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Will a Low-Cost Apple iPhone Hurt More Than Help?
The Low Cost iPhone: Apple Plays Offense And Defense
Half Of Top iPad Apps Either Unavailable Or Not Optimized On Android - Canalys
Your iPhone Uses More Energy Than A Refrigerator?
Editorial - Powerful New Text Editor For iPad
Price Drop for Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking App
Will a Low-Cost Apple iPhone Hurt More Than Help?
Wall Street Cheat Sheet's Emily Coyle says that with Gartner's latest smartphone market report on the minds of analysts and investors, two things are clear to all: smartphones are quickly taking over the mobile phone market and low-cost smartphones are the ones making it happen. The question is what does this mean for Apple and its chances of success with a low-cost iPhone?
BMs. Coyle notes that Barrons points out that while a more manageably-priced iPhone will undoubtedly draw new customers to Apple who would otherwise turn to rivaling companies, these low-cost offerings could also ultimately cannibalize sales of Apple's new iPhones which go for higher prices and thus higher profit margins.
For the full report visit here:
http://goo.gl/V5xzo7
The Low Cost iPhone: Apple Plays Offense And Defense
Forbes Contributor Mark Rogowsky notes that for the past several years, Apple has been extraordinarily successful selling very high-margin iPhones in substantial quantities. In return, it has rung up billions in profits. And yet as the company approaches another new spate of product launches, profit growth has turned negative, worldwide iPhone share is in decline and the company's market valuation implies a belief that its best days are long gone. None of this is in question. The issue, he says for Apple is what to do about it. It has some of the world's most loyal customers, extraordinary assets with which to grow its franchise and a cash reserve that is effectively unlimited. What it needs to do now is buy itself a future.
Rogowsky contends that whether you believe the company should be run for the benefit of the shareholders or you simply love Apple products and want to see the company thrive, you can't be pleased by that status quo. So perhaps its time for Apple to adopt one of its old slogans and start to Think Different. Applem is down to 14% market share in smartphones globally in the second quarter, according to Gartner, whose analyst Anshul Gupta thinks potential for cannibalization with a cheaper iPhone will be much greater than currently with the iPhone 4 as Apple's prive-leader handset. However, Rogowsky says a 14% global market share is what's risky, noting that BlackBerry's market share was 20% in 2010. Three years on it's below 5% now on its way to zero, and while the iPhone remains strong in the U.S. and a number of markets where high-end phones are subsidized by carriers, 14% is the kind of market slice that can disappear in a hurry, so while when Apple introduces the lower-priced iPhone next month, you'll hear naysayers critique Apple for joining the race to the bottom no matter how its priced, he advises ignoring them, maintaining that what you want to hear is the absolute lowest price possible because it quite honestly is a race for survival in the mobile-phone arena.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://goo.gl/aNEb93
Half Of Top iPad Apps Either Unavailable Or Not Optimized On Android - Canalys
New Canalys App Interrogator research highlights one of the deficiencies of the Android ecosystem: limited availability of high-quality, tablet-optimized apps in the Google Play store. Of the top 50 paid and free iPad apps in Apples US App Store, based on aggregated daily rankings in the first half of 2013, 30% were absent from Google Play. A further 18% were available, but not optimized for tablet users, offering no more than a smart phone app blown up to the size of a tablet screen.
"Just 52% of apps had Android versions both available through Google Play and optimized (if only a little) for tablet use. Quite simply, building high-quality app experiences for Android tablets has not been among many developers top priorities to date," says Canalys Senior Analyst Tim Shepherd. "That there are over 375,000 apps in the Apple App Store that are designed with iPad users in mind, versus just a fraction of this in the low tens of thousands available through Google Play, underscores this point."
Canalys expects this to change as the addressable base of devices continues to soar and Google brings improvements to the Play store, but points out that Google needs to do more to encourage greater numbers of developers to invest in delivering high-quality Android tablet apps quickly, else it risks disappointing consumers with weak app experiences in the short term.
