When asked about staggered product launches during the Q&A of Apple’s Q2 2013 earnings call today, Apple CEO Tim Cook admitted that he wished Apple would have postponed the launch of the new iMac until after the holiday season in order to avoid the significant delays that customers experienced in the initial months of launch:
I don’t spend a lot of time looking back… If we could run it over, i would have announced the iMac after the turn of the year… we felt our customers had to wait too long for that specific product… Where the iPad mini was in shortage in the December quarter, I would not have done that differently because we were able to get the product out to many customers that wanted it. In retrospect, I wish it [iMac] was after the turn of the year so customers would not have had to wait as long as they did.
Today, Google has released a new iPhone and iPod touch application for its Places for Business platform. Places for Business is a Google service that allows business owners to manage the presence of their business across Google services such as Search, Maps, and Google+. Now, with the new app, these tasks can be handled on the go.
Business owners can use the app to:
- Verify your business listing directly from your phone
- Update your business information: hours, address, contact information, and description
- Post beautiful pictures of your business on your local Google+ page
- Track web traffic going to your listing
- Manage multiple business locations from one app
Having the ability to manage Places for Business from an iPhone or iPod touch is a compelling experience because information can be updated at a quicker pace. Additionally, the camera inside of iOS devices allows for quick uploading of photos of businesses. The app is free on the App Store.
White says, “we believe fingerprint identification technology will be part of the iPhone 5S and this is likely to be the major new feature used to market the iPhone 5S, similar to what Siri was to the iPhone 4S.”
I know… It’s a rumor that we’ve heard many times before, but now another analyst that often has accurate information is saying that same fingerprint tech could be the source of delays for the next-gen iPhone.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has changed his previous predictions regarding product launches for iPhone, iPad, iPod citing a number of challenges with suppliers and the development of new features including the implementation of fingerprint technology in iPhone (via MacRumors):
Earlier we estimated that shipments of the new iPhone would begin in July (FDD version) and September (TDD version), while iPad mini 2 would hit the market in August. Currently, market consensus for shipments of iPhone 5S, low-cost iPhone and iPad mini 2 is July, July, and August, respectively. But in light of publicly available information and our knowledge of technological trends, we now think all three products will begin shipments later than our previous expectation and market consensus.
While Kuo, who previously laid out his roadmap for 2013, doesn’t provide new estimates for when the devices might ship, he does say that apple is facing challenges with finding the right color coatings that work with the fingerprint sensor rumored to be included in the next iPhone, and “technical challenges” related to the manufacturing of a Retina display for a second generation iPad mini. Needlessly to say we’ll be checking back in this summer to see how accurate these analysts reports have been.
Panic was kind enough to allow us a preview of its app, and needless to say, we liked what we found.
The Oregon-based software company is largely known for their OS X FTP client Transmit, but entered the iOS space in April 2011 with the launch of Prompt, their SSH client for iPhone and iPad, followed by their affectionately named web editor Diet Coda this past May. This marks the third year in a row that Panic has released an entirely new app on the iOS platform.
Let’s jump right on board:
Status Board features possibly the best set-up guide ever designed to be read on a display. The E-Z QuickGuide Manual, as it has been dubbed by Panic, resembles an instructional folded paper sheet, much like what one would find with an HDTV or similar appliance. The guide welcomes the user with a promise that the app “will improve your productivity and grant you Life Clarity,” which I don’t find to be too hyperbolic.
Status Board’s design is similar to what you would find on a display in an airport terminal, featuring a plethora of information that you would ordinarily check in separate applications. At the core of Status Board is a highly customizable dashboard featuring a 16 x 12 grid.
A collection of customizable modules can display things such as your email inbox, upcoming calendar events and birthdays, current weather and forecast, or Twitter timeline and mentions. In the upper left-hand corner you will find a settings gear that unlocks a behind-the-scenes view. This features a dock, much like we’re used to seeing in iOS and OS X, loaded with icons for Clock, Weather, Calendar, Email, Twitter, and even a News Feed for RSS.
