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Apple Trademarks iWatch Name In Japan — Keep Calm And Carry On

Posted by ProAds Monday, 1 July 2013 0 comments

Let the speculation merry-go-round continue. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple has trademarked the name iWatch — again. This time Japan is the territory, while the trademark covering “products including a handheld computer or watch device” was actually filed with the Japan Patent Office on the 3rd of June but was only made public last week. It follows an unconfirmed report by a Russian newspaper that Cupertino had filed the iWatch trademark in Russia last month.

So, Apple is definitely making this thing, right? Well, maybe, though for now I’m inclined to file this away in rumorware. Trademarks for speculative products are registered by large consumer electronics companies all the time — products that are in a very long pipeline or exist in a PowerPoint presentation only. Besides, if or when Apple does release a smartwatch, timing will be everything.

Despite the tech media’s current Apple narrative that frames the company as desperately needing a new breakthrough product category, unless Tim Cook’s Apple is deviating drastically from the Jobs playbook, the company is/has been likely taking a wait and see approach to an iWatch. Cupertino may well be known as the great innovator, which in hindsight it invariably proves to be, but Apple’s definition of innovation is rarely to be first.

The iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player, though it was the first to utilise that crucial 1.8inch hard drive (“a thousand songs in your pocket”). The iPhone wasn’t the first touchscreen smartphone either, though it utilised capacitive technology and a UI that ensured it was finger-friendly and crucially bundled a data connection at the point of sale. Likewise, the iPad wasn’t the first tablet computer by any measure, but we all know how that worked out. This is a company that has built its second coming on the ability to say “no”.

Or at least, “not yet”.

Cue recent comments from Apple’s CEO. Speaking at the D11 conference, Cook said on the topic of Apple potentially doing a smartwatch or other wearable tech: ”There’s nothing that’s going to convince a kid who has never worn glasses or a band or a watch to wear one, or at least I haven’t seen it.”

Of course, “I haven’t seen it” could mean that it doesn’t exist on the market yet from Apple’s numerous competitors (sorry Pebble, Sony and countless others). Or that Cook hasn’t seen it brewing in Apple’s R&D labs either. One thing I’m sure of is that Cupertino won’t sanction an iWatch until the technology’s shortcomings – not least battery life and the UI of a smartwatch — can be addressed. And that could still be quite some time.

For now Apple fanboys, keep calm and carry on.

Source: TechCrunch

Samsung, Apple Dominate Smartphone Market as Nokia Slips

Posted by ProAds Monday, 29 October 2012 1 comment

Smartphone shipments grew 35 percent annually to reach nearly 162 million units in the third quarter of the 2012, according to new data from research firm Strategy Analytics.

IDC reported similar numbers, estimating that smartphone vendors shipped 179.7 million units during the third quarter, up from 123.7 million units last year for 45.3 percent year-over-year growth.

Samsung was the undisputed star of the market, shipping a record 56.9 million smartphones worldwide during the third quarter — the largest number of units ever shipped by a smartphone vendor in a single quarter — to capture 35 percent global share, Strategy Analytics said. Apple came in second, shipping 26.9 million smartphones worldwide to nab 17 percent market share.

"Despite tough competition in stores and courtrooms, Samsung continued to deliver numerous hit models, from the high-end Galaxy Note phablet to the mass-market Galaxy Y," Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics, said in a statement. "Apple had a solid quarter in the important United States market and this helped to strengthen its global performance."

Samsung and Apple's success was not a good thing for Nokia, which slipped from the top three global smartphone rankings "for the first time in history," Neil Shah, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics, said in a statement. Nokia shipped 6.3 million smartphones worldwide, grabbing 4 percent market share in the third quarter, slipping from 16.8 million units and 14 percent share a year ago.

"Nokia will need to ramp up sharply its Windows Phone volumes if it wants to recapture a top-three smartphone position in the next one to two quarters," Shah added.

ICD reported that Nokia was replaced by Blackberry maker Research in Motion. Nokia's transition from Symbian to Windows Phone-powered smartphones "has left ample opportunity for rivals to steal share away from Nokia over the past 18 months," Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC, said in a statement. Even so, there is still room in the market for Nokia and other vendors to find success, he added.

Meanwhile, the larger worldwide mobile phone market grew 2.4 percent over the last year, with vendors shipping a total of 444.5 million mobile phones during the period, compared to 434.1 million units last year, IDC said. The firm expects long-term mobile phone and smartphone shipments to grow even further thanks to the important role mobile phones play in people's lives.

"At the heart of mobility is communication," Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC's mobile phone team, said in a statement. "Mobile phones and smartphones play a critical role in keeping people connected, regardless of location. In addition, their utility beyond communication — productivity, entertainment, and multimedia — continues to add to their value."

