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Two months after the new iPad’s debut in the U.S, a study shows that the device is beginning to appear in a wider geographic footprint beyond mainly wealthier, coastal states. Last month Apple’s new iPad accounted for 9 percent of all iPad activations, and this month it’s up to 13.5 percent, according to new data from Chitika Insights published Thursday.

Similar to last month, Hawaii and California lead in new iPad activations, accounting for nearly 18 and 16 percent, respectively. But Nebraska is a surprise No. 3. A big part of that isn’t due to your regular gadget consumers, but one of the state’s public education initiatives, which includes a 1-to-1 iPad program for students, according to the report.

You can see the other top seven states (and a district) for new iPad activations in May in the chart below:

Credit: Chitika Insights

But it’s not just Nebraska. There are other mainly rural — and less populated — states whose citizens are also scooping up the latest iPad. According to Chitika:

Nebraska’s adoption numbers in this second month, in addition to high adoption rates in states like Virginia, West Virginia and Alabama, indicate that rural states cannot be broadly labeled as technology laggards. Those residents are now pushing technology trends, often in greater numbers than their East and West-coast counterparts, rather than following them.

This kind of trend is exactly what needs to happen for Apple to continue to grow its customer base. The company can’t just sell new iPhones and iPads every year or every other year to the same early adopter types. By expanding through new industries — education, healthcare, transportation, etc. — the iPad is bringing Apple as a company into new territories that the Mac, at least at this stage in its life, never could.

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Apple's iWallet is already in your pocket.

Ask what the next revolutionary feature for the iPhone will be, and NFC is a common answer. NFC — or near-field communications — is an ultra low-power chip that allows two devices to communicate small strings of information within a couple feet of each other.

Why’s it so revolutionary? The most commonly cited “magic” that NFC would bring to the iPhone would be the ability to use your device to pay for goods and services, just like a credit card.

In other words, instead of pulling out your wallet to buy groceries, get onto the subway or pick up a MacBook at the local Apple Store, you’d just tap your iPhone against a point-of-sale terminal near the register instead. The NFC chips in both would communicate and you’d be on your way, no signature or PIN code required.

Pretty neat, huh? NFC would theoretically allow Apple to take a cut of real world sales made of even non-Apple products. They’d become a mobile payment company. That seems like such a no-brainer that everyone from Bloomberg to The New York Times.

The only problem? Never going to happen, because Apple has already deployed its mobile payment solution, and it’s hidden inside every iPhone 4S that has already been sold.

That, at least, is the really quite excellent argument of Research Farm’s Pablo Saez Gil, who says Apple will eschew adopting NFC because it’s embraced Bluetooth 4.0 and it’s excellent Bluetooth Low-Energy capabilities. Apple has already sold millions of iPhone 4Ses that come with Bluetooth 4.0, and Gil argues that it’s a much better fit for mobile payments for Apple than NFC.

[Bluetooth Low Energy] allows low-consumption chips to act passively in the form of stickers in a similar fashion to NFC tags and devices can automatically and passively connect and transfer information seamlessly. The technology also enables long distance connections between devices of up to 50m. This feature will eventually enable payments on the go, without the need of fixed POS and traditional checkouts.

Why’s Bluetooth Low Energy a better fit for Apple than NFC?

Look at how payment works at your local Apple Store. You walk in, flag down a Genius, you tell him what you want, he swipes your card on his iPhone and you walk right out the door. You don’t wait in line at a register. There’s no till. It’s all done wherever. That’s how Apple believes retail shopping should be done.

With NFC, though, it’s all still about the register, the “tap-and-go” till. Worse, those NFC terminals are all controlled by the credit card companies and payment processors, not Apple.

As Gil notes, that’s a huge lost sales opportunity that could be addressed with using Bluetooth Low Energy, because it would increase global demand from retailers looking to replace their registers with Bluetooth 4.0 equipped Macs, iPads, iPod Touches and iPhones.

