Facebook acquires Voice Recognition Firm, targets Apple Siri

Facebook acquires Voice Recognition Firm, targets Apple Siri

In ambition to extend its reach beyond computers and smartphones Facebook Inc acquired a company that makes voice recognition technology for wearable devices and internet-connected appliances.

On Monday Facebook announced it acquired wit.ai without providing a price for the deal. Wit.ai is a 18-month old company based in Palo Alto, California, makes software that can recognize spoken words as well as written text phrased in “Natural Language”

A representative from Facebook declined to provide details on how Facebook is planning to use this voice recognition technology or with in which group of Facebook wit.ai team would work.

The deal comes as technology companies are racing to bring internet connectivity to a new crop of devices, from watches to washing machines. Voice recognition, the technology that helps power services such as Apple Inc's Siri, is considered a key building block for the new devices to earn mainstream consumer appeal.

Facebook, the world's largest internet social network, with 1.3 billion users, is increasingly looking beyond the PCs, tablets and smartphones currently used to access its service. In March, it acquired virtual reality headset maker Oculus VR for $2 billion.

The deal for wit.ai is likely to have been significantly smaller. Wit.ai announced in October that it had raised $3 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

iPhone Screen Size Affects iOS Developers

Affect Of iPhone Screen Size of iOS Developers

Apple may have challenged iPhone developers to figure out how best to support the different screen dimensions of the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, something that Android developers have been doing for years.

Pixel-perfect screen designs have been a trademark of native iOS development from day one. A tradition that with the introduction of new iPhone screen sizes may have to give way to adaptive screen design across the platform. Native iOS developers tend to cater to specific devices mores than mobile web and Android developers. But when the number of variances in screen sizes gets out of control, all you can do is gravitate more towards an adaptive or responsive approach in your app’s design. Prior to the iPhone 6, there have been very few screen size differences to contend with in the iOS world compared to Android.

It is the iPhone 4S that is irregular, not the iPhone 6 Plus

When looking at the screen dimensions for each of the different iPhone models supported by iOS 8, only the iPhone 4S supports a 3:2 aspect ratio. The iPhone 5, 5C, 5S as well as the new iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus all support a 16:9 aspect ratio. Moving from the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 5, Apple kept the pixel width of the different screens constant at 640. It was the pixel height that changed from 960 to 1136, which transitioned the iPhone from a 3:2 ratio to 16:9. With the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, both the width and the height changed keeping the aspect ratio fixed at 16:9 across all iOS 8 supported iPhones, except the iPhone 4S.

The shorter dimensions of the iPhone 4S compared to the other iOS 8 supported iPhones makes it more difficult to support when it comes to screen design. Simply put, designs don’t scale well when crossing over to a different aspect ratio. But this is not a new challenge for iOS developers to contend with; this has been a part of iOS 7 development all along. As a result, there are still some iOS 6 apps out there that do not conform to the 16:9 screen dimensions of the iPhone 5 and center themselves on the screen, leaving blank black bars of dead space across the top and bottom of the device.

The good news about the screen dimensions on both the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is that all of the effort put into redesigning apps to take full advantage of the iPhone 5 screen size will, for the most part, scale nicely on both the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus.

Designing screens specific to a device

Out of the gate, Apple has made every effort to keep apps that were specifically redesigned in iOS 7 for the iPhone 5, 5C and 5S to look as good as possible in iOS 8 on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The auto-scaling capabilities built into iOS will look better than the letter-boxing effect app owners had to deal with as developers redesigned their screens from the 3:2 aspect ratio inherent to the iPhone 4 and 4S to the taller, more slender 16:9 ratio of the iPhone 5. Meaning, if you buy a device with a larger screen, you will actually get to use the larger screen.

That does not mean that similar to the “Designed for iPhone 5” app updates of 2012 and 2013 we will not start seeing “Designed for iPhone 6” updates to our favorite apps. There is more screen real-estate to potentially design for. In particular, icons, graphics and other UI elements will now need to support the @1x, @2x and the recently introduces @3x pixel sizes, otherwise things might start to look a bit blurry. Mostly iOS developers will have to learn to take advantage of some of the new Adaptive Layout features in iOS and keep their screen designs more flexible rather than pixel perfect. Designing apps that adapt will likely be the standard for apps targeting the iPhone 5 and iPhone 6 screen sizes, but the iPhone 6 Plus may prove to be a bit more of a challenge.

