2014 - Downturn for Apple?

Apple have had it all their own way for the last seven years or so, and justifiably so given they gave the mobile phone market a massive kick in the rear and created the tablet market.  And did they dominate? You bet.

Then along came Google with Android, playing a long game on the apps and the OS.  Now they have the lion's share of the mobile phone market if not the revenue.  Apple have maintained their traditional pricing structure, positioning themselves as the premium product and for a while that was certainly true.  However their reputation is wearing thin, their products are not as diverse as the competition and critically they are failing to win market share in developing regions.

While mobile phone growth has remained steady in the western markets the effects of the credit crunch on disposable income has slowed down discretionary spending, although the queues around the Apple stores seem to belie this.  Android phones are seen as more versatile in the developing regions - it has a similar number of apps to Apple now and there is a wide variety of products at virtually every price point available.

Google aren't getting it all their own way, though.  In these critical markets Microsoft are seeing major growth.  They're late to the party, but in these regions they're catching up. Their alliance with Nokia means that there are some competitive phones in the developing regions and Microsoft are expected to see serious growth and market share in 2014.  They'll not get anywhere Android, but they could equal or better Apple worldwide.  Apple may have a certain cache with discerning customers, but their product line is looking limited and not at all diverse.  If you want a larger screen, better consider an iPad mini, because the mobile phones are all pretty much the size they were when they were launched many years ago.

But it is in the app sales that the war will really hot up.  Google are recompensing app developers pretty much the same the same amount as Apple do, an area they haven't previously competed well in.  Given the larger market share of Android this may affect development choices, which have traditionally favoured Apple.  Microsoft's app store, although only one fifth of the size of Apple's and Android's, is growing at a faster rate than either, possibly through developers cashing in on existing code as they get used to Windows 8 programming requirements.

Apple may have to consider expanding its range of products to retain its market share in both hardware and apps, but due to its long established principle of only developing in-house it will struggle to compete with the range of Android and Windows 8 mobile phones coming out.  Consequently it will have to change its model or see itself side-lined in 2014.

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Is Apple TV The One To Watch?

It can't have slipped past too many people that Apple have been making announcements over the last day or two.  Much of the news has been substantially reported, or leaked as I like to think of it, for some time now.

For instance it has been an open secret that Apple were going to tidy up the iOS interface, removing all the fussy details and making the whole experience cleaner.  I suspect that they've been planning this longer than the six months or so that they've had us believe it was being worked on, quite probably it has been a longer term aim to pull the interface back to Apple core values for some time and perhaps the muddle iOS 6 found itself in was a catalyst for the final push.  Or maybe it was just pure coincidence.  I'll wait for the biography, it matters not.

But one revelation that didn't get too much notice in the reports I read was around Apple TV, probably because Apple didn't reveal too much about it.  Maybe they haven't worked out exactly what it is they want to achieve, so are waiting for the pundits to throw in their two-pennyworth first so that they can cherry pick the better ideas.  Outrageous, nobody should fall for that ruse, but here goes anyway.

Apple TV has been a long term project in Apple, something Jobs talked about but without any meat on the bones.  I think it was originally a hardware project, a device that let you watch TV on a superlative screen with an interface that was easy to navigate.  Well time has moved on and most screens are pretty good these days.  Navigation can be a black art on some TVs, so I guess there is mileage in that old Apple magic there.

But TV has changed radically over the last few years.  The dependency on the major network schedules has been eroded to triviality, the impact on the viewing figures changing the way producers finance their productions.  One thing is certain, the golden age of TV advertising as we know it has disappeared.  Most of us don't watch a lot of TV live unless there's a compelling reason - a major sporting event, breaking news, reality TV.  I'm guessing about the last one as that's what I hear from others - I've never understood how locking a bunch of morons in a house for a month on end, or gearing up a crowd of no-nothing egotists to compete to run make believe businesses is classified as 'reality'.  The only 'reality' TV I think should continue is 'I'm a celebrity, get me out of here' for the simple reason that I suspect one season Ant and Dec will march the so called celebrities into the jungle and then the TV crews will abandon them all.  We can hope, send me an email when that happens because if I'm watching TV at all it'll be on DVR.

