With the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) mere weeks away, anticipation for the next version of Apple's mobile operating system is about to reach a fevered pitch. As the rumor mill revs up in preparation, we thought we'd ask you, dear readers, what features you'd most like to see in iOS 7? (Take our survey below.)

The pressure on Apple to push out a substantial iOS upgrade hasn't been this intense in some time. After all, this will be first major release since the Great Maps Debacle of 2012 and, more important, since Jony Ive took over as the head of Apple's Human Interface Design team. 

(See also: Why Apple Really, Really Needs To Kill It WIth iOS 7)

Indeed, most of the chatter about iOS 7 so far has been about what it will look like. Flatter. Fewer skeuomorphic design elements. A total overhaul, some have suggested. iOS could certainly use a visual refresh, but there's a far more important question: What will it do? 

Screw The Skeuo-Whatever. What Will iOS 7 Do?

Common requests include multi-user login, more robust security options, an overhaul of the dull Mail app and enhanced enterprise and BYOD features. Inevitably, we'll see Siri learn a few more tricks. Apple Maps will continue to improve.

As always, there's a lesson or two to be learned from the jailbreaking community. Expect to see a few features lifted from Cydia when iOS 7 is unveiled in June. Plenty of us would love to have the ability to choose new default apps for things like email, maps and Web browsing, but such a move would probably play too much to Google's benefit for Apple to stomach. 

More generally, there's a certain pressure on Apple to remain competitive with Android. In the early days, Android was rusty and small enough for Apple to largely ignore in its product development. Now the competition is very real, with Android-based phones and tablets getting sleeker and more functional all the time. If nothing else, this might mean that Apple will need to consider making iOS more customizable and less restrictive. 

Be heard! Take our survey, below, and be sure to elaborate further in comments if you'd like.

In a CNBC interview interview aired on Monday, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates suggests that Windows 8 and Microsoft's Surface tablet line could ultimately dethrone Apple's iPad from its global tablet crown because iPad "users are frustrated." 

Yikes! I guess Gates has access to the really good stuff.

Office Should Be Everywhere

Last month, I took Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to task for delaying the arrival of Microsoft Office productivity suite on devices running Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating system. I was hoping Gates would set Ballmer straight. Unfortunately, Gates appears as confused as Ballmer - and equally tied to the contracting PC ecosystem over which Microsoft has long ruled.

(See also Ballmer's Latest Blunder: No Office For iOS And Android Till 2014)

It's great that Gates cares so much about user frustration. Only, in this case he gets it exactly wrong:

A lot of (iPad) users are frustrated. They can't type. They can't create documents. So we're providing them something with the benefits they've seen that has made that a big category but without giving up what they expect in a PC. If you have Surface or Surface Pro, you have the portability of the tablet but the richness in terms of the keyboard (and) Microsoft Office of the PC.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Users are not clamoring for iPad to be more like a PC. If anything, users want their PCs to be more like the iPad. So far at least, the market makes that pretty darn clear: In the most recent quarter, Apple sold 19.5 million iPads - compared to 11.8 million in the same quarter last year. The Surface? Not so much.

According to IDC tablet sales data, of the 49.2 million tablets that shipped this past quarter, the Surface accounted for a paltry 0.9 million - 1.8% of the market. In other words, the Surface barely rises above a rounding error. Worse, it's not just the Surface. As IDC notes: "(All) Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets continued to struggle to gain traction in the market." The combined total of Windows 8 and Windows RT sales across all vendors hits a still-minuscule 1.8 million units.

That's about what Apple's iPad line sells in a week.

Gates Doubles Down On Ballmer's Mobile Strategy

Earlier this year, Gates surprised analysts when he publicly stated that Microsoft's mobile strategy was "clearly a mistake." Many observers believed we would soon witness a rapid turnaround in the company's mobile strategy - including the Surface and Windows Phone. 

No such luck. Today's Bill Gates is completely on-message with Steve Ballmer:

Windows 8 is revolutionary in that it takes the benefits of the tablet and the benefits of the PC (so) if you have Surface and Surface Pro you've got that portability of the tablet but the richness in terms of the keyboard and Microsoft Office of the PC.

Gates is looking in the rear view mirror. While the global Windows user base of 1.25 billion is indeed massive, the PC market is no longer growing. Apple's iOS - iPhone and iPad - are poised to surpass Windows. And Apple's iOS is going to be only the second most popular personal computing platform - after Android.

(See also Windows Phone, Still An Underdog, Comes Out Swinging.)

Rather than touting the add-on Surface keyboard and the tablet's support of Office, Microsoft should be focused on porting Office to what will soon be the world's two most popular personal computing platforms - iOS and Android. As I said last month, "There was a time when Apple needed Office to be on the Mac. That time is past. Now, Microsoft needs Office to be on Apple's iOS and Google's Android."

The numbers don't lie: For  the past quarter, the tablet market - which includes Surface - grew 142%. In stark contrast, the PC market fell 13.9%.  

(See also The Real Reason Windows Phone Is Failing.)

Inexplicably, Gates and Ballmer don't seem to see what everyone else is looking at. The market has spoken, and the market does not want to be tied to the PC. Microsoft has an opportunity to leverage its strengths in productivity software to the leading platforms, but is too stubborn to let go of its dreams of Windows dominating the mobile space. Clinging to the proverbial 'stay the course' message is exactly the wrong thing for Microsoft to say and do.

Image of Bill Gates courtesy of Shutterstock. 

As any smartphone owner knows all too well, even the best of today's mobile devices are completely dependent on batteries that can't often keep up with the rest of the technology.

Even the savviest hardware makers are bumping up against the limits of what they can extract from existing battery technology. They're forced to spend enormous efforts creating various engineering "cheats" to coax out the maximum battery life and performance for our most favored gadgets.

Despite frenzied research into both battery hardware and power-management software, the best you can say is that the industry is almost managing to keep up with the demand for more and more portable power. 

10 Times Better Than Today's Batteries

Finally, help may be on the way.

According to a recently published article in the journal Nature Communications, researchers at the University of Illinois claim to have developed lithium ion microbatteries with power densities up to "2,000 times" more powerful than comparable batteries. Or more helpfully, technology that could support batteries either 10 times smaller or 10 times more powerful than today's typical lithium-ion batteries. 

Professor William P. King, who led the university team, clearly has high hopes for the battery technology. In a statement, he said:

In recent decades, electronics have gotten small. The thinking parts of computers have gotten small. And the battery has lagged far behind. This is a microtechnology that could change all of that. Now the power source is as high-performance as the rest of it.

"You could jump-start a car with the battery in your cellphone," the researchers crow in their report. They also claim their battery tech can be recharged 1,000 faster than today's batteries. Put it all together and you could theoretically have a "credit-card-thin phone" that could be recharged in less than a second. 

The new battery tech remains in the labs, however, although the team hopes to trial it in commercial settings later this year. If viable, it could revolutionize the market for consumer mobile electronics such as smartphone and tablets - and spur a new outpouring of innovative hardware and screen designs. 

How Does It Work?

In simple terms, a chemical reaction inside a battery causes the anode to release electrons. When the battery is "on" these electrons flow from the anode to the cathode - which is on the opposite side of the battery. The University of Illinois team claims its breakthrough "integrates the anode and cathode at the microscale." Meaning, this allows for even a very small battery to have a "very high surface area" - and thus provide far greater power density (output) and simultaneously support much faster charging.

