And while the runaway growth of Android has decreased the time hot iOS apps are released on Android — Instagram released Android right before their Series B, but more recently Snapchat already had an Android client by the time of their Series A — for small technology startups iOS remains the platform of choice upon which to build new mobile experiences.

The advancements in mobile hardware and corresponding OS improvements often present new opportunities for software developers to exploit, such as Instagram using software to improve image resolution leading up to the iPhone 4, or more recently, helping Frontback rise in popularity now that the front-facing camera has improved in the iPhone 5.

We’ve all read about the new iPhone 5s by now, but what about its specific hardware improvements and how they could create new opportunities for iOS developers? From my informal conversations, startup developers are not moving to Android anytime soon, despite what you may have read, and the intermingling of these advancements in iOS 7 could make for an even more innovative future for mobile computing.

Let’s start with the most important mobile sensor: the camera. On the iPhone 5s, an improved camera helps folks take better photos in low lit areas with a wider aperture and features like True Tone that don’t even appear on some DSLRs. These continuous improvements to pictures, including video capture and playback, keep most Android handsets in the rearview mirror (though some objects in the mirror may be closer than they seem). The new camera also keeps Apple on a path of devouring more of the point-and-shoot market dollars.

In terms of what developers can do with the next iterations of the iPhone camera, I’m waiting for depth-sensing cameras, which can determine distances between objects, and potentially even better software to recognize objects themselves. As the first five years of the iPhone have demonstrated, there is no greater communication currency than images on our mobile devices, and camera-related apps remain some of the most popular apps on all of iOS. It is early innings for digital imaging, and when it comes to mobile and the rate of pictures captured and shared, the scale is accelerating.

When it comes to location tracking, the M7 coprocessor presents groundbreaking opportunities. To date, most quantified-self endeavors involve an external piece of hardware that captures data from wrists and sends that data to our phones or computers via USB uploads, Wi-Fi data transfers, or other methods. Now with the new M7, the iPhone comes with a separate “coprocessor” that doesn’t draw energy and power from the main chip while capturing more fine-grained, precise data about a user’s movements by triangulating position from the following sensors: accelerometer, gryoscope, and compass. iOS apps like Moves or Highlight before it convinced an early-adopter set to give up precious battery life in order to get valuable location data, but people remain concerned about battery limits, which may be a few years away from the fundamental shift in battery tech (from ions to electrons) many are waiting for.

Now with the M7, iOS developers can write apps that can read the data written to the M7 and build new mobile experiences on top of that. Furthermore, the M7 can inform the OS itself to be more intelligent about the location and, in turn, make the OS and other apps behave more contextually. It will be interesting to see how the fidelity of M7 stacks up against the potential (for instance, in a popular app like Strava), and what the effect of all of this could be on the fitness wearables moving forward. Moreover, now that everyone expects Apple to ship a smartwatch at some point, many wonder if the M7 could also be placed inside a watch (and other wearables) to communicate relevant data to another nearby interface.

Speaking of processors, Apple’s new 64-bit A7. This processor is two times faster than what has been put inside a mobile phone to date, delivering a 2x on CPU as well as a 2x on GPU and leveling the processing requirements of Mac apps with iPhone. So, there’s faster computing power, but also more power for resource-intensive applications, especially the graphical demands of games, the category which happens to dominate the iOS App Store successes. While resource-intensive apps may place an extra strain on the battery, the effects of the A7 may be slower to trickle out as most apps will be written to 32-bit specifications. Reading the documentation leads me to believe much of the advancement helps Apple build more of a beachhead into mobile gaming and a future where games are played on many screens.

