» Numbers game
Lex Friedman on the Yankee Group’s assertion that Apple’s sales will eclipse sales of Android devices by 2015:
So Yankee Group is seemingly predicting precisely how the smartphone market will look going forward, unless anyone makes a new and compelling phone or offer.
I think the Yankee Group makes a good point about how Apple’s higher loyalty numbers work in its favor. But the idea that anyone knows what the smartphone market will look like in two years…
» Apple versus Microsoft
Ed Bott compares and contrasts Apple and Microsoft, finding more similarities than you might think. Or you might find. There’s a lot here I don’t agree with, but it’s definitely one of the better critiques of Apple’s problems that you might read.
Where I believe his analysis is flawed is here:
Is there another breakthrough hardware product in Apple’s back pocket? It’s hard to believe that a smart watch or a TV has the potential to define a category as the iPhone and iPad did.
I’ll have a piece over at Macworld about this topic next week, but this has for the last decade plus been where Apple’s critics trip up.
“iPod? No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.”
“Certainly Apple has nothing to bring to the table in the highly mature smartphone market.”
“The iPad is just an oversized iPhone!”
Etc.
Just because you can’t think of a way these products could be amazing doesn’t mean that Apple can’t think of a way to make them amazing.
Tim Cook has set the timeline. In the next year and a half we should see if Apple can pull another rabbit out of its hat. I see no real reason to doubt they can do it again, particularly given where that’s gotten doubters in the past.
» Instapaper acquired by Betaworks
Marco presumably retiring to spend more time with his coffee.
Family. I meant family.
Anyway, sounds like a good fit. Congratulations to both parties.
How do you solve a problem like WWDC?
As the greatest challenge for WWDC is in scaling to meet demand, I think it’s obvious that the rethought WWDC should be considered in terms of digital solutions. Call it WWDC if you like, but it needs to take place 365 days a year instead of 4. It needs to serve 300,000 developers, not 5,000. And it needs to take place online, not within the cramped confines of a small convention center in San Francisco.
Join us for AltWWDC – a free and open alternative to Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference – June 10th-14th, 2013. Five days of talks, food, co-working, and mingling with other developers all without the bar noise.
I only attend WWDC for the social aspect (and the liver abuse) so tickets are not a problem and, likewise, a digital WWDC does me no good. But whether the solution is Apple rethinking the problem or the community rethinking the problem, one thing is clear: the current system is broken if you hope to be a conference attendee.
» ‘Because love is blind. But it’s not deaf’
That’s the motto of Fake Shower, an app designed to cover the sound of you doing your filthy business by making the sound of water running. As Federico Viticci notes in his review, the app is educational, designed to teach people about water usage.
If you’re not concerned about education — just shame — you can download Eco-Oto, a 99 cent app that makes the sound of a toilet flushing. This also has its roots in conservation too, as keychain devices that make this noise (some made by the same company that makes the Eco-Oto app) came into popularity in Japan because people were flushing the toilet over and over to cover the sound of them being human beings. Filthy, disgusting human beings.
Personally, I just need an app to cover the sound of my 9-year-old using his fart app.
» The most reliable Windows PC is a Mac
Ed Bott:
That’s the conclusion of a new report released today by Soluto, which crunched the data from its cloud-based PC monitoring and management software to come up with a list of the 10 most reliable portable PCs you can buy today.
I asked this question the other day on Twitter: what’s the go-to quality brand PC? The answer most people gave was either Lenovo or the Mac. Lenovo is number 10 on Soluto’s list.
I understand why a market has lots of low-cost alternatives. What I don’t understand is why it doesn’t have many quality ones. Or, in the case of Android, the quality ones can’t make a business out of selling their stuff.
» ‘Samsung Galaxy S4 fails to trump HTC One’
Electronista:
The general tone across the board seems to be that the new Samsung flagship device is a nice step-up from its predecessor, the Galaxy S III, consumers will be forced to choose between the extra features the S4 provides with the design of the similar-in-specification HTC One.
It does seem that the HTC One is the best-made Android phone. If their penchant for quality doesn’t grant them any benefits, I’m not sure that says much for the Android market.
Don’t change that dial!
On the conference call, Tim Cook just indicated that Apple would have new products (presumably he means new product categories) in the fall and “all across 2014”.
That will not, of course, stop people from writing articles saying that Apple is done innovating. But as I’ve said before, you can believe the company was done and all they’d ever sell again is what they’re selling now, or you can believe that we are in a natural lull between product announcements just like lulls we’ve seen before.
The “Only Steve Jobs could innovate” theory is the easier answer, hence its appeal.
» Revenue up, profit down, iPads flying off the shelves
Remember that rumor about soft iPad mini sales? iPads were down 11 percent… from a record quarter for the second best quarter ever.
Apple beat the EPS consensus by $0.02.