03/28, 7:00pm
Study highlights differences in world region use, productivity apps
A new report by business networking giant Citrix has taken a look at the global usage and activation share of the top mobile platforms, and confirms other recent findings that iOS is not only dominant in enterprise, but is actually gaining ground against competitors. The study found some surprising variations in platform patterns in the three primary world regions, but saw Apple as the largest share in all three. It also noted that the iOS versions Numbers and Pages have become popular alternatives to Microsoft Office for many enterprise users.
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12/27, 6:14pm
Up more than 4x over daily December average, 2.5x over last Xmas
Christmas Day 2012 saw some 2.5 times the number of Android and iOS devices activated compared to the same day last year, analytics firm Flurry reports, with a staggering 332 percent increase in the number of activations on that day compared to the usual average daily activations for the rest of December. Compared to some 6.8 million mobile devices activated last year on Christmas Day, Tuesday's total was over 17.4 million units.
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08/16, 12:00am
App password protects software titles, code
Excel Software has released an update to its software activation and security app, AppProtect. The utility locks software titles with computer ID and serial-number protection, or activates software via an automated activation server, depending on customer preference. It protects source code while allowing the protected software to work properly when using a secure license. Version 2.0 adds five additional options for layered protection, with each layer capable of working independently from the others, on both Mac and Windows files. It also adds static data files for Windows EXE files.
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05/17, 12:00am
Protects HTML, images, video, PDFs, more
Software developers rely on a variety of ways to protect against unauthorized copying and use of their programs, but non-application files also need licensing or anti-piracy protection in some cases. Excel Software's revised DocProtect version 2 offers unique passwords or online activation services to other types of files, including HTML projects, image collections, video and audio files and PDFs. The program works either independently or in conjunction with the company's QuickLicense system.
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11/02, 6:35pm
Also features delayed activation, dual licenses
Excel Software today updated their QuickLicense tool to version 5.0, adding subscription licenses, a subscription grace period, delayed activation, quick validation for plug-ins and multi-threaded software, dual licenses and more. The code communications with an activation server under the developer's control or through Excel's own Safe Activation service. The program also checks for versions and current upgrade pricing.
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10/22, 11:00pm
License limited to one Mac, can be "reassigned"
Among the many changes in Microsoft Office 2011 is the arrival of product "activation" done via internet or by phone -- a first for Office on the Mac, a recent blog post from Office for Mac Help has revealed. The site, which is an unofficial resource for Mac Office users, cites the Office 2011 End User License Agreement (EULA) as its source. The activation ties the use of the software to a specific device and reveals other information (such as the IP address and hardware configuration), but can be reassigned to another device any number of times, limited to once every 90 days.
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02/01, 11:10pm
Software protects user's software titles
Excel software has announced two new applications geared toward software protection, LicenseSupport 1.0 and AppProtect 1.0. LicenseSupport provides tools for managing customer licenses for protected applications or documents. Users can securely provide an activation code, reset a license or block an activated license. Additional capabilities enable refund distribution or changes to the number of allowed activations for each serial number.
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09/23, 4:05pm
iPhone 3G buy-at-home
Confirming anonymous information from yesterday, Apple has officially announced the introduction of a buy-at-home scheme for the iPhone. The Begin at Home program allows buyers to enter billing information through Apple's website, check eligibility and costs, and then pick a carrier plan. Once billing and eligibility are cleared, people can then travel to an Apple Store and pick up their iPhone.
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09/22, 10:05am
In-home iPhone activation?
In the near future, potential iPhone buyers may once again be able to handle some of the activation process at home, according to an anonymous Apple Store worker. The new process would not be a resumption of the one for the first-generation phone, which let users sign up for a new carrier subscription from within iTunes; due to people bypassing this en-masse for the sake of unlocking, Apple has settled on requiring iPhone 3Gs to be activated before leaving a shop. This resulted in massive wait times and activation delays during the initial launch weekend.
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07/11, 3:25pm
Global iPhone 3G problems
Apple's iPhone 3G launch has become a stressful day of failed activations, mirroring activation issues during the original iPhone launch last year, accounts indicate. The 2007 launch saw AT&T servers go down in a flood of activations; this year AT&T says that there has been a global problem with Apple's iTunes servers that prevents phones from being fully activated in-store, as had been planned. Customers have been told to finish activating their phones at home, but have faced the same problems there, according to Associated Press reports. While both Apple and AT&T are signing up users for AT&T service, neither company is able to complete activation in-store and both are asking customers to finish their activation at home; unfortunately, until the final iTunes activation, the iPhones are not able to make/receive calls.
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06/12, 12:40am
Synchronoss loses business
With the release of the 3G iPhone, Apple has clarified that all units must be activated at the store for them to be sold, taking away nearly a quarter of Synchronoss' business – the company responsible for home iTunes-based iPhone activations. Silicon Alley Insider writes that as the company confirmed the loss of Apple's business in a filing to the SEC, its stock tipped, falling almost 19-percent, as the news lines up with financial expectations given in its first quarter.
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