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Apple: 4 Million iPhone 4S Units Sold In First Weekend

With a press release, Apple has just announced that iPhone 4S sales have already topped 4 million since its debut on October 14th in seven countries. Apple also reported 25 million users are already using iOS 5, and 20 million have signed up for iCloud. According to Apple’s Phil Schiller, quoted in the press release, this is the most successful launch ever for a mobile phone, doubling the number of units sold by the iPhone 4 in three days last year. In June 2010, Apple sold 1.7 million iPhone 4s in just three days.

That Apple was on track to deliver an impressive launch weekend with the iPhone 4S was clear since the company announced that over 1 million units had been pre-ordered in the first 24 hours of online availability. Following Apple’s announcement, US carriers AT&T and Sprint reported 200,000 pre-orders in the first 12 hours and a “very pleased” reaction to the iPhone 4S, respectively.

Apple today announced it has sold over four million of its new iPhone® 4S, just three days after its launch on October 14. In addition, more than 25 million customers are already using iOS 5, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, in the first five days of its release, and more than 20 million customers have signed up for iCloud®, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices. iPhone 4S is available today in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK, and will be available in 22 more countries on October 28 and more than 70 countries by the end of the year.

“iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend—the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “iPhone 4S is a hit with customers around the world, and together with iOS 5 and iCloud, is the best iPhone ever.”

Since its launch, the iPhone 4S has collected largely positive reviews that focused on speed, camera improvements, and better 3G signal of the device. With iOS 5 and iCloud (our launch coverage here), the iPhone 4S is providing a combination of hardware and software (some iOS features are exclusive to the iPhone 4S, such as Siri) that has managed to capture the customers’ attention, as proved by the long lines around the world for the device’s launch.

Apple’s next iPhone 4S rollout is on October 28th, when the device will be launch in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Samsung Files Preliminary Injunction Against The iPhone 4S In Australia & Japan

Samsung today filed for a preliminary injunction against the iPhone 4S in Australia and Japan. This is the latest development in the complex legal battle between Apple and Samsung which has spread across the world since Apple originally revealed it was suing Samsung over the “look and feel” of it’s Galaxy devices.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Japan filing (which is also attempting to halt sales of the iPhone 4 and iPad 2) cites infringements in technology and user interface patents, whilst in Australia Samsung is claiming that Apple has infringed on patents related to wireless telecommunication standards. The move comes after Samsung was dealt a blow in Australia last week, with the preliminary injunction against its Galaxy Tab 10.1 was upheld. A Samsung spokesperson said that this latest legal action is them “now counterattacking Apple again”.

Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents believes that the attack on the iPhone 4S in Australia  is “doomed to fail” because the patents Samsung is using in the filing are related to 3 patents declared as essential to the 3G telecommunications network. As he explains, it would be unlikely that an Australian judge would take a significantly different approach as occurred last week in the Netherlands:

…a Dutch judge already made it clear that Samsung can’t seek an injunction based on such patents, and I’d be extremely surprised if an Australian judge took a different perspective on FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) licensing commitments… The odds are very long against Samsung overcoming all of Apple’s defenses.

Speaking on the situation in Japan, FOSS Patents says it is less clear what will happen as Samsung’s filing there also relates to user interface patents that “are presumably not subject to FRAND licensed commitments”. This means Samsung could seek injunctions on them and it would be up to Apple to contest their validity. The patents apparently relate to “the display of a flight mode icon, the utilization of homescreen space, and an app store menu structure”.

[Via The Wall Street Journal, FOSS Patents]

Sprint Reports “Best Ever Day of Sales” with iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 Launch→

Sprint Reports “Best Ever Day of Sales” with iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 Launch

Sprint has issued a statement on the first day of iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 sales:

Fared Adib, Sprint Product Chief, issued the following statement:

“Sprint today reported its best ever day of sales in retail, web and telesales for a device family in Sprint history with the launch of iPhone 4S and iPhone 4. We reached this milestone at approximately noon CT/1pm ET. The response to this device by current and new customers has surpassed our expectations and validates our customers’ desire for a truly unlimited data pricing plan.

Sprint started selling the iPhone 4S alongside carriers AT&T and Verizon this morning at 8 am in the United States. Sprint is also selling a new 8 GB version of the iPhone, announced by Apple last week. If pre-orders and lines are of any indication, clearly customers are interested in the new device rather than the cheaper model of the old version – which has been kept around at $99. Last week, Sprint said they were “very pleased” with iPhone 4S pre-orders, which AT&T reported at 200,000 units in the first 12 hours.

Sprint is offering unlimited data plans starting at $79.99, and it’s believed to have struck a $20 billion deal with Apple to sell the iPhone over the next four years.

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You Have Your iPhone 4S: Now Put a Ringtone on It

The iTunes Tone Store. Rings. Alerts. Tones.

The iTunes Tone Store. Rings. Alerts. Tones.

While you might not be able to replace Siri’s voice with GLaDOS (yet), you do have control over how your iPhone notifies you of incoming calls and messages. New to iOS 5, the iTunes Store includes a special tones store where you can purchase new tones starting at $0.99 for alerts, and $1.29 for popular ringtones. The tones available feature everything from Star Wars sound effects to your favorite music from the 90s.

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Sony Camera Found In iPhone 4S Teardown→

Sony Camera Found In iPhone 4S Teardown

There was much speculation surrounding the supplier of the camera module of the new iPhone prior to the official iPhone 4S announcement, which confirmed the device has an improved 8 MP camera but didn’t give us any details on the manufacturer behind the component. In the months leading up to the iPhone 4S, you may remember Sony CEO Howard Stinger hinted at Sony producing the camera for the next-generation iPhone, though confusion arose as it wasn’t really clear whether he was being sarcastic in his statements or not. A report from June then noted both Sony and OmniVision – Apple’s main camera supplier for the previous iPhones – would supply a new 8 MP camera for the iPhone.

Following iFixit’s teardown of the iPhone 4S, Chipworks has put the camera module under a microscope, and confirmed that their unit has a Sony camera as seen in the die markings from the photos. This still doesn’t completely exclude OmniVision from the list of camera suppliers, but it seems to confirm rumors of a Sony camera were correct.

In order to get our readers the device manufacturer as soon as possible, rather than going through a fuming sulfuric acid chip deprocessing we chose to use our infrared microscope to look through the structure of this image sensor. What you see are the die markings on the base layer of the image sensor. The image isn’t beautiful, but it’s enough to tell us that Sony is in our particular iPhone 4S.

The iPhone 4S’ camera has been known to feature improved optics, allow for 73% more light through the lens and, overall, shoot sharper and crisper images, as well as 1080p HD video. You can check out Chipworks’ teardown and X-ray images here. [via]

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#MacStoriesDeals - Friday

If you got your new iPhone 4S today, why not buy some great games at great prices? Here are today’s @MacStoriesDeals on iOS, Mac, and Mac App Store apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get them before they end!

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iOS 5 & iCloud Tips: Sharing an Apple ID With Your Family

With the launch of iOS 5 and iCloud on Wednesday, Apple took another huge step towards the Post-PC era. They have increasingly made the PC less important and iCloud has meant that it is no longer the ‘hub’ to which your devices sync to - iCloud is now that hub and importantly, it is all tied to an Apple ID. As many are realizing as they update to iOS 5 and begin to use iCloud, this can be somewhat problematic when iCloud is used with the Apple ID that is shared by their whole family.

Prior to iOS 5, sharing an Apple ID wasn’t really a problem because its main purpose was for purchasing content on iTunes, using it for support purposes and purchasing items on the online Apple Store - all tasks that worked fine when sharing an ID. Now that Apple ID is tied to a bunch of services, a lot of which involve personal and private data that you don’t necessarily want to share with others - even family members. The other issue is that iCloud involves a lot of data synchronization and this doesn’t work well with multiple people as it results in data conflicts and devices syncing data (such as calendar events) that are meant for another person in the family.

Fortunately there are a number of ways to resolve these issues, whilst still benefiting from all of the new iOS 5 and iCloud features. Jump the break to see all of our tips in dealing with this issue.

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There Are Some Siri Limitations Outside The US

As the iPhone 4S launches today in seven countries (US, Canada, Japan, Australia, UK, France, Germany – our launch coverage here), many customers are finding out for the first time that Siri, the voice assistant Apple announced and demoed at the Let’s Talk iPhone media event last week, has some limitations outside the United States.

Several websites reported that Yelp integration for local businesses wouldn’t be available outside the US initially. Siri is still in beta, available in a few languages, and Apple has already announced that more languages and services will be available soon. On Apple’s website, the Siri page reports in a footnote: “Siri is available in Beta only on iPhone 4S and requires Internet access. Siri may not be available in all languages or in all areas, and features may vary by area. Cellular data charges may apply.” Some of the early reviews of the iPhone 4S briefly touched on the subject of limitations outside the United States and mentioned Siri could have some issues with some very specific accents (albeit the software does recognize the difference between U.S. English, UK and Australia); as customers get their hands on the iPhone 4S today, features that have been omitted from the first version of Siri outside the US  are starting to surface online.

Electricpig was first to report maps and directions wouldn’t be available to Siri except for US customers; today, a number of users have confirmed that both businesses (with Yelp integration) as well as maps/traffic data aren’t available outside the United States. When asked for Maps information in the UK, Siri says “I can only look for businesses, maps, and traffic in the United States, and when you’re using U.S English. Sorry about that.” (thanks, Sam).

Rene Ritchie of TiPb has also got his iPhone 4S, and confirmed Siri can’t “provide maps and directions in Canada” and “look for places in Canada”. From the screenshots, it appears Siri fetches the current location, but can’t provide additional information through Maps or Yelp integration yet. Furthermore, we’ve received a number of reports from French and German users unable to look up data on Wolfram Alpha through Siri, suggesting that Wolfram integration is only available to English-speaking countries for now. Read more

New MacBook Pro Part Numbers Suggest A Minor Refresh Soon

According to 9to5 Mac, supply for all current MacBook Pro models are constrained in anticipation of an imminent refresh. They claim that new part numbers have appeared in Apple’s inventory system for all three MacBook Pro sizes. The new model numbers are K90IA for the updated 13 inch model, K91A for the 15 inch and K92A for the 17 inch.

These model numbers, combined with last month’s rumour of a refresh, suggest that these models will be just a minor specification bump - rather than the rumoured redesign of the MacBook Pro. MacRumors reported earlier this year that such a redesign will probably debut sometime after Intel’s Ivy Bridge line of processors is released.

[Via MacRumors]