It really isn’t a big secret that the smartphone and tablet industry is an extremely competitive marketplace to be in. The iOS and Android operating systems are undoubtedly the two major players in this space, with Apple having sold more than 250 million iPhones in the last five years following the original launch and Google currently activating 1 million Android devices every day. The competition between the two platforms has always been a fierce one, but with Apple announcing their own mapping system in iOS 6 to rival the tried and tested Google Maps, the competition has ramped up another notch.
It has taken a day or two, but now videos are beginning to crop up comparing Apple's Siri on the iPhone 4S to Google's new voice options in the just announced Android 4.1, Jelly Bean.
As of right now, the existing consumer tablet market is dominated and was essentially created by Apple when it released the first iPad. Since then, Microsoft and Google have been working to catch up and get their foot in the door of this Apple-dominated market. Google's Android tablet OS has managed to gain some ground, and we can expect Windows 8 tablets to hit the shelves later this year. However, in the past two weeks, both Microsoft and Google have announced special tablet hardware devices that they hope will help them gain even more ground in this market.
It seems like only yesterday when Apple entered the smartphone market with the release of the beautiful and unique iPhone. At that time, it was thought to be a bit of a gutsy move considering they had no experience in that sector and were attempting to compete in an industry that already seemed saturated with big names such as Nokia and Samsung.
Remember a few days back when Samsung won a patent claim over Apple regarding 3G technology? Well now, it has emerged the fruit company has also violated one of Google's (or specifically, Motorola Mobility's) registered innovations, and finance analyst ZeroHedge (via 9to5Mac) believes the Big G is looking to block shipments of the fruit company's iPhone and iPad devices as a result.
Apple has long since claimed a proud reputation for protecting its user base from the perils of viruses and malicious intrusion. Unfortunately, that particular label has been severely damaged over the past couple of months, largely due to the outbreak of the Flashback malware which managed to find its way onto several hundred thousand Macs across much of the world.
When Apple announced iOS 6 - the next installment to its famous mobile operating system - at WWDC earlier this month, the centerpiece feature turned out to be the hotly-rumored Maps app, which, in displacing Google's omni-present Maps offering, will include 3D aesthetics and turn-by-turn navigation.
We are all hoping that everyone at Apple headquarters will wake up in an extremely good mood one day and decide that it will be a perfect time to arrange a spur of the moment media event, announcing the immediate release of the new iPhone. However, we all know that the likelihood is we won't see a hardware release until October of this year, but that doesn't stop us from speculating and discussing what Apple's next-generation iPhone will bring.
When Tim Cook and his executive team took center stage at the Moscone Center earlier on this month, it didn't come as any great surprise when they mentioned that the new Maps app is Apple’s in-house solution and they are ditching Google Maps altogether. The fact that Apple has been building their own maps system had been widely reported on during the build up to WWDC 2012, with Cook and his cohorts only serving to officially confirm that it was happening.
Remember Apple’s suing spree of 2011? The company filed lawsuits against multiple popular Android manufacturers like Samsung, HTC and Motorola in regions across the globe from USA all the way to Japan. A few weeks ago, Apple sued Samsung again on basis of their Galaxy S III; while that and many other cases are ongoing, one very major case in one very major country has been dismissed – that of Apple vs. Motorola Mobility. Details after the jump!