Battery Life Is Everyone's Problem

Battery performance continues to limit what smartphones and other mobile devices can do. Apple maintains a webpage devoted solely to helping customers improve battery life of their iPads. The company suggests users "update to the latest software," "use your iPad regularly" and 15 other actions to boost battery life, including "let it breathe." Seriously.

In 2012's J.D. Power smartphone satisfaction survey, "battery life" was listed as "a significant drain on customer satisfaction and loyalty." J.D. Power even noted that battery issues for smartphones resulted in "higher rates of merchandise returns and customer defections."

Is It Safe?

The new microbattery could help solve those problems, if they don't catch on fire. The BBC quoted University of Oxford chemist Peter Edwards wondering if the technology could meet the competing demands of cost, manufacturing scalability and safety:  

I'd want to know if these microbatteries would be more prone to the self-combustion issues that plagued lithium-cobalt oxide batteries which we've seen become an issue of concern with Boeing's Dreamliner jets.

Here's hoping the team at Illinois, or one of the many other groups working on this problem, achieve a commercially viable - and safe - battery breakthrough soon. I hate it when my iPhone runs out of power just when I need it most.

Lead graphic representation of new battery technology courtesy of the University of Illinois.  

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles is now using iPads and FaceTime to allow mothers to bond with premature or critically ill newborns in the intensive care unit.

Yes, it's a savvy implementation of mobile computing technology. It is also unmistakably heartwarming, even in the context of mothers and babies hospitalized on different floors, unable to see each other except via screen. The hospital calls the project BabyTime.

Mothers who are confined to recovery rooms following delivery, typically because of a cesarean section or other complications, often can't see their newborns in the intensive care unit for 2-3 days. "With BabyTime, the new mother can now see their baby in about 2-3 hours," Yvonne Kidder, a clinical nurse in the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), told me:

BabyTime's been wonderful. For mothers, to see their baby, this absolutely lessens their anxiety. For the fathers, who can become overwhelmed with all the information they are receiving, BabyTime bridges the gap and allows for a direct line between mother and caregivers. 

Approximately 20% to 30% of mothers who undergo a cesarian section are not initially well enough to travel from their bed to the NICU. Once an infant is admitted to the NICU, the hospital sets up a iPad next to the baby's incubator and provides a second iPad to the new mother. 

A NICU nurse will explain to the mother over BabyTime chat what "all the lines and tubes" connected to their child are and "answer any questions the mother may have about her baby's care and well-being."

The program went live this February. The hospital makes the service available for "all in-house deliveries." New mothers can request a BabyTime chat at any time, although only twice a day. The hospital uses a secure connection for these video communications.

Mothers can also watch as nurses and doctors treat their newborn in the NICU — and can even ask questions and make suggestions.

Charles F. Simmons, Jr., chair of the hospital's pediatrics department, said in a statement:

BabyTime will help bridge communication with the family and the baby's medical team and is an excellent use of technology to help new mothers bond with their babies, even when they cannot be physically at their babies' bedside.

Images courtesy of Maxine Dunitz Children’s Health Center at Cedars-Sinai

Facebook released an update to its iOS app today that brings one of Home's strongest features—Chat Heads—to the iPhone and iPad. The bad news: Because Apple does not allow third-party apps to mess with its interface the way Google does with Android, Chat Heads is only accessible within the iOS Facebook app.

It's a gutted version of the Android app, which strips away key features like mixing SMS text messages with Facebook messages and popping chats up on top of other apps. Those are what make Chat Heads special.

Alongside Chat Heads, the update allows users to buy and share "stickers" from the social network's new Stickers Store—a feature recently introduced by Path, a mobile social app closely watched by Facebook's designers and engineers. It also gives iPad users a tablet-specific version of the News Feed design overhaul announced in March.

The iPad update is out now. Chat Heads and Stickers features will be rolled out to iPhone users "fully over the next few weeks," the company said in a press release. 

The New Look For iPad

For heavy iPad users, the News Feed update is a welcome upgrade. The tablet screen size allows for an almost exact replica of the new browser-based News Feed that Facebook recently announced. It strips away unnecessary sidebar noise from the News Feed and gives you a simple page of avatars and updates with a special focus on blown-up images. (ReadWrite's Taylor Hatmaker makes a strong argument for why this might be both good and bad for users.)

(See also Chat Heads Will Be The SMS-Killer Facebook Has Been Looking For.)  

As for Chat Heads, it works great. Hitting the messaging button on the top tab and clicking on a name immediately pulls up a friend's face in a Chat Heads bubble. You can add up to four bubbles before it begins automatically swapping out the bottom one. The feature that lets you collapse and move multiple chats works as advertised. It's likely much better on the iPad than it will be on the iPhone given that you have more screen real estate and can keep Chat Heads active all the time. If you don't want to get rid of Chat Heads, a circled 'x' shows up at the bottom of the screen when you hold down the bubble and flicking it down will remove it. 

A Strong First Step, And A Dilemma For Apple

While it may be a drag for iPhone and iPad users to have a subpar version of the Chat Heads experience, it's a start. The big unknown is what's coming in iOS 7, the next big version of Apple's mobile software, which is expected to be out this summer. Will Apple allow not just Facebook but other developers to layer apps on top of each other, the way Google does in Android? Or will it maintain tight control over the experience and risk making Android the bleeding-edge playground for experiments like Chat Heads?

(See also Why Apple Really Needs To Kill It With iOS 7.)  

Apple has no easy choice here. It wants to have the best experience for consumers. But part of that experience is the sense that new apps with the coolest features come out for the iPhone first. If Chat Heads is the best mobile version of Facebook, and you can't get it on the iPhone, where does that leave Apple? 

Update: Facebook has just released the iOS update for iPhone as of 12:01 p.m. PT. The update includes the in-app Chat Heads functionality and bakes in some aspects of the News Feed redesign that are more prominently visible in the iPad and browser versions of Facebook. 

Images courtesy of Facebook.

Here's one for you: how is it that some of the smartest, richest, market-savviest companies on the planet - allegedly - can't seem to figure out how to name their products in a way that isn't strikingly confusing?

The "new iPad" is not to be confused with the iPad 2. The new iPad is in fact, iPad 3. Only, Apple doesn't call it that - nor do they market it as "new iPad" anymore, either. Rather, it is now branded as "iPad with Retina display" - with the "R" capitalized, though not the "d."

Don't ask me why.

While the iPad with Retina display is newer than iPad 2 it does not come with a model number. Nor does the iPad Mini. At least, not yet. I assume that Apple will still sell "iPad Mini" - likely at a lower price - when the newest "Mini" model is released. Which I'm also guessing will be called "iPad Mini with Retina display." Or maybe iPad Mini 2. 

After that, all bets are off.

Which brings up the question: how is it that some of the smartest, richest, market-savviest companies on the planet - allegedly - can't seem to figure out how to name their products in a way that isn't strikingly confusing?

Welcome To Branding Hell

What comes after iPhone 5? iPhone 5S, perhaps? Or iPhone 6? Is there any real difference? 

And will it come pre-loaded with iOS 7?

Yet despite the inexplicable naming conventions that Apple uses for its products, it's not the worst perpetrator - not even close. 

