Archive for the ‘Apple’ Category

Apple iWork available for iPhone & iPod Touch today

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

Apple’s iWork productivity apps – Keynote, Pages and Numbers – are now available for the iPhone, iPod touch,and iPad. iWork apps are available on the App Store for US$9.99 each to new users and as a free update for existing iWork for iPad customers.

Originally created for the Mac and now completely redesigned for Apple’s iOS and Multi-Touch interface, Keynote, Pages and Numbers allow users to create and share presentations, formatted documents and powerful spreadsheets on the go.

Keynote, presentation app in iWork“The incredible Retina display, revolutionary Multi-Touch interface and our powerful software make it easy to create, edit, organise and share all of your documents from iPhone 4 or iPod touch,”said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.

Keynote, Pages and Numbers import and export documents from iWork for Mac and Microsoft Office; print wirelessly using AirPrint; and include beautiful Apple-designed themes and templates.

Pages, word processing app in iWorkAll iWork apps now include improved document management with thumbnail images that let users find files quickly, organise them and group them into folders using intuitive gestures.

From the Tools button in the toolbar, presentations, documents or spreadsheets can be shared directly without leaving the app.

Keynote makes it easy to create impressive presentations, complete with animated charts and transitions. Presentations can be played in Full Screen view on the high-resolution Retina display or be connected to a projector or HDTV for a large audience. Available separately, the Keynote Remote app allows an iPhone or iPod touch to control a Keynote presentation on any iOS device or Mac.

Pages is a word processor specially designed for a mobile device and has everything needed to create documents. Pages takes full advantage of the high-resolution Retina display on iPhone 4 and iPod touch so users can see all the detail and richness of their documents. Numbers, spreadsheet app in iWorkTo make working with text easy on iPhone and iPod touch, Smart Zoom automatically zooms in to follow the cursor during editing and zooms back out when done.

Numbers uses Multi-Touch gestures and an intelligent keyboard to help create compelling, good-looking spreadsheets with over 250 easy-to-use functions, flexible tables and eye-catching charts. Similar to Pages, Numbers takes advantage of the high-resolution Retina display and Smart Zoom to make working with text and cells on iPhone 4 or iPod touch easy.

Pricing & Availability

Keynote, Pages and Numbers are universal apps that run on iPad and iPad 2, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 and iPod touch (3rd & 4th generation). Keynote, Pages and Numbers are available from the App Store for US$9.99 each for new users, or as a free update for existing iWork for iPad customers. Keynote Remote is sold separately via the App Store for US$0.99.

Computex Taipei 2011 draws tablet watchers and stake holders

Monday, May 30th, 2011

The 5-day annual trade show in Taipei will see more tablet models based on Google’s Android and a preview of Microsoft’s next Windows platform for tablets – one year after Apple’s game changing iPads grab the lion’s share of the tablet market.

COMPUTEX Taipei, or Taipei International Information Technology Show (台北國際電腦展), will be held from May 31 to June 4, 2011 in Taipei. Taiwan based Acer and Asustek had first showed off their low-cost but trend-setting netbooks at the Computex in 2007 and 2008.

Investors and analysts will be watching to see if new Android based tablets can challenge Apple’s iPad. Non-iPad tablet competitors are expected to halve Apple’s 100 percent dominance of the tablet market to 50 percent next year, iSuppli predicted on April 21. The iPad had cordoned off the entire tablet market when it was first launched in June last year because of the absence of competitors.

Computex Taipei 2011 from May 31 to June 4, 2011

Computex Taipei 2011 from May 31 to June 4, 2011.

Both Google and Microsoft will send executives to the event to brief the media on their plans. Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, and ARM, whose chip designs are licensed by Qualcomm and Nvidia to power tablets, will also be vying for tablet manufacturers to select their chips.

Global shipments of tablets will increase almost twelve times to 215 million units in 2015 from 17 million last year, Toni Sacconaghi, a New York-based analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., wrote in a May 26 report.

Computer sales growth will be reduced by 2 percent annually between 2010 and 2015, Sacconaghi wrote, because fifteen percent of all tablets will cannibalize the sale of consumer PCs.

Bloomberg reports that Microsoft will “preview its operating system designed for tablets this week, using hardware with ARM-based chips”. The current Windows 7 operating system from Microsoft is not compatible with the ARM chips used in tablets from manufacturers such as Samsung and Motorola.

IBM overtakes Microsoft in market capitalisation

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

For the first time in 15 years, since 1996, IBM has overtaken Microsoft in market value. It is now the second largest US tech company behind Apple, while Microsoft has dropped to third.

Only a year after Apple had surged past Microsoft in market value, IBM has also powered past Microsoft.

Market capitalisation of Apple, IBM and Microsoft over the past 20 years

Market capitalisation of Apple, IBM and Microsoft over the past 20 years

IBM had been the dominant company in the computer industry for decades until it selected Microsoft to supply the operating system for its personal computers in the eary 80s. Bill Gates managed to turn that opportunity into a dominance of the operating systems market.

Rank Company Market cap 

(billion)

1 Exxon Mobil $397.4
2 Apple $309.2
3 General Electric $205.6
4 IBM $203.8
5 Microsoft $203.7

At its zenith just before the turn of the millennium, Microsoft’s market capitalisation was three times that of IBM’s. It was also the biggest US company then. Now it is the third biggest technology company and fifth biggest US company.

Microsoft is facing challenges in many of its business sectors. Its dominance of the operating systems market, is being challenged by the advent of tablets and Google’s newly introduced Chrome OS, while it has lost its market share in the smartphone market to RIM’s BlackBerry devices, Apple’s iPhones and recently Android based phones.

Microsoft’s decline since 2000 coincides with the burst of the Internet technology bubble and the tenure of Bill Gates’ successor Steve Ballmer as the CEO.

IBM, on the other hand, has reinvented itself from being a predominantly hardware manufacturer into a specialist in enterprise software, servers and consulting. It has even offloaded its PC business to Lenovo in 2002.

Bill Rigby of Reuters observes that “an investor putting $100,000 into both stocks 10 years ago would now have about $143,000 in IBM stock and about $69,000 in Microsoft stock.”

Nubox opens 10th store at Junction 8 today

Friday, May 13th, 2011
Nubox opened its 10th store in Singapore at Junction 8 Shopping Centre today. A number of in-store promotions will be available at the 1447 sq ft Apple Premium Reseller store over the weekend from May 13 to 15.

Together with Nubox@nex at Serangoon which opened in November 2010, the new store, Nubox@Junction 8 is targeted at shoppers in the northern part of Singapore. Junction 8 Shopping Centre is located right beside Bishan MRT station.

Crowd moving in for the in-store promotions at the new Nubox outlet at Bishan Junction 8.

Crowd moving in for the in-store promotions at the new Nubox outlet at Bishan Junction 8.

Other Nubox stores are located at:

Outlet Unit num Tel (+65)
Jurong Point Shopping Centre #B01-09 6790 8813
Raffles City Shopping Centre #03-25 6334 8132
Tampines Mall #01-49 6587 7130
Funan Digitalife Mall #03-21 6334 3531
Causeway Point #04-32 6767 0351
Sim Lim Square #03-82 6332 9396
Sim Lim Square #01-41 6334 9560
NEX Shopping Mall #02-45/46 6634 6180
Marina Bay Link Mall #B2-33/34 6634 4825

Nubox’s first store was opened in 2008 at Sim Lim Square. All Nubox stores are open from 11.00 am to 9.30 pm (except the Sim Lim and Funan outlets that close at 8 pm).

Nubox has plans to open another three Apple Premium Reseller stores by end 2011. They will be at Causeway Point in Woodlands (reopening), 112 Katong in Katong and JCube in Jurong.

Nubox is an arm of Newstead Technologies and sells the entire range of Apple products from Macs, iPods, iPhones and iPads to a wide range of accessories.

Google to unveil Chromebooks

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Google will reveal its first Chrome-based notebooks from Acer and Samsung at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco. They will be available for order online from June 15.

The Samsung Chromebook will cost $429 for the Wi-Fi only version and $499 for the 3G version, while Acer’s Wi-Fi only Chromebook will cost $349.

It’ll be interesting whether consumers will bite, considering that you can buy a decent Netbook or an iPad the $499 price-tag for the 3G Samsung Chromebook.

Acer Chromebook, available from June 15, 2011

Acer Chromebook

Chromebooks will be available online June 15 in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Spain. More countries will follow in the coming months. In the U.S., Chromebooks will be available from Amazon and Best Buy and internationally from leading retailers.

Equipped with dual-core processors from Intel, the Chromebooks boast all-day battery life, and instant-on ability and built-in Net connectivity. Chromebooks will get updates and patches automatically every few weeks, like its browser cousin Chrome.

A special pricing is available for schools – Google will charge $20 a month for each Chromebook. The price will include hardware, administrative support, hardware upgrades, and warranty.

With this long awaited foray, Chromebooks will be taking on the tablet market dominated by Apple’s iPads, and the PC market dominated by both Microsoft and Apple.

Samsung Chromebook, available from June 15, 2011

Samsung Chromebook

The Chromebooks will run a new new bare-bones operating system that is basically a web browser that allows users to access applications like email, wordprocessors and spreadsheets directly on the web, instead of installing software such as Outlook or Office directly on the computer’s harddisks.

Users can also store their music and documents in the cloud for access from other computers as long as there is an Internet connection. Naturally, that means that a lot of the functionality may likely be unavailable or crippled offline.

Google has been touting Chrome as an alternative to Microsoft Windows for some two years now, but it has encountered delays producing computers designed to use the software.

10th Nubox store in Singapore at Junction 8

Monday, May 9th, 2011
Nubox will open its 10th store in Singapore at Junction 8 Shopping Centre on Friday May 13, 2011. The Apple Premium Reseller will open the 1447 sq ft store at 12 noon and celebrate the occasion with a number of in-store promotions over the weekend from May 13 to 15.

Nubox, Apple retailer in Singapore Customers who purchase a Macbook will receive a Speck case, a sleeve, a palm rest protector and a keyboard protector worth $143.00. The first 30 customers who purchase a Macbook will also receive a Microsoft Arc Mouse worth $89.00.

A Dexim silicon case for the iPod nano and iPod touch that comes with a screen protector, cleaning cloth, earphones and an AC adapter, will go to customers who purchase an iPod. Nubox is also offering up to 70% discount on selected accessories during this period.

Together with Nubox@nex at Serangoon which opened in November 2010, the new store, Nubox@Junction 8 is targeted at shoppers in the northern part of Singapore. Junction 8 Shopping Centre is located right beside Bishan MRT station.

Apple Announces New iMac line of desktop computers

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
Starting at S$1,648, the iMac has been updated with next generation quad-core processors, powerful graphics, Thunderbolt I/O Technology and a new FaceTime HD camera.
New iMacs from AppleApple claims that, compared to the previous generation, the new iMac is 70 percent faster and new graphics deliver up to three times the performance of the previous generation.
Apple’s desktop line of computers features quad-core Intel Core i5 processors with an option for customers to choose Core i7 processors up to 3.4 GHz. These next generation processors feature an integrated memory controller for a responsive experience and a powerful new media engine for high-performance video encoding and decoding. The new AMD Radeon HD graphics processors give the new iMac an extremely powerful graphics capability.

Thunderbolt

21.5 or 27 inch brilliant IPS LED-backlit high resolution display

iMac is the first desktop computer on the market to include groundbreaking Thunderbolt I/O technology. Apple had launched its updated MacBook Pro line of notebooks on February 25 earlier this year with the new Thunderbolt I/O technology. It was the  first computer on the market to implement the new technology Apple had developed in collaboration with Intel.

The 21.5-inch iMac has a single Thunderbolt port while the 27-inch model features two ports for even greater expansion. Featuring two bi-directional channels with transfer speeds up to an amazing 10Gbps each, Thunderbolt delivers PCI Express directly to external high performance peripherals such as RAID arrays, and can support FireWire and USB consumer devices, and Gigabit Ethernet networks via adapters.

Thunderbolt also supports DisplayPort for high resolution displays and works with existing adapters for HDMI, DVI and VGA displays. Freely available for implementation on systems, cables and devices, Thunderbolt technology is expected to be widely adopted as a new standard for high performance I/O.

FaceTime

21.5 or 27 inch brilliant IPS LED-backlit high resolution display

The iMac includes a built-in FaceTime HD camera and Apple’s innovative FaceTime software for crisp, widescreen video calling the whole family can enjoy. The new camera supports high definition video calls between all FaceTime HD-enabled Macs and standard resolution calls with iPad 2, iPhone 4, the current generation iPod touch and other Intel-based Macs.

Software

The iMac comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard and iLife – Apple’s innovative suite of applications for creating and sharing photos, movies and music.

Snow Leopard includes the Mac App Store for finding new apps for the iMac.

iLife ’11 features iPhoto with full screen views for browsing, editing and sharing photos; iMovie with powerful easy-to-use tools to transform home videos into fun theatrical trailers; and GarageBand with new ways to improve your playing and create great sounding songs.

Aluminium enclosure, gorgeous display and all-in-one design.The iMac continues to feature its signature aluminium and glass design, brilliant IPS LED-backlit high resolution display, SD card slot and comes with Apple’s innovative Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad.

On the Green front, the iMac meets stringent Energy Star 5.2 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold rating. iMac features LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. iMac uses PVC-free components and cables, contains no brominated flame retardants, uses highly recyclable materials and features material-efficient system and packaging designs.

Pricing & Availability

The new iMac is available through the online Apple Store and Apple Authorised Resellers.

21.5-inch iMac
S$1,648 2.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5

AMD Radeon HD 6750M

500GB hard drive

S$2,048 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5

AMD Radeon HD 6770M

1TB hard drive

27-inch iMac
S$2,348 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5

AMD Radeon HD 6770M

1TB hard drive

S$2,748 3.1 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5

AMD Radeon HD 6970M

1TB hard drive

Configure-to-order options include faster Intel Core i7 processors up to 3.4 GHz, additional hard drive capacity up to 2TB, a 256GB solid state drive, additional DDR3 memory and AppleCare Protection Plan. Additional technical specifications and configure-to-order options and accessories are available online.

iPad 2 debuts in Asia and arrives in Singapore

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
The iPad 2 debuts in Asia tomorrow in Japan and will arrive in 11 other countries including Singapore on Friday. China will only see the iPad 2 on May 6 one week later.

The iPad 2 with its Smart Cover arrives in Singapore on Friday - April 29, 2011The iPad 2 was first launched in the US on March 2 and released in 25 more largely European countries on March 25. Tomorrow, it will debut in Japan – the first Asian country to launch it. On Friday, it will arrive in Singapore together with 10 other largely Asian countries. China will only see the iPad 2 with only Wi-Fi on May 6.

Compared to the original iPad, the iPad 2 is 33 percent thinner and up to 15 percent lighter, while sporting the same 9.7-inch LED-backlit LCD screen. iPad 2 features Apple’s new dual-core A5 processor for faster performance and stunning graphics and now includes two cameras, a front-facing VGA camera for FaceTime and Photo Booth, and a rear-facing camera that captures 720p HD video, bringing the FaceTime feature to iPad users for the first time. The iPad 2 promises the same 10 hours of battery life as its predecessor.

Prices and configurations in Singapore

The Smart Cover doubles up as a stand.1. Wi-Fi only versions:

  • 16GB: S$668
  • 32GB: S$798
  • 64GB: S$928

2. Wi-Fi/3G devices:

  • 16GB: S$848
  • 32GB: S$978
  • 64GB: S$1108

iMovie and GarageBand for iPad apps are available for US$4.99 each from the App Store on iPad or www.itunes.com/appstore. The Smart Cover is available in a range of colors in vibrant polyurethane for S$54 or rich leather for S$98.

The iPad 2 will be available in Singapore at select Apple Authorised Resellers, and online through the online Apple Store beginning at 1am local time.

The iPad 2 debuts in Asia in Japan tomorrow - April 28, 2011The 10 other countries getting the iPad 2 together with Singapore on Friday are: Hong Kong, India, Israel, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Turkey and UAE.

For those interested, the earlier 25 countries who got their iPad 2 on March 25 are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

White iPhone selling in 28 countries including Singapore from Thursday 28 April, 2011

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011
The much anticipated white iPhone will become available on Thursday. Originally planned to be launched together with the black version during the iPhone 4 launch in June 2010, the availability of the white version has been delayed until now by production complexities.

The white iPhone debuts on Thursday April 28, 2011The Cupertino company had stated earlier that “white models of Apple’s new iPhone 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected.”

In addition to Singapore, the white model of the iPhone 4 will debut on Thursday in 27 other countries: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Macau, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, UK and the US.

In Singapore, the recommended retail price tag (without contract) for the 16GB model is S$888, while the price for the 32GB model is S$1048.

Purchases can be made through the online Apple Store, and select Apple Authorised Resellers in Singapore, such as EpiCentre, Nubox, istudio, Juzzl and Multimedia Integrated.

Apple profit almost double after iPhone’s Verizon debut

Thursday, April 21st, 2011
Profit for the second quarter almost doubled due to iPhone sales via Verizon, even though sales for newly launched iPad 2 were below estimates because of supply shortage.

Fears of growth being affected by supply disruptions from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami were also allayed.

2nd Quarter A year earlier Bloomberg survey
Net income
(almost doubled)
$5.99 billion,
$6.40 a share
$3.07 billion,
$3.33 a share
$5.04 billion,
$5.39 a share
Sales
(up 83%)
$24.7 billion $13.5 billion $23.4 billion

Apple began selling the iPhone through Verizon Wireless in February, and launched the iPad 2 on March 11.

Demand for the iPad has been so strong that Apple has not been able to make enough, leading to sales that were lower than what most analysts predicted.

2nd Qtr Analysts predictions
iPhones sold through Verizon 18.7 million 16.3 million
iPads sold 4.69 million 6.1 million
Mac computers 3.76 million 3.6 million
iPod media players 9.02 million 9.8 million

“Apple is ramping up production as it prepares to start selling the tablet computer in 13 additional countries this month”, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook told Bloomberg.

Still, sales of products in the country may be $200 million lower as consumers coping with the temblor and tsunami buy fewer gadgets, he said.