Apr 14, 2012 | Uncategorized
Yesterday I wrote a blog about the DOJ going after Apple for price fixing. Well Apple has responded, as a matter of fact an Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr had this to say about the DOJ?s accusations: ?The DOJ?s accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon?s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. Since then customers have benefited from eBooks that are more interactive and engaging. Just as we?ve allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore.?
This is actually a similar response that was given by Penguin Group and MacMillian, however this is only two of the five publishers named in the lawsuit. The other publishers in this case are as follows, HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster, signed settlements with the DOJ after the suites were actually filled, which must tell you something about the legitimacy of this actual suit. Could the DOJ win this case or will Apple reign supreme.
Apr 13, 2012 | Uncategorized
Sony launched its SmartWatch. This is a timepiece that will go around your wrist that allows the person who owned it to be able to read text messages, emails, social updates, manage calls, and even control music. The watch actually connects to an Android phone via the Bluetooth option and it delivers what Sony is actually calling Android power. This watch can help in the fact that now you wouldn?t have to pull your phone out for what I have stated above. The devices functionality seems pretty cool but it isn?t very good looking as the fashion side goes. The strap is rubber and it will be coming in a variety of colors including white, blue, pink, and mint. The black strap actually comes standard and you have to buy the other colors separately. The piece itself is a touch screen OLED display measuring around 1.3 inches. The piece will even alert you when there is an incoming call and the timepiece will even vibrate. This timepiece is available now for a wonderful $149.99 on Sony?s online marketplace and even its stores. Sony will be announcing availability from other retailers soon.
Apr 12, 2012 | Uncategorized
The U.S. Justice Department is starting its legal pursuit of one of the biggest companies in America, Apple is being pursued for the alleged e-book price fixing that can go the edges of an antitrust law suit and is likely to end in a big loss for Apple. “It’s a harder case against Apple than the publishers,” says Geoffrey Manne, who teaches antitrust law at the Lewis and Clark Law School in Oregon and runs the International Center for Law and Economics. The Justice Department has put a 36 page complaint that actually puts into play a breakfast in a London hotel and dinners at Manhattan?s Picholine restaurant with all of the publishers without Apple actually even being present for the meetings. The Department of Justice “has a far better case against the publishers than Apple,” says Dominick Armentano, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Hartford and author of Antitrust and Monopoly who’s now affiliated with the Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif. “If the CEOs of the various publishers got together in hotel rooms to discuss prices, they are sunk” and might as well settle, he says. So it will be interesting if this battle is really between the DOJ and Apple or the publishers. I will be keeping a close eye on this case and what ends up coming from it.
Apr 11, 2012 | Uncategorized
Over the past year the smartphone market has seen a trend of screen size increasing from around 3.2/3.5 inches to 4.3, 4.65 and as high as 5.3 inches in the case of the Samsung Galaxy Note. The iPhone screen however, has remained at 3.5 inches since its debut in 2007. Many have speculated on the iPhone 5 from the size to the glass. There were reports that the charger port would even change to support other devices they may have to add into the iPhone. Mainly the LTE device. Most believe that the bigger screens are actually attributed to the LTE hardware and its size. The question is will Apple go bigger? As people well know Apple is very hardcore about their products and how they are internally made and the screen of course. Well I read that Apple could have a way to keep things pretty much the same but make a bigger screen. All iPhones have had a 3.5 inch display with 3:2 aspect ratio, and since the iPhone 4 they have had a resolution of 960 x 640. 3.7 isn’t really a significant enough bump to justify a change and the earlier mentioned 4.3 and 4.65 inch sizes force the overall device to be simply too big. All iPhones (and iPod touches) have had an aspect ratio of 3:2. Would Apple change the aspect ratio to increase the screen size while maintaining the same 326 ppi? What aspect ratio would need to be to hit that 4 inch mark? And most importantly how could app fragmentation be avoided? Many of these questions can be answered in theory but could they actually be put to the test? Hopefully Apple will make the 5 a 4 inch screen, in theory it can be done without sacrificing the Apple quality.
Apr 10, 2012 | Uncategorized
Facebook has acquired Instagram for almost a billion dollars in not only cash but also in stock. This apparently has been in the works for awhile so much so that within the last year the purchase of this company has been rumored to be sold for anywhere from $100 million to $500 million so it is no surprise the sale was close to a billion. Most have speculated that this purchase was to acquire on of its strongest competitors. The idea is that Facebook has always been about sharing not only your life but photos and Instagram did that and did it well. This purchase is one of the biggest of Facebook history and the question is did they purchase this company to eat up competition or to use it to make Facebook bigger and better.
Apr 9, 2012 | Uncategorized
AOL has struck a deal with Microsoft to sell over 800 patents it owns to Microsoft. There is also talk that Microsoft will also be non-exclusively licensing over 300 additional patents and applications along with the 800 purchased. The deal is worth $1.056 billion in what is believed to be a cash deal. The terms of the deal are as follows, AOL will continue to retail over 300 patents and patent applications that go over all types of technology from advertising, searches, content management, social networking and mapping, among others, following the sale. This monster deal is said to be completed by the end of 2012. I want to keep a close eye on this as who knows what Microsoft is planning to do with these patents but after spending just over a $1 billion in cash, I am sure they have some bright ideas.
Apr 8, 2012 | Uncategorized
If you have been following my blog you know Microsoft has hit a big snag with some of the major app developers for phones. Many do not want to put the time or effort into actually working out the code to make their apps work on the Windows Phone. Well there are reports that Microsoft is willing to invest in getting more Apps into the Windows App Store. So what Windows is doing is adding incentives like free phones and promises of top spots in the apps store and Windows Phone advertising. Microsoft is also going to finance development of high profile aps to work on Windows Phones. The numbers could be anywhere from $60,000 to $600,000 depending on the complexity of the app. The app store for Microsoft does have about 70,000 apps on the market so far and some well-known ones at that such as Netlfix, Youtube, Fruit Ninja, etc. However Apple has 600,000 and Android has 400,000 apps. So Microsoft has some moves to make and big ones at that. So there is no surprise that Microsoft will pony up some big dollars to get games like Angry Birds Space on their platform.
Apr 7, 2012 | Uncategorized
As reported a few blogs ago Google is entering the tablet market on the hardware side of things. Following in the footsteps of Apple and Amazon. Reports I read said this device could be out as early as May but the newest reports state that Google is looking for a July release so they could tweak the device. The device will have Ice Cream Sandwich on it and reported that it will be a 7 inch screen and will priced around $199. Although part of the reason we could see a July release is so Google can introduce its newest OS called Jelly Bean but most believe it will not be ready and you will have Ice Cream Sandwich on it. This will be big if they do price it this low, to compete with the Amazon Kindle Fire.
Apr 6, 2012 | News, Wireless
Samsung has estimated that they will earn between 44 and 46 trillion Korean won in consolidated sales (around $39 billion US). The profits believe it or not are around 5.6 and 6.0 trillion which is around $5.2 billion. The numbers have to be due to the number of phones they have released. Such as the Samsung Galaxy Note and Samsung Galaxy S and S 2 on multiple different carriers. Around 5 million Galaxy Note devices have been sold so far. So it does look like the Samsung smartphone division is really putting them in a place to make some big profits. So anyone getting a Samsung Galaxy or already own one?
Apr 5, 2012 | News, Wireless
From some internal AppleCare documentation, Apple is currently investigating a multitude of WiFi-related issues that have been affecting the new iPad. The problems have been ranging from connection drops, slow download and upload speeds and even having issues picking up wireless networks at all. So now they are telling the store to just exchange the product if they having issues. iPads that are affected by WiFi issues are supposed to be ?Captured.? According to one source, ?Captured? is code for the device to be immediately packed up and shipped to Apple?s engineering centers for examination and investigation. Apple employees are instructed to Capture the iPad itself and included accessories (the charging adapter and USB cord). Apple will replace affected units.
