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Apple is aware that competition is getting stiff and theres no breathing room. They are ready to fight for whats theirs and have staked out a claim in the mobile wireless sector. Apple entered the industry with the iPhone in 2007 and hasnt looked back. A smart move on their part, I agree, but holding on to the market share theyve collected will be tough with so many great new devices coming out in the near future.
Thats why Apple isnt sitting back. Current CEO Tim Cook says they have one key advantage ... the content. Namely, the Apple Apps Store is amazing right now. Apple reports over 15,000 applications available for download on the iPhone and iPod Touch. And users have now downloaded more than 500 million applications in all.
“Software is the key ingredient and we believe we’re still years ahead of our competitors,” Cook said. “We’ve seen a half billion downloads from the App Store. That’s still our advantage.” "We approach this as a software platform, which is different from a hardware approach taken by competitors,” the COO said.
But Tim Cook gave a warning for the iPhones competitors, not naming any names but surely aimed at the likes of Palm for its upcoming Pre and BlackBerry for its Storm.
“We like competition, it makes us all better,” Cook said. “We are ready to suit up and go against anyone. However, we will not stand for having our IP intellectual property ripped off and we will use whatever weapons we have at our disposal.” | |
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Apple is still reigning king according to its latest earnings report. As per the show they put on yesterday, it seems that nothing can take them down.
The company announced a first-quarter profit of $1.61 billion and sales of $10.17 billion, both records for the company.
What does this mean? Let me break it down for you... the iPhone and the iPod are still wildly popular as well as Macs. However, it is true that Apple only sold 4.36 million iPhones more than a 30% drop from the previous quarter, much less than the 6.9 million sold in the previous quarter. Could this merely be a sign of the times or something more? Whatever it may be, it was probably some good news for the ailing Steve Jobs.
In addition, iTunes is doing extremely well... music and video sales drove a record quarter. According to Apple, iTunes experienced its highest sales totals ever on Christmas Day and during the entire Christmas week. | |
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Research in Motion has some big plans for 2009 when it comes to music downloads and content. RIMs co-CEO Jim Balsille made some comments recently at a music industry conference in Cannes, France that made some heads turn.
“We’ve moved to [music] 2.0, where music is undergoing a radical transformation and it creates a remarkable new opportunity for content owners to monetize their content… [BlackBerry is] already very music centric, what were talking about now is our platform”, said Balisille referring to the BlackBerry Application Centre. “We’re ingesting apps now and it goes online in March… [It has] a billing engine and is a channel for developers - you’ll see dozens of music apps.”
He also said, “we are the overwhelming market leaders and we’ve been in the smartphone business for years… The Storm is a BlackBerry with different packaging, not a competitor of iPhone.” Tell me honestly, does anyone really think that the Storm is not a competitor to the iPhone?
So, let me get this straight... Storm is not a competitor to the iPhone and yet you are talking about toppling Apple who is the biggest music seller in the world? Am I missing something here? | |
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And who says that Apple isnt a play-nice company? In an unprecedented move, the Apple Apps Store has approved 3rd party browser apps as part of its offerings suddenly.
MacRumors reported this breaking news and points out that if you look at the dates on some of these, it goes back to October of 2008.
Web browsing applications were previously charged with "duplicating functionality" of other iPhone apps and was felt to be the reason why Opera would never be approved by Apple.
Regardless, if you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch then head on over to the apps store and check out these browsers, before Apple changes their mind! Just Kidding!
A partial list browsers now available for sale:
- Edge Browser Free - Full screen all across your iPhone/iPod Touch
- Incognito $1.99 - Doesnt leave behind any history...
- WebMate:Tabbed Browser $0.99 - Lines up all the links you click on and then you can view them when youre ready.
- Shaking Web $1.99 - adds a sophisticated algorithm to compensate for small hand shaking to allow for easier reading.
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It looks like im gonna need to find somewhere else to buy my music from. Itunes is changing the pricing on their songs. Prices will be tiered at 69¢, 99¢, $1.29 depending on how old the song is. Songs should be available at the end of this quarter. The price change was part of a negotiation with record labels to be able to sell the music DRM-free. So there you have it the only pro about this is that some good ole songs will possibly be available now at 69¢.
Earlier this morning the Apple store was down temporarily due to updates being made to the store. Now first thing you will see is iLife 09, the new Macbook Pro, and a the new iTunes Plus version with more drm-free music, all of which were announced this morning by Phillip at the Macworld keynote.
