Showing posts with label iPhone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iPhone. Show all posts
Wednesday
Microsoft Touching Up Windows 8 to Address Gripes
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft is retooling the latest version of its Windows operating system to address complaints and confusion that have been blamed for deepening a slump in personal computer sales.
The tune up announced Tuesday won't be released to consumers and businesses until later this year. The changes, part of a software package given the codename "Blue," are a tacit acknowledgment of the shortcomings in Windows 8, a radical overhaul of Microsoft Corp.'s ubiquitous operating system.
With the makeover it released last October, Microsoft hoped to play a more prominent role in the growing mobile device market while still maintaining its dominance in PCs. But Windows 8's design, which emphasizes interactive tiles and touch controls, seems to have befuddled as many people as it has impressed. One leading research firm, International Data Corp., says Windows 8 contributed to a 14 percent decline in worldwide PC sales during the first three months of the year — the biggest year-over-year drop ever.
Meanwhile, sales of smartphones and tablet computers are booming. The biggest beneficiaries have been Apple Inc., the maker of the iPhone and iPad, and Samsung Electronics Co., which sells the most devices running on Google Inc.'s Android software. Google is also benefiting from Android's popularity through increased traffic to its services, creating more opportunities for the company to display ads.
By contrast, leading PC makers such as Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc., which primarily sell Windows-powered machines, have been mired in a financial funk that has battered their stocks and raised questions about their futures.
Despite the troubling signs, Microsoft insists it's pleased with Windows 8's performance.
The company, which is based in Redmond, Wash., says more than 100 million Windows 8 licenses have been sold so far, up from about 60 million licenses in January. The licensing volume "is in the same general ballpark," as Microsoft's previous operating system — Windows 7 — at a similar juncture of its sales cycle, according to Tami Reller, who serves as the marketing and financial chief for Microsoft's Windows business.
In an interview, Reller said Microsoft still realized changes need to be made to make Windows 8 easier to navigate and capable of taking full advantage of technology improvements that have come out since October.
"Are there things that we can do to improve the experience? Absolutely," Reller said "There is a learning curve (to Windows 8) and we can work to address that."
For now, Microsoft isn't saying what kind of changes will be introduced with the release of Blue, which the company plans to anoint with a different name when the update is available. Microsoft also isn't saying whether it will charge existing owners of Windows 8 devices to get the fixes in Blue. The company plans to release Blue in time for the holiday season.
Reller said more details about Blue will be released before Microsoft holds a developers conference in San Francisco in late June. Some of Blue's features are expected to be previewed at that conference.
If Blue is meant to make people more comfortable, the changes may incorporate more of the elements from earlier versions of Windows.
A common complaint has centered on the lack of a "start" button in the Windows 8 menu.
Other critics have pined for an option that would allow the system to begin in a desktop mode suited for running applications designed for earlier versions of the operating system. Windows 8 currently starts off showing a mosaic of interactive tiles tailored for swiping through programs with a finger instead of using a computer mouse.
Blue also might make it easier to find a set of controls — known as "charms" in Windows 8's parlance — that currently must be pulled out from the right side of a display screen.
Besides responding to customer feedback, Blue also will improve Windows 8's ability to work on smaller tablets with 7- and 8-inch display screens, Reller said. She declined to say whether Microsoft intends to make smaller version of its own Surface tablets. In a conference call with analysts last month, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said the company was working with other manufacturers to make smaller tablets.
One thing that Blue won't fix: the relatively small selection of mobile applications tailored for Windows 8. Reller said the Windows 8 store now has more than 60,000 apps. By contrast, there are more than 800,000 apps available for Apple's mobile's devices and nearly that many for Android devices, too. In one of the most glaring omissions on Windows 8, Facebook Inc. still hasn't designed an app to make its online social network more accessible on that system. Facebook has about 750 million mobile users.
Microsoft's decision to tweak Windows 8 so soon after it went on sale may reinforce perceptions that the product is a flop.
Reller is trying to frame the changes as evidence that Microsoft is becoming more agile and nimble as it responds to a rapidly evolving technology market. Smartphones and tablet computers have been at the epicenter of the upheaval, diminishing the demand for PCs as more people and businesses opt for the convenience of increasingly powerful mobile devices.
