“Apple Must…”: A Brief History of People Instructing the Company to Do Things

By Harry McCracken @harrymccracken

Apple CEO Tim Cook, stubbornly refusing to announce a large-screen iPhone at Apple's press event in San Francisco on September 10, 2013

Some wise person — I wish I knew who — once said that everybody has two businesses: their own, and show business. The same is true in the world of technology, except the two businesses people have are their own, and Tim Cook’s.
Everyone, in other words, seems to have strong opinions about what Apple should be doing. And a remarkable percentage of the people who share their thoughts state them not as a suggestion or a preference but as an imperative so absolute that ignoring it could plunge the company into crisis. To emphasize the seriousness of the matter, their headlines usually use the words “Apple must…”
There are, however, a few problems with this approach to Apple commentary:

1. The stuff Apple must do usually amounts to following an industry trend in much the same way that everybody else is doing it, right this very moment.
2. Though Apple does frequently respond to industry trends, it’s not in the company’s nature to do so in precisely the way that everybody expects, and it often bides its time before doing anything at all.
3. Time and time again, Apple doesn’t do what Apple must do…and yet the results aren’t calamitous.
4. In some instances, the things people insist Apple must do — such as make a netbook — are not only not necessities, but terrible ideas.

Herewith, a few examples. Just to show this has been going on for a long time, let’s begin with an example that’s almost three decades old.

Apple must open the Mac architecture.

Decreed by: Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and his colleague Jeff Raikes, in a June 25, 1985 memo to Apple’s John Sculley and Jean-Louis Gassée
Why? Allowing 3-5 other leading computer manufacturers — such as Wang, AT&T or DEC — to make Mac-compatible machines would help expand the platform and ensure Apple’s reputation as a technological innovator.
What Apple did: Nothing, until a decade later, when it allowed some third-party hardware companies to license the Mac OS — a decision it reversed in 1997 when Steve Jobs returned to the company.
Aftermath: Microsoft’s operating systems went on to dominate the PC industry for decades. They still do. But almost 29 years after Gates and Raikes’ memo advising Apple to follow the same strategy as Microsoft, Apple isn’t just still selling Macs — it’s also the most profitable PC company on the planet.

Apple must release the iPhone.

Decreed by: DSLReports forum member Cortland on February 28, 2005
Why? It would create converts who’d then buy Macs instead of Windows PCs.
What Apple did: Less than two years after Cortland’s directive that Apple should enter the smartphone market with something called the iPhone, the company followed it.
Aftermath: The iPhone did indeed help sell Macs. More important, it outsold them, and became Apple’s most important product.

Apple must do a netbook now.

Decreed by: Cnet’s David Carnoy on February 27, 2009
Why? “It’s the biggest growth category in laptops.” And nobody’s spending $1,000 on the MacBook Air.
What Apple did: It never released anything remotely like a netbook, though I guess you could make the case that the iPad, at $499, was a netbook killer in disguise.
Aftermath: In October of 2010, Apple released much-improved new versions of the MacBook Air, which became very popular. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry, having found netbooks to be profit killers, decided to replace them with Ultrabooks — thinner, slicker, pricier laptops that paid the sincerest form of flattery to the MacBook Air.

Apple must embrace the online version of Google Voice.

Decreed by: Don Reisinger of eWeek on August 10, 2009
Why? After the uproar over its initial rejection of Google’s Google Voice app for the iPhone, the company could reconsider and approve the software. But “that won’t happen.” So it needs to publicly acknowledge that it’s O.K. with Google offering a purely web-based version for iPhones.
What Apple did: The thing Reisinger declared would not happen — it approved the Google Voice app.
Aftermath: Perhaps chastened by the FCC’s investigation of the Google Voice affair, Apple stopped rejecting apps purely on the grounds that they competed with the iPhone’s built-in apps. A happy ending for everybody involved.

Apple must announce the Verizon iPhone.

Decreed by: MSNBC.com’s Wilson Rothman on October 19, 2010
Why? To screw Google by encouraging Verizon customers to spurn Droids in favor of waiting until the likely January arrival of the iPhone. Not announcing the Verizon phone during Apple’s October 20 press event, Rothman said, would be “dumb.”
What Apple did: It waited until January 11, 2011 to announce the Verizon iPhone, which didn’t go on sale until a month after that.
Aftermath: Once it was available, the iPhone 4 had the strongest launch of any device in Verizon history.

Apple must launch NFC in the iPhone 5.

Decreed by: Brett King on May 10, 2011
Why? With NFC technology increasingly important for mobile payments and other applications such as data-transfer-through-bumping, “it’s either that, or let Google change everything and rethink your iPhone branding strategy.”
What Apple did: It didn’t build NFC into the iPhone 5, 5s or 5c. At this point, I suspect that few holdouts expect it to arrive in any future model.
Aftermath: Mobile payments via NFC haven’t turned out to be as big a deal as many folks once thought they would…though of course, it’s possible that they’ve been hampered by the fact that iPhones don’t support them. Meanwhile, iOS 7′s AirDrop feature mimics NFC without requiring its presence.

Apple must deliver the iPad Mini.

Decreed by: Mashable’s Lance Ulanoff on July 25, 2012
Why? Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Google’s Nexus 7 are hits at 7 inches for $199, so Apple needs to offer a tablet at the same price and size.
What Apple did: On October 23, 2012, Apple did release the iPad Mini — but it had a 7.9-inch display and cost $329, making it something less than a direct competitor for Amazon and Google’s cheapo models.
Aftermath: Apple later knocked the price of the Mini down to $299, while adding a $399 Retina model. And both Amazon and Google, when they upgraded their 7 inchers, greatly improved the specs and raised the price to $229 — nudging the whole market slightly in Apple’s nicer-but-pricier direction.

Apple must make an iPhone with a bigger screen.

Decreed by: Business Insider’s Henry Blodget on February 1, 2013
Why? “After five years of having the best smartphone on the planet, Apple has arguably fallen behind the competition. And the biggest and most obvious reason Apple has fallen behind the competition is its stubborn insistence on sticking with a small iPhone screen.”
What Apple did: Since Blodget’s post, the company has released two phones — the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c — with screens the same size as that of the iPhone 5. (Blodget followed up his first post with one noting an analyst’s contention that a bigger-display iPhone had been delayed until 2014, saying that if that was true, Apple was “hosed.”)
Aftermath: Despite the new iPhones’ relatively dinky displays, both models managed to outsell their principal rival, Samsung’s Galaxy S 4, in October, which would seem to suggest that their screen size isn’t a crippling competitive disadvantage.

Apple must buy Netflix.

Decreed by: blogger John Henwood on February 9, 2013
Why? “A purchase of Netflix would not only give Apple a massive footing in internet based TV, but it would give them a valuable management team that could help drive their innovations forward once again.”
What Apple did: It’s shown no interest in buying Netflix, a purchase which would cost at least $20 billion. Instead, its TV strategy to date has consisted of quietly beefing up Apple TV’s content lineup.
Aftermath: People who take seriously the possibility of Apple spending billions on a high-profile company — who are legion — would do well to keep in mind that it’s never paid more than a few hundred million for an acquisition, and rarely buys anything that anybody’s ever heard of.

Apple must announce touchscreen Mac computers soon.

Decreed by: Gary Judge of Head4Space.com on February 23rd, 2013
Why? Microsoft and Google are doing touchscreen machines and “Apple need to be ready to decapitate its own market before others do.”
What Apple did: It’s been less than a year, so “soon” may not have come and gone yet. But so far, no Mac Touch.
Aftermath: I wouldn’t rate the odds of Apple releasing touchscreen Macs at zero percent — years ago, I asked Steve Jobs himself about the possibility, and he didn’t rule it out. But the difficulties Microsoft is having with Windows 8 show that adding touch to a non-touch operating system is no cakewalk. Me, I think the chances are far higher that Apple will eventually do iOS devices in Mac-like cases — though I’d never say that the company must do so.

Apple must fire Tim Cook.

Decreed by: Fraser Seitel on April 9, 2013
Why? “Three words: miserable shareholder relations.” (More words behind paywall.)
What Apple did: Continued to employ Tim Cook.
Aftermath: By September, Seitel was no longer demanding Cook’s ouster. Actually, he was generously sharing advice on how Cook could avoid being fired. (Example tip: Cook should buy a blue blazer.)
Apple, incidentally, isn’t the only tech company that gets advice in the form of musts. If you’ve been paying attention, for instance, you know that Microsoft’s musts have included turning Windows into open-source software, buying Palm and rebranding itself as Bing. It’s failed to do any of the above, and has — so far — lived to tell the tale.
I’m not going to demand that pundits stop telling tech companies what they must do. But here’s a modest proposal: If you say that a company must do something, and it doesn’t — and catastrophe doesn’t ensue — wouldn’t it be fair to write a follow-up story acknowledging that your advice didn’t turn out to be so essential after all?


Read more: "Apple Must...": A Brief History of People Giving Apple Advice | TIME.com http://techland.time.com/2014/01/20/apple-must/#ixzz2r8ezZJV4

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Is Apple Facing A Designer And Developer Revolt Over iOS 7?

MacWorld Conference & Expo 2007 - San Francisco Steven P. Jobs present Apple's phone : the iPhone (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

iOS 7 is one of the biggest changes for the iPhone and iPad since…. the iPhone, a stunning new interface according to Apple AAPL -2.65% CEO, Tim Cook. It’s the first OS to be influenced by design guru Jony Ive. It has plenty going for it. But there is a strong and impassioned chorus of disapproval from designers and developers. Could it damage Apple’s fortunes in the competitive Q3/Q4 market?

There is no single problem behind the disquiet. Instead, designers especially point to a collection of issues that they believe will make the iPhone and iPad less usable if the design changes proposed by Ive go ahead in their present form.

Having said that, there are also developers who see iOS 7 as an exciting, new innovation platform (this is the third in a short series of posts taking a deeper dive into iOS 7 and key perspectives on it. You can see one post on iOS 7 and Android here, and one on iOS 7 as an innovation platform here).

The design drawbacks of iOS 7 seem to come down to four main problems, all focused on Ive’s minimalist, white space design language:

Inconsistency in Apple’s approach (some of their own apps still have real -world textures and are neither flat nor minimalist);  the huge amount of white space, when useful information could be inserted, so a sense that minimalism is a religion here rather than a tool for communicating well; on top of that the sense that there are no options left as all three mobile platforms are now flat; and finally the drive towards more white space and less clutter makes it difficult to see which parts of a screen are meant to be tapped for some kind of link or execution.

And as we are talking about Apple the debate is passionate. Forbes reader Dominique Peretti left this comment on Re:Thinking Innovation:

I’m one of those developers who are very worried about is going on at Apple. Steve Jobs is dead. Scott Forstall was fired. Designers like Mike Matas are gone. How could iOS continue to be iOS ? I thought Cook and Ive would be faithful to Jobs’ well known opinions on design and user interface. But iOS7 looks exactly like what Jobs used to hate. Jobs used to refer to Apple’s DNA. But it was not Apple’s DNA, it was his, and the new executives want obviously iOS to use theirs.

