Technics: Apple press release: 40 billion downloads, 20 billion in 2012

I can't recognize the Apple corporation's output of branded products, and the hype that lifts the whole deal into the stratosphere of ideal consumerism.  In the past, Apple was reputed, even by those who loved our Macs and iTunes and all, to be really shoddy in relations with its developers — oh, the bitter wails we heard in our online Mac-consumer magazines.  Not just 3rd-party app development companies and freelancers, but also consumers.  So, I take much of what I read below with a grain of salt — except for the astronomical statistics — that I can believe, given the day and age and Apple's consummate inventiveness.  But, hey, what I'm reading about in Apple subcontracting companies abroad, as in China, does not give Apple's outsourced manufacturing operations very hi marks, rather very low marks.  Apple will not discipline its supply chain, which includes the notoriously labour exploitative Foxconn and its closed campuses and dormitories where it packs China's internal immigrants from the former farm areas, many coming from remote places where the farm families no longer can survive and the next generation swarms from agrarian subsistence to wage-labour in factories of monotony.  Foxconn become famous for its series of suicides among young workers.  And Apple has been taking the heat.  With grandiose condescension and some elegant PR hype, Apple announced a small tokenistic program of manufacture in North America where new young workers in its plants coud get the itch to organize themselves into labour unions.  But that woud be a dangerous strategy, as long as Apple coud quickly pull the plug on the home-grown manufacture of its  of-so fabulous products.

— Technowlb, refWrite Backpage technics newspotter, analyst, columnist

App Store tops 40 billion downloads 

with almost half in 2012

Record-breaking December with over two billion downloads

 CUPERTINO, California―January 7, 2013―Apple® today announced that customers have downloaded over 40 billion apps*, with nearly 20 billion in 2012 alone. The App Store℠ has over 500 million active accounts and had a record-breaking December with over two billion downloads during the month. Apple’s incredible developer community has created over 775,000 apps for iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch® users worldwide, and developers have been paid over seven billion dollars by Apple. 

“It has been an incredible year for the iOS developer community,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “Developers have made over seven billion dollars on the App Store, and we continue to invest in providing them with the best ecosystem so they can create the most innovative apps in the world.”

In 2012, the husband and wife team at Imangi Studios saw their game Temple Run downloaded more than 75 million times; Backflip Studios and Supercell, two emerging game development studios, brought in over $100 million combined for their leading freemium titles DragonVale and Clash of Clans; and emerging services including Uber, Flipboard, HotelTonight, and AirBnB attracted millions of users on iOS. Companies including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Autodesk, Marvel and Major League Baseball continued to expand their iOS offerings, while developers like JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot Interactive and Bottle Rocket Apps continued to push the boundaries of what iOS apps can do. 

“The success of our game Temple Run in 2012 was nothing short of astonishing,” said Keith Shepherd, co-founder of Imangi Studios. “We were simply looking to create a game that was fun and easy to play, but once it hit the App Store, the game took off. This past year, we saw more than 75 million downloads of Temple Run on iOS.”

“Our success on iOS has been incredible,” said Samir Hanna, vice president of Consumer Products for Autodesk. “We set off with the modest goal of bringing SketchBook to iPhone users as a way of introducing them to Autodesk. Fast forward three years, we now offer 20 apps to iOS users that have achieved more than 50 million downloads, and we continue to roll out new creativity and design tools that appeal to both professionals and consumers.”

“The App Store provided us with opportunities beyond our wildest dreams,” said Bad Robot Interactive’s JJ Abrams. “Our app Action Movie FX was designed to bring Hollywood special effects to anyone’s self-made video, whether that be on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, and we’re just thrilled that millions of fans around the world were as excited as we were about the possibilities that this app brings.”

“Bottle Rocket Apps now employs over 100 full-time employees, dedicated to nothing but building great apps,” said Calvin Carter, president of Bottle Rocket Apps. “In my 20 plus years in technology, I have never seen such a vibrant marketplace for software like the App Store.”

Apple offers developers a wealth of resources and tools to help them make great apps, plus a robust ecosystem and marketplace which provide customers a safe and easy way to discover them. Apple also provides developers great ways to monetize apps including in-app purchase, subscriptions and advertising, and helps market and support developer efforts in the App Store and beyond. 

The revolutionary App Store offers more than 775,000 apps to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users in 155 countries around the world, with more than 300,000 native iPad apps available. App Store customers can choose from an incredible range of apps in 23 categories, including newspapers and magazines offered in Newsstand, games, business, news, sports, health & fitness and travel.

*40 billion unique downloads excluding re-downloads and updates. 

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

Technics: Patent rights: Last summer's case between Samsung and Apple, explained

I've reached back to August 2012 to get an angle on what happened six months ago when the USA courts made a judgment against Samsung in the law suit brawt by Apple, claiming patent infringement. Michael Bowen's effort to explain to laity the issue involved in this technology matter, and the right to copy or not, is much appreciated.

— Techknowlb, refWrite Backpage technics newspotter, analyst, columnist


Shay Riley's Booker Rising (Aug25,2k12)

Apple Crushes Samsung

Michael Bowen, a technology professional in California, isn't worried about yesterday's patent ruling: "From my point of view, it seems completely right and proper that developers should complain about any legal and regulatory constraints that lead to monopoly. But there are two qualifiactions on that. The first is whether or not these 'innovations' are really that. You see if somebody patents a power window button, what's to stop you from making a power window lever, or drawstring, or voice control, or dial? It is ultimately a matter of superior or inferior design and if Apple has the exclusive rights to the superior design, then how can they be wrong? So I find it hard to buy the idea that Apple's defense of rights stifles innovation."

