iPad 2 coming next Wednesday
Apple has scheduled a press event for next Wednesday in San Francisco where it will announce the iPad 2. This has been a rumored date for the past week but it is now official. So based on what has been said about it the expectations are we will see a second generation iPad with a front and rear facing camera and a more anti-reflective screen to make it easier to read for long periods of time. One thing that will not be in the second gen. is a retina display but that is rumored for the iPad 3 which Apple may announce in the Fall. I also expect the new iPad to be sold at both AT&T and Verizon locations as well as the usual Best Buy and Apple Store locations.
A MobileMe Makeover
According to a report in Cult of Mac, Apple is about to totally rebuild MobileMe into a combination of Facebook, uStream, and FourSquare. Basically allowing you to have a dynamic website that is live. If they make good on only half of what is in the article it is totally worth the $99 I just paid again for it this year. Apple stated yesterday that their new massive Data Center in North Carolina will support iTunes and MobileMe when it goes live in the Spring.
Sony backtracks on iTunes Crazy Talk
A Sony executive stated that it has no intention of pulling their music content from iTunes. Glad you bozo’s got your story straight! Any label pulling its music content from iTunes would be like a TV network pulling its shows from say DirecTV...it would only hurt their sales in the long run. Like it or not iTunes is the standard for digital music distribution, if someone can do it better then people will flock to that service in large numbers, but it hasn’t happened yet. Certainly Amazon does a good job with their music content but it is still not as simple as iTunes IMHO.
Apple Looking at Offering a Cheaper iPhone
Apple is said to be looking at developing a cheaper iPhone, one that can better compete with Android offerings. Presumably this lower cost iPhone could be free if signed with a 2 year contract with a carrier. Of course you can get the iPhone 3GS right now for $49 but only through AT&T. Another story floating around is that this cheaper iPhone would be more of a streaming device with content coming from a digital locker in the new MobileMe revamp as mentioned above.
AT&T Allowing Mobile Hotspot for 4.3 Users
Here is an interesting piece about how developers using iOS 4.3 are being allowed access to AT&T’s new Mobile Hotspot service. I hope this will be the case when iOS 4.3 goes live to the general public and that AT&T will allow an iPad for example to be a part of the hotspot. Why pay AT&T $25 for 3G access on the iPad when I can just use it as a device with a hotspot service?
According to a report in Cult of Mac, Apple is about to totally rebuild MobileMe into a combination of Facebook, uStream, and FourSquare. Basically allowing you to have a dynamic website that is live. If they make good on only half of what is in the article it is totally worth the $99 I just paid again for it this year. Apple stated yesterday that their new massive Data Center in North Carolina will support iTunes and MobileMe when it goes live in the Spring.
Sony backtracks on iTunes Crazy Talk
A Sony executive stated that it has no intention of pulling their music content from iTunes. Glad you bozo’s got your story straight! Any label pulling its music content from iTunes would be like a TV network pulling its shows from say DirecTV...it would only hurt their sales in the long run. Like it or not iTunes is the standard for digital music distribution, if someone can do it better then people will flock to that service in large numbers, but it hasn’t happened yet. Certainly Amazon does a good job with their music content but it is still not as simple as iTunes IMHO.
Apple Looking at Offering a Cheaper iPhone
Apple is said to be looking at developing a cheaper iPhone, one that can better compete with Android offerings. Presumably this lower cost iPhone could be free if signed with a 2 year contract with a carrier. Of course you can get the iPhone 3GS right now for $49 but only through AT&T. Another story floating around is that this cheaper iPhone would be more of a streaming device with content coming from a digital locker in the new MobileMe revamp as mentioned above.
AT&T Allowing Mobile Hotspot for 4.3 Users
Here is an interesting piece about how developers using iOS 4.3 are being allowed access to AT&T’s new Mobile Hotspot service. I hope this will be the case when iOS 4.3 goes live to the general public and that AT&T will allow an iPad for example to be a part of the hotspot. Why pay AT&T $25 for 3G access on the iPad when I can just use it as a device with a hotspot service?
Apple adopting Thunderbolt (Light Peak)?
Perhaps this will explain Apple’s reluctance to adopt USB 3.0. They appear to be adopting Intel’s Light Peak or High-Speed Connection Technology which offers a connection speed of 10Gbps (USB 2.0 is 480Mbps and USB 3.0 is 5Gbps). Apple would rebrand it as Thunderbolt, think for example how they renamed iLink (IEEE 1394) as FireWire.
Readability app Rejected and Resubmitted
Readability which is an application that strips away a lot of advertising junk from stuff you want to read as rejected earlier this week by Apple over the lack of in-app subscription, but the issue seems to have been resolved as it has been resubmitted. Readability is more of a Software as a Service app than say a subscription content something Steve Jobs stated in an email to a developer. Apple’s new in-app subscription policy has caught the eye of the FTC which is investigating the policy. From Apple’s standpoint I can see where they want to make it easier for the consumer to purchase content from within the app, but from a developer perspective it is more of a twisting of the arm to get to play in Apple’s App Store club and giving Apple a 30% cut of the in-app purchase on top of that. I think Apple should be more flexible on that percentage offer as Google’s new service simply takes 10%. I don’t have a lot of big beefs with Apple but this would be one of them.
24-bit Music coming to iTunes?
Apple is in discussions with music labels on offering 24-bit music in its iTunes music store. Currently it is only available in 16-bit format where 24-bit is a HiFi format.
Will OS X 10.7 Lion bring new UI?
Another bit of information here is will the upcoming Mac OS update of 10.7 Lion bring an updated user interface? Maybe something more iOS like? Will be interesting to see what Apple has up their sleeves for it.
Well, that is going to do it for this edition of AppleTalk Thursday. See you all next week where we will have a good breakdown of the iPad 2 announcement. See you then!
Perhaps this will explain Apple’s reluctance to adopt USB 3.0. They appear to be adopting Intel’s Light Peak or High-Speed Connection Technology which offers a connection speed of 10Gbps (USB 2.0 is 480Mbps and USB 3.0 is 5Gbps). Apple would rebrand it as Thunderbolt, think for example how they renamed iLink (IEEE 1394) as FireWire.
Readability app Rejected and Resubmitted
Readability which is an application that strips away a lot of advertising junk from stuff you want to read as rejected earlier this week by Apple over the lack of in-app subscription, but the issue seems to have been resolved as it has been resubmitted. Readability is more of a Software as a Service app than say a subscription content something Steve Jobs stated in an email to a developer. Apple’s new in-app subscription policy has caught the eye of the FTC which is investigating the policy. From Apple’s standpoint I can see where they want to make it easier for the consumer to purchase content from within the app, but from a developer perspective it is more of a twisting of the arm to get to play in Apple’s App Store club and giving Apple a 30% cut of the in-app purchase on top of that. I think Apple should be more flexible on that percentage offer as Google’s new service simply takes 10%. I don’t have a lot of big beefs with Apple but this would be one of them.
24-bit Music coming to iTunes?
Apple is in discussions with music labels on offering 24-bit music in its iTunes music store. Currently it is only available in 16-bit format where 24-bit is a HiFi format.
Will OS X 10.7 Lion bring new UI?
Another bit of information here is will the upcoming Mac OS update of 10.7 Lion bring an updated user interface? Maybe something more iOS like? Will be interesting to see what Apple has up their sleeves for it.
Well, that is going to do it for this edition of AppleTalk Thursday. See you all next week where we will have a good breakdown of the iPad 2 announcement. See you then!
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