Why Apple Isn’t Changing

I already wrote an article on why Tim Cook would not be any different to you than Steve Jobs.  I don’t need to explain that again; Cook has been in charge for a long time now, just underground.

With this most recent death, it seems like a good point to write about the future of Apple. Many other respected writers believe Apple is lost; they believe with the release of a “failure” phone and the death of Jobs that the company will only go downhill.  They’re wrong.

Apple has a brilliant future; they have a life of success ahead.  Sure, they just made a RIM-ish move, but, from Apple’s perspective, a smart one.  The iPhone 4S will do as well as the 4 – very well.  They have a cycle:innovation, refresh, innovation, refresh.  Has it worked so far?  Yes, they’ll sell as many 4S units as they have 4s.

Another complaint/concern is that Apple has a problem with releasing minor upgrades and charging as much for them.  That’s twisted.  Take Samsung for example.  One can’t even count the number of Android phones they have released this year!  The Galaxy line alone already has at least five different models.  Apple released their first iPhone in 2007; it’s 2011 and there are only five models, only three of which are active and available.

Apple’s cycle obviously works.  Sure, they could put a little more time between models.  Maybe. They don’t need to put all the work into one device; all they need to do is make that one device a little bit better than the competition’s.  Then they’re safe ’til the next round.

On Steve’s death, no, that won’t change Apple.  To be honest, it will help them do better.  I’m not going to say more,but just look at this picture:

Goodbye

We will always remember Steve Jobs as he lives on in millions of devices across the world.  Jobs never really died; every one of his devices is a horcrux.  Pull your iPhone out of your pocket, there: a piece of him.  Flip open the lid of your Macbook Pro: the glowing Apple symbol reminds everyone in the room of the man.  As long there are phones, PMPs, or computers in the world, Jobs will be remembered.  Changing the whole computer industry was a huge accomplishment; nobody will look at an electronic device the same.  Ever.

Thank you, Steve.

Apple’s Keynote Liveblog

At 1 o’clock eastern time this page will start being update with the Liveblog from Apple’s event, thanks.  Most recent at the top.

“Now, when you look at each of these, they’re great and fantastic and industry leading in and of themselves…” Tim is slowing down. Things are building up. “What puts Apple way out front is how they’re engineered to work together so well.”

 

2:28 Phil is back. There’s now a microphone next to the space bar in the keyboard, and you can do dictaction. It’s similar to Android, in that it’s happening remotely. 

2:27 Scott asks “Who are you?” Siri says “I am a humble personal assistant.” Humble for now, maybe. That round of applause might change things.

2:26 You can get a list of example of what you can do, including meetings, emails, directions, weather, stocks, looking up contacts, creating notes…

2:25 “Define mitosis.” Siri hits up WolframAlpha and spits back a definition.

2:22 2:20 “Just hold down the button on the headset and say “Read my message” and Siri does so. Dutifully, obediently.”

2:19  “Give me directions to Hoover Tower.” Siri brings up Maps, shows the route, and you’re good to go.

2:18 “It’s that easy.”

2:16 

2:15  “What is the weather like today?” Siri responds: “Here is the forecast for today.”

2:15  SIRI “Will it rain in Cupertino” or “Do I need an umbrella today?” Both the same question, but different ways of asking.

2:13 AirPlay Mirroring is now happening, meaning you can get your gaming on the big(ger) screen.

2:10 “To many customers this will be the best still camera they’ve ever owned and the best video cameras they’ve ever owned.”

2:10 “1080p Video Recording

2:08 We’re looking at some amazing photos of balloons, flowers, and squirrels. “Do you know how hard it is to make a squirrel stand still?”

2:08 “I don’t know what Droid Bionic users need to do between pictures, maybe go get coffee.”

2:06 “The 4S? A mere 1.1 seconds for the first picture, and a half-second for the second.”

2:04 ‘Okay, now its network time. The iPhone 4 was of course GSM vs. CDMA. The 4S is both — GSM and CDMA.”

2:04 “Where have I heard these numbers before? This is what our competitors call 4G… the iPhone 4S is just as fast as all of these phones, even faster in real-world use.”

2:03 “Data can now download up to 2x as fast. Theoretical max performance used to be 5.8 up and 7.2 down — now doubles to almost 14.4Mbps down.”

2:00 

1:59 Don’t be disappointed that there is no 5, the 4S will still blow any other phone out of the water.

1:57 Testing the A5 with Infinity Blade 2. “You can now use two swords as we slice the crap out of some big dude in a mask.”

1:56 iPhone 4S, A5…Sweet!   “Dual-core CPU, 2x as fast at CPU tasks. Also dual-core graphics. Up to 7x faster in the previous iPhone. One area you really see it scream is in games.”

1:54 White iPod Touch

1:50 New iPod Nano interface, 16 new watch faces, new Nike + integration.

1:49 He’s talking iPod Nano…hmmm

1:43 Find My iPhone new features, request friends’ locations, parental controls.

1:41 Daily iCloud backup of your devices.  Calendar, contacts, etc.

1:39 Photostream, automatically upload your pictures to the cloud and downbload them, automatically on all your devices.  Mac, iPhone, iPad…

1:38 Eddy Cue, iCloud integration, auto cloud updates, music syncing, purchased downloads.

1:37 “iOS 5, Available October 12th.”  (Two days before the iPhone 4S is for sale)

1:35 If you have watched WWDC, this is pretty boring so far.  He’s talking about the “mail” features.

1:33 Still announcing stuff that any developer heard months ago.

1:31 Newsstand, finally has magazines in it…

1:30 Explaining all the iOS 5 features, nothing new yet except “Cards”

1:28 $2.99 for a card in the US, $4.99 elsewhere in the world.  “Cards” for iOS 5

1:23 More than 500,000 apps in the App Store, 140,000 are specifically for the iPad. “That gives anyone who owns an iPad a better experience.”

1:19  Every state in the US has an iPad deployment program either in place or in pilot. 1,000 schools have a 1:1 program.

1:18 “More coming up on iPhone…”  Teasing us?

1:17 iTunes, the best music manager (Yes, that’s eminem.)

1:16 “iPod is still a large and imporant market for Apple.”

1:13 More bragging “We launched the iPod…”

1:11 Bragging…

1:05 Explaining Apple Stores, boring. 

1:04 Today we’re going to be learning about innovations in software and hardware, and the integration of all of these into a “powerful yet simple integrated experience.”

1:00 We’ve started

What The Brazilian Budget iPhone Proves To Us

Gizmodo Brazil managed to obtain the digitizer/glass/faceplate from iPhone model N90. We’ve seen the N90 popping up in all kind of code; it appears to be the budget model iPhone that’s been rumored for so long.

The fact that there are N90s being produced in Brazil tells us that we will see two models in the future. Most likely this Tuesday. Here’s why: Yesterday somebody leaked strings in iTunes developer build showing references to the iPhone 4S, model number N94. Obviously N90 and N94 are quite different numbers, and there is no way they can be the same device. Every Apple iPhone has a build number, the iPad was K84, all have different code names.

If there is an N90 and an N94, what more need I say? There is obviously two models in the near future to be released and most likely both will be announced this Tuesday.

What To Expect On The Tuesday Apple Event

Obviously there has been quite a few rumors around the launch of the iPhone 4s/5; more rumors than in most years. Normally we see a few leaks, maybe Will Strafach will throw his weight around and drop some tips but we never see this much speculation at all.

To be honest, I think we actually know what we are going to see and hear on Tuesday. It’s sort of common knowledge now, everyone knows about the iPhone 5. The questions we have are if we will be seeing multiple models or only one.

We should see two new iPhones, the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4S. I say should because we obviously aren’t sure about anything. I think, only because because of evidence we have and because of chronic, that we will see two new iPhones. Sure, there’s evidence going both ways. I’m not going to be to surprised if we only see one but think that the evidence leans a little bit towards the two model argument.

Here is what I think: chronic seems to believe that there will be an iPhone 5, there is evidence for that. Keep in mind, chronic is notoriously skilled at being right when it comes to future apple devices. What I know is that he obviously believes we will see an iPhone 4S at the least. (see the otterbox article)

We WILL see an iPhone 4S, iTunes proved that for us today. Chronic showed us the iPhone 4S otterbox. But we’ve also seen product listings and cases for the iPhone 5. Strange?

Well I think we will see two, the iPhone 4s and the 5 as well as a new carrier, Sprint.

Placeholders on the Cincinnati bell website, a carrier of the iPhone.

That is the best buy product listing for both the iPhone 5 as well as a sprint model, also new.

How To Get A White iPod Touch 4

Many of you may have seen some popular people from the iCommunity copping white iPod Touch 4th Generations. The two guys i’m thinking of are twitter users @reagentx and @chronic.  ReagentX has been kind enough to let me use his pictures in this post.

I’ve gotten quite a few questions about it and decided that it needs to be answered. This is in no way an attempt to spoil @chronic’s or @reagentx’s fun; I will take this down at the first request from either.  This is just a way of letting the public know that there is a way for them to nab a white iPod Touch as well.

So basically, you will need an intermediate knowledge of taking apart iPod touches. If you’ve ever handled something small and electrical, you can probably do this as it isn’t hard. Look on iFixit for a guide.

The white glass is easily obtainable, look on eBay.

This is not a post to say that we won’t be seeing a white 5th gen iPod touch, as rumors say that we will, but rather proving that anyone can have a white iPod touch 4.

For more information visit: rxtech

Of course, your white iPod Touch will be nowhere near as legit as @reagentx’s

Why Steve Jobs Stepped Down And What This Means For Consumers

datetime=”2012-04-19T02:04:52+00:00″>Today, Wednesday, August 24th 2011, Steve Jobs handed the position of CEO of Apple INC to Tim Cook. Jobs has previously been on a medical leave and Cook has essentially made all of the important decisions in the past during this time, so this should not be anything new for Cook or Apple.

Jobs most likely resigned for the same reason that he was on a medical leave in the past, pancreatic cancer. The outcome for pancreatic cancer is very grim, not to be cryptic, but Jobs is most likely stepping down to spend the rest of his time with his family. The rest of his time probably does not amount to much.

It’s also likely that he wants a break, possibly Jobs feels like he can’t juggle his life and Apple at the same time. He may have many years ahead of him.

For the consumer, this doesn’t (or shouldn’t) mean anything at all. Cook has been “the man in charge” for a long time and Apple’s sales are still through the roof, the stocks are high, the products amazing, and shows no sign of slowing. Tim Cook knows how to run Apple. The products will still be the same quality as they were before Jobs resigned. All is well.

Here is Steve’s official letter:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

Alternate View: Why The iPad 3 Has Been Pushed Back To 2012

In past years there has been an extremely high amount of rumors and speculation surrounding unreleased Apple products. This year is no different at all, one can even say that it is the worst year for speculation.

The most speculated about device would most certainly be the iPhone 5. Right after the iPhone 5 rumors are the iPad 3 ones.

It’s essentially common knowledge that Apple’s next generation of iPad will have a retina display as one of the new features. Most people were expecting an iPad with a retina display later this year, in the fall after the iPhone 5 launch.

The Wall Street Journal thinks that Apple will wait till 2012 to release another iPad due to Apple not being able to find a retina display that is appropriate.

My question is, why would Apple need to release another iPad so soon anyway? The iPad 2 is (yes, in our opinion) the best tablet in the market and has no competition any time soon. The other tablet makers feel the need to rush tablets out in order to compete, rushing an electronic into the market is not the way to succeed. Apple knows that other manufacturers are doing this and will only respond with a new iPad when the time is right.

There are other tablets that do not feel rushed. This post is not intended as a bash at anyone.
If you are an iPad hater I would most certainly recommend the Asus Transformer as the next best tablet. (Also on sale at Amazon for $313)

Capacitive Home Buttons Explained

For some reason we keep seeing people asking what a capacitive home button and capacitive screen are. It seems obvious to us geeks but who knows…

A capacitive touch screen is one that requires the electrical current of the human body to operate. As soon as a finger (toe, whatever) touches a capacitive touchscreen the electrical current is passed through, allowing for very accurate responses from the device. Because it only requires the electrical current to “connect” it does not require the touches to be hard at all, in fact, it will probably work however you touch it.

The drawback of capacitive touch screens is, because they need the elecrical current, there is no way to use your smartphone without special gloves on (like these Capacitive Gloves
from Amazon).

Resistive touch screens are ones that have multiple layers of the display. When the user touches it presses the layers together, creating an electrical circuit, telling the device where a user has pressed. Resistive touch screens are essentially “last gen” as capacitive are much better. Resistive touch screens require the user to press significantly harder in order to make contact.

They have one advantage though, being able to use them without any special gloves.

If you are looking to be able to use your iPhone without taking off your work gloves, I recommend checking out that link. Those gloves work.

A capacitive home button is one that is not physical. Basically think of it as a screen that doesn’t light up. Instead of double tapping the home button on the iPhone you would double tap the smooth area underneath the screen where the home button would be.

What Happened During The Apple Store Downage

Earlier today the Apple Store went down for everybody. We had no idea of what was coming, there was speculation of a new device, possibly a new Apple iTV. (9to5mac reports that at the time of the outage an Apple store in Mexico was giving out free Apple TVs with every Mac purchase).

What really happened is small. All we can see that has changed is a new social feature for the Mac Pros and the iPod Classics that lets you share the link on Facebook and Twitter. Very strange considering that everybody already knows how to get to http://www.apple.com. Why would Apple put social links on it’s two most unpopular products? Who knows, but if you have an idea please leave it in the comments.

The iPod Classic is one of two products to get the new social feature on the website.