Apple

6,154 'Apple News' stories November 2008 - February 2013

Apple News and Brief History

Before you can properly understand Apple News, it’s important to know its history. Apple was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976. In 1977, Apple’s sales were growing with the success of its early computers. Within a few years, Jobs and Wozniak hired designers and a production line crew. Apple went public in 1980 and was an instant success. Over the next few years, Apple shipped new computers featuring new graphical user interfaces, such as the original Macintosh in 1984. As the market for personal computers expanded through the 1990s, Apple lost market share to the cheaper Microsoft Windows on PC clones. Eventually, Wozniak and Jobs both left Apple. Jobs would go on to found NeXT and would return to Apple when NeXT was acquired in the late 90s. Apple then began a journey to the great second act in the history of the business world.

Since the release of the iPod in 2001, Apple has become a major player once again in the technology industry. After releasing the iPhone in 2007, the iPad in 2010, and the Apple Watch in 2015, Apple is now one of the largest companies in the world. Apple’s worldwide annual revenue totaled $274.5 billion for its 2020 fiscal year.

Today, Apple operates retail stores all across the world, has a growing services division, and an ever-expanding hardware lineup. The technology industry follows Apple news to see where the company is headed in the future.

Keep reading for the latest Apple news

Belkin announces 7mm thin ‘FastFit’ Bluetooth keyboard case for iPad mini

Jordan Kahn Feb 6 2013 - 9:21 am PT

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Not to be outdone by Logitech’s new Ultrathin keyboard cover for iPad mini, Belkin announced its own Bluetooth keyboard cover for Apple’s smaller iPad on Wednesday that is actually even thinner than Logitech’s. The Belkin FastFit keyboard case is only slightly thinner at 7mm thick when compared to the Ultrathin’s 7.3mm, and it provides approximately the same three-month battery life or a little over 150 days active use. Other features include a 200mAh battery, magnetic snap-on keyboard with auto-wake, and a body made of anodized aircraft-grade aluminum. The FastFit also includes Belkin’s TruType keyboard:

The keyboard also features Belkin’s TruType keyboard, which provides well-spaced keys for fast and accurate typing. Each key has a spring mechanism that provides tactile feedback when struck, enabling fast, intuitive, and comfortable typing. The keyboard’s TruType keys are larger than most 7″ keyboards, and perform like laptop-type keys, allowing for fast typing with fewer errors than other small keyboards.

The FastFit Keyboard Case for iPad mini will be available through Belkin’s website for $79.99—the same price as Logitech’s Ultrathin keyboard cover.

WSJ says Apple’s PR goes on offensive as competition heats up

Jordan Kahn Feb 5 2013 - 12:42 pm PT

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The Wall Street Journal is out with a report today that claimed Apple’s press relations team has tried “a little harder to get its message out” by sending members of the press an increasing number of positive third-party reports about the company. The Wall Street Journal described one of the reports Apple PR sent out as a “study predicting that by 2014, Apple will be as accepted in the enterprise as Microsoft is today.” According to article, Apple has sent out five reports in a month since the starting of 2013, representing quite an increase compared to the past.

Apple issued a press release last month for the minor iOS 6.1 release, as well as the 128GB iPad released today ahead of Microsoft’s new 128GB Surface product. The Wall Street Journal said a person familiar with the matter claimed it’s a “recognition that competition is heating up.”

Apple, and indeed virtually all its competitors, send reporters favorable studies from time to time. But the five reports Apple has sent since the start of the year, mostly related to mobile market share, represent more than recent months… Apple has long been willing to sing its own praises when it needs to, issuing press releases about major milestones, products and sales. So rather than a big shift, the latest moves represent a recognition that competition is heating up, a person familiar with the matter says. Apple also has more to cheer internationally, with growth in countries like China very strong.

