• amazon,  apple,  connecticut,  ipad,  iphone,  kindle

    Connecticut AG Probing Apple, Amazon on EBook Agreements

    August 3, 2010 /

    Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is investigating agreements between the country’s largest e-book publishers and two of the largest sellers — Amazon.com, Inc. and Apple, Inc. — that may block competitors from offering cheaper e-book prices.

    Both Amazon and Apple have reached agreements with the largest e-book publishers that ensure both will receive the best prices for e-books over any competitors — contract provisions known as “most favored nation” (MFN) clauses.

    In letters to Amazon.Com and Apple, Blumenthal is calling on the companies to meet with his office to address these concerns. Publishers that have reached such agreements with Amazon and Apple include Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins and Penguin.

    These agreements appear to deter certain publishers from offering discounts to Amazon and Apple’s competitors — because they must offer the same to Amazon and Apple. This restriction blocks cheaper and competitive prices for consumers.

    After a preliminary review, Blumenthal’s office has already found that e-book prices offered by Amazon, Apple, Borders and Barnes & Noble for several New York Times Bestseller books were identical among all four sellers.

    “These agreements among publishers, Amazon and Apple appear to have already resulted in uniform prices for many of the most popular e-books — potentially depriving consumers of competitive prices,” Blumenthal said. “The e-book market is set to explode — with analysts predicting that e-book readers will be among the holiday season’s biggest electronic gifts — warranting prompt review of the potential anti-consumer impacts.

    “Amazon and Apple combined will likely command the greatest share of the retail e-book market, allowing their most-favored-nation clauses to effectively set the floor prices for the most popular e-books. Such agreements — especially when offered to two of the largest e-book retail competitors in the United States — threaten to encourage coordinated pricing and discourage discounting.”

    You can read and download a PDF copy of Mr. Blumentha’s letter to Apple and Amazon on the CT.gov website.  A copy of today’s press release is also available online.

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  • app store,  apple,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  itunes

    Apple Releases Minor iBooks Update (Again)

    July 24, 2010 /

    Apple has released a minor update to their iBooks application, 1.1.2. From what I can tell, the update has been released to address an issue that some customers were having installing the iBooks 1.1.1 update that was released just a few days ago.

    You can download and install iBooks 1.1.2 on your iPad with iOS 3.2 and iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 4.0 or later installed. Hit the App Store icon on your iDevice or use the iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC to download the update.

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  • apple,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  itunes,  touch

    Apple Releases iTunes, iBooks Updates

    July 20, 2010 /

    Apple has released updates to iTunes 9.2.1 and iBooks 1.1.1 today.

    iTunes 9.2.1

    iTunes 9.2.1, available for Mac OS X and Windows PCs, is mostly a maintenance update that addresses bug fixes, performance issues, and will disable “older versions of some incompatible third-party [iTunes] plug-ins.”

    I don’t use any plug-ins with iTunes, but if you do, you’ll want to double-check yours for iTunes 9.2.1 compatibility before applying this update.

    iTunes 9.2.1 is available for download on Mac OS X and Windows PCs from the Apple Software Update control panel.

    iBooks 1.1.1 for iPad, iOS 4 Devices

    The iBooks update adds some nice features to Apple’s ebook reader. This update includes improved support for books and PDF files with images and adds support for books and documents with audio and video content, as well as additional performance tweaks and bug fixes.

    You can download the iBooks update directly to your iPad or iOS 4 device by using App Store on the device or by downloading the update from iTunes and syncing it over to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.

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  • apple,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  itunes

    iOS 3.2.1 for Apple iPad Now Available

    July 17, 2010 /

    Amid the iOS 4.0.1 update hoopla yesterday, Apple also released iOS 3.2.1 for the iPad. I installed the iOS 3.2.1 on my 32GB Apple iPad this morning. The whole affair took about 20 minutes to download and install the software on my iPad.

    The big fix in iOS 3.2.1 is to address the Wi-Fi connectivity issues that some people have been having since the Wi-Fi only model went on sale earlier this year. I’ve run into this problem once or twice since April 3rd when I picked up my iPad on launch day.

    Unlike app updates, you will need to download iOS 3.2.1 by connecting your iPad to a Mac or PC and syncing it with iTunes 9.2. I had to select my iPad in the source pane and then click the “Check for Update” button.

    The upgrade was painless, and I would expect nothing less from Apple. Using my upgraded iPad at work and at home, I did not notice any real differences between iOS 3.2 and 3.2.1; but then again I didn’t have the Wi-Fi issue at the house or office.

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  • apple,  ios,  ipad,  iphone

    Apple To Hold Media Event On Friday

    July 15, 2010 /

    Boy Genius Report is running a breaking story in the last hour stating that Apple will be holding an invitation only media event this Friday.

    “Invites were sent out this evening to media outlets around the country. What do you think Apple is going to say?”

    I doubt this is to talk about a new iPod, smaller iPhone, or iOS 4 for iPad. I’ll hold off talking about the iPhone 4 drama until after the Apple event.

