Apple has fewer employees dedicated to R&D than Microsoft or RIM, according to LinkedIn data posted by BusinessInsider.
RIM has 53% of its workforce in R&D compared to 51% for Microsoft and 39% for Apple.
Check out the charts below...
India Too have Apple FANS!!!!!!
Saturday, 31 March 2012
Foxconn to Increase Shipments of New iPad to 12-15 Million Units for 2Q12
Foxconn is increasing shipments of the new iPad to 12-15 million units in 2Q12, according to a DigiTimes report.
Shipments from the new iPad supply chain are expected to expand significantly in the second quarter of 2012, with iPad assembler Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) to see its shipments of new iPads grow to 12-15 million units in the second quarter compared to six million units shipped in the first quarter, according to an industry estimate.
The site also reported that TPK and Wintek each shipped about 6-7 million touch modules for iPads in the first quarter, and Chimei Innolux (CMI) shipped another one million units. Judging by the number of modules already shipped, sources are concerned that suppliers may have to lower shipment targets for the next quarter.
So When can we expect in india? BY NEXT MONTH I GUESS
iPod Nano Touch Concept
Designer Enrico Penello has posted images of his concept for the iPod Nano Touch, reports Yanko Design.
Presenting the iPod Nano Touch Concept: Extended and Smarter! The concept includes juicy features like WiFi, front facing camera that enables Facetime calls, weather status, ability to record Nike+ exercise results, classic apps like time, music, radio, images & podcasts.
Enrico describes his design saying, "this concept shows a bigger clip on the back side, a lower black part containing the WiFi antenna, central home button, side volume buttons and on/off top button, making this device really close to our everyday iPhone." By CultofMac
Apple's App Store Generates the Most Revenue for Developers
A study by Flurry Analytics reveals that Apple's App Store generates the most revenue for developers, followed by the Amazon Appstore, then Google Play trailing far behind.
Flurry examined a basket of top-ranked apps that use in-app purchases to generate revenue. The apps had a similar presence across iOS, Amazon and Android.
We start by taking the revenue generated in the iTunes App Store and setting it to 100%. We then compare the relative revenue generated from Amazon and Google to the amount of revenue generated by the iTunes App Store. Doing so, we find that Amazon Appstore revenue is 89% of iTunes App Store revenue, and Google Play revenue is 23% of iTunes App Store revenue.
This means that for every $1.00 an app generates in the App Store, it would generate $0.89 in the Amazon Appstore and $0.23 in Google Play.
iPad helps Apple become Japan’s top consumer brand, for the first time
As Apple’s influence across industries continues to grow, so does its reputation among consumers the world over. The latest example is Japan, the country infamous for its fickle consumer and, at times, odd expectations with everyday gadgets (at least by Western standards).
A new study puts Apple as the top consumer brand in Japan – and for the first time, too. The achievement echoes a sentiment shared in a survey earlier this week, saying that half of all households in the United States now own at least one Apple product.
According to Nikkei, a large media corporation in Japan, an annual brand evaluation survey of consumers by Nikkei BP Consulting Inc. conducted online over November and December of last year had the Cupertino, California-headquartered gadget designer score 90.5 points out of 100 for total brand power.
Apple catapulted from 11th last year. Its iPad tablet computer and two other key products also made the list for the top-40 brands. In a survey of businesspeople, the U.S. technology giant took second behind Toyota Motor Corp.
Overall brand power scores were calculated based on the responses of some 52,000 people aged 18 and older and targeted a thousand consumer brands.
Sample size is certainly large enough – after all, 52,000 people can’t be wrong.
In years past, we’ve seen Apple re-inventing itself as a consumer electronics powerhouse with a lineup of iOS devices.
The process began at the 2007 iPhone introduction, when Steve Jobs wrapped up the MacWorld keynote by announcing that Apple was dropping “Computer” from its name, becoming only “Apple, Inc.”.
Jobs remarked the name change reflects Apple’s broadened product lineup that now includes computers, but also cell phones, set-top boxes, music players and wireless appliances, to name a few.
And at the 2010 iPad introduction, Jobs took it even further by calling Apple the largest mobile devices company in the world, by revenue.
He said:
iPods are mobile devices. iPhones are mobile devices, too. And most of the Macs that we ship are notebooks, they’re also mobile devices. Apple is a mobile devices company – that’s what we do.
And with a full-blown TV set reportedly on the horizon for a 2013 release and other consumer electronics products likely on their roadmap (can you say digital cameras), I think Apple is well on its way to becoming the Sony of the 21st century.
Or has the company already achieved this status?
Chime in with your two cents down in the comments.
Apple's Patent War Against Android May Lead to Settlements Under Tim Cook's Influence
Bloomberg Businessweek publishes a cover story on the ongoing patent war between Apple and Android, outlining the history of the disputes between Apple and Android manufacturers such as HTC, Samsung and Motorola.