The mobile computing movement is the main reason that Microsoft made the most dramatic redesign of its Windows operating system since 1995. Given how different that Windows 8 is from its predecessors, Reller said Microsoft always knew it might have to make some adjustments less than a year after the software came out.
"It had to be a very big change to take advantage of the mobile opportunity," she said.
Analysts say one reason Windows 8 got off to a slow start is because there weren't enough devices designed to take advantage of the system's touch-screen features. But that is about to change as HP, Dell and other PC makers prepare to roll out a wide variety of laptops and tablets with displays that respond to touch. More than 2,400 devices have now been certified to run on Windows 8, up from 2,000 in January, Reller said.
Most of the touch-screen laptops will sell at prices $50 to $250 below the first wave of comparable machines running on Windows 8, reductions that Microsoft hopes will prod more people to check out the system.
"As we look at Windows 8, it's important to remember a lot of its full potential won't be realized until there are more touch devices on the market," Reller said.
Friday
Android challenges the iPhone in every category | Apple - CNET News
via http://www.cnet.com/profile/PeterYared/
For the past month, I have been using an HTC Droid DNA, which has similar specs to the rumored upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4. People approach me at grocery stores, airports, coffee shops, even on the street and ask me about the phone. The device is indeed quite compelling, even from a distance.
What phone would I recommend for my mom? An iPhone. It's safe, predictable, and uniform. What would I recommend for anyone under 40? Definitely one of the new breeds of Android phones. Android might still be a bit quirkier than an iPhone, but it's definitely not confusing for people who interact daily with a variety of advanced technology. Samsung really nailed it in its commercial where a young woman is waiting in line for a new iPhone and it turns out she is holding the spot for her parents.
The new breed of Android devices exceed the iPhone 5 in every category -- hardware, operating system, and apps.
The spec is alive and well -- and killing Apple
Hardware from Samsung, HTC, LG, and others has now caught up and eclipsed Apple's devices. Smartphones don't really have that many specs to evaluate, and each of the specs actually means something tangible to an average consumer. After five years of advanced smartphones, specs like screen size, screen density, screen brightness, camera speed, camera megapixels, physical dimensions, physical weight, amount of memory, and battery life are easily understandable and relevant to even the average smartphone consumer. Even specs like the number of processor cores and speed that are typically not easy to understand are easily understood when framed as "faster than the iPhone 5."
Hardware from Samsung, HTC, LG, and others has now caught up and eclipsed Apple's devices. Smartphones don't really have that many specs to evaluate, and each of the specs actually means something tangible to an average consumer. After five years of advanced smartphones, specs like screen size, screen density, screen brightness, camera speed, camera megapixels, physical dimensions, physical weight, amount of memory, and battery life are easily understandable and relevant to even the average smartphone consumer. Even specs like the number of processor cores and speed that are typically not easy to understand are easily understood when framed as "faster than the iPhone 5."
Conversely, the spec is definitely irrelevant when purchasing Apple products. There are so few products to choose from that decision making is essentially boiled down to a Goldilocks-style small/medium/large decision mainly driven by cost rather than actual features. While this is great for my mom and MG Siegler, the lack of spec-based decision making is not necessarily a good thing in a world where consumers actually understand each of the specs and would like to choose how to balance them out relative to cost. Apple has been a follower on many specs, particularly in terms of form factors, trailing the market in both 4-inch phones and 7-inch tablets.
iPhones are definitely gorgeous devices, but they are relatively uniform and monotone. Aluminum is definitely great. I was surprised by how many women commented on the red accents on the HTC DNA, which are part of the DNA's crossbranding with Beats Audio. People like colors and variety, and they don't necessarily like having to completely cover a phone's shell and make it bulkier in order to express themselves.
Let's not forget that all of those Samsung Galaxy phones you see cost the same as an iPhone -- their owners are not bargain shoppers; they are spec and style shoppers.
The screen should actually show you something!
As mobile app developer Ralf Nottman recently noted, the new generation of Android 4 Jelly Bean is a fundamentally better operating system than iOS -- better rendering, better cross-app sharing, better app/OS integration, and more polished.
As mobile app developer Ralf Nottman recently noted, the new generation of Android 4 Jelly Bean is a fundamentally better operating system than iOS -- better rendering, better cross-app sharing, better app/OS integration, and more polished.
