WaggTech

How Apple Has Changed The World In Just 7 Years [Picture = 1,000 Words]

2013-03-14T20:27:00.002-04:00

John Brownlee has a great post on Cult of Mac on how Apple has changed the world.

Says everything that needs to be said about how Apple has changed the world, don’t you think?

Click here for the whole story.

When It Comes To iPhone And iPad There Are Two Customer Groups Apple Doesn’t Want Or Need

2013-03-13T13:16:00.000-04:00

Great article by Kate MacKenzie over on Mac360.com

We hear that Apple needs to build an entry-level, less expensive iPhone or risk being left behind as Android dominates the smartphone world. Or, something like that. Such analysis overlooks Apple’s typical customer, and, importantly the customers Apple does not want.

Click here for the whole story.

Apple Products in 2013 — The Elephant in the Room

2013-02-13T19:21:00.001-05:00

Read my latest post at MyMac.com:

With the barrage of products Apple released at the end of 2012, we have to wonder what Tim Cook and company have in store for us for 2013...

Click here for the rest of the post.

Is it time for Apple to split?

2013-02-05T12:29:00.000-05:00

Read my latest post over on MyMac.com

If Apple were to split up, how would the company be divided? Into iPhone, iPad and Mac? Or hardware, software, and services? These are the most obvious ways to divide the company, but I don’t see either of these options will really benefit the company or its shareholders.

I propose a different idea. I suggest a division more like General Motors has. I suggest Apple needs to be set up like Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC Trucks...

Click here to read the whole post.

The iPad Mini and the cost of Retina

2012-11-13T08:52:00.003-05:00

Marco Arment has an excellent post over on Marco.org explaining why the iPad Mini does not have a retina display.

A Retina screen at iPad resolution has a much higher cost than the price of the panel. I’m convinced that the other tradeoffs and costs are why the Mini doesn’t have a Retina screen.

Check out the entire post here.

AT&T to offer $100 discount on iPad (with contract)

2012-11-09T19:18:00.000-05:00

AT&T will offer a $100 discount on iPads with a 2 year data contract.

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, AT&T* today announced it is offering a promotional discount to tablet customers. Beginning Friday, Nov. 9, customers will receive $100 off any tablet purchased at an AT&T company owned store or online at www.att.com or at selected agents or retailers with a two-year data plan agreement.

I have always thought it would be great for the carriers to subsidize the additional $130 for a cellular enabled iPad, this deal is getting pretty close. If I could get a cellular iPad for the same price as a wi-fi only model, even if I had to get a contract, I would be much more likely to get the cellular enabled model.

What's up with Apple's iPad Announcements?

2012-10-25T10:59:00.000-04:00

My latest post is up on MyMac.com

Following Apple’s recent iPad announcement, there were two big questions that most people had. First, why update the New (now old) iPad? And second, why such a high price on the iPad mini? To answer these questions, we need to take out our crystal ball and gaze into 2013...

Click Here to read the rest.

Is Apple planning another event for October?

2012-09-21T10:21:00.000-04:00

Check out my latest post over at MyMac.com.

Hot on the heals of the Apple’s September 12th iPhone 5 event could be another event this October. It was originally thought that Apple might also debut its smaller iPad during its iPhone launch event. However, as the date approached, it was suggested that Apple did not want the new iPad to share the stage with the iPhone 5 and would instead wait a month or so to debut the smaller iPad...

Click here to read the rest.

On iPad ‘Mini/7′ colors, TV remote, pocket-ability, price and kids

2012-07-23T13:55:00.000-04:00

Seth Weintraub writing for 9-to-5 Mac also gets the need for a smaller iPad.

Remember: Steve Jobs said you need to sharpen your fingers to use a 7-inch tablet. Well, kids have ‘sharp’ fingers and even sharper eyes, and the whole 10-inch experience scales down to a ‘scaled down person’ very nicely.

Hmm, where have I seen this idea before?

Read the whole story here.

Why the mini-tablet is the children's toy of the year

2012-07-21T12:32:00.000-04:00

Mike Elgan, writing for Computer World, gets the reason why the iPad mini needs to happen.

iPads for children became a surprisingly huge phenomenon, which toy companies and others jumping on board with apps galore.

Read the whole story here.

WWDC Keynote Recap

2012-06-20T22:39:00.000-04:00

Apple kicked off last week’s annual developer conference with the company’s customary keynote address. Click here for my take on the WWDC presentation’s content on MyMac.com.

Why 1984 was like 1944

2012-05-08T12:38:00.000-04:00

Check out this Apple Sales Video created in 1984.

