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Not all that surprising considering the recent findings in code (and how Apple rolls), but Daring Fireball is saying that the iPod touch coming with dual cameras and Retina Display.
if you wait a few weeks to buy the Touch, you
App Advice got to chat with the founder of AppTrackr, the largest app pirating farm. They learned that the number of jailbreakers who downloaded the application that allows for app pirating is about 4%of iPhone users overall.
Going by Jay Freeman’s (Saurik) claims, 10% of all iPhones are jailbroken so does 4% of 10% jailbreakers mean 40% are pirating?
Microsoft goes on the offensive with its anti-Apple ad campaign, but even as it does it shows us that when it comes to a mobile future, Redmond has feet of clay. The focus on the PC reflects a retro focus on days gone by, as the computer industry leaves the desktop behind for mobile.
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Suddenly 4:3 doesn’t seem like such a bad idea? via BoomTown
Patently Apple details two new product technologies that Apple is investigating for future iOS devices. One called ‘Excite’ allows two devices to communicate with each other and create keys for securely communicating.
Then, perhaps, once those two devices are in communication, Apple can let those devices ‘swap’ contacts, schedules and photos.
…and need discrete Graphics cards on Core i7 processors?
Fortune sat down with Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of Nvidia to talk about the breach of contract lawsuit with Intel that is keeping the two ‘partners’ from working together.
Once aware of Intel’s position, no computer [Apple included] maker would risk buying Nvidia chipsets, Huang maintains. He stopped vying for new chipset business in late 2009. (Intel maintains Nvidia pulled out because it recognized that chipsets were becoming obsolete.) Huang now wants Intel stripped of its license to Nvidia’s portfolio of fundamental patents on graphics and parallel computing technologies — the case that goes to trial in December.
This fight will hurt Apple’s (and everyone else’s) ability to make fast, ultra portable Core iX laptops with respectable GPU performance (Intel’s is still weak and not good enough for MacBook Pros). Think about the MacBook Air: If it has a core i3 processor, it will need a discrete graphics chipset to maintain any level of graphics performance. That will be a tight squeeze.
Also, If Nvidia pulls Intel’s license to use graphics and parallel computing products, Apple technologies like OpenCL might be impacted.
Or, will all of this be moot in a few years because Apple will build its own laptop chips?
Yet more hassle for Cupertino on news that European regulators have joined forces with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to probe Apple’s policies regarding mobile software developers (ie. Flash on iPhones).
The move is part of the regulatory response to Apple’s attempt to ban Flash from its iOS devices, alleging the format isn’t sufficiently advanced for use on smartphones.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has criticized Flash for using too much power, limiting smartphone performance and other problems making it unsuitable for prime time in the mobile age.
Adobe has of course complained about Apple’s move, hence the new probes. The FTC opened up its probe in June. Now, according to sources at the NY Post, the European Union has joined in the investigation, which could last up to six more months.
The European Union recently adopted a new Digital Agenda aimed at encouraging the interoperability of technology.
Two iPad-related funnies: in one we see one of Apple’s tablet devices transformed into a TV through the simple addition of a wooden box, and in the other we see one used on Start Trek almost 23 years ago….
Strike one: iPad TV. Artist Jonas Damon (creative director at New York
Apple CEO, Steve Jobs is friends with Oracle boss, Larry Ellison, and Larry is a tennis buddy with former HP CEO, Mark Hurd, and he’s furious the HP board has let Hurd go following some slight scandal.
Hurd resigned last Friday after the company discovered discrepancies in his expenses claims. He was also being investigated over claims of sexual harassment made by former HP contractor and alleged adult actress Jodie Fisher.
In an email sent to the New York Times, Ellison claims HP just shot itself stupid.
“The HP board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago.”
He observed, “That decision nearly destroyed Apple and would have if Steve hadn
Today’s hot Apple rumor claimed the company will next year introduce new iPads with a much faster processor based on the multicore ARM Cortex-A9 processor. So what can we expect from Apple’s revision of the A9, and will Apple call this the A5, just to keep us guessing?
New Apple TV in manufacturing this December, CDMA model iPhones will have a metal, not a glass back and the future of the iPad sees a 7-inch model and new, faster processor debut in December, that’s this morning’s big rumor round-up…
We’ve been looking at the latest reports from Digitimes (so usual warnings etc.) that Apple intends introducing an upgraded iPad equipped with a Cortex A9 processor next year.
The new 9.7-inch tablet will utilize a version of ARM’s latest processor and will carry 512MB of RAM. Apple’s expected to introduce the device in Q1, the report explains…
Apple will also (apparently) introduce a 7-inch version of the iPad, using the same processor and boasting a 1,024-x768 resolution IPS panel.
More news on the CDMA iPhone (c’mon, who seriously expected Apple to give Google unique access to every US network bar AT&T?) which Digitimes tells us will go into mass production (by Pegatron) in December.
