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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.

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.

Apple’s iPhone 4 now available for pre-order from US site

Andre — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 08:46:18 +0000

The new Apple 32GB iPhone 4 details have now been released for pre-order, for those eager Apple fans looking to secure the latest gadget from the technology giants. It is now possible to reserve the device through an Apple store in the US, or arrange for it to be delivered to a home address in June.

The Apple site is currently receiving complaints due to slow loading times, which suggests the new phone is causing a flurry of interest and a high volume of traffic to the site.

Currently, there is no option to reserve the white version of the handset, and only orders for the classic black can be taken through the site or via AT&T. For those customers looking to pick up a white version, the only option is to visit a local Apple store or retail outlet on June 24th and hope to obtain one before stocks run out.

People will be offered an upgrade to the new device if they purchased one when it was launched in 2008, and their contract is up for renewal. The Apple web site provides details of upgrade eligibility and contract expiry times.

The new iPhone offers a ‘tethering’ option, which enables users to add wireless services to their account. This feature makes it possible to use the iPhone as a Wi-Fi hotspot for laptops, so customers can access the web wherever they happen to be. If there is no free Wi-Fi available in a certain area, this could be a useful option. However, this feature comes at additional cost on the monthly tariff for the phone, and there are significant charges for those customers who exceed their agreed monthly amount of data.

As a rough estimate, 200MB is enough data to send and receive 1,000 e-mails without attachments, and 150 e-mails with attachments. It would also enable people to view 400 web pages, post 50 photos on social media sites, and watch 20 minutes of streaming video per month.

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.”

Apple’s iPhone4 network availability released

Jenny Sanderson — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 09:00:01 +0000

Apple’s brand new iPhone 4 will launch in Britain on June 24th surprisingly the same day as it also goes on sale in America. The other lucky countries to get the phone on its global release include Germany, Japan and France.

Apple have not yet released any information on pricing but O2, Vodafone and Orange have announced that they will all be carrying the phone whilst Phones 4 U and Carphone Warehouse have both said that they will be selling the device.

Vodafone has invited their users to register for updates “on pricing and tariff plans”, via vodafone.co.uk/iphone. Orange has released an official statement confirming that it will be stocking the device but with no information about price plans, and O2, the original exclusive retailer of the iPhone, has announced a “special upgrade deal” for in-contract customers much like AT&T have done in the US.

“To make it as easy as possible for O2 customers still in contract to get their hands on a new iPhone, O2 will offer a limited time special upgrade offer. Further details will be announced in the coming days,” said a company spokesperson. They have set up a special website at o2.co.uk/iphonelatest.

Tim Whiting, chief executive and Phones4U pointed out, however, that the new iPhone was in an increasingly crowded market:

“We anticipate that the imminent arrival of the hotly anticipated iPhone 4 will continue to drive strong sales which will be compounded by the arrival of competing smartphones to the market from the other handset manufacturers.”

No specific details on pricing for the UK have been released by Apple either, but the company is taking registrations.

The phone will retail for $299 for the 64bg and $199 for the 32gb in the US.

Apple unveil iPhone 4

Matt Thomas — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:09:43 +0000

After the drama surrounding the ‘lost iPhone’ in recent months there has been a lot of talk as to whether or not we had seen a rare early glance of an Apple product.

All the speculation was put to bed yesterday as Apple officially launched the much anticipated updated version of its iPhone with chief executive, Steve Jobs, describing it as the world’s thinnest smart-phone, and “the most precise, beautiful thing we’ve ever designed”
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Jobs, proclaimed at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco that iPhone 4 was “the biggest leap forward” the company have made since the original iPhone.

The new iPhone 4 is made from glass and stainless steel resembling the latest Macbook laptops. It features a much sharper five-megapixel front-facing camera with an LED flash. The screen on the new iPhone is four times the resolution of the display on the current iPhone 3GS as Apple have implemented an all new Retina display making the screen super sharp. Jobs also revealed that iPhone 4 can also record and edit high definition video.

Steve Jobs also did a live demonstration of Apple’s new video calling service known as ‘FaceTime’ by calling Jonny Ive, Apple’s chief designer.