Click here to view the video.

Click here for the back story on how the video came to be.

Embracing the educational iOS device

2012-04-10T17:28:00.001-04:00

Good article by Chris Breen over at MacWorld about the reactions to children using iOS devices.

I recently offered some advice on how to configure an old iPad for a child, and while the subsequent reaction was largely positive, there were the few (and expected) replies that suggested exposing a child to an iPad would lead to a machine-dependent future, devoid of fresh air, firm muscle tone, and true human interaction.

Check out the whole story here.

The difference between 7″ and 7.85″ is everything

2012-04-05T11:30:00.000-04:00

Here is a different take from Kosmatos on Tech on a 7" device from Apple that is more of an iPod Maxi as opposed to an iPad Mini.

A 7″ diagonal screen (7.08″ to be exact) just happens to be the exact size of two by two iPod touch retina displays. That’s a 4″ x 6″ display surface. An iPod touch screen has 326 PPI. The 7″ screen would also have 326 PPI just like iPhones and iPods. This would yield a resolution of 1920 x 1280. This resolution would be able to run current retina iPhone applications pixel perfect using the traditional 4:1 pixel scaling, like retina displays do with non-retina apps.

Read the entire post here.

What Will We See in iOS 6?

2012-04-05T09:17:00.000-04:00

Check out my latest article over on MyMac.com.

With iOS 5.1 out now and WWDC coming up, most likely in June, we should start getting a picture of what will be coming in iOS 6.

Click here to read the entire article.

The YouTube Collection

2012-04-03T20:14:00.000-04:00

Get the best of YouTube now on DVD!

Why Apple is important to the U.S. Economy.

2012-04-02T19:38:00.000-04:00

A good article over at Time on the importance of Apple to the U.S. Economy as a whole.

Now of course we can point out all the many ways Apple has been important to the technology industry at large, but I think that looking at the question as it relates to America is an interesting theme. Therefore, I’ve decided to focus my column this week on this question of what Apple has meant to America and why America needs Apple to keep doing what it’s doing.

Read the entire article here.

How Apple is making the world a better place.

2012-03-31T22:52:00.000-04:00

A great post by Mike Elgan over at Cult of Mac about how Apple is improving the world.

Apple is the global economy’s single most powerful economic force opposing a great death spiral in which margins are squeezed, goods get shoddier, people make less money and our lives just get cheaper in every way.

Read the entire post here.

Twelve Lessons of Steve Jobs

2012-03-30T19:30:00.000-04:00

Here is a great TEDx presentation by Guy Kawasaki about the 12 things he learned from Steve Jobs.

The Apple Experience

2012-03-30T12:05:00.000-04:00

Here's a good article over at 9to5mac.com about a new book called The Apple Experience by Carmine Gallo:

If you are wondering why your recent trip to the Apple Store left you loving Apple more than ever and want your customers to feel the same way about your company, we’ve got the book for you.
The Apple Experience by veteran Apple/Technology author Carmine Gallo deep dives into the Apple Retail experience and breaks down exactly what it is that Apple retail employees are trained to do to make a customer feel good about an experience (and want to come back). The 235 page book goes through every aspect of employee training and pours through countless hours of interviews with employees and shoppers on Apple’sApproach, Probe, Present, Listen, End five steps of service.

The article contains a fascinating excerpt from the book about a buying experience at an Apple Store.

Why Apple will build the iPad Mini...

2012-03-27T09:34:00.000-04:00

A.T. Faust III over at AppAdvice explains why it makes total sense for Apple to build the 7.85 inch display iPad Mini.

Apple will release a 7.85-inch tablet later this year. And yes, it’s going to be called the iPad mini. It may or may not have the “skinny” bezel everyone’s been talking about, but two things are crystal clear: It’ll sport a 163 PPI 1024 x 768 display, and lots of folks are going to buy it.

Read the entire story here.

Would Steve Jobs Have Released The iPad 3?

2012-03-26T10:32:00.000-04:00

This question is going to be asked from now on for every Apple product release. Here's a good article by Gene Marks over at Forbes.com:

"Of course he would. For starters, these problems are not significant. I’ve been selling Microsoft products for years. Believe me…I know what significant problems are! Yes, the iPad 3 runs a little hotter. But no one’s saying it’s going to catch on fire..."

Do Apple's Education Announcements Pave the Way for the ePad?

2012-01-21T19:51:00.000-05:00

View my latest post now on MyMac.com!!

What Should Apple Do About Pro Users?

