Linked List: March 27, 2013

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

Where in the World Are Windows Phones Outselling iPhones? ★

Nick Wingfield answers my question:

According to Kevin Restivo, an analyst at IDC, the countries where Windows Phone shipments exceeded those of iPhone during the fourth quarter were: Argentina, India, Poland, Russia, South Africa and Ukraine. A seventh “country” where Windows Phone shipments beat iPhone is actually a group of smaller countries, including Croatia, that IDC lumps together in a category called “rest of central and eastern Europe.”

Some big countries on that list. None of them Apple strongholds, though.

Why Developers Shouldn’t Use iCloud Syncing, Even if It Worked ★

Brent Simmons, again:

Here’s the thing: half the mobile revolution is about designing and building apps for smartphones and tablets.

The other half is about writing the web services that power those apps.

How comfortable are you with outsourcing half your app to another company? The answer should be: not at all comfortable.

Don’t take Brent’s word for it. Consider Tim Cook’s doctrine: “We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make.”

The Night Steve Jobs Returned to Apple ★

Great set on Flickr from Tim Holmes.

Apple Fans: Microsoft Is No Longer the Enemy ★

Brent Simmons, writing at Macworld:

While I was visiting the Microsoft campus a few weeks ago—in suburban Redmond, just across Lake Washington from my beloved Seattle—I kept thinking of the old Vulcan proverb: “Only Nixon can go to China.”

If Microsoft is China, then that makes me Nixon in this story, I realize.

Couldn’t agree more with Brent on this one.