Between October 25 and November 1, 2013, these 2 devices will be debuting in over 25 countries. On October 25, they will make their debut in nations like Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Russia,Spain, South Korea and Thailand and other European countries. On November 1, they’ll make their presence known in Columbia, India, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Eremites, and other nations in South America and the Middle East. You can’t deny the positives Apple 5C and 5S, like the colors and design. They’re trying to push new features too, like free Internet radio. Prices will range from $99-$399, depending on the model. For example, a 32 GB model will run someone $399, while someone buying a 16 GB model can expect to pay $299. And of course there’s the new security craze, the Touch ID Scan.
About that touch ID craze: they’ve already proven it’s hackable. Whether it’s as hackable as a password system is, I guess only time will tell. As this become knowledge, they will put a lot of lackluster into these 5C and 5S products. Also, keep in mind many of these companies are in financial turmoil, even more so than the US. I read the unemployment rate in Spain and Greece are in the twenty percentage range. Portugal’s is in the mid-upper teen range. But also keep in mind Apple is the most valued brand in the world right now. So for a brand like Apple, people will scrape and scrap for this smartphone. So I guess numbers overseas could go either way. How do you think Apple 5C and 5S will do in these nations?
Amazon is dominating the technical battle of the e-book game. After all, they are the ones who started the phenomenon with Amazon Kindle. Let’s look at their next device.
It’s called the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. It is what it says it is. You read books and other texts on it, just like last year’s version, from size to battery life. The hardware and software changed a little. The processor is faster and it does come with more light. Pages turn easier. The decorations are simple enough. It’s mighty difficult to obtain books outside of the Amazon system. I think this was done deliberately for obvious reasons. Amazon is making it easier to bookmark pages on this and other devices;? bookmarking has been a common complaint by many. What really makes Paperwhite a winner is the X-Ray technology. You press on a character, place, or word you don’t understand, and a pop-up window explains it to you. There’s even a vocabulary builder app.
Now I must admit, I wasn’t a fan of Kindle, or e-books in general. Then I discovered the x-ray technology that explained what I was reading. It cleared up a lot of things, and increased my love for reading a lot more. That’s something a paper book can’t do. So my days as a paper purist ended right there. The price of the Paperwhite is $139. I’m reading you can get it as low as $119. But it’s lower than a lot of hand held devices out there. I think it’s a good buy. It would make a great holiday gift (sorry to mention Christmas in October, but I figure somebody is thinking early). So it may not be flashy and make you sing and dance, but it does what you buy it to do and gives you more. You can’t say that about everything sold these days. What do you think of the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite?
On Thursday, at Apple Town Hall auditorium in Cupertino, California, Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down for an interview with a representative of Bloomberg Businessweek. With little fluff, Cook dove right in the Apple business.
You can go to Buisnessweek’s website to read the interview, so I’m not going to talk about everything, but there are some things that intrigued me. To hear Cook tell it, their products aren’t price driven, as in, when they decided to sell the iPhone 5C, they didn’t obsess if this price is low enough.? That’s why we see a price span of $49-$400. It was never their intent to sell a low cost phone, but now I think they’re seeing to he advantage of doing so. They can pass on the lower cost and sale to more consumers. It’s also interesting he compared Toyota to BMWs as far as low cost products are concerned. He even went as far as to call low cost products ‘junk’. Cook ended the interview with the Apple mission people.
Well, in one way, Apple products have enriched people’s lives. Now I’m beginning to wonder does it control people’s lives. After critic after critic bashed the latest iPhone 5C and 5S, they were long lines all over everywhere for this phone. When I went to pay a bill, there was a line there about this phone. It’s amazing people are still into a frenzy over this possible monstrosity. Have we become that brainwashed? I guess if I was there to ask Tim Cook a question is, “What kind of hold do you have over people?”
Some time ago, I wrote an article about Blackberry’s downfall. Now the downfall has turned into a spiral. And it looks like this once technical powerhouse has past the point of no return.
