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Amazing Apple Campus 2 aerial tour courtesy of AppleInsider
The new Apple Campus 2 - AKA "The Spaceship" - is rapidly progressing through construction, and AppleInsider has been sending a DJI Phantom 2 Vision Plus drone through the skies of Cupertino on a regular basis to provide a birds-eye view of the campus taking shape. The December tour shows that despite the short days of fall and early winter, a lot of work is being done. The spaceship ring is now almost completely covered with a concrete subfloor structure, and over a dozen cranes are busy moving materials into the ring for assembly. Construction on the US$161 million underground theater is also moving along, with a well-defined excavation near a hill constructed of fill materials that will soon be covered with trees. Finally, the drone imagery show that the first of two huge concrete parking structures is now three floors in height. AppleInsider also provides a bit of context near the end, showing the location of the existing Infinite Loop headquarters nearby. Many thanks to Daniel Eran Dilger and the rest of the AppleInsider staff for making this amazing footage available to the public.
Apple seeks a way to make the iPhone a success in Russia
Russian Prime minister Dmitry Medvedev takes a picture of the Eiffel Tower with his smartphone during a meeting, on November 27, 2012, at French employers association MEDEF's headquarters in Paris. (Photo credi:ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images) As Apple enthusiasts worldwide gear up for an imminent release of the new iPhone, Apple wants to make sure that Russian citizens don't miss out. Apple has sent some of its top executives "to meet with key distributors to revisit how it sells devices" in Russia. TechCrunch reports that Russia has experienced a short supply of iPhones, challenges working with carriers and had a grey market in the past. Hopefully these talks will result in better availability and easier access to iPhones for Russian consumers. TechCrunch reports that Svyaznoy, a key distributor in Russia, sells half the iPhones sold in Russia in its 3,300 stores. Other distributors of mobile phones may never get iPhones to sell or face high subsidy costs. A July article on AppleInsider reported that three Russian carriers dropped the iPhone due to marketing costs and subsidies. As Ingrid Lunden of TechCrunch notes, if Apple launches a lower-cost iPhone, it "has a shot of killing two birds with one stone in emerging markets ... Apple can use it as an opportunity to finally give consumers there the supply that it has been demanding ... finally bring more users into the fold."
US Pentagon grants security clearance to iPad, iPhone
Earlier this month TUAW reported that iOS 6 had obtained FIPS 140-2 certification, "opening the door to more government use." It didn't take long for that door to swing wide open, as the Pentagon has now officially approved iPhones and iPads running a version of iOS 6 for use on secure government networks. Two weeks ago, Samsung devices running the Knox security layer and BlackBerry devices including the BlackBerry 10 smartphones and PlayBook tablets were given the nod by the US military. Adding Apple's iOS devices to the mix was part of the platform-agnostic plans of the Pentagon revealed in February. Those plans detailed adding wireless voice, video and data capabilities for classified and unclassified communications by October 2013. The approved devices will begin to be used more widely in the military and intelligence communities late in 2013 or in early 2014. iPhones and iPads already have a home in some parts of the government that don't require such strict security, but the new Pentagon certification should make for more widespread adoption of iOS. [via AppleInsider]
Apple publishes development job postings in Florida
Apple is beginning to recruit engineers in the Orlando, Fla., area for the designing, building and testing of custom chips, according to a post today on AppleInsider. The job postings included seven positions focused on development and testing of processor hardware, as well as others for driver development on graphics processors. AppleInsider notes that several other positions are open, including one for a reference model engineer specializing in modeling GPU hardware. Another job posting describes running iOS on "pre-silicon platforms." These listings do not seem to be associated with recent job postings for Apple's "Melbourne Design Center," which appears to refer to the headquarters of AuthenTec, a recently acquired fingerprint-scanning technology company located about an hour's drive southeast of Orlando. Instead, the positions appear to be in line with Apple's designs for custom processors, which began in 2010 with the A4 and continues in iOS products with the powerful A6X used in the current iPad with Retina display.
