Introduced in 2007 by Steve Jobs, iPhone is Apple's flagship iOS device and easily its most popular product around the world. The iPhone runs iOS and includes a large collection of mobile apps through the App Store.
Introduced in 2007 by Steve Jobs, iPhone is Apple’s flagship iOS device and easily its most popular product around the world. Software wise, it runs iOS and includes a large collection of mobile apps through the App Store.
Since its introduction, Apple has released at least one new phone every single year. In recent years, that has typically been in the fall. iPhones are sold through multiple retail channels including Apple Stores, cellular stores, Best Buy, and other major electronic retailers. iPhones can be bought with a single up front payment, financed through the iPhone Upgrade Program, or financed through a cellular carrier.
Apple’s smartphone has become much more than just a phone since its debut. The iPhone can act as your primary camera, music player, GPS device, email client, mobile banking system, messaging device, movie player, and much more.
“Our checks indicate that the next iPhone will have more choices for customers,” the analyst wrote. “This entails an expansion in both the color patterns and screen sizes with the next iPhone (i.e., likely called the iPhone 5S) that we currently believe will be launched in May/June with certain supply production starting in March/April.”
Like Misek, who expects Apple to release the next-gen iPhone in six to eight colors, White is expecting Apple to release pink, yellow, blue, white and silver, and black and slate variants of the “iPhone 5S”. Misek also claimed last month that the new device could feature an improved camera, NFC, and better battery life.
White also believes Apple could launch the new model of the iPhone in multiple screen sizes for the first time:
“Our checks are also indicating that the next iPhone will offer customers more choice in terms of screen size,” White reported. “Although Apple offers a 4-inch screen on the iPhone 5 and a 3.5-inch screen on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4, the Company has never offered multiple screen sizes for a single model. We believe this is about to change with the next iPhone offering different screen sizes that we believe will allow Apple to better bifurcate the market and expand its reach.”
China-based iPhone5Mod, makers of many unique iOS accessories and some of the first Lightning docks to hit the market, today announced a new hybrid controller/keyboard for iPhone 5. Dubbed “the lightest and thinnest keyboard for iPhone ever-made,” the hybrid controller case comes in three parts: a back case that attaches to your iPhone 5, and a controller and keyboard that are both 2mm thin and made of sturdy aluminum. The controller and keyboard attach magnetically, connects with Bluetooth 3.0, and provide 40 hours battery life from 1 hour of charge.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has been contracted by Apple to soon manufacture A6X chips, according to a report from Taiwan-based Commercial Times (via France24). The move, which has been speculated by media in the recent months, is said to reduce Apple’s reliance on South Korean-based Samsung, who has been responsible for many of Apple’s chips in recent years. The folks in Cupertino introduced the A6X chip in the fourth-generation iPad in October, and it is expected to go into TSMC’s hands, rather than Samsung’s, during the first quarter of this year for trial production.
For those unfamiliar, TSMC is the world’s largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry. The trial that will be underway during the first quarter will presumably be in-place to see if the company can keep with Apple’s high demand that must be appeased with devices in stock. Past the powerful A6X chip, Apple has been rumored to make the switch to TSMC’s 20nm process for quad-core processors over the next couple of years in the iPad, “iTV” (Apple TV?), and MacBook, while iPhone’s will remain with duo-core chips.
California-based audio accessory maker NYNE is getting ready to show off its latest line of bluetooth speakers, docks, and home audio products at CES next week, but for the past month I’ve already had the chance to play with one of its latest creations- the NB-250 water-resistant Bluetooth speaker.
