Ed Sutherland

Google’s Play store passes App Store downloads, Apple rules revenues

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

It may not reach the importance of the 'best-filling' versus 'tastes great' soda debate, but new numbers add fuel to the ongoing question of what's most important in measuring app store supremacy: downloads or revenue. Both those rooting for sheer demand as well as ultimate revenue figures found something to cheer about Wednesday.

Analytics company App Annie is out with second-quarter numbers showing the Android-based Google Play store had ten percent more download's that Apple's iOS App Store. However, Apple - which prides itself on being the Tiffany of technology - raked in 2.3 times the revenue.

The details after the break...

NSA’s Internet snooping covers ‘nearly everything’ done online via XKeyscore app

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 31, 2013

The men and women of the U.S. National Security Agency are very interested in your Internet activity. Indeed, a program within the NSA allows intelligence analysts to sift through billions of online records, revealing "nearly everything a typical user does on the Internet."

While Apple has denied it assists the intelligence agency with tracking the Internet use of consumers, the NSA's XKeyscore program can search your emails, chat logs, web history - even your Facebook activity in real time, The Guardian newspaper reports Wednesday...

Samsung’s Galaxy S3 ‘marginally higher’ than Apple’s iPhone 5 in ACSI customer satisfaction

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 31, 2013

Imagine if you received a recommendation proclaiming you were marginally better than your competitors. Well, that's the case with Samsung, which has two smartphones that scored "marginally higher" than the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5 in a new customer sat survey, to use Tim Cook's jargon talk.

Samsung's 14-month-old Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note II each scored 84 out of 100 - a full two points better than the nearly year-old iPhone 5 and the almost two-year-old iPhone 4S. Before you get too carried away with chants of 'yeah two points!'

Let's get to the details...

Apple promotes upcoming no-tax holidays for iDevice shoppers

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated August 4, 2016

Are you a U.S. resident looking for a reason to buy an Apple device, but hate that chunk of change taxes consume? Apple is joining other retailers promoting a "tax-holiday" period aimed at goosing back-to-school sales. Some ten states are now participating in the annual event, usually due August 2-4.

Apple's website now informs consumers it will remove sales tax from items purchased, the timeframe depending on in which state buyers live...

Apple’s multi-sensor patent soups up the iPhone’s camera color and resolution

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 31, 2013

As the iPhone's camera becomes the handset's most-used feature, Apple is increasingly looking for ways to enhance the experience. The latest example comes in a patent granted Tuesday which combines three sensors providing images with improved color saturation and lighting.

According to the patent approved by the U.S. Pantent and Trademark Office, the three-sensor technology described by Apple is part of a trend among smartphone manufacturers adopting multiple image sensors for greater mobile photography...

Apple and Motorola drop 14 patents from upcoming Florida lawsuit

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 30, 2013

In a sign that tech companies have moved beyond the patent litigation stage of throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks, Apple and Google-owned Motorola Mobility Monday dropped more than a dozen patents in preparation for a Florida patent-infringement lawsuit.

The move signals both companies are seeking the strategic upper-hand in a case which has exasperated the presiding judge. In the case scheduled for August of 2014, Google-owned Motorola dismissed eight patents while Apple dropped six yesterday, after previously trimming two patents, according to a joint stipulation filed before the District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami...

AT&T and others supporting Apple in looming U.S. ban of older iPhones and iPads

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 29, 2013

As an August 4 ban on U.S. sales of some of Apple's most-popular products looms, the iPhone maker is picking up business support. AT&T, Verizon, Intel and other companies are asking that U.S. President Barack Obama overturn an ITC-ordered ban on the sale of some Apple products judged to infringed upon standards-essential patents owned and asserted against Apple by rival Samsung.

At issue is whether Samsung is unfairly using essential patents as a weapon to gain an upper-hand in U.S. smartphone sales. The iPhone 4, for instance, is one of Apple's best-selling handsets...

Apple trims Android’s U.S. smartphone lead as Verizon sells most iPhones

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 29, 2013

Apple is making a slight dent in Android's lead among U.S. smartphone owners, picking up more than three percentage points of market share at the end of the June 2013 quarter. By comparison, Google's mobile software slipped a bit, giving up almost one percent, according to new research.

By the end of the June quarter, Apple's iOS had 42.5 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, up from 39.2 percent a year earlier. By contrast, Android fell to 51.5 percent from 52.6 percent during the same period, according to research firm Kantar Monday...

Steve Ballmer admits Surface defeat

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 26, 2013

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Thursday played Captain Obvious, telling Microsoft workers the company may have overestimated demand for its Surface tablets. Really? The revelation comes only after the software giant announced a nearly $1 billion writedown after slashing Surface prices.

Not willing to take such things as a sign to go off and do something else, Ballmer and operations chief Kevin Turner reportedly told a closed-door town hall meeting a new Surface is now being tested...

U.S. agency offers code-of-conduct for apps collecting user data

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 26, 2013

Are you concerned about the personal data collected by various mobile apps? A U.S. government agency feels your pain, sort of. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has issued a draft of a voluntary code of conduct it hopes will improve user privacy.

Although the NTIA is an arm of the same government rifling through your emails and other Internet activities, the agency head modestly called the voluntary guidelines a "seminal milestone" in protecting mobile privacy...

Apple may be working to supplant Siri’s Nuance speech recognition with in-house tech

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 26, 2013

Although Apple's Siri uses Nuance's speech recognition technology, the digital assistant may be getting a new voice soon. Although Nuance continues to power Siri's speech recognition, a number of former Nuance employees reportedly are now part of Apple's in-house efforts to develop a new speech recognition technology to power Siri, reducing its technological dependency on third-parties.

For instance, a number of former employees of VoiceSignal Technologies, a speech software firmed acquired by Nuance, now appear in leading roles developing Siri as an in-house application for Apple, according to a Friday report...

For this analyst, Apple needs both low-cost iPhone and iPhablet to stay ahead of curve

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated February 28, 2017

Although Apple managed to surprise investors with better-than-expected iPhone sales, some observers see a more daunting future for the flagship Apple smartphone.

Apple's global smartphone marketshare may have fallen by some estimates to as low as fourteen percent amid increasing pressure from rivals seeking higher margins and more sales.

Strategy Analytics describes the iPhone being "trapped in a pincer movement" between Android cheapos and high-end monster phones with five-inch screens. In other words, as iPhone competitors that churn out inexpensive handsets increasingly march toward the mid-range in hopes of gaining more profit, Apple's high-end rivals are now moving toward the middle, seeking increased sales...