Apple

6,140 'Apple News' stories November 2008 - December 2010

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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

Toshiba and Apple working on a display plant

Seth Weintraub Dec 13 2010 - 11:31 am PT

Reuters reports that Apple and Toshiba are working together on a plant to make displays for iOS devices.

Toshiba Corp will spend about 100 billion yen ($1.19 billion) to build a factory for making small LCD panels, mainly to supply to Apple Inc’s iPhones, the Nikkei business daily said.The company’s wholly owned unit, Toshiba Mobile Display Co, will construct the facility in Ishikawa prefecture and the plant will churn out low-temperature polysilicon LCD panels, which allow for high-resolution images, the paper said.Work on the plant will start by early next year, with the production due to begin in the second half of 2011, Nikkei said.Toshiba Mobile Display already makes low-temperature polysilicon LCD panels at a facility in the prefecture and its monthly production capacity of 8.55 million units is projected to more than double with the new factory, the daily said. Apple will invest in a portion of the investment for the factory, the Nikkei said.

What’s interesting is that current LCD display leaders from Korea,Samsung and LG (maker of the Retina Display), are not only competing with Apple but also selling products that go into Apple products to others. For instance, Apple CEO Steve Jobs told the WWDC audience that he thought that Apple would have the lead in displays for years with the Retina, yet Sharp and other manufacturers released Android devices with the same LG display within months of the iPhone. LG also had a display deal with Apple and gave Apple a few month head start on those awesome 27″ panels before giving them to Dell as well.

Samsung, who make the A4 CPU and RAM for Apple’s iOS products, has been severely constrained with its high end Super-AMOLED display that powers its Galaxy S phones. Those phones have been the primary high-end Android competition for the iPhone.

Perhaps Apple is trying to move away from doing business with its hardware competitors.

The bad news in this regard is that Toshiba also has just started to make Android devices.

Does Verizon need iPhone more than it has been letting on?

9to5 Staff Dec 13 2010 - 6:25 am PT

Asymco has an interesting report today in which analyst Horace Dediu argues that Verizon may need the iPhone more than its letting on, and suggests Google Android may not be as big a business as many think it to be.

To be fair, while Dediu makes a good argument for his points, critics are already pointing out that they are based on data which may not be 100 per cent accurate, and that Verizon’s best month was in August, two months after iPhone 4 shipped. (Though it was only a slightly better month on back of hype around new product from Samsung).

We’ve had an update from the sources of the orginal data, which is posted at the foot of this article:

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Judge dismisses Allen's Apple patent violation lawsuit

9to5 Staff Dec 13 2010 - 3:45 am PT

Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s patent trolling lawsuit filed against Apple, Facebook, Google, YouTube and others has been dismissed by the courts.

“Plaintiff has failed to identify the infringing products or devices with any specificity,” wrote U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman in her order to dismiss. “The Court and Defendants are left to guess what devices infringe on the four patents.

Allen was claiming that the companies had violated four patents developed by Internal Research (a research firm he funded).
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iPad now available at BestBuy.com

Mark Gurman Dec 11 2010 - 10:48 pm PT

Apple has just added Best Buy’s online store as another channel for iPad sales. Prior to today, customers were only able to purchase iPads at BestBuy.com as reservations for retail pickup. Now, all six models of iPad are available for purchase with free shipping in the US. The current shipping time from BestBuy.com is 6-10 business days with guaranteed delivery before Christmas for the WiFi-only models. BestBuy.com is now the third online store to sell the iPad with a brief stint at Amazon being the first and Verizon being second. Oh, and BestBuy.com charges $0.99 more than Apple – Dealbreaker?!

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What's new on Ping? Social Playlists

Seth Weintraub Dec 10 2010 - 7:38 pm PT

Playlists allow you to share or create playlists with friends. OK. (Thanks D. Jolesch!)

