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Posts Tagged ‘Top Stories’

35 Years & $317 Billion Later, Apple Intends To Dominate a Post-PC World

01 Apr


On April 1, 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne established a small company to sell personal computer kits hand-built by Wozniak. That company, as you probably know, was Apple Computer.

Thirty-five years later, Apple is now the most valuable technology company in the world. Its market capitalization exceeds $317 billion, trumping longtime rival Microsoft by more than $100 billion. And Apple’s iconic products sit on the desks and in the pockets of millions of people across the world.

Most people know bits and pieces of the Apple story, but the company has a complicated history. Some of us may not know, for example, that Apple had a third co-founder, Ronald Wayne, who got cold feet and sold his 10% stake in Apple less than two weeks later. Everybody knows Steve Jobs, but they may not know Mike Markkula, one of Apple’s first angel investors and the company’s second CEO.

In the 35 years of Apple’s existence, the company has gone through hell and back. The launch of the Macintosh in 1984 and the coinciding “1984″ Super Bowl commercial remain symbols one of Apple’s highest points, but only a year later, then-CEO John Sculley forced Steve Jobs out of the company. A decade later, in 1996, the company was on the brink of destruction when it acquired NeXT and brought Steve Jobs back. In 1997, Microsoft invested $150 million in Apple to keep it afloat (something it probably now regrets), and soon after came Apple’s golden years with the iPod, iMac, MacBook, iPhone and now the iPad.

We don’t necessarily want to dwell on Apple’s past; you can visit Wikipedia if you want a lesson in Apple Inc.’s history. Instead, let’s focus on what Apple might do in the next 35 years.

What’s In Store For The Next 35 Years?

For the last 35 years, Apple has almost always been the underdog. While it languished, Microsoft flourished. In fact, Apple surpassed Microsoft in market cap for the first time last May.

For the next few decades, however, the technology titan will be incumbent. Apple has a giant target on its back, and it’s not just Microsoft taking aim. Apple also faces challenges from Google, Amazon and a plethora of mobile device manufacturers. While Apple is handily beating its competition today, the status quo could change at any moment.

And while Apple fends off Android, PCs and competing tablets, it has its eye on creating a post-PC world. Rather than compete on hardware specs, it competes on design and user experience. Its a world of mobile devices that Apple intends to dominate for decades to come.

Leading the charge is Steve Jobs, not only the company’s CEO but also its heart and soul. While he’s currently on medical leave, he did show up for the unveiling of the iPad 2, demonstrating things aren’t as dire as previously rumored.

Still, Apple will some day have to continue its quest to redefine technology without its iconic leader, and many question whether anybody can provide the design and product vision Jobs has imparted on the company he founded 35 years ago.

Even if you aren’t a fan of Apple products, it’s tough not to be impressed with what Apple has been able to accomplish since 1976. We wonder what products it will create and challenges it will face in the next 35 years. Right now though, the sun is definitely shining down on Cupertino.

More About: iMac, ipad, iPad 2, iphone, iphone 3g, iphone 3Gs, iphone 4, ipod, mac, macbook, Macbook Pro, macintosh, steve jobs, steve wozniak

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Apple Sends Customer iPad 2 After Wife Made Him Return It

21 Mar

Here’s a great story about an iPad 2 that was returned to Apple.

Apple is keeping a close eye on iPad 2 returns as part of its QA process. The company wants to identify any problems in early production units, like the light-bleeding backlights we’ve been hearing about.

But one customer returned his iPad 2 for a different reason: his wife wouldn’t let him keep it. He took his iPad back to the Apple Store with a sticky note on it: “Wife said no.”

But a pair of executives at Apple got wind of the story and sent him a replacement iPad 2 with a new sticky on it. Guess what it said?

“Apple said yes”

If the lucky fellow reads this, please get in touch. We’d love to hear more.

MacRumors: iPad 2: Wife Says No, but Apple Says Yes

 
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40% of All Tweets Come From Mobile

07 Jan


At CES, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo revealed that 40% of all tweets come from mobile devices, demonstrating mobile’s increasing importance to the social media company.

On stage at the AllThingsD event at CES, Costolo bantered with Kara Swisher about why Twitter is at CES, its plans to become simpler and more consistent across platforms, and the impact of its celebrity users.

