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Apple reported record breaking profits for the three months to 31 December 2011 of £8.36 billion ($13.06 billion)- more than doubling  up 118% from the same period in 2010.The company also sold 37 million iPhones- more than twice as many as they sold in the last quarter of 2010.

“Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline,” said chief executive Tim Cook.

The firm is expected to release its iPad 3 in March this year.

“We are very happy to have generated over $17.5bn in cash flow from operations during the December quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO.

“Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2012, we expect revenue of about £20.96 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about £5.48 ($8.50).”

Apple saw strong sales for both its iPads and its Mac range of computers, rising 111% and 26% respectively compared to the same period in 2010.

Smart TVs sets with the ability to stream online content, run apps and show television channels simultaneously dominated the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) exhibition.At the end of 2011 there were 82 million connected TVs in homes worldwide according to research group Informa. By 2016 it forecasts that number will have ballooned to 892 million.

For years much of the tech industry has pursued a vision of the computer as the home’s digital hub. Owners used their PCs to copy photos off digital cameras, download music and movies and then transfer the material to other compatible devices.
Camera built into Samsung smart TV Samsung’s built-in camera allows its TV to recognise gestures and identify users

Advanced users might have connected their laptop to their TVs or streamed content to the sets wirelessly, but the televisions were at most at the end of a spur coming off the hub, rather than its heart.

The roll-out of cloud services allied to faster internet speeds now offers televisions the chance to usurp the PC’s place, and offers users further freedom from the confines of broadcasters’ schedules.

Samsung – the world’s best-selling TV-maker – has been at the forefront of efforts to deliver this vision.

One of the promotional videos it showed at this year’s event claimed watching television by appointment would become a foreign concept in the future, and its executives talk of the TV being the centre of the home.

Users are offered thousands of apps allowing them to use social networks, play video games, run educational software and follow exercise routines.

But smart TV makers recognise that people still want a sit back rather than lean forward experience most of the time.

Furthermore they acknowledge that increasing numbers of homes own other connected devices. So users may still find it preferable to tweet about a show via their tablet or smartphone rather than shrink the TV picture to pull up an app alongside.

However, manufacturers insist there are instances where it makes more sense to have everything on one screen.

While Samsung and Panasonic are developing their own system software, Google is taking a second crack at offering its own smart TV service.

At the show, LG and Vizio unveiled new sets with the search firm’s Android-based software built in. Sony also added the facility to two devices – a set-top box and a Blu-ray player.

The first version of Google TV launched in October 2010 to much fanfare, but proved a flop – enabled devices were criticised for being too expensive, and several TV networks blocked the US-only service from accessing their web content.

This time round a focus on apps may tempt content providers to co-operate, but for now it remains reliant on its own YouTube service as well as streams from Netflix, Amazon and several niche operations.

UK-based Canonical was punting a rival Linux-based Ubuntu operating system at the trade show. It says it offers a solution to clients who do not want to develop their own software and content deals, but feel uncomfortable linking up with Google.

Whichever operating system proves most popular, the internet poses a threat to the rest of the pay-TV market.

Furthermore, it says that recent developments have spurred pay-TV providers on to furnish its boxes with more material.

For now, the smart TV market looks fragmented from the point of view of content, and immature in terms of some of the technologies involved.

But as smart TVs become ever smarter, previous generations of unconnected sets may soon appear only slightly less antiquated than the black and white models of yesteryear.

Independent estimates suggest more than 6.8 million Android or Apple iOS smartphones were activated on Christmas Day – more than double last year’s number.More than 3.7m Android devices were activated over the Christmas weekend, Google has revealed.

Industry experts believe the rise is partly because entry level smartphones have become cheaper.

The statistics, from Flurry Analytics, suggested 242 million apps were also downloaded on the same day.

The peak time for downloading new apps on Christmas Day was between 7pm and 10pm, the company said.

It gathered its data via its analytics tool which monitored downloads and usage of 140,000 apps in both Google’s Android Market and Apple’s App Store.

