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Posts tagged with "iPad"

Report: Apple Enters Into An Agreement With TSMC For A6 And A7 Chip Production

DigiTimes is today reporting on claims from industry sources who say that Apple has signed a partnership agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The agreement will see TSMC produce the A6 chip as previously reported but also the A6’s successor, presumably dubbed the A7.

It now means that Samsung is no longer the exclusive manufacturer of chips for Apple’s iOS devices, which could be related to the current legal battles between the two companies. Sources have also told DigiTimes that TSMC has secured a favourable price, with little impact on TSMC’s profitability.

Apple and TSMC, however, have not yet talked about backend manufacturing, the sources said. It is likely that Apple will have TSMC and the other dedicated packaging and testing house split the orders due to TSMC’s limited available capacity for backend services, the sources speculated.

[Via DigiTimes]

News.me iPad App Drops Subscriptions, Goes Free

We first covered News.me, a “social news reader” developed by Betaworks, when it first came out in April, aiming to take on other “social magazines” for the iPad like Flipboard and Zite. Unlike its competitors, News.me was based on an interesting business model: the app would let you “see” what your friends were reading, at a price. Built with Apple’s subscriptions for iOS apps, News.me allowed users to subscribe to access the app’s social-reading functionalities. From our review:

Like I said it’s difficult now to say whether News.me’s smart filtering system really works or not, but I’ve noticed a couple of interesting factors that might increase the quality of the social aggregator. For instance, you can swipe right on a story in your timeline to “mute” it and tell the app to hide it forever, or check out a “people who read this story also read” section at the bottom of popular articles. This section aggregates stories from the same source that are linked to the one you’re reading, and should provide a meaningful way to discover news that might interest you. Another feature I love is the importance News.me gave to attribution: you can tap on a writer’s name to open a popover menu that allows you see his bio and follow him on Twitter. Unlike Flipboard, News.me got attribution absolutely right.

With an update posted today, the News.me team has announced the iPad app is now completely free (no subscriptions), and the company will be run separately under Betaworks.

Over the past year, News.me has been incubated within bitly. Today, we’re pleased to announce that News.me has officially spun out of bitly into an independent company under betaworks. As I wrote earlier this year, with News.me we are seeking to rethink and reinvent the way that people discover news; I’m very excited that News.me is now set up and running as a standalone company with the resources it needs to fully pursue that vision.

The new version of News.me for iPad (1.2) doesn’t seem to introduce any new feature aside from free access without subscriptions. There’s no doubt this new model will help the app gain more readers, so we’ll make sure to check back in a few weeks to see how user adoption can contribute to News.me’s social graph. You can get the app for free on the App Store.

Apple Tweaks Online Store, Adds New iPad Purchasing Wizard

The online Apple Store went down earlier today, but it wasn’t because of any new products. Apple has tweaked their online store with some minor changes, some new features and improved performance. The most noticeable change is an enhanced iPad ordering process that guides a customer through choosing the correct iPad for themselves.

Now when a customer opts to purchase an iPad online, they will be guided not to a list of all the available iPad models but to a simple two or three step wizard. This new selection process starts by asking a customer whether they would like a black or white iPad, then which model they would like - whether it be a WiFi-only or WiFi+3G model and what size storage they want. Then, if a customer has chosen a 3G model they will be prompted as to whether they would like a Verizon or AT&T model - although this option only applies in the US store.

The process is guided by simple questions, short descriptions and large graphics and if a customer needs further help there is a link to a “Get answers before you buy” help page. Curiously this new wizard hasn’t been applied to the iPhone purchase page, which still simply lists all the available models.  Jump the break for a screenshot of the entire selection process, or try it yourself on the Apple Store website.

[Via The Next Web]

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