Adobe 'Moving Forward' Without Apple

All the back-and-forth on the Flash issue is getting a little ridiculous. Whichever side you happen to support in the issue, what really matters is giving customers what they want. That's what Adobe says it is going to do -- with or without Apple.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs penned a missive yesterday on Flash and why Apple doesn't support it in devices such as the iPhone and iPad. Later, Adobe's CEO fired back via an interview conducted by the Wall Street Journal. Thursday night, Adobe's CTO published his own thoughts. Here's what Kevin Lynch had to say:

Clearly, a lot of people are passionate about both Apple and Adobe and our technologies. We feel confident that were Apple and Adobe to work together as we are with a number of other partners, we could provide a terrific experience with Flash on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

We have already decided to shift our focus away from Apple devices for both Flash Player and AIR. We are working to bring Flash Player and AIR to all the other major participants in the mobile ecosystem, including Google, RIM, Palm (soon to be HP), Microsoft, Nokia and others.

We look forward to delivering Flash Player 10.1 for Android smartphones as a public preview at Google I/O in May, and then a general release in June.

If you read through Jobs' thoughts, and then compare them to Adobe's it is clear that business and technology are the two issues at hand. Each company has its own set of beliefs about Flash, and they can't come to terms on how to work together. This happens all the time. Technology and business will always clash -- and some times that comes at the expense of the end user (in this case, iPhone and iPad users).

Apple's desire to control its iPhone business and the overall experience surrounding iPhone OS devices is being over-vilified in my opinion. The notions of openness, competition, and the greater good can be debated all day long. In case anyone forget, Apple is a for-profit company. If people have a problem with its business model and products, they have plenty of choice in the market.

For More Read....

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2010/04/adobe_moving_fo.html;jsessionid=VGZKKH2WKBRE5QE1GHOSKH4ATMY32JVN

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Macworld 2010 Refocuses For New Era, Without Apple

Attending a Macworld Expo without Apple may seem like going to a rock concert to see the opening acts, but despite lacking the rock star presence, the show will go on nonetheless.

It was just prior to last year's conference, Apple announced that 2009 would be the last year it participated in the annual gathering, which has been held in San Francisco since 1985. This year's Expo, which has been rebranded Macworld 2010, will feature no keynote from Apple executives and no Apple booth on the show floor in Moscone Center's North Hall.

But while Apple's absence will certainly change the dynamic of the event, it hardly means that the show won't go on. There's plenty to do throughout the five-day event, which runs from Tuesday February 9 through Saturday February 13, even without Apple around.

Walking the floor

"It's going to be a smaller show this year," acknowledged Paul Kent, vice president and general manager for Macworld 2010. Last year's exhibition spanned both Moscone's North and South halls. "Many vendors decided to sit on the sideline and see what Macworld without Apple would look like. It's really up to those vendors, going forward."

The exhibition hall, open from February 11 to February 13, remains one of Macworld 2010's strongest draws, with more than 250 vendors, including the Mobile Application Showcase, the largest collection of iPhone developers ever assembled, and the Indie Developer Pavilion, a special area for independent Mac developers of all sizes. Plus, more than 60 vendors are introducing new products at the show. There's no question, said Kent, that the product experience remains a very central part of the show. "The three pillars of Macworld are product discovery, conference education, and the social experience."

Kent freely admits that rebounding from Apple's departure may be a two-year process, but he remains optimistic about the future. "I anticipate the vendors are going to come back in droves."

Naturally, it will help if the conference attendance is high. While the exact figures won't be known until the dust clears, there are more than 30,000 pre-registrations for the event. By comparison, Macworld Expo saw attendance of 45,572 in 2007, and a 10 percent increase over that in 2008. Attendance figures for last year's event, however, were not disclosed. Kent noted that he expects a packed house this year, including the more than 700 members of the media that have registered.

Headline acts

In addition to the exhibition hall, this year's show will have a number of feature presentations that Kent hopes will educate, inform, and entertain attendees. "You don't replace a Steve Jobs keynote," said Kent. "But we do know how to build very content rich events here."

On Thursday, New York Times tech columnist David Pogue will host a session called Late Night with David Pogue, featuring surprises guests and musical performances and noted writer and director Kevin Smith will hold a Q&A session on storytelling, technology, and filmmaking.

Source:

http://www.itnews.com/business-issues/14171/macworld-2010-refocuses-new-era-without-apple

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Apple Offers 'Find Out How' Tutorials as Podcasts

For some time, Apple has given the Designated Family Tech Support Personnel among us a small reprieve with its "Find out how" selection of tutorial videos. While they don't really tackle inevitable questions like "was deleting ~/Library/Keychains a bad idea?," they serve as succinct primers for The Way of the Mac and Apple's various apps and services. Now, if your tech-blossoming family and friends prefer to gobble their media in a subscription format, Apple has finally created iTunes Store podcast channels for its "Find out how" series.

