By Alex Brooks
It’s not very often Apple runs a dedicated ad campaign all about the Mac. In fact the last time Apple ran a campaign was the incredibly successful “Get a Mac” ads starring Justin Long and John Hodgeman in 2006. The ads which had sibling runs in Japan and the UK were cultural icons, parodied and imitated over and over again. Get a Mac lasted four years until Apple killed it in 2010. Apple has not stopped advertising individual Mac machines since 2010 but it was time for a new campaign all about the Mac.
Yesterday during NBC’s delayed run of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony Apple ran a number of new ads dedicated to the Mac, the ads don’t have an umbrella name yet but they do have a running theme. Each ad, there are currently three, feature the same Apple Genius who finds himself in a quirky situation where an oblivious individual either needs help on their Mac or is unaware of the unique benefits.

These ads are however not very Apple like and fly in the face of Apple’s principles of marketing which has long been to show off the product and what it can do. Now I hear you, you’re saying that the “Get a Mac” ads didn’t show off features either and this is true, if I’m honest I didn’t particularly like the layout of those ads either. What the Get a Mac ads did well that these new runs don’t was create an air of discovery around the Mac, they encouraged those who didn’t understand the ads to head to an Apple Store or online to find out what the fuss was about. The same argument could be said for this run but I don’t see them as catchy enough or interesting enough.

Whilst I like the ads take on having a Genius deal with problems, a throwback to the popularity of Apple’s retail stores I suspect the quirky situations will have little traction with consumers. This is all made worse because we now know how great Apple’s advertising can be. When the original Get a Mac ads started in 2006 the iPhone nor the iPad even existed in the public realm, the initial run of iPhone ads showed off the iPhone and what it did. That premise has changed very little, even the latest Siri ad shows the actual interface and a real world-ish situation. Apple’s iPad ads are equally as weighted towards showing the device and software, the great ads that showed how effective FaceTime was at connecting families around the world was a down to earth and simple way of showing an iOS feature.

This begs to question as to why Apple continues to shy way from showing OS X and the great software that runs on it? Two of the three adverts that aired last night don’t even feature a Mac in them (don’t even get me started on the number of women who show up in Apple’s ads). Maybe these ads are meant to send the message that if you buy a Mac then Apple is on hand to help? They send more of a message that if you buy a Mac then you’ll need help. Didn’t Apple once use a slogan, It Just Works?
Apple wouldn’t advertise the iPhone or iPad in this way so I have little confidence that a dude in a blue t-shirt throwing out names like iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie, photobooks and letter pressed cards might pique the interest of some but for most will be a dull advert that does little to sell the Mac brand.

Source: World of Apple

By Alex Brooks Mountain Lion Notification Center on a MacBook Air | Image courtesy of Apple
Today Apple has released OS X Mountain Lion onto the Mac App Store and into the hands of many eagerly awaiting customers. Priced at just $19.99 (£13.99) this marks Apple’s cheapest update and the first OS in a cycle in which Apple proclaims it will deliver an upgrade a year. This philosophy means that the upgrades will be small iteration updates, not the gigantic feature packed updates of the past.
In February when Mountain Lion was announced I wrote up the basic changes that extend far and wide but not necessarily so deep.

Starting with iCloud the integration is everywhere you look. From iCloud tabs across iOS devices in Safari to Documents in the Cloud in apps that you wouldn’t necessarily expect. Also coming across is now a very well integrated Messages app bringing across iMessages from iOS. Also coming from iOS is Reminders and Notes, naturally they seamlessly sync over iCloud. If that wasn’t enough the Notification Center has also made it to OS X.
Some of the really new and innovative features include Power Nap which means your Mac can do things when asleep such as periodically updating Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Photo Stream, Find My Mac, and Documents in the Cloud. Controversially Gate Keeper now keeps a much closer eye on apps being downloaded from anywhere but the Mac App Store. In fact it’s now possible to make it impossible to download software from anywhere but.
But don’t let me ruin all the surprises, head over to the Mac App Store and grab Mountain Lion for yourself.
I do however recommend some reviews that will help you in your understanding of the changes in Mountain Lion.
If you’re looking for extreme detail then look no further than John Siracusa’s review at Ars Technica equally as large is Matthew Panzarino’s review at TNW, for a concise run down then John Gruber has one of them.
For the more consumer focused look then I recommend Jim Dalrymple over at The Loop and Richard Gaywood at TUAW.
There’s also a lot more out there, here’s just some:
MacStories
MacWorld
Shawn Blanc
512 pixels

Source: World of Apple

By Alex Brooks Apple’s Q312 actual revenue compared to estimate
Apple today announced financial results for its third fiscal quarter of 2012 which ran from April 1 until June 30. The Company posted revenue of $35 billion and net quarterly profit of $8.8 billion, or $9.32 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $28.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $7.3 billion, or $7.79 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 42.8 percent compared to 41.7 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 62 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
During the quarter Apple also sold 4 million Macs representing a 2 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold 26 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 28 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter as well as 6.8 million iPods during the quarter, representing a 10 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 17 million iPads during the quarter, a 84 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.
At the end of the quarter Apple held cash and equivalents to the value of $117.2 billion.