Flurry Analytics did not break down numbers for the individual operating systems.

It said the figures showed an increase in activations of 353% when compared to the daily average between 1 and 20 December. App downloads were up 125% over the same period.

The Android operating system can be found on a wide range of models produced by many different manufacturers, whereas Apple’s iOS is only found on iPhone, iPad and certain models of its iPod music player.

Demand for the iPhone has reached such a level that China based manufacturer Foxconn is looking to double production to 400,000 units per day, China Daily reported.

Software installed on millions of Android phones is thought to be secretly tracking every key stroke, Google search, and text message by their users, it has been claimed.An Android app developer in America has posted a video showing what he claims is ‘conclusive proof’ that ‘Carrier IQ’ software installed by manufacturers of many US phones records the way those phones are used in real time, as well as their geographic locations.

Carrier IQ has claimed that the software only tracks information for the benefit of users, not for any spying purposes, and that it is “counting and summarising” information rather than recording it.

However, in a YouTube video the developer, Trevor Eckhart, did a “factory reset” on his Android phone, returning it to the condition in which it is shipped to customers, and linked it to a computer screen which allegedly displayed what the Carrier IQ software was tracking.

The demonstration shows that the software reads every keystroke put into the phone, as well as every text message sent to it. It also appeared to log location data, and transmit this to Carrier IQ.

Mr Eckhart, claims it is used by manufacturers of phones that use Google’s Android operating system, as well as some BlackBerry and Nokia handsets. It is not thought to be used in Apple’s iPhones.

It is not known if Carrier IQ is in use in Europe, where it might present a serious breach of the Data Protection laws.

A source at a leading mobile operator said his company didn’t install it but that he had been investigating whether UK manufacturers had done so and “couldn’t give a definitive answer”.

Steve Jobs said he wanted to destroy Google’s Android and would spend all of Apple’s money and his dying breath if that is what it took to do so.The full extent of his animosity towards Google’s mobile operating system is revealed in an authorised biography which is released today.

Mr Jobs told author Walter Isaacson that he viewed Android’s similarity to iOS as “grand theft”.

Apple is suing several smartphone makers which use the Android software.

According to extracts of Mr Isaacson’s book, Mr Jobs said: “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”

He is also quoted as saying: “I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong.”

Apple enjoyed a close relationship with Google prior to the launch of the Android system. Google products, including maps and search formed a key part of the iPhone’s ecosystem.

At that time, Google’s chief executive, now chairman, Eric Schmidt also sat on the board of Apple.

However, relations began to sour when Google unveiled Android in November 2007, 10 months after the iPhone first appeared.

In subsequent years Apple rejected a number of Google programs from its App store, forcing the company to create less integrated web app versions.

Android has subsequently enjoyed rapid adoption and now accounts for around 48% of global smartphone shipments, compared to 19% for Apple.

But its growth has not gone uncontested. Apple has waged an aggressive proxy-war against Android, suing a number of the hardware manufacturers which have adopted it for their tablets and smartphones.

Motorola was one of the first to be targeted, although it is Samsung that has recently borne the brunt of Mr Jobs’ law suits.

The South Korean firm is currently banned from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia and Germany because of a combination of patent infringements and “look and feel” similarities. A smartphone ban is also pending in the Netherlands.

Samsung is counter-suing Apple for infringing, it claims, several wireless technology patents which it holds the rights to.

To try to compensate and say sorry for the bad service to it’s users last week Blackberry has announced that it will give away a dozen apps for free.Classic games such as Bejeweled and The Sims are being offered free to Blackberry owners. The games, plus personal productivity tools and utilities, are an attempt at compensation for the three day global blackout.

A faulty switch at a data centre in Slough left millions around the world unable to use messaging and web browsing services on their handsets for three days.

In a statement announcing the giveaway, Mike Laziridis, chief of Blackberry owner Research in Motion, apologised again for the three day service stoppage.