DVR is an almost acceptable halfway house, where we can record hundreds of hours of programmes we might possibly want to watch in the future.  It's all kidology, of course.  Most we'll decide against or the hard drives will corrupt before we get anywhere near the bottom of the ever expanding lists of programmes we have recorded.  I have a suggestion for using the DVR - each time you record a programme put a pound or a dollar in a jar as if you are paying for the right to record the programme. IOUs are acceptable as long as you pay them up with interest on payday.  Take a note out when you watch a recorded programme.  Now you're putting a monetary value on the record button you might be a bit more surgical.

But we're not going to be using DVRs for much longer, because it's so inefficient unless you haven't got access to broadband, then it's indispensable.  But if you have access and if someone smart comes up with a way to select programming as and when you feel like it, for a subscription fee, then that's what you'll use.  We're nearly there now with Lovefilm and Netflix vying for our wallets, with Amazon funding TV show productions as well, but somehow it isn't quite right.   Of course Lovefilm have played a long game, building up the customer base and getting the distribution spot on.  Now that Amazon control Lovefilm that end will only improve further, but as always it's all about market share with Amazon and somehow that always leaves me a little uncomfortable.

Netflix are playing catch up, at least this side of the pond, but they do provide a good service.  However I don't see them surviving an extended war against Amazon, letting alone winning.  But pitch someone like Apple into the fray and you've got a different battle, one that Amazon will find challenging.  Apple will think the process out carefully, probably have a long time since, and if Apple TV is a subscription internet streaming service then they will challenge Amazon directly.  There may be a hardware element, but I don't think we're going to see an Apple TV set anytime soon, if at all. 

There's good reasons to think this, apart from the blindingly obvious that there are plenty of perfectly good TV sets out there and Apple can't just create a new broadcast standard to differentiate itself.  Instead it would have either produce a niche, US product, not really their global vision these days, or they'll have to consider the NTSC, PAL, SECAM muddle and include HD with 3D.  Not your standard Steve Jobs rationalised product range at all.  Apart from teaming up with a major TV manufacturer to lend their Apple vision to the TV interface to augment their project I can't really see Apple getting too close to TV manufacturing.  Unless they come up with a true internet TV that is independent of the various standards.  Now that could work.

However, in the meantime, a streaming service that will leverage iPad capabilities but will still run on standard TVs, perhaps through an adaptor, sounds like an Apple product.  If you're watching TV, the watch Apple.  Because you will soon.

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Microsoft to Discount RT OS

Microsoft are in the game for the long run, that's for sure.  In fact anyone who has watched Microsoft over the years will realise that the one thing they do really well is the long game.  I guess Alpha testing is in the other camp seeing as they always leave the really tricky testing to the likes of you and me.

Historically they've tended to be a one product company - Windows 95 replaced Windows 3.1.1, ME unfortunately replaced Windows 95.  Somewhere along the way Vista came and went, thank goodness and Windows 7 replaced it.  XP, still used by many, was officially dumped by Vista and that has to be the cruellest fate for an OS ever.  Then about a year ago Microsoft did something that they've not tried before, they launched two operating systems simultaneously, or as near as dammit. 

They launched Windows 8 and Windows RT, which is a cut down version of Windows 8.  In fact, it's not the Windows 8 functionality that's the cut down part, it's the compatibility with Windows 7 that's missing.  And on the whole Windows 7 is still a major player in the PC world - let's face it, unlike Vista, it ain't broke.

But that's not to say you shouldn't be looking at Windows 8, if you've got a smart screen enabled PC.  Probably you don't have many right now, but I'm guessing that we're not going to be able to buy anything but in the next few years, so as your old laptops and desktops fall by the wayside, or your monitors spontaneously fry, you'll be buying smart screen replacements and the logic of Windows 8 will become more obvious.

In the meantime Microsoft want to establish Windows 8 with us all - that static desktop image is so last year - and they think that RT, cut down version that it is, is the way to do it.

I'm using RT right now, on my Microsoft Surface RT, and it's working for me.  But then again my range of software requirements are fairly minimal - I use Word and Excel, Internet Explorer, I search for stuff using Bing and Google, I use webmail and I use the various tools that Microsoft provide like calendar, Bing Money, Weather and a few items I've downloaded for free from the Windows App store.  Oh, and I'm loving the Xbox music app to stream free music.

Now Microsoft want to push RT out further.  It's designed to run on mobile phone type processors using ARM technology and they think that some of the seven inch tablets appearing on the scene should be using RT.  I agree, especially if they throw in the Microsoft Word and Excel options because that's something nobody can compete with and takes tablet computing into grown up territory.

