An Apple TV - minus the box?

The rumour mill is exploding after a report is claiming that Apple is in negotiations to purchase German television manufacturer Loewe, fuelling speculation that this purchase could be used to make the long-awaited and much-hyped Apple TV.

According to AppleInisder, citing anonymous sources, Apple is offering 87.3 million euros for the company, which is apparently a tiny premium on its market cap of 58.79 million euros (based on the last closing share price). The company, started in 1929 and known for being a premium manufacturer of televisions, has workers across 50 countries but produces its sets in Germany.

The report also claims that a final decision will be made by the end of this week.

The last major hardware buys was P.A. Semi and Intrinsity – both semiconductor manufacturers which were used for their Apple A4 and A5 chips. So buying a company to help build hardware for its products isn’t un-Apple like for them.

It’s also a bit interesting since Loewe’s largest stakeholder is Sharp – which is also rumoured to be helping Foxconn to build a television set for Apple. So, could we see a closer partnership between Sharp and Apple to perfect the much-rumoured Apple HDTV?

It’s all speculation, and rumour – so don’t get your hopes up just yet.

Apple has quietly removed any mention of 4G’s support on the iPad in its promotional material and in its store in several countries, including Australia, after regulators complained that suggesting that it has the feature when it doesn’t even work in the country is a tad misleading.

It has replaced the name of its ‘Wi-Fi + 4G’ model to the ‘Wi-Fi + Cellular’. In Australia, it has also made sure to say that “It is not compatible with current 4G LTE networks and WiMAX networks”. The move is more likely to appease consumer watchdog bodies Australia’s ACCC and UK’s Advertisement Standards Authority – with the ACCC already having a legal battle over its use of 4G in promotional material.

It is in fact true that the iPad does support 4G. However, it only supports the bands that Verizon, AT&T and some Canadian mobile operators have chosen to serve 4G through. It does not support ones used in Europe and Australia – meaning that both Optus and Telstra will not be able to push through their 4G services through the iPad (unless you use methods to work around that problem, such as creating a Wi-Fi hotspot).

But 4G is such a tricky term to grapple around – there are two definitions, a more technical definition and a marketing definition. Australia’s LTE networks, and most 4G networks around the world, do not fit within the technical definition of 4G, outlined by an international body called the ITU. However, marketing it as 4G is allowed because no one decided to follow the ITU’s more strict definition on what 4G services are.

According to ZDNet Australia, the ACCC’s case against Apple is to go ahead next month, but it could be Apple’s way in trying to settle out of court.

Get ready to hear some Apple fanboy rage. CEO and founder of security vendor Kaspersky Labs, Eugene Kaspersky, has said that Apple’s security for its Mac OS X operating system is ten years behind Microsoft’s Windows.

“I think they [Apple] are ten years behind Microsoft in terms of security,” Kaspersky said in an interview with CBR. “For many years I’ve been saying that from a security point of view there is no big difference between Mac and Windows. It’s always been possible to develop Mac malware, but this one was a bit different.”

The comments come after the well-known Flashback malware outbreak, which had infected 650,000 computers at its peak. Apple was pointed out by many as, despite being a Java (owned by Oracle) exploit, it has full control of how Java is patched. It also is notorious in delaying key patches by months. When it was already released for Mac, Windows and Linux users were already patched.

He notes that Apple is entering what Microsoft previously had to go through ten years ago, when malware and virus infection became a major problem – especially with Windows XP. Now, Microsoft’s security has pretty much improved.

“They will understand very soon that they have the same problems Microsoft had ten or 12 years ago. They will have to make changes in terms of the cycle of updates and so on and will be forced to invest more into their security audits for the software,” Kaspersky said.

Kaspersky also added that he expects to see more malware targeting Mac OS X as cyber-criminals “learn from success and this [Flashback] was the first successful one”.

It looks like the idea that Macs are more safer than PCs has been utterly destroyed by the Flashback malware and the ensuing debacle on how to patch the system. Especially as since more and more malware writers are now targeting the PC, to some success.

Instagram was previously an iOS exclusive application, before it expanded to Android. And that is why you see crazy hipsters complaining and repulsed by the fact that their precious little app is now allowing people from a rival platform. So, in droves, many started to leave – and now you can add one high-profile person to the list.

Jesus Christ! What has the world become.

I guess I now have a reason to complain if, I don’t know, a Zune app is offered on Android or even on iOS – because that’s an exclusive app to Windows Phone 7. I don’t want those dirty iPhone and Android users accessing the same content and have the same features on my Nokia Lumia 800.

Image and story via: 9to5Mac

The iPad 3 display. What some might say is the defining feature of the third generation Apple tablet. It may be one of the main features of this latest edition to Apple’s product line, but is it any good? Can it be classified as revolutionary?

Before I start proving my point, let us just define “revolutionary.”

revolutionary: refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society

Personally, the new display in the iPad 3, isn’t revolutionary. It just isn’t. It isn’t a “major, sudden impact on society.” Before you confuse me for a hater, I do like the new display. Things on it, look great. Especially text rendering, text even when zoomed up to 30x-40x it’s original size, looks great.

This display is a really nice addition to the iPad line, one which was needed after the iPhone 4 received its high resolution display. Apple’s engineers have done a good job of fitting a display that has this high resolution, into a device which is smaller than an A4 piece of paper. All whilst maintaining the 10 hours battery life.

This is all well and good, but this update to the iPad was rumoured and almost expected to come a whole year earlier, with the iPad 2.

It started to get to the point where people may start to accuse Apple of neglecting the iPad, if they didn’t update the display. This is hardly the definition of a revolution. I remember the morning after the iPad 3 announcement, feeling quite under-whelmed by the whole ordeal. This display update was rumoured for several months before the announcement, hence that feeling when nothing else, apart from faster graphics were announced.

On the other hand, when the iPhone 4 was announced, the ‘retina’ display was revolutionary. It lead to Apple’s competition, revamping their phones to include higher resolution, better looking screens. Apple is definitely a big trend setter in this regard, where they have other manufacturers chasing to catch up to them. But I’m sorry, I just don’t find this resolution bump in the iPad, revolutionary.

Note: this can also be found on Tom’s personal blog here.

Image: jikatsu/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Philippe Starck, who is a well known product designer – designing hotel and restaurant interiors, and apparently some hard drive enclosures for LaCie – has said that he has been working with Apple to create something “revolutionary”. Is this the supposed Apple TV – the one that actually is a TV, not its current incarnation? Or possibly a new iPhone?

Don’t get your hopes up just yet. We don’t know. Seriously, we don’t know.

And if it was so “revolutionary” as he claims – then it won’t be an iPhone 5 6 mainly because the iPhone was a revolutionary product. You can only reinvent the phone so many times – and unless it manages to incorporate holograms that don’t look as crummy as CNN’s one back in 2008, then it’s not that revolutionary.

According to news wire AFP, he also says that the company is planning to release this just in time for Christmas. Telling radio station France Info (before declining to comment even further), “Indeed, we have a big project together that will be out in eight months.”

It’s most likely not going to be a gadget, but possibly could be a new Apple Store experience. The Verge is hinting at a possibility of something to do with its spaceship-like campus – but it most likely won’t be since the ‘before Christmas’ vibe to it. Plus, realistically, how hard is it to make a building before Christmas. (Well, maybe a concept design)

Germans won’t be getting push email anytime soon with Apple’s appeal to the Mannheim regional court failed. The court basically sided with Motorola Mobility, and agreed with an earlier decision that saw the company forced to remove the service in Germany earlier in February.

The court also is forcing Apple to pay damages to Motorola Mobility (and indirectly Google, since now they own the company), but the exact amount has not been revealed by the courts, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

This ban applies to all iOS users “within the borders of Germany”, according to its support page that also offers a workaround – which is basically setting it to get emails at a set interval of time (like every minute or five). However, all other push email services including Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync are unaffected by this ban.

Motorola, however, is having problems of its own. According to The Next Web, the company is being investigated by the European Commission to see if it was abusing its standard-essential patents (or really, really, really important technologies) to hamper competition with rivals. Both Apple and Microsoft filed complaints saying that Motorola was not offering a ‘fair price’ as part of the EU’s Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) policy.

Another Android manufacturer, Samsung, is also being probed by the EU with the same reasoning.

The case dealing with Motorola’s communications standards – which is also the heart of the European Commission’s case – was adjourned by the court with the judge not saying when he will issue a decision.

The entire Apple blogging community is going nuts with the fact that the Apple Store is down – and what got people in a frenzy was the fact that there is a new design for the Apple Store’s downtime page. OMG! Yes, you can obviously tell I have such an interest in this non-news story. Most likely there’s a new design being pushed out?

Meh.

via MacRumors

Apple must have been tinkering with their website, because now the normal Australian site is back up. This morning, the Beatles announcement page was up, in place of the normal site. But now, order has been restored. Phew.

