Major Survey: More People Planning to Buy a Mac than any other Brand!

When it comes to people who are planning on purchasing a new computer in the U.S., more of those people, some 32%, are planning to buy a Mac over that of any other brand. This is in comparison to some 28% of people who are planning to buy a Dell, which rates number two, on a survey of some 4,000 people conducted recently by ChangeWave Research.

MacWorld reported that Paul Carton, ChangeWave's director of research, said that Apple's 32% (for planned purchases) seems to be permanent. This is a remarkable considering where Apple was at one point in time, not that long ago. 

Apparently, according to Mr. Carton, the 'halo' effect from both the  iPod and the iPhone has had a very positive influence on people's intentions to buy a new computer. For example, the Mac's share of intended computer purchases jumped an amazing 6.5% immediately after the first generation iPhone was unveiled, and helping to put to rest any doubts about any 'halo' effect by Apple's critics.

Another factor believed to have contributed to the Mac's number one showing is Apple's customer satisfaction rate, the highest in the industry. Some 81% of all new Mac owners have reported that they are extremely satisfied with their Mac purchases. In comparison, Dell for example, only showed a 58% satisfaction rate, HP a 57% and Acer and Lenovo showed only 48 and 43% satisfaction rates. Clearly, Apple shines over it's competitor's. 

There are other reasons that factor into Apple's extremely high customer satisfaction and intended computer purchasing rates. One of these is simply that Apple's famous CEO, Steve Jobs, is a stickler for perfection. Yes, certainly with all of the recent woes surrounding MobileMe and the iPhone G3 issues, Apple is not perfect - far from it, but still, no other company in recent times has been so extremely fussy about each and every little detail of their products. From the MagSafe connector found on all of Apple's laptops, to the fit and finish of their products, the detail of Apple's products is legendary and is now being copied by it's competitors as can be easily discerned by just a quick glance at the raft of iPhone, iPod, download music stores, copy cats. They all have that 'Apple copied' look and feel. This is not a complaint, but rather a vindication of Apple's business model and it bodes well for all consumers, Apple's and that of it's competitors.

Of course, Apple could always do more, and I'm sure they will. However, high-tech is highly competitive and a highly complex business and I expect a lot more snags as Apple continues to innovate and lead the whole tech world in the future. However, that said, warts and all, I expect that if anything, when it comes to consumer satisfaction and intended computer purchases, Apple's 32%, as reported by ChangeWave, will change - upwards! How much higher it will go, I can't say, but as more of the halo effect from the iPhone and iPod take hold, and as Apple introduces more and more innovative products, all that I know, for sure, is that those rates will go up indeed!  

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Thursday, August 28, 2008.

Image via: ChangeWave Blog

Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!

 

Wonder of the World: Dubai's Planned Million Peopled Pyramid City

In Dubai they dream big, they dream bold and they dream tall. They also build big, bold and build tall. Dubai is already home to the tallest skyscraper ever built - the Burj Dubai. This slim, sleek and futuristic skyscraper literally looks down upon anything and everything that man has ever built - the CNN tower, the Sears tower, Tapai 101 and that symbol of past American pride, the Empire State, which compared to the Burj Dubai is a mere dwarf.

Dubai isn't stopping with the Burj Dubai either. No sir, when you got the oil, you got the money and when you got that, well, you got the power to do just about anything that you want, like design and build modern pyramids that will make the ancient pyramids of Egypt look like mere children's building blocks.

Yes, it might seem incredible, it might seem strange and totally impossible, but where talking about Dubai here. Recently plans have been revealed to build not just a pyramid, but a pyramid city - a city of over one million people!

As you can see in the photo, at the beginning of this post, this is a pyramid straight out of science fiction, something that could easily be envisioned in a science fiction movie like Logan's Run or Star Trek. Yet this no joke, it is a very real proposal and one that just might happen very soon.

This fantastic and utterly mammoth structure has been proposed by Dubai's Timelinks, an environmental firm that claims that their pyramid, called Ziggurat by the way, will be completely eco friendly. It will, or so they claim, be run completely off of a grid that would utilize the wind, steam and other local resources. It would be a nonpolluting environment, a huge million peopled building, or series of interconnecting buildings, that would leave a zero carbon footprint, in a building who's very size and dimensions stagger the human mind!

Is it really feasible to actually build such a pyramid? That I can't say, but an equally valid question would be, if you ask me, would be if it was even desirable to build it in the first place? I mean, come on, over a million people crowded in one single complex? Think of the problems that would present themselves if ever there was a major fire, act of terrorism, a disease epidemic, or some other natural disaster such as an earthquake, etc. 

The concept might look good on paper, but somehow the mere idea of cramming over a million people in such a confined place, like like sardines in a can, simply can't be a good one for the human psyche. I would venture to think that living in such a packed pyramid would be a breeding ground for mental illness's, and especially for those growing up in such a place. It's simply too big, too crowded and too unnatural of a setting. What would people do in such a place, how would they work, play and relax? Somehow the whole concept seems completely un-human and completely unnatural to me. Living in high-rise towers already presents enough problems, just think how they would be compounded in such a gargantuan building such as Dubai's Ziggurat? The scale is simply too off the charts and just too bizarre for the human mind to contemplate, let alone to actually live and work there.

If it's ever built, Dubai's Ziggurat would certainly become one of the wonders of the world, past or present. Personally, I might imagine being tempted to visit the place, but as far as actually living in it - no thanks - you can count me out! Just give me a little cottage in the countryside, surrounded by the beauty of nature, thank you very much!

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Thursday, August 28, 2008.

Image via:  Inhabbitat

Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!

 

The Mac Explodes In Business!

Regarding the Mac's growing adoption rate in the enterprise market, the Balitmore Sun recently stated that:

"Apple’s success with consumers has begun to spill over into the enterprise market, with Mac adoption among enterprise customers increasing four-fold in less than two years.

Mac use in businesses rose from 1.1 percent in October 2006 to 4.5 percent in June of this year, according to a report by analyst Benjamin Gray of Forrester Research released Friday and made public by eWeek's Joe Wilcox.

While 4.5 percent of the enterprise market may appear puny next to the nearly 95 percent held by Microsoft’s Windows, it is nevertheless startling that the Mac has made any headway at all in a market in which it had languished for years."

Yes, the Mac is indeed back, both in the consumer and now the business market as well. Of course, as many know, the ubiquitous iPod and now the iPhone has played a crucial role in exposing the Mac to the public. This has resulted in the Mac suddenly becoming discovered by literally millions of new people who would have never given it a mere glance before. In turn, these legends of new and contented Mac switchers have been bringing their enthusiasm for all things Mac back to their work places, and thus exposing the positive benefits to their employers as well, and, as we can plainly see, resulting in more Mac's being used there.

Mac's are increasingly becoming more and more main stream in the work place with each passing day. The Mac has virtually exploded in use among business users, increasing by a whopping four-fold as ComputerWorld also recently noted! This trend is seemingly increasing with no end in sight, but what is particularly interesting, however, is the fact that it is all happening without seemingly any direct input or planning from Apple itself! Apple had basically given up, for the most part, on the enterprise segment of the market, focusing it's efforts instead on the lucrative consumer side. Funny thing is, that on the way to the consumer market, Apple just happened to pick up a nice little chunk of the business market as well!

Another significant factor in the ascendency of the Mac in the enterprise is virtualization. Great virtualization tools from VMWare and Parallel's has done more to get the Mac in the enterprise door than any other single factor, in addition to Apple adopting Intel chips. Virtualization means never having to say your sorry. Sorry that you can't run certain key apps that come only on Windows. Suddenly, thanks to virtualization, the Mac can not only run as much software as Windows, but in fact - even more than Windows! Yes, it is certainly true that Windows has far more native apps than the Mac, but, likewise, so does the Mac have thousands of unique native software too. Now, with the help of virtualization, Mac's can run both flavors of apps - Windows or the Mac's! And let's not forget, Mac's can also run all of the apps on the Linux side as well - the only system that can do so!

Any one who cares to simply glance at the many tech sites or magazines can see that the Mac is growing and now, its not only on the consumer side, but also the enterprise as well. The question is whether or not this is just some temporary fluke, or something that is sustainable on Apple's part?

Unless Apple really, really screws up, I think that the answer is a definite yes!

There are many reasons to believe that Apple will more than sustain it's 4.5 % share of the enterprise market. The obvious reason is that the Mac, as has been stated many, many times before - "Just Works!" Mac's are so much more secure, so much more intuitive, easy and pleasurable to use, be it for work or pleasure. Windows is broken. It's slow, buggy and comes with too much crap trial software installed. It's a lot more secure than it was in the past, of course, but it's still a much greater security risk than either the Mac or Linux. People are simply getting tired of Windows and they want something new, something better, more secure and something that just works.  

The one and only answer:  the one and only Mac!

For these and many other reasons, I believe that the Mac is literally about to explode in numbers and size, and to a point that it will completely, and forever, change the computer market share landscape for years and maybe even decades to come!


And that's my 2 cents 4 this Wenesday, August 27, 2008.

Image via :  Apple

Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!
 

iPhone G3 Problems, Who's Fault?

Apple's new iPhone G3 has been getting a bad rap lately. People have been complaining that they are getting no where near the promised G3 speeds, and worse, they are getting dropped calls! Apple even updated the software in hopes of fixing the issue, but despite some success, people are still reporting that they are still experiencing the same issue's which, according to Apple, only effect approximately two percent of G3 iPhone's. 

But is Apple and it's incredibly popular phone really the culprit, are they really to be blamed for it's rash of problems, or is the blame to be put on other source's?

Not according to some. Reports are now beginning to surface that the recent iPhone G3 problems are not due to the phone itself, nor to Apple, but rather they are due mostly to the individual carriers of the phone! Some countries have great service, others do not!

Wired.com, for example, did a recent study that clearly shows that the iPhone G3 problems vary widely according to the country and provider as stated earlier. Clearly, this study shifts a lot of the blame from Apple to that of the carriers, but still, Apple has been very proactive by releasing software updates in hopes of minimizing the situation as AppleInsider highlights:

"Still, Apple has been proactive in making strides to improve the way iPhones manage a 3G signal with the recent release of iPhone Software 2.0.2."

AppleInsider also noted that another study that showed that the iPhone G3's hardware seems to be operating completely normally. So, no matter what Apple does or doesn't do, no software update is going to magically solve all of the problems that G3 owners have been experiencing.  If this is indeed the case, then a recent lawsuit aimed at Apple from an Alabamian women may just be barking up the wrong tree? Her attempt to launch a class-action suit against the Cupertino, California based electronic giant may be squashed as fast as some of the  dropped iPhone G3 signals that she claims she, and others, are unfairly experiencing. According to the recent study by Wired, the best place to own and use a G3 iPhone is in Germany where the speeds closely compare to that the iPhone's specifications. The worst seems to be Australia and here in Canada, well, I guess we are somewhere in the middle.

Recently, it is being reported that RIMM's new BlackBerry Bold, a phone with very similar G3 specifications as the iPhone G3, is also experiencing the very same problems! I'm sure that as time goes on, we will see the issue crop up on a lot more mobiles besides theG3 phones as well.  If it is indeed true, as it appears, that it is the carriers and not Apple is to blame, why all of a sudden is there such a huge deluge of bad press for the Apple iPhone G3?

The answer is probably found in Apple's incredible string of product success's over the past decade. Apple is the electronic equivalent of Michael Phelps, and like this amazing athlete, Apple has become a lightning rod when it comes to attracting attention and the press and it's insatiable appetite for hits. Just as placing a Apple logo on a product, these days, is almost a guarantee that it will sell like hot cakes, so too is merely mentioning Apple's name, likewise, almost is also a virtual guarantee that it will garner publications a huge amount of hits and readers. This is why many people, myself included, believe that groups like Green Peace love to single out Apple rather than other companies, as it instantly generates incredible interest.

 

Even though it now is becoming increasingly clear that the iPhone carriers, rather than Apple, bare most of the responsibility for the recent iPhone G3 woes, this doesn't clear Apple completely. Even though Apple is to be commended for trying to improve the situation by updating the iPhone's software, Apple still has a problem with dealing with such issue's by treating it's customers indifferently. Apple can be quit arrogant in handling such problems, at least they were in the past, by simply denying or acknowledging customers complaints in the first place. Apple is not alone in this, of course, but they have been rather famous for it. 

Nobody is perfect, no company, no product, and no, not even Apple. Apple, like all of us, makes mistakes, and even though the iPhone G3 problems may not be entirely of it's making, the big question is what can and what is Apple going to do about it? That is what I and many others want to know. 

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Tuesday, August 26, 2008.

UPDATE :   Orange Admits to Limiting 3G Coverage!

Repeated tests confirm iPhone hardware NOT at Fault!

Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!

 

My 350th. Post!

Today is my 350th. post! To celebrate, I have decided to take the day off from writing about anything new and concentrate on some of my past posts, the most popular ones. After all, this is only a practice blog for me, created mostly to help me adjust to my extreme fatigue syndrome levels (resulting from a genetic liver disfunction) in order to help me get back to writing children's literature that I was trained to do, but couldn't engage in for the past five years or so.

None-the-less, in order to keep my promise to myself that I would try to post at least one post per week day, here, in no particular order, is a look back (just a list) of my past and most popular posts: 

HP's iMac Killer:  The Touch Smart PC

The Incredible Success of the iPhone G3

Will iPhone Games = More Mac Games?

Gateway's iMac Clone

Sky Rocket: Is This the Best Screensaver Yet?

The Coming Onslaught of iPhone Games

Gimodo: It's Official the iPhone G3 on June 9th.

What's Next For the iPhone?

The Sexiest Blog

With 500 Apps, the Apps Store Starts Off with a BANG!

Ah, as you have probably noticed, the iPhone seems to be the biggest and most popular subject that I have covered. It has attracted more interest and more readers than almost all other subjects combined! No wonder Apple has been reported to be gearing up manufacturing lately. 

