Eric Slivka
Eric is the Editor-in-Chief of MacRumors and has been writing for the site since 2008.
An avid swimmer and former biophysicist, Eric has been using Apple products for over 35 years and has been interviewed for pieces by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, CNBC, and other publications.
Eric's current primary role involves day-to-day oversight of the editorial operations at MacRumors, but he also contributes occasional news and review articles while handling various other duties related to the site's operation.
An avid swimmer and former biophysicist, Eric has been using Apple products for over 35 years and has been interviewed for pieces by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, CNBC, and other publications.
Eric's current primary role involves day-to-day oversight of the editorial operations at MacRumors, but he also contributes occasional news and review articles while handling various other duties related to the site's operation.
Eric Slivka's Articles
White iPhone 4 Sold By Vodafone UK?
Engadget reports that it has received photos from a reader who claims to have purchased a white iPhone 4 through Vodafone in the UK today. The carrier has reportedly been gearing up to receive shipments of the device, but it now appears that the units may in fact be arriving and have slipped out for sale in a few instances. Now, we've secured a few images of a 16GB model from a separate source...
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Apple Inks Deal With Warner Music for Cloud-Based Storage Rights?
Just as Apple's cloud-based music storage service has been said to be ready to go amid claims that Apple has inked two of the four major record labels to deals permitting the service, CNET now reports that Apple has reached a deal with Warner Music Group (WMG) in support of the plan. Apple has an agreement with Warner Music Group to offer the record label's tracks on iTunes' upcoming cloud-music...
European Sources Point to White iPhone 4 Launch on April 27th
Earlier this week, Norwegian site Mobili.no reported [Google translation] that it had received information claiming that the white iPhone 4 will debut on Wednesday, April 27th. Several reliable sources who wish to remain anonymous, says now Mobili.no that the white version goes on sale in the Norwegian mobile shops this coming Wednesday, 27 April.
It will be distributed in both Telenor's and...
Conde Nast Slowing Plans for iPad Magazines Amid Weak Sales
Ad Age reports that Conde Nast, one of the early iPad supporters in the magazine industry, is slowing down its plans to bring more titles to the platform, citing slow sales of its existing titles. "It's a shift," one Conde publisher said. "The official stance was we're going to get all our magazines on the iPad because this is going to be such an important stream. The new change is maybe we can...
Production of New Thunderbolt-Equipped MacBook Airs Set for Next Month?
AppleInsider reports on a new research note from Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claiming that Apple is set to begin production on new Thunderbolt-equipped MacBook Air models late next month, setting the stage for an update to the company's popular ultra-thin notebooks. Kuo tells AppleInsider that his latest round of checks with suppliers and system builders in the region reveals that...
Remote iPhone Unlocking Services Discontinued After Supplier Pulls Plug
Last week, we reported that a number of remote iPhone unlocking services had sprung up, apparently working through a contact with access to the official Apple database of whitelisted IMEI numbers. The services were generally charging in the $170 range to unlock users' iPhones without requiring jailbreaking.
As noted by Cult of Mac, however, prominent vendor CutYourSim has discontinued the...
No Apple-Suitable 4G LTE Chips Until Early 2012?
With rumors of Apple planning for a later-than-usual iPhone release this year, some have hoped that Apple might use the extra time to build in support for the latest 4G LTE networks beginning to go live with many carriers. On Apple's earnings conference call earlier this week, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook reiterated earlier comments that the current generation of LTE chips forced design...
iPad 2 Production Shortages Due to LCD and Speaker Issues?
Dow Jones Newswires reports on comments from research firm IHS iSuppli noting that Apple's surprisingly low iPad shipments for the first quarter of 2011 were in fact due to production issues, primarily related to display and speaker production problems. Apple's first-quarter supply of the iPad 2 fell far short of demand, according to the researcher, saying production faced manufacturing...
Apple's Cloud-Based Music Service Ready to Go?
Reuters reports that Apple has "completed work" on its rumored cloud-based music service and will beat Google to the punch as the search and advertising giant continues to work on a similar project. Apple Inc has completed work on an online music storage service and is set to launch it ahead of Google Inc, whose own music efforts have stalled, according to several people familiar with both...
Apple Developing Narrower, Rackmountable Mac Pro Prototypes?