They're not winning the battle at the moment - that would be Apple iOS and Android, but my guess is that any device capable of running Android can be reconfigured to host RT fairly easily, although a dual boot option might be one for the techies out there.  The fact is that the next big sales period is in the third quarter, with the Holidays being the big time for deciding what is going to lead the pack.  Did I mention Microsoft are in this for the long haul?

I expect that RT will be pushed with a little help from Microsoft discounting the OS, probably big time.  Because people who have RT on their tablet are more likely to want Windows 8 on their laptop and, because Microsoft have thought this through, on their mobile phone too.

Once RT becomes a viable alternative to Android we may see some really dirty competition starting in the tablet market.  And that, for me, is a good thing.

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Tablets Set to Reverse PC Decline

The sale of PCs has been sliding for a few years, pretty much in parallel with the rise of the iPad.  It makes sense, given the current economic situation that seems reasonable - there's only so much cash sloshing around so a choice to buy one device limits the options for another.  But more than that, the iPad showed that there are other ways of computing.

The iPad came with an interface that was intuitive, that stretched and slid items around the screen without the need for a mouse.  All you needed was a finger or two, and consequently the computer buying public showed two of them to the PC industry.  Year on year, since the iPad appeared on the scene, PC sales have  declined.

To be fair to Apple, or in fact to Steve Jobs, they pulled a blinder with the iPad and the iPod before it.  I can only imagine the look of horror on the boardroom faces when Steve walked in, sold them the concept of the iPod and then said that anyone would be allowed to develop apps for the device.  Not only that, although nobody was allowed to make a device that could run iOS, anybody could build under license devices that connected to the new hardware.  He wrapped the apps up in the iTunes store, making  millions for Apple on the way while controlling the quality and by letting you, me and the guy down the road make docks for the iPads he ensured that Apple had a wide variety of interfaces for the iPad that Apple didn't have to design or worry about selling well.  Genius.

The only problem is that the iPad, smart that it is, attractive and cool too, isn't a business tool.  When it arrived it was a solution looking for a problem, and quickly it found them.  Apps sprung up left, right and centre, our music management issues - the ones we'd largely been oblivious to previously, was solved by iTunes.  Book management was pretty well sorted too, although Amazon probably thought they'd addressed that particular issue already.  The ability to catapult cartoon birds through virtual air was sorted quickly enough and in no time at all every possible permutation of Maj Jongg, Sudoko and other games for the traveller and individuals short on friends appeared too.  But no true business applications.

Which is a bit of a surprise when you stop and think of it, after all, Apple make some pretty well respected business machines.  They may not have a track record of designing business software - they've traditionally bought that in, although anyone remembering the arguments between Apple and Microsoft initially over Microsoft Office will recall it wasn't always easy.  But they have carved a perfect niche in desktop publishing and arty graphical work over the years.  My guess - and it is a guess, I'm no expert in graphical arts - is that PCs can do pretty much the same task as a Mac can now, for a fraction of the price, but the reputation in the publishing industry resists tarnishing the network with anything not a Macintosh.

But Microsoft have recognised that the humble tablet needs a purpose, have spotted a gap, and have designed Windows 8 to deal with it.  I'm sure, like all previous Microsoft operating systems it will prove to be an advanced beta version until at least the second release version - they do have a habit of letting us normal users shake down their software - but it does allow Microsoft Office applications to run on it.

And they have taken a leaf out of Apple's book, but to be fair I think Apple borrowed it from Microsoft initially.  Although they are manufacturing their own tablets for this software, they're really keen on others doing the hard work - the HPs, Dell, Samsungs of this planet.  That way they are ensuring that Windows 8 will appear in a myriad of forms, colours, features and price points that MIcrosoft really doesn't have to worry about too much.  Of course, they will want them all to succeed, because inside every successful Windows 8 tablet is, well, Windows 8.

So it isn't a surprise to find that analysts believe that PC sales are going to grow rapidly over the next two to three years.  Don't expect much action in the desktop sales - their decline will continue sharply except for those that have touchscreen monitors connected, maybe.  Laptops with touch screens are going to see a real increase in sales and Windows 8 tablets are set to lead the attack.  Especially as the no-name manufacturers in China are now gearing up their low cost Windows tablets for general sale.  The growth in mobile PC sales is forecast to grow from 360 million devices last year to over 760 million devices by 2017.

