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Apple accused by industry experts of ‘selling out’

Matt Thomas — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 09:30:14 +0000

Experts in the technology industry are suggesting that the Apple corporation is at risk of disappointing their customers by becoming too complacent. At a time when all of Apple’s key competitors are stepping up their game, Apple appears to have become lackadaisical about the perfection which was once associated with the iconic brand.

Recent issues with a number of Apple products are leading experts to question whether the company is guilty of a form of arrogance which is leading them to create sub-standard devices. The furor around the iPhone 4 signal problems, and recent issues with the 3G/iOS 4 upgrade have brought Apple to the attention of the media for much more negative, than positive, publicity.

The iPhone has been attracting ridicule by high-profile figures such as David Letterman and Jeremy Clarkson. Even Microsoft have waded in with criticism, likening the iPhone to Windows Vista. Recent accusations include suggesting Apple is guilty of bullying behaviour, extensive censorship and policing.

The inventor of RSS, Dave Winer, has commented: “I don’t think the problem is with the iPhone 4. What we’re seeing is Apple’s charm wearing off. The Reality Distortion Field bubble is about to burst. Their run as the Exceptional Company is about to end. Apple is a company that desperately needs to grow up and wipe the smile off its face, roll its sleeves up and start to appreciate that it’s no longer the upstart, the underdog, the Crazy One in the Richard Dreyfus ad. They are The Man, the Boss, the one who, from now on, everyone is going to be taking shots at.”

Many people attribute recent issues with Apple to the arrogance of Steve Jobs, suggesting that he is becoming complacent on behalf of the company. However, there is no denying that Jobs has made a huge success of the organisation, making money and holding an extremely strong share price, which is consistently increasing in value.

Nokia Head of Mobile resigns

Matt Thomas — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 08:05:23 +0000

For the second time this week, telecommunications giants Nokia have hit the news headlines following an announcement that another high-ranking executive has tendered their resignation. The news comes just days after chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo resigned from his position, which he has held since 2006, to be replaced by Stephen Elop from Microsoft.

The head of Nokia’s mobile division, Anssi Vanjjoki will be leaving his role just months after being appointed to it. Vanjoki issued a statement commenting: “I felt the time has come to seek new opportunities in my life. At the same time, I am 100% committed to doing my best for Nokia until my very last working day.”

The announcement follows a blog post with the executive wrote following his appointment in July, which stated his commitment to supporting Nokia to improve in the smartphone market: “It’s my aim to ensure Nokia stays as the market and intellectual leader in creating the digital world. I’m under no illusions; it’s no small task. I am committed, perhaps even obsessed, with getting Nokia back to being number one in high-end devices. Achieving this will require performance and efforts over and above the norm. This is a role I’ve personally been preparing for over the last 20 years.”

Vanjoki will serve a notice period of six months, meaning he will have been in the role for less than a year before leaving to a new position elsewhere.

The announcement follows the appointment of Mr. Elop, as the first non-Finn to take up an executive position within Nokia. The shake-up within the company is thought to follow difficulties that Nokia have been having in penetrating and succeeding within the smartphone market, with stiff competition from the Apple iPhone and Google’s Android operating system. Both of these firms are enjoying a gradual increase in market share as Nokia struggled to maintain their lead in the industry.

It is thought that the changes will lead to further management positions being vacated and replaced over the next few weeks, as the company seeks to find the best possible team to lead them in to a new era of development and improvement.

Google to move in to music market by end of 2010

Matt Thomas — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:55:13 +0000

Search engine giants Google have announced that they are planning to launch a new service for music fans by the end of December. The new service, to be launched in time for Christmas this year, is set to become a rival to Apple’s iTunes music download product. According to a report by Reuters news agency, Google have been in discussion with key record labels about the launch of the new service, in order to offer an innovative music download product.

According to the report, the vice president of engineering for Google (Andy Rubin) has been having conversations with a number of players across the music industry. Rubin has previously been instrumental in launching Google’s Android mobile operating system. The new service for Google fans will feature a music download store to rival iTunes, and a digital music storage system (‘locker’), which stores people’s music choices online in order for it to be accessed by any internet-enabled gadget.