It’s not just those ugly icons. Those reveal a degree of amateurism which we didn’t know Apple could produce (imagine this for a sec in the Jobs era !), which is worrisome, but I’m sure they will be fixed by the time of the final release. I’m more concerned with the overuse of white in the navigation, the new borderless buttons which make any application looks like an un-styled, HTML mock-up. The meaningless, ugly outlined icons (those won’t change).

Daniel pointed out a couple of tumblr sites that are aggregating designer and developer disapproval. They are a good jumping off point for the online debate. One features designers, the other developers.

Here’s a comment left two days ago, on the latter, that goes to the heart of developer concerns:

Worst iOS ever… entirely impossible to create a unique UI without creating your own controls all over the place. Everything is re-done, breaking just about everything in every app. Moving apps to new UI is going to be a nightmare for devs.

It’s not all gloom. Designer Tim Green has also been scathing about iOS 7 yet has found iOS 7 better than he expected, according to his blog:

I’ve been working on redesigning the app I work on in an iOS 7 style in my spare time to see how it would work and it pained me to admit that it actually looked pretty good.

Tim already observed before WWDC (in May, in fact) that key apps were being redesigned in a flatter, more 3D like way (Google and Facebook for example). These are key players and would have had some forewarning from Apple of the changes in store. Yahoo’s Weather app already apples the new style and has been acclaimed.

Some of the criticism is aimed at Apple’s corporate mindset:

The biggest symbol of the problem is the Apple logo on the front of the device. A symbol which has come to be interpreted as “Aesthetic Innovation at the cost of extensibility, open/common standards, and basic function- until we absolutely HAVE to improve performance” Future versions iOS could be great if Apple were no longer in charge of it. Ask any jailbreaker.

Quora recently posted an interesting take on the changes – that this is, in fact, a move towards designs that enable both voice and touch commands. And I quoted Swedish AI expert Lars Hand, here, saying that the design is a step into better 3D-like and contextual computing.

Of course, if you are a start up then to push things into the public early, take criticism on the chin and then improve, is really the new product management. It is a key part of innovation and market acceptance.

Larger companies are not being given a whole lot of room for maneuver on this. Think back to last week and the crowing reaction to Microsoft’s reversal on Xbox One. Earlier in the year, Apple got it in the neck from critics over its Maps release. Apple, especially, are expected to get product right straight out of the box.

But maybe not. Maybe this dialogue is the most useful way for Apple to learn about the needs of its key communities. For the dialogue to improve Apple needs to let its communities know that it is more open to persuasion. Better still it would explain the deigns in the context of its 2014 product plans, so its community is not left second-guessing the full motivation behind the redesign. As we move towards the key Fall and 

Christmas markets Apple needs to ask itself why it might not want all of its developers and designers on board. To be effective this Fall they need the scale of advocacy they had two years ago. Time to open up?

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Smartphones Become Life’s Remote Control

The Delphi Connected Car system sends data about a car’s location and speed to a tablet

By BRIAN X. CHEN, New York Times

 

LAS VEGAS — The smartphone is no longer just a portable computer in your pocket. It has become the remote control for your life.

Want to flip off the living room lights, unlock your front door or get a reading of your blood pressure? All of this can be done through mobile apps that work with accessories embedded with sensors or an Internet connection.

For several years, technology companies have promised the dream of the connected home, the connected body and the connected car. Those connections have proved illusory. But in the last year app-powered accessories have provided the mechanism to actually make the connections. That is partly because smartphones have become the device people never put down. But it is also because wireless sensors have become smaller, cheaper and ubiquitous.

Big companies with strong brands have been heavily promoting the new uses for these gadgets. General Motors advertises its Chevy Malibu Eco with a man showing his parents how he starts the car with a smartphone. A major selling point of the popular Nest thermostat is its ability to turn up the furnace from miles away with a cellphone.

“Now that, increasingly, consumers have a device with them to monitor virtually anything they do with the Internet, why not offer that capability to monitor and remote control?” said Ross Rubin, an analyst at Reticle Research.

The idea of turning off the lights with a smartphone may seem gimmicky, but consumers are warming to applications, said Bill Scheffler, director of business development for the Z-Wave Alliance, a consortium of companies that make connected appliances. The situation resembles the time when power windows started catching on for automobiles, or when television makers started offering remote controls, Mr. Scheffler said.

“It used to be that people would say, ‘Why does anybody want a remote control for a TV if you can get up and change the channel?’ ” he said. “It’s just progress.” Companies like AT&T, Black & Decker and Honeywell have started selling app-linked products, he said.

At the International Consumer Electronics Show, which has attracted more than 150,000 people here this week, dozens of companies are showing off connected accessories they can hook up to their home appliances to make them work with smartphones, and many are also displaying wearable devices that can help people monitor their health on their phones. Some of these products are being provided by large companies. AT&T, the wireless carrier, said that in March it would begin selling a wireless security system called Digital Life that will allow people to use tablets or phones to monitor cameras, alarms and even coffee pots.

If a burglar trips a motion sensor in the house, for example, a user can receive a text message, then call the police. Customers can choose to expand AT&T’s wireless service to appliances like lights, door locks, thermostats and security cameras, which can be controlled and monitored through the AT&T mobile app.

Ralph de la Vega, chief executive of AT&T Mobility, said in an interview that home security was a big opportunity to increase revenue. Only 20 percent of homes have security systems, he said, leaving millions of homeowners as potential buyers.

