Amazon, The Best and Foremost Enemy of Apple Part.I

It is frequently contrasted with Apple to Microsoft, Apple and more recently in Google. Amazon is to forget: in many ways, the firm of Jeff Bezos is perhaps the most formidable competitor to Apple, the electronic book to digital music, sales of applications for sale of equipment.

Amazon-smile, The fictionalized story of Apple based much of its current image: the return of the prodigal son has helped to revive the phoenix from the ashes, to replay the scene of the Macintosh iPod, iPhone and iPad and iTunes in the background. Less well known is the story of Amazon, so it is no less exciting.

Founded in 1994 and launched in 1995, Amazon.com is designed as the "largest bookseller in the world" free from physical constraints, the site was ambitious to sell more books than all its competitors combined. Its founder, Jeff Bezos, quickly launched an ambitious acquisition policy, increasing the acquisition of electronic bookstores (Bookpages, future Telebook and Amazon UK, Amazon DE future, in 1998, Audible in 2000) and many and varied many Internet services (IMDb, Wise in 1998, Alexa in 1999, several management systems in 1999 and 2000).

Amazon's business model has long been atypical in the first version scribbled by Jeff Bezos, it was not about generating profits, but simply to attract capital (the company goes public in 1997) and grow fast enough to reach many markets. The competitive advantage allows it to keep prices low. The genius of Bezos was to take calculated risks: to provide the delivery is a dead loss, but can attracting customers and hope to sell enough to generate a high margin on volume. This set of communicating vessels is the trademark of Amazon.

After years of losses as investors impatient and have to find all the patches available to present the results at their best, the activity becomes profitable Amazon bookstore in mid-2000 before all the activities going on green end of 2001. The demonstration is striking: 80% of sales are made by regular customers, who then spend about € 30 a month on Amazon.

Consolidation accounting rules, limiting or omitting certain practices disguising costs, Amazon is in the red board? Bezos offers delivery and conceded large reductions: sales explode and losses are reduced by half. Amazon MP3 should be promoted and its companion Cloud Drive? Jeff Bezos's company made loss of $ 2.6 million in selling off the last album in fashion; But earned nearly half a million users.

(Cont.)

FoneSync brings Mac OS X and Android together

The German publisher nova media offers new Mac OS software to synchronize a mobile device Android with his Mac. As doubleTwist before him FoneSync looks like the iTunes Android Smartphone and tablets, at least in terms of synchronization. His presentation is so very close to the Apple software and FoneSync can also sync media (music, videos and photos), but also its data as the address book or calendar.

Mimicry of iTunes goes a long way, there are exactly the same form used for space and can synchronize virtually the same elements, and play lists for music events in iPhoto.

Counterpart of this tight integration, FoneSync does not work with all Smartphone Android, far from it. Currently, the application is only compatible with two Nexus Google phones from Samsung, Sony and Motorola. HTC expected to follow those, but if you are not listed, you cannot use the software. The publisher does not specify whether the tablets Honeycomb are compatible with its software.

Each version costs € 9.99 and if FoneSync is a Mac application, it actually buys the corresponding Android application before installing the utility on Mac by connecting the USB terminal. The operation is complex and involves paying the software again if you change brand of phone. DoubleTwist in turn is free and works with many Android devices...

Apple more aggressively against the jailbreak with iOS 5

With iOS 5, Apple would have become more aggressive in the struggle between the supporters of the jailbreak. Recently, Apple seemed rather free rein and let teams do their job jailbreak: iOS 5 has been unbridled and Apple has dug some ideas in the world of jailbreak for the new version of its system.

If one could think that Apple turned a blind eye and allowed, he is not. According to the Dev Team, Apple has stuck with the possibility of iOS 5 go back and install an older version of IOS. This is useful in the world of jailbreak; it facilitates the return to a previous version, a practical procedure in case of problems with an update including IOS. With iOS 5, Apple could easily block the back. The jailbreak tethered (the terminal cannot restart without the computer) will always be possible, but not the jailbreak not tethered.

The Dev-Team does not despair of finding a solution to counter this deadlock, but until the release of the final version, the group will not publish anything before then.

LaCie CloudBox

Before the announcements at Apple developer conference (WWDC), there was talk of a Time Capsule that can bridge the gap between the Mac and the cloud. We imagined such as Time Machine backups stored on the Time Capsule will be transferred gradually to Apple's servers in the background without the computer having to be permanently lit.

