NEWS Tablet War Hots Up With Microsoft iPad Rival Friday, July 23, 2010
•••Microsoft is taking on the iPad in the battle of the tablets as it announced plans to launch it own version later this year.
It is working in partnership with Hewlett-Packard whose executive vice president Todd Bradley said: ‘Slates are going to be an enormous category.
‘Our focus is working with still our largest software partner, Microsoft, to create a tablet, a slate, for the enterprise business.’
‘This is just in its infancy.’
Apple has sold more than three million iPads since it went on sale in April and Microsoft has been seeking to develop products that will tap into the lucrative market.
When the Microsoft tablet arrives on the shelves it may benefit from one key advantage over its Apple rival.
The HP tablet computer will be able to run Flash, the popular video software from Adobe which Apple has barred from the iPad. The news comes as Microsoft revealed a record $4.52 billion profit with a fourth quarter revenue of more than $16 billion dollars.
The American tech company credited the strong sales figures to the successful launch of its latest-generation Office 2010 software and to continued strong demand for its new Windows 7 operating system.
The popularity of its Xbox 360 videogame consoles and Bing’s improving share of the Internet search market also contributed to the successful final quarter of its fiscal year.
Microsoft chief operating officer Kevin Turner said: ‘We look forward to continuing our product momentum this fall with the upcoming launches of Windows Phone 7 and Xbox Kinect.’ • Latest News & Headlines » Home «
NEWS Apple in panic at iPhone 4 ‘antenna-gate’? Apple offers free iPhone 4 cases to appease users Saturday, July 17, 2010
•••Apple Inc will give free protective cases to buyers of its latest iPhone to alleviate the so-called death grip problem.
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs announced the giveaway on Friday during a news conference at its headquarters, even as the company denied the iPhone 4 has an antenna problem that needs fixing. The more than 3 million people who have bought the iPhone 4 and new buyers through September 30 will all be eligible.
People who purchased the $29 ‘Bumper’ cases will be refunded.
Jobs began the event by saying, ‘We’re not perfect,’ but was quick to point out no mobile phone is perfect. He played a video showing competing smartphones, including a BlackBerry from Research in Motion, losing signal strength when held in certain ways.
Phones usually have an antenna inside the body. In designing the iPhone 4, Apple took a gamble on a new design, using parts of the phone’s outer casing as the antenna. That saved space inside the tightly packed body, but means covering a spot on the lower left edge of the case blocks wireless signal. Consumer Reports magazine said covering the spot with a case or even a piece of duct tape alleviates the problem. It refused to give the iPhone 4 its ‘recommended’ stamp of approval for this reason, and it had called on Apple on Monday to compensate buyers.
On Friday, in the company’s first remarks following the magazine’s report, Jobs said Apple was ‘stunned and upset and embarrassed’.
Jobs said the iPhone 4’s antenna issue isn’t widespread. He said just over five out of every thousand users have complained to Apple’s warranty service, and less than 2 percent have returned the device.
‘We’re not feeling right now that we have a giant problem we need to fix,’ Jobs said. ‘This has been blown so out of proportion that it’s incredible. I know it’s fun to have a story, but it’s less fun when you’re on the other end of it.’
Analysts have criticised Apple’s first responses to reports of reception problems as dismissive.
Jobs apologised to buyers who had less than perfect experiences. ‘We’re going to do whatever it takes to make them happy and if we can’t make them happy we’re going to give them a full refund and say we’re really sorry we inconvenienced you, and we’re going to do better next time.’
The refund applies even for those who have long-term contracts with AT&T Inc., the iPhone’s exclusive US wireless carrier.
Jobs, a cancer survivor, also addressed a question about his health on Friday.
‘I’m doing fine. I was even better earlier in the week (when) I was having a vacation in Hawaii, but I decided this was important enough to come back for,’ he said. ‘I’m doing great.’ • Latest News & Headlines » Home « • Source(s):Apple Inc.
NEWS Apple Bans iPhone Developer from App Store Thursday, July 8, 2010
•••Apple says it has banned a developer from its applications store after hundreds of hijacked user accounts were used to push his titles to best sellers.
Developer Thuat Nguyen has been banned for violating an Apple license agreement, “including fraudulent purchases,” Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said Tuesday. About 400 iTunes users were affected, she said.
Technology blogs said some iTunes users unwittingly had their accounts used to buy Nguyen’s book apps, which at one point occupied 42 of the top 50 book apps sold in the store.
“A vast majority of these book apps were released in April, have little to no customer ratings or reviews, appear to be in Vietnamese … and may or may not be infringing on copyrighted work – we’re noticing a lot of Dragon Ball art here,” the blog Engadget.com said on Sunday. Apple’s app store offers paid and free applications for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Apple’s store offers paid and free applications for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Apple has 150 million registered users for its iTunes, iBook and App Store marketplaces for purchasing music, e-books, movies and television shows. More than 225,000 applications are in the App store, with more than 5 billion downloaded, according to Apple.