“We are grateful to our loyal Blackberry customers for their patience,” he said. “We are taking immediate and aggressive steps to help prevent something like this from happening again.”

In total, 12 apps are being offered to customers and RIM said more would be made available in the coming weeks.

As well as games such as Texas Hold’em Poker and Bubble Bash 2, users can get Photo Editor Ultimate and DriveSafe.ly pro.

The programs, which Blackberry claims are worth more than £66, will be free until 31 December 2011.

The software is available via the Blackberry App World store.

RIM faced serious criticism over the stoppage. Thousands of people turned to Twitter and other social media networks to express their poor opinion of the company and its stuttering efforts to fix the problems.

Business customers are being offered a free month of technical support. Those who already have a support contract will be offered a month of Blackberry’s enhanced support service.

Mobile operators are also mulling compensation packages for customers. Spanish telecoms firm Telefonica, which owns the UK’s O2, said it would offer a package to customers but it is not clear what form it will take.

The watchdog regulator Phonepayplus, has issued plans for more protection for consumers from rogue traders in the UK phone industry.PhonepayPlus is the organisation that regulates phone paid services in the UK

The premium rate regulator has uncovered two cases of smartphone apps charging users without their knowledge or consent.

In one case an app automatically sent and received text messages that could cost the user £4.50 each.

It was shut down by the regulator.

Now Phonepayplus has started 10 week consultations on app based mobilw payment proposals that consumers’ consent to charge is clearer, password requirements are strengthened to prevent children buying items, and there is more explanation of the cost of virtual credit.

“We need to be nimble and flexible in our approach. We know that the best regulation is one that works collaboratively with industry to pre-empt problems that harm consumers and damage markets,” said Paul Whiteing, Phonepayplus chief executive.

“We will not hesitate to use our robust sanctioning powers to drive out rogue providers who could damage a vital part of the UK’s growing and innovative digital and creative economies.”

You’ve built your business’s smartphone mobile app- but how are you going to make money out of it?If you’re thinking of a suitable price tag for it and hoping that it will take the various app stores charts by storm- you could be in for a nasty surprise.

Mobile app downloads are expected to have increased from over 7 billion in 2009 to almost 50 billion in 2012- which works out a growth in revenue from £2.5 billion to £10.9 billion.

But although 80% of the 2009 figure is accounted for by paid apps, by 2012 that is expected to drop by around half.

The rest is made up of a mixture of advertising, virtual goods (things bought within the app environment, such as tools in social games such as Farmville), and other revenue models.

Sometimes giving your app away for nothing may mean a bigger payoff in the future.

Top 5 revenue streams

• Paid apps
• In-app advertising – you get paid for each ad seen
• Virtual goods – for example buying tools in Farmville
• Subscription – charging a monthly fee, for example to access news content
• Marketing – a free app used to promote a product
• Hybrid- free initially then charging for premium content

As such, different business models need to be developed for different types of content. To do this, you need to measure two things – stickiness and utility.

Utility means how much the user values the time using your app.

The general rule is the higher the utility of the app, the more the consumer is prepared to pay for the app up front.

If it’s a relatively simple application, like a web app like chat or messaging, the consumer is less likely to pay anything at all and you have to go for other models.

Stickiness refers to how often you end up using an app – if you ‘stick’ with it.

The majority of games that are only played three or four times and are very unsticky, however some apps like Facebook are extremely sticky.

Stickiness means that advertising might be a good option.

If you have an unsticky app and choose to go with advertising, you will only display it three or four times. As the current rate is £1 for a thousand impressions, you won’t make much.

If you have a high utility but low stickiness you go for a paid app. High stickiness and low utility, like web applications, then advertising is the choice.

Virtual goods – for example things players need to enhance a game – have been pioneered by companies like Zynga, the creators of Farmville.

Considerations include whether your target market can easily pay for things – for example are they underage and have no access to a credit card?

And you need to weigh up the rates taken by the market place for a paid for app with the rates charged for using advertising.

Apple, for example, takes 30% of the face value of every app sold in its iTunes store.

