Ballmer's bold prediction: up to 500m Windows 8 users in 2013
According to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Windows 8 represents a "rebirth" of Windows and it's the "deepest, broadest and most impactful" version of the operating system his company has yet created.
Those are strong words from a man whose legacy may hinge upon Windows 8's success. But Ballmer apparently isn't afraid to use them, or to offer up bold predictions about how fast Windows 8 will find its way onto consumer devices.
Apple focusing more on security as Macs and iOS devices become targets
Chances are if you're an owner of a Mac, you don't worry too much about malware and viruses. At least you didn't before the Flashback trojan was found to have infected some 600,000 Macs that were part of a botnet.
The Flashback botnet made headlines, but many were quick to point out that the infected machines became vulnerable through Java, not Apple's OS, suggesting that Apple wasn't to blame.
Apple to move away from Google Maps in iOS: report
Apple and Google may be arch rivals thanks to their competing mobile operating systems, iOS and Android, but the relationship between the two tech giants hasn't always been so rocky.
Case in point: since the iPhone's launch, Apple has used Google Maps to provide mapping in iOS.
Facebook launches its own app store
Facebook has built a multi-billion dollar ecosystem with its application platform, but much of the growth of that platform has been driven by social games created by companies like Zynga.
In an effort to help the 900m-plus Facebook users discover apps of all shapes and sizes, and create new monetization opportunities for app developers, Facebook yesterday announced the launch of its own app store, the App Center.
Apple's answer to Windows 8 ultrabooks: a $799 MacBook Air?
Windows 8 is coming, and Microsoft isn't the only company hoping that its newest operating system is a hit with consumers.
Chip giant Intel is betting big on ultrabooks -- thin, lightweight laptops similar to the MacBook Air -- and is investing big bucks to ensure that a slew of them hit store shelves as soon as Windows 8 is released later this year. The good news for consumers on a budget: some of those ultrabooks could cost as little as $699 if manufacturers have their way.
The cloud: where your games go to die?
For consumers, the cloud's appeal is hard-to-resist.
From music to documents to applications, and everything in between, the ability to access our 'stuff' anywhere we go on any device is an extremely attractive proposition.
Until it isn't.
Is the press treating Apple differently without Steve Jobs?
Apple isn't the same company without Steve Jobs at the helm, but that's easy to forget when looking at the company's financial performance since its co-founder and chief visionary passed last year.
Despite questions about Apple's ability to thrive long-term without Jobs, consumers continue to snap up the company's latest and greatest products at remarkable, record-breaking rates.
Microsoft News Roundup: Binging on the Nook
Following Microsoft’s acquisitions and “partnership,” palm greasing is getting more exciting by the hour.
The headlines have been coming fast since the end of Q3 11: $8.5b Skype acquisition. $250m quarterly infusion to Nokia. $24m in subsidies for Windows Mobile app developers. $1b Aol patent grab – now flipped to Facebook for $500m. Vague, behind the scenes dealing with Comcast. And now this: a $300m investment in Barnes & Nobles’ Nook division.
Something is up.
Kindle Fire now represents over half of Android tablets: report
Thanks to testimony in the Oracle-Google lawsuit over the use of Java in Android, we now know just how high Google's hopes for Android were in 2011.
According to Google VP Andy Rubin, the search giant was looking for Android tablets to account for 33% of the tablet market last year. The good news for Google was that the launch of Amazon's Kindle Fire may have brought Google within striking distance of that figure.
Why do people love Instagram? Looking at GM and Apple in order to understand the appeal of altered photos
Apple’s products contrast sharply with the mid-century General Motors cars that brought the jet-age into people’s garages.
And yet, beginning in the 1920s, GM was able to snatch market dominance away from Ford by better catering to people’s fantasies – much in the same way that Apple has been able to poach market share from Microsoft and others.
2012 isn’t 1952, and cars and computers are not the same, but being able to sense and articulate a vision is still the job of marketers. What’s our vision for our own future, today? And why do so many people want to use their minimalist iPhones to take altered pictures of their friends?
