Saturday, May 7, 2011

GigaOMTheAppleBlog · Apple and iOS News, Tips and Reviews (5 сообщений)

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  • Gift Your Mom an App This Mother's Day

    Mothers are getting more and more tech savvy. With each new revision of Apple products, the human factor of tech gets more and more intuitive. So it’s more than a little likely that flowers, candy and a trip to the spa will soon be replaced by apps, digital media, and pre-paid online services. Accordingly, here are a few ideas on what sort of tech you can get for your mother this year.

    Send a Gift Directly From iTunes

    The great thing about gifting someone an app, album, TV show or movie is that it’s instant. So if you’re a last-minute shopper, this should be just what the doctor ordered. On the Mac version of iTunes, it couldn’t be easier.

    • Select either the app, album, TV show, audiobook or movie you want to gift
    • Click on the drop down arrow next to the price and select Gift This Item
    • Enter the recipient’s e-mail address

    As to which app is best for Mom, Apple has created a special Mother’s Day list of apps if you need some ideas. You can gift apps directly from the App Store on your iOS device.  If there’s a problem, log on to your iTunes account and review your purchase history. There you’ll see each of your gift purchases. You can enter each gift purchase and either report a problem or send it again.

    Gift Card for iBook, Electronic Gift Card for Kindle

    There’s also the traditional means of getting a gift card.  One option is to get an electronic version of the gift card and have it sent directly to the recipient’s inbox on the device to which the gift card will more than likely be applied.  Unfortunately, books aren’t currently able to be sent as gifts directly from within the iBooks store. You can at least ship an iTunes gift card directly from your iOS device using the official Apple Store app.

    • Search for “Gift Card” in the Apple Store app.
    • Choose the gift amount you want to give.
    • Tap the price button and click on the green Add to Cart button, then Checkout.
    • Before you place the order, be sure to edit the shipping address.

    Neither the iOS Apple Store, nor the online Apple Store has a way to email an iTunes gift card directly. Amazon, however, does. Amazon gift cards can be emailed directly to the recipient. Just search for “Gift Card” directly from the iOS Amazon App.  You can even send the gift card via Facebook.

    Pre-Pay for Online Services Like Netflix

    If bandwidth caps don’t drain us dry first, we’ll all be nickel-and-dimed to death by monthly recurring charges.  You can either ease your mother’s burden by paying for her current subscriptions, or add to her pain by introducing her to yet another online service.  Online services like Netflix are allowing gifts of a number of months between individuals. Three months of Netflix would be a great add-on gift if you’re considering giving an Apple TV this Mother’s Day.

    Any other ideas? What kinds of Apple-related gifts are you giving your mom this Mother’s Day?

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  • ARM-Based Macs: A Real Possibility?

    Could this be a WWDC Keynote sent from 2012?

    Tech blog SemiAccurate sped up a slow news Friday with a so-crazy-it-might-be-true rumor that Apple will be switching CPU architecture. Again. According to SemiAccurate “moles,” Apple is planning to transition its laptops to ARM architecture in “2-3 years,” and “presumably” desktops, too, though without a time frame. The plan is a “done deal” according to the site.

    This seems hard to believe. While it’s arguable the Apple A5, derived from the ARM Cortex-A9, can keep up with Intel’s Atom in a netbook, there’s simply no comparison between ARM chips and the Intel Core CPUs used in Mac laptops. Of course, in 2013 it wouldn’t be the A5 in a hypothetical ARM-based MacBook Air, but a CPU derived from the ARM Cortex-A15.  Based on a 32nm fabrication process, with up to 8 cores and clock speeds up to 2.5 GHz, as well features like virtualization and access to the 64-bit ARM instruction set, the A15 certainly packs enough keywords to qualify for a Keynote presentation on paper. Unfortunately, the most salient benefit of ARM architecture, power efficiency, will diminish as computing potential increases. Is the diminishing difference worth another major architectural transition for Apple, one that would undoubtedly require a vast amount of engineering effort?

    Even should the computing potential of the A15 be sufficient for mainstream use in 2013, software written for current x86 Macs would either have to be rewritten or run in some kind of emulation mode. It’s hard to imagine Rosetta 2 running x86 applications on ARM being the engineering miracle the original was when running PPC applications on Intel Macs. That would leave Mac users waiting months, possibly years, for ARM versions of applications like Office for Mac or Adobe Photoshop. Considering the incredible success Macs have enjoyed since transitioning from PPC to x86 architecture, this rumor seems ridiculous.