What is likely to prompt developers to redesign some of your favorite iPhone apps will be the changes introduced by the iPhone 6 Plus and its enhanced support for landscape mode. Many iPhone specific apps lock their orientation to portrait mode. You may have noticed that these particular apps do not rotate when you told your screen. This is primarily because in many scenarios on the iPhone, landscape mode just does not have enough space to design a decent app.

With the iPhone 6 Plus’s larger screen, Apple has started supporting the home screen in landscape mode as well as a more iPad-like split view for iPhone 6 Plus apps. This will likely require some major updates to customize the user experience on the iPhone 6 Plus, especially when designing app extensions. The time it will take to redesign portrait-only screen layouts of an iPhone only app could equal that of transition to a universal app that also supports the iPad.

So how does Android handle it?

While supporting a wider variety of screen sizes may be new to iPhone developers, it certainly is not new to Android developers. The latest information from Open Signal shows that as a platform, Android has become increasingly more fragmented each year when it comes to the number of manufactures, different devices, OS versions and variances in screen sizes. There were 18,796 distinct Android devices this year compared to 11,868 last year and only 3,997 in 2012. Keeping track of all of the different screen resolutions on Android can in itself be a full-time occupation.

An interesting dynamic that was added to Open Signal’s analysis of the fragmentation data this year was the discovery of a correlation between the market share of the top five devices in a give market segment and that country’s gross national product per capita (GDP/Capita). The data shows that the higher the GDP/Capita, the less fragmentation there is in that country. As an example, here in the U.S. the top five Android devices represent forty-five percent of the market. That drastically cuts down on the number of devices one has to consider supporting compared to Madagascar where the top five devices represent only eight percent of the overall Android market.

Apple may have just introduced a third category for asset densities within in an iPhone project (@3x), in contrast Android supports six generalized screen densities (dpi, mdpi, hdpi, xhdpi, xxhdpi, and xxxhdpi). The goal for Android developers is to achieve what is referred to as density independence, basically avoiding situations that make graphics, buttons and icons appear oversized on different screens.  And that’s a situation that iPhone developers will now have to contend with.

Apple's website collapsed under increased traffic

Website Crash Due To iPhone 6

Apple's website collapsed under increased traffic last night after eager customers waited until midnight to order the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Users logging on to the online Apple Store at midnight as the iPhones went on sale reported slow load times, and a lengthy delay in the devices becoming available.

Some service appears to have been restored after about 30 minutes. But this morning, the store was down for some users. Its availability appears to be intermittent.

Some customers reported that the iPhone was available on carrier websites and the Apple Store app, but not the desktop site. There were reports that the iPhone 6 had sold out through some carriers.

The delays in the iPhone 6 becoming available in the online store frustrated many customers, as they had waited until the early hours of the morning to order the new phone.

The non-functional online store is the third glitch in a row to plague the launch of iPhone 6. At the launch event, the live stream failed for 25 minutes, leaving viewers staring at a fuzzy test-card and listening to commentary in Chinese. Then Apple delayed the iPhone 6 launch in China after failing to get regulatory approval on time (or, as conspiracy theorists would have it, the company wanted to punish its wireless carrier partners for leaking pictures of the new phones on their web sites prior to the launch).

Golden Apple IPad to be launched....

Apple To Launch Golden Ipad

Apple will launch a gold version of its upcoming new iPad Air, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. We saw the news on both Apple Insider and MacRumors. The blogs cited Kuo's prediction because he has had an uncanny track record of getting things right ahead of time when it comes to new Apple products.

The mystery is when Apple will launch a gold iPad Air 2. It is probably not going to happen on Sept. 9, the date Apple has scheduled a media event to launch iPhone 6 and a smart watch. Apple has, however, scheduled another event for October - and that could be "Gold iPad Day," MacRumors suggests.

Here is what Kuo believes the iPad Air 2 will have:

In light of limited development resources and the fact that iPad Air contributes more to Apple's sales and earnings than iPad mini, we think that only iPad Air 2 will see a major upgrade in specs this year, including anti-reflective coating for the cover lens, full lamination for the touch panel, a gold-colored metal casing, an A8 processor, Touch ID/ fingerprint recognition and an 8-megapixel rear camera. iPad mini may be upgraded with fingerprint recognition, if any.

Some people were skeptical that Apple would ever make a gold iPad. But there was huge buzz about the gold iPhone 5S, especially in Asia. Last year, photos began emerging from China of an alleged gold iPad. Those pictures - which we're re-running here, just to tease you - were probably fakes or concept renderings.

