The Original Google Phone Presented in 2006

post from Daring Fireball on 25 April 2012 09:03:09 PM. © Daring Fireball

Juicy stuff from the Google-Oracle trial:

The baseline specs required two soft menu keys, indicating that touchscreens weren’t really in the plan at all.

Wonder where they got the idea to emphasize touchscreens?

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d-in-2006

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Shorting Apple Near-Term

post from Daring Fireball on 25 April 2012 08:03:18 PM. © Daring Fireball

Thomas H. Kee Jr., writing for the WSJ’s MarketWatch:

Not more than a couple short months ago I recommended to investors that they sell Apple. That call was early, I did not anticipate the euphoria that overwhelmed the stock for the past couple of months, but the premise for my recommendation has not changed.

This time Lucy isn’t going to yank the football away, I swear!

Underlying problems at Apple is a competitive environment that has caught up to it. Products from Samsung, Nokia, and Motorola are now direct competitors with the iPhone for example, where a few short years ago they were well behind the curve.

Samsung, Nokia, and Motorola were the leading handset makers before Apple entered the market.

In addition, mobile operating systems like Android from Google are actually dominating the mobile market.

Android is just one example of these dominating mobile operating systems.

Without a doubt, Apple led the way, and they deserve the reward of being first to market with these innovations, but technology catches up fast, and unless Apple continues to innovate at the same pace it did before, it will not stand out from the crowd on a technological basis for long.

Exactly!

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Shorting Apple Long-Term

post from Daring Fireball on 25 April 2012 08:03:17 PM. © Daring Fireball

George F. Colony, writing for Forbes:

When Steve Jobs departed, he took three things with him: 1) singular charismatic leadership that bound the company together and elicited extraordinary performance from its people; 2) the ability to take big risks, and 3) an unparalleled ability to envision and design products.

Colony’s pessimism is, unlike most Apple bearishness of late, perfectly reasonable. Apple did not fall to pieces when Jobs died, but no one with a clue expected it to. But Tim Cook and the remaining leadership team have yet to prove themselves in the long run. I’m not saying I agree with Colony (I don’t), I’m just saying his argument is reasonable. Apple is untested in these regards.

Apple?s momentum will carry it for 24-48 months. But without the arrival of a new charismatic leader it will move from being a great company to being a good company, with a commensurate step down in revenue growth and product innovation. Like Sony (post Morita), Polaroid (post Land), Apple circa 1985 (post Jobs), and Disney (in the 20 years post Walt Disney), Apple will coast, and then decelerate.

Disney is the comparison I like best. And he’s right, Disney sputtered a bit in the ’70s and ’80s, post-Walt. But look where they are today: the leading family entertainment company in the world, right where Walt left them. Apple should be so lucky 40 years hence.

The big difference is that The Walt Disney Company was in no way prepared for life after Walt. Apple, I think, was.

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/forrester/2012/04/25/apple-sony/

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Striding Bird spreads his wings in Australia with
What's Hot feature

post from prMac on 25 April 2012 06:30:00 PM. © prMac

Just over a month after independent Australian developer Comicorp Worlds released 'Striding Bird - An Interactive Tale' for iOS, Striding Bird has shot into the hearts of Apple and Aussies and is being featured on the What's Hot Books section for iPad on the Australian app store. "This is exciting new for us, and the What's Hot feature shows that even the little guys can still make their mark on the app store" says director Wenpo Sun. Downloads of the Striding Bird app have been worldwide.

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Firm claims Apple’s Siri, Google devices
violate 1998 speech patent

post from Apple on 25 April 2012 05:03:12 PM. © Apple

In a sweeping lawsuit, a Colorado shell company is suing the entire mobile phone industry over a patent for inventions where “Oral input is used to control a digital computer.”

The lawsuit singles out Apple’s iPhone 4S and its Siri voice assistant as well as a range of phone makers like Samsung and Sony that use Google Voice Actions technology. The claim also names Research In Motion for BlackBerry Voice commands and Microsoft for Microsoft Speech Commands.

Records show that the patent was issued to Jerry Potter in 1998. Last year, Potter assigned the patent to a Texas shell company which in turn assigned it to a Colorado shell company called Potter Voice LLC that is suing the phone makers.

