It’s time for iPhone to “get the family treatment,” former Apple creative director and strategy consultant Ken Segall says.

The former Apple employee writes that public perception is now that “Samsung is now the real innovator,” and that “iPhone has fallen behind.” While, he says, perception is not equivalent to reality, it has actual impact … such as Apple’s stock price, and such as Apple’s reputation.

Fortunately, he’s not suggesting an innovation quick-fix with the application of some paint and lipstick.

But he is saying that, as iPod’s biggest years came after the iconic “MP3 player” bifurcated again and again into multiple models and, yes, multiple colors, iPhone’s biggest years are ahead of it too. If Apple learns the lesson of the past.

That means iPhone mini, a cheaper but not cheap iPhone, iPhone 5S, a new iPhone in multiple colors, and iPhone maxi, a bigger iPhone to compete with the mounting fablet fascination, especially in Asia.

Segall’s not saying he has access to any privileged insider information, although it’s not unlike Apple to quietly leak information to trusted sources. But what he’s saying makes sense:

The smartphone audience has grown exponentially in recent years. The simple reality is that different people have different needs. Creating a family of devices would widen iPhone’s appeal as it squelches the perception that Apple is somehow losing touch.

That would seem to be common sense. And it’s the kind of simple innovation that requires no huge degree of amazing new whizzbang technology, but satisfies actual customer desires — or needs, as you wish — in a very easy way.

So easy, in fact, one is left wondering why Apple hasn’t done it already.

Image credits: Apple, James Pikover/VentureBeat

I guess time flies when you’re having fun.

After all those years, Apple’s iconic music service is still the largest music online music retailer, and in fact it’s the largest music retailer of any kind. As of February, the service has sold over 25 billion songs out of Apple’s 28 million-strong global catalog, and well over 435 million people have active iTunes accounts.

According to the NPD, eight out of 10 people who buy digital music have bought music from iTunes, and on an overall unit basis, iTunes owns 63 percent of the music download business.

On the cusp of a possible Apple digital streaming service, that dominance could continue for quite some time.

“Since the launch of Apple’s iTunes store, digital music downloads have become the dominant revenue source for the recorded music industry and iTunes continues to be the dominant retailer,” the NPD Group‘s Russ Crupnick said. “There’s a belief that consumers don’t need to buy music because of streaming options, when in fact streamers are much more likely than the average consumer to buy music downloads.”

The NPD surveyed 5,400 Internet users to build its digital music report, and while 38 percent of the sampling said that it is still important to own music, 41 percent of those who listen to Pandora and other free music-streaming platforms said the same thing. In addition, many of those streamers said they’ve bought songs because they discovered them on a streaming service or on the radio.

That’s important for Apple, because an iTunes streaming music service has been rumored for years, and just last week it appears that Apple and the number one music label in the world, Universal Music Group, came to terms on a streaming music payments agreement.

Though the number of American music listeners who buy music online has remained relatively unchanged, the amount they are spending has gone up about 6 percent since last year. That number could rise in 2013 if Apple does launch a streaming music service and it is well-integrated into an iTunes purchase capability.

photo credit: aagius via photopin cc

This sponsored post is produced by StackSocial.

Remember playing with remote-controlled toys as a kid? The joy you’d feel when that car took off at breakneck speed or that airplane briefly took flight? Well, this VentureBeat offer allows you relive those days and unleash your playful side with this iOS controlled bug.

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For a company that is supposedly struggling, and whose stock price has shed almost $200 billion from its $700/share high in September, Apple did pretty well in the first quarter of 2013. With the new iPhone 5, the iPad Mini, and the iPad 4 leading the way, Apple had  record quarterly revenue of $54.5 billion and record quarterly profit of $13.1 billion.

The only problem? Wall Street’s consensus numbers were $54.58 billion (Apple just beat that), 50 million iPhones (Apple actually sold 47.8 million), 23 million iPads (Apple just about made it, selling 22.9 million), 12 million iPods (under Street estimates), and 5 million Macs (well under Street estimates).

Still, the numbers compare very nicely to the same quarter a year ago, where Apple recorded $46.33 billion in revenue and a $13.06 billion profit on 37 million iPhones and 15.4 million iPads. Even more impressive: That quarter was 14 weeks long, while this year’s Q1 was only 13 weeks long. So normalized, Apple would have done even better.

“We’re thrilled with record revenue of over $54 billion and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “We’re very confident in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in the world.”

All those iDevice sales have filled Apple’s full pockets even fuller. The company already had a hundred-billion-dollar cash stash, and this quarter, with $23 billion in total cash flow and average weekly revenue of $4.2 billion, will add to that amount.

The problem is that record revenue and more cash in the back doesn’t seem to be enough. In after-hours trading, Apple stock is down from it’s daily high of $514.17 to $488.11, as investors’ fears about slowing growth and growing vulnerability to cheaper phones and tablets running Android appear to be confirmed.

Source: Google Finance

Apple stock down in after-hours trading

photo credit: Thomas Hawk via photopin cc

Apple, which usually issues very conservative guidance, had said it would do about $52 billion this quarter. And analyst expectations had been around $55 billion in revenue and $13.41 a share, with 50 million iPhones, 23 million iPads, 12 million iPods, and 5 million Macs.

Here’s what Apple actually did:

Financials

• Revenue: $54.5 billion
• Profit: $13.1 billion
• Earnings per share: $13.81
• Profit margin: 38.6 percent

Devices

• iPhone: 47.8 million
• iPad: 22.9 million
• Macs: 4.1 million
• iPods: 12.7 million

These numbers compare to last quarter’s 27 million iPhones and 14 million iPads, with revenue of $36 billion and profit of $8.2 billion, and Q1 2012′s 37 million iPhones and 15.43 million iPads with $46.33 billion in revenue, and $13.06 billion in profit.

photo credit: WanderingtheWorld (www.LostManProject.com) via photopin cc

Ever since the iPod Nano was slightly less Nano’d just a few months ago, there’s been increased speculation about an iWatch to replace it. Now there’s chatter about a new device — an iWatch, perhaps —  from Apple for specifically that purpose.

Nano is Apple’s smallest iPod with a screen, bigger than only the Shuffle, and the sixth generation has been used extensively as a watch with the simple addition of a wristband. At 1.55-inches square, the Nano was perhaps a little awkward but an excellent beginning — and perhaps a precursor — to the Pebble smart watch.

That’s no longer an option with the seventh generation iPod Touch, which sports a 2.5-inch multitouch screen and a longer, rectangular body.

Cue iWatch?

The speculation is that Apple will be releasing a product in the next six months, possibly with an Intel chip, that communicates with your smartphone via Bluetooth. If so, it needs to be much more than a watch, and much more than a way to communicate with the device that is already just a few inches away in your pocket.

