Author

Jake Smith

AAPL Company

Aaron Sorkin to write screenplay for Sony’s Steve Jobs biopic

Jake Smith May 15 2012 - 6:49 pm PT

Sony hired Academy and Emmy award-winning screenwriter and producer Aaron Sorkin to write the screenplay for its upcoming Steve Jobs biopic (not to be confused with the one Ashton Kutcher is starring in), reported Variety. Sony’s biopic will cover the life of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and will be an adaptation of the official biography “Steve Jobs,” which is written by famed author Walter Isaacson and released last fall.

You may recognize Sorkin’s name from the hit movie “The Social Network,” which profiled the hugely-popular social network Facebook and its founder Mark Zuckerberg. The film received eight academy award nominations. While the story may not have been accurate all the way through, it did have many tech-oriented facts right—like the code that appeared on Zuckerberg’s computer while coding from his Harvard dorm room. Sorkin also wrote the upcoming show “The Newsroom” that airs on HBO June 24.

The Sony biopic should be a much bigger budget film than the unofficial version directed by Joshua Michael Stern, which is set to begin filming sometime this month. However, the unofficial version does feature “Two and a Half Men” star Ashton Kutcher as Jobs, which should attract a good amount of viewers. We saw last weekend how Kutcher looked compared to the Apple co-founder.

Since Sorkin definitely has a good track record, this should be an entertaining film—as long as he does not change the history of Jobs’ life as he did for Zuckerberg during some aspects of “The Social Network.” However, he did a great job with “The Social Network,” and using Isaacon’s hit biography as a guide should make for a good representation of the amazing life of Jobs.

Sony commented on its excitement over the film:

Expand
Expanding
Close

AAPL Company

Apple gets US Customs to block imports of HTC One X and Evo 4G

Jake Smith May 15 2012 - 6:21 pm PT

United States customs delayed the import of the HTC One X and Evo 4G LTE due to patent issues with Apple, according to The Verge. This is the first type of delay of this nature that we have seen, and it is definitely very interesting. Customs is holding back the handsets while the agency investigates outstanding patent issues currently raised with Apple. During December of last year, the International Trade Commission ruled in favor of Apple and ordered a ban on a number of HTC products. The import ban went in place on April 19, 2012, which was supposed to give HTC time to fix the issues. According to the ruling, HTC was breaking a so-called “data tapping” patent. Google Patent Search described Patent 5946647:

A system and method causes a computer to detect and perform actions on structures identified in computer data. The system provides an analyzer server, an application program interface, a user interface and an action processor. The analyzer server receives from an application running concurrently data having recognizable structures, uses a pattern analysis unit, such as a parser or fast string search function, to detect structures in the data, and links relevant actions to the detected structures. The application program interface communicates with the application running concurrently, and transmits relevant information to the user interface. Thus, the user interface can present and enable selection of the detected structures, and upon selection of a detected structure, present the linked candidate actions. Upon selection of an action, the action processor performs the action on the detected structure.

HTC’s CEO Peter Chou quickly told Reuters in April that the company already began testing new devices to work around the patent issue before the April 19 ban went into effect. The ban was set in place even before the announcement of HTC’s latest One X device; however, the new device still falls under the ban, as The Verge pointed out.

Even if HTC fixed the issues, U.S. Customs is still reviewing if the HTC One X and Evo 4G LTE are violating the patent that HTC is accused of breaking by the ITC. Until then, shipments of the HTC One X and Evo 4G LTE are at a stand still, which could affect device sales. Many AT&T stores across the U.S. are currently sold out of the HTC One X, and AT&T is out of stock on its online store.

I do not think it would be too far-fetched to say this is something Apple wants—especially because the HTC One X at AT&T and Evo 4G LTE at Sprint are two hot devices that could cut into iPhone sales. We reviewed the HTC One X over at 9to5Google, where we called it “one giant leap for HTC.” Today’s stop on importing definitely does not help HTC, which recently reported some not-so good-looking Q1 2o12 earnings. The company reported only $2.3 billion in quarterly revenue, which was a drop of 35 percent year-over-year. I am sure HTC is looking for the One X and Evo 4G to help bring back /quarterly revenue. HTC issued a statement:

Expand
Expanding
Close

AAPL Company

Tim Cook met with US Speaker of the House John Boehner today

Jake Smith May 15 2012 - 4:49 pm PT

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook met with U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner at the United States Capital today, according to Boehner’s blog (via MacRumors). There is no word on what the two powerful men discussed, but it could possibly involve the tax holiday that Apple is pushing for to move a chunk of its money to the U.S. from overseas. Such a tax holiday would offer huge cuts in the rates for moving the money, which makes it much cheaper for Apple.

