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"

Apple Inks Deal with EMI, Cloud Music Almost Finalized

Cnet reports tonight Apple has inked a deal with EMI over the upcoming launch of the rumored cloud music service that is expected to be unveiled at the WWDC in June. Cnet also claims the last two remaining deals with Sony and Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group (Warner Music Group reportedly signed a deal last month) could be signed as early as next week.

Apple has signed a cloud-music licensing agreement with EMI Music and is very near to completing deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, multiple music industry sources told CNET.

The negotiations between Sony Music Group and Universal Music Group could be wrapped up as early as next week, the sources said. What this means is that signed contracts with all four of the top four record companies will be in Apple’s hip pocket on June 6 when Apple kicks off the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference. The sources who spoke with CNET did not know when Apple would announce the deals or roll out the cloud service.

With Apple signing the four major music labels in the United States, the cloud music service the company has been working on might include a subscription-based system where users simply stream music they don’t actually own (like in Spotify), the possibility to automatically beam to the cloud purchases from the iTunes Store or then again, as many suggest, Apple may be simply looking to having full support from the music industry in order to avoid possible lawsuits and debates surrounding cloud products from Google and Amazon, also recently launched.

Cloud is rumored to be a big part of iOS 5 and OS X Lion, set to be previewed on June 6 at the WWDC.

Apple Opening A New Data Center in Silicon Valley

Data Center Knowledge reports Apple is adding a new data center in Silicon Valley, set to open in the third quarter of 2011 to provide “additional IT capacity” to Apple’s rumored new cloud services that include music, video, storage, and more. The new space, commissioned to DuPont Fabros Technology, is located in Santa Clara, California, and it’s smaller than the massive data center Apple has been building in Maiden, North Carolina, throughout 2010 and 2011.

Apple is expanding its Internet infrastructure with a new data center in Silicon Valley, as it prepares to bring additional server and storage capacity online later this year. The new server space, housed in a third-party facility, will be smaller than the huge iDataCenter that Apple has built in North Carolina.

DuPont Fabros disclosed the Santa Clara lease in its first quarter earnings, but did not reveal the name of the tenant, which is consistent with its policies. In a conference call with analysts, company executives described the tenant as a “Fortune 50 technology company with excellent credit.” But multiple industry sources have since confirmed that the tenant is Apple.

The website suggests that the wholesale data center space model might be convenient for Apple if they’re looking to deploy a new facility quickly in the next few months, “as wholesale space can be delivered more rapidly than building a new data center.” According to Data Center Knowledge, this new lease refers to a 11,000 square feet space, compared to the 500,000 square feet facility in North Carolina, which had been rumored to be set for an expansion at 1 million square feet as well.

DFT’s Santa Clara site will be built in two phases, each with 18.2 megawatts of capacity. When it is completed, the building will span 360,000 square feet, with a total of 176,000 square feet of space on a 42-inch raised floor, which allows cooling capacity for high-density server installations.

It’s not clear whether Apple has any expansion options for additional space at the facility. But many of DuPont Fabros’ largest tenants follow a pattern in which they lease space in the first phase of a data center, and later take additional space once the second phase is available.

It’s not clear at this point how the new data center is going to be used and if Apple is already planning an expansion by ordering more space; more details about DuPont Fabros and the Santa Clara facility can be found in the original report here.

In the past months, speculation had pegged Apple’s data center plans to be focused on a major MobileMe revamp, dubbed iCloud, to be announced at the upcoming WWDC as part of the next version of iOS and Mac OS X Lion. The North Carolina data center powering iTunes and MobileMe services was rumored to be ready for launch this Spring, but no additional details were provided by Apple on the facility’s official opening, leading many to believe work hasn’t been finalized yet. Back in April, a report also claimed Apple had ordered 12 petabytes of storage for iTunes video content, without mentioning, however, whether such a massive storage would be destined to streaming, or the existing iTunes Store infrastructure.

Apple Equipping Stores with iPads Running New RetailMe?

Amidst all the speculation surrounding Apple’s all-hands meetings for retail employees and store leaders set for Sunday, May 22, AppleInsider reports this weekend’s retail plans might not be about a new product launch, 10th anniversary celebration or NFC payments, as the rumors suggested, but rather a series of trainings for employees using iPads running the new custom RetailMe software. According to AppleInsider, retail stores have been receiving stockpiles of iPad 2 featuring black leather Smart Covers, with these iPads being meant for on-the-job use by retail specialists.

People familiar with Apple’s retail operations revealed that stores across the U.S. have been stocked with dozens of iPads that are being prepared for use by employees. Training and utilization of the hardware could begin as soon as this weekend.

It’s not clear whether the iPads are destined to replace Apple’s current in-store payment system based on EasyPay and the iPod touch, but it’s likely that they will be used alongside the portable POS system to better showcase products and features to customers. Apple deployed the iPad 1 in its retail operations last year to allow employees to manage and schedule appointments for people waiting at the Genius Bar (I saw one myself at Rome Apple Store); the new iPad 2 shipments, though, might be linked to the internal release of an updated RetailMe software.

The delivery of iPads to stores around the country comes as Apple is apparently prepared to release an iPad version of its proprietary in-house communications client known as RetailMe. The RetailMe service offers information about products and training videos for retail employees.

One person privy to the workings of Apple’s brick-and-mortar stores suggested that the RetailMe software for iPad could turn out to be the be the password protected gigabytes of corporate training data that employees were recently issued. Still, as usual, employees have been kept in the dark, leaving them to put pieces together and draw conclusions based on the available evidence.

Indeed, BGR reported a few days ago employees were asked to download from Apple’s corporate servers a folder called “training” containing GBs worth of information and material. AppleInsider also reported last night this weekend’s meeting could be used to launch the 2011 Back to School program.

Apple Temporarily Freezing In-App Purchase Approvals?

TUAW reports a number of iOS developers have been unable for over a week now to get their in-app purchase content approved by Apple, as the company requires in the iTunes Connect developer portal to test IAP with a test user account, but this account has been offline with no explanation from Apple.

As a matter of policy, Apple requires developers to test in-app purchases (IAP) with a test user account before the application in question can be approved. Unfortunately, this test account has been offline for a week now with no word as to why. If you are a developer, you can see the relevant thread on Apple’s own developer forums here.

Whilst the impossibility to test in-app purchases and thus get the additional content approved may simply be a technical error on Apple’s side, it looks rather curious considering the recent debate surrounding Lodsys and its patent infringement claims against independent iOS developers. As TUAW notes, this can be a simple coincidence that has nothing to do with Lodsys, but The Guardian reported yesterday Apple was “actively investigating” the claims that hit iOS devs, so there’s a chance Apple might have suspended IAP approvals before a decision is made.

If you’re a developer and have encountered a similar error, let us know in the comments. More information is available on the Dev Forums.

Update: the iTunes Connect Developer Guide was updated on 5/11 including some changes to in-app purchases, but we can’t confirm whether these changes are related to the inability of testing in-app purchases with a test user account. The ITC Developer Guide can be found here.

Improvements to In-App Purchase creation and edit flow. The Manage Your In-App Purchases module is no longer available on the homepage of in iTunes Connect. In-App Purchases can now be managed from the app summary page for a specific app within the Manage Your Applications module.

[Thanks, Jason]

Update #2: TUAW reports the issue seems to be resolved.

Parallels Transporter Makes PC to Mac Migration Dead Simple

Parallels, probably best known for its popular virtualization software, has today released a new product that lets you make migration from Windows to OS X dead simple. The product, Parallels Transporter is being offered at a special introductory price of $0.99 on the Mac App Store (it’s regular price will be a rather expensive $39.99) and allows users to automatically transfer music, pictures, documents and more from a Windows computer to a Mac.

Using an external hard drive, wireless network or a Parallels USB transfer cable, Transporter will automatically transfer the data to the appropriate locations the Mac. Whether it is documents in the home directory or bookmarks for browsers, Transporter will do all the work in correctly transferring the users files.

We created Parallels Transporter to be the simplest, most efficient way to transfer everything you need from your old PC to your Mac in just a few easy steps. Now you can move to a Mac without the time-consuming chore of manually moving files and without the expense of hiring somebody to do it for you.

Transporter will even transfer over Windows applications and other files into a virtual machine on the Mac so that if you end up using Parallels Desktop, everything will be set up and ready to go for you – although note that this does require the purchase of Parallels Desktop which isn’t included in Transporter.

OmniVision Introduces 5 MP Sensor With 1080p Video Recording

Earlier this morning we reported on some rumors from DigiTimes regarding the production timeline of the upcoming iPhone 4S and rumoured components that it would include. In their report, DigiTimes claimed that it would contain an 8 MP camera from OmniVision Technologies, and to some degree it makes sense. Sony’s CEO in April made a fleeting comment suggesting that it would be supplying Apple with an 8MP camera for the next iPhone. However, those same comments were later suggested to have been largely “invented” by bloggers attending the event.

OmniVision today introduced a new 5MP image sensor, the OV5690, that was developed to produce the “best-in-class image quality” whilst being an effective solution for slimmer mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers by reducing the size of the camera module. With contradicting reports on whether the next iPhone will contain a 5 MP camera or an 8 MP camera, this new product certainly lends weight to the suggestion that it could have a 5 MP camera. In recent times Apple has been ferocious in crafting its devices to be as thin and light as possible, and this latest component by OmniVision could enable Apple to deliver on that goal with improved image quality (and 1080p video recording at 30 fps) whilst fitting into a smaller package.

With industry sources placing 5-megapixel CMOS image sensors at more than 15 percent of the overall sensor market today, we view 5-megapixel sensors as occupying as a sweet spot in the market. (Emphasis Added)

The iPhone 4 currently sports an older OmniVision camera component that is also 5 MP but only records video in 720p. Apple may well choose to stick with OmniVision and deliver a slightly improved camera in its next iPhone – which may be in line with reports of just small, evolutionary, improvements for the next iPhone. Although interestingly, OmniVision also revealed in early January that it had introduced a 10MP camera sensor that would similarly enable 1080p video recording at 30fps.

Former LG Executive Takes Over As Apple’s Korean Boss

The Yonhap News Agency is today reporting that Apple has recently hired Dominque Oh as its new head of South Korean operations. Oh will move to Apple after working at LG in a number of positions, including most recently as their Vice President of the Smartphone business for the past 13 months. Prior to that he worked as VP of Product Planning and Europe Mobile Business at LG.

Oh has extensive experience from his jobs within LG, where he was required to establish relationships with various operators and partners from across the world and overlook LG’s Android and Windows Phone 7 products, which will no doubt be beneficial in his new job with Apple. Oh will replace the current head of Apple’s South Korean operations, Andrew Sedgwick who held the post for over a decade.

The news comes from a number of “industry insiders” who requested anonymity, but Oh has yet to update his LinkedIn profile, still listing his VP of Smartphone Business at LG as his current job.

[Via TheNextWeb]

iPhone 4S To Go Into Production In August, Apple Reducing iPhone 4 Shipments

Two reports out of DigiTimes today reveal that the next generation iPhone, which they call the iPhone 4S, won’t have LTE capability and will go into production in August. DigiTimes claim that the iPhone 4S was originally planned to be LTE capable but was recently scrapped after it was revealed that Qualcomm was facing problems in producing the chips in large enough quantities for the iPhone.

Instead, LTE capability will likely make its way into the following (sixth generation) iPhone in 2012. A number of carriers, including three top Chinese telecommunication companies will be disappointed after expressing interest in selling an LTE capable iPhone. Despite this, China Mobile, which will have 27 million users by the end of this year, is expected to reach an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone 4S when it is expected to launch in September this year.

With plans to begin production of the iPhone 4S in August, and nearly 2 million iPhone 4s in inventory according to sources, Apple has reportedly lowered its expected shipment volumes for the iPhone 4 (for Q2 2011) to 17.5-18 million units, a reduction of about 2 million units. Around 2 million are expected to be the CDMA version whilst around 16 million 3G models. Apple is however expecting shipments of iPad 2s to increase substantially from 7-8 million units to 10-10.5 million units in Q2, 2011.

The iPhone 4S will reportedly include 3G and CDMA chips from Qualcomm, a rear 8MP camera from OmniVision Technologies and Largan Precision to produce image sensors and the lens. Prior rumors had suggested that this years iPhone would feature some slight design modifications and the support for HSPA+ because of the lack of readiness of 4G chips as DigiTimes is today reporting. It was also rumored that it would also contain an 8MP camera, but from Sony, not OmniVision and Largan Precision.

[Via DigiTimes (1) (2)]

Survey Reveals How Consumers Use Their iPad

When the iPad went on sale just over a year ago, many were unsure of what people would use it for and the uncertainty has largely continued to today, where it is still a little vague as to how a tablet fits into people’s lives. Yesterday however, Business Insider published some fascinating data on a whole range of questions that surround the iPad and how it is used. The data was collated after Business Insider issued an extensive survey, on a wide variety of issues and questions, to more than 850 people.

Their survey revealed that for about 70% of respondents, there was only 1 iPad in their household and only about 23% has 2 in the one household – less than 7% had 3 or more iPads in their household. Nearly 40% had downloaded between 20 and 50 apps, whilst 30% had downloaded more than 50 apps – with few paying for more than 20 of those apps and only 6% paying for none. Below are some of the other more interesting results but jump over to The Atlantic for all the results.

  • 87.4% did not even consider an Android tablet before buying an iPad and 90% would not consider a BlackBerry PlayBook or HP TouchPad
  • The number of people with WiFi-only or the 3G iPad is fairly evenly split (52% to 48%)
  • Only 49% subscribe to a monthly 3G data plan (of those who have a 3G iPad)
  • 40% use the iPad as their primary computer
  • The most cited reasons for use of the iPad are; web browsing (35%), using social or communication apps (22%), watching video (12%), playing games (12%) and using all other apps (20%)
  • For consuming news, 38% would use the iPad’s web browser, 34% would use a news site’s app and 28% would use an aggregator like Reeder or Flipboard.
  • 72% read e-books on the iPad, mostly on iBooks but Kindle is a close second