Photograph by Thomas Lee/Bloomberg

“Terry” Gou Tai-Ming, chairman and president of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd., speaks in his office building at the Foxconn City complex in Shenzhen, China, in 2010.

For years, the world has had trouble wrapping its head around that behemoth known to us all as Foxconn.

Not helping matters has been the fact that Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group is actually a name given to a collection of companies, and not a legal entity in itself.

The flagship of Terry Gou’s empire is Hon Hai Precision, from which flows more than 200 holding companies, affiliates, subsidiaries and divisions. (I am not kidding, Hon Hai owns or controls at least 230 companies!)

A few of those, such as Innolux and Pan-International, have either been spun off for public listing or were acquired by the group and rarely get confused with the mothership.

No less than 40, however, carry the name Foxconn (according to Hon Hai’s annual report). Among them is Foxconn Technology Co., best known as a maker of metal casings for iPhones (but not an iPhone assembler), and Foxconn International Holdings.

Foxconn International was once a darling of the Hong Kong stock market where it listed in 2005. As the chief supplier of phones for Nokia, Research in Motion and Motorola, its stock climbed seven-fold within 18 months.

Then came Apple. And Samsung. And ZTE. And Huawei. And, well, you know the story. Foxconn International’s (declining) fortunes have mirrored that of its big customers. Foxconn didn’t get the gig to make the iPhone (though its engineers were borrowed by Hon Hai, which makes the device, to work on aspects of the project).

This little factoid seems to have escaped hoards of analysts, reporters, investors and regulators who’ve mistaken the two and labeled Foxconn International a maker of iPhones.

Says Foxconn International in a filing to the Hong Kong exchange:

There have been confusions and enquiries from time to time made by certain governmental and/or regulatory authorities as well as the media and financial analysts worldwide when they have mixed the Company up with the Foxconn Technology Group, or the other member(s) of the Foxconn Technology Group, with reference to “Foxconn” or “富士康” (The Chinese characters for “Foxconn”)

So now they’re changing their name to FIH Mobile Limited.

The proposal needs approval at a shareholders meeting. But not to worry, Foxconn International’s largest shareholder? Hon Hai Precision (via a holding company, of course).

Original post is Foxconn Doesn’t Want to Be Confused With Foxconn, So It’s Changing Its Name by Tech Blog.

Lynch, who is leaving Adobe to work at Apple, spent the past eight years at the software company, including the last five years as the technology chief. During that time, he warned the iPhone maker that it risked losing customers unless it started supporting Adobe’s Flash software. Lynch singled Apple out as the only smartphone maker to shun the video player.

“People will start to see that as a capability they’d like to have and not understand why it’s not there,” Lynch said in an interview in February 2010.

Three months earlier, he told an audience of techies in San Francisco that Adobe can bring Flash to the iPhone, but it “requires cooperation from Apple to do that.”

Steve Jobs wouldn’t budge, sticking to his view that Flash was buggy and a battery killer.

Fast forward three years: iPhone sales have jumped six-fold. The division recorded revenue of $78.7 billion in 2012, 18 times as much as Adobe’s total sales. Adobe has given up the fight, choosing instead to develop on HTML5, a standard supported by all major web browsers.

Now, Lynch, who will be reporting to Apple Senior Vice President Bob Mansfield, will need to get used to another saying that’s popular in Cupertino: Steve is always right.

Original post is Apple Just Hired One of its Outspoken Critics by Tech Blog.

Courtesy HeartMath

The Inner Balance app coaches you through breathing exercises designed to reduce stress.

In a classic “Seinfeld” episode, George’s father adopts what’s supposed to be a stress-reduction technique. Except that, instead of reciting it softly to himself, he bellows to the rafters: “Serenity now!”

The Inner Balance Trainer is a $99 device from a company called HeartMath that’s supposed to help achieve the same goal without the bellowing.

After you download the free Inner Balance app, you clip the sensor to your earlobe and connect it to the dock connector of your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. (IPhone 5 and fourth-generation iPad users will need an adapter to use it with Apple’s new Lightning connector.)

The app then coaches you through breathing exercises designed to reduce stress, while recording data from the sensor on how you’re doing.

One screen features a brightly colored circle that pulses at the pace you’re supposed to breathe. Another has a soothing photo of a waterfall that you can replace with one of your own. You can also select music from your collection to accompany your sessions. I decided on the Beatles’ “Across the Universe,” which seemed appropriately New Age-y.

It turns out that, according to the Inner Balance, I’m sort of a whiz at “coherence” — the synchronization of heart, brain and nervous system that’s the centerpiece of HeartMath’s stress-reduction approach. Or at least, I’m a whiz at “Quick Coherence,” at the lowest level.

As you progress with your training — sessions can be as brief as three minutes, though five to 10 minutes somehow seemed more appropriate — you can ratchet up the level of difficulty. At the end of each session, you get a report on how you did, including an overall score as measured in “coherence points.”

You can even post the results of your training to Twitter and Facebook, so you can have coherence contests with your friends. Sort of like competing to see who can yell “Serenity now!” the loudest.

Original post is Inner Balance Promises Stress Relief for IPhoners: Rich Jaroslovsky by Tech Blog.

Courtesy Google Inc.

The listing for Google Maps in Apple's App Store contains a plug for the San Francisco Italian restaurant Delfina.

When the Google Maps app for the iPhone arrived last night, it was greeted with cheers by those who were literally lost without it. But perhaps no one was more excited about the new application than the staff of an Italian restaurant in San Francisco.

Featured prominently in the listing for Google Maps in Apple’s App Store and on Google’s website is Delfina, the only restaurant shown in the promotional materials. The listing displays its 27/30 rating from Google’s Zagat review.

“Seeing us in the App Store this morning was a great surprise,” Ashley Bellview, a spokeswoman for Delfina, wrote in an e-mail. Google had sought the restaurant’s permission to include it, without explicitly saying what the promotion would be, she said.

Located in the city’s hipster-friendly Mission District, Delfina and its pizzeria next door are popular among the tech crowd. The two places combined have more than 2,900 reviews on Yelp and more than 8,400 check-ins on Foursquare. Craig and Annie Stoll opened Delfina 14 years ago near the height of the dot-com bubble.

“We feed a lot of the bay area tech world,” Bellview wrote.

And now, Google Maps may be feeding it some new business.

Original post is Nice Location: Italian Restaurant Promoted on Google Maps App by Tech Blog.

Courtesy Moshi

Moshi, formerly an Internet telephony company, has found a big business in selling accessories for devices such as the iPad.

Technology startups are notorious for making dramatic product changes, whether that means moving from hardware to software or from an ad-supported business to one based on subscriptions. In Silicon Valley, it’s called the pivot. But few companies have pivoted the way Moshi has.

Founded in 2003 as Aevoe, the company developed technology for Web-based telephony, a market that would eventually be won by Skype and Vonage. Eight years later, Moshi is one of the leading sellers of Apple accessories, such as iPod cases, iPad sleeves and patented iPhone screen protectors — called iVisors — that eliminate the annoying air bubbles found in rival products.

While Moshi is still in a highly competitive market and has to fight to stay in Apple’s favor, business is booming. Moshi has sold more than 5 million iVisors for various mobile devices, and its MacBook keyboard protectors are also popular. Apple’s online store lists 31 of the company’s products for sale and three of its products are sold in physical stores, said Moshi Executive Director Jon Lin.

The company recently opened a San Francisco office, where it plans to more than double its staff next year to 40. It has over 100 employees globally, with products sold in more than 10,000 stores in 45 countries, Lin said. It’s a reality that would have been unthinkable five years ago, when Aevoe was still trying to slog it out in the telecom world.

Back then, the company had moved to Taiwan from Silicon Valley and cut its staff from 20 to four. With no venture capitalists willing to fund the business, Aevoe started developing soft microfiber pouches for iPods and other electronics under the brand name Moshi just to bring in a little revenue. After some success, they then built keyboards for MacBooks and followed that up with keyboard protectors that were thinner than similar products made from silicon.

“We took a big detour,” Lin said.

By 2008, Aevoe only existed as the corporate name with all of the company’s resources focused on the Moshi accessories business. The company reopened its U.S. operations in 2009 in Sunnyvale, California, and moved its headquarters to San Francisco a month ago.

Now, as it competes in a market that includes companies such as Belkin and Incase, Moshi is using its growing money pile to fund new products, including an audio line with earbuds that range in price from about $40 to $200.

“Apple consumers are willing to pay a premium for products that are unique, well-designed and well-made,” Lin said. “We’re never going to make me-too products.”

Original post is Moshi’s Mega Pivot: From Web Telephony to Apple Accessories by Tech Blog.

Photograph by Miquel Benitez/Getty Images

Apple has more than 435 million iTunes accounts stored in the company’s database, according to Talal Khan, an analyst.

Google, Facebook and even Yahoo have been hailed as visionary companies that aren’t just disrupting old media, they’re replacing it. That conjecture hasn’t applied as readily to Apple, which after all deals in high-end hardware, not eyeballs or advertising.

A closer look, however, reveals that Apple not only has a significant media business, it’s bigger than most major media companies — and possibly at their expense.

