Mac Information
Apple Macintosh, iPod, iPad and iPhone news and advice in Dublin, Ireland

What a Difference 5 Years Makes…

Amazing what five years does. In the first half of 2007 Apple did not sell a mobile phone. In 2012, they control 75% of the profits of the entire mobile phone industry, and 40% of all revenues. This is today’s chart from Business Insider:

5 years of the iPhone

This shows two things. Firstly how Apple have come to dominate the industry, and they do this selling one model of phone, in three flavours (iPhone 4S, 4 and 3GS). The majority of their units and revenue come from just one model of iPhone, the new iPhone 4S. Apple don’t produce a myriad of handsets and configurations, and this helps to sharpen their image in the market. Everyone knows about the iPhone and most people either have one or intend to get one.

Secondly, Apple’s profit level on these phones far exceeds any other manufacturer. Many Android phone makes would envy the margins that Apple hold, while they pump pout low-cost handsets with thin dividends. Apple makes less than 10% of the total handsets sold, and yet rake in 75% of all of the profits.

It is an amazing story and shows just how far Apple Inc. have moved in the first five years. They have a sharp position in a crowded market, but manage to make their iPhone business one of the most profitable in the tech sector.


.
Comments

Our reflection on Steve Jobs



Just our own piece of video, from July 2001, taken at Macworld New York. This was from after the keynote and Jobs stayed around for about 45 mins, talking to the press, Apple managers and various well-wishers. As he approached one person, she shook his hand enthusiastically as the press continued to take pictures, and said “you guys are like rock stars!” This was before the iPod was launched, before the iPad.

.
Comments

Apple's leadership in 2011




The announcement this week that Steve Jobs was resigning as Apple CEO formalised what was already in place. Jobs took medical leave from Apple in January 2011, and Tim Cook was acting-CEO since then. The decision by Jobs to resign as CEO and move to Chairman of the board simply crystallised an existing situation in the leadership at Apple.

jobs

.
Comments

Opinion: The Fall of Nokia

Conservatism is at the core of Nokia. Nokia is a company run by engineers, very talented ones at that, but they have a view of the mobile market which is closer to RIM and Microsoft than to Google and Apple. And right now, Apple and Google are on the ascendency.

Nokia N95- 2007 iPhone 4


.
Comments

Apple announce record results: $6 billion profit

Apple have announced record results, with $6 billion profit and revenues of $24.4 billion.

Mac sales exceeded 4 million units for the very first time, with strong sales in laptops. Over 16 million iPhones were sold in the quarter, and the iPad also had its best quarter so far, with 7.33 million units.

iPad sales for Q1 2011
iPad sales


.
Comments

What we love and hate about the iPad

We have been using our iPad now for about four months, and so it is time to look back on what we most liked and really dislike about this device.

The first point is that we use the iPad for consuming and not producing; in other words we find ourselves reading emails, browsing webpages, and reading Twitter messages on the iPad. We have not moved to producing material, such as using Pages, Keynote or Numbers. We do tend to reply to emails, and will type out short messages but not any long messages or notes. .
Comments

iPhone 4 launches in Ireland

The new iPhone 4 has launched in Ireland, and we have the info you need. The iPhone is available on the Vodafone, O2 and 3 networks, and here are the details for each company:



.
Comments

Films arrive on iTunes store for Ireland

Films have arrived on the iTunes store for Ireland- finally. Years after they arrived in the UK, there is now a good selection of films for rent and download.
iTunes films for Ireland
We took a look at the figures, and here is what we found:

UK Ireland % of UK
Action & Adventure 1124 789 70.20%
Anime 15 7 46.67%
Classics 213 108 50.70%
Comedy 1568 952 60.71%
Concert Films 16 6 37.50%
Documentary 180 57 31.67%
Drama 1889 1132 59.93%
Foreign 59 45 76.27%
Holiday 35 22 62.86%
Horror 462 310 67.10%
Independent 143 46 32.17%
Kids & Family 400 292 73.00%
Made for TV 13 3 23.08%
Music Documentaries 39 20 51.28%
Music Feature Films 48 35 72.92%
Musicals 142 79 55.63%
Romance 527 281 53.32%
Sci-Fi & Fantasy 400 286 71.50%
Short Films 275 181 65.82%
Special Interest 18 10 55.56%
Sports 133 86 64.66%
Thriller 857 598 69.78%
Urban 66 57 86.36%
Western 171 88 51.46%
Total Films in iTunes: 8793 5490 62.44%

Continue...

.
Comments

Find your Apple on Campus store

If you teach or are studying in an education institution, make sure you use your campus store if you choose to buy an Apple product. Apple have a dedicated webpage dealing with the AOC stores. Click here.

Apple on Campus stores

Apple lists the Apple on Campus stores for Ireland, including those for UCC, DIT, Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art , TCD and UCD. These stores allow studens and staff to buy Apple equuipment at reduced prices, normally a few percent lower than the normal education store.

