Virtualization, Cloud Computing and Mobile

2010년 5월 6일 목요일

For anyone still wondering whether Apple plans to give its new iAds a competitive advantage over other mobile ad networks on the iPhone and iPad, just take a look at the slide above. It was attached to an email sent to an app developer from a Quattro Wireless sales rep which I obtained (Quattro is Apple’s recently purchased mobile ad network). The email starts off:

We’re excited to announce a brand new program launching this month called ViP (Verification of iTunes Purchase).

The VIP program is aimed at app developers who use iPhone ads to drive downloads and purchases of their own apps. It will tie the ad directly into purchasing data from iTunes, letting app developers measure the conversion rate of ad impressions to downloads. As the slide indicates, this tracking is made possible with a “proprietary direct link from the ad to App Store” and once a “user downloads your app, they won’t ever see your ad again.”

Other mobile ad networks, such as AdMob, also try to measure conversion rates, but they don’t have access to the same iTunes data. So Apple is in a position to give advertisers much more detailed and accurate metrics. AdMob, for instance, requires developers to integrate their apps with AdMob’s SDK or APIs before they can deliver conversion tracking. To bring home the difference, the Quattro sales rep ends the email with this pitch:

No SDK or server-side integration—this cannot be duplicated by any of our competitors.

In other words, if Apple doesn’t shut out other ad networks completely from the iPhone by not allowing app developers to send tracking data to third parties, it might just use its control of the iPhone platform to give its own ad products certain advantages.

Apple’s push to create ad products that “cannot be duplicated by any” competitor is especially interesting, given that the FTC can’t seem to decide right now whether to go after Apple or block the Google-AdMob deal on antitrust grounds. Which one again has an unfair advantage in the mobile ad market? At this point, it’s way too hard to tell.

iPhone AR Drone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n680BHNInCY&feature=player_embedded

2010년 5월 4일 화요일

iPad Makes its Market Share Mark: Report

Web metrics firm Net Applications report for April reinforces the growing perception that Apple holds its future in its hands, as opposed to it being on the desk or the lap.

Both OS X and Safari for the Mac continue to show tepid growth compared to iPhone OS, and the iPad appears to be the latest example of that trend.

At the end of April, iPad market share as measured by web browsing, is at 0.03 percent, which may seem insignificant, but that is exactly what the original iPhone had after its first month. I think we all know how that turned out.

While the iPad went as high as 0.08 percent during April, the weekend spiking probably has more to do with how Net Applications gathers data, rather than a shift in iPad usage. Looking further into the data, the iPad’s U.S. share was quadruple the international number at 0.12 percent, which makes sense as the international launch of the iPad won’t be until later this month. That likely bodes well for the iPad, though. As more countries sell the iPad, not to mention the addition of the 3G model, share will quickly increase worldwide.

Within the U.S. itself, the top five states for iPad usage, ranging from 0.19 percent to 0.16 percent, were Hawaii, California, Colorado, Nevada, and Nebraska of all places. The least popular state for the iPad was Wyoming, which matched the global average of 0.03 percent. Not surprisingly, San Francisco saw more usage than any other city.

Looking at the bigger picture, the introduction of the iPad, plus increased share for both the iPhone and iPod touch, boosted iPhone OS to 0.68 percent share in April. While that is insignificant compared to Windows at more than 90 percent, or even OS X for the Mac at 5.32 percent, iPhone OS is closing in on Linux at 1.05 percent—you are going down, penguin!

Looking at iPhone OS from the mobile perspective says more about web browsing on the go than units sold. Even though BlackBerry and Symbian are available on more devices sold, the browsing experience is a painful one, hence the lead by iPhone OS devices.

The free and low-end Java Micro Edition likely holds the overall lead because with more than a billion cell phones sold a year, quantity still matters. Nonetheless, iPhone OS will likely become the leading mobile OS this year, at least as measured by Net Applications. It also should be noted that Android has increased share by nearly an order of magnitude since last year at this time, and that could be trouble for Apple.

Those skeptical of Google’s ability to disrupt the mobile OS market and threaten Apple might want to review what happened with desktop web browsers. Chrome will almost certainly double Safari’s share by the end of the year. Safari, now at 4.72 percent, has been stuck between four and five percent for nearly a year. In contrast, Chrome has more than tripled its share in the last year, and now stands at 6.73 percent.

With the advent of Chrome OS, that may prove to be trouble for OS X for the Mac. At 5.32 percent, OS X for the desktop is up about half a percent over last year, but the dominance of Windows appears unassailable, at least for Apple. The best that can be said for OS X for the Mac is that Snow Leopard has finally surpassed Leopard as the most used version of OS X. Snow Leopard has 43 percent share to Leopard’s 40 percent, with Tiger a distant third at 13 percent. With Apple’s singular focus on iPhone OS at WWDC10, it appears Snow Leopard will have plenty of time to gain OS X market share before OS X 10.7 INSERT_CAT_NAME_HERE is released.

