Apple

3 out of 4 phones in enterprise bear the Apple logo

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

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...

Former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki accepts an advisory role at Google-owned Motorola

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 26, 2017

Guy Kawasaki, now a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and book author, was instrumental in marketing the Macintosh in 1984. A well-known blogger, Kawasaki just tweeted he has gone Android by accepting an advisory role at Google-owned Motorola which is said to be working on a mysterious iPhone contender tentatively code-named X Phone.

Kawasaki's new advisory role with Motorola will see him focus on product design, user interface, marketing and social media. One of the first orders of business was to create a Google+ community about mobile devices, he confirmed...

Amazon launches Cloud Player on iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 27, 2013

If you keep your music in the Amazon cloud, you were able to stream it to your iPhone and iPod touch through Amazon's free Cloud Player app. Today, the online retailer has pushed a major update which finally runs natively on iPads. It has an updated look on both the iPhone and iPad and new settings to manage caches and more. Cloud Player originally debuted on the iPhone eight months ago and the new version arrives just as Spotify has revamped its iOS client and Apple rolled out iTunes in the Cloud support in a dozen European markets...

MLB expanding Passbook support to 13 stadiums this season

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Major League Baseball announced yesterday that it will be tripling the number of ballparks that accept digital tickets stored and presented through Apple's Passbook iOS app this season.

This is a fairly big deal, considering that only 4 stadiums supported Passbook ticketing last year. Now nearly 50% of all of them will. Keep reading for a complete list of the new ballparks...

Exchange bug makes iOS 6.1.2 the fastest-adopted iOS version yet

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

Nearly 35 percent of iDevice owners have adopted Apple's iOS 6.1.2 software in less than a week following its February 19 release, an ad network announced Tuesday. That iOS 6.1.2 became the most popular iOS version in such a short time is largely attributed to a glitch with Exchange calendars that resulted in increased network activity and reduced battery life for some iOS 6.1 users. While in line with previous iOS 6.x adoption rates, this particular data point evidently indicates folks continue to obsess over their mobile gadgets' battery performance...

Apple is researching iPhone technology that could anticipate your actions

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Wouldn't it be great if your iPhone could learn your behavior, noting you hold your handset with both hands when texting and always use a 45-degree angle when making calls?

That's essentially the purpose of a newly-discovered Apple patent covering an "intuitive portable electronic device."

The patent, filed in 2011, polls an array of sensors onboard your smartphone, permitting an iPhone to adjust its behavior without you making the adjustments. Imagine your usually annoying ringtone changing to a bit of Brahms when the phone detects your bedroom's lower light levels...

‘Think Different’ ad man explains why Samsung’s anti-Apple advertising is working

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

Apple, the world's greatest marketing machine, is no longer untouchable. That's the sentiment shared by Ken Segall, the former creative director at advertising firm TBWAChiatDay, the guy who came up with the name "iMac" and worked alongside Steve Jobs on Apple's famous Think Different campaign. In a post over at his personal blog, Segall opined that Samsung's commercials are getting the best out of Apple and he offers two reasons why that's the case...

Major blow to BlackBerry as Pentagon warms up to iOS and Android

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 26, 2013

The U.S. government and its defense agencies have been dropping BlackBerries for iPhones and Androids for some time and at an alarming pace, too. Back in March 2012, the U.S. Air Force placed a cool $9 million order for 18,000 iPads. Last December, The Washington Post dug up a Defense Department document revealing the Pentagon had tapped contractors to test iOS and Android devices.

Then Bloomberg last month claimed Consolidated Analysis Center Incorporated, a federal contractor, altered thousands of iPads for use by high-ranking government officials, including the President. And finally, Tuesday came the official confirmation that the U.S. Defense Department is working to open its networks to about 100,000 mobile devices from Apple and Google...

Instagram surpasses a hundred million active users

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 26, 2013

Facebook-owned Instagram, despite negative publicity surrounding the controversial terms of service brouhaha, continues to grow its installed base. Today, the company announced a major milestone: Instagram now has over a hundred million active users across mobile platforms. That's ten million more active monthly users since it announced the 90 million milestone on January 17. By comparison, Twitter over a six-year time span hit 200 million active users, as of end of 2012.

Commenting on the development, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom shared an anecdote in a blog post about how he realized Instagram was going to be different when fans at the Giants Stadium starting posting their Instagrams after another co-founder "with a few quick commands at his terminal" filled the service with images of the game...

Apple is ‘a little less arrogant than they used to be,’ says carrier exec

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 26, 2013

Faced with intensifying pressure as it vies for supremacy in the highly competitive smartphone market - fighting chief rival Samsung and other vendors left and right - Apple has reportedly softened its stance on carriers and has shifted in how it goes about doing business with the world's wireless carriers, or so thinks one particular wireless industry executive.

Instead of putting on the 'our way or the highway' posture in its dealings with the people who are pushing the iPhone to wireless subscribers, Apple is "a little less arrogant than they used to be," according to France Telecom-Orange CEO Stephane Richard. Here are some choice quotes...

AT&T LTE expands, Wi-Fi network growth doubles

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 26, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_729aD7CfA0

U.S. carrier AT&T announced an expansion of its fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio technology in Tunica, Mississippi; Athens and McMinn County; and LaFollette and Campbell County. The company has also flipped the switch on 4G in Tallahassee, Florida; Lawrence, Kansas; and the Salinas and Monterey areas. AT&T says its 4G network covers more than 285 million people and includes 3,000 more 4G cities and towns than Verizon. Letting us in on the latest on its network expansion, the telco underscored its Wi-Fi network doubled in 2012 versus the year-ago period...

Buddy crowdfunded smartwatch claims a battery life of 10 days

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 13, 2016

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hirm_ie6IkI

One of the challenges smartwatch makers face deals with the tiny batteries that power these things. That's why Bluetooth Smart (or Bluetooth 4.0) technology is so great. It consumes only a fraction of the power required by previous Bluetooth implementations and can wake up devices nearly instantaneously.

Enter Buddy, a crowdfunded Bluetooth smartwatch with a claimed battery life of as much as ten days, or an impressive two weeks on standby. Besides telling time, the Buddy also relays notifications from your iOS, Android or Windows Phone devices, lets you control music playback, place calls, receive and display data from your device like turn by turn navigation, display your media like pictures and more...