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Intel Stands To Make $1.5 Billion From iPhone 7

July 12, 2016 By Adam Martin Leave a Comment

Intel could replace Qualcomm as Apple's chip supplier

Intel designed the 7360 LTE modem especially for the iPhone 7.

Intel will be supplying Apple with LTE modems for the iPhone 7 and according to the latest analytical data, the supply numbers are much higher than initially believed.

Apple’s iPhone 7 production line might require Intel to manufacture over 110 million 7360 LTE modems. The new estimate is about 25 percent greater, and the data has been obtained from Appleinsider.

The iPhone 7 will be one of the first Apple products in many generations not to come equipped with a Qualcomm modem. The diversity in supply and components is a strategy which has often been employed by Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, ever since he was given the position.

Hello Intel! Goodbye Qualcomm?

Intel manufactured the 7360 LTE modem especially with the iPhone 7 in mind. Presentations and negotiations have been going on between the two companies as early as October 2015. Apple has even committed a number of its engineers to Intel’s facilities in order to ensure optimal compatibility.

Many believe that Intel’s new in will be Qualcomm’s final out and that Apple plans to no longer collaborate in any measure with its previous modem supplier.

The new order numbers will mean Intel will be making over $1.5 billion in revenue. Considering the coverage of development costs, the revenue would translate into operational profits of over $850 million .

Operational profits aside, analysts consider the collaboration between Apple and Intel to be of great psychological value to the latter party, in regards to Intel’s Client Computing Group.

In the future, it is speculated that Apple plans to also adopt Intel’s A-series processor. Intel’s chipset has lower manufacturing costs, higher efficiency scores, and even a more stable architecture.

The first of the iPhone 7 series will be available in September. However, with the rumors of Intel’s A-series chipset possibly coming in future Apple products getting increased validation, the tech-savvy majority of Apple’s client base may be willing to skip the first iPhone 7 model and wait.

Qualcomm has announced a new Snapdragon processor for handheld devices and initial technical reviews are impressive.

As Intel and Qualcomm both develop new, faster, better, smaller technologies, Tim Cook and Apple will gladly wait it out and utilize the better product for their brand.

How do you feel about the 7360 LTE modem from Intel or about the iPhone 7? Let us know.

Image Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Google’s New Detroit Office

May 26, 2016 By Dustin Smith Leave a Comment

Google’s New Detroit Office

Google has just announced it will open a Detroit office. The company has decided to lay down its self-driving car roots at the outskirts of Detroit. The tech company’s self-driving car project is ready to compete with big players and their traditional vehicles. The new garage will be set to open not far from the auto-industry hub.

The Silicon Valley Company’s new 53,000 square foot center is in Novi, Michigan. The small city’s efforts to put weight on car connectivity technology has apparently paid off. The self-driving car developer team is already working with a few companies located in the area, making the Novi facility an obvious choice.

The new shop is a lot smaller than what the 400,000 square feet the Mountain View Company is looking to buy in the San Francisco area, but for the priority of the team, the Detroit office space is enough. In the Google+ announcement the company said they want to use the Novi space as a base for the self-driving Chrysler Pacifica new hybrid minivans.

This news comes just weeks after Google has announced its partnership with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). The collaboration was made so that Google’s self-driving technology would be implemented into one hundred custom made Chrysler Pacifica hybrids.

This project gives Google the opportunity to test its technology on larger vehicles. Up until now, the company has been using those pod-like vehicles and the Audi TT, Lexus RX450h and Toyota Prius cars.

Google stated that the goal of these collaborations was to “improve road safety and make transportation more accessible for millions of people,” thus “realizing the potential of self-driving technology.”

These strategic moves in the self-driving car industry come at a time when there is a lot of activity in the sector. Many alliances have been formed between traditional car companies and tech firms, including ride-hailing companies like Lyft and Uber. The idea is to become a more aggressive competitor in the areas of electric and self-driving cars.

Google’s new Detroit office news could actually be topped by the rumors revolving around Apple. Reports say Apple is working on its own self-driving technology. The buzz came after the announcement of the $1 billion investment Apple made in the Chinese ride-hailing Didi Chuxing Company.

