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
U.S. Apple Retail Stores Continue to Experience iPad Shortages [Updated]
Two weeks ago, several reports indicated a complete lack of availability of 3G-capable iPad models in partial surveys of Apple retail stores in the United States, with Wi-Fi models also seeing significant supply constraints.
Digital Daily today reports on a new research note from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster indicating that the shortages are continuing, with none of the 50 stores...
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Jobs Responds to Google's WebM Video Standard Announcement as Patent Questions Begin to Surface
With Google's announcement earlier this week that it is releasing a new open source, royalty-free video format known as "WebM" to compete with the Apple-backed H.264 standard, observers have wondered what Apple's response will be. Google's inclusion of several other prominent industry players including Mozilla and Opera has suggested that Apple may find itself under pressure to adopt the...
Apple Officially Ends 'Get a Mac' Campaign, Revamps 'Why You'll Love a Mac' Feature
Last month, actor Justin Long revealed that Apple's long-running "Get a Mac" ad campaign, in which he appeared as the "Mac" character, appeared to have been discontinued. The last set of "Get a Mac" commercials had been released in October 2009.
It now appears that Apple has finally pulled the "Get a Mac" campaign from its site, redirecting the page to an expanded "Why You'll Love a Mac"...
International iBookstores Begin to Go Live With Free Project Gutenberg Books
German site Macerkopf.de [Google translation] and Italian site iPadevice [Google translation] report that Apple's iBookstore has begun to go live in a number of international countries. The news comes after iPad versions of those and other countries' App Stores went live earlier today.
For the time being, international iBookstore offerings appear limited to free Project Gutenberg titles,...
Apple's Lead in U.S. Music Sales Continues to Increase as iTunes Gains and Wal-Mart Falls
Image courtesy of Fortune
Billboard reports on data for the full-year 2009 showing Apple's iTunes Store as the largest distributor of music in the United States with 26.7% of the market, up from 21.4% in 2008 and 12.7% in 2007. Apple's lead was further extended by second-place Wal-Mart's drop from 15% to 12.5%. Last year's share gain was helped by Apple's embrace of variable pricing on digital ...
Google Announces Google TV for Fall 2010 Launch
As suggested in a report yesterday, Google has announced Google TV, a new offering set to roll out in the fall of this year designed to integrate the television and Web experience. Google TV is a new experience for television that combines the TV that you already know with the freedom and power of the Internet. With Google Chrome built in, you can access all of your favorite websites and easily...
Google Developing Web-Based iTunes Competitor, Acquires Simplify Media for Android Media and App Auto Syncing
Google's major announcements at its Google I/O conference continue today, with the company announcing that it has acquired Simplify Media to assist it with rolling out a new syncing service that will allows users to push apps and music directly to their Android-based mobile devices over the air.
According to TechCrunch, Google's demo of its next-generation Android operating system codenamed...
Apple Adds 'Rotten Tomatoes' Movie Ratings and Reviews to iTunes Store
TUAW notes that Apple has added a new section to its iTunes Store pages for movies, offering ratings and reviews from popular review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. iTunes' integrated Rotten Tomatoes ratings presents the movie's prospective buyers and renters with the Tomatometer chart featuring the total count of reviews along with a fresh/rotten breakdown and the average rating. Viewers are also...
Adobe Releases HTML5 Extension for Dreamweaver CS5
With all of the clamor over the Apple's favoring of Web standards such as HTML5 over Adobe's Flash, it seems notable that Adobe has stepped forward with an announcement that it has released an "HTML5 Pack" extension to its Dreamweaver CS5 website authoring application. The Adobe HTML5 Pack is an extension to Adobe Dreamweaver CS5, the latest version of the industry-leading HTML authoring tool for...