“I think it dramatically changes how people feel about their home and how secure they feel about being outside the home,” Mr. de la Vega said. “I think it’s an easy sell.” The company has not announced prices for the service.

Ingersoll Rand, which makes industrial products, offers a $300 starter kit and software for people to connect their homes. It includes a lock, a light and a wireless “bridge,” or base station, to connect the devices to the Internet. They can be controlled with a smartphone or tablet app called Nexia Home Intelligence. Customers also must pay at least $9 a month for a subscription; they can choose to buy the appliances and the bridge separately.

Products by several other companies take advantage of a smartphone’s sensors and connection to the Internet to monitor consumers’ health. IHealth sells monitors for people to track their blood pressure with an app. At the electronics show, it introduced a wireless glucose meter, called the Smart Glucometer, that lets people with diabetes determine their blood sugar. A user puts a blood sample on a test strip, pops it into an accessory attached to a smartphone, and an app gives a reading of the blood sugar level.

Adam Lin, general manager of iHealth, declined to say how many products the company had sold, but he said it was in the “six-figure” area. IHealth products have appeared at Apple, Target and Best Buy.

In addition to people who are interested in their health, health insurance providers might embrace monitoring products. Mr. Lin said iHealth was discussing with two insurers whether to provide its products to patients, which would help reduce their doctor visits.

A small start-up, AliveCor, has created an iPhone case that, when grasped, records an accurate electrocardiogram on the iPhone screen via its app. The company has attracted financing from Khosla Ventures, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm.

Nike, Jawbone and Fitbit sell wearable electronic devices for people to track their movements with smartphones. Fitbit, based in San Francisco, sells a pocket pedometer called the Fitbit One, which can track a user’s steps and floors climbed, and also monitors sleep patterns. Its newest product is due in spring, the Fitbit Flex, a step counter and sleep tracker that is worn around the wrist. It synchronizes with a smartphone app to give users updates.

Woody Scal, chief revenue officer of Fitbit, said the company sold its devices in 10,000 retail stores in the United States. Its Fitbit One is the best-selling sports device on Amazon.com. He said one reason that wearable fitness gadgets had become popular was that the sensors had shrunk and battery life had improved. 

That helps make the products slimmer, more stylish and easier to use.

Mr. Scal said wireless fitness devices were becoming popular because they addressed basic needs for consumers, unlike another trend seen at the show, enormous televisions.

“In the end, I don’t wake up in the morning, look myself in the mirror and ask whether my TV has enough pixels,” he said. “But I do wonder how I’m going to get enough exercise, eat better, sleep well or manage my weight despite all the other things going on in my life.” 

ADT’s Pulse app can be used to control home security systems

Isaac Brekken for The New York Times

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iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales in China Top Two Million

Apple announced on 17 Dec 2012, it has sold over two million of its new iPhone 5 in China, just three days after its launch on December 14. “Customer response to iPhone 5 in China has been incredible, setting a new record with the best first weekend sales ever in China,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. iPhone 5 will be available in more than 100 countries by the end of December, making it the fastest iPhone rollout ever.

source: iphone/apple

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Steve Jobs' yacht impounded over pay dispute

By Damon Lavrinc, Wired



Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' yacht was unveiled in a Dutch shipyard in October and christened "Venus."



(CNN) -- The megayacht that Steve Jobs commissioned in the final years of his life has been impounded in Amsterdam after a payment dispute involving the designer, Philippe Starck.

The Venus, a 100-million-euro ($137.5 million), 260-foot-long yacht, made its unofficial debut in late October. It's currently stuck in the Port of Amsterdam after Starck hired a debt-collection agency to attempt to remit the final payment for his design.

According to lawyers at Ubik -- Starck's design company -- speaking with Reuters, the designer has only received 6 million of the 9-million-euro commission and is seeking the rest of the payment before the Venus will be released.

"These guys [Jobs and Starck] trusted each other, so there wasn't a very detailed contract," Roelant Klaassen, a lawyer for Ubik, told Reuters.

The Venus is a floating ode to both Jobs and Starck's minimalist aesthetic. Made entirely out of aluminum, with 40-foot-long floor-to-ceiling windows lining the passenger compartment and seven 27-inch iMacs making up the command center.

In Walter Isaacson's biography of Jobs, the late Apple CEO is quoted as saying that, "I know that it's possible I will die and leave Laurene with a half-built boat, but I have to keep going on. If I don't, it's an admission that I'm about to die."

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The Silver Lining To Google Maps Being Kicked Off The iPhone - Money

Google Maps and Apple Maps on the iPhone (Photo credit: smjb)

by Parmy Olson, Forbes Staff

When Apple released the latest update to its mobile operating system, iOS 6, many iPhone users were surprised to find the Google Maps application they used to get around was replaced by a flawed Apple version. The preinstalled YouTube app from Google? Also gone. Apple, naturally, was seeking more control over its “ecosystem,” the software tools people used on its devices, and open the door for its automated voice assistant Siri to do more.

Yet this snub to Google may have been no bad thing to Apple’s rival in the long run. Google is now preparing to release a new version of its Maps app to Apple’s App Store, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cites a person with direct knowledge of the matter. This means iPhone users can download a similar version of Google Maps all over again. The difference for Google is that this time around, it can make more money. According to the Journal, Google will be able to include more ads from local businesses in its new Maps app, and even “tie it to other revenue-generating Google services.”

Google couldn’t do this with its previous Maps app, because Apple had built it with Google data before adding it to the iPhone.

