Verizon released their sale figures today for the last quarter. The big takeaway? More than 50% of all smartphones that they sold were iPhones. To be exact 55% of all their smartphone sales were iPhones.
Every single Android phone that Verizon sells — dozens of models — combined could not outsell the iPhone last quarter. When you consider that Verizon sells plenty of BlackBerrys (and a few Windows Phones here and there) as well, this is even more incredible.
Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear is set to release his debut EP in March. In the meantime you can listen to the first song off the EP. It’s beautiful and lush and I definitely can’t wait to hear the rest.
The most interesting tech news today is also the most boring. RIM’s co-CEOs are stepping down as the COO assumes the CEO role. Marco Arment summed up this news poignantly in his doodle. What’s next for RIM? I’m pretty sure I don’t care. For their sake I hope they can turn their mess around. They were great once.
Regarding recent SOPA and PIPA activity, Mike Arrington linked to this recent NY Times article snippet:
Data shows that copyright holders and supporters of the bills outspent opponents substantially in the early stages of the debate. But by many accounts the tech industry has stepped up its lobbying efforts in recent weeks. New spending reports expected shortly indicate whether the balance has shifted.
His closing reaction:
This is how criminal organizations run protection rackets. Congress is doing just that, only it’s completely legal.
Although perhaps not as black and white as he makes it appear, the entire lobbying game played in D.C. is dirty. At the behest of corporations money is thrown at lawmakers to sway them to pass legislature that is in the best interest of the corporate entity, citizens be damned.
The tech industry is renown for disrupting industries and creating something new where there wasn’t anything before. Historically all this activity has taken place away from bureaucracies yet increasingly government is nosing itself into the affairs of the tech sector, potentially limiting their creativity and output.
How is the tech industry to do to the government what it has done so aptly before to many other industries? How do you disrupt something that was created to provide order and sustain an equilibrium? How do you disrupt Democracy?
Pure technical prowess isn’t the answer but it can certainly provide a strong backbone to whatever the solution may be. Hopefully its found sooner than later. People’s faith in the government is at an all-time low and it’s for good reason. Everyday you see the government acting on its own best interest and it’s time for that to change.
Today Apple released iBooks 2 with support for textbooks. Along with this announcement they showed off a new video describing why they created support for textbooks and how they went about doing so. The video is typical Apple quality: endearing and uplifting. Overlook the length of the video and let yourself be captivated. This is some stuff that I wish I had growing up.
P.S: I just downloaded a sample textbook to try out. It’s pretty damn cool. You can expand and minimize pages and images just like in the video and everything is so snappy. You have to give it to Apple: when they set out to do one thing they get it done so right.
MegaUpload Shut Down by the Feds, Founder Arrested.
Anyone arguing that MegaUpload was primarily used for legitimate purposes is deluding themself. Not once have I known of anyone downloading legal software from MU. I have always known it as a widely used harbor for illegal software, helping the spread of illegal software across the internet.
Long New York Times article focusing on George Lucas and his decision to step away from major film-making. Let’s see if this decision sticks.
Get Ready For The iPad 3 Rumor Onslaught. Its begun.
Sleigh Bells is gearing up for their second album. In preparation they’ve released the second song off their soon-to-be-released Reign of Terror album titled “Comeback Kid”. From the sound of it Sleigh Bells definitely knows who they are and what their sound is, and they’re executing it very nicely.
This is the second article I’ve posted about Free.fl in less than a month but this is just too good to not post about.
This last week, Free dropped a nuke on the wireless business, too. For €19.99, subscribers can get unlimited calls to mobile and fixed line phones in France (and to fixed line phones in 40 other countries). They get unlimited text messages. They get unlimited 3G data (with a “fair use” policy). They get net neutrality. And they get it all without a contract.
It gets better. If you subscriber to Free broadband, the wireless phone service costs only €15.99 a month.
Free.fl if you’re listening, please come to the US as soon as possible. First the UK brings us Spotify. Hopefully France can bring the carrier revolution.