No Summer Love for iPhone 5

There are a couple of parts of the tech world that we've all come to expect:

• 2-3 Android tablets will be announced every week and will immediately be compared to the iPad or iPad 2.
• Said tablet will inevitably fall short due to either lower specs or higher price (I'm looking at you Motorola Xoom).
• Apple will launch a new iPhone every summer at its Wordwide Developers Conference. 

That last point has rang especially true over the past few years, causing many to question whether or not the Verizon iPhone was worth purchasing.

However, it appears those doubts may have been for nothing considering the recent rumors that Apple will not be announcing the iPhone 5 this June, most likely waiting until the fall before announcing the next general

The reasoning behind the delay seems to boil down to two factors:

• Apple said in their WWDC announcement that the focus of the conference would be about software like Mac OS X Lion and not hardware.
• The Verizon iPhone launch was so recent that Apple apparently feels it's in its best interest to hold off a bit longer.

So although the iPhone faithful who look forward to a new installment of their favorite mobile device every year have to wait a little longer, it still looks like we'll be seeing a new iPhone around September when Apple's fiscal year begins.

#AxBrack Update: From First to Worst

Now that the first half of the Sweet Sixteen NCAA March Madness games have wrapped up, I thought I'd take the time to update you all on the standings in our 2011 Emilio Estevez #Losing Bracket Challenge office pool.

With San Diego State (my pick to win it all) getting knocked off by Connecticut and BYU losing in overtime, I by far took the biggest hit. After going 0-4 and getting zero points from last night's games, I stayed at 42 points and am now tied with Dave for last place.

As Dave and I duke it out for the Emilio Estevez #Losing trophy, it's a very close race at the top to take home some wine. Andrea catapulted into 1st place with 47 points after wins by both Florida and Connecticut.

But before Andrea gloats too much, there's a three-way tie for 2nd place between Nick, Mark and Kathleen. More importantly? With 46 points each, those three are just one point behind the current leader. In the middle of the pack, Shelly and Linel are tied for 5th place with 44 points each.

Now that wins are earning 5 points each, and increasing from here on out, the tournament is still anyone's games.

Video Post: A Fabulous February for Online Video

It's no secret that Axiom understands the importance of online video. That's why we wanted to share a recent ComScore report about how well online video did in last month. Steve and Dave crunch the numbers and share their insight in this week's Daily Axioms Video Post:

LinkedIn Breaks Through the 9-Digit Barrier

2011 has been a great year for LinkedIn, especially given yesterday's news that the professional's social network surpassed 100 million users worldwide.

Here are a few more numbers that LinkedIn released about where the social network stands right now:

• Less than half (about 44%) of users are in the U.S.
• Both Brazil and Mexico more than doubled their LinkedIn usage rates, with Brazil seeing a 428% increase in 2010.
• The Hi-Tech, Finance, Manufacturing, Medical and Education industries all have at least 5 million users on LinkedIn.

But despite those impressive numbers, there is one issue in particular that LinkedIn still faces. Because although 100 million registered users is a lot, LinkedIn admits that the number of active users is much lower. According to ComScore, LinkedIn had about 71 million unique visitors in February. Getting more users to continue to come back and use the site needs to be an immediate goal for LinkedIn.

App Store Finally Lands on Amazon

At the beginning of the year, rumors were flying that Amazon was preparing to launch an Android app market to compete with Google. At the time I was hopeful that it would be a solid addition to Amazon's other services, but of course it was all guesswork since it hadn't launched yet.

But as of today, that has changed and the Amazon Appstore is live. It's a slimmed down, but more user-friendly, collection of about 3,800 apps (compared to the Android Market's 200,000+). Setting up your device to work with the Amazon Appstore takes a few minutes, but once you do you're good to go.

You can download apps from the Amazon Apps mobile app or from the Amazon website, and then install the downloaded app from the Amazon app. It sounds a little complicated, but it's not too bad considering these are third-party apps outside of the native Android Market.

Two other features have helped Amazon get some strong early buzz:

1. You can "Test Drive" apps before you buy them to see if they are really what you are looking for.
2. Amazon will offer a "Free App of the Day" where an app you would normally pay for is available for free for 24 hours.

Since it is very early in the launch, I'm sure there are still some updates that we will see in the next couple of days. However, at first glance this does seem to be a good start for the Amazon Appstore, although the real test will be whether or not it is still used a few months from now.