Posts Tagged ‘ipod’
"Einstein’s Pedometer" App Measures How Special Relativity Affects Your Daily Activity
Runners live longer, so they say, and a proves it through the theory of special relativity. Just in time for marathon season!
As your velocity increases, time as you experience it slows down relative to something moving slower than you. A passenger on a spaceship traveling near the speed of light would appear to have aged less than his friends when he returned to Earth, for instance. Similarly, a fast runner appears to gain time compared to a slow runner.
Einstein’s Pedometer brings special relativity to your daily activities, showing how much time you gain by moving. The faster you move, the more nanoseconds you gain relative to your stationary friends.
The iPod app, designed by a Japanese developer, uses the iPhone’s GPS capabilities and Lorentz transformation equations to calculate this. The Lorentz transformation is a set of equations that relate one observer’s space and time coordinates to those of another observer.
Einstein's Pedometer is free on the App Store, available for iPod touch, iPhone and iPad devices.
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How Apple could become the world’s biggest tech company (reader poll)
Not many companies get a second chance. In that respect, has led a charmed life. The company led the first boom in personal computers but fell behind the PC juggernaut as Microsoft, the PC clone makers, and a broad array of PC industry supporters soared past Apple, leaving it with about 2 percent of the personal computer market.
Steve Jobs was booted from the company and he came back. He shut down Apple’s clone-licensing program and shifted into the mobile device market with the iPod. That device disrupted the music player market and ushered in the era of cheap content with 99 cent songs. The iPhone extended that disruption into the smartphone market. With apps leading the charge, Apple has grabbed a huge share of the smartphone market.
If Apple hangs onto this market share, it could become the. As Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google, recently said, computing is now shifting to the phone. We will become a mobile first society as desktop computers and laptops are marginalized by emergence of powerful super phones. Apple has already surpassed the and in September quarter it passed up Microsoft’s revenues for the first time in 15 years.
On a worldwide basis, Apple has just 4.1 percent of the mobile phone market, up from 2.5 percent a year ago, . Nokia still ships about eight times more phones than Apple does.
But in smartphones, the story is different. Apple has, the maker of the BlackBerry, in terms of smartphones sold per quarter. If Apple hangs on to a larger market share of smartphones — which are poised to become the world’s biggest tech product — then it could become the giant of technology.
Android has emerged to challenge Apple. Through broad and open licensing, Google hopes to overtake Apple and marginalize it the same way that happened in PCs.
Jobs is in a mad scramble to make sure that doesn’t happen, launching its phones in new territories as fast as it can. In that respect, getting off the ground in China, where Android had a lead, was very important to Apple. The company is opening Apple stores everywhere in hopes of marketing its brand as a lifestyle experience. It is using its profits and considerable cash to advertise around the world.
— or make more of layers of its products than others do — and succeed. It makes its own operating systems, its own hardware, its own microprocessor chips, and sells devices in its own stores. That allows it to capture more margin and take back revenues that were once considered lost to partners such as Intel or Best Buy.
At the same time, Apple leverages the work of companies such as microprocessor architecture licensor ARM, contract chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, and hardware assembler Foxconn. Those partners help give Apple the manufacturing and design scale it needs. Apple might even try to cut carriers out of the equation with a move to SIM cards in Europe.
Google hopes to isolate Apple with the openness argument. But the way to beat Apple is to match it on the experience and design of outstanding products and then to bring down the price through high-volume efficiencies. That’s how the tablet makers, phone makers, and PC makers hope to take away Apple’s momentum. At some point, Apple will have to decide whether it wants to become more open and to play in the lowest cost markets.
If it makes the right moves, it could stay ahead of Microsoft and Google and catch up with the likes of IBM and Hewlett-Packard. HP is far behind in smartphones, but it generated $30.7 billion in its most recent quarter ended July 31. Apple posted revenue of $20.3 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30, while Microsoft reported revenue of $16 billion and IBM reported revenue of $24.3 billion. Apple isn’t all that far away from being on top.
