Archive for July 1st, 2011

We already know top 5 reasons why Apple iCloud rocks. Let's take a look at top 5 things iCloud is missing:

As noted by MacStories, App Store offers now more than 100.000 applications specially created for 9.7-inch iPad’s display.

This 100.000 milestone was reached by Apple this week. The total figure refers to iPad-specific applications, and does not count iPhone apps, which can work but doesn’t enjoy advantages of the bigger screen size.

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Here are the Top 5 reasons from CNet you should seriously consider embracing iCloud on your Apple iPhone, iPad, or other device.

Take a look at Top 5 thing iCloud is missing.

Apple is going to renovate its SoHo store to increase its space in the next three months. This step is necessary because the SoHo store, opened in 2002, is the smallest Apple Store within Manhattan and it scarcely accommodates the thousands of customers every day. During the renovations, the SoHo Apple store will be relocated to a temporary location. There is no information about what exactly location Apple chose but it obviously will be somewhere within Manhattan. The renovations will apparently include reconfiguration of the first floor, but the glass staircase that was the first one in Apple’s store, won’t be changed.

MacBooks have been running out of supply at resellers such as Amazon, J&R, and MacConnection. European distributors have also run out of MacBook supply and are not expecting future shipments. Apple’s MacBook Air supply is also decreasing, giving birth to rumours that their update may coincide with the release of Mac OS X Lion.

Apple’s white MacBooks are quite expensive and their hardware is outdated. So they may receive newer processors and Thunderbolt technologies, or Apple could simply reduce price. Some analysts suggest that the second variant is more preferable for Apple. Cutting price Apple will make MacBooks more valuable for students. So, the new MacBook could be priced closer to Apple’s entry-level Mac Mini.

Mike Abramsky, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets, expects that Apple might offer the iPhone 3GS for free with 2-year contract after the iPhone 5 launch; that step will obviously attract mid-market buyers.

"While a $49 iPhone is already available (AT&T), psychologically a $0 iPhone provides a compelling offer," Abramsky wrote in a note to investors. "Proprietary survey data... suggests 14% are very/somewhat likely to buy the iPhone 3GS for free with 2-year contract, exceeding buying interest for the iPad (13%) and original iPhone (9%)."

Abramsky suggest that free iPhone 3GS will increase iPhone numbers to more than 150 million smartphones. That will be unusual for Apple, because the company always discontinues its two-year-old smartphones. For example, after launch of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, first released in 2009, was dropped to $99, and the iPhone 3G was discontinued. Noteworthy to say that despite the fact that the iPhone 3GS was first released in 2009, it will be compatible with the iOS 5.

DigiTimes reports that Apple is planning to increase significantly the iPad 2 shipments for the third quarter of this year. The company is going to ship about 12-14 million devices over that period. These numbers are obviously larger than the 7-9 million units reportedly shipped during the previous quarter.

In order to significantly increase its shipments in the third quarter, Apple has been piling up its inventory of iPad 2 components such as panels in the second quarter to minimize the risk of facing component shortages.

Now it is quite difficult to forecast the iPad’s shipments due to production constraints and the transition from the original iPad to the iPad 2. Moreover, Apple didn’t come up with forecasts of some analysts suggesting that Apple's total 2011 iPad could reach 40 million units and sold in the first quarter only 4.69 million units, though, these numbers include a few initial weeks of official iPad 2 sales.

Arstechnica and iFixIt claim that Apple’s new Tunderbolt cable is actually a "smart" cable that contains circuitry and firmware. iFixIt have already torn down the cable, having found inside two Gennum GN2033 chips in the connector that works as a transceiver to enable “reliable data transfer at cutting-edge speeds over low cost, thin-gauge copper cables.” There were also found additional support chips and resistors, so the total number of chips inside the Thunderbolt connector is 12, of course not including multiply smaller electronic components.

Quite interesting that the current Thunderbolt ports found in iMac and MacBook Pro are planned to be compatible with future Thunderbolt cables, bringing a significant speed improvement. But the current generation of such ports works on the traditional wiring.

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According to Bloomberg’s report, HP is interested in licensing its mobile operating system webOS to other companies, which may open the door for yet another competitor in the tablet and smartphone market.

"We are talking to a number of companies," Apotheker, president of the company, stated in Beijing, refusing to give more details."I can share with you that a number of companies have expressed interest. We are continuing our conversations."

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