So overall a good thing and a bad thing since Im more drawn to the latest music, I might have to end up paying $1.29 for them. On the other hand i will be able to play my music on any mp3 player of my choice. Score! | |
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Cost-optimize Instant Messaging on the iPhone 2.0 with BeejiveIM. This customizable iPhone app will support AIM/iChat/ MobileMe, MSN/Windows Live, Yahoo!, MySpace, GoogleTalk, ICQ and Jabber.
Now you can handle all your IM clients on one interface. Your iPhone becomes a desktop what with the connectivity and instant messaging features. Surely a cost-effective way to communicate for those who do not dig texting.
The always connected BeejiveIM makes for effective communication showing you who are available among family, friends and co-workers. Communicate only with who is present. Send photos directly within the body of your IM.
Your IM can be personalized by adding voice too. Keep your contacts a fingertip away by linking your friends to your iPhone address book directly.
What more? The little iPhone becomes your office letting you receive and review different file types-image, audio, video files and also PDFs, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint documents.
Available on the iTunes App Store for $ 15.99 BeejiveIM for iPhone 2.0 will let you seamlessly integrate instant messaging to your highly customizable iPhone. | |
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A few retailers have jumped on the bandwagon and started selling refurbished iPhones. This might be tempting to some people who have been dying to get their hands on this device. However I have to wonder if it really is a good idea to buy a refurbished iPhone.
iPhones are different than other cell phones and smartphones in that you really cant remove the battery from the device; youre not supposed to remove the SIM card either though I am sure some of you have done that out there; and youre not really able to back up your phone profile anywhere else.
What if your refurbished phone crashes? I think they are a riskier phone to get in the form of a refurbished model and might cause you too much of a headache and hassle.
My iPhone 3G, which I bought brand new, has had to be hard reset more than a few times. And Ive had to do my fair share of factory restore which Ive never ever had to do on any other device that Ive owned. The point is that the iPhone still has too many glitches without you having to worry about one more thing if it is being purchased as a refurbished model.
Plus youre only getting $50 off which isnt all that much. For a refurbished iPhone I wouldnt want to pay $149 for something that isnt new. My suggestion to you is this: either shell out the extra $50 and get a new iPhone or to go for another device if its going to break the bank. | |
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Today Steve Jobs wrote an open letter to the Apple community, to clear up a few rumors. In this letter he is indicating that in no waydoes he plan to step down as CEO of Apple. Steve had been falling ill and losing weight over the past few months due to a "hormonal imbalance" which he has already started treatment for.
Therefore, Steve has appointed Phillip Schiller to deliver the Macworld Keynote. So will there be new gadgets to be announced at Macworld? Well given the situation, and Phil giving the keynote, we speculate that more than likely there wont be any new iPhone or anything major like that to be unveiled. Although it would be a good idea to introduce something big to show that Apple can survive and keep going without Steve Jobs, if [God forbid] something were to cause him to step down as CEO.
Then again it is the last Macworld that Apple will be participating in, so they might just choose to go out with a bang. | |
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An iPhone Alley blog confirms that there is indeed an iPhone Nano that Apple is working on. Now, it remains to be seen if it will be announced at Macworld next month. If it does get announced at the annual event, it will be a major coup for Apple. In the past 2 years Apple has come from out of nowhere to take the smartphone market by storm. By introducing a lower price handset, such as the iPhone Nano sans 3G it seems, the company will make itself even more appealing to mainstream consumers.
Im sure the folks over at Apple have their mantra of getting an Apple device into the hands of everyone age 5-100 and they really seem to be taking it to heart.
Dont forget that when Apple unveiled its iPhone 3G earlier this year and then announced that it was going to be sold starting at only $199 it sent major shockwaves through the entire wireless community.
Apples challenge to every other handset manufacturer has been to provide good, low cost devices to consumers. Who can argue with that type of logic? | |
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CUPERTINO, California—December 16, 2008—Apple® today announced that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the opening keynote for this year’s Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be Apple’s last keynote at the show. The keynote address will be held at Moscone West on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Macworld will be held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center January 5-9, 2009.
Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers. The increasing popularity of Apple’s Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.
Apple has been steadily scaling back on trade shows in recent years, including NAB, Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo and Apple Expo in Paris.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone. | |
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