Construction begins on Reno iCloud facility
Apple's iCloud service is expanding rapidly, and the company is investing billions of dollars in infrastructure to support it. Recent stories have pointed to the massive photovoltaic array powering the Maiden, NC, data center, and last October Apple broke ground for a data center near Prineville, Ore. Now AppleInsider is reporting that Apple has completed construction of a small "tactical" structure at a data center site near Reno, Nev. The headline of the AppleInsider post is somewhat misleading (not to mention grammatically questionable), crowing that "Apple's initial iCloud facility in Reno already ready to go online." The tactical structure houses cooling, security and support equipment, and doesn't house any massive banks of servers or other infrastructure needed to house iCloud data. Similar structures are onsite at the Maiden data center and one has also been built on the Prineville site. Support buildings such as the one completed at the Reno data center are usually pre-fabricated and quick to build, housing compressors for chiller equipment used to dissipate the heat generated by banks of servers and storage devices in the primary data centers. There's still a lot of work to be done at the Reno site before it is fully operational.
AT&T hints at best-ever iPhone sales in holiday 2012 quarter
Today AT&T announced that it sold 10 million smartphones during the fourth quarter of 2012, beating the 2011 record of 9.4 million units. Based on knowledge of what percentage of those sales numbers have been iPhones in previous quarters, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster is forecasting that AT&T sold 8.1 million iPhones during the last quarter. That's in line with AT&T's comments that it sold a record number of iPhones in the quarter. During the 2011 holiday quarter, the carrier sold 7.6 million iPhones. With that quantity of iPhones being sold by AT&T alone, Munster believes that Apple will announce sales of 45 million devices in the quarter during its earnings call on January 23. Munster is also forecasting that 50 million new iTunes accounts were added during the month of December 2012 alone. He's basing this on Apple's recent update on the App Store, in which the company disclosed that there are currently "over 500 million active iTunes accounts." That's up from the 435 million announced at the iPhone 5 launch last fall. [via AppleInsider]
New OS X 10.9 appears in server logs
You should take this with the requisite grain of salt, because it's not all that groundbreaking. AppleInsider notes that several references to Apple computers running OS X 10.9 have appeared on its server logs, suggesting that someone visited the site while using an unreleased version of Apple's operating system. True, this type of data can be faked, and it's not much of a surprise to hear that Apple's working on a new version of OS X anyway. Of course Apple will update OS X at some point. But at the same time, server log references like this are often our first indication that something new is on the way, so you can at least store in the back of your mind that a reference to OS X 10.9 may have been spotted in the wild. Feel free to use that thought to fuel excitement through the long winter months. What should we do while waiting for more official information? Why, figure out what Apple should name the new version, of course.
A purported close-up image of Apple's upcoming "spaceship" campus
Apple is reportedly scheduled to start construction of the new "spaceship" campus in Cupertino, Calif., later this year, and now AppleInsider has received a leaked architectural rendering purportedly detailing the curved glass and facade of the new structure. The structure was the focus of a visit by Apple CEO Steve Jobs to the Cupertino City Council on June 8, 2011, when he described the proposed building as "a little like a spaceship landed." The image received by AppleInsider lists London-based architectural firm Foster + Partners, landscape design firm OLIN, consulting engineering and design firm Arup, and construction company Davis Langdon in a sidebar. When the campus is completed in 2015, it will house more than 12,000 employees in more than 2.8 million square feet on four levels. Additional structures are planned for the site, with a café and restaurant, fitness center, covered parking and a corporate auditorium with room for 1,000 people. Other design drawings were published in August by architectural news site ArchDaily, showing floor and landscape plans in detail.
Watch out, Apple -- that Samsung in your mirror may be closer than you think
The iPhone 4S is currently the king of the hill when it comes to smartphone sales in the U.S., but Samsung is coming on strong as the second place manufacturer for U.S. mobile carriers according to Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley. AppleInsider posted the analyst's report that showed that the Samsung Galaxy S II has been the second most popular smartphone at AT&T and Sprint for the past four months, trailing the extremely popular iPhone 4S. The Galaxy S II is also the most popular smartphone at T-Mobile, which does not carry the iPhone. At Verizon, the iPhone 4S tops sales, with the Motorola RAZR/RAZR Maxx coming in as the second-best seller. AppleInsider quoted Walkley as saying that Apple and Samsung "continued to consolidate with sales rebounding after a slow start to 2012." Apple shouldn't have too much to worry about: Walkley stated that "In fact, we believe iPhones are outselling all other smartphones combined at Sprint and AT&T and selling at roughly equal volume to all Android smartphones at Verizon." All of Walkley's information is based on sales estimates, and we should get a much better view of actual numbers -- especially for Apple -- later this month.
