How Apple and Google tabulate app downloads

By Sebastien Page on May 16, 2013

Two big numbers were coincidentally dropped yesterday. First, Google announced 48 billion applications had been downloaded from the Google Play Store. Shortly after, Apple announced that its App Store had seen 50 billion downloads so far. Big numbers indeed, but how exactly do Apple and Google count app downloads? The Next Web Managing Editor Matthew Panzarino asked both companies and this is what he found:

Both Apple and Google tabulate unique downloads of apps per user account. This means that they count only one download of an app no matter how many devices that you install that app on after you purchase it. Neither company counts updates in its app download numbers. These are purely single downloads from their stores.

Read the full article at The Next Web.

 

The 16GB version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 only has 8GB of usable storage

By Sebastien Page on May 2, 2013

In their review of the new Samsung Galaxy S4, CNET found out the following:

Nearly half of the S4′s storage space (after a factory reset, our 16GB Galaxy S4 showed 8.49GB of available room) is taken up with the phone’s operating system and built-in apps, limiting the amount of data you can store on the company’s quad-core monster.

Now the question is, should Samsung sell it as an 8GB phone?

 

In five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore

By Sebastien Page on Apr 30, 2013

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said the following in a recent interview:

In five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore. Maybe a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such. Tablets themselves are not a good business model.

But of course, what would BlackBerry know about a good business model?

 

US lawmakers want to look into Google’s iPhone tracking fiasco

By Sebastien Page on Feb 20, 2012

Last week Google was caught overriding Safari users’ privacy settings, and now US lawmakers want the Federal Trade Commission to probe the company over it, as reported by Computer World:

Three lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives have asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether last week’s report of privacy violations of Safari users by Google violated a consent agreement the company had reached with the FTC last year.

Google’s alleged circumvention of do-not-track controls on Apple’s Safari browser could have a wide sweeping impact because Safari is a major web browser used by millions of Americans, according to a letter to the FTC on Friday from Republican Representatives Cliff Stearns of Florida and Joe Barton of Texas, and Democrat Edward Markey of Massachusetts.

That’s definitely something we’ll be following.

 

Path Uploads Your Entire Address Book to Its Servers

By Sebastien Page on Feb 7, 2012

Blogger Arun Thampi accidentally discovered that Path uploads your entire address book to its servers. Path CEO quickly explained why the company chose to take this path (pun intended):

We actually think this is an important conversation and take this very seriously. We upload the address book to our servers in order to help the user find and connect to their friends and family on Path quickly and effeciently as well as to notify them when friends and family join Path. Nothing more.

We believe that this type of friend finding & matching is important to the industry and that it is important that users clearly understand it, so we proactively rolled out an opt-in for this on our Android client a few weeks ago and are rolling out the opt-in for this in 2.0.6 of our iOS Client, pending App Store approval.

The app that everybody loved a few months ago is now the app that everybody loves to hate. I’m sure it won’t last long though. Path will fix “the glitch” and get praised by everyone for how quickly they came through. But that’s only assuming MG Siegler or Gruber don’t put them on the gallows first.

 

New Book About Apple Reveals Scott Forstall Might Be the Company’s Future CEO

By Sebastien Page on Jan 17, 2012

Fortune’s editor Adam Lashinsky is about to release a new book about Apple next week titled Inside Apple. In the book, we learn that Scott Forstall, the head of iOS, might be in the best seat to become Apple’s CEO when Tim Cook steps down:

“He’s a sharp, down-to-earth, and talented engineer, and a more-than-decent presenter,” one entrepreneur told Adam Lashinsky. “He’s the total package.”

According to Lashinsky’s new book Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired — and Secretive — Company Really Works, senior vice president Scott Forstall stands out among the rest of Apple’s executive team as the most likely to succeed Steve Jobs once the Tim Cook era is over.

Theoretically, we’re still years away from a CEO swap as Tim Cook recently got appointed following the passing of Steve Jobs. And word on the street is that he got some big incentives to stay for at least 10 years. Things can change fast in Silicon Valley though. Read More

 

Is Android Really “Open?”

By Alex Heath on Jan 10, 2012

Google has always touted its Android operating system as being “open” when compared to Apple’s “closed” iOS platform. In MG Siegler’s recent blog post, the TechCrunch writer/Apple pundit explains why he hates Google for ultimately turning its back on the customer:

All of this backstory knowledge fuels my rage. When I see Google talk about how “open” the platform is, setting it up as the foil to the “closed” (and framed as “evil”) iPhone, I want to scream and rip someone’s head off. It’s not only the most extreme example of being disingenuous that I can ever recall seeing. It’s nuclear bullshit.

Apple, for all the shit they get for being “closed” and “evil”, has actually done far more to wrestle control back from the carriers and put it into the hands of consumers. Google set off to help in this goal, then stabbed us all in the back and went the complete other way, to the side of the carriers. And because they smiled the entire time they were doing it and fed us “open” bullshit, we thanked them for it. We’re still thanking them for it!

 

Apple CEO Made $377,996,537 in 2011

By Sebastien Page on Jan 9, 2012

2011 wasn’t a bad year for Apple newly appointed CEO Tim Cook, who made almost $378 million:

According to Apple’s 2012 Proxy Statement, Cook received a jaw dropping $377,996, 537 million in total compensation last year — which is $377,996,536 than his late predecessor made.

Cook made a little over $900,000 in salary in 2011, but a massive bonus in restricted stock units vesting in two five-year increments and doled out with his appointment to the CEO slot, sent his total compensation into the stratosphere.

Read More

 

Samsung Releases Messaging App ChatON in the App Store

By Sebastien Page on Jan 6, 2012

The legal battle between Samsung and Apple might be fierce, but it didn’t prevent the Korean electronics giant to submit ChatON, its own messaging application in the App Store. The main benefit of ChatON is that it is a cross platform app that will work on iOS, Android, Bada, Samsung Feature and will support Blackberry, Window mobile, and web soon.

ChatON is a Global Mobile Communication Service that enables you to have better relationships with your buddies or groups.

ChatON brings together all of these methods of communication, expression, and sharing in one place.

Download ChatON in the App Store for free. Or don’t!

 

Sprint Throttles Top Data Users Too [Updated]

By Sebastien Page on Jan 5, 2012

Sprint, the carrier that touts itself as the only one to offer “truly unlimited data”, actually has nothing on AT&T and Verizon, as CEO Dan Hesse confirmed today that his company is doing exactly the same thing:

“For those that want to abuse it, we can knock them off,” Hesse said at an investor conference Thursday. He said Sprint pares back data use for about 1% of users, a practice known as throttling.

Both AT&T and Verizon have been throttling top data users for a few months now. The difference is that AT&T and Verizon weren’t misleading about it. Bad Sprint! Read More

 

AT&T Brings LTE to 11 New Cities

By Sebastien Page on Jan 5, 2012

After rolling out its LTE network in 15 markets last year, AT&T takes one more step forward by adding 11 new cities to the grid:

AT&T took a big step toward expanding its high-speed LTE network, announcing on Thursday that it has added 11 more areas, including Los Angeles, the New York Metro Area and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Also getting the service are Austin; Chapel Hill, N.C.; Orlando; Phoenix; Raleigh, N.C.; and San Diego, Calif.

Where’s my iPhone LTE, Apple? Read More

 

Apple CEO Tim Cook to Cash In $96 Million

By Sebastien Page on Jan 5, 2012

Tim Cook is starting 2012 off right with an upcoming pay day of over $96,000,000:

Of all the Silicon Valley executives who have a vesting event scheduled for the first quarter of 2012, the one who stands to reap the most is Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook, the study found.

Mr. Cook has portions of two restricted-stock-unit grants—including one he received for filling in for Steve Jobs when the co-founder was on medical leave—vesting in the first quarter. As of Apple’s closing stock price on Dec 30, those vesting shares of Mr. Cook’s were worth $96.2 million, according to the study.

Read More

 

Verizon Sees 4.2 Million iPhone Sales For Last Quarter

By iDB Staff on Jan 4, 2012

Verizon has reported a record-breaking number of iPhone sold during the fourth quarter of 2011:

Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. mobile carrier, sold 4.2 million iPhones in the fourth quarter, more than doubling from the third quarter, said Fran Shammo, finance chief of the company’s parent.

The iPhone sales will narrow gross margins at the wireless business by 500 to 600 basis points, Shammo, chief financial officer of Verizon Communications, said today at a Citigroup Inc. event in San Francisco. U.S. carriers sell smartphones such as the iPhone to subscribers at a loss to get them to sign up for contracts that typically run for two years.

Comparatively, carrier sold 2 million iPhones during the previous quarter.

 

Apple Hires Adobe Executive to Run iAds

By Sebastien Page on Jan 4, 2012

Apple reportedly hired Adobe executive Todd Teresi to run the iAds business unit, which had been ran by Eddie Cue since August, when Andy Miller stepped down to join a VC firm:

Apple has poached Adobe executive Todd Teresi to run its iAds program, Adam Satariano at Bloomberg reports.

