Apple's Asia-Pacific Online Stores Begin Taking iPad Air Orders, Shipping Within 24 Hours

After going offline earlier today in advance of today's iPad Air launch, Apple's online stores in the Asia-Pacific region have returned for business.

In line with reports that supplies would be plentiful, all models of the iPad Air are currently listed as shipping within 24 hours in Australia, China (only Wi-Fi models available), Japan, and Singapore, while Apple's Hong Kong store is listing 1-2 week shipping estimates.
All Apple online stores around the world are currently online, but the company's European stores will be going offline later today in advance of orders going live in a number of countries there. North America will follow several hours later, with orders set to go live in the U.S. and Canada at 12:01 AM Pacific Time.

Apple Inserting Entries for Its Own Stock iOS Apps and Services Into App Store Search Results

Apple has begun inserting special entries for some of its own stock iOS apps and services into search results for users on the iOS App Store, notes MacStories, which first picked up on the addition from a Tweet by Lukas Burgstaller.

The results attempt to steer users searching for apps related to certain topics toward Apple's built-in offerings, perhaps reminding users that their needs may already be met without needing to resort to App Store apps. The special results can be seen with a variety of search terms, including exact matches for Apple's offerings such as "safari" and "siri" but also with more general terms such as "SMS" or "movies".

If you search for common terms like “web”, “SMS”, or “movies” in the iOS 7 App Store you’ll see special search results for Apple apps like Safari, Messages, and iTunes with a large icon, a description, and a link to learn more or open an app (such as Safari). These results appear on the App Store for iOS 7 devices (I wasn’t able to display them on a Mac using iTunes) and, in my tests, they also worked for queries like “browser”, “messages”, “cloud”, “internet”, “Siri”, and “text”. I’ve tried several other queries, but I couldn’t see results for other apps like Reminders, Calendars, Mail, Photos, Music, or Notes.

Depending on the app or service showing up as the result, users can either directly open the app or be directed to pages on Apple's site to learn more.

MacStories notes that while the new feature is a good way for Apple to share information with new users who may be unfamiliar with all of the apps and services included on iOS devices, it could cause concern for third-party developers who might see it as Apple trying to discourage users from downloading their apps.

FAA Officially Allows Airlines to Expand Use of Personal Electronics on Commercial Flights

Under the new regulations, by the end of the year many passengers will be able to use their personal devices, including iPhones and iPads in Airplane Mode, throughout their flights with the exception of the actual takeoff and landing, although specific implementation will be left up to the individual airlines.

In line with an advisory committee recommendation from last month, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today announced that it is relaxing restrictions on the use of portable electronic devices during nearly all phases of flight.

Passengers will eventually be able to read e-books, play games, and watch videos on their devices during all phases of flight, with very limited exceptions. Electronic items, books and magazines, must be held or put in the seat back pocket during the actual takeoff and landing roll. Cell phones should be in airplane mode or with cellular service disabled – i.e., no signal bars displayed—and cannot be used for voice communications based on FCC regulations that prohibit any airborne calls using cell phones. If your air carrier provides Wi-Fi service during flight, you may use those services. You can also continue to use short-range Bluetooth accessories, like wireless keyboards.

Airlines may also limit device use at other times depending on circumstances, such as earlier in the landing process during periods of low visibility where pilot reliance on electronic guidance systems is critical.

Airlines will have to certify that their aircraft can tolerate any radio interference from the personal electronics devices, and the FAA will provide clear guidelines on various risks of allowing personal electronic devices, as well as on the various areas where updates will need to be made, including signage, audio announcements, flight crew checklists, and more.

Apple aims to outfit devices with solar power converters

 

(Credit: Apple/USPTO)

Apple wants to eliminate the middleman in solar power charging by outfitting devices with their own converters.
Published Thursday by the US Patent and Trademark Office, a patent application dubbed "Power management systems for accepting adapter and solar power in electronic devices," envisions a power management system that can direct solar power to a laptop or other device without the need for an external converter.
Using solar power to charge your portable devices is hardly a new concept. But Apple's invention would remove some of the hassle involving in current methods. Instead of relying on bulky converters to handle the solar power, Apple's technology would outfit a device with its own system microcontroller and a charger. That built-in gear would handle the conversion of the solar power to the necessary electrical power used by the device.
The system microcontroller would monitor and regulate the conversion. The initial power could be supplied by either a solar panel or an AC-to-DC adapter.
As the patent describes it:

The power management system includes a system microcontroller (SMC) and a charger. During operation, the power management system accepts power from at least one of a power adapter and a solar panel. Next, the power management system supplies the power to components in the electronic device without using a converter circuit between the solar panel and the power management system.

As always, a patent application doesn't guarantee that the technology will make it way to the real world. But it does offer hope to all the smartphone and notebook owners who always seem to run out of juice before the day is over.
(Via AppleInsider)

iPad Drove 'Quantum Leap' in Apple Retail Store Traffic as Annual Visits Approach 400 Million

Following yesterday's release of Apple's 10-K annual report, which we shared some numbers from, Asymco analyst Horace Dediu has now taken a closer look at some of the other retail store performance numbers. Dediu notes that Apple reported a total of 395 million visits to the company's retail locations in fiscal 2013, an increase of 23 million visitors from 2012. The analyst also shows that, with the exception of some seasonal spikes, visitors per store per quarter has remained fairly steady at 240,000 since mid-2010, compared to just 160,000 visitors per store per quarter from 2007 to 2010.

In examining potential factors driving this "quantum leap" in visitors to Apple's retail stores occurring in mid-2010, Dediu determined that the launch of the iPad could be the main reason:

That leaves product. Here we have a clear suspect. The iPad launched exactly at the point in time when the visitor count leaped. In my opinion this is the best explanation.
Let’s remember also the comment from Ron Johnson at the time of the iPad launch. He said that it was as if the stores were designed for a product like the iPad. In other words, the iPad is something that needs to be discovered with a retail experience. You can sense this when you visit the stores and the placement of the iPads within.

