Outstanding definition.

When you see results like the one below you want to beg Apple to make a real camera. Something with a minimum of buttons, no ridiculous multiple choice LED settings, small, fast, maybe with software enhanced out-of-focus capability, iCloud integration, Siri voice control and an in-body non-extending zoom covering 28-90mm at f/2.

I have mentioned before that Apple needs to explore new markets to keep up its torrid growth, markets such as home appliances and in-car controls.

But the obvious one is cameras. It meshes perfectly with Apple’s business model. Take something which everyone uses – PCs, phones, cloud storage, cameras – and make it better. A lot better. In the process get rid of all the options only a few pizza-guzzling nerds deem essential, serving only to make an ergonomic nightmare of the result. And the competition here, as was the case with smartphones, hasn’t had an original idea in years, resting comfortably on its oligopolistic laurels (meaning Canon and Nikon) for lack of competition. Ripe for the picking.

And Apple has to do this because at present rates even pygmies in equatorial New Guinea will soon have iPhones.

The camera market is enormous and the competition simply awful. Look at the average DSLR. A design catastrophe with its plethora of buttons, levers, controls, options and so on. The modern DSLR could hardly be made less user-friendly and the prime reason to own one is to secure the highest quality results, accepting the penalties of bulk, weight, poor useability and cost.

How large is this market? Apple could sell a sophisticated, beautifully designed iCamera for $499 all day long. They already have all the knowhow needed to make such a device. If the iPhone 5 can make a projected 100 million in sales then an iCamera could easily do 25 million annually. That’s $12.5 billion in revenue and $5 billion in profits, instantly adding 25% to the bottom line and share price.

To see what I’m rambling on about, look what iOS6’s panorama mode from the minuscule sensor in the iPhone 4S can do:

Click the picture to download the 8MB original file

Stretched across the full 57″ width of my three Dell 21″ displays the definition is stunning.

57″ wide display.

The location is the sundial garden at Filoli, the same sundial which my son and I set correctly on our previous visit. It remains correct.

Disclosure: Long AAPL, BRCM, QCOM, OVTI.

Well, I tried.

…. and quite possibly the worst investment you can make.

Considering that Apple stock has secured four years for my boy Winston at Harvard, and maybe two more if he is set on becoming an educated derelict, I make it a point to check out the local Apple Store when each new iPhone is announced.

My intentions, you must understand, are purely altruistic. Aware that the majority is desperately in need of sound investment advice, I checked out the crowd, eager to dispense some wisdom at no cost.

Well, the crowd at the Burlingame California store was 150 yards long at 8:15am today. Maybe 250 people. I had Winston roll down the car window and proclaimed in a loud voice to all assembled “Buy the stock, not the phone!”.

Now, somewhat to my dismay, this caused hilarity among the assembled masses, comprised largely of students and the like. What I was expecting was a collective frown of concern and looks of contrition. But, no. The bozos lining up and ensuring Winston’s sojourn on the Charles River thought this the funniest thing they had heard all morning.

For the predominant demographic represented in like lines the world over, the iPhone is the single worst expenditure they could possibly make. Their ‘$200’ iPhone (actually $200 + $55 tax in CA, tax being charged on the unsubsidized $650 price) will end up costing them no less than $2,175 over the life of the two year contract. They would be far better off with a prepaid, throw away phone plus a MacBook Air or iPad, and pocket the substantial difference. This would afford them a far better computing experience on a keyboard you can actually use and a screen you can see, rather than the ridiculous ‘computer’ which the iPhone claims to be.

Oh! well. I tried. Meanwhile, keep buying those iPhones, suckers. I thank you and my son thanks you.

Disclosure: Long AAPL, BRCM, QCOM, OVTI.

Beautifully implemented.

iOS6 for the iPhone 4, 4S and iPad3 will be released on September 19. It’s 957MB in size. The big added functionality for the camera is the ability to take 240 degree panoramas.

The phone is held in portrait mode and moved through a 240 degree arc. Stitching is seamless and the whole thing could not be better implemented. The file size is 5.8MB. Pixels are 8640 x 1876.

iOS6 panorama on the iPhone 4S.

Click the picture to download the original file. The definition is excellent.

iTunes 10.6 is fine for iPhone 4S installation, but iPad3 requires that you update your iTunes to 10.7.

Worldwide scoop.

After the hype fest.

Now that Apple has finished telling the world how it innovates features the competition has had for ages, my iPhone 5 preview was right on the money. There’s very little new here and the 4S owner has little reason to upgrade.

The Hypephone 5.

The camera lens is now 33mm FFE down from 35mm. Immaterial. The definition remains 8mp but is actually lower than in the 4S as the same number of pixels is distributed over a larger area. Apple claims the reaction time is 40% faster and that is meritworthy, though the 4S is no slouch. And the panorama mode, where you hose the camera around and it stitches the images, is exciting, though Sony had it years ago. Heavens, even the klutzes at Fuji, who would not know good code if it hit them, had it in the X100 two years ago. The camera can now record still images while making a movie. Don’t see who would need that.

But there is one bit of really exciting news for iPhone 4S owners. On September 19 iOS6 becomes available and will add the panorama mode to the 4S. Now that is worth waiting for.

As for Apple, they really need to think different, as their ads once had it. There are at least two trillion dollar businesses crying out for the company’s design chops. Domestic appliances – everything from thermostats to kitchen controls, and in car systems. Both are ergonomic wastelands (have you ever tried the catastrophic iDrive in a modern BMW? It should be called iCrash). Think different or die.

And how about taking some of that $120 billion in cash and buying one of the major TV studios? Anti-trust be damned. Politicians are cheap. With one studio providing content for an Apple TV set, the others will quickly sign distribution agreements. (Please, no Fox ‘News’ though). C’mon Apple. Wake up. The Jobs product pipeline does not have far to run and you are sitting on your laurels with incremental product upgrades which are easily mimicked by the competition.

Ummm, diversification, anyone?