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Apple Confirms Battery Life Issues With iOS 5, Software Update Coming
Nov 02, 9:41PM
Apple issued a statement to The Loop's Jim Dalrymple about customer complaints of poor battery life with the new iPhone 4S and iOS 5: A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices. We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks."There have been a litany of complaints about iPhone 4S and iOS 5 battery life ever since their release last month. A number of solutions have been proposed by the community for this problem, including turning off Time Zone detection, Bluetooth and others.
Apple has already seeded developers with a 5.0.1 beta that is said to address the issue.
Apple Seeds iOS 5.0.1 Beta: Multitasking Gestures for iPad 1, Battery Life Improvements
Nov 02, 9:38PM
Apple just released iOS 5.0.1 beta to developers. The build number of 5.0.1 is 9A402.
iOS 5.0.1 beta contains improvements and other bug fixes including:The last note about device files addresses an iOS 5.0 issue raised by Marco Arment.
- Fixes bugs affecting battery life
- Adds Multitasking Gestures for original iPad
- Resolves bugs with Documents in the Cloud
- Improves voice recognition for Australian users using dictation
- Contains security improvements
iOS 5.0.1 beta introduces a new way for developers to specify files that should remain on device, even in low storage situations.
There's no longer anywhere to store files that don't need to be backed up (or can't be, by the new policy) but shouldn't be randomly deleted.The iOS 5.0 policy introduced issues for apps that wished to store offline data. Apple appears to have addressed this issue in 5.0.1.
Yahoo Introduces Livestand for iPad, a Flipboard-Like "Living Magazine" [iOS Blog]
Nov 02, 8:15PM
Yahoo has launched an iPad app they call a "living magazine". The app, called Livestand, is vaguely like Flipboard, but pulls content from Yahoo websites and more than 100 publications.
One of the stars of the show was Livestand from Yahoo!, a personalized living magazine designed first for iPad and available to download today, free from the App Store in the U.S. Livestand weaves together content from more than 100 publications, including, ABC News, Forbes, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance and omg! – with more being added every week.
And the more you use Livestand, the more personalized it becomes. It's easily tailored to your own passions and interests, wrapping great content in a visually rich, stunning design that features videos, photos, and intuitive navigation. Livestand is also built on many of Yahoo!'s most important technical innovations. If you're a techie kind of person, head on over to our Yahoo! Developer Blog to hear about the newest of these technologies, Cocktails.
Livestand for iPad is a free download from the App Store.
Siri's Impact on Data Usage Examined
Nov 02, 6:05PM
With the release of the new Siri intelligent assistant on the iPhone 4S, some users have been curious about how much data the feature uses given that most users are on limited data plans and that Siri must communicate with outside servers in order to function. Ars Technica has now taken a look at a set of common Siri tasks, determined that those specific queries used an average of 63 KB of data.
The testing was broken down into two groups of queries, with the first being local queries requiring data only to interpret the spoken input. Data usage on those queries came in at an average of approximately 36.7 KB.
We performed six tasks that would be considered to be local tasks. These queries included things like, "Set an alarm for 3 hours from now," "Make an appointment for 2pm on Friday" (and then telling Siri to cancel the task), "Remind me to file expense reports when I get home," and "What is the contact info for Ars Technica?"For more complex queries bringing results back from the Internet via Wolfram Alpha or Google, the average was 94.7 KB, with a range of 23 KB to 187 KB.
These tasks added up to a total of 220KB of data usage, or an average of 36.7KB per query. The actual numbers ranged from 60KB down to 18KB, and we believe this is correlated to the complexity of the specific query and language we used to perform it.
Summing up the data usage, Ars Technica calculated that a user performing all eleven of the sample queries via 3G every single day would consume approximately 20 MB of data in a month. Informal surveys of typical Siri usage revealed that even high-use customers tend to come in at about fifteen queries per day, which would represent in the neighborhood of 30 MB of data per billing cycle depending on complexity of requests.