The same is already happening with YouTube, the other pre-installed app from Google that Apple had left out of iOS 6. Google released a new version of YouTube for the iPhone in September 2012, and it’s not only popular, it contains more video ads than the old YouTube app for iOS. That means more potential ad revenue for Google, thanks to being kicked off the iPhone.

While Apple’s Eddy Cue, vice president for Internet software and services, works on fixing the inconsistencies with Apple’s Maps app, Google’s forthcoming rival will include turn-by-turn navigation that lets people use it as a GPS device while driving. This is a compelling feature that the previous Google Maps app also didn’t have. Forbes commentator Roger Kay has already suggested that removing Google Maps from the iPhone could turn more people towards Android. If consumers can see Google’s Maps app performing better on the same screen as Apple’s, it could give them another nudge in that direction.

Maps are a crucial feature on smartphones, not just so that consumers can get around, but as a revenue source from businesses that want to be featured on the screen whenever we look up a road or landmark. In the end, Google still needs to be on Apple devices to get that revenue, and not being the default Maps application means it will miss out on being connected to the live links of other apps; ie. opening up a address in the iPhone’s Contacts app, and tapping on it to show the location - that now happens through Apple Maps.

More ads on the new YouTube and Maps apps should help Google offset that decline of usage, and revenue, on the iPhone. On the other hand, noticeably more ads could be off putting for iPhone users. It’s a tricky balancing act, and Google will have to tread carefully.

original source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2012/11/16/the-silver-lining-to-google-maps-being-kicked-off-the-iphone-money/?ss=future-tech

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The Autumn of Apple’s Discontent

(Photograph by Daniel J. Groshong/Bloomberg)
Customers at Apple's store in Hong Kong, China, on Friday, Sept. 21, 2012

Do the laws of gravity apply to Apple (AAPL) shares? That seems to be the message from traders who pushed the stock down 23 percent, to 545, from September’s all-time high of $705. Apple saw its greatest dive in four years on Wednesday, and while it bounced back a smidge on Thursday morning, that one-day plunge erased $35 billion of market value.

A nation holds its breath. Sort of.

Remember the old bit about a General Motors (GM) car in every garage? Today, iPhones, MacBooks, and iPads seem just as ubiquitous, especially at Starbucks (SBUX). As Cupertino goes, they say, so goes the nation.

But Apple’s future is not just about us Big Mac-scarfing Americans.

Alas, much of Wednesday’s tumble was attributed to chest-thumping comments made by China Mobile’s (CHL) chief executive officer at a conference in Guangzhou. Li Yue said his wireless network, the world’s largest, wouldn’t add the iPhone without good terms from Cupertino. “The business model and benefit sharing still need further discussion,” he remarked. The iPhone is available, and with subsidies, on China’s two smaller carriers: China Unicom (Hong Kong) (CHU) and China Telecom (CHA).

At the same time, China Mobile said it would be offering Microsoft (MSFT) and Nokia’s (NOK) iPhone challenger, the Lumia 920T Windows 8 Phone. Compare this paradigm with the blessing and curse that was AT&T’s (T) long-lived iPhone exclusivity.

Apple has also so far disappointed investors hoping for a special mega-dividend ahead of the U.S. fiscal cliff. In perhaps a homage to the ignore-the-stock air affected by his late predecessor Steve Jobs, CEO Tim Cook, who we interviewed for this week’s cover, has yet to cut such a check, even though the company is carrying more than $120 billion in cash and short-term securities.

Edward Zabitsky of Toronto-based ACI Research is the only analyst among the more than 60 who cover

Apple who has an actual “short sell” rating on the shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Since January, Zabitsky has been arguing that Apple is headed to $270 a share, given increased competition, the diminishing appeal of its closed-architecture App Store experience, and shakier management and innovation without Jobs.

Zabitsky says Apple nemesis Samsung Electronics (005930) is challenging Cupertino with smartphones that offer bigger screens, picture-in-picture video, and a new user interface called multi-window. “In the longer term,” adds Zabitsky, “Apple’s app-store model is breaking down. Apple now represents ‘Web 1.5,’” an era, he says, when its app system overcame a general lack of bandwidth and Internet standards.

Begging to differ: Eric Jackson, managing member of Ironfire Capital, a hedge fund that is long Apple. Last month, Jackson debated Zabitsky on Canada’s Business News Network.

In November 2011, Jackson points out, there was similar consternation when Apple shares fell 15 percent.

“We heard enormous bearishness at the time,” recounts Jackson. “‘Steve Jobs’s magic is gone now that he’s dead; Apple can’t keep growing because it’s so big; all the technical indicators are pointing to Apple going to $300; there’s increased margin pressure.’ We hear the same complaints now.  However, Apple has since proceeded to double.”

Jackson says it’s only natural for such a successful stock to get ahead of itself and leave investors wringing their hands about the prospects of future growth. “I still see lots of runway for growth ahead,” he says, noting that Apple sells 29 million iPhones a quarter, vs. Samsung’s roughly 100 million mobile phones.

Counting feature phones and smartphones, Apple accounts for just 15 percent of all mobile phones. “In a few years from now,” Jackson predicts, “those feature phones are going to go away, and most of the world, from Boston to Bangkok, will be on smartphones. My guess is that Apple will get a lot of those people. We could see their global market share double.” The iPhone, he points out, currently chips in half of Apple’s revenue and 70 percent of its profits, “so a tripling of its volumes isn’t insignificant.”

Throw in an Apple TV next year and a possible i-payments system, and Jackson thinks it’s “very possible” that Apple could triple its earnings and stock price by 2016.

