Apple’s online store is back up following some downtime this morning and just as we all expected, it now features a nice new family of iMacs.
These new all-in-ones boast Intel’s next-generation quad-core i5 and i7 processors, the company’s high-speed Thunderbolt technology, 3x faster graphics, and a FaceTime HD camera.
There are four new iMacs to choose from starting at $1,199 – two 21.5-inch models and two 27-inch models – all four come with 4GB of RAM and a FaceTime HD camera capable of shooting video in 720p.
Apple’s online store has just gone down, and according to recent speculation, when it comes back up it will feature a brand new lineup of iMacs, boasting Intel’s newest family of Sandy Bridge processors and the company’s Thunderbolt technology.
Sources familiar with Apple’s plans revealed to AppleInsider over the weekend that updated iMacs would launch today, May 3rd, just as stock of the current models has slowly diminished.
We’ll keep you updated and let you know when the store’s back up.
Citing sources “familiar with the matter,” a new report suggests Apple will launch its new lineup of iMacs tomorrow, May 3rd, featuring Intel’s newest family of Sandy Bridge processors, and the company’s high-speed Thunderbolt port in place of the current Mini DisplayPort.
Apple has recently been taking steps to ensure a smooth roll-out of the new iMacs, according to the same sources, who apparently continue to provide accurate information when it comes to Apple’s plans, says the AppleInsider report. One confirmed that a “visual night” is scheduled for the early morning hours of May 3rd, “so it is highly likely that whatever new product that is going to be refreshed or introduced will be done on [that day].”
A “visual night” is when several Apple retail employees are called in to work throughout the evening and into the early hours of the morning to make changes to store layouts, often removing old products to make room for new ones.
Previous reports have already speculated that Apple was getting ready for the imminent launch of updated iMacs, and stock of the current generation all-in-one is slowly diminishing. The last time the iMac family was updated was some 9 months ago.
As with any new Apple product, shortly after its release the white iPhone 4 received a customary teardown to see what’s inside. You’d be forgiven for thinking the internals for the white device are exactly the same as those featured within its black counterpart, but surely Apple changed something while it was delayed for all those months?
Well, the first teardowns for the new device reveal changes to both the proximity sensor and the rear-facing camera lens. One of the rumored issues which caused the white handset’s delay was light leakage into the camera; it seems Apple has rectified this issue with a more recessed camera lens.
As you can see in the comparison photo (top), the camera lens on the white device on the right is embedded much deeper into its surround, when compared to the lens featured on the black device on the left.
As for the proximity sensor, these are also different on each device, however, it’s currently unclear how the two components differ. Its obvious from recent images of the white iPhone 4 that Apple has modified the design of the proximity sensor externally: what was once tiny little holes above the device’s speaker is now a much more pronounced opening.
Apple applied for a broad patent on location tracking services back in September 2009 — the kind of location tracking that is now causing a storm of controversy.
The patent application, entitled “Location Histories for Location Aware Devices,” throws some light on the iPhone tracking issue, which is soon to be the subject of a Senate hearing.
Steven Levy‘s new book about Google In The Plex revealed a few juicy nuggets about the relationship between Apple and Google.
At first, Larry and Sergey wanted Steve Jobs as their CEO. Then the two companies had a long honeymoon, sharing board members and collaborating on groundbreaking software. But then it all soured when Google released Android, and Steve Jobs hid the iPad from Eric Schmidt, even though he was sitting on Apple’s board.
We had a chance to ask Levy for more detail and insight into the relationship between Apple and Google. Here is our exclusive Q&A:
Apple has surpassed Microsoft in quarterly profits for the first time ever, bagging $760 million dollars more during the first calendar quarter of 2011. Microsoft announced today that its net profit for the past quarter – the company’s third fiscal quarter – is $5.23 billion. Last week, Apple reported profits of $5.99 billion over the same period, which is its second fiscal quarter of 2011.
Six months ago, Apple’s excellent performance in recent years was highlighted when the Cupertino company surpassed Microsoft in quarterly revenue for the first time in nearly 15 years. Despite this, Microsoft continued to hold Apple off when it came to profits, largely due to the high profit margins it achieves with its software business.
Apple’s latest accomplishment is now the third time the company has trumped Microsoft over the past year. In May of 2010, Apple first surpassed Microsoft in market capitalization, then went on to surpass Microsoft in quarterly revenue in October, and has now surpassed Microsoft in quarterly profits.
