Motorola teaches us the difference between the 3.5-inch iPhone 4S and 4.3-inch RAZR.
Motorola has just unveiled the DROID RAZR and it looks like it beat the iPhone in the thinness department (except the upper part housing the camera that isn’t). Motorola’s device is, according to the blurb, “impossibly thin”, measuring just 7.1mm versus 9.3mm for the iPhone 4S. This 4G LTE handset driven by Android 2.3.5 features a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display with an qHD resolution, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM plus an eight-megapixel camera with 1080p video recording, 32 gigabytes of storage and Bluetooth 4.0. It weights a slight 121 grams compared to the iPhone 4S’s 140 grams.
But 7.1mm thin? Sure, except the part that is 10mm thin housing the camera.
They also have an optional lapdock that looks a lot like a MacBook Pro. The physical design boasts an interesting combination of Gorilla Glass and KEVLAR. Motorola is claiming up to 8.9 hours of video playback and 12.5 hours of talk time. The device is available for pre-order beginning October 27 on the Verizon Wireless network, starting at $299, with an expected launch sometime in November. Our own Seth Weintraub is live-blogging the announcement over at 9to5Google so feel free to hop over if you’re eager to find out more or check out the official RAZR mini-site. More juicy press shots, a nice teaser video and full press release after the break…
They also compare 4G LTE RAZR to 3G iPhone 4S. BTW Moto, thanks for free advertising!
Dropbox founders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi didn’t take the money and ran. Would you reject an $800 million acquisition offer from Apple if you had a hot cloud storage startup?
Forbes throws its weight behind a recent rumor that implied Apple had made an attempt to acquire the hot cloud storage startup Dropbox. Author Victoria Barret opens the lengthy profile with an interesting anecdote:
Jobs had been tracking a young software developer named Drew Houston, who blasted his way onto Apple’s radar screen when he reverse-engineered Apple’s file system so that his startup’s logo, an unfolding box, appeared elegantly tucked inside. Not even an Apple SWAT team had been able to do that.
In December 2009 Jobs invited Houston and his partner, Arash Ferdowsi, for a meeting at his Cupertino office. Both men had already established names for themselves in Silicon Valley, thanks to their hot storage startup named Dropbox. Despite considering Jobs his hero, Houston was clear upfront about not wanting to sell out the company to anyone, even to Apple.
It basically came down to the world’s biggest startup – as Jobs half-jokingly called Apple during a chat with Walt Mossberg at last year’s D conference – throwing a nine-figure amount (reportedly $800 million) at the feet of an up and running storage startup. The little guy rejects a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be acquired by Apple, stubbornly choosing to pursue own ambitious goals. Talk about David versus Goliath. Here’s to the crazy ones:
Jobs smiled warmly as he told them he was going after their market. “He said we were a feature, not a product,” says Houston. Courteously, Jobs spent the next half hour waxing on over tea about his return to Apple, and why not to trust investors, as the duo—or more accurately, Houston, who plays Penn to Ferdowsi’s mute Teller—peppered him with questions. […] When Jobs later followed up with a suggestion to meet at Dropbox’s San Francisco office, Houston proposed that they instead meet in Silicon Valley. “Why let the enemy get a taste?” he now shrugs cockily. Instead, Jobs went dark on the subject, resurfacing only this June, at his final keynote speech, where he unveiled iCloud, and specifically knocked Dropbox as a half-attempt to solve the Internet’s messiest dilemma: How do you get all your files, from all your devices, into one place? […] Houston’s reaction was less cocky: “Oh, s–t.” The next day he shot a missive to his staff: “We have one of the fastest-growing companies in the world,” it began. Then it featured a list of one-time meteors that fell to Earth: MySpace, Netscape, Palm, Yahoo.
It’s a shame they couldn’t come to terms and here’s why…
DIGITIMES Researchpublished a new survey this morning calling for global tablet PC shipments hitting 18.7 million units. As for iPad, the research arm of the Asian trade publication forecasts 13 million units, representing a whopping 36.8 percent sequential growth compared to the 9.25 million iPads the company shipped in the previous quarter. DIGITIMES Research says, however, that Apple was originally shooting higher:
Impacted by the weakening global economy, Apple’s iPad shipments in the third quarter did not meet its forecast and only reached 13 million units with a sequential growth of 36.8%.