When you drag an icon from the dock to your Status Board, it expands into a beautiful, customizable module. Customization includes fine details like changing the module size and the specific content that you would like to display.
Panic’s famous Status Board at their brand new office.
For example, if I activate the calendar module but want to avoid sharing upcoming birthdays, Status Board allows you to deselect that specific calendar as well as any other calendar.
Each module category can be featured multiple times on your Status Board, and each one can be tweaked for its own unique purpose. Much like the Dashboard from OS X, you can activate multiple weather modules displaying current temperature and a four day forecast for different locations.
The clock module can toggle between a sleek digital clock, or a familiar analog clock, which I find to be especially practical for time tracking with its second hand. Sure, you could use the built-in iOS Clocks app for this feature, but nowhere else can you find a collective view of all of this information, which absolutely changes the game.
Status Board can access your native Twitter accounts, which allows for a fantastic set of Twitter modules. You can set up modules to stream timelines, mentions, or even search terms. This information can be viewed in either the popular list view or a really cool linear, ticker view. Tapping a specific Tweet allows you to view it in Safari where you can respond accordingly.
While Status Board may not replace your current Twitter client, it very well may replace your RSS app. One of my favorite features of Status Board is the News Feed module, which acts as an RSS reader for any site you choose to follow. News Feed offers a scrollable list view of dozens of posts from your favorite sites. Tap any post in News Feed and it will open in Safari where you can read the full article.
When I asked Panic about current plans to release a stocks module, which is the one thing I found missing, the company revealed that it suspects a stocks module will be the most popular request, and it will listen closely to customer request for more modules. While never a great idea to recommend a product based on what it could have in the future, it is clear that Status Board is a brand-new platform for which Panic is excited to develop even more features.
It is important to note that the app does have a slight learning curve, much like other highly customizable apps (I’m looking at you Launch Center Pro), but Status Board is undoubtedly a fantastic tool to utilize once you customize it to fit your needs. After just a few days, I found it to be as essential for my workflow as my mouse, keyboard, and display.
One small quibble with Status Board is how it reacts to device rotation. While the app does support both landscape and portrait orientation, I would only recommend customizing your Status Board to one specific orientation. While square modules naturally adjust just fine, and other modules are more responsive in design, certain dimensions can be problematic and cause modules to overlap.
Personally, I prefer landscape orientation. Apple’s Smart Cover is a perfect accessory for Status Board with this in mind. While working at my desk with my Dell 27” display, I’ve had Status Board to reference from my iPad mini. The amount of information that Status Board packs on a single screen is well worth $9.99.
Status Board was designed with collaboration in mind. In fact, Status Board allows you to not only design customized dashboards, but its built-in share feature allows you to send a status board to anyone else with the app on their iPad.
Status Board looks gorgeous on a large display
If you find yourself needing to present your Status Board with a group of people, Panic has you covered.
A separate In-App Purchase* unlocks mirroring via AirPlay or Apple’s AV Adapter. The app features a toggle to intelligently reformat your Status Board to fit the 16:9 aspect ratio of an HDTV. The additional cost may be a turn off, this feature is perfect for presenting project information to a team and will be invaluable to many. Status Board also features three “pro” panels for graphs, charts, and do-it-yourself modules. These “pro” modules don’t cost anything extra, but do provide a level of data management that most consumers are unlikely to need.
Panic clearly designed Status Board for their own needs and discovered an opportunity to share their solution with users around the world.
If you have any interest in improving your workflow and enhanced productivity, I highly recommend grabbing a copy on the App Store right now for $9.99.
*The In-App Purchase required for TV Out is an additional $9.99 at launch, and Panic has indicated that the pricing model will change in the next app update. Panic will include basic AirPlay mirroring (letterboxed) for free and bring the In-App Purchase cost to $49.99. It is the writer’s opinion that developers should feel encouraged to adjust pricing models as they feel suitable to be compensated for their effort. This development does not alter the writer’s recommendation.
