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Analytics firm Applause launches the Applause Index
I'm not sure how useful this idea is, but it is interesting, and we'll see how it all plays out. Applause is an analytics firm that purports to measure app quality and user satisfaction, by scanning the App Store for rankings, sales and reviews (there are a few other companies that do this already, like App Annie and Distimo). But Applause's innovation is that it boils an app's performance down into one 0-100 number, called the Applause Score. From all of the information available for that app, Applause ranks it into one number, which you can then (supposedly) use to compare app quality and popularity. And Applause has used these numbers to launch the Applause Index, which tracks the scores of 60 high-profile apps, combining them into one number that Applause claims will let you see "peaks and valleys in the overall apps economy." In other words, Applause has tried to boil the day-to-day popularity of both the Android and iOS marketplaces into one number, similar to the way the Dow Jones Industrial Average works in the stock market. Is it useful? We'll have to see -- it's possible that, over time, this number could show trends in the app stores, or even reflect actual consumer attitudes. But that will probably take some practice and research -- at this point, Applause has only begun to track these defined "scores," so there are undoubtedly some quirks in the system (and it's not clear to me how these 60 apps were chosen to represent the Index, even after browsing through the footnotes). But it is an interesting idea, and who knows? Over time, this number could show us something about the App Store we didn't see before.
Apple issues minor updates to iWork for iOS apps
Apple has just released very minor updates to its iWork for iOS apps. Pages, Keynote and Numbers have all been updated with "stability improvements and bug fixes." Let us know in the comments if you notice anything different!
Android 4 use finally overtakes Gingerbread, Jelly Bean nears 17 percent
What a difference a month makes. When we last checked in early February, Gingerbread was still the most commonly used major version of Google's mobile OS despite having launched all the way back in 2010. As of the start of March, there's a different story to tell: variants of Android 4 are at last more popular, collectively representing 45.1 percent of active use versus Gingerbread's 44.2 percent. Most of those on the newer OS are still using the 2011-era Ice Cream Sandwich, although we have good news again when Jelly Bean has grown to represent 16.5 percent of current users. There's a long distance to go before any one version of Android 4 surpasses Gingerbread, but the gap is closing fast.
The After Math: Balsillie cashes out, Dell goes private and OUYA hits 481
We crunched the numbers just after CES, while the organizers were barely tearing down hundreds of lavishly lit booths. Now, we're going to be making it a regular thing, pulling together and musing on the week's vital statistics. This time around, we watch iPads make an impression on computer shipments, while Dell reorganizes and goes private -- with a little help from Microsoft. All that and more awaits beyond the break.
Daily iPhone App: Quento is a spelling game, but with math
Quento was recommended to me just recently by someone I met at Macworld or 360iDev, and unfortunately, I don't remember who told me about it. But the recommendation was great, and now I'm passing it on to you. As you can see above, Quento is a math-based puzzle game, where you use a grid of numbers and symbols to try and put them together into a target number. The game's interface is actually half the fun -- like the popular word game Letterpress, Quento is very stylishly designed, and as you complete each target number in the puzzle, it gets replaced in the menu above. You can swipe the little menu right or left to go up to harder difficulty modes, or down to a "free play" mode (where you just get a number to make, and you can use any combination to make it). The game is casual, obviously, but it's not necessarily easy -- at times, I found myself racking my brain to try and line the numbers up right. But there's always an answer in there, and no matter what your math knowledge is like, Quento does a great job of rewarding concentration and smart gameplay. You can pick it up now as a free, universal app.
