By Graham K. Rogers

Opening Gambit

Apple Stuff

One idea that has been around for a while - indeed Steve Jobs started it by what he said to Walter Isaacson for the biography - is that of the Apple TV. Whenever this is mentioned we have to look around for Gene Munster who would already be getting a woody. However, this time we start with an AP article that MacDaily News mentions. The link does not work, but the idea is that Peter Svensson reports that an analyst says (see, we are already down 2 levels) that "the set will go on sale late this year, for $1,500 to $2,500" This is apparently Brian Topeka who has been wrong more than once on Apple and who adds that the set will be controlled by an iRing that will control the screen by pointing: one ring to control it all?

Also covering this was Electronista who similarly quote Brian White and his iRing. At least this article uses the term, "speculates" when discussing the size of the screens; but also adds in Siri. The article includes that "A potential problem with White's view is the current state of TV prices" but a bigger problem for me is that this appears to have no basis other than an analyst's idea.

Notice how this goes: one analyst, one idea, several sites pick it up and the rumour becomes unconfirmed fact, then fact.

Another rumour, this time by Jay Yarrow on the Yahoo Finance site, who picks up on a discussion by "prominent and well-sourced" Apple writers who have heard rumblings. From this, we are asked to conclude that Apple wants an event this month to announce a new iPad design. Or next month. Maybe. This, by the way was the same discussion on Branch that discussed the iOS 7 delays. Some good voices in there, but we are a bit short on facts.

One of those in the discussion was Rene Ritchie who expands on some of the ideas on iMore.

A possibility in the rumours stakes is the dumping of Samsung which has been mentioned a couple of times before, usually with TSMC in the same breath. Ernie Varitimos on AppleInvestor picks up an article in a Taiwan newspaper and also mentions DigiTimes. These sources suggest a new facility and that Apple will use this for the A7 processor. Take from that what you will.

And then, finally, the first look at a patent filing for a hybrid design notebook computer, Patently Apple reports, in which the screen is compleyely detachable and can communicate with the base section using wi-fi

We mentioned on Wednesday how there were beginning to be some stories about the arrival (and potential delays) of iOS 7. Radical. Major differences. These were touted by some sources, and in a Tweet I referred to on Wednesday, Rene Ritchie (see above) wrote, "Ive's work is apparently making many people really happy, but will also apparently make rich-texture-loving designers sad." Skeuomorphism bites the dust.

As well as the 40th anniversary of the cell phone (thanks, Bell Labs) this weeks sees the 3rd anniversary of the iPad going on sale. To celebrate, I bring you links to a couple of sites that list the naysayers: those who reported, predicted, claimed, that Apple had another flop on its hands, not too long after some of the same commentators had predicted the same about the iPhone, of course.

The first I saw was from Horace Dediu on ASYMCO who had such predictable voices as Dvorak, Ballmer and Gates, while there are also some gems (compare todays pundits) as this:

The company once notorious for its ability to upend convention and revolutionize markets may no longer have what it takes, worry some technology journalists. Call it the iPad or the iPlod, but the message seems clear: Apple may have lost its mojo. (Jeremy A. Kaplan, FOXNews.com)

Also included in the list is this recognition of what many were missing:

All the people (including me) who felt underwhelmed by the iPad initially might have missed its true potential. Put another way: the iPad is all about software. Forget the sleek form factor - that's just a prerequisite. Ironically, it's the software and services that Microsoft never 'got', that Apple totally does get.

There are more, many more; and there are more too from Yoni Heisler on TUAW who includes a couple from the above list, but also a few special ones including one from Bill Snyder who was dissing the iPad before it was even announced. Some things never change, do they?

With Apple taking the stance that it has to do business with China and issuing an apology to its customers over the ways warranty work had been carried out, it did not take long for naysayers to jump on this. Rocco Pendola for example rolled out one of his "Tim Cook" must go, articles, suggesting that this apology was an action that Steve Jobs would never have taken and thus implying that the backbone has gone. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

Pendola wonders about the correctness of the decision to appoint Cook, when he had already been acting CEO for a couple of spells and was Steve Jobs' own choice: precisely for the reasons Cook gets blamed for. His choice of the word, "improve" suggests that something is wrong, but it is only wrong in the eyes of Wall Street who force the share prices down, then look around for someone to blame. And to make it all better Apple must come up with something new, he writes, showing how little he understands the company.

Also wondering about Apple's new face in China is Jon Russell on TNW, who may be affected by the snows in England. As Apple has now been brought back into the fold in China, the disappearance of an app from the App Store is linked (somehow) as an example of Apple censoring the apps to keep the powers that be happy. They have done this before: no news here at all (unless fabricated).

Russell may need a lesson in realpolitik and should remind himself of the use of laws to keep certain matters from the eyes of the public in the country he normally lives in: here. Doing business with any country in the world, means that a company - any company - must abide by its regulations and if the Chinese authorities hint that they do not like something Apple is selling, then a nod is as good as a wink. The app remains available elsewhere in the world including the app store in Thailand.

Another take on that came from AppleInsider who also used as source the same Financial Times article: "The App Store software was removed because it provided access to 10 titles that are banned in the country, according to the Financial Times." There does not appear to be any great conspiracy there, especially as this is not the first time Apple has done this - nothing to do with recent accommodations at all despite what unprepared journalists think - as Steven Sande reports on TUAW, this had been done as far back as 2009.

