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Monthly Archives: September 2012

RIP iPhone 3GS

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You’ve had a good run. The iPhone 3GS is no longer sold by Apple and it is a showing of Apple’s ability to move on. I believe it should have left a while ago. I feel that Apple should not be giving away free iPhones as it hurts their business. I feel that Apple can sell the previous generation for less, but giving them away for free may put iPhones into more users pockets but it doesn’t put money into their pockets, which is partly why Apple did not have a good Q3, I think. When the iPhone 4S came out, it should have been discontinued then giving them out for free. The iPhone 4 could be sold at a reduced price while 4S is the premium phone but they shouldn’t have given away the 3GS away. Despite these circumstances, one must come to realization that the 3GS was a great phone and served a great deal of people’s needs. It was greater than it’s predecessor in that it was faster and just better than the 3G. I felt it was getting close to the end of the iPhone 3GS and I was right.

Unfortunately, Apple is still offering a phone for free and this will hurt them more than the free iPhone 3GS’s. The iPhone 4 is a much greater phone than the iPhone 3GS and is similar to the 4S which in turn is more similar to the 5 than the 3GS. I feel that a lot of people will go for the 4 than the 4S and the 4S costs money while the 4 does not. It isn’t a huge mistake, since the decision will give Apple more market share and more customers to the App Store, but it also means they will sell less iPhones. Short term, it is not a good thing, however long term, it is a great strategy. Apple will get that money back from the apps people buy and the future iPhones they may buy. Whether or not it was a great idea remains to be seen but I am sure Apple’s got it covered. I am more saddened to see the 3GS go than Ping but it had a long run and it was time for it to go. RIP iPhone 3GS. You will be missed.

Thanks for reading,

Joe

GoodBye Ping

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Ping was introduced September 1, 2010 with a million+ users to start with, which isn’t bad for a startup of a media network. Unfortunately from there though, instead of increasing it’s users, it decreased. Apple never released numbers for Ping and they never talked about it since they really didn’t want people to see what a failure it was. Ping was supposed to be a social media network in which users could share and discover music with their friends, discover new music similar to the music they listen to, and communicate with artists. It did work that way to a certain extent, however a lack of advertising, lack of artists communicating with fans on it, and a lack of support from Apple itself led to Ping’s downfall. Apple announced last week that Ping will be discontinued next month with the release of Apple’s next version of iTunes. For me, it’s a good thing. I much rather use Facebook or Twitter integration with iTunes then keep seeing that annoying banner on the right side of iTunes advertising Ping. I never used it and I am not surprised. It was one of the very few Apple failures in the past decade. This was a Microsoft stunt. Just as Microsoft is too late to everything, Apple was too late to the social media market. It’s the simple too late approach. Of course, it wasn’t the only flaw of Ping, but it was the biggest one. Ping was too late to capture any market share. Hopefully, Apple won’t try it again and I am glad to finally see that banner in iTunes gone, because that’s all it was to me, a banner. Nothing more. I am sorry if you liked Ping but if you do, you are one of few and far in between. I must admit it was a good attempt but it wasn’t insanely great. And that’s what Apple needs their products to be for them to succeed. Ping just wasn’t it. RIP Ping September 2010-September 2012.

Thanks for reading,

Joe

The new iPhone 5

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The new iPhone 5 was the main event of Apple’s Media Event this week as it was the product that everyone was waiting for. It was the one that skyrocketed Apple stocks before the event, and it is the one that continues to skyrocket that stock price. Pre-orders for the iPhone 5 sold out in an hour, the first for any of Apple’s hyped product releases. You can expect long lines of people with umbrellas and lawn chairs in front of the Apple Store soon. Apple stock as of Friday is 691.28, a stunning record for the company. Let’s take a detailed look at this new iPhone.

Design

The new design of the iPhone 5 has, at first glance, little to no change. However, it has changed. The iPhone 5 is 18% thinner than the iPhone 4S, 20% lighter, and 12 % less volume. It is 7.6 mm thin and weighs 112 grams. It is 3.31 in squared. It is marketed as the thinnest smartphone ever. Apple engineers really had their work on for this one. They made the new nano-SIM card. They combined LTE data and voice onto ONE chip instead of two individual ones. The new Lightning connector is 80% smaller. The A6 chip is more powerful but even smaller than the A5 chip. The display has been made thinner by making a integrated touch technology screen while keeping the Retina Display that has come to partly define the iPhone. It is made of a single piece of aluminum, therefore it is unibody. It is a super-smooth piece of aluminum too!

Screen

Like all of Apple’s refreshes this week, the iPhone got a screen size bump and one’s gotta love the new display. It is a beautiful 4 inch Retina Display. They make it so it isn’t awkward to use, like some of the other smartphone makers who go with awkward, big screens. It has the same width, just a new height, so you are not stressing your thumb, trying to reach the the other side, and you can still reach the top with ease. The apps for the iPhone are already being made to fit the gorgeous display, and if they haven’t been, don’t worry, they won’t pixelate like iPhone apps do on the iPad. The display gives you 18% more pixels than the iPhone 4S. It has impressive 1136by640 resolution. Incredible! Colors also get a boost with 44% more color saturation.

4G and LTE

We all saw this one coming. The iPad 3 came with 4G and LTE so we knew the iPhone 5 would. The speeds are incredible. It has 100 Mbps for LTE. Also, Wifi gets a boost as well-up to 150 Mbps. Incredibly fast.

A6

The fastest iOS processor has come and this processor brings high quality graphics. In fact, I believe the graphics can be compared to this generation consoles (PS3, 360) fairly and some would say favorably. The graphics performance is twice that of the amazing A5 chip of the iPhone 4S. The processing performance is also twice as fast so you’ll notice applications opening and loading even faster. It will just be a more smooth experience. Also, the A6 chip will not deplete battery and you will get 8 hours on wireless and 10 on video. I believe that at a point in the near future, Apple iOS products will be able to rival that of the laptops because of the performance they build into it, the first being the iPad.

EarPods

I know I brought these up in the iPod nano and touch articles but since it will come with all of them, I have mentioned them in all three articles. Again, these headphones are supposed to rival my expensive pairs. According to Apple, they tested hundreds of prototypes on hundreds of people. I hope that those hundreds of people were right about the prototype they chose to become the Apple EarPods. I just hope Apple can make them a lot better than the last earphones they made.

Camera

Panorama, like the new iPod touch, is a new feature in the iPhone 5 that allows you to take stunning 240 degree photos. The panorama can be up to 26 MP, a stunning MP count for a phone. It reminds me of something I’ve seen, an app called 360 degrees, I just hope this new panorama feature is a lot better than that app. The camera of course takes 1080p video. It also has more stabilization to prevent shaky footage. It can now detect up to 10 faces in the camera’s face detection software. You can now take photos while you are recording. The FaceTime front camera is 720p and looks stunning. You can make FaceTime calls over cellular now, allowing you to not have to be at a wifi connection, giving it a boost against it’s Microsoft rival Skype.

Lightning

Like all of Apple’s releases this week, the new iPhone 5 also features the new Lightning adapter. It marks the first time Apple has changed the adapter since the inception of the iPhone 5 years ago. It is supposed to be more durable and faster than the 30 pin connector. As accessory manufacturers catch up to Lightning, you can buy an adapter so that all your stuff is still compatible.

Wow Factor?

One question that was on everyone’s minds was, what is that “one more thing”? After looking into the iPhone 5 and throughly investigating it for this article, I realized that Apple didn’t really innovate here. It didn’t wow me like all other releases of iPhones have, although I am impressed by the engineering that went into making it so thin and light. I believe that this could actually be a good thing. The iPhone is mature. Apple didn’t bring something revolutionary to the table because they didn’t need to revolutionize what they had. All the releases of the iPhone have always improved from the last, and they change from their predecessors in a usually significant way. The iPhone 5 didn’t change that much from the iPhone 4S because there wasn’t really a change needed. The iPhone 4S has been their most successful phone up until now. Just the velocity at which the iPhone 5 preorders sold at is an indication that the iPhone 5 will take that role. Apple doesn’t need to change what works. If you look at the features of each iPhone, you can tell that the change from the last one to the next decreases and that is because the iPhone has matured and doesn’t need any more radical change to it. Of course, none of what I’m saying should hold Apple back from innovating. If Apple has a good idea they will use it, just as they changed the screen size, which in my opinion was a good idea. Also, if Apple goes too long without innovation, this could be a problem. I think that Apple brought more to the table from the last generation to the next in their new iPods, one can easily see the radical and effective changes to the iPod nano and touch as compared to not being able to see it as well with the iPhone 4S to the 5. Don’t get me wrong, the iPhone 5 is a great release but it isn’t revolutionary, and perhaps thats the way it should have been. Don’t change what works is the wow factor here (and yes the 30 pin dock connector works, if Apple saw something better in Lightning, then they should, by all means, change it, because that is taking a risk and it is innovative, I will discuss the new Lightning connector in another article). Apple did do right here, no changes needed.

Thanks for reading,

Joe

Are you interested in writing for the CoA? Would you like a leadership position in one of the fastest growing Apple news websites?

