Boycott Apple

You should Boycott Apple:

Iphone 5 Sucks

The Internet is alight with outrage against Apple for winning a preliminary injunction against Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus, claiming that Samsung infringes on US patent 8,086,604. This patent basically covers the unified search feature promoted not only in Apple’s Siri, but Android as well. It was this patent, the presiding Judge Koh concluded, that enabled Apple to justify that continued sales of the Galaxy Nexus would cause “irreparable harm” to Apple, which issued a statement regarding the lawsuit:

It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging. This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we’ve said many times before, we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.

Samsung’s products in the past quite obviously were made to look similar to Apple’s iPhone, the Galaxy Nexus is a phone designed by Google and loaded with software directly from Google, only left to Samsung to manufacture. The Galaxy Nexus looks in no way similar to the iPhone apart from the fact that both devices share a touchscreen. Second, Apple fights very hard when companies steal its ideas, when Steve Jobs went on record saying that Apple has “always been shameless about stealing great ideas.” Quite hypocritical. So most of Apple’s lawsuits are hypocritical, but are they wrong? Should we be punishing Apple for suing other companies for infringing on its patents? No. In fact, some would argue that Apple is simply playing the system and playing to win. Most people would agree that the state of the patent system in the US is horrendous and is the root cause of these petty lawsuits. That’s why, when the Boycott Apple outbreak started, a few suggested something different. The patent system in the United States as we know it today has been derailed significantly from the founding fathers’ intentions. In Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the US Constitution, it states this:

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

To put things simply, patents are not in place to protect the inventor. They are in place to promote invention and innovation. Providing the incentive of exclusivity to the inventor is simply a means to provide the end (rather than vice versa). This means that the focus of patents should be on innovation, not protection. Outright concentration on protection leads to a sheltered environment where innovation is stifled and progress is lost. But when did the patent system lose its way? Some suggest that when “processes” were finally allowed to be patented was the defining moment. You no longer had to have a machine to present to the patent office to show that you’d created something novel. All you needed was to write down a method of doing something (e.g., sliding your finger across a touchscreen to unlock a device) and all of a sudden you were a patent owner. This also allowed an influx of software patents to introduce themselves into the system. Eventually, the situation got to the point where it was considered that “a novel algorithm combined with a trivial physical step constitutes a novel physical device.” Basically, this means that new software loaded onto existing devices creates a completely new device, in the law’s eye. This is obviously a problem. Now you see companies patenting left and right methods rather than machines. Our society has been reduced from sparking great inventions and innovations to squabbling over how we move our finger around to wake our devices up.

 

Apple hasn’t learned, charm world’s largest population

Apple is the world’s largest company – with nearly $600 billion in market value – getting bigger is a tough challenge. Still hasn’t learned how to charm the world’s largest population:

If you’re the world’s largest company – with nearly $600 billion in market value – getting bigger is a tough challenge. But if Apple can learn how to charm the world’s largest population, the possibilities are limitless.

Tim Cook, Apple’s reserved and soft-spoken CEO, has a tendency to wax euphoric about the China market and his company’s place in it. When asked last year by an analyst whether China could replace the U.S. as Apple’s biggest market, Cook positively gushed. “How far can it go?” he responded, referring to China’s prospects. “Certainly in my lifetime I’ve never seen a country with as many people rising into the middle class, with people wanting to buy Apple products.” He didn’t directly answer the analyst’s question, but concluded, “The sky is the limit.” You may think you know the story of Apple (AAPL) in China — how the men and women who make iPods and iPhones for Apple partner Foxconn labor under punishing conditions. But there’s another Apple Goes to China story, and this one is the tale of an underdog — yes, underdog — that has the potential to unlock billions and billions of dollars in additional revenue, just by eking out market share gains in core products such as smartphones and PCs. If you think Apple, the most valuable company in the world, with a market cap of nearly $600 billion, has nowhere to go but down, we humbly suggest you turn your gaze to the East. Even as China experiences a sharper-than-expected economic slowdown, it continues to mint millions of consumers who covet Apple’s products. In its fiscal first half of the year, Apple has reported $12.4 billion in sales from greater China, and analysts believe Apple could garner $25 billion or more in China sales in calendar 2012. And that’s up from $13.3 billion last fiscal year, and almost nothing five years ago. In 2007 — the year before the iPhone became available internationally — Apple’s annual revenue from China was “a few hundred millions of dollars,” Cook has said. The company didn’t open its first store in China, a modern glass-and-metal structure in Beijing, until 2008, a full seven years after launching its retail strategy in the U.S.The company has yet to secure a deal to run the iPhone on the China Mobile network. For years the two companies have been negotiating; every year the rumor mill churns that a deal between the two is imminent. There’s fresh speculation, once again, that the iPhone 5 will be the device that seals the deal. A source at China Mobile will say only that the two companies continue to have conversations, but that no final deal has been reached. But just as the availability of the iPhone on new carriers in the U.S. expanded Apple’s reach, a China Mobile deal would have a huge impact on Apple’s presence in China. The cellphone company has a 66% market share in China. Meanwhile Apple is moving in smaller, smart ways to further immerse itself in the China market. The new iOS 6 operating system integrates popular sites in China like Sina Weibo, the microblog that’s more or less the equivalent of Twitter. And the Mac OS 10.8 upgrade includes a package of popular Mandarin sites, including Youku, a video destination. And while it lacks the massive reach of its Chinese competitors and Samsung, Apple has dramatically expanded the number of stores it permits to sell its devices; there are 11,000 places in China to buy the iPhone, up 138% from last year. The aggressive expansion plainly continues. One Shanghai suburb boasts two Apple licensee stores. “Business has been very good,” says Xie Li-jun, the manager of one of the stores.

