Jump to content

Microsoft v/s Apple

EnterTheVoid

By EnterTheVoid
in Chit Chat

 Share

Recommended Posts

Sachin=GOD Newbie

Sachin=GOD

Posted
Posted

Apple iTunes Store debuts in India, songs selling at Rs 7

NEW DELHI: Apple has finally rolled out iTunes Store in India and Indonesia, which will offer music and movies from these countries as well as international offerings. The iPhone maker had launched iTunes Store in many parts of Asia in June, but left out the two nations that have combined population of approximately 1.4 billion. In India, the new Apple iTunes Store offers individual songs priced at between Rs 7-15 and whole albums from Rs 70. The company is also offering iTunes Match in the country, which enables users to store music purchased from sources other than iTunes in the cloud. The company will face competition from the likes of Gaana.com, Saavn.com and Dhingana.com when it comes to music streaming. Similarly, iTunes Store will have to grapple with services like BoxTV and Spuul for movie streaming in the country. In Indonesia, iTunes Store will sell music at IDR 5,000-7,000, while albums and movies cost IDR 45,0000-65,000 and IDR 149,0000, respectively, Internet penetration is less than 10% in India, but the country still ranks among the top 5 traffic destinations for Facebook. Similar is the case with Indonesia, where the internet has reached less than 20% of the population. Both the countries have high levels of content piracy, which has plagued the content companies and affected revenues.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-04/internet/35593717_1_itunes-individual-songs-apple
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sachin=GOD Newbie

Sachin=GOD

Posted
Posted

Apple suffers worst share price fall in four years as $35bn wiped off tech giant Apple suffered its worst one-day share price fall in almost four years on Wednesday on fears it was losing market share to rivals and disappointment over the lack of a special dividend.

The maker of the iPhone and iPad saw its shares fall 6.4pc to $538.79, the biggest one-day drop since December 17, 2008, with America’s biggest company losing almost $35bn off its market value. It is now worth just under $507bn. Analysts expressed concerns that Apple risked losing ground to Nokia smartphones in China, while failing to keep pace with Google in the tablets market. Fears were triggered by an announcement that China Mobile, China’s biggest mobile operator, had agreed to carry the Lumia 920T, a device based on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 software. Apple has agreements with China Telecom and China Unicom (Hong Kong) to sell iPhones but is yet to strike a deal with China Mobile in the world’s leading mobile-phone market. “Nokia announced that they are launching one of their Lumia phones with China Mobile, and there was some hope that Apple would launch their iPhone on that network,” Gus Papageorgiou, an analyst with Scotia Capital told Bloomberg. “I think they still will, but they’ll probably launch closer to Chinese New Year.” Traders were also spooked by a report from research firm IDC forecasting that Apple’s share of the tablet market will slip to 53.8pc this year from 56.3pc in 2011, while Google’s share will increase to 42.7pc from 39.8pc. It added that Apple’s tablet share will slip below 50pc by 2016, as total global tablet sales more than double to nearly 283m units in four years as consumers increasingly opt for them rather than personal computers. Analysts added that Apple’s slide was also due to some traders betting against the shares, alongside disappointment from some investors that the company was not following the likes of Oracle and Wal-Mart in paying a special dividend. Apple accounted for all of the Nasdaq 100’s 1.1pc fall, while the Dow Jones index, which does not include Apple, saw its best trading day for a week, rising 82.71 to 13034.49.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/electronics/9725956/Apple-suffers-worst-share-price-fall-in-four-years-as-35bn-wiped-off-tech-giant.html
Link to comment
Share on other sites
maniac Grand Master

maniac

Posted
Posted

Off the Apple Bandwagon and loving it.So far more than happy with my android phone. My uncle has an android based tablet and it was as good as the Ipad,so slowly moving from the cult like mentality that we apple fans have had Posting from my Mac :giggle: though because as far as computers go Mac rules

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Yoda-esque Newbie

Yoda-esque

Posted
Posted
Off the Apple Bandwagon and loving it.So far more than happy with my android phone. My uncle has an android based tablet and it was as good as the Ipad,so slowly moving from the cult like mentality that we apple fans have had Posting from my Mac :giggle: though because as far as computers go Mac rules
:haha::haha:
Link to comment
Share on other sites
The Outsider Newbie

The Outsider

Posted
Posted
iPhone 5 is a joke - lighter and thinner? LOL! Am I struggling to carry iPhone 4 or want to show off my boner with iPhone 5. Bigger screen? WTF! Is that why I carry my phone around? No major development in the OS! :mad: Time to get some puts on Apple expiring before January-February.
Thank you Apple. Cashed out my put options today.:adore:
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Crookbond Newbie

Crookbond

Posted
Posted

U.S. Patent Office Preliminary Determination Finds That The ‘Steve Jobs’ Multitouch Patent Is Invalid http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/07/u-s-patent-office-preliminary-determination-finds-that-the-steve-jobs-multitouch-patent-is-invalid/