The genius of this plan? It’s already deployed. There’s no need to find room in every iPhone for an extra chip, or wait for other companies to get their act together about NFC and actually get it into stores. Because Apple has been deploying Bluetooth 4.0 equipped devices since mid-2011, all Apple really needs to do to suddenly become a mobile payment company is go on stage at WWDC next month, officially announced iOS 6 and then say:”BAM! iWallet! It’s here… and your iPhone 4S is already capable of it!”

Makes sense to us. Look at what Google’s going through with Google Wallet, a thoroughly stalled NFC initiative for Android. People have been talking about NFC for years, and yet it’s still not even close to taking off. If Apple’s really going to enter mobile payments, doesn’t using a technology that embraces Apple’s own retail philosophy, helps sell more Macs and uses technology you already have in your pocket make a lot more sense?

Source: The Retail Bulletin
Thanks: Panticutor!

In January, following a meeting with Samsung Storage solutions at CES 2012, we told you that Apple’s next-gen MacBook Air would likely make the switch to the speedier 830 series SSDs from Samsung alongside an update to Ivy Bridge. This was of course before we revealed some major changes coming to Apple’s new MacBook and iMac lineups. In addition to Retina displays for almost the entire new lineup, the new ultra-thin 15-inch MacBook Pro will be getting a complete redesign, losing the optical drive, and bringing it closer to to the thin design of current Airs. Like the new MacBook Airs, we have been told that at least some of Apple’s prototype MacBook Pros have used Samsung’s 830 series SSDs…

Specifically, a 256GB Samsung 830 SSD was in use in prototype MacBook Pro we’ve been told, but we can only assume that Apple will use these SSDs across the line in various sizes.  They are available in retail packaging from 64GB to 512GB configurations.

Apple currently offers SSDs as build to order upgrades on its MacBook Pro line at pretty nutty prices (when compared to Samsung’s retail prices which are getting close to a $1/GB):

We can’t be sure if Apple will be moving to the smaller Air-type SSD in the new Pros or if they will continue to use the 2.5-inch form factor that is currently in use (or even better – both). Of course, utilizing the smaller SSDs for future MacBook Pros would also help Apple achieve the new super slim design.

As we noted for the new MacBook Airs that are likely to get the 830 series SSDs, it’s unlikely that Samsung will be the only supplier for Apple’s next round of Macs – Apple likes to have redundant suppliers. Both Toshiba and Samsung currently provide SSDs for the existing MacBooks, although Toshiba’s SSDs are notably slower. Samsung hasn’t confirmed that it is shipping the 830 series to Apple, but it was sold out of the slower 470s series that currently ship in the existing MacBook Airs in January.

Above is a screenshot from our speed tests of the 2.5-inch 830 series when it launched last year. Real world speeds were over 400MB/s write and 500MB/s reads, almost twice as fast as the SSDs from Samsung shipping in current MacBook Airs.

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With so many people writing about Apple, finding the best stories and reports isn’t easy. Here’s our daily pick of stories about the company from around the Web that you shouldn’t miss:

• Apple number cruncher Horace Dediu at Asymco took at stab at calculating how much of Apple’s revenue comes from Google. What he came up with suggests that Apple makes more money from Google than Google does from Android:  ”$1.4 billion from Google to Apple vs. $600 million from Android to Google.” Read his analysis to find out how he got there.
• Turns out the Apple retail juggernaut he helped create can’t be duplicated in a few quarters. Former Apple VP and current J.C. Penny CEO Ron Johnson is coming under fire from his investors for falling sales and a huge stock drop just six months after he joined, Reuters reports.
• There’s been a lot of talk about Apple doing a MacBook with a high-resolution Retina display. Sounds great, but how feasible would that be? ZDNet does the analysis.
• The Flashback malware threat exposed some serious lapses in Mac security. But what did the creators get out of it? Pretty much nothing, according to Symantec: The botnet “managed to generate around 400,000 ad clicks out of roughly 10 million being displayed,” and they’re having trouble collecting from pay-per-click services who employ anti-fraud measures, says Ars Technica.
• Just a day after Greenpeace protested outside Apple’s headquarters about its data center’s reliance on coal power, Reuters reports that Apple plans to build solar farms next to its North Carolina data center and move toward only renewable resources at the site by the end of this year. Katie wrote about this earlier in the year.

