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Why You Won’t Pay $0.99 For Apps, But Will Spend $7.15 For Coffee

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We say this again and again – I am sure many of you who download apps from Apple App Store or Google Play or any other platform must have thought about it. Why should I pay 99 cents for this app? Is it really worth? But at the same time, when you visit your favorite coffee shop (Starbucks?) for a $7.15 coffee, you won’t think much about it. Why?

Designer and software developer, Josh Lehman did a fantastic analysis on why people won’t pay $0.99 for apps, but will spend $7.15 for coffee.

[Credit]

The post author asks everyone to stop using the analysis that many of us (and developers) continue to worry about their apps being not sold out even for small price tags. The main argument in this post titled – “Stop Using The Cup of Coffee vs. $0.99 App Analogy”, Josh presents is that Starbucks is a known thing with a trustworthy experience to its customers.

I know I’ll like my cup of coffee. It will fully meet my expectations…It’s an experience I can fully trust will be pretty much the same each time. There’s no gamble here…I know what I’m getting for $4 and I’m getting that same experience every time I hit the drive thru.

Now in contrast with an app, your$0.99 app purchase will be completely different, each and every time you purchase it. The $0.99 you spend in no way guarantees you the app or the experience you crave.

I already have 30 games on my phone, some of them very good. Do I need another one? I don’t play the 30 I have. The experience I’m going to get from adding one more game is not trustable. I’m assured of nothing. Last week I bought a game for 99 cents and it was terrible. I played it once, for 15 seconds. I could be shoving $1 straight down the toilet again for all I know. 

Later in the post, he mentions that there is no free cup of coffee at Starbucks. People would most likely stop paying for that coffee fairly quickly and pick up the free coffee habit. So, instead of complaining about apps being not sold or about cheapness of average human, developers need to concentrate on the reality. Make great apps with unique experience which are useful to daily life.

Just do what Starbucks does:
Build an app experience that’s unique and doesn’t feel “easily replicated”
Provide something the user sees as valuable to their daily life
Package it such that it shows off its craftsmanship
Find creative ways to profit off of a “free” version (Starbucks doesn’t do this…. yet)
Quit complaining about money wasted on cups of coffee

Surely this will be a win-win situation for developers who are making valuable apps. What are you thoughts on this app analogy?

Bonus: Here is a comic on how a common person feel about buying apps – 

[Comic Credit]

Windows 8 Retail Packaging Leaked [Pictures]

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Just after Microsoft announced the final copy of its next generation operating system, Windows 8 is ready to ship, the build ISO is already leaked online and available on several torrent sites, here is now the boxed copy is going to look like. This picture below will be how Microsoft is going to pack its Windows 8 to sell in retail stores from October 26.

Microsoft has chosen to display its Metro Style (stop calling it as Metro!) logo on the packaging. Are you excited to upgrade your PC?

[via]

Bill Gates On India, China, Philanthropy, Technology and More

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In this recent interview for Bloomberg’s Charlie Rose, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates talks quite a bit about India, China relative to technology, Philanthropy, Technology industry, how US Politics slow down innovation and much more.

Its worth to spend around one hour of your time watching this video which was aired in the first week of July on Bloomberg’s network.

The interview starts with an intro of Bill Gates on his latest visit to India, what differs India from China relative to technology and his opinion of where each excels, etc. I have listed out some interesting from the video below:

  1. The first half is more about Foundation, India and China.
  2. He thinks China is far ahead than India relative to technology.
  3. There are two big jealousies in India – India is jealous of China and India is jealous among states inside.
  4. Both the countries benefited a lot from West, especially the US.
  5. Corruption is more in India, can overcome if we implement digital currency everywhere.
  6. Aziz Premji is doing great as a Philanthropist. India require more people like him.
  7. Steve Jobs did better than he did when he introduced iPad. Microsoft did not follow Apple model of software/hardware integration when they introduced tablet PC before iPad.
  8. Microsoft has something with the new Surface that could change the rules again with a single entity of PC and tablet worlds.
  9. Apple may have to make Surface like device in future.
  10. Politics slow down innovation.

Here is a clipping from the interview and head over to the official Bloomberg network link for full video.

 

Official Now! Windows 8 To Go Sale On October 26

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Microsoft’s next generation operating system, Windows 8 will be available to customers from Friday, October 26, 2012.

