Archive for the ‘iPad’ Category

Steve Jobs unveils Apple’s new iCloud at WWDC 2011

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

Steve Jobs personally unveiled the much anticipated iCloud during the keynote address at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2011 in San Francisco.

ON 6 June 10 am PST (local time 7 June, 1 am), Steve Jobs revealed the set of free cloud services that promises to work seamlessly with applications on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store a user’s content in iCloud and again automatically and wirelessly push it to all of the same user’s devices. When anything changes on any one of the devices, all of the user’s other devices are wirelessly updated almost instantly.

New Apple iCloud services unveiled by Steve Jobs at WWDC 2011“Today it is a real hassle and very frustrating to keep all your information and content up-to-date across all your devices,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iCloud keeps your important information and content up to date across all your devices. All of this happens automatically and wirelessly, and because it’s integrated into our apps you don’t even need to think about it—it all just works.”

iCloud services

• The former MobileMe services — Contacts, Calendar and Mail — are all completely re-architected and rewritten to work seamlessly with iCloud. Users can share calendars with friends and family, and the ad-free push Mail account is hosted at me.com. A user’s inbox and mailboxes are kept up-to-date across all of the user’s iOS devices and computers.

New Apple iCloud services unveiled by Steve Jobs• The App Store and iBookstore can now download purchased iOS apps and books to all a user’s devices, not just to the device they were purchased on. Simply tapping the iCloud icon will download any apps and books to any iOS device (up to 10 devices) at no additional cost. The App Store and iBookstore now let a user see his/her purchase history.

• iCloud Backup automatically and securely backs up a user’s iOS devices to iCloud daily over Wi-Fi when the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch is charged. Backed up content includes purchased music, apps and books, Camera Roll (photos and videos), device settings and app data. If a user replaces an iOS device, simply entering his Apple ID and password during setup will prompt iCloud to restore the new device.

iCloud Storage• iCloud Storage seamlessly stores all documents created using iCloud Storage APIs, and automatically pushes them to all of a user’s devices. When document is altered on any device, iCloud automatically pushes the changes to all the other devices. Apple’s Pages, Numbers and Keynote apps are already using iCloud Storage. Users get up to 5GB of free storage for their mail, documents and backup — and this does not include the storage for music, apps and books purchased from Apple, as well as the storage required by Photo Stream. Users will be able to buy even more storage, with details announced when iCloud ships this fall.

• iCloud’s Photo Stream service automatically uploads the photos taken or imported on any of your devices and wirelessly pushes them to all of the user’s other devices and computers. Imagine taking a bunch of photos with your iPhone at a birthday party and seeing them ready to share on your iPad when you return home. Photo Stream is built into the photo apps on all iOS devices, iPhoto on Macs, and saved to the Pictures folder on a PC. To save space, the last 1,000 photos are stored on each device so they can be viewed or moved to an album to save forever. Macs and PCs will store all photos from the Photo Stream, since they have more storage. iCloud will store each photo in the cloud for 30 days, which gives users ample time to connect devices to iCloud and automatically download the latest photos from Photo Stream via Wi-Fi.

• iTunes in the Cloud lets you download previously purchased iTunes music to all of your iOS devices at no additional cost, and new music purchases can be downloaded automatically to all your devices. In addition, music not purchased from iTunes can get gain an improvement in quality by using iTunes Match, a service that replaces your music with a 256 kbps AAC DRM-free version if the service can match it to the over 18 million songs in the iTunes Store. It makes the matched music available in minutes (instead of weeks to upload your entire music library), and uploads only the small percentage of unmatched music. iTunes Match will be available this autumn (only in the US) for a US$24.99 annual fee. Apple today is releasing a free beta version of iTunes in the Cloud, without iTunes Match, for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users running iOS 4.3. iTunes in the Cloud will support all iPhones that iOS 5 supports in autumn.

Apple is ready to ramp iCloud in its three data centers, including the third recently completed in Maiden, NC. Apple has invested over $500 million in its Maiden data center to support the expected customer demand for the free iCloud services.

Pricing & Availability

The iCloud beta and Cloud Storage APIs are available immediately to iOS and Mac Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iCloud will be available this autumn concurrently with iOS 5. Users can sign up for iCloud for free on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5 or a Mac running Mac OS X Lion with a valid Apple ID. iCloud includes 5GB of free cloud storage for Mail, Document Storage and Backup. Purchased music, apps, books and Photo Stream do not count against the storage limit. iTunes Match will be available for US$24.99 per year (US only).

iTunes in the Cloud is available today in the US and requires iTunes 10.3 and iOS 4.3.3. Automatic download of apps and books is available today. Using iCloud with a PC requires Windows Vista or Windows 7. Outlook 2010 or 2007 is recommended for accessing contacts and calendars.

Steve Jobs unveils Apple’s new Mac OS, iOS 5 and iCloud at WWDC 2011

Monday, June 6th, 2011

As planned, Steve Jobs – who is currently on a medical leave of absence from Apple – made an appearance to host the WWDC 2011. He unveiled the personally unveiled iCloud and left the briefing on Mac OS X Lion and iOS 5 to his staff.

The 5-day Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2011 is being held at San Francisco.

Steve Jobs put in an appearance at WWDC 2011 to unveil iCloudiCloud

Steve Jobs personally unveiled the much anticipated iCloud services from Apple. The set of free cloud services promises to work seamlessly with applications on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store a user’s content in iCloud and again automatically and wirelessly push it to all of the same user’s devices. When anything changes on any one of the devices, all of the user’s other devices are wirelessly updated almost instantly.

The iCloud beta and Cloud Storage APIs are available immediately to iOS and Mac Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iCloud will be available this autumn concurrently with iOS 5.

New iCloud services from AppleUsers can sign up for iCloud for free on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5 or a Mac running Mac OS X Lion with a valid Apple ID. iCloud includes 5GB of free cloud storage for Mail, Document Storage and Backup. Purchased music, apps, books and Photo Stream do not count against the storage limit. iTunes Match will be available for US$24.99 per year (US only).

iOS 5

iOS 5 for Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touchScott Forstall – Apple’s senior vice president of iOS – paraded 10 of the promised 200 new features for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

Main new features include: Notification Center, a new way to easily view and manage notifications in one place without interruption; iMessage, a new messaging service that lets users easily send text messages, photos and videos between all iOS devices; Newsstand, a new way to purchase and organise a user’s newspaper and magazine subscriptions; and PC Free feature, where iOS 5 users can activate and set up their iOS device right out of the box and get software updates over the air with no computer required.

iOS 5 beta software and SDK are available nowThe iOS 5 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iOS 5 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad, iPod touch (fourth generation) and iPod touch (third generation) this autumn.

Mac OS X Lion

Mac OS X LionPhilip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, briefed WWDC 2011 attendees on the eighth major release of Apple’s desktop operating system, which features more than 250 new features and 3,000 new developer APIs.

Main new features of the Mac OS X Lion includes: new Multi-Touch gestures; system-wide support for full screen apps; Mission Control, an innovative view of everything running on your Mac; Launchpad, a new home for all your apps; and a completely redesigned Mail app. The Mac App Store will now be built right into the OS.

Mac OS X LionMac OS X Lion will be available in July as an upgrade to Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard from the Mac App Store for US$29.99. At about 4GB, it is the size of an HD movie from the iTunes Store. Mac OS X Lion Server requires Lion and will be available in July from the Mac App Store for US$49.99.

Steve Jobs to unveil Apple’s new Mac OS, iOS 5 and iCloud at WWDC 2011

Saturday, June 4th, 2011

Steve Jobs will make an appearance at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) to unveil Lion – Apple’s eighth major release of Mac OS X. He will also unveil iOS 5, the next iteration of the mobile operating system for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The much anticipated iCloud – Apple’s upcoming cloud services – will also be revealed.

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference 2011 (WWDC)The sold-out conference WWDC 2011 will be held from June 6 – 10 at San Francisco’s Moscone West. Apple CEO Steve Jobs and a team of Apple executives will kick off the annual conference with a keynote address on Monday, June 6 at 10 am (PST).

WWDC 2011 will feature more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers. Mac developers can see and learn how to develop Mac OS X Lion applications using its latest technologies and capabilities. Mobile developers will be able to explore the latest innovations and capabilities of iOS and learn how to enhance the functionality, performance and design of their apps. All developers can bring their code to the labs and work with Apple engineers.

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.

Seagate introduce GoFlexAccess app

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

The free GoFlexAccess app allows the iPhone, iPad and Android smartphones to access media shared on the Seagate’s GoFlex Home network storage system.

Seagate Technology LLCThe free app is now available for download from the iTunes Store and Android Market. The application can be found by searching for “Seagate” or “GoFlex” in either storefront using the computer or the app store on a iPad, iPhone, iPod touch or Android compatible mobile device.

Seagate’s GoFlex Home network storage server is designed as a simple to set up shared storage drive, which provides back up and sharing capabilities within a home network and is also accessible using remote access from a personal computer.

Seagate GoFlexAccess AppSeagate GoFlexAccess App

With the introduction of the GoFlexAccess app, the GoFlex Home network can be accessed from mobile devices as well.
  • The possibilities enabled by the GoFlexAccess  app include:
  • Access photos, movies, music and documents stored in the GoFlex Home network from an iPad, iPhone or Android smart phone.
  • Create slideshows from photos in the network drive and play music at the same time to accompany it.
  • Stream music or video to mobile devices over 3G/4G and WiFi.
  • large number of files and file types.
  • Album art support for music files.
  • Access Excel, PowerPoint, Word documents and PDFs etc.
  • The app features content type filters, to simplify access to content that may contain a large number of files and file types
Capacity SRP
1 TB S$219
2 TB S$319
3 TB S$379

Available in 1TB, 2TB and 3TB capacities, the GoFlex Home storage system allows files to be centrally stored, easily accessed and continuously backed up wirelessly from computers on the home network running either Windows or Mac OS X operating systems.

Storage capactiy of GoFlex Home system can be increased simply by connecting additional drives to the USB port. What’s more, this USB port can be used to wirelessly share a USB printer with all computers on the network.

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.

BlackBerry PlayBook’s first day sales beats Motorola’s Xoom and the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Friday, April 22nd, 2011
First day sales of the newly launched BlackBerry PlayBook from RIM was said to reach 50,000 on April 19. RIM is expected to sell 500,000 of the 7 inch tablets in its first quarter ending in May.

BlackBerry PlayBook from RIMThe first day sales number of 50,000 includes pre-sales and was estimated by an analyst at RBC Capital Markets. This appears to surpass the equivalent first day sales for Motorola’s Xoom and the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Analyst Mike Abramsky’s staff checked 70 retails stores and found 11% of the locations that stocked the device had sold out, according to Matt Hamblen from Computerworld.

This may come as a surprise to many observers in view of the negative reviews that have bombarded Research In Motion (RIM) over the launch of the tablet computer.

Punters feel the software for the PlayBook was not ready yet because native support for email, contact and calendar apps were not available. Such support may only be provided as an over the air update in summer.

In the meantime, only those who own a BlackBerry smartphone can enable the PlayBook to access these basic apps via a Bluetooth connection. The tablet is only available in WiFi configuration with 3G available only in summer.

It is still too early to tell whether the PlayBook will be able to grab any market share from a tablet market seeing an influx of competitors to Apple’s iPad.

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.

Android compatibility for the PlayBook

Saturday, April 2nd, 2011
Having had only 25,000 apps in BlackBerry App World, RIM’s PlayBook will tap the 150,000 apps in the Android Market to give it a headstart, while ramping up the number of PlayBook specific apps to stand against the staggering 350,000 apps in Apple’s App Store.

RIM launches the PlayBook on April 19RIM will be opening the PlayBook to Android apps to provide customers a wider choice of apps.

Software tools for making Android apps work on the PlayBook will be available this summer, Tyler Lessard, head of RIM’s developer relations told Bloomberg in an interview.

Android is the world’s fastest-growing smartphone platform and is also gaining market share for tablet computers, based on data on global shipments from Strategy Analytics below.

Percentage of global shipments Android iPad
Oct to Dec 2010 22 % 75%
Jul to Sep 2010 2.3 % 95 %

Although developers can port Android apps for the PlayBook, Lessard states that developers should still create programs specifically for the PlayBook to make the most of its multimedia performance and ensure their apps work as well as possible.

Bloomberg reports that “Dozens” of games for the PlayBook will be released this year through Unity Technologies’s Union game development tool.