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Posts tagged with "apple"

New Apple Distributor in Greater China To Open 500 Licensed Stores

As if Apple wasn’t having enough of a success in Greater China (the area that includes China, Hong Kong and Taiwan), Digitimes is now reporting that Cybermart International, a major Chinese retail chain which is part of Foxconn, has gained the status of “first-grade distributor” for Apple’s products. The plan? Open 500 new licensed stores.

Cybermart plans to set up 500 Apple licensed retail shops in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, according to company chairman Steve Chang. The first store will be opened in Tianjin on April 1, 2011.

This is an impressive number that will sure help increasing the popularity and visibility of Apple’s computers and mobile devices in the area. At the Q1 earnings call on January 18, Apple announced revenue in Greater China was $2.6 billion, up 4 times from the year-ago quarter. Four stores in China reported the highest traffic and highest revenue.

While authorized resellers don’t offer the same experience of an Apple Store, they sure help bringing products to the attention of consumers that live in areas where Apple Store are nowhere to be seen. And for Greater China, 500 new licensed stores sound like a good move.

iTunes 10.1.2 Now Available, Adds CDMA iPhone Compatibility

A few minutes ago Apple released iTunes 10.1.2 to the public. It’s available now in Software Update or on Apple’s website. The changelog mentions “a number of important stability and performance improvements” – we’re not really sure what they are, but I would guess on Verizon iPhone compatibility looking forward to February 10.

iTunes 10.1.2 for Windows is available here.

Update: the latest iTunes does indeed add CDMA iPhone compatibility. From the release notes in the download:

iTunes 10.1.2 syncs music, movies, and more with iPhone 4 (CDMA model) and provides a number of important stability and performance improvements.

iPad Now Available in India→

iPad Now Available in India

A year after the official announcement, the iPad is now finally available in India, although I guess people who really wanted one in 2010 didn’t wait for Apple to make up its mind and release it. About pricing: a 16 GB standard WiFi model will cost you Rs 27,900, which is around $610, including taxes.  It’s curious that today Samsung slashed the price of the Galaxy Tab in India, too.

Product page available here. What’s up with the website? [via Smoking Apples]

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Apple & News Corp. To Hold Event on Feb. 2 To Announce The Daily

The Loop reports Apple and News Corp. will hold a media event in New York on February 2 to launch The Daily, the long rumored iPad-only digital newspaper that should rely on a new iTunes-based subscription service. This automatic billing system is rumored to be built into a new version of iOS, and we know Apple is currently testing iOS 4.3 with developers.

If the rumors are to be believed, will there be an “official” sneak peek at iOS 4.3 with subscriptions on February 2? And if The Daily will “launch” on that day, does it mean iOS 4.s3 is nearing its public release as well? Or maybe the subscription system doesn’t need to be built into iOS 4.3 at all, contrary to what the rumors suggested so far?

We will find out next week. It’s interesting that Eddy Cue, Vice President of Internet Services, will join Rupert Murdoch on stage to unveil The Daily. Perhaps these subscriptions functionalities don’t need to be baked into iOS, and could a server-side implementation on Apple’s end. It’s also worth considering that this is a News Corp. event with an Apple VP on stage – we don’t think Apple will provide an extensive preview of iOS 4.3 there.

We know that The Daily will be priced at $0.99 /week, as confirmed by News. Corp’s CEO James Murdoch.

Epic Games: “Anything In The Apple World Is Perfect”→

Epic Games: “Anything In The Apple World Is Perfect”

The Slow Down interviews Jay Wilbur, Vice President of Epic Games, makers of Infinity Blade for iOS:

Q: What are the challenges in developing for Android? The demo there seems to be running great.

A: It runs really well and really fast. One of the problems with the Android marketplace is hardware fragmentation, that’s a really big issue. The other thing is marketplace fragmentation, there are so many different appstores out there. The Android marketplace is a little more difficult [to develop for] because there is less control. I think the Android marketplace is robust … I find it very easy to buy things on it, it’s just that Apple has very tight control. So anything in the Apple world is perfect. It’s just perfect. We like that, we like that a lot. We know that it’s just gonna work. Sometimes that’s not always the case in the Android marketplace.

Infinity Blade did great in the first weeks of App Store and slowly dropped off since then. A major update with new maps, weapons and features is expected soon, and that should bring the app back into the charts. We can’t wait to see more Unreal Engine games find their way to iOS. Read the whole interview here.

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Apple’s Website Returns from Outage with New Design

The Apple site today went down and despite earlier rumors that it had gone down because of the launch of the white iPhone 4, the outage seems to have been due to cosmetic changes being made to Apple.com. The most obvious change is the sites navigational bar that is now a much darker tint of gray.

Animations have been added to several pages (such as the iPhone page) and the key pages from the navigational bar have been revamped and refined. Jump the break for images of the new Apple.com or head there yourself.

The Store and Support component of the site are still down; when it returns this post will be updated.

UPDATE 1: A very subtle background texture has been also added to the site. Comparison included after the break.

UPDATE 2: Store and Support seem to be up, with no change.

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“A Lot Happens In 10 Years”→

“A Lot Happens In 10 Years”

Bottom: Graphite iBook G3, circa 2001-ish.

Top: 11.6” MacBook Air, 2010

Approximately 20x the RAM, 8x the hard drive space (now SSD instead of magnetic), Bluetooth and 802.11n standard, built-in camera, no optical drive, multitouch trackpad, at least 2x the battery life. ~300 MHz to 1.4 GHz x 2 cores on a new architecture. Completely new operating system. 3 or 4 pounds lighter, and who knows how much thinner, but a heck of a lot thinner.

No matter the decade, it always feels like we’re just getting started.

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‘The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs’ - A One-Man Show

Mike Daisey has a one-man-show running at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre through February 27, one that we as Apple geeks might be interested in seeing. It’s called “The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.”

Master storyteller Daisey’s comedic show is all about the world of Apple, including an important message: Apple’s products are made under inhumane conditions.

Cult of Mac’s Leander Kahney says that Daisey’s portrail of an Apple fan is spot on and the show is very funny but also has a serious side as well. He visited production facilities inChina to gather material for his show only to find out that the devices he loves are made in sweatshop conditions, with children as young as 11 years old.

Video after break (1:38 mark) Read more