Rumor: Apple to Launch 7″ iPad in August, New iPhone in September !!!

More rumors coming out of the infamous hit-and-miss Taiwanese publication DigiTimes today, this time claiming that Apple will release a 7-inch iPad in August, a new iPhone in September, and a 10-inch iPad later in the year, according to sources within Apple’s supply chain. This isn’t the first time we have heard rumors about a 7- to 8-inch iPad, but most speculation has pointed towards a 7.85-inch iPad.

Pegatron Technology reportedly has landed orders for a new-generation iPhone to be launched in September and a 10-inch iPad to be launched in the fourth quarter, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers. Pegatron is currently an OEM for the iPhone 4S and new iPad.

While the 10-inch iPad and new iPhone will be manufactured in part by Pegatron Technology, the report claims that Foxconn will be responsible for production of the 7-inch iPad later in the year. While talk of a 7-inch iPad and launch of a new iPhone in September are not unheard of, the 10-inch iPad definitely seems less likely. All we know for certain is that Apple definitely has something up their sleeves for the remainder of 2012.

BlackBerry VS. Apple (Video) !!!

Electric Chapel Commercial 2012 !!!

The App Store is Like Playing the Lottery !!!

When you hear stories about independent App Store developers becoming extremely successful, you might think that the App Store is a viable business and something that can easily provide you with extra income. But, according to a recent survey by marketing firm App Promo, it is actually quite difficult to release apps that become successful.

The survey shows that “59 percent of apps don’t break even, and 80 percent of developers can’t sustain a business on their apps alone.” The fact that there is over 600,000 apps available on the App Store could be a contributing reason for the difficulties that developers face, since there is limited visibility for the apps that they release. That is, of course, unless they are dedicated to an  extensive — and expensive — marketing pitch.

“Over the years I have seen visibility of applications I’ve worked on greatly reduced,” developer Pat McCarron told Ars. “Right now your app is likely not going to be found if you never break the Top 100 or Top 200 lists. Users won’t navigate forever down the list of top apps to find yours sitting lonely at the bottom.”

Rogue Amoeba’s Paul Kafasis agreed that the App Store has become more of a lottery, and less a chance for small developers to succeed along with well-established companies.

“The App Store is very much like the lottery, and very few companies are topping the charts,” Kafasis told Ars. “It’s a hit-based business. Much like music or book sales, there are a few huge winners, a bigger handful of minor successes, and a whole lot of failures.”

To release an app to the App Store, you must be an official registered developer with Apple, a program that costs $100 to enroll in. Have you ever released, or considered developing, an App Store app?

Liquidmetal Not Yet Realistic for MacBooks !!!

There have been multiple reports lately claiming that Apple will incorporate Liquidmetal in the next iPhone. Some sources asserted that a new iPhone would be launching at this year’s WWDC in June and that it would be using the “amorphous metal alloys” that Liquidmetal Technologies has. There were then some mockups of what this could look like (picture above), followed by an interview with Liquidmetal inventor Atakan Peker at Business Insider, in which he said that Apple is not yet ready to use the technology.

In the interview, Peker says that the rumors of Apple using such technology in their upcoming products — the MacBook was the device in question — was unlikely. This doesn’t mean that the iPhone is out of the question, but Peker says a MacBook unibody “will take two to four years more years to implement.”

Q: I’ve heard rumors that future MacBooks from Apple could use Liquidmetal casing, what would that be like? Is it likely to happen?

A: Given the size of MacBook and scale of Apple products, I think it’s unlikely that Liquidmetal casing will be used in MacBooks in the near term. It’s more likely in the form of small component such as a hinge or bracket. A MacBook casing, such as a unibody, will take two to four more years to implement.

Spotify Finally Comes to the iPad !!!

The widely popular music streaming service Spotify has finally brought their service to the iPad with a native app and the full Retina display experience. Instead of a separate “HD” app like some services release, Spotify has updated their iPhone app to become universal, now including access to 18 million songs in a beautiful way on your iPad.

The Spotify iPad app is here!

Listen to the world’s music collection on your iPad. Enjoy millions of songs in an instant. Love, discover and share music like never before with the Spotify iPad app.

• Simple to browse and explore the Spotify catalogue
• Retina graphics for iPad and high-definition album art
• Search for playlists, users and music – all from the same view
• Discover what’s hot, and find trending playlists & songs among your friends
• Inbox grouped by user for easy searching
• Perfect as your living room stereo – full-screen view and AirPlay integration This iPad app reminds me a lot of Twitter’s with its swipe gesture-heavy interface that involves lots of swiping left to right in order to get from one screen to another. That’s not a bad thing, but I would have hoped to see something a bit more original — maybe a really well-designed app like Rdio for iOS.

