My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: Apple's WWDC heralds the Return of the Mac and iOS 6.0 - Future Hunt for Red October Amazon and Samsung in Mini-Tablets and IPTV

Monday, June 11, 2012

Apple's WWDC heralds the Return of the Mac and iOS 6.0 - Future Hunt for Red October Amazon and Samsung in Mini-Tablets and IPTV


Apple Lemmings and Sheep, it’s Apple’s WWDC (World Wide Developer’s Conference) time yet again!

Set your chronometers, as the Main Event is starting at 8am Pacific Time at the San Francisco's Moscone Center in San Francisco, California. Read about it here and stream it live using this link: “Join CNET Monday for live coverage of Apple's WWDC”, published June 8, 2012 4:00 AM PDT by Josh Lowensohn, CNET News.











As we all know, this year’s E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) 2012AD was a complete waste of floor space, with nothing new as stated n the article “E3 needs a new product”, published May 30, 2012 8:17 AM PDT by Scott Stein, CNET News.

There is also the overshadowing, overarching feeling of Apple’s influence in the room as their Annual WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) looms large on Monday June 11th 2012 for the rest of the week as opined in the article Apple looms over E3 once again”, published June 1, 2012 5:04 PM by Scott Stein, CNET News.

No new ideas as evident from the rehashed sequels of previous video Game titles as suggested by the thumbs-down review article from CNET Editor Jeff Bakalar and Scott Stein entitled “E3 has lost its game”, published June 8, 2012 11:10 AM PDT by Jeff Bakalar and Scott Stein, CNET News.

The same was true last year 2011AD.

Back then the Microsoft Kinect was still news along with new titles that came out to go with Xbox 360 as stated in my blog article entitled “Nintendo Wii vs Microsoft Kinect - War of the Worlds in Jodine Spark's BattleField”. The 3D Motion Capture technology licensed from Israeli company PrimeSense as well as Nintendo as speculation that Nintendo needed the same tech to remain relevant.

But with no new titles this year for the Microsoft Xbox, only sequels and no definitive word on the apparently half-baked Nintendo WiiUas stated in the article “Nintendo unveils new Wii U GamePad” published  June 3, 2012 3:59 PM PDT by Steven Musil, CNET News and “E3 2012: Five unanswered questions about Wii U”, published June 5, 2012 10:11 AM PDT by Dan Ackerman, CNET News, things are looking very bleak for the Gaming world, all because of Apple.

Clearly, the Apple iPhone, its protégé the Apple iPad and the copy-cats running on various flavours Google Android are creating devices that albeit offering less than stellar gameplay, serves up casual gaming on the go on these Mobile Devices device as stated in my Geezam blog article entitled “Nintendo and Sony vs Smartphones and Tablets: Post – Portable Gaming Era” and Google Chrome to do Console Gaming – OnLive and Steam in the Cloudy Post-Console Era”.

Especially a most of these Gaming options are using the Freemium model for gaming on smartphones and Tablets as stated in my Geezam blog article entitled “Smartphones and Apps – Freemium Games are No. 1. Much as these Mobile Devices have done to HP Palm and RIM, smartphone and tablets may eventually kill off Console Gaming for good in the future as stated in the article “The tablet jinx took down Palm and RIM. Who's next?”, published May 30, 2012 8:34 AM PDT by Jason Hiner, CNET News.

Now that the painful rerun episode is now over with E3, I can get down to the business of anticipating Apple’s WWDC as stated in the article “What could Apple have up its sleeve for WWDC?”, published June 1, 2012 6:41 AM PDT by Lance Whitney, CNET News. Last year, my anticipation for the event, which was held on Monday June 6th 2011AD as stated in my blog article entitled “Apple and the WWDC in June 2011 - Space Above and Beyond Android”.

My anticipation was very high as can be seen from reading my blog articles entitled “Apple and the WWDC in June 2011 - Space Above and Beyond Android”and “Apple iCloud and WWDC - Iron Eagle to be Top Gun in the Dangerzone”. Last year, the talk was Apple iOS 5.0 and Apple iCloud, their content synching service for the ever expanding and now connected ecosystem of Apple products.

So said so done; Apple iCloud, iOS 5 and Mac OS 10.1 aka Lion in the wowed the crowds as stated in the article “Apple unveils Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud at WWDC (live blog)”, published JUNE 6, 2011 9:00 AM PDT by Josh Lowensohn, CNET NewsApple.

This year the anticipation is very high for many things aficionados of Apple have been expecting as stated in the article “What to look for at WWDC 2012: Macs,Mountain Lion, iOS 6, maps and iCloud”, published June 7, 2012, 6:08am By Erica Ogg, GigaOM and as stated in the article “What to expect at Apple's WWDC next week”, published  June 8, 2012 11:00 AM PDT by Josh Lowensohn, CNET News.





This year the talk is all about the following possible things that may make their debut:

1.      iOS 6.0, with support being discontinued for the First Generation Apple iPad and the Third Generation Apple iPod Touch a stated in the article “iOS 6 to dump support for original iPad, 3rd-generation iPod Touch?”, published June 10, 2012 2:32 PM PDT by Steven Musil, CNET News.

2.      iOS 6.0 is expected to, bring Siri Voice Assistant to the Apple iPhone 3GS upwards, the Apple iPad 2 upwards, the MacBook Air, the Fourth Generation Apple iPod Touch and the Apple iTVas suggested by the article “Siri headed to iPad with iOS 6, report claims”, published  June 4, 2012 10:01 AM PDT by Josh Lowensohn, CNET News

3.      iOS is also expected to bring full Facebook integration to the Apple iPad and Apple iPhone as stated in the article “Facebook tied into Apple's iOS 6, report says”, published June 1, 2012 1:20 PM PDT by Josh Lowensohn, CNET News.

