Edible Apple

Apple set an all-time iPhone weekend sales record when the iPhone 5 launched last weekend and sold over 5 million units. While some analysts were expecting a slightly higher figure, remember that that tally doesn’t include the boatload of pre-orders that hadn’t yet been delivered by that weekend. Further, a number of reports indicated that the inventory available at non-Apple retail store outlets like Best Buy and Radio Shack were anemically low.

And, keeping the “iPhone sales could have been higher” narrative going, there were also reports that initial supply was perhaps lower than anticipated due to lower yields on iPhone 5 display shipments coming from Sharp.

Back in early September, we reported that Sharp had initially planed to begin shipping iPhone screens to Apple by the end of August, only to have that date pushed back as a result of manufacturing difficulties.

But now, one week after the iPhone 5 was launched, Sharp has reportedly gotten those manufacturing problems under control, with an executive indicating that the company is now churning out “adequate volumes” of displays.

Sharp, the source said, was struggling to improve low production yields, raising the question of whether Apple would be prepared to sweeten financial incentives to secure an acceleration of production.

…

“The iPhone 5’s 4-inch low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) touch-panel display with in-panel switching (IPS) is exceptionally difficult to produce at high yields,” Deutsche Securities analyst Yasuo Nakane said in a report on Sept 14.

Nakane estimates iPhone screen capacity at Japan Display and LG Display at eight million a month each, and at six million at Sharp. Displays for Apple’s first lot of new iPhones likely came from only LG and Japan Display, Nakane added.

If you haven’t yet had the opportunity, the iPhone 5 is remarkably thinner than the iPhone 4S model, so much so that it almost feels like a child’s toy given how light it is. Apple was able to created such a markedly thinner device because the iPhone 5 utilizes in-cell touch technology whereby the devices touch sensors are integrated right onto the LCD, thereby negating the need for a separate touchscreen layer. And of course, with any new technology comes some growing pains, especially when making something complex and thin even thinner.

via Reuters

More news coming out of Apple’s ongoing legal battle with Samsung as a US Appelas Court ruled this past Friday that a lower court should reconsider its initial injunction handed down against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Apple first won an preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab back in June when Judge Lucy Koh ruled that while “has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly by flooding the market with infringing products.”

But as luck would have it, the only Samsung product to be granted a preliminary injunction by Koh was also the only Samsung product that was found not to infringe upon any of Apple’s design patents. That said, in late August Samsung filed a motion with the US District Court to have the preliminary injunction lifted.

And now it appears that Koh will be re-evaluating the injunction altogether.

Meanwhile, remember that Apple is pursuing injunctions on other fronts as well, or shall we say for other products.

Following their victory against Samsung this past August in the US District Court, Apple was quick to file a motion seeking an injunction against 8 accused Samsung products.

• Galaxy S 4G
• Galaxy S2 (AT&T)
• Galaxy S2 (Skyrocket)
• Galaxy S2 (T-Mobile)
• Galaxy S2 Epic 4G
• Galaxy S Showcase
• Droid Charge
• Galaxy Prevail

And seeking to cover their bases, Apple also asked the court for permanent injunctions against any future Samsung product that contains a feature “not more than colorably different from any of the infringing feature or features in any of the Infringing Products.” An important point because, as you can see from the list above, it doesn’t include Samsung’s more recent products such as the Galaxy S3.

And oh yes, there’s just one more thing. Apple not long ago also asked the Court for over $707 million more in damages from Samsung which would bring their total bill to $1.7 billion. Samsung of course is appealing and recently asked for an entirely new trial altogether, arguing that they were treated unfairly in the initial trial.

via Reuters

Say what you will about Android, but one thing Google does know is Maps. And it’s initiatives like these that continue to just blow people away. Having already assembled an insane amount of data regarding terrain above ground, Google is now looking to explore the underwater world.

This ocean collection includes six of the world’s most incredible underwater spots, including coral reefs (and their inhabitants) in Australia, the Philippines and Hawaii. This imagery is available to millions of people through the Street View feature of Google Maps and in our Street View Gallery at: maps.google.com/ocean.

Check out this video below.

And hilarious YouTube comment of the day, “Why don’t they blurr out the fish faces?”

Touche.

Let’s take a break from the iPhone 5 for a quick second and focus on something equally as sexy – battery life comparisons across various OS X iterations.

I know I know, it’s hard to sit still but trust me, it’s actually rather interesting. MacObserver conducted a few tests measuring battery life performance in OS X going back to Snow Leopard and it’s interesting to see how it’s steadily improved. Of course, the first iteration of OS X Mountain Lion seemed to have taken a few steps back, but the recent release of OS X 10.8.2 seems to have rectified those problems.

Take a look at the chart below and head on over to MacObserver for more of their findings. It’s actually rather interesting.

Sprint was the last major US carrier to start selling the iPhone, but once they jumped on board Sprint subscribers started snatching up Apple’s smartphone like hotcakes.

Last October when the iPhone 4S went on sale, it only took 12 hours for Apple’s smartphone to set a one-day sales record at Sprint for a specific device. Of course, Sprint had to pay through the nose for the right to carry the iPhone, pledging $15 billion over 4 years for iPhone devices (30.5 million in total), regardless of whether or not they’d be able to move all of the units. It was an arguably risky move on the part of Sprint CEO Dan Hesse and the company’s board of directors, but hindsight seems to confirm the astuteness of said strategy. After all, just a few months ago when Sprint released their earnings for the holiday quarter, the Kansas City based carrier noted that the iPhone itself accounted for 45% of new subscribers, again driving home the point that the iPhone can attract new customers like no other smartphone device on the market.

Now, with the iPhone 5 upon us, Sprint is confident that the iPhone 5 will be yet another homerun for Apple and Sprint. During this week’s Goldman Sachs technology conference in New York City not too long ago, Hesse discussed the sales potential for the iPhone 5.

“I don’t know how it compares with our competitors, but I would expect it’s doing well,” Hesse said. “I’m just glad we have it.”

Also excited about the iPhone 5 is AT&T who previously reported a record number of initial orders for the device, with AT&T CEO Randal Stephenson even pointing out that many AT&T subscribers are absorbing early termination fees just so that they can get their hands on Apple’s iPhone 5.

“..this continues to be a project that just has incredible demand, and people are willing to pay for it”, Stephenson added.

iPhone 5 camera is legit. Check out these comparison shots done by iLounge.

Tim Cook today penned the following letter for Apple customers:

To our customers,

At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.

We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.

There are already more than 100 million iOS devices using the new Apple Maps, with more and more joining us every day. In just over a week, iOS users with the new Maps have already searched for nearly half a billion locations. The more our customers use our Maps the better it will get and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback we have received from you.

While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.

Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard.

Tim Cook
Apple’s CEO

Thin is in apparently. And grey is back.

Apparently the stickers that come with the iPhone 5 are just a little bit longer than the ones that came with the iPhone 4. Now that’s an insane attention to detail for something ostensibly pointless.

TUAW reports:

One possible reason the iPhone 5 has such great battery life is the clever way the A6 changes its clock speed. While originally thought to be clocked at 1GHz, the chip has been clocked at 1.1GHz as well as 1.3GHz by Current Editorials.

While 9to5Mac saw the chip’s speed drop as low as 550MHz, this seemed to do more with an as-yet-updated Geekbench app testing the chip (which also resulted in the 1GHz assumption). A Geekbench update seems to paint a different picture now. By all accounts it appears the chip can change “speeds,” however, resulting in better battery life and dynamically tuning itself to the demand for CPU.

Below is a little fake and somewhat funny advertisement some folks at Motorola put out in order to highlight the glaring deficiencies in iOS 6’s Mapping app. Yep, they’re showing off 315 E 15th street in New York City, and the iPhone, oh that clumsy device, is showing 315 Marlborough Rd.

Oh the hilarity!

The photo, posted by Motorola Mobility on their Google+ account reads, “Looking for 315 E 15th in Manhattan? Google Maps on DROID RAZR M will get you there & not #iLost in Brooklyn.

But as it turns out, there’s no such address in NYC!

AppleInsider notes:

The problem, as noted by reader AMD Pettitte, is that 315 E 15th Street is not an actual address in Manhattan. A public park sits on that side of the street, making none of the block’s odd numbers a valid address. The number will never be a valid address in Manhattan. This is indicated by looking closely at the picture, but none of the thousands of people sharing the false address lookup ad seemed to notice this.

So why would anyone actually be “looking for 315 E 15th” in New York? The only reasonable reason would be to locate an actual address that does exist in Brooklyn (which is also part of New York City), in an area where a series of numbered streets between East 11th and E 16th now have assigned names.

What was apparently once the 300 block of East 15th Street is now named Marlborough Road. Five blocks away, Marlborough Road turns into E 15th Street, where numbers begin on the 800 block. So Apple’s Maps returning a location on Marlborough Road when searching for East 15th Street isn’t nearly as absurd as Google’s ad portrays.

With the iPhone 5, Apple has gotten its next-gen smartphone into more countries and at a faster clip than ever before. To that end, it’s not at all surprising that Apple sold over 5 million iPhone 5s during the device’s launch weekend, and indeed, some claim that the actual number of iPhone 5s purchased is significantly higher due to delayed shipments that can’t yet be added to the final tally.

That said, Apple is going to keep the ball rolling this Friday as it will roll out the iPhone 5 to 22 additional countries while also making the device available on a number of regional carriers as well.

The countries getting the iPhone 5 treatment tomorrow include Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Meanwhile, the listing of US regional carriers getting the iPhone 5 include Cricket, C Spire, Bluegrass Cellular, Cellcom, GCI, Golden State Cellular, Nex-Tech Wireless, Pioneer Wireless, Appalachian Wireless, MTA Solutions, and nTelos.

Notably absent from the list of US regional carriers is US Cellular, the 6th largest mobile carrier in the country. Back in November of 2011, the Chicago-based company explained that they had the opportunity to carry the iPhone but balked due to the business terms demanded by Apple. US Cellular CEO Mary Dillion explained that the “terms were unacceptable from a risk and profitability standpoint.”