MacMall Special: Lowest prices on MacBook Airs plus Free Parallels & Free FedEx Overnight until Fri 9:15PM ET

9to5 Staff Feb 5 2013 - 11:32 am PT

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From 9to5Toys.com and 9to5Mac Product Pages comes a special deal from MacMall for our readers who are looking for MacBook Airs at the lowest prices. Across the board, Macmall has the lowest prices when coupled with additional 3% off 9to5Mac promo code NTFMMWB38592

MacMall goes beyond lowest prices: Until Friday at 9:15PM ET, readers will get free overnight shipping and a free copy of Parallels Desktop with every order. MacMall also offers financing and/or no payments for 6 months and accepts payments with Paypal or Amazon as well as major credit cards. This week’s MacMall specials include half off Quickbooks 2013 for Mac, iPad SmartCovers starting at $26.99 and other Blowout deals on peripherals.

MacMall has additional MacBook Air 8GB BTO configurations that knock an additional 3% off the already lowest prices we could find:
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‘Radio Buy Buttons’ found in iOS 6.1 via newly jailbroken iPads, could mean new functionality coming

Seth Weintraub Feb 4 2013 - 11:03 pm PT

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‘Radio Buy’ buttons, above, enlarged, put together from files, below

Having a look around our newly jailbroken iPads with iFunBox, we happened on a new set of files in the iPad Music.app. The files are called some variation of “radio button” with an icon that looks similar to the radio icon that used to be in iTunes for Mac (it was traded for a more prominent top location in iTunes 11 without the antenna tower). The iPad music app currently doesn’t have any radio functionality, so our first thought was that Apple would be adding an iTunes-like ‘traditional’ streaming radio to the iPad. Notably, jailbroken iPhones don’t contain these files in the Music app.

More interestingly, the name of these button files and are labeled with “buy” in the filename. This could imply exciting new functionality. We heard no shortage of rumors that Apple planned to take on the Pandoras and Spotifys of the world with its own ‘Radio’ service, and Bloomberg predicted a Q1 2013 (current) launch…

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Today’s iPhone 5 Evasi0n Jailbreak sees record numbers: Here are 10 cool things to do with your newly-Jailbroken iOS device

Jordan Kahn Feb 4 2013 - 2:22 pm PT

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Wow! 270,000+ active users on http://t.co/YQrXEeVQ!!! #evasi0n

— pod2g (@pod2g) February 4, 2013

If you have not jailbroken an iOS device in a while, you might wonder what all the excitement is surrounding today’s launch of the evasi0n jailbreak tool for iOS 6. (Note: Some people are having issues with the default Apple Weather app after install.)

[tweet https://twitter.com/MuscleNerd/status/298543670888644608]

Over the years, many features that were once jailbreak-only made their way to iOS or via third parties through the App Store. However, there are still many things you can do with jailbreak tweaks that aren’t possible on non-jailbroken devices. With over 270,000 active users at any one time on evasi0n today, we put together a list of some of the most interesting and useful tweaks that caught our attention in recent months:

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Save over 60% off of SanDisk USB, SD Card storage at Amazon: 64GB starting at $32

9to5 Staff Feb 4 2013 - 7:30 am PT

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From 9to5toys.com (Twitter, Feed, Facebook), today:

Today only, Amazon offers significant savings on a wide variety of SanDisk portable storage products. Best Bets are the 64GB SanDisk Cruzer USB Flash drive for $31.99 and the speedy 30MB/S 64GB Ultra SDXC Card for $41.99. Both ship free and are the lowest pries we’ve seen.
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iPhone for the first time takes top spot from Nokia for global mobile internet usage

Jordan Kahn Feb 4 2013 - 7:04 am PT

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Web analytics firm StatCounter is out today with updated stats for the month of January 2013. When it comes to Internet usage, iPhone users this month held the No. 1 spot as Nokia experienced a significant decline during 2012. With Nokia’s share of mobile internet usage down 15.52-percent from 37.67-percent last January to just 22.15-percent this year, Apple was able to move into the No. 1 position for the first time despite experiencing a decline of 2.81-percent. Apple took 25.86-percent of mobile Internet usage in January, down from 28.67-percent last year. Nokia was also bumped to third position with Samsung gaining 7.85-percent to move into the No. 2 spot. However, it’s important to point out that StatCounter didn’t include iPads in its definition of mobile devices.

