MacRumors

'Which?', a UK-based consumer advocacy organization, has performed some research and determined that Apple's claims about the lightness of the iPad Mini appear to be accurate. The device is roughly the same weight as some heavier notepads, and is lighter than a can of Coke or a loaf of bread:

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So there it is; the iPad mini isn’t quite as light as a pad of paper – at least our non-spiraled softback pad. There are certainly pads of paper that are heavier so Phil Schiller’s claim that it’s as light as a pad of paper is about right.

It’ll certainly feel lighter than a can of coke in your hands, making it easier to hold in a single hand while you browse the web for long periods or read ebooks on the move.

While lighter than the Kindle Fire (395g) and the Google Nexus (334g), the difference is probably too insubstantial to influence your buying choice.

Related Roundup: iPad mini
Buyer's Guide: iPad Mini (Buy Now)
Related Forum: iPad

ituneslogoBloomberg reports that Apple appears to hoping to wrap up deals for an online music service in the next few weeks, targeting a launch for the first quarter of next year.

Apple Inc. and major music labels have intensified negotiations to start an advertising-supported Internet radio service by early next year, according to people with knowledge of the talks.

Talks are centered in part around how to share ad revenue and a deal could be reached by mid-November, with Apple starting a service within the first three months of 2013, said the people, who asked not to be named because discussions are still in progress.

The report says that executives from Vivendi, Universal, Warner, and Sony have all visited Apple's headquarters in recent weeks to learn more about Apple's plans.

Advertising is said to be a central issue in the negotiations, with Apple seeing the service as a way to strengthen its iAd offerings while music labels are seeking a share of that ad revenue and the ability to insert their own advertising into listeners' streams.

Rumors of a potential streaming music service from Apple have been circulating for quite some time, but gained significant steam last month when The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times filed reports outlining Apple's plans to compete with Pandora and other similar services. But unlike those services, which operate under compulsory licenses that restrict users' abilities to skip tracks the frequency with which tracks can be played, Apple is seeking to strike its own licenses with music labels that would permit more flexible usage.

Philip Elmer-Dewitt has put together his list of analyst predictions ahead of Apple's quarterly earnings report this afternoon. The list includes estimates from 36 analysts: 16 "independent" and 20 "institutional" who work for large investment houses or research organizations.

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As usual, the independents are much more bullish than the institutional analysts. The independent consensus expects earnings per share (EPS) of $9.66 on revenue of $37.23 billion. The institutional consensus is EPS of $8.75 on $35.51 billion in revenue. This is a 5% difference on revenue and a 10% difference on EPS, a smaller gap than we've seen in recent quarters.

Last quarter the company earned $8.8 billion in profit on revenue of $35 billion. For this quarter, Apple issued guidance of $34 billion in revenue with profits of $7.65 per share. The company typically exceeds its guidance by a significant margin.

Apple will announce its earnings for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2012 (third calendar quarter of 2012) and host a conference call regarding the release this afternoon at 5:00 PM Eastern / 2:00 PM Pacific. The earnings release itself typically comes in around 4:30 PM Eastern. MacRumors will have live coverage of the proceedings.

Though the September quarter is the final quarter of Apple's fiscal year, AllThingsD quotes JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz:

"Our view is that September quarter numbers do not matter," J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz said in a Wednesday research note to clients. "Apple can miss or beat. It does not matter. … In our view, the two important iPhone and iPad launches set the stage for big numbers to be reported in late January 2013 as relates to December quarter results."

Digitimes reports that one of the primary reasons that Apple was unable or unwilling to launch the iPad mini at a price below $329 is ongoing difficulties with touchscreen production as Apple transitions to new "GF2 Dito" technology.

The sources said the DITO film sensor is having mass production issues, which has been a big contributor to why the device is approximately 40-50% more expensive compared to other 7-inch tablets that have OGS or G/G structures.

The sources said that GF2 touch screen modules are only about roughly US$5 cheaper than G/G ones for the 9.7-inch iPad models.

ipad mini side
Apple's transition to the new touch structure was mentioned by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo back in late August, with Kuo noting that hurdles experienced in that transition were one of the primary reasons that prevented Apple from launching iPad mini earlier than it did.

Today's report also notes that supply chain sources are continuing to see orders for the iPad 2 extending as far as the first quarter of next year, suggesting that Apple will indeed keep that model available for some time. One analyst had speculated last week that Apple might drop the iPad 2 in favor of the iPad mini in order to maintain a streamline product lineup, but at its media event this week the company was clear that the iPad 2 at $399 Wi-Fi/$529 cellular remains an integral part of its iPad portfolio even as the third-generation iPad has been discontinued.