But the real standout for Android is the customizability of the display. Rather than iOS static icons with embedded notifications, with Android, apps are front and center, displaying the time in different time zones, the weather, appointments, emails, texts, whatever you want in numerous themes that can completely reinvent the user interface.
Windows Phone 8, the dark horse in this race, is actually even more integrated, with a unified messaging interface that consolidates emails, texts, and Facebook messages into a single thread, and a consistent tile interface with which apps can display information on the home screens.
The operating system is not as important as the apps, and this is where Android is beginning to shine.
The cloud behind the app is more important than the app
In a world where the hardware and operating system have become commoditized, the apps are the differentiator, and more and more, the apps are a viewport into a cloud service driven by machine learning.
In a world where the hardware and operating system have become commoditized, the apps are the differentiator, and more and more, the apps are a viewport into a cloud service driven by machine learning.
The vast majority of Internet users rely on Google Search, Maps, YouTube, Mail, and such, and spend more time in those apps than in the mobile operating system itself. As people are beginning to note, Google's apps are way better than Apple's. What good is Siri if it thinks "Hurricane Sandy" is a hockey team, when Google knows what's actually going on? Google Now is adding ambient awareness to Android devices, letting people know what's going on around them and what they need to do in a very personal way, with features like a notice that you need to leave for your next meeting because there is now traffic en route.
Perhaps, as is rumored off and on, Apple will start snapping up cloud services such as Waze.However, it is hard to buy and integrate a new type of product category into a large company that doesn't have it in its DNA. Competing with Google, an entrenched, dominant player in machine intelligence that recently added Ray Kurzweil to its roster is going to be a challenging affair. Microsoft actually had a better track record of delivering large-scale cloud services, such as mail, mapping, and storage, than Apple.
Beyond Google's apps, the reality of the app market is that all of the applications that matter are now on Android, and it actually will soon have more apps than iOS. Dan Lyons of ReadWrite is lambasting the Silicon Valley tech press for living in an iPhone echo chamber, and he does have a point. Pundits are lauding Google Maps features on their iPhones that have been available on Android devices for literally years. Bloggers breathlessly reveal new Facebook iPhone app features such as "Find Friends Nearby" that had been available for over a month on Android.
The feedback loop of the echo chamber is that developers initially develop apps on iOS, much like the recently popular Cinemagram. However, developers like Nottman like cool devices, and are starting to shift over to Android. In addition, developers are feeling limited by iOS user interface patterns and its skeuomorphic apps and are branching out. Like the Mac OS of the early '90s, the consistent UI across applications will likely splinter.
The numbers speak for themselves. Android has a 75 percent smartphone worldwide market share, as evidenced by the hordes of Samsung devices in use throughout Europe and Asia. While Apple is regaining market share in the U.S. with the iPhone 5, it is about to face an onslaught of 5-inch Android phones with specs that far exceed the iPhone 5's. Wall Street clearly sees a shift coming, and has hammered Apple's stock price over the past quarter.
The average consumer has moved past the days of pious, scruffy haired, unshaven, thick glasses-wearing dudes lecturing us on how Apple is so cool. Perhaps soon Silicon Valley will catch up. When you see someone in a cafe with a MacBook Air, iPad, and iPhone on the table in front of them, is "Think Different" really what comes to mind?
Android challenges the iPhone in every category | Apple - CNET News
Wednesday
Monday
CNET: iOS, Android, and Web traffic: Same old, same old
iOS, Android, and Web traffic: Same old, same old: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57556846-94/ios-android-and-web-traffic-same-old-same-old/?tag=mobile_social
Wednesday
Tuesday
Report: Next iPhone May Not Have it Easy in U.S.
While Apple has not confirmed an iPhone 5, all signs point to an announcement tomorrow.
Investors in recent weeks have pushed Apple stock to record highs on rumor alone, with shares of the stock trading at $680 last Friday. But do record share prices necessarily portend record sales? Maybe not, at least here in the United States.
Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis for NPD Group, says that the iPhone might be a big hit around the world, but conditions might not be ripe for record sales here in the America.
In a post on NPD's official blog, Baker notes there are a few variables that could leave Apple's iPhone 5 sales just shy of the usual otherworldly expectations heaped upon the company's products.