Organized by application, service, or topic, the nine "Find out how" podcasts that Apple has published so far cover MobileMe, iWork '09, iWeb '09, and of course, Mac Basics (search for "Apple find out how" to see them all). There are around ten to 20 episodes in each of these podcasts, though for some series it seems that not all episodes have made the transition from Apple's site to their podcast counterpart. While the iMovie podcast has a few more episodes than Apple's website, the Mac Basics podcast is short around ten or so episodes.

It's nice to see Apple making these useful tutorials available in more ways, and hopefully future videos will continue to keep the attention of aspiring i-everything users. They may not make a dramatic dent in the number of family tech support hours that some of us clock, but every little bit certainly helps.

Source:

http://www.itnews.com/mac/14049/apple-offers-find-out-how-tutorials-podcasts

Web Site Design

Apple Extends iTunes Web Previews to Apps

Just a few months after introducing its browser-based iTunes Preview pages for music, Apple has expanded the feature to include items from the App Store.

Now, when a user clicks an iTunes link for an iPhone or iPod Touch app, they're taken to a page with a similar layout to what they'd see when browsing the iTunes Store in Apple's iTunes software. But instead, it's in their browser. This allows users who don't have iTunes installed to see more information about an app without having the software installed. That said, preview pages attempt to launch iTunes each time you load them.

As mentioned in previous coverage, there are a few shortcomings to these preview pages compared to the sales pages in iTunes proper. These include only being able to see a handful of user reviews and other purchases by customers. Users are also unable to make a purchase, add the app to a wish list, and share it on Twitter or Facebook.

Despite these limitations, the iTunes Preview program is a strong hint that Apple is on its way towards taking its iTunes Store business outside of conventional software and onto the Web. Though Apple has not yet extended the preview program out to all its content, including movies, TV shows, podcasts, and audiobooks.

Source:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20000041-248.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

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2009 in Review: The Year in iPhone

In 2008, the iPhone grew up, evolving from its status as the "it device" of the moment into a burgeoning ecosphere. In 2009, that "it" device went thermonuclear. The iPhone software turned 3.0, the barrier of entry dropped to $99, and the App Store hit 100,000 applications and an astounding two billion downloads. With all of that, it's hard to believe that Apple's iconic cell phone is still weeks shy of the third anniversary of its unveiling. As 2009 comes to a close, we wrap up the year in iPhone by the numbers.

3.0

If the iPhone OS 2.0 update turned an amazing device into a world-beating platform by allowing third-party apps, then iPhone 3.0 was all about sanding off the software's rough edges and turning it into a full-featured experience.

Apple made no secret about iPhone 3.0, holding an event in March, months prior to its eventual launch, to show off the catalog of new features and developer APIs that would define the next-generation of iPhone software. With Steve Jobs on medical leave, the presentation fell to the capable team of Greg Joswiak and Scott Forstall, who ran through iPhone 3.0's high points, as well as yet another series of interminable developer demos.

While end users got some nice additional features in 3.0, such as the much anticipated cut, copy and paste, the long-run impact of the update has been more about what lies under the hood--it was the iPhone's equivalent of Snow Leopard. Developers got the ability to communicate with hardware through the dock-connector port or Bluetooth, peer-to-peer networking, in-app purchase, and the long-awaited push notifications. The testament to iPhone 3.0's importance is the number of programs on the App Store that require it.

Not all was rosy with this latest software update: while two of the features most demanded by consumers--support for Multimedia Messaging (MMS) and tethering--were promised by Apple for 3.0, MMS didn't arrive until September, three months after 3.0's release, and tethering remains imprisoned in an oubliette of AT&T's devising to this day.

3GS

With the iPhone 3G only a year old, it might seem surprising that Apple would roll out a brand new model, but that's just what it did at June's Worldwide Developers Conference. This time it was Phil Schiller stepping in as maestro for the proceedings, which included unveiling the iPhone 3GS. If the name, with its 'S' for speed, was a bit of a head-scratcher, its performance was anything but. Though outwardly it looked the same as the iPhone 3G, it was unquestionably a horse of a different color on the inside.

Source:

http://www.itnews.com/smartphones/12381/2009-review-year-iphone

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For Google, The Meaning Of Open Is When It’s Convenient For Them

Yesterday, Google published a long manifesto on the “meaning of open” in the form of an email to all employees republished as a blog post. In it, senior VP of product management Jonathan Rosenberg, makes an eloquent argument for why open systems always win and urges Google’s employees to always strive to be open when designing products. An open Internet spurs innovation and brings more consumers on board, which ultimately means more searches and increased use of Web applications.

