iPad (2021)

China might be known as the home of the fake iPhone, but what about whole stores? Surprising almost no one, China is indeed home to the fake Apple Store. These pictures from BirdAbroad (via IFOAppleStore), show a fake Apple Store complete with everything that a real Apple Store offers. Right down to the blue shirts with Apple logos and name labels for the employees. Starting from the top, this ‘Apple Store’ features a shiny exterior with a big glowing, white Apple front and center.

When you walk into the store, you will be stepping on wood or grey stone floors, depending on the section of the store, and will be surrounded by a showroom filled with iPads, Macs, and more… all on wooden tables. These tables are even equipped with the Apple (patented!) product holders. In fact, these tables are nearly identical, if not identical, to the tables used in Apple’s official stores. These stores went as far as to completely rip off Apple’s official press images – as you can see with the iPad 2 and iPod shuffle banners. Also notice the extremely outdated pink iPod posters.

Making this sound even more unbelievable are the twisted stair cases, accessory and software walls (which are nearly identical to the official ones), an area for children with cushy and fun chairs, and of course what appears to be a mini Genius Bar or a section of the store to take product lessons from employees. The most amazing part is what these employees think of their jobs:

Being the curious types that we are, we struck up some conversation with these salespeople who, hand to God, all genuinely think they work for Apple.

The “bosses” of this fake Apple Store, in Kunming, knowing that they are up to no good, informed their multiple plain clothed security guards to ban all picture taking. The best part is that there are three of these stores all within walking distance of each other. Check out some more pictures after the break that are courtesy of BirdAbroad.

Expand
Expanding
Close

mockup

On the earnings call Q&A just now, CFO Peter Oppenheimer said that a ‘September Quater  product transition’ would affect the revenues for the upcoming quarter.  Obviously, that screams iPhone, which is now Apple’s biggest product.

To be clear, the September Quarter spans three months so it doesn’t necessarily mean ‘September’…but that isn’t unreasonable either.

On that note, he also mentioned in the opening statement that 220 million iOS devices have been sold all time.  We’re not sure if that includes AppleTVs.

Expand
Expanding
Close

image via Bloomberg

As part of the prepared statement of today’s earnings call, CFO Peter “Griffin” Oppenheimer told the audience that Lion was launching tomorrow.  In case you didn’t know.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Daring Fireball‘s John Gruber today makes note of his complaints about iPad magazines (all valid), including the large files and static page sizes. But he also mentions casually, but apparently factually, that the iPad 3 will have a 2048×1536 Retina Display:

These magazines and newspapers that render each “page” as a static 1024 × 768 image are going to look like utter ass on the iPad 3’s 2048 × 1536 retina display.

Unfortunately, there is no timeframe given to this and with some expecting a Fall upgrade and others putting the release update as far out as next March, we’ll have to wait and see.

We earlier found bits of code which seem to indicate that an upcoming iPad will indeed have double the resolution as the current iPad 2.
Expand
Expanding
Close

We loved his iPhone 5 mockups, now Guilherme Schasiepen’s wows us with his iPad 2HD/Plus/HD, via MacMagazine.br.

More below:

Expand
Expanding
Close

As Apple gears up to announce earnings tomorrow after the bell, the stock has hit an all time high each of the last two trading sessions.  Today AAPL is up about 2.5% to just north of $373. Market cap is now just shy of and incredible $350B. (Exxon is at $409B)  Great earnings are expected from AAPL as tech has found a footing following Google’s quarterly results last week that shot the stock up over 12%.

In addition to expected stellar earnings, news that Apple is close to inking a deal with China Mobile has given the iPhone maker a boost. This deal would potentially give Apple access to China Mobile’s 600m subscriber base. Stay tuned tomorrow for the exact earnings release.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Our friends over at iFixYouri have offered to do some repairs on 9to5mac readers’ iOS devices for free.

9to5mac and iPhone repair company iFixYouri.com are offering to get your broken iPhone, iPod, or iPad repaired for FREE! In order to enter the contest, retweet this post on Twitter with hashtag #HelpiFixYouri and a picture of your broken iDevice for a chance to win. If the story about your broken device requires more than what a tweet can share, send an email off to support@iFixYouri.com or like and share it on their Facebook page.

A winning contestant will be randomly selected each week, for the next month. You are only allowed to enter once and a winner can only win one time. If it is determined that your device is irreparable (and doesn’t start in Blend-Tec condition), iFixYouri and 9to5mac will replace the device with a good working equivalent!  (also no iPod shuffles or nanos are eligible)

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple released iOS 4.3.4 (build 8K2) fixing a PDF exploit which makes possible wireless jailbreaking by visiting the JailbreakMe.com web-tool  in mobile Safari. The exploit could also be used to inject and execute any code on iOS devices. The iOS 4.3.4 download is now available through iTunes for the iPhone 4, 3GS, iPad 1 and 2 and third- and fourth-generation iPod touch. Verizon iPhone users will get the same fix via the iOS 4.2.9 update (build 8E501). Contents of the Verizon iPhone firmware update is outlined in this support document (here for iOS 4.3.4 for all other devices).