Most carriers offer customers easy ways to check their current and historical data usage, helping them gauge how much cap space they typically have as they consider how Siri usage will affect their data needs.
Native Gmail Client for iOS is Released [Update: App Pulled] [iOS Blog]
Nov 02, 4:34PM
The native Gmail client for iPhone and iPad has been released: Waiting. Walking. Watching TV. Working out. Winding down. Waking up. We check email pretty much everywhere these days. And when we do, we want easy access to our important messages so we can respond quickly and get back to life -- or slinging birds at thieving green pigs.The app has several noteworthy features including push notifications for new messages; easy photo uploads; on the iPad, a similar side-by-side split view for reading an inbox and message at once; and more. A native Gmail app was rumored to be near completion earlier this week.
With that in mind, we've created a new Gmail app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. We've combined your favorite features from the Gmail mobile web app and iOS into one app so you can be more productive on the go. It's designed to be fast, efficient and take full advantage of the touchscreen and notification capabilities of your device. And it's one more reason to switch to Gmail.
Update: A number of readers are reporting that the app has a significant bug related to push notifications and is giving errors to users upon installation.
Update: Google confirms the bug and has pulled the app until it can be fixed.
Gmail for iPhone and iPad is a free download from the App Store.
'Steve Jobs' Easily Tops Best Seller Lists in Debut Week
Nov 02, 4:21PM
The Bookseller reports that Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs easily topped the best-seller list in the United States and United Kingdom during its first week of availability. Citing Nielsen's BookScan data for U.S. figures, the report claims that the book sold 379,000 copies, outselling second-place The Litigator by John Grisham by more than three-to-one.Despite being on sale for just six days in the US, Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography is already the 18th bestselling book of the year. It sits one place ahead of John Grisham's The Confession (Dell) and one place behind Rick Riordan's The Son of Neptune (Hyperion) in the year-to-date BookScan US bestseller list.The report notes that the debut was also the strongest for any book since November of last year.
Nielsen BookScan tracks book sales volumes at their points of sale, developing a picture that encompasses the vast majority, although not all, U.S. sales including those through major online retailers such as Amazon. BookScan data does not, however, include sales of eBooks.
Amazon announced just after the book's launch that it was poised to become the best-selling book of 2011 despite a release late in the year, and the title current ranks #3 on Amazon's chart for 2011 sales.
Sony Pictures has already acquired the movie rights to the Jobs biography, and is reportedly courting Aaron Sorkin to write the screenplay.
Czech Carrier Dumps iPhone Over Apple's 'Business Terms'
Nov 02, 3:50PM
Bloomberg briefly reports that Czech carrier Telefonica/O2 has apparently announced that it will cease selling all iPhone models, objecting to Apple's "business terms".Telefonica Czech Republic AS won't sell Apple's new iPhone 4S and will end sales of all Apple's models because of Apple's business terms, Hospodarske Noviny reported, citing Telefonica's local spokesman Hany Farghali.No additional details on the reasons behind the fall-out have been made available in the Bloomberg report, and the original report from the Czech newspaper does not yet appear to be available online.
Dow Jones Newswires reported last week that Telefonica Czech Republic AS and Apple were still trying to reach a deal for the iPhone 4S, talks that have apparently ended without an agreement being reached.
"We haven't agreed with Apple on mutually acceptable conditions yet," Hany Farghali told Dow Jones Newswires in a telephone interview.Telefonica is not the only iPhone carrier in the Czech Republic, as both Vodafone and T-Mobile are also offering the device through their Czech units. Consequently, customers looking to obtain the iPhone in the country will still have options, but Telefonica's departure is an interesting one given the efforts other carriers around the world are making to win the right to offer the device.
...
Telefonica Czech, majority owned by Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF), is unlikely to add the iPhone 4S model to its pre-holiday offering, said a person familiar with the local mobile market who asked to remain anonymous.
Instead, the company will focus on already much higher volume sales of smart phones based on rival operating systems, including Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Android and Nokia Corp.'s (NOK) Symbian.
