We are all for free speech, but when it comes to making comments about Cupertino based Apple, there are certain times when one has to wonder, is it worth the inevitable tirade?
Jim Balsillie, the current CEO of Canada based Research in Motion seems like he certainly thinks so as he stated that mobile browsing should not require the use of apps –which is obviously a remark against Apple’s heavy reliance on apps to deliver a half decent browsing experience. While we most certainly agree with Jim, and many smart phone users would also see the truth in the statement, it still feels like this is not exactly the time for this.
Balsillie maybe ballsy, but this is only fitting if he wants to have another passive-aggressive argument through media announcements against the Steve Jobs –who seems to be the frontline contender for being the most tactless big shot in the industry. We have all seen this before, with the previous Google versus Apple and the Adobe versus Apple events. And even RIM is no stranger to this –considering that Jobs practically made enemies out of every other company in the industry during the antennagate issue.
While the arguments against Apple all hold true, the fact that the Cupertino giant is still making more money than most of its competitors is a sign that even when Jobs may be in the wrong in terms of technology, his marketing genius is undoubtedly unmatched –at the very least, Apple branded products have a definite strength of marketability that no other brand can meet.
If the market actually listened to tech reviewers and industry leaders more, then maybe the RIM CEO’s remark may have a real impact. However, the fact is that none of this will ever dissuade Apple fans from buying Jobs’ creations. With the iPhone sales easily overwhelming BlackBerry’s humble figures, it will be hard to burst the Steve Jobs bubble.
Posts Tagged ‘Steve Jobs’
RIM’s CEO Talks Up a Storm
Thursday, November 18th, 2010Is Steve Jobs a Walking PR Disaster?
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
The man is known for many things, and while innovation is not one of them, Steve Jobs is pretty much renowned for his uncanny ability to tap into the best new devices that can be made and by getting the people who can come up with them. His shrewd business ideologies and the way he runs Apple can be considered as very important factors as to why the Cupertino based company has been able to rise to the giant that it is today.
Steve is also known for two more things; one is that he is master of presentations. When it comes to product unveilings, you cannot have a more efficient person than Jobs. Decked in his usual dark turtleneck sweater, the man easily holds sway over any crowd as he bedazzles them with the latest Apple gizmo.
Another thing that Steve Jobs is famous for (or rather, infamous for) is the “reality distortion field”. This may have started out as an in-joke in the tech industry, but as he talks more openly about other products and services offered by rival companies, the more we get to see how much reality changes when it is viewed from Jobs’ perspective.
While Apple is apparently not losing any money from Steve Jobs’ babbling, they certainly are not making any friends. And in an industry where the support of other companies can prove to be very important, Apple’s bridge burning CEO might need to be reigned in before he completely isolates Apple from the rest of the world.
With the current Twitter based argument with Google VP Andy Rubin, as well as RIM CEO Jim Balsillie not being too happy with what Jobs stated during a conference call regarding end of quarter sales, it is obvious that Apple is up for another bout against its two largest competitors.
Apple iPhone 4: Coming this Friday on 3 UK
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Virtual mobile network operator 3 UK has confirmed that the Apple iPhone 4 is indeed coming to their network and that the smart phone will be ready for release on Friday.
The big launch is going to see 3 UK stores opening early and plenty of people queuing up for the device. However, 3’s representatives have announced that interested buyers should call ahead in order to schedule an appointment that would allow them to reserve a handset in advance. There is no official statement from Apple or 3 UK regarding how many stocks will be available in the stores so it is important for people to book in advance as queuing up will not ensure that buyers will receive an iPhone 4.
Considering how much issues the iPhone 4’s antenna has, it is surprising how the demand for the product has not gone down. According to reports, Apple’s stocks have taken a dip after the issue of the antenna problem got out of hand and that despite the large demand for the iPhone 4, Apple needs to consider changing their production methods.
A couple of weeks back, the Cupertino based company held an emergency conference with Steve Jobs at the helm of the event. According to Jobs, the antenna issue is something that affects all mobile phones and that this is not just a problem for Apple, but for the entire industry as well. However, it has to be noted that the average smart phone will lose about 10% to 30% of signal strength when the antenna comes into contact with human touch. The iPhone 4 however, loses a solid 90% due to the way that the antenna and the handset were designed.
Apple has since stated that they will be giving out free bumper cases for iPhone 4 owners. The bumper case will prevent the antenna from being accidentally touched during phone operation.
Fixing Apple’s Image After iPhone 4 Issues Cost £114 million
Monday, July 26th, 2010
To sustain their free bumper program, Apple will be investing about 114 million GBP into manufacturing new cases to giveaway. With about 3 million users and counting, Apple’s supply is hardly enough even if they stopped selling their supply of bumper cases on their online store.
The announcement regarding the company’s budget overages to supply users with their free bumper cases came from Apple’s own Peter Oppenheimer in a talk discussing the performance of the mobile industry giant. This analysis was focused on what went on during the last three months and Oppenheimer stated that the 114 million GBP expense was not going to be included into the company’s figures for Q3.
The outspoken Chief Executive Officer over at Apple, Steve Jobs, was the one that delivered the news about the free bumper cases to their loyal customers. This was done in order to pacify any users who were angered by the controversial reception issues. Unlike other mobile phone units, the iPhone 4 had an uncanny tendency to drop calls when the lower left portion of the device comes in contact with human skin. In short, the reception issues were caused by poor planning of the iPhone 4’s antenna position. This flaw makes the unit hard to use by left handed consumers.
Upon analyzing their product’s issues, Apple found out that recalling every single iPhone 4 out in the market will net them a total of 1 billion GBP in expenses. Compared to the 114 million GBP, they will suffer more losses from the latter and thus they have opted for the most cost effective solution.
The free bumper giveaway will be available for iPhone 4 owners up to the month of September this year. What lies in store beyond that month is anyone’s guess but rumors are already surfacing about an iPhone 5 with superior reception.
Demand for Apple iPhone 4 Sustained
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
It seems that despite the relatively bad publicity Apple got at the end of last Friday’s emergency conference, people are still dazzled by the stylish new form of the iPhone 4 to realize that they are purchasing a broken smart phone –that or nobody really seems to care as owning the latest Apple handset is the in-thing for this generation.
Steve Jobs and his crew at Cupertino are still adamant that the iPhone 4 has no problems whatsoever, and if this denial is based on the sheer number of sales the iPhone 4 generates, then we doubt that they would ever change their tune anytime soon. According to Apple’s chief of operations, retailers are still calling in constantly in order to acquire more units of the latest Apple smart phone. At this point, the company is literally selling every handset that they can produce.
Return rates are still a major statistic that Apple loves to point out; chief of operations Tim Cook parrots Jobs’ statements regarding the lowered return rates for the iPhone 4 when it comes to the antenna issues. They insist that there were more 3G units that were returned. While it is easy to believe this data, the lower return rates do not immediately imply customer satisfaction. Not all dissatisfied iPhone 4 owners are willing to refund their smart phones.
In a reaction to Steve Jobs’ generalizing statements and naming of specific handsets during the conference, various mobile phone makers have made public reactions. Research in Motion was the first to give a reaction, followed by Samsung over the weekend and HTC at the start of the week. Nokia and Motorola, despite not being named directly in the conference, have also expressed that their handsets do not suffer from the same antenna issues as the Apple iPhone 4.
HTC Calls Foul on Apple’s Presentation
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
Steve Jobs singled out three mobile phone makers last Friday night during the emergency Apple press conference. He was discussing the antenna and claimed that the problem is a challenge for the whole industry and that other mobile phones are also suffering from the same problems.
However, that is far from the truth. Samsung and Research in Motion have already made their official statements regarding the issue after their handsets were included in the Apple presentation (the Samsung Omnia 2 and the BlackBerry Bold 9700). Now, the last of the three companies mentioned in the event, HTC, has also made a statement regarding the issue.
The Taiwan based manufacturer’s chief financial officer spoke to the Wall Street Journal and indicated that their company does not agree with Steve Jobs. According to HTC CFO Hui-Meng Cheng, “The reception problems are certainly not common among smart phones, (Apple) apparently didn’t give operators enough time to test the phone.”
Which is actually quite true, after all, the iPhone 4 is the only mobile phone that requires a casing to be used properly. Even Apple’s older handsets do not suffer from the same issues –which basically show that all the statistics that Jobs presented on stage are not worth listening to.
Of course, the real issue here is that in a single night, Steve Jobs did not only manage to bring in the ire and disapproval of so many Apple iPhone 4 owners, but also managed to get on the bad side of several industry partners. Motorola and Nokia, despite not being mentioned in the conference, also voiced their disapproval of the notion that “all phones are equal”.
In the end, the conference did nothing but announce that Apple is giving out free cases. The antenna issue remains unsolved and industry has more reason to hate Apple even more.
Steve Jobs: Giving Out Free iPhone Cases
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
The announcement that Apple has given in the emergency press conference was that Apple would be giving out free cases to all iPhone 4 owners. It has not been disclosed as to how the cases will be distributed, though one of the slides clearly indicated that it can be shipped.
According to Jobs, all buyers of the iPhone Bumper will be refunded (though it was not said that the refund would be full) and that they would not be able to produce ‘enough Bumpers’ which means that the cases are not going to be the nice looking iPhone Bumpers that are being sold on the online store. At this point, any details on what the free cases would be are speculations.
Of course, Apple has once again avoided the issue of admitting that the iPhone 4’s antenna has real problems. Steve Jobs has been adamant in stating that there is no Applegate and the issue also exists in other handsets as well. Naturally, that last bit did not go too well with other mobile phone manufacturers –particularly RIM, given that the Blackberry Bold 9700 was used as an example of this. RIM have released an official statement regarding the issue.
They stated that their phones have no problems like the iPhone 4 at all, and a BlackBerry handset does not require the use of a case to ensure that calls are not dropped.
Jobs also stated that Apple does not rely on “a wall of PR” to handle problems which is why they take things on “personal level”. He has failed to see that it is for the benefit of Apple that they need a wall of PR protecting the public and companies in the industry from Apple’s aggressive and often offensive actions.
Anyway, going back to the free cases, it is rather odd that it has taken Apple over three weeks to come out with this solution. After all, most of the existing users have been posting it on various boards, forums and Tweets –as well as on some official Apple channels.
Apple Year is Full of Lawsuits
Monday, June 28th, 2010
While it may seem like a running gag, there is nothing funny about the many legal mishaps that Apple has been trudging into this year. The Cupertino based company released the latest version of the iPhone, the iPhone 4, recently, but their aggressive attitude is giving Steve Jobs and his team plenty of enemies in the industry.
The year started with a large 20 patent lawsuit against HTC filed by Apple. While the case has yet to push through, the move has forced a serious reaction from the Taiwanese manufacturer who has proceeded to make plans to defend their case and also file their own lawsuit against Apple. Google has publicly declared that they would stand behind HTC as an industry partner. Weeks later, HTC also signed an agreement with Microsoft in order to use unspecified patented technology.
The last big move from HTC was filing a 5 patent lawsuit against Apple and requesting the ITC to hold the shipment of Apple products into the US until the investigations have been cleared. While the request did not push through, the ITC did start making investigations into Apple.
Now, it seems that Apple is back on the aggressive side of the fence as they are filing a new patent infringement lawsuit against HTC. The new case settles only on one patented technology, but it appears that Apple seems intent on bringing HTC to court.
Apple and HTC are not the only companies doing a legal dance. Nokia and Apple have been battling it out legally last year and an early lawsuit from Nokia shows that they have not backed down from the previous bouts of lawsuits and counter lawsuits.
Another Taiwan based company; Elan Microelectronics has also made a patent infringement case against Apple regarding the use of multi touch screen technology. Elan has already won a case against Synaptics regarding similar hardware patent concerns.
Before the WWDC: Last Look at iPhone Rumors
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010
There is plenty of excitement in the air today as the hours count down to Steve Job’s big announcement at the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) that will be held in California. According to reports, the big announcement will include the unveiling of the new next generation iPhone.
First on the list is the device’s new name. According to many reports, the next handset will be dubbed as the iPhone HD –which actually brings a sense of being a next generation device as HD video is now the new standard video format. The other name that many people have associated with the device was 4G which stood for the new 4G network and the fact that the handset is basically a fourth generation smart phone.
Interestingly, one of the more prevailing rumors that came with the announcement of the new iPhone was the statement that the device would have a touch sensitive casing. The idea is interesting, allowing users to use the case a touch pad, but somehow, the idea never made it to the actual device. As to whether this feature was officially considered or not remains to be known, but it would have been interesting controlling your phone by just tapping on the case.
The other rumor that came along with the announcement of a touch sensitive case was that the battery would be removable. Now this is actually a pipe dream for many iPhone fans, as battery life has long been an issue that Apple has not been able to remedy –their penchant for closed devices forbade users from actually carrying a spare battery when travelling.
As much as the concept sounded great –we all want it anyway, the fact of the matter is that Apple loves to have their handsets closed, and that is how the new iPhone will be.
Features to Look Forward to: Apple iPhone 4G
Monday, June 7th, 2010
We all love the new specs for the upcoming Apple iPhone 4G. While we certainly doubt that it will still be as successful as the previous iPhone, it certainly looks like it can do pretty well to last as Apple’s top device until the end of the year.
Speaking of the iPhone 4G, here is a quick list of all the new things that users can expect to look forward to.
First up is a better touch screen display. While it will still be the same size and the standard multi touch capacitive touch screen setup, it has been rumored that the phone will be using some impressive OLED screen technology that will give the new smart phone a resolution at least twice as large as the previous.
Images of the upcoming iPhone 4G are also hinting at what might be a better camera in the back. We have already confirmed that the device will indeed be getting a front facing secondary camera for voice chat applications (could we possibly see Chatroulette in the future?) and from the large lens on the back, we can only assume that this handset will at least pack a 5 MP snapper and hopefully have 720p HD video recording as well.
The battery power is one factor that many people want to hear about and so do we. If the iPad’s performance is to be an indicator of things to come, then we might just get to see a pretty decent battery for the 4G. Hopefully, the new iPhone will no longer have to be charged on an everyday basis because of its lack of better power management features.
The rest of the features will be officially announced by Steve Jobs himself –if the rumors that he will indeed be announcing the new handset at the upcoming WWDC are true.