May 27

Apple passes Microsoft in valuation

iComparing No Comments »

Apple has long been the little guy in the Mac vs. PC debate, but that’s no longer the case.

As of trading near the end of the day on Wednesday, Apple has passed Microsoft in terms of market capitalization, with a value of roughly $222 billion–about $3 billion ahead of Microsoft. Apple had been flirting with the milestone for days and had already passed Microsoft by another measure–a valuation known as enterprise value, which adds in debt and other factors.

The fact that Apple, not Microsoft, is the more valuable franchise represents a remarkable turn of events in the history of computing.

Continue reading »

Tagged with: • • • • • •
May 11

More US mobile users turn to Google’s Android than Apple’s iPhone

iComparing No Comments »

Google’s Android mobile operating system has passed the Apple iPhone in terms of US market share.

A report by market research company NPD Group, found the Android OS – developed by Google – ended the first quarter of 2010 with a US domestic market share of 28 per cent.

That’s up from about 20 per cent in the December quarter, and due mostly to strong sales of handsets such as the Droid and Droid Eris at Verizon Wireless, according to the report.

The iPhone saw its US share remain relatively flat at 21 per cent.

The leader in the US remains Research In Motion, whose BlackBerry family of “smart phone” devices has about 36 per cent of the market, according to NPD data.

A big part of the boost for the Android platform came from the launch of the Droid handset from Motorola in late 2009.

The device racked up strong sales and helped the platform’s market share surge from below five per cent in the third quarter to end the year around 20 per cent, according to NPD data.

Verizon is expected to put heavy promotion behind the latest Android device – the Droid Incredible from HTC – for the next several months.

The data may also indicate pressure on Apple to expand its base of carriers for the iPhone.

The device is still exclusive to AT&T in the US market, despite persistent speculation that it might expand to Verizon later this year.

The company has never commented on any of these rumors.

Quote from: www.news.com.au

Tagged with: • • • •
Apr 02

iPad development outruns Android, BlackBerry

iComparing No Comments »

iPad development is accelerating at a fast enough pace that it’s already eclipsing Android and BlackBerry, a Flurry study found Thursday. Of all the new app projects started in the past three months, 22 percent were for the Apple tablet. The explosion of interest shrunk the proportion of interest in Android from 18 percent in 2009 to just 10 percent in early 2010, while the BlackBerry’s slice of development dropped from four percent to just one.

iPhone development’s portion also shrunk from 78 percent to 67 percent.

The share doesn’t necessarily show diminishing interest, as Android development actually increased by 300 new titles in the same space of time. A sudden influx of iPad development, however, would point to the market growing primarily in Apple’s favor while Google and RIM are seeing only modest growth in their own platforms. Many more iPad apps are expected to reach the App Store by the device’s Saturday launch than did the iPhone in July 2008; the original third-party catalog had just 500 apps two years ago where the iPad should have 2,300 or more.

flurryipadprojects-lg1

quote from: www.electronista.com

Tagged with: • • • • •
Feb 08

Apple Far Outpaces Other Smartphone Vendors

iComparing No Comments »

Apple’s continued strength in smartphone sales cemented its position as the third-largest vendor in the fourth quarter of 2009, an IDC report concluded Thursday evening.

Apple reported selling 8.7 million iPhones for the fourth quarter, versus 20.8 million for Nokia and 10.7 million for Research in Motion, which represented the top three vendors. But Apple’s growth far outpaced all others, with a unit sales increase of 97.7 percent.

According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped a total of 54.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2009, up 39.0 percent from the same quarter a year ago. For the full year, vendors shipped a total of 174.2 million units in 2009, up 15.1 percent from the 151.4 million units in 2008.

IDC said it predicts that phone sales will reach an all-time high this year.

“2009 was the coming-out party for Google’s Android and Palm’s webOS as both operating systems revealed new ways to surround the users with increased functionality,” says Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Phone Tracker, in a statement. “More advances are in store for 2010 as Symbian and Windows are expected to unveil new versions of their respective operating systems. These and other operating systems will compete with attention-grabbing intuitiveness and seamlessness, a thriving mobile application library, and a compelling user experience that tightly holds on to the user. In the end, users will benefit from not only greater usability, but greater personalization and customization as well.”

