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Tags > apple
The War For the Web
November 16, 2009
It is becoming clear to me that we are heading into a bloody period of competition that could be extremely unfriendly to the interoperable web as we know it today. If you've followed my thinking about Web 2.0 from the beginning, you know that I believe we are engaged in a long term project to build an internet operating system. I've outlined a few of the ways that big players like Facebook, Apple, and News Corp are potentially breaking the "small pieces loosely joined" model of the Internet. But perhaps most threatening of all are the natural monopolies created by Web 2.0 network effects. We're facing the prospect of Facebook as the platform, Apple as the platform, Google as the platform, Amazon as the platform, where big companies slug it out until one is king of the hill. And it's time for developers to take a stand. If you don't want a repeat of the PC era, place your bets now on open systems. Don't wait till it's too late.
iPhone Killers, Blackberries and Chicken Parts
October 29, 2009
While a steady stream of so-called iPhone Killers are filtering into the market, Apple's momentum continues unabated. Inspired by his own experiences upgrading to the Blackberry Tour, the author ponders why so many solution providers confuse delivering a bunch of 'chicken parts' with producing an actual, living, breathing chicken. BlackBerry Storm, Palm Pre, the G2, and now Droid have all been touted as contenders to the mobile computing crown, yet the iPhone continues to kick butt.
The Right Stuff: Apple's Q4 Earnings Call
October 21, 2009
The Fourth Quarter was Apple's most profitable quarter ever. Yesterday's earnings call was about two things. One, the iPhone Platform continues to deliver the goods. Two, the continued impressive growth of the Mac, especially MacBooks. As such, it was about the power of the platform as much as it was about the device itself.
Flash to iPhone
October 16, 2009
Adobe, a long time player in rich internet applications wants be an active participant on mobile platforms, including the iPhone. Adobe engineers put their minds together and delivered a solution to work around the problem of the iPhone browser's lack of support for Flash. If the iPhone Safari browser will not support the Flash player, let's use the Flash tools to compile a native iPhone application (ipa) which lives directly on the device. This initiative now gives the opportunity for ActionScript developers to develop applications for the wonderful iPhone and iPod Touch devices.
Could Adobe potentially harm the iPhone AppStore
October 15, 2009
Adobe have spent a lot of cycles / years nudging Apple that Flash should be on the iPhone. Apple have firmly just said no, and despite the answer, Adobe keep expecting them to cave due to public demand. The problem with this logic is that Apple won't give in. Let's break this down into two parts: First, Don't poke the sleeping giant. Secondly, just because it's easy, doesn't mean its successful.
Should Apple Give a Rat's Ass that Developers Aren't Getting Rich off of the iPhone Platform?
October 8, 2009
Apple's iPhone Platform is a runaway success relative to just about any metric that you can throw at it, save for one. Where are the breakout successful developers for whom the platform is a 'True Wealth' inducing moment? On the one hand, it is humorous to listen to the woes of 'aspiring' millionaires quibble. On the other, there is a valid argument that Apple's push to drive volume and ubiquity via "cheap" comes at the potential cost of cultivating breakout, transformational apps that cost more, require a longer sales cycle, and thus, more evangelizing to find their beachhead.
Rebooting the Book (One Apple iPad Tablet at a Time)
September 23, 2009
The book business is under assault. Book sales have been stagnating for some time, Amazon is the industry's boogeyman, and more terrifying, book publishers have no idea how to market books in a world (largely) devoid of bookstores. Moreover, in the age of the always on, it's fair to ask, do people even still read anymore? Just as it re-envisioned the Media Player, the Mobile Phone and Mobile Computing, Apple is well positioned to reboot the Book with its forthcoming iPad Tablet.
iPhone, the 'Personal' Computer - Future of the Mobile Web
September 17, 2009
The iPhone is the first truly 'personal' computer; more personal to its owners than the PC ever was. Talk to iPhone owners (not to mention, the 20M iPod Touch owners), and this truth bubbles to the top again and again.
Snow Leopard, 10 Days In - No Major Problems, But No Rush to Upgrade Either
September 8, 2009
A week ago last Friday, Apple unleashed Snow Leopard (aka OS X 10.6) on the world. So far, there haven't been many rumblings either way, although the trade press has been generally kind. We thought it might be a good idea to check in with Chris Seibold, author of the upcoming Pocket Guide for Snow Leopard, to get his take on how things have been going.
Who's Winning the Smartphone Wars?
August 25, 2009
The short answer - Microsoft and Nokia are slipping, RIM and Apple are gaining. It's too early to tell with Google. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Last week, UK-based analyst firm Canalys, released its findings on smartphone market share based on Q2 2009 unit shipments (see "Smart phones defy slowdown"). Before sharing Canalys' findings, it's important to understand how an evaluation of market share and profits relate to the players involved.