I'll be surprised if Apple take this lying down - once we start buying tablets that can do our office tasks as well as flick birds with a temperament problem skywards in meaningful numbers there will be less of an imperative to spend what is left of out finite fiscal resources on a replacement iPad, no matter how sexily it is dressed up.  So I'm expecting the next generation but one iPad to start looking like a business tool.  It may even be the next generation - I understand the iOS is undergoing a massive overhaul, being simplified and made less fussy.  Perhaps that's to make the transition to a real business machine easier.  At least Apple have the heritage to do this.  I'm not sure if Google have thought it through.

So before you buy your next tablet computer ask yourself what you'd really like to do with it.  If the answer genuineness is surf the web, send emails, watch you tube, play music and games, then maybe the iPad is for you.  But if you want to do more, then look further afield, Windows 8 devices might just be what you are waiting for.

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Where to get eBooks

Well, first of all, Merry Christmas.  If you've stumbled across this post on Christmas Day then it's probable that you've been given an eReader or maybe a tablet computer as a present and want to get into the eBook world.

For those of you not convinced that eBooks are a substitute for the printed variety then, for what it's worth, here is my view as a person who has been reading eBooks on a variety of devices for the last couple of years.  So, OK I'm a little bit biased as I sell my own novels as eBooks, but I'm also a consumer of the genre.  You'll have to persevere and try the eBooks out for yourself before you're fully convinced, but in my experience every person who has insisted that they didn't rate reading eBooks over print books had, with one exception, never tried reading eBooks.  Of those who have subsequently tried the eBook thing, they love it.  Sure, there's a tactile element to print books, as well as allergy inducing paper particles, but you try lugging a couple of dozen of books around with you all day long and you'll soon realise there are disadvantages to the paper versions.

But you're reading this because you've opened a package and found a Kindle or a Kobo, maybe a Nook, possibly a Google Nexus 7 or even an Apple iPad in one of the two variant sizes.  Where do you go next?

Well, if the device you have unwrapped is a dedicated eReading device then you are largely limited to the bookstore supporting it for your books - that is, for Amazon Kindle devices look at your local Amazon eStore for books, for Barnes & Noble Nook devices, the B & N store that serves your region and so on.  There is one other legitimate route for you (and the implication that there are illegitimate routes is intended - books can be obtained over the internet through eBay and other sales channels that imply they are free but many of them are illegal copies).  The legitimate alternative is  Smashwords - a US company that lets authors self publish through them non-exclusively and acts as an aggregator, a company that distributes those books to B&N, Kobo, Apple etc.  Not every book on Smashwords is distributed to the other bookstores - that's down to the author choosing whether or not to and then jumping though some technical hoops if they do choose to.  Anyway, Smashwords provides dedicated eReader owners with an alternative source of eBooks.  Downsides are that you'll have to download the correct format (Smashwords makes that very easy for you) onto your computer.  From there you'll have to drag the file onto your eReader by connecting it via a USB cable.  It may sound techno, but it isn't that hard to do.  The other downside to Smashwords  is that it does seem to attract a significant number of 'adult' books, some only a few thousand words long which technically makes them an essay.  You should be able to filter these books out if they're not your bag and by default Smashwords signs you up with a 'prude filter' engaged.

If you have just unwrapped a tablet computer and want to use it for reading eBooks, then your options are better than ever.  Sure, you can use the product store associated with the tablet, if it has one, such as the Apple iBookstore or Amazon store for the Kindle Fire family, as well as the Smashwords option - by the way, if you buy books for an iPad through them then the book pops into the iBookshelf as if it came from Apple.

But the better news is that pretty much all the major eBook sellers have their own eReading apps that you can download for free onto your tablet.  So, if you have just opened a Google Nexus you can download the Amazon Kindle app or the B&N app for it. Same goes for your Apple iPad and any other tablet computer. The one bookstore that doesn't seem to  let you do this is the Apple bookstore - if you don't have an Apple device you don't get access to their bookstore.So the world really is your oyster as this allows you to shop around a little and perhaps find books not listed on your device's bookstore but on someone else's.

Enjoy your new eReading device.

