#Apple App Store set to tick over to 50 billion downloads – an annotated graphic

It may seem like pointless timewasting to many of us, but fans of Angry Birds, Doodle Jump, Fruit Ninja and such like have pushed Apple’s App Store to the brink of its 50 billionth download. Whichever way you (fruit) slice it, that is one heck of a lot of downloads.

There’s a nify countdown on Apple’s homepage, as that golden figure draws ever nearer (and it’s going at quite a pace), so we present today this infographic detailing download history, market share and revenue generated to date. Who would have imagined this five years ago?

Click on the graphic for an expanded view.

Apple to hit 50 billion app downloads

#Apple #iWatch and #Samsung on the up – two annotated graphics

You can’t rest on your laurels for a second in the dog-eat-dog – or at least dog-surpass-dog – world of high-tech electronic gizmos and doodads. It’s not enough merely to come out with an iPhone 5 or iPad Mini or Galaxy SIII or Chromebook or what have you. Whoever you are, one’s competitors are always there, right behind you, snapping at your iHeels.

With this in mind, we have two infographics along these lines to share today. The first concerns Apple’s rumoured iWatch, the inevitable next must-have gadget; the second details Apple’s market share bare-knuckle fist-fight with Samsung and Google, both of whom are openly admiring of Apple’s lunch and express a keen desire to eat it. The iWatch must therefore fulfill its destiny to become the next weapon of mass ifunction for Apple in the war for the world’s wallets.

Update! E&T has reported the news from Samsung that it is planning some sort of super-techno watch as well. Now the competition is so fierce that even ideas and concepts can be trumped by one’s rivals! Our dynamically updated Apple news page is always worth a look to easily keep abreast of such twisty turny tech developments.

Click on either graphic for an expanded view.

Apple under pressure from Samsung and Google

#Mozilla unveils #Firefox OS for mobile phones – an annotated graphic

As web 2.0 enthusiasts the world over doubtless already know, earlier this week the not-for-profit Mozilla organisation unveiled a new OS for  mobile phones based on HTML 5 technology.

The Firefox OS is designed to work on cheaper, more basic handsets – such as those unveiled by Nokia at MWC this week – in order to reach a wider community of users, particularly in emerging markets.

Going up against Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android OS would be a tough gig for anyone, so all we can say at this stage is: good luck, guys!

Click on the graphic for an expanded view.

Firefox to launch mobile operating system

Microsoft Surface Pro to run full Windows 8 – an annotated graphic

Following the success of Microsoft’s Surface, with its funky clicky-clicky dancing geeks advert, the Seattle software behemoth now has plans for a Pro version which will be capable of running not only the full version of Windows 8 but will also be compatible with software that runs on earlier versions of Windows. Maybe even Windows ME, arf!

This is all an encouraging development for Microsoft, following its less-than-enthusiastically received Microsoft Stores and hardware like the Zune MP3 player, as it finally seeks to mount a decent challenge to Apple and its seemingly unstoppable torrent of must-have gadgets.

Click on the graphic for an expanded view.

Microsoft Surface Pro tablet

Phablets abound at CES 2013 – an annotated graphic

If there’s anything more exciting than new gadgets, it’s the new words our fine friends in the marketing and advertising industries invent in order to pimp them out to the masses and hopefully persuade the more gullible amongst us to open their wallets. Again. Enter the word “phablet”.

What is a phablet? A big smartphone. Or more simply, a mobile phone that’s too big simultaneously for your hand, your head and any of your coat pockets. These trends come in cycles, don’t they? We’re old enough to remember the heady days at the turn of the 21st century when the ambition of manufacturers the world over was to make phones as tiny as possible. Now we’ve got phablets that appear to be the equivalent of holding a Penguin paperback against the side of your head.

Oh well, who are we to argue with the vagaries of technology and design? Really, it’s all because Samsung hit a mild home run with its Galaxy Note II, so all the other tech companies have decided they want a piece of that action. Let the phablet wars begin.

Click on the graphic for an expanded view.