Check out how, below:

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Job title: Verizon iPad System Engineers

Mark Gurman Dec 10 2010 - 4:37 pm PT

Apple has been looking for CDMA engineers since 2008 (not since yesterday!) but Apple has just started looking for Verizon iPad engineers in New York this week. Aren’t Verizon iPads just Wifi iPads with Mifis – there isn’t any special skills that are required by Verizon are there? Why is there a need for a special ‘Verizon version’?

Certainly Verizon’s business customers need SE help with the iPad that Verizon sells now. However, Apple is likely engineering up for April as well.

Apple is building a version of the iPad 2 that will work on Verizon’s wireless network either in conjunction with GSM networks with a Gobi-like Chip (just like the Google ChomeOS CR-48) or as a seperate product/version.

Has Apple turned off MobileMe users with short passwords?

Seth Weintraub Dec 10 2010 - 10:50 am PT

Word is coming in from Europe that Apple is forcing users with under eight characters and without both a number and a letter to reset their passwords today. The mandate is an invisible one and some users who don’t meet the criteria are just getting empty login failures. The fix is easy. Just head over to the MobileMe and reset your password to one with the appropriate strength.

IMAP Mail and other native applications will not have been affected.

In a possibly related note (and/or some unfortunate timing), Apple Discussion Forums are down for some. If you look at the iPhone forums for example, you’ll see no posts after about 1 AM this morning. (image below)
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iPad 2.0 cameras reaffirmed, who are the iPad users?

9to5 Staff Dec 10 2010 - 4:02 am PT

COMPUTERWORLD: Fresh research from the Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) offers us a few insights into the behavior of iPad users, suggesting the device may well diminish newspaper print sales in future. Overnight reports also confirm weve been on track with our predictions for the iPad 2.0, which, it appears, will indeed host cameras front and rear.

Apple's iPhone/iPad factory partner now has a million recruits

9to5 Staff Dec 10 2010 - 3:57 am PT

Apple’s iPhone and iPad supply partner, Foxconn, this morning claimed its China workforce now exceeds one million workers — and the company continues to expand. A huge recruitment drive is taking place as the company rushes to build numbers to meet anticipated heavy demand for products to serve the Christmas market, a report claims.

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Apple will help you share and purchase apps

9to5 Staff Dec 9 2010 - 8:03 am PT

Apple is deadly serious with its App-driven vision for life in the clouds, with a new patent application describing its new way to share and buy apps from the cloud.

Published today and spotted by Patently Apple the application reveals the concepts behind the Apple vision, whch essentially allows users to share apps on their phones — say you were impressed the first time you saw Angry Birds, for example.
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Leaks begin: Is this an iPad 2.0 case?

9to5 Staff Dec 9 2010 - 6:52 am PT

In time-honored fashion the leaks are beginning — this picture of a case for iPad 2.0 shows a rear camera, new curves and suggests new speaker positions on the system.
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Apple does best of 2010 iTunes lists

Seth Weintraub Dec 9 2010 - 6:17 am PT

Apple is promoting the best of everything in iTunes 2010 this morning. Their year end round up marks the top selling and grossing apps in a number of categories. Notably, Apple cleaned up in the iPad grossing section with its iWork Apps.

iPad Top Free, Top Paid, Top Grossing

iPhone: Top Free, Top Paid, Top Grossing
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90 second song previews hit iTunes

Mark Gurman Dec 8 2010 - 9:21 pm PT

We recently reported that Apple would be bringing 90 second song previews to iTunes and tonight the mission has begun. A number of songs with 90 second (1:30) previews have just hit Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Enjoy. (Thanks, Matthew)

Oh, didya want the Beatles?

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Epic Games' Infinity Blade hits the App Store

Mark Gurman Dec 8 2010 - 9:17 pm PT

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDvPIhCd8N4&w=640&h=385]

Epic Games has finally launched their anticipated Infinity Blade game for iOS. The fighting game relies heavily on multitouch gestures and works off of Epic’s “unreal engine” technology original showcased in Epic Citadel. Above is the game’s trailer and here is where you can get it as a universal binary for $6.

