Founder of Apple’s Human Interface Group talks potential for an iWatch

Jordan Kahn

iWatch-concept-02

Bruce Tognazzini, Apple employee #66 and founder of Apple’s Human Interface Group, published his thoughts on a potential smart watch product from the company (via MG Siegler) yesterday. While we have seen the launch of several Bluetooth smart watch products from startups this year, Tognazzini thought a watch from Apple could “have a profound impact on our lives and Apple’s fortunes.” One of the many interesting ideas Tognazzini has about how Apple might take advantage of a wearable device is the ability to build better maps:

Using pressure data from millions of watches, Apple could build a precision altitude map of the world. This map would indicate true altitudes everywhere that iWatch wearers travel. The granularity would be several orders of magnitude greater than ever before attempted for a wide-area map at a cost several orders of magnitude less than Flyover.

In the article, Tognazzini explained what he thought will be the standout features of an iWatch from Apple. While outlining the some of the apps you might expect like fitness and remote control applications, he said Passcodes and enhanced Find My iPhone features would be the two killer apps:

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Apple CEO Tim Cook on Microsoft Surface: ‘a car that flies and floats?’

Jordan Kahn

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At Apple’s Q4 earnings call today, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked his thoughts on Microsoft’s new Surface tablet PC. Cook called it “a fairly compromised, confusing product,” and he compared it to a car that flies and floats:

 ”I haven’t personally played with a Surface yet… what we’re reading about it is… it’s a fairly compromised, confusing product… the toughest thing you do with a product is make hard trade offs.. we’ve really done that with the iPad.. the user experience is absolutely incredible… i suppose you could design a car that flies and floats, but i don’t think it would do all of those things well.. i think when people look at the iPad over competitive offerings they are going to really want an iPad

Cook also noted that iPhone 5 is still seeing delays but supplies are getting better: Read more

Gartner and IDC see Apple’s share of declining US PC market grow to 12.5-percent to 13.6-percent

Jordan Kahn

Both IDC and Gartner are out with their reports for PC shipments in the third quarter today. While Apple is not in the top five vendors for worldwide shipments, estimates from the two firms place Apple’s share of the United States market at 12.5-percent to 13.6-percent.

According to IDC’s numbers (above), Apple captured 12.5-percent of U.S. PC shipments in the third quarter. This is up from 11.8-percent in the same quarter last year. Apple faced a year-over-year unit decline of 7 percent, but market leaders HP and Dell posted shipment declines of 18.8-percent and 16 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, shipments for the U.S. market in total were down 12.4-percent.

In comparison, the same numbers from Gartner have the total market decline at 13.8-percent. Apple hit 13.6-percent of the U.S. market, where as it had a 12.5-percent estimate for Q3 2011. Estimates from both firms put Apple’s market position firmly behind HP and Dell, despite IDC estimating fourth-place Lenovo’s growth at over 9 percent for the quarter:

Four of the top 5 vendors in the U.S. market experienced shipment declines. HP maintained the No. 1 position in the U.S. market despite a shipment decline of 19.3 percent (see Table 2). Lenovo was the only vendor among the top 5 to increase shipments. Both Acer and Toshiba shipments declined significantly due to the tough environment in the consumer market. Apple expected to have a PC shipment decline due to softness in the public market, but the company faced a slowdown in the consumer market.

Apple extends complimentary iCloud storage for MobileMe users until September 30th 2013

Seth Weintraub

9to5Mac readers who migrated from MobileMe are reporting that their complimentary extra storage has been extended an extra year. Apple’s support doc is here.

From: iCloud <noreply@icloud.com>
Date: October 5, 2012, 3:38:18 PM PDT
To: 9to5mac
Subject:Your complimentary iCloud storage upgrade has been extended at no charge
Reply-To:no-reply@apple.com

When you moved your MobileMe account to iCloud, we provided you with a complimentary storage upgrade beyond the standard 5GB that comes with an iCloud account to help you with the transition. Originally, this storage upgrade was set to expire on September 30, 2012.

As a thank you to our former MobileMe members, we will continue to provide you with this complimentary storage upgrade at no charge, for an additional year, until September 30, 2013. No action is required on your part. For complete details, please read this article.

iCloud Team

All of the details from Apple’s Support Doc:

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Smug Alert: Orbitz shows Mac users higher priced hotels by default

Jake Smith

The Wall Street Journal reported that travel-recommendation website Orbitz discovered that those of us who own a Mac are spending as much as $20 to $30 more a night on hotel rooms than PC users on average. That is a whopping 30 percent difference, and the smart folks over at Orbitz are looking to take advantage by changing what listings they show Mac users.

According to the WSJ, Orbitz has a new platform that tracks its visitors habits to recommend a room to match their spending habits, which can be oh-so expensive for those who own a Mac. The company is currently experimenting with a platform that shows hotel rooms matching a Mac user’s spending taste a little better, but Orbitz executives stressed that it is not showing the same room to different people for a different price. For example, the WSJ found listings for a Baton Rouge hotel room were 13 percent more expensive on a search from a Mac compared to a PC. In essence, Mac users are shown the nicer rooms.

(Update: UK retailler Tescos is taking it one step further)

In a Forrester research note released last October, the firm noted that Mac users are falling into the “power laptop user” range, or people who work 45 hours a week on average and have a solid 44 percent more income. They put it: “Most of the Macs today are being freewheeled into the office by executives, top sales reps, and other workaholics.” I certainly think that stands true, because owning an Apple product is an expensive investment. The lowest priced Mac laptop costs $999, which certainly is not cheap and not something everyone can buy. Despite the high price, you are buying a quality product.

To be clear, Orbitz is not putting an “Apple Tax” on the price of hotels. It is just defaulting the higher-end stuff to Mac users, because Orbitz believes Mac users are more likely to choose higher-end hotels.

It is a risky strategy and may put some people off, however. Moreover, as Mac users, it is very easy to get smug about something like this. But does it make good business sense?

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Often-rumored Apple partner Sharp announces production of Hi-DPI IGZO LCD displays

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32-inch iMac or TV? We’ll take both!

Sharp revealed today that it began assembling high-performance LCDs last month with increased production in April to meet market demand.

Jefferies & Co.’s Peter Misek is a very outspoken analyst regarding Apple’s rumored HDTV. He first claimed in November that Sharp is preparing production lines for the “iTV,” but he later said the company plans to build roughly 5 million units beginning this spring with a product launch slated for Q4 2012.

According to Sharp, the LCDs will help the company contribute to “creating markets for attractive new products”:

Sharp will encourage the application of its new high-resolution LCD panels to high-definition notebook PCs and LCD monitors—which are both expected to grow in demand—as well as to mobile devices. Sharp will also contribute to creating markets for attractive new products.

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