“[Pegatron] will supply to both US-based Verizon Wireless and China-based China Telecom,” Digitimes tells us helpfully.
Big news, likely to start the usual discussions in the usual places too: “The CDMA iPhone’s back plate will be forged from metal materials and will feature an integrated antenna, according to Digitimes Research.”
Does this mean we can expect an iPhone 4.1? Or will this reflect an earlier launch of an upgraded model as some have predicted?
Wait, there’s more: CDMA iPhone sales will begin in January 2011 after a CES announcement by Verizon’s boss, and are expected to account for 35 percent of iPhone sales.
And then — even more, in this fun-filled fact or fiction Monday rumor bag from Digitimes. More news on the Apple TV, I’ll quote direct:
“Apple is also set to launch a new Apple TV using AMD’s Fusion solution and will not include a hard drive. The new device will adopt a user interface similar to the iPhone with support for social networking websites, network multimedia and the App Store. Mass production of the device will start in December, Digitimes Research noted.”
Be ready. (Of course, this also suggests news of 7-inch iPads, CDMA iPhones and the Apple TV won’t make the cut for the August/September music product refresh. If Apple TV doesn’t make the party, then it is possible we’ll be looking at a later launch for the iTunes in the cloud streaming services. That matches some previous reports which have suggested Apple’s huge data center won’t be active until the end of the year. Wait and see.)
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So you think Flash on an iPhone 4 is a good idea? Here’s Frash, a Flash port for iOS running on one of Apple’s smartphones.
“The credit for this of course goes to Comex, the guy behind Spirit and JailbreakMe tools for iOS devices,” notes Redmond Pie.
There’s instructions here for any intrepid jailbreaking iPhone 4 owners. The software also works on iPhone 3GS, iPad (on 3.2.1) and iPod touches.
Aren’t Flash animations crazy annoying?
With Android this week overtaking Apple in terms of smartphone OS sales in the US, it seemed a good moment to reflect that Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, only finally resigned his seat on Apple’s board of directors this week one year ago.
We’ve so been hoping music from The Beatles would make it to iTunes, if only to prevent the current download generation missing out on the band as a slice of cultural history, but it looks like bad news with John Lennon widow, Yoko Ono, telling us “don’t hold your breath”.
“(Apple CEO) Steve Jobs has his own idea and he’s a brilliant guy,” Ono, the 77-year-old widow of John Lennon, told Reuters. “There’s just an element that we’re not very happy about, as people. We are holding out.
Yoko teased us last year with a claim — later deleted — that music from the band would reach iTunes. She’s not teasing anymore, saying, “Don’t hold your breath … for anything.”
We won’t. We’ve kind of given up hope. A shame, as the Yellow Submarine movie seems made for the digital age, at least to our eyes.
One refused to be drawn into any further comment, and suggested that her opinion may not be 100 per cent matched by the other three stakeholders, McCartney, bandmate Ringo Starr and Olivia Harrison, the widow of George Harrison.
I don’t think it will ever happen — at least, not before all the band’s real fans have expired.
While Apple’s developers may sometimes face a Byzantine race to get their apps approved, are required to avoid even a gentle whisper of controversy or nudity, and may even sometimes see their artwork pop up in an Apple patent filing, Cupertino’s dominance over the mobile app world seems set to continue, fighting off all foes.
ABI Research published its latest forecast for the mobile apps market which suggests that despite the growing competition posed by Android, and to a lesser extent, BlackBerry and Nokia, Apple will lead the pack — though Android will be hovering in the tail lights…
Specifically, ABI Research expects mobile application downloads from iOS and Android to account for 78% of all application downloads in 2010, with iOS (the iPhone
Apple is in talks to acquire a Chinese online game developer, Handseeing Information Technology Co., according to China’s Xinhua News Agency, which cited Handseeing Deputy General Manager Tian Bo as its source.
It seems the two sides are negotiating the deal with talks set to end by next month. A deal would represent Apple’s first such acquiisition in China.
The company employs 200 developers engaged in rich internet-based application development, wiht a focus on community and online games. The company had plans to introduce five new games in 2010.
n June 2009, Shenzhen-based Green Pine Capital Partners Co., Ltd. invested CNY 50 million in Handseeing Information in exchange for about 25% to 35% stakes in it. The deal with Apple will quintuple Green Pine Capital’s return on investment.
The company last year won the 2009 Chinese Game Industry Annual Conference Special Award.
And doesn’t the game above look like it offers all the MMORPG fun of Warcraft? And which company has been developing its own community gaming solution recently?
For years, Apple has hosted a special event in early fall (customarily September) where it likes to introduce new music and consumer products. Here’s a cut-out-and-keep guide to all the current speculation as to what the company could reveal in the weeks to come.
Potential proof this morning that the next-generation iPod touch will — at last — host a camera, with French Apple website, HardMac, bringing us pictures of a new case design for the product.