Stand-alone downloads below:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes quotes unnamed industry sources who claim Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer for gadgets, will produce a rumored Android-driven tablet from Amazon, said to sport a 10.1-inch display, with shipments to begin in 2012 at the earnest. Quanta Computer, another contract manufacturer from Asia, has already begun shipping a smaller seven-inch device to Amazon, the report notes:

Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) has reportedly landed orders for 10.1-inch tablet PCs from Amazon with shipments to begin in 2012, while Quanta Computer has begun shipping a 7-inch model to Amazon. Foxconn declined to comment on market speculation.

Foxconn of course is Apple’s long-time manufacturer so it comes as a surprise that Apple did not exercise its influence and billions to block rivals from tapping Foxconn’s manufacturing potentials. That’s not entirely unheard of, however…

Expand
Expanding
Close

Last month, we documented code within iOS 5 which contained references to some new panoramic camera functionality for iOS devices.

The latest build of iOS shows that Apple continues to do work on this functionality.  They’ve added a few more strings which weren’t in the earlier Beta:

Here’s what happens when you jailbreak and enable panoramic

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqAJa2GzYvg&start=32]

More than a few third party apps already do panoramic camera capturing on Apple’s iOS. One example is below:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Developers wishing to sell apps to business in volume for discounted rates now will be able to according to an email just sent to developers. Apple upgraded its Paid Applications Agreement today which allows for a new type of pricing.

For instance, a hospital could buy a medical app for its 2000 employees in one big swoop rather than hitting the buy button 2000 times.   
Expand
Expanding
Close

Want that face on your big screen? No problem! Just Facetime with Rene Ritchie over at TiPb.  You see, the latest build of iOS 5 Beta 3 has support for Airplay.

With all of the new trickery in the AppleTV 5.0 software, it wouldn’t surprise us to see a family-like FacetimeHD option for the current AppleTV or even a new 1080P version.

Expand
Expanding
Close

One of the advantages of AT&T’s GSM iPhones (and iPads) is that they  can roam just about anywhere in the world fairly easily.  For that convenience, AT&T charges a hefty – some would say exorbitant – fee (illustrated above, left).

Today, AT&T has announced a significant (2.5-5x) drop in international fees.

You get 2.5 times the data for $25 which is now set at 50MB.  At the high end, you get 4x the data, 800MB, for $200.  And overages used to cost $5/MB(!!); now it is ‘just’ $10/10MB.

It is still far from cheap and smart travelers will continue to pick up a Mifi, unlock and use a local SIM or just stick to Wifi hotspots.  But it is something, right?
Expand
Expanding
Close

Hot on the heels of reports that claim Apple is gearing up to launch a new iPad model this fall, Digitimes reports that Apple will be adding a second manufacture to augment the tablet’s current manufacturing from Foxconn. Foxconn is currently Apple’s exclusive contractor for iPad 2 production and since the plant’s devastating incident in May and with a new tablet right around the corner, Apple is looking for a second manufacture to build their popular tablets.

According to the report, Apple’s second iPad manufacture will either be Pegatron or Quanta Computers. Pegatron, notably manufactures the Verizon iPhone and reportedly landed 15 million iPhone 5 orders for a fall release. Quanta manufactures some Macs and other Apple products. With Apple reportedly gearing up to launch a new iPad 2 model – dubbed iPad HD by This is my next – now is a perfect time for Apple to use more manufacturing power.

The ‘iPad HD’ is expected to be a professional-minded tablet from Apple with a 2048 x 1536 Retina Display. Artwork of this high resolution has already appeared in iOS 5 exclusive SDKframework files and has been a long-rumored feature for the tablet family. This new iPad is pegged at being another iPad model, not the iPad 3.

Expand
Expanding
Close

The Chinese Economic Daily News via Bloomberg reports that Foxconn plans on spending NT$47B to build stores in China which will sell Apple products, which of course it also produces.  The information was relayed by the unit’s Chairman Steve Chang.

Back in January, we reported:

Foxconn subsidiary Cybermart has been granted retail permission from Apple and will begin selling Apple products in April of this year. Cybermart currently has 34 stores across the Greater China area, with 7-8 more stores planned for 2011. The report also states that Cybermast is planning to open as many as 500 stores, that will retail Apple products, in the future.