“We’re thrilled with record sales of 17 million iPads in the June quarter,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve also just updated the entire MacBook line, will release Mountain Lion tomorrow and will be launching iOS 6 this Fall. We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we’ve got in the pipeline.”
“We’re continuing to invest in the growth of our business and are pleased to be declaring a dividend of $2.65 per share today,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $7.65.”
iPhone unit shipments (Q312)
iPad unit shipments (3Q12)

Source: World of Apple

By Alex Brooks This week Apple will announce the results of its fiscal third quarter of 2012. The results come amidst Apple’s competitors reporting not such impressive news and the International Monetary Fund talking of slowing economies around the world including Apple’s key growth markets: Brazil, China and India.
Last week Microsoft announced a quarterly net loss of $492 million following a $6.2 billion write-down for the value of its troubled online unit. During the same quarter last year Microsoft made a profit of $5.87 billion. Nokia also delivered lacklustre news although the market took it well, selling 4 million of its Lumia smartphones, running Windows Phone 7, a number double that of the previous quarter. However Nokia did report a $1.7 billion loss during the quarter. Then there is RIM, the maker of Blackberry handsets, who reported a 33% drop in revenue and announced that its upcoming operating system will be delayed until early 2013.
Compared to this rather biased look at Apple’s competitors Apple should give an impressive quarter. Estimates on the market range from $35 billion to $46 billion in revenue. The consensus is around $41 billion for revenue for the quarter on an EPS of about $11.5.

Apple’s quarterly revenue with company’s own Q3 estimate
The third quarter which ran from March 31 until June 30 included the company’s anticipated revamp of its MacBook lineup towards the end of the period which included a refresh MacBook Air and Pro as well as the new Retina MacBook Pro. Whilst the MacBook Pro with Retina has been constrained by stock through the quarter Apple’s popular MacBook Air should have sold in good volume.
Mac sales are expected to come in at around 4.5 million for the quarter.
The iPhone likely had a strong quarter but compared to Q2 when the iPhone launched in China sales may show little quarter-over-quarter change. iPhone sales will likely land below the 30 million mark with the consensus sitting around 28 million. Fortune’s Apple 2.0 blog highlights that these estimates often discount the role of China which saw 3G subscribers increase by 118% year-over-year in June.
The iPad will continue to be Apple’s strong performer with sales around the mid-20 million mark representing year-over-year growth in excess of 150%. The new iPad was released in China on July 20th, outside of Apple’s Q3 period but mixed with the back to school period in Q4, expect a blow out results session in October.

Source: World of Apple

By Alex Brooks 7.85-inch iPad mini with third generation iPad and iPhone 4S (to scale)
We know for sure that whenever it arrives it will be accompanied by some sandpaper. That is if Steve Jobs’ quote from October 2010 is anything to go by when he stated that Apple had done extensive testing on the screen sizes of tablets and concluded that 10-inches is the minimum size for a tablet “unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of the present size.”
However one could assume that whatever Steve Jobs says isn’t going to happen usually does, at least that applies to Apple’s entrance into the mobile phone market and how video became available on the iPod shortly after Jobs described that as somewhere Apple wouldn’t venture.