Spotify itself is pretty reliable, though they do require that you have a Facebook account to use the service which is kind of annoying. Other than that, there’s a big war between them and Rdio. If you want music, then go with Spotify because they have a far better collection. If you want a better design and far better apps, then I’d personally recommend Rdio any day. But hey, it’s probably best to use whatever your friends do since you’re probably looking to discover some music.

If you already own Spotify for iPhone, then just go update it to version 0.5.0, which brings gapless playback and cross fading to this version, along with two bug fixes. If you don’t own it, then consider trying out Spotify on your iPad. There is a 48-hour trial of the $9.99 per month Premium service, so go discover some music and tell us what you think!

Additional fixes and improvements:
• New: Gapless playback and cross fading.
• Fixed: Offline synced playlists can no longer be removed by the system.
• Fixed: Crashes related to updating playlists or starring tracks.

Samsung is Dominating Apple in Worldwide Smartphone Market Share !!!

Apple and Samsung continue to battle it out in the smartphone market, and Samsung continues to hold the upper hand. While Apple continues to hold a strong grip on the American smartphone market, the latest numbers for worldwide smartphone market share show that Samsung is beginning to pull away from Apple in its lead over the iPhone maker.

“The race between Apple and Samsung remained tight during the quarter, even as both companies posted growth in key areas,” Ramon Llamas, a senior research analyst with IDC, said today in a statement. “Apple launched its popular iPhone 4S in additional key markets, most notably in China, and Samsung experienced continued success from its Galaxy Note smartphone/tablet and other Galaxy smartphones.”

During the first quarter, IDC research reveals that Samsung remained the number one smartphone vendor in the world with a market share of 29.1 percent, nearly five percent higher than Apple’s stake of 24.2 percent. Samsung shipped 42.2 million smartphones worldwide in the first quarter, while Apple shipped 35.1 million iPhones. Both companies have increased their smartphone shipments dramatically year-over-year, with Apple and Samsung shipping only 18.6 million and 11.5 million smartphones respectively in the year-ago quarter.

At that time, Nokia was the top smartphone vendor with market share of 23.8 percent. A year later, it holds a staggeringly lower 8.2 percent stake in the smartphone market. Apple was also still ahead of Samsung at the time, but the smartphone landscape has changed significantly in the past twelve months.

“While Apple and Samsung have taken it in turns to lead the smartphone market over the last four quarters, it seems as if Samsung may now have established a firm lead in this space, shipping 11.8 million more units than the Cupertino, California company in Q1,” Juniper said in a statement today.

Apple has yet to launch the iPhone on the world’s largest carrier, China Mobile, so that could help the Cupertino-based company make up some significant ground in international market share. For now, however, Samsung is winning. Apple might dominate the United States smartphone market, but Samsung is dominating the rest of the world.

iTunes Match Comes to Austria, Greece, and Italy !!!

As reported by MacStories, Apple today updated its terms and conditions from the Austrian, Greek, and ItalianiTunes Stores to include new information for the iTunes Match service. With this move, the Cupertino-based corporation is bringing iTunes Match to additional countries today, including the three aforementioned and maybe more.

According to Federico Viticci of MacStories, iTunes Match is apparently accepting new accounts from Austria, Greece, and Italy. It is not known if there are other countries receiving the service, but if you happen to see it when browsing around, please let us know in the comments.

iTunes Match is available 37 countries worldwide today, according to a support document published by Apple. It is rumored that the service will roll out in Japan soon as well, but there’s no specified date for it.

Photos: Lady Gaga kicks off Born This Way Ball !!!

Lady Gaga debuted the Born This Way Ball in South Korea on Friday night, attracting more than 45,000 fans, which is the second highest attendance in the country’s history of concerts. “I’m so grateful for all of you, thank you monsters,” she said. “Last night was like being completely prepared for a moment you could never prepare for.”

Check out fan pictures taken during Gaga’s first Born This Way Ball show in Seoul below:

Wozniak: Windows Phone Apps Are ‘Much More Beautiful’ Than Those on Android, iPhone !!!

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, in a recent interview with A New Domain, says that Windows Phone apps are “much more beautiful” than those found on Android and iOS. Wozniak favors the Windows Phone over Android-based smartphones, but still thinks the iPhone is his number one choice.

Just for looks and beauty, I definitely favor the Windows 7 phone over Android.

I’m kind of shocked on every screen — much more beautiful than the same apps on Android and iPhone. So I think that what Microsoft or Nokia did is that they went to some of the key app makers and got them to deliberately make specialized beautiful ones or they put their own themes on. It’s all different.

 

In talking about the elegant design of the Windows Phone, Wozniak jokes that perhaps Steve Jobs was reincarnated at Microsoft and shared some of his great ideas from Apple. Do you think that Windows Phone smartphones, such as the highly touted Nokia Lumia 900, are true competitors with the iPhone?