Tech Roundup – Tech News from around the World

Steve Jobs – First Death Anniversary

After the fiasco generated by the faulty iOS 6 maps, and the flak that Apple drew for it, the technological world has cooled down and general focus has shifted back to business as usual. Incidentally, today - October 5 – is exactly one year from the death of Apple founder and visionary technologist and entrepreneur. One of his earlier speeches is circulating around – enumerating how Steve Jobs had visualized mobile telephony and mapping services way back in 1983. That is the true sign of a visionary and innovator that Jobs surely was.

Facebook

Over the last couple of days, Facebook has achieved the one billion monthly users mark, which is a humongous achievement – considering that one out of every seven human beings on earth is now connected via Facebook. This achievement has inspired much celebration in Facebook – and the company has released its first ever TV campaign. However, this milestone has been marred by increasing concerns over the long-term financial viability of the Facebook business model, and how the potential of the social networking will be translated into revenues for the company. Recently, FB has launched another endeavor geared towards this effort – wherein members can actually pay to have their posts promoted.

Tables and Mobiles

The tablet and Smartphones market is breathing easy at this moment, after the flurry of launches that were done in September. RIM has announced its intention to bounce back in the Smartphones category, and regain at least some of the considerable market share that it has lost to other, more nimble footed players. Some leaked specs of its upcoming model Blackberry 10 have been leaked, and analysts have already started raving about it.

A number of tablets have been launched in the Indian market – the most notable being Micromax Funbook Tablet P350 and another model by Zync. The market is also abuzz with the news of iPad Mini – and that the production for a 7.9 inch screen version of the acclaimed iPad has already commenced – and the product may be formally announced and launched in the coming months.

Others

Further on the Indian front, another notable product launch was that of a “Smart Box” – a surprisingly generically named Smart TV box from Akai. The Smart TV box has recently developed as a credible segment, with notable incumbents like the Evo TV Box from Amkette. This also underscores the development of Smart TV as a segment – and should warm the cockles of heart for the TV makers, who have been really pushing their Smart TV offerings to the Indian consumers.