The Ultimate Toolbox for Photos on the Mac
A year after the official announcement, the iPad is now finally available in India, although I guess people who really wanted one in 2010 didn’t wait for Apple to make up its mind and release it. About pricing: a 16 GB standard WiFi model will cost you Rs 27,900, which is around $610, including taxes. It’s curious that today Samsung slashed the price of the Galaxy Tab in India, too.
Product page available here. What’s up with the website? [via Smoking Apples]
To celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year (which in our calendar drops on February 3, 2011), not only are Chinese stores planning a series of events from January 26 to February 13 such as workshops and One to One trainings – Apple has also launched a special one-day shopping event in several Asian online stores. The event offers discounted prices on a variety of Apple devices and computers, accessories, games and software.
Shopping event prices are solely available on 14 January 2011, are subject to change, and are listed in Thai Baht. Promotional pricing cannot be combined with any other offers. Product specifications are subject to change. Sale prices are limited to stock on hand and while supplies last. Quantity of products purchasable by each customer may be limited, please see our store for more details.
The offer is now live in various Stores: Thailand, Taiwan and Malaysia have the deal page available. The offer is valid today only, and it’s organized in different sections like Apple Essentials, iPad Anywhere, Made for iPod and iPhone Essentials. Apple is also discounting peripherals like the Magic Trackpad, iPad Camera Connection Kit and Time Capsule together with the usual iPads, iPods and MacBooks. The offers seems, overall, to be similar to 2010’s Black Friday for the Apple Online Store.
With over 150 store openings as of last September, you can expect the 2011 Apple Store season to be huge. Where’s the money? Apple must be a fan of MacStories, because Cupertino will be brining our international audience (Italy in particular) a little slice of home throughout the year. That’s not to say new stores won’t open in the United States (New York’s pretty lucky to be getting yet another store), and we advise you to check past the break for a run down of expected store openings according to ifoAppleStore.com’s latest report.
Last week, we reported the iPhone 3GS was set to be available at $49 at AT&T with a two-year contract. Earlier today, Apple quietly updated its website to include the new price, which applies to the 8 GB model of the older model. The same 8 GB model was previously available at $99; now Apple is matching AT&T’s price, without any major announcement or press release. A two-year contract with AT&T is still required, but users can now purchase the device directly from Apple.
The iPhone 3GS at $49 is available on the Apple online store, or Apple retail stores. The same deal should be available at any AT&T retailer, as long as you subscribe a two year contract. The iPhone 3GS at less than 50 bucks is a very good deal if you don’t care about the iPhone’s new cameras and Retina Display, as the 3GS can run the same operating system with the same features such as multitasking, folders and AirPlay.
Come January next year, we wonder if Apple will offer a $50 iPhone 4 with AT&T or, well, Verizon as well. An iPhone 4 at that price would be a great deal.
As noted by 9to5mac, a new service has been recently introduced in a number of Apple Stores: “personal setup” for Mac computers. The personal setup service for iOS devices has been around for a quite a while now; to better introduce customers to the OS X ecosystem, Apple is now rolling out this new service to help new users get around the basics of a Mac, the Mac App Store, iTunes and email accounts.
This is minor news for Mac aficionados but will be very helpful for people new to the Mac and for the wider range of consumers. The service will go live in some stores as soon as Tuesday but we’ve heard that other stores will be launching the service in the next few weeks. The new service is very similar to the “setup room” that is currently featured at Apple’s Covent Garden store in London.
The service was actually launched a few days after Christmas in some Apple Stores, we’ve been told from a separate source. The internal name for the service is “Custom Configure” – “personal setups” are actually One to One data transfers. It is unclear whether or not the service will be branded “Personal Setup” in the future. As part of the equation, Apple is also going to feature dedicated “Mac stations” to better help customers through this Mac setup process and Stores will soon replace some iPod and iPod touch tables for “personal setup tables”, we’re told.
This new personal setup service for Macs is going to be a big part of the experience at Apple Stores. Just like the Genius Bar for customer support, Apple wants to offer easy and immediate help to people who just bought a new Mac. We think it’s a great idea.
Layar was one of the first “augmented reality” apps in Apple’s App Store before all the competitors showed up. It’s had a few UI overhauls and the most recent is nice. Layar shows what is around you by displaying real time digital information on top of the real world as seen through the camera of your mobile phone. Layar augments the real world as seen through your mobile phone, based on your location. The idea is simple: Layar works by using a combination of the mobile phone’s camera, compass and GPS data to identify the user’s location and field of view, retrieve data based on those geographical coordinates, and overlay that data over the camera view.
Refresher video after the break.
What’s New in Version 4.0:
They may be gone from Apple’s homepage, but they hold a strong presence in every international Apple Store. The Beatles are such a big deal for Apple they decided to produce dedicated iTunes gift cards for them, as noted by iLounge. After the iPad gift cards and the iBooks ones, the Beatles-themed iTunes cards come in two different flavors: a $149 one that features the band on a white background and should give you access to “The Beatles Box Set” and a standard $50 one which appears to be a regular iTunes card to buy anything you want.
By the way, I almost forgot “the day I would never forget” was more than a month ago. You know, it’s hard to keep track of everything.
Ok, Apple has a thing for Santa Clause and FaceTime. They launched a new iPhone 4 commercial to promote FaceTime with a dad dressed up like Santa, and now they have put FaceTime Santas in the Apple Stores. They previously installed iPad Snow Globes to get people and customers ready for the Apple Christmas season; now it’s time for Santa to take the spot and FaceTime with his elves at the Apple Store.
Check out the video below. I usually don’t like mannequins, and that smiling Santa with an iPhone 4 kind of creeps me out.[via TiPB]
Here’s an interesting tidbit from 9to5mac: according to an Apple Store employee “there is no iWork on the shelves, no iWork in Stock and none on the way”. iWork 09 seems to be out of stock at Apple retail stores and Amazon, although family packs are available on Amazon and Apple.com says the suite is available, but with a curious “New” label next to it.
According to previous rumors, the new version of iWork has been ready for some months and it’s simply awaiting a Mac App Store debut. The new Store will open on January 6th.
Now, is Apple going to make iWork 11 available in retail stores as well? If so, are we going to get the physical box before the Mac App Store downloads?
Also: is iWork.com ever going to get new features?