As Business Insider points out, Dediu also notes that the average spending per visitor in an Apple retail store has remained steady for the past several years at around $50, up from the $40 spent on average before the product launched:

Next, Dediu explains that the traffic to each store depends in part on the size of the store and the "flow" of people through the store. The store renovations that Apple recently announced, Dediu says, will be geared toward improving these. Dediu also pointed out that the average spending per visitor in the stores is very steady — "around $50 since the iPad launched, $40 prior."

Apple reported during its fourth quarter earnings call this week that its retail stores made $4.5 billion in revenue in Q4 2013, with 30 new stores coming in fiscal 2014. Two-thirds of those new stores will be located outside of the United States, and Apple plans to remodel an additional 20 stores over the course of the year.

Product Listing Suggests Retina iPad Mini Could Launch on November 21

A product listing for the Retina iPad mini with a release date of November 21 has appeared on Target.com, suggesting Apple's new tablet could make its debut on the Thursday before Thanksgiving. Thus far, Apple has not provided a prospective release date for its iPad mini with Retina Display, offering up only broad November launch plans.

While the November 21 launch date listed on the Target website could be a simple guess by the company, it is a logical release day for the tablet because it falls before Thanksgiving and more importantly, before Black Friday, which is a major shopping holiday in the United States.
A late November launch also gives Apple an opportunity to focus its attention on the iPad Air for the majority of the month. It is unclear, however, why Apple would choose to launch the Retina mini on a Thursday, as product releases typically fall on a Friday.

Apple's Retina iPad mini, which includes an A7 processor, is said to be in very short supply. According to a recent report, stock of the Retina iPad mini will be "ridiculously tight" until early 2014.
Though supplies of the Retina mini will be low, Apple is said to have a large quantity of iPad Airs available for purchase, which will likely alleviate some of the demand for the smaller tablet. Apple's iPad Air will go on sale this Friday, with online orders beginning at 12:01 AM in the United States and at varying times in other countries.

Apple Stores Receiving Large Quantities of iPad Air Stock Ahead of Friday's Launch

Both Apple Retail Stores and Apple resellers have begun receiving iPad Air stock to prepare for Friday’s launch, reports 9to5Mac. Shipments have begun showing up at Apple Stores and third party locations such as Walmart.

According to the site, major Apple retail locations across the United States are getting more than 500 units of the iPad Air, suggesting that supplies of the tablet will be plentiful, as we initially reported earlier this week. International stores are also receiving decent quantities of the iPad Air.

We've heard similar from resellers of iPads internationally with some chains indicating that they will have a solid number of iPad Airs on tap for Friday. These stores say even more supply is promised for the next couple of weeks…

Due to seemingly adequate supplies of the iPad Air, Apple will reportedly accept requests for Personal Pickup, allowing prospective buyers to reserve an iPad Air online beginning at 12:01 AM Pacific Time and pick it up at an Apple Store later that same day, avoiding lines.

Online orders for the iPad Air will begin at 12:01 AM Pacific Time in the United States, and at varying times in other countries. Apple retail locations will open at 8 AM local time in the U.S. and other countries in order to begin in-store sales. Third party outlets, such as Walmart, Best Buy, and Target, will also offer the iPad Air beginning on Friday.

Apple's iPad Air, which features a Retina display, an A7 processor, and an all new thin-and-light design, will be available in white/silver and black/space gray and begins at $499 for the entry-level 16 GB Wi-Fi only model with a $100 price increase for additional storage options up to 128 GB and an extra $129 for comparable cellular models.

Space Gray iPhone 5s Most Popular Amid Supply Constraints, Blue Leads for iPhone 5c

According to new color preference data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), Apple's space gray iPhone 5s was the most popular choice for consumers in the United States, followed by the silver and gold models, which is unsurprising given significant supply constraints of the gold and silver iPhones.
43 percent of iPhone 5s units sold were space gray, while 30 percent were silver and 27 percent were gold. Supplies of the space gray model were more readily available than the silver and gold iPhones, but consumers have demonstrated a preference for the black iPhone in the past.
For the iPhone 5c, blue proved to be the most popular choice with 27 percent of purchasers choosing the color, followed closely by white at 25 percent, green at 21 percent, and pink at 20 percent. Apple's yellow iPhone 5c was the least popular color, purchased by only 7 percent of the 400 consumers surveyed in the month after the phones launched.

Broken down by gender, women had a preference for the silver iPhone 5s, while men preferred space gray. Gold was equally split between both genders. Men also had a preference for the white and blue models of the iPhone 5c, while the pink iPhone 5c fared much better with women.

Said CIRP Partner and Co-Founder Mike Levin, "iPhone 5S and 5C colors seem to confirm some traditional gender biases. In the iPhone 5C, men prefer the neutral white, and the Space Gray in the iPhone 5S. In contrast, women prefer lighter silver 5S and the brighter iPhone 5C colors. Interestingly, no one, including the women in the survey, appears to want the Yellow iPhone 5C very much."

Because multiple models of the iPhone 5s have been difficult to obtain, CIRP's data gives an incomplete picture of iPhone 5s preferences. It is possible that consumers desiring a gold iPhone chose another color when supplies ran out or have yet to make a purchase. Data on the iPhone 5c is likely more accurate, as supplies of the phone have been plentiful since launch.

iPad Air Graphics Performance 40-70% Better Than iPad 4

The iPad Air's graphics performance was 40 to 70 percent better than its predecessor in benchmarks conducted by AnandTech in an extensive review of the new tablet. Like the iPhone 5s, the iPad Air incorporates an A7 chip with IMG's PowerVR G6430 graphics processing unit (GPU), which is estimated to have a max GPU clock of 450 Mhz.
In T-Rex HD game simulation benchmarks, the iPad Air performed up to 75 percent better than the fourth-generation iPad and up to 36 percent better in the 3DMark Ice Storm benchmark. GPU gains over the iPad 4 were as high as 60 percent in 3DMark's GPU-specific benchmark suite.