Apple currently has $74 billion of its $110 billion based overseas, the company revealed during its last earnings call. A US tax holiday would allow roughly $1 trillion from Apple and other companies to go back to the U.S. However, it could cost the U.S. federal government $79 billion, The New York Times said last month in its relatively popular piece titled “How Apple Sidesteps Billions in Taxes.” (There is a great graphic at Bloomberg on why the $1 trillion holiday is likely going to happen.)

Does anyone want to take a stab at what the two were discussing?

Update: Check out another picture of the two below which appears to show the handoff of an iPhone 7:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Analyst gives some good reasons why the rumored ‘iTV’ isn’t a given

Jake Smith May 15 2012 - 5:37 am PT

Rumors of Apple’s “iTV” set have spiraled ever since former CEO Steve Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson that he finally “cracked the television.” Since then, many analysts and publications reported on the iTV—sometimes very inaccurately—claiming it will feature Siri and a Facetime camera for video calls built-in to a larger panel that looks like Apple’s current Thunderbolt displays (at least that’s the consensus). Analysts said Apple will announce the TV set later this year, but one analyst points out why this is not likely.

Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves released (via Fortune) a note to clients on Monday making some very good points. First off, he said the iTV does not make much sense if Apple cannot get content providers in line to stream content to the TV. This type of situation is one of the reasons that the Google TV out of Mountain View has not been off to a great start, because content providers are not in line to stream content for those who want to ditch cable. Moreover, those who tried to get access to online streaming of content from websites like NBC and ABC were quickly blocked. So, then comes the realization: why would Apple release a TV set if they do not have the right content providers? If it is going to use Internet streaming services like Netflix or Hulu, why not just stick with the current Apple TV solution?

Then comes the second point regarding Apple’s famous retail stores, which rank among the top retail spaces in the world. As Hargreaves pointed out, a TV would be a terrible use of space, compared to Apple’s smaller offerings like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. If Apple’s TV were in fact to be the rumored 46-inches, it would likely generate less than a mere 1/200th of the gross profit per cubic that the iPhone drives in retail. If money could generate from content, or from in-store sales, what would be the point?

Of course, Apple could have something very different up its sleeve, but the totally revamped Apple TV just does not seem likely this year. What seems more in-line is the rumored 7.85-inch “iPad Mini” that Apple is said to release later this year, and even then, I am skeptical.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apps

Open source QuickTime component Perian closing its doors soon

Jake Smith May 14 2012 - 5:48 pm PT

Dubbed the “Swiss-army knife for QuickTime,” open source QuickTime component Perian is finally closing down shop. The team of the six-year-old project announced the news today on their website and said the project will retire 90 days after Perian’s final release. The team also said the final release is coming soon and “may or may not work” in the upcoming Mountain Lion, and it will feature a ton of fixes. Luckily, it does not look like Perian’s technology will be hung out to dry, because the Perian team plans to put the source code on Google Code or Github when the time comes. This will allow developers to modify code and add new features for users to enjoy in an open source format.

Perian has been the go-to tool for those looking to add a slew of regular and not-so regular file and video types to QuickTime’s compatibility list, such as WMA, MPEG-4 Part 2, H.263, H.264, and more. Windows Media Video was pretty much the only popular video format that did not make the supported list.

Is anyone really bummed out?

Expand
Expanding
Close

Bloomberg reiterates: Apple to unveil new, thinner MacBook Pro at WWDC

Jake Smith May 14 2012 - 3:19 pm PT

<em>Mockup: New, thinner MacBook Pro on the left. Current model on the right.</em>

Our Senior Editor Mark Gurman exclusively brought you details about Apple’s new 15-inch MacBook Pro this morning that the company is currently readying to be unveiled. According to our trusted sources, the new MacBook Pro features an ultra-thin design, a “jaw-dropping” Retina Display, and super-fast USB 3. Confirming our report from this morning, Bloomberg reported that Apple will announce the new MacBook Pro at this year’s WWDC set to begin June 11 at the Moscone West conference center in California.

