It is that time of the year again. With Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference right around the corner, the time for all the Apple rumors to surface has come yet again. And with this comes another, of a possible new iteration to the ubiquitous MacBook Air line of laptops. All leading retailers of the product such as Amazon, B&H, MacConnection and many more have claimed that the most popular 13 inch iteration of the product is completely sold out. Anyone who is desperately looking to buy a MacBook now should just wait a while, as Neil Hughes of Apple Insider predicts that this seems to be the perfect build up to the launch of a new MacBook.

It has always been the case that whenever there is an arrival of a new product from Apple, whether laptop or tablet, the company slows down production and supply of current generation products in order to clear inventory and help make way for the new product. Tech analysts have understood the command that Apple has over its market and are viewing this as a certain sign of a new product that should come up soon. And soon in this context would definitely mean WWDC 2013. Apple typically has an inventory of one week, which is second only to McDonald’s in terms of efficiency. Since Apple’s supply chain is quite robust, a ‘sold out’ status only implies that a refresh of the line is on the way soon.

New product launches were expected in 2012 at the WWDC and Apple did not fail to disappoint, bringing in newer versions of the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air, more importantly incorporating the highly acclaimed Retina Display into its range of laptops. KGI Securities employee Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted that Apple’s new range of laptops would incorporate the new Intel Haswell processors in it. Haswell is the successor to Intel’s currently existing Ivy Bridge architecture, with its release expected to be on June 3^rd, placing it exactly a week before the WWDC.

This places the chronology of events beautifully for Apple to utilize the new processors in their laptops, which should be out in the market by June. Hopefully, the new line of Haswell processors will bring lower heat generation and much lower TDP, since the Macbook line is particularly prone to overheating.

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Chief Executive Officer of Yahoo Marissa Mayer is like a kid at a candy store in recent times. Yahoo with her as the CEO has been continually acquiring new companies with an alarming frequency that has made the competition to take notice. But for Yahoo, all acquisitions are occurring only in the hope of keeping them alive in the market. Even after acquiring 9 companies since the arrival of Marissa Mayer, the company seems to be hungry for more with their sights keenly set on their next target, the micro-blogging site Tumblr.

Founded in 2007, the company has been going from strength to strength since. Tumblr has raised nearly $125 million from its various investors. With their current valuation said to be at $800 million, Yahoo is ready to offer to take over the company from its current owners by offering a deal of $1.1 billion in cash. The company’s last year revenue figures touched $13 million and it is expected to touch a $100 million this year. Yahoo believes that this acquisition would make it a more mobile centric company, because the maximum numbers of users using Tumblr’s services do it from their handsets. A lock up deal is set to be in place to prevent bidding wars with other parties such as Facebook and Microsoft who have also expressed their interest in acquiring Tumblr.

An acquisition by Facebook seems to be more relevant because the company needs to keep doing something new to stay relevant in the social networking domain and an extra $100 million in advertising revenue wouldn’t hurt anyone. Microsoft’s plans of acquiring Tumblr on the other hand seem far less sensible to various analysts. Such a move would not benefit Microsoft in anyway other than to keep Yahoo and its growth in check at all times. A weaker Yahoo is always welcomed by Microsoft who as claimed by analysts are entering the bidding war, just to make sure Yahoo ends up paying a higher price than they had hoped to.

The problems of Tumblr’s new owners will have to face are mainly on two domains, the first being the over whelming presence of pornography in their pages which could potentially scare off advertisers. Second would be the main user base of Tumblr, which are hipster women. This fickle minded user base could decide overnight that Tumblr isn’t cool anymore and that would lead to the revenues of the company going downhill in a flash. Then again, the best thing to happen for Tumblr is to strike a deal with Yahoo, which would ensure both companies stay relevant for a longer period of time.

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Microsoft’s entry into the smartphone market has never been a stroll in the park. The company struggled to find a stable customer base with its Windows Phone 7 OS. However, it pinned its hopes on Windows Phone 8 to rescue it from its misery. Things so far have been bleak (but getting better now), as the company along with Nokia struggles to obtain results. The lack of apps offered in the store is believed to be the reason for its meagre adoption, according to several analysts. This hasn’t stopped Microsoft from continuing to invest time and effort on development of its OS. The company has now started revealing a little on what Windows Phone users can expect in the next update to the OS, dubbed ‘GDR2’.

On May 14^th the company shared some of the General Distribution Release (GDR) 2 features in what was a blog post about the newly launched Nokia Lumia 925. The phone, which has been named ‘Catwalk’, will release on Vodafone sometime in June and a little while after. This is the first Nokia smartphone to employ a lighter weight aluminium body. According to several reliable sources, Nokia plans of releasing three such GDR updates for the Windows Phone 8 operating system before releasing the much hyped and much anticipated Windows Phone Blue.