He continues his commentary: "The second qualification is whether or not the thousands of developers who voice this complaint are actually capable of building something materially different. To use the automobile analogy again, all of the mechanics are complaining that the patents for piston rings cost them money and stifle innovation. But that's only because they are thinking about the market leading engine technology. Rotary engines, the kind used in Mazdas don't use pistons or piston rings at all. If you were truly innovative, you'd put your own engine out there. But most mechanics are incapable of building engines from scratch, they need prior designs."

More commentary from Mr. Bowen: "At some point in the future, the market is going to show that the marginal value of Apple's luxury products is minimal. As it stands, Apple's strategy strands their own products into the bargain bin a mere three years out. Apple's strength is that they deliver their innovations to the market like movie studios deliver summer blockbusters. And those blockbusters and their sequels deliver the big profits up front, and then dwindle in value over time. The complainers want the big summer movie audience. Whoops, two analogies."

Tech: Apple's Mac computers: Are they vulnerable to malware?

Yeow!

— Technowlb, refWrite Backpage tech newspotter, analyst, columnist

YouTube (Nov25,2k12)

Tech: Smartphones: Apple tries to axe Samsung's Galaxy Nexus

refWrite comment:  Woudn't you know it, just as I'm vaguely and distantly considering a smartphone purchase (my telecom provider, Bell Ontario), at this precise moment comes an Apple legal manoeuvre to stop in its tracks the choice I'd settled on, just about.  I get this service, phonedog, which emails me YouTube videos comparing different smartphones recently on the market.  I'd decided among those Bell waved in my face, at a very good deal it seems, there being just one that seems to have met all my criteria — Samsung's Galaxy Nexus (with some fancy numbers attached to the name for the model or version).  — Technowlb

Apple Seeks Injunction vs 

Samsung's 'Galaxy Nexus' Smartphone

by Ian Sherr and Jessica E. Vascellaro 

SAN FRANCISCO--Apple Inc. is asking a California court to issue a preliminary injunction to block sales of Samsung Electronics Co.'s new Galaxy Nexus smartphone, alleging the device infringes four Apple patents.

The Cupertino, Calif., company has launched suits in multiple jurisdictions against Samsung and other companies making products that compete with its hit iPhone and use Google Inc.'s Android operating system. In its latest action, Apple argues the Samsung device--which uses a new version of Android dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich--is the most credible competitor to the iPhone yet and poses a potent threat to Apple's market share.

Wall Street Journal online (Feb11,2k11)

— Article's Intro reposted here by Technowlb, refWrite Backpage technics columnist

Follow @Owlb

general editor, refWrite Backpage

Technics: Internet: How Pinterest got mimicked by Pinspire (aka Pin Spire)

TECH

 

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1/22/2012 @ 2:49PM |4,584 views

"Parasite" Phenomenon - 

Radical Copycatting of 

Pinterest

+ Comment now

Many successful websites and apps spawn a cluster of imitators.
After Instagram caught fire, mobile apps with various effects
and filtering techniques flooded the Apple and Android markets.
Some of them are quite innovative and cool – particularly
PhotoForge 2 and Wordfoto. None came close to matching
the Instagram growth juggernaut.

But perhaps the most brazen – and amusing – case of radical
copycatting I have ever seen is the way Pinterest has been
mirrored by an aggressive “parasite” over the past two months.
Pinterest is perhaps the biggest web phenomenon of this winter.
The site hit 11 Million unique users during one December week
alone. Alexa now pegs it as the 32nd most popular website in
the United States. Visitors spend more than 11 minutes on the
site daily, crushing Twitter on this metric by more than 50%.

----------------------------

Forbes (January22,2k12)

Tero Kuittinen, is a Forbes Contributor

He covers mobile hardware, software and gaming. 
Twitter: @teroterotero

+ Follow on Forbes

— Reposted here by Techknowlb

Follow @Owlb

 general editor, refWrite backpage

----------------------------------

Pinterest is pure catnip for mature women. Wedding tips, babies 

in funny poses, mason jar decoration ideas, cake recipes and 

exercise slogans drive the site. The runaway success of 

Pinterest probably demonstrates how much most mainstream 

websites cater to male visitors. 
There had been some kind of 

unmet demand for a site 
combining hair-braiding advice 
with hedgehog babies in rubber 
boots. Pinterest filled this 
vacuum 

highly effectively.

And as the highest 

form of flattery, 

Pinterest is now 

shadowed by one 

of the purest parasites ever. Something called 

Pinspire copies the look, feel and functionality of Pinterest almost perfectly.

There is even what seems to be a very carefully calibrated
guerrilla marketing campaign – many of the new Pinterest
posts are now followed by a polite, complimentary note:
“Absolutely adorable! Can I pin this on my board at
pin spire .com?” These notes flatter the original pinner,
while directing traffic to Pinspire. They appear to be crafted
to land just on the right side of the line defining raw spam.
The spelling of these notes recently changed from “pinspire”
to “pin spire”, indicating possible evasion from
countermeasures.

And they are driving healthy growth of Pinspire. Alexa now 
ranks Pinspire as roughly the number 13’000 site in America, 
up from being number 100’000 in early January. This matches 
the ranking of established, high-quality niche sites like Silicon 
Investor, Gamerankings or Calculated Risk – sites that took 
years to build and required vast amounts of content to claw their 
way to the middle.

Pinspire rocketed to this level in less than three months – and 
requiring little or no original design or content work. Judging 
from the latest wave of Pinspire redirect notes on Pinterest 
right now, the parasite just might stage another growth burst 
in coming months. The youth of Pinterest is probably what 
enables the parasitic competition – many consumers are only 
now discovering Pinterest and thus do not have much brand 
loyalty. It will be interesting to see where this saga is heading 
next.