Touch ID Fingerprint reimagines what “touch” means. This is the most mainstream, sci-fi advancement in the iPhone hardware and software. In talking with iOS developers over the last week, they’re very excited about the possibility of Fingerprint helping to unlock more downloads, where users don’t get hung up on remembering and entering yet another password. Beyond this, I expect Fingerprint to help with oauth and in-app logins. I also expect the protocol to be opened up to other apps to help tie biometric identity to each iTunes account, which should grease the wheels for easier in-app purchases (which also require iTunes passwords, and net Apple 30 percent tolls) and potentially regular app-commerce on the whole.

iBeacon creates new local, private sharing opportunities. Much has been written about the effect of iBeacon on NFC, so I won’t go into that here, other than to say that iBeacon’s ability to allow devices and their applications to be positioned indoors could unleash a new wave of entirely new consumer experiences. iBeacon enables iOS users to share information over short distances by harnessing a low-energy state of Bluetooth without the need for cellular data or Wi-Fi networks. This creates new possibilities indoors, where signal strength varies for users. This means iOS users could, for example, initiate, split, or receive payments among friends or stores through iBeacon, or share documents and images.

Users could receive information indoors related to retail experiences based on their micro-location, receive better indoor navigation, and even “check in and out.” Imagine that, mobile check-ins may come back in style because they could be passive without destroying battery life. From a commercial point of view, with companies like Euclid successfully providing real-world analytics to retailers by using Wi-Fi signals to identify unique IDs, Beacon creates another level of quantitative data for retailers (such as the type Estimote focuses on), and could be one of the first steps for other connected devices to begin to pry open a market for the Internet of Things.

In catching up on all the technical documentation, news, and analysis from this week, it became apparent to me that most of the headlines covered all the specs but missed the forest for the trees.

With iOS 7, the trees present a world of iOS interconnectedness beyond just iPhones. When all the new advancements of iOS are taken under consideration together, Apple’s mobile future hints at a world where all iOS devices and their apps freely and efficiently communicate with one another on an intra-OS level that are not yet possible across a fragmented Android handset and OS landscape.

So when it comes to early-stage technology startups, iOS 7 again pushes the boundaries of what type of applications developers can build and put into the wild, where devices become more aware of context, where users can touch more than type, where new location-based opportunities and data emerge, and where other mobile devices (like watches) could effortlessly communicate with our mobile computers. The future of these new mobile experiences is exciting, and I can’t wait to see what developers cook up.

Even though the suit did not name Google Inc as a defendant, Apple’s move was viewed by many analysts as proxy for an attack on the Internet company, whose Nexus One smartphone is manufactured by HTC.

“I think this is kind of an indirect lawsuit against Google,” said Kaufman Bros analyst Shaw Wu.

Apple’s suit was filed with both the US International Trade Commission and the US District Court in Delaware on Tuesday, and seeks to prohibit HTC from selling, marketing or distributing infringing products in the United States.

The complaint filed with the ITC cited Google’s Nexus One, which was launched in January, and other HTC phones such as the Hero, Dream and myTouch — which run on Google’s Android mobile operating system — as infringing products.

In a statement, a Google spokeswoman said: “We are not a party to this lawsuit. However, we stand behind our Android operating system and the partners who have helped us to develop it.”

HTC said in a statement that it was looking at the filings. “HTC values patent rights and their enforcement but is also committed to defending its own technology innovations,” spokesman Keith Nowak said.

In a statement in Taipei on Wednesday, HTC added that it had not had the opportunity to investigate the suit. “Until we have had this opportunity, we are unable to comment on the validity of the claims being made against HTC.” In a separate statement to the Taiwan stock exchange, HTC said it will not see any impact on its financial outlook for the first quarter from the lawsuit.

By 0250 GMT, HTC shares lost 1.4 per cent in Taipei in a broader market up 0.4 per cent. The stock had fallen as much as 3 per cent in early trade.

“The news is having some impact on HTC’s shares but lawsuits are quite common among tech firms and I would say it is just a threat from Apple this time,” said John Chiu, a fund manager at Taiwan’s Fuh Hwa Securities Investment Trust. “However, HTC is not a good buy in the longer term since its margins will be coming under pressure when competition intensifies.”

