Since it’s release, the iPad has been somewhat hard to get a hold of. Customers have had to wait weeks just to be able to get the device delivered after ordering it from Apple’s web site. Well now Apple has stated that iPad orders will ship within 24 hours of them being placed. This is a drastic improvement that should allow anybody who wants an iPad the chance to finally get one. This reported had to wait weeks for his iPad to finally arrive after driving all over the city unable to find any of the devices in a 100 mile radius.
In the past Apple has not been able to fulfill the initial demand for many of their devices and the iPad is no different. Whether they underestimated the initial demand or they have been unable to produce enough units is unknown, but some have hypothesized that Apple does it on purpose. If so it could be some of the greatest marketing ploys in recent history. Make consumers think that everyone wants one, therefore they should too. However it seems more plausible that consumers just really want the sleek new Apple devices and the California based computer and consumer electronics manufacturer simply cannot keep up with the demand.
Hopefully the App Store will enjoy a little bit of rekindled success. We will have to watch download numbers in order to see if it does have any kind of effect on the App Store. Developers would be wise to keep the iPad in mind when developing apps so that your products can appeal to the widest range of users. You can make iPad and iPhone/iPod specific apps, but it may be easier to make one application with different views for each class of device.
Founder of Digg and co-founder of Revision3, Kevin Rose has recently predicted that the upcoming launch of Apple’s new set top box will be a game changer. He says that the device will run iOS, previously called iPhone OS, which allows it to download and install device specific Apps to completely change the set top box industry. Rose also predicts that the iTV will be easily connected to Apple’s iPad device to extend the user interface and control the iTV. This could be used for playing games, viewing different angles or feeds for sports events and other shows, the possibilities are endless. When released, sometime in or around November, the iTV should start at around $100.
The iPhone 4 has only been out for a few days but sales have been estimated to top 1.5 million units so far. White models of the new touch screen Apple cell phone were sold out the very first day and the black models have been extremely scarce ever since. In most places it is impossible to buy any of the iPhone 4 models no matter what color. 75% of buyers of the new phone are thought to be owners of the previous iphone models, meaning that over 1 million of the sales were to repeat customers. It has also been estimated that Apple recieves a subsidy of anywhere from $400-600 from AT&T for each phone. Add to this another $200-400 that comes from the purchase price and you can see that the iPhone 4 is a huge money maker for Apple already. Then when you factor in the fact that all users will have to buy phone service through AT&T and most users will end up buying virtual items via Apple’s iTunes store you undoubtedly see how the iPhone 4 is almost like printing money.
Apple Inc. has recently announced the newest version of the web browsing software package Safari. The new version, dubbed Safari 5, will be faster than its predecessor, Safari version 4 by about 30%. According to Apple, this makes “the worlds fastest and most innovative browser” even more powerful. Equipped with the powerful Nitro JavaScript engine, the Mac OS version of Safari 5 runs JavaScript almost 1/3 faster than the previous version of Safari, over 100% faster than Firefox 3.6, and 3% faster than Google’s Chrome web browser.
The new version of Safari will support a bunch of new HTML5 technologies that will allow users to experience over a dozen new HTML5 features. Included in the new HTML5 features that Safari 5 offers are HTML5 video with full screen and closed caption capabilities, Geolocation, HTML5 Ruby, EventSource and WebSocket. These new features will allow web developers to create feature-rich web based applications that will work on multiple platforms.
Safari also boasts a whole new slew of developer tools as well as the ability for developers to create Safari Extensions that will allow for even more customization for the browsing experience. A new feature in Safari 5, called The Extension Builder makes development, installation and packaging of extensions extremely simple. Similar to how apps work on the iPhone OS, Safari Extensions are sandboxed, and must be signed with a digital certificate validated by Apple.
Safari 5 is now available as a free download for both Mac OS and Windows based systems from the Apple website.
Recently what seems to be a prototype for the upcoming iPhone model was found at a California bar. Apparently an Apple employee was out celebrating his birthday and brought his prototype iPhone and left it amidst the confusion and loud atmosphere of the bar. The new iPhone offers a completely different design with a more flat appearance than the current iPhone model. The new iPhone is said to have a much higher resolution screen than the iPhone and iPhone 3G and also a better quality camera with a flash. For more information, go to Gizmodo’s site, or watch the video below for more info.
