Apple and Google Expand Their Battle to Mobile Maps

The battle between the two tech heavy weight giants Apple and Google is ready to begin a new chapter.  This time the fight is over the lucrative mobile map.  According to Apple sources, the company is planning on dumping the pre-loaded Google mapping technology in lieu of it's own new mapping app.  Google maps are a large driver of web traffic to Google's site


Additional details via WSJ article here

• Apple has been hatching the plan to evict Google Maps from the iPhone for years, according to current and former Apple employees. The plan accelerated as smartphones powered by Google's Android software overtook the iPhone in shipments
• .Apple has quietly acquired at least three cutting-edge map companies, melding their technology with its own. Last fall, Apple took a first step in developing a proprietary mapping service with the virtually unnoticed release of a "geocoder"—the brains behind a mapping app that translates a phone's longitude and latitude into a point on a map, like an address. Before that, it relied on Google's geocoder.
• Mobile ads associated with maps or locations are estimated to account for about 25% of the roughly $2.5 billion spent on mobile ads in 2012, according to Opus Research, up from 10% in 2010. That is expected to grow as the number of location-aware software apps grows.
• But more than ad revenue, Apple is going after the map market to have more control over a key asset in the widening smartphone war. Google Maps is used by more than 90% of U.S. iPhone users. So Apple believes controlling the mapping experience and offering features that Google doesn't have can help sell more devices and entice developers to build unique apps for iPhone users.

Google's Eric Schmidt, left, and Apple's Steve Jobs, right, in 2008. The relationship deteriorated as their companies competed.

• For years, Apple and Google were models of cooperation. Each largely stuck to its separate world—Apple made computers and other hardware; Google offered Web search and sold online ads. Apple's longtime chief, Steve Jobs, had close relations with Google chief Eric Schmidt, who sat on Apple's board of directors from 2006 until 2009.
• The rise of the iPhone and other smartphones changed all that. Mr. Jobs felt blindsided by Google's push into mobile devices with its own Android operating system. Google has since entered the hardware business directly, buying Motorola Mobility Holdings, which makes phones. Google recently also launched a music, movie, book and mobile-app store to compete with Apple's iTunes. Android-phone shipments now surpass iPhone shipments globally.
• The use of Google search on the iPhone is believed by several mobile industry analysts to generate the majority of Google's mobile search-ad revenue. Google has accelerated its plans to develop its own voice-activated search assistant for Android-powered mobile devices, which is expected to launch later this year, these people said.
• Knowing that Apple might reveal its new mapping software the week of June 11, Google scheduled a news conference for June 6. The purpose: to unveil "the next dimension of Google Maps."

A Suckers Rally?

The sage of Wall Street, Art Cashin discusses the oversold bounced that we experienced today and if this is a sustaining rally.  The answer......don't bet on it.

This is the joy or frustrating depending upon your view point of being in the equities market the past few summers, allot of up and down days.  We could easily be up 1% tomorrow just as we could be down 1%.

June 18th Finance Seminar: “401k & 403b Plans: You have Options” presented by DreamWorks Capital Management LLC

If you have recently changed positions, have retirement assets in a 401k or 403b from previous employment, are recently self-employed or are thinking of starting your own business, then don’t miss “401k & 403b Plans: You have Options” presented by DreamWorks Capital Management LLC.

·         A person changes positions on average 7 times within their career.  This FREE seminar educates and provides you with a number of rollover options that will help you make better investing decisions to reach your financial and lifestyle goals.  We will discuss in detail how to select the right path for your situation. 

·         This valuable seminar is being held on Monday June 18^th, 7:00- 8:30pm at The Community House in Birmingham. 

·         Register by calling TCH at 248-644-5832, and ask for the Program Department; or you can email me directly at pfenner@dwcmllc.com.

DreamWorks Capital Management is a Registered Investment Advisor and does not offer or sell any proprietary products.

At DreamWorks Capital Management we help make your Dreams work!

12 Financial Tips For Debt-Burdened New Grads

Granted some of the points that are made in this Forbes slide show are very basic regarding financial advice for the new and old.  However some of these points as is often the case bear repeating.

1. Keep that starving student mindset.
2. Take advantage of retirement accounts.
3. Create and stick to a budget.
4. Watch your credit.
5. Pay off higher interest debt first.
6. Consider lowering your interest rates with the new student loan consolidation program.
7. Consider reducing your student loan debt through public service.
8. Try not to default.
9. Protect yourself if you're in default.
10. Consider deferring your payments.
11. Consider locking in a fixed interest rate with the traditional student loan consolidation program.
12. Know your student loan repayment options.