Reporter Nancy Dillon takes new iPad for test drive after its unveiling by Apple CEO Steve Jobs in San Francisco Wednesday.

Apple had originally planned to slowly roll out the iPad around the world beginning April 24. However, due to “surprisingly strong US demand,” Apple has announced that it will delay the international launch of the iPad until late May.

According to a statement released this morning, Apple has sold over 500,000 iPads to date, and demand in its stores continues to outstrip supply in many cases. Though no specific numbers were given, the company has apparently received an unexpected number of preorders for the WiFi + 3G iPad model as well, set to begin shipping in the US by the end of April.

Apple will begin taking preorders for international customers on May 10 for delivery later in the month. Pricing will also be announced then.

“We know that many international customers waiting to buy an iPad will be disappointed by this news, but we hope they will be pleased to learn the reason—the iPad is a runaway success in the US thus far,” Apple said in a statement.

Source: ars technica

Apple iPad

Tijdens de voorstelling in San Francisco demonstreert Jobs -in traditionele jeans en zwarte trui- het nieuwe toestel dat voor Apple een vierde pijler moet worden, naast de Mac, iPod en iPhone. De iPad is iets breder dan een A4-blad en lijkt op een grote versie van de iPhone.

Virtueel keyboard

Steve Jobs liet tijdens de presentatie zien hoe gebruikers films kunnen kijken, muziek kunnen luisteren en websites kunnen bekijken. Net zoals bij de iPhone beschikt de iPad niet over een echt toetsenbord maar over een touchscreen dat bediend wordt met de vingers. Wil je bijvoorbeeld een internetadres invoeren, dan verschijnt er op het scherm een virtueel toetsenbord waarop je kunt typen. Voor wie het echt wil, wordt er een apart toetsenbord verkocht.

De specificaties van de iPad zijn afgestemd op gebruik in de huiskamer. Het is compact en licht (1,2 cm dik en 680 gram zwaar), heeft een 9,7-inch kleurenscherm met een heel brede kijkhoek, draadloos internet, Bluetooth en 16 tot 64 gigabyte geheugen. Een 3G-modem is een optie. Alle software uit de App Store van Apple werkt ook op het tablet.

E-reader

Met de iPad treedt Apple, dat de laatste tien jaar geëvolueerd van computerbouwer naar consumentenelektronicaproducent, in de arena tegen gelijkaardige toestellen als de e-readers van Amazon en Sony. Zo demonstreerde Jobs hoe je er een krant als The New York Times op kan lezen.

Via iPad kunnen boeken gekocht worden in de ‘iBookwinkel’, een variant op de iTuneswinkel waar muziek gekocht kan worden. De boeken worden geleverd in het ePub-formaat, een open e-bookstandaard die de meeste e-readers ook ondersteunen. Dat wil zeggen dat er in principe ook veel Nederlandstalige werken leesbaar zullen zijn, bijvoorbeeld afkomstig van boeken.be.

499 dollar

Het toestel komt binnen zes weken op de Amerikaanse markt en krijgt een prijskaartje van 499 dollar voor de versie met 16 gigabyte geheugen. Voor versies met 32 en 64 gigabyte komt er telkens 100 dollar bij. Wie 3G-verbindingen wil opzetten moet nog eens 130 dollar extra betalen.

En wat met België? Pas in juni worden internationale lanceringen gepland, maar in tegenstelling tot de iPhone zal een Amerikaanse versie probleemloos hier werken. De iPad invoeren of meebrengen van een reisje naar de V.S. is dus een mogelijkheid.

Volgens sommige analisten kan Apple tot 3 à 4 miljoen iPads verkopen dit jaar.

Source: DE standaard

Apple iTablet: the obvious name?

With all the recent talk about the iSlate, iPad, iSlab, whatever… doesn’t it seem like the obvious candidate for the name of Apple’s rumored tablet computer is being completely overlooked? Like Apple’s first phone that later came to be called the iPhone, isn’t the most obvious name for an Apple tablet the iTablet? To support the theory we decided to share the above image that we received from a trusted source and believe to be authentic. It’s a picture taken of an Apple Store employee’s corporate email after receiving information about the time and place of Wednesday’s Apple event. While the content of the email wasn’t very enlightening, note the word used in the filename of the second attachment: “itablet.” Now this doesn’t prove a thing. The administrative assistant who sent the mass email could have been using “itablet’ much in the same way that we’ve been using the term for years as a generic placeholder for the rumored device. Then again, maybe we should heed the wisdom of Occam’s Razor when speculating about Apple’s naming preference for a 10-inch tablet computer?