This could explain recent claims by J.P. Morgan’s Asia team which caused quite a commotion saying Apple cut holiday quarter iPad orders by 25 percent, even though J.P. Morgan quickly distanced themselves from that report. Underwhelming or not, the fact remains that the 13 million iPads account for a healthy 70 percent of the entire tablet market this quarter.
As for iPad wannabes:
Meanwhile, due to their inability to attract consumers, most non-iPad tablet PCs suffered from high inventory issues in the third quarter. In addition, many new tablet PC product launches have been delayed. As a result, shipments of non-iPad tablet PCs only grew 10.1% sequentially in the quarter.
In the U.S., three out of four tablets sold are iPads. Apple is due to report September quarter earnings today after the closing bell so the mystery surrounding iPad shipments will be cleared up soon.
This is your Yellowgate. It looks worse from an angle (below the fold).
Hopefully, the tint should go away as glue from the factory dries. Image credit: chr0m
Look, fringe issues are common when four million devices hit at once. Hence, this compilation of inevitable teething problems with Apple’s new baby. First up, the display. A bunch of people are writing in a thread on Apple’s Discussion Forums about washed out colors and yellowish tint on the iPhone 4S’s display. This is especially noticeable with lots of whites, such as when browsing the web or reading your email.
Got a new iPhone 4S this morning, and when I put it next to my old iPhone 4 I discovered the screen was much ‘nicer’ on the old iPhone. When I say nicer, its kind of got a really yellow tint to the screen on the 4S, whites are where you notice it the most for example the email looks far nicer on the iPhone 4 screen. All other colours look quite washed out. Anyone else got this problem?
Not to worry, factory workers did not pee on your screen. It’s a common issue with the devices that have literally just been produced as the glue from the factory which keeps the screen in place dries. Watchful readers could note similar problems with early iPad 2 and iPhone 3G units. As for the recently reported slow 3G speeds on the Sprint network, the carrier has denied the issue. PCMag.comhas the official statement:
As always, Sprint is carefully monitoring the performance of the 3G network. We are looking into a small number of reports of slow data speeds when using the iPhone 4S, however there are also reports showing that Sprint’s network is the fastest, such as the Gizmodo report that came out earlier today. Speed tests represent a moment in time and are subject to many variables including weather, time of day, device, and proximity to a tower. Sprint will continue to monitor the feedback we are getting from our customers and will investigate and resolve any issues that may arise.
Next up, some folks are complaining about their brand spanking new iPhone 4S’s battery draining out in just a couple of hours on standby. Now, Apple rates the battery inside the iPhone 4S as having up to 200 hours of standby, a hundred less than the previous model. This surprised some fans, especially considering the iPhone 4S’s extra .05W/hrs battery and an hour-long talk time increase. The most logical explanation for a thirty percent reduction in standby time is Siri or additional background processes with notifications. Judging by this thread on Apple’s support forums, the battery issue may be affecting a tiny portion of early adopters.
Moreover, iLoungefound out in their iPhone 4S mega-review that the device also has worse battery life for 3G data and audio/video playback/recording. It fared better in their cellular calling tests and on par with the iPhone 4 for Wi-Fi and FaceTime. If it’s any consolation, Apple offers these handy tips on improving battery life on your iPhone, including:
Be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down).
Moving on to Siri. As you know, Apple’s digital assistant is being billed as the killer feature of the iPhone 4S. Indeed, it’s like having a secretary of your own – in your pocket. Siri has inspired a site solely dedicated to the things Siri says (another one here). Heck, Jonathan Mann even sang a duet with Siri. Some answers Siri gives are amusing, such as responding to marriage questions with “My End User License Agreement does not cover marriage”. People are more amused by the silly stuff, like when you say “call me an ambulance” and she responds by acknowledging “From now on, I’ll call you ‘an ambulance'”. More on Siri and other tidbits below the fold.
Siri, fuzzy by design, taps a huge phrases database to come up with amusing replies.