Apple, based in Cupertino, California, rose $1.69 to $248.63 at 4 pm EDT in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have gained 18 percent this year. • Latest News & Headlines » Home « • Source(s):Apple Inc.
NEWS Apple iPhone 4 release plagued by signal issue: Quick Fix for iPhone 4 Antenna Problem Saturday, June 26, 2010
•••There is anger among new iPhone 4 owners after it emerged that the device loses signal when held in the user’s left hand.
Apple’s latest phone only went on sale on Thursday but already the company has been inundated with complaints from users who have found themselves unable to make calls.
One disgruntled customer emailed the company and received a response from the chief executive himself, Steve Jobs.
But Mr Jobs was not too sympathetic with his advice, he wrote: ‘Just avoid holding it in that way.’
The problem appears to occur when the phone is held in the left palm which then covers part of the stainless steel band that contains some of the antennae.
The loss of signal has been a hot topic on Twitter with many people tweeting on the issue.
‘Pretty amazing the way the signal degrades on the iPhone 4 when held in your left hand,’ wrote @StevenMatthews1.
‘So it sounds like the iphone 4 is rubbish for left handers with signal dropping. Will have to learn to be right-handed,’ @Lollipop26 said.
And @MattJWilliams39 has decided against investing in the phone altogether: ‘Style over substance – iPhone 4 has sensitive areas that when held cause signal strength to drop. Cancel my order…’
In a statement Apple said: ‘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 American company now sells ‘bumpers’ that protect the stainless steel parts of the phone and stops the user’s skin from touching the sensitive antennae.
However, the good news is the problem is not affecting everyone and the majority of people who queued for hours to get their hands on the latest model are satisfied customers.
Ben Paton, 23, was first to buy the iPhone 4 from the flagship store on Regent Street on Thursday after queuing for 16 hours.
But a man who flew in from Dubai and had queued for double that amount of time thought he would be first through the store’s doors.
Alex Lee, 27, headed the 500-strong queue for 32 hours but had his hopes dashed when the store allowed internet pre-order customers ahead of him.
He said he will write to Steve Jobs to complain.
Here is The Video on how to do a Quick fix on your IPhone Antenna Reception Problem:
• Latest News & Headlines » Home « • Source(s): Apple Inc.& Twitter
NEWS Microsoft Office 2010 goes on sale worldwide Friday, June 11, 2010
•••Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced that the latest version of its Office software is now available for consumers worldwide.
Starting from Tuesday, consumers can purchase Microsoft Office 2010 at more than 35,000 retail stores across the globe, through online retailers or from Microsoft website.
Office 2010 can also be purchased with desktops and laptops from leading personal computer (PC) makers including Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung and Sony, Microsoft said in a press release.
The software giant predicted that in the next year, more than 100 million PCs will ship with Office 2010 preloaded.
Microsoft said it has made considerable enhancements to Office 2010, a suite of applications including the popular Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.
For example, improvements to Word 2010 can help users add extensive text effects and table formatting options.
Microsoft also announced that a free, Web-based version of the Office programs is becoming available to consumers.
The Office Web Apps, which includes Web-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that enable users to edit and share documents online, is seen as Microsoft’s answer to Google Inc.’s Web-based applications. • Latest News & Headlines » Home « • Source(s):Microsoft Corporation
•••Hackers have obtained the email addresses of more than 114,000 owners of Apple iPads.
Valleywag, a property of Gawker Media, said on Wednesday the hackers turned over the email list and it contained the email addresses of a number of high-profile iPad users including U.S. business leaders, politicians and military officials.
Valleywag published the names of some on the list but not their full email addresses.
They included New York Times Co chief executive Janet Robinson, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.
The iPad owners whose email addresses were compromised were subscribers to AT&T’s 3G plan which provides connectivity to the touchscreen tablet computer from Apple.
In a statement, AT&T acknowledged there had been a data breach and issued an apology to customers who had been affected.
‘AT&T was informed by a business customer on Monday of the potential exposure of their iPad ICC IDS,’ AT&T said.
‘This issue was escalated to the highest levels of the company and was corrected by Tuesday; and we have essentially turned off the feature that provided the email addresses.’
Valleywag said the AT&T breach revealed the email addresses of iPad owners in companies such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley and staffers in the Pentagon, Senate, House of Representatives, Department of Justice, NASA and Department of Homeland Security. » Related: F.B.I. to investigate AT&T iPad data breach • Latest News & Headlines » Home «
NEWS F.B.I. to investigate AT&T iPad data breach Friday, June 11, 2010
•••The F.B.I. is investigating a security breach of AT&T’s website that allowed hackers to obtain the email addresses of iPad owners.
‘The F.B.I. is aware of these possible computer intrusions and has opened an investigation to address this potential cyberthreat,’ said Lindsay Godwin, an FBI spokeswoman.
AT&T acknowledged on Wednesday there had been a data breach at the U.S. telecom giant that allowed hackers to obtain the email addresses of owners of the 3G model of the iPad.
