The Future

Apple's next big thing

By Rene Ritchie, Monday, Apr 30, 2012 a 4:32 pm

Last week, during Apple's Q2 2012 financial results conference call, CEO Tim Cook said that, in terms of sales, the iPad achieved in just 2 years what took the iPhone 3 years, the iPod 5 years, and the Mac 20+ years.

I'll let that the idea of that Aventador-esque acceleration curve sink in for a moment while I digress into nostalgia.

Convergence: First our iPhone, now our furniture!

By Georgia, Sunday, Apr 15, 2012 a 11:34 am

A phone. An internet communicator. A widescreen iPod. That' how Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, and since then one little device in my hand has gone on to replace so many single-purpose, single-tasking gadgets I'm starting to lose count. The iPhone is basically my mobile office in the palm of my hand. Apple didn't invent that, of course, but the smartphone category in general has really blazed a trail to a convergent, multitasking future that few other things have followed.

iPhone, Skype, and Dumb Pipes: The Future of Cell Carriers

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Apr 9, 2009 a 9:43 am

Macworld has a great article up today about the arrival of Skype on the iPhone (and soon the BlackBerry) and what the widespread availability of VoIP (voice over IP) clients -- which eschew the traditional phone lines to send talk via data instead -- means for cell providers like AT&T, Verizon, O2, Rogers, etc. who've made tons of traditional money billing us all by the minute.

One common future seen for cell companies is that of "dumb pipes" -- like DSL or cable companies that provide bandwidth but few if any premium services. Verizon shows how far (and foolish) they'll go to avoid that fate: