Is the iPhone 5 set for an autumn release?
According to Japanese technology website Macotakara, Apple will stick to the autumn launch for the sixth-generation iPhone 5. Citing only “reliable sources”, the website points out that yearly schedule is likely to remain a permanent fixture rather than the previous summer launch date of the previous models. While we hate to jump on the rumour mill this early in the game, the word on the street does seem to lead to the same conclusion…
The Proview iPAD
The latest legal dispute with Apple involves use of the iPad trademark in China, which could halt iPad sales and ban exports putting the kibosh on the imminent iPad 3 launch. Last week, Chinese customs officials seized hundreds of units after near-bankrupt Shenzhen company Proview Technology claimed it’s the legal owner of the iPad trademark in China.
Apple announces OS X Mountain Lion
This week Apple unveiled the ninth major version of its Mac OS called OS X Mountain Lion. The new version will be launched in this summer and a preview release is available now for developers. If you’re wondering why “Mac” was omitted from the title it’s because Apple has officially dropped the name from the OS, signifying closer ties with its mobile counterpart iOS, which is used on the iPhone and iPad.
OS X Mountain Lion will only be available to buy from the Mac App Store, another sign that Apple is eschewing traditional distribution channels in favour of digital downloads only. This also backs up rumours that Apple is looking to ditch optical DVD drives in its revamped MacBook Pro lineup later this year.
Like Lion before it, Mountain Lion brings many of the most popular iOS applications and features to the Mac, in an attempt to unify the experience and ensure familiarity across all of Apple’s products. Apple normally prices OS X very competitively (at least compared to Windows) – Lion sold more copies than any previous version in a comparative timeframe and costs just $29.99 in the US App Store. There’s no word on Mountain Lion’s pricing just yet, but you can bet it’ll be in the same ballpark.
Mountain Lion introduces more than 100 new features, such as Messages (similar to Messages on the iPhone which replaces iChat on the Mac), Notes, Reminders and Game Centre, as well as a completely new notification centre, share sheets (click to share items in Twitter or email), deep Twitter integration and AirPlay mirroring which lets you connect your Mac to an HD TV wirelessly via an Apple TV box.
iCloud functionality is also more deeply integrated in Mountain Lion, as well as a new security feature called Gatekeeper which prevents installation of untrusted applications. iCloud seems to be playing a major part in Apple’s strategy these days, and this release takes integration with cloud services to a whole new level.
Gatekeeper is already drawing criticism for encouraging users to use the App Store only, but the settings can be easily changed. Protecting end users from themselves is a noble strategy, but it’s nice to see that power users are not forgotten either.
Apple has also accelerated the development of Mountain Lion to keep pace with the rapid changes in iOS, as Lion was only released in July last year. There has also been suggestions that the two operating systems will become even more unified or even merge.
It’s even possible that the entire MacBook range will eventually transition to ARM processors (the same as used in the iPad and iPhone) and give the boot to Intel. For the MacBook Air this seems quite feasible and considering the growing unification of Mac OS and iOS could have major benefits. Apple CEO Tim Cook was typically cagey and said this week “we’re looking at everything”. The possibility of OS X on ARM nevertheless remains quite some time away, not least because ARM doesn’t yet have a 64-bit chip architecture. But if it ever happens, you could expect to see Mac’s with extremely low power consumption indeed.
On the whole, Mountain Lion has some welcome features which will narrow the gap with iOS even further, and continue to encourage iPhone and iPad users to make the switch from PC to Mac.
Apple's App Store Ahead in the Race
New evidence released by Business Week and Flurry indicates that Apple is winning the mobile app war against Android. The Apple App Store now attracts three times as many app submissions than Google’s Android Market, with many developers preferring iOS mainly because of the device fragmentation issues that continue to plague Android.
Can Apple Ban Ice Cream Sandwich on the Nexus?
As the smartphone patent wars heat up, Apple has gone for the throat and filed a preliminary injunction against Samsung to ban sales of the Galaxy Nexus for allegedly infringing several key patents. Surprisingly, it’s not the hardware that Apple wants to ban but Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) which they believe has stolen several ideas from their own iOS.
The patents in question cover simple actions such as clicking on a phone number to make a call, and sliding a finger across the screen to unlock it. Has Apple gone too far with the latest claims, and isn’t it about time the big tech companies got their heads knocked together and started to play fair?
Apple's Steve Jobs
On Thursday the FBI responded to a freedom of information request and released a secret report on the late Steve Jobs that detailed an investigation into his suitability for an export and trade advisory role in George W. Bush senior’s government in 1991. The 191-page document shines a light on many aspects of his personal life and business affairs, but are there any real revelations contained in the report?
In a move that’s likely to disrupt the notebook computer market even further, Apple looks set to totally revamp it’s entire 2012 MacBook Pro lineup, jettisoning optical storage and traditional hard disks in favour of fast Flash-based Solid State Storage (SSD) drives and a slimmer, lighter chassis much like the MacBook Air. That’s according to recent reports from authoritative Apple news sites such as AppleInsider and The Next Web.
The new lineup will also use Intel’s forthcoming Ivy Bridge microprocessor CPU architecture and chips which are slated to ship in April. The Air has been responsible for helping Apple’s notebook sales continue to rise despite a general downwards trend in the industry, and has led to creation of the new “ultra-book” category of laptops intended to complete with Apple’s popular thin-and-light models.
The iPad 3 is believed to have a Retina Display
The Apple iPad 3 is hotly tipped to be announced during the first week of March, as rumours reach fever pitch about what to expect in the new device. Apple usually updates the iPad once a year and considering the iPad 2 was released in March 2011 at the Buena Yerba centre in san Francisco, it won’t come as a major surprise if the rumours pan out.
Mounting evidence points to an imminent announcement, which means the iPad 3 will be released several days or weeks later, and according to The Next Web Apple is already finalising the choice of apps to showcase and is busy organising the ad campaign…
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Apple’s cloud-based music service iTunes Match has been available for several months now, and is helping to generate royalties for copyright holders that wouldn’t otherwise be made. Online music distribution company TuneCore says that Apple is creating money “out of thin air” and helping to support the artists on its books.
Are the first Apple TV prototype sets already in production?
Persistent rumours of a connected Apple TV to launch in 2012 continue to fly despite a distinct lack of concrete evidence. Nevertheless, recent murmurings from Asian TV manufacturers such as Sharp have alleged that Apple is continuing to shop around for parts; but shopping around doesn’t necessarily mean that Apple really will release a super-slim TV set anytime soon – almost certainly they are investigating the concept and may even have built prototypes, but that’s a very different scenario from an imminent launch of a major new product…