Nonetheless, it sure would look beautiful.

Apple iPhone 6 Leaked

iPhone 6 Leaked photos show larger screen and rounded edges

Pictures leaked to technology website TechRadar add fuel to the rumours that Apple's forthcoming smartphone will have a larger screen

New leaked photos of the iPhone 6 reinforce rumours that Apple's forthcoming device will have a larger screen, slimmer frame and rounded edges.

The photos, leaked to TechRadar, were reportedly taken by an Apple beta tester, but the site claims it cannot verify their authenticity.

However, the appearance of the device in the pictures is in line with other leaked photos and renders of the iPhone 6, suggesting that they may indeed be genuine.

Apple will unveil its eagerly-awaited iPhone at a "big" media event on September 9, according to reports. Judging by past releases, the iPhone 6 could then go on sale to the public from Friday, September 19.

The iPhone 6, Apple's ninth iPhone model, is expected to be released in two different sizes – 4.7-inches and 5.5-inches – with the smaller of the two to be made available first.

Both versions are expected to use in-cell touch panel technology – built into the screen and allowing for thinner construction than with standard touch panel films – that was introduced with the iPhone 5.

Like its predecessor, the new model is expected to come in silver, gold and space grey.

End Of Patent War: Samsung Vs Apple

Samsung Apple likely to drop patent war outside US

Arch-rivals Samsung and Apple have decided to drop a series of bitter patent disputes pending in multiple courts outside the United States, the South Korean electronics giant said today.

The two companies have been locked in a prolonged war of legal attrition in close to a dozen countries, with each accusing the other of infringing on various patents related to their flagship smartphone and tablet products.

"Samsung and Apple have agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States," Samsung said in a statement.

"This agreement does not involve any licensing arrangements, and the companies are continuing to pursue the existing cases in US courts," it added.

The patent row kicked off in earnest back in 2011, when Apple sued Samsung in a US court, and swiftly went trans-continental with cases being heard in South Korea, Germany, Japan, Italia, the Netherlands, England, France and Australia among others.

The fight will continue in US courts where Apple has accused its South Korean rival of massive and wilful copying of its designs and technology for smartphones and tablets, and has asked for a bar on US sales of Samsung smartphones and tablet computers.

Samsung has counter-claimed that Apple had used some of its technology without permission.

Despite the multiple cases, neither company has managed to land a knockout legal blow against the other, and a number of judges have urged the two giants to settle their differences out of court.

As per Daishin Securities analyst Claire Kim she said that "They have nothing to gain with a prolonged legal battle because the market situation has changed -- no more merit of the old strategy to expand market share through attacks on rivals".

Due to challenges from Chinese and Indian firms, Apple and Samsung will try to maintain their solid status in the premium smartphone market through innovation.

"The two giants are not expected to expand lawsuits in the US because of the pressure to produce attractive new high-end products".

How To Make Your Mac Run Faster

12 Ways To Make Your Mac Run Faster

No matter how much you loved your Mac when you bought it, chances are it doesn't perform the same way it once did.

A few years can take a noticeable toll on any computer, but luckily there are some tips and trips that can help bring it back up to speed.

Here are a few things to look out for that can make your overall Mac experience more smooth and efficient.

01. Software updates: Often, software updates fix bugs and glitches that could be slowing your computer down. Check for any software updates that may be available for the version of OS X your computer is running on. You can do this by clicking the Apple icon in the upper left hand side and selecting Software Update from the drop down menu. In most cases, your Mac will probably issue a desktop notification to alert you when an update is available.

02. Restarting your computer: It sounds obvious, but sometimes your laptop or desktop just needs a good restart to get back up to speed. Try restarting your computer before jumping ahead to other options.

03. Close unused Tabs: Open tabs in web browsers do take up memory, even if it is a small amount. This can build up if you e the type of person that opens, say, 15 tabs on a daily basis and never closes them. Try to get into the habit of closing out tabs once you e finished using them.

04. Close unused Apps: Apps, like tabs in web browsers, can also eat away at your memory if you have a ton of programs open. Apple has a couple of handy keyboard shortcuts that make it easy to exit apps quickly. For example, holding Command, Control, and the media eject button will quit all apps and restart the computer after asking you to save your changes.