The HP Touch Smart, the Best Screen Saver and the Sexiest Blog posts were the only other posts to make it into my top ten. Clearly, if you ever wanted to create a new and popular blog, well the iPhone would be a great subject to cover. Of course, other subjects that were popular revolved around iMac like clones, new MacBooks and Snow Leopard. 

A lot of my posts, in fact, seem to get high Google page placements, usually landing on page one. For example, if you were to Google "Snow Leopard vs Windows 7",  Google often displays it on page one, as many of my other posts, but it's still those iPhone related posts that actually bring in the hits. This is especially so just before any new iPhone release. Incrediably, even older and completely outdated iPhone posts continue to bring in hits. I'm not sure I understand the fascination with the iPhone, but it's definitely real. 

Anyway, my day off from posting on new Apple events has come to an end. Hopefully, tomorrow I will be back to give my 2 cents on something new in the wonderful and wacky world of all things Apple related.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, August 25, 2008.


Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!
 

Finally a $129 iTunes Subscription Service?

We have heard the rumors again and again and from various sources, in the past, that iTunes was about to launch an all-you-can-eat subscription service. Well, I guess the cat came back, because the iTune subscription rumors have resurfaced yet again.

Sources such as Endgadget are now talking about Apple's ubiquitous iTune service adding an all-you-can-eat subscription service by as early as years end. Some are even saying that such an iTune service would come with the unheard of price of only $129 per-year, which would seriously undercut it's rivals such as Napster and others that typically charge around $180 annually.

Steve Jobs has repeatedly said that consumers prefer to "own their music", a fact that can be easily demonstrated and seen from the lack luster sales of the present subscription based service providers. So, at first glance, it really doesn't seem to make much sense that Apple would, all of a sudden, make a complete 180 degree turn by offering an iTunes subscription option in light of the competitor's low subscription rates, now would it?

Of course, these rumors are just that - rumors! They should be taken, like all rumors, with a grain of salt. Still, like many, I'm intrigued by the idea of  a possible iTune subscription service, but could there really be any benefits to such a service? 

I think so.

One of the reasons that I think that an iTune subscription service makes sense, is simply because it allows Apple to cover both sides of the equation, and if it is indeed true about the $129 annual subscription fee, well, then Apple has a real opportunity here to give it's main rivals what could very well be the final knock-out blow!

Personally, just like Steve said, I prefer to own my music. The present iTune business model suites me just fine thank you, but not everyone thinks like myself or the great Steve. There may be less of them, but certainly there are still a lot of people out there who swear by the subscription model. After all, if the price is right and it comes with all of the conveniences and stability that iTunes currently offers, then the idea that you could have access to some six million individuals songs, any old time you felt like it, to me, certainly has it's apeal! As huge as the capacities of the current state of mpg players and computers are, they are still limited in the amount of music that they can realistically hold. The subscription model completely eliminates that problem, allowing you to store only the songs that you repeatedly use, yet still giving you access to millions of other selections that you may only want to access occasionally.

Of course, knowing Apple, any iTune subscription model would, most likely, also include the option to upgrade and buy selected songs/albums that you wanted to permanently collect and keep. In truth, most of the songs that people listen to become 'ho-hum' after awhile and you end up rarely listening to them ever again anyway, so why pay and store music that you rarely, if ever, will listen again?

Even though, at this point, an iTune subscription service is still just rumors, I do hope that they turn out to be true, and especially the $129 part. As long as you can access both the current iTune model and the subscription model, side-by-side, together, then, by all means, you can count me in! As great as the many iTune choices are now, having even more choices can only be better yet.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Friday, August 22, 2008.

Image via: Apple/iTunes

Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!
 

Microsoft's Big Ad Campaign - Will It Succeed? Short Answer: NO!

For Microsoft, the world's biggest and richest software company, trying to look cool is going to cost them a cool $300,000,000.00! You see, big, old Microsoft has this tiny little problem.... the BIG Apple! Apple Inc., that is! Yes, it's certainly true that Apple may be small in comparison to Microsoft on the desktop, but it's really, really Big in the Cool department and that cool factor is making Microsoft look more like a fool than anything cool! 

So what to do?

Well, in desperation, and after failing to successfully take on Apple's iPod with it's Zune, and being made the fool of the industry, in part to Apple's 'Get-A-Mac' ad campaign, the giant of Redmond will launched one of it's biggest advertising campaigns ever this Sept 4th. This big ad campaign will feature none other than one of the biggest comedians of all time, Jerry Seinfeld, who's part in the big ad will pad his bank account with a really big pay-cheque - $10.000.000.00! Not a bad day's work, if you ask me.

This big new campaign will be based on some variation of the slogan "Windows, Not Walls" and will not only feature one of the world's biggest comedians, but also one of the world's biggest businessmen, Microsoft's very own Bill Gates. Both Jerry and Uncle Bill's big performance is part of an attempt to turn around the negative image of one of the world's biggest marketing flops - Vista.

Can these big names and this big ad campaign really make a big impact and reverse Vista's big image problems? Well, obviously, we'll have to wait and see, but three hundred million smackeroo's is certainly a big pile of cash and you would think that it would make a big impact, wouldn't you? But will it? Sadly, the truth is that's not always the case. I can remember, very well, several large budget ad campaigns, like that of a certain big budgeted movie, Ishtar, who's big budget utterly failed and it ended up being a big flop.

The big bucks and the big names of this big campaign, will, I am sure, have a big impact of some kind, but, however, as with the case of the big budgeted Ishtar, I must agree with Adrian Kingsley-Hughes when he stated:

"Specifically, Microsoft is paying Seinfeld $10 million to pal around with Gates and joke about how cool Windows is. The goal of the campaign? To get that nerdy Widnows guy in the Apple ads out of people's heads.

Will it work?

No"

Unfortunately, big names and big bucks won't fix the big problems that has made Vista such a big failure in the eyes of many. The very fact that Microsoft feels the need to even spend said big bucks is, in actual fact, an admission on their part that Apple's ads are having a big impact. For Vista, sadly, it's big image problem is not a big fluke - it's because Vista itself is a big mess! Vista, for example, has not one, but many big and very real problems that directly resulted in it's big bad image. It's loaded from end to end with DRM, it's slow, it's buggy, it has big problems with developers wanting to even write for it and it's a big hog on  system resources such as memory, etc.. Unless Microsoft spends money to actually correct those problems no amount of ad money is going to change anything, except maybe making Seinfeld and the advertising companies richer in the process.

The way to improve Vista's image, the way to make it cool and desirable is by making it usable, by freeing it of DRM, making it fast, instead of slow, by removing all those buggy pop-ups and by improving it's interface, etc. Simply masking over Vista's shortcomings with a big campaign will not produce the big results that Microsoft is hoping for. No, they must make a big move by removing it's shortcomings first and foremost. Then and only then, would it make sense to launch a big ad campaign, because, unless or until they do, I predict that no matter how funny, how clever or witty Vista's big ad campaign will become, in the end,  it will be just another big failure for Microsoft.


