#MacStoriesDeals - Monday
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]
Place Clock Combines iPhone Alarms and Location
Sometimes, you don’t want to be reminded of something you have to do at a certain time during the day – rather, you’d like to be notified of events and tasks you need to take care of in a specific location, say pick up the laundry at home or meet Mike at the office. But as the default iPhone clock application doesn’t allow you to attach location info to alarms, you’re forced to assign a “time” to everything.
Place Clock, a new app by Ocoomo, aims at fixing these issues by providing a solution that combines both time and location to create the ultimate alarm clock application that’s aware of where you are in the world, yet can rely on time-based alarms as the native Apple software can. What’s cool about Place Clock (I have been testing the app for 2 days now), is that it completely works in the background without draining too much battery (at least on the iPhone 4, might be different on the 3GS) and it continuously keeps track of your location as a possible way to initiate alarms. The app doesn’t need to be open all the time, but it can fire off an alarm when you arrive to, depart from a location or get in a specific range. This, combined with classic time-based features, makes for a very solid app that’s, at least for me, something new on the iPhone. Read more
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.
A Minimalist Task Manager Could Be Yours: TaskAgent Giveaway
TaskAgent is pretty slick for being so simple, and the developer has already promised an update to improve compatibilities with formatting notes on the Mac side of things (and it’s pretty stupid easy already). With such ease, you’re more likely to get things done than organizing lists of to-dos or burying important items in sub-categories of a master-category. For work or at home, those who want the bare essentials may want to check out our previous coverage of TaskAgent before entering our latest giveaway.
MacStories Product Review: Joby GorillaMobile For iPod Touch
Joby has an affliction for legs and we wonder if it’s become a fetish. Their trademark product styling involves those signature curvy, twisting joints that allow cameras of all kinds to stabilize on a variety of uneven surfaces, including from the back of car seats, refrigerators, poles, or a rocky mountain landscape. All of their tripods are incredibly versatile, but I got to go hands on with one specifically made for the iPod touch, a variant of the GorillaMobile series. Check past the break for this clingy review!