Archive for 2010

As you remember, recently we reported about new app that allows syncing your iDevices wirelessly. It's called Wi-Fi sync and available in Cydia since Apple didn't approved it. Recently it was updated to version 1.1 to support Windows. You can download it here. Its price is $9.99.

Yesterday iPad was launched internationally and in honor of that website iPadItalia created and uploaded a 10min-video devoted to Apple. It’s quite long but the work covers the lifetime of the company since 1976 till nowadays with every product mentioned, photos of its co-founders, magazine covers and more. If you're an Apple fan, this video will definitely warm your heart!

Today Engadget revealed new information on the next-gen Apple TV that was received from sources close to Apple.

The architecture of the upcoming device is based on iPhone OS 4, which means it will have the same hardware (A4 system-on-chip) with 16 GB of flash memory, video out and power socket. It will be 1080p HD capable, and will look like "an iPhone without a screen".

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Today is May 28th and that means iPad launches internationally. Here are the photos from the queues worldwide that have been collected yet by Edgadget.

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Apple released information on self-publishing for those authors who would like to sell their writings in iBookStore.

So the works must adhere to these criteria:

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Today Suzuki celebrates 50 years of international racing, so it launched a totally new website "Suzuki 50 years". It's specially formatted for the iPad, so you can take a look at it here or watch the iPad-version on the video above.

New article posted by the Wall Street Journal reveals details on the hysteria around iPad in Japan, where people waited for days to acquire this innovation product. The exclusive carrier of the 3G in Japan Softbank reported it stopped making reservations for the iPad after three days.

"Softbank says it is under strict orders from Apple not to disclose how many reservations it has accepted or how many will be distributed Friday. It wouldn't even disclose whether consumers could buy the iPad on Friday without a reservation."

New York Times reports this is not the first Apple device that has such a huge success in this gadget-loving nation. Moreover, the Cupertino's company has 72% share of overall Japan's smartphone market.

The edition claims 1200 people lined up to buy an iPad at the Apple Store that is situated in Central Tokio.

Ballmer had been rumored by Wall Street analyst Trip Chowdhry to be making an appearance at WWDC. He was expected to announce Microsoft's Visual Studio 2010 with support for iPhone OS and Mac OS X development.

Here is an official tweet from Microsoft:

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Jesse Rosten, who is a storyteller and filmmaker from Northern California, decided to demonstrate how the iPad can be used in any situation with a help of Velcro fasteners only. The latter can be used to mount the device in almost any place without purchasing dedicated stands.

The idea may look silly but people say the video is so inspiring that they would love to make something similar at home.

Recently AdMob revealed a new metrics report that studied the numbers of iPhone OS and Adroid devices throughout the world. The company emphasized it was looking only at the devices that were at least once connected to the AdMob network:

"These unique device numbers are from the AdMob network only and reflect the adoption of our products and business operation. We don’t know what percentage of the total universe of iPhone and Android devices AdMob reaches. However we believe the data is useful on a relative basis given the large sample size of devices in our network."

So here are the main facts and conclusions along with figures:

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Latest NPD report reveals that Apple increased its music market share again. Here is a current ball game (in comparison to the last year situation):

• Digital music downloads: 40% (+5%) of all music sold;
• Apple: 28% (+4%) share of all music sold, 70% (+1%) of digital music downloads;
• Amazon: 12% (+3%) share of all music sold, 12% (+4%) share of digital music downloads.

Vice president of industry analysis at NPD Russ Crupnick says that physical media market share decreases because it becomes too effortful to look for a necessary CD in retail stores.

"Online shopping offers consumers who still want CDs more variety than they would get in a brick-and-mortar store; plus, recommendations, and other interactive features that raise the overall value proposition for music buyers."

It is interesting that though Amazon's market share is growing, the Department of Justice is looking into Apple to determine whether the company leverages its market power to prevent competition on the music market.

Yesterday Digitimes posted an interesting interview with its own senior analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who disproved many rumors about upcoming iPhone.

He told that Apple once considered using OLED display in iPhone 3GS, but it was found to be unsuitable for displaying text, and now this is a key direction in which Apple is improving its iPhone since the company promotes iBookstore for it. Moreover, in February scientists unveiled that Apple iPhone 3GS' LCD display is much better than the OLED screen in Google Nexus One, because the latter doesn't reproduce colors accurately and has lots of artifacts.