In other words, it needs to be a personal quantification device for the masses.

There are currently 505 tools listed in the Guide to Self-Tracking Tools on Quantified Self. Jawbone’s UP, Fitbit’s err bit, Nike’s FuelBand, the Basis Band, the Zeo “personal sleep coach,” the Stresswatch, the Adidas miCoach and dozens more are devices built to measure, track, and encourage you to modify fitness activities.

This is more than a fad — it’s a movement. And while smartphones like Apple’s iPhone are often components of these systems, they’re just one component in an ecosystem that includes sensors, apps, online social experiences, and analytics. Apple could be so much more, if it wanted to play in this market.

As The Next Web mentions, 2013 could be the year when wearable computing leaves the geek and enthusiast community. And isn’t popularizing and improving emerging technologies what Apple does best?

The iWatch is just a rumor right now, but I’m hoping it’s more … much more.

photo credit: griffintech via photopin cc

According to a new poll by Nielsen, kids just want iDevices … and a Wii U. Half want an iPad, and roughly a third of all kids also want an iPod Touch, iPad Mini, or an iPhone under the tree. Almost 40 percent also want a new Nintendo Wii U, and 31 percent want a Kinect for the Xbox 360 they got last year.

Source: Nielsen

Toys kids 6-12 want most

Of course, some kids still absolutely need an Xbox 360 or a Sony PlayStation 3: almost a quarter of all kids want one of the major console games this winter. And another 29 percent want a non-Apple tablet to waste Christmas break on.

Older kids, however, have somewhat different tastes. Or they’ve learned to control their burning desire for new techie toys to a degree.

Electronics still top the list, but for kids aged 13 and older, only 21 percent want an iPad, with a computer coming in at second place with 19 percent of the vote. A non-Apple tablet is proportionately much more in demand with teens: 18 percent want an Android or other type of tablet – just three percent fewer those who want an iPad.

Microsoft Surface, alas, languishes in the hearts and minds of  just 3 percent of teens — although six percent of kids age 6-12 want Microsoft’s new tablet.

Source: Nielsen

What teens want most …

The question now is whether what kids want will translate into the products parents buy.

Somehow — speaking as a parent — it usually does.

photo credit: ze_bear via photopin cc

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Today we had one of the biggest Apple events I can remember. Between hardware and software, Apple announced at least six new products today, seven if you include Apple Fusion Drive, and a whopping 23 new products if you include different models and build configurations.

Here’s the full list:

• New iBooks software
• New retina 13″ Macbook Pro (two build configurations)
• Mac Mini (three build configurations)
• iMac (at least two sizes, each probably with at least two build configurations)
• Apple Fusion Drive (not a standalone product, but very cool, and an orderable option)
• 4th-generation iPad (six main models)
• iPad mini (six models)

Tim Cook spoke to the huge number of new products — and his team’s effort — at the end of the event.

“We told you we’d deliver amazing innovation this year,” Cook said, “and I hope you’ll agree we did.”

Added to the list announced today, Cook mentioned iOS 6 with hundreds of new features, OS X Mountain Lion, which works with iOS like hand and glove — which is one of iOS’s great advantages over Android — the new iPods recently announced, the new iPhone 5, and the previously announced retina-screen MacBook 15″.

“It’s been an incredible year … a truly prolific year of innovation for Apple,” he said. “We hope you love these products as much as we’ve loved creating them.”

It is a staggering list.

When you look at Apple as a product company, it doesn’t have a huge number of SKUs … four main product families (Mac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad), perhaps 15 total products within those, and then some 50 or so versions of those products.

Any way you slice it, Apple has refreshed a massive proportion of its product line today. In addition, Apple has done something that it rarely does: Osborn a product. The announced new iMac product line won’t be available until November — the 21.5″ model — and December, for the 27″ version.

It’s impressive chutzpah, based on the capabilities of possibly the most sophisticated supply chain in the business. And it’s an impressive line-up for the holiday shopping season.

At the end, Cook thanked the teams at Apple, “the most talented and innovative people I know.” They’ve done their job. Now it’s time to see how the other titans of the industry — Microsoft and Google — will answer.

We won’t have to wait for long.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Amazon is now selling the brand new Apple iPod lineup — well, it’s selling pre-orders for the new units, at any rate.

The iPods will ship to buyers within the next two to five weeks; Apple’s own store promises to start shipping the iPods in October. So, six of one; half dozen of the other.

However, some of the more popular colors for the nano and iPod may take up to two months to reach your eager little mitts. For example, the bile yellow iPod nano is shipping in October, but you may have to wait until November to get the pink variant.

The new iPods were all launched last week at Apple’s big iPhone 5 announcement event. The iPod Touch and nano both got incremental upgrades, including the new Longcat Edition screen size for the Touch and a 2.5-inch screen for the nano, the device’s largest screen to date. Both models will use the new Lightning power adapters.

Apple’s latest shuffle retains the same form factor and comes in seven Easter egg-ish colors.

All the new iPods will feature new earbuds called EarPods, which Apple hardware chief Greg Joswiak said “look like no earphones you’ve ever seen before.” Actually, they look like a lot of other in-ear earbuds you’ve been seeing (and probably using) for the past few years, but we’re not going to mince words.

You can also check out our hands-on video with the new toys from Apple:

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy Player 5.8, a huge (literally) addition to the company’s Player lineup for listening to music, watching videos, and playing Android games and apps.

The device will join other models like the Galaxy Player 3.6, 4.2, and 5.0, except this one will include a 5.8-inch, 960-by-540-pixel display.

That makes it the largest media player in Samsung’s lineup. It’s almost big enough to be considered a mini-tablet.

While it’s nice that Samsung has the power to manufacture every possible device size (this will be the fifth size of the Player line), it seems useless. Not only will the majority of people still wanting a media player choose an iPod (with its more than 65 percent market share), but media players are dying and being supplanted by smartphones. Why carry a media player and a phone when you can just carry one?

Samsung has not revealed pricing or availability of the Player 5.8 yet, but we’ll be sure to let you know when it drops that information. Since the Galaxy Player 5.0 runs $199.99, I assume the 5.8 would be slightly more pricey than that. Since the Nexus 7 tablet also runs for $199.99 and can do more, I’d rather have one of those.

Let us know in the comments if you’d be interested in a Galaxy Player 5.8.

Galaxy Player 5.8 photo via Samsung Tomorrow

That short clip is part of a documentary film, Alive Inside, which shows how personalized music can completely transform non-responsive, uninterested, almost vegetative seniors.

In Henry’s own words: “It gives me the feeling of love … romance!”

In fact, famous neurologist and author Oliver Sacks – if you’ve ever watched Awakenings, the movie with Robin Williams and Robert de Niro in which inmates of an asylum go quite astonishingly sane, you’ve seen his story — concurs, saying Henry has been “quickened, brought to life.”

