Tech Industry

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COMPUTERWORLD: Apple’s design philosophy sets the standard for product design across all industries. The integrity of its approach emanates from company co-founder, Steve Jobs. That focus on the user experience is critical at every level of the company’s offering, and constitutes the Apple advantage in a sea of Android.

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAllFWSl998&fs=1&hl=en_GB]

We know, we know, it’s Friday and other than huge excitement at what’s coming from Apple on October 20 (glimpse at new OS, iLife, iWork and new MacBook Air, we reckon), but where’s your Friday afternoon video fun?
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Autodesk today returned to the Mac with the release of industry-standard AutoCAD. There’s even a 30-day free trial of this most important of 3D CAD software for designers, and its return to the Mac really is a big deal — it has been absent from the platform for 18 years.  That’s a generation of Architects that haven’t used the software.

One of the most widely used applications for professional design and engineering, the Mac version brings all AutoCADs features and functionality to Mac-using designers. For PC users, the Mac version works in a similar enough way to the PC that it is easy to move between platforms.
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Apple’s plans to offer the iPad for sale in Taiwan have hit a hurdle — the device doesn’t currently support the complex Chinese writing system used in the country.

Taiwanese government official, Chin-hsien Lo admits the problem exists, and the lack of language support means the iPad won’t go on sale until the device is capable of handling native Taiwanese text input.
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Virtual good sales are spiking within Apple’s iOS ecosystem, with revenues from such sales dwarfing ads revenue, reports analytics firm, Flurry.

The analytics company looked at revenues accrued by a sample group of social networking and social gaming apps to reach its conclusion.

The sample group offered a “combined reach of 2.2 million daily active users”, Flurry says. It found that in-app purchases were accounting for over 80 percent of their revenues.
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Apple’s iBookstore may need beefing-up if it is to fulfil its promise, or so it appears. A quick check of the available in-store titles reveals 60,000 books in there for sale — contrast this with the 700,000 books available via Amazon’s Kindle and its pretty clear there’s backstage conflicts between the two book stores.
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We’ve been told by some Retail folks that Apple Stores are low on their supplies of the iLife software suite. Apple is rumored to be updating the media-focused software suite and this is a yet another indicator that an iLife refresh will be announced at or around Apple’s October 20th Mac event.

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I had a chance to speak with someone at Google at length about their vision of the TV and I think I’ve finally figured out the fundamental difference in philosophy between AppleTV and GoogleTV, at least at the moment.

Google wants to put the computer experience on the television.  That includes multiple streams of audio and video, windows, web browsing, etc.  The classic demonstration I’ve seen is watching a video on GoogleTV, seeing something you wanted to share and then doing a picture-in-picture with a Web browser and logging into Facebook or Twitter while the video fits in the bottom corner.  Then the user starts using the GoogleTV like a computer while the video keeps playing in a PIP window.

Apple’s ideal experience is isolating video on the big screen.  The menu use on AppleTV is minimal and everything else just gets videos playing as fast as possible.  That may transform into game play as well in the future, but it is still one ‘channel’ on the big screen at a time.  All of the Facebook, Twittering, Web browsing and eventually, I believe, finding content is meant to be done on an iOS device in your hand or lap.

While a video is playing on the device, would you rather be doing other stuff on the TV as well (Google), or would you rather do the other stuff on a dedicated screen on your lap or in your hand (Apple)?  If you think about the other people in the room who have to watch you update your Twitter feed rather than doing it on your lap, the point becomes even more significant.

That’s the difference.

I think the success of the iPad relative to PCs shows that Apple’s model is a good one here.  I also think we aren’t trained to use a screen 8-15 feet away as a computer (I’ve tried this many times) no matter how big it is.

You see where I am going here?

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Jealous that your PC friends just got a new version of Skype, 5.0 today with Facebook integration?  (Us neither but stick with us)  Fear not Mac faithful, Skype has a new version en route for Mac as well.

