Articles about Apple

The most interesting thing about the new iPad launch in San Diego isn't Apple Store, or people waiting in line there. It's the Microsoft Store down the way. In a brilliant, if overly optimistic, marketing move, the shop opened at 7 am PDT, one hour before Apple Store. The move was perhaps symbolic given the line waiting to buy new iPad, but nevertheless foreshadows competition to come. If you've been off-planet or other-dimension and missed the news, Apple's newest tablet is on sale today in 10 countries.

Two employees set up under a small canopy outside Microsoft Store, showing off tablets running Windows 8 Consumer Preview. New iPad has big resolution on a small screen, but Windows 8 wows more. The OS is fast and fluid -- alive! It's like a living thing. Many BetaNews readers are sour on Metro, but I'm a big fan. The motif is a leap forward in user interface design, while iOS is oh-so been there, done that.

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If you preordered Apple's tablet or will stand in line to buy on March 16, one question surely must come to mind: Which apps will look good on the high-resolution display? According to Apple there are 32, but we know that's a fib. There's at least one more, and its omission stinks of a little dirty competition -- Apple against one of its developer partners.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company opened a new section on the iTunes Store: "Great Apps for the New iPad". Caveat: Apple doesn't explicitly say all the apps support the Retina display, just insinuates. Missing: Kindle 3.0 for iOS, which Amazon announced today. This competitor to Apple's iBooks app/iBookstore is ready for the new iPad's 2048 x 1536 resolution. Apple just isn't ready to let you know about it. Now why is that?

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Steve Jobs left behind a legal mess for Apple chief executive Tim Cook. Decisions the former CEO made when brokering ebook distribution deals haunt Apple, as a civil price-fixing case moves forward and the specter of a federal antitrust investigation approaches. Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates left Steve Ballmer in similar straights in early 2000. Look what happened to Microsoft since.

Apple is alleged to have colluded with major publishers to fix ebook prices, in violation of US antitrust law. There has been little analysis from legal experts on whether or not Apple is actually in danger of criminal complaint. I sat down with William Markham, a partner with San Diego-based law firm Maldonado & Markham, to understand the basics of the civil ebook case and possible federal criminal action. It seems like Apple may find itself a target of antitrust claims in short order, if Markham is right.

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I'm appalled by the sudden feeding frenzy about the Siri lawsuit, which was filed last week but only big-time hit the mainstream news yesterday. Now the damn thing is everywhere, and I've been asked to jump on the meat wagon and write something, too. Siri is the iPhone 4S "personal assistant".

It's all so pointless, going after Apple for beta software, about which advertising states "sequences shortened" for Siri's responses. New Yorker Frank M. Fazio is suing Apple because he bought a 32GB iPhone 4S from a Best Buy in Brooklyn on Nov. 19, 2011. Gasp, "plaintiff was exposed to Apple's representations regarding the Siri feature" -- that is according to the legal filing. Siri's alleged crimes: Failing to understand Fazio and giving him the "wrong answer". Apple's alleged misdeed: Misleading and false advertising.

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Apple may find itself on the precipice of an antitrust lawsuit over its handling of ebooks, but on the flipside is quickly becoming a key witness in the US Government's continuing investigation into Google's business practices. The Federal Trade Commission has asked the Cupertino, Calif. company to detail Google's integration into iOS.

Google has been the default search engine for the iPhone since its debut in 2007, and on the iPad since 2010. While consumers do have the option to change the setting to Yahoo or Microsoft's Bing, from the factory it's all Google. Google Maps also is the basis for iOS' navigation functionality, with no other options provided.

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Apple and Motorola held talks late last year to settle the patent row between the two companies but Motorola's demands blew up the deal, legal filings now indicate. The revelations are part of documents from the European Union's review of the merger between Google and Motorola, and essentially flips the argument that Apple is the patent bully in this mess.

Motorola gets a pass in the patent row that has become a crippling plague in the technology sector, while Apple is continuously beat up by pundits with an ax to grind. But Motorola's demands are so out of line it's almost comical: for Apple to gain access to Moto's standards-essential patents, it has to license all of its own porfolio.

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For Apple, the past week was about post-PC devices and apps; now comes Mac software. Today Safari 5.1.4 released, and despite the very small x.x.1 version number increase, there is a massive improvement in JavaScript performance to look forward to, as well as the usual plethora of bug fixes and general tweaks.

Any claims about performance increases for software are usually open to interpretation and individual user experiences will differ from one machine to another. However, Apple claims that users running a reasonably specified system should be able to reap the benefits of up to an 11 percent improvement in JavaScript performance. This can do a lot to improve the responsiveness of websites, but there are also a number of other improvements included in the browser.

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European Union antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia says that the Competition Commission is open to a settlement with publishers in the increasingly high-profile ebook price fixing case, but only if the companies address key regulatory issues. Almunia says regulators are coordinating with the Justice Department, which is also investigating the industry.

Apple's activities are still central to the investigation, with Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster's deals with the Cupertino, Calif. company being questioned. Like the US Justice Department investigation, Apple's efforts to restrict how ebooks are sold to competitors is a key issue.

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If you want Apple's third-generation tablet, retail is the only option short of waiting. Apple Store Online now lists shipping date as two to three weeks. Pre-orders started March 7, with the new iPad coming to stores in 10 countries this Friday. Did you miss out?

For the majority of you, not at all. Last week I asked BetaNews readers "Will you buy the new iPad?" As of this morning, 54.56 percent had answered "No". That is from a small sample size, just 482 responses, which is atypical for buying polls and low compared to the story's pageviews. To me that says: So many of you are so uninterested in the new iPad, you couldn't be bothered to respond.

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Last week, Apple lowered the price of iPad 2 16GB WiFi by $100 to $399 and the 3G model to $529. The move follows a pattern established for iPhone; during this release cycle 3GS is free and 4 is $99.

My question: Is $399 iPad 2 cheap enough for you? Cheap refers to price, not quality, although you're welcome to debate the latter in comments.

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While Apple and book publishers may find themselves on the precipice of an antitrust lawsuit from the Justice Department, filings in a concurrent civil class-action lawsuit obtained by BetaNews indicate that Apple has already admitted to two of the most damaging allegations in the case that the federal government is likely to include.

According to reporting Thursday by the Wall Street Journal, at the heart of the case is the agreement struck with publishers which changed the way ebooks are sold to retailers. This in turn caused prices to increase dramatically, critics argue. Apple is also accused of further controlling the market through a clause in its own contract for iBooks that forbade publishers from permitting competitors to sell books at a cheaper price than the iBookstore.

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The question is really about the "new iPad" that Apple launched earlier this week. I say "Yes", for many people needing to upgrade their computers. Many of you will answer "No". Who is right?

The new iPad is a transformative device, extending on the disruption caused by the original model in April 2010 and its successor a year ago. The 2048 x 1536 resolution display is main reason. For many people, the new iPad will offer the best computer screen they can afford, and, if they get a 4G model, one that is always connected. New iPad is the poster child for the cloud connected-device era.

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Before his death in October of last year, one of Steve Jobs' last big moves was Apple's foray into electronic books. The company announced the platform in March 2010, but the method in which Apple handled its deals with publishers has caught the eye of regulators.

The Justice Department plans to sue Apple and the five biggest book publishers -- including Simon & Schuster Inc, Hachette Book Group, Penguin Group USA, Macmillan, and HarperCollins -- and accuse them of colluding to raise prices of books. Apple is alleged to have struck an agreement with the publishers that allowed them to change the way they sold ebooks, and in turn allowed the publishers to take more control over pricing.

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Apple's latest version of the iPad, announced on Wednesday is an incremental upgrade to the fantastically popular mobile tablet computer that adds a higher resolution screen, 4G LTE mobile wireless connectivity, higher resolution cameras, and a handful of other new features.

But these combined upgrades have taken a slight toll on the chassis of the device, making it slightly thicker and heavier to accommodate the bigger battery, which has been increased in capacity to provide Apple's now standard "10-hour/9-hour" battery life promises.

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Well, the price cut isn't as much as I predicted, but Apple today lowered iPad 2 pricing to $399 -- that's for the 16GB WiFi model. The WiFi plus 3G model is now $529. The price cuts came during a media event launching the "new iPad", which goes on sale March 16.

Essentially, Apple is keeping the older model available, much as it does with iPhone 3GS and 4 for lower selling price, potentially opening sales to buyers who wouldn't or couldn't pay $499 or $629 -- the starting prices for the new iPad WiFi and WiFi plus 4G models.

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