If you dream of such a feature, then the LaCie CloudBox you might be interested. This is a 100 GB NAS specialist backup. Once your data stored on this device, they are automatically transferred in the background Wuala, the online backup LaCie. The system supports version management. When backups are transferred from the Cloudbox, is encrypted 128-bit AES.

Once the data online, users can access them from anywhere and this from an iPhone for example. The Cloudbox will be sold $ 200 and will include a trial period of one year Wuala with 100 GB of storage space. Thereafter, the subscription will be charged $ 100 per year.

The Phases of iPhone for the last 4 year

Presented June 7, 2010 by Steve Jobs at WWDC 2010, iPhone 4 began his career on June 24 of that year: he thus celebrates its first anniversary. Contrary to what one might think, this is not the first time any iPhone passes the course of the marketing year without a successor has been presented: for a few days, the iPhone original holds the record for longevity.


The iPhone is 4 for the first time in the form of a photo stolen from the site Engadget, April 17, 2010. Two days later, the same model spread of Gizmodo. This is actually a prototype lost in a bar in Redwood City by Gray Powell, an Apple engineer. Whoever found it made the rounds of American media in search of a buyer: Gizmodo, a subsidiary of Gawker who made his fortune on the news "people", bought for $ 5 000. Thus begins the "case Gizmodo," culminating in a police raid in Jason Chen, the site editor a few days after he made the prototype to Apple. The investigation has since been suspended.

We forget sometimes, but a second prototype was circulated: Taoviet, a Vietnamese site, bought a $ 4000 iPhone4 out of production lines. He has determined the SoC (Apple A4), and confirms the definition (960x640px) and storage (16 GB or more) of the new model. We forget - or ignore - just as much: the first photos of four iPhone actually circulated on the Internet from February 21, 2010, through Twitter. So we feel about this old friend for a long time.

The beginning of the career of the iPhone 4 was assigned too many problems. From July 23, Apple announced the postponement of the release of the white model, with a terse press release: "The white models of the new Apple iPhone 4 continue to be more difficult to manufacture than expected and will be available later in the course of the year. The availability of the most popular iPhone model black 4 is not affected. "


Twenty days earlier, the Cupertino company had to publish a long letter to try to end a controversy now known as "Antennagate" the "problem of reception of the iPhone 4" makes a subtle blend between a software problem (incorrect calculation of the display of the number of bars of reception) and a material reality (the greater sensitivity of the external antenna system used by the iPhone 4). A case that caused a media outburst and made fodder for consumer, while experts antennas had explained the problem right out of the iPhone 4: a communication operation later (the now famous "Operation Case ") and" Antennagate "was almost forgotten.

This controversy summer, reinforced by other more compelling issues (problems of the camera, the screen, proximity sensor) and resolved by software updates and adjustments on assembly lines, n ' has not managed to scratch the image of the iPhone. Between June 24, 2010 and March 26, 2011, when the last count, Apple has sold as many as 50.69 million iPhones.


Sales growth is still very strong, allowing Apple to not lose or lose some market share against Android, which siphons RIM, now relegated to third place in the Smartphone industry. Better: Apple is now the fourth global manufacturer of mobile phones in all categories. Several milestones marked the continued success: the release of the iPhone 4 Verizon, which has finally managed to hinder Android United States (read: Android: Verizon iPhone effect) and the output symbol of the iPhone 4.


These sales figures include the iPhone 3G 8GB, valiant entry also presented June 24, 2010. This model derives in fact the iPhone 3G introduced in June 2009, itself very close to the iPhone 3G in July 2008. A cushioning device which raises the question of an entry-level iPhone next generation, which could be either an iPhone mini, iPhone is a low cost using components run in, the aim being to descend below 200 €.


Since we are talking about next generation, we must mention the successor to the iPhone 4: Will there an iPhone 4S, a simple variation improved 5 or iPhone, a rethinking of the concept? The balance leans rumors gradually to this hypothesis, reinforced by the history of Apple itself: early 2012, the iPhone will be five years. This is the life of a product cycle in Cupertino, when a concept needs to be overhauled to forge ahead: Apple prefers mediocrity product itself rather than leaving that task to competition.

The iPod nano, introduced a little less than five years after the first iPod, has announced the transition to flash memory. Steve Jobs himself, in 2007, estimated in advance of the iPhone to five years: Android is now on his heels almost everywhere, even to major markets. Anyway, the iPhone 5, if that is his name, will not arrive until late summer or early fall. It will replace a 4 iPhone contest, but the undeniable success.