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The Church of Apple needs your help. If you are a writer, like to write about Apple, and would like a leadership position, we have several Editorial leadership positions open and they are as follows: Editor of iOS news, Editor of Mac News, Editor of Misc. Apple News and Editor of Apple Rumors. If you are not interested in an editorial position, but would like to be featured on the main page, we are always looking for writers! Please use the Contact form in the Get Involved tab to get started on your writing experience at the Church of Apple!

Thanks,

Joe

The iPod touch 5G-It looks amazing

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In Apple’s media event, they announced three amazing updates to their products. They look truly spectacular and I can not wait to get my hands on them. Next, let’s discuss the new iPod touch.

The iPod touch has been around for five years, just as the iPhone has. The iPod touch has truly revolutionized the iPod line and has become the most popular iPod. Since it’s inception, it has sold more iPod touches than any of the other models. It is the only iPod to feature iOS and was once described by Steve Jobs as the “training wheels for the iPhone”. The iPod touch is the only model of iPod that keeps selling and in the end, along with the iPod nano, will be the remaining iPods with the iPod classic the first to go and then the shuffle.

Screen Size

As I mentioned in the article about the iPod nano, the main idea of the Apple Media Event this week was the enlargement of the screen. The iPod touch, like the iPhone, has a Retina Display 4 inch screen. The previous screens were 3.5 inches. I believe the change of screen size is a good thing. It gives more ability to see while still being able to use it with one hand.

New Design

The first thing you’ll notice about the new iPod touch is that there are multiple colors to choose from. Like the new iPod nano it has blue, yellow, pink, white, and black (again with the white color with it). However, unlike the new iPod nano, it does not have green or purple, which I wish they kept green for the iPod touch. The color is on the back of the iPod touch, while it is white on the front. Therefore, since many people have a case on their devices anyway, one will not see the color and it won’t matter much. Another thing you’ll notice is that it looks a lot thinner. It is just 6.1 mm thin. It is even lighter than before at 3.1 ounces. The previous generation was 3.56 ounces, not much of a difference, but it is following Apple’s thinner is better technique, so I’m glad they are continuing it. It is made out of brushed aluminum which it gives it a smooth, light feel. You can also attach a colored Apple-provided strap to it allowing you to keep it secure in your hands.

Camera

The camera is something I am very excited about. The camera on the back went from 780p HD recording and a ridiculous 0.8 MP to an incredible change of a 1080p video recording and 5 MP (7 times more MP than the iPod touch 4th Generation). It also now comes with LED flash, a first in iPod touch and a definitely must have feature. It has the tap to focus feature and the face recognition feature that only up until now the iPod touch has not enjoyed. It also comes with panoramic view, allowing you to take 270 degree pictures. This feature is only available on iPod touch 5G and the iPhone 5 and it looks stunning.

Dual-Core A5 chip

Think about putting the processing power of the iPad 3 and you have the processing power of the new iPod touch. It is twice the processing power and up to seven times the graphics performance. It truly is incredible and it also means that the iPad 4 will either have the A6 or something even better. It isn’t a power hog and will keep the same, if not better, battery life than the previous generation.

Siri

Apple has now completed it’s iOS Siri line-up. All the products that Apple has from the iPhone 4S, the iPad 3 and the fifth generation iPod touch have Siri. With Siri on the iPod touch and iPad 3, you will need a wifi internet connection for it to work (unless of course you have a 4G iPad), however it is truly a great step in the right direction. Now all they have to do is move it out of beta.

Media

Of course the iPod touch plays music as it is an iPod and it plays movies, TV Shows etc etc. However with the new 4 inch screen and 44% more color saturation, the colors will pop more on movies and you will have a better movie experience with the bigger screen. The bigger screen and better graphics will also make playing games even better. The playing experience will be the best it has ever been on the iPod touch.

AirPlay

The new iPod touch, like the iPad 2 and greater and the iPhone 4S and greater, has screen mirroring which allows you to mirror what’s on your device to the TV via Apple TV. You can share music, movies, TV shows, and media to your heart’s desires. It has truly changed the way I use my iPad and it will change the way I use my iPod as well.

EarPods

Apple is getting rid of the old earphones that we all stash away whenever we get our new iPod because we don’t need them, our more expensive earphones will do the job. Now, Apple says that the new engineered EarPods are made to last and sound great, in fact they say it’s made to sound so great, I will use them instead of my high dollar, high quality headphones. I accepted the challenge so when I get a chance to use the EarPods, I will let you know if Apple speaks the truth.

iOS 6

Please check out our article on iOS 6 here.

