The Financial Times' web app has drawn more than 1 million readers since June, growing by 300,000 readers since late September. However, the raw numbers don't tell the whole story.
In its press release about breaking the 1 million mark, the FT staff built an infographic with data from its mobile website. 20 percent of FT page views are from mobile devices, and 15 percent of its digital consumer subscriptions initiate on mobile, showing that the paper is having good luck attracting readers to its pricey business-focused readership.
But most revealing is this chart showing the distribution of readership broken out by time-of-day and whether readers were using a smartphone, tablet, or reading on a desktop. As a financial paper, this data reflects the behavior of a higher-income, white-collar readership.
Smartphone and tablet readership spikes in the morning, then drops as readers use their desktops to keep up with the news during the day, then tablet use rises in the evening as users commute and arrive home.
iLounge offers a series of tidbits from its "most reliable source" regarding Apple's product plans for 2012, reporting that the iPad, iPhone, and MacBook Pro will all be receiving redesigns.
- iPad: The source indicates that the iPad 3 is planned to launch in March and that it will be approximately 0.7 mm thicker than the iPad 2 due to the need to incorporate a dual light bar system for the higher-resolution display. The iPad 2 currently checks in 8.8 mm thick, which would make the iPad 3 approximately 8% thicker than the iPad 2 but still substantially thinner than the 13.4 mm original iPad.
Previous "iPhone 5" mockup based on leaked case designs
- iPhone: iLounge's source claims that the next-generation will not resemble the teardrop "iPhone 5" design that circulated ahead of the iPhone 4S introduction last month. The next iPhone is, however, said to carry a 4-inch display (up from 3.5 inches in the current iPhone) and be 8 mm longer than the current form factor. Apple is said to be targeting a summer launch for the device, which would mark a short interval from the iPhone 4S launch last month.
- MacBook Pro: The source indicates that 2012 will indeed see the launch of a thinner MacBook Pro form factor, barring any last-minute problems. We've been hearing for some time that Apple has been finishing up work on just such a redesign, although the company did sneak in one last minor refresh using the current form factor just last month. Recent reports have claimed that an ultra-thin 15" Mac notebook, whether it be a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, is on target for a March launch with small volumes of components already making their way through the supply chain.
FOSS Patents reports that a pending court case in Germany could have significant ramifications for Apple, with a potential injunction shutting down the company's iCloud service there over infringement of a Motorola Mobility patent being pegged as a $2.7 billion risk to Apple.
In brief, Motorola asserted last year that Apple's MobileMe service infringes upon a Motorola patent related to data synchronization. Motorola amended the suit to include iCloud once that service was introduced later in the year. While an official ruling on an injunction isn't due until February, Motorola has already won an initial default judgement involving the patent and FOSS Patents reports that the presiding judge is not looking terribly favorably on Apple's defense so far.
The court doesn't appear to buy any of Apple's defenses at this stage. It may still change mind until the ruling, which is scheduled for February 3, 2012, 9 AM local time, but if it had had to rule today, I have no doubt that Apple would have lost.
If Motorola wins its case and an injunction is granted, Apple could be forced to pull all of its products in Germany that contain the infringing iCloud integration. It is typical in German courts to require winning parties to post bonds in order to guarantee repayment of lost income should the defendant win an appeal of the ruling, and Apple has asked that Motorola be required to post a 2 billion euro ($2.7 billion) bond in this case.
The court was wondering whether that hefty amount truly reflects the economic damages Apple would suffer from enforcement, given that the iCloud is only one Apple offering and doesn't correspond to the entire value of its products. But Apple's lawyers insisted that an enforcement against its product sales in Germany could result in damages of that magnitude.
The judge raised the possibility of Apple developing a workaround for iCloud to avoid infringing Motorola's patent, but Apple's lawyers pressed their case that the risk to Apple's business was indeed still severe.
Apple obviously has a vested interest in setting as high a bond as possible, forcing Motorola to put up a significant amount of money if it wishes to press forward with an injunction. The figure represents a substantial commitment on Motorola's part and makes clear that Apple will move to recover that money should an injunction be granted and later overturned, thus increasing Motorola's own risk in the proceedings. But while Apple may be artificially inflating its risk somewhat, it does still have to justify the figure to the court and is clearly working to do just that.