Inside Apple's current Mac Pro
According to 9 to 5 Mac, Apple is "toying with" a redesigned prototype for its Mac Pro line, narrowing the design from its current 8.1-inch width to something slightly over 5 inches wide. Combined with a slight reduction in height to around 19 inches, the redesign would apparently allow the Mac Pro to be rackmountable in server cabinets as a 3U component. Nearly...
Apple Seeding High-Level Gaming Developers With A5-Based iPhone 4s?
9 to 5 Mac reports that it has heard from a source that Apple has been providing developers at high-level iOS gaming companies with new prototype iPhone models based on the A5 system-on-chip found in the iPad 2. The developers are said to have been given access to the devices, which look exactly like the iPhone 4 from the outside, to assist them in preparing for advanced graphics and...
Senator Asks Apple About Location-Tracking Issues as Experts Weigh In
With much publicity about yesterday's iOS location-tracking issue, a number of voices have already weighed in to provide additional perspective on exactly what is happening with respect to user privacy.
As noted by Ars Technica, U.S. Senator Al Franken sent a letter (PDF) to Apple CEO Steve Jobs yesterday asking for more detail on how consumers' information is being used and why it is not...
Apple Now Ranked as Highest-Grossing Mobile Phone Vendor
Reuters reports that a new study from research firm Strategy Analytics is showing that Apple is now the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer as measured by revenue, outpacing Nokia for the first time ever in the January-March quarter. Apple Inc (AAPL.O) became the world's largest phone vendor by revenue in January-March, overtaking Nokia Oyj (NOK1V.HE) for the first time ever, research firm...
Verizon CFO Reveals Next iPhone to Be a 'Global Device'
Qualcomm's "world-mode" MDM6600 wireless chip found in CDMA iPhone 4 and iPad 2
(Source: iFixit's Verizon iPhone teardown)
As noted by Barron's, Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo revealed during a conference call discussing the carrier's earnings announcement that Apple's next iPhone will be a "global device", presumably referring to a world-mode phone supporting both GSM and CDMA...
Verizon Activates 2.2 Million iPhones in Q1 2011
It's been a busy couple of days for Apple-related earnings announcements, with AT&T and Apple releasing their data yesterday and Verizon following suit this morning. In a slideshow presentation (PDF) accompanying the release, Verizon reveals that it activated 2.2 million CDMA iPhones during the quarter. The carrier began selling the iPhone to its existing customers on February 3rd, following...
Apple Reports Best Non-Holiday Quarter Ever With $5.99 Billion Profit for Q2 2011
Apple today announced financial results for the first calendar quarter and second fiscal quarter of 2011. For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $24.67 billion and net quarterly profit of $5.99 billion, or $6.40 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $13.50 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.07 billion, or $3.33 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 41.4 percent,...
iOS Platform Reach Exceeds Android's By 59% in U.S.
While much has been made of Android's rapid gains in the smartphone market that has seen it surge past the iPhone, a perhaps equally vocal contingent has pointed out that iOS is much larger than just the iPhone and that Android has only just started pushing into the tablet market and has yet to forge an effort into the non-phone touch device market.
But yesterday, comScore finally put some...
More Rumors of Toshiba-Apple Deal for iPhone LCDs, Sharp Excluded?
Dow Jones Newswires reports on claims from Japanese newspaper Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun that Apple has committed to invest in a Toshiba factory for iPhone LCD production, a report that also claims that Apple has abandoned a similar deal with Sharp for the displays. The Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun reported that Apple now plans to invest only in Toshiba's new LCD panel plant currently under construction in...
iPad 2 Shipping Estimates Drop to 1-2 Weeks in Several Countries
Apple today once again lowered iPad 2 shipping estimates in many of its online stores around the world, now citing 1-2 weeks for new orders in those markets. Shipping estimates had peaked at 4-5 weeks, but a series of drops brought the window down to 2-3 weeks early this month, and the new decrease suggests that Apple is indeed getting its arms around the supply-demand balance for the popular...
Researchers Disclose iPhone and iPad Location-Tracking Privacy Issues
A pair of security researchers today announced that they are sounding the privacy warning bell about the capability of iOS 4 to track the location of an iPhone or iPad on an ongoing basis, storing the data to a hidden file known as "consolidated.db" in the form of latitude and longitude and a timestamp for each point. All iPhones appear to log your location to a file called "consolidated.db." This ...