Zabitsky says that such successful iPhone margins or Apple TVs are hardly assured and should not be baked into the stock price. He says he’s also worried about management discord in Cupertino, as illustrated by the recent ouster of Scott Forstall after Apple’s botched attempt to box out Google (GOOG) Maps. Such signs of weakness from the company, he says, will only embolden Apple’s wireless carriers to demand more of a cut from iPhone sales.

Jackson counters that Apple has had a major stock price decline once a year for each of the last eight years, one as bad as 52 percent from top to bottom. Each and every time, the stock’s decline has been followed by what Jackson oxymoronically calls a “violent upward move” of 40 percent to 100 percent.

If you like the sound of “violent upward move,” then you will absolutely adore “death cross,” a technical alarm that Apple shares just sounded. Both are also great names for a garage band.

Farzad is a Bloomberg Businessweek contributor. Follow him on Twitter @robenfarzad

Orginal source : http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-06/as-apples-stock-slides-a-lone-analyst-sounds-the-alarm#r=nav-fs

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Apple's ranking in China smartphone market falls to No.6: IDC

 

Reuters

By Lee Chyen Yee

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Apple Inc's rank in China's smartphone market, which is set to become the world's largest this year, fell to No.6 in the third quarter as it faced tough competition from Chinese brands, research firm IDC said on Thursday.

IDC's announcement comes a day after Apple's shares fell more than 6 percent on the Nasdaq, logging its biggest single-day loss in four years and losing $35 billion of its value, on concerns about rivals gaining ground in the mobile devices market.

China, already the world's biggest mobile phone market, is seeing competition intensifying in its smartphone sector, with global and homegrown vendors trying to outgun one another in terms of price and features.

Underscoring that, Nokia announced on Wednesday it is to partner China Mobile, the country's largest wireless carrier, in a sales deal that will give the Finnish company an opportunity to win back some Chinese market share from Apple's iPhone.

Apple saw its third-quarter ranking by market share fall two notches from its position in the second quarter, IDC said. Its market share by shipments was under 10 percent in the third quarter, when China's smartphone shipments hit a record high, at more than 60 million units, the research firm added.

However, IDC analysts expect a rebound with the launch of the iPhone 5 in China in December. Apple last week received approval from regulators for the sale of the iPhone 5 in the country.

Galaxy-maker Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world's No.2 PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd and global No.2 telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd retained the top two and No.5 spots, respectively, IDC said.

Chinese brand Coolpad made a three-spot leap to No.3 in the country, but ZTE Corp dropped one place to No.4 in the July-September period, IDC said. The research firm did not give the market share numbers of any company except Apple.

"Chinese vendors Coolpad, Lenovo and ZTE made it to the Asia Pacific ex-Japan top 5 vendors on strong performance in their home market, showing that it is not impossible for Chinese vendors to surpass international vendors," Wong Teck-zhung, a senior market analyst at IDC, said in a statement.

GENEROUS SUBSIDIES

China now has more than one billion mobile phone subscribers though less than a fifth are 3G subscribers.

The country's three mobile carriers, China Mobile, Unicom and Telecom have been doling out generous handset subsidies to try to attract higher-end users keen on online gaming and social networking.

Chinese vendors are also offering smartphones in the sub-1,000 yuan ($160) category.

"Price continues to be king," Jeff Lorbeck, senior vice president for U.S. mobile chip maker Qualcomm's product management, told reporters in a conference on Thursday.

"The local China brands are becoming increasingly important in both the carrier channels and open-market channels, so a lot of the tier 1 global brands are being displaced by China's local brands."

(Editing by Daniel Magnowski and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

http://finance.yahoo.com

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Apple wins patents on iPhone 4 design, MagSafe

by Don Reisinger

December 4, 2012



(Credit: Apple)

Apple has won several patents today from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Apple had filed for a patent on the iPhone 4's design and was awarded it today. Interestingly, Apple also received a design patent on the white iPhone -- a device that, in 2010, was delayed due to "challenging" production issues.

Not to be outdone, a patent on the iPad's case was also awarded to Apple, along with the company's Smart Cover, which magnetically connects to the tablet and sits on top of the slate's screen.

Apple has been winning patents left and right lately. In October, the company won a patent on the original iPad design. A month later, Apple was awarded a patent on the way in which pages turn in its iOS.

Patents have become important assets to companies, as infringement lawsuits hit courts all over the world. Apple is involved in several lawsuits against Samsung, Motorola, and others. The more patents the company owns, the more protection -- and ammo -- it can bring to its court battles. Whether today's newly earned patents will make their way into certain cases is unknown.

Moving away from its mobile products, Apple was also able to win a patent on its MagSafe charging mechanism. That technology magnetically connects to a Mac to charge it, but when the cable is torn away, the magnetic seal is broken, ensuring the computer doesn't fly off a table with it.

Originally posted at Apple, cnet.com

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Who is the next Steve Jobs (and is there one)?

(CNN) -- It's a loaded question, one with no clear answer. But in the year since Apple's co-founder and
visionary CEO died, it's been asked in tech circles over and over:

Who is the next Steve Jobs?

There's one easy response. It's safe to say that no figure in the tech industry will perfectly duplicate the unique blend of vision, salesmanship, mystique and eye for detail possessed by Jobs, who died one year ago Friday.

And it's complicated further, some say, by the fact that for much of his own life, many wouldn't have predicted Jobs himself would earn tech-icon status.

"Steve Jobs had a strange career. He really wasn't celebrated as a genius until really late," said Leander Kahney, editor of the Cult of Mac blog and author of books on Apple, including "Inside Steve's Brain."