Next-gen iPads squeezing air freight shipments from China
Rumors have been going around for the past two weeks noting that the next generation iPads are on their way to the U.S. from Chinese plants under strict security. Now Mac Rumors is reporting that shipping representatives for other firms are finding that they can't ship their products, as air freight companies are apparently overwhelmed with boxes of iPads. Shipping rates have increased by 20 percent in one week, with Apple apparently gobbling up as much air freight capacity as possible at premium rates. One supposed iPad 3 part number has allegedly made it to the U.S., while another Apple SKU -- MC744LL/A -- for an unknown product (new Apple TV?) is also making the rounds. Another Apple blog, AppleInsider, concurred with the information from Mac Rumors, noting that air cargo rates with DHL have also jumped due to capacity constraints that are presumably being caused by Apple. With shipments in high gear already, there's mounting evidence that the new iPad may be available very soon after the announcement on Wednesday. Apple fans had to wait two weeks after the announcement of the iPad 2 to receive the first devices; perhaps the wait won't be as long this time.
Wait times for build-to-order iMacs improves
AppleInsider, who first reported last week that the wait time for build-to-order iMacs with 2 TB hard drives had leaped to 5 to 7 weeks, came back today with another report saying those times have dropped to 2 to 4 weeks. If you're looking to gift someone with a 2 TB iMac, you probably want to place the order today to hit the low end of the 2-week estimate. The recent delay has been placed on flooding in Thailand, which affected both hard drive manufacturers and the companies that supply the parts. The shortage is expected to last until the summer of 2012.
iMac CTO shipping times slip due to shortage of 2 TB hard drives
Hoping for a configure-to-order iMac with a 2 TB hard drive underneath the Christmas tree this year? AppleInsider is reporting that shipping times for iMacs with the 2 TB hard drives have jumped from 1 to 3 days up to a whopping 5 to 7 weeks. While ordering an iMac with a 1 TB drive or an SSD ensures that the computer arrives within a week, clicking the 2 TB option causes the delivery date to push out to well into the new year. Oddly enough, Mac Pro ship times are the same for models containing 1 or 2 TB drives. Of course, the demand for the much more expensive Mac Pro is considerably less than that of the popular iMac. The culprit appears to be the ongoing situation with flooding in Thailand. According to a blog entry on the website of peripheral seller OWC, the floods have not only affected manufacturers like Western Digital, but also the companies that create the components used in the assembly of hard drives. OWC states that despite the statements of industry analysts, many of whom believe the shortage will be alleviated by the summer of 2012, there are signs that hard drives shortages could persist throughout next year. In the meantime, you'd better snap up that 1 TB version of the iMac before the wait times on shipping start to slide.
Apple may freeze new Mac releases until Lion ships
Apple is rumored to be halting any new Mac releases until Lion ships in July, according to a report heard by AppleInsider. Sources for that site say that Apple management is so excited about the improvements and user experience Lion offers, they don't want to ship any new Macs until Lion is finalized, so that "buyers are afforded the latest and greatest Apple experience." Apple apparently has new MacBook Airs ready to ship, but is waiting until it can load a gold-master version of Lion on them to do so. Also, while there are no hard rumors surrounding the next Mac mini and LED Cinema Display, apparently those rollouts are also waiting for the final release of Lion, which is supposed to come out sometime next month. And the Mac isn't the only platform waiting for new software -- apparently new iOS devices are also waiting to ship until iOS 5 is finalized. Apple wants to make sure all iCloud services are up and running so that new iPhone owners can take advantage of the full services iOS 5 and iCloud will offer.
