The Future of VoIP - Skype Technology

Reports are in and sources almost unanimously agree that the future of Voice over Internet Protocol technology will include a Smartphone revolution. Market trend analysts foresee a shift from circuit-switched voice (landlands) to VoIP. While this has been mulled about for nearly the past decade, the swing to allow this technology switch to happen is here.

First, the average Smartphone user pays approximately $100, plus tax to his/her individual cellular carrier. Two-thirds of the plan is used towards voice and the remaining one-third towards a data fee, which typically ranges from two gigabytes to unlimited.

With VoIP apps breaking through into the Smartphone industry, including wireless enabled devices such as the iPod Touch and iPad, cellular phone companies will see a dramatic reduction in the amount of usage on most consumers’ plans. Suddenly the two-thirds voice data can be reduced and put towards the one-third data plan that is unlimited.

While some financial analysts are in a scurry over market vulnerability with cellular carriers standing to lose two-thirds of their valuable revenues, the ultimate switch to wireless VoIP (wVoIP) will take years to complete.

First, there are Smartphone providers and second, Smartphone manufacturers. The iPad revolutionized the data industry, by only offering data-based plans. In many cases, customers can pay $25/month for unlimited data and then they combine that with a VoIP app that allows for unlimited texting and calls. This essentially saves a Smartphone user more than $70/month, which in today’s economy is valuable pocket change. Of course the iPad is rather bulky, so Apple’s solution is the iPod Touch, which does everything the iPad will do, only on a physically smaller scale and for those people who desire a device that is in between, Apple has now introduced the iPad Mini.

Of course, as historical figures show, once one company makes a bold product, more manufacturers are sure to jump on this trendy bandwagon, offering competitive products for consumers.

Essentially, this leaves the mobile wireless market up for grabs, but who will jump on board this rising ship and become captain? Only time and patience will tell.

How Google Surpassed Apple in Design -- and How Apple's Coming Back

When Larry Page became Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) CEO in early 2011, one of his first moves was to implement Project Kennedy, a company wide effort to redesign all of the search giant's most important products under a cohesive and unified new design language. Up until that point, the look and feel of Google's services was largely disparate and usability differed dramatically among apps.

Google focused first on its four most prominent services: Search, Maps, Gmail, and Calendar. Over the past two years, investors have seen a steady stream of beautifully designed apps for both Android and iOS, all of which share common aesthetics and interface metaphors. In some ways, Android is now more intuitive than iOS thanks to Big G embracing innovative new gestures.

Source: Behance.

In no uncertain terms, the key was a serious focus on collaboration between product groups. Google recently posted some of its graphic design guidelines on Behance (Part 1 and Part 2), illustrating a very distinct style and conveying detailed principles.

From leader to laggardFor a company that really taught the market how much design truly matters, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL  ) has admittedly lagged its mobile rival in some respects over the past couple years, most notably in the iOS user interface.

The 2007 look and feel of iOS simply wouldn't cut it any more in 2013, and Apple's dramatic overhaul of the core interface is an important risk that the company must take. Apple is now doubling down on design, even though that has always been one of its core values.

It goes beyond iOS. Apple is reaffirming this to the world and launching a new ad campaign that shows how serious it is about strengthening its brand. One clip outlines the underlying philosophies that drive each product.

Another drives home the emotional connection that Apple wants customers to make with technology. The first word in Apple's "signature" has always been "Designed" for a reason.

At a time when rivals are increasingly hostile with their ad campaigns, Apple is putting the focus back on the consumer and emphasizing how it can design products to improve people's lives.

And back to leader againMuch like Google, this renewed shift is being facilitated by Apple's own structural shift toward increased collaboration under Tim Cook. This is perhaps one of Cook's most important and underappreciated moves since becoming CEO, perhaps because it is only now starting to bear fruit. Steve Jobs had set up an organizational hierarchy within Apple that favored departmentalism due to his obsession with secrecy, even internally. That reduced the chances of leaks, but also arguably hindered Apple's ability to collaborate.

Previous iOS chief Scott Forstall was notoriously difficult to work with, and his ouster allowed all of software engineering to be consolidated under Craig Federighi. Jony Ive taking over all interface design is paving the way for a more coherent look between hardware and software.

iOS 7 icon design. Source: Apple.

Given the magnitude of the iOS 7 overhaul, there's already much debate regarding the new look. More important than individual nitpicks about some ugly icons or unfamiliar elements (things that can be addressed or updated in future releases), Apple is signaling the start of a new era of even tighter integration between hardware, software, and services with a greater focus on unified design.

As i've puts it:

We brought together a broad range of expertise, from design to engineering. With what we've been able to achieve together, we see iOS 7 as defining an important new direction, and in many ways a beginning.

Apple is coming back with a vengeance.

There's no doubt that Apple is at the center of technology's largest revolution ever, and that longtime shareholders have been handsomely rewarded with over 1,000% gains. However, there is a debate raging as to whether Apple remains a buy. The Motley Fool's senior technology analyst and managing bureau chief, Eric Bleeker, is prepared to fill you in on reasons to buy and reasons to sell Apple, and what opportunities are left for the company (and your portfolio) going forward. To get instant access to his latest thinking on Apple, simplyclick here now.

