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Archive for 2012
Apple climbs two spots to become world's third-largest mobile phone maker
Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales in 2011 in Millions of Units
Research firm IDC has recently released its estimates of global mobile phone sales for the fourth quarter of and full-year 2011. The results show that Apple passed LG and became the third world largest mobile phone vendor for the first time. Apple was closing to LG by the middle of 2010, but during the third quarter ZTE pushed the company back on the fifth place. However, thanks to the iPhone 4S launch, Apple moved up in the year’s final quarter and passed LG in full-year numbers as well.
According to the estimates, Apple was neck-and-neck with Samsung for the crown of top smartphone manufacturer, Nokia and Samsung firmly hold down the top two spots in the overall mobile phone rankings on the volume of their lower-end feature phones.
iPad Drives Apple to Perch Atop List of Top-Selling PC Manufacturers
Research firm Canalys predicted last year that Apple might become the world's largest PC manufacturer during the fourth quarter of 2011, but with one exception, if tablets were counted alongside more traditional computers. Now Canalys may confirm its suggestions that Apple has indeed taken the lead on the strength of the iPad.
Canalys today announced that Apple, after reporting stellar results, became the leading worldwide client PC vendor in Q4 2011. Apple shipped over 15 million iPads and five million Macs, representing 17% of the total 120 million client PCs shipped globally in Q4. Overall, the total client PC market, including desktops, netbooks, notebooks, and pads grew 16% year-on-year. Excluding pads, the client PC market declined 0.4%. The report notes that tablets such as the iPad accounted for 22% of PC sales during the quarter, with the Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble Nook also contributing to the strong tablet performance.
Canalys predicts that the iPad would have been able to top the list even without the help of the Mac. Apple sold 15.43 million iPads during the quarter, while the non-tablet market leader HP's shipments were between 14.7 and 15.3 million units.
Photos of Debug Software Show Alleged Details of iPad 3 with Quad-Core A6 and LTE
BGR reports that it has managed to obtain from its source photos of what are claimed to be screenshots from Apple's iBoot development and debugging software for the bootrom showing details on an iPad 3. The photos showing references to the known "J1" and "iPad3,1" code names indicate that the next-generation tablet will indeed be using a new application processor carrying an S5L8945X identifier, presumably as part of a new A6 system-on-a-chip.
For starters, the model numbers are J1 and J2 (iPad3,1 and iPad3,2), and while DigiTimes reported this a few weeks ago, these two models are not different devices, just a single iPad available in two versions — one with Wi-Fi only and one with Wi-Fi and embedded GSM/CDMA/LTE for all carriers. Also included in the photos is, for the first time, confirmation of which processor Apple will be using in the iPad 3: an A6 processor with model number S5L8945X. For reference, the Apple A4 model was S5L8930X and the A5 is S5L8940X.
New Photos of Camera-Equipped iPod Nano Casing Surface
Last April, Apple.pro posted a photo of what appeared to be an iPod nano with a hole in the rear casing that was said to be for a camera. A second photo showing a clipless design casing for the device and claiming that it would carry a 1.3-megapixel camera.
Apple ultimately made no changes to the design of the iPod nano in September of last year, instead opting to update the software and lower pricing on the 8 GB and 16 GB models. But the idea of a camera-equipped iPod nano was revived in November with the publication of a May 2010 patent application on speaker design that appeared to show a hole in the iPod nano's clip in the same location as the rumored camera hole seen in the leaked photos.
Update to Corona untethered jailbreak released
New version of Corona Untethered Jailbreak for iOS 5.0.1 has been released in Cydia. Corona v1.0-8 features recent iBooks fix from planetbeing (the one that was recently released in redsn0w 0.9.10b5).
Saurik tweeted that all users jailbroken on iOS 5.0.1 should install the update. UPDATE: This doesn't apply to "old bootrom" iPhone 3GS users.
@planetbeing put a lot of work into solving iBooks image loading bugs. All users (however jailbroken) on 5.0.1 should install.
So, most of the feedback I have received from "all users (however jailbroken) running 5.0.1" has been "even me? I did X.": yes, even you. ;P
You can find the Corona package in the System section of Cydia.
Foxconn Ramps Up iPhone Production And Hires Thousands Of New Employees In China
In late December, reports indicated that Foxconn was planning a significant expansion of its iPhone production capacity in Zhengzhou, China. Reportedly, the company invested $1.1 billion and was working with the Chinese government to hire 100,000 employees to the facility.
Court upholds ban of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany on new grounds
A German appeals court on Tuesday upholds ban of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 sales in Europe's biggest economy.
The decision by the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (DHRC) upholds a ruling from last September but does so based on Germany's unique unfair competition law rather than the earlier court's finding that Samsung committed a violation of a Community design. As such, Apple won't have success replicating the decision in other European countries, according to legal analyst Florian Mueller, as Samsung succeeded in defeating design-right claims by Apple that could have contributed to a broader, more material ruling covering most of the European Union.
Apple hires Dixons Retail CEO John Browett as new SVP of Retail
John Browett will become Apple’s new Senior Vice President of Retail after leaving his current position as CEO of Dixons Retail, one of the largest consumer retailers in Europe with over 40,000 employees.
Apple today announced that John Browett will join the company as senior vice president of Retail, reporting to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Browett comes to Apple from European technology retailer Dixons Retail, where he has been CEO since 2007. Beginning in April, he will be responsible for Apple’s retail strategy and the continued expansion of Apple retail stores around the world.
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Taiwanese Site Sued by Supplier After Leaking Claimed iPad 3 Dock Connector
In July 2011 Taiwanese site Apple.pro published several photos of what was claimed to be the dock connector and ribbon cable for the next-generation iPad 3. Honestly, the connector didn’t provide much information about the full iPad 3 tablet. The only obvious fact was that the connector itself being white as opposed to black on the iPad 2, and it was one of the first reported leaks of iPad 3 parts. However, Apple's suppliers seem to have taken the leak seriously. Apple.pro now reports that it has been sued by the supplier responsible for the part leaked in last year's report.
Foxconn To Build Up To Five Factories In Brazil
Today Julio Semeghini, the Secretary of Planning and Development of the State of Sao Paulo revealed that Apple’s major contract manufacturer Foxconn will construct up to five plants in Brazil with 1,000 employees each.
According to local website , Foxconn of Taiwan will leverage the additional factories to manufacture PCs and notebooks, electronic components, precision machine elements, batteries and connectors. According to the secretary, the factories should be located in Jundiai, Sao Paolo and negotiations will continue after the Chinese New Year ends.
European Commision Launches Investigation Into Samsung Over Essential 3G Patents
Today European Commission the launch of an investigation to determine whether Samsung has violated EU antitrust laws in its legal agreements with competing companies. The European Commission will focus on patents that must be licensed on FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) terms.
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More Hints that Apple is Working on an NFC Payment System on the Next iPhone
Apple has been demonstrating interest in incorporating short-range wireless communication technology Near Field Communication (NFC) into the iPhone for a long time. In March 2011 from the New York Times published the most creditable report, where the newspaper confirmed Apple’s interest in NFC, but was unable to specify when the technology would be incorporated into new iPhone:
According to two people with knowledge of the inner workings of a coming iteration of the Apple iPhone - although not necessarily the next one - a chip made by Qualcomm for the phone's processor will also include near-field communication technology, known as N.F.C. This technology enables short-range wireless communications between the phone and an N.F.C reader, and can be used to make mobile payments. It is unclear which version of an iPhone this technology would be built into.
Mujjo Conductive Gloves For Using iPhone In Cold Weather
Using iPhone outdoors presents some problems for people living in cold climate. One of the solutions is wearing conductive touchscreen gloves. A Dutch company has released new touchscreen gloves called , which contain nylon fibers coated with silver in its fabric. The silver in the gloves makes them touchscreen compatible.
This touchscreen gloves are available only in two sizes, but they stretch to fit the largest of hands. You can purchase them for about $33 on the Mujjo's .
Apple predicted to sell up to 40M iPhones on China Mobile, China Telecom in 2013
Analyst Katy Huberty from Investment bank Morgan Stanley believes Apple will partner up with both China Telecom and China Mobile "over the next year" to make its iPhone available on all three Chinese carriers. Such partnership could bring incremental sales of as many as 40 million units next calendar year that is only 10 percent of the 150 million "high-end Chinese subscribers".
China Mobile, the world's largest wireless carrier, holds the bulk of the country's high-end subscribers with an estimated 120 million customers who pay more than 100RMB ($16) a month. The final 10 percent of high-end subscribers are on China Telecom, the third-largest carrier in China. Huberty sees a base case of 26 million incremental iPhone sales in China during the 2013 calendar year with the addition of China Mobile and China Telecom. Her bull case suggests 40 million units for an increase of $10 in earnings per share.
Apple's sixth-generation iPhone is "likely to be compatible" with China Mobile's upcoming 4G TD-LTE network. Morgan Stanley expects the next-generation iPhone to arrive in the third quarter of 2012 and a China Mobile iPhone launch to occur in late 2012 or early 2013.
Before he died, Steve Jobs kept a letter from Bill Gates by his bed
In a new interview Microsoft founder Bill Gates told that he wrote a letter to Steve Jobs before his death and the letter was so important for Steve that he even kept it at his bedside. Gates spoke this week with students at a school in South London, where he acknowledged that Jobs had said critical things about him in the past, but before Jobs passed away they had settled all difficulties.
"There was no peace to make. We were not at war," Gates said. "We made great products, and competition was always a positive thing."
In fact, Gates said he received a phone call from Jobs's wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, about negative comments her husband had made to biographer Walter Isaacson, in which he called Gates a "basically unimaginative person who "has never invented anything." Gates said Jobs's wife told him that Isaacson's book didn't "paint a picture of the mutual respect" the two had for one another.