Well, well, well. Apple has taken down it’s Australian site to make space for an announcement regarding an iTunes update. According to Apple, tomorrow will be a day we will never forget. It will be interesting to see what this update will entail, new features being introduced, and maybe a new logo (well we haven’t forgotten that update). If I have done my maths correctly, this unforgettable update will go live at midnight tonight.

What do you people think will happen? Leave a comment below!

Image: Rego Korosi/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Since its initial inception, the iPad has been the poster child for the tablet market, representing the gold standard for tablet perfection on basically every facet. The iPad’s software is unrivalled; it’s hardware, exquisite; and the marriage between the two, a couple that was always meant to be.

In the face of stiff competition, the iPad is still by far the dominant force in the tablet market. Apple managed to not only detonate the entire of HP’s mobile strategy, but forced RIM and Google into a fear-fuelled frenzy, making them deliver imperfect products hurriedly in the pure fear of getting into what Apple hyped as a potentially industry-changing market far too late. The result being the absolute mess that was Honeycomb, and the incomplete hodgepodge that is Playbook OS.

Some journalists and pundits are signalling this dominance to be a repeat of the iPod situation, where more than a decade later Apple still holds the portable media player crown with a whopping 78% market share.

But, no. That won’t be the case. The iPad isn’t going to pull off an iPod, it will follow the path of the iPhone, and Google (we won’t count out RIM either) is going to gradually devour the iPad’s market share until the two reach somewhat of a parity.

There’s nothing scientific about the iPod’s sustained dominance in the MP3 player market, it simply boils down to two crucial points: competing manufacturers didn’t have the double edged sword that Apple possessed in both the content store and the actual hardware product; and secondly, back when the iPod (before the iPhone) was immensely relevant, the majority of Apple’s consumer had no consumer lock-in obligations.

The former point is fairly self-explanatory, the combined prowess of both the iPod and the iTunes store is a compelling proposition, particularly when none of Apple’s competitors could even match the hardware in the first place. And even though we like to discount iTunes for bloatware, it’s nice to have a cohesive media management and syncing platform.

The crux however is in the second point. In the pre-iPhone era, Android hardly existed and was completely non-existent on the consumer radar. The likes of Blackberry and Windows Mobile were the dominant smartphone forces of the day, but the general ‘App Store’ and ecosystem concepts were hardly engrained in the products. Cross-device integration was minimal, there was no consumer lock-in to keep consumers invested in the products of a particular company.

Had Microsoft played it smarter, Zune could have kicked off, or at least been more successful than it ended up being. But since the Zune and Windows Mobile were so sparsely contended in both their product and approach, a Windows Mobile user in the market for an MP3 player wouldn’t be at any advantage picking a Microsoft Zune over an Apple iPod.

Since competitors weren’t in a position to play the consumer lock-in card, the iPod was a pure and simple no-brainer.

But the playing field is different today, not only does Google hold a large market share in the smartphone industry with its Android operating system, like Apple, there’s an ecosystem behind it — a reason for existing citizens to never move out.

Why would you pay for the same app twice when you only need to pay for it once? If a user has invested in Google Music, they’d be out of their mind to not extend that service onto an Android tablet.

Android tablets are far from perfect, and stacked against the iPad they’re simply far too inconsistent. But Google’s ecosystem is enough of a value add to many existing Android smartphone consumers to consider an Android tablet and subsequently buy Google time – enough time before they start shipping Ice Cream Sandwich on tablets in bucket-loads. ICS, like every other tablet OS is still no iPad, but it’s certainly progressed to the point that it doesn’t seem like a joke.

Using Honeycomb for the first time it was hard deciding whether to laugh or puke. I’m sure the team at Apple was tempted to do both.

Google also has the trump card of versatility and choice under their belt. Having so many different devices congregated under a cohesive umbrella is a big plus for Google and consumers. One reason why the iPod never even came close to being dethroned was the fact that its competitors were so sparse, as if diluting one another into irrelevance.

Even though the Android manufacturers are warring against one another, collectively they are a powerful army with a level of versatility that Apple simply can’t beat, especially with one device, even two.

Google, through the exploitation of desperate OEMs has the flexibility to penetrate the low end market with budget devices, has the flexibility to deliver niche features for niche consumers that Apple can’t and has the power to give its consumers the flexibility to change devices without ever switching ecosystems.

Apple’s business model can’t compete with that.

A repeat of the iPod situation is simply an impossibility given the dynamics of the industry today. Apple won’t fail to pull off an iPhone though – losing the market share race but raking in immense profit share – the bottom line’s just as important.