The USPTO has issued a preliminary notice indicating that the famous ‘Steve Jobs’ patent, which describes basic multitouch technology including scrolling, might be invalid, according to a first Office action uncovered by FOSS Patents. The ruling is very early, however, and Apple still has two months to make an initial response and a number of appeals before the patent in question might finally be rendered invalid. Many news outlets are talking about the effect this may have on ongoing court cases, but looking at the details, it’s much too early to even be thinking about the effect such a decision would have on ongoing court battles between Samsung and others. The patent is an iconic one, but just one that Apple uses among hundreds of others related to multitouch tech in its legal proceedings, including those against Motorola and Samsung. And aside from the fact that it is still only one among a number of patents that Apple claims have been infringed by other smartphone OEMs, it’s also true that, at this stage, a first Office action like the one issued by the USPTO is far from the final word on things. In fact, once a reassessment of a granted patent is allowed — as it was in this case — this kind of rejection of claims is actually pretty common. This particular reexamination request was rejected once before in 2010, but once granted, chances were in its favor that some kind of rejection of the patent claims would come back. First Office actions often include a rejection of some or all claims asserted in a patent, and some sources suggest that patent examiners tend to favor an approach that errs on the side of the arguments made initially by the party that filed the complaint, since they aren’t getting the original patent filer’s input during their first pass. This is also an ex parte reexamination, which means that the complaining party won’t be involved in the rest of the reexamination process, while Apple will have the opportunity to defend its original claim. Apple has previously had another patent, related to the rubberband snapback effect of movable content on touchscreens, declared invalid in a similar preliminary decision by the USPTO. In both cases, there are still plenty of steps left to take before any of the ongoing legal proceedings are affected, and even if Apple does lose the patents in question, don’t expect much of a change to its overall patent strategy in terms of court cases related to its remaining intellectual property arsenal.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sachin=GOD Newbie

Sachin=GOD

Posted
Posted

Apple pursuit lands 20,000 Chinese students in debt

Over 20,000 college students have taken high-interest loans to buy fancy electronic products, mostly Apple devices, in central China's Wuhan city. From the start of January 2012 to the end of February 2013, the students have applied for loans of 160 million yuan ($25.76 million) from Home Credit China (HC China), a subsidiary of international investment business PPF Group, reported Xinhua. "We have lost touch with about 100 of them, getting no response to calls or letters reminding them about delayed payments," said Liu Mingwei, Wuhan regional manager with HC China, Wednesday. With around 1 million students in Wuhan, it means about one in 50 of them are shouldering HC China's heavy annual interest rates of up to 47.12 percent on a 12-month-term loan. About 90 percent of the credit was used to buy Apple products, such as iPhones and iPads, and other high-end electronic products, said Li. Home Credit China provides credit loans in nine, 12 and 15-month terms for college and university students, providing they can present an ID card, bank card and student ID card. Loan amounts range from 540 to 10,000 yuan. "Quite different from the loan approval process in a bank, HC China passes the credit loan application in as little as dozens of minutes," according to Zhang Zheng, a HC China salesman in Wuhan. Then, students can take away goods after paying a down payment in HC China's partner stores. The down payments range from 10 to 30 percent of the marked price for each item. In Wuhan, HC China's list of partner stores cover major electronic products centers and chain stores such as Gome and Sunning. And the easy loans stimulate their sales volume. In spite of this, some stores have refused such cooperation. "I (saw) the loan rate and refused such unscrupulous usury," said a store head who did not wish to be named. The loans have encouraged young students to get Apple devices. "Apple products are a common topic or a particular community in campus. I used to feel isolated while they were discussing and playing with iPhones or iPads," said a student of Wuhan University of Science and Technology surnamed Yu. About half of her classmates and roommates have an iPhone. "I felt embarrassed even to take a look when they were in a heated discussion about a new application," Yu said. She bought an iPhone with credit loan "in the heat of the moment during a marketing campaign by a salesman of HC China, but felt regret afterward". The girl finally paid the credit with the help of her parents. Wang Yong, studying at the China University of Geosciences, failed to pay back the loan in March due to overspending at the beginning of the spring semester. At that point, he started to work part-time in KFC. "The HC China salesman continuously called to warn me about the possible poor credit record, which would have a bad effect in the future. I was so afraid," Wang said, explaining that he had to ask his parents for help. HC China will report the bad credit of the "vanished" college students who have failed to pay back their loan, according to the firm's Wuhan branch. Though college students are adults, their consumption view is not yet mature, said Qiu Baochang, leader of the lawyer team with the China Consumer Association. The lawyer called for a rational consumption guide to educate college students, and suggested the government strengthen supervision on consumer finance companies in lending. In 2009, the People's Bank of China issued a regulation stopping banks from issuing lines of credit above 1,000 yuan to students.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/technology/Chunk-HT-UI-Technology-OtherStories/Apple-pursuit-lands-20-000-Chinese-students-in-debt/SP-Article1-1029836.aspx
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Crookbond Newbie

Crookbond

Posted
Posted
Currently' date=' I guess they have still held their own in innovation with the XBox (which itself initially had a lot of hardware issues until it came around) and Kinect. The Surface - I am yet not sure about - It will depend on Windows 8 as well as pricing. The Windows Phone is also very much uncertain but they are making enough money out of Android as of now for MS to be bothered about it. [b']I guess Nokia would soon dissolve to be a part of Microsoft. However, MS needs to just put these anti-trust issues aside for their own good and the good of customers like me who "buy" their software.
Made this prediction almost 1.5 years earlier.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...