Archive for April, 2010

This week Apple announced that it will shut down its previously acquired music service Lala on May 31. If you'll try to register there as a new user, you'll see a message box:

"Lala is shutting down. The Lala Service will be shut down May 31, 2010. Unfortunately, we are no longer accepting new members."

If you're an existing member of Lala, you'll be able to use the service until May 31. But since today you'll have no access to Web songs, gift cards (any unredeemed must be utilized) and wallets, and your credits will be automatically passed to iTunes. It is also announced by Lala if customer will request a check by May 31 they will write it.

Apple purchased Lala last year for $85 million. It was announced that this service will play a significant role in iTunes strategy. Lala's difference was that user was allowed to upload music from their hard drives and then listen to it from the service. Maybe now this function will be implemented in iTunes.

Yesterday The Wall Street Journal reported that this year Apple is going to charge companies 1$ million for iAds on its mobile devices. Citing an unknown but reliable source familiar with the matter those companies that want to become a part of the iAds launch will pay $10 million to be first in the door.

The pricing policy of iAds is pretty simple. Every time user sees an ad the advertiser is charged a penny. If he's tapping the banner, Apple charges $2. So $1 million ad buy will provoke a big amount of its views and user taps.

In addition to a higher price Apple wants to take more control over marketing campaigns of its clients. But still it doesn't reduce companies' interest in iAds:

"Despite the high price, ad executives at agencies from Boston to New York and San Francisco to Los Angeles have crowded into conference rooms in recent weeks to listen to the tech company's pitch for iAd".

One of the advertisements that is already developed is an ad for Nike's Air Jordan basketball shoes. It includes iAd logo and animated banner. If you select it, you'll see an interactive store locator, special videoclip and exclusive offers taking place at local stores. This iAd was also shown by Apple on its iPhone OS 4 preview event.

Some experts think Apple's appearance at the market of mobile advertisement may convince some other selling ads companies to switch to other mobile platforms (for example, Google Android).

With a growing popularity of apps for Apple devices advertisers and developers see iAds as a potential opportunity to reach a wide audience and raise more money on it.

Wired.com finally figured out that 21-year-old Brian J. Hogan from Redwood City, California, is a person who found an iPhone 4G prototype and sold it to Gizmodo. The resource identified him by following clues on different social networks and then confirmed the information from a source who involved in the investigation around the device.

Brian regrets that he didn't try harder to return the iPhone to its owner, according to his attorney. He is willing to cooperate with authorities to avoid any consequences.

The story of iPhone's revealing is very similar to the Gizmodo's one. Brian got the device from one of his friends in the bar. When he didn't find its owner he took it home. There he used Facebook, but then the phone shut down. Sometime later Brian removed a fake cover and understood that it must be a prototype of iPhone 4G. He tried to call Apple Care but this didn't take effect.

Then Brian offered several journalists to take a look at the device. But he believes that Gizmodo's payment was for allowing it exclusive access for reviewing the phone, but not for purchasing it.

The bar owners say Hogan didn't come to the public house in attempts to find the device's owner. Grey Powell returned several times and asked about any information on his iPhone.

Brian has recently transferred schools and will continue studying in the autumn. Before that he was giving swimming lessons to children and also volunteered at a Chinese orphanage when he was enrolled in a study-abroad program.

As you remember, last Friday the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team searched the house of Gizmodo's editor who reportedly had iPhone 4G prototype. Well now we have information from MarketWatch that the steering committee which oversees the REACT team consists of Apple, Google, Adobe and other companies. This data was taken from California's High Technology Crime Advisory Committee's annual report dated 2008.

Moreover, it is reported that the steering committee doesn't have "defined membership" and its meetings can be visited by all of the company representatives. Apple representatives did not visit any recent meeting, but the company is currently listed amongst companies that have open investigations to attend. That means that Apple may be a director of a Friday episode with Jason Chen.

But today's news reveals that is not the end of the story.

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According to the report revealed by Chosun resource 5MP camera sensors for iPhone 4G will be supplied by LG Innotek.

"The electronics component maker began producing the sophisticated cameras at its plant in Gumi this month and will mass produce them starting in the second half of this year."

So the rumors about OmniVision going to supply cameras for a new generation of iPhones that appeared in December 2009 are incorrect.

iPhone 4G is expected to have not only 5.0-megapixels capera, but also a camera flash (probably based on Philips' LUXEON LED techonogy). The functions for flash are already implemented in iPhone OS 4.0.

Recently Сhitika estimated the number of iPads sold by making a study based on its own online advertising network. The report reveals than Apple has sold more than 1 million of their tablets. The exact number is being refreshed every second so you can check it out here. And this is a current scale of iPad's popularity in some U.S. cities:

• California - 19,12%
• New York - 8,3%
• Texas - 8%
• Florida - 5,88%
• Illinois - 3,84%
• Wyoming - 0,03%

The report also has information than an average iPad has approximately 2,33 different IP addresses. Necessary data was received by tracking browser cookies.

Earlier Apple has also revealed that at the end of the first week there were sold more 500,000 iPads. The company claims it's very surprised with a level of initial demand.

This April's issue of Italian Vanity Fair looks just adorable with Rihanna dressed in a tech sexy coat with her iPhone whipped out from where her shirt should be. That is a really cool idea, because Italians just love gadgets and such a mega pop star with the most popular device will excite everyone!