While April’s report by Net Applications has plenty of good news for Apple, we are also seeing the beginning of the end of an era. The Mac is becoming less and less important to Apple’s business model. The iPhone and the iPod provide roughly double the revenue of the Mac, and the success of the iPad will only further decrease the importance of the Mac to Apple. This isn’t to say the Mac is doomed, but that its preeminence at Apple is at an end, if not among Mac faithful.

http://theappleblog.com/2010/05/03/ipad-makes-its-market-share-mark-report/

Apple Kills Lala Streaming Music Service, But What Does it Mean?

As you may have heard, Apple plans to shut down streaming music service Lala.com at the end of May, a company it purchased only recently in December of last year. At the time, speculation ran rampant that Apple was planning on using the service to launch its own streaming music venture, probably for use with iTunes and the company’s varioius iDevices.

Lala features an 8 million song deep catalogue, which can be streamed by any user once for free. If you wanted to play the song more than that, you paid 10 cents and received unlimited replays. Download purchases were also available, starting at 79 cents per track.

No new users are being accepted to Lala as of last Friday, and the website will be shuttered entirely on May 31. That means anyone who paid for unlimited streaming options will also be cut off at that time. Apple has said it will be refunding paid subscribers with iTunes credit in order to compensate, but of course iTunes can’t match the 10 cent unlimited streaming deal.

So what’s Apple’s end goal in buying and then fairly promptly killing the service? Speculation abounds that it wants the intellectual property and staff in order to create its own rival to popular services like Pandora and Last.fm, while still funnelling yet more consumers to its hardware line.

But is it actually time for Apple to bite the bullet and accept that cloud-based streaming is the future of media distribution? I think the answer is no. Cupertino knows it doesn’t have to be ahead of the curve regarding media distribution so long as it continues to lead the way in media playback devices. iPod is still the category-defining brand in that regard, and the iPad’s million unit milestone just recently proves that Apple isn’t yet done reshaping the market according to its own vision.

Apple is shuttering Lala.com at the end of the month, that much is inevitable. What is far from inevitable is that this move will somehow lead to Apple launching its own streaming music service to fill the void. It’s much more likely that Cupertino made the purchase (which was barely a drop in the bucket, in terms of purchase price) to scope out the streaming music service from the inside, pull it apart and see how it ticks. From that vantage point, it would be that much easier to make an informed decision about how quickly Apple had to move into the space, and I’m willing to bet that what they found out is that there’s no hurry.

Shutting down Lala probably just ends a resource bleed and eliminates a potential iTunes competitor now that Apple’s gathered enough intel. So if you’re saving that iTunes credit they gave you for closing out your account for when Apple launches its own streaming service, don’t, unless you feel like waiting a long, long time.

http://theappleblog.com/2010/05/03/apple-kills-lala-streaming-music-service-but-what-does-it-mean/

Apple Sold 1 Million Total iPads, Estimated 300K 3G Models Just This Weekend

How many things did you and I sell this weekend? Three cookies, maybe? Something at a yard sale? Well, according to estimates by Gene Munster, chief Apple prognosticator at Piper Jaffray, Apple sold 300,000 iPads 3G this weekend. Estimates is based on calls to 48 stores. This means the iPad 3G as well if not better than the Wi-Fi version on its launch day.

To top off that number, as of May 3, Apple states that they sold 1 million iPads since launch in April.

“One million iPads in 28 days—that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Demand continues to exceed supply and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers.”

Munster estimates that 4.3 million iPads will be sold in 2010 when all is said and done.

Apple Sells One Million iPads

CUPERTINO, California—May 3, 2010—Apple® today announced that it sold its one millionth iPad™ on Friday, just 28 days after its introduction on April 3. iPad users have already downloaded over 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore.

“One million iPads in 28 days—that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Demand continues to exceed supply and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers.”

iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPad is 0.5 inches thin and weighs just 1.5 pounds—thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook—and delivers up to 10 hours of battery life.*

Developers have created over 5,000 exciting new apps for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch user interface, large screen and high-quality graphics. iPad will run almost all of the more than 200,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone® or iPod touch®.

*Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh. Apple continues to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, and iLife, iWork and professional applications. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store, has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

via Appleinsider

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/05/03/apple-sold-300k-ipads-3g-this-weekend/

IBM Acquires Cloud Computing Integration Company Cast Iron Systems

IBM has acquired cloud computing startup Cast Iron Systems to “broaden the delivery of cloud computing services for clients.” Cast Iron Systems provides a SaaS cloud integration software. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cast Iron Systems’ software-as-a-service provides cloud computing integration appliances for large and midsize companies, including Allianz, NEC, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Dow Jones, Schumacher Group, ShoreTel, Sports Authority, Time Warner, Westmont University and others. The company has capitalized on the growing trend of companies running key business applications through software as a service models and cloud deployments.

Clearly, the acquisition represents IBM’s strong push to the cloud, with IBM expecting the global cloud computing market to grow to $126 billion by 2012.Cast Iron’s offerings will help IBM customers integrate their cloud-based applications and on-premise systems and advance IBM’s capabilities for a hybrid cloud model.

This year, IBM bought up health care data management firm Initiate and Intelliden. Last year, IBM acquired six companies, including Guardium, RedPill Solutions, SPSS, Ounce Labs, Exeros and Outblaze.

http://www.techcrunchit.com/2010/05/03/ibm-acquires-cloud-computing-integration-company-cast-iron-systems/