By music? How?

The story starts more than six years ago, when Dan Cohen, a social worker who had spent most of his working life in technology companies, noticed the lack of technology available to seniors.

“I saw that iPods were ubiquitious — everyone has one — but that there were none in nursing homes,” Cohen told me when we spoke last week. “We talk about digitally bypassed people, sometimes, but old people are the extreme.”

In fact, there are about 18,000 retirement and old age homes in North America, almost all of which have basically no computers, no iPads, no WIFI … none of the things that many of us who are younger and in good health take for granted.

On a whim, Cohen brought iPods into a care home.

“I personalized the music to what people like, or what they knew when they were young,” Cohen says. “Every couple of weeks I’d pull off songs they didn’t like and add ones they did.”

Eventually, residents had about 150 songs that they knew and loved on their iPods.

“It gives me the feeling of love”

Cohen was shocked at the results. Seniors who had withdrawn into themselves became animated. Elders who didn’t speak started singing. People who became agitated and upset every evening calmed down. It was almost like dead people coming back to life.

He started telling others about the program.

The Atlantic Institute of Aging in New Brunswick, Canada tried music therapy and confirmed Cohen’s findings. They started giving personalized music to seniors and, Cohen says, found that with music, “seniors who don’t talk, talk. People who don’t move, start moving. And seniors who are depressed get happier.”

Prominent neurologists like Dan Levitin and Oliver Sacks got involved, checking and confirming that something real was happening.

According to brain experts, there are actually multiple things happening when seniors seem to “come back alive.”  Music we hear between the ages of 10 and 16 becomes associated with the events of that time: puberty, hormonal changes, first loves, best friends, and more.

Then that music becomes some of the most deeply embedded memories in our neural networks. Memories that are not just stored in one single location but retained, seemingly, globally.

Music is unique in the brain

“That’s what’s different about music in the brain … and it’s unique. It’s not located in one spot,” says Cohen. “That’s why they use music for people who lose speech … they can’t speak but they can sing.”

One example is American congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head and lost the ability to speak. Music helped her regain the ability to sing and then to speak, by training the other side of her brain to talk.

And music has multiple impacts, brain researchers and neurologists have found. One of them is reducing blood pressure.

“Alzheimers often causes agitation around sundown,” says Cohen. “That’s why families put them into an institution — they can’t cope.”

But music, because it reduces blood pressure, reduces agitation. And elders can then stay home with their families, which is beneficial for caregivers as well, Cohen notes.

A graduate student helping out in a Tulane, Louisiana care home tried music therapy with 15 dementia patients and found that every one, uncommunicative before, starting talking to her.

“In fact, they were so talkative that when re-tested for dementia, they could not be scored: the dementia had receded so much,” Cohen told me.

MP3 players: not isolating

One of the criticisms of portable music systems since Walkmans is isolation: kids don’t interact with their peers or families anymore.

“When I started doing this,” said Cohen, “people were annoyed, saying that I was going to isolate seniors even more by putting headphones on them.”

Running an experiment with a foundation that gave iPods to a 200-senior test group, however, proved quite the opposite. The feedback from the professionals included not a single report of increased isolation, and a flood of stories of increased socialization, memories returning, and more conversation.

Music & Memory foundation

Early results were so encouraging that Cohen started a foundation, Music & Memory, to bring music to more elders.

The mission is to improve the quality of life for the elderly through personalized music. 40 or more care homes are already running music programs, created with the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function.

But cost is a usually a problem:

“A thousand dollars for medicines — that’s no problem,” Cohen says with a trace of a smile in his voice. “But one $40 music player … that’s a problem.”

So Music & Memory runs iPod donation drives, accepts shipments of people’s old iPods, and solicits cash donations to buy music players.

But one thing did more to raise the foundation’s profile than any other effort: a clip from a movie documenting the effects of music on aging people. The Henry clip, in fact, that went viral, with six million views in four days.

“In some sense, Henry is restored to himself,” Dr. Oliver Sacks says in the clip. The music helps to “animate, organize, and bring a sense of identity back to people who are out of it, otherwise.”

Alive Inside and Kickstarter

Filmmaker Michael Rossato-Bennet is producing the documentary Alive Inside, which this clip comes from. The movie follows the story of Cohen and his patients and the effects of music on formerly quiet, almost vegetative seniors.

When he showed an early version for senior officials of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the response was incredible. The corporation, the largest municipal health care organization in the U.S., almost immediately decided to pilot the music program for 3,000 patients.

To finish the film, however, Rossato-Bennet needs $50,000 — mostly for music rights to use the songs that patients revive to. So he’s started a Kickstarter project to raise the funds.

Currently the project has eight days to go and still needs $30,000.

When finished — and Cohen is adamant the film will be finished, Kickstarter success or not — the group will take it on a film festival circuit.

Because, in Henry’s words, “right now the world needs to come into music.”

Image credits: KALABUKHAVA IRYNA/ShutterStock, Attem/ShutterStock

The Nest smart thermostat may soon by sitting on an Apple store shelf near you, an appropriate move for a company created by the former senior vice president of Apple’s iPod division.

iLounge is reporting that the thermostat, which has gained much popularity in the connected-home-device category, will be sold at Apple stores for the same price on its website, $249. The thermostat proved that popularity when it was first made available for purchase. It quickly sold out of available pre-orders, and left people waiting into 2012 for their orders to be filled.  Currently, Nest is available online, in your local Nest-approved stores, and in home improvement giant Lowes. The company also announced Tuesday that it will be shipping to Canada.

Nest was created by two former Apple employees, both involved in the iPod division. Tony Fadell oversaw the iPod division as a senior vice president, and Matt Rogers was a lead engineer of iPod software. The thermostat itself is very Apple-like in design. It has a round face, similar to the circular control panel of an iPod, and is a very clean, straightforward device. You can control the thermostat using the thermostat itself, a web interface, and of course, an iPhone or iPad application.

Nest can learn your daily patterns and adapt the temperature of your house to those habits. For instance, Nest can remember around what time you come home every evening and turn on the heat so you come back to a warm house. It also knows when you leave for the day, and will conserve energy while you’re gone without you having to remember to turn off the AC. Using the app, you can turn the system on remotely, as well.

The thermostat also gives money and earth-saving tips, such as turning down your thermostat by 1 degree will save you $20 a month.

But with popularity comes rivals. Honeywell recently sued the company, saying that Nest ripped off a number of patents it held for its own connected-home-device technology, Total Connect Comfort Systems. This included features like its round dial face, and its ability to self-energize by feeding off a small amount of the overall home’s electrical system. Naturally, Nest brought on Apple’s former chief patent counsel Richard Lutton Jr. to fight the suit against Honeywell.

via iLounge

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Given the chance, you would probably turn your iPod Touch into a fully working iPhone, right? TextMe is launching in the U.S. today with an app that will get you close to that dream.

