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Tag: ipad

  • Facebook Releasing iOS 6 SDK Soon

    Facebook Releasing iOS 6 SDK Soon

    One of the big announcement to come out of last week’s WWDC keynote was the integration of Facebook into iOS 6. It gives Apple a leg up on the competition for social media while simultaneously giving Facebook even more access to all the iDevice owners out there. Facebook will also let developers get a head start on making apps for iOS 6.

    Facebook announced today that they will be releasing a SDK for iOS that will launch in a few weeks. The (paragraph long) announcement is short on details, but Facebook is promising that “significant new features and enhancements” that will make it a breeze to add Facebook integration to iOS apps. It will also include the tools needed to implement the base-level Facebook features that are in iOS 6.

    Deeper integration with iOS apps is one thing, but the real interesting part is the implementation of the base-level Facebook features. As announced at WWDC, iOS 6 is all about sharing every little thing you do on an iDevice with the world through Facebook. You like that photo you’re currently viewing in the photo app? Like it on Facebook without having to actually launch the app. It’s that kind of deep-rooted experience that should have app developers excited.

    Once again, details are light at the moment, but we’ll let you know whenever Facebook announces the availability of the SDK. You can surely expect even more Open Graph and native applications that use Facebook for more than just signing in. Facebook needs to get into mobile and this could just be their ticket in. Let’s hope they don’t blow it by unleashing an embarrassing privacy-related snafu.

  • iOS 6: Video Shows Siri For iPad In Action

    One of the big stories from last week’s WWDC 2012 Apple keynote was iOS 6. The newest version of Apple’s mobile operating system comes with a slew of new features, many of them requested by users over the last couple of years. New features in iOS 6 include an overhauled (and Google-less) Maps app, Facebook integration, improvements to Siri, better privacy settings, and more.

    One remarkable bit of news is that Siri would finally be making the jump to a device other than the iPhone 4S. When iOS 6 launches alongside the new iPhone this fall, owners of the new iPad will be getting Siri as well. While older iPads will be left out, the fact that Siri is getting spread around even a little is very promising.

    While iOS 6 won’t be out until the fall, the beta version of the software has been out since last week, allowing us to get a sneak peek at some of the new goodies coming with the update. Over the weekend, the folks at iJailbreak uploaded their own hands-on video of Siri running on the new iPad. Check out the video for yourself below:

  • Mozilla Junior Browser Coming To iPad

    Mozilla has announced that they plan to enter the iOS browser market with Mozilla Junior. Mozilla’s Alex Limi said that with Junior, they set out to “reinvent the browser for a new form factor,” something that “everybody says they do… but nobody’s done.” Despite being the best tablet browsing experience available, Limi said Safari for iPad “is still a pretty miserable experience.” With Junior, Mozilla aims to make radical improvements to the tablet browsing experience.

    Junior is meant to provide a much more immersive web browsing experience. It replaces Safari’s tabs and toolbars with a full-screen browsing experience. Recognizing that most tablet users prefer to use apps, viewing browsing as a last resort, Mozilla designed Junior to make the web page feel more like “a native citizen of the tablet.” To that end, browsing in Junior is a full-screen experience. There are no tabs, URL box, search box, or other toolbar at the top. There are only two buttons, both translucent gray and situated about halfway up the iPad’s screen, one on the left and one on the right (think the page turning buttons on an e-reader). One is a back button, the other is a plus button. Tapping the plus button brings up a separate screen where you can see recent pages, currently open pages, type in URLs, and perform searches.

    While Junior looks pretty slick, there are a couple of factors working against Mozilla – or any other third-party iOS browser. First, there’s the fact that browsers in the App Store aren’t allowed to use their own rendering engines. Every App Store browser has to be Webkit-based. That means that Safari will always perform at least a little better than any App Store browser at rendering web pages (even if the other browser’s user experience is better). Second, and perhaps most importantly, there is no way to change iOS’s default browser. While you can use any browser you want for your basic browsing needs, you can’t set it as the default browser. That means that home screen bookmarks as well as links in emails, SMS messages, and in other apps will only open in Safari.

    For that reason, browsers in the App Store have consistently not performed all that well. While there are several quality alternatives out there, none has managed to enjoy more than modest success. Most iOS users default to Safari because doing otherwise is too difficult. Of course, that could well change in the future, if the government goes after Apple in the same way it went after Microsoft in the 1990s for doing something similar with Internet Explorer. For the moment, though, any browser is going to have a hard time gaining any real traction in the App Store.

    Check out the video of Mozilla’s presentation. There’s an interesting little tidbit at the 1:25 mark where Mozilla’s Alex Limi says that “Chrome’s gonna ship Chrome for iOS very soon.” This would seem to confirm rumors that Google was working on a version of Chrome for iPhone. A request for comment from Google has not yet been answered, though something like “we do not comment on rumor or speculation” seems a likely answer.

    “Chrome’s gonna ship Chrome for iOS very soon.” (1:25)

  • Amazon Updates the Kindle App For iOS

    Amazon this week updated its Kindle app for iOS. The iPhone and iPad versions both got improvements, though they were different for each.

    The iPad edition of the Kindle app received the more major changes, with the app now having smaller margins and a “cleaner” look. More exciting, though, is the new inclusion of comic books, graphic novels, and children’s books, as seen above. The layout for these titles has been improved, and they are displayed in full color. Amazon states that over 1000 children’s books are currently available, including titles from the Brown Bear and Curious George series.

    The iPhone version of the Kindle app got more technical, but needed, upgrades. The app now has a search feature that allows users to search through their Kindle libraries for a specific title or author. An issue with the iPhone version that prevented it from looking up words in Google or Wikipedia has also now been fixed.

    The Kindle app is available in the Apple App Store. It allows users to access their Kindle library and read books that are synched across any Kindle device or any device running the Kindle app. It is free and comes in a variety of languages, including the major romance languages, German, and Japanese.

  • Smartphones & Tablets to Stay in Hot Demand Beyond 2017

    No doubt smartphones and tablet computers are some of the hottest selling products out there today. Some people would part with their automobile before they parted ways with their mobile device. It’s more than a passing trend, it’s part of a new lifestyle and it’s all about access to information and resources.

    Few can deny that Apple is at the core of this revolution with innovative devices like the iPhone and iPad. The United States and the rest of the world is obsessed with mobile devices like no other machines that have come before them.

    While the market seems to be saturated with competitors for the iPad and iPhone, the overall trends suggests there’s room for all of these devices. Global Information, Inc. sees the rising importance of mobile devices and mobile data usage as a critical component of modern society and they are tracking our habits and documenting the results in five important new reports.

    Here’s what they say about the importance of these documents:

    Understanding the growth curves of key markets is absolutely critical for players in this space. The United States leads the global adoption curve and represents the most mature market for smartphones. The state of the market in the US can be used to analyze likely endgame scenarios and outcomes as other markets around the globe mature. TechSci Research’s US smartphone market forecast to 2017 offers the insight companies, governments, and developers will need to stay ahead of this incredibly fast-moving industry.

