Linked List: April 9, 2012

Monday, 9 April 2012

‘Dominant’ 

Jay Yarow cooks some Fred Wilson claim chowder:

In December 2010, famed New York venture capitalist Fred Wilson wrote that startups should invest more in Android first, and iOS second because Android was wide open and it was going to be the dominant operating system.

While he’s correct Android is the dominant operating system, he’s incorrect that it’s the platform developers should be working on primarily. Proof of that comes from today’s Instagram acquisition. Facebook paid $1 billion for a company that was iOS exclusive until last week.

I’d say Instagram’s success and high acquisition price show that iOS is the dominant mobile platform. Market share is a factor in dominance, but clearly not the only one.

Maybe Instagram would have been better served by shipping an Android port sooner. Maybe they should have had a web-based interface. But the fact remains that they built a photo sharing social network with 30 million users and over one billion photos with just one client: an iPhone app.

RIM Cutting Sideloaded App Support for PlayBook 

Sam Byford, The Verge:

RIM is removing the ability to sideload apps to the BlackBerry PlayBook in a future update of the OS, meaning owners will have to download and install software through BlackBerry App World. The move was announced on Twitter by the company’s VP of Developer Relations, Alec Saunders, who said he was “pretty sure” there would be a solution for developers who need to test their apps. Saunders said the reason was to prevent piracy, citing figures from an unknown source saying that over a quarter of Android apps are downloaded illegally, and calling Google Play a “chaotic cesspool.”

Funny how things like this and Flash Player support tend to shift toward the policies of iOS.

AT&T Finally Unlocking iPhones 

Seth Weintraub:

AT&T will now unlock your iPhone — if you are in good account standing and are done with your obligated term of commitment (including having paid an early termination fee.)

I don’t understand why they haven’t been doing this since July 2009, when the contracts for original iPhones started expiring.

Every Jump of the General Lee, Seasons 1-6 

Maybe my favorite supercut ever.

Movies From Universal Pictures Now Available Through iTunes in the Cloud 

AppleInsider:

While Universal’s films are now available through iCloud, customers looking to re-download 20th Century Fox must still wait for that content, even though HBO was said last month to have reached an agreement. The Wall Street Journal said at the time that Fox expected to have its content on iCloud “within weeks,” suggesting it may not be a much longer wait.

Update: I originally wrote “iTunes Match” in the headline, but that’s specific to music. What we’re talking about here is the new feature where, once you’ve bought a movie or song from iTunes, you can re-download/re-stream it whenever you want. The “match” in iTunes Match is specific to the idea that it works with songs no matter where you got them from.

Facebook Buys Instagram 

Mark Zuckerberg:

I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook.

Company announcement says the deal was “approximately $1 billion in a combination of cash and shares of Facebook”. Zuckerberg says they’re going to keep Instagram independent:

That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.

Update: Blog post from Instagram.

While Apple Is Criticized for Foxconn, Other Companies Are Silent 

Nick Bilton, writing for the NYT:

In the last week I have asked Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Microsoft and others about their reports on labor conditions. Most responded with a boilerplate public relations message. Some didn’t even respond.

The answer from Barnes & Noble, the maker of the Nook e-reader, was typical. Mary Ellen Keating, a senior vice president, said only, “We don’t comment on our supply chain vendors.”

Lenovo e-mailed a general report on sustainability. Samsung, which sells more cellphones than Apple, gave no response.

As John Moltz says:

Maybe now the “blame Apple” crowd can shut their blameholes.