Theres Always One

post from Daring Fireball on 26 January 2012 06:03:51 PM. © Daring Fireball

Thomas Kee is doubling down on his advice to sell Apple short:

My purpose here is NOT to suggest that sales of iPhones are going to decline aggressively, even though I firmly believe AAPL products do not carry with them the competitive advantages they once did. Instead, I am suggesting that sales growth like what we have been witness to will not continue at the same rate. This stall is coming, it is closer than most people think, and what we were just witness to is likely the peak in this growth cycle.

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Make That Two

post from Daring Fireball on 26 January 2012 06:03:51 PM. © Daring Fireball

Analyst Ed Zabitsky sees AAPL shares falling to $270:

The reason for his bearish view of the company is that Zabitsky believes the competing Android mobile operating system from Google ?will change the playing field entirely? with its latest 4.0 update, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich. He says the experience on the updated platform is on par with Apple?s iOS.

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Physics Game Troll Blaster Available for Free for
Limited Time

post from prMac on 26 January 2012 04:56:00 PM. © prMac

Mobile software firm eMobiSoft Inc. has made their smash hit game Troll Blaster free for a limited time. In Troll Blaster, the player fires a strategically selected weapon onto a structure containing evil trolls. Players progress by killing all trolls. Version 1.1 offers new in-app purchases for 'Grenade Power' which allows players to add one grenade to any and all levels at any time and more. The game is very challenging so for some of our players this will allow them to gain a bit of an edge.

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Comic creator’s iBooks Author experiment
nets 10,000 downloads in 3 days

post from Apple on 26 January 2012 04:04:24 PM. © Apple

Apple’s iBooks Author impressed Diesel Sweeties creator and artist R Stevens so much that he created an e-book with it during the course of a weekend and distributed it free to readers. On Thursday, Stevens shared some interesting details about that experiment.

The book Stevens created, an archive of a month’s worth of installments from his weekday comic strip, was first hosted on Dropbox, but demand caused the public folder he was using to be shut down. Once Stevens moved the file to his own server, he saw almost 8,000 downloads, leading him to surmise that at least 10,000 in total managed to get a hold of the iBooks Author-created tome.

Stevens called that performance “not bad for a file created by software which has only been out for a week on a single platform,” and we agree. Consider, for example, that the Financial Times‘ How to Spend It, a lifestyle magazine app from a world-class publication, took 10 days to reach 10,000 downloads last September.

Response to the format has been “overwhelmingly positive,” Stevens said in a blog post, but there are some downsides. First, he says bandwidth required to provide the downloads is a problem, which could be overcome by selling the via the iBookstore, but that entails additional costs and operating within the confines of Apple’s marketplace. Stevens says this isn’t palatable since he “[doesn't] like the idea of readers being geographically or economically restricted from downloading [his] comics.”

Apple adds this to every page in PDFs generated in iBooks Author.

The other problem is with how iBooks Author writes to PDF, since Stevens wants to offer the collections to anyone, regardless of platform. Apple adds branding to its iBooks Author PDF output, which Stevens says is understandable since it’s a free tool. He would have to spend additional time, then, creating a second version without said branding.

Stevens’ concerns echo some of those brought up by Vook’s Matthew Cavnar during a recent interview, but the webcomic creator seems excited about the potential of iBooks Author despite its limitations. We should see soon enough if Apple’s tools result in a flood of new iPad-tailored content from other independent creators in the months to follow. I predict it will, because despite the fact that iBooks Author may be tied strongly to only one platform, that platform also happens to be the best venue for digital comics consumption available today.

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The State of Apple

post from Daring Fireball on 26 January 2012 04:04:21 PM. © Daring Fireball

If you’re at Macworld Expo, come see Jason Snell, Andy Ihnatko, and yours truly on stage at 4pm speaking about the state of Apple. If you’re not at Macworld Expo, shame on you, but you can watch online at Macworld.com.