As you can see in the image above, the camera is situated in the back top right of the device (when held from the front). There has been some speculation this will be a -megapixel camera, but most now agree a 3-megapixel camera will appear.
As you can see there’s also a spot for a small flash unit, suggesting the next-gen iPod touch won’t just take pictures, but may — as the iPhone 4 already doees — also take video.
This would imply the iPod touch will be able to run Apple’s iMovie app, pitting the product firmly against the Flip and further reinforcing notions the next-gen iPod touch will also run on an A4 processor.
“This source is very reliable since it is already thanks to it that we were able to predict the camera on the iPod Mini last year,” HardMac notes.
Quietly bubbling this hour is speculation on news that Verizon CEO, Ivan Seidenberg will deliver the opening keynote speech at CES 2011 this coming January.
This is significant in lots of ways: not least because it reflects just how central to the evolution of the consumer electronics market mobile/cell phone devices and infrastructure have become.
What is also significant about this is that the announcement of the speech almost immediately generated speculation the Verizon boss would use the speech to announce the iPhone is coming to Verizon — big news to US consumers.
That this speculation almost instantly appeared reinforces Apple’s place among consumers as the company at the center of the evolution of the mobile space. Apple has become the watchword for mobile innovation.
The CES speech could equally see Seigenberg deliver news regarding Android OS-based devices, potentially including tablets, should Verizon choose to continue its non-iPhone strategy.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs would also be unlikely to want Verizon to make its own iPhone announcement, when you consider how Apple likes to be in good control of its bigger announcements.
The notion that Apple and Verizon may reach some kind of deal matches months of rumor; AT&T’s move this week to secure the US exclusive offer of the latest BlackBerry device also suggests a new landscape in the US smartphone biz.
We’ll wait and see. Meanwhile Google has announced that 200,000 Android devices are being sold each day, up from 160,000 in the last quarter.
Apple’s antennagate hasn’t had a huge effect on iPhone consumers, but has dampened enthusiasm slightly, reveals Changewave.
A July ChangeWave survey has taken an in-depth look at the reactions and opinions of 213 Apple iPhone 4 owners in an attempt to assess what impact antennagate had on Apple’s customers.
“Despite the waves of controversy that surrounded the iPhone 4 within days of its launch, the latest Apple release is outperforming almost every other smart phone in the industry in terms of overall customer satisfaction and meeting owners
We knew it was coming after we saw PDFs used as a jailbreak vehicle earlier this week, now it has begun: a German government agency has issued an official warning of potential security problems with iOS devices.
The Federal Office for Information Security said on Wednesday that the OS has ‘two critical weak points for which no patch exists.’
Naturally, this includes opening a manipulated website or PDF file, which could let criminals grab your passwords and emails.
While no attacks have been observed yet, the government warns they must be expected. Users are advised to avoid opening PDFs and not to visit websites they don’t trust.
iPhones using iOS versions 3.1.2-4.0.1., iPads using iOS 3.2-3.2.1 and iPod touch devices using iOS 3.1.2.-4.0 are affected, the FOIS warns.
As Seth Weintraub notes, “Your iOS device is insecure in such a big and obvious way right now. You should be extremely careful of what sites you visit.”
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You spend endless hours on Facebook using the crappy app that hasn’t even been updated for the iPad yet, but you still spend time there, if only you could just call your friends now and then — good news — you can! Vonage today introduced the Vonage Mobile application for Facebook.
Vonage Mobile allows users to make free mobile calls to all of their Facebook friends who have the app, anywhere in the world, directly from their friends list, with a single touch.
Available for iPhone, iPod touch and Android devices, the service works over WIFi and 3G/4G networks in most countries.
The app works with a user’s existing community of Facebook friends, you just click on a friend to dial them up. You need to install the app and enter your Facebook log in to get it moving.
Overall, this seems an impressive move on the part of Vonage, marshalling the power of social networks with systems as in vogue as iPhone and Android to boost take-up of its calling services.
“The Vonage Mobile app for Facebook is a tangible example of our commitment to deliver extraordinary value and a better communications experience for individuals and their social networks, across broadband-enabled devices, around the world,” said Marc Lefar, Chief Executive Officer of Vonage Holdings Corp.
“This is just the start. In the future we will expand on this service to include a wide range of integrated voice and messaging services that change the way people communicate.”
The application can be downloaded from the Android Market in 48 countries and from the iTunes Store in 87 countries. Friends need to have the app in order that you can call them.
Thanks to Asymco’s Horace Dedlu and his fascinating selection of highly informative AAPL-related graphs, as introduced to us by Apple 2.0.
This image shows Apple’s sales by product across the last few years – nice to see sales have pretty much quadrupled since 2005.
The chart below shows Apple’s holdings in cash and cash equivalents in three types of investments, one of which — long term marketable securities — is “not included by many financial reporting services,” writes Apple 2.0.