The site also includes information on Apple products and how they can be used in education, for both teaching and studying.

Continue....
Comments

iPad in Education

About ten years ago I spent the majority of my time travelling between libraries in the UK and Ireland, researching for my PhD. This was a notes gathering exercise for about two years, as I collected material relating to my research field in Liverpool, Nottingham, Manchester, London and Dublin.

In those days I had two main tools to hand- my Apple PowerBook G3 laptop, and my trusty Apple eMate. Many people may have forgotten or may not even be aware of the eMate 300. It was launched in 1997, and was a small, light, green plastic mini device, a cross between a PDA and a laptop- a netbook without the net!

Apple eMate 300

This light PDA/laptop hybrid meant it was easy to carry around libraries, and was ideal for notes. The keys were smaller than on a standard PowerBook keyboard, but it was still comfortable to work on. It also had a stylus pen, which worked on the touch screen. There was no mouse input, and so you controlled windows and dialogue boxes using the pen on the greyscale screen.

Continue....
Comments

Apps we would like to see on the iPad

With the introduction of the iPad, and its launch coming in March, we have been thinking about what apps we would like to see on the iPad. Up to now, apps on the iPhone have normally been widget-type apps, plus games and utilities. However the iPad offers the opportunity for larger input, through typing on the touchscreen keyboard or through an external keyboard.

The combination of keyboard and larger screen offers new opportunities for existing developers. So what apps might make it to the iPad, and lure us away from our laptop. Could the iPad replace a MacBook (Pro/Air) on the road?

1/ FileMaker- we liked FileMaker's sortie into the world of iPod/iPhone apps, but would love to see a more powerful iPad database app, which allows full FileMaker editing. This could be great for client databases for sales people on the road, or for researchers in universities.
http://www.filemaker.com/
FileMaker Pro for iPad

Continue....
Comments

Special Report: AppleCare in Ireland

In the past we have reported on AppleCare in Ireland, and our concerns over the availability of the service options to all Apple owners. We covered this in 2006, and 2007, and have been following the policy for customers in the Republic on an ongoing basis, for ourselves and for our clients.
AppleCare in Ireland

.
Comments

Apple Ireland meets PC World

In recent months, Apple has launched a number of "store-within-store" experiments in PC World outlets in Dublin. This involves Apple agreeing to take over a section of a PC World store, and turning it into a mini-Apple store, with an Apple employed staff member.

Apple Store in Ireland's PC World

.
Comments

Lack of Apple stores in Ireland

People may have noticed the decline in good Mac outlets in Dublin in recent months. The closure of some Spectra Photo stores which once stocked Apple products (Dundrum and Grafton Street for example) is the biggest blow to the availability of Mac goods in Dublin. O2 have also left this market in recent times, and O2 PR confirmed to us that no O2 stores currently supply Mac equipment in Ireland..
Comments

Apple Results: The Headlines

Apple released their Q3 results last night, and here are some of the things which caught our eye:
.
Comments

What now for Eric Schmidt?

This week Google announced that it would go head-to-head with Microsoft by launching its own operating system, Chrome OS. This follows on from Google's new web browser, Chrome, which launched this year. However, this also raises the question of the future role of Eric Schmidt, Google CEO.

Schmidt has been a board member at Apple since August 2006. However Apple have said that Schmidt leaves the room during Apple's board meetings when the iPhone is being discussed. Google's own mobile OS, Android, means that Schmidt has excused himself from these discussions to prevent being accused of a conflict of interest. The question now is, will he also have to be outside the room during discussions about the Mac OS, a rival to Chrome OS?
Google Chrome OS.
Comments

Apple reports record quarter- some notes...

Apple have reported another record quarter, with $1.61 billion profit for Q1 2009. Revenue was a record breaking $10.17 billion, half a billion higher than the same quarter in 2008. Cash and short term investments stood at a staggering $28 billion, up $3.6 billion in the quarter.

Here are a few points we noted from the financial conference call....
Comments

Presswatch: what we liked...

Here are a few sites which we think hit the mark and offered a good comment on the story about Steve Jobs’ health:.
Comments

Presswatch: Bloomberg way off the mark...

In all of the coverage of Steve Jobs’ leave of absence, we found one article particularly distasteful. This is a report from Bloomberg, entitled, “Steve Jobs May Have Pancreas Removed After Cancer”. The article is based on the premise that Jobs may have his pancreas removed after the a return of the cancer he suffered from in 2004.



I found the article distasteful on a number of levels. Firstly it is based on pure speculation; there is currently no evidence to suggest a return of Jobs’ pancreatic cancer, and suggesting this is pure guesswork. .
Comments

Steve Jobs issues statement about his health

Apple CEO suffering from hormone imbalance

Today Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, issued an open letter to the Apple community, giving details of his ill-health. It sought to reassure the Apple, and wider business community, of his health position. Jobs has admitted that he is suffering from weight loss brought on by a hormone imbalance, but has aimed to dismiss rumours of a return of his cancer..
Comments