The web app has more than 700,000 readers according to Reuters. The FT chose to develop an HTML5 app rather than a native iOS app because Apple takes a 30% cut of subscription revenue made through the App Store, and refuses to hand over all the personal data on customers who subscribe to publications -- data which is worth a lot of money to publishers.
FT.com Managing Director Rob Grimshaw told Reuters that the new Web-based app was drawing more traffic than the version that was sold through the App Store.
"People who are using the app are spending much more time with the content," he said. "They are consuming about three times as many pages through the app as they are through the desktop in an average visit."
The FT's Web-based mobile app accounts for 15 percent of FT.com subscriptions and 20 percent of total FT.com page views from mobile users, Grimshaw said.
The FT said that it was having no difficulty driving users to the mobile app, saying a simple message on the top of the FT's website has successfully driven traffic to the HTML5 app. "The world outside the App Store is not cold and desperate. Discovery is no problem at all."
NASA has released a collection of free sound files from its historical archives for use by space buffs as ringtones. The set includes sound clips from historic Apollo and Mercury missions, Sputnik's "beep beep beep", shuttle launch audio and more:
- Apollo 13's John "Jack" Swigert commenting "Houston, we have a problem" - Crackle of the historic last launch of the space shuttle, STS-135 - Segments from President John F. Kennedy's historic moon speech - Sound wave conversions of the light curve waves created by stars discovered by NASA's Kepler mission and other sounds of planets and stars
"NASA has been making historic sounds for over 50 years," said Jerry Colen, NASA App project manager at the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "Now we're making some of these memorable sounds easy to find and use."
The website includes both MP3 and iPhone native M4R formats, plus easy-to-follow instructions for installing the ringtones on the iPhone.
Apple is continuing to press toward an iCloud launch with a new beta seed of OS X 10.7.2 pushed out to developers today. The new seed, known as Build 11C62, comes six days after the previous seed.
Apple continues to list no known issues with the latest build, and has made no changes to its list of focus areas for testing, which include AddressBook, GraphicsDrivers, iCal, iChat, iCloud, Mac App Store, Mail, MobileMe, Safari, Spotlight, and Time Machine. As with the last several developer builds, iCloud functionality is integrated directly into OS X 10.7.2 instead of being offered as a separate download.
Apple is reportedly holding a media event to introduce the next-generation iPhone hardware and officially launch iOS 5 and iCloud. OS X 10.7.2 should arrive as a free update for OS X Lion users right as iCloud and the other hardware and software debut.
Apple has included what appears to be final release notes with this build:
The 10.7.2 update is recommended for all OS X Lion users and includes general operating system fixes that improve the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac. It also includes support for iCloud, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that automatically and wirelessly store your content on iCloud and push it to all of your devices. iCloud on OS X Lion includes the following features:
• iCloud stores your email, calendars, contacts, Safari bookmarks, and Safari Reading List and automatically pushes them to all your devices. • Back to My Mac provides remote access to your Mac from another Mac anywhere on the Internet. • Find My Mac helps find a missing Mac by locating it on a map and allows you to remotely lock the Mac or wipe all its data.
Getting started with iCloud is easy. After installing the update, OS X will automatically present an iCloud setup panel. Simply enter an existing Apple ID or create a new one and then follow the on screen instructions. To learn more about iCloud visit http://www.apple.com/icloud.
The 10.7.2 update also includes Safari 5.1.1 as well as fixes that:
• Allow reordering of desktop spaces and full screen apps in Mission Control. • Enable dragging files between desktop spaces and full screen apps. • Address an issue that causes the menu bar to not appear in full screen apps. • Improve the compatibility of Google contact syncing in Address Book. • Address an issue that causes Keynote to become temporarily unresponsive. • Improve VoiceOver compatibility with Launchpad. • Address an issue that causes a delay in accessing the network after waking from sleep. • Enable booting in to Lion Recovery from a locally attached Time Machine backup drive. • Resolve an issue that causes screen zoom to stop working. • Improve Active Directory integration.
For detailed information about Safari 5.1.1, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4922.
For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4767. For information on the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.
The knowledge base articles listed in the notes are not yet active, but it looks like Apple is putting the finishing touches on 10.7.2 for iCloud support that will be launched alongside iOS 5.
Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has been a constant critic of the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger, hammering the deal as bad for competition and bad for consumers. However, Hesse said yesterday that he isn't an opponent of all telecom mergers, but believes that the Department of Justice would view an alternate merger pair -- such as T-Mobile and Sprint, perhaps -- very differently.