Image source: Gizmodo

Congress to Bar States from Eavesdropping on their Citizen’s Phone Calls

February 11, 2016 By Adam Martin Leave a Comment

The U.S. House of Representatives plans to introduce a new proposal to prevent warrantless government surveillance across the U.S.

With a bipartisan bill to prevent encryption backdoors from being embedded in smartphones’ security software at state agencies’ request, Congress plans to bar states from eavesdropping on their citizens’ phone calls.

The U.S. House of Representatives announced that the new piece of legislation will be advanced Wednesday. Lawmakers hope that the new rules will help resolve the ongoing tensions between the White House and Silicon Valley.

So far, tech companies and smartphone makers have opposed federal requests to weaken their products’ encryption, or create the so-called encryption backdoors that in theory can only be accessed by state-run agencies.

In the meantime, federal agencies have often complained that they are left in the dark by the strong encryption methods used by criminals to communicate to one another via their phones.

The new law dubbed The ENCRYPT Act explicitly states that no local government or locality can force a “manufacturer, developer, seller, or provider” to create security weaknesses in their products which can be later used by authorities to surveil unsuspecting citizens.

The bill comes months after both California and New York proposed new rules to force phone and app manufacturers to insert security backdoors in smartphones produced after 2017.
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Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu, one of the proponents of the new law, explained that encryption backdoors are not only a threat to individuals’ privacy but they are also ‘technologically unworkable.’ For instance, California cannot order Apple to create a different handset from the ones’ distributed in other states.

As of now, we do not know what fate The ENCRYPT Act will have but in recent years, House members have leaned to a pro-privacy position.

The tensions between federal government and tech companies have subsisted for years now. But the issue became a national controversy after Washington’s reaction to Apple’s and Google’s 2014 decision to make encryption on their products stronger.

FBI Director James Comey recently told Congress that his investigators were not able to access the handset of one of San Bernardino shooters because of the strong encryption methods in his smartphone.

On the other hand, digital privacy right advocates and tech experts have been arguing that any encryption backdoors can be exploited by cyber attackers as well not only intelligence agencies.

But a recent Harvard University report shows that concerns over security of communication may be overblown since with the current state of technology there are other means to track suspects.

Image Source: Wikimedia

Apple Inc. Recently Acquired LearnSprout

January 31, 2016 By Dustin Smith Leave a Comment

Apple wants to use the student analytical sofware in order to get an edge over Google.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) plans to move ahead with its plan to tap into the educational area. For this end, Apple Inc. recently acquired LearnSprout, an academical software which is mainly used to track the student’s performance.

Recently, the tech giant announced that it has purchased LearnSprout, a smaller tech company, which developed educational software. We don’t know for certain what prompted Apple to make this move. However, given the fact that the tech giant has been losing ground to Google, then this new and daring move makes sense.

And, if we took a gander at Apple’s statement we can clearly see that this was not an ad-hoc decision. Far from to be more exact. In December 2015, the Cupertino tech company announced that it is planning on breaking a new deal with IBM.

Back in 2015, Apple along with IBM was thinking of expanding their business ventures in the educational area. Apple’s intended to develop a real-time analytical software that would have been capable of tracking the student’s academical performance. Basically, LearnSprout did the same thing back in the past.

When asked about its recent move, Apple Inc. did not disclose any reason. Instead, the tech company argued that, from time to time, Apple is in the habit of buying out smaller companies. Moreover, in its statement, the tech giant also mentioned the fact that the company is not entitled to discuss every policy with the public.

Apple Inc. recently acquired LearnSprout, a small tech company which designed an academical tracker. Taking into account what Apple had to say, and the overall situation regarding educational software, we can clearly state that this move was necessary because Google, with its state-of-the-art Chromebook, has already seized most of the educational software market.

LearnSprout, the small tech company purchased by Apple, has designed some pretty nifty tools in the educational area. According to the software’s specification, it would seem that it is capable of tracking the student’s academical performances over the year using analytical algorithms.