And that's my 2 cents 4 this Thursday, August 21, 2008.

Image via : Silicon Alley Insider

PS. My apologies for the big use of the world big in this post!

Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!
 

Way Down Under, the Mac is Way, Way UP!

Most technophiles already know that the Mac is growing at a much, much faster rate over all than the PC industry as a whole, but way down under, the Mac is way, way up! 

According to research done by Gartner, the Mac is growing by an astounding six times the rate of the PC in Australia. At that rate, the Mac is growing twice as fast as it is in the U.S., were it is growing rapidly at a little over three times that of the PC.

Apple's second quarter Mac sales were up an amazing 52%, giving the Mac an Australian market share of 5.3 % as compared to only 3.8% from the same period as a year ago! IDC, however, gives the Mac an even larger share at 6.2%.

The Courier Mail says that at the present rate of growth the Mac is on course to capture double digit share of the Australian computer market. They also go on to highlight the four main factors that is propelling the Mac to new heights in Australia and away from traditional PC's.

They state:

"* The iPod "halo effect", in which iPod buyers seek out other Apple products.

* Apple's move to Intel processors, which has levelled the playing field and allowed switchers to run Windows.

* Increased visibility of Apple products in Apple's retail stores and chain stores.

* Widespread dissatisfaction with Windows security, stability and usability."

The Courier Mail is, of course, completely correct in their assertions, but the interesting thing to note is that those four main factors are also having a similar effect elsewhere too. The actual percentage of people switching to the Mac may vary from country to country, but the overall effect is still the same and points to the same conclusion: the Mac is back baby!

Still, as impressive as the Mac's growth is, PC traditionalists are still going to be quick to point out that the PC still commands over 90% of the market. However, the important thing to consider here is the trend of the Mac's growth rate, and what this means over the long haul? With the Mac's growth rate commanding anywhere from three to six times that of the PC, one is tempted to ask just how much longer will PC boosters be able to continue to boast that the PC still has that 90% market share? Obviously, at the Mac's present growth rate, and if it continues, not for very much longer!

The halo effect from the iPod, and now the iPhone, is getting a lot more people to think that, if these two products are so amazing, then just maybe the iMac is too! This line of thinking is resulting in not only more people looking at Mac's, but also buying them too. I have been told directly by people that their iPod was the main reason why they decided to look into buying a Mac. Once they actually took the time to do so, the Mac's ease of use, aesthetics, stability and sheer simplicity finally ended up in them actually purchasing one!

The adoption of Intel processors is truly another major reason why, more and more, people are switching to the Mac. Intel processors meant that people had a commodity that they were already familiar with, one that they could count on to give the power and speed that they both needed and wanted. Not only that, but it also gave them a precious safety net, one that could soften the move from PC's to the Mac. It also meant that they could still, if needed or desired, still run their existing Window applications either through Boot Camp or third party solutions such as Parallels, VMWare and others.

Apple's rapidly expanding chain of Apple Stores have also played a significant part in the growth of Mac's. For the first time, in many cases, people had the opportunity to see and actually use a Mac without been slammed with a lot of misconceptions and half-truths that the PC world foster on them. Misconceptions such as the Mac had no software, that they were slower, and the big one - that they cost a whole lot more than PC's. True, they do cost more, but only a little more. Mac's are very competitively priced, and especially so when you factor in all of the extra's that go into a Mac, and one's that PC's simply can't match - at any price.

It's a little sad, when you actually think about it, but one of the main reasons driving ever more people to the superiority of the Mac, be it in good old Australia, or elsewhere, is the inferiority of Microsoft and it's half-baked products themselves. This is particularly true concerning Windows Vista! The myriad number of broken promise's, the sheer complexity of Microsoft products, the lack of original innovation and a host of other issues have, and still is, driving legends of long time Microsoft customers into the welcoming hands of Apple and it's growing numbers of Mac, iPhone and iPod users.

As I already pointed out, it's the trend in the Mac's growth rate that is the most important and most interesting thing to consider when considering the current state of the computer's market place and market share. Clearly, at triple or more growth over that of traditional Windows PC's, sooner or later, the Mac's impact is about to get to the point that anything goes - including Microsoft's grip on the majority of market share! Microsoft's market share is not a given, nor is the Mac's for that matter. One thing, however, is clear in all of this, is that Microsoft is going to have to work really, really hard, or get really, really lucky if it wish's to continue it's reign as the king of operating systems. If they're not careful, the Mac may just de-throne  and overthrow them while their backs are turned?


And that's my 2 cents 4 this Wednesday, August 20, 2008.

Image via:    AppleInsider

Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!
 

Android the iPhone Killer? Maybe, Maybe Not?

Slowly and painfully Google's Android mobile initiative is coming into sharper focus. Gizmodo has a nice video review of Android's progress thus far, and now we have word that the HTC Dream is about to become the very first commercially available Android based mobile to go on sale sometime later this year.

According to the HTC Dream's website, many of the exact specifications and details are still a mystery, but leaks have pointed out the following Android Dream features:

 • Large touchscreen with haptic feedback
• Full QWERTY keypad
• 5 inches long and 3 inches wide
• Keypad that either slides or swivels for easy typing/texting
• Internet navigation controls below the touchscreen display

Of course, this all sounds very exciting, but the question on everybody's mind is what kind of impact will this have on the iPhone, the device that has inspired Google, and many others, to create Android and all of the other knockoff's in the first place? Will Android based mobile's finally become the iPhone killer's that some are predicting? That's hard to say, but some in the know are already reporting that Android is looking a little rough around the corners when compared to the elegance of the iPhone.

AppleInsider mentions that the "Dream" is just one of several devices that Google is testing, and they report:

"While the Dream is "apparently a hot item to show off in Google's cafeterias these days," those familiar with the device describe it as "big and bulky," and nowhere near as sleek as iPhone that's forever altered the landscape of the mobile industry. The Android software itself is similarly not up to par with standards set by Apple, leaving it feeling "less-elegant, less-user-friendly" just months before its slated to be unleashed into the wild."

Silicon Alley Insider is also reporting that, "Android Is Powerful, But No iPhone." No doubt, the closer we near the release of the first Android phone and it's subsequent follow up phones, the more reports we are going to see popping up that will pit the one against the other, Android vs the iPhone. WebMonkey, in fact, gives six reasons where the iPhone already delivers and where Android doesn't and makes for a good read. These six points are listed as follows:

1. - Celebrity Skin
2. - Contracts
3. - A Stable SDK
4. - Profitable App Store
5. - Bold Experimentation
6. - Developers

You can read a more detail description of each of these six points directly from WebMonkey's post. One thing, from this post, that they bring up is the growing descent coming from Android developers themselves, who are not all that happy about what is going on. Many of these developer's feel let down and WebMonkey states:

"All of these arguments hint at why developers are so let-down by Google: why bother? While the promise of an open mobile operating system should be exciting burgeon to the mobile web and operating system development community, the announcement of the HTC Dream and updated SDK is too late."