Source:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2411449,00.asp

For more from Angela, follow her on Twitter @amoscaritolo.

EU in antitrust probe of Apple, e-book publishers

Posted by ProAds Tuesday, 6 December 2011 0 comments

The European Union's antitrust watchdog is probing whether Apple and five major publishing houses have colluded to restrict competition in the market for e-books.

The European Commission probe announced Tuesday focuses on potentially anticompetitive practices by publishers Hachette Livre, a unit of France's Lagardere Publishing; Harper Collins, owned by Rupert Murdoch's U.S.-based News Corp.; CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster; Penguin, which is owned by U.K. publishing house Pearson Group; and Germany's Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck.

"The Commission will in particular investigate whether these publishing groups and Apple have engaged in illegal agreements or practices that would have the object or the effect of restricting competition" in Europe, it said in a statement.

It is also looking into "agency agreements" between the publishers and the e-book retailers. In those agreements, publishers set a price for their e-books, with retailers taking a cut of the profits.

Apple Inc. runs the iBook online store, in which consumers can buy and download e-books onto the company's devices, including the popular iPad tablet and the iPhone. It is a competitor ofAmazon.com Inc.

The announcement from the Commission follows raids in the offices of several publishers in March and a related probe launched by the U.K. Office of Fair Trading. The Commission said Tuesday that the British agency OFT had suspended its investigation since the Commission had taken over the case, but the two regulators were working closely together.

Pearson said the fact that the Commission has opened an investigation does not prejudge the outcome of the probe.

"Pearson does not believe it has breached any laws, and will continue to fully and openly cooperate with the Commission," the company said in a statement.

Robert Barr in London contributed to this report.

Teaching My 77 Year-Old Dad to Use the Apple iPhone's Siri

Posted by ProAds Monday, 31 October 2011 0 comments

This week I bought my dad an iPhone 4S for his birthday. On the way home, my wife and I gave him a tutorial on how to use Siri, Apple's new voice command assistant. I figured he would either love this feature, or want to throw the phone against a tree.

The result was somewhere in between.

My dad has been using an iPhone 3G since 2008. The learning curve was short: He took to the iPhone immediately. So the 4S was hardly foreign to him -- except for Siri.

"So now how do I text?" asked my dad, who has been known to respond to texts but not initiate SMS conversations.

I explained to him that he could ask Siri to do it for him. He understood the concept but had a hard time getting into a conversational rhythm with Siri. He would hold down the home button and Siri would beep that she was listening. Then he would clear his throat and think about what to ask. By the time he was ready to speak, Siri had beeped off and was trying to interpret his throat clearing.

"No Dad, you have to be faster," I said. "When she beeps the first time you have to speak right away."

I demonstrated and he understood.

"Try to tell it to call Mom," I said.

"Okay. [Beep beep!] 'Call Verna! And that's Verna Morris, you see!" my dad said loudly and declaratively.

"Sorry I don't see a Verna Morris Saychee in your contacts," said Siri. "Shall I search the Web for Verna Morris Saychee?"

My poor dad looked disappointed.

"Maybe just be a bit more concise, Dad," I said, trying not to discourage him.

"Okay. [Beep beep!] 'Call Verna!'" my dad said again.

"Calling Verna Morris," Siri said obediently, dialing my guinea pig mom who had already been the recipient of many test texts and calls that afternoon.

Next I tried to teach my dad to set himself calendar reminders. He had a doctor's appointment the next day that he wanted to input. He gave it a try.

[Beep beep!]

"Make a note that I have to be at the doctor at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow," he said.

Dad was close. Siri opened the phone's native Notes application and made an actual note instead of a calendar appointment or a reminder. That was hard to explain to him because he wasn't wrong. He tried again.

"Make an appointment to be at the doctor at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow!" he said.

Bingo! Siri put the appointment in his calendar.

Dad continued to practice sending texts, emails, and searching for local restaurants. He caught on much faster than I thought he might. I was feeling proud of him and believed Siri would be a real productivity help in his life -- seeing that, at 77, my dad still works full time as a realtor. I was encouraged that he really liked and would use his new personal assistant.

Or at least I was until my mom called later that night.

"Your father and I were just practicing with his new phone," she said. "How do we get to Siri?"

Sigh. Well Siri will be great for my dad...if and when he remembers how to find her.

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Source:By Clayton Morris

Published October 31, 2011

| FoxNews.com

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Apple's New iPhone 4S Suffers From Serious Battery Performance Issues

Posted by ProAds Sunday, 30 October 2011 0 comments

The launch of the original iPhone 4 was plagued with reports of antenna issues, and left many customers extremely disappointed. The problem was eventually resolved through modified housing that carried forward to the newly released iPhone 4S, but the newest model seems to also be suffering from it's own major performance issue, and that is its battery life.