Which is better? The HTC One or the HTC First? How is it possible that HTC offers multiple "Ones" at the same time? Which "one" do you want?

• HTC One
• HTC One S
• HTC One SV
• HTC One V
• HTC One X
• HTC One X+ (no, I did not make that up)

I'm not even going to attempt to wade through the angrily confusing versions and price points of software products, such as Microsoft Office. There's "Premium," "365," "Enterprise," Mid-Sized Business" - to name only a few!  

Technology is here to help us. Otherwise, it does not belong. Technology with a confusing name is, therefore, suspect. If you can't even get the name right, what else might be wrong with it?

A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Consider Samsung. Go into an AT&T store, for example, and there you find at least six different "Samsung Galaxy" devices. These are not to be confused, however, with the various "Galaxy Nexus" devices. In other words, the Galaxy brand name now means essentially nothing.

If you don't believe me, just answer this question: which Galaxy is right for you? A Samsung Galaxy S III or a Samsung Galaxy Note II? Will you even bother to find out? Should you have to try?

What? There's a line of various Galaxy "Tabs"? 

Does Samsung not want my business?

And is the Galaxy Note 8.0 four times better than the Galaxy Note II? (Or do Roman numerals count for more?) Wait. Will the next version of the Galaxy Note 10.1 be a 10.2? 

Nor is it possible to divine the brand meaning - and thus the brand value - of the Motorola Droid line versus Android versus Nexus - all of which is owned by Google. Which I've heard is now overseen by the Google Chrome team.

Do companies just pick names out of a hat?

If not, then how much money did Nokia pay its marketing staff to promote the Lumia 820 as "our most versatile phone?" Was it more or less than they paid the team that branded the Lumia 920 as "our most amazing phone?" 

In just the U.S., there is a Lumia 710, 800 810, 820, 822, 900 and 920. I dare you to uncover the meaning, intent, price, value, speed and/or ability of any of those based on their actual name. According to Nokia's own site, the Lumia 900 is available "from $0.01" whereas the Lumia 800 is "from 526.72." 

Why? It seems backwards.

And, no, I am even going to try and select which of these fourteen different Blackberry smartphones is right for me.

Are these companies even paying attention? Maybe it's time for some brand simplification to put some sense in the market place.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

The PC market is tanking. Windows 8 is proving to be a disaster. Dell is hoping to go private. HP is flailing. But not every "personal computing" company is suffering. In the past few years, Apple has sold more than 500 million iOS devices - not licenses, devices - and is selling an additional 75 million iOS devices (iPhones and iPads, mostly), each quarter. At this rate it could be only a few years before the iOS installed base surpasses the global Windows installed base.

Yet Microsoft isn't expected to offer Office on iPhone or iPad until late 2014, at the earliest. What is going on at Microsoft headquarters? Corporate hubris? Insufficient resources? Or yet another strategic blunder by Steve Ballmer?

Numbers Don't Lie

The global Windows installed base is approximately 1.25 billion computers - the biggest such ecosystem in the world. But Apple's iOS is catching up.

For the world's biggest software maker, it seems crazy to ignore the giant and fast-growing iOS market. Microsoft should be aggressively monetizing iOS devices. Instead, Microsoft appears determined to look the other way. 

Steve Ballmer's obsession with Windows - growing Windows, enhancing Windows, extending Windows, promoting Windows, licensing Windows, selling Windows, profiting from Windows - may well cost Microsoft its place as the leader in consumer software. 

And then there's Android, which is is technically even larger than Apple's iOS, with an estimated 750 million devices. But Microsoft won't have Office ready for Android, either, until 2014. In Microsoft's defense, the Android market is highly fragmented, making it much harder for Ballmer (or anyone else) to mass market Android software. But combine iOS and Android and they're already larger than Windows. So what the heck is Microsoft thinking?

Why The Delay?

Apple sells some 20 million new iPads every single quarter. Microsoft Office is not available on a single one. Nor is there a version of Office for iPhone. Well-connected Microsoft expert Mary Jo Foley says that Microsoft's two-year roadmap reveals Office for iOS is still nearly two years away.

According to Foley, Microsoft's roadmap for Office goes like this:

1. Incorporate the "Blue" Metro-style design to the core Office suite - Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. (Note: The referenced roadmap does not include Outlook.)
2. Make each Office app, e.g. Word and Excel, more touch-centric and optimize these for Windows 8 and Windows RT.
3. Update Office for Mac.
4. Update Office for Windows Phone.
5. Make a version of Office for "LSX" - large screen experience - displays.
6. Update Office for RT-based (ARM) desktops.

Which brings us to Fall 2014.

At which point, assuming everything goes to plan, Microsoft is scheduled to release a version of Office for iOS and Android. (Even then, Foley says the roadmap doesn't specifically reference the iPad is not specifically mentioned. Let's hope this is a mere oversight.)

Conspiracy Theories

It seems bizarre that Microsoft would cling to a contracting PC ecosystem and shun the massive and growing installed base of iOS and Android devices. Why would Ballmer and Microsoft wait until Fall 2014 to tap into a market that could add hundreds of millions of dollars to the company's bottom line? There are several theories:

1. Apple's 30% cut: To sell software for iPhone or iPad you must go through Apple's App Store. Apple takes a 30% commission on every sale. Microsoft is loathe to hand over this rather substantial cut. Indeed, Microsoft's quarterly corporate profit margin is about 30%. The company may be hoping to negotiate better terms.

2. Channel margins: This theory suggests that Microsoft is concerned that if it were to offer Office for iOS, its price would need to be far lower than Office sold through traditional channels. Apple's own iWork productivity suite costs less than $10 per app, while Microsoft's Office pricing is frustratingly hard to figure out - though much more than $10 per app. Lowered Office pricing for iOS and Android could foment a revolt from the makers of desktops and laptops, such as Dell or Lenovo, over the prices Microsoft charges them for pre-loaded versions of Office. Bottom line: Microsoft does not want to threaten its lucrative Office suite profits.

3. Touch is hard: Considering the lack of buyer excitement over Windows 8, which offered a radical redesign of Windows to promote touchscreen use, it may be that Microsoft is finding that building a pure-touch version of Office is more difficult than expected. 

4. Surface needs time: A theory put forward this week by Microsoft watcher Paul Thurrott suggests that by delaying the launch of Office for iOS, Microsoft is buying time to grow sales of Windows 8 and Surface tablets. 

My theory is that given the obvious internal debate over the pros and cons of Office on iPad inside Microsoft, a deal was struck: Yes, the Office team could agnostically support non-Windows platforms with the Office 2013 wave of products. But it needed to wait until Windows 8/RT was firmly established in the market. 

Good luck with that. 

Ballmer's Bad Decision

Ultimately, there is a simple, unavoidable rebuttal to each of these theories, to every possible reason for delaying Office on iOS and Android. It does not matter.

Just as the computing market shifted from mainframes to minis, from minis to desktops and from desktops to laptops, it is now being dominated by smartphones and tablets. There was a time when Apple needed Office to be on the Mac. That time is past. Now, Microsoft needs Office to be Apple's iOS and Google's Android.

And sooner would be better than later.

Note: Microsoft's media relations has said the company has "no information to share" regarding the next series of Office updates.

Steve Ballmer image by Fredric Paul.

The happy greeters at the Apple Store always make me feel welcome, though never special. Maybe they should. After all, if I start to add it all up, I spend a fortune on Apple gear. I suspect I'm not alone among the Apple faithful in that.