AT&T’s 3G plan provides the mobile connectivity for the touchscreen tablet computer from Apple.
According to Silicon Valley website Valleywag, a shadowy hacking group called Goatse Security hacked into the AT&T website and obtained the email addresses of over 114,000 iPad owners including those of business leaders, politicians and military officials.
Valleywag published the names of some on the list but not their full email addresses.
They included New York Times Co. chief executive Janet Robinson, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.
Earlier Thursday, retired rear admiral Jamie Barnett, chief of the Federal Communications Commission’s public safety and homeland security bureau, expressed concern about the incident.
‘I am concerned about the report of a security breach to AT&T’s network that exposed the personal data of more than a hundred thousand iPad users,’ Barnett said in a statement.
‘This breach underscores the need for robust cyber security,’ he said. ‘The F.C.C. will continue to work with all stakeholders to prevent future security breaches that violate consumer privacy and undermine trust in America’s communications infrastructure.’
AT&T apologised for the disclosure and said it has ‘turned off the feature that provided the email addresses.’
Valleywag owner Gawker Media also runs the popular technology blog Gizmodo, which obtained a secret prototype of an Apple iPhone in April after it was lost in a California bar and published details and pictures of the device. » Related: AT&T hacked, iPad 3G owners email addresses harvested • Latest News & Headlines » Home «
NEWS Steve Jobs has Wi-Fi woes Wednesday, June 9, 2010
•••It was more iFail than iPhone at the launch of the latest iconic phone – with Apple’s boss walking offstage unable to pick up a wi-fi network for the sleek new device.
Launching the iPhone 4 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, CEO Steve Jobs apparently struggled because of audience wi-fi active devices.
‘We’re having a little problem here. I don’t know what is wrong with our networks,’ Mr Jobs said, as the huge projected image of his iPhone stayed resolutely blank.
Mr. Jobs admitted that the venue was known to be a wi-fi bad spot, before pleading for audience members to switch their devices off.
‘You know you can help me out if you are on wi-fi, you could just get off, I’d appreciate it,’ Jobs said to the crowd.
Having failed to show a website on the phone’s display as it sat alongside an existing iPhone model, Jobs attempted Plan B for the new phone.
‘We going to switch over to some backups here, I have a feeling we might have the same problem,’ he said.
After starting the backup, it gave an error message, ‘Could not activate cellular data network,’ to laughs from the crowd.
Mr. Jobs clicked the error message but another then appeared, ‘Could not open page’, to more laughs. ‘Well, jeez, i don’t like this,’ Mr. Jobs said.
Attempting to revert to the ‘primary’ phone he had been using, Mr. Jobs said: ‘I’m afraid I have a problem and I’m not going to be able to show you much today.’
Mr. Jobs then showed several photos on the high definition display of the new phone before a third attempt to access a network also failed.
‘Well, I’m sorry guys, I don’t know what is going on,’ Jobs said to some jeers from the audience.
Apple’s product unveilings are usually renowned for a lack of technical glitches, however Jobs had to resort to yelling to Scott Forstall, the vice president of iPhone software, for help.
‘Scott, you got any suggestions?’ Jobs pleaded.
Someone in the crowd then yelled out ‘Verizon’ – a dig at Apple for not offering the new phone through America’s biggest mobile service provider.
‘We’re going to hope things get fixed before my next demo here. Thanks,’ Mr Jobs said as he walked offstage.
Features of the new phone include two cameras with an inbuilt flash, wi-fi video conferencing facilities, uprated battery and motion-sensing gyroscope for game usage. • Latest News & Headlines » Home « • Source(s): Apple Inc.
NEWS Apple Unveils iPhone 4 for $199, Available June 24th Monday, June 7, 2010
•••Apple has unveiled a next-generation iPhone that features video chat, can shoot and edit high-definition quality video, and has a crisper resolution screen.
‘We are going to take the biggest leap since the original iPhone,’ Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said as he showed off the iPhone 4 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference here.
The iPhone 4 will go on sale on June 24 in Britain, France, Germany, Japan and the United States, and will cost $199 for the 16 gigabyte model and $299 for the 32GB version.
The touchscreen smartphone, which comes in black and white versions, will be available in 18 other countries in July and 24 more in August.
The iPhone 4 includes more than 100 new features including a front-facing video camera to allow for video-conferencing between iPhones, a better still camera, an improved battery and a screen with significantly higher resolution.
To demonstrate the video chat program, called FaceTime, Jobs, dressed in his trademark black turtleneck and blue jeans, called up Jonathan Ive, an Apple product designer, and held an iPhone-to-iPhone video conversation.
The iPhone 4 can also shoot and edit HD video. Randy Ubillos, Apple’s chief architect for video applications, displayed an iMovie for iPhone video editing program available from Apple’s App Store for $4.99.
Jobs touted the higher-resolution screen as a major leap forward. ‘There has never been a display like this on a phone,’ he said.