Now bearing that in mind, watch what happens with the next item. Many sources, including Kelly Hodgkins on TUAW, were reporting that the encryption used by Apple in iMessage is so good that government investigators cannot break it. With the recent push by several governments to have free access to emails and other messages, this will not stand. The initial report refers to the Drug Enforcement Agency so there may be some nasty people who have iPhones, but right now, even with a warrant, this is unbreakable. So if this changes, Apple could be accused - by the standards applied with the books app in China - of kowtowing to US Authorities; but I am not sure many will read it that way.

While we are on iTunes, earlier in the week it was reported that, magically, Google searches were burying Apps about 3 or 4 pages down. Search for an app and it would not appear, unless you went digging through the search pages. AppleInsider report that a Google statement says the problem lies in the way Apple's web servers work, and is perhaps due to a duplicate content problem. Bing is not affected. Google is working on the problem.

We know that Apple is to start work soon on one of Steve Jobs' last great projects: the Apple campus, that some also call the Mother Ship. But we hear this week in an item by Roger Cheng that the costs are rising. From the original $3 billion, we are now told $5 billion. I expect Tim Cook will be blamed for that too, only Apple are now working with the architect to cut $1 billion

Last year we reported on a company called Lodsys that sued not Apple but developers who used Apple APIs for their apps. Apple did ask to become a friend of the court, but now - Lex Friedman reports on MacWorld - Lodsys is at it again with Walt Disney included as one of its targets (Where's my Water). Although Apple licences Lodsys technology and believes this covers developers, Lodsys claims that "individual developers must license its patents, along with Apple."

Apple is however being sued (of course) by another company, Patently Apple reports, concerning the use of flash memory. Some of the patents involved cover, "flash memory integrity testing, noise suppression technology and file management functionalities." A note at the end tells us that the company, e.Digital / Norris Communications appears to be broke and has been for most of its existence, apart from when it sued some company. Good strategy.

And other legal problems have arrived from Taiwan where, Patently Apple reports, The Fair Trade Office is looking into reports that Apple has been interfering in the pricing of iPhones sold by the carriers there.

One of the memorable quotes from the announcement of the iPhone in 2007 was one Steve Jobs used that came from Alan Kay: "People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware." Kay was a pioneer in the field of computers and is highly regarded. Kevin Bostic reports on AppleInsider that he was recently critical of the iPad and the way iOS works, saying "much of the iPad UI is very poor in a myriad of ways" among other things.

Mind you, that does not stop the way the use of the iPad (and like devices) continues to expand. Electronista reports on a survey from Piper Jaffray that found "the iOS platform both dominates and is growing its share of user engagement in Internet-related mobile use." The study actually may be a little flawed as the way it was carried out was not random, but it does seem to confirm other findings.

Related to the use of iOS is a report on Electronista using Apple statitics that apear to show that the related economy has now created directly or indirectly created 307,250 US jobs and that among these are 275,000 registered iOS developers in the US. There are some more stats in the article.

Half and Half

We have questioned before the stance that Amazon takes with publishers and how Apple's iBooks may have been put under pressure by the DoJ when Amazon - itself not a paragon - cried foul as it wanted to control the publishers itself. A small story appeared from Glyn Moody on TechDirt which seems fairly typical of the control Amazon has on publishing these days. The online sales force refused to handle a book that was in the Cornish language.

Not all that many people speak this tongue which is related to Breton and Welsh and could be the last remnants of a Phoenician exodus (or even Troy as some would argue) that went up the west coast of Europe.

Amazon won't handle it for Kindle as the language (which uses the Roman alphabet, like Americans do) is "not currently supported by Kindle Direct Publishing." The bad guys, iBooks and Apple, stepped in and now sell this work, but Moody sugests this is "another worrying example of how [Amazon] is failing to use its increasing global power responsibly."

A lot of countries sat up last year and finally noticed that companies that apparently operated within their borders were not paying all the taxes some (read, "some politicians") thought they should. Some anger was stoked when Eric Schmidt opened his mouth on what Google should or should not pay in the UK, but the point that many politicians could not grasp was that the companies were operating within the laws that politicians frame.

Perhaps some have got the idea now as Steven Sande reports on TUAW that Australia is to have Apple and Google "disclose" their tax arrangements. Whether or not they find any wrongdoing is another matter, but this first stage of discovery might lead them on to changes in the laws.

Other Matters

There are reports that Intel and Cisco have signed a deal concerning the making of chips, Brooke Crothers reports, although adds that nothing official has been announced yet. This may have been the Korean arm of Intel jumping the gun.

As well as IBM working with CAT locally to provide cloud based solutions, HP has also announced a cloud-based management solution that delivers secure anytime, anywhere access to applications and data from any mobile device. Some of the features include secure application access, file storage and sharing via multiple mobile platforms and all types of devices, including tablets and mobile phones. USers can also download approved enterprise applications from a secure storefront, upload files to support collaboration and synchronize files between the HP cloud infrastructure and any mobile device.

HP has also announced changes to its board of directors, "designed to reconfigure and evolve the board as the company continues its turnaround." Raymond J. Lane has decided to step down as chairman of the board, to be replaced on an interim basis by Ralph V. Whitworth. Also John H. Hammergren and G. Kennedy Thompson, after eight and seven years of service to HP stockholders, respectively, have decided to leave the board.

As had been pre-reported in many sources, Facebook announced an Android phone yesterday. A quick read through of one article, by Jordan Kahn on 9to5 Mac, seems to indicate it is more a software solution based on Android, called "Home" and that they will not be making their own handsets: wise. Instead HTC are to be tapped for the first one. And as the platform is a software solution, there is an idea (if not a plan) to make it available for iOS, but that would mean cooperation with Apple. As this is an OS, I feel this is unlikely.

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.