Year: 2019

Imagining Apple’s post-iPhone future

CompuScoop Staff January 10, 2019 0

“Apple’s reported plans to cut iPhone production by 10 percent in the first quarter of 2019 make increasingly clear that the company’s base of loyal users isn’t an inexhaustible resource from whom it can forever extract a rent through its services offerings,” Leonid Bershidsky writes for Bloomberg. “Apple needs to compete more vigorously in all the other markets in which it’s present, without relying on the network effects of its large installed base.”

“In the medium to long term, the decline can only undermine Apple’s ability to feed off the ‘halo effect’ from its installed base, estimated at about 1 billion iPhones globally at the end of last year. In the company’s other markets, its products and services will increasingly compete on their own merits, with less help from the network effects that push iPhone users toward everything else Apple,” Bershidsky writes. “The company inevitably will need to face up to the fact that, as things stand, few Apple products are strongly competitive among the non-iPhone users.”

“Weaning itself from iPhone dependence will be a painful experience for Apple, not only because the stock market will punish it for being overoptimistic for too long, but also because the importance of each market in which the company is involved will increase. The iPhone’s enormous shadow won’t hide errors as well as it did in the past,” Bershidsky writes. “And competing hard against specialized players with a lot of skin in the game will become more of a necessity. The new situation requires a sharper focus from people in each of Apple’s lines of business and more multitasking from Cook, whether or not he’s willing to see things this way.”

Read more in the full article here.

CES: AMD shows off 7nm next generation chips

CompuScoop Staff January 10, 2019 0

“Advanced Micro Devices Inc on Wednesday unveiled its next generation smaller and power-efficient computer chip and a graphics processor, aiming at bigger rivals Intel Corp and Nvidia Corp,” Sonam Rai and Stephen Nellis report for Reuters.

“Chief Executive Officer Lisa Su, during a keynote address at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, gave a preview of AMD’s third-generation Ryzen CPU chips for desktop users.,” Rai and Nellis report. “The Ryzen CPU chips will be launched in the middle of this year and will compete with Intel’s PC processors.”

“AMD will start shipping its Radeon VII (seven) graphics chips, which compete with Nvidia’s gaming chips, from Feb. 7 and the next generation of EPYC server chips in mid-2019, Su said. All the three chips are based on AMD’s new 7nm manufacturing technology that packs more transistors on smaller chips and can boost performance at lower power,” Rai and Nellis report. “AMD last year said it would quit trying to develop such advanced manufacturing techniques on its own and would instead turn to outside suppliers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, which analysts also believe is making 7nm chips for Apple Inc.”

AT&T claims it will have 5G in early 2020

CompuScoop Staff January 10, 2019 0

“AT&T already launched its initial mobile 5G network in parts of 12 U.S. cities last December, but it’s now preparing for full nationwide coverage — a dauntingly large task that its millimeter wave small cells won’t be able to handle alone,” Jeremy Horwitz reports for VentureBeat. “This morning, the carrier revealed that it will ‘offer nationwide 5G coverage with our lower band spectrum,’ specifically the sub-6GHz frequencies discussed in our interview with AT&T VP Gordon Mansfield yesterday.”

“In the transition from 4G to 5G, AT&T says that it has brought two interim technologies into more markets than expected: 1Gbps LTE-LAA is now in parts of 55 cities, with its controversially named ‘5G Evolution’ or ‘5G E’ — actually just 4G LTE-Advanced — in over 400 markets, offering roughly 400Mbps speeds on select 4G devices,” Horwitz reports. “Towers with the 5G E hardware will be capable of flipping to actual 5G service in the near future, but until then will confuse 4G users into believing that they’re using 5G technologies.”

Read more in the full article here.

Apple Watch S4 Saves Another life with ECG Feature

CompuScoop Staff January 9, 2019 0

A man from Nashua, N.H. says he is alive because Apple's latest Watch model detected atrial fibrillation —an irregular heartbeat.

Barry Maden originally bought the wearable because of its fall detection feature, according to his wife Tara. Maden earlier experienced a brain injury, and the couple was counting on the Apple Watch to help call 911 if he fell without anyone nearby.

To his surprise however, the Apple Watch eventually popped up a notification about his heart, prompting him to see a doctor, reports WMUR. At a hospital ER he was given a full-scale electrocardiogram, which confirmed the issue. His heart was restarted under sedation.

"It would've probably taken me longer had I not had something actually telling me that something's not right," said Maden, who noted that he initially thought he was just suffering from anxiety related to holiday travels.

The Series 4 is the first Apple Watch to have a built-in ECG feature. By loading a dedicated app and holding a finger on the crown, the device can act as a single-lead ECG.

Watch users don't strictly need a Series 4 to detect atrial fibrillation, since earlier models still have optical heart sensors, but ECG technology can provide better data.

Apple has been eager to market the Watch as a potentially life-saving accessory, calling attention not just to health and fitness but things like Emergency SOS calling.

Via: AppleInsider.com