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Monthly Archives: February 2012

Apple is now the most valuable company in the world but is that a good thing?

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UPDATE: Apple reaches $500 billion in market value

Update (again)- In just a few months, Apple has reached a market evaluation of $600 billion dollars, with a stock price in the 640s.

According to sales numbers, Apple is now the most valuable company in the world. It overtook the spot from Exxon in recent weeks. Kudos to Apple to beating every other company in the world even the evil gas companies. However, can Apple hold this position for long? My answer is maybe. You see there is this effect, or law rather that basically says that in order for Apple to continue it’s seemingly infinite growth it will need to sell it’s devices to every man, woman and child. This has been a concern for years for Apple, people will get tired of buying the same device they bought last year, and the year before and the year before. This effect has recently happened to Exxon and the reason that Apple overtook it is because Exxon had this problem. They had, in 2006, $447 billion, now they have $45 billion less than that. However, and this is a big however, Exxon sells one product and one product only, gasoline for your car. They are taking more money from you than before and people are sick and tired of buying expensive gas and they are switching to electric. Apple on the other hand has limitless possibilities, it can sell these devices over and over because technology is always improving, and people always want the best. Also, Apple sells multiple products, instead of one. It also has more products down the road that we don’t even know about, all of which will more than likely be a hit just like everything else Apple touches. Also with Windows 8 expected to be a total flop like Vista, Apple will have a golden opportunity to make its mark there as well. You see the phrase “history repeats itself” may not necessarily apply to Apple. Apple is on top and unlike the previous holders of the “Most Valuable Company” title, it will stay there, probably for a very long time. The reason it doesn’t apply to Apple is because Apple is a special company that can not be touched. It will survive, and it will thrive. It will always be number one.

Thanks for reading,

Joe

Happy Birthday Steve

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Yesterday was Steve Jobs Birthday. He would have been 57 years old. Happy birthday dear guy, hope to see you soon in iHeaven. You must be a popular guy up there:) Rest In Peace. I’m going to repost this because I feel it it to be appropriate… Today will be a day that I will never forget, on October 5, 2011 we lost a great mind, a brave solider, & a one of a mind man.

I lost a friend, he was a person who I looked up to each and everyday. My top dream was to meet him, and to just shake hands with him, it’s been a dream of mine since I was 10, now it will only be a dream never a reality. He the person who has created some of my best friends, and I’m a proud geek to say that.

Their was no other person like him in this world and there never will be again. Although he is gone, he will always be with each and everyone of us in spirit, every iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, & Mac is a symbol of all the hard work and dreams that this man has done for us. He was a person who wanted the best for us even is his worst times, and was the person who always wanted us to “Think Different”. There wasn’t ever an Apple keynote that I wasn’t at my Macbook watching all the exciting stuff was being announced. He has really made people feel like they belonged is this world and it was okay to be a geek, an Apple geek. I told my self that I will work for Apple Inc. and make him proud. Thank you to a man who touched so many life’s in one way or another, I will never forget all that you have done, Thanks for being my Inspiration, and never giving up on your dreams.

Rest In Peace Steven Paul Jobs”

And one more thing…

As all of you know, Steve Jobs died earlier this year and Apple is about to start a whole new year without him. What Apple needs to do to ensure it remains a global leader in technology is to follow the triumph, legacy and beliefs that this man left for us. They need to follow in the legacy of Steve Jobs.

What exactly is his legacy? Everything that Apple and Pixar have done to this point is what he dedicated his life for. All of his products from the Apple II all the way up the iPad 2 he created for us to use in our daily lives and to improve it. Let’s face it, we live in Steve’s World. We watch his movies everyday made from an amazing studio called Pixar. We listen to our music libraries everyday through his wonderful iPods, we search the web with his amazing computers, we talk to our friends using his revolutionary phone and we have the whole world in our hands with his magical iPad. And we have learned how to live our lives through his amazing speech at Stanford. I have heard countless numbers of stories on the web and just talking to people of how these products helped them do what they thought was impossible like parents in Los Angeles allowing their children to see their sick grandmother in the hospital in New York City or connecting cousins in different countries, for free. Steve Jobs, through his word, is leading a new type of generation. He is leading, through his word, a type of generation that uses technology to connect with one another without being in the same room. He is leading a generation of people that will ask themselves when they wake up in the morning if that day were their last would they do what they were about to do that day. His wisdom will lead a generation that will take initiative to do what they want to do instead of what living another’s life. You see, his legacy isn’t just his products but what he believed in. Doing what you love everyday, to never give up even when the worst happens and to live your own life. This is the generation of people Apple needs to focus on. This is the group of leaders that Apple should target. I know that every decision Apple makes is moving and will move towards this group of people because thats what Steve’s legacy put them in a position to do. I wish everyone of you a Happy New Year and may all your best wishes come true in 2012.