    [Via BoyGeniusReport.com…]

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  • apple,  ipad,  iphone

    Apple: 3 Million iPads Sold; Unexpected White iPhone 4 Delays

    June 24, 2010 /

    Over the last two days, Apple has released statements about two of their mobile devices: the iPad and the iPhone 4.

    Apple Sells Three Million iPads
    In just 80 days of the iPad being available they have been able to sell 3 million of these “magical” devices.
    “People are loving iPad as it becomes a part of their daily lives,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more people around the world, including those in nine more countries next month.”
    “Developers have created over 11,000 exciting new apps for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch™ user interface, large screen and high-quality graphics. iPad will run almost all of the more than 225,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone® or iPod touch®.”
    It seems like just yesterday that Apple told us that they had sold two million iPads. Turns out, it was all the way back on May 31. Apple announced the sale of their first million iPads back on May 3rd.
    Statement on White iPhone 4
    Today, Apple released a brief statement regarding the availability of their White iPhone 4. The entire statement reads:

    “White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected, and as a result they will not be available until the second half of July. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.”

    (The White iPhone 4 is so rare, that we couldn’t even find a half way decent photo for this article.)
    I’m not sure how popular white iPhones have been. I know that when black iPods where first introduced, I used to walk around saying that “iPods are suppose to be white.” Now with the iPhone, the opposite is true. Phones are black, not white. I’ve only seen one white iPhone used “in the wild” since they were first introduced. With that in mind, it’s hard to tell how much of a problem not having white iPhones available at the same time the black iPhone 4 goes on sale will really be. I mean, if you are have your heart, and credit card, set on getting a white iPhone 4 and can’t get it when the black model goes on sale, are you really going to head to the nearest Verizon Wireless store and buy a Motorola Droid? Ya, I didn’t think so either.
    You can read the full iPad and white iPhone 4 press releases on the Apple website.
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  • apple,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  iphone os,  itunes,  touch

    Apple iOS 4 Update Released

    June 21, 2010 /

    Today, Apple has released iOS 4, formerly known as iPhone OS 4.0, for iPhone and iPod touch owners.

    The update, free for iPhone and apparently, also free for iPod touch owners, is available now. To download the update, connect your iPhone or iPod touch to your computer running iTunes 9, and the software installer will be downloaded to your computer.

    No Legacy Support for You

    Unlike previous iOS updates, the iPhone G2 and the first generation iPod touch will not be supported for this upgrade. Additionally, iPhone 3G owners will not be able to use the new multitasking features of iOS 4. If you want to get iOS 4 and you have one of these devices, you’re going to have to upgrade your hardware.

    iPad Out in the Cold?

    No! Apple’s iPad customers will be getting an upgrade to iOS 4, however, they are going to have to wait until the fall for their upgrade.

    For more details, check out the iPhone or iPod touch pages on the Apple website.

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  • apple,  facebook,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  iphone os,  touch

    Facebook for iPhone, iPod touch Updated to 3.1.3

    June 19, 2010 /

    Yesterday, an update for iOS (formerly known as iPhone OS) was released to the Apple App Store.

    The main improvements for Facebook 3.1.3 is the ability to watch videos, writing on event walls, and a change in how wide uploaded photos can be (now 720 pixels wide).

    You can update to Facebook version 3.1.3 by hitting the App Store icon on your iPhone or iPod touch, or by using iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC.

    iPad owners: the iPhone/iPod touch application will work on your device in low res mode. While you can scale it up to 2x mode, in my opinion, the text looks terrible. I still recommend that you use Safari to browse to the full Facebook website.

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  • apple,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  iphone os,  itunes

    Apple WWDC 2010 Keynote Online

    June 9, 2010 /

    Apple has posted this year’s WWDC 2010 keynote delivered by co-founder, Steve Jobs.

    Watch Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduce the new iPhone 4. See the video-on-demand event right here, exclusively in QuickTime and MPEG-4.
    You can stream the keynote address directly from the Apple website, or you can download the entire video in iTunes via Apple’s keynote podcast feed and watch it on your favorite Mac, PC, iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, or my personal favorite, Apple TV + 42-inch TV.
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  • apple,  ipad,  iphone os

    Apple Sells 2 Million iPads In Less Than 2 Months

    May 31, 2010 /

    Earlier today, Apple has announced that the company has sold over 2 million of the “magical” iPads in in less than 2 months.

    Apple® today announced that iPad™ sales have topped two million in less than 60 days since its launch on April 3. Apple began shipping iPad in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK this past weekend. iPad will be available in nine more countries in July and additional countries later this year.

    “Customers around the world are experiencing the magic of iPad, and seem to be loving it as much as we do,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We appreciate their patience, and are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.”

    Developers have created over 5,000 exciting new apps for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch user interface, large screen and high-quality graphics. iPad will run almost all of the more than 200,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone® or iPod touch®.

    According to AppleInsider.com, Apple is selling about 35,000 – 36,000 iPads a day.

    Pricing for the Apple iPad starts at $499 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and $629 for the 3G + Wi-Fi model.

    You can the full version of today’s press release on the Apple website.

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