Written on 7:55 AM by Mujtaba
Apple’s forthcoming tablet will shift 70 percent more units than Apple TV did in its first full year, adding a cool $1.2 billion of revenue, estimates the research firm Piper Jaffray. The web/email/multimedia/gaming device might include a 3G cellular modem, it’ll multitask, run existing App Store programs, and compete in the netbook category even though it won’t be a netbook.
Market research firm Piper Jaffray has issued a new research note speculating on features of the rumored Apple tablet. The document cites insider sources who claim the device will launch in early 2010, as opposed to and targets suggested by Chinese sources and entertainment industry execs, respectively. ’s what Piper Jaffray’s senior research analyst Gene Munster wrote in the note:
Last week we spoke with an Asian component supplier that has received orders from Apple for a touch-screen device to be fulfilled by late CY09. This data point underscores our thesis that a tablet will likely launch in early CY10.
Munster expects the tablet to sell 2 million units in its first full year, at $600 each, creating an additional revenue stream worth $1.2 billion, or approximately three percent of Apple’s estimated revenue in the calendar year 2010. The analyst warned that the Street has yet to bake in the tablet factor into forecast models for Apple.
Although Apple’s tablet most likely won’t have enough oomph to rival the Mac, iPhone, and iPod businesses, it’ll beat a niche product that is the Apple TV, which sold 1.2 million units in the first 12 months on the market. If anything, the tablet business should offset the shrinking iPod sales that Apple has seen in past few quarters. Munster even provided a of what he thinks the tablet will look like that’s closely aligned with of the product.
A new mockup of an alleged $600 Apple tablet (credit: Piper Jaffray).
Here are from Munster’s report:
- Basically a huge iPod touch, the tablet will offer at least four times the resolution of the iPhone’s 480×320 display.
- It’ll be primarily focused on email, web surfing, digital media, and games.
- It won’t be a netbook and it won’t be marketed as a netbook, but it’ll compete in the netbook category.
- The tablet will add an additional $1.2 billion in annual revenue (about three percent of Apple’s estimated revenue in calendar 2010) by selling 2 million units, at $600 each, in the first 12 months.
- It’ll sell better than the Apple TV, which moved 1.2 million units in its first full year.
- Developers will be able to create and distribute apps through the App Store that are optimized for the tablet’s bigger screen.
- The tablet will run the vast majority of the 70,000 App Store programs created for the iPhone platform.
- It might come with a 3G modem for on the go connectivity through cellular networks.
- It’ll fill a gap between a high-end iPhone and a low-end MacBook, costing between $500-$700.
- AT&T or Verizon might subsidize the device by requiring you to subscribe to a data-only plan.
Backwards compatible with the App Store offering
Munster’s early 2010 estimate falls in line with AppleInsider’s derived from “sources familiar with the project.” On the other hand, the entertainment industry is allegedly pushing for a Christmas launch in order to benefit from holiday season by selling tablet owners entertainment content through the iTunes Store. Although I’m just speculating here, there should be no doubt about backwards compatibility because the device will be allegedly built around a variant of the iPhone OS. However, I doubt the tablet will feature the so-called premium App Store or a new section inside the existing App Store that will carry only tablet-optimized apps.
App Store programs should run across all iPhone OS-powered devices because Apple won’t risk fragmenting the platform. Backwards compatibility stems from the fact that the iPhone SDK requires developers to write resolution-independent apps that depend on APIs of the iPhone OS, not the hardware. User interface in iPhone apps is constructed in relative terms, using percentages, so the iPhone OS can scale it to whatever output resolution is available. When it comes to games, the tablet’s GPU could enlarge the hard-coded 480×320 output to a higher resolution.
It won’t be OS X device
With a beefier CPU/GPU, more RAM, and a longer battery life stemming from a larger form factor, the tablet might easily run multiple apps at once. However, since Apple disabled multitasking on the user level on the iPhone, citing security reasons, don’t hold your breath for a multitasking-enabled tablet. While we’re speculating, I’m convinced that the tablet will feature an entirely new apps manager, a cross between iPhone’s springboard and OS X’s Finder.
Just don’t expect this gizmo to run fully-featured Mac software built for desktop OS X, regardless of the fact that at least four times higher resolution than iPhone’s 480×320 is enough to make most Mac apps look good on the device. If you want a Mac, you’ll buy a Mac - but the tablet will remain in the iPhone OS domain.
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Written on 7:53 AM by Mujtaba
The folks at Wondershare have sent word that they’re offering their Wondershare Video to iPhone Converter for Mac for free until September 10th. The software will convert MPEG, MP4, 3GP, WMV, FLV, AVCHD, and more.
Even though I have more than my share of video software tools, I figured I’d give it a quick try since it’s currently free. To my surprise it was pretty full featured and in minutes I was converting, trimming, and resaving a file. I also really like the long list of video formats that it can convert to and from. I did have a one-time crash, but a quick restart of the program and I was in business.
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Written on 7:51 AM by Mujtaba
One of the more annoying functionality deficiencies of the iPod and iPhone is the inability to slurp music off the drive and to your computer. You can do the opposite, of course, but the former is a functionality gimped not through technological impossibility, but because of the absurd demands of the music industry.
There’s software to get around the issue, of course, and it works fairly well. But if you’re looking for a hardware solution, the recently announced Clickfree Transformer will allow you to slurp down music, videos or photos from your iPod with no software installation necessary.
It works just like a regular sync cable. Hell, it is a sync cable. All you do is plug it into your USB port, connect your iPhone or iPod and then boot up iTunes. Not only will your music files be updated on your iPod, but you’ll also have the option to suck down any files you want to, to backup on your hard drive.
