iPhone 5 shares its thoughts about its September 12 debut

After its greatly anticipated unveiling, and the endless tapping, stroking, pinching and praising at the event, the iPhone 5 retired for the night to its private suite.

Jony Ive stopped by to say he was very pleased with its performance on stage, and ordered iPhone 5 to get some sleep. Tim Cook plugged iPhone 5 in for a power refresh with its new Lightning connector and fondly wiped its screen of the smudges from too much handling during the auspicious event.

As the room gradually emptied, iPhone 5 thought about Steve Jobs, and how he was missed. The unveiling just wasn't the same without him. The drama and prestidigitation he brought to the stage were absent. Tim is a great guy and really knows how to run the company, but he can't sell ice to Eskimos. Then again, demand for iPhone 5 is off the charts.

If the iPhone 5 were to reflect on what had been an extraordinary, and exhausting, day, it might offer the following thoughts:

"They seemed to like me, but I was disappointed that the crowd wasn't cheering more enthusiastically. I know there were few surprises -- we don't keep secrets as well anymore --- but I felt the overall reaction was a bit muted.

"I'm taller, slimmer, lighter, faster and no more expensive than my predecessor. What's not to love? I am a far better iPhone than the 4S, and the level of precision engineering, quality and fit and finish are unmatched in the industry. Every iPhone owner and even those on the fence will want me, and if not they are dumb, or even worse, ignorant.

"I hear the complaints. I admit, they bother me. I should be wider. I should have an even taller screen than 4-inches. But those people just don't get it. Unlike my longer and wider competitors, I can still be operated with one hand, and I am even lighter and thinner. I weigh only 3.95 ounces. Compare that to the 4.7-ounce Samsung Galaxy SIII or the 6.5-ounce Lumia 920. And, I wasn't designed by a bunch of copycat cloners, who think bigger is better.

"OK, I don't have NFC like many competitors, but I don't need it now. Phil Schiller says that iOS6 Passbook is good enough for me. I do feel bad that my battery life isn't much improved, but what can I do about it? Bottom line, every pixel, byte of code, and piece of brushed aluminum in me is as close to perfection as you can get. As Jony said, 'It took all of our learning, our best thinking, to realize something so simple, so clear and yet so truly extraordinary.'

"Yet, at the same time I don't feel that extraordinary, more evolutionary. Maybe I am an extraordinary evolution. Tim said, 'Only Apple could create such amazing software, hardware, and services and put them together into such a powerful, integrated solution.' I don't want to be a 'powerful, integrated solution.' I prefer to be 'cool,' as Steve used to say.

"I appreciate all the legal efforts to eradicate the copycats and protect my unique features, but some days I do get a bit depressed. While I am close to perfection, I realize that the competition has gotten a lot better and we are overreaching with lawsuits. I know I will be the most popular smartphone by far this holiday season. The company will reap huge financial rewards and I will go down in history as the best selling phone of all time. I just worry that my successor, iPhone 6, may not have it so easy."

A restless, but proud iPhone 5 finally drifts off to sleep, as Jony requested. Overall, iPhone 5 appears to be confident, but is also feeling the pressure. Not just Apple, but the U.S. economy is depending on it to succeed. It could end up adding half a percentage point to the country's gross domestic product growth.

In the meantime, tens of millions of people are counting down to the Sept. 21 delivery date.

source: news.cnet.com

US braces for holiday clash of tech giants

WASHINGTON – It’s beginning to look a lot like a big season in the United States for mobile gadgets.

A major event is the still-rumored launch by Apple in September of a new iPhone, expected to ignite fresh growth in the smartphone market in the US and worldwide.

Apple is also widely expected to unveil a new tablet computer that will be a smaller version of the hot-selling iPad.

But other big tech firms are not sitting idle.

Microsoft is launching its new Surface tablet in late October, and will be pushing hard to sell Windows-powered smartphones. Google has already launched its own branded tablet and smartphone selling alongside other devices powered by its Android system from makers including Samsung.

And many analysts expect Amazon to unveil at least one updated model of its Kindle Fire tablet computer at a news conference September 6.

“This season is going to be exciting,” said Rob Enderle, a technology analyst and consultant with the Enderle Group.

“This is the first time Apple has faced competition on a number of critical fronts. And it’s the first time competition is coming from Google directly.”

Enderle said he expects Microsoft to spend $1 billion on marketing for its new devices and its Windows 8 platform.

“So the conflict in the fourth quarter is going to be legendary,” Enderle said.

“And it’s an election year, so we are going to be awash in ads for voting and ads for buying.”

US consumers appear to be ready to shop.

The Consumer Electronics Association projects record sales of electronics of $206 billion this year, the first time above the $200 billion mark.