While the iPad Air outperformed the iPad 4 in the majority of tests, there was a decline in triangle rate performance in the new model, though AnandTech has yet to see any real world impact from this change.
Along with significant improvements in GPU performance, the iPad Air has also shown huge gains in processing power. In Geekbench 3 benchmarks published today, the iPad Air was found to be twice as fast as the iPad 4.
AnandTech has a full review of the iPad Air that includes an array of benchmarks comparing the GPU performance of the iPad Air, the fourth-generation iPad, the iPhone 5s, the iPad mini, and several competing Android tablets. It's well worth a read to see the full scope of the iPad Air's performance improvements over both its predecessor and other tablets on the market.

iPad Air Benchmarks Reveal 1.4 GHz A7 Processor, 2x Performance Gain Over iPad 4

John Poole of Primate Labs has revealed Geekbench 3 benchmarks for the new iPad Air, revealing that the device's 64-bit A7 chip is running at 1.4 GHz, scoring a 1465 on the single-core test and a 2643 on the multi-core test.
True to Apple's claims, the iPad Air benchmarks about twice as fast as the 4th generation iPad, with the A7 processor found in the new iPad coming in at 100MHz faster than the 1.3 GHz A7 chip found on the iPhone 5s. Poole claims that this is likely due to a number of factors such as a larger battery in the iPad Air that provides more power and a larger chassis that provides better cooling. Poole also notes that he expects the upcoming iPad mini with Retina Display to use the same A7 chip running at 1.4 GHz.

The iPad Air will be available beginning on Friday, November 1, with initial online orders beginning at 12:01 AM Pacific Time in the United States and at varying times in other countries. Apple retail locations will open at 8 AM local time on Friday to begin in-store sales.

First iPad Air Reviews: 'Ridiculously Small and Light', Apple's Most 'Tempting Tablet Yet'

At its October 22 iPad-centric event, Apple provided multiple publications with iPad Air review units. The embargo on reviews has just been lifted, which means several sites are now posting their thoughts on the thinner, lighter iPad Air. We've gathered some relevant excerpts from each site in order to highlight the general release reaction to Apple's newest iPad.
Jim Dalrymple, The Loop

It's very hard to describe how good the iPad Air feels in your hand without actually picking one up. It’s kind of like the first time you saw a Retina display for the first time—shock.
This smaller size is great. If you have decent sized hands you can type with two thumbs on the iPad in portrait, something I wasn’t really able to do with the last generation iPad without a lot of stretching. Clearly a full-size iPad is not something you will be thumb typing with all the time, but it does give you an idea of how much smaller the iPad Air is.

Walt Mossberg, AllThingsD

In a feat of design and engineering, Apple has slashed the iPad’s weight by 28%, made it 20% thinner and 9% narrower, while increasing its speed and retaining the brilliant, 9.7-inch Retina display.
The new iPad weighs just 1 pound, down from 1.4 pounds for the previous top-of-the-line model, the iPad 4, which is being discontinued.
And it has done all this while maintaining the iPad's industry-leading battery life. In my tests, the iPad Air far exceeded Apple's claim of 10 hours of battery life. For over 12 hours, it played high-definition videos, nonstop, with the screen at 75% brightness, with Wi-Fi on and emails pouring in. That’s the best battery life I’ve ever recorded for any tablet.

Brad Molen, Engadget

Yes, as strange as it may sound, the latest iPad is actually just a larger version of the 7.9-inch mini. It's as if the smaller device -- which launched at the same time as the fourth-gen iPad -- was a pilot test for Jony Ive's new design language. Calling it the "Air" was fitting indeed, since it's ridiculously small and light compared to previous models.
It measures 7.5mm thick and weighs only one pound (1.03 pounds, to be exact), making it 1.9mm thinner and 0.43 pound lighter than the iPad 4. Apple's also trimmed the left and right bezel by roughly 8mm on each side. If that doesn't sound significant, just hold the Air for a minute and then pick up an older iPad; the difference is immediately noticeable. Simply put, the iPad Air is the most comfortable 10-inch tablet we've ever used.

Matt Warman, The Telegraph

Its light weight and thin form mean it gets out of the way – you don’t notice it, but you notice what you're doing on it. That, potentially, unleashes a new generation of tablet-based productivity. The fact that Apple is now giving away even more software means that perhaps the rebranding is, therefore, more than simply a marketing exercise. Air may yet be the oxygen for a new wave of uses for the iPad.

Edward Baig, USA Today

As it happens, though, this latest full-size Apple tablet is the most tempting iPad yet, better than its already best of breed predecessors, superior still to each and every rival big screen slate that I've tested. Apple dominates the tablet apps ecosystem. Its tablet remains the easiest to use.
In a side-by-side comparison against its immediate predecessor, the new iPad indeed opened apps more quickly and booted up and shut down slightly faster, though not to such a degree that I expect most people to notice.

Damon Darlin, The New York Times

What you may not know is this: Those 6.4 ounces make all the difference when, as you recline while reading or watching a movie, you conk out and the iPad falls forward to bonk you on the nose. The Air won't hurt you the way the old iPad did.
The weight reduction and a 20 percent slimmer profile provide other benefits, too. My messenger bag strap didn’t dig into my shoulder as deeply when my iPad was in it. My hand didn’t cramp up while grasping the iPad Air for an hour while watching movies or playing games.

Other reviews:

David Pogue
AnandTech
CNET
Fox News
Pocket-lint
Mashable
Bloomberg
T3
TechCrunch

Apple's iPad Air will be available to the public beginning on Friday, November 1, with initial online orders beginning at 12:01 AM Pacific Time in the United States and at varying times in other countries. Apple retail locations will open at 8 AM local time on Friday to begin in-store sales.

New Job Listings Point to Continued Work on Transit Options in Apple Maps

Apple today posted two new job listings on its website, seeking to fill engineering positions related to public transit. The company is looking for a Maps Public Transit Engineering Manager and a Public Transit Software Engineer, who will join the Maps team to work on building and improving a Transit Routing platform "at a massive scale."

As a member of the Transit Routing team, you will work on one of the most anticipated features of Apple Maps. You will design and implement functionality that will be used by millions of users worldwide.

In addition to these job listings, Apple has posted other transit positions on its website over the past few months and has also acquired multiple mapping companies focused on transit, including HopStop and Embark, two companies with apps and tools developed to provide subway, bus, train, taxi, walking and biking directions.