By itself, Apple’s iTunes (which was just updated) and App stores, which hawk everything from movies and music to books and newspaper subscriptions, make more money than The New York Times; Simon & Schuster, which publishes the best-selling “Steve Jobs” biography; Warner Bros. film studios, which owns the popular Batman film franchise; and Time Inc., the largest magazine publisher in the U.S.

Combined.

Apple’s media storefronts took in more than $8.5 billion for the fiscal year ending in September. Put together, the revenue of the above-mentioned media companies only adds up to $8.2 billion for the same period, about $300 million less than Apple.

To be sure, a fair amount of those sales include apps unrelated to entertainment or media. The company doesn’t break out those sales versus media or entertainment purchases, but the primary draw for consumers has long been iTunes’s ever-growing media library, which started with 99 cent song downloads and now includes $455 annual subscriptions to the New York Times.

The irony here is that the maker of the best-selling iPad and iPhone doesn’t make any content. Instead, it relies on the media industry’s willingness to sell their precious movies, TV shows, newspapers and books through Apple in an arrangement that’s allowed the iTunes and App stores to outpace the very companies supplying them.

Mobile Mania

The media companies, after a period of hesitation, realized they needed to make their products available on those must-have mobile devices that so dominate consumer culture today — despite whatever costs that may add to the future of their business.

CBS, for example, while the most-watched TV network in America, still makes less money than Apple’s media division. Marvel? Universal? 20th Century Fox? Disney’s film studios? All beat. The division is six and a half times larger than Paramount film studios. Newspaper and magazine publishers barely register compared to Apple’s media store on which they now partly rely for new circulation revenue.

Of course, Apple’s content business doesn’t compare to many of the vast holding companies that sit behind these studios and television businesses. News Corp., owner of Fox News and FX and led by Rupert Murdoch, generated $33.88 billion in sales during Apple’s fiscal year, while Disney, owner of ESPN and ABC, took in more than $42.28 billion, which includes its lucrative parks and resorts.

Apple’s media business, nonetheless, is growing faster than any of those entertainment behemoths, around 35 percent annually. At that rate, iTunes will be bigger than Viacom Inc., which owns Nickelodeon, MTV and Paramount, by 2014.

Tom Neumayr, a spokesman for Apple, declined to comment on Apple’s media business.

Apple’s Slice

The late Steve Jobs long espoused the need for Apple to make entertainment easier to use, find and buy. But that didn’t necessarily mean buying the content itself. Apple’s media income comes almost entirely from the 30 percent commission it receives from sales in its iTunes and App stores.

Charles Wolf, analyst with Needham & Co. in New York, estimates it’s a “modestly profitable business” for Apple since the primary cost to them is the credit card transaction fee. Apple takes about 30 cents for every 99-cent song downloaded, with credit card companies charging Apple around 25 cents for each transaction, according to Wolf. The explosion of higher-priced media, however, from $15 books and $20 movies to $500 annual newspaper subscriptions, has vastly increased Apple’s media margins.

Marvel’s “The Avengers” movie, owned by Disney, for example, is available on iTunes for $14.99. Apple stands to make around $4.25 on each download after paying the credit card transaction fee. That “Steve Jobs” biography published by Simon & Schuster? $16.99 in iTunes. Apple keeps $4.85.

But Apple’s real influence over media markets comes from the more than 435 million individual iTunes accounts stored in the company’s database, according to Talal Khan, analyst with Credit Suisse Group AG in New York.

“That’s what gives Apple the power to come into media companies and ask for terms,” he said.

It’s a state of play Google and others are trying to disrupt — with limited success — and that traditional media companies have largely accepted. In many ways, Apple has become our de facto entertainment repository; the endless trails of consumers who line up for Apple’s latest tablets only reinforce this view. After all, what are they going to do once they rip open the Cellophane and boot up their latest screens? Buy more media.

Original post is Apple’s ITunes Would Be One of World’s Biggest Media Companies by Tech Blog.

Photograph courtesy of Apple

The new iPad has a faster microprocessor with enhanced graphics and improved Wi-Fi antennas.

Oh, yeah, there’s a new iPad.

Normally, the release of a new version of Apple’s tablet is the occasion for mass salivation on the part of the faithful. But it’s safe to say there won’t be lines of fans outside the store for the fourth-generation iPad.

Not that there’s anything wrong with it. In fact, it’s got a couple of nice new features on top of the ultra-sharp 9.7-inch Retina display and other enhancements that were unveiled in the third-gen iPad only seven months ago.

