Apple has confounded industry watchers who expected the rumored noon launch time and the Mac App Store is available immediately, with over 1,000 apps available to download. Fire up Software Update and go grab it, people…(and read this while you wait). Update: No iWork 11, but you can get the individual apps and Aperture here. Press Release after the break.
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COMPUTERWORLD: We’ll see the reality in a few hours, but there’s already some insight into what to expect from Apple’s new Mac App Store when it opens at 12 (noon) Eastern today. Critically, it’s likely we’ll see iOS developers port their apps at App Store prices, while existing Mac developers attempt to maintain classic pricing levels. (Image above is the holding page, thx to RFly.)
We’ve been hoping Light Peak might make an appearance in new Macs since the technology first made an appearance working with a lab demo Mac Pro in 2009. We’ve been excited for the super-fast and super-flexible connectivity standard ever since — now it seems there’s a way to go before its ready to hit the market, according to Intel.
Remember the chatter about how Android smartphones are set to hit the market at prices under $80? Remember? It was only a few days ago. Well — if you’re in the market for a cheaper smartphone, why not get yourself a slice of the premium experience — an iOS 4-compatible iPhone 3GS for just $49 from AT&T.
That’s right, AT&T will start selling the iPhone 3GS for $49 starting Friday to customers who buy it with a two-year service contract and data plan. This is the deal you’ll get from both AT&T and Apple.
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Hacked iTunes accounts are available for sale across China at prices starting as low as a few dollars, a report explains. These hacked account details (which include credit card details) were being made available for sale via China’s largest retail website, Taobao.
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PajqY0VgYiU&w=670&h=401]
NBC last night teamed up with DC Comics to premiere one of its new shows on iPads in advance of its TV screening on Jan. 9.
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Welcome to the new media order, as described by Nielsen — a new world in which US mobile phone Web users almost eclipse the number of US homes with a TV; a world in which Apple’s iPhone accounts for three of the top ten smartphones used and more.
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COMPUTERWORLD: This is not the year the iPad meets its match. Analyst Michael Gartenberg doesn’t see anything to threaten Apple, even as AAPL moves beyond dominance of the tablet market — as its mind-share grows, iPad is making like the iPod and defining the tablet market.
You like movies? We like movies. We all like movies and now it seems Comcast has a super plan which means you’ll be watching huge amounts of video content on your iPad. Hooray!
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Interesting: it seems the first big deal component Apple may manufacture with its newly-licensed LiquidMetal alloys (beyond that SIM card remover shipped with iPhone before) isn’t the body or the antenna — it’s the battery!
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We’re all agog waiting on the introduction of the Mac App Store tomorrow (Jan 6). It seems likely to eclipse the CES clamor. Now we have this tiny nugget to share: You’ll be able to review Mac Apps just like you review iOS apps.
Sure, we know this isn’t a massive surprise: stop and think about it and it makes perfect sense that you’ll be able to put virtual pen to paper to leave others with your impressions of those Mac Apps you love or loathe.
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The iPad is taking a lesson from the iPod and beginning to seize a place in US schools, some of which are beginning trials to test the efficacy of providing the Apple tablets to kids, even while New York City orders thousands of iPads for its schools.
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It had to happen — Intel introduced its Sandy Bridge processor this week and already intrepid Mac OS X hackers have managed to install Apple’s operating system on Intel’s new chip.
That’s the conclusion from Forrester Research in their latest research which predicts US tablet sales will double this year.
They now anticipate tablet sales last year of (a deeply conservative) 10.3 million units, thanks to stronger than expected iPad sales. And they think iPad will take the ‘lion’s share’ of a market they expect will double in size (to 24.1 million units) this year, despite all those new CES-introduced ‘competitors’.
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COMPUTERWORLD: Smart investors are paying attention to Apple’s [AAPL] rapidly expanding iOS value chain, taking strategic holdings in Apple’s component supply partners, and this last few days has seen markets whisper one name, Skyworks Solutions [SWKS] — will that company drive LTE support to iPhone and iPad 2.0?
Price conscious UK consumers are already grappling with declining public services and public sector jobs and a huge climb in VAT — perhaps that’s why Orange sold just 1,000 iPads in the first week the products went on sale via the carrier in the UK.
As has been widely-reported, Orange is one of the first UK networks to offer the 3G/Wi-Fi iPad at a subsidized price in the UK to customers signing-up for a 24-month service contract. The subsidy means you can get an iPad for just £199, so long as consumers agree to a £25/month contract.
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Apple isn’t at CES once again this year and as per usual Cupertino’s shadow looms above the giant US trade show, where it seems competitors, including Microsoft, intend introducing their own iPad competitors, even as we learn that existing Android tablets may never get a software upgrade. Some highlights:
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Iomega is using CES to introduce Iomega SuperHero, a new combined iPhone docking station that’s also equipped with the capacity to record an iPhone data back-up when the device is inserted into the slot.
Some may argue that this duplicates what Apple’s iTunes does on its own — the media management software takes frequent back-ups of phone data. However, this doesn’t always mean the data you most need is backed-up in time.
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Apple’s dreams to offer enhanced cloud-based services will have to negotiate a dizzyingly irritating range of repressive national governments, with Saudi Arabia now revealed as the latest nation state to have blocked access to MobileMe accounts.
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Apple’s battle with Android continues with the latest Nielsen market share data revealing iOS remains the dominant smartphone OS, at least right now.
Android is picking up users: according to November data from The Nielsen Company, the popularity of the Android OS among those who purchased a smartphone in the last six months (40%) makes it the leading OS among recent acquirers.
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Apple remains the world’s most valuable company (after Exxon) with a market cap that this morning exceeded $300 billion, reports declare. On active trade on the Dow Apple (AAPL) rose $7 to hit a new record intraday high this morning — right now Apple stock sits near $330 per share for a market cap of over $302 billion.
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CES news is beginning to trickle through now, and we anticipate at least some AirPlay-enabled systems from the big audio dynamos will be waiting in the wings; meanwhile, WallWizard will be at the show to demonstrate its range of motorised iPhone/iPad-controlled HDTV mounts.
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You know it will happen when Apple ships iPad 2.0 next year, but clever coders are already seeking slick tricks to bring a little something like FaceTime support to existing iPad models.
Update, we’ve been told (not so nicely) to remove those mold drawings because they are the property of someone else. We’ve complied.
Some purported iPad 2 cases hit the web over the last few weeks as well as some unconfirmed reports claiming the iPad 2 will gain an iPod-touch inspired design with tapered edges. These cases appear to show a new slot on the bottom for an enhanced speaker system as well as a hole for a back camera. These case designs are still of course unconfirmed to be legitimate but 9to5mac has managed to get a hold of some iPad 2 case mold drawings from an Asian case supplier.
As you can see in these drawings (above, below, and after the break) the edges are clearly tapered and the iPad 2’s back is slightly contoured like the current iPad and past iPod touch models. These drawings also add confirmation to the back camera reports and our sources say the camera hole size is close to the size of the iPhone 4’s (which may or may not indicate a similar shooter).
Some new information we have discovered through these drawings is a brand new port opening on the left side of the device. We’re not sure what this opening is for but it is there on these latest iPad 2 design schematics. On the drawings there appears to be an SD card going into the port but that could just be a piece of the case mold machine. The latest rumors point to either a mini USB or a full USB port being present on the iPad 2 so it very well could be one or a combination of the three ports.