However, if such a hypothetical deal were reached, “You could make a very, very strong argument” that the antitrust regulators would approve it, Hesse said. He said the hypothetical combination of of two value players could allow a strong competitor to Verizon Wireless and AT&T.
AT&T's head lobbyist, Jim Cicconi, AT&T Senior Executive Vice President, External and Legislative Affairs had harsh words for Hesse in response:
Yesterday, the CEO of Sprint said the Department of Justice should block AT&T from merging with T-Mobile, but would have good reasons to instead allow Sprint to purchase them. For months Sprint has spoken disingenuously about their motives for opposing AT&T's merger with T-Mobile. Now, Mr. Hesse's public musings have made their motives much more clear. That they would act in their own economic interest is not surprising. That they would expect the United States Government to be a willing partner certainly is.
A federal judge set a mid-February 2012 trial date to hear the Department of Justice's arguments for blocking the merger, but denied Sprint's request to join the DoJ's suit.
Dan Hesse and Sprint have a poor track record regarding large mergers. When Sprint and Nextel merged in 2005, the companies said the value of the merged company would be $70 billion. Today, Sprint's market cap is just over $9 billion.
Sprint's stock price is down more than 80% since Dan Hesse took over as CEO in December 2007.
Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam spoke out strongly in favor of AT&T's proposed merger with T-Mobile on Wednesday. The merger has been challenged in two separate lawsuits by the Department of Justice and Sprint.
McAdam, at an investor conference, said the AT&T/T-Mobile "match had to occur" because spectrum is such a valuable commodity. AT&T has proclaimed the need for increased spectrum as the primary benefit behind the merger, saying "planned combination with T-Mobile by far the surest, fastest, and most efficient solution to the spectrum and capacity challenges we face."
“I have taken the position that the AT&T merger with T-Mobile was kind of like gravity,” McAdam told investors. “It had to occur, because you had a company with a T-Mobile that had the spectrum but didn’t have the capital to build it out. AT&T needed the spectrum, they didn’t have it in order to take care of their customers, and so that match had to occur.” The CEO continued, noting that he has told the Federal Communications Commission and other government officials that blocking AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile without providing a solution to the current spectrum crunch will ultimately harm American consumers.
While all the focus has been on potential iPhone 5 cases, @Chronicwire posts new images of Otterbox case boxes specifically labeled for the "iPhone 4S". He goes on to claim that Otterbox has produced 3,000,000 cases for the "iPhone 4S".
While chronic does not have photos of the actual case, the rear of the box curiously appears to show the volume buttons on the right side of the device above the SIM-card slot rather than on the left as in the iPhone 4. But part leaks for the iPhone 4S have not revealed such a change, so it is unclear which is the correct depiction of the forthcoming device.
Meanwhile, BGR had claimed that AT&T stores have already refreshed iPhone 4 cases with a change in the back opening for the camera. BGR initially speculated that the cases could be for a camera sensor that may have been changed for the rumored 8-megapixel camera in the iPhone 4S. But in an update to the post, BGR notes that multiple people have indicated that the new cases are simply a revision of the existing iPhone 4 cases to address issues with LED flash performance.
Earlier this month, we received an unconfirmed tip that at least one Apple store received a batch of iPhone 4 bumper cases that didn't fit quite right. Customer returns had suggested the bumpers were a tighter fit with some slight button alignment issues. The tipster had suggested that this may have been an early batch of modified cases, but we had heard no similar reports.
Apple is planning to release a new iPhone in October, but there have been conflicting rumors about what models they are planning to introduce. A recent report suggested that Apple would only be releasing a slightly modified iPhone 4-like device (dubbed "iPhone 4S") rather than a more dramatically redesigned iPhone 5.
Update: As several posters have pointed out the boxes for Otterbox's existing iPhone 4 case similarly show the buttons on the right side of the device, suggesting that the placement in the illustration was simply a means to show both the volume buttons and SIM-card slot in a single cutaway photo of the case.
Investment research firm UBS today issued a report highlighting retention rates for smartphone users, judging consumer loyalty based on whether they plan to make their next purchase from the same manufacturer as their current handset. According to the worldwide survey, 89% of iPhone users report that they will purchase another iPhone.