The report notes that Apple has actually experienced only limited success in its legal efforts, suggesting that Steve Jobs' vow to wage "thermonuclear war" against Android may be backfiring somewhat with Apple's soaring legal costs and retaliatory actions from its targets subjecting the company to risk while the benefits remain meager.
Photograph by Jochen Seigle/Polaris
Corroborating claims from earlier this month regarding Apple's willingness to settle with the Android device manufacturers it has filed suit against, Bloomberg Businessweek reports that Apple and Samsung have "communicated lately" about settlement possibilities. The report suggests that settlement has become a more feasible option now that Apple is led by Tim Cook.
"People familiar with the situation, however, note that top-level executives at both Apple and Samsung have communicated lately about potential settlement options. Apple CEO Tim Cook does not seem to share his predecessor’s passion about laying all foes to waste. Cook appears to view litigation as a necessary evil, not a vehicle of cosmic revenge."
Stanford University law professor Mark Lemley notes that the patent war has cost Apple and its opponents over $400 million over the past few years, and it is unclear just what benefits they have received for that massive sum of money. Lemley predicts that there will eventually be a major cross-licensing deal to bring the majority of the legal disputes to an end, but in the meantime the war continues to escalate as all sides continue to file new suits.
Like Jobs, Tim Cook scores 97 percent approval rating, across all industries
An anonymous poll last August found out that a staggering 97 percent of Apple employees approved of Steve Jobs when he stepped down as CEO, only three percent saying the co-founder could have done better. A new study by careers community site Glassdoor, which also conducted the previous survey, now pegs Tim Cook’s approval rating at the same 97 percent high.
While it’s too early to judge the new CEO, the numbers are indicative and important, telling us that the post-Jobs Apple and the U.S. industries at large have high confidence in the new leadership.
John Paczkowski explains over at the AllThingsD blog:
As Cook told Apple employees at Jobs’s memorial last October, “Among [Steve's] last advice for me, and for all of you, was to never ask what he would do. ‘Just do what’s right.’”
And according to Cook’s employees, he’s doing exactly that. His 97 percent ranking placed him ahead of not only Qualcomm’s Paul Jacobs and Ernst & Young’s Jim Turley, but Google’s Larry Page and American Express’ Ken Chenault, as well.
Since this anonymous poll was conducted mere ten months after Cook had been named the CEO, you should take it with a pinch of salt.
Still, I didn’t expect that Cook would score the same approval rating as Jobs did.
You?
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Apple’s Tim Cook Visits Foxconn IPhone Plant in China
Apple Inc. (AAPL) Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook visited Foxconn Technology Group’s newly built manufacturing facility for the iPhone in Zhengzhou, China, as the U.S. company seeks to improve working conditions.
The iPhone production line is at the new Foxconn Zhengzhou Technology Park, which employs 120,000 people, Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based Apple spokeswoman, said in an e-mail today. She didn’t provide other details on Cook’s visit or say how much longer he’ll be in China after having held high-level talks in Beijing earlier this week.
Apple, which contracts Foxconn to make its iPhones and iPads, became the first technology company to join the Fair Labor Association in January, opening up suppliers’ factories to inspections by the Washington-based group after complaints by human rights organizations. The group found “tons of issues,” while also seeing “dramatic” improvements, FLA Chief Executive Officer Auret van Heerden said last month.
“Apple has had a string of negative publicity this year with Foxconn factory issues,” said Mark Natkin, managing director of Marbridge Consulting Ltd., a Beijing-based market research firm. “Apple is trying to demonstrate how seriously they take these issues, and how strong their commitment is to China.”
Cupertino, California-based Apple has been criticized by organizations including China Labor Watch for conditions at its suppliers, and the company has found infractions including excessive overtime and environmental violations. It didn’t specify which companies breached its supplier code of conduct. Foxconn, founded by Chairman Terry Gou in 1974, raised the base pay for junior workers by as much as 25 percent last month and said its wages exceed government mandates.
‘Great’ Meetings Cook’s trip to Zhengzhou followed a meeting with Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong on March 26 and with Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang on March 27. Apple’s Wu said earlier those meetings were “great,” without providing details on their content. Vice Premier Li told Cook China will strengthen intellectual property rights, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
He also told Cook multinational companies should pay more attention to caring for workers and share development opportunities with the Chinese side, Xinhua reported. Cook told Li Apple “will strengthen comprehensive cooperation with the Chinese side and conduct business in a law- abiding and honest manner,” Xinhua reported
Steve Jobs didn’t really like the Siri name. What about you?
Siri, a digital assistant exclusive to the iPhone 4S, is heavily featured in Apple’s advertising as it’s the handset’s key differentiator in the eye of public. For all the rage surrounding Siri, Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs didn’t really like her name to begin with. This comes from the mouth of Dag Kittlaus, the guy who made Siri and became a millionaire following a personal phone call from Steve Jobs.
“Siri” is Norwegian for “beautiful woman who leads you to victory.” A new report highlighted Kittlaus’s speech from last weekend in which he briefly reflected on how he came up with the Siri name and why Steve Jobs wasn’t a fan of his choice.
