There’s yet another player offering converged solutions for mobile devices, tablets — even TVs — Adobe has entered the fray with the release of Adobe AIR 2.5.
We know that developers who get their apps into the top lists at the iTunes Store make oodles of cash, but as the smartphone biz expands it looks like some are making serious money.
Those new MacBook Air models are being torn apart, poked and prodded, but just how many will Apple sell? A fair few it seems, with analysts at Concord Securities claiming we’ll see 700,000 of them flying off the shelves in the current quarter alone.
Here’s interesting, buried deep inside the new beta FaceTime for Mac is code which alerts you when you receive an incoming FaceTime call — even when you haven’t got the software active on your Mac. Apple says as much on their Website:
The theory seems sound enough — it is, after all, no more than the same alerts you are already used to receiving from some non-open apps on your iOS device. Through Push Notifications… Expand Expanding Close
Sylvester Cann got to meet the President. He took his iPad with him. On the iPad he was running the Adobe Ideas app. With the app he had written, “Mr President, sign my iPad.
Google is already hitting major hurdles in its quest to transform the TV industry, with major US broadcasters blocking their Web shows from being broadcast via Google TV. Google meanwhile is in negotiation to agree rights, but is likely to face similar rectitude from some broadcasters as faced by Apple with Apple TV.
ABC, CBS and NBC have all blocked access to their shows from Google TV. These problems come just weeks since Logitech and Sony began selling devices running Google’s software. Hulu this week also moved to block Google TV from acccessing its service. Expand Expanding Close
I’ve talked before about Apple’s moves to get its iPhones used as payment systems — and it seems there’s a willing market for such things, despite the fact that iPhone 4 is not compatible with Square’s famed credit card processing system (which is why Square began shipping new card readers today). The latest news? Giant UK supermarket Tesco is trialling a scheme in which customers will be able to scan products they buy in store using their iPhone and iPad, for later payment and verification at checkout. Expand Expanding Close
COMPUTERWORLD: Scant months since beginning a public spat with Adobe over its decision not to support Flash on iOS devices, Apple now also appears ready to abandon Java in Mac OS X.
Apple has issued its first software patch for the newly-introduced MacBook Air, which made a first blushing appearance yesterday.
The update is described as fixing a few graphics issues which affect the lightweight Mac when used with iMovie or an external display, and is recommended for all MacBook Airs.
Apple seems to have a good — a really good — chance to seize enterprise sales from RIM’s BlackBerry devices.
Apple boss Steve Jobs alluded to this earlier this week, when he said, “We’ve now passed RIM (Research in Motion) and I don’t see them catching up with us in the foreseeable future.”
Into every life a little rain must fall, or so they say — so hot on the heels of the release of beta Facetime software which lets Mac users chat to their iPhone-using buddies, a German Mac website is warning there’s a nasty security gremlin in the code.
Principally, miscreants can easily get access to a FaceTime user’s Apple ID and reset the password, the site warns. Expand Expanding Close
Developer Joe Hewitt scored acres of anti-Apple coverage when he slammed the company for its closed iOS development environment — I wonder, then, just how much coverage his latest rant will achieve now Hewitt is slamming Google for claiming Android is “open”, when it isn’t really.
At the center of Hewitt’s argument is that Google’s Android code — which claims to be open in the same sense as Firefox or other open projects — isn’t really developed in the same way. That’s because Google keeps code development of the OS in house until it is ready to release it. Expand Expanding Close
COMPUTERWORLD: Polish Mac sleuths have uncovered unpopulated Discussion Forums on Apple’s website that suggest we’ll see iMovie 11, iPhoto 11, GarageBand 11, a product referred to as ‘MBA – Need Official Name”, and, of course, “one more thing”…
I recall a previous post here which we told you it was on its way, this morning Aspyr Media confirms the news that it is bringing Civilization V to the Mac, just in time for Christmas.
Sid Meier’s Civilization V for Mac is the latest entry from the flagship turn-based strategy franchise. This is Aspyr’s biggest release this year, and it is being made in partnership with 2K Games. Expand Expanding Close
The Enterprise Desktop Alliance has published survey results which claim that Macs will be the fastest growing systems in the enterprise through 2011.
The EDA claims tech purchasers now see the Mac as more productive machines, and are finding tools to integrate tham into existing networks.
Macs will climb from 3.3% of all systems in 2009 to 5.2% in 2011. Those figureds may be small, but the survey also claims 25% of all new systems to be added in the enterprise will be Macs. Expand Expanding Close
COMPUTERWORLD: Facebook and Android users should be warned that an open model to security places them at risk. In an age of identity theft, billing checks are no protection at all, so perhaps there’s something good to say about Apple’s so-called ‘walled garden’ after all…
An interesting point this morning from Philip Elmer-DeWitt, who notes that independent investors seem to be more accurate when it comes to making AAPL estimates than those analysts who get regular paychecks from big banks.
In a note he (I think erroneously) calls ‘Amateurs vs. Professionals’, PED points out just how much more accurate individual investor bloggers were at predicting Apple’s fortunes than were those professional analysts from analysis firms.Perhaps that’s because in the case of bloggers, their fortunes are directly related to being right, while analysts will still get paid even if they’re wrong.
In any case, if you are an AAPL investor, it might make sense to take a look at what the ‘Amateurs’ have to say. As a whole they were clearly much more accurate than the big investment bankers.
Move over Android and iPhone, here comes the new smartphone ‘choice’ — HP today is introducing webOS 2.0, which it is declaring to be the “next generation of mobile innovation”.
webOS 2.0 will take its first public bow on the Palm Pre 2 in France, the United States and Canada, which will be available Friday in France from SFR and is scheduled to be available in the coming months in the United States from Verizon Wireless and in Canada.
“With webOS 2.0, we’re advancing the innovations we introduced 16 months ago, expanding the features that make webOS great for consumers, enterprises and developers,” said ex Apple veep now senior VP and general manager, Palm Global Business Unit, HP, Jon Rubinstein. Expand Expanding Close
7digital has developed its own iPhone app and is engaged in “positive discussions” with Apple, and expects its app — which enables music purchase and playback — will be made available via the App Store.
The UK-based digital music firm introduced its app for Android devices last month. The app lets users: Expand Expanding Close
Naturally, Rubin uses the Tweet to cast some deeply-coded hocus on Steve Jobs’ claims, using Lingo to make a claim that Android actually is “open”. In the sense that device makers can do what they like, that is. Expand Expanding Close
I’ve spent some time wondering about this — how Apple will integrate iOS within the Mac OS X experience — take a look here and here — now it looks like we’re going to find this out at tomorrow’s Apple event, with iOS scrolling, quick look and popovers all set to reach the Mac.
The integration isn’t finished yet. Mac OS X 10.7 simply borrows elements from iOS which can be translated into a Mac using paradigm. The interface gets an overhaul but remains Aqua-based. Expand Expanding Close
iPad shipments jumped to 4.19 million in Apple’s just-gone quarter, somewhat under some expectations of 5 million or more sales, but well in line with what you’d expect from a hit product that’s already being more widely purchased than any previous new consumwer electronics category. The good news is Apple could sell more, if only manufacturing could keep up…
iSuppli this morning raised its outlook for iPad sales this year to 13.8 million, up from July expectations of 12.9 million, citing indications of improved component supply.
Yet more signs on the glorious march of the iPad as US emergency room doctors begin using the devices to order lab tests and medications; and other medical pros find other ways to deploy the Apple tablet.