Lukas Hermann has quite an in-depth piece on MacStories today about music apps for the iPad. I’ll be honest — I skipped the discovery content and moved right into what he had to say about creation. I agree with his choice of apps, although I would have added the Apogee JAM to the list of hardware devices.
Definitely a worthwhile read.
Chris Matyszczyk, CNET:
Gates began by being circumspect, saying that the market hadn’t declared this was what it wanted yet, but he said that the idea of Apple having to create a Surface-like device was “a strong possibility.”“This is a seminal event,” he declared.
Um… no.
Rene Ritchie:
One of the worst things a company can ever do is mistake their products for their business. Products come and go. If you mistake your product for your business, when — inevitably — that product goes, your business goes with it.
Apple evolves its products as technology allows, giving users a new way to do things. Other companies try desperately to hold on to a successful product and milk it for all its worth. Consumers are becoming more educated and see stunts like that for what they are.
The most common request we’ve had over the years is for editable user constants, so they’re now available. Not only can you create and export your own categories of constants, but they will sync automatically to all your devices via iCloud.
Another great update from James Thomson.
The 65.27 percent share of Apple’s iOS platform, which is found on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, was up from 62.65 percent in May. Apple’s share has steadily risen, growing from a 53 percent position in August of 2011.Apple’s next closest competitor in mobile browsing marketis Google’s Android platform, which took 19.73 percent in the month of June.
I’m not going to say it, I just won’t. (Android is winning)
We took Chrome for iOS for a spin this weekend, tucking Safari into a folder and using Chrome exclusively on the iPhone and iPad. By Monday morning, Safari was back in the dock.
It’s the details that frustrate people.
Some nice choices from Matt Gemmell.
This definitely wasn’t copied from Apple, nope not at all. […]
Google on Thursday announced that its Chrome browser will launch in the App Store for iPhone and iPad, as well as a native iOS application connected to the Google Drive service.
Part of what makes Safari so fast on iOS is the Nitro engine. I wonder how Chrome will compete with that.
TJ Draper:
I can see how this is a major improvement if you have been using iTunes to manage podcasts and syncing them from iTunes to your iDevice. But while this is a major improvement over that scenario, this is by no means a good app.
At the heart of BlueStacks is a multi-OS runtime with breakthrough virtualization technology. Apps developed for different operating systems can execute simultaneously, side-by-side, on the same computer.
If you’re the type who likes specs, check out this comparison chart from Bryan Chaffin.
Om Malik:
However, when you stand back from all the announcements made by Google today and increase the periphery, you start to notice that this is a company that is fighting a lot of battles on many fronts. In some places it is winning, but most places it is trench warfare.
Chris Armstrong takes a look at Apple’s new Podcast app. Personally I love the tape deck.
Apple finally made it happen.
According to a new report from Localytics, app retention is increasing in the mobile market as developers move away from focusing just on downloads. The report says that the iPhone and iPad is crushing Android in app retention. […]
Podcasts app is the easiest way to discover, subscribe to and play your favorite podcasts on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Explore hundreds of thousands of free audio and video podcasts from the Podcasts Catalog, and play the most popular podcasts, organized for you by topic, with the all-new Top Stations feature.
I love seeing schools using the latest technology to teach students.
I agree with Gruber on this.
The U.S. International Trade Commission said it will review ITC Judge Thomas Pender’s findings that Apple was violating one Motorola Mobility patent. The commission is scheduled to issue a final decision on Aug. 24, and has the power to block devices made in Asia from entering the U.S. The iPhone, iPad and related devices generate 78 percent of Apple’s revenue.
The stock closed at $9.11 on the Nasdaq. The 7.6 percent fall is its steepest since late May, when it said it expected to report an operating loss for its fiscal first quarter and said it had hired investment bankers as part of a strategic review.
SHOOT IT ALREADY!
I just finished reading TechCrunch Managing Editor Peter Ha’s “The Future Of Microsoft Is Sunny With A Chance Of Thunderstorms,” which is his take on the Microsoft Surface announcement. I wanted to reach out and strangle him when he said the iPad is a consumption, not a creation device though.
Overall, this is probably the most balanced article I’ve read on the subject.
Our team has been working hard to bring your most-requested features to the Gmail app for iOS. Today, we’re excited to add three new improvements to that list of updates: full notification center support, the ability to send messages from your alternate email addresses and an improved login experience.
The report mentions Facebook and Amazon as potential buyers, but on Sunday several people close to RIM dismissed the news as “a silly fantasy,” and “one of the most ridiculous ideas I have heard in a while.”
The Globe and Mail’s headline says that “RIM dismisses report of splitting firm in two,” but that’s not actually true. It’s unnamed sources that said that.
So if they’re not going to split the company, how about just shutting it down.
Renena Joy talked to iPhone in Canada about how she uses the iPad as a learning tool for her daughter.
Nick Bilton:
Why? Well, I didn’t knock their baby teeth out, that’s for sure. Instead, I said something slightly negative about an Apple product.
First of all, when you title your follow-up article “When Apple Fanboys Attack,” you’re probably going to get some shit. […]
Matthew Panzarino:
By a huge margin, the number one request by these developers was for Apple to allow them to respond directly to reviews on the App Store.
I agree.
TabToolkit now includes a Tab Store right inside the app, with instant access to hundreds of officially licensed, full-score transcriptions with complete notation for each guitar, bass, drum, and keyboard part, as well as vocal tracks with lyrics.
I’ve been using TabToolkit since it was first released. Love this app.
This is so cool. Check out the video.
My latest Techpinions column looking at Microsoft’s Surface strategy compared to Apple’s:
From what I’ve seen, it seems to me that Microsoft is trying to do a similar type of dance with the Surface that it did with previous tablets. The company is trying to convince consumers that this device can be a computer and a tablet at the same time. Based on the sales of the iPad, I’m not sure that’s what consumers really want.