05. Reduce the number of apps at Start Up: If you have a bunch of different programs set to launch when you turn on your computer, it’s going to take a while for your Mac to boot up. You can see exactly which apps are programmed to launch on start by clicking the Apple icon and navigating to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login items. In this list, you’ll see all the items that start up with your computer. Check the boxes next to each app and click the minus button at the bottom of the window to remove them.

06. Organize your desktop: For some, this is a daunting task, but you may be surprised to learn that it can actually give your Mac a little performance boost. OS X treats each desktop item like a small window with its own memory footprint, according to Digital Trends. So, try reducing the number of icons on your desktop by combining similar items into folders and deleting items you don’t use.

07. Use Of Activity Monitor: The Activity Monitor on your Mac does exactly as its name implies, which means it can alert you to sneaky programs that may be running in the background. Try closing these background processes to speed up your Mac by either opening the Utilities icon in your Apps folder or by simply typing Activity Monitor in Spotlight search. From here, you can see how many programs are taking up memory on your computer and end those processes.

08. Clean out your hard drive: Over time, your hard drive is bound to get cluttered. Deleting old movies, photos, podcast, music, and any other type of file you no longer need is one of the best ways to free up some disk space — which can ultimately speed up your Mac.

09. Delete apps you don't use: Again — apps can chip away at your systems memory. If you downloaded a game, app, or program that you no longer use, get rid of it to free up some space.

10. Clear your browser cache: If you mostly notice sluggish performance while you e surfing the web, it could be your web browser that’s the problem, not your computer. Try emptying the cache to speed up performance. The directions are slightly different for each browser, but in general you want to navigate to the Settings menu, and head over to the History option.

11. Re-indexing of your computer: Sometimes if you'e just applied a software update, it can take a while for Spotlight to rebuild its index of all your files. This could be one reason why your Mac seems to be running slow. To check of its indexing, simply click the magnifying glass icon in the upper right corner of your desktop.

12. Close widgets on the dashboard: Like apps and browser tabs, these widgets also take up a little bit of memory. Head over to the Dashboard by pressing Mission Control button in your dock and selecting the Dashboard. Close out the tools you don’t need.

Apple will set the world on fire with iPhone 6

Apple will set the world on fire with iPhone 6

Apple will "set the world on fire" with "unbelievably massive" sales of the next iPhone, analysts said this week.

"As well as they did with the iPhone this quarter, with all the rumors of a new iPhone [this fall], I was impressed with the results," Van Baker of Gartner said about Apple's second-quarter earnings released on Tuesday. "That tells me when the next generation comes out, they're going to set the world on fire."

On July 22, Apple reported it sold 35.2 million iPhones in the second quarter, a 13% increase over the same period the year before. The number was under Wall Street's expectations of 35.8 million, but still surprising to some, Baker included, because sales have tended to droop in the quarter prior to the debut of new models.

Virtually everyone expects Apple to unveil at least one new iPhone, possibly several, in September and the following months, if only because of a rising tide of component leaks from sieve-like Asian suppliers. That smartphone, dubbed "iPhone 6" by outsiders in lieu of any formal acknowledgement by Apple, will reportedly boast a larger 4.7-in. screen, with an even-bigger second model sporting a 5.5-in. display possible at the same time, or more likely, later this year or early in 2015.

Pent-up demand for a larger screen from Apple will trigger a buying spree, analysts have predicted. Smartphones with bigger displays are increasing their share of the total market, and are especially important in countries like China, where they serve as both phone and tablet substitute. Apple boosted the size of the iPhone's display from 3.5-in. to 4-in. with 2012's iPhone 5, but contrary to some expectations, used the same-sized screen for last year's iPhone 5S and 5C.

And China, as Apple CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly said, is the company's best growth opportunity.

"But there's a lot of pent-up demand among developed economies for a bigger iPhone, too," Baker contended. "I think [the iPhone 6] is poised to do extremely well."

Other long-time Apple watchers were on board, too. "I am extremely bullish about the iPhone 6," said Ben Thompson, an independent analyst who covers the technology field from his Stratechery website. "It's going to be unbelievably massive."

Apple seems to be expecting the same: In the second quarter, it committed a near-record $21 billion to third-party manufacturers for components and equipment as they presumably geared up for a string of new product announcements this fall.

Those commitments, as Apple has regularly laid out in its quarterly filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, are pre-payments for outsourced manufacturing and the components those companies use to assemble products. As of the end of June, Apple had $15.4 billion in such commitments.