Looks like it’s that time of year again — the time when rumors of a “Facebook phone” pop up like tulips after a spring rainstorm. This time around, it was a cryptic announcement from the social network about a mobile event next week that set the rumor mill in motion: since the invitation mentioned Android, the speculation is that the company will finally announce a handset that has full Facebook functionality integrated into it. It’s easy to see how this would help the social network build engagement and possibly monetize mobile, but do users really want one?
The invitation to the press event on April 4 said “Come see our new home on Android,” and since Facebook likely wouldn’t have an entire press conference just to announce a new app for the Google operating system, expectations turned to something more: namely, the much-hyped Facebook phone. According to TechCrunch, the launch will see the social network introduce a device from HTC that runs a modified version of the Android operating system and has Facebook’s newsfeed, photo uploading, messaging and other features integrated into it.
Next to a full-fledged Apple TV, the “Facebook phone” is probably one of the longest-running rumors in the technology space. The first reports started filtering out over three years ago, when Om and others heard reports of an INQ unit that would run a modified version of Android and offer some kind of integrated Facebook functionality. The company released a device called the CloudTouch in 2011 but it went nowhere. HTC actually came out with a couple of phones that offered something similar, but neither did well, and the rumor mill continued to foretell the coming of the *real* Facebook phone.
Owning the platform would provide more control
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg categorically denied that the company was working on a phone last fall, but some saw wiggle room in his comments, since he seemed to be talking about Facebook actually building the hardware itself. Blogger-turned-VC MG Siegler wrote about the imminent launch of true Facebook phone in January, and said that it was coming soon. But January came and went with no phone. Siegler says he now believes that the phone is coming next week, and that it will be everything he said it would be: a dedicated device running a version of Android with Facebook built in.
As much as some critics of the idea — including our own mobile expert Kevin Fitchard, who debated the idea with Kevin Tofel — question whether there is any point to Facebook releasing its own phone, it’s worth noting that the same kind of scepticism greeted the many reports about an Apple phone in the months and years leading up to the launch of the first iPhone. Too risky, many industry analysts said — no point in trying to enter a crowded market with commodity pricing, nothing to offer that would make it better than the existing players, etc.
Perhaps Mark Zuckerberg won’t be happy until he releases a phone and tries to break Apple’s grip on the smartphone industry. But it’s more likely the Facebook founder’s interest in a phone stems from a desire to capture users — and their all-important data — in as many different ways as possible. Zuckerberg has already stated that his interests are almost entirely focused on mobile, since that is where a growing amount of user activity is coming from. Owning the platform in some sense would just make it easier to offer a user a one-stop experience.
At the moment, Facebook has a somewhat fragmented approach to the phone: there is the main Facebook app, but there’s also the Instagram app — which the social network acquired for close to $1 billion because it saw the photo-sharing community as a clear and present danger — and the standalone Facebook messenger app, and its Poke app. The company seems to be trying to find as many entry points for users as possible to engage with the network, and a phone with more integration could help.
But does anyone actually want one?
Owning a platform is the ultimate step in building a mobile walled garden: Apple is the obvious role model here, with its ownership of the app ecosystem and control over access to the device in every way, all of which has created hundreds of billions of dollars in market value. And both Google and Amazon are doing their best to own their own ecosystems, with Android and the Kindle platform — and even Microsoft has given it the old college try with the Windows phone. Facebook at this point is probably feeling left out by having to play ball with everyone else’s OS or device.
So Facebook’s interest in having such a device is fairly obvious. What’s less obvious is whether a large enough group of the social network’s users would be interested in having one. What would they gain? They can already have Facebook present on their home screen, and they can upload photos to it automatically in the background as they take them, and they can use Facebook’s messaging app instead of the texting feature in their phone — although increasing numbers of young users seem to be opting for SnapChat and other options.
In many ways, the release of a Facebook-branded phone — if that is in fact what the company has in mind for next week — seems more like a desperate move to recapture some of the relevance the social network used to have, especially with younger mobile users. Unfortunately for Facebook, that may be something that is beyond its abilities, no matter how impressive the device itself is.
