Apple In Business » iPhone

Apple iTunes To Compete With Book Publishers

Mike Harding — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:42:19 +0000

Tomorrow is a big day for Apple. the rumor site are buzzing about the potential of an unannounced tablet device that could be a Kindle killer or the next handheld television or this or that.

What if…

Apple does to the book publishing business what they did to the music business with iTunes and to some extent the application business with the iPhone. What if Apple all anyone to publish the own ebook and put it on iTunes for purchase on a Mac through iTunes or downloadable on the new tablet device. Now anyone can bypass the rejection process and stranglehold of the big publishers and go straight to Apple and publish.

Of course Apple will get their 30%, but the writer will now get more than they got before from a publisher with the hassle of the contract or rejection.

Today anyone could write an e-book and market it on their website, but they could also have written an app for the Blackberry or Palm device too. Few did until the iPhone came along. The promise and simplicity of the iTunes clearinghouse could change the publishing business and completely upset the publishing apple cart.

What do you think?

Will Apple Buy AT&T?

Mike Harding — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:05:35 +0000

Maybe. Lets review the known issues. At WWDC, CEO Steve Jobs mentioned that Apple consists of three parts, the Mac, Music and the iPhone. Obviously, if Apple owned AT&T it could better control the iPhone future without being dependant on a third party, in the US anyway. It could improve music, and video, downloading. It could own a piece of the “cloud”. AT&T does operate one of the largest backbone segments of the internet and this would give Apple a huge advantage over any other vendor, whether it be Microsoft or NBC.

But what about the disadvantages of owning a wireless provider? First, they would have to fix the horrible customer service issues many complain about the not only AT&T, but every other wireless provider. Consensus is, there are no good carriers, just varying degrees of poor. Could Apple resolve such a tough issue? What about all the other phones carried by AT&T? Motorola, Palm, Samsung, etc. Would Apple just drop them? Of course it would be nice to have a nationwide network of “iPhone Stores” to augment it network of Apple Stores. Maybe by the time such a deal does transpire, Apple will have a suite of iPhones to complete its product line. The iPhone 3G, the iPhone Nano, the iPhone this and iPhone that.

This idea is a stretch, but think about the possibilities if they could figure out how to resolve the customer service issues. Isn’t Skype up for sale? What would this do to the Apple TV? Would I be able to download music, the second part of the triangle, from anywhere.

This gives MobileMe a whole new meaning.

Apple’s Assault on the Enterprise

Mike Harding — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:10:07 +0000

With the recent announcement about Snow Leopard Server having Exchange support and it’s own Contact Server, updates to calendar server and other Exchange like features it would seem obvious that Apple is positioning itself for a move into the enterprise.

Apple has historically not directly marketed itself as an alternative to business, but has chosen to let business find it. Vista has certainly helped and the PC vs Mac tv ads could be argued as business ads. Either way, with all the recent activity about “Exchange” this and “Exchange” that, it seems clear Apple is primed for a ninja like attack. First release MobileMe, then a suite of online applications like iWork, then hit them with a lean, clean, fast and secure Snow Leopard.

Look at some of the client’s that Apple touts on stage at the 2008 WWDC. The Army! Really? The US ARMY?

What are the troops going to do with a iPhone in the field? Is there signal in the Sahari?

If I worked in Redmond, I would be updating my resume before next years MacWorld.

iPhone 2.0 Still Lacks Basic Features

Mike Harding — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:17:50 +0000

Yesterday Apple announced the release of the iPhone 2.0 software and the actual iPhone 3G itself.

However, no mention of whether the most basic of all software features would finally be added.

Cut, Copy and Paste!

Why not? Is it security issue? Does it drain the battery life? Is there just no place on the screen for the buttons? No menu bar…no place for an Edit menu. Huh. Maybe…

You tell me. Why do you think this simple feature has failed to make the cut. There must be a very good reason. I hope it’s not as simple as “nobody ever uses it.” Maybe it’s true.

If you have an iPhone tell me, do you miss it? Have you learned to live without it? Has it absense made you be better user and therefore has reduced your typing errors?

Lets talk.