Linked List: January 4, 2010

Monday, 4 January 2010

Nokia Plans to Patch Hole From Iceberg by 2011 ★

Nokia executive vice-president Rick Simonson, in an interview with The Economic Times:

By 2011, our efforts will start producing results, as we will be at par with Apple and RIM in smartphones. Not only we draw level with them, we will also win the war because, in addition to email, we will be adding content, chat, music, entertainment and several other features, which will soon become very critical for success of any company in this space.

Even with where Apple (and RIM) will be in 2011, or even with where they were in 2009? And in what way have “content, chat, music, and entertainment” not been key factors in the iPhone’s success since 2007?

Kara Swisher: Apple to Buy Mobile Ad Firm Quattro Wireless ★

Kara Swisher:

Apple is set to announce that it has acquired Quattro Wireless for $275 million, several sources confirmed.

The announcement might come as soon as tomorrow, upping the ante in the mobile advertising business significantly. Google recently forked over an astonishing $750 million for AdMob, a Quattro competitor, which Apple had also made a bid to acquire.

WSJ: ‘Apple to Ship Tablet Device in March’ ★

Yukari Iwatani Kane and Geoffrey A. Fowler, reporting for the WSJ:

Looking to build on the momentum of its iPhone and iPod, Apple Inc. will unveil a new multimedia tablet device later this month, but isn’t planning to ship the product until March, say people briefed by the company.

While the device’s ship date hasn’t been finalized and could still change, people briefed on the matter said the new product will come with a 10 to 11-inch touch screen—which would make it closer in size to Apple’s line of MacBook laptops than its smart phone.

Apple was working on two different material finishes for the device, one of these people said, though it was unclear whether the Cupertino, Calif., company was just testing the finishes or planning to come out with multiple versions of a tablet at different prices.

Weird that they’re so certain about the ship date but uncertain about the finish. And no word in the remainder of the story describing the two “finishes”.

YML’s Year-End Wrap Up ★

Forgot to mention this last week: I was a guest on Your Mac Life’s 2009 year-end wrap up, talking with Shawn King about the biggest stories of the past year.

John Paczkowski: Apple Media Event Wednesday 27 January ★

John Paczkowski:

The gathering is to be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, a space Apple often uses for media events like these. According to other sources, it will occur on Wednesday Jan. 27, not Tuesday Jan. 26, as had been rumored.

Why Apple Will Never Make Printers Again ★

Matt Deatherage:

Frankly, there’s no money in printers, only in printer supplies — and you can only get that revenue if you make the printing engine. Apple never did.

Glenn Fleishman’s Detailed Review of the Mac Mini With Snow Leopard Server ★

His major gripes: the 4 GB cap on RAM, and the relatively slow 5,400 RPM hard drives.

A Form of Madness ★

Mark Pilgrim’s Dive Into HTML5 chapter on web forms.