As for mobile OS, StatCounter has Android at 37 percent of the market in January up from 33.19-percent in December. In comparison, iPhone and iPod held 25.85-percent of the global OS share, up from 23.26-percent in December. Keeping in mind that StatCounter didn’t include iPads in these stats, we also looked a report for January from NetApplications (pictured below) that has iOS with iPads included at 60.56-percent of the market during the month:
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iMac shipping times continue to slip in EU to 4-6 weeks, as iPad mini shipping estimates improve

Jordan Kahn Feb 4 2013 - 5:34 am PT

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We told you last month that shipping times for Apple’s new 21.5-inch iMacs slipped from an estimated delivery of 7 to 10 business days to 2 to 3 weeks. Today, iMacs are continuing to experience supply shortages with shipping times on many international Apple Stores once again pushed back. As noted by French language blog macg.co, Apple’s online store is now listing the 21.5-inch iMac as shipping in 3 to 4 weeks and the 27-inch model as available in 4 to 6 weeks in at least France. While Apple has yet to update its U.S. website with the new shipping times, Apple stores in Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland, the Netherlands, and many other European Union countries are now listing the longer wait times for new iMacs.

We heard that Apple expects to reach a supply and demand balance for the new iMacs (and iPad mini) within the next couple of months, but CEO Tim Cook recently noted that supply constraints will most likely continue into Q1. The same thing goes for Apple’s new iPad mini that, as of this week, is now shipping with an improved delivery time of 1 to 3 business days in at least the U.S. and Canada:

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Java browser plug-in on OS X re-enabled with update to Java 7

Jordan Kahn Feb 1 2013 - 2:02 pm PT

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Reports from earlier this week noted Apple had recently blocked Java 7 browser plug-ins again on OS X. While the exact reason was unclear, a terminal workaround is no longer required. Oracle released update 13 for Java 7 for Mac OS X today. The critical patch brings over 50 new security fixes for Jave SE products, in addition to re-enabling plug-ins on OS X.

The original Critical Patch Update for Java SE – February 2013 was scheduled to be released on February 19th, but Oracle decided to accelerate the release of this Critical Patch Update because active exploitation “in the wild” of one of the vulnerabilities affecting the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) in desktop browsers, was addressed with this Critical Patch Update.

Atari founder on Finding the next Steve Jobs (Video)

Jordan Kahn Feb 1 2013 - 12:43 pm PT

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MHO3labS4o&start=780

TNW pointed us to this video of Atari founder Nolan Bushnell giving a speech at Campus Party Brazil. On top of talking about the early days of Atari and the video game industry, Bushnell also told a few stories about Steve Jobs’ days as an employee at Atari in promotion of his upcoming book “Finding the next Steve Jobs.” Around 13 minutes into the video, Bushnell spoke about giving Jobs and Woz Atari parts for the first Apple computers, Jobs’ work ethic, and told a few other Apple-related stories throughout his talk.

Can Apple get away with another “S” iPhone?

Jordan Kahn Feb 1 2013 - 11:37 am PT

1 Comment

There have been many rumors this year about what upgrades Apple will include in its anticipated annual iPhone refresh. Most agree Apple will move to release two iPhones, but there is some debate about what those phones will be.

Rumor has it that Apple is working on a low-cost iPhone that will do away with the current iPhone design and instead use a new plastic case with a curved back similar to previous iPods. Despite being a less expensive device, that could make things even trickier for Apple to impress with an iPhone 5S upgrade that is largely expected to retain the “old” design of the currently shipping iPhone 5. The devices from competitors are making things even more difficult for Apple’s expected “S” upgrade. Rumors of a 4.8-inch iPhone prototype that recently surfaced don’t seem likely for the next iPhone, but that hasn’t stopped mainstream media and analysts from reporting that Apple is losing out on iPhone sales as consumers opt for larger screen devices. However, that might now be the case, at least not in the United States, with Strategy Analytics and NPD estimating Apple beat Samsung to become the No.1 phone vendor in Q4 2012. Will consumers want or expect a larger screen on the next iPhone, or will Apple’s usual minor refresh suffice?

