Because life is too short to do Windows.
HP decided it wanted to be a player in the mobile handheld space, and they made a smart acquisition.
From the Press Release:
Palm’s current chairman and CEO, Jon Rubinstein, is expected to remain with the company.
I bet he sticks around about 3 months.
AT&T has posted a PDF detailing the terms/conditions of 3G data service for the iPad 3G.
Category: News
Many of you will remember years ago when Microsoft was so afraid of Linux, it threatened to sue any company that used it with patent infringement. These threats resulted in many companies, including Novell, to set up cross-licensing agreements with Microsoft. These agreements were basically agreements that said if “you license this technology from Microsoft, we won’t sue you for patent infringement”.
Down late in the mobile game, Microsoft is going back to that play, now with Android as the target. And can you blame them? It worked the last time, and they were in a position of dominance with Windows versus Linux. In the mobile space, they are getting creamed by the iPhone and Android. And Microsoft’s answer to both those threats won’t be out until the 4th quarter of this year.
So Microsoft has exerted patent pressure on it’s cheating lover, HTC. HTC was once the top producer of smart phones running the Microsoft Mobile OS. Now, they are one of the top producers of Android phones.
Under this “agreement”, Microsoft will receive royalties from HTC for using the Android OS on their phones. Think about that for a second. Android is open source. Google doesn’t require any licensing fees or royalties when a company uses Android. Of course, Google is usually the default search provider on these devices, and receives most of its compensation from that service. But the precedent here is huge. HTC now pays Microsoft for the privelege of using Google’s operating system on it’s phones.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I can’t believe that Google will let this go unanswered. Android has just started to pick up steam in the mobile arena, and this precedent could turn off a lot of hardware manufacturers from going the Android route on their products.
Of course, the big winner here is Apple. Having it’s two other rivals fighting each other means that they aren’t directing their resources at fighting Apple.
Category: News
WWDC has been finally announced. June 7th – June 11th @ the Moscone West. With only 40 days from announcement to event, there isn’t much time for developers to make arrangements for this years event.
This year Apple is offering five technology tracks:
There’s an expectation that Apple will debut the next iPhone at WWDC, but I wouldn’t bank on it. Apple has an event scheduled for late june at Yerba Buena Gardens, and that venue/date will probably serve as the launch event.
The more concerning issue is the lack of Mac focus at this years event. The Mac is shut out of the Apple Design Awards, and there aren’t many conferences that are Mac specific this year. The question is whether this is a one year fluke, since Mac OS X 10.7 is nowhere near being ready to preview, or is this the start of Apple’s planned Mac desktop obsolescence?
Slideshow from Drew Houston, CEO of Dropbox, on the lessons they learned as they ramped up their service.
If you aren’t using Dropbox, you are really missing out on an amazing service. Everything that MobileMe gets wrong, Dropbox gets right.
Category: News
And in other news, Obama already contemplating new taxes.
Category: News
From the London Evening Standard:
“A deal would make a lot of sense for Apple,” said one trader. “That way, they could stop ARM’s technology from ending up in everyone else’s computers and gadgets.” Traders reckon a bid would come in at around 400p a share, valuing ARM at more than £5.2 billion.
Apart from driving their competitors in to the arms of Intel for mobile chips, what does this large purchase get Apple that they don’t already have?
I don’t see it happening. If you ask me, Apple is hoarding it’s money for something bigger than an ARM purchase. I don’t know what that might be, hell – I don’t think Apple even knows what that might be yet, but having money on hand gives them lots of options.
Category: News
Crunchgear:
Apple is flirting with AMD to make Intel and NVIDIA jealous. And when it meets with them next time, Apple will cite all the sweet nothings and sexy promises AMD made. After all, AMD does have a compelling platform and it suits Apple’s apparent new strategy quite well; even if AMD knows Apple is using them as a tool to inflame someone across the room, it’s a good chance to get a word in.
Apple would be crazy not to have meetings with AMD. I don’t think AMD offers Apple anything right now other than leverage against Intel in pricing negotiations. Let’s be honest: AMD’s current CPU offerings aren’t setting the world on fire. However, I wouldn’t be totally shocked if Apple decided to use AMD CPU’s in their low cost offerings – the Mac mini and the Macbook.
I’d still file that under “highly unlikely” at this point. Apple likes that even their entry level products are considered premium products, and using AMD CPUs would somewhat undercut that point.
Category: News
Boy Genius Report:
we’ve confirmed with multiple AT&T sources that the carrier has now put a block on employees taking vacations in June. The only time AT&T does a straight block like this is for iPhone launches.
Count me as excited. I’ve been limping along with an iPhone 3G that just seems way to pokey now under iPhone OS 3. The sooner the new phone launches, the better.
Category: News
As someone who has emailed him and gotten a response, I count this as a good thing.
Category: News
Holy shit. http://bit.ly/aqDnBw
yesterday
Coda Notes - http://zbl.me/bs
2 days ago
Safari 5.01 - http://zbl.me/br
2 days ago
Firefox 4 is shaping up to be a great release. I might be tempted to switch.
2 days ago
Magic Trackpad - http://zbl.me/bq
2 days ago
So, no price on the 27' LED Cinema Display? Not seeing it in the store, and the product page just says 'coming soon'.
3 days ago
So, looks like today's updates are all about hardware. No iWork or iLife upgrades.
3 days ago
OK - so you can order the new iMac with a Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse, but not in place of the Magic Mouse? Weak.
3 days ago
The Apple Magic Trackpad is a reality: http://bit.ly/aDl4pJ
3 days ago
A user of Macs since they had silly names like Performa and Centris, Theodore Lee is a techie who prides himself on his vast knowledge of all things Apple. OS X Factor was started in 2001 (originally as macosxcentric), and continues to churn out tips, tutorials, reviews and commentary on the tech sector.
WWDC is fast approaching, and I'll be attending my first conference, courtesy of the Apple Student Developer Scholarship program...
Waterfall Software (makers of Wallet, the best password storage utility available), are soliciting beta testers for a new application they have developed...
Steve Jobs will once again be passing on the Apple Expo. Last year the keynote was presented by Apple VP Phil Schiller. This year, however, the keynote has been canceled all together. Steve Jobs will still apparently be attending the Expo, but we are unable to confirm this...