No other manufacturer topped a 40% retention rate in the survey, with HTC taking second place at 40%. Android as a whole has a planned retention rate of about 55% according to the survey, indicating that while many current users of Android handsets are planning to switch manufacturers, a fair number of them do intend to stay with Android. But 31% of surveyed Android users report intending to switch to the iPhone for their next device, with over 50% of the total "switchers" planning to move to Apple from another manufacturer as only about 10% of switchers are moving away from Apple.
Research in Motion has experienced a steep drop in retention rate, with only 33% of current BlackBerry users planning to purchase another BlackBerry, down from 62% a year and a half ago. In contrast, Apple's retention has fallen only 6 percentage points over that time in the face of strong competition from Android.
CNET reports that Apple is piloting a new program at its San Francisco flagship retail store, allowing store employees to check out loaner iPads for up to a week. The program is an additional perk to satisfy its employees and provides them with more hands-on time with the device to help them better assist customers.
The program, which one source described as a "pilot," lets employees borrow from a stock of loaner devices. Employees can then use the device freely for one week before having to return it to the store, allowing for others to use it.
At the moment, the loaner program is only in use at Apple's flagship store in San Francisco, and it's unclear whether it will it will make its way to other stores, or include other products.
Meanwhile, Fortune reports that Apple has wrapped up a drive to allow users to donate their used iPads to the Teach for America program. Launched earlier this year with the debut of the iPad 2, the program allowed Apple to provide each of the over 9,000 members of the Teach for America program with a free first-generation iPad.
Teach for America window display at Apple retail store (Source: SME Branding)
The report notes that Steve Jobs' wife, Laurene Powell, is on the board of directors of Teach for America, offering a personal connection to the initiative. Apple has also promoted the iPad and Teach for America in its retail stores with large window displays.
Bloomberg reports that Taiwanese company VIA Technologies has filed a patent lawsuit against Apple, alleging infringement by the processors used in Apple's mobile devices.
Via, a semiconductor maker based in Taipei, seeks a jury trial and an order to prohibit Cupertino, California-based Apple from selling products containing the inventions in the U.S., according to a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware.
“The products at issue generally concern microprocessors included in a variety of electronic products such as certain smartphones, tablet computers, portable media players and other computing devices,” Via said in the complaint.
The patent lawsuit is clearly targeting Apple's custom ARM-based A4 and A5 processors used in its recent iOS devices, as the filings name the following devices as being addressed by the complaint: iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 4, iPhone 4 CDMA, iPod touch 4th generation, and Apple TV 2nd generation.
VIA had previously been part of a joint venture behind S3 Graphics, which won a U.S. International Trade Commission judgment against Apple several months ago in a separate complaint, but sold the company to HTC just days after that victory.
Gartner's projections of worldwide tablet sales to end users (thousands of units)
Research firm Gartner today released updated sales estimates for the tablet market, noting that a lack of momentum from competing products will give Apple's iPad "free run" through the lucrative holiday shopping period. Looking out over the longer term, Gartner sees Apple maintaining a majority share of the tablet market through 2014 even as Microsoft's Windows 8 and Research in Motion's QNX platforms are expected to gain some traction.
“We expect Apple to maintain a market share lead throughout our forecast period by commanding more than 50 percent of the market until 2014,” Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner. “This is because Apple delivers a superior and unified user experience across its hardware, software and services. Unless competitors can respond with a similar approach, challenges to Apple’s position will be minimal. Apple had the foresight to create this market and in doing that planned for it as far as component supplies such as memory and screen. This allowed Apple to bring the iPad out at a very competitive price and no compromise in experience among the different models that offer storage and connectivity options.”
Gartner has pared back its estimates for Android tablet sales in 2011 by 28% over last quarter's projections, identifying extremely weak adoption due to high prices, user interface issues, and limited app offerings. Only some success in low-cost Asian markets and strong expectations for Amazon's forthcoming tablet kept Gartner from slashing projected Android device sales even further.
Android is expected to see stronger growth heading into next year as Google pushes out its next-generation "Ice Cream Sandwich" release of Android and works to address fragmentation throughout the Android ecosystem. Gartner's sales projections do not, however, see Android tablets catching up to the iPad by the end of the forecast period of 2015.
Apple opened the new Hong Kong retail store to the press, providing the first look inside the massive new two level store. NeonPunch provided this video walkthrough (and photo gallery), and reports that Apple has hired over 300 employees to work at the store. The new store is also complete with a spiral glass staircase in the center.