Childhood classic A Charlie Brown Christmas has made its way to the iPad as an interactive book that Mashable describes as "spectacular" and "like magic".
The app turns the 1965 television special into an interactive children's book, giving kids (and nostalgic adults) the chance to "play Schroeder's piano, finger paint with the gang, go carolling with the Peanuts choir, and participate in the Spectacular Super-Colossal Neighborhood Christmas Lights and Display Contest".
A Charlie Brown Christmas was built by Loud Crow Interactive, an app development firm in Vancouver that specializes in turning book content into interactive digital apps.
Last month, we noted that Sony Pictures was reportedly courting Aaron Sorkin to write the screenplay for a film adaption of Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs. At the time, former ER star Noah Wyle, who played Jobs in the 1999 made-for-TV movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, reported that he would love to reprise the role in a new film.
Clooney and Wyle guest starring on Friends in 1995 (Source: Comedy Central)
According to British magazine NOW, Wyle is indeed in the running to play Jobs in the forthcoming film, with his former ER co-star George Clooney reportedly also in the mix.
George Clooney, 50, is battling it out with his former ER co-star Noah Wyle, 40, to play Apple founder Steve Jobs in a new movie.
The biopic, which is expected to start filming next year, will chart the life of the tecchie guru, who died last month from cancer at the age of 56.
Isaacson's biography of Jobs has been one of the biggest-selling books of the year despite having debuted just last month. Amazon projected just after the book's release that it could become the company's #1 seller for 2011, and the title currently stands at #2.
The New York Times publishes an interview with Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson which among other topics may touch a bit further on Apple's plans for a connected television set.
Isaacson had quoted Jobs in his biography as saying that he had "finally cracked" the difficulties in building an Apple television set, describing "the simplest user interface you could imagine" and iCloud integration for content. In the wake of the book's release, it was reported that Apple is indeed working on a Siri-enabled TV, an innovation that would fit with Jobs' description of his rethinking of the television.
The new interview with Isaacson suggests that input methods were indeed one of Jobs' primary concerns regarding a TV set, lending credence to the idea of a Siri-enabled device.
I didn’t go into details about these products in the book because it was implicitly Apple’s creations and it’s not fair to the company to reveal these details. But, he did talk about the television. He told me he’d “licked it” and once said, “There’s no reason you should have all these complicated remote controls.”
Essentially reiterating comments shared last week at a Fortune meeting, Isaacson notes that beyond television, Jobs was also working on textbooks and photography as his next areas of focus, but it remains to be seen whether and how Apple pursues those areas of exploration without Jobs at the helm.
Alongside the launch of the iPhone 4S, Apple also debuted a new $99 AppleCare+ program offering an extended warranty with accidental damage coverage. The AppleCare+ package replaced the previous $69 AppleCare for iPhone offering that did not offer accidental coverage.
Some confusion about the AppleCare+ program arose in its early days, stemming in large part from Apple's requirement that the coverage be purchased at the same time as the iPhone, a requirement that seemed to conflict with the legal text of the agreement which stated that AppleCare+ must be purchased within the device's one-year standard warranty period. Regardless, a number of customers were not offered the AppleCare+ option at the time of pre-ordering, and Apple addressed the issue by offering a temporary exception to allow any early iPhone purchaser to obtain AppleCare+ through November 14th.
With that deadline for delays AppleCare+ purchases having now passed, Apple appeared set to revert to the original policy of requiring that the plan be purchased at the same time as the iPhone. But Apple has now updated its AppleCare+ page to indicate that users can purchase it in-person at an Apple retail store or over the phone any time within 30 days after the iPhone purchase.
How to get AppleCare+
* Add it to your shopping cart during the checkout process when you purchase your new iPhone.
* Buy it within 30 days of your iPhone purchase: - At Apple Retail (requires a Genius Bar appointment, inspection of the iPhone & proof of purchase). - Or call 1-800-275-2273 (requires proof of purchase).
Apple has also revised the AppleCare+ terms and conditions to remove the previous mention of the option to purchase any time within the one-year standard warranty period.
In addition to the new 30-day window, SprintFeed reports that it has received an internal Sprint notice indicating that the original amnesty period for early iPhone 4S purchasers has also been extended through December 15th. The wording does suggest, however, that the 30-day limit still applies to these customers, so customers who purchased the iPhone 4S on launch day would still be out of luck given that the window has now passed for them. But the policy does offer some continuing retroactive coverage for customers who purchased their devices less than 30 days ago.