The gist of his argument is that a bigger, better Internet is good for Google. He writes that Google employees should resist the impulse to create closed products and systems, and even makes a swipe at Apple for doing so (bold added for emphasis):

. . . open systems win. This is counter-intuitive to the traditionally trained MBA who is taught to generate a sustainable competitive advantage by creating a closed system, making it popular, then milking it through the product life cycle. The conventional wisdom goes that companies should lock in customers to lock out competitors. . . . a well-managed closed system can deliver plenty of profits. They can also deliver well-designed products in the short run — the iPod and iPhone being the obvious examples — but eventually innovation in a closed system tends towards being incremental at best (is a four blade razor really that much better than a three blade one?) because the whole point is to preserve the status quo. Complacency is the hallmark of any closed system. If you don’t have to work that hard to keep your customers, you won’t.

It all sounds great and Google certainly is a champion of open systems with Android and Chrome and countless other projects. Google is making a very public effort to claim the mantle of openness. But the battle for this mantle has been going on for a long time. Two years ago, I wrote a post titled “Who Is The Opennest Of Them All?”. What I noted then bears repeating:

But don’t be fooled. Companies are very selective about the areas where they choose to be open, and they very rarely open up their core source of profits voluntarily. . . . So the next time a company touts how open it is, ask yourself how that will help it make more money. Don’t confuse openness with altruism.

Google is only open when it is convenient for them. Google will never open up the source code to its search algorithms or its advertising system, or share the core data which gives it a competitive advantage in those areas because that is where it makes all of its money. Again, I pointed this out in that post two years ago:

Just because industry pressures and increased interconnectedness are forcing companies to embrace open technologies, don’t confuse openness with profitability. Open standards tend to be good for spurring the adoption of new technologies, but not so good for generating profits directly. That is why companies choose to be open along axes where they don’t compete. Google, for instance, is a big proponent of open standards in social networking, mobile networks, Web applications, and practically everywhere —except the one place it makes money. Its advertising system is a black box. You also never hear any talk coming out of Google about opening up the search algorithms that drive all of those advertising revenues. In contrast, Google has no problem championing open standards in industries that it is hoping to disrupt (by commoditizing existing business models with open standards, and making money with advertising instead).

Rosenberg realizes there is an incongruity between what he is saying and what Google is doing. He takes a stab at rationalizing this huge exception to Google’s embrace of everything open:

While we are committed to opening the code for our developer tools, not all Google products are open source. Our goal is to keep the Internet open, which promotes choice and competition and keeps users and developers from getting locked in. In many cases, most notably our search and ads products, opening up the code would not contribute to these goals and would actually hurt users.

Maybe, but it is more likely it would hurt Google. The company has good reasons for keeping those things closed tight. Opening up those black boxes would make it easier to spam search and game AdWords and give competitors valuable data to make their own search engines and advertising systems better. If it opened all of that stuff up, it would have to work harder to keep its customers.

And really nobody should begrudge them the right to keep products they’ve spent a lot of time, energy, and money building to themselves. But don’t give us this song and dance about how everything should be open and how Google is the opennest company in the world. Google has nothing to lose if operating systems, mobile phones, browsers, books, news, and every other industry becomes open and free, as long it can make money from search and advertising. That is exactly why Google is so disruptive. It can offer products for free that other industries charge for, as long as those products result in more searches or other advertising opportunities.

There is nothing wrong with this strategy. The fact that Google is pushing openness in so many industries is generally a good thing for startups and consumers alike. But Google should just be honest and say that they think everything should be open—except for search and advertising.

Source:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/22/google-open-when-convenient/

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Nokia Hits Apple With Latest Patent Complaint

The legal back-and-forth between Nokia and Apple over patents, and who might be abusing them, continued Tuesday as Nokia lodged a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission.

In its complaint to the USITC, the Finnish company alleges that Apple infringes seven Nokia patents "in virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players, and computers."

The alleged patent infringement is connected to key features in Apple products including user interface, camera, antenna, and power management technologies. Their value to Nokia, the company says, comes in allowing better user experience, lower manufacturing costs, smaller size, and longer battery life for Nokia products.

In October, Nokia filed a lawsuit against Apple in U.S. District Court in Delaware regarding 10 patents related to wireless handsets, which Nokia says Apple has refused to license. Every iPhone model since the original, introduced in 2007, infringes on those patents, Nokia has charged.

