By Graham K. Rogers

Opening Gambit:

Apple Stuff

Earlier in the week we examined some of the tax liabilities (and payments) that Apple had made. I made a particular reference to the amount of cash that Apple has sitting outside the US - it does most business outside, after all - and that the Federal Government was resistant to the idea of a tax amnesty. If Apple (and the other companies similarly affected) were to bring it all home now, they would be liable to a flat 30% on all of it: several billion 30 per cents. Needless to say, the corporations have this on hold.

It has been known for a while that Apple has been pressing the government - indeed before his death Steve Jobs asked President Obama about it, with little response. Ryan Tate on Wired enlarges on some of the points I made early in the week and has a figure of $28 billion that it could cost under current rules. What the government might do next, or what Apple might do, is speculative; but it is worth looking at the options as they appear now. [My link for this was MacDaily News.]

Mountain Lion is selling like hot-cakes MacNN reports. The latest version of OS X that appeared only a few months ago is now being used on an estimated 32% of Apple computers (Lion is still 30%) and it significantly took only 5 months to get there.

Also selling like hotcakes are the iPads and in an interesting snippet on the CNN Money site, JP Mangalindan writes that if that part of the business were to be spun off, it would be the 11th largest company in the US also coming in at 98 on the Fortune 500 list. [My link for this was MacDaily News.]
In the meantime, what do we know? A predictor of sorts for future sales is how many components are being ordered. Patently Apple reports that Largan Precision, who make iPhone 5 camera lenses have reported high sales. The article has some figures and if they are selling lots, so should Apple be.

Still in short-supply however, according to AppleInsider, is the newest iMac, even though as we reported on Monday the Fusion Drive can now be ordered with the low-end (21.5") version. Waits of between 3 and 4 weeks are shown on the Online Stores and that is the same for the Thai Store.

I also reported recently that Apple was expected to move to the new 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard that should provide Gigabit 5G wireless to the Macs so equipped (as long as the router is good enough). AppleBitch now reports that Cupertino is advertising for engineers to help spur development. However a Tweet from AppleBitch Wednesday morning told me that all mention of 802.11ac had gone.

It surprises me, but shouldn't, but I still get excited by good iPhone apps. New ones keep appearing and some of them have that unusual factor that has me reaching for the Buy button. Two that I have loved (already) this week are Stickr - an app that adds labels to images - and Distressed FX. This changes the textures of images so that they are finished in a different way. It does not work with all images, or with all of the textures and filters available, but on some, the effect is rather stunning.

Other apps also being written about are from Griffin and Crayola, whose crayons we scribbled with and in some cases chewed, many years ago. John Virata on AppleInsider writes about the tie-up between the two and the creative tools for the iPad that are coming from this collaboration.

On TUAW Leanna Lofte tells us about an app that uses a proximity sensor to lock the Mac as the user moves away. As some of my students are creating a project using RFID tags to remind users if they have left their keys behind, and another is looking at ways to unlock a door using wifi as the user approaches, I sent them a link to the article.

All those apps. Actually, several sources told us this week that the total number of apps has reached 40 billion unique downloads and that with this huge number developers have been paid some $7 billion. Jacqui Cheng on Ars technica also writes that of that 40 billion figure, 20 billion were downloaded in 2012: a single year. Federico Viticci on MacStories also reports on the figures, including in the article some quotes from Apple's press release as well as some useful charts. Jim Tanous on The MacObserver also has similar information about this milestone.

Also from Jim Tanous is a repeat of that cheapo iPhone rumour that keeps coming round. DigiTimes are the source of this and that is not always reliable. The motivator is said to be the success of the cheaper iPad mini. We shall see.

Related? Who knows? But Tim Cook is reported to be on his second visit to China in 10 months currently, apparently meeting with the head of industry and information technology to discuss the tech industry Sam Oliver reports on AppleInsider.

There is something about Tim Cook. Really nice guy on the surface, but clearly an effective head of Apple for those who watch the company: his way of dealing with Forestall made some people sit up and take notice, for example. But the press won't leave him alone: there was some discussion of replacement, and others have been waiting for mistakes, leaping on the Maps app when its shortcomings were revealed. "You would think that Apple CEO Tim Cook is the enemy", Gene Steinberg writes in a comment on how the press - particularly the financial press who are far more interested in Apple nowadays - treat Cook. They are usually more interested in the doom and gloom than real advances. [My link for this was MacDaily News.]

And the company that has ceased innovation, just won its 7th patent for solar energy relating to the MacBook, Patently Apple reports: a method for harnessing external sunlight to illuminate a MacBook's display. A fuller description and diagrams are shown in the article.

When he whose name is not mentioned these days (Scott Forestall) was ousted from his Executive VP chair, there was a lot of chatter about skeuomorphic design: the virtual thing looks like the real thing, such as the leather on the Calendar app. David Wiskus on MacWorld writes about design and Apple beginning with the idea that some icons are so set, that it is hard to change them (the egg-timer, or the floppy disk for Save), but maybe the time has come for some aspects to move on.

Half and Half

At the same show there were some new processors from Intel that Apple is expected to be interested in. AppleInsider reports that Intel Vice President and Manager of their PC Client Group, Kirk Skaugen, spoke about the 4th generation Core series lineup: Haswell.

In addition, two car manufacturers have gone a bit further with integration of Siri and "the infotainment system will connect to iOS 6-based iPhones" Patently Apple reports. Ford goes a little further with their use of apps and Wayne Cunningham reports they have a new app developer program for Sync AppLink, along with several compatible apps. As well as iOS devices, this works with a Bluetooth connected Android device.

Other Matters

One that may roll (if you can lift it) is the Lenovo tablet. It is actually referred to as a table tablet and has a 27" screen, which is a bit of a contradiction I feel. Someone called Ewan who founded Mobile Industry Review, and who may be the new Rob Enderle, writes on Mobile Industry Review that this is a smart idea and he writes that he can think of of a ton of different applications for huge tablet form factors, but doesn't think they'll sell trillions. I would agree on that last point, especially when one looks at the screen shot he has of a woman carrying one of these about in the house. Comments at the end of the article are perhaps the best part.

A report from Dara Kerr tells us that a Chinese national was lured to the US and prosecuted for software piracy. He had been head of a pirating ring that sold stolen software on the Web from 2008 to 2011. Microsoft, Oracle, Rockwell Automation, Agilent Technologies and Siemens are mentioned. Also mentioned are figures of $100 million stolen and a possible $500,000 fine along with 20 years as a guest of the US.

Local Items

This is a company that misses long-term opportunities over and over for the short term gains. Years ago in my last place I had real cable TV which is what the company started with before it was seduced by Shinawatra and fell in love with satellite dishes. The cable was a reliable service (no signal loss when it rained unlike here) and under used. When I asked about internet connections using the system, I was told I could have it one way, but would need a modem to send my data which defeated the object. It was years before ADSL came into more full use, and True sat on the direct links it had all that time doing nothing.

The report in the Post tells us that the rise in revenue the company experienced was due to its reality show Academy Fantasia Season 9 as well as the new hit programme Voice Thailand and growing advertising revenue. The TV guide is pretty much only advertising and they won't keep the Pizza Company happy when they realise it is only used for the bottom of bird cages now.

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.