“The real vision is to deliver a full feature communication set to any connected device,” said TextMe co-founder Christophe Bach.

Bach explained that right now, people who want free communications on their Internet-connected devices will generally turn to apps like Pinger for text messaging, Tango for video calls, and Skype for voice calling. TextMe puts all three of those functions together in a single app.

San Francisco based TextMe was originally launched in March 2011 as a free, texting-only application, competing with the likes of Pinger. Thus far, the company has seen more than 5 million downloads, with 750,000 active users. The app was made for people who owned an iPod Touch, but wanted to be able to text — in other words, cheapskates or students who don’t want the $2,000 commitment involved in a typical 2-year smartphone contract. TextMe gave them a phone number for texting and turned what was originally an MP3 player into a communications device.

With today’s new features, however, TextMe now lets you make calls from that iPod Touch to any kind of device, turning the iPod into a phone. The other user doesn’t need to have the app installed, and can be on an ordinary phone line, similar to Google Voice. TextMe can make calls over voice-over-IP connections, carrier connections, and data connections. Video calls can only be made when the recipient already has the app installed, however, over Wi-Fi.

I asked Bach if he was using Twilio to perform some of these functions, but he said the team built their own intermediary between the carriers and the app. He noted that Twilio was expensive, but still an impressive service. His team simply had to the know-how to do it themselves.

The app itself is free, and only available on iOS, but you will need to earn minutes to use it. You can earn minutes by watching advertisements, or by signing up for different promotions. I like this part of the app because it’s very clearly marked what promotions will later cost you money, how many minutes you will earn by signing up (or watching an ad), and it’s easy to compare effort to gain.

Bach says his original texting app is still profitable, and the company remains bootstrapped to this day.

Following an industry trend, TextMe is moving away from using UDID, or the personal identification number associated with every phone, for advertising. Recently, Apple made a move to ban the use of UDID in applications across its app store, as a move to show the company cares about privacy. UDID, however, provides a lot of valuable information about a user, which ad networks use to price how much they’ll pay per impression. Bach explained that around half of the ad networks TextMe is working with now use UDID, but that the general sense amongst mobile developers is to get off the system.

The subject of UDID has been a point of contention for many developers, however. MoPub, a company helping developers monetize their apps, believes that without the use of UDID, the worth of an advertising impression is reduced significantly. In fact, the company projects that developers could lose 24 percent in ad revenue just because without UDID, advertisers will pay less for each CPM (or cost per mille). Bach, however, expects ad networks to switch from using UDID to other sources of data soon.

“They’ve been pretty fast providing an alternative,” he said. “I’d say within weeks or months it will be a solved issue.”

The company executed a soft release in Canada last Friday, the same day as Facebook became a publicly traded company in the U.S. The app flew up in Apple’s Canadian app store, bumping Facebook itself out of the top spot among social apps. That said, Facebook shares aren’t being sold in the Canadian market, but it’s still an impressive claim given the hype around the IPO.

“Facebook is from the past,” Bach laughed, “It’s TextMe now!”

iPod image via Titanas/Flickr

New details have emerged about the upcoming Steve Jobs biopic starring Ashton Kutcher, including confirmation that the film will end in the year 2000 before Jobs introduced the iPod, iPhone, and iPad to the world.

Word landed on April’s Fools Day that Kutcher, star of various movies and TV shows and a surprisingly smart tech investor, would play Jobs. Turns out the announcement wasn’t a joke and since that time, people have wanted to know more the independent feature, which is now tentatively titled “Jobs: Get Inspired.” (We hope they change the name.)

Producer Mark Hulme was interviewed by Neowin and spilled a few new details, including that the film will “primarily” cover Apple from the years 1971 through 2000. Hulme suggests that the time period covered is the reason the team wanted the film to star Kutcher, who looks an awful lot like a young Steve Jobs.

“Since our film covers the early years of Apple, when Jobs was in his 20′s, we needed an actor who could carry not only the youthfulness of Jobs at the time but also the psychological complexity,” Hulme told Neowin. “Because of that, and Ashton’s physical similarities to Jobs, he’s perfect for our film.”

While Jobs helped bring several important devices to the world before his death, the modern computing era was radically changed by the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, all of which were released after 2000. So while the film will see Jobs through the Apple II and Macintosh releases and his exodus and return to the company, it’s unfortunate it will not document some of Jobs’ most successful products.

The Jobs biopic will be directed by Swing Vote helmer Joshua Michael Stern. It begin filming in May and released in the fourth quarter of 2012. The movie will mostly be filmed in Los Angeles.

Sony also has plans to make a biographical film on Jobs’ life, but it will be at least another year before that hits theaters. Sony’s take will be based on Walter Isaacson’s best-selling biography of Jobs and will not be an indie flick.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

On top of unveiling its new versions of the Galaxy Tab, Samsung also has added 3.6- and 4.2-inch models to its Player lineup meant for listening to music, watching videos, and playing Android games and apps.

While Samsung offers the Player as an Android-based iPod touch competitor, the company has not done a good job of marketing the device in the States and many people I asked had no idea such a product line existed. Apple’s iPod line has 78 percent of the digital music player market, with 300 million iPods sold since its launch more than a decade ago. With Apple having such a dominant foothold, Samsung’s introduction of more Players is perplexing, especially when smartphones are increasingly becoming people’s default media players.

First up, there’s the Player 3.6, which most closely resembles the iPod touch with its 3.5-inch screen. For software, it’s running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). It includes 8GB of storage, microSD slot for additional storage, 2-megapixel rear camera, and VGA front facing camera. The device is on sale now for $150, which undercuts the iPod touch by $50.

And of course, there’s also the 4.2-inch Player, which has basically identical specs outside of its larger screen size. The Player 4.2 goes on sale May 13 for $200. For extras, both of the new Player devices have several free games pre-loaded, including Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, FIFA 2012, and Angry Birds.

While these two devices are seemingly nice devices and eschew Samsung’s idea of manufacturing every possible device size (there are now four sizes for the Player line), it will have an incredibly hard time overcoming the iPod, the standard-bearer for mobile media consumption outside of a smartphone. Apple created a legion of young and old users that learned how to use their iPod with iTunes, and that influence can’t be overcome no matter how many devices you put out. And now that people are dumping their iPods for smartphones, it seems futile to even play in the media player space in the U.S. market.

The iPod touch provides a superior experience because it, along with iTunes, has deep roots in media, whereas the Player is tapping into the recently launched Google Play market. Google Play, which combined the Android Market with other Google media purchases in one store, was created to simplify Google purchases and combat iTunes. But iTunes is still a much richer place to buy media, if only because it’s been around for so much longer.

