Archive for November, 2010

Recently Voalte has added an additional hospital to their client list. Parkview General Hospital will now be utilizing the iPhone as a primary communications tool throughout their entire building. Parkview General in Fort Wayne is the fifth hospital client for Voalte, which uses the iPhone’s Wi-Fi platform to pull together medical alarms, text and voice messages into one device a nurse can use from anywhere in the building.

Some days ago Apple released a brand new iPad commercial entitled "iPad is Electric" and posted it to the company's iPad site and YouTube page. The new advertisement offers the same music, format as the other iPad’s commercials and follows the same of theme of displaying a series of quick shots of the iPad's capabilities interspersed with corresponding single-word descriptions relevant to the "iPad is..." theme.

Apple sent e-mails to music label representatives to inform them that it that it is preparing to extend the length of iTunes Store song previews in the United States. The new 90 second samples only affect songs that are longer than 2 minutes and 30 seconds, with shorter songs keeping the original 30 second preview length. The company believes that longer songs samples will lead to more purchases. Apple's email notes that by continuing to offer their music on the iTunes Store, labels are indicating their acceptance of the new terms. But it didn’t say any time frames when the extended previews will be available to U.S. customers.

A new iPhone and iPad mobile browser from Skyfire was recently approved by Apple. This new iOS application converts Flash-based video to HTML5 for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users. The app, which is priced at $2.99 and tomorrow will be available for download from the App Store, activates a function that allows Flash video content in the browser to be sent to Skyfire's servers, converted to HTML5, and sent back to the device for display. However, it won't work with Flash-based games, which require interactivity, or popular TV streaming site Hulu.

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During October 2010 ChangeWave surveyed 3,108 consumers to understand the latest trends and demand on the PC and Netbook markets, including the impact of the iPad. Here are some interesting facts that were revealed by the research company:

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Katy Huberty, who is a well-known analyst at Morgan Stanley, posted a new report, where she notes that China is a potential growth driver for Apple, but the fact still remains unappreciated by Apple's investors.

"...Despite steady upturn since February 2009, we continue to believe investors underappreciate the AAPL growth story, which is driven by one, iPhone market share gains and expanded distribution; two, the iPad market opportunity; three, rising enterprise adoption, and four, the Chinese consumer."

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As we all remember, Apple announced that the white iPhone 4 won't appear in retail until spring 2011. But it seems not a problem for a German e-tailer Notebook.de, which has already started shipping the elusive handset. But its price is quite high! A plain, black iPhone 4 16GB would set you back between €649 and €699 in the EU market, but the white one goes for €1999. The 32GB model is listed at €2199. The retailer specifically states that phones in question are not modified in any way and that they are factory packaged, describing them as a "rarity".

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This morning Apple dropped the price of the Mac mini in international markets. In Europe the price was cut down on €100. It is now available for just €709 and €999 from most European stores. In the United Kingdom the Mac mini price dropped on £50 (from £649 to £599). This is probably in response to the dollar's continuing decline relative to other currencies. Prices in the U.S. remain unchanged at $699 and $999 for the two Mac mini models.

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As you may remember, in April 2010 Apple announced its iAd advertising program. Shortly after that Innovate Media Group LLC filed a lawsuit against Apple, accusing it of unfair competition and trademark infringement. The history of Innovate Media reveals that the company has been also producing "iAds" - online video ads - in 2006, and in 2007 the respective trademark was filed.

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Both Apple and rival Google are interested in purchasing mobile payments company Boku. San Francisco-based Boku is a startup company, which aims to bring "bank-grade payments technology" to mobile platforms and create the standard for online payments using a mobile phone. The company has partnered with mobile carriers to allow customers to purchase goods using their mobile phones. Customers simply enter their mobile phone number when looking to purchase an item and a confirmation message is sent to their device. The resulting charges are then added to your wireless monthly bill. It would eliminate the need for the use of credit cards for online transactions. As expected, Apple may spend at least $250 million (and up to $450 million) to acquire BOKU.

As we reported earlier today, yesterday Apple released the Golden Master version of iOS 4.2 to developers, thus making the official update closer to the public release, which will happen in November, according to Steve Jobs.

MacRumors has already studied this release and found next peculiarities in the newest version of iOS 4.2:

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Yesterday Apple released the Golden Master version of iOS 4.2 to developers for both iPad and iPhone and iPod touch devices. The GM build is typically the final shipping build that will eventually reach customers. That means that the company is really close to public release of the new operating system.

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Yesterday Target announced that it will start offering the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 on Nov. 7 with the ability for customers to quickly activate it in store. The iPhone will be available for purchase as a part of the Target Mobile centers in the 846 company’s retail stores in the U.S.

Senior vice president of merchandising at Target Mark Shindele is excited about this offer:

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Modern people can’t live without their gadgets. Some of them can’t even make a marriage proposal without assistance of the iPhone! Just like Frank, who used multiple iPhones to coordinate and secretly film his proposal. On October 24 he proposed to his girlfriend Kasey. An elaborate surprise proposal was made in New York City's Central Park. Hidden cameras were synced with special iPhone applications so the entire event could be watched from a safe distance. Kasey was lured to a specific location by a friend of Frank. It was a totally awesome proposal and, of course, Kasey said "yes".

Apple is now investigating an issue with a number of Monster-branded headphones for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. These include those under Monster’s Lil Jamz, Jamz, Turbine and Heartbeat lines. As reported, the abovementioned Monster headphone models do not satisfy Apple’s technical specifications. These headphones use conductive materials, which can result in electrical shorts that cause an iPod or iPhone to pause and play erratically, skip forward or back through songs. Customers may not be aware that the issue is caused by the headphones and may believe that the iPod or iPhone is defective instead. Moreover, Apple received lots of complaints from customers, who believe that the issue is caused by their Apple device. In addition, Apple mentioned that these headphones do not endanger safety of the iPod or iPhone and could not damage devices.