IE is making a slight comeback with a .99% gain last month. This may sound pathetically minuscule, but the amount is almost enough to recoup their losses that they experienced over the past year.
The chart also shows Firefox’s continual decline. I quit Firefox a few years ago after using Chrome, but now use Safari primarily due to its speed. However, I have recently experienced an odd increase in hard drive usage due to the amount of temporary data it stores to pull off the fast speeds.
ChangeWave Research reports that 98% of iPad customers are satisfied with their device.
The biggest reason? The retina display.
On our podcast we talked a little about RIM and their current issues. It looks like things may have gotten a little worse in the past day. Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO, has resigned from the board in this afternoon’s Q4 earnings call.
In this episode, Chris and I talk about the upcoming Lumia 900 launch in the US; the “Smoked by Windows Phone Challenge”; Google’s loss of who they are; and RIMs continued falterings.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:31 — 67.6MB)
This is a great ad campaign, more so than a contest that can actually be beaten. Sean Hollister has a good analogy:
In some ways, Microsoft’s challenge is like a carnival attraction, complete with an outlandish prize, a smooth operator, and a game that (only in hindsight) is deviously unfair. Watching Kyle’s hands move, like any good carny, I couldn’t help but grin at the speed with which he handled these tasks. The difference, and the real genius of the game, is that it’s not about the laptop prize at all: it’s about showing you how fast Windows Phone can be so you’ll want one yourself.
Mat Honan writes a great article on – surprise – Gizmodo:
Google has forgotten why we loved it. It has degraded its premier product in service of promoting others. It has done devious things to ferret out information from its users that they do not willingly provide. It is too much focused on the future, and conversely too scared of current competition.
The first comment from user “Top Gear” seems to hit the sentiment I had on the nose:
Bad news for Android. Not so for Apple. People don’t buy iPhones because their carrier rep recommends them. They buy the iPhone because it’s the iPhone. The iPhone’s popularity is out of the carrier’s control.
But Android on the other hand… If most people walk in and ask for a ‘touch phone’, they’re being guided towards Android. If they’re guided towards a WP, then they will get that instead.
Creepy and annoying. (via Jim Dalrymple)
John Paczkowski, AllThingsD:
A humiliating reversal for RIM’s BlackBerry, which just four years ago was outselling the iPhone in Canada by a nearly five-to-one margin. While losing traction like this among the hometown crowd isn’t a massive strategic defeat, it’s surely a devastating psychological one for RIM, a Canadian success story.
This was some amazing, top-notch reporting by Chris and myself. Chris griped about the new iPad (and we discussed why there is no “number”); the Apple TV as a hobby; Zynga acquiring OMGPOP; the entire nonsense of Mike Daisey and whether or not we should be mad at the “idea”.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:48 — 56.9MB)
Peter Kafka with the details:
People familiar with the company tell me it has recently been netting around $250,000 a day from the game — that’s after Apple takes its 30 percent cut.
Wow.
This morning Apple announced plans to pay dividends of $2.65 per share. This is the first time since 1995 that has Apple has pay a dividend. Apple last paid a dividend of $0.12. It is worth noting that Apple will spend roughly $45 billion on this new program over three years, an amount for which in case you make , you will like to check this guide on how to file taxes with the previous paystub. Tim Cook said,
“Even with these investments, we can maintain a war chest for strategic opportunities and have plenty of cash to run our business. So we are going to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program.”
The tax burden on firms has an impact on growth and investment. Businesses are more likely to leave the formal economy if taxes are high. Higher tax rates are linked to fewer formal enterprises and less private investment, according to a research. Up to 2 percentage points less investment to GDP and a little decline in the rate of new businesses starting up are caused by a 10-percentage point rise in the effective corporate income tax rate.
Over the next three years, output is reduced by approximately 3% when taxes are raised by an amount equal to 1% of GDP. The local earnings from current investments would typically be reduced by 1.3% for every percentage point rise in the statutory corporate income tax rate, according to research on the investment decisions made by multinational corporations. A 2.9% decrease in the chance of establishing a subsidiary in an economy results from an increase of one percentage point in the effective corporate income tax rate.
We touched on this topic on a podcast way back when, but it looks like it is getting some attention again. The FAA says it will conduct tests to see if it should lift the ban on electronic devices during take off and landing.
Apple will have a conference call tomorrow, 3/19, 9:00am EST:
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, and Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, will host a conference call to announce the outcome of the Company’s discussions concerning its cash balance. Apple® will not be providing an update on the current quarter nor will any topics be discussed other than cash.
If they are making a conference call about it, that means investors are involved closely. This could result in a dividend to stock holders or a buyback.
This American Life has completed retracted it’s story called “Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory”, as the theatrical performance portrayed in the story was just that — theater based on no actual investigative reporting.
Though this is truly unbelievable for TLA to not follow up with diligence, I think that the release of the story nevertheless set up much of the press leading up to the ultimate investigation of Foxconn and factory conditions in China.
Update: The reporter that TLA will invite onto the show (which actually airs tonight) speaks out in his own story, which also interviews Cathy Lee, Mr. Daisey’s translator.
Roku exec Anthony Wood:
Personally, I think they call it a hobby not cause they’re not trying–they’re putting a lot of effort into Apple TV–but because they haven’t been that successful compared to the iPhone and iPad. So it’s a way for them to keep working on it but not look bad because they haven’t sold that many for the Apple world.
This sentiment compares with Apple/Cook’s opinion on Siri — they are really investing in the technology but haven’t lifted the beta terminology quite yet… because they wouldn’t want to look bad by fully releasing an unfinished product.
An insight from Kit Eaton, Fast Company:
What Apple is quietly doing is changing how you pay for things online, and the more speculative reader may wonder if this is a bigger step toward a long-rumored mobile payment system from Apple.
This is most likely a talent hire.
Microsoft Applied Sciences Group shows how current tablet technology still has a few years before it gets to the point of actually feeling like you are painting with your finger.
You may have noticed iPhoto for iPad using a different mapping service than Google’s. The reasoning, according to this article, is the push to monetize the service based on the number of impressions that the map makes.
It is unclear whether Apple (and other companies) will transition entirely from Google’s offerings, but the move does implicate Apple’s increasing need to distance themselves from the information behemoth.
In this “patch” episode Tarun and Chris discuss the iPad Press Conference. Tarun and Chris give their thoughts on Apple’s “new iPad” and software Apple previewed. They also discuss what exactly this iPad update means for consumers and Apple as a company. Thanks for listening.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:18 — 42.0MB)
The new iPad, featuring an A5X chip and retina display. Also worth noting is iPhoto for iPad+iPhone. Stay tuned for full coverage on a special episode of Weekly Download.
Don’t bother watching the video. But, good idea to consolidate.
Related to Jim’s post, Erik Kain writes:
More likely, we’ll see a tighter integration of mobile devices and station-based computers. We’ll see more touchscreens across all device categories, and there will be more ways to network and switch between all your fancy gadgets.
Jim Dalrymple:
The right question to ask is “does the iPad fit my lifestyle?”
Completely agree. My answer is no, but I’m apparently becoming more of a minority.