It didn’t take long for OS X Mountain Lion to hit the top of the Mac App Store’s paid chart following its release yesterday, which means Apple shifted a heck of a lot of copies on day one. In fact, it sold so many copies that traffic from the Cupertino company’s servers was up to six times higher than normal.
Despite releasing OS X Mountain Lion and a whole host of app compatibility updates this morning, Apple has finished delivering new software. The Cupertino company just rolled out iTunes U version 1.2, which adds note-taking, and new search and sharing features.
Sources familiar with Apple’s plans have revealed to Reuters that the company’s “iPhone 5” will launch with a smaller, 19-pin dock connector that will make room for a headphone jack on the bottom of the device. The move will mean that existing iPhone accessories — which use Apple’s existing 30-pin connector — won’t be compatible with the new handset.
A consulting firm has discovered that Apple’s existing iOS 6 betas will only support up to 500 installed apps at any one time, and that with any more than that, devices suffer from slow boot times, random reboots, and “other issues.” The firm has had to convince Apple that users need support for more than 500 apps to have the limit lifted.
iTunes Match has expanded its reach in Europe today as Apple brings the music matching service to Hungary and Poland more than 18 months after it made its debut in the United States. The Cupertino company is yet to add these countries to its iTunes Match availability page, but users report that the service is now appearing in iTunes.
Following nearly six hours of downtime this morning, the Apple Online Store is back up. Although the Cupertino company has not added any new products, it has introduced a new notifications service that provides U.S. customers with text message alerts when their order status is updated.
Apple is working to block the Russian servers that are allowing users to circumvent iOS in-app purchases and obtain content for free. The Cupertino company reportedly began blocking certain IP addresses over the weekend, and had one server taken down. But despite its efforts, the service continues to work.
Having been spoiled by Retina displays since the iPhone 4 was launched back in 2010, it’s slightly disappointing when Apple releases a new product that doesn’t have one these days. But there won’t be any disappointment with the upcoming Apple HDTV, according to one expert.
DisplayMate CEO Dr. Ray Soneira firmly believes that the Cupertino company’s much-anticipated set will feature a Retina display, just like all “premium” Apple products in the future. Not just because it’s incredible technology, but also because Apple wants to be consistent.
Apple’s rivals are already producing smartphones with NFC capabilities, and although NFC is yet to really take off, it’s still capable of some pretty incredible things that we all want from our smartphones. However, there has been some debate about whether or not Apple will adopt the feature, or create an alternative of its own — possibly utilizing Bluetooth.
Since the company unveiled Passbook in iOS 6, that debate has hit an all-time high. Passbook would work wonderfully with NFC, and would allow us to ditch physical cards and tickets in favor of a “contactless” system in which we just hold our devices up to a sensor. And according to a newly granted Apple patent for “iTravel,” it appears the Cupertino company is just as excited about that prospect as we are.
Apple has been pretty strict on BitTorrent clients — or anything related to torrent downloading — for iOS, and it does its best to keep them out of the App Store, meaning you must jailbreak your device if you want to install one. However, the Cupertino company appears to have let one slip through its net. Transmission RPC, although not a full-fledged BitTorrent client, is a $1.99 app that allows you to control Transmission for Mac OS X from your iOS device.
Apple purchasing several mapping companies over the last fews years, Apple is finally replacing Google Maps with its own solution in iOS 6. But it seems the Cupertino company may be planning to expand it beyond iOS. One developer has discovered some code within the iOS 6 beta that indicates Maps will also be coming to OS X later on.
Although a new iPhone didn’t show its face during Apple’s WWDC keynote back in June, the Cupertino company did release a number of new products, including refreshed MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros, and Mac Pros; a new “next generation” MacBook Pro, and more. But according to one analyst, the Cupertino company’s fall event will be even bigger, with a new iPhone, a new iPad, and a new Apple TV all on their way.
Although we’ve been deeply skeptical over the speculation surrounding another new 10-inch iPad this year, there is a possibility Apple could be gearing up to make some modifications to its existing device. The Cupertino company has been quick to dismiss the new iPad’s heat issues, but the latest report from DigiTimes claims it is looking to remove one of its two backlight modules in an effort to decrease its operating temperature.