Baker contends that the iPhone 5's success in this country may have little to do with "the strength of the new product offering, its hardware configuration, its marketing, or even its competition," but rather the simple fact that the U.S. smartphone market appears to have matured.
Key to Baker's argument is the flattening of postpaid smartphone sales recently, which hasn't been the case for past iPhone launches.
According to NPD, overall smartphone sales in the United States have been driven largely by pre-paid smartphones, with total smartphone unit-volume sales rising just 9 percent in the second quarter of 2012, compared to the second quarter 2011. Year-over-year post-paid smartphone unit sales were flat, while pre-paid smartphone unit volume almost doubled, rising 91 percent year over year.
Also, Baker argues that Samsung and Apple have already chewed up most of what they can take from Research In Motion and Nokia's market share.
"There is no clear #3 player to steal market share from, Samsung/Android and Apple have run away from the pack in the last year," Baker wrote.
Finally, Apple will be launching this latest model less than a year since it introduced the 4S, leaving many consumers trapped in 2-year contracts with little or no subsidy on an upgrade. Supposing the next iPhone costs $200 on contract, AT&T customers who bought into a contract with the iPhone 4S would have to pay $450 for the iPhone 5, which is what that carrier calls an "early iPhone upgrade discount."
To be sure, the iPhone 5 will be met with applause from Apple's loyal fans, but Baker appears to be asking the question for how long that base can afford to support Apple's record sales number with every successive device.
"Apple will have a highly successful launch, of that there can be no doubt," Baker wrote, "but the inevitability of easy market share gains in the U.S. is not quite so apparent this time around, as it has been in the past."
Apple is expected to unveil the next iPhone at an event in San Francisco tomorrow, with a launch later this month. Is expected that the new iPhone will have a larger screen, as well as LTE connectivity. -Andrew Berg of Wireless Week
Investors in recent weeks have pushed Apple stock to record highs on rumor alone, with shares of the stock trading at $680 last Friday. But do record share prices necessarily portend record sales? Maybe not, at least here in the United States.
Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis for NPD Group, says that the iPhone might be a big hit around the world, but conditions might not be ripe for record sales here in the America.
In a post on NPD's official blog, Baker notes there are a few variables that could leave Apple's iPhone 5 sales just shy of the usual otherworldly expectations heaped upon the company's products.
Baker contends that the iPhone 5's success in this country may have little to do with "the strength of the new product offering, its hardware configuration, its marketing, or even its competition," but rather the simple fact that the U.S. smartphone market appears to have matured.
Key to Baker's argument is the flattening of postpaid smartphone sales recently, which hasn't been the case for past iPhone launches.
According to NPD, overall smartphone sales in the United States have been driven largely by pre-paid smartphones, with total smartphone unit-volume sales rising just 9 percent in the second quarter of 2012, compared to the second quarter 2011. Year-over-year post-paid smartphone unit sales were flat, while pre-paid smartphone unit volume almost doubled, rising 91 percent year over year.
Also, Baker argues that Samsung and Apple have already chewed up most of what they can take from Research In Motion and Nokia's market share.
"There is no clear #3 player to steal market share from, Samsung/Android and Apple have run away from the pack in the last year," Baker wrote.
Finally, Apple will be launching this latest model less than a year since it introduced the 4S, leaving many consumers trapped in 2-year contracts with little or no subsidy on an upgrade. Supposing the next iPhone costs $200 on contract, AT&T customers who bought into a contract with the iPhone 4S would have to pay $450 for the iPhone 5, which is what that carrier calls an "early iPhone upgrade discount."
To be sure, the iPhone 5 will be met with applause from Apple's loyal fans, but Baker appears to be asking the question for how long that base can afford to support Apple's record sales number with every successive device.
"Apple will have a highly successful launch, of that there can be no doubt," Baker wrote, "but the inevitability of easy market share gains in the U.S. is not quite so apparent this time around, as it has been in the past."
Apple is expected to unveil the next iPhone at an event in San Francisco tomorrow, with a launch later this month. Is expected that the new iPhone will have a larger screen, as well as LTE connectivity. -Andrew Berg of Wireless Week
iPhone 5 faces U.S. market share challenges, says analyst
The iPhone 5 may have a tough time carving out a greater chunk of market share in the U.S., says NPD Group analyst Stephen Baker.
