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
Apple's First Berlin Store to Open Friday, May 3
Last week, we noted that workers had begun removing barricades and scaffolding surrounding Apple's first store in Berlin, Germany amid rumors that the store would open during the first weekend of May.
In an unusually early reveal, Apple has already confirmed the opening with a new page for the store listing the public opening as taking place at 5:00 PM on Friday, May 3. The new page also...
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'Delicious Library 3' Launches With New Look, Revamped Recommendations, and Mobile Scanner App
Earlier this week, we gave a brief preview of Delicious Monster's Delicious Library 3, a brand-new version of the company's popular cataloging app for OS X. The app is now available in the Mac App Store [Direct Link], and Ars Technica has a thorough overview of the new features.
Among the most immediately obvious changes for existing users of Delicious Library is its updated look, which...
Apple Celebrates 'A Decade of iTunes' With New Milestone Feature
With the 10th anniversary of the iTunes Store coming up on Sunday, April 28, Apple has posted a new iTunes Store feature honoring the event. The feature is an expanded version of the iPod + iTunes Timeline that has long been available on the company's site.
The feature walks through a number of important events over the ten-year history of the iTunes Store, from the launch day when U2's...
Apple Announces WWDC 2013 Scheduled for June 10-14, Tickets on Sale Tomorrow
Apple today announced that its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will take place June 10-14 at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco. The company also announced that tickets for the event, which will be priced at $1599, will go on sale tomorrow at 10:00 AM Pacific Time.“We look forward to gathering at WWDC 2013 with the incredible community of iOS and OS X...
Apple More Than Doubles Capital Return Program to $100 Billion
Alongside today's earnings release, Apple also announced a major increase in its capital return program, boosting the previous $45 billion program to $100 program.
The company announced a 15% increase in dividend payments, but Apple is making a significant increase in its stock buyback initiative, taking advantage of the company's depressed stock price to reduce the amount of stock available...
Refurbished 7th Generation iPod Nano Now Available in Apple Online Store
Apple today began offering refurbished models of the seventh-generation iPod nano in its online store, more than six months after the redesigned device was released. The addition comes roughly a week after Apple began offering refurbished fifth-generation iPod touch models.
The refurbished seventh-generation iPod nano models come with 16 GB of storage and are priced at $129, a $20 discount...
Apple Continues to Dominate U.S. Online Video Purchase and Rental Markets
NPD today released a new report highlighting the U.S. online digital video market for 2012, finding that Apple continues to dominate both purchases and rentals.
In looking at purchased content, Apple holds a commanding 67% of the TV show market and 65% of the movie market, with its closest competitors Xbox Video and Amazon each holding roughly 10% of the market.
While the competition is...
Apple's Services Suffering Another Outage as iCloud Sign-In and iTunes Store Go Down
Users of Apple's online services may be experiencing yet another outage today, with the company's system status page showing issues with both iCloud account sign-in and the iTunes Store over the past several hours. Apple's status page does not reveal the percentage of users experiencing issues, noting only that "some" users are affected, but we have received a number of reports about the services ...
AppShopper Returns to the App Store With 'AppShopper Social' for iOS
Back in September 2010, our sister site AppShopper launched a dedicated iOS app offering users easy access to app-tracking features such as updates and price changes. But after two years on the App Store, Apple removed AppShopper in late 2012, citing a rule against apps that could be confused with Apple's own App Store app.Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a...
More Claims of 'Delays' for iPhone 5S Over Fingerprint Sensor Issues
Earlier this month, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that various production issues will likely result in launches of Apple's iPhone 5S, lower-cost iPhone, and second-generation iPad mini coming somewhat later than many observers have been expecting. In particular, Kuo claimed that issues with color coatings for the fingerprint sensor said to be included on the iPhone 5S are likely to ...
Apple Returns 5-8 Million Defective iPhones to Foxconn?
According to reports over the weekend from China Business [Google translation] and China Times [Google translation], Apple last month returned at least five million and perhaps as many as eight million iPhones to manufacturing partner Foxconn due to defects in either appearance or operation.
The reports indicate that it will cost Foxconn roughly 200 yuan ($32) per device to correct the issues...
New Photos Show Inside of iPad 5 Rear Shell, iPhone 5S SIM Tray
Case company Tactus, which last week shared a photo of what was claimed to be the polycarbonate rear shell of Apple's rumored lower-cost iPhone, has now posted a new photo allegedly showing the inside of the fifth-generation iPad's rear shell.
The photo is of fairly low resolution, but is consistent with the first photos of the shell that leaked in late January. At a minimum, the photo...
Anonymized Siri Voice Clips Stored by Apple for Up to Two Years
Yesterday, Wired reported that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was raising questions about Apple's privacy policies regarding Siri, citing vague statements indicating that older "disassociated" voice clips would be kept for a "period of time" even if a user deactivated Siri on his or her device.“It’s not clear what ‘disassociated’ means. It’s not clear what ‘period of...
iPhone Activations Rise 25% at Verizon, Account for 55% of New Smartphones
Verizon today became the first major U.S. carrier to report financial results for the first quarter of 2013, and with Apple's earnings not being released until next week, Verizon's numbers offer the first look at how Apple's quarter might turn out.
Verizon reported activations of 7.2 million smartphones during the quarter, and TechCrunch notes that on the company's conference call the carrier...
Apple Shuts Down Push Notifications From AppGratis
Over the past ten days, we've been tracking the story of AppGratis, the app discovery service that saw its app pulled from the App Store by Apple as part of the first phase of a broader crackdown on apps that could be confused with the App Store itself or which might be used to game the App Store rankings.
Following the removal of AppGratis from the App Store, CEO Simon Dawlat claimed that the ...
Twitter Launches New Music App for iOS and Web
Following rumors of a new music app for iOS from Twitter last month, the company today announced the public release of the new service. The app, which is available as a free App Store download and rolling out on the web, integrates a number of existing services to give users each access to their Rdio and Spotify subscriptions, as well as previews of iTunes Store content.The songs on Twitter...
Lower-Cost iPhone's Plastic Rear Shell Reportedly Surfaces
Earlier this week, case manufacturer Tactus was one of several sources to share photos of cases reportedly designed for the fifth-generation iPad, once again showing that the device is expected to be smaller than the existing iPad and take design cues from the iPad mini.
Today, the company shares a photo of what is said to be the rear shell of Apple's rumored lower-cost iPhone. In line with...
Apple Halting Mac Component Orders Due to Overestimated Demand?
Digitimes reports that Apple has essentially halted all component orders for its Mac product lines, apparently working through significant inventories of components delivered during an aggressive ramp-up late last year that may have proven overly aggressive.The suppliers originally expected to finish digesting their Mac inventories in April, but are now stranded waiting for further instructions...
Apple Predicted to Tap Taiwanese Supply Chain for iPhone 5S Fingerprint Sensor
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has been one of the most vocal sources claiming that Apple will be including a fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5S, indicating that Apple's 2012 acquisition of AuthenTec is ready to bear fruit for the company as a differentiating feature for the next iPhone.
In a new research report, Kuo outlines his belief that in order to limit rival Samsung's...
iPad 5 Estimated to Be 15% Thinner, 25% Lighter Than Current iPad
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has on a number of occasions offered accurate information on Apple's product plans, recently published a new research note outlining his expectations for Apple's fifth-generation iPad. Kuo expects mass production and shipments of the new iPad to ramp up in the August-September timeframe, with the device registering roughly 15% thinner and 25% lighter than...
