Tech Industry

According to TUAW, Apple will be expanding its presence at Best Buy in the coming months to include Genius Bars and additional Apple products.

We are a bit dubious on this one, just because of the tight branding and control Apple has over its Genius Bars. Best Buy does currently have Apple Solution Consultants which are:

experts in Apple solutions who can offer you immediate help-right there in the store.Get dedicated Apple expertise while you shop. Now you can get advice straight from Apple employees at your neighborhood Best Buy. ASCs are ready and waiting to help you find the best solution for your needs. Whether you’re considering a Mac for the first time or have years of experience with Apple products, ASCs can help—providing in–depth knowledge about all the latest products from Apple. Get hands-on demonstrations and comparison information to help make your purchasing decision easy.

Currently, over 600 of Best Buy’s 1000 US stores have an Apple Shop within a store.
Expand
Expanding
Close

COMPUTERWORLD: After a CES no-show, Verizon is teasing us with an iPhone-generated Tweet today on the eve of its press event where it is expected Verizon will at last introduce the iPhone, meaning US customers will now enjoy some choice of which network carries their iPhone. The move should also boost Apple in its battle with Android. So, what do we know?

Read more

Or something like that.

Speaking of Verizon Tweeting…interesting that they are now tweeting from the iPhone over at Verizon. I guess they are using an AT&T iPhone? (OK, it could be an iPod but you know it isn’t.)

Expand
Expanding
Close

More news from Apple’s AirPlay partner, BridgeCo, the company which manufactures the silicon used in AirPlay devices.

AirPlay devices weren’t so apparent at CES this year, though iHome, B&W and Klipsch all showed solutions implementing the standard, which enables users to stream audio from an iOS 4 device to an enabled speaker system.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Wow.  New York.  And I am in SF.  We had a hunch.

Also the unverified source that gave us that earlier info also told us:

VZiPhone: Release window: Feb 9-16.  The vacation blackout :Feb 1-16 give or take.

iPad2 will be announced on the 1st week of March, released within 30 days.

Update: The Wall Street Journal says it’s the Verizon iPhone.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Hackers have finally managed to get Android 2.3 Gingerbread working on a jailbroken iPhone 3G — based on the iDroid project, you should be able to keep both iOS and Android in dual-boot configuration on your iPhone. more on this and a video (Flash, so we didn’t embed it here) over at Redmond Pie.

(Sony and Dell’s Android phones are still running Android 1.6!)
Expand
Expanding
Close

To paraphrase Donna Summer, Apple CEO Steve Jobs works hard for his money, drawing his annual $1 salary once again from the company he helped create — though the value of his shares in the firm reached a new zenith — a mighty $1.8 billion!

Revealed within the firm’s regulatory filing with the SEC today, other tasty fiscal tidbits include:
Expand
Expanding
Close

CUPERTINO, California—January 7, 2011—Apple today announced that over one million apps have been downloaded from the Mac App Store in the first day. With more than 1,000 free and paid apps, the Mac App Store brings the revolutionary App Store experience to the Mac, so you can find great new apps, buy them using your iTunes account, download and install them in just one step.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Consider this a general tip: The Mac App Store won’t update third-party applications that you’ve bought elsewhere, despite recognising that they are installed.

It will tell you if software you acquire through the store is updated, but existing installs from outside the store won’t be noted in this way.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple opened its Mac App Store yesterday, offering Mac users an easy way to pick up and install new software on up to five machines — but within hours hackers began claiming to have hacked store security.

The crack will not be available until February 2011, according to Hackulous member, Dissident:
Expand
Expanding
Close

There’s been an unconscionable gap in time since the last time anyone mentioned the Mac App Store might build the market for Mac software, so here’s an early sighting — this Tweet from Evernote (fab app) which tells us, well, it suggests some (ahem) strong early interest in buying from the store.

On price, then ponder the words of respected Mac developer, Rich Siegel, founder and CEO of Bare Bones Software, Inc, (they make BBEdit, TextWrangler, and my essential friend, Yojimbo) who told me today:
Expand
Expanding
Close

Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg didn’t use his keynote address today at CES 2011 to announce the iPhone is on its way to his network, despite AT&T slashing iPhone 3GS prices and certain reports claiming Apple retail staff have been told to forget about vacation time — though that latter shocker won’t be until February/March. Wonder what’s coming?
Expand
Expanding
Close

Twitter for Mac has arrived, as have 999 other Apps at the all-new Mac App Store — so why are we mentioning Twitter? Because it keeps a promise made by MacHeist, offering exclusive access to secret Twitter features.

Expand
Expanding
Close

We’re watching a dizzying array of App announcements as new software hits the all-new Mac App Store, but here’s a special something from the team at Boxee, who are showing off their new Boxee iPad App at CES.

Here’s what Boxee (who today announced a new deal to offer video from CBS via their devices) had to say on the new app:
Expand
Expanding
Close

COMPUTERWORLD: Super-fast and really easy to navigate, the Mac App Store is going to generate huge wads of cash for everyone involved, Apple and its partners — but I do worry that app navigation and developer access to the Mac platform may suffer.

Read more

Psst: Professional photographer? Keen amateur? It really doesn’t matter — head over to the Mac App Store now and you’ll be able to purchase Aperture for a fraction of its normal $199 price — it’ll cost you just $80 —that’s even cheaper than Amazon!! Here in the UK it costs £44.99 — that’s a whole lot cheaper than the £173 retail store price.

I’m willing to bet someone at Adobe just started sobbing.

Apple has confounded industry watchers who expected the rumored noon launch time and the Mac App Store is available immediately, with over 1,000 apps available to download. Fire up Software Update and go grab it, people…(and read this while you wait). Update: No iWork 11, but you can get the individual apps and Aperture here. Press Release after the break.
Expand
Expanding
Close

COMPUTERWORLD: We’ll see the reality in a few hours, but there’s already some insight into what to expect from Apple’s new Mac App Store when it opens at 12 (noon) Eastern today. Critically, it’s likely we’ll see iOS developers port their apps at App Store prices, while existing Mac developers attempt to maintain classic pricing levels. (Image above is the holding page, thx to RFly.)

Read more

We’ve been hoping Light Peak might make an appearance in new Macs since the technology first made an appearance working with a lab demo Mac Pro in 2009. We’ve been excited for the super-fast and super-flexible connectivity standard ever since — now it seems there’s a way to go before its ready to hit the market, according to Intel.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Remember the chatter about how Android smartphones are set to hit the market at prices under $80? Remember? It was only a few days ago. Well — if you’re in the market for a cheaper smartphone, why not get yourself a slice of the premium experience — an iOS 4-compatible iPhone 3GS for just $49 from AT&T.

That’s right, AT&T will start selling the iPhone 3GS for $49 starting Friday to customers who buy it with a two-year service contract and data plan. This is the deal you’ll get from both AT&T and Apple.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Hacked iTunes accounts are available for sale across China at prices starting as low as a few dollars, a report explains. These hacked account details (which include credit card details) were being made available for sale via China’s largest retail website, Taobao.
Expand
Expanding
Close