Also off the balance sheet was an additional $5.6 billion in obligations, mostly for acquiring manufacturing and tooling equipment put in place by Apple's component makers and product assemblers.

The $21 billion total, then, is an indication of Apple's own build forecasts for the coming quarters, and thus its expectations for sales. The $21 billion is 46% higher than the same period the year before, a quarter prior to the launch of the iPhone 5S and 5C. The $15.4 billion in manufacturing/component commitments is 18.5% higher than that line in the second quarter of 2013.

Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research, after agreeing that the numbers are big, cautioned against reading too much into the data, which some have used to bolster opinions that Apple will introduce at least one new product category, probably a wearable line, this year.

Really Weird Thing About The Facebook For iPhone

The Weird Thing About The Facebook Page For Apple's iPhone

There is a Facebook page for iPhone, and it has nearly 3.5 million fans. But it's not run by Apple.

It's a fan page. Apple doesn't actually have a Facebook page for iPhone.

In fact, Apple's presence on Facebook is inconsistent. There is a page for the App Store. And a (barely updated) page for Apple Inc. There is also a page for iTunes. The iTunes page has 32 million likes. But iPhone, the biggest consumer electronics brand in the world, has no official presence in the largest social media venue on the planet.

I was talking with a social media marketing executive recently, and he regarded this as madness. Facebook fanbases can become a huge asset to a company. They can be used for customer relations, or to show users how to do new things with existing products.

A Facebook page would be perfect for the iPhone - there are a gazillion functions on iPhone that most consumers don't even know exist. And yet, Apple lets this vast reservoir go to waste.

There are two theories about this:

The first is that Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller doesn't "get" social media. When Apple's marketing division went through a crisis in 2013 - and the company began the process of looking beyond its longtime ad agency, TBWA Media Arts Lab - TBWA suggested that maybe Apple should at least begin monitoring social media, to see how its brand stacked up against rivals like Samsung over time.

Schiller saw no need for it. He told TBWA in an email:

I think paying money for social media tracking tools is nuts. It is easy to track social media, I do it every day, there are lots of summary feeds, groups, and notification tools built right in to the social networking sites, all free.

(i think the guys at samsung sat around a coffee table watching Twitter and Facebook feeds and didn't need to pay for anything in the example below)

One might also say the idea of Schiller personally tracking Apple's social media mentions himself is also kinda nuts. That would be a huge undertaking.

Social media is the most powerful new marketing tool of the current century. It can make or break companies and brands. Samsung launched the Galaxy SIII on Facebook, for instance. Most large companies have social media teams consisting of dozens of people, even when they're only tracking consumer feedback.

From this perspective, Apple appears to be ignoring one of the best assets it has - its loyal army of fans. (And it's not clear that Apple's advertising has emerged from its own crisis, either.)

The second explanation is best summarized in this CNBC story about why Apple doesn't have a Twitter account either. "Apple has nothing to gain by creating an account," Belus Capital analyst Brian Sozzi told CNBC. "Apple isn't going to be like Starbucks and run promoted tweets offering dollars off a product for a limited time. Apple is a premium experience all around, you go to Apple, they do not go to you."

CNBC pointed out how disinterested Apple is in social media feedback by pointing to this YouTube video for one of its recent ads for iPad, which asks, "We're humbled and inspired by what people do with iPad. So we set out to capture some of their stories. What will your verse be?"

Indians @ Apple

One in every 3 Apple engineers is Indian

India has become a major ingredient in Apple's secret sauce, and the scale may surprise many. It is estimated that a third of the $171-billion company's engineering staff is Indian, and that a large and increasing proportion of its enterprise software, service and support work is done by Indian IT vendors.

Apple filed 1,750 H-1B applications during the 10-year period 2001 to 2010, but the number increased sharply to 2,800 during 2011-13. US-based HfS Research that compiled the data says the majority of the H-1Bs would be Indians, indicating that the iPhone and iPad maker's dependence on Indian engineers has risen significantly in recent years.

"About one-third of Apple's engineering headcount consists of Indians who are either on H-1B or on Green Card," said Pareekh Jain, principal analyst at HfS Research.

HfS arrives at that conclusion looking at figures Apple disclosed in 2012, when it said it had 47,000 people working directly for it in the US, of which 7,700 were customer support operators, and 27,350 worked retail in Apple Stores, leaving about 12,000 as engineers, designers, marketers and other white-collar tech product workers.

