News tagged ‘Amazon’

iLounge offers a new portion of information from a source about Apple's plans for the iPad 3. The source claims that the next-generation iPad will carry significantly improved cameras on the front and back, moving to a FaceTime HD camera on the front and a higher-resolution iPhone-like camera on the rear. The same source also confirms iLounge's earlier claim that the next-generation iPad will be slightly thicker than the iPad 2.

) A few next-gen iPad notes, ahead of the show. Both cameras are getting upgrades. Front goes HD, rear becomes iPhone 4/4S-like (bigger).

2) Body of the next iPad is, as we previously reported, getting just a little thicker to accommodate new parts - little = 1mm give or take.

3) Curve radiuses on the body will change only a little to accommodate the added thickness, not dramatically. Think iPad 2 Pro, not a redesign.

iLounge's source also suggests that Apple will continue to offer the iPad 2 alongside the iPad 3, but the company is expected to drop the price of the current model to compete with lower-priced rivals such as Amazon's Kindle Fire. The iPad 3 is said to be released in March.

Sources in Apple's supply chain told DigiTimes that Apple has begun reducing orders for the iPad 2 ahead of the unveiling of an anticipated third-generation iPad. While iPad 2 orders are being reduced, orders for the next iPad, reportedly set to launch in March of 2012, remain steady. It's not yet known whether Apple will keep the iPad 2 around at a discounted price. There are some rumors claiming that Apple would remain it available at a discounted price in order to take on Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire. It is known that Apple has gained great success in continuing to sell older iPhone models at discounted prices. The iPhone 3GS is still remaining the number 2 smartphone in the United States.

Various reports have suggested that Apple will continue to sell the iPad 2 at a discounted price after it launches a third-generation iPad. Apple already employs that strategy in offering the iPhone 3GS, first released in 2009, as an entry-level handset, in addition to the iPhone 4, released in 2010, and iPhone 4S, which just launched in October.

There are also lots of rumors suggesting that in 2012 Apple plans to introduce new models of the iPad with different features at a number of price points. Many analysts believe that Apple indeed will launch the next-generation iPad with a high-resolution Retina Display.

Digitimes reports citing its industry sources from the Asian supply chain that Apple is going to launch HDTV in 37-inch and 32-inch variants in summer 2012.

Read the rest of this entry »

The recent rumors claim that Apple may launch a smaller 7.85" iPad sometime in 2012 to compete against the new 7" Kindle Fire tablet from Amazon. Though Apple has never tried to compete spec for spec against their competitors. For example, the iPhone has kept the same basic form factor across 5 different generations.

The supply chain has actually been very specific about the screen size of this rumored iPad. According to Chinese manufacturers, Apple is buying up 7.85" screens for this upcoming mini iPad. So, we asked our friends at CiccareseDesign to put together these mockups of what a 7.85" iPad would look like in comparison to the existing 9.7" iPad.

The 7.85" iPad is actually a lot smaller than the existing iPad. Icons are smaller than the 9.7" iPad, of course, but still bigger than the icons found on the iPhone. The on screen keyboard also seems quite usable at this size.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fortune reports that Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs biography, may not yet be finished working on the book. Isaacson currently has several ideas how to expand the authorized biography. Не is going to describe more fully the events surrounding Jobs' death in early October or to add extensive annotations to the existing content.

The author discussed potential plans for expanding the already 630-page book in the future. One possibility is doing an extensively annotated version. Another is writing an addendum that addresses the period surrounding Jobs' death. Fleshing out the details seems like a logical next step, since Isaacson believes the Apple (AAPL) CEO's story will be told for decades or a century to come. "This is the first or second draft," he said, referring to his book's role in documenting Jobs' life. "It's not the final draft."

Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson has already became Amazon's best-selling print book in 2011 and named the company's best-selling new release of 2011 for combined print and digital sales.

The new report claims that Apple has transferred several patents to the patent-licensing firm Digitude Innovations and accuses the company of aiding a so-called "patent troll." Digitude Innovations filed suit against tech giants this week, including Research in Motion, HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, Amazon and Nokia. Having investigating the lawsuit, TechCrunch found out that two of the patents mentioned in the lawsuit had belonged to Apple earlier this year.

Apple is claimed to transfer a dozen of patents to the company called Cliff Island LLC earlier this year. Noteworthy, the company's address is the same as Digitude investor Altitude Capital. Cliff Island apparently transferred the patents to Digitude.

In June Forbes reported that Digitude Innovations was established by Altitude founder Robert Kramer. Digitude is in the business of acquiring patents to sue others, the company has been labeled a "patent troll." The company is utilizing a new investment strategy of allowing investors to contribute patents instead of money. Participating companies would then receive a license for all of the firm's patents.

It is not clear whether Apple entered into an agreement with Digitude, but Apple may use the company as a "hired gun" in its patent battles.

"The idea that the company didn’t have any options other than handing over valuable patents to a patent troll — knowing full well that it would then use those patents to sue other tech companies — seems ludicrous."

The well-known market research firm comScore today released data on U.S. sales for Black Friday. The report shows that customers spent $816 million, up 26% over last year's numbers. Apple’s online store became the fifth most-visited online retailer in the country on Black Friday behind Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and Target.

Fifty million Americans visited online retail sites on Black Friday, representing an increase of 35 percent versus year ago. Each of the top five retail sites achieved double-digit gains in visitors vs. last year, led by Amazon. Walmart ranked second, followed by Best Buy, Target and Apple.

“Each of the top online retailers generated significantly greater Black Friday activity compared to last year,” added [comScore chairman Gian] Fulgoni. “Amazon.com once again led the pack, with 50 percent more visitors than any other retailer, while also showing the highest growth rate versus last year. However, it is telling that the top multi-channel retailers also showed strong growth in visitors, demonstrating the importance of the online channel to the retail industry as a whole.”

After Amazon put its Kindle Fire on sale, one question arose: Which tablet is faster, iPad or Kindle Fire? Wanting to figure it out, iDownloadblog compared the two devices with each other.

Read the rest of this entry »

According to rumors from Apple’s back office, the company is developing a larger iPhone display and a smaller display for iPad. An insider said to The Korea Times that Apple is engineering a shrunken version of the 9.7-inch iPad. According to the IDG, which translated the publication from Korean, a new iPad called iPad mini will feature a 7.35-inch display.

Read the rest of this entry »

As The Atlantic reports, Amazon’s filings with a Securities and Exchange Commission reveals that the company has acquired speech recognition firm Yap, which may suggests that Amazon is going to compete with Google and Apple on this market.

Read the rest of this entry »

Barclays’ analyst Ben Reitzes just visited with Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer and CEO Tim Cook in a meeting where they discussed Amazon’s new low priced Kindle Fire tablet running on Android. According to his research note, (via Business Insider), Apple’s executives welcome the launch of the Kindle Fire on the market as it will contribute to further fragmentation of the Android ecosystem. And the more fragmentation of Android ecosystem, the better for Apple, as more customers will turn to stable Apple platform. The Kindle Fire runs on Android and at the same time it has been modified by Amazon to interact with its services and products.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Bookseller reports that Steve Jobs’ authorized biography by Walter Isaacson easily became the most popular book in the States and United Kingdom during its first week of availability. For example, in the United States the book sold 379,000 copies.

Despite being on sale for just six days in the US, Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography is already the 18th bestselling book of the year. It sits one place ahead of John Grisham's The Confession (Dell) and one place behind Rick Riordan's The Son of Neptune (Hyperion) in the year-to-date BookScan US bestseller list.

As we reported, Amazon had previously announced that the book was poised to become the best-selling book of 2011 despite a release late in the year. And we will probably be able to watch a film adaptation of the autobiography soon, because Sony Pictures has already acquired the movie rights to the book.

Rumors have it that there are Apple TVs that can run Hulu Plus app inside Apple. The app is full-featured and can be rolled out to Apple TV users. Actually, the app has been completed at least month ago, but there are some political issues standing in the way of launching Hulu Plus for Apple TV. Apple appears to have some consideration that the Hulu Plus could decrease iTunes TV sales.

Read the rest of this entry »

Reuters suggests that Steve Jobs’ authorized biography by Walter Isaacson may become the best-selling book of 2011 on Amazon. But it is not surprisingly. Apple’s fans and others show extraordinary interest in the late Apple CEO’s life, especially after his death early this month.

The book is the best-selling book on Amazon.com and is also listed as the top-selling electronic book on the company's Kindle eBook store.

"The way things are trending, it could very likely be our top-selling book of the year," Amazon spokeswoman Brittany Turner said in a statement.

But now the book is ranked #13 on Amazon’s list of best sellers. Noteworthy, some analysts predict that the digital version of Steve Jobs’ biography outsell the print version. It is know that digital sales of best sellers are typically coming at 50-70% of total sales. Though, Amazon prefers do not comment the difference between digital and physical version of the book.

The Steve Jobs biography as it was promised have been released today and is available now in all regions. You may download the book on Apple's iBooks or purchase via Amazon.com. The book is an authorized biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Steve Jobs, himself, reached out to Isaacson to suggest the author write a biography on Jobs. Due to the unprecedented level of candor Jobs extended to Isaacson, the book has already made plenty of waves ahead of its public release, which was moved up to Oct. 24 after Jobs passed away on October 5th. Isaacson had asked Jobs prior to his passing why he had agreed to participate:

In order to mask my emotion, I asked the one question that was still puzzling me: Why had he been so eager, during close to 50 interviews and conversations over the course of two years, to open up so much for a book when he was usually so private? “I wanted my kids to know me,” he said. “I wasn’t always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did.”