Here’s today’s Technology News Update, a look at a few of the news reports, previews, reviews and tech gossip stories that are making waves today, including news from the ABA, Verizon, Microsoft, and Bret Taylor (former executive at Google and Facebook).
Oh, and a solar powered tent, for anyone who may be interested…
The most recent tech survey, conducted by the American Bar Association, sought to determine what smart devices attorneys use the most. The results: a great and growing number of attorneys are using iPhones and iPads. Not only are more attorneys utilizing smart devices than before (which is pretty self-evident), Apple has essentially replaced Blackberry as the dominant player among lawyers who do utilize smartphones and tablets. Apple’s market share increased from 31% last year to a staggering 55% this year. Over the same time period, Android devices increased their market share from 15% to 20%, and the number of attorneys who reported using no smart devices at all decreased from 12% to 9%. For more on the survey, click here. To see how Samsung is now beating Apple in customer satisfaction in the U.S., click here.
Verizon, which had originally been set to launch its version of the HTC One smartphone, has pushed back the release date to August 15th. It is unclear why the delay is necessary, or how the delay will affect Verizon’s sales of the HTC One, which has been available on other networks for some time. Further unclear is how the delay will affect overall sales of the HTC One, considering that the highly-anticipated Moto X is scheduled for launch tomorrow.
Microsoft finally released the mobile app version of Office for the Android OS… sort of. As of the launch, the Office app is only available for smartphones operating the Android OS, not tablets. Like the iOS version (which is not available on the iPad), the Office Mobile App for Android appears to be a not so subtle suggestion that if users want true Office compatibility in their tablets, they should buy (the beleaguered) Surface Pro instead.
However, the news isn’t all bad on the document & word processing front: former Google and Facebook exec Bret Taylor announced the launch of his new word processing app “Quip” for iOS devices. The app comes loaded with a mobile-friendly interface (a not-so-subtle jab at Microsoft), a fully integrated to-do list, and collaborative functionality that allows up to five users to collaborate on a document at one time. For more on Quip, click here.