Research In Motion, the perennial also-ran of the smartphone world, took a bold step towards reversing its declining fortunes on Wednesday, with the launch of its new BlackBerry 10 line of phones — and a surprising re-branding of the company that will see it become BlackBerry instead of RIM. Amid the deluge of live-blogs (including our own, from Kevin Tofel in New York) and embargoed reviews, the reaction to the launch included some expressions of grudging respect for its new products, but also a lot of “where was this two years ago” responses.
On the positive side, a number of those watching either live or on a livestream said that BlackBerry had caught up and possibly even surpassed other platforms like Apple’s iOS, Android and Windows 8, and that the company had a fighting chance of remaining relevant:
I am actually genuinely excited about BlackBerry 10. It looks like it has potential.
But there were just as many — or more — responses that criticized BlackBerry for being late to the party, and for only now coming up with the kinds of features and apps that iPhone and even Android have had for some time. CNN Money said that the Z10 was the kind of phone BlackBerry “should have made years ago” and that while there were some good ideas in it, “Everything still feels a generation behind.”
BB10 pitch so far: "You like Instagram? FaceTime? That Apple collage-maker thing? We have stuff like that now!"
In his review, Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal and All Things Digital said that the company had “reinvented itself” with its new devices, but also called it a “work in progress” and noted that the new phones lacked some of the features — and many of the apps — that users of other platforms were used to:
“Overall, it worked fine in my tests, but I found it a work in progress. I liked some things a lot, including the way RIM has designed its new virtual keyboard and camera, and the way it gathers all your messages into a single Hub. But it will launch with just a fraction of the apps available from its competitors, and is missing some very popular titles…. and there are other missing or lagging features.”
One of the early awkward notes in the presentation — at least for some attendees and observers — was a public thank-you from CEO Thorsten Heins to former co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis:
The renaming of the company sparked some positive comments, but also drew a lot of snarky responses about how no one really knew what Research In Motion stood for anyway — and also a comment about how much pressure the name change puts on the company to succeed with the BlackBerry revamp:
Research in Motion has renamed itself Blackberry. Everyone outside Waterloo: "You mean Blackberry isn't their name?"
Then it was on to the details of the two handsets, the Z10 and the Q10 — the former a touchscreen model and the latter featuring a QWERTY keyboard, which has been BlackBerry’s key differentiator from other smartphones for some time. After some talk about the hardware design, the company went into details about what apps would be available, and there was some optimism but also much skepticism:
@kady @thehartley Yes, whatever will we do without 457 flashlight apps?
In a mammoth review of the touch-screen Z10, Joshua Topolsky of The Verge said that there were many things to like about it, but lots of things not to like as well — and the bottom line seemed to be a definite “meh”:
“The Z10 is a good smartphone. Frankly, it’s a better smartphone than I expected from RIM at this stage in the game. It does everything a modern phone should do, usually without hesitation. It doesn’t do everything perfectly, but it does many things — most things — reasonably well. The problem with the Z10 is that it doesn’t necessarily do anything better than any of its competition.”
Towards the end of the presentation, the BlackBerry CEO announced that singer Alicia Keys would be the company’s new “global creative director,” and like most of the other announcements by the company at the launch, this also drew a lot of snark:
Everything about this #BB10 keynote impressed me, up until the point where they jumped on the Celebrity Executive Announcement trend. Sigh.
So does the BlackBerry 10 launch mark the rebirth of a revitalized company, ready to take on Apple, Android and Windows for smartphone supremacy? It’s probably safe to say that view would be in the minority — and the most common response was a virtual shrug:
It’s still early days, of course, but that’s not a great harbinger of success for the company, which has so much riding on a recovery — and perhaps even more important, the stock market seemed to be shrugging its shoulders (or even frowning) at the announcement as well:
In his review of the Z10, New York Times technology writer David Pogue apologized for saying RIM was dead before, but still wound up sitting on the fence about whether the device would be enough to save the company:
“These days, excellence in a smartphone isn’t enough. Microsoft’s phone is terrific, too, and hardly anyone will touch it. So then: Is the delightful BlackBerry Z10 enough to save its company? Honestly? It could go either way. But this much is clear: BlackBerry is no longer an incompetent mess — and its doom is no longer assured.”
