We see sexy, elegant and manly iPad satchels all the time, but what about the sandalwood-scented fashionista who wants to sling his MacBook Pro around town with the same proud strut as a GQ model? The Shoulder MacBook Sleeve by Hard Graft might fit the bill.
Made of 100% wool woven into asphalt grey felt, the Shoulder MacBook Sleeve features a tuck-in closure, a dark black removable leather strap held in place by tanned hazelnut leather, as well as a removable extras case for cables and power adapter. Very sexy indeed, and the price isn’t actually bad: just €139.00.
Who is leading in mobile advertising – Apple or Google? A new report seems to offer conflicting views. One graph (shown above) appears to indicate mobile ads served to Android devices grew at a faster pace in the third-quarter – 37 percent versus 10 percent for Apple. However, a second set of numbers illustrates a 156 percent increase in ad impressions and 316 percent revenue jump for the iPad between July and September.
Millenial Media, a mobile advertising network, Tuesday also announced while Apple accounts for 30 percent of the devices connected to its system, ad requests sent to Android devices grew 1,283 percent since January. The iPod touch and iPad accounted for two of the top four devices connected to the company’s network.
This chart tracks the dizzying rise of new products in Apple’s sales mix. Currently about 60% of Apple’s sales come from products that the Cupertino company launched in the last three years.
“This last quarter is not a holiday quarter. Now imagine what next quarter will look like on this chart,” writes Horace Dediu, who charted Apple’s sales in the graph for Asymco. “Think back to 2001 before the iPod. The orange band was all that Apple had.”
Although investors voiced some disappointment that Apple’s quarterly financial picture didn’t match some expectations, analysts Tuesday weighed in with a more optimism. The key phrase: the best is yet to come.
“We believe [the] iPad supply chain will expand substantially into the calendar fourth quarter,” Sterne Agee analyst Vijay Rakesh told investors this morning. Although Apple’s sales of 4.2 million iPads this quarter was below the 5 million Wall Street expected, the analyst views the lower number as a “strategic decision to allocate capacity to [the] iPhone 4 and the best is yet to come.”
CC-licenced photo by richdrogpa - http://flic.kr/p/7D9ziS
During his anti-Google diatribe this afternoon, Steve Jobs said the Google-versus-Apple, open-versus-closed debate is a smokescreen. It makes no sense to say Apple is closed while Google is open when the real issue is fragmentation versus integration.
Jobs said Google’s Android platform is fragmented. There are too many different versions of the operating system and too many devices, making it a headache for consumers and developers. Apple’s iOS devices on the other hand aren’t fragmented, because they are “vertically integrated.” Apple closely integrates the software with the hardware, and they “just work.”
But what does he mean exactly by “vertical integration?” And why is it so important?
I wrote about this at length in my book, Inside Steve’s Brain. In fact,I think it’s critical to understanding why Jobs and Apple are killing it in consumer electronics right now.
So here’s Chapter Eight — “Total Control: The Whole Widget,” — in its entirety.
Here’s a juicy excerpt, already up on YouTube, from Apple’s conference call today where Steve Jobs dropped by and bashed Google repeatedly with an Apple-shaped hammer.
The iPad is a closed system, which is polarizing pundits. CC-licensed photo by Mat Buchanan.
Steve Jobs is no stranger to hyperbole, but sometimes he says things that make the hair on your neck stand up. Here he is on the future of the iPad:
Well, the iPad is clearly going to affect notebook computers. And I think the iPad proves it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when. There’s a lot of development and progress that will occur over the next few years, but we’re already seeing tremendous interest in iPad from education and, much to my surprise, from business.
We haven’t pushed it real hard in business and it’s being grabbed out of our hands. I talk to people every day in all kinds of businesses that are using iPads… The more time that passes, the more I am convinced that we’ve got a tiger by the tail here and this is a new model of computing — you know we’ve already got tens of millions of people trained on with the iPhone — and that lends itself to lots of different aspects of life, personal, educational, and business. I see it as very general purpose and very big… One could argue about the timing endlessly, but I don’t think you can argue it’s going to happen.
Apple announced a record $20.4 billion in revenue during the fiscal 2010 fourth quarter, and a profit of $4.31 billion, in a press release ahead of their quarterly financial conference call.
Sales of Macs increased a sizable 27 percent from the same quarter last year; 14.1 million ipPhones were sold, a whopping 91 percent increase from last year’s Q4.