There is a ton of competition among Bluetooth speaker manufacturers, but a couple have been able to make their way to the top of the majority of recommendation lists, including our own. NYNE’s main competition in my eyes is Logitech and Jawbone, two well-known accessory makers with high-quality, sub $150 bluetooth speaker products on the market. After having hands on time with both the $140 Jambox from Jawbone and the $99 UE Boombox from Logitech, NYNE’s NB-250 does have a few things going for it. First is design… Expand Expanding Close
As many iPhone owners wake up New Years Day and realize their Do Not Disturb is stuck on, they might also catch a glimpse of Apple’s new iPhone 5 commercial. Featuring the Tennis stars/sisters Venus and Serena Williams playing table tennis in a dream sequence, the ad tells the viewer that they might miss out on an awesome dream without Apple’s Do Not Disturb feature.
The ad is amusing, but the timing is oh-so painful.
As a special offer to close out the year, Apple is offering the bestselling albums of 2012 on iTunes for $6.99. The promotion is running from Dec. 31 to Jan. 3 only and includes some pretty nice offerings for you hip music listeners in the crowd:
As noted by AllThingsD, New Yorkers will now have access to accurate arrival times for seven of the city’s subway lines as the Metropolitan Transit Agency today released a new app that provides access to the real-time train location data. Available on the App Store, the MTA Subway Time iPhone app is a test app released by the MTA for the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and S 42 Street Shuttle lines. It displays the same data as the countdown clocks inside stations, and the MTA will make the data available on its website for developers to use in third-party apps.
The app covers the 156 stations where the MTA has installed countdown clocks that provide arrival estimates in minutes for upcoming trains. This app joins MTA Bus Time™, Metro-North Train Time™, LIRR Train Time™, and MTA Bridges and Tunnels’ Travel Time in the MTA’s expanding list of real-time data tools for customers.
The new signals were installed at a cost of more than $228 million over 11 years, the MTA said. Two other lines are already being overhauled in a way that will eventually allow real-time updates: the L line running between northern Brooklyn and Manhattan’s 14th Street, which already uses an advanced signal system; and the No. 7 line between Queens and Midtown Manhattan, which is receiving the same upgrade.
The L line should be added to the data stream that feeds Subway Time within six to 12 months, the agency said. The improvements that would add the No. 7 to smartphone apps won’t be completed until 2016.
Since the removal of YouTube, and Maps as preloaded Google apps within iOS, Google has been especially adept at developing its own set of iOS apps. We previously detailed how Google wants to own the iOS ecosystem on the apps level, providing users with an alternative universe to most of the core features of Apple’s mobile operating system. It appears Google now has a dedicated iOS app team which builds cohesive apps rather than having each business unit build its own apps. Expand Expanding Close
In September, we noted some statistics from the NYPD that claimed Apple-related crimes were increasing 10 times the 4 percent increase other crime in the city was experiencing. Today, New York City Michael Bloomberg is once again pointing to thefts of iPhones and iPads as the cause of the increase in the city’s annual crime index (via The New York Times):
Crime in New York City inched up this year, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Friday fingered the culprit: too many iPhones and iPads were being swiped.
As of Monday, the Police Department recorded 3,484 more crimes than for the same period last year. A full breakdown of the year’s crime statistics was not immediately available, but city officials were quick to focus on the Apple figure. The increase in Apple product thefts: 3,890.
“If you just took away the jump in Apple, we’d be down for the year,” said Marc La Vorgna, the mayor’s press secretary.
As users powered on their new iOS devices and received iTunes gift cards on Christmas day, a strong surge of app downloads obviously followed. According to analytic firm Distimo, App Store downloads increased a whopping 87 percent on Christmas Day, compared to the rest of December 2012. With the increased downloads, revenue consequently rose 70 percent. Interestingly, the iPad and iPad mini seemed to be the most popular iOS gift given, as downloads and revenues rose by 140 percent and 83 percent, respectively.
Distmo also looked at the most downloaded applications from the App Store on Christmas day. They included Google’s standalone YouTube app and the recently released Apple Maps alternative Google Maps at the top. Other top downloads, excluding Apple’s in-house apps like iWork, included: ElfYourself by OfficeMax, Where’s My Holiday?, and Skype for iPad. The numbers that will give us a real look at how iOS device sales were during the Christmas quarter will be during Apple’s January earnings call with investors, where record sales are expected.
