Anticipation for the iPhone 3GS helped make Apple's Web site the top destination among hardware manufacturers in May 2009, according to data from Nielsen.
Apple's site attracted 55.7 million unique viewers last month, and the average person stayed on the site for an hour and 14 minutes.
Those numbers are more than double Hewlett Packard, which landed at the number two spot with 21.2 million viewers. Dell rounded out the top three with 16.8 million visitors. Also in the top 10 were Sun Microsystems, Nintendo, Xbox, Gateway, MagicJack, Intel, and IBM.
Overall, the hardware manufacturers sub-category grew 22 percent since last year - from 57.3 million in May 2008 to 70.1 million in May 2009.
Apple also dominated in the blogosphere, where mentions of a "new iPhone", the iPhone 3G, or the iPhone 3GS jumped 1,226 percent week-over-week on June 8, the day of the 3GS announcement. Buzz dipped in the following weeks, but picked up on its release date, June 19.
The E3 video game conference also helped boost mentions of the top game consoles: Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, and the Sony Playstation 3. Online buzz for E3 2009 was 30 percent higher than buzz for E3 2008, Nielsen found.
It took a five-month break from work and a new liver, but Steve Jobs has finally returned to Apple. The company today confirmed rumors that its co-founder and default figurehead was back at work in Cupertino, right on schedule.
"Steve is back to work," Apple spokesman Steve Dowling told The New York Times. "He is currently at Apple a few days a week and working from home the remaining days." In typical Apple fashion, the company is saying little more about the matter. Dowling added simply, "We're very glad to have him back."
News about Jobs's recent liver transplant was actually confirmed by the Tennessee hospital that preformed the procedure, rather than by Apple itself.
Everybody is talking about Steve Jobs's liver, it seems--well, everyone except for Apple and Jobs himself. Responding to mounting rumors, Methodist University Hospital, the hospital that operated on Jobs, sent out a press release confirming the procedure. While Methodist University sent the note out with the Apple CEO's blessing, it seemed like a strange move, particularly in light of Apple's ever-present secrecy.
Another bizarre turn in the story came today when Dr. James Eason, the head of the hospital's transplant unit, held a press conference to address the subject, telling reporters, "Mr. Jobs is doing fine."
The hospital held the conference, in part, to address criticism that Jobs's position had helped him climb to the top of the transplant list. Said Eason,
Whoever's at the top of the list, they're there because they're the sickest. Waiting time isn't even a factor anymore. If someone's been on the list a long time, they're obviously healthy enough to have survived for a long time and therefore by definition might not be the best candidate.
When a store is selling a product that you really want at a discounted price, you probably jump for joy and grab for your purse. Not so fast. Just because one store is selling that item at a "discounted" price doesn't mean it's the lowest price you can find. And let's face it: there's nothing worse than feeling cheated.
TechSaver's goal is to provide you with the most current lowest prices on products it finds advertised at merchants. First up: X-tremeGeek.com. This gadget store has been one of my go-to places for finding unique and unusual products to write about for PCMag.com. Today the store announced its Fourth of July sale, which consists of cool items for grilling, camping, listening to music, playing in the backyard, and plenty more.
So, it turns out that Apple CEO Steve Jobs did indeed have a liver transplant during his time away from the company. Perhaps not surprisingly, it wasn't the company that confirmed the transplant--rather, oddly enough, it was the PR team for Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare who sent out the press release.
The release from the Tennessee hospital--issued with Jobs's permission--reads, in part:
Mr. Jobs underwent a complete transplant evaluation and was listed for transplantation for an approved indication in accordance with the Transplant Institute policies and United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) policies.
He received a liver transplant because he was the patient with the highest MELD score (Model for End-Stage Liver Disease) of his blood type and, therefore, the sickest patient on the waiting list at the time a donor organ became available. Mr. Jobs is now recovering well and has an excellent prognosis.
