Several companies have begun offering Black Friday software discounts, joining others promoting hardware deals . Microsoft has notably introduced discounts on Office for Mac 2008 , cutting the prices of the Home and Student Edition by $20, and the Business Edition Upgrade by $40. The complete Business Edition is temporarily $50 cheaper.
Several websites have already begun Mac-related Black Friday sales, including MacMall , OnSale , ClubMac and MacConnection . MacMall is selling Minis for $550 and $745, a 2.66GHz MacBook Pro for $1,799, and a 27-inch, 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo iMac for $1,585. Its MacBook Airs are priced at $1,399 and $1,690.
UK supermarket chain Tesco will soon begin carrying the iPhone, according to an announcement. Sales will be conducted by Tesco Mobile, a joint venture with O2, and provided not only via regular Tesco locations but on the web and through the company's nearly 100 dedicated Phone Shops. There are 2,282 Tesco stores in total across the UK, a factor which should help to significantly expand the reach of the iPhone.
Following a recent legal victory , Apple is now calling for a permanent injunction against Psystar's operations. If granted the injunction would prevent Psystar from doing anything which might violate Apple copyrights, including bypassing controls in Mac OS X which prevent it from being freely installed on any Intel system. The company would similarly be banned from sharing the necessary decryption technology with others.
Apple has signed a deal with concert promoter Live Nation, in a deal that should see a number of recordings sold exclusively through iTunes. Both audio and video offerings are planned, which will be taken from concerts recorded in 80-plus venues equipped for capturing the material. Live Nation stages over 22,000 concerts annually, though it is likely that only a fraction will become available online.
Some iPhone owners are still suffering from an issue preventing any kind of cellular connection, posters on Apple's support forums say. After entering an area with no carrier service, or simply at random, an iPhone may launch into a "searching for service" mode from which it does not return , even when back in a known coverage area. The only way of temporarily fixing the problem is said to be rebooting a phone.
Some buyers of the 27-inch Core i7 iMac are receiving unusuable systems, threads on Apple's support forums indicate. In a collection of cases the systems are failing to even turn on properly , at best sounding the Mac startup chime, always failing to display anything more. Apple is reportedly offering replacement iMacs for affected customers, but this may involve a shipping time of two weeks, as Core i7 is an upgrade option not normally sold at retail.
Rogue Amoeba says it has released v1.0.2 of Airfoil Speakers Touch , a companion app for the company's Airfoil desktop client. The former streams various forms of Mac audio to handhelds. The update makes only one change, which is to restore images of Apple hardware and software to in-app displays.
Speaking in an interview, Phil Schiller -- Apple's senior VP of worldwide product marketing -- has responded to ongoing criticisms of the App Store approval process. A number of developers have complained that it may take weeks or months for an app to be approved. Even after such delays an app can still be rejected, sometimes for what may be considered arbitrary criteria.
With teasing having only just begun for the event, a brochure has already leaked for Apple's Black Friday sales. The document reveals conservative discounts for various products, for instance dropping the prices of iMacs to between $1,098 and $1,898. MacBook Pros are slated to cost between $1,098 and $2,448.
Apple devices now represent exactly half of all smartphone traffic on the Internet, AdMob said today in its report for October. The iPhone has gained 10 percent of absolute share since August to reach 50 percent while Symbian has fallen again to 25 percent. Apple has identical share in the US.
Big-box retailer Best Buy has announced a brief holiday discount for Macs, already in effect. All iMac prices have been cut by $100, while MacBook Pros are between $100 and $200 cheaper, depending on individual configurations. Notably the deals are set to end after Wednesday, well ahead of Black Friday, the traditional date for Thanksgiving sales. Consequentially, they will also avoid overlapping with Apple's own sales plans .
Carrier KT has exposed details of the South Korean iPhone launch, confirming reports that the product will be released locally on November 28th. Plans are set to cost 45,000 ($39), 65,000 ($56) or 95,000 won ($82) per month on contract. Phone prices vary accordingly; a 32GB 3GS is set at 396,000 won ($342) under a base plan, but only 132,000 won ($114) under the most expensive plan. The 16GB 3GS and the 8GB 3G have been made free in some combinations.
Apple has posted a teaser for its annual Black Friday online sale , this year scheduled for November 27th. No discounts have been revealed so far, as they are only typically announced on Black Friday proper. The event should nevertheless see lower prices on Mac, iPod, and iPhone-related products, as well as universal free shipping.