Where it gets a bit more confusing is how the backup is accomplished. According to the press release, the Clickfree transformer will automatically backup when an iPod is plugged in, with no software to install or setup and no manual to read.
That sounds a lot to me like you have no choice but to backup your full iPod every time you sync it with the Clickfree Transformer, which is, charitably, crap. And so is the price: the plain white Clickfree Transformer costs $50, while the black SE version works with regular USB drives as well. That’s a lot of money to spend on something you can do with software for free.
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Written on 8:26 PM by Mujtaba
Apple has enhanced the App Store with the keyword-based search, resulting in an improved app discovery. The change arrives amid frequent complaints from developers and analysts requiring better organization of over 65,000 apps found in the App Store.
Apple is asking developers to provide up to 255 characters of keywords in order to make finding iPhone apps in the App Store easier. Previously, the mobile App Store client would check queries against titles and descriptions, yielding a mixed bag of results.
For example, searching for all Electronic Arts games by typing in the “EA” would’ve also populated the resulting list with non-EA apps that carry the “EA” term in their description. Equally, typing in “Apple” would’ve returned all apps whose description mentions the company. From now on, developers can post custom keywords, alongside binaries, via the iTunes Connect service and update the keywords with the submission of a new binary.
A quick check in the App Store reveals many developers have already done so. For example, searching for “Electronic Arts” now produces EA games first. Equally, typing “Apple” in the search field puts Apple-made programs at the top of the list.
The long-overdue change arrives just days following harsh criticism that Apple’s op-chief Timothy Cook had to endure during earnings call with investors, when Charles Wolf of Needham & Co. said the following:
In some respects, the App Store has taken its place alongside YouTube, where poor taste is the defining metric. More ominously, it has led to a deterioration of the entire pricing structure for iPhone applications. The risk is that developers who hope to build quality applications that have a long shelf life may be discouraged from doing so because prospective development costs exceed the revenues they expect to earn on the applications. In short, this race to the bottom has the potential to degrade the overall equality of the applications sold at the App Store.
Cook rebuffed Wolf’s suggestion that the , hinting that the company is “always looking for ways to categories apps differently,” adding that Apple has “some ideas” in that respect. The rumor-mill has been buzzing about the so-called premium App Store section that would apparently carry only high-quality apps. More that such a store could be built into Apple’s rumored tablet device.
Christian’s Opinion
There’s so much more that Apple can do to make finding apps via the App Store client on the device easier. There’s a notable difference in the filtering features of desktop iTunes and mobile App Store client. For example, desktop iTunes lets you filter apps released by specific publishers or similar items that other people have bought. These filters are found in the bottom right section of the app description page or via a clickable publisher field bellow the app title.
App filters in the App Store section of desktop iTunes.
The introduction of the keyword-based search in App Store is first step in the right direction. That said, Apple should add filtering capabilities found in desktop iTunes, namely the aforementioned ability to list all apps by a given publisher and similar apps that others are buying. The ability to show similar apps matching the currently browsed app wouldn’t hurt either. Otherwise, sorting and browsing through tens of thousands of apps found in the App Store will become harder than finding needle in a haystack.
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Written on 8:23 PM by Mujtaba
Check the Apple App Store, and amongst the glut of legitimately useful games and applications, you will quickly find an infestation of lazily repackaged public domain e-books. They are aimed by less ethical entrepreneurs looking to bilk iPhone newbies into paying $1.99 for a copy of a book they could be reading on the Stanza e-book app for free.
There’s a certain degree of shadiness to this practice, but that’s not to say the App Store can’t be a verdant publication platform for independent authors interested in releasing their own novels to the public. Which is why Apple’s latest in a long line of despicable App Store policies is so depressing: Apple has begun rejecting all e-book submissions because “this category of applications is often used for the purpose of infringing upon third party rights. We have chosen to not publish this type of application to the App Store.”
That’s ostensibly a reasonable position, except Apple is rejecting e-books even when the rights to publish them are public domain, or can be explicitly proven to belong to the e-books submitter. Worse, they are rejecting applications that function as media browsing tools, i.e. e-book readers and the like.
What that means is that favored e-book apps in the Apple App Store may soon be a thing of the past. Say good bye to the glorious Stanza app, or even Amazon’s Kindle application.
Apple’s arbitrary App Store policies are getting out of hand. It’s time for a strong alternative to the App Store, and if Cydia or Icy can bake in a payment system, they might be able to show Apple how it should be done.
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Written on 8:22 PM by Mujtaba
Apple MacBook Pro Summer 2009 (Core 2 Duo 2.8GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB, 15-inch)
The good: Price cut from previous version; new SD card slot; keeps the same solid unibody construction and oversize trackpad.
The bad: Loses the ExpressCard slot; switching GPUs not as seamless as it should be.
The bottom line: Apple's 15-inch MacBook Pro makes only minor tweaks to the previous version, but cutting prices and swapping the ExpressCard slot for an SD card slot are enough to make it a solid improvement over its predecessor.
Specifications: Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (2800 MHz) ; RAM installed: 4096 MB DDR3 SDRAM ; Weight: 5.5 lbs ;
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Written on 12:54 AM by Mujtaba
New research carried out by for the month of July has shown there is a very clear split between the type of paid-for and free apps being bought on the iPhone and Android handsets. The clear message right now is the iPhone is for games, while Android is for tools.
Above you can see the comparison between the top 15 paid-for apps on the two platforms. In the App Store 9 of the top 15 are games meaning they clearly dominate the marketplace at the moment for users. Google actually lists games separately from other apps, but tools and productivity apps still win out on the Android platform at the moment.