Apple is the richest tech company in the world. Though nearly all their money comes from hardware — and in highly competitive markets, such as smartphones and laptops — Apple profit margins are at a shockingly high 38%. The company has long commanded a premium from its customers.

That premium is starting to hit me hard.

That's not just because of Apple's higher prices, but also because so many of their products are deliberately complementary. Apple CEO Tim Cook has claimed that Apple "embraces" product cannibalization, but that assertion rings hollow to me. On Apple's most recent earnings call, Cook boldly stated:

I see cannibalization as a huge opportunity for us. Our core philosophy is to never fear cannibalization. If we don’t do it, someone else will. We know that iPhone has cannibalized some of our iPod business. That doesn’t worry us. We know that iPad will cannibalize some Macs. But that’s not a concern. 

Cook isn't lying. Better that Apple cannibalize its own products than someone else does. The problem, of course — if that's what this can be called — is that iPhone, for example, doesn't replace my iPad. Which doesn't replace my MacBook. Apple product innovation isn't about cannabilization so much as extension, making it more attractive for me to replace someone else's product with a shiny new Apple device.

For good or ill, I seem to fall for it every time.

At work I use my MacBook Pro. I use my iPod while at the gym. I use my iPhone for calls, texting, video recording, a quick game. At night, I turn on the Apple TV and stream the latest blockbuster. I lay in bed with my iPad, reading, surfing. Each of these pricey devices works best for specific uses. This is a core part of their design - and Apple strategy.

The iPad has not and likely never will replace my iPhone. Nor will it ever replace my laptop, which will never replace my Apple TV, which has never even met my iPod. Add it all up and Apple should treat me like Kim Kardashian.

Don't believe me? This is my Apple spend for the past 12 months:

MacBook Pro (13-inch: 2.6GHz with Retina display): $1699

• AppleCare Extended Warranty Coverage: $249
• Software and Apps: $500*  
• Time Capsule (2TB Storage): $299

iPad Mini (32GB, WiFi only): $429

• Smart Cover: $39
• iPad Apps and Media: $200  

iPhone 5 (16GB): $649

• AppleCare Extended Warranty Coverage: $99
• iPhone Apps and Content: $300 
• Mophie Juice Pack: $80
• Car Charger: $35

Apple TV: $99

• Programs and Movies: $150 

iPod Shuffle: $49

Add it all up and Apple cost me... $4,876. 

Oh my God. Is that right?

That doesn't even include my wife's iPhone, nor our older MacBook, nor tax, nor any shipping costs. Nor does it include the cost of voice and cellular data service for my iPhone, nor the cost of WiFi when I need to turn my iPhone into a hotspot to support my MacBook or iPad. All that accounts for at least an additional $1,000 per year.

I also didn't include the cost of any accessories, speakers or complimentary products, except the Mophie battery pack, which is a must in my line of work, and the car charger.

Although, to be fair, there is one product that Apple cannibilized. I did not buy Apple's sleek new and very expensive iMac. No need. I already have a three-year-old iMac that, in fact, was rendered useless by my new MacBook Pro. Which, if I haven't said already, is a thing of beauty.

I shudder to think what will happens if and when Apple comes out with that "iWatch." After all, that certainly isn't going to replace any other Apple product, except perhaps my iPod Shuffle. Will it really cost only $49? I doubt it. I may need to take on a second job.

What about you? How much have you spent on Apple products in the past year? 

*NOTE: All software, content, games and apps spending is estimated.

Apple Store image courtesy of Shutterstock

In June 2007, Apple launched the first iPhone, marking a new era in corporate mobility. Before the fashionable mini-computer, people used smartphones for voice, texting and email. With the iPhone and its remarkable touchscreen users could also be entertained with music, video and games. Corporate executives became so attached to their hip device, they wanted to use it for business, so they bullied IT departments into providing access to email and corporate data. Employees soon joined their bosses and the bring-your-own-device trend began.

Six years later, what started out with one smartphone has grown into an army - far too much for the Wild West atmosphere of BYOD to continue as it has been. Many companies that have allowed BYOD will soon be pulling back on such freedoms. While BYOD may not die altogether, it will carry stricter restrictions meant to finally get this trend under control.

The Fate Of BYOD

"BYOD is clearly an important trend, but we expect it to plateau in the coming one to two years as enterprises decide that the cost and security issues associated with unlimited BYOD do not warrant the anarchy and increased support costs it has often caused," a recent report from tech analyst J.Gold Associates said.

Where the iPhone use to be in a class by itself, the smartphone now competes with Android phones from Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony and 10 other vendors.  In addition, there is the BlackBerry and multiple devices running Microsoft's Windows Phone.

In 2010, Apple added the iPad to the chaos, creating a whole new market for tablet computers that brought lots of competitors from manufacturers in the Android camp.

From the beginning, BYOD was a challenge for IT departments, which had to wrestle with data security, device manageability, support and app control. Nevertheless, enterprises went along with the trend and the majority allowed at least some workers to use their personal devices for business.

But configuration, workflow and security issues were always making things difficult for IT. For instance, cyber-criminals saw an easy target in Android - with so many devices running older versions of the OS, hackers could target known vulnerabilities that were left unpatched by manufacturers and wireless carriers.

BYOD Limits

A survey of enterprises that allow employees to use their own notebooks, smartphones and tablets found that nearly half had experienced a security breach. As a result, more than 40% of the companies either restricted mobile data access or installed security software, according to the poll of more than 400 IT professionals and chief executives conducted by Decisive Analytics and released in August 2012.

Despite the breaches, only 12% of companies outright cancelled BYOD programs, an indication that most remained committed to providing flexibility to employees, while moving toward imposing rules.

Indeed, Gold found that companies are realizing "the current mostly wide-open, laissez fare approach to BYOD is not sustainable longer term, and that more controls and better strategy are needed."

As companies clamp down on BYOD, employees will likely find they will have to surrender their devices in order for IT departments to install technology to protect corporate data and communications. At the same time, manufacturers are providing more enterprise features in order to ensure their products get approved for work and play.

Samsung recently launched technology called SAFE that the vendor boasts brings enterprise-class security to selected devices. People who buy the Galaxy S III or S 4 smartphones, the Galaxy Note II smartphone/tablet hybrid or the Note 10.1 tablet have the option of including SAFE, which provides a container for corporate data and email in order to separate it from personal applications.

BlackBerry, which has always been considered the gold standard in device security, has added similar data-separating technology in the new Z10.

In time, enterprises are likely to give the nod to those devices that can meet the demands of consumers and businesses and shun those that don't. So instead of BYOD, the policy of the future will be BYODA, or bring-your-own-device-for-approval.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Apple is beefing up its security for users of its iTunes, App Store and iBookstore consumers. Starting today, Apple is offering two-step verification for Apple ID, the authentication mechanism it uses for customers using iPhone, iPad and Mac computers.

The move is long overdue for Apple. Two-step verification is a security feature that requires users to verify their identity in more than one way. Previously, if you bought an app in the App Store, Apple would only ask you for your password. That's a one-step verification. Two-step verification adds another hurdle -- asking users to swipe a card, for instance, or to enter a PIN texted to their phone. The idea is that each additional factor used to authenticate a customer makes it that much harder for spammers and crooks to log in as someone they're not.