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Tragedy struck just after 8 p.m. ET last Wednesday. Bounding down my apartment’s outside steps, I stumbled slightly, and in what resembled one of those slow-motion sequences you see on film, my iPhone 4 went flying out of my hand and over a balcony, landing three floors below with a plasticky smack and spray of glass shards.

You could say I was shocked, stunned and horrified. To clear a few things up: No, as I told my inquiring editor, tequila shots were not involved. Yes, I realize it’s just a phone. But I don’t make a habit out of carelessly destroying expensive things — especially when I’m so close to the end of my AT&T two-year contract and looking forward to a no-penalty upgrade to a new phone circa, say, October.

I’ll jump forward to the end: this is a happy story. I walked out of the Apple Store in Center City Philadelphia at 7 p.m. the following day with a brand new iPhone 4. But the journey was very impressive considering the level of service I received for a product that is not a refrigerator or pricey household appliance. Remember, we’re talking about a phone. (Note: I did not disclose my profession to the Apple Store staff for obvious reasons. Nor do I think every customer does or would have the same experience I did — your mileage at the Genius Bar may vary.)

Apple is famous for customer satisfaction — it scores tops among cell phone owners and computer owners, according to the American Customer Service Index. It’s probably no coincidence that high customer satisfaction scores – and offering professional and prompt technical help goes a long way towards ensuring satisfaction — are happening at the same time as the historic expansion of Apple’s business and the ascendance of its stock price.

After my Genius Bar appointment, Apple sent me its standard follow-up customer survey asking me about my experience. And since I write about Apple, I figured I’d share my answers here, in survey form. I was asked to rate my satisfaction with various aspects of Apple’s service on a scale of very dissatisfied to very satisfied.

Overall, how satisfied were you with your in-store repair experience?

Very satisfied. The morning after the fateful accident, I walked into the Center City store without an appointment. I was immediately greeted and told to come back for the next available time slot at the Genius Bar in 20 minutes. When I returned, I waited about a minute and 30 seconds before my designated Genius, Dan, walked up.

That wait was the only thing about my experience that was short — but we’ll get to that in a minute. Despite a somewhat complicated situation due to a failed iCloud backup, I was consistently updated on what was going on with my device. And the employees acted like they cared about solving my problem. Customer service isn’t necessarily the most rewarding job, so it’s gratifying when an employee understands that your presence means there is a problem and that getting it fixed is important. (Apple has just over 34,000 retail employees, with about 100 assigned to each store. Horace Dediu at Asymco calculated that Apple retail sales employees make from $9 to $15 per hour, but Genius Bar workers can make up to $30 per hour.)

Overall, how would you rate the professionalism and technical ability of the store employees responsible for your repair?

Very satisfied. This was somewhat of an emergency situation for me — it’s hard to get work done as a reporter when your only phone is unusable for calls or apps you might be writing about. The Apple Store employees made me feel like getting a new iPhone right away was a priority for them.

They also were very straightforward with me. They made sure I knew what my options were from the start: I could use my AT&T upgrade for a new iPhone 4S, which would start my two-year contract over again (no thanks), purchase a new iPhone 4S off contract for $500 (eek); or, if I left my broken device with Apple, they’d replace my same model with a new iPhone 4 for $149. I chose the latter.

They also let me know that this is fairly routine. Dropping a phone three stories? Not weird at all — they’ve seen and heard worse. The phone’s screen had a lot of scary-looking shards of glass sticking up from it, and when I apologized for its state, my designated Genius shrugged: “I have chefs’ fingers. I deal with cracked screens like this all the time.”

How many times were you contacted about the state of your repair?

At least 10 times, and I hadn’t even left the store. While my new phone was re-syncing Dan would attend to his other Genius Bar appointments, but he’d continually pop back over to update me on the status of my phone. This went a long way toward making me feel like the situation was resolvable and that they cared about getting me a satisfactory outcome.