Just weeks after announcing OS X Mountain Lion, Apple has revealed OS X Nyan. While this new version has the same features as the yet-to-be-released upgrade of Mountain Lion, Nyan sports a brand new look, with Nyan cat wallpaper and soon a fully reskinned OS X experience. While the design isn’t finished, Apple has released a version with the new features and a wallpaper which may or may not be changed in final release.

The new version will continue to merge Apple’s apps and features from the iPad/iPhone to your Mac, such as Messages, Notes, Reminders, Game Center, Notification Center, Twitter integration and AirPlay Mirroring. More features include a rainbow dock, rainbow top-bar, and rainbow themes for iLife, iWork and other software, such as iTunes. It’s insane, but also a reminder that Apple’s design is foward-thinking.

Tim Cook told The Verge that criticism for the new version of OS X is “just unfair” and that it will “not be changing anything.”

He also stated that “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye”

The beta will be available via the Mac Developer Program from today, while it has a set release date for Summer 2012. It’s exciting to see that Apple can do no wrong. We love it. 5/5 Will buy again.

The full press release can be found below:

Apple Releases OS X Nyan Developer Preview with Over 100 New Features

CUPERTINO, California—April 1, 2012—Apple® today released a developer preview of OS X® Nyan, the ninth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system, which brings popular apps and features from iPad® to the Mac® and accelerates the pace of OS X innovation. Nyan introduces Messages, Notes, Reminders and Game Center to the Mac, as well as Notification Center, Share Sheets, Twitter integration and AirPlay® Mirroring. Nyan is the first OS X release built with iCloud® in mind for easy setup and integration with apps. The developer preview of Nyan also introduces Gatekeeper, a revolutionary security feature that helps keep you safe from malicious software by giving you complete control over what apps are installed on your Mac. The preview release of Nyan is available to Mac Developer Program members starting today. Mac users will be able to upgrade to Nyan from the Mac App Store™ in late summer 2012.

“The Mac is on a roll, growing faster than the PC for 23 straight quarters, and with Nyan things get even better,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The developer preview of Nyan comes just seven months after the incredibly successful release of Lion and sets a rapid pace of development for the world’s most advanced personal computer operating system.”

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”

The developer preview of Nyan features the all new Messages app which replaces iChat® and allows you to send unlimited messages, high-quality photos and videos directly from your Mac to another Mac or iOS device. Messages will continue to support AIM, Jabber, Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk. Starting today Lion users can download a beta of Messages from www.apple.com, and the final version will be available with Nyan. Reminders and Notes help you create and track your to-dos across all your devices. Game Center lets you personalize your Mac gaming experience, find new games and challenge friends to play live multiplayer games, whether they’re on a Mac, iPhone®, iPad or iPod touch®.

Nyan presents notifications in an elegant new way, and Notification Center provides easy access to alerts from Mail, Calendar, Messages, Reminders, system updates and third party apps. System-wide Share Sheets make it easy to share links, photos and videos directly from Apple and third party apps. Twitter is integrated throughout Nyan so you can sign on once and tweet directly from Safari®, Quick Look, Photo Booth®, Preview and third party apps. Nyan also introduces AirPlay Mirroring, an easy way to wirelessly send a secure 720p video stream of what’s on your Mac to an HDTV using Apple TV®.

More than 100 million users have iCloud accounts, and Nyan makes it easier than ever to set up iCloud and access documents across your devices. Nyan uses your Apple ID to automatically set up Contacts, Mail, Calendar, Messages, FaceTime® and Find My Mac. The new iCloud Documents pushes any changes to all your devices so documents are always up to date, and a new API helps developers make document-based apps work with iCloud.

Gatekeeper is a revolutionary new security feature that gives you control over which apps can be downloaded and installed on your Mac. You can choose to install apps from any source, just as you do on a Mac today, or you can use the safer default setting to install apps from the Mac App Store, along with apps from developers that have a unique Developer ID from Apple. For maximum security, you can set Gatekeeper to only allow apps from the Mac App Store to be downloaded and installed.

Nyan also has features specifically designed to support Chinese users, including significant enhancements to the Chinese input method and the option to select Baidu search in Safari. Nyan makes it easy to set up Contacts, Mail and Calendar with top email service providers QQ, 126 and 163. Chinese users can also upload video via Share Sheets directly to leading video websites Youku and Tudou, and system-wide support for Sina weibo makes microblogging easy.