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Apple case weakens

The rumbling court battle between Apple and, well anyone prepared to make a mobile phone or a tablet computer but mainly Samsung right now has hit a new stumbling block.

It's not the first stumbling block since Apple were awarded a paltry $1 billion in damages for alleged patent infringements  but it is a significant one.  You see, the basis of the argument is that Samsung infringed six specific patents.  Many hours of legal argument have been spent on this topic in three different countries with three different results, but the US result that awarded the eye watering fine is the most spectacular.

That result is being challenged at the moment because the Jury foreman at the trial is alleged to have failed to declare an incident that may have prejudiced his opinion about Samsung.  Apparently Seagate, a company Samsung bought into a year or so ago, dismissed the man about ten years earlier resulting in his bankruptcy.  From what I have read, the man wasn't asked a direct question that would have revealed the link, but that's one for the lawyers to work out for certain.

Then there are the two non-US court cases over the patents; the South Korean courts found that both Apple and Samsung had stolen ideas from each other and awarded each fairly trivial damages.  The UK high court, in a ruling that is applicable across the whole European Union, found no case to answer.  In fact, they forced Apple to make a statement on its UK website and in selected UK newspapers stating that no infringement had taken place, a statement Apple made eventually after some prodding from the court.

And now the US Patent Office have decided that at least one of the six patents Apple claim were infringed was not a unique patent, that is, there were earlier patents that covered the same ground.  Probably not identical, but close enough to demonstrate that it wasn't a unique idea.  The patent was for the  'pinch to zoom' feature that is popular in many smartphones and tablets, and increasingly used in crime dramas on oversized capacitance screens - like public law enforcement agencies can afford that level of technology in this current economy!

And the other patents?  Well, one appears to be around the concept of a rectangular shaped device with rounded corners.  I think Hershey or Cadbury could challenge that idea quite easily.  OK, they never used the shape on a mobile phone but they did make objects that shape that people wanted to put near their mouths and loved.  Certainly the UK courts weren't too supportive to Apple on this matter, stating that Apple's products were cooler than Samsung's, but not infringed.

And there was the App bounce-back that Apple use to show you've reached the last page of Apps.  Somewhere between Newton's Laws of Motion and Einstein's Theory of Relativity sits the model for a dimensionless, massless image travelling towards an implied theoretical wall.  Another failure to impress the UK courts, it seems.

This is probably a hiccup in this long running saga that doesn't give many clues to the ultimate outcome.  I suspect that by the time a final binding decision is made the technology being argued about will be as relevant as a Betamax recorder is today and $1 billion won't be enough to buy a round of coffees at Starbucks.  In fact, I suspect we're almost at that threshold right now.

At least, as far as the round at Starbucks is concerned.

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Can Amazon Overtake Apple in the Tablet Race?

A year ago the answer to this question would have been obvious.  Amazon entered the tablet market a full eighteen months after Apple launched the iPad, they pitched in with a pint sized version of Apple's quart, a size that Steve Jobs had said wouldn't cut it, and they pitched in where others had tried and failed.

And a week after the Kindle Fire launch I'd have still come to the same conclusion.  The initial reviews were lack-lustre, faintly damning.  Probably unfairly as most online reviews were comparing the Amazon product against the full sized iPad.

However consumers look at tech a bit differently to reviewers.  For one thing, they tend to have to buy their own kit themselves.  That makes us mortals compare things in the real world.  Sure, product A may transfer data a millisecond faster internally than product B, but it's 33% cheaper, so I'll hang around for a few more milliseconds, right?

And Steve Jobs was wrong about the screen size, as Apple have belatedly admitted by releasing the iPad mini.

So, a year on and there's been a lot of developments in the tablet world.  First off, not only have Amazon released an improved version of the Kindle Fire, they've released it world-wide.  Also, Google have weighed into the battle with their Nexus range that builds a family ranging from the near five inch mobile phone, through the mini tablet Nexus 7 right up to the iPad challenging Nexus 10.

Now Amazon are wading into that battle with the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 - not quite as large as the iPad, but large enough to matter.

But it's the numbers that tell the bigger story.  First, Apple are still leading the pack, which in case you didn't know, is a race between two operating systems - Apple's iOS and Google's Android.  Sure, Amazon have skinned their Kindle Fire Android OS to make it almost their own, but it's Android at its core.

