AllThingsD » iCloud

At 10, You Still Have Some Tricks, iTunes

Katherine Boehret — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:28:56 +0000

Apple just celebrated the 10th birthday of its famed iTunes, which is easily the most popular source for buying digital content. Still, I regularly field questions from my family and friends about how iTunes works. These range from basic questions about syncing to storing music in the cloud and sharing music with family. And iTunes also has a lot of features most people don’t know exist. This week, I rounded up some ways to improve the way you use iTunes.

Digital Allowance

If you aren’t thrilled at the prospect of setting your credit-card number as the default payment on your kid’s iTunes account, a monthly allowance might be a better solution. From the iTunes Store home page on your computer, select “Send iTunes Gifts” on the right, then “Learn More About Gifting” and scroll to the bottom to find allowance settings. You can set the allowance in amounts ranging from $10 to $50.

[ See post to watch video ]

Recipients must have an Apple ID, but you can set up an Apple ID for them at the same time. You can decide to send the allowance right away or wait until the next month, on either the first or the day of the month you set up the allowance. You also can add a personal message.

Redeeming Gift Cards

Some people are thrilled to receive iTunes gift cards, but they just don’t know how to redeem them. A simple shortcut on a computer or mobile devices is to open iTunes, navigate to the iTunes Store, scroll to the very bottom of the store’s home screen and click Redeem. (On a computer, this is under Manage. In the iOS app, it’s in the bottom, center of the screen.) You’ll be asked to enter your Apple ID and then to enter your gift card or download code. If you accidentally scratched letters or numbers from your code like I did once, call or email Apple Support and they’ll help you figure it out.

Gifts Without the Gift Card

Anything in the iTunes Store or Apple’s App Store can be given to another person via an email. On your computer, select the arrow beside the price and click on “Gift this.” If you’re using an Apple mobile device, select the share icon (a small square with an arrow pointing right) at the top of the screen from the store and choose “Gift.” Then enter a personal message and choose Now or Other Date to decide when the recipient gets it.

This is especially helpful for favorite games or TV shows that you want friends to start playing or watching.

Sharing Libraries

Many family members or friends may find themselves frustrated by how their digital content is stored in individual libraries associated with individual Apple IDs, making it harder to share this content. While you can’t merge Apple IDs to combine libraries, you can turn on Home Sharing within your home Wi-Fi network to let various devices share content while they’re within range of the network. Turn on Home Sharing from the Advanced menu in iTunes and enter the same Apple ID on up to five computers. Likewise, you can stream content from other shared computers, or drag it onto your computer’s local library.

You also can see this shared content from iOS devices and Apple TV. Within the Music app on iOS, click the More tab in the bottom right. In the Videos app, tap the Shared button at the top. On your Apple TV, go into Settings, Computer and turn on Home Sharing, then open the Computer icon in your Apple TV’s main menu to access libraries and stream content.

iCloud vs. iTunes Match

Owners of Apple products surely have heard of iCloud, but they may not use it. Some people aren’t sure how it works with music and how it differs from iTunes Match.

ICloud is a handy insurance policy against losing your iPod and all of your iTunes content along with it. Once you set up iCloud using your Apple ID, any content that you buy from the iTunes Store will show up on other devices without any syncing. Any past purchases from the iTunes Store will show up on all of your devices, too. Tapping a tiny cloud icon beside each file will pull it onto your device.

To replicate all of your content across devices, including stuff you haven’t bought from iTunes (like CDs you imported or bought elsewhere), iTunes Match will do the trick. This costs $25 a year and matches up to 25,000 songs. From iTunes on your computer, open the Store menu, select “Turn on iTunes Match,” enter your Apple ID and password and click Subscribe. On iOS devices, open Settings, Music and turn on iTunes Match.

ITunes Match will work on up to 10 devices, and it auto-scans for newly purchased content so you have it on all devices.

Getting Rid of Content

It may seem like everything in your iTunes library is stuck there for good. But if you’re tired of keeping unwanted files, like episodes of Season 2′s “Mad Men” or irritating tunes from a Christmas party playlist, the process to delete them is painless.

From your iTunes library on the computer, click the item to select it, press the delete key and click Delete Item. From here, you can opt to remove the item only from your iTunes library, which keeps the file on your computer though not in iTunes (click “Keep File”), or delete the item from your computer permanently (click “Move to Trash” and empty the Trash).

When you know how all of its features work, iTunes can be a real pleasure to use. But if you’re confused, syncing content can be a dreaded experience. If you know people who tiptoe around how to use iTunes, share this guide with them.

Write to Katherine Boehret at katie.boehret@wsj.com

Apple Earnings: Good, Not Great

John Paczkowski — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:39:26 +0000

After a suffering a near 30 percent decline in share price over the past three months, Apple needed an old school top line beat for the holiday quarter to ease fears that its pace of growth is slowing.

But the company didn’t quite manage it. While it beat its own guidance — earnings per share of $11.75 on $52 billion in revenue — it didn’t trounce the Street.

Posting first-quarter financials after market close Wednesday, Apple reported earnings per share of $13.81 on revenue of $54 billion. The first number surpassed Wall Street estimates, the second did not. Analysts had been expecting Apple to post earnings per share of $13.47 on revenue that rose 19 percent to $54.9 billion.

Apple said its gross margins were 38.6 percent. That’s close to the 39.5 percent analysts had been looking for, but not close enough.

Apple said it sold 47.8 million iPhones for the quarter, 22.9 million iPads, 4.1 million Macs and 12.7 million iPods. Wall Street was expecting iPhone sales of 48 million units, iPad sales of 22-23 million units, Mac sales of about 5 million units and iPod sales of 12 million.

“We’re thrilled with record revenue of over $54 billion and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in the company’s earnings release. “We’re very confident in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in the world.”

For the upcoming quarter, Apple expects revenue of $41 billion to $43 billion. Analysts had been looking for $45.6 billion. The company didn’t offer any guidance on earnings.

Apple shares, which had rallied in after-hours trading prior to the company’s earnings release, tumbled on the news. At $489.30, they’re down more than 4 percent.

So: Record iPad sales. Record iPhone sales. Record revenue of over $54 billion. Some 75 million iOS devices sold in a single quarter. And yet the Street’s still disappointed.

For the company’s side of things, check Ina Fried’s liveblog.

Depending on the Cloud

Walter S. Mossberg — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 02:12:01 +0000

What is the best way to store a large number of photos without relying on cloud systems?

If you have more photographs (or any other large files) than you would like to store on your computer’s hard disk, but don’t care to use cloud storage, the best option is an external hard disk.

Some of these are networkable, which means you can connect them to your home network and access the photos via Wi-Fi from multiple PCs, Macs and other devices. This is called Network Attached Storage.

I’m a senior in high school preparing for college this fall. The shared family computer contains a lot of stuff that is mine, including music, Word documents and photos. What would be the best way to transfer these to the laptop I end up getting? Would a service such as iCloud (since it is an iMac) work best for music and then transfer Word docs and photos through a flash drive?

That would work, especially if your photos and documents amount to a relatively small amount of data. But, if your laptop is a Mac, there is an alternative.

Apple builds in a utility that appears during setup and will migrate data files, settings and apps from an older Mac, either over a cable or a wireless network.

This might be faster and more complete, especially if your stuff is the bulk of what’s on the iMac. After migration, you could always delete anything you didn’t want.

Email your technology questions to Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

Apple's Next Battleground Isn't TV; It's Web Services

John Paczkowski — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 12:06:19 +0000

Apple does hardware and software well, and it’s at the top of its game when it does them together. But when it comes to Web services, the company is a laggard, with an ever-lengthening conga line of missteps.

There are hands-down fiascos: MobileMe, Ping and Maps. And there are works in progress: Game Center, iTunes Match and iCloud. And all of them speak to a troubling deficiency that Apple just can’t seem to overcome. One that’s garnering increasingly more public scrutiny. One that, at its worst — say with the disastrous Maps debacle — shows up the company that prides itself on building the “magical and revolutionary” as fallible.

So, as the 2013 Apple rumor mill ramps up, and the prognosticators wonder whether the company’s product pipeline includes a television, a watch, or both, consider this: While Apple could likely use another disruptive innovation on which to build its continued success, what it really needs — crucially — is to do Web services well.

