News tagged ‘Free’

A couple of days ago, we already posted some quotation from the forthcoming Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. The other interesting thing, we have recently known, related to Jony Ive, Apple design chief. The book claims that Steve Jobs grated Ive nearly complete freedom to do as he sees fit.

He [Steve Jobs] called Jonathan Ive, Apple's design chief, his "spiritual partner" at Apple. He told Isaacson that Ive had "more operation power" at Apple than anyone besides Jobs himself - that there's no one at the company who can tell Ive what to do. That, says Jobs, is "the way I set it up."

Ive, Apple's Senior Vice President for Industrial Design, has been at Apple for nearly twenty years, the last fifteen of those as design chief. Ive's team is said to operate out of a secretive high-tech lab on Apple's campus where he is given ultimate flexibility in his work.  Such freedom in works obviously helps to guard against a watering-down effect that could occur if his designs were subject to the approval of and revision by others in the company.

A new survey conducted among customers waiting in line at Apple Store to purchase the new iPhone 4S demonstrates that nearly three-quarters are upgrading from a previous version of the iPhone. Investment firm Piper Jaffray polled 550 people at Apple retail stores and found out that 73 percent of iPhone 4S buyers are upgrading from a previous version, compared with 77 percent for the iPhone 4 launch in 2010, 56 percent in 2009, and 38 percent in 2008.

The results of the survey also demonstrate that 19 percent of the first-day buyers preferred to purchase the new high-capacity 64GB iPhone 4S model, which costs $399, while the most part of customers (49%) chose 16GB iPhone 4S for $199 and 32% purchased 32GB iPhone 4S for $299. Last year numbers for the iPhone 4 were different: 54 percent customers preferred to buy 32GB model while 46 percent – 16GB model.

Analysts expect that Apple have sold between 2 million and 2.5 million iPhone 4S units over this launch weekend. If it is true, so that is a new record for Apple that beats the company's previous record of 1.7 million iPhone 4 units sold in 2010.

Gigaom has performed several tests of iOS 5 comparing it to different iOS 4 versions. The tests were run in iPad 1 Wi-Fi, iPhone 4 (GSM), iPod touch 4G and the iPad 2 Wi-Fi+3G (GSM).

As indicated by the charts below the iOS 5 is showing many speed improvements over iOS 4. iOS 5 was faster in almost every category, except for the first generation iPad.

The following apps were used to test the performance: GeekBench 2 ($0.99), Gauge Mathematical Tool (free), BenchTest ($0.99), SunSpider (free) and V8 (free).

More results:

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Apple has released new iOS app for mailing post cards right from your iPhone. The Cards app, according to Apple:

The new Cards app from Apple lets you create and mail beautifully crafted cards personalized with your own text and photos — right from your iPhone or iPod touch. Take a quick snapshot and with a few taps and swipes, an elegant letterpress card is on its way to any address in the world. Each card is just $2.99 when sent within the U.S. and $4.99 when sent to or from anywhere else. And that includes postage.

The Cards app is available free of charge from the App Store here.

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As both LATimes and Wall Street Journal report, citing sources familiar with the matter, that currently Apple is in talks with major movie studios for deals that would allow users, who purchased movies on iTunes Store, to stream them via iCloud on their Apple devices.

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Yesterday Apple released the long-awaited iOS 5 for the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, first-generation iPad, fourth-generation iPod touch, and third-generation iPod touch. An update is also available for the Apple TV, bringing wireless mirroring functionality over AirPlay. To update to the iOS 5 users should install iTunes 10.5 released on Tuesday. Noteworthy it is the last time when Apple provides their users with update with USB. All next updates will be available wirelessly, without the need to use a cable.

The iOS 5 pack includes more that 200 new features. The most noteworthy among them are the following:

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Apple will start to sell the unlocked version of iPhone 4S in November. The price will be $649 for 16GB, $749 fro 32GB and $849 for 64GB model. This is less than prices in Europe.

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Now, instead of selling your used iPhone on services like Gazelle or eBay you can give your used iPhone 4 to Apple and receive up to $200 for it, depending on its condition. Just visit the page of Reuse and Recycling Program on Apple’s site and press the button Get Started.

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Apple has finally released iOS 5 GM seed to the iOS developers. GM version is usually the same as the release version, unless some critical error are found.

Yesterday Apple announced that iOS 5 software will be available on October 12 as a free software update for all iPhone, iPad and iPod touch customers.

There is no need to register UUID at Apple to install GM version, so anybody can install and try iOS 5 right now.

Developers can download iOS 5 GM here.

There is still no information on unlocked iPhone 4S availability in the US. However there are some news from Europe. According to Apple, in France you will be able to buy unlocked iPhone 4S 16GB for 629 EUR (~$836). You can get tax free if you don't live in Europe, so the price would be around 550 EUR (~$732).

Unlocked iPhone 4 16GB will cost 519 EUR ($690), which is ~455 EUR (~$605) after tax free. The cheapest unlocked iPhone 3GS 8GB is just 369 EUR (~$490), which is ~320 EUR (~$426) after tax free.

UPDATE: Unlocked iPhone 4S will be available in November

The prices are just like on an image above. iPhone 3GS 8GB is free and iPhone 4 8GB is just $99 - with contract. And yes, according to the Apple Store in the US both iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 are available with Sprint, AT&T and Verizon.

Unlocked iPhone 4 8GB GSM costs $549 in the US.

There is no information yet about unlocked iPhone 4S availability and prices.

9to5mac has got pricing for the iPhone 4S (N94) that Apple is announcing today. According to their source, the price of the unlocked iPhone 4S 64GB will replace the price of the current iPhone 4 32GB. In addition, the price of the new iPhone 4S 32GB will replace the price of the current iPhone 4 16GB.

It’s highly likely that the prices will be as follows (with contract): iPhone 4S 64GB - $299, 32GB - $199, 16GB will drop down to $99 in the United States. The iPhone 4 8GB (N90A) will most likely cost $49, which will replace the current $49 iPhone 3GS price point. As for iPhone 3GS there are rumors that it will be free with contract.

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Some analysts predict that Apple could keep its iPhone 3GS longer than predicted. The company might, probably, offer their handset for free on contract. As far as we know, the two-year old iPhone 3GS still remains the second best-selling smartphone in the United States of America. The first place belongs to the iPhone 4. Such situation only confirms suggestions that cost of a device is the key factor in customers' purchasing decisions.

Yesterday Mike Abramsky, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, issued a new research note where he told us about his expectations for the today’s iPhone event. Many of his predictions are in line with recent rumors we’ve heard -  HSPA+ iPhone 4S or 5 based on an A5 chip – he also believes that Apple keeps offering iPhone 3GS alongside the new smartphone(s).

We expect Apple to reduce the price of the prior iPhone 4 to $99 subsidized ($499 unsubsidized) and the iPhone 3GS to $0 subsidized ($399 unsubsidized, see 11/06/29 note for more detail and rationale); the prior iPhone 4 may be available only with 8GB memory.

According to some facts surfaced a day before Apple’s media event, apart from television shows and movies, you can also rent application for your iPod touch, iPad and iPhone on iTunes.

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