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https://twitter.com/jsnell/status/162626677908832256

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Miss Pivot releases interactive book via mobile
app- Fire Cupid

post from prMac on 26 January 2012 03:39:00 PM. © prMac

Miss Pivot introduces Fire Cupid 1.0, for iPad. Tech savvy readers can expect text, infographics, high-quality video footage and unique interactive quizzes to learn the art of decoding common body language signals. Fire Cupid is a scientific and reliable instruction manual for building successful relationships, and readers will learn to take their dating levels to the next level without awkward moments. Feed your inner geek and hone your dating skills? Now that's a dream come true.

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http://prmac.com/release-id-37456.htm

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Netflix tops 800+ devices, tablets overtake PC
viewing

post from Apple on 26 January 2012 02:04:27 PM. © Apple

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings talked a lot of about connected and mobile devices during the company?s Q4 earnings call on Wednesday, emphasizing how important tablets, the Apple TV and connected TVs are to the company. He didn?t get into any numbers, but a recent jobs posting reveals that Netflix is aggressively expanding its device footprint: ?Together with our partners, we’ve shipped over 800 different models of Netflix-enabled devices and are planning to keep this momentum going both domestically and internationally,? the posting reads. A company spokesperson confirmed the number in an email, but added that the number ?increases all the time.?

Half a year ago, Netflix was only available on around 450 devices. But it’s not only the number of devices that’s changing — usage patterns are shifting as well. Netflix has traditionally seen most of its device usage on game consoles. Network management specialist Sandvine reported last year that the PS3 alone was responsible for more than 30 percent of all Netflix traffic. On Wednesday?s call, Hastings highlighted a few device categories that didn?t play as much of a role just a year ago.

Asked about the possibility of an Apple-made TV set, he said that he doesn?t know what Apple has in store for the TV market. He did however emphasize that the existing Apple TV set-top box has been ?really successful? for Netflix. Apple sold 1.4 million units of the device in Q4, which brings the total to 4.2 million units sold. As a frame of reference, Roku has only sold 2.5 million devices so far.

Hastings also talked about the growing importance of tablets, which are especially interesting as a mobile device to Netflix because most people use them via Wi-Fi, so video viewing doesn?t collide with the carrier?s data caps. And people are using their iPads, Kindle Fires and Android slates a lot for watching Netflix: ?We do see people enjoying a lot more of their viewing on tablets relative to the PC,? Hastings said. That?s significant, because PCs used to account for close to 20 percent of all Netflix traffic just a few months ago.

The last device category highlighted by Hastings were Smart TVs. And it looks like consumers are finally connecting their TV sets to the Internet, if only to watch Netflix: ?Smart TVs is one of our fastest growing device categories,? Hastings said, adding that the long-term trend for connected TVs is ?very positive.?

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Macworld | iWorld Expo 2012 looks to the
future with a shift in focus

post from Apple on 26 January 2012 01:03:54 PM. © Apple

Macworld | iWorld Expo officially kicked off Wednesday night with an energetic performance by alternative rockers Modest Mouse at The Warfield, a beautiful and historic theater in downtown San Francisco. Macworld | iWorld Expo is itself an interesting combination of rich history and modern tweaks. The show has been forced to adapt since Apple last appeared three years ago, and the addition of “iWorld” to the name this year reflects both the increasing community focus and the relative importance of iOS devices.

The new show has been recast as a celebration of the best the Apple community has to offer, drawing from music and the arts for inspiration as well as sharing tips and tricks. The iFanEvent, as it is being called, goes beyond the usual media personalities presenting tech topics in lectures or panel discussions. The Midway will highlight music performances, interactive sessions, and galleries for visual arts and film. I got a small preview Wednesday, and a visit to the South Park Gallery and the Digital Art Gallery is worth the time it takes to ride the escalator up to the second floor. There will also be a full schedule of music performances and live art creation, as well as a film festival screening on Friday evening.

In addition to the iFanEvent itself, the concurrent MacIT Conference continues the tradition of more advanced technical training for professionals and educators. All-day workshops took place Wednesday, and various sessions are scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I didn’t get a chance to visit all the workshops, but I did notice that the Educator track presented by Computer-Using Educators, Inc. (CUE) was well attended compared to previous years, especially considering the Wednesday timing which would require teachers to arrange a sub in order to attend.

