Electronista:

The latest quarterly study by business-oriented mobile services company Good Technology continues its general conclusions over the past four years — that iPhone and iPad dominate the enterprise and business mobile tech arena. In the latest report, the iPhone is down slightly but still holds a majority share, while the iPad continues to grow as Android tablets continue to fade from businesses.

This was for the January-March quarter. Office, of course, came to the iPad at the very end of March. Somehow the iPad has managed to barely scrape by to be the dominant tablet in businesses without Office. Maybe now it’ll finally take off to… I don’t know. Double secret dominance?

Bloomberg claims that Microsoft will be shipping a new Windows RT device:

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is planning to introduce a new, smaller version of its Surface that will use Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) processors for the first time, according to people with knowledge of the companies’ plans, a move that ends Nvidia (NVDA) Corp.’s run as a chip supplier to the tablet.

Microsoft will unveil the new device at an event in New York on May 20, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public.

Maybe there will be a rebranding? Because I don’t think the confusion between Windows and Windows RT — and, by the way, what the heck is Windows RT even for? — has gotten much better.

(Via The Verge)

John Gruber tells the story of getting a lesson on Katie Cotton, Apple’s Vice President of worldwide communications, who announced her retirement today.

I’ve never interacted with Cotton (I did get a call from Apple legal once), but I know it’s a game to spot her in any photo of Steve Jobs or Tim Cook at an Apple event. She’s almost always in the picture somewhere.

The Times of India reports that the iPhone 4 is no longer available in India and has also been pulled out of China and Brazil. A quick look at the online Apple Stores for China and Brazil seems to confirm that.

I have to think that iOS 8 won’t run on the iPhone 4 — iOS 7 already struggles on that device — so Apple doesn’t want to be selling a phone that doesn’t run its latest operating system when it’s released.

This part isn’t correct, however:

Apple had decided to resume production of iPhone 4 to compete harder in markets such as India, Brazil and China.

Apple continued to sell the iPhone 4 at least in China after the introduction of the 5s and 5c.

Ars Technica:

Commercial antivirus pioneer Symantec has finally admitted publicly what critics have been saying for years: the growing inability of the scanning software to detect the majority of malware attacks makes it “dead” and “doomed to failure,” according to a published report.

Noted for the next time we’re told how horrible it is that Apple won’t allow antivirus programs on iOS.

Writing for Buzzfeed, Chris Stokel-Walker looked at how having just two guys solely responsible for coding OpenSSL led to Heartbleed.

“You and I can look at that code all day long and we’re not going to find the Heartbleed flaw,” says Sophos Security’s Wisniewski. “These teams are very small and barely funded.”

There are lots of people looking at the code — many of them malicious — but only two guys who can change it. And they’re under constant pressure to add new features, which introduces new bugs.

(Via The Verge)

The Verge’s Josh Lowensohn:

After three full days of deliberations, a jury in San Jose, California found that Samsung had infringed upon two Apple patents, and that it owed the Cupertino company $119,625,000 in damages. But it also found that Apple had infringed on one of Samsung’s two patents, and owed $158,400 as a result.

It’s a win for Apple but a tepid one.

Writing for Forbes, Bruce Dorminey interviews my brother about his new book, Crowded Orbits: Conflict and Cooperation in Space. It’s a look at the real-world military and political issues behind the premise of the movie Gravity. In the interview he discusses a Nazi plan to send a rocket plane to attack the U.S., which is the premise of Captain America.

Mr. Bigshot PhD probably isn’t even aware of that particular connection. So, who’s the dumb one now?

I know, it’s still me.

Techworld’s John E. Dunn:

Organisations are wasting money licensing Microsoft Office applications that the majority of employees barely use, a study released this week by application analytics startup SoftWatch has found.

…

The firm carried out a 3-month analysis of Office suite use in 51 global firms representing 148,500 employees, revealing that seven out of ten employees weren’t using any single application heavily, launching them only for viewing or light editing.

I doubt we’ll ever agree on the relative importance of Office today, but there’s another data point. Whatever. I’m tired of arguing with you people.

Not really.

(Via Ben Bajarin)

Dwight Silverman noticed an Apple job opening:

Apple is hiring a Buzz Marketing Manager to do product placement & get celebs to use its products.

Hopefully “Head of Creative, Bono” is not next.

(Via Electronista)