In fact, it's more than probable that Apple is not only going to end 2011 as the unit leader in tablets sold (from any one manufacturer), but will set quarterly sales records for the company - which has been on an incredible roll, potentially poised to be the most valuable company in the world, ranked by market capitalization. also think Android is great on both phones and tablets , and the Honeycomb preview shown by Google today is impressive. Despite my public switch to Android, I'm not blind to Apple's continued advantages in some areas and fantastic successes. MORE >>

Apple made a slew of announcements today at their Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.  It does this with little effort from the user, following Apple’s “it just works” motto.  The ability to sync all of these things across devices is huge for Apple, but music in particular sticks out above the rest.  Apple helped change the music industry when it introduced iTunes in 2001, and many expected iCloud to do something similar.  For a price, Amazon allows users to upload their music libraries so they can be streamed down to any device with a web browser.  MORE >>

But when Apple released the iPod that all changed. Apple made it dirt simple for anyone to plug in an MP3 Player, and nobody had to manually copy files to get them to sync. Soon Apple added a music store to make it easy for music labels to get their music onto these devices, and people were sold everywhere on what an amazing device this was. I'm going to make a prediction, but knowing Apple I don't think it's very bold to say: iCloud, which launches tomorrow, will do the same for "the Cloud" as the iPod did for MP3s. Google just launched Google Music. MORE >>

For example, Apple provides developers with the OS and underlying code libraries; YouTube provides hosting infrastructure to creators; Wikipedia provides writers with the tools to collaborate on an article; and JC Penney provides stores to its boutique partners. Apple needed to attract both developers and users. For example, Google matches the supply and demand of online content, while marketplaces like eBay match buyers to relevant products. Every business is a platform whether it is defined or not. This infrastructure enables interactions between participants. MORE >>

Like any good Mac user and tech fan, I absorbed yesterday's announcements with Apple with great interest - knowing the OS updates will be hitting my laptop in a few months' time, and the iOS feature bumps will reach our array of iPod Touch and iPads at home - eventually seeing the best of these new features trickle out to non-Apple systems (including our Androids ) thanks to the continued leapfrogging we see in this closely followed industry. But where Apple struck was where one would expect them to - in a manner that suited their interests. So what? Go buy a new one. MORE >>