APPLE is EVIL, You're All Fanboys and other half-truths
August 20, 2009
There is a meme afoot. Apple is evil. Its arrogant ways and dependence on the cult of personality are to be its demise. Developers are said to be unhappy. And, Apple Secrecy Doesn't Scale. Google-ification is the way, the RIGHT way. The Apple Way can't possibly persist ad infinitum. But, you know what? It’s a crock. In the here and now, Apple's success is unparalleled, and the engine is humming better than ever on multiple vectors - products, margins, developers, profits and consumer engagement.
The iTunes App Store Rolls with the Travel Season
August 11, 2009
Sometime last week, the iTunes app store passed 70,000 unique apps (70K apps have appeared in the app store since it launched). One of the fastest-growing categories in the U.S. iTunes app store has been Travel, displacing Education to move into the top 5 largest categories. Welcome to summer vacation!
Old Media, New Media and Where the Rubber Meets the Road
July 29, 2009
My once-beloved San Francisco Chronicle has been "hollowed out," reduced to a thin pamphlet, thereby accelerating their subscriber attrition. Do you even know anyone who actually uses the Yellow Pages? Remember record stores? Whither Blockbuster? When analog media collides with digital media, "creative destruction" occurs with brutal efficiency -- unless you can truly differentiate your offering, a tall task, but not an insurmountable one.
Would an Apple Tablet be an Ereader? Yes and No.
By Andrew SavikasJuly 28, 2009
Last Friday the latest round of rumors of an Apple Tablet swelled considerably after a piece from Apple Insider asserted the device is now on the 2010 product roadmap. The news sparked considerable interest among publishers, who apparently see this development as a "Kindle killer" that will upset Amazon's apparent dominance of the ebook ecosystem. It's understandable from the perspective of a publisher, but if this device actually exists, it's doubtful anyone at Apple sees it as an "ereader" any more than it sees the iPhone as "a GPS device."
Apple has secretly released a Tablet Computer: It's called iPod touch
July 15, 2009
It seems that Apple is poised to launch its Tablet Computing entry later this year for a (rumored) price ranging between $500-800; wedging it from a pricing relativity perspective at about a grand less than a MacBook Air with solid state memory. But, perhaps the real story with respect to the forthcoming Apple Tablet Device is that Apple has already released a tablet computing device. It's called the iPod touch, and because it's often overshadowed by its noisier sibling, the iPhone, we sometimes forget that it has already sold 15M+ units.
Apple, the Boomer Tablet and the Matrix
By Mark SigalJune 25, 2009
I have written here, here and here about Apple’s inevitable assault on the Tablet market. What I hadn’t factored until recently is how symbiotic such a device would be for Baby Boomers. Why Baby Boomers? Well, for the same two reasons that this demographic is unlikely to embrace the palm-sized iPhone en masse. One, such a bookish-sized tablet device –...
The Next Wave of iPhone Apps
June 18, 2009
This is the biggest week of the year for iPhone users, as Apple released iPhone OS 3.0 on Wednesday and will be launching the new iPhone 3GS on Friday. The iPhone OS 3.0 Software Update provides a significant number of enhancements to the operating system including spotlight search, cut, copy, & paste, voice memos, support for landscape keyboard usage in Mail, Messages, Notes, and Safari, MMS and tethering for carriers that support these features (AT&T late summer for MMS, tethering TBD), and dozens of other improvements.
Analysis: Apple WWDC Keynote - Punishing the Wizard, Part Two
June 9, 2009
Fair or unfair, Apple has done such a good job of delivering technical wizardry over the years that when they merely execute, we hammer them because...well, we expect magic. With that in mind, this analysis of Apple's WWDC Keynote yesterday tries to make sense of the key storylines likely to play out for Apple in the coming months.
Gruber's Fictional App Store Censor
May 29, 2009
John Gruber's "Excerpts From the Diary of an App Store Reviewer" is cutting satire of the arbitrary decision making and capricious censorship that is generated by Apple's opaque App Store approval process. Read more about this brilliant commentary on the absurdity of the relationships between the Censor, the Censored, and "objectionable" material.
Built-to-Thrive - The Standard Bearers: Apple, Google, Amazon
By Mark SigalMay 19, 2009
When you think of companies that are not only built to last, but rather, built to thrive - in good times and bad - what companies logically sit at the top of the pyramid? Equally important, what should be the criteria for assessing them? Let me propose a straw man for assessing the "Built-to-Thrive" bunch...
Mac OS X 10.5.7 Update Incorrectly Signed? Had to use Combo Update File
By Todd OgasawaraMay 14, 2009
My 1st generation MacBook didn't like the 10.5.6 update. And, now it doesn't like the 10.5.7 update. Fortunately, the Combo Update file for each release saved the day in each case.
NiN's Rob Sheridan on iPhone Application Rejection
May 5, 2009
In this interview with Rob Sheridan (@rob_sheridan), Nine Inch Nails' Artistic Director, Rob discusses the experience of getting the rejection letter from Apple, and what effect it has on the band's plans to build community applications on the iPhone platform. You'll hear Sheridan express an uneasiness that Apple can act as judge and jury without providing any transparency into the approval process.
When No News is GREAT News: Analysis Apple Earnings Call
By Mark SigalApril 24, 2009
Apple crushed it (earnings in the most recent quarter). So much for the recession prompting consumers to stampede away from Apple's "high-end" products, as the prognosticators predicted (and the stock market priced into Apple's stock). So what's the moral of the story? Read on...
PC 1.0, iPhone 3.0 and the Woz: Everything Old is New Again
March 31, 2009
Taking a look back at a Steve Wozniak interview is a window into a time when the industry was completely and utterly dependent upon hardware innovation; before it became such a commodity at the hardware layer that the software could only be so differentiated. That is, until iPod and iPhone. The iPod accessory business itself is already a $2B market, and there has really been no such thing as "software value-add" to the hardware accessory itself. With iPhone 3.0, this changes.
ANALYSIS - iPhone 3.0 Developer Preview: Block the Kick Strategy
March 18, 2009
Today's iPhone 3.0 Developer Preview was what I call a "block the kick" announcement. What's a block the kick? It is an effort to do such a good job of persuading your core constituency that any perceived momentum of the competition pales in comparison to your own that you block the competition's nascent momentum in its infancy. With 30M units sold across the iPhone + iPod touch line of multi-touch handhelds, and 800M downloads across 25K developer apps, today's event is about running up the score BEFORE the competition finds its footing with developers.
iPhones, App Stores and Ecosystems
By Mark SigalMarch 17, 2009
On Tuesday, Apple is previewing its iPhone OS 3.0 to developers. While I have no idea what they will present, I will say this. The fact that Apple is stepping on the gas pedal and pushing 3.0, while the new kids on the block (read: Android and Palm Pre) are barely 1.0 suggests that they have learned the lessons taught them oh so painfully by Microsoft in the PC wars; namely, that he who wins the hearts and minds of developers, wins the war.
At last, a new Mac mini...
By Rich RosenMarch 6, 2009
This week, Apple finally announced a long-awaited upgrade to the Mac mini product line. If you're an Apple watcher, you may recall that at MacWorld earlier this year, anticipation was high that Apple would be announcing an update to...
Pad your Apple Store order to over $50
February 28, 2009
Want to pad your Apple Store purchase to get over that magic $50 free shipping threshold? Here's how.
Sneak Peek at iWork-09 & Share Your Tips Contest
February 26, 2009
Josh Clark is a writer, designer, and developer who aims to help creative people share their ideas with the world. And to that end, Josh is currently working on iWork '09: The Missing Manual. Currently available as a Rough Cut, the new book will teach you everything you need to know about Apple's incredible productivity programs, including the Pages word-processor, the Numbers spreadsheet, and the Keynote presentation program that Al Gore and Steve Jobs made famous. Read an excerpt from Josh Clark's work in progress, (adapted for the web). Then, take a minute to share an iWork '09 tip and you could win free access to iWork '09: The Missing Manual: Rough Cuts Version.
Apple Loves Free Apps
By Raven ZacharyDecember 8, 2008
Apple has been focusing its recent iPhone marketing efforts on applications. This is an approach I am quite pleased with as it has tremendous strengths in regards to expressing the 'more than a phone' capabilities of the device. Application distribution...
Turning Ideas Into iPhone Applications
By Raven ZacharyNovember 24, 2008
"I have an idea for an iPhone application." The most common conversation I have with people these days concerns the process of turning ideas into iPhone applications. Someone reaches out to me from across the Internet, hoping I will be...
What's the Appeal of the iPhone to Developers?
By chromaticOctober 13, 2008
Raven Zachary and Bill Dudney are co-chairs of the one-day iPhone Live conference in San Jose. O'Reilly News recently talked to them to answer the questions "What's interesting about the iPhone to developers?" and "What hints does the iPhone give to Apple's future plans?"
The Mac at 25: Andy Hertzfeld Looks Back
August 27, 2008
Andy Hertzfeld, one of the original designers of the Macintosh, is also the author of the book Revolution in the Valley, which tells the tale of the birth of the Mac. As the Mac approaches its 25th anniversary in January, Andy spent some time talking about how the Mac has changed over time, how a group of highly talented individuals was able to come together as a team to create it, why Xerox let it get away, and how life might have been different if Steve Jobs hadn't left the company for more than 10 years.
Why I've Joined the Cult of Mac
By James TurnerAugust 14, 2008
I've always been a PC-hardware sort-of-guy, but I've finally broken down and bought a MacBook Pro. Here's why.
New IPhone Developers Meeting in Atlanta
By Noah GiftJune 24, 2008
If you live around Atlanta, GA, you should come out to the first IPhone Developer meeting at MaxMedia on July 17th.. There will be at least one presentation of a cutting edge IPhone app, food, door prizes and more. If...
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