Apple has also not yet confirmed Jobs's return to the company's campus.
Of course no one's saying whether the return is permanent, after all, if Jobs did indeed recently receive a new liver, a few more months' hiatus may be in order.
Over the past several months, the only headlines Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been making have been directly related to things he hasn't done--like giving keynotes and just plain appearing in public. Jobs, traditionally the company's public face, has been almost entirely M.I.A. since first announcing his health leave back in January. With his expected return looming, some more information about Jobs's recent health battles appears to have leaked out.
The Wall Street Journal (and pretty much every other news outlet at this point) is reporting that Jobs received a liver transplant at a Tennessee hospital two months ago. Apple is continuing the company line, stating, "Steve continues to look forward to returning at the end of June, and there's nothing further to say." Jobs himself isn't returning interview requests.
The Journal's source is also reporting that physicians are likely encouraging Jobs to "work part-time for a month or two" after his return later this month. Jobs may also opt to hand off even more responsibility to the company's COO, Tim Cook.
Look, we all know that the new iPhone 3G S is supposed to be wicked fast--certainly faster than all previous iPhone generations. Apple even put an "s" in the name for speed, for heaven's sake. But the thing that has me excited is the new oleophobic membrane on the iPhone 3G S screen.
This new technology actually repels oils and smudges that you usually get when you use a shiny new phone. At least that's the claim. I met with Apple VP Greg Joswiak earlier today and he quickly demonstrated the oil-repelling properties with his fingers. He rubbed the iPhone 3G S screen and there were no smudges. He did it again and it smudged a tiny bit. Then he rubbed it once on his jeans and that itty bitty smudge was gone. "That's nice," I thought, but I had a better, more rigorous test in mind.
Ever since I started using these big-screen smartphones, I've been appalled to notice just how much ear-grease I leave on the screens. It's disgusting. I decided to bring in all three iPhone generations to put this oleophobic covering to the ultimate test. Could it repel my ever-present ear-grease? The first two failed miserably. The new 3G S?
The video tells the astounding tale, but in a nutshell, my ear smudges are no match for the iPhone 3G S's oleophobic covering.
Earlier this morning we got our greasy little hands a brand-spanking new iPhone 3G S. Our lead mobile analyst Sascha Segan has bravely agreed to sacrifice his weekend in order to be bring you a full hands-on review of the device. In the meantime, we managed to snag a couple of shots of the new handset when it first arrived at our offices.
After the jump, check out an unboxing and some close up shots of the eagerly anticipated phone--which, for the record, looks an awful lot like its eagerly anticipated predecessor.
Considering that the Palm Pre was designed in part by ex-Apple employees, and that its iTunes syncing function works by pretending to be an iPod, it was predictable that Apple would try to shoot it down.
The Big Fruit today released a very thinly veiled attack on the Pre's iTunes capabilities, in the form of a support note. While it never mentions the Pre by name, it's clear what they're talking about here.
"Apple is aware that some third-parties claim that their digital media players are able to sync with Apple software. However, Apple does not provide support for, or test for compatibility with, non-Apple digital media players and, because software changes over time, newer versions of Apple's iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with non-Apple digital media players."
In other words: we're going to do our best to break the Pre's syncing with our next iTunes update. When I've spoken to Palm, though, they've said in a similarly thinly veiled fashion that they're ready for Apple to do something like this.
A couple of weeks ago, troubled Mac clone maker Psystar filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Now, as part of the filing in Florida, federal court documents have revealed that Psystar owes Apple $75,000.
Computerworld notes that under "Schedule F -- Creditors Holding Unsecured Nonpriority Claims," Psystar listed Apple Inc., said it owed $75,000, and also had the phrase "Litigation Pending" in the section where Psystar was to provide "consideration for claim."
There's no word yet on what the money is for, and an Apple spokesperson had declined to comment on the matter. But the article points out that Psystar has long claimed it purchased legitimate copies of OS X from Apple for each of the computers it had sold. It's possible that some or all of that money has to do with retail copies of OS X (since Apple quit licensing its operating system directly to clone makers over a decade ago).