Apple is enabling two-step verification as an "optional security feature" for Apple ID. To set it up, you must register one or more trusted devices -- say, your smartphone (though technically any device you control that can receive 4-digit verification codes via SMS text or the “Find My iPhone” feature of iOS will do). Apple will also send users a 14 character “Recovery Code” you can print out and save as a way of getting back into your account should you lose your smartphone or forget your password.

The Importance Of Two-Step Authentication

Many companies use multi-factor authentication. Google has offered two-step authentication to all users for more than two years. Facebook also offers it. 

The biggest cautionary tale about Apple security and two-step authentication recently is that of technology reporter Mat Honan. Honan, now a senior writer at Wired, had many of his important accounts hacked, including his Twitter, Google and Apple ID. The hackers, who Honan said were after his three letter @mat Twitter account, were able to remotely erase his iPhone, iPad and MacBook after gaining access to his Apple account. 

Apple, which lacked two-factor authentication at the time, more or less allowed the hackers into Honan’s accounts after they had tracked some personal information about him through his Amazon account. If Apple ID had two-factor authentication at the time, the malicious attack might well have stopped dead when trying to dive into Honan’s Apple accounts.

How To Set Up Two-Factor Authentication

Go to Apple’s support page here and follow the directions. It's fairly simple. First, you want to sign in to your account with “Manage your Apple ID.” Then click on “Password and Security.” Click on “Two-Step Verification” and follow the onscreen instructions.

Many smartphone users are clueless on how much access their unique IDs allow them. Many people, such as Honan, have most of their gadget and social accounts tied through Apple ID or like services. To stay safe, best to make sure that:

• your passwords are unique;
• your accounts aren't tied together through a single service (so that if it gets hacked, they all do);
• you use two-step authentication whenever possible.

Lead image via Flickr user thisisanicephoto, CC 2.0

In 2010, Apple captivated PC users with the release of the iPad. The thin and light tablet with exceptional battery life, ease of use and attractive design became the must-have mobile device for many corporate executives and employees. With nothing comparable in the Windows PC world, Apple had the business market to itself.

But Apple is a consumer electronics company at heart; so future iPad models remained devoid of features that were needed to meet corporate requirements for security, deployment, manageability, up-time, support and training. In the meantime, Microsoft, Intel and PC manufacturers picked themselves up and plotted their comeback. After three hard years, PC makers have finally released Windows tablets that tech analyst firm Moor Insights & Strategy says will likely reverse Apple's gains in the corporate market.

Apple's Party Is Over

"Enterprise tablets now exist that provide the best of both worlds between end user and IT, which puts the Apple in a precarious position of needing to add more robust enterprise features," Moor says in a white paper released Monday. "Until that point, Moor Insights & Strategy recommends enterprises re-evaluate their iPad pilot and deployments."

In other words, the enterprise party is over for Apple's tablets.

The new Windows tablets that finally get it right when it comes to meeting the needs of corporations and their employees are the Hewlett-Packard ElitePad 900, the Dell Latitude 10 and the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2. Moor makes a convincing argument as to why it believes these three devices will steer companies away from the iPad.

What's In the New Windows Tablets

Two crucial components are Microsoft's Windows 8 and Intel's Atom processor Z2760. The former provides a touch-based interface that's a key element of any tablet's appeal, while the former delivers the performance and battery life. In fact, a comparison review by AnandTech found that battery life with the Z2760 surpassed the iPad 4 when Web browsing.

Because Intel has built a competitive chip based on the X86 instruction set, the three tablets can run the latest touch-enabled apps for Windows 8, as well as Windows 7 apps. Among the most important app is Microsoft Office, the enterprise standard for office productivity. Office doesn't run on the iPad, and Apple's productivity tools are not regarded as being on par with Microsoft's.

There's also more baseline expandability with the Windows tablets. Depending on the vendor, the devices can come with a dock, USB, miniHDMI and microSD. Add other optional manufacturer-supported accessories and the iPad is left in the dust.

Other pluses include playing nicely with Active Directory, Microsoft's directory service for authenticating and authorizing users and computers in a Windows network. The tablets, through the Atom processor, also offer Intel security, which includes Secure Boot and the firmware-based Platform Trust Technology.

Overall, the fourth-generation iPad provides roughly a half-dozen enterprise features, while the Windows tablets have more than a dozen. Most important, those features are already in use in corporations, so there's no need to evaluate them before deployment, train IT staff or purchase new tools.

What this ultimately means is the Windows tablets will be less expensive when considering the total cost owning and managing the devices. In addition, they are more durable and as nicely designed as the new iPads, and have larger displays. The resolutions are less, but still more than adequate for businesses.

Some Disagreement

How much of a head start Apple has in the enterprise is tough to determine, since the company won't say how many iPads have been sold to businesses. However, a running tally of the top 100 iPad rollouts kept by SAP show that nearly 70 are K-12 schools, where Apple has always done well. Nevertheless, there are some notable names on the list, including the U.S. Air Force, United Airlines, British Airways, General Electric and the Walt Disney Company.

Not everyone agrees with Moor. Jack Gold, principal analyst for J. Gold Associates, believes the market momentum is still behind the iPad. Units within an organization, not the IT department, will often choose the tablet they want to use and many want the iPad.

"The iPad, and Android (tablets), will have a place as long as users demand it," Gold said. "And the Win8 devices will find a niche, particularly in those organizations that have company-owned assets that IT fully controls."

While Gold has a point, the advantages the latest Windows tablets have are too numerous for corporations to ignore.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia.

Wall Street analyst Brian White of Topeka Capital has built some kind of "Apple Monitor" thing where he monitors the health of the various companies in Asia that supply Apple with parts. For some reason, in February, the whole sector fell off a cliff, Business Insider reports.

White says business at key Apple suppliers dropped 31% in February, a lot worse than the usual 8% drop in February. In fact it was "the worst February we have on record," White reported.

Hon Hai, which owns Foxconn, Apple's big manufacturing partner, also had a 25% drop in February, White reported.

Reading Tea Leaves

This fits with other previous reports on Apple suppliers like one where Citigroup said demands for iPhones and iPads had slumped, based on reports on the supply channel. And the one where Digitimes said Apple had cut component orders. Or the one where the Wall Street Journal reported Apple had cut orders for phone parts, which we at ReadWrite also wrote about.

But back in January, one brave voice - Apple blogger John Gruber, aka the world's smartest man - declared the whole thing to be bullshit. There was nothing wrong with Apple. Apple was doing fine. Apple was the most bestest busiest profitablest company in the history of the world. As history has shown us, any organization that claws its way to the top will remain there forever. Thus Apple would never ever see its growth rate decline. Apple would never fall short of expectations. And if Apple failed to meet Wall Street expectations, it was not because Apple had a bad quarter, but because Wall Street got the numbers wrong. Because Wall Street bad, Apple good. Wall Street stupid, bloggers smart. Anyone who says otherwise is either a corrupt short-selling shill or a moron.

I had to admit, the power of Gruber's logic was overwhelming. And I think the same line of reasoning applies now. Who cares if all of Apple's suppliers suddenly saw their sales fall sharply in February? What does that have to do with Apple? How do you take some random numbers from companies you've never heard of that are located halfway around the planet and then apply what's happening to them to Apple? 

