iPhone OS 3 released at iTunes Store mistake, Real release later today

The iPhone OS 3 firmware was accidentally released yesterday in the iTunes Store, ahead of schedule. Or rather, the page was updated, but all the buyers got was a 0.4KB file.




(Click for better/larger image)

The error was detected yesterday and fixed, so that users attempting to go to that page are redirected. Unfortunately, many people have already purchased the "OS 3" and so Apple are probably trying to get back to the customers who paid by mistake.

Also, the real iPhone OS 3 firmware will be released today at around 1PM in New York (Eastern). You can stop pressing F5 now and wait 'til then for the firmware.

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iPhone 3GS at WWDC 09 will destroy Palm Pre, competitors

Today was the much anticipated WWDC of 2009 hosted by Apple, and their keynote was the longest one yet, clocking in at over 2 hours.
They announced a great many things, but one of the biggest announcements was the release of a new iPhone, just as rumored.



It was only this weekend that the Palm Pre started to sell, and now there's a new iPhone. I'm sure Palm can't be happy about that. This new iPhone is called the iPhone 3GS, and the S stands for Speed, and it really is quite fast. It also comes out with the announcement of the new iPhone OS 3 (If you want to see images + details on that, just scroll down).


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The new 3GS doesn't actually look all that much different from the old ones, but what's really changed is on the inside. Of course, speed is very much emphasized here, and Apple claims that it is more than 2 times faster for most tasks as compared with the iPhone 2.
There are two new available storage sizes, 16 GB for $199, and $32 GB for $299, with contracts of course.
Along with this are upgrade options to the iPhone 3G S, but still require some more time before they are available, due to AT&T's restrictions on it.
Tethering and MMS was also announced, and AT&T has said that they are going to be adding these features soon, with MMS coming later this summer.
More features include voice control as well as a new video camera. It offers autofocus, auto balance, 30 FPS and more. This is definitely a good hardware upgrade.

The release date for the iPhone 3G S has been set to June 19th, where it'll be available in the US. Then it'll be released in a total of 80 countries in the world in the following weeks.
The old 8 GB iPhone will be on sale for $99 after this.


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Before the release of this iPhone, they also announced their newest iPhone OS 3, which builds on much of the previous OS, and introduces lots of new features. Examples are shown in the following picture.




Also check out these cool new features.





There was also a much wanted feature introducing Find My iPhone which allows you to track your iPhone, send a message to it in case somebody finds it, and even in the worse case scenario, delete all the data on it.






Also, you can now buy movies and TV shows on your iPhone.



This new iPhone OS 3 will be available for free for all existing iPhone customers.

Though Palm had a pretty good start this weekend, they'll be facing tough competition from increasingly more sophisticated iPhones, and it looks as though the Palm Pre at this point probably isn't revolutionary enough to make people to switch, especially as iPhone buyers are usually loyal to Apple.
Overall, WWDC delivered on quite a bit, but without Steve Jobs there, it didn't seem like it was enough. Let's hope Steve Jobs can get well soon with lots of more exciting things to come.

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Windows 7 Coming This Holiday Season

Ever since the hate on Vista erupted, Microsoft has been working on their new OS called Windows 7. It was only but a few months ago that I posted some reviews on this incredibly revolutionary product. Now, we know that Windows 7 is in fact coming out this same year that the beta was released.

Microsoft Senior Vice President Bill Veghte said in an interview, "We are tracking well to a Windows 7 holiday". While suspicions existed previously that Windows 7 would be aiming for a 2009 Holiday Season launch, Microsoft had refused to confirm it, especially learning from the delays and issues with Vista.

Even since the beta version came out, bloggers and testers were screaming for Windows 7 to be released immediately as is.
With this confirmation, Veghte said that Microsoft has seen a lot of cooperation with its partners as well as good feedback from testers. It seems that they now believe Windows 7 to be almost ready for a launch, at least enough to commit to a launch in time for this holiday season.

It seems that everybody already wants to get their hands on Windows 7 now. Luckily they won't have to wait much longer.