"The 52% of top apps available through Google Play and optimized for tablets also includes six titles that appear as top paid titles on iOS, but are only available as free, ad-supported versions on Android. While nominally free, set against a paid version of the app, ad-supported offerings typically deliver a poorer and often more limited user experience, sometimes taking a considerable toll on device battery life and often subjecting users to unskippable videos or other unpopular intrusions," says Canalys Analyst Daniel Matte.
"It is important that Google wins consumers trust and encourages them to register credit cards and billing details, so that the barrier to them spending money on apps and other content - is reduced at the point of purchase. Improved consumer willingness to spend will increase developers monetization potential and options, and help to reduce their reliance on in-app ads, leading over time to an increase in app quality," Matte adds.
It will also make the Android tablet opportunity more enticing for developers and increase the revenue potential of the Play store and ecosystem for Google. To take the Play ecosystem to the next level, Google needs more than just a large addressable base of devices. App developers need to see clear potential to build robust and sustainable business models around apps built for the platform, so increasing monetization potential must be a priority, said Shepherd. And for tablet apps in particular, Google should go further with changes to the Play store to ensure more rigorously managed, high-quality, optimized experiences are highlighted, to the benefit of consumers, and to reward those developers who invest the time and resources in building them with improved discoverability.
The top 50 lists referenced in this release can be viewed here
http://www.canalys.com/download/tablet_apps.pdf
For more information, visit:
http://www.canalys.com/
Your iPhone Uses More Energy Than A Refrigerator?
The Week's Carmel Lobello http://www.tech-pundit.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Cloud_Begins_With_Coal.pdf?c761ac cites a 45-page paper - ominously titled "The Cloud Begins With Coal: Big Data, Big Networks, Big Infrastructure, and Big Power," (http://goo.gl/zhz86b) by Mark Mills, CEO of Digital Power Group, a tech investment advisory. The paper details how the world's Information Communication Technology (ITC) ecosystem is gobbling up a larger and larger slice of the world's energy pie. Mills contends that while a midsize refrigerator that qualifies for the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star rating uses about 322 kW-h a year, your iPhone uses about 361 kW-h if you factor in wireless connections, data usage, and battery charging.
Ms. Lobelo's report is here:
http://goo.gl/2kYm04
You can download Mark Mills's "The Cloud Begins With Coal: Big Data, Big Networks, Big Infrastructure, and Big Power" paper (PDF) here:
http://goo.gl/zhz86b
Editorial - Powerful New Text Editor For iPad
Editorial is a plain text editor for the iPad with powerful automation tools and a beautiful inline preview for writing Markdown.
You can combine a large selection of simple text processing actions into your very own workflows all in an intuitive drag'n'drop interface that makes it easy to see what's happening - even if things get complex.
And if that's not enough, you have a full-fledged Python interpreter at your fingertips, including modules for easily accessing the editor's text, the iOS clipboard, or even your photo library. Editorial is claimed to be the first fully-scriptable writing app on iOS.
Editorial is designed to make writing on the iPad efficient, and that applies not only to the advanced workflow system, but just as much to the actual editor. The extended Markdown keyboard gives you quick access to all the special characters you need and doubles as a gesture area for positioning the cursor. The one-tap outline lets you quickly jump between different sections of your document and check the current word count. You can track your progress by comparing different versions of your documents in Dropbox, or restore a part that you've deleted accidentally.
Features
Inline Markdown Preview
When you write in Markdown, you can see a basic preview of your markup right within the editor. You can always swipe left to see a full HTML preview.
If you prefer really plain text, you can of course turn this off.
Extensible with Workflows
Almost 50 configurable actions can be combined into powerful workflows for extending Editorial's feature set. And if that's not enough, you can write your own actions with Python.
Because many standard actions like Send Email are actually workflows in Editorial, you can easily tweak them to match your preferences.
Scriptable with Python
You can make use of a full Python interpreter in your workflows. Editorial comes with tons of modules for processing text, images, or even data from web APIs, and you also have scripting access to the editor itself from Python.
