Apple's Stock Price

We hope all of our readers took our advice last year and sold their iFruit company stock while the price was still sky high. As this is being written their stock price has dropped below $400 for the first time since 2011 and, in our opinion, will continue to drop.

The iFruit company no longer has the same innovative, must-have products they did in the past. All of the buzz that kept people panting in anticipation is gone. Google is now creating the products people are talking about and lusting after.

Can the iFruit company come back? Sure, in business anything is possible. But we feel that Apple without the day-to-day guidance of Steve Jobs will be like MSFT without Bill Gates at the helm. They will just sputter along, going nowhere.

MSFT Win8 Rumors

The latest word from the rumor mill is that MSFT will try to salvage Win8 sales by re-introducing two of the things they “innovated” away. It seems that Booting to the desktop and the Start button may be part of Win8.1 when it comes out later this year.

Win8 has been a very disappointing seller (despite what MSFT says officially) and they are getting desperate to find a way to get things going again. MSFT may be planning on doing too little, too late. The age of the computer on every desk and Windows on every computer may well be over for good. Yes, there is still a need for full power computers for some tasks but for most users a Phablet will do 99% of the time.

People Power Presence

Fox Business News had an interesting interview earlier this week. It was with Gene Wang, CEO of People Power. I must admit that I didn’t know anything about the company and their free app, Presence. Presence is a free app available on the iFruit store that turns any iOS product into a WiFi camera. We also found out that they are in the process of developing an Android version and we can’t wait to try it out.

Here’s info from their web site:

Presence turns iPhone's, iPad's, or iPod Touch's into a FREE WiFi video camera with motion detection, alerts, and more.

Recently upgraded to an iPhone 5? Have an available iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch? Take the available device, download Presence, and transform it into a wireless video cam, pet cam, security cam, baby cam, nanny cam, party cam, you name it. Then, install Presence on your new iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch to view your camera from anywhere in the world! Seeing is believing: monitor your camera in real-time or get meaningful alerts with video clips when motion is detected. Engage in a 2-way audio/video conversation through your camera back at home, while you’re on the go. Be there for your loved ones and protect your valuables even when you are away.

• MONITOR – Simply download Presence to your old iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. Connect it over WiFi and plug in power. Place it in your home, room, garage, office, or school and begin monitoring it remotely in real-time from your new iPhone.
• ALERT – Customize settings and get an alert with a short video clip when motion is detected. You can tell when someone breaks into your room, when the kids get home from school, and that your elderly relatives are moving about their day.
• PROTECT – See it for yourself. Have peace of mind with video clips and keep a constant eye on pets, family, and prized possessions when you are away from home. Communicate remotely through your camera to the people and pets you see through the camera.
• SAVE – Don't buy an expensive IP camera; put that old iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch back to work! Download Presence and transform your unused iOS devices into the most advanced WiFi video cameras on the market for FREE.

All of this is possible with Presence and so much more. Make your home more comfortable and more secure starting today for FREE!

April 15th

There are some dates every year that seem to be more momentous than others and April 15th is definitely one of them. In case you weren’t aware of what has happened on this date, here’s a partial list:

1452- Leonardo da Vinci born

1865- Abe Lincoln died

1912- The Titanic sank

1945- FDR buried

1947- Jackie Robinson’s first MLB game

1952- 1st B-52 flight

1955- Ray Krok opens the 1st McDonalds

1978- my anniversary

1990- Greta Garbo died

1992- Leona Helmsley went to prison

And, of course, federal income taxes are due today!

GoSmart 200 Series Stylus Review

One way to minimize the number of fingerprints on your Phablet screen is by using a stylus. We thought there were two styles available, those with a soft rubber tip that emulates a finger tip and those with a hard plastic tip. But now there is a third style, the GoSmart tip.

The GoSmart 200 Series Stylus that we were sent to review is an example of the third style. When we first opened it up we were a bit baffled by the design. As you can see in the picture above, the GoSmart is a wire wheel-like tip attached to the main body by a very thin wire spring. The 200 Series is made in a standard pen shape with a pocket clip for easy storage. The GoSmart Stylus tip is Teflon-coated to give a nice, smooth feel.

We were very surprised at how well the GoSmart worked. We ere able to do everything with it that you normally do with a finger tip.

Our review model had “rare earth magnets” built into the body which made it magnetic. If you want to attach your pen to a ferrous base, like a refrigerator, you can do it easily.

The GoSmart tip offers yet another way to use your Phablet efficiently and help keep your screen clean at the same time.

MSRP for the 200 Series is $23.95 or $24.95 with rare earth magnets in the body. Available in Black, Red, Blue and White

www.justgosmart.com

PC Sales Plummet

As we have reported many times before, the sales of the PC continue to plummet. Both IDC and Gartner have come out with reports on PC sales in Q1 of 2013 and they agree that things look dismal for that segment of the market.

Here’s what IDC said:

Despite some mild improvement in the economic environment and some new PC models offering Windows 8, PC shipments were down significantly across all regions compared to a year ago. Fading Mini Notebook shipments have taken a big chunk out of the low-end market while tablets and smartphones continue to divert consumer spending. PC industry efforts to offer touch capabilities and ultraslim systems have been hampered by traditional barriers of price and component supply, as well as a weak reception for Windows 8. The PC industry is struggling to identify innovations that differentiate PCs from other products and inspire consumers to buy, and instead is meeting significant resistance to changes perceived as cumbersome or costly.

In short: Windows 8 was a bust, if success is defined as boosting PC shipments. But it's clear that the market currents are larger and more powerful than Microsoft (or any other single vendor) can manage -- never mind the fact that its radically different operating system has seen slow adoption.

App Sales

Apple’s App Store and Google Play on Android continue to set the pace for the overall performance and fortunes of mobile apps worldwide, while BlackBerry and Microsoft’s Windows Phone remain “distant challengers.” Figures out today from Canalys note that in Q1 2013, the four top app stores worldwide collectively accounted for 13.4 billion downloads, with $2.2 billion in paid app sales, in-app purchases and subscriptions. But while Google has long passed Apple as the biggest smartphone platform worldwide, Apple is still the undisputed leader when it comes to monetizing: Google Play accounted for 51% of all downloads (6.8 billion), but Apple’s App Store for 74% of all revenues ($1.6 billion).

In terms of downloads, Canalys says that Apple is not too far behind Google, with close to 40% of all downloads worldwide, while BlackBerry and Microsoft still hold single-digit percentage shares. Tim Shepherd, a senior analyst at Canalys, tells TechCrunch that he expects to see the gap between Google and Apple grow as Android retains its dominant position in the smart phone market globally.

In revenue numbers, however, Google has a lot of catching up to do. Compared to Apple’s 74%, Google is “close to 20%,” he says. The others are in single digits.

The figures represent 11% growth compared to Q4 in terms of download volumes, and about 9% growth in terms of sales. In terms of the biggest markets, app store revenues in North America were up by 8% and downloads 6%, and in Western Europe, revenues were up 8% and downloads 10%.

The concentration of activity on Apple and Google’s platforms show that while it continues to be a challenge for smaller players to break the hegemony that is Samsung/Android and Apple on handset sales, the same goes in content. “Upping their respective installed base of users is critical if BlackBerry or Microsoft are to close these gaps,” says Shepherd.