March 16, 2011
News Corp. chief digital officer Jon Miller told the audience at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit that The Daily faces a “moment of truth next week” when free digital subscriptions to the digital paper run out. The Daily has been available as a free trial since it launched in February, but that free trial will expire – only those who have actually paid for subscriptions will be able to view The Daily’s content.
“Although the Daily has been free so far, it is understood that a few thousand people have already signed up to the year-long subscription. News Corp has not released any numbers, but it is estimated that the figure is in the region of 5,000.”
News Corp. made a splash when it introduced The Daily as a daily digital newspaper premiering on the iPad. “New times demand new journalism,” News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch said, “…and a new service edited and designed specifically for new devices.”
The Daily set for Europe availability; editions next? [paidContent.org]
I have to congratulate you on the restraint you’ve shown over the past month. You haven’t announced a new version of the PlayBook that isn’t shipping yet, which is a huge step forward for you. (more…)
Motorola Mobility on Wednesday announced the forthcoming release of a Wi-Fi-only version of its Xoom tablet. The tablet is expected to be released in the United States on March 27 and will cost $599. (more…)
Big Sandwich Games is readying Mac and PC releases of its hit strategy game Hoard. The game will be released through Valve’s Steam game service on April 4, 2011 and will cost $9.99 (though users can pre-order and save beginning March 21). (more…)
FileMaker on Wednesday announced the release of Bento 4 for Mac, a major new release of its personal database software. For the first time, it’s available from the Mac App Store. It costs $49, and users of previous versions are entitled to a $20 rebate. A $99 “family pack” of five licenses is also available. (more…)
Adobe has released Photoshop Express 2.0, a new version of its universal image editing and sharing software for iOS. It’s a free download from the App Store. (more…)
March 15, 2011
RIM was taken completely taken off guard when Apple’s iPhone became an overnight success, according to a former RIM employee. (more…)
Apple will delay the launch of the iPad 2 in Japan following the enormous earthquake, tsunami and ensuing devastation of last week, Reuters has learned. (more…)
T-Mobile and Samsung on Tuesday unveiled the new T-Mobile Sidekick 4G by Samsung, a rebirth of T-Mobile’s popular phone and messaging device. The phone was previously announced by T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm at a press breakfast in January. Pricing was not announced; T-Mobile said the device will be available this spring. A Web page for the new device enables users to sign up for more information. (more…)
Apple is working with Teach for America to encourage customers buying iPad 2s to donate their original iPads for a teacher’s use in low-income community, reports MacNN. You can donate your old iPad at Apple retail stores, and they’ll coordinate the rest. (more…)
March 14, 2011
iPad 2 shortages mean one thing — some people are going to make a lot of money selling their iPads to you. If you consider yourself an entrepreneur, you may have purchased several iPads for the sole purpose of selling them on eBay. Judging from what Joe Wilcox found today, iPad 2 profiteers are doing very well.
Apple’s second-generation tablet is pretty much sold out everywhere. If you want one, good luck trying. Shortages are sure to intensify demand, and crazy buying behavior. It’s a psychology-of-buying thing, like customers running on the bank to get out their cash. People afraid they won’t get iPad 2. The next couple of weeks are going to be ugly, as desperate masses fight to get Apple’s tablet, further feeding hype and desperation, further pumping up demand (and prices).
Profiteers feed off iPad 2 shortages [Betanews]
The major competitor to the iPod — or at least what they hoped would be a major competitor — Microsoft’s Zune, is dead. (more…)
Jon Bon Jovi is laying his cards on the table and the blame for the demise of the music industry at Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ feet. (more…)
99 cent games rule the roost on the App Store top games list, and it hurts the visibility of high-end games like Infinity Blade. That’s the message from Donald Mustard, Chair Entertainment’s CEO – they make Infinity Blade, the hit swordfighting game.
“We want to play more games of the scope and production value of Infinity Blade, and it would be great if the App Store could support that more widely.”
Chair: App Store should support more high-end games [Gameindustry.biz]
I saw this video this morning and thought it was really interesting. I don’t know if it’s real, but it certainly looks good to me. (more…)
Apple on Monday said demand for the iPad 2 during its first weekend on sale was “amazing.” (more…)
March 13, 2011
It seems the iPad 2 sold out in its first weekend. That’s the word from Piper Jaffray on Sunday. (more…)
March 11, 2011
Just in time for the iPad 2’s release, Firemint has announced the release of Real Racing 2 HD, a new version of its flagship iOS racing game optimized specifically for iPad and iPad 2. It costs $9.99. (more…)
Mozilla VP of products Jay Sullivan calls HTML5 “the longer-term answer” to problems caused by Adobe Flash.
“With Firefox 4, Internet Explorer 9, and Chrome, to the extent that we provide functionality in enough browsers, then the developers will switch over to HTML5, especially in mobile, where you can’t have Flash popping up on every page just to do some little animation. The idea that you’d have to embed an entire instance of the Flash player just to play a 30 second audio clip? It’s crazy.”
What’s more, Flash causes more crashes in Firefox than any other plug-in, according to the company.
Firefox VP: Flash is going away [Fast Company]
Many of us watched in horror last night as a tsunami hit Japan, after the country was suffered a devastating earthquake. By early morning, Google launched a tool to help people find missing friends and relatives. (more…)
March 10, 2011
One of the things I was really looking forward to when GarageBand for iPad was released was sharing my songs with the Mac version of the app. (more…)
Marco Arment on Thursday released a major update for his popular Instapaper service. (more…)
We are about 24 hours away from the release of the iPad 2 and a view reviews are already starting to show up. You might think that the reviews would be short and to the point, but Macworld’s Jason Snell and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber both did very in-depth reviews of the device. Both worth a read, especially if you’re wondering if you should buy one.
It is a refinement of the original iPad — an impressive one, in several ways, considering that it arrives just 11 months after the original. But it is in no way a radical or significant departure from last year’s model. The fact is, Apple got it right with the iPad 1 in almost every way, and the iPad 2 reflects that. If you didn’t like the original iPad, you’re not going to like the iPad 2. If you liked the original iPad, you’re going to like the iPad 2 even better.
The iPad 2 [Daring Fireball]
For Apple’s competitors in the tablet-device market, the iPad 2 is a bucket of water to the face. After more than a year of struggling to catch up to the original iPad, here’s a new model that addresses many of the iPad’s deficiencies, dramatically improves its speed, and doesn’t cede any ground on price, features, or battery life. The iPad 2 raises the bar Apple set a year ago—and it’s time for the rest of the industry to scramble again to catch up.
Review: The iPad 2 [Macworld]
MLB.com CEO Bob Bowman spoke to Business Insider about the difference between selling software on the App Store and the Android Market. Bowman’s message to Google: be more like Apple.
“I think some sort of curation process would make a lot more content publishers put content that’s valuable on the device,” he says.
Bowman also believes Android phone owners are less likely to pay for apps than iPhone users. He estimated that app sales are 5-to-1 in favor of Apple over Google, despite more Android phones now in owners’ hands than iPhones.
Google Should Run The Android App Store More Like Apple’s, Says MLB.com CEO [Business Insider]
Originally scheduled to be released on Friday, Apple on Thursday released two new apps for iPad, GarageBand and iMovie. (more…)
International Data Corp. (IDC) reports that 10.1 million “media tablets” shipped in the fourth calendar quarter of 2011. Apple’s share of that pie dropped from 93 percent in the previous quarter to 73 percent, according to the report, but IDC says that Apple still has a “strong leadership position” in the media tablet market that it will retain throughout 2011. (more…)
Apple CEO Steve Jobs made Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people, released on Thursday. (more…)
Apple’s iPad 2 will not be available in stores until 5:00 pm PT on Friday, but the company said on Thursday that it will start selling it online much earlier. (more…)
I’ve spent the past month with a loaner Verizon iPhone 4, and it’s been great: call quality is a bit clearer, fewer calls have been dropped, and the Personal Hotpsot feature has been a life saver. But I’m not planning on switching from AT&T any time soon. (more…)