The stars are aligning for Apple as Reutersjust reported of another legal win in the company’s legal battle with the Taiwanese handset maker HTC. The news gathering organization explains that the U.S. International Trade Commission on Monday ruled in favor of Apple concerning HTC’s patent infringement complaint:
An ITC administrative law judge found “no violation” by Apple of four HTC patents that include technologies for power management and phone dialing.
This will come as a relief to the Cupertino, California company as competitor HTC in May of last year asked ITC to ban the importation of iOS devices into the United States. This doesn’t mean the ruling is a done deal as a full commission is scheduled to rule on whether to uphold the judge’s preliminary decision in February of next year.
The development follows today’s news that Samsung asked the courts to stop sales of the iPhone 4S in both Japanese and Australian markets after Apple last week successfully bared Samsung from selling Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia. Samsung’s chief operating officer Lee Jae-yong – also son of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee and heir apparent to the group’s leadership – met with Apple CEO Tim Cook following a private memorial service held for Steve Jobs yesterday at Stanford University, to which Kun-hee had been invited.
He told reporters that Samsung should “maintain a healthy partnership with Apple”, adding the two companies should also “compete fiercely but fairly”. Industry sources this morning toldKorean Times Apple’s been in talks with Samsung over shipment of its A6 quad-core chip for iPad 3 and iPhone 5, indicating Samsung’s importance in Apple’s supply chain as the South Korean conglomerate remains a critical business partner. As for the Apple vs. HTC saga…
Alright, calling it outer space is a little over the top as weather balloons may typically reach altitudes of 40km (25 miles) or more, which is still in the atmosphere, but still…
So these guys paid an eye-brow raising tribute to Steve Jobs in their own unique way, by launching two iPhone 4Ss into space by attaching them to a weather balloon. Yeah, I know, it’s an old trick, but the phones are new and do 1080P video. One of the phones had an interval photo timer app running while the other captured video. They explained:
We launched 2 iPhone 4S phones with a weather balloon to go up to 100,000. We put one of the iPhone 4S’s on an interval photo timer app and the other on video mode. We used s Spot GPS tracker (though I would not recommend it because it only tracks in 15 minutes increments.
The result of their undertaking is impressive: Check out the included clip depicting Earth’s atmosphere in full HD quality. The weather balloon eventually deflated and the iPhones landed safely, courtesy of a parachute and OtterBox cases for the iPhone 4S. Yeah, I know it’s a paradox that the iPhone 4S can safely land unscratched from the outer space and yet won’t survive a waist high drop.
And if the attached GPS failed, the amateur balloonists could use Find My Friends to get their rig. See? It isn’t just for finding cheating spouses.
The iPhone 4’s design was heavily criticized over the use of chemically strengthened glass for its enclosure. The pundits typically highlight a zero percent probability of the device landing on the “right” side in an unfortunate event of slipping out of your sweaty hands onto the pavement. Whichever way you look at it, both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S have questionable droppability compared to other handsets using chassis engineered around the usual metal + plastic + glass combo.
The folks over at SquareTrade took an iPhone 4S for a spin and pitted it against Samsung’s Galaxy S II to see which one survives a waist high and shoulder high drop. As you can see in the above clip, Apple’s latest and greatest handset was pretty badly damaged from the outside, just like its predecessor. It did, however, fare pretty well landing on its stainless steel band. Dropped face down, however, the iPhone 4S’s screen completely shattered. Samsung’s device didn’t suffer nearly as much damage (note that being light weight is probably a factor).
In addition, the plastic back on the Samsung device has gotta be more prone to surviving the shock of a sudden impact compared to glass. By the way, if you’re concerned about your iPhone’s droppability, head over to 9to5Toys and get yourself a great case. SquareTrade is an independent warranty provider that covers nearly everything – excluding, of course, intentional damage shown in the clip. Hop over to their web site for more information.