4.      Mac OS 10.8 aka Mountain Lion with support for iOS 6.0, apparently heavily influence by AppleiOS 6.0 on the AppleiPad as per the video Apple - Introducing iOS 6.0.

5.      Improvements to the much neglected Macbook line to include LTE (Long Term Evolution) modules, Retina Display and some form of Gesture-based Control along with the usual Thunderbolt , SSD (Solid State Drive)and Processor Upgrades as stated in the article Slimmer, retina MacBook to debut at WWDC, report says, published  May 14, 2012 2:57 PM PDT by Josh Lowensohn, CNET News.

6.      Improvements to Apple iCloud to include synching for video content and possibly synching for the Apple iPod family of products.

7.      Introduction of USB 3.0 to Apple MacBook as well as the Apple MacBook Air
8.      Bluetooth 4.0 support for the Apple iPod Touch, Nano and Shuffle for wireless Bluetooth headset support as suggested in by Geezam Blog article entitled “Prediction: The iPod Nano Watch – Time has a New Standard” and “Apple iPod Nano vs Phosphor Reveal – Bling Bling, Playamaking the Apple iPod Nano a wristwatch as well as a wireless music player and the other members of the Apple iPod line enabled with the same capability.

9.      Further details on the much fabled Apple Television to be launched in the First Quarter of 2013AD set as suggested by Appledesire to dominate the TV Content delivery world as per my blog article entitled “Apple iTV is No. 1 according to Strategy Analytics - Apple's Blue Crush on Netflix for TV-Anywhere” and Apple Television Set, a docking cradle for the Apple iTV - Super 8 A Gift for Christmas

The Apple iPhone 5 (or is it 4GS??) is not expected to make a debut at WWDC, but rather later down in the year in the Fourth Quarter of 2012AD. Just as well, as the Apple iPhone is taking a beating in the market, so some time to observe would be good as sales are still strong since Christmas 2011AD.


Still, despite the strong start to the year, recent First Quarter of 2012AD tells a slightly more chilling tale. Stats from Nielsen up February in the First Quarter of 2012 reveal that 50% of Americans who own a mobile phone have swung towards smartphones as stated in the article “Smartphones now account for half of all mobile phones”, published March 29, 2012 2:23 PM PDT by Scott Webster, CNET News.



Of that number, Android phones are now 50% of the market according to stats from ComScore as stated in the articles Android now represents half of U.S. smartphone market”, published April 3, 2012 11:19 AM PDT by Lance Whitney, CNET News andAndroid still dominates U.S. smartphone market”, published by June 1, 2012 2:06 PM PDT by Steven Musil, CNET News.


Apple has the controlled quality, but sheer weight of numbers means that the Apple iPhone is being slowly beaten out of the market by the Open Source and slowly improving Google Android OS. Google Android OS now at version 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich, with which Google plans to rule the world as per my Geezam blog article entitled “Apple iPhone and Google Android – Helms Deep Under Attack

Samsung, makers of the Samsung Galaxy SIII and with whom Apple now has a long protracted Court case against their smartphone and tablet, claiming copyright infringement in terms of design as stated in the article “Apple may seek U.S. ban of Samsung Galaxy S III today”, published June 8, 2012 5:04 AM PDT by Lance Whitney, CNET News and Apple wants to keep Samsung's Galaxy S3 out of U.S.” published June 6, 2012 1:28 PM PDT by Josh Lowensohn, CNET News, is a prime example of Android done right.




The South Korean tech giant Samsung earned a whopping £2.75bn in the First Quarter of 2012AD, selling 44.5 million smartphones, 22% more mobiles the First Quarter of 2011AD. Effectively, Samsung has not only toppled Nokia from pole position, a position it has held since 1998 but it has also beaten Apple, which only managed to sell 35 million iPhones.


This according to the statistics of Strategy analytics in the article “Samsung beats Nokia as biggest phone maker, outsells Apple”, published 27 April 2012, 10:48am By Luke Westaway, CNET News UK and “Samsung outstrips iPhone sales to ring up record profit”, published Friday 27 April 2012 09.28 BST, The UK Guardian.

Even as the Apple iPhone holds on to the number 2 berth globally, it still accounts for the bulk of traffic on most Telecom Provider Networks, being the phone owned by most heavy Data users as stated in the article “Is the iPhone overcrowding the world’s 3G networks?”, published June 10, 2012, 11:00am PT By Kevin Fitchard, Gigaom. 



Also, smartphone users are the majority drivers of the Tablet trend, with 25% of them owning a Tablet as pointed out by the statistics of ComScore in the article “U.S. tablet usage hits 'critical mass,' ComScore reports” published June 10, 2012 11:37 AM PDT by Steven Musil, CNET News. So Apple still has the advantage where it matters: Tablets, specifically with the Apple iPad argued in my Geezam blog article entitled “Three’s a Charm as Apple iPad 3 Looms Large”.

The future going forward beyond Apple WWDC and its gadget updates to satisfy the Apple Lemmings and Sheep is now obvious.

Apple needs to formulate plans for the debut of a 7” Apple iPad Mini to counteract the growing threat of Tablets in that space, mainly occupied by e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Barnes and Noble Nook as speculated in the following articles:


Apple also needs to formulate plans to deal with Samsung threat long term push into their Tablet and smartphone space by making a counter-strike into the lucrative IPTV streaming and Television space occupied by Samsung as opined in the following set of articles:


But that’s the future. Until then, it’s Apple WWDC Time folks!


Here’s the link for the Apple Lemmings and sheep:

No comments: