Read more: http://www.cnet.com/2300-33506_1-10010497.html?tag=epicStories#ixzz1gpLPgcG8

The iPhone 4S is the ultimate comeback kid. Despite showing up four months later than expected and in the wake of endless iPhone 5 rumors, the iPhone 4S continues to outsell any other phone in the United States.
We love this phone–especially its blazing A5 processor and point-and-shoot-killing camera–and the iPhone 4S’ voice-activated digital assistant, Siri, is a breakout cultural phenomenon.

Read more: http://www.cnet.com/2300-33506_1-10010530.html?tag=epicStories#ixzz1gpIas17y

Chrome 15

(Credit: Google)

In the last week of November,StatCounter says, 23.6 percent of the browsers tracked by its global system were Chrome 15. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 accounted for 23.5 percent.

Add up all versions of IE and Chrome and you still get a different story: IE is the most popular browser overall, well ahead of Chrome. StatCounter’s numbers still show all versions of IE taking a total of 40.09 percent of the market, vs. 26.31 percent for all versions of Chrome. Firefox is at 25.07 percent, Apple’s Safari is at 5.86 percent, and Opera gets 1.91 percent.

Chrome 15′s victory isn’t hugely meaningful. Google’s built-in updating system quietly but insistently auto-updates users to new versions, reducing the number of people who are running old editions of the browser. Microsoft, by contrast, is less pushy. That helps explain why a meaningful number of folks still run the ancient, obsolete, insecure mess known as Internet Explorer 6.

In January, Microsoft plans to use Windows Update’s Auto Updates to upgrade recalcitrant Windows users to newer versions of Internet Explorer–IE 8 for Windows XP, and IE 9 for Windows Vista and 7. Given Chrome 15′s extremely narrow victory over IE 8 and the massive number of Windows XP PCs in the world, IE 8 presumably has a decent chance at snatching its crown back next month.

The real history-making moment would come if Chrome–or any non-Microsoft browser–overtook IE to become the world’s most popular browser, period. (The numbers reported by StatCounter and its rivals vary enough that I wouldn’t believe it had happened until every major stats service agreed.)

The last market-leading browser that wasn’t IE was Netscape Navigator. When its share crumbled in the 1990s, Internet Explorer gained a monopoly on the market that looked like it would probably be permanent.

By coming pre-installed on Windows, Internet Explorer still gets a huge head start over every other browser on the planet: It’s remarkable that the race is as close as it is. I wouldn’t reject the possibility of Chrome eventually overtaking IE, though, particularly given how rapidly it’s improving and how aggressively Google markets it.

Of course, a few years ago I thought that Firefox also had a shot at surpassing IE . Back in the days when Internet Explorer 6 was the current version of IE, and commanded more than 90 percent of the market, Firefox was downright dazzling. Simply by being wonderful, it quickly racked up millions of users–and forever disproved the depressing conventional wisdom that it was impossible to compete with Windows’ default browser.

When Google unveiled Chrome a little over three years ago, Firefox probably lost its chance at taking the top slot. All of a sudden, Chrome was the fresh, innovative alternative browser–and recently, Firefox’s share has flatlined, then dipped.

If open-source Firefox had managed to overtake IE, it would have been one of the great stories in tech history: A bunch of volunteer geeks banding together to beat the world’s biggest software company. If Chrome takes the lead, it’ll be one huge company beating another huge company. For me, at least, the emotional impact wouldn’t be the same.

And in a strange way, Microsoft is also a scrappy upstart when it comes to browsers. IE 9, the current version, is downright good, and admirably progressive when it comes to new technologies and standards. (Microsoft does its best work when its products have meaningful competition. Weird, huh?)

So I’m not rooting for any particular browser, and won’t take it badly if IE remains the most popular one for years to come. But boy, am I glad that the browser wars–which some once thought were over–show no signs of ending anytime soon.

The handheld could pose a threat to Sony and Nintendo’s handheld gaming devices and will feature a multi-touch interface and the ability to download new software directly from Apple’s online software store, just like the iPad. The device will be introduced by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs himself… on September 8, 2007.