Video of 75-Minute 1995 Interview with Steve Jobs [Mac Blog]
Nov 02, 3:10PM
Last month, following the death of Steve Jobs, Computerworld published a transcript of a lengthy 1995 interview with Steve Jobs conducted as part of an oral history program for the Computerworld Information Technology Awards Foundation.
The complete, unabridged video of that 75-minute interview has now been posted, offering an interesting look at Jobs before his return to Apple.
In the interview, Jobs touches on his childhood, education, and the future of the Internet, while also sharing thoughts on his time with Apple, NeXT, and Pixar. The interview also includes an interesting take on death being the "greatest invention of life", a theme Jobs addressed in discussing the nature of start-up companies challenging the status quo to innovate and push technology further.
I've always felt that death is the greatest invention of life. I'm sure that life evolved without death at first and found that without death, life didn't work very well because it didn't make room for the young. It didn't know how the world was fifty years ago. It didn't know how the world was twenty years ago. It saw it as it is today, without any preconceptions, and dreamed how it could be based on that. We're not satisfied based on the accomplishment of the last thirty years. We're dissatisfied because the current state didn't live up to their ideals. Without death there would be very little progress.Jobs would of course revisit that theme ten years later in his 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, but that time from a more personal perspective following his cancer diagnosis.
Samsung to Depose Jony Ive and Other Apple Designers, Seeks iPhone 4S Source Code
Nov 02, 2:48PM
The legal battle between Apple and Samsung continues to rage in a number of different countries, and Samsung is going on the offensive with recent attempts to obtain testimony from Apple senior vice president Jony Ive and other designers, as well as to receive access to the iPhone 4S source code and the detail of Apple's agreements with carriers in Australia.
Samsung's planned depositions of Ive and Apple designers Doug Satzger, Shin Nishibori, and Christopher Stringer are part of the U.S. proceedings, with the testimony originally scheduled to be taken by November 1st. But due to scheduling conflicts and other issues, Samsung has filed a motion seeking to extend the timeframe until December 1st. From the motion:
Mr. Satzger is a former Apple employee represented by separate counsel. He is unable to sit for deposition before November 1 because, during the month of October, his lawyer has a full deposition schedule in a separate class action matter.Meanwhile, ZDNet reports on Samsung's legal request to have sales of the iPhone 4S banned in Australia, an effort that has seen the company seek access to the iPhone 4S source code and Apple's specific agreements with Australian carriers in order to make its full case before the court.
Mr. Nishibori is unable to sit for deposition before November 1 because he currently is on a voluntary leave of absence from Apple.
Mr. Ive is unable to sit for deposition before November 1 for personal reasons.
Mr. Stringer is unable to sit for deposition before November 1 because of work and scheduling conflicts.
In particular, Samsung is keen to find out the amounts of subsidies paid by Telstra, Optus and Vodafone to Apple for selling the iPhones on plans.Apple will certainly not give up the requested information willingly, viewing the source code and legal agreements as proprietary information. The judge in the case is Annabelle Bennett, who had previously awarded Apple an injunction barring the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia and is now being asked to rule on a similar request from the other side.
[Samsung lawyer Cynthia Cochrane noted:] "If subsidies [are] given for the iPhone 4S, there are less to go around for my client's products."
...
[Apple lawyer Cameron] Moore also claimed that because Qualcomm developed the baseband chip in the iPhone 4S — the Qualcomm MDM6610 — and had licence agreements in place for Samsung patents, these agreements would apply to the iPhone 4S. Cochrane said that Samsung experts would need to see the source code for the iPhone 4S firmware to see how the chip interacts with the rest of the phone to determine whether the company's patent is being infringed.
Former Retail Store Manager Steve Cano to Succeed Ron Johnson as Apple Retail Chief? [Updated]
Nov 02, 2:39PM
Yesterday, we noted that Apple senior vice president for retail Ron Johnson had been removed from Apple's list of senior executives, in line with his previously-announced departure to become CEO of department store chain J.C. Penney. The transition occurred with no announcement from Apple regarding Johnson's successor.