Hundreds of new APIs give developers access to new core technologies and enhanced features within OS X. The Game Kit APIs tap into the same services as Game Center on iOS, making it possible to create multiplayer games that work across Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. A new graphics infrastructure underpins OpenGL and OpenCL and implements GLKit, first introduced in iOS 5, to make it easier to create OpenGL apps. Using Core Animation in Cocoa apps is easier than ever, and new video APIs deliver modern 64-bit replacements for low-level QuickTime APIs. Enhanced Multi-Touch™ APIs give developers double-tap zoom support and access to the system-wide lookup gesture. Kernel ASLR improves security through enhanced mitigation against buffer overflow attacks.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

Australia might not be the only country having issues with the new iPad’s claim that it will have 4G, despite the fact that it doesn’t have it anywhere in the world except for the US and Canada (which we have explained before). European regulators are starting to take notice with such claims as well.

Pocket-lint is reporting that the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority have confirmed to them that they are assessing similar complaints from UK customers – though have not confirmed that they will launch any action against those claims.

“We are aware of the news from Australia regarding the iPad 4G marketing claim,” a spokeswoman told the site. “Without going through due process we can’t say whether the (UK) ad is likely to be problematic.”

The Wall Street Journal is also noting that the Swedish Consumer Agency is also considering launching their own investigation. “One may rightfully ask if the marketing of the new iPad is misleading,” Marek Andersson, a lawyer for the agency, told the paper. “The question is whether this information is clear enough in Apple’s marketing.”

The ACCC has already launched legal action, with Apple announcing that it will offer refunds to people who felt that they were misled thinking that they would be able to connect to a 4G network (namely, Telstra’s network).

via MacRumors

Apple has today claimed that Australia’s 3G networks are actually 4G networks if compared to international standards, and that our carriers have simply mislabelled them. And while we may ponder what was in their lawyer’s head when he made that statement, the 4G issue is, well, really complicated.

First, let’s explore what each carrier uses. At a base level, all carriers support UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) as their 3G standard. That standard is not deemed by the International Telecommunications Union – the peak international body – to be a 4G standard.

Telstra has also implemented the HSPA+ standard in some of its towers – and here is where we get to the tricky part.

HSPA+ is not officially recognised by the ITU as a 4G standard – so, win for the ACCC.

However, the ITU has pretty much opened up the definition of what 4G (all for the ‘sake of the consumer’) which allows carriers to promote it as a 4G network – like AT&T.

Saying in a statement:

As the most advanced technologies currently defined for global wireless mobile broadband communications, IMT-Advanced is considered as “4G”, although it is recognized that this term, while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMax, and to other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed.

Translation: HSPA+, LTE and WiMax are allowed to be promoted as ’4G’ despite the fact that the ITU will not recognise them as such.

But, wait? LTE and WiMax? Aren’t they 4G standards?

Well, no. The official definition of 4G, as set out by the ITU themselves, basically ruled out LTE and WiMax as ‘official’ 4G standards. This was because they did not meet the peak speed requirements of 1 gigabit/second speeds for “low mobility communication” (or, in other words, the speed you get if you were standing on the sidewalk and sending a simple Twitter message).

And the ITU was pretty strict on its definition on what should be called 4G, until it realised that every mobile operator – especially with Verizon, AT&T and Sprint – and every mobile phone manufacturer was going to ignore it for ‘marketing’. And hence, the much looser definition – meaning that the mobile operators can market LTE, HSPA+ and WiMax as a 4G network, despite the fact that the ITU will simply ignore it.

This also means that Telstra has essentially lied. Their 4G network running on LTE is not in fact a 4G network. Under the original ITU definition, this would simply be an addition to its 3G network. Thanks to the ITU’s looser definition, it can market LTE as a 4G network.

But what is a 4G standard under the ITU? Well, there are two standards that have been recognised as an official standard: LTE Advanced and IEEE 802.16m. These are basically more compliant versions of LTE and WiMax; but neither standard is expected to be commercially deployed for several more years.

Until true 4G is deployed, we’re stuck with this marketing fallacy.

Image: Droid Life

The ACCC has announced that it will sue Apple over the iPad being promoted as having 4G in the model with Wi-Fi and mobile data connectivity, alleging that such claims are breaking the Australian Consumer Law.

“The ACCC alleges that Apple’s conduct contravenes sections 18, 29(1)(a), 29(1)(g) and 33 of the ACL,” it said in a statement. It is also seeking an order that would see Apple correct its advertising, advising that the iPad 4G + Wi-Fi does not have 4G.

I should point out that, technically, the iPad 4G + Wi-Fi does have a 4G chip inside. However, the radio frequencies supported for full 4G connectivity aren’t compatible with Australia (or most of the world for that matter). The 4G + Wi-Fi model only supports 4G on the 700MHz and 2100MHz bands, while Telstra has put their 4G network on the 800MHz bands.

However, the ACCC does have some point – Apple hasn’t explicitly made it clear that 4G support is not available in Australia. When you do order, it does say “You can also connect to the 4G LTE networks of AT&T in the U.S. and Bell, Rogers, and Telus in Canada” while also mentioning the fact that it can connect on 3G networks as well – but for an average consumer, most of the jargon means nothing.

The case will be filed in the Federal Court in Melbourne tomorrow at 9:30am.

Apple has announced what it will do with its almost US$100 billion ‘war chest’. that it will initiate a dividend at the start of July with a substantial US$2.65 per share – something that will make Microsoft investors a bit envious. In addition, it will announce a share buyback scheme.

Yes, this is all financial-related stuff.

In the press release, CEO Tim Cook said, “We have used some of our cash to make great investments in our business through increased research and development, acquisitions, new retail store openings, strategic prepayments and capital expenditures in our supply chain, and building out our infrastructure. You’ll see more of all of these in the future.”

“Even with these investments, we can maintain a war chest for strategic opportunities and have plenty of cash to run our business. So we are going to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program.”

On the share buyback, the board has authorised a $10 billion buyback scheme over three years starting in FY2013 (or in at the end of September 2012).

In all, Apple is expected to spend $45 billion on these programs – $10 billion alone in the first year in dividend payouts. In addition, CFO Peter Oppenheimer said that Cook’s own unvested RSUs (restricted stock units – stock units that are given if certain conditions are met) will not be part of the dividend payout, as per his request.

The company previously paid dividends between 1987 and 1995, before it stopped. The next year, in 1996, Steve Jobs returned to the company and as everyone knows, when he returned, the company was tanking. Now, Apple is highly profitable – and with a US$100 billion ‘war chest’ and at least US$13 billion made in this quarter alone, it has serious cash it can burn.

And obviously, the dividend is a big sign that says Apple is looking pretty happy for its future in a post-Steve Jobs era. Despite holding less than 6 percent of the global PC market, he sees the big growth markets are in the iPhone and iPad – the two businesses that Apple largely dominates. The iPod line still is the number one MP3 player, but because it is no longer competitive (and mostly everyone has some form of an iPod) profits are slowly dropping.

While Tim Cook refused to answer to a question about future products or even give subtle hints, he did note that their “pipeline is full of stuff”.

Also in the teleconference, Apple has not ruled out a stock split in the future. “That is something we have looked at while looking at this cash question… there’s very little support that it helps the stock,” Tim Cook said.

“At this point, not how we see it,” he added.

(Should also point out that the question was asked by one Gene Munster, the guy known for some outlandish Apple rumours)

Image: Mike Daisey/Twitter avatar (@mdaisey)

This American Life, the popular show on public radio in the United States and airs in Australia via ABC’s Radio National, has decided to retract the story it aired that was critical about Apple and its suppliers’ working conditions after the details in his narrative had been embellished.

“I have difficult news. We’ve learned that Mike Daisey’s story about Apple in China – which we broadcast in January – contained significant fabrications,” Ira Glass, the host of the program, wrote in a statement.

“We’re retracting the story because we can’t vouch for its truth. This is not a story we commissioned. It was an excerpt of Mike Daisey’s acclaimed one-man show “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” in which he talks about visiting a factory in China that makes iPhones and other Apple products.”

The retraction comes after another public radio program – Marketplace – aired a program that revealed Daisey’s embellishments. The program found the translator he used, Cathy Lee, and she revealed that most of the stories, such as the hexane poising, was false. “No. Nobody mentioned the Hexane,” she said.

The hexane poisonings have happened before, including a more publicised case two years ago in another factory in Suzho.

The reporter for Marketplace based in Shanghai, Rob Schmitz, decided to investigate the story after listening to the report and noted some inaccuracies – including having meetings in “different Starbucks in Guangzhou”, which he points out, is “pricier in China than in the US”.

On a statement on his blog, Daisey stands by his piece.

“I stand by my work. My show is a theatrical piece whose goal is to create a human connection between our gorgeous devices and the brutal circumstances from which they emerge. It uses a combination of fact, memoir, and dramatic license to tell its story, and I believe it does so with integrity,” he wrote.