Related Roundups: iPad, iPad mini
Related Forum: iPad

In a new blog post today, Primate Labs summarizes the Geekbench 2 results for the new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro hitting the company's database, unsurprisingly finding that the machines' performance is on par with that of the non-Retina models released in June. Benchmark scores for both stock models of the new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro register within 0.5% of the scores seen for the corresponding non-Retina models.

macbook pro 13 2012 benchmarks
It is interesting to note that these new benchmarks also appear to confirm an early Geekbench result that appeared in the database in late June. Aside from that machine having an older BIOS identifier and carrying only 4 GB of RAM while the released models all carry 8 GB of RAM, other details such as the processor, motherboard identifier, and the benchmark results themselves all line up with the production model.

As always, it's important to note that Geekbench testing focuses on processor and memory performance, providing comparisons of raw power between machines but only telling part of the story. Notably, as with the non-Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro, the new Retina models do not offer a discrete graphics chip, instead relying on the integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics packaged with Ivy Bridge even with the increased demands from the Retina display. Real-world performance is of course also affected by drive speeds, with the Retina models' all-flash storage topping the traditional hard drive options found in the non-Retina models, although the non-Retina models also have flash storage options available.

Related Forum: MacBook Pro

sprint logoSprint today became the last of the three major U.S. iPhone carriers to report financial results for the third quarter of 2012, revealing that the carrier sold 1.5 million iPhones for the third straight quarter.

The Sprint platform postpaid subscriber base grew for the tenth consecutive quarter, with net additions of 410,000 driven by a postpaid Nextel recapture rate of 59 percent and best ever third quarter churn. Sprint recorded approximately 1.5 million iPhone sales in the third quarter with 40 percent representing new customers. The company also surpassed 1 million LTE smartphones sold prior to the launch of iPhone 5.

The steady results for Sprint appear to be something of a disappointment for the carrier given the launch of the iPhone 5 near the end of the quarter. Earlier this week, AT&T reported a 27% increase in iPhone activations compared to the previous quarter while last week Verizon reported 15% sequential growth.

Apple will report its earnings for the third calendar quarter of 2012 at approximately 4:30 PM Eastern Time today, with a conference call to follow at 5:00 PM. MacRumors will have full coverage of Apple's announcements.

Related Forum: iPhone

iFixit has already performed one of its traditional high-quality teardowns on the new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, noting that while those looking to repair their machines face many of the same challenges seen with the 15-inch model, there are a few changes that improve accessibility somewhat.

One of the most interesting changes relative to the larger model is a battery layout that leaves the area underneath the trackpad free of battery cells. In place of battery cells in that location, Apple has elected to mount the 13-inch model's flash storage, a move that allows access to the trackpad for replacement if necessary.

retina macbook pro 13 ssd trackpad
Another one of iFixit's major criticisms of the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro design was the glued-in battery cells that were found to be extremely difficult and time-consuming to remove without puncturing the cells. In the new 13-inch model, two of the six battery cells are housed in a metal tray that includes no adhesive, while the remaining four cells still required roughly 15 minutes of work to pry loose from the case.

retina macbook pro 13 teardown
The teardown of the 13-inch model otherwise yields few surprises compared to the larger 15-inch model, and the similar challenges of soldered RAM, proprietary screws, integrated display, and glued-in battery have led iFixit to award the 13-inch model a repairability score of 2 out of 10, one point higher than the 15-inch model.

Related Forum: MacBook Pro

Apple has posted a new television ad for the 13" MacBook Pro with Retina Display. The spot showcases a number of different Apple apps including Mail, Final Cut Pro, Aperture, and iTunes. The new machine is aimed at "the pro in all of us."

Introducing the new 13" MacBook Pro.

With the stunning Retina display.

For the pro in all of us.

Related Forum: MacBook Pro

Colocation data center Macminicolo has already gotten its hands on the new Mac mini, putting all three stock models through benchmarking tests and sharing initial impressions of the machines.

