Time for manga in the iBookstore.
Apple has released an update to iBooks with improvements for Asia. The iBookstore now sells books in Japan, and more support has been added for Asian languages.
There’s a belief that Apple makes new engineers work on fake products until they can be trusted. According one of the company’s former employees, Adam Lashinsky, who published the book Inside Apple last January, the Cupertino company hires people into so-called “dummy positions” until it’s confident that they can be a part of upcoming products without leaking information.
But how accurate are those claims? We know Apple takes secrecy very seriously, but would it really waste time and money on giving people fake projects just to ensure they won’t squeal?
Almost certainly not.
Apple has begun testing high-resolution television set designs with manufacturing partners in Asia, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal that cites unnamed sources within Foxconn. Both Foxconn and display manufacturer Sharp are said to be involved in the process, which is still in its early stages.
Hardware news site Kitguru.net has put up an extensive gallery of images which they believe is the iPhone 5 in the wild. We disagree: this is pretty clearly a rough model someone has put together for the purpose of getting the jump on making cases or accessories. But it still shows what the consensus is amongst accessory makers with ties to the Far East about what the next iPhone will look like.
Following yesterday’s report from Bloomberg that revealed Apple plans to release the long-awaited iPad mini this September, a new report from The Wall Street Journal has this morning added even further credence to those claims.
According to “people familiar with the matter,” Apple’s suppliers are preparing for mass production of a new iPad with a display smaller than 8 inches, which is expected to begin in September.
Following the launch of the iTunes Store in an additional twelve Asian countries earlier today, Apple has also begun selling the Apple TV in a number of these territories, too. The set-top box is now available in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam.
With the incredible success of the App Store, sometimes it’s easy to forgot that there are still many, many countries the world over that don’t have access to it yet. That number has been reduced today, however, as Apple brings its mobile marketplace to another 32 countries, bringing the total number of countries with access to the App Store to 155.
There have been some crazy rumors flying around lately regarding the iPad 3, but now we have a new one that is all about the MacBook Air. According Digitimes (which has a fairly poor track record with Apple rumors), Apple is considering launching a 14-inch MacBook Air specifically for Asian markets, that may enter production fairly soon. Apparently, 14-inch screens are more popular in Asia than they are in other parts of the globe, which is how the publication is justifying the rumor.
If you’re reading us from Asia, great news: the Asian continent’s own answer to Black Friday starts tomorrow, January 6th, and as rumored. Apple’s now having a Lunar New Year Sale to celebrate, offering discounts on most of their popular products in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
The discounts are basically similar to those U.S. Apple Store customers saw in November, with discounts of between 6-8% on iPads, 10% discounts on iPods, and between 5-10% off all MacBooks.
If you’re in one of the aforementioned countries and want to start the New Year right, get hopping: this sale will only continue for 24 hours.
![Recent Mac Sales Reveal Astounding Growth, and Asia is to Blame [Report]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Shanghai-Pudong-Apple-store.jpeg)
Shanghai Pudong Apple store • http://bit.ly/q1bXQ0
Mac sales continue on a steep upward trend, with Needham analyst Charlie Wolf weighing in on Apple’s Mac sales for June of 2011. As Wolf notes, the Mac saw its 21st consecutive quarter in which shipment growth for the Mac surpassed that of the entire PC market.
Overall, the Mac saw an astounding 14.6% growth in worldwide shipments, while the PC market saw a minimal growth rate of 2.7%. The reason for the Mac’s continued spike in growth? Asia.
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Cult of Mac is a daily news site that follows everything Apple. Our goal is to provide timely news, insightful analysis, helpful how-tos and honest reviews. Find out more about Cult of Mac.
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![Alleged Photos Of The iPhone 5 Leak Out Of Asia [Gallery]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/iPhone-5-next-to-iPhone-4-KitGuru1.jpeg "iPhone-5-next-to-iPhone-4-KitGuru1")
![Apple Offering Discounts On Most Products In Asia To Celebrate The Lunar New Year [Deals]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Screen-Shot-2012-01-05-at-12.23.05-PM-640x163.jpg "Screen Shot 2012-01-05 at 12.23.05 PM")
