Mark is an award-winning journalist who worked at 9to5Mac for over six years. He covers Apple and other topics related to the consumer technology industry.
Apple has opened up a new portal in the iTunes Store to take donations for the Japan earthquake and tsunami relief fund. Users who wish to donate can donate in $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, and $200 increments. 100% of the money donated through iTunes goes to Red Cross efforts in Japan. Click here to go the donate page.
Update: Apple has posted a message on Apple Japan. “To those who have been affected by the earthquake and tsunami, we send sympathies from our heart. In this deep sadness, we are praying for the victims and their families.”
The Apple online store opened yesterday with 3-4 day shipping times then it turned to 5-7 days and then to a whole 2-3 weeks. Now the Apple store is quoting 3 weeks to a month before you get your iPad 2. That’s only the time until the shipment happens, you can add a few days to a week before the magical tablet actually drops at your door step.
Apple is yet to report how many iPad 2s they sold on launch day but this 3-4 week shipment time also has to do with some apparent shortages. Yesterday, many customers reported shortages of certain iPad 2 models at Apple retail stores and third party resellers. Analysts are expecting Apple to cross the 600,000 sales mark for iPad 2s this launch weekend.
There have been a few reports this morning claiming the iPad 2 will not fit or charge in the original iPad dock, so we put it to the test. The iPad 2 fits perfectly in the original iPad dock and also charges constantly. Another point some have made is that the iPad 2 fits loosely in the original iPad 2 dock, but our tests prove otherwise.
The only downside is putting the iPad 2 in the original iPad dock. Due to the tapering it’s more difficult to put the iPad 2 in the original iPad dock than the original iPad, but it really is feasible. It just takes an extra few seconds to make sure the tilted dock connector fits in correctly.
Now you need to choose whether or not you should purchase the iPad 2 dock for $29 that is shipping in 1-3 weeks. If you will constantly use this dock it’s a good idea, but if you’re only planning on using it from time-to-time and have an original iPad dock you can easily make do.
Reports have also claimed that the Apple iPad keyboard dock accessory has been killed off by Apple and is no longer available for Apple. The fact is, it is still available from Apple’s online store and is shipping in 1-2 business days. Another picture of the iPad 2 in the original iPad dock is after the break.
A few 9to5mac readers have written in to let us know that their iPad 2 orders have already shipped with delivery date for next week. Others have let us know that their iPad 2s are prepared for shipment with a March 18th delivery date.
These particular orders were processed prior to Apple delaying shipments for 2-3 weeks from the 3-5 business days starting point. Apple’s online store is not the only store seeing shortages with Apple retail stores quickly selling out of many of the 18 models. Share your iPad 2s fate, in the comments.
Apple has been hyping up today’s iPad 2 launch since its announcement last week with its numerous newsletters, video guided tours, etc. Now it’s launch day and it could be fairly said that Apple disappointed a few. Signs of shortages occurred as early as this morning when the Apple online store opened with iPad 2s shipping in 3-5 days. Then an hour passed and it was 5-7 days for all models, and an hour later it turned in 2-3 weeks. But that is expected for online. People spend a minute at their computer (even if they had to be awaken in the middle of the night to do so).
But what about the people who spent all day in line?
Oh look, it’s a white iPad 2 ready to get its sparkly clean screen filled with fingerprints. The photo comes from an Apple Store on the East Coast where employees are preparing to open their doors to eager customers at 5 PM local time.
As promised Apple opened its virtual doors around 1 AM this morning and the iPad 2 is available for order on the Apple Online Store. All 18 models, yes 18, are available for order and they all ship in 3-5 business days.
Apple’s iPad 2 Smart Cover is available as well, shipping in 1-2 business days, in 10 colors with either a leather ($69) or Polyurethane ($39) option (5 colors per material). Apple is also selling a dock specific to the new, thinner device – it’s shipping in 1-3 weeks and costs $29.
In addition, Apple is selling an HDMI cable ($39) for the iPad 2 that allows for full video mirroring to a television. The cable even has a slot to charge the device simultaneously.
Those who do not want to order their iPad 2 online can purchase one at an Apple retail, AT$T, Target, Verizon, Best Buy, Walmart, or Sam’s Club store starting March 11th at 5 PM local time.
Bloomberg reports that multiple industry analysts are expecting Apple to cross the 600,000 sales mark for the iPad 2 during this launch weekend. This compares to the 300,000 WiFi-only original iPads sold on launch day on April 3, 2010.
Brian Marshall, an analyst at Gleacher & Co expects Apple’s second generation iPad to “outpace” the original model. Tim Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies Inc. and Rodman & Renshaw LLC and Piper Jaffray & Co. concur.
Apple has such a huge lead,” said Bajarin, who has covered the industry for more than 20 years and works as a technology consultant. He projects 500,000 units in two days. “Competitors are going to be chasing Apple for many years.
