Apple is considering changing its 15 minute purchase windows for people to buy successive apps or purchase in-app items with only one password sign-in. They are considering this because as of right now it holds your password in place they want to change that in efforts to stop unwanted app purchases.
Multiple companies are asking that Apple make it standard that any in-app purchases requiring a password for each individual purchase. So at the moment you only have to sign in once to buy apps and if you buy another app within 15 minutes you don?t need to put a password in for it. This problem stems from a lot issues with children buying in game items that are aimed at children and with those orders have reached in the thousands of dollars purchased.
With the fact that the developers of these games are also behind the consumers on this to change the application purchasing system, well I think Apple may have to look long and hard on doing this change in there next OS update.
Apple has announced a new in-app subscription charge to the companies that have applications on the itunes market that offer subscriptions through the app via your iPad or through your iPhone and iPod touch. So for example say you have an iPad and found the Netflix app while searching on your iPad for new apps but don?t have a subscription set up for this service. Well if you sign up through the application on your iPad, apple wants to take 30% of that application subscription. It?s always been the case that no matter how a person subscribes to a service the company who created the service would keep it.
So is this a good idea? It could be to make apple richer. But what does that mean for the customer? Well hopefully the companies that have apps for the Apple brands find ways to get customers to subscribe for their service outside of the itunes store, like via the web. But if there is still a massive influx of people subscribing on the App store will it force companies to sit there and take the hit or just leave the app store all together. Now you could pose the argument to me that the companies could just charge a bit more on the app store to make up the difference in lost profit. Well I am sorry to shoot you down but Apple has asked that the subscriptions be the same deals as you could get outside of the app store. So if you paying 9.99 a month for Netflix, it won?t be a different charge if you signed up in the app store.
Now the final piece to the puzzle that makes this so grand is competition. The Android marketplace is also going to be releasing a subscription service. Allegedly it will be a 10% charge versus Apple?s 30%. This could mean companies could jump over to Android and leave Apple behind. Apple does still have a strong hold on the market share however Androids being clawing up the ranks. Android is making a smart move by undercutting Apple here. Apple is setting a precedent with these charges and Android is following just a very small rate. With this, Android could see an increase in market share if companies decide that doing subscription services through Apple just isn?t work the money they would have to pay out to them. So what do you think? Is this a good idea or bad idea? I personally am not sure yet.
Ah, it is February 14, 2011 and I wanted to write something that had a bit of technology and love to mix this article up for the fact it is Valentine?s Day. Alas I couldn?t think of anything that mixed both things, so I figured today I would talk about something in the tech world that I think I am in love with. That is streaming Netflix on your Android. Now I personally watch Netflix on almost a daily basis. I do this by streaming movies and TV shows through my XBOX or PS3. Now that down the line I could do it with my phone while I am traveling? Well that just makes it that much more special.
The breakdown is simple. Qualcomm is creating a new snapdragon processor that will allow you to play Netflix on your Android mobile device. This new technology is suppose to give users instant selections unlike on most mobile devices where watching a streamed video on a mobile device has been anything but instant. Now this new technology will be in smartphones and tablets and the new processor can run at 2.5 GHz and has the ability to process data 150% faster than most of the fastest mobile chips to date. The finally bit of information about this hardware will be able to play movies in high quality but also keep your battery life efficient.
In yesterdays article I touched upon the fact Apple is in development of a cheaper iPhone and that the share of the global market. With a cheaper iPhone it helps make Apple make deeper inroads in markets such as China and India.
It seems Apple has done something similar to this before. In ?04, the sales of original $299-plus iPod were still rising; the company introduced the $249 iPod Mini. Then in ?05, the Mini was discontinued for a cheaper iPod Nano. Apple is selling an iPhone 3GS for $49 but it would require you to sign a 2 year contract.
With Apple able to get discounts from suppliers due to the massive amount of iPhones being sold and by Apple signing long term contracts this will enable them to make the moves needed to make a cheaper iPhone to penetrate markets globally that may not be able to afford an iPhone with a 2 year agreement. The company has actually executed some long term agreement that total in the area of $3.9 billion in the past few months.
This will now also affect what is seen to be Apple?s biggest competition to date in the mobile phone market, Google. The Android was able to penetrate the market not only by making more affordable phones with a decent operating system but has also had the market covered in versatility as Android phones are available on multiple carriers. Apple understands this and has countered by offering the iPhone on the Verizon Wireless platform. If the iPhone can be cheaper and still keep the allure I think Apple might have something and they can finally penetrate the markets like China and India.
In the midst of the Android gaining ground the iPhone it looks like Apple is working on newer versions of the iPhone. The first version would be cheaper and a bit smaller then the latest iPhone 4. Even with Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple is still involved with making strategic decisions while on medical leave. He would use lower prices to make the iPhone?s appeal to a larger market. This would help keep the iPhone from losing more ground to the Android. This will definitely put pressure on other companies to make to keep competitive with the cheaper versions of their phones.
It now seems that Apple understand that they are not the only powerful phone on the market and knows that there is a bigger share to be had. Charlie Wolf, who is an analyst at Needham & Co. in New York, stated ?Instead of targeting 25% of the global mobile phone market, Apple is going after 100%.? This would be a big move for Apple especially after knowing Google?s share of the global Smartphone market as more than tripled to 32.9 % in the fourth quarter. This is passing what seems to be Apple?s meager 16% which is according to Canalys.
The thought process is sell the phone for around $200 but the big deal about that is this phone would sell for that price with no contracts to sign to get the phone down to said price. Currently the latest iPhone sells for $200-300 dollars but that is with signing a contract with mobile phone providers that carry this phone.
It is has been speculated for some time now that there had been a partnership in the works with Nokia and Microsoft. Well that speculation is now put to an end as Microsoft and Nokia have officially announced a partnership.
Now nothing has been put officially into place what there are some steps Microsoft and Nokia are working towards. First Nokia will us the Windows phone as its main Smartphone. With the innovations and ideas on Nokia?s side they plane to contribute heavily to the Windows Smartphone newer hardware designs help bring the Windows Smartphone to more people with a bigger range of prices and market segments and geographies. They will also work together to bring marketing initiatives to help evolve the future of mobile products. As most would have assumed Bing will be the search services used on all the Nokia devices. Nokia maps will be integrated with Bing. With Bing, Microsoft will also have a strong adcenter for an advertising platform that will give a unique local search and advertising experience. These are just a few things this partnership will bring to the table.
With this partnership at hand it finally looks like Microsoft has finally made move they needed to do to be taken seriously in the mobile market. Could Microsoft finally rival the likes of the iPhone and Android with this new partnership? It seems that only time will tell.