Phablets at CES 2013

 

Apple hits the skids – market share down, share price down

OMG! The polish is off Apple’s crown. It finally happened. Well, we say finally, but we’re old enough to still remember the days when Apple wasn’t the technological tastemaker it is now and was requiring of a $10 million loan from Microsoft just to stay afloat. Imagine such a thing happening now. Without the help of Bill Gates, maybe no iPod, maybe no iPhone, maybe no iPad. And definitely no Surface, arf! Never mind the “Redmond, start your photocopiers” jibes, though – Apple insiders knew the real score.

Anyhoo, all this is just our way of saying enjoy this infographic, which illustrates Apple’s diminishing share of the tablet pie (mmm… pie) and then read the E&T news story about Apple’s sliding share price.

Click on the graphic for an expanded view.

Apple’s tablet share falls

Apple iPad mini released, world swoons – an annotated graphic

In case you missed it… (yeah, we know, a more redundant opener to a blog posting there has never been) Apple has released a new iPad. It’s smaller than the existing iPad. Sort of a mini version of the iPad. They’ve called it the iPad mini. Brilliant. It gets easier and easier in the Apple Marketing Department, doesn’t it?

Note obligatory use of sentence case for this product name, like the iPod touch, despite Apple’s continued arbitrary use of a capital P. Why do we all persist in honouring this ludicrous bastardisation of written English? Really, it’s an Ipod, if we’re going to consider using a proper noun for the product name. Or if we consider it generic enough, we should write ipod, like writing kettle as opposed to Kettle. Or hoover vs Hoover.

Oh, sorry, were you waiting for a more detailed analysis of the new iPad mini? Sorry. Can’t really be bothered. It’s very nice, it’s completely unnecessary and it probably guarantees an early grave for millions of perfectly serviceable electronic devices now apparently rendered obsolete and prehistoric and ultimately heading to the world’s landfills. Super.

We’d all take one if it was offered to us free, though, wouldn’t we? Even if only for use as a bedside lamp or a small plate for sushi.

E&T covers this sort of 21st century gadgetry nonsense all the live long day, so drop by our home page any time for the latest news and features. If you prefer an Apple-only diet, bookmark our Apple news page. It’s dynamically updated every time we write about Cupertino’s technology behemoth. Mmm… dynamic!

Click on the graphic for an expanded view.

Apple iPad mini takes aim at 7-inch tablet market

Apple shares hit record high, iPhone 5 does quite well, OMG!, etc

Apple up, Blackberry down. No fruit-based quips here. We’re talking hard currency. Man, we wish we’d bought Apple shares in the mid-1990s.

E&T news covered the release of the Apple iPhone 5 today. We also have our ever-growing compendium of Apple-related news stories.

Click on the graphic for an expanded view.

Contrasting fortunes of Apple and RIM

Smart phone conflict metals – an annotated graphic

With the world positively agog at the release by Apple of its iPhone 5, and with similar gadgets from the likes of Nokia and Samsung wowing the masses lately, it seemed an apposite moment to share this graphic about the issue of conflict minerals potentially used in their production.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has ruled that companies like Apple must scrutinise the sources of four metals used in the production of such shiny high-tech trinkets and baubles as the iPhone 5, in order to determine that human rights abuses are not being committed during their mining. Tin, Tantalum, Gold and Tungsten are the four metals in question.

Click on the graphic for an expanded view.

Conflict minerals in smart phones

Apple iPhone 5 – an annotated graphic

Hell yeah, we’re more than happy to jump on the iPhone 5 bandwagon and ride those shiny high-tech Cupertino rails all the way in to the Web 2.0 sunset.

Today’s graphic is concerned with what well-informed folk on the interwebs (or “gossips”, as we used to call them last century) believe the iPhone 5 will deliver. New display, new casing material, various holes moved about a bit, that sort of thing. Naturally, we’re disappointed at the iPhone still not being a hover phone and the less said about the absence of a toothpick and a tool for getting stones out of horses’ hooves, the better.

Still, we’re all a-quiver about Apple’s next One More Thing announcement, so please excuse us while we adjust our posture so we’re positioned appropriately on the edge of our seats.

Click on the graphic for an expanded view.

Apple iPhone 5 launch