Category: I-phone

Apple hit another home run in the third quarter of 2011. Total revenue for the quarter reached US$28.57 billion, as compared to $15.70 billion in the same quarter last year. Earnings per diluted share were $7.79, as compared to $3.51 last year. Net profit reached a staggering $7.31 B. All of these figures crushed the professional analyst estimates and even surpassed some of the more optimistic amateur AAPL watchers, as tracked by Phil Elmer-Dewitt.

Sales numbers for Apple’s lineup of products are as follows:

• 3.95 M Macs (14% year-over-year unit increase)
• 20.34 M iPhones (142% yoy increase)
• 7.54 M iPods (20% yoy decrease)
• 9.25 M iPads (183% yoy increase)

That earnings per share number is really quite amazing; it’s more than double the number from last year. Additional details will be available in the earnings conference call at 5 pm ET. We’ll be listening in to the conference call and liveblogging all the fun — join in!

Apple Q3 2011 earnings released: Impressive, most impressive. (Updated) originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to The Wall Street Journal, some of Apple’s board members have been informally discussing an eventual successor to Steve Jobs since the CEO began his latest medical leave earlier this year. These board members “have discussed CEO succession with executive recruiters and at least one head of a high-profile technology company,” though the Journal says they’re not actively engaged in recruiting a new CEO.

The Journal notes that not all board members have been involved in the discussion (obviously Jobs himself wouldn’t have been), and it also says management succession plans are discussed at every board meeting, though such plans are “sworn to secrecy.”

Steve Jobs reportedly responded to the report via email, saying “I think it’s hogwash.” Either this means the Journal’s report is inaccurate in some way, or Jobs may have been kept out of the loop on the discussions. For his part, Jobs has given no indication that he will step down anytime soon, though many financial analysts have grown increasingly skittish following the CEO’s ongoing (and over-publicized) medical issues and Apple’s intense privacy surrounding the succession plan.

Apple’s board discussing eventual Steve Jobs successor originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While working on a post about OS X Lion’s full-screen apps, I stumbled upon something interesting. If you look at the image above, it shows Pages as a full-screen app. There’s even a tag line — “Never miss the fine print with full-screen for Pages.” I’m running Pages version 4.0.5 (852) right now, and there hasn’t been an update for a while. This version doesn’t run in full-screen mode under the Lion GM.

It makes sense that Apple would update Pages, Keynote, and Numbers to take advantage of as many OS X Lion features as possible, and it would be smart for those apps to be updated at the same time or shortly after Lion hits the Mac App Store.

So, as much as we hate rumors and speculation, this is something to think about. It’s either a marketing faux pas from Apple, or we’re going to see Lion-compatible versions of the iWork apps soon. You can check out the specific page here, and be sure to let us know if you find any other hints (or mistakes) about Lion-happy apps.

Speculation: Apple website hints at iWork update for Lion originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In January, I wrote a review of the Sleeve360 “wearable” iPad case that had just hit the market at that time. I saw the Sleeve360 team at Macworld Expo a few weeks later, and was happy to see that they were selling a pile of the cases. In April, I gave away a HandStand iPad case that was similarly endowed with a hand-gripping, rotating mount on the back. Now that the two cases have been brought up to date in the iPad 2 era, join me in a smackdown of the two cases and see which reigns supreme.

Sleeve360 for iPad 2

The US$59.99 Sleeve360 for iPad 2 is similar in design to the original model, which is also available at $39.99 from the Sleeve360 website. As with the previous version, the iPad 2 edition features a locking “door” that snaps shut in three locations around the frame of the case. I felt that the locking mechanism on the newer case has a more solid feel and gives audible feedback — a healthy click — when the primary locking tab is closed.

The case is an attractive black material that mimics the black bezel of some iPad 2s. If you own a white iPad 2, you may be sad to find that your cherished device suddenly looks like the black version — there is no white version available. There are cutouts in the Sleeve360 for the dock connector, the speaker, the two cameras, and all of the other iPad controls. I was glad to see that the Sleeve360 folks made changes based on some input I provided in my original review — the old case used to partially cover the screen of the iPad, while the new one is almost a perfect fit in terms of just covering the bezel.

Another solid change is the thickness of the case. The original was too thick in some places, which made it difficult to handle the iPad controls. Not so anymore — the sleep/on-off button is now easily accessible, as are the other switches on the device. The difference is that the case is not only thinner and a bit more rigid, but the designers have added a beveled channel around each switch or port.

