The only Apple news worth reading…

Apple Discussions, Apple’s online support boards, was down for a short time this weekend and now they have announced that it will become Apple Support Communities.

From Apple:

-What is Apple Support Communities?
Experience the Power of Apple Support Communities.

Apple Support Communities brings together thousands of Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, and iPad users from around the world to discuss Apple products and topics. Apple Support Communities provides a wealth of information about your favorite Apple hardware and software products to help you get the most out of your purchase. And, in the spirit of community, you can also help other Apple Support Communities’ users by answering their questions. Read more

Apple announced its third quarter financial results with record revenue of $15.7 billion, a 78 percent earnings increase.  They sold 3.47 million Macs during the quarter, a quarterly record and a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. They sold 8.4 million iPhones in the quarter, a 61 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. iPads began selling during the quarter with total sales of 3.27 million.

“It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple’s history with iPhone 4,” said Steve Jobs. “iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year.”

Press Release

Although many blogs have been reporting on an “official statement” by Apple about “antenna problems” for over a week now, they failed to check the authenticity of it.  It turns out, as I first suspected, those statements did not originate from Apple, but instead from people who know how to spend the 5 seconds it takes to spoof Steve Jobs’ email address.  Today Apple has officially released a statement on the iPhone 4, and we can know for sure it’s real because you can find it on their Public Relations site at www.apple.com/pr.

Press Release:

Dear iPhone 4 Users,

The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product launch in Apple’s history. It has been judged by reviewers around the world to be the best smartphone ever, and users have told us that they love it. So we were surprised when we read reports of reception problems, and we immediately began investigating them. Here is what we have learned.

To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones. But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop 4 or 5 bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal band. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design.

At the same time, we continue to read articles and receive hundreds of emails from users saying that iPhone 4 reception is better than the iPhone 3GS. They are delighted. This matches our own experience and testing. What can explain all of this?

We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising.

Read more

Press Release:

CUPERTINO, California—June 22, 2010—Apple® today announced that it sold its three millionth iPad™ yesterday, just 80 days after its introduction in the US. iPad is a revolutionary and magical product that allows users to connect with their apps, content and the Internet in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.

“People are loving iPad as it becomes a part of their daily lives,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more people around the world, including those in nine more countries next month.”

Developers have created over 11,000 exciting new apps for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch™ user interface, large screen and high-quality graphics. iPad will run almost all of the more than 225,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone® or iPod touch®.

Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface. iPad is 0.5 inches thin and weighs just 1.5 pounds—thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook—and delivers up to 10 hours of battery life.* Read more

Microsoft announced today at WWDC that Office for Mac 2011, which will be released sometime later this year, is going to be 32-bit only.  The reason Microsoft gave for not moving to a 64-bit version is that they are too lazy to move all their applications over to Apple’s Cocoa framework.  Only some of the user interface elements in Office 2011 are built on Cocoa, but Apple requires a complete move before they can build a 64-bit version.  So basically they are selling a half-built software suite and selling it at full price.  But what else would you expect from Microsoft?

Press Release:

June 8, 2010 - We are half-way through 2010 and the ship date for Office for Mac 2011 is drawing near. With each suite we launch – dating back throughout our more than 25 year history of developing Microsoft products for the Mac – we look at ways to work with Apple to meet the needs of our mutual customers. That’s why we are here at WWDC this week participating in the developer sessions.

In fact, we send dozens of people to WWDC every year to make sure MacBU products take full advantage of core Apple technologies, such as Cocoa. If you haven’t heard – Outlook for Mac and the new user interface elements in Office 2011 such as the ribbon are built on Cocoa. We like using Cocoa because it makes it easier to do what the MacBU specializes in: marrying Microsoft software and services to the look and feel Mac users want.
Read more