3D is the newest craze in gadgetdom — or, at the very least, a lot of gadget makers would like it to be — and it looks like even Cupertino is interested in getting in on it. a new patent says that Apple has been exploring a multi-camera system for 3D picture taking, hinting at a future iPhone 3D.
Word that Apple may not release the iPhone 5 as early as expected prompted some observers to talk of a “delay.” Naturally, Wall Street’s sensitive rumor tripwire went into action, the result the start of analysts downgrading estimates for the iPhone.
Piper Jeffries’ Peter Misek Wednesday morning shaved four percent from his fiscal year 2011 revenue projection, telling investors he expects the Cupertino, Calif. company to rake in $103 billion, rather than his previously estimated $106.9 billion. The fiscal year ends September. More dramatic is the analyst’s double-digit refiguring of iPhone shipments.
Just days after Finnish cell phone giant Nokia was rebuffed by the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Finnish company is back with another patent-infringement complaint against Apple. Tuesday Nokia filed suit charging the Cupertino, Calif.’s devices – including the iPad, iPhone and iPad – violated seven patents.
Although not offering specific patents, Nokia claims they cover technology used for multi-tasking, data synchronization, call quality, positioning and Bluetooth. “Our latest ITC filing means we now have 46 Nokia patents in suit against Apple, many filed more than 10 years before Apple made its first iPhone,” charges Nokia’s Paul Melin, vice president of intellectual property.
Yesterday, Apple opened up registrations for 2011’s WWDC, and within ten hours had already sold out of tickets. The more interesting rumor from yesterday, though, was that Apple would refrain from unveiling the iPhone 5 at this year’s WWDC, instead focusing entirely on software. That would mean that instead of the iPhone 5 shipping in June, as it has historically done, the iPhone 5’s launch would be pushed back until later in the year.
After the initial shock, the rumor sounds extremely likely. The report came from Jim Dalrymple over at The Loop, whose sources are solid. Moreover, the early year launch of the Verizon iPhone and Apple’s continued delay in shipping the white iPhone 4 (while repeatedly promising it’s still coming) all imply that Apple’s not planning the iPhone 5 in June, but will push it until later in the year, to debut before the holiday shopping season.
Over at Slashgear, Chris Davies brings up one interesting point: a late 2011 debut might give Apple more flexibility in making the iPhone 5 4G compatible. Qualcomm’s next LTE chipsets are due out at that point, and will allegedly boast improved power efficiency… the very issue that led Apple to leave LTE support out of the Verizon iPhone earlier this year.
If Apple does delay the iPhone 5 until later in the year, it’s all the more likely we’ll see a sizable update boasting 4G capability. For Verizon users, that means LTE; unfortunately, on AT&T, their HSPA+ “4G” smartphones are actually throttled to be slower than their regular 3G phones. If the iPhone does go 4G later this year, the Verizon iPhone 5 is going to be the clear winner: AT&T’s 4G network is a disgrace, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get substantially better anytime soon.
I’m not sure this is news to anyone, but Apple is working on an iPhone with a Near Field Communications chip, the New York Times has confirmed.
Whether the prototype iPhone is the next iPhone, the NYT’s source couldn’t say.
This all sounds a lot like our NFC iPhone story last week, wherein our source said Apple is working on several NFC-equipped prototypes. Of course, an NFC iPhone has been rumored for some time.
What the Times brings to the story is not one, but two sources:
According to two people with knowledge of the inner workings of a coming iteration of the Apple iPhone — although not necessarily the next one — a chip made by Qualcomm for the phone’s processor will also include near-field communication technology, known as N.F.C. This technology enables short-range wireless communications between the phone and an N.F.C reader, and can be used to make mobile payments. It is unclear which version of an iPhone this technology would be built into.
New York Times: The Technology Behind Making Mobile Payments a Reality
One week after the launch of the iPad 2, there are still overnight lines for the device.