“Certainly, the comprehensive investigations undertaken by The New York Times and a number of labor rights groups to document conditions in electronics manufacturing would seem to bear this out.”

However, he does regret allowing This American Life to air it like a journalism piece. He also did apologise on air.

Apple does have a problem with its suppliers on working conditions. In 2005, the company created a code of conduct for its suppliers. However, the company’s rule that no employee should be working for more than 60 hours per week when making an Apple product is constantly broken. According to the New York Times reporter who was on the program, Charles Duhigg, that rule is broken by at least 50 percent of the company.

However, while people knew, there wasn’t as much of a backlash or attention to the issue until Daisey published his piece. More and more groups started to take a bit of action, including calls for a more ethically-made product. The retraction will certainly get some blowback, including people to even be a bit sceptical about claims of abuse since Daisey fabricated some of the more emotionally-impacting stories.

Let us remind ourselves, the abuses are there and have been well-documented by Apple, several known publications and watchdog groups. However, as I wrote in an opinion piece, while we focus on Apple, the issue is problematic for all tech companies:

We can all hope for better working conditions, but realistically – we’ll still have cheap labour, we will still have the poor working conditions and abuses. And we will all ignore it, because we want the goods at a price we deem is right for it. Effectively, that means the prices will remain low and ‘cheap’.

So, if we really, really want change; we all have to change our spending habits. Are you willing to pay more for something ethical?

As with the desktop version, the iPhone app looks like it’s trying to give the default Mail app, the Gmail iPhone app and any other webapp or native apps a run for their money, with an intuitive, future-proof UI and a fully-native Gmail (or other email service) experience, including archiving and starring emails.

The launch does come with disappointments, such as a lack of push, the inability to make it your default app because of Apple restrictions, and also no Exchange support. But it still has a number of cool features that aren’t seen in other mail apps. It also gives a better Gmail experience than the official Gmail iPhone app.

If you want a better (in some ways) mail experience, without some vital features like Push, then you can download it now for $2.99 on the App Store. Or wait for the app to get improved, if it gets updated. A trailer is below.

CBS has confirmed rumours that Apple was going to create a television subscription service. It has also confirmed that it rejected the proposal from Cupertino, even when Steve Jobs personally approached its CEO.

Why? The company was afraid it could cannibalise existing revenue streams.

“I told Steve, ‘You know more than me about 99 percent of things but I know more about the television business,” Moonves said.

The comments came from its CEO Leslie Moonves, who was the keynote speaker at the UCLA Entertainment Symposium. While it was heavily known – of course with rumours – that Apple approached CBS and negotiations broke down, Cupertino has not actually confirmed that such a service was in the pipeline.

However, it’s not like Moonves is entirely against the web and digital streaming. The company has signed deals with Apple’s rivals Netflix and Amazon; while its sister channel, The CW, has embraced Hulu. Moonves notes that the streaming deals for The CW have made it “from a losing proposition to being a (money maker)”. CBS has also noted that it has had a positive impact to the company’s financial statements as a whole.

Apple’s plan to have a subscription streaming service, however, doesn’t appear to be coming in 2012 – despite some analyst predictions. The company is even reportedly struggling to make deals with companies to the service – and Mashable attributes it to the battle of content, where companies are paying more to secure major deals with movie and television studios.

And then we get into the problematic international dealings, which are even more complex.

So, we can safely say that it is in the backburner. And Apple knows that it will most likely not deliver such a service – why do you think it allowed rival Netflix on the service? So it didn’t make Apple TV a ‘novelty’ product.

Earlier, we find out that the iPad – sorry, the new iPad – will be coming out with a 4G version. However, Australia will be missing out of experiencing this – and its because how Telstra and Optus built their 4G LTE network. The bands they use are not supported by this iPad.

Currently, the Wi-Fi + 4G model supports 700MHz and 2100MHz bands. Telstra and Optus both have decided to use the 1800MHz band – which, incidentally, is being supported as a GSM/EDGE network. But why do that? Well, Telstra and Optus currently use the 2100MHz bands for their 3G networks – understandable, as most of the world does too.

And actually, most of the world will miss out. A Wikipedia page on LTE networks show that only a few support 700MHz or 2100MHz bands. Most support the 800MHz band or 1800MHz bands.

However, if you’re still looking for a mobile network to connect to the internet with your iPad, still buy the new version. It supports 3G as well – and Australia’s all three major carriers’ bands are supported. So, if you want to use data, you still can.

Just not 4G.