Daring Fireball’s John Gruber summed up nicely the problem with the iPhone 4’s easily breakable all-glass design. For those who don’t recall Gruber’s comment, here’s a thought he shared shortly after the device had gone on sale in the summer of 2010:
The online Apple Store is having a clearance of the original iPad for three select WiFi and WiFi + 3G models, including the flagship 64GB WiFi + 3G iPad. Now available for up to $200-$230 less compared to their original list prices, these products come looking like new and with the same 1-year warranty that other Apple products receive. All refurbished iPad models also include a brand new battery and outer shell. Supplies are time-limited, as indicated by the Special Limited Time Price designation. Availability is guaranteed upon receipt of full payment.
• Refurbished 64GB Wi-Fi iPad: Now available for $399, down from $599, a $200 savings
• Refurbished 32GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad: Now available for $399 down from $629 a $230 savings
• Refurbished 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad: Now available for $499, down from $729, a $230 savings Expand Expanding Close
Since CNET posted the iPhone 5 story this weekend…
…the iPhone 5 is a “complete redesign. This is a very large project that Steve dedicated all of his time to. He was not that involved in the 4S because his time was limited.”
…we thought it would be a good time to tell you what our sources think happened to the iPhone 5 that some were expecting. We’ve heard from Foxconn managers as well as Apple employees and carrier partners on this and have tried to piece together the full story.
The iPhone 4S as you see it was originally planned to be released at WWDC with iOS 5, like every iPhone before it.
But something happened around February of this year that threw everything off. Apple was still integrating the Siri team and code into iOS and it was going much slower than planned. In February, Apple knew they weren’t going to be able to get an iOS 5 Beta to developers in April and they sure weren’t going to have a stable version by WWDC. They would be lucky to get a final version of Siri into customers’ hands by the holiday shopping season (Siri is currently in Beta in three languages).
At the same time, Apple’s iPhone 5 (teardrop) plans were moving along on or ahead of schedule and the first prototypes were testing well. CNET says that Steve Jobs was overseeing this project which sounds about right.
With mid-October being the earliest possible date of a Siri-fied iOS being ready – with “Apple-levels” of polish –Apple had to look at its options. Would they release the iPhone 4S at WWDC with a modified version of iOS 4? Without Siri and the other iOS 5 improvements, the update might have seemed a little bland to the average customer.
U2’s Bono, cellist Yo Yo Ma and singer Joan Baez also performed during the more than an hour-long service, with Bono reading lyrics from an iPad, according to one of these people.
Steve Jobs’s widow Laurene Powell Jobs, sister Mona Simpson and three of his children spoke at the memorial service held for the Apple co-founder on Sunday, according to two people who attended.
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and Apple’s senior vice president for industrial design Jonathan Ive also spoke, these people said.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt of the Fortune blog published a list of celebrities, politicians, media magnates, high-ranked executives and industry figure heads who had been invited to attend a private memorial service held for Apple co-founder Steve Jobs yesterday at Stanford University’s Memorial Church. The list names only a handful of the invitees reportedly numbing in the hundreds. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore came to pay their respects to Apple’s late co-founder who died at his home at age 56 of respiratory arrest after a years-long battle with a rare form of cancerous tumor on his pancreas.
U2’s lead singer Bono was among the musicians present. Bono, a close friend, recently praised Steve Jobs as a generous donor to charitable causes. Chief creative officer of Pixar John Lasseter, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, Google CEO Larry Page, Dell CEO Michael Dell, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison were among the highest-ranked industry executives who paid tribute to Jobs’ life accomplishments, in addition to media magnate Rupert Murdoch and actors Tim Allen and Stephen Fry.
Apple announced sales of four million iPhone 4S units in the three days after its launch on October 14. In addition, the company said, more than 25 million customers have already upgraded to the new iOS 5 software in the first five days of its release and more than 20 million customers have signed up for iCloud: Apple’s marketing honcho Phil Schiller was quoted in a statement:
iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend—the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days. iPhone 4S is a hit with customers around the world, and together with iOS 5 and iCloud, is the best iPhone ever.
In 2010, Apple announced 1.7 million sales of iPhone 4 during the launch weekend. The company reported 600,000 pre-orders for iPhone 4 in the first 24 hours, which included orders placed with overseas carriers.