During the course of the conversation, Swisher asked Costolo which devices and operating systems are the most important to Twitter’s future and its health. Costolo responded by saying that 40% of all tweets are now composed on mobile devices, up from around 20% to 25% a year ago.

Twitter mobile usage exploded with the release of the company’s official iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry apps. The mobile website, SMS, Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for BlackBerry are the most popular Twitter apps after the company’s website.

Costolo also revealed that Twitter now has 350 employees, 100 of whom were hired just recently in Q4 2010.

More About: AllThingsD, CES, CES 2011, dick costolo, Kara Swisher, trending, twitter

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How the Mac App Store Changes Everything

06 Jan


The Mac App Store has arrived and with it comes access to more than 1,000 different free and paid apps. While nearly identical in design to the iTunes App Store for iOS apps, the Mac App Store represents a big shift in Mac application discovery and development.

We’ve already done a walkthrough of the new store. What follows is our analysis of the overall store experience after spending the past few hours exploring the store, downloading applications, comparing the release to initial expectations and ruminating on how it will change the developer ecosystem.

If you’ve yet to experience the Mac App Store, you’ll need to upgrade your Mac OS X software to version 10.6.6. Once you do, you’ll find the Mac App Store waiting for you in your dock. We encourage you to check it out for yourself and add your thoughts on the new store in the comments section below.

A Meaty Experience

The Mac App Store is packed with more than 1,000 applications out of the gate. This vast collection of applications spans 21 different categories, and Apple has done an amazing job ensuring that the store feels boundless — in the sense that there are more apps than you could ever dream of — and is full of must-own applications. That is: there’s not a lot of fluff here (yet, anyways).

New, just-for-Mac apps like Angry Birds [App Store link] and Twitter [App Store link] are here. So too, are standbys from Apple (iLife) and the Omni Group, along side lightweight fare such as Caffeine [App Store link] and StuffIt Expander [App Store link]. Even Mashable [App Store link] has its own Mac app.

Apple has also wisely replicated its iTunes App Store “Top Charts,” “New and Noteworthy,” “What’s Hot,” and “Staff Favorites” lists in the Mac App Store. The Mac App Store home screen features these curated app catalogs, making quick app perusal and discovery a breeze.

Grab-and-Go Appeal

Most retail and convenience stores stock small or inexpensive products near the register to appeal to customers waiting in line. This strategy creates a grab-and-go atmosphere where customers spend less time thinking about whether they actually need these products and instead make last-minute impulse buys.

Apple mastered the grab-and-go idea with the iTunes App Store and it’s done it again with the Mac App Store. It’s the ultimate model for impulse, grab-and-go shopping where consumers can forget about busting out their credit cards and stop fretting over whether an app is a wise investment.

The frictionless marketplace gives developers direct access to window shopping Mac users who, with just a click or two, can download their apps. It works because consumers have developed a blind faith (misguided or not) in Apple’s ability to create a marketplace of vetted applications. Gone are the days when Mac owners need to trouble themselves with going out of their way to search for apps; now the apps come to them. And while the strict application review process may trouble some developers, Apple’s seal of approval could mean the difference between an app that is relegated to obscurity and one that gets noticed.

Evernote, for instance, is already a top performer among free apps. Existing Evernote users likely knew of, and already downloaded, the Mac version for their desktops. The application’s prominence in the store, however, will likely introduce a whole new audience to the startup’s note-taking and productivity platform. Today, Evernote [App Store link] is seeing an 1800% increase in Mac registrations over a normal day, according to a representation for the company. For a nearly three year-old startup, this kind of exposure could prove instrumental in expanding its user base faster and converting free users into more engaged, paid users.

Plus, while it may be anecdotal, the mere structure of the store — glossy photos, user reviews, top charts etc. — inspired me to purchase apps that I was previously aware of but too trigger-shy to purchase (Zipline and Pixelmator, for instance).

Yet Another App Store

The Mac App Store houses applications for Mac owners to use locally on their desktops. The iTunes App Store houses applications for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Apple makes that distinction relatively clear — it’s punctuated by a standalone store outside of iTunes, but its existence does complicate things a bit.

The less tech savvy user may be confused as to the difference between the apps they can find in the iTunes App Store and those they can find in the new Mac App Store. Many applications available are Mac duplicates with heftier price tags than their iOS counterparts, which only adds to the confusion.

When many Mac users update their OS software to 10.6.6, they many not understand why there’s an extra icon in their dock and why they’d want to purchase an application that resembles one they already own.

Apple makes it a priority to release hardware and software designed for the average Jane/Joe. While the Mac App Store product itself meets those standards, the way it was rolled out as a separate product may not.

Mac Ecosystem Evolution

A marketplace that can foster impulse purchases and downloads is a marketplace that will change the entire ecosystem around Mac applications. Mac users, on average, will buy more apps; developers will get exponentially higher exposure and revenues; and Apple’s line of iMacs and Mac Books will become even more appealing to computer purchasers.

As the ecosystem evolves, however, not every veteran Mac developer will appreciate the changes that are being force-fed to them. Developers will have much less control, may need to cave to Apple’s requests during the review process, will sacrifice 30% of revenue for placement and will not be allowed to charge for app upgrades. And, there’s still the outstanding question of how volume pricing will be handled.

Apple’s new Mac App Store could also drive the average market price for Mac applications downward, because price point will largely factor into total downloads and, by association, whether or not apps make the top charts and get featured more prominently. We’ve already seen that race to the bottom occur with iOS applications, where the average price of apps is around $4 (less if you include games).

For better or worse, things are changing. Realmac, makers of Mac apps like LittleSnapper [App Store link] (which I recommend), penned a post yesterday on some of the side effects of the Mac App Store it anticipates post launch. The software maker argues that apps will become more single purpose, upgrade pricing will never be a reality and apps will cheaper on average.

On the whole, however, Realmac concludes, “We think that the Mac App Store is likely to jump-start the already lively Mac developer community, and that developers would be crazy to either remain inflexible on the App Store or forego it altogether.”

It’s a conclusion that seems sound based on my initial experience with Mac App Store.

More Mac App Store Coverage from Mashable:

- Apple Launches Mac App Store With More Than 1,000 Apps
- The Mac App Store: A Walkthrough [GALLERY]
- HOW TO: Fix “Error 100″ in the Mac App Store
- The Mac App Store: The Good, the Bad & the Unknown [Announcement Coverage]

Image courtesy of Realmac Software

Reviews: Angry Birds, App Store, Evernote, LittleSnapper, Mashable, Pixelmator, Twitter

More About: apple, developers, mac, mac app store, mac os x, realmac, software

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Google Explores the Human Body With HTML5

16 Dec


Google has just soft-launched its latest browser experiment, the Google Body Browser, which is basically Google Earth for the human body.

Think of it as a three-dimensional, multi-layered browser version of those Visible Man/Woman model kits. Or a virtualized version of Slim Goodbody, if you will.

Google showed off the app at the WebGL Camp. WebGL is a cross-platform low-level 3D graphics API that is designed to bring plugin-free 3D to the web. It uses the HTML5 Canvas element and does not require Flash, Java or other graphical plugins to run.

If you visit bodybrowser.googlelabs.com in a supported web browser, you’ll get a three-dimensional layered model of the human anatomy that you can zoom in on, rotate and search.

WebGL support hasn’t hit mainstream browsers, but the beta versions of Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox all support it.

Once you’ve got a compatible browser, visiting the Body Browser home page shows off the human body. You can adjust the various layers of skin, muscles, tissues and the skeletal system.

What’s really cool is that if you type in an organ or bone or ventricle system, you are taken directly to that area in the anatomy, zoomed in. You can turn labels on or off and the app supports multitouch so users of trackpads (Magic or otherwise) or multi-touch mice can zoom in with ease.

This is a pretty cool display of new web technologies. Presumably the use case is for the healthcare industry, but educators and students can benefit from this kind of demonstration too.

[via PeriVisioN]

Reviews: Firefox, Google, Google Chrome, Safari

More About: google body browser, HTML5, webgl

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Could Facebook Become the Basis for Artificial Intelligence?

16 Nov


The CEO of Digital Sky Technologies, the Russian venture capital firm that invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Facebook, Zynga and Groupon, says that he is a supporter and investor in Facebook partly because he believes the social network could become the basis for artificial intelligence.

During a conversation between DST CEO Yuri Milner and Federated Media CEO John Battelle, the venture capitalist stated that Facebook is the type of company that will fundamentally change the way information is processed. In fact, he said that it could change information to such an extent that it could be the basis for artificial intelligence over time.

Milner says that this process could happen quickly; Facebook could be one of the platforms for artificial intelligence technology in the next 10 years.