Yoni Heisler of NetworkWorld quotes Kittlaus on choosing the name of Siri:
I worked with a lady named Siri in Norway and wanted to name my daughter Siri and the domain was available. And also consumer companies need to focus on the fact that the name is easy to spell, is easy to say…
Previous news articles also asserted that Kittlaus named its startup after the famous Norwegian meteorologist and business woman Siri Kalvig, with whom he had worked during his tenure at Telenor, a Norwegian telecommunications company. At the time, Kalvig worked for meteorologist company Storm.
Kittlaus also recounted that Jobs didn’t like the Siri name so he had to persuade Apple’s chief executive quite consistently that “it’s a great name”. Jobs eventually relented because he couldn’t think of a better name himself so he “decided to stick with ‘Siri’”.
This bit on that life-changing phone call from Apple is also interesting:
Three weeks after we launched I got a call in the office from someone at Apple that said, “Scott Forstall wants to talk to you and he’s the head software guy.”
And I said sure…
Only it wasn’t Scott that called it was Steve. And Steve never announces where he’s gonna be and what he’s gonna do because there’s too much commotion around it. So he said, “Dag, this is Steve Jobs.”
And he wanted me to come over to his house the next day, and I did, and I spent 3 hours with him in front of his fireplace having this surreal conversation about the future.
And, you know, he talked about why Apple was going to win, and we talked about how Siri was doing. And he was very excited about the fact that.. you know, he was very interested in this area in general but, you know, they’re patient, they don’t jump on anything until they feel they can go after something new and he felt that we cracked it. So that was his attraction.
I ended up very lucky, timing wise. I got to work with him for a year before he got real sick. And he’s pretty incredible. The stories are true. All of the stories.
Eagle-eyed readers could point out that Steve Jobs initially disliked the iMac and iPod names as well. iDownloadBlog also reported last week that Jobs said ‘no’ to the new Apple TV interface five years ago.
In my Dag Kittlaus report over at 9to5Mac, I noted that the sale to Apple for an estimated $200 million turned him and and other co-founders into millionaires. It was sourced from Norwegian publication E24! which also quoted Kittlaus, a former Motorola executive, as saying that by 2013 Apple will produce a full-blown television set featuring Siri voice interface (hope it doesn’t look like this).
According to a recent survey, nearly 90 percent of iPhone 4S owners use Siri and roughly a third would love to see it featured on the Apple TV.
It’s worth mentioning that the machine-translated version of the Norwegian article had later been confirmed to me as accurate.
Remarkably, Kittlaus emailed me to express his disatisfaction over the article. He claimed to have never mentioned the Siri TV thing to the reporter. I removed that bit, though the original article still has it intact. Editors of the magazine and authors of the report wouldn’t return my phone calls seeking clarification.
After Apple snapped up their startup, Kittlaus and his team moved to Apple’s headquarters. Kittlaus left Apple eighteen months later and is now writing a futuristic techno-drama and developing new projects.
I would love to hear from you about the Siri name…
Did you like the sound of it when you first heard it mentioned in an Apple product?
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
iPad App Store now matching growth pace of its iPhone, Android counterparts
The iPad section of Apple’s mobile application store is growing steadily and now matches the respective growth rates of Google Play marketplace (formerly Android Market) and the iPhone/ iPod touch section of the App Store. That’s the gist of a Distimo survey released Tuesday, which confirms the iPad App Store as by far the largest tablet app marketplace in the United States.
Check out the above chart pitting the growth rate of universal iOS apps (pink) versus native iPad software (gray). But it ain’t just about app count: Android slates are still suffering from the lack of high-quality apps optimized for various tablet form factors. Contrast this to iOS developers who adopted concern for an optimal user experience right from the iPad’s very beginnings.
Now, raise hands who’s fond of scaled-up iPhone apps on their iPad? Didn’t think so…
The Next Web got an exclusive first look at the Distimo report that focuses on the United States market. Drawing parallels between the first 24 months of the iPad App Store on one hand and the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch software and Google’s mobile store on the other, it becomes clear that:
Two years post-iPad launch, there are now over 180,000 applications available in the App Store for iPad in the US, which means it’s growing at roughly the same pace as the App Store for iPhone and Google Play, which offered 200,000 and 175,000 applications after two years in business, respectively.
Data also reveals that the proportion of universal binaries which run on both the smaller iPhone/iPod touch devices and the iPad’s bigger canvas has increased to over 61 percent in February 2012.
Also playing to Apple’s favor: More than the 55 million iPad shipments to date and the fact that its tablet accounts for an IHS iSuppli Research-estimated 57 percent of the entire tablet market, worldwide.
Per Apple’s latest public update earlier this month, the company’s mobile store features more than 200,000 native iPad apps less than two years since the iPad’s inception. Native iPad apps are offered in a wide range of categories, including books, games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that native iPad apps easily outstrip those found on the Google Play store. As pointed out by Sacha Segan over at PC Magazine, Android developers frequently take the easy route and just blow up their existing phone apps to various tablet screen sizes by means of the Android operating system’s built-in resolution-independence features.