Lightning

The new, controversial, 5-pin dock connector called Lightning has drawn a lot of attention. It is the first time that Apple has changed the dock connector and it is certainly a bold move, considering that people are used to and recognize the 30-pin dock connector and use it on their devices all the time. Not to fret though. If you will still use 30 pin, Apple will be selling a Lightning to 30 pin adapter so that you and accessory manufacturers have time to catch up. It is a lot smaller than the 30 pin and it allows you to plug it in either way, similar to that of the MacBook Air/Pro MagSafe connector. I hope Apple knows what they are doing.

Price

The new 32 GB iPod touch starts at $299 while the 64 GB starts at $399. This compares to 8GB for $199, 32 GB at $299 and 64 GB at $399. It also compares to the fourth generation iPod touch models they still sell which are 16 GB for $199 and 32 GB $299.

All in all, Apple has produced yet another solid update to a solid product. The iPod touch has been a major part of Apple’s success since 2007 and with this update with Siri, A5, and a new camera just to name a few, will definitely continue to be part of that success.

Thanks for reading,

Joe

The new iPod nano-The best iPod nano yet

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The biggest change to the iPod nano has come. A few years back, Apple introduced a watch-face like 1 in x 1 in touch screen square that I felt was their weakest iPod nano. One would navigate the screen purely through touch as there was no home button. Many people have complained about it being too small and shuffle-like (such as myself). I feel that the last generation iPod nano will be the iPod shuffle in a year or two once the price to make such a thing isn’t as expensive. The watch idea was taken into full effect as 3rd party manufacturers made wristbands that would fit the iPod and make it into a watch, which I think Apple was going for. The idea itself sparked the concept that Apple might be working on an iPhone watch but it has since been mostly discarded. Apple, it seems, has used the iPod nano as their design testing device with more changes to the chassis each time a new one comes out. Apple, this year, has returned to the long, thin, skinny chassis with a twist…

Screen

The major concept of Apple’s event was the enlargement of screen sizes and the iPod nano is no exception. Featuring a 2.5 inch touch screen, the iPod nano goes back to the long thin chassis. I predicted and even suggested to Apple that they make a larger touch screen on the nano and whether knowingly or not, they listened and I’m glad they did.

Home Button

The iPod nano has now become more iOS like through the use of the home button. It features the same concept as the home button of iOS devices- bring me back home. It is a step forward into the iOSification for Apple’s second most popular iPod (second only to the iOS device, iPod touch).

Chassis

The Chassis, as always, is colored and is advertised on Apple’s site as being glass and smooth aluminum. The iPod comes in seven different colors (all colors are featured with white as well), gray, purple, yellow, blue, green (my favorite), black and pink. It has the thinnest chassis of any iPod ever- 5.4 mm thin and it is about the size of a credit card. The chassis is made out of aluminum and glass, as all of the products Apple announced this week.

Connections and buttons

In terms of buttons, for the first time ever, the iPod nano will feature two new distinct iOS device features. First, the aforementioned iOS-like home button. I say iOS-LIKE because it isn’t the exact design as the iOS home button. It also has, for the first time ever, a volume control bar on the side of the iPod. In terms of connecting, it features the same 3.5 mm headphone jack, but it features the new controversial 5 pin dock connector at this charger and USB, marking the first time ever in five years that Apple has changed it’s dock connector. Whether or not it was for the better, I will discuss in another article.

Interface

I mentioned iOS-like features earlier but the new interface, while iOS inspired, is not iOS itself. Icons for “apps” are circles instead of rounded squares giving them a sort of PS Vita look but better and more organized. In pictures, it appears it has two home screen pages and like iOS, show tiny gray circles on the button to include page # and amount of pages. Don’t get too excited because, it doesn’t have wifi therefore no App Store. Whether Apple will release a modified app store to buy apps remained to be seen, but that’s what the iPod touch is for so I doubt it.

Music

The music app on the iPod nano is very similar to the music app in iOS. Search music or browse by artist, album, genre, composer, title etc. just as before in the old iPod nano but now you can actually see the results due to the larger screen. Genius is a built in feature of the new iPod nano that allows you to play songs similar to the one you are currently listening to, so you can keep the mood created by the original song.

Video

The video app is, again, very similar to iOS. You can watch TV shows, video podcasts, movies, music videos etc. If it’s a video, it works! Tap the 2.5 inch multi-tocuh display to stop, skip, play, rewind etc. just as in iOS devices. It really is cool.

