Black Friday: Apple’s ‘Special One-day Shopping Event’

Apple has announced a Black Friday sale for the UK market, also, as has Amazon which is offering a series of lightening offers in the US and the UK.

Black Friday: Apple’s ‘Special One-day Shopping Event’

Backlink: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DTWB/~3/wGVKt-tBUxI/

How Apple’s Closed Ways Could Land It Into Antitrust Trouble

While the antitrust spotlight has long been pointed at Google, the company that really has to watch its step is Apple. Beginning in the 1980s, Apple’s Steve Jobs left behind Apple’s original open design and began to champion a “closed”—or as the firm prefers, an “integrated”—approach to computing and entertainment delivery. This fact is familiar to any Apple user. Apple’s products are designed to work well with humans, other Apple stuff, and, at a distant third, other companies. “Foreign attachments” to the Apple system are sometimes accepted, but never quite loved. Contrary to what devoted “openists” might suggest, there are some advantages to Apple’s approach. Products engineered to work together often work better, if only because the firm’s engineers have more information. An Apple engineer building an application for the iPhone knows much more than someone programming an App for all the phones Android runs on. Moreover, to its credit, Apple isn’t an integration purist, like AT&T in the 1950s. Apple runs standard protocols like WiFi, allows outside Apps on the iPhone, and hasn’t tried to reinvent the World Wide Web. You might say that a clever, nuanced balancing of open and closed is Apple’s real secret.

Post originale: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/1nESdsmuwxo/

Former Northrop Grumman CEO Ronald Sugar Joins Apple’s Board Of Directors

Apple is announcing a new board member today—Dr. Ronald Sugar, the former chairman of the board and CEO of the Northrop Grumman, a U.S. defense company. According to a release Dr. Sugar will serve as the Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee. Dr. Sugar was Chairman and CEO at Northrop Grumman from 2003 until his retirement in 2010. Prior to working for the defense company, he held positions at Litton Industries and TRW Inc., where he served as chief financial officer.

Post originale: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/3g2Lc15oDyQ/

Apple’s New North Carolina Data Center Ready to Roll

Apple's $1 billion data center in North Carolina made headlines when the project was revealed in May 2009. New reports indicate that the facility is set to open "any day now," according to local officials, and could possibly double its current 500,000 square foot size.

Post originale: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OmMalik/~3/noc1EZcNX20/

In The Fight Against Apple’s iAds, Google Plays The Cross-Platform Card

While there are many players in the mobile advertising market, there's no doubt that there's a little bit of a rivalry between Google's ad network AdMob and Apple's new foray into mobile ads, iAd. Some say iAd is taking some of AdMob's share in the mobile ad market thanks to better performance. One of the cornerstones to iAd's claimed success is that the format was developed by the company that actually makes both the device and OS and provides a more engaging experience. The same theory is probably what has made RIM enter the mobile ad wars, recently launching a mobile ad platform for BlackBerry phones. But AdMob contends that its platform is still appealing to advertisers because it allows brands to reach consumers across many different mobile platforms with similar engaging ad formats, whereas programs like iAd restrict advertisers to one device. Oh, and there's the minimum $1 million ad buy Apple reportedly requires to serve ads through its network. Of course, it's not surprising that AdMob is pushing its multi-platform network as its competitive advantage; the openness of Google's network is its badge of honor. But some well-known advertisers are actually choosing AdMob because of its multi-platform support for many devices, especially with the ability to target both iPhone and Android users (which is a steadily growing population).

Post originale: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/mI0Bzmq2UO0/