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Posts tagged with "apple"

Apple Tweaks Online Store With “Popular Configurations”

As noted by TUAW , Apple silently updated the online Store to introduce a neat little feature: popular configurations for Macs. Just right ahead of Christmas, Apple is now showcasing popular setups such as “MacBook with larger hard drive” or “MacBook with more RAM” to make it easy for people to get around specs and “build the system of their dreams” (actual words from the Apple Store).

I think this is a very welcome new feature in the Store which will surely help the less tech-savvy wanna-be Apple users get the most out of their computers, and wallets. Not everyone knows what HDD 320GB 5200 rpm means, MacBook “with larger hard drive” just sounds better. Typical Apple move to streamline the experience, if you ask me.

Check out the new Configure page here.

The iPad: 50,000 Apps In 8 Months

The iPad was released on April 3rd in the United States. That was 257 days ago. The iPad App Store, launched on the same day, now has over 50,000 apps. It’s got 51,295 apps to be exact, at the moment of writing this. It only took 8 months for Apple to reach this milestone, but it’s been kind of an unstoppable growth.

In the past months, in fact, we have seen how the iPad App Store was growing to accommodate more apps every month. 10,000 apps in June. 20,000 apps in August. Then, more than 40,000 apps only 24 days ago, when iOS 4.2 was released to the public. We can argue that the App Store (for iPad and iPhone) is increasingly becoming a place for games, rather than standard “apps”, but still – these are the numbers. And even if using and getting a device to fit in our daily lives has really nothing to do with numbers, this is an achievement Apple is going to rely on for months to come.

50,000 apps available for the iPad isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? Thinking about the Mac apps ready to go on sale in another App Store.

Should Apple Own Factories Again?→

Should Apple Own Factories Again?

Horace Dediu:

I’m not an expert in this area, but as a student of disruption I see signs of opportunity to re-engineer the manufacturing business model. The patterns from history are plain to see: Centralized systems get broken down and re-aligned with new bases of competition. Value chains disintegrate and re-integrate as profit algorithms change.

The new algorithm says you need to ramp production quickly (up and down) and to increase “product turns” from one to two each year. Each ramp needs to be even bigger than they are now. Maybe by a factor of two. Products should be built closer to where they are consumed to drive costs and delays out of transportation and tariffs. Carbon footprints need to be reduced.

Sounds daunting. But the rewards could be enormous.

Give Ive his own factory ? Just think about it.

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Toshiba Denies Rumors Of Apple’s Interest In Toshiba Mobile Display

Yesterday we reported that, according to the Nikkei business daily, Toshiba was building a $1.19 billion factory “mainly to supply to Apple Inc’s iPhones”. That’s quite a statement, as it would imply that Cupertino is somehow interested in expanding its mobile display supply chain.

Digitimes has posted a follow-up to the story:

Toshiba has denied rumors that Apple will invest in the new production plant of its small- to medium-size panel subsidiary, Toshiba Mobile Display (TMD).

Panel makers indicated that the rumors could make sense because of limited capacity for LTPS in the market, as well as the possibility to develop AMOLED solutions by leveraging the LTPS production line.

Expect more to come up in the next weeks.

The First iAd for iPad Is Coming This Afternoon [Update: Screenshots]

According to AdAge, Apple will launch its first iAd for the iPad later today. The iAd will feature Disney’s blockbuster movie “Tron Legacy” and, according to an Apple spokesperson, it’ll be the only iAd to appear on the tablet this year.

The format, designed to maximize the ad potential of Apple’s tablet computer, will be launched widely in early 2011 when other ads start flowing onto the platform.

Like its iPhone and iPod Touch predecessors, the first iPad iAd is chock-full of the rich graphics, touch navigation and video native to apps.

The full-screen ad will allow users to enjoy 10 minutes of footage, use a theater locator to check on where they can go see Tron: Legacy, preview the soundtrack in-ad with the possibility to directly download it from iTunes – again, without leaving the ad. The preview should go live in a few hours in apps such as TV Guide which was updated on November 30th to vaguely include support for iOS 4.2. I just fired up the app and the iAd isn’t showing up yet.

In November, Apple announced that it would bring iPhone’s iAds to Europe starting with an exclusive Renault campaign to showcase the Twizy car. Apple has also teamed up with brand agency Dentsu to bring iAd to Japan in 2011.

Update: Screenshots of the Tron: Legacy iAd below. Read more

MobileMe Goes Down For Maintenance Tonight→

MobileMe Goes Down For Maintenance Tonight

Apple has announced that MobileMe’s account page and sync services will be down for maintenance later today. MobileMe account will be down from 10 PM until 11 PM Pacific Time. MobileMe sync will be unavailable from 10 PM until midnight Pacific Time.

Due to scheduled maintenance, MobileMe members will be unable to access me.com/account.

Due to scheduled maintenance, some MobileMe members may be unable to sync between their computers, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch or view their contacts and calendars at me.com.

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Toshiba Is Building A $1 Billion Factory To Make Apple Displays

Reuters is reporting that, according to the Nikkei business daily, Toshiba will build a $1.19 billion factory (that’s 100 billion yen) to make LCD panels, “mainly to supply to Apple Inc’s iPhones”.

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.

Could this mean that Apple is moving away from its current suppliers of LCD panels, or are they simply looking for other ways of getting the panels into the production chain? Reuters is reporting that Toshiba will “mainly” supply to Apple, which lead us to think that the manufacturer will also make displays for, say, Android or Windows Phone 7 devices.

So is Apple looking for exclusivity or just more manufacturers?

“iTunes 12 Days Of Christmas” Website Goes Live In Europe

Just like every year since 2008, Apple is having a special Christmas promotion on the iTunes Store. Ever day from December 26th to January 6th, users will be able to download a “fantastic selection of songs, music videos, apps, books, TV episodes and a film” completely for free on iTunes. This year’s “iTunes 12 Days Of Christmas” website went live in Europe a few hours.

You can check out the UK version (which was unavailable until today) here. Read more

MobileMe Wants (And Needs) To Be Free→

MobileMe Wants (And Needs) To Be Free

Interesting piece by Charles Jade at GigaOM:

By making MobileMe free, those using it with iOS devices won’t be using services from Google or Microsoft, which makes switching to Windows Phone 7 or Android more difficult. While PC users would also have MobileMe free, they’d need to have iOS devices to make it really worth using. The Halo Effect, which argues that iOS device sales later lead to Mac sales mitigates the loss associated with giving away MobileMe to PC users in the present. If they do switch, free MobileMe helps encourage them to remain all-Apple in the future. Free MobileMe would be an investment in hardware customer retention, and it doesn’t even have to be completely free.

MobileMe is not a fundamental source of revenue for Apple. Apple makes money by selling mobile devices and computers. In fact, sales of software in the last quarter (which include OS X, iLife and iWork, among other things) generated $662 million. A free MobileMe – or at least the basic parts of it – would be an investment to keep people on the Apple ecosystem.

Jade also writes:

The point is lock-in. Get people using Apple’s free services with Apple’s highly profitable hardware, and they’ll be less likely to buy hardware from competitors.

Or, get people used to the integrated system.

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