According to LinkedIn, Teresi is a VP and GM of Media Solutions at Adobe. Prior to that he was Chief Revenue Officer at Quantcast. (Before that, he was SVP at Yahoo.)

We wish him good luck. Given the moderate success of iAds, he’ll certainly need it.

 

Rumor: Apple Preparing $299 iPad With A6 Processor

By Alex Heath on Jan 3, 2012

Taiwanese publication Digitimes is reporting again today that Apple is planning two iPad models, with the low-end version starting at only $299. Both iPads will reportedly boast the new A6 processor and will be differentiated by their screen resolutions.

Sources from Apple’s supply chain have claimed that there will be two versions of the new iPad, one targeting the high-end segment and the other the mid-range. Digitimes Research believe the two new iPad models will both be equipped the A6 processor with high-end model coming with a high resolution panel (2048×1536) and the mid-tier model featuring the same grade of panel as iPad 2 (1024×768).

In my opinion, it makes more sense for Apple to drop the price of the current iPad 2 to $299 and introduce the next-generation model at $499. The idea of Apple releasing two new iPads at once seems a little ridiculous.

 

Apple Planning Media Event in New York This Month

By Sebastien Page on Jan 2, 2012

AllThingsD reports that Apple is planning a media event sometimes this month in New York. Apparently, this event will not be related to the upcoming iPad 3 or even the rumored Apple television.

That leaves some kind of advertising or even publishing announcement, which might be the case, since Apple SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue is reportedly involved.

Cue is in charge of a large swath of Apple’s media units, including the iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore, as well as iAd and its iCloud services.

What do you think it’s going to be about?

 

pod2g Divulges More Details Behind Corona Exploit

By Jeff Benjamin on Jan 2, 2012

iOS hacker pod2g has posted a very enlightening synopsis of how he was able to pull off his 5.0.1 untethered exploit. Citing Apple’s blocking of the exploit methods used prior to iOS 5, he details the alternative methods used for the 5.0.1 untethered exploit and subsequent jailbreaks.

Apple has fixed all previous known ways of executing unsigned binaries in iOS 5.0. Corona does it another way.

Thus, for Corona, I searched for a way to start unsigned code at boot without using the Mach-O loader. That’s why I looked for vulnerabilities in existing Apple binaries that I could call using standard launchd plist mechanisms.

For those of you interested in the low-level workings of the latest untethered jailbreak to hit iOS 5 devices, we highly recommend you check out pod2g’s analysis on his blog.

 

How Apple Could Make $10 for Every Android Device

By Sebastien Page on Dec 28, 2011

The patent wars that Apple and leading Android device makers are fighting is costing a lot of money in legal fees for everyone. Intellectual property expert Kevin Rivette speculates on how Apple could stop wasting money on attorney fees, and start cashing in from Android:

Tim Cook, who took over in August when Jobs announced he would be unable to come back as CEO, has many other ways to take advantage of the company’s patent portfolio. The company could probably collect as much as $10 in royalties for every device sold, more than the amount analysts speculate Microsoft (MSFT) receives from Samsung and HTC, which use its mobile technology, said Rivette at 3LP.

Not a bad idea, except when we know that Steve Jobs swore to go on a “thermonuclear war” with Google instead of settling. There’s a new boss at Apple, though…

 

Argentina Blocks iPhone Sales in Order to Fight Inflation

By Sebastien Page on Dec 28, 2011

Yes, you read that title right! According to Manuals.ws:

The Argentinian Government have took some measures to reduce the inflation level and strengthen the Pesos / US dollar currency parity. One of them was to block the sales of certain electronics temporary, among them iPhone and BlackBerry phones.

In order to continue to sell iPhone smartphones, Apple and BlackBerry must build plants in Argentina, a move that companies like Nokia, Samsung, Motorola and LG already made.

If you get passed the bad English of this quote, you’ll still get the message. Apparently, this has been going on for over a year.

 

iPhone 4S to be Availabe in China Early Next Year

By Sebastien Page on Dec 27, 2011

According to Chinese publication People Daily, the iPhone 4S has gained the necessary approvals from local authorities to sell the iPhone 4S in China:

After obtaining the network entry permit from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China (MIIT), the iPhone 4S received China Compulsory Certification (3C) for electronic products on Dec. 22, meaning that it has met all the requirements for coming into markets of China.

According to latest information from iPhone distributors, the iPhone 4S is expected to hit the market at the beginning of January 2012.

If that holds true, the iPhone 4S will be available in the country before Chinese new year.

 
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