Ed Sutherland

Chitika: iPad usage kept rising in March

Ed Sutherland ∙ April 24, 2013

One day after Apple announced selling 19.5 million iPads during the second quarter, new numbers show the tablet dominated online traffic as late as last month. The device held the market in a stranglehold, controlling 81.9 percent of tablet web traffic in the US and Canada, according to an online advertising network. According to the Chitika Ad Network, the 1.4 percent increase is the first month-on-month advance in the iPad's share of web traffic since December 2012....

Companies still deploying iOS first as Android remains MIA online

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

You would think, given Android's raw numerical advantage, that app developers would first build for the larger market. However, Apple's iOS appears to offer companies other, more valuable qualities. Indeed, one need only look to last Friday, when Twitter unveiled its #music service - available initially only to iOS users. Another iOS exclusive, Twitter's Vine, has yet to hit the Android platform.

Key to why companies are still developing apps first for iOS are findings that Apple's mobile software is both used more often and the users are more loyal to the apps they download. What is Android's response: change how such things are measured....

Are Samsung drones trolling Apple?

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated December 6, 2022

We don't usually go in for conspiracy theories, but one is drawing quiet a bit of attention - and factual basis. Has corporate giant Samsung, stung by its more than $1 billion patent lawsuit loss to Apple in 2012, waging war on the iPhone maker? A number of signs point to the affirmative, including an apparent tactic to swamp any critics with pro-Samsung comments.

Along with blatant examples of the business press spinning news against Apple and for Samsung, there has been reports of fake Samsung product reviews. Additionally, we've seen up-close attempts by pro-Samsung 'trolls' to dominate comments...

Employees give Apple’s Cook approval rating just shy of Jobs

Ed Sutherland ∙ April 24, 2013

Wall Street has often questioned whether Apple CEO Tim Cook could ever fill the managerial shoes left by co-founder Steve Jobs. What's more, some anti-Apple analysts like Rob Enderle in an article titled "The impossible task of fixing Apple" opines the board should fire Cook over the recent stock slide.

Despite those doubts, employees of the iPhone maker give Cook an approval rating just shy of Jobs, according to a new survey.

Cook - who oversaw one of Apple's rockiest financial periods - gets a 93 percent approval rating from company employees, Glassdoor announced. The web site is similar to Yelp, but posts anonymous ratings of corporate management rather than businesses...

App recommendation software AppShopper returns as social tool

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

When is it okay for an app to recommend other apps? Only when your friends recommend them via any third-party software designed to curate crowdsourced app recommendations, according to Apple. In other words, get social. That's the word from AppShopper Social (formerly AppShopper), an app recommendation service which returns from banishment by Apple after allowing users to view lists of apps recommended by friends. Developers have discovered that by adding the slight wrinkle of social interactivity, they can avoid at least one Apple ban: being "similar to or confusing with the App Store"...

Are Apple earnings a candle in the wind?

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Apple, which for years has acted as an engine for much of the tech industry, may report slowing profits for the first time in a decade. Talk of a slowdown comes as the consumer tech giant deals with the triple-threat of slimmer profit margins, falling iPhone demand and heightened competition. Ahead of Tuesday's second-quarter earnings report, Wall Street has entered a "show-me mode" as investors look for reassurance the firm can promise a rosier future...

Bono: Apple’s Jony Ive is Obi-Wan of design

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated October 6, 2016

Time Magazine's list of the 100 most interesting people for 2013 is packed with profiles of technology leaders. Apple design guru Jony Ive is among those listed, described as a Star Wars' Obi-Wan leading a team of Jedi employees.

The thread of Apple's innovation runs through other profiles, including Samsung's CEO, who is viewed by a former executive of the iPhone maker as carrying on the tradition of Steve Jobs...

China app store features pirated iOS apps

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

It wasn't long ago that Apple was being labeled a pirate in China. Now comes word of a pirate version of Apple's App Store, selling iOS apps that let iPhone or iPad owners skirt iTunes and install apps, no jailbreak required. However, there's one major catch: the website is available only within China, likely to dissuade Apple lawyers coming down like a ton of bricks.

Ironically, the service is called KuaiYong, which means "use quickly" in Chinese. We're unsure whether this refers to ease of use or "hurry before we are shut down." ...

Google’s Nexus 10 no threat to iPad sales

Ed Sutherland ∙ April 18, 2013

Here's an interesting tidbit we found this morning: Microsoft's Surface tablets could actually be outselling Google's latest Nexus 10. We understand every scuffle between Google and Apple is actually a proxy for the battle between Android and iOS, so the statement by blogger Benedict Evans caught our eyes. According to Evans, the Samsung-made Nexus 10 likely sold around 1.01 million of the Google tablets by the end of March.

This compares to the 1.5 million Surface tablets Microsoft has reportedly sold - not to mention the ten million iPad mini tablets purchased in just the last two months of the fourth quarter in fiscal 2012. While the latest Nexus tablet is no threat to the iPad, the calculations suggest something more important: strong distribution and a well-defined ecosystem can overcome big-name rivals...

Apple vs Android: debate continues as iOS proves more lucrative

Ed Sutherland ∙ April 17, 2013

The shift to mobility has certainly hurt the ability to pick clear winners and losers. In the era of beige-box PCs, bean-counters could glance at market share data. But growth of smartphones and apps shattered such easy measurements The battle between Apple's iOS and Google's Android is more of an optical illusion where the "winner" can triumph in terms of market share, but lose when it comes to revenue.

Still, people want clear winners and losers and Time magazine is just the latest to answer the call. According to the magazine's website, the winner is - well, that really depends...

Apple choice of 58% enterprises, Android choice of 97% malware

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

A pair of reports issued yesterday really put the growth of mobile in perspective. Currently, the mobile landscape is dominated by two players - Apple's iOS and Google's Android.

While Apple is increasingly favored by companies big and small, Android has become the go-to vector for mobile malware, it seems.

Attacks involving mobile devices has risen dramatically in the space of just one year, skyrocketing to more than 36,000 instances in 2012, up from only 792 cases, according to a security research firm.

Meanwhile, large companies are adopting Apple devices at a faster clip than Android, according to another report...

Apple vs Samsung price war in India

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

In another era, Apple and Samsung would be competing gasoline retailers, locked in a war to entice more automobiles to the pump. Update the picture to the 21st century, replace gas with smartphones and you have the modern-day equivalent of a price war playing out in India, according to a Wednesday report.

Android-based Samsung smartphones initially had the majority of the India market to itself. However, now Apple is shaking things up by offering discounts on its iPhone 4 - a move fueling the company's challenge of rival Samsung.

The South Korean company has responded with discounts on its Galaxy family of products - on top of the current payment plan. Both companies are jockeying to control a market full of potential smartphone buyers...