Posts tagged Apple
Editorial: Apple’s iPad – The Good and The Not So Good
Jan 30th
So this morning Apple announced their highly anticipated tablet, The iPad, strangly enough, Apple don’t actually hold any trademarks or domains featuring iPad name, but like the iPhone, which was owned by Cisco, that should change fairly soon. So onto the device, the iPad itself is an extremely polished device in way of design, very much in the Steve Jobs vain, sporting a 9.7″ Multi-Touch, multi angeled IPS LCD screen, 16GB-32GB-64GB variants, WiFi only or WiFi and 3G. It comes in at 9.56 inches (242.8 mm) High, 7.47 inches (189.7 mm) Wide and 0.5 inch (13.4 mm) Thick, which is really amazing considering 
its power and speed. Under the bonnet of the iPad is the Apple A4, a 1Ghz Samsung made, Apple designed SOC that contains the Processor, Graphics, IO, Memory all on the chip, this allows the iPad to render 720p HD video with ease and also flick through photos, play 3D games and change orentation with breaking a sweat, it’s also extremly low power, giving the iPad 10 hours battery use with 30 days standby. Positioned to take on netbooks head to head, this could speel the end to the netbook category that has helped a number of PC manufacturers capture a significant portion of market share in the portable computing space. Can Apple again dominate a market with it’s first product in a new market? Their track record certainly seems so.
Apple’s Tablet to finally see the light of day? Or iPhone 4.0 to take centre stage?
Jan 19th
Invite to Apple’s rumoured Jan 27th event were sent out this morning, confirming the event and also sparking massive speculation that this is going to be the date that Apple reveal it’s much hyped Tablet. There have been reports by Clayton Morris that the event will showcase the much anticipated Tablet, iPhone OS 4.0 and iLife. In all of this the only thing I’m really interested to see is the iPhone OS 4.0, I’m excited to see what news features or tweaks Apple are looking at adding to the iPhone platform. Dont get me wrong, I’m extremely interested to see what Apple have done with this Tablet of theirs, but knowing the price range its going to be in I’m extremely confident I wont be getting one any time soon, plus I already have a iPhone 3GS so, the announment that seems most relevant to me of course is the iPhone OS update. I’ll be up at 2am my time ready and waiting for all to be revealed.
Samsung announces "bada" and gives Symbian the boot
Nov 11th
In a every increasing world of smartphone manufactures and software developers, there is the best and then there is the rest. Nokia’s own Symbian OS (S60), along with RIM’s Blackberry OS and Apple’s iPhone OS hold the top three spots in market share for smartphone OS’s, with everyone thing else making up the rest. The main reason for Symbian’s success has been it’s licensing. More smartphones around the world are sold with symbian due to two things, Nokia making it, it’s number 1 smartphone OS and also other manufactuers also using it in a range of handsets, Samsung being one of these. Samsung, which holds the umber 2 spot for global mobile sales currently uses a mix of Windows Mobile and Symbian for it’s smartphones with about a 80/20 split. This is all about to change.
iPhone 3GS, when will more stock arrive?
Sep 14th
In a nutshell? No one knows. I have spoken to people at both Optus and Vodafone and they have no ETA, 32Gb models are filthering into stores in limited quanties and at a very slow pace, maybe very 3 weeks or so. 16Gb models have not been seen by many people since launch. I would hope stock would become widely available again with the next 2 months, but other then that, dont hold your breath.
New iPod's to be announced on the 9th of September
Sep 1st
09/09/09 is the magical date for Apple’s annaul iPod/Music event, called “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it,” which referenes a Rolling Stones lyric. Being held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, we are expecting to see a new lineup of iPod Touches with cameras and also the release of the rumoured iTunes 9, which is due to include both social networking integration as well as Blu-Ray support. The offiical keynote is due to start at 10am Pacific Time.
There is also another significant take on this event, its also on the same date that The Beatles are having their entire catalogue re-released and also marks the release of the The Beatles: Rock Band, could this also be a great time to announce the release of The Beatles discography on iTunes??? We will have to just wait and see.
New Facebook 3.0 iPhone App Approved and in App Store
Aug 28th
The day has finally come for the much anticipated Facebook 3.0 iPhone App. Today the app was approved by Apple and has already appeared on the US App Store and has just appeared on our shores. As soon as I have had a play, I will do a review on the changes, which there are plenty. Some of the major changes include:
* Redisigned Home Screen
* Video uploads for iPhone 3GS
* Uploading of photos to any album
* “Like” option available for posts and Photos
* Visit links with the in-built browser
* Make friend requests
iPhone 3G S shipping to Australian stores as we speak.
Jun 23rd
UPDATE: Vodafone just released pricing, check out both Optus and Vodafone’s below.
With Friday only a matter of days away, the biggest fear i had was a repeat of last year, where only flagship stores carried iPhones on launch day and others had to wait via raincheck processes. This year a different story is emerging, stores have already started to recieve stock and for stores that haven’t, they should have stock for Friday’s launch. This is good news for customers, as no pre-order was available to customers this time around in Oz. Optus have released pricing already, with the 32gb version avaiable free on their Timeless plans. Vodafone and Virgin are still yet to finalise pricing but it is expected today or tomorrow.
New iPhone 3G S to hit Australia on the 26th of June
Jun 10th
It’s been a while since i last posted but i thought this was well worth it. The new iPhone 3G S, announced on Monday will be hitting Australia on the 26th of June. At this stage both Optus and Vodafone have taken the handset, but in usual Apple style nothing in regards to pricing or availability has been released. Vodafone has also now released visual voicemail for the iPhone, which correct me if I’m wrong is the first carrier in Australia to do so. Stay tuned, we will get more word on pricing and stock as i find out.
Apple readying a new iPhone?
Jan 29th
Mac Rumours has reported that code, referring to a iPhone2,1 with the current iPhone 3G coming in as iPhone1,2 has been found in the new 2.2.1 firmware that was just released. This coding is used to represent major changes to hardware, for example: iPhone 2G was iPhone1,1 so Version 1, Revision 1 with the iPhone 3G coming in as Version 1, Revision 2. That’s my understanding anyway and the easiest way i can grasp the concept of the numbers. You may be thinking well why wasn’t the iPhone 3G touted as a major revision? well it wasn’t really, all they added was new software (which was made available to 2G users), 3G and GPS, So nothing really major. The iPod Touch on the other hand did get a version upgrade because a few more things were added, such as microphone, volume controls and a much faster processor, where as the iPhone retained mostly the same hardware.
So after all that could we really be seeing a new iPhone on the horizon? does WWDC look like the place to launch it again? well i hope so because frankly the iPhone is such an excellent device let down by outdated hardware, 2 MP camera, no video recording, no A2DP Bluetooth support or file transfer via Bluetooth, no MMS support and no copy and paste. SO for a device that has really changed the way companies look at the Smartphone, it’s hardware is very dated. SO please please please Apple, release something with some decent hardware.
Apple vs Palm in a war of words
Jan 25th
During Apple’s earnings conference call, Tim Cook, who is now running the company since Job’s leave of absence, gave a strange response to a question about the Palm Pre and it’s interface, saying that they would essentially go after any company that infringed it’s Intellectual Property. Well Palm fired right back saying pretty much “if you want us come get us”. Even though Apple said it was a general statement and not aimed at any specific companies, it seems as if maybe they have their eyes on Palm and maybe checking into some things in regards to it’s interface, if so, it wouldn’t a be surprise tome seeing Palm nabbed Jon Rubinstein (formally of Apple) and began an Apple staff recruitment drive.
[From Osnews.com]
