This Week's Sponsor:

Turbulence Forecast

Know before you go. Get detailed turbulence forecasts for your exact route, now available 5 days in advance.

Posts tagged with "apple"

“Innovative, Category-Killer Experience” Key Requirement For A Cheaper iPhone

After meeting two Apple executives on Wednesday, RBC Capital Markets has revealed a set of “key takeaways” and have noted that Apple wouldn’t introduce a low-end iPhone unless the device is an “innovative, category-killer experience”. Analyst Mike Abramsky met with Apple COO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer and notes that the condition is Apple’s primary requirement for a low-end iPhone.

It certainly sounds like a fairly obvious statement when looking at Apple’s recent product releases but it is well worth noting after numerous reports of a ‘cheaper’ iPhone launching this year – most of which cite financial reasons and developing country markets for the introduction of such a device.

Some of the other takeaways from Abramsky’s meeting with the Apple executives includes the fact that iCloud will be ready for “significant scale” when launching this fall after Apple learnt lessons from MobileMe. He also says that despite Android’s success in recent years, Apple has maintained “sustained advantages” over their competitors and should be able to do fine despite an “expected explosion of low-priced Android smartphones”.

Concluding his notes from the meeting he agrees with Apple’s executives that the company has an “untapped global opportunity” and maintains a $500 price for Apple stock and ‘outperform’ rating for the company.

[Via AppleInsider]

OmniVision Reveals New 8 MP Image Sensor, Better And Smaller Than Ever

OmniVision today revealed details of a new 8 MP image sensor that is 20% thinner than modules available on the market today. The 8-megapixel OV8850, which they are marketing as “the first CameraChip™ sensor built on a 1.1-micron OmniBSI-2 pixel architecture” is just a quarter of an inch thick and designed for implementation and smartphones and tablets.

With our new OmniBSI-2 architecture, we have further miniaturized our pixels while delivering a 20 percent improvement in peak quantum efficiency in all color channels, a 35 percent improvement in low-light sensitivity and a 45 percent increase in full-well capacity in an extremely compact and power efficient package

The module has also made improvements in its power efficiency and image quality – further making it a good fit for next generation mobile devices. 1080p/30 video recording is also supported but more interesting is that it supports 720p/60 with electronic image stabilization.

This new image sensor is set to go into mass production early next year, so it probably won’t feature in this year’s iPhone refresh – but it gives you an idea of how these tiny cameras are constantly improving and shrinking in size. An OmniVision image sensor currently resides in the iPhone 4 and reports from earlier this year suggest the company (perhaps with Sony) will also contribute an image sensor to the iPhone 5.

Apple’s Training Site Back With Lion, FCP X Certifications

As noted by TUAW, Apple’s training website has come back online with new OS X Lion certifications and training courses – some of them “coming soon” and others starting “this fall”. The training website is available at training.apple.com and it’s also received a facelift with a cleaner design, and plenty of OS X Lion and Final Cut Pro X graphics.

Indeed, the New Releases section on the site points to new FCP X training and exams, OS X Lion training and exams, as well as new Mac Integration Basics. IT professionals willing to support and learn about new OS X technologies might want to look at the new Lion courses coming this fall to Apple Authorized Training Centers worldwide. Books and resources are already available online and others will soon be for pre-order, and the new 10.7 certifications coming this fall will include:

  • Apple Certified Associate: Mac Integration 10.7
  • Apple Certified Support Professional 10.7
  • Apple Certified Technical Coordinator 10.7

The Mac Integration Basics 10.7 exam “will be available soon” according to the Training website, but full documentation has already been posted online for download as PDF or iBookstore guide. On the other hand, those interested in Final Cut Pro X certification can watch Final Cut Pro X Apple Pro Video Training, with classes coming “soon” worldwide.

Snow Leopard certification and courses are still available and according to Apple will remain online until January 2012.

iPhone and iPad Dominate Smartphone and Tablet Choices for Small and Medium Businesses

The iPhone and iPad are leading the charge in small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) for smartphones and tablets according to Intermedia. In a study by Intermedia, who handles 350,000 premium hosted Microsoft Exchange servers, Apple’s iOS devices are dominating the stats when it comes to ActiveSync activations performed by the company. The iPhone has an overwhelming 57% coverage in this bracket and the iPad has 21% as well. That leaves only about 22% for competitors such as Motorola, HTC and others. The nearest competition to the iPad’s 21% is Motorola with only 9%. See above graphic for full stats.

The graph data compares the use of ActiveSync devices in Intermedia’s clientele. ActiveSync is the syncing protocol that smartphones use to sync email and other information with Microsoft Exchange. Intermedia supports email, contact and calendar syncing for smartphones, including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows 7 phones.

Read more

US Retailers Begin To Reduce iPhone 4 Prices

In recent days there have been reports of various retailers beginning to reduce the price of the iPhone 4 as the release of an iPhone 5 draws ever closer. Rumors on when exactly the next iPhone will be released have varied quite substantially from an August release to a September release and most recently, suggestions from AllThingsD of a late October launch.

Whenever the release is, US retailers Radio Shack and Target have both cut the price on the iPhone 4 models. Radio Shack is currently offering the 16GB model for $169.99 and the 32GB for $269.99 whilst also offering $100 credit with the trade-in of previous iPhone models. Meanwhile Target is now offering the 16GB iPhone 4 for $149.99 and the 32GB model for $249.99. Unfortunately these discounted iPhone 4’s still come attached with a two-year contract with either AT&T or Verizon.