IDC noted that RIM benefited from deals that essentially provided free Curve and Pearl models for free with a two-year contract.

2

3

Quote from www.pcmag.com

Tagged with: • • • •
Feb 04

10 Reasons Why Chrome Tablets Pose a Threat to Apple iPad

iComparing No Comments »

Although there haven’t been any announcements to corroborate the claims that Google will be unleashing a Chrome OS-based tablet in the near future, the possibility of such a device hitting store shelves is becoming increasingly likely.

Earlier this week, a mockup of how a Chrome-based tablet would work surfaced on the official Chromium blog. Although the company was quick to point out that the designs were merely a “concept UI,” it was impressive. The Chrome OS tablet would boast a virtual keyboard, like Apple’s iPad, as well as contextual control and multiple tabs for multitasking in a lightweight package that should satisfy those that want simple functionality, like surfing the Web, checking e-mails, or editing Office documents.

Although proof-of-concept images and videos don’t portend success in the real world, Google’s Chrome OS could become a compelling alternative to Apple’s iPad. Not only is it ideally suited for a tablet, it’s backed by a company that has a proven track record of delivering services that people actually want to use.

Most importantly, it’s the first Web-based OS, which makes it a far more revolutionary product than Apple’s tablet. As successful as Apple’s iPad might be when it’s released later this year, a Chrome tablet might just be a major threat to Steve Jobs’ company. Let’s take a look at why:

Continue reading »

Tagged with: • • • •
Jan 30

iPad: IPS Screen Technology Explained

iComparing No Comments »

188141-ipad_ips_screen_original

During Wednesday’s unveiling of the long-awaited iPad, Apple CEO Steve Jobs detailed that the new 9.7-inch tablet will make use of In-Plane Switching display technology. So, what excatly is In-Plane Swicthing, what does it do and why is Apple choosing to make use of this display technology for their new device?

In-Plane Switching (IPS) is an LCD technology first introduced in 1996 by Hitachi. It was initially developed to correct the poor viewing angles and color problems that LCDs had at the time.

Due to initial high-costs, IPS adoption was low at first, and mainly found only in high-end monitors, aimed primiarliy at the professional sector. Of course, over time, IPS was improved and refined, and as is the case with most new technologies, costs eventually came down to an acceptable level for mass-production.

The IPS display used int he iPad is a 9.7-inch 1024-by-768 resolution LED-backlit LCD screen. IPS gives the iPad an impressive wide viewing-angle of up to 178 degrees. Other LCD technologies tend to have narrower viewing angles, especially in the vertical direction.

Ensuring that the device can be held in a variety of ways without major viewing angle issues was clearly of great importance to Apple, especially considering that you’ll rotate the iPad depending on what you’re viewing, and Apple positions the iPad as a casual use ‘living-room’ device, perfect for consuming an assortment of multimedia.

Typical casual-use devices, namely netbooks, use a twisted nematic (TN) display technology. TN although cheaper, offers inferior color reproduction (only 6-bit color, while IPS supports richer 8-bit color), and lower viewing angles, so Apple’s use of a higher quality display techology (IPS) for such a casual device is welcomed.

Quote from www.pcworld.com

Tagged with: • • • •
Jan 18

Eight reasons why iPhone is better than Nexus One

iComparing No Comments »

With the launch of Google Nexus One smartphone in the market, hype about Nexus One beating Apple iPhone has reached its limits. Just because the Google smartphone has better features than the iPhone by a thin gap, should it be considered to be an iPhone killer? No, it’s not an iPhone killer.

Not everyone uses mobile application for browsing, chatting and for emails. There are people who love to listen to music and play games as well. In 2007, the value of music on phones was worth $9.3 billion and gaming was worth over $5 billion. What about people who are eco-friendly? Apple product environmental reports show the complete environmental footprint of every new Apple product.

Continue reading »

Tagged with: • • • •
preload preload preload