NYT: Apple Is Developing A Curved-Glass Smart Watch

Apple is working on an iWatch, Nick Bilton at the New York Times reports.

The "smart watch," as Bilton calls it, uses curved glass to bend to people's wrists.

It's unclear where Apple is in terms of actual development. Bilton doesn't have a timetable for release, or even a set of features.

He simply reports:

In its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., Apple is experimenting with wristwatch-like devices made of curved glass, according to people familiar with the company's explorations, who spoke on the condition that they not be named because they are not allowed to publicly discuss unreleased products. Such a watch would operate Apple's iOS platform, two people said, and stand apart from competitors based on the company's understanding of how such glass can curve around the human body.

There has been a steady increase in the noise around Apple making an iWatch for the past few months.

While it's nowhere near as exciting as a full-blown Apple television, it's a much easier gadget for Apple to make. Unlike with a TV, Apple doesn't need to get cable companies and content companies on board. It can just make an iWatch.

If Apple does release such a device, we don't expect it to be a blockbuster product like the iPhone or the iPad, at least not in terms of Apple's top or bottom lines.

We would expect it to be an experimental project for Apple. An iWatch would be a watch in the same way that an iPhone is a phone. It would really be a wearable computer. Nike's fitness tracking gadget, the Fuelband, as well as Jawbone's UP, are showing that there is a market for wearable computers.

An iWatch that works with the iPhone could provide the user with more information about their daily activities while at the same time providing a super quick way to check email and text messages.

Down the road, some people believe that "wearable computers" can replace smartphones as the next big thing. An iWatch would be Apple's entry point to see what people want, just like the current Apple TV is an experiment to figure out what people want with a digital TV.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/nyt-apple-is-developing-a-curved-glass-smartwatch-2013-2#ixzz2KWHGpLur

How Much Money Apple Makes From Google For Every iOS Device It Sells

Apple is getting ~$1 billion per year from Google to make Google the search default on iOS devices, according to a Morgan Stanley report.

Analyst Scott Devitt at Morgan Stanley put Google on his "best ideas" list for investments on Friday, in a report titled, "The Next Google Is Google."

The gist of his bullishness: he believes Google's search business has room for revenue growth and YouTube has an opportunity to generate billions in more sales.

As a part of his look at Google, he dug into the mobile business. He has an estimate of how much Google pays Apple for the right to be the default search engine on iOS devices like the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

In the past, some analysts have estimated that Apple has a revenue sharing deal with Google on iOS search. So that for every one dollar of search advertising collected on an iOS gadget, Apple gets 75 cents.

Devitt thinks Apple wouldn't do a revenue sharing deal with Google because it's too messy. He thinks Apple would do a fee per device because it's easier for accounting and it gives Apple upfront payments. It's also a hedge against users going to Google.com and searching from there instead of the default search box on iOS.

Some investors are worried that Google's traffic acquisition cost (TAC) on Apple devices is going to balloon over time. Devitt doesn't think it's going to happen. He believes the TAC will only increase at ~5% per year, and in terms of Google's overall TAC, he thinks it's steady at ~30-35%.

What does that equate to in real dollars? A little under $1 billion this year, steadily rising over the years.

For Apple, $1 billion in pure profit is nice, but it's not much considering the company made $13 billion in profits last quarter.

For Google, it's a pretty good deal. Devitt estimates Google controls 95% of the mobile search market. When you consider that Apple and Android are swallowing the mobile market, paying ~$1 billion a year for a monopoly on the most lucrative online business in the world is a no-brainer.

Here's a table from Devitt breaking down how much he thinks Google pays for total TAC:

Morgan Stanley

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-money-apple-makes-from-google-for-every-ios-device-it-sells-2013-2#ixzz2KWF1hDzm

Following the footsteps of Steve Jobs in California

Steve Jobs was the ultimate tastemaster, but the Apple co-founder lived in surprising suburban ordinariness in Silicon Valley. Follow Jonathan Margolis on Guardian's interactive map as he follows Jobs's trail

Apple in China

I am not a great fan of Apple - though  I might have coveted some of its products but I hardly use any of them. Like every successful corporation it has its share of critics and controversies.

One such controversy is over Apple's alleged human rights violations in China.

This story in TIME rebuts that criticism, "Mike Daisey — the man whose allegations about Apple’s Chinese labor practices triggered a public relations firestorm — was flatly dishonest". 


'This American Life' which published a story based on Mike Daisey's allegations has now retracted the story. 


However, the way big corporates manipulate media, I am not 100% sure where is the truth.

An Apple App

I can't remember how did I reach this page which says:

"iansherr is using Instagram - a fun & quirky way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures. Snap a photo, then choose a filter to transform the look and feel of the shot into a memory to keep around forever".


It is asking me to download an app but I can't make out why?