Not until Jobs returned to Apple and introduced the iPod and iPhone did people begin to praise him as a modern-day Thomas Edison, Kahney said. "He was dismissed before then as a marketing guy, a fast talker who didn't know much about technology. He only really was lionized in the last four or five years."

But industry observers abhor a vacuum. Futile though it might be, it's perhaps human nature to speculate about who could emerge to fill the void left by the passing of tech's biggest personality and most recognizable face.

One can make cases for or against a handful of nominees. And no list is long enough to include an as-yet unknown creator who may be birthing the industry's next game-changer in a garage or dorm room somewhere.

But here are some names worth considering, with thoughts both for and against their candidacies:

Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon

Pros: Bezos actually has a host of traits that mirror Jobs. Like Jobs was with Apple, he's the founder of

Amazon as well as its CEO. Being a part of a company's life story helps. As much as anyone, Bezos also captures a bit of Jobs' panache at live events. At last year's rollout of the Kindle Fire, he got high marks for introducing a game-changing product in a stylized fashion, then getting off the stage. (Tech giants Google and Microsoft have been accused of being rambling and unfocused at similar unveilings.) Reports say Bezos shares Jobs' penchant for attention to detail (some would say micromanaging) and, like Jobs, he's been willing to take the company into new and unexpected directions.

"I've met Bezos personally, and he is mesmeric. Brilliant smile, quick mind, very engaging and decisive," Kahney told CNN. "He has the same obsession with the ordinary consumer; to make and sell things from the consumer's point of view. ... Bezos has Jobs' focus and drive. He's a little bit maniacal in his drive and ambition."

Cons: Despite the Kindle line, Amazon is, at its core, a content company. The mobile devices are a means of delivering books, music, movies and other data to customers as directly as possible. Will the public ever be as excited about the CEO of the company that peddles e-books and data-storage space as it was about the one that sold it its personal computers, laptops, phones and music players?

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook

Pros: The Steves -- Jobs and Wozniak -- had their garage. Zuckerberg had his Harvard dorm room. And in those two rooms, perhaps the two best-known origin stories in tech were born. As head of the social network that has changed the way people use the Internet, Zuckerberg is maybe the only tech boss who, like Jobs, has become a household name. ("The Social Network" didn't hurt.) He created a product that millions of people now use. And he's even cultivated his own trademark, casual-wear style, as the Zuckerberg hoodie is now almost as iconic as Jobs' mock turtleneck.

"Zuckerberg has some of the characteristics (of Jobs), and perhaps the most important one -- the pursuit of a vision," Kahney said. "That sets him apart."

Cons: He's gotten better at speaking in public. But as a pitchman, Zuckerberg still falls miles short of the charismatic Jobs. It's seems Zuck would rather be the idea man behind the scenes than front-and-center when it comes time to sell the final product. Also, the fact that Facebook's stock price is not already racing toward Google/Apple heights doesn't help.

Tim Cook, CEO, Apple

Pros: Well, there's the obvious one. Job's was Apple's CEO. Now Cook is. At the helm of the company, Cook gets to be the face of every new innovation rolled out by Apple. He's got the biggest stage and brightest spotlight in which to put himself forward.

Cons: Cook comes from more of a business background than one of innovation and design. He may masterfully steer Apple's course for years to come, but, rightly or not, few observers at this juncture are inclined to give him credit for vision, or influence over products' design, the way they did Jobs. Plus, being Apple CEO after Jobs is like being the football coach who follows a retiring Bear Bryant or Vince Lombardi. What were those guys' names? Exactly.

Jonathan Ive, senior vice president, Apple

Pros: When Jobs stepped down, there were many who expected Ive, not Cook, to step up. Ive is senior vice president of industrial design and is believed to be the creative mind behind products from the Macbook Pro to the iPod to the iPad. The London native already has a knighthood, as well as a healthy dose of Jobs' true-believer passion for the product.

Cons: Well, he's not the CEO. (Nor is marketing mastermind Phil Schiller, another name bandied about to replace Jobs). To truly ascend to Jobsian levels, Ive would need to set out on his own -- which, at 45, is doable. It's hard to envision Ive bolting from Apple, where he's worked since 1992. But, boy, it would be fun to watch.

Marissa Mayer, CEO, Yahoo

Pros: If you need proof of how well Google alum Mayer is liked in Silicon Valley, just look at the number of folks she's been able to lure to join her at a Yahoo that was floundering when she took the reins in July. At Google, where the former engineer was the 20th employee, she's credited with everything from the clean design of the search page to becoming one of the leading public faces of the tech giant.

Cons: It looks like a turnaround has begun at Yahoo. But the job's still a long way from done. If Mayer becomes the face of a dramatic rebirth, she will have accomplished something few predicted. If she doesn't (the four CEOs before her all fell short), it likely won't hurt her reputation all that much -- but neither will it bump her up to the next level.

Elon Musk, serial entrepreneur

Pros: How's this for an origin story? Musk grew up in South Africa before leaving home at 17, without his parents' consent, rather than serve a compulsory stint in an army which, at the time, was enforcing the race-based apartheid system. He'd end up in the United States four years later -- although he'd already sold his first software, a video game called Blastar, when he was 12. Since then, all he's done is create publishing software Zip2 (sold to AltaVista for $300 million), co-found PayPal (he owned 11% of its stock when eBay bought it for $1.5 billion) and help create Tesla Motors, makers of the first commercial electric car. Oh, wait ... he also runs SpaceX, a company working on space exploration. Director Jon Favreau says Musk was his inspiration for Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark character in the "Iron Man" movies.