Because to do them poorly is to weaken the hardware and software on which Apple prides itself. These days, our experiences of Web services are part and parcel of our experience of the devices on which they run. When Maps for iOS fails, the iPhone fails with it. Certainly that was the view taken by investors, who whacked $30 billion from Apple’s market cap in the days following the Maps fiasco.

As Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes recently observed, “The Maps debacle showed investors how valuable Google’s technology was — how hard it was to replicate — and how Apple may struggle as the world moves beyond iTunes toward cloud-based services.”

In other words, it showcased Apple’s deficiency in such a way that it actually shook investors’ confidence in the company. It showed them that great Web services are as critical to Apple’s success as great hardware.

Apple, of course, already knows this. That’s why it undertook audacious initiatives like Maps and iTunes Match in the first place. But the company clearly underestimated the effort and skill needed to pull them off with excellence. And now, with all the world watching, it can’t afford to do so again. Maps, iTunes Match, iCloud … they all must “just work.” That’s what consumers expect. And that’s what Apple has promised.

In that sense, Web services are likely to be Apple’s next big battleground. Premium hardware and software aren’t enough anymore. The market wants services, as well. And it wants services that work.

What You Don't Know About Sharing Photos

Katherine Boehret — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 20:39:27 +0000

The visiting family members have left, the Christmas tree is out on the curb and the New Year’s Eve party confetti is all vacuumed up. If only sharing your holiday photos was as easy to manage.

After watching friends and relatives struggle to navigate the complications of photo sharing using Facebook, Apple’s Photo Streams and Google’s social network, Google+, I’m here to help. In this column, I’ve organized tips and tricks that might surprise even the most share-happy shutterbugs, and will serve as a helpful guide for people who want to feel more in control and comfortable while sharing photos. While there are numerous alternative methods for photo sharing, including thousands of apps, I zeroed in on Facebook, Photo Streams and Google+.

People can share albums from Google+ with anyone, including people who don’t use the network, by generating a link that can be sent to others.

Sharing With Friends Who Don’t Use the Network

Here’s an all-too-familiar scenario: You spend hours uploading, editing, captioning and “tagging” (identifying people by name) photos to create an album on Facebook, only to be asked by the one person who doesn’t use it if she can see the album. If you’re like most people, you say you’ll send the photos along, eventually. Then you change the subject to something more pleasant, like the cavity you recently had filled.

Unbeknownst to many users, Facebook, Google and Apple enable sharing with people who don’t use their services. Not surprisingly, these out-of-network sharing options are buried in an effort to force people into using the services. So where are they?

In Facebook, after creating an album, open the page that shows the album’s title and contents, select the small gear icon to the right of the album title and click “Share Album.” A Web link to the album will appear that you can copy and send to anyone, even if they don’t use Facebook or aren’t one of your Facebook Friends.

Facebook’s iOS and Android apps enable uploading multiple photos to existing albums, using the icon, above, or new albums.

Any Apple device running the company’s newest operating system, iOS 6, can create and view Shared Photo Streams. These are collections of photos on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch that you can share with friends via email. If your friends also use iOS devices, they can use them to view the Shared Photo Stream.

People who want to see these photos but don’t have an Apple device can still do so, as long as the album creator moves a slider labeled “Public Website” to the “on” position. This public album link is included in an email invitation, but it’s easily overlooked because it appears below a much larger blue button labeled “View this Photo Stream,” which only works on iOS devices. Be sure to click on the text at the very bottom of the email invitation that says, “You can also view this photo stream on the web.”

When people use Google+ to share photos, they’re immediately encouraged to click once and share to “Circles,” which are select groups of people within Google+. But they can also share with friends outside the network by adding their email addresses into the line that says, “Add names, Circles, or email addresses.” This enables sharing with friends who don’t use Google+ or don’t have Gmail accounts.

A Shared Photo Stream as seen through a public album link.

Entire albums can be shared outside of Google+: Within Albums, select one and click the “More” drop-down menu to find “Share album via link.”

Sync Mobile Photos as You Go

Facebook, iCloud and Google+ allow people to wirelessly synchronize their mobile photos with their accounts, saving them privately until they’re ready to be shared.

To set this up on Facebook, you can use the mobile app or the website. From the app, select Photos on the left-side panel, then Sync at the bottom right of the screen. Tap the gear in the top right to set whether your phone will sync over Wi-Fi or cellular or just over Wi-Fi. From Facebook.com, open your Timeline, select Photos, “Synced From Phone” at the top, then follow instructions to share images. People can sync up to two gigabytes of images.

Anyone who buys an Apple or Android device is prompted during setup to turn on Photo Stream or Instant Upload, as the companies call their respective offerings. Shared Photo Streams don’t count against your overall iCloud storage, nor do they work against your count of photos in Photo Stream, which syncs the last 1,000 images across your iOS devices. Google+ stores its synchronized mobile photos under a section called Instant Upload; these remain private until shared with others. Google+ has an overall limit of 5 gigabytes, but standard-sized photos like those captured on smartphones don’t count against this limit.

Other Helpful Tips

Facebook Camera is the free app that first made it possible for people to upload multiple photos to Facebook via iOS. Now, the main Facebook app also enables uploading multiple photos on Android or iOS, and images can be added to new or existing albums by selecting New or tapping a small album icon. Facebook also makes it simpler to post several photos at once in a status update using your Web browser: Users can now click a small “+” icon that appears beside uploaded photos to add more. Also, it’s now possible to drag and drop images right into the status box for sharing with Facebook friends.

If you’re ready to share your Apple Photo Stream with a broader network of friends, these can be uploaded to Twitter or Facebook, but the steps are practically hidden from view. Do this by opening Photo Stream and clicking the small, blue arrow to the right of the Stream you want to share. Make sure it has a link associated with it by switching the Public Website slider to “on,” then hit “Share Link” and select your preferred social network destination. Apple’s own message system, iMessage, is also a sharing option here.

Photo sharing should be more intuitive, and Facebook, Apple and Google are obviously still figuring out the best ways to pack multiple features into their websites and mobile apps. With any luck, your friends and family will have an easier time viewing your photos than you did sharing them.

Email Katie.Boehret@wsj.com

New Address? Addappt Lets Friends Follow All Your Moves.

Walter S. Mossberg — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 02:05:40 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

Your friends and contacts change jobs, phone numbers, email addresses and residences all the time. But keeping your digital address book or contact list current with all these changes is tedious at best and often impossible. So, the contacts on most smartphones and computers are usually out of date and incomplete.

Now, a tiny Silicon Valley start-up called Addappt is trying to end all that by making your address book self-updating. The company is offering a free service and contacts app of the same name for the iPhone that matches people in each others’ address books, and then automatically updates their information when changes occur.

For instance, in my tests of Addappt, one of my colleagues who was helping me try it out updated her home address on her own phone, and the new address appeared within minutes on her contact card in my phone’s address book. In turn, I added an additional phone number to my address record on my phone, and it showed up in her information for me almost immediately. No manual changes were needed on either end.

Addappt users control their own information. Only the person who is the subject of a contact card can make changes that will be synchronized through Addappt. It isn’t a social network, and it has no ties to Facebook or Twitter. Addappt says it stores only your own record, not your whole address book, on its servers. The idea is to focus on the address book, and make it better, not clutter it up.

With the Addappt app, changing your address, phone number or other personal data on your iPhone will automatically update this information for other Addappt users in your contact list.

After testing Addappt, I can say it does what it promises. I tried it successfully with several people. I was able to use Addappt itself as my address book, or to stick with my phone’s familiar contacts app, because Addappt instantly shares any changes with the built-in iPhone app, and vice versa. In fact, if you use Apple’s iCloud to synchronize your own address books, changes made automatically by Addappt can be propagated to all iCloud-connected devices, including iPads and Macs.

However, this is a new product from a company with few resources, so it is just starting out. That means it has some limitations and flaws that keep it, at least for now, from being a universal, living address book.

One limitation is that because Addappt is an iPhone-only app, you can’t get self-updating information for those people in your address book who don’t use iPhones. The company says it hopes to add an Android version by the middle of 2013, and has longer-range plans for other platforms.

