News tagged ‘айпад’

Last week The New York Times reported on Apple's retail store software that helps employees timely respond to customer assistance requests. This internal app shows the in-store location of customers who requested assistance to employees on their iPod touches. Customers can inform employees that they need their assistance by touching a button on iPads which are mounted on the sales floor next to products and display information and purchases option. Employees’ iPods receive requests and show customer location in red. Apple Store’s employee Diego Aguirre said:

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Analyst Chris Whitmore with Deutsche Bank and his team of analysts checked more than 200 stores on Black Friday to assess demand for Apple products, including the iPhone, iPad and Mac lineup and found out that Apple's Black Friday sales were more than successful.

75 percent of Apple’s retail stores sold out of the iPhone 4S on Black Friday while on Saturday just 30 percent of Apple's stores remained sold out of the iPhone 4S. At AT&T stores, Whitmore found that about 50 percent were sold out over the weekend.

Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray also polled Apple's retail stores on Black Friday, and discovered that iPad sales per hour were 68 percent higher than they were a year ago that means an average of 14.8 iPads per hour, comparing with the 8.8 iPads sold per hour year-over-year. Mac sales were 10.1 units per hour, up 23 percent from Black Friday 2010.

Whitmore also found strong iPad and Mac sales, noting that the 11.6-inch MacBook Air was the most popular option in the MacBook Air lineup on Black Friday. As for the iPad, he revealed that the most popular version was the 32GB model.

Hitachi and Sony are reportedly working together to supply Apple with 4-inch LCD displays for an unspecified iOS device that is expected to be launched in 2012. Apple is said to be working on a fundamentally new display technology for the iPad 4. Some sources claim that Hitachi Displays, Ltd. and Sony Mobile Display Corporation have already begun supplying Apple with 4-inch LCD panels for unknown iOS device.  Moreover, in 2012 spring the two companies will merge with Toshiba Mobile Display Co., Ltd. to form "Japan Display."

Earlier this week, we reported that Apple chose Sharp as a manufacture of panels for the iPad 3. The company even invested in a Sharp’s factory to ensure that Sharp will be able to satisfy Apple’s display needs and support Sharp's production capacity for IGZO (indium, gallium, zinc) LCD panels for the next iPhone and iPad.

"The IGZO technology is perfect in that it offers near-OLED power consumption while having a lower cost and thinness that is only 25% greater than OLED, based on our checks," said Jeffries analyst Peter Misek.

Semi-tethered jailbreak is already available for some devices for both iOS 5 and iOS 5.0.1. But we all want untethered jailbreak and we want jailbreak for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. So why not help hackers to find new exploits and vulnerabilities?

The Chronic Dev-Team has a released a tool to collect crash reports from iOS devices in order to find vulnerabilities that could lead to an untethered jailbreak.

The idea is very simple. When your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch crashes it sends data to Apple (you can turn it this off though). Apple uses these reports to update iOS in the future. By the way, it also uses them to fix exploits found by jailbreakers. P0sixninja says that Apple closed several exploits they have found in IOS 5 beta before the final version of the software was released.

In order to find more vulnerabilities as fast as possible, the team has developed a tool which will copy the crash reports from your device and analyze them to locate potential exploits. The tool will also remove the crash reports from your device and modify your iTunes installation to prevent uploading of that diagnostic information to Apple.

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The Wall Street Journal’s sources confirm that Sharp will indeed produce display parts for the upcoming Apple’s iPad 3.

Apple Inc. is adding Sharp Corp. as a maker of screens used in the next-generation iPad, people familiar with the situation said Thursday, as the U.S. consumer electronics company moves to diversify component suppliers for its products.

Apple is also investing in Sharp's panel manufacturing factories in Japan. According to sources, Apple wants to ensure that Sharp will able to produce enough panels to satisfy Apple’s needs. Sharp already supplies panels for the iPhone and can be supplier of panels for the next-generation iPhone that is expected to be launched next year.

We should admit that Sharp was expected to be Apple’s new source of iPad screens. Moreover, the recent analyst report notes that production of iPad 3 screens already started and that Apple and Sharp have developed a new technology to allow a thinner high resolution display for the next iPad.

Rumors about Apple’s plans to implement high-resolution 2048x1536 Retina display to the next-generation iPad have been circulating for some time now. According to different sources, the new iPad 3 is required two light bars in order to manage the much higher resolution, so that it will be 0.7 mm thicker than the iPad 2.