You can view more photos of the Player models below:

Whether it’s a humble iPod nano or a state-of-the-art, Hummer-sized Mac desktop, Apple gadgets reside in half of all households in the United States.

This statistic comes to us via a CNBC survey on Americans’ view of the economy, which touches on home ownership, investments, presidential approval ratings, and more. The Apple-related stat shows us that regardless of our hard-times talk about a tough economy, many of us are still capable of conspicuous consumption when we feel like it.

According to the survey, around 55 million households currently have at least one iPod, iPhone, iPad, or Mac lying around the house. Of the roughly 55 million households that don’t currently have an Apple-made device, about 5 million said they planned to bring one into the fold sometime during 2012.

Of course, many of these households don’t stop at just one measly iPod. They survey results also showed that the average household contains 1.6 Apple devices and that around 25 percent of households planned to add at least one more piece of Apple hardware in 2012.

While age does make much of a difference in determining whether or not you’ll go Apple (if you’re under 65, anyhow), income certainly does. Less than one third of households earning less than $30,000 per year own at least one Apple device. However, for households earning $75,000 per year or more, that figure shot to 77 percent.

Apple’s ever-growing popularity among normal consumers has a dark side, too, which we’re starting to see in the form of protests over the company’s manufacturing process. At the beginning of the year, Apple’s self-audit of its factories in Asia showed the existence of child labor, slave labor, and other grossly unjust practices.

Given the popularity of Apple products and Apple stock, we conclude that there’s no good excuse for the company’s continued labor abuses.

Image courtesy of wavebreakmedia ltd, Shutterstock

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Jon Rubinstein, the former Apple executive who spearheaded engineering for the iPod, and then proceeded to revitalize Palm, has officially left Hewlett-Packard, the company confirmed today.

The news isn’t entirely unexpected. Rubinstein was reportedly a no-show at HP since former CEO Leo Apotheker killed off the company’s WebOS devices. Even before that his role at HP was reduced with a change to a vague “SVP of innovation” title.

An HP spokesperson told All Things Digital, which first reported the news about Rubinstein’s departure, that “Jon has fulfilled his commitment and we wish him well.” Rubinstein confirmed that he only agreed to stick around HP for 12 to 24 months after it acquired Palm, in an interview with The Verge.

Speaking to the Verge’s Joshua Topolsky, Rubinstein deftly avoided chatting about where Palm went wrong or complaining about Apotheker’s treatment of webOS:

We built an amazing OS in webOS. It’s very advanced, it’s where things are going. But we ran out of runway, and we ended up at HP and HP wasn’t in good enough shape on its own to be able to support the effort. I had four CEOs! Mark acquired us, Les Jackson took over as the interim CEO, then Leo, and now Meg.

Now Rubinstein, seemingly going full circle, is taking a much-deserved break in Mexico, where the Palm folks initially tapped him to help save the company in 2007. He admitted that he’s still carrying a tiny webOS-powered Veer, and that he hopes to get back into the mobile world in some fashion.

“I think the future is mobile,” Rubinstein told the Verge. “Obviously there’s going to be stuff that comes post mobile, there’ll be a next wave. It could very well be home integration, but mobile’s going to continue to be really important. But I have no idea what I’m going to do next. I haven’t spent a minute thinking about it.”

VentureBeat is holding its second annual Mobile Summit this April 2-3 in Sausalito, Calif. The invitation-only event will debate the five key business and technology challenges facing the mobile industry today, and participants — 180 mobile executives, investors, and policymakers — will develop concrete, actionable solutions that will shape the future of the mobile industry. You can find out more at our Mobile Summit site.

Apple notably missed Wall Street’s expectations for the first time in a long time during its last earnings report. But the company changed the release of its iPhone launch schedule by a quarter and consumers were holding out for a new iPhone model, so expectations were simply too high at that time.

Apple righted that with today’s numbers. Here’s a brief look at Apple’s staggering numbers from the first quarter:

Revenue: $46.33 billion, compared to $26.74 billion in the year-ago quarter

Net income: $13.06 billion, compared to $6 billion in the year-ago quarter

Earnings per diluted share: $13.87 per share, compared to $6.43 per share in the year-ago quarter

iPhone sales: 37.04 million units, a 128 percent growth over the year-ago quarter

iPad sales: 15.43 million units, a 111 percent growth over the year-ago quarter

Mac sales: 5.2 million units, a 26 percent growth over the year-ago quarter

iPod sales: 15.4 million units, a 21 percent decline from the year-ago quarter

iTunes store revenue: $1.7 billion ($120 million worth of media and apps sold on Dec. 25 alone)

Apple store revenue: $6.1 billion, up 69 percent from last year ($17.1 million average per store revenue)

Apple-with-money-inside image: Vitaliy Krasovskiy/Shutterstock

Sega of America has announced that Sonic CD is now available across a multitude of platforms today. Originally released in 1993 for the Sega CD, this version of Sonic CD  comes boasting both the Japanese and US soundtracks, and the exclusive ability to play as Tails, Sonic’s flying sidekick fox. The game will likely appeal to older gamers who are nostalgic for the games of their youth.

“Sonic’s 20th Anniversary has been a banner year for him – as well as for everyone at SEGA,” said Haruki Satomi, Senior Vice President of Digital Business at SEGA of America. “Gamers around the world are rediscovering their love of Sonic through his adventures, new and old. Whether you are a long-time hedgehog aficionado looking to enjoy a favorite moment from Sonic’s past, or a brand-new player who wants to join in on the fun, there is no better place to start than with one of Sonic’s most celebrated games, Sonic CD.”

Relying on HD nostalgia has become a standard play for many publishers these days, though at the budget prices it’s hard to complain. Sonic CD was known for its unique time-traveling aspect (completely optional, for those who prefer to blast through the game as quickly as possible), inventive level design, and the first appearance of the villainous Metal Sonic. Oh yeah, and it has one of the most awesome opening theme songs in video game history:

Sonic CD is available now on Xbox Live Arcade for a mere $5. Android and iOS versions will be available by December 15, for a limited-time price of $1.99. PlayStation owners will have to wait until December 20, when Sonic CD is released on the PlayStation Network for $4.99. A Windows Phone version is planned for next year.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you are the type of person who thinks a gadget can make for a mind-blowing gift.

Here’s a handy compendium for blowing minds on the (relatively) cheap. These gifts range in price from a $30 pair of hi-fi headphones to a $200 tablet, and they’ll make the nerd on your list smile. Or scream and jump around like that one House of Pain song never went out of style.

And if the latter is the case, we humbly request that you film it and upload it to YouTube with the title “Thank You VentureBeat.”

Tablets & E-readers

Kindle Fire: $199
This tablet-and-e-reader hybrid is currently the most popular in its class. With this Android tablet, you get access to a huge media library of 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines and books through Amazon itself, as well as from third-party services like Hulu, Pandora and Netflix. The device supports thousands of games and apps, and runs Amazon Silk, the company’s own web browser.