The iPhone 4 will be available in the UK shortly after the US date (allegedly) on June 24, in a choice of black or white. Pricing and upgrade details have not been released by Apple just yet.

The iPhone 4 uses Apple’s own A4 processor, which Jobs said gave the device superior speed and performance, as well as a bigger, better battery that will allow users to use the device for longer between charges. There’s also a gyroscope built in to the device, which allows movement to be measured even more precisely than the 3G model, and could inspire a whole new generation of iPhone games, said Jobs.

Apple also gave more details about its new operating system for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, known as iOS4.

The software update will finally bring multi-tasking to the iPhone, this will allow users to run multiple applications and programs simultaneously, and will also enable users to organise their applications in to folders.

Apple showcase support for HTML5

Jenny Sanderson — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:40:07 +0000

Apple has given a statement of intent this week as they have pushed the HTML5 standard over Adobe’s Flash technology with an online demo that showcases its talents.

The new showcase has been published on Apple’s website and is primarily aimed at encouraging developers to embrace the HTML5 standard in their web, software and application design. Apple has made it quite clear in recent months that they favour HTML5 over rival Adobe format Flash which is not supported on any of Apple’s multimedia devices, such as the iPhone and iPad.

A series of demonstrates in the showcase show off the technical capabilities of HTML5, from the way that it is able to handle videos to the manner in which it can support picture galleries and audio features. However, in a cheeky move by Apple they have rigged it so that those wishing to view the demos will need to download and install Safari, Apple’s own web browser.

“Every new Apple mobile device supports web standards, including HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript,” said Apple. “These web standards are open, reliable, highly secure and efficient. They allow web designers and developers to create advanced graphics, typography, animations and transitions. Standards aren’t add-ons to the web – they are the web.”

Apple has been involved in an increasingly bitter and well documented war of words with Adobe over its Flash technology. Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, has called the technology “buggy”, while Adobe are privately furious that Apple has changed its app development rules to prevent people using Adobe’s emulator software to create apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

“We choose what tech horses to ride, we look for tech that has a future,” said Steve Jobs at the D8 digital conference in California earlier this week. “Flash looks like it had its day but it’s waning, and HTML5 looks like it’s coming up.”

New iPhone set to be unveiled

Andre — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 11:35:08 +0000

Apple chief executive, Steve Jobs, is set to reveal the companies new iPhone at WWDC in San Francisco next week.

The new iPhone is rumoured to have a new, squarer look, as well as a plethora of new features which includes an improved camera, increased battery life, bigger storage and a higher resolution display.

Apple traditionally uses its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) as the first showcase of its latest iPhone range. The event brings together engineers from around the world, all of whom write software and applications for Apple products, such as the iPhone and recently released iPad.

Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, will take to the stage at 6pm UK time, on Monday 7th June for one of his most hotly anticipated keynote speech’s, where he is expected to show off the latest addition to the prolific iPhone line-up, whilst revealing more details about the new iPhone OS 4.0 operating system that the new phone will be running. Analysts are expecting few surprises from Apple, but believe that improvements to the iPhone are integral if it is to stay ahead of the chasing pack when it comes to mobile phone technology.

“We’ll see the evolution of an established and hugely successful product rather than a revolutionary new device,” said Geoff Blaber, an analyst with CCS Insight. “Apple has to continue improving. It’s facing a barrage of competition that didn’t exist three years ago when the first iPhone was launched. Google’s Android platform is gaining in momentum and popularity, and is an increasingly capable operating system.”

It is sure to be one of the most intriguing conferences to date after all the fuss surrounding the ‘lost iPhone’ over the last month or so, come Monday we will all know whether or not that really was a rare slip from Apple or perhaps a clever ploy to cover up something even more special….roll on Monday!

Lala music streaming service shutdown by Apple

Jenny Sanderson — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 09:00:47 +0000

Apple have officially shut down the Lala music streaming service that it acquired at the beginning of the year, just like the company said it would. Visitors to Lala.com will now see a message that says, “The Lala service has been discontinued as of May 31st, 2010.”

