News tagged ‘Japan’

RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky believes that approximately 600-700 thousands of iPads will be sold in June overseas. If he's right then the iPad will definitely become more popular that Mac as only 500,000 Macs will be reportedly sold in June.

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New article posted by the Wall Street Journal reveals details on the hysteria around iPad in Japan, where people waited for days to acquire this innovation product. The exclusive carrier of the 3G in Japan Softbank reported it stopped making reservations for the iPad after three days.

"Softbank says it is under strict orders from Apple not to disclose how many reservations it has accepted or how many will be distributed Friday. It wouldn't even disclose whether consumers could buy the iPad on Friday without a reservation."

New York Times reports this is not the first Apple device that has such a huge success in this gadget-loving nation. Moreover, the Cupertino's company has 72% share of overall Japan's smartphone market.

The edition claims 1200 people lined up to buy an iPad at the Apple Store that is situated in Central Tokio.

Apple had recently announced that the iPad will be shipped to Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom on Friday, May 28. The delay for approximately a month was caused by a strong demand for the iPad in the United States. Preorders will begin on Monday, May 10, for both Wi-Fi and 3G models.

Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Mexico, Singapore and New Zealand will receive iPads in July. Precise date will be announced by Apple later.

International prices for iPad:

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Another report made by Nikkei reveals that most of the Japanese online electronic stores stopped selling iMacs, iPods and other products because of an Apple's request. At the moment Yodobashi Camera Co., Kojima Co., Bic Camera Inc. and Yamada Deni Co. Web sites point that Apple products were totally sold out or they are not for sale and may be available only in retail stores. Though Joshin Denki Co. and Amazon.com's Japanese store are continuing to sell iDevices.

There is also information from China Business News that China Unicom carrier will reduce the iPhone price from 6,999 yuan (~1050$) to 1,000 yuan (~150$). The company hopes that the smartphone will help it to boost its 3G network. Now China Unicom also considers making reduced rates for those of the subscribers who already have 3G devices to advance the growth of its data network.

Recently Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer had a financial conference call with the press and analysts. Here are some interesting facts we gained from the conversation:

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The story about iPhone 4G get's even more complicated. Recently the future iPhone 4G photos were shown just everywhere. After several hours these photos were claimed fake, because the device looked just like a Japanese iPhone clone. Today Gizmodo posted an article with many photos and videos, proving this is actually the next iPhone prototype. This might even be the real final version of iPhone 4G. And of course this might still be fake, a good one though. We don't know yet.

So what's new in the next iPhone 4G:

Front-facing video chat camera.

Improved regular back-camera (the lens is quite noticeably larger than the iPhone 3GS).

Camera flash.

Micro-SIM instead of standard SIM (like the iPad).

Improved display. It's unclear if it's the 960x640 display thrown around before—it certainly looks like it, with the "Connect to iTunes" screen displaying much higher resolution than on a 3GS.

What looks to be a secondary mic for noise cancellation, at the top, next to the headphone jack.

Split buttons for volume.

Power, mute, and volume buttons are all metallic.

iPhone OS 4.0.

Dimensions: 4.50 х 2.31 х 0.37 inches.

Weight: 140 g.

Battery: 5.25 WHr 3.7V (iPhone 3GS - 4.51 WHr 3.7V).

Here are the photos of next iPhone:

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Recently almost all Apple-related sites posted a story with new iPhone 4G photos. These photos have been proven to be fake. The device is actually a Japanese iPhone-clone.

UPDATE: Is it real?

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".

AT&T, Telefonica, Orange and 9 other world's leading mobile phone operators created an alliance to build an open technology platform that is designed to deliver applications to mobile phone users. The decision will be announced tomorrow at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. There are rumors the presentation is supported by Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG.

According to the Times, Vodafone hasn't yet committed to the new alliance. It is collaborating with Verizon Wireless, Softbank of Japan and China Mobile to create a new common technology standard.

Apple has just released new firmware 3.1.3 (7E18) for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, iPhone 2G, iPod touch, iPod touch 2G and iPod touch 3G.

The update includes:

• Improves accuracy of reported battery level on iPhone 3GS
• Resolves issue where third-party apps would not launch in some instances
• Fixes bug that may cause an app to crash when using the Japanese Kana keyboard
• Other security updates (more info)

So this is a minor update, which fixing only the accuracy of the 3GS battery meter and the stability of some third-party app launches. This update is avaliable via iTunes.