Ming-Chi Kuo also revealed that the work on iPhone 4G was started at the end of 2008. Its codename is N90, and not many people knew about this, but Gizmodo found exactly the N90 prototype. There is another iPhone with codename N91 that is a lesser upgrade that must be used «in case there are major delays [of components] due to significant modifications.

With regard to the iPhone 4G's processor Ming-Chi Kuo told:

"Since the launch schedule of the Cortex A9 processor is estimated for year's end and iPhone 4.0 is not ready to fully utilize a multi-core processor, the A4 is the most likely candidate".

This is not the first words of Ming-Chi Kuo about iPhone 4G, previously we posted another information revealed by him, you can read it here.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUEF2Klofzs

Yesterday Wired magazine had finally released its iPad edition.  Chief editor Chris Anderson told that the magazine now uses new publishing technology created by Adobe that allows using the same tools for creating both digital and print versions of the edition.  He also admires the version created for iPad:

"It has all of the visual impact of paper, enhanced by interactive elements like video and animated graphics. We can offer you a history of Mars landings that lets you explore the red planet yourself. We can take you inside Trent Reznor's recording studio and let you listen to snippets of his work in progress. And we can show you exactly how Pixar rafted each frame of its new movie, Toy Story 3."

To create a digital version compatible with iPad (which doesn't support Flash), Adobe had to recreate it in Objective-C, The Wall Street Journal explains. Rebuilt edition has all the features of the initial version. Though the edition looks great, there are still many other features, such as search functions and social connectivity, to be added in the future issues.

Wired publisher Conde Nast also owns other magazines, but the company noted it will not create special iPad edition for them.

iPad version of Wired is available here for $4.99. It is a June issue; next issues will be available as a part of library included in application. The subscription will become allegedly available this autumn.

After yesterday news report about tenth suicide among Foxconn employees Apple had officially commented on the situation. Here are the words from the company's public statement:

"We are saddened and upset by the recent suicides at Foxconn. Apple is deeply committed to ensuring that conditions throughout our supply chain are safe and workers are treated with respect and dignity. We are in direct contact with Foxconn senior management and we believe they are taking this matter very seriously."

Reuters also informed that Apple will investigate the case and had already involved its own investigation team to "address these tragic events".

Foxconn is known much not only as the manufacturer of iPhone 4G, it is also a company responsible for making a number of products created by HP, Dell, and Nokia. Analyst Andrew Deng from Taiwan International Securities told Reuters that these companies might  react accordingly in case Foxconn is not tackling the problem:

"It's a crucial issue that Hon Hai [registered trade name for Foxconn] has to deal with right away. If not, Nokia, HP and Apple might cut their orders as pressure against buying their products could be mounting."

According to information from the Wall Street Journal Foxconn chairman Terry Gou has already launched antisuicide measures. They include the construction of special nets around Foxconn's building (as most of the workers died because of a jump from the roof) and establishing the "Foxconn Employee Care Center". Moreover, the company invited counselors and academic experts to talk with its employees and asked a group of Buddhist monks to utter prayers for the factory.

This week Terry Gou also showed reporters a huge swimming pool, bakeries, dormitories and banks built for employees needs.

Gene Munster, who is an analyst at Piper Jaffray, told yesterday that Steve Jobs won't allegedly make a surprise with presentation of the next generation iPhone at the WorldWide Developer Conference 2010. Because of numerous prototype leaks everybody expects the iPhone 4G to have thinner design, front-facing camera, improved battery and 5MP rear camera. But Gene claimed people should not expect that a Verizon-compatible model will be presented.

"We believe that it is unlikely that the next generation iPhone will be available at Verizon (or Sprint) at launch; rather, it is more likely that it remains exclusively available at AT&T in the U.S. at launch".

He also said Apple may start selling iPhone 3GS for $99 instead of iPhone 3G and provide a "limited demo" of new version of Mac OS X (10.7), that has all chances to support multi-touch technology as a key feature. But as we wrote before it looks like WWDC2010 will focus mainly on iPhone OS 4.0 so the preview of Mac OS X 10.7 will not allegedly happen.

Gene is assured that the presentation of iPhone 4G will have a positive influence on Apple's stock.

"...the new iPhone will likely drive unit sales beyond Street expectations, providing a positive catalyst for shares of AAPL in the coming months."