P.S. Amtek currently holds the US trademark (and itablet.com domain) for “iTablet” and continues to sell products under that name as it has for years. Not that a silly thing like trademark ownership could stop Apple from announcing its iPhone at a time when Cisco owned the rights.

Source:  engadget

Bach Technology

A proposed file format called MusicDNA will allow content owners to ship up to 32GB of information, such as album cover art, song lyrics, and even up-to-the minute blog posts and concert listings, alongside a music file. If enough content owners and distributors sign on, it could become an alternative to the MP3, giving users a more album-like digital playback experience, and allowing artists and content owners to charge more money per download.

The proposed format was announced by Bach Technology on Sunday at MIDEM 2010, a music-industry conference under way in Cannes, France. Unlike current alternatives to the MP3, such as Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MusicDNA is not a new audio technology, and requires no new audio codecs. Rather, as Bach CEO Stefan Kohlmeyer explains in this video interview with PaidContent, MusicDNA is an add-on to existing audio formats.

MusicDNA analyzes the audio itself for characteristics in 13 categories such as mood and tempo. This information is encoded as XML and ships with the file. Content owners can also provide data, such as album art and lyrics, to be included with the file. This data can even be updated when the user is online–for example, concert listings could be added as they’re announced, complete with links to ticket-buying sites. Bach hopes to make money by licensing the technology to software and hardware manufacturers.

Because MusicDNA isn’t a new audio technology, MusicDNA files should play on existing hardware and software–they’ll play the underlying audio file and ignore all the added data. This is how MusicDNA could escape the fate of marginalized formats like Windows Media Audio or Sony’s ATRAC.

It’s an ambitious and interesting idea, but the digital music industry right now is dominated by one player: Apple. A lot of what MusicDNA proposes to accomplish could be handled at the application level–if Apple wants to analyze the audio content in files and add more categories to describe them, it could build this technology into iTunes. Moreover, Apple’s already got its own format, iTunes LP, for shipping additional information with music files. So I don’t see a lot of incentive for Apple to spend money to license and support this new third-party format. And without Apple, I don’t see how MusicDNA can survive.

Apple Logo

There has been a lot of speculation as to what Apple’s rumored tablet will look like and how it will work. One analyst is now speculating on how much potential revenue the device, expected to be announced next week, could bring the Mac maker.

Mike Abramsky of RBC Capital estimates that Apple will sell each tablet for $600, according to an AppleInsider report. At that price, the “base case” scenario of 5 billion units sold during the first year would bring Apple an additional $2.8 billion in revenue.

Of course, we all know how important price is these days, when launching a new product, so Abramsky gave a couple of other scenarios to consider. If Apple sells the tablet for $800, Apple would see $777 million in revenue for the sale of 1 million units.

You can see the trend here–as the price goes up, the predicted number of units sold goes down.

“Anticipation for an Apple tablet (expected January 27) resembles that of Moses bringing down the 10 Commandments,” Abramsky wrote in a research note, reprinted on AppleInsider. “Despite high expectations, we believe that Apple plans to redefine portable computing–as the Mac redefined the PC–by ‘creating’ desire for a new converged portable device with innovative touch/gestures [and] iTunes content. A ‘hit’ could provide a possible new growth engine for Apple.”

Rumors surrounding the tablet have hit fever pitch since the company announced its event on January 27, but few other than Apple CEO Steve Jobs really know what it will be yet. Expectations of a larger-looking iPod Touch with the ability to read magazines and newspapers, as well as watching video and listening to music, seem to be the consensus among the most popular current rumors.

Apple Inc shares reached their all-time high on Thursday as excitement builds over the expected release of its tablet

Although Apple has never acknowledged that a device exists, anticipation is peaking as the company enters the new year.

Option traders exchanged about 275,000 contracts in Apple, above its average daily turnover, as calls outpaced puts by nearly two to one, according to option analytics firm Trade Alert

“Investors are excited about an anticipated release of an Apple tablet,” said William Lefkowitz, options strategist at brokerage firm vFinance Investments in New York.

“People are expecting this to be a product that would allow Apple to continue its tremendous growth. In addition, Apple stock hit a new high today and looks very strong on a technical basis,” he said.

On Wednesday, the Financial Times reported on its blog that the company has rented a stage at a venue in San Francisco and will make a “major product announcement” on January 26.

The report, which cited people familiar with the plans, did not say whether Apple would introduce the tablet at the event. Apple has declined to comment.

The tablet could be a touch-screen device that resembles a larger iPhone or iPod touch, and could cost anywhere from $500 to $1,000, analysts have said.

There is a 50 percent chance that Apple will announce the tablet in January, with a shipping date by the end of March, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a research note on Wednesday.

The tablet could be released in late March or April, Oppenheimer & Co analyst Yair Reiner said earlier this month.

Although most analysts have not included the tablet in their financial estimates, many expect it to be significant for Apple, complementing its portfolio of iPhones, Mac computers and iPods.

Reiner said the device could add 25 cents to 38 cents to Apple’s earnings per share.

The median price target on Apple is $242.50, roughly 16 percent higher than its closing share price on Thursday.

Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple rose as high as $209.35, passing their previous all-time high of $208.71, before closing up 3.4 percent at $209.04 on the Nasdaq.

Source: Reuters

Google Chrome is now available for computers running Linux and Mac OS X

The Chrome web browser – which has been available on PCs since September 2008 – is now available for computers running Apple‘s operating system, Mac OS X, and for the open-source platform, Linux.

Google said it originally launched Chrome to meet the changing needs of internet users, who were using the web for more powerful tasks, such as social networking, online banking and video-streaming. The search giant said it felt that browsers had not kept pace with this rapid development.

Chrome promises faster start-up and more stable web browsing than competitors by isolating browsers or applications that crash rather than allowing glitches to shut down the whole browser session.

The Windows version of the browser has more than 40 million users worldwide, and Chrome commands almost a four per cent share of the global browser market, behind Internet Explorer, Firefox and Apple’s own web browser, Safari.

“Chrome has come a long way since launch,” said Anders Sandholm, product manager for Google Chrome. “We’ve made even more speed and stability improvements, and it’s getting better all the time.

“Today’s launch is a big step: we wanted to bring Chrome to even more people to improve the way they experience the web.”

Technology fans reacted with delight at the news. “The wait is over!” wrote Erick Schonfeld, a blogger at technology website TechCrunch. “I’ve been holding off really using Chrome until now. But I’m ready for something faster and less crashy than Firefox”.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

Nokia to announce Microsoft deal, denies ditching Symbian

Apple has released a software patch to address a recently described security flaw in the iPhone.

Experts revealed on Thursday that modified SMS messages could result in iPhones being disconnected from the network or hijacked altogether.

Apple said phones incorporating other mobile operating systems, such as Windows Mobile and Google Android, were also potentially vulnerable.

It added that no-one had actually used the flaw to gain access to an iPhone.

A spokesperson for O2, the iPhone’s service provider in the UK, said: “We will be communicating to customers both through the website and proactively. We always recommend our customers update their iPhone with the latest software and this is no different.”

Access all areas

Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner told the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas that the hack works by slightly modifying the data – sent by the network and which the user does not see – that arrives as part of a text message.

The system that processes such messages is similar across different operating systems and can, once compromised, gain access across a range of applications including a phone’s address book or camera.

The team say that hackers could develop programs to exploit the weakness in as little as two weeks, but told the conference that publicising the means of attack was necessary to ensure the problem was addressed.

“If we don’t talk about it, somebody is going to do it silently. The bad guys are going to do it no matter what,” Mr Mulliner, an independent security expert, said.

The team wrote software to exploit the weakness, targeting iPhones on four networks in Germany as well as AT&T in the US. However, they believe it would work equally well in any country.

The approach is particularly dangerous because messages are delivered automatically, and users cannot tell that they have received the malicious code.

The problem could be fixed by directly patching the vulnerability in smartphones’ operating systems, or the network providers could scan for messages that look to be trying to gain access to phones via the malicious code.

The researchers said they had informed Google of the hack and that the company had already taken steps to address the problem.

The Black Hat gathering, part of a leading series of conferences for information and computer security experts, took place from 25 to 30 July.

Apple were not available to comment on the flaw.

Source: BBC News

Apple‘s Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off on June 8 in San Francisco, has traditionally been the site of the Mac maker’s biggest announcements. This year will be no different, with the event expected to host the debut of a new iPhone running a powerful new operating system. On the computer side, WWDC attendees will hear details of Apple’s next-generation operating system, Snow Leopard.

Apple will almost definitely unveil its new iPhone at WWDC, although likely it won’t go on sale for a couple of weeks after that. The first iPhone went on sale in late June 2007 and the second in early July 2008. The new model will be named the iPhone Video, according to The Unofficial Apple Weblog. (See also Apple Planning Video-Call iPhone.)

iPhone 3.0

The biggest change for the iPhone will be its software. iPhone 3.0 will support copy, cut and paste (finally!), and push notification for applications. Push notification will be a workaround for the iPhone’s lack of support of background apps, to allow tools such as instant-messaging apps to send alerts to the user when an update is available.

The new built-in Spotlight app will allow users to search applications and their data.

Another sign of progress: Using iPhone 3.0, developers will be able to write applications that provide turn-by-turn directions for driving and walking — previously a no-no under the Apple terms of service.

Bluetooth On Board

The software will support peer-to-peer connectivity over Bluetooth, allowing developers to write multiplayer games that users can play on two or more iPhones without needing an Internet connection.

Peer-to-peer connections will also allow iPhone users to exchange data, such as electronic business cards. And If you’re sick of untangling your earbud headphones, take heart: The new iPhone software will support stereo Bluetooth audio.

The iPhone 3.0 software will include a couple of additional goodies for developers: They’ll be able to write software applications that tie into particular hardware devices; for example, when Apple demoed the software in March, it showed a glucose reader for diabetics with its own application for recording data and calculating recommended insulin doses.

And developers will be able to sell content from within applications; game developers will be able to sell add-ons, magazines will be able to sell subscriptions, and e-book readers will be able to sell e-books.

When will the software be available? Possibly as early as this coming week. The software will be free to existing iPhone users, iPod Touch users will have to pay $9.95.

Hello, Faster Chips

On the hardware side, one of the most significant features of the new iPhone will be its new processor. The original iPhone and last year’s iPhone 3G used the same 400 MHz processor, but the new iPhone will likely have a 600 MHz processor, writes John Gruber on the blog Daring Fireball.

The change won’t be just a little speed boost, it’ll be transformative, he writes:

Much of what the iPhone does now is constrained by its CPU. App launching speed, for one thing — faster app launching should make it feel more like switching between apps and less like quitting/relaunching them.

Faster processor speeds will also significantly speed up Web page rendering.

The new model iPhone will have double the RAM of existing models, 256 MB. “Prices will stay the same — $199 and $299 — but storage will increase to 16 and 32 GB,” Gruber says.

Also look for a possible 4GB iPhone 3G for $99. That’s according to a report on the Boy Genius Report, a popular mobile blog. But my colleague Eric Zeman is skeptical, noting that the first-generation iPhone came in a 4 GB model that was discontinued after a few months. I agree; I think people who’ve already decided to buy an iPhone will pay a little more for a lot more memory.

Changes to the size and shape of the iPhone, and how it looks and feels will be “subtle, perhaps very subtle. I expect that cases designed for the iPhone 3G will continue to fit the new iPhone, and that the only colors will remain black and white,” Gruber says. Despite the faster CPU, he expects improved battery life for the new iPhone.

The new iPhone will also probably have a magnetometer — a/k/a a compass. Now applications won’t just know where you are, they’ll also know what direction you’re facing. I have a feeling this will open the door to vastly richer location-aware applications. Like what, exactly? If I could tell you that, I’d write the apps myself and make a million dollars off the app store.

The Mobile Safari browser will also support geolocation, according to Computerworld; so no more need to type your zip code or address into the browser to tell it where you are to find local restaurants, bank branches, or auto-repair shops; geolocation support will also lead to more targeted Web ads.

The new iPhone will likely support video recording, making it a tough competitor for inexpensive, point-and-shoot digital video cameras like the Flip, Gruber says. The iPhone will have video uploading capabilities, so you’ll be able to upload short clips to video-sharing sites like YouTube as soon as you take them.

MacRumors has a screenshot that appears to show the video-recording application at work; it’s pretty much the same as the existing Camera app but with additional buttons to allow you to choose between still and video.

Other features that will probably appear in the new iPhone include Wi-Fi movie and TV downloads, and an improved camera, at least 3.2 megapixels, up from 2 megapixels on the current model.

So when will the hardware be available? Did Walt Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal slip up when he referred to “the new iPhone to be unveiled next week”? The blog AppleiPhoneApps is reporting the release date will be July 17. I don’t buy it; that would be almost six weeks during which Apple fans would be waiting impatiently for the next-generation iPhone — and, more importantly, not spending their money on buying current model iPhones. That kind of delay would cost Apple a lot of money. My gut feeling is that we’ll see the new iPhones at about the same time as we saw previous generations, late June or early July.

Snow [Leopard] In Summer?

And what about Snow Leopard? Expect Apple to release more information about that operating system, unveiled a year ago. The new version will focus more on speed, scalability and stability than new features. It will be optimized for multicore processors using technology called “Grand Central,” and designed to facilitate future innovation.

It will lift the theoretical system memory limit to 16 TB, up from 4 TB today. The software will support technology Apple is calling “Open Computing Language,” for improved graphic processing performance. And it will include QuickTime X, a revised and optimized version of Apple media technology, native support forMicrosoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Exchange, and a faster implementation of JavaScript. Still unknown: When Snow Leopard will ship.

Now here are a couple of things you won’t see at WWDC:

First, you won’t see the rumored Apple Tablet. Apple is reportedly working on an inexpensive tablet computer, its answer to netbooks, for availability in 2010. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said last month that Apple is working on a tablet with a 7-10-inch touch screen, selling at $500-$700, and filling a gap between the $400 iPod Touch and $1,000 MacBook.

Evidence pointing to such a device is coming from Piper Jaffray component contacts in Asia, as well as from recent Apple patents related to multitouch technology, comments to financial analysts in April by chief operating officer Tim Cook, Apple’s acquisition of chip designer P.A. Semi, and recent chip-related hires, Munster said. “It is increasingly clear that Apple is investing more in its mobile computing franchise.”

My gut feeling is that Apple is, indeed, working on this product. The iPhone and iPod Touch are already perfectly fine tablet computers; a bigger display would make them even more useful. But I don’t expect to see Apple talking about the product at WWDC. Apple doesn’t want to take focus from the iPhone and Snow Leopard.

Moreover, Apple likes to announce products around the time of their availability. The company is sensitive to cannibalizing sales, and an announced, but unavailable tablet would lead some consumers to put off buying low-end MacBooks, iPhones, and iPod Touches and wait for the tablet to come.

The iPhone was the exception to the rule about advance announcements — Apple announced it in Jan. 2007 for availability almost six months later. But this was Apple’s entry into a completely new product line and business; it had no existing products to cannibalize sales from.

Steve Jobs Due Back Soon; Fanfare Not Expected

Another thing you won’t see at WWDC — or, rather, a person you won’t see, is Steve Jobs. Apple announced Jobs was taking medical leave of absence in December to deal with a dire digestive problem — his body was not absorbing nutrients, leaning to drastic weight loss. Jobs survived cancer surgery in 2004, his gaunt appearance last year fueled rumors that the cancer had returned. Apple said in December that Jobs would be back in June, and he’s been taking a role in strategic Apple decisions since then.

Jobs is recovering nicely, ready to get back to work, and might well put in a surprise appearance at WWDC, according to a report that ran Friday on The Wall Street Journal

But I don’t think Jobs will make a big appearance at WWDC. He might take a quick stroll of the show floor, and if he does it’ll surely create huge buzz on the news and in blogs, but that’s the most I think we can expect to see from Jobs at the conference.

My gut feeling is that Jobs will simply return to work, at the end of this month, without any external announcements. It seems like his style to send an all-hands e-mail to Apple employees and then get to work without any further ado.

US law may require Apple to make a short press release on his return, but I don’t think we’ll see any further hoopla from Apple when Jobs returns to work. He’ll make his first public performance a few weeks or a few months afterward, at an earnings conference call or the next time Apple has a new product or service to announce.

Source: InformationWeek