Once your repaired product was returned to you, what happened?

This actually wasn’t a simple get-a-replacement-phone-and-resync-it-with-my-latest-iCloud-backup situation. Turns out, after 25 minutes of syncing my new phone, none of my roughly 3,000 photos copied over. This was, you might say, problematic. After some troubleshooting, Dan said iCloud was the culprit: my last iCloud backup had failed. He said I should bring my computer that my phone was synced with in and he’d try again, and made me another appointment later that day.

When I returned with my MacBook Air and my new iPhone, he battled further issues: iPhoto kept crashing, and the latest iTunes backup wouldn’t sync. He tried a few different approaches, and finally ended up finding a solution. This troubleshooting took almost an hour, again, thanks to the sheer number of photos I had on my device. Then once he figured out the fix, it was a least another 45 minutes of syncing.

From the start of the discussion, how long was your interaction at the Genius Bar?

Over the course of two different appointments, I spent just under four hours getting in-person tech support from the Apple Store. While that might sound excruciating, Dan was seriously heroic, never got flustered, and even took time to discuss one of my favorite topics while we were waiting: where to procure Philly’s best pizza. (Osteria on North Broad Street, if you’re wondering.) As someone who works from home or remote locations regularly, it wasn’t really a problem to be nearby the Apple Store all day. But that might be harder for people who have to report to offices.

Plus, when his shift ended at 6 p.m., he found another Genius to check in on me while we waited for my syncing to finish so they’d be sure my problem was entirely fixed before I left the store.

In the end, yes, it took a while, and iCloud has some serious issues to work out. But I left with a new phone, only $160 and some change poorer. And, perhaps more importantly, a lot of customer goodwill — an asset that even the most valuable company in the world can’t put a price on.

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The North Carolina Utilities Commission approved (PDF) Apple’s proposal to build a 20-megawatt solar farm today. Early filings suggested Apple aimed to position the farm by Nov. 1 across the street from its Maiden, N.C., date center, with operations starting Dec. 21. According to MacRumors, the official proposal filed on Feb. 15, and then it underwent to staff review, a public notice/comment session, and feedback from the State Clearinghouse. The NCUC officially approved the proposal on Monday and completed the certificate issuance Thursday:

The Public Staff presented this matter to the Commission at its Regular Staff Conference on May 14, 2012. The Public Staff recommended that the Commission approve the application and issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity for construction of a 20 MW solar photovoltaic electric generating facility to be located at 6028 Startown Road, Maiden, North Carolina.

After careful consideration, the Commission finds good cause to approve the application and issue the attached certificate of public convenience and necessity for the proposed 20 MW solar photovoltaic electric generating facility.

According to Reuters, Apple confirmed today that it is constructing two solar array installations in Maiden, with the potential to annually supply 84 million kWh of energy through streamlined solar cells and a state-of-the-art solar tracking system. A 5-megawatt fuel cell installation will support the solar farms, which will open later this year, powered-by 100 percent biogas. Apple also confirmed plans to construct a third biogas fuel-cell plant in 2012.

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Update: Macworld and The Verge report that Apple will actually not begin rejecting apps that utilize hotkeys. 

According to a report from TUAW, Apple will soon begin rejecting OS X apps submitted to the Mac App Store that utilize hotkey functionality. The report does not cite a specific source, and app developers we have talked to seem to be unaware of the change. TUAW claimed Apple will only allow existing “hotkey apps”, and those released before June 1, to issue future bug fixes. New apps and existing apps that are releasing updates with new features will apparently not be permitted to use hotkeys:

TUAW has been told that Apple will be rejecting all apps with hotkey functionality starting June 1, regardless of whether the new features are hotkey related or not. Basically, if you’re developing one of those apps, an app that assumes you can still add hotkeys, don’t bother submitting it to the Mac App Store.