The Fire features a 7-inch touchscreen and supports Wi-Fi connectivity.

Nook Color: $199
This e-reader from Barnes & Noble also features some suspiciously tablet-like touches, such as apps, multimedia services, email access and web browsing. It also has access to a library of more than 2.5 million books and magazines. Netflix and Hulu support are coming soon, as is Nook Comics, a Marvel-fueled marketplace of comic books and graphic novels. Nook users can get device support (Genius Bar-style) inside Barnes & Nobel stores.

The 7-inch color touchscreen device supports Wi-Fi connectivity.

Kobo Vox: $199

This e-reader-and-tablet hybrid sports Wi-Fi connectivity, a 7-inch color touchscreen and an Android operating system, which means you’ll find the expected range of apps, games and music and video services. You’ll also get web browsing, email access and the Kobo Store, which houses 2.2 million books alone, as well as magazines and newspapers. Kobo also wants us all to know about Pulse, its attempt to socialize the reading experience.

Toys & Games

iHelicopter: $59

This remote-controlled toy can actually be controlled with the iHelecopter app on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. And if you feel like buying more than one, up to three iHelicopters can be controlled by three different iOS devices in the same space, thanks to a handy band selection feature. For $10 more, you can spring for the missile-launching version.

Kinect for Xbox 360: $99

This motion-sensitive controller turns a hardcore gaming console like the Xbox 360 into something that’s approachable and fun for the whole family. Plus, it’ll keep your favorite couch potato on his or her feet, with many Kinect-focused games based on dancing, racing and similar activities. The Xbox itself is sold separately; you can find it at some stores or online retailers for less than $200.

Sony Xperia Play 4G: $49 (with contract)

If you’re open to signing up for an AT&T two-year contract, you can pick up one of these PlayStation-certified gadgets on a 4G network. The Play functions as a full phone, complete with front- and rear-facing cameras, texting, web browsing and apps. But it also comes bundled with seven PlayStation games. More games can be purchased separately.

Next, music & media devices, cameras and more…

Image via theirhistory/Flickr

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Apple’s brand-new Grand Central Terminal location opened its doors today to swarms of Apple fans, journalists and tourists.

The new store is a pretty big deal for a few reasons. First, Grand Central is an iconic structure and one of the most photographed landmarks in New York City. Second, at 23,000 square feet, this location is one of the world’s largest Apple Stores. Third, the store merges the past and present. Unlike Apple’s other, more modernist stores, in this one Apple’s futuristic iPads and iPhones are coupled with a backdrop of early 1900s architecture.

As I walked around during the opening and was handed a free T-shirt (see below), I couldn’t help but feel that I was inside something special. Perhaps it’s just Grand Central Terminal’s chandeliers and marble and brass facade, but it felt more regal and first-class than any Apple Store I’ve ever been in. The Apple Store’s normal design instincts usually leave me feeling cold, but this location left me feeling warm — and not just because I was surround by hordes of people (and dogs!). It’s the sort of place I expect to find busy every time I walk by.

At least it’s accommodating to its crowds. The massive location has two Genius Bars with 12 seats each, 45 display tables for products, three walls of accessories and 315 full- and part-time employees. Because of the way Grand Central is set up, the Store is sectioned off into different areas that feel disconnected from the others. The store has a room devoted to third-party accessories, a room focused on the Genius Bars and an area called Startup, where the Apple team can help you get a newly purchased iPad, iPhone or other product up and running.

Take a look at the full gallery below:

It’s time to finally treat yourself to that MacBook Air.

Apple is gearing up for Black Friday in a big way this year, with planned discounts for MacBook laptops, iMacs, iPads, iPods, and plenty more, reports 9to5 Mac.

According to leaked Apple flyers, the company will offer a $101 discount on Mac computers (bringing the Air down to a tempting $898 entry price), $41 to $61 discounts on iPads (depending on size), and smaller discounts for the iPod Touch and iPod Nano. If you’ve already got the Apple gizmo of your dreams, there will also be discounts on first- and third-party accessories, including $11 off the iPad 2 Smart Cover.

The discounts should be available at Apple retail stores and the company’s online store. Apple has been teasing its online Black Friday sale for the past few days.

While Apple is joining pretty much every other retailer in America with its Black Friday sale, it’s a particularly rare occurrence for the company to offer any discount. You may be able to land some Apple products cheaper as new models are announced, but typically consumers have to rely on third-party retailers to get their Apple fix on the cheap.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

It’s hard to believe that 10 years ago today Steve Jobs first introduced the iPod at a low-key event far different from the auditorium-sized keynotes that have since become standard for Apple announcements.

At the time, Apple was entering into a portable digital music player market that had no clear market leader — although companies like Creative, Sonic Blue and Sony had certainly been trying. Jobs talked about how music had been around a long time and wasn’t going away anytime soon.

The original iPod featured a 5 GB hard drive that could hold about a thousand songs. It had a two-inch white backlit LCD display and an estimated 10-hour battery life. The device officially debuted during the holiday season of 2001, but I didn’t get my hands on one until almost a year later. (I still remember my neighbor coming outside with his bulky graphite-colored MP3 player that held only 15-songs. He was shocked and sort of in disbelief when I told him how many mine held.)

For the sake of nostalgia, we’ve embedded a video of Jobs’ first iPod announcement below.

When did you get your first iPod? Let us know in the comments.

Apple’s long-term viability was questioned when long-time CEO and tech visionary Steve Jobs passed away a few weeks ago. But Jobs left a strong team in place led by new CEO Tim Cook that plans to do their damnedest to make Jobs proud.

FactSet’s average of major analyst expectations thought Apple would earn $29.5 billion in revenue along with $7.22 per share.

But Apple ended Q4 with $28.27 billion in revenues and $7.05 per diluted share. Its quarterly net profit stood at $6.62 billion for the quarter. That equals out to a 54 percent gain in net income, but it still hurts to miss financial targets.

Let’s look at individual sales for the quarter:

• 17.07 million iPhones, a 21 percent growth over the year-ago quarter
• 11.12 million iPads, a 166 percent growth over the year-ago quarter
• 4.89 million Macs, a 26 percent growth over the year-ago quarter
• 6.62 million iPods, a 27 percent decline from the year-ago quarter

The brightest spot on the sales list is iPads, which continue to stand out as the number one selling tablet device in the world. The iPod, on the other hand, may be slowing dying as people don’t need to update those units each year or they simply use their iPhones/other smartphones to listen to music.

Apple’s stock closed at $422.24 at the end of trading today, near its all-time high of $426.70. But the stock took a dive in after-hours trading as investors reacted to the missed expectations. At the time of this post, Apple’s stock was trading around $395.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Apple fans are nowhere near done paying their respects to the man who arguably jump-started the smartphone revolution.