Tablet sales along are expected to reach $29.1 billion, up 83 percent, the association said.

“Tablets are the fastest-growing product category in the history of the consumer electronics industry, and sales will continue to increase as more products hit the market,” said Steve Koenig, CEA’s director of industry analysis.

US smartphone sales will total $33.7 billion in 2012, for more than 108 million units, according to the group.

Analyst Colin Gillis at BGC Partners said he sees “feverish” anticipation for the new iPhone, and predicts Apple will sell 10 million of the new phones at the launch and 14 million iPads in the fourth quarter.

Ramon Llamas, an analyst with research firm IDC, said Apple remains the company to watch in the mobile sector because of its rabid customer loyalty and ability to command premium prices.

“Every year when the iPhone is released it should become a national holiday because of all the hype, all the long lines,” he said.

But he said there is strong potential for growth from the new Windows-powered phones expected from Nokia and others.

“I don’t think the platform has been widely evangelized, but I like it,” he said.

Sarah Rotman Epps at Forrester Research said Microsoft has been losing ground by being late to the party, and will cede more customers with its relatively late release of Windows 8 on October 26.

“Every day Windows 8 is not in the market, Microsoft is losing opportunity with consumers,” she said.

She noted that at the start of 2011, Windows was the preferred operating system for consumers but that has slipped as Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS dominate the market for mobile devices.

“Microsoft is rapidly losing mindshare among consumers, but once it hits the market, we do think it will gain traction,” she said.

Jack Gold of the consultancy J. Gold Associates said Samsung, the biggest maker of Android phones also expected to launch Windows-based devices, “is going to continue to be the market leader in smartphones” because of its “huge momentum.”

Gold said the new competitive landscape may be good for consumers, possibly bringing down prices.

“I think there is going to be tremendous pressure on Apple to lower their prices,” he said.

“Apple has the high end of the market but that only works when they have a huge advantage.”

One problem for Apple is that rivals such as Google and Amazon are subsidizing their devices to drive consumers to their content — books, music, film and shopping.

Some analysts say the $200 Kindle Fire and Google Nexus tablets are sold at a loss.

“Apple will have to respond,” Gold said.

Notably absent in the final months of the year will be BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, which delayed its new platform expected to challenge the market leaders until early 2013.

Gold said that “it’s never good to be three or six months late,” although the delay may mean “they won’t have to compete with everyone else and can get visibility.”

source: technology.inquirer.net

Facebook releases mobile camera app after IPO flop

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook released a “camera” application Thursday that lets people take Instagram-style pictures that can be shared with iPhones.

The stand-alone application synchs to the leading social network, letting friends consult one another’s photos.

The new mobile app “makes using Facebook photos faster and easier,” according to product manager Dirk Stoop.

“You’ll see a feed of great photos from the people you care about,” Stoop said in a Facebook post. “You can swipe to see more of any album or tap to enlarge an individual photo.”

The mini-program also let people share many pictures simultaneously instead of having to post them one at a time to the social network, according to Stoop.

Facebook Camera was due to be available at Apple’s online App Store late Thursday.

The Menlo Park, California-based social network made a billion-dollar deal in April to buy the startup behind wildly popular smartphone photo sharing application Instagram.

The big ticket purchase was seen by some as a move by Facebook to strengthen defenses against Google and blazingly hot newcomer Pinterest.

“For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family,” Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg said in announcing the deal.

“Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.”

An Instagram application tuned to Apple’s iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices has been downloaded more than 30 million times since the first version was released in late 2010 by the San Francisco startup.

A version of the application tailored for smartphones powered by Google-backed Android software racked up more than a million users in the 24 hours after its recent release.

Word of Facebook Camera came in the aftermath of an initial public offering of stock that made insiders and investors rich but left small buyers of shares feeling abused.

Lack of a clear strategy for making money from users who connect to the social network using smartphones or tablet computers was considered to be among the reasons Facebook stock sank below its opening price of $38 per share.

Facebook stock reversed its losing trend on Thursday, inching up to $33.03 a share from $31.99 a day earlier after the close of trading on the Nasdaq exchange.

More than a half-dozen law firms specializing in investor complaints said this week that they were launching class action suits against the social networking giant and its underwriters.

The suits alleged that Facebook, along with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and other big Wall Street banks that distributed the shares withheld from smaller investors crucial forecasts that pointed to weaker growth for Facebook, while sharing the information with big institutional clients.

A separate lawsuit against the Nasdaq exchange said its massive technical problems on the first day of Facebook trade on Friday also resulted in losses to investors.

All told, the claims could come to billions: more than $15 billion have been wiped from the company’s value since the initial public offering gave it a market capitalization of $104 billion.

source: interaksyon.com