On Monday, Sony Computer Entertainment acquired cloud-based game streaming company Gaikai for around $380 million in a move that is sure to excite fans of the company’s PlayStation devices. If the Japanese company uses its purchase to create a compelling alternative to OnLive, it has the potential to gain a huge advantage over rivals like Microsoft and Nintendo.
The same service could provide an even bigger advantage to Apple. In fact, there are a number of reasons why the Cupertino company should use its ever-increasing cash pile to make Mac and iOS gaming even greater.
Until Tim Cook climbs onto the roof of Apple’s Cupertino headquarters and shouts, “we will never build an iPad mini” at the top of his voice, the rumors will continue to circulate. The latest comes from “various analysts” who claim the upcoming iPad mini will feature a 7.85-inch IGZO display from Sharp, and will start at just $249.
Based on its less than reliable track record, we always take DigiTimes reports with a hefty helping of salt. We wouldn’t advise you to read too much into this one, then, but it’ll certainly be interesting to those of you who are awaiting the new iMac refresh.
According to sources in Apple’s “upstream supply chain,” the Cupertino company’s new all-in-one desktop will enter production this month, ready for its debut “possibly around October.” Despite recent reports, the sources also claim that there is a “high chance” the machine will follow the new MacBook Pro and ship with a high-resolution Retina display.
While Steve Jobs famously liked to take credit for others’ ideas, he also gave a lot of credit to the amazing people he employed at Apple who enabled the company to create all of the incredible products it has released over the years. In many interviews, Jobs praised their creativity, passion, and drive, and their determination to build the best product they could build.
Ron Avitzur is a great example of that. While working at Apple in August 1993, the graphic calculator program he and his team were working on was shelved. Avitzur declined the opportunity to transfer to another project, but he continued to turn up to work each day, sneaking into the Apple camp in Cupertino until his project was complete.
Remember when someone in the Apple camp let their censoring powers go to their head back in May, and they began censoring the word “jailbreak” across music, movies, apps, and podcasts? It didn’t take the Cupertino company too long to backtrack, and it removed the censor almost entirely just hours later.
I say almost before for podcasts, the word was still considered an expletive — until this morning, when Apple removed the censor completely. Finally.
We often hear stories about Apple luring talented individuals away from rival companies over to its Cupertino campus. But sometimes it works the other way around. Facebook has installed a new Product Design Manager, Chris Weeldreyer, who previously worked as an Apple user interface design engineer.
Earlier this week during its WWDC keynote, Apple announced that nine automakers have committed to introducing a special Siri button into their upcoming vehicles, allowing you to activate your voice-controlled assistant without removing your hands from the steering wheel. However, it seems the Cupertino company forgot to tell some of those manufacturers about its plan.
It’s been just four days since Apple released its first iOS 6 beta to registered developers, and it has already been jailbroken by the iPhone Dev-Team. There was some concern that the Cupertino company’s latest iOS release would make jailbreaking very difficult, but the team behind the latest iOS 5.1.1 untethered exploit have now released an iOS 6 beta jailbreak for developers.
Right now, if you want to learn more about, say, the iPhone, you go to apple.com/iPhone. Pretty soon, though, you will just type in iPhone.apple and your browser will immediately whisk you there instead.
There were suggestions that Apple would refresh its iMac at WWDC yesterday — alongside the updates it issued to the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro. However, the Cupertino company’s popular all-in-one didn’t get a mention during the two-hour keynote. That could be because it is hard at work on redesigning the iMac and the Mac Pro.
According to one Apple executive, both machines will receive big updates next year.
If you haven’t already installed the Messages application on your Mac, you will now have to wait until OS X Mountain Lion is released next month to get your hands on it. The Messages for Mac beta, which was released back in February after Apple’s initial Mountain Lion preview, has now been pulled by the Cupertino company.
As we patiently wait for Tim Cook to kick off Apple’s WWDC keynote in just under five hours time, the last of the WWDC rumors and reports are spilling in. One of the more questionable pieces comes from KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who believes the new MacBook Pro won’t get that thinner, lighter, MacBook Air-like form factor we’ve all been hearing about. But that a resurrected MacBook will instead.