    The UK, in contrast, has lagged slightly behind the US market in smartphone uptake, which leads TechSci to forecast remarkable growth and penetration in their UK smartphone market forecast through 2017. After an astounding 300% uptake over the past decade, the UK market is still projected to grow at a CAGR of over 20% through 2017, pushing smartphones from 50% up to 80% of all mobile phones, and driving the market value to over $4.3 billion.

    Canada’s growth has been slower, but their market is experiencing some upheaval as native son RIM witnesses the end of its long history of dominance. Even so, the Canadian smartphone market forecast through 2017 predicts a healthy CAGR of 13%, with Apple outpacing both RIM and Samsung over that time period.

    Australia, like the UK, has also witnessed tremendous growth tripling the size of the smartphone market over the last 4 years, and while the Australian smartphone market forecast through 2017 is the slowest of these four – at a CAGR of 10% over 5 years – the market is still expected to reach over $3.72 billion (US) in that period.

    Similar to the launch of its revolutionary iPhone product, Apple’s iPad completely reshaped the tablet PC market landscape on a global scale by selling tens of million units in just the first year after its launch. This complete upending of the tablet PC market can be credited to the fact that consumers realized that a gadget handier than a laptop, more powerful than a netbook, and more comfortable to use than a smart phone could actually exist. In 2011, the global tablet PC market reached $35.3 billion, and is expected to continue to grow rapidly into 2016. The tablet market in the US alone is anticipated to grow at the CAGR of around 10.8%, especially following wide acceptance and increased demand from the enterprise sector.

    TechSci’s “United States Tablet PC’s Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2016” forecasts phenomenal growth in the US tablet PC market. Current trends and market acceptance of the tablet is rising, which will lead to significant growth in the short term. Major drivers for the tablet market will be ease of use, increased battery life, improved mobility, enhanced multitasking, instant on/off capability, and the incredible and increasing breadth and scope of software applications for various platforms.

    The research indicates these mobile device trends will dominate society well into the future, so understanding them and harnessing the power that information brings is critical to the growth of business, government, and most other institutions.

    Click on any of the individual links above to get a quick overview on what is covered in research, and contact Global Information Inc. for more information on how to receive the full reports.

  • iOS 6 Beta Gets Developer-Only Tethered Jailbreak

    Yesterday we brought you news that the public jailbreak of iOS 6 may be a long time in coming, thanks to Apple’s efforts to close holes in the software that have been exploited by jailbreak devs to jailbreak previous versions of iOS.

    Nevertheless, progress has been made in jailbreaking iOS 6. In fact, on Tuesday Dev Team member MuscleNerd managed to get a fourth generation iPod Touch jailbroken, though many features – including Cydia – were non-functional. Nevertheless, a tethered jailbreak of iOS 6 beta 1 is now available to jailbreak developers courtesy of the Dev Team. MuscleNerd announced the release – an update to redsn0w – via Twitter today:

    The link in MuscleNerd’s second tweet goes to a Dev Team blog post with more information. As both MuscleNerd’s tweets and the blog post point out, this is not a public jailbreak. Cydia doesn’t work, the jailbreak is tethered (meaning that the phone has to be re-jailbroken every time you reboot), most of Apple’s stock apps are broken, and it only supports the iPhone 3GS and A4 iOS devices (i.e., the 4th-gen iPod Touch and the iPhone 4). This jailbreak is meant for developers who will be building iOS 6 compatibility into their jailbreak apps.

    While it’s encouraging that progress toward a full iOS 6 jailbreak is being made, we’re still probably in for a lengthy wait, even after iOS 6 releases to the public alongside the new iPhone in October.

  • Facebook App Center Now Available On iPad

    Facebook App Center Now Available On iPad

    Sometimes Facebook’s weekly Operation Developer Love post can be devoid of announcements or news, but thankfully the social network has announced some good stuff this week for both consumers and developers. The best news being that the App Center has a new home.

    Facebook’s App Center launched last week and has been slowly rolling out to users across a variety of platforms. We got a look at what App Center for iPhone looks like, but now it’s being rolled out to iPad users as well. App Center for the iPad is a bit different as it focuses on, you guessed it, apps for iPad. Developers wanting to be listed on the iPad App Store need only select “Native iPad App” on their app detail page.

    Of course, it might not be worth making a native iPad app if nobody is using your app on the device. To find out, Facebook has added a new tool in the Open Graph API that lets them find out what devices users have. Facebook suggests using it to make tailored messages that can be sent to users on various devices. One example is finding users that are playing a Facebook game via mobile web and suggesting that they install the native app for their respective device. If you want to find out how to track your users devices, check out the documentation.

    The breaking changes for September were announced last week. Check out the list from last week to see if you need to make any changes to your app before the changes go into effect.

    As for the bug list, Facebook saw 192 bug reports last week. Out of those 192 bugs, 23 of them were fixed and 31 were accepted to be worked on.

    Expect more App Center news in the days and weeks to come. It’s still a new service and Facebook probably has some more kinks to work out. They obviously want more and more developers to jump on board so expect more posts in the future detailing new features for developers to take advantage of.

  • iOS 6 Gets A Full Video Walkthrough

    If you’ve been paying much attention this week, you’ve probably been hearing a lot about iOS 6. Apple’s latest mobile operating system brings with it a huge number of new features, including Maps, Facebook Integration, Passbook, improvements to Siri, and a whole lot more.

    Unfortunately, these new features won’t be making it into consumer hands until the new iPhone launches this fall. If you want to get your hands on iOS 6 before then, you have to be a member of Apple’s developer program. If you’re not, you pretty much have to be content with the occasional leaked screenshots.

    If that’s not enough to quench your iOS 6 craving, though, Apple’N’Apps has published a video walkthrough that shows some of the best new features of iOS 6. It shows off the updates to the Maps app, the new Facebook and Twitter widgets in the Notification Center, the new store apps – iTunes, iBooks, and App Store – and changes to the Music app. Check it out below:

  • iOS Shutdown Spinner Finally Gets The Retina Treatment

    Two years ago, in June of 2010, Steve Jobs stood on stage at WWDC and announced the iPhone 4. With it came Apple’s stunning new retina display, a technology that would eventually make its way to the iPad and almost exactly two year’s later, the MacBook Pro.

    Alongside the iPhone 4 Apple also released iOS 4. Thanks to the iPhone 4’s retina display, iOS 4 got a substantial makeover. Apple upgraded all their stock iOS apps, along with every font and graphic in the system, in order to prevent them from looking pixelated on the new display. App makers were soon forced to follow suit, lest their apps suffer by comparison.