Apple's MacBook Air duo to receive Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt upgrade in June or July?
We've already seen Intel's Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt reinvigorating the MacBook Pro line, so it's only logical for the MacBook Airs to eventually follow suit -- presumably they'll pick up Sandy Bridge's 17W mobile processors to match the current 10W and 17W Core 2 Duos. So when can we expect this to happen? Well, according to DigiTimes' sources within the supply chain, Apple may receive shipment of the refreshed Airs in late May ahead of a June or July launch -- this echoes earlier reports from Apple Insider and CNET that cited the same time frame. Additionally, DigiTimes says Quanta will continue to assemble Apple's ultra-portable laptops, with Simplo Technology and Dynapack supplying the battery packs. As always, we shall remain open-minded about such rumors, but you'll know the real deal as soon as we do within the next couple of months or so.
Apple patent application reveals plans for external battery pack, spells further trouble for HyperMac
Way back in September of last year, Apple filed a patent-infringement suit against HyperMac, the folks behind these external batteries. At the time, it looked like Apple was protecting its patented MagSafe power connector, but a newly released USPTO application for a "Power Adapter with Internal Battery" might reveal a more accurate view of the company's litigious motivations. From the look of things, the outfit intends to make its mark on juicing solutions with what is basically a wall charger packing an internal battery. According to the patent filing, the contraption would include a processor for parceling energy to the host device as well as the adapter, and could also incorporate a supplemental energy source like a solar cell. Among other things, it would also communicate with the device being charged to allow users to monitor the juice stored in the extra battery. If the thing does end up making it to market, it looks like HyperMac could have a whole lot more trouble on its hands than a little patent-infringement suit.
Apple re-working iPad 2 inventory shipments strategy
Apple is apparently trying to slow down the iPad 2 madness. A new report from AppleInsider claims that the company has instituted a new policy with iPad 2 shipments, requiring stores to keep received iPad 2 units in store for up to a day before actually releasing them for sale. That actually makes plenty of sense -- just pushing them out for sale as they arrive could really mess up inventory, and this policy gives the store managers enough time to make sure shipments are received and logged-in before they start going out the door to customers. Of course, this means that customers may be lied to when they come in the store asking for iPad 2s. Employees may be telling those asking that shipments came in the same day, when they likely were received a day before (and, of course, you could be told the store doesn't have any product when it actually does in the back room). But this seems reasonable -- the report says it's "utter havoc" when iPads are going out as fast as they're coming in, and I believe it. It's worth noting that Apple hasn't made any official statements on this one, but it's unlikely that it would share information on an internal policy like this anyway. If you're still hunting an iPad 2 at your local Apple Store and are told they're "expecting a shipment tomorrow morning," you might want to show up nice and early the next day.
New Wi-Fi Diagnostics tool a part of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
When Mac OS X 10.7 Lion leaps onto our Macs later this year, Apple's support specialists will have a new tool to use to troubleshoot those pesky Wi-Fi problems. AppleInsider reports that a new Wi-Fi Diagnostics tool can be found in Lion's /System/Library/CoreServices folder, along with a number of other utilities and apps that are part of Mac OS X. To launch the tool in the developer beta of Lion, users Option-Click on the Wi-Fi icon in the Menu Bar, then select the Open Wi-Fi Diagnostics item from the menu. The tool provides four major functions: Monitor Performance, Record Events, Capture Raw Frames or Turn on Debug Logs. Monitor Performance captures detailed signal and noise data over time, and the captured info can be sent to Apple for troubleshooting. Other diagnostics options will log specific events, or can capture raw data to a temporary .pcap (packet capture) file, which can also be uploaded for the benefit of Apple support professionals. Another change discovered by AppleInsider is the addition of network configuration profiles that can be produced and delivered by network administrators. This is another iOS feature that is migrating to Mac OS X, since Apple had previously created config profiles so that admins could roll out settings and updates to iOS users. Lion Server uses the same infrastructure to deliver network config files for automating Mac management.
Rumor: Apple talking with CDMA carriers in India
Adding to the already bloated CDMA iPhone rumor mill, The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that Apple is in talks with Reliance Communications Ltd and Tata Teliservices Ltd to bring the much-talked-about CDMA equipped iPhone to India. Apparently, talks with Tata Teleservices Ltd have been going on for some 4 to 5 months now. Similarly, this same CDMA iPhone is the one that has been repeatedly rumored to appear on - surprise, surprise - Verizon's network early next year, also according to the Journal. So, Verizon folks, things are looking more and more in your favor, once again -- at least until they don't, once again. If Apple were to introduce a code division multiple access (CDMA) iPhone, it would open Apple's iPhone up to roughly 550 million new customers worldwide, according the latest official figures from the CDMA Development Group. This certainly would expand Apple's iPhone market! In India, one of the world's fastest growing wireless markets, Apple has the potential to get its iPhone into 134 million current CDMA handset users' hands, though Apple Insider suggests that nearly half the country may struggle to afford the phone, with individuals earning an estimated US$1.25 or less a day. If the rumors are to be believed, a CDMA iPhone release early next year is looking more and more likely. As always, nothing is certain until we see it in the cold, hard, light of day. [Via AppleInsider]
Apple patent application reveals tiny audio jacks
Apple's developers have been shrinking the iPod with nearly every update, yet they aren't done. This week, AppleInsider has discovered a patent application that reveals even smaller audio jacks that could be used in future, tinier iPods. To understand how, we must discuss pogo pins and cantilever beams. Contemporary audio jacks use cantilever beams, which extend into the cavity of the jack itself, and are pushed out of the way when a plug is inserted. The beams then make contact with the plug and allow data, audio, and power to be transferred. They also take up a decent amount of space; too much in Apple's opinion. The patent mentions pogo pins, which are embedded into the cavity and extend to make contact with an inserted plug. Furthermore, the patent claims that pogo pins would "greatly reduce" the size of the audio jack "in two dimensions." Consider that the current iPod shuffle is essentially the width of its jack, and you see how it's become a limiting factor. Do we want these things to get smaller? The shuffle already feels like a postage stamp.
Analyst: iPad to sell 28m in 2011, impacting PC market
Both All Things D and AppleInsider report that, according to the analyst Maynard Um at UBS Investment research, the iPad is having a negative impact on the PC market. In a note to his clients, the analyst Um says, "Sales of traditional notebooks appear to be feeling pressure from the iPad, causing a scramble by vendors to launch iPad-like tablets. We believe that a majority of this impact is occurring on the lower end of PC sales as the iPad is priced close enough to this range that it becomes attractive to consumers looking to make purchases within this segment." Um goes on to say, "We are not sold that the iPad is purely cannibalizing PC sales, as the functionality of the iPad cannot yet deliver the functionality of notebook PCs. However, consumers who purchase iPads may be more willing to delay purchases and upgrades of existing PCs." As a result of this, Um points to a "conservative" projection that Apple will sell 28 million iPads in 2011, and raises his target price for AAPL stock from $340 to $350. Um also pointed out that there is no evidence to say that the iPad is cannibalizing Mac sales. However, in contrast, V3.co.uk reports that 28 million is "a bit high," according to analyst Tin Couling at analyst firm Canalyst. Canalyst predicts that Apple will have sold 12.5 million iPads by the end of this year, but shipments of the iPad will only reach 20 million in 2011 as new tablets flood the market, competing with Apple's iPad. V3.co.uk notes that Samsung's Galaxy Tab is going to be one of the first major competitors to the iPad, but analyst firm Canalyst showed concern over its £650 price tag, sighting that it could make the entry level iPad, at £429, look reasonable (we're inclined to agree with that). And still, only a few short days ago , analyst Katy Huberty from Morgan Stanley predicted that Apple is aiming to build as many as 3 million iPads a month by the end of the year. Meaning that Apple could make up to 36 million iPads next year, well above what both other analyst predict Apple will sell. Apple announced in June that iPad sales had reached three million in its first 80 days. We'll have to wait and see where it goes from there, but analysts seem to agree that Apple's iPad will likely dominate the tablet market well into 2011.