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Microsoft cuts jobs in cutting-edge profitable strategy

It was just this morning that Microsoft released their earnings report for the second quarter ahead of schedule. Originally, they were supposed to release the report later today, but they came out with the report and have announced a job cut of 5000 positions. It seems that the rumors about a 17% job cut were in fact wrong, but Microsoft has indeed suffered slightly in this depressing economy.
Yesterday, I wrote a post on how Microsoft couldn't possibly lay off 17% of its workforce, and it appears that I was slightly correct, and also slightly wrong.

While Microsoft has blasted ahead with profits from its Xbox division, and sustained profits from many other divisions while retaining investment, they too have suffered from the bleak economy. Due to businesses and consumers cutting their spending, Microsoft's Windows sales have been going down, and caused Microsoft's earnings per share to be $0.02 lower than analysts' expectations.
Microsoft managed to obtain slight revenue growth, despite the economic conditions. Throughout this quarter, Microsoft has showcased plenty of new software innovations and continued to invest in new products. From what we can see, although Microsoft was affected, they will continue investing in the long term, and has practically 0 chance of failing.

I said yesterday that it was highly unlikely for Microsoft to really cut massive amounts of jobs, however, the figure of 5000 jobs is still slightly disturbing. But Microsoft also says that they will continue to hire more, so in actuality the amount of workforce they are reducing is about 3000 positions. 1400 jobs will be cut immediately, and the rest will follow over an 18 month period. From my opinion, Microsoft has made an excellent choice. Cutting 1400 jobs right now will help them to sustain profits in the short term. Meanwhile, cutting the rest over a long period of 18 months will help Microsoft to make themselves more profitable, while keeping less staff. The announced hiring by Microsoft will also help Microsoft continue their position as the industry leader, because Microsoft definitely has enough cash to invest aggressively in new products, while competitors are in weaker positions. Microsoft should take this time to invest heavily in their existing product lines, and invest more into their new ventures. Even though in the short term they may have a lot of spending to do, this will undoubtedly put them in far better position in the long run.
The strategy Microsoft should take right now is to invest in products, while cutting down on marketing and other similar expenses. Microsoft doesn't have to market its products heavily right now, because there are far less people trying to buy new things, but they should resume heavy marketing as soon as the economy lights up just a little, and especially when they release Windows 7. From what Microsoft has done so far, it appears they are following this strategy quite well.

An interesting fact I noticed was that Microsoft started their massive advertising campaign just before and during the start of the major depression we're experiencing right now. Whether this was intended or not, this definitely helps Microsoft, by having marketed right before the depression, and not many other companies will be advertising during or even a little after, thus, Microsoft has gained an advantage here. Plus, from what I can tell, the use of Seinfeld in the ads while the ads weren't exactly perfect, may also contribute to reminding customers of Microsoft during dark times. It's unlikely for other companies to start massive ad campaigns during the depression, so as customers go through the depression, they will be reminded of Microsoft's ads that don't necessarily target Microsoft products in general. Then Microsoft can resume mass advertising after the depression and continue their marketing without further problems.

The outlook for Microsoft is highly positive over the next few years, from my point of view, seeing as Windows 7 is a huge improvement from Vista, and will ultimately net Microsoft some serious cash. Then, with their strategy in place, Microsoft will be in a strong position as they emerge from the depression. The only problem is we don't know how long the economic turmoil will last, so the rebound may take quite a while, and outlast the release of Windows 7. But I'm confident that customers will be itching to get Windows 7 regardless of the economy, after what happened with Vista's image (even though it wasn't all that bad as an OS).

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No way Microsoft is laying off 17% workforce

Recently the rumors have escalated enormously concerning whether Microsoft would be laying off 17% of their workforce. The FudZilla blog was the one who originally reported this outrageous rumor, and some other blogs/news sites claimed to have confirmed it and/or predict the same.
Very soon, Microsoft will be releasing its earnings report, and that's what has caused all these rumors to spike, in discussion of exactly how much Microsoft has been impacted by the depression.

