• Apple number cruncher Horace Dediu at Asymco took at stab at calculating how much of Apple’s revenue comes from Google. What he came up with suggests that Apple makes more money from Google than Google does from Android:  ”$1.4 billion from Google to Apple vs. $600 million from Android to Google.” Read his analysis to find out how he got there.
• Turns out the Apple retail juggernaut he helped create can’t be duplicated in a few quarters. Former Apple VP and current J.C. Penny CEO Ron Johnson is coming under fire from his investors for falling sales and a huge stock drop just six months after he joined, Reuters reports.
• There’s been a lot of talk about Apple doing a MacBook with a high-resolution Retina display. Sounds great, but how feasible would that be? ZDNet does the analysis.
• The Flashback malware threat exposed some serious lapses in Mac security. But what did the creators get out of it? Pretty much nothing, according to Symantec: The botnet “managed to generate around 400,000 ad clicks out of roughly 10 million being displayed,” and they’re having trouble collecting from pay-per-click services who employ anti-fraud measures, says Ars Technica.
• Just a day after Greenpeace protested outside Apple’s headquarters about its data center’s reliance on coal power, Reuters reports that Apple plans to build solar farms next to its North Carolina data center and move toward only renewable resources at the site by the end of this year. Katie wrote about this earlier in the year.

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9to5Mac cites “trusted sources” who say that iOS 6, the next version of the software to power the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, will ditch Google Maps as the source for the Maps app in favor of an Apple-built solution: a maps app whose technology is derived from several companies Apple has acquired over the past few years. It too will be called Maps:

The application design is said to be fairly similar to the current Google Maps program on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, but it is described as a much cleaner, faster, and more reliable experience.

According to the report, the app icon itself is also getting a slightly new look. It will still be a map view of Apple headquarters in Cupertino, but will have “a new color scheme.”

One of the features that Apple plans to highlight is its own version of Google’s Street View, a 3D-mapping mode. Here’s how it’s described:

The 3D mode does not come enabled by default, but users simply need to click a 3D button that is conveniently and visibly stored in the app. Perhaps under the fold like the current traffic, pin, and map view buttons. This 3D mode is said to essentially be technology straight from C3 Technologies: beautiful, realisitic graphics based on de-classified missile target algorithms.

Here’s why this report isn’t at all implausible:

• Apple did quietly buy up a bunch of mapping technology companies several years ago: PlaceBase in July 2009, Poly 9 in 2010 and C3 late last year. It’s reasonable to think that this would follow a similar pattern to what Apple did with Siri: buy an outside company for its technology and a few years down the line incorporate it into iOS.
• Apple always prefers not to be dependent on third-party technologies. It is at a place where it designs its own software and hardware, even down to the chips and battery and almost all of the key apps that come with iOS devices — with the exception of the Maps app and YouTube. In other words, moving from a third-party solution to an in-house one eventually would be very much in line with Apple’s philosophy and history.
• In particular, Apple probably would like to have as little to do with Google as possible. This is the same company that Steve Jobs promised to go “thermonuclear” on and accusing it of “grand theft” in designing Android. It makes sense not to incorporate product from one of your chief rivals in mobile into your most important product.

The report also claims that iOS 6 will be introduced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference scheduled for the second week of June. Be sure to head to 9to5Mac for videos and photos of what the 3D mapping product could look like.

Update: AllThingsD says it’s independently confirmed this news and hears that the new Maps app will “blow your head off.”

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In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek Wednesday, Page says that with Apple the “Android differences were actually for show” and that Steve Jobs and company created the feud between the two companies for their own benefit. Page said:

I think that served their interests. For a lot of companies, it’s useful for them to feel like they have an obvious competitor and to rally around that. I personally believe that it’s better to shoot higher. You don’t want to be looking at your competitors. You want to be looking at what’s possible and how to make the world better.

