November 23rd, 2009

Another Apple Black Friday leak rumor - with prices!

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 11:30 am

Categories: Apple Online Store, Apple Retail Store, Black Friday, Rumor

Tags: Apple iPod, Apple Inc., Digital Music, Digital Media, Personal Technology, Consumer Electronics, Jason D. O'Grady

Last week BGR posted a rumored leak of Apple’s Black Friday sale that included 25% off Macs and 30% off iPods. Today Apple made its Black Friday sale official but didn’t reveal any specifics.

If that wasn’t enough to get your retail saliva flowing, BGR today posted an updated flyer rumored to include most of Apple’s Black Friday sales.

The latest rumor looks like a scan of an Apple print ad that comes from a “pretty credible connect” of BGR’s, different from its previous source.

The details:

iMacs starting at $1098, iPod nanos starting at $138, iPod touch starting at $178, MacBook Pros starting at $1098, Apple TVs starting at $208, Airport Express starting at $88, Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard going for $64 each.

One interesting new twist in this latest rumor is that the sale will be online only, and not include in store purchases. That sounds stupid to me and I’m not buying it. Why would Apple discourage people from shopping in their retail stores (only to lose money on shipping)? Don’t they have rent to pay?

Real or fake?

November 19th, 2009

iTablet goes OLED, bumped until late 2010

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 10:03 am

Categories: Rumor, Tablet

Tags: Apple Inc., DigiTimes, Tablets, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Jason D. O'Grady

Optimistic customers waiting for Apple to release its mythical tablet will have to wait a little longer if rumors coming out of China are true.

DigiTimes is reporting that the Apple tablet has been delayed from March 2010 to some time in the “second half” of 2010. Citing sources from component makers, the report claims that the delay is a result of Apple’s decision to switch to a 9.7-inch Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) panel from LG Display.

In addition to upgrading to an 9.7-inch OLED panel Apple is also reportedly considering keeping a less-expensive 10.6-inch Thin Film Transistor (TFT) model in the lineup, most likely for price reasons.

The story also reports that Apple has enlisted two additional manufacturing partners to build the tablet. iPod maker Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) will be joined by long time Apple contractor Quanta Computer and Pegatron Technology.

DigiTimes estimates that with 9.7-inch OLED panels currently costing about $500 — normally about 30% of the final price tag — a 9.7-inch OLED tablet Mac will cost between $1,500 and $1,700. And that’s Apple’s cost. Assuming component costs drop to around $1,200-1,500 in the second half of 2010 - that could push the retail price of Apple’s OLED tablet upwards of $2,000.

Gulp.

The good news is that the 10.6-inch TFT-based version should retail for a much more managable $800 - $1,000 as has been rumored for quite while.

OLED has many benefits over TFT:

OLEDs enable a greater range of colours, gamut, brightness, contrast (both dynamic range and static) and viewing angle than LCDs because OLED pixels directly emit light. OLED pixel colours appear correct and unshifted, even as the viewing angle approaches 90 degrees from normal. LCDs use a backlight and cannot show true black, while an off OLED element produces no light and consumes no power. Energy is also wasted in LCDs because they require polarizers that filter out about half of the light emitted by the backlight.

It’s a compelling technical argument, for sure, but I’m not sure if consumers will pay twice the price for a iTablet with an OLED screen.

What are some of the ways that Apple could further differentiate the high-end model? What would justify paying double the price?

Photo: A juicy fake from TUAW, circa 2006.

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November 17th, 2009

Apple's Black Friday discounts leaked

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 1:00 am

Categories: Apple Online Store, Apple Retail Store, Black Friday, Retail, Rumor

Tags: Apple iPod, Apple Inc., Digital Music, Digital Media, Personal Technology, Consumer Electronics, Jason D. O'Grady

Though it’s still a full 10 days away, Boy Genius Report got tipped off about what may be a major retail sale in the offing from Apple.

According to the rumor, complete with flyer (pictured), Apple will be offering the following deals on the Friday after Thanksgiving:

• up to 30% off on all iPods (except iPhone and iPod shuffle)
• up to 25% off Macs
• up to 15% off all accessories as well as Apple software and hardware.

The catch? The deals are only good on Friday, November 27. And that it’s a rumor, of course.

Last year Apple offered a $101 discount on the unibody MacBook, a $51 discount on the white MacBook, $51 and $101 off the aluminum iMacs, plenty of iPod discounts ($11 off 8GB iPod nanos, $21 off iPod classics, and $21 off iPod touches) and a $21 discount on Apple TV and 500GB Time Capsule.

You couldn’t catch me dead in a retail store on Black Friday, but hey, that’s just me.

October 27th, 2009

Apple pitching media companies on tablet?

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 8:49 am

Categories: Rumor, Tablet

Tags: Media Company, Apple Inc., Fairfax Media, Tablets, Notebooks, Advertising & Promotion, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Marketing, Jason D. O'Grady

If you read between the lines in yesterday’s post, one could conclude that Apple is talking to the New York Times about it’s upcoming tablet product in an effort to get buy in from the media giant on what’s presumed to be a completely new form-factor for distributing editorial content.

A new piece in the Sydney Morning Herald indicates that Apple’s also shopping the device to other media companies, including some in Australia:

Apple has sent specifications of the device to Australian media companies in an effort to sound out whether they would be interested in delivering their content to the tablet.

Fairfax Media’s Robert Whitehead hinted that he was aware of an Apple tablet in August.

We’re continuously examining all options for extending the reach of our mastheads and we’ll be very interested to see what Apple comes up with.

While the new Apple device isn’t strictly an ebook-reader it appears that Cupertino is setting the stage for a completely new platform for deliverings, books, newspapers and magazines.

Should the Amazon’s and the Sony’s of the world be worried at the impending ebook threat from Apple?

October 26th, 2009

Times exec hints at Apple tablet

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 10:06 am

Categories: Rumor, Tablet

Tags: Apple Inc., Bill Keller, Tablets, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Jason D. O'Grady

Gawker reports that Bill Keller, executive editor at the New York Times, may have outed the mythical Apple tablet. At a supposedly off-the-record meeting (which someone graciously preserved on Vimeo) with the entirety of Times’ Web staff Keller gave us this tantalizing nugget:

I’m hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that.

While it looks more like hyberbole, the Apple community is hanging on any shred of tablet rumor or conjecture that comes down the pike these days. Keller’s comments are far from a confirmation that an Apple tablet is imminent, but when you add his voice to the chorus of theories and rumors that abound about the tablet – a case can certainly be made.

Another interesting tablet tidbit that surfaced over the weekend (via Engadget) is this picture (below) of a SIM tray allegedly from Foxconn (the rumored Apple tablet manufacturer). According to the report the updated tray will be available for $14.05 starting October 23rd. Its chunkier appearance has set the rumor mill aflutter that it would be suitable for a larger GSM device – whatever that could be.

I think that the SIM tray thing is a bit of a stretch, but as part of a larger body of work, it implies (if only subtly) that something is definitely brewing on the tablet front in Cupertino.

Are the Keller comments and new chunky SIM tray just wishful thinking by the Apple faithful, or are they the proverbial smoke that precedes a fire?

October 14th, 2009

Rumor: Apple to awaken dormant FM tuner in iPhone

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 6:26 am

Categories: App Store, Rumor, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Apple iPod, FM-radio, Apple Inc., Apple iPod Touch, FM Tuner, Smart Phones, Digital Music, Digital Media, Consumer Electronics

According to 9 to 5 Mac Apple may soon enable the dormant FM tuner hardware currently sitting idle in the iPhone and iPod touch.

9 to 5 reports that Apple is developing an app that offers the same functionality as the FM radio found in the new fifth generation iPod nano. The new radio.app will be able to run in the background according to the source and “could also be incorporated into the iPod.app before release.”

The chipset in the iPhone 3GS and the 2nd and 3rd generation iPod touch models include FM radio tuning, Apple just hasn’t yet activated it in software.

This wouldn’t be the first time Apple awoke sleeping hardware functionality from its mobile products.  Apple sometimes chooses to leave hardware features dormant in their products until they feel the time is right.  For instance, Apple didn’t enable Bluetooth in its 2nd generation iPod touch until 9 months after it was released.  Apple also hasn’t enabled the 802.11N +5GHZ wireless networking (which we also hope to see updated shortly) in its latest iPhone and iPods.

October 7th, 2009

Apple tablet gets manufacturing partner

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 9:38 am

Categories: Rumor, Tablet

Tags: Apple Inc., Manufacturing, DigiTimes, Tablets, Notebooks, E-books, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Personal Technology, Jason D. O'Grady

According to DigiTimes, Apple has selected Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) to manufacture the widely-rumored Apple tablet.

“Market sources” at DigiTimes note that the device is expected to go on sale in the first quarter of 2010, with an initial shipment of 300,000 to 400,000 devices. The Apple tablet is expected to have a 10.6-inch display based on speculation that Foxconn could easily source the panels from its subsidiary Innolux Display.

DigiTimes’ sources believe that the Apple tablet will focus more on e-book functionality rather than music, and that “based on Apple’s marketing strategy, long battery life, quick Internet connectivity and an easy-to-use user interface will be key features of the device.”

