Apple introduced today MAC OS X Mountain Lion 10.8, the next major release for it’s desktop operating system. This is first time Apple hasn’t announced a major desktop OS at an event and rather given it out as Developer Preview.
Apple yet again bringing back iOS features like iMessages, Reminders, Notes, Notifications and AirPlay mirroring. OS X Mountain Lion arrives this summer. With all-new features inspired by iPad, the Mac just keeps getting better and better. More updates coming soon.
Last week a controversy came to surface pinpointing a popular iOS app “Path” uploading user Address Book data to their servers without them knowing. Next web reports that U.S. Congressmen Henry Waxman and G.K. Butterfield have now weighed on in the issue, sending a letter to Apple requesting information on the company’s data collection policies it imposes on App Store developers. In a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the legislators state:
This incident raises questions about whether Apple’s iOS app developer policies and practices may fall short when it comes to protecting the information of iPhone users and their contacts.
Apple has issued a statement to AllThingsD and promised to address the issue with the new update of iOS.
Apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines,” Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told AllThingsD. “We’re working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release.
Apple has reduced minimum Buy-In fee once again in the wake of luring more advertisers on their network. When iAd was launched back in July 201o, the minimum buy-in fee was 1 million dollars.
Later on the fee was dropped to $500k and then $300k for a package. Yet again Apple has cut it’s minimum buy-in fee down to $100k according to a report from AdAge. Macrumors reports that in addition to the reduced minimum spend, Apple is increasing the cut that developers receive from iAds running within their apps from 60% to 70%. The extra money is expected to cover lower ad rates and encourage developers to include iAds within their applications.
AdAge reports: Apple is also planning to change the way it charges for ads, which irked some advertisers and agencies. Since it launched in 2010, Apple has charged advertisers twice: a fixed rate for every 1,000 ad impressions plus an additional fee every time a user clicked on the ad. Apple will now only charge the cost-per-thousand rate.
Apple recently hired former Adobe executive Todd Teresi to head up the iAds team after Andy Miller pastured to join a venture capital firm.
At the start of market today morning Apple has surpassed important $500 per share mark. Thanks to Apple strong and record breaking Q4 results. Apple is now worth more than $469 billion, making it the most valuable public company in the world by a significant margin.Exxon Mobil was the most valuable public company whose worth is approximately $400 billion.
Macrumors reports: Apple is a long way from claiming the “most valuable publicly traded company ever” title. Among many others, Microsoft had a peak market cap of $642 billion during the dot-com boom in September 2000. That company is now worth just over $250 billion. With the reversal of fortunes, Apple is in fact now worth more than Google ($199 billion) and Microsoft ($256 billion) — Apple’s two biggest competitors — combined.
In December last year it was announced that Steve Jobs will be honoured with Special Grammy award. Steve Jobs honoured this award for his contribution to the music industry with the invention of iPod and iTunes. Senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue has accepted this award.
This marks the second time Jobs’ work has been honored by The Academy. He was a co-founder of Apple Computer Inc., which received a Technical GRAMMY Award in 2002. His continuing contributions led to this personal acknowledgement for the visionary, who died last October. Jobs’ Trustees Award was accepted by Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, who made note of Jobs’ love of music.
Grammy.com has a video of Eddy Cue accepting Special Merit Award award which can be seen here.
There have been several reports surfaced last year about Macbook launching with similar design to Apple Macbook Air. Apple released two new Macbook Airs last year. Alongside 13 inch there was an addition of 11 inch ultra portable notebook which was the real hit.
Appleinsider reports today
“They’re all going to look like MacBook Airs,” one person familiar with the new MacBook Pro designs told AppleInsider. Meanwhile, existing MacBook Pro designs are expected to be phased out over the course of the year.
Apple is reported to overhaul 15 inch Macbook Pro first as they did when they first redesigned Macbook series following their 17 inch higher end model.
Siri is Apple’s voice powered assistant which is launched in October last year and is exclusive to iPhone 4S. Siri is one of the biggest differentiating factor when it comes to buy iPhone. Siri at the moment supports English (USA, UK, Australia), French and German. The official Siri FAQ from the onset made it clear that in 2012: “Siri will support additional languages, including Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Italian, and Spanish.”
However it is noted that support for new languages will be limited at launch and only Mandarin Chinese will be available leaving other dialects in the country. New languages support are expected to appear as soon as next month.
Some of Apple’s job openings also indicated that Apple is working to take Siri forward bringing in new capabilities including Siri API for developers so it can be used with third party apps other than Apple. Siri is giving other companies a boost as well. Siri accounts for nearly 25% of Wolfram Alpha queries.
Apple the company who gave iPhone, iPad and iPod to the world has topped the Davis Brand top 25 list in 2011 for the first time. Apple surpassed IBM who had come in first in the previous two years.
“The annual 2011 Davis Brand Capital 25 ranking evaluates companies’ abilities to manage and balance the five key intangible categories that comprise brand capital: brand value; competitive performance; innovation strength; company culture; and social impact,”
The company said in a press release.
“The ranking does not aim to place a financial value on the brand capital of the companies. Rather, the list reveals the comparative strength and breadth of the companies’ brand capital.”
Below is a complete list of Top 25 in the Davis Brand Capital Top 25:
One of the main selling points of iPhone 4S over iPhone 4 is Siri apart from better graphics and processing power. Well there is no apparent reason why Siri is iPhone 4S exclusive, folks at appleinsider have done some digging.
“Audience” a third party noise reduction circuitry exist in iPhone 4/4S but the one found in iPhone 4S has a noise reduction technology that works in a similar way human brain works.
Audience’s noise reduction chip works similarly to how the human brain processes audio. By sampling audio from multiple sources (the iPhone’s main microphone and the noise-cancelling mic), the Audience chip is able to filter out background noise and deliver only the user’s voice, just like how your brain filters out noise in a crowded room to focus on a person talking to you. The newer noise reduction circuitry in the A5 chip is better at “far-field” noise reduction than the circuits in the iPhone 4. Essentially, the iPhone 4S can achieve the same or better noise reduction when held at arm’s length that the iPhone 4 gets when held directly in front of a user’s mouth.
Apple TV Mockup
Analyst Peter Misek of Jefferies & Company says that Apple HDTV “iTV” could launch near the middle of this year with a suggested price tag of $1,499 and a 42-inch display. Apple TV will run iOS, same operating system which runs on iPhone and iPad, along with Siri the artificial Intelligence assistant.
Misek also notes that the use of Siri will remove the use of traditional remote and will allow users to use their voice to control the TV. Users will be able to surf the web thought Siri or chat with their friends.
Biggest hurdle in launching Apple TV is the shortage of display panels and getting deals done with wireless TV content providers. As Apple is moving along with all this, hopefully we see a final product some time later this year.
