Pete's posterous

I'm a multi-disciplinary designer-strategist at HP. My passion is whole product design: the seamless integration of HW+SW+Web to deliver compelling experiences to users.

Archive
2012 (15)
2011 (193)
2010 (176)
2009 (22)
Obox Signature Series

Apple, America and a Squeezed Middle Class - NYTimes.com

Excerpt:

When Barack Obama joined Silicon Valley’s top luminaries for dinner in California last February, each guest was asked to come with a question for the president.

But as Steven P. Jobs of Apple spoke,President Obama interrupted with an inquiry of his own: what would it take to make iPhones in the United States?

Not long ago, Apple boasted that its products were made in America. Today, few are. Almost all of the 70 million iPhones, 30 million iPads and 59 million other products Apple sold last year were manufactured overseas.

Why can’t that work come home? Mr. Obama asked.

Mr. Jobs’s reply was unambiguous. “Those jobs aren’t coming back,” he said, according to another dinner guest.

The president’s question touched upon a central conviction at Apple. It isn’t just that workers are cheaper abroad. Rather, Apple’s executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts that “Made in the U.S.A.” is no longer a viable option for most Apple products.

Sent from Mobile

Apple’s iPad and the Human Costs for Workers in China

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/ieconomy-apples-ipad-and-the-human-costs-for-workers-in-china.htm?_r=1&scp=1&sq=iPad%20human%20costs&st=cse

Excerpt:

In the last decade, Apple has become one of the mightiest, richest and most successful companies in the world, in part by mastering global manufacturing. Apple and its high-technology peers — as well as dozens of other American industries — have achieved a pace of innovation nearly unmatched in modern history.

However, the workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside those plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves. Problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious — sometimes deadly — safety problems.


iPhone & iPad sales off the charts

http://seekingalpha.com/?source=yahoo#article/322861-apple-s-off-the-charts-i...


Sent from Mobile

Why Wedding Photographers’ Prices are “Wack”


Excerpt:

Earlier today my friend and fellow photographer posteda link to a craigslist ad from a woman in Seattle looking for a wedding photographer. The woman was upset because she thought that $3,000 for a wedding photographer was “wack” because all we do “is hang out at a wedding taking tons of photos and editing them” and that we are “making so much money its crazy.”

I first read this post earlier today while I was running errands and my head almost exploded. I immediately started drafting a horribly mean and punishing response in my head, but by the time I got home, I realized that this is probably a common misconception and that maybe I should try to explain why photographers charge what we do for our work.

Sent from Mobile

IDG: 91% of IT and business professionals use iPad for work

http://m.bgr.com/2012/01/16/idg-91-of-it-and-business-professionals-use-ipad-...

Excerpt:

On Monday, research firm IDG published a global survey examining Apple’s tablet in the business world. The survey found that 91% of IT and business professionals used their iPads for work, even though only a quarter of the devices had been supplied for corporate use. Like consumers, business professionals use the device for media consumption, but they use their devices on the road far more frequently than anywhere else. Some 79% of IT professionals said they always use their iPads on the road and 54% use the device at home. IDG notes that the iPad hasn’t really prompted the majority of IT and business professionals to abandon any other devices, however, with only 12% saying that their iPad has completely replaced their laptops and just 6% saying it has supplanted their PCs. However, 72% said they were using their notebooks less because of the iPad, with 83% of corporate users describing themselves as being loyal to Apple’s device.

Sent from Mobile

A Mobile Wallet: Cash, Credit, Or ... Cellphone?

Google already offers a way to pay for lunch or groceries using its "Google Wallet" on an Android phone — cell providers and banks aren't far behind with payment systems of their own. Analyst Gilles Ubaghs talks about how coupons and convenience might persuade customers to make the switch. - More at http://www.npr.org/2012/01/27/145990092/a-mobile-wallet-cash-credit-or-cell-p...


Sent from Mobile

Kindle Fire teardown puts build cost at less than $3 above retail price - Computerworld

http://m.computerworld.com/s/article/9222016/Kindle_Fire_teardown_puts_build_...

Excerpt:

As is the case with most tablets, the display and touchscreen are the biggest costs in the latest estimate, adding up to a rounded total of $87. The memory, processor, wireless LAN radio and other peripherals cost $64.45, while the cost of the battery was put at $16.50. The case was $14.40 and the box contents were $3.25.

Sent from Mobile

Apple, aided by an iPhone frenzy, doubles quarterly profit to 13.06b


Sent from Mobile

Apple Sold More iPads Than HP Sold PCs - John Paczkowski - News - AllThingsD


Excerpt:

Here’s a metric worth noting: Withthe monstrous quarter it reported today, Apple surpassed Hewlett-Packard in PC sales and revenue. Apple sold 15.4 million iPads and 5.2 million Macs in its first quarter. That’s more than 20 million personal computing devices. HP’s PC sales for the fourth quarter were 14.7 million, according to Gartner. Which means Apple’s iPad sales alonesurpassed HP’s PC sales, as Apple Insider first noted.

Now, to be clear, Gartner’s figure doesn’t include the ill-starred TouchPad. But sources familiar with HP’s build plans say the initial TouchPad order came in somewhere between 1.8 million and two million units. So, even if HP had sold every TouchPad it built, it wouldn’t have matched Apple.


Sent from Mobile

Data spike for iPhone 4S


Excerpt:

Reuters reports on a new study from mobile network consulting firm Arieso showing that iPhone 4S users consume twice as much data as iPhone 4 users, with new features such as Siri driving the increased demand.

IPhone 4S users transfer on average three times more data than users of the older iPhone 3G model which was used as the benchmark in a study by telecom network technology firm Arieso. 

Data usage of the previous model, the iPhone 4, was only 1.6 times higher than the iPhone 3G, while iPad2 tablets consumed 2.5 times more data than the iPhone 3G, the study showed.

The spike in data usage for iPhone 4S users is likely not fully explained by the debut of Siri on the device, as a study by Ars Technica conducted soon after the device's launch revealed an average of 63 KB of data used per query. With even high-use users reporting making an average of fifteen queries per day, that would equate to approximately 30 MB of usage per month if all queries were performed over cellular networks. 


As noted by ZDNet, other factors such as iTunes Match, iCloud, device speeds, larger photos, and "new toy syndrome" are also all likely contributing to the increased data usage. 

Data usage has become a major area of concern for carriers as they seek to deal with the surging demand from smartphone users that are growing rapidly in number and in their demands for content. While a number of carriers such as AT&T and Verizon launched the iPhone with "unlimited" data plans, most carriers have now switched to tiered data plans for new customers as they seek to encourage more modest data consumption and extract additional revenue from the heaviest data users. 

Consequently, customers have had to become more aware of their data usage needs as they determine which data plan to sign up for in order to avoid what can be significant overage charges.


Sent from Mobile
Next