The so called ‘Portico’ update released last year is considered the GDR1 update. The GDR2 update, (the name is yet to be released by Microsoft) is officially expected to release this summer. GDR3 on the other hand will arrive in fall. The much anticipated Windows Phone Blue is set for a 2014 release claim the aforementioned reliable sources. The blog post explains some of the minor improvements and updates that the new update will bring to the phone. The post further went on to suggest that the update would be similar in size to the ‘Portico’ and will primarily address Wi-Fi and messaging improvements among other small ones.

According to officials, the news update is expected to include CalDAV and CardDAV support. There were several rumours in the industry pertaining to the inclusion of CalDAV and CardDAV in GDR2. The update will also see the reintroduction of FM radio on phones, a feature that was omitted out of the Windows Phone 8. Several other minor updates on downloading and pinning tunes on the Xbox store are also expected.

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New changes are all set to dawn Apple Care, Apple’s support plan and a helpful service which not only consists of hardware warranties but also technical support for anyone who purchases an Apple product. Apple has been rumoured to be working towards the improvement of Apple Care as the number of users purchasing tablets, PCs and phones continues to rise. Despite the many rumours, nothing seems to have set in motion just yet, as discussions pertaining to the same have been held in a session that saw the company’s tech staff meet with the Vice President Tara Bunch. These were some of the solid rumours that surfaced from the rumour mill, and readers are advised to take them with a pinch of salt.

The source who revealed these rumours claims that Apple is looking at options to transform the existing procedure that is followed at retail outlets when it comes to handling repairs of products like the iPad or iPhone. Instead of replacing the malfunctioning device with a new model, Apple employees under the new policy that is rumoured to be in discussion will attempt to repair the problem and returning the device after the problem has been rectified.

So, why would a company like Apple attempt to usher in such a major change in its replacement policy? The answer to that lies in the fact that Apple will save almost a billion dollars if it decides to adopt these plans. Several rumours are floating about suggesting the possibility of this approach being implemented starting July. If that happens, retail outlets will be trained in the handling of display replacements, broken cameras, sleep/wake button issues and logic boards. This is an addition to the already existent skill set which includes battery issues, problem with vibrator motors and speakers, among others.

Apple is also rumoured to be changing the way Apple Care functions i.e. switching it from a pay per device model to a subscription one or adding a new tier to the already existing ones within Apple Care. This change would permit Apple users to pick up a combined policy for all their devices rather than purchasing a separate one for each device. Apple Insider is reporting that this move would see 24/7 support access to users. Furthermore, the site added that these are mere rumours, and the final release may differ in one way or the other. Apple is also rumoured to extending its policy of extending its free support policy from 90 days to one year.

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The latest press release by Finnish mobile giant Nokia released the price and availability of its latest flagship phone, the Nokia Lumia 928. Along with this unveiling, Nokia and Microsoft also revealed that the Windows Phone 8 app store plays host to a total of 145,000 apps. This is significantly lesser than the Google Play store or Apple’s iStore, the two heavy weights of the smartphone industry. With numbers as of last fall, the two big market leaders host a total of 700,000 apps each.

Microsoft’s swift strategy to enter the smartphone market began proper last fall with the launch of Windows Phone 8. Windows Phone 8 was designed with the intention of competing against the heavy weights of the smartphone industry, namely, Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. Microsoft had planned on backing Nokia and capturing a growing horde of consumers ditching feature phones for smartphones. The numbers as of April have been rather abysmal for the Microsoft backed OS. Its market share currently stands at 1.14 percent, which places at it fourth in the pecking order. Windows Phone stands behind the RIM’s BlackBerry OS, which is disgraceful given the fact that several analysts are predicting an end to BlackBerry’s presence in the smartphone market.

Microsoft however, seems hopeful that the launch of new devices like the Nokia Lumia 928 will boost Windows Phone 8’s adoption rate and in due time increase the US market share of Windows Phone 8. Microsoft seems to be using affordability as a key value point in this quest. The Lumia 928 is expected to be sold at $99 with a two year contract accompanied with a $25 credit in the Windows Phone app store. One key area where this phone is missing out is reach, as the Lumia 928 will only be launched on Verizon.

If Microsoft hopes for better numbers, analysts assert that launching the phone on other carriers is a must. Another way Microsoft is missing out lies in the lack of key apps. There is no official Facebook app in the Windows Phone app store, which only shows lack of support from big names in the industry. If there is a Windows Phone 9, it should be interesting to see if Microsoft learns from its prior mistakes and rectifies them. The only thing left to do now is see whether the Lumia 928 does what the 920 couldn’t – capture significant attention in the United States, which is Nokia’s weakest and yet most important market.