Competitor Amazon, who doesn’t like to give hard numbers, detailed some of its shopping statistics for the holiday season. The Seattle-based online retailer said that Christmas day brought the busiest day ever for digital downloads of movies, TV shows, apps, and more. The Angry Bird fans were also busy with purchases, as Angry Birds plush toys would stack up to 285 times the height of the world’s tallest tree in California. Research firm Flurry also detailed that Christmas 2012 saw the highest amount of activated gadgets than any other day in history.
The Marion Police Department in Virginia have decided to encourage residents to report crime by releasing a new app called “iWatch Marion“. The app is available for free on the App Store and provides citizens with an easy way to report potential crimes by uploading tips, photos, and video. Content uploaded by users is forwarded directly to the police department closest to the location the tip was sent from:
Because iWatch Marion uses global positioning technology, the system intelligently forwards information to the Howard County Police Department based on where the handheld device is physically located at any given moment.
The app will also allow users to receive alerts for missing children, crime, weather, and more. I’m not sure if major cities will jump on the idea of encouraging citizens to get involved in crimes in progress, but it’s something that more and more smaller towns are starting to take advantage of. Expand Expanding Close
We told you about Mophie’s new lightweight, waterproof video housing and companion app for iPhone 4/4S when it was first announced in August. The polycarbonate case builds in a 170-degree wide-angle lens and aims to compete with dedicated devices for shooting action sports such as a GoPro or Contour camera.
The company is also making an all-white edition with a silver aluminum bezel (pictured above) available as an exclusive from the Apple Store. No word on whether these will be available from Apple retail stores, but it is already available to order from Apple.com.
So you waited too long and you need a last second gift for that last person on your shopping list? No problem Apple fan! We’ve got some great options for you.
2. Amazon has a load of Printable and email-able gift options including embedding your own photos and videos for a personal touch. You can even send gifts over Facebook if that is your thing. Amazon carries lots of Apple products and peripherals which your giftees will love. Best Buy offers the same services.
Best Buy has begun advertising its upcoming Boxing Day sale in Canada, a holiday recognized by retailers in Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia when retailers typically discount products similar to Black Friday in the United States. This year, Best Buy will offer deals on select Apple products, including savings on all MacBooks Pro, MacBook Air models, and iPad 2, 3, and 4. BestBuy hasn’t posted specific deals for those products, but it’s also advertising the iPhone 5 from $0 on the usual three-year contract. The best we’ve seen in the U.S. is around $126 through Fry’s and Walmart. The deal will be available through Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile Mall locations on Dec 26, while the other deals will hit BestBuy.ca starting 6 p.m. EST Dec. 24 (sale officially starts at 8 p.m. EST). Best Buy’s FutureShop locations in Canada will offer the same discounts.
As always, we have the best deals on Apple products from around the web for all our readers from the 9to5Mac product pages.
Like last year, Apple is also advertising a Boxing Week sale for Canadians on the iTunes store. This year, Apple has a selection of new albums from artists, such as Coldplay, Pink, Mumford & Sons, Rihanna, Drake, Skrillex, and Justin Bieber, starting at around $6.90. While Boxing Day is recognized as a holiday on Dec. 26 in Canada, retailers usually hold Boxing Week sales from Dec. 24 through Jan. 2:
MapChoice | $0.99:A new app just released on the App Store provides you with access to both Apple’s new Maps and Google Maps in a single app. Your position will transfer from one map to the other, and it also includes StreetView and Foursquare integration.
MapChoice gives you a choice between old and new maps. You can also view Street View and search using FourSquare.
Updated:
Instagram version 3.4.0 | FREE:Instagram gets updated today with support for 25 languages, a new “Mayfair” filter, Facebook iOS 6 integration, and more.
– Instagram is now available in 25 languages!