Steve Cano (left) and Ron Johnson (right) at 2004 grand opening of Shinsaibashi store in Osaka, Japan (Source: ifoAppleStore)
Cult of Mac now reports that Steve Cano has been elevated to the position of senior vice president for retail, heading up the successful division as part of the executive leadership team.
Apple's new retail boss boss isn't just some suit, though. He's one of the first retail employees Apple ever hired, a California surfer dude who has climbed from the sales floor to the very top rung of Apple management.According to the report, Cano began his career at Apple ten years ago as manager of the Palo Alto retail store, later moving to open the SoHo store in New York City. Consistent with previous reports of Apple looking for a candidate with international retail experience, Cano has spent the last seven years working on Apple's international retail efforts, first in Japan as manager of the Ginza store in Tokyo and then as regional director there. Cano then moved to London, where he has been serving as senior director of international retail for the last several years.
It's a real rags-to-riches story that should be inspiration to every stressed out Apple Store sales associate or overworked Genius: your work can be noticed, and you too can go to the very top.
According to our source, Apple is replacing Johnson with his long-time lieutenant, Steve Cano.
Update: Apple has issued a brief statement to Cult of Mac indicating that the search for Johnson's successor is still continuing.
Apple has gotten back to us a statement, reading: "The search for a replacement for Ron Johnson continues, and Apple has nothing to announce about this subject at this time."
New Steve Jobs Documentary to Air Tonight on PBS and UK's Channel 4
Nov 02, 2:00PM
Last week, we noted that PBS is set to premiere a new documentary about Steve Jobs tonight, offering interviews with a number of prominent personalities with connections to Jobs. The documentary will also include brief clips from a rare 1994 interview in which Jobs talks about his views on life.
PBS has now released a pair of clips from the show ahead of its premiere, offering a glimpse at what viewers can expect later today.
In the first clip, author and Jobs' friend David Sheff describes a birthday party for Sean Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, where Jobs presented Sean with one of the first Macinstoshes to roll off the production line. While the revolutionary computer was a hit with many of the high-profile attendees at the party, Scheff focuses on artist Andy Warhol, who spent a few minutes with the machine under the instruction of Jobs.
The second clip sees The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg and tech columnist and early Apple employee Robert X. Cringley discuss the complex relationship between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, focusing on the historic All Things D interview that saw the two men on stage together back in 2007.
Airing on PBS stations around the United States under the title Steve Jobs – One Last Thing, the documentary is scheduled to premiere at 10:00 PM Eastern and Pacific, although viewers should check their local listings for details. The documentary will also premiere tonight in the UK on Channel 4 at 11:05 PM under the title Steve Jobs – iChanged the World.
Details on Apple Retail's New In-Store Pick Up and Self Check Out Process
Nov 02, 3:01AM
MacRumors had previously revealed some interesting changes coming to Apple Retail stores this Thursday. These changes include an expansion of the ability to pick-up online orders at Apple Stores as well as a surprising new self-check out capability. These new features will be released as an update to the Apple Store App in the App Store.
As reported on BGR, the new system works as follows:
Online Orders with In Store Pickup and Returns
- For standard in-stock items, the product will become available to pickup in about 12 minutes. This provides the system enough time to send the order to the store, and allow Apple Retail employees to set aside items for pickup. Customers will be able to skip lines, and simply have to sign for them and leave.
- For build-to-order, engraved devices or other out-of-stock items, Apple will ship the items to your local Apple Store for free. Customers will receive a pick-up date and a push notification to the App will let you know when it has arrived. Again, 12 minutes from the push notification, the order will be ready for pickup
- Apple expects the majority of customers will eventually use in-store pick up for buying products.
- Customers will be able to return items purchased online to retail stores.
Self Check Out
This is an even more interesting feature that Apple is deploying that will help streamline the Apple retail experience. Apple will be allowing customers to use the Apple Store app to buy smaller items such as accessories while in the store. Customers won't have to even talk to a retail employee:
Here is how this will work: after you find the item you want to buy, like an accessory, you launch the Apple Store app on your iOS device and there will be an option to buy a product in the store. You scan the product with the camera on your device in the app, click purchase, and it will charge whatever credit card is associated to your Apple ID. You then just walk out of the store.According to BGR, Apple will not be manually verifying purchases.
