AppleTalk Thursday #6

Greetings everyone and welcome to another installment of AppleTalk Thursday, a blog about all things Apple, from Macs to iOS devices and everything in between. Let’s see what is going on in the world of Apple this week!

Apple beats the Street

Results for Q1 sales are in and Apple easily beat the Wall Street estimates. Recording revenue of $26.7 Billion in the first quarter of 2011 with earnings her share of $6.43. During the quarter Apple sold 16.24 million iPhones (86% increase over last year Q1), 7.33 million iPads, 19.45 million iPods (a 7% decline over last year Q1), and 4.13 million Macs which is a 23% over the same quarter last year! Morgan Stanley analyst Kathy Huberty is estimated that Apple may sell 100 million iPhones and 40 million iPads in 2011. If you are an Apple stockholder like I am, this has to put a big smile on your face! That should be good enough for Apple to top Microsoft in quarterly profits for the first time in 20 years.

TiVo releases iPad app

Good news for TiVo users, there is an app for that...in the form of an iPad version. It acts as both a program guide and a remote so that is pretty cool. Let’s see if DirecTV can come up with something as cool for their users. It does require TiVo Premiere or TiVo Premiere XL box as well as a TiVo account to be of any use of course.

Tim Cook smack talks Windows and Android iPad wannabes

The more I hear from Steve Jobs stand in COO Tim Cook, the more I like him! He is willing to go toe to toe with Ballmer on smack talk. Here he refers to as the Windows tablet as big, heavy, and expensive and refers to the Android tablets as “scaled-up smartphones”. Keep it up Tim, I love it!

Apple and AT&T new deal great for consumer choice

Apple and AT&T have a new non-exclusive deal in place in the US which ends all exclusivity deals for the iPhone worldwide. So now Apple can offer the iPhone to any GSM and CDMA carriers in the US. Great news for T-Mobile, Sprint, CellularSouth, and other carriers. This is smart strategy for Apple as it will put it in a more competitive position against Android devices.

Giffords recovery and therapy includes an iPad

While we continually hear awesome news regarding the recovery of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, news last week that one of her doctors mentioned she is even able to scroll through an iPad makes it even more awesome! By having the ability to navigate through the functions of the iPad, it means her Fine Motor Skills are doing very well and she has since been moved to Houston for further treatment where her condition this week was upgraded to Good. We continue to pray for the full recovery of Congresswoman Giffords here at TupeloGeek Media.

Apple brings on former NSA analyst to head up global security

Apple has hired David Rice to be Director of Global Security starting in March. Previously Mr. Rice has worked at the National Security Agency as a Global Network Vulnerability analyst and for the Navy as a Special Duty Cryptologic officer. This will help Apple as it addresses security concerns with enterprise clients.

Verizon dangles the unlimited data carrot to iPhone 4 switchers, $20 hotspot tethering plan

So this is how Verizon will persuade users to upgrade or switch over to the iPhone 4 next month. For a limited time, Verizon will offer people buying the Verizon iPhone 4 the unlimited data plan. After that Verizon will indeed move to a tiered data plan similar to AT&T. In addition it also announced its Mobile Hotspot plan will be $20 per month with a 2GB data cap with each additional gigabyte costing $20. To counter the move of unlimited data plan, AT&T is quietly allowing users who once had the unlimited data plan but moved to one of their tiered data plans, is allowing users to switch back to unlimited data providing they had their iPhone prior to the June data plan change. This means if you got an iPhone with AT&T after June you are SOL...sorry! That being said, one analyst suggests Verizon could sell 19 million iPhones in 2011 alone.

iPhone and iPad extend lead over Android devices in Enterprise in 2010

Adoption of the iPhone and the iPad in the enterprise sector continues to do very well. Far outpacing Android devices while Windows mobiles devices decline in adoption according to Good Technology. Here are a couple of charts that puts things into perspective.





Pretty impressive if you ask me! I really love that Windows Mobile is imploding, payback is a...oh wait got to keep it clean here. ;)

The Daily to launch within weeks

James Murdoch, Chief Executive of NewsCorp in Europe and Asia and son of Rupert has stated that The Daily digital periodical for the iPad will be available in the US within the next 2 weeks initially followed by launches internationally, in addition he confirms it will cost 99 cents per week on a reoccurring subscription something that will be rolled out as part of the iOS 4.3 update.

Next gen iPhone and iPads supporting NFC?

Although slow to rollout in the US, the idea of Near-Field Communications is starting to catch on. Basically allowing a user to pay for items by a wave of their mobile device, the feature maybe built into the next generation of iPad and iPhone devices. This might be something I personally might use depending on the security of NFC when making a purchase such as what would happen if someone got a hold of my device and decided to go on a shopping spree? Something to consider.

Apple App Store approving 4.3-compatible AirPlay third party apps

Looks like the App Store is approving third party developers apps that take advantage of AirPlay. Hmm could Netflix and Hulu Plus app updates be not too far behind?

iOS App Reviews

So this week I thought I would focus on some fitness and health related apps as I know a lot of people have that at the top of their New Years Resolution list.

Lose It! (FREE) - This is a great app for tracking your calories! It allows you to enter in your exercise routine and your food intake so you know just where you stand on your daily calorie cap so you can hit your target weight loss goals. I am on a 2 pounds per week plan so I can hit my goal in 39 weeks.

RunKeeper Pro (FREE until end of January) - RunKeeper has an outstanding app to enter in your workout routine so you can see how your are doing on your workouts. It is usually $9.99 but if you get it this month it is FREE! Don’t let the name fool you though, it is not just for runners but also walkers and people using equipment at fitness centers too.

CalorieCounter by ShapeUp Club (FREE) - Another good calorie tracking app is CalorieCounter by ShapeUp Club. I have both Lose It and CalorieCounter as I haven’t decided which one works best for me. I will follow up with my decision soon but they are both good apps.

Nike+ GPS ($1.99) - Of course there is the Nike+ system which relies on the sensor in your shoe for records but Nike also has a GPS related app that is similar to RunKeeper Pro and cheaper on regular price by $8.

Well, that should give you a running start on fitness apps for the new year. That is going to do it for this extra packed issue of AppleTalk Thursday. See you all next week for another edition of all things Apple!