    And yet one can’t discount the possibility of ARM extending beyond mobile; certainly Microsoft isn’t. As much as Apple has grown in traditional computing over the last five years, x86 PCs running Microsoft Windows sell about 19 times as many computers in aggregate. That’s why Microsoft announcing Windows 8 will be available for ARM-based systems matters. If Microsoft sees value in the platform, then Apple, with its growing mobile focus, no doubt does as well.

    Also important, if true, is the rumor reported by EE Times that Intel is seeking to become a foundry for Apple fabricating ARM chips. One could argue that Intel doesn’t care what kind of chips it sells Apple, as long as they come from Intel.

    Regarding the problem of applications, while current Mac apps wouldn’t run on an ARM MacBook, it could open the library of apps that run on the iPhone and iPad. Imagine a touch-screen MacBook running Angry Birds. Considering iOS devices outsell Macs by a ratio of six to one and growing, there’s a good argument that iOS developers could quickly take up the app slack for ARM-based Macs. Apple is reportedly making the Mac App Store the “preferred” method of distribution for OS X software beginning with Lion, so that could give it greater control when it comes to handling a chip architecture transition with developers.

    Finally, there’s something to be said for Apple’s desire to control its own destiny. It banned Flash from iOS, for example. Rants about security and power management aside, Apple doesn’t want Adobe controlling any part of their mobile operating system. Considering Apple’s painful CPU history with Motorola (now Freescale) and IBM, and most recently the GPU spat between Intel and Nvidia impacting Macs, underestimating Apple’s corporate obsession with controlling the “whole widget” would be a mistake. A transition to Apple CPUs would give the company much more control over its own product, in the same way the A4 and A5 chips have done for its mobile devices.

    SemiAccurate has proven itself fairly reliable with similar reports in the past, including the prediction that Nvidia would eventually disappear from Mac computers, and that Light Peak would make its way to Apple products. TUAW points out the original story on SemiAccurate is tagged “humor,” but a quick look at how that tag is used in other stories doesn’t indicate that site isn’t serious about the claims made regarding Apple’s intended use of ARM. We contacted Apple for comment, but have yet to receive a response back.

    What do you think? Is this latest rumor crazy or conceivable?

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  • Apple and Google Execs to Testify Before Senate Hearing on Privacy

    The U.S. Senate has posted a notice for an upcoming Judiciary Committee meeting on mobile privacy, to be held May 10 at 10:00 a.m. EDT in Washington, D.C., and Apple VP of Software Technology Bud Tribble is among those providing testimony at the session.

    Legislators put together the hearing, named “Protecting Mobile Privacy: Your Smartphones, Tablets, Cell Phones and Your Privacy,” in response to consumer concerns over the use of data shared via their mobile devices. Apple garnered the most recent attention surrounding the issue when researchers publicized the fact that Apple’s iOS devices were keeping a record of users’ general locations.

    Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) issued a public letter calling for answers regarding the company’s privacy practices surrounding location services, and Apple issued an official response shortly thereafter answering said questions. The Mac-maker also noted that it looked forward to the opportunity to clarify these issues by testifying before lawmakers. Apple then released an update earlier this week that makes location information stored on devices more secure, and also changes the cache size so that less data is stored.

    Like Apple, Google also makes use of anonymized location data transmitted from Android devices, the company revealed after Apple’s location storage practices came to light. Google will also testify before the Senate committee, via Google Public Policy Director Alan Davidson.

    Also in attendance will be Sen. Franken, who will preside over the hearing, as well as Jessica Rich, deputy director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection; and Jason Weinstein, deputy assistant attorney general of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Dept. of Justice, who will act as the hearing’s first panel. Apple and Google will be on the second panel, along with Justin Brookman, director of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Project on Consumer Privacy; Ashkan Soltani, an independent consultant; and Jonathan Zuck, president of the Association for Competitive Technology.

    Apple’s representative Bud Tribble has been with Apple since near the very beginning, having helped design the Mac OS and user interface. He left Apple with Jobs and worked at NeXT as VP of Software Development, and returned to Apple in 2002 after spending some time at Sun Microsystems and Eazel. He is arguably the Apple employee with the most history with Jobs.