According to official blog post, Steven Sinofsky announced at Microsoft’s annual sales meeting that customers will be able to get Windows 8 – whether in upgrade fashion or on a new PC – starting on October 26th.

New to Windows 8? Start reading about it in the following posts –

  1. Windows 8 Editions
  2. Upgrade Cost
  3. Upgrade cost for existing PC users

Who’s going to upgrade?

Google To Pay $22.5 Million Fine For Safari Privacy Breach. Boon For Bing?

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If you remember, Google was caught overriding Apple Safari browser privacy settings back in February, 2012. Now, after nine months the tech giant has a preliminary deal in place with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to pay a $22.5 million fine for this whole breach.

This fine could be the largest penalty on a single company by FTC. Even though it won’t be a big blow for Google which draws in this sort of cash in around just five hours, but it does cast an impact over the company in terms of legal arguments and practices.

[Credit]

What happened in the past?

Back in September, 2012, Jonathan Mayer, a grad student at Stanford, found that Google used hidden code to install a cookie for users of Apple’s Safari browser that allowed the search giant to intentionally cheat Safari’s privacy features and track user’s browsing habits for its DoubleClick advertising business. At the time, Google said this was not intentional and that it removed the cookies from affected browsers. At that time, this was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. You can read full investigation in these two hyper links mentioned in this paragraph.

And now..

Later, the issue became a privacy scandal as the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said in April that it would investigate on the issue. Now, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the FTC and Google are now close to finalizing a settlement with a whopping $22.5 million fine.

According to the report –

The fine is expected to be the largest penalty ever levied on a single company by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. It offers the latest sign of the FTC’s stepped-up approach to policing online privacy violations, coming just six months after The Wall Street Journal reported on Google’s practices.

Later today, Google has sent out a statement to CNN which essentially has them refusing the idea that they did anything wrong. In its statement, Google emphasized that it considers the Safari episode a minor one.

“We cannot comment on any specifics. However we do set the highest standards of privacy and security for our users.” 

The search habits of users are difficult to break and it is enough to break all with a small broken trust. What do you think on this whole debacle? Is Google step a boon for Bing?  Thoughts?

Windows 8 Pro Upgrade To Cost $39.99 Online Or $69.99 In-Store

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Microsoft has just announced the upgrade cost for Windows 8 Pro edition from all versions of Windows XP and above. If a user is running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7, they’ll be able to upgrade their OS with a simple download that’ll only cost them $39.99 online or $69.99 DVD. This upgrade will be available at the same time the full cost software release is dropped.

This is the same approach Apple followed with its Lion announcement last summer.

Microsoft’s upgrade promotion for Windows 8 Pro both online and at retail runs through January 31st, 2013 only. In an official blog post, Microsoft states that by buying the upgrade through its website, the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant will walk you through the process step-by-step, making it as user friendly as possible.

This is a different deal from the already announced $14.99 upgrade for those purchasing a new Windows PC.

[via]

Microsoft Unveiled Windows Phone 8, Not Compatible With Current Devices

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Microsoft unveiled its next version of mobile operating system – Windows Phone 8 this morning at the Windows Phone Developer summit. Many of the improvements and added features to Windows Phone 7 are now making their way back to the desktop, in the form of Windows 8.

Windows Phone 8 enhances the current version and brings some new functionalities competing directly with Apple’s iOS 6. Unfortunately, Windows Phone 8 will not be compatible with current devices.

One of the major announcements was what they called the “Windows Core.” This means that Windows Phone 8 will share many elements of the Windows NT architecture with Windows 8 on the desktop. This includes things such as the kernel, filesystem, and device drivers. Developers will now be able to build games for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 at the same time. This shared core is the way how Apple’s iOS works from the very beginning on the top of UNIX foundation of OS X.

Other updates in the event include new start screen, NFC, dual and quad core (multi core) support, more screen resolution support, Wallet, Nokia Maps, IE 10 and more. Unfortunately, existing users won’t be able to upgrade to Windows Phone 8, they just have to live and upgrade to Windows Phone 7.8 update. This 7.8 update will only bring some of the user interface changes to existing devices but many of the major improvements will require new hardware. A big disappointment for even those beautiful Lumia devices!