Though both Apple and Google provide great tools that let developers optimize for different form factors, thus far only iOS developers have taken notice. One could argue this is (mostly) due to pixel-doubled iPhone apps looking really fugly on the iPad’s 1024-by-768 pixel resolution display anyway.
Tim Cook made this point by comparing several Android and iOS apps side-to-side during the company’s unveiling of the new iPad last month. The image below depicts the CEO illustrating how the official Twitter for Android client wastes screen real estate, leading to a sub-par experience.
Apple’s platform is not nearly as fragmented as Google’s, but it should be noted that the third-generation iPad has introduced a new resolution of 2,048-by-1,536 pixels, in addition to the 1024-by-768 pixel resolution of prior iPad models, the 640-by-960 Retina display pixel resolution of the iPhone 4/4S and the latest iPod touch and the legacy 320-by-480 pixel resolution of older iOS devices.
Last month, Apple warned iOS developers to provide Retina app screenshots for iPhone and iPod touch software, perhaps signaling intentions to soon abandon the legacy 320-by-480 pixel resolution altogether.
It’s interesting that paid magazine and newspaper apps have been on the rise since the Newsstand feature was introduced alongside the iOS 5 launch last October. Distimo says that the top 100 grossing Newsstand apps are now raking in more than $70,000 in daily revenue here in the United States.
Free apps are most downloaded in – surprise – China and United States remains the leading market for paid apps. Just last summer, China filed as App Store’s second-largest market. As of recently, more iOS devices are now activated in the 1.33 billion people Chinese market than in any other individual country, including the United States.
When it comes to in-app purchases, Distimo found out that more iOS third-party software sports the ability to purchase additional content from within the app compared to Android. Specifically, about ten percent of all native iPad apps support in-app purchases versus six percent for iPhone and iPod touch apps and just two percent for Android apps.
This, too, is understandable given that Android apps are mostly ad-supported and knowing Android users are less inclined to pay for their software.
More pretty charts are available on Pinterest.
For the record, I do not own an Android tablet. However, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to play with Samsung’s Galaxy Tab for weeks. I think it’s a compelling product marred with sub-par apps. Coming from the word of gorgeous native iPad software, I just couldn’t stand looking at those blown-up Android phone apps.
Have you seen Android’s resolution-independence in action? What did you think of it?
Apple dispatches VP of iPad marketing to set the record straight on Batterygate
In what could be described as a timely (and prudent) move to prevent the perceived battery issues with the new iPad from getting overblown, California-based Apple has dispatched its vice president of iPad marketing Michael Tchao, who went on the record to indicate that overcharging your iOS device won’t harm its battery.
According to a statement provided to the AllThingsD blog, run by the Wall Street Journal network, this is by design and there’s nothing wrong with the iOS battery gauge. It says 100 percent just before your device reaches a completely charged state, continuing charging to 100 percent. Then, it discharges a bit and charges back up to 100 percent…
Apple CEO Tim Cook is running things differently then his predecessor, the late co-founder Steve Jobs. That said, it’s nonetheless indicative that Apple saw fit to go official on the matter through the mouth of its high-ranked executive.
Tchao told Ina Fried, the author of the AllThingsD post:
Apple does in fact display the iPad (and iPhone and iPod Touch) as 100 percent charged just before a device reaches a completely charged state. At that point, it will continue charging to 100 percent, then discharge a bit and charge back up to 100 percent, repeating that process until the device is unplugged. Doing so allows devices to maintain an optimum charge, Apple VP Michael Tchao told AllThingsD today. “That circuitry is designed so you can keep your device plugged in as long as you would like,” Tchao said. “It’s a great feature that’s always been in iOS.”
Prior to joining Apple in October of 2009, Michael Tchao served as general manager for Nike Techlab/Nike+. Of course, Apple now integrates Nike+ support in iPods. Another conspicuous link: Apple CEO Tim Cook sits on the Nike board. Yesterday, Cook got photographed with fans inside Apple’s retail store in China, wearing a Nike LiveStrong jacket.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Tchao had also worked in various capacities at Apple between March 1986 – August 1994. Though not (yet) featured on Apple’s Leadership page, Tchao has gained prominence inside the company over the past twelve months, as indicated by his appearance in the iPad product video, seen below.
By the way, he’s got the perfect radio voice!
Tchao also highlighted some of the best iPad apps to the T3 magazine.
This brouhaha surrounding the new iPad battery got press time last week as Dr. Raymond Soneira discovered that Apple’s new tablet keeps charging for as much as an hour after the battery gauge hits the 100 percent mark.
People got concerned over subsequent news reports asserting that this might prove to be a flaw in iOS software that might affect all iOS devices, not just the third-generation iPad. Picking up blog reports, CNBC caused quite a stir with claims that Apple told them charging the device past the 100 percent mark “could harm the longevity of the battery”.
So far, people have observed that running graphics-intensive games, cranking up the screen brightness to 100 percent and straining the device’s battery in other ways adds up to longer charging times.
There you have it.
Hopefully, we can now put this behind us and keep charging our devices overnight, as before, without fear of damaging the battery.
Agreed?
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
What Batterygate? The new iPad lasts 25+ hours when hotspotting
When used as a personal hotspot only over Verizon’s 4G cellular connection, the new iPad gets more than 25 hours of run time, AnandTech found out in their battery life testing published this morning. This is better than your average MiFi device by at least a factor of five. Matter of fact, it gets exactly an hour less in hotspotting tests compared to WiFi benchmarks, which falls in line with Apple’s official specs.
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime beats Apple’s third-generation tablet when hotspotting in Normal, Balanced and Power Saving profiles. With that in mind, the ability to use your iPad as a personal Verizon hotspot for more than 25 hours is certainly welcome news in a string of negative reports alleging issues with the tablet’s much-improved 42.5Wh battery.
Author Anand Lal Shimpi writes:
If you have an iPad on Verizon’s LTE network and use it as a personal hotspot (not currently possible on the AT&T version), it will last you roughly 25.3 hours on a single charge. Obviously that’s with the display turned off, but with a 42.5Wh battery driving Qualcomm’s MDM9600 you get tons of life out of the new iPad as a personal hotspot.
If you’re one of the fans concerned about the iPad’s battery woes and appreciate AnandTech’s exhaustive technical reviews, you should also check out their analysis of the Retina Display on the new iPad.
As for Heatgate and the emerging Batterygate, let it be known that not everyone agrees with screaming headlines depicting the device running burning hot in one’s hands.
Image courtesy of iFixit
Sure, it gets warmer when you crank up the brightness level to 100 percent, but people are finding in their own tests that it runs cooler than some Android tablets (as always, not everyone agrees).
More on this in the below chart, courtesy of PCWorld.
If you’re really eager to get to the bottom of this overcharging thing, I suggest a nice article by MacWorld UK that lays out everything you need to know about charging your iOS devices. Apple also has nice resources on the subject on their website.
It is my hope that we all can soon put this so-called scandal behind us and move on. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I definitely get this feeling that ever since the so-called Antennagate scandal erupted – and it was an issue, no question about it – bloodthirsty media is adamant to make teething problems with new Apple products look bigger than they really are.
Jonathan Mann put it best in the iPhone Antenna Song:
The media loves a failure
In a string of success
The facts won’t ever matter
If they can make bigger messes.
I think that pretty much nails it, wouldn’t you agree?
Monday, 26 March 2012
Apple’s Cook touring China, allegedly to talk iPhone 5 with carriers
Though Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs never visited China, the new CEO Tim Cook has been spotted at the company’s Apple Store in Joy City, a shopping mall located in Xidan, Beijing. A local news article included pictures of Cook posing with fans, snapped at the store. However, the real purpose of the executives’s visit to China is shrouded in secrecy. Remember, Cook also visited China last year and was photographed at China Mobile’s headquarters in Beijing. China Mobile, the nation’s largest wireless operator and the world’s largest carrier with more than 600 million subscribers, does not yet carry Apple’s handset. Nonetheless, they are already hosting some 15 million iPhones on their network, up from 10 million back in October. Is Cook in China to cut that long-expected iPhone deal with China Mobile? It’s interesting Cook chose not to visit the more prominent Sanitun store. The Joy City store, which opened for business in 2010 when Apple launched the iPhone 4 in China, has since become Apple’s top retail spot in terms of consumer traffic and transaction volume. It’s clear Cook would not take a flight to Beijing just to visit a high-grossing local store. According to the report by TechNode: There’re speculations that Tim came here to talk to China Unicom and China Telecom about introducing the company’s next generation of iPhone – iPhone 5 (or the new iPhone, who knows), according to people familiar with the matter. China Unicom and China Telecom are the only two carriers currently offering Apple’s handset in the 1.33 billion people market. Apple is now activating more iPhones in Chinathan in the United States or any other market for that matter. The company is said to appeal to the local market by China’s leading search engine Baidu as the default searhc choice for Chinese customers in iOS.
Apple’s CEO found time to pose for a nice shot with a fan. Last week, iDownloadBlog discovered code strings in iOS 5.1 strongly suggesting that a sixth-generation iPhone will feature fast 4G LTE networking and possibly FaceTime video calling over 4G. The new iPad is the first mobile device to feature 4G LTE networking, courtesy of a Qualcomm MDM9600 3G/4G wireless baseband chip paired with a Qualcomm RTR8600 multi-band/mode RF transceiver for LTE bands. Apple could pursue the same combo with the iPhone 5 or opt for Qualcomm’s smaller, next-gen Gobi modem chips. Whichever the case, the inclusion of the fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution radio technology in the next iPhone seems to be a forgone conclusion at this point. If the new iPad is anything to go by, 4G LTE and other improvements might pose a problem in terms of heat dissipation and battery life, both expected to be more pronounced on the iPhone where space is at a premium. Are we in for another Heatgate with iPhone 5? Chime in with your thoughts down in the comments.