Bloomberg also suggested Apple would announce the release date for Apple’s next operating system, Mountain Lion, due in “late summer.” Mountain Lion brings many features from iOS like a Notification Center, heavy iCloud integration, Messages, and a new feature called “Gatekeeper.” It is now available as a beta to those apart of Apple’s Developer Center.

This is most likely a controlled leak by Apple—something Apple’s PR is known for. Notice that on Friday, when we published our exclusive that outlined Apple’s new Maps technology, which will début in iOS 6, both TechCrunch and AllThingsD confirmed our report—rather quickly too. Furthermore, The Verge and ABC News also confirmed what we said this morning: the new MacBook Pro will feature NVIDIA graphics to power the Retina display. It would not surprise us if this were a controlled leak.

With the announcement of iOS and new MacBook Pros, this year’s WWDC is sure to be crazy. We are looking forward to the festivities kicking off June 11, and you bet we will cover the event obsessively and in full force.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Tech Industry

Microsoft’s infamous Steve Ballmer named worst CEO by Forbes

Jake Smith May 14 2012 - 3:01 pm PT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc

Forbes (via BGR) ranked Microsoft’s infamous Steve Ballmer as the worst CEO of any publicly traded company “without a doubt.” I’m sure you all know Ballmer—the tall, sweaty man who loves to yell things like “c’mon!” and the classic, “developers, developers, developers.” Ballmer entered the role of Microsoft CEO in 2000, and he ranks as the 19th richest man in the world. However, as Forbes mentioned, this man could take the blame for many of Microsoft’s issues, like being slow to act in emerging markets, most namely smartphones.

“Although he’s #19 on Forbes list of billionaires, Mr. Ballmer should not be allowed to take such incredible risks with investor money and employee jobs. Best he be retired to enjoy his fortune rather than deprive investors and employees of building theirs.”

At the time of the iPhone’s launch in 2007, Ballmer and other Microsoft execs did not feel threatened. Now, look at who’s on top. Ballmer’s glory also came around the time of Windows Vista, which was plagued by issues and let OS X Leopard push Macs where they are today.

All right, enough bashing. I will just leave you with this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple releases update to Leopard, includes Flashback removal tool

Jake Smith May 14 2012 - 2:22 pm PT

While Apple has released updates for both Lion and Snow Leopard to remove the Flashback malware that is making the rounds, the company had not released a fix for Leopard until today. Apple released a Flashback Removal Security Update for Leopard this afternoon that weighs 1.23MB. Along with removing the Flashback malware, it also disables the Java plug-in in Safari. Apple described the update:

This update removes the most common variants of the Flashback malware. If the Flashback malware is found, a dialog will notify you that malware was removed. In some cases, the update may need to restart your computer in order to completely remove the Flashback malware…To improve the security of your Mac, this update also disables the Java plug-in in Safari.

Apple also released Security Update 2012-003 for Leopard that “disables versions of Adobe Flash Player that do not include the latest security updates and provides the option to get the current version from Adobe’s website.” A similar update was issued for Lion and Snow Leopard in Safari 5.1.7, which released with OS X 10.7.4 late last week—hit up Software Update.

This is the first major update Apple has released for Leopard since Lion debuted last July. Unlike Adobe, it looks like Apple is devoted to keep its old products up-to-date—even if the update is a few weeks behind. For those of you unaware, Adobe recently told users to upgrade from CS5 to CS6 to avoid a security flaw in older versions of software, instead of just patching it. However, Adobe quickly backed down after receiving a ton of backlash from the community and promised an update in the coming weeks. Still sketchy.

More on the Flashback malware

Apple fixes Flashback malware with software update (9to5mac.com)
Apple developing tool to detect and remove Flashback malware (9to5mac.com)
Flashback malware still on 140,000 Macs, despite Apple’s fix (9to5mac.com)

Expand
Expanding
Close

AAPL Company

First photos of Ashton Kutcher dressed as Steve Jobs for biopic

Jake Smith May 12 2012 - 11:34 am PT

DailyMail posted some photos of Ashton Kutcher in full Steve Jobs attire. As we reported in April, the “Two and a Half Men” star is set to play Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in a new biopic. Mind you, this is not the official Sony one that is set to come out soon. Kutcher needs a pair of New Balances, but he looks pretty close right? Check out the gallery below:

Expand
Expanding
Close

AAPL Company

GameStop looks like it will start selling used MacBooks soon

Jake Smith May 12 2012 - 4:20 am PT

To add to its catalog of refurbished iPods, iPads, and iPhones, major game/entertainment retailer GameStop could be on its way to selling the MacBook too. Gaming website Kotaku posted the screenshot above Friday afternoon, which was taken directly from GameStop’s internal systems by an anonymous employee.

Of course, this could just be some sort of placeholder or trial that the company has put in, but GameStop is most likely moving to sell refurbished MacBooks. Specs look to match a wide-range of Apple laptops over the years, from 2007 models of the MacBook to 2009 models of the MacBook Pro. The image below shows a few more specs.

Digitimes says Apple will release a $799 MacBook Air in Q3. We’ll bite… (9to5mac.com)

Adobe Photoshop Touch updated to version 1.2

Jake Smith May 11 2012 - 4:18 am PT

The Adobe Photoshop Touch iOS app received a slew of fixes and small new features this morning after being updated to version 1.2 overnight. The most notable feature in version 1.2 is a new maximum resolution of 2,048-by-2,048 pixels for images. The default measurement will still be 1,600-by-1,600 pixels, but for those looking for a little more can change it in the app’s settings. Sadly, Photoshop Touch still is not Retina-compatible. Other new features include:

Automatic synchronization with Creative Cloud
Available in 6 languages (English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Italian)
Added export to PSD and PNG via Camera Roll or email.
Improved rotate and flip image workflow.
Added ability to transfer images to desktop via iTunes.
Added two new Tutorials.
Added four new Effects (Watercolor Paint, HDR Look, Soft Light and Soft Skin).

As for fixes, Adobe corrected the supported languages in iTunes and fixed an issue with logging in via Facebook. You can grab this update over on the App Store.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Apps

Angry Birds creator confirms name of next game to be ‘Amazing Alex’

Jake Smith May 11 2012 - 4:17 am PT

Are you such an Angry Birds fan that you just cannot wait for the next game out of Rovio? Luckily, for you, that time seems to be coming soon. As noted by The Next Web, Rovio’s CEO announced on a Finnish TV channel that the Angry Birds successor is called “Amazing Alex.” The game will have an educational aspect, and it will be based around “a curious young boy who loves to build things.” Rovio is looking to the game Casey’s Contraptions as a building block.

Making this game high quality is key for Rovio —if they want this game to have a huge success like Angry Birds. Angry Birds is considered one of the most popular mobile games of all times. It hit a total of 1 billion downloads, which helped push the company to a first-quarter revenue of 75.4 million euros ($106,3 million USD). Those kinds of numbers for Amazing Alex will be hard to come by.

Rovio’s CEO Mikael Hed is aware he needs to keep those standards. He said “quality pressure is high,” and they want “to maintain the high standard Angry Birds fans have come to enjoy.”

The release date for the new game was not given.

Expand
Expanding
Close

AAPL Company

Apple updates Apple TV to version 5.0.1 9B206f

Jake Smith May 10 2012 - 3:19 pm PT

Apple just released the latest software update for both the second-generation and third-generation of the Apple TV, version 5.0.1 (9B206f). As of now, we are not sure if there is anything in this update past bug fixes, but we will be sure to let you know the moment we find something (update below).

You can find the download links for your respective version below, or you can just hit the update version on your Apple TV—whatever works best. As always, you can let us know if you find anything at tips@9to5mac.com.

Apple TV 2nd Gen

Apple TV 3rd Gen

Update: Apple detailed the software update on its website and said 5.0.1 brings fixes to AirPlay, Netflix, Home Sharing, and more. It also includes HD previews for movies and TV shows on the iTunes Store.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apps & updates: Instapaper 4.2, Yelp, and more

Jake Smith May 9 2012 - 7:07 pm PT

While Google+ got the most notable update earlier this afternoon, there are three other nice little updates to apps this evening. Most notably, Instapaper was updated to version 4.2, which adds an iBook style “pagination” feature. Other key features include:

All-new Fast Pagination mode, a complete rewrite from the old pagination code that greatly improves accuracy and page-turn speed
New draggable dot bar to replace the scroll bar in pagination mode
New two-finger-swipe gesture to close an article
Full-screen now has “Auto” mode to switch to full screen after a few seconds
The subtle Twilight Sepia color tint can now be selected at any time
Added sharing to Drafts and the upcoming Quotebook 2.0
Many bugfixes and performance improvements

Furthermore, community driven business reviews app Yelp was updated to version 5.8.0. It added the ability to comment on your friends’ checkins. Other features include:

Comment on your friends’ check-ins! Know of a killer dish at a place your buddy just checked into? Let ’em know instantly.
Support for Norway! Yelp is now live in the land of vikings, death metal, and chess Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen.
Now write longer, more expressive tips. You know, if you’re not into the whole brevity thing.

Lastly, new up-and-coming game Dice With Buddies was updated to version 2.0 and has been marked down to a free app for a limited time. In version 2.0, the app now features a new redesign of the main menu. Some other nice additions:

Rematch and Nudge your buddies from the main menu
Made it easier to delete completed games
Check your stats directly from the main menu
Pull down and release to refresh your game list
Tweet your friends (iOS 5 only)
Tap the status bar to quick scroll to the top (iOS 5 only)

Expand
Expanding
Close

iOS Devices

iPad to come standard with 2013 Cadillac CTS

Jake Smith May 9 2012 - 1:22 pm PT

As a way to get new car owners a bit more up to date with their new 2013 CTS, Cadillac plans to give every new owner an iPad full of directions that go over the car’s features. Cadillac’s head of customer experience Mark Harland said Cadillac plans to “be the leader in customer experience,” reported Wired, and it looks like the iPad will help them reach that status. The news was revealed at this year’s CTIA conference, which is taking place in New Orleans.

However, it is worth noting that Cadillac does not plan to actually integrate the iPad into the dashboard of the CTS, but it will rather come preloaded with manuals that teach the new owners all about the car. The manuals will especially come in handy with Cadillac’s new CUE infotainment system that is powered by an 8-inch touchscreen that has many smartphone-like apps pre-loaded on it. The inside of this ride looks very slick (image via Wired), but it may confuse some new owners after leaving the dealership:

The iPad given to customers at the Cadillac dealership will come pre-loaded with OnStar RemoteLink, MyCadillac, and a custom app made by the company that gives complete overviews of the 2013 CTS’ infotainment system.

It would have been cool if Cadillac took the Mercedes approach and actually adopted Apple’s technologies into the dashboard. Mercedes’ new A-class automobile is launching with Siri built-in, which allows drivers to make appointments, send text messages and emails, get weather information, and control their music through Siri’s voice commands. Buy a roughly $40,000 car… get an iPad!

Expand
Expanding
Close

AAPL Company

Apple releases OS X Lion 10.7.4

Jake Smith May 9 2012 - 1:18 pm PT

After many beta releases on the Developer Center, Apple has just released OS X Lion 10.7.4 to the masses this afternoon via Software Update. The update weighs in at 729.6MB and fixes the horrible bug in OS X 10.7.3 that stored passwords in plain text, along with many other stability improvements among other things. It also includes Safari 5.1.6. Full release notes:

Resolve an issue in which the “Reopen windows when logging back in” setting is always enabled.
Improve compatibility with certain British third-party USB keyboards.
Addresses permission issues that may be caused if you use the Get Info inspector function “Apply to enclosed items…” on your home directory. For more information, see this article.
Improve Internet sharing of PPPoE connections.
Improve using a proxy auto-configuration (PAC) file.
Address an issue that may prevent files from being saved to an SMB server.
Improve printing to an SMB print queue.
Improve performance when connecting to a WebDAV server.
Enable automatic login for NIS accounts.
Include RAW image compatibility for additional digital cameras.
Improve the reliability of binding and logging into Active Directory accounts.
The OS X Lion v10.7.4 Update includes Safari 5.1.6, which contains stability improvements.

Find anything? tips@9to5mac.com
Expand
Expanding
Close

Apps

Redesigned Google+ for iPhone released, featuring a crisper UI and larger profile pictures

Jake Smith May 9 2012 - 12:39 pm PT

Google released a pretty substantial update to its Google+ for iPhone app this afternoon by adding a much crisper user-interface that actually makes the app a bit more enjoyable to use. The update is very welcomed, because the first version of the Google+ app was not very well received by the community. It was very bland and not the easiest to navigate. However, with the new update released today, that seems to have changed.