    There was one graphic, however, that missed out on iOS 4’s retina display makeover. It’s the shutdown spinner, that little spinning graphic that shows up on your phone’s screen for a few seconds after you tell it to shut down, but before it actually switches off. While every other graphic or animation in iOS 4 got a crisp, clean, retina upgrade, the shutdown spinner stayed the same. Chances are you’ve never noticed it. Chances are that even if you have noticed, it didn’t really bother you that much.

    On the other hand, you could be like me: once you noticed that the spinner was still pixelated, it bothered you every time you shut your phone down. After all, it can’t be that hard to just fix the spinner? Why hasn’t Apple fixed the spinner? They’ve released a dozen minor iOS updates since iOS 4 and they still haven’t fixed the damn spinner!

    Well, if you’re one of those people, then you’re in luck. According to The Next Web iOS 6 finally, at long last, fixes the damn spinner. They discovered the updated spinner graphic when fiddling around with the newly-released iOS 6 beta and attempted to get a picture of it. That attempt resulted in an image that was… less than optimal. Fortunately, a reader who also had access to the iOS 6 beta decided to be merciful and send in a decent quality image. Check it out below:

    iOS 6 Shutdown Spinner

    There, now. Isn’t that better?

  • iOS 6 Jailbreak May Be Tougher Than Expected

    Yesterday we told you that the beta version of iOS 6 fixed all the exploits that were used to jailbreak iOS 5.1, effectively killing the current jailbreak. While MuscleNerd was able to get his fourth-generation iPod Touch jailbroken, many things were broken by iOS 6, including Cydia. This, of course, came as no surprise: Apple regularly kills the exploits used in public jailbreaks when it updates iOS.

    Unfortunately, though, the news got a little worse today. According to a tweet by pod2g, iOS 6 also fixes an exploit that devs have been using for two years to root iOS. This particular exploit wasn’t found in any public jailbreak tool, as it requires an Apple Developer ID to work. Nevertheless, iOS 6 includes a patch rendering the exploit useless. Coincidentally, this particular exploit was discovered by a hacker called Comex (the person behind the JailbreakMe exploit from a few years ago). Comex, it seems, began working for Apple last fall as an intern. While it is, of course, possible that Apple happened to discover and patch this exploit less than a year after Comex began interning there, it’s not terribly likely.

    Here’s pod2g’s tweet about the situation:

    Of course, as pod2g and other members of the Dev Team revealed a few weeks ago, they keep a few iOS exploits secret in order to get a jumpstart on each new version of iOS. That being the case, it’s unclear what impact this development will have on the timeline for the iOS 6 jailbreak. Of course, in the same interview pod2g pointed out that they don’t spend a lot of time trying to jailbreak beta versions of iOS firmware, lest later betas fix the exploits they use. That being the case, the iOS 6 jailbreak will almost certainly be coming a few months after the public release, just as with iOS 5 and iOS 5.1.1.

  • iOS 6: Which Features Will Your Device Get?

    Without a doubt, one of the biggest highlights of yesterday’s WWDC 2012 keynote was iOS 6. Apple’s latest mobile operating system packs in over 200 new features, some of which we heard about at yesterday’s keynote, some of which have come to light as developers have gotten their hands on the new iOS 6 beta.

    Of course, every update – be it iOS or OS X – has casualties. There is always a list of devices that aren’t supported. With OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, if your computer was made before about the middle of 2009, you’re out of luck. With iOS, the compatibility list is actually pretty impressive. Most of Apple’s iOS device lineup will support iOS 6. Unfortunately “most” doesn’t mean “all,” and “support” doesn’t mean “run every new feature.” Fortunately, Apple has published a list of compatible devices and which features will be supported on each.

    So, let’s start with the devices that won’t run iOS 6 at all. If you’re still rocking a first-generation iPad (like yours truly), then you’re out; iOS 6 only supports the iPad 2 and new iPad. On the iPhone front, only the first generation iPhone and the iPhone 3G are left out (in point of fact, the original iPhone lost support for new iOS versions quite some time ago). The list of compatible iPod Touch models is much smaller: anything older than the 4th generation iPod Touch (which came out in 2010) is out of luck.

    Okay, so now you know your device is will support iOS 6, the big question is which features your device will run. Some of these are pretty obvious (like Siri), while others are less obvious. Here’s the list below:

  • Siri: On the iPhone, Siri remains an iPhone 4S exclusive. On the iPad, it will be available only on the new iPad (not the iPad 2).
  • FaceTime: To use FaceTime over a 3G connection, you have to have the iPhone 4S or the new iPad only (the cellular data model, naturally).
  • Mail VIP: Curiously, this requires the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S, and the iPad 2 or new iPad.
  • Offline Reading List: Once again, the iPhone 3GS is left out. This feature is compatible with the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, and the second and third generation iPads.
  • Maps: Flyover and turn-by-turn navigation are limited to the iPhone 4S, the iPad 2, and the new iPad.
  • Shared Photo Streams: Yet again, no love for the iPhone 3GS. Once again, only compatible with the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad 2, or new iPad.

    • It’s worth noting that this is not an exhaustive list. In fact, this list comes from the footnotes of Apple’s iOS 6 preview page. Which means that if you put iOS 6 on your iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, or iPad 2, you may still be in for some unwelcome surprises in terms of what your device will or won’t do with the new operating system.

  • iOS 6: Screenshots Reveal Unannounced Features

    iOS 6: Screenshots Reveal Unannounced Features

    As expected, during yesterday’s WWDC 2012 keynote Apple unveiled iOS 6, which will be releasing in the fall alongside the new iPhone. During the keynote, Apple announced a lot of new features in iOS 6, most of which were not surprising. Features like Facebook integration, Do Not Disturb for notifications, improvements to Siri, and the new Maps app had been predicted for some time. Others, like Passbook and enhancements to the Phone app were unexpected.

    Whether expected or unexpected, though, the features highlighted during yesterday’s keynote were only a fraction of the over 200 new features Apple is bringing to the iOS platform with iOS 6. Today, courtesy of a source with access to the iOS 6 beta, we can bring you some screen shots of some of those features as found on the iPad. Combined with what Apple announced yesterday, these new features show that Apple really does pay attention to customer feedback, and have added some of the features that we’ve been wanting (and getting from Cydia, in some cases) for years. That being the case, some of you may no longer feel the need to jailbreak once iOS 6 ships. If, on the other hand, you’re like me and most of your jailbreak modifications have focused on the Notification Center, you’ll still want that jailbreak. There are lots of new features in iOS 6, but a lot was left out, as well. Here’s what my source had to say:

    iOS 6 is definitely a welcome change for all of the small missing features from iOS 5 that required a jailbreak in order to use. It is more stable and polished for the user. However I feel that they left out some key features and components in this update such as third party apis for the notification center (It’s still a semi-useless hub), a dedicated weather app (Who wouldn’t want to know the weather or dock their iPad as an alarm clock and wake up to the weather), And more functionality for Siri. This is still a beta but I don’t forsee Apple adding any new feature in this update.

