Tag: apple

Why Is WhatsApp So Damn Disruptive?

Disruptive in that the phone Carriers hate it (takes away from their texting revenue) but more importantly, its the future of WhatsApp and these type of Apps that is disruptive. WhatsApp is planning to do more voice features/services in the future, and with that, may go the Carriers cell phone voice revenues. WhatsApp is Wi-Fi only, which means you don’t have to pay a dime to the Carriers for text and soon…voice. As long as your Wi-Fi connected, there may be no reason to buy a cell phone plan. The challenge is to get the entire world on Wi-Fi for FREE or cheap. What the OEM’s have to work on is super cheap smartphones or cheap small form-factor iPod like devices that will connect to Wi-Fi.

iWatch SmartWatch Musings……

Its pretty much common knowledge right now that Apple will come out with a Smartwatch. When is the question? Google, Samsung, Microsoft, etc., are also planning to follow Apple into the Smartwatch category. Question is when? Will they follow after the iWatch release or will they try to beat Apple to the new product category and release this fall? At this point, they are all in development and all are watching each other like a poker game. Who will show their cards first? No one wants to be first as the rest of them will jump on them and add a new feature, or come out with FUD marketing.

Are SmartPhone Specs Peaking?

With the new Samsung S4 coming out tomorrow? Is it just a notch upgrade spec-wise? Sure, there will be the quad-core CPU, upgraded camera, more RAM, etc., but its at the point where do you need all that power? I can see upgrading for the camera but that’s about it. I’m fine with my S3 specs and it never runs out of horsepower. Apple has the same situation with the iPhone 5. The specs are insane at this point. Do you really need all that power now? Do people run 4 apps at a time to take advantage of the multi-cores? Are phone apps even multi-threaded? Do consumers care at this point? Right now and into the future, its not about horsepower anymore. Its about the SOFTWARE.

Another Reason to Buy an IPhone 4S?

With Apple’s forthcoming OS X rev 10.8 dubbed “mountain lion”, users with a Mac will now get the notification center on their desktop (and laptops) that will sync all your messages, iCal events, notifications from apps, etc., across your Apple platforms. For example, if your IPhone gets a text, it will show up on your desktop or laptop notification bar. If you add a meeting to your Mac Calendar, that meeting will also automatically show up on your iPhone (via iCloud). So if you’re a Mac user and thinking about upgrading to a cool smartphone other than an iPhone, I would rethink that decision.

Website Optimization for Mobile Phones

70% of the worlds population now have a mobile phone, that’s over 5 billion mobile subscribers, and in places like the US, it’s 9 in 10 people. What does all this mean? When designing a website (or refreshing), make sure its optimized for mobile visitors!

If your running a WordPress CMS, there are free plugins that can quickly optimize your website for the iPhone and Android devices. mobify.com is a free and premium service that makes it easy to create a mobile version of your website. It integrates well with WordPress, Drupal, and ExpressionEngine. You only need basic CSS and HTML knowledge.

Did Apple Get A Free Pass Yesterday?

There was some disappointment that Apple did not release a brand new redesigned iPhone 5 yesterday, but there were hardly riots or mayhem. Is it because Apple’s brand is so loved by consumers? Did the Apple fanboys concentrate on the cool new IPhone 4S software?

Most, if not all new Android smartphones already have dual core CPU’s, 1GB on board memory, 8+ megapixel cameras. Apple (on the hardware side) is just catching up to the Android hardware specs. I think the new software (iOS 5, talking assistant, iCloud, more location integration) trumped the upgraded hardware specs. The software was a leap forward for Apple and sets up the iPhone 5 release down the road nicely. Free pass or not, Apple’s iPhone 4S release yesterday was good for Apple and great for customers.