Great article from the NY Times:
Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option. One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight.
A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day.
The article skirts some of the main reasons why types of jobs aren’t coming back” Specifically, no mention is made of the high taxes companies pay in the US (which results in these jobs being filled overseas by ‘contractors’, whom Apple is not liable for).
Jobs is probably right that these jobs are never coming back to the U.S. though. And that scares the hell out of me. One day soon, the Asian companies that produce the hardware will figure out how to produce software that is good enough, and once that happens, the American companies who have used these Asian manufacturing companies will find themselves cut out of the chain, and competing with their manufacturers, who will be able to seriously undercut them.
Category: iPhone,News,Steve Jobs
Vaporware no more! As promised, an alpha version of TextMate 2 has been released.
From Macromates:
It’s important to stress though that being an alpha release; it is not complete. It has reached a point where it may suit some early adopters and provide some relief to those who have been questioning TextMate’s future. For the time being, the alpha builds are only for people who already have a TextMate license and an Intel Mac.
There is some good stuff in this update, although for most people, it is not ready for prime time yet. Still, it looks like the text editor category for Mac OS X is about to have a renaissance with Coda 2, Espresso 2, Chocolate, Sublime Text 2, and now, TextMate 2.
Category: News
Use TextMate, but love the default color theme for Coda? If so, this theme is for you. Enjoy.
Download Coda theme for TextMate
Category: News
The WSJ has a story on Apple’s cash reserves, which are now nearly $66 billion dollars, and puts forth the question:
what are your ideas for what Apple should do with its cash?
Apple has stated publicly that it is hoarding it’s cash so that when the opportunity arises, it can afford to make a big purchase. There aren’t many companies Apple couldn’t buy right now with that cash pile, so let’s look at a few possibilities.
Adobe
An Adobe purchase would be a coup for Apple. Many of Adobe’s products align with Apple’s priorities. Adobe has some very smart people working for them, but lately it seems these smart people have been out muscled by the suits. An Apple purchase and injection of Apple culture could do a lot to restore Adobe to it’s hey day of being a company that people actually champion, instead of actively lambast.
Disney
Steve Jobs sits on their board. They bought his other company, PIxar, a few years ago. They are a content juggernaut. They encompass ABC, ESPN, DisneyTV, and a couple of movie studios. They epitomize many of the same ideals that Apple does in customer experience. Could Apple be hoarding its money to purchase the house that Mickey built?
A Disney purchase would give Apple preferred access to a large amount of content from radio, TV, and movies. It would give Apple access to advertise in all 11 of Disney’s theme parks and in front of the 120 million people who visit them each year.
That said, Disney is an entertainment company, and Apple is a technology company. The last time an entertainment company (Time Warner) merged with a technology company (AOL), the results weren’t pretty.
Sprint
Perenial 3rd place US cellphone carrier Sprint hasn’t been having that great of a time lately. Purchasing Spring would enable Apple to really own the whole cellphone widget in the US. Of course, it would also create problems with the other US carriers, so I doubt this would ever happen.
Samsung
Purchasing Samsung would give Apple ownership of the company that produces many of it’s parts – LCDs, SSDs, CPUs and more. Samsung is also a competitor in the mobile phone market. So this acquisition would give Apple better access to it’s component supplier, and kill a competitor in the mobile space.
Microsoft
So this acquisition doesn’t net Apple much in the way of technology it can use. But it does vanquish a competitor in the desktop, mobile and online space. Plus, it gives Steve Jobs the ability to finally declare victory over his longtime rival. Of course, there’s no chance that Apple would buy Microsoft, but that doesn’t mean we can’t fantasize about what would happen if they did.
Apple is a big company, but many of it’s divisions are run like startups. I’m sure part of the hesitation in making a mammoth purchase is that it would fundamentally transform the way Apple would operate, and I’m betting Steve Jobs and the upper management team are reluctant to mess with their formula for success right now.
Category: News
IDC claims that Windows Mobile will overtake iOS and become the #2 smartphone platform in 2015.
“By 2015, IDC expects Windows Phone to be number 2 operating system worldwide behind Android.”
Anything is possible, and of course, with IDC using the smartphone label, they discounting all the iPod Touches and iPads in the mobile space. But still, they have Windows Mobile taking a nearly 21% market share in 2015. Nokia won’t even have Windows Phones on the market until 2012. The first batches of Windows phones have been heavily discounted because they aren’t selling well, and Microsoft is desperate to get product out there, even at a loss. So things aren’t exactly looking rosy for the guys in Redmond at the moment.
Category: News
$39 billion acquisition to bolster AT&T’s network offering and add about 46.5 million users to the AT&T family. Assuming of course that this passes regulatory hurdles, which could be difficult, giving that this gives AT&T an effective monopoly on GSM networks in the United States.
Category: News
There’s little left to say about Steve jobs 3rd medical leave from Apple. There’s no point in speculating about what the cause is. All we need to know is that Steve’s health is in danger, and he needs a leave of absence to take care of the issue.
Apple is in capable hands during his absence. I’m sure Steve’s editorial control over products/services is still in effect, even during his absence.
Here’s hoping that absence is brief and temporary.
Get well Steve.
Category: News,Opinion,Steve Jobs
Matt Gemmell gives us a great video walk-through of Apple’s new $69 Magic Trackpad.
Category: News
Well, at least we now know how AT&T plans to fix it’s network woes…by limiting the amount of data iPhone users can use.
From the press release:
- DataPlus. Provides 200 megabytes (MB) of data – for example, enough to send/receive 1,000 emails (no attachments), plus send/receive 150 emails with attachments, plus view 400 Web pages, plus post 50 photos on social media sites, plus watch 20 minutes of streaming video – for just $15 per month.** This plan, which can save customers up to 50 percent off their wireless data charges, is designed for people who primarily like to surf the web, send email and use social networking apps. If customers exceed 200 MB in a monthly billing cycle, they will receive an additional 200 MB of data usage for $15 for use in the cycle. Currently, 65 percent of AT&T smartphone customers use less than 200 MB of data per month on average.
- DataPro. Provides 2 gigabytes (GB) of data – for example, enough to send/receive 10,000 emails (no attachments), plus send/receive 1,500 emails with attachments, plus view 4,000 Web pages, plus post 500 photos to social media sites, plus watch 200 minutes of streaming video – for $25 per month.** Should a customer exceed 2 GB during a billing cycle, they will receive an additional 1 GB of data for $10 for use in the cycle. Currently, 98 percent of AT&T smartphone customers use less than 2 GB of data a month on average.
- Tethering. Smartphone customers – including iPhone customers – who choose the DataPro plan have the option to add tethering for an additional $20 per month. Tethering lets customers use their smartphones as a modem to provide a broadband connection for laptop computers, netbooks or other computing devices. Tethering for iPhones will be available when Apple releases iPhone OS 4 this summer.
Additionally, iPhone plans will be converted from $30 all you can consume to $25 2GB plans.
Category: iPhone,News
Austrailian iPhone OS developers Shifty Jelly have found their app MyFrame rejected by Apple, after it was previously approved 3 times. The reason seems to be it’s Dashboard like functionality, giving it a “desktop” like feel.
From their blog:
Just yesterday the company that I work for (Groundhog Software) got a phone call from Apple, telling us that our photo frame application for the iPad My Frame was to be removed from the Apple App Store. They refused to be pinned down to an exact reason, simply stating that they were doing a cull of any applications that presented widgets to the user. All the guy on the phone would say is how much he liked our application, and how sorry he was, but there was nothing he could do. All we got out of him was that Apple no longer liked ‘widgets’ and wanted all widget apps removed. They refused to say what (if anything) we could remove from our application, or even who we could discuss this with.
An email sent to Steve Jobs ilicited this reply:
We are not allowing apps that create their own desktops. Sorry.
Sent from my iPad
It’s crappy behavior like this that poisions the well of happy, excited developers. Right now, the biggest thing driving developers to the Android platform is Apple itself. I can fully appreciate Apple wanting to prevent apps from duplicating functionality that Apple intends to provide in their operating systems, but they should have to abide by their own playbook, and when giving a developer a red card, they should only be able to do so when they can cite a rule that has been broken.
If Apple is working on adding Dashboard like functionality to the iPad, they should put rules specifically prohibiting such apps in their documentation. Additionally, they should give the developers a clear, concise path to getting their app approved. And for apps that are already in the app store, they should give the developer a grace period before removing the app completely from the store. Something like two weeks would probably be sufficient.
It’s behavior like this that has me pulling for Android, and hoping that Apple is taught a lesson sooner rather than later.
Category: News
