BlueStacks now lets you run every Android app on Mac as it moves to beta

In June, we told you about BlueStacks. It is a tool that allows Android apps to run on a Mac. The alpha only officially supported 17 Android apps, with Pulse and Words with Friends being the two of the more notable apps at launch, but the application has improved immensely. As Venture Beat first noted, BlueStacks has moved into beta this morning. It now allows users to run every Android app that the Google Play store has to offer. Some may be puzzled at the need to run a mobile application on the desktop, but it does come in use for apps like Instagram and Flipboard that have no desktop equivalent. BlueStacks reminds us a lot of Parallels or VM Ware, and it definitely becomes more useful with the added apps.

As of earlier this month, the Silicon Valley-based company passed 5 million installs on both Windows and Mac. BlueStacks also plans an even more impressive growth with partners AMD and ASUS, as TechCrunch noted, where the software would be pre-installed on over 100 million devices. Upcoming features include an App Discovery system in the Mac app to make it easier for users to find apps. Interested? You can download the beta from BlueStacks.

Apple Sets New High with 53.3% of U.S. Smartphone Market, Android Holds Strong in Europe

Last month, research firm Kantar Worldpanel reported that Apple had retaken the lead in U.S. smartphone sales from Android over the August-October timeframe, topping Android by a 48.1%-46.7% margin on the strength of the iPhone 5 launch.

At the time, the firm suggested that Apple's share would continue to rise as the 12-week window of sales data shifted to include the iPhone 5 for its entirety, predicting that Apple would set a record high for market share within the following two periods.


Kantar Worldpanel has now released its data for the September-November period, and Apple has indeed set a record high with 53.3% of the market. Apple's share is up dramatically from 35.8% in the same period last year, although the iPhone 4S did not launch until later in the corresponding timeframe.

Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, comments: "Apple has reached a major milestone in the US by passing the 50% share mark for the first time, with further gains expected to be made during December."

Apple continues to fare less well in Europe, where even with growth of 2.5 percentage points year-over-year to reach 25.3% of the market, Android has surged farther ahead with a 9.2 percentage point gain and now holds 61% of the market.

Among the markets tracked by Kantar Worldpanel, Apple's best performance was in the United States, while its worst performances were in Brazil, Australia, Spain, and Italy, all countries where it lost share over 2011.

2012's Biggest Mac Leaks and Rumors

The iPhone and iPad tend to dominate the rumor scene for a number of reasons. Most signficantly, the total audience for iOS devices is larger and growing more rapidly than for Macs. Apple's Mac line has of course also been growing, but at a much slower pace. Also, given the maturity of the line, changes in the Mac line tend to be more incremental.

Still, looking back, we've seen a fair number of Mac-related leaks that preceded each product launch.

Perhaps the most reliable leaks have been from benchmark suites such as Geekbench, as we've seen benchmark leaks of unreleased Mac products several times now. These have all turned out to be accurate predictors of final Mac releases, sometimes with a several month lead time.

Here are some of the photo leaks we saw in 2012 for the Mac:

13" MacBook Pro


13.3" MacBook Pro Specs - June 2012
This pre-WWDC 13" MacBook Pro leak revealed that the 13" MacBook Pro would see little in the way of upgrades. Despite many comments about the easy fake-ability of the leak, the image turned out to be accurate. The 13" MacBook Pro wouldn't see Retina upgrades until later in 2012.

15" MacBook Pro


15" MacBook Pro logic board - June 2012
This 15" MacBook Pro logic board shot showed that Apple was switching to NVIDIA GPUs ahead of the launch. It also showed hints that Apple was keeping the current MacBook Pro design around, as the layout was identical to existing models.

iMac


iMac internals and design - October 2012
This was the first we heard of the newly redesigned iMac, which was described as "considerably thinner than the current form factor".

The redesigned iMac is said to be considerably thinner than the current form factor, with the machine's thickness almost impossible to gauge when viewed from the side. The curved rear shell is also said to appear more like a water droplet than the squared-off design seen in the current model.

13" Retina MacBook Pro


13" Retina MacBook Pro images - October 2012
This was our first look at the thinner 13" Retina MacBook Pro and showed the various ports and 2560x1600 resolution of the new machine.

MacBook Pro and Retina Lineups

From an informational perspective, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has shown that he has had a clear view of Apple's timeline and has been able to report accurately on that topic. Kuo was the first to suggest in June that Apple was going to create a separate line of MacBook Pros with Retina displays while keeping the existing product line in place.

Some of the responses in the discussion thread at the time were of disbelief:

That's stupid.

If the new Macbook line is as powerful as the Pro line, WHY keep the Pro line? What advantage does the Pro offer? A CD drive? Not exactly tempting in today's day and age. I'd rather take thinner and retina over a stupid CD drive, especially since it looks like it will be priced cheaper than a pro.

Just Axe the old Pro line and rebrand the new Pro line as this thinner/Retina one.

Of course, Apple did splinter the line by introducing a new (more expensive) "Retina" line of MacBook Pro products. Kuo also predicts that Apple will reintegrate the line in 2013, offering a single 13" and 15" MacBook Pro line with Retina displays and doing away with the non-Retina Macbook Pros that are currently being offered.

Mac Pro: Not Dead Yet

Finally, perhaps the most encouraging bit of news from the year for some was the promise that the Mac Pro will see an update in 2013. Tim Cook even responded to a an email from a concerned Mac Pro user. In the email response:

Our pro customers are really important to us...don't worry as we're working on something really great for later next year.