As noted in the job listings, Apple is working to build these services into its own mapping service, incorporating accurate, real-time information on public transportation routes into the Maps apps for iOS and Mac.

Apple's lack of public transit information was one of the major criticisms the company faced after its in-house mapping service debuted in 2012. Discontent with the lack of features and the inaccuracy of the Maps app prompted both a reorganization of the company and an apology letter from Tim Cook.

Alongside its work to introduce transit options to Maps, Apple has also aimed to improve the accuracy of the service. Over the past several months, Apple has hired a multitude of Ground Truth experts to fix location-based issues such as the error that caused Australian drivers to become stranded after receiving faulty directions.

Despite Apple's efforts, problems with Maps are ongoing. Recently another location-based error caused Maps to direct drivers in Alaska onto an airport taxiway.

Los Altos Designates Steve Jobs' Childhood Home a 'Historic Resource'

The home where Steve Jobs first began building computers with Steve Wozniak has been designated a "historic resource" by the Los Altos Historical Commission reports the San Jose Mercury News.

The home, located at 2066 Crist Drive in Los Altos, California, is still owned by Jobs' sister Patricia Jobs and the designation will add an additional layer of reviews should the owners of the home ever try to renovate it.

The vote is the culmination of a two-year effort by the commission to preserve the one-story, ranch-style home as it stands. Chairman Frank Bishop praised the work of his colleagues and city staff, which included extensive research and a property evaluation.

"The documentation looks very complete -- better than some of the books as far as accuracy goes," Bishop said.

The designation will add another layer of review if renovations to the home are ever sought. The commission would be able to make a recommendation to the city council about any proposed changes.

Jobs and Wozniak assembled the first Apple I computers at the home, with the first 50 sold to the Byte Shop in Mountain View for $500 each and the rest sold to friends at the Homebrew Computer Club.

Apple's Growth Trails Smartphone Market in 3Q 2013, but Improves in Broader Mobile Phone Market

Research firm IDC today released its estimates on worldwide mobile phone sales for the third quarter of 2013, once again showing Apple's iPhone growth trailing that of the overall smartphone market. Apple's 33.8 million iPhone shipments were up 25.7% year-over-year, compared to 38.8% growth for the entire market. Market leader Samsung grew at slightly higher than the industry average, and Apple with its 13.1% share was able to hold onto the second-place ranking ahead of Huawei, Lenovo, and LG, all of which showed strong growth but remained at under 5% market share.

Worldwide Smartphone Shipments in 3Q13 in Millions of Units (Source: IDC)

Apple's total volumes speak to the early success of the iPhones 5S and 5C, and the softening demand of older devices prior to the new models launching. The iPhone 5S lived up to the hype of the gold case and the fingerprint sensor, and the iPhone 5C with an array of colors. At the same time, limited usability on the fingerprint sensor and higher-than-expected pricing on the iPhone 5C drew mixed reactions. Still, this did not prevent Apple from enjoying a record 9 million units shipped in their debut.

As in previous quarters, Apple's performance in the overall mobile market benefited from the decline of the featurephone, with the company's 25.7% year-over-year growth easily topping the market's overall 5.7% growth and allowing Apple to remain firmly in third place behind Samsung and Nokia. According to IDC, smartphones accounted for 55% of total mobile phone shipments during the quarter, up from 42% in the third quarter of 2012.

Worldwide Mobile Phone Shipments in 2Q13 in Millions of Units (Source: IDC)
Apple released its financial results for the third calendar quarter (fourth fiscal quarter) yesterday, revealing that the iPhone continues to account for majority of the company's revenue at 52 percent.

Apple Close to Striking Deal with LG Display for iWatch OLED Displays

LG Display is reportedly close to a deal with Apple to provide OLED displays for the upcoming iWatch, according to The Korea Herald (via Unwired View). The report also states that RITEK subsidary RiTdisplay will be the other primary display supplier in addition to LG for the smartwatch. Samsung was also said to have met with Apple over becoming a potential supplier for the iWatch, but discussions between the two companies were reportedly "not productive". A report from May stated that Apple had begun sampling 1.5-inch OLED displays from RiTdisplay for the iWatch, as Apple had also hired a senior OLED expert from LG Display this past February.

“Instead of relying on one supplier for its iWatch, which will be unveiled next year, Apple will have two vendors to be safe. The key provider will be RiTDisplay and LG Display will be the second,” Seoul-based HMC Investment Securities’ analyst Kim Young-woo said. “Japan Display might also be a candidate, but so far its capacity seems lacking.”

Apple has been long rumored to be working on the iWatch, which is expected to serve as an accessory to the iPhone and other iOS devices, giving users easy at-a-glance access to common functions along with additional biometric integration. Apple CEO Tim Cook stated in Apple's fourth quarter earnings call yesterday that the company still plans on introducing new product categories within 2014, which is a likely timeframe for the release of the iWatch as previously indicated by sources of the Financial Times as well as supply chain insiders familiar with the matter.

Apple 'Unclear' on Whether Retina iPad Mini Supplies Will Meet Demand

During today's fourth quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook commented on the Retina iPad mini, noting that it is unclear whether Apple will have enough supplies to meet demand for the tablet.
According to Cook, while Apple is aware of how many Retina iPad minis the company can produce, it is unclear how much demand will exist for the tablet. As noted by Apple during the Retina mini's second-generation introduction, a Retina display has been one of the most requested features for the tablet.

Multiple sources have suggested that the Retina iPad mini will be in short supply throughout 2013, which has been all but confirmed by Apple's nebulous November release date. According to a report from last week, following its November debut, Retina iPad mini supplies could be "ridiculously tight" until 2014. Cook did not offer any further information on a prospective launch date.
While supplies of the Retina iPad mini will be constrained, supplies of the iPad Air are expected to be more plentiful. When the iPad Air goes on sale on November 1, the company is expected to offer same day in-store pickup for orders. On account of high quantities of the iPad Air, Cook was positive about overall iPad sales during the quarter, stating "I think it's going to be an iPad Christmas."
Cook also confirmed that Apple has had a significant backlog on iPhone 5s supplies, but is working to build up stock each week. He remains confident that Apple will be able to continue to build up its iPhone 5s supplies as it launches in additional countries around the world in the coming weeks. Currently, iPhone 5s shipping times in the United States and multiple other countries remain at 2 to 3 weeks.