To get to the top and stay there, Apple will have to figure out some tough competitive problems. It will have to try to beat Nokia in the rest of the world in low-cost cell phones. It will likely have to figure out how to challenge HP and IBM in enterprise markets. It has only begun to crack those markets with its mobile devices. But it probably will also need a stronger resurgence of the Mac as a platform in order to make headway. It also needs Apple TV to succeed in a big way and use that success to lever its way into the video game console business ().
Perhaps these challenges are too big and it’s just a fantasy. But to even consider this possibility — that Apple could become the biggest tech company — is a victory in itself. Just a few years ago, it would have seemed ridiculous. Only Apple’s own potential missteps and a broad alliance of enemies can stop Apple.
What’s your own opinion? Please leave a comment and vote in our poll below.
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Apple crushes earnings as usual, but misses outlook
Apple says it as it did during the same quarter last year.
The iPhone manufacturer brought in $4.31 billion in net income, up about 70 percent from $2.53 billion a year ago. Its quarterly revenue jumped 67 percent to $20.34 billion, compared to $12.21 billion the same quarter one year ago.
The lion’s share of Apple’s revenue came from iPhone sales. The company shipped 14.1 million iPhone units, and nearly double what it shipped in the same quarter last year. This was the first full quarter that Apple has shipped its newest model of the iPhone. Sales of the iPhone accounted for $8.6 billion of its revenue this quarter.
iPad sales were up 28 percent 4.19 million units shipped, compared to 3.27 million iPads shipped in its last quarter. Apple sold 3.89 million Mac computers, up 28 percent compared to 3.05 million Macs a year ago. And it sold 125 million devices that run its iPhone operating system, iOS, just last month.
iPod sales continued to fall as the iPad and iPhone have gained momentum. iPod sales were down 11 percent to about 9.1 million units shipped, compared to 10.2 million iPods sold in the same quarter last year. Apple recently refreshed its line of iPods this quarter, so it hasn’t had a full quarter with its new lineup of iPods — much like the iPhone had last quarter with the launch of its iPhone 4.
The company made the figures public today in an earnings call with analysts.
It said it has adjusted its estimates for the next holiday sales quarter ending in December and expects about $23 billion in revenue and $4.80 per share profits. Estimates from a number of analysts and financial firms estimated around $22.2 billion in revenue and $5.02 per share profits.
What this means is that Apple, a notoriously hard negotiator when it comes to suppliers, might be expecting a jump in the manufacturing price of its consumer gadgets. That could have implications for the entire consumer tech sector. Research in Motion is planning to . Investors didn’t appreciate the news, sending shares down 4.7 percent to $302.96 in extended trading today.
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Apple closes in on Nintendo with 40 million iPod, iPhone gamers
Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ bold that Apple owns 50 percent of the mobile gaming market might not actually be a part of his reality distortion field, according to a recent survey of gamers.
40.1 million of the 77 million Americans playing games on mobile devices play them on the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad — nearly catching Nintendo’s 41 million gamers playing the DS and DSi and blowing well past Sony’s 18 million gamers on its Playstation Portable device — according to the Newzoo International Gamers Survey 2010.
Jobs’ announcement came at an Apple unveiling its new line of iPods, an updated operating system and a new model of the Apple TV. The new lineup included a revamped iPod Touch sporting Apple’s A4 processor that Apple is seemingly embracing as a gaming platform with the unveil of an Unreal 3 engine-powered game from Epic Games, the creators of the Gears of War series.
Sales of Apple’s iPods have been slipping as of late — in its most recent , sales of iPods were down 8 percent from a year earlier despite posting blowout numbers in its other sales categories. The outlook for mobile games, though, looks good, as NPD group that it would soon count sales of mobile games as a growing part of the market.
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iPod Touch accounts for 38 percent of iPhone-compatible devices
Using a bit of clever math, app maker and market analyst firm has determined that about 38 percent of all 120 million reported iOS device sales are iPod Touches.
The company got the value by subtracting the 59.6 million iPhones and 3.2 million iPads sold through June (figures presented in Apple’s SEC filings) and the estimated July and August iPad and iPhone sales of 12 million — a combined 74.8M iPads and iPhones sold to date — from the 120 million total iOS devices that have been sold to date. The 120 million figure was announced in Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ seemingly annual on Wednesday.