Samsung sues Apple

Apple to get a taste of its own medicine:

Just as it warned it would, Samsung has added Apple’s iPhone 5 to a patent lawsuit in the US, kicking the door open for phase two of the legal spat between the tech titans. Samsung filed a motion with a court in California accusing the Cupertino-based rival of infringing patents covering technologies that may include 4G connectivity. Samsung said: “We have always preferred to compete in the marketplace with our innovative products, rather than in courtrooms. However, Apple continues to take aggressive legal measures that will limit market competition. “Under these circumstances, we have little choice but to take the steps necessary to protect our innovations and intellectual property rights.” Samsung previously stated that the inclusion of 4G LTE in the iPhone 5 would prompt swift legal action, undoubtedly motivated by a desire for retaliation following a massive courtroom defeat in August that saw it ordered to pay Apple £664m in damages for “wilfully copying” iOS products. The decision would have also been boosted by the electronics maker’s substantial war chest of patents relating to 4G technologies. The exact details of the filing are still under wraps but are sure to surface in the days ahead and reveal whether Samsung has a good case, especially one that could be followed with an injunction on the sale of iPhone 5s. Apple has yet to comment on the developments, but is undoubtedly scrambling its lawyers to prepare a defence. We’ll bring you all the gen as soon as we have more to share. Stay tuned.

 

Expect dents from Apple iPhone 5

iPhone 5 scratches and dents are ‘normal’, VP of marketing brushes aside concerns over chipped edges:

The minimal but still unpleasant scuffmarks on the iPhone 5’s chamfered bezel are apparently “normal”, according to an Apple exec. Since landing last Friday, reports have trickling in that not only is the iPhone 5 more prone to scratches, many units even come scraped and dented in the packaging, suggesting that a manufacturing flaw may be to blame. However, Apple has a less than sympathetic view of those concerns, with senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Philip Schiller, claiming it’s part of the handset’s normal wear and tear. Responding to an email from a befuddled owner, Schiller said: “Any aluminium product may scratch or chip with use, exposing its natural silver colour. “That is normal.” That may be so, but it doesn’t explain why there are complaints that a portion of these handsets are reportedly already scratched out of the box. The majority of complaints suggest these are particularly noticeable on the ‘black & slab’ colourway. Cosmetic or not, the chips are sure to leave a bad taste in the mouths of early adopters who queued for hours and paid hundreds of pounds for what is otherwise a very decent smartphone. Apple’s unapologetic stance is clearly to avoid further embarrassment caused by the abysmal new Maps app that swaps Google Maps as the default mapping software in iOS 6. Do you think Apple should offer replacements or some sort of compensation for these damaged iPhone 5s? Let us know in the comments section below.

 

Apple’s iPhone 5 battery Sucks

IPhone 5 battery issues reported, poor battery life remains Smartphones’ dirty little secret:

iPhone 5 battery issues reported
Seems poor battery life remains smartphones’ dirty little secret.

Apple’s claims to have improved the smartphone owner’s perennial problem of disappointing battery life with the iPhone 5 look to be wide of the mark today, amid an outbreak of complaints from chagrined early adopters. With no official response and mixed testimonies online, it’s hard to discern the scale of the problem. However, threads on the Apple support forums, one of which stretches to over 100 replies, more than testify to its existence.

