40% of Blackberry users willing to trade in for an iPhone
BlackBerry users may be ready to move on to other smartphone platforms, suggesting that RIM isn't keeping up with consumer demand in its efforts to combat growing encroachment from the likes of iPhone and Android. In fact, two in five BlackBerry owners plan to swap their current device for an iPhone when it's time to upgrade, according to market researcher firm Crowd Science. The iPhone has had a lasting effect on the smartphone market, changing the conception of what a smartphone should be almost overnight after the launch of the original iPhone in 2007. Despite RIM's entrenchment among business users, however, the iPhone platform has grown at a faster rate than the BlackBerry over the last year. Perhaps the trend can be explained by Crowd Science's findings that many are using their smartphones for both personal and business use. Nearly a third of iPhone owners use their device for strictly personal use, versus just 16 percent for BlackBerry users. Just one percent of iPhone owners use their device for business only—no surprise there—so two-thirds are using an iPhone for business and personal use. And, while the BlackBerry has a reputation as the best enterprise mobile device, a scant seven percent of BlackBerrys users dedicate the device to business use only. That leaves over three-quarters of BlackBerry owners using their device for dual purposes. The iPhone isn't the only platform attracting the attention of BlackBerry users, though. Interest in Android-based devices has grown since the introduction of Google's Nexus One, with 32 percent of BlackBerry users surveyed saying they would swap their current device for a Nexus One. "These results show that the restlessness of BlackBerry users with their current brand hasn't just been driven by the allure of iPhone," John Martin, CEO of Crowd Science, said in a statement. "Rather, BlackBerry as a brand just isn't garnering the loyalty seen with other mobile operating systems." About 90 percent of current iPhone and Android users plan to stick with their current platform for their next phone upgrade. Read the comments on this post
published today, 24 minutes ago, ars-technica
Analyst: Quarterly Mac sales to approach 2.9m units
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster on Monday circulated a report detailing his expectations for Mac and iPod sales through the first quarter of the year. Based on data gathered by NDP Group, Munster believes monthly Mac sales were up by an average of 39 percent year-over-year in January and February....
published today, 1 hour 32 minutes ago, macintosh-news-network
February Mac sales up 43%, Apple on track for 2.9M in quarter
New retail sales data shows Apple has continued to have strong Mac and iPod sales at the start of 2010, with February's numbers showing significant year-over-year growth.
published today, 2 hours 7 minutes ago, appleinsider
Intel ships $125 budget SSD
Intel catered to the rapidly growing budget SSD realm today by launching the X25-V. The 2.5-inch SATA II drive is meant alternately for netbooks and for dual-drive systems where a fast and more reliable OS drive is crucial. The SSD isn't as fast as the M or X series, at 135MB per second reads and 35MB per second writes, but is still about four times faster on average than a 7,200RPM rotating hard disk....
published today, 2 hours 12 minutes ago, macintosh-news-network
Windows Phone 7 development, marketplace detailed
Microsoft at its MIX10 developer event detailed some of how app development and sales will work for Windows Phone 7. Confirming that it's based on Silverlight and XNA, the mobile OS will fence off third-party apps from true native code but will give them access to all the key features: it will recognize accelerometers, cameras and multi-touch gestures. WP7 will also mirror iPhone development by using background push notification for those not allowed to multitask and include a general location service that any app can use....
published today, 2 hours 47 minutes ago, macintosh-news-network
AT&T's network survives iPhone influx at SXSWi event
Despite widespread reports of AT&T service issues at the 2009 South By Southwest (SXSW) gathering in Austin, the network has reportedly survived so far during this year's event. Observations from many iPhone owners suggest the network is maintaining the high volume, in contrast to the previous experiences described as "flaky at best."...
published today, 2 hours 52 minutes ago, macintosh-news-network
etc: Apple plans to replace iPads with exhausted batteries with a brand-new iPad for just $99 plus shipping. However, the internal battery is expected to last 2-3 years under normal use.
Apple plans to replace iPads with exhausted batteries with a brand-new iPad for just $99 plus shipping. However, the internal battery is expected to last 2-3 years under normal use. Read More: Macworld, Apple Read the comments on this post
published today, 3 hours 24 minutes ago, ars-technica
TomTom for iPhone adds real-time traffic, Google search
TomTom on Monday released an update to its self-titled navigation app for the iPhone. Version 1.3 brings a number of improvements, including Google search for finding points of interest or other information. Users can now view real-time traffic information or use pinch gestures to control the zoom level on the navigation map....
published today, 3 hours 42 minutes ago, macintosh-news-network
iPhone app volumes overwhelm Facebook's
Apple is rapidly widening the gap between its app platform and Facebook, new data from Flurry found today. Although the gap was relatively small about five months into the app portals' respective lifespans, by the 1.5 year mark Apple now has more than twice as many apps. The iPhone App Store's 140,000 confirmed apps easily outweigh the 60,000 web-based apps of Facebook's social network....
published today, 4 hours 32 minutes ago, macintosh-news-network
Startup developers represent one in five on Apple's App Store
Despite the fact that it will be two years old this summer and now has more than 150,000 applications, Apple's App Store for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad remains a place where startups and independent software creators have a fair shot at success.
published today, 4 hours 37 minutes ago, appleinsider