Jobs said the iPod Touch had become the number one mobile gaming platform — above the Nintendo DS and Sony Playstation portable — during the same presentation. Apple in the quarter ending June 26.
It looks to be in an even better position to advance into the portable gaming market with some new hardware. The new iPod Touch boasts Apple’s A4 processor, as well as a gyroscope, and front- and rear-facing camera. Apple will also release iOS 4.1 sometime this week, which brings the Game Center — a multiplayer gaming platform for iOS — live.
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Steve Wozniak gives thumbs up to Steve Jobs’ new Ping social network (video)
Steve Jobs has rarely acknowledged Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak in public in recent years. So it was a surprise when Jobs called out his “partner in crime” Tuesday at the launch of Apple’s latest music products. Wozniak, commonly known as Woz, stood up and took the applause. Afterward, reporters grabbed him for his reaction. Here’s a short video of Woz’s take on the announcements such as Apple’s Ping social networking service.
He’s a big fan of Apple’s promise to unite friends via music sharing. He said it might impact MySpace but he didn’t think that it would directly compete with Facebook, which is more about life, whereas Ping is focused on music (). And Woz noted that, despite his departure from Apple many years ago, he and Jobs have always remained friends.
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Apple visual feast: from cool Apple Stores to Coldplay’s lead singer (photo gallery and video)
Apple press events are always a visual feast. We’ve captured the imagery of the Apple event today, from cool new Apple store in Shanghai above to the surprise appearance of Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay. Check out the images and the video of Martin, whose perfect voice occasionally cracks while singing Viva la Vida.
This facade of the Apple store in Paris is another example of how the company’s stores are architectural wonders.
Steve Jobs got roars of applause from the moment he stepped out on stage until he walked off at the end. He certainly knows how to put on a show.
Jobs was as rail thin as ever. But his melodious voice sounded better than that of Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, as you’ll see if you listen to the video at the bottom.
We were pleased to see “discovery” as the lead topic for Jobs discussion about how to get music noticed in the right way. As he introduced Apple’s own social network, Jobs talked about discovery as a big problem. We’ll talk about these issues at our upcoming on Oct. 18.
Apple’s Ping social network for music is the company’s answer to music discovery sites such as Pandora, Rdio, and MySpace.
Apple’s iPod Shuffle couldn’t get any smaller, could it? It might as well be a chip that you plug into your brain. This tiny device costs $49 and holds 2 gigabytes of songs.
Apple’s newest iPod Touch has the same A4 chip as the iPad and iPhone 4. It can now run FaceTime video phone calls over the Wi-Fi network, as demoed here.
Say goodbye to the click wheel at last. The new iPod Nano has a touchscreen.
AP photographer Paul Sakuma and BBC journalist Maggie Shields were banging away at the keyboards after the event.
The new remote control for Apple TV is sleek, simple, and silver.
The demo room remained packed for a long time after the event was over. Above, you can see how Apple will market the new devices.
It’s called merchandising. The iPod Shuffle comes in just about any color you want.
The new $99 Apple TV, renewed for the first time since 2006, was the star of the show.
The new iTunes 10 has features such as the Ping social network. It’s available today.
Just when you thought they couldn’t make the iPod Touch any thinner. Jobs said the company has sold more of these devices than Nintendo and Sony have combined, in terms of sales of portable game players.
Apple always has lots of velvet ropes outside its events. If you’re cool enough to get inside the velvet rope, you feel special. It’s like nightclub psychology.
Those iPod Nanos are so cute you just want to collect them all.
Behold the new iTunes logo, which gets rid of the old CD image.
Always dramatic, Steve Jobs teased about his finale.
And the finale was the new redesigned Apple TV, which is a quarter the size of the original one.
And Jobs was saying, “Wait, wait, I’ve got to sell you one more thing!”
The Apple TV interface is so elegant you just might want to stare at it rather than watch movies.
The show ended with Apple’s tradition of providing live music. Steve Jobs turned the stage over to Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay, who came out on stage to sing three piano solos. He joked that the rest of the band was too lazy to come out. Among the songs he sang was Viva La Vida, Coldplay’s huge hit. I’ve included the video below, partly because it sounds beautiful and partly because there’s a part where Martin’s voice cracks.
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