It should be noted that the iPhone 4S is the first iPhone to launch simultaneously on three carriers in the United States, available for the first time on the Sprint network – which together with Verizon, certainly helped sales numbers. Apple also added Australia and Canada to the five launch countries it had for the iPhone 4: US, Japan, UK, Germany and France.
In spite of its ongoing litigation with Apple, Samsung is allegedly ramping up production of the Apple-designed quad-core A6 chips in its manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas, which opened in 2007. The claim is attributed to industry sources privy to the both companies’ plans, who toldKorea Times Monday:
Apple has been in talks with Samsung over shipment of its A6 quad-core mobile processor (AP) chips to be used in the next iPhone. It appears that Apple clearly has concluded that Samsung remains a critical business partner. […] Samsung Electronics will apply its advanced 28-nanometer processing technology to produce qualified A6 mobile APs. TSMC will provide customized chips with designs from Apple, however, the volume will be very small.
This comes on the heels of the latest news that Samsung was “counter-attacking Apple again” and seeking to stop iPhone 4S sales in Australia and Japan following Apple scoring a ban on the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia last week. Apple’s entire business with Samsung which also inolves NAND chips, SSDs and more is said to be worth an estimated $8 billion in parts this year alone, roughly five percent of Samsung’s entire revenue. This makes Apple Samsung’s biggest overseas client.
TSMC hasn’t yet stabilized the manufacturing process and “Apple isn’t taking risks”, the source noted. EETimesfirst reported back in March that Apple had shifted production of the then unreleased A5 chip for iPad 2 from Samsung to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which failed to materialize at the time. The report asserted the two companies had entered into a foundry relationship (here and here). Reutersfollowed up in July, writing TSMC began a test production run of A6 chips on its newest 28-nanometer process and 3D stacking technologies, corroborated by the Taiwan Economic Times.
Switching your silicon provider is anything but easy. The process often takes years to complete, meaning it makes sense for Apple to continue sourcing in-house designed processors for iOS devices from Samsung – until TSMC is ready to take over. At the same time, Samsung is sending a clear message that it will not be entering a broad cross-licensing agreement with Apple. Recent legal setbacks will not discourage the Korean consumer electronics maker in its pursuit to fight Apple in courts all over the world. Per another Korea Timesarticle quoting a high-ranking Samsung executive which asked not to be identified, Samsung “don’t see any signs of entering a comprehensive cross-licensing deal with Apple”:
I got my wife a new 4s and loaded up find my friends without her knowing. She told me she was at her friends house in the east village. I’ve had suspicions about her meeting this guy who lives uptown. Lo and behold, Find my Friends has her right there.
I just texted her asking where she was and the dumb b!otch said she was on 10th Street!! Thank you Apple, thank you App Store, thank you all. These beautiful treasure trove of screen shots going to play well when I meet her a$$ at the lawyer’s office in a few weeks.
So he really didn’t “catch her cheating”, but she appears to be lying about her whereabouts. He later provides pictures:
Now, this account could easily be faked but it does bring up some privacy issues. Sure Google’s Latitude and other GPS utilities could be used for such nefarious purposes before, but as Apple often does to technology, this is now mainstream. GPS tracking is now easy to access and in a lot more hands.
So how far should people be able to go with these things? Should this data be admissible in civil court? An Android user used his GPS data to help him get out of a speeding ticket, but could your location data also get you in trouble?
From the outside, they look virtually identical to an untrained eye. Inside, they are worlds apart, figuratively speaking. But seriously, how fast is the new iPhone 4S compared to the sixteen months old iPhone 4? Well, YouTubers are doing tests of their own so we went about searching for the best side-by-side clips pitting the iPhone 4S to its older brother. For starters, the iPhone 4S’s browsing experience is a whole lot better thanks to a speedier chip, two times faster cellular networking (3G HSPA 14.4Mbps) and heavy under-the-hood tweaking in Safari and its Javascript engine.
It’s not just the browser, the iPhone 4S’s back camera benefits from the increased oomph provided by the A5 chip. Specifically, the A5’s image signal processor unit is responsible for nice real-time image processing, including face detection, white balance and automatic image stabilization. The difference between shaky iPhone 4 clips and smooth, stabilized iPhone 4S footage really makes all the difference, as we showed you. As for the quality of 1080p video capture, MacRumors compiled a nice list of the various high-definition clips taken on the iPhone 4S and compared to other popular cameras, embedded after the break. In addition.