Steve Jobs Declared The Greatest Entrepreneur Of Our Time
For years businesses across the world have attempted to dissect Steve Jobs’ career to figure out what made him so incredibly brilliant and successful. Not only did he change the way we use technology, but he changed movies, music, retail shopping and more. His entrepreneur skills were some of the best the world has seen, which is why Fortune magazine declared Steve Jobs “The Greatest Entrepreneur of Our Time” in their ranking of the top 12 entrepreneurs of recent memory. “Jobs’ own intuition, his radar-like feel for emerging technologies and how they could be brought together to create, in his words, “insanely great” products, ultimately made the difference. For Jobs, who died last year at 56, intuition was no mere gut call. It was, as he put it in his often-quoted commencement speech at Stanford, about “connecting the dots,” glimpsing the relationships among wildly disparate life experiences and changes in technology. Though he could be abusive and mean-spirited to people who threw themselves into their work on his behalf, Steve Jobs has been our generation’s quintessential entrepreneur. Visionary. Inspiring. Brilliant. Mercurial.” Fortune goes on to make particular note of Jobs’ disdain for market research and study groups. On multiple occasions Jobs was asked by reporters as to what type of research they do at Apple to divine crucial details of new products. Jobs replied, “None. It isn’t the consumers’ job to know what they want. It’s hard for [consumers] to tell you what they want when they’ve never seen anything remotely like it.” The Top 12 list was based largely on social and economic impact, world-changing vision, inspiration, record of innovation, and the performance of the founder’s companies over time. Steve Jobs’ not only co-founded Apple computers, but also founded NeXT and Pixar.
Rounding out the top 10 included:
2. Bill Gates – Microsoft
3. Fred Smith – FedEx
4. Jeff Bezos – Amazon
5. Larry Page & Sergey Brin – Google
6. Howard Schultz – Starbucks
7. Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook
8. John Mackey – Whole Foods
9. Herb Kelleher – Southwest Airlines
10. Narayana Murthy – Infosys
What do you think of Fortune’s list? Did they forget someone you think should be included? Let us know in the comments.
Enable Internet Sharing in Mac OS X to Turn Your Mac Into a Wireless Router
Did you know you can turn your Mac into a wireless access point by using Internet Sharing? Internet Sharing works for both Mac OS X 10.6 and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, and with internet sharing enabled, your internet connected Mac will broadcast a wifi signal that can be used by another Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone, or whatever else you need to get online from.
Here are situations where Internet Sharing is particularly useful:
You don’t own a wireless router – no problem, let the Mac become one
There is only a wired internet connection (ethernet) available, and you need to get a wireless-only device online, like an iPad or MacBook Air
You’re at a location that charges internet access per device, rather than a flat rate for all devices, this is fairly common at hotels and airports
Skirt the connected device limitations of Personal Hotspot (iOS) and Internet Tethering from mobile phones
Hotels in particular have a bad habit of charging customers a per device fee rather than a single per room cost for internet access, using Internet Sharing gets around that greatly inflated expense.
The setup we are going to use in this example is as follows: Wired internet connection -> Mac -> Other Devices, here’s a simple diagram to demonstrate this:
Connect the ethernet cable to the Mac
Launch “System Preferences” from the Apple menu and click on “Sharing”
Click on “Internet Sharing” from the left menu Select the pull-down menu next to “Share your connection from:” and choose “Ethernet”
Alongside “To computers using:” check the box next to “Wi-Fi” or “AirPort” (name depends on OS X 10.7 vs 10.6)
Next click on “Wi-Fi Options” and name the network, and then click to enable security/encryption, and then type in a WEP key as the wireless password
Click “OK” and confirm that you want to start internet sharing
You’re done.
Your Mac is now broadcasting a wireless signal that can be picked up by any other wi-fi enabled devices. Connecting to the Mac’s shared internet connection is now the same as connecting to any other wireless network, find the wifi access point name you set, enter the password, and you’re online. The network is relatively secure thanks to the WEP password you set, if you forgot that password you just have to disable security and re-enable it to set a new one.
If you’re a perfectionist, you could then run the Wi-Fi Diagnostics tool and get the optimal signal for the network, but in a brief hotel or airport situation, the the devices will be close enough together that this won’t matter much.
Convert Text to Emoji Automatically in Mac OS X
Now that the Mac has native Emoji support, you can set up text substitutions to automatically convert specific text to emoji when typing shorthand, abbreviations, or emoticons. Here’s how to configure the text-to-emoji conversions:
Open System Preferences from the Apple menu
Choose the “Language & Text” preference pane and click the “Text” tab
Click the + plus button in the lower left corner to add a new substitution
Type the character you want replaced, eg: to replace an emoticon smiley face, type that on the left “replace” box
Click in the “with” box alongside the text to be replaced, and hit Command+Option+T to access Special Characters
Scroll down in the Special Character window for “Emoji”, find the emoji character you want to substitute, and drag and drop it into the empty highlighted “with” box
Repeat with other substitutions and emojis, then close out of System Preferences
To verify the text substitutions are working as intended, open TextEdit and type the shorthand for the emoji you specified, after you hit the space bar it should convert from text to emoji immediately. In the screenshot example, the classic colon parenthesis smiley face will be replaced with an emoji smiling face, the text (poo) will become the happy poo emoji, and the text (swirl) becomes the swirl emoji. These Emoji conversions will occur everywhere, including the Finder and in folder and file names The only technical limitation is the eventual number limit of emoji icons themselves, and remember that if you are using these substitutions in emails, iMessages, or other communications, the recipient must have OS X Lion or later or iOS 4 or later to see them.