Jelly Bean now on 13 percent of Android devices, 45 percent still on Gingerbread
The beginning of another month marks yet another fancy pie chart on the Android Developers Dashboard consisting of the latest usage statistics. The Dashboard, which reports the percentage of users on each build of the OS based on Google Play Store traffic, indicates that a full 12 percent of Android owners are enjoying 4.1 Jelly Bean, while 29 percent are on Ice Cream Sandwich. This leaves a solid 45 percent of users still flaunting Gingerbread, and a mere 1.4 percent are taking advantage of the most recent build of Jelly Bean (Android 4.2) on a Nexus device. Diving a little deeper in the number crunching, it shows that 42.6 percent of all current Android users are sporting at least Ice Cream Sandwich or later. And to the 0.2 percent of you still clinging onto your Donut devices, we salute you.
iPhone owner loyalty declines for first time ever
Research firm Strategy Analytics reports that for the first time in its existence, user loyalty has dropped for Apple's iPhone. According to its numbers, 88 percent of US iPhone owners say they're likely to buy another iPhone when they need one, as opposed to the 93 percent that said the same last year. In Western Europe, 75 percent of iPhone owners will stick with the platform, as opposed to 88 percent a year previous. Obviously, 88 percent loyalty is still a phenomenal amount of owners who plan to stick with the platform going forward, and Apple is still gaining new customers for its devices as well -- this weekend's iPad numbers show that very clearly. But this does represent just how far other smartphones have come in the past few years in terms of at least catching up to where Apple is at. When Apple first started out in the smartphone market, it was years ahead of where other phone manufacturers were, and the iPhone 5, beautiful as it is, shows that Apple still has an edge. There are now other options for smartphone users out there now, however, and I think the small drop in these numbers shows even iPhone users are willing to at least look elsewhere for their next devices.
Intel reports Q3 earnings, revenue holds steady at $13.5 billion
Hot off the heels of a slightly disappointing Q2, mega chip-maker Intel's Q3 results are in. Good old Chipzilla managed to wrangle $13.5 billion in revenues with a net profit of $3 billion. While Intel's latest figures reflect a profit of about 5.1 percent sequentially, the company is still taking a dip year over year of around 19 percent. "Our third-quarter results reflected a continuing tough economic environment," said Paul Otellini, Intel's CEO. Happy to take progress in any form during a trying economy, the company's fourth quarter strategy will highly focus on the success of ultrabooks, phones and Intel-powered tablets. While its recent gains may be somewhat slim, last we checked, a win is a win.
Pew Research finds 22 percent of adults in US own tablets, low-cost Android on the rise
It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that more Americans than ever now own tablets, but if you'd ever wanted some quantifiable data to go along with that homespun wisdom, then the Pew Research Center is glad to help. According to its latest report, 22 percent of US adults now own a tablet of some form. While the iPad remains the dominant player in the space with a 52 percent market share, this figure starkly contrasts the 81 percent share that Pew reported in 2011. As you might expect, Android tablets have made significant inroads and now account for 48 percent of the overall tablet space. Leading the Android charge is the Kindle Fire, which alone accounts for 21 percent of all tablets sold. It's worth pointing out that Pew's survey was conducted before the release of either the Nexus 7 or the Kindle Fire HD, which means that even the most recent information is a bit behind the curve. You'll find a press release after the break that provides a much broader take on Pew's latest findings in the mobile space, but those who want to go straight to the meat should hit up the source link below.
Google Play hits 25 billion app downloads, holds celebratory yard sale with $0.25 games
Google Play crossed a rather significant milestone this morning: something to the tune of 25 billion app downloads. While the accomplishment is weighty enough on its own -- especially given that the store also offers books, music and movies, which aren't included in this tally -- Google is celebrating in symbolic style with a number of apps and games for sale at just $0.25 over the next five days. Among the mix of discounted titles, you'll find publishers such as Gameloft, Electronic Arts, Rovio, Runtastic and Full Fat. Not to stop there, shoppers will also discover a curated collection of 25 must-own movies, 25 banned books, 25 albums that changed the world and 25 top-selling magazines. With today's announcement, it was revealed that 675,000 apps and games now live in Google Play -- a healthy increase when compared to 600,000 titles and 20 billion installs just three months ago. As you might expect, Apple still claims the largest selection with 700,000 titles in its App Store, although with such a thin separation between the two, we may see Google Play eclipse its rival in short order.