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Google is activating 300,000 Android devices a day

Seth Weintraub Dec 8 2010 - 9:02 pm PT

It looks like Google is activating 300,000 Androids a day…at least according to Andy Rubin. That puts Android on par with iOS overall, including AppleTVs, iPads, iPod touches and of course, iPhones.

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Why the Mac still matters to Apple

9to5 Staff Oct 6 2010 - 4:30 am PT

COMPUTERWORLD: A note to all the folk out there complaining that Apple isn’t paying any attention to Mac sales– you’re wrong. Just look at the data. Cast your mind back to 2007, perhaps call it up by attempting to remember what your cellphone did for you then. Think back to January that year when Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, introduced the iPhone, then take a look at this data:

Why iPad sales may be reaching 36m/year

9to5 Staff Sep 15 2010 - 10:40 am PT

Computerworld: The iPad is going to save publishing, adapt education, change corporations and offer newspaper subscriptions soon — not bad for a product introduced only this year. Perhaps that’s why Apple’s signed-up a new supplier to raise iPad manufacture to a potential three million per month — 36 million per year.

MacOSX turns 10

Seth Weintraub Sep 13 2010 - 1:37 pm PT

As Macworld notes, today is the 10th anniversary of the release of MacOSX. As a wayback machine experience, here’s the Key(note)master introducing it at Macworld 2000.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko4V3G4NqII&w=674&h=531]

I remember I picked up my copy in Scottsdale Arizona (visiting friends) and installed it on my Powerbook G3, and never looked back.
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WSJ: Apple's developer decision is Feds + competition

Seth Weintraub Sep 10 2010 - 8:02 am PT

http://online.wsj.com/media/swf/VideoMicroPlayer.swf

According to the WSJ, Apple’s about face on 3rd party app development may have been due to pressure from the FCC:

The concession comes after the Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry around June to determine whether Apple had violated antitrust laws with the earlier policy. It isn’t clear if Apple’s move Thursday was in response to the FTC’s investigation, but it will likely be carefully scrutinized by the regulatory agency, said people familiar with the situation.

They also speculate that other platforms may have been a factor:
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Fighting hard, Apple ends bumper scheme

9to5 Staff Sep 10 2010 - 1:27 am PT

Computerworld: Apple is putting up a fight like we’ve never seen before. This is not a repeat of the Apple v. Microsoft battle of yesteryear. This is a new skirmish fought with different rules, in which only one of the combatants truly has a historic understanding of what the stakes are.

ARM's 'Eagle' has landed…(iPhone gets 2.4GHz?)

9to5 Staff Sep 9 2010 - 2:36 am PT

We’re not saying the iPhone 5 will be this startlingly amazing example of a location-sensing, near field communicating hyper-advanced device that might run at speeds as fast as 2.5GHz — but we are saying it’s possible.
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Apple's iPhone 4 approved for sale in China

9to5 Staff Sep 8 2010 - 5:40 am PT

Apple’s iPhone 4 seems set to hit the insanely populous Chinese market as the device has won key approval from government agencies there.

The company has won a China network license for the iPhone 4 from China’s Telecommunication Equipment Certification Center. That’s broadly in line with statements from Apple’s Chinese iPhone carrier, China Unicom, which has previously said it expects to offer the iPhone in China later this year.
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Beware Apple TV: Now Samsung ponders Android-powered TVs as Google TV hits US this Fall

9to5 Staff Sep 7 2010 - 7:49 am PT

Samsung seems to be emerging as a leading Apple competitor, with its A4-style processor-powered Galaxy smartphone and tablet devices — now news it intends introducing an Android OS-powered range of television sets, even as Apple seems to be foundering slightly with its Apple TV “hobby“.
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iTunes 10 blunder raises the temperature

9to5 Staff Sep 7 2010 - 6:06 am PT

Computerworld: Apple is often accused of being too controlling, and sometimes I’m minded to agree. This time I’m looking at an iTunes 10 problem in which Apple has abandoned full support of an important streaming music standard relied on by many of its customers and a healthy market of third party peripheral manufacturers — and I really can’t see a good reason for the move.