Friday morning, there were 71 people in line for possible iPad 2s at the Los Gatos Apple store, according to CultofMac.com columnist Mike Elgan.
Mike called neighboring stores, and was told there were similar lines at stores in Santa Clara and Palo Alto.
It’s the same story at Apple’s stores all around the country. Look at the photo of the Waikiki store above. “Still no iPad2!” reports the photographer, Jayson Smith. At the 5th Avenue store in Manhattan, there’s a perpetual line of several hundred hopefuls.
Most are turned away disappointed. All these lines are for “possible” iPads. Although many stores have been getting fresh deliveries of iPad 2s every day, not all do. Still, standing in line seems quicker than ordering online. Shipping for online orders has been pushed back 4-5 weeks.
The Apple Store in Charlotte, NC, gave disappointed customers free Smart Covers when deliveries of iPad 2s failed to arrive, according to AppleBitch.
The store… told customers the previous day that an iPad 2 delivery was due for the following morning. However, when no iPads arrived, the customers in line, around fifty of them, were apparently offered a free Smart Cover by the Manager as an apology for the mis-information.
Some Apple stores have resorted to telling customers there are no stocks right off the bat. At one store in Los Angeles, this is how staff are answering the telephone:
“Hello. This is the Apple Store and no, we don’t have any iPad 2s available,” reports Twitter user SB ARTS TV.
Want to grab an iPad 2 but didn’t manage to get one over the weekend? Word on the street has it that Apple will be opening its Retail Stores one hour early on Tuesday to sell people a new shipment of iPad 2s.
The report comes from Apple Bitch, who says:
While no official announcement has been forthcoming from Apple, anecdotal reports from shoppers across the country trying get an iPad 2 this morning, say they were told by retail staff that even if the Apple Stores were re-stocked today, the iPad 2 would not be sold until tomorrow and for this reason, the Stores would open early for dedicated iPad 2 sales. We have confirmed this with three retail stores.
In other words, if you want an iPad 2, it sounds like it’s a fool’s errand to spend a lot of time running back and forth between Apple Stores today, looking for a new shipment. Instead, prepare to wait in line first thing tomorrow morning. Could we have a mini repeat tomorrow morning of the long lines we saw on Friday?
The iPad 2 might cost the same as the first-gen tablet… but several components used to make it have actually increased in price: most notably, the price of the iPad 2’s touch display and the cost of manufacturing its new, dual-core A5 SoC.
The biggest component cost increase is for the touch display, which shot up almost $32 in price to $127, compared to the first-gen iPad’s $95 touch display.
John Gruber over at Daring Fireball said something recently that made a lot of Apple’s more seemingly incredible business decisions make sense to me: Apple wants to cut out the middle men by becoming the only middle man anyone using an iOS device needs to go through.
If you keep that in mind, it makes today’s latest news about Apple’s NFC ambitions make more sense. Reportedly, Apple has told carriers that the iPhone 5 won’t have NFC, as Apple is reportedly “concerned about a lack of a clear [NFC] standard.”
Apple’s obsession with thinness is well-known, but its latest patents might be one of the company’s most interesting pursuits of that obsession yet: they describe Apple’s attempts to make an iPod thinner than the headphone jack you have to plug into it.
The patents describe various ways to make this idea work. For example, one patent describes an audio socket that’s less than fully circular, allowing a portion of the jack to actually protrude from the socket. Another mention a flexible material covering the opening of a semi-circular socket that would expand when a jack was inserted. The last method uses a hinged housing, or two doors that swing open, when a jack is inserted.
This isn’t the first patent we’ve seen from Apple for smaller audio jacks. In September of last year, we reported on an apple patent that used deflectable pogo pins instead of cantilever beams inside of a headphone socket, making it even smaller. At the time, we lamented that Apple’s efforts in miniaturizing the headphone socket were necessarily limited by the size of the headphone jack itself… but it looks like Apple’s figured out a way around even that.