The 3.5-inch screen is the same size as on previous models, but features 326 pixels per square inch, four times more pixels than the earlier iPhones.
‘There is a magic number around 300 pixels per inch that is the limit of the human retina,’ Jobs said. ‘We are over that limit.
‘That’s going to set the standard for display for years to come.’
The improved battery life allows for 40 per cent more talk time, Jobs said, and the iPhone 4 – at 0.37 inch or three-eighths of an inch – is 24 percent thinner than the previous model, iPhone 3GS.
The iPhone 4, which runs on Apple’s A4 processor, features a five-megapixel camera, an improvement on the previous three-megapixel camera.
Users will also have the option to use Microsoft’s Bing as an internet search engine in addition to Google and Yahoo! Google remains the default search engine.
Jobs joked that some of the attendees at the conference may have seen the iPhone 4 previously ‘because there have been a few photos around’.
Technology blog Gizmodo obtained a prototype of the iPhone in April from a 21-year-old man who found it in a California beer garden, where it had been lost by an Apple software engineer, and published details of the device.
Apple launched the iPhone in 2007 and has sold more than 50 million as it battles Google’s Android platform, the Blackberry from Canada’s Research in Motion and others for the fast-growing market.
Before displaying the latest iPhone, Jobs said that more than five million digital books have been downloaded since Apple began selling its iPad tablet computer two months ago.
Jobs, who received a standing ovation as he walked on stage to address the more than 5200 software developers attending the conference, said the 8500 applications developed for the iPad have been downloaded more than 35 million times from Apple’s App Store.
Apple has sold more than two million iPads since it went on sale in the United States in early April and in nine other countries late last month.
Jobs said that 225,000 applications for the iPhone and the iPod Touch were currently available and that five billion applications had been downloaded from the App Store as of last week.
The new iPhone received positive reviews from analysts, although most of the features were known already because of the Gizmodo leak.
Altimeter’s Michael Gartenberg said Apple has ‘raised the bar once again by offering next year’s technology at last year’s prices’.
‘They are the first ones to make video chat easy and that will drive the sales,’ Gartenberg said.
Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi said the iPhone 4 ‘keeps Apple ahead of the competition’ by ‘driving software and hardware innovation hand in hand’. • Latest News & Headlines » Home « • Source(s): Apple Inc.
NEWS Steve Jobs to announce iPhone 4G on June 7 Sunday, June 6, 2010
•••Apple’s secrecy about product launches is legendary but when Steve Jobs takes the stage on Monday the world may have already had a glimpse of what’s to come.
Jobs is to be the keynote speaker at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, an annual event during which the gadget maker reveals its latest must-have devices.
This year’s conference, which has attracted more than 5,000 developers of programs for Macintosh computers, the iPhone, the iPod and the iPad, carries less mystery than years past due to an Apple software engineer’s unfortunate evening in a California beer garden a little over two months ago.
The engineer, Robert ‘Gray’ Powell, lost a prototype of the next-generation iPhone while drinking at the Gourmet Haus Staudt near Apple headquarters and it ended up with a 21-year-old man who then sold it to technology blog Gizmodo.
According to Gizmodo, features of the new phone include a front-facing video camera for video conferencing and a better regular camera with a larger lens. It reportedly has a flat back instead of curved back, is thinner than the previous model, the iPhone 3GS, and has a battery that is 16-percent larger.
Gizmodo, unsurprisingly, will not be in the audience when Jobs makes his keynote address at 10:00 am PDT on Monday. The technology blog said Apple has not responded to its requests to attend the June 7-11 WWDC.
Gartner analyst Van Baker said Gizmodo’s revelations about the next iPhone had taken some of the shine off the event.
‘I think the biggest challenge Apple’s going to face is coming up with enough exciting news to have this truly get the market’s attention,’ Baker said.
The front-facing video camera that will allow iPhone owners to have video chats with Macintosh computers or iPhone to iPhone ‘will probably be among the biggest news that we see,’ he said.
I think there’ll be some additional reveals on OS 4.0 (the latest iPhone operating system),’ Baker added. ‘We might see a new iPod Touch,’ the Gartner analyst told AFP. ‘Beyond that, I’m not sure because the iPad’s new and the MacBook line – both the MacBook and the MacBook Pro – just had a significant refresh.
‘So I’m not sure what else to expect from them other than OS4 announcements and a reveal of the new iPhone,’ he said.
Baker said he did not expect the new iPhone to be ‘exactly’ what Gizmodo displayed but there would probably not be substantive differences.
‘I’m sure they had variants of the design floating around and likely made the decision of which ones to manufacture within the last month or so,’ he said.
Kathryn Huberty of Morgan Stanley said Apple may announce a price cut for the iPhone. A $50 drop in price could result in a 40-percent increase in demand, she estimated. U.S. wireless carrier AT&T sells the latest iPhone for $199 and a year ago Apple slashed the price for its earliest model to $99.
Independent technology analyst Carmi Levy said the Gizmodo leak ‘took some of the surprise out of the event’ but called it a ‘momentary diversion.’