What did past S upgrades have?
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13-inch Retina MacBook Pro for $1515, 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro $1980 at Amazon, Best Buy

9to5 Staff Feb 1 2013 - 9:28 am PT

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From 9to5Toys.com:

Amazon dropped the price of the Retina MacBook Pro to $1999 with free shipping. That’s tied for the lowest price we’ve ever seen on this product. Apple sells the refurb for $100 less (with Tax in more locations which negates the savings).

Amazon also has the 13-inch MacBook Pro for $1515.59. The sale compares with $1469 for a refurb with the same Tax equalizer.

The sale is in response to Best Buy knocking $200 off MacBook Pros (and $20 more off from in-store pickup). The effective price of a 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro is $1980.

If you are holding out for a MacBook Air, check back with us tomorrow, we’ll have the lowest prices you can find on MacBook Airs across the board.
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FTC recommends Apple, Google, BlackBerry, Microsoft, & app devs improve mobile privacy disclosures

Jordan Kahn Feb 1 2013 - 8:07 am PT

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The Federal Trade Commission released a report today that recommends how owners of mobile platforms can better inform consumers about how their data is being handled. The FTC named a number of companies in its report, including: Amazon, Apple, BlackBerry, Google, and Microsoft, as well as “application (app) developers, advertising networks and analytics companies, and app developer trade associations.”

The recommendations follow the FTC updating its online child privacy law to require parental consent before collecting data from children under the age of 13. It also came as Path agreed to pay an $800,000 settlement to the FTC forviolations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protections Act. Path posted a response to the FTC settlement on its website.

In the report, titled “Mobile Privacy Disclosures, Building Trust Through Transparency,” the FTC issued a number of recommendations. The FTC recommended that all platform owners “Provide just-in-time disclosures to consumers and obtain their affirmative express consent before allowing apps to access sensitive content like geolocation.” It recommended app developers take the same measures in addition to having “a privacy policy and make sure it is easily accessible through the app stores.” The report also suggested that companies implement a ” a one-stop “dashboard” into their operating systems so consumers can easily view how their data is being handled by specific apps.

Other recommendations the FTC asked Apple and others to implement include new icons that “depict the transmission of user data” and a “Do Not Track” option for users to easily opt out of their data being sent to third parties.

“FTC staff strongly encourages companies in the mobile ecosystem to work expeditiously to implement the recommendations in this report. Doing so likely will result in enhancing the consumer trust that is so vital to companies operating in the mobile environment. Moving forward, as the mobile landscape evolves, the FTC will continue to closely monitor developments in this space and consider additional ways it can help businesses effectively provide privacy information to consumers,” the report states.

A full list of the recommendations made by the FTC for mobile platform owners, advertising agencies, and app developers is below:
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Court again rejects Apple’s attempt at Samsung Galaxy Nexus sales ban

Jordan Kahn Jan 31 2013 - 11:59 am PT

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Reuters reported today that a U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington rejected Apple’s attempt to get a sales ban on Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus. Apple asked the court to revisit a previous decision to reject the company’s request for the sales ban leading up to a full trial set for March 2014. The case involved patents not included in the California trial that awarded Apple a $1.05 billion verdict against Samsung.

Apple wanted the full Federal Circuit of Appeals, made up of nine active judges, to reverse the earlier ruling. But in a brief order on Thursday, the court rejected Apple’s request without detailed explanation or any published dissents… Several experts had believed that Apple faced long odds, as the legal issues in play were not considered controversial enough to spur full court review.

Reuters noted that Apple could still appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court:

Apple could still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the high court has made it more difficult for patent plaintiffs to secure sales injunctions in recent years.

Apple invents laser projected keyboard & depth perception system, reveals ad-hoc cash dispensing network

Jordan Kahn Jan 31 2013 - 7:12 am PT

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The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a couple of interesting patent applications from Apple today. One patent described various embodiments of a depth perception system and laser projection, while another concerned an “ad-hoc cash dispensing network” that would turn iPhone users into walking ATMs.

