Tech Industry

Welcome to the new media order, as described by Nielsen — a new world in which US mobile phone Web users almost eclipse the number of US homes with a TV; a world in which Apple’s iPhone accounts for three of the top ten smartphones used and more.
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vou1OOaKYWo&w=640&h=385]

If, instead of putting the phone in some jenky dock at the back of the device, you could put the phone where the trackpad is and have it act as the trackpad.  That way you don’t need that ‘phone emulator’ on screen, you just get a smartbook. AT&T’s/Motorola’s Atrix.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s72rGDUn2uo&w=640&h=385]

I can’t even believe this is right.  For the Playbook’s email and calendar to work you need to be connected to a Blackberry?!

The question is: Who, besides BlackBerry users, is going to want to buy it? The core email and calendar apps are completely tethered to a BlackBerry. Without your BlackBerry, there is no native email or calendar app—just access through the (admittedly good) web browser.

That reminds me of the Palm Foleo strategy.  Never heard of it?  Yep, that good.

There isn’t a survey out there that has the BlackBerry gaining market share, so why tie (anchor?) your new product, which has plenty of positive attributes, to a sinking ship?  You immediately cut out 75% of your market (and growing).  Delusional.
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Cue Apple iPad 2 announcement in 3…2…1

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-80QD5Zjyc&w=640&h=385]
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AT&T just launched like 600 Android phones on 20 versions of “4G” which will be out at various times over the next two years.  That’s dandy.  However, one bit of info has gathered a lot of steam is that AT&T Wireless CEO Ralph de la Vega included Apple amongst its vendors who would be launching LTE devices this year.  iPad?  iPhone?  ORLY?  We sought out a little clarification…
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COMPUTERWORLD: This is not the year the iPad meets its match. Analyst Michael Gartenberg doesn’t see anything to threaten Apple, even as AAPL moves beyond dominance of the tablet market — as its mind-share grows, iPad is making like the iPod and defining the tablet market.

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Interesting: it seems the first big deal component Apple may manufacture with its newly-licensed LiquidMetal alloys (beyond that SIM card remover shipped with iPhone before) isn’t the body or the antenna — it’s the battery!
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We’re all agog waiting on the introduction of the Mac App Store tomorrow (Jan 6). It seems likely to eclipse the CES clamor. Now we have this tiny nugget to share: You’ll be able to review Mac Apps just like you review iOS apps.

Sure, we know this isn’t a massive surprise: stop and think about it and it makes perfect sense that you’ll be able to put virtual pen to paper to leave others with your impressions of those Mac Apps you love or loathe.
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The iPad is taking a lesson from the iPod and beginning to seize a place in US schools, some of which are beginning trials to test the efficacy of providing the Apple tablets to kids, even while New York City orders thousands of iPads for its schools.
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It had to happen — Intel introduced its Sandy Bridge processor this week and already intrepid Mac OS X hackers have managed to install Apple’s operating system on Intel’s new chip.

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That’s the conclusion from Forrester Research in their latest research which predicts US tablet sales will double this year.

They now anticipate tablet sales last year of (a deeply conservative) 10.3 million units, thanks to stronger than expected iPad sales. And they think iPad will take the ‘lion’s share’ of a market they expect will double in size (to 24.1 million units) this year, despite all those new CES-introduced ‘competitors’.
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Think Different?

Just like the Palm Pre was released days before the iPhone 3GS, HP/Palm is going to be announcing something big (a tablet) and something small (another webOS phone) in the days leading up to iPad 2.

Hopefully printer sales are strong this year…

In other non-Apple tablet news, the Blackberry PlayBook shows off its stuff, below…

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COMPUTERWORLD: Smart investors are paying attention to Apple’s [AAPL] rapidly expanding iOS value chain, taking strategic holdings in Apple’s component supply partners, and this last few days has seen markets whisper one name, Skyworks Solutions [SWKS] — will that company drive LTE support to iPhone and iPad 2.0?

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Price conscious UK consumers are already grappling with declining public services and public sector jobs and a huge climb in VAT — perhaps that’s why Orange sold just 1,000 iPads in the first week the products went on sale via the carrier in the UK.

As has been widely-reported, Orange is one of the first UK networks to offer the 3G/Wi-Fi iPad at a subsidized price in the UK to customers signing-up for a 24-month service contract. The subsidy means you can get an iPad for just £199, so long as consumers agree to a £25/month contract.
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Apple isn’t at CES once again this year and as per usual Cupertino’s shadow looms above the giant US trade show, where it seems competitors, including Microsoft, intend introducing their own iPad competitors, even as we learn that existing Android tablets may never get a software upgrade. Some highlights:
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Apple’s dreams to offer enhanced cloud-based services will have to negotiate a dizzyingly irritating range of repressive national governments, with Saudi Arabia now revealed as the latest nation state to have blocked access to MobileMe accounts.

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The lastest browser market share report from NetApplications shows a pretty strong uptick for iOS for December.  The last report of the year pushed iOs toward 2% of all browser usage (remember back in the late 90s when Mac was at under 2%?).  Apple was up a third of a percentage point at almost 1.7%

Android did gain market share but not as dramatically as Apple.  Blackberry is indistinguishable from the baseline at .13%.

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Apple’s battle with Android continues with the latest Nielsen market share data revealing iOS remains the dominant smartphone OS, at least right now.

Android is picking up users: according to November data from The Nielsen Company, the popularity of the Android OS among those who purchased a smartphone in the last six months (40%) makes it the leading OS among recent acquirers.
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Apple remains the world’s most valuable company (after Exxon) with a market cap that this morning exceeded $300 billion, reports declare. On active trade on the Dow Apple (AAPL) rose $7 to hit a new record intraday high this morning — right now Apple stock sits near $330 per share for a market cap of over $302 billion.
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SAI breaks down Piper Jaffay Apple follower Gene Munster’s predictions for 2011, complete with probabilities.  I’ve got to say, these are pretty conservative.  (I like Appleholic’s 2011 list much more).  Anyway, here we go…

– Verizon launch of the iPhone: Probability 95% (March qtr) (our est)

– Mac App Store: Probability 100% (Jan. 6 launch)

– iTunes cloud services: Probability 90%

– iPad geographic expansion: Probability 100%

– iPad subsidies from carriers: Probability 80%

– OS X Lion: Probability 100% (summer 2011)

And here’s when we can expect upgrades to the hardware:

– iPhone (March quarter). We are modeling for Apple to launch a CDMA version of the iPhone at Verizon in the March-11 quarter. The fifth generation iPhone will likely ship this summer with NFC capability.

– iPad (spring). We believe the second generation iPad will launch in spring 2011.

– Macs (uncertain). We have moderate confidence that Apple will release redesigned MacBook Pros in 1H11 and redesigned iMacs in 2H11.

– iPods (fall). As usual, we expect Apple to refresh its iPods in the fall.

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Intel just lifted the embargo on 29 new processors in the Sandy Bridge family, the ones that will likely be powering upcoming Macs in 2011. Among the highlights include the following:

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