Apple’s market cap is now nearly $100 billion higher than Microsoft’s. It’s no wonder Apple has enough cash reserves to keep the company going until 2018, without selling another single product.
A new patent discovered by Patently Apple reveals that Apple is working on its own fitness center application for the iPhone.
The patent titled “Systems and Methods for Accessing Personalized Fitness Services Using a Portable Electronic Device” was originally filed in October, 2009, and describes an app that can benefit its users by helping them with their diet; suggesting when they should go to the gym and what exercises they should do; and allowing them to compete with friends and be ranked on their performance.
Services are broken down into four categories: New Customers, Getting There, In the Gym, and Post Workout; which will help users find their nearest fitness center and motivate them to actively attend, encourage them to workout and suggest different exercises, and provide post-workout motivation and fitness tracking features.
As we are all well aware by now, yesterday saw the launch of the white iPhone 4 in 29 countries around the world. What you may not be aware of, however, is that the white iPhone is ever so slightly thicker than the black model, as discovered by some early adopters of the device.
A MacRumors reader was one of the first to discover the difference, and emailed the site to let them know:
Just picked up the white iPhone 4 and realized it doesn’t fit into my Incase slider case. It appears that Apple has increased the size of the plastic that borders the glass on both sides by about 1mm
Ryan Cash of Marketcircle also discovered the difference, but it didn’t take an ill-fitting case for him to realize: Cash claims to have noticed simply by picking the device up:
A colleague of mine just picked up a 16 GB iPhone 4 in white. I was a bit surprised when I picked it up off his desk (I had my black 32 GB in my other hand at the same time) – it immediately felt thicker. We placed them side-by-side on his desk, and sure enough, the white iPhone was a hair thicker.
Bob Mansfield is Apple’s Senior Vice President of hardware engineering, who earlier this week sold 99% of his shares in the company for $13.7 million, according to an SEC filing. Mansfield frequently trades his Apple stock; selling shares while they’re at their peak, then buying more as they fall with a 15% employee discount. His latest sale is his largest so far.
On Monday, Mansfield reportedly sold 38,863 of his Apple shares – leaving him with just 501 – each worth $351.89. Over the last three years, Mansfield has sold almost $58.5 million worth of investments, taking home $37.9 million after taxes.
Apple has reportedly purchased the iCloud.com domain for the new cloud-based storage service it is currently working on, paying $4.5 million to the previous owners who have now rebranded their service. Visitors to iCloud.com are currently redirected to the new service – now called CloudMe – but it is believed Apple will take over the domain when it’s ready.
The report comes from GigaOm, who cites a source familiar with the company:
My source, who is familiar with the company, says that Xcerion has sold the domain to Apple for about $4.5 million. Xcerion hasn’t responded to my queries as yet. At the time of writing, the Whois database showed Xcerion as the owner of iCloud.
MacRumors also received some information on the iCloud rebranding last week, but were unable to obtain enough information at the time to link the change to an Apple takeover.
Apple’s upcoming cloud-based storage service – also dubbed a ‘music locker’ – will purportedly be a solution for storing music and other content online which can then be streamed to internet connected devices, such as the iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.
The most recent speculation has suggested that Apple is currently in the process of signing deals with all of the major music labels and getting the service ready for launch. An announcement is expected at WWDC in June.
A crash report received by iOS developer FutureTap reveals that Apple is currently field testing the next major release of its iOS firmware using third-party applications from the App Store. In a message posted to Twitter, FutureTap discloses a crash log from a device running iOS 5.0:
Just received the first iOS 5.0 crash report. MKUserLocationBreadCrumb sounds interesting.
FutureTap followed up the message with a screenshot (above) of the crash log, highlighting the “MKUserLocationBreadCrumb” API. MKUserLocation is part of the iOS MapKit Framework, which is used to find your device’s current location; while the “BreadCrumb” element is said to indicate a new tracking feature.
It’s possible the new feature has something to do with the new mapping technology that Apple revealed it was working on in a press release yesterday, however, this isn’t expected to appear as a finished product for another couple of years.
While there’s nothing major here, this crash report reveals – unsurprisingly – that Apple is readying its iOS 5 firmware for its announcement at WWDC in June. We will probably see its release alongside the fifth-generation iPhone – expected this fall.
Apple is certainly rather talkative today; as well as confirming the release of the white iPhone 4 tomorrow, it has also issued a press release announcing that the iPad 2 will launch in another 12 countries this week.