Unfortunately, Google has gotten a lot of the developer's working on Android extremely mad and extremely frustrated by giving a select few developers, namely a certain few big one's, special advance SDK information priviledges. Naturally, this probably isn't exactly the best thing to do to keep your developers on board and happy as Silicon Alley Insider also pointed out.

Of course, Apple's has gotten a few of it's developers a little ticked off too, but certainly not anywhere near the degree that Google has done with it's Android developers. Developers are the real key to ensuring that any highly technical product, like the iPhone or Android, needs to ensure it's success in the market place and ticking them off can't possibly be a good thing. What where you thinking Google?

Will Google and it's Android initiative finally be the iPhone killer that others have so far failed to achieve? Only God knows the answer to that, but we do know that the Android and iPhone camps both have their work cut out for them if they wish to either become or remain the innovative leader in the smart phone category.

Personally, as cool as Android is, and as great as it's potential may be, I have the feeling that the iPhone, unless Apple really drops the ball here, will continue to lead the pack when it comes to innovation and usability. For the time being anyway, the iPhone simply has all the buzz, the excitement and the momentum that should make Android's, or anybody else's attempts, to stop or slow it down, anytime soon, rather difficult. This doesn't mean that it's impossible, of course, but Apple, you can bet, isn't about to sit still and let that happen. The iPhone is already great and off to a flying start and, yes, despite all of the fuss being raised over the two percent or so of iPhone G3 users who are having connection issue's, the iPhone looks like it will still be the one to beat for a while longer yet.

In the end, I predict that Android will be successful, very successful and it's impact will be huge, but the iPhone will continue to be even bigger. I could be wrong, I'm not sure, but I am sure that Android's competition, over the long haul, will end up being a good thing for all consumers by keeping keeping Apple on it's toes and forcing Apple to advance the iPhone, all the more, in the process as well.



And that's my 2 cents 4 this Tuesday, August 19, 2008.


Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!
 

Touch Screen Mac's - Available Now!

Recently I played with HP's Touch Smart all-in-one computer. It was a very nice machine, even though it was somewhat underpowered as compared to others in it's class. I must say, however, that it was rather cool being able to play Mahjong by simply touching and dragging the tiles with your fingers. Playing solitaire was equally as fun, as were other applications. Apple has been working on touch screen multi-touch screen technology for the Mac too, but, however, at this point, we simply have no  idea if or when Apple will release such a machine.

However, if your a Mac user that's a tad bit envious of the Touch Smart you really needn't be. This is because a division of Troll Technology has already been customizing both Mac's and PC's with touch screens ever since 1987. For extra bucks, Troll Touch will either happily customize your existing Mac with a touch screen, or simply sell you a completely new Mac with a touch screen pre-installed. This is great if you just can't wait any longer to manipulate your Mac by simply fingering this or that on your Mac like the Touch Smart.

Of course, other than ordering an entirely new Mac with the touch screen pre-installed, one problem is that you have to ship your Mac off to Troll in order  for it to be outfitted, and then have to wait again for it's return. This is time consuming and a real bummer, if you ask me. However, for the first time ever, Troll Touch is now offering something new - do it yourself touch screens! That's right folks, now you have the option of simply ordering their newly announced SlipCOVER 'do-it-your-self' touch screen and quickly installing it yourself! No need to have to do without your precious Mac for several weeks in the meantime. I like that, I like that a lot. 

As the name suggests, you can now, just like slipping a cover on a chair, easily add or remove your very own touch screen as you can see by clicking on the YouTube video at the beginning of this post.

Troll Touch's SlipCOVER is cool and is available now for both 20 and 24 inch iMac's. In addition to the iMac, they also sell versions for both the MacBook and Apple's latest monitors as well, including Apple's mammoth 30 incher!

So, are there any other cons to using Troll's touch screens? Yes, because, like the HP Touch Smart, it is still only a touch and not a true multi-touch screen like that of the iPhone. This limits what they can do, but basically anything that you can now do with a mouse you can now do simply by touching the screen with your fingers! Another con with vertical placed touch screens seems to be a risk of one developing wrist pain as I personally discovered with just casual use of the Touch Smart. Also, of course, is the added cost! Touch screens, especially the customized ones like Troll's, don't exactly come dirt come cheap!

The prices for the SlipCOVER version are:

20 inch iMac - $699.00
24 inch iMac - $799.00

Prices for the 15 inch MacBook Pro - 599.00; the 17 inch MacBook Pro - 699.00.




As you can see from the video of the MacBook above, Troll's customized touch screens certainly look and act pretty darn cool, now don't they? Well, at least I think so and I only wish, like the HP Touch Smart, Apple already bundled them with all Mac's.

I definitely think that touch screens, particularly the multi-touch versions, are the wave of the future in high-tech computing devices. The question is, with rumors that Apple is about to add multi-touch features on Mac's, is installing a customized touch screen really worth it? Well, that depends? If you have an older Mac, then, by all means, that is if you can afford the added cost of doing so.  A touch screen  will add value to your computing experience and wow your friends at the same time. However, if it is indeed true that Apple is about to soon release vastly superior touch screen technology, then, if you can wait it out, I would definitely advise going that route instead.

Regardless, of whether you do decide to go with a customized touch screen now, or wait later until Apple releases their own multi-touch Mac, touch screens are definitely the wave of the future and certainly do add to the pleasure, functionality and of use of  your Mac or PC. Personally, I would prefer to wait for Apple's own touch screen Mac, because I firmly believe that any touch screen that Apple would create would not only end up offering more features and functionality, but should also end up selling for a lot less too. 

However, if you just can't wait longer and you can afford the cost, then, by all means, adding a customized screen is worth it in my opinion. Troll's customized touch screens won't necessarily improve everything that you do on a computer, but they certainly should make using them a little more useful and a whole lot more fun.


And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, August 18, 2008. 

Troll Touch

Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!
 

How the iMac Changed Computer History

One of the bastions of the Mac publishing world, MacWorld, did an interesting post on how the iMac has completely changed computing since the iconic machine was unveiled in May of 1998. They go through eight main points that makes for interesting reading for anyone interested in computer history.

Personally, I remember the day the original iMac was unveiled extremely well, as my very first thoughts, when I saw the machine were: "What the......! Are they completely out of their cotton picking minds - that thing is like, totally, totally ugly! I mean, come on, the stupid thing is fat, blue and you can see through the bloody thing! Like, there's no way, in a million years, that anyone would be interested in buying that fruity-colored monstrosity!

I was wrong. Very, very wrong!

That little bugger just happened to go on to become one of the biggest selling computers of all time! Not only that, as MacWorld pointed out, it virtually saved Apple from going belly up, and for saving Apple, they listed it as their eighth point.

MacWorld's six point was that the iMac set standards for industrial design, and not only in computers either. I remember just how widespread became the trend of companies adopting the iMac's colorful, see-through look. From tv's, radios, hard disks, camera's and even toasters of all things - the iMac's casing was all the rage! The world was suddenly awash in fruity-colored see-through devices thanks to the iMac. Presently, as MacWorld points out, the iMac has matured into a sleek aluminum and professional looking devive who's influence can easily  be seen in computers from Gateway, Dell, Averatec, HP and other iMac inspired all-in-one computers.

