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Debunked: Amazon book listings suggest Mac OS X Lion ship date
TUAW readers know from past articles that Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion" is expected to ship sometime this summer -- Apple told us that during the Back to the Mac event on October 20, 2010. Now MacNN has noted that listings for Lion books in the UK Amazon bookstore may indicate a possible ship date for the next generation of Mac OS X. The post notes that several books are showing a July 28 ship date, with others targeted for August 5 and August 28. As much as I'd like to believe that we're going to see a mid-summer release of Lion, I can tell you from personal experience that these dates are pure conjecture. Fellow TUAW blogger Michael Grothaus and I recently signed a contract to write a Lion book that is scheduled for August 2011. Does that mean that we know the ship date of Lion? Hell no, and neither do any of the other authors who I've talked to about their Lion titles. Most publishers want to build buzz about upcoming books and also get placeholders into online bookstores as soon as they can. To do this, publishers work with the authors to come up with a best-guess date, knowing that the operating system and book may not come out until later. As it is, the most any of us know at this point is that Mac OS X 10.7 Lion will ship between June 22 and September 23, 2011 -- that's summer in the Northern Hemisphere. Considering that we don't even know when the first betas of Lion are going to be sent out to developers, it's entirely premature to come up with a ship date for the OS or books about Lion. With any luck at all, we'll see the first beta of Lion at WWDC 2011, which many Apple pundits believe is scheduled for June 5 - 9. After that, the OS will go through numerous revisions as developers find bugs, and during that period is when most of the Lion authors are going to be scrambling to get their books written. As for July 28, August 5, or August 28 release dates? I seriously doubt it.
Apple hiring Mac App Store reviewers
Always wanted to work for Apple but not sure about in what capacity? If apps are your thing, this could be your lucky day as MacNN is reporting that Apple Worldwide Developer Relations is now hiring Mac App Store reviewers, or "Mac Application Reviewers" as corporate likes to call them. These positions are based near Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, and while the only main requirement for potential candidates must be a familiarity with OS X, some favor is given to those who are also proficient in written French, German, or Japanese. While Mac App Store submissions began on November 3 and with the Mac App Store slated to open around January 20, 2011, Apple is looking to hire several "meticulous, analytical, hardworking, and detail-oriented" people with strong customer service skills for these Mac Application Reviewer positions. That's you, right? So what are you waiting for? [via MacNN]
More growth seen for iPhone in business
Support continues to grow for the iPhone in the enterprise. TBI Research (subscription required) says Apple's answer to telephony is gaining ground in business, thanks largely to employees and execs grabbing an iPhone for personal use and deciding they just have to have it for work as well. TBI sees the iPhone having trouble in two of the biggest industries in the US. Government and finance are likely to keep favoring Research in Motion's BlackBerry, though Apple could take enough of the rest of the sectors to make up for what it misses. "The two industries we see as the least likely of switching from Blackberries are Finance and Government," says a TBI research note. "These are huge industries, but they make up only 20% of the total US workforce. That still leaves 80% of the total 150 million US workforce." Meanwhile TBI sees iPhone adoption ramping-up aggressively in industries such as media, entertainment, hospitality, transportation, and consumer packaged goods. TBI's report dovetails nicely with a report at the beginning of the month from Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore. Early in November, Whitmore said he expected to see 2 million iPhones in the enterprise market by the end of this year, giving Apple roughly 7% of the business end of smartphones in the US. [via MacNN]
Apple seeds new Snow Leopard 10.6.2 beta to developers
The betas of the next Snow Leopard update continue at a fast and furious pace. Apple has reportedly begun seeding a new build of Mac OS X 10.6.2 to developers, just one week after the previous beta. The new potential release focuses on graphics issues, specifically relating to drivers, QuartzCore, and ColorSync, as well as hitting issues with the Dock. Apple has identified no outstanding issues with the build, though the company is asking developers to pay special attention to graphics drivers, TrackPad preferences, and virtual machines. The company says 148 components have been addressed in 10.6.2 betas so far, including issues in Dictionary, Expose, File Sync, Front Row, iPhoto, MobileMe, Parental Controls, QuickTime, Screen Sharing, Spotlight, Time Machine, and USB. [via MacNN, Apple Insider]
Troubleshooting Roundup: Mac OS X 10.5.7 Update
While Jason D. O'Grady considers anything more than ordinatrix inflagrante to be success when he's installing a new operating system, he and others are still reporting on the various and sundry issues that have cropped up since Tuesday's 10.5.7 update: I can't find my brain: Some users are reporting that their Buffalo (among other) external disks aren't mounting after installing the update. Solution: Nothing concrete, though many people are suggesting installing the combo update you can download from Apple's site, rather than using Software Update. You can participate in Apple's Support Discussion on the topic if you share this problem. [via MacNN.] Blue screen of death: No joke: since the update restarts your computer up to three times, some users are getting hung up on the first blue screen that appears after the gray Apple logo screen. Solution: Wait until disk activity stops, then shut down the computer hard by holding down the power button. [via PowerPage.] I was blind, but now I see: The update is causing some video cards to output non-native display resolutions. Instead of outputting 1920 x 1200, instead Mac OS X will try and output 1920 x 1080 (which works fine for HDMI, but not many widescreen displays). Solution: An oldie-but-goodie: Zap the PRAM by holding down command + option + P + R at startup until the computer restarts a few times, then letting go. [also via PowerPage.] Cold fusion: VMWare is suggesting people hold off on updating if their configuration includes an ATI graphics card and they use Fusion to run 3D Windows apps. (2D apps are just fine.) Slow and poor rendering and general crashiness are symptoms of the problem. Solution: None yet. Apple and ATI are working on an update. [via MacNN.] Got problems of your own? Let us know by leaving a comment.