How to create free Apple ID without giving away your credit card details
If you don’t have a credit card you can still create an iTunes account. Effectively this is creating a free iTunes account, with access to download all the great free apps and other free content from the App Store. Setup iTunes Account Without a Credit Card This is the process to create an iTunes account with no credit card for payment:
Log out of any existing iTunes accounts Launch the App Store from iTunes Find and select a free app (Remote is a free app from Apple, for example) Click on “Free App” to purchase the free app Click on “Create New Account” Click on Continue and create a new account as per the directions You’ll soon see a Payment Options menu, select “None” Verify the newly created account with the email address you provided Your new iTunes account has been created – with no credit card! The process is the same from your iPhone or iPod/iPad too, just go through the processes of creating a new account and just be sure to select “None” as the payment option. As stated before, the account can download any free content, but will be prompted for a credit card if an app costs money. This is a great iTunes solution to provide children with, giving them access to all of the freebies on the App Store, but avoiding any potentially high credit card bills.Sunday, 25 March 2012
Angry Birds Space Launched
After announcing Angry Birds Space from the International Space Station, Rovio has finally released the pig bashing game. Additionally, the Finns have simultaneously launched merchandise and books based on the game.
As its name suggests, the game is set in deep space. Thanks to the zero gravity conditions, the gameplay has been drastically changed in this iteration. Needless to say that targeting pigs will be a tricky affair. The company has added new birds with special powers to entice fans of the franchise. Apart from its 60 levels, the game will have many hidden stages. Additionally, Rovio has promised a continuous flow of downloadable content.
Angry Birds Space is not only available for mobile phones, but also the computers. Here's the list of download links for each platform:
Run Windows & Microsoft Office on the iPad for Free with OnLive Desktop
Want to run Windows 7 right on an iPad? OnLive Desktop does exactly that, letting you access a cloud-based Windows 7 PC directly from iOS. Complete with the full Microsoft Office 2010 suite, you can use Word, Excel, and Powerpoint with full touch controls, and believe it or not it’s actually really fast and fluid.
Amazingly, this is free for the first 2GB of virtual storage space on the cloud PC, though additional storage and paid plans are available. The paid plans start at $4.99 and include up to 50GB of storage, provide access to more Windows applications, add DropBox support, and also bring full Internet Explorer access with Flash (useful for web developers who don’t want to run IE in virtual machines).
Using OnLive Desktop is easy, here’s all you need to do:
Download the free OnLive app from the App Store (iPad only)
Sign up for a free OnLive account
The account signup process requires an email but is otherwise quick and painless. Enter that ID into the app, and you’ll immediately find yourself on the desktop of a Windows 7 machine, right on the iPad.
Try this service out and get it while you can, because there is some question as to how long OnLive Desktop will be around. Microsoft is actively complaining that the service violates their Windows 7 licensing agreements, though OnLive is adamant that it’s supported and is willing to fight for it. Hopefully the two can come to an agreement and keep the OnLive service alive, because frankly it’s a cool technical feat and also has some very useful applications for the real world. Better yet, Microsoft should just buy them and offer the service directly with Windows 8 Metro, which is optimized for touch and may well be a significant competitor to iOS down the road… who knows. Anyway, check it out, even if you don’t like Windows it’s impressive to try out the free service.
If you want to really have some fun, use OnLive Desktop on the iPad in combination with Reflection for Mac OS X, which brings Windows 7 to your iPad and onto your Mac:
Now, who wants to offer the same service for Linux and OS X?
RIM hiring iOS developers for enterprise apps
A job listing that appeared on Research in Motion's website reveals that the BlackBerry maker is looking to hire developers for an undisclosed iOS enterprise app to be distributed through Apple's App Store.
Upadte: A RIM spokesperson confirmed to All Things D that the company is indeed developing an iPhone app as part of its BlackBerry Mobile Fusion project.
“In order for BlackBerry Mobile Fusion to perform advanced management functions for iOS devices, RIM will develop an on device client to be included as part of the overall solution,” the spokesperson said.
The listing, which was posted on Tuesday only to be removed by Thursday, described a long-term position that would be in charge of creating "exciting applications for distribution on the iOS platform" to be implemented into new products.
Along with the usual coding and communication skills, requirements called for a candidate well-versed in creating apps for both the iPhone and the iPad.