In any case, Apple, which has sold more than 50 million iPhones in three years, has taken an approach of ‘evolution and not revolution’ when it comes to the touchscreen smartphone, Levy said.
‘When upgrading its iPhone hardware, Apple’s goal is never to hit it out of the park,’ he said. ‘Rather, the company’s intent is to move the bar far enough to maintain its market-dominant position.
‘To ensure it has enough new-feature gas in the tank for next year, it never gives customers everything they’ve asked for in any given year,’ he said.
‘Instead, it includes just enough new features to keep the faithful faithful for another year. It’s the ultimate form of controlled marketing, and Apple does it better than virtually any company on the planet.’ • Latest News & Headlines » Home « • Source(s): Apple Inc. & Gizmodo / Gawker Media
NEWS Adobe Blows Apple a Kiss Thursday, May 13, 2010
•••Two weeks after Apple CEO Steve Jobs published his anti-Flash manifesto, Adobe – which makes the rich media software – has hit back. But instead of just sending out an anti-Apple rant, Adobe blows a kiss at the company, before scolding companies like Apple that ‘put content and applications behind walls’ and ‘dictate what you can create, how you create it, or what you can experience on the web.
Adobe’s pro-Flash campaign appears in newspapers such as the Washington Post, and on a number of major web sites. In an open letter, Adobe founders Chuck Geschke and John Warnock attempt to debunk Jobs’ claims that Flash is a closed platform, and instead hint that other companies are doing more to undermine open web standards:
We believe that consumers should be able to freely access their favorite content and applications, regardless of what computer they have, what browser they like, or what device suits their needs. No company – no matter how big or how creative – should dictate what you can create, how you create it, or what you can experience on the web.
When markets are open, anyone with a great idea has a chance to drive innovation and find new customers. Adobe’s business philosophy is based on a premise that, in an open market, the best products will win in the end – and the best way to compete is to create the best technology and innovate faster than your competitors.
We believe that Apple, by taking the opposite approach, has taken a step that could undermine this next chapter of the web – the chapter in which mobile devices outnumber computers, any individual can be a publisher, and content is accessed anywhere and at any time.
While Adobe’s Flash format still powers 75% of video on the web, it’s not the company’s main source of revenue. Most of the company’s income comes from its Creative Suite product, which includes developer tools for Flash – but is generally better known as the home of Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere. That could insulate the company from any drop in Flash, though with 50% of all CS sales going to Mac users, Adobe can’t afford to ignore Apple. So, those hearts are likely to keep fluttering. And maybe Geschke and Warnock will trade in their starched shirts and ties for something a little more casual – though we’re just kidding about Adobe hating black turtlenecks. • Source(s): Adobe Systems Incorporated ; The Adobe Flash Platform ; Rich Internet applications
NEWS Android Shakes Up U.S. Smartphone Market Tuesday, May 11, 2010
•••The Android operating system (OS) covered 28 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in the first quarter of the year, replacing Apple’s iPhone OS to take #2 position.
This is the first time for Android OS to top iPhone, which covered 21 percent of the market, according to the market research firm The NPD Group, PC World said on Tuesday.
RIM’s BlackBerry OS still dominated the market in sales, having a 36 percent market share.
Much of the growth in Android OS sales came from Verizon’s Motorola Droid and HTC Droid Eris.
The average selling price for all smartphones in the first quarter was $151 in Q1 2010, a 3 percent decrease over the previous year. • Source(s): NPD Group, Inc.
NEWS Microsoft sidelines ‘Courier’ tablet project Friday, April 30, 2010
•••Microsoft has sidelined a ‘Courier’ project said to be focused on building a twin-screen tablet computer that could be used for entertainment and work.
‘At any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested, and incubated,’ Microsoft spokesman Frank X. Shaw (Corporate Vice President, Corporate Communications) said in a message posted on Thursday on the U.S. software giant’s blog.
‘The Courier project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings.’
Microsoft has kept details of the project secret, declining to confirm or deny what it is about.
Leaked reports of the table described it as opening like a book to reveal two screens operated by touch.
Shaw said he posted his brief comments in response to ‘a tonne of speculation’ about Courier.
A Microsoft tablet computer was expected to debut in January at the Consumer Electronics Show, which features the debuts of many of the tech-world’s latest devices.
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer instead touted a Hewlett-Packard tablet computer during his on-stage presentation.
Industry insiders were expecting Courier to rival Apple’s freshly-launched iPad tablet computer.
The Wi-Fi-only model of the latest device from the maker of the Macintosh computer, the iPod and the iPhone went on sale in the United States on April 3.
The company sold over 500,000 iPads the first week.
Apple promised that its iPad models featuring 3G cellular connectivity will hit U.S. stores on Friday.
Apple has said that heavy US demand has forced it to delay the international release of the iPad by a month, until late May.
NEWS Google ranked world’s most valuable brand Thursday, April 29, 2010
•••Google was crowned the world’s most valuable brand on Wednesday by a research firm that found technology firms dominate when it comes to how much a name is worth in today’s markets.