Bluetooth 4.0

Bluetooth is absolutely a strong new feature of the iPod nano. With it, you can pair the iPod nano with wireless headphones, speakers or car audio systems. It of course takes no wires so it’s just wireless audio coming from your speakers. It is a very cool feature that whenever I get the new iPod nano, will be a widely at use feature and I am very glad they brought it.

Radio

FM radio has been a feature in the iPod touch before so it isn’t new but they brought interesting new changes to it. You can now pause live radio for up to 15 minutes which is incredible. You can rewind back 15 minutes to catch something you might have missed or wanted to go back to and then you can zoom back up to live radio. The only thing I’ve ever seen pause live radio is an app on iOS, so it really is a cool feature.

EarPods

Apple has changed it’s earphones. For me, it’s thank goodness as i never really like those headphones, I usually gave them away to someone who didn’t have any since my 3rd-party headphones are way better. Apple did say this time however, that these headphones, called EarPods can sound better than my expensive, high-quality sound. So as soon as I can get my hands on them, I will compare the two. I hope what they say is true, so other people can get higher quality sound than what they are used to.

Lightning Connector

As aforementioned, Apple changed it’s dock connector and whether or not that was a good idea or not remains to be seen. However, I feel that if Apple does something, it must be for a reason since such a company knows what it is doing. Apple says it is thinner, lighter, smaller and can connect to the iPod on both sides like the MagSafe connector on the MacBooks. They will offer a 30-Pin to Lightning adapter so don’t worry, you can still use 30-pin, as manufacturers for cases, accessories etc. are switching to the new standard. However, with wireless capabilities of BlueTooth, it will become less and less relevant anyway.

Other Features

Fitness features will put a pedometer in your pocket and while you to connect wireless via Bluetooth to heart-rate monitors. In addition, you can connect to nikeplus.com and keep track of your progress. Photos, of course, will look better with the bigger screen. It will come with the same iOS features such as pinch-and-zoom. You will have access to Podcasts through iTunes and you can put Podcasts onto your iPod nano. Accessibility features are all new with the ability to help blind people use the iPod. These features are known as some of the most helpful to those who can’t seen and are universally known by the disabled. It comes with VoiceOver, Invert Colors and Mono Audio.

Price

The iPod nano only sells at one model now which is a 16 GB model at $149 which I believe to be a bargain becaus of all of the great features.

The iPod nano is bound to be the best selling and quite frankly, the best iPod nano yet. Perhaps this is the iPod nano in which they will stick with, because it is truly the best one they have made, no if’s and’s or but’s about it.

Stay tuned for my report on the iPod touch and iPhone 5.

Thanks for reading,

Joe

iPhone 5 Coming Soon To A Media Event Near You

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Apple has finally announced the media event in which they will announce the new iPhone 5. With a very obvious picture that they sent out to media this morning, Apple put the number 12 and the shadow reflecting from that 12 is a 5, so one can assume that the iPhone 5 will be announced on September 12th. Don’t worry, you actually don’t even need to assume, the iPhone 5 WILL be announced on September 12th. But what are we going to see from the iPhone 5? Let’s take a look a at popular rumors and come to a consensus on what the new iPhone will look like, it’s name and when it will be released.

Release Date

After being confirmed that the iPhone 5 will be announced on September 12th, it has also become a general consensus that it will be released nine days later on the 21st. As usual, the release will cause stores to crowd and shipping dates to be put backward. Apple stocks have gone sky high due to talks about the iPhone 5 so expect a huge following from the phone, perhaps bigger than that of any of the other iPhone releases.

Name

While it is most likely that the new phone will be called the iPhone 5, it is still possible, especially with the iPad 3 being called the new iPad, that the new iPhone will be called just that. Apple has never really been super great at naming things but they do a whole lot better at doing so than Windows PC machine manufacturers who name their products random letters and numbers no one can remember. We believe it is most likely that it will be called the iPhone 5, since Apple is giving complaints to the people who currently own iPhone5.com and their developer numbers are iPhone 5,1 and iPhone 5,2.

Form Factor

Unlike the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 5 will be a completely new design. It has been wildly rumored to have a bigger four-inch screen and while it may sound unlikely Apple would change the screen size, rumors are pointed towards the otherwise. Bigger speaker grills and a two tone back with brushed aluminum is expected. One of the biggest changes will be the relocation and redoing of the connectors which I will talk a bit more about in a minute. As Apple always heads for the “thinner is better” mentality, you can expect that the iPhone 5 will be thinner than it’s predecessor, the iPhone 4S. It is expected to be 7.4 mm, a 1.7 mm difference from the 9.1 mm of the iPhone 4S. As a result of it being thinner, expect it to weigh somewhat less.