    So, if you’re like me and most of your jailbreak tweaks deal with notification center (IntelliScreenX almost makes your jailbreak worth it all by itself), then iOS 6 might not quite be everything that you hoped it would be. Nevertheless, it’s a major improvement over iOS 5 in a lot of ways.

    But enough talk. On to the screenshots!

    To start off with, here’s the iPad’s new Clock app in action. Though there’s no weather app (a fact that still boggles the mind), you can get an extremely basic weather report for locations you’ve got set up in the world clock:

    iOS 6 for iPad

    iOS 6 for iPad

    Now when you update an app from the App Store, iOS is kind enough to show you which apps have been updated by slapping a “New” banner across the corner of their icons on the home screen:

    iOS 6 for iPad

    Speaking of the App Store, it’s gotten quite a makeover. The whole experience looks a lot smoother, and it includes a redesigned front page, much more efficiently displayed search results, an app preview screen that’s looks like what you see in the iBookstore, and, best of all, full-screen app screenshot previews:

    iOS 6 for iPad

    iOS 6 for iPad

    iOS 6 for iPad

    iOS 6 for iPad

    Next is Siri. Apple showed off some of the enhancements to Siri during yesterday’s keynote. Here’s a shot of what she looks line in action on the iPad:

    iOS 6 for iPad

    Apple’s new Maps app is another feature that looks pretty impressive on the iPad. The 3D rendering is nothing short of amazing, even though the odds are good it isn’t available for your city just yet.

    iOS 6 for iPad

    As noted above, there’s not a lot new with the notification center, so if you were hoping for an IntelliScreenX or even an NCSettings kind of upgrade (and to be honest, I really was), then there’s not that much here for you. The social sharing buttons are pretty awesome, that’s for sure, but there’s still so much that Apple could do with this feature to make it vastly more useful.

    That little moon you can see beside the clock, by the way, is your indication that the Do Not Disturb feature has been turned on.

    iOS 6 for iPad

    As I said above, iOS 6 includes some features that users have been asking for for years. If you use Bluetooth on your iOS device, you know what a hassle it can be to turn it on and off. If you want to turn Bluetooth off to save battery life (an absolute must, especially if you’re an iPhone 4S owner), then you’ve had to dig through four levels of menus in the Settings app, which is a major pain in the posterior. Now, at long last, iOS 6 makes that process simpler by putting the Bluetooth menu directly beneath the Wi-Fi menu at the top of the first page of the Settings app. And there was much rejoicing:

    iOS 6 for iPad

    Sharing options have gotten quite a boost in iOS 6, too. Of course, sharing to Facebook has been added, but the whole sharing menu has gotten a much-needed facelift. Gone are the wide, boring buttons that just list your sharing options. Now the sharing menu shows you a grid of app icons (or app-like icons for system options) showing you what all you can do with a photo…

    iOS 6 for iPad

    …or a website in Safari

    iOS 6 for iPad

    So, all in all, iOS 6 is pretty darn impressive. There’s lots of stuff here to be excited about, and only a little to be disappointed about. Notification Center APIs would have been nice, as would a few other Notification Center improvements. Siri APIs would also have been nice, to put it mildly. Nevertheless, iOS 6 sports a lot of new features that will dramatically improve the iOS experience.

  • Apple Announces New iPad Smart Case

    Apple Announces New iPad Smart Case

    Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference may not have seen the announcement for the iPhone 5, but what it did have, (apart from the big Mountain Lion announcements) was a lot of little additions that we are getting excited about. iOS Facebook integration, FaceTime over 3G networks, retinal displays on the new Macbooks — all added up to a fairly exciting conference. But there is still one more thing we think is pretty cool.

    This is the new upgrade to the Apple made iPad case that was so popular when the iPad 2 was first introduced. It debuted along with some serious big ticket items at this years WWDC, so it didn’t get a lot of attention at first. But fans of the original folding case are going to love this version.

    It is made of polyurethane, just like the original, but this one actually covers both sides of the device. Image that, a protective case that actually protects the whole thing. It comes in six different colors (all matching the original colors) and costs $49.99

    The backing on this new case is very slim, allowing you to access all of your buttons and ports and keeping the weight and bulk down considerably.

    It is immediately available from the Apple online store, and ordering the case online will earn you a free laser engraving. It fits both the iPad 2 and the New iPad, so a size specification is not required.

    From the Apple Store:

    The iPad Smart Case covers your iPad — both front and back — yet still retains the thin, light design of iPad. Like the Smart Cover, it folds easily into a stand for reading, typing, and watching video. And it automatically wakes and sleeps iPad on open and close. Made from polyurethane, it’s available in six bright colors. And you can personalize it with free laser engraving on the Apple Online Store.

    [ht: Engadget]

  • Siri Announced for New iPad with iOS 6

    Siri Announced for New iPad with iOS 6

    As expected, one of the perks that will be bundled up in the just-announced iOS 6 will be the inclusion of everybody’s favorite semi-sentient voice-commanded digital assistant, Siri, to the New iPad.

    Scott Forstall, speaking at Apple’s annual World Wide Developers Conference today, listed a bevy of new updates that Siri will be receiving, such as support for many new languages as well as an intelligence-boost. Siri will also be able to launch apps and has a deeper integration with services like Foursquare and Yelp.

    The New iPad, the third generation of Apple’s tablet family, will be the only one receiving the addition of Siri with iOS 6. However, given that the iPad 2 is running on an A5 chip that’s similar to the iPhone 4S, the latter being where Siri made its original debut, it’s a little confusing as to why the iPad 2 wouldn’t be getting the Siri-ness. Maybe that’s something that Apple has planned for a future date, or maybe it’s just the company’s clever way of enticing people to upgrade to the New iPad. Either way, the New iPad is your first and, for now, only Apple tablet equipped with Siri.

  • Eyes Free Announced Integrating Siri with your Car [WWDC 2012 Coverage]

    Yet another development from Apple revealed at today’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC 2012) in San Francisco. It’s Siri integration for your car. Say hello to hands free. And it’s not just in English either. Siri has learned Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

    That’s right, Apple has been working with a number of automobile makers to bring to life a true one touch feature that will take your eyes off your device and put them where they belong, on the road. Apparently in the next 12 months, eyes free Siri integration will be available on various models from BMW, GM, Mercedes, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler, and Honda. Talk about a safety feature, this is true hands free integration.

    The new technology will be available for iOS so you can integrate your iPhone or iPad right into the steering wheel of your car. One touch and Siri is taking your commands with no need to be distracted from the road. Stay tuned to WebProNews for more developments out of WWDC 2012.