Dozens of fans are still gathering at the Apple retail store in New York City and across the country to pay their respects to Steve Jobs, the company’s former chief executive officer, who passed away on Wednesday at age 56. Some left notes, some left flowers, some left apples and personal messages. A security official on staff outside the Apple Store said that was the largest the crowd had grown to so far. When Jobs died, many also converged on Apple’s campus in Cupertino, Calif., and left flowers and tributes at Jobs’ house in Palo Alto, Calif.

Jobs was known as a visionary, creating products that he knew people would be fighting tooth and nail to get their hands on. They were products you didn’t even know you needed: the tablet market was basically non-existent before the introduction of the iPad, and the iPhone is now one of the most popular smartphones in the world and is an industry standard. Jobs arguably jump-started the smartphone revolution with the iPhone and its associated App Store. “It’s a phone, it’s an iPod, and it’s an Internet communicator — are you getting it yet?” he said on stage when he unveiled the iPhone.

President Barack Obama said perhaps Jobs’ greatest tribute to his success was that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented. It might be an even greater tribute that all the events honoring his life have been documented by those same tools. Many people present at the vigils were sending tweets, emailing, calling, taking photos or messaging friends — on their iPhones.

“There are few people who could build something so successful and so magical and do more than (Jobs,)” Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian told me. “It’s humbling as an entrepreneur, more than anything else, to see what he’s done.”

[Photo credit: Matthew Lynley]

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Just before it debuted its much-hyped iPhone 4S, Apple on Tuesday announced minor upgrades and price reductions for its popular iPod music player line.

The iPod touch, the most popular iPod selling today, will stay mostly the same. It will run the new iOS 5 software, which will give the device a lot more features. Apple at one point called the device the best-selling handheld game console on the market today. The cheapest iPod touch 16GB model will drop by $30 to $199. The 32GB model will run $299 and the 64GB model will run $399.

The iPod nano has also had a minor update, with the addition of 16 new clocks for the people who like to use their iPod as a watch. The iPod nano will also drop slightly in price to $129 for the 8GB model and $149 for the 16GB model.

The iPod shuffle will continue to sell for $49 with 2GB of storage. It’s a popular choice for runners and exercise enthusiasts, so the company probably thought there was little reason to change it up.

Notably, there was no word about the iPod Classic at the keynote. But Apple has sent out a press release covering its iPod line up and kept the iPod Classic with 160GB of storage in the mix for $249. The model will be exactly the same, so perhaps Apple just decided it was best to leave it off the side.

What are your thoughts on Apple’s iPod line up?

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Possibly following-up on a reference to a “product transition” mentioned in Apple’s last earning call, the company’s iPod Classic and iPod Shuffle may get retired indefinitely, reports TUAW.

The news would hardly be surprising. The Classic is an old-style designed iPod that’s essentially a music storage device that plays music. The Shuffle is essentially just a smaller music storage device no screen. With Apple’s push to a cloud-based business model, both devices seem like relics that no longer fit within the company’s long-term strategy.

It also doesn’t help that both devices are arguably the least glamorous in Apple’s entire hardware product line up.

I don’t see how either device could evolve into something better at this point either. The cloud-based storage strategy makes the Classic obsolete, and Apple’s iPod Nano is small enough in size that it could easily take the Shuffle’s place as Apple’s low-end iPod.

Apple is also planning to reveal some minor changes to its iPod touch, according to TUAW’s source. It’s unknown if Apple will make these announcements at its October 4 press event.

But despite critics’ claims, the beat hasn’t stopped for music games, which continue to enjoy chart-topping success in a multitude of forms and formats. As revealed in my new book Music Games Rock: Rhythm Gaming’s Greatest Hits of All Time (downloadable free here), here’s why it’s premature to label them a one-hit wonder.

Online, Mobile and Social Play

As we speak, smartphones, tablet PCs, web browsers and social networks are introducing millions to gaming, and expanding its audience to include even those who don’t consider themselves gamers per se. Moreover, billions of players are suddenly now walking around with ready-made jukeboxes in their pocket, or piped into free multiplayer (and therefore virtual-concert-ready) venues courtesy of services like Google+ and Facebook. Given the unique ability to serve as a common unifier across cultural, generational and socioeconomic divides, music – and, most importantly, music games – are spearheading the forefront of the revolution.

Make no mistake: Mobile, social, digital and online connected play is the future of music games, and already leading the field forward into a brave new era. From iPhone and iPad outings including Tap Tap Glee, VidRhythm and Songify to digital downloads like Audiosurf and Facebook offerings like Nightclub City and Dirty Dancing, a new breed of title is quickly emerging. And between the rise of franchises like Tap Tap Revenge and gamification-powered group listening services like Turntable.FM, their impact is already being felt. Between free and value-priced titles which tap into your smartphone and tablet PC’s digital music library, or let you download new tunes on-demand, the category’s fortunes are rapidly soaring. Simultaneously, new titles like Skillz also aim to provide experiences akin to those console-based competitors, i.e. DJ Hero, do at a fraction of the cost, minus the oversized controllers.

Given music’s massive appeal, and growing on-demand availability and ubiquity through connected devices, today’s mobile and social platforms offer endless brave new horizons for game makers to explore and conquer.

Digital Distribution

Sales of pricey plastic peripheral-based performance simulation games have been waning lately. But as can be seen from Rock Band, described by creator Harmonix as “a platform” and still drawing over one million people monthly to download new music online, it may be irrelevant. With said series having shifted over 100 million digital singles alone, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that online music distribution, not retailing fake Stratocasters, may be the real viable long-term business here.

Novel offerings with an attractive, attention-grabbing and instantly communicable hook, music games with fake drum sets and Stratocasters such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band may secretly have just been Trojan horses. Serving to capture the public’s imagination and introduce the ability to physically interact with songs, each effectively sneaked the beginnings of a pipeline for high-tech direct-to-consumer record industry sales into millions of homes. Admittedly more unwieldy and tougher to dispense than an iTunes download, these sets nonetheless remain capable of delivering virtually distributed songs, which users can play with and enjoy in myriad ways, at high premiums and margins.

For artists, record labels and game makers alike, the genre’s large installed base and voracious appetite for new tracks could prove a healthy business going forward.

User-Generated Content and Downloadable Content (DLC)

Devices like the Nintendo 3DS already offer popular features for built-in sound recording and sharing. Ditto for past outings like Guitar Hero: World Tour, which offers a complete song creation studio. But newer titles like Everybody Dance, YooStar on MTV and SingStar Dance also include the ability to tape and share performances online or distribute content via Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.

