With the exception of iPads and the declining iPod, the numbers coming out of Apple's conference call with analysts mirror the title of Pixar's best movie: Up. Of primary importance to analysts were the better-than-expected iPhone sales, but Mac sales were also up from the year-ago quarter. Other numbers revealed in the course of the call were also positive; growth in China and Japan, strength in developing markets and new revelations on Apple TV and iTunes numbers.
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Movie, television and celebrity information database, IMDb, has updated its app for iOS today. The app allows users to find showtimes, watch trailers, browse photos, and create a "must-see" list of shows and films. In v4.2, users can now access US-wide television listings. Additionally, Amazon Prime is now integrated, meaning that whether a title is available on Amazon Prime is indicated upon searching. If the Amazon Instant Video app is installed, the media can be played immediately. The showtimes page design has been revamped, and a ratings history bug has been fixed. Free to download, the IMDb iOS app requires iOS 7.0 or later.
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4 hours ago | Posted in: industry, Apple
Once again, US District Court Judge Denise Cote has denied an Apple motion -- this time asking that the court delay the class-action lawsuit brought by 33 states and various consumer groups while Apple appeals her original guilty verdict in the federal case that alleged Apple led a conspiracy to fix e-book prices. The states are hoping to get further damages from Apple, up to a possible $840 million if the judge triples the damages asked for due to a finding of willful guilt.
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On paper, the sales of the iPad in Apple's fiscal second quarter look bad: a 16 percent drop from the year-ago quarter, rumors of which already had pundits and business sites wondering if the iPad had peaked. Statistics, however, can sometimes be misleading -- and in an unusually proactive explanation, Apple CEO Tim Cook took time at the start of his conference call with analysts to explain that changes in channel inventory accounted for most of the "lower" sales.
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will circulate new "open" Internet regulations internally on Thursday. The new proposal will allow companies to pay Internet providers a fee for "special access" to customers and boosted speed of delivery of the paid content, on a "commercially reasonable" basis, paving the way for more deals like the one Comcast struck with Netflix. The FCC will determine what the terms will be on a case-by-case basis.
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7 hours ago | Posted in: Investor, Apple
In a surprise announcement, Apple will do a 7:1 stock split on June 6, giving stockholders of record as of June 2 an additional six shares for every one share of stock they currently hold. Trading will resume on June 9 at the split-adjusted price, which CEO Tim Cook has said the company wants to be more affordable so that smaller investors can get into the stock. Given today's closing price of $524.75, the average price of a share would drop to $75 if the split were happening now.
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8 hours ago | Posted in: industry, Apple
Former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts will be joining Apple as its retail head "next week," Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed today during the company's Q2 conference call. Ahrendts has been confirmed as making the switch since last year, but until now neither Apple nor Burberry would give an exact timeframe. In the interim Ahrendts has been helping Burberry transition to her successor, CCO Christopher Bailey.
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As a part of announcing its second-quarter results, Apple has also posted a detailed breakdown (PDF), exposing further facts. They reveal, for instance, that Apple's iPad revenues dropped 16.4 percent year-over-year, shifting from roughly $8.7 billion to $7.6 billion. The company has typically seen continuous growth for the iPad, but units fell from just under 19.5 million to 16.3 million. Cook later clarified that inventory changes made the drop seem much more dramatic than it actually was in terms of end-user sales.
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Apple has posted $45.6 billion in revenues in its second fiscal quarter, up from $43.6 billion the same period a year ago. Net profits rose from $9.5 billion to $10.2 billion, or from $10.09 per share to $11.62. The company sold 43.7 million iPhones, an increase from the 37.4 million in Q2 2013. iPad sales came in at 16.3 million units, below a Wall Street consensus forecast of 19.7 million. The company also recorded 4.1 million Macs.
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9 hours ago | Posted in: software
Google Play Music on Android can be used to stream music through AirPlay devices, thanks to a release from doubleTwist. MagicPlay: AirPlay for Android, downloadable from Google Play and works with the existing doubleTwist Player, will act as a bridge between Google's Cast API for streaming to the Chromecast and AirPlay, granting the music service AirPlay support.
