We’re back again and this time with all you need to know about what’s going on in the world of Apple!
Toady’s daily dose focuses on Apple’s attempt to create universal apps for its devices, its struggle for survival as it drops to the number 17th spot on the list of most innovative companies and its long-standing feud with Qualcomm.
Apple is looking to take things a step further by creating universal apps which would work across all its products within the Apple ecosystem. According to a Bloomberg report, the company will give developers access to create a single app known as an app binary which will work on its iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
Well, this isn’t something entirely unknown as Apple did reveal some of its work last year at the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference. This project is being worked upon under the codename Marzipan. `
According to the report, Apple will achieve its cross-platform universal app project in stages. Developers will make use of a new SDK which would allow them to port iPad apps to work on Macs. This specially designed SDK is rumored to be unveiled at WWDC 2019. ‘
In doing this, it seems like Apple is taking a page out of Microsoft’s play book.
Remember how Microsoft tried something similar? By making a universal windows platform and wanted applications for Windows to work on its smartphone, tablets as well as PCs. Well, unfortunately for Microsoft, it had to kill its Mobile platform altogether due to various reasons.
One differentiating factor is that Apple is trying to make the apps universal while still running parallel OS versions, iOS and macOS. If Apple does manage to successfully pull this off, it would make it a lot more convenient for Apple users.
Moving on, there’s no hiding the fact that Apple suffered a major blow in 2018 with its iPhone series of smartphones. It’s in the Chinese market where Apple has lost most of its foothold. However, this has reflected in terms of global market share and has weighed down heavily on Apple’s reputation.
Unfortunately, failure to innovate and develop new technologies has left Apple quite far behind. Rumor has it that Apple’s new iPhones of 2019 won’t implement any new technology but rather only improve on existing ones.
According to Fast Company’s list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2019, Apple is seated at the number 17 spot. This is extremely unexpected as Apple was topping this very same list last year in 2018. Dropping 16 spots will certainly be a wake-up call for the smartphone manufacturing giant.
Sadly, for Apple, even companies like Twitch, Shopify, Peloton, Alibaba, and Truepic have taken the lead and sit above them in the list.
https://twitter.com/FastCompany/status/1098356627483152389?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1098356627483152389&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ccn.com%2Fapple-iphone-losing-edge-innovative-companies-ranking
Last year, what secured Apple the win was its innovation in terms of a variety of products like AirPods, augmented reality, and the iPhone X. This year, the only thing which Apple really has to show for itself is its A12 bionic chip. Here’s what Fast Company said in relation to Apple’s fall to the 17th spot:
Apple’s most impressive new product of 2018 wasn’t a phone or a tablet, but a chip: the A12 Bionic. Debuting in last fall’s iPhones, it’s the industry’s first processor based on a seven-nanometer manufacturing process
The A12’s 6.9 billion transistors deliver dramatically faster performance, lower power consumption, and more raw muscle for intensive applications such as AI, AR, and high-end photography
However, this certainly isn’t the end to Apple as the company has the tendency of bouncing back. The company may have a trick or two up its sleeve. Perhaps this was needed in order to remind Apple of its diminishing glory and prior success!
Elsewhere in the Apple world, the company, which is the king of legal disputes, still seems to be in quite a bit of trouble. Its never-ending feud with Qualcomm has fumed into a war. Qualcomm is now urging for a US import ban on iPhones over a long-standing dispute in which Apple supposedly infringed on one of Qualcomm’s patents.
Qualcomm certainly isn’t letting it go. The U.S International Trade Commission (ITC) was in Qualcomm’s corner regarding the infringement of its patent but did not go through with the U.S import ban.
One of the main reasons for not imposing the ban was because it would give Qualcomm a monopoly in the U.S market. Any country would prefer competitive market conditions rather than a monopoly.
Needless to say, ITC has decided to reconsider the issue, taking into account three major factors: Time taken by Apple to adopt new designs which do not infringe the patent, national securities which might arise in case of an import ban, if the ban could be effective only to those smartphone models which infringed the patent in question.
According to 9To5Mac, Apple has reached out and has asked for the following:
Apple said that it would need six months to verify that the fix will satisfy regulators and to sell its existing inventory. Apple asked the full commission to delay any possible import ban by that long if the commission reverses the judge’s decisions
Apple is swimming in a treacherous sea whose waters seek to drown rather than keep afloat. Do you think the company has what it takes to make a comeback? Let us know what you think about this in the comments section.
Tune in again tomorrow for more invigorating and captivating Apple tales!
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