Apple picker This time, Apple Week is exceptionally published on Monday, in any case, even with the delay, you can read interesting news and news from Apple.
Apple saves billions in taxes in an interesting way (April 29)
Daily New York Times published an extensive article last week about Apple's practices that save billions in taxes. It achieves this through well-chosen offices in certain states for certain financial operations. For example, in the state of Nevada, where Apple manages and invests some of the cash, the corporate tax is zero, but in its home state of California it is 8,84%. Similarly, Apple has gone global, setting up offices in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland or the British Virgin Islands.
However, there is nothing illegal about these practices, rather they point to how tech companies use loopholes to minimize taxes, which is understandable on the one hand. At the same time, interesting situations arise, for example, last year the American chain Walmart paid 24,4 billion in taxes out of a profit of 5,9 billion dollars, Apple with a profit of 34,2 billion paid a little over half - 3,3 billion dollars.
Source: macstories.net
Apple and Microsoft will have to explain their prices in Australia (30/4)
Apple and Microsoft are among several companies that have been asked by the Australian government to explain their pricing policies in the Australian market. For example, Apple sells Mac OS X Server 10.6 here for $699, although in America it is sold for only $499, which is a difference of almost 4 crowns. There's also a difference in iTunes prices - albums that sell for $10 in the US sell for more than $20 in Australia. And all this despite the fact that the difference between the Australian and American dollars is minimal. In the past, companies have argued that Australia is a small market and that infrastructure and transport drive up prices. However, the government does not consider this to be a good enough reason, and therefore invited Apple and Microsoft, among others, to explain the problem of their prices.
Source: TUAW.com
Apple warns developers again about Developer ID and Gatekeeper (April 30)
Apple as well Two months ago sent out an email to developers announcing the arrival of Developer ID and Gatekeeper. Apple is urging those developers who have not yet submitted their apps to the Mac App Store to prepare for the new Gatekeeper service that will be part of the new Mountain Lion operating system. Apple plans that by default Mountain Lion will be set to install only applications signed by Apple, which will guarantee their security.
Source: 9to5Mac.com
Jessica Jensen from Yahoo joins the iAd team (April 30)
Apple is said to have acquired Jessica Jensen from Yahoo, who should join the iAd mobile advertising team in Cupertino. Jensen's departure from Yahoo was confirmed to All Things D by Kara Swisher, with her expected to move to Apple immediately. At Yahoo, Jensen ran the women's site Shine, which was one of the best of its kind in the US. She also oversaw the lifestyle and health business, and her departure is bad news for new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson. At Apple, however, Jensen should participate in the rebuilding of the failed iAd service. He will work under Todd Teresi, who also previously worked at Yahoo and Apple acquired it earlier this year.
Source: AppleInsider.com
JamBone Company Introduces BIG JAMBOX Speaker (1/5)
Weighing 1,23 kg, the cube measures 25,6 cm x 8 cm x 9,3 cm and you can use it as a suitable home accessory for your iDevice. Thanks to the built-in battery, you can carry it even outside the warmth of your home, while it can play for a good 15 hours without power. Just like a little brother JamBox it can recognize voice commands, but it also got buttons to control music. There is no need to reach for an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch at all. The connection takes place via Bluetooth via AirPlay.
As for the sound quality, it should be very similar to the smaller JamBox, which can pump out a decent amount of bass. In general, however, sound is very difficult to describe, so it's always best to experience everything related to audio in person. Of course, if the possibility exists. The JamBox retails for $200, pre-ordering the BIG JAMBOX will cost you another hundred dollars more.
source: CultOfMac.com
Will Apple become a virtual mobile operator? (1/5)
Server & Hosting 9to5Mac pointed out Whitney Bluestein's interesting presentation that took place at the last Virtual Operators Summit in Barcelona. This analyst believes that Apple will start providing its own wireless services in the near future. This is not the first time we hear such rumors. Now, however, Bluestein attacked with fairly convincing arguments why the company behind the iPhone should also become a virtual operator.
To begin with, it should be explained what a virtual operator or MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) actually is. This type of operator does not have a license or its own infrastructure and is only related to the end customer. In short, virtual operators rent part of the network from a regular operator and then provide services to customers at favorable prices.
Whitney Bluestein cited a number of factors that lead him to the aforementioned assumptions, including a recently filed patent application. According to Bluestein, Apple will start offering data packages for its iPad first and then add a complete service for its iPhone as well. All data purchases, calls and texts could be made using an iTunes account.
Of course, all of the above would be great. Apple has perhaps the highest percentage of satisfied customers in any of its segments, and if it were to get into mobile services, it would certainly be no different here. The problem, however, is that until such a thing is confirmed by Apple management itself, Apple's virtual operator will remain just one of many rumors.
Source: iDownloadblog.com
Television designed for Apple TV (3/5)
Bang & Olufsen, the Danish manufacturer of premium consumer electronics, launched two new televisions in 32″ and 40″ versions with 1080p resolution. The television boasts a minimalist design typical of Apple products, offers 5 HDMI inputs and one USB port. Most interesting for Apple fans, however, is that it contains a special space in the back intended specifically for Apple TV. The package also includes a controller that can control the Apple TV itself. Bang & Olufsen products are certainly not among the cheapest, for the aforementioned V1 TV you will pay 2 pounds, or £000 for the 2″ version.
Source: CultOfMac.com
Apple is working on haptics (3/5)
Displays with a tactile response are among the most anticipated technological advances of the near future. Already this year at MWC 2012 in Barcelona, the company Senseg presented a display that, although it still had a smooth surface, but thanks to electric fields with a different character and intensity. Apple is certainly working on its "tactile" display, because it has patented one of its ideas.
The haptic system will be able to deform the iDevice display so that the user will be able to feel a button, arrow or even maps under his finger, which would literally pop up on the display. If even that doesn't sound "cool" enough, Apple's patent identifies flexible OLED displays as one possible technology in haptics.
source: 9To5Mac.com, PatentlyApple.com
The iPhone has a share of 8,8% among all mobile phones. Still, it moves the market and collects 73% of global profits (3/5)
The world market for mobile phones is growing rapidly, and most of the profits go to Apple, even though the iPhone is only a relatively small minority of the market. According to analyst Horace Dediu, profits from all cell phone sales were below $4 billion per quarter even before the release of the iPhone 6. But in the past two years, profits have gone from $5,3 billion in quarters in 2010 to more than $14,4 billion in the most recent quarter. The money from this shopping boom goes almost exclusively to Apple.
Next to Apple, which receives 73% of the profits from the sale of all mobile phones, only Samsung is a big player that can noticeably move the market. In 2007, when Apple introduced its first iPhone, Nokia was the market leader, but other manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, HTC and RIM reported profits. Now Nokia has reported a loss of $1,2 billion for the most recent quarter, and former market favorites HTC and RIM are also losing much of their former glory.
Source: AppleInsider.com
The cause of last year's iPhone spontaneous combustion has been revealed (4/5)
Last November, the news that an iPhone 4 spontaneously combusted on board a plane that had just landed in Sydney received a fair amount of attention. Now the server ZDNet.com.au writes about the interesting conclusions reached by the Australian government officials conducting the investigation. A "stray" screw is said to have pierced the battery, causing it to overheat and also cause an electrical short. It was all caused by a botched production process. The screw that caused the problem came from the area near the 30pin connector.
In last year's incident, thick smoke was said to be coming from the iPhone and the device was emitting a red glow. No one was injured, but the incident highlighted the potential dangers of devices with powerful lithium batteries on board an aircraft.
Source: MacRumors.com
AT&T boss regrets offering unlimited data, fears iMessage (4/5)
US operator AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson made interesting statements at the Milken Institute's Global Conference, including an admission of error in offering customers unlimited data plans. Stephenson revealed that such offers should never have been made by AT&T, in addition to boosting iMessage, which cuts into SMS and MMS revenue.
"I only regret one thing - the way we set the price policy at the beginning. Because how did we set it up? Pay thirty dollars and you'll get what you need." Stephenson said during the conference on Wednesday. "And it's a very variable model, because for every extra megabyte that's consumed on this network, I have to pay," continued the CEO of AT&T, who also admitted that he is worried about the power of the iMessage protocol, which is used by Apple in its devices and because of which the number of text messages sent over the networks of operators is decreasing. "I wake up at night and wonder what can destroy our business plan. iMessages are a good example because if you're using iMessage, you're not using one of our text services. It's destroying our earnings.”
the company that produces the jambox is called Jawbone