Free apps top 15 comparison (click to enlarge)
Looking at the top 15 free apps tables above you can see a similar trend with the App Store having 6 games in the Top 15 and Paper Toss featuring at number one. Android’s free apps are a bit more varied with lifestyle, reference, travel, shopping, and multimedia categories all featuring alongside tools.
Android does beat the App Store in one gaming category, however, and that’s in relation to classic games played through emulators. Distimo put that down to a clear difference between the App Store and Android, Apple regulate what goes on the App Store so emulators are not a feature like they are on the more open Android Market.
Other interesting findings in the report include:
- The price trend in the App Store is going down
- App Store and Android Market pricing is very similar except for the Reference category where Android apps are significantly more expensive
- Most popular games on Android are priced at $2.99 with the equivalent on App Store being just $0.99
You can download the full report for free from the .
Matthew’s Opinion
It’s tough to do a proper comparison between the two platforms due to the differences in compiling the top apps lists, but it is still clear that iPhone users are all gamers.
I think the big difference with regards to games is down to the user base of the different handsets. The iPhone is a very mainstream phone and is backed up by the consumer-friendly iPod touch. There are a lot more people with one of those two Apple devices that want to be entertained and therefore games are very popular.
Android on the other hand is still a relatively small and experimental market so attracts less consumer users. It is more of a business and developer platform still and therefore the popular apps suit those categories.
I’m sure things will start to even up as more Android phones hit the market and enter on to the consumer’s radar. Getting on equal terms with Apple is going to be very tough though, and I doubt we’ll see Android charts featuring more entertainment apps than tools for a long time.
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Written on 12:53 AM by Mujtaba
In rare public outing, Apple’s marketing honcho defends Apple’s approval policy, rejecting accusations that the company demanded a developer to censor swear words in an already mature-rated dictionary app. While the executive admitted that the approval process “may not always be perfect,” he insisted that Apple’s “efforts are always made with the best intentions.”
Phil Schiller stunned Apple watchers by openly responding to a highly by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, published Tuesday, accusing Apple of censoring the Ninjawords Dictionary app . Gruber asserted that Apple required , the developer behind the $2 app, to censor swear words despite the fact that Ninjawords carried a 17+rating.
Developers describe Ninjawords as “fast, quick, and deadly accurate,” unlike the “slow and cluttered” dictionaries in the App Store that “all use the same bad data source (WordNet) for their definitions”. Rather than being a simple front-end for online dictionaries, Ninjawords works completely offline, leveraging a built-in database derived from , an open, constantly-changing free online dictionary source. In addition, the program at no point refreshes its internal database wirelessly in order to avoid providing access to “unfiltered Internet content,” a common reason why benign apps like Twitter clients get 17+ ratings.
To make a long story short, Apple emailed developers screenshots of the app with specifically highlighted four-letter swear words apparently demanding they purge this “objectionable content” despite the fact that the app was already rated 17+. This enraged Gruber who wrote that “Apple requires you to be 17 years or older to purchase a censored dictionary that omits half the words Steve Jobs uses every day.”
Ninjawords dictionary app for iPhone prompted Apple's marketing chief to polemicize with a blog about the App Store review practices.
Two days after this rant, no other than Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller emails Gruber. The message revealed, for the first time ever, some of the principles guiding the App Store approval process.
Schiller wrote that Apple initially rejected the app over “more vulgar terms than those found in traditional and common dictionaries, words that many reasonable people might find upsetting or objectionable,” arguing that a number of offensive “urban slang” terms are nowhere to be found in other popular dictionaries.
He also denied Gruber’s censorship allegations, stressing that Apple at no point censored content or required developers to remove references to common swear words.
Instead, Schiller wrote, Apple suggested resubmitting the app after iPhone OS 3.0 came out so it could carry a 17+ rating. Developers instead cleaned up Ninjawords of vulgar terms, rushing the app to the market ahead of the iPhone OS 3.0 release.
The most recent version gained 17+ rating, taking advantage of new parental features of the iPhone OS 3.0.
“Ninjawords application should not have needed to be censored while also receiving a 17+ rating, but that was a result of the developers’ actions, not Apple’s,” Schiller wrote in his email.
Gruber confirmed this with developers who said they decided to screen objectionable words themselves so they could release the app ahead of the iPhone OS 3.0’s release. “Given the options of censoring or sitting on the side lines while our competitors ate our lunch, we chose to launch,” Matchstick Software told Gruber. Schiller closed his email by highlighting Apple’s App Store approval philosophy:
Apple’s goals remain aligned with customers and developers — to create an innovative applications platform on the iPhone and iPod touch and to assist many developers in making as much great software as possible for the iPhone App Store. While we may not always be perfect in our execution of that goal, our efforts are always made with the best intentions, and if we err we intend to learn and quickly improve.
Christian’s Opinion
Did Apple just publicly admit they may have made mistakes rejecting some apps after all? Schiller’s email is extremely rare example of Apple commenting publicly on their actions. For the company of Apple’s stature to react publicly–and to a blog post, not a New York Times piece– could only mean that someone there thought this could snowball into a PR nightmare. At the end of the day, a lot has been said and written about the App Store approval policy so far and lots more will be written in the future–not because people are tremendously worried over the issue but due to iPhone’s tremendous popularity that undeservedly earns such benign cases headlines.
And while we’re at the App Store approval policy, pressuring Apple into revealing the App Store review criteria publicly will yield no results whatsoever. Remember, Apple likes to fully control the user experience. Being able to bend own rules at own discretion in order to protect own interests and interests of users is of utmost importance to Apple. You could call such policy fascist but it has been successfully keeping ill-intended, lawsuit-potential software off the App Store.