As you can see in the gallery below, the updated UI makes the app much more appealing and easier to use —perhaps now passing Facebook’s iOS app. Here is a run down of the features from Google:

Whether you post photos or articles or text, we’re making ‘em look gooood.
We’re adding crisper fonts, larger profile pics and a friendlier homescreen.
We’re making the stream easier to scan, and easier on the eyes with overlays, gradients and other visual elements.
Conversations fall into view as you move forward and backward in time.
Optical cues (like parallax) help the mind linger on individual posts.
Important actions like +1 now float atop the stream, making it easy to endorse all your favorites.

You can check out the update over on the App Store.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apps

Apps & updates: Twitpic for iPhone, SoundCloud fixes, Wall Street Journal gains Retina support

Jake Smith May 7 2012 - 3:28 pm PT

The folks at popular Twitter image uploading service Twitpic released their own app today on the App Store. The app allows you to easily edit photos with a number of filters and other effects, such as cropping, brightness, and orientation. Twitpic for iPhone also offers the ability to view all pictures and videos of the people you are following on Twitter, as well as the ability to comment on Twitpic pictures, and the option to see the most popular pictures shared on Twitpic for the day. You can check out the new app here.

Furthermore, there is also some nice app updates today: SoundCloud has been updated to version 2.1.9, which features a fix for an issue where users could not navigate after signing up/ logging in—definitely a bummer. For those of you who use the Wall Street Journal iPad app to find your daily news, you will be happy to learn that the app gained Retina display support, which is just perfect for the new iPad. You can grab the SoundCloud update here, and Wall Street Journal update here. A few others include: a Washington Post update that can be found here; Madden NFL 12 here; and, TNT for iPad here.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Target discounting iPhone 4S to $149, iPhone 4 to $49 – in store only

Jake Smith May 7 2012 - 1:23 pm PT

If you are looking to pick up the iPhone 4S in the next couple of days, make sure to check your local Target store before purchasing. Thanks to a couple of tips sent to us by email, we now know that various Target locations are running a deal on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 for all carriers. The 16GB iPhone 4S is available for $149.99 on a two-year contract, while the iPhone 4 is $49.99 on two-year contract — both at a $50 discount. Let us know in the comments if your local Target is running this deal. Sadly, it is not available online.

Cheers Laurenty, Caleb, iDannyOcean!

Expand
Expanding
Close

AAPL Company

Jailbreakers: SwipeSelection adds awesome gestures to the iPad keyboard

Jake Smith May 4 2012 - 9:00 pm PT

Do you remember the awesome video we showed you this morning that portrayed how text editing on the iPad should be? It involved dragging small blue cursors to highlight a portion of text and several other gestures to make editing text on the iPad much easier. Luckily, whether Apple decides to act on those cool features or not, it looks like jailbreakers may get a chance to play with the features soon. There’s a new jailbreak tweak called “SwipeSelection” that works much like the mockup from this morning. You can see Benjamin showing it off above.

SwipeSelection should be available on the BigBoss repo as the developer, Kyle Howells, plans to submit it tomorrow. “This is what Apple needs to implement in iOS 6.”

Update: Now available in the BigBoss repo! There are a few early impressions in the comments.

Expand
Expanding
Close

After backlash, Sprint CEO to return $3.25M in salary tied to iPhone

Jake Smith May 4 2012 - 8:18 pm PT

Sprint’s CEO Daniel Hesse will take a small pay cut during 2012 after receiving a bit of flack from shareholders for investing so much in adding Apple’s iPhone to the network. Reuters reported Hesse will lose $3.25 million from his salary. Hesse said in a statement to Sprint HR: “These voluntary actions regarding my personal compensation, which total $3,250,830, will eliminate any benefit for me to the discretionary adjustment the compensation committee made earlier this year.”

Why are shareholders so upset? Sprint, the nation’s third-largest carrier, invested $15 billion to add the iPhone to its network. However, shareholders think that was a bit much, because the network has to pay a $200 higher subsidy per-device than its other phones. I guess this is a bit of an apology from Hesse.