Apple filed a countersuit earlier this month, charging Nokia with infringing 13 Apple patents related to the iPhone.

"While our litigation in Delaware is about Apple's attempt to free-ride on the back of Nokia investment in wireless standards, the ITC case filed today is about Apple's practice of building its business on Nokia's proprietary innovation," Paul Melin, general manager of patent licensing at Nokia, said in a statement.

"Nokia has been the leading developer of many key technologies in small electronic devices," Melin said. "This action [Tuesday's complaint to the USITC] is about protecting the results of such pioneering development."

Apple was not immediately available to comment on Nokia's filing with the U.S. International Trade Commission. The USITC is an independent federal agency that looks at issues including unfair trade practices involving patent, trademark, and copyright infringement.

Nokia says that over the past two decades it has spent some 40 billion euros ($57.5 billion) on R&D and has amassed "one of the wireless industry's strongest and broadest IPR portfolios, with over 11,000 patent families."

In November, research firm Strategy Analytics reported that Apple had surpassed Nokia in quarterly mobile phone profits, bringing in $1.6 billion from the iPhone, compared with Nokia's $1.1 billion in cell phone profits.

Source:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10422670-37.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

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Apple Thrives Despite Jobs Being away

2009 was a year for the record books for Apple.

Besides recording three of the most profitable quarters in company history and ending the year with $36 billion in the bank, Apple had its biggest iPhone opening weekend ever this summer.

And most of this happened without Chief Executive Steve Jobs. Last year's questions over his physical appearance were answered when he announced in late January he'd be taking a leave of absence to deal with a medical problem that he found out was "more complex" than a hormone imbalance. Jobs declined to be more specific about his condition, which led to discussion of how much of executives' private lives we should be privy to. By late spring it was revealed he underwent liver transplant surgery. Chief Operations Officer Tim Cook handled the reins for six months. By July, Jobs was seen back on the Cupertino campus. His first public appearance came a short time later at Apple's September iPod event.

Like most years, 2009 was punctuated by a series of signature Apple product launch events, though this time the majority were simple refreshes of hardware. In software, Apple saw the release of the latest iteration of its operating system, Mac OS X 10.6, a refreshed iTunes 9, and an updated iPhone OS--now with copy/paste and multimedia messaging. And as has been true for each of the past two years, the release of the iPhone 3GS was a spectacle in itself.

Meanwhile, developers have flocked to Apple's mobile platform, with more than 100,000 apps currently available in the App Store. But Apple's gatekeeping policies have tempered excitement for some developers. Early in the year those creating applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch began complaining about a lack of transparency in the App Store review policy. Grievances regarding Apple's inconsistent practices, lack of communication, and playing favorites grew more vociferous as the year wore on. The last straw seemed to be when Apple rejected Google Voice, the popular service from its one-time close partner, prompting the FCC to get involved. As a result, Apple was forced to open up a bit and we got a glimpse of how the App Store review process works.

That wasn't the only word the federal government wanted to have with Apple. Along with several other Silicon Valley giants, Apple was accused of agreeing not to hire each other's employees and a Department of Justice investigation is still ongoing.

In other legal news, Apple wrapped up its suit against Psystar. The Florida-based company was found to have violated Apple's copyright in selling Mac OS X preinstalled on non-Mac hardware, and the two came to a preliminary settlement. But a new drama unfolded with smartphone competitor Nokia, which sued Apple for not paying royalties on a copyrighted smartphone technology.

Unfortunately for the most passionate of Apple fans, two of the year's most anticipated products from Apple never came to fruition. Looks like we'll have to wait until 2010 to see if the mythical Apple tablet or the Verizon iPhone finally appear.

source:

http://news.cnet.com/2702-13579_3-419.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

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The Best Holiday iPhone apps

The holiday season can be stressful: the shopping, the spending, even the parties can be incredibly stressful.

Luckily, all you Apple (AAPL) iPhone users have more than 100,000 apps to help your holiday season go a little smoother. Yes, there's the obvious "Better Christmas List" app or the “Asking Santa” app, but maybe before it gets too close to the yuletide cheer, you should make a trip to the iTunes app store. That'd be one way to make the trip to your in-laws a little more bearable. All in all, a happy app holiday!

Make your shopping experience easier — and more affordable

Everyone's trying to find the best deals this time of year. And besides tackling someone on Black Friday or being glued to your laptop on Cyber Monday, you can look for apps that can help your shopping. Try Red Laser, priced at $1.99. All you do is take a picture of a product barcode, and it'll recognize the product and search for prices on Google (GOOG) and TheFind. So instead of buying something marked-up, you can see where you can get the item for the cheapest.