Tim Cook: iPhone 5c Wasn't Meant to Be an Entry-Level Phone

During its financial conference call today, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared a new perspective on the company's iPhone strategy.
Cook was asked questions about how Apple plans to address lower price segments of the smartphone market and where the iPhone 5c stands in the lineup. He stated that the iPhone 4s is now the entry-level iPhone contrary to the pre-launch belief that the iPhone 5c would be the entry-level device:

If you look at what we've done, we're selling the iPhone 4s as our entry offer. We sell the iPhone 5c as the mid-tier and the 5s. Our goal is to have growth across the iPhone but we want each of those categories to grow as compared to what we were doing previously. If you look at the total that we're making in the low end and mid tier and high end, the sum there, we'd like to grow in each one of those. We're really please that we did that.

Cook also elaborated the philosophy of seeing the iPhone 4s as the entry level iPhone after discussing foreign device pricing strategy and why the company did not keep the iPhone 4 in its lineup given its sales success:

What we did with our lineup this time was the 4s is replacing the 4. If you look at the US as an example, the 4s is now free. The 4 was free previously. When you translate that out of the US, it depends on the market as to what specifically happens. Currency changes and the strength of the dollar doesn't always play in our favor in some goes.
We see the 4s as our entry iPhone offer that gives somebody the ability to access the entire ecosystem as a fantastic product. We understand that there is elasticity in that market and it will move accordingly.

Apple sold a record 150 million iPhones in fiscal 2013, up 25 million units from 2012. The company has sold 421.3 million smartphones since the iPhone's launch in 2007.

Tim Cook: New Product Categories Still Coming in 2014

During today's fourth quarter earnings call, Tim Cook confirmed that Apple still plans on introducing new product categories within 2014.
According to Cook, Apple believes that it can use its skills building software, hardware, and services to create "great products" in categories that Apple does not participate in today. "We're pretty confident about that," said Cook.
Apple has been rumored to be working on a number of innovative products, including a smart watch dubbed the iWatch, which will compete with offerings from several other companies like Nike, Jawbone, and Samsung, along with a potential Apple television set.
Apple's iWatch is rumored for a 2014 release, while a possible release date for a television set has been more hazy. The company is also possibly working on other offerings within the television sector, including a potential set-top box that replaces traditional cable boxes.

Apple Reports Q4 2013 Year-End Results: $7.5 Billion Profit on $37.5 Billion in Revenue

Apple today announced financial results for the third calendar and fourth fiscal quarter of 2013. For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $37.5 billion and net quarterly profit of $7.5 billion, or $8.26 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $36 billion and net quarterly profit of $8.2 billion, or $7.05 per diluted share in the year-ago quarter.
Gross margin for the quarter was 37 percent compared to 40.0 percent in the year-ago quarter, with international sales accounting for 60 percent of revenue. Apple also declared a dividend payment of $3.05 per share, payable on November 14 to shareholders as of the close of trading on November 11. The company currently holds $146.8 billion in cash and marketable securities.
The company generated $9.9 billion in free cash flow from operations and Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said Apple returned $7.8 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.
For the full fiscal year, Apple generated $170.9 billion in sales, a new record for the firm, with just over $35 billion in net income. In fiscal 2012, Apple made $41.7 billion on $156.5 billion in sales thanks to stronger margins. In 2013, Apple sold 16.34 million Macs, its lowest total since 2010, and 26.4 million iPods, its lowest total for that category since 2005.
It sold a record 150 million iPhones on the year, up 25 million from 2012, and the company has now sold 421.3 million smartphones in total. It sold 71 million iPads, a new record, and the company has now sold 169.2 million tablets.
Quarterly iPhone unit sales reached 33.8 million, compared to 26.9 million in the year-ago quarter, and the company sold 14.1 million iPads, compared to 14 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 4.6 million Macs compared to 4.9 million in the year-ago period.

“We’re pleased to report a strong finish to an amazing year with record fourth quarter revenue, including sales of almost 34 million iPhones,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. "We’re excited to go into the holidays with our new iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, iOS 7, the new iPad mini with Retina Display and the incredibly thin and light iPad Air, new MacBook Pros, the radical new Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks and the next generation iWork and iLife apps for OS X and iOS.”

Apple's guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 includes expected revenue of $55-58 billion and gross margin between 36.5 and 37.5 percent.


Apple will provide live streaming of its Q4 2013 financial results conference call at 2:00 PM Pacific, and MacRumors will update this story with coverage of the conference call highlights.

Apple Sends Mac Pro Posters to Journalists: 'The Computer We Were Insane to Build'

Apple is sending a set of Mac Pro posters to select journalists, according to TechCrunch. Writers at CNET, Dallas Morning News and TidBITS have all received copies of the posters, which feature images of the Mac Pro's radical cylindrical design along with the following message:

It's the computer we were insane to build. The one that turns conventional thinking on its head, then kicks the living $#&% out of it. We challenged all our assumptions. Abandoned our preconceptions. And blew away limitation after limitation. This is the new Mac Pro. It's like no Mac we've created before. And we can't wait to see what you create with it.

Images courtesy of TidBITS' Jeff Carlson
Apple on occasion sends promotional materials to members of the press. Earlier this year, the company gave select journalists gift cards featuring 100 handpicked songs to celebrate the company's 10th iTunes anniversary and Apple also sent out a 5th anniversary App Store poster as well.

First announced in June, Apple's redesigned Mac Pro starts at $2,999 and comes in several different configurations. The entry-level version includes a 3.7 Ghz quad-core Intel Xeon E5 processor, dual AMD FirePro D300 GPUs, 12 GB of memory, and 256 GB of PCIe-based flash storage.