Thank you for reading,

Joe

Oh I forgot, there’s one more thing. One story I want to share with you. Just one I promise. I watched a program one night that was talking about autistic kids and iPad. There are apps on the iPad that allow these autistic kids to communicate with parents and others what they want and it allows a much easier route for these parents to understand what their autistic kids want. Imagine for a second what these parents think when they finally have a way to easily communicate with their kids when before it was so hard to do so. Imagine the joy they must have. Just changing one persons life for the better would have been good enough for Jobs. He just happened to change the world.

The death of the entire Music Industry

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The music industry has died. Something that goes by the name of techno “music” has killed the music industry as we know it. My son listens to deadmaus and these computer generated noise. This “music” is made on computers and features little to none human element. What is a human element? It can include singing, guitar, keyboards, drums any instrument that makes a sound without the help of a computer (no, a pedal is not a computer). All techno music is, is noise generated on a computer. I personally give no credit to the makers of this music since all they do is press some buttons and make mind numbing noise that is worthless to listen to. Now, the music industry isn’t completely dead, you still have me and many adults that listen to human elemented music. However, when we are gone and all that are left are older teens and young adults that have been dumbed down from this mind numbing noise, the music industry will change to the noise industry. So what does this have to do with Apple. Apple is a company that works closely with the music industry. Once the music industry sees this noise takeover, Apple will need to ban techno music. So I am giving Apple a call to action. Apple, ban techno “music” and save the entire music industry, don’t and you’ll be going against Steve Jobs ideals, his ideal of working closely with the music industry. He said the music not noise industry. Ban the noise industry and save the music industry.

Thanks for reading,

Joe

Mac OS X Mountain Lion

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I was on the Apple website this morning looking to see how much money I needed for a MacBook Pro as I am going to buy soon and as soon as I clicked on the Mac tab a BIG Apple promo on the site said OS X Mountain Lion preview. That of course caught my interest, the first thing I noticed is that there is no Mac in front of OS X Mountain Lion, I’m like that’s odd. (Ill come back to that in a bit.) So I click on it and a video pops up, I’m watching this thing and I start to cry. Cry tears of joy! This OS is amazing. Apple says it features at least 50 new features, here are my personal favorites.

AirPlay Mirroring. I just bought the Apple TV 2 last week and I’m loving it, my iPad and my TV are now best friends. I just love the AirPlay Mirroring on my iPad. Coincidently I was thinking to myself that day (which was my birthday) wouldn’t it be great if I could have this on my Mac. As I mentioned earlier, I’m getting a new MacBook, how great it would be to have a 13 inch MacBook and then have a 52″ external monitor! Well, low and behold, just a few days later, Apple releases a video showing just that. I give a lot of presentations off of my iPad using my works Apple TV and being able to bring my laptop to work and do it more professionally, thats just amazing.

iCloud intregation. I’ve been using iCloud a lot for my data to sync music, contacts, notes etc between my iDevices. How cool would it be if I could make contacts on my Mac, make notes on my Mac? Well with Mountain Lion, I can do that. It comes with a notes app. iCloud is now a lot more integrated into the Mac. I personally think this is an absolute excellent idea.

Messages. Personally, I dont use iChat. I’m just not a fan. But I love iMessages on my iPad. Wouldn’t it be awesome that if I could start a conversation on my Mac and I can leave off right onto my iPhone or iPad. I think it would be absolutely great. I love to chat and I’m on my Mac a lot. And I’m on my iPad a lot. AND I’m on my iPhone a lot so iChat intregation is absolutely great.

Reminders and Notes. As I mentioned earlier, Mountain Lion comes with a Notes app. This is spectacular. As you could probably guess, I am a business-person. So as you should also guess, I take a lot of notes, on my iPad and iPhone, both of which are 3G. I can now make notes on my Mac and sync them to my iPad and iPhone and vice versa. You can make notes, “tear them out of the notepad” and put notes on your desktop without having the actual Notes app even open. Next is Reminders. Again as I said I am a business person and as being such I have a lot of reminders. These reminders are always on my iPad, and they just work great. Again I’m on my Mac a lot, and I just have to remind myself of a lot of things. This reminders app is going to be great!