Google, IBM, Apple and Microsoft topped global stalwarts Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Marlboro in a Top Ten brand value list packed with seven technology companies.
Google’s brand was worth more than $114 billion, a 14 percent climb from 2009, according to the annual Millward Brown Optimor ‘BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands’ report. U.S. technology titan IBM saw its ‘brand value’ surge 30 percent to $86 billion while the worth of Apple’s name climbed 32 percent to $83 billion, according to the report.
Factors taken into consideration in the ranking include customer loyalty and opinions regarding brands and how they influence earnings.
Microsoft ranked fourth with its brand valued at slightly more than $76 billion, just ahead of the nearly $68 billion that Coca-Cola’s brand was said to be worth.
China Mobile, General Electric, and Vodafone claimed the eighth through tenth spots respectively.
Social-networking powerhouse Facebook made it onto a separate Top Twenty technology brands list for the first time with its company name value at $5.5 billion.
Electronics powerhouse Samsung saw the largest jump in brand value, soaring 80 percent from the previous year to $11.3 billion.
‘Technology brands demonstrated their pervasiveness in our daily lives,’ Millward Brown said in a release. ‘Use of social media was a key trend across many of the successful brands.’
The overall value of the Top 100 brands rose four per cent to more than two trillion dollars, according to Millward Brown, which specialises in advertising, marketing communications, media and brand equity research.
‘This ranking has elevated the importance of building brands among some of the world’s most successful companies,’ said Millward Brown global chief executive Eileen Campbell.
‘CEOs and CFOs around the world should be asking their brand and marketing teams how they can leverage brand to both protect and grow the business.’
An investor who put their money into a Brandz portfolio five years ago would have earned a double-digit return as opposed to losing cash with a set of stocks based on the SP 500 index, according to Millward Brown.
‘In the past, many companies were quick to cut their marketing spend during a down economy,’ said Joanna Seddon, head of Millward Brown Optimor.
‘A new trend has emerged in the wake of the recession as more companies realised the importance of maintaining and even increasing budgets to support brand loyalty and engagement.’ • Source(s): MillwardBrown
NEWS Apple Market Cap Bigger Than Microsoft? Not Quite Yet, It Isn’t Saturday, April 24, 2010
•••Boosted by upbeat investor reaction to its strong earnings report this week, Apple on yesterday became the second largest company on the S&P 500 Index in terms of market capitalization, surpassing software giant Microsoft. Revenge, they say, is a dish that is best served cold. And if this is true, then Apple must be pleased as punch to see itself in the second spot in the S&P 500, second only to Exxon Mobil.
While coming second is in itself notable – with the notable exception of coming first – what must be especially pleasing to Apple is the company it has replaced – Microsoft.
To understand this, you must travel back in time to 1988. In that year, Apple filed a case against Microsoft, claiming that the Windows graphical user interface (GUI) infringed upon the Mac’s “look and feel.” Of course, since Apple had itself borrowed the Mac’s look and feel by looking at products from Xerox and feeling that the GUI is a good thing, the judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Apple cannot get patent-like protection for the idea of a GUI.
What is more humiliating than being beaten by an opponent? Running back to the same opponent for help when you are down. And Apple was forced to do this in 1997, when Steve Jobs announced that Apple would join Microsoft to release new versions of Microsoft Office for the Macintosh, and that Microsoft made a $150 million investment in non-voting Apple stock. The money made a huge difference to Apple because in 1997 Apple was in deep trouble and was facing a huge finance crunch.
Enough history. Cut to the here and now. Apple is on top and has ousted Microsoft to become the No 2 company on the S&P index. It would be wrong to say that its iPod, iPhone and iPads are selling like hot cakes – it would perhaps be better to say that hot cakes are selling like iPads.
Purists may argue that the S&P 500 represents merely float-adjusted market cap. In fact, as Marco Tabini posted on macworld.com, “Microsoft’s full market cap still outstrips Apple’s by $275 billion to $241 billion.”
True, Microsoft’s market cap is still higher, but Apple has one psychological advantage that was once enjoyed by Microsoft in the PC era – the ability to drive the direction of the market. Now, Apple decides what happens.
Want proof? The iPad now accounts for 26 per cent of all of the mobile traffic on wired.com. The site is so impressed that they are making their Flash-heavy pages iPad compatible. “We are aware of the irony that the majority of wired.com’s videos, which use an Adobe Flash-based player, don’t play on the iPad. We’re working on that, starting with our homepage,” wrote Dylan F. Tweney in an article that appeared on the site.
Many many moons ago, when Steve Jobs hired John Sculley from Pepsi, he is reputed to have asked him, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?” Scully didn’t change the world. In fact, during his regime, Microsoft threatened to discontinue Office for the Mac if Apple did not licence parts of the Mac GUI for use with Windows. And those days, Microsoft got what it wanted. But it looks like iPad has just turned the tables.