But if you simply want to promote a product – a shiny new BMW, for example – then making your app free and recouping the cost in increased sales is the sensible option, says Mr Laurs.

As long as the app is perceived as free for the consumer then the marketability of the app is generally 50 times higher than any paid app.

It’s obviuosly easier to get consumers converted to free apps than to pay for them. It’s human nature.

Apple’s latest profits soared past expectations as sales of its best known iPhone and iPad products more than doubled.
Net income was £4.6 billion in the three months to 25 June, 125% higher than a year earlier and a record quarterly profit for the firm. Revenue was £17.87 billion, also a quarterly record.

Apple sold more than 20 million iPhones in the quarter and 9.25 million iPads. However, iPod sales continued to slip, down by 20% to 7.54 million units.

The results assuaged concerns about the supply of the iPad 2, partly because of parts supply interruptions caused by Japan’s tsunami and earthquake in March.

Apple chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, said: “We are extremely pleased with our performance. Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $25bn.”

Mr Oppenheimer also said that Lion, the new version of the Mac OS X operating system, will go on sale Wednesday.  The Lion software mimics some of the features of the iPhone and iPad interface.

The company has a reputation for being conservative with its forecasts.

Apple shares (AAPL) jumped 5.3% in extended after hours trading to their highest for a year.

The price had suffered after its founder and Chief Executive, Steve Jobs, took a long term break last January for medical reasons.

The future stewardship of the company remains an open question. On Tuesday the Wall Street Journal was reporting that several Apple board members had discussed a successor to Mr Jobs, and had talked about the matter with at least one head of a high-profile tech company.

Another uncertainty for the company is a web of patent battles with rivals.

It claims Taiwanese rival HTC has infringed its patents, with HTC claiming a number of infringements against Apple.  Apple is also in dispute over the rights to technology with South Korea’s Samsung and US competitor Motorola.

Apple announced last week that in just 3 years 15 billion apps have been downloaded through it’s online store.
With a sizeable revenue cut of paid programmes, it has become the accidental goose who has laid the golden egg for Steve Jobs.

And although Apple did not invent the smartphone application, its system has defined the user experience. iOS apps are simplicity at every turn – payment, installation and use.

Others have followed-suit, with great success. Android Market passed three billion downloads in May.

But after a period of rapid growth, native smartphone apps are facing a fight for survival.

That threat comes from web apps – software that runs in a browser rather than being downloaded and installed on the device’s operating system.

Mubaloo, one of the UK’s biggest mobile app developers, estimates that requests from clients for web apps has doubled in recent months – enough to make them the third big player in app development.

The reason for that is simple – developing web apps solves several headaches.

Firstly, like the regular internet, a good web app can be made to adapt to a wide variety of devices rather than forcing the developer to create different products for each platform – be it iPhone or Android, smartphone or tablet.

Secondly, by circumventing the strict guidelines associated with official stores, Mr Mason’s clients can have exactly what they want, and can say for certain when it will be ready for the public.

Should any changes need to be made once the app is live, they can be made instantly, rather than wait several days for approval.

And then there’s the matter of money.

Put an app in the App Store and 30% of each sale goes to Apple. Android takes the same, but the cash goes to payment processors and mobile carriers. Microsoft and BlackBerry also get a cut of what sells in their stores.

Web apps offer developers the chance to cut out the middle man.

If that was not enough of an incentive to fly solo, in February of this year, Apple announced that it would also be taking 30% of revenue from in-app subscription payments.

It is that levy which may have proved be the final straw for cash-strapped publishers relying on a lucrative digital strategy to keep operations moving.

The first major player to adopt a web-apped approach to mobile subscribers was the Financial Times (FT). In June, the newspaper released its debut web app. Since launch it has attracted 200,000 users.

FT bosses have said subsequently that future app development will be focused on web platforms rather than native.

Key improvements in smartphones’ ability to power staple web components mean the FT web app does almost everything the company would expect from a downloaded app – including offline reading.