New firmware 3.1.3 also introduces a new version of the baseband, the 05.12.01. So if you need unlock do not update! DevTeam also warns us:

If you care about your jailbreak and unlock, don’t update your device - 3G and 3G(S) owners should pay particular attention to this warning.
PwnageTool and redsn0w are not yet compatible with 3.1.3

Experimenters show that the latest version of redsn0w 0.9.2 is able to jailbreak iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G and iPod touch 1G. Just point it at the 3.1.2 IPSW (download here) after doing update or restore to firmware 3.1.3. Sounds like DevTeam will release an updated version of redsn0w that will handle firmware 3.1.3 officially. They say iPod touch 2G with firmware 3.1.3 is also jailbreakable.

Users report that unlock software, blacksn0w and ultrasn0w, doesn;t work with the new baseband.

According to Impress, the iPhone has taken over 46.1 percent of the Japanese smartphone market. This is extremely surprising, because the Japanese are known for being impervious to alien cellphones, preferring their japanese mobiles. Apple wins top two positions: the iPhone 3G commands the ranking with 24.6%, while the iPhone 3GS tops at 21.5% for number two. According to survey, the reason of this huge advance in only one year is the app store and the iPhone's ease of use.

The iPhone 3G was introduced in Japan in summer 2008 (the iPhone 3GS followed earlier this year). Sources in Japan say that the iPhone user base in Japan now stands at 3 million, which is an impressive 10% of the global userbase.

Here is a full Japanese Smartphone Market top list:

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Today DevTeam released an ultrasn0w update that fixes a bug for those who run it on firmware 3.1 and 3.1.2 with the 04.26 baseband. This bug was about a missing carrier name in the upper left-hand corner of your home screen. The update is avaliable in Cydia (repository http://repo666.ultrasn0w.com).

We remind you, that ultrasn0w 0.92 doesn't work with baseband 05.11.07!

[Update]: if your 3G or EDGE connection isn't working try manually clearing and re-entering your APN.

[Update 2]: Carrier logo fix confirmed (by order of tweet):
USA, Thailand, Austria, Trinidad, Germany, China, Kuwait, Serbia, Poland, France, Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan, Ireland, UK, Turkey, Sweden, Switzerland, Malaysia, Hungary,The Netherlands, Bahamas, Jamaica, India,
Israel, Belgium, Canada, Portugal, Denmark, Costa Rica, Italy, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Venezuela, UAE.

Pinch Media has shared some data they presented at 360iDev on the state of app piracy on the iPhone, and there are a few key take-aways:

• These analytics show roughly 4 million jailbreak devices, 38% of which are using pirated app(s) (aka cracked apps).
• Piracy is highest in China, Russia, and Brazil, with Europe and Canada being the mid-ground, and the USA, Great Britain, and Japan having the lowest rates.
• Of paid apps that use Pinch Media’s services, 60% have been pirated.
• Of those pirated apps, 34% of all installs are the pirated version.
• Like legitimate app downloads, pirated apps are used a lot at first, but drop off quickly (more quickly than legitimate app usage, in fact).
• Pirated apps on jailbroken iPhones crash more, which may be why they’re used less.
• Those who claim to use pirated apps as a way to “try before they buy” are full of it. While 7.4% of legitimate “Lite” app downloads up-convert to the paid version, only 0.43% of pirated apps lead to purchase of the legitimate paid version.

You can read the full report for all the details.

via theiphoneblog

Action Menu, utility that extends traditional Copy / Paste functionality, is updated to version 1.0.1.

Here is an official changelog:

• No longer allow copying secure text fields
• Add option to disable extended menu support
• Support for launching Birdfeed via the Tweet action
• Remember language in Translate service
• Allow carriage returns in Lookup (for supported services)
• Option to sort Favorites alphabetically
• Translations now work (Italian, German, Japanese, French)
• Additional Support for more apps
• Fix for Facebook crash
• Fix for copying song or album name in iPod app
• Fix biteSMS-button related crashes
• Fix crash when Lookup action is used inside SpringBoard
• Fix Copy All breaking copy in the Photos app
• Fix crash in iTunes password dialog
• Fix for freeze in Fast Notes
• Fix annoying popup on Wifi network/ringtone cells in Preferences
• Revert 1Password to value-only copying
• Prevent Safari freeze when invoking inside a window.prompt (temporary fix)

Action Menu can be installed or updated via Cydia on a jailbreaked iPhone (iPod Touch).

Skype, the application for iPhone and iPod Touch through which you can call and chat for free with your Skype contacts, has been updated to version 1.1. This is an update adds some small improvements and bug fixes.

What's new in version 1.1

• Support for the following languages: English, German, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, Portuguese, Spanish, Norwegian, Russian, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Italian, French, Polish and Japanese.
• Send text (SMS) messages using Skype credit.
• Voicemail support.
• Improved dialing help when calling phones.

Skype is avaliable in AppStore for free (link).