Just yesterday, Digitimes noted that Apple had reduced its fourth-quarter orders for iPad 2 display components in order to accommodate production of iPad 3 parts. Apple's strategy has apparently involved boosting production of iPad 2 parts during the third quarter and stockpiling them as it begins the transition to the iPad 3 this quarter.
Digitimes now expands upon that information in a new report claiming that Apple's iPad 3 display panel suppliers Samsung, LG, and Sharp will have delivered approximately three million units to Apple's manufacturing chain by the end of this month.
Samsung Electronics, LG Display and Sharp reportedly shipped a total of one million units of high-resolution flat panels for next-generation iPads to Apple in October and will ramp up shipments to two million units in November, according to industry sources.
The report notes that the touch module component that is comparable to the one found in the iPad 2 should begin shipping from TPK and Wintek imminently as Apple's iPad manufacturing partner Foxconn is apparently targeting a January 2012 start for assembly. That timeframe appears to be in line with rumors of an early 2012 launch for the iPad 3, potentially around March or April as with the past two generations.
The report also reiterates claims of display manufacturers having sampled 7.85-inch screens for Apple, but it is unclear how independent Digitimes' claim is from the earlier report.
There have been several bits of App Store-related news over the past day, so here is a roundup of some of the more prominent items:
- iPad Swiping: As noted by MacStories, Apple has improved navigation of the iPad App Store, now allowing users to swipe between pages of featured apps and other listings. Users had previously needed to tap navigation arrows to move between pages, but moving to swipe-based navigation makes for a more natural interface and faster page changes.
- Yuan Now Accepted in China: Penn Olson reports that Apple is now accepting renminbi, the local Chinese currency, for App Store purchases in China. With the new pricing in yuan, Chinese customers will no longer be required to make purchases funded by credit cards in U.S. dollars. Apple has also begun accepting payment via local bank cards, with customers able to top-up their iTunes Store accounts with prepaid amounts from their bank accounts to fund their App Store purchases.
- Kindle Fire Added to 'Amazon Appstore' Lawsuit: Despite the fact that Apple has not yet won a trademark registration on the term "App Store", it sued Amazon back in March over the company's use of the term in its Amazon Appstore for Android. A judge declined to issue a preliminary injunction against Amazon in July, and the full trial is not set to take place until October 2012.
With Amazon having just launched its new Kindle Fire tablet, Apple has expanded its lawsuit to address the fact that Amazon is promoting its "Appstore" in conjunction with the device. As reported by paidContent, Apple has also included new claims of false advertising in the lawsuit.
Apple's revised complaint is intended to show that Amazon has continued to use the "Appstore" term even in the face of Apple's prior claims of trademark infringement, hoping to establish a pattern of willful misrepresentation on Amazon's part leading to customer confusion over the app marketplaces. The courts and trademark examiners have yet to look favorably upon Apple's claims regarding "App Store" being an allowable trademark for the company, but it is clear that Apple is still trying to press its positions.
Apple yesterday released Thunderbolt Software Update 1.1 for Snow Leopard, bringing a fix for intermittent black screen issues.
This update addresses an issue that causes some users of the Apple Thunderbolt Display to experience intermittent black screens. It also includes stability improvements for Thunderbolt devices.
The update weighs in at 53.23 MB and requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 and the original Thunderbolt Software Update released two months ago.
SemiAccurate claims that Apple had late stage AMD Llano based MacBook Air prototypes last spring and had been "on the verge of production".
If you are wondering why the Air wasn’t really revamped much this last time, it is because you are looking at plan B. Plan A was basically a low power Llano in an Air shell, and that would have been a really tasty machine.
This AMD based design would reportedly have had much more graphics (GPU) power, and lose only a little CPU power as compared to what was ultimately released. The "Llano" is part of the AMD Fusion platform which offers a combined CPU/GPU hybrid system:
Forget about the CPU (Central Processing Unit). Chipmaker AMD would like you to think instead about what it calls the APU, its Accelerated Processing Unit. The combo product uses a single die to contain, according to AMD, "a multicore CPU, a powerful DirectX 11-capable discrete-level graphics and parallel processing engine, a dedicated high-definition video acceleration block, and a high-speed bus that speeds data across the differing types of processor cores within the design."
