According to Gartner, PC shipments will increase worldwide from 305.8 mln. devices in 2009, to 366.1 mln. units shipped in 2010. The figures comprise not only traditional laptops and PC towers, but tablets and notebooks as well.
The variety of applications force vendors to provide users with something else rather than conventional general-purpose-PC-with-fast CPU approach. The new Apple's iPad belongs to the devices that will not only change PC ecosystem, but also overlap it with mobile phone industry. According to Gartner estimates, up to 10.5 mln. tablets (including new-generation devices) will be shipped in 2010. Analysts from Wall Street predict that iPad shipments will equal 5 mln. in 2010.
TomTom is discounting their navigation apps. For example, US and US+Canada are down to $50 and $70 respectively, Western Europe is $90. They've done this before, so it's not unprecedented. However $10 discount is a good deal if you're looking for an iPhone Navigation.
(different search engine strings on SDK on the left, Firefox 3.6 for Mac on the right)
Here's some more interesting information from the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK. Users will be able to set search to something besides Google in the search bar of the iPad's Safari in upcoming iPhoneOS releases.
Right now, the two options besides the current default Google are Wikipedia and Yahoo, but plugins could be developed to do things like Amazon and Bing searches directly from the search bar in the Safari browser.
There is even a suggestion manager for both Google and Yahoo depending on which search engine you choose. Unfortunately, no Bing… yet.
Apple announced today the date when iPad will go on sale in the USA - it is April 3rd. Models with 3G-module will be available in late April. Preorders for all iPad models will start on March 12th.
Apple today announced that its magical and revolutionary iPad will be available in the US on Saturday, April 3, for Wi-Fi models and in late April for Wi-Fi + 3G models. In addition, all models of iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April.
Beginning a week from today, on March 12, US customers can pre-order both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models from Apple's online store (www.apple.com) or reserve a Wi-Fi model to pick up on Saturday, April 3, at an Apple retail store.
Earlier we wrote that Apple is planning to expand their iBookstore service internationally. Well, in their press-release Apple noted that iBooks will be available for other countries "later this year".
On the iPad's presentation Steve Jobs noted that the iBookstore will be available only in the USA at launch. But few days ago new Apple job listing confirmed that company is planning to extend its book-selling business to other countries. Their new vacancy for manager of "Asia Pacific & Canada" iBooks divisions shows that in the nearest future their efforts will be concentrated primarily on Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
The role includes: working with management, regionally and in Cupertino to determine strategies and priorities for iBooks in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries; identifying content providers to target, establish and develop relationships; working with legal and production teams to finalize relationships and secure content; and coordinate launches with partners, production, and marketing. This role will also be responsible for marketing the books offering on the iBooks store by coordinating with Apple's production teams, the marketing team, and the production and marketing teams of partners.
The successful employee will work in Sydney, Australia or Markham, Ontario.
It is possible that Apple looks for the possibilities to expand in other countries, though there are no open positions for that at the moment.
We really thought that Korean sausages era will be ended after the presentation of capacitive gloves on MWSF2010. But no such luck! They're back - reborn and improved!
CaseCrown present a sausage-like stylus for only $0.99 (dropped from $3.99 regular price). The product is compatible with any iPhone and allows you to keep your gloves on when it is cold outside. You can purchase it here.
This is good news for for those who use Cydia, an alternative to Apple's AppStore for jailbreaked iPhones and iPod Touches. Saurik has uploaded a new version of APT that has an optimized cache generator and greatly improves Cydia performance:
"I also uploaded a new version of APT I've been working on: it has an optimized cache generator and more error tolerant repository parsing."
When launching Cydia the next time you will find updates for some APT packages (up to 3 depending on what you have installed). Perform the install and enjoy the speed improvements!
Site 9to5mac posted several interesting screenshots with iPad's Network System Preferences. These settings even include Tethering via Bluetooth or USB. Do you think AT&T will allow this?
This amazing iPhone stand was made by designers at ForkedUpArt with their own hands. It is fully functional as the device can be charged while being held up by spoons for legs. Also it allows using not only iPhone but many other devices as well. The price is only $30 and there are two variants depending on what "head" you prefer - a spoon or a fork.
Almost every day now we publish new concepts of the hypothetical iPhone 4G, that will be probably released this summer. User Seraphan tried to invent a new device in different colors:
Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently traveled to meet with executives at The Wall Street Journal and other publications. Today The Wall Street Journal reports that Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of parent company News Corp., confirmed that the newspaper will be present on the iPad. He also mentioned that Apple gave access to one of the tablet devices.
Mr. Murdoch said the Journal planned to be on Apple Inc.'s iPad tablet computer. "In fact, we've been allowed to work on one, and it's under padlock and key. The key is turned by Apple every night," he said in response to a question. "But we will be on that with The Wall Street Journal." Mr. Murdoch said he believed in a year or so there will be a half dozen or more devices on which consumers will be able to receive newspapers and other media.
Some time ago designer Antonio De Rosa created a beautiful concept of future iPhone 4G and even published a small video. Many users liked it and gave Antonio some feedback. Now we can see the updated version.
In welcoming the Spring/Summer 2010 season, JOYCE presents the much anticipated “Truly Gifted III” program starting from February 25th to March 14th. Last year they collaborated with Alexander McQueen to create an exclusive USB stick. Now they invited more designers - Rick Owens, Dries Van Noten, Marni, Etro, Bless and Anna Sui specially designed limited iPhone cases for Hong Kong’s JOYCE.
The most interesting one is on the picture above. It is made out of rock! Here's the photo of all iPhone cases:
One of the developers enabled a passcode lock in iPad SDK and then decided to type it incorrectly for a few times. After 5th try iPad proposed to make an emergency call.
This option looks pretty obscure but can be explained as a following to FCC regulations, that demand wireless phones to be able to make emergency calls (even in the cases when the device isn't currently active or assigned a number).
Jobs claimed at the iPad's keynote that it has a built-in speaker and mic, so does it really can make normal calls in addition to emergency calls?