Apple’s Q1 2011 financial results are both unsurprising and, quite frankly, incredible. We all expected Apple to post record, blockbuster sales and revenue figures after the holiday season; yet, seeing the numbers on Apple’s official press release is a completely different story. Apple sold more than 7 million iPads in the last quarter, 16.2 million iPhones and more than 4 million Macs. Apple’s iPod business is “in decline” with 19.4 million iPods sold, but the iPod hasn’t been Appel’s main and only mobile business for four years now. Read more
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Apple’s 2011: iPad Bigger Than Macs, And Yet The Mac Is Growing
During Steve’s Absence, Apple Will Be Just Fine
News broke earlier today that Steve Jobs is taking another medical leave of absence to focus on his health. And just like the last time, he has appointed Apple COO Tim Cook as the head of day-to-day operations. This time around, though, Steve Jobs will maintain the CEO position. Long story short: Steve Jobs has to focus on his health and personal life, something you would expect from a man who beat cancer in the past and successfully underwent a liver transplant. Apple employees will have get used to not seeing Jobs on campus or in his office for a few months. But I don’t want to speculate on Jobs’ conditions, habits and role at Cupertino. Instead, I would like to point out how out of this complex and much-talked story Apple as a company will be doing just fine. Read more
Next iPhones and iPads To Lose Home Button? Not So Fast
Jonathan S. Geller over at BGR reports that, according to his sources, we may see Apple removing the Home button from the next-generation iPhones and iPads, to be released this year:
We have exclusively been told that the reason Apple just added multitouch gestures for the iPad in the latest iOS 4.3 beta is because the iPad will be losing the home button.
In addition to the home button disappearing from the iPad, we’re told that this change will make its way over to the iPhone as well. Our source said Apple employees are already testing iPads and iPhones with no home buttons on the Apple campus, and it’s possible we will see this new change materialize with the next-generation iPad and iPhone devices set to launch this year.
Verizon iPhone, Personal Hotspot and MyWi - Which One?
With the Verizon iPhone, Apple today showcased a new software feature that comes pre-installed with the slightly-redesigned device: Personal Hotspot. Already available for several Android devices running on Verizon’s network and made deeply integrated into iOS with a new software build, Personal Hotspot will allow you to create a mobile WiFi network to share your 3G connection with up to 5 nearby WiFi devices. The feature, put simply, looks great: you can activate wireless tethering with literally two taps and a password, or go with Bluetooth and USB tethering. As suggested by Apple’s Phil Schiller himself, Personal Hotspot makes for a great alternative to popular MiFi hotspots and will allow iPad owners to carry around an iPhone on Verizon’s network and have constant access to the Internet even if the iPad is WiFi-only. Read more
The Verizon iPhone Is For App Lovers
Let’s state the obvious, Fink. Geez. I’ll be blunt: this is an, “Should I keep my Android phone or get the new iPhone on my Verizon contract?” post. Specifically, I’m talking to my fellow Android owners who’re on the fence about switching to the Verizon iPhone.
I’ve been sitting on this article all day between five thousand or so words of rant material, iPhone gawking, Android squawking, and just about every title under the sun that would attract more iPhone and Android fanboy rage than my little heart could handle. Good grief! I told Federico that this piece could do me in for a few days – this one was hard to write. “Ticci!” I said. “This is too controversial for the Internetz! They’ll explode!” After much deliberation I decided to focus on one specific aspect of Android and the iPhone, instead of comparing the platforms as a whole (there’s simply too much to talk about). After dramatically toning down the content, today’s topic is all about apps and the phones that have them, but which one is better for you?
As someone on Verizon who’s had a year long matrimony with an Android… do you dare click the read more link? I think you should.
CoverSutra: A Fistful of Dollars
Developer Sophia Teutschler is having a hard time trying to deal with her most popular application for the Mac, CoverSutra, becoming a Mac App Store exclusive. As we discussed here, the latest CoverSutra 2.5 version is only available in the Mac App Store at $4.99, instead of the $20 it used to be on Sophia’s website. The problem is, years ago Sophia promised to customers who bought a license for CoverSutra 2.0 that they would get the 3.0 upgrade for free; CoverSutra’s development slowed down, Sophia got involved in more projects and won an Apple Design Award in the meantime, Apple introduced the Mac App Store. CoverSutra 3.0 isn’t out yet, but the 2.5 version is a paid app in the Mac App Store. Clearly, that is not the free upgrade until 3.0 Sophia once promised.
This is a very serious issue that doesn’t originate specifically from Sophia, but provides a good example when looking at CoverSutra because of the way Sophia decided to handle things. As you may be aware of, Apple is not offering trials, upgrade policies and existing customer migration on the Mac App Store. You can release apps, for a price or for free. That’s it. You have been selling apps on your website all this time? Good for you. But there’s no way to migrate people who already bought a license to the new Store. Read more
Mac App Store: Easy Installation of Apps On All Your Macs. Goodbye, DMG.
With the Mac App Store, as promised by Apple, you can buy apps once and install everywhere. As long as you make sure all the computers you’re willing to install apps on are your personal Macs (and you’re not trying to pirate apps that don’t come with proper receipt validation), you can purchase apps on your first Mac, and then pass them along to as many machines as you want. From a user perspective, this is just great – although it sort of kills the concept of “family licenses” we were used to in pre-App Store days. Read more
Mac App Store Impressions: Elegant, Some Apps Are Expensive, Others Suck
Today’s a pretty hectic day. Apple officially launched the Mac App Store as part of OS X 10.6.6 a few hours ago and mostly everyone in the Mac community is now playing around with the new Store, busy installing paid and free apps, trying to find what’s already good and what could have been done a lot better.
After a few purchases, free downloads and some minutes spent to get used to the new UI brought by the Mac App Store, we have some first impressions to share. Read more
Is Skype The Biggest Threat To Apple’s FaceTime?
Last night, Skype released a major new version of their iPhone and iPod touch client. Version 3.0 of the Skype app, released just in time for New Year’s Eve, adds video calling to all iOS devices with the possibility to run the app in compatibility mode on the iPad and receive video calls on screen. The iPhone app allows you to receive and initiate video calls both on WiFi and 3G, it’s compatible with iPhone 4 / iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 4th gen and, when on 3G, consumes around 3.4 MB of data per minute. Previous tests showed that Apple’s FaceTime technology also consume 3 MB per minute. Skype 3.0 also lets you call desktop users on Mac and PC and check on their computer screens (sounds useful for remote troubleshooting or networking), requires iOS 4 and supports both portrait and landscape modes.
The latest Skype update is, put simply, a huge win for the millions of Skype users out there who have an iOS device always connected to the internet. We could argue on the 24/7 internet availability on devices like the iPod touch and the iPad WiFi, but there’s no doubt the new Skype for iOS is the closest thing Apple ever had to a FaceTime competitor. Forget the 3rd party apps in the App Store that allow video calls: this is Skype. Which leads me to consider Apple’s position in regards to this update: Skype lets you see your friends wherever you are, no matter what kind of connection you’re on. Apple, due to technology limitations or AT&T’s pressure, only lets you FaceTime on WiFi. But looking at the big picture, that’s not really what Apple should fear. Read more