It’s unclear if Potter was actually a pioneering inventor of voice technology or whether the patent is another in a series of dubious patents that has been driving a never-ending series of court fights in the mobile industry. Patent standards became particularly lax in the late 1990′s as the Patent Office issued thousands of “business method” patents that have subsequently attracted criticism from law makers and the Supreme Court.

The abstract of US patent 5729659 says:

Oral input is used to control a digital computer. Associative searching techniques of tabular data structures are used in conjunction with rules and conventions derived from natural language to facilitate the use of oral input. The method is capable of being implemented in connection with conventional sequential computers, associative single-instruction multiple data computers and parallel processors.

Patents like these have become the fuel of global litigation engulfing the smartphone industry. In some cases, the phone makers buy the patents themselves. Other times, private hedge funds form shell companies that don’t produce anything but do make a business of suing companies that do — a practice known as trolling.

The Supreme Court has responded to the patent problem in part by tightening the definition of “obvious” and Congress last year passed patent legislation that makes it easier to attack suspect patents (the law doesn’t apply to older patents).

Yesterday, Apple CEO Tim Cook complained about the ceaseless patent battles, saying “I’ve always hated litigation .. We just want people to invent their own stuff.?

Here is a copy of the complaint:

Potter Voice v. Apple Et Al http://www.scribd.com/embeds/91264687/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list&access_key=key-u0ibqxci836qwh3r5u

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olate-1998-patent/

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The Critical Juncture

post from Daring Fireball on 25 April 2012 05:03:11 PM. © Daring Fireball

Re: the previous item, on expanding the iPad market with the $399 iPad 2, recall this analysis from Steve Jobs, in a 2004 Newsweek interview with Steven Levy:

If that?s so, then why is the Mac market share, even after Apple?srecent revival, sputtering at a measly 5 percent? Jobs has atheory about that, too. Once a company devises a great product, hesays, it has a monopoly in that realm, and concentrates less oninnovation than protecting its turf. ?The Mac user interface was a10-year monopoly,? says Jobs. ?Who ended up running the company?Sales guys. At the critical juncture in the late ?80s, when theyshould have gone for market share, they went for profits. Theymade obscene profits for several years. And their products becamemediocre. And then their monopoly ended with Windows 95. Theybehaved like a monopoly, and it came back to bite them, whichalways happens.?

Apple seems to be having it both ways with the iPad, but I suspect they’d prefer to err on the side of maximizing market share than maximizing profits.

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http://daringfireball.net/2006/03/ipod_juggernaut

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The $399 iPad 2 Is Selling

post from Daring Fireball on 25 April 2012 05:03:11 PM. © Daring Fireball

The ever-astute Matt Richman noted yesterday that average selling prices are down for both the iPhone and iPad:

The $399 iPad 2 must be selling very well for it to make iPad ASPdrop more than 8 percent in one quarter.

Tim Cook, during yesterday’s conference call:

On iPad 2, with the change in the entry price to $399, we?reactually thrilled with the results that we?ve seen; although asPeter said, it?s only been a few weeks and so it?s too early tocome to a clear conclusion. But from what we are seeing, thisunlocked some education demand — that is, probably a moreprice-sensitive customer — also in several other countries therewas a marked change in demand at that price point. And so on theearly going, we feel great about it.

In other words: the $399 wasn’t intended simply as a way to get people in the door to be upsold to higher-priced new iPads. It was meant to sell, to expand the iPad user base in price-sensitive markets.

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http://www.mattrichman.net/post/21734931422/iphone-and-ipad-asp-both-down

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Firm claims Apple’s Siri, Google Voice
devices violate 1998 patent

post from Apple on 25 April 2012 04:06:07 PM. © Apple

In a sweeping lawsuit, a Colorado shell company is suing the entire mobile phone industry over a patent for inventions where “Oral input is used to control a digital computer.”

The lawsuit singles out Apple’s iPhone 4S and its Siri voice assistant as well as a range of phone makers like Samsung and Sony that use Google Voice technology. The claim also names Research In Motion for BlackBerry Voice commands and Microsoft for Microsoft Voice Commands.

It’s unclear if Potter was actually a pioneering inventor of voice technology or whether the patent is another in series of dubious patents that has been driving a never-ending series of court fight makes in the mobile industry. Patent standards became particularly lax in the late 1990′s as the Patent Office issued thousands of “business method” patents that have subsequently attracted criticism from law makers and the Supreme Court.