Both In-Store Pickup and Self Check Out are expected to be launched on Thursday, November 3rd worldwide.
Temporary SoHo Retail Store Showcases Rustic Look
Nov 01, 9:16PM
Apple has closed New York City's first Apple Store, SoHo, at 103 Prince Street for renovations, and opened a temporary store nearby at 72 Greene Street. The store, while "temporary", has the same look-and-feel of an Apple Store, with Covent Garden-style exposed brick and HVAC.
These pictures, published by Racked, show the inside of the store which is very busy, typical for an Apple Store. Racked has several more pictures of the store as well.
Beyond the cast iron portal, the crowd was thick, huddled around signature blond tables showing Apple's array of electronic goodies. Thoughts of chewy candy were erased, replaced by a deep desire for things digital. The look of this new emporium, where Apple fiends can get their jones on while the main store on Prince Street is remade, is raw and rustic. Imagine a very, very clean warehouse with lots of friendly spirits decked out in identical blue shirts.
Apple hasn't specified how long the SoHo store will remain closed, but with a full-featured Genius Bar and plenty of products on display, the temporary store looks capable of taking care of Apple's customers.
Tim Cook Putting His Stamp on Apple
Nov 01, 8:26PM
The Wall Street Journal takes a look at Tim Cook's first two months officially in the role of Apple CEO, noting some of the differences between his management style and that of Steve Jobs.In recent weeks, Mr. Cook has tended to administrative matters that never interested Mr. Jobs, such as promotions and corporate reporting structures, according to people familiar with the matter. The new chief executive, 50 years old, has also been more communicative with employees than his predecessor, sending a variety of company-wide emails while addressing Apple employees as "Team," people close to the company said.The report also points to Apple's new charitable matching program for employees as an example of Cook putting his stamp on the company.
Cook has reportedly also undertaken a significant revamp of Apple's education division, bringing it more in line with the operation of the rest of the company. The resulting reorganization, which puts additional responsibilities on executives Phil Schiller and John Brandon, has seen the education division split into marketing and sales divisions and then reintegrated with the company's broader arms focused on those aspects of the business.
The openness Cook has exhibited with employees and even customers may filter down further, as Cook seems to have moved rapidly to recognize existing expertise, such as with the promotion of Eddy Cue, and to encourage other executives to engage with customers. Cook has also suggested that he may be more open to other possibilities such as stock dividends or buybacks that have long been off the table for the company even as its cash and investments have soared.
Cook is widely regarded as a very strong operational leader, but some have questioned whether he has the product vision to guide the company as it moves forward without Jobs. Jobs reportedly worked hard to leave Apple with a pipeline of products for the next four years, but even so it appears that Cook is making sure to rely upon the expertise of other executives such as Jony Ive, Phil Schiller, Scott Forstall, and Eddy Cue to help forge Apple's path forward.
Apple's Cards App Has Some Kinks [iOS Blog]
Nov 01, 6:35PM
Apple's new Cards app makes it very easy to send real, physical greeting cards through the mail. For just $2.99 (within the U.S.), Apple will print and mail a custom card. But the implementation has some faults. For one, when sending cards to multiple addressees (holiday cards or event invitations, for example), Apple treats each card as an individual purchase from the Apple Online Store, rather than bundling purchases like on the iTunes Store. This means that for each card sent, Apple sends two emails (one for the order and another when it ships), sends a push notification (upon delivery), and charges a credit card.
When purchasing multiple apps or songs from the iTunes or App Stores, Apple aggregates multiple orders into one credit card charge. This lowers the company's credit card fees and, as seen above, avoids clogging bank statements with dozens of charges. It also avoids having a credit card locked due to the bank assuming that 8 charges for $3.08 in 10 minutes is fraudulent activity.
