Good news for all of you local business owners out there today. Google has just released a new application called ‘Google Places for Business’ that should make managing business listings through its different services much easier.
The app allows business owners to update their business information (hours, address, contact info, description, etc.), as well as post pictures to their Google+ page and track web traffic for their listings right from their iPhone… Read More
Remember the days when corporate IT departments looked at the iPhone as some kookie West Coast toy bound to mess up their networks? You know, when RIM – that is, BlackBerry – had a lock on big biz. Those days are definitely gone. Today, more than three out of four mobile phones in enterprises bear the Apple logo.
What’s more, Android’s presence in business has fallen to the point where Microsoft is nibbling at its heels. During the fourth quarter of 2012, Apple’s corporate presence rose to 77 percent of mobile device, up from 71 percent during the same period in 2011, according to Good Technology. Even better for Apple executives, the iPhone and iPad took five of the top five mobile devices in businesses… Read More
If you own a business and spend time and money promoting it on the web, you should definitelly check out Foursquare’s brand new iOS app. Released Tuesday morning, Foursquare for Business is a handy sidekick that promises to help you get more customers walking through the door. The app can be used to post photo updates as your business, activate and deactivate specials, view customer tips, access analytics and more… Read More
Apple might need to rethink its decision to roll-out older iPhones at cheaper prices at the same time it introduces its latest version.
Compared to previous roll-outs, the iPhone 5 accounted for a smaller percentage of overall iPhone sales, according to one market observer.
The iPhone 5 comprised just 68 percent of overall iPhone sales, compared to as much as 90 percent for the iPhone 4S when it was released in October of last year. And as a result of more lower-priced iPhones selling, Apple could face a smaller profit margin – and nervous Wall Street investors… Read More
Another significant win for Apple’s popular tablet brand: British multinational banking and financial services company Barclays has confirmed it’s purchased 8,500 iPads “to assist our branch colleagues to interact with customers, improving the customer experience”.
The announcement couldn’t have come at a worse time for Microsoft, whose Surface tablet hit store shelves on October 26 but so far has generated only “modest sales”, per CEO Steve Ballmer… Read More
This just in. According to a new report out this morning, Softbank, Japan’s third-largest wireless operator, is in talks to buy a controlling stake in Overland, Kansas-based Sprint, the nation’s third-largest carrier. The transaction is said to be worth an estimated 1.5 trillion yen, or $19 billion, and would file as the largest purchase of a foreign company by a Japanese firm.
SoftBank used to be the only official iPhone carrier in Japan until the release of iPhone 4S last November. According to people familiar with the situation, Softbank is aiming to buy all of the outstanding shares in Sprint, which had more than 56 million users at the end of June… Read More
We love the new Kindle lineup of e-readers and tablets, especially the brand new Kindle with Paperdisplay and the super-charged Kindle Fire HD. At last week’s unveiling, the CEO Jeff Bezos underscored that Amazon wants to make money when people use their devices.
That’s why all Kindle devices display ads on the lock screen (don’t worry, you can opt-out for fifteen bucks). And just like Google, Amazon is selling hardware below cost, hoping to recoup losses through content sales on Amazon.com. The only problem with this strategy: Amazon’s profitability doesn’t even close to Apple’s…. Read More
Apple’s iPad and iPhone are picking up steam in enterprise lately as big business abandons RIM’s sinking BlackBerry platform. Apple’s main rival in the enterprise market is of course Google, whose Android is lagging behind iOS in corporate email and security features, but Google makes up for it with its online suite of Office replacement apps called Google Apps, something Apple doesn’t have in its offering.
Despite this advantage, developers polled by the mobile platform company Appcelerator and market research firm IDC think iOS has a significant lead over Android. Moreover, 53.2 percent of respondents think iOS will win the battle for enterprise versus 37.3 percent saying that Android will win… Read More
Steve Jobs used to be frequently named the world’s best CEO - and for a number of reasons, too. Apple’s co-founder was (in)famous for his unique corporate style that flies against just about every conventional management lesson taught at universities. Indeed, one could learn a lot about business and life in general from Steve.
If you feel like expanding your horizons today, you should check out this collection of memorable business tips from Steve’s authorized biographer Walter Isaacson and Ken Segall, the marketing wizard and author of a new book titled “Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success”. Read More
The ailing BlackBerry maker Research In Motion today released the BlackBerry Mobile Fusion enterprise server software, first announced last November.
Among the features is built-in support for tablets and smartphones running Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android software.
