iPod | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Wed, 20 Jan 2016 10:51:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png iPod | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Adam Elements iKlips Review https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/orestis-bastounis/adam-elements-iklips/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/orestis-bastounis/adam-elements-iklips/#respond Wed, 20 Jan 2016 10:46:25 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=280787 The iKlips from Adam Elements may look like a lowly USB flash drive, but its main purpose it as removable storage for iOS devices. On one end is a USB 3 connector, while at the other, a Lighting connector that plugs into an iPhone and iPad, supplementing any internal storage inside the device. Dating back …

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The iKlips from Adam Elements may look like a lowly USB flash drive, but its main purpose it as removable storage for iOS devices. On one end is a USB 3 connector, while at the other, a Lighting connector that plugs into an iPhone and iPad, supplementing any internal storage inside the device.

Dating back to the iPod, Apple is well known for avoiding support for any removable storage such as SD cards in its devices, relying instead only on internal flash memory to store apps and media on the device. When you buy an Apple product, you’re stuck with whatever capacity you choose, as it cannot be expanded in any way.

Countless pages of forum posts have been dedicated to arguing for and against this approach. Apple most certainly profits from the hefty markup on iPhones and iPads with additional internal flash storage, opting for a 64GB iPhone 6s adds £80 to the cost – the only difference being an extra 48GB of internal flash memory. The gits.

In its arguable defense, without needing constant checks for media on removable storage, this approach makes file management in iOS simpler and ensures consistent performance. It’s one less port required on the outside of the device, when Apple absolutely prefer a minimalistic external design and when its designers are on a never-ending quest to reduce the thickness of its hardware.

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It matters not though, because Apple is unlikely to ever change this policy. If you want an iOS device, unless you are absolutely certain you will never use it for storing large apps or media files, the smallest 16GB models are best avoided, and you should stump up the cash for the larger capacities. It’s worth it for your sanity especially to avoid the constant headache of file deletion and management later on when the device is filled up.

The door isn’t completely closed on external storage though. Apple sells its own adapter to use SD cards purely for transferring photos from digital cameras to the Photos app. And now, third-party support is possible too, as the iKlips from Adam Elements shows.

As a project that began life via funding on Indiegogo, the iKlips is available in five colours, silver, black, gold, rose gold and red. Storage capacities range from a lowly 32GB up to 256GB, with this largest capacity listed at a fairly hefty $399 on the iKlips website.

With a USB 3 connector on the other end, it can be used as a standard USB flash drive when connected to a PC or Mac. Formatted with the exFAT file system, you cannot store files larger than 4GB on it, but you can transfer files from your computer’s hard disk, completely circumnavigating the use of iTunes as well.

It relies on an iOS app to manage storage on the device. Apple’s own Music, Photos and Videos apps cannot access the extra storage it provides, so this app offers a built-in photo viewer, music and video player and document management.

We will be taking a look at more of what the iKlips has to offer from its hardware and software in this review.

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Capitalization of Apple could exceed $1 trillion https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/capitalization-of-apple-could-exceed-1-trillion/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/capitalization-of-apple-could-exceed-1-trillion/#comments Sat, 14 Feb 2015 11:53:05 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=235718 This week Carl Icahn, a well-known activist investor, as well as a leading financial analyst said that Apple’s stock has massive growth potential and that the company’s capitalization could exceed whopping $1 trillion, which would be the highest market cap of any public company ever. At present Apple’s stock is traded at $125 – $127, which …

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This week Carl Icahn, a well-known activist investor, as well as a leading financial analyst said that Apple’s stock has massive growth potential and that the company’s capitalization could exceed whopping $1 trillion, which would be the highest market cap of any public company ever.

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At present Apple’s stock is traded at $125 – $127, which is a massive increase from $66.77 on the 13th of August, 2013. Carl Icahn believes that Apple’s stock is still seriously undervalued because Apple’s earnings are expected to grow considerably faster than those of other S&P500 companies. Icahn Capital LP forecasts that in FY2016 and FY2017 Apple will grow its earnings-per-share (EPS) by over 20% per year, which is a massive growth. If Apple introduces a TV in FY 2016 as Carl Icahn’s company expects, this EPS growth accelerates to over 31% per year in IC’s model.

“Because of this, we believe the market should value Apple at a P/E of at least 20x, which together with net cash of $22 per share, would value Apple shares today at $216 per share,” said Carl Icahn in an open letter. “This is not a future price target. $216 is what we think Apple is worth TODAY.”

At present, Apple’s capitalization is $740 billion, but if the stock price climbs to $216, then the company’s value will increase to well over $1 trillion. While Carl Icahn’s model is in many ways very optimistic, it has proved to be correct in a number of cases.

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Steve Milunovich, an analyst with UBS who is clearly more conservative than Carl Icahn, this week raised his target for Apple stock to $150. The market observer believes that extension of Apple’s platform to watches, growing popularity of iPhone, services like Apple Pay and other factors will help the company to further improve its earnings and profitability, which will eventually lead to increase of market capitalization to over $1 trillion.

“Although Apple the device company took the market cap to $700 billion, Apple the platform company may take it to $1 trillion,” wrote Mr. Milunovich in a note to clients, reports Tech Trader Daily.

The analyst notes that the platform and ecosystem of Apple’s iOS software is becoming more important to a “seamless” experience for users across devices.

“Although Apple hardware is tightly integrated, the company is more proficient at creating partnership, providing the gravity in the Appleverse,” noted Mr. Milunovich.

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This is not the first time when certain market observers predict that Apple’s market capitalization could exceed one trillion of dollars. However, this time two respected market observers predict the same, which is a reason to actually consider this.

While $1 trillion is a tremendous amount of money, it is still dramatically lower than the value of Saudi Aramco, a state-owned Saudi Arabian national petroleum and natural gas company. According to estimates the Financial Times made several years ago, the value of Aramco could be as high as $7 trillion.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: What is good for Apple is usually good for the whole high-tech industry in general. Therefore, if Apple manages to create certain products and/or services that will further considerably improve its revenue and profits, then expect other companies to go the same direction, which will boost their sales. Eventually, market capitalization of other technology companies will also increase.

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Eight days into 2015 and Apple’s App store is breaking records https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/brendan-morgan/8-days-into-2015-and-apples-app-store-is-breaking-records/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/brendan-morgan/8-days-into-2015-and-apples-app-store-is-breaking-records/#comments Thu, 08 Jan 2015 23:58:19 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=229659 Apparently the new year is a good time to be an app developer for the Apple ecosystem. Apple annoucned today, that the first week of 2015 has set new records in the App Store, with customers around the world spending nearly half a billion dollars on apps and in-app purchases. New years day itself was …

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Apparently the new year is a good time to be an app developer for the Apple ecosystem. Apple annoucned today, that the first week of 2015 has set new records in the App Store, with customers around the world spending nearly half a billion dollars on apps and in-app purchases. New years day itself was the biggest single day ever in App Store sales history.

In a press release today, Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services said: “This year is off to a tremendous start after a record-breaking year for the App Store and our developer community, we're so proud of the creativity and innovation developers bring to the apps they create for iOS users and that the developer community has now earned over $25 billion.” Of this $25 billion at least $10 billion was earned in just the last year, indicating that developer revenue is growing massively as well.

App Store

The App Store now contains 1.4 million apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod and with iOS 8 and more payment methods, including Apple Pay, recently being rolled out in several different countries, the reasons for the record breaking success become clear. Apple Pay in particular, seems to be doing very well as an App Store payment method with over 90% of of credit card purchases in the US now using Apple Pay. Apple also disclosed that with the help of it's customers, it has now donated $20 million this quarter, and over $100 million in total to the (RED) Global Fund to fight AIDS.

App store price

Apple has also sent out the email above to App Store developers to inform them of pricing changes, that will soon be applied across large parts of the world, something that it left out of their press release. The price rises in the EU are expected, with the new VAT laws that have already come into effect from the 1st of January, all providers of electronic services (software downloads, cloud business, online gaming, certain e-learning, online payment services, etc.) must charge VAT based on the customer country of residence, rather than a flat rate across the whole of the EU. Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The Apple App store shows no signs of slowing down but until we get some number from Google to compare these to we really lack any kind of context. Either way this is a lot of money for both Apple and App Store developers worldwide.