A new automatic screening technique Apple is using for the App Store appears to be backfiring, claims developer Rogue Sheep. The screening is believed to be aimed at catching unauthorized APIs, blocked under Apple's submission rules. A number of the apps trapped so far are allegedly ones using Three20, an Objective-C library. Rogue Sheep's Postage has in the past relied on some Three20 code, and so private API calls were removed from the software before submitting a recent update.
GPS maker TomTom has revealed a new car mount , one designed exclusively for the iPod touch. The accessory reflects a recent update to the company's GPS app , which now includes Touch support. The new kit is little different from its more broadly-compatible iPhone version, mainly being $20 cheaper at a price of $100.
China Unicom has set high targets for iPhone sales in its native country, according to China Daily . One senior executive tells the newspaper that within two to three years, the iPhone is expected to represent 10 percent of all 3G devices in China. The carrier's chairman, Chang Xiaobing, has meanwhile suggested that the product will eventually become the nation's most popular smartphone.
A resident of Roseville, California is auctioning off an original Apple I , according to the Detroit Free Press . The computer was the first put into production by Apple, launching in 1976 in a limited run of 200 units. It was distinctive at the time for being produced and sold by a two-man team -- Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs -- and building in its own terminal circuitry, requiring only a separate keyboard and TV set.
A workaround has been developed to restore Atom processor support in Mac OS X 10.6.2, a Russian hacker claims. The technique relies on a custom version of the Mach kernel, which must be installed using Terminal because of the need to gain root access. Once active, the kernel should support so-called hackintosh netbooks, most likely to use Atom chips.
Autodesk will soon launch a Mac version of Smoke , a demonstration at Japan's InterBEE expo confirms. The software is a high-end video production suite, costing approximately $15,000. It is capable not only of conventional editing tasks, but also handling audio, painting, text and various visual effects.
Apple Store workers will soon have more apps for their iPod touch-based EasyPay handhelds , a source claims. The devices are currently meant to run Easy Touch, an app which handles roaming checkouts in tandem with an attached card reader and barcode scanner. Apple is gradually retiring an assortment of Windows CE-based checkout units, which have been criticized as slow and unreliable.
Virgin Mobile's Canadian division will soon carry the iPhone, according to an announcement. The company has revealed few details, except that it will sell both the 3G and 3GS, and that a launch should happen sometime "in the coming months." The device will also be the carrier's first HSPA-based phone, possible through an upgraded Bell cellular network .
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has chastised a Mac developer in response to a letter regarding a name change, reports say. The CEO of Little App Factory, John Devor, says he was recently served a notice by Apple lawfirm Baker & McKenzie, asking him to change the name of iPodRip, a program used to transfer content from an iPod or iPhone back to a Mac. Devor decided to plead his case with Jobs directly, writing an elaborate e-mail message .
As promised , TomTom has released an updated GPS app for the iPhone. A previously unannounced feature is support for the iPod touch, which normally lacks a GPS receiver. As with the recent Magellan app however, Touch support can only be enabled by docking with a first-party car kit .
The MacBook and the iPod touch have both taken positions on a Time list of the top 25 travel gadgets for 2009. The updated plastic MacBook is complimented for being tougher than its predecessor, and having LED backlighting, which contributes to a maximum seven-hour battery life. The magazine also remarks on the presence of a glass multi-touch trackpad, and the removal of mercury and arsenic from materials.
Agile Web Solutions has released the completed version of 1Password 3 , its web login utility. The software generates custom passwords for websites, remembering login information for automatic insertion later. Users can also save content related to online shopping, such as credit card numbers.
Apple has released two new software updates, beginning with a firmware update for the 24-inch LED Cinema Display. The update fixes an error with the built-in iSight camera, which may not be detected as intended by some programs. Downloaders must have an Intel Mac, as well as Mac OS X 10.5.8 or 10.6.2.
MacNN has reviewed Photo Mechanic , a professional photo browser that offers options for renaming, captioning and geocoding groups of photos. Photos can also be rotated, watermarked and given new metadata, as well as saved to backup. When browsing, images can be displayed in a contact sheet or else zoomed in for detail.
Apple is likely to sell between 2.8 and 2.9 million Macs in the December quarter, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. The forecast is based on October sales data from the NPD Group, which indicates that the month's Macs were up 7 percent year-over-year. Should Apple meet expectations, overall growth for the December period should be 14 percent .
The iPhone could soon become the UK's most popular smartphone, claims a Canalys analyst. Presenting at yesterday's Canalys Mobility Forum event in London, Pete Cunningham observed that the iPhone was the most popular smartphone in France during Q3 2009, a result of the end of an exclusive deal between Apple and regional carrier Orange. The French government ruled that the deal violated competition regulations.
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