But this one is much more a refresh than a revamp. It completely replaces the previous model in the Apple lineup: same price (starting at $499 for a 16-gigabyte Wi-Fi-only model), same options (ranging up to $829 for one with 64 gigabytes and capable of running on the AT&T, Sprint or Verizon cellular networks), and same choice of color (black or white).

From the user’s standpoint, the biggest difference is probably the replacement of the traditional 30-pin connector with Apple’s new Lightning port, the same one found on the iPhone 5, latest-generation iPods and the new, much-more-anticipated iPad mini that’s also reaching the shelves today.

I like the new connector. It’s much smaller and the cable is reversible, meaning there’s no wrong way to plug it in. At the same time, as with the iPhone 5, it renders existing peripherals obsolete unless you buy Apple’s adapters, which aren’t cheap. (It’s $29 for the adapter alone, $39 for the version with a cable.)

The other changes in the new model are real, but not nearly enough to lead anyone with a third-generation iPad to rue their purchase, let alone induce them to upgrade.

The most visible difference I encountered comes in the front-facing camera, which has gone from 0.3 megapixel to 1.2 megapixels. From a practical standpoint, that meant a visibly sharper image for people on the other end of my FaceTime video calls.

The new version also has a faster microprocessor — Apple’s new A6X chip — with enhanced graphics and improved Wi-Fi antennas. In side-by-side tests, I found the new one ever-so-slightly faster at doing things like launching apps. But most people, I think, would never notice in everyday use, at least until new apps come out to take advantage of the greater power.

And by then, of course, we may well be on to the fifth-generation iPad.

Original post is Apple’s 4th-Gen IPad Is a Refresh, Not a Revamp: Review by Tech Blog.

Photograph courtesy of Beats Electronics

Played at a high volume, the Pill has much less distortion than the Jambox.

Ever since its release, Jawbone’s Jambox has set the standard for grab ‘n’ go mobile-device speakers. Now it has a new competitor: the Pill from Beats Electronics, purveyors of the ubiquitous Dr. Dre-endorsed stereo headphones.

It’s an interesting time for Beats, which is controlled by Dre and celebrated music producer and executive Jimmy Iovine. Earlier this year, Beats began to unwind its successful partnership with Monster Cable, which had manufactured and distributed its products. Meanwhile, Taiwanese cell-phone maker HTC briefly took a majority interest in the company, only to sell back much of it.

Now Beats is charting its own course, with the Pill as one of its early post-Monster product-line extensions. (The company is also releasing a new set of noise-canceling headphones called Beats Executive to take on Bose.)

The Pill has a lot in common with the Jambox. They both cost $199, are colorful and are compact and light enough to toss into a computer bag or suitcase.

They also both use Bluetooth to wirelessly stream music, video soundtracks and game sound-effects for those times when you just want to listen out loud. And each can double as a two-way squawk-box for calls on your smartphone.

While pairing a Bluetooth speaker to your mobile phone or tablet isn’t especially hard, the Pill boasts a feature that’s supposed to make it even easier: a Near-Field Communication chip. Just tap an NFC-equipped phone to the speaker, and you’re ready to go.

That’s the theory, anyway. When I went to pair it with a Samsung Galaxy S III, I got one of those gloriously geeky “unknown tag type” Android error messages. Turns out the feature only works with a tiny fraction of devices that both have an NFC chip and are running the latest “Jelly Bean” version of Android.

But I had no problem pairing it with the Galaxy — as well as an iPad and iPhone — using plain old-fashioned Bluetooth.

The Pill also differs with the Jambox in a couple of key areas. The biggest one is sound.

The Pill — so named for its tubular shape — has four drivers, as opposed to the two on the Jambox. And played at high volume, it has much less distortion than the Jambox. If you really want to crank things up, this is the Bluetooth speaker for you.

On the other hand — and somewhat oddly, given its parentage and Beats’s reputation for thumping, insistent bass in its headphones — the Pill is a little light on the lower end of the sonic spectrum. In fairness, bass is really hard to do in a package this small. But it’s one of the Jambox’s strong suits.

Those issues aside, the sound quality of the Pill was very good for casual listening, and I could easily see making use of it, say, in a hotel room where I want to watch a movie without wearing headphones, or listen to my own music while getting ready in the morning.

Not to mention blasting it loud enough to wake the people in the next room.

Original post is Beats Moves From Headphones to Listening Out Loud — Really Loud by Tech Blog.

Photograph courtesy of Apple

The latest iPod touch borrows liberally from both the iPhone 5 and 4S.

Maybe a new point-and-shoot camera and a new portable FM radio aren’t the most scintillating of tech products these days.

