Jordan Kahn

Apple is all set to announce its fiscal Q4 financial earnings today, during a conference call with company executives scheduled for 2 p.m. PST/ 5 p.m. EST. iPhone 5 sales are expected to be a topic of conversation, of course, while recent predictions from 59 analysts provided an average estimate of 26.3 million iPhones total for the quarter. Today, Forbes posted revised estimates from 36 of the analysts that also includes predictions for iPhone, iPod, Mac, and other product sales.

A few things we already know from CEO Tim Cook’s announcements during the iPad mini event: 5 million iPhones 5s sold during opening weekend, 3 million new iPod nano and touch units sold, and 200 million iOS 6 devices. Cook also noted the company has now sold 100 million iPads in 2.5 years and more iPads in June than any PC manufacturers’ entire PC lineup.

In Q3 Apple reported revenues of $35 billion. As for Q4, Apple predicted during its last conference call that revenues for the fourth quarter would be around $34 billion with diluted earnings per share of about $7.65. Today, Forbes pointed us to updated estimates from Wall Street showing a consensus of $8.81 on sales of $36.02 billion.

Forbes has also posted revised estimates from 36 analysts (below). Among the 20 pros in the group, the average estimate is $8.75 on sales of $35.51 billion. The independents, on the other hand, have earnings of $9.66 on sales of $37.23 billion.

As you can see from the chart of the 36 analysts below (pros in blue), the high-end of iPhone estimates hit the 32 million-unit mark, while one independent has Mac sales as high as 5.70 million units:

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iFixit got its hands on some of the latest Apple products announced earlier this week, as usual, and it is giving the new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro its normal tear down treatment today. If you remember, iFixit called the first Retina MacBook Pro, the 15-inch model, the “least repairable laptop yet” due to its “lack of repairability, upgradeability, and recyclability.” While Apple appears to have made some small changes to address those issues in the new 13-inch model, iFixit found many of the same problems again. It therefore gave the 13-inch model a 2 out 10 repairability score— just one point higher than the 15-inch model.

iFixit explained how the 13-inch model is slightly more recyclable than the 15-inch:

The 13″ MacBook Retina is slightly more recyclable than the 15″ Retina. Once inside, it took us *only* 15 minutes of prying to remove the battery, and we didn’t puncture the battery cells. It was definitely a doable feat (compared to nearly impossible for the 15″ Retina), but still a far cry from the no-adhesive, non-Retina MacBook Pros… *

The report also noted the device’s battery cells have been rearranged to allow “designers to cleverly tuck the SSD away underneath the trackpad assembly.” What’s interesting here is that you can fit a normal 2.5-inch SSD in here. iFixit threw a Crucial drive in (below) and found it was too thick but thinner models would likely work. We’re investigating this and will have more info shortly.

So, now you can easily replace the trackpad if it breaks—something that isn’t possible on the 15-inch because the trackpad is covered by the battery cells.

OWC posted the photo below showing its OWC Aura Pro SSD installed in the new MacBook’s drive caddy. They’re investigating as well and should have more for us soon:
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Verizon and AT&T reported earnings earlier this week, both seeing increases in iPhone sales over last quarter. Today, Sprint, the carrier soon to be bought by Japan’s Softbank, officially announced its financial results for Q3 2012. The carrier reported a net loss of $767 million; down from $1.38 in Q2, while iPhone sales remained steady. Sprint confirmed 410,000 postpaid subscribers were added during the quarter—slightly less than the 442,000 from last quarter.

As for iPhones, Sprint confirmed it sold 1.5 million during the quarter with 40 percent representing new customers. It also noted it has now surpassed 1 million LTE smartphones following the launch of iPhone 5, but it failed to give specific iPhone 5 numbers.

To put Sprint’s earnings in perspective, it’s the only carrier out of the big three that reported iPhone sales remaining stable rather than increasing. Earlier this week, Verizon reported its Q3 earnings and claimed 3.1 million iPhones sold up from 2.7 the quarter before. AT&T also reported an increase with 4.7 million iPhone activations.

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The morning of Apple’s iPad mini event earlier this week, we told you there was a handful of new accessories coming including four new Lightning adapters and a 12W USB power adapter. We didn’t hear much about them during the event, but the new cables and adapters have hit Apple’s online store now, including a Lightning Digital AV adapter and Lightning to VGA adapter, with most shipping in “2-3 weeks”.

On the product page for the new 12W USB charger, Apple confirmed it would indeed ship with Retina iPads. With the new fourth-gen replacing the third-gen iPad—that would essentially cover just the iPad 4. It is, however, selling the adapter by itself for $19 online and listing compatibility with iPad 2, iPhone 4S, and iPod touch fifth-gen and up. Many readers have wondered whether the adapter would allow for faster charging with the iPad 3 and fourth-gen iPad. A big complaint among third-gen iPad users is that the device took up several more hours to charge than previous generations due to its larger battery. Also, on Apple’s discussion forums, some users asked if a software update would be required for the iPad 3 to draw additional power.

When we asked Apple about the 12W adapters, we were told the following:

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Apple’s refreshed Mac mini lineup already received some nice RAM upgrade options from OWC this morning, but now we get a look at the insides of the updated Macs courtesy of a tear down from Mac Mini Vault. The website also published Geekbench scores for the device, showing some impressive performance increases over the 2011 models.

First off, it found minimal changes to packaging and the positioning of the new Mac mini’s internals:

The overall packaging size was unchanged, however marketing specs have been updated and the inside organization has been optimized… Under the hood only minor differences are visible. Most notable are the fan design, Hitachi hard drive, and connections for the antennas. (2012 on left – 2011 on right)

As for Geekbench, the new stock Mac minis were able to record a score of 7433 running 10.8.1 out of the box. In comparison, Mac Mini Vault had a 2011 Mac mini running 10.8.2 clocked at 6583. Mac Mini Vault also noted it will begin testing alternative OS options for the new Mac mini server edition next week:

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa_QVIprn8Y&feature=youtu.be]

Angry Birds Seasons version 2.3.0: Rovio updated its Seasons edition of Angry Birds with 30 new levels for Halloween and much more. The HD iPad version gets the same update.

BOO! The pigs are hiding in their spookiest location yet: a haunted house! The Angry Birds will have to brave ghosts and ghouls to get their eggs back — if they can survive the house first! Are your eyes playing tricks on you or did that painting just move?!

-Explore the scary secrets of the brand new haunted house!
-Try to survive 30 all new spooky levels!
-Shiver and shake to the ghostly new Halloween music!
-Use the brand new ghost bricks for fun trick shots!
-Say hello to Frankenswine and the other pigs, all dressed up for Halloween!

Square Register version 2.4: Square is officially rolling out its payment service internationally today with the Canadian launch and an updated Square Register iOS app. Full details in the company’s press release here.

– Square Register is now available in Canada!

Opera Mini version 7.0.5:

 – Integration with iOS Facebook framework (iOS 6+)
– Improved performance when saving large images
– Fixed freeze after sharing via email
– Fixed video playback on youtube.com (iPhone and iPod)
– Performance and stability fixes
– Added support for iOS 4.2.1
– Various iOS 6 related fixes

Music Unlimited version 1.2: The iOS app for Sony’s subscription music service gets a decent update today with the ability to “Create channels inspired by your favorite artists” and more:

· My Channels – Create channels inspired by your favorite artists.
· Playlist management – Create and edit playlists on your mobile device.
· Some features have been improved.

Lumify version 2.0: One of our favorite new social video apps gets a big update:
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While many thought we would see an iPad come in as low as $250 with the iPad mini unveiling yesterday, Apple doesn’t think it will have a problem competing with the lower priced 7-inch Android tablets on the market. In a report from Reuters, Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller defended the price point of the new iPad mini that many analysts incorrectly predicted would come in under the $300 mark. Schiller noted that even before iPad mini, consumers were choosing the $399 iPad 2 over the competitors:

The iPad is far and away the most successful product in its category. The most affordable product we’ve made so far was $399 and people were choosing that over those devices… And now you can get a device that’s even more affordable at $329 in this great new form, and I think a lot of customers are going to be very excited about that,” Schiller said.

Schiller’s comments are referring specifically to competitors like the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire. During yesterday’s event, he made a point of showing side-by-side comparisons of the new 7.9-inch iPad mini next to a Nexus 7.

We knew Apple had a beautiful new glass store planned for Palo Alto when plans were discovered last year, but Apple made things official today by announcing a Oct. 27 grand opening for the new location at 340 University Ave. Apple sent out the email above (via FoneArena) to inform customers the store will open at 10 a.m. local time, and the first 1,000 people will get commemorative T-shirts. The 15,030-square-foot store is located just a couple blocks from the old location, which was Steve Jobs’ neighborhood Apple Store, and was expected to cost $3.15 million. We’ll bring you more this weekend with images of the new store during its grand opening.

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Coupons.com announced today that it is adding Passbook integration to its mobile site, allowing users to save dozens of coupons from leading retailers directly to the iOS 6 Passbook app. While the company is not making its entire selection of coupons available to iOS users initially, it does have a long list of notable retailers included in its Passbook-Ready gallery accessible on iOS devices. The company’s mobile app has not yet been updated with the Passbook functionality, but visiting coupons.com will prompt you to visit and add Passbook coupons.

Users of iPhone 5 or iOS 6 simply visit www.coupons.com on their mobile phone, select the Passbook button, and tap Add to Passbook for the coupons they want. Then, just show the offers in Passbook at the cash register for instant discounts.

Some of the retailer partners the website is currently offering Passbook coupons for include Barnes & Noble, Macy’s, Old Navy, OshKosh B’gosh, PETCO, PetSmart, Sears, Michaels, and Avenue. The coupons display the expiration date, a scannable barcode, and instructions to show cashiers how to process the offer:

Each Passbook “coupon” includes a description of the offer (such as “Save up to 20% on Your Entire Order”), the expiration date, and a scannable barcode. An “information” button at the bottom right corner of the offer provides instructions for cashiers on how to process the coupon (including a numeric code that can be manually typed into the cash register if the barcode is not scanning automatically) and additional information (such as purchase requirements).