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Written on 2:36 AM by Mujtaba
Global revenue for NAND chips used in smartphones will reach nearly $1 billion by 2013, mostly thanks to Apple's iPhone
Thanks to Apple’s iPhone, smartphones will account for nearly one third of all mobile phones sold in 2013, says a new research note by iSuppli. The research firm attributed an estimated sixfold increase in NAND demand between 2008 and 2013 to Apple’s handset, estimating global revenue from sales of NAND chips for mobile phones to reach nearly $1 billion by 2013.
The report estimated a sixfold-rise in global NAND demand between 2008 and 2013, generating nearly $1 billion in revenue. Much of the growth in demand for NAND chips and smartphones is being credited to Apple’s iPhone. Michael Yang, senior analyst for mobile and emerging memories at iSuppli, said that NAND flash makers can “thank Apple for starting this trend,” adding that the iPhone “injected new life into the memory market.”
The iPhone success has put handset makers on high alert, resulting in an influx of devices that are adding to the demand, namely Palm Pre, the BlackBerry Storm, and Android-powered smartphones like the T-Mobile G1, all with 8GB of storage. iSuppli said that the average amount of NAND flash in all mobile phones shipped worldwide will rise to 5.8Gbytes per handset in 2013, up from less than 1Gbyte in 2008.
Last year, NAND revenue reached $166.5 million, and $284.3 million in revenue is projected for 2009. By 2013, revenue from sales of NAND chips for mobile phones will rise to $932.5 million. The figure is equal to a 41.1 percent Compound Annual Growth Rate, more than three times higher than the 12.2 percent increase during the same period for the overall NAND flash market. This clearly indicates that smartphones are growing at a much faster pace than the overall wireless handset segment.
The research firm predicted that smartphones will account for nearly one third (26.4 percent) of all mobile phone units sold in 2013, twice as much over the 13.1 percent in 2008.
Christian’s Opinion
Apple uses NAND chips in its iPhone 3G (8GB) iPhone 3GS (16GB and 32GB) and iPod touch (8GB, 16GB, and 32GB). According to the , the company could soon add a new 8GB iPhone 3GS model to the mix.
According to Apple’s latest earnings report, the company sold over 5.2 million iPhone 3G and 3GS units during the June quarter. Over 40 million iPhone and iPod touch units sold since July 2006 have certainly contributed a lot to the rise in NAND demand, but that’s peanuts with an uptick expected when Apple brings the iPhone to China sometime next year, opening up the 1.3 billion people market.
Apple has been successfully leveraging its dominant position to create artificial shortages of NAND chips. As a result, rival devices are unable to match Apple’s in terms of storage capacity and price points without eating into their own margins. Apple has recently to secure NAND output from Toshiba.
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Written on 2:33 AM by Mujtaba
Apple’s forthcoming tablet, which is designed to feed your hunger for entertainment, should also help the iTunes Store break the $1 billion milestone in quarterly revenue. While the store’s offering has been limited to world’s largest media conglomerates thus far, it is high time Apple opened up the iTunes Store, allowing third-parties to sell their content as well.
As yesterday, the Street is buzzing that Apple might extend the iTunes Store accounts to participating third-party sites selling digital wares, challenging established payment processing systems from eBay, PayPal, Amazon, Google, and others.
However, there’s little money to be made in a payment processing business that operates on ultra-thin margins. A minuscule, single-digit percentage cut per each payment is a far cry from fat margins that Apple is accustomed to. It might easily be insufficient to cover all costs of running the business, even with a huge volume of payments.
Apple should instead open up the iTunes Store, allowing third-parties to sell their digital goods and new content types in world’s largest online content store. For example, why not sell Mac software through iTunes? With a third-party Mac app store dubbed now live, the official solution backed with Apple’s top-notch marketing shouldn’t fail. Likewise, wouldn’t e-books fit that forthcoming tablet perfectly? According to a , Apple is unlikely to enter the e-book market directly, relying instead on third-party e-book content delivered via the App Store.
The iTunes Store: $1 billion a quarter business
So far, Apple has partnered only with Hollywood studios and record labels, in addition to iPhone developers and Audible.com, on reselling movies, TV shows, music, iPhone apps, and audiobooks, keeping 30 percent of the revenue to itself. Apple claims the cut barely covers paying for huge maintenance and infrastructure costs, from servers and bandwidth to engineering and marketing. For example, while Apple takes 30 cents on each 99 cent a song sale, analysts have estimated that the company is left with no more than 10 cents after covering micro-payment and infrastructure fees.
While analysts acknowledge that the store breaks even, some insist that high-volume, low-margin sales do generate a symbolic profit, citing now nearly $1 billion in quarterly revenue coming from the online store. According to Apple’s , the “Other Music Related Products and Services” business segment generated $958 million in revenue, a 17 percent increase over the year-ago quarter. Most of this revenue came from the iTunes Store, although we don’t know how much exactly since the company doesn’t break down this business segment in detail.
The iTunes Store and a tablet: A natural fit
This figure is in direct correlation with the installed base of iTunes-enabled users running devices like iPods, iPhones, or Apple TVs. The iTunes Store will be instrumental in pushing a rumored , due in September (an artist’s rendition of the tablet used in this article is credited to ). According to entertainment industry execs who apparently saw the gizmo in action, the tablet will be “fabulous for watching movies.” The device will allegedly come with an integrated iTunes Store client, letting you directly rent and watch movies, listen to songs, read e-books, etc.
While the iPhone now offers direct song and movie purchases through mobile iTunes client, the tablet’s 10-inch form factor could become the main attraction, enticing people to buy or rent more entertainment content from the iTunes Store than ever before. New content deals, like , should also fit the tablet nicely, driving the store’s revenue in the process. Wireless movie and TV show rentals and purchases are without a doubt a for the tablet. This is exactly the feature that may perfectly showcase the gizmo’s alleged focus on multimedia capabilities.
The iTunes Store mostly drives hardware sale but the rumored 10-inch Apple tablet should revert the trend, enticing users to buy and rent more entertainment content than ever before.
Rich content yields hardware sales
But Apple shouldn’t limit the iTunes Store offering only to content from big media. While it’s understandable why Apple would want to prevent the store’s virtual shelves still lack a ton of third-party content out there that doesn’t interfere with Apple’s interests. Part of the problem is that third-parties are unlikely to accept Apple’s 30 percent cut, especially with other online stores taking far less. On the other hand, no other store quite matches Apple’s reach, simplicity and seamless integration with own hardware.
That said, a huge opportunity lies ahead, the one that could tremendously benefit Apple and third-party content creators. Apple has been saying from the onset that the iTunes Store and the App Store are vehicles designed to drive hardware sales. If that’s true, then the company may sell even more devices by enhancing the iTunes Store with new content types. Third-parties would benefit by putting their content in front of nearly 80 million credit-card enabled iTunes Store users. If Apple offered third-parties the ability to sync their content with own portable devices like the iPhone/iPod, that could be worth the 30 percent cut.
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Written on 2:31 AM by Mujtaba
Price Range: $1149.00 to $1199.00 from 7 Sellers
Description:The 13-inch MacBook Pro notebook is Built around Mac OS X and the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, MacBook Pro gives you the performance and connectivity of a desktop computer in a portable design that is thin and light enough to take everywhere.
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Written on 1:50 AM by Mujtaba
It was only a matter of time before someone took the App Store concept and modified it for the desktop. Take IDFusion’s Bodega Store, a free desktop app bazaar for Mac software featuring a number of App Store-like features.
Pitched as a one-stop shop for software needs, the for Mac software, launched yesterday, is a free download for OS X. The storefront features a rich user interface that takes clues from both desktop iTunes and the App Store: The left-hand side row lists app categories ranging from Internet, iPod&iTunes, and Email&Chat, to Business, Desktop Enhancements, and Games.
Extensive information provided for each listed app includes a detailed, developer-provided description, in addition to links to blog posts and online reviews, ratings, and user reviews. There’s also a powerful search that lets you drill through the offerings using a wide variety of search fields. You can also browse the top-rated and most-downloaded apps.
Although the storefront currently lists only 160 apps (remember, Apple’s App Store launched with just 500 apps), IDFusion hopes that Mac developers will recognize Bodega as an efficient alternative to their own distribution efforts. Unlike the App Store, the Bodega Store doesn’t process app purchases so developers have full control of the pricing and get to keep 100% of the revenue.
The store carries paid, free, and open-source apps. When you purchase an app through Bodega, the storefront app saves your receipt, making reinstallation a hassle-free process. Bodega even keeps you up-to-date by tracking updates for apps installed through the store. A future version will include a batch update feature, IDFusion said.
The company has setup a for Mac developers who would like to have their apps included in the store. Using provided tools, developers can link press reviews, buy premium ad space inside the storefront app, and browse detailed reports that include a customer’s OS version, geographical information, and what other apps customers are buying. Most importantly, there’s no approval process, meaning that apps appear on the Bodega shelves the same day. The company is even giving away an $10 iTunes Gift Card to developers who submit their apps.
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Written on 1:48 AM by Mujtaba
Apple’s upcoming OS X 10.6, also known as Snow Leopard, is now apparently a bigger seller on Amazon than Windows 7. The online retailer’s software bestsellers chart ranked Snow Leopard as #1, knocking off the previously featured Windows 7 from the top 20 entries.
Of course, pre-ordering Snow Leopard on Amazon doesn’t mean you’ll get the operating system ahead of Apple’s planned schedule. “Official release date has not been announced by Apple, though they have indicated this product will be released sometime in September,” Amazon’s reads.
At press time, Apple’s operating system pushed the $120 Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade to #21. Microsoft’s operating system previously dominated Amazon’s software bestsellers list thanks to a meaty discount offered as part of the two-week promotion. Windows XP home Edition SP2, which used to top Amazon’s software bestsellers list as the second-bestselling Windows version, now ranks at #48. The $29 Snow Leopard and the $49 Snow Leopard Family Pack (5-user) are now listed as #1 and #2, respectively, followed by the $80 Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007. Amazon also sells the $499 Snow Leopard version for servers.
Apple first announced Snow Leopard in June 2008, advertising top-to-bottom optimization resulting in a significant performance leap as its key feature. The software is designed to take advantage of the latest CPU and GPU chips and files as Apple’s first fully 64-bit operating system. Snow Leopard includes the OpenCL technology designed to re-route GPU power for general computing tasks.
Although Apple said it would “pause on innovation” to focus on speed, a couple of noteworthy tweaks and subtle changes in Snow Leopard should satisfy feature-hungry users as well. Apple’s marketing honcho Phil Schiller demoed a feature-complete Snow Leopard version at the developers conference in July, indicating that the software will hit stores sometime in September, roughly a month earlier than the October 22 Windows 7 launch.
