Steve Jobs Resigns as Apple CEO

Today, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced his resignation from the position at the Cupertino-centered corporation. In his letter of resignation, he pulled a Bill Gates and requested to serve as Chairman of the Board, as well as suggesting the appointment of COO Tim Cook as his replacement. Click here to view his letter of resignation.

HP TouchPad Fire Sale/Android Dominates Q2 Smartphone Sales

HP recently announced their decision to ditch their TouchPad line of tablets and in are now selling them for a very inexpensive price of $99 (as opposed to the previous price of $399). Due to this decision, many consumers are making off like bandits with this great deal and are rapidly purchasing the remaining TouchPad tablets. However, this decision will most likely prove disastrous for HP in the long run. Basically, Apple reports the sale of millions of iPads each quarter, so the sale of several hundred thousand TouchPads at most will likely not damage Apple too much, but instead damage both HP’s reputation both with the public and retailers. For example, after HP ceases to offer technical support for its TouchPad tablets, retailers such as Best Buy will soon discover their customer service booths packed with unsatisfied consumers. And furthermore, of course, the disintegration of HP’s line of tablets does not look promising for its ego, and personally I don’t envy HP’s current PR representatives.

 

In other tech news, a recent study has shown Android OS has surpassed that of iOS in terms of the number of smartphones it operates on. It has been reported by NPD that as of the 2nd quarter Google’s Android OS is running on 52% of smartphones, with iOS occupying 29% of the market, BlackBerry OS with 11% of the market, and Windows Phone 7 and WebOS with less than 5% each.

Google Acquires Motorola Mobility

Google has recently announced their major acquisition of Motorola Mobility, the division of the former Motorola, Inc. that specializes in the production of smartphones and mobile devices. The multi-billion dollar silicon valley corporation purchased Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. In doing so, Google can take a more active role in the development of hardware as well as software of Android-based devices and therefore compete more effectively with Apple.