RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis wasn’t impressed with the way an interview was going with the BBC and terminated the interview.
As soon as the interviewer started asking Lazaridis about security issues with the governments in India and countries in the Middle East, the interview started to fall apart.
“That’s just not fair,” said Lazaridis. First of all, we have no security problems.
Lazaridis went on to explain why he feels people are focused on RIM.
Until recently the RSS feed at the Loop offered readers the ability to see a summary of a story, but we’ve been working hard to change that.
As many of you already noticed, the RSS feed has been expanded in more ways than one. Not only do we include more of the story, and in some cases all of the story in the RSS feed, we are also including images in the RSS now.
We worked with the folks at Pulse, who make the Pulse News Reader for iPad, to make The Loop’s RSS feed look better in its app. If you use Pulse, give The Loop’s new feed a try and see what you think.
It’s hard to keep secrets these days. The design of Microsoft’s new Windows App Store is the latest project to be leaked on the Web.
TechCrunch posted supposed screenshots of the company’s Windows App Store that leaked onto the Web. The screenshots are not verified, but if they are real, it certainly shows some more copying of Apple.
It may also explain why Microsoft is fighting Apple so hard to make sure the term “App Store” remains generic.
RIM shareholders were probably sitting back with their mouths hanging open yesterday as the interview with the company’s co-CEOs hit the Internet.
RIM is one week away from the release of the PlayBook, a product that could make or break the company, and instead of remaining quiet, the CEOs give an interview. Mistake.
I suppose giving an interview isn’t a bad idea if you are a masterful speaker like Steve Jobs, but if your name is Lazaridis or Balsillie, you should avoid interviews like the plague. In a moment of trying to be helpful, I actually recommended this to RIM a couple of weeks ago, but they didn’t listen.
So, what brilliance did we get from RIM? One week away from the PlayBook introduction, what wisdom did the co-CEOs impart on us? Let’s take a look at what Mike “Whine” Lazaridis had to say.
The pressure of not being prepared for the tablet revolution may be catching up with RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, as his bitterness shines in a recent interview.
“Why is it that people don’t appreciate our profits? Why is it that people don’t appreciate our growth? Why is it that people don’t appreciate the fact that we spent the last four years going global? Why is it that people don’t appreciate that we have 500 carriers in 170 countries with products in almost 30 languages?,” Lazaridis said in a New York Times interview.
That’s quite a bit of non-appreciation from consumers and market in general, but Lazaridis isn’t that concerned.
An upcoming update for Apple’s mobile operating system could fix an ongoing issues with the iPad 2 and Verizon.
BGR.com on Monday got its hands on the latest unreleased update, iOS 4.3.2, which it says fixes the Verizon issues. Apple said last week that it was “aware that a small number of iPad 2 customers have experienced connectivity issues with the Verizon 3G network and we are investigating it.”
Adobe and Apple’s public battles over HTML5 and Flash have quieted down recently, as Adobe rolls out new tools to work with Apple’s iPhone and iPad.
In announcing Creative Suite 5.5, and more specifically the new HTML5 features found in Dreamweaver, Adobe made it clear that it was all about the content.
Adobe said the new HTML5 tools were implemented “to help customers meet Adobe’s commitment to content. Adobe has no bias between HTML 5 and Flash,” Dave Burkett, Vice President and General Manager, Adobe Creative Suite Design and Web Segments, told The Loop.
Apple on Friday said it is investigating reported issues from customers using the Verizon iPad 2 3G.
“We are aware that a small number of iPad 2 customers have experienced connectivity issues with the Verizon 3G network and we are investigating it,” the company said in a statement to AllThingsD.
Employees at Best Buy stores were told by managers that they were only to sell iPad 2s to customers that pre-ordered the devices. They were also told to misinform customers about holding the iPad 2 until further notice. In an email to BGR.com today, Best Buy said they were holding the iPad 2 inventory for an upcoming promotion.
Pre-announcing an upcoming Apple promotion is not such a good idea for Best Buy.
Everyone seems to be debating the benefits of Google’s Android OS versus Apple’s iOS and which mobile operating system is better.
There are reasons that both sides contend make their operating system the best one to use, but for the most part it’s a personal choice to allow you to get things done. At least that’s what I thought.
I got a call from a friend of mine the other night and we talked for a while before the conversation turned to Google and why he thought it they made a better operating system. I’m paraphrasing, but the conversation went something like this.
While the brand has fallen by the wayside in recent years, Atari will always hold a special place in the hearts of gamers of a certain age. A new iOS game download called Atari’s Greatest Hits is bound to appeal to them and to many others with an eye towards video game history.
Atari’s Greatest Hits is a free download that comes with the classic game Pong, and for 99 cents more, you can download one of 25 separate game “packs” that include classic Atari coin-op arcade games and games originally designed for the Atari 2600 home game console – one of the first popular home consoles. If you want to buy them all in one fell swoop (18 arcade games, 92 Atari 2600 games) you can get them discounted for $14.99, all managed through in-app purchases.
A report on Monday says that RIM’s PlayBook tablet release was delayed because Apple bought all available touch screen displays.
RIM had apparently planned to release the PlayBook sometime in mid-March, but because Apple had already book all the touch panels, the company had to postpone the launch, according to DigiTimes.
Google’s Vice President of Engineering, Andy Rubin, on Monday posted his thoughts on recent news that Google was clamping down on its partners that want to change Android.
Last week reports surfaced that Google now required a partners changes to Android to be approved by Rubin. The change affected many big names like Facebook and Verizon, but more importantly seemed to go against Google’s openness.
In response, Rubin says that device makers are free to modify Android, but then adds a caveat.
Analysts with Deutsche Bank estimate that Motorola has shipped about 100,000 Xoom tablets since the device went on sale in February. If so, that would certainly be a fraction of the number of original iPads that Apple sold its first weekend when they went on sale in April, 2010 (Apple has not revealed iPad 2 sales numbers yet).
The Xoom is the first Android-based tablet to feature the Android 3.0 “Honeycomb” operating system, the first Android OS optimized specifically as a tablet OS.
The Xoom went on sale in late February for $800 (less if you agreed to a two-year data contract with Verizon Wireless).
Consumer Reports on Tuesday said that Apple’s iPad topped its ratings of 10 tablets.
“So far, Apple is leading the tablet market in both quality and price, which is unusual for a company whose products are usually premium priced,” said Paul Reynolds, Electronics Editor at Consumer Reports. “However, it’s likely we’ll see more competitive pricing in tablets as other models begin to hit the market.”
The consumer watch-dog said the iPad’s closest competitor is the Motorola Xoom. Consumer Reports tested tablets from Archos, Dell, Motorola, Samsung, and ViewSonic, as well as a number of models from Apple.
Music service Pandora disclosed that it has been served with a subpoena to produce documents for a federal grand jury looking into Apple and Android apps.
“In early 2011, we were served with a subpoena to produce documents in connection with a federal grand jury, which we believe was convened to investigate the information sharing processes of certain popular applications that run on the Apple and Android mobile platforms,” said Pandora.
You knew it was going to happen. Someone was going to release an album recorded on the iPad using GarageBand.
Pop punk band The Ultramods on Monday released its latest album that was done using GarageBand for iPad’s eight-track recording studio. All of the instruments used to record the album come bundled in GarageBand, according to the band.
Even the vocals were recorded using the iPad’s built-in microphone.
A patent filing from Apple shows the company could bring its Web site building tool, iWeb, to the iPad.
Apple lists apps that have been designed to work with gestures, including Keynote, Pages and Numbers, all part of the company’s iWork suite. One other app is mentioned too — iWeb, according to Patently Apple.
The iWork suite of apps has already been brought to the iPad, but iWeb has not. In fact, on the Mac, iWeb is one of Apple’s least updated apps. Part of the iLife suite, iWeb was basically ignored in the last round of updates for the suite.
Purchasing a product from any company shows a level of trust by the consumer, but how are we supposed to trust a company like RIM.
I had a look at RIM’s executive team over the weekend and was surprised to find the company has three Chief Operating Officers. Of course, we all know they already have two Chief Executive Officers, which adds up to a corporate structural mess.
Seriously, how is the buying public supposed to trust a company that can’t even decide who the hell is running the place? It’s like the hierarchy of the company is a straight horizontal line.
Apple’s TV commercials are almost as legendary as its products and there is a new one released for the iPad 2.
Dubbed “We Believe” the commercial talks about what Apple believes about the iPad 2. It’s quite a different approach for Apple, who usually highlight the apps in their commercials.
The commercial’s text is:
This is what we believe. Technology alone is not enough. Faster, thinner, lighter — those are all good things. But when technology gets out of the way, everything becomes more delightful, even magical. That’s when you leap forward. That’s when you end up with something like this.
Apple on Thursday released an update to GarageBand, its music making software for Mac that’s included with iLife ’11. It corrects a problem that The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple first identified on March 10th.
GarageBand 6.0.2 makes fixes that improve overall stability and correct minor issues, according to Apple, but one change was worth breaking out – it now supports the ability to open projects imported from GarageBand for iPad.
The new release, GarageBand 6.0.2, can be downloaded either from Apple’s Web site or from the Software Update system preference.
We all knew the iPad was dominant last year. It leads in market share and the mind share of consumers, but what about financially.
If you don’t lead, you follow. If you don’t follow, you’re doomed. Hello Microsoft.
Writing for AdAge.com, Nat Ives reports that Popular Science magazine has sold 10,000 subscriptions to its iPad edition. That represents only a small fraction of the magazine’s overall subscriber base (1.2 million), but it’s the first hard number we’ve seen … Continued
Apple took a lot of criticism for its App Store policies over the last couple of years, but considering what’s happening on those “open” stores, I’m pretty happy with what Apple has done.
Android users that chose to use Amazon’s new Appstore may be less secure than what they think.
Dell has spoken. They say that Apple doesn’t have a hope of succeeding in the enterprise market with its iPad.
Google is delaying the release of its tablet operating system, Honeycomb, to the open source community because it took “shortcuts” in order to keep up with Apple’s iOS.
Apple has never said how many iPad 2s it sold since it was released, but some industry analysts have weighed in with their sales expectations.
Apple closed the door this morning on any speculation that it would announce new hardware at its Worldwide Developers conference saying it would focus on iOS and Mac OS.