While the exact responsibilities of the job are vague, the position could be related to the company's Mobile Fusion security software that was introduced in 2011. The software, which is intended to run on both iOS and Android devices, is aimed at corporate customers and extends device management beyond the company's own BlackBerry products.
Once the market leader in smartphone push services and enterprise products, RIM has fallen to the wayside as popular offerings running iOS and Android have eclipsed BlackBerry sales. In a recent report, it was estimated that the Canadian company was worth less as a whole than Apple's App Store alone.
In May 2011, RIM announced that it would be update its BlackBerry Enterprise Server to support iOS devices, signaling a possible strategic shift toward data services instead of hardware.
Service outages, poor product launches and a series of software update delays brought down RIM's market share, and the company is struggling to survive in a world dominated by the iPhone and similar Android handsets.
Why apple should buy....Nothing
Everyone is generous about advising Apple on how it should spend its billions.
Apple should buy Twitter, according to financial analyst and blogger, Barry Ritholtz.
Apple could become a bank, according to consulting company KAE. Or maybe just buy American Express.
Apple should buy a chip manufacturer, Dell, Nintendo, Disney, Tesla, Sprint, Nvidia, VISA, Newsweek, the US Postal Service, according to a seemingly endless list of pundits.
Gimme a break.
I think Apple should buy… nothing. Here’s why.
To suggest that Apple should buy major, brand-name companies is to suggest that the most successful company in the world should start doing everything differently from before, and stray from its successful way of doing things.
Gobbling up big companies and major brands would make Apple more like other companies and less like Apple. That’s not right. Other companies should become more like Apple, not the other way around.
Advice for Apple to buy major companies would be more persuasive if those giving such advice could point to successful cases. Big acquisitions are usually driven by overpaid suits who blather about “synergies” and new markets but who in fact are deluded that deals that appear successful “on paper” will actually succeed.
The reality is that to acquire a company is to become that company, to some degree. To acquire a large company is to hire employees en masse, most of whom you would not have hired if they walked in the door looking for a job and most of whom wouldn’t want to work for your company anyway.
The leaders of the companies you hire have all the wrong incentives and motivations — they’re in “cash-out mode,” for the most part. They’re going for the money, and rarely believe in the company that’s acquiring them. They typically just go through the motions for 18 months or however long their contract requires, then take the money and run as soon as they can.
Small acquisitions for bringing in core talent, acquiring IP or seriously advanced technology (like multi-touch or voice assistants) can make sense. But big acquisitions of major companies is for clueless bean-counters.
Besides, nearly all these proposed acquisitions come from an unspoken and deeply flawed assumption that because something can happen, that it should. Yes, Apple probably could buy Nintendo. So what? You could probably buy a goat and keep it in your living room. That doesn’t mean you should.
You might also note that many of the product decisions Apple critics complain about, also come from this same flawed assumption. Apple can build four USB ports into the iPad, and therefore it should have. Apple can add a stylus to the iPhone and therefore it should.
But one of the biggest and least appreciated ingredients in Apple’s breathtaking success is that it’s very disciplined about not falling for that kind of flawed reasoning.
HP shareholders grilled CEO Meg Whitman this week, asking why HP can’t be more like Apple, why HP hasn’t adopted Apple-like strategies in the consumer industry. They peppered her with questions about why HP spends so much more on R&D than Apple, yet is less innovative.
HP is a typical big company with zero vision that just follows the innovation leaders in every business it’s in. It offers me-too, copycat products and services in every area of business computing. HP doesn’t have any great products that I can think of, but they make it up on volume. Their sales people play golf with the right Fortune 500 buyers, and so HP is a reasonably successful Silicon Valley giant.
Instead of being visionary or innovative, HP uses its cash or stock to buy major companies. For example, it bought it’s main rival Compaq ten years ago for $25 billion, and mobile rival Palm for $1.2 billion.
As is always the case with such acquisitions, HP saw acquisitions as the solution to its problems.
The Palm press release said: “Palm’s unparalleled webOS platform will enhance HP’s ability to participate more aggressively in the fast-growing, highly profitable smartphone and connected mobile device markets.”
Of course that never happened. At this point, it’s not even clear that HP will even use the OS.
It’s fun to be an armchair CEO and fantasize about all the power you could grab by spending Apple’s hoard of cash. But to actually make any of these acquisitions would be foolish. If Apple were the kind of company that made such dumb moves, they wouldn’t have the cash to do it.
I don’t really care what they do with their money. What matters is that they don’t chase some acquisition fantasy down a rabbit hole every time they have the cash to do it.
The make-or-buy decision on any technology, product or service should rarely be about money, and should always be about focus, company culture and the long-term vision of the company.
Buying failed companies is buying problems, integration hassles, unmotivated employees, disgruntled customers, overhead and ultimately the culture of failure itself.
Apple doesn’t need that. Apple just needs to keep being Apple.
India Too have Apple FANS!!!!!!
Will be trying my best to post News,Tips,Tutorials and any thing about Apple (India).
Let me know what all you need to know more abt Apple.
Let me know what all you need to know more abt Apple.
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