Don't walk past police with a stolen iPhone in your boot.

According to the New York Times, a quick-thinking police officer and Apple's Find My iPhone managed to retrieve a woman's stolen iPhone. The woman was in a handbag store in Manhattan when a thief allegedly held her up at gunpoint and took her iPhone.

After searching the immediate area, NYC police officer Robert Garland entered the woman's Apple ID on his own iPhone and used "the iCloud feature" (we're going to assume that means Find My iPhone) to track the phone. Once they had arrived at its apparent location, the suspect walked past with the iPhone beeping in his boot. He was apprehended and the iPhone returned to its rightful owner.

Well done, officer Garland!

NYPD meets FMI: Cop nabs iPhone thief in NYC originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sometimes the revolving door spins quickly at the top. AllThingsD reported today that HP executive Jon Rubinstein is leaving the company for places unknown.

Rubinstein is perhaps best known for his days at Apple, when he spearheaded the rapid growth of the iPod music player -- the piece of Apple hardware widely remembered as the "gateway drug" that has since attracted millions of customers to the Mac, iPhone, and iPad. After Apple, Rubinstein worked at venture firm Elevation Partners, then moved to Palm.

In 2009, Rubinstein replaced Ed Colligan as Palm's CEO, overseeing the ill-fated switch from the old PalmOS to WebOS. The latter mobile operating system first appeared on the Pre, Pixi, and Veer smartphones. Rubinstein became an HP exec when the consumer electronics giant acquired Palm, and was at the driver's seat of the mobile division as the WebOS-powered TouchPad tablet crashed and burned.

When HP decided to get out of the mobile devices hardware market, Rubinstein was given a "product innovation role" at HP's Personal Systems Group designed to lessen the eventual impact of his departure.

Ex-Apple, ex-Palm exec Jon Rubinstein now leaving HP originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Jeff Scott of 148 Apps has announced the winners for the Best App Ever for 2011, and you can review at the official site right now. Jetpack Joyride from Halfbrick was the overall winner in the iOS devision (which is a great app, but probably also benefited from actually promoting the Best App Ever vote inside the app itself). There are several other winners across various categories like Most Innovative (Codea), Most Useful (Amazon Mobile) and Best Time Killer (Tiny Wings).

Scott tells us that 148 Apps received a record 1.5 million votes this year, which is three times the total of last year's choices. Before voting began, there were 287,643 nominations across 7,243 apps. This year also featured Android winners in many categories, but Scott says that iOS topped the Android votes by a factor of 10:1.

The Best App Ever awards are always an excellent check of what's available on the App Store, so review the list and find some great new apps. Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks to 148 Apps for putting the whole thing together.

2011 Best App Ever winners announced originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Love Apple gear? Like math? TUAW's Doing the Math series examines the numbers and the science behind the hardware and software.

Several sites -- including TUAW -- reported yesterday that 80% of all smartphones AT&T sold in Q411 were iPhones, based on AT&T's quarterly earnings report. On closer inspection, however, there's a subtle but important detail that we overlooked in AT&T's wording. It reported "9.4 million smartphone sales" but "7.6 million iPhone activations" (emphasis mine).

So, consider the following series of events. Alice buys an iPhone 3GS back in 2009 on a two-year contract. In late 2011, she treats herself to a new iPhone 4S -- that's both a sale and an activation for AT&T. She gives the 3GS to her husband, the long-suffering Bob, who can finally ditch his flip phone.

Bob needs service though. His "new" 3GS is locked to AT&T -- unlike in many other countries around the world, most American carriers won't voluntarily unlock even out-of-contract handsets. Even if it were unlocked, though, it's not compatible with either the CDMA networks used by Verizon and Sprint, nor the oddball 3G frequencies used by T-Mobile USA. Finally, AT&T refuses to support iPhones on its pay-as-you-go GoPhone plan (although if Bob read TUAW he'd know he could work around this). So, with no other choices, Bob rings up AT&T and starts an iPhone contract so he can use the old handset as more than just an oddly-shaped iPod touch.

At the end of this process, AT&T has closed one new sale -- but counted two activations, one for Alice's new iPhone 4S and one for Alice's old iPhone 3GS in Bob's name. This means the 7.6 million activations includes some double counting, and can't directly be compared to sales.

We reached out to AT&T's Seth Bloom to confirm whether our reasoning was true. He said "You're right that activations are a bit different than sales -- and activations includes things like gifted iPhones as you suggest." However, he also added that "In this quarter, the number of activations from things like gifted iPhones doesn't change the math much. We aren't sharing a number, but gifted phones is a relatively small portion of total activations."

How much might a "relatively small portion" be?

Let's revisit those numbers: 9.4 million smartphone sales and 7.6 million iPhone activations. Suppose that 10% of all those iPhone activations were to used handsets. In other words, out of all of those brand-new iPhone sales AT&T made in the last three months, about one in ten of them (a virtual cookie to any commenter who spots why I had to say "about" there) were made to a person who a) already had an older iPhone and b) then proceeded to sell or give that handset away to someone else, who reconnected it back to AT&T's network. That would mean that AT&T activated 6.84 million new iPhones and 760,000 old ones. In turn, that means that the iPhone took 73% of AT&T's overall smartphone sales. The other 27% will be split between Android, Blackberry, and Windows Phone 7.

More generally, we can plot a graph of how the iPhone's market share changes as a function of the recycle factor or the proportion of activations which went to reused handsets:

If we revisit AT&T's statement we can also see that "82 percent of postpaid sales were smartphones." This means, remarkably, that unless 25% of iPhone activations went to reused handsets (which seems unlikely in light of Bloom's comments) then over half of all contract phones AT&T sold were iPhones. This story is repeated on Verizon too.

The bottom line is: Apple kicked all kinds of posterior in the smartphone market during the last three months of 2011. Can it continue to do so in 2012? It might not be able to maintain quite this stupendous a lead. The timing of the iPhone 4S launch (in autumn, versus the previous summer iPhone introductions) likely boosted sales by causing some greater-than-usual pent-up demand. Supporting this hypothesis, Tim Cook admitted that sales of the older models waned between July and September. It'll be fascinating to see what this massive quarter does to the overall smartphone market share of iOS versus Android in the coming months.

AT&T's iPhone "sales" versus "activations": Doing the Math originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Creativity is a splendid thing. It lets you come up with never-before-considered ideas, and leads to the creation of products like the Love Box. The Love Box is a videography accessory for the iPhone that lets you mix two videos together in real time.

It's a wooden box with a slot for your iPhone and a sliding mirror. You position the phone's camera in front of the mirror, which lets you record both the action in front of you and the action behind. You can slide the mirror to show just the rear, just the front or something in between. To get a better idea of how it works, you should check out the YouTube video below.

It's a novel concept created by the Honest & Smile agency in Barcelona, Spain. The Love Box is available from Etsy for about US$80. It's a limited edition, and only 100 will be made.

[Via Wired]

Love Box is a low-fi video mixer for iPhone originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The financial world's eyes are on Apple this week after it announced record-breaking quarterly earnings. In the midst of all this commentary and congratulations, there was also a sobering article by New York Times reporters Charles Duhigg and David Barboza. Titled "In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad," the story was critical of Apple's relationship with its overseas manufacturing partners.

The piece details the purported harsh working conditions found in the factories of the contract companies that build Apple products. The 7-page article claims Apple puts incredible pressure on its partners to produce a large volume of components in a short amount of time and for little profit.