“We are blown away to report over $20 billion in revenue and over $4 billion in after-tax earnings—both all-time records for Apple,” Steve Jobs said in Apple’s press release.
iPad sales topped out at just over four million, and iPod sales declined by 11 percent.
For new iPhoners, the idea of gulping down unlimited swathes of data is just a magical thing of the past, spoken of with hushed tones, in the days before fear of data overages gripped the iPhone universe.
Fear not though, new iPhoner — the tools exist to keep from accidentally punching through the monthly 3G data allotment. Readers who’ve been following our Essential App series (and who live in the States) have no doubt already equipped their iPhones with AT&T’s free myWireless app, which counts and bar graphs data usage; but there’s an even more precise and powerful weapon available: DataMan
Australian airliner, Qantas Airlines, is to begin offering the iPad for in-flight entertainment to travellers on its Jetstar flights.
Qantas have been testing the tablet device on its planes since back in June, and passengers had the opportunity to rent the tablet device for $10 (AUS). Following its success, the airliner is now ready to deploy the iPad across its Jetstar flights.
“We’re in the final stages of putting in place what would be a broader roll out across the network. We’re in ongoing discussion with the manufacturer around a more integrated network proposition.”
We’re unsure what an “integrated network” could mean at this point, but it seems that it might be a streaming service for music, movies, TV shows, and games, so that passengers can choose entertainment to suit them, rather than have to pick from what’s available on the device.
For some time, many have seen the iPad as only a threat to the PC industry. However, Apple’s tablet could actually breathe life into that market, providing new blood for an anemic industry. If the iPad is classified a PC, third-quarter sales growth in the U.S. would climb to 24 percent, up from a measly 4 percent, according to an analyst.
“The iPad is driving a rapid, unprecedented shift in the structure of the computing industry,” Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore told investors Monday. For Apple, if the iPad were classified alongside the iMac, MacBook and Mac Pro, computer sales for the Cupertino, Calif. company would go through the roof – climbing from 24 percent year-over-year growth to 250 percent, Whitmore said. This when PC leader HP saw sales increase just three percent and Dell watched demand fall five percent.
Apple is expected to announce its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2010 later today. Many professional analysts are predicting blow-out revenue for the Cupertino, Calif. company, particularly for iPhone sales. However, will this be another case where unofficial estimates are closer to reality?
Although a poll of professional analysts affiliated with a financial research firm largely agree that Apple will report $18.86 billion in quarterly revenue, the consensus of unaffiliated analysts forecast $20.37 billion. The numbers are somewhat more in agreement on product sales. Wall Street expects sales of 11.38 million iPhones (versus 12 million for the blogger-analysts), 9.54 million iPods (versus 9.74 million for the unofficial analysts), 3.78 million Macs (compared to 4.01 million by bloggers) and 4.73 million iPads (compared to 5.52 million for the bloggers).
Apple's new MacBook Air will be thinner, lighter and boxier than the current model. Mockup exclusively for CultofMac.com by Dan Draper.
On Wednesday, Steve Jobs will likely introduce a redesigned 13.3-inch MacBook Air with a bigger battery and more ports — yet thinner and lighter — than the current model, CultofMac.com has independently confirmed.
Apple will probably also add a second, smaller 11.6-inch “Netbook” version, according to our well-placed source.
Our information independently corroborates recent reports by AppleInsider, and Engadget, which ran a picture of a purported prototype over the weekend.
The new model is also apparently much snappier than its underpowered predecessor. “It boots so fast, it’s unbelievable,” our source says. “It’s amazing how fast it boots up.”
If you can't be bothered to read the article, the short version is that Killer Edge Racing is back on the App Store! Hurrah!
Cult of Mac readers with long memories will remember our reports on Tim Langdell’s battle with Mobigame. In essence, Langdell claimed ownership over the word ‘Edge’ for videogames (and a bunch of other products) and set about suing anyone that infringed on these rights. The problem for Langdell is that many claimed his marks weren’t valid and that he’d doctored submissions to the USPTO.
Langdell then sued EA (over Mirror’s Edge, due to the title being similar to Langdell’s ‘Mirrors (a game by) Edge’—seriously), waking a sleeping giant. In tandem with the ChaosEdge project, set up to assist Mobigame, EA set about dismantling Langdell’s arguments via some savvy lawyers; luckily for all concerned (bar Langdell) the judge that dealt with the case was equally savvy, and he stripped Langdell of his marks (Joystiq), and he’s now been booted out of the IGDA as well (Pocket Gamer).
