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By Graham K. Rogers
Opening Gambit
News on the iPad with rumours of dates, new apps, older apps doing well and the possible change in the iOS dock connector. Delays to new Macs because Intel is not releasing Ivy Bridge (too many Sandy Bridge in the storeroom). More from the Apple shareholder meeting last week. Proview and Apple. Apple and Chinese counterfeits. Apple's size now makes it a sector on its own, between Industrials and Materials.
Apple Stuff
Let's start with the rumours about the iPad 3 as there is a bit of news from Rene Ritchie on iMore that uses some information from the direction of China and the need for a shipper to have extra security for cargo from Chengdu International Airport to Chicago, JFK and LA airports on 9 March, which ties in fairly neatly with the 7 March release mooted for the device. I can just hear Tim Cook saying, "it will be in the shops by Friday", which would also be the time that the rumoured iOS update is due.
Other rumours concern the updates to MacBooks according to Charles Moore and Dan Knight on LowEnd Mac, although I guess they may mean the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. Intel is expected to delay the release of its Ivy Bridge processor as they have too many Sandy Bridge ones on hand. I guess that may be due to the low sales of PCs in recent months, because of the economy and the lack of hard disks, so it is all Thailand's fault with the flooding. The page also has a look at the AMD processor and how it might (or might not) be used in a Mac. On the lower output of the hard disk manufacturers, we hear that things are beginning to pick up around the northern edges of Bangkok where many of these factories are. Phil Muncaster reports on The Register that the output is apparently some 140 million drives for the first quarter: about 80% capacity. Some companies were less affected than others.
The iPad and the iPhone have warped the markets to an extent with Apple soaring away in terms of revenue and market value to make that small "other" computer company down in Silicon Valley one of the most valuable corporations ever. Indeed, JP Morgan is suggesting that Apple is a separate market sector. That did not come home to me until I looked at the article by Mike Schramm on TUAW who reports the comments of Mark Moskowitz and I looked at the chart there. At number 7 is "Industrials" (10.6%) at 9 and 10 are Materials (3.6%) and Utilities 3.4%), with Apple in between at number 8 and 3.6%. The sheer size makes it difficult to compare Apple with the other companies who make devices. Technology is Number 1 with 20.2%.
More rumours on iOS devices began late Thursday concerning the 30-pin dock connector that is unique to Apple. Rene Ritchie who has been doing a lot with rumours of late, suggests that the connector is about to be dumped as a smaller form factor connector could make more room for other components. Part of the reason may also be that in most cases it is possible to sync using wifi so again there are only specific times when this connector is needed for many. But not all. If Apple thinks this is the way to go, then Apple will go that way. Other comments on this came from AppleBitch and AppleInsider.
I have been using the beta of Messages for a week or so and have little problem with it, apart from when True restarted the network (see below) and the FaceBook connection disappeared. A restart of Messages fixed that. Mike Schramm on TUAW examines the application and how it works; but he suggests that as it competes with Facetime, it may make sense to merge the two. He also suggests something I have been after for a while: making it cross platform; although I would settle for just MSN access.
There were reports over the weekend that Adobe had sort of got to grips with the iPad after a couple of years of waiting and had released its Photoshop Touch app. Not long after, other reports told us it was pulled. Brad McCarty on The Next Web is one who discusses this online and he suggests it was a premature release. It was not due until Monday. It also strikes me that a version of Aperture for the iPad would be most welcome, especially as we can already import RAW images to the iPad direct from a DSLR camera.
We have had an on-off relationship with Murdoch's The Daily as despite all the other problems that News Corp and News International have, this was a vote of confidence in Steve Jobs's vison of what the iPad and tablet computing could be. For me, once the Daily was announced and other apps like Wired or The New Yorker began to arrive, the potential was clear. Anna Heim on The Next Web has an interesting look at the Daily this week as it is claiming to be the top grossing iPad app in the World, so she had a look. It certainly is in the US store, but as it is not top in other countries -- not even shown in that list in Thailand -- we cannot know if it does take in more, worldwide, than any other app.
A bit after the shareholder meeting last Thursday (early Friday here) some more detailed reports began to appear on what went on and Tim Cook appears to have pleased a lot of people with his quiet, but sometimes witty comments and replies. Bryan Chaffin of The MacObserver, was there and has a number of interesting observations in his fairly long review that are worth taking the time to read through. Bryan's favorite quote from him was about Macs and innovation, when he said, "Arguably, we were the only company innovating in computers [in 2011], and we have been [the only company to do so] for some time." Indeed, as we read on Forbes, Connie Guglielmo reports that Tim Cook reports that Apple is "working as hard as ever this year to deliver an incredible year and some products that will blow your mind. . . ." I must say I like the sound of that. The link for this was via MacDaily News.
With the luxury of a week since the announcements on Mountain Lion, Apple's next iteration of OS X, commentators have had the time to examine carefully what is to be in the release and what some of it means. Edward Aten on GigaOm has had a look at the implications of the increased cloud integration that is in Lion and suggests that both Facebook and Microsoft are threatened by this. I particularly liked his comment early in the introduction when he writes, "Many companies have learned the hard way not to underestimate Apple." The analysis is interesting and does suggest that there is far more of a whole idea baked into OS X than other companies are used to creating. But I guess that is Apple.
We mustn't forget Proview who are now intent on suing Apple in the US courts which has raised some eyebrows, especially with a couple of the arguments. However, Electronista is reporting some interesting background to the case as it appears that behind the company there are a number of banks who were controlling Proview when the disputed deal for the trade name was done. The creditors -- the banks -- did not sign off on the deal and this may be why there has been some dragging of the feet. That and the probability that the banks can smell more money.
This may also explain the suspect argument being used to confront Apple in the US system
Having been left out just a bit by Apple when Mountain Lion was announced, the NYTimes seems to be making some effort to re-balance its Apple coverage with an item by Michael Wilson who reported how the NY Police made a bust of counterfeit iPhones sold on the streets not long ago. The police also raided premises where there were lots more iPhones, iPads and iPods as well as other fake products. Even more amusing was the way the Chinese police busted some counterfeiters of fake iPhone gas-stoves, Geekologie reports. Right. These were gas stoves of the type used widely here that connect to a natural gas cylinder, but they had the Apple logo and the word, iPhone by way of branding. There are pictures of the branded devices, their labels and their boxes on the site. Our original link for this was MacDaily News.
It is good to see the Chinese police taking some action on Apple counterfeits many of which come out of China and some from major companies: the same companies that insist that their brands are protected of course. As consumers here will be aware, such counterfeit products are often available in certain outlets and areas in Bangkok. You only have top touch them sometimes and you know it is not a real Apple product. I did this on Friday when a technician at work had what he called a "SuperPad". With my first glance I thought it was an iPad with a thick case, but then I saw the extra ports: USB, Ethernet, and others. Picking it up it was clear it was not an iPad (although I was aware already by this time) and it just felt sort of cheap. The "aluminum" was actually plastic.
Half and Half
A user of an iPhone took AT&T to court in the small claims court over the way the carrier had been throttling data speeds, won the case and $850 from the company. Small beer in a way, but it does open the way for others to sue and, if that were say a couple of thousand disgruntled users, that is over a million. There is also the risk to AT&T of a class action suit although AT&T is looking at the idea of an appeal. Josh Lowensohn reports how, despite being on an unlimited data plan (we uses these because we expect to use lots of data, no?), the company announced it was going to throttle back data flow for some of the heaviest users but never told anyone what the limits were before the cutbacks began.
A week or so ago there was a lot of noise about the way Google was allegedly using a backdoor in Safari on mobile devices to track users. Oh, no we aren't, Google cried. In mock outrage apparently, as Jonathan Mayer who apparently reported on the original findings, was affected by the Google smokescreen. He now has had a chance to re-examine his report and clarifies the findings in the light of the confusion sown by Google, and includes the Google statement.
Other Matters
As a sign of my mis-spent youth, I have always loved pinball machines and even have an app for this on the iPad: Pinball HD. We are informed by Bryan Bishop on The Verge, that the man credited with the development of the modern pinball table, Steve Kordek, has died at the age of 100.
I have used some odd ideas in my classes from time to time and one was to get the students to examine alternative methods of control for a wheelchair-bound person with limited use of hands and legs. I wanted them to use what was (although they did not know this) a real experimental idea of using muscle control: the initial tests were done using a butterfly. As part of the background to such forms of control we examined other possibilities along with their advantages and disadvantages, like telekenesis, eye control and mouth control systems. The latter were usually dismissed as being impractical and messy, but it appears that Georgia Tech has now come up with a vastly improved method of a tongue control system according to Sam Byford on The Verge. Telekenesis next?
Local Items
Once more on a Sunday, my Internet died for a short while round 11 am. A friend who lives not far away tells me that his went off for about 10 minutes at 10 am, so it may be that the True service personnel are going round on Sunday before lunch and checking things: inconvenient to the customers; but since when did that matter here?
Late News
Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.
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