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Samsung’s flagship device, the Galaxy S 4, actually costs $237 to manufacture. IHS, a market research firm conducted the tear down analysis recently by obtaining the cost of the components and manufacturing for the 32GB version of the model available in the US. 

The South Korean manufacturer has used many components to make the high end smartphone and most of these components have been produced by various subsidiaries of the company itself. This is one of the reasons of Samsung’s success as most of the other companies get their components from many suppliers for different
prices and there have been many instances where these suppliers have caused issues for the manufacturer.

Not all Galaxy S IV devices sold around the world are the same. While Samsung chose to use its own Exynos 5 Octa processor for the Korean versions, Qualcomm manufactured Snapdragon processors were utilized for the US versions. There are also cost differences between these chips, cost of Exynos being $28 and Snapdragon priced at $20. Not just across countries, within nations as well the company has been selling modified versions of the same device with different carriers.

For example, AT&T and T-Mobile offer one variant of Galaxy S4, whereas Verizon Wireless and Sprint offer another variant. In addition to the processor, there are also differences in the image processing chips used in the US and Korean versions. While the U.S. versions include a chip made by Japan’s Fujitsu, Samsung’s Exynos handles the image processing in the Korean versions. The Fujitsu chip added $1.50 to the total cost of production of the smartphone.

The components manufactured by Samsung’s own companies included the flash memory, 16GB of which cost $28 and display and touch screen parts, which cost $75. The display includes the Gorilla Glass manufactured by Corning, a US based company. The camera module for Galaxy S4, some wireless baseband chips and many other unlabelled parts have also been manufactured by the company by itself. The outsourced components mainly include the connectivity chips from Broadcomm, power management chips from Maxim and some wireless chips from Triquint Semiconductor. However, Samsung’s manufacturing costs are higher than that of a 16GB version of Apple iPhone 5, which costs $205 and even the Nokia Lumia 900, which costs $209 to build.

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In a bid to regain lost market share to Samsung, Sony is focusing on its Xperia range of smartphones and Bravia TVs. According to a statement released by the company recently, its net income may rise to 50 billion yen from 43 billion yen last year. Sony had to resort to job cuts and asset sales in order to cut substantial losses last year, which had also been caused because of the fall of Yen and the company’s backing of movies like the Amazing Spiderman. The last quarter of 2012 had seen Samsung outselling Sony smartphones by 6 to 1. The movie studio had managed to do business worth $1.84 billion in US last year. Sony generated about $2 billion by selling stock holdings, properties like its New York headquarters, chemical units, etc.

Next year, Sony’s operating profits have been predicted to rise to 230 billion yen by its officials, which is comparable to the 208 billion yen profits that analysts have estimated. Similarly, sales have been predicted to increase to 7.5 trillion yen in a year. For the ninth consecutive year, Sony’s TV business turned out to be unprofitable as the company incurred losses up to 69.6 billion yen. As a result, its revenue share in the market dropped from 11.2 percent in 2011 to 7.8 percent last year. Sony is now focusing on high end Bravia TV series in order to make a comeback. Currently, the world’s third-largest TV maker anticipates selling 16 million TVs this year, 2.5 million units more than from the last year. As a result, Sony will soon be releasing two new ultra-high definition TVs, the first one being a 55-inch set costing 500,000 yen and the second being a 65-inch set costing 750,000 yen.

On the other hand, Sony’s smartphone sales are expected to rise to 42 million units from 33 million units, thereby expanding its share in the global market, increasing it to 4.5 percent from 3.9 percent in the last quarter of 2012. However, its camera sales are expected to amount to 13.5 million, a drop from 17 million units. Sony’s other segment, the gaming segment, which it entered with its Playstation series, is also expected to decline with sales falling to 5 million units from the present 7 million units. This, however, is expected to rise when the new Playstation 4 is released.

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Of the 253 million tablets sold since 2010, Microsoft Surface contributes only 2 million whilke a whopping 141 million iPads have been sold. At this juncture, it is only natural for Bill Gates’ statement made three years ago to pop up in mind. Back in 2010, Gates stated that there was nothing inthe iPad that he regretted not having included in Microsoft products. The Microsoft founder continues to have the same opinion. Surface made it to the list of top 5 tablets in the first quarter of this year with 900,000 devices being shipped, thereby giving it a 1.9% share in the market. The company is further planning to expand distribution to improve availability, and there are also rumours of an upgraded 7 inch Surface tablet releasing in June.