Christian’s Opinion
Before you grab your credit card and pre-order Snow Leopard on Amazon, you should know that the $29 operating system upgrade requires OS X 10.5 Leopard. If you are running an OS X version prior to Leopard, you’ll have to purchase the pricier $169 Mac Box Set or the $229 Mac Box Set Family Pack that includes licence for up to five users. Both products include OS X Snow Leopard, in addition to iLife ‘09 and iWork ‘09. People who purchased a qualifying Mac after the WWDC announcement can order Snow Leopard from Apple for $9.95 (free shipping) plus applicable sales tax.
Don’t forget the fact that Snow Leopard requires an Intel-based Mac. It’ll be interesting seeing if significant speed gains stemming from the 64-bit architecture, an optimized code base, and technologies like OpenCL and Grand Central will be enough to entice owners of PowerPC-based Macs to purchase the latest Intel-based machines. If anyone, those in the market for an upgrade are expected to make a jump to the latest hardware and software architectures.
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Written on 1:47 AM by Mujtaba
The latest Wall Street chatter suggests that Apple could be toying with an idea of extending the iTunes Store payment processing to third-party vendors selling digital goods on the Internet. If true, Apple’s iTunes-based payment processing will take aim at established services from eBay, PayPal, Amazon, Google, and others.
According to a Silicon Alley Insider report, citing unnamed Wall Street sources, Apple is considering extending the iTunes Store payment system to a number of participating third-party sites. The move move allow iTunes Store account holders to purchase goods and services across participating sites using those accounts. Apple uses the iTunes Store accounts to facilitate payments for movies, TV shows, audiobooks, iPhone apps, and other digital goods sold through the store.
If true, the move would put Apple in direct competition with popular services like Google’s Checkout, Amazon’s One-Click-Buying, and eBay’s PayPal payment processing solutions. The publication asserted that Facebook could also jump on the payment processing bandwagon with own “Pay With Facebook” platform.
Christian’s Opinion
Sounds like a plan, right? After all, why wouldn’t Apple leverage its huge ecosystem to create an additional revenue stream that could only grow over time? If you ask me, I don’t think this is a particularly sound business idea, at least for Apple, a company that expects fat margins from its every product or service on the market. In the case of the iTunes Store, Apple takes 30 percent of the revenue generated from selling iPhone apps and in-app content, in addition to music, movie, TV show, and audiobook purchases.
But fees in the payment processing business are much lower, especially for low-priced digital goods paid for through micro-payments. Third-party vendors offering digital goods priced up to couple of bucks would never agree to surrender 30 percent of the revenue to Apple. Unlike App Store developers that have no other choice but accept Apple’s terms, anyone selling products and services on the Internet can choose between a number of established services like Google Checkout, 2Checkout, and others.
Most payment processing services charge vendors a single-digit percentage (on the low-end) to cover costs associated with processing credit card payments on their behalf. With that in mind, I don’t think there’s enough money to be made in the payment processing business to justify Apple’s move into this market.
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Written on 12:10 AM by Mujtaba
It seems that an iPhone app developer wants to market a new language to iPhone users. The language uses 16 visual symbols and is for use in environments where there are crowds and noise. When you need to communicate something from a distance or when it’s a little hard to hear you simply pick the appropriate symbol and hold up your iPhone.
The application can be used to convey a request to a bartender by simply displaying a beer or cocktail. Perhaps you need something from your waiter or waitress? If so, simply choose the symbol for chopsticks, coffee, fork, knife, menu, or napkin. The application, Garcon, is available from the iTunes App Store for US$0.99.
Okay, perhaps this isn’t the most useful application yet to hit the App Store. Still, competition is getting tough on the iTunes App Store and developers are finding it hard to differentiate their products from other applications. There is no doubt in my mind that Garcon differentiates itself not only in name, but in purpose.
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Written on 12:08 AM by Mujtaba
One of the things that has made Twitter successful is that it asks a simple question which it shares with others. That question is, “What are you doing?”. One of the latest iPhone apps help you not only let people know that you are listening to music, but it also allows you to share the songs you’re listening to on your iPhone.
In addition to sharing what song you are listening to on Twitter or via email you can also add a message to the link of your song. Anyone who clicks on the link will be able to preview or buy the song from iTunes. Users will also have the ability to copy song information and paste it anywhere else they would like. The application is available for free from the iTunes Apps Store.
Considering one of the key functions of the iPhone is the ability to listen to music it makes sense that most people would want to share want they are listening to. It’s kind of funny to think that people would be so interested in what other people are doing. If they weren’t Twitter wouldn’t be as popular as it is.
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Written on 12:08 AM by Mujtaba
Believe it or not there has been one rather large North American country which had yet to be able to buy items through iTunes. Apple announced this week that it has now launched the iTunes Store in Mexico. The store will include a selection of Mexican and international music from major and independent labels.
Most songs will be priced at 12 pesos while most albums will run 120 pesos. Music videos will also be available for purchase and the majority will be priced at 24 pesos. iTunes Gift Cards are now available at national retailers in Mexico in denominations of 200, 300 and 600 pesos.
Mexico must have been a huge dark spot on the global map when it came to the dominance of iTunes. It’s nice to see that Apple has closed that hole. Now Mexicans will be able to enjoy the same convenience that iTunes already offers in a number of other countries.
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Written on 12:06 AM by Mujtaba
iTunes Digital Copy: customers who purchase a DVD of a Fox movie title will also get an iTunes Digital Copy which can be transferred to iTunes and then viewed on anything that connects with iTunes. The first DVD is “Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest,” which is a parody of Star Wars.