Another is that, to gain the benefits of Addappt, you have to convince even your iPhone-using contacts to download and use it. But the company makes this somewhat difficult. Every new user must apply for an invitation code to activate the app. The company says this process is needed to authenticate people, and to guard against a surge of new users, which might swamp its servers.

And the app has some flaws. It can’t make a match between two Addappt users, even if they’re in each others’ iPhone contact lists, unless their current contact cards have the email address each used to join Addappt (it must be the top email on the contact card) or your name and the top phone number listed. Also, I found the Alphabetical index down the side of the Addappt app, meant to save you from scrolling through long lists, worked poorly.

In addition, the Addappt app lacks a Favorites or Recents list. Finally, while the company swears it will never share or sell or rent any contact information, it has yet to post a formal privacy policy.

In many other respects, however, the app is nicely designed and easy to use. Once it is up and running, it scans your address book to see if it can match any of your contacts to other Addappt users. If it can, it automatically connects you with them. As people in your address book join and use Addappt, they also get connected.

Addappt users who aren’t in each others’ address books can ask for permission to connect. The app includes a list of connected users, and pending connections, as well as your entire address book. In the main list, connected users are designated by small icons showing two links of a chain.

Addappt’s address book itself is attractive and easy to use. As you scroll through it, the contact at the top of the screen expands to show more information — such as the city and state — and even the local time (so you don’t wake people up in the middle of the night). Icons appear that allow you immediately to make a voice call, or to send an email or text, without opening the contact entry.

What information for a person in your contact book will change once you are connected to him or her on Addappt? It depends. For some things, like name or photo or job title, the other person’s choices will obliterate yours.

For others, like phone numbers, which can have multiple entries, information you’ve entered for the person will be preserved, and the contact’s own new information will be added.

Contacts’ pictures in Addappt are supplied by the person whose contact it is, and are displayed in a large size on the contact card.

The product has no advertising. The company hopes to make money eventually by selling premium versions with additional features.

Addappt is a promising product that could solve a real problem. But it can’t reach its full potential until it runs on all platforms.

Email Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

iTunes Gets an Upgrade Without Missing a Beat

Walter S. Mossberg — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:05:03 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

Apple’s iTunes is the world’s most popular computer program for playing, managing and buying music, movies and TV shows. The company estimates the number of copies in active use to be in the high hundreds of millions. Now, Apple has given iTunes its biggest overhaul since 2003, when the software — originally just a jukebox for Macs — was made available for Windows computers and the built-in iTunes store was added.

I’ve been testing this major new version, called iTunes 11, and I consider it a significant improvement in the look, feel, speed and function of the program, which had become somewhat bloated, sluggish and dense over the years as new features were added.

This new version won’t please every iTunes user. Some familiar ways of doing things have changed and some longtime features have been axed in the name of simplification. People who use iTunes solely to organize and play their media, not to buy it from Apple, will find many more prompts to patronize the iTunes store. There also are a few small flaws Apple is pledging to fix soon.

Overall, however, I found the new iTunes a pleasure to use. The venerable program is now brighter and more colorful, with clever and pleasing new capabilities and faster search. There is tighter integration between the library of media that resides on your computer and media stored in Apple’s online iCloud service. Streaming from the cloud has been expanded. The store has also been made cleaner, simpler and easier to use.

A new feature of iTunes 11, called Expanded view, allows you to click on an album cover to get a matching panel showing all the songs on that album.

I tested iTunes 11 on four computers: two PC laptops, one running Windows 7 and one the new Windows 8; and two Macs, an older desktop iMac and a late-model MacBook Air laptop. On all four machines, it ran well and smoothly, never crashing and properly playing all the local and cloud-based music and videos I tried.

In my tests, I bought a variety of new songs and videos, and they quickly became available on all my devices, including the four computers, an iPhone and an iPad. I also was able to smoothly sync an iPhone, an iPad and even a very old iPod, with no problems.

There are many small changes scattered throughout the program, but a few stand out.

No More Sidebar

The most notable change is that the program no longer uses a long, scrolling text sidebar to switch between displays of the major media types, such as music, movies, TV shows and podcasts. Instead, you select these by clicking on a drop-down button. When you pick a media type, it displays choices at the top. The music mode, for example, shows songs, albums, artists, genres and playlists. Choosing any of these instantly changes the main screen to reflect that choice.

Opening the iTunes Store is now done using a button at the top right. Once in the store, you return to the library using a similar button at the right.

Those who prefer the old sidebar can bring it back and banish the new main buttons.

Expanded View

My favorite new feature is called Expanded view. You can now click on any album cover and the cover image expands into a colorful panel showing all the songs on that album. The panel is in the dominant shade of the album cover and shows a lovely image of the cover that blends into the colored background of the panel.

This Expanded view also works for movies and TV shows, showing relevant information about films and, for TV shows, lists of episodes.

A small arrow next to each song, album, movie or TV show lets you perform actions like adding an item to a playlist, or jumping to the artist page in your library, or going to the item in the store.

What’s Next?

Another nice feature is called Up Next. It replaces a function called DJ and is essentially a queue of songs. You place any song at the top of this queue to play it next and see a history of what has been played earlier. If you like, you can play immediately any song in these lists.

Streaming

For years, iTunes was mainly about downloading media, not streaming it from the cloud. That changes with iTunes 11, now better integrated with Apple’s iCloud service, which stores music and videos you have purchased from Apple, or, if you have the paid iTunes Match service, any song, whether you bought it from Apple or not.

As before, small cloud icons indicate whether an album, movie or TV show is stored in iCloud rather than on your computer. And as before, you can click on these to download them. But now, iTunes lets you stream a song, movie or show without downloading.

Previously, streaming from the cloud was only available for paid users of Apple’s iTunes Match service, and only for songs.

MiniPlayer

The program has long had a MiniPlayer option, which hides the main window in favor of a small oblong player that better coexists with other windows you have open on your computer.

Now, this little player has added functions, such as search, and Up Next.

Drawbacks

Fans of iTunes will notice some omissions and flaws. The long-touted Cover Flow carousel of album covers has been dumped. The company says it found too few users considered it useful. A feature that finds duplicate entries is missing. Apple says it will soon be restored in a minor update of the program.

In my tests, some album covers were missing in album view. Apple says this is a rare bug, but one it has solved and will fix in a minor update soon. Another bug the company says will be remedied prevents owners of Apple TVs from wirelessly streaming cloud-based movies to their TVs.

Also, if you want to see biographical information on an artist, you have to go to the store. I wish it was available in the library, but Apple has no plans to change this.

Bottom Line

Apple has made iTunes better and easier to use, and veteran users who upgrade will gain from the new features, if they take a little time to get used to them.

Email Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

It's an iStorm: Scott Forstall Out at Apple, Along With Retail Head, as Other Top Execs Get Promotions

Kara Swisher — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 21:10:44 +0000

Big management shifts at Apple are now taking place.

Scott Forstall, the man in charge of its iOS mobile software efforts and a major and longtime executive at the tech giant, is leaving next year and will remain an adviser to CEO Tim Cook until then.

In addition, new retail head John Browett is headed out the door.

As part of the move, Apple noted that four key execs — Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi — would “add responsibilities to their roles.”

Ive gets “Human Interface”; Cue will take over Maps and Siri voice recognition responsibilities; Mansfield will run a new unit called Technologies, “which combines all of Apple’s wireless teams across the company in one organization”; and Federighi gets the big job of iOS and OS X.

More to come on what happened, but Forstall’s departure is very big news and a drastic move for such an important player in the tech space.

He had big fans and also many detractors for his sharp-edged personality, as well as what some described as exhibiting “growing open challenges” to Cook himself. Forstall had previously been called “CEO-in-waiting” in one media account in Fortune.

In addition, numerous sources noted persistent tension between Forstall and several other key execs, especially the powerful design chief Ive.

Veiled internal politics at Apple aside, Forstall has been a key part of Apple’s success over the last decade, especially in the development iPad and the iPhone.

Recently, there has been some level of ire at Apple over the troubled rollout of its own mapping software and the replacement of Google’s popular service, which was Forstall’s responsibility. (No, this move does not mean everyone gets Google mapping back, as one person asked me.)