• What is S&P 500? The S&P 500 is a free-float capitalization-weighted index published since 1957 of the prices of 500 large-cap common stocks actively traded in the United States. After the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 is the most widely followed index of large-cap American stocks. It is considered a bellwether for the American economy.
NEWS Software giant Microsoft posts 35 percent jump in profit in Q3 Friday, April 23, 2010
•••Software giant Microsoft said on Thursday that its third-quarter net profit rose 35 percent to $4.01 billion, slightly better than expectations.
Microsoft said revenue hit a record $14.50 billion in the quarter which ended on March 31, up six percent over the same period a year ago.
‘Windows 7 continues to be a growth engine, but we also saw strong growth in other areas like Bing search, Xbox Live and our emerging cloud services,’ Microsoft chief financial officer Peter Klein said in a statement.
Microsoft said revenue from its Windows computer operating system was up 28 percent over a year ago, driven by strong demand for the latest version, Windows 7.
‘Business customers are beginning to refresh their desktops and the momentum of Windows 7 continues to be strong,’ chief operating officer Kevin Turner said.
Microsoft’s fiscal fourth-quarter revenue will meet or exceed PC market revenues, said Klein, driven by a full pipeline of product updates including Office 2010, SQL server and SharePoint 2010.”You’ll see a wave of product launches in the fourth quarter,” Klein said.”Our business will continue to grow stronger than the market.” • Source(s): Microsoft Corporation
NEWS Social Networking Crime on the Rise Wednesday, April 21, 2010
•••Computer security vendor Symantec Corp says 240 million distinct malicious programs were identified last year, double the number found in 2008.
In its Internet Security Threat Report for 2009, the company said there was a growing number of web-based attacks, with social networking sites used to lure users to malicious websites.
Symantec’s senior vice president of security technology and response Stephen Trilling said the scale of cyber attacks and global nature required international cooperation.
‘Attackers have evolved from simple scams to highly sophisticated espionage campaigns targeting some of the world’s largest corporations and government entities,’ Mr. Trilling said in a statement.
The company said there was 240 million new malicious programs, double the prior year’s number, with the Sality.AE virus, the Brisv Trojan and SillyFDC worm most frequently blocked by its software.
Symantec said these unsolicited emails made up 88 percent of all email observed in 2009, reaching a high of 90.4 percent in May, despite government attempts to crackdown on spam emails.
Symantec said about 85 percent of spam messages were sent from so-called botnets, or networks of compromised computers that were centrally controlled.
‘Throughout 2009 Symantec saw botnet infected computers being advertised in the underground economy for as little as three cents per computer,’ the company said.
The report said cyber criminals were increasingly targeting enterprises, where they had the potential to benefit from compromised corporate intellectual property.
‘Attackers are leveraging the abundance of personal information openly available on social networking sites to synthesize socially engineered attacks on key individuals with targeted companies,’ it said.
NEWS New iPhone prototype found Tuesday, April 20, 2010
•••A 27-year-old Apple software engineer has been outed as the unfortunate employee who left behind an iPhone prototype in a California beer garden.
Technology blog Gizmodo purchased the next-generation iPhone from an unnamed person who was also at the Redwood City bar that night and revealed details of how the device came to be in its possession.
Gizmodo editorial director Brian Lam also said Apple wants the phone back.
He published a letter sent by Apple’s legal department on Monday asking that the device be returned.
‘It has come to our attention that Gizmodo is currently in possession of a device that belongs to Apple,’ said the letter signed by Bruce Sewell, Apple’s senior vice president and general counsel.
‘This letter constitutes a formal request that you return the device to Apple. Please let me know where to pick up the unit.’
Lam also published his reply telling Apple the phone ‘was burning a hole in our pockets’ and Gizmodo would be ‘happy to have you pick this thing up’.
‘I’m happy to see it returned to its rightful owner,’ Lam wrote.
‘Take it easy on the kid who lost it.’
Gizmodo identified the ‘kid’ as an Apple software engineer named Gray Powell, a 2006 graduate of North Carolina State University.
The technology blog said Powell was sampling the wares at the Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City, about 32 kilometres from Apple headquarters in Cupertino, on the night of March 18.
Gizmodo said Powell forgot the prototype phone, which had been disguised to resemble the previous model iPhone, the iPhone 3GS, on a bar stool when he left the establishment.
His last Facebook update according to Gizmodo: ‘I underestimated how good German beer is.’
Efforts to track down Powell’s Facebook profile were unsuccessful on Tuesday although a slew of fake accounts have been created on the social network in his name including a ‘Drunk Gray Powell’ profile and a ‘My Sympathies, Gray Powell’ page.
Gizmodo said the phone ended up with a person who had been sitting next to Powell at the bar after no one else claimed it.
‘Weeks later, Gizmodo got it,’ the technology blog said without providing further details.
Gizmodo also said it held a brief telephone conversation with Powell about giving him back his phone.
‘He sounded tired and broken,’ Gizmodo said.
