Archive for November 21st, 2011

Lord Sacks, the Chief Rabbi in the U.K., made a comment in the presence of the Queen at an interfaith reception last week about Apple and its product, noting that the company produces an “egocentric society” and that “i” in Apple's popular naming scheme is a clear indicator of such totally selfish society. He even compared the iPad with Moses' stone tablets that bore the Ten Commandments.

“The consumer society was laid down by the late Steve Jobs coming down the mountain with two tablets, iPad one and iPad two, and the result is that we now have a culture of iPod, iPhone, iTune, i, i, i," he said. “When you’re an individualist, egocentric culture and you only care about 'i’, you don’t do terribly well.”

The rabbi claimed that such egocentric society makes people unhappy. Sacks called on the devout to observe the traditional Jewish day of rest, the Shabbat, and to thank God for everything they have not to be trapped by material culture.

Nevertheless, the Queen Elizabeth II is said to be a "big fan" of Apple's products and reportedly owns two iPods and she even knighted Jobs in 2009.

Based on information from “some reliable sources”, iLounge offers a series of tidbits about Apple’s product plans for 2012, related to design of the iPad, iPhone, and MacBook Pro.

As for the iPad, the source claims that the iPad 3 is likely to be launched in March. The new tablet from Apple will be approximately 0.7 mm thicker (8% thicker) than the iPad 2 due to the need to incorporate a dual light bar system for the higher-resolution display, but still thinner than the original iPad.

The next-generation iPhone will not have design that circulated ahead of the iPhone 4S introduction last month. The next iPhone is said to carry a 4-inch display, have teardrop shape, be 8 mm longer than the current iPhone 4S. Release of the new smartphone is expected this summer.

The source indicates that in 2012 we will see a thinner MacBook Pro. Recent reports have claimed that “an ultra-thin 15" Mac notebook, whether it be a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, is on target for a March launch with small volumes of components already making their way through the supply chain.”

The famous author of Steve Jobs’ authorized biography, Walter Isaacson, has revealed in his recent interview that the passed away Apple’s co-founder had free things he wanted to reinvent: the television, textbooks and photography. The most difficult for him was television with its "complicated remote controls." Isaacson said that Jobs said he felt there was "no reason" for TVs to be so difficult to use and he claimed he had managed to “crack” the secret of a simple HDTV.

That has led to a new speculation and rumors that Apple is planning to release a television set at some point in the near future. The New York Times said last month that Apple is expected to release a TV with Siri voice recognition functionality by the year 2013.

Isaacson also noted that Jobs was interested in changing textbooks and photography. Apple has already started implementation of an iPad in schools to replace standard printed textbooks and offered to use the iPad as a device for taking pictures. Apple believes that digital textbooks are more convenient and the iPad will improve quality of pictures.