Browett’s leaving is a little less of a surprise. Since he got the job, he has alienated many within the highly successful retail organization at Apple, many sources said.

His departure comes less than one year after the former Dixons CEO was hired by Apple to succeed Ron Johnson, who left for J.C. Penney in November 2011. Recently he’s been criticized by some Apple Store employees for unfriendly policy changes aimed at increasing Apple’s retail profit margins.

More to come, obvi, but here is the official press release from Apple, which it put out with the most understated title of all time:

Apple Announces Changes to Increase Collaboration Across Hardware, Software & Services

Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi Add Responsibilities to Their Roles

CUPERTINO, California — October 29, 2012 — Apple® today announced executive management changes that will encourage even more collaboration between the Company’s world-class hardware, software and services teams. As part of these changes, Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi will add more responsibilities to their roles. Apple also announced that Scott Forstall will be leaving Apple next year and will serve as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook in the interim.

“We are in one of the most prolific periods of innovation and new products in Apple’s history,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The amazing products that we’ve introduced in September and October, iPhone 5, iOS 6, iPad mini, iPad, iMac, MacBook Pro, iPod touch, iPod nano and many of our applications, could only have been created at Apple and are the direct result of our relentless focus on tightly integrating world-class hardware, software and services.”

Jony Ive will provide leadership and direction for Human Interface (HI) across the company in addition to his role as the leader of Industrial Design. His incredible design aesthetic has been the driving force behind the look and feel of Apple’s products for more than a decade.

Eddy Cue will take on the additional responsibility of Siri® and Maps, placing all of our online services in one group. This organization has overseen major successes such as the iTunes Store®, the App Store℠, the iBookstore℠ and iCloud®. This group has an excellent track record of building and strengthening Apple’s online services to meet and exceed the high expectations of our customers.

Craig Federighi will lead both iOS and OS X®. Apple has the most advanced mobile and desktop operating systems, and this move brings together the OS teams to make it even easier to deliver the best technology and user experience innovations to both platforms.

Bob Mansfield will lead a new group, Technologies, which combines all of Apple’s wireless teams across the company in one organization, fostering innovation in this area at an even higher level. This organization will also include the semiconductor teams, who have ambitious plans for the future.

Additionally, John Browett is leaving Apple. A search for a new head of Retail is underway and in the interim, the Retail team will report directly to Tim Cook. Apple’s Retail organization has an incredibly strong network of leaders at the store and regional level who will continue the excellent work that has been done over the past decade to revolutionize retailing with unique, innovative services for customers.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

Apple's Fall Bounty: A Smaller iPad, a 13-Inch MacBook Pro and iTunes 11

John Paczkowski — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 10:29:23 +0000

Apple says it has a little more to show us, and soon we’ll find out just what it is. Later today, at an invitation-only event at the California Theatre in San Jose, the company is expected to unveil a number of new products — both hardware and software.

The main attraction of the event: The eagerly anticipated smaller version of Apple’s iPad. This so-called “iPad mini” is expected to feature a 7.85-inch display, which will make the device about 40 percent larger than its seven-inch rivals, Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD. Some reports claim the so-called iPad mini’s resolution will be lower than that of the current iPad’s Retina display. Certainly possible, particularly if Apple is looking to keep its price low. That said, it’s worth noting that the company could fairly easily cut 326 ppi 2048 by 1536 Retina displays for the device from the same sheets used for the iPhone 4S. And if it were to do that, it would likely eliminate any potential viewing-angle issues.

The iPad mini is also expected to be quite thin. We’ve heard, but have not been able to confirm, that it is nearly as thin in profile as the iPod touch. It will also feature the new Lightning connector that debuted on the iPhone 5 and, we’re told, front and back cameras. Price? Unknown, but consensus points to between $299 and $349. For any details beyond that, we’ll have to wait a few hours.

Also expected to take a turn on the California Theatre stage today is a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro to complement the 15-inch version that Apple debuted earlier this year, and some updated Mac minis, as well.

On the software front, a new version of iBooks, version 3.0, is likely. And an overhaul of iTunes is a certainty. Apple showed off the latest version of its media software at its last event in September, touting its intuitive layout, improved performance and iCloud integration. And it promised to ship it in October. What better time to roll it out than on the day the iPad’s diminutive sibling is finally announced?

Join us later today for live coverage of Apple’s event from the California Theatre.

HBO, Fox Close a Digital Gap With New Rights Deal

Peter Kafka — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:30:44 +0000

Twentieth Century Fox and HBO have renewed a rights deal that was going to expire in 2015, which means you’ll be able to see the studio’s newish movies on the pay TV channel until 2022.

So, no news there, really. What would have been more interesting is if one of HBO’s digital competitors — say, Netflix — or someone who was contemplating becoming a competitor — say, Google or Apple — had been bidding for the rights. But I’m told that didn’t happen here.

The deal does have one interesting wrinkle for digital-media watchers. Fox (which, like this site, is owned by News Corp.) and HBO officials say the deal includes a “softening” of the “electronic sell-through” window.

In real-world terms: Previous HBO contracts meant that Fox — or other studios — couldn’t sell or rent their movies electronically while HBO was running them for the first time. Now, Fox will have the ability sell its stuff — but not rent it — on iTunes, Amazon, etc., at the same time the titles show up on HBO. (HBO and Fox had already agreed to a deal that solved a different windowing problem for Apple’s iCloud locker.)

I’m told the new terms will also apply to movies covered by the existing pact. So, while you currently can’t get “X Men: First Class” from iTunes, because it’s in its first HBO run, you should be able to get it soon.

Does that really matter? Hard to say: To date, the market for digital sales and rentals has been pretty meager compared to the old DVD business. But if that market does end up getting bigger, it’s a new revenue stream for the Fox guys. And presumably for other studios as well — an HBO executive says the company is in talks with its corporate cousins at Warner Bros.

It’s also another encouraging sign that media owners and distributors are closing up some of those weird rights gaps that make zero sense to consumers.

Reno: Home of the Biggest Little Apple Data Center in the World

John Paczkowski — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 12:00:58 +0000

Apple’s plans to build a new data center in Reno, Nev., have been green-lighted by the state, the last endorsement the company needed before moving ahead with the project.

The Nevada Board of Economic Development endorsed the state-sponsored deal, which will see Apple granted $89 million in tax breaks to set up shop in the Biggest Little City in the World and invest $1 billion in the region over the next decade. Apple’s current plan is to build a data center similar in the size to the one it operates in Maiden, N.C., and use it to support its iTunes Store and new iCloud services. Along with it, the company will build a business and purchasing facility.

And what does Nevada get in exchange for the $89 million in tax breaks it’s doling out? For starters, 235 brand-new tax-paying jobs, plus a $400 million investment from Apple in the first four years of the facility’s operation, and up to $2 billion over 30 years; $16 million to $20 million over the first 10 years in taxes; and the endorsement of a marquee tech company that could entice other companies to do business in the state.

Apple Unleashes Its New Mountain Lion System

Katherine Boehret — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 12:38:22 +0000

The line between personal computers and mobile devices has been blurring for years. With the release Wednesday of Apple’s newest operating system, called Mountain Lion, shifting between these devices has become even more natural.

[ See post to watch video ]

I’ve tested the new operating system, formally known as OS X version 10.8, for the past week. It introduces new functions and it mirrors several helpful features first found in the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, such as seamless sharing with third-party networks, iCloud integration and dictation. But I ran into some trouble with Twitter notifications and Calendar.

Apple’s Mountain Lion, which comes just a year after the launch of its previous operating system called Lion, incorporates elements from mobile, but still maintains a separation between the PC OS and the mobile OS. Later this year Microsoft will introduce Windows 8, its first operating system that completely merges the company’s tablet operating system with Windows.

Mountain Lion’s Facebook Share sheets let people instantly share content to Facebook.

For $20, one copy of Mountain Lion can be installed and used on all of the computers that you and your family own. Starting Wednesday, it’s available exclusively as a digital download from Apple’s Mac App Store. Most Macs bought in mid-2007 or later that run OS X version 10.6.8 or later will be able to upgrade.