A year ago Apple had about two thirds of the tablet market to itself - it probably felt more than that because the remaining third was spread across a multitude of manufacturers and devices.  Now it holds just over fifty percent, still highly commendable but steadily going south.  Google are denting the numbers, but it's the Amazon Fire that's making the big difference.  In just under twelve months they've gone from zero to hero, or to 54% of the Android market.  I think they will both increase their Android share and narrow the gap between themselves and Apple over the coming Holidays.  Apple have probably had their sales boost with the iPad mini and will see sales level out, whereas the competition in the Android tablet market coupled with the lower level of brand dominance will lead the late shoppers to lever last minute bargains as they hunt for a neat present for loved ones.

Google will probably nibble a bit more from Apple, too, as will the Nook devices from Barnes & Noble that are struggling to be perceived as more than glorified eReaders due to their affiliation with a bookseller - like that logic works against Amazon!

Will Amazon overtake Apple in the tablet market?  Not in the near future, but possibly they could challenge Apple's dominance in the medium term.  This could be the most interesting development in the short history of tablet computing yet.

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Save the Date, Get an Apple

Apple products are expensive.  There I've said it and will probably find myself thrown in the dock for mentioning it.  But it's true.  Unfortunately they are in a fantastic bargaining position that their competitors can only dream of.

The Apple belief is that a computer needs to be more than the sum of its parts - which is why they control the hardware design and the software production - sure, they let outsiders produce Apps for the tablet devices but they vet the products and charge to let them on their network.  There's no renegade programming going on that they don't sanction.

What you get with Apple is a whole environment - starting with a device, be it a Macbook Air, an iPad, iPad mini, iPod and, when they start digitising desserts, the iPud probably.  Then they add the software which is generally considered a good thing, but we'll gloss over iOS 6 for now as it will probably be superseded before I push the 'Publish' button on this blog entry anyway.

On top of the hardware and software there is an overlayer of support in the iCloud.  Up there, wherever that is, you store your iTunes, naturally, plus your iBooks, your personal photos, your calendar entries and anything else they can suck up out of your iDevices.  I'm not being negative, it's amazing how they do this because they then allow all of your data to be shared by all of your Apple devices.  Hence the bigger than the sum of its parts claim above.

But, despite all of these things, they are bloody expensive.

Well, if you are harbouring a desire to own an Apple-like device, perhaps to use for yourself or to share with a loved one as a present then Friday 23rd November 2011 could be a date to circle on your calendar.  I know it's short notice, but I'm a Brit and still trying to get my head around the Black Friday thing.  Because Apple don't limit the traditional post Thanksgiving shopping spree to just the US, they extend it even to the far flung shores we call the UK.

At the time of writing there isn't any specific details about the discounts being offered for one day from this notoriously expensive company with virtually no track record of  offering bargains, but traditionally they offer between 10% and 15%, which is £40 - £50 on better spec iPads.

Save the date and, if you are in the market for an Apple product right now, save yourself some cash.

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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

Force Fed Facebook

Hot on the tails of the Share button, Facebook have been innovating again - and it isn't all popular.

Now I guess Social Networking isn't a democracy, by any definition, but it seems reasonable that in a market economy  the Facebook programmers should take some notice of the opinions of the cash cows, sorry, customers that use their services.  The evidence would suggest otherwise.

A few months ago I noticed that Facebook had launched a service called Timeline - the idea being that you created an on-line history of yourself, uploading photos and other memories, I guess with the idea that your Facebook life would seamlessly interface with this past you, creating an ongoing genealogical roadmap of your life.  Wouldn't that be a boon for your descendants when they decide to map their family tree?

I'm not sure and it seems that 86% of Facebook users felt the same way, according to one poll.  As one commentator puts it, that's technically 668 million people.  Or as I put it, assuming the poll is anywhere near correct, 100% of real Facebook users.  How do I work that out?  Well, when they floated Facebook an eternity or so ago, the price plummeted when the investors suddenly realised that there was a percentage of Facebook 'users', I'm guessing 14%, that 'belonged' to animals, inanimate objects, protest groups or were duplicate pages by people who felt an irrational urge to have more than one Facebook page, like authors using FB to plug their books.  Who'd of thought it? (mine can be found by searching for raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com, BTW)

I resisted the urge to participate in Timeline, partly because I don't really use social media socially but also because it looked time consuming and, well, a little geeky.  It's the full geek or nothing with me.  Anyway, despite me and virtually everyone else ignoring Timeline, Facebook are still plugging it.  I can understand them not taking any notice of everyone else but....