The second point that MacWorld illustrates is how the iMac introduced to the world the now famous and ubiquitous small, lower-cased "i" to the world of product names. From the original iMac, we now have products names such as iDisk, iPhoto, iNet, iShare, iPhone, iPod to "i-this" and "i-that!" The "eyes have it" they say, but now it's more a case of the lowercase i's. Thanks to the iMac, everyone loves to name things that unconventionally start with the first letter lower cased, and the second letter capitalized, rather than the traditional and grammatically correct capitalized first letter. This trend continues with other letters as well, as can be seen in names such as the eMac, etc.

It's easy to look back and see how the iMac has changed the entire computer industry, but can it be expected to continue to do so in the future, or has it's time come and gone, only to it become nothing more than a footnote in the annals of computing history? Nothing can be guaranteed, of course,  but I expect that it will, but also that it won't be as easy as it was in the past. The competition, after all, has been watching and learning from the iMac's success and they too are now starting to think and act like Apple, and beginning to market their own "iMac" inspired creations. Mind you, I have yet to see any of them bring anything to market that quite equals, let alone surpasses the iMac, but they are certainly getting closer with each new attempt. 

If Apple wish's to maintain and further extend the influence of the iMac, it simply can't rest on it's laurel's and, of course, they're not. Apple is not only one of the most innovative companies in high-tech, but unquestionably the very best of the lot, and I'm expecting that they are about to take the iMac to a much higher level then ever thought possible through the use of multi-touch and other technologies that will extend the iMac's lead over that of it's rivals. 

Apple has been working, for example, on a two-way monitor that not only displays information but actually absorbs it from it's surroundings! This two-way monitor is both a display and, at the same time, a HD web cam and copier! Millions of tiny lenses not only mean that you end up with the highest quality web cam images possible, but that the angle of view is much more natural than from any existing web cams to date. Existing cams tend to show people from an unnatural, off-to-the-side view, rather than a true and more natural direct face-to-face view, as you would get from the new monitor, just as you would if talking to someone in real life.

I'm also quite sure that Apple has some pretty nifty things up their sleeves in the area of voice recognition and artificial speech. This has been the holy-grail of the computer industry for some time. You know what I'm talking about  -  just think Star Trek. Of course, I'm equally sure that were not going to get the full Star Trek experience anytime soon, but Apple, I'm convinced, is about to advance voice recognition further than anyone has done thus far. Simply being able to talk and have your computer respond accordingly will be the biggest thing since sliced bread! Yes, I know we already have such capabilities, but it's still so primitive in comparison to what we are about to see in the very near future, and if anybody can make it happen, I'm betting that it will be Apple. 

Based on recent statements from Apple itself, Apple is about to introduce completely new and unheard of technologies that should result in the iMac continuing to change the future of computing much more than it has in the past. Of course, Apple could always screw up big time as they did when they allowed Microsoft to simply copy and take over the desktop market with Windows. Apple, in the past, after all, has been known for making many such screw ups. However, that's the past. Today, Apple is a much older and wiser company and, if I were to bet my money on it, I think that betting on the iMac continuing to advance and change the future of computing would be a very safe bet.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Friday, August 15, 2008.

Image via: Wired

Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!
 

The Latest and Greatest MacBook Air Rumor

I love rumors, we all love rumors and the latest rumor has it that the MacBook Air is about to get a major upgrade come really soon. Even though not technically much of an Apple rumor site, the otherwise respected, PhoneNews is confirming that Apple is about to release a new revision of the MacBook Air that will be significantly faster than the present. The present CPU used in the MBA will be replaced with a standard Penryn-Class Duo and will go from 2.0 GHz and potentially even beyond.

However, they also claim that the newer CPU will drain more power, therefore, it will be getting a newer 60W power adapter much like the current MacBook family. Currently, as you probably already know, the MBA uses a specially design custom CPU.

What is really significant is the claim that the newer MBA will sport a 120-160 GB HD options. Not mind blowing, mind you, but definitely much better than the skimpy 80GB currently available. Hopefully, bigger, cheaper and much better SSD options will also be available by the time the new MBA ships.

Of course, as plausible as this rumor seems to be, it is still just that - a rumor. Responding to this rumor, Electronista states:

"While unverified and potentially inaccurate, the rumor suggests an "imminent" launch and that retailers are being warned of the upgrade in advance, providing a short turnaround for confirmation of the report."

Of course, time will tell just how accurate and how imminent this rumor will turn out to be, but, as stated above, it certainly seems to be plausible, and I, for one, certainly hope that it all pans out. What I'm personally interested in seeing, however, is an MBA with a super fast 256 GB SSD! Oh, and one that is actually affordable too, because it really doesn't matter, for example, how cool, sophisticated or advanced a top-of-the-line product is, if, like me, you can't afford to actually buy one, now it it?

To be quite honest, what I'm really expecting for is the unexpected! Of course, naturally, it's rather hard for me to give an opinion on something that I know absolutely and basically nothing about, but super secretive Apple just happens to be one company with a history of doing just that, and I hope they do likewise with the next MBA - one that completely wows us with the unexpected. Sorry Apple, but you have gotten us all spoiled by now!

The only thing that we know for sure, at this point, is that Apple has already promised that major transitional updates are coming, and from the language that it used it seems logical that it will be more than just the usual fare. One of the possibilities that I am personally really keen on seeing is the possibility of new multi-touch glass track pads. I'm already pretty well stoked over the various rumors concerning the upcoming major Apple updates and now PhoneNews has simply wetted my appetite all the more - those little buggers!

Unfortunately, like the rest of you, I will simply have to try and keep my curiosity and enthusiasm in check for now, and take, as we always should, the current, but plausible, rumors with a grain of salt.


And that's my 2 cents 4 this Thursday, August 14 , 2008.

MBA image: Apple

Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!
 

Market Cap: Apple Overtakes Google's

I was beginning to think that it would never happen, that it was virtually impossible, but today, just today, I noticed that the impossible did, in fact, actually happen - Apple's market cap has finally overtaking that of Google's!

As of today, Apple's stock, at the time of this writing, hit the $178.93 mark vs Google's which stood at $499.21. This gives Apple a market cap of some $158.51 billion vs Google's 156.7 billion.

Of course, come the end of the day, it could be completely reversed all over again, but news of Apple's extremely strong iPhone and Mac sales seems to be propelling the stock ever higher. Google, on the other hand, is down due to the general overall weakness in the economy, like many other stocks at the moment, I might add.

As far as the iPhone itself is concerned, Synergy Research Group announced the availability of their Synergy Q2 Mobile Handset Market Share report that shows that Apple's iPhone is firmly in second place, behind Research in Motion, in the smart phone category. This is extremely impressive considering that the iPhone has been barely on the market for a year now, a fact that Wall Street has apparently taking notice of. Considering the iPhone's strong showing, some analysts are now even beginning to think that the iPhone may completely over take RIM'S first place standing in the near future.

