Business

China said to exclude Apple products from “public money” procurement lists

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Bloomberg:

Ten Apple products — including the iPad, iPad Mini, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro — were omitted from a final government procurement list distributed in July, according to officials who read it and asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The models were on a June version of the list drafted by the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Finance, the officials said.

Apple is the latest U.S. technology company to be excluded from Chinese government purchases amid escalating tensions between the countries over claims of hacking and cyberspying. China’s procurement agency told departments to stop buying antivirus software from Symantec Corp. (SYMC) and Kaspersky Lab, while Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) was shut out of a government purchase of energy-efficient computers.

iOS supports more European app developers than any other mobile OS

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There’s a new report out from Vision Mobile:

Apple’s iOS operating system forms the basis 497,000 jobs in Europe – around half of all ‘app economy’ jobs on the continent – according to a new report by Vision Mobile.

Although more developers overall use Google’s Android operating system, iOS is the preferred platform for professional developers (as opposed to hobbyists and explorers), prioritised by 43 per cent of professional developers, compared to 35 per cent for Android.

Interesting economics. 497,000 jobs in Europe alone, based on an OS that was released about 7 years ago.

Russian gang amasses more than a billion internet passwords

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New York Times:

A Russian crime ring has amassed the largest known collection of stolen Internet credentials, including 1.2 billion user name and password combinations and more than 500 million email addresses, security researchers say.

Replacing our existing ID system needs to become a priority.

The emerging threat (to Google) of modified Android phones

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Android is available in two different flavors. There’s the Google-endorsed Android, which is used by companies that agree to the terms and conditions of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA).

The other side is the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), a far-freer version that lets device makers tinker with all manner of elements of the software.

Amazon’s Kindles run AOSP, replacing Google’s services with their own. The AOSP market is growing quickly and is emerging as a threat to Google.

Apple’s new “Dreams” ad

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[VIDEO] Dreams is the latest ad in the “You’re more powerful than you think” series. The song in the ad is When I Grow Up by Jennifer O’Connor.

As is now the norm, all the apps featured in the ad are highlighted on Apple’s web site.

The Hero Returns: Steve Jobs’ real genius

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Peter Sims on Steve Jobs and collaboration:

As the three-year anniversary of Steve Jobs’ passing approaches in October, complete lessons from his life and legacy are still far from written or understood. Walter Isaacson’s biography Steve Jobs, published soon after Jobs’ death in 2011, provided a formidable starting point, yet we still have a great deal to learn and understand about what made Jobs such a unique innovator and leader.

In studying Jobs closely over the past several years, I’ve become convinced that the common narratives we’ve heard neglect a central aspect of Jobs’ of genius and success. And, it’s something that we can all learn from, which is this: Steve Jobs was a superb collaborator with the people who he respected and trusted.

Fascinating article.

Microsoft suing Samsung for breach of contract

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From Microsoft’s blog post:

As you may have seen, on Friday Microsoft filed legal action against Samsung in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York. Today’s legal action is simply to enforce our contract with Samsung.

We don’t take lightly filing a legal action, especially against a company with which we’ve enjoyed a long and productive partnership. Unfortunately, even partners sometimes disagree. After spending months trying to resolve our disagreement, Samsung has made clear in a series of letters and discussions that we have a fundamental disagreement as to the meaning of our contract.

Oh, Samsung. Keep behaving like this and no one’s going to want to play with you anymore.

On making a living from the App Store

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David Smith:

This past week has seen an explosion of writing and discussion about the business of making software for sale on the iOS App Store. Personally I love it when these little bubbles of discussion appear. If you’ve listened to me for any period of time you’ll know that one of the things I really like is being a student of the App Store. These discussions provide the opportunity and motivation for all sorts of anecdotes which help expand my view on where things stand.

This post is a trifecta. There’s a link to the Developing Perspective podcast, where David Smith lays all this out verbally. There’s the post itself (which really clicked for me). And there’s the wealth of related links at the end of the post.

Hate your ISP? Maybe you need community fiber

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The primary issue faced by most US consumers is a lack of competition. The pie is very large and there is little opportunity for customers to protest poor service with their wallets. There’s just nowhere to run.

Community fiber is typically run by a local power utility, one with customer service infrastructure already built in.