The most annoying of the app's quirks is the tendency of the app to fail during checkout, occasionally requiring multiple attempts to purchase a card for no discernible reason. When the purchase fails Apple still authorizes the credit card, resulting in even more charges appearing. This weekend, when ordering 37 cards, my credit card was charged for 52 transactions, though the additional charges eventually disappeared.
The Cards app is a convenient way to send personalized cards through the mail, but it needs a few tweaks, including a native iPad version and the ability for users to easily send cards to multiple addresses without dozens of individual credit card charges.
C Spire Launching iPhone on November 11th, 'Unlimited' Non-Streaming Data and 500 Minutes for $50
Nov 01, 5:28PM
Regional U.S. carrier C Spire garnered headlines last month for its announcement that it would begin offering the iPhone 4S in the coming weeks, becoming the fourth U.S. carrier to offer the iPhone and coming ahead of several other larger carriers, most notably T-Mobile USA.
C Spire has now confirmed that it will launch both the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 on November 11th, alongside the iPhone 4S debut in fifteen other countries. Device pricing is in line with other U.S. carriers, and C Spire is taking pre-registrations beginning today.
iPhone 4S will be available starting at $199.99 for the 16GB model, $299.99 for the 32GB model and $399.99 for the 64GB model with a new two-year contract and data plan. In addition, the iPhone 4 8GB model is available for $99.99, also with a new two-year contract and data plan. iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 will be available at C Spire Wireless retail stores, online at www.cspire.com/iPhone and through the Telesales group at 1-855-CSPIRE4. C Spire customers can pre-register for iPhone beginning today at www.cspire.com/iPhone.Most notably, C Spire will be undercutting service plan prices from the major U.S. carriers in some regards, with a low-end $50/month plan offering 500 minutes, unlimited SMS, and "unlimited" data. That $50 plan and a $70 plan also offering unlimited calling do, however, carry an interesting restriction that will not allow customers to "stream" data.
Additional details on C Spire's streaming policies are available on its plan description pages, which note that the company typically offers 30 minutes of free streaming of "videos, music and game broadcasts" in each 30-day billing cycle, although unlimited streaming is currently free through the end of the year. Unlimited streaming access is available as an add-on for $30 per billing cycle, or separate streaming passes can be purchased for $5 (two hours), $10 (five hours), or $30 (unlimited for 30 days) as needed.
C Spire Wireless is based in Ridgeland, Mississippi and focuses its service on Mississippi, parts of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, and the Memphis, Tennessee and Rome, Georgia areas. The carrier has approximately 875,000 customers and operates a CDMA network utilizing the same technology as Verizon and Sprint.
Charge A MacBook and iPad With TwelveSouth's PlugBug [iOS Blog]
Nov 01, 4:28PM
TwelveSouth's PlugBug fixes one of those problems you didn't know you had, in a very clever way. It's a $34.99 attachment that adds a USB charging port to the standard MagSafe power adapter for an Apple notebook. This way, users can charge an iPhone or iPad -- or any other USB device -- and a MacBook simultaneously, using the same wall outlet.
If one isn't using the MagSafe connector, it also works as a standalone USB charger providing up to 10 watts of power -- enough to refuel an iPad at top speed.
The PlugBug is $34.99 and available via the TwelveSouth online store.
Apple Updates GarageBand for iOS with iPhone and iPod Touch Support
Nov 01, 4:17PM
Apple today announced the launch of GarageBand for iPhone and iPod touch, making the previous iPad-only version a universal app.
"GarageBand on iPad has been a big hit and we think customers will love using it on their iPhone or iPod touch," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "The innovative Multi-Touch interface combined with Smart Instruments makes it easy to create great sounding music, even if you've never studied music or played an instrument before."GarageBand [App Store] is available in the App Store for $4.99, with the new version 1.1 bringing iPhone and iPod touch support and several other enhancements.
What's New in Version 1.1The update is just going live now and should be rolling out to all markets at this time.