Meanwhile, MICGadget reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook is rumored to be making the trip to Hong Kong to attend the opening ceremony. The new Hong Kong store will be opening on Saturday, September 24th at 9am. The report also suggests that Cook may attend the grand opening of the Nanjing East store in Shanghai. Cook's travel schedule may explain the unusual Friday opening for the Nanjing East store.
Marketwatch reports that KDI Corp will be selling the next generation iPhone come October, likely alongside rival Softbank, who had enjoyed exclusivity up until now.
In a blow for the Japanese cell phone carrier's rival, Apple and KDDI have already entered into a sales pact for the new phone, Nikkei Business said, citing sources close to the matter.
KDDI will reportedly making preparations for the "iPhone 5" at its shops throughout the country around November.
According to an analyst quoted in the article, customers will welcome the expansion as "Softbank's telecommunications quality lags other carriers" in Japan.
According to Digitimes, Apple is continuing to diversify its suppliers and moving away from its dependance on Samsung:
Apple has increased its purchases of DRAM and NAND flash from Japan, according to industry sources, adding that Toshiba and Elpida Memory are being pinpointed as beneficiaries of the increased procurement.
Apple and Samsung have been in increasingly escalating legal battles over patent claims concerning Apple's iOS devices and Samsung's Galaxy line These lawsuits are said to be the reason for Apple's shifting of suppliers. Apple had previously been reported to have moved from Samsung to TSMC for production of the A6 processor in 2012. Meanwhile, Samsung has even threatened to sue Apple over the iPhone 5 once it is released.
Apple had quickly become Samsung's biggest customer with contracts for over $7.8 billion in parts in 2011. Apple seems to be doing its best to shift those contracts to Samsung's competitors over the next year.
Update: Reuters reports that Samsung has announced a $10 billion investment in a new flash memory production line, hoping to increase its share of the market and lower its own costs. Samsung will take approximately nine months to get the new line fully up and running.
SprintFeed reports that Sprint will be limiting its mobile hotspot plans to 5GB of data as of October 2nd -- only days ahead of the rumored iPhone 4S/5 launch.
Bloomberg had reported that Sprint would finally be getting the next generation iPhone when it launches in October. Sprint is expected to provide unlimited data plans for the new iPhone and will be the only U.S. provider to offer such a plan. Both AT&T and Verizon originally offered the iPhone with unlimited mobile data, but later transitioned to tiered plans of limited data.
Sprint will still offer "unlimited" for those using data on-device, but for those who purchase the additional $29.99/mo hotspot plans will be limited to 5GB of data a month. Mobile Hotspot plans allow users to tether their iPhone to their laptops and share their mobile internet connection. This is presumably to prevent individuals from consuming large amounts of data through their laptops. Sprint's on-device mobile plan appears as if it will remain unlimited for the time being.
Publications participating in Apple's Newsstand feature, coming this fall in iOS 5, will only be able to update their issues once per day, according to documents obtained by AppAdvice.
The background downloading feature of Newsstand is interestingly handled by push notifications. That is, when new content is ready, the developer can, once a day, send a push notification to your device with special data, and your iDevice will then (if it’s ready to do so, battery and connection-wise) start downloading new content in the background.
The ability to only update once per day is a curious decision, as it seems publishers will not be able to automatically update their pubs to reflect breaking news or publish corrections as they currently can via a website or dedicated app.
This isn't a huge deal for weekly or monthly print publications which are used to having deadlines before closing the book on an edition. But for daily newspapers, who are getting into the habit of updating a newspaper webpage dozens of times a day, it may present some difficulties. Oddly, digital technologies like the iPad have pushed publications towards an "up-to-the-minute" news cycle, but Newsstand seems to be going back to a more traditional "once-a-day" publishing model.
As with all Apple's content efforts, getting publishers on board isn't going as smoothly as the company would hope. Eight French publications are banding together to negotiate with Apple regarding Newsstand access, with concerns over the 30% cut in revenue that Apple traditionally takes, and access to customer data.
Update: Some readers on Twitter have cleared up the situation slightly. @Xonder notes that "Newsstand apps can only update once a day __In the background__. Once the app is launched, it can update all the time."
@BenjaminZAMayo says users will be notified of important updates and breaking news "as they do at the moment - [with] push notifications," but without automatic downloads.
BGR reports on a new research note from Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair, who claims that Apple will be introducing only one new iPhone model, the so-called "iPhone 4S", at its October 4th media event. The claim runs contrary to some other recent rumors that Apple will be introducing both an iPhone 4S and a redesigned iPhone 5, but agrees with other analysts who have seen no sign of a redesigned iPhone 5 coming through Apple's supply chain.
“We expect the focus of the new iPhone will be iOS 5, a speedier A5 processor and a higher resolution 8 MP camera with a small possibility of a larger 4 inch screen,” Blair wrote. “We believe the casing will be largely similar to the iPhone with some particular modifications to the antennae [sic]. We don’t expect a second, dramatically different iPhone to accompany this as we don’t think Apple needs to have 3 models in the market to address the high end, mid-tier and low end since the iPhone 4 (with memory lowered to 8 GB) will drop to $99 and effectively attack those markets.”
The complete lack of parts evidence for a redesigned iPhone 5 has led to serious questions about the potential for such a device being launched this fall, and with the iPhone 4S having been seen sporting an A5 processor it seems possible Apple may be planning only the iPhone 4S as its next-generation iPhone model.
According to The Next Web, Apple board member Al Gore today claimed that Apple will be releasing "new iPhones" next month, making the first such public comment on Apple's next-generation iPhone release plans from anyone closely connected to the company.
Gore's use of the plural "iPhones" is naturally sparking speculation that Apple may indeed be planning to launch both a redesigned iPhone 5 and a more modest "iPhone 4S" based on the current iPhone 4 design.
We’ve been informed by Toby Shapshak, the editor of Stuff Magazine in South Africa that is attending the conference, that his quote was specifically: “Not to mention the new iPhones coming out next month. That was a plug.”
Shapshak says that the statement was definitely plural, although it wasn’t clear whether that meant two different models, as the statement was not clarified in any way by Gore.
It's not entirely clear just how familiar Gore would be with exact details of the next iPhone, as most boards of directors are more concerned with broader issues such as establishing corporate policy frameworks and objectives, monitoring financial performance, and representing shareholder interests. But Gore certainly could have knowledge of Apple's general timeframe for such a major product launch.
Meanwhile, Electronista and Reuters report that Sprint CEO Dan Hesse danced around the topic of the iPhone at a Goldman Sachs investor conference today, noting that the company's financial guidance does not take the device into account and would have to be adjusted if the carrier were to begin offering the iPhone.
Hesse also cited the iPhone as the number one reason customers have left Sprint, noting that the carrier has added subscribers over the past two quarters in spite of its disadvantage against iPhone-offering rivals AT&T and Verizon.
Calls made using Apple's video chat program, FaceTime, are encrypted end-to-end and -- with the right setup -- are HIPAA compliant, according to a statement from the company obtained by ZDNet.
This matters because any products for healthcare purchased with federal funds must be HIPAA-compliant. HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was a large health-care bill passed in 1996, that, among other things, instituted wide requirements and guidelines surrounding patient privacy and confidentiality.
Keeping Protected Health Information, or PHI, safe and secure is essential for healthcare providers and FaceTime meeting those requirements allows hospitals to not only purchase iPads with federal funds, but it allows doctors to use FaceTime to confer with colleagues about patient issues and to talk directly to patients remotely.
However, to be truly compliant, hospitals need to have the proper wireless network. The WEP encryption protocol isn't strong enough and Apple recommends WPA2 Enterprise for secure communications:
iPad supports WPA2 Enterprise to provide authenticated access to your enterprise wireless network. WPA2 Enterprise uses 128-bit AES encryption, giving users the highest level of assurance that their data will remain protected when they send and receive communications over a Wi-Fi network connection.
In addition to your existing infrastructure each FaceTime session is encrypted end to end with unique session keys. Apple creates a unique ID for each FaceTime user, ensuring FaceTime calls are routed and connected properly.
FaceTime is available on the iPhone 4, iPad 2, fourth generation iPod touch and Macs running Snow Leopard and Lion. Video chats are available between any and all of these devices.
Apple has aggressively promoted the feature since it was released.
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more. Developer beta available now ahead of public beta in July.
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more. Developer beta available now ahead of public beta in July.
The Financial Times reports its web app, launched this past June, has more readers than the version sold on the App Store, which has since been removed.
NASA has released a 
Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam spoke out strongly in favor of AT&T's proposed merger with T-Mobile on Wednesday. The merger has been challenged in two separate lawsuits by the Department of Justice and Sprint.
