The moment came when Apple surpassed Microsoft in Market Cap [*].

A few numbers:

Market Cap: Microsoft at $219 billion – Apple at $222 billion (yesterday)
Revenue: Microsoft at $58.4 billion – Apple at $42.9 billion
Net income: Microsoft at $14.6 billion – Apple at $5.7 billion
Cash: Microsoft at $39.7 billion – Apple at $23.1 billion

Microsoft is still has bigger earnings, but Apple has the momentum. Apple still sells computers, but twice as much revenue is coming from hand-held devices and music. And smartphone sales are growing faster than PCs.

Worse for Microsoft, analyst perceived that “The battle has shifted from Microsoft against Apple to Apple against Google,” as said Tim Bajarin, a technology analyst following Apple.

Google has a market cap of $151 billion.

Read original NYT Article: Apple Passes Microsoft as No. 1 in Tech

A few days before the iPad is out I am ready to make my bet. It  will be a revolution.

The iPhone was a revolution for mobile handsets.  Nokia laughed at Apple when they launched a new phone in what was a “mature” market. Now, no one doubts that Steve Jobs was actually right when he said  ”Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone” in January 2007.

David Pogue’s review of the iPad is worth reading. “It is basically  a gigantic iPod Touch”, it could not be described in less words.

I would take from his review the insight that the iPad is no substitute for a laptop for tasks to create content, like writing docs, presentations, coding software, not to mention any more sophisticated content like photo or video editing. But it IS a great device to consume content, like reading, web browsing, watching video or gaming. And for that purpose, the experience is even better than a laptop.

The lack of Adobe Flash is an issue, but  looking at the speed that video sites  and video platforms like Brightcove or Oolaya are preparing for the iPad, it might not be a show-stopper; specially if Hulu launches an iPad application as rumored.

If after reading Pogue’s review still in doubt, BBspot.com offer a decision flow chart. Not that I agree with it, but it’s funny…

TechCrunch announces more reviews hitting the net.

Finally it’s here. The much rumored Apple Tablet came to life as the iPad.

The iPad is an iPhone “on steroids”. Same look, same great multitouch user interface, but a bigger screen make web browsing, reading ebooks, gaming or watching video so much better.

The price, starting at $499 is a great (good) surprise, and it aims at killing the revolution of 2008: the netbook.
Amazon Kindle, is the other suspect under threat, with the only advantage of the e-ink “not-hurting-your-eyes” for heavy readers (as well as cheaper ebooks…)

The only missing thing ont he iPad: lack of flash will not let you enjoy Hulu and other online video. Else, it could have even been a great potable Set-top-”pad” (not quite set-top-box) to bring online video to the TV set, as a secondary use.

Now, let’s wait for what Google and partners will bring to counter-attack later this year…

If the rumors about Apple’s upcoming “iPad” are true, prepare for the next revolution after the iPhone. Jeremy Horwitz says the iPad could have a 10.7″ screen with an iPhone 3G-like design, runs iPhone OS, will come in two flavors with and without 3G, 720p resolution and with all media, gaming, eBook and web functionality of the iPhone.

As the rumor goes, Apple would announce it in January 2010 and ship in May-June.

Why would the iPad be revolutionary?

Ever heard about Multiscreen? So far the media industry talked about Multiscreen referring to “the Three Screens”: TV, PC and Mobile. Even Nielsen, the reference company for audience measurements, publishes its quarterly ” Three Screens Report”, tracking media consumption on TV, PC and Mobile. The latest report coincidentally highlights the increase in ¨multitasking¨, that is, web browsing while watching TV (57% of consumers does it at least once a month).

An iPad would be a device ideal for “multitasking”, where the multiscreen concept shifts to multiple screens at the same time, enriching how media in consumed. Expect some apps to turn the iPad into a Multimedia Remote Control, where you can navigate through the Program Guide (EPG) and choose what to see. Zapping could be done on the iPad, previewing the channels without annoying all the family changing channels on the main TV. Broadcast of live Sports events are also ideal to have the iPad as a secondary screen to access stats, classification, players profile, replays  or multiple view angles, with simple finger controls. Not too mention interactive TV applications, with much richer interaction on a tablet than on any current form of remote controls.

The iPad is also an ideal portable screen for video, for web browsing, for home automation remote control and as the eBook reader that Amazon must be scared about.

More on the iPad:
Rebooting the Book (One Apple iPad Tablet at a Time) – O’Reilly Radar
IPad Rumors Abound! Apple To Announce On January 19! Device Shipping In May! – TechCrunch
The coming tablet wars – TechCrunch

It has been almost a month of holidays in Spain with my family. It has been the month where Google has announced its Chrome OS, attacking Microsoft where it really hurts, on its Windows licenses. Microsoft success with its new search engine, Bing, reinforced with the Yahoo deal, has finally triggered Google to strike with a move that could take Linux mainstream into the desktop at last, as we dreamed and begged before.

Although rather than desktop , we should say laptop… How much more life do you think desktops have before being totally displaced by laptops? True, that desktops might evolve into Media Centers or PC2TVs in the living-room, but today’s families start to have one laptop per family member rather than one desktop per family.

This summer break was the first time we were travelling with two laptops, one for me and one for my wife. And it is also the first time that mobile operators (Telefonica, Vodafone, Orange and Yoigo) all offered wireless broadband with a HSDPA USD-modem on a prepaid basis, targeting the large number of tourists that visit Spain in summer.

This was also the first holidays that I did not carry any book, I mean, any paper book. With the Kindle fully loaded with eBooks I also avoided the tough decisions of what book to take on the plane, or which one to the beach; I always had all of them with me.

I love the Kindle experience when reading books, but surprisingly I found the eBook readers for the iPhone (eReader or Stanza) very convenient when you are really on the go. In fact, I ended up taking only the iPhone to the beach and not the Kindle. Another great use case for the iPhone eBook readers is to read in bed when your wife is sleeping and you do not want to disturb her with the lamp lights on, or with the Kindle “next page” button clicks. The iPhone is totally silent to turn pages, and with the background color in the reader turned to black, the back-light will not bother your sleeping partner either.

This was also the summer of the 40th anniversary of the first man on the Moon, and I have really enjoyed the way Google celebrated it, making the Moon available on Google Earth. Absolutely stunning. If you have not tried yet, go for it and take your own tour to the Moon (see more on the clip below).

Apple tablet has been much anticipated and rumored, but Mike Arrington and TechCrunch are creating something quite cool! Read more.

An these kind of new devices will have some impact in the way web apps are developed, with emphasis in multitouch features.

I guess that by now, all music labels have already realized that music downloads and subscriptions are the only way forward to distribute music. CDs are dead, and rightly so.

Maybe because we just finished unpacking the shipment from KL in our new home in Shanghai, I just happen to realize how I hate CDs. I have hundreds of CDs purchased before the MP3 era, and while unpacking them, I could only feel  how useless was the task of putting them on the shelves in my study room.

For my next move I only hope I will have already got rid of all the CDs after ripping them all to my music library, (or alternatively legally download private copies of them with Bittorrent).

I do not think I will ever buy a Music CD again. The last music CD I bought was played only once while ripped to my library. 

R.I.P. Music CDs.

Sony just announced its Q4 results with a 95% decline in profits. Extracted from Associated Press :

Sony Corp. said its net profit shriveled to 10.4 billion yen ($115.6 million) in the third quarter from 200.2 billion yen a year earlier. Revenue fell 25 percent to 2.15 trillion yen from 2.86 trillion yen. The quarter includes the year’s peak shopping season and is usually a big one for its core electronics division, which generates over half of its total revenues with well-known products like Bravia TVs, Cyber-shot digital cameras and Vaio computers.

[...] its usually dependable electronics division posted its first-ever operating loss in the fiscal third quarter. It also reiterated its forecast for a net loss of 150 billion yen ($1.67 billion) for the full fiscal year through March — its first loss in 14 years.

The Japanese giant blames the poor economic conditions, but Chief Executive Howard Stringer should re-consider Sony’s strategy to bring it back to a leading position, as things have not been rosy for Sony lately:

• PS3, the console with most performing specs, is being outsold by both Xbox 360 and Wii, with game developers threatening to divest from PS3 game versions as the downturn squeezes funds to develop in multiple platforms
• Blue-ray is not getting mass adoption, and it may lose the war to online distribution for HD video as broadband speeds increase
• Vaio computer sales are affected by the trend of cheap Netbooks, that can replace the nicest smallest Vaio models at a fraction of cost
• LCD TVs Bravia is overpriced compared to similar models from Samsung or LG in an increasingly competitive market
• Cyber-shot brand is losing ground to Canon and Nikon
• Walkman MP3 players lost the battle to iPod long long ago, including Japan
• Sony Ericsson is being surpassed by Samsung and LG growing faster, not to name its brand equity eroded by rising mobile device stars from Apple and RIM. If they do not do something striking quick, 2009 could be the last year for Sony Ericsson.

The economic downturn is not helping Sony’s strategic bets on PS3, Vaio or Blue-ray. Still a change is required, or Sony will end up entertaining the future only with their movies.

This is the keynote in which Steve Jobs introduced the Mac and the famous 1984 ad directed by Ridley Scott. The ad would be aired only once during the Super Bowl, and cost Apple $1.5 million.

The original Macintosh was released on 24 January 1984. Known as Macintosh 128k, it was priced at $2495 and powered with a Motorola 68000 microprocessor. The Macintosh brought a true disruption to computer user interfaces, with revolutionary applications at the time as MacPaint, to draw with a mouse, or MacWrite, the first WYSIWYG word processor. You can have a feel of it with the demo of the first Macintosh by Steve Jobs in January 1984:

Read/WriteWeb has a nice compilation of pictures of all Macs until today. It is a great overview of computer history through Apple machines.

Last quarter Apple shipped $2.52 Macs enjoying one of its sweetest moments as the icon brand for consumer computers.

Steve, get well soon!

December 28th is the Spanish equivalent to April Fool’s day. That is why I had to read twice the news that iFart Mobile (see video) was the best selling application in App Store during the holidays (iTunes Link).

Quoted from the iFart creator, Joel Comm’s blog:

All I knew was that a lot of people would be getting iPhones and iPod Touch MP3 players on Christmas Day. Christmas came a day early for us. On 12/24, my jaw hit the floor when I checked my stats. We sold 19520 units, providing $13364 in net income after Apple takes their cut. I now knew that Christmas Day would be bigger than I would have imagined. I made sure I was sitting down before I checked my day-after-Christmas stats. It was a good thing. On Christmas Day, 38,927 people purchased iFart Mobile. Thirty-eight thousand nine-hundred and twenty seven. Wow. Thats $27,249 net. Again I say, wow.

I can only say wow too.

How would iFart rate on the checklist for killer Apps?