– New filter: Mayfair
– Share photos from any album
– Facebook iOS 6 integration
– Improved performance and bug fixes
The Wall Street Journal version 5.0 | FREE: The Wall Street Journal just updated its iOS app, moving content on iPhone and iPad to Apple’s Newsstand and providing users with automatically updated issues each morning. WSJ will now offer in-app subscriptions, billing users directly to their iTunes accounts monthly. The updated app also includes Alerts for breaking news.
Newsstand & Alerts
– WSJ is now in Newsstand! Get new issues automatically delivered to your device overnight. To use Newsstand, tap ‘Allow’ when prompted.
– Note: WSJ App icon will now appear in the Newsstand Folder.
– Breaking News Alerts from WSJ. To get alerts, tap ‘Allow’ when prompted.
In-App Subscriptions – Purchase a monthly subscription to WSJ through your iTunes account. With a digital subscription you get access to iPad, iPhone, WSJ.com and more.
StubHub version 4.1.0 | FREE: The StubHub iOS app gets updated with more interactive seat maps, the ability to see your view before buying tickets, iPhone 5 support, and more:
• Interactive seat maps for certain football and basketball games: filter ticket listings by section
• View from section: see the view from your section before you buy (for many events)
• iPhone 5 support
• Improved sharing (Twitter, Facebook, and text messaging)
• Ability to add events to your calendar
• User interface enhancements
Analytics firm Distimo is out today with the full results of its year-end 2012 app analytics report (via Fortune). While Apple is still the clear winner in terms of revenue, Google Play showed significant growth in the last four months. Its daily revenue grew 43 percent in 20 major markets. Apple’s growth was smaller, increasing daily revenue by 21 percent, but Distimo’s numbers show Google still has a long way to go:
On a typical day in November 2012, the revenues in the Apple App Store exceeded $15M USD, while in Google Play the revenues are just below $3.5M USD in 20 of the largest countries in both app stores… Even though the growth in revenues in Google Play in the last four months is close to that of the Apple App Store in 2012, the growth in daily revenues in the Apple App Store was higher than the total daily revenues in Google Play when comparing absolute daily revenue values.
As for the most popular apps of 2012, Distimo said Asian publisher Naver was able to beat Draw Something’s record of 1 million users in nine day. Its app, Line Pop, got 1.75 million downloads in the first 72 hours. That’s something that took Facebook nine months to accomplish. The app also brought over 1 million in revenue for the developer in 12 days.
To round out the year in review, Distmo breaks down revenue by category in the charts below: the top 10 most grossing cross-store publishers, the top 10 publishers and apps by downloads on the App Store, and the top five highest growing countries by revenue. There aren’t many surprises: Expand Expanding Close
T-Mobile’s Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray announced on the company’s blog today that 14 new metro areas are getting access to its iPhone-compatible HSPA+ 4G network. The updates are hitting areas such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Dallas, Texas, Florida, and San Antonio, following rollouts to Chicago, California, and elsewhere earlier this month.
The carrier also said enhancements to its network in additional areas like Los Angeles and San Diego have already started. This means that customers on Solavei, the new, no-contract T-Mobile MVNO offering of $49 per month unlimited, will also get coverage for unlocked iPhones in the new areas. A full list is below:
1. Karateka | $2.99: Jordan Mechner, creator of the popular Prince of Persia franchise, and developer of the original fighter classic “Karateka” for the Apple II, is today bringing an HD remake of the game to iOS. Available on the App Store now for $2.99 for iPhone and iPad, the remake of the original 1984 fighter looks to essentially be a port of work done on the HD remake released on consoles last month. The video above features Mechner talking about the remake and comparing the original Apple II version to the new iOS title.
Created on an Apple II by Jordan Mechner in his Yale dorm room, Karateka became a #1 bestseller and influenced a generation of gamers with its groundbreaking rotoscoped animation and cinematic cutscenes… 28 years later, Mechner returns to his indie roots with a new take on Karateka for today’s digital game platforms, featuring art by Jeff Matsuda (The Batman) and music by Grammy-winning composer Christopher Tin (Civilization IV).
