Google’s Android Marketplace, a rival to Apple’s iPhone App Store, reached the 50,000 mark over the weekend, according to one company tracking cell phone application sites. Although a far cry from Apple’s nearly 200,000 apps, Android may be on pace to hit the 100,000 milestone by September, according to reports.
About a month ago, the Android Market, the nearest competitor to the App Store, reached the 40,000 mark. The 50,000 figure comes from AndroLib, which tracks 10 smartphone marketplaces.
Gizmodo’s unofficial unveiling of Apple’s iPhone 4G may force the Cupertino, Calif. company to launch its next handset sooner than planned, a Wall Street analyst tells Cult of Mac. The leak could erode sales of current iPhones as consumers hold off until the new smartphone is available.
“This leads us to believe they [Apple] may come out with a new [iPhone] sooner versus later,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster writes in a Tuesday email.
In a move to boost iPhone sales, carrier China Unicom may reduce the price of Apple’s handset by $150, or 1,000 yuan. Apple executives recently announced iPhone sales increased 200 percent in the first half of 2009, earning the Cupertino, Calif. company $1.3 billion.
When the iPhone first entered the Chinese market in 2009, it carried a hefty price tag of 6,999 yuan. Although initially slow to compete against a strong black market and inexpensive pre-paid handsets, more than 100,000 iPhones were sold by late last year, reports said.
We start off another week with a trio of deals for Apple fans. First up is the latest batch of free applications from the App for your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, including “Catch the Egg”, an accelerometer-based game. Next we have Montage for the Mac, software enabling you to potentially write the next killer screenplay. Finally, no one can have enough storage. One option might be the Fantom G-Force 1TB eSATA/USB 2.0 hard drive.
Details on these and many other bargains are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.
One could be forgiven for assuming there were only two contestants in the e-reading race: Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle. However, new research appears to boost the visibility of a lesser-known entry: Barnes & Noble’s Nook. Sales of the Nook comprised more than half of e-readers shipped in the U.S. in March, according to DigiTimes.
Citing “upstream suppliers,” DigiTimes researcher Mingchi Kuo writes “the Nook accounted for 53 percent of e-book readers shipped to US vendors last month.”
The Apple gadget press is all a-twitter over news of yet another semiconductor company with ties to the Cupertino, Calif. consumer electronics giant. In a bit of Hollywood-style dishing of talk of discord, Imagination Technologies Ltd. is seen as going up against ARM to develop an iPhone-like graphic console for the home.
Apple is a 10-percent owner of Imagination, which makes the PowerVR graphics core for the iPhone. In a deal to be announced at the Embedded Systems Conference, Imagination will partner with MIPS Technologies, Inc. to display a high-definition chip meant for a home set-top box. Both Imagination and MIPS are rivals to ARM, who’s chips are the basis of an Apple design found in the iPad.
We close out the week with a deal on iMacs from the Apple Store. The desktops range from 21-inch to 27-inch models carrying Core 2 Duo and i7 processors. A 21.5-inch 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo iMac can be had for $999. Next up is a new deal on a 120GB iPod Classic for $189. We also have a new batch of refurbished iPhones, including an 8GB iPhone 3G for $49.
Along the way, we check out the latest App Store freebies, including “Tap Tap Ninja,” an action game. We also look at some new cases for the iPhone, as well as software.
As always, the details on these and many other items are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.
The CEO of ARM seemed to dismiss a rumor that Apple was considering acquiring the UK chipmaker as unnecessary. He did not flatly denying the chatter which erupted earlier this week, however.
“Nobody has to buy the company,” Warren East told The Guardian. The London-based Standard reported Wednesday Apple was talking about buying the chipmaker for $8 billion, citing UK traders.
The iPhone’s popularity in Japan just keeps growing. Apple’s handset has grabbed 72 percent of the smartphone market on the gadget-obsessed island nation.The Cupertino, Calif. company has doubled its shipments to Japan, hitting 2.3 million all together, according to Tokyo-based researchers.
The iPhone, which began Japanese sales in July 2008, shipped 1.69 million handsets during the fiscal year ended March 31, MM Research Institute Ltd. announced Thursday. Some 3 million smartphones could sell in Japan during the year started April 1, reports say.
We start off with a deal on an iBook. For $300, you get a 1.33GHz G4 machine with a 12-inch screen. Next up are two deals on the latest Core i7 MacBook Pros. Both run at 2.66GHz with a 15-inch screen. The first, for $1,969 includes your standard gear, but the second for $2,559 throws in three years of AppleCare.
Along the way, we check out new software for the iPhone and iPad, along with cases and stereo systems for your iPod. As usual, you can find all the details on these and many other items after the jump.
Those iPhone images Gizmodo released earlier this week are likely those of a near-final design, one report suggested Thursday. The proof is a barcode indicating the handset “lost” in a California bar was a late pre-production version of a next generation phone widely expected to be released in June or July.
The barcode attached to the prototype handset is “N90_DVT-GE4X_0493.” Daring Fireball blogger John Gruber tapped his Apple sources, who helped decrypt the code.
The war of words between Apple and Adobe over the Cupertino, Calif.’s company decision to block Flash apps on the iPhone has reached a breaking-point. Adobe now says it will court other handset makers, including Apple-rival Google.
“We’ve done everything we can,” Adobe vice president David Wadhwani told the Wall Street Journal Wednesday. Wadhwani said its relationship with Google continues to strengthen as the San Jose, Calif. software maker courts Android-based smartphones following the public split-up with Apple.
Investors on both sides of the Atlantic are abuzz with a rumor Apple is considering acquiring UK chipmaker ARM for $8 billion. If true, such a deal could be a blow to a wide swath of competitors.
Although there has been no official comment on or off-the-record on a Wednesday report by the Evening Standard, the rumor pushed stock prices for the Cambridge, UK chipmaker up 8.1 percent. Along with powering a wide arrange of electronic devices ranging from Blackberries, Microsoft and Android cell phones, ARM chips are used in Apple’s iPod, iPhones and the iPad’s A4 processor.
“They [Apple] could stop ARM’s technology from ending up in everyone else’s computers and gadgets,” the Standard quoted one UK trader.
ARM was founded in 1990 as a joint venture among Apple, Acorn Computers and VSLI Technology.
Before we get to the modern Macs on tap for today, there is another chance to buy a piece of computing history. There is a number of deals on older Macs, including a CRT iMac, running a blazing-fast 500Mhz G3 processor for just $39. Last week we had the MacBook Pro Lalapalooza and today we have the MacBook Pro Lalapalooza Part Deux. You can grab some unibody MacBook Pro machines starting at $929 for a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo model or pay $1,358 for the just-released MacBook Pros plus three years of AppleCare.
Along the way, we’ll check out the latest deals on iPhones plus new bargains on Mac software, including Mac OS 10.6. As always, details on these and many more items are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.
What’s up with Google now? That’s the question being asked about the Internet giant’s acquisition of a mysterious startup run by former Apple employees. The San Jose, Calif. company Agnilux includes Dan Dobberpuhl, the former founder and CEO of P.A. Semi, purchased by Apple for $278 million two years ago.
First reported by Thomson Reuters’ PEHub, the deal with Google is raising eyebrows about the lengths being taken to keep the company below public radar.
If Apple needed another reason to consider adding more U.S. carriers offering the iPhone, its current exclusive domestic carrier, AT&T, provided more ammunition Wednesday morning. The carrier announced it activated 2.7 million iPhones in the last quarter, a 13 percent drop from 3.1 million U.S. activations during the December quarter.
Additionally, AT&T reported U.S. iPhone activations hit 2.7 million during the first quarter of this year, a 69 percent year-over-year jump from 1.6 million activations in the first quarter of 2009. However, the 69 percent increase in U.S. iPhone activations was outpaced by Apple’s reported 131 percent increase in global iPhone sales.
While much of the talk about the iPhone’s success had centered on the U.S. and Europe, it appears Apple’s entry into China has been a little-discussed but important reason why the Cupertino, Calif. company Tuesday blew the doors off analyst expectations.
Analysts were off by up to 30 percent, expecting Apple to announce almost 2 million fewer iPhone sales than the 8.7 million the consumer electronics leader actually reported. The reason for that gap could be China.
We start the day with a deal on a number of Apple iPods, including an 8GB iPod nano for $99. Next we peruse the latest entrants in the App Store price drops, including “Yahtzee Adventure.” We round out our top three bargains with the stylish battery boost from CablesUnlimited, giving your iPhone 3G or 3GS some emergency juice.
Along the way, we take a look at some audio systems for the iPhone and iPod, and other interesting gadgets. As always, details on these and many other items are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.
The iPad App Store market may be worth at least $1 billion in two years, according to one developer who did some quick math. That figure could be much higher if the iPad does what the iPhone did to boost App Store sales into the stratosphere.
Vimov, which developed the Weather HD iPad app, estimates Apple is making $136 million per year – or $372,000 per day – just from the top 1,000 apps. That is based on the 500,000 iPads now in the US.
After much speculation about whether 3G iPads pre-ordered in the U.S. might be delayed until early May, Apple cleared up the questions, announcing customers who ordered the devices early will receive them on April 30.
“The Wi-Fi + 3G models of its magical iPad will be delivered to US customers who’ve pre-ordered on Friday, April 30 and will be available in Apple retail stores the same day starting at 5p.m.,” the Cupertino, Calif. company announced early Tuesday.
Ahead of today’s earnings report by Apple, analysts are weighing-in on what we could expect to hear from the Cupertino, Calif. electronics powerhouse. Mac sales were up 25 percent in the March quarter, according to one analyst.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimated Apple sold between 2.8 and 2.9 million Macs during the second quarter, based on the 25 percent figure from retail watcher NPD. Although the sales number was close to Wall Street’s consensus of a 22 percent jump in Mac sales (2.7 million) for the March quarter, the news sent Apple shares down nearly 2 percent in Monday afternoon trading. The reason: The 25 percent sales jump in March was seen as a sign of slowing down from the 43 percent growth in February.
We start out another week with more deals on Apple items. A number of iPod touch models are on the block, starting at $169 for an 8GB model. Deals on Intel-based Mac mini desktops are also on tap, starting at $499 for a 2GHz Core 2 Duo unit. We wrap up our top trio with the latest batch of App Store freebies, including WalkJogRunning, which lists running route recommendations. (I hope it includes routes marked by the slowest-running dogs.)
We’ll also check out other Mac-related hardware and software, such as MacGourmet and a Clock Radio for the iPod and iPhone from Sony. As always, details on these and many other items can be found on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.
Gizmodo on Monday dropped THE bomb: the site has a pre-production model of the iPhone 4G, due to be launched in June.
The new iPhone was found “lost” in a Redwood City, Calif. bar, according to Gizmodo, which published its findings, along with numerous pictures of the device. Apple, taking a page from Detroit’s practice of camouflaging unreleased autos, made the phone appear like an ordinary iPhone 3GS.
The 3G version of Apple’s iPad tablet device will ship “By May 7th,” the Cupertino, Calif. company is telling online buyers Monday morning. Apple, however, appears to be sticking by last week’s statement pre-ordered 3G iPads would be shipped in late April.
In a statement e-mailed to customers who took advantage of the early pre-order opportunity, Apple said the 3G iPads would ship in late April “as communicated at the time you placed your order.”
Apple will release its first quarter financial results Tuesday, April 20 at 5 p.m. Eastern (2 p.m. Pacific), the Cupertino, Calif. company announced Friday.
The iPhone maker is expected to announce it sold between 6 million and 7.5 million, according to Wall Street analysts. On Thursday, Apple was ranked in 56th place on Fortune magazine’s Fortune 500 list of most successful companies.
