John Lewis from Electricpig.co.uk received new rumors from his suppliers about next-gen iPod touch. Here is a list of innovations that will be likely added to the new device:
FaceTime support;
5-megapixel camera;
front-facing camera;
LED flash;
Ability to capture video in HD;
support for iOS4;
gyroscope (to be precisely, he said the device "will also offer the same movement sensors as the iPhone 4").
As we see, new iPod touch will be pretty much the same as the new iPhone (but without phone functions, of course). The new device will be probably presented on the next Apple's music event in September.
Today Apple finally unveiled its new Apple Store in Shanghai. Though it will be officially opened on July 10, 9to5mac and WePhone.com already received photos of the building and it looks just amazing. More photos of the curtains going down process are shown below. Read the rest of this entry »
Today 9to5mac found on Quora an interesting discussion about the way of work at Apple. Level C executives from the company told that people who work in Apple have "almost religious level of commitment", and that they "truly feel they are changing the world with whatever they are doing".
Here are two more interesting excerpts:
"Probably the single greatest feeling working at Apple is getting to work on part of the product launch process. You plan and prep for months, then launch week you work like mad for 12-16 hours days and even pull all nighters to make sure your piece of the puzzle is ready for Apple’s big presentation. Then you gather with all the other employees in the cafe and watch it all unfold. It’s a great rush and your whole team feels it."
"If you have a project that Steve is not involved in, it will take months of meetings to move things forward. If Steve wants it done, it's done faster than anyone thinks is humanly possible. The best way to get any cross departmental work done was to say its for Steve and you'd probably have it the same day".
Though it is clear that work at Apple is really hard, above-mentioned words sound pretty attractive. If you're interested, maybe you should give a try?
Recently the head of Lenovo Liu Chuanzhi gave an interesting interview to Financial Times, where he said that Apple loses out in China:
"We are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn't care about China. If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble".
Currently Lenovo holds about 30% of Chinese technology market, which is expected to be the #1 biggest market in a year. Apple, on the contrary, limits the number of products shipped to that country. There are only a few of its authorized resellers and stores situated in the largest cities of China. Read the rest of this entry »
Several recent reports reveal that the antenna problem is not unique and can't be a serious reason not to buy the iPhone 4.
According to research group Consumer Reports the signal troubles are caused by human as in case with any other phone.
“Underplayed in the discussion is the fact that all phones are subject to interference from the human who is using them. And even if the alleged signal loss is real, there’s an absence of hard evidence that iPhone 4 reception is problematic compared to past iPhones; indeed there’s evidence of just the opposite”.
Engadget reports about another hack made in the Book category of an iTunes App Store. 42 of the top 50 books now belong to a seller named Thuat Nguyen, whose company is written as “mycompany” and its site is www.home.com. Almost all of these books have been published in April and have little to no customer reviews or ratings. Though it is claimed that the books are available in English and Japanese language, people report they are actually appear to be in Vietnamese.
Engadget also claims that many people report about iTunes account hacking that became a reason of spending hundreds of dollars on above-mentioned books without any wish and permission of its owners. That cannot be a coincidence, so it is recommended that every Apple customer will check his purchase history in his Apple Account information.
Apple has published an official public letter of response to concerns about the iPhone 4 signaling problems. Some would say this is very nice and great. Others would complain this is just a cop out. Well, at least we see that Apple is aware of users' problems. Apple claims, that it's just a software problem of calculating how many bars of signal strength to display. Apple says there is no hardware problem.
Here it the full letter:
Dear iPhone 4 Users,
The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product launch in Apple’s history. It has been judged by reviewers around the world to be the best smartphone ever, and users have told us that they love it. So we were surprised when we read reports of reception problems, and we immediately began investigating them. Here is what we have learned.
Some people think that Apple should be handing out free cases to keep its loyal customers from going on a strike. But no such thing happens, and most users are stuck with the only official solution to spend $30 on a bumper for their iPhone. However, what you need is just a little ingenuity.
The Facebook application for the iPod touch/iPhone is now compatible with the iOS 4. Other new features are icons in high resolution, fast switching and also Korean/Russian localizations. There were also several minor bugs fixed.
Facebook is available for download from the App Store for free.
As expected iAds have arrived July 1. This advertisement for the Nissan Leaf is the first to make an appearance.
The initial launch of iAd rich media ads, featuring advertising from some of the world's leading brands, will begin July 1. At launch, we’ll roll out in North America and ramp up the number of ads served in the weeks and months ahead. For developers outside of North America, iAd will be rolled out in a few months.