The rise and rise (and rise) of Apple's iOS
Apple says the iOS is currently installed on more than 200 million devices. Another small thing happened in 2007 that has become a big thing: Apple filed a patent request for the capacitive touch screen used by the iPhone, iPad and, in fact, by nearly all of Apple's competitors in the market. That patent was granted this week.
One possible outcome of the inevitable court cases to come is that competitors may have to pay Apple a licensing fee for every non-Apple smartphone or tablet shipped.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217929/Elgan_The_rise_and_rise_and_rise_of_Apple_s_iOS?taxonomyId=15&pageNumber=1
Factoids:
A recent survey measuring Web traffic by various devices found that some 97% of all tablet traffic in the United States comes from iPads. And if you think that's high, the number is 100% in Japan and 99% in the UK.
The App Store, or whatever we end up calling it:
Apple makes money from apps -- far more per app than any other platform, and far more apps. For example, last year Google earned about $102 million from apps sales, while Apple raked in $1.7 billion
Can this be true?
Apple's iOS is even more profitable than Microsoft Windows -- 2.3 times higher.
Rumors abound:
The success of iOS devices thus far is nothing compared with what's coming. One report says Apple has ordered two manufacturers to build enough iPhone 5 handsets to sell 15 million in the first month of sales. The new phone is expected to launch in August or September.
And would you like egg roll with that?
A reasonably credible rumor from a blogger in China says that China's biggest carrier, China Mobile, will soon announce a deal to sell the iPhone 5. The current iPhone is available in China only from the No. 2 carrier.
Conclusion:
In other words, Apple's iOS is poised to take over mainstream computing.
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