As you likely heard, Sony Pictures recently acquired feature rights to film a flick based on Walter Isaacson’s upcoming authorized biography book. Both the book and the movie should be titled simply “Steve Jobs”, although in case of the latter Sony is toying with different titles because they registered eight domain names, including stevejobs-movie.net.
Asked whether he would like to play Steve Jobs again, actor Noah Wyle told the Fortune blog:
Are you kidding? I would give my eye teeth, in the heartbeat, of a New York minute. There are certain roles you wish you could tackle over and over again. That’s one for me.
Of course, many actors (here, ten great suggestions) would give their eye teeth in the hearbeat to play Apple’s iconic co-founder who died of respiratory arrest and a pancreatic tumor October 5 at age 56 at his home. Wyle won Jobs’ sympathies after portraying him rather convincingly in the 1999 docudrama “Pirates of Silicon Valley”, based on the book “Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer” by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine. However, Apple’s co-founder didn’t hesitate telling the actor in his uncanny style how much he actually hated the movie. According to Wyle himself, Jobs gave him a buzz shortly after the movie premiered, he was like:
Samsung made waves last month seeking to ban sales of Apple’s mobile products with 3G capabilities in The Netherlands, meaning iPhones and 3G iPads. The Hague court was anything but impressed and today denied Samsung’s request. The news came as another blow to the South Korean consumer electronics conglomerate, right after the U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh yesterday ruled in a preliminary hearing that Samsung’s products infringe on Apple’s patents. According to a Reutersreport, the Dutch court also rejected Apple’s counterclaims in the case:
The Dutch court found that Samsung’s 3G patents were part of essential standards which should be open to license under FRAND and that the two companies should negotiate an agreement.
FRAND, an acronym for “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms” in patent law, assures no company takes unfair advantage in the marketplace by patenting widespread technologies that have become part of international standards. It exists to prevent patent holders from leveraging FRAND patents against rivals.
In addition to the Siri feature which has gotten a lot of air time, the iPhone 4S also boasts a redesigned camera system stemming from an eight-megapixel backlit CMOS sensor and all-new optics courtesy of the wider aperture and a fifth lens. In fact, the back camera is one of the prowess of Apple’s new handset, which went on sale today in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Germany and Japan. In addition to shooting full HD video at thirty frames per second, the camera supports the image stabilizing feature to reduce shaky footage often associated with phone cameras.
The difference compared to the iPhone 4 which lacks this feature is quite dramatic, as seen in the above clip. Also note the enhanced latitude (and disregard the flickering of neon lights, the video was captured in Europe). Avid photography fans who happen to capture clips on the go frequently will admittedly appreciate image stabilization and full HD video capture. Certainly some of them will upgrade to the iPhone 4S on the merits of these major improvements in the camera system alone, we imagine.
CEO Tim Cook confirmed at the iPhone 4S unveiling shipments of 250 million iOS devices since the original iPhone went on sale in the summer of 2007. The iPhone 4S, the latest and greatest new model, has marked a shift in focus from hardware to software and online services. Siri, the iPhone 4S’s intelligent personal assistant advertised as its killer feature, requires significant computing power on the phone, but it also taps the power of the cloud.
And with iOS 5 and iCloud now out of the gate, Apple’s commitment to cloud computing will be put to the test as millions upon millions of users scramble to back up their devices and sync their data with iCloud. The bitterness of the MobileMe fiasco still fresh, Apple planned well ahead for today and – hopefully – into the future.
In mid-2009, Apple publicized plans to spend a billion dollars over the course of nine years towards a data center in Maiden, North Carolina, the company’s third, after lawmakers had voted in favor of huge tax incentives to big businesses. In reality, the cost of hosting its own content storesand data belonging to iOS users has dramatically outpaced initial projections.