Whether creating beatbox-style remixes with applications like Cambox, or simply popping and locking on camera, all are tailor-made for viral spread, and helping quickly expand the category’s reach and audience. Though turning friends, family and shots of you accidentally two-stepping into the coffee table into embarrassing videos may seem innocuous, don’t be fooled. By allowing users to effortlessly express themselves, edit creations and spread the word, all present a tremendous opportunity that game makers are rapidly capitalizing on to build new promotional and sales opportunities.

Motion-Sensing and Active Games

Paired with motion-sensing peripherals like the Wii remote, PlayStation Move and Xbox 360 Kinect, music games aren’t just providing new and novel ways to play, and greatly piquing public interest. As sales figures reveal, they’re also staging a strong comeback. Alone, the Just Dance series has moved over 10 million copies, while Michael Jackson: The Experience notched three million copies sold worldwide and Dance Central managed to get 2.5 million butts jiggling in less than one year. That suggests we’ve moved on from fake guitars to sensor-based dance games.

Granted, titles like the upcoming Ubisoft game Rocksmith, played with a real guitar, will inevitably face an uphill battle going forward. Interested as people are in getting off the couch and shaking their moneymaker though, gesture-powered options like The Black Eyed Peas Experience still seem poised for success. Will motion-tracking dance and karaoke games rule going forward? That remains TBD. But given the seemingly rich and largely untapped vein active titles present by letting players literally get in the game, we wouldn’t bet against it.

Video game and technology expert Scott Steinberg is the head of video game consulting firm TechSavvy Global. A business keynote speaker, analyst and industry consultant, he’s a regular on-air correspondent for ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and CNN. The creator and host of popular online video shows Tech Industry Insider, Gear Up and GameTheory, he’s a noted an entrepreneur and media analyst whose companies self-publish books, software, websites and more. His latest book is Music Games Rock: Rhythm Gaming’s Greatest Hits of All Time (2011, Power Play Publishing)  –  100% free to download at www.MusicGamesRock.com, also available on iBooks and Kindle ($2.99) and in paperback ($24.99) editions.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Video game retailer GameStop may soon push mobile gaming in its stores. The company is apparently planning to start offering Apple’s entire suite of iOS devices, including the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, reports 9to5Mac.

The move makes sense for GameStop since there’s plenty of money to be made by tapping into the mobile gaming frenzy. The company has also started accepting trade-ins of Apple mobile devices for in-store credit, so it’s only a matter of time before it starts selling those used devices.

Apple doesn’t need GameStop’s help to sell iOS devices, but their presence in the game retailer’s stores could make traditional console gamers take mobile gaming more seriously. If anything, it’s a symbolic win for Apple to have the iPhone sold alongside traditional gaming devices like the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.

It’s unlikely that GameStop will be offering the devices in time for the iPhone 5′s launch (expected some time in October). But even if it misses the launch, GameStop could still make a killing by offering the iPhone and iPad this holiday season. As 9to5Mac points out, Apple has already ramped up iPhone sales significantly (it sold 20.34 million iPhones in the June quarter) by making it more widely available worldwide.

What follows is a collection of our favorite Jobs moments, which may or may not have to do with technology, but offer a glimpse of insight into one of our greatest modern minds.

Steve says Microsoft has no taste

Jobs made it clear that he respected Microsoft’s success, but was saddened by the company’s complete lack of taste, in the 1996 PBS documentary “The Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires.“

“They don’t think of original ideas… And they don’t bring much culture into their product,” Jobs said. “I don’t have a problem with their success… I have a problem with the fact that that they just make third-rate products.”

Elegantly cutting down the competition, that’s so Steve.

Steve admits Microsoft helped save Apple… twice

Elsewhere in The Triumph of the Nerds, Jobs discussed how important Microsoft’s contributions to the first Mac were:

“Microsoft took a big gamble to write for the Mac. I brooded for a few months, but it was not very long after that that it really occurred to me that if we didn’t do something here, the Apple II was running out of gas, and we needed to do something with this technology fast or else Apple might cease to exist as the company that it was.”

Microsoft made its Office suite available on the Mac in 1989 before it even landed on Windows. The Mac Office suite continues to be a huge moneymaker for MS.

Microsoft’s second big Apple save came during Macworld Expo in 1997, when Bill Gates appeared on screen to announce that MS would be investing $150 million in Apple. The audience of Apple fans wasn’t exactly welcoming to Gates, but without the Microsoft deal Apple likely wouldn’t have been able to rebound as quickly in the late 90′s. Yes, you can thank Microsoft that Apple survived long enough to develop the iPod and iPhone.

Having the humility to let his sworn enemies save Apple, that’s so Steve.

Steve prepares young Stanford grads for life

Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement speech is one of his most cited works, perhaps because it’s one of the few times he’s opened up and given us a glimpse at his life philosophy. Throughout the speech, which is a must-listen, Jobs discusses why he dropped out of Reed College, love and loss, and of course, death.

Steve Jobs: Email ninja

Unlike most executives, Jobs may actually reply to you if you drop him a line — often to hilarious effect. Last year, the email master told a college journalism student to “Leave us alone” after she wrote him because Apple’s media relations team failed to get back to her. Also last year, Jobs also got into a late-night email exchange with Gawker blogger Ryan Tate, who was admittedly a bit tipsy at the time while complaining about Apple’s closed iOS ecosystem. That led to Jobs saying that the iPad provides “freedom from porn” since it doesn’t support Flash videos.

Being vaguely Orwellian after producing the iconic 1984 Apple ad? That’s so Steve.

Steve inspires Noah Wyle’s best performance ever

Sure, Noah Wyle may have been quite the actor on “E.R.” and “The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice”, but I think it may have required all of his thespian talents to bring Steve Jobs’ personality to life in the 1999 made-for-TV movie “The Pirates of Silicon Valley.”

Below, check out the scene where Wyle’s Jobs believes that Bill Gates (played by Anthony Michael Hall) stole the idea of a graphical user interface for Windows from Apple. If that’s not so Steve, I don’t know what is.

Steve trash talks the mobile competition

Jobs made a surprise appearance on Apple’s fourth quarter earnings call last year, seemingly just to trash the company’s mobile competitors. “We’ve now passed RIM, and I don’t see them catching up with us in the foreseeable future,” he said during the call.

As for Android, Jobs said that the notion of it being open is a “smokescreen.” He added that “it’s really about fragmented versus integrated. We believe integrated will trump fragmented every time.”

He also had choice words for companies making 7-inch tablets, because he believes that screen size is too small for useful tablet apps. “One could increase the resolution to make up for the difference, but it’s meaningless unless the thing also includes sandpaper so users can sand down their fingers.” Ouch.

Steve knows how to give presentations

It’s difficult to write an article about iconic Jobs moments without at least mentioning his product reveals. Below find our favorites.

Thanks to VentureBeat’s Jolie O’Dell for the top Photoshopped pic