The company highlighted a few of the offers currently available to Passbook users, and it noted the gallery would be updated frequently:
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Apple just finished unveiling its all-new iMac design that we previously unveiled leading up to the event. We told you at the time that Apple is shipping two refreshed models of its 21-inch and 27-inch iMacs, but we would unfortunately likely see delays on at least some models. Apple decided to take the wraps off its refreshed iMacs today, but as we predicted, the models will not ship right away.

Apple did not confirm during the unveiling, but it has now listed the new iMacs on its website with availability dates listed as November for the 21-inch model and December for the 27-inch model. You will no longer be able to get your hands on the last-generation iMac, except through Apple’s refurbished section. Hopefully Apple can get enough of these out before the holidays, especially the 27-inch model that will not ship until weeks before.

Also of note for the new iMacs is the fact that the 21-inch model comes with no user accessible RAM slots, while the 27-inch model has 4 slots accessible from the back of the machine. The 21-inch model is configurable up to 16GB through Apple, but the 4 slots on the 27-inch can handle up to 32GB:

The 21.5-inch iMac comes with 8GB of memory and can be configured online with 16GB. On the 27-inchiMac, 8GB of memory comes standard, and you can upgrade to 16GB or 32GB. Configure and buy your iMac at the Apple Online Store and it will arrive with the memory already installed. Or add more memory to the 27-inch model yourself by popping open the easy-to-access memory panel on the back.

You can get full details on the all-new iMacs in our full coverage of the unveiling here.

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Apple just updated its website following the iPad mini media event with some new videos for the device as well as specs and updated product pages for the new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro and other products. You can also now view a video of the keynote speech via a link from the Apple.com homepage.

Apple also put its store back online with many of the new products it just unveiled, and it appears to have tweaked its online store with a slightly new design.
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Apple executives just finished unveiling the new iPad mini at the company’s special event at California Theatre. As we previously told you, pricing for the device starts at $329 (16GB), $429 (32GB), and $529 (64GB). For the same storage capacity options as the Wi-Fi only model, there will also be Wi-Fi + LTE models available for $459, $559, and $659. Pre-orders start Oct. 26, and the Wi-Fi-only model will ship Nov. 2, with the LTE models shipping two weeks later.

The following countries will have access to the device when it ships Nov. 2 (as well as the new fourth-generation iPad):

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Apple just unveiled an interesting new option for the new iMacs and Mac minis that it is calling “Fusion Drive”. Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Philip Schiller described it as a combination of storage and software, and it provides a 128GB SDD and 1TB or 3TB HDD melded into a single volume for faster read-and-writes and better performance. Apple explained the drive stores core OS X apps on SSD, while documents and other media are stored on HDD (depending on what you use most). The result is faster performance, as Apple highlighted in slides by showing faster Aperture photo imports. Seagate makes similar options, but this is the first time Apple will offer the upgraded hybrid drive directly to customers.

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As predicted, Apple just confirmed at its special iPad mini event that it would refresh the Mac mini lineups with upgraded internals. The new models will retain the same pricing as previous generation Mac minis, starting with $599 and $799 configurations and a third $999 server model. Specs for the new models line up with the specs we posted this morning, including the first quad-core Mac mini:

• 2.5 GHz dual-core i5, 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard drive
• 2.3 GHz quad-core, 4GB RAM, 1TB Hard drive
• Server: 2.3 GHz quad-core 4GB of RAM, 2TB Hard drive

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We had many of the details for the 13.3-inch Retina MacBook Pro ahead of today’s unveiling, but Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Philip Schiller just confirmed the device’s specs and pricing. As we told you earlier, the new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro comes in two base configurations (with a third 2.9GHz dual-core i7 upgrade option available) and gets many of the enhancements that the 15-inch version received. Schiller noted that the device is 20 percent thinner than the previous generation 13-inch MacBook, and it includes a 2,560-by1,600 Retina display with 29 percent higher color contrast and 75 percent reduced reflection.

Apple also announced that the device would start at $1,699 for the base configuration, and it will start shipping today. Apple also showed a second configuration would be offered for $1,999. Both options below are configurable to a 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i7.

• 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz) with 3MB shared L3 cache
• 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz) with 3MB shared L3 cache

Some of the device’s specs—that Apple is now listing on its website— are below:
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As we previously revealed, Apple has refreshed Mac mini models that will likely launch today alongside the iPad mini. We previously discovered that Apple was planning two new standard configurations, as well as a third model running OS X Server, and we found the new models would receive upgraded RAM options.

Ahead of Apple’s event slated for 10 a.m. PST this morning, we now have additional details on the upgraded models’ processors, storage capacity, and base RAM configurations:

• 2.5 GHz dual-core, 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard drive
• 2.3 GHz quad-core, 4GB RAM, 1TB Hard drive
• Server: 2.3 GHz quad-core 4GB of RAM, 2TB Hard drive

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