In a recent interview, Gates said that Windows 8 will be the one that begins to blur the line between PCs and tablets. He added that iPad and Android tablet users are frustrated due to the lack of ease in typing and creating documents like on a PC and as a result, PC-tablet hybrids like Surface will soon dominate the tablet market as they pack the benefits of both tablets and PCs. Gates explained that with Microsoft Surface and Surface Pro, users get the portability of a tablet and also the grandness of a PC in terms of the physical keyboard and Microsoft Office suite. Additionally, Microsoft has the advantages over others that it has things that are unique for the business and that it does deep software and services. The PC market, ruled by Microsoft, generates about $80bn (£51.4bn) revenue annually despite a continuous decline in volumes.

Gates does not have the same positive response when it comes to China, where the company is losing out on profits due to a high level of piracy. 77% percent of the Windows and Office software used in China are reportedly pirated and the problem not only exists among individual customers, but in large institutions too. Microsoft is in constant talks with the companies and the Chinese government on how the compliance rates could be taken to higher levels.

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The medical industry is going through a revolution, with various companies introducing miniature health monitoring devices that can be plugged in to smartphones. These mobile machines help doctors analyse the conditions of patients with the data e-mailed to them and without a physical visit to the hospital. Joseph Flaherty from AgaMatrix, a company that manufactures a small glucose monitor compatible with a smartphone, says that the aim of the company was to make sure people had all the necessary tools within their reach. The device called iBGStar can be plugged into an iPhone to find out the blood sugar level of the user.

Another popular device in this segment is the heart monitor named AliveCor. All that user needs to do to get an EKG reading in just 30 seconds is to fix the device as a smartphone case and place their fingers on the sensors. AliveCor is available in the market for $199. The advantages of such instruments are aplenty. There are no complicated and messy wires, users need not visit the doctor unless necessary and doctors can get the reading in real time and not once the symptoms have abated or grown worse.

Another great example of healthcare via mobile devices is iExaminer, which makes use of the phone’s camera to photograph the inside of the eye. Some of these devices are suggested and sold by pharmacists and doctors whereas the rest like the diabetes monitor have made use of the Apple Store to reach out to customers. Physicians are in full support of these devices as it makes work easier and more accurate for them. They do not have to waste time on regular checkups when they get the required reports through email. An eminent cardiologist from San Diego, Eric Topol, was able to diagnose an irregular heartbeat while on a plane with the help of the miniature EKG.

The University of California, San Francisco, is planning to conduct an eHeart Study to analyse how such devices that use mobile technology help prevent cardio vascular diseases and is hoping to enrol 1 million people for it. These devices are particularly useful in developing countries which have shortage of medical equipments and a plenitude of smartphones. Countries like China and India with a vast population and limited access to healthcare stand to benefit vastly, as do developed countries with the need for ever faster access to healthcare.

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In a move to improve code compatibility with different mobile platforms, Embarcadero Technologies has introduced a new development suite named RAD Studio XE4. The suite will come as a relief for companies that are stuck with codes written in languages like Pascal and its descendant Delphi, which are now considered outdated.

Embarcadero Technologies, which bought Delphi from Borland in 2008, states that the language is still powerful and efficient enough to compete with modern programming languages. Delphi is still in use by many organizations; for example, Medical Objects, a company that developed software presently used by around twenty thousand health care providers in Australia. Embarcadero firmly believes that the language is flexible enough to make the old code usable for a variety of applications. It’s Senior Director for Asia Pacific and Japan, Malcolm Groves, stated that Delphi has been kept more up to date than the others as is evident from features like generics and closures that it has (which Java doesn’t support yet).

RAD Studio XE4 suite was developed with the intention of solving performance and latency issues by eliminating any scripting or interpretive layers. Grover said that many companies intend to shift from Delphi to languages like .NET. This suite will allow developers to create native apps for many platforms at a time. Presently apps for iOS are written in Objective C and Android apps are written in Java. Additionally, businesses that already have code, but in Delphi, can easily port it to iOS and Android without much hassle. Even companies which have not used Delphi can port their code for iOS to Android and vice versa. There will be no throwing away of old code or necessity for extra work by re-writing it.

Earlier, those intending to convert code in Delphi for iOS and Android would develop an HTML5 app, but that has its own set of problems. Even applications for Windows and Mac are controlled by the apps which contain codes like ‘if on Mac, do this; if on Windows, do that’. Android and iOS are structurally different and have many differences in features. For example, Android has modular intents which may result in ports of iOS code failing to work. Though the demand for Delphi applications on Android or iOS is debatable, easy porting from the now-obsolete language could open a range of hitherto unexplored uses of mobile technology (like the aforementioned software by Medical Objects).

article from: Mobile Bloom