With configure-to-order options, the Mac Pro can be customized with an 8-core or 12-core Xeon E5 processor, FirePro D700 GPUs, up to 64 GB of memory, and up to 1 TB of flash storage. While Apple has yet to provide a solid release date for the Mac Pro, it is expected sometime in December.

Apple Likely to Launch iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c in Fourth Wave of Countries on November 15

Philippine carriers Smart and Globe have announced that they will launch the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c on November 15, suggesting that Apple may be planning to roll out its new iPhones in a broader fourth wave of countries on that date. The news comes as Apple launched both new iPhones in the second wave of countries late last week and will also rollout the iPhone to 16 other countries this Friday, November 1.
AppAdvice also has a theory on the matter, giving a potential list of countries for the fourth wave of iPhone 5s and iPhone 5s launches based simply on other countries where the iPhone 5 launched on the same date as in the Philippines last year:

After looking back to the countries grouped with the Philippines for the sixth wave of last year’s iPhone 5 launch, and removing the territories which have (or will have) already received the new smartphones, we’re expecting Apple to bring its iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c to some or all of the following countries on Nov. 15:
Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Grenada, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, South Africa, and Venezuela.

After its November 1 rollout, Apple will have brought the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c to a total of over 60 countries, which will move the company closer to its stated target of avaliability in 100 countries before the end of the year.

Overall, supplies of the iPhone 5s remain constrained, with shipping times in the United States and a number of other countries still at two to three weeks. Supplies of the iPhone 5c, however, remain plentiful with estimated shipping times of 24 hours.

Update: Several Israeli carriers have announced that they will be launching the new iPhones on November 3.

Owners of Late 2013 Retina MacBook Pros Reporting Keyboard and Trackpad Freezes, Boot Camp Install Issues

A growing number of Late 2013 Retina MacBook Pro owners in Apple Support Communities forum threads are reporting various problems with both the 13 and 15-inch models of the laptop, including lockups with the keyboard and trackpad on the 13-inch version, as well as difficulties installing Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 through Apple's Boot Camp utility on both models.
According to users in a support thread spanning over 14 pages, the trackpad and the keyboard on the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro are reportedly locking up at random during use, with a hard reset through the machine's power button appearing to be the only present solution to the problem. Users are also reporting that a reset of the MacBook's System Management Controller (SMC) appears to be ineffective, and a small survey of users within the thread show that the problem is affecting all three configurations of the 13-inch model. Currently, it is unknown as to whether the freezes are a hardware or software problem, as Apple has not officially commented on the errors.
Meanwhile, users in another support thread spanning over 8 pages are reporting occassional failures when trying to install Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 on both the new 13 and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro. The errors appear to be with the partition that Boot Camp creates in order to install Windows 8, as users in the thread have reported freezes and copy errors with methods such as insallation through a USB drive and DVD installation via external SuperDrive.
However, a post in the support thread directing users to select specific options within Boot Camp Assistant has been marked as a solution to the issue, with users reporting successful installations of Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 after using the method. It is also likely that Apple may issue an official EFI update to address these Boot Camp install errors in the near future, as one for the Late 2013 iMac addressing the problem was issued shortly after its release.
Apple unveiled the new 13 and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros at its media event last week, which were updated with Intel’s latest processors for enhanced performance and significantly improved battery life. Apple also reduced the pricing of the new Retina MacBook Pros by $200, offering the entry level 13-inch version for $1,299 and the entry level 15-inch model for $1,999. The updated MacBooks are available from Apple's Online Store and at its various retail locations.

Apple, Google and Others Set to Face Trial Over Anti-Poaching Agreements

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ruled yesterday that Apple, Google and several other large tech companies will face a trial over "no solicitation" agreements that prevented the companies from attempting to hire away each others' employees, reports Bloomberg.

The suit represents software and hardware engineers, programmers, animators, digital artists, Web developers and other technical professionals, according to the ruling. Kelly Dermody, a lawyer representing them, said in an e-mail that there are as many as 64,626 potential class members.
“The court finds that, based on the extensive documentary evidence, economic theory, data, and expert statistical modeling, plaintiffs’ methodology demonstrates that common issues are likely to predominate over individual issues,” Koh wrote in her ruling.

According to the original lawsuit filed in 2011, the "no solicitation" agreements dated back to 2005 and were between Apple, Adobe, Google, Intel, Intuit, Lucasfilm, and Pixar. The agreements reportedly prevented recruiters from contacting employees at other companies who were party to the agreement, though employees were free to apply for jobs at other establishments.

The anti-poaching agreements were investigated in 2010 by the Justice Department. The claims were eventually settled, with the companies agreeing not to form no-solicitation agreements for five years.

The current lawsuit is a class-action civil suit representing over 64,000 technical employees who said they were harmed by the anti-competitive actions of the defendant companies. According to SFGate, Judge Koh has scheduled the trial for next May, but it is also possible that it could be delayed by possible appeals from the defendant companies.

Jony Ive Designs One-of-a-Kind Red Mac Pro for Product (RED) Charity Auction

For their upcoming Sotheby's charity auction to benefit Product (RED), Apple senior vice president of design Jony Ive and designer Marc Newson have created a one-of-a-kind Mac Pro, featuring the new Mac Pro's radical cylindrical design with a shiny red finish that matches the style of other Product (RED) items produced by Apple.

On the auction site, the Mac Pro value is listed at $40,000 to $60,000, and like the rest of the custom-designed products, it will be auctioned off on November 23. It is unclear whether the Mac Pro will be available to the buyer at that date, as Apple has announced that it will officially launch the Mac Pro to consumers in December.
The specs of the red Mac Pro are not listed on the auction site, but Apple's Mac Pros start at $2,999 and come in several different configurations. The entry-level version includes a 3.7 Ghz quad-core Intel Xeon E5 processor, dual AMD FirePro D300 GPUs, 12 GB of memory, and 256 GB of PCIe-based flash storage.
The higher-end 3.5 Ghz 6-core version with 16 GB of memory will starts at $3,999, and additional configure-to-order options offer 8-core or 12-core Xeon E5 processors, AMD FirePro D700 GPUs, up to 64 GB of memory and up to 1 TB of flash storage.

