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Not funny
Posted:
February 2, 2012
By: ccsoya
4 comments
Funny or tasteless? Your thoughts? Another example for discussion after the jump.
By the Numbers: Apple’s Earnings, Sales and Revenue Figures. What does it all mean?
Posted:
January 25, 2012
By: ccsoya
13 comments
Apple concluded its Q4 financial report earlier this morning and as usual, the numbers are phenomenal. What makes the figures even more amazing is that they surpass even the most optimistic of estimates affirming Apple’s position as the largest technology company by market value in the world.
Apple sold 15.4 million iPads and a staggering 37 million iPhones, making the last quarter its best ever. These are certainly impressive numbers but what does it all mean? Let’s put these figures into perspective.
Market value of almost $400 billion
Apple is hovering just a whisker off its record high. Many on Wall Street target $550 to $600 per share as an achievable milestone: assuming no change in existing shares, that would accord the Silicon Valley titan a value of as much as $560 billion, equivalent to the annual Gross Domestic Product of Switzerland.
Exxon has a market value of $420 billion, annual revenue about four times Apple’s and twice the tech company’s roughly 46,000 employees.
Revenue grew 65% from US$43 billion to US$108.25 billion in fiscal year 2011
That is akin to creating a Fortune 500 company from scratch. For instance, a revenue of precisely $43 billion would place the company below Intel Corp and Sears Holdings Corp – 56th and 57th, respectively, on the 2011 U.S. Fortune 500.
Near $100 billion cash reserve
One of the reasons Apple’s shares trade at a relatively low multiple is because it has huge amounts of cash that investors say can be put to better use. Its cash balance stood at $97.6 billion at the end of December, roughly equivalent to California’s 2012/13 state budget
Apple’s $13 billion profits surpassed Google’s entire revenue of $10.6 billion. Apple’s profits for 2011 exceed Google’s revenue in the same period.
iPad
Apple sold more iPads than HP sold personal computers – 15.4 million iPads versus by Gartner’s estimates of 14.7 million HP computers sold
iPhone
iPhone sales double with every new model:
In 2009, Apple sold more iPhones than it did in 2007 and 2008 combined
In 2010, Apple sold more iPhones than it did in 2007, 2008, and 2009 combined
In 2011, Apple sold 93.1 million iPhones, slightly more than it did in in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 combined
It is estimated that Apple has surpassed Samsung’s smartphone sales figures, with 37 million iPhones sold versus an estimated 35 million Samsung smartphones sold in the same period. This puts Apple back in top spot as the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.
Apple sold 92.94 million iPhones and 40.43 million tablets in the 2011 calendar year. If you laid these devices end-to-end, they would just about stretch halfway around the Earth’s circumference that’s over 20 million thousand kilometres.
Just think about that for a moment.
[source: Reuters, PhoneArena]
Samsung’s At It Again. Releases New Series of Poke Fun at Apple Ads
Posted:
January 25, 2012
By: ccsoya
4 comments
Sometime in November last year, Samsung made headlines by doing something that can be likened to sitting naked in a Kancil with a hornet’s nest next to you and poking said nest vigorously with a big fat stick. Samsung made fun of Apple, and by extension, Samsung made fun of Apple users.
Now, taking that sitting naked in a Kancil with a hornet’s nest analogy, you’d think Samsung would’ve been stung to death by millions disgruntled Apple loyalist by the time the first 30-second ad finished playing. Oddly enough, that didn’t happen. While Apple fans were up in arms, outraged at what Samsung had done, the rest of the world smiled.
And the rest of the world had a good reason to smile. Samsung’s ballsy tongue-in-cheek ad campaign was funny, witty and entertaining. More importantly, it was effective.
Not meddling much with a successful formula, Samsung’s at it again with a new series of commercials that continues poking fun at Apple and Apple fans, specifically iPhone users.
In all honesty, we like what Samsung has produced. The ads are genuinely funny. They deliver a crystal clear message and they compel you to share them on your social media stream. By these definitions, these Samsung ads are the perfect textbook examples of TV commercials. And so we’ve compiled the whole series so far for you in this post so that you can enjoy them as well.
Now, we’re expecting a lot of discourse about these ads particularly from the Apple purists. They’ve called what Samsung have done as below the belt or undignified or downright nasty even, and that’s ok, we like discourses, the exchanging of opinions.
We’d like to think that at SoyaCincau.com we have a level head when it comes to tech. Android fans have called us Apple fanboys and we’ve been called vice-versa by Apple fans. We’ve been called everything in between by BlackBerry and Nokia users as well. Ironically, being called fanboys of all sorts can only mean that we’re actually playing favourite to none and we will continue to be that way.
The point we’re trying to make here is that before any Apple fans come and say “oh what Samsung did is classless” we’d like to you to view a video we got from YouTube after the jump. It’s a compilation of the “Get a Mac” or better known as “Mac vs PC” ad campaign that aired in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK from 2006 to 2009. So tit for tat then. In any case, we thought those were funny too.
Enjoy.
Maxis extends Free iPhone 4S 32GB Promo on iValue 4
Posted:
January 17, 2012
By: soyacincau
2 comments
For this Chinese New Year, Maxis is offering the iPhone 4S 32GB for free if you subscribe its iValue 4 plan of RM375/month for 24 months. Actually this isn’t new as it is an extension of its earlier promo which ended on 15th January 2012. Normally the iPhone 4S 32GB is offered at RM350 for 24 months on iValue 4.
For more information, head over to Maxis iPhone 4S page.
So how much does an iPhone 4S ownership cost on different telcos? Check out our plans comparison here.
iPad 3 to feature HD display, quad-core processor, longer battery life and LTE, on sale in March says Bloomberg
Posted:
January 14, 2012
By: ccsoya
6 comments
Bloomberg says the next iPad (iPad 3) will sport a HD display, a faster processor, run on LTE and go on sale this March citing “three people familiar with the product”. The sources also claim that Apple’s manufacturing partners in China have started ramping up production of the new iPad this month to meet what Apple expects is a huge demand the new tablet and also to make up for the massive Lunar New Year exodus where factories in the country will halt production. Mass production for the new iPad started this month with factories running 24 hours a day, one of the Bloomberg sources said.
Bloomberg requested for comment from Apple on the matter but a spokeswoman said the company doesn’t comment on rumor and speculation.
The new iPad is expected to feature a high resolution display with pixels so small and packed in so tightly that it makes images appear like printed material. According to information found in the iOS 5 SDK, the new display could have a resolution of up to 2048×1536 pixels.
Assuming Apple will stick with the 9.7-inch screen form factor, that gives the display on the iPad 3 a pixel density of around 264ppi – well below the 300ppi threshold where Apple claims the naked eye is not able to discern individual pixels. In comparison, the Retina Display on the iPhone 4 and 4S pushes 326ppi.
The iPad 3 is expected to feature a slightly thicker case to accommodate the HD display and a larger battery. The larger battery is said meet the higher power requirements of LTE allowing Apple to make the iPad 3 its first LTE device. For countries outside of the US where LTE is not prevalent, users can expect the iPad 3 to deliver considerably better battery performance, possibly double that of the iPad 2.
In addition to the bigger battery and higher resolution display, the iPad 3 is said to feature a quad-core processor and possibly a new GPU as well. One of the Bloomberg sources said that the new processor will bring faster multitasking capabilities and allow video playback to happen instantaneously.
Apple rumours are a whole different animal altogether, there are so many flying around it get difficult to separate the truth from the fluff but when a credible news source comes in with information that is in line with some of the many rumours that has been going around, then you know something is up. This is going to be interesting.
[source]
Apple Store delivery time for iPhone 4S reduced to 3-5 working days
Posted:
January 13, 2012
By: ccsoya
3 comments
We just noticed that Apple Store Malaysia has reduced the delivery time of all iPhone 4S versions from 1-2 weeks about a month back to just 3-5 working days now. This is good news for those who want to get the iPhone 4S but don’t really want to be tied-up with a contract.
A quick check with operators and resellers revealed that there seems to be ample iPhone 4S stocks at the moment. You can walk into most DiGi, Maxis or Celcom outlets and walk out with an iPhone 4S on the spot. This was very different from 2010 when the iPhone 4 was launched, many will recall how difficult it was to get one from anywhere, this went on for a few months back then.