Apple, of course, already sells this product. It’s called the iPod Touch.

Which makes speculation that Apple will introduce a new version of the iPad, with a 7.85-inch screen, sort of ridiculous.

That’s because Apple has been introducing versons of the same product — the iPhone — with different screen sizes and capabilities since 2007.

That should put a report Friday from Taiwanese trade publication Digitimes in perspective:

Apple is likely to launch a 7.85-inch iPad prior to the fourth quarter of 2012 in addition to a new iPad scheduled to be released at the end of the first quarter, according to sources in the supply chain.

…

[I]n order to cope with increasing market competition including the 7-inch Kindle Fire from Amazon and the launch of large-size smartphones from handset vendors, Apple has been persuaded into the development of 7.85-inch iPads, the sources indicated.

Persuaded to make a smaller iPad? Or is it a bigger iPod touch? Is there a difference? That’s not a criticism. Apple got something right with the iPhone: a simple, pocketable computer built around multi-touch, a high-speed wireless data connection, and an expanding suite of sensors that make it a more personal personal computer.

The rest, as Steve Jobs explained to All Things D’s Arik Hesseldahl, are merely variations on a theme:

In 2007, right after the introduction of the first iPhone, I attended a meeting with Jobs and the editors of the magazine I was working for at the time.

The meeting included a Jobs-led, hands-on demo with prototype iPhones, during which I asked Jobs a question: “Will you do a version of this without the phone?”

The answer — which surprised me that he even gave it — was yes. In that moment I got a very tiny glimpse of the long path that lay ahead. I could see way off in the distance the logical progression leading first to the iPod touch and from there to the iPad. It was a revelation.

And that’s why the prospect of an iPad with a smaller screen doesn’t mean much if you’re already thinking of buying an iPod touch or an iPad. You can move your songs and software so easily from one device to another — thanks to Apple’s iCloud suite of services — so you don’t have to worry much about this season’s iPad becoming suddenly obsolete.

“Multiple third party sources have confirmed Amazon’s strength thus far in Q4,” read the first line of Caris & Company’s research note on Amazon, released Friday.  Kindle Fire sales could hit 10 million this quarter, making up 8% of revenues.  For comparison’s sake, Apple sold 11.1 million iPads in Q3 (which isn’t a holiday quarter).

At an average sales price of $150, and making up 8% of revenues as mentioned above, hardware sales aren’t “inconsequential, but also not a growth driver,” Caris’ Scott Tilghman explained.  “At its core, Amazon is a multiplatform retailer with growth coming from many segments, products, and geographies,” Tilghman said.

Amazon is setting itself up for sustained revenue growth going forward, but it will face important headwinds.  In the fourth quarter, the company headed by Jeff Bezos was forced to engage in heavy advertising while offering free shipping deals.  U.S. online holiday spending surged 15% this year to almost $25 billion for the season, according to comScore, and Amazon was front and center, along with eBay and even Wal-Mart.

The large online retailer is making it “increasingly difficult for the competition” given improvements in purchasing efficiencies, fulfillment, and relationships with third party merchants “to offer integrated retail solutions,” according to Caris.

Jeff Bezos is making an all-out bet on expansion given the company’s dominant market position.  Added to the tablet push via the Kindle Fire, Amazon is reportedly working smartphone which should be ready around Christmas next year, Citi’s analysts said.  Beyond challenging Apple on the tablet front, Bezos would be taking them on, along with Google, on the mobile front.

In a risk-reward analysis, Tilghman believes Amazon is an attractive long-term bet, but investors should remain cautious in the near-term.  “[We] remain cautious in the short-term until the company is better able to leverage recent [additions].”  The fourth quarter should be profitable, but margin contraction will be considerable, possibly leading to a top-line beat and bottom-line miss.

Caris’ analyst has an “above average” rating on the stock and $250 price target.

Shares in Amazon closed the day in the red, down .01% or $1.16 to $182.26.