Ive and Newson have also collaborated on a number of other products, including a one-of-a-kind Leica camera, an aluminum desk, and solid gold Apple EarPods. Proceeds from the auction will go to Product (RED), a longtime Apple partner. Apple has raised more than $65 million for the charity since 2006.

13-Inch 2013 MacBook Air Gets Up to 15 Hours of Battery Life With Mavericks

In his lengthy and ultra-detailed review of Mavericks, John Siracusa of Ars Technica conducts battery benchmark tests to measure Mavericks' power saving features on both a 2007 MacBook Pro and a 2013 13.3-inch MacBook Air.
While both systems saw notable battery gains going from Mountain Lion to Mavericks, the 2013 MacBook Air in particular saw impressive improvements of up to 30 percent, lasting for more than 15 hours in some instances.

For his battery tests, which were conducted using OS X 10.8.5 and the GM build of Mavericks, Siracusa created a light Web browsing and text-editing automation script, including websites that used Flash. In his tests, battery life varied significantly, but provided, on average, an increase of two hours of work time.

I suspect the aggressiveness of the auto-playing Flash ads that happen to be on specific websites on a particular day may partly explain the huge variability in Mountain Lion's numbers. Some of the lower-scoring Mountain Lion trials may have also had the bad luck to coincide with energy-intensive periodic jobs—jobs that are prevented from running on Mavericks due to AC power or battery-level restrictions as part of centralized task scheduling.
These tests may or may not be representative of how you use your Mac, but regardless, it's clear that Apple's efforts have not been in vain. Mavericks really does consume less energy than Mountain Lion when performing the same tasks.

Since its debut at WWDC, Apple has touted the power saving features bundled into Mavericks, poising improved battery life as the keystone of the operating system. Mavericks is designed to cut down on CPU activity using Timer Coalescing, Compressed Memory, and App Nap.

While Timer Coalescing bundles low-level operations into a single batch action that reduces CPU utilization by up to 72 percent, App Nap cuts down on the power usage of apps that are not running in the foreground, reducing their overall power draw by up to 23 percent. Compressed Memory also works in conjunction with these two features, compacting the least used processes so less time is spent reading and writing virtual memory swap files on disk, which improves power consumption.

There's also a new power saving feature built directly into Safari, called Power Saver. With Power Saver, Safari intelligently detects plug-in content playing in the margins of a website and pauses it, preserving battery life.

During Apple's October 22 event, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi also highlighted Mavericks' battery saving capabilities on the new 13-inch MacBook Air, noting that the operating system provides an extra hour of web browsing and an hour and a half of extra video time.

Mavericks is available for free from the Mac App Store and is a one-step update for all Mac users running OS X Snow Leopard and above. It can be installed on most computers produced after 2007. As of this morning, total Mavericks adoption hovered at approximately seven percent.

Amazon taunts Apple's new iPads, advertises smaller Kindle Fire HDX as 'lighter than Air'

In response to Apple's new iPads, Amazon took a direct shot at its competitor on the front page of its website Wednesday, saying the Kindle Fire HDX is "lighter than Air" — even though the new Kindle achieves that weight with a smaller display.

The advertisement is a not-so-subtle jab at Apple's new iPad Air, which shaves nearly a half-pound off the weight of its predecessor to drop to just one pound.

While the Kindle Fire HDX weighs in at 0.82 pounds for the $379 Wi-Fi-only model, it achieves that weight with a screen size of just 8.9 inches. Apple's iPad Air, in contrast, has a larger 9.7-inch Retina display with more screen real estate.

Both devices are also unsurprisingly heavier than Apple's new iPad mini with Retina display, which sports a 7.9-inch screen. Apple's smallest tablet weighs 0.73 pounds in its Wi-Fi-only variety.

Amazon also offers a 7-inch version of its Kindle Fire HDX tablet. It too edges the Retina iPad mini in weight, at just 0.66 pounds, but also sports a screen size nearly a full inch smaller diagonally in the process.

Wall Street pleased by expected high margins of Apple's new Retina iPad mini, iPad Air

Apple's pricing strategy with the iPad Air and new iPad mini with Retina display should help the company's gross margins, analysts believe, while free software offered with new iOS and Mac device purchases should help drive upgrades and further tie users into the company's ecosystem.

After Apple announced its new iPad lineup and other products on Tuesday, Wall Street analysts offered their take on the company's fall 2013 product lineup. Included here is a roundup of their opinions.

Cowen and Company

Analyst Timothy Acuri said the higher $399 starting price for the new iPad mini with Retina display should help drive Apple's margins higher.

He believes the fact that the device is $70 more expensive than last year's model, and that it will launch later in November, are signs that Apple does in fact face yield issues with the 7.9-inch Retina display — something that was rumored before the product was announced on Tuesday.

Acuri also appreciated Apple's free software offerings for its users, including OS X Mavericks to all, and iLife and iWork suites to recent iOS and Mac device buyers. He believes the higher residual value offered by Apple should help fuel upgrades to new devices.

Deutsche Bank

With the new Retina iPad mini starting at $399, Apple chose margins over volume, analyst Chris Whitmore believes. But he's OK with that, has he believes Apple may have priced the original iPad mini too aggressively at $329, negatively affecting the company's margins.Analysts believe the $399 Retina iPad mini will be a healthy shot in the arm for Apple's margins, helping keep them in the high 30% range.

Whitmore also has high hopes for the iPad Air, which starts at $499. He expects the significant improvements to portability and new performance enhancements will be appealing to customers.

And software has increasingly become a point of differentiation for Apple from its competitors, he said. In addition to supporting the company's free software strategy, he also noted that the interoperability and consistency of feel between OS X and iOS is a boon for customers in the Apple ecosystem.

Piper Jaffray

Between the pricing of the iPhone 5c and now the Retina iPad mini, analyst Gene Munster believes Apple's current strategy is to hold its ground on pricing mobile devices. He expects Apple will see overall gross margins of 36.7 percent in calendar year 2014.

With the iPhone and iPad representing 75 percent of Apple's sales, he expects near-term gross margin to be stable in the 36 to 38 percent range. He also expects that the new iPads will reaccelerate growth during the current holiday quarter.