Source: Apple Image Source: Neowin, Wikimedia

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Apple iPod DRM lawsuit is falling apart https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/matthew-wilson/apple-ipod-drm-lawsuit-is-falling-apart/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/matthew-wilson/apple-ipod-drm-lawsuit-is-falling-apart/#respond Fri, 05 Dec 2014 19:38:24 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=225096 The class action lawsuit launched against Apple over iPod DRM is falling apart as new evidence has come to light, showing that the two named plaintiffs did not actually buy the affected iPod models covered by the lawsuit during the relevant time frame. This case pertains to anti-trust issues, claiming that Apple abused its position …

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The class action lawsuit launched against Apple over iPod DRM is falling apart as new evidence has come to light, showing that the two named plaintiffs did not actually buy the affected iPod models covered by the lawsuit during the relevant time frame. This case pertains to anti-trust issues, claiming that Apple abused its position in the digital music market to inflate prices.

The lawsuit covers iPods purchased between September 2006 and March 2009, during this time period, Apple used DRM that stopped music from playing on devices if it was purchased outside of iTunes. This meant that Apple could inflate prices in an anti-competitive way.

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After lead plaintiff, Marianna Rosen, testified on Wednesday, Apple went and checked the serial numbers and found that she did not buy an iPod until July 2009, months after the relevant time frame. Additionally, the other main plaintiff, Melanie Wilson, did not buy an iPod during the correct time frame.

The prosecution's legal team is currently checking for receipts, while the main plaintiff's iPods may not have been affected, around 8 million customers are estimated to have been between 2006 and 2009. Apple has requested that the court throw out the case entirely but no final decisions have been made yet.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The case against Apple seems to be falling apart, although it hasn't been thrown out yet so things might still turn around. 

Source: BBC

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Apple plans to slash price of Beats Music subscription https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apple-plans-to-slash-price-of-beats-music-subscription/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apple-plans-to-slash-price-of-beats-music-subscription/#comments Sat, 04 Oct 2014 00:55:40 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=215126 Streaming music is cheaper than buying all the tracks that you would like to hear. Modern streaming services charge from $7 to $10 per month, which may not be a lot for music fans, but which keeps a lot of people away from them. Apple wants to change that and is, reportedly, in talks with …

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Streaming music is cheaper than buying all the tracks that you would like to hear. Modern streaming services charge from $7 to $10 per month, which may not be a lot for music fans, but which keeps a lot of people away from them. Apple wants to change that and is, reportedly, in talks with music labels about a possibility to drop the price.

Apple is in negotiations with large music labels over reduction of their fees for music in a bid to cut-down the price of Beats Music's $10 monthly subscription fee, reports Re/code. Discussions are in their early stages, Apple is not planning on overhauling Beats Music until next year, according to the report.

Sales of download music have been decreasing for many quarters now. Apple needed a music streaming subscription service to offset its iTunes revenue drops. Now, Apple needs to boost its revenues associated with Beats Music somehow. A natural way to do this is to cut-down the price and sell the service to more people.

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Apple traditionally knows how to treat its large partners among content providers. It once persuaded them to throw away DRM copyright protection technologies from MP3s in order to sell more music, a plan that was a huge success. Perhaps, the company will manage to make streaming music services more affordable as well. One of the ways to lure labels to drop prices of music for a subscription service could be offering them to stream their video content as well, both via Beats Music and Apple TV services.

Apple did not comment on the news-story.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Many services, including Beats Music, require a subscription by default, but provide a free trial for a limited amount of time. By contrast, there are services, such as, DI.fm, which provides free 96kb/s MP3 streams and require a monthly payment of $7 for 256kb/s MP3 streams. Perhaps, Apple is trying to make Beats Music both free (to lure music lovers) and more affordable at the same time?

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Patent monetization firm sues Apple for patent infringement by FaceTime https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/patent-monetization-company-sues-apple-for-patent-infringement-by-facetime/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/patent-monetization-company-sues-apple-for-patent-infringement-by-facetime/#respond Thu, 18 Sep 2014 22:48:17 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=212639 Itus Corp., a company that buys patents with the purpose of monetization, on Thursday sued Apple for patent infringement. The plaintiff accuses that the defendant's FaceTime software infringes its patents. Back in early 2013 the same company, which then was called CopyTele, sued Microsoft Corp. for the same infringement by Skype and Lync. Itus accuses Apple …

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Itus Corp., a company that buys patents with the purpose of monetization, on Thursday sued Apple for patent infringement. The plaintiff accuses that the defendant's FaceTime software infringes its patents. Back in early 2013 the same company, which then was called CopyTele, sued Microsoft Corp. for the same infringement by Skype and Lync.

Itus accuses Apple of infringing its patent covering key-based web conferencing encryption technology by its FaceTime software that is installed on Macs, iPhones, iPads and iPod touch media players. Itus did not reveal exact patents that Apple allegedly infringes, but implied that the consumer electronics giant is accused of the same violations as Microsoft. If this is true, then the patents in question are 6,856,686 B2 and 6,856,687 B2. The patents cover “method and apparatus for securing e-mail attachments” and “portable telecommunication security device”, which basically means that they could cover almost any secure type of communication.

Originally secure communication technologies were developed for specific customers. Itus owns patents in question since it owns developer of appropriate technologies, Secure Web Conference Corp. (SWCC).

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Apple FaceTime software in action

“Our company was a pioneer in developing and patenting encryption technologies that were originally used in devices sold to the U.S. military,” said Robert Berman, president and CEO of Itus. “We recognized the monetization potential of these patents when we joined the company, and this lawsuit is the next step in realizing that potential.”

The patent infringement lawsuit against Apple was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

SWCC has already licensed the encryption patents to Logitech in connection with its LifeSize web conferencing service.

Apple did not comment on the news-story.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Secure communications is a hot topic today and since there are numerous companies providing appropriate software and services, quite naturally patent holders like Itus will try to monetize their investments in patents covering secure comms.  

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Apple quietly removes iPod Classic from store https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/matthew-wilson/apple-quietly-removes-ipod-classic-from-store/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/matthew-wilson/apple-quietly-removes-ipod-classic-from-store/#comments Wed, 10 Sep 2014 18:45:30 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=211217 Apple has quietly said goodbye to the iPod Classic, having removed it from the Apple store shortly after the iPhone six and iWatch devices were announced. The iPod section of the store now only shows the iPod Touch, Nano and Shuffle. The iPod Classic originally launched in 2001, over the years it went through several …

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Apple has quietly said goodbye to the iPod Classic, having removed it from the Apple store shortly after the iPhone six and iWatch devices were announced. The iPod section of the store now only shows the iPod Touch, Nano and Shuffle.

The iPod Classic originally launched in 2001, over the years it went through several hardware iterations and design tweaks. The Classic featured up to 160GB of storage space, now the highest capacity iPod you can buy is the 64GB iPod Touch.

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While it is somewhat sad to see the iPod Classic disappear for good, it's not a surprising move. Dedicated music players are outdated these days as most people use smartphones in conjunction with streaming services like Spotify.

A new generation of iPods is expected to be announced in October, alongside new iPads and Macbooks.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The launch and popularity of the iPod Classic helped change the music industry all of those years ago. I used to own an iPod Classic myself and it served me well for many years. Did any of you guys ever own an iPod? 

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Jonathan Ive: next-gen Apple products will use all-new materials https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/jonathan-ive-next-gen-apple-products-will-use-all-new-materials/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/jonathan-ive-next-gen-apple-products-will-use-all-new-materials/#respond Wed, 18 Jun 2014 21:42:12 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=198891 Apple has always been a pioneer when it comes to materials. The company was among the first to use titanium to make its notebooks and was one of the first makers to use aluminium bodies for its laptops. The company continuously experiments with new materials to further improve its devices. Recently Jonathan Ive, the head …

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Apple has always been a pioneer when it comes to materials. The company was among the first to use titanium to make its notebooks and was one of the first makers to use aluminium bodies for its laptops. The company continuously experiments with new materials to further improve its devices. Recently Jonathan Ive, the head of design at Apple, reaffirmed that certain future products from the company will be made of something else than Corning’s Gorilla Glass or aluminium.

“I would love to talk about future stuff – they are materials we have not worked in before,” said Jonathan Ive, senior vice president of design at Apple, in an interview with the New York Times. “I have been working on this stuff for a few years now. Tim is fundamentally involved in pushing into these new areas and into these materials.”

For a number of years rumours about Apple’s plan to use the LiquidMetal alloy as well as sapphire glass have been circulating. However, at present the company does not use the Liquidmetal at all and only uses sapphire crystal glass for lenses and “home” buttons on the iPhone 5s.

