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iHome unveiled its first iPad-compatible product in July, but many wondered when it would be available, and for how much. Today iHome finally introduces the iA100, a full-featured stereo / docking system for iDevices which, among other stuff, happens to support the iPad. The iA100 retails at $199, it’s got Bluetooth and an alaram clock on its front.
Full specs available here, and press release below. [via Engadget] Read more
Spider Web dug through the Apple discussion boards and found out what we all imagined: confirmation of a new iLife, a MacBook Air and, wait, a “reserved” product to be announced today.
It turns out Apple has already set up some discussion boards for the new stuff as placeholders:
Category 277 - Reserved 10 20
Category 278 - iMovie ‘11
Category 279 - GarageBand ‘11
Category 280 - iPhoto ‘11
Category 281 - MBA (Need official name)
I have no idea what “reserved” could ever be, and it’s strange that the MacBook Air, which already has its own category, is getting another one. [via MacRumors] Read more
They promised and it happened: the new Apple TV is jailbroken. According to a picture tweeted a few minutes ago by Joshua Hill (who goes by the name of “p0sixninja” online), the jailbreak tool Greenpois0n has managed to jailbreak Apple’s latest iOS device.
As you can see in the screenshot below, a custom background has been installed, together with a brand new menu to “inject software”.
This means jailbreak apps (on Cydia, perhaps) will come very soon to an Apple TV near you. This is bad news for Apple on an event day, but I suspect they saw it coming all along. Being based on iOS, you can stay assured the jailbreak community is going to find a way to “pwn” it.
No word yet on how Greenpois0n for Apple TV will work, and when it’ll be available. Now I just want to see Cydia running on this thing.
Website Richy Rich has posted a series of blurry images of what they claim to be a N92 CDMA iPhone or as most people would call it, the Verizon iPhone. The device is running a testing operating system (the “inferno” we mentioned a few times in the past) and seems identical to the current iteration of the iPhone 4 in shape. The photos are not that much revealing, and they seem to come from the “usual” Vietnamese sources.
Just yesterday BGR reported that the Verizon iPhone hit the “AP” stage, which is the last step before mass production.
Today, I’m happy to report a follow up to that post with live shots of an “N92DVT” device, which was reported to be the CDMA version of the iPhone 4 back in August by John Gruber. To my knowledge, these shots originated from a repair shop in Vietnam, and according to the “DVT” (Design Verification Test) label, it is in final testing stages before production.
I was told that the side of the device does in fact have a micro-sim slot, like the current GSM-only variant; although the device is no longer in my sources possession, therefore I wasn’t able to obtain photos for proof. This coincides with Boy Genius’ aforementioned post, which enables us to speculate if this means it has global roaming capabilities, if it’s a one device for all unit, or both.
That didn’t take long. After Android Chief Andy Rubin creepy / geeky tweet, here comes the RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie defending BlackBerry against Steve Jobs’ assumptions and statements. As usual in the industry, he refers to Apple’s “distortion field”.
Unlike Steve Jobs, BlackBeery believes “7” tablets will actually be a big portion of the market” and that “Adobe Flash support actually matters to customer”. He goes on to say customers are getting tired of being controlled by Apple, and the numbers Jobs pulled out were referring to the August ending quarter, which is usually low on sales. But the thing is, it wasn’t a holiday season quarter for Apple either, so I don’t see the point here. Anyway, he concludes with the prediction that even the customers inside the distortion field will eventually grow tired of being told “half the story”.
Full statement below. Read more
They predicted. They estimated. Many of them failed, some of them got the facts right. Being an analyst predicting numbers about a fast moving company such as Apple is not easy, but these guys get paid for this, right?
So here’s a chart for you to see who did well, who miserably failed at estimating Apple’s sales, and who to keep an eye on in the future. Read more
Good catch on The Atlantic: basing on the numbers provided by Apple at its Q4 earnings call, Apple’s retail stores worldwide got almost 4 times the visitors of, say, Disney World in 2009.
On Apple’s earnings call, you probably didn’t catch that Apple set a new retail foot traffic record last quarter, what with all the iPad supply fears and Steve Jobs ranting. But they did: more than 74.5 million people went to one of the 317 Apple stores across the world.
Only a small percentage of them actually bought anything, but that’s the point. Apple has managed to transform *hanging out in their stores* into entertainment.
The cultural shift Apple started is here to stay, and it’s going to be one hell of an effort for any competitor to catch up, or get even close. [via Brooks Review]
Sonos, makers of wirelessly connected audio systems, announced they’re about to launch an advertising campaign on Apple’s iAd network.
As for all the other companies that launched iAd companies, this is a big bet: iAd campaigns start at $1 million minimum orders, so you have to make sure you have a great and stunning ad experience to bring to iOS devices. Otherwise, you’re wasting money.
Sonos’ iAd looks impressive, with videos, user interactions, menus, stuff to do. This is what an iAd should be about: providing useful information on a product and engage a user at a personal level. Check out the video below. Read more
When Ken Yarmosh contacted me asking to take a look at an early version of his upcoming book about iOS app development, I didn’t really know what to do. I read a couple of iOS-related publications before, but I wasn’t really huge on them. I used to think the most important and useful information about development, marketing and sale techniques could be found on the internet - why would I need a book to learn about the App Store?
Then I took my time to read Ken’s book. It’s not easy for me to go into books these days, as I spend most of time writing and catching up on blog posts. But it was a read well worth it: if you’re looking to get started with iOS development, have already released a few apps or are simply curious about how “stuff actually happens” behind the scenes, go buy App Savvy right now. Read more