Connections

The biggest change to the bottom of the iPhone is about to occur. Apple, in the first time since the original iPhone, will change it’s dock connector. It is planning to adopt a 8,9 or 19 pin dock connector with most sources pointing at 9. The 3.5 mm headphone jack is expected to be at the bottom of the device along with a aforementioned bigger speaker grills.

Specs

It is expected we will see a quad-core processor debut in the iPhone 5 especially since other phone manufacturers have already adopted it. It will probably be called the Apple A6, and of course, be faster than it’s predecessor. The processor certainly needs to faster in order to impress people into buying it. Reports are saying we will see 1 GB of RAM in the phone and it makes sense that we will.

4G

Due to the fact that “the new iPad” has 4G, you can expect the iPhone 5 to have it as well and since other smartphones released this year have it, I can almost guarantee you that you will see 4G. 4G can be up to 10 times faster than 3G depending on the circumstances.

Screen

Many sources have been claiming that the new iPhone 5 will have a bigger screen size. It has been rumored that the iPhone 5 could have curved glass screens but that is unlikely. it is most likely that it will be the standard flat screen. It will have a 4.x screen size, and while many reports claim 4.1 inches, there are a few who say more than that, up to 4.6 inches. The display of course will be a retina display as the iPhone and iPod touch have been Retina since 2010. It has been said it will be made by Sharp or Sony.

NFC

Some rumors detailing NFC (Near Field Communications allows devices to communicate with credit/debit machines for fast payments) have been rampant in the rumor community. NFC has been featured on other phones in the past and with the iOS 6 app Passbook, it gives Apple reason to add such a thing.

Cameras

Sony currently creates the cameras for iPhone 4 and 4S. Sources have claimed it will again feature a 8 MP camera but with newer, more stable features. Many reports say the iPhone 5 will feature a HD front-facing camera

Liquid Metal?

Liquid metal is an alloy that is very strong and built to last. Many people are interested in the fact that Apple has extended it’s contract of exclusivity with a company that makes liquid metal technology considering that Apple only used it for it’s iPhone 3G’s SIM card ejector. While it may be unlikely that the iPhone 5 will have liquid metal, don’t discount it entirely as it could happen. If Apple kept it’s exclusivity, they kept it for a reason. The more probable device is the iPhone 6 but we’ll just have to see what Apple does on the 12th.

The iPhone 5 is shaking up to be revolutionary, the biggest step up since the original iPhone. While people were originally upset that the iPhone 5 came last year, perhaps it was actually a great idea since it gave them more time to deliver a product that will be truly amazing and on September 12th, something truly amazing may be an understatement as to what’s to come that day.

Thanks for reading,

Joe

LATE BREAKING: Apple Store in Temecula, CA Smashed and Grabbed

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UPDATE: The Apple Store is open again and the robbers were caught, he left his license plate at the scene.

Early this morning an Apple store in the Promenade mall in Temecula, CA was smashed and grabbed by unidentified suspects in an unidentified vehicle, presumably a truck. The incident happened very early last night. No reports of injuries or even employees in the store at the time of the robbery have been reported. Multiple suspects broke into the store by driving a truck into the glass windows of the store and stole various Apple hardware and left undetected by local law enforcement. As of this hour, the suspects have not been apprehended but the case is actively being investigated and let it be known that they will be caught.

The Apple Store in that mall remains closed as employees and officials try to pick up the pieces and rebuild what was probably the most popular store in that mall. Whether or not the store will reopen for the iPhone 5 release in a few weeks has yet to be determined, but my guess is that it won’t be considering the amount of damage involved. It is a really great thing that no one got hurt there and for that I am thankful and I hope the perpetrators will be caught, arrested and dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.

Thanks for reading,

Joe

Tim Cook: A year in review

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Tim Cook has now been CEO of Apple for a year, also marking one year since Steve Jobs stepped down from the CEO position of Apple. How much has Apple grown since he has taken the reigns? What has changed at Apple in its products, its services and its relations with other companies? We will look at the answers to all of these questions and determine how much of a change, good and bad has occurred.