An update for the all popular iPhone is available to day. The update will add Japanese language support to Siri, a number of bug changes, improved camera features and much more. The update is available right now on  iTunes and Over the air on your iDevice. Check out the change list after the break.

This update contains improvements and bug fixes, including:

• Japanese language support for Siri (availability may be limited during initial rollout)
• Photos can now be deleted from Photo Stream
• Camera shortcut now always visible on Lock Screen for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation)
• Camera face detection now highlights all detected faces
• Redesigned Camera app for iPad
• Genius Mixes and Genius playlists for iTunes Match subscribers
• Audio for TV shows and movies on iPad optimized to sound louder and clearer
• Podcast controls for playback speed and a 30 second rewind for iPad
• Updated AT&T network indicator
• Addresses bugs affecting battery life
• Fixes an issue that occasionally caused audio to drop for outgoing calls

CEO Tim Cook has announced today there will be a brand new iPad at its press conference today. The new product will have the long awaited 264ppi Retina Display and 4G LTE support – so pretty much, the big things everyone wanted.

It’s actually called ‘the new iPad’. No fancy names, no numbers and no HD suffix. It’s just called ‘the new iPad’. Let’s call it the iPad 3.

In addition, the new version will include a new A5X processor that is meant to handle the Retina Display, and will support quad-core graphics. The tablet will also feature a 5-megapixel rear camera and will have the same features as what you see on the iPhone 4S; and voice dictation – just no confirmation on Siri.

LTE will give the iPad 3 a theoretical download speed of 73Mbps, meaning it’s really really fast. No word on whether Australians will support the 4G feature on Telstra or Optus (after their buyout of Vividwireless), but everyone will be keeping an eye on it despite not being listed as a partner. In North America, there will be two versions – one to support the LTE implementation on AT&T and the other with Verizon.

The iPad 3 is still 3G capable, and will support DC-HSDPA and HSPA+ – all faster than typical 3G speeds. This will mean that a worldwide audience is not left out of this announcement. It will also have 10 hours of battery life – in comparsion, the LTE version will have 9 hours.

It will come out on March 16 – so, next Friday (quick turnaround time) – in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia; with more on March 23. Pricing points will be the same – with US$499 for 16GB, US$599 for 32GB and US$699 for 64GB with Wi-Fi only; and a bit more for 3G or 4G support.

In Australia – the pricing plans are: $539 for 16GB, $649 for 32GB and $759 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi+4G model will cost $679 for 16GB, $789 for 32GB and $899 for 64GB.

Pre-orders are being accepted today – if you can get to the site.

The Apple TV is getting a bit of an upgrade with support for full 1080p High Definition support and a brand new user interface that makes it easier – apparently, according to Apple – to access purchased content and stuff from iCloud and iTunes Match from the small device.

The push for 1080p will mean that all iTunes movies and TV shows, Netflix streaming (only in the US) and Vimeo content can be viewed in this resolution. So, if you have a sufficient-enough internet connection, then feel free.

The new Apple TV with 1080p will be sold at the same price as before on March 16. Those already owning the 720p version – the one on sale as of now – will be able to upgrade to the new user interface for free today. If you have a much older version, then you are out of luck and it should be time to upgrade.

Original Post – by Chris Southcott

A new Apple TV with 1080p, a new UI and iOS-style looks? Very shiny. More details as they come.

Read the liveblog and we’ll update this post later!

All the news, analysis and commentary from around the globe – and we’re going to bring that to you at 5am tomorrow (a more convenient time for us). Every news source, from Engadget to The Verge, we will be looking at their feeds so you don’t have to and publishing it on our superblog, plus with exclusive TECHGEEK.com.au editors insights at what will be announced.

Our superblog allows you to keep track of the action. You can see it below.

As always, Apple is finally putting us all out of our rumour-fed misery a few days before we explode, by announcing the real, official iPad 3 launch date. On March 7 at 10AM US PST at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco Tim Cook will likely take the stage to show off the new iPad, alongside other Apple conference regulars. In Australian time the even will start at the good-old time of 5AM AEDT (Sydney/Melbourne-time) on March 8 which is a Thursday (next Thursday).

The image sent to the press shows an iPad with a higher resolution (as long as Apple hasn’t ‘shopped it) and possibly no home-button. While it could be in landscape mode, the spacing between icons says otherwise.

TECHGEEK.com.au will be here with all the Australian coverage, such as Australian carriers, prices and details on things such as a possible LTE iPad coming down under, so tune in right here for the latest news and live coverage as it happens with a Live Blog. Don’t leave us lonely!