History shows that Google is not at all above exploiting the perceived battle between Apple and itself over iOS and Android for its own gain. The most obvious example is VP of Engineering Vic Gundotra’s speech at Google I/O in May 2010. At the time, Android was not yet the hit it is today, and Apple’s iPhone, iPad and mobile OS were runaway successes. Here’s what Gundotra said to the gathering of developers that day about why Google made Android:

If we did not act, we faced a draconian future. Where one man, one company, one carrier was the future.

That was Google using the idea of a philosophical battle over the future of mobile technology with Apple and Jobs — and AT&T, which at the time had a monopoly on the iPhone in the U.S. — to motivate developers. When Eric Schmidt was Google’s CEO, he answered numerous questions about Android’s approach by emphasizing the “open” nature of Android as opposed to the “closed” approach favored by Apple: clearly presenting Android as “not Apple.”  This all served Google’s interests pretty well: Android now runs on more than half of smartphones.

Jobs was certainly not above the same tactics. In early 2010, Jobs spoke about Google and Android to Apple employees, reportedly saying:

“We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business,” Mr. Jobs told Apple employees during an all-hands meeting shortly after the public introduction of the iPad in January, according to two employees who were there and heard the presentation. “Make no mistake: Google wants to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them.”

So, yes, Page is correct that Apple did use the feud to fire up its own troops and to rally its own developers — but it’s disingenuous to say Apple is the only one that got mileage out of  it.

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Before sharing my impressions, let me emphasize that they are just that: my impressions. We all work differently, have varying expectations from our very personal mobile devices, and have unique needs. So although I am mentioning Android tablets, my intent isn’t to start another futile “iPad vs. the others” war. I’m lucky in that I can offer perspective by using an iPad and the others, so take from this what you will and buy what works best for you.

It’s like the old iPad, only better

There is little external difference between the new iPad and prior models; most people would be hard pressed to pick them apart in a lineup. Sure, the most recent iPad is slightly thicker and heavier, but neither is a detriment to the overall experience. You can still tote the iPad and carry much less weight around when compared to a laptop, for example. I still believe that for me, a larger tablet is less portable than a 7-inch slate. I generally take my Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet everywhere, while the iPad is mainly used at home.

As an HDTV owner since 2001, I am all about high-resolution displays, and the new 2048 x 1536 screen on the new iPad doesn’t disappoint. If I had to pick, I would say it’s the device’s best hardware feature by far. I may place a higher emphasis on displays than most, but my thought is: This is what you look at for every iPad activity, and it’s also your entire interface for interaction with the device.

The screen is awesome, but the Web isn’t ready for it

Text is supremely clear, making Web pages really pop; the browser is fast to render and navigate. I’m also loving the screen for my Kindle books. Low-resolution images on the Web look terrible, however, and this affects some apps too. I was browsing homes on Zillow last night and all the pictures of properties looked like a pixellated CompuServe page from the early 1990s. (That means poor if you are too young to know what our old dial-up Web was like!)

That will change over time, but for now, the new Retina display shines a spotlight on these low-quality images. I am also not thrilled by 1080p videos; sure, they look great, but they have black bands above and below the picture. I actually get nearly the same size and perceived quality with a 720p movie on my 7.7-inch tablet and its 1280 x 720 resolution.

Apps that can take advantage of the new iPad are excellent

I have a mix of apps on the iPad, some that are optimized for the Retina display and many that aren’t. The former are fantastic, and the latter aren’t a problem. Real Racing 2, for example, was quickly optimized and you can immediately see the extra detail in the vehicles: improved reflections and shadowing, which make the game more realistic. And the new quad-core GPU in Apple’s A5X chip powers the graphics handily.

Older apps benefit from the chip too and are pixel-doubled to fit the full iPad display. They are not as clear as software built specifically for the Retina display, but they appear at least as good, if not a little better than on older iPads. That’s important, because there are relatively few apps specifically made for the new iPad’s display. Instead of scaling up low-resolution phone apps, which is what Android tablets initially did, Apple is scaling up tablet apps. That means all the controls, text, images and such fit the screen and are rendered in the proper size. The same apps work across all iPad models as a result.

Finally: a usable camera in a tablet

Most people suggest that using a tablet to take pictures simply isn’t done because it looks silly to hold up a giant viewfinder. There’s merit to the argument, but I would suggest an additional reason: No tablet camera has been good enough to bother using over a smartphone camera. Unless you have an iPhone 4S, the new iPad’s camera is good enough. Why? It’s the same hardware found in the iPhone 4, which is the most used camera on photo-sharing site Flickr. I haven’t taken a bad shot yet with the iPad. Here’s a recent example:

I will take things a step further: By pairing this camera with a super high-resolution display and improved — or in the case of iPhoto, new — imaging software, I think more people will turn to their iPad for stills and 1080p video. Add in the connectivity of Wi-Fi or LTE and the new iPad truly is a portable video studio. Will folks with a DSLR or professional photographers dump their cameras for iPads? Nope, but most people buying an iPad will be more than happy with the camera’s capabilities.

Minor gripes and overblown issues

Since this meme has been hitting the rounds of late, let me assure you: Yes, the iPad can run warm. That’s not surprising, considering it has the Retina display and essentially the same computer chip as last year with added quad-core graphics. Apple didn’t do a major chip redesign on next-generation ARM architecture, so it shouldn’t surprise that the chip can run hotter, especially when gaming in high-def or better. And the new display requires far more power to backlight: 7 watts at full brightness vs. 2.7 watts on the older iPad. More power usage generally means a warmer environment. But while the heat difference is noticeable, I haven’t found it to be an issue.

I would have liked to have seen a higher-resolution front-facing camera in the new iPad, but hey, Apple has to leave something to improve for next time, right? The FaceTime experience is generally no different as a result. Also slightly disappointing to me — although iPad LTE owners are surely happy — is that there is no battery-life improvement on the Wi-Fi model, even though the battery capacity of Apple’s tablet is 70 percent greater. Again, it comes down to the display, which uses up the juice. Still, I can use the iPad all day as a primary device and easily make it through the day on a single charge, so battery life isn’t an issue.

The real difference between the iPad and “the others”

Again, I’m not trying to start a platform fight here, but it’s worth mentioning that you give something up when deciding between buying an iPad or an Android tablet — or a Kindle Fire, for that matter. But you gain something at the same time, and perhaps this will help people decide which tablet is best for them. I am intentionally omitting any jailbreak, rooting or custom ROM arguments, because if you know about them, you already know which tablet platform is best for you.

With iOS, you give up the ability to have total control over your device. Apple’s iOS software sets the limits of what you can and can’t do. The iTunes App Store is the app gatekeeper: If an app you want isn’t there, you can’t get it. And if you want the ability to use a storage card, you have to buy Apple’s camera kit accessory. In return, you get synergy: well-designed hardware that works extremely well with its specific software and a wide media ecosystem to boot.

On the Android side, you generally have total control to make your device look the way you want and run the apps you want. You can even have intelligent apps control your hardware so that when you leave your home, the Wi-Fi radio is disabled to save juice, for example. Apps come from Google’s store, but a developer could also post their software installation on the Web and you can use it. You also have a vast range of hardware to choose from. The downside is that all of this freedom and choice can be maddening for software developers and for carriers to keep the devices up to date. And you’re also giving up personal information with integrated Google services for its ad business.

Amazon’s Kindle is more like the Apple approach but built on Google’s software. There is a clean, simple interface that focuses on the primary activities Amazon can offer: Web browsing, e-books, music, videos, curated software and Amazon’s own storefront. You have less control, but for a low starting price, you are giving some of that up for an integrated experience. If you use Amazon’s Silk browser, you’re turning over your surfing habits to Amazon instead of Google.

Is the new iPad “the best” tablet?

Which is best? That’s a personal decision. I have used devices across all platforms, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. For most, however, the iPad is the closest to that, given its leading sales figures. And ultimately, you have to make a decision on which platform you want to use first. Interestingly, I have been running the developer preview of Mac OS X 10.8 for the past two months on my MacBook Air, and because of that, I’m turning more and more toward the iPhone and new iPad.

Integration of notes, reminders and notifications — all features that started on iOS — are now part of the desktop experience. I’m finding that to be a huge benefit as the iOS/OS X environments keep these data points in sync for me, and I think others will feel the same way after Apple releases OS X Mountain Lion this summer. Between that and the impressive new hardware, the company is sure to generate even more record sales for its new iPad, which offers a great tablet experience for the broadest range of activities in exchange for Apple’s constraints.

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It’s not just Apple’s mobile software that has been caught with this loophole, but Google’s Android apps too — the Times followed up last week on its iOS story with another demonstration showing that Android apps could also access the user’s photos unbeknownst to them. Schumer wants the FTC to set its sights on Google in this case too.

Saying what most logical people are thinking, Schumer writes: “These uses go well beyond what a reasonable user understands himself to be consenting to when he allows an app to access data on the phone for purposes of the app’s functionality.”

He adds:

Smartphone makers should be required to put in place safety measures to ensure third party applications are not able to violate a user’s personal privacy by stealing photographs or data that the user did not consciously decide to make public … When someone takes a private photo, on a private cell phone, it should remain just that: private.

It’s good to know our elected officials are paying attention. Though this call for investigation could fall into the category of “too little, too late” since Apple is rumored to be working on a fix.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment, and it has not said anything publicly despite the brouhaha that’s broken out over the photo libraries — though it would be just like Apple to not say a word, and just issue a fix.

Google also appears to know this is a problem and has made noises that it’s time to think about an update.

Photo from Sen. Schumer’s official Flickr feed.

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Whalen said that the company has been “talking to everybody” about Medfield and that the company first “took a conscious decision to focus on Android,” since “at the moment [Intel's] customers are asking for Android” but that iOS remains a consideration as it continues to grow. But Apple has little reason to want to open its arms to Intel’s mobile processors and plenty of reason to keep them closed, in fact.

It’s not that Intel’s efforts aren’t praiseworthy: The company needs a strong mobile platform, and Medfield looks strong. It’s an SoC that seems like it can hold its own with ARM’s latest, and there is even good reason to believe it will have a strong foothold in the Android market a year from now, not the least of which is Motorola’s endorsement of the platform.

But don’t expect to see Apple’s mobile devices rush to embrace x86 architecture anytime soon. Cupertino has done a lot to make sure that it maintains total control over its chip designs, which are based on licensed ARM architecture. It has acquired two chip-making firms and no doubt worked out extensive, high-volume fabrication contracts with chip-making partners like Samsung to ensure that it can deliver an SoC that is carefully tailored to work with its mobile software and hardware. That affords it advantages when it comes to system performance, power consumption and more; so much of an advantage, in fact, that an analyst recently said Apple had a leg up on Intel when it came to mobile chips.

Apple may have switched to Intel from PowerPC, a tech it helped create, for its Mac line of computers, but the mobile market is not the PC market. Intel still has plenty to prove when it comes to its ability to operate in the realm of smartphones and tablets, and for now, Apple has invested years of development time and huge amounts of money in making ARM-based designs that perfectly suit its software and hardware.

Apple’s recent acquisition of Anobit shows that it wants more, not less control over its product components. That desire for control combined with Whalen’s caginess when talking about Apple specifically lead me to believe it will still be a long time (if ever) before we see Intel architecture in an iOS device.

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Regional differences in some areas showed strong discrepancies between the growth rate of the two platforms. In Germany and the U.S., for instance, iOS far outstripped Android’s growth, with around 15 or 16 times the average new device activations, vs about 11 to 12 times for Android hardware. The iPad and the iPod seem to make the difference; in countries where iOS beat Android, there were many more of both devices activated. In the U.S., Localytics saw 21 times more iPod touches activated than usual, vs 14 times more iPhones, for example.

Android did very well in Asia and parts of Europe, while Apple dominated in key markets like the U.S., the U.K. and Germany. Of the top 20 countries in terms of mobile device popularity, Google’s mobile platform grew more quickly in 14; still, Apple pulled ahead overall, since Android grew approximately 12 times faster than usual v. Apple’s 12.5 times improvement.

Localytics compiled the data using information from its mobile analytics platform, which is in use on more than 200 million devices worldwide via its development partners.

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HTC CEO Peter Chou said on Tuesday the company already has a workaround ready for the feature found to be in violation of Apple’s patent by the U.S. trade regulatory body. According to Chou, the feature has already been removed from its phones following the ruling on Monday. The feature in question is something most smartphone users have come to expect — for example, the ability to recognize phone numbers or addresses in a note or email, then open the relevant application when that data is tapped — so while working around the issue has immediate benefits for HTC, it might also have negative lasting impact.

Google Mobile SVP Andy Rubin said during a news conference with Chou that the ruling was actually a good one for Android, since it dealt with a feature that wasn’t necessarily instrumental to the OS, but was instead a “user interface feature of an application,” leading him to believe “patent peace on the overall platform” is still an achievable goal.

While it appears true that in this case HTC will be able to continue selling its devices in the U.S. after the April 19, 2012 deadline set by the ITC for the import ban, Apple’s win still isn’t exactly as inconsequential as Rubin and Chou would like to make it out to be. The average user might not take immediate notice of the feature’s absence, but if Apple continues to win these concessions (and should competing manufacturers be forced to use its suggested design guidelines through patent cases like the recent one in Australia, for example), user experience on platforms like Android could degrade considerably.

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Number six on the annual list was Apple’s iPhone 5, the Mac-maker’s highest placing search term, and ironically, one for a product that didn’t actually ship in 2011. Instead of an iPhone 5, Apple released the iPhone 4S, but leading up to the unveiling of that product, speculation was rampant and the iPhone 5 name was on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

The rumored device reportedly featured a larger screen and thinner body, in addition to the 8 megapixel camera and Siri voice assistant that shipped with the 4S. It’s high positioning on this list bodes well for when Apple actually releases an iPhone 5 (if it’ll be called that) in 2012. The iPhone 5 hit its stride in the week of Sept. 25, 2011, at basically the fever pitch point of rumors about the iPhone one week ahead of the 4S unveiling.

The iPad 2 was the number 10 fastest-rising term in 2011, and had the benefit of being an actual shipping product, too. Searches for iPad 2 rose 939 percent from 2010 to 2011, and peaked in February two weeks ahead of the day the tablet actually went on sale in the U.S. online and in stores. The iPad 3 didn’t make the top 10 overall, but it is number 10 in the category of Consumer Electronics for Google’s 2011 fastest-rising global search terms. Something tells me it’ll pick up considerably in popularity over the next few months.

Finally, Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs also scored a place, coming in at number nine on the list. The consumer electronics pioneer passed away in October of 2011, and that’s exactly when his popularity on the search engine reached its peak. Jobs’ death was front-page news around the world, and his death prompted multiple media events, documentaries and the early release of his authorized biography.

Apple had other successes too in terms of capturing the attention of Googlers worldwide, including the iPhone 4S, which the second-fastest riser in the Consumer Electronics subcategory, just behind the Amazon Kindle Fire. The full Google Zeitgeist site is a very pretty, interactive exploration of the year in review from the perspective of the world’s most popular search engine, and definitely merits a closer look if you want to discover more.

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The ruling includes an injunction that is “preliminarily enforceable” against Apple Sales International, Apple’s Ireland-based EU wholesale subsidiary. The injunction covers a wide range of products, including all iPhones as well as 3G-enabled iPads, since it deals with European patent 1010336 (B1), which describes a “method for performing countdown function during a mobile-originated transfer for a packet radio system.”

It’s a significant ruling, because although Motorola previously secured a similar injunction against Apple in Germany, that one was based on a default judgment, meaning that Apple never presented a defense in the case. For Friday’s ruling, the court ruled after both sides had the opportunity to present their full arguments.

Apple will no doubt appeal this ruling to the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court, seeking a stay of the injunction. If it fails in that effort, the Mannheim Regional Court has attached a €100 million ($134 million) bond (much lower than the $2.7 billion Apple was seeking) to the decision, which Motorola would be liable to pay in the event the injunction against Apple is enforced and a later appeal overturns the injunction awarded on Friday.

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