Now, first of all, Microsoft has been barely affected considering some of the problems in other industries and companies. Seriously, Microsoft has a huge $19Bil + in their bank, no wonder they don't have that many problems. If anything, they're probably trying to take advantage of the issues currently in its competitors, and attempting to improve themselves.
I highly doubt Microsoft profits will have gone down by a large margin, albeit it will have been affected somewhat, considering that consumers are no longer buying as much, and businesses will not be investing as much either. However, the nature of their business causes many businesses and consumers to continue purchasing their products even during a downturn in the economy.
Microsoft most likely has weathered the economic problems so far much better off than other companies, and I believe they will exceed analyst expectations in terms of earnings and profits. Unlike other companies, Microsoft has continued to invest in new products and research to develop new product lines or continue old product lines. They have also improved various existing betas and services. In fact, you can even see the vast list of beta applications and platforms they have available on their Microsoft Connect website. Just this past half of 2008 and now 2009, Microsoft released beta versions of notable products including Internet Explorer 8 Public Beta 2, Windows Live Essentials, Windows 7, Windows SDK and others. It's obvious that Microsoft isn't going to stop their R&D anytime soon, nor are they cutting back on expenditures by a large margin.
Also taking a look at Xbox 360's enormous success this holiday season compared with other products during the recession we've experienced, Microsoft still holds major advantages and they are complying with customer demands for cheaper products, while sustaining viability and increasing market to defeat the competition. Plus, I think Microsoft is in excellent position to take maximum advantage of the depression with the release of Windows 7. From my experience, Windows 7 is already fine and ready to go whenever Microsoft wants. All they're looking for is some feedback and perhaps minor bug fixes.
With Windows 7's massive performance upgrade and improvement from Vista's issues, most customers can't wait for getting their hands on Windows 7. Especially now that there's a depression going on which might last quite a while, Microsoft's plan to market cheaper products will definitely help them. Customers no longer desire expensive computers as much as before, so many are getting the low-cost laptops/desktops with as much performance as they can pack without upping the price. Thus, Microsoft's Windows 7 improvements allow them to be in excellent position to market to these customers and will ultimately make Windows 7 highly successful, as well as get rid of Vista's tainted brand.

In such a situation where their money is plentiful, having tiny debt compared to their vast reserves of capital, and where they are in a great position to be marketing and creating new products, they can't possibly be seeking to downsize by 17%. that rumor is absolutely outrageous. While it may be true that Microsoft has slowed on hiring, that's just a part of the way a depression works. Nobody wants to overspend during such times because you never know when it'll really end. Microsoft may be looking at small layoffs in certain sections that aren't proving to be profitable, in the manner that they have always used to deal with economic issues. I highly doubt they will engage in massive company wide layoffs, unless they think they can become even more profitable, in which case I still doubt the layoffs will be as large as 17%, because such numbers are generally only shown by companies in serious debt and are failing in some way. This is one of the most profitable companies in the world that we're talking about here, and they have practically no debt, while their cash reserves are enormous.

Obviously, Microsoft isn't going to lay off 17% of their work force, but only time will tell, and we will find out their situation as the earnings report comes in. I feel inclined to believe their earnings may have increased, rather than slowed down.

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Windows 7 Beta Publicly Released and Available

After a public offering filled with problems, I decided to wait until everything was fine on their website to announce the release of Microsoft's highly anticipated Windows 7 Beta.
Originally planned to be released a while ago, it was pushed until just yesterday, but they had server problems, and many users were unable to download it.

Now, everything seems to be working fine, so this seems to be a great time to announce the official release of Microsoft's Windows 7 Beta.
To try it out for yourself, go here.
On their site, they offer some instructions and specifications on how to install this new beta. Hopefully it'll turn out to be a powerful new operating system. It's unlikely to be revolutionary however, seeing as Microsoft has already made large changes in the transition from XP to Vista, so this will likely be a powerful upgrade to Vista's existing new features, to make sure everything runs smoothly and better.

I'll have a concise and to the point review posted up later, to give you an idea of what's in store and what I think about Windows 7.
Update: Here's the Part A of the Review on Windows 7: Amazing and Revolutionary
Update 2: Here's the Part B of the Review on Windows 7: Amazing and Revolutionary

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