Apple’s new tablet also will be sold at more than 10,000 stores of AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Best Buy Co. and Target Corp., according to Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster.
Firemint has just released the HD version (iPad) of their wildly popular racing game, Real Racing 2. The new game takes full advantage of the iPad and iPad 2s unique features like faster processors and larger displays and specifically takes advantage of the iPad 2s superior graphics hardware and dual-core processor.
The game also includes “cutting-edge” 3D graphics, precision controls (with gyroscope support!), and over 10 hours of game play. A career mode is also available with 16 player online gaming with Game Center support. Another cool feature is the ability to sync your progress between the iPad and iPhone versions of the game.
Real Racing 2 HD comes with all the features and content of Real Racing 2: authentic pack-racing with up to 16 players; 30 licensed cars from real-life manufacturers, including the 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500, 2010 Nissan GT-R (R35) and 2012 McLaren MP4-12C; competitive online leaderboards and frenetic 16-player online multiplayer – all powered by Firemint’s own iOS-optimized Mint3D™ engine.
Sticking close to their purported iPhone 5 digitizer, showing a larger display and a thinner bezel, iDealsChina has now posted several “mold engineering drawings” for the fifth-generation iPhone.
We just got what appears to be mold engineering drawings for iPhone 5. These would be used by case designers to create plastic, TPU, aluminum, silicone and leather cases. A while back we hear rumors that iPhone 5 would have a curved back but these images show iPhone 5 with the same form factor as iPhone 4 but with an edge to edge screen.
Interestingly enough, these images depict an iPhone 4-like design – with the same wrap-around antenna – but with a larger display and a thinner bezel. This larger display and thinner bezel goes hand in hand with reports from Digitimes and the Wall Street Journal, respectively.
The images (above and after after the break) do not show much else but the interesting part from their description is that these images are said to be case mold drawings. The last case mold drawings we saw were for the iPad 2 and they seem to have been almost, if not, 100% accurate.
Besides Apple stores, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, AT&T, and Verizon stores, the folks at Sam’s Club will, too, be carrying the iPad 2. Doors open at 5 PM local time and wait for it.. only 10 “clubs” (locations) will have iPad 2s in stock tomorrow.
Those of you who live in the areas listed below and don’t want to buy their iPad 2 with visitors of the above retailers are in luck. Sam’s Club has been selling the first generation iPad since November 2010.
iPad 2s have been spotted in Walmart display cases today, a day before sales begin, according to eagle-eyed Walmart shoppers. The image comes via RazorianFly and according to another customer who spotted an iPad 2 at their Walmart, the purchase would not go through… bummer.
Stopped by electronics section while picking up some coffee for the wife this afternoon. Of course, they had the 1st gen iPads available at the $100 markdown price, but I was surprised to find the new models on the same shelf. Black only (at my rural walmart.) I didn’t check to see all the models available, but they definitely had the 16 and 32g in both Wifi and 3G varieties. They may have had more. They only had a few out. Sorry, I didn’t count them.
I asked to buy one. The nice lady behind the electronics counter opened the case, pulled the 16gWifi out for me, and began to ring me up. I was really excited. BUT, the system notified her that she couldn’t sell them yet. She (mis)informed me that if I came back after midnight tonight I could get one. We’ll see.
Perhaps it is time to go to Walmart and report back with your new iPad2? Expand Expanding Close
The Wall Street Journal announced that they have added added 200,000 subscribers from mobile devices like the Apple iPad. Even more interesting is that the Journal added 150,000 mobile subscribers in the last year – the iPad was just released around a year ago.
Les Hinton, head of the newspaper’s publisher, Dow Jones & Co., which is owned by News Corp., said Thursday that about 150,000 of the new subscribers were added in the last 12 months. Subscribers pay about $4 a week to read the Journal on their iPad.
The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp., the creator of the Daily, but that 200,000 user figure does not cover subscribers of the Daily. This fairly substantial number represents how iPads are truly changing the news industry
iOS 4.3 was just released yesterday and the jailbreak community has already been hard at work exploiting the new software. An untethered jailbreak for the new Apple TV update is now available with Seas0nPass and an untethered jailbreak for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch is currently in alpha stage.
The Seas0nPass jailbreak comes from the folks at Firecore and all you need to do is download the jailbreak here, get a micro USB cable, and run the installer. Seas0nPass also includes some fun extras like NitoTV. The latest Apple TV update adds MLB and NBA TV integration and other new features, too.
iOS 4.3 for mobile iOS devices is now alpha stage, with no scheduled release date. Check out a video of that above.
Even though the original iPad is able to run the latest version of iMovie for iOS, Apple has decided to not allow original iPad users to install iMovie directly through the App Store. This decision has to do with the original iPad’s lack of cameras, slower processor, and less RAM.
Original iPad users who want to run iMovie on their original iPad shouldn’t fear as iMovie can work on their iPads… without a jailbreak. Expand Expanding Close
Best Buy has announced that the iPad 2 will be available at normal Best Buy stores in addition to Best Buy Mobile stores starting tomorrow. Sales will begin at 5 PM and Best Buy will hand out purchase vouchers on a first come, first serve basis at 4:30 PM local time.
Best Buy will begin taking in-store-pickup reservations on March 12th. Customers will be able to reserve the iPad 2 unit they wish to purchase and must place a $100 deposit on the device. The deposit is fully refundable should you choose to wait for a Playbook or get a Xoom.
Apple announced this morning that the Apple online store will begin taking iPad 2 orders at 1 AM PST and 4 AM EST on March 11th. Apple retail stores, Target, Walmart, Verizon, and AT&T retail locations will also begin selling Apple’s iPad 2 tomorrow at 5 PM local time.
Apple has updated their iMovie iOS application to work on the iPad 2. The update also brings some features from the iPad 2 version down to the iPhone and iPod touch version.
(update: GarageBand too. – both work on iPad 1 as well)
The popular social magazine application for iPad called Flipboard received a pretty substantial update tonight. The update includes full Instagram integration with photos displayed just like your Facebook, Twitter, and RSS content is displayed.
Flipboard is now said to function up to twice as fast, which is great, and includes some unique new search functions. The new function is called “Social Search” and this “first of its kind” search feature lets you hunt through RSS/blogs content in addition to content from your social networking accounts.
Flipboard 1.2 includes new featured sections curated by the folks at Flipboard in addition to better Google Reader and table of contents support. The update is available for free on the iTunes App Store.
Pictures don’t quite do the iPad 2 justice — it feels really, really great in your hands. Not only does the construction give it a feeling of heft and permanence, but the thin profile combined with the new, tapered edges make holding the device a real joy
-Bezel is slightly thinner
-Has 512 MB of RAM, 1 GHz A5 clocked at 800 MHz
-Clearer speaker
The sound seems clearer if somewhat quieter than the old version, and we can’t say that there’s a major improvement as far as the placement goes.
-Battery life is slightly better than original iPad’s.
Following the release of iOS 4.3 Apple has updated their popular iAd Producer application, which allows anyone to create iAds with little or no programming knowledge. iAd Producer has been updated to version 1.1 and here are the release notes:
Support for full screen banners in ads that target an iPad running iOS 4.3
Creation of ads with multiple banners
Improved compatibility between iAd Producer project files and version management systems
Support for importing and editing JavaScript (JS) and CSS files
Sample projects and plug-ins that demonstrate iAd Producer and iAd JS capabilities
iAd JS is updated to version 1.3.1 and includes numerous bug fixes and enhancements, including the following:
TransitionController now provides notifications that the view will disappear when the visible view controller is changed, rather than when the animation starts
In addition, Apple has updated their iPhone Configuration Utility software for improved compatibility with iOS 4.3 devices. This utility is meant for enterprise users and allows companies to do things like encrypting and provisions devices. Both Mac and Windows downloads are available.
Apple has posted video guided tours for the iPad 2 Garageband, iMovie, and iBooks applications. The walkthroughs range from about 2-6 minutes, depending on the video, and showcase how the applications work on Apple’s iPad 2.
Both the white and black iPad 2s make appearances and the videos are pretty enjoyable to watch. iBooks is already available on the App Store and iMovie and Garageband for iPad will be available for $4.99 on March 11th.
iBooks and Garageband work on the first iPad but iMovie is exclusive to iPad 2 . You can view them all here.
According to Concord Securities Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo the elusive white iPhone 4 is going into production this month, March, for an April 2011 release. The white iPhone 4 was originally scheduled to launch alongside the black iPhone 4 in June 2010 but was delayed due to white paint issues.
This white iPhone 4 is said to be the GSM version (AT&T and other global carriers) and there is no release time frame for the CDMA (Verizon) version. Apple has been said to have worked on a white CDMA iPhone so that device is not totally out of the question.
We were first to report that Apple confirmed the white iPhone 4 for a Spring launch and this April timeframe fits that perfectly. Ming-Chi Kuo has been fairly accurate lately pinpointing correct iPad 2 camera details, the 1024 x 768 display resolution, but pinpointed incorrect processor information.
This April launch date also seems strange as Apple is expected to launch an all new iPhone – “iPhone 5 – in June or July.
Just days after releasing iTunes 10.2 with iOS Home Sharing support, Apple has released iTunes 10.2.1, which we presume is simply a bug fix update.
In addition to the iTunes upgrade, Apple has released updates to Java for Mac OS X for both 10.5 Leopard and 10.6 Snow Leopard. The updates are related to security and can be found in the software update application.
Apple has just seeded a new beta release of Mac OS X 10.6.7 to developers and it carries a build number of 10J868. The latest build has no known issues and Apple is asking developers to focus on Safari, Mac App Store, AirPort, Bonjour, SMB, and Graphics Drivers. A public release date for 10.6.7 has not been provided by Apple.