Graphics (GPU) performance has been a stumbling block for Apple in pushing its laptop designs further. The MacBook Air was stuck on previous generation Intel chips for an extra revision due to the relatively poor performance of Intel's integrated GPUs. Apple finally upgraded the MacBook Air to Intel's Sandy Bridge processors in July.
Earlier this year, Apple had reportedly threatened Intel that they would abandon Intel's chips if the company was unable to improve their power consumption profile. AMD would be the logical alternative to Intel, and it makes sense that Apple would have fully explored its options at that time.
According to SemiAccurate, one reason Apple chose not to adopt AMD's solution was AMD's inability to supply enough of the required parts to Apple. SemiAccurate had previously claimed that Apple was also looking into moving from Intel processors to ARM processors in the future.
Late late week, Apple announced a worldwide replacement program for owners of the first-generation iPod nano. The program was instituted due to battery issues that could cause the devices to overheat and in extreme cases catch fire.
While Apple officially notes that it may take up to six weeks for customers to receive their replacement devices, some users are reporting that their replacements have already arrived. And while some had hoped that Apple might offer newer-generation iPod nano models given a potential shortage of units that officially went out of production nearly five years ago, the replacement units are indeed still first-generation iPod nanos.
According to one customer who received a replacement, the new unit is an exact duplicate of his original iPod nano in terms of color and capacity, although it feels brand-new without the wear and tear of five or six years' worth of use. Apple is almost certainly utilizing refurbished units for the replacements, but Apple's standard refurbishment program includes the use of brand-new batteries and outer shells to make the devices appear and function as new.
I wanted to pass along some info about the iPod Nano exchange program Apple started over the weekend. I just received the replacement and it is an exact replacement. No upgrade. Same capacity and everything. The only upside is that it is "new" (probably refurbished), so it's clean in comparison to my old one.
The replacement iPod nano units come with a 90-day warranty, offering users a chance to make sure that they are operating properly upon receipt. As evidenced by the units coming through already, they should be essentially identical to customers' original devices, although Apple notes that any personalization on the original devices will not be included on the replacements.
The Wall Street Journal reports on continuing shortages of the iPhone 4S at U.S. carriers, more than a month after the device went on sale. Carriers indicate that the shortages are due to very strong customer demand rather than any shortfall in Apple's production.
Verizon Wireless customers may have to wait more than three weeks for the device, according to the carrier’s website. That compares with as much as 21 days at AT&T and up to 14 days at Sprint Nextel. While some tech blogs have suggested Apple’s manufacturing isn’t keeping pace, the carriers point to unexpectedly strong demand for the handset.
“We are having some supply issues in the sense that demand’s huge,” AT&T’s president of emerging devices, Glenn Lurie, said Wednesday. “We have had just record-breaking sales on it.”
Apple typically prioritizes its own distribution channels in the face of tight supplies, but even its online store is citing shipping estimates of 1-2 weeks on iPhone 4S orders, while its retail stores are utilizing a reservation system to manage the tight supplies. Through the system, customers are able to reserve iPhone 4S units each night from the available stock at their local store, stopping by the following day to make their purchase. Any unreserved stock is then made available for walk-in purchase, although even reservation customers have been having some difficulty finding availability of the popular device.
Apple sold a record-setting four million iPhone 4S units in its opening weekend, and the company is confident that it will see record sales for the iPhone during the current quarter. In addition to the strong sales in its launch markets, Apple has also been pursuing an aggressive international rollout for the iPhone 4S. With two new rounds of international launches having occurred since the original seven-country debut on October 14th, the iPhone 4S is now available in 44 countries around the world.
Google yesterday officially unveiled its full Google Music service, including a music download store offering a number of the same features as Apple's iTunes Store. The new Google Music store arrives as part of the Android Market and seems designed to attract users to the Android platform by offering an alternative to Apple's iTunes ecosystem. Like the iTunes Store, Google Music offers per-track pricing typically ranging from $0.69-$1.29, with over 13 million tracks available for purchase.
The store offers more than 13 million tracks from artists on Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, and the global independent rights agency Merlin as well as over 1,000 prominent independent labels including Merge Records, Warp Records, Matador Records, XL Recordings and Naxos. We’ve also partnered with the world's largest digital distributors of independent music including IODA, INgrooves, The Orchard and Believe Digital.