Apple updates nearly every app for iOS 6, sneaks in key GarageBand, iPhoto and Podcasts updates
If you didn't already know that iOS 6 was out in the wild, Apple just delivered a torrent of mobile app updates to make it perfectly clear. Virtually every app that isn't preloaded now has explicit iOS 6 support to keep it running smoothly, and some of the upgrades are thankfully more than just skin-deep compatibility tweaks. Among the highlights are Podcasts' new subscription list syncing through iCloud, ringtone creation with GarageBand and iPhoto support for 36.5-megapixel image editing on the latest devices -- you know, for that moment you need to tweak Nikon D800 photos on an iPhone 5. We're including direct links to a few of the juicier updates, but we'd recommend checking AppleInsider's comprehensive list to see everything that you're missing.
Apple: A6 chip in iPhone 5 has 2x CPU power, 2x graphics performance, yet consumes less energy
Every new iPhone needs a new engine, and Tim Cook has just made some bold claims about Apple's latest silicon creation: the A6 processor. He hinted at a significant shrinkage in transistor size, allowing the chip to be 22 percent smaller than the A5 and hence more energy-efficient, while at the same time -- he says -- doubling all-round CPU and graphics capabilities. By way of practical benefits, the Apple CEO promises the Pages app will load up 2.1x faster than before, while Keynote attachments will hit the screen 1.7x faster. At this point we're lacking any further detail about cores or clock speeds or indeed who actually fabricated the A6 (still Samsung, after all that bitterness?), but Apple does tend to be close-lipped on such things. In the meantime, bring on the benchmarks! Check out all the coverage at our iPhone 2012 event hub!
Apple announces iPhone 5-compatible updates for iPhoto, iMovie, Keynote and more
At its press event today, Apple announced the new iPhone 5 with a 4-inch, Retina display. For customers, the larger screen means there's extra room for apps to display their content. The most noticeable difference will be the homescreen, which will now display five rows of icons. This extra screen real estate allows built-in apps like the calendar to display the full five-day work week. Other apps like iPhoto, iMovie, Keynote, GarageBand, Pages and Numbers will also be updated to support the new screen.
Apple: 700k apps available in App Store, 250k for iPad, 100 apps per user
Does it come as any surprise that Apple would take a portion of its iPhone keynote to crank out a few obligatory numbers touting its overall success? CEO Tim Cook announced today that his company just surpassed the 700,000 mark for apps in the iOS App Store, with 250,000 specifically written for the iPad. Amazingly, 90 percent of those are downloaded every month, and each customer uses more than 100 apps on average. That extra row on the iPhone 5 should come in rather handy, we'd say. Check out all the coverage at our iPhone 2012 event hub!
iOS and Android make for fastest tech adoption ever
Mobile marketing and analytics firm Flurry has another great research post up, this time about the speed of adoption for both iOS and Android. This one goes a little far into comparing apples and oranges, so to speak, but it's still interesting. Flurry notes that both iOS and Android app usages has blown up in the last few years, so much so that it's seeing traffic increases of over a few hundred percent from the past year in places like China, Brazil, and Chile. Flurry now estimates that there are over 640 million iOS and Android devices running apps worldwide, and given the huge growth of that number, as well as the big numbers behind app and data usage on those devices, these smartphones are being adopted by users "10X faster than that of the 80s PC revolution, 2X faster than that of 90s Internet Boom and 3X faster than that of recent social network adoption." Unfortunately, Flurry doesn't share the exact numbers behind those stats (not to mention that it's hard to compare numbers like that anyway, given how tough it is to calculate in numbers what a "revolution" in the tech sense actually means). But the point is clear: The current smartphone growth is a huge movement in the tech industry, and is taking place on a much faster and larger scale than ever before.