There was no Industry Showcase this year, but the Media Preview event yesterday highlighted a few interesting vendors, and the First Looks program brought together all the new product announcements in one place. Consigned to a few small folding tables in the lobby of Moscone West, I felt that the First Looks program did not necessarily present the most attractive venue, but we hope to bring you details on some of the more interesting items in our ongoing coverage.

David Greenbaum and I will be roaming the show floor Thursday and Friday looking for all things new and interesting, in addition to meeting with various companies to get detailed looks at products to share with you over the next little while. If you’re at the show, be sure to stop and say hello if you see us on the floor and let us know what you liked. If you can’t make the show this year, let us know if there’s anything specific you’d like to hear about.

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IPhone accounts for more than 80 percent of
AT&T smartphone sales

AT&T posted its fourth quarter results for 2011 on Thursday and highlighted smartphone sales in particular, which reached a record high of 9.4 million devices, beating the standing company record by 50 percent. Apple should be very happy with those results, too, since 7.6 million, or 80.9 percent, of those smartphones were iPhones.

Both Android and iPhone devices had best-ever quarters, according to AT&T, but the launch of the 4S clearly helped Apple’s push ahead. In fact, AT&T’s iPhone sales alone during the quarter represent a higher number than AT&T’s previous quarterly record of 6.1 million for total combined smartphone sales across all types of devices.

AT&T attributes the success of the iPhone on its network to its faster data network, since it is the only U.S. carrier that offers HSPA+ speeds for the iPhone 4S. It definitely did post more sales than Verizon, which reported earlier that it sold 4.2 million iPhones during its fourth quarter. Whatever the reason, the success of the device on AT&T’s network definitely contributed significantly to Apple’s total of 37 million iPhones during its most recent quarter.

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Buyer beware: This is not the Minecraft Pocket
Edition you’re looking for

If you wanted to play Minecraft and ran into this instead, you'd be very disappointed and out $1.

Browsing recent App Store releases, I came across “Minecraft – Pocket Edition,” with a version 1.0 update. Thinking it might be the update that finally brings combat and additional block types to Mojang’s free-form world creation game, I quickly clicked through — only to find a completely different app that’s obviously trying to lure customers who aren’t paying close attention.

The Minecraft – Pocket Edition released January 26 is from developer Onliance, not Mojang, and despite having exactly the same name as the original, and using screenshots from the full release desktop version of the game, actually isn’t a game at all: it’s a guide or recipe list for use with the PC title (and doesn’t even really apply to the genuine Pocket Edition in its current form), but customers searching for the original would be hard-pressed to discover that at a glance.

Here’s the introductory paragraph for Onliance’s app description:

Minecraft is focused on creativity and building, allowing players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D world. Gameplay in its commercial release has two principal modes: Survival, which requires players to acquire resources themselves and maintain their health and hunger; and Creative, where the player has an unlimited supply of resources, the ability to fly, and no concept of health or hunger. A third gameplay mode, named Hardcore, ratchets up the difficulty of surviving and forces the player to delete his or her world upon death. An outdated Classic version is also available for free, although it is no longer being developed. Creative Minecraft resembles Classic, but with many more features.

Before clicking through to “…More” in the iTunes page for the app, you actually see only about the first sentence of that, but the real purpose of the app is buried much deeper still. Much later on, the description does say the following, but it’s the kind of information that should be right up top, and it still doesn’t convey clearly that this title contains only supporting material, and not the game itself:

This app will help you get to know the basic building commands used within the game and help you fight off those nasty creepers!!

Not sure how this one snuck past Apple’s review process (we dropped them a line to let them know and will update with comments if we receive any), but this is a pretty bald attempt to mislead customers and profit from the success of Mojang’s innovative title. Here’s hoping the game quickly gets taken down, or at least changes its name, description and screenshots to something more representative of its actual function.

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