Report: Windows 10 surpasses Windows 7 in installs

Net Market Share's latest report states that Windows 10 has finally surpassed Windows 7 in terms of installs. The report says that as of December 2018, Windows 10 now has a usage share of 39.22%, beating Windows 7’s 36.90% usage share.

While this is good news for Microsoft, which has been wanting its user base to upgrade to the latest and greatest OS, moving the needle forward will be challenging since the majority of Windows 7 installs are coporate on enterprise accounts. Windows 10 has been going on two major upgrades a year and while the recent upgrades may have been minor, the company is likely focusing on making Windows 10 more fluid for use in various form factors.

Source: Thurrott.com

Tim Cook pens letter to Apple investors informing them of lower earnings guidance

Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote a letter to Apple investors today informing them of adjustments to the company's earnings expectations. Citing fewer iPhone upgrades and headwinds from currency exchange and weak sales in China, the letter aims to clarify investor expectations.

"Today we are revising our guidance for Apple’s fiscal 2019 first quarter, which ended on December 29. We now expect the following:

• Revenue of approximately $84 billion
• Gross margin of approximately 38 percent
• Operating expenses of approximately $8.7 billion
• Other income/(expense) of approximately $550 million
• Tax rate of approximately 16.5 percent before discrete items."

Cook adds that, "While we anticipated some challenges in key emerging markets, we did not foresee the magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in Greater China. In fact, most of our revenue shortfall to our guidance, and over 100 percent of our year-over-year worldwide revenue decline, occurred in Greater China across iPhone, Mac and iPad."

Other factors leading to lower earnings are also becaus eof supply constraints for AirPods and recently released products like the iPad Pro, the Apple Watch Series 4 and the all-new MacBook Air. 

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Nokia's new flagship smartphone will feature 5 cameras

2019 is going to see some very wild smartphone camera set ups. With various key manufacturers like Huawei and even Samsung set to ship flagships with no less than three cameras, Nokia seems to be dead set in reclaiming its top spot by offering a device with five cameras.

Leaked on Twitter by Evan Blass, the Nokia 9 PureView packs a starting five cameras replete with Zeiss optics. The extra sensors allow for taking five photos at a a time, they let in 10x more light and enable refocusing on the photos taken in post or using Google Photos. 

This 6-inch flagship will ship with Qualcomm' SnapDragon 845 processor, 6GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. Pricing and availability have not yet been disclosed. Nokia has a reputation for the absolute best in terms of smartphone camera hardware and when the PureView tag is attached, you can be sure of spectacular image quality. While it looks odd, the Nokia 9 PureView will be anticipated by advanced smartphone photographers.

Source: Thurrott.com

Essential Phone ends its run as stock depletes

Less than two years in the market, the smartphone that kicked off thin bezels and notches is nbearing its end of life as stock depletes. This means that you won't be able to buy new Essential Phones, nor would you really want to invest in what is essentially a discontinued product.

The Essential Phone is far from obsolete. The company continues to make updates available and might do so for one year. Essential's focus is no longer on this device but on whatever smart home hub they are planning on making. Essential Phone was a remarkable device and this writer's daily carry until an update negated the SIM unlock feature. I doubt we will see the likes of the Essential Phone PH-1 again.