You can purchase individual songs or entire albums right from your computer or your Android device and they’ll be added instantly to your Google Music library, and accessible anywhere.
Google Music also includes some of the same cloud-based services offered by Apple as part of iCloud and iTunes Match, features that Google rolled out in beta form earlier this year without the support of its own music store. With Google Music, all music purchases from the market are stored online, with users also able to upload up to 20,000 of their own tracks for free.
The company is also integrating the new music service with its Google+ social networking platform, allowing users to post individual tracks to their Google+ pages where friends can take advantage of a one-time free stream of each track.
Google is also rolling out an "artist hub" feature, which allows any signed or unsigned artist with distribution rights for their material to create a dedicated Google Music page for a one-time $25 fee. Artists can use their pages to share information and sell their music, with artists able to set their own pricing and receiving 70% of revenue.
One missing piece for Google is Warner Music Group, one of the four major music labels in the United States and which has yet to reach an agreement to have its content distributed through the store. Warner, which is said to still be in talks with Google, is the third-largest record label and holds approximately 20% of the market.
Every third Thursday, the guys at Signal Snowboards make a custom (and a little off-the-wall) board to push the limits of snowboard design. This month, the guys built iShred, an aluminum-based board with a built-in iPad 2 and a light-up wi-fi beacon.
The board turned out to be much more difficult to make than Signal had anticipated, but they got it done in the end -- though with the aluminum base, it wasn't the best board to actually ride:
The thing is like a missile -- it doesn't like to turn, but its pretty fast and heavy... it's like a lead weight. It's probably the heaviest board I've ridden. I give it a negative review on turnability.
Signal said they wanted to honor "the man who inspired and built products that almost every snowboarder we know loves and uses in their daily lives."
Algoriddim has released the latest version of its well-regarded DJing software djay for Mac. The software allows DJ's, both amateur and professional, to perform and record music sessions via a number of unique and easy-to-use features.
Perhaps the largest new feature in version 4 is Harmonic Match. Djay analyzes the entire iTunes Library detecting musical key for each song, allowing the software to match up songs of the same key for seamless transitions.
Djay also includes a number of real-time audio effects, fully analyzed waveforms, auto-syncing to match BPM between songs, iCloud integration for sharing cue points and other metadata between Djay for Mac, iPad, or iPhone, and supports a number of third-party accessories.
djay for Mac continues to build upon algoriddim's philosophy of creating accessible DJ tools for all users. Pros and beginners alike will find new features, such as Harmonic Match™ and enhanced audio FX, significantly improve the experience of mixing music on the Mac. With the introduction of the new visual key match wheel, djay automatically registers a song’s key and matches it to songs of the same key within an iTunes music library. This first-of-its-kind integration of harmonic mixing capabilities enables easy mashups that are pitch-perfect.
Djay for Mac is normally $49.99, but is on sale on the Mac App Store for $19.99 for a limited time. [Direct Link]
Apple today pushed out a new 4.4.3 software update for the Apple TV, although the company has yet to specify what improvements are included in the update.
The new release, which arrives as Build 9A4051, comes on the heels of a series of releases last month that started with version 4.4 to include support for iCloud's Photo Stream feature as well as several other additions but which required several minor follow-up updates to resolve issues.
Update: Apple has updated its release notes to reveal that the 4.4.3 update adds support for Netflix streaming in Mexico and an audio output issue when the connected television set is turned off.
Netflix: Added support for Netflix in Mexico. Audio Output: Addresses an issue in which audio may not play through the optical port when the TV is turned off.
Back in September, Skype debuted a new Skype 5.4 for Mac Beta offering Facebook integration in the form of chat and news feed support. The company has now expanded that integration to include support for Facebook video calling.
Initiating a Facebook-to-Facebook call from within Skype is quite easy; all you need to do is connect your Skype and Facebook accounts. Then, select a Facebook friend and hit the video call button in Skype- your friend simply picks up the call from Facebook. This new feature lets you maintain social connections with your Facebook friends and compliments previously announced features such as being able to see when your Facebook friends are online, read their status updates and IM them all from Skype.
Skype is a free download and service, although the company also offers a premium subscription service offering such features as group video calling and group screen sharing.
Childhood classic A Charlie Brown Christmas has 
Every third Thursday, the guys at 
Algoriddim has released the latest version of its well-regarded DJing software 