We can see why Milner says Facebook and AI are destined to be linked. Facebook is the central nexus of social data and the social graph; it is the online personification of personalities, interests, friendships and more. Eventually we can see companies tapping into Facebook’s API to augment their AI efforts and use that data to link AIs to the rest of the world.

Ten years seems awfully close, though. Then again, as a major investor in Facebook, Milner’s in a unique position to judge the potential of the company.

Reviews: Facebook

More About: digital sky technologies, DST, facebook, venture capital, Zynga

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The Unprecedented Rise of Apple iOS and Other Internet Trends [STATS]

16 Nov


Legendary Internet analyst Mary Meeker has some statistics she thinks every Internet executive should know, including that iOS is growing faster than almost any other Internet technology in history.

At the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, the Morgan Stanley analyst led a rapid-pace presentation on the state of the Internet industry, revealing the state of mobile (Apple and Google are winning), the most under-monetized asset in online advertising (Facebook) and even the secret sauce of Steve Jobs (he has the mind of an engineer and the heart of an artist).

Some of Meeker’s eye-popping stats:

  • 46% of Internet users live in five countries: the USA, Russia, Brazil, China and India.
  • There are 670 million 3G subscribers worldwide, 136.6 million in the U.S. and 106.3 million in Japan.
  • iOS devices reached 120 million subscribers in 13 quarters, far faster than Netscape, AOL or NTT docomo’s growth rates.
  • Nokia and Symbian used to own 62% of the smartphone market (units shipped). Now it’s only 37%, mostly due to Android and iOS.
  • The average CPM for social networking sites is at only $0.55. Meeker thinks this will increase and normalize in the next few years. She also believes that inventory on Facebook is one of the most under-monetized assets on the web.
  • It took e-commerce 15 years to get to 5% of retail. Morgan Stanley predicts mobile should get to that same level in five years.
  • Streaming video is up to 37% of of Internet traffic during traditional “TV hours.” Netflix is the biggest contributor to this, followed by YouTube.
  • Seven of the companies that were in the top 15 publicly traded Internet companies in 2004 are not in that list in 2010.
  • Interest payments and entitlement spending is projected to exceed government revenue by 2025. In other words, the U.S. government is facing a real financial crisis soon.

We’ve included Mary Meeker’s full presentation below. Let us know what you think of her statistics and trends in the comments.

Reviews: Android, Facebook, Google, Internet, YouTube

More About: apple, internet, Internet trends, iOS, Mary Meeker, Morgan Stanley, statistics, stats, steve jobs, W2S2010, Web 2.0 Summit

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Internet Advertising Hits New Revenue Record

12 Oct


Online advertising is thriving in the U.S., according to figures released in the latest IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report.

Businesses and individuals spent approximately $12.1 billion on online advertising in the first six months of 2010, up 11.3% from the from the first half of 2009 and 13.9% from the second quarter of 2009. In fact, this was both the highest first-half and second-quarter revenue ever recorded.

Search advertising continued to monopolize the greater share of online ad dollars, having attracted more than $5.7 billion in spending between January and June this year — a year-over-year increase of 11.6%. Display advertising, which includes banner ads, digital video, rich media and sponsorships, garnered more than $4.4 billion in the first half of 2010, a 16% increase over the same period in 2009.

Digital video recorded the greatest growth of all. More was spent in video advertising from January to June than in any other half-year period before, an increase of 31% from the first half of 2009.

IAB’s SVP of Industry Services Sherill Mane cited growing online advertising budgets among consumer packaged goods and pharmaceutical companies for the growth.

“While the recession clearly affected short term growth in 2009, with double digit growth in both search and display during the first six month of 2010, the long term prospects continue to be strong,” added David Silverman, PwC Assurance partner.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, tforgo

Reviews: iStockphoto

More About: advertising, MARKETING, online advertising

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Facebook, Twitter and The Two Branches of Social Media [OP-ED]

11 Oct

Two Directions Sign

The Social Analyst is a column by Mashable Co-Editor Ben Parr, where he digs into social media trends and how they are affecting companies in the space.

There’s no disputing that Facebook is the poster child for social networking. It is the platform for building social connections online and keeping up to date with what’s happening in your social circle. It is one of the two most important platforms in social media.

The other one is Twitter. However, if you try to describe Twitter as a “social network” to anyone who works at the company, they’ll quickly correct you. Internally and externally, Twitter describes itself as an “information network.”