The June 1 deadline lines up with the latest deadline Apple set for sandboxing Mac App Store apps, which is a new requirement that limits an app’s access to certain areas of the operating system. Apple is pushing sandboxing as “a great way to protect systems and users by limiting the resources apps can access and making it more difficult for malicious software to compromise users’ systems.” It appears it will also prevent apps from using hotkeys.

With the introduction of sandboxing, and the new Gatekeeper feature in Mountain Lion, Apple is creating a more controlled ecosystem for apps on OS X. It is also one that closer resembles iOS; so limiting access to specific hotkeys or gestures is not a huge surprise. Apple recently emailed non-App Store developers encouraging them to sign their apps with a Developer ID certificate to get prepared for Gatekeeper. The process would allow Gatekeeper to verify the app, but it does not appear Apple will try to restrict non-Mac Store apps from using hotkeys.

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TechnoBuffalo reported that an upcoming Sprint trade-in promotion will allegedly give existing iPhone owners at least $100 towards an iPhone 4S—if they sign a two-year contract and open a new line of service. The deal will supposedly run between May 18 and June 30:

If you’re an iPhone customer considering jumping ship to Sprint, the Now Network’s upcoming promo just might be enough to influence your decision. A trusted source has shared with us that starting on May 18th Sprint will begin offering a minimum of $100 on any iPhone trade-ins towards an iPhone 4S.

T-Mobile offered a similar deal earlier this month, where the carrier promised $200 trade-ins for any iPhone.

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Apple's stock had a wild ride after one man spooked investors about Apple's future

Sometimes just a few words can make humongous impact – something that DoubleLine Capital’s Jeffrey Gundlach proved spectacularly Wednesday afternoon when a statement he made caused Apple’s market value to drop 2.2% – an acceleration of a much milder downward  trend that Apple’s stock has been on since its record high in early April. Gundlach comments added to that trend, causing Apple stock to plummet so much that it is down $96 billion since April 9th.

For those that weren’t following Apple’s stock price on Wednesday, just after 3 p.m. Apple’s stock price dropped sharply by 2.2% to just over $540. That’s about when Gundlach took the stage at a meeting of hedge fund managers in New York and said that he was shorting Apple because he didn’t see the company being able to sustain the massive consumer excitement generated by the new iPad and other hit products.

Referencing the iconic lines of fans waiting outside Apple stores for a new product, Gundlach said he didn’t see such phenomena being a long term possibility for each new iOS device.

I just wonder how many people will queue up around the block for an iPad 87.

Apple’s stock began to rebound when Gundlach walked of the stage and the next speaker, Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn, told the crowd that Gundlach was dead wrong and that Apple can maintain its value even if the company doesn’t have a hit product like the new iPad or iPhone 4S every year.

[That] assumes that Apple is a hardware company. It’s not. Apple is a software company. Its value comes from iOS, the App Store, iTunes and iCloud.

Einhorn also pointed out that Apple products have a halo effect that typically leads new customers to buy a second or third Apple devices – like an iPad leading to buying a Mac and then an Apple TV

At that point, a future customer has to make a product that isn’t just a little better but a lot better to get the customer to switch.

Apple’s stock did rebound somewhat, closing down 1.3% for the day at $546.08.

The dramatic fluctuation in Apple’s stock can be attributed to Gundlach spooking a room full of investment managers taking part in the Ira Sohn Conference to raise money for pediatric cancer research. However, that wild ride yesterday also illustrates an underlying concern on the part of many managers and investors about whether Apple’s stock price is sustainable in the long term.

Overall, Apple shares are down 15% from their $644 peak on April 9.

Source: Fortune

Just like Target, many regional carriers, and other retailers following the trend, Best Buy has begun offering the 8GB iPhone 4 for $49.99 on the usual two-year contract through Sprint, Verizon, or AT&T. That’s $50 off the $99 price tag Apple and many other retailers still sell the device for. Unlike some of the other offers, it doesn’t appear to be an in-store only deal, as free shipping is included. The offer is listed as valid between “5/11/12-6/30/12″ and is available through BestBuy’s website now. However, some models are currently listed as “not available for shipping”. 

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