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Can Apple Survive 2013?
comScore Reports Apple Tops With U.S. Smartphone Subscriber Audience That Surpassed 140 Million in May
BlackBerry Share Prices Nosedive After Sales Fall Short Of Projections
Battery Doc 1.0 for iOS Shows Load Cycle, Capacity and More in Real Time
Titob 2.0 for iOS Released - Free Social Commerce Search App
Pocket Whip Wild West 1.0 for iOS: App with 5 Million Users Now a Game
Can Apple Survive 2013?
My first reaction to the title of this Appleinsider editorial by Daniel Eran Dilger was "Seriously?", but it's actually an excellent, thoughtful essay.
Dilger rhetorically muses that given the recent implosions of BlackBerry, Palm, Nokia, Microsoft, can we safely assume that Apple is next and will likely fail before the year is out, simply because, well Android?
Of course, you might be thinking, he says: "but Apple earns three quarters of the mobile industry's profits and an even greater majority of the world's mobile app revenues. It has a successful desktop platform, millions of loyal customers who rank it far higher in satisfaction than Android, and it has a coherent strategy"
That was certainly your editor's initial thought.
However Dilger observes that Android doesn't have to profit in order to to be wildly successful, and as a loose ideology, it can be both the state of the art in mobile technology (Android 4.3 with NFC!) and, at the same time, the outdated and buggy version the majority of users are actually stuck with.
He suggests that Android is like an omniscient deity that gets credit for everything positive that ever happens without also getting blamed for all of the ugly cruelty and suffering in the world, while Apple is more like the scientist who cures cancer, only to hear complaints of "why didn't you do that last year?" and "so you're not going to cure my obesity? What a jerk!"
An example cited is the chorus of boos that greeted the rollout of Apple Maps with iOS 6 last year, noting that equivalent scorn hasn't been applied to Google Maps and Earth, which continue to portray Hoover Dam in false perspective and with a collapsed bridge a year after Apple was assailed for its own flawed rendering.
Meanwhile, Dilger says, Android "is being swallowed by mediocrity so rapidly that it today looks more like an 8 year old Windows XP in 2009 than Windows XP actually looked in 2009," -- particularly remarkable given that Android is really only 4 years old, partly due to even Samsung, leader of Android licensees, not producing mostly modern smartphones, and in contrast to the iPhone, whose installed base since 2010 overwhelmingly runs modern iOS 6 software on modern A4-class hardware with features like a Retina Display and 6-axis motion sensors, Android is fractured not only in software but also in hardware capabilities.
And how is it, Dilger asks, that Google's spectacular history of failure in Android tablets remains so quiet? He suggests that Android is actually copying Apple's miserable history of the Mac System Software from the mid 1990s, mostly just rolling in features invented by hobbyist users, with no apparent strategy (outside of NFC, which is failing without iOS support) and no effort to advance the platform by inventing anything spectacularly new, with Google wasting its resources on a 7-inch tablet that users aren't buying in sustainable volumes because it has no specific function and what it does do is sort of half-baked and has rough edges.
In the end, Dilger observes that the promise of freedom and choice in open platforms like Android usually boils down to a monoculture where there is no choice, or just silly choices like Samsung's PC that runs Windows 8 paired with a tablet-like screen that runs Android, and that while Google and Samsung have respectively done a good job at finding cool new technologies, neither has done a very good job of applying them in useful ways, and a lot of the tech media hasn't figured this out, preferring to instead be enamored with the WinTel era specifications-centric model focused on CPU GHz and GB of memory installed, a paradigm that is collapsing, since these days it's not about how fast you can run Office, but how long your battery can run while doing lots of useful things that are fun.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://goo.gl/Xbz6w
comScore Reports Apple Tops With U.S. Smartphone Subscriber Audience That Surpassed 140 Million in May
comScore, Inc. has released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. smartphone industry during the three month average period ending May 2013. Apple ranked as the top smartphone manufacturer with 39 percent OEM market share, while Google Android led as the #1 smartphone platform with 52 percent platform market share.
Smartphone OEM Market Share
141 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (59 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in May, up 6 percent since February. Apple ranked as the top OEM with 39.2 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers (up 0.3 percentage points from February). Samsung ranked second with 23 percent market share (up 1.7 percentage points), followed by HTC with 8.7 percent, Motorola with 7.8 percent and LG with 6.7 percent.
Smartphone Platform Market Share
Android ranked as the top smartphone platform in May with 52.4 percent market share (up 0.7 percentage points from February). Apple ranked second with 39.2 percent market share (up 0.3 percentage points), followed by BlackBerry with 4.8 percent, Microsoft with 3 percent and Symbian with 0.4 percent.
MobiLens data is derived from an intelligent online survey of a nationally representative sample of mobile subscribers age 13 and older. Data on mobile phone usage refers to a respondents primary mobile phone and does not include data related to a respondents secondary device.
For more information, visit:
http://www.comscore.com/
BlackBerry Share Prices Nosedive After Sales Fall Short Of Projections
CTVNews.ca reports that shares of BlackBerry plunged more than 26 percent after the company delivered its first-quarter results Friday morning, reporting that sales of its new Z10 touchscreen smartphone coming in at almost a million short of the $3.6 million analysts has expected. BlackBerry also announced it's scrapped plans to support its PlayBook tablet with the new BlackBerry 10 operating system.
For the full report visit here:
http://goo.gl/NAAE4
Battery Doc 1.0 for iOS Shows Load Cycle, Capacity and More in Real Time
Power App AG have announced the introduction of Version 1.0 of Battery Doc, their app for iOS that provides the user with detailed information and data about the battery state and health. The Battery is the one part in any portable device that all depends on, therefore it is important to gather as much information about it as possible. Only with the necessary information it is possible to take care about the battery in a proper way, to keep it healthy and prolong it's life.
Battery Doc is unique since it does does more than giving the user some nicely wrapped basic information about the battery, it comes with advanced and detailed information found in no other app in the App Store, like remaining capacity and load cycles. Informations like that allow the app to remind the user about the best time to start charging the battery.
Battery Doc also is tracking the processes that drain the battery, allowing to shut off processes that drain the battery most. Log Files allow the user to check when has happened what to the battery, information that allows additional tweaking and managing of all the processes that run in the device.
Besides monitoring and informing about battery state, Battery Doc comes with intelligent algorithms that help maintaining the batteries life and finding the best way to treat the battery.
Not to forget are all the basic informations about batteries in general that come as a part of this app, and the nice wrapping that has not been forgotten allowing the user to choose between 112 different themes or create own themes.
Feature Highlights:
(*) Battery status: Immediate access to the most relevant data of your battery
(*) Intelligent Algorithms: Controlled load cycles help improving batteries health
(*) Notifications: Reminders for optimal state to start charging, also via e-mail
(*) Monitoring: Be informed which process drains your battery most
(*) Individual Themes: Choose individual background pictures and themes, create your own themes
(*) Logs: (*)Check what has happened when with your battery
Device Requirements:
(*) iPhone, iPod and iPad
(*) Requires iOS 5.0 or later
(*) This app is optimized for iPhone 5
(*) 22.9 MB
Battery Doc - Professional Battery Care and Booster 1.0 is $0.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available on the App Store, in the Productivity category.
Battery Doc - Professional Battery Care and Booster 1.0:
http://goo.gl/f1c7W
Purchase and Download:
http://goo.gl/2sBtx
Facebook Profile:
http://www.facebook.com/Powerphoneapps
Twitter Profile:
http://twitter.com/powerappgmbh
Trackback URL:
http://goo.gl/wBbt7
Titob 2.0 for iOS Released - Free Social Commerce Search App
Titob has announced Titob 2.0 for iOS, featuring Search, Keyword Ad, and Social Commerce. There is no need to have a sales event using social commerce and expensive keyword advertisements. While there is a hot debate going on regarding recent E-business revenue model, intriguing business has been a center of focus: Titob. Titob eliminates all sales commissions from social commerce and keyword advertising expenses.
Titob will not charge any sales commission from social commerce and keyword advertising expenses, which are one of the biggest part of the margin in E-business, so maintain that it would be exciting to see what change it would bring in other Internet based companies. The notable point is whether E-business with a revenue model of sales commissions from social commerce and keyword advertising expenses can maintain the current revenue model.
What is the difference between Titob and other companies?
(*) Titob doesn't send spam mails
(*) Titob doesn't ask your personal information when you make your account
(*) You only need to have your name and email
(*) No need for advertisement
(*) Whether you are an individual or a company, it is free - which explains why you won't be asked for your account number
Supported Languages:
(*) English, French, German, Japanese, Traditional. Simplified Chinese and Spanish
Device Requirements:
(*) iPhone 3GS/4/4S/5, iPod touch (3rd/4th/5th generation), and iPad
(*) Requires iOS 6.0 or later
(*) 4.0 MB
Titob 2.0 is free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Business category.
Titob 2.0:
http://titobcom.blogspot.com/
Download from iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/app/titob/id606134710
Trackback URL:
http://goo.gl/x69WQ
Pocket Whip Wild West 1.0 for iOS: App with 5 Million Users Now a Game
Knick Knack Media has introduced Pocket Whip Wild West 1.0 for iOS, an updated version, now a challenging game, of the original Pocket Whip app that scored 5 million downloads worldwide. Made famous by its starring role in season 5, episode 19 of the The Big Bang Theory TV Show, the original app allowed users to snap their iPhone like a whip to produce a convincing whiplash sound. The updated app includes this capability, but adds a skill-based game where players must swipe or snap their whip to destroy oncoming objects. The original Pocket Whip spent weeks as the number one app in the Entertainment category on the U.S. App Store.
Feature Highlights:
(*) Use your whip to smash oncoming, flying objects before they crack your screen
(*) Highly responsive, animated whip that allows skilled gamers to obliterate targets with incredible speed and accuracy
(*) Defend yourself from trigger-happy outlaws in a Wild West saloon
(*) Score direct hits and unleash the awesome destructive power of your bullwhip
(*) Test your accuracy and reaction time in this fast-paced, first-person whipper
(*) Power Mode - activated after 3 consecutive direct hits for extra whipping power
(*) Shake Whip - allows users to shake or snap their iDevice to unleash a sonic boom that destroys all objects
(*) Interactive tutorial
Outlaws have taken over the local saloon, and in the ensuing mayhem players can test their skill with the bullwhip, as bullets, whiskey bottles, barstools, tables, and chairs come flying toward them. The goal of the game is to demolish oncoming objects before they reach the inside of the screen, creating a virtual crack that reduces life.
Gameplay involves players swiping their finger from bottom to top of the screen in portrait orientation. The swipe determines both the direction and the length of the whiplash. The more accurately the whip hits a moving target, the more points the player scores. When hit, objects explode into pieces, and the resulting score appears in the object's place onscreen. A direct hit, dead center, earns bonus points. Throughout the game, authentic sounds of the whip cracking add to the action.
Scoring three consecutive direct hits activates Power Mode, where the players' whip destroys everything, no matter where they strike, and points are multiplied by the number of objects destroyed simultaneously. The pace of gameplay can become frenetic in Power Mode, as the number of objects spawned and hurtling toward the player increases to its fastest rate.
Hitting a power-up object gives players three shake/snap whips, where they strike by snapping their iDevice in a whip-cracking motion. The whip will destroy everything on the screen and multiply the score by the number of objects that are destroyed simultaneously. Other power-ups add a life when hit.
"On March 8, 2012, the highly-rated TV series, The Big Bang Theory, aired episode 19 "The Weekend Vortex," where the characters punctuated their dialogue with awesome whip cracks, which they created using their iPhones and the Pocket Whip app," says Mason Davis of Knick Knack Media. "On March 9 the app went from 936 to number 1 in the Entertainment category of the U.S. App Store, and it stayed there for 2 weeks. Now, Pocket Whip Wild West is ready to create another outbreak of Pocket Whip fever, with an authentic animated whip, chilling whip crack sounds, and a great new game."
Device Requirements:
(*) iPhone 3GS/4/4S/5, iPod touch (3rd/4th/5th generation), and iPad
(*) Requires iOS 4.3 or later
(*) Universal app optimized for display on all iOS devices
(*) 13.0 MB
Pocket Whip Wild West 1.0 is $0.99 (USD) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category. Review copies are available on request.
Pocket Whip Wild West 1.0 :
http://goo.gl/MDlzu
Purchase and Download :
http://goo.gl/OHFwj
Pocket Whip 2.2.1:
https://itunes.apple.com/app/pocket-whip/id319927587
YouTube Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4Kejdj-A34
Trackback URL:
http://goo.gl/dCyNb
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