PatentlyApple first covered the patent and highlighted several possibilities of using cameras and a laser source to determine the distance of an object and implement various applications based on detection of depth. The report explained an embodiment of the invention by describing how Apple could use the system integrated into, for example, an iMac. PatentlyApple also described how Apple could use the invention for laser projected keyboard applications (as pictured above):

In this example, the iMac is able to detect a user approaching it and activate a particular program, application, awake from sleep or power save mode, and the like… In patent FIG. 12, we see a user positioned in front of this future iMac such that the first and second beams 206a, 206b may at least partially intersect the user. The iMac’s updated iSight Camera will be able to determine the distance that the user is from iMac. The depth perception system increases the sensitivity of user detection for the iMac so that it could make a distinction between the user and an occupied chair… In Apple’s patent FIG. 11A shown below, we see the depth perception system incorporated into a mobile electronic device such as an iPad. In this example, the system may be used in combination with a projected control panel 115 (such as a keyboard, audio/video controls, and so on). The control panel 115 may be a light pattern projected from a light source onto a surface (e.g., table or desk), the control panel 115 may include different light shapes, colors, or the like for representing different inputs.

Unwiredview.com pointed us to the “ad-hoc cash dispensing network” patent published today and recently filed by Apple that would essentially allow iOS users to become ATMs for other iPhone users. Just imagine being able to withdraw cash when there simply isn’t an ATM or bank nearby. Apple’s system would allow other close by iPhone users to lend you cash, with the borrowed money returned to the lender through your iTunes account/credit card for a small fee (as pictured in the patent drawing below):

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Evasi0n: First untethered iPhone 5 jailbreak to be released Sunday; all other iOS 6.1 devices too

9to5 Staff Jan 30 2013 - 6:16 pm PT

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Update: It appears that the developers are planning a Monday release because testing took a little longer than previously thought.

With each new release of an iPhone, jailbreaking becomes just one step more difficult. Throw in constant OS updates, and it’s amazing the hacker community is able to jailbreak it at all. So, it’s no surprise it has taken more than four months for an official jailbreak to be released for the iPhone 5.

On Sunday, that may change. A group of jailbreakers, known as the Evad3rs, plan to release its jailbreak tool: Evasi0n. The website, which claimed the team is “Processing the GUI”, has a very clean and simple layout. If all goes as planned and Evasi0n is released on Sunday, it very well may be the easiest jailbreak tool since JailBreakMe.

Evasi0n is an iOS 6.1 jailbreak said to support the iPhone 5, 4S, 4, 3GS, fourth- and fifth-generation iPod Touch, as well as the iPad mini and third- and fourth-generation iPad. Oh, and it is legal after all.

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Valve’s Gabe Newell says Apple TV, not consoles, is the biggest threat to Steam Box

Jordan Kahn Jan 30 2013 - 3:23 pm PT

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Polygon covered a recent talk today given by Valve’s Gabe Newell at the University of Texas, where he said Apple, not the big gaming console makers, is the biggest threat for the company’s upcoming Linux-based Steam Box hardware. Newell said he thought the biggest challenge for bringing the massively popular Steam service to the TV will be if “Apple moves on the living room before the PC industry sort of gets its act together.” He also said Apple could “shut out the open-source creativity” that Steam hopes to bring to the living room:

“The threat right now is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share, and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform,” Newell said. “I think that there’s a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging — I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily. The question is can we make enough progress in the PC space to establish ourselves there, and also figure out better ways of addressing mobile before Apple takes over the living room?”

He continued:

“The biggest challenge, I don’t think is from the consoles,” Newell said. “I think the biggest challenge is that Apple moves on the living room before the PC industry sort of gets its act together.”

Apple releases MacBook SMC firmware updates fixing rare battery issue

Jordan Kahn Jan 30 2013 - 2:43 pm PT

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Apple released updates today for MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air, and they are for a rare issue that causes batteries with more than 1000-charge cycles to shut down or stop working. The updates are available through Software Update in the Mac App Store now. Links to each update is on Apple’s website below:

This update addresses a rare issue on some Apple notebooks where a battery that has accumulated more than 1000 charge cycles may unexpectedly shut down or stop functioning.

