Cody Fink

1547 posts on MacStories since January 2010

Former MacStories contributor.

This Week's Sponsor:

Washing Machine X9

Spring Clean Your Mac Effortlessly


Apple to Rebrand Mac OS X Under iOS?

iOS has come to unify Apple’s mobile space with a single name branding, but that could change to envelop the Mac OS X name-ology as Apple continues desktop development. MacRumors reports that Apple is considering rebranding OS X under the new iOS monicker, and that separate versions of the OS – for iPhone, for iPad, for Mac – could be considered as flavors.

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Star Walk Follows the Stars! Review & Giveaway!

Growing up in suburban neighborhoods full of light fixtures, airplane traffic, and an illuminated sky just miles away from the uptown, I’ve never really had a chance to just step out in my back yard and appreciate the night sky. The light pollution is awful, and I always remember heading out on camping trips with my Dad and staring up at the night sky that was alive with flickering lights and unknown suns. I may appreciate those ancestral bodies more than others, but I think everyone would find Star Walk for the iPad to be an application you’ll immediately fall in love with.

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Steve Jobs on Wi-Fi Syncing, Macs, and iPhone 4 Scratches

Steve Jobs has been engaging his customers quite a bit lately, and we’ve got some rather interesting answers pertaining to the three most important topics people are concerned about.

“Do you think you will ever allow syncing iPhone to Mac over wifi?” writes Rick Proctor, friend of Mashable and previous TUAW writer Christina Warren. Steve wrote back, “Yep, someday.”

A handicapped Mac user, Steve O’Hear from TechCrunch Europe, wrote in to ask Steve about the future of Mac. It was a personal and concerning email, with this end note, “It’s not that I can’t use the existing iPhone or iPad, just not as efficiently as everybody else, so I haven’t invested in either.” Steve replied, “We will keep making the best computers on the planet. We love it.”

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Greg Packer. A Hardcore Line Squatter.

Meet Greg Packer. He’s showed up pretty early to get his iPhone 4, and Gazelle is even sponsoring him to represent his insatiable lust to be first in line. But what’s surprising is that he can’t even describe half the features of the new iPhone, really only understanding that it’s better than what he has now. In his history, he’s been first for a lot of events, from the first in line at Bill Clinton’s book signing, to first in line at George W. Bush’s inauguration. Quite frankly he might just be a bit crazy.

But the moral of the story is this: If you’re first in line and you’re pretty good at it, you get a sponsor. And you’re also likely to get a free iPhone 4.

Get there early people.

[via CNN Money - Tech Fortune]


iPhone Takes 20% Smartphone Market Share from Nokia in Finland

Taking a bite out of Nokia’s market share is big news no matter where it’s reported, and Apple is setting their sights on world domination as they take on the leading phone giant. I haven’t seen anything innovative from Nokia in a while, and as they grow stale, the iPhone 4’s fresh take on the smartphone market is just what Apple needs to wrap things up. With 20% of the smartphone market captured in Finland (a small part of an ever young battleground), it’s a pretty clear example of where things are likely headed. More iPhones in more places.

[via TUAW]



App Store Not Profitable for Apple, Only 19% of Software is Paid

Apple’s App Store may be a runaway success thanks to the quality of applications and incredible offerings we often take for granted, but Apple isn’t exactly profiting off the massive sales. Wall Street analyst Gene Munster says that of all the downloaded App Store applications, 81% are free. Of those paid for, the average selling price is $1.49.

Now keep in mind that apple takes a 30% cut of every paid purchase. However, Apple turns around and pays the credit card company a mandatory $.20 + 2% of the sale, then includes a %1 processing fee on top of that. Since the launch of the App Store, Apple has been speculated to earn 428 million dollars, with 189 million dollars left in gross profit (which is just 1% of Apple’s 33.7 billion in gross profit). Apple themselves have spent 81 million in maintaing the solidity of the App Store. If we figure in the fact that iOS devices attribute to 16.6 million sales per day, compared to 8.9 million downloads per day on the iTunes store, the numbers are rather astounding considering how little profit Apple is making in the grand scale of things.

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