Share Sheets. This feature is simple but seems to be a very important one. This feature allows you take a picture, video, or even an entire web page and share it via email, messages, Twitter (OS X Mountain Lion has Twitter intregated just like iOS) and a few others. It’s absolutely amazing.

Game Center. With Game Center for Mac, not only can you play games that are both Mac and iOS, you can play them by multiple devices. For instance, I can play games on my Mac along with friends on an iPad. Now as I said, I’m a business person but my son will love this feature. A lot more people will make games for Mac just for this functionality.

Notification Center. This has got to be one of the most significant iOS 5 features out there. Like I said I’m a business person and I have a lot of notes, a lot of reminders, and a lot of messages. Mountain Lions Notification Center is no different, and it looks like its going to be another great addition to OS X.

As I mentioned before, Apple has taken the word Mac out of Mac OS X. Not only for Mountain Lion but for Lion as well. Personally, I think it’s a brilliant idea to push the two types of devices together since it allows for ease among iOS and Mac OS X users alike. I believe that Apple is absolutely headed in the right direction. I also believe that Windows 8 will be another flop like Windows Vista, and unlike when they had Vista, Microsoft does not have another chance if they mess up. They’re already screwed when it comes to music players, phones, and tablets, which Apple succeeds at very successfully. If they are to survive, Windows 8 needs to be a success, and personally it looks like a flop. If Microsoft is to take a hit from Windows 8 they might end up taking a blow- one that is way too big to handle. This would allow Apple or (God help us) Linux to jump in and take the market of PCs. Apple, just keep doing what you’re doing. Microsoft, you too, I love to see you fail.

Thanks for reading,

Joe

iPad 2s/3- What do I expect will happen

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The much anticipated updated iPad event fast approaching, March is almost here. This is the year of the iPad 2, iPad 2S and iPad 3. What? Did I just say three different models? I did, it’s not a major typo. That’s right, Apple may be be selling three different models. Let’s review the options Apple has and I’ll give you my final verdict of what will be in the new iPad and what plan I think Apple will follow.

Plan #1 is the most simple one. This plan will consist of one, same 9 inch, iPad 3 model. The iPad 3, in my prediction will feature the same 9 inch screen as the iPad 1 and 2. It will more than likely have a A6 processor with 1.5-2.0 ghz. It will have 1-2 gigs of ram. It will coincide with the launch of 5.1 software update, just as the iPad 2 coincided with 4.3. It will have better cameras, and probably be a bit thicker than the iPad 2. I would like to see if Apple will put in its take of 3D technology in the iPad 3, kind of like the 3DS. This is, however, unlikely due in part to the unpopularity of the 3DS. The iPad 3 will more than likely have a retina display along with the new Macs when they come out more towards the middle of the year. The iPad 3 will be the first iPad to be able to compete not only with other tablets, but will compete with laptops and even desktops as well. It is expected, with the iPad 3 release, that iOS market share will surpass Android and become the most popular mobile operating system.

Plan #2 is a little more complicated, but not as complicated as #3. Apple will release two new models. They will release the iPad 2S and iPad 3 together. The iPad 2S will have very similar specs to the iPad 2. Unlike the 3, it will not have a retina display. It will also be a 7 inch screen. It will be a more economically suitable iPad price considering the starting price of the iPad 3 will probably be higher than the starting price of iPad 2. It will be for people more in a budget while iPad 3 will be a powerhouse for a higher price. It would be like the Mac mini compared to the iMac.

Plan #3 is the most complicated. Apple, under this plan, will keep the iPad 2, and still release the 2S and the 3. The iPad 2 will be reduced to the price range like that of the Fire. It will be reduced to $250-$300. The 2S will be priced at around $500 and the iPad 3 will be more like $600-700. All these prices are at the lowest end model, which by the way will be 16 for iPad 2 and 2S but 32 for the iPad 3. The availability of GB now will be on 2 and 2S but the iPad 3 will have it’s maximum to a 128 GB HD.

Personally, knowing Apple’s simplicity, I believe that Apple will release only the iPad 3. I believe that Apple will stick to the 9 inches for any model of iPad they release, iPad 3, iPad 4 and so on. I believe that putting in another screen size into play will hurt Apples reputation as being a simple company. Let me know what you think Apple might do or what Apple will put into its new iPad 3. Comment below.

Thanks for reading,

Joe