But now it seems Facebook has gone one step too far.  When you filled in your profile you probably added lots of other details - unless you read my blog from the depths of time and took notice of it.  Don't worry, most of the others didn't either.  If you or your significant other (wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever - you get the picture) identified someone as their significant other (and I'm really hoping that everyone had played by the rules here, otherwise this is really going to end in tears for some) then Facebook has generated a 'Couples' page for you.  It kind of links your Facebook pages together, so what you see, you partner sees.

Normal, ordinary couples hate it.  We spend our lives working how to interact with our partners.  Some live separate lives, others live in each other's pockets.  Most sit somewhere in the middle, which means they share some friends, actively dislike others but tolerate them anyway.  This initiative by Facebook which may generate more lucrative contracts with sales managers desperate to sell their products, is doing so at the expense of their customers.

It's also creating a whole raft of phoney FB existences. I'm sure the Facebook investors will be real pleased to find out that FB are addressing the issue with false and duplicate pages in this way. Not!

I think that there is a place for initiatives like Timeline, Couples and even Share - but I think a bit of consultation with their customers wouldn't go amiss, let alone giving users an opt in they can choose.  If the initiatives are as good and useful as Facebook clearly thinks then surely users will beat a path to the door to opt-in.

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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

How Many Lawyers Does It Take to Design A Mobile Phone?

Plenty, if your company name is Apple. Or Samsung.  Probably also Google, judging by the current wind direction.  The list used to include HTC too, but that looks like water under the bridge for now.

There's been a lot of suing and counter-suing going on lately.  Most of it appears to be around who thought of flat, rectangular mobile phones with rounded corners first.  Gene Roddenberry, probably, but like Steve Jobs he's not with us any more so isn't in a position to counter-sue.  Steve left a legacy for that eventuality. In case you missed it, here's a potted round up.

Apple and HTC have been popping in and out of court for years, keeping the lawyers gainfully engaged in the process.  Apparently they have come to an agreement recently, although the suspicion on the street is that HTC have seen the eye watering judgement against Samsung earlier this year and decided to cooperate with Apple rather than face them down.  Apple have entered into the spirit of things and shelved their litigation for now.

Of course that Samsung case is still rolling.  A US court awarded over $1billion against Samsung for infringement of its designs.  A UK court didn't come to the same decision, but then again they didn't have a jury foreman who might have had a grudge against Samsung.  You see, the foreman in the US case had been sued by his former employer, Seagate, a company that Samsung now are a major shareholder in.  He ended up a bankrupt as a result of the litigation and Samsung are now suggesting that he may not have been unbiased in the Apple case.  Add that to the fact that Apple have chosen, under a certain amount of judicial duress, to state publicly that the Samsung design did not infringe its designs and you've got a case that will roll on for years - literally as the appeal isn't due to be heard until 2014.

But Google could be the big target of Apple's wrath.  Apple have already had a pot shot at the Android operating system, claiming that it stole a chunk of ideas from them.  Now Google own the Android system, have done for years - from before either they or Apple had launched a mobile phone operating system.  Now, of course, Google are venturing into the mobile phone market directly with the Nexus 4, the iPad mini market with the Nexus 7 and the iPad grown up market with the Nexus 10, so the dynamic is changing.

Apple have several beefs with Google, one being that for now they need the company.  Virtually every search on the web today starts with Google.  Sure there's Bing and a few others, but Google is the search engine of choice for most of the planet, which means Apple have to include it on their devices.  Which means they have to pay Google for that right.  Google maps is another predominant mapping technology and up to now Apple have had to pay Google a pretty penny for the privilege.   Apple have consequently invested vast sums of money in developing their own version, but screwed up big time by rushing it out - that's the reason for the recent iOS6 upgrade.  Unfortunately the mapping  didn't work and in fact, for the few who actually saw them in action, behaved terribly.  That's why they rushed out iOS6.01 which reverted to Google maps - most of us hadn't got around to upgrading the OS  by then hence we never saw the maps in action.  However people keep on mentioning them in their blogs, so it isn't going away.

If only those pesky bloggers would let it go.

