BlackBerry 10 features interesting keyboard and camera apps, neither will save the platform
In case you had not heard, BlackBerry World is occurring in Orlando right now, and RIM is officially announcing BlackBerry 10. Overall, I am not seeing anything that will save this company, but there are a few nice features in the new OS to speak of.
First is the predictive text soft keyboard:
Interesting use of the predictive text here and perhaps ironic that, of all companies, RIM is putting the last nail in the physical keyboard coffin. It will be interesting to see how well this keyboard works in practice.
Also debuting is a camera feature (video below) that allows you to step back in time when you miss a shot. The technology is not terribly advanced, because the camera is just taking shots from the time the camera app is open and caching them for later browsing.
Update: It appears the camera app is a repurposed third-party app.
Both of these are cool, but they will by no means save the platform. Android and iOS now control over 80 percent of the United States smartphone market. That is actually low in contrast to places like Japan, where the figure is over 95 percent iOS and Android.
The only question that remains is which will die first: Junk bond Nokia or RIM?
Read moreApple chip supplier TriQuint having ‘challenging quarter’ due to its biggest customer
According to a report from The Oregonian, power amplifier specialists TriQuint Semiconductor is facing a “challenging” quarter due to a temporary drop in revenues from its biggest customer, Apple. The report noted the company’s CEO Ralph Quinsey did not mention Apple by name, but that Foxconn was responsible for 35 percent of TriQuint’s revenue during 2011:
TriQuint said sales in the current quarter will fall at least 19 percent to the lowest point in at least two years… While Quinsey wasn’t specific about where the problem lies, Apple has incorporated TriQuint chips in the last several generations of the iPhone. Apple is approaching its annual iPhone upgrade — the last upgrade took place in October — and sales tend to fall off before new products launch.
We know from teardowns that Apple included TriQuint chips in many generations of the iPhone and iPad, including the most recent iPhone 4S and third-generation iPad. When iPhone component supplier Qualcomm announced last week it was having “trouble meeting demand” for LTE chips likely to end up in a next-gen iPhone, many analysts speculated that was a clear indication of an October iPhone launch.
Quinsey said in a statement to the publication that he expects to return to normal revenue and growth numbers in the second half of this year:
“I believe this dip will be temporary and remain confident about our long term position,” Quinsey said in a written statement. “We have achieved design win success with our new products and I believe we will return to normal revenue levels and growth in the second half of 2012.”
AT&T activated 4.3M iPhones last quarter, over 78 percent of its smartphone activations
AT&T is still the “iPhone network,” according to numbers from its quarterly earnings report. AT&T sold 5.5 million smartphones in the quarter, but 4.3 million of the smartphones activated were iPhones. That means the iPhone represented a whopping 78 percent of total smartphone sales (although some “iPhone activations” could have been hand me downs). Additionally, AT&T’s postpaid customers are almost 60 percent smartphone customers, which means AT&T’s iPhone customers represent a huge percentage of its base—nearly 5o percent and growing.
Verizon announced numbers last week including 3.2 million iPhones sold. While the iPhone is down significantly from the holiday quarter, it is up from 3.6 million activations in Q1 2011. Apple’s earnings will be reported at the end of the day today.
Adobe officially launches CS6 suite, offers $30/month introductory pricing on Creative Cloud
Adobe today begins taking pre-orders for its CS6 line of its popular line professional design products. Adobe combines 14 different individual applications, including its venerable Photoshop CS6 (free Beta download), Illustrator CS6, and InDesign CS6, in a variety of bundles.
United States pricing is as follows (matrix below): Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design and Web Premium for $1,899, Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design Standard for $1,299, Adobe Creative Suite 6 Production Premium for $1,899, and Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection $2,599. Meanwhile, upgrades from previous version of CS5.5 range from $300 to $550 for the Master Collection.
However, Adobe now offers what is likely to be an even more popular pricing option, the Adobe Creative Cloud, which also offers online storage, versioning, and sharing along with all the Master Collection of applications. Starting at $29.99 a month for the first year for those updating from just about any version of Adobe CS3+, the Creative Cloud annual membership is $600 a year billed monthly or $75 a month on a month-to-month basis.
At those rates, Master Collection users would still be ahead of the $2,600 stand alone price after four years and would have access to all of Adobe’s online storage and some Creative Cloud specific options as well.
Adobe continues to offer savings of up to 80 percent off for students and teachers starting at the standard bundle for $350 and Master Collection CS6 for $800
Adobe posted hundreds of CS6 feature and tutorial videos on its tv.adobe.com website and will have a live broadcast launch event at 10 a.m. PST.
The full press releases and product matrix follow:
Apple Marketing SVP Phil Schiller dumps ‘Instagram’ over expansion to Android
Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey is not the only photo-loving business executive upset by Instagram in recent weeks. While Dorsey stopped posting photos on Instagram after Facebook reportedly beat his Twitter to an acquisition of the app, Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller quit Instagram for another reason: Android.
A reader noticed Schiller deleted his Instagram account (@schiller), and then reached out to Apple’s most visible public speaker by Twitter for confirmation. Schiller told the reader that he quit the rising photo-based social network, because the app “jumped the shark” when it launched on the Android platform.
In terms of iOS marketing, which is something that Schiller runs at the highest level, Instagram could have been seen as a pull for smartphone buyers to the iOS platform. The fun, convenient, and growing network was featured several times in Apple’s App Store—even winning “App of the Year” recognition. As marketing chief at Apple, seeing one of the platform’s most popular third-party pieces of software running on millions of Android phones is a disappointing sight.
Update: 9to5mac reader Clayton got in touch (we verified headers) with SVP Schiller who clarified his position… a little:
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