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Posts tagged with "apple"

Apple Planning Additional App Store LockDown During Thanksgiving Week

Apple usually locks down iTunes Connect for developers during the week of Christmas. This procedure known as “lockdown” doesn’t allow developers to submit updates for their apps and perform price changes, as they’re basically forced to stay out of iTunes Connect, the system underlying the App Store distribution.

According to a rumor published by 148apps, Apple is planning an additional lockdown this year during the week of Thanksgiving. The lockdown is admittedly a problem for developers who need to submit fixes to their applications, but it’s also a great marketing opportunity as charts and top apps are not updated either during the period. If you’re there on the first day, you’ll stay there for the whole week. Read more

Apple’s Jobs Is Victor In War Of Words→

Apple’s Jobs Is Victor In War Of Words

It’s refreshing to see a CEO stand up and be so confident in his company and products that he is willing to speak out. In fact, I wish more CEOs had that much confidence in what they are making.

Jobs is winning the war of words with competitors because consumers are buying Apple’s products. Jobs is bringing innovative products to the market and everyone else is following his lead.

For many CEOs used to their business lingo, it’s hard to understand Jobs’ direct style.

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Steve Jobs Was “Furious” Over Microsoft’s Bungie Acquisition

For those of you not familiar with the videogame industry: the blockbuster series Halo for Xbox and Xbox 360 is developed by Bungie, a company Microsoft acquired in 2000 to make Halo: Combat Evolved a launch title for the original Xbox. In 2007, Bungie became a privately held company; then earlier this year Bungie announced a 10-year publishing deal with industry giant Activision Blizzard.

According to a report published by Develop,  Steve Jobs was literally “furious” when Microsoft announced they had acquired Bungie in 2000, and called Steve Ballmer as soon as he learned about the deal. Read more

Apple Store App Update Goes Live

Just like we previously reported, Apple has updated its official Apple Store iPhone app to include support for reservations, check-ins and locations services.

The free 1.1 update, available in the App Store here, also introduces support for engraving and free wrapping, the possibility to add reservations to iCal. iOS 4 is required to access the new check-in based features.

Screenshots and changelog below. Read more

“Back to the Mac” Event in 100 Seconds, Full 1080p Video Now On Youtube

For those of you who’ve just come home from work and would like to fire up some videos on that shiny new Apple TV: you can either choose between a 50 to 1 slimmed down version of the Back to the Mac event video, or enjoy the full show in 1080p on Youtube.

Both videos are embedded below. With HD version finally available for streaming, expect us to dig into those Lion screenshots even more. Read more

“Apple Sacrificing Usability For Platform Consistency”→

“Apple Sacrificing Usability For Platform Consistency”

Craig Grannell on iOS scrollbars coming to OS X and the mute button on iOS 4.2 for iPad:

Both these things point to Apple wanting to merge concepts in iOS and Mac OS X at all costs. Some cross-pollination is undoubtedly a good idea—Mac OS X having system-wise auto-save/app-resumption will be a major productivity boost if implemented properly; but Apple must also remember that what works on one system won’t necessarily work on the other—and it should also realise that some things really don’t work from a usability standpoint on iOS as it is, and so welding such concepts to Mac OS X isn’t a great idea.

The mute button is a terrible idea. As for iOS scrollbars and scrolling system coming to the desktop, my only concern is whether these features will bring any real improvement besides graphical eye candy. On the iPhone and iPad, rubber-banding is nice because you actually touch the screen and you get this neat scrolling effect. What about the Mac, though, where you place your fingers on a trackpad and you see a pointer on screen?

[via Dan Frakes]

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Lukas Mathis On Lion’s Fullscreen Mode→

Lukas Mathis On Lion’s Fullscreen Mode

Apple has added «systemwide support for full-screen apps» to Lion. While I agree that the window management system we currently have often causes huge usability issues, simply doing away with it altogether is not solving the problem. It’s capitulating.

There has got to be a way of managing windows that gets rid of the problems caused by overlapping windows, while still giving people the ability to see more than one app at a time. How often do people write text while referring to a webpage? How often do people drag a picture from iPhoto into a Word document, or a file from a Finder window into an email message? Even the most basic tasks commonly require people to see more than one app at a time.

While I don’t mind making the Mac easier to use and learn, I feel that simply switching to full-screen modes isn’t a good way of doing that.

But Apple is not thinking about users who constantly jump back and forth between OmniFocus and Chrome. By making the experience “immersive” and letting you concentrate “on every detail”, they’re clearly trying to appeal those users fascinated by iOS’ way of dealing with applications. Frankly, I don’t think I’ll use fullscreen apps that much.

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More Details On Apple’s North Carolina Data Center

Last night we reported that Apple’s new data center in Maiden, North Carolina is, according to many sources, ready to begin operations “any day now”. In the past weeks we heard rumors about Apple willing to double the size of the facility to 1 million square feet, being the current size 500,000 square feet.

Now it turns out Apple was planning to increase the size of the data center all along, the project is named “Dolphin” and the “phase 2” should include the aforementioned expansion. Read more