In a press release issued earlier this morning, Apple has announced that Bertrand Serlet, SVP of Mac Software Engineering, will be leaving the company.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s VP of Mac Software Engineering and Serlet’s long-time protégé, will assume his responsibilities and report directly to chief exec Steve Jobs.
Federighi has been managing the Mac OS software engineering group for the past two years.
Bertrand Serlet originally joined Apple in 1997 and has played an instrumental role in the development of Mac OS X.
Before joining Apple, Serlet spent four years at Xerox PARC, then joined NeXT in 1989.
“I’ve worked with Steve for 22 years and have had an incredible time developing products at both NeXT and Apple, but at this point, I want to focus less on products and more on science,” Serlet said in a statement.
Craig Federighi also worked at NeXT, followed by Apple, and then spent a decade at Ariba. He returned to Apple in 2009 to lead Mac OS X engineering.
Credited with revolutionising mobile phone user interfaces, Apple sought to protect its brand by applying to patent its popular iOS icons and overlays. This week, the Cupertino-based company was granted 24 patents in relation to its icons and onscreen input buttons which also cover utilities and productivity folders.
PatentlyApple reports that since the start of the year Apple has been busy protecting its brand, particularly in the EU, filing five major design patent documents. Its filings included Ping, the branding for their social network for music, which also included it’s “Bubbles” logo. The company then applied to patent “Places”, “Apple” and then the Granny Smith logo that it had famously tried to capture back from The Beatles.
With 24 iOS design patents granted, Apple’s European competitors will now have to be careful when designing icons for their own interfaces. These include the calculator, iBooks, Keynote, Numbers and World Clock within iOS. Also included were Apple’s Maps + Compass, iPod, Notes, Contacts, Voice Memos, Photos, MobileMe, YouTube, Settings, Weather and Stocks icons.
Apple also patented how icons were displayed on the iOS Display Dock, the Utility Icon Bar and other designated window graphics.
Remember when Apple introduced folders? They’ve also been patented – well, the way the folders are added and named.
Apple’s patents aren’t likely to slow the number of knock-offs and fake iPhone and iPad devices coming from the Far East but it could land some manufacturers in trouble in Europe if their icons are found to be a little to close to Apple’s.
We do hope that it doesn’t hamper the creation of unofficial iOS merchandise on marketplaces like Etsy but this remains to be seen.Image Credit
For nearly a decade, I’ve had an unwavering belief that all devices will have a connection to the network — wireless or otherwise. Any devices that have software to take advantage of network- and cloud-based smarts would find eager takers. The combination of hardware, software and connectivity would be key to the future of the hardware.
That shift is now happening, as seen in the growing popularity of Wi-Fi and the huge jump in Wi-Fi traffic. Because of this shift, we are seeing a re-definition of the consumer electronics landscape. It’s not a surprise a hardware-centric company like Sony found itself at a disadvantage, and upstarts like music gadget maker Sonos and forward-TV-anywhere device maker Slingbox found success among the enthusiasts. Today, my long-held notion is finding its way into the market. Internet music players, connected televisions, wireless-enabled photo frames and Internet set-top boxes are commonplace, lining the aisles of Big Box electronics stores.
Maybe it’s time for me to amend that long-held belief a little bit. The future of hardware is hardware, software and connectivity combined with specific services. Without the services, the devices may lose our attention and end up at the back of the proverbial drawer.
The idea became crystal clear in a conversation with Hosain Rehman, co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based mobile device maker, Aliph, well-known for its hit product, Jawbone, a Bluetooth headset. We were talking about his company getting a whopping $49 million from Andreessen Horowitz and existing investors that include Khosla Ventures and Sequoia Capital, when the conversation turned to the proliferation of sensors and software in today’s devices and how they can be used to improve the device experience.
One way to do it is by attaching a service to the hardware. Let’s examine three of the more popular consumer devices of recent times:
Amazon Kindle (the device) has software and connectivity (through Whisper Sync), but what makes it really useful is the “service:” the ability to read and buy books easily.
Apple TV (version 2) is successful because of two reasons: It allows you to watch iTunes content, but to many of us, it’s the Netflix on-demand service that makes Apple TV worth owning.
Sonos is finding growing demand for its S5 music system, thanks to the ability to not only play the music you own, but also get music from a variety of streaming music services such as Spotify. (Read: How to build a consumer platform, lessons from Sonos.)
Sure, there are some devices, like the iPhone, that have managed to combine the hardware, software and connectivity with a screen to create a platform that allows end users to get third-party “services” via the apps. Now, as we all know, these apps are one of the main reasons why Apple has found a lot of buyers for the iPhone and the iPod touch.
The importance of services cannot be underscored. Here’s why: To me, services are a way for hardware owners to increase engagement with their gadgets. When I first got Sonos, I listened to my own library of music. Then I signed up for Internet radio stations, and lately, I’ve been testing Spotify’s streaming service. Result? It’s now playing in the background, pretty much all the time.
Just as on the social web, engagement drives usage and this usage can then be monetized. Apple’s monetization is coming in the form of the increased use of its payment system, which results in a 30 percent cut of the total sales. On a Kindle, the more books you read, the more you buy, and the more money Amazon makes on the sales of these e-books.
I think in our device-infested and attention-deprived lives, services — if built well — foster constant and ongoing engagement. As ngmoco CEO Neil Young recently told me, the longer you have an opportunity to engage with the customer, the more opportunities you have for more monetization. More importantly, a good service turns a good device into a great one. Just look at Sonos!
Provided your new iPad is attached to its magnetical Smart Cover, it’ll cling on to your refrigerator like a spider monkey to a tree branch. Or like something magnetic to something metal. It’s true! That’s my iPad sticking to my fridge this very morning. It seems like it's all being held up by the magnets on the flap of the Smart Cover, and I must say it feels surprisingly secure—I could definitely use it as a reference while cooking (read: doing FaceTime with my Mom while she tells me how to cook) without being too worried about slippage. Disclaimer: don’t do this at home, because maybe your refrigerator isn’t as magnet-friendly as mine, or maybe you’re clumsy, or I don’t really know, just know that I’m in no way responsible if you break your iPad trying to use it as a giant refrigerator magnet. [9to5Mac]More »
The battle for market share is on between Verizon Wireless and AT&T. In just one month, Verizon took 12.7 percent of the iPhone market, according to ad tracking firm Chitika.
That shows that Verizon probably sold a lot of phones in its first month working with Apple and AT&T is going to have to offer better services to users to hang on to them.
Chitika can measure the number of AT&T and Verizon devices registering on its network. Just one day after the device launched to Verizon customers on Feb. 10, Verizon iPhones accounted for 3 percent of the U.S. iPhone base.
Apple also debuted the second-generation iPad with Verizon as well as AT&T last Friday. While AT&T and Verizon slug it out, Apple is sitting pretty and could very well be gaining market share on Android.
The idea became crystal clear in a conversation with Hosain Rehman, co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based mobile device maker, 
The battle for market share is on between Verizon Wireless and AT&T. In just one month, Verizon took 12.7 percent of the iPhone market, according to ad tracking firm Chitika.