Friday, Blackberry stocks tanked to under $9 a share. They’re about to report a loss of almost one billion dollars. They’ll be lucky to make half the revenue they expected to in Q2 2013. They plan to cut 4,5oo jobs and nearly half it’s operations in the next several months. The company sold only 3.7 million smartphones this fiscal quarter(a three month period). How many iPhone 5Ss’ were sold yesterday?
No wonder Blackberry co-founder Mike Lazaridis stepped down last year. He doesn’t want to go down with the sinking ship. Plus, shareholders pressured him to leave, but if it were me, I wouldn’t even have waited that long.? But he is looking for bids and a buyout for his sinking ship. He talked to some equity companies, but they didn’t end in agreements. We don’t know if they will. And upset shareholders can’t seem to agree on anything. It makes me wonder if an equity firm or any company even want to take a chance. Well there has been previous incidents in the business world where a buyout literally saved the company. The question is can Blackberry be saved at all?
I’m a big football fan, college as well as the NFL. But I like to keep up with things that go on beyond the playing field. So these are my favorite football apps.
10. Twitter App: Athletes are notorious for their tweets. This app lets me know what they’re saying and how they’re thinking.
9. Food Network in the Kitchen: Because football is a lot more fun to watch while eating with other people. It’s great for football parties! You can even learn to make great drinks with this app.
8. Stubhub App: For those who are lucky enough to attend a NFL game live,?or a SEC game live, this is the way to get tickets without long lines or shady scalpers.
7. iOdds: I don’t encourage or endorse sports gambling at all! But if you’re curious at what the odds are of your team winning, this is the app for you.
6. Ultimate College Football: It’s a fast updating app. You can even upload your photos from the stands, if you’re fortunate enough to go to a game. It’s a great way to keep up with game schedules.
5. NFL Trash Talk: It’s a chat room where you can release your inner Stephen A. Smith (whoops! Did I say that aloud). One room is with your favorite team and one is with the team you’re playing against that week. Bond with your fellow football fans, while verbally running opposing fans into the ground!
4. College Football Scoreboard: It does what it says and more. You can also keep up with standings and all the college football news, collectively and breaking it down to conferences and teams.
3. NFL Pro: Do you go through football withdrawal? NFL Pro is perfect! It’s?a free app, and the graphics rival that of?All Madden. You can be your favorite team by playing this game. And it’s a lot less complicated?than Fantasy Football.
2. ESPN:?This speaks for itself. Find everything you want about pro and college football. Watch the play by play through?gamecast. It’s worth getting an account through these guys because then, you can get all the custom features,?too many to name here.
1.?NFL Mobile: What better way?to get all things NFL than straight from the source? It includes scores, schedules, merchandise, tickets, and yes, even fantasy football. Even the news is?strictly from NFL.com. This app is simple,?yet the ultimate must have for any?NFL fan.
September 20 should be a big day in Apple’s history. This will be the day the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S should be released. But the vibe I’m getting from the media and the public is: who cares?
The last time I checked today’s ticker tape, Apple stock lost 5% of it’s share this day alone. A year ago at this time, Apple’s stock was worth over $700. Another factor is timing. Are you aware it’s been 230 days since Apple came out with it’s last product? The last big space was 132 days. Low prices are doing little to help. This iPhone 5C goes for $99 in the US, with a contract. Some economic experts say the mid-lower price smartphone booming so much$99 isn’t cheap enough. Speaking of competition, as of this week, Samsung sold over 38 million Galaxy Note smartphones. During Apple’s release drought, Microsoft released the Windows 8 phone. Some experts say by 2017, Windows will have almost the same amount of the phone market Apple does now.
This is a long way from what we’re used to. I don’t see long lines and people sleeping on the streets rushing to get these iPhones. They got us spoiled. When you release new product after new product, you’re going to shorten consumers’ attention span. By this point, we’re addicted to seeing what’s next. When the what’s next doesn’t come for over 7 months, naturally, our attention is going to wander elsewhere. Competitors knew it and jumped on the opportunity. One would think a smartphone for under $100 would get people running to the Apple store. A few years ago, it probably would have. Now, you can get one for far cheaper, with a contract of course. Don’t get me wrong; I love Apple products as much as anybody. But it’s a new world out there. Can Apple compete?