HfS Research also finds that Apple works with at least five India-based IT vendors — including four large firms and one small firm — and the scope of the work they do has been rising. 

"Apple's outsourcing strategy can be described in three words as 'outsourcing for growth'. The scope of outsourcing work has been enlarged in the last two or three years. From 2013, Apple has dedicated IT outsourcing vendor managers based out of Bangalore who are acting as the bridge between Apple's IT managers and India based IT vendors," said Jain.

HfS Research declined to name the IT vendors. TCS, Infosys and Wipro are known to do work for Apple. Apple is seen to be among Infosys' top 10 clients. Two years ago, Infosys rented a 1.4-lakh sqft office space near its headquarters in Electronics City to house employees who would work exclusively for Apple. The building had a capacity to initially house 1,400 people.

Apple engages with Indian IT players for application development & maintenance, business intelligence & data-warehousing, data analytics applications, enterprise application integration and ERP implementation. Indian vendors also provide software support for development and maintenance of Apple retail stores, specific work for iTunes, iCloud, internal applications of release management, job search portals, and porting of web applications to iOS mobile.

"The other aspect of Apple's outsourcing strategy is multi-sourcing, with each IT vendor having some strong focus in areas like channels, CRM, supply chain, marketing and finance, and some overlap," Jain said.

Apple did not respond to a mail TOI sent on Friday seeking confirmation of the data. That was perhaps to be expected from a company regarded as among the most secretive in the world.

In 2006, Apple had leased space in Bangalore to establish a technical support centre with 3,000 people. But within months the company abandoned the plan following an outcry from customers casting doubts on India's ability to service and support Apple's high-quality products. But in the following years, Apple was clearly convinced it could not do without India and found other ways to use the country's talent.

More recently, incremental work coming from Apple has increased substantially as the volumes and complexity of Apple's supply chain has increased. Apple, whose market valuation is now stands at $585 billion, sold 35.2 million iPhones in the June quarter, a growth of 12.7% compared to the same period last year. Apple said demand from BRIC economies - Brazil, Russia, India and China - spurred iPhone sales.

"Its data warehousing applications have petabytes of data. Its product lines, volumes and need for analytics have increased. Also, Apple has acquired more than 30 firms in the last three years whose systems and applications need migration and integration to Apple's applications. All this is translating into additional work for IT vendors," Jain said.

The 10 Most Rotten Apple Products

Do You know these 10 Most Rotten Apple Products?

Apple is known for the hit products it has released in the last decade: the iPod, the iPhone, and most recently the iPad. But the company hasn't always been a synonym for success.

Some of of its products, particularly in the 80s and 90s, were huge flops.

From the PowerPC to the Pippin game console, we recount the ill-fated products Apple probably wishes you forgot about permanently.

Here are some of them listed:

1. The iPod Hi-Fi was built with Apple's sleek design aesthetic but ultimately failed to deliver the sound quality that 3rd party competitors could offer.

2. Apple's hockey puck mouse came out with the first iMac, but its shape proved very uncomfortable for users and forced Apple to reconsider its peripheral ergonomics.

3. Before the Apple TV was even a twinkle in Steve Jobs' eye, Apple released the Macintosh TV in 1993. It was incapable of displaying TV on the desktop and sold only 10,000 units.

4. The Pippin, manufactured by Bandai, was Apple's first stab at a gaming console. It sold only 42,000 units before being discontinued in 1997, a year after its release.

5. The Apple III was meant to springboard off the Apple II's success, but its impractical design vexed users and forced Apple to recall the first 14,000 units.

 6. The Newton PDA came out in 1987 and remained in production for 11 years before being discontinued despite its limited functionality. Perhaps it was the required stylus that did it in.

7. The Apple QuickTake, launched in 1994, was one of the first digital cameras to be marketed to consumers. Ultimately Apple entered the product category too early and discontinued the QuickTake in 1997. 

8.The Macintosh Portable, left, was Apple's first laptop computer. Aside from display and battery issues, the Mac Portable was plain expensive, costing $7300 when it came out in 1989. 

9. The sleek Power Mac G4 Cube came out in 2000, but was too expensive for most consumers at $1799. It also lacked an internal fan, causing it to overheat. Apple put it "on ice" in 2001. 

10. Although it was manufactured by Motorola, the ROKR E1 was the first phone to support iTunes and was touted by Steve Jobs when Apple unveiled it in 2005. Its limited storage and slow file transfers caused Apple and Motorola to part ways just a year after its release.