- Universal app designed for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch
- Create custom chords for Smart Instruments
- Support for 3/4 and 6/8 time signatures
- Reset song key without transposing original recordings
- Transpose songs in semitones or full octaves
- Additional quantization options for recordings including, straight, triplet and swing
- New audio export quality settings for AAC and AIFF (Uncompressed)
- Arpeggiator available in Smart Keyboard
- Adjustable velocity settings for Touch Instruments
- Numerous enhancements, including automatic fade out and improved audio import options
Apple Misses iTunes Match Launch Target as iTunes 10.5.1 Developer Beta Expires
Nov 01, 3:29PM
At its "Let's Talk iPhone" media event early last month, Apple announced that it would be launching its iTunes Match service in the United States at the "end of October". That launch date was itself apparently a slight delay from Apple's original plans given that support for the feature had been built into developer builds of iTunes 10.5, which was released in mid-October to support iOS 5 and iCloud.
Eddy Cue announces "end of October" launch for iTunes Match (Source: This is my next / The Verge)
But with Apple apparently pushing back the iTunes Match launch slightly, the feature was removed from the public release of iTunes 10.5 and moved to a new iTunes 10.5.1 that was released for developer testing.
Sources have indicated that Apple is close to a launch of iTunes Match, with retail store staff having been briefed on the service in preparation for its debut. But with the calendar now having turned to November, Apple has missed its public launch target for iTunes Match. The company has not yet commented on the status of iTunes Match, leaving some questions about its plans even though a launch still seems near.
iTunes 10.5.1 beta expiration notice (Source: @dmoren)
One group that may have been caught off-guard by the delayed iTunes Match launch is Apple's developers, who have been testing the service for a number of months. Apple has repeatedly wiped users' iTunes Match libraries during the beta testing process, with the most recent wipe occurring last Thursday.
But those developers who have continued testing the service are now discovering that their iTunes 10.5.1 betas have expired, leaving them unable to launch the application as of today with no public launch and no new beta release. Apple routinely advises developers to only install beta builds of its software on machines dedicated to development, but some users undoubtedly have installed iTunes 10.5.1 on their primary machines and may now be experiencing difficulties.
Retail Chief Ron Johnson Departs Apple for J.C. Penney, No Successor Named
Nov 01, 3:05PM
In line with his previously-announced transition, Ron Johnson has left his position as senior vice president of retail at Apple to take over as CEO of department store chain J.C. Penney. As noticed by 9to5Mac, Johnson has been removed from Apple's list of senior executives. Johnson came to Apple from Target eleven years ago, overseeing the launch and strong growth of Apple's retail store segment. With other computer companies such as Gateway struggling with their own retail efforts at the time, Apple faced a significant amount of skepticism about whether it could make a viable stand in direct-sales retail.
Problem is, the numbers don't add up. Given the decision to set up shop in high-rent districts in Manhattan, Boston, Chicago, and Jobs's hometown of Palo Alto, Calif., the leases for Apple's stores could cost $1.2 million a year each, says David A. Goldstein, president of researcher Channel Marketing Corp. Since PC retailing gross margins are normally 10% or less, Apple would have to sell $12 million a year per store to pay for the space. Gateway does about $8 million annually at each of its Country Stores. Then there's the cost of construction, hiring experienced staff. "I give them two years before they're turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake," says Goldstein.Apple has of course seen a tremendous amount of success in retail, leading all U.S. retail chains in sales per square foot while also serving to enhance brand awareness and offer direct support services to customers.
Apple has yet to announce Johnson's successor, with the company reportedly having been conducting a worldwide search as it seeks to increase its retail presence in international markets. The company has announced that it intends to open forty new retail stores during fiscal 2012, with 75% of those locations coming outside of the United States. Apple is also looking to expand or replace a number of its existing stores that are no longer able to handle current customer traffic levels.
Current Apple vice president for retail Jerry McDougal served under Johnson for over ten years, and has been viewed by some as a solid option to take the senior executive position with Johnson's departure. But it certainly appears that Apple is being diligent in its efforts to identify the best possible candidate to lead its retail operations, looking both inside and outside the company.
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