HP exceeds Q3 expectations: rakes $29.7 billion in revenue, still posts a loss
To say that HP is in a bit of a transitional period would probably be an understatement. As expected, the $8 billion hit it took over the EDS purchase severely impacted its bottom line. While revenue was down year-over-year to $29.7 billion, that five percent drop equated to a 568 percent decline in income as the company posted a loss of $8.9 billion. If not for the combined $10.8 billion in charges it was forced to absorb this quarter, the company's net-income would have stood at $2 billion -- which would have been a significant improvement over Q2's $1.6 billion in profit. While such a staggering loss does appear bad, the non-GAAP results should give investors some hope, as the merger and layoff related charges are a one-time deal. Still, the outlook continues to be grim at the Personal Systems Group which has seen revenue drop 10 percent over the last year. The lone bright spot in the company's line up appears to be its software division, where revenue has grown 18 percent year-over-year. CEO Meg Whitman issued a statement alongside the Q3 2012 earnings report looking to assuage nervous investors' fears. "HP is still in the early stages of a multi-year turnaround, and we're making decent progress despite the headwinds," she asserts and assures that better days lie ahead. For more financial fun, check out the PR after the break and all the tables and charts you can handle at the source.
Dell reports Q2 earnings: rakes in $14.5 billion of revenue, nets $732 million in profit
After a couple of down quarters in a row, Dell needed to come out strong in Q2 of fiscal year 2013. Well, it's probably not as glowing a quarter as the company was hoping for, but a slight rebound in profits from last quarter should give it something to smile about. Revenue was up roughly $100 million sequentially, which translated into an equal amount of additional profit. After netting just $635 million in income during Q1, Dell banked $732 million in Q2 of 2013. Year-over-year, however, things are a little less rosy. Revenue was down eight percent and net income a worrisome 18 percent. Still, while its consumer arm continues to struggle (where revenue is down 22 percent), its enterprise services division continues to grow, raking in $4.9 billion this quarter -- up six percent from the same time last year and matching its previous record. The company expects revenue to continue to fall next quarter, but expects good things from it Enterprise Solutions, Services and Software division going forward. For more financial particulars check out the PR after the break. Update: Dell's slide deck -- partially shown above -- unsurprisingly points out that Windows 8-based Ultrabooks, all-in-one desktops and tablets are on deck, but it also mentions a mysterious "converged device" segment as well. Hmm.
Olympus hangs $57 million loss on austerity, strong yen and declining compact camera market
Olympus is reporting a $56.7 million loss for its first quarter of 2012. While its coveted medical imaging arm remains profitable, its life-science and industrial unit suffered thanks to corporate belt-tightening. Unsurprisingly, its low-end compact camera market is shrinking, but sales of its OM-D E-M5 ILC increased by 50 percent, offsetting some of the losses and reducing operating losses from $89 million last quarter to $19 million in this one. Like many of its Japanese rivals, it's also found a strong yen has stifled its return to productivity, a trend that isn't likely to change soon.
HP expects to take $8 billion hit over its purchase of EDS
Normally shake ups in management and earnings outlooks don't really grab our attention. But, buried in the PR for just such moves from HP today was a particularly intriguing tidbit of information. In Q3 the company expects to be hit for $8 billion in pre-tax assets (but not cash) as part of an "impairment of goodwill" charge related to the purchase of Electronic Data Systems. That's in addition to a $1.5 billion charge it'll be absorbing following the layoff of some 27,000 employees in May. While the company has actually raised its earnings outlook for the quarter, we'll have to wait till August 22nd to find out just how much these two charges will affect the bottom line. For some more detail, check out the PR after the break.
Nikon makes $201 million quarterly profit, nearly 50 percent drop from last year, blames strong yen
Nikon's odd financial calendar means that the camera maker is announcing its first quarter results for 2013. The confusingly-dated documents show that it isn't having the best Spring / Summer, since while it pulled in a net profit of $201 million, that figure is down nearly 50 percent on the $392 million it made in the same period last year. It sold a record number of interchangeable-lens cameras, lenses and a good number of compact cameras, but that was offset against the high cost of the yen. Its other businesses, Precision Equipment and Instruments both suffered thanks to Government spending cuts, a "harsh business climate" and the now age-old problem of the high exchange rate. It's expecting the situation to remain the same in the next three months, with booming camera sales weight against losses in its other businesses -- with a projected profit of $143 million anticipated in Q3.