But what if the camera also let you conduct video chats and play games, while the radio allowed you to view movies on a color screen? What if both of them could store thousands of songs? And what if they were so nicely built and easy to use they might have been made by Apple?

Actually, they are made by Apple. They’re the newly redesigned iPod touch and iPod nano, and they show there’s still some life in the humble music-player segment, even in an era of more potent smartphones and tablets.

The iPod touch has always had a close kinship with the iPhone, and this latest version borrows liberally from both the iPhone 5 and 4S. The 4-inch Retina display is the same found on the 5, while the new 5-megapixel camera is terrific — as good as the one on the 4S, and much better than previous touches. It also becomes the third device, after those two phones, to support Apple’s cool panorama picture mode.

Toss in a sleek new body, Apple’s redesigned EarPod headphones and even a wrist strap, and what’s not to like? Maybe just the price: $299 with 32 gigabytes of storage and $399 with 64 gigabytes. For that much, they could have at least included a power adapter.

Photograph courtesy of Apple

The iPod nano’s screen, like the touch’s, has gotten bigger

The iPod nano’s screen, like the touch’s, has gotten bigger — 2.5 inches — and the device now provides not only widescreen video but Bluetooth for streaming to a wireless speaker or headphones.

Then there are the little goodies packed in, like the FM radio tuner, which uses the EarPods as an antenna, and a pedometer that syncs with Nike+. And it’s all in a package roughly the size of a credit card that weighs all of 1.1 ounces.

At $149 for 16 gigabytes of storage, it may be a little too dear to serve as a holiday stocking-stuffer. (The $49 iPod shuffle probably serves that purpose.) But it works nicely as a multipurpose pocket entertainment and workout buddy.

Original post is New IPods Offer Music and More, With Emphasis on the ‘More’ by Tech Blog.

Fadell, along with fellow Apple alumnus Matt Rogers, founded Nest Labs, the maker of a device that automatically adjusts a home’s temperature based on user behavior. A year after the company began taking orders for its product, Fadell said he’s not getting that bewildered response as much.

The thermostat is available at retailers including Lowe’s and Amazon.com. Even Matthew McConaughey is getting into the act. Texas utility Reliant Energy is using the movie star to market the product and lure new customers. While the company won’t disclose sales figures, Rogers said “we’ve exceeded our own expectations.”

Now the company is announcing the second version of its $249 “learning thermostat,” adding features to accommodate people with higher-end energy systems in their homes. The new model adds the capability for more advanced cooling systems, floor heating and other features that are common in more affluent neighborhoods. A new design makes the stainless-steel device 20 percent thinner.

“Our customers were saying I want to buy Nest but it doesn’t work in my home,” Fadell said during an interview at the company’s offices in Palo Alto, California. “The more complicated and more efficient systems, typically in the higher-end demographic homes, we couldn’t cover.”

Fadell unveiled the round-shaped Nest last year after spending nearly a decade at Apple, where he worked closely with co-founder Steve Jobs on building the original iPod and iPhone. He and Rogers, who also worked on the iPod and iPhone teams, saw the thermostat business as ripe for a technical upheaval that would give customers a better way to manage their power consumption and save money.

The device includes a motion sensor to determine when people are home so it can turn up the heat or air conditioner. Over time, the device learns a user’s patterns, such as what time the heat gets turned up each morning, and automatically sets a schedule for that. Likewise, after somebody leaves in the morning, the device may learn to lower the heat because a person isn’t likely to return for several hours.

Another feature turns off the air conditioner just before it reaches the appropriate temperature and then blasts the fan to push the last gust of cold air into the house, a subtle move that saves energy. The system can be managed remotely from an iPhone or Android mobile application.

“We have tons of interest,” said Fadell, whose company lists Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Intertrust, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Shasta Ventures and Generation Investment Management as its investors.

All the interest in Nest hasn’t escaped the incumbents in the thermostat business. Honeywell International filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against the company earlier this year, an allegation Nest is fighting. Fadell, who hired former Apple patent attorney Chip Lutton to join him at Nest, said he’s confident the matter will be resolved soon.

Lutton is one of several former Apple employees who have joined Fadell at Nest, which now has 130 employees. That has many wondering what Nest may be up to besides just a home thermostat.

“This is a really deep team,” said Rogers. “You don’t assemble a team like that just to do one product.”

Fadell, who said he doesn’t have a non-compete agreement with Apple, is careful to add that he doesn’t want to battle his former colleagues.

“It would be hell on earth to compete with Apple,” he said. “I’m not that dumb.”

Original post is IPhone Creator’s Nest Labs Turns Up the Heat With Latest Thermostat by Tech Blog.