Moreover, the analytical kit might prove to be very useful not only for the students but for the teachers as well. For example, a teacher can easily keep track of the student’s performance in a given interval. Also, the software is also capable of delivering an early warning to the teacher in case a student is in danger of falling behind.

In conclusion, we can’t say for sure why the tech giant bought LearnSprout, but we can rest assured that the company has an ulterior motive. There are a couple of rumors out there about Apple using the analytical software for iBook or even for iTunes.

Photo credits:www.pixabay.com

Over A Million European Jobs Created by Apple

January 21, 2016 By Dustin Smith Leave a Comment

The App job market is in a continuous expansion and Apple own 75% out of it.

The New Applications Development Center in Italy sums up over a million European jobs created by Apple. It seems that Apple had a beneficial impact on European employment.
It appears that these figured emerged after the authorities in Europe are trying to calculate how much tax Apple has to pay. The company was the first to create jobs in the App department so the authorities couldn’t establish a tax before doing some research upon the new field of work.
According to Michael Mandel, the economic strategist in chief at the Institute for Progressive Policy, the company created a precedent by opening up the job market for software developers specialized in Apps. Before Apple moved to Europe, companies weren’t seeking developers for Android or iOS systems, nobody was fighting for the best coders of mobile applications.
Apple brought the app market in Europe at a time in which smartphone usage was still growing. Android developers were a bit behind on the app market, and so Apple had room to spread its wings.
The data released by the tech giant shows that 242,000 jobs were created in the United Kingdom’s growing App economy, 209,000 were made in Germany, in France Apple only helped 163,000 software developers to find a job and 96,000 were employed in the Netherlands.
Aside the numbers that were just cited, Apple claims that it employs 6,500 people from the United Kingdom directly. This means that 6,500 from the U.K. are on Apple’s personal payroll. The company also declared 646,000 British registered developers.
The important message that Apple wanted to convey to the European authorities trying to make the giant pay taxes is that the company has created jobs in the App department that brought almost $11 billion in the European developers’ pockets. What the company neglects to add is that 30 percent out of the total sales revenue goes to it.
Dr. Mandel notes the fact that in January 2016, there are an estimate of 75 percent App workers in Europe that work in the iOS system.
But Apple isn’t the only employer on the App market, not anymore. Android is also accountable for 75 percent of the jobs in the App department. Windows Phone is far behind with a total of mere 9 percent, and Blackberry has 6 percent.
Over a million European jobs created by Apple brought a profit of almost $11 billion. Tim Cook, the present CEO of Apple declared that the continent harbors the most creative minds when it comes to App development.

Image source: www.photozou.jp

The App Store Had Record-Breaking Sales these Holidays

January 6, 2016 By Ben Beckstrom Leave a Comment

January 1st marked the day with the highest sales figure ever for the App store.

The latest sales report from Apple revealed that the App store had record-breaking sales these holidays. In the period between December 20th and January 3^rd, the app sales surpassed $1.1 billion. Also, the day with the highest sales ever for the App store was the first day of the year, with a $144 million sales figure. The apps were purchased for the iPads, iPhones, Apple Watches, Apple TVs and for the Mac devices.

Las year Apple has been very active on the market, having more than 1.5 million apps available to download in June 2015. Last year has also been the year of the new Apple TV and Apple watch. As the two new devices were released, apps were created especially for them and so the Apple Store expanded more. According to Eddy Cue, apps improve greatly the TV experience and they could be the future of TV.

In 2015, the App Store made $20 billion, with gaming and subscriptions app being the most sold. The top game apps included Minecraft, Clash of Clans, Game of War and Monster Strike. The top messaging apps were WeChat, Facebook Messenger and Snapchat. The top subscription apps last year were Hulu, Match and Netflix.

With this extremely good news for Apple, their reasons for celebration didn’t stop when ours did. The App Store was launched seven years ago, in 2008 and has proven to be one of the best launched of Apple so far. Since it was launched, the store managed to have an impressive sales figure of $40 billion. What is more impressive is that in 2015, one third of the total sum was gained, promising an even greater future for the App store.

Apple is slowly becoming a big job provider, with 1.9 million people working in the United States for the company, of which 1.4 million are IT experts and app developers. In China, Apple offered 1.4 million jobs and 1.2 million in Europe.

The experts predict that the sales for the iPhones are going to decrease in 2016, which was until now the biggest source of the company’s profits, has the people from Apple worried. The App Store not only has had consistent sales, has also grown a lot lately. Also, as the App store had record-breaking sales these holidays, could ease the worry of the Apple experts. As the senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller is now managing the App Store, we expect great apps in 2016.

Image Source: www.art57.photozou.jp

Great News For All Apple Users

December 1, 2015 By Dustin Smith Leave a Comment

Great News For All Apple Users

We’ve got some great news for all Apple users over the world. There is something magical happening in the company! For next year’s iPhone 7 you will be paying a fabulous, extraordinary, sublime price of an extra $100. It is amazing, isn’t it? Some of us have been literally dying looking for ways in which we can empty our pockets for nothing! And here it is: you will be forced to give extra cash for nothing. Who in the world is better at this type of scam than Apple?

You might be wondering: how is Apple doing it? How does this company manage to scam you so hard that you will pay extra money for things that you can find on the market with a $100 price reduction? It is very simple. Even though the wheel was invented thousands of years ago, Apple will put an extra layer on it and present it as the newest wheel to have been ever invented. Next year it is going to put an extra layer on the layer that it put on this year and so on.

So let’s get to the point. Why would you throw away $100 extra on your iPhone? Because Apple wants to make it thinner. In fact, they want to make the thinnest smart phone in the world. Ok, fair enough, but where are the extra $100 going? In the phone? Oh, not. They are going into the headphones that you will be using or the adaptor that you need to use for your most beloved headsets.

The 3.5mm jack that the iPhone currently has is limiting producers from creating the slimmest iPhone ever, so it needs to be removed, of course. But removing it means new headphones, new licensing, more money spent out of your pocket. It’s exciting, isn’t it? It’s fantastic! No? Anyone?

Of course it is not fantastic. The purpose of having an iPhone is to have a good experience which, by the way, is only provided by the iOS. Apple phones have literally failed to bring anything new to the table for years and things will not change now all of a sudden. Apple is just making things look nice, but if you wanted Siri to translate your voicemails into SMS texts, you could do that 5 years ago on another device.

This is the great news for all Apple users. Remember the 5C commercial with “you’ve never seen plastic done like this anywhere else?” Well you’ve never seen money wasted like this anywhere else.

Photo Credits eae2.co.za

The “Gone To Waste” 3.5 MM Jack

November 29, 2015 By Ben Beckstrom Leave a Comment

The “Gone To Waste” 3.5 MM Jack

It is no secret to us that Apple is using “gambling tricks” in the tech field as often as they can. Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as it sounds. The idea is that Apple launches something with the belief that it might one day change the world, but not all things go according to plan. Once such example is the “gone to waste” 3.5 mm jack, headphones that were supposed to change the world. Sadly, they didn’t quite make it, and it looks like the business is backfiring.

Everything started around 1 year and a half ago when Apple started a new licensing program called MFi, which stands for “Made For”. They moved on with the same plan: we release the 3.5 headphone jack and we will see within a few years how they will reshape the word. Not so fast. It turns out that people either did not want them or they did not care enough for them to make an actual impact. So now Apple has some really interesting perspectives that they could look forward to.

If you have been paying attention to 9to5Mac, you might have noticed that 3.5mm jack port is not going to be part of the Apple 7 anymore. That’s big news. Officially, Apple is ditching one of its newest projects. But it is not all about the headphones, just so you know, it is also about Apple’s plans for a phone achievement that could one of the greatest technological advancements.

It appears that the jack is preventing Apple from achieving a great milestone: a more than 1mm reduction. We might be talking about the thinnest phone in the world right her, let alone the thinnest iPhone ever made. This new challenge that Apple has established means that the 3.5mm jack is simply too big for them to maintain, so it’s time to admit that it was not the greatest plan ever and move on.

But it’s all smoke and mirrors until Apple themselves declare that this is what is going to be happening. There has been no official statement concerning this new plan, yet you cannot help but wonder that this can open up the path for new businesses: more licensing potential, revenues can start going up again, it can lead to new technologies and even new apps for those technologies.

Long story cut short: the “gone to waste” 3.5 mm jack might not be so gone to waste after all. It could be the beginning of a newer, stronger business.

Photo Credits flickr.com

Siri Is Going To Have A Sister

November 29, 2015 By Adam Martin Leave a Comment

Siri Is Going To Have A Sister

We would have never thought it possible for Microsoft and Apple to intertwine this way, but it looks like Siri is going to have a sister. Microsoft has made a bold move by adding Cortana into the iOS system. It will be soon launched as a Beta test and iOS users will be able to decide whether Siri remains their most preferred iPhone friend or if they will move to Cortana. This event is truly unique so let’s look at how it might change these two tech giants’ history.

Let’s start with what’s actually mind-blowing: Apple actually accepted this test. We are all very aware of how Apple has this exclusive policy for their users. Everything made by Apple just has a totally different feeling and some could actually say that what’s done in Apple stays in Apple. So there might have been two things that changed the exclusive policy: there is either good money involved (offered by Google for the test) or Apple might not care altogether because they simply know that Siri cannot be beaten.

Cortana is, to a certain extent, just like Siri in terms of utility. It accepts voice commands, it can schedule events for you (and alarms, but let’s not talk about those) and it can pretty much look for anything you need using the browser. The thing about the Beta test is that it is only available to a very small population of around 2000 people.

The iOS release is actually the one that was most difficult to deal with. The Android release took place in August this year (and there are few people testing that one as well), so the challenge was to convince Apple into accepting the deal. Also, developing the app for the iOS was no easy task, especially since iOS has rigorous standards that have to be met.

In case you want to test Microsoft’s Cortana, you will find a mail in your box with a specific survey and a download link. Microsoft is interested in making as many changes to it as possible, all for the better, so it needs anybody willing to test Cortana give feedback on how they feel about her.

Microsoft have made it clear that they want to spread Windows 10 across the world and they meant it. They won’t be spreading Widows 10 into Apple devices, but Siri is going to have a sister, so that’s a good start.

Photo Credits deviantart.net

Apple Won a Lawsuit against Former Employees

November 8, 2015 By Jesse Skelton Leave a Comment

Judges clear Apple tech giant of accusation brought forth by former employees.

Let’s look on some updates regarding the case filed against tech giant Apple. Earlier this week, Apple won a lawsuit against former employees, after being accused of inhumane treatment towards the staff.

Earlier this year, more specifically in June, a couple of former store employees sued Apple because of a retail store policy. According to this policy, named “bag check”, employed security agents were entitled to search store agents before they entered their shifts and after they left the store.

The sore store employees criticized this internal policy, naming it inhumane and highly demoralizing. Moreover, each person submitted to bag check was expected to form a queue and patiently wait for the security officer to go over his bag. A better part of employees reported that they would lose approximately 15 minutes each day due to this procedure.

According to their demands, in order to make repairs Apple must pay the employees for the time they lost when they were prompted to submit to bag checks. An early estimate places the sum at over 48 million euros. The sum should be cashed out by over 12000 store employees.

But that’s not the end of the story. Among other counts, raised by the malcontent mob, there are more serious ones. In one case, a couple of employees told the judge that the store management would order the security personnel to put the emergency exists under lock and key. The management would argue that this protocol would be employed in order to have a better control over what goes in and what come out.

Going back to the resolution, because there is no time like the present, it seems that the judge didn’t rule in favor of the malcontent store employees. William Alsup, the US district Judge that took over the strings, ruled out in favor of Apple. Alsup dismissed the case, saying that the facts brought forth by the employees can’t be regarded as evidence. Moreover, the judge brought the case to a conclusion when he said that bags are not mandatory and that an employee can come to work without a bag. Hence, he said, those who came without a bag didn’t have to submit to a check-up.

The employees also added that they took their plea to CEO Tim Cook. When asked about this affair, Cook declared that he hadn’t a clue about this being a store policy. Still, nothing seems to have changed since.

Image source:www.apple.com

Hello Intel! Goodbye Qualcomm?

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