This week has seen rumours of a 7-inch iPad reach fever pitch but it’s not the first we’ve heard of this device. Some could speculate that Apple has been spurred on by the entrance of Google and Microsoft into the tablet scene, particularly the former with its 7-inch offering. Historically though Apple is not reactionary to changes in the market and simply releases products when it feels they are ready.
Wall Street Journal wrote in February that Apple was “working with Asian component suppliers to test a new tablet computer with a smaller screen”. It was noted that the device had a screen size around 8-inches but similar resolution to the iPad 2 (1024 x 768). Then in April John Gruber weighed in saying “I do know is that they have one in the lab, a 7.85″ iPad that runs at 1024 x 768. And it’s just like the 9.7-inch iPad shrunk down a little bit.” Although just five days ago Gruber tweeted a revised size of 7.7-inches.
7.85-inch iPad mini with iPhone 4S (to scale)
iMore kicked things off firmly with a report in May stating that Apple was tracking for an October release of a 7-inch iPad priced in the $200-$250 range. The move is said to be reminiscent of what happened with the iPod in the mid-2000s when Apple began targeting cheaper markets to compete with growing competition. With both Google and Amazon now in the 7-inch tablet space, this could well be the case.
This week Bloomberg weighed in citing “two people familiar with the plans,” who stated that Apple intends to release this smaller iPad before the years end—possibly in the October timeframe. Bloomberg agrees on the details too, saying that it will “have the same number of pixels as those in the iPad before it was upgraded to the so-called Retina Display earlier this year”.
The Wall Street Journal has today thrown its weight behind these rumours again although this time stirring my own pessimistic mind. Agreeing once again on the details the WSJ pinpoints a device with a display slightly smaller than 8-inches. However the WSJ adds that “component suppliers” are preparing for mass production in September, for a release later this year.
MG Siegler has commented on the idea of an October launch, which would coincide with the release of the iPhone. MG believes, as do I, that such a timeframe would not be particularly Apple like. Apple is a company that enjoys delivering a very clearly focused message at events, launching both a new iPhone and whole new iPad either at the same event or within close proximity to each other seems highly unlikely.
Matthew Panzarino’s tweet earlier today (who incidentally has a good analysis from May on the potential 7-inch iPad scene) spurred me on to suspect that whilst the iPad mini is definitely on the cards it won’t see the light of day in October.
Take for example the next iPhone, we can’t be sure that they are genuine parts but we’ve seen a steady stream of parts leak from the supply chain over the last few months. It’s clear that manufacturing has begun of the next iPhone and it will be released in October. Where are the parts belonging to the 7-inch iPad? If the WSJ believes in its statement of manufacturing beginning in volume in September then this iPad won’t see the light of day until November or even early next year.

Source: World of Apple

By Alex Brooks MacBook Pro with Retina Display running Final Cut Pro
In early May I wrote about how Apple was going to make use of Intel’s latest processors in this years generation of Macs. At the time no Macs had been updated during 2012 and the iMac amongst others was looking long in the tooth, although that was nothing compared to the Mac Pro. As WWDC approached it became clear that other than a focus on software Apple would give some significant attention to the Mac.
Notably missing in my piece on Ivy Bridge Macs was any discussion about the direction of the MacBook Pro and any predictions about Apple’s use of Retina displays in Macs.
Now WWDC has passed we can see how Apple’s Mac roadmap is shaping up and whilst Apple certainly surprised me with some of the the updates they delivered the majority of the news out of San Francisco earlier this month was in line with expectation. I wrote up the details of Apple’s new MacBook Pro with Retina Display after the keynote and the minor changes to the rest of the MacBook Pro lineup and the MacBook Air, I’ll cover that briefly and then move on.