  • Apple App Store Now Carries 650,000 Apps with 30 Billion Already Downloaded

    Apple App Store Now Carries 650,000 Apps with 30 Billion Already Downloaded

    Apple CEO Tim Cook just announced an amazing milestone for the company at today’s (June 11th – 15th) Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2012) in San Francisco. The news is, the app store now has over 650,000 apps available and there has already been 30 billion downloads. Very impressive!

    Of course, well over 200,000 of those apps are specifically designed for the iPad. The popularity of the App Store has already reach 120 countries and there are 35 more about to be added by the end of June. But lets not forget that all these apps come at a price to Apple as well as consumer.

    Apple has forked over $5 billion to app developers to make these record numbers a reality. I would say that’s a monumental investment. Check back all day for more coverage of the WWDC 2012 events. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the conference all week. Feel free to head to the App Store to drive those numbers higher.

  • WWDC 2012: Live Coverage Of Apple’s Keynote

    WWDC 2012: Live Coverage Of Apple’s Keynote

    UPDATE: And that’s all, folks. Thanks for following our live coverage of Apple’s keynote. Check our WWDC 2012 page for continuing coverage.

    UPDATE: “I hope you have a fantastic week, thank you very much for coming.”

    UPDATE: Talking about how great Apple and their products are and the importance of devs in that process.

    UPDATE: Tim Cook back on stage.

    UPDATE: iOS 6 ships “this fall,” will support iPhone 3GS and later, iPad 2 and new iPad, 4th gen iPod Touch and up. Beta available for devs today.

    UPDATE: Maps app will feature and promote travel apps from the App Store.

    UPDATE: Same features for China that were announced for OS X are coming to iOS 6, too.

    UPDATE: Redesigned the App Store. Fine tuned privacy controls. Improved experience for users with hearing aids. Per-account signatures. Added Lost mode to Find My iPhone: send a phone number to your lost iPhone and allow whoever finds it to call you.

    UPDATE: “And these are only 10 of the over 200 new features in iOS 6.”

    UPDATE: Siri narrates your turns. Get ETA, overview of your trip, etc.

    UPDATE: Includes adaptive, cinematic animations of turns.

    UPDATE: Showing off turn-by-turn navigation.

    UPDATE: Flyover. Hyper-realistic 3D models. Vector based maps respond quickly. Lets you zoom in and out.

    UPDATE: Ask Siri to take you there, and she’ll give you directions. Ask for stops like gas stations, and she’ll find them along your route.

    UPDATE: Monitors traffic, updates your ETA on the fly. Reroutes you around bad traffic. Integrated into Siri, shows on the lock screen of the phone.

    UPDATE: Turn-by-turn navigation built in.

    UPDATE: Integrated with Yelp, traffic service in the works. Includes incident reports using anonymous crowdsourced data from iOS users.

    UPDATE: Brand new mapping solution built from the ground up. Doing all the cartography in-house. A worldwide effort.

    UPDATE: Time for Maps.

    UPDATE: Guided Access allows you to control whether kids can change an app’s settings. Single app mode allows you to lock an app so that they can’t leave the app by hitting the home button.

    UPDATE: Next, Guided Access.

    UPDATE: Cards updated live. If your flight’s gate changes, the app updates your boarding pass automatically.

    UPDATE: Automatically updates balances on store cards.

    UPDATE: Location based features in Passbook. When you get to the movie theater, it pulls up your ticket.

    UPDATE: Passbook. Get all your passes – boarding passes, tickets, store cards, movie tickets, etc. – all in one app.

    UPDATE: Now easier to upload photos/videos straight from the mail app.

    UPDATE: VIPs coming to Mail. Mark a contact as a VIP and get a notification when they send you an email, also a flagged mailbox.

    UPDATE: Photo Stream. Shared photo streams coming in iOS 6.

    UPDATE: Full screen Safari in landscape on iOS.

    UPDATE: Smart app banners lets devs direct users to the App Store for their native apps, or launches the app automatically.

    UPDATE: Safari getting iCloud tabs and photo uploads.

    UPDATE: Apple ID and phone number being unified, so you can receive FaceTime calls and messages to your phone number from your Mac or iPad.

    UPDATE: FaceTime now works over 3G.

    UPDATE: Do Not Disturb allows you to turn off notifications temporarily. Includes fine control. Also set to allow repeated calls in case of emergencies.

    UPDATE: Reply to phone calls with messages, or set reminders to call them later.

    UPDATE: Phone app getting enhancements.

    UPDATE: Facebook friends’ contact info will appear in their entries in the Contacts app. Facebook events (including birthdays) now appear in Calendar.

    UPDATE: Post to Facebook and Twitter from Notification Center. Use Siri to post to either Facebook or Twitter. Also made Facebook integration a public API, meaning devs can integrate it into their apps easily.

    UPDATE: Facebook integration. Sign into Facebook from the Settings app. Post to Facebook from Photos, Safari, Maps, the App Store, the iTunes Store, Game Center, and more.

    UPDATE: Siri coming to the new iPad.

    UPDATE: Local search going around the world.

    UPDATE: Several new languages, including Spanish, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

    UPDATE: Working with a number of car manufacturers to bring Eyes Free Siri integration within the next twelve months. Use buttons on your steering wheel to activate Siri.

    UPDATE: “Eyes Free.”

    UPDATE: Now Siri can launch apps. E.g., “Play Temple Run.”

    UPDATE: Can ask about directors, actors, etc.

    UPDATE: Siri has become a movie buff. Ask what movies are playing nearby. Rotten Tomatoes integration. Watch trailers from within Siri. Showing a trailer for The Avengers.

    UPDATE: Much more information about restaurants. Partnered with Yelp and OpenTable for reviews and more information.

    UPDATE: Ask about team scores, individual player stats, standings, and more. Even ask whether LeBron is taller than Kobe.

    UPDATE: Sports scores now integrated. Shows final score of yesterday’s Giants-Rangers game.

    UPDATE: Siri demo.

    UPDATE: More than 200 new features, starting with significant enhancements to Siri.

    UPDATE: Over 75% of users are very satisfied with iOS.

    UPDATE: Going over some of the features added in iOS 5. 1.5 trillion notifications since launch. 140 million iMessage users, over 150 billion messages sent, over a billion sent every day.

    UPDATE: 365 million iOS devices sold as of March. Over 80% of them are running iOS 5 (compared to a huge number of Android devices using Gingerbread instead of Ice Cream Sandwich).

    UPDATE: Now time for iOS 6.

    UPDATE: Mountain Lion ships next month. Devs get near-final preview today.

    UPDATE: Upgrades from both Snow Leopard and Lion. Buy once, upgrade all your Macs.

    UPDATE: Upgrade to Mountain Lion is $19.99. Yes, really.

    UPDATE: 1700 APIs for developers.

    UPDATE: New features for China. New Chinese dictionary. Updates for pinyin input. Baidu search for Safari.

    UPDATE: Many more features. Including VIPs in Mail, search in LaunchPad, Gatekeeper, Offline Reading List.

