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Apple Execs Hint at Cheaper iPhone, Carrier Expansion

Both Business Insider and Forbes report this morning of a research note issued by Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi about a meeting he had last week with Apple COO Tim Cook, CFO Peter Oppenheimer and VP of Internet Services Eddy Cue. Sacconaghi’s notes about the interview help put some future Apple plans in perspective, like the release of a cheaper iPhone model to address a different market segment and the adoption of more carriers worldwide to further expand the iPhone’s marketshare.

Tim Cook referred to the iPhone as “the mother of all halos”, being the reason why sales of other Apple products like Macs and iPads have skyrocketed over the past years. Cook knows, however, that Apple can’t afford to not explore the possibilities offered by other types of markets, and he suggested Apple is not “ceding any market”. As for the cheaper iPhone and the rumors we’ve heard in the past weeks (the ones that pointed to a smaller iPhone as the new cheap entry-level device), this report seems to corroborate other media outlets’ theories:

The analyst says Cook “appeared to reaffirm the notion that Apple is likely to develop lower priced offerings” to expand the market for the iPhone. Cook said the company is planning “clever things” to address the prepaid market, and that Apple did not want its products to be “just for the rich,” and that the company is “not ceding any market.”

Expanding to other carriers is also a “priority” for Apple. Currently, the iPhone runs on 175 different networks versus RIM’s 550. As for the tablet market:

Cook indicated that the tablet market would be much bigger than the PC market. Sacconaghi concludes that if so, it could eventually be a $60 billion to $100 billion business for Apple alone. Cook also said he expected intense competition in tablets, more so than in smart phones, with all PC and smart phone vendors likely to participate, but he added that Apple has a strong head start, and that it has interesting new things in the pipeline.

From this research note, it sounds like Apple is really considering moving to a more variegate line of iPhones to address more markets, with more carriers. Time will tell, and hopefully we’ll know more come the WWDC in June. [via Forbes, Business Insider]

Hackers Find A Way to Stream PlayStation 3 Games to iOS Devices

Here’s something you’d probably like to try right away, but likely can’t because it’s really too geeky to understand: a group of hackers and developers known as “pandaelf” managed to stream PlayStation 3 games to the iPhone and iPad on a local network using a series of USB devices attached to the PS3, and an “interpreter” to send iOS gestures back to the console. Somehow, it’s working.

Here’s what they did: they connected a USB mouse and keyboard to the PS3 as input controls, and another “third party capture device” that streams video to a PC running a build of “everyAir”, a remote desktop controller. everyAir really handles everything, from iOS to PC communication to live video streaming from the TV and PS3 to the iPhone and iPad. It’s one hell of a setup but as you can see from the demo video below, it seems to be working.

Video and Q&A below. Somebody please find a way to play Game Cube games on the iPad now, and I’m sold. [via iThinkDifferent] Read more

Jailbreak Tweak Greatly Improves iOS Notifications

A few weeks ago it was rumored that Apple might buy a third-party developer to improve the notification system in the future versions of iOS. In case you missed my piece on the problem with iOS notifications, here’s what I think the problem is:

iOS notifications get in the way, interrupt one’s workflow or media consumption and once they’re gone, they’re gone.

I believe people don’t like notifications on iOS because they need action, and quickly. What I would like to see in iOS 5 is a smart notification system that doesn’t stand in your way, yet it’s entirely accessible from the statusbar or the multitasking tray at any time.

Developer Peter Hajas has apparently been listening to the complaints of people like me, and has released a new tweak available in Cydia that completely re-imagines the iOS notification system by providing an interface that’s unobtrusive and, at the same time, allows you take control over your incoming notifications. MobileNotifier (this is the name of the tweak) displays notifications in a bar under the iOS statusbar which allows you to quickly jump to an app, and yet doesn’t force you to stop scrolling the Springboard, for example. Hajas has also taken advantage of the empty space usually assigned to the multitasking tray: instead of displaying a transparent overlay for your Springboard when you double-click the home button, an “alert dashboard” with a list of all your notifications will appear. You can take action on them, or dismiss them. Similarly, MobileNotifier also brings notifications to the lockscreen – something we’ve been wishing Apple would implement in iOS for years.

I can’t comment on the stability and speed of the tweak as I haven’t installed it yet, but it looks really good. Check out more screenshots below, and the notes from the developer at his personal blog. You can download the tweak from Cydia by adding this repo: http://phajas.xen.prgmr.com/repo. Read more

Apple Confirms: Two New Italian Stores to Open Soon, One in Sicily

A new job listing appeared on Apple’s website and spotted by Italian website Macity [Google Translation] confirms the rumors we’ve been hearing about a Store opening soon in southern Italy, most specifically in Sicily. The lack of Apple retail stores in southern Italy has been controversial for years, with the company clearly focusing on opening Stores from the region Lazio (where Rome is located) and above.

According to local newspapers and the usual speculation, the new Store is set to open by the end of summer 2011. The exact location is still unclear, although people familiar with the matter claim the store will open in the city of Catania. With another job listing, Apple also confirmed another store will open soon in Bologna.

It’s good to see Apple opening stores in Italy that aren’t in Rome or Milan. Now, where’s my Viterbo Apple Store? (probably will never happen)

Apple To Release White iPad 2?

9to5mac reports they got their hands on another iPad 2 digitizer coming from Shenzhen, this time in white:

The piece that we have (from Shenzhen City), thanks to the folks at the iFixYouri iPhone repair shop, is the “digitizer” sometimes known as the the thick bezel.

If you look closely at the back of the part, below, you will see the camera hole, which happens to fit perfectly with the iPad 2 screen protectors from our friends in Asia.

The leaked white part comes as a surprise as Apple has notably had issues with the release of the white iPhone 4, first announced at the WWDC last year and then delayed multiple times due to manufacturing problems with the white color. A recent rumor suggested Apple fixed the problem with a new Japanese paint – could it be the same of this white iPad 2?

The next-generation iPad is expected to be announced on Wednesday. Here’s a roundup of all the rumors and speculation we’ve heard so far.

First Lion App Compatibility List Is Here, You Can Contribute Too

With the first developer beta of Lion “out in the wild”, it’s no secret people want to know which apps are working on the new OS, and experimenting with ways to let incompatible software run just fine on 10.7. Website RoaringApps has put together the first unofficial app compatibility list for OS X Lion, and it’s already a pretty huge one.

Anyone can contribute to the Wiki by sharing details of an app that’s working on Lion or has issues, or you can join the community to discuss the list with fellow Mac testers and developers.

Again, the list is very useful and available here. Check it out.

Boot Camp Only Supports Windows 7 For New MacBook Pros

An Apple support note released on Friday has revealed that Boot Camp will only work with Windows 7 on the new MacBook Pros that were released last week, with drivers for Windows XP and Vista not supplied.
This follows a trend that was set by the Late 2010 MacBook Air that likewise didn’t include drivers for Windows XP and Vista. It would be assumed that Apple has stopped developing Boot Camp drivers for XP and Vista and all new Macs will solely support Windows 7.
[Via ZDNet]

Lion’s Podcast Publisher Is Podcasting Made Dead Simple

Apple has a pretty diverse set of content creation applications from the much loved iLife consumer suite of applications to the more professional packages such as Final Cut Pro and Logic Studio. In OS X Lion, they have added Podcast Publisher, it’s a really simple and handy utility that will allow anyone to quickly make an audio or video Podcast and share it with the world.

Podcast Publisher lets you create video or audio podcasts; you can either import the audio or video or choose to record it from within the app. If you choose to record from within the app it gives you the options of recording from your Mac’s iSight camera, recording a screencast or recording audio from a microphone. Once the video or audio is captured you have the basic ability to trim the audio or video.

Once an episode of the Podcast has been completed it can be exported to your desktop, iTunes library, shared through Mail or sent to a Podcast library server or remote workflow. Jump the break for some more pictures of Podcast Producer.

[Via 9to5 Mac]

Lion’s Migration Assistant Allows Set Up From A Networked PC

Another new feature discovered in the developer preview of OS X Lion is the ability to set up a Mac from a networked Windows PC as part of the Migration Assistant utility. Traditionally the only way to set up a new Mac and import all your files and settings was to use FireWire’s Target Disk Mode and hook up the old Mac or PC to the new Mac or use a Time Machine disk.

When Apple removed the FireWire port on some of its Macs it added the ability for Migration Assistant to import from a networked Mac, but not a PC. The Migration Assistant in the developer preview of OS X 10.7 Lion now brings the ability for new Mac users to set up Lion with data and settings from an existing Windows-based PC. The only caveat being that it requires a Migration Assistant helper client to be running on the Windows machine. For developers wishing to test this out, you’ll need to download that helper client from Apple’s developer site.

[Via AppleInsider]