Linked List: October 22, 2009

Thursday, 22 October 2009

Unofficial Simplenote Backup 

Excellent free utility from Alex Payne — back up your Simplenote content in your choice of plain text, CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, and Evernote archive formats.

Gene Munster: Nokia Only Wants $200 Million From Apple in iPhone Patent Suit 

Jay Yarow, reporting for Silicon Alley Insider:

Nokia is looking to collect a 1%-2% patent royalty — worth around $6-$12 — off each iPhone sold, according to a note from Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster.

He says it’s pocket change for both companies, but I wouldn’t count on Apple settling it.

Apple’s Smartphone Profit Share 

Follow-up to the last post:

Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi estimates that Apple, though it is only the fifth-largest handset vendor, claimed nearly a third of handset industry profits in the first half of 2009.

And that’s from before the release of the 3GS.

More on the Nokia Patent Lawsuit Against Apple 

Om Malik:

But the timing of the suit also underscores the degree to which Apple has overtaken Nokia in the smartphone space. Nokia last week reported its first quarterly net loss in more than a decade as its North American sales tumbled by nearly a third. Apple’s momentum, meanwhile, just keeps growing.

Nokia still sells way more phones than Apple does, even counting only “smartphones”, but the iPhone sells for a far, far higher average selling price than Nokia’s phones. In terms of profit from handset sales, Apple is either already ahead of Nokia or soon will be.

According to these numbers from pseudonymous Apple analyst “Deagol”, the average selling price for an iPhone last quarter was $612. Nokia’s average selling price per handset last quarter was about $93.

Welcome to the Microsoft Store 

It’s creepy, as in like stalker-ish creepy, just how blatantly they’ve copied Apple. (Via Cabel Sasser.)

Om Malik on the iPhone’s Importance to AT&T 

Om Malik, on AT&T’s quarterly results:

In the third quarter, the company added 2 million new wireless subscribers to reach a total of 81.6 million. Further, some 4.3 million 3G-integrated devices were added to the AT&T network, of which the iPhone accounted for 3.2 million activations.

Three out of every four new 3G devices added to AT&T’s network for the quarter were iPhones.

Volkswagen Launches Free Version of Real Racing to Promote 2010 GTI 

Clever move from Volkswagen — they’re giving away a bespoke version of the iPhone racing game Real Racing to promote the new 2010 GTI.

‘That’s Why They’ve Got 75,000 Applications’ 

From the bottom of an AP story about today’s big release of Windows 7:

“Let’s face it, the Internet was designed for the PC. The Internet is not designed for the iPhone,” Ballmer said. “That’s why they’ve got 75,000 applications — they’re all trying to make the Internet look decent on the iPhone.”

Of course Ballmer’s going to downplay the iPhone’s success, just like how Apple COO Tim Cook downplays the release of Windows 7 earlier in the story. But this just doesn’t even make sense. The iPhone’s success is really getting to him.

Nokia Sues Apple, Claims iPhone Infringes on Slew of Patents 

If you can’t beat ’em, sue ’em.

Phillies Rout Dodgers to Head to World Series 

They become the first World Series champs to return the next year since the 2001 Yankees. Phil Sheridan makes the case that they’re the greatest team, from any sport, in Philadelphia history.