Joe Wilcox

Simply stated: Microsoft wants to end any pretense you own the software, while curbing software piracy in the process. Oh yeah, expect to pay more for Office than you do today. For many households or small businesses, that's lots more, particularly if they buy into the Office 365 subscription paradigm.

Office 2013 is all about subscription pricing, something Microsoft has attempted several times over the years in pilot form but never really brought to the mass market -- certainly not broadly. The company will continue selling boxed software but the big push is about subscriptions. Hell, I had to dig deep to find retail pricing. Today's pricing announcement pushed Office 365 versions instead. Right, the new subscription bundles.

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Last week, I asked: "Will you buy iPhone 5?" -- and more than 1,000 of you responded. Whoa, are you so not interested in this handset: 74.55 percent answered no. Now compare that to the poll about iPhone 4S, following its announcement: 39.6 percent "no". Well, well, perhaps Stephen Baker, NPD's veep of industry analysis, is right in his pre-launch prediction that US iPhone 5 sales won't be as big as many people predict.

Juxtapose that against early sales -- 2 million preorders in the first 24 hours, which sure would seem to indicate big, big success ahead. That's double the number during the same time period a year ago. Well, hell, how do those reconcile? Broader distribution is easy answer -- nine rather than seven countries -- and many more retail outlets in each. Then there's the obvious: The poll reflects a select audience of techno-oriented readers whose buying priorities are different. Even so, when comparing to last year's poll, a startling buying trend emerges, and it's not good.

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On September 20, 2011, Google+ opened to the public, after nearly three months of closed beta. To mark the year anniversary, today the search giant released new data that initially bodes well for the first year while raising questions about the service's real success.

"This week we also hit an important milestone--over 400,000,000 people have upgraded to Google+", senior vice president of engineering boasts. "Here too, I’m happy to report that we have just crossed 100,000,000 monthly active users on Google+ (plus.google.com and mobile app)". What? Only one in four are active?

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In October 2009, I explained why "Apple cannot win the smartphone wars". That was just a year after Google launched the first Android handset, the G1, on T-Mobile and days after Verizon debuted the hugely-successful Motorola Droid. By end of that year, Android had paltry 3.9 percent smartphone sales share, according to Gartner. My prediction drew loads of criticism from the Apple Fan Club of bloggers, journalists and other writers.

Fast-forward to second quarter 2012 and Android's global sales share is 64.1 percent for all phones, not just smart ones. iOS: 18.8 percent. My how times change. Increasingly, Android and iOS look exactly like Windows and Mac OS in the 1980s and 1990s, as I predicted would be the case.

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Thanks to Tim Conneally's quips, I feel obliged to write this story today. But he knew I would ask: Will you buy iPhone 5? As usual, I've got a buying poll for you and opportunity to explain in comments why iPhone 5 is or is not just right for you or any member of the family (including cute Cubby kitty). As always, fanboys beating one another senseless isn't discouraged. There's nothing quite like Android-iPhone cat fights. So rake the claws, commenters.

If your immediate answer to the question is "Yes!", slow down, put your brain in low gear and think for a moment. You must understand the implications of that decision, particularly if you bought doodads for earlier models.

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Today during a special media event, Apple unveiled its next smartphone, as expected.

Pricing is unchanged from previous models: $199 (16GB); $299 (32GB); $399 (64GB). iPhone 4 is now free and the 4S $99. All prices are with contractual commitments.

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If you've got iPhone 4 or 4S, recent iPod touch or one of the two recent iPads, Apple will give you iOS 6, and you won't wait long. The Cupertino, Calif,-based company formally announced the release date, September 19, during a media event today.

New iOS 6 features include FaceTime video over cellular, Facebook integration, Passbook for buying movie tickets and other passes, shared photo streams and new maps app, among others. Apple released a developer preview in June. Perhaps most notable among the new features is Apple's homegrown maps app, replacing the one long provided by Google.

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In what can only be described as a turning point for post-PC operating systems, cumulative Android device sales now exceed iOS, and in a shorter time period. Today, during a special media event, Apple reduced the cumulative number of iOS sales to 400 million -- that would be since iPhone's debut in June 2007. But yesterday, Google put Android sales at 500 million, from the G1's launch four years ago this month. The days of iOS' perennial lead are over.

Android has been on the catch-up track for better part of the year. At the end of June cumulative iOS shipments were 410 million, according to Apple. Why CEO Tim Cook put the number at 10 million less today is anyone's guess. Days before the quarter ended, Google put cumulative Android shipments at 400 million. A few months earlier: 365 million and 300 million, respectively. Daily Android activations now total 1.3 million, up from 900,000 in June, according to Google.

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Finally, someone is brave enough to give iPhone 5 a big reality check. Who better than Stephen Baker, NPD's vice president of industry analysis?

"Ahead of the expected launch of the iPhone 5", he says, "there is a growing expectation that this release will achieve the equivalent blowout sales success that the iPhone 4s enjoyed; however, a careful review of the sales history reveals that, while the new iPhone may be a gigantic success around the world, the inevitability of similar success in the US is not quite so pre-determined".

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Yesterday registrar and web hoster GoDaddy went down for several hours, taking millions of websites along, too. Within an hour, Twitter accounts associated with hacktivist group Anonymous took credit. Today, GoDaddy blames "corrupted router data tables". Meanwhile AnonymousOwn3r claims denial of service attack and hack -- and within the hour publicly posted what supposedly is GoDaddy "source code and database".

Somebody's lying here. But whom?

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Apple is on my mind again, with the company hosting a big media event tomorrow presumably to unveil iPhone 5. I'm not seriously thinking about buying the smartphone, certainly not sight unseen. I'm super satisfied with Galaxy Nexus -- if not, I'd move to a LTE Android, perhaps HTC One X or Samsung Galaxy S III. Rather, iPhone 5 is good time to assess my personal Apple boycott, where I sold off all my fruit-logo gear in protest of patent bullying.

Until July, I was a long-time Apple user, starting with the December 1998 purchase of the original Bondi Blue iMac. Then about six months ago, Apple's persistent competition-by-litigation tactics finally made me mad. I also had grown sick of Apple media bias that borders on the insane. How crazy? Yesterday, Washington Post explained "How Apple’s iPhone 5 could singlehandedly rescue the US economy". Bad is worse -- today, extending this economic lift to US presidential elections, Nextgov (a product of the National Journal Group) asserts: "How the iPhone 5 could help re-elect Obama". These are people I really don't want to associate with. (Say doesn't the president use BlackBerry?)

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Well, Nielsen sure knows how to rain on the iPhone 5 hit parade. Just two days before the handset's presumed debut -- Hey, Apple has a big media even on September 12 -- an Android storm pours down on iPhone rumors. Nielsen today says that 74 percent of Americans between 25 and 34 own a smartphone, up from 59 percent a year earlier, and more likely Android than Apple. Quick, someone grab an umbrella! And a dry towel. Kleenex too!

Meanwhile, teens also are big smartphone owners -- 59 percent of 13 to 17 year-olds. Get this: 58 percent of all American teens have smartphones, up from 36 percent a year earlier. Now there's a group Apple, Android and Windows Phone makers should really want to get.

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As I write, domain registrar and web hoster GoDaddy is inaccessible -- and a heap load of websites with it. Typically when sites go dark like this, they are under a direct denial of service attack. Anonymous claims responsibility, via Twitter, but there is yet no official word from GoDaddy as to the cause and whether there might be a security breach.

About 90 minutes ago, GoDaddy tweeted: "Status Alert: Hey, all. We're aware of the trouble people are having with our site. We're working on it". Then 5 minutes ago: "So many messages, can't get to you all... Sorry to hear all your frustration. We're working feverishly to resolve as soon as possible". Well, I guess that confirms Twitter isn't hosted by GoDaddy.

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That's my question after scanning a survey JDPower and Associates released yesterday. The firm ranks customer satisfaction on a scale of one to 1,000. For the eighth consecutive survey, Apple is tops with a score of 849. But HTC is second, at 790, which has me scratching my head trying to put two and two together and getting three. Perhaps my math should be similar for Apple, since Samsung, which scored 782, sells more smartphones than any other manufacturer -- that's here and abroad.

My point: High customer satisfaction doesn't necessarily equate to big sales. There are many other factors to consider, particularly subsidized products like smartphones. Among them: Carrier contracts and pricing; device promotions; on-shelf experience in stores; handset look and feel; color choices; cases and other add-on options; carrier availability (no iPhone at T-Mobile USA, for example) and advertising, which Samsung does much more of than HTC -- or that's my observation. None of these reasons considers features, which aren't that different phone to phone as they used to be.

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Google is in a tough spot. Apple suddenly looks like an ally now that Amazon has unveiled Kindle Fire HD. Both companies stand to lose big time should the tablet achieve any meaningful sales success. Google Play doesn't offer strong enough ecosystem to battle with either iPad or Kindle Fire, but Amazon's tablet is more likely to scorch Android's earth. Amazon's vertical integration -- store, software and services -- is tight, as good as Apple's and in many respects superior. No matter which wins, Android loses.

Here's the problem: Only Amazon has done any meaningful Android customization on tablets, creating a curated experience similar to Apple's. Like iOS, Amazon Android is tightly vertically and horizontally integrated with siloed services. Kindle Fire is designed to mainly work within the Amazon content/retail sphere and little outside it. Amazon runs its own stores -- everything from apps to movies -- while shunning Google Play. Meanwhile, Kindle Fire supports the custom Silk browser rather than the stock Android one or Chrome. Amazon Android is a competing platform/ecosystem within the larger, more open one Google champions. (The original Kindle Fire is customized Gingerbread and new HD models customized Ice Cream Sandwich.)

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