Being number-one rumor among users of Apple’s iPad the long-expected release of the first exclusively pro-iPad newspaper The Daily by News Corp. which was supposed to be debuted at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art upcoming Wednesday was delayed again and not for few days but weeks. Such disappointing for many iPad users information was announced today according to the sources which are closely related with the plans of the both companies (Apple and News Corp.).
The iOS 4.3 beta was released a couple of days ago. But the update isn’t available for second generation iPod touch and iPhone 3G installation. iOS 4.3 beta 1 noted that AirPrint was the dominant component of attention. AirPrint requires an iPad, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, 3G iPod touch, or 4G iPod touch. AirPlay and Game Center require an iPad, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, 2G iPod touch, 3G iPod touch, or 4G iPod touch. General multitasking an iPad, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, 3G iPod touch, and 4G iPod touch. Two of the three dismiss the 2G iPod touch and all dismiss the 3G, however, AirPlay and Game Center are important features. Take it as at least a warning that the second generation iPod touch and iPhone 3G are nearing the full “end of life” designation.
Some users found the iPad 2's Camera app in the iOS 4.3 beta and made some screenshots which you may see above and below. 9to5Mac reports: "These screenshots are 1024 x 768 which indicate the same screen resolution as the current iPad. That might upset those hoping for more a retina-ish display in iPad 2. This may only be because the current simulator only simulates 1024 x 768 so those hoping for more pixels shouldn’t lose hope."
People are beginning to dig into the newly released iOS 4.3 developer build and has revealed settings for a new feature called "Find My Friends, " which is tied to Apple’s MobileMe service. Apple may be looking to offer a location-based friend-finding service like Loopt and Google Latitude. Moreover, such services have seen incredible growth and interest in the recent years, with several companies like Twitter and Facebook offering location-based features. Location-based services allow you to find your friends by leveraging your mobile phone’s GPS signal. The constant updates can broadcast your location to your friends to know who is nearby.
The latest iOS 4.3 build contains model references to not yet released iPhone and iPad models indicated in the code as:
iPad2,1
iPad2,2
iPad2,3
iPhone4,1
iPhone4,2
The first generation iPad carries a model number of "iPad1,1", the current iPhone 4 is 3,1 for AT&T and 3,2 for Verizon. These new designations likely represent the next generation iPad and iPhone. Perhaps, the second digit represents hardware differences between models - such as a Verizon iPhone and AT&T iPhone. We’re thinking maybe China is getting a new iPhone. Or maybe the magical white iPhone has something different to it or maybe that Sprint event on Feb 7th is for a WiMAX . The iPad is also believed to be coming to both Verizon and AT&T, so that may explain at least a few of the different model numbers.
Yesterday Apple released the first beta of iOS 4.3 for the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. iOS 4.3 brings new multi-touch gestures built specifically for the iPad, including 4- and 5-finger gestures. The new beta reportedly allows users to pinch to access the home screen, to swipe up to reveal the multitasking tray, and swipe left and right to switch between open applications. The new update also reportedly adds the ability to change the functionality of the iPad hardware switch. The new beta confirms rumors that Apple would add its new Personal Hotspot feature to existing GSM iPhones with iOS 4.3. The functionality allows users to share their 3G data connection with up to five devices over Wi-Fi. Those reports claimed that Apple plans to publicly release iOS 4.3 in March.
Today's StatCounter published its fresh report based on web analytics about mobile users, where it is said that 34.3% of all American users generate web traffic from RIM's smartphones, while 33% browse the Internet with their iPhones. Two years ago Apple beated RIM in this stats, as iPhone users generate three times more traffic than those who have BlackBerry.
StatCounter reveals that a year ago Apple's iOS had 52.9% share in terms of mobile web usage, so such a drop is pretty huge. To make such conclusion the company analyzed 3 million websites with 15 billion page views per month. Read the rest of this entry »
iOS 4.2 was released only a couple of days ago, but Apple is rumored to plane to release the next major update of its mobile operating system, iOS 4.3, this December. New update, as expected, will allow users to subscribe to content and address initial issues with AirPlay. Apple is reportedly planning to hold special media event on December 9 where they will announce the subscription plans. After the special event, on December 13, Apple should release iOS 4.3. As rumored, the reason for the launch of new iOS version is Apple’s massive data center in North Carolina, the purpose of which remains unknown. In addition to supporting of the new payment mechanism, 4.3 version will also include the capability to automatically push out fresh content to tablets.
Obviously, the iPad apps are more expensive than those for the iPhone/iPod touch. But you probably don’t know that their prices increased in the past six months. The average price for the iPad app increased from $4.34 in April 2010 to $4.97 in October 2010 (+14.5%). Prices for the iPhone apps increased only from $3.94 to $4.03 (+2.3%). Moreover, now developers prefer to create applications compatible only with the iPad. Although iPhone apps cost less than their iPad counterparts, the iPad only accounts for 13% of the total 300,000 apps available in the App Store, and just 7 percent of all apps are universal.
We know how the new iPhone 4 compares to the iPhone 3GS. Now it is time to size it against its fiercest competitors from all the major platforms. Take a look at the results against the HTC EVO 4G, Nokia N8, Palm Pre Plus and HTC HD2:
O2 plans to offer video calls on iPhone, as new generation iPhones will feature a camera for video calling and chatting. And what is more, making a video call will cost the same as traditional voice-only call.
Recent discoveries suggest that the iPad OS (iPhone OS 3.2) also offers the possibility to decline and accept video conferences and maintain video calls.
There is an app for about everything. iMaya is an iPhone application that shows a countdown clock until time X of 2012.
Here is a quick story about this Maya calendar. Maya civilization had several different calendars, the longest one, The Long Count, identifies a date by counting the number of days from the Mayan creation (August 11, 3114 BC in the proleptic Gregorian calendar or September 6 in the Julian calendar). But instead of using a base-10 (decimal) scheme like Western numbering, the Long Count days were tallied in a modified base-20 scheme. Thus 0.0.0.1.5 is equal to 25, and 0.0.0.2.0 is equal to 40.
The Maya name for a day was k'in. Twenty of these k'ins are known as a winal or uinal. Eighteen winals make one tun. Twenty tuns are known as a k'atun. Twenty k'atuns make a b'ak'tun. Confused? Don't panic. 1 B'ak'tun is about 144,000 days or 394.3 years.
The date December 20, 2012 is simply the last day of the 13th b'ak'tun. And here is the big misinterpretation of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. There is a belief, that this date is the basis for a New Age and for a big cataclysm. For the ancient Maya, it was a huge celebration to make it to the end of a whole cycle. But that is not the end of the Long Count because the 14th through 20th b'ak'tuns are still to come. So we need to wait for another 7 b'ak'tuns (> 2700 years), when this Long Count calendar will end.
The app costs $0.99 and is available in AppStore (link). It requires firmware 3.1.2 and is localized in various languages.
Research firm iSuppli today announced the results of its teardown of the new 16 GB iPhone 3GS, estimating the device's parts cost at $172.46, with an additional $6.50 in manufacturing costs bringing the total cost to $178.96. The data compares to a total cost of $174.33 for the 8 GB iPhone 3G at its launch in July 2008. iPhone 2G was about $226, Palm Pre costs $170.
AT&T today reported financial results from the fourth quarter of 2008 and announced that they had activated 1.9 million new iPhones during the quarter. Here are some numbers from Fortune:
AT&T has activated 4.3 million iPhone 3Gs since its launch, 1.9 million in Q4 alone — more than double its iPhone activations one year earlier.
The average revenue from Phone users is 60% higher than the typical AT&T customer — thanks to that $30 per month data fee. Their heavy use of Web services helped drive AT&T wireless data use up 51.2% year to year, which as reader Jon in Brentwood, Calif., points out is not necessarily a good thing.
About 40% of the iPhone activations this quarter were new AT&T customers, either buying their first cellphone or switching from another carrier.
The churn rate — the percentage of customers who drop AT&T’s service — among iPhone owners is significantly lower than the rest of the network, sharply reducing marketing costs.
The iPhone is still an expensive proposition for AT&T. The payback to Apple is between $288 and $432 per phone over the life of a 2-year contract. The company spent $450 million last quarter on network upgrades to provide high-speed 3G coverage.
On the other hand, Q4 revenues were up 2.4% (to $31.1 billion) in a tough economic climate thanks to results in the wireless division that CEO Randall Stephenson attributed largely to the iPhone.
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