Let's be honest--even with a product-packed keynote like the one that Philip Schiller gave today during the opening of the World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco, the hardcore Apple fanboys and girls among us were hoping for that perennial favorite, the "one more thing moment," preferably in the form of a newly re-energized Steven P. Jobs.
Jobs, of course, isn't expected to return to the helm of the company until later this month, and while Schiller didn't offer a literal "one more thing," he did manage to sneak one into the proceedings with slightly less fanfare. In amongst the seemingly endless list of iPhone apps and features, after introducing the $199 16GB iPhone 3GS and the $299 32GB version of the same handset, he added, relatively unceremoniously that the 8GB version of the old iPhone 3G was sticking around.
Apple today kicked off its annual World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco with a keynote presented by the company's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, Philip Schiller. The company used the occasion to announce refreshes across various product lines, including the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, OS X, Safari--and most hotly anticipated, the iPhone.
Schiller kicked off his address by welcoming the 5,200 or so developers from 54 countries who had descended on San Francisco's Moscone West for the week long software-focused event. After highlighting the upward trending Mac OS X, Schiller quickly changed gears to announce the release of a handful of refreshed MacBook laptops.
The Apple WWDC: For developers, it's another opportunity to join the thousands of application makers who want to be part of the Apple ecosystem. But for fans and customers, it's another opportunity for Apple to release some cool new toys.
Anticipation of a new iPhone is running high; the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg virtually confirmed that he had one in his hot little hands. New rumored capabilities include video recording, uploading to YouTube, and movie downloads via Wi-Fi; plus improved battery life. ("Rumors roundup" image courtesy of TGRBlog.com; click to enlarge.)
It's been just about a year since the release of the iPhone 3G, which solved the problems associated with the first iPhone: namely, lack of a high-speed 3G connection. But as you'll note in our review, some of the first iPhone 3Gs were plagued with reception and delay problems.
Sascha Segan and I will be in San Francisco, huddled in line along with the rest of the Apple faithful. Joel Santo Domingo will be following along from the home office in New York, and chiming in with commentary. Sometime before 10 A.M. Pacific, 1 P.M. Eastern, we'll take our places in the Moscone Center auditorium, waiting for the next update to the iPhone, and possibly Apple's lineup of iPods as well. Join us then for our live blog of the event!
8:00 PST: Some photos coming in already from the Moscone Center, courtesy of Sascha Segan. Check them out after the jump.
9:45 PST: We're in and ready to start! Updates will appear at the top of the page, after the jump.
Speculation about Apple's WWDC, beginning today, is rampant--as is par for the course. The tech community is buzzing about possible updates and lower prices, and something about tablets.
The two big update rumors have to do with a new iPhone and the next Mac OS, Snow Leopard. The next iPhone, code-named "iPhone 3GS," is rumored to have a faster processor, twice the RAM, and more storage space. Snow Leopard is looking to also update and enhance existing features rather than adding new programs. Since Snow Leopard has no major selling points compared to previous OSes, Apple fans are hoping for a lower price.
There are also rumors flying around that if the iPhone 3GS comes out, then the iPhone will drop to the price of $99.
There is also talk of a design project Apple has been working on, called "Marble." This project is supposedly a complete redesign of the Mac OS visual appearance. (I would count this rumor out since Apple will most likely announce a release date for Snow Leopard. Talk of another OS "coming soon" would be too much for our wallets to even contemplate.)
The last big rumor of the WWDC is about a possible new tablet OC. This oversized iPod Touch has been the talk of the town, but alongside the release of a new iPhone, that seems to be stretching it.
So what's true, and what's complete fabrication? Come back at 10 EST for our live blog of today's WWDC keynote to find out.
Mixx It
Digg It
Stumble
More...