    UPDATE: Showing off CSR Racing head-to-head using AirPlay mirroring.

    UPDATE: Use Game Center and AirPlay to send your game to your big screen.

    UPDATE: Supports turn-based and head-to-head gaming, both Mac-to-Mac and Mac-to-iOS.

    UPDATE: “Finally, Game Center.” There’s been “a renaissance of gaming on the Mac” thanks to the App Store.

    UPDATE: AirPlay mirroring. “Absolutely the easiest way to get whatever’s on your Mac onto a nearby projector or television.” Connects to Apple TV and sends 1080p video.

    UPDATE: “Power Nap.” Keeps your Mac up to date while it sleeps. Fetches mail, calendars, photos, reminders, etc, even when asleep. Downloads App Store and system updates while charging.

    UPDATE: Tweet directly from Notification Center. Notification Center also supports web services.

    UPDATE: Notification Center helpful for when you use full-screen apps. Supports multitouch gestures: swipe down with two fingers on the trackpad to bring it down.

    UPDATE: Tab View: use gestures to physically navigate across tabs.

    UPDATE: iCloud tabs. Shows you all the tabs you’ve got open across all your iOS/OS X devices. Pick up on your Mac where you left off on your iPhone.

    UPDATE: Unified search/URL bar.

    UPDATE: The new Safari. Fastest Javascript engine of any browser on the planet.

    UPDATE: Sharing (via Twitter, Messages, Flickr, etc.) integrated deeply into the OS. Log into Twitter using System Preferences.

    UPDATE: Mountain Lion gets Dictation. Anywhere you can type, you can talk. Including third-party apps like MS Word.

    UPDATE: Notifications can be turned off temporarily. Shuts itself down if you connect a projector.

    UPDATE: Notification Center brings “consistent and elegant” notifications to Mac, replacing all the various and distracting ways apps got your attention.

    UPDATE: Changes to a document made on your iPhone are automatically synced to your Mac.

    UPDATE: You can drag files into iCloud to upload.

    UPDATE: Attachments up to 100MB in size, including HD videos via iMessage.

    UPDATE: Messages brings iMessage to the Mac. Allows you to respond to messages from your iPhone via your Mac. Keeps all your conversations synced across devices.

    UPDATE: Location-based reminders on the Mac for the first time.

    UPDATE: Three new iCloud apps for Mountain Lion: Message, Reminders, and Notes. Documents in the Cloud another new feature. Allows you to store your apps in iCloud. Comes with a developer SDK so devs can build Documents In The Cloud support into their apps.

    UPDATE: iCloud has 125 million users.

    UPDATE: 200 new features in Mountain Lion, just 8 focused on today.

    UPDATE: 26 million copies of Lion shipped. 40% of OS X users are on Lion 9 months after release. It took Windows 7 27 months to get to the same point.

    UPDATE: 66 million Mac users now, three times the number of a few years ago.

    UPDATE: Notebooks done, on to OS X.

    UPDATE: Starts at $2,199. Ships today.

    UPDATE: Video over, Schiller back on stage.

    UPDATE: Completely redesigned internal cooling system. Designed to be imperceptible to the user. Asymmetrically placed fan blades spread the sound over a variety of frequencies.

    UPDATE: “One of the most significant challenges was completely redesigning our approach to designing the display.” The display is built directly into the unibody.

    UPDATE: Three million more pixels than an HDTV.

    UPDATE: Video showing off the new MacBook Pro’s features. Jony Ive: “Without a doubt the very best computer we’ve ever built.”

    UPDATE: FaceTime HD camera, dual microphones, best stereo speakers ever on a desktop or notebook.

    UPDATE: SD card slot, updated MagSafe power port, two thunderbolt ports, two USB 2/3 ports, and an HDMI port.

    UPDATE: A 2.7GHz quad-core i& processor, up to 16GB of RAM, a GeForce GT 650 graphics processor, up to 768 GB of flash storage. 7 hours of battery life, 30 days standby.

    UPDATE: Completely redesigned internals, including a huge battery.

    UPDATE: New display will be great for gaming.

    UPDATE: Updates to Photoshop and Autodesk also in the works.

    UPDATE: All major Apple apps take advantage of the new retina display. Including iMovie, iPhoto, Mail, Safari, etc. Major updates to Aperture and Final Cut Pro. Individual apps will have to update, otherwise they get pixel-doubled (think iPhone apps on the iPad).

    UPDATE: 15.4-inches diagonally, 2880×1800 resolution. 220 ppi, 5,184,000 pixels total. Most hi-res notebook ever. Reduced glare by 75%

    UPDATE: Retina display!

    UPDATE: Less than three quarters of an inch thick: 0.71 inches. Thin as the MacBook Air, weighs 4.46 pounds. Thinner and lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

    UPDATE: Very thin, very light, enormous display. Schiller says “It’s thinner than my finger!”

    UPDATE: The Next Generation MacBook Pro. “Killer new display,” thinner, lighter, no optical drive or wired networking.

    UPDATE: Brand new MacBook.

    UPDATE: MacBook Pro to come in 13-inch and 15-inch models. 13-inch to be $1199 and $1499, 15-inch at $1799 and $2199. Ships today. No retina display so far.

    UPDATE: MacBook Pro: up to 2.7GHz quad-core i7 processor, up to 8GB of memory, 60% faster graphics.

    UPDATE: New prices: all models get a $100 price cut, all ship today (Apple Store still down).

    UPDATE: 11 and 13-inch models, 1366×768 display, 720p FaceTime HD camera.

    UPDATE: Adding a USB 3.0 port.

    UPDATE: i& Ivy Bridge processors, up to 8GB RAM, 60% faster memory. 512MB of flash storage.

    UPDATE: MacBook Air up first. Looks like four separate models.

    WWDC 2012

    UPDATE: “The MacBook Lineup.”

    UPDATE: Phil Schiller takes the stage to show off notebook changes.

    UPDATE: “Today we’re announcing exciting new changes in notebooks, and major releases of OS X and iOS.”

    UPDATE: Video over. Tim Cook returns to the stage.

    UPDATE: Video talking about some of the amazing apps in the App Store, including one that helps blind people navigate. Developer says he never thought of picking another platform.

    UPDATE: App Store coming soon to 32 new countries, bringing the total to 155.

    UPDATE: Developers have gotten a whopping $5 billion in payments from the App Store.

    UPDATE: The App Store has over 400 million user accounts. Largest number of accounts with credit cards on the internet. 650K apps in the App Store, 225K of them are iPad-specific. “This compares to just a few hundred for our competition.” 30 billion app downloads so far.

    WWDC 2012

    UPDATE: Tim Cook takes the stage. “We have some really cool stuff to show you this morning.”

    UPDATE: The presentation is opening with a video of Siri, who says she “was asked to warm up the crowd.” She’s telling jokes, including “How many developers does it take to change a light bulb? None. That’s a hardware problem.”