Geekbench results, which focus strictly on processor and memory performance, show a marginal increase in performance for the entry-level machine compared to the previous generation, with more substantial gains coming in the higher-end models tapping into quad-core Ivy Bridge processors. Early impressions of the latest models include:

- Don’t look now, but the new Mac minis are getting comparable to the last gen Xserve and 2010 Mac Pros as far as benchmarks. Tech progress marches on.
- All Mac minis now come standard with 4GB of RAM. Thank goodness. As of last week, the base Mac mini had 2GB of RAM and that was brutal with Mountain Lion.
- The Mac mini can officially be upgraded to 16GB now. It’s been possible for over a year, but it had to be done after ordering. Now, Apple offers the 16GB of RAM.
- The base mini is still i5, but the middle and high end minis are quad core i7 Ivy Bridge processors. That middle mini is the most interesting. Many customers prefer the quad core for things like an Xcode build server or for plenty of cores to spread between virtual machines. That $799 Mac mini is going to be very popular.
- The machines now come with 1600MHz DDR3 Memory. Seriously, 16GB of 1600MHz RAM in such a small machine. It’s really quite amazing.

macminicolo 2012 benchmarks
Another colocation center, Mac Mini Vault, has also taken a look at the new Mac mini, noting that their machine arrived running a custom Build 12B2080 of OS X 10.8.1. The company also performed a quick teardown of the machine, noting that Apple has tweaked the fan design since last year's model and also made some changes to the wireless antennas.

mac mini 2012 quick teardown

Related Roundup: Mac mini
Buyer's Guide: Mac Mini (Buy Now)
Related Forum: Mac mini

Loren Brichter, the creator of the Tweetie client for Twitter that eventually became the official iOS Twitter app, has created a new word game for iOS that combines tactics from a number of different classic games -- but creates something new at the same time.

Letterpress combines the word-finding skills of Boggle with the ability to steal positions and block your opponent that's straight out of the classic board game Go. It seems to have captured the attention of much of the technology press today, and for good reason.

Unscrambling
TouchArcade:

I think it might be the core design of Words With Friends that rubs me the wrong way. I don't like having point values assigned to each letter. Rather than finding the most interesting word out of your allotment of letters, you're stuck playing a trial-and-error game of what word will land you the most points while trying to take advantage of the bonuses on the board. Somebody described their experience with Words With Friends to me as "tedious", and that totally nails it for me as well.

This is where Letterpress differentiates itself. It gives you a 5x5 grid of letters to choose from. Each letter used is worth just one point, which obviously makes bigger words worth a bigger score. But Letterpress isn't just about who can rack up the highest total score, it's much more about trying to outmaneuver your opponent and playing the board itself so that you wind up having the most points by the game's end.

John Gruber:

It’s the first game that’s made my iPhone’s first home screen in years. It’s a cross between a word game like Scrabble or Boggle and a real estate strategy game like Risk or Go. It’s addictive. (Letterpress is to Game Center what The Magazine is to Newsstand — my first reason to use it.)

The game is free to download and users can purchase the ability to play more than two games at once and to see previously played words with a $0.99 in-app purchase.

Letterpress is a free download on the App Store. [Direct Link]

SkypelogoMicrosoft has updated Skype to version 6, adding Retina display support as well as the ability to sign into Skype using a Facebook account. This eliminates the need to sign up for a separate Skype account. Last year, Skype added the ability to make Facebook chat and video calls to its app.

Microsoft and Facebook Account Integration
Sign up and sign-in is easier than ever. You can now sign into Skype using your Microsoft or Facebook account - there's no need to create a new Skype account. This makes it even easier to connect with friends on Skype without having to set up another account.

IM friends on Messenger
Now you can instant message your Windows Live Messenger, Hotmail and Outlook.com contacts via Skype all in one place. If you use a Microsoft account today, merging your accounts is easy - just sign in to Skype with your Microsoft account.

Calling with Messenger friends is coming soon
We're working on polishing a feature which will enable audio and video calls to Windows Live Messenger customers using Skype desktop clients. The feature will be available in coming weeks.

Open Chats in Multiple Windows
We hear your feedback! With this release we've added support to open chats in multiple windows.

Retina Display Support
We also added another feature you've asked for - support Retina display. Now you can take full advantage of improved usability and of higher resolution screens.

Skype for Mac is a free download from Skype.com.

MarketWatch reports that sites specializing in gadget resales saw tremendous spikes in iPad interest yesterday, with resale submissions rising 700-1000% as Apple was announcing the fourth-generation iPad and the new iPad mini.

Some 140,000 devices were put up for sale on Gazelle.com Tuesday – a 700% spike from the day before, says Anthony Scarsella, chief gadget officer at the site. Half of that increase occurred in the hours just before the announcement, he says – and the most common model put up for sale was the “new iPad” released just six months ago. Another resale site, NextWorth.com , reported that trade-ins for iPads rose over 1,000% on Tuesday.