Scripts can be integrated in workflows, but there's also an interactive prompt and a scratchpad for quick one-off scripts.
Full Documentation
Editorial comes with a complete set of documentation for all the different workflow actions and Python modules.
It's fully integrated, so you can look up things directly from the workflow and Python editors.
Sync with Dropbox
In addition to storing documents on your iPad, you can sync them with your Dropbox account.Dropbox Version Browser
When you sync with Dropbox, you can access older versions of a document, and even compare them with a built-in diff viewer.
Smart Keyboard
The extended keyboard row was specifically designed for writing Markdown and includes all the special characters you need. It also allows you to position the cursor precisely with a swipe gesture.In-App Browser
If you want to do some quick research while writing, you don't have to leave the app for that. The in-app browser is even integrated with the workflow system, so that you can build workflows that use the current page in various ways.
Interactive Prompt for Python
If you're new to Python or want to try out something quickly, the interactive prompt is always available. Just enter a line of code and run it. It'll help you with powerful code completion and a history of your previous commands
Dark Theme
Working at night? You might want to try the dark theme it'll change the colors in the entire app, even in parts like the documentation or Python editor.
Editorial sells on the App Store for $4.99, and is compatible with all iPads running iOS 6
For more information, visit:
http://omz-software.com/editorial/
App Store:
https://itunes.apple.com/app/editorial/id673907758
Price Drop for Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking App
To commemorate the 101st birthday of Julia Child, one of America's greatest culinary icons, Alfred A. Knopf is reducing the price on the app of her beloved classic. From August 15 to 18, the Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Selected Recipes app will be priced at $1.99 (from $4.99) on the App Store and Nook Store.
Originally published more than fifty years ago, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child was a labor of love for Julia Child. It took her over a decade to write because she often tested recipes ten to fifteen times. Throughout the book's development, she had the home cook very much in mind, and with this app, those home cooks will learn exactly how to master those same techniques from Julia herself. The recipes for this app were culled by her longtime editor Judith Jones. "These recipes," Jones said, "provide home cooks with the basic tools they need to create a dish. Whether it is braising or roasting or flambeing, the recipes give a culinary framework in addition to providing a window into the book as a whole."
What's included:
(*) 32 recipes from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking"
(*) Color photographs of each finished dish
(*) 30 clips from her "The Way to Cook" videos
(*) Audio anecdotes from Julia Child's longtime editor
(*) French pronunciations for the names of dishes
(*) Facebook sharing
(*) Grocery lists
(*) Rare photographs of Julia Child
(*) Resource information (kitchen equipment, cutting tips, wines, stocks, definitions)
"Mastering the Art of French Cooking remains one of the seminal cookbooks of all time," said Tony Chirico, President of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. "Our goal was to make this standard work available to the growing generation of mobile and tablet readers. It's hard to improve on a classic, but with the updates we've added, readers will feel as if Julia is with them in the kitchen. And who could be better company?"
Julia Child was born in Pasadena, California on August 15, 1912. She was graduated from Smith College and worked for the OSS during World War II in Ceylon and China, where she met Paul Child. After they married, they lived in Paris, where she studied at the Cordon Bleu and taught cooking with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, with whom she wrote "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" (1961). In 1963, Boston's WGBH launched The French Chef television series, which made her a national celebrity, earning her the Peabody Award in 1965 and an Emmy in 1966. Several public television shows and numerous cookbooks followed. She died in 2004. This month, she would have celebrated her 101st birthday.
Device Requirements:
(*) Compatible with iPad
(*) Requires iOS 4.0 or later
(*) 385 MB
Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Selected Recipes 1.0 is $1.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Food & Drink category.
Random House Digital:
http://www.randomhousedigital.com/
Purchase and Download:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id526452217
Purchase on Nook Store:
http://goo.gl/HYy4dt
Facebook Profile:
https://www.facebook.com/RandomHouseDigital
Twitter Profile:
https://twitter.com/rh_digital/
Trackback URL:
http://goo.gl/L8797y
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