When Apple introduced the iPad in January, it said the device would be made available in late March and starting at $499. One analyst is now saying the launch may be delayed.

(Credit: Apple)

Analyst Peter Misek of Canaccord Adams wrote in a note to investors that a “manufacturing bottleneck” may limit the number of units available, Apple Insider reported Monday.

“An unspecified production problem at the iPad’s manufacturer, Hon Hai Precision, will likely limit the launch region to the US and the number of units available to roughly 300K in the month of march, far lower than the company’s initial estimate of 1,000K units,” Misek wrote.

Wired.com said an Apple spokeswoman told it that the “iPad will be available in late March.” In other words, there is no change in the shipping schedule.

It’s hard to tell if the iPad is facing any challenges or not. One analyst claims to have knowledge of production problems, but Apple says everything is on track. There is less than 30 days to know for sure.

Netflix still requires its subscribers to pay $9 a month and up to have DVDs mailed to them, but the company keeps quietly expanding its features for delivering movies and television shows over the internet.

As it readies a streaming feature for the Nintendo Wii to accompany its support for televisions, set-top boxes, TiVo and other gaming consoles, Netflix asks customers if they would use an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch to stream videos from Netflix’s streaming library via Wi-Fi without paying additional fees.

The company asked the same thing about the Wii before announcing support for that device, which starts this spring. Assuming customer response is positive, the long-rumored Netflix iPhone app could appear within the next few months too.

“Imagine that Netflix offers [sic] its subscribers the ability to instantly watch movies & TV episodes on their iPhone,” reads the survey question Hacking Netflix says Netflix sent to subscribers (via Silicon Alley Insider). “The selection availability to instantly watch [sic] includes some new releases, lots of classics and TV episodes. There are no advertisements or trailers, and movies start in as little as 30 seconds. You can fast-forward, rewind, and pause or watch again… for no additional fee.”
Continue reading full article at Wired.com

Money is always king – to some people. The Internet has a lot of information on it but some information is from a better source than others. But does that give them the right to charge you to see or read that information? A company can put a price on any service or product it does not mean you have to buy it. No one is forcing anyone to buy that service.

The Associated Press (AP) is a media organization. They have reporters embedded all over the world. A lot of outlets depend on their information. Many people read their stories. The AP knows their content is valued so they have decided to place a premium on that content. Yes, their articles are refreshing but are they that enticing? Soon, the marketplace will answer that question.

Their medium is the new device spun out by Apple; it is their iPad tablet product that is supposed to shake up the world. The AP wants to take advantage of that platform and charge the users of this device to read their stories. Why would someone pay to read their stories on this device when they could just read them for free at home or at work? Why read them at all when that same information is free on Fox News or other media outlets? Well, AP believes if you can buy the tablet, you can pay a little extra to read their articles.

This will be a paid subscription model. AP’s chief executive, Tom Curley, has been promoting this revolutionary idea. It may not just for the iPad, this idea could spread over to smart-phones and eReaders in the future.

On February 25, 2010, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals various concepts behind a newly advanced touch screen login system that uses a signet based concept that could take on many shapes – such as a specialized card or cool ring. In fact, it would act very much like a secret decoder ring was supposed to – though you won’t find it in your cereal or Cracker Jack box – hopefully, that is. The signet based system could act as a form of security system and the actions could initiate when logging onto your home computer or a computer network so as to permit authorized individuals access to restricted areas of the computer or computer network, loading a user profile associated with a user’s preferred arrangement of the computer desktop and so forth. The signet based system would or could apply to all present and future Apple touch screen based systems and the patent in fact makes it clear that that will include the iMac, MacBook, Mac Pro and also extend to public computer systems at schools, libraries, kiosks, gaming machines, restaurant reservation terminals and more. This could and should be a lot easier to use than keying in a sophisticated security password while making it incredibly more difficult for hackers to crack – being that the signet could include patterns and shapes unique to the individual user or institution.

Much more, including patent app illustrations, in the full article here.

Apple today announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded over 10 billion songs from the iTunes Store, the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store. The 10 billionth song, “Guess Things Happen That Way” by Johnny Cash, was purchased by Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia. As the winner of the iTunes Countdown to 10 Billion Songs, Louie will receive a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card. iTunes is the number one music retailer in the world and features the world’s largest music catalog with over 12 million songs.

“We’re grateful to all of our customers for helping us reach this amazing milestone,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services, in the press release. “We’re proud that iTunes has become the number one music retailer in the world, and selling 10 billion songs is truly staggering.”

Apple’s iTunes Store currently has a catalog of over 12 million songs, over 55,000 TV episodes and over 8,500 movies including over 2,500 in high definition video.

[Via MacDailyNews]

The iPad isn’t going to be the only Apple device using the iPhone operating system for long. Computerworld reports that Apple put up a job posting last week for an “Engineering Manager (Platform Bring-Up)” position. The position’s sole purpose is to help bring Apple’s iPhoneOS — the stripped down operating system running on the iPhone and iPod Touch — to new platforms.

That Apple is looking to spread iPhoneOS’s reach isn’t too surprising. From most hands-on accounts, the operating system translates well to the larger iPad — a device which likely would have been over-burdened by a full installation of Mac OS X. Given the iPhone OS’s success on small devices like the iPhone, and now the larger iPad, Apple would be blind not to see its potential in other devices.

The addition of iPhoneOS could completely revitalize the struggling Apple TV device. In particular, the Apple TV would be well-served with the introduction of applications via the App Store. Not only would it be useful to run certain iPhone applications right on your television, but it would also open the door for specialized apps developed specifically for the Apple TV. This could allow for developers to bring more functionality to the historically restrictive Apple TV without hacking — perhaps a paid Hulu application like the one being considered for the iPad.

