iPad Tops J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction Survey For Second Year Running

The iPad has earned first place in the J.D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction survey for the second year in a row, just a month after Apple’s iPhone secured the award for the ninth time. The popular slate scored 836 out of a possible 1,000 points having been rated on performance, ease of operation, styling and design, features, and cost.

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Despite Overall PC Sales Falling, Apple’s Mac Business Grew In 2012

In the Post-PC era, we’ve seen PC sales steadily decline while consumers embrace tablets. Dell and Acer have suffered huge losses while the PC market contracts, but Apple’s Mac business is actually growing year over year.

Research firm Gartner released their personal computer shipment data for the fourth quarter of 2012 today, and found that while some manufacturers are in decline, a select few have been able to increase their marketshare.

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Here’s How Insane Apple’s Profits Have Been In 2012 Next To Their Competition [Graph]

When you just look at the money Apple made in 2012 it’s pretty incredible. But when you provide some context to those earnings and put Apple’s profits next to the competition’s profits, Apple’s performance is absolutely mindboggling.

From October 2011 to September 2012 Apple made more money than Microsoft, Ebay, Google, Yahoo! Facebook and Amazon combined. In that same period, Dell, Asus, Intel, Acer, IBM, Lenovo, and HP (basically the entire PC industry) only made $19.3 billion in profit, which is less than half of Apple’s profit.

• Source Statista

Yet Another Financial Analysis Shows That iPad Rules The Tablet Space

Yeah, we’ll just keep making these, ok?

The International Data Corporation (IDC) released preliminary data yesterday from its Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet Tracker. The study shows that total worldwide tablet shipments for the second quarter of 2012 are estimated at 25 million units, which is up from 18.7 last quarter. That’s a quarter-over-quarter increase of 33.6 percent, says the data analysis company, reflecting the total year-over-year growth rate of 66.2 percent of retail tablets in the US.

Guess which tablet is the largest part of those numbers?

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Intel Brings Ivy Bridge Processor Announcement Forward To April 23 [Rumor]

Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors are expected to feature in Apple's next MacBook Pro.

Intel has reportedly shifted the announcement of its next-generation Ivy Bridge processor from April 29 to April 23 as PC makers gear up to release their second-generation of ultrabooks in May. But you could see it powering Mac OS X before then, with the new chip expected to replace its predecessor, the Sandy Bridge processor, in Apple’s next MacBook Pro and iMac.

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Windows Laptop Penetration In Higher Education Is Definitely On The Rise [Humor]

Nuff said.

• Via Science Dump

Thunderbolt Finally Coming To Ultrabooks As MacBook Air Prepares For USB 3.0

Apple first announced its incredible new Thunderbolt interface technology way back in February of 2011. Combining PCI Express and DisplayPort technology into a serial data interface, Thunderbolt allows for up to 20Gbit/s transfer rates, as well as the ability to daisy chain multiple devices, all in a tiny form factor that can fit even in the MacBook Air’s slim housing.

As usual, with Thunderbolt, Apple was at least a year ahead of the rest of the industry… and that’s not hyperbole. Only now are Acer, Asus and Lenovo getting ready to put Thunderbolt in their ultrabook offerings.

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Marvel At The Shamelessness Of These MacBook Air Knockoffs At CES [Gallery]

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Apple must be feeling very flattered. Also ripped off.

Many of the new Ultrabooks here on display at the Consumer Electronics Show are so similar to the MacBook Air, they can only be described as knockoffs.

Not only do the they rip off the basic design premise — lightweight, portable laptops with long battery life — they copy the same wedge aluminum casing, wedge shape, chiclet keyboard, large, button-less trackpad, and the selection and placement of ports.

See for yourself. Here are just a few of the MacBook Air knockoffs on display at Intel’s massive booth.

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Acer iCloud Alternative Promotion Blatantly Borrows Apple Images [CES 2012]

Image Courtesy: AppleInsider.com

All that was missing was Steve Jobs. That’s how close Acer’s promotion of its new AcerCloud service was to Apple’s iCloud. Although imitation is flattering, some observers charged Acer of a ‘blatant ripoff’ of iCloud – down to even the promotion images used by netbook kingpin.

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Today At Cult Of Android: Google TV Drops x86 In Favor Of ARM, Google Earth Updated, And More…

What’s this? Android news on Cult of Mac?! Who the hell cares?! Maybe you don’t, maybe you do. Point is: these are a few of the popular topics going on in the Android world today. Maybe you’d like to know what the competition is up to, or perhaps your aunt received a Kindle Fire she needs to update. Regardless of the reason, having a resource such as Cult of Android allows you to learn more about what’s going on in the ecosystem powered by the world’s leading mobile OS.

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