Wireless Mergers: MetroPCS Approves T-Mobile Takeover, Sprint Would Benefit from Softbank

Source:  Wireless Week.

When President Obama was about to sign into law the Affordable Care Act, an open mic caught Vice-President Joe Biden telling POTUS “it’s a big fraking deal”.  I substituted “frak” with the other well known “f” word.  And whether you agree with it or not, it was.  And while recent moves in the wireless merger and acquisition market are that earth shattering, T-Mobile bulking up with MetroPCS after its revamping of the whole wireless industry in the US with its new pricing plans and Softbank (though it isn’t over given Dish is trying to muscle in) looking for a foothold in the lucrative US market by buying Sprint, those are big deals too.

Today, MetroPCS approved of the deal to merge with T-Mobile.  The newer bigger company will provide competition to AT&T and Verizon Wireless neither have seen before.  And Softbank will give Sprint a life line that not even the iPhone can provide.

Both companies will offer greater variety in a wireless market increasing dominated by AT&T and Verizon.

And if you don’t remember even five years ago, you were unable to get flagship devices on any carrier but the top ones.  Today, flagship devices have proliferated across national and regional carriers because of competition among the carriers and between the device makers themselves.

So, while not healthcare reform “big deal”, a stronger Sprint and T-Mobile are huge deals for the wireless market and awesome for mobile warriors.

No 5” Or Greater Screen for iPhone While Trade-Offs Exist

Someone ask Tim Cook during Apple’s financial call today.  What Tim Cook gave as an answer was very interesting.

First, he gave the same Apple line about iPhone’s screen.  It’s the best out there.

Of course, you think that would be it and then ask for the next question.  What he said next was interesting and gave me hope that we might see a future iPhone with a bigger screen, 4.5”, 4.8”, 5”, or greater than the 4” screen on the iPhone 5.  Cook said that as long as certain trade-offs exist, it’s a non-issue.  So, if whatever these trade-offs are met, then we will lkely see a new form factor iPhone with a bigger screen.

What could these trade-offs be?

While near 5” and 5” screens on iPhone’s competitors exist and are flooding the market, such as the Galaxy S 4 and HTC One, Cook seem to suggest that they are made with these technological trade-offs.  Screen quality is one thing.  However, from what I can see, 720p and 1080p screens on 4.5” and 5” screens look great.

I think the larger issue is also battery life and to some extent, the graphics that has to be pushed out to power these big screens.

Size, namely form factor and Apple’s insane fetish with thinness, battery life, and graphics are all issues that Apple has to deal.  Similarly, we saw this in the iPad and iPad mini.  The iPad 2 did not come with a Retina Display as many had hoped because of the power required to drive such a display while maintaining its size and weight.  And when the iPad 3 did finally get the Retina Display, there was a slight increase in weight and thickness.

The disappointment in the iPad mini released with no Retina Display is also an issue as well – Apple just was not able to fit in a Retina Display within the thins form factor and weight they were aiming for while having the battery life be the same as the regular iPad.

We are seeing the same thing is a potential 5” iPhone.  Apple is shooting for this in the 5” iPhone:

• Weight.  It has to be lighter than competing devices.  And it cannot weigh significantly heavier than the iPhone 5
• Thiness.  It has to be at least as thin as the iPhone 5 but still maintain its form factor without compromising the integrity of the screen so that it can crack easily.
• Graphics.  Apple’s silicon team has to find a way to drive a 5” screen with conceivable higher resolutions, which means driving more pixels than ever, without using more power.
• Battery Life.  At the very least, it has to have the same usage per charge as the iPhone 5.

So, in order for Tim Cook to release a 5” iPhone, it would have to be as thin as the iPhone, screen has to be stronger, still very light, and maintain performance parity or better than the iPhone 5 which now stands at 8 hours of Internet use (10 hours on WiFi), 10 hours of video, and 40 hours of audio playback.

Actually, as far as performance and battery life goes, Apple will try to shoot for iPad like numbers in terms of performance and battery life.

So, once all these factors are met, we’ll get our 5” iPhone.

Signs That Your Mobile Device Is Infected By Malware Or Viruses

Windows used to be the playground of malware and viruses and it still is but as more and more users migrate over to mobile, the spread of bad apps and data stealing malware have spread especially on Android.  There is no denying that.

Here is a sort of a beginner's post from Read Write regarding virus and malware on your mobile and signs that your device might be infected.  While the post is directed at Android devices, make no mistake, it's about all mobile including iPhone, Windows Phone, and other platforms as well.

First, your battery life.  True if the malware is doing stuff in the background.  The post talked about displaying ads.  I think worse things can and probably are happening.

Then there's dropped calls.  I'm not so sure about this one.  While the post hesitates to blame the carrier, I don't have that issue.  However, the rest of the post are more interesting.  Slow performances, higher than usual phone bills, and data spikes.

Now, keep in mind that none of these alone could be attributed to malware.  Battery life on any device is pretty bad in general even a pristine Android install like that on a Nexus 4.  And yes, while Apple has done wonders with the battery life of the thin iPhone 5, it's still "meh" to me.

But you get bad battery life, lots of data, slow performance, and you getting charged for things you did buy or services you don't have, that's usually a good sign your device is infected.

No, Apple Is Not Secretly Trying To Out Tim Cook - Forbes Now Just A Regular Blog And Throws Journalism Out

There are a couple posts since this week that seemed like an orchestrated effort to discredit Tim Cook specifically and Apple in general.  See, there are folks who are suggesting that Apple has begun looking for Tim Cook’s replacement.  Bull crap (feel free to go stronger than that).  I’m not going to be linking to them because it just feeds this beast.

So, I’ll like to Fortune’s counter post on this and I recommend reading it as it puts what’s going on at Apple in perspective – namely, a dysfunctional stock market with blatant abuses and manipulations that the government is helpless to do anything about and an once respected business magazine (Forbes) that has turned to company hacks with agendas or axes to grind.

Apparently, and I've felt this as well, Forbes has hired itself out to be used as an investment and agenda driven blog site for "financial" and tech bloggers that has questionable analytic skills and documented biases towards one company or another.  And these days, Forbes knows that to drive traffic, getting on the Apple bashing bandwagon gets eyeballs.

In fact, on this Tim Cook replacement topic, Forbes has competing posts about that.  What better way to game the click-bait game than to play both sides?

However, it’s not to say that Tim Cook isn’t without blame.  Heck, I’m not sure he is to be blamed for anything.  All I am saying is that maybe someday, just maybe Tim Cook may be replaced for something he did.  After all, no one is perfect.  Even Steve Jobs made a few blunders at Apple and elsewhere.  But if does happen, it’ll be cause Apple fans demand it.

And right now, Apple fans and bloggers are just as happy with Tim Cook as they have been with Steve Jobs.

Whatever happens or results from Apple’s earnings for the last quarter, I only know that they’ll make billions and add that much if not more in cash to its accounts and will do what’s good for the company with it and the stockholders be damned.

Tale of Two App Discovery Apps: AppShopper Back But Big-Mouth AppGratis Can Forget About It

Source:  Pocketgamer.

AppGratis as we know by now gets developers to pay for installation.  It’s a manipulation of Apple’s ranking as Apple sees it but others like the AppGratis investors think it’s a form of advertising.  The way to set things right would be for AppGratis developers to try to talk to Apple and find a common ground.  In fact, AppShopper probably did just that – opening a dialogue between itself and Apple.  The result?  It’s now back in the App Store.

On the other hand, CEO Simon Dawlat lied about AppGratis’ business model which he said the app doesn’t take payment from developers for installation and promotion in an attempt to manipulate app ranking. And when documents leaked online that showed he lied, he still would not back down.  In Apple or anyone’s book, that’s a no-no.  This TechCrunch post explains it all.

What also isn’t likely to make Apple happy is an online petition to get AppGratis back into the App Store.  Dude, I could have told them this would not work.  If anything, AppGratis is screwed entirely.

Meanwhile, AppShopper is back in.  AppShopper probably was pulled because it attempted to be an app store within Apple’s App Store.  Now, that’s changed.  What’s new is a social component and gone are rankings for the time being.  Personally, I don’t care for the ranking because I realized I like apps that are not necessarily high up anywhere.  But I do like the wish list function, which drives me nuts because I think it’s something Apple should include in all of its stores across iTunes and iCloud.

It’s a lesson for developers in this app drama when it comes to dealing with Apple.  Private dialogue is preferred over public outrage that means absolute nothing to Apple and only serves to alienate Cupertino all the more.  On top of that, trying to game Apple’s rules just isn’t the way to engage Apple and to manipulate its users.

As for AppShipper Social, I think this is a good first step and I like to see better social engagement in future versions.

Apple Donates Money and Devices to The Chinese Affected By Major Quake

Source: Arstechnica.

Apple is donate about $8 million dollars to the Sichuan region of China that was hit by a major earthquake.  On top of that, it’ll also be donating devices to schools affected by the disaster.  It’s a PR move.  It’s also a good move.  And Apple is letting the Chinese know about it.

However, knowing the leech mentality of the Chinese government, they’ll find some way to discredit the help from Apple and other foreign entities by suggesting it was inadequate or something worse while playing up domestic help that may not even come close.  This kind of myopic focus on national pride has already shown signs that it is wearing thin on the masses.

Transcription Would Be A Bigger Deal If Apple's Voice Dictation Works Off-Line But Google Already Does That

I'm sure the voice dictation function built into iOS and OS X devices will eventually work off-line, like Google's does now.   Eventually, Siri I have phone functions that were off-line.  By off-line, I mean without having the need to connect to the Internet and send the voice thing Apple server farms.

I started thinking about this when I thought how great iOS will work if it also has a powerful transcription. It will serve a lot of professionals.  Doctors, lawyers, writers, journalists, and even students.

It has taken me a while to get used to voice dictation. I try to use it as often as I can. So the most part, I avoid doing it because either I am in public, at work, are at a place where there is no Internet connection. And of course, speaking into an iPhone and having that information sent through the Internet to Apple and getting the results does take a valuable battery power. No, iPhone battery life these a lot to be desired.

I have found a few apps that does transcribing for you.  You speak into the app and that gets sent to the company that offers the app and you get the results back.  And while the apps are free, some of these companies charge by the minute.

And, as far as I know Dragon Dictate also requires the user to have a live Internet connection.

That leaves only Google's: users of Android devices can dictate to their messaging app or email app or any other text app without requiring live Internet connection.

For my fellow mobile warriors, I really encourage you to give dictation thingies regardless of whether you're an iOS or Android user. In fact, I am dictating this post instead of typing. There are some corrections that I may hear there, but for the most part it has been keyboard free.