Things has indeed changed and we can think of two probabilities of why it is much easier to get the iPhone 4S than the iPhone 4 previously – 1) Supply is not an issue for Apple allowing operators and resellers to bring in more stock, or 2) Not many Malaysian are buying iPhones anymore. According to the people we spoke to, the latter seems to be the likely reason.
What do you think?
Would you…
Posted:
January 9, 2012
By: ccsoya
4 comments
…use your iPad like this in the LRT? We got to admit, it’s pretty smart but the case leaves the iPad prone to snatch theft if you’re not careful.
[via]
Steve Jobs on copying
Posted:
January 8, 2012
By: ccsoya
No comments
“Picasso had a saying. He said, good artists copy, great artists steal. And we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”
Steve Jobs.
The excerpt was taken from the 1996 three-part documentary Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires. All full versions of series is available for viewing right after the jump. We’ve also included a bonus documentary — Pirates of Silicon Valley.
Whether you’re a geek or a nerd, consider these documentaries absolute essential viewing. Please also take some time to read this: Rich Neighbor with Open Doors – Apple and Xerox PARC.
Apple 1 day Red Friday CNY Sale is now on
Posted:
January 6, 2012
By: soyacincau
3 comments
The Apple Store 1 day Chinese New Year Sale is finally on with special discounts on selected Apple products & accessories.
Some of the items on offer include:
iPad 2 16GB WiFi – RM1378 (Save RM121)
iPad 2 32GB WiFi – RM1648 (Save RM151)
iPad 2 64GB WiFi – RM1918 (Save RM181)
iPad 2 16GB 3G – RM1778 (Save RM121)
iPad 2 32GB 3G – RM2048 (Save RM151)
iPad 2 64GB 3G – RM2318 (Save RM181)
iPod Touch 8GB – RM628 (Save RM71)
iPod Touch 32GB – RM948 (Save RM101)
iPod Touch 64GB – RM1258 (Save RM141)
iPod Nano – from RM414 (Save RM35)
MacBook Air – from RM2788 (Save RM311)
MacBook Pro – from RM3388 (Save RM311)
iMac – from RM3488 (Save RM311)
Accessories & Add-ons are also on offer as well:
Magic Trackpad – RM184 (Save RM35)
Apple Magic Mouse – RM194 (Save RM35)
Time Capsule 2TB – RM928 (Save RM71)
Apple Wireless Keyboard – RM194 (Save RM35)
AirPort Express Base Station (802.11n) – RM294 (Save RM35)
iPad 2 Smart Cover Leather (RED) – RM254 (Save RM45)
Microsoft Office Home & Student 2011 – RM590 (Save RM64)
AirPort Extreme base station – RM528 (Save RM71)
Remember it is for 1 day only (6th January 2012), so head over to the Apple Store.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application by Apple titled Low Threshold Face Recognition. While face recognition is nothing new, the application of the technology on mobile devices is still pretty much a hit and miss affair. Google introduced Face Unlock in Ice Cream Sandwich, but as we have demonstrated, the feature is easily fooled with just a picture.
In its patent application Apple argues:
Most face recognition systems fall into one of two categories. A first category system tends to be robust and can tackle various lighting conditions, orientations, scale and the like, and tends to be computationally expensive. A second category system is specialized for security-type applications and can work under controlled lighting conditions. Adopting the first category systems for face recognition on consumer operated portable appliances that are equipped with a camera would unnecessarily use an appliance’s computing resources and drain its power. Moreover, as the consumer portable appliances tend to be used both indoor and outdoor, the second category systems for face recognition may be ineffective. Such ineffectiveness may be further exacerbated by the proximity of the user to the camera, i.e., small changes in distance to and tilt of the appliance’s camera dramatically distort features, making traditional biometrics used in security-type face recognition ineffective.
Apple attempts to address this problem with a different approach to facial recognition. Instead of the software tracking the entire face, Apple’s Low Threshold Face Recognition analyses certain features of the face. In this case Apple relies on the distance between the eyes and between the eyes and the mouth.