2011-11-15T16:22:00.001-05:00

With Apple's business moving more and more towards the consumer segment, what should Apple do to keep supporting their professional users that have supported them through thick and thin? Clearly, recent moves by Apple have upset their professional user base, take for example the recent Final Cut X debacle. Lion's new features are clearly aimed at the consumer user as well. And add to this the current rumors of the possible demise of the MacPro and the possible "airification" of the MacBook Pro line. Apple is risking alienating some of its most loyal and core users. So what should Apple do to continue to support this smaller segment of the user base without slowing down the momentum of it new growing consumer business?

I think Apple should spin-off the professional business from the main company. Basically, make a new company that focuses on the needs of the professional market, that is not hampered by the traditional closed and secretive consumer products company. This new company would be the first (and maybe only) licensee of OS X and would build desktop and notebooks for high end users at high end prices, kind of like Dell's Alienware division. Since this new company would still be controlled by Apple, there would be no risk of them building machines that would hurt the sales of iMacs or MacBook Airs, but would still give the high end professional user the option to stick OS X instead of forcing them to Windows or Linux because there isn't any Apple supported hardware that does what they need. In fact, at some point, maybe OS X would be forked into a consumer and professional version or transferred over to the new company all together as it becomes less important to Apple.

This new company could also choose to re-enter the enterprise market and would be more friendly to enterprise IT departments and actually have long term road maps and maintain support for legacy hardware and software. They could bring back products like the XServe if there is a demand for it. They could make enterprise software products for OS X and iOS. As a separate company, they would be responsible for their own R&D and product designs as well as their own profits and losses.

I think separating the two markets allows Apple to focus its energy on its new consumer focused products while allowing the professional market to still be served without resorting to a full blown OS X licensing strategy right now. Maybe in the future Apple will license or even open source OS X, but this would allow them to move towards that in a slower, controlled manner, while continuing to support pro user that has always supported them.

What can we expect from Apple's upcoming iPhone announcement?

2011-09-30T20:09:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday October 4th, Tim Cook will deliver his first key note (Cook Key?) as CEO of Apple. From the invitation, we can pretty much assume he will be introducing the latest addition to the iPhone family. So what will this new iPhone be? There have been rumors ranging anywhere from a speed bumped version of the iPhone 4 (being referred to as the iPhone 4S) to an all-new thinner tear-drop shaped iPhone 5 with a larger screen and a wider, capactive home button.

What do I expect to see?... My money is on the speed bumped iPhone 4S model. This new iPhone will come in the same form factor as the current iPhone 4 and be equppied with an A5 processer, an 8MP rear camera and work on both CDMA and GSM networks (including AT&T, Verizon and now Sprint as well) but will still only be a 3G phone (except for maybe support for AT&T's HSPA+ pseudo 4G network). It will come in 16GB and 32GB models priced at the same $199 and $299 and be available in both black and white. There will also be a new iPhone 4 model with 8GB priced at $99, replacing the 3GS as the budget option.

The big question is... how will this be received? The iPhone 4 is now almost 16 months on the market and we are used to new models every 12 months. I can't help but think many people will be expecting much more after waiting an extra 4 months, especially Verizon customers who have been holding out for the new phone. Many Verizon customers (myself included) may have held off upgrading to the CDMA iPhone 4 back in March expecting a new model in June or July. Then they had to wait another 4 months, only to get a minor speed bumped revision of the same phone. This will be a big test for Tim Cook, will he be able to invoke Steve's famous Reality Distortion Field and convince the masses that this new phone was worth the wait? Will there be a big surprise or "one more thing"? And if so, what will it be?...

There are a couple of possibilties. One could be that they are doubling the storage capacity on all of the models. The entry level iPhone 4 will have 16GB and the new iPhone 4S will come in 32GB and 64GB models at the same $199 and $299 price point. Or maybe the entry level is still 8GB, but there will be 3 models of the iPhone 4S with 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. Another possible surprise could be the rumored addition of a voice controlled assistant built-in to iOS 5. This was rumored to be announced back at WWDC, but Apple may have been saving this as a last minute addition. What do I think? I think the voice assistant may be announced and demoed next week, but more likely as a feature of an upcoming iOS 5.1 realease to be delivered early next year. I would think this would need at least some time in a developer beta before being released.

Apple seems to have done a really good job this time not tipping their hand. The rumors have been flying like crazy and no phones have been lost in a bar and sold to a tablog for them to reveal to the whole world. But I really think alot of people are going to be let down when their favorite rumor does not turn out to be reality. All we can do now is wait and see...