Editorials

We have written more than our share of articles showing the decline of Apple as a major player in the market. We would never go so far as to say that we are predicting the “death of Apple” like so many analysts do about the PC on a monthly basis. The market needs both Apple and Microsoft to thrive (and really both are “PCs”). What we are talking about is the massive popularity of Apple mobile products will continue to decline as their rivals begin to bring faster and more compelling technology to the market. Right now Apple’s biggest method of competition is the law suit which they wield around the globe to prevent competitors from releasing their designs (all in the name of protecting IP).

There are two things about leaks that always concern me; the content of the leak, who it was leaked to, and … (Ok three things I look at when dealing with leaks) the timing. Now when the leak hit concerning Stuxnet and Duqu we took a look at the information and compared it with some information we were able to dig up including the timing of the attack and a few other factors. The leak seemed to fit the facts. At the time of the leak there was no mention of Flame, any program to gather intelligence, or even hints that there might be more out there.

When I was a kid I got my first cassette recorder (for those of you that do not know what this is a cassette was… well you can Google it). With this I was able to record music played on the radio onto blank cassettes so I was able to listen to what I wanted without all of the other songs I did not. What I did not know at the time was that the price I paid for those cassettes (and the actual recorder) also included a small royalty fee from the recording industry to cover some of the potential losses that they might incur from someone doing exactly what I did. 

We wondered when this would start happening, but Microsoft’s decision to compete against their own partners has had its first casualty. It seems that after the Surface was announced last night LG has decided to stop working on new tablets for the foreseeable future. Is this decision in response to having to compete with Microsoft or a decision that is based on LG’s poor sales in the market?