StockSpy App Store Update Adds Cloud Sync on
iPhone, iPad and Mac

post from prMac on 06 February 2012 10:34:00 PM. © prMac

The StockSpy Team has announced new simultaneous updates for StockSpy are available on App Store. StockSpy is the beautifully designed, easy-to-use, powerful and innovative stock market research & analysis tool for Mac OS X, known for it's NewsChart stock market news visualization technology. With the latest update StockSpy automatically Syncs your symbols, news feeds and links settings on your iPhone, iPad and Mac.

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Is Apple ready to issue a dividend

post from Apple on 06 February 2012 06:03:35 PM. © Apple

There has long been talk that Apple would — or should — someday pay a dividend to its investors. Such talk got more serious when Tim Cook stepped into the CEO role last fall. And now, it looks like this wishful thinking by Apple shareholders might come to fruition. Here’s why:

Apple has almost $100 billion in cash now.
Cook told investors and reporters late last year he wasn’t “religious” about holding cash, a subtle but important difference in the attitude Steve Jobs has long had about Apple’s cash holdings.
CFO Peter Oppenheimer shared several weeks ago that the company is “actively discussing” what to do with all that money.
People who could be in a position to know are starting to talk openly about it.

A UBS analyst says Apple has been soliciting opinions from investors on what to do with the money. We all know what investors want Apple to do: give it back to shareholders.

And on Monday, Fortune editor Adam Lashinsky, author of the just-released (and excellent) Inside Apple, writes that we should expect to hear about AAPL owners getting a dividend “sooner rather than later.” As someone who’s demonstrated he knows a thing or two about what goes on inside 1 Infinite Loop, this is yet another good indication Apple is thinking differently about its money these days. As Lashinsky points out, what else will they do with it?:

[W]hat’s becoming increasingly clear is that Apple has a success problem on its hands: It has run out of ways to responsibly spend its profits. It has never done what any other big company would view as a major acquisition. Silicon Valley investment bankers desperately would like to see Apple acquire Twitter, for example. But this would be so contrary to the Apple acquisition mindset that it’s hard to imagine.

Apple’s annual shareholder meeting is coming up on February 23. These kinds of meetings can be somewhat of a snooze. Perhaps this year edition will have a few fireworks.

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Steve Ballmer Laughs at iPhone in 2007

post from Daring Fireball on 06 February 2012 05:03:39 PM. © Daring Fireball

After noting that Apple’s iPhone business now generates more revenue than all of Microsoft combined, MG Siegler linked once again to this classic 2007 interview with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Nobody enjoys laughing at utterly-wrong-in-hindsight claim chowder like I do, but in all seriousness, this interview, to me, is all the proof Microsoft’s board needs that Ballmer should be asked to step down. (Or, really, that he should have been asked to step down a few years ago, as soon as it became clear just how successful the iPhone was going to be.) The damning thing isn’t that Apple got there first; it’s that even after Apple revealed it, that Ballmer didn’t get it, that he didn’t see instantly that Apple had unveiled something amazing and transformative. All Ballmer could see was the near future, the next few months where the iPhone was indeed too expensive and where typing on a touchscreen was a novelty.

Of course Microsoft’s CEO wasn’t going to sing the iPhone’s praises. But if he had a true understanding of what they suddenly found themselves up against, he sure as shit would not have laughed at it.

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New High-DPI UI Resources in 10.7.3

post from Daring Fireball on 06 February 2012 05:03:39 PM. © Daring Fireball

Have you noticed that Safari’s hovering-over-a-link pointing-finger cursor looks a little different in Mac OS X 10.7.3? It’s not just that the finger is at a slightly different angle — it’s a new UI resource that scales gracefully to larger sizes. That’s not the only new high-DPI image resource in 10.7.3: the grabby hand in Mail, the camera cursor for selecting an individual window to take a screenshot of, and a few other UI elements got the high-DPI treatment in 10.7.3.

The simplest explanation is that Apple only just now got around to increasing the resolution of these elements for the benefit of users who use the cursor-zooming Universal Access feature. But, combined with the fact that some people with Mac Minis connected to TVs via HDMI are reporting that after upgrading to 10.7.3, their system rebooted in HiDPI mode, I can’t help but wonder whether we may be on the cusp of Apple releasing HiDPI Mac displays and/or HiDPI MacBooks. I.e.: retina display Macs.

I’ve been anticipating super-high-resolution Mac displays for over five years, so take my conjecture here with a grain of wishful-thinking salt.

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7 signs that Android is faltering as iOS
strengthens

post from Apple on 06 February 2012 04:03:43 PM. © Apple

Based on a growing number of data points, Android’s sales dominance may be nearing its apex while iOS is on the rise. Even as a daily user of both an Android smartphone and tablet, I can’t deny the facts that Android’s partners aren’t doing as well as they used to. The conclusion that Android’s best days are behind is surely arguable, but I am starting to think that would be a losing argument for several reasons.

The early Android handset makers are free-falling. In April of last year I noted that Android was a boost to hardware makers that embraced the platform early. Specifically, I saw that an Android strategy helped Motorola trim losses while HTC was growing faster than a field of bamboo. Fast-forward to today and Google is attempting to snap up Motorola Mobility even as Moto has faltered. And HTC? Monday confirmed what we reported late last year: The rising star has fallen and isn’t meeting expectations.
Apple is grabbing a huge share of mobile revenues and profits. We often talk about smartphone sales market share, which is important to a point, but money keeps a business afloat. And Apple’s sucking most of it out of the mobile market. According to the excellent Asymco blog, Apple has been the top handset maker in terms of operating profits for the past 13 quarters running. It has 75 percent of the market’s profit share and 39 percent of its revenue. With the exception of Samsung, Android competitors are beginning to fade away; you can’t grow a business when your product sales are in decline and you are earning less money on such products.
The top three smartphones are all iPhones. This data point comes from NPD on Monday: Of the top five smartphones sold in the U.S. in the last quarter of 2011, the top three are all iPhones. Samsung’s Galaxy S II and Galaxy S 4G took the fourth and fifth spots. Why is this a problem for Android handset makers? Because consumers are more willing to buy the reduced-priced iPhone 4 or 3GS — handsets that are more than a year or two old — than some of the newer Android handsets. There are plenty of low-cost Android models that compete well on price, but consumers don’t think they compete well on the experience. If they did, they would bypass Apple’s older phones.
First-time buyers are picking Android, but . . . NPD did note that first-time smartphone buyers favor Android over iOS (54 percent versus 34 percent), and I suspect that is mainly due to price. But these folks will be second-time smartphone buyers in the future and may be willing to spend more for an iPhone unless Android handset makers can give them a reason to stick with the platform. And now that the U.S. has over 50 percent smartphone penetration, the pool of first-time buyers will be shrinking, not growing.
Even now, there are still few apps hitting Android before iOS. One of the reasons I pay attention to smartphone sales by platform is because of developers. Not every software shop can support every operating system, so common sense dictates that most devs will aim their apps at the largest audience possible. But even with Android sales growing fast over the past two years, very few developers bypass iOS as the first platform to develop for. They are simply making more money with iOS, so that is where the top-tier apps start out, which in turn helps boost handset sales. I don’t see any signs of this changing either. Even for apps on both platforms, it often takes time for the Android version to see parity with its iOS counterpart. Monday’s Android update of Rdio is a perfect example; until Monday, I have used the app on my iPhone instead of my Galaxy Nexus because it was simply better.
Android no longer has a killer app. Originally Android offered the best support for Gmail services by far, but over time Google has brought the iOS version to near parity. I still think the best Gmail experience is on an Android phone and the free, exclusive Google Navigation is great on Android, but it is not a killer app. Even worse: Google can’t cease development on iOS at this point, else users leave its services altogether. Google can’t afford for that to happen, because it gets data from these users, which feeds its primary revenue stream: personalized advertising. Even as an Android user, I can easily make do using Gmail, Google Voice, Google+ and other Google services on iOS. I suspect many mainstream consumers can too.
There is less of a lock-in cost to keep people on Android. I looked into lock-in costs back in 2010 as I saw how these could sway consumers to stick with a platform. I still believe there is a smartphone lock-in cost: Moving to another platform could cost $100, $200 or more to replace apps. But I am starting to believe there is less of a lock-in to keep people on Android. Why? Most of the heavily downloaded apps are free. Not all of them, of course, but far more of the top Android apps are free versus those in the iTunes App Store. Without this financial barrier, it is easier to switch from Android to iOS. Likewise, it is more of a deterrent to move in the opposite direction.