[via]

Another report made by Nikkei reveals that most of the Japanese online electronic stores stopped selling iMacs, iPods and other products because of an Apple's request. At the moment Yodobashi Camera Co., Kojima Co., Bic Camera Inc. and Yamada Deni Co. Web sites point that Apple products were totally sold out or they are not for sale and may be available only in retail stores. Though Joshin Denki Co. and Amazon.com's Japanese store are continuing to sell iDevices.

There is also information from China Business News that China Unicom carrier will reduce the iPhone price from 6,999 yuan (~1050$) to 1,000 yuan (~150$). The company hopes that the smartphone will help it to boost its 3G network. Now China Unicom also considers making reduced rates for those of the subscribers who already have 3G devices to advance the growth of its data network.

And some humour on IphoneRoot. Here is a set of pictures made by someone named ntr23. They reveal a story of unboxing iPad by three brave Lego men.

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According to the US FTC, today Apple has purchased a virtual assistant application Siri. The cost of the deal is $200 million.

Scobleizer's author Robert Scoble thinks the purchase is very important to Apple:

"The value in unlocked is huge. This shows Apple is very willing to buy its way into the new mobile web and the new API-driven web. This also could be a major cornerstone in how it competes with Google."

Siri is a voice-guided application that acts as a concierge or personal assistant. It helps you to interact with your mobile device via your voice only.

Greg Hughes is a developer who recently created an app for syncing iPhone and iPod Touch with iTunes over Wi-fi. It is called "Wi-Fi Sync" and requires a separate application for desktop so that iTunes could sync the device over Wi-fi. You can see how it works from the video above.

At first launch you need to verify the pairing process on both the computer and the device. After that iTunes will be launched and start to sync with your iPhone/iPod Touch. Everything else will work the same as if the connection was via a USB cable.

Greg plans to submit the app to the App Store in the end of this week. It is unknown whether his software breaks the rules of iPhone OS developer agreement, but if non-public application programming interfaces were used in its development then the app will likely be rejected. Anyway, Wi-fi Sync may also appear in the Cydia jailbroken marketplace, and Greg already considers this idea if his app won't be approved by Apple.

Yesterday Apple released a minor update for its media player suite iTunes. Now the version of the app is 9.1.1 and here is a list of issues that were fixed:

• Addressing some issues that improve stability and performance.
• Addressing a usability issue with VoiceOver and Genius Mixes;
• Addressing several stability issues with VoiceOver;
• Addressing issues with converting songs to 128 kbps AAC while syncing (this function was previously available only for iPod shuffle)

More information about security updates can be found on Apple's support page here.

You can update your iTunes via software update utility or download it directly from Apple.

Yesterday Apple closed a deal of acquiring Intrisity, a small company in Austin, Texas, that specializes on mobile computer chips producing.

This is a second time for the last two years when Apple buys a small chip company to have the facilities for making fast and power efficient processors. In 2008 Apple purchased P.A. Semi for $278 million, but with the lapse of time many chip maker employees had left company because of inadequate compensation (by the way, some of them are now in Agnilux, another company that was recently acquired by Google).

Well-known chip analyst Tom R. Halfhill has information from his sources that Apple paid $121 million for Intrinsity, but company’s representative Steve Dowling didn't comment on this information.

Such a deal isn't expensive for Apple at all, thinks Tom Halfhill:

“The purchase price is like pocket change to Apple, and they get a lot of benefit”.

It is widely speculated that iPad's A4 chip is based on Intrinsity technology that improved its processing power from 650 MHz to 1 GHz without increasing the battery consumption. With acquiring this chip making company Apple will be able to increase that 350 MHz by itself. Moreover, the company seems to be looking forward for creating its own version of ARM chip. Some other companies like Qualcomm, Marvell and Nvidia had the same experience and spent millions of dollars to gain a satisfactory result.

It is interesting that rumors about this deal started when some people saw that a significant number of Intrinsity employees changed their employer section to Apple in LinkedIn.

Also Apple's desire to create its own mobile chip contradicts to its strategy of purchasing Intel chips for computers.

Recently Oprah Winfrey declared herself a fan of iPad in the front of millions of TV viewers. She called the device "amazing" and said that its hardware will "change the way kids learn." TV host admires its backlit touchscreen and thinks it has great opportunities for reading, playing games and sharing photos.

Some time ago Oprah has been promoting Amazon Kindle on TV, and once the sales of this device were boosted so strong the company had problems with keeping up with demand. When she has been speaking about iPad she also mentioned Kindle in the past tense, like she "HAD a Kindle". But later her spokesperson said she still uses both devices.

Oprah's Book Club may be viewed in iBookstore for iPad, and its books may be purchased for a standard fee.

Today mobile ad firm AdMob has released another Mobile Metrics report that consists of information about the software and hardware that had been used by Apple's handsets owners in March.

The study reveals that only 2% of all Apple devices with iPhone OS are first-gen iPhones. But it is important to notice that since the first sale of iPhone OS-based device Apple sold over 85 million of its worldwide. If we'll take the period between June 2007 and July 2008 (time when iPhone 3G was shipped), then it turns out that company sold 6.1 million of iPhone 2G, which is approximately 7% of the total sum of handsets that were sold.

Fortune Brainstorm Tech journalist Philip Elmer-Dewitt continues to count and then sums up:

"If 7% of those iPhone 1Gs are driving 2% of AdMob's traffic that suggests that nearly one in three is still ticking - and visiting the Web."

Obviously, the popularity of the first-generation iPhones will be further reducing without iPhone OS 4.0 support.

AdMob also found that the most popular iPhone in March 2010 was iPhone 3GS, which generated 39% of all traffic. This is much higher result than 9% in September 2009.

Other information can be seen above on the graphs.