Apple has exclusive rights to make consumer electronics products, such as computers, smartphones, tablets, smart-watches and other devices of the Liquidmetal alloy. The company first signed an exclusive agreement in 2010, then extended it in 2012 and recently it prolonged it further till February, 2015. Apple has secured exclusive supply of synthetic sapphire crystal glass from GT Advanced (which is probably one of the world’s largest makers of this material) and even invested into additional production capacities for the company early in 2013 – 2014.

The alloy developed by Liquidmetal can be cast in different forms and will retain a good look, remarkable strength, scratch and corrosion resistance as well as other advantages, such as light weight, elasticity and so on. At present the material is used in various medical, military, industrial, sports and technical applications. Synthetic sapphire crystal glass is much more rugged and scratch-resistant than the Corning Gorilla Glass used today.

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While it is possible to use almost any materials for limited edition products, when it comes to Apple, it is necessary to manufacture tens of millions of units. In order to do that with brand-new materials, all-new supply chains (which consist of multiple new partners) have to be created. Tim Cook, which used to be the chief operating officer of Apple, is one of the world’s best supply chain specialists.

“I remember clearly a time when we made plastic portable computers, and Steve and Tim and I sat down and said we wanted to build an incredibly thin and light portable computer,” said Mr. Ive. “There was a whole range of challenges from an engineering point of view: How it worked in a new material, titanium. That meant we had to completely redesign and discover new partners to work with, hire a whole new organization.”

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It remains to be seen what materials and what “new stuff” Jonathan Ive talked about in the interview. While the liquid metal alloy remains an interesting candidate for adoption, it is likely that initially it will be used only for the iWatch devices, not smartphones, tablets or notebooks.

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Sales of Apple iOS devices exceed 800 million units https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/sales-of-apple-ios-devices-exceed-800-million-units/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/sales-of-apple-ios-devices-exceed-800-million-units/#respond Mon, 02 Jun 2014 22:49:52 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=196215 At the worldwide developers conference (WWDC) on Monday Apple said that shipments of its mobile devices based on the iOS operating system have exceeded 800 million units. According to Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple, around 130 million customers bought their first Apple mobile gadget in the past 12 months. 800 million devices include …

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At the worldwide developers conference (WWDC) on Monday Apple said that shipments of its mobile devices based on the iOS operating system have exceeded 800 million units. According to Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple, around 130 million customers bought their first Apple mobile gadget in the past 12 months.

800 million devices include the iPhone smartphones, the iPad media tablets and the iPod touch personal digital media players. Apple first started to sell devices based on the iOS in 2007. Earlier this year it was reported that sales of the iPhone had exceeded 500 million units. Shipments of the iPad, which was first released in 2010, have exceeded 210 million units so far.

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Keeping in mind that sales of Apple’s iPhone and iPad are growing, it is likely that the company will supply its billionth iOS-based device less than a year from now.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: 800 million units is a very respectable number. While it is clearly lower than the amount of Google Android-based devices that have been sold to date, it is necessary to remember that the Android is used by tens (if not hundreds) of manufacturers around the world, whereas Apple supplies the iOS-based devices exclusively.

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Apple: We have the best product pipeline in 25 years https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apple-we-have-the-best-product-pipeline-in-25-years/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apple-we-have-the-best-product-pipeline-in-25-years/#respond Thu, 29 May 2014 20:17:26 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=195730 Next week at the worldwide developers conference (WWDC) Apple plans to give a glimpse on products that are coming in the future. While at present it maintains an intrigue and does not even imply what will be discussed, some of its executives offer their personal impressions about the company’s new products. According to Eddy Cue, …

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Next week at the worldwide developers conference (WWDC) Apple plans to give a glimpse on products that are coming in the future. While at present it maintains an intrigue and does not even imply what will be discussed, some of its executives offer their personal impressions about the company’s new products. According to Eddy Cue, the head of Internet software and services, Apple has the best “product pipeline” in 25 years and Steve Jobs would be “extremely proud” of it.

“Later this year we’ve got the best product pipeline that I’ve seen in Apple in my 25 years in Apple,” said Eddy Cue at the Code Conference, reports Recode.net.

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It is necessary to note that Apple is no longer a hardware and software company these days. Apple is a platform company that has multiple products, each of which affects its competitive position in general. What is important is that the combination of all products plays a crucial role for the company’s success as well. This is why many executives prefer to talk about the product line in general and emphasize exclusive capabilities of select products rather than focus solely on one or two breakthrough devices. This does not mean that Apple has any intentions to lower the bar for each product for the sake of broadening the lineup.

“The reason we have been successful is because we are completely focused on the products we are building,” said Mr. Cue, reports Cnet News. “We are not focused on building [hundreds of] things, […] we want to do a few great things.”

Apple currently sells different kinds of Mac personal computers, smartphones, personal digital media players and media tablets. All of Apple’s devices can efficiently interact with each other thanks to the company’s unique ecosystem of software and Internet services. Going forward Apple plans to connect its devices (and, possibly, the whole ecosystem) with third-party products. For example, Apple’s CarPlay technology gives iPhone users an intuitive way to use their smartphones while in a car that supports the CarPlay with just a word or a touch.

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At the WWDC Apple is not projected to introduce any new hardware, according to Cnet News. Instead, the company is expected to detail its new software features and services, including the iOS 8, the Mac OS X 10.1, a home-automation service, and maybe even mobile payments.

Other sources indicate that Apple could introduce a low-cost iMac at the show. Keeping in mind that in general Apple is very unwilling to develop low-cost versions of its products, it is more likely that it will simply slash the price of the most affordable iMac.

Earlier this year a financial analyst said that the vast majority of Apple’s new product introductions (including the announcements of the new iPhones and the iWatch) were scheduled for the second half of 2014.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It is generally believed that one of the key features of the iOS 8 is its Healthbook family of apps designed for healthcare and fitness tracking. The tracking itself reportedly relies on the iWatch. It is unclear how Apple plans to reveal healthcare and fitness monitoring aspects of the iOS 8 without unveiling the iWatch.

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Apple extends exclusive rights to LiquidMetal in consumer products https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apple-extends-exclusive-rights-to-liquidmetal-in-consumer-products/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apple-extends-exclusive-rights-to-liquidmetal-in-consumer-products/#respond Thu, 22 May 2014 22:58:47 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=194732 Apple has extended its exclusive rights to use alloys developed by LiquidMetal in consumer electronics products to February, 2015. It is unknown what exactly the company intends to do with LiquidMetal alloys, but the extension of the agreement indicates that there are certain plans which are serious enough to maintain the exclusive rights. The alloy …

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Apple has extended its exclusive rights to use alloys developed by LiquidMetal in consumer electronics products to February, 2015. It is unknown what exactly the company intends to do with LiquidMetal alloys, but the extension of the agreement indicates that there are certain plans which are serious enough to maintain the exclusive rights.

The alloy developed by Liquidmetal can be cast in different forms and will retain a good look, remarkable strength, scratch and corrosion resistance as well as other advantages, such as light weight, elasticity and so on. At present the material is used in various medical, military, industrial, sports and technical applications. Apple can exclusively produce consumer electronics products, such as computers, smartphones, tablets, smart-watches and other devices made of the Liquidmetal alloy. The company first signed an exclusive agreement in 2010, then extended it in 2012 and recently it prolonged it further till February, 2015, reports 9to5Mac.

“On May 19, 2014, Liquidmetal Technologies and Apple entered into an second amendment to the master transaction agreement (MTA) that was originally entered into on August 5, 2010, and amended on June 15, 2012,” the statement of Liquidmetal with the SEC reads. “Under the MTA and the first amendment, […] all intellectual property acquired or developed by [Liquidmetal] from August 5, 2010 through February 5, 2014, was exclusively licensed on a perpetual basis to Apple for the field of use of consumer electronic products […]. Under the second amendment, the parties agreed to amend the MTA and the first amendment to extend the February 5, 2014 date to February 5, 2015.”

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While the Liquidmetal alloy has loads of advantages, Apple only used it for its SIM card ejectors in 2010 – 2012 products. By contrast, Vertu, a maker of luxury mobile phones which was once owned by Nokia Corp., used the Liquidmetal material to cast parts of its handsets in 2004 – 2010.

One of the reasons why Apple so far has not used Liquidmetal alloy for its devices is because it produces everything in very large quantities and requires stable supply of components. A couple of years ago one of the inventors of the Liquidmetal said that back then the manufacturing infrastructure was not ready for mass production in Apple’s quantities. He indicated that it would take hundreds of millions of dollars to create such manufacturing infrastructure.

“I would not say Liquidmetal was perfected,” said Atakan Peker, one of the inventors of the Liquidmetal alloy, in an interview with Business Insider web-site. “This is a technology that has yet to be matured and perfected both in manufacturing process and application development. I should note that this is a completely new and different metal technology. Therefore, there is no suitable manufacturing infrastructure yet to take full advantage of this alloy technology. For example, I estimate that Apple will likely spend on the order of $300 million to $500 million – and three to five years – to mature the technology before it can used in large scale.”

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Vertu Ascent Ti with titanium elements. Gorgeous even without Liquidmetal.

It is unknown whether Apple has created the necessary manufacturing infrastructure to build its smartphones, smartwatches, tablets or even notebooks of Liquidmetal, but the extension of the exclusive deal is an indicator that there are clear plans to take advantage of the alloy.

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KitGuru Says: It is interesting to note that now Apple has exclusive rights on two key materials originally used by Vertu for its luxury handsets. It has secured exclusive supply of synthetic sapphire crystal glass from GT Advanced (which is probably one of the world’s largest makers of this material). It also has exclusive rights for Liquidmetal alloys. Quite a nice set of advanced materials, isn’t it?

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Apple roadmap for 2014: new iPhones, iWatch, new MacBooks, no iTV https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apples-new-roadmap-for-2014-revealed-new-iphones-iwatch-new-macbooks-no-itv/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apples-new-roadmap-for-2014-revealed-new-iphones-iwatch-new-macbooks-no-itv/#respond Fri, 11 Apr 2014 18:02:08 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=187017 A South Korean analyst with a good track record in predicting the future of Apple’s products as well as schedules of their introductions has published a new version of the company’s roadmap for the this year. The plan includes plenty of new products, several upgrades, but excludes the highly-anticipated TV-sets as well as professional iPad …

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A South Korean analyst with a good track record in predicting the future of Apple’s products as well as schedules of their introductions has published a new version of the company’s roadmap for the this year. The plan includes plenty of new products, several upgrades, but excludes the highly-anticipated TV-sets as well as professional iPad Pro tablets.

KGI Securities analyst Ming Chi Kuo predicts that Apple will introduce two models of iWatch smart watches with 1.3” and 1.5” screens, two all-new iPhone designs with 4.7” (1334*750 resolution) and 5.5” (1920*1080 resolution) displays, a low-cost iMac (what will happen to Mac Mini in this case?) as well as all-new 12” MacBook in ultra-slim body this year, reports Mac Rumours. The company is also projected to upgrade iMac, MacBook Pro and Apple TV.

Virtually all new introductions/releases are projected to happen in late Q3 – early Q4 timeframe (September and October), which is a little bit surprising as Apple will not have new notebooks for the back-to-school season. The analyst believes that the company will announce the low-cost iMac and upgraded iMacs sometimes in late Q2, which is probably June, so expect the new all-in-one Macintosh systems to feature Intel Core i-series “Haswell Refresh” microprocessors. The enlarged iPhone with 5.5” display is expected to show up in the very late Q4, so do not expect a lot of such devices to ship this year.

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It is noteworthy that Ming Chi Kuo no longer expects Apple to release its own TV-sets this year. Since predictions of the KGI analyst are heavily based on market rumours and supply-chain checks, it is possible that the current expectations are based on the recent information that Apple plans to delay introduction of the iTV to 2015.

Another interesting thing is that for some reason the analyst also no longer projects Apple to release the iPad for business users with 12.9” display. Instead, he claims that the new iPads (second-gen iPad Air and third-gen iPad Mini) will feature A8 system-on-chips as well as touch ID fingerprint readers, which will make them generally more attractive to enterprise customers. Still, keeping in mind that for business users Apple would need to reinvent the text input method on tablets as on-screen keyboards are rather inconvenient, it seems that the company might have run into some technological problems with the iPad Pro.

Apple did not comment on the news-story.

KitGuru Says: While all predictions regarding Apple’s plans should be taken with a grain of salt since the company is still capable of keeping its secrets very well, a number of KGI Securities’ predictions appeared to be accurate in the past.

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Apple mulls iTunes for Android, new music streaming service https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apple-mulls-itunes-for-android-new-music-streaming-service/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apple-mulls-itunes-for-android-new-music-streaming-service/#respond Mon, 24 Mar 2014 20:41:16 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=183930 Apple is thinking about releasing a version of iTunes music and content store for Google Android operating system, according to a media report. In addition, the consumer electronics giant is mulling to create an on-demand music service like Spotify in a bid to continue earning from selling music and digital content. Apple iTunes is still …

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Apple is thinking about releasing a version of iTunes music and content store for Google Android operating system, according to a media report. In addition, the consumer electronics giant is mulling to create an on-demand music service like Spotify in a bid to continue earning from selling music and digital content.

Apple iTunes is still the world’s largest online music store, but its sales have been declining for some time now, for many reasons because of various streaming services and Internet radio-stations. As a result, Apple is considering a range of efforts to support the iTunes store and revive its revenue, reports Billboard.com.

There are rumours about three initiatives: releasing certain music albums exclusively on iTunes ahead of formal launches of CDs, release iTunes app for Android and create an on-demand subscription service.

Adding nearly a billion of new Android users to the iTunes will inevitably boost revenue of Apple’s music store, but will destroy one of the key advantages of Apple iOS platform over Google Android mobile operating system.

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Selling albums early might make a lot of sense, but that will hardly significantly increase revenues because the service will only be used by the core music lovers who buy albums, not singles.

U.S. digital album sales were down 13 per cent for the week ending March 16, and digital track sales are down 11 per cent for that same period a year ago, according to Nielsen SoundScan. At the same time, revenue from streaming services have grown. Therefore, Apple may need a streaming music service in addition to iRadio, which has a number of limitations.

“They are feeling out some people at labels on thoughts about transitioning its customers from iTunes proper to a streaming service,” says one major label source. “So when you buy a song for $1.29, and you put it in your library, iTunes might send an e-mail pointing out that for a total of, say, $8 a month you can access that song plus all the music in the iTunes store. It's all in the ‘what if' stage.”

Apple did not comment on the news-story.

KitGuru Says: Perhaps, to really revive iTunes, Apple needs to fulfill all three initiatives and then think beyond them to offer a completely unique service. Historically, Apple has been successful only with products/services that were exclusive on the market. Nowadays, iTunes is not even close to be unique.

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iOS 8 screenshots: Healthbook, Preview, TextEdit apps confirmed https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/ios-8-screenshots-leaked-healthbook-preview-textedit-apps-confirmed/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/ios-8-screenshots-leaked-healthbook-preview-textedit-apps-confirmed/#respond Thu, 13 Mar 2014 23:30:36 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=182176 A Chinese blogger (or bloggers) has posted what he/she claims to be the first screenshots from Apple iOS 8, the next iteration of the company’s mobile operating system. The screenshots confirm that some of the key innovations of the iOS 8 will focus on bringing health-oriented apps to the platform as well as aligning functionality …

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A Chinese blogger (or bloggers) has posted what he/she claims to be the first screenshots from Apple iOS 8, the next iteration of the company’s mobile operating system. The screenshots confirm that some of the key innovations of the iOS 8 will focus on bringing health-oriented apps to the platform as well as aligning functionality of mobile devices with Macs.

The screenshots, which first emerged on a Weibo account and were then republished by 9to5Mac, reveal that the iOS 8 will have the same design and graphics user interface as the iOS 7, even the default wallpaper will remain the same. Based on the screenshots, iOS 8 will feature four new built-in apps, including Healthbook, Tips, Preview and TextEdit.

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It is interesting to note that while the Healthbook and the Tips icons are drawn in minimalistic iOS7-like style, the Preview and TextEdit icons resemble the skeuomorphism of the iOS 6 and earlier versions of Apple’s mobile platforms. This may mean that either the icons will change by the time iOS 8 becomes commercial, Apple will alter its approach to the icons or the pictures are not genuine.

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As reported, the rumoured iWatch smart band (and particularly some other smart bands) will rely on Healthbook stack of applications that will monitor exercise, diet, sleep, stress, medication adherence and so on. Just like Passbook and Newsstand, the Healthbook will support both Apple’s and third-party apps. Reportedly, Apple’s idea is to create a digital health platform with the help of its partners. The iWatch will likely send the data to iPhones with M7 motion co-processor for analysis and display.

The Preview and TextEdit will allow quick viewing of PDFs, images, text documents and other things that are stored in the iCloud. This essentially means that the iPhones and iPads will gain access to user’s files stored on their Macs and uploaded automatically to the iCloud.

Apple did not comment on the news-story.

KitGuru Says: Just four new apps for a major release of the OS?

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Apple releases iOS 7.1: fixes shortcomings, adds performance https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apple-releases-ios-7-1-fixes-shortcomings-and-adds-performance/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apple-releases-ios-7-1-fixes-shortcomings-and-adds-performance/#respond Tue, 11 Mar 2014 12:24:52 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=181537 Apple on Monday released the new version of its iOS mobile operating system for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The main innovation of the 7.1 is addition of CarPlay technology introduced last week, but there are much more improvements in addition to this tech. In particular, the iOS 7.1 fixes many disadvantages found in the …

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Apple on Monday released the new version of its iOS mobile operating system for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The main innovation of the 7.1 is addition of CarPlay technology introduced last week, but there are much more improvements in addition to this tech. In particular, the iOS 7.1 fixes many disadvantages found in the iOS 7, adds numerous enhancements and even boosts performance on older iPhones.

The new Apple iOS 7.1 sports a slightly updated interface with a number of refinements that improve comfort of use. For example, Siri can now be manually controlled, which is useful for certain cases and situation. The Calendar app was also refined and is now more convenient to use. Additionally, the new Camera setting automatically enables HDR for iPhone 5s. Finally, the new iOS 7.1 improves touch ID fingerprint recognition and boosts performance for iPhone 4, which is a good news for owners of the older hardware.

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The list of iOS 7.1’s improvements looks pretty long and also includes refinements to iTunes Radio, FaceTime, iCloud Keychain and other fixes.

The iOS 7.1 is available for free as an over-the-air update for various iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices.

KitGuru Says: In general, the iOS 7.1 fixes the majority of iOS 7’s drawbacks except one: the unfamiliar design. The latter is still not appreciated by many customers. Nonetheless, as more apps adopt “flat” design of the iOS 7, those users of iPhones and iPads who still use the iOS 6 will transit to the new operating system.

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Samsung set to produce Apple A8 SoCs for next iPhones, iPads https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/samsung-set-to-produce-apple-a8-socs-for-next-iphones-ipads/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/samsung-set-to-produce-apple-a8-socs-for-next-iphones-ipads/#respond Mon, 10 Mar 2014 22:53:54 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=181503 Although Apple is trying to reduce its business relations with arch-rival Samsung Electronics, it cannot completely avoid them. According to a new media report, the company has ordered manufacturing of its next-generation A8 application processors to Samsung Electronics in addition to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. ZDNet Korea reports that Samsung Electronics has already produced the …

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Although Apple is trying to reduce its business relations with arch-rival Samsung Electronics, it cannot completely avoid them. According to a new media report, the company has ordered manufacturing of its next-generation A8 application processors to Samsung Electronics in addition to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

ZDNet Korea reports that Samsung Electronics has already produced the first test batch of Apple A8 system-on-chips for next-generation iPhone and iPad devices at its leading-edge semiconductor fab in Austin, Texas, using 20nm process technology. The yields of chips produced using 20nm manufacturing process at Samsung’s factory is unknown, but it should not be significantly below TSMC’s 50 per cent.

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It looks like with the A8 chip, Apple will have two supply sources, which should ensure that it gets enough application processors and on time to sell tens of millions of new iPads and iPhones this year. Theoretically, two sources also mean that Apple will enjoy more favourable pricing. At the same time, Apple will not completely depend on one supplier, which is good in general.

Apple, Samsung and TSMC did not comment on the news-story.

KitGuru Says: It looks like Apple will not only avoid any short supply of its next-gen A8 chips, but will get unprecedented amount of leading-edge processors from TSMC and Samsung. Does it mean that it will sell more next-gen iPhones and iPads? Only time will tell…

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Financial analyst draws dark future for Apple, calls it ‘next Microsoft’ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/financial-analyst-draws-dark-future-for-apple-calls-it-next-microsoft/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/financial-analyst-draws-dark-future-for-apple-calls-it-next-microsoft/#respond Mon, 24 Feb 2014 23:59:05 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=178967 Apple is among the most financially successful companies in the high-tech industry. The firm remained profitable in 2008 – 2010 when most companies posted losses and it just continues to grow nowadays when many others stagnate. Nonetheless, certain financial analysts believe that going forward Apple will be unable to grow at the same pace as …

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Apple is among the most financially successful companies in the high-tech industry. The firm remained profitable in 2008 – 2010 when most companies posted losses and it just continues to grow nowadays when many others stagnate. Nonetheless, certain financial analysts believe that going forward Apple will be unable to grow at the same pace as before as the market of smartphones is getting mature, whereas the market of smart watches may be greatly over-evaluated.

“Frankly, we just couldn’t quite bring ourselves to use smart watches or TVs as reasons to raise numbers – nor were we fully convinced that these products could move the needle like new categories did in the old days,” said Ben Reitzes, an analyst with Barclays, in a note to clients. “As a result, we believe it is time to step aside, given a maturing smart phone market.”

The analyst is fully confident that Apple will continue to release competitive products going forward. Moreover, even the current product categories will get more useful than they are today and therefore their popularity will increase. But the question is whether the existing categories will be able to significantly grow going forward and be adopted by even bigger part of the market?

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Apparently, the analyst believes that it will be impossible to “re-accelerate growth in the in the iPhone category to sustainable double-digit levels”. Without breakthrough products like the iPhone with skyrocketing growth, Apple has all the chances to become a new Microsoft, which market capitalization has not changed dramatically for over a decade.

“We look at a valuation analogy vs. Microsoft from 2000 to about 2010 and see no precedent that large-size tech companies simply start to broadly outperform again after a tough year or two if the law of large numbers is catching up to them and margins have peaked,” said Mr. Reitzes.

The comparison of Apple and Microsoft may not be 100% correct, but it is a reasonable one. Microsoft has not released a breakthrough product since Windows XP and the original Xbox. While both Windows 7 and Xbox 360 are great products that were sold to hundreds of millions of customers, they were not something that changed the market in a way the iPhone and the iPad did. Apple has not introduced any new product categories since 2010. While sales of iPhones now exceed 50 million per quarter, they are not growing as fast as they used to. Meanwhile, investors are interested in rapid growth, which occurs when new breakthrough products are released. As a result, investors start to worry about the future of Apple’s stock, not about the future of the company itself.

KitGuru: Rapid revenue growth is a good thing for a business. But there is a catch. Many companies forget about profitability in a bid to demonstrate fast revenue increase. By contrast, Apple has always thought about how to earn on its new products. Today, Apple earns money on hardware, accessories, software, content and services that are available for owners of iPhones, iPods, iPads and Macs. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Apple’s rivals barely get any profit selling hardware only. At the same time, those very companies from time to time demonstrate solid revenue growth year-over-year. The only problem for such firms is that periodically they find themselves facing either bankruptcy of necessity for a massive reorg, which affects the cost of their stock.

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Apple’s partner expands manufacturing of sapphire glass https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apples-partner-expands-manufacturing-of-sapphire-glass/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apples-partner-expands-manufacturing-of-sapphire-glass/#respond Mon, 10 Feb 2014 20:44:13 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=176907 At present Apple uses artificial sapphire-crystal glass for its touch ID fingerprint scanners and iSight cameras on its iPhone smartphones. But it looks like Apple is preparing to expand usage of the advanced material as the company’s manufacturing partner has acquired equipment to substantially boost output of sapphire-crystal glass. In the past few months, GT …

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At present Apple uses artificial sapphire-crystal glass for its touch ID fingerprint scanners and iSight cameras on its iPhone smartphones. But it looks like Apple is preparing to expand usage of the advanced material as the company’s manufacturing partner has acquired equipment to substantially boost output of sapphire-crystal glass.

In the past few months, GT Advanced Technologies, a Mesa, Arizona-based company producing advanced materials and innovative crystal growth equipment for electronics, solar and LED industries, has either ordered or acquired a significant amount of equipment used to manufacture sapphire-crystal glass, reports 9to5Mac. In particular, the company ordered hundreds of furnaces and chambers that produce high-quality, large-area sapphire substrates for applications that demand the highest grade sapphire material. In addition, the GT Advanced acquired automated sapphire inspection tool needed for testing display-grade components.

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According to analyst Matt Margolis, with the tools that GT Advanced already has installed, it could build between 103 million and 116 million ~5” displays per year. The upcoming machines would nearly double that annual output with an additional 84 million to 94 million screen covers. To sum up, GT Advanced could produce as many as 187 million to 210 million 5” display covers a year.

The sapphire-crystal class has been used for decades for various consumer and industrial devices, including watches, luxurious mobile phones and multiple other types of products. Sapphire glass is considerably more rugged than traditional glass and is even tougher than Corning’s Gorilla Glass substrates. Unfortunately, up to recently sapphire glass was much more expensive. According to analyst Matt Margolis, GT Advanced has managed to reduce the cost of their sapphire cover screens from $13 – $18 each to around $3 – $5 per screen (Gorilla Glass costs around $3).

Apple last year signed a deal with GT Advanced under which the latter will be unable to produce sapphire crystal glass for other makers of consumer electronics (CE). As a result, Apple will get an exclusive advantage over other makers of smartphones, provided that it uses the sapphire covers for its iPhone devices.

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Last month a report revealed that Foxconn Electronics, the main manufacturing partner of Apple, has assembled the first one hundred of test smartphones with sapphire-crystal glass. It is reported that manufacturing complexity significantly increased due to usage of the new cover glass.

It is necessary to note that in case Apple adopts sapphire-crystal glass from GT Advanced, it will have to again transport the glass from the U.S. to China, where iPhones are assembled. This will prolong manufacturing cycle and will also make it more expensive. At present it is unclear how the company plans to confront both challenges.

Apple could use sapphire crystal-glass not only smartphones, but also for smart-watch devices and other wearable products.

Apple and GT Advanced did not comment on the news-story.

KitGuru Says: Apple traditionally tests technology, then uses it on one product, then expands usage of it to other products to drive down costs. It looks like in the coming years Apple plans to create nearly unbreakable displays for virtually all of its products, including smartphones, media tablets and notebooks. If this is the case, then Apple’s electronics will get even more competitive in the future. 

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Apple’s Tim Cook vows to reveal new product categories this year https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apples-tim-cook-vows-to-reveal-new-product-categories-this-year/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apples-tim-cook-vows-to-reveal-new-product-categories-this-year/#respond Fri, 07 Feb 2014 23:54:24 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=176737 Chief executive officer of Apple, Tim Cook, said in an interview that this year the company would finally introduce new product categories that could trigger further growth of the firm. As usually, the head of Apple remained tight-lipped about those devices and did not reveal when the company plans to launch them. The fourth quarter …

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Chief executive officer of Apple, Tim Cook, said in an interview that this year the company would finally introduce new product categories that could trigger further growth of the firm. As usually, the head of Apple remained tight-lipped about those devices and did not reveal when the company plans to launch them.

The fourth quarter of 2013 revealed clearly that while Apple can increase its revenue, its growth is slowing down. Historically, the company revived growth by launching new categories of products and services. Unfortunately, Apple has not introduced a single new major product category since the launch of the iPad in 2010. Naturally, the investors are worried about the future of one of the most expensive high-tech companies on the globe.

“There will be new categories,” said Tim Cook in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “We are not ready to talk about it, but we are working on some really great stuff.”

The head of Apple is reported to have said that anyone “reasonable” would consider what Apple is working on as new categories.

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The market in general is waiting for Apple to introduce two major products: iWatch smart-watch device as well as iTV television. The rumours about both have been floating around for years now, but so far the products have not materialized. This does not mean that Apple is not working on something that the general public has not thought of.

Based on reports from financial analysts, Apple is also going to introduce iPad designed for business customers with a larger display. While formally this could be counted as a new category, in reality this will be an expansion of the iPad.

In addition, it is logical to expect Apple to finally roll-out a 4K display this year; now that it has a new high-end Mac Pro workstation with the latest graphics processing units, a monitor with 3840*2160 resolution is just what the doctor ordered to the professionals.

KitGuru Says: New product categories emerge pretty rare. In many cases they emerge and fail to gain any market acceptance because they arrive too early or contain fundamental limitations, which is what happened to Apple’s Newton device, Microsoft Windows XP-based tablets and many other products. It is hard to imagine an Apple television with major limitations, but smartwatches should probably feature a lot of technologies that will catalyse people to wear them. Not all of such technologies may be here at the moment…

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Steve Jobs inspired some Sony products, and Sony inspired him https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/steve-jobs-inspired-some-sony-products-and-sony-inspired-him/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/steve-jobs-inspired-some-sony-products-and-sony-inspired-him/#comments Thu, 06 Feb 2014 23:14:26 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=176536 Although Steve Jobs always wanted to build his own universe around Apple and its products, he carefully examined devices made by other companies and in many cases liked them. One of the companies he admired was Sony, so, he frequently visited its headquarters, looked at new products and shared his opinion. Some of such opinions …

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Although Steve Jobs always wanted to build his own universe around Apple and its products, he carefully examined devices made by other companies and in many cases liked them. One of the companies he admired was Sony, so, he frequently visited its headquarters, looked at new products and shared his opinion. Some of such opinions were taken into account and resulted into new devices. Sony also influenced many of Mr. Jobs’ decisions.

Akio Morita, a co-founder of Sony, often invited Michael Jackson and Steve Jobs to Sony Corp.’s headquarters and gave them personal tours. While Apple and Sony were close even while Mr. Jobs was not at the helm of the former, he remained a special friend of Sony until Howard Stringer became the head in 2005, according to Kunitake Ando, the ex-president of Sony, who was interviewed by Nobuyuki Hayashi, a Tokyo-based IT journalist and consultant.

“He always calls me out of sudden and asks ‘can I go visit you today?',” recalled Mr. Ando. “He often demanded to bring the latest Sony products to him. In most cases, he already knew very well about the products inside out.”

Being a thoughtful person who loved the technology, Mr. Jobs always shared his opinion about Sony’s products. For example, he criticized the company for Universal Media Disc (UMD) media that was used in the PlayStation Portable, claiming that optical media was outdated in 2005. While the PSP was still launched with an optical disc drive, its successors – PSP Go and PlayStation Vita – rely on Wi-Fi connection or PS Vita NAND flash-based memory cards.
sony_playstation_vita_2000_slim

“Steve Jobs always had opinion on each of our product. When we launched PSP (PlayStation Portable), he complained why we were still using discs. He told discs are so out-of-date,” said Mr. Morita.

Another Sony product inspired by Steve Jobs was Cyber-shot camera with integrated GPS. In fact, a number of modern Cyber-shot cameras come with built-in GPS modules.

“Once, he took one of the latest Cyber-shots in hand and said ‘if this thing had a built-in GPS, I can record everything that happens to my life’,” recalled the former executive of Sony.

apple_store_2

The legendary head of Apple studied Sony’s experience carefully and learned a lot from the company. For example, the idea of Apple retail stores came from Sony’s SonyStyle business. When Steve Jobs asked Kunitake Ando how Sony ran the retail outlets and why did they own them at all, the Sony exec explained that while volume resellers would sell “your products well, but they do not tell the customers what you want to do with your products”, which is what Sony wanted to do in its SonyStyle stores.

“And that is exactly what we need,” Mr. Jobs reportedly replied.

KitGuru Says: Honestly speaking, Apple and Sony not only share their never-ending pursuit for perfection, but also inclination for proprietary standards that make technology a lot more complicated. 

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Apple will continue to use Imagination’s PowerVR graphics https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/apple-will-continue-to-use-imaginations-powervr-graphics-engines/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/apple-will-continue-to-use-imaginations-powervr-graphics-engines/#respond Thu, 06 Feb 2014 19:53:31 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=176529 Imagination Technologies and Apple on Thursday made a disclosure with the London Stock Exchange that the latter has extended its multi-year, multi-use license agreement that allows it to utilise PowerVR graphics cores. The announcement means that Apple plans to continue using ImgTec’s PowerVR graphics in its future system-on-chips that power various consumer devices. The new …

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Imagination Technologies and Apple on Thursday made a disclosure with the London Stock Exchange that the latter has extended its multi-year, multi-use license agreement that allows it to utilise PowerVR graphics cores. The announcement means that Apple plans to continue using ImgTec’s PowerVR graphics in its future system-on-chips that power various consumer devices.

The new agreement gives Apple access to Imagination's wide range of current and future PowerVR graphics and video IP cores. The consumer electronics giant has exclusively used ImgTec’s graphics processing units (GPUs) inside its A-series system-on-chips since its first own application processor introduced in 2010. Thanks to tile-based deferred rendering technology, PowerVR graphics cores offer very high performance without requiring massive memory bandwidth and processing power, which leads to lower consumption of energy compared to other GPU architectures.

Apple’s latest A7 SoC that powers the iPhone 5s, iPad Air and iPad mini with retina display uses the most advanced PowerVR 6-series “Rogue” graphics processing core that supports the latest graphics application programming interfaces (APIs), including OpenGL ES 3/2/1.1, OpenGL 3.x/4.x as well as emerging GPU compute APIs including OpenCL 1.x and Renderscript compute.

apple_iphone_5s_infinity_blade

Apple iPhone 5S with PowerVR 6-series “Rogue” GPU renders Infinity Blade III video-game

At present, Apple is either finalizing the design of the A8 system-on-chip (i.e., the design has passed the stage of “feature lock-down” and is currently getting ready for mass production) that will power this year’s iPhone and iPad, or is beginning the development of A9 and A10 application processors for future generations of gadgets.

It is noteworthy that so far Apple has not licensed Imagination’s MIPS microprocessor cores, some of which can boast even lower power consumption than their rivals based on ARM architecture. MIPS cores could be used inside Apple’s rumoured iWatch. The lack of official license does not mean that Apple is not considering or even experimenting with MIPS.

Imagination Technologies PowerVR graphics IP competes against ARM Mali, Digital Media Professionals Pica, Nvidia Kepler, Vivante Vega and some other graphics IP designs.

KitGuru Says: Well, we now know one thing about the future of Apple devices for sure: they will continue to use Imagination Technologies PowerVR graphics cores developed in the U.K.

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Apple posts $57.6 billion revenue thanks to great sales of iPad, iPhone https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apple-reports-record-quarter-results-thanks-to-record-sales-of-ipad-iphone/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/anton-shilov/apple-reports-record-quarter-results-thanks-to-record-sales-of-ipad-iphone/#respond Mon, 27 Jan 2014 23:58:17 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=174711 Apple late on Monday announced financial results for its fiscal 2014 first quarter ended on the 28th of December 28, 2013. The company’s record results were mainly conditioned by record shipments of its iPhone smartphones and iPad media tablets. Still, the company posted lower gross margins due to increased price pressure from its rivals. Apple …

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Apple late on Monday announced financial results for its fiscal 2014 first quarter ended on the 28th of December 28, 2013. The company’s record results were mainly conditioned by record shipments of its iPhone smartphones and iPad media tablets. Still, the company posted lower gross margins due to increased price pressure from its rivals.

Apple posted record quarterly revenue of $57.6 billion and quarterly net profit of $13.1 billion, or $14.50 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $54.5 billion and net profit of $13.1 billion, or $13.81 per diluted share, in same period a year ago. Gross margin was 37.9 per cent compared to 38.6 per cent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 63 per cent of the quarter’s revenue.

During the quarter Apple sold 51 million iPhones, an all-time quarterly record, compared to 47.8 million in the year-ago quarter, which is not a great surprise because the company started to sell iPhones in China with China Mobile carrier. Apple also sold 26 million iPads during the quarter, also an all-time quarterly record, compared to 22.9 million in the Q1 FY2013. Apple also sold 4.8 million Macs, compared to 4.1 million in the year-ago quarter.  As expected, unit sales of Apple iPod personal digital media players dropped by whopping 52 per cent to around six million.

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“We are really happy with our record iPhone and iPad sales, the strong performance of our Mac products and the continued growth of iTunes, Software and Services,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We love having the most satisfied, loyal and engaged customers, and are continuing to invest heavily in our future to make their experiences with our products and services even better.”

Apple’s first quarter of the fiscal year clearly was a success. However, it was not really rosy. The company failed to start volume shipments of its latest Mac Pro desktop, which could bring hundreds of millions in revenue due to its high price. The company also did not introduce its highly-anticipated TV-set and smartwatch, which could potentially become very popular among users of Apple products. On the other hand, during the quarter Apple managed to launch the world’s first ARM-compatible 64-bit processor, which should become very important for the future of the iOS platform.

For the second quarter of fiscal 2014, Apple expects revenue between $42 billion and $44 billion, gross margin between 37 per cent and 38 per cent, operating expenses between $4.3 billion and $4.4 billion  and other income/(expense) of $200 million.

KitGuru Says: While it is indisputable that Apple remains a growing and profitable company, it is evident that its growth is slowing down amid increasing competition from companies like Samsung Electronics. In a bid to grow faster, Apple needs brand new product categories as the company does not want to compete for low-end market segments. Meanwhile, Apple has not announced a single new product category since the launch of the iPad four years ago.

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Gear4 StreetParty 5 Portable Speakers / iPod/iPhone Dock Review https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/iphone/luke-hill/gear4-streetparty-5-portable-speakers-ipodiphone-dock-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/iphone/luke-hill/gear4-streetparty-5-portable-speakers-ipodiphone-dock-review/#respond Tue, 17 Sep 2013 07:28:49 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=130403 Sometimes, the basic speakers on a mobile device just don't offer the performance that many users desire. Instances such as this are exactly where portable speaker docks prove their worth. Can Gear4's portable StreetParty5 speaker dock generate impressive music playback performance? For many people, the speakers connected to a computer or home cinema system are …

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Sometimes, the basic speakers on a mobile device just don't offer the performance that many users desire. Instances such as this are exactly where portable speaker docks prove their worth. Can Gear4's portable StreetParty5 speaker dock generate impressive music playback performance?

For many people, the speakers connected to a computer or home cinema system are the go-to device when high-volume music playback is required. But with the booming popularity of mobile devices, and streaming services that make it easier than ever to listen to music via a mobile phone or tablet, speaker docks have a clear segment in the audio market.

Built for use with Apple's Lightning connector-equipped mobile devices, Gear4's StreetParty5 is a mains- and battery-powered portable speaker dock with a modern appearance.

With a name like StreetParty, we are hoping that Gear4 has created a worthwhile addition to the portable audio market.

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Specifications:

  • Powered By: Mains or 4x AA batteries.
  • Dimensions (H x W x D): 140 x 241 x 36mm.
  • Weight: 580g.
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Apple quietly axe 4th gen iPod – add camera free 5th gen https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/raymond-daily/apple-quietly-axe-4th-gen-ipod-add-camera-free-5th-gen/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/raymond-daily/apple-quietly-axe-4th-gen-ipod-add-camera-free-5th-gen/#respond Fri, 31 May 2013 06:53:28 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=136778 Apple have quietly axed the 4th gen iPod and have replaced it with a slightly stripped down 5th generation version. The iPod Touch 4G with the small 3.5 inch screen is gone. The budget iPod Touch, a 16gb version of the 5th generation touch has been added, without a rear camera or wrist strap. This …

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Apple have quietly axed the 4th gen iPod and have replaced it with a slightly stripped down 5th generation version.

The iPod Touch 4G with the small 3.5 inch screen is gone. The budget iPod Touch, a 16gb version of the 5th generation touch has been added, without a rear camera or wrist strap.

This new budget iPod Touch is retailing in the US for $229 which works out at $30 more than the 16gb version of the discontinued 4th generation model.

While the rear camera is gone, the company have upgraded the internal specifications. There is a dual core processor (A5) and apparently a little extra RAM. The display size has also been increased to 4 inches, and it is slightly thinner and lighter than the older model.
ipod touch

The regular 5th generation iPod is still available, starting at $299 for the 32GB version.

It seems a strange time for a silent replacement, but Apple may be phasing out all their old 3.5 inch iOS devices. If Apple release their new budget iPhone with a 4 inch screen, it would mean that all 3.5 inch devices are relegated to history.

You can see the new device on the Apple Store, over here.

Kitguru says: A quiet year so far from Apple, but plenty of time left.

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New iPod Touch with A5 SoC chip https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/ipod/carl/new-ipod-touch-with-a5-soc-chip/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/ipod/carl/new-ipod-touch-with-a5-soc-chip/#respond Tue, 09 Oct 2012 07:25:50 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=111238 Apple have today released a digital user guide for their 5th generation iPod Touch. According to AppleInsider there is a separate benchmark which shows an A5 processor running at 800mhz, giving performance figures close to the iPhone 4S. The Japanese language Apple blog ‘Mac Otakara' has posted screenshots (above) which show the new app ‘system …

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Apple have today released a digital user guide for their 5th generation iPod Touch. According to AppleInsider there is a separate benchmark which shows an A5 processor running at 800mhz, giving performance figures close to the iPhone 4S.

Source: Mac Otakara

The Japanese language Apple blog ‘Mac Otakara' has posted screenshots (above) which show the new app ‘system status' running on the new device.

If the images are accurate then the new iPod is using the Apple A5 system on a chip based on ARM's Cortex A9 architecture.

We can see the screen resolution is 1136 x 640 pixels with a pixel density of 326 ppi, matching the iPhone 5 4 inch Retina display. The battery is slightly weaker than the latest iPhone battery, measuring 930mAh power, compared to 1,434 mAh in the iPhone 5. No need for the extra power as the iPod isn't dealing with 3G and other broadcast signals.

The new iPod will feature a 5 MP rear facing camera and the front a 1.2 MP unit for Facetime over Wifi.

You can download the official user guide if you want an early look now.

Kitguru says: iPod sales have been dropping lately, perhaps this will help drive more.

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Love WinZip? Got an iOS device? It’s your lucky day https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/stephen-dougherty/love-winzip-got-an-ios-device-its-your-lucky-day/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/stephen-dougherty/love-winzip-got-an-ios-device-its-your-lucky-day/#comments Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:32:34 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=79380 Remember back to the days when you couldn't survive without WinZip on your PC? Ever since the early nineties this has been the file compression software of choice for the majority of folks, at least until those pesky registration popups pushed many across to alternative nag-free solutions as they came about in more recent years. …

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Remember back to the days when you couldn't survive without WinZip on your PC? Ever since the early nineties this has been the file compression software of choice for the majority of folks, at least until those pesky registration popups pushed many across to alternative nag-free solutions as they came about in more recent years.

Nonetheless, if you're an avid WinZip lover and have an iOS device you'll be giving a big thumbs up to this – WinZip for iOS has just become available on the app store and even better yet, it's completely free! With it you'll be able to open zip attachments from emails as well as browse compressed files and extract from encrypted archives.

One thing it does not let you do is create new zip files from local documents or photos etc. on your iOS device. At least that is a limitation in this first iteration.

KitGuru says: Let's hope this is a pattern emerging in a string of classic apps ported to iOS that we all know and love from years past. Would you like to have software programs like Lotus 123, WordPerfect, Microsoft FrontPage etc. on your iOS device?

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Apple may kill iPod Classic & Shuffle https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/ipod/harrison/apple-may-kill-ipod-classic-shuffle/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/ipod/harrison/apple-may-kill-ipod-classic-shuffle/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 07:54:45 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=61777 Apple announced sales declines in recent months for their iPod devices. It makes sense that a wide audience are using their iPhones for media playback. According to reports from TUAW, Apple may kill the iPod Shuffle and iPod Classic devices. Their unnamed sources claim that both devices may be killed before the end of the …

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Apple announced sales declines in recent months for their iPod devices. It makes sense that a wide audience are using their iPhones for media playback. According to reports from TUAW, Apple may kill the iPod Shuffle and iPod Classic devices. Their unnamed sources claim that both devices may be killed before the end of the year.

TUAW claim their source isn't an analyst, so we would make an assumption that it is an industry insider.

They say “Obviously we can't divulge our source, but it is NOT an analyst. Most of us listen to analyst predictions with the proverbial grain of salt (or bag of salt). We feel pretty confident that Apple will soon discontinue the shuffle and classic, and we see few changes coming for the iPod touch — unless you're super excited about it being available in white. The nano will then become Apple's lowest-end iPod (we've heard nothing about a price drop, however) and the iPod touch will remain a premium iPod with its current form factor intact.”

The iPod has been suffering from a lack of interest thanks to iPhone updates and the release of the iPad 2 in recent months. With the press receiving emails from Apple for the October 4th event, it is interesting to see not even a single mention of the iPod range, at all.

Cnet summed it all up a few days ago “But if you can put sentimentality aside, it's really not a bad time for Apple to stick a fork in the iPod.”

Kitguru says: iPod range had its day?

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VIA try to stop Apple selling the iPad and iPhone: patent dispute https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/harrison/via-try-to-stop-apple-selling-the-ipad-and-iphone-patent-dispute/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/apple/harrison/via-try-to-stop-apple-selling-the-ipad-and-iphone-patent-dispute/#comments Fri, 23 Sep 2011 08:06:35 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=61147 Apple have been involved in a lot of legal action in the last couple of months, noticeably with Samsung. The latest news to hit involves VIA, who are suing Apple for infringing on three patents which are associated with the microprocessors used in their iPhone and iPad. VIA have applied for a jury trial and …

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Apple have been involved in a lot of legal action in the last couple of months, noticeably with Samsung. The latest news to hit involves VIA, who are suing Apple for infringing on three patents which are associated with the microprocessors used in their iPhone and iPad.

VIA have applied for a jury trial and also an order to prevent Apple from selling products containing the alleged patents in the United States, which is a very strong base for their products.

VIA try to stop sales of specific Apple products in US

VIA said “The products at issue generally concern microprocessors included in a variety of electronic products such as certain smartphones, tablet computers, portable media players and other computing devices.”

Bloomberg have reported that Apple have yet to comment on the legal action.

Kitguru says: It will be a tough block for VIA, but we will keep you posted as it happens.

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Steve Jobs ready to announce the death of Nano technology https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/ipod/taps/steve-jobs-ready-to-announce-the-death-of-nano-technology/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/ipod/taps/steve-jobs-ready-to-announce-the-death-of-nano-technology/#comments Fri, 12 Aug 2011 06:10:03 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=55751 It's been around 10 years in the making, but sources close to Apple have told KitGuru that they now believe the technology giant is ready to call an end to the development of the iPod Nano. We take a look back at this influential product's life and times. When it came to 25th December 2005, …

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It's been around 10 years in the making, but sources close to Apple have told KitGuru that they now believe the technology giant is ready to call an end to the development of the iPod Nano. We take a look back at this influential product's life and times.

When it came to 25th December 2005, the gift that most people wanted to see tucked into their stocking wasn't Charlize Theron – it was Apple's neat little iPod Nano.

Having replaced the traditional mini hard drive with some of the new fangled Flash memory, you might think that the options of 1, 2 and 4GB were miserly, but you have to remember that this little device had a tiny 176×132 resolution screen and was meant for storing photos and music. Given that 2GB can give you up to 500 songs, it's not that bad.

How popular was the Nano ?

How does one million units inside 17 days sound?  Sounds like enough to propel Apple to a $1 Billion profit that year.

By the time the 6th generation iPod Nano launched a year ago, the world had moved on a great deal – largely because of Apple's own R&D efforts combined with ever cheaper 24 month contracts on expensive phones.

We believe that the 6th generation iPod Nano will be the last one ever launched. The drop off in feature-set from the 5th to the 6th generation was seen by many as a significant downgrade. Also, who wants to carry two products?  If you have an iPhone or iPad, why would you need an iPod Nano that doesn't offer full video capture/playback etc ?

Looks like the iPod Nano is about to put its head down for the last time. We thank Apple for creating this beauty, the world wide interwibble for the case designs and the gods of galactic genetics for Charlize Theron. Can we get an Amen?

KitGuru says: If the rumours are true and Apple has released the last of these media devices, then it will be the end of a nano-era. Seeing this product develop from a scrawny – but desirable – little contraption, into something with a multi-touch screen, 16GB of storage and a good quality screen to boot, somewhat mirrored the rest of the market's move toward sophistication. But the customer has moved on. KitGuru reckons the only sobbing will be at the Chinese warehouses, overstocked with protective covers for a device that no longer needs projection.

Comments below or in the KitGuru forum.

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Apple may launch white iPod Touch https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/ipod/carl/apple-may-launch-white-ipod-touch/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/ipod/carl/apple-may-launch-white-ipod-touch/#respond Mon, 25 Jul 2011 07:11:48 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=54100 9to5mac have received photos of what appears to be a forthcoming white iPod Touch device. The legitimacy of the photos can not be confirmed however they do seem to be based around the fourth generation iPod touch build standards. Concord Security analyst Ming Chi Kuo said earlier that a new white iPod Touch would be …

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9to5mac have received photos of what appears to be a forthcoming white iPod Touch device. The legitimacy of the photos can not be confirmed however they do seem to be based around the fourth generation iPod touch build standards.

Concord Security analyst Ming Chi Kuo said earlier that a new white iPod Touch would be released in the near future.

According to rumours and reports, it is said that there will also be plenty of internal changes to the hardware with a dual core A5 processor and upgraded camera being two of the main topics of conversation.

Apple did release a white iPhone 4 after a huge delay of 10 months as there were production issues with the design. Phil Schiller from Apple said “It's not as simple as making something white. There's a lot more that goes into both the material science of it and how it holds up over time but also in how it all works with the sensors”.

Kitguru says: Is a white iPod touch something you want to buy?

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