Tomorrow, April 28th, the second-generation tablet will hit Japan; while Hong Kong, India, Israel, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey and UAE will get the device on Friday, April 28th. China will also get the device on May 6th.
Customers can purchase the device at Apple retails stores from 9 a.m. local time, select Apple authorized resellers, and from Apple’s online store beginning at 1 a.m.
Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for the iPad 2 I ordered in the U.K. on April 1st. What gives?
Apple has today issued a press release and finally confirmed the launch date of the white iPhone 4. It will be available beginning tomorrow, April 28th, from Apple’s online store, its retail stores, AT&T and Verizon stores, and select Apple authorized resellers.
It was also be available from various carriers in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Macau, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, and the U.K.
Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president – who confirmed in a tweet that the device would launch this spring – said in the press release:
The white iPhone 4 has finally arrived and it’s beautiful. We appreciate everyone who has waited patiently while we’ve worked to get every detail right.
The device launches 10 months after it was first announced, with various manufacturing issues rumored to be the cause of the delay. Apple’s official statement will finally spell the end of white iPhone 4 rumors. Oh, Lord, what a wonderful day.
A new report from Nikkei Shimbun – the Japanese newspaper behind the iPhone 6 LCD rumors – claims the iPad 2 will finally launch in Japan on Thursday, April 28th. The second-generation tablet was delayed for over a month due to the earthquake and tsunami that recently devastated vast parts of the country.
Apple announced that it would be delaying the launch of the iPad 2 in Japan in the middle of March – stating its teams were focusing on recovering from the recent disaster – and the company is yet to release an update on the delay.
The iPad 2 was scheduled to launch in Japan on March 25th – the same day it hit 25 other countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Norway and the U.K.
If Nikkei’sclaims are accurate, the iPad 2 will launch in Japan just a day after the white iPhone 4 is released worldwide; a busy week for Apple, it seems.
No matter how harmless this whole iPhone tracking feature may be, some people still aren’t happy about it. While many of us have brushed it off and chosen to ignore what seems like something blown way out of proportion, others have decided to take things a little more seriously.
Now dubbed ‘Locationgate’, the issue has been the subject of class-action lawsuits and government investigations. But surely if users are really concerned about their iPhone tracking their every move, they can just turn location services off, right? Wrong.
The Wall Street Journal has revealed that even with location services disabled on the iPhone, the device continues to collect and store users’ location data with the help of cell towers and Wi-Fi hotspots. This isn’t a dirty little secret, however; this is well within the rights of every cell phone maker. But what’s interesting, is that Apple seems to lie about it.
New design: Apple is testing several prototypes (we all know this) and one of the leading candidates for the iPhone 5 is thinner than the current iPhone 4 and looks “more like the iPod touch.” It has a teardrop shape – thinner at the bottom than the top, like the new MacBook Air.
Gesture-sensitive Home Button: The Home Button will be bigger and will understand a gestures. “Our sources say that gestures are definitely coming in a future version of iOS,” says
Larger screen: the screen will go up to 3.7-inches, not 4-inches as rumored. It will keep the current resolution, dropping pixel density goes from 326 to 312, but will still be a Retina Display (it’s still above 300ppi).
No Bezel: Screen will be edge-to-edge, occupying the entire front of the iPhone. That means no bezel (or almost no bezel).
Hidden earpiece & mouthpiece: The earpiece and sensors are behind the screen itself.
Inductive charging: It may or may not have wireless inductive charging. Crystal ball is cloudy.
NFC: Likewise it may or may not have NFC.
Global radio chips: It’ll be based on Qualcomm’s dual GSM/CDMA Gobi chipset, which means it’ll work on a ton of GSM and CDMA networks worldwide, most importantly in China.
Joshua Topolsky warns, however, that none of this is set in stone: “Keep in mind that this info isn’t fact — we’re getting lots of threads from lots of places and trying to make sense of the noise. The versions of devices our sources are seeing could be design prototypes and not production-ready phones. Still, there are strong indications that Apple will surprise a public that’s expecting a bump more along the lines of the 3G to 3GS — and this is some insight into where those designs might be headed.”
Apple does a pretty good job at being an environmentally conscious company. It seems like towards the end of every keynote, Steve Jobs expounds on what Apple is doing to lower the carbon foot print of their products. To celebrate Earth Day the guys over at Geekaphone created a really great info graphic to show just how eco-friendly the iPhone is. Packed with neat little facts, like how the iPhone 4 reduced emissions by 18% where as the iPhone 3G increased emissions by 22%, the big graphic is worth a look for anyone who wants to grasp the picture of their cellphones impact on the environment.
A unique service offering to unlock any GSM iPhone, no jailbreaks required, has suddenly shut down, leaving many customers awaiting refunds. Increased scrutiny from Apple may very well be responsible… and curiously, even the providers of the service had no idea how it worked, or why it’s all stopped.
Apple could be planning an event to commemorate the 10th anniversary of its retail stores, after the company told its retail employees this week that they could not request vacation days in late May.
An AppleInsider report reveals an email was sent to Apple retail employees informing them that they could not request days off between May 20th and May 22nd. Store managers are apparently “very excited” about these dates, but it seems no further information is currently available.
Gary Allen of ifoAppleStore.com – a website dedicated to news and information about Apple’s retail stores – said that Apple may hold an event to “attract a crowd” for a few days as a way of celebrating the 10-year milestone.
It’s unlikely, however, that the event will see a new product launch. Though Apple is expected to update its iMac lineup to introduce the latest Sandy Bridge processors, this isn’t usually an occasion that would prevent retail employees from taking vacation.
The last time Apple enforced this rule was earlier this year for two major product launches: the Verizon iPhone 4 and the iPad 2. Don’t bother getting your hopes up for the iPhone 5, though – recent reports don’t expect that until at least September.
Update: MacRumorshave since received some information that suggests this may well be due to internal training, rather than an event.
Apple seems to be catching up with the demand of the iPad 2 after shipping times for orders from the Apple online store dropped to just 1-2 weeks last night. Those in the U.S. noticed the change first, but it slowly spread to every country in which the device is currently available.
Shortly after its launch, shipping times for the iPad 2 hit 4-5 weeks, but as Apple deals with demand and orders begin to tail off a little, shipping times have continued to slowly drop.
Apple critics are accusing the company of ripping off Samsung, not the other way around. They say the Samsung F700, first shown at Cebit in 2006 and released in February 2007, is the inspiration for the iPhone, first shown at Macworld 2007 and released in June that year. LOL @ Apple: Suing someone you stole the design from to begin with.
If possession of any one app could ever be considered an instant ticket to membership in the Cult of Mac, this is it. Mactracker has been around since early 2001, and we’ve talked about it before on our site (Giles Turnbull thought it was so fantastic he included it in his list of 50 Mac Essnetials); but last week a newly-updated version hit the Mac App Store — which is enough to earn it a spot as today’s Daily Freebie.
The app lists painstakingly complete data on every Mac product ever made in an elegant, searchable, easy-to-use interface. The new update even brings with it the ability to track your Macs’ serial numbers, service work performed, etc.
The app is free, but we think a little donation at the app’s website (which is where those who’re allergic to the App Store can also download the app directly) is money well spent.
In an internal memo to its employees, Apple has announced the end of its iWork and MobileMe rebate programs with effect from close of business on April 18th. The rebate programs allowed customers to save $30 on MobileMe when purchasing a new Mac or iPad, and $30 on iWork when purchasing a new Mac.
The termination of these programs follows reports that Apple is set to revamp its MobileMe service over the coming months. A new MobileMe service, said to feature a digital “music locker” for streaming content from the cloud to Apple devices – as well as the “Media Stream” and “Find my Friends” features – is rumored to launch either later this month or at WWDC in June.
Though it’s not clear why iWork was also cut from the rebate program, it’s believed this is simply due to the release of iWork 2011 later this year. I think the the Mac App Store could also play a part in this: if Apple has decided to offer future iWork releases exclusively through the App Store as separate purchases, there may be a new way for customers to claim rebates – such as promo codes – or no rebates at all.
The lawsuit claims several of Samsung’s smartphones and tablet — the Galaxy S 4G, Epic 4G, Nexus S and the Galaxy Tab — copy Apple’s intellectual property. The suit, filed last week in Northern California, claims:
“Rather than innovate and develop its own technology and a unique Samsung style for its smart phone products and computer tablets, Samsung chose to copy Apple’s technology, user interface and innovative style in these infringing products,” the lawsuit said.
Of course, Samsung makes a lot of components for Apple’s products, from RAM used in MacBooks to flash memory used in the iPhone and iPad. It aslo manufactures the A4 and A5 processors for Apple.
Update: An Apple spokesperson elaborated on the charges for Mobilized:
“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging. This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”