Sales of the iPhone on the network are pretty solid, though. The company reported a sale of 1.5 million iPhones during Q1, compared to 1.8 million during Q4 2011. A very cool 44 percent (or 660,000) of the new iPhones sold during Q1 were new customers.

I think we can all agree this sounds much better than the news regarding the AT&T’s CEO from earlier today…
Expand
Expanding
Close

AT&T CEO: iMessage disrupts our messaging revenue stream, unlimited data was a mistake

Jake Smith May 4 2012 - 2:07 pm PT

AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson seemed to have many things to say about the iPhone at a wireless industry conference earlier this week (full video below). In a talk that resembled this Fake Steve Jobs satire, the New York Times reports that Stephenson was upset that high-volume smartphone users were costing the carrier so much that the lower-volume users had to subsidize their usage. Stephenson said that unlimited data for the iPhone was a mistake: “My only regret was how we introduced pricing in the beginning, because how did we introduce pricing? Thirty dollars and you get all you can eat.” AT&T discontinued its unlimited data plan in 2010 and moved to a pricey tiered data plan, which it has since reprised and restructured. The plans paid off, because the company earned a whopping $6.1 billion in revenue during Q1 alone. Over 70 percent of the smartphones that AT&T activated last quarter were iPhones.

The CEO also had a bit to say about Apple’s iMessage that introduced in iOS 5. iMessage offers iPhone users free text messages while on Wi-Fi, which—of course—takes away from AT&T. The CEO said he is losing sleep:

“You lie awake at night worrying about what is that which will disrupt your business model. Apple iMessage is a classic example. If you’re using iMessage, you’re not using one of our messaging services, right? That’s disruptive to our messaging revenue stream.”

Stephenson apparently did not lose any sleep over the failed T-Mobile merger that cost his company $4 billion and some very important spectrum. For what it is worth, Sprint said it is sticking with its unlimited data plans, even if the new iPhone has LTE. Interestingly, Sprint still does not carry an iPad of any sort.

Stephenson also relayed the story of the initial meeting with Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs:

Expand
Expanding
Close

AAPL Company

China passes US in smartphone usage, over a billion mobile subscribers overall

Jake Smith May 4 2012 - 11:23 am PT

The importance of China to Apple has been discussed many times by CEO Tim Cook and is now clear due to the last couple of quarters of monster growth. China’s sheer population and exploding economy combine to make it an incredibly important global market, and it looks like it may now be even more vital than the United States. In a report earlier this morning, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said China passed 1 billion total mobile phone subscribers as of March at a growing rate of 1.18-percent per month. With potentially this many people to sell smartphones to, China is definitely a region Apple needs to keep hitting hard.

Furthermore, research firm Catalyst is out with another interesting factoid about China, claiming the country has overtaken the U.S. as the world’s largest smartphone market. China’s smartphone market has grown 81 percent year-over-year, where as the U.S. is only 5 percent. In Q1 2012, China accounted for 22 percent of worldwide smartphone shipments, where the U.S. was only 16 percent.

This rise is most likely due to the iPhone 4S’ availability on China Telecom and the carrier starting in Q1 2012. Chinese customers, who formerly had to resort to buying the device off the Internet or scalpers, finally got the phone they were after.

However, there are still a ton of customers in China that Apple isn’t taking advantage of —yet. China Mobile, the country’s largest carrier, does not have the iPhone on its network. The next iPhone is most likely going to be on China Mobile, thanks to Qualcomm’s new chip that supports TD-SCDMA, TD-LTE, LTE on FDD and TDD networks.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple now credits Open Street Map under iPhoto acknowledgments

Jake Smith May 4 2012 - 5:45 am PT

When Apple released iPhoto for iOS on March 7, many quickly realized that Apple was not using Google Maps as it usually does for mapping, but rather maps from the OpenStreetMap project. Apple offered no official credit to the non-profit project, which collects a series of maps from over 500,000 people worldwide. However, it appears that Apple has finally credited OpenStreetMap in its latest iPhoto update, as the non-profit project tweeted the news last night.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/#!/openstreetmap/status/198101512201834497[/tweet]

While OpenStreetMap is available for anyone to use, the project does ask for one-line of attribution (via TPM). Apple now mentions OSM under the iPhoto acknowledgements in settings.

That wasn’t so hard?

iPhoto for iOS apparently uses OpenStreetMap data, not in-house solution (9to5mac.com)