Looking at Apple’s Property, Plant and Equipment costs in their quarterly statements, Asmyco’s Horace Dediu found out the company has already poured about $750 million into the North Carolina facility. What’s noteworthy about this is that Apple spent this amount of money towards the building alone, prompting Dediu to call it the “down payment”.
Apple originally planned to invest a billion dollars over nine years and they already spent three-quarters of the allotted sum on the building alone. This excludes costs related to servers, storage equipment, personnel, research and development, licensing, bandwidth charges and more. Only a few companies are willing to spend billions on cloud infrastructure, so Apple with iCloud has essentially created a substantial barrier to entry for competitors, Dediu notes:
Apple spent $1 billion on property, plant and equipment since mid-2006. Having paid an estimated $250 million for the old HP campus in Cupertino, the remaining $750 million is the down payment for the iCloud data center building in Maiden, North Carolina.
Apple’s new boss Tim Cook is well regarded for his obsession with micro-managing Apple’s end-to-end manufacturing and supply ecosystem and he’s been credited for running trains on time, especially since 2005. Apple’s ability to deliver products on time while tapping the economies of scale to gradually bring the prices down is nowhere as evident as with the Mac. At this month’s iPhone 4S presentation, Cook updated us on the state of the Mac. The slides he put up continued to impress. There are now nearly 60 million Mac users worldwide.
Now, it’s no secret the Mac’s been picking up a lot of steam since the Intel transition. In fact, Cook said, the Mac platform has grown by 23 percent since 2010, having eclipsed by almost six times the four percent overall growth in Windows PCs. But it’s not just this year. Every single quarter in the past five years the Mac’s outgrown the PC market. As a result, the MacBook Pro and iMac are now best-selling notebook and desktop PCs, accounting for nearly one in four systems sold in U.S. retail.
“For those of you who have been following Apple for a while, you know that it wasn’t too long ago that this number was in the midst-single digits”, Cook said at the event. Well, he wasn’t lying. IDC and Gartner yesterday published their preliminary computer shipment estimates, confirm the Mac’s resurgence. Key findings and tables after the break…
If you’re like me, you download too many apps each and every day, basically to try out and ultimately remove the vast majority of items after a couple runs. Unfortunately, each download is automatically added to your Purchased list, no exception – even if you never run the program. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could hide individual purchased items from view? Well, now you can and it’s real simple…
Reveal your hidden item in the iTunes in the Cloud section of your account settings.
Following in the footsteps of Dropbox, which is treating buyers of HTC’s high-end smartphones to five additional gigabytes of online storage, cloud storage provider Box.net announced today an offering Apple fans will find hard to resist. Think 50 gigabytes of free online storage for anyone with a free Box Personal account on an iOS device, ten times the amount you get with iCloud, at no cost. This cloud storage space will be yours forever and always completely free, no strings attached.
You can use your Box.net storage to keep your photos, documents, music, videos and other personal assets safe in the cloud, for easy access anywhere there’s network connection, saving local storage space on your device. The Box.net for iOS client can be downloaded for free here (iPad screenies below). To claim your free storage beginning tomorrow at noon, just use the client to log in to your account or register for a new one directly from the app. Don’t underestimate the power of marketing: Box.net did the same 50GB thing with Hewlett-Packard and folks were buying TouchPads to claim their free Box.net account – at least until HP shuttered webOS. More info below the fold.
Apple has also released, as promised, its brand new iOS app for mailing gorgeous cards, right from the palm of your hand. The Cards app, according to Apple:
The new Cards app from Apple lets you create and mail beautifully crafted cards personalized with your own text and photos — right from your iPhone or iPod touch. Take a quick snapshot and with a few taps and swipes, an elegant letterpress card is on its way to any address in the world. Each card is just $2.99 when sent within the U.S. and $4.99 when sent to or from anywhere else. And that includes postage.
The killer feature? If you mail your card within the United States, Apple will slap their own custom-designed stamp and use the United States Postal Service Intelligent Mail barcode to send you a notification the day the card is due to arrive – so you know when you’re about to make someone’s day. The Cards app is available free of charge from the App Store here. Our international readers may want to wait a bit until the program propagates throughout all regional iTunes Stores. Release notes after the break.