Analyst Raises 2010 iPad Sales Estimate to 8 Million as U.S. iPad Sales Exceed Mac Sales
In a research note released today, RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky increased his estimate of 2010 iPad sales from 5 million to 8 million, citing upcoming international launches and continued strong sales in the U.S. as evidenced by retail store shortages. For the current quarter, which runs through late June, Abramsky is predicting iPad sales in excess of 1.8 million units in the...
iPad App Store Goes Live Internationally
As noted [Google translation] by German site Macerkopf.de and expanded upon by Engadget, Apple has begun activating international iPad App Stores ahead of the device's launch in those countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. In fact, stores appear to be going live even in countries that are not included in this round of device launches. Engadg...
Apple Axes 'No Cash' Policy for iPad Sales
Earlier this week, the spotlight was put on Apple for its policy prohibiting customers from purchasing iPads with cash by a report from KGO-TV in San Francisco noting the case of a woman on fixed income who had saved up cash over a period of weeks to purchase an iPad as her first computer. "It took quite a long time for me to just save up this small amount of money to go down and purchase one,"...
Apple Responds to Reports of Final Cut Pro Refocusing
CNET reports that Apple has issued a response to yesterday's report that the company is working to "rethink" its Final Cut Pro offerings as the balance of usage of the video production software has shifted towards "prosumers" from the high-end professionals it originally targeted. "Final Cut Pro is the first choice for professional video editors, and we've never been more excited about its...
Gartner Pegs Apple as World's Seventh Largest Mobile Phone Manufacturer
Gartner today published a report covering worldwide mobile phone sales to end users for the first quarter of 2010. The results show Apple placing seventh among all mobile phone manufacturers with 2.7% of the market, up from 1.5% in the year-ago quarter. The growth places Apple within striking range of Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Research in Motion as it seeks to move up the list into the top...
Twitter for iPhone Now Available in App Store
As hinted at by yesterday's disappearance of Tweetie 2 from the App Store, the rebranded official Twitter iPhone application [App Store, Free] has now been released.
In addition to the rebranding, Twitter brings several enhancements over the previous version of Tweetie: - Tweetie is now Twitter! We didn't just do a name change, we've added a bunch of new stuff.
- Search has been...
Google Announces 'WebM' Open-Source Video Format, Plans for Android Television Integration
Google today is making a number of major announcements at its Google I/O conference in San Francisco, with several of them directly related to Apple's offerings and supported standards.
First, Google announced the launch of The WebM Project, a new open-source, royalty-free video file format that appears set to take on Apple-backed H.264 for the future of Web-based video. The WebM project is...
Verizon to Support Simultaneous Voice and Data Transmission?
Boy Genius Report briefly notes that it has received a tip that Verizon may be preparing to roll out network technology that would enable simultaneous transmission of voice and data, a feature that both Apple and AT&T have trumpeted on the iPhone. We have been told that when the mythical Verizon iPhone materializes, assuming it's not a LTE unit, it might launch with VoRA; Voice over Rev. A....
AT&T Executive Downplays Effect of Eventual Loss of iPhone Exclusivity on Business
AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega participated in a Q&A session this morning at a J.P. Morgan conference, and The Wall Street Journal blogged his comments, a number of which focused on the iPhone and iPad.
According to de la Vega, about 80% of AT&T's customers are on family talk or corporate discount plans, which serve as a significant barrier for customers to switch to a competing carrier....
Next-Generation iPhone to Offer Option of White Front Panel? [Updated]
fscklog points to a posting on Taiwanese site Apple.pro showing photos of the front and back of a purported white next-generation iPhone front panel.
While very similar to the traditional black panel seen in some previous parts leaks and in prototypes that have surfaced in recent weeks, it does carry an unknown physical feature directly above the earpiece slot. The feature appears similar...
Photos and Video of iPod Touch With Camera Surface in Vietnam
Vietnamese site Tinhte has scored another Apple prototype, this time posting photos and videos of an iPod touch carrying a rear-facing camera. The device is a 64 GB model and carries a "DVT-1" designation, which stands for "design verification test", a typically late-stage testing model.
The prototype does not, however, appear to be a particularly new creation, as its serial number...
