This Week's Sponsor:

Copilot Money

The Apple Editor’s Choice Award App for Tracking Your Money. Start Your Free Trial Today

Posts tagged with "apple"

iTunes Connect Undergoing Maintenance Today, Purchasing Apps May Fail In Some Regions


Today from 9am to 4pm PDT, iTunes Connect will be undergoing “scheduled maintenance”. Whilst the developer portal will remain available, an Apple email detailing the outage explains that if a pricing change is made between that maintenance window, it will cause the app to become unavailable for purchase.

Furthermore, customers in the regions of Mexico, U.K., Australia, Switzerland, Japan and Norway may not be able to purchase apps during this maintenance window.

It is not known whether this maintenance is related to yesterday’s connectivity problems, in anticipation of the impending release of Lion or someother change to the backend of iTunes Connect. Jump the break to see the full email from Apple to developers regarding the maintenance.

[Via MacRumors] Read more

Ahead Of Next Week’s Earnings Call, Analysts Predict High Mac, iPhone And iPad Sales

Ahead of next week’s earning call, there are two reports out today by analysts that paint a rosy picture of Mac, iPhone and iPad sales. The first report by Barclays Capital anaylst Ben Reitzes, claims that Apple is likely to exceed 22% growth in Mac computer shipments during the June quarter. This is despite US market data that has been less optimistic, but Reitzes suggests that overseas sales may compensate for the “somewhat muted” US sales due to the fact that many consumers are waiting for new MacBook Air models.

The second report from Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities included some revised figures and claims that Apple is likely to have sold a record of 8.5 million iPads and an impressive 17.53 million iPhones in the June quarter.

After our recent trip to Asia, we indicated that we felt our iPhone estimates for the June quarter were overly conservative, while our iPad projections were achievable and well above the Street.

Apple’s previous record for iPad sales was last years holiday quarter where they sold 7.3 million units. The iPhone sales according to White would be less than last-quarter’s record 18.65 units but still more than double the 8.4 million units Apple sold in the same quarter last year.

While many larger tech companies rely on more cyclical trends to grow sales, we believe Apple enjoys the tailwind of strong secular industry trends, hot new products and market share gain opportunities

[Via Barrons, AppleInsider]

Former Pixar Animator And Moonbot Studios Create Surreal iPad Storybook

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a fascinating new ‘iPad Storybook’ that recently hit the App Store. Developed by Moonbot Studios and lead by an ex-Pixar animator, William Joyce, the book is an intriguing mix of book, animation and game.

Put yourself in Morris’ shoes as you dive into the story of Mr. Lessmore and his flying friends through Moonbot Studios’ first Interactive Storybook. In this reinvention of digital storytelling you can repair books, tumble through a storm, learn the piano and even get “lost in a book,” flying through a magical world of words, giving you a dynamic journey through the story.

Available on the iPad App Store for $4.99, the book contains sequences where you have to interact with the iPad app in order to progress through the story. It includes such activities such as drawing, playing a piano, playing with food and a number of mini-games. It looks like a tonne of fun, jump the break for a beautiful trailer of the interactive Storybook.

[Via The Next Web]

Read more

TV Forecast HD Is A Beautifully Refined iPad App That Keeps Track Of Your Favourite TV Shows

If you are anything like me, you probably don’t watch much live TV anymore; instead just watching a few shows a week on TV and the rest via an online catch-up service. If that sounds like you as well, you may be interested in a new iPad app that makes it easier to track when your favorite shows are airing on TV. The app, TV Forecast HD, is developed by Big Bucket Software (also the developer behind The Incident) and is an entirely redesigned version of TV Forecast, which is currently available for the iPhone. Jump the break for the full review of TV Forecast HD, which has just been made available today.

Read more

Apple users buying 61% more apps, paying 14% more per app→

Apple users buying 61% more apps, paying 14% more per app

The average iOS device owner will download 83 apps in 2011 vs. 51 in 2010, a 61% increase year over year. “Smartphone users are showing an increasing appetite to use apps to add features to their phones,” Munster writes,” and iOS has the leading app ecosystem.”

While the title is somewhat misleading (are we comparing iOS against Android again?), Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster looks at the at the trend of app sales and ‘average selling price’ per app since September 2008, charting a nice graph that shows the App Store’s steady increase in downloads for free and paid applications. So far in 2011, the average selling price per app is up 14% year-over-year, versus a decrease of 18% in 2010. “After the initial race to the bottom in App Store pricing, we are seeing users pay up to add features and games to their iOS devices”, Munster writes.

I think we can attribute the recent uptick to in-app subscriptions. Magazines and newspaper subscriptions sold in the App Store can cost anywhere from $20 to $60 a year, and Apple has been aggressive in advertising digital publications via ‘featured’ and ‘what’s hot’ banners. Too, there’s been a recent trend with games like Tiny Tower that can rack up a lot of money by selling in-game currency which vastly improves the experience once players are hooked. The in-app purchase and subscription models are working out very well for developers that implement them.

Philip Elmer-DeWitt writes,

82% of the apps in Apple’s store are free. The 18% that users have to pay for have an ASP of $1.44. According to Munster, the increase in ASP is driven by the more-expensive iPad apps that represent a growing percentage of app downloads.

Again, a lot of these new iPad apps are digital magazines. While we have seen some great apps hit the App Store for $19.99 (OmniOutliner for iPad) and $9.99 (The Hit List for iPhone), unfortunately I think developers that are willing to price their apps high are still few and far between. I must admit, however, that I have seen more $2.99 and $3.99 dollar apps this year than the $.99 and $1.99 I’ve seen in the past. Then again, perhaps my inbox is just being pitched with more expensive apps than usual. Regardless, selling apps at higher price (more representative of an app’s value) is a good thing for developers, and it’s especially important on the iPad where quality software dictates how well it can replace a laptop. With iOS 5 around the corner, I wonder if users would be willing to spend more if the iPad was their only computer?

The App Store still has some kinks to work out, but it’s currently looking pretty healthy. Consumers are buying lots of apps (and in-app purchases), while developers are raking in just a little more money than before if we’re to believe Munster’s findings.

Permalink

Apple Files Another ITC Complaint Against HTC, Wants Import Ban On Several Devices

A new patent complaint (filed last Friday and discovered by Bloomberg today) with the International Trade Commission reveals that Apple is looking to block the sale of several HTC devices that they claim infringe on Apple patents.

This latest ITC complaint is actually Apple’s second complaint against HTC and Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents comments: “I take it that Apple is sceptical of the outcome of that ongoing ITC investigation and, therefore, wants a second try with potentially stronger patents.”

Exact details of the complaint are not yet known – we will update this post with anything news worthy if and when further details arise.

[Bloomberg via BGR, Additional Information: FOSS Patents]

Mozilla: Update For Firefox 5 “Coming Soon” To Fix Crashing Issue On Lion

Lion users trying to use Firefox 5 have seen the browser crash when loading a website that uses downloadable fonts, but a fix will be “coming soon” according to the Mozilla team. The bug in question has only been affecting users on OS X 10.7 Lion and as a result there will be a Mac-only update that will bump up the Firefox build number to 5.0.1.

According to Christopher Blizzard, the Mozilla Web platform director, they had alerted Apple to the problem in Lion but Apple did not fix the problem in the GM build released on July 1. Consequently Mozilla has “changed the font APIs that [they’re] using to newer versions which appear to fix the problem. He notes that the bug is serious enough that it is causing “severe crash problems” for Firefox 5 users on Lion.

Mozilla will also be updating Firefox 3.6 to completely disable downloadable web fonts when the browser runs on Lion because of a similar issue. Blizzard also ntoes that under Lion, 3.6 also has “scrollbar rendering issues” and urges users still running that version (which is set to enter ‘retirement’ soon) to upgrade to Firefox 5. If you are already on Lion, you can help Mozilla test the fix by downloading the latest build from the Aurora channel that already includes the fix.

[Via MacWorld]

Apple May Be Looking For A Second iPad Manufacturer

Apple is apparently looking for a second manufacturer for its next generation iPad to assist Foxconn who is currently the sole manufacturer of iPads. Taiwanese-based manufacturers Quanta Computer and Pegatron Technology are currently the frontrunners according to DigiTimes and its sources.

Sources say Pegatron, which has reportedly won the iPhone 5 manufacturing tenders, is a more likely candidate for the orders. DigiTimes suggests that part of the reason Apple is seeking a second manufacturer is concerns over their reliance on Foxconn which was highlighted in May when one of their factory buildings saw an explosion and led to limited production for a number of days.

According to DigiTimes, the manufacturer chosen could start manufacturing iPads with the launch of a rumoured iPad HD product that some are suggesting will launch this Fall.

[Via DigiTimes]

Could WiTricity Be The Technology Behind A “New Way Of Charging” iPhones?

MacRumors decided to do some digging after a report in the Wall Street Journal last week claimed that Apple was experimenting with “a new way of charging” for the 2012 iPhone and found something interesting. Initially, many had suggested that the WSJ report could refer to something as obvious as induction charging, which was featured in the Palm Pre. Whilst induction charging is ‘new’ in that it doesn’t require a cable, it still requires the device to be placed on a charging mat.

However, after a bit of research, MacRumors found WiTricity – a company developing a far more ambitious form of wireless charging. Founded in 2007 and based on the research done at MIT, it is undertaking work to enable power to be transferred over fairly significant distances compared to induction charging (at this stage they have reached a few meters).

The magnetic fields of two properly designed devices with closely matched resonant frequencies can couple into a single continuous magnetic field. Prof. Soljačić’s team showed how to use this phenomenon to enable the transfer of power from one device to the other at high efficiency and over a distance range that is useful for real-world applications

MacRumors uncovered WiTricity because Apple has an international patent application (Wireless power utilization in a local computing environment) that makes specific mention of the technology and research done by the MIT researchers in their original paper:

Apple describes a scenario where your iMac could be the source of this resonance power to provide a virtual charging area in front of your computer. Keyboards, mice and even mobile electronic devices like the iPhone or iPad could be charged simply by being in a 1 meter proximity to your computer

It should be made clear that Apple (and other technology companies) apply for hundreds of patents and whilst this is an interesting discovery when coupled with the WSJ report, it does not confirm the implementation of the WiTricity technology in a future iPhone. That said, jump the break for an interesting TED talk by WiTricity CEO, which includes a demo using a (slightly hacked) iPhone and some other devices being powered by WiTricity technology.

[Via MacRumors]

Read more