New software and price point for Apple TV: starting today Apple TV is $229, and new software coming later this month will let you rent movies on the iTunes Store directly from your widescreen TV–no computer required. By end of February there will be more than 1,000 titles to choose from, including over 100 in high definition with 5.1 Dolby surround sound. DVD-quality Movie Rentals will be $2.99 for older titles and $3.99 for new releases. High-definition versions are $3.99 and $4.99, respectively.
iTunes Movie Rentals from just about every movie studio: As mentioned above, you can now rent movies through iTunes and watch them on your Mac or PC, current generation iPods, iPhone and Apple TV. Partnerships with 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM, Lionsgate and New Line Cinema make it all possible.
iPod Touch software update: For $19.99 your iPod touch will have Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather, Notes, and the ability to watch downloaded movies from iTunes Movie Rentals.
Firmware 1.1.3 for iPhone: Free update for iPhone will include the ability to find your location, text message multiple people in one message, create Web Clips for your favorite websites, customize your home screen, and watch rented movies from the new iTunes Movie Rentals (see above).
Time Capsule–wireless backup for your Macs: working with Time Machine this allows for you to wirelessly back up all of your Macs. Time Capsule includes a combo 802.11n base station with either a built-in 500GB ($299) or 1TB hard drive ($499).
MacBook Air–the world’s thinnest notebook: Measuring 0.16 inches at its thinnest point, with a height of 0.76 inches, it fits into a manila envelope. The MacBook Air includes a 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, full-size and backlit keyboard, built-in iSight video camera, and a multi-touch trackpad. Inside there’s a 1.6 or 1.8 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache, 2GB memory, 80GB hard drive, 802.11n, and Bluetooth 2.1. The MacBook Air is available for pre-order today starting at $1,799 and it will ship in two weeks.
Read more about the announcements at .
Joel’s Opinion
That’s a whole lot of new stuff coming from Apple so far this year. Let me comment on each one, piece by piece.
MacBook Air: Very cool and I can see this thing flying off the shelves. They also announced a $99 external Superdrive for the MacBook Air and some interesting software that lets you use another computer’s CD/DVD drive. This definitely makes up for the lack of one. I think it’s a great laptop but I personally couldn’t justify the extra money and would stick with the MacBook at this point.
Time Capsule: I like the wireless backup but why can’t it just be software that works with everything I already have? Time Machine encourages me to use my own hard drive so why make me suddenly buy a new hard drive just for this backup?
iPhone Firmware 1.1.3: I love the idea of using hotspots and cellular towers for triangulation. I think this is my favorite announcement, by far. I was really hoping that he was going to say, “the SDK is ready one month early!” but this is pretty good too.
iPod Touch software update: definitely a needed upgrade but charging for it? That’s really bad form and I have to wonder if there will be an attack on Apple for this one, similar to the reduction of the iPhone pricing so soon after release.
iTunes Digital Copy: I don’t buy DVDs so I really don’t need this. I can see the appeal, though, since it’s faster than ripping.
New software and price point for Apple TV: I’ve been thinking about buying something like this for a while now and this price point and functionality may be just what I need. I rent movies and always forget to watch them, so I pay a lot more than $3.99 for them. This will be a welcome addition, though only having 24 hours to complete watching them is a bit of a drag.
iTunes Movie Rentals from just about every movie studio: At least most of the new movies will be out on this service. I think it’s 30 days after DVD release, so that’s not bad at all, though I’d like it to be at the same time as DVD release.
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Written on 12:12 AM by Mujtaba
Ever had trouble finding a particular app at the App Store? Who hasn't? A couple weeks ago I spent like 10 minutes trying to find a game a friend had just shown me. That may have had more to do with me being intoxicated and less about the App Store's search functionality, though.
Still, things may be improving. According to , Apple is now asking iPhone developers to enter 255 comma-separated characters as keywords to iTunes Connect to be used for search in the App Store for the iPhone and .
iTunes Connect is the application that developers use to upload and submit their iPhone and iPod Touch apps to Apple.
Definitely a welcome change, and it can only improve sales, so I'm sure most developers will be taking advantage of it. I would not be surprised to see some developers exploit this, though, by entering popular keywords for apps that are completely unrelated just for the chance of added exposure.
Hopefully this addition will also improve my app-finding luck as well. Whether I've been drinking or otherwise.
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Written on 12:12 AM by Mujtaba
Not really the Apple tablet.
Hardly a day goes by without some form of feverish speculation gripping the Web about the existence of a tablet computing device from Apple. While most of these are fact-free excursions into wild speculation, the general zeitgeist points to a possibly 10-inch device that may cost $699-$799, and be released either in September, November, or sometime next year--perhaps on the heels of the similar-sounding .
, an anonymous analyst who claims to have had some hands-on time with a prototype would specifically say only, "It's better than the average movie experience, when you hold this thing in your hands."
With a seemingly blank canvas like that, there's plenty of room for industry watchers to stamp their own wants and needs on this unconfirmed piece of hardware. As long as everyone's speculating blindly, we took the initiative to work up a wish list of hardware and software (see also this on Erica Ogg's fantasy Apple tablet features) for when or if the Apple tablet is ever released.
Click through to the gallery below to see our wish list detailed. Got something we missed? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Written on 11:47 PM by Mujtaba
The father of an 11-year-old girl in the U.K. said Apple tried to keep him from speaking about his daughter's after it exploded last month.
Speaking to The Times in the U.K., Ken Stanborough said after he dropped the iPod Touch, it began hissing and started to get hot. As a precaution, he threw the iPod outside and "within 30 seconds there was a pop, a big puff of smoke and it went 10 (feet) in the air," he said.
Apple agreed to give Stanborough a refund, but only if he signed a confidentiality agreement, agreeing not to disclose any information about the incident. Stanborough said he found the letter "appalling" and refused to sign it.