    UPDATE: Apple has announced that the presentation will begin shortly. There are reportedly some MacBooks already on the stage, though it’s not clear whether they’re new ones or not.

    With just a few minutes left to go until Apple’s WWDC 2012 Keynote, attendees are already being seated in the hall at San Francisco’s Moscone West. You can check out our rumor roundup from this morning for an idea of what to expect from today’s keynote. Meanwhile, this page will be updated live as the keynote progresses. Click refresh regularly to see new updates, which will appear at the top of the page.

  • iOS 6, New Mac Updates On Tap At WWDC 2012 Today

    It wouldn’t be much of a stretch at all to say that Apple’s WWDC 2012 keynote is the most highly-anticipated keynote in a long time. Historically, Apple has used WWDC to unveil new generations of the iPhone. Last year’s delayed launch of the iPhone 4S, however, means that we won’t be seeing the next iPhone (probably “the new iPhone,” instead of the iPhone 5 or iPhone 6) until October, or possibly September.

    Nevertheless, expectations for this year’s keynote are running high, and with good reason. There have been a lot of rumors zipping about in the last few weeks, and if even half of them are true, it’s going to be a big day.

    With that in mind, here is what we know so far about what we should expect from Apple’s WWDC 2012 keynote. But first, a disclaimer: WWDC is a software conference. Strictly speaking, the focus isn’t on hardware. That means that all we’re guaranteed from today’s keynote is iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion. Anything else is just gravy. Though as you’ll see, there’s reason to expect a sizable helping of gravy.

    iOS 6

    The first of the two guarantees for today’s keynote is iOS 6. Even though the new iPhone isn’t coming out for another 3-4 months, Apple will be unveiling the latest version of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch’s operating system today. While it’s been treated as a given for some time that iOS 6 would be on today’s menu, we got the best confirmation we could want short of an official statement from Apple on Friday. An Instagram user managed to catch a picture of workers raising a giant iOS 6 banner inside Moscone West, the San Francisco venue for WWDC 2012.

    So, iOS 6 has been confirmed, but what should we expect from iOS 6? Well, the biggest news is a new Maps app. Back in May it was reported that Apple was preparing to ditch Google Maps as the source for the iOS Maps app and replace it with mapping data developed in-house by the three mapping companies Apple began purchasing in 2009 (just a year after Google launched Android). Since that initial report there have been several additional leaks confirming a new Maps app. According to the reports, the new app will be largely the same in terms of interface, but will sport a hyper-realistic 3D mode. Check out a mockup of the new app below:

    iOS 6 Maps Mockup

    But that’s not all we should expect from iOS 6. Speaking at AllThingsD’s D10 Conference at the end of May, Apple CEO Tim Cook all but promised that iOS would be getting Facebook integration soon. Later reports have appeared to confirm that, saying that iOS 6’s system-wide Facebook integration will be much like the Twitter integration introduced last year with iOS 5.

    While reports suggest that iOS 6 won’t actually look much different from iOS 5 on the surface, Apple appears to have completely rewritten all of the stock iOS apps – Weather, Clock, Contacts, Calendar, etc. – in addition to Maps. While details are a little thin, the new versions of the apps are expected to have some pretty remarkable new features, and a slightly different user interface.

    During the same D10 session mentioned above, Tim Cook also strongly hinted that there would be major improvements to Siri coming soon. Though he was, naturally, coy about the details, it’s a fair bet that with iOS 6 Siri will be losing her “beta” label, and getting several new features and performance improvements. Though it may be too much to hope for Apple to release Siri’s APIs to developers, it’s certainly possible.

    Finally, iOS 6 will be getting some of the same improvements to existing features that are about to be rolled out with OS X Mountain Lion, including a Do Not Disturb feature for Notifications, Mail VIPs, and iCloud Tabs. The Do Not Disturb mode is pretty self-explanatory: it temporarily disables notifications from popping up while you’re, say, watching a movie or trying to sleep (nobody appreciates waking up to a Words With Friends notification at 3 in the morning, after all). Mail VIPs makes it easier to find and read mail from your selected list of VIPs, and iCloud Tabs allows you to see from one version of Safari (mobile or desktop) the tabs you’ve got open in all versions of Safari.

    OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

    There actually hasn’t been a lot of detail surface about Mountain Lion since Apple made the original (and quite unexpected) announcement earlier this year. That said, here’s what we know. Mountain Lion will be releasing sometime later this summer (possibly this month). It will include OS-wide Twitter integration like iOS 5, though surprisingly there has been no hint of Facebook integration making the jump to OS X. It will be getting a variety of sharing options including Flickr and Vimeo. It will also feature Message, an app that syncs with iMessage on your iPhone and iPad. While there’s currently a beta available for OS X Lion, that beta will stop working after Mountain Lion launches, making Messages a Mountain Lion-only product.

    Mountain Lion will be continuing the tradition Apple began with OS X 10.7 Lion last year of bringing iOS features “back to the Mac.” Consequently, Mountain Lion will be getting Notification Center, Reminders, and Notes, in addition to the aforementioned Twitter integration. There have also been recent rumors that the Dictation feature that made its way to the iPad in March will also be coming to Mountain Lion.

    Another new Mountain Lion feature will be Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper is a security feature that allows you to lock down your Mac so that only software from the Mac App Store can be installed. You can also set Gatekeeper to allow apps created by participants in Apple’s Developer ID program, or you can turn Gatekeeper off completely, allowing software from any source to be installed. While it’s likely to be popular with businesses and parents, there are those who worry that it’s a step toward making OS X the same sort of walled garden that iOS is.

    Finally, there appear to be several new features coming to iCloud. Early last month Apple accidentally made their test of iOS-style banner notifications for the iCloud web interface public. A few days later a beta version of the iCloud web interface revealed that Notes and Reminders apps were being added as well. It’s not certain that these new features will be unveiled at WWDC 2012, but a third report predicted that several major new features would be shown off at the conference, including vast improvements to iCloud’s photo handling and sharing.

    New Macs

    If you pay much attention to Apple’s product cycles, you may have noticed that while the company has been aggressively updating iOS and its associated devices, and has been incorporating certain features into OS X, there hasn’t been much attention paid to actual Mac hardware. Though the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iMac lines have gotten feature bumps in recent years, there have been no major upgrades. Indeed, some models – namely the Mac Pro – have been without an upgrade of any kind for years.

    According to what we’ve been hearing over the last few weeks, that’s about to change. While there have been rumors since the launch of the iPhone 4 in 2010 that Macs would start getting retina displays, it looks like this time it might actually happen. Back in May we started hearing the first serious rumblings of the MacBook Pro getting a retina display. The next day reports surfaced that the same might be true of the MacBook Air and iMac. While nothing has been confirmed, of course, Apple did let a retina display-ready app into the Mac App Store last week.

