Unlike last quarter, today’s conference call did not include a cameo by iconic CEO Steve Jobs, who announced a leave on absence on Monday. In fact, his name didn’t even come up, and that’s one of five things Apple watchers should know about today’s call. Read more »
With record revenue, profits, and products sold, Apple today posted the holiday quarter results to beat all holiday quarters, at least until next year. Total revenue topped $26 billion, besting the closest quarter on record by more than $10 billion. Read more »
With Steve Jobs taking a medical leave of absence, it’s worth looking at some of Apple’s most iconic successes and failures to date to get a macro-level look at the effect he’s had on Apple products (and by extension, the company itself) so far. Read more »
Yesterday, we learned that iOS 4.3 will have new features including more multi-touch gestures, the ability to act as a Wi-Fi hotspot, and third-party support for AirPlay streaming. Today, more features continue to be revealed, and at least one previously removed option has been added back. Read more »
Analysts estimate sales of a Verizon iPhone to be from three to six million units per quarter, with a substantial number being sold to refugees from AT&T’s network. Whether or not you join the crowd will likely come down to coverage, cost and features. Read more »
If you acquire television shows from sources other than the iTunes Store for enjoyment on your iOS device, some of that enjoyment may be frustrated by a bug that inexplicably missorts shows and episodes. Luckily, the fix is simple, if a little illogical. Read more »
Earlier this year, Apple launched Express Lane, a support site designed to help consumers diagnose problems with Apple products through category selection. Now, Apple has taken the idea of customized help a step further with the My Support Profile website. Read more »
Fair Use rights fans rejoice! Last updated in 2009, Handbrake, the open-source, cross-platform video transcoding app with the ugly icon, kicks off 2011 with updated presets for the new Apple TV, the iPad and the iPhone 4, but drops PPC support. Read more »
Confirmed last month by Fortune and the Wall Street Journal, the Verizon iPhone is already impacting competitor sales without actually being sold. Now reports of component suppliers taking orders for CDMA iPhone have now surfaced, driving iPhone sales expectations for next year even higher. Read more »
BusyToDo, a new to-do app for iPhone, aims to bring the most obvious omission from MobileMe to subcribers of the cloud services package from Apple. It does this without much flair, and it has a fairly high asking price. So is it worth it? Read more »
In response to complaints about MobileMe, the latest terse Steve-mail asserts Apple’s cloud services “will get a lot better in 2011.” That’s good, because it’s hard to imagine the industry-trailing MobileMe taking a downward turn from where it is in 2010. Read more »
Despite mixed reviews and a version of Android “not optimized” for tablets, Samsung sold 600,000 Galaxy Tabs in its first month, and recently claimed to have sold a million. If Steve Jobs isn’t concerned by those numbers, he should be. Read more »
To say Google’s Books app lacks polish would be kind indeed. If Apple can be accused of sometimes favoring form over function, Google does neither with Books. Instead, Google leaves out expected features, adds a few bizarre ones, and wraps it in a barren interface. Read more »
According to a ChangeWave survey, the iPad is about to surpass the Kindle as the favorite among consumers buying e-readers, and the just-announced Google Editions bookstore may help accelerate that trend. Regardless of the outcome of the Amazon/Google battle, Apple looks to reap the rewards. Read more »
Last quarter was one for the record books for Apple: $20 billion in revenue, 14.1 million iPhones sold, 3.89 million Macs, and 4.19 million iPads, but that record may be broken as soon as the end of this quarter, according to estimates. Read more »
From Apple 2.0, Needham analyst Charles Wolf has issued a research note on Mac sales that is no less impressive for being a statement of the obvious: Apple is selling a lot of Macs, and enjoying a very healthy profit margin on those sales. Read more »
As today’s announcement of The Beatles on the iTunes Store illustrates, the thing about visionaries like Steve Jobs is that what’s important to them is important to us, even when it’s not. This is just the latest example, and probably not the last. Read more »
Outside the diminutive circles of Mac enterprise IT, the end of the Xserve will hardly be noticed, but perhaps it should. Up until today, there were four categories of Mac desktop, and now there are three. How long before there are none? Read more »
According to the October report from Net Applications, the Mac remains mainly an American platform. Mac market share in the U.S. has been steadily climbing, rising in recent months from 11.2 percent in August to 11.4 percent in October. Globally, though, there’s a different story. Read more »
iLife ’11 brings no update for iWeb. Users should rightly wonder what the fate of the app will be. It’s a shame that iWeb is being ignored, because it made web design accessible to all Mac users. But maybe it’s just time for a new model. Read more »
Beginning his presentation by waxing philosophical on the impact of iOS devices on Apple industrial design, Jobs rhetorically asked what would happen if an iPad and a MacBook Air “hooked up?” The result is the new MacBook Air, which comes in two distinct sizes. Read more »
CEO Steve Jobs began today’s Apple event by turning over the stage to COO Tim Cook, who gave a short “State of the Mac” speech illustrating both the strength of the platform and its importance to Apple. The numbers show that iOS isn’t Apple’s only success. Read more »
He may or may not have taken off his mock turtleneck, but Steve Jobs did make a special appearance at the fourth quarter 2010 conference call, taking questions but no prisoners, and probably saying a few things that made his subordinates wince. It was indeed wild. Read more »
For fourth quarter 2010, Apple reported the best quarter and year in company history, with record sales of Mac and iPhones almost overshadowed by the iPad. That’s not all we can expect from Apple for this calendar year, though, as Steve Jobs hinted at some surprises. Read more »
Over the weekend, we saw a slew of new rumors surrounding the new MacBook Air hit the web. The new reports suggest we might see more than one design for the ultraportable. We might also see the introduction of a new kind of notebook storage. Read more »
Both Gartner and IDC report the Mac is now accounting for a tenth of the PC market in the U.S., but these preliminary numbers will likely climb higher still when Apple reports actual Mac sales during its quarterly conference call next week. Read more »
It’s sort of an Apple to oranges type of situation, but a report by analytics firm Flurry nonetheless shows the market potential represented by at least one type of iOS gaming. Social gaming is now arguably as popular as professional football is on any given Sunday. Read more »
The Wall Street Journal is now reporting as fact that Apple “is making a version of its iPhone that Verizon Wireless will sell early next year.” The question then becomes, how much will a Verizon iPhone help Apple in the U.S. smartphone market? Read more »
In a provocative essay, Ryan Block at gdgt asserts Apple is aware that the glass backing of the iPhone 4 is “another design flaw.” The problem seems to be that the glass back is easily scratched in certain circumstances. Even if true, this is hardly “Antennagate.” Read more »
The iPad will be appearing alongside its predecessor the iPod touch at many more locations starting today. Adding to its retail presence in the U.S. at Apple Stores and Best Buy, the iPad is now available at Target retail locations, and online at Amazon. Read more »
New data from web metrics firm Net Applications reinforces the notion that iOS is the future for Apple, and OS X the past. During the past year, OS X went from 5.33 to 5.03 percent of OS market share. iOS went from 0.35 to 1.18 percent. Read more »
The good news for Apple is that iPhone 4 antenna problem hasn’t damaged the iPhone brand with consumers, but the bad news is that consumers are nearly as happy with Google’s Android phones, according to a brand new ChangeWave smartphone market survey. Read more »
The Apple TV is here; one just arrived at my door this morning. I spent the day setting it up and putting the minimalist device through its paces, and here’s what I think of Apple’s latest foray into the living room. Read more »
For those refresh monkeys banging away at the Apple Store online shortly after the event on September 1st, your obsession may finally be rewarded. Many early buyers are reporting their Apple TVs are now shipping, with expected arrival dates as early as September 29. Read more »
According to the Taipei newspaper/rumormonger DigiTimes, Quanta Computer “has reportedly landed orders for 11.6-inch MacBooks from Apple. Shipments of 11.6-inch MacBooks are expected to top 400,000-500,000 units in 2010.” I want to believe, too, but there’s no denying that the facts get in the way. Read more »
Steve Jobs promised the second generation Apple TV, announced at the last Apple event, would ship within four weeks. This being the fourth week, it’s not surprising to see reports appearing citing charges to credit cards, which suggests shipments are imminent. But are apps, too? Read more »
The latest edition of Adobe’s amateur image editing software takes a little from Photoshop and a little from iPhoto, but it may not be enough to justify the price. It largely depends on how much you like your Apple-exclusive features. Read more »
No Apple event, including WWDC, has seen the introduction of a new Mac. Even the redesigned Mac mini arrived with no more advance notice than the familiar yellow sticky note when the online Apple Store goes down. Don’t expect that to change this year. Read more »
Not even the iPhone 4 could stem the tide of Android, at least according to the latest rolling average for U.S. smartphone market share from comScore. The report, which measures smartphone market share in the U.S. among those 13 and older, saw Android increase five points. Read more »
In conjunction with the iOS 4.2 beta, Apple has issued a press release touting “AirPrint.” The trendily named wireless printing feature for iOS will be included with iOS 4.2. AirPrint will initially work with HP ePrint printers or shared printers on a PC or Mac. Read more »