Stop using a checkbook and start using an app

There are more than enough apps to help you keep track of your finances. Mint.com, for instance, has caused a small revolution in the iPhone and digital community, showing you how much you're spending and how much you’re actually making. Mint.com is like having a digital version of your loving, but overbearing, scolding mother living in your inbox and iPhone. But for the holidays, try BudgetCare for $1.99. It's especially tailored for individual transactions. So this way if you just want to track your holiday expenses, it's a bit easier to sort through.

I'll be home for Christmas…on Wednesday at 5:32 p.m.

Many of us will be traveling for the holidays, and let's face it, we might enjoy the in-flight movie, but what we all care about is our destination — and whether we'll be home in time to make the holiday festivities. So rather than being preoccupied, you can stay occupied by checking your flight status in real-time with FlightTrack. For $4.99, you can check whether you'll have any delays, if they've switched gate numbers or if you just want to see which other planes are flying in the air with you.

Eggnog, anyone?

So you're finally home and you're in charge of drinks. No fear! Here comes (the free) Mixologist: Drink Recipes to the rescue! You've got almost 8,000 recipes at your disposal. Pick the liquor, pick the spritzer and shake it up–your iPhone, that is. And then you can pick up the real shaker and be the life of the party! This is one holiday app that keeps on giving.

Watch those calories!

Now that the party has really gotten started, it's easy to get stuck eating hundreds of obligatory holiday feasts. That really doesn't do much for your diet though — nor your pant size. So maybe it's best not to completely pig out and use an app that'll give you a handle on your eating. With livestrong.com's $2.99 Calorie Tracker app, you can search a food item, add it to your database and then you can search for the appropriate workout to burn those calories you just added to your system. Might as well get a head start on that New Year's resolution.

Let's make some Christmas cards

And no holiday would be complete unless you took some crazy photos and made them your Christmas card for next year. But why wait until next year, when you can dress them up and send them now? For $2.99, with the Grinch edition of the Dr. Seuss Camera, you can take a picture of your holiday antics, lay some Grinch illustrations on top of the faces you and your nephew are making and then send those greetings out to your loved ones right away. Who said the Grinch ruined Christmas?

Source:

http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/12/14/the-best-holiday-iphone-apps/?section=money_technology

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Motorola's Droid May Be a Boon for IPhone Owners

In a nod to my colleague Tom Wailgum, who wrote What Star Wars Teaches Us About Career Management, I'm waving a hand in front of mobile users and saying, "This is the Droid you're looking for"—and IPhone owners should be wishing for the same thing.

I'm talking, of course, about the Motorola Droid introduced by Verizon on Wednesday. The very cool smartphone hits Verizon Wireless stores' shelves on Nov. 6 and will cost $200 after a $100 rebate, along with a nationwide calling plan and a $30 data plan.

Let's be clear: The Droid is the first big contender to cross swords with the almighty iPhone. And it's got powerful allies like Google and Verizon, as well as Motorola on the comeback trail. The Droid boasts a beautiful high-res screen, multi-tasking apps, free turn-by-turn GPS navigational system, and both a touch keypad and hardware keypad.

In comparison, the iPhone's screen isn't as sharp. The iPhone also doesn't support multi-tasking apps (at least, not widely). While Tom-Tom offers an iPhone app for turn-by-turn GPS, the app costs a whopping $100. And, of course, the iPhone has only a touch keypad.

The Droid, though, may be a boon for iPhone owners thanks to the benefits that spring from increased competition. Mobile app developers, for instance, will no longer be able to corner the smartphone market with a single iPhone app. They will need to develop on multiple platforms and compete with a whole new crop of smart developers.

Increased competition will also put the screws to Apple. In the past, Apple could dictate to the market what works and what doesn't work, what is possible and impossible. Now the market gets to dictate. "If Droid has background processing and still gives good battery life, this could put some pressure on Apple to rethink background processing," says Gartner analyst Van Baker.

But competition only goes so far—that is, Apple doesn't respond to competitive pressures very often. It's unlikely, for instance, that Apple will abandon its imperialistic ways concerning the App Store and Adobe Flash. (The iPhone does not support Flash, whereas Droid does.)

It's also unlikely that iPhone owners will flock to the Droid and Verizon's 3G network, thus taking some pressure off of AT&T's network. "Maybe a few iPhone 1.0 users whose contracts have expired" will move to the Droid, Baker says, "but not too many."

It's more likely that Droid owners will tap the Internet as much as iPhone users do, which is to say a lot. And Verizon could end up having network and customer service fallouts similar to those of AT&T.

Source:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/181113/motorolas_droid_may_be_a_boon_for_iphone_owners.html

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