Summary:

  1. Windows Core for Windows Phone 8. As described above, it will share the same kernel, file system, media foundation, device drivers, and parts of the security model from Windows 8. A big benefit for developers.
  2. Multi core processors
  3. Three screen resolutions – WVGA, WXGA, and 720p
  4. NFC – “Google has the NFC payment part, Apple has the Passbook thing, we’ll have both,”. 
  5. Full SD support
  6. Improved Start Screen
  7. Skype and voice integration
  8. Nokia Maps
 I can talk endlessly about it but for now, here is the full presentation and official blog announcement link for you to enjoy. Share your thoughts and first impressions on Windows Phone 8 in the comments section.

Watch The Microsoft Surface Tablet Keynote Video Online [YouTube Video]

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If you were not hooked up to your Facebook, Twitter and live blogging sites yesterday about Microsoft’s new Surface Tablet announcement, you can now watch the Los Angeles keynote session on demand below. The company did not allow live video streaming event last night, but not it has delivered the entire presentation online.

 

 

The 47.27 minute ‘On-Demand Keynote: Microsoft Surface Event’ video description reads – “Watch an on-demand version of the full keynote where Steve Ballmer, Steven Sinofsky and other Microsoft executives unveiled Surface, PCs built to be the ultimate stage for Windows.”

Watch Online from official channel – http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/presskits/windows/videogallery2b.aspx

Download Offline (286 MB) – http://cdn-smooth.ms-studiosmedia.com/news/mp4_mq/06182012_Surface_750k.mp4

The Verge managed to put this entire video in its YouTube channel unlisted, but here is it for you –

 

Microsoft Surface Tablet Might Not Kill iPad, But Will Revive Microsoft [Update on Launch Day]

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While tech media been buzzing about Microsoft’s mystery event from past couple of days, the Redmond giant met expectations by unveiling brand new category in next generation mobile computing – Microsoft Surface. Simply put, the Surface is a Windows 8 tablet but with much more features. The device might not kill Apple’s iPad, but certainly will revive Microsoft.

Steve Ballmer unveiling this new family of PCs for Windows at an event in Hollywood called this product as – “Because of Windows 8, the Surface is a PC, it is a tablet…it’s something new.”

Clearing all speculations, Microsoft’s Surface is not a hardware from Dell or HP or something retailer company, it is Microsoft’s hardware and the company do not want to take chances by giving to hardware partners, especially after a debacle of series of Android copycats. For sure, Microsoft Surface will be directly competing with iPad market if the developers are ready to develop some innovating Metro apps.

The biggest feature of this device is the 3mm thick Touch Cover (similar to iPad Smart Cover but with a full multi touch keyboard). This super thin keyboard with an integrated kick stand, VaporMg-brand molded magnesium alloy looks pretty awesome. GeekWire demonstrates this innovative keyboard in the following video:

 

There are two Windows tablets in this family as of now and breaks down as below:

  1. Surface for Windows RT weighs in at 676 grams, and measures 9.3mm thick. It will be powered by a ARM processor and will sport a 10.6 ClearType HD Display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. It will have a microSD card slot, USB 2.0 connection, Micro HD Video support and 2×2 MIMO antennae. It will be configured with 32gb or 64 gb models.
  2. Surface for Windows 8 Pro will weigh in at 903 grams and measure 13.5mm thick. It will be powered by a third generation Intel Core processor and will also have a 10.6″ ClearType Full HD Display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. Windows Pro 8 will be fitted with a microSDXC slot, USB 3.0 connection, Mini DisplayPort Video and the 2×2 MIMO antennae. It will be configured in either 64gb or 128gb models.

For full detailed specifications, refer this official document.

The early hands-on reports around the tech world are praising all over and received a promising feedback. Price and availability is still unknown. Head over to Surface.com and Press annoucement for more details after watching this promotional video:

 

Update on July 31, 2012: A brief note in Microsoft’s latest 10-K filing with the Security and Exchange Commission specifies October 26 as the launch day for both its radically redesigned version of Windows and the in-house-developed tablet on which it will run. And again, those are only Windows RT based tablets. The Intel based tablets are expected about 90 days after this launch.

Well, the official pricing is yet to be announced. A simple speculation could be – Windows RT products as low as $500-$600 and Windows 8 Pro Intel-based products ranging up to $1,000, or possibly higher. Your bets?