Some customers have already been able to get their hands on iPad minis in-store through resellers ahead of tomorrow’s official 8 AM launch. With only hours to go, New Zealand is one of the first countries to officially start selling the device.
Below are photos courtesy of AMA Creative of the iPad mini launch at New Zealand Apple reseller YOOBEE. The store opened at 8 AM local time on Friday, officially kicking off the iPad mini’s launch. It’s unclear how supplies of the new iPads will be in comparison to the recent iPhone 5 launch, but with preorder delays, we expect Apple and third-party resellers to sell of out of minis quickly.
During its iPad mini unveiling last week, Apple showed off an awesome video from the iPhone 5 launch day on September 22. The clip featured an uplifting soundtrack by The Rival, and lots of happy customers who had just picked up Apple’s latest smartphone.
If you didn’t see it during the keynote, you can now watch it online; Apple’s posted the video to the iPhone 5 page of its website, but you can see it below.
Apple has been criticized for producing videos like this and blowing its own trumpet, but I think it’s pretty nice. It’s great to see the impact Apple’s devices have on its fans.
The iPhone 5 is now available in 30 countries around the world, and it’s set to reach more than 100 by December. The device became Apple’s fastest-selling iPhone when it sold more than 5 million units during the first three days of availability.
The iPad mini’s little price tag could have an impact on 9.7-inch iPad sales.
The iPad mini will be announced next October 23rd, but when’s it actually going on sale? Common sense and looking at what Apple has done in the past would dictate November 2nd, which is what previous internet rumor suggested. Now we’re hearing confirmation of that date from loftier sources.
Apple’s iPad mini is almost certainly set to be announced next week at an event in San Jose Tuesday, and we’re now hearing that it will ship a week and a half after that unveiling. November 2 is the ship date we’ve heard today from a source close to Apple’s supply chain, echoing an earlier report by Geeky Gadgets that that’s the day the iPad mini will go on sale.
So November 2nd is looking very likely. When will preorders start, though? My guess is Apple will start preorders shortly after the iPad mini unveil (like with the third-gen iPad), and not hold off until Friday morning at midnight (as they did with the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5). Why? Because the iPad mini isn’t going to have nearly the same demand, at least as first, as the new iPhone, so Apple won’t have to launch preorders late at night to prevent their server from exploding.
Australian Apple fans waiting in line for the iPhone 5.
If you’re planning on waiting in line for an iPhone 5 tomorrow, be warned: judging by the numbers of people already waiting outside some of the big Apple Stores, the iPhone 5 launch is looking like it’s going to be an absolute zoo. There have never been this many people in line this far ahead of an official Apple product launch, ever. And Apple themselves anticipate long lines outside of their stores “all day long, into the evening.”
With 16 hours to launch in New York City, we’re hearing that the 5th Avenue Apple Store already has thirty five people waiting in line, with more joining every hour. And according to reports, the Palo Alto, California Apple Store already has 40 people in line, despite the fact that the iPhone 5 won’t go on sale for another twenty hours.
In Australia, it’s even more bonkers. Here’s a picture the iFixIt guys put up of an Apple Store line in Australia. The iPhone 5 launches there in under two hours, but the line goes around the block and seemingly has over a hundred people in it.
For the third-gen iPad launch in March, long lines cleared up in less than an hour in most locations, but Apple isn’t optimistic that the same will be true this year. A report out of Hawaiit about the lines at the Royal Hawaiian Apple Store suggests that Apple expects “lines all day long, into the evening” for the iPhone 5 launch.
We know we just wrote something saying that showing up four hours early would probably be sufficient to get yourself an iPhone 5, and we still think that’s probably true, but we have no idea how much stock Apple has. It’s an estimate based upon waiting in line for iPhones in years past, and this year seems to be a whole new ballgame. We’ve never seen this many people lined up this early before.
If you intend on waiting in line for an iPhone 5 tomorrow, be warned: it’s going to be an absolute madhouse. Make sure to check out our guide for advice on how to keep your sanity.
Brian White, Topeka Capital’s Apple analyst that previously 