Facebook puts noble face on what is really a self-serving walled garden

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GigaOM:

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg said back in February that he wanted to make basic internet access free in emerging markets, through the Internet.org initiative. Well here we go: Internet.org has introduced an app that will act as a limited portal to the internet, and it’s rolling out first in Zambia.

Facebook’s strategy is to enter a market with little to no existing internet access, make a deal with a large provider to create a large swath of internet coverage. Access is free, but the ecosystem is controlled and extremely limited.

Ford replaces employee BlackBerrys with fleet of 9,300 iPhones

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Bloomberg:

The second largest U.S. automaker will replace BlackBerry Ltd. (BBRY)’s smartphones with iPhones for about 3,300 workers by the end of this year, Sara Tatchio, a Ford spokeswoman, said yesterday in an interview. About 6,000 more employees will receive iPhones over the next two years, replacing flip phones, she said.

Florida man allegedly conned Apple out of $309K

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A man ran up a $7,753.22 bill at an Apple store.

When his debit card was declined, he pretended to call his bank. He gave the store clerk a fake authorization code to punch into the card reader.

And that’s how the man, 24-year-old Sharron Laverne Parrish Jr. of Tampa, scammed one of the biggest high-tech companies in the world — not once but 42 times — totaling $309,768, according to federal court records.

Some Apple Store employees have some explaining to do.

Apple refreshes retina MacBook Pro, drops price

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ZDNet:

Prior to this upgrade the base version of the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display featured a 2560-by-1600 resolution at 227 pixels per inch retina display, 2.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 CPU, 4GB of 1600MHz DDR3L RAM, and 128GB of PCIe-based flash storage, and it had a price tag of $1,299. For the same price this model now comes with a 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5 chip and 8GB of memory.

The base version of the beefier 15.4-inch with Retina display model came with a 2880-by-1800 resolution at 220 pixels per inch display, 2.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 CPU, 8GB of 1600MHz DDR3L RAM, and 256GB of PCIe-based flash storage, all of which would have set you back $1,999. Following the refresh this now comes with a 2.2GHz CPU and 16GB of RAM.

The price of the high-end MBPr has dropped from US$2,599 to US$2,499.

Stories from call center hell

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In response to the Comcast horror story that’s been making the rounds lately, these stories are spread through a number of other companies.

Xiaomi is at it again

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First there was Samsung, a meteoric rise with a new phone that bore a remarkable resemblance to the iPhone. Seemed like cheating, no real price was ever paid.

Now those chickens have come home to roost. Samsung is getting pressure on the high end by Apple’s offerings and on the low end by China’s own meteor, Xiaomi. It’s deliciously apropos to watch Samsung’s lunch get eaten by another blatant copycat.

Samsung postpones launch of Tizen phone

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Fortune:

Samsung Electronics Co. suffered another blow to its efforts to cut the dependency of its smartphone business on Google Inc.’s Android operating system, postponing the launch of a new model that runs on its own Tizen software.

The news is the latest disappointment for the Korean giant which is trying to defend its position as the world’s largest maker of smartphones from the twin challenges of Apple Inc. and, at the other end of the market range, Chinese companies such as Huawei, ZTE and Xiaomi.

Samsung is getting squeezed.

Xbox hits the market as China’s ban on video games falls

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Businessweek:

Microsoft today began taking orders for its new game console from online retailer JD.com Inc. (JD:US) via Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s (700) mobile-messaging applications. The pair of Chinese Internet companies hold exclusive rights to pre-sell the locally made Xbox One until July 30, JD.com said in a news release. The console is slated to ship nationwide in September.

Important market expansion for Microsoft and the Xbox team.

Everything that Apple is doing right in China

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One point I pulled from this article: The Chinese smartphone market is maturing, moving from a jailbroken wild west to a market that appreciates aesthetics and is willing to spend more for a better experience.

Apple is holding the line here, playing the long game. And it’s working.

Microsoft reports earnings: short of expectations, but not by much

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The company reported diluted EPS of 55 cents, but that figure included three cents worth of one-time charges. The 58-cent figure compares to analysts’ estimate of 60 cents a share, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

So much volatility, it’s hard to get any sense of direction from Redmond. A big part of this instability is the Nokia acquisition and pending layoffs.