Pay No Attention To That Analyst Behind The Screen

Oh, sweet, sweet, innocent Apple, the beacon of innovation and all that is good and wonderful and pure. Why do these malcontents feel the need to smear you? 

Who is this analyst, Brian White of Topeka Capital? Has anyone ever heard of him? And what is Topeka Capital? Is it even a real company? Why have I never heard of them before? Are they some kind of shell corporation created by hedge fund managers and short-sellers to bash Apple and manipulate the stock? Frankly I don't trust anything they say. 

Bottom line: Everything is fine. Nothing to worry about. Apple is doing great. Now go back to sleep and have another sweet dream about the iWatch, which is going to change your life. Totally.

There are so many reasons to love this photo of Apple marketing boss Phil Schiller holding up an iPad Mini. For one thing, it captures the kind of hushed sanctimony and reverence with which Apple introduces things that are, essentially, little plastic gizmos. But mostly I love Phil's weird off-camera gaze, which reminds me of this photo from Stepbrothers. What is he looking at? What's he thinking? Is he fearful, even then, on the day of the introduction, that this cool new device is going to kill sales of the bigger iPads and thus drag down Apple's profit margins?

(See also Is The iPad MIni The "Real" iPad?)

If so, then Phil was right, because apparently that's what's happening, according to a report from Digitimes, which claims Apple is cutting back orders for components used in the big iPad and now expects to sell fewer of them than originally expected. Mostly because it's selling so many of these goddamn iPad Minis.

Digitimes says Apple originally planned to sell 60 million big iPads and 40 million Minis, but that now Apple expects to sell 33 million big ones and 55 million little guys. 

That's great news if you're the product manager in charge of the iPad Mini - you're having a blowout year! But you'll notice that the new sum total of all iPad sales for the year stands at 88 million, which is less than the previously expected 100 million. This is not good. 

My Entire Premise Could Be False, In Which Case, Sorry

Then again this entire report could be bullshit, since it comes from Digitimes, and Digitimes is perhaps not the most reliable publication in the world, as reflected in the headline the story to which I linked, which mentions issues with Apple's "supplpy" (sic) chains.

But if the report is true, this means Apple will sell fewer overall iPads (of all kinds) than originally expected. And more of what it does sell will be the less-expensive Mini model.

That in turn means Apple is likely to make less profit margin, as the financial wizards at Business Insider point out.

Does Phil Schiller sometimes lie awake at night wishing Apple had never made that damn Mini? Does he lurk outside Apple stores and curse the cheap bastards who keep buying Minis just because they're $170 cheaper than the big one? 

Maybe not. Maybe Phil and his team figure they pulled off a pretty amazing coup. They milked ridiculous margins out of the original iPad for a long, long time. And now that big iPad serves a purpose - it makes the iPad Mini look cheap. Which it's not, considering that you can get roughly comparable Android tablets for a lot less. 

(See also The iPad MIni's Killer Feature = Price.)

Apple stock is up a bit today to $427, so apparently Wall Street is taking the Digitimes report with a grain of salt. 

Photo by Reuters. 

Seems like only yesterday Apple was a simple company for Wall Street to understand. The products were great, demand was insane, and there was nowhere for the stock to go but up, up, up. Which is exactly what happened.

Those days are over. Apple’s stock has dropped 40% since last fall, from $705 to $426. This has happened even as the overall stock market has soared to new highs.

Wall Street has no idea what to make of this. Is Apple the greatest deal ever, or is Apple doomed? It depends who you ask. The opinions are all over the map. It’s actually kind of entertaining seeing Wall Street know-it-alls suddenly look so baffled.

Goldman Sachs says Apple is one of the most undervalued companies in the world. By that reasoning, the stock is a steal.

Citigroup says demand for iPhones and iPads is lagging, and that Apple won’t even hit its own revenue targets for this quarter.

(See also Apple May Never Regain Its Status As The World’s Most Valuable Company.)

It’s Not About Numbers

Wall Street guys will fret about how much cash Apple has, how cheap the stock is relative to earnings, what’s happening with gross margins, and so on.

But Apple’s stock price never had much to do with fundamentals. Apple is about emotion. It’s about narrative. It’s about mystery. It’s about secrecy and leaks, rumors and hype. It’s about people standing in line outside stores as if they’re going to a rock concert.

Apple does best when it lives in the realm that Arthur C. Clarke described when he wrote that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Magic is what Apple was selling when it introduced the iPhone and iPad. As long as Steve Jobs kept pulling rabbits out of his hat, customers (and investors) were dazzled.

The problem is now we’ve come to expect magic from Apple. And lately Apple hasn’t delivered.

Sure, Apple is a terrific, well-run company with a business that every company in the world must envy. The iPhone and iPad are terrific products, and Apple keeps making them better.

But: there’s no magic.

Wall Street keeps trying to tell this story in numbers. Gross margins. Net margins. Growth rates. Market share.

But numbers are almost beside the point.

Apple is a hits business, like a movie studio. Right now it needs a new blockbuster franchise. Whether that’s an iWatch or an iTV almost doesn’t matter. Apple just needs something. Something new, something exciting, something that gets people standing in lines outside stores again.

Apple needs magic. Whether Tim Cook and his team are capable of creating it remains to be seen. That uncertainty, I suspect, is what has shaved $260 billion from Apple’s market value.

The iPhone and iPad rumor mills have become a tired and played out annual rite of the gadget wars. When are they coming? What will they look like? Apple rumors are big business, even when they are horribly inaccurate.

The latest rumors making the circuit concern the timing of Apple releases for the fifth-generation iPad and the so-called iPhone “5S.” According to Rene Ritchie from Apple-centric blog iMore, we could see the next iPads coming in April. The iPhone 5S is likely scheduled for late summer, probably August. 

Too Soon? Another New iPad

Apple has accelerated its iPad release schedule over the past year. The first three iPads came out once a year, with announcements coming in March. Apple then flipped the script at the end of 2012, announcing both the iPad Mini and the fourth-generation iPad at the end of October. Here we are getting a new iPad, allegedly, about six months later.

This is will probably not comfort Apple consumers that felt duped after buying the third-generation “new” iPad last year only to see the fourth-generation come out in time for the holiday shopping season. People seem to want to have this odd notion that when they get the “new” iPad, it is actually, you know, new. 

Ritchie believes that the iPad Mini 2 (that’s what he is calling it) could also be coupled with the fifth-generation iPad release. 

iPhone 5S: Another One, Just Like The Other One

An August release for an iPhone 5S makes sense. Late summer will be almost a year since the release of the iPhone 5 and in time for the back-to-school shopping season with enough time to still be popular for the holidays. 

What is more disappointing is that the iPhone 5S is said to be basically the same damn phone that the iPhone 5 is, just a little thinner with a better processor and better camera optics. 

Big Shrug. 

The important bits of the next iPhone will likely be improvements to the iOS operating system and maybe iCloud that is actually useful. We’ll see, but the iPhone 5S rumors from Ritchie are not exactly inspiring. 

Making Sense Of The Apple Release Schedule

Apple has historically been very good about announcing something new about once a quarter. The pattern had been an iPad in Q1, iOS and maybe Mac updates in Q2 around Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference, then iPhone around the end of Q3. Apple threw in the iPad Mini and fourth-generation iPad in Q4 last year for good measure.

This year, we have heard nothing from Apple about a Q1 release. Last year’s release of the iPad Mini likely cannibalized the 2013 Q1 release, so that is not much of a surprise. WWDC is still likely to give us news in Q2 and then there is the iPhone in August for the Q3 release. 

Then there are the outliers: An Apple TV and the supposed iWatch. 

Nobody has really been able to confirm that an actual Apple television (not the little streaming box) is an real thing. We know more about the so-called iWatch at this point, which rumors point to coming in Q4 this year. 

For the Apple cultist in all of us, that is probably the best guess for you gadget buying year. We won’t actually know when Apple will release its new products for 2013 until Cupertino sends out the invites. 

Free iPhone and iPad apps from Apple's App Store pose a greater privacy risk than free apps from Google Play. That's the finding of the latest study by Appthority, which is in the business of evaluating mobile apps for companies.

Why the App Store Loses

On the surface, the Appthority study — released Tuesday during the RSA security conference in San Francisco  — appears to find iOS and Android apps equally culpable of privacy violations. Of the 10 top-selling apps the firm tested in each of five categories, 60% of the iOS apps shared data with advertising and analytics networks. So did 50% of Android apps.

A closer look, however, revealed that iOS apps were far leakier than their Android counterparts. A full 60% of iOS apps gathered your location data, 54% vacuumed up your contact lists and 14% siphoned information from your calendar. With Android apps, those percentages were 42%, 20% and zero, respectively — not exactly laudable, but certainly an improvement over the performance of Apple apps.

Encrypting user data was not a big priority for apps on either platform. All of the iOS apps sent unencrypted data to ad networks, while 92% of Android apps did the same.

Appthority says iOS apps fall short because ad networks are willing to pay more for user data from Apple devices, giving developers a greater incentive to gather and hand over as much information as possible. At the same time, there are more developers making iOS apps, so they have to work harder at making a buck — and that apparently tempts some to compromise on privacy.

"Developers are struggling to monetize, because it's hard to run a company giving apps for free or selling apps for 99 cents," says Domingo Guerra, president and co-founder of Appthority. "So, in turn, they use the ad networks to try and get money, and the ad networks will pay more money if the developers share more data on the users."

The Overall Numbers

Appthority tested business, education, entertainment and finance apps, as well as games. Entertainment apps were the worst when it came to user privacy. This category had the highest number of apps that tracked location and shared data with ad networks. Education and finance apps posed the smallest threat — relatively speaking, at least — to user privacy.

Individual developers built roughly 80% of the apps tested. Companies with iOS apps in the study included Apple, Intuit, Kids Games Club and PayPal. On the Android side, the companies included Imangi Studios, Intuit, PayPal and Intellijoy.

Appthority's last report was in July 2012, when the apps tested posed a slightly higher risk to user privacy. However, the study was done differently. It analyzed the top 50 free apps in each platform, regardless of category.

Last year's study also showed iOS apps gathering more user data than Android apps, though less than iOS apps this year.

The Trend

Guerra predicts the next Appthority study in three months will show a decline in risky app behavior, thanks to recent government crackdowns on online privacy abuse.

This month, the Federal Trade Commission announced an $800,000 settlement with social networking start-up Path, which was charged with uploading users' address book data without permission and gathering personal information on several thousand children without parental consent.

In addition, some states are also taking a hard stand on privacy. California Attorney General Kamala Harris last year formed a Privacy Enforcement and Protection Unit to prosecute companies that violated the state's privacy laws.

While prosecuting scofflaws can be a deterrent, sometimes the best way to protect privacy is to pay for an app, rather than hunt for something similar that's free. In general, paid apps gather less user data than free apps, Guerra says. "Your privacy is worth more than 99 cents, so just buy the app."

Image courtesy of ShutterStock

Amazon’s Cloud Player is coming to the iPad and iPad Mini. The e-commerce giant announced this morning that it has released a tablet-optimized version of its music player to the Apple App Store. The app will be free and allow users to play or download music stored in their Cloud Player accounts to their iPads or play, manage or create playlists from music already stored on their devices. 

Users can play any music purchased through Amazon for free. The Cloud Player will allow up to 250 songs to be uploaded to the service for free as well. After that, users can pay $24.99 a year to upload up to 250,000 songs.

Amazon wants to expand its digital content empire beyond the traditional book fare. The Cloud Player is Amazon’s answer to music hosting services like Google Now and Spotify. Amazon is moving the Cloud Player through the widespread app ecosystem, much in the same way that it did with its Kindle app, which is available on basically every operating system and any device size available.

The Amazon Cloud Player is also available for the Kindle Fire, Roku TV streaming box, Android smartphones and tablets, Samsung TV and Sonos devices. Amazon released the Cloud Player app for iPhone and iPod Touch in summer 2012. 

Who says the iPad wasn't meant for creation? Sure, you can't exactly run Final Cut Pro or Adobe InDesign on Apple's tablet (nor would you really want to), but the device has come a long way since 2010. One category of apps that demonstrates the iPad's creative prowess is its growing selection of photo-editing software.

Indeed, there are now a ton of apps that let you manipulate images on your iPad with no shortage of vintage filters, quirky effects  and single-purpose gimmick apps. Those can be fun, but we wanted to focus on the super-popular, fully-featured editing apps that seem best to supplant desktop options for some users. 

Let's be honest. You're probably not going to walk around town holding up your iPad to take photos. If you do, we assure you that you'll look ridiculous doing it. It's also unnecessary. With syncing options like Photo Stream and Dropbox and the camera-connecting accessories available for iPad, you're free to snap photos on a more appropriate device and then access them on your iPad, where the editing experience keeps getting more and more delightful. 

5. Process 

To anybody who's accustomed to just about any digital photo editing software, Process will seem a bit unconventional. That's because the usual on-screen conventions for editing photos have been abandoned in favor of a system in which changes are made by adding "Processes" to the image. All the standard adjustments you'd likely make to an image – blur, brightness, contrast, curves, highlights, etc. – are each available as a preset called a Process, which once applied, can be adjusted manually. 

Process has its limitations. You can only apply edits, effects and filters to the entire image and can't drill down, use brushes or tweak individual details. It's not the most capable app out there, but it has an incredibly simple interface, making it a breeze for pretty much anyone to use. 

PROS: Super-simple UI, intuitive controls and commonly-needed adjustments.
CONS: Limited functionality. 
PRICE: $14.99 
Download From iTunes

4. Photo Forge 2

If you're looking for a more Photoshop-esque editing experience,  Photoforge 2 is a solid choice. It's popular among professional photographers who need a mobile solution for quick edits. In addition to all the typical photo adjustments like color balance, curves, contrast and the like, Photo Forge lets you add Instagram-style effects and simulate specific lenses, film types and processing techniques. Unlike most iOS photo editing apps, this one supports layers like those popularized by Photoshop on the desktop years ago. 

Photo Forge 2 is rather powerful, but all those features are packed into an interface that's anything but intimidating. It's a cleanly designed interface with intuitive controls. 

PROS: Feature-packed, supports layers, masking and high-res photographs. Upload photos via FTP. 
CONS:  Occasional performance issues reported by some users.
PRICE: $3.99
Download from iTunes

3. SnapSeed

Everybody loves SnapSeed. It has one of the highest ratings among photo apps in iTunes and constantly gets rave reviews. It's very good. Its super-simplified interface and grid of common adjustment options is reminiscent of Process, but with far more capability and granularity packed into each option. 