Everything about the Sleeve360 seems improved from the original iPad model. The adjustable strap, although identical in appearance to the initial version, seemed more comfortable to my hands. The rotating mechanism was a pain to remove on the earlier version, and it took a look at the instructions to figure it out. On the new model? Just push in two silver tabs and the mechanism pops out. Want to put the mechanism back on? Just align the circular mechanism with the hole on the back of the iPad and push the mechanism in until it clicks.

As with the previous version, you can flip out the handle to act as a stand in either landscape or portrait mode. The difference with this version is that even popping the handle out seems to be easier than before.

All in all, it’s obvious that the Sleeve360 designers listened intently to owner feedback and improved their product. There’s even a nice black velour carrying bag to pop your iPad 2 and Sleeve 360 into for more protection. The price is $10 more than the original Sleeve360 was when it came out, but I think even at the higher price it’s worth it.

HandStand for iPad 2

Now let’s take a look at a competing rotating case, the $49.95 HandStand for iPad 2. Unlike the Sleeve360, the HandStand comes in three different colors — black, white, and pink. All three models are made of 100% recycled and recyclable materials.

Putting an iPad 2 into the HandStand takes a bit of work. It’s a solid piece of silicone rubber that doesn’t really stretch all that much. I found that I needed to grab a plastic spudger to wedge the iPad 2 into the case. This was also the point where I discovered that a plastic spudger, when jammed into your hand with enough force, can cause injury and bleeding.

After putting a Band-Aid onto my wound, I gave the HandStand a spin. Like the Sleeve360, the HandStand rotates through a full 360°. There’s a small ridge of plastic that your fingers go over when holding the device, which does give you the feeling that you’re really connected to the HandStand. Unfortunately, the elastic strap that holds your hand in place is a fixed size and can’t be adjusted to comfortably fit a hand.

I found this to be the biggest issue with the HandStand. I have fairly small hands for a man, and yet I felt that the strap was too tight. I feel sorry for anyone with large hands who has to try to use this case. Between the tight strap and the plastic ridge for your fingers, it took only about three minutes for the HandStand to become uncomfortable for me to hold.

One other issue with the HandStand is that it’s not really a “stand.” While that ridge does prop up your iPad when it’s placed on a table, it only gives it a tiny bit of a bump. If you’re looking for something that is going to let you prop the iPad 2 up vertically for watching movies, the HandStand isn’t going to do the job for you.

The HandStand doesn’t cover up your iPad 2 bezel, so if you own a white model, you can still revel in the gleaming beauty of that pristine plastic. Of the two products, the HandStand does look better.

And the winner is…

The Sleeve360 for iPad 2, hands-down (bad pun intended). This case is much easier to put on and take off, the rotation mechanism can be easily removed, and it the case really does work well as a stand in either portrait or landscape mode. The hand strap adjustability and lack of the “finger ridge” make the Sleeve360 much more comfortable to wear for an extended amount of time.

If you need to hand carry an iPad 2 for extended periods of time, what case are you using? Let us know in the comments.

Sleeve360 and HandStand for iPad 2: Smackdown of the rotating iPad cases originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today’s Daily Mac App, Wren, helps you stay your productive by giving you distraction free tweeting right from your desktop. Twitter is a fantastic time sink. You can spend hours reading people’s tweets, following links, commenting and having conversations. That’s great if you’ve got time to waste, sitting waiting for the bus or at the doctors, but what about those occasions when you’re working hard and can’t afford to get distracted?

Sometimes the perfect tweet springs into your mind when you’re getting work done. Wren helps you express that tweet without the distractions of the rest of twitter. It’s a one way broadcasting app that shows you only the previous tweet you sent and the one you’re writing now. No stream, no @replies, no direct messages, photos, videos or links — nothing but a box to send your tweets out to the Twitterverse from.

Wren does an admirable job of getting the message out. It’s well designed, has a pleasant interface and can be shown or hidden with a global keyboard shortcut. You can write a couple of tweets and save them as drafts to be recalled later, shorten links via a variety of services including Bit.ly and Goo.gl, auto complete Twitter usernames and simply get your thoughts tweeted out.

Distraction free tweeting isn’t necessary for everyone, but if you feel the need to tweet even when you can’t be distracted, Wren will get the job done quickly and easily.

Wren is available from the Mac App Store for US$4.99 of your hard earned cash.