This is the first time RIM comprehensively supported iOS mobile devices in a major corporate enterprise server software. Read More
Just as the new iPad landed two weeks ago, taking off to a great start, software maker Microsoft is reportedly looking to put a ban on iPad purchases made with company funds. According to ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, a new policy is being put in place by Microsoft’s Sales, Marketing, Services, IT, & Operations Group (SMSG) which sent an internal email to employees specifically stating that iPads and Macs are a no-go.
Microsoft’s Macintosh Business Unit makes Office and other utilities for the Mac, but the company also makes iPad peripherals and a number of apps for iOS devices, such as the MSN and SkyDrive programs. They’re also rumored to have been working on bringing the full-blown Office suite to iPad, which would help Apple’s tablet penetrate deeper into enterprise world.
Even though SMSG encompasses 46,000 Microsoft employees worldwide, it’s unlikely that the ban Apple products will put a noticeable dent in the iPad’s performance. Apple shipped 55 million iPads as of last December and is projected to sell 12 million units of the new model in this quarter alone, excluding iPad 2. An alleged email to Microsoft employees is included right below… Read More
The iPad is a great tool for small businesses to take notes, create spreadsheets, word documents, charge clients, and more. Many businesses have already made the smart choice to move over to iOS, from platforms like RIM’s Blackberry. Even the US. Air Force chose the iPad for its pilots.
Today, The Business Journal has posted a study showing that iPad usage has almost quadrupled among small businesses. From 2010 to 2011, iPad use in small businesses quadrupled… Read More
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. That’s the approach BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is taking with its ailing smartphone market. The company has announced that it will be offering an easy way to get iPhones and Android users plugged into its enterprise tools.
The move by the once-dominant force in the business smartphone industry illustrates the relevance that Apple and Google have made in a sector that was almost entirely owned by RIM not that long ago.
Perhaps more importantly, this may well be the first sign of RIM trying to move away from offering hardware, in an attempt to concentrate on the software and security their past successes were built on. Read More
The iPhone 4S has been a tremendous success for all three of the US carriers that currently sell the handset. But it seems that AT&T is getting a little more success compared to Apple’s other two iPhone 4S partners.
AT&T today announced that it has activated more than one million iPhone 4S devices as of Tuesday, making the iPhone 4S launch the most successful launch in the carrier’s history… Read More
The iPhone 4S officially went on sale in the US yesterday, and unsurprisingly, it has provided record-setting sales for at least two of the three major U.S carriers that offer the device.
AT&T on Friday confirmed to BGR in an email that it has activated a record number of iPhones and is on track to double its previous record of activations in a single day.
Sprint, which didn’t start carrying the iPhone until this month, reported its best ever day of sales in retail, web, and telesales for a device family in Sprint history, thanks to the launch of the new iPhone 4S and iPhone 4…
Research firm Gartner issued a special report today that basically concludes that Apple will have a free run at the tablet market this holiday season, just like they did last year, due to competitors lagging far behind.
According to Gartner, the iPad is projected to account for 73.4% of the worldwide tablet market in 2011, compared to only 17.3% for Android. Though they note the iPad’s share is slightly down from last year, while Android’s slightly up… Read More
If there’s one thing I didn’t expect to hear today, it’s Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam give his approval to the AT&T/T-Mobile merger initiated earlier this year.
Of course, the potential business deal has been under scrutiny by the US Government, but AT&T intends to fight all the way to make the deal go through. Their argument? AT&T itself isn’t happy with its network, and the company needs T-Mobile’s network to increase its reliability. Surprisingly, Verizon agrees with that… Read More
There were 2 major arenas that RIM had all to itself for the better part of a decade, and that was the government and enterprise users. And why wouldn’t they? BlackBerries were secure and had a solid email system- it seemed like a no-brainer.
It looks like years of falling behind the curve, among other mistakes, have cost RIM their place at the top in those 2 markets. We’ve already seen the U.S. government drop their aging BlackBerries in favor of iPhones, and now it looks like Apple is prepared to move onto the enterprise space… Read More
Dang! I know a lot of companies that’d be happy with half the results Apple was able to pull in the first quarter of its financial calendar. As usual, Apple raked in some ginormous revenues, and some even bigger profits.
Historically, Apple has been a profitable company for a long time. Their secret is pretty simple: market shares don’t matter; they want to sell less products, but at a higher price. And this has paid off quite well so far… Read More
According to anonymous sources cited by All Things Digital, Apple has indeed purchased the iCloud.com domain.
Earlier this week, GigaOM reported that Apple had allegedly purchased iCloud.com from Xcerion for the sum of $4.5 million. Apple is rumored to be announcing a major revamp to its current MobileMe cloud service at this summer’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
Although All Things D confirms that the purchase was made, its sources declined to confirm the rumored $4.5 million purchase price. Read More