Google made some announcements today regarding its work with the Quickoffice team since acquiring the company in June. On top of noting work to take advantage of Quickoffice conversion technology in Google Docs, Google launched a free version of the QuickOffice iPad app exclusively for Google Apps for Business customers today. There are also free iPhone and Android versions of the app for creating and editing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files coming to Apps customers in the near future:
Converting old files to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides is the easiest way to share and work together, but perhaps not everyone you work with has gone Google yet. To complement what you can do with Google documents, we’re also making it easier for you to make quick edits to Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint files without conversion. Starting today, the Quickoffice iPad app is available for free to all Apps for Business customers, and iPhone and Android versions are on the way.
Vice President of Google Enterprise Amit Singh welcomed the announcement on his Twitter account: “Customers can now get Quickoffice for free. No need to license microsoft for your ipad.”
The New York Times’ technology columnist David Pogue said last week that even Google thought its iOS Maps app is better than the Android version, mostly because that version just piled on feature after feature without a rethink.
However, the biggest news here is that the new iPhone version of Google Maps isn’t just better than Apple Maps. For now, at least, Google Maps is better in most respects on the iPhone than it is on Android phones. It has been redesigned with a cleaner, simpler user interface that makes it easier to use. Google officials say they took the sudden need to build a new iPhone version as an opportunity to rethink the popular app from the ground up.
Google is supposedly looking to rebuild its Android version based on what it did for the iPhone app.
Apple successfully defended itself against a Motorola lawsuit over an accidental hang-up sensor on its iPhone line. Bloomberg reported this evening that U.S. International Trade Commission judge Thomas Pender ruled in Apple’s favor, as he has before, declaring Motorola’s patent invalid. The ITC’s commission still has the power to review the ruling, but that hasn’t stopped Motorola from releasing an official statement on the matter.
Jennifer Erickson, a Motorola Mobility spokesperson, told Bloomberg in a statement: “We’re disappointed with this outcome and are evaluating our options.” Motorola is a part of Mountain View-based Google, which was acquired last August for $12.5 billion in a patent defense move.
Motorola’s collective lawsuit was filed in August with a claim that Apple violated seven patents with its iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and iOS products, and even Macs. The suit was filed during the same time Apple worked to defeat Samsung in a historic patent case that played out during the better part of August. Samsung was ultimately ruled to pay damages of more than $1 billion.
With the highly anticipated Google Maps for iOS now among us, Google SVP of Commerce Jeff Huber shared some interesting download numbers this afternoon. In just 48 hours, Huber said that a whopping 10 million users downloaded the Apple Maps alternative from the iTunes App Store. Also, as the app climbs up the charts to the top free app, the number of downloads is likely rising quick. Google Maps for iOS was well received, garnering positive reviews and ratings, with even Google admitting that its iPhone version of Maps is better than its Android version. Additionally, things look to get even better: Google shared last week that iPad support and offline mode are launching soon.
Business Insider pointed us to an interview on OpenForum with the Guess? CIO Michael Relich. The clothing retailer implemented iPads for merchandising in 2010, and it has since installed iPads in stores, started accepting credit card payments via iPod touch, and even started supplying extra iPods instead of cash registers to stores during the busy holiday seasons.
Well our buyers saw an improvement immediately. Instead of just seeing a number on a spreadsheet, our iPad app allowed them to see the specific coat, pant or dress accompanied by a photo and where it was selling. Suddenly, they were going into stores with a lot better idea about what to do and how to act to improve the store.
For shoppers, our engagement went through the roof after we installed iPads in the stores. People instinctively go up to the device and use it to find out-of-stock merchandise or track their loyalty program points. We’ve gotten great feedback.
Well I believe that cash registers will go away and will be replaced by iPads or iPod touches. We currently use an iPod touch in stores for credit-card transactions, similar to the Apple store…