But Mobigame wasn’t the only indie that suffered due to Langdell’s actions. Nalin Sharma had created the game Killer Edge Racing (see this Pocket Gamer interview for more), a fun, arcade racer that had rapidly evolved from a tech demo. Naturally, Langdell figured the game was passing off his ‘famous’ brand and would confuse gamers worldwide, who wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between an indie iOS game and Langdell’s own Edge Racers (in reality a redressed PC game called Voltage, as outlined by ChaosEdge).
In a word: gah.
But this tale has a happy ending. Sharma contacted us the other day to note that his game is back on the App Store. “Given the EA ruling, I thought I would take a chance, and in four days, it has done 6000 downloads and was the #15 racing game in the USA on Saturday,” he says.
Want to pick yourself up one of Sanho’s amazing HyperMac batteries, which will allow you to recharge your MacBook, iPhone or iPad for dozens or even hundreds of hours on a single charge?
Well, better get moving: Sanho has just sent out a notice saying that they will soon stop selling their line of HyperMac products due to their current legal woes with Apple.
If you had a PC in the 1980s, you might have fond memories of playing Sierra’s line-up of classic adventure games: King’s Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Space Quest, etc.
You’ll probably be delighted to learn, then, that these retro classics will soon be coming to the iPad, courtesy of Sarien.net. Best of all, they’ll be free.
It seems like just the other day that the App Store hit 200,000 apps, but the juggernaut just never stops, and sometime over the weekend, Apple rolled the speedometer over to 300k.
The numbers aren’t official yet, but according to Mobclix, their data shows that Apple added the 300,000th app to the App Store sometime on Saturday.
Is that old iPod Classic just not doing much since you got your 64GB fourth-gen iPod Touch? Wondering what to do with the old clickwheel? Head on over to Toys ‘R’ Us and trade it in for a Voltron or He-Man or Alien Goo Blaster or something. You can get up to $100 in gift cards for your old iPod, depending on how crappy it is.
That one programmer slaving away on Apple’s iOS Remote app has been working overtime, lately: he’s just issued an update to the app, fixing a number of bugs that showed up after the last major revision.
When the iPhone 4 launched in the Middle East — specifically in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar — it did so without support for FaceTime. Needless to say, this prompted some speculation. Why would Apple have dropped theFaceTime capability only from Middle Eastern iPhone 4? Was it a carrier restriction… or was Apple trying to sidestep Middle Eastern governments getting interested in regulating the new video chat standard?
It now seems like the real explanation probably has more to do with carrier restrictions than anything else. According to iRamadah, FaceTime works in the Middle East on the new iPod Touches, despite the fact that even on the iPhone 4, FaceTime is a WiFi-only standard. Seems at this point more likely that the carriers kicked for whatever reason than anything to do with Big Brother.
Two of the richest men in America met a couple of weeks ago to swirl brandy about the translucent skulls of Peruvian albinos and toast evil, say sources.
Well, actually, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg probably just discussed Ping when the Facebook CEO was invited over to Jobs’ house for dinner and a walk. Close enough.
In 2005 Apple responded to mounting pressure from environmental activists by announcing a free recycling program for its iPod digital music players. Fast forward to 2010, five years later, and this wonderful program is still in existence. I thought I should remind you about it, because I nearly forgot about it when my 80 Gb iPod started to act flakey this month after years of service.
The program is a win-win for customers, like myself, that are interested in recycling electronics (an effort to save the Earth), upgrading to a new iPod, and saving 10 percent on a replacement.
The program allows you to bring an iPod that you no longer want regardless of whether or not it is working to any Apple store in the U.S. for free environmentally friendly disposal. The person dropping off any model of iPod will receive a 10 percent discount on the purchase of a new iPod, excluding the iPod shuffle, but you can turn in a shuffle for a 10% discount on a Nano, etc.
All iPods collected for recycling will be processed domestically in the U.S. and no e-waste or hazardous material is shipped overseas.
This is only a small part of Apple’s recycling program which also accepts mobile phones, computers, and monitors. In some cases even these have some monetary value that Apple will convert into a gift card towards the purchase of a new computer, etc.
More information about Apple’s worldwide recycling programs is available at Apple’s environmental website.