Many Lala users will surely be concerned at this news wondering what will happen to the money they have spent on songs and other services from the Lala site.

It turns out you won’t be cutting your losses and that Apple are actually providing a decent deal. All the money users have spent on Lala will be refunded in full in the form of an iTunes Store credit code sent via e-mail. Apple has said that it will round refunds under $10 up to the nearest $1 and refunds of more than $10 to the nearest $5 the same will apply for UK users.

So now that Apple have finally made the announcement that Lala has been shut down, what, if anything, will replace it?

Apple didn’t spend $80 million on the service just to close it down and be done with it surely. The Wall Street Journal was told by “people familiar with the matter” that Apple will launch its own version of Lala’s unique music library hosting service.

If the WSJ’s sources are correct, users will be able to upload their iTunes library to Apple’s servers so that the entire music library can be accessed on other computers or a mobile device like an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, as long as you have Internet access.

According to online Social Media guide Mashable:

“The mobile aspect seems the most likely component of Apple’s post-Lala plan, given that the ability to combine streaming music from the Internet with other tasks is one of the major pillars of the recently-announced iPhone OS 4.0.”

Next week’s much anticipated WWDC event to be held by Apple should provide more information on their future plans for Lala, watch this space.

Microsoft’s market cap beaten by Apple

Andy Russell — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:06:43 +0000

It has been a rather historic few weeks for Apple as their iPad tablet computer has now sold over two million and now it has been revealed that Apple’s market cap has beaten that of rival Microsoft for the first time in more than 20 years, according to Nasdaq share values at the close of business last week Wednesday.

It has been reported that Apple’s shares approached $222 billion (£154 billion) last week Thursday, compared to Microsoft’s $219b (£150b). Microsoft is still leading in net profits however, boasting $14.6b (£10b) profit at the most recent count, compared to Apple’s more modest $5.7b (£3.9b).

Full-year revenues are also inevitably in Microsoft’s court, with the company bringing in $58.4b (£40.1b) last year, while Apple closed on $36.5b (£25.1b) – however, these figures are likely to change due to the growing success and desirability of Apple’s products.

Launched last week in the UK, Apple’s iPad has been a huge success for the Silicon Valley company, with sales exceeding expectations in the US delaying its international release.

Market research company GFK NOP are anticipating that two million iPads will be snapped up in the UK within the first year.

After many years of living in Microsoft’s growing shadow, Apple enjoyed a new lease of life in 2001 with the success of its iPod which brought the company squarely into the limelight. Prior to the whirlwind success of the iPod, the company’s shares were worth less than one tenth of what they are today, and Apple may have gone under if not for a $150 million investment from Microsoft in 1997 to ship Office products on the Macintosh.

It seems that Bill Gates may now have reason to regret that decision

Adobe announces software to create magazines for the iPad

Matt Thomas — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:09:55 +0000

The recent, well documented fall-out between Apple and Adobe over the laters Flash Player has resulted in the player being banned from the iPad , but that’s not stopping Adobe Systems from other efforts to leave its mark on the Apple devices. Adobe announced on Monday their latest development, new viewer software that will allow publishers to create digital versions of magazines.

With the all new software, publishers will be able to use Adobe’s new InDesign CS5 layout software to create the digital version, the content can then be packaged and distributed to the viewer. The showcase example, Conde Nast’s iPad version of Wired, is available through Apple’s App Store as of this week but the full version of the software hasn’t been launched yet.

David Burkett, Adobe’s vice president and general manager of Creative Solutions, said in a statement:

“We aim to make our digital viewer software available to all publishers soon and plan to deliver versions that work across multiple hardware platforms,”

The viewer will be able to permit any number of glitzy effects in navigation, animation, and other user interface features that are shown off in Adobe’s Wired for iPad demonstration video.

And as pertinent to publishers struggling with hard financial times, it also “promises a new advertising paradigm,” according to Adobe.

Apple has spurned and scorned Adobe’s Flash in recent weeks, an all-purpose programming foundation that lets developers reach any number of different computing systems. But, of course, Adobe does have other software. In addition to the InDesign digital publishing tool, it has a Photoshop.com Mobile application available for the iPhone, and it’s working on new software for the iPad and other tablets, so perhaps the relationship between Apple and Adobe is not as bad as has been made out.