Meanwhile, AppleInsider is reporting that Google's Android platform flaws may be pushing software firms more towards the iPhone than that of it's own Android initiative. Whether this has anything to do with Apple finally over taking Google, in market cap, I don't know, but it is interesting to note?

Regardless of their respective financial standings, both companies are great companies. They are innovative, powerful, rich and equally deserve their high financial standings. Both companies are, after all, in my mind at least, the two most influential and brilliant high tech firms on the planet. Virtually everybody studies and tries to emulate them. Microsoft, for example, is bending over backwards to out do Google in search and advertising, and, while at the same time, trying to copy Apple in music players, online content delivery and, of course, OS design, etc. 

For the most part, I have noticed that whenever Google stock rises, so does Apple's; whenever Apple stock nose dives, so too, does Google's! Why this is, I don't exactly know, but apparently Wall Street seems to consider them attached in some way or another.

At the end of the day, however, where ever these two financial powerhouses end up in their respective market cap, one thing is clear: both Apple and Google will continue to be the one's to beat.



And that's my 2 cents 4 this Wednesday, August 13 , 2008.

Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!
 

Freebie-4-the Day: ZoneAlarm ForceField

Today's Freebie-4-the-Day is,  ZoneAlarm ForceField. This is a one day only Patch Tuesday special promotion - so if you want it - get it now while it lasts. Today's special promotion will allow you the oportunity to download and activate ZoneAlarm ForceField for one full year. After that, of course, you will have to pay $19.95 if you wish to extend it's benefits.

So, just what are the benefits of using  ZoneAlarm ForceField anyway?  ZoneAlarm ForceField is security software that will help you to surf the net, from social sites like FaceBook, MySpace, Face-Pic, or BitTorrent, your banking site, Amazon, and everything else in-between with greater peace of mind, because this software claims to protect you by:

 - Protecting your identity by blocking phishers and stopping keyloggers

 - Blocks unauthorized downloads and software installations

 - Erases your surfing history for complete privacy

 - Works great as an extra layer of protection to your existing security software

When you consider that ZoneAlarm ForceField normally charges $29.95, today's Free download and activation is a real bargain since today it's absolutely FREE,!

Below, you can view a YouTube demo, or description, of ZoneAlarm ForceField. It's a fun little video, but warning, I found it to be a little annoying at times.




PCMagazine states the following about ZoneAlarm Forcefield:

"First announced in 2007, the heart of the ForceField system is a "bubble of security"—a virtualization system that isolates the browser from the computer. Any browser-based exploits fail because they can't touch the computer's actual files or Registry items. If a user is tricked into launching a Trojan, it, too, is trapped in the bubble. ForceField displays a visible force-field "aura" around each browser window to show that it's active."

I personally can't vouch for it's accuracy, because I have yet to try it, but with all of the dangers now lurking out there on the net anything that you can do to protect yourself from spyware, trojans, viruis's and identity theft, etc. is a God send - especially when it's FREE as it in todays special promotion! I downloaded my Freebie and will try it later today. However, with all things, use at your own discretion.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Tuesday, August 12 , 2008.

Website image: ZoneAlarm ForceField

Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!
 

The iPhone's Success So Far - Spectactular!

I would think that if you happen to be either Nokia, Palm, Motorola, or some other mobile provider, that the past month must have been one of the worse months imaginable. The reason: the iPhone G3. That's right, despite all of the brave attempts to deny the impact of the iPhone and all of their attempts to contain it, they would have had to, none-the-less, still watched as the iPhone rolled over them like a steamroller over a watermelon.

According to new reports Apple has sold over some 3 million G3 iPhone's in the one month period since it was released! Michael Cote of the Cote Collaborative said:

"They are seeing unprecedented demand." Mr. Cote also added that there appears to be no signs of a let up yet. Cote, a A former T-Mobile executive,  has been extremely accurate with wireless predictions in the past.

Actual sales of the iPhone G3, as impressive as they are, are not the only impressive numbers being splashed about either. The number of iPhone apps, from the pioneering App Store, is also pulling in extremely impressive numbers as well. In fact, Steve Jobs has personally reported that in the same one month period, the App Store has seen a staggering 60 million downloads! Actual dollar sales were $30 million, a great start in anyone's books.  

Mr. Jobs stated:

"This thing's going to crest a half a billion, soon," and he also added that it may also become a "$1 billion marketplace at some point in time."

Meanwhile, not only is the iPhone selling extremely well, but selling extremely well in areas that many people predicted that it had little or no chance of selling, such as in Japan.  AppleInsider is reporting that:

"According to the report "iPhone Affects KDDI's Net Subscription Growth," by Japanese tech business journal Tech-On, SoftBank Mobile, Apple's exclusive provider of the iPhone 3G in Japan, led other providers in the country in new mobile phone subscriptions, grabbing up 215,400, more than half of the 391,500 new activations in Japan during the month of July. "We believe our large net growth was an iPhone effect," SoftBank representatives said.

Rivals service provider KDDI agreed, noting that new cancelations related to customers' porting their numbers to another provider surpassed new incoming transfers for the first time ever in July. It too credited the iPhone 3G launch with the unusual shift. "We are accepting the fact, considering that our handsets weren't attractive enough," KDDI's PR group said."

They say in show business that, "If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere!" Well, in the world of electronics and hi tech gadgets its equally true that, "If you can make it in Japan, you can make it anywhere else in the world!" The very fact that the Japanese market has embraced the iPhone is, in and of itself,  one of the greatest signs that the iPhone will be hard, very hard, for it's competitor's to successfully compete against.

Also, for me, another sign of the iPhone's incredible success is that even long time Microsoft advocate, Paul Thurrot, can't but help leap praise on the iPhone, calling it a "game changer."

One of the most interesting things about the incredible success of the iPhone, that really stands out in my mind, is how little time it took for it to totally change the entire mobile landscape. Virtually every other handset maker has been forced to completely rethink how they do business in order to compete against this "game changer." There are now so many iPhone copy cat phones coming onto the market these days that its hard  to keep track of them all. Countless  new mobiles have been inspired by the iPhone, but, as good as some of them are, none of them have yet come close to equalling it.

If the iPhone, in such a short period, is capable of forever changing the landscape, another interesting question has to be:  what will it achieve over an even longer period? That question has yet to be answered, but based on what we already have witness, over the past little while it's been on the market, I'll venture to bet that it will probably be pretty spectacular indeed! No doubt, the iPhone will further define high-definition video calling, voice recognition, high-definition tv, video projection, and what have you, making the iPhone  even more of a electronic marvel than that of it's first two versions.

So far, the iPhone  has been one of the most spectacular product launches of all time, but compared to what's coming, well, we haven't seen or heard anything yet! The iPhone train has just begun to pick up  speed and from now on out, it's going to be pretty hard for any of the competition to slow it down, let alone, stop this train anytime soon.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, August 11 , 2008.

Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!
 

IBM iNotes and Apple's Growing Enterprise Presence

IBM is betting on the iPhone becoming a viable enterprise solution by expanding and bringing it's support for Lotus Notes, on the Mac side, to the iPhone. AppleInsider is reporting that IBM has unveiled an interesting sneak peek of its new Lotus iNotes, which is a web app client for its Lotus Domino messaging server. This will bring calendar, email, and contact info to the iPhone and clearly shows IBM's evolving interest and faith in Apple's desktop and mobile platforms enterprise potential.

The iPhone version of iNotes is expected to be released sometime later this year and IBM is now inviting users to "bring the enterprise to your Apple iPhone" and claims that iNotes will offer users a "rich Apple iPhone experience."

This is great news not only for the iPhone, but indeed for the Mac OS X desktop platform overall, which of course the iPhone runs on. Success on either platform helps contribute to the success of the other and this just another example of what we can expect to see from other main street enterprise developers as the iPhone and OS X desktop both continue to gain more and more enterprise traction in their respective areas.

According to AppleInsider:

"Support for the iPhone in Lotus Notes is only IBM's latest step in investing in Apple's platforms as a competitive alternative to Microsoft's Windows. An AP report from January cited IBM spokesman Mike Azzi as noting that his company has "a lot in common" with Apple. "We're going to cross-pollinate," he said."

Earlier this year in May, IBM released its Informix Data Server 11 for Mac OS X Server. And over the course of the last year, multiple groups within the company have launched pilot programs aimed at evaluating support for migrating to Apple's Mac computers within the company.

An initial study at IBM Research, which started in October of 2007, found that 86% of those participating wanted to keep their MacBook Pro laptops over returning back to IBM ThinkPads running Windows. “It has been easier learning the Mac than learning Vista,” one participant reported. IBM has since expanded its Mac pilot program."

Personally, a long, long time ago, I remember using IBM's Lotus Notes on a pc and loved just about everything about it. It was easy to use and worked like a charm. The notes and calendar aspects were simply great and if the new iNotes  is anything like it, well, believe me, it will become a great tool for enhancing and furthering the iPhone as a business mobile.

So, just what does IBM's continuing interest in Apple technologies mean for the Cupertino electronics giant? First and foremost, it establishes both the iPhone and Mac OS X platforms as a legitimate and major enterprise force and should, as a direct result, convince other enterprise developers to also hop on board the OS X train and add more business apps for both Apple's desktop and mobile platforms. This in turn, should naturally, help both gain even more enterprise acceptance, something that Apple has been doing a lot more  recently.

AppleInsider concludes their post regarding iNotes on the iPhone by sayinng:

"IBM's iNotes is the latest example of how the iPhone is helping to stoke interest in Apple's hardware, software, and development tools in the enterprise. In its initial iPhone 2.0 announcement, Apple stated that over a third of Fortune 500 companies had sought access to the company's ongoing iPhone Enterprise Beta program."

I conclude my post by saying that this is just the tip of iceberg - from here on out, we can now expect to see much more significant numbers of enterprise developers bringing their business apps to both the Mac and the iPhone, which, as well, should also lead to the Mac and iPhone gaining even more significant enterprise market share in the process.


And that's my 2 cents 4 this Friday, August 8 , 2008.

Images: AppleInsider

Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!
 

Asus Does Apple!

Asus does Apple, well, not exactly, but Michael Cane recently did an interesting post on someone who went through the pain and agony of actually hacking and installing OS X to run on his Asus EeePC 1000H,  as can be seen  in the YouTube video above. 

The verdict:

"All I kept saying after the bootup was GTFOH!!! That wee Asus EeePC 1000H puts my frikkin desktop running Windows XP to shame! The speed — that speed!!!! GTFOH!!"

I must say that the YouTube videos presented above and below are quite impressive to watch and it really makes you wonder what would happen if Apple ever did decide to do the unthinkable -  actually licensed OS X to run on hardware other than it's own?



Of course, that is only a dream, at this point, for the millions of PC owners who pray that they could have something other than Windows XP or Windows Vista running on their machines. There is that other alternative, Linux, but at this point in time, as great as Linux is, it's still simply not quite ready yet for prime time. Someday maybe, but command lines, even though popular with geeks, are not very compelling to the majority of computer users who simply just want their machines to just work. Linux, especially since the debut of Ubunctu, has certainly come a long way, but sadly, there is still a way to go before Linux can ever hope to challenged the dominance of Windows. For the time being, this leaves only OS X as a real and credible choice as a Windows replacement for most people.

The biggest factor, naturally, in preventing Apple from licensing OS X to the other OEM's is that it would pose a huge and unknown risk to Apple in potential lost hardware sales and revenues. After all, Apple is the only company that builds the whole widget, the software and the hardware, and it's debatable whether an explosion in OS X software would, or could, make up for any potential lost in hardware sales.

Apple, as has been widely reported, is about to go into a major product transition , one that will see both it's hardware and software transitioned in such a way that none of it's competitor's will be able to keep up with it, or so claims Apple's CFO, Peter Openheimer. This coming transition will whittle Apple's 35% profit margins down to a mere 30%, which has already resulted in Apple losing  a mind blowing $20 billion dollars in market cap!

Maybe I'm crazy for asking this (and I know many who would vouch for that!), but what if Apple where to licensed OS X to other OEM's - would that really hurt Apple? I'm beginning to think not!  The reason is simple, because besides resulting in a virtual explosion in OS X sales and market share,  Apple would still remain the only company that designed and built the whole widget, both the hardware and software, and it would give Apple built Mac's a huge advantage and leg up over any potential Mac cloner! No one, in other words, would be able to quite provide the same level of ease of use that a Apple Mac could. This would especially be true if Apple kept it's other advantages such as it's multi-touch track pads, etc. to itself!  If indeed Mr. Openheimer is correct, and that no other competitor will be able to come close or match Apple's hardware and software transition upgrades - what's exactly does Apple have to fear anyway - except maybe exploding Macs sales and market share penetration?

As it stands now, the only real way pc vendors can compete with one another now is by their difference in pricing, something that Apple is expected to match aggressively soon as well. In order for Mac cloners to compete, not only with each other, but to compete against Apple's own innovations and unique advantages,  Mac cloners would be virtually forced to come up with their own additional innovations and something that, in the process, would not only help advance OS X's market share, but directly benefit individual OS X users as well.

So, how likely is this to happen? Not very bloody well likely, as Apple's law suite against Psystar clearly testifies to. Still, just looking at OS X running on that sweet little Asus machine kindles a warm, fuzzy spot and hope within me that someday, just maybe, OS X lovers will have much greater hardware choices to choose from than simply those from Apple itself. Because of it's better integration of being able to design and build the whole OS X Mac widget, Apple will always remain the very best choice when getting a new Mac - I'm just not sure if it should be the one and only choice.


And that's my 2 cents 4 this Thursday, August 7 (already for Pete's sake!), 2008.

Please vote for this post by clicking the fire button. Thanks!