Foxconn is becoming a pretty powerful player in Apple’s fortunes in China and the world.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XYbVwg5B7g]

There is a new Facetime ad as well, below:
Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iui_BLtj4wg]

One of our readers took it upon himself to jailbreak one of the Apple Store iPad 2 Smart Signs (video above). If you aren’t familiar, the Smart Sign is the iPad in front of each Apple product. As we revealed earlier this year, this sign explains and provides specifications for the product it sits beside.

Customers are not able to actually use this iPad for anything but the Smart Sign application, but with the right top-secret gesture anything is possible. That’s where reader Adrian came in. He figured out the secret gesture, went to the home screen, launched up Safari, and jailbroke the Smart Sign with the new JailbreakMe 3.0 tool.

Now that it has been done, no one else needs to do this, mmk?

Expand
Expanding
Close

One of the more controversial components of the iPhone 4 is its non-Gorilla glass backing.  Glass is a great material for displays obviously because it is transparent, relatively strong and scratch-resistant.  However, it is more questionable for the back of a device because it breaks spectacularly where traditional materials are stronger and lighter.

But it does look awesome on the back of the iPhone 4.

So the question of the day: Should Apple’s next iPhone continue to use a glass backing or should they move to a different material like plastic, aluminum or liquid metal?

Expand
Expanding
Close

This afternoon, we recieved some intel from an iPhone source that has been reliable in the past.  Most of the information is already known but it is important to weigh in on what’s going around.  The “big” news is that Apple will be selling two totally distinct iPhones in September.  One will be a low-end variety that will address the cheap Android market, according to the source.  The other will be a high-end device and will be an all new design.  There will be no mistaking these two devices, they will be immediately discernible.  The iPod touch, like it always has, will get updated in September as well.

So that’s where the info path trails off, and to be frank, it isn’t all that surprising.  There are currently two totally distinct iPhones on the market: the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4.  The 3GS is at a cheaper price point while the iPhone 4 is the high-end line.

So we’ll have the same thing in September?  iPhone 4 is the low end and iPhone 5 the high end?

I’m not so sure.  For one, the price of an iPhone 4 isn’t going to compete with cheap Android phones in any way.  Apple is currently selling them for over $600.  They aren’t going to cut the price in half overnight.  The 3GS doesn’t currently compete on price either.  I think that to compete on price with Android, Apple has to make a totally new low end phone as well.

What’s it going to be?  I think a good place to start looking is the curent iPod touch.  The iPod touch has the same resolution screen as the iPhone 4 but with poor(er) viewing angles because the screen doesn’t have In-Plane Switching.  (video below)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJSESZ3faH4&HD=1]

Also, the back camera is an order of magnitude worse than the iPhone 4’s, it doesn’t have GPS, has less RAM and the battery doesn’t last quite as long.

…and obviously the iPod lacks the “phone” bits.

But Apple somehow makes a lot of money selling this “almost iPhone” for just $229 retail (and under $200 at discounts) vs. the $650 that the iPhone 4 fetches without a plan.  It doesn’t seem infeasible to me that Apple could use the iPod touch platform that debuted a full year ago to build a cheap iPhone device.

Here’s how:

Start with the same hardware.  Add the GPS/3G baseband chips and some phone wiring and a solid 3 megapixel camera and you are 99% of the way to an iPhone lite.  iPhone Air?  Whatever.

Apple could make this device, one that is thinner than an iPhone 4, with most of the same specs, for $299.  But here’s the best part:
Expand
Expanding
Close

.

We’re in love with Guilherme Schasiepen’s iPhone 5 mockups (via MacMagazine.br).

More below:
Expand
Expanding
Close

This is my next runs this story based on unnamed sources who claim that come this Fall tablet fans will have a choice between iPad 2 and an-all new high-end iPad aimed at creative pros, apparently dubbed ‘iPad HD’:

Our sources are saying that not only will there be a newly designed iPhone coming in the fall, but there is going to be a new entry into the iPad family as well. As hard as it might be to believe, the new tablet is said to sport a double resolution screen (2048 x 1536), and will be dubbed the “iPad HD.” The idea behind the product is apparently that it will be a “pro” device aimed at a higher end market — folks who work in video and photo production possibly — and will be introduced alongside something like an iPad version of Final Cut or Aperture. This product is specifically said to not be the iPad 3, rather a complimentary piece of the iPad 2 line. Think MacBook and MacBook Pro.

As for Final Cut Pro/Aperture, it would perhaps explain why Apple made such a drastic change in its X product, but the extra pixels don’t exactly make a professional video editor.   A bigger screen could, however :D.

Overall, we love the idea of an iPad HD and all of the previous evidence points to it (below from the iS 5 SDK). But why wait until the Fall?  Perhaps the screens just weren’t ready yet at price points that made sense.  That is a lot of pixels to throw on a 9.7-inch display.

Also interesting:

Expand
Expanding
Close