October 5th, 2009

PA Semi ARM chip bound for Apple tablet

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 1:00 am

Categories: ARM, Intel, Rumor, Tablet

Tags: ARM, Apple Inc., Intel Atom, Intel Corp., Chip, Tablets, Notebooks, Smart Phones, Processors, Hardware

Back in May 2008 Intel Germany CEO Hannes Schwaderer confirmed an upcoming, larger, “version of the iPhone” based on Intel’s Atom platform. His comments were later retracted by Intel corporate who claimed that Schwaderer’s comments were misinterpreted.

In its carefully-worded apology, Intel implied that Atom wasn’t suitable for an Apple product because it cannot yet match ARM’s low-power envelope. (In December 2008 Seth Weintraub noted that the ARM Cortex A8 processor “absolutely kills the Intel Atom in power efficiency.”)

Reader screenworx notes that the apology seemed to be worded so as not to dismiss its disappointment about an unspecified future product.

Since the Atom processor isn’t suitable for the iPhone/iPod touch, Intel may have been referring to a larger form factor device, i.e. what we now know as the tablet. One could conclude from Intel’s comments that an Apple tablet will not be using an Atom processor but will instead ship with an ARM processor (like the one in the iPhone) – and eventually a new custom ARM chip from PA Semi.

September 30th, 2009

iTablet redux, more details trickle out

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 9:19 am

Categories: Rumor, Tablet

Tags: Apple iPhone, Apple iPod, Apple Inc., Tablet Wind, iLounge, Tablets, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Jason D. O'Grady

The tablet winds are blowing again and more new rumors are circulating about the mythical Apple tablet. A source at iLounge (via Wired) claims that Apple plans to announce a 10.7-inch diagonal tablet by January 19, 2010. The source claims that the iTablet will run the iPhone operating system.

The tablet will sport a higher resolution than the iPhone or iPod Touch screen: “Expect something like 5-6 times the resolution of an iPod Touch or iPhone screen (720p or thereabouts) and 7 times the touchable surface area,” writes iLounge.

Also, there will be one version equipped with 3G networking and one without. This would make the 3G model a bigger version of the iPhone, and the non-3G tablet a larger iPod Touch.

iLounge notes that the iTablet will operate “as a slate-like replacement for books and magazines.” Wired makes a case that an Apple tablet could supplant the Amazon Kindle and even the Amazon.com e-book store. It also stands to reason that Apple could easily add eBooks to the iTunes Store (as I argued back in December) making Apple an even more dominant force in the digital content world.

iLounge’s sources have been accurate in the past, and the site says that the latest iTablet rumor is from the same source who leaked details on the fifth-generation iPod nano and the fourth-generation iPod nano before their release.

I just hope that it costs less than $800, $500-700 is probably the sweet spot, but Apple has a nasty habit of charging about $100 more than it should on such items.

How much would you pay for a 10.7-inch tablet running the iPhone OS?

September 8th, 2009

Let it (not) be

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 9:15 pm

Categories: Beatles, Rumor, iPod

Tags: Event, Apple iTunes, Kafka, Digital Music, Digital Media, Personal Technology, Consumer Electronics, Jason D. O'Grady

According to a report from MediaMemo’s Peter Kafka Apple will not be making a Beatles-related announcement at its 9/9/9 event tomorrow, but that the event would feature iPod and iTunes revs. Big whoop.

Kafka makes the case (like Andy Ihnatko before him) that it doesn’t make economic sense for The Beatles to sell individual tracks on iTunes, when what they really want to sell is the $180 Stereo Box Set or the $250 Xbox Premium Bundle. And it’s a valid point.

I’m sticking with my Beatles prediction for reasons that I’ve previously stated (which are admittedly based on superstition and numerology). Mostly because I’m rooting for Steve to make an unannounced appearance and click over to his trademark “One more thing…” slide. Makes me feel nostalgic.

Besides, wouldn’t it be kick ass to have Steve on stage with Paul and Ringo for a few numbers?

So, what’s your call for tomorrow?

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Thumb Poll is also in effect. If you want the Beatles to announce a deal with Apple tomorrow, click the thumbs up, if you don’t – click thumbs down (at the top of the story).

UPDATE: (Spoiler?) The Financial Times confirms with EMI that an Apple/Beatles deal isn’t being announced tomorrow.

“Conversations between Apple and EMI are ongoing and we look forward to the day when we can make the music available digitally. But it’s not tomorrow,” Ernesto Schmitt, EMI’s global catalog  president, told the FT’s Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson.