicated Apple has plans for the living room and they continue to work towards that.  The small incremental change to the Apple TV may just be that plan.

Second, Apple's TV plans may not be revolutionary at all.  Tim Cook and his team may come to terms that content providers and the power structure in place in Hollywood will not change for years if not decades and any revolution for television may not happen as quickly as we like.  So, what does Apple do?  It'll have to take what it can and move the goal line by inches rather than leaps.

When you take both points together, you come to one conclusion about Apple's plan for the television.  It's a ground game like in football where you fight for every single yard.  It's not going to be a Joe Montana like bomb and throws everyone into a frenzy.

We may get HBO in 2013.  Maybe more video services or app store in a year or two.  And 4K a few years after that.  It'g going to take a whole to get to media nirvana in the living room.

Oh, and if you think that someone else is going to come along and do what Apple can't, think again.  It will not matter if it's Amazon, Google, Microsoft, or Samsung.  They have their own battle plans for the living room and they looking exactly like Apple's.

The gatekeepers of media content has learned from the music industry. Giving Apple the key to the kingdom in their minds was a mistake and they won't let what happen to the music industry happen to them.

Apple: Any Deals For Media Has To Revolutionize TV, Otherwise, No Point

Apple is always negotiating for content with rights owners so I don’t think I’m breaking my “no rumors” pledge when I point out Bloomberg’s post about Apple negotiating with HBO to bring content over to the Apple TV.  The reason I’m bringing this up now is because from what’s being talked about, it makes zero sense from Apple’s perspective unless it’s about making a few pennies here and here.

See, Apple is a company that prides itself on big changes.  The kind of changes that wows the world.  Apple is the type of company that wants to bring a product to you and me and say, “thanks, Apple.  I didn’t even know I needed this until you brought it up”.

So, what we know about the HBO talk is that Apple is looking to bring HBO Go to the Apple TV so that users can watch HBO shows on it.  Great.  With me so far?  The only thing is that the deal being worked on doesn’t cut the cord.  Users still have to have cable or satellite TV services in order to access HBO’s contents.

How does that help those of us who don’t want to beholden to Time Warner, Charter, Dish, or anyone else who forces us to buy bundles of channels we don’t want or care for?

I will see the HBO app icon on Apple TV taking up valuable screen real estate, get annoyed by it, and skip right over it because I don’t want to sign up with Charter.  I have enough to watch on Netflix, Hulu, and even Redbox Instant.

So, why is Apple even negotiating with anyone about putting HBO Go on Apple TV?  A lot of people feel the same way about cord-cutting like myself.  It is possible that Apple is trying to get a small piece of the pie from HBO and providers for making it accessible on Apple TV.

And should this become a success, I see other channels and providers following HBO’s move in this respect if a deal is struck.  Apple is brilliant for working with HBO on this.

Again, why?  Well, Apple wants to sell hardware.  Apple TV, iOS devices, and maybe the unicorned Appled HDTV.  Unfortunately, I don’t see this helping Apple selling TV at all.  Millions of us are not going to pick up an Apple product to access HBO or other contents if we also have to have cable/SAT TV services.

Siri Can Help You Buy Movie Tickets - Think About It, This Is Huge

After getting the last iOS update, which brings it up to 6.1, I was kinda "meh" except for the security plugs that were long, long overdue.  I was "whatever".  But having a couple of days to digest this now, I'm very excepted about one update:  Siri can now buy movies tickets for you.

First, you have go to download Fandango but that's a small issue. As with any Siri services, you have to download the associated apps as well.  No big thing.

What's big is mobile commerce for Siri just started.  Siri is moving beyond provide some searchable answers to user questions to starting to make money for Apple.  You can bet that any deal with Fandango in the case of buying movie tickets or other deals that Apple is likely to agree to will include Apple getting a piece of the action.  Whether it's a simple transaction fee or Apple getting a percentage of the transaction.

I would love to be able to order pizza through Siri.  Had Apple sealed a deal with Pizza Hut or Dominos, Siri's ability to order pizzas for users would be a huge deal for Superbowl Sunday.

Other services I can think of right off the top are other venues where tickets are are required - amusement parks, sporting events, or museums.  Certainly, any restaurants that provide takeouts.  In fact, Apple should integrate iTunes into Siri.

Suppose I want a movie with some Chinese food because I'm going to have friends over.  It would be awesome to ask Siri to set the whole night up.  "Siri, I want to rent Bourne Legacy and Ted and download them to the Apple TV.  Also, order some Mongolian beef, sauteed spinach, vegetable chow mein from the closest Chinese restaurant to home."

I mean, how awesome would that be?  What's more, Apple is going to make a boat load of money through these kinds of mobile transactions.  A fleet load.  If you're an Apple investor, this is the future you have to look forward to financially.

As a mobile user, you can't help but be excited about what Apple has planned for Siri.  It's not going to happen overnight.  It could take a couple of iOS upgrade cycles.  Even more.  But it's already happening and it'll only get much better.