Ed Sutherland

Apple building ‘visually stunning’ Palo Alto store next to Microsoft

Ed Sutherland ∙ June 17, 2013

While most Apple retail locations which grab headlines are in China or New York City, the iPhone maker is working hard to finish work on its flagship store in Palo Alto, California. Unlike other huge glass Apple flagship stores, this one is most known for overwhelming a nearby Microsoft store built just last year to out-do Apple.

Aside from the one-upsmanship between the two rivals, the 12,000-square feet store in the city's Stanford shopping center expected to open in November may have been one of the last decisions made by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. According to a report Monday, Jobs approved the store's design just six months before Tim Cook became CEO...

Apple still leading apps and profits in iOS-Android horserace

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

From a distance, the horse race between Apple's iOS and Google's Android appears as if the open-source mobile operating system is a clear winner. However, a closer look reveals other levels of competition not so clearly defined.

Android unmistakably is the leader when it comes to the share of mobile devices being shipped. The inexpensive operating system is also ahead in attracting developing nations, such as India and China. But don't cry for Apple, according to mobile advertising network Flurry. The iPhone maker tops Android for app usage, as well as profits...

Google testimony helps Apple with e-book trial

Ed Sutherland ∙ June 14, 2013

So rarely do we see the complete dismantling of a witness in an otherwise dull tech trial. However, Apple's defense lawyer last week dissected a Google executive's claim of a conversation with publishers indicating Apple required they all sign on to an agency contract.

On the stand, Google's Thomas Turvey admitted a direct conversation with the publishers he earlier told the court likely never happened.

Not only does the testimony from Google's director of strategic partnerships make it appear the Apple rival is just out to get its competitor, but it throws a wet blanket on an antitrust case which up to yesterday was going the way of the Department of Justice.

However, the weighty issue of whether Apple's e-book agency pricing model restricted competition was overshadowed by the legal showdown and witness meltdown...

Prosecutors combine to fight smartphone thefts

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated November 29, 2016

While its no case of Elliot Ness against Chicago's rum runners of Prohibition days, prosecutors in two major U.S. cities are teaming up with local police to fight a wave of violent smartphone thefts. Law enforcers Thursday issued an SOS of sorts, or 'Save Our Smartphones'.

The announcement comes as Apple and other smartphone makers meet with the New York State Attorney General and San Francisco's District Attorney. It's unknown whether Apple's new Activation Lock feature unveiled during Monday's WWDC keynote as part of iOS 7 will be enough to satisfy calls for handset makers to create a kill switch to disable stolen smartphones...

Apple says it owns one-fifth of e-book market

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

Under questioning by U.S. government lawyers, an Apple executive testified that the company owns about 20 percent of the U.S. e-book market - double the figure many observers had assumed.

The surprising percentage was revealed as the head of the company's iBookstore service refuted government charges of conspiracy to set e-book prices.

During the sixth day of testimony in the Department of Justice's lawsuit against Apple, company director Keith Moerer said iBookstore grabbed twenty percent of e-book sales soon after opening, a figure it continues to hold. Additionally, he said iBookstore sales increased 100 percent in 2012 with more than a hundred million customers...

Apple devices top Android on 3G networks

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated December 2, 2016

We've always contended that while Android has a numerical advantage over Apple's iOS, the iPhone and iPad see much greater usage.

More evidence of that belief: more than half of all 3G cellular traffic comes from Apple devices.

When combined, the iPhone 4, 4S and 5 account for about 53 percent of all 3G cellular traffic. Adding the iPad boosts the number to nearly 60 percent, according to a firm that analyzes cell network traffic. Where is Android? Samsung's Galaxy S, S2 and S3 combined make up a bit over eighteen percent of 3G traffic...

Prosecutors cautiously optimistic Activation Lock in iOS 7 could curb urban iPhone theft

Ed Sutherland ∙ June 11, 2013

Apple's Monday announcement that its new iOS 7 would include an 'Activation Lock' comes just days before the iPhone maker is to attend a Smartphone Summit. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón say they await details of the new iPhone feature.

After being stung by reports that it is not doing enough to prevent a rash of iPhone thefts, Apple argued Activation Lock would prevent thieves from using a stolen handset...

Outspoken Apple analyst calls iOS 7 changes most important in iPhone history

Ed Sutherland ∙ June 11, 2013

Love it or hate it, Apple's newly-unveiled iOS 7 will breathe new life into the aging iPhone, argued one analyst late Monday. Unlike hardware changes which have a short lifetime in terms of public curiosity, phone software updates are mesmerizing.

In a note to investors, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster writes that the changes within iOS 7 will spark renewed interest in the iPhone, which some felt was being overshadowed by its Android rivals, such as the Samsung Galaxy S4...

Samsung’s Galaxy S4 dead in the water

Ed Sutherland ∙ June 7, 2013

Following clickbait dead-in-the-water headlines which spelled doom for Apple on overzealous analysts projecting overly optimistic iPhone sales, it's now Samsung's turn to feel Wall Street's wrath. So, is Samsung's smartphone business running out of steam?

That's the question Wall Street is pondering as investors punish the South Korean firm after orders for its flagship Galaxy S4 had supposedly dropped by as much as thirty percent.

Friday, Samsung shares slid by more than six percent after more than $12 billion was sliced from the Android maker's market capitalization. Can Samsung stop the downward spiral, perhaps offering a stock buyback as Apple did? Or are we seeing only the latest signs of an industry-wide slowdown in demand?

Either way, the old saying about people living in glass houses seems all the more pertinent...

Apple patents hints at ad-supported budget iPhone

Ed Sutherland ∙ June 6, 2013

An intriguing Apple patent application was discovered Thursday, hinting at a solution to how smartphones could be owned in developing nations, such as India. The patent filing describes a way a handset owner could defray the cost of a smartphone's data plan by viewing advertising.

The patent application published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is entitled 'Method and system for managing credits via a mobile device.'

In the same way Apple's Passbook feature stores coupons and such, this proposed technology would expand the concept of digital wallets...

Aping Apple…

Ed Sutherland ∙ June 5, 2013

In an irony likely not lost on executives in Cupertino, at a time when China is becoming Apple's chief market, a Chinese smartphone maker is earning the reputation as the 'Apple of the East.'

Xiaomi, which makes Android-powered lookalikes of the iPhone, is led by a young, brash and wealthy CEO who appears to be the second-coming of Steve Jobs.

From his jeans and dark shirt wardrobe to his company's $1 billion balance sheet, Xiaomi's Lei Jun, sees Apple as the template for moving China from the cheap rip-offs of yesterday to the Fortune 500 of tomorrow, according to a New York Times profile published Wednesday...

Apple and others face questioning over stolen smartphone ‘epidemic’

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated July 24, 2016

First Apple and Samsung were sent an angry letter by New York's Attorney General over efforts to curb growing thefts of smartphones.

Now the state's top prosecutor wants a face-to-face meeting next week with representatives from Apple, Samsung, Google and Microsoft, saying they must find a way to solve what's being described as an "epidemic".

"It's time for manufacturers to be as innovative in solving this problem as they have been in designing devices that have reshaped how we live," New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Wednesday. But can handset makers really create such an effective kill-switch that would disable phones and cut thefts?