Apple's new iPad Air. | Photo: Daniel Eran Dilger

Wells Fargo Securities

Analyst Maynard Um believes collaboration capabilities between iPad, iPhone and Mac could help drive the so-called "halo effect" for Apple devices, encouraging customers to buy into the ecosystem.

He said in his note to investors that pricing on the new MacBook Pro models with Retina displays is attractive, at $200 below their predecessors. And Um also expects the new Mac Pro desktop to become the industry standard for multimedia editing.

RBC Capital Markets

For analyst Amit Daryanani, the biggest surprise from Apple this week was pricing of its new devices. The new Retina MacBook Pro models saw a $200 price cut, while OS X Mavericks and the iWork and iLife suites are now offered for free.Wall Street watchers expect Apple's new free software, including Mavericks, iWork and iLife, will tie users into Apple's ecosystem.

As for the new iPads, Daryanani expects the iPad mini with Retina display to drive a "significant upgrade cycle" for Apple. He also noted that the new iPads will be available in multiple countries at launch, including China for the first time, which should help initial uptake.

Needham & Co.

Charlie Wolf believes Apple's new pricing was a "major surprise" announcement from the company. He sees the move stimulating demand for new iPads as well as Macs.

"But it has the potential to cause a world of hurt to competitors who still rely on software revenues to drive their earnings," he said.

Apple's new iPad Air. | Photo: Daniel Eran Dilger

J.P. Morgan

Consensus estimates for Apple's earnings are likely to trend upward in the near- to mid-term, thanks to the introduction of new iPhones and iPads that will likely be hot sellers, analyst Mark Moskowitz believes.

He also indicated that Apple has "good timing" with the new iPads, as Moskowitz lowered tablet market revenue and unit estimates for the first time ever on Sept. 3. At the time, J.P. Morgan's research suggested that the "adoption wave" in the overall tablet market could be softening.

"We think Apple's incremental features and price points could be enough to drive an Apple-related upgrade cycle in tablets," he said.

Cantor Fitzgerald

Apple's new tablet lineup is "the most significant iPad refresh since the original iPad," analyst Brian White declared. He sees the iPad Air and Retina iPad mini driving a "major upgrade cycle" for the company.

White expects that the later launch for the Retina iPad mini is likely a result of apparent yield issues with the device's high-resolution screen.

Morgan Stanley

Katy Huberty came away impressed with the broader price points offered by Apple's new iPad lineup, though she noted that the iPhone drives over 50 percent of the company's revenue and 65 percent of gross profit dollars.

She sees several potential catalysts for the company between now and the end of 2014, including the potential for cheaper iPhones that could drive market share, a new iPhone model with a larger display, and new services that could tie in to the Touch ID fingerprint sensor currently exclusive to the iPhone 5s.

ISI Group

Like many other members of the investment community, Brian Marshall was at Apple's iPad event, and after spending some hands-on time with the new iPads, he believes they will drive a "significant upgrade cycle" among Apple's established 170 million customer base.

He highlighted the "velocity" at which Apple is planning to launch the new iPad Air, including shipping in China on Nov. 1, calling it "impressive."

OS X Mavericks Adoption Pushing Past 7% in Under 24 Hours

Less than 24 hours after OS X Mavericks launched for free in the Mac App Store, roughly 7% of Mac traffic is already coming from machines upgraded to the new operating system, according to a live tracker hosted by analytics firm GoSquared. The tracker shows adoption sitting at around 0.5-0.7% yesterday until beginning its upward march upon the public release.

While analytics data is difficult to compare between services, last year Chitika found 3% of Mac traffic coming from OS X Mountain Lion as of 48 hours after its launch. Unsurprisingly, GoSquared's data hints that Mavericks may be seeing significantly faster adoption compared to Mountain Lion due to the free nature of the new upgrade.
GoSquared CEO James Gill tells MacRumors that his firm currently provides analytics for over 40,000 sites, allowing it to monitor billions of page views per month. That base allows the firm to offer a reasonable snapshot of activity at any given time.
While Mavericks is growing rapidly, it still represents a small fraction of the Mac user base, with GoSquared's numbers showing just under 50% of traffic coming from OS X Mountain Lion and almost all of the remainder split nearly evenly between OS X Lion and OS X Snow Leopared. Users on any of those systems can upgrade directly to Mavericks at no cost through the Mac App Store.

Source : Macrumors

New Retina MacBook Pro Models Showing Up in Benchmarks

Following yesterday's introduction of new Retina MacBook Pro models, the machines have already begun showing up in Geekbench benchmarks, offering the opportunity to see how their raw performance compares to the previous generation.

While several of the entries appear to be fakes, there are enough legitimate results to begin to get a sense of the new machines' performance, which arrive with the following 32-bit Geekbench 3 averages so far:
15-inch with quad-core CPU:
- i7-4850HQ @ 2.3 GHz: Single-Core 3100, Multi-Core 11771
- i7-4960HQ @ 2.6 GHz: Single-Core 3379, Multi-Core 12813
13-inch with dual-core CPU:
- i5-4258U @ 2.4 GHz: Single-Core 2613, Multi-Core 5248
- i5-4288U @ 2.6 GHz: Single-Core 2856, Multi-Core 5954
- i7-4558U @ 2.8 GHz: Single-Core 3000, Multi-Core 6189
As is fairly typical for updated machines, most of the benchmarks come in at approximately 4-10% higher than their predecessors, while the increased efficiency of Intel's Haswell chips has allowed Apple to improve overall battery life. Apple has also made the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro thinner, matching the thickness of its larger sibling but at the cost of a slight decrease in battery capacity from 74 Whr to 71.8 Whr.
The base 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro had shown up back in June in results from Geekbench 2 benchmarking software, which uses different baseline scores than the current Geekbench 3. A 15-inch model also showed up in early July, but with a chip that Apple ultimately elected not to use in yesterday's update. The chip in that early machine was Intel's i7-4950HQ at 2.4 GHz, but Apple bumped the high-end chip in the released lineup to the i7-4960HQ at 2.6 GHz, a new chip that was officially launched just last month.