    As is often the case, technology ran ahead of regulation and clearly defined limits when it comes to location services and other mobile private data concerns. This hearing could be the first step in the creation of regulations or legislation that specifically address those concerns. Apple, Google and others in the industry will be keen to participate in the process in order to attempt to allay lawmaker concerns and keep the space as self-regulated as possible.

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  • Apple Execs Tell Analyst the Company Is Software-Driven

    Apple executives told Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty that Apple “generally views product cycles as software driven,” according to AppleInsider. Huberty met with Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer, SVP of Retail Ron Johnson and VP of Internet Services Eddy Cue Wednesday to discuss the company’s future outlook.

    Huberty came away from the meeting expecting that we will see “major feature/function updates” at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) in June, according to her note to investors. WWDC is usually where Apple unveils new iPhone models each year, but rumors have been circulating that this year the conference will only focus on software updates, which will likely include iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion.

    Apple did not confirm or deny whether or not a hardware iPhone refresh was on track for summer or later this year, but Huberty reports that since Apple sees itself as focused on software, iOS 5 and Lion are expected to continue to drive strong sales. She also reports that executives conveyed the message that other factors will continue to support strong margins, like improved product cost and higher average selling prices for iPads. Huberty also left the meeting feeling that Apple’s earnings per share could climb as high as $50 in 2013, thanks to “lower-priced iPhones, iPod-like market share in tablets, and expanding distribution in China and other emerging markets.”

    The Apple execs really seem to have gone out of their way to take the emphasis off the possibility of new hardware and place expectations firmly on the shoulders of software. That could be a sign the company is trying to further soften the blow of a fall or later iPhone hardware refresh, while also sticking to its policy of not revealing product release plans in advance.

    A dramatically altered iOS 5 could indeed steal the show at WWDC and even stave off concerns regarding a changed hardware refresh cycle, but only if it addresses customer pain points with Apple’s mobile OS. If it’s a strong-enough release that’s available to all devices that support iOS 4, it could actually bolster customer loyalty by providing new device-style experience without the price tag. But that’s a pretty big “if,” so we’ll see if Apple can deliver.

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  • Apple Moves to Number Two As Worldwide Smartphone Market Grows

    Apple moved into second place in worldwide smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2011, according to market research firm IDC. Apple is led only by Nokia, and is followed by Research In Motion, Samsung and HTC, which round out the top five.

    Apple’s shipments grew 114 percent from the previous year, jumping from 8.7 million to 18.7 million handsets, and achieved a new record shipment volume during this past quarter. It now trails world industry leader Nokia by only 5.5 million shipped units. Research In Motion shipped 13.9 million BlackBerry devices during the quarter, while Samsung and HTC had 10.8 and 8.9 million shipments, based largely on the strength of their Android devices.

    IDC attributes Apple’s terrific quarter to its triple-digit growth in the U.S. and China, and cites the CDMA-enabled iPhone as key to that growth. The company also signed on South Korean Telecom and Saudi Telecom during the quarter, both of which provided access to large pools of potential new iPhone buyers.

    Overall, the entire smartphone market saw 79.7 percent growth year over year according to IDC, and even Nokia and RIM, both of which lost share as measured by percentage, actually saw total shipments rise. Apple was a strong contributor to the overall rise, but HTC and Samsung both made much more impressive advances as measured by percentage increase in shipments. Samsung, thanks to its strong Galaxy line of smartphones, saw a 350-percent increase in handsets shipped between 2010 and 2011, while HTC saw 229 percent growth. Both handset makers embraced Android early and are reaping the benefits over those who came late to the Android party.

    Apple’s growth may not match that of Android handset makers in terms of percentage, but considering Apple’s existing reach, that would be hard to do. The growth it’s experiencing is still impressive, considering its 20-percent market share, but it still needs to start thinking about better ways to reach more potential subscribers. Signing on new carriers thanks to CDMA (and possibly world-phone versions) of its devices will help, but if, as Apple itself has suggested, it’s planning low-cost versions of its top-selling iPhone, that’s the surest way to guarantee growth continues to stay positive and even rise.

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    The cloud-optimized networks of tomorrow run on Brocade Ethernet fabrics today. Assess Your Cloud Readiness. Download Forrester Study »


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