Expected to launch tomorrow, the new iPhone is already being touted as a blockbuster product by many analysts. But in a blog posted today, Baker said he thinks the iPhone 5 faces a different and more challenging enviroment than the one encountered by the iPhone 4 or even 4S.
Expected to launch tomorrow, the new iPhone is already being touted as a blockbuster product by many analysts. But in a blog posted today, Baker said he thinks the iPhone 5 faces a different and more challenging enviroment than the one encountered by the iPhone 4 or even 4S.
T-Mobile Launches Campaign to Lure iPhone Users
T-Mobile USA, the only "Big 4" phone company that doesn't sell the iPhone, now wants to snag used ones from AT&T.
Starting Wednesday, when Apple is expected to reveal a new iPhone model, T-Mobile will start advertising that AT&T iPhone owners who are out of contract can switch to T-Mobile.
"We expect that consumers will start trading in older devices," said Harry Thomas, T-Mobile's director of marketing. "For every person waiting in line for the next model, a lot of them have to find a secondary market for that older device."
Apple Inc. hasn't said anything about a new iPhone, but it is expected to announce the iPhone 5 at an event it has scheduled in San Francisco on Wednesday. Sales would likely start later this month.
Signing an iPhone up for T-Mobile service has been possible for years, and the company says it has more than a million iPhones on its network. But they suffer a big penalty in data speeds, taking about 50 times longer to download files than on AT&T Inc.'s network.
This year, T-Mobile is reshuffling the frequencies on its network, which will let it match or even exceed AT&T's data speeds on iPhones. For now, that will be evident only in a few spots here and there in such cities as New York, Seattle, Las Vegas and Washington.
Sprint and Verizon iPhones of the "4'' model won't work on T-Mobile's network at all. The later iPhone 4S will work if it's been hacked, but that's not something T-Mobile wants to get into.
AT&T iPhones have to be unlocked using codes that AT&T will supply after the customer's contract is up.
T-Mobile, the U.S. cellphone business of Deutsche Telekom AG of Germany, has bought 3,000 iPhones and spread them out in its stores, so salespeople can demonstrate the iPhone working.
T-Mobile's pitch will center on its unlimited data plan, which it reintroduced last week. AT&T stopped signing up new customers to unlimited plans two years ago, and now slows down service drastically for the rest of the billing cycle once those still on old unlimited plans reach a certain level of data usage.
In Atlanta and New York, T-Mobile will be giving away $100 gift cards to customers who sign their iPhones up for two-year contracts.
Starting Wednesday, when Apple is expected to reveal a new iPhone model, T-Mobile will start advertising that AT&T iPhone owners who are out of contract can switch to T-Mobile.
"We expect that consumers will start trading in older devices," said Harry Thomas, T-Mobile's director of marketing. "For every person waiting in line for the next model, a lot of them have to find a secondary market for that older device."
Apple Inc. hasn't said anything about a new iPhone, but it is expected to announce the iPhone 5 at an event it has scheduled in San Francisco on Wednesday. Sales would likely start later this month.
Signing an iPhone up for T-Mobile service has been possible for years, and the company says it has more than a million iPhones on its network. But they suffer a big penalty in data speeds, taking about 50 times longer to download files than on AT&T Inc.'s network.
This year, T-Mobile is reshuffling the frequencies on its network, which will let it match or even exceed AT&T's data speeds on iPhones. For now, that will be evident only in a few spots here and there in such cities as New York, Seattle, Las Vegas and Washington.
Sprint and Verizon iPhones of the "4'' model won't work on T-Mobile's network at all. The later iPhone 4S will work if it's been hacked, but that's not something T-Mobile wants to get into.
AT&T iPhones have to be unlocked using codes that AT&T will supply after the customer's contract is up.
T-Mobile, the U.S. cellphone business of Deutsche Telekom AG of Germany, has bought 3,000 iPhones and spread them out in its stores, so salespeople can demonstrate the iPhone working.
T-Mobile's pitch will center on its unlimited data plan, which it reintroduced last week. AT&T stopped signing up new customers to unlimited plans two years ago, and now slows down service drastically for the rest of the billing cycle once those still on old unlimited plans reach a certain level of data usage.
In Atlanta and New York, T-Mobile will be giving away $100 gift cards to customers who sign their iPhones up for two-year contracts.
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