Despite the fact that the new models are not launching until November 2, with cellular-capable models coming several weeks later, it seems that users already moving to unload their current devices in order to purchase the new latest models. According to the report, nearly 70% of resale submissions are for the third-generation iPad, with the 32 GB Wi-Fi model currently registering as the most popular resale at Gazelle.

gazelle ipad 3 resale
For third-generation Wi-Fi iPads in "flawless" condition, Gazelle is currently offering $250/$300/$350 for the various capacities, giving consumers a substantial amount of money toward the purchase of one of the new models. Gazelle's offers are locked in for 30 days, allowing consumers submitting their resales now time to get at least a Wi-Fi model of either the fourth-generation iPad or new iPad mini before having to send back their current device. The flood of new offers is, however, likely to drive resale offer prices down as the sites seek to balance their stocks.

Note: Gazelle is presently an advertiser on MacRumors.

Related Roundup: iPad
Tag: Gazelle
Buyer's Guide: iPad (Caution)
Related Forum: iPad

Earlier this month, we pointed to a new iPhone 5 Flash Lightning Dock from iPhone5mod.com, one of the first unauthorized Lightning-equipped products to surface on the market. At the time, iPhone5mod told us that it was using genuine Lightning connectors sourced from Apple's supplier, but noted that it also had cracked versions that were working properly.

The company is now pressing forward with its efforts to release accessories based on these unofficial Lightning connectors to the public, introducing a new Lightning to USB cable.

iphone5mod cracked lightning cable
iPhone5mod's cable is priced at $9.90, nearly 50% less than the official $19 cable from Apple. Shipping for iPhone5mod's cable starts at $4 per item to the United States.


iPhone5mod tells us that orders will begin shipping on November 3.

The company has also introduced its own version of Apple's cabled Lightning to 30-pin Adapter. iPhone5mod's version is priced at $19.90 plus $4 shipping to the U.S., compared to Apple's $39 price tag.

Finally, iPhone5mod is launching what it calls a Lightning 3-in-1 Starter Kit Set, bundling a USB cable, 30-pin adapter, and a Lightning dock for $39.90 plus $7 shipping to the U.S.

Both items are currently being quoted 10-14 days processing time plus international shipment, which can take a fair amount of time at the cheapest rates.

lightning starter kit
iPhone5mod's Lightning 3-in-1 Starter Kit

A chip-level teardown of Apple's official Lightning cable has revealed that while the connector does require several chips to handle the dynamic assignment of the eight contact pins, it does not appear to contain any true authentication features to prevent unauthorized connections from being made. At best, a Texas Instruments chip found in the connector provides only basic security in the form of a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) to ensure data integrity.

Apple is reportedly keeping tight control over official Lightning connectors, and has yet to officially certify any third-party accessory company to manufacture Lightning products. Apple will be holding a conference with members of its MFi Program early next month to provide details on Lightning integration.

With pricing on Apple's new iPad mini starting at $329, some observers were disappointed that the company was unwilling or unable to launch the device at closer to $249 or even $299. With competing 7-inch Android tablets selling for closer to $199, some have felt that Apple has left too much of a pricing gap when consumers weigh their tablets purchasing decisions.

ipad mini hand 329
Reuters reports, however, that Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller was quick to defend the iPad mini's pricing yesterday based on what the company has seen with the full-size iPad.

"The iPad is far and away the most successful product in its category. The most affordable product we've made so far was $399 and people were choosing that over those devices," Schiller said.

"And now you can get a device that's even more affordable at $329 in this great new form, and I think a lot of customers are going to be very excited about that," Schiller said.

Several of Apple's tablet competitors, including Amazon and Google, are selling their products roughly at cost, preferring to make money on content, advertising, or other means associated with usage of their tablets. Apple, however, employs the opposite strategy in focusing on the hardware as its primary profit generator, making it difficult to match competitors on price. Still, many had hoped that Apple would be able to come a bit closer to its competitors' pricing.

Related Roundup: iPad mini
Buyer's Guide: iPad Mini (Buy Now)
Related Forum: iPad

AT&T today announced financial results for the third quarter of 2012, revealing that the carrier activated 4.7 million iPhones during the quarter, an increase of one million over the previous quarter as sales were buoyed by the iPhone 5 launch near the end of the period.

AT&T did not specifically break down iPhone 5 sales numbers, but did note that its overall postpaid sales numbers were impacted by "inventory constraints" on the device as Apple has struggled to keep up with demand.

att iphone sales 3q12
Notably, the 4.7 million iPhone activations represented roughly 77% of AT&T's total smartphone sales of 6.1 million during the quarter, showing that Apple continues to dominate AT&T's smartphone customer base. And with smartphones overall rising to account for 81% of AT&T's sales on a postpaid basis, the iPhone represented 62% of AT&T's sales of all phones (smartphones and feature phones) to those customers.

AT&T sold 6.1 million smartphones in the third quarter, 1.3 million more than in the third quarter a year ago. Smartphones represented 81 percent of postpaid device sales. At the end of the quarter, 63.8 percent, or 44.5 million, of AT&T's postpaid subscribers had smartphones, up from 52.6 percent, or 36.1 million, a year earlier and up 1.4 milion from the second quarter. [...]

In the quarter, the company activated 4.7 million iPhones, with 18 percent new to AT&T. The company also had its best-ever sales quarter for Android and Windows smartphones.

Verizon last week also announced healthy iPhone sales for the third quarter, although it too was impacted by supply constraints on the iPhone 5. Sprint will be the third and final major U.S. iPhone carrier to report earnings tomorrow morning, with Apple releasing its official numbers after the close of trading tomorrow.

Related Forum: iPhone

NewImageJohn Browett, Apple's retail vice president, has received the first vestment from his signing bonus of 100,000 restricted stock units (RSUs) according to a filing with the SEC. He was granted the first batch of 5,000 shares today with 2,159 shares being sold for tax withholding purposes.

Unlike options, restricted stock units do not require the recipient to purchase stock at an exercise price in order to receive the shares. The RSUs simply convert to actual shares on the vesting dates, although there are tax implications to the conversion that generally result in recipients immediately selling off at least some portion of their grants as they vest.

After withholding, Browett owns 2,841 shares of AAPL stock worth $1.74 million at current prices. He is due 95,000 more shares of stock worth some $58 million over the next 5 years, assuming continued employment.

The stock grants are bound to be controversial given the perceived missteps that Browett has made with Apple retail recently, with rumors of hour cutbacks and layoffs as well as an ongoing shift in Apple's retail store strategy to focus on profits rather than customer service.

Apple has posted the Jony Ive introduction video for the iPad mini. As is typical for Apple product launch events, the video gives a behind-the-scenes look at the development the iPad mini. Both Jony Ive and iPad product marketing head Michael Tchao make appearances.

If all that we had done was take the original iPad and just reduce it, all that you would be aware of was everything that was just missing. There is inherent loss in just reducing a product in size.

What we did, was we went back to the very beginning and we took the time to design a product that was a concentration of, and not a reduction of, the original. We felt strongly that 7.9 inches was exactly the right display size, but it became clear that we had to reduce the width of the borders. So, you can still pick it up and easily use it with one hand.

Apple has also posted a new television ad for the iPad mini that features colorful Smart Covers dancing around the screen. The ad is reminiscent of the 'Colors' iMac ad from 1999 that featured spinning iMacs set to the Rolling Stones song "She's A Rainbow".


Apple has posted a video of the iPad mini media event on its website. The video is also available on the Apple Keynotes Podcast on the iTunes Store. [Podcast links: Keynotes, Keynotes in HD, Keynotes in 1080p HD]

Other iPad mini special event highlights:

- Apple Introduces New 7.9-Inch iPad Mini Starting at $329
- Apple Announces Fourth-Generation iPad with Lightning Connector, New A6X Chip
- Apple Announces Lighter, Thinner iMac Models with Fusion Drive
- Apple Introduces 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display
- Apple Introduces New Mac Mini With Faster Processors and Quad-Core Option

- First Impressions and Hands On with iPad Mini
- Hands On with Apple's New 13-Inch Retina MacBook Pro

- Some Apple Retail Stores Offering 30-Day Window to Exchange iPads for New Model
- Apple's New 'Fusion Drive' Not a Typical Hybrid Drive
- iPad Mini Supports Siri, iPad 2 Still Doesn't
- Apple Devices to Support Many New International LTE Networks In Coming Months
- 21.5" iMac Has No User-Upgradable RAM; 27" Has Four Accessible RAM Slots
- Apple Announces Updated iBooks App With Continuous Scrolling
- Apple Updates iBooks Author with New Templates and Remote Update Feature

Today, Apple released a major update to Final Cut Pro X that was promised back in April. The initial launch of Final Cut Pro X was met with significant criticism due to a lack of many features found in earlier versions of the software. Apple responded to the concerns with promises of updates.

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In April, Apple even revealed many features that could be expected in Final Cut Pro X in 2012. These included Multichannel Audio Editing Tools, Dual Viewers, MXF Plug-in Support and RED camera support.

That version update was released today and includes a number of long awaited features:

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