News from category ‘Official’

The New York Observer reports that Apple may be looking to build a retail store right in the middle of New York's Grand Central Terminal. Reliable sources tell The Observer that the company hopes to open a store in the transportation and retail hub, though it has yet to begin the long approval process necessary for opening in a city landmark. Obviously, Grand Central Terminal is prime real estate for pretty wealthy shoppers. No information about how long it would take for an Apple Store to get approved and built, is available.

iLounge has discovered that despite having a brand new antenna, the Verizon iPhone 4 also has antenna issues when held in a “Death Hug”. The “Death Hug” is when the phone is cupped by both hands and held in landscape orientation. A position is common when playing games or using the widescreen keyboard. The CDMA iPhone 4 still lose substantial cellular signal strength, as well as Wi-Fi signal when loading web pages.

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iFixit tore down the Verizon iPhone 4 and fond out inside a Qualcomm MDM6600 chip that supports HSPA+ data rates of up to 14.4 Mbps, as well as CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. A/Rev. B. The same chipset has the Droid Pro that supports both GSM and CDMA - which means that Apple could support GSM! Apple of course has not included a SIM-card slot in the Verizon iPhone, and thus the device can not actually be used on GSM networks. The use of this particular chip signifies that the iPhone 5 will surely be dual-mode, allowing Apple to ship one handset for both Verizon and AT&T, as well as every other carrier in every other country.

The new Windows PCs both, HP’s latest TouchSmart series, look exactly like Apple’s multitouch iMac. Some Apple’s patents over the past year suggest that the company has been experimenting with multitouch-capable iMacs with pivoting displays that pull down to a more appropriate horizontal orientation when a user wants to interact with on-screen elements directly. HP’s multitouch computers feature a pull-down design that drops the multitouch display into a horizontal position to reduce arm fatigue. Just like the Apple’s patent!

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Apple reportedly is going to open two new retail stores. First, a fourth retail store in Paris, which will locate in the Carré Sénart shopping and entertainment complex, about 30 miles south of Paris. That store is scheduled to open by November. Second, the existing store in Palo Alto, California (in the picture above), which the company plans to completely demolish and re-build due to some structural problems with the building. The new store will have an arched, all-glass roof set on stone walls. The store will probably be up in 2012.

Apple yesterday added a new feature in the iPad App Store. The new search filters appear as a toolbar at the top of search results pages. The filters allow users to search by category, release date, customer rating, price, and device compatibility. These filters also aren't yet available on the desktop version of the App Store, so right now the iPad seems like the best way to search for apps. The second change shows the previously-purchased applications. Typically, results have been displayed with a button showing the price of the app.  Now the results for apps already installed on the device are displayed with an inactive button simply saying "installed".

Apple finally has allowed Mac developers to generate promo codes for their applications in the Mac App Store:

You can now generate promo codes for your Mac applications in iTunes Connect. These promo codes can be redeemed in any Mac App Store worldwide. For each version of your application, you can request up to 50 promo codes.

Promo codes allow developers to give out free copies of their App Store applications for review and giveaway purposes. This feature until today was only available for the iOS App Store.

Reuters claims that its “eyewitness” saw yesterday at a press conference to mark the debut of News Corp's Daily online paper (еру first newspaper for the iPad) a working model of the next iPad with a front-facing camera at the top edge of the glass screen. Comically, Reuters tells that in a room full of tech journalists, somebody was apparently playing around on an iPad 2. Reuters says "a source with knowledge of the device" confirmed its existence and that the real iPad 2 will have the camera along with other features.

Just after a couple of hours a the launch of the new version of iPhone 4 on the Verizon's web-page the first reviews of the new CDMA iPhone 4 hit the web. We have decided to make a short summary. So, the Verizon iPhone looks, feels, and works just like the AT&T iPhone 4. AT&T can be faster for data and handles simultaneous voice and data, but Verizon sounds better, calls are more crisp and clear, and has more reception in more places. This version of the iPhone 4 seems to have none of the same antenna issues as the AT&T model and provides 4 hour of hotspot connection. The phone connects reliably and consistently. Unfortunately, the Verizon iPhone drops the Internet connection if you're using the Internet and your phone rings.

Despite of all advantages and disadvantage of the new version of the well-known iPhone 4, it is the first time than the iPhone users in the U.S. have a choice of carrier.

Today Verizon has opened its website for iPhone pre-orders. Though, people on Twitter have reported that the Verizon site had difficulties and crashed, may be because of a high demand. New handset is also available for pre-ordering on Apple’s official page. If you are purchasing from the Apple Store you have to be an existing Verizon user. The Verizon iPhone 4 is being sold for $199 for the 16 GB model and $299 for the 32 GB model and you have to sign up to the two year contract.

Recently Apple seeded a new version of Mac OS X 10.6.7, termed Build 10J850, to developers for testing. This time Apple is asking developers to focus their testing on Mac App Store, AirPort, Bonjour, SMB, and Graphics Drivers. No known issues are listed in the attached documentation. An estimated date of public release of Mac OS X 10.6.7, as usual, stays unclear. Apple likes making surprises.

Apple released on Tuesday, two weeks after previous update, a third beta version of iOS 4.3 for the iPad, iPhone 4 and 3GS, and third- and fourth-generation iPod touch, to developers. The build carries the number of 8F5166b. The iOS 4.3 beta 3 now allow users to cancel downloading apps and delete them mid-download. The feature would be useful for users who accidentally begin downloading a large application and wish to cancel the process. Remind you that the iOS 4.3 is expected to introduce a rather small set of new features:  AirPlay video streaming for third-party apps, HTTP live streaming statistics and full-screen iAds. In the developer betas Apple also enabled support for multitasking gestures on the iPad, although the feature won’t be part of the public release of iOS 4.3.

According to The New York Times, Apple has forbidden all developers including Sony to sell content or provide access to purchases outside its iOS App Store.

After that Apple rejected a Sony Reader iPhone application, as it allowed users to buy and read electronic books from the Sony Reader Store. So now all in-app purchases must go through Apple, president of Sony's digital reading division Steve Haber told.

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A new job listing appeared on Apple’s website. Now the company is looking for LTE 4G connectivity expert. This is the first time LTE is mentioned among the “specific duties” for an applicant.

Specific Duties

- Implementation, Integration, customization, enhancement and maintenance of L1-3 Protocols for one or more of the following air interface: GSM/UMTS, CDMA (1x/EVDO), LTE etc.

Job listings often provide good indications that Apple is working on a new feature, which might be implemented in Apple’s devices in the feature. Moreover, US carriers are updating their networks to provide support for 4G network and some European carriers confirms that they start working with LTE during 2012 and 2013.

The BBC reports that some Soviet-era films are being sold illegally through the App Store. Films available via iTunes include such as Gentlemen of Fortune, Assa, The Diamond Arm, Kin-dza-dza and Cheburashka. The copyright holders confirmed that they didn’t give their concern for their films to be sold in the App Store.

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