FIERCE COMPETITION Apple’s move comes amid fierce competition in the smartphone market, as new players angle for a piece of the fast-growing segment. Mark Simpson, a patent attorney with law firm Saul Ewing in Philadelphia, said HTC made for an easier target than Google. “It’s probably simpler for them to go after the company making the infringing goods, which is HTC. It’s easier to prove at this point,” he said. MKM Partners analyst Tero Kuittinen agreed. “HTC is an optimal target for Apple — it’s a relatively small vendor with a weak brand.

It may be easier to push around than Samsung (which also makes Android smartphones). One question here is whether Apple can intimidate operators to back away from new HTC products by flashing the possibility of litigation trouble.” Apple said HTC “knowingly induce(s) users of accused HTC Android products” to infringe on a number of Apple’s patents, some dating back to the mid-1990s.

They cover user interface processes and other software and hardware components. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours,” Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said in a news release.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment beyond the complaints. The iPhone held a 14.4 per cent smartphone market share in 2009, according to research group Gartner.

Phones running Android comprised only 3.9 per cent of the market, but were growing fast.

Apple lost some share to Android phones in the fourth quarter. “This move could be a sign Apple is getting rattled by Google’s recent momentum in the mobile space — notably the avalanche of Android products unveiled at Mobile World Congress,” said Ben Wood from CCS Insight.

Apple’s lawsuit is the latest scrape over ownership of the underlying technology for smartphones — handsets that play video and music, take pictures and send e-mail.

Eastman Kodak Co in January filed a complaint with the ITC, saying Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion Ltd’s BlackBerry camera phones infringe the photography company’s patents.

Nokia, the world’s top mobile phone maker, has also sued Apple over patents. Apple has countersued. That dispute, potentially involving hundreds of millions of dollars in annual royalties, reflects the shifting balance of power in the mobile industry as cellphones morph into handheld computers that can play video games and surf the Web.

In its ITC filing against HTC, Apple noted that some of the patents at issue are at the center of its legal fight with Nokia. Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple fell 14 cents to close at $208.85 on Nasdaq.

Resource:
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/apple-sues-htc-over-phones-using-google-software/110974-11.html

Apple’s iPhone is set to overtake Research In Motion’s BlackBerry in the global smart phone market by next year, according to Forbes online.

Currently, BlackBerry enjoys about three percent of the world’s mobile phone market, while Apple’s has about two percent share of the market. But BlackBerry’s lead over iPhone is shrinking and Apple will overtake RIM by early next year, Forbes said Friday.

“We expect Apple’s market share to overtake that of RIM by 2011, and for Apple and RIM to have 11 % and 8% market share, respectively, by the end of Trefis forecast period,” the online issue said.

Trefis has been defined as a new financial platform to know how a company’s products impact its stock.

“We believe sales of the iPhone will eventually outpace BlackBerry sales,” Forbes said.

Giving its reasons, Forbes online said, “Apple’s ecosystem of consumer products (Macs, iPad, Apple TV) and services (iTunes, iPhones apps) make the iPhone a more attractive phone for many consumers compared to the BlackBerry.”

“End of AT&T exclusivity will give Apple’s iPhone wider distribution in the US (comparable to BlackBerry distribution).

“iPhone is making inroads with business customers that have traditionally preferred the BlackBerry.”

Both the wireless giants have made big gains since 2007, with iPhone increasing its market share from 0.3 percent to 2 percent, and BlackBerry going up from one percent to about three percent.

The Canadian icon BlackBerry captured the world’s corporate market because of secure messaging.

However, with Apple’s sleek iPhone gaining the consumer market, the numbers game is slowly slipping away from the BlackBerry.

Given Apple’s marketing muscle, online reach and multiple cutting-edge products with synergy, analysts say it is only a matter of time before the iPhone overtakes the BlackBerry in the global smart phone market.

Bureau Report
Resource: http://www.zeenews.com/news609037.html