The fix might be as simple as a software patch or some kind of special trick, but as it stands, it's a huge problem. There are already thousands upon thousands of posts in a thread entitled "iPhone 4s Battery Life?" on the official Apple support forums, with many unofficial test results and theories as to why the phone's battery life is lagging.

It seems that Apple knows about the issue, as it has been reported that the company's senior engineers had begun contacting users that complained about battery life issues. At the moment, though, there is no official fix.

One user reported that their iPhone 4s' battery was draining more than ten percent every hour, even in standby mode with special features like location services and Siri turned off. Others have reported dead phones after 4 hours with 60 percent battery life remaining.

The Guardian is reporting that a bug in iOS 5 having to do with Location Services may be to blame. The Setting Time Zone function appears to keep the location tracking hardware running constantly. Turning it off seems to have resolved the issue, but users will thus not receive automatic time zone changes when they enter a new time zone.

10 New Features Introduced in Apple iOS 5

Posted by ProAds Saturday, 22 October 2011 1 comment

Another highlight that has been discussed on this year’s Apple event is the iOS5, the newest mobile system that would shake the upcoming Android Ice Cream Sandwich or the Windows Mobile 7.5 Mango. With a new system comes the latest support and innovation applied on various devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad. Without further adieu, let us check the latest updates on the newest features of the iOS 5.

ios 5 10 New Features Introduced in Apple iOS 5

10. Reminders

Reminders have used to be done in a chronological order only, relying on what you have jotted down previously. The new OS has changed this way of thinking by having reminders be notified and reminded not just by time but also by place, with the use of GPS for instances where you are in a location and your reminders beep you of what you need to accomplish in that specific place. With iCloud, the reminders can also be accessed through different Apple devices.

9. iMessage

You may have been too attached with MMS despite of feeling that this may be too costly for your service and data plans. However, the iOS5 is willing to take that thought off, as the system introduces the iMessage service. With this activated, you can send text messages, pictures, videos, and other files not only on your other Apple devices, but to everyone who has the said devices activated, without the charge. You can even have it done with just one person or with a whole group.

8. Notification Center

Pushing the screen downward is the usual way of reading notifications from other sources or apps. With the new and improved notifications center, you can read everything in one part of the device, where it minimizes disturbance and interruption. Or if you want, you can even choose what notifications appear on that upper section, even when locked.

7. Newsstand

This is a new addition to the app lineup. You no longer need to go to a magazine store just to read your latest magazines and other reading materials, even the daily newspaper. Yes, the Newsstand has everything you read and receive publications from. When you purchase a new subscription, it will be sent to your newsstand. When you receive new issues, it will be updated with the respective cover, just like the real thing.

6. Twitter Integration

No matter what you do, there will come a time that you may think of tweeting it and sharing it to people you know. If that moment comes and you are using an iOS5-enabled device, it would be easy to satiate your twitter finger hunger as you can include photos and other tweets at any application. With just one login, you can keep your tweets active on any application, whether you are surfing the net, using your camera, and even playing YouTube.

5. Safari

The Safari has been projecting website pages in an orderly and organized manner, with speed and performance to match. With the new iOS5 in the works, you can now save the reading list, or websites you are reading, and have it pulled up in any iOS5-supported devices such as the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. You can save it for now and read it later as it gets stored on the cloud.

4. Photos

You may have been living in an era when you needed to have your photos transferred to PC in order to edit, crop, and do other changes on your taken pictures with the embedded phone camera. All of these have changed with the new OS with apps that can crop, rotate, and improve red-eye reduction being done on the device.

3. Camera

Taking the most natural and realistic shots are done in occasions where you are not prepared. With this need, the camera feature included in the iOS5 made the operation even faster than before. In fact, among all the smartphones existing in the market, it has been proven that the camera can activate in 1.1 seconds and 0.5 seconds upon taking things picture after picture, the fastest in the market.

2. Devices Free from PC Connection

You no longer need to have that USB cable ready whenever you need to move and modify some files on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch. With iOS5, almost all operations that are supposed to be done with PC or MacBook connections have been done away. You can now download apps to your device, edit photos, videos, and other files on the same device with no need to have it tied with a PC or laptop.

1. Ease of Update

If you think that it would cost you additional money in upgrading your existing OS to iOS5, think again. Yup, you do not need to spend another dime for an update. All you need to do is to access iTunes, have the device connected to the unit, and just follow the instructions. Simple and neat!

ProAds

Apple Trademarks iWatch Name In Japan — Keep Calm And Carry On

Samsung, Apple Dominate Smartphone Market as Nokia Slips

EU in antitrust probe of Apple, e-book publishers

Teaching My 77 Year-Old Dad to Use the Apple iPhone's Siri

Apple's New iPhone 4S Suffers From Serious Battery Performance Issues

10 New Features Introduced in Apple iOS 5

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