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I updated to Basic Maths theme v. 1.1. I am trying a new, “native” theme iPhone users. Please let me know if there are problems with it in the comments below.

As London seems to have a particularly high concentration of readers, I thought I’d mention that I’ll be in London for the Apps World Exhibition 30th November and 1st December 2010. I’ll be attending as an official blogger and will cover the event.

If you are interested in meeting at or near the event let me know by email.

If there is enough interest, I will consider having a modest gathering at a venue nearby.

Given the large number of articles written in the last week on market data, I built a navigation table and posted it in a page that is easy to access:

QUARTERLY MARKET DATA

You can find it under the ADDs tab at the top of the site.

Cells marked with “x” are work in progress.

Based on a reader query, I tried to find out where, by city, my readership is concentrated. I also sought to break this audience down by operating system.

Here are some observations:

For the last 30 days, here are the top operating systems used to reach Asymco.com, with the number of views from each. Continue reading “Postcards for Asymco: metropolitan distribution of views by operating system”

TOKYO (Reuters) – Shares of Sony Corp rose nearly 3 percent on Tuesday as traders cited media reports speculating that the Japanese electronics maker could be a potential acquisition target of Apple Inc.

via Sony shares up on speculation of Apple interest – Yahoo! Finance.

There’s a sucker born every minute. That phrase, (erroneously) attributed to a major benefactor of my Alma Mater, continues to ring true today.

Although Steve Jobs once admired Sony, the company today contains nothing of value to Apple. A disruptor is unlikely to buy the company he just disrupted. Would Sony have bought Westinghouse? Would WalMart have bought Sears? Would Microsoft have bought IBM in the 1990’s?

When considering an acquisition the chances are that the asset being purchased is going to ask a premium price. So the buyer has to answer this question: what is it about the asset that makes it worth more than the market price?

There are three (and only three) sources of value that a buyer can buy:

1. The resources (intellectual, physical, contracts, channels or employees)
2. The processes (the algorithm of how those resources are put to use)
3. The business model (the way the assets and processes and applied to create profits).

A company like Sony has some resources but its processes and business model are obsolete. Should Apple pay a premium for Sony’s assets? I don’t see a reason why.

The new king of Apple analysts – Apple 2.0 – Fortune Tech.

My thanks to Philip Elmer-DeWitt but I think he is not right in proclaiming a King. Credit is due to all the other blogger analysts who inspire and push analysis forward.

The  lines were nothing but a commercial advertisement, but they very well describe this group that opened the eyes of the world:

Here’s to the crazy ones,

the misfits,
the rebels,
the troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.

They’re not fond of rules
and they have no respect for the status quo.

You can quote them,
disagree with them,
glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do
is ignore them,
because they change things.
They push the human race forward.

And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world
are the ones who do.

“Crazy Ones“, directed by Chiat/Day’s Jennifer Golub who also shared the art director credit with Jessica Schulman and Yvonne Smith. The familiar voiceover was by Richard Dreyfuss. See the video here.

[AT&T] activated 5.2 million iPhones in the wake of the iPhone 4 launch, or about a 62.5 percent leap over an already record spring

via AT&T blows past records, activates 5.2m iPhones in summer | Electronista.

This means 63% of iPhones sold outside the US last quarter.  This is down from about 70% earlier this year. As it was a launch quarter and distribution was much more constrained outside the US, the lower figure is not surprising.

It’s still important to note however that sales outside the US are far larger than in the US but penetration and share is far less.

I would like to thank Sunset Lake Software for sponsoring Asymco over the past week. Unlike traditional calculators, Pi Cubed lets you construct, typeset, and instantly evaluate mathematical expressions using an interactive menu system.

The ability to compose complex equations visually and then evaluate them instantly makes the iPhone a superior scientific calculator that, with this app, takes the concept to a new level. You literally touch the equation to edit it and can enter values to evaluate it. The visual representation lets you instantly recognize errors in composition, unlike formulas encoded in textual representations. You can share it, use templates and re-use it. It even exports to PDF for use with other documents.

If you are a student of any discipline where math is used, this $9.99 app is a no brainer. If you are a professional engineer, scientist, or an analyst like myself, this is an app you can’t afford not to have.

Available at the App Store here.

Highly recommended.

Sony Ericsson is to stop making smartphones featuring Nokia’s Symbian operating system.

The move means that the troubled Finnish mobile maker is likely to be the only significant user of Symbian.

Analysts said Sony Ericsson’s decision confirmed the “failure” of Symbian as an open source platform, given that it was supposed to be used by several large mobile makers.

via FT.com / Technology – Sony Ericsson to stop using Symbian system.

While Android and Windows Phone continue with a licensing model, the list of abandoned licensed mobile operating systems grows: Continue reading “And then there was one. Sony Ericsson to stop making Symbian phones”

What value have the carriers brought? Seriously. What software on Android phones have the carriers added that’s any good at all?

Things you don’t hear iPhone users say: “Man, this iPhone would be even better if my carrier could ‘add value’ to it.”

via Daring Fireball Linked List: Andy Rubin Talks Android.

Good questions.  I would seriously like to hear any answers to these questions as I have never used any of these operator software phones.