Shipping date for iPad delayed again

Andre — Thu, 20 May 2010 09:17:14 +0000

It looks like more bad news for customers in the UK awaiting the arrival of the much anticipated iPad as Apple have announced delays.

Apple has warned all customers in the UK who have not yet placed an order for an iPad that if their order has been placed after May 14th they will not receive their device until at least June 7th. The official Apple website, which is currently taking iPad pre-orders, is now listing the shipping date for the touch-screen, tablet-style device as June 7th rather than the end of May as was expected.

However, Apple has confirmed that those customers who have already pre-ordered the iPad would still receive it on May 28th, the promised day of launch. The shipping delay is rumoured to be as a result of huge demand for the iPad in the UK; industry experts believe that Apple has sold out of its initial iPad allocation, and the delay will give them more time to get new units shipped from overseas factories to customers.

Apple has already pushed back the UK launch of the iPad once, citing “overwhelming” demand for the device in the United States as the main reason for the delay.

The iPad will start from £429 when it goes on sale in the UK, £70 more than in the US, with models that combine Wi-Fi web browsing with 3G internet access costing significantly more. Several major network operators, including O2, Orange and Vodafone, have already released details of their data tariffs, which will allow people to surf the internet using the mobile phone network if they sign up to a data package from one of these providers.

Apple sold a million iPads in just 28 days in the United States, and the device is expected to be equally popular in the UK and other countries when it goes on sale later this month.

Brand new MobileMe Mail beta program launched by Apple

Andre — Sat, 15 May 2010 09:00:13 +0000

Apple has launched a new e-mail beta program this week especially for users of their MobileMe subscription service.

The new MobileMe Mail beta will add a number of new features to the current service designed to help users make better use of the service on the web and on other supported devices like the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Mac computers and even PC’s.

The new beta version of mail sees the addition of widescreen and compact views, a formatting toolbar, SSL protection, single-click archiving and e-mail rules.

E-mail rules setup at Me.com will propagate to all of the devices in which a user receives MobileMe e-mail.

As it is an iMap service with push e-mail, all rules and folders setup online will automatically be setup in all locations.

The formatting toolbar is a welcome addition for any users who wish to send e-mail’s from the MobileMe online service.

It will add features such as the ability to italicize or bold text, insert images or change font colours.

Users must opt-in if they wish to participate in the beta program as it is voluntary.
The ‘request an invitation’ link can be found in the lower left corner of the MobileMe web interface, the user will receive an e-mail when they have been added to the beta.

If a user wishes to leave the beta program they can do so at any time.

iPhone out sold by Android

Matt Thomas — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:53:57 +0000

A surprising new report from analysts NDP has revealed that smartphones using Google’s Android as their operating system are now outselling Apple’s ever popular iPhone.

The report revealed that Android powered devices were accounting for 28% of the market, a shocking 7% higher than the iPhone’s still respectable 21%.

Both however, are lagging behind Research In Motion (RIM) who continue to lead the market with a 36% share for their Blackberry operating system.

The rapid growth of Android has been largely attributed to the aggressive marketing of US company Verizon Wireless who are one the biggest mobile network operators in the United States.

Their ‘buy one get one’ deals have been exceedingly popular over recent months and if this current growth rare is anything to go by Android may well overtake Blackberry as the market leaders by the end of the year.

Although Google’s phone is doing extremely well as it rapidly gains a high market share the company has backtracked a little over its seemingly aggressive approach.

A fortnight ago Google announced that Verizon would not be joining its web based Nexus One store and hat Vodafone would now only be allowed to sell the phone in their retail stores.

After this, Spring, another popular mobile network in the US announced that they were no longer going to join the online handset stores in offering their service with the new Google phone.

Without Sprint and Verizon it does not look as though Google’s dream of a super-phone is about to come true anytime soon.

Google will continue to sell their original GSM mobile phone from their online store but this may be the last we see of the Android phone.