Rogers revising iPhone plans?
MacNN reports that Rogers Wireless will be revising its iPhone plans on October 1 to include a new 250 minute plan for $60, among other changes. The new bundles, MacNN says, would feature a $60 plan with: 250 daytime minutes 75 texts 1GB data Visual Voicemail three months of unlimited local calling a permanent MY5 Local option A $75 plan may also be available, with 400 minutes, 100 texts, and 2GB data. Early on, Rogers has had a rocky relationship with iPhone customers, many of whom are unhappy with the relatively high cost of plan rates and miniscule data allowances. Canadian readers: Is this an improvement, or does Rogers still have a long way to go? Let us know by leaving a comment.
Apple's new strategy for hiring retail employees
If you've ever been to an Apple store, then you know how friendly and helpful the staff are. If you are the friendly type of retail employee in the vicinity of an Apple store, be on the lookout for recruiters from the fruity company.MacNN reports Apple recruiters have come up with a new strategy for hiring new employees -- just give friendly retail employees at other companies cards with the words "You're amazing. We should talk." on the front of them. On the back, the cards detail how the employee at XYZ company can become an employee for an Apple Store. This definitely helps with the hard work of hiring new Apple employees to fill the nearly 2,400 positions nationwide caused by the nearly 35-40 new stores opened each year. [via MacNN]
Location of first Apple store in Scotland
Survivingcinemas.org.uk has uncovered the future location of Apple's first store in Scotland. 147 Buchanan Street, Glasgow will house Scotland's Apple Store as well as a glass spiral staircase and a Genius/iPod bar. This former theater will have an estimated £1,1,68,000 pumped into it to covert it into an Apple store with stainless steel encased ceilings (signage will be approved separately). Interestingly, it would seem that this store will not have a theater which is becoming a trend in new Apple Stores.[via MacNN]
Apple's US market share still falling and rising with the tides
Yesterday's prelim 4th quarter report was great news for Apple's health as a manufacturer of personal computers - they shipped over 1.6 million Macs, the most ever in a quarter and 30% more than the previous quarter. Today's news of a rise to 6.1 percent market share in the U.S. from Gartner, however, has the Mac web doing the market share dance all over again, as just a year ago this month it was the NPD Group reporting that Apple's U.S. market share - excluding online sales - had risen to 6.6 percent. The confusion ensues when considering MacNN's conflicting report from Gartner claiming Apple's U.S. share just rose to 6.1 percent. Of course where and how these different groups are getting their numbers is unbeknownst to this blogger, but methinks something might have been lost in translation between all these analysts.Still, while market share numbers might be getting a little fuzzy as of late, we can at least trust Apple's announcement of selling the most.Macs.evar in a quarter, and that's alright with me.
Steve Jobs is in fine health
Hot on the heels of the WWDC '06 Stevenote the Macweb was in a tizzy. Didn't Steve look a little sickly on stage? Why did he include so many other Apple execs in the keynote? Could this mean that Steve is in ill health?Katie Cotton, Apple's VP of worldwide corporate communications (she never calls, she never writes), told InformationWeek that, 'Steve's health is robust and we have no idea where these rumors are coming from.'So there you have it, Steve is fine but I bet he is a wee bit preoccupied.[via MacNN]