SnapSeed's touch gesture-based functionality takes full advantage of the iPad's form factor, desktop editing conventions be damned. Swipe your finger up and down to select the type of adjustment you want to make, then slide across the image to the left or right to tweak its intensity. You can even make selective adjustments that target only one part of the photo and blend it seamlessly with the rest of the image. Stuff like this can get pretty tedious to try and pull off in Photoshop. 

Like Process, SnapSeed doesn't give you total control, but what it does give you is enough to generate some stunning images. 

PROS: Intuitive, touch-based editing, selective adjustments and no price tag.
CONS: Not a fully-featured photo-editing app. It has its limitations. 
PRICE: Free
Download from iTunes

2. Adobe Photoshop Touch 

For awhile there, it looked like Adobe had given up on mobile photo editing, as app after app one-upped its underwhelming Photoshop Express app. Then it launched Photoshop Touch. 

Photoshop Touch brings many of the desktop's apps most useful features to a more minimalist, easy-to-learn interface on the iPad. It's no CS6, but Photoshop Touch supports such desktop staples as layers, the magic wand tool, the paint brush, clone stamp, text, gradients and a range of filters. That's all in addition to standard stuff like saturation, brightness/contrast, color balance and noise reduction. 

Realizing how unlikely you are to hold up your iPad to take photos like a goofball, Adobe went beyond the device's local Camera Roll and integrated Photoshop Touch with Google Image Search, Facebook and its own Creative Cloud.  

PROS: Familiar Photoshop interface, but more simplified and intuitive. Integration with Facebook and other photo sources. Built-in tutorials. 
CONS: Typography options could be better. FTP export would be a plus for pros. 
PRICE: $9.99
Download from iTunes

1. Photogene 

Photogene is another app that often gets a nod from professional photographers. It's easy to see why. Like Photoshop Touch and Photo Forge, Photogene is a feature-packed app that supports the kind of workflow that pros need to tone, resize and adjust their photos. And again, like those apps, it's easy to use and reasonably priced. 

Of all the pro-level iPad photo-editing apps, Photogene seems to have packed the most options in. Unlike Photoshop Touch, Photogene doesn't support layers or making granular selections within an image, but it more than makes up for those shortcomings with a huge selection of manual and preset editing options. You can do the one-size-fits-all Instagram-style filter or make modifications manually.  Photogene lets you FTP images to a server, which will allow it to fit into the workflow of pros on the go. 

PROS: A wide range of adjustments, filters, effects, presets and  export options, including FTP. 
CONS: No layers 
PRICE: $2.99
Download from iTunes

Other Noteworthy Options 

There are plenty of other options. Apple's iPhoto and Aviary's iPad app (which is free) both deserve serious consideration by anybody who wants to edit photos on their tablet. Luminance and Gridditor are worthy of the hype they've received recently as well. 

Which iPad photo-editing app is best for you? It depends on how serious of a photographer you are, how much control you want, and how much you're willing to pay for an app.  Photogene, Photoshop Touch and Photo Forge 2 are good enough to work for pros (most of whom will undoubtedly still turn to the desktop for serious editing needs), but all of the above options are accessible enough to be used by beginners.

Lead photo by Flickr user nayukim. 

If I drop my iPhone 5 on the sidewalk, how easily will it be to repair the screen? What if my Kindle Fire's battery stops holding a charge? When we're shopping for new tablets and smartphones, we seldom take these kinds of things into consideration. Most of us just presume nothing bad will happen. And if it does, well, we'll deal with it when it happens. 

As far as the manufacturers are concerned, they're usually more interested in getting customers to stand in line for the new gadget in another year or two, so making it easy to fix today's devices is hardly a priority. If you look at the user manual of an iPad, Kindle Fire or Nexus 7, you won't see instructions on replacing the battery - or opening the device for any purpose. iPhones are held together using proprietary pentalobe screws specifically designed to keep you out of your device's innards. 

Whether we like it or not, we're living in the Age of Unrepairable Machines. As our devices get more portable and sleek, our ability to tweak and repair the hardware diminishes. (The ability to work with the software, of course, is a separate question.)

Some argue that this is okay. Most of us wouldn't want to fix our refrigerators or our watches if they break, so why bother with tablets and smartphones?  

Computers Used To Be Hobbyist Favorites

The thing is, historically, computers have been easily modified by their owners. In fact, that ability to fix, upgrade and otherwise tinker with computers was a big part of the genre's early appeal. So while you can't crack open an iPad to add more memory like you can with your laptop, there are still plenty of consumers who would prefer the do-it-yourself route to replacing busted screens and dead batteries. 

But how realistic is that in 2013? Just how fixable is that tablet you're thinking of buying?

Thankfully you don't have to wait until the screen shatters to find out. The folks over at iFixIt have been tearing down the hottest new gadgets as they're released and posting detailed, step-by-step reports on the guts of each one. We put together this handy chart of how iFixIt ranks popular smartphones and tablets:

Note: If you're the DIY Mr(s).-Fix-It type, we definitely recommend reading through your gadget's teardown report with care before breaking out the 54-bit driver set. And keep in mind that none of these manufacturers intend for you to open their devices, so do so at your own risk. 

Photo courtesy of iFixIt.

Want to break into someone's new iPhone? It's easy! First you click the emergency call button, hold down the power button, click cancel, tap the numbers 112, begin the call, and then quickly end the call. Got it? Part two: return to the passcode screen and start holding the power button. In the fraction of a second before the 'slide to power off' option appears, tap the emergency call button again.

Presto! You're in. Try it a few dozen times and you'll definitely get it. Maybe.

This iOS 6.1 exploit, which is currently enjoying its 15 minutes on the Web, is obviously a large and puzzling security flaw in Apple's iOS Passcode Lock system. But there are a couple of reasons why iPhone owners who keep their software up-to-date shouldn't worry too much. 

First off, this trick is incredibly hard to pull off. I tried for roughly an hour to break into my own iPhone, but I just couldn't make it happen -- those button presses have to be expertly timed. Unless a would-be iPhone hacker has some serious gaming skills, it likely won't be easy for them to nail this on the first, or even fifth, try.

Check out the YouTube video below to see how it works. If you can master the bypass, you would theoretically be all set to steal someone's phone and perform meaningless actions. 

That leads to the second point, which is that if you do happen to get through the Passcode Lock, all you can do is play around in the phone app itself. That is fortunately far less risky in a personal-information sense than, say, access to other apps such as Notes (which might contain more sensitive info) or Facebook (which could lead to cruel hacking such as like self-deprecating status updates or a rude private message or two). When you really think about it, only so much harm can come from accessing someone's contacts and making some calls. 

Now, if a theoretical hacker does access your contacts, he or she could also get into your photo albums by way of trying to set a new contact photo. But that doesn't pose much more of a risk than accessing the phone app does. (Unless you happen to keep particularly incriminating pictures on your photo roll. But that one's on you.)

The lesson here is simple. While of course Apple should fix this bug, there's no reason to abandon the iPhone over the purported permeability of the Passcode Lock. A smarter move would be to ensure that you have full access to the My Find iPhone service, which would let you locate the device, and wipe it if you so choose, in the 45 minutes it'll take the thief to break in. If he ever does, that is.

Image via Apple