There are over 200 new features in Mountain Lion, so I focused on the ones that made the biggest impression on me. That list includes Messaging, which elegantly blends iMessage with other messaging on the PC; Notification Center, which cleans up notifications from various applications by organizing them in a single panel that slides out from the screen’s right side using a two-finger trackpad swipe; Dictation, which lets people speak anywhere they can type; and integration with Facebook and Twitter, though Facebook won’t work until this fall via a software update.

Messaging elegantly blends iMessage with other messaging on the PC.

I got completely addicted to Mountain Lion’s Share sheets, which pop up whenever you’d hope to be able to share something. This includes Web pages from Apple’s Safari Web browser, and items from Apple’s Notes program or photos that you want to send to friends. Share sheets use whimsical animations to bring a paper clip, photo and text together on a little piece of virtual paper that gets whooshed off into the ether. Sharing works through a variety of methods, so you can be sure to reach anyone.

ICloud, Apple’s cloud service, is one of the keys to Mountain Lion’s magic, and it works in the background to send the same data to applications on all of your enabled iOS devices. This lets you relax and pay less attention to what you stored where, because it doesn’t really matter. If you don’t own other Apple devices or don’t use iCloud, Mountain Lion won’t make quite as much of an impact on you.

It’s also worth noting that Apple’s mobile operating system, called iOS, won’t be updated until this fall, meaning a PC, iPhone, iPad or iPod touch should by then work more cohesively with Mountain Lion. I got an early look at Mountain Lion’s integration with Facebook, which is still in its “beta,” or test phase, and is currently only available to developers.

Two of the coolest Mountain Lion features will only work with certain new Macs: Power Nap and AirPlay Mirroring. Power Nap, which updates the PC once an hour as the computer sleeps, only works on the MacBook Pro with Retina Display or MacBook Airs made after mid-2011. AirPlay Mirroring lets people display whatever is on their Mac’s screen on an HDTV with a $99 Apple TV device plugged into it. AirPlay Mirroring only works with the second-generation or newer Apple TV and the iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro made at least as recently as 2011.

The Notification Center cleans up notifications from various applications by organizing them in a single panel that slides out from the screen’s right side using a two-finger trackpad swipe.

I tested both of these features on a MacBook Pro with Retina Display and they worked as advertised. My email, software updates and calendar alerts appeared almost immediately when I woke my PC, thanks to Power Nap. But it doesn’t update a computer that’s asleep for less than an hour, which is often the case for me since I take short, 30-minute breaks while I write. I used AirPlay Mirroring by clicking one button on my MacBook Pro with Retina Display and watching a YouTube video about Sally Ride on my 42-inch HDTV. The image quality looked terrific.

Mountain Lion does a nice job of integrating third-party services, like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Vimeo. If you sign into a network once, you’re signed in everywhere else you might use that network on the PC, which is a plus. Facebook and Twitter integrate with PC Contacts to do smart things like using friends’ Facebook profile photos as Contact photos, and updating these images automatically as friends change them. You can also grab profile photos from Facebook for contacts who aren’t your Facebook friends.

But some features in Mountain Lion need a little polishing.

The Notification Center wasn’t as helpful as I hoped. Twitter and Facebook status update boxes at the top of the Notification Center panel were too limited. When I pasted long Web URLs into tweets, they weren’t automatically shortened, which forced me to use Twitter.com or TweetDeck. Facebook status updates only let you type plain text rather than tagging friends or uploading images in posts.

Notification Center promises to alert you of @reply or direct messages that you receive from Twitter. But it failed to tell me about dozens of @replies that I received; the only ones I did see were from people I follow on Twitter. After some troubleshooting, Apple conceded that Notification Center is currently only capable of showing @reply or direct message notifications from people you follow. They promised to fix this issue in a future update to Mountain Lion.

Facebook notifications from the Notification Center weren’t yet ready for me to test.

The Notification Center kept my last five unread emails, as well as upcoming calendar appointments, and alerts and banners appeared in the top right of my computer screen to tell me about certain things so I wouldn’t miss them. If this drives you nuts, a simple on/off switch at the top of the Notification Center will stop them for a day; settings in System Preferences will permanently turn them off.

I also had trouble with Calendar, which repeatedly told me it couldn’t sign into my Google Calendar, though it displayed events from my Google Calendar. I did a lot of troubleshooting with Apple, but couldn’t solve the problem. Apple said this was an issue they haven’t seen before and that they’re planning to fix it.

Dictation works wherever you can type in Mountain Lion, and users can get it working using one of two methods: Tap the Function key quickly then again to hold it down and speak, then let it go when finished, or simply select the microphone icon (where visible) when you start and stop dictating. This works like dictation on the iPhone or iPad, which shouldn’t be confused with the iPhone’s digital assistant, Siri. You’ll still need to use keyboard shortcuts or the mouse, rather than your voice, to perform commands like “Send” or “Post.”

Apple’s iCloud replicates Reminders and Notes on your PC and other devices. This was a big help to me as I tested Mountain Lion because I wrote down a lot of my impressions in Notes, and these synced to my iPad and iPhone.

I successfully tested other features including setting up VIPs in Mail, storing documents from Pages in iCloud and testing Tab View in the new version of Safari.

For people who already use iPhones, iPads or iPod touches, many of the new features in Mountain Lion will feel like second nature. I can’t completely rely on Notification Center just yet, but this operating system’s focus on smart sharing and overall integration with social networks makes it a pleasure to use.

Write to Katie at katie.boehret@wsj.com

Latest iOS 6 Beta Squashes Bugs, Slips in a Few New Features

John Paczkowski — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 22:19:27 +0000

Apple on Monday rolled out another update to iOS 6 ahead of its public release later this year. Following its predecessor, iOS 6 beta 2, by about three weeks, iOS 6 beta 3 is described by Apple in its release notes simply as providing “bug fixes and improvements.”

But some diligent digging by the MacRumors community has turned up a few more details. Among them, the addition of a number of new 3-D city flyovers to Apple’s new Maps app, as well as roadwork and traffic accident information and settings that allow for volume, distance and label customization.

Also included in this update, the announcement that the migration of MobileMe user “me.com” email addresses to iCloud.com has begun.

“ICloud.com email addresses are now available for iCloud mail users,” iOS 6 beta 3’s change log explains. “Users signing up for new Apple IDs, or enabling Mail on their iCloud account for the first time, will automatically receive an @icloud.com email address instead of a me.com email address. ICloud users with @me.com addresses that have been used with iOS 6 beta 3 will receive an @icloud.com email address that matches their @me.com address.”

Apple Releases Mountain Lion Gold Master Into Wild

John Paczkowski — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 23:41:48 +0000

Looks like Apple is on track to deliver OS X Mountain Lion to consumers by the end of the July, as promised. On Monday afternoon, the company released a “golden master” of the OS to developers, giving them the final version of the software it hopes to release publicly later this month. Mountain Lion boasts a host of improvements and new features, including deeper integration with Apple’s iCloud service, AirPlay mirroring, and Facebook integration.

Apple's MobileMe Takes a Dirt Nap

John Paczkowski — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 15:25:40 +0000

Can anyone tell me what MobileMe is supposed to do? … So why the f–k doesn’t it do that?

– An Apple employee recalls CEO Steve Jobs’s post-launch comments on MobileMe

Apple this weekend pulled the plug on one of its rare missteps, MobileMe. On Saturday, the company shut down its much-maligned cloud-syncing service, preserving account holders’ data for a limited time so they might migrate to its new cloud service, called iCloud.

The closure brings to an end Apple’s first foray into cloud computing, one that, at the time it debuted, threatened to tarnish the company’s brand.

“Not up to Apple’s standards.” That was late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’s review of MobileMe service following its travesty of a launch. Plagued by recurring email outages and data-loss issues, MobileMe’s debut was, in Jobs’s own words, “not [Apple's] finest hour.” Indeed, it was among the company’s most humbling, prompting a number of public apologies and not one, but two, free make-good service extensions.

With the announcement of iCloud in June of 2011, Apple effectively end-of-lifed MobileMe, retiring the flawed $99-a-year cloud services suite in favor of its successor, which was not only up to Apple standards, but free.