MacBook SMC Firmware Update 1.5
MacBook Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.6
MacBook Air SMC Update v1.8

Report: iPhone user’s monthly carrier bills highest on average, 60 percent over $100/month

Jordan Kahn Jan 30 2013 - 6:51 am PT

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According to a new report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (via AllThingsD), iPhone users are currently spending the most on average for monthly carrier bills. The research firm polled smartphone users between October and December 2012 and found 59 percent of iOS users spend over $100. Ten percent, of which, fall in the over $200 per month category. That’s compared to the 53 percent of Android users who spend over $100 (7 percent over $200). According to CIRP, it’s not iPhone users’ usage habits but instead more expensive data plans thanks to higher subsidies paid by carriers. That’s something T-Mobile hopes to change with its upcoming monthly installment plans, but other major carriers are also apparently very intrigued with the idea.

“Given the subsidies on iPhones, the carriers are working hard to make their money back during the course of the contract,” said CIRP’s Josh Levitz. “With the exception of perhaps the hottest Android phones, we think the subsidies on Android phones are lower, so the carriers make more money even with slightly lower per-subscriber revenue.”

App Store earning over 3.5 times as much as Google Play with record revenue in December

Jordan Kahn Jan 30 2013 - 6:29 am PT

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App Annie is out today with its January 2013 index that covers revenue from mobile app sales in the App Store and on Google Play. While Apple was able to hit record revenues in December, increasing revenue by one-third during the month and growing by one-fifth from Q3 to Q4, Android posted even stronger growth by doubling revenue quarter-over-quarter. Despite stronger growth for Android, according to the report, the App Store earned 3.5 times as much revenue as Google Play during December 2012. Bloomberg noted that App Annie doesn’t provide exact figures for revenue, as it currently sells that data, but the report provided a break down of revenue by country and publisher. Apple has previously said the App Store brought in around $333 million per month between June and December.

iOS App Store revenue grew by about one-fifth from Q3 to Q4. In particular, it achieved record revenues in December, as monthly revenue increased by about one-third from November to December 2012; this gain surpassed even the standout revenue increase from November to December last year. As highly-desired holiday gifts in many countries, new iPhones and iPads (including the recently launched iPad Mini) typically lead to a jump in app downloads, and consequently, app revenue.

When it comes to revenue by country, App Annie said that United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada continued to account for 60 percent of App Store revenue in Q4. However, China experienced significant growth during the quarter:
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On location at Macworld/iWorld 2013

Seth Weintraub Jan 29 2013 - 10:13 pm PT

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As per usual, 9to5mac is on the scene here in San Francisco for Macworld|iWorld 2013. We’ve got some exciting things lined up for this year and we’re looking forward to seeing what the Apple community has on offer. Our coverage starts tomorrow morning.

A quick pre-setup run through video of the main exhibition hall is below:
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New Apple TV 3,2 to be half centimeter smaller, A5X processor, updated wireless (Updated)

9to5 Staff Jan 29 2013 - 3:03 pm PT

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As we discovered yesterday, Apple is updating its Apple TV ever so slightly…soon. Today, the Federal Communications Commission released the dimensions of this new Apple TV product (via Engadget) in its labeling documentation. The 3,2 is 93.78mm square compared to the 98mm of the current model, but we’re not quite sure why Apple would go through the trouble of making it just a little smaller.

However, Apple likely accomplished the shrinkage with new hardware including the Broadcom BCM4334 Wireless chip (code, right) that can also incidentally pick up FM radio (just like the dormant FM radio receiver in the same chip inside iOS devices).

AnandTech says the new device might also sport an A5X processor. This would be similar to the chip found in the discontinued third-generation iPad. Rebooting production of this chip could help for that rumored Retina iPad mini.

We also picked up some new labeling (thanks Sonny!) from the firmware yesterday and compared it:

Hackers have also discovered there is an upgraded CPU that might save a little space.