What exactly is the difference? And is there one?

People have used the terms “social media” and “social network” almost interchangeably over the years. It’s inaccurate to say that they’re the same thing, though. In fact, I argue that social networking is a branch of social media, and can itself be further broken down into two distinct branches — the social network and the information network.

It’s with this distinction that I attempt to explain the relationship between Facebook and Twitter, and why I believe they are not destined for a clash of the titans. Instead, they represent two different sides of the same coin.

The Difference Between Facebook and Twitter

It’s easy to see why most people think Facebook and Twitter are essentially the same. The core of their experiences focuses around profiles, relationships and a newsfeed. But if you dig a bit deeper, you realize that people use each platform for different purposes.

On Facebook, you’re supposed to connect with close friends. Becoming friends with someone means he or she gets to see your content, but you also get to see his or her content in return. On Twitter, that’s not the case: you choose what information you want to receive, and you have no obligation to follow anybody. Facebook emphasizes profiles and people, while Twitter emphasizes the actual content (in its case, tweets).

The result is that the stream of information is simply different on both services. You’re more likely to talk about personal issues, happy birthday wishes, gossip about a changed Facebook relationship status, and postings about parties on your Facebook News Feed. On Twitter, you’re more likely to find links and news, and you’re more likely to follow brands, news sources and other entities outside of your social graph. In fact, Twitter tells me that one out of every four tweets includes a link to some form of content.

There’s also interesting data from a team of Korean researchers suggesting that information sharing is fundamentally different on Twitter when compared to social networks. Their conclusion was that Twitter has “characteristics of news media” rather than characteristics of a social network.

In other words, Facebook and Twitter are different once you look past their social media roots. Now it’s time to define the difference between a social network and an information network.

Social Networks vs. Information Networks

This may seem obvious, but social networks are about your social networks. Specifically, the focus is on your friends, colleagues and personal connections. They are about sharing personal or professional experiences together. They are about keeping in touch with friends rather than discovering news or content. Facebook, LinkedIn, Bebo, MySpace, hi5 and Orkut clearly fall under the “social networking” branch of social media.

The concept of an information network is a more recent phenomenon. Information networks are about leveraging different networks to distribute and consume information. While they may utilize an array social media tools in order to find, curate or deliver content, they focus less on what’s happening in your social graph and more on information you want. Twitter may be the best example of an information network, but YouTube (video), Flickr (photos) and Digg (news) are information networks as well.

Pretty much every social media platform has aspects of both types of networks, but they tend to fall into one category or the other. I contend that Foursquare is a social network because it utilizes Facebook’s friend model instead of Twitter’s follow model, but you might have a different opinion.

In fact, that may be the biggest differentiating point between social networks and information networks. For the most part, content on Flickr, YouTube or Twitter is public, while content on MySpace, Facebook or Bebo is private. A big reason for that is that the former services utilize the follow or subscription model, while the latter ones utilize the friend model.

Conclusion

I consider this article to be the start, not the end, of an exploration of how we define social media and the services that comprise it. We tend to group Facebook, Twitter and an array of other web tools into one giant pile, when in fact they’re vastly different tools with vastly different applications and uses.

Facebook, with its mutual friend connections and college-exclusive beginnings, is better suited for keeping in touch with friends. For most people, it is indeed a network of your social graph, all in one place. Twitter, on the other hand, is all about the stream of information coming from people and organizations all across the world. That’s why there’s room for both: they simply provide different functions.

If we are to take social media further and further change the world with social technologies, we need to better understand how we use these technologies. The first step is understanding how we as a society currently utilize social networks and information networks in our daily lives. There are many intricacies that underlie social and information networks, most of which we don’t yet understand.

More Social Media Resources from Mashable:

- 5 Fun and Safe Social Networks for Children
- New Facebook Groups Designed to Change the Way You Use Facebook [VIDEO]
- “SNL” Spoofs Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg [VIDEO]
- HOW TO: Customize Your Background for the New Twitter
- Top 10 Twitter Tips for Bands, By Bands

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ryasick

Reviews: Bebo, Digg, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Hi5, LinkedIn, MySpace, Orkut, Twitter, YouTube, iStockphoto

More About: Column, facebook, Information Network, Information Networking, social media, social network, social networking, The Social Analyst, twitter

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