The abstract of the patent says:

Oral input is used to control a digital computer. Associative searching techniques of tabular data structures are used in conjunction with rules and conventions derived from natural language to facilitate the use of oral input. The method is capable of being implemented in connection with conventional sequential computers, associative single-instruction multiple data computers and parallel processors.

This story will be updated shortly.

Here is a copy of the complaint:

Potter Voice v. Apple Et Al http://www.scribd.com/embeds/91264687/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list&access_key=key-u0ibqxci836qwh3r5u

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Read The Full Article:
http://paidcontent.org/2012/04/25/firm-claims-apples-siri-google-voice-devices-vi
olate-1998-patent/

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Brydge keyboard turns iPad into a MacBook Air
clone

There are no lack of Bluetooth keyboards for the iPad, but the newest Kickstarter project is most impressive. Called Brydge, the wireless keyboard makes the iPad look more like a MacBook Air than anything I’ve seen yet. Backing starts at $150 and the project will fund if it tops $90,000 by June 4.

Unlike other keyboard cases, Brydge appears more secure: It uses a patent-pending hinge to secure an iPad and allows the entire setup to open up a full 180-degrees. This also allows the iPad to tilt in a myriad of positions instead of being fixed to a few. A nice addition is the option for stereo speakers. You’ll pay at least $30 more for that luxury, but’s a small cost to upgrade from the iPad’s single internal speaker.

The team behind Brydge says the product will work with both the iPad 2 and the newest iPad. Battery life is going to vary greatly due to speaker use, but the Brydge will easily recharge over a microUSB connection. Apple-specific keys are also part of the QWERTY setup, which should come in handy.

LoadingNextPreviousPicture 1 of 3

I was recently enamored by the $99 Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad, but I may hold off and back the Brydge instead. The addition of speakers is a big draw, for starters. But on the flipside, the Brydge will add 1.28 pounds to an iPad. As a result, the iPad will not only look like a MacBook Air, but weigh nearly as much as one too!

While the Brydge looks Apple-like, I wouldn’t count on Apple bringing a similar product. Earlier this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook said (in reference to convertible tablets), “You can converge a toaster and refrigerator, but these things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user,” so I don’t expect an iPad to officially converge with an Air.

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iPad and Wi-Fi sitting in a tree.

About two years ago, Dominic Orr, the chief executive officer of Aruba Networks (a ARUN) told us that the iPad (and iPhone) was going to act like an accelerant for Wi-Fi in corporations. Two years later, his prediction is coming true. Apple yesterday reported that it sold 11.8 million iPads in the first three months of 2012, up 151 percent from the first three months of 2011. The iPhone saw year-over-year sales jump to 35.1 million.

Today, Jack Monti, an analyst with UBS Securities, wrote this in a note to his clients:

We believe these results are a primary driver of the strong growth in the enterprise wireless networking market with wireless devices proliferating (iPads, iPhones, tablets, etc.). Note Apple iPads/iPhones do not have wired Ethernet ports and primarily rely on Wi-Fi or cell networks for connectivity. BYOD trends are likely to remain strong with enterprise wireless LAN in demand as a key means of robust connectivity.

In fact, it is one of the few bright spots in the networking business. Thanks to the economic crisis in Europe, many of the larger networking equipment makers are reporting softer earnings and don’t see things changing very much. Or as Monti points out:

Our checks continue to suggest enterprise Wi-Fi is a key area of investment for 2012. Indeed, while that is the case, laterals exposed to other areas of networking do not inspire confidence for an Apr-Q beat-RVBD, PLCM, EXTR, and MERU all missed, with FFIV experiencing weaker than expected enterprise demand.

As Sanjit Biswas, CEO of Aruba competitor Meraki last year pointed out :

”We used to have one device on Wi-Fi: our laptop,” says Biswas. “Then we had two devices ? laptop and our phones using the Wi-Fi.”

Remember the time they used to say Apple didn’t have a chance in the enterprise market. Well all that is history. Now mind you we aren’t that surprised about it all and have written about it countless times. We love our Wi-Fi. We love our iPad and together they make things so much easier and better!

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