    Last week rumors surfaced that a fourth Mac line would be getting an update. While some believed it would be the Mac Mini, I speculated that the Mac Pro would be the model to get updated, which is in far worse need of an update than the Mac Mini. A report the next day appeared to confirm that it would indeed be the Mac Pro, though there’s little information on what, specifically, will be updated.

    Finally, there was a report last week that all these updates we’ve been hearing about for the MacBook Pro might not be headed to the MacBook Pro at all, but to an entirely new line of MacBook. This new MacBook would drop the “Pro” branding, and would get the lion’s share of the upgrades, leaving the MacBook Pro with only a basic feature bump. If it sells well, this new MacBook would eventually replace the current MacBook Pro (which replaced the original MacBook line a few years ago).

    New Apple TV OS (and the iTV?)

    Last but not least, there have been reports that Apple may show off a new operating system for the Apple TV at this year’s conference. There aren’t many details, but it’s possible that this update is meant to pave the way for the much-rumored iTV, Apple’s entry into the HDTV market. Though there has been some speculation that the iTV itself would be unveiled at this year’s conference, that is not likely.

    While little is known about the new Apple TV OS, one exciting detail has been circulated. It seems that Apple may release a software development kit (SDK) for the Apple TV alongside the OS update. That will mean that third-party developers can create apps for the Apple TV. That’s right, the Apple TV (and possibly the iTV?) may finally be getting the App Store.

    Conclusions

    It’s worth noting again that WWDC is a software developers’ conference, and that the only things that have been confirmed about this year’s keynote are iOS 6 and Mountain Lion. The rest is just speculation, though much of it appears solid. At any rate, we’re less than two hours from the keynote now, when all will be revealed. Until then, you can follow our WWDC 2012 page for more information, and check back for our live coverage of the keynote itself at 1 PM Eastern time.

  • Apple To Unveil Developer Analytics Tool That Preserves User Privacy

    In a world where virtually every computer is connected to virtually every other computer, millions of people spend countless hours reading and posting to social networks, and so many of us carry our own little internet boxes in our pockets, the issue of privacy has become tricky. Before the social media age and the rise of mobile technology, it was a lot simpler: companies weren’t allowed to listen in on your phone conversations with friends, read your mail, or follow you around at the grocery store or the mall to see what you bought.

    With everyone connected all the time, though, it’s a little more difficult. Oftentimes basic features of the technology we love – things that these gadgets and services require to do what we want them to do – raise their own privacy concerns. We want to use our phone’s built-in map app to find our way from where we are to where we want to be, but we don’t want Google to know too much about where we are. We want Siri to understand what we say and give appropriate answers, but we’re not comfortable with the fact that she has to upload our queries to Apple’s servers to do it. App developers need to collect usage data so they know what features of their apps are the most popular and which need the most improvement, but we don’t want them to associate that data with our devices.

    While many of these problems present significant difficulties, that last one, at least, may be remedied soon. In case you’re not familiar with the issue, Apple began taking steps recently to prevent iOS apps from accessing an iOS device’s universal device identifier (UDID). The concern was that allowing apps to do so compromised user privacy in a way that consumers were not comfortable with. While the move was good for user privacy, it presented significant problems for developers, since these apps used a device’s UDID to gather analytics data on how their apps were being used, how many users they had, how the apps were performing, and the like.

    Now, though, Apple may have found a compromise. According to a report this afternoon from the Wall Street Journal, Apple will introduce a developers’ tool that will allow users to collect the data they need while masking a device’s UDID. The details of the new tool are unclear, but Apple is expected to roll it out over the next week. Though it might not make the WWDC 2012 keynote, there’s a good chance that it will be a major topic during the conference itself.

  • iOS 6: Banner Confirms WWDC 2012 Launch

    Ever since Apple announced the dates for WWDC 2012, there has been speculation that they would unveil iOS 6 during their keynote. While there are all sorts of rumors about just what will be the topic of this year’s presentation, iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion have always been expected to be the central focus. This is, after all, a conference focused on software.

    Well, in case you needed any confirmation that Apple really will be showing off iOS 6 on Monday, you’ve got it now. Instagram user zacaltman has posted a photo of a huge iOS 6 banner being hung up inside Moscone West in San Francisco, the venue for this year’s conference:

    iOS 6 Banner At WWDC

    This year’s Apple keynote is scheduled for Monday, June 11 at 10 AM Pacific time (1 PM Eastern). If even half of the rumors we’ve been hearing about what Apple has in store are true, it’s going to be a good one.

    [Hat Tip: MacRumors]

  • Apple’s Post-PC World Dominance Moving Along According to Schedule

    Apple CEO Tim Cook’s assessment that the world is moving into a “post-PC” era during the debut of the New iPad may have seemed presumptuous at the time, maybe even overly ambitious of what Apple’s tablets, along with other manufacturers, but a new Yankee Group report shows that the post-PC world might be on the horizon after all.

    The study, “2012 US Tablet Landscape: An All-Too-Familiar Story,” predicts that the number of tablets in the United States will rise from 25 million in 2011 to more than 134 million by the year 2015, overtaking the number of PCs in the country. Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. consumers plan to pick up a tablet by the end of the year, but a quarter of those consumers are still up in the air as to which tablet they’ll eventually settle on. Given that Apple’s iPad family represents 51% of all tablets currently owned in the United States, it is hardly surprising that of those planning to buy a tablet in the next six months, 47% have their eyes on an iPad.

    While Apple and its iPad might be gobbling up the lion’s share of the tablet market, that voracious appetite is leaving its competitors to fight amongst themselves for the leftovers. “For the second quarter in a row, Apple’s iPad is leading the tablet market, forcing all other competitors to battle for the remaining 49 percent share,” said Carl Howe, research VP and head of the devices practice at Yankee Group, in a statement. “It’s too late to change current ownership, but tablet makers looking to gain on Apple need to start improving their brand visibility and targeting people who don’t already have their minds set on an iPad.”

    To date, the non-Apple tablet makers don’t appear to gaining any ground on the iPad and, worse, could be losing traction. While Amazon’s Kindle Fire was making waves in 2011, that fever seems to have broken: only 6% of prospective tablet buyers intend to buy one, down from 11% last year. Similarly, consumer interest in Samsung tablets has also dropped as only 4% intended to purchase one, down from 7% last year. Less visible tablet manufacturers like Blackberry, Motorola, and Dell face an even grimmer six months ahead, with only 4% of consumers saying that they own a tablet made by one of those companies.

    The iPad isn’t crushing its competitors on a wave of sheer hype, either. A recent study from ChangeWave Research found that owners of various iPads are by far and away much more satisfied with their purchase as opposed to consumers who opted for a tablet other than an iPad.

    While several of the iPads competitors might perform exceptionally well, Apple has certainly achieved a massive coup in the tablet market by successfully branding itself as not just a tablet manufacturer, but The Tablet Manufacturer.