This incredible pressure forces companies like Foxconn and Wintek to cut corners and risk the safety of their workers to meet Apple's demands. Apple supposedly turns a blind eye to these practices and will even cut money to companies that complain. The article ends with a statement that implicates Apple fans in this scandal by saying "And right now, customers care more about a new iPhone than working conditions in China."

This report was reprinted in the Chinese business magazine, Caixin, and elicited equally emotional responses by the Chinese who both support and condemn Apple. Here are a few samples of the comments left on the Chinese report,

If people saw what kind of life workers lived before they found a job at Foxconn, they would come to an opposite conclusion of this story: that Apple is such a philanthropist. - Zhengchu1982

Apple has gained so much sales revenues from China. Do you think the company really cares about the conditions of those workers? I think they are just proud of having an Apple product. - 李凌云-深圳

1.) It is a pity that, we know that for Apple fans, such a story won't stop their enthusiasm. Just like people are still buying Nike and Adidas shoes, knowing that shoe manufacturing is highly environmentally hazardous; 2.) if a government cannot guarantee the welfare of its own 120 million disadvantaged population and even suppresses their appeals, then how could we require an overseas company to protect the labor rights in a Chinese factory? - Jionglegejiong

When the explosion happened, I was working for media in Chengdu. Domestic media were all silenced and only allowed to use the (Xinhua) official report, because that (Foxconn factory) was a key project. Compare to what The New York Times wrote, the gap really saddened my heart. - Chen Qiye

Without Apple, Chinese workers will be worse off. I hope China can some day soon have dozens of its own companies like Apple, who (only) work on high-end research and development and send manufacturing lines to Africa. - Anonymous

In the end, there's no easy answer to this problem. Apple tries to be transparent and releases an annual report that details its progress in improving supplier working conditions. Apple can pressure its suppliers to conform to its standards, but it has no control over regulation in a foreign country.

Is Apple doing enough, or does it need to do more to ensure the safety of workers at other companies? Right now, the best thing we can do is bring this problem to light and get people (and companies) talking about it.

[Via AppleInsider]

Chinese readers respond to story of Apple's Chinese suppliers originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In 2010, the Copyright Office said jailbreaking a handset did not violate the DMCA and the jailbreak community breathed a sigh of relief. What many people didn't realize was that the exemption covering jailbreaking will expire later this year. When it expires, companies can go after jailbreak developers like the iPhone Dev Team using the DMCA. They could face jail time and monetary penalties for their involvement in creating jailbreaking tools. Needless to say, this would put a halt to most, if not all, jailbreaking.

To prevent this from happening, the EFF created a webpage that tells you how to contact the Copyright Office and ask them to extend this exemption. The advocacy group also wants to extend this protection to tablets and video game consoles. They have instructions on where to send your comments and a guideline about what to say in your communication with the government agency. Comments are due by February 10 at 5 PM Eastern Time. If this is a cause you believe in, head over the EFF and take some time to help keep jailbreaking alive.

[Electronista]

EFF petitions to extend legal iPhone jailbreaking originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

For the past three years, I've had the pleasure to meet with HP at Macworld to find out what new Apple-centric products the company has produced. This year afforded another opportunity for HP to showcase their products, and I've put together a booth tour video with many of the highlights. If you can't make it to Macworld | iWorld 2012, I hope you'll enjoy this visit with the fantastic HP team.

Among the products you'll see in the video are the new HP LaserJet Pro 400 color M451 printer, an excellent device for small to medium businesses and home offices. There's also the HP LaserJet Pro 300 color MFP (multi-function printer) M375, an "all-in-one" printer/scanner/ copier/fax, and the faster HP LaserJet Pro 400 color MFP M475 printer. All of these devices are iOS compatible, using AirPrint for fast wireless discovery and printing.

Have you ever tried to scan a three-dimensional object on a flatbed scanner? It doesn't work. That's why HP has introduced the TopShot LaserJet Pro M275, a surprisingly affordable color laser printer with a unique 3D scanner.

HP has brought their top Apple support personnel to this year's event, and you'll meet two of the printer geniuses who are at Macworld | iWorld 2012 to answer any questions dealing with using HP products with Mac OS X and iOS devices.

You'll meet the man behind all of HP's mobile apps, including the free HP PrinterControl app demonstrated in the video. Anyone who needs to print large format output from a Mac should get a lot out of the discussion of HP's DesignJet printers and the vast variety of media they can print on.

Thanks again to the wonderful staff at HP, not only for taking time out of their work at the show today to talk with me, but for also sponsoring the highly successful TUAW Meetup at Jillian's last night (January 26). Several lucky TUAW readers in attendance are receiving HP printers as part of the awesome giveaways. Me? I was just happy to meet and talk with hundreds of TUAW readers.

And now, on with our video:

HP at Macworld iWorld 2012 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

On the second floor of Moscone West here at Macworld | iWorld 2012 is the Macworld Midway, a series of displays and events that are still Mac-related, but which veer a little out of the standard Apple community. One of those is this Art of South Park gallery, which features art from the very ribald (and hilarious) Comedy Central animated show. Not all of this art was created with Macs, but the show itself is developed and put together on Macs every week, and there's a panel here at Macworld in which artists from the show are talking about how they use Apple's technology.

If you're not here in San Francisco, you can walk through the gallery, and check out all of the art on display, below.

Gallery: The Art of South Park at Macworld 2012

Macworld | iWorld's Art of South Park gallery originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

While there are still quite a few good comic book reader apps on the App Store, there's really only one choice for buying digital comics directly from the publishers: Comixology's aptly title Comics app. Comixology launched early on iOS devices, beginning with a web interface and then the very popular iPhone app. Since the introduction of the iPad the company's really started to shine, bringing in huge partnerships with publishers like DC, Marvel, and Image Comics. Comixology provides both a very slick and usable reading interface and a very well-designed store that delivers digital comics through in-app purchases.

Comixology's VP of Marketing, PR, and Business Development Chip Mosher kindly met up with us on the floor of Macworld | iWorld this week, and he agrees that the App Store has brought a lot of success for Comixology, both the app and the company itself (which also runs a few other standalone apps). Even so, Mosher says "really good" still isn't good enough. While Comixology does have most of the major comic titles covered, Dark Horse Comics still delivers its titles through its own store, and Archie Comics also come through a dedicated app run by competitor iVerse Media (though Comixology does carry the comics as well already). There are still some whales out there that Comixology is hunting in terms of delivering digital comics on the iPad.

Mosher balked at revealing any major features of the app in the works, but he does say that Comixology is aiming for a "buy once, read anywhere" plan with its digital downloads. Even before iCloud took off, Comixology offered its own syncing service, so any titles purchased on the iPhone would show up automatically on the iPad and vice versa. Mosher says the company has worked to do that with everything, so purchases also cross over to Android devices, plus any readers on desktop computers or the web. He agrees that as long as the company can provide readers with their purchased comics when and wherever they need them, customers will be happy to jump in and buy them under the Comixology banner.

Mosher shrugs at the mention of Apple bringing comic books to iBooks in a more official way. Certainly, Apple has shown some interest in bringing periodicals to iBooks, and a few comic authors are publishing their own books using iBooks Author. But Mosher believes Comixology will just have to continue to provide content users want in an app they're happy to use and worry about whatever Apple decides to do when that happens.

Finally, we chatted about Comixology's "Guided View" technology, which provides a panel-by-panel look at each comic's art. Mosher says that when the tech was first introduced, "I don't think anyone at Comixology thought people would use it," but in fact "a ton of people have." Mosher says it's probably most valuable on the iPhone's smaller screen, but Comixology still uses the tech to provide the feature on all of its new comics, so clearly the company is committing to support it.

Comixology has had a lot of success on the iPad especially, to the point where anyone looking for comics on Apple's tablet will likely end up in this app eventually. We'll keep an eye on the app and the company going forward, and see what they can do next to keep their growing hold on the iPad's comics market.

Comixology reigns over comics on the iPad originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

An interesting piece of software I've run across at Macworld | iWorld 2012 is Audible Magic, automated-content recognition software that relies on digital fingerprinting. The Audible Magic technology will identify a TV series based off the audio as it's being broadcast. Audible Magic's customers include yap.tv and Miso, which will have the Audible Magic's recognition integrated into their apps.

Check out the video as Audible Magic's Jay Friedman gives a demonstration of the software and explains how it helps viewers.

Yahoo's IntoNow offers a similar feature, including for live sports or news.

Audible Magic can recognize anything you watch on TV originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The yellow sticky note of doom has appeared, and the Apple Store is currently down. What sort of updates will this bring? Since it's early Friday on the East Coast, most likely maintenance. But with Macworld, it could be anything. We'll let you know of any changes once it's back up!

Update: The store has come back up. No new items have been added, but Apple has a new campaign on the store focused on Valentine's Day. Apple has positioned it as a gift guide, and the iPad 2 with a (PRODUCT) RED Smart Cover is prominently displayed.

Apple Store is down (Update: Back up with Valentine's Day gift guide) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With iWeb slowly fading into obscurity, Mac users who want to generate websites without a lot of trouble have been turning to apps such as Sandvox. The app was updated today to version 2.5, which is free for users version 2.0 and up.

Prominently featured is a slideshow object that lets users drag a collection of photos to the app, with options for timing, transitions and caption control adjustable in the Object inspector. The traditional Photo Grid now supports displayed captions derived from page contents.

The app also has added a reworked publishing engine and better compatibility for .mkv files and Quick Look support. Several Lion-friendly features have been added, including including Resume, Autosave, Versions and Fullscreen mode. Sandvox is not as easy to use as iWeb, but it trades a bit of complexity for far more power and control over the features of your website. It ships with several templates that make site creation fast and easy, or you can modify those templates to fit your needs.

Sandvox is available in the app store for US $79.99 or directly from Karelia Software.

Sandvox for Mac updated with slide shows and more Lion features originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Valve has released Steam Mobile for iOS, a free app for the iPhone. According to Valve, "With the free Steam app for iOS, you can participate in the Steam community wherever you go. Chat with your Steam friends, browse community groups and user profiles, read the latest gaming news and stay up to date on unbeatable Steam sales."

That's the promise of the app, anyway; Steam Mobile has launched in "limited beta," meaning you first need to input an activation key on your PC or Mac. Entering your username and password into the Steam Mobile app is apparently enough to "express interest" in the beta, but for now that's pretty much all the app does until you receive an activation key.

It's interesting that this app was approved; Apple has traditionally frowned on apps that require users to register for access in this manner, so it's odd to see Valve granted an exception.

Also worth noting is that Steam Mobile will not serve as a front end to Steam selling games for the iPhone. All Steam Mobile will allow you to do is access the community and buy games for your Mac or PC from your iPhone.

Valve debuts free Steam Mobile iPhone app originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Vintage Radio is an interesting idea for an iPhone app: It's a ton of various old-time radio recordings (more than 34,000 mystery, horror, comedy, and other old 1930s and 1940s radio shows), all accessible to stream on demand. The app allows you to browse and search shows, set up and save playlists or even share shows on Facebook and Twitter. The selection is really amazing. I like a lot of old-time radio, and this app does have pretty much everything you need. If you have a lot of long car trips or plane rides, it can really help fill the time.

Unfortunately, Vintage Radio's biggest problem might be a dealbreaker. The app uses a very confusing subscription model to make money. Basically, you buy the app for $3.99, and get access to a certain amount of the shows for that price. After that, you have to pay a subscription to listen to more shows -- about $1.99 a month, or a little cheaper if you subscribe for a longer period. I also ran into some issue with the app where I only got a certain number of plays on it, and it's not entirely clear when you browse which shows are paid or free.

Even paying the subcription is probably cheaper than actually buying all of these shows. Even if you have to pay the subscription fee, if you actually spend a year listening to these recordings, it's probably worth it. Vintage Radio is a nice idea that's not implemented well, but if you're a fan of old-time radio, it's definitely worth a look.

Daily iPhone App: Vintage Radio originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Now that we can jailbreak the iPhone 4S, jailbreak developers can finally use Siri in their tweaks. One such tweak is Lingual which adds language translation to our favorite voice assistant. The tweak, available from the Big Boss repository in Cydia, lets you say "Siri, What is how are you in Spanish" and Siri will respond with "Cómo estás."

The tweak uses the Bing API to handle all the translation requests and, as a result, can support more than 30 languages. It's based on the AssistantExtensions platform and will install that tweak along with Lingual. AssistantExtensions is an architecture that makes it easy to create Siri extensions like Lingual. It's free and has both tutorials and templates to get you started.

If you have a jailbroken iPhone 4S and give Lingual a try, let us know what you think in the comments. I played around with Lingual and it works reasonably well. It's accuracy is based on Bing so the translation sometimes is hit or miss, but the tweak itself is stable.

[Via The Verge and iDownloadBlog]

Lingual adds Siri language translation to jailbroken iPhones originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Forrester Research recently conducted a survey of close to 10,000 workers in 17 countries to determine which workers are more likely to own and use Apple products. The New York Times has published the results, which show that "business directors" -- in other words, bosses -- are the employee group most likely to own one or more Apple products and use them at work.

Here's a breakdown of the survey results.

Who uses Apple products:

• 43 percent of people earning $150,000 or more per year -- 87 of 200 respondents
• 27 percent of people earning $100,000 - $149,999
• 23 percent of people earning $50,000 - $99,999
• 19 percent of people earning $49,999 or less -- 1300 of 6800 respondents

21 percent of all 9912 respondents in Forrester's survey said they used one or more Apple devices for work.

The New York Times notes that the increasing penetration of Apple products into the workplace, often driven by people bringing in and using their personal devices, is wearing down traditional IT department hostility toward the Mac, iPhone, and iPad. However, as Ars Technica notes, the research also shows that while 50 percent of firms in "mature markets" offer Macs, only 30 percent of respondents said their companies support them, leaving many Mac users to fend for themselves at work.

Coupled with reports like Good Technology's quarterly results on device activations, it seems that the old practice of business and enterprise environments shunning Apple products is shifting quite rapidly. Forrester's claim that "Windows' dominance is at an end" is premature, however; while Microsoft's share of the enterprise pie is no longer as big as it once was, it's still claiming the majority of users in that sphere.

Research suggests business directors more likely to use Apple products at work originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apparent has announced a new model of its popular Doxie Go scanner with Wi-Fi support. The tiny appliance can be charged up, slipped into a bag and carried around for on-the-go scanning of documents, receipts or other slip of paper you want to digitize and save.

When we reviewed the Doxie Go in December, a workaround with Eye-Fi Wi-Fi / SD cards enabled wireless scanning of sorts, but now the devices have wireless functionality built in. Documents scanned with the new model can be sent to your computer, mobile device, or to Evernote, Flickr, or an FTP account. Its street price is listed at US$239.

Check back with us all week as our team at Macworld | iWorld is providing complete coverage of all the goodies on the expo floor.

Apparent announces WiFi-powered Doxie Go scanner originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Despite multiple media outlets painting it as a "disappointing" update immediately after its debut, the iPhone 4S is Apple's most popular iPhone by far. A consumer survey by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (via AllThingsD) suggests that the new iPhone 4S accounted for 89 percent of all iPhones sold in Apple's most recent quarter. The US$99 iPhone 4 and free iPhone 3GS were both barely blips on the radar, with 7 percent and 4 percent of overall sales, respectively.

iPhone 4S unit sales follow a predictable pattern, with the lowest-priced model being most popular:

• 16 GB: 45 percent of sales
• 32 GB: 34 percent of sales
• 64 GB: 21 percent of sales

Some other metrics found in CIRP's research give some further insight into demand for the iPhone 4S:

• 19 percent of iPhone 4 owners upgraded
• 42 percent of iPhone 4S buyers broke their existing contract for an early upgrade
• 19 percent of iPhone 4S buyers sold their old device

I've inputted CIRP's results into a spreadsheet and compared them against the iPhone unit sales and revenues in Apple's own earnings. The numbers I got for total revenues when going by CIRP's survey results are only about 6 percent higher than Apple's actual reported revenues, so CIRP's numbers look to be quite close to what actually took place.

Keeping that margin of error in mind, unit sales of the iPhone break down approximately as follows:

• iPhone 3GS: 1.48 million
• iPhone 4: 2.59 million
• iPhone 4S 16 GB: 14.8 million
• iPhone 4S 32 GB: 11.2 million
• iPhone 4S 64 GB: 6.9 million

This distribution of unit sales hews very closely to my own analysis of Apple's iPhone sales. Of note, the iPhone 3GS is still the third-most popular smartphone overall, and with just under 1.5 million units sold it outsold all competing Android handsets (considered individually, obviously not in total).

The iPhone 4S is also eating the iPod touch's breakfast and stealing its lunch money; with approximately 10 million iPod touch units sold last quarter, the 16 and 32 GB iPhone 4S models each outsold the iPod touch all by themselves.

Siri, define "blockbuster."

iPhone 4S accounts for 89 percent of iPhone sales originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Every three months Apple announces its quarterly earnings, and we see the company's huge pile of cash grow to increasingly awe-inspiring heights. Like clockwork, a day or two after the earnings announcement comes calls for Apple to give some of that money back to its shareholders in the form of dividends.

Reuters claims that these calls for dividends are getting louder, and some investors are getting restless. Apple's US$98 billion cash horde is so big that it represents a value of $104 per share, a big slice of the current $444 per share stock value.

Several Wall Street analysts are convinced that Apple will pay a dividend to investors in 2012, but they say that every year. Apple has not paid dividends on its stock since 1995, and Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer has stated that the money isn't burning a hole in Apple's pockets. CEO Tim Cook and Oppenheimer revealed that Apple is actively looking at what to do with its money, but neither of the executives would commit to a firm comment on the company's intentions.

One major stumbling block is that most of Apple's cash is tied up overseas -- $64 billion of its $98 billion. Repatriating that money to the US would subject it to a 35 percent tax, skimming over $22 billion off the top... something that Apple has lobbied against.

Within the next few days I predict we'll see another wave of posts predicting huge company acquisitions -- finish your drink if you see "Apple could buy Facebook" in your RSS reader before the end of the week. That's also an unlikely scenario; Apple has a history of buying smaller companies that aren't already household names, and it usually only drops a few billion dollars in the process.

Much like the iPad cannibalizing the Mac, I suspect Apple's executives see the company's cash stockpile as a nice problem to have. It affords the company a great deal of flexibility; Apple could make zero dollars in revenue for the next seven straight years and still be able to sustain its current operating expenses. With dividends and major acquisitions likely out of the picture, there's no way of knowing what Apple intends to do with its money... though I have my own loony ideas about that.

Investors eyeing Tim Cook's management of Apple's cash horde originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The team from Pocket Informant is at Macworld|iWorld this week to show off the app and announce a new cloud-based service that will share information across all of the company's mobile apps and new web interface. Pocket Informant is a GTD/calendar/tasks app that combines all sorts of functionality in one place, and during Macworld|iWorld, both it and the HD version are on sale for just US$9.99.

The app is great (and we've spotlighted it here before), but the online service should make things much easier for many users. You can sign up on the website now for the public beta of the web app. WebIS, the company behind Pocket Informant, told us that it wanted to start the beta as soon as this week, but it's instead waiting to see what the response is like before launch. The web app will be a fairly open beta, and the company will widen it as time goes on.

The iOS beta, on the other hand, is a little harder to roll out. WebIS will do a closed beta using Apple's Enterprise distribution, so the public won't have much chance to try that cloud service before it's ready to go. But once the code is all set, Pocket Informant users will get a free update that will sync their information across all devices. And while iOS is first, the app will eventually sync info to Android apps as well, so if you use multiple devices, this should really come in handy.

Check back with us all week as our team at Macworld | iWorld is providing complete coverage of all the goodies on the expo floor.

Pocket Informant planning public beta for cloud service originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There are a lot of Runmeter users on the TUAW staff, and when Abvio invited us to take a look at the upcoming Runmeter 7.0 (along with Cyclemeter and Walkmeter, which are the same app geared toward different users) at Macworld | iWorld 2012, we gladly took the chance to see what's in store.

The app update, coming later this quarter, has an updated stopwatch that shows more than 150 data items, a new history navigation, social media interaction and more. My favorite feature was the ability to use the remote on Apple headphones to stop and start the app as needed. It's great for pausing at red lights or to take a quick break. CEO Steve Kusmer also showed me the Wahoo Fitness Blue HR Heart Rate Strap, which the app now supports for capturing heart rate data via Bluetooth.

Check out the video below to see Kusmer demonstrate the new features. Runmeter is $4.99 in the App Store.

Macworld | iWorld 2012: Abvio reveals new features for Runmeter 7.0 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

One of the most innovative and longstanding software development firms in the Apple ecosystem is The Omni Group. The company originally developed software for Steve Jobs's NeXT in the 1990's, created some of the first OS X software in the 2000s, and has gracefully made the transition to iOS with the advent of the iPhone and iPad. On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of talking with Omni Group CEO Ken Case about the company's latest technical achievement -- building Siri capabilities into OmniFocus for iPhone -- and the history of this venerable favorite of Apple fans worldwide.

Over the next week or so, TUAW will be posting a number of interviews with both established development firms like The Omni Group and new startups that are just beginning to make their presence known in the Apple world. Be sure to visit often to check out our video offerings.

You can check out more of our Macworld|iWorld 2012 coverage here.

The Omni Group's Ken Case talks with TUAW at Macworld iWorld 2012 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Disney has released the very first new content pack for the extremely popular Where's My Water, "Cranky's Story." It features 40 new levels for the price of 99 cents. Instead of guiding clean water to a shower head as you did in the original game, this update has you direct dirty water to Cranky's plate so he can eat his "junk food."

Where's My Water is a breakthrough title for Disney. Not only has it been phenomenally popular on iOS, but the game's also been released on other mobile platforms, and the free web version appeared in a campaign about clean drinking water. Disney is currently working on animated media about the game's characters, so this has turned into a pretty substantial franchise for the House of Mouse.

This update raises the game's profile and demonstrates Disney's investment in iOS and this property. Fans of the game should find the update in the App Store now.

Disney introduces new 'Cranky's Story' levels for Where's My Water originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Just as soon as the show floor opened at this year's Macworld | iWorld 2012 in San Francisco, we grabbed a camera and did a run through the exhibitions on display. You can see all of the various booths and their vendors and showcases in the gallery below (everything from Mac and iOS accessories to app developers and even content producers), as well as shots from the "Macworld Midway" displays and the registration area.

Things are hopping on the first day of the conference. There are some big names missing from the show floor; Apple obviously isn't officially here, and some of the big vendors from previous years aren't around. But as you can see below, there are plenty of exhibitors here, both big and small. We'll have lots more coverage from Macworld | iWorld all this week, from most of the exhibitors in the gallery below and even more. Stay tuned!

Gallery: Macworld|iWorld 2012 show floor tour

Take a tour of the Macworld | iWorld 2012 show floor originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Last night David Barnard of App Cubby swung by our makeshift studio in San Francisco to show off Launch Center, which had only been live on the App Store for a few hours.

If you're wondering what Launch Center does, this video will explain it. Basically it's a shortcut app which allows you to save a few clicks doing things like texting someone or even doing a Google search of whatever is in your clipboard. But there are a bunch of great shortcuts in here, from tweeting to calling to launching a website. Plus, you can schedule shortcuts. I can't wait to prank someone by activating the flash on the iPhone at some time while my iPhone is on the table, explaining that it is a noxious fumes detector. (Update: OK, you can really only schedule a notification that, when you slide to open it, will then launch the action.)

If you frequently find yourself tapping too many times on your iPhone, you should absolutely give Launch Center a look. Plus, if you want to schedule certain actions on your iPhone, Launch Center is a dream come true. I think it's a great idea, and David explains a bit about why it was initially rejected by Apple, but is now allowed. Check out the video below.

Launch Center demo by creator David Barnard originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iPhone owners who live in cold climates have many solutions for staying warm while using their devices. I've seen gloves with metal dots on their fingers, cutoff gloves with caps that transform into mittens, and gloves with conductive fabric tips designed for use with capacitive screens.

The NuTouch Glove line falls into the latter category. Unlike some of their brothers on the market, all five tips are so enabled, not just the forefinger and thumb. Retailing for about US$12, these gloves are unisex, suitable for use with most business and casual wear.

In the pair I tested, the tips did not pop out visually as much as the product shot at the top of the screen. So it didn't look as if the gloves were anything other than normal outerwear.

The gloves were warm, keeping my hands toasty in sub-freezing weather, but I'd recommend against using them for any sustained, physical hand-centered activity. Like, say, shoveling snow.

My first tests involved biking and I found my hands were pretty much rubbed raw by the end of a half hour. Normally, I have to strip off one of my winter gloves to take calls and to interact with RunMeter -- the app I use to track my rides. The NuTouch gloves let me add ride log data on the go, but were just stiff enough to irritate my skin due to the constant pressure.

This roughness was not a problem during walking, where I wasn't constantly leaning on my hands, moving their positions over handlebars, and sweating through the gloves. They worked especially well for short dashes downtown and walks between buildings where you sometimes need to pull up a map or send a quick text, especially in the cold Colorado winter.

These gloves are a good choice for cold weather touchscreen use -- just remember they're business wear and not meant to be sportswear.

Hands on with NuTouch Gloves originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I just finished Adam Lashinsky's "Inside Apple", now available for sale at most major vendors. It's a quick, easy read and clocks in at just over 200 pages with large, readable type. If you're looking for an exhaustive Tracy Kidder take on how Apple works and operates, this book isn't it. Instead, it offers a refreshing overview of Apple history and corporate culture from NeXT to iPhone.

There's little here that's new or shocking, but it's all put together in a readable style. It's a perfect airplane book -- it will keep you entertained without requiring too much commitment.

You'll find plenty of anecdotes, from how Apple developed its retail strategy to how it acquired Cisco's "iOS" moniker for its own use. You'll also learn about Apple's social structure (designers rule the world while the Mac teams have seen their status plummet) and its penny-pinching policies. There's a lot about Jobs and his quirks, both personal and business as well.

What you don't get is a lot of deep analysis. I suspect that's because Apple's closed system didn't allow Lashinsky access to the people who could have provided those insights. There's a lot of back story and very little about the current state of affairs. Clearly, all his research had to be done from the outside, with ex-employees and those who have done business with the company.

As the book points out, this secrecy has served Apple well. One section that really popped for me early in the book involved a discussion of Korean phone maker LG. Unlike Apple, they pre-announced a product and under-delivered it. It's a mistake that Apple, with its tight limits on information, would never have made.

In the end, Lashinsky describes Apple's corporate culture and business successes, allowing each reader to draw the line from the cause to the effect. I found it an enjoyable read. If you are someone interested in Apple and its culture, you'll probably want to pick up a copy.

Adam Lashinsky's Inside Apple book is available in the iTunes iBookstore for US$12.99 and from Amazon.

Inside Apple offers a quick read, corporate insights originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Our Remix and WIN competition, with Olivia Broadfield, Propellerhead and SoundCloud, closes on the 31st January 2012, which means you've just a few days left to submit your remix of Olivia's song 'Say.' We've had loads of entries already (some of which are very impressive), and the judges (Olivia and the TUAW team) have their work cut out for them over the next few weeks!

The winning entry will take home Propellerhead's brand new Balance audio interface and a copy of their latest DAW, Reason 6, plus a SoundCloud premium membership, a signed copy of Olivia Broadfield's latest album, "This Beautiful War", and some TUAW merchandise, too!

If you haven't already, check out our competition announcement post here for all the details on how to enter. The winning remix will be announced in February 2012. May the best remix win!

If you've had any trouble submitting your entry, leave a comment below.

Reminder: Last chance to Remix & WIN originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's the first day of Macworld | iWorld 2012 and the new Mac products are beginning to roll out. Western Digital is back with a hot, new Thunderbolt drive, the My Book Thunderbolt Duo. The external hard drive uses the 10 Gbps Thunderbolt port, and supports two 3.5-inch hard drives in a RAID 0 striped array. It'll send data at a speedy 2 Gbps (250 MBps) which will let you send a full HD movie to the drive in 30 seconds. This is fast, but not as fast as it could be because hard drive technology has not kept up with the speed of the ports.

Despite this speed discrepancy, the My Book Thunderbolt Duo still beats any USB 2.0 drive on the market. It'd be a perfect drive for video professionals who regularly transfer large files. The My Book Thunderbolt Duo will be available in 4 TB and 6 TB capacities. The availability date and pricing are not yet known.

Check back with us all week as our team at Macworld | iWorld is providing complete coverage of all the goodies on the expo floor.

[Via Electronista]

Western Digital announces My Book Thunderbolt Duo drive originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

We've heard a lot of stories about Find my iPhone helping people track their lost and stolen iOS devices, but here's one of the first stories involving Photo Stream. According to this Fox 4 Dallas report, it all started late last December in Dallas, TX at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Ken McLellan had just arrived home from a business trip. While he reached to pick up his checked bags, he put down his iPad along with his carry-on bag. You probably can guess what happened next. With bags in hand, he turned to get his iPad, and it was gone.

As a loyal Apple user, McLellan also has an iPhone and an iMac in addition to his purloined iPad. He's also one of 85 million people using iCloud and had, rather fortuitously, turned on Photo Stream sharing. Imagine his surprise when new photos from his iPad began to hit his iMac a few weeks after his device was stolen. He's collected the photos of the people who currently have his device and posted them to Facebook. He's hoping to identify them and possibly get his iPad back.

Getting his iPad back might not be that easy, though. Perhaps the thief resold the device to these unsuspecting buyers who don't realize it was stolen. It's also possible the thief returned the stolen iPad to Apple for a new device. A recent report details how a savvy thief can use Apple's generous repair policy to get a new device and leave the stolen one behind. It's also possible the people with the iPad are the ones who lifted the device and they'll dump it once they spot their photos on Facebook.

Photo Stream is helping a man find his stolen iPad originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple sold a blockbuster number of iPhones in Q1 2012, and these extraordinary sales trickled down to its carrier partners. In the US, the biggest beneficiary of this explosion is AT&T which announced it activated 7.6 million iPhones in the just-ending quarter. This number is about 20 percent of Apple's total iPhone sales for the quarter.

AT&T had its best quarter ever for iPhone and smartphone sales. The carrier sold 9.4 million smartphones, 50 percent more than its previous quarterly record and almost double its Q3 2011 sales. iPhones were the dominant smartphone for the carrier and accounted for 80 percent of its smartphone sales.

The carrier said it had its best-ever quarter for Android sales and doubled what it sold in the same quarter last year. Though strong, Android doesn't compare to the iPhone on AT&T. We can calculate that the carrier sold 1.8 million or less Android devices, which is a drop in the bucket compared to iPhone sales.

AT&T also thoroughly trounced Verizon which sold 4.3 million iPhones. This lower number may be due, in part, to AT&T's portfolio, which includes three iPhones- the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 4 and the highly discounted iPhone 3GS. Verizon only carries the iPhone 4 and 4S. Those who bought the iPhone 4 when it launched in early 2011 were under contract and would have to break a contract to buy the 4S when it debuted.

AT&T: Eighty percent of smartphones sold in Q4 2011 were iPhones originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

For the second year in a row, TUAW and HP are teaming up to bring you fun! Whether you're in the Bay Area for Macworld iWorld 2012 or a resident of the area, drop by Jillian's in San Francisco (4th and Market Streets, across from Moscone West) and enjoy an evening with the TUAW crew.

The festivities start at 8 PM and run until 11, and we have a huge cache of outstanding Mac, iPad, and iPhone accessories to give away to attendees. Refreshments will be served, and HP will have an array of their fine printing and scanning products on hand for demonstrations.

It's free, it's a blast, and it's our opportunity to meet with the people who give us a reason to work -- our readers!

TUAW Meetup: Join us tonight for fun and giveaways originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Good Technology's quarterly report on device activation statistics among its Fortune 500 clients has been released. Just like previous quarters, the results show a marked dominance of iOS device activations in enterprise environments. In the consumer arena, Android has been running away with the marketshare lead for most of the past couple of years, but iOS continues to rule the enterprise roost.

According to Good's analysis, the relative percentage of Android device activations decreased over the quarter. iOS devices made up 71 percent of net activations in Q4 2011, while Android dropped to 29 percent; these numbers compare to 68 percent for iOS vs. 32 percent for Android in Q3.

The iPhone 4S was a major factor in Apple's smartphone gains for the quarter, accounting for 31 percent of all device activations -- the single most popular device for the quarter. During September and October, Android smartphone activations were steadily closing in on iPhone activations, but that trend sharply reversed in November. By December, iPhone activations were crushing Android phone activations; in fact, during December the number of iPad activations exceeded the number of Android smartphone activations, something not seen since July.

The iPad accounted for 94.7 percent of total tablet activations for Q4, a negligible decline from its 96 percent statistic in Q3. Android tablets accounted for no more than 1 percent of overall device activations in the enterprise, with a 5.2 percent share of overall tablet activations.

"For now, the iPad and iPad 2 remain the de facto enterprise tablet standard -- especially when it comes to the large company-driven deployments in verticals such as Financial Services, Business and Professional Services, Life Sciences, and Healthcare," GT reports. The Financial Services sector in particular had an iPad adoption rate four times higher than any other industry.

Together, Apple's iPhone and iPad models accounted for the top five out of ten most popular devices activated in the enterprise, with the device breakdown as follows:

1. iPhone 4S
2. iPhone 4
3. iPad 2
4. iPad
5. iPhone 3GS

Android smartphones rounded out the top 10. The most popular Android-powered device, the Samsung Galaxy S II, accounted for 1.7 percent of overall device activations.

GT's summary of 2011 as a whole shows a marked lead in iPhone activations over Android smartphone activations, especially in the last quarter. Meanwhile, the iPad is stomping Android's tablets in the enterprise; Android's tablets barely show up at all on Good's graph of 2011.

It's worth noting, as Good itself does, that the numbers for Q4 do not reflect holiday sales. Good Technology expects yet more gains for iOS devices in the enterprise once workers bring their newly-acquired Christmas gifts back to work with them over the first quarter of 2012.

Good does not report on BlackBerry or Windows Phone 7 device activations. However, given what we know about RIM's increasingly dismal performance and Windows Phone 7's lack of traction in the consumer market, it's unlikely that either platform is making a meaningful contribution to the overall trend in device activations.

Good Technology report shows Apple still dominates enterprise activations originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Not very long after Tim Cook said that Apple sees a "huge opportunity" in Brazil, it turns out the company's CEO may have had more than sales on his mind. Brazil has granted iPad assembler Foxconn special exemptions from Brazilian excise and other taxes, clearing the way for iPad production to begin in South American factories.

For several months in 2011 it looked as though iPad production might begin at Foxconn-owned factories in Brazil, but the proposed US$12 billion deal fell through in September when Brazil failed to meet Foxconn's expectations for tax breaks. Brazilian officials characterized Foxconn's demands as "crazy," but there appears to have been a change of mind. It remains to be seen how Foxconn's secondary worry of Brazil's lack of skilled labor will be addressed.

Mercado reports the tax exemption applies to "tablets with touch screens, no keyboard and weighing less than 750 grams" -- at 600 grams, the iPad 2 comes in comfortably below that limit, as do several competitors' products. "Accessories, cables, power supplies and manuals that are related to the tablets" also fall under the exemption rules.

Our Brazilian readers have said that high local prices for Apple's gear haven't stymied demand for the devices. If produced locally, Brazilian prices for the iPad could fall considerably since import duties will no longer be levied against them, and that could potentially send Brazilian demand for the iPad into the stratosphere.

With a population of 200 million, Brazil represents a great opportunity for Apple to expand its operations in an area of the globe that consumer electronics companies haven't traditionally viewed as a high priority market.

Brazil gives tax exemption to Foxconn, iPad production may follow originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world.

You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.

No Flash? Click here to listen.

Daily Update for January 25, 2012 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The attention-grabbing numbers from Apple's most recent earnings statement have already made the rounds -- US$46 billion in revenue, net profit of $13 billion, 37 million iPhones sold -- and all of that within three months. Apple didn't just turn in record-breaking performance for a tech company; only Exxon has ever managed to have a more profitable quarter than the one Apple just reported.

Combing through the spreadsheets on Apple's earnings statement provides some additional insight into the company's overall performance, where its strengths and weaknesses lie, and where the company might be headed in the future. These numbers aren't as headline-grabbing as Apple's profits or unit sales, but they tell an important story all the same.

Research and Development

In three months, Apple's expenditures on R&D totalled a staggering $758 million. This compares to expenditures of "only" $575 million the year before. To get an idea of how much money Apple's pouring into R&D, compare its three-month expenditures to the production costs of Avatar, one of the most expensive films ever produced. Avatar cost $237 million; in just three months, Apple's R&D expenditures are enough to finance an entire Avatar trilogy.

The $575 million in R&D Apple spent in Q1 2011 likely went into the iPad 2, iCloud, the iPhone 4S, iOS 5, OS X Lion, the newest MacBook Air, and a whole host of things we haven't even seen yet. Apple's R&D expenditures for Q1 2012 have increased by an additional $183 million, so the company is still clearly focused on innovating like mad.

Mac sales

One of the few minus signs visible in Apple's sales data was its North American Mac sales. Though sales were up by 19 percent compared to a year earlier, compared to the previous quarter Mac sales actually declined by 6 percent. North America was the only market to see a decline in Mac sales during the quarter, but at the same time only Europe and Asia Pacific had double-digit growth in Mac sales.

Oddly enough, sales of Mac desktops actually seemed to perform better over the quarter compared to portable sales (by trend, not by number of units sold):

Desktops

• Unit sales up 16 percent
• Revenue up 15 percent

Portables

• Unit sales up 3 percent
• Revenue up 2 percent

Both types of Mac vastly outperformed the year-ago quarter, but the tapering off of portable Mac sales and the overall decline in Mac sales in North America during the Christmas sales period is intriguing. Several factors may explain this phenomenon.

First, there were no significant Mac notebook updates during the quarter; the MacBook Pro's late October refresh was quite modest, and the MacBook Air hasn't been updated since July. Second, the mid-2011 discontinuation of the plastic MacBook eliminated Apple's "entry level" offering; the smaller and less capacious 11-inch MacBook Air costs the same as the old MacBook, but it may not be as attractive an offering to budget-minded notebook shoppers. Larger economic factors may have been at play, too; North American shoppers in particular simply may not have had the discretionary funds for a Mac purchase over the holiday quarter.

While all of those things likely had an impact on sales of Mac portables, I think what we're really seeing here is the effect of the iPad's cannibalization of the lineup. Over the quarter, the iPad outsold all Mac portables by nearly 4 to 1, and outsold all Macs combined by 3 to 1. Apple has admitted in the past that the iPad has "slightly" cannibalized Mac sales, and classified it as a "nice problem to have." It looks like that so-called "problem" is showing signs of getting worse.

None of this is to say that the Mac is in any danger; in a sharp contrast from the rest of the PC industry, the Mac is still seeing unit sales and revenue growths well into the double digits. Whether that trend continues or not is going to depend greatly on the iPad's growth; Tim Cook has said he expects the iPad to eclipse the PC industry eventually, but in terms of both unit sales and revenues, the iPad has already supplanted the Mac after less than two years on the market.

iPod sales

During its earnings conference call, Tim Cook revealed that the company sold a total of 62 million iOS devices in the past quarter. Subtracting the iPhone and iPad from that number yields a total of approximately 10 million iPod touches sold (assuming Cook wasn't also counting the Apple TV as an "iOS device," that is). This means the iPod touch now accounts for almost two-thirds of all iPods sold; the iPod nano, shuffle, and classic combined are now essentially one drop in Apple's massive bucket. Small wonder, then, that Apple's music-only iPods weren't updated at all this year.

The steep year-over-year decline in iPod sales came as no surprise. The iPod reached its all-time sales peak in Q1 of 2009, with 22.7 million units sold. Three years later, the iPod has clearly lost its mojo. With only 15.4 million iPods sold during the holiday quarter, the iPod barely outperformed its sales during the 2006 holidays. Apple sold five million fewer iPods this holiday season compared to the previous year.

As a matter of fact, Apple sold more iPads than iPods over the holiday quarter. This is a sharp contrast to the 2010 holiday season, when the iPod outsold both the iPhone and iPad. In late 2010, iPod sales were a few million units higher than the iPhone and exceeded those of the iPad by nearly 3 to 1. In late 2011, the iPad pulled just ahead of the iPod, and the iPhone outsold the iPod by more than two to one.

As recently as four years ago, the iPod was by far Apple's biggest cash cow; revenues from iPod sales exceeded even Mac sales by a healthy margin during the 2007 holiday season. iPod sales are rapidly falling, however, making it clear that the device is no longer among Apple's high-priority projects.

Given the yearly declines in iPod sales, it's easy to envision a not-too-distant future where the iPod is relegated to niche status. It's unlikely Apple will stop selling the device altogether, as it still addresses markets not served by the iPhone, but the days when the iPod was central to Apple's fortunes are long gone.

iTunes

Apple's revenues from the iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore, and iPod-related accessories totalled more than $2 billion over the quarter. Look back to exactly ten years earlier, to the first quarter of 2002; quarterly revenues were a mere $1.375 billion for the entire company.

It's long been speculated that the various iTunes-related retail services operate at break-even or, at best, at a modest profit, and the services exist merely to spur growth in Apple's hardware sales. That scenario may have been true years ago, but with a 42 percent year-over-year growth in revenue, iTunes is starting to look like a pretty lucrative business all on its own.

Peripherals

Apple sold $766 million in peripherals during the past quarter. Again, when you compare that to the company Apple was 10 years ago, the difference is stunning; sales of all Macs combined during Q1 2002 amounted to barely over $1 billion. If Apple's sales of peripherals continue to increase by the same rate, by Q1 2013 it'll be taking in nearly as much money from peripheral sales as it made from the Mac in 2002.

If Apple counts the Apple TV among its peripherals, then the device accounted for a fairly significant portion of the overall sales. With 1.4 million units sold during the quarter, Apple's "hobby" would account for nearly a fifth of all peripheral sales.

iOS

Apple sold 37 million iPhones, 15.4 million iPads, and (going by Tim Cook's numbers as revealed during the conference call) around ten million iPod touches over the holiday quarter. That's a grand total of 62 million iOS devices sold in three months -- all running the latest release of iOS, not some year-old version of it, and all of them virtually guaranteed OS updates for several years.

During the last quarter, iPhone sales reportedly exceeded sales of all Android handsets, from all vendors, combined. The iPad continues to utterly dominate the tablet market; Tim Cook reported no measurable impact on iPad sales even after the debut of the most popular Android (forked) tablet so far, the Kindle Fire.

Apple earned almost $34 billion in revenue from iPhone and iPad sales -- in three months. Google's revenue for 2011 -- all of Google, for the entire year -- was $37 billion.

Clearly, Android is winning.

Average revenue per unit sold

Comparing Apple's unit sales versus its revenues gives us an opportunity to see, on average, how much money Apple takes in with each sale in each product category. In turn, this gives us a general idea of which items in each category gain the most sales.

• Desktop Macs: $1309

With 11 different models ranged over the Mac mini, iMac, and Mac Pro, the average selling price of a desktop Mac is $2072. The Mac Pro's high prices drive that average selling price much higher than the actual revenue/unit number, which leads me to believe that sales of the Mac Pro are negligible at best.

Looking at the numbers, it seems the 21.5-inch iMac is very likely Apple's most popular desktop model, followed by the 27-inch iMac, then the Mac mini. I would be shocked if the Mac Pro accounted for more than 10 percent of overall Mac desktop sales last quarter.

• Portable Macs: $1254

The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro combine for a total of 9 different models at an average selling price of $1588. The revenue/unit numbers from Apple's earnings suggest that the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro account for a majority of Apple's portable sales, with much lower sales for the 15 and 17-inch MacBook Pro models.

• iPods: $164

The revenue/unit numbers for the iPod line are lower than the lowest-priced iPod touch, but higher than the highest-priced iPod nano. With the iPod touch accounting for at least 50 percent and as high as 66 percent of overall iPod sales, this suggests that the 8 GB $199 iPod touch is Apple's most popular iPod, with significantly lower numbers of 32 or 64 GB iPod touches sold.

• iPhones: $659

Unsubsidized iPhones range from $375 for an iPhone 3GS up to $849 for a 64 GB iPhone 4S. With five total models on offer, the average sale price across the iPhone line is $634, lower than the actual revenue/unit numbers in Apple's earnings.

To perhaps no one's surprise, this suggests the iPhone 4S is Apple's most popular iPhone. Given that the revenue/unit average is slightly higher than the $649 price for an unsubsidized 16 GB iPhone 4S, I'd theorize that while Apple's most popular iPhone is likely the 16 GB iPhone 4S, sales of the more expensive 32 GB and 64 GB models must also be fairly brisk to counterbalance the the (admittedly much less popular) iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 on the low end.

In other words, despite being labelled as a "disappointment" by a tech press weaned on months of rumors about a substantially redesigned iPhone 5, it appears Apple sold every iPhone 4S that came off the assembly line.

• iPads: $593

Between the Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + 3G options, the iPad 2 is available in six models at an average selling price of $664. With the iPad's revenue/unit number falling below that, but still significantly higher than the $499 price of the low-end Wi-Fi model, the numbers suggest that Apple's mid-range iPads are fairly high sellers.

Sales numbers of the iPad very likely map closely to the models' prices, with brisk sales of 16 GB models, decent sales for the 32 GB option, and comparatively lower (but still more than satisfactory) sales of the 64 GB iPad 2. Unsurprisingly, the revenue/unit number suggests the Wi-Fi only iPads significantly outsell their Wi-Fi + 3G cousins.

Overall

To put it mildly, Apple's earnings report shows a company in a very robust state of health. While iPod sales are in steep decline and some segments of Mac sales are showing signs of levelling off, the astonishing uptick in iPhone and iPad sales more than makes up for it.

The iPad by itself, in one quarter, brought in more revenue than 230 out of the Fortune 500 companies earn in an entire year.

The iPhone by itself, in three months, brought in more revenue than McDonald's made in all of 2010.

Apple has $97 billion in cash. It could buy an iTunes copy of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey for everyone on Earth and still have $27 billion left over. How about a potentially better use of its money? After adjusting for inflation, Apple is a little over halfway to being able to finance its own version of the Apollo Program, all by itself. If you cut it down to just one mission, Apple is easily capable of building its own spaceport, developing and building its own launch vehicle, training its own astronauts, and sending a team of humans to the moon and back -- and it would still have tens of billions of dollars left over.

Apple may not enjoy this level of success forever, but it's showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Lesser-known facts from Apple's earnings statement originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Triple Town was originally a Facebook game, so it does have some weird freemium elements that are kind of annoying: There are some weird turn mechanics where you actually need to "buy" turns, either with in-game gold or real money, that can get annoying after a while. And the graphics themselves do look as though they were created with HTML 5 -- they're serviceable, but the game definitely doesn't take advantage of all of the power of your iOS device.

All of that said, however, Triple Town still comes with this sparkling recommendation: I first fired it up late one night last week before going to bed at 3 am, and found myself still playing it two hours later. It is a really incredible take on the match-3 genre: instead of switching items around, you instead place them down on the board, and then three of any kind (in any direction) will automatically combine into one of the next kind up the hierarchy, so grass combines into bushes which combines into trees, then houses, and so on. Bears appear on the screen and need to be blocked out into tombstones, which then combine into churches, which combine into larger churches which can earn extra points.

The game is turn-based and simple to play, but very tough to master, and it has that extremely addictive "just one more turn" quality. Triple Town is really a great title -- it doesn't quite outgrow its Facebook roots, but there's more than enough game here that it's definitely worth the free, universal download. Just be careful starting it up late at night -- you might find yourself losing as much sleep as I did.

Daily iPad App: Triple Town originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

CES 2010 was where we first heard of the Parrot AR.Drone, a radio-controlled quadricopter that hooked up via Wi-Fi to an iPhone app. And now, two years later, that product is out and successful -- and now, obsolete. Parrot used CES 2012 a few weeks ago to introduce the AR.Drone 2.0, a brand new version of the flying drone that's set to arrive for the exact same price later on this year.

Last week at CES, we got to fly the drone around through its paces. There is actually a very noticeable difference in the new version once you get behind the wheel: It's much, much harder to crash. Part of the reason for that is updates in the drone's app and firmware, but the model for 2.0 makes the craft much sturdier, and a new onboard compass (along with some other tech) means it's easier to fly as well. Things are much more stable, so the drone itself can do much more of the work of just staying in the air. You, the flyer can focus on moving it around.

Gallery: Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 at CES 2012

In addition to general adjustments, there's also a new mode implemented called "Absolute Control." This allows the drone to fly in a certain direction, no matter where you tell it to go. It's tough to explain in just text, but the AR.Drone 2.0 "knows" where it's looking, even when you turn it around. For most people, keeping it facing the same way while tilting your iPad or iPhone to move the device is much more intuitive than having to track both the direction you're actually tilting and the direction the drone is flying. Explaining how it works is confusing, but it makes flying the drone much less so.

The drone design itself appears a little smaller than before, but it's actually about the same size. Rather than changing the form factor, some of the hardware has been strengthened, with the weak points on the initial model being the main targets for the refresh. There are also new cameras on board; they will shoot up to 720p HD video, which means even on a tablet screen video from the drone is clear and crisp.

Parrot has seen a lot of action with the drones on YouTube as well; in fact, while we played with the drone at CES, there was also a world championship of sorts going on, with all kinds of flyers from around the world competing after having entered by posting videos online. The new model's software (still a free download from the App Store) will now allow you to not only see video live from the drone, but also take pictures and even record full HD video directly from the device. That should make for a lot of interesting viewing online, even if you don't buy one yourself.

The AR.Drone 2.0 is a significant improvement on Parrot's already popular model. At $299, the AR.Drone is a pretty expensive toy (professionally made as it might be). The more stable control scheme, however, and the addition of the 720p camera and its capture features mean the Drone 2.0 is worth another look, even if you passed the first one by. We're set to get a review model later on this year, so stay tuned for an even more in-depth look at how it all works. The device itself is supposed to be available in Q2.

Parrot updates the AR.Drone for a second version originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When iBooks Author was released last week, I saw the potential for using it to port the webcomic I co-create to the iPad to go along with our upcoming print edition. I'm not alone, as Richard Stevens of Diesel Sweeties immediately took the chance to test iBooks Author by creating an ebook with the most recent month's worth of comics.

Stevens is offering the ebook through his website via Dropbox rather than through the main iBooks store, so those who want to test it out will need to manually sync it over, email it to themselves on the iPad or use an app such as Dropbox to add it on the iPad.

Stevens said he would love to eventually get a collection to readers that's searchable, sortable by character and major storyline and more. For my own comic, I'd love to add in some of the historical information on the characters, the fairy tales used, etc. iBooks Author is a step toward making these sorts of interactive comics available, and it'll be create to see how other comics creators can bend iBooks Author to their will.

[Via Macstories]

Using iBooks Author to produce a comic originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.