Rounding Up the Apple Rumors Ahead of WWDC

John Paczkowski — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 10:30:31 +0000

Apple will kick off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference with a Monday keynote address from CEO Tim Cook, and there’s no shortage of prognostications about the products he’s likely to show off.

Back in early May we reported that WWDC would see the debut of a brand-new “blow your head off” Apple-developed mapping application. On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal confirmed this. So we can almost certainly expect a new Maps application to be part of Monday’s presentation. Also a near-sure thing: A new MacBook Pro with a significantly thinner chassis and high-resolution “Retina-esque” display, as we previously reported.

But what else might we see?

During the opening night session at D10 last week, Cook’s comments about Facebook strongly suggested that the announcement of some manner of iOS integration with the social networking service — similar to the one Apple has already done with Twitter — could be on tap. As Cook said, when asked about such a deal at D10, “Stay tuned on this one.” Does that comment mean that iOS 6, which Apple plans to show off at WWDC, will have Facebook baked in? Certainly possible, as other have claimed.

Another likely possibility: New Macs. We’ve been hearing chatter about a refresh of most of Apple’s Mac lines for some time now. Yesterday, 9to5Mac reported that Apple has new versions of the MacBook Air, the iMac and perhaps the Mac mini and/or Mac Pro, the last of which is long overdue for an update. We haven’t been able to confirm this report independently, but it, too, sounds entirely plausible. MacBook Airs have not seen a refresh since July 2011. And the last MacBook Pro refresh was a relatively minor one in October.

Also possible: Deeper native integration of iCloud into OS X Mountain Lion and iOS 6. As I wrote when iCloud first launched, “If, as Steve Jobs says, software is the soul of Apple’s products, hardware their brains and sinew, then iCloud is their memory — and soon perhaps one of their biggest selling points as well. Certainly it’s a feature that will differentiate Apple’s already well-differentiated products even further from the competition.” ICloud may not be a major driver of customer loyalty now, but with its ease of use and promise of change-on-one-device, update-to-all computing, it will be, someday. And it’s been about a year since iCloud debuted, so it, too, is due for an update.

What else? APIs for iCloud and Siri, perhaps. Apps for Apple TV, or a broader enhancement to the device that paves the way for a more comprehensive TV offering. As Tim Cook noted at D10, Apple’s Apple TV business has grown quite a bit in the past year. In 2011, the company sold fewer than three million Apple TVs. In the first six months of this year, it has sold 2.7 million. As Cook told D attendees, “This is an area of intense interest for us. We’re going to keep pulling the string and see where it takes us.”

Perhaps WWDC attendees will get a chance to see, as well. We’ll find out on Monday.

Apple Preparing Upgrade to iCloud

Jessica E. Vascellaro — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:20:40 +0000

Apple Inc. is preparing an upgrade of its online service iCloud that includes new photo-sharing features, according to people familiar with the matter.

The new features, expected to be announced at Apple’s world-wide developer conference beginning June 11, will allow iCloud users to share sets of photos with other iCloud users and to comment on them, these people said. Currently, users can only store one set of photos in iCloud through a feature called Photo Stream, which is designed to sync those photos to other Apple devices, not share them.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

MS iCloud.NET Live

Voices — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:02:36 +0000

iCloud is among the best products Microsoft has ever designed.

– Mike Monteiro, via Twitter

Apple Starts Work on Oregon Data Center

John Paczkowski — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:45:20 +0000

Apple has broken ground on its next big data center, this one in the Pacific Northwest.

A sister site to the company’s massive data center in Maiden, N.C., this facility will be significantly smaller — at least initially. Currently, Apple is building a 10,000 square-foot data center on the 160 acres it recently purchased in Prineville, Ore. But that’s clearly just the beginning.

As part of its deal with Prineville and Crook County, Apple was granted a 15-year property-tax break. In return, it is to invest $250 million in the data center, and hire at least 35 employees to run it.

“We’re looking forward to joining the community of Prineville with our new data center,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet told AllThingsD. “In addition to the hundreds of employees at our retail stores, we will be hiring dozens of people and bringing hundreds of construction jobs to the area.”

Once finished, the Prineville facility is expected to be even more environmentally friendly than the one in Maiden, running on 100 percent renewable energy.

Greenpeace's Hazy iCloud Numbers

John Paczkowski — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:51:26 +0000

How clean is Apple’s iCloud?

Not very, according to Greenpeace, which describes it as among “the dirtiest thing[s] on the internet.” In a report released today, the environmental organization slammed Apple as among cloud computing’s worst eco-offenders (along with Amazon and Microsoft), claiming the company relies too heavily on coal to power its data centers and has fallen short on its efforts to source clean energy. Coal-based energy makes up 55 percent of Apple’s data center power, Greenpeace claims.

“Apple right now is falling behind companies like Google and Facebook, who are taking a leadership role on this issue,” said Greenpeace spokesman Dave Pomerantz. “It’s a shame that a company that built its reputation on thinking differently is now behind the curve.”

But according to Apple, it’s not the one behind the curve here. And, more to the point, it says Greenpeace has gotten its numbers wrong.

According to Apple, its Maiden, North Carolina, data center requires just 20 megawatts when it’s running full bore, and well over half of that energy will come from renewable sources as soon as the 171-acre solar array it is building nearby is finished.

But according to Greenpeace, the Maiden facility requires 100 MW of power running at full capacity, of which renewable energy powers 10 percent and coal 55.1 percent.

Odd, considering Microsoft’s Quincy, Washington, data center, which is exactly the same size as Apple’s, only requires 27 MW, and its Chicago facility, which is 200,000 square feet larger, requires 60 MW.

How is it that a fully operational 700,000 square foot data center demands significantly less power than a not-yet-finished 500,000 square foot one?

And how is it that Apple’s Maiden data center is running on 55.1 percent coal, when publicly available records show that 46 percent of the power Duke Energy supplies it with is coal-fired?

That’s not clear, and Greenpeace initially didn’t have much of an explanation. The organization referred me to the EPA’s 2010 eGrid data for North Carolina on which its report is based. But that draws from data collected in 2007. As for why Microsoft’s fully operational 700,000 square foot data center requires 40 MW less energy to run than Apple’s not-yet-fully operational 500,000 square foot data center, Greenpeace referred my question to Microsoft.

Apple, on the other hand, was more than happy to talk up its power plans.

“Our data center in North Carolina will draw about 20 megawatts at full capacity, and we are on track to supply more than 60 percent of that power on-site from renewable sources, including a solar farm and fuel cell installation which will each be the largest of their kind in the country,” Apple spokesperson Kristen Huguet told AllThingsD. “We believe this industry-leading project will make Maiden the greenest data center ever built, and it will be joined next year by our new facility in Oregon running on 100 percent renewable energy.”

In response to that response, Greenpeace said that Apple’s information just doesn’t jibe with the factors of investment and facility size used in making its estimates.

UPDATE: Good analysis of Greenpeace’s dubious math by Rich Miller over at Data Center Knowledge.

Apple: We Plan to Appeal German iCloud Ruling [Updated]

John Paczkowski — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:45:27 +0000

A new development in Apple’s teutonic tiff with Motorola. Motorola has been granted a second injunction banning push email notifications from Apple’s iCloud and MobileMe services in Germany.

Too bad it’s essentially the same injunction.

The Mannheim regional court today ruled against Apple in another case brought against it by Motorola, banning push email notifications from the company’s email services in Germany, something it already did back in February against another Apple entity.

It also ordered the company to pay Motorola Mobility damages for violating its patents, though an amount hasn’t yet been specified (as far as I can tell).

Apple, of course, contends that the ruling is invalid. In a statement given to AllThingsD it said:

“This is the same case Motorola already brought against another Apple entity and the court’s decision does not impact product availability. Our customers in Germany should have no problem finding the iPad or iPhone they want. However, we disagree with the court’s decision and plan to appeal the ruling.”

And there’s really not much else for it to do. Apple already implemented the changes to iCloud and MobileMe to comply with the earlier ruling, so it’s de facto in compliance with this one. Now, it can only wait to see how the standard-essential patent side of this argument plays out. But on that front, Apple has an advantage, as a German court has already said MoMo should accept its licensing offer. “Motorola would breach its obligations under antitrust law if it continued to demand that Apple cease and desist from the sale of the iPhone and the iPad,” the court said.