‘Knowing how ferocious and ruthless Apple is about product leaks, those beers may have turned out to be the bitterest of his life.’
The comments section on Gizmodo, meanwhile, was deluged with messages from users urging Apple chief executive Steve Jobs not to fire Powell and criticism of the technology blog for identifying the engineer publicly.
‘Releasing his name was uncalled for. Stay class, Gizmodo,’ wrote Aaron Leibowitz.
According to Gizmodo, features of the new phone, expected to be released later this year, include a front-facing video camera for video chat, a flash and an improved regular camera with a larger lens.
It also has a flat back instead of curved back, is thinner than the 3GS, is three grams heavier and has a battery that is 16 per cent larger.
Bruce, thanks. Here’s Jason Chen, who has the iPhone. And here’s his address. You two should coordinate a time.
[Blah Blah Blah Address]
Happy to have you pick this thing up. Was burning a hole in our pockets. Just so you know, we didn’t know this was stolen [as they might have claimed. meaning, real and truly from Apple. It was found, and to be of unproven origin] when we bought it. Now that we definitely know it’s not some knockoff, and it really is Apple’s, I’m happy to see it returned to its rightful owner.
P.S. I hope you take it easy on the kid who lost it. I don’t think he loves anything more than Apple.
NEWS Apple Previews iPhone OS 4 Saturday, April 10, 2010
•••On April 8, in Cupertino, Calif., Apple has introduced a new version of the mobile platform iPhone OS 4.0, the beta version of which opened for testing members of the community ‘iPhone Developer Program‘. In the beta-release SDK available more than 1500 API (programming interfaces applications) that will allow developers to create applications for “iPhone” with access to the SMS, Photo Library, camera etc. The presentation was begun by head and co-founder Steve Jobs. “IPhone OS 4 – is the fourth major release of one of the most advanced mobile operating systems. There are more than 100 new features, including multitasking, unified inbox, a version of Reader” iBooks “to” iPhone “with access to iBookstore, – told Head of “Apple”. Multitasking – one of the most anticipated features for the new “iPhone”: now all running applications (or rather, their icons) are visible at the bottom of the screen (both on 4 icons, but when you scroll through the entire list is given). To avoid “overheating” processor, services programs in this version will work in the background, for example, against the background of any other application will be transmitted audio stream, VoIP, Geolocation. In addition, in order not to drain the battery, inactive applications will go into sleep mode. Icons on the screen smartphone in the new iPhone OS 4.0 can organize into folders, unified mailbox denotes the ability to store incoming messages from all mail accounts in one inbox. IBooks, which works on the tablet of the company, will now also implemented for the smartphone. Separately, the head of the company told about a new advertising platform, “iAd”, which will allow third-party application developers to earn money on advertising. But the full use of all the new features of the platform, users can only iPhone 3GS and iPod touch the third generation. All previous models will be stripped-down version. Recall, on Saturday, April 4, began selling tablet iPad in the U.S.. During the first day, according to the company, has sold nearly 300 thousand devices. That’s all! Pretty crazy update, actually. We’ll be filling out coverage throughout the day with more careful examinations of the new features. You can also check out Apple’s official 4.0 page if you like, or watch the keynote. (Apple Previews iPhone OS 4) • Source(s): Apple Inc.
NEWS Microsoft extends free Windows 7 Enterprise trial Thursday, April 1, 2010
•••On the eve of the Windows 7 launch last year, Microsoft offered IT pros a chance to evaluate Windows 7 Enterprise for a limited time. But this week, the software giant announced that the evaluation version would now be offered through the end of 2010.
The free 90-day trial version of Windows 7 Enterprise–your choice of 32-bit or 64-bit version–was originally offered “while supplies last,” which is an odd limitation for a software download.
Functionally, Windows 7 Enterprise is identical to the high-end Windows 7 Ultimate version, but is sold for use in volume-licensing business environments only. One of the benefits of Enterprise, then, is that it includes access to the valuable BitLocker-To-Go portable drive encryption technologies, leading to one of my most popular tips from the Windows Weekly podcast: Users with the more mainstream Windows 7 Home Premium can install the Enterprise edition in a Windows Virtual PC virtual machine (VM), encrypt their USB memory keys with BitLocker-To-Go, then safely access them using their host OS going forward. If the keys get lost, the data is safe.
Now, that ability–along with general access to the Windows 7 Enterprise trial–is being extended through the end of 2010. “Due to popular demand, the Windows Enterprise Trial program has been extended,” Microsoft’s Stephen Rose wrote in a blog posting this week. “This means you now have till December 31, 2010 to download and evaluate the trial version.”
Readers interested in the 90-day trial version of Windows 7 Enterprise should visit the Microsoft Springboard web site. • Source(s): Microsoft Corporation
••• Microsoft is taking on the iPad in the battle of the tablets as it announced plans to launch it own version later this year.
The news comes as Microsoft revealed a record $4.52 billion profit with a fourth quarter revenue of more than $16 billion dollars.
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