iPhone 4S

Since Tim Cook has taken the realms, there have been multiple products released from Apple. First, let’s talk about the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 4S was released, ironically, the day before Steve Jobs’ death (May he rest in peace) prompting some people to believe the iPhone 4S meant 4 Steve, but that is, and probably will forever be unknown. But I digress. The iPhone 4S was the first major product to come out under Tim Cook and while some people were originally upset it wasn’t the iPhone 5, it is definitely a respected phone and is one of Apple’s top selling phones along with the iPhone 4. The new iPhone 4S brought in Siri, a service that would change the way we use our devices. It brought a new camera, one that is strong enough to not only capture consumer camera level quality, but surpass it as well. It also brought a powerful new processor, capable of handling high-end mobile applications with a breeze. The iPhone 4S, while brought no changes to the physical chasis to the phone, brought new unsurpassable features that made people want to buy the iPhone 4S even though they bought the 4 recently. It has changed the phones in our pockets, and with the new iPhone 5 coming out soon, Apple is about to change it even more, and in an even more powerful way. The very fact that the iPhone 5 is coming out soon has made Apple become the most valuable company in history, surpassing Microsoft’s record it made in 1999. As a matter of fact, today, the iPhone alone makes more money for Apple, than all of Microsoft’s products combined. Thats right. In the quarter ending March 31 of this year, Apple raised more money through the iPhone alone than Microsoft did out of Windows OS, Office, Bing, XBox and the Windows Phone combined.

Education

In February, before the iPad was released, Tim Cook met with and announced with textbook publishers that they were working together to make textbooks for the iPad, signaling that Apple is very interested in doing something in technology. In California, I have yet to see anything but junky computers in schools, but in other parts in the country such as the East Coast, iPads are being used in increased volume across the country. There is even a charity earning money to give iPads to students, it was even featured as one of the celebrities charities on The Celebrity Apprentice.

The new iPad

The iPad 3 (or by it’s official name the New iPad) took the iPad from being years ahead of the competition to light years ahead of the competition. When the original iPad came out, all of the ideas the other companies had were trashed and they started over. When the iPad 2 came out, it put Apple years ahead of whatever the other companies had out and now the iPad 3 put them even more ahead of the competition. The only way any other company could get close to Apple is if they violate copyright and get sued such as Samsung. Tim Cook did a good job with the introduction and release of the new iPad. He released the new iPad with consistent zeal and enthusiasm and innovated unlike any other company.

WWDC

WWDC was a mixed bag for me. While I loved what they did with the most advanced desktop and mobile operating systems, I was not a huge fan of what they did with new laptops. Allow me to go into further detail. First, I’ll start with the laptops.

MacBooks

While, admittedly, I actually did buy a MacBook this summer, it wasn’t the one I originally wanted to get (after using it for a while, I have realized my decision was not a poor one). I was expecting that the beautiful Retina Display was coming to the MBP 13″ as well as the 15″. I think many people were expecting that it would come at WWDC. The new Retina Display MBPis pretty light for a 15 inch laptop and contains a lot of power but for the lowest price to be put at $2199 it is anything but affordable. With an expected 13 inch MBPR to be coming soon (most likely next month), I can’t return my MBA, but I use it all the time, so even if I could, I wouldn’t. Personally, right now, I don’t think the features of the new MBPR, the 15 inch we have now or the 13 inch to come later, warrants the prices they either have or will have. Apple did not come up too short though, they sold four million Macs last quarter, and that’s not too shabby. Almost all people that buy the new MBPR are very pleased with it, but down the road, I wonder how upset they will be once they realize that they can’t add more RAM or fix their battery without repairing the whole machine since everything is soldered in. See detailed analysis. I’m not sure if Apple got everything right here but only time will tell to how much of an impact these MBPRs have on the MacBook line. If they will stay and replace the standard for good or if they will go has yet to be seen. Let’s not forget that Apple has had flops in the past, I just hope Apple knows what they are doing with the new laptops, because the laptop industry is something they just can’t lose at. I don’t think they will fail with it, but they better be careful.

OS X Mountain Lion

On a better note, Apple did a very good job at introducing the new desktop and mobile operating systems. I’ll start first with the new OS X Mountain Lion. OS X Mountain Lion was announced at WWDC in June and was released a month later at the end of July. OS X Mountain Lion is Apple’s most successful OS ever. In the “opening weekend” they sold three million copies, the most ever in one weekend. Many more people are still buying Mountain Lion. Mountain Lion is beneficial to both kinds of Mac users. There are your beginner Mac users who are already familiar with other Apple devices and those who are the Mac people, the ones who have come to know and love Macs and the Mac OS. OS X Mountain Lion is very customizable. For those who are familiar with iOS, may want to keep the iOS features that Mountain Lion brings. For the people who are less iOS-orientated (I know quite a few of these people) you can turn off as many iOS features as you want while still getting many goodies from Mountain Lion. People have preferences to what they want and because iOS features are not being forced upon people who don’t want them, OS X Mountain Lion could certainly be and statistically is the best Mac OS to date. I am a very Apple-rounded person, simply meaning I love both Mac and iOS, so for me, I think the the new iOS features are a treat, as would many iOS-familiar people would say. iOS, since its introduction, has been a global OS. It is used by many people around the world who either use the iPad, iPhone or the iPod touch and iOS 6 is about to make it even better.