My guess is that Apple will have fixed the problems by now, but they will have to be really certain before they re-release the mapping routine.  You can only make a first impression once and they squandered that with iOS6.  The re-launch needs to be perfect and probably will need to be wrapped around something really tasty to take everyone's eyes off the past.

All of this legal activity could have been better directed.  We all know about how Apple missed a vital detail when buying the iPad name from a failing Chinese company, not noticing that China wasn't included in the deal.  That cost them about $60M for the oversight.  Now they've paid a Swiss clock firm $21M for using their clockface in iOS 6 without permission - that could have been a lot cheaper, given a little foresight and some decent legal eye for detail.

But perhaps if they sat down with all the tech companies they are suing, with the lawyers out of the room, perhaps they could hammer out a deal that didn't involve suing everyone else stupid.  Then the lawyers could get back to what they do best - oh, I don't know.  Changing lightbulbs?

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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

Is iOS 6 the iOS From Hell?

Operating systems are never popular subjects on the message boards.  If your OS is working well then you probably don't even notice, but when they play up, everybody notices.

Apple have had a busy quarter, what with launching a new phone and a mini tablet as well as a new notebook.  They've also launched a new version of their popular iOS, now in version 6. They are a predictable bunch, those guys over at Apple, and when they have decided to upgrade the iOS previously it was generally seen as a Good Thing.

But the release of iOS 6 seems to have raised the ire of a few users.  Like I say above, those not experiencing problems have no reason to say anything but it seems that there is a significant group, who may or may not be a minority, who have gripes about this release.

We have noticed at home that managing the data in iTunes has become a pain - dragging tunes and albums off a device so that other music can replace them used to be straightforward, allowing users to use the iPhone/iPad/Touch as a kind of jukebox.  Since loading iOS the process has become a real pain in the proverbial, requiring a lot of hoop jumping and much swiping of screens.  Now this could be just tardy software testing by Apple or it could be a sneaky way to make iTunes Match seem like a good idea.  If so, I hate to mention to Apple that screwing your customers around is hardly the way to get them to pay £22 a year.

But then again, the net is filling up with people who are using iOS 6 and iTunes Match that are running into problems such as zero length running times, so perhaps this is genuine cock up, not a cynical attempt to persuade users to start using the paid for service (which is about to be matched itself by Google for free).

Other users are reporting that their iPhone battery consumption has rocketed since downloading the latest version.  What is clear is that this isn't universal.  It is also apparently reversible by making changes to settings in iOS and with certain apps.  It could simply be that you have to ensure all your apps are updated to make them compatible with the new version; hardly sinister but then again hardly customer friendly either.

Another issue that keeps on rearing its head on the forums is WiFi connectivity, or rather the occasional lack of it.  It seems that since the new version was launched, some users have experienced flaky WiFi, with their devices losing the plot.  So much like real life.  There is a strong rumour that a feature that was in the beta version but didn't make it to the release, dropped at the last minute by all accounts, may be to blame.  The feature was called Wi-Fi Plus Cellular and it was designed to augment flaky Wi-Fi so that users could continue receiving data whenever the wireless got choked in public places.  The rumour is that part of the code is still in the iOS and some apps may be trying to use it, dragging down the Wi-Fi in the process.  If so, perhaps Apple could market it as iRony.

None of this is going to help you if you run into problems with iOS 6 - we spent a night trawling message boards for guidance on how to clear a few albums off an iPhone to replace them with three new ones and although we managed it eventually, we're really not sure which advice worked in the end.  It's the same with all the other potential issues, apart from a common thread about resetting - eek - and, of course, turning it off and back on again.  And that advice should only be dispensed by an IT professional, right?

What may, possibly, help is that the guy who oversaw the launch of iOS 6 and the abysmal mapping app that allegedly allowed one to start a journey on the Golden Gate Bridge and exit on the other side in Widnes, a good deal for those hoping to escape Widnes but a nightmare for San Franciscans  Anyway the guy involved, Scott Forstall, has been given the boot.  That won't help most of us day-to-day, I'm fairly certain he didn't get too close to the code anyway, but he's being replaced by the guy who is responsible for much of Apple's hardware designs.  Think sleek, unfussy and you might glimpse a fragment of his approach to design.  Whether he can tidy up iOS 6 into a less buggy, neater iOS 7 remains to be seen, but if the complaints on the net keep on increasing I guess we'll get the chance to judge sooner rather than later.

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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!