Box Offers Up Its iCloud Answer for Businesses

Ina Fried — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:08:33 +0000

One of the benefits of the app-oriented nature of today’s smartphones is that users generally don’t have to worry about where their data is stored.

In most cases, they don’t even know.

“That’s benefited consumers dramatically,” Box CEO Aaron Levie said in an interview.”The challenge is, we have created a lot of sprawl.”

His online storage company is trying to help address that with OneCloud, a service that aims to liberate mobile data by storing it in a common format in the cloud, allowing for access by multiple mobile apps.

The service will launch with 30 application partners, including Quickoffice and Adobe EchoSign, and more are in the works. Initially, OneCloud is launching for the iPad and iPhone, but the company plans to add Android support as well. In a world where businesses tend to support a wide range of employee-owned devices, Levie said, there is incredible potential if services can allow a range of operating systems and apps to work together.

“That’s where it can get really powerful,” he said.

As with other Box services, there is potential for OneCloud to be used by consumers, but the company is really aiming at business.

“We want the consumers that are going to bring technology to the workforce,” Levie said. “I’m not really aiming for my mom to use this for her photos.”

Post-PC Apple, By the Numbers

Liz Gannes — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:22:55 +0000

Apple sold 172 million “post-PC” devices last year, including iPods, iPads and iPhones, with those products now accounting for 76 percent of its revenue, said CEO Tim Cook today at the launch event for the latest iPad.

“Apple has its feet firmly planted in the post-PC future,” Cook said. “It plays to our strengths; it’s what we love to do.”

What other numbers did the company formerly known as “Apple Computer” (it changed its name in 2007) offer?

362 Apple stores
315 million iOS devices sold through last year, including 62 million in the last quarter
585,000 apps created
25 billion app downloads
1080p movies and TV shows for iCloud and the new Apple TV
15.4 million iPads sold in the fourth quarter of 2011
200,000+ iPad apps
2048 by 1536 pixels displayed on the new iPad, with 264 pixels per inch
44% greater color saturation than old iPad
5 megapixel sensor on the new iPad camera
A maximum of 73 mbps downlink with 4G LTE on new iPad
New iPad specs: 10 hours of battery life, 9 hours with 4G; 9.4 millimeters thick, 1.4 pounds
Same pricing as last iPad: Wi-Fi models are $499 for 16 GB, $599 for 32GB, $699 for 64GB; $629, $729 and $829 if you want 4G
Old iPad now starts at $399 and $529

One number Apple didn’t give out? A version number, as is customary, for its latest product. It’s just called “the new iPad.” (Thanks, davebarnes!)

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Apple Shows Off Sharper 4G iPad, Updates Apple TV

Ina Fried — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:30:56 +0000

The satellite trucks are parked, the signs have gone up and the pundits have placed their bets.

Everyone seems to think they know what Apple has in store at its event on Wednesday: Namely, a higher-resolution iPad and, perhaps, a revamped Apple TV.

But it’s Apple, so you can never be too sure that there won’t be a surprise.

Whatever the company has to say, AllThingsD will be on hand to give live coverage and analysis. Check back here, starting just ahead of the event at 10 am PT.

9:35 am: We are being let in now.

9:54 am: Okay, took us a bit to get set up, but we are online and with a backup system in place, as well.

9:57 am: Tim Cook has taken the stage and offered up his “good morning,” to applause.

He promises he has a great morning planned. “I want to get started by talking about the post-PC revolution. … It is happening all around us, and at an amazing pace.” And, of course, he says Apple is leading.

9:59 am: Such devices have to be way easier than any PC has ever been.

We have three blockbuster post-PC devices, Cook says: The iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.

“Any company would be thrilled to have just one of these devices,” he said. Apple has all three. It sold 172 million post-PC devices, accounting for 76 percent of the company’s revenue, he said.

“Apple has its feet firmly planted in the post-PC future,” he said.

10:02 am: Stores are important because these devices are new to many people, Cook said, showing pictures of the company’s newest store, in Amsterdam, which marked its 362nd outlet.

Some 110 million people visited a retail store last quarter, Cook said.

10:04 am: Cue video of Apple’s new Grand Central Terminal store.

10:04 am: Another key element of our post-PC success is iOS, Cook says, showing an iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, with 315 million such devices sold through last year, including 62 million last quarter alone.

Now he’s talking about Siri and playing some clips of Siri from other parts of the world, such as Australia and France.

“Siri is your best friend, your intelligent personal assistant who gets things done just by asking,” he said. “Our customers tell us that they love it.”

In France, by the way, Siri is a guy.

Today we are bringing Siri to Japan, Cook announces.

10:07 am: Siri in Japan is part of iOS 5.1, an update being made available today.

10:08 am: More stats:

There are now 585,000 apps in the app store, which Apple announced on Monday has crossed 25 billion downloads (free and paid).

10:09 am: Talk has shifted to iCloud, which will now support movies in addition to music and TV shows. You can re-download movies you have purchased, and movies and TV shows will now be available in 1080p.

New Apple TV will now support 1080p. “I’ve been using one of these; the (quality) is off the charts.”

10:11 am: Eddy Cue comes out to demo the new Apple TV.

10:12 am: Tweaked interface. Also easier to get to third-party content, Cue said. Photo Stream also shows up automatically on new Apple TV, and in 1080p.

10:15 am: New Apple TV remains $99 and goes on sale next week, though you can order now.

“That brings us to iPad,” Cook said. “We think the iPad is the poster child of the post-PC (era).”

10:16 am: The set-up for the new iPad is classic Apple — momentum stats, glowing reviews, etc.

10:17 am: Goal of the iPad was to be the best device for some of the tasks people do every day, such as Web browsing and checking email.

“This is a tall order,” he said.

But, he said, Apple’s research seems to bear this out. Many iPad owners who have a PC and smartphone said iPad was their favorite Web browsing and email device. The iPad also won out over e-readers for book reading, and against game consoles and handheld game players for gaming, Cook said.

10:19 am: Cook notes that more than 100 tablets came to market last year, but they don’t offer the experience of the iPad. He shows Twitter running on a Samsung tablet, saying it is more like a blown-up phone application experience, while on the iPad it is a totally different experience.

Same thing with Yelp, he said.

“This is a key reason why momentum on iPad continues to build and the competitive tablets aren’t gaining traction,” Cook said.

Everyone keeps wondering who will come out with a product better than iPad 2.

“Stop wondering,” Cook said. “We are.”

A screen of new iPad shows in background. “It is amazing,” he said. “We are redefining the category that Apple created.”

10:22 am: Marketing chief Phil Schiller on stage to show off the new iPad.

10:23 am: First new feature is the Retina display, as expected. “Until you see it, you can’t understand how amazing this is,” Schiller said.

10:23 am: The giant wall display behind him, Schiller said, actually has fewer pixels than the new iPad.

The new iPad has 31 million pixels, with resolution of 2048 by 1536 pixels. That’s one million more pixels than an HD TV, Schiller said, and 264 pixels per inch.

“That is enough to call it a Retina display,” Schiller said. The iPhone has it when held at 10 inches from the face. The same is true of the new iPad, when held at 15 inches away or even somewhat closer.

10:27 am: The new iPad is powered by an A5X chip, with quad-core graphics needed for new high-resolution display. Apple says the older A5 chip had twice as much graphics power as Nvidia’s Tegra 3, while new A5X has four times the graphics power — again, according to Apple. “This is the best mobile display that has ever shipped,” he said.

10:28 am: New iPad has 5 megapixel camera with technology brought over from the iPhone 4S.

Schiller shows off some of the photos taken with the new iPad.

10:29 am: For more on the new iPad, check out this post from colleague Peter Kafka.

10:30 am: The iPad now has 1080p video recording, Schiller said.

10:31 am: The new camera also has image stabilization, Schiller said, showing a demo of that.

10:31 am: The new iPad also has voice dictation, thanks to a microphone button on the iPad’s virtual keyboard.

It supports U.S., British, and Australian English, along with French, German and Japanese.