Computerworld speculates further that Apple’s new A4 chip architecture, which was unveiled for the iPad, would likely follow iPhoneOS to new devices as well. The chip is certainly powerful enough to drive HD content to the AppleTV, and it could also lead to cheaper and smaller versions of the device in the future.

Smartphone chips are the new hot-ticket item in the semiconductor industry, as recently reported by the New York Times. But they can also be used in more than just smartphones, as the iPad shows. Apple likely caught on to the importance of mobile processors early with its experience with the iPhone. Now it’s the only major tech company out there that controls both the hardware and software of its devices — something both Microsoft and Google are likely wary of.

If Apple cut the price of each TV episode in half — to 99 cents, from $1.99 — would sales on iTunes increase enough to offset the price drop? On iTunes, the PBS show “Arthur” is temporarily available for under $1.99. Much of the TV content on iTunes is $1.99, be it the newest “Lost” or an old sitcom. CBS says it will discount some shows. Experiments are under way to find out, and the head of the nation’s No. 1 television network, CBS, indicated last week that some shows, at least, would be priced under a dollar in the future. Apple wants to ignite TV show sales, especially as it prepares to introduce the iPad tablet computer next month. But its proposals to lower prices across the board are being met by skepticism from the major networks. Television production is expensive, and the networks are wary of selling shows for less. They are equally wary of harming their far more lucrative deals with affiliates and cable distributors, who may feel threatened by online storefronts like Apple’s and those operated by Amazon, Microsoft and Sony.

But the networks do not want to ignore the 125 million customers with credit cards who have iTunes accounts, either. “We’re willing to try anything, but the key word is ‘try,’ ” said a TV network executive who requested anonymity because his company had declined to comment publicly on talks with Apple.
For more:

- see this New York Times report

AppAdvice claims that the iPad pre-orders could start as early as February 25th. The pre-orders are said to be for the U.S. Wi-Fi model initially. It’s really not much to go on, but Apple hasn’t given any indication about their launch plans for the iPad. During their press event, Jobs simply said that the Wi-Fi version would be shipping in 60 days, which places it into the last week of March. Read Full Post Here.

A deal has been struck between the existing members of the Beatles, along with the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison, and the internet holding company Metatron Inc. What this means for fans of the Fab Four is that there will be five new Beatles-related video applications that will be available for download in the iPhone, iTouch, and iPad platforms later this spring.

Amongst the titles are “The Journey”, which is a look at the band’s beginnings; “Big Beat Box”, a documentary about the rise of Beatlemania; and a five-part documentary on the history of the band called “The Long & Winding Road.” The apps also feature rare footage of John Lennon at work and play, as well as a documentary about George Harrison.

Joe Riehl, Metatron’s CEO, said:

“Beatles titles are some of the most popular media available and we are thrilled to be able to release these titles.”

Original article posted by Julie at the Cleveland leader See here.

Apple has released new products this week, in case you haven’t heard. I usually don’t write about hardware that I haven’t personally tested, but I am excited about the Magic Mouse. I have had so many problems with the Mighty Mouse, especially with the scroll ball, which is continually a nuisance. So, I’ve been reading various articles about the Magic Mouse all over the Internet. Here is a basic rundown from what I’ve read.

The body of the mouse has an aluminum base, topped with a smooth multi-touch panel, made of white polycarbonate, (like the keys on Apple keyboards). Its narrow profile sits really low, appearing to sit flush with the surface. It is 4.5 inches long x 2.3 inches wide and 0.5 inches tall and is still Bluetooth capable, powered by two AA batteries, and is supposed to get up to four months of use per charge. I have read some comments on other sites that people find this not ‘earth friendly’ and my take on it is that you can purchase rechargeable batteries (which I use on my Mighty Mouse).  There are left and right clicks, like the Mighty Mouse, but what makes it different is its touch-sensitive scrolling and two-fingered gestures. The Magic Mouse seems to know how to interpret a click on the left or right; this click, of course, needs to be activated from the System Preferences before you use it. The tracking is the standard laser technology that tracks on most surfaces. Flicking up and down moves you up and down web pages fast, as long as the ‘momentum’ is turned on in the settings. When the ‘momentum’ is off, you get fine-grained 1:1 scrolling. You can also click with one finger, scroll with another, allowing you to highlight blocks of text like on a normal scrolling mouse. The bonus is that you have the ability to scroll in all directions, 360 degrees around. Use two finger swiping to navigate web pages, which may seem awkward at first use. You’ll need to pinch the sides of the mouse with your thumb and fourth/pinkie finger while you’re scrolling, so you don’t lose the mouse. There is a power switch to shut off the mouse as well as an indicator light, and just like the Mighty Mouse; it even goes into battery conservation mode while not in use for an extended period of time. There’s no option for touch-sensitive clicking and the preferences don’t allow you to reassign actions that happen when you swipe. The custom preferences for the Magic Mouse only include check boxes to turn off the secondary click, momentum scrolling, and screen zoom, as well as options to alter tracking, scrolling, and double-click speed. The Magic Mouse works with Apple computers running Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later and you must install the Wireless Mouse Software update 1.0 that comes included with OS X v10.6.2.

This concludes this article about the new Magic Mouse. I am very excited and as soon as I grab one, I will write an update to this article. If anybody has the Magic Mouse, please, leave a comment on what you love/hate about it. Spread the wealth to other readers!

-TINA