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Calling and messaging app, Viber, today has announced an update for its iPhone app featuring a redesign for iOS 7. Viber facilitates free world-wide calling and messaging over a WiFi or 3G connections to other Viber users, with calls made to non-Viber landlines and mobile numbers possible at low rates. Viber v4.2.0 features a revised aesthetic to compliment iOS 7, and the added ability to send up to 10 photos and videos at one time to reduce redundancy in file transfer. Users can now send longer video messages, and contacts can see when a user is typing a message to them from an Android tablet, Linux, Mac, PC, or Windows 8 device. Viber is free to download through iTunes for devices running iOS 6.0 or later.
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12 hours ago | Posted in: industry
US-based game retailer GameStop is planning to add 23 Simply Mac locations this year, and as many as 400 Spring Mobile and Cricket locations, says the Star-Telegram. The company bought out Simply Mac and Spring Mobile last year in an attempt to diversify its revenue. Simply Mac is an authorized Apple reseller, whereas Spring Mobile sells AT&T products; Cricket is based on the AT&T network. The expansion is expected to cost up to $140 million, based on a mix of buying existing outlets and constructing new ones. GameStop says it expects to add 200 to 250 Spring locations and 100 to 150 Cricket outlets.
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The Samsung Galaxy S5 might be the phone that Android users have been craving for some time. Information coming out of Mobile World Congress painted the phone to be the next leap in innovation spearheaded by Samsung to breathe life back into their smartphones. From changes in the camera and adding pieces of technology to aid a healthy lifestyle, on top of a powerful set of internals, the phone has been set up by Samsung marketing to be the next must have phone for consumers at all levels. But is Samsung creating a phone that will indeed work for everyone, or are they stretching themselves too thin to cover so many ideas? Read our review and find out.
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Analysts for two financial firms, Barclays and Morgan Stanley, are contending that Taiwanese firm Catcher Technology will supply metal casings for the next-generation iPhone. Both firms in fact expect Catcher's share of iPhone 6 casings to top 10 million units this year. Much of the argument is based on Catcher's existing involvement in the Apple supply chain; the firm is thought to produce casings for both the MacBook Pro and the iPhone 5s, to the degree that 40 percent of its revenue stems from Apple orders.
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Google has updated its online Maps service by adding the option to view earlier Street View imagery. Users of Google Maps can, in a number of locations, use previously-collected Street View photographs to explore an area, and be able to compare recent shots of the location with those from the same place dated from as far back as 2007.
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14 hours ago | Posted in iOS apps
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Movies provides users with reviews, trailers, and showtimes for all of the movies currently in theaters. Users can also find information on upcoming movies and titles recently released on DVD. A number of reported bugs have been addressed with this update.
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Path is a social network where users can share various aspects of their day-to-day life. Support is included for capturing thoughts, photos, videos, places, music, movies, books, and even sleep. Version 3.4.3 includes a number of bug fixes and will be the last release that support iOS 6.
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TextExpander allows users to create a library of abbreviation shortcuts for frequently used snippets of text. These snippets can then be used to quickly type text in more than 150 apps that include TextExpander support, such as OmniFocus, Things, and WriteRoom. A problem where plain text snippets could change to form mated text inadvertently has been fixed in this release.
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Pinnacle Studio allows iPad users to edit film footage directly on their mobile device. Clips can be arranged on a storyboard, while built-in transitions, effects, and audio can be used to enhance footage. Various bugs have been fixed in the v5.0.1 update.
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Image Blender is a tool for combining images with masks and different blend modes. Within the app users can specify exactly where images should be blended, and personalized filters with overlays can be saved for later use. Version 2.2.2 fixes issues with saving just a masked foreground. A problem where masks would not be cleared has also been resolved.
15 hours ago | Posted in: peripherals
Code contained in iOS 7.1 and 7.1.1 suggests that Apple is planning to bring Siri to the Apple TV. A PLIST file for Assistant -- an internal Apple name for Siri -- includes the Apple TV lineup under its collection of supported devices. Notably, though, no Apple TV to date has included the microphone that would be needed for Siri.
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