[tweet https://twitter.com/iH8sn0w/status/295960760251715584]

UPDATE:

[tweet https://twitter.com/markgurman/status/296673150098354177]

Despite the information found in the FCC documents, an Apple spokesperson gave the following statement to TNW: “We sometimes make component changes which require an updated model number for regulatory approval. The component changes we made don’t affect product features and Apple TV customers will continue to have the same great user experience.”

The Verge also “learned” that there’s no redesign in the works, and the new Apple TV will look identical in size and appearance to the current one.

The 64GB version of Surface Pro has 23GB of free storage out of the box?!

Jordan Kahn Jan 29 2013 - 11:17 am PT

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Imagine if the 32GB iPad only had that much free space?

When we posted a comparison of the iPad 4 and Microsoft’s new $999 128GB Surface Pro, Apple was yet to introduce its new 128GB iPad with Retina display. Apple announced this morning that the new iPad model would début Feb. 5 starting at $799, and that’s an attractive offer for those considering a Surface Pro when it goes on sale Feb. 9. Making the new 128GB iPad an even more attractive option for pros looking at more storage, Microsoft confirmed today that 45GB of space would be dedicated to Windows 8 and preloaded apps. This leaves customers of the 128GB Surface Pro with 83GB of free storage (via Engadget):

“The 128 GB version of Surface Pro has 83 GB of free storage out of the box. The 64GB version of Surface Pro has 23GB of free storage out of the box. Of course, Surface Pro has a USB 3.0 port for connectivity with almost limitless storage options, including external hard drives and USB flash drives. Surface also comes pre-loaded with SkyDrive, allowing you to store up to 7GB of content in the cloud for free. The device also includes a microSDXC card slot that lets you store up to 64GB of additional content to your device. Customers can also free up additional storage space by creating a backup bootable USB and deleting the recovery partition.”

Peak Mac — Will Apple ever sell 5M Macs in a quarter again?

Seth Weintraub Jan 29 2013 - 10:42 am PT

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The bad news

Dan Frommer wrote a post that I was going to write but never finished. His is better anyway. The not-recommended TL;DR is: Even though CEO Tim Cook said there were plenty of reasons (5) for the decline of Mac growth, including iMac constraints, Mac sales for the year are heading toward “flat.” From our liveblog, you can hear Cook’s comments specifically:

On declining Mac numbers: Cook: “If you look at the previous year, our Mac sales were about 5.2M. The difference is 1.1… iMac were down by 700k units Y-O-Y…. There were limited weeks of ramping on these products (iMacs) during the quarter.” We left the quarter with significant constraints on iMacs. Our sales would have been significantly higher… Our channel inventory was down by over 100K units at the beginning of the quarter.

–Cook says market for PCs is weak… “we sold 23 million iPads, we obviously could have sold more than this because we could not build enough iPad minis to come into a demand balance… Im sure there was some cannibalization of Macs there.” If you look at our portables alone we were inline with IDC’s projections of market growth.

While not making enough iMacs for Christmas shopping was a significant and uncharacteristic operational misstep, it doesn’t account for the significant drop in Mac sales overall year-over-year and even sequentially. iMacs and desktops in general have been a declining component of the Mac market as MacBooks take over the space, so even a significant drop in iMac sales wouldn’t account for a 20-percent drop year-over-year and sequentially. Apple also released new Mac Minis and 13-inch Retina MacBook Pros in the quarter, and the rest of the Mac lineup (including the Mac Pro) was updated just a few months before the quarter began.

Cook rationalized why Macs weren’t even flat and are “inline with IDC’s projections,” even though Macs have outgrown the market for something like 20 consecutive quarters previously.

Without a major hardware change or drastic price cuts, it is hard to imagine Apple having another 5 million Mac quarter. It would seem that, like iPods a few years ago, Macs have peaked. Apple’s iPods were cannibalized by iPhones.

The good news is that Apple is cannibalizing its own Mac growth (as well as overall PC growth) with its own high-margin iPads—and lots of them. In fact, Macs now represent significantly less than 15 percent of the total of combined numbers (below and corresponding revenues).

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