Among them is Holdrege, who reports that his “iPhone 5 drains way faster than my two-year-old iPhone 4. Meanwhile, DJleviathan attests that although Apple claims the battery will provide “eight hours of constant use” in reality it “ends up only lasting half that time”. One London-based Orange customer who got in touch with us reported that his battery fell from “90 per cent to 10 per cent in eight hours with LTE on”, in which time he claims to have only used the internet to “check the Fulham scores once or twice”. Apple’s marketing copy claims that the iPhone 5’s custom-built A6 processor is so power efficient that the phone lasts twice as long as the iPhone 4S on a single full charge, despite potential battery-punishing features on the new handset such as a larger screen and 4G connectivity. The company is also currently attempting to deflect criticism of the iPhone 5’s Apple Maps mapping solution, which has been found to be riddled with inaccuracies and spelling howlers.

 

Apple lost Again

Apple loses German patent case against Samsung, Motorola over touch-screen devices:

Apple loses German patent case against Samsung, Motorola over touch-screen devices

In Berlin, a German court has dismissed Apple Inc.’s claim that Samsung Electronics and Google Inc.’s Motorola Mobility infringed patents used in touch-screen devices. The Mannheim state court’s ruling Friday follows similar decisions in Britain and the Netherlands. The ruling can be appealed within 30 days. Apple and its rivals are locked in a complex worldwide battle over patents and design rights covering the lucrative market for smartphones and tablet computers. Last month a U.S. court ruled that Samsung phones and tablets infringe on Apple patents, and awarded the Cupertino, California, company $1.05 billion. Meanwhile, Samsung is seeking royalties from Apple for sales of iPhones it says infringe on its patents.

 

Apple finally Lost

Japan court rules Samsung did not infringe on Apple patent:

Japan court rules Samsung did not infringe on Apple patent

A Tokyo court on Friday dismissed Apple Inc.’s claim that Samsung had infringed on its patent — the latest ruling in the global legal battle over smartphones that pits the two technology titans against each other. Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea, the world’s largest maker of phones, welcomed the Tokyo District Court ruling that its technology to synchronize mobile players with computers did not infringe on Apple patents as confirming “our long-held position.” “We will continue to offer highly innovative products to consumers, and continue our contributions toward the mobile industry’s development,” the company said in a statement. The Apple lawyer present at the courthouse declined comment, and it was not immediately clear whether Apple would appeal. In a session lasting a few minutes, Judge Tamotsu Shoji said he did not think Samsung products fell into the realm of Apple technology and dismissed the lawsuit, filed by Apple in August last year. Apple, the Cupertino, California-based maker of the hit iPhone and iPad, is embroiled in similar legal squabbles around the world over whether Samsung smartphones, which relies on Google Inc.’s Android technology, illegally used Apple designs, ideas or technology. In one such case, a jury in California ruled last week that Samsung products illegally used such Apple creations as the “bounce-back” feature when a user scrolls to an end image, and the ability to zoom text with a tap of a finger. The jury awarded Apple $1 billion in damages, and a judge is now evaluating Apple’s request to have eight Samsung products pulled from shelves and banned from the U.S. market, including popular Galaxy model smartphones. Samsung’s latest hit, Galaxy S3, was not part of the U.S. ruling. Friday’s ruling was the first held in Japan in the Samsung-Apple global court battle, but other technology is being contested by the two companies in separate legal cases in Japan. Apple products are extremely popular among Japanese consumers, but major Japanese carriers such as NTT DoCoMo sell Samsung smartphones as well. Japanese electronics maker Sony Corp. also makes smartphones similar to Samsung’s, using Android technology. Samsung has sold more than 50 million Galaxy S and Galaxy S2 smartphones around the world. The legal battle also involves Samsung’s Tab device, which Apple claims infringes on patents related to the iPad tablet.

 

Expensive Apple iPhone 5

High price connection with an Apple iPhone 5:

High price of connecting Apple iPhone 5

While I prefer Android smartphones and tablets, I also like my iPod Touch and iPads. Like many iFans, I also own a variety of devices that work with them: a car FM radio adapter, a clock radio, and an attachment for my stereo system. I’d think about buying an Apple iPhone 5 except not a single one of those devices can work with the iPhone’s new Lightning interface. Don’t take my word for it. David Pogue of the New York Times, the biggest Apple fan this side of Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, wrote: the “decade-old iPhone/iPad/iPod charging connector is everywhere: cars, clocks, speakers, docks, even medical devices. But the new iPhone won’t fit any of them.” Still, that’s not too bad, right? All you need to do is buy a 30-pin-to-Lighting adapter… for $29. Hmmm… I don’t know about you, but I’m not happy with the idea of spending $87 just so I can use the iPhone 5 with my three old devices. Don’t think, by the way, that you’ll see cheap 30-pin-to-Lightning adapters any time soon. Apple, of course, has a patent on the Lightning interface. So sure, there will be third-party adapters, but you can expect them to be in the same $29 price range. Apple could have adopted the cheap-as-dirt micro-USB interface instead, but then it couldn’t have charged a fraction of the cost of a Lightning adapter.  Even if you are willing to pay for these new adapters, as Pogue remarks, “not all accessories work with the Lightning, and not all the features of the old connector are available; for example, you can’t send the iPhone’s video out to a TV cable.” Great. Just great. So what’s the best answer if you want to get the most from your iPhone 5? Why, it’s to buy new Lighting-compatible accessories, of course! You may think you’re getting an iPhone 5 for $199-$399, but if you want to use it with other accessories your final tally may end up closing in on a grand. I like the look of the new iPhone, but I don’t like it that much.

 

Apple’s new iPhone 5 really sucks

Apple’s iOS 6 Maps app is awful, and now the world knows it:

Apple’s iOS 6 Maps app is awful

People who have been using beta versions of iOS 6 for the past few months have known how awful Apple’s (AAPL) new Maps app is, but for the most part they held out hope that the company would make some serious refinements by the time its new iOS 6 software was released to the public. But iOS 6 officially took flight on Wednesday and sadly, Apple’s new Maps app is still awful. An unsightly blemish on what is otherwise a beautiful OS, Apple’s new Maps application is enraging users. Google Maps wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination but Google (GOOG) has spent many years and boatloads of money creating its mapping experience. The result is a fantastic product that iOS users had taken for granted. Until now. Apple is often criticized for valuing form over function by enthusiasts who avidly support rival companies. Those who use Apple products argue that they function quite well, but this is an instance where the naysayers are correct. Apple’s new Maps application is absolutely gorgeous but in terms of performance, it takes multiple giant leaps backwards compared to Google Maps. In my own testing over the past few months, I have found the new Maps app to be remarkably frustrating and after a while I avoided it at all costs. I would check back in from time to time to see if any notable improvements had been made, but each time I checked I was met with disappointment. Put plainly, Apple’s Maps app just isn’t smart. A search performed just a few days ago for a restaurant I was standing no more than 100 feet away from yielded a result in Kansas. I was in New Jersey at the time. While I’m sure Kansas has terrific Chinese food, Google Maps would have known that serving a result 1,100 miles away probably isn’t as smart as serving a result 100 feet away. I have had a great deal of trouble when searching for most business names in Apple’s Maps app. This is especially problematic when I’m rushing to a meeting that I am already late for. Sadly, this happens often. Searching the name of a hotel or event center in Google Maps always took me right where I needed to go. The same cannot be said of Apple’s Maps app. Even if I’m within a mile of the place I’m looking for, Maps in iOS 6 often serves results that are across town or even in a different city. To make matters worse, searching exact addresses isn’t always better. A recent search for an address on Broadway in Manhattan would only return a result on West Broadway — an entirely different street. Sometimes, even after I tap the locate button and the app has pinpointed my location, searches for business names or addresses yield results in different towns or even different states when there are closer, far more logical results to be found. It’s just not smart. And so we have our first big gripe with iOS 6, and by extension, the new iPhone 5: Apple’s new mapping solution is awful. Apple knows how bad its Maps application is, and I’m sure the company is working hard to improve it. Many assume Apple launched the new service in this state because it was in such a rush to oust Google from its devices, and this may or may not be the explanation. Regardless, users are being punished. Thermonuclear war or not, there’s no excuse for punishing users.

UPDATE:

Customers around the world are upgrading to iOS 6 with over 200 new features including Apple Maps, our first map service. We are excited to offer this service with innovative new features like Flyover, turn by turn navigation, and Siri integration. We launched this new map service knowing it is a major initiative and that we are just getting started with it. Maps is a cloud-based solution and the more people use it, the better it will get. We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better.

Apple iPhone 5 Sucks

New technical specifications for the iPhone 5 just don’t make the magic mark for me, what ever happened to the clear phone concept?  And why didn’t it ever come out, they have the technology for this:

IPhone 5 Sucks

When it comes to deflating expectations, Apple chief Tim Cook takes Centre stage!  This Wednesdays launch of the new Apple iPhone 5 was a huge disappointment. Expectations were high and that it would be more than a revamping of the old iPhone 4 and 4s.  A thinner profile, with minor hardware upgrades is all that Apple had to offer its customers.  Let’s not get into the new cable, which completely renders all other existing apple products useless.