In May, Google commented about their impending service, at a California developers’ event. They have stated that the new service will be closely linked to their Android operating system, and is likely to be released to coincide with the launch of the next software release for Android (2.2). the new plans will add extra pressure to the ongoing rivalry between Apple and Google, who are now competing in a number of different service sectors including advertising, mobile and desktop operating systems.

A record industry executive has commented: “Finally, here’s an entity with the reach, resources and wherewithal to take on iTunes as a formidable competitor by tying it into search and Android mobile platform. What you’ll have is a very powerful player in the market that’s good for the music business.”

Apple face iTunes competition by Sony

Jen — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 09:09:09 +0000

Apple’s hold on the music download market could be challenged in the near future, as Sony announce that they have developed a viable alternative to iTunes. The company launched the new video and music download software at a recent conference in for IFA technology in Berlin. The launch is thought to have been specifically timed to conflict with Apple’s US media event which took place on the same day.

The new service, which is a cloud-based application, will be made accessible for people who use the PlayStation 3 console, Blu-Ray players, Sony personal computers and Bravia televisions. The first phase of the launch ill focus solely upon the download of films, with music facilities being added to the device at some point later in the year.

The new download service, named ‘Qriocity’, has been available to people in the US for video-on-demand since April this year, but is now set to be rolled out across Europe. It is thought that the music facility will give users access to songs in the millions, providing unlimited access when it comes out this year.

The launch follows Sony’s previous attempt to penetrate the digital music market in 2004, through the ‘Connect’ service. Connect did not go down well with consumers, and was pulled from production and distribution towards the end of 2007. Sony have also been piloting a music download service called bandit.fm in Australia and New Zealand over the past few months. Bandit enables people to download an unlimited amount of music for a set cost.

A spokesperson for Sony Europe commented: “Via Qriocity, Sony will deliver a variety of digital entertainment content and services… including video, music, game applications and e-books over time.” Experts in the digital industry are welcoming the launch. A Forrester analyst has commented: “This was a necessary strategic move for Sony. It has done a wise thing launching a multi-media rather than just a music service. Apple has the glue of iTunes but Sony doesn’t have this and it has recognised the need to join the dots between all its disparate devices.”

PayPal and iTunes customers hit by fraud

James Oliver — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:09:39 +0000

Customers of both PayPal and iTunes online services have been hit by a scam which sees many people having funds taken out of their accounts. According to reports, people whose iTunes accounts are linked to PayPal services have been targeted by fraudsters, as they remove funds from accounts. It is thought that the victims of the fraud have been scammed through an e-mail hoax which encourages people to hand over their details to the scammers.

Both Apple and PayPal have not yet issued any comment to the people affected about the scam, or what action to take if they have been the victim of fraud through the sites. The scam is not thought to have taken palace as a result of a failure or flaw on either the Apple or PayPal security or site functions.

People have been tweeting and blogging, stating: “I just got hacked for $1,000 worth of software, videos and music,” and “My account was charged over $4,700. I called security at PayPal and was told a large number of iTunes stores accounts were compromised.” A third victim has commented: “My iTunes account just got hacked and someone made about $700 worth of purchases. I contacted Paypal and they said Apple has gotten so many attacks since June, they can barely keep up with reporting them all.”

Apparently, Apple have released new enhanced security measures in an effort to prevent further fraud from taking place. PayPal has committed to reimburse anyone who has fallen foul of the scam, although they have not released details as to how it has occurred, nor how many people have been affected.

Apple spoke to the BBC, commenting: “iTunes is always working to prevent fraud and enhance the password security of all of our users. But if your credit card or iTunes password is stolen and used on iTunes we recommend that you contact your financial institution and inquire about cancelling the card and/or issuing a chargeback for any unauthorised transactions. We also recommend that you change your iTunes account password immediately.”

Apple manager charged with underhand dealings

Jenny Sanderson — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 07:00:57 +0000

Paul Shin Devine, a global supply manager from Apple in California, has been charged with receiving kickbacks for giving Asian companies confidential company information relating to Apple. He liaised with organisations in Asia which dealt in the supply of iPhone accessories and iPods. Court documents have described how Devine worked with six Asian firms to deliver classified Apple information.

Having worked at Apple since 2005, Devine was in a prime position to hand over information to six companies in Asia, thought to be based in China, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The companies were not specifically named in the court proceedings. Devine, aged 37, is also looking at undergoing a civil suit which has been filed against him by Cupertino, accusing him of gaining over one million dollars in illicit payments and bribes for information which he accrued over several years.

Appearing in court last Friday, the ex-Apple employee was not set bail, and was scheduled to return to court this week to finalise proceedings. He was charged with over twenty counts of money laundering, wire fraud, accepting kick backs and conspiracy. He is alleged to have abused his position in order to share confidential information with suppliers of Apple products, in order to enable them to negotiate favourable terms with Apple. He partnered with Andrew Ang, who is based in Singapore, to achieve the conspiracy. Ang has been charged with wire fraud.

The FBI undertook investigations in to the matter and were supported by the Internal Revenue Service.
Steve Dowling, a spokesperson for Apple, commented: “Apple is committed to the highest ethical standards in the way we do business. We have zero tolerance for dishonest behavior inside or outside the company.”

iPhone leads to swell of game development

Andre — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:43:41 +0000

Apple’s iPhone has created a surge of games development within the UK, a new report suggests. Tiga, the trade association, have discovered that British developers are all keen to capitalise on the popularity of the iPhone and its associated applications, so are seeking to create more virally-popular downloads for the device.

The mobile games market has been described by some industry experts as a ‘gold rush’. However, reports also suggest that tax issues are forcing a number of UK developers to move abroad to benefit from more lucrative pay deals.

Chris Byatte, from publishers Chillingo commented: “This is a golden era for games development. The carriers have been taken out of the equation by Apple, who make it really simple for people to get their titles into its App Store. Now, a bedroom programmer can get a number-one hit, competing against the likes to Electronic Arts. It’s very exciting.”

A spokesperson from Screen Digest cautioned against undue optimism about the recent popularity of games for the iPhone: “These good times will not last forever. At the moment, there is something of a gold rush and – over time – many of these firms are going to be weeded out. The opening of these channels and the development of direct channels to the consumer is making these markets considerably cheaper.”

“But, as the consumer expectation of games experience goes up and games become more refined, development costs will rise and it’s a safe bet that many of the games currently on the market won’t be financially successful. Adverts are a bonus for the games industry, but are very much a secondary business model. It’s nicely incremental and we expect it to grow, but it is not that significant at present.”

Apple takes huge bite of profit

Admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 07:30:36 +0000

Apple have been in the news too much for their own liking over the past few weeks, following the controversial issues which have been discovered with their iPhone 4 smartphone product.

The setbacks with the iPhone 4 led to a number of industry experts predicting a drop in profits, as a result of the phone’s signal function. However, released figures show that Apple have achieved an enormous share of profit over the past quarter.

Despite lowered returns expected by Wall Street experts, Apple have generate d a net income of $3.25bn between April and June this year, with share prices increasing accordingly. Share prices shot up by 3.4 percent as soon as the figures were announced, suggesting that faith in Apple has not diminished despite the issues the company have had with the launch of the iPhone 4. The profit surge is thought to be primarily due to sales from Mac computers.

With profits approximately one billion dollars above that predicted by financial analysts and investors, all seems to be well with Apple. A financial analyst commented: “These are astounding numbers and even more astounding guidance. This is one of the few times in recent memory that Apple’s guidance has been ahead of the street at a time when investors were getting concerned the iPhone 4 antenna issues could hamper sales. Apple’s sending a strong signal it sees things differently.”

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has added his comments: “It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple’s history with iPhone 4. iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year.”

With Macs, iPads and iPhones all selling well despite recent negative publicity, Apple is currently beating financial expectations in the industry.

iTunes developer banned by Apple store

James Oliver — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 07:30:29 +0000

A Vietnamese software developer has been banned from Apple’s applications store, following allegations that he has promoted his own publications within online popularity lists. According to iTunes, out of 150 million accounts held by the online music store, 400 accounts were hacked by the developer, in an attempt to promote his own titles on bestseller lists.

Thuat Nguyan, an application developer, gained access to user accounts in order to place comic book applications in to the bestseller lists. He fraudulently hacked credit card details to boost his own sales of applications within iTunes.
Nguyen’s applications occupied 42 spaces within the fifty most popular applications sold within Apple’s site. Apple has released a statement suggesting that the hacker has not compromised servers within iTunes in any way, and only a small percentage of users were affected by the fraudulent activity.

Despite Apple’s statement, they have resolved to tighten security measures around the iTunes site to ensure that this activity cannot be repeated. Nguyen has been removed from the site, for violating the programming licence agreement. Apple have recommended that if anyone feels their credit card has been compromised, they should contact their bank to resolve the issue.

The Chief Technology Officer for Imperva, the security firm, has commented: “It was probably a bogus book and it was just a way to take money from one account and put it in another. If he had kept it out of the top 50 the scam may never have been detected. It is likely the details of iTunes accounts were acquired via a phishing attack or from other compromised accounts such as web mail. We are seeing a trend for hackers targeting accounts such as iTunes and online poker accounts. You can monetise this kind of account very quickly.”

Apology by Apple for iPhone malfunction

James Oliver — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 06:19:35 +0000

The debate surrounding the technical fault with Apple’s new iPhone 4 has taken a surprising turn this week, as global media saw Apple apologise to their consumers for a hiccup in their technology. The iPhone has been heavily criticized since it launched for losing signal strength when held in a certain way, and so far Apple has only been able to advise customers to hold the phone differently, to avoid the issue.

Apple’s latest gadget, released in June, has an antenna built in to the stainless steel casing which houses the handset, and it was previously thought that it was this design which led to a number of people reporting a loss of signal when the phone was grasped. Left-handed people appeared to be more susceptible to the signal loss, which prompted Apple to advise people not to hold the phone by the lower left corner. They also recommended that people purchase a rubber ‘bumper’ which shields the phone against loss of signal.

However, Apple has since announced that they believe it is an internal fault within the iPhone 4 which is causing it to incorrectly display the phone’s signal. They state that there is a technical error in the phone which affects how the signal bars are displayed, as opposed to a mechanical fault with the engineering design of the gadget. They are now promising to produce a patch fix for the issue, which will be available within a few weeks. Dissatisfied consumers are also able to take their phone back to a retail outlet and obtain a full refund within 30 days of purchase.

Apple stated: “Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays two more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display four bars when we should be displaying as few as two bars.”

“Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying four or five bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.”

Despite Apple’s surprising admission, industry experts fear that there may be a more deeply-rooted issue with the signal than a simple cosmetic flaw.

OU achieves record downloads for educational tracks

Jenny Sanderson — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 07:50:37 +0000

Distance learning giants The Open University has this week smashed a world record for the amount of iTunes tracks to be downloaded. They are the first organisation to achieve 20 million downloads. iTunes U, the educational space used by universities globally to share and distribute educational material online, has reached massive download figures of around 250 million.

The Open University first posted educational material on Apple’s download service iTunes U in 2008, and has been a popular resource for material since then, achieving their 20 million mark in just two years. Where once the Open University was known for using late-night and early morning television to air their course materials and educational programmes, it seems that the company is now harnessing the power of the internet to make their educational material available to students, globally.

Vice-chancellor of the Open University Martin Bean commented: “The way people want to learn is changing. The growth of the iTunes U concept reflects the changing ways that people are learning. Many now actively seek out content they are interested in and which they can watch, read or listen to when it suits them. New channels are helping people to fit learning in with their lifestyles, and the OU has always kept pace with the changing world of technology.”

Free downloads made available by the OU include learning materials, support for courses, tutorials and audio clips. They are available to the general public in addition to students of the university, which has enabled a number of people to simply enter the Apple store and locate subjects which interest them. One of the most popular audio files is a French course for beginners, and 25% of downloads relate to science, engineering, maths and technology.

People are using mobile phones to download and listen to the tracks, making the service hugely accessible to people wishing to learn. The university has provided 525 different courses online, and estimate that 162,000 students use the service. Every day, 45,000 students of the Open University go online to work.

Other universities including Oxford, Warwick and Cambridge are also harnessing the power of the web to distribute materials, and Oxford recently announced that they had achieved more than three million track downloads since they started using iTunes U.

Smartphone data deals to be scrapped by phone companies

Admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:30:02 +0000

Many UK phone companies which currently offer unlimited data plans for smartphones are looking to cap data usage in the UK. O2, Vodafone and Three have all announced that they intend to limit data usage, in a move which coincides with the recent launch of the Apple iPhone.

O2, which operated as Apple’s exclusive partner in the UK for Apple’s iPhone, has just brought in a cap of 1GB each month for new contracts signing up for the service. Vodafone and Three are following suit, suggesting an agreement across the companies to reduce data use through devices. Rather than attempt to offer better deals in a competitive market, the decision has sparked a debate as to whether the phone companies have concerns about the possibility of networks being clogged by large data downloads.

Orange have had an imposed 750MB limit since they began to provide iPhones in 2009, which they term their ‘fair usage’ policy. Most of the providers offer variable data packages depending upon the type of contract which users sign up to when they purchase their smartphones, between 500MB and 1GB monthly. This is meant to cover up to 1,000 emails with attachments, or up to 300 MP3 downloads.

The launch of better, faster smartphones has led to rapid data consumption, with people streaming more and more information on their gadgets. This has created a ripple in the mobile industries, as companies rethink their original packages in an effort to reduce congestion from numerous users downloading data at the same time.

O2 currently lets users know when they are getting close to their limit, via text. Once a user has reached their personal limit, they are not allowed to surf, and functionality is limited to the sending and receipt of emails. They have provided a top-up service where users can purchase additional data allowance, at £5 for 500MB. While most people who own smartphones do not reach their monthly allowance of data, it seems that mobile phone companies will have to act quickly to ensure that their capabilities for provision of service can meet the demand created by enhanced smartphone functionality.

iPhone 4 causing problems for consumers

Matt Thomas — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 07:43:27 +0000

Consumers who flocked to get their hands on the new iPhone 4 by Apple have already discovered that the phone has some design flaws. Apple has issued an official statement giving advice to people who are finding that the phone loses signal if it is grasped in the left corner when making calls.

Apple’s latest release of the iPhone was available for purchase this week, and many people queued for hours to secure one for themselves. Within hours, dismay at the phone’s poor reception and signal strength circulated online. It transpires that the phone’s design means that when it is held in a certain way, obscuring the bottom left side of the gadget, the phone’s signal ceases to work. This issue is more apparent for left-handed users, who hold the phone differently, obscuring the antenna.

Apple have not managed to provide much reassurance to concerned users, stating that people should simply hold the iPhone in a different way, or purchase a cover which prevents the antenna being obscured when held. In a recent statement, Apple commented: “Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas.”

The new iPhone’s stainless steel casing has been designed to operate as an antenna, boosting signal strength, and yet many people are finding that when the phone is handled, the signal bars slowly drop until there is no reception, rendering the gadget completely useless.

Consumers have been posting video online to remark on the poor reception of the new iPhone, and complaining that the phone is useless in its current state. Twitter has been flooded with people sharing their wrath about the phone. It remains to be seen what Apple will choose to do about the poor publicity its latest product is receiving.

Apple allow Bing as a search option for iPhone

Andre — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:00:00 +0000

Among the many announcements made by Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ at WWDC in San Francisco yesterday was the interesting fact that Microsoft’s Bing will become a search option on the iPhone. Microsoft is also expected to announce later in the week that Bing will also become an option on both the Windows and MAC versions of Apple’s Safari browser.

Bing joins fellow Apple rivals Yahoo as a search option on the iPhone, but Google will remain the default search engine. Nevertheless this is a big step for Microsoft in their attempts to catch up with Google.

“Apple today announced that Bing will be included as one of the search engine choices within Safari on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and within the Safari browser on the Mac and PC,” Senior Vice President Yusuf Mehdi said in a blog post. “Needless to say, we are excited that Bing will be included as an option in Safari because it will make it easier for you to search and get the benefits of Bing.”

Mehdi also revealed that Microsoft has been working with Apple “over the last couple of months” to deliver Bing for Safari which will include some HTML5 work for the iPhone version.

“In addition, we are continuing to improve our existing Bing mobile application for iPhone which makes it easy to search, map, and find commerce and movie times,” Mehdi said. “We will have a new release with even more great features very soon. For those of you that have not already tried it, you can find it in the App Store today.”