Apple's neXt big thing

Apple's next big thing won't be a gadget like another iPad or iPhone. 

It will be new software.

And we'll likely hear about it at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) on June 10-14. 

At WWDC, thousands of developers who make applications and software for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac will gather to hear about Apple's latest software features.

Apple will probably not be announcing a new iPhone or other gadget at WWDC. Therefore, you might think this conference will be a non-event, but you would be wrong. This year's WWDC will actually take on heightened importance relative to prior years.

The last year for Apple has been about building out the products that were approved under Steve Jobs. This is going to be the first event of the real Tim Cook era.

This year and next will be about Apple CEO Tim Cook and his team creating and executing their own vision for the future of technology. We don't know what their ultimate vision for Apple's hardware is going to be. However, we know that they need to update Apple's mobile software and iCloud, its cloud service.

WWDC is where this will all start.

By the time WWDC arrives, Apple will have gone 230 days without announcing a new product. That's the longest gap in years.

WWDC will be Apple's opportunity to reset the company's story, and reveal its plans for the future of its most important software, iOS, which powers iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches. Combined, those products accounted for $32.6 billion revenue last quarter, or 75% of Apple's total revenue. The revenue of those products is the same as Google and Microsoft's total combined revenue last quarter.

During the 230 days between Apple's product announcements, Apple's stock dropped, and dropped, and dropped some more.

Business Insider

The stock price is falling because Apple's iPhone business, which was so strong for the last six years, is in its twilight, at least as it's currently constructed. The market for premium priced iPhones appears to be nearing, or at, saturation.

Cook has been CEO since August of 2011. As we get further removed from Steve Jobs' death, Apple and its products will increasingly be under his guidance.

Last year, Cook very quietly reset Apple. He released a new iMac, an iPad Mini, the iPhone 5, new iPods, and a new MacBook with Retina display.

Around that same time, he reorganized Apple's executive structure.

He ousted Scott Forstall, who created and led the iOS division, replacing him with Jony Ive and Craig Federighi. Ive was Apple's lead hardware designer, now he's in charge of Human Interface, which means he's going to lead the software and hardware design. Craig Federighi, who ran Mac software, now leads Mac and iOS.

Eddy Cue, who runs Internet services, took over Siri and Maps.

WWDC will be our first chance to see how this executive shake-up has changed Apple.

AP

Jony Ive

Ive is a brilliant hardware designer. His sex-in-a-box designs have made Apple the darling of design-oriented consumers around the world. Ive's work is in museums. He has been knighted.

Ive's products are know for sleek minimalism. Apple's software design, meanwhile, has been filled with extra animations and illustrations designed to make the software look like the physical items it is replacing in the physical world.

For instance, last year, Apple rolled out Passbook, a new application for holding tickets, and retail apps. When a user used a Passbook ticket, Passbook shredded the ticket like it was running through a paper shredder.

This is just one of the many design touches in iOS that mirrored real life. Apple's notes app looks like a real-life legal pad. Its Game Center looks like a real-life gaming table.

Under Ive's direction, it's widely assumed iOS will abandon these animations and illustrations. The design is supposed to get less life-like, and more simple.

However, Ive's never done software design before. Or, if he has, it hasn't been well documented. Therefore, there's some risk.

Plus, beauty, as they say, is only skin deep. Fixing the look of iOS is only half the battle for Apple.

Even Apple's most ardent supporters have begun griping that iOS has fundamental user interaction flaws.

Steve Kovach/Business Insider

Swipe from the top to get quick access to settings in Android.

Basic tasks, like turning on WiFi, aren't easy. Anonymous design blogger Kontra wrote earlier this year, "Six items that drain mobile device batteries (GPS, WiFi, cellular radio, Bluetooth, notifications and screen brightness) still require laborious, multiple clicks in multiple places, not immediately obvious to non-savvy users to turn on and off, without any simple, thematic or geo-fenced grouping."

Kontra also said that while Apple's much-maligned Maps app is inaccurate, it's also flawed because of a bad search engine.

Then, there's iCloud, Apple's cloud based storage service.

iCloud is really good for backing up your iPhone.

But it's not very good for developers who want to use iCloud for data syncing. John Gruber, an astute Apple blogger, said iCloud is in a "calamitous state" because of its syncing problems.

Developers have been avoiding iCloud, according to The Verge, because of its problems.

At WWDC, we'll get our first look at how Ive is going to change the look of iOS. We'll get our first look at how he and Federighi are going to fix user experience issues. We'll also see how Cue is fiddling with iCloud to make it better.

In sum, at WWDC we're going to see the first step in Tim Cook's long journey as Apple CEO. And the first step doesn't involve world-changing hardware.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-next-turning-point-for-apple-isnt-going-to-be-a-device-2013-4#ixzz2WBjarktu