AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

It's official.  iLounge reports 500 million apps have been downloaded from Apple's app store.    This is incredible.  Also incredible is that there are now 15,000 apps available for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  That right folks.  These numbers are big.  When the app store debutted back in July of 2008, there were only 500 apps.   Here's a bit of the breakdown in reaching this remarkable half a billion downloads: Six weeks prior to December 5, iPhone and iPod Touch users have downloaded 200 million apps. On december 5, Apple announced 300 million apps were downloaded. In a merely 42 days, another 200 million apps were downloaded to reach half a billion.  That's 500 million downloads in all. 15,000 apps available for download. Any bets on when we reach 1 billion? Source:   iLounge , Apple (need to go see it now before it goes away)

This just in.   Steve Jobs of Apple Inc will take a leave of absence citing distraction his health situation has created.  In the letter, Jobs indicated his health situation was more "complex" than initially thought.   Tim Cook will take over day-to-day duties. Source:   Yahoo News (AP) Note:  After Jobs initial explanation a couple of weeks ago, many doctors were quoted in the media wondering if Jobs' cancer had returned.  Then, a hormonal issue as stated by Jobs was easily remedied.  Wish you the best, Steve.  See you in June!

It's over. There will never be another one like it. For the last Macworld Keynote, we weren't blown out of the water with anything spectacular. Blogs and podcasts alike have been all over how this ended.   Nevertheless, those of us follow Apple will just have to soldier on and wait for those special events that dotted the calendar year for updates on existing Apple products (and maybe new ones too).  So, what do I personally expect in the coming year? Based on my years of watching Jobs, Apple, and their product cycle, and I can make some simple predictions for folks new to the Cupertino scene.  Just as Apple have declared, product introductions will take place in smaller venues at special events at a time of Apple's choosing.  Usually, the media is will receive an invitation that provides some sort of clue to what Apple has planned. The iMac is due for a refresh.  There are plenty of rumors and I don't traffic in them but I believe that given the up...

Given the good press the Palm Pre is getting so far in the media, one part of the story that is mentioned but hardly highlighted is the people behind Palm's latest and best chance of turning things around. Now, we don't know if Palm Pre or the new widget-based OS will be the new OS X of the mobile market. There will be a lot of waiting, analyzing, blogging, and speculating along this line and we'll see a lot of comparisons to Apple and Apple's turnaround because a lot of the folks at Palm now trying to revive the company were former Apple executives or engineers. Certainly there are top names we've all heard in the media. Lesser known are the number of former Apple engineers. However, should Palm succeed in turning it around, imagine how hot former Cupertino executives will be, especially those who had the fortune of being personally schooled (or ripped a new one) in the Jobsian view of the world. And there is no denying that Palm Pre's UI and other implement...

We know Steve Jobs will never release a netbook for the sake of doing it.  Nor is Apple's answer to the netbook the iPhone.  A couple of weeks or so ago, folks started comparing iPhone shipments to netbook shipments.  You'll have to excuse those people.  It's the Holidays.  We're in a recession.  We were all dying for news, rumors...anything from Apple or Mac related (little did we know that last week, Apple would stir up controversy with their Jobs-no-show-at-Macworld announcement). If you're looking for a netbook running OS X, MSI Wind remains the best solution.  For those will are willing to wait, this is Apple's $600-$700 netbook (I've reduced the price by $100 since November - but I can't go lower to $500 because it will be too close to the iPod Touch 32GB model).  Let's call it "iDevice". iDevice will take the form of a tablet.  Not clam shell like netbooks.  No keyboard. Run iPhone/iPod Touch OS. It'll do what it's sup...

There is an iPhone Nano.  There's also an iPhone Flip, flip phone for the iPhone.  With that out of the way, let's talk about the reality of such a device, the iPhone Nano, Nano for short in this post The iPhone 3G screen is just the right size, making the case easy to hold in your hand.  Now, with the Nano, we would naturally have to believe the screen is going to be quite a bit smaller.  The iPhone sports a 3.5" Multi-touch LCD screen.  Many other devices on the market with some sort of touch technology vary in screen size but one will never identify them as being small due to bulk and thickness.  Not to mention weight.  But coming from Apple, mobile users would have to consider a smaller screen, about 2.8" and just as think as the iPod Touch. First the screen .  Why 2.8"?  I did a basic search into Verizon's touch screen offerings from LG,  HTC, and Samsung.  They fall between 2.8" to 3.2".  The T-Mobile G1 also h...

This is just something I made up while chatting with Dave the Mobile Warrior on Skype last night about Apple's unexpected exit (unexpected from the standpoint of folks who were not graced to insider information).  But when Apple VP Phil Schiller takes the stage as the keynote speaker traditionally reserved for Steve Jobs, just what kind of position is he being put it?  So, we dreamt up a cool scenario for the last Macworld Apple will participate in. Schiller goes on stage and goes through his routine.  Great Christmas.  Great quarter they just had.  Billions made.  Then he tells folks the iMac, Mac Mini, and Mac Pros will all be updated.  Though it all, Phil gets forced ethusiastic applauses because of the impossible situation he's put under.  He knows it. But then he says, "we've got a special guest I like to bring out to talk about the next revolutionary product from Apple.  You all know him.  Steve Jobs!". Crowd goes wild...