These iPhone 4 prices being offered by Radio Shack and Target are reduced from the standard $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model that AT&T, Verizon and Apple are still offering.

[Via Ars Technica]

Apple Pressures Samsung Into Postponing Launch Of Galaxy Tab 10.1 In Australia

Update 2: The Sydney Morning Herald has managed to get more details on this legal dispute between Apple and Samsung in Australia. Apple claims that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 is misleading customers by making representations that the Tab is the iPad/is a version of the iPad 2/has the same performance of the iPad/is manufactured or supplied by Apple/is associated with Apple/is the same quality of the iPad 2. They are demanding that Samsung destroy all stock of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 or hand over stock to Apple. Furthermore the SMH also has details of the patents Apple is citing:

Standard Patents
- 2008201540: List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display
- 2005246219: Multipoint touchscreen
- 2007283771: Portable electronic device for photo management
- 2009200366: List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display
- 2007286532: Touch screen device, method and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics

Innovation Patents
- 2008100283: List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display
- 2008100372: Electronic device for photo management
- 2009100820: Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image
- 2008100419: Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image
- 2008101171: Portable electronic device for imaged-based browsing of contacts

Clarification 1: This agreement Samsung has made with Apple is related to not selling the US model of the Galaxy Tab in Australia. As detailed below, Samsung has also agreed to share 3 samples of the Australian version to Apple (which it will do at least 7 days prior to launching the product - which was expected for August 11). FOSS Patents speculates that sharing these models will allow “Apple to seek a preliminary injunction against” the Australian model before it goes on sale as well.

In the latest development of the patent dispute between Samsung and Apple, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has now been delayed from going on sale in Australia whilst a Federal Court case is resolved. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 had been expected to launch just next week on August 11 down under, but after Apple pushed for an injunction on the device in Australia it seems that Samsung agreed to postpone the launch of the device.

Samsung’s lawyer noted in their court documentation that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has some differences in Australia and have agreed to provide Apple three samples of the Australian version. As a result of this agreement between Apple, Samsung and the courts, not only will Samsung postpone the release of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia but they will cease all forms of advertising for the product.

A hearing is currently scheduled for August 29 to review the status of the case and, if necessary, set a trial date. If Apple loses the case, they would be required to pay Samsung damages as a result of the release postponement.

[Via The Next Web]

Adobe Releases ‘Edge’, A New Tool To Create HTML5 Animations And Webpages

Despite some significant opposition to Apple’s push for HTML5 web development (and rejection of Flash on iOS devices), Adobe has in recent times made some significant moves to embrace HTML5 including the recent release of a Flash to HTML5 conversion tool. However this past weekend Adobe released Edge, a new piece of software that aims to help web developers create HTML5 web pages and animations.

Adobe Edge is a new web motion and interaction design tool that allows designers to bring animated content to websites, using web standards like HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3.

The move by Adobe is a significant one, and whilst at the moment is only in a ‘1.0’ beta, Edge will likely become a core piece of Adobe’s software repertoire. In its current form, Edge, is fairly limited to basic animations and can only handle a single page layout – however just like Adobe’s Dreamweaver, web developers can view and modify the code generated by Edge. TUAW, asking about integration with other Adobe products received a response that said integration would come, but at a later date.

However despite the promise of Edge, Adobe remains adamant that Flash is not dying. Instead, John Cole, creative solutions architect at Adobe claims “Flash and HTML5 will co-exist in the long term” – despite also admitting that HTML5 “will be big”. You can download the first beta of Edge from Adobe’s Lab website here.

[Via TUAW, The Inquirer]

AllThingsD: iPhone 5 Actually Set For An October Launch?

In recent weeks there have been rumors that the iPhone 5 will debut in late September – that timeframe sounded more likely than previous rumors of an August launch. But according to AllThingsD, the iPhone 5 will actually be an “October surprise”.

Claiming to have a source “familiar with Apple’s plans”, AllThingsD claims that any AT&T employee blackout during the last two weeks of September is unrelated to an iPhone launch. However despite citing October, the source declined to offer a specific date of launch – other sources of AllThingsD claim that the launch date would be later in October.

Last month DigiTimes reported that the iPhone 5 supply chain was ramping up for production runs in August for a late September unveiling and October launch to market – in line with today’s AllThingsD report. General rumors of the iPhone 5 have been suggesting an A5 processor, Qualcomm dual-mode GSM/CDMA baseband and an 8 MP camera.

[Via AllThingsD]

Apple Finally Begins Rolling Out 90-Second Song Previews In International iTunes Stores

Nearly eight months after 90-second song previews started rolling out on the US  iTunes Store, Apple have today started transitioning a number of international iTunes stores over to the 90-second previews, a vast improvement on the 30-second previews. Currently we’ve noticed that the iTunes stores in Australia, UK, Canada, New Zealand and France and a handful of other European stores.

However, despite the beginning of this international rollout there are still a lot of songs that haven’t transitioned to 90-second previews – looking at the top 10 songs on iTunes in Australia found just half now have the longer preview period. For comparison all top 10 songs in the US have the 90-second preview, although keep in mind that not all the 10 songs were the same in the two stores.

That difference could just be because Apple has only just started to transition to 90-second previews in the international stores or because licensing deals are (as is very typical) delaying the transition to longer previews.  Nonetheless international iTunes users will no doubt welcome this change that has been awaited for quite some time.

[Via MacRumors, 9to5 Mac]