MacBook Pro with Retina Display running Aperture
Starting with Apple’s new Mac known officially as the MacBook Pro with Retina Display (MBPwRD) or far more colloquially called the Retina MacBook Pro. The headline feature of Apple’s new high-end portable Mac is of course the display that rocks in at 15.4-inches with a resolution of 2880 x 1800 pixels for a total number of pixels exceeding 5 million.
Inside Apple spared no engineering prowess and made the first MacBook Pro with a fully flash-based architecture. Rocking Intel’s latest Ivy Bridge quad-core processors and NVIDIA’s Kepler graphics, all models come with SSDs (up to 768GB), no optical drive and as standard 8GB of RAM (configurable up to 16GB). The speed improvements continue outside the machine as well with two Thunderbolt ports, a HDMI connection and for the first time in a Mac USB 3.0 ports—two of them.
This was the machine I avoided talking about when I was writing my predictions for this year’s Macs. I suspected that if Apple was to move in this direction then it’d take the whole MacBook Pro line that way not simply add to it—although product numbers are unchanged with the demise of the 17-inch MacBook Pro. Apple has clearly decided that cost is a factor with this new machine and that it’s too soon to not be able to buy a Mac notebook with an optical drive and a 1TB hard drive.
Additionally I couldn’t work out how Apple would keep the raw power of the MacBook Pro lineup and cram it into a smaller enclosure without some serious heat issues. It’s still a bit early to tell how well Apple has dealt with the sheer heat output of Intel’s quad-core Ivy Bridge processors and a reasonably powerful GPU but so far reports look positive. Some careful engineering of air movement and newly designed asymmetric fan designs are aimed at cooling the machine more efficiently whilst generating less noise.
So Apple has kept the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro models around, they still have optical drives, they can have an SSD or up to a 1TB hard drive. Along with some healthy upgrades to Intel’s Ivy Bridge and some updated graphics the MacBook Pro also got USB 3.0.
MacBook Air (Mid 2012)
Just like the MacBook Pro the MacBook Air fell more in line with expectations getting a modest update, Ivy Bridge processors from Intel made their way into the MacBook Air delivering significant speed increases. Coupled with Ivy Bridge was the inclusion of USB 3.0 connectivity. What I didn’t write about back in May was the potential changes to SSDs within the MacBook Air, apart from being able to configure a MacBook Air with up to 512GB of storage the type of SSD Apple is now using is also notably faster. AnandTech has a detailed write up about the changes to SSDs in the new MacBook Air line.
The Mac Pro also got an update, but not an impressive one. After over two years without a refresh the Mac Pro retains the same look and basically the same innards. Instead of sticking in Intel’s latest processors Apple decided to use older generation chips, the same applies to the mediocre graphics options. Unlike its portable brethren the Mac Pro didn’t get any Thunderbolt ports or an upgrade to USB 3.0. The fallout from this insulting update was handled by Apple in an extraordinary way with the company all but announcing a significant and worthy update to the Mac Pro next year.
Unsurprisingly but in a change to Apple’s usual ways the company clearly opted to focus on its mobile Macs. Apple sells more notebooks than desktops and clearly with the advent of high resolution displays desktops are slowly on there way out in the consumer sphere. This is different because Apple’s iMac usually leads the pack when it comes to refreshes, however this year the iMac languishes behind.
Apple left two Macs without an update this month: the iMac and the Mac mini. Both are relatively easy to predict in terms of direction. All that was said in the original Ivy Bridge Mac predictions holds true, the Mac mini is unaffected by the movement towards Retina displays and the iMac won’t see such a development for 12-18 months.
Once the iMac and Mac mini move over to Ivy Bridge, presumably sometime in July this year, that’ll likely be Apple’s Mac lineup to take us through the back to school period and into the holiday season until it begins again next year.
So what happens in 2013?
It’s easy to see which direction Apple is heading with its Macs and that is towards Retina displays. Ryan Block did some number crunching when it comes to how Apple will decide what resolution display to put into its future Macs.
As Block explains Apple just doubled the resolution of the 15-inch MacBook Pro to get to the resolution in the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. This is the same as Apple did with both the iPhone and iPad, yet this solution would probably not be ideal for the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air. The 13-inch Air actually shares the same resolution as the 15-inch display as the MacBook Pro with a resolution of 1440 x 900 (127 PPI) and the 11-inch has a bizarrely high resolution display for its price with 135 pixels per inch.
Apple has decided that based on the distance that a notebook is used that the PPI needn’t be as high as that on the iPad or iPhone and simply doubling the resolution of the MacBook Air models would give needlessly high resolution displays. As Block writes, it is wise to base the 13-inch Airs display on the doubling of the 13-inch MacBook Pro display which would yield a 2560 x 1600 for a PPI of 227.
For the 11-inch Air, Block doesn’t simply double the resolution which would deliver a display with a higher PPI than the iPad 3 and instead he shoots for a 220 PPI range and comes out with a potential resolution range of 2200-2300 x 1200-1300.
Early-2011 iMac Family
The 27-inch iMac which is unlikely to see a jump to Retina displays at the same time as the MacBook Air would see its enormous display pushed to a resolution of 5120 x 2880 (217 PPI), the 21.5-inch iMac presents more of a dilemma as doubling its already low 1920 x 1080 would mean a lowly 205 PPI display. Block speculates that in this case Apple would do more than double the resolution.
Let’s condense that:
15.4-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display – 2880 x 1800 (220 PPI)
13-inch MacBook Air/Pro – 2560 x 1600 (227 PPI)
11-inch MacBook Air – 2200-2300 x 1200-1300 (220 PPI)
27-inch iMac/Thunderbolt Display – 5120 x 2880 (218 PPI)

In 2013 Intel will also move away from the Ivy Bridge architecture into the era of Haswell (get used to that name). In line with Intel’s tick tock principle next years generation of Haswell will remain 22nm as the current generation of Sandy Bridge (tick generation of Sandy Bridge was Sandy Bridge and tock was Ivy Bridge, easy right?). The Haswell roadmap of features is still being kept as closely guarded as possible but some of the headline features that are rumoured include a focus on quad-core processors, 256KB L2 data cache per core and up to 32MB L3 cache shared by all cores, 15W TDP processors, continued advances in power management, and native support for dual channel DDR3.
The question on everybody’s minds though is how will Apple proceed with the MacBook Pro line. The current Retina MacBook Pro is expensive but not all of that expense is in that high-resolution display, a lot of it is in the engineering costs and expensive flash-based innards.
It’s too early to tell whether next year Apple will kill the 15-inch MacBook Pro with the optical drive, or even the 13-inch for that matter. But the writing is on the table.
It’s rumoured that the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display will come before this year is out. That seems likely and with a better yield on the Retina displays Apple will finally be able to push them into the cheaper MacBook Air line and have conditioned consumers to accept that optical drives are a thing of the past which coupled with rapidly decreasing SSD prices will see a complete Retina lineup for MacBooks in 2013.
What are your predictions for the future of Macs? Tweet me @alexbrooks or @worldofapple.

Source: World of Apple

By Alex Brooks MacBook Pro with Retina Display
Coming on the tail of minor updates to Apple’s other notebooks the company took to the stage at WWDC 2012 to unveil a new MacBook Pro with a Retina display. Known as MacBook Pro with Retina Display the new notebook features very powerful innards, long battery life and a super thin enclosure. The new MacBook Pro weighs just 2KGs and is just 18mm thick.
In a press release Tim Cook said, “The MacBook Pro with Retina display pushes the limits of performance and portability like no other notebook”. Adding, “With a gorgeous Retina display, all flash architecture and a radically thin and light design, the new MacBook Pro is the most advanced Mac we have ever built.”

The MacBook Pro with Retina display features a 15.4-inch display with a whopping 2880 x 1800 resolution display, that’s 5 megapixel display and some 3 million pixels more than a 1080p TV. The Retina display uses IPS technology for a 178-degree wide viewing angle, and has 75 percent less reflection and 29 percent higher contrast than the previous MacBook Pro.
The MacBook Pro with Retina display features the latest Intel Core i7 quad-core processors up to 2.7 GHz with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.7 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M discrete graphics, up to 16GB of faster 1600 MHz RAM and flash storage up to 768GB. Two Thunderbolt and two USB 3.0 ports allow pro users to connect to multiple displays and high performance devices, and a new HDMI port offers quick connectivity to HDTVs.
The MacBook Pro with Retina Display also features a new Magsafe 2 connector which is thinner than the current version. Apple is selling a $10 adapter so existing Magsafe connectors can connect. The notebook also has the usual features such as a Multi-touch trackpad and FaceTime camera.
MacBook Pro with Retina Display running Aperture
OS X Lion, iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes and other Apple apps including Aperture and Final Cut Pro X have been updated to take full advantage of the new MacBook Pro with Retina display. Apple will spend some time this week at WWDC informing developers on how to get their apps ready although many who have made iOS apps will already be familiar.
The 15-inch MacBook Pro is available with a 2.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.3 GHz, 8GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage starting at $2,199 (£1799); and with a 2.6 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6 GHz, 8GB of memory and 512GB of flash storage starting at $2,799 (£2299). Configure-to-order options include faster quad-core processors up to 2.7 GHz, up to 16GB of memory and flash storage up to 768GB.
The 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is available today.
MacBook Pro with Retina Display

Source: World of Apple

By Alex Brooks MacBook Air (Mid 2012)
In a demonstration of just how much more important notebooks are to Apple the company today took to the stage at WWDC to refresh all of their portable Macs. Apple gave the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air a minor speed bump as well as releasing a new model of MacBook Pro with a Retina display.
Apple quietly gave the Mac Pro a mild refresh including some newer Intel processors, although they’re still a couple of years old. Unlike the notebooks which gained USB 3.0 support the Mac Pro remains without Thunderbolt or USB 3.0. Neither the iMac nor Mac mini received an update today.