TUAW’s Daily Mac App: Wren originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google’s Eric Schmidt spoke at a mobile conference in Tokyo and addressed HTC’s early loss to Apple in a patent infringement case. Schmidt believes HTC will prevail and is “not too worried about this” case. He also added that Google will “make sure” HTC does not lose this case.

Schmidt didn’t say how Google would support the Taiwanese handset maker, but cash and legal counsel are the two obvious contributions. His response also suggests this umbrella of protection would extend to any manufacturer facing litigation over Android.

It wouldn’t be a proper Schmidt talk without some controversy and the Google chief did not disappoint. Instead of addressing the infringement issues brought up by the complaint, Schmidt took a pot shot at Apple when he indirectly accuses the company of using lawsuits instead of innovation to compete in the marketplace. Schmidt says,

“We have seen an explosion of Android devices entering the market and, because of our successes, competitors are responding with lawsuits as they cannot respond through innovations.”

Schmidt can say all he wants about Apple as this childish banter means very little in the marketplace. All this controversy will be forgotten later today when Apple announces its Q3 2011 earnings and knocks everyone socks off.

Google’s Eric Schmidt claims Apple litigates, doesn’t innovate originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When developers, writers, web devs, scientists, and system admins need a full-powered Mac HTML and text editor, they often turn to BBEdit from Bare Bones Software. BBEdit 10.0 has just been released, with a ton of new features.

I’m not kidding about the weight of those new features — during an hour-long phone call with Bare Bones Software CEO and founder Rich Siegel, we were only able to touch on the top items.

Foremost among the improvements is a feature that’s invisible, at least until you start really pushing the app hard: the enhanced performance of the new version of BBEdit.

The project and editing windows have a similar layout making access to open and recent documents a click away. Projects include a Unix worksheet and scratchpad, which to me (not a developer) seemed like magic, allowing terminal scripts to run within the worksheet. A new HTML Tools palette makes generating error-free HTML a snap, and even partially completed documents can be displayed with “Preview in BBEdit.” As much as I love Brett Terpstra‘s new Marked app for previewing Markdown, BBEdit 10.0 does a great job of supporting Markdown and the results can be previewed right within the app. (Sorry, Brett.)

I was pretty impressed with Siegel’s demonstration of using color schemes for projects. BBEdit 10.0 is using a number of schemes developed by Daring Fireball blogger and Markdown inventor John Gruber.

As a Dropbox fan, I was really happy to see how Dropbox is now used as a sync point for BBEdit configuration between computers or workgroups. To do this, a folder titled “Application Support” is added to Dropbox and the BBEdit config files are copied to it. The next time BBEdit launches, it recognizes the Dropbox folder and uses it. It’s a perfect way to keep projects and settings synced between Macs.

As expected, BBEdit 10.0 is Lion-ready. It doesn’t require the latest OS, but does require an Intel-based Mac. BBEdit 10.0 uses its own Auto-Save capabilities, saving documents, windows positions, and more when quitting. If you have to Force Quit the app for some reason or the app crashes, it saves the current state in an auto-recovery file that it will try to open at the next launch.

I asked Siegel about some other Lion features, such as file versioning. He said that their primary goal with 10.0 was to get all 124 new features out to developers as quickly as possible, and that they’ll add more Lion-specific features now that the app is on the market.

One other feature that was impressive to see in action was read/write support of compressed files. As an example, Siegel did a global find and replace in a compressed 190 MB file. There were 360149 changes made in a very short amount of time, which really speaks to the speed of BBEdit 10.0. Saving files recompresses them, as the company wants to make it as easy to work in zip files as any other file type. This feature will be very useful to those who are working with EPUB files.

Speaking of ebooks, you’ll be amazed to know that BBEdit 10.0 comes complete with a 380-page PDF user manual. Yes, it takes that amount of space to describe all of the features and tricks of the trade that are built into BBEdit.

Along with the huge number of new features comes a new lower price point. In the past, BBEdit sold for US$99.99. As an introductory price (and for upgrades and new purchases made from the Mac App Store), BBEdit 10.0 will be available for $39.99 through October 19, 2011. After that time, the price goes up slightly to $49.99. Those who already own BBEdit and purchased it after January 1, 2011 get a free update and will be notified by the company.

BBEdit 10.0: Venerable Mac text editor gets a huge update originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Google Plus social network has kicked into high gear, despite a limited number of available invites over the first few weeks. Starting today it’s even easier for iOS users to share with Circles, follow a Stream or do rapid-fire messaging with a Huddle: the iPhone app for Google+ is now in the US store.

The free app supports the Stream, Circles and Huddle features; it’s just now downloading on our iPhones so we’ll check out the detailed options shortly. Enjoy, Plussians!

A few quick notes: the app is truly iPhone-only, and will not install on the iPod touch or iPad. Some users running the iOS 5 beta report crashes, which is unsurprising but worth mentioning. Also, it’s very difficult to search for the app in the App Store (one would think that the world’s largest search company would know that ‘+’ is a common search modifier and tricky to include in a literal search string); the easiest way to find it, short of the direct link, is to browse the list of all the apps published by Google.

Thanks to MediaKat for the tip.

Update: The app was updated within an hour of release. Fastest update we’ve ever seen. From the app’s description it appears to have been an issue on Apple’s end (ouch!):

We discovered an issue with the version of the iPhone Google+ App that was on the App Store. When we launched, the App Store started serving a previous test version of the App which didn’t have the stability and fixes that the latest version had. It started serving the correct version a little later. If you downloaded within the first 1 hour 40 mins, you may have downloaded the older test version.

Google+ iPhone app now available on App Store (updated) originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re over a certain age and live in the USA you may remember the days when giant books filled with addresses and phone numbers were thrown at your house each year by Ma Bell. Unlike countries elsewhere, such as France, where computers took over the task of finding phone numbers before cell phones were popular, the White Pages (and their paid cousin, the Yellow Pages) were a fixture of American life for many years.

Of course, now we have smartphones. But if someone isn’t in your address book on your iPhone, you can use the WhitePages app to find their info. The WhitePages app does more than reverse lookup, but don’t take my word for it. Check out the demo video below to see it in action.

Video App Demo: WhitePages originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Online document publishing platform Scribd introduced a new mobile application for the iPhone called Float Reader. The app is a reading tool that lies somewhere in between Flipboard and Instapaper

As expected, the Float Reader app lets you read documents from your online Scribd account. Scribd has also partnered with 150 publishers like Tech Crunch, Engadget, AP and Fox Sports to reformat their content for the application. Publishers are organized into categories such as entertainment, technology, sports and politics.

The application has several options to make reading easy on your eyes including a night mode, battery saver mode, sunlight mode and more. Float Reader also lets you adjust the font size using the pinch to zoom gesture and navigate page to page by swiping. The app is a standard reader with some social features, but there are plans to expand the service beyond this early iteration.

Scribd hopes to use this app to launch a mobile reading platform it claims will be the Netflix for written content. The company wants to ink deals with premium content providers and offer this exclusive material to Float subscribers for a basic monthly fee. Advertisements will be used to monetize the app and content providers can share in this incoming revenue.

For now, you can check out Float Reader application yourself. It’s available for free from the App Store.

[Via AllThingsD]

Scribd introduces Float, new iPhone app for reading online content originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Owen Goss is an experienced iOS game developer — he’s produced a game called Landformer, and I once watched him make a game about bacon farming in just 90 minutes at a conference. But he’s taken a step away from gaming for his latest iPad app, instead creating more of a musical instrument meant just for the very young. Baby’s Musical Hands is an app made for babies, using color and sounds to fascinate and entertain the youngest iPad users out there.

The app was created with Goss’ son in mind, but any baby will likely be drawn to interacting with the visual and audio feedback that the app provides, and parents can “play” along with children as well. Unfortunately, I don’t have a baby to test the app out on, but I’m sure any kid would find the fun in this one.

And at the price of just US 99 cents, it’ll come much cheaper than most of your baby’s other toys and gear (of course that doesn’t include the cost of the iPad). If you’ve got an infant around who’s shown a little iPad interest but isn’t quite old enough to throw Angry Birds around, give this one a try.

TUAW’s Daily iPad App: Baby’s Musical Hands originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s early win in a patent infringement complaint against HTC sent shock waves through the Android world late last week. In response to this loss, some handset manufactures may turn away from Android and look towards the Windows Phone platform for future smartphones, says a report in the mainland Chinese paper 21st Century Business Herald.

This report points to the upcoming release of the mango version of Windows Phone and both ZTE and Huawei’s interest in this mobile OS from Microsoft. These small manufacturers don’t have the resources to battle Apple in court and may chose to side with Windows Phone which is protected by an arsenal of patents held by Microsoft.

This theory does have one small flaw. These plans to adopt Windows Phone were in place long before the HTC ruling was handed down. Though this ruling may not have influenced the initial decision to adopt Windows Phone, it may have an influence on the future strategy of these smaller manufacturers. If Android continues to be assaulted by companies like Apple and Oracle, manufacturers could shy away from the Google-backed platform and turn towards an alternative.

[Via Electronista]

Is Apple’s early win against HTC an unexpected bonus for Windows Phone? originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The ITC handed down its final judgment in a patent infringement case Apple filed against Kodak. In a setback for Apple, the panel let the initial decision stand and ruled in favor of Kodak.

On May 12, ITC Judge Robert Rogers found one of Apple’s patents was invalid and that Kodak did not violate the other two cited in the complaint. The Apple patents in this case focused on image processing in cameras. One described a method for a camera to process two images at the same time, while the other lets users simultaneously adjust multiple settings like balance, color, sharpness and resolution.

Apple’s legal battle with Kodak is not over. The Cupertino company also faces an ITC complaint filed by Kodak. This complaint was filed against Apple and RIM and accuses the two companies of violating several camera patents held by Kodak.

ITC rules for Kodak in Apple patent infringement complaint originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is a good one. To-Fu: The Trials of Chi is what’s probably best described as a physics platformer, where you play, yes, a little piece of tofu. This To-Fu is much spicier than the actual thing, however — you tap and drag on him to jump around a series of levels, and his jumps always go basically gravity-free in the same direction, so eventually you’re bouncing off of walls, judging angles, and avoiding spikes and other dangers while bouncing from platform to platform.

It’s actually a pretty big challenge, but that’s tempered a little bit by the fact that your basic goal is just getting through the level. There are quite a few collectibles to pick up, but you don’t need them on a basic playthrough. Later, you can go back and replay the levels, picking up some of the tougher collectibles.

To-Fu is a really solid game — the presentation is excellent, the controls are precise and innovative, and there’s lots of content to go through, along with full Game Center integration. This is also Apple’s Game of the Week, and that notice is well-deserved. You can play a trial version for free, or buy the iPhone version for US 99 cents, or the HD iPad version for $1.99.

TUAW’s Daily iPhone App: To-Fu: The Trials of Chi originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I don’t know if you’ve noticed a trend, but at TUAW we’ve been trying to downplay a lot of the Mac OS X 10.7 Lion / MacBook Air refresh rumors that have been flooding a lot of other sites lately. The occasional one squeaks in, but for the most part we’re trying to stay away from the daily “IT’S COMING TOMORROW!!!!” posts that have been so common over the last few weeks on some other Apple sites.

Why? Frankly, it’s because we’re bored to death by the same rumors that have been coming out day after day after day. Not to say that we’re not wondering ourselves about Lion and those new MacBook Airs, but let’s face it: is it really necessary to post rumors every day?

That being said, there are some indications that Wednesday may finally be the day that Cupertino blesses us with new hardware and operating system software. We received an anonymous email from an Apple Store employee who told us about new marketing materials (see photo above) that were sent to the store last week in a “Visual Merchandising” container, filled with materials used to market a new notebook computer. MacBook Air? MacBook? Who knows. There are also persistent rumors of Mac mini and Mac Pro updates, which our source didn’t see in the marketing bin.

The same source noted that his/her Apple Store was down to “less than two dozen MacBook Airs, with no shipments on the horizon.” Yes, we believe that there are new MacBook Airs coming out. As for the exact day? We have no clue. Until or unless a helpful (possibly disgruntled) Apple Store employee sends us a photo of the specs from a new MBA, we’re as much in the dark as the rest of the world.

Our compatriots at MacRumors and AppleInsider are venturing that all of the new hardware and OS X Lion are going to arrive at 8:30 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 20. Will it happen? I guess we’ll have to wait until Wednesday morning to be sure. MacRumors has reported that Apple Retail Stores are receiving copies of Lion on hard disks that have been sent to the stores for distribution onto the Macs in each store. Fortunately, the wise Arnold Kim at MacRumors is hedging his bets by stating that “This, of course, doesn’t guarantee a specific launch date, but brings Apple one step closer to launch.”

The TUAW response to all of this? We’re preparing for launch, and we’ll push the button when we actually see something new. Are we playing it safe? Yes. But we’re also trying to avoid the repetition of “It’s coming out TOMORROW!!!” rumors that have been bouncing around for the last three weeks.

When Lion and refreshed Macs get here, then we’ll let you know. Cheers!

OS X Lion rumors: Do we want to believe ’em or not? originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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