To be fair, letters from companies in situations like this are most likely standard procedure. However, this isn't the first time Apple has been accused of trying to stop people from reporting on faulty iPods.
Reporter Amy Clancy of KIRO-TV in Seattle said it took her more than seven months to get documents from the Consumer Product Safety Commission on . She said she had filed a Freedom of Information Act request, but Apple lawyers filed "exemption after exemption" with the commission to stop her from getting the over 800 pages of documents.
Clancy said the documents show 15 "burn and fire-related incidents" that iPod owners blamed on the device.
Apple declined to comment for this story.
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Written on 1:43 AM by Mujtaba
Price Range
$98.97 - $149.99
$10 Rebate
Amount:$10
Manufacturer: Apple
Product: iPod nano 8GB MP3 Player - Blue
Rebate Description: Receive a $10 Visa Gift Card with purchase. Valid exclusively at XoomDigital. Submit the completed rebate form and a copy of your proof of purchase form your order. Rebate submission must be postmarked within 45 days of purchase. This offer is valid in the United States only. Please allow up to 8 weeks to receive your gift card. If you have any questions please email info@xoomdigital.com or call 1-866-463-1999.
Expiration Date: 2009-10-03
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Written on 1:42 AM by Mujtaba
$8 Rebate
Amount:$8
Manufacturer: Apple
Product: Apple 1GB iPod Shuffle - Green (New)
Rebate Description: To receive your gift card, this original certificate and a copy of proof of purchase from your xoomdigital.com order must be sent to xoomdigital postmarked within 45 days after your order date:
Expiration Date: 2009-12-31
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Written on 1:38 AM by Mujtaba
Just in case you thought Saturday was too long to wait for , no reason to worry: Apple on Friday released , which fixes the SMS vulnerability on Thursday. Earlier on Friday, U.K. wireless operator .
The flaw, , could have allowed a vulnerable phone, such as an iPhone, to be taken over remotely. Apple attributes the flaw in the CoreTelephony framework to a memory corruption issue in the decoding of SMS messages, and credits the find to Miller and Mulliner.
The hefty software update -- yes, even an update with just one fix means downloading the entire OS again--is available via iTunes; the exact size varies depending on which version of iPhone is being updated. iPhone users can get the update by connecting their phones to their computers and clicking the "Check for Update" button in iTunes.
Once again, the world is safe for text messaging -- well, unless you're ; Apple has still issued no patch for stupidity. Now we can move on to other pressing issues, like when exactly AT&T will deign to roll out th
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Written on 12:18 AM by Mujtaba
40GB1 | 160GB1 |  |
|---|
| Mac + PC | Mac + PC |
| 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless2 | 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless2 |
| 40GB hard drive for up to 50 hours of video | 160GB hard drive for up to 200 hours of video |
| Apple Remote | Apple Remote |
| Ships: Within 24hrs | Ships: Within 24hrs |
| Free Shipping | Free Shipping |
| $229.00 | $329.00 |
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Written on 12:17 AM by Mujtaba
With a huge selection of on-demand HD movies and HD TV shows — and one-click access to all your music and photos — Apple TV turns your widescreen TV into a digital entertainment hub.
HD movie rentals from your living room.
With a few clicks of your remote, you can rent high-definition movies from the same place you watch them: your widescreen TV.
The best TV shows in HD.
Buy your favorite TV shows from leading networks — commercial free — and watch them in stunning HD anytime you want. It’s à la carte high definition TV.
All your music and photos, all in one place.
With Apple TV, your home entertainment system becomes the best place to shop the iTunes Store, play your music, and show off digital photos in gorgeous slideshows set to your favorite songs.
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Written on 12:14 AM by Mujtaba
Capacity
- 16GB or 32GB flash drive1
Color
Display
- 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display
- 480-by-320-pixel resolution at 163 ppi
- Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
- Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
Audio Playback
- Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
- Audio formats supported: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
- User-configurable maximum volume limit
Video Playback
- Video formats supported: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
Language support
- Language support for English (U.S), English (UK), French (France), German, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Arabic, Thai, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Indonesian, Malaysian, Romanian, Slovak, and Croatian
- Keyboard support for English (U.S.), English (UK), French (France), French (Canadian), French (Switzerland), German, Traditional Chinese (Handwriting, Pinyin, Zhuyin), Simplified Chinese (Handwriting, Pinyin), Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Korean, Japanese (QWERTY), Japanese (Kana), Russian, Polish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Estonian, Hungarian, Icelandic, Lithuanian, Latvian, Flemish, Arabic, Thai, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Indonesian, Malaysian, Romanian, Slovak, and Croatian
- Dictionary support (enables predictive text and autocorrect) for English (U.S.), English (UK), French, German, Traditional Chinese (Handwriting, Pinyin, Zhuyin), Simplified Chinese (Handwriting, Pinyin), Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Korean, Japanese (QWERTY), Japanese (Kana), Russian, Polish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Arabic, Thai, Czech , Greek, Hebrew, Indonesian, Malaysian, Romanian, Slovak, and Croatian
Mail attachment support
- Viewable document types: .jpg, .tiff, .gif (images); .doc and .docx (Microsoft Word); .htm and .html (web pages); .key (Keynote); .numbers (Numbers); .pages (Pages); .pdf (Preview and Adobe Acrobat); .ppt and .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint); .txt (text); .rtf (rich text format); .vcf (contact information); .xls and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel)
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Written on 12:09 AM by Mujtaba
Price Range
$75.99 - $79.99
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Written on 12:06 AM by Mujtaba
Price Range
$188.97 - $298.7
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