What a tease!
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COMPUTERWORLD: Apple is now the biggest US PC maker if you read between the lines of the latest Gartner and IDC PC sales data. This is why Apple’s announcement of new Mac OS X features next week will also be the point when AAPL defines the future of computing.

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Wow. Verizon is carrying the iPad with a Mifi month to month plan without obligation for $20 for 1 GB $50/month for 5GB).  Those prices below ($629/$729/$829) match the 3G iPad version that works with AT&T but instead you get the Mifi unit for $129 with a Wifi iPad.  Verizon will also sell them standalone.

The upside?  You can use four other devices at the same time.  The big bummer on this?  No GPS in Wifi iPads and Mifi units only hold a charge for 4 hours of data.

Apple also announced AT&T would be carrying iPads in their stores.

One excuse that won’t work for parents this Christmas: “Honey we couldn’t find an iPad in any stores”.

FAQs below:

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAVQPa9L3jg&fs=1&hl=en_GB]

This morning we’re enjoying this video clip straight out of Hong Kong, where the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway has launched its new app, inviting along a Chinese Fake Steve Jobs to introduce the new product.

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Foxconn has confirmed reports it has raised manufacturing costs for clients, but is denying claims competing manufacturers are using the move as an opportunity to poach clients from the giant firm.

A Foxconn spokesperson pointed out that “most clients have already agreed to the new quotes,” reports Digitimes. Some negotiations continue.
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http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf

The man starts out slow but eventually gets around to calling it the best version of Microsoft Office ever for the Mac. (kinda goes without saying, no?)

Interesting that he doesn’t call it the best Office suite for the Mac.  (iWork ’11? Maybe it is already in his hands)

BTW, Amazon already took $20 off of MS Office 2011 pre-orders (starting at $109 or $129 for 3 pack).
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While it still isn’t a big global player (less than 5%), Apple is closing in on the Acer/Gateway merged company to become the number three PC vendor in these here United States, according to a Gartner release today.  The report says Apple sold 1.83 million PCs for the quarter (Acer is at 1.84 million) which brings Apple to 10.4% of the market.  Yes, it has been a long time coming.

They had 9.3% of the market with 1.6 million PCs in the year ago quarter.

“The weak back-to-school sales were not because students held off on PC purchases, but because nonstudent buyers, who normally are lured by massive back-to-school promotions, stayed away from PC purchases,” Ms. Kitagawa said. “These buyers were influenced by media tablet introductions, as well as the still-gloomy economy, since these buyers do not have an immediate need to purchase a PC.”

Imagine if Gartner counted the 5 million iPads as computers?

Apple of course reports actual numbers next week.

Full release below:

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For the first time, Apple has broken the $300 mark, putting its market cap at $275B.

Watch out Exxon ($329B)!
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COMPUTERWORLD: This morning’s anti-iPhone info-blip sees claims that the “iPhone 4 breaks 82 percent more than iPhone 3Gs”. Which sounds like quite a headline, except it isn’t strictly true. These claims are based on data from a firm called SquareTrade and is based on claimed analysis of 20,000 iPhone warranty customers. But this is a storm in a teacup.

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It may be time to wave farewell  to cheap Chinese consumer goods, people, as it looks like Foxconn intends raising contract manufacturing prices as it attempts to stop workers in those Chinese factories churning out cheap consumer goods for the rest of the world from, you know, killing themselves in protest at the poor wages and working conditions they’re enduring.
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Apple’s some time ally, Intel’s Paul Otellini, has vowed to use “all of the assets” at his company’s disposal to seize back leadership in the tablet market.

In an interview, Otellini took a moment to praise Apple’s achievements with its iPad, before making his promise to seize back the category through a series of Intel processor-powered partner devices.

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Apple has been summoned to answer questions in the Korean parliament late this month to explain the company’s repair and replacement policy for the iPhone.

Apple’s senior director for Apple’s iPhone service, Farrel Farhoudi, is scheduled to appear in the Korean parliament on October 21.

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