Some analysts predict that Apple will continue using in-plane switching (IPS) technology for the new display. But Jeffries analyst Peter Misek together with Forbes suppose that Apple is not going to use IPS on the iPad 3, and seeks new ways and technology to produce the iPad 3 with a thinner and lower-power design.

Also, we believe that Apple and Sharp together have a modified IGZO (indium, gallium, zinc) technology to achieve 330 dpi, which is sufficient for an HD display while not using IPS nor having to include dual-bar LED backlighting. In our view, this should lead to several design advantages, namely the device can be thinner, battery life should be longer, and the overall experience for users should be meaningfully improved.

According to Bloomberg’s report, Apple launched a new class of offerings in App Store, by allowing game development studio Big Fish Games to offer its titles to iPad users on a subscription basis. Such offerings could be a new revenue stream for game publishers and new option for users, which was earlier available only for digital publications. Bloomberg reports:

“Big Fish Games, a Seattle-based game publisher, won approval from Apple to become the first to offer users access to dozens of titles for $6.99 a month. Until now, games have only been available one at a time, requiring users to download individual applications”.

The option will be available through a dedicated Big Fish app where subscribers can gain unlimited access to such games as “Mahjong Towers” and “Mystery Case Files” series.

Games that can be accessed through the subscription service are streamed to an iPad from Big Fish Games’ data centers and initially they will require Wi-Fi access to be played.

The standard subscription package from the game publisher will be offered for $4.99 a month, increasing to $6.99 monthly subscription early next year when more titles can be accessed through the app. Also the company will offer a free ad-supported option to play up to 30 minutes per day.

Lord Sacks, the Chief Rabbi in the U.K., made a comment in the presence of the Queen at an interfaith reception last week about Apple and its product, noting that the company produces an “egocentric society” and that “i” in Apple's popular naming scheme is a clear indicator of such totally selfish society. He even compared the iPad with Moses' stone tablets that bore the Ten Commandments.

“The consumer society was laid down by the late Steve Jobs coming down the mountain with two tablets, iPad one and iPad two, and the result is that we now have a culture of iPod, iPhone, iTune, i, i, i," he said. “When you’re an individualist, egocentric culture and you only care about 'i’, you don’t do terribly well.”

The rabbi claimed that such egocentric society makes people unhappy. Sacks called on the devout to observe the traditional Jewish day of rest, the Shabbat, and to thank God for everything they have not to be trapped by material culture.

Nevertheless, the Queen Elizabeth II is said to be a "big fan" of Apple's products and reportedly owns two iPods and she even knighted Jobs in 2009.

Based on information from “some reliable sources”, iLounge offers a series of tidbits about Apple’s product plans for 2012, related to design of the iPad, iPhone, and MacBook Pro.

As for the iPad, the source claims that the iPad 3 is likely to be launched in March. The new tablet from Apple will be approximately 0.7 mm thicker (8% thicker) than the iPad 2 due to the need to incorporate a dual light bar system for the higher-resolution display, but still thinner than the original iPad.

The next-generation iPhone will not have design that circulated ahead of the iPhone 4S introduction last month. The next iPhone is said to carry a 4-inch display, have teardrop shape, be 8 mm longer than the current iPhone 4S. Release of the new smartphone is expected this summer.

The source indicates that in 2012 we will see a thinner MacBook Pro. Recent reports have claimed that “an ultra-thin 15" Mac notebook, whether it be a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, is on target for a March launch with small volumes of components already making their way through the supply chain.”

The famous author of Steve Jobs’ authorized biography, Walter Isaacson, has revealed in his recent interview that the passed away Apple’s co-founder had free things he wanted to reinvent: the television, textbooks and photography. The most difficult for him was television with its "complicated remote controls." Isaacson said that Jobs said he felt there was "no reason" for TVs to be so difficult to use and he claimed he had managed to “crack” the secret of a simple HDTV.

That has led to a new speculation and rumors that Apple is planning to release a television set at some point in the near future. The New York Times said last month that Apple is expected to release a TV with Siri voice recognition functionality by the year 2013.

Isaacson also noted that Jobs was interested in changing textbooks and photography. Apple has already started implementation of an iPad in schools to replace standard printed textbooks and offered to use the iPad as a device for taking pictures. Apple believes that digital textbooks are more convenient and the iPad will improve quality of pictures.