"His ambitions are so huge," Kahney said. "He's definitely a ballsy character. And he's a good leader, like Jobs. He's surrounded himself with good people."

Cons: With the exception of Tesla, none of Musk's projects, so far, have directly involved consumer products. Tens of millions of people had something Jobs made in their pockets, on their desks or piping music into their ears. Among the public, Musk may be less well-known than all of the names above -- at least for now. But, at 41, he's got time to change that and it would be foolish to bet against him.

Seth Priebatsch, CEO, SCVNGR, LevelUp

Pros: Who? Priebatsch is the wild card on this list. But consider him the representative of a new generation of young, creative tech "makers" who could ascend to loftier heights in the years, or decades, to come. At 22, Priebatsch's SCVNGR raised more than $20 million in funding. He founded his first Web company at 12 and has moved on to start LevelUp, a mobile-payments system that's also raked in millions from investors. He got rock-star treatment for a speech he gave last year at South by Southwest Interactive. Plus, he's already cultivated a Jobs-like signature fashion statement -- his trademark orange sunglasses and shirts.

Cons: In the startup world, for every success story, there are countless washouts. Not every young turk even wants to be another Jobs, and not every killer app has the potential to make millions, or billions, of dollars -- even when they're well-liked and widely used.

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How to wait a iPhone5?

New Yorkers on Monday wait in line for the iPhone 5, which goes on sale Friday.

(CNN) -- Want to get an iPhone 5 on Friday?

You'll probably need to wait in line. Or pay someone to do it for you.

Hipster-looking shoppers already have plopped down in folding chairs outside Apple's flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York.

And in San Francisco, a man working through a micro-tasking company (more on what that means in a second) has been diligently waiting in line, for a price, since Monday.

"You're going to wait here until Friday? God watch over you," a stranger told that person, who was using a service called TaskRabbit, according to his Twitter feed.

Massive demand awaits Friday's iPhone 5 sale

TaskRabbit nabbed the first-in-line spot to try to promote its online service that allows people to pay someone else to do a menial task for them. In this case, according to CNET, you can find people online who for about $40 to $150 will stand in line to purchase the iPhone 5 on your behalf.

That sort of idea isn't all that new, and line-standers also are offering their services on craigslist. "If you are looking to buy the iPhone 5 when it is released, but not looking to stand in the line. I'll do it for you!" wrote one person in Los Angeles. "I'll get in line at 6 a.m. for 40 bucks. Camp overnight for 70," wrote another stander, this one from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Other people are posting craigslist ads asking others to stand in line for them. One such ad, in Los Angeles, says the patron will offer the stander "a reasonable amount" ... "and on top of that, I'll even buy you breakfast."

For those who don't want to spend even more than the hefty price tag for the iPhone, but do want to pick up a phone on Friday, perhaps the line is the way to go.

Unless you hopped online within the first hour or so last Friday, pre-ordered iPhones aren't expected to arrive for weeks.

But plan to get up early on Friday morning.

While opening-day iPhone lines vary by location -- what passes as early enough at a Radio Shack in Boise may not work for the Apple store in Brooklyn -- analysts generally say advance consumer demand for the iPhone 5 is outpacing previous models. Early reviews of the phone have been positive.

Apple recently announced it had received 2 million pre-orders for the new phone, which is taller, faster, lighter and slimmer than the previous model, the iPhone 4S. That's about double what the company experienced for the previous iPhone, Apple said.

That could foreshadow long lines. Or it could mean more consumers are skipping the line-waiting game and, instead, have chosen to order the phone online.

iPhone 5 pre-order shipping dates pushed back

The line waits are part exercise in extreme consumerism, part homage to Apple.

Last year some of the line-standers made pilgrimages to Apple stores in part out of a sense of tribute to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who died a week before the phone went on sale. Fans set up mini-memorials in his honor at some Apple stores.

To get a sense of what the most dedicated Apple fans are willing to go through, check out this chart from The Atlantic, which shows the longest Apple gadget waits.

If you're just in the market for purchasing the new iPhone, not the in-line circus, there are several other stores that plan to carry the iPhone 5 on Friday.

They include AT&T, Sprint and Verizon stores, as well as select Best Buy, RadioShack, Target and Walmart locations. Check with stores in your area for details.

Still want to brave the Apple store? Doors open at 8 a.m. local time Friday in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK. The iPhone 5 will roll out to 22 more countries on September 28.

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Getting Rid of Your Old iPhone 4S? Apple Will Pay You For It

With mere weeks until the rumored release of the iPhone 5, Apple fanboys and girls may be clamoring to rid themselves of the old to make room for the new.

Looking to offset the cost of upgrading? If you own an iPhone 4S, then you’re in luck. Through its Reuse and Recycling program, Apple will offer $345 on an Apple gift card in exchange for the old device, depending on its condition, The Next Web reports.

 

The online wizard lets users select the model, color and condition of your iPhone 4S, and will then provide an estimated value of the device. Naturally, its value diminishes if there are scratches, water damage and other issues.

Reuse and Recycling extends to other Apple devices, including iPads, Macs and even PC computers. If your device qualifies after being sent in for assessment, the gift card you receive can be used at any Apple retail and online store. If not, the company says it will recycle it for you at no cost.

Other third-party retailers, such as eBay, also sell the iPhone 4S. A quick look at the site shows the device going for much higher prices, often upwards of $500.

Would you sell your iPhone 4s to Apple? And would you use the earnings on a brand-new iPhone 5? Tell us in the comments below.

article source from: http://mashable.com/2012/08/30/sell-iphone-4s-apple/

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