The event was held at the Yerba Buena Centre for the Performing Arts in San Francisco.  The new handset that has a mildly larger screen was showcased by none other than Apples new Failer CEO Tim Cook.  This new phone has a new operating system iOS 6 mobile, which is only a little better than the previous version compromising any new major advancement against the industry competition.  Google (GooG), Samsung (SSNLF), Microsoft (MSFT), and a few other’s clearly rival the large markets of mobile computing which Apple could have taken if not for its blunder showcase of the new iPhone 5 this Wednesday.

This semi-failure clearly shows apples incompetence in leading the way for new Smartphone products.  Since the companies co-founder and CEO, Steve Jobs death last year.  Tim Cook has not been able to deliver on Mr. Jobs promise of telling everyone that they will continue to show amazing new products in the future.  Apple’s marketing guru Phil Schillers comments on the new iPhone 5 clearly misleads the public into new apple trickery when he says, ” We have the most beautiful device that we’ve ever made.”  One can tell by even a quick glance that the iPhone 4 or even the 4s for that matter, almost matches the iPhone 5 in every way.  Why would anyone who owns an iPhone 4 switch to an almost identical Smartphone?

Mr. Cooks copy cat appearance, down to the black shirt and jeans cannot hide the fact that he does not match the leadership of the late Steve Jobs.  This larger screen with its advancement of a fifth row of icons on its home screen isn’t even an improvement.  A lot of what was said at the product launch was hype. The iPhone 5 will be larger, and faster while connecting to new networks doesn’t take away the awe factor of major new advancements in the Smart phone industry! Are these even real improvements?  Shouldn’t these upgrades be applied to the older iPhone 4 and 4s?  I really love the fact that the iPhone sported a front and back glass panel. Doesn’t everyone catch on that the metal back is much cheaper to produce?  Cutting the costs of manufacturing and lying to everyone that it is major improvement is deception!  You can directly blame Apples new CEO Tim Cook for allowing this trickery to take place.

There some basic overall improvement to talk about.  One is the new A6 chip set, that almost doubles the CPU speed allowing graphics and processing power to take place.  However, these are only standard improvements dictated by the manufacturing industry. Where is the magic that everyone wanted to see with a brand new product launch?  The ability to have games played more seamlessly is only a mild added touch.  Everything else seems to be the same, just a fractional noticeable difference.

There was some criticism of the Sanfransico launch that Mr. Cooks mannerism was somewhat withdrawn, that his mood seems to less than enthusiastic.  Could this be the subconscious realization that their new product was less than wonderful.  The previous launch of the iPhone 4 was a major success, smash down the walls of where the industry was headed.  Basically if it wasn’t for the iPhone 4, most cellular providers would still be forcing everyone to use an old outdated 3g network.  While the iPhone 4 and the desire to own a world changing device indirectly blackmailed cell network providers to re-invest millions of dollars to introduce a new and better 4g service.  I just don’t see this with the new iPhone 5 at all, the ability to connect to slightly different services is just not the same.  Dual Band wifi does not take away from the fact that all major cellular providers want to squash this industry from taking off.  We just don’t see serious wifi taken off, mapping or covering a large area of a city or anything like this.  I don’t think anyone was expecting the see a brand new 5g service being introduced, but it most certainly takes away from the magic that was once present with a recently older product.   That in my view is basically the same!

IPhone 5 rumored to use Metal Glass

A damage-tolerant glass:

A damage-tolerant glass

 

Owing to a lack of microstructure, glassy materials are inherently strong but brittle, and often demonstrate extreme sensitivity to flaws. Accordingly, their macroscopic failure is often not initiated by plastic yielding, and almost always terminated by brittle fracture. Unlike conventional brittle glasses, metallic glasses are generally capable of limited plastic yielding by shear-band sliding in the presence of a flaw, and thus exhibit toughness–strength relationships that lie between those of brittle ceramics and marginally tough metals. Here, a bulk glassy palladium alloy is introduced, demonstrating an unusual capacity for shielding an opening crack accommodated by an extensive shear-band sliding process, which promotes a fracture toughness comparable to those of the toughest materials known. This result demonstrates that the combination of toughness and strength (that is, damage tolerance) accessible to amorphous materials extends beyond the benchmark ranges established by the toughest and strongest materials known, thereby pushing the envelope of damage tolerance accessible to a structural metal.