iOS 6

iOS6 was introduced during WWDC alongside the OS X Mountain Lion. However, unlike Mountain Lion, it has yet to be released, so as a result there are no download numbers. However, the features it adds are great ones. To start with, iOS 6 will bring Siri to the new iPad, this is a huge step up in putting Siri into all it’s future products as all it’s missing now is the iPod touch. Don’t expect past versions of the iPhone or iPad (iPhone 4, iPad 2 etc.) to get it, but every future iPhone and iPad will. Another feature iOS 6 will bring is Maps. While iOS already has a Maps app in it, it is Google-owned and operated. This is no longer. Maps will now be an Apple owned and operated service, capable of providing turn-by-turn, traffic and the new beautiful feature Fly-Over, which is similar to Google Map’s flight simulator, but looks cleaner. Facebook will now be integrated within iOS and it is looking to be a hot feature that everyone with a Facebook account will enjoy. It’s even integrated with Siri, allowing Siri to post for you. Passbook is a new app to iOS. It can contain all of your passes to your grocery stores, to amusement parks, to anywhere, so now you won’t lose your season pass to Disneyland or your Preferred card at Albertsons. FaceTime will now be able to work over 3G/4G instead of just wifi. These are not all the features but you can check them all out here.

Foxconn

Tim Cook’s reactions to fix the growing Chinese Foxconn problem was exactly how it should be. He solved it with appropriate time and worked with Foxconn to provide a solution to the problem of the employees. In case you didn’t hear about what happened at Foxconn a few months back, allow me to quickly explain. Some workers at Foxconn were committing suicide since the working conditions there were not tolerable, and they weren’t. The people there should be treated better. Reportedly, this has happened. Tim Cook has been vouching for better treatment and supposedly the conditions have improved “[dramatically]” according to FLA officials. I hope that Apple did solve it in an appropriate manner and people won’t have to be protected by nets on the side of the buildings.

Q2 vs. Q3

Apple’s Q2 results was one of the best ever but Q3 did not impress. Quarter three wasn’t as hot as the quarter before it and while it showed year to year growth, it did not show quarter to quarter growth. Given, Apple didn’t introduce a new iPad or new iPhone, so it was what I like to call an in-between quarter. Apple doesn’t usually have these but when it does, it isn’t a good thing. Apple stock fell quite a bit after the announcement of it’s quarter sales but went sky-high when rumors of the existence of the iPhone 5 spread like wildfire. As a matter of fact, Apple stock raised to an all-time high due to the upcoming iPhone 5.

Advertising Slip-up

Apple had an advertising slip-up during the Olympics. The commercials they aired were not liked by anybody and people went as far as saying they reminded them of Best Buy commercials. Ouch. But don’t fear, Apple canceled the commercials and continued with the standard simplistic commercials we have come to know and love.

Thermonuclear War

Tim Cook has kept Steve Jobs’ promise of “thermonuclear war” against Android and the companies that harbor it. Apple has been in a string of legal battles. One, most recently and famously, Apple won. About a week ago, as many of you should know, Apple won against Samsung in it’s court case against it. While Apple did not get the full $2.5 billion it wanted, it did get a little over a billion dollars and while for Apple it’s just pocket change, it has dire consequences for Samsung. Samsung is in risk of getting sued again if they infringe again. Other companies won’t be copying Apple anymore and Samsung also has a risk of having it’s products banned. And now while Apple and Google have been talking and Apple is holding off for now, I think that war between the two is inevitable and if the jury found in favor of Apple once, they can, will and should do it again.

Apple, Tim Cook and the Future

So what now? What will happen in the future? What can we expect to happen the future? With the Fall approaching, and the year passing it’s 2/3rd point, you can expect Apple to be releasing products one after the other. Pretty soon you should expect the new iPhone 5, you can expect a new iPod line, and if not a new iPod line, at least a new iPod touch. You can expect that Apple will release a new iPad mini to compete with the 7 inch tablets. If they can do what they did with the iPad and it’s competitors, you can expect the iPad mini to blow the competitors out of the water. I would expect the new MBPR 13 inch. The new iOS 6 is guaranteed to come out this fall. You can expect that every product that I just mentioned will blow the competition away and they might even send them back to the drawing boards. What about Tim Cook? He is an unquestionable asset to Apple and it’s incredible success. He has led the company to become the most valuable company in history. He has done what people didn’t think he could, allow Apple to succeed, and it is my firm belief that he will continue to do so.

Thanks for reading,

Joe