The first smartphone with Ice Cream Sandwich, Galaxy Nexus, was released in the UK this week (launch in U.S. coming soon) and website AnandTech has benchmarked the new Galaxy Nexus vs. iPhone 4S.

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Marketing firm BlueKai compiled the profile of the typical iPad buyer. So, a typical iPad owner is male, has pets and buys video games. Scientists or health care workers, international travelers, apartment dwellers and proponents of organic food are also among those people who are highly likely to purchase the iPad. The firm also found that vitamin takers, domestic business travelers, married couples and college graduates are typically owners of the iPad.

BlueKai created an infographic (below) to reflect its findings, including information received from other research firms. According to comScore, 45.9 percent of tablet owners belong to households earning $100,00 per year or more, while Nielsen has discovered that 70 percent of all iPad use occurs in front of a TV.

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Digitimes reports that Apple has reduced its fourth-quarter orders for iPad 2 display panels. That might mean that Apple has already started preparing for the launch of the iPad 3 early next year. The second reason might be the reduction of customers’ interest in the device.  Moreover, Apple stockpiled components for an extra 4-5 million iPad 2 units, so that allows it to reduce its orders for the fourth quarter.

Sales of iPads at the end market totaled 11.12 million units in the third quarter of 2011, according to data released by Apple. However, inventories of parts and components prepared by the makers in the supply chain for the production of iPad 2 in the quarter are sufficient for the production of 15-16 million iPads, leaving a stockpile of 4-5 million units of iPad 2 in the supply chain, the sources noted.

Digitimes also notes that the reason for stockpiling of iPad 2 components may be preparation for the iPad 3 launch set for the beginning of 2012, suggesting that  suppliers of both display and touch panels for the iPad 3 have either already begun or will soon begin shipments to Apple.

While Apple is adjusting panel inventory for iPad 2, Samsung and Sharp already began shipping panels for the next-generation iPads to Apple in October, and Taiwan-based touch panel makers TPK Holding and Wintek will begin to ship touch panels for the new iPads to the supply chain in November-December, the sources noted.

In October research company Nielsen conducted a new survey among 3,000 U.S. children at the age from 6 to 12 ahead of 2011 holiday season, and found out that the iPad is the most-wanted gift for kids, while the iPod touch ranks second and the iPhone comes in third. 44 percent of kids are interested in getting an iPad, 30 percent want an iPod touch, while 27 percent prefer to get an iPhone.

Apple's popularity among children is likely driven by gaming, as the most popular applications on iOS have consistently been games since the App Store first debuted. The iOS lineup beat out a number of popular gaming machines in the survey, including the Nintendo 3DS, Kinect for Xbox 360, and the Sony PlayStation 3.

The iPad dominates among teenagers: 24 percent of those polled said they are interested in buying an iPad in the next six months. Apple's iPhone is in the seventh place with 15 percent, while iPod touch is in twelfth with 8 percent.

According to a new analysis, first time for 15 years Apple’s worldwide share of PC market passed 5 percent up from 4.7 percent in June and 4.4 percent a year ago. Analyst Charlie Wolf of Needham & Co. reported that in the third calendar quarter of 2011 Mac shipments outpaced the PC market for the 22nd straight quarter. Apple’s growth was 24.6 percent, while growth in total PC shipments was 5.3 percent. During this quarter Apple sold 4.89 million Macs, there are the record numbers of Mac sales.

"More impressively, the growth in Mac shipments in the past year represented 20% of the growth in worldwide PC shipments," he said. To further put things into perspective, Wolf noted that Apple's September quarter Mac shipments exceeded annual Mac shipments for all years prior to 2006.

Mac shipments significantly increased in both the home and business markets. In home market Mac shipments showed 25.6 percent growth, while the overall increase was only 4 percent. Shipments to the business market were an impressive nine times the market pace: 43.8 percent versus 4.8 percent. Wolf suggested that Mac success could be attributed to halo effect from the iPad and iPhone.

However, Apple didn’t show great performance in the education and government markets. In the third calendar quarter of 2011 Mac shipments to education customers for the quarter grew on 2.9 percent, compared to 16.9 percent for the PC market. Such situation might be caused by the iPad cannibalization of the education market.