10:33 am: New iPad will also support next-generation 4G LTE networks, such as the ones from Verizon and AT&T.

It will also support two other faster network technologies — HSPA+ and dual-channel HSDPA. That’s important, because LTE is rolling out slower globally than it is here in the U.S.

10:35 am: And we’re getting a demo of the real-world difference such high-speed networks can make when doing things like playing streaming video.

10:36 am: Working with AT&T and Verizon in the U.S., and Rogers, Telus and Bell in Canada on LTE, with other high-speed network support elsewhere in the world.

10:36 am: In the U.S., there will be two versions of iPad with LTE — one for AT&T’s LTE network, and the other for Verizon’s LTE network, because the two use different bands. It also can act as a hotspot, and can roam onto 3G networks worldwide.

10:37 am: Schiller in sales mode, recapping key new features.

He notes that a lot of these things sound like they would eat up a lot of batteries.

The iPad 2 boasted 10 hours for regular use and nine hours for 3G data use. And the new iPad has the same battery life.

10:39 am: It’s 9.4 millimeters thick and 1.4 pounds.

The new iPad will start, as the iPad 2 did, at $499 for 16 gigabytes, with $100 more for 32GB, and $200 more for 64GB. 4G wireless models cost an extra $130.

This is all the same as with iPad 2.

New iPad available March 16, with preorders starting today.

10:41 am: Schiller is talking about how software looks on the new display. Some stuff happens automatically, such as text size. But if developers do some work on their own, they can more fully take advantage of the new chip and display.

10:42 am: Schiller said they asked a few companies to try out the technology for a week and see what they could do. First demo is from Namco, a game designer known for Pac-Man and other titles.

They show a glimpse of a new flight-simulation game. The new iPad helps make the game more immersive, the company said, making it easier to lose yourself in the game with things like heat haze coming off of the plane’s engine.

Nice fly-by of the Golden Gate Bridge, too.

Game is Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy, Namco said, which comes out later this month.

10:45 am: Next app demo is from Autocad creator Autodesk.

The company already has a line of programs, including SketchBook, for iOS.

Program being demoed is a new title, SketchBook Ink, a drawing app for line art.

10:47 am: Meanwhile, here are some of the things we are waiting to hear about: What will the data plan pricing be for new iPads? Will Sprint have an iPad to sell?

SketchBook Ink will be available in April, Autodesk said.

10:49 am: Third and final app demo from Epic Games, with president Mike Capps onstage.

It’s the latest version of the Infinity Blade saga: Dungeons.

The gamers in the crowd seem happy.

10:54 am: Apple’s productivity software, iWork, is being updated for the new iPad. So is iLife, with GarageBand players now able to jam with one another.

10:56 am: The iWork apps are available today in the App Store, for $9.99 apiece for new buyers. GarageBand remains $4.99 for new buyers, and both are free updates for those who have already bought them.

10:57 am: The iMovie app for iPad is also getting an update, including some new features, such as creating a faux movie trailer (or a real one, I suppose).

11:00 am: Apple is also bringing the third iLife app, iPhoto, to iPad. The iPhoto app joins the camera and photo library apps, Schiller said, for those who want to do more with their photos.

Among features are multitouch editing, professional quality effects, brushes, etc. Photos can be beamed among iOS devices. New way to share photos with friends — photo journals using iCloud.

11:03 am: Colleague Peter Kafka notes that while iTunes will now support re-downloading purchased movies, not all studios are behind the feature, so it will work with some flicks, but not others.

11:06 am: Apple demoing how multitouch can make photo editing more intuitive, such as changing the shadow or saturation in one part of a photo.

11:08 am: There are finger-powered brushes for doing all kinds of things, such as lightening a dark face in an otherwise well-exposed photo.

All the editing tools are nondestructive, meaning you can go back to the original.

There are a bunch of different effects, too, from different monochrome options to artsy and vintage ones.

Photo Journal creates a layout of photos, with those favorited or with a caption made larger. It looks a bit like how Facebook’s Timeline handles photos from an album.

You can throw in a map of the location, a date based on when photo was taken, even a weather icon that will use historical weather data to show what the temperature was like.

The resulting “journal” can then be stored on iCloud and shared as a Web link.

The new iPhoto works on both iPhone and iPad.

It will be $4.99 on App Store, starting today, Schiller said.

“We’ve now brought all of iLife to the iPad,” Schiller said. “Don’t let anyone ever tell you you can’t create on an iPad.”

11:14 am: And, cue video for new iPad.

11:14 am: So far, it’s just being called “the new iPad,” not iPad 3, iPad HD, or other names thrown about in recent days.

11:17 am: My recap:

Here’s what they’ve announced

New iPad with higher-res display, A5X processor, LTE support, improved 5 megapixel camera and 1080p recording. Same models and prices as iPad 2 was priced at. Separate LTE versions for AT&T and Verizon.

Apple TV with support for 1080p at $99.

And iPhoto for iOS, $4.99, starting today. Other iLife and iWork apps updated.

Apple also keeping iPad 2 in the lineup, starting at $399 for 16GB model, a $100 price chop.

11:21 am: Consensus seems to have nailed things pretty well, so far.

Cook now showing Apple’s TV ad for new iPad.

11:22 am: Cook, as Jobs did before him, wraps up by thanking Apple staff.

Again repeats his phrasing that leading Apple is the “privilege of a lifetime.”

Cook ends with a tantalizing tease.

“Across the year, you are going to see a lot more of this kind of innovation. We are just getting started,” he said.

11:23 am: And he exits, stage right.

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Complete Apple coverage

Mountain Lion and Windows 8's Common Aim: Make Desktop More Like Mobile

Ina Fried — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:16:24 +0000

Although they are doing it in different ways, Apple and Microsoft are aiming for a similar goal with their next desktop operating systems: To make the computer more like the phone.

Apple on Thursday announced its plans for Mountain Lion, Mac OS X 10.8. Due this summer, it brings over a number of popular iOS features, including notifications, reminders, Twitter integration and iMessage, plus synchronization with iCloud.

With Windows 8, Microsoft is adding the tile-centric Metro interface from Windows Phone 7, an app store, improved mobile broadband support and better instant-on and instant-off abilities.

Perhaps most importantly, Windows 8 will support the power-savvy ARM chips found in phones and tablets, in addition to the Intel and AMD chips that have traditionally powered Windows PCs.

This isn’t a one-time move, either. The first Lion was also an attempt at the same thing, adding support for full-screen apps and other features first shown on the iPhone and iPad.

Such moves make sense. Not only are smartphones and their apps rapidly growing in adoption, but people expect their computers — especially laptops — to be just as mobile. And the next generation of computer users are growing up expecting everything to be like an iPad.

Apple and Microsoft are also once again close in timing for their new operating systems. Apple says Mountain Lion should be out this summer. Microsoft hasn’t given an exact timing for Windows 8, but chipmakers and PC manufacturers are counting on having Windows 8 machines ready later this year.

Apple released a developer preview version of Mountain Lion on Thursday, while Microsoft had its early version last fall. A “consumer preview” version of Windows 8 is slated to be released at the end of this month.

One area where Apple and Microsoft have differed is over touch capabilities. On the desktop, Apple has kept its gestures to the trackpad, rather than make its screens touch-sensitive.

Microsoft, meanwhile, has been early at bringing touch to the desktop and laptop. Windows 7 offered built-in multitouch support, and Windows 8 appears designed to be manipulated by hand, though it will work with keyboard and mouse.

Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg said that Apple and Microsoft are taking very different approaches.

“Microsoft wants them to look the same,” Gartenberg said. “Apple wants them to feel the same.”

Gartenberg said that Microsoft has struggled with a similar approach in the past, noting that Windows Mobile initially aimed to replicate the Windows desktop down to the start menu — an approach that was not popular with consumers.

“It seems like Microsoft is again trying to say let’s make one size fit all,” he said. “That hasn’t worked out particularly well for them in the past. It feels like trying to put a square peg in a round hole.”

Apple, Gartenberg said, is trying to replicate some of the experiences popular on the iPhone and iPad, but is doing so in a more context-aware manner that reflects the different way computers are used as compared with phones and tablets.

“The market will decide which one fundamentally works better,” he said.