None of my points here are intended to suggest that one platform is better or worse than the other. As long as I have been covering mobile technology online — it will be 10 years in 2013 — I have always stood by one mantra: Use the best mobile device for your own needs. And I will continue to practice what I preach. Although I have an iPhone 4S, on 9 days out of 10, I carry my Galaxy Nexus handset. I have an iPad 2, but that’s relegated for specific use cases; my Galaxy Tab 7.7 is the tablet I take everywhere.

Independent of my own Android use, there are many reasons to suspect that Android’s growth will continue along the upward path it has seen for the past few years. But Apple’s iOS platform simply has strong momentum that is going to slow Android down as it forces some handset makers to scramble. These will likely gravitate toward the alternative of Windows Phone. Companies are likely to see growth there, but given the history of Android, as well as what I expect from its future, will the story remain the same?

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Why Didnt Apple Advertise During the Super Bowl

post from Daring Fireball on 06 February 2012 04:03:38 PM. © Daring Fireball

Lance Ulanoff thinks Apple should have advertised during yesterday’s Super Bowl:

I worry that without Steve Jobs, Apple may have lost some of itsfighting spirit. For all his quirks, Jobs was a fighter. He likedto deride the competition and then beat them, as publicly aspossible. Imagine if right after the Samsung Super Bowl ad, Applehad run some sort of iconic spot for, say, the Apple iTV:?Television is about to change forever, thanks to the companythat, 28 years ago, changed computing forever. Watch?? Now thatwould?ve been cool. Jobs would have done it.

No he wouldn’t have. The 1984 Super Bowl ad was amazing, but it’s ancient history. An Apple Super Bowl ad yesterday teasing an upcoming product — Apple TV, iPad, anything — would have been a sign of post-Jobs strategic change.

Jobs is only dead for a few months, but Ulanoff has seemingly already forgotten how he ran the company. I can’t remember the last time Apple ran a Super Bowl ad. Super Bowl ads bring high-profile attention to major announcements. Apple doesn’t need to pay for Super Bowl ads to get high-profile attention for major announcements. Apple uses TV advertisements to reinforce the message and branding of its most popular existing products. The Super Bowl is of questionable value for that sort of advertising.

Apple doesn’t tease upcoming products. They announce them when they’re ready. As for Samsung’s ads mocking those who wait in line for new Apple products, I imagine Apple sees no more need to respond than Coke does to Pepsi’s decades-long “we’re happy to be in second place” advertising strategy of making fun of Coke.

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Honeywell Goes After Nest Learning Thermostat for
Patent Infringement

post from Daring Fireball on 06 February 2012 04:03:37 PM. © Daring Fireball

So depressing. It’d be one thing if Honeywell had an even vaguely Nest-like product to defend. But they don’t. And how did they get a patent for this:

U.S. Patent No. 7,634,504 - this patent was filed in 2006 (issued2009) and covers displaying grammatically complete sentences whileprogramming a thermostat.

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Cut the Buttons to Go Free for One Week

Open Name Ltd. announced that their hit game for the iPhone, Cut the Buttons, will be going free for one week starting today. The game, which has both an iPhone and iPad version, has been incredibly successful since its release, quickly becoming the number one iPad game in Russia, as well as one of the top ten iPad games in China's App Store. The concept is deceptively simple: using a pair of scissors, users must snip and cut buttons on pieces of fabric, and catch them in a cup.

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Whoops

Chris Davies, SlashGear:

HTC ?dropped the ball? on its 2011 devices, the company?s CFO hasadmitted, with LTE-equipped handsets simply too thick and offeringinsufficient battery life. Speaking on the company?s financialresults call today, following HTC?s unappealing Q4 2011 results,Chief Financial Officer Winston Yung conceded that HTC had plentyof work to do improving both ?design and components.?

I, for one, am shocked — shocked! — that big thick phones with poor battery life fared poorly.

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The iOS-ification of Apples Ecosystem

Federico Viticci:

The iOS-ification of OS X is, at this point, inevitable, andanyone who doesn?t see it, or tries to neglect, is eithersoftware-blind or has some kind of interest in that way ofthinking.

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http://www.macstories.net/stories/the-ios-ification-of-apples-ecosystem/

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