Starting with the MacBook Air Apple SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller introduced the new 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air featuring the latest Core i5 and Core i7 dual-core processors. The new integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 is up to 60 percent faster and gives the MacBook Air plenty of power to tackle games and videos. Along with the new Ivy Bridge processors comes the inclusion of USB 3.0 on the MacBook Air.
The MacBook Air can also now handle up to 8GB of RAM, up from 4GB on the previous model and can be configured with a 512GB SSD. The FaceTime camera has also been updated to 720p.
The 11-inch MacBook Air comes with a 1.7 GHz processor, 4GB of memory and is available with 64GB of flash storage starting at $999 (£849), and 128GB of flash storage starting at $1,099 (£929). The 13-inch MacBook Air comes with a 1.8 GHz processor, 4GB of memory and is available with 128GB of flash storage starting at $1199 (£999), and 256GB of flash storage starting at $1,499 (£1249).
MacBook Pro (Mid 2012)
Apple also updated the MacBook Pro with a similar refresh as that of the Air. Packing the latest Intel Ivy Bridge processors and NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M discrete graphics the MacBook Pro can also be configured with a 1TB hard drive or SSDs up to 512GB that are up to twice as fast as the previous generation. The MacBook Pro also now has USB 3.0 ports and a 720p FaceTime camera.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro is available with a 2.5 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of memory and 500GB hard drive starting at $1,199 (£999), and with a 2.9 GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of memory and 750GB hard drive starting at $1,499 (£1249). The 15-inch MacBook Pro is available with a 2.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 4GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics 4000 and NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M, and 500GB hard drive starting at $1,799 (£1499); and with a 2.6 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics 4000 and NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M, and 750GB hard drive starting at $2,199 (£1799).
Apple also took the opportunity to quietly (although mentioned in a Tweet during the keynote) update the AirPort Express. The new AirPort Express features a completely redesigned compact enclosure taking on a similar look to the Apple TV and now has simultaneous dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi. The new Airport Express is priced at $99 (£79)

Source: World of Apple

By Alex Brooks Moscone West in San Francisco adorned for Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is approaching quickly and unlike last year it looks like Apple might put on more than a software only show. Equally exciting for 2012 is that in the six months that have passed Apple has released and updated relatively few products. Particularly notable for the six months that have made up 2012 so far is that not a single model of Mac has been refreshed. We know that Apple has a particular dislike for releasing new hardware in August and after late October which leaves only a few months for a whole bunch of products to be crammed into.
Macs which have so far been completely void of any changes and many of which haven’t been touched for almost 12 months or more will likely be changed ahead of the “back to school” period which usually runs during June and July. Such a release timeframe could coincide nicely with the release of OS X Mountain Lion pinned by Apple for “late summer”.
It is possible to say with confidence that neither the iPhone nor the iPad will see any sort of hardware change announced during the WWDC keynote on Monday. Both of Apple’s leading products are firmly set in predictable cycles—iPad in March and iPhone in October for those slow off the mark.
The problem with such a high number of potential announcements is that it becomes difficult to make accurate predictions for WWDC which has in recent history focused more on developers than consumers, certainly since the iPhone moved to a Fall refresh in 2010.
But as Apple has indicated in its WWDC 2012 material the upcoming week is the one “we’ve all been waiting for”. So let’s take a look at the likely candidates for next weeks keynote.

Macs
Now would be a good time to familiarise ourselves with the details of how Ivy Bridge looks set to pan out with Apple’s Mac updates. After all the changes Ivy Bridge delivers will generate some of the headlines. Apple currently has five lines of Macs, the Mac mini, iMac, Mac Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro.
At this stage I could break into a one by one lay down of how the Mac line is likely to shape up but I’m willing to put it on the line and go with something a bit more decisive. That is to say it’ll err less on the side of caution and more on the side of how I see it playing out.
On the desktop side the iMac and Mac mini will get bumped to Ivy Bridge and gain USB 3.0 connectivity. Expect the usual upgrades such as more storage space for less and more RAM and such. Apple has an awful lot to cram into Monday’s keynote so I wouldn’t be surprised if both these updates flew under the radar. As the Mac mini usually trails the iMac I also wouldn’t be surprised if that update didn’t come until a month or so down the line.
Sticking with desktops the big news at WWDC, not necessarily by Apple’s standards but certainly by devs, will be the Mac Pro. Finally after almost two years of stagnation the power house will get a serious once over. I don’t want to spend too much time mulling over the specs, in fact Ars Technica have a decent run down of that. I’d expect such a refresh to actually get some airtime on the keynote, after all it is pertinent to the people in the room.
It looks likely at this stage that the Mac Pro refresh will be a healthy one, with a whole new look and the latest top of the grade Intel processors coupled with Thunderbolt connectivity, USB 3.0 a lot of storage and RAM and we have a serious machine on our hands.
Despite all this, the star of the hardware show will be Apple’s notebook line. But here’s where things get interesting. The current notebook model breakdown is made up of an 11-inch MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Air and 13-, 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros. Straight off the bat it looks like the 17-inch model will disappear. At least there are strong suggestions that this is the case.
Making use of a recent dose of rumour it seems that Apple will use WWDC to introduce another notebook Mac. Seems crazy at first thought but makes sense. Refer back to that article on Ivy Bridge and we can see where some of this begins to look plausible. Rumours for a long time have suggested that the MacBook Pro would take on a thinner (rumoured wedge shape) form factor. The problem with this idea is that the MacBook Pro exists to be Apple’s powerhouse on the road and powerful computers need space for cooling, not something that a significantly thinner MacBook Pro could provide.
Add into this rumours that Apple will incorporate “Retina” displays on some MacBook Pros and we have a purportedly super-thin MacBook Pro with more power than the current generation and a requirement for some serious GPU power to push that display plus potentially a further two 27-inch displays. Heat exists as a problem now on the MacBook Pro and Apple is in no position to change physics.
Enter stage right an additional Mac. Such an addition to the MacBook lineup (presumably also called just ‘MacBook’) gives Apple the freedom to shave some thickness of the current MacBook Pro but still keep it powerful.
The new MacBook would fit in as thicker and considerably more powerful than the 13-inch MacBook Air with the addition of a Retina display but thinner and less powerful than the MacBook Pro.
As for Retina displays I’m undecided whether they’ll go across the board from 11-inch Air all the way up to 15-inch Pro or just hit this new individual MacBook model. Suspect it’s 18 months early for a Retina display on the iMac, after all that would be some serious pixels.
All this talk of a Retina display on Macs may seem out of place but the evidence has been in the offing for some years. Higher resolution icons are now a standard for most pre-installed Mac apps and HiDPI mode has been shown to work well with current builds of OS X Mountain Lion. It would appear that when running in HiDPI mode the OS simply loads up 2x versions of everything to prevent them from looking blurry. This is not the resolution independence that has been the holy grail to Mac OS X users for years.
If we say for example that the current 11-inch MacBook Air display which is 1366 x 768 in resolution, in theory a retina display would come in at double that so 2732 x 1536. Quite simply a shape or UI element that current measures 100 pixels by 100 pixels on the current MacBook Air would either get doubled up on the new retina display and look pretty rubbish or the developer supplies a new element that measures 200 pixels. This is all pretty familiar for those developers who moved from the original iPhone to the Retina display on the iPhone 4.
iOS 6
Despite all the talk of hardware updates which honestly tickle the interest of the fans it is software that will dominate the show and of course Apple’s largest platform is iOS and will therefore command the majority of the keynote. It should also be noted that it is software that Apple can give the biggest surprises with. The hardware supply chain is leaky, Cupertino is not. You’ll note that any rumours we “know” about iOS 6 all involve third parties somewhere in the equation.
That actually leaves me with relatively little to say. In line with past iOS releases at WWDC we’ll see an initial build released on the day followed by roughly fortnightly beta updates leading into October when Apple will release a public version, usually about three weeks after the Golden Master (GM).
iOS 6 banner in Moscone West for WWDC 2012
The OS itself will look familiar although Apple’s stock apps will move away from the familiar blue and take on a more silver look (like a lot of iPad apps now). Such a tiny change will go a long way to convincing people that larger parts of the OS have changed.
We’re also looking at system wide Facebook integration to sit alongside Twitter, details of exactly how it’ll work are unknown but the deal appears set and the relationship between iOS and Facebook is said to be extensive.
The big news will be Maps. The ongoing spat with Google has seen Apple spend a lot of money and time trying to get the eggs out of Google’s basket and into its own. One of the remaining big eggs is Maps and finally Apple appears to have a solution ready to compete with Google. Rough details have leaked such as a fancy 3D mode and it is assumed that Apple will bring turn-by-turn directions to the table in order to compete with Android. Some elements remain unanswered though such as the extent and quality of Apple’s maps and whether they will offer a web version.
Another frequently discussed area is iOS 5′s flagship feature Siri. Aside from complaints about Siri’s performance developers are desperate to get the digital voice assistant working in their apps. It’s a long shot but a Siri API could be on the cards. Whilst we’re on the subject of Siri it would appear that iOS 6 will bring full Siri integration to the iPad, I’ve long suspected that only the dictation element of Siri would come to the iPad as the majority of Siri’s functions do not exist on the iPad but the rumours are strong.
iCloud
iCloud was arguably the centrepiece of WWDC last year, we just didn’t know it at the time. As Tim Cook has said this year the cloud based service is vital to Apple’s strategy going forward for a “decade or more”.
Just like iOS 6 details of iCloud changes are slim. What we do know is that a couple of details were let slip by Apple last month. The strange occurrences on the iCloud website revealed that Apple is going to bring Reminders and and Notes to the web interface. Integration of these on Mountain Lion will see a complete unification of all iCloud tools across all platforms.
Apple is also rumoured to introduce Photo Stream for videos, a tall claim considering how large some videos recorded on the iPhone can get. Also photo sharing with friends and family will reportedly get simpler, harking back to the .Mac days.
Finally for iCloud is something that probably won’t make its way into the main keynote but will be a feature of the rest of the conference is third-party app integration with iCloud. Apple will most likely expand the capabilities of iCloud having listened to feedback for over a year now.
Apple will also bridge the gap between iOS and OS X with a number of functions that operate on iCloud including Safari tab syncing across devices.
iCloud Tab Syncing in Safari 5.2 on Mountain Lion
OS X Mountain Lion
Keeping the spotlight on the software Apple will also spend a chunk of time on Monday morning talking about the next major update to OS X due in “late summer”. We’re already familiar with OS X 10.7 Mountain Lion as it was revealed by Apple in February and has been in developers hands ever since.
WWDC is a great place for Apple to begin wrapping up development of Mountain Lion, recent builds are stable and relatively bug free with the main features well baked in. It would come as no surprise for Apple to deliver a close to final build on Monday, potentially even a GM. Mountain Lion’s release is rumoured to occur in July but could possibly coincide a release with all those new Macs and beat the back to the school period.
Much like in iOS 6 we’ll see Facebook integration included in a WWDC build of Mountain Lion as well as a “Do not Disturb” feature in Notification Centre. A feature I’d like to see in both iOS 6 and Mountain Lion but don’t appear to be on the cards is set quiet periods for notifications, having a handful of devices beep and buzz at 3am because of a new tweet can be jarring.
WWDC will be the first time that Apple will have publicly demoed Mountain Lion, remember the release was done through the media in an orchestrated and controlled way. Of course the new OS will be a big talking point for the rest of the conference too.
Apple TV
Finally but not least is Apple’s product continually referred to as a “hobby”. The hardware of the Apple TV was updated earlier this year offering very little change by simply incorporating a new CPU to help power the 1080p video output and also having Bluetooth 4.0 built-in although not operational.
Whilst rumours of an actual TV set have been at fever pitch for months (maybe years) this isn’t going to happen at WWDC—or in the near future if you ask me. The area of interest here is the software, it’s obvious to most that the Apple TV is fertile ground for software development by third parties.
I can see a large portion of the keynote talking about an Apple TV SDK for developers. In terms of the future if Apple is going to delve into the TV market then an established platform of apps sure will help them catapult towards the lead. How detailed this SDK will be and what functionality it will give is a mystery.
Thinking along the lines of Apple TV still I can’t help but think that Apple needs a better remote control solution. I know others, particularly John Gruber are also in this camp. Specifically that an IR remote doesn’t cut it in 2012 and if Apple wants a solid platform for apps it needs more accurate and quicker control of the interface. I wouldn’t necessarily expect this at WWDC though.
WWDC 2012
Apple’s WWDC 2012 kicks on Monday June 11 at the following times:
10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
1:00PM – Eastern
6:00PM – London
7:00PM – Paris
9:00PM – Moscow
2:00AM – Tokyo (Tuesday 12th)
4:00AM – Sydney (Tuesday 12th)
World of Apple will provide detailed analysis after the keynote and during the week. Follow myself @alexbrooks on Twitter for regular updates on WWDC goings on and the keynote and follow @worldofapple for major announcements.

Source: World of Apple

By Alex Brooks Gorillaz Perform at Glastonbury Festival in 2010 | Photo by Bethan Phillips
Music has for centuries been enjoyed by groups of people. Music is by definition an art and art is intended to be enjoyed and shared. To this day millions of people attend live concerts, music festivals and musical shows—all to share the experience of music. But music is often listened to and enjoyed on an individual basis these days and whilst we’re all very sociable, maybe more so than ever, music is all too often enjoyed by a single pair of ears.
This trend towards unsociable music isn’t new, the advent of personal music players in the 1980s made it a norm to have music directly injected into our heads without anyone around us being any the wiser. Thankfully the trend is reversing, but Apple seems to have not been invited to the party.

The principle of sharing the song currently been listened amongst a group of peers made its first waves on the internet in 2002 with the advent of Last.fm. Started in 2002 the service simply offered the ability to share the song currently being listened to on its website, with time Last.fm built up an impressive picture of an individuals musical taste. Last.fm was always listening and for me alone has over five years of music data, for some of my friends over nine years.
I’ll return to important subject of listening habits later but for now let’s continue to focus on the social element. I recently regained an interest in Spotify, it had been a few years so I was guessing the collection had grown somewhat and it was time I explored some music outside of my iTunes. Suffice to say Spotify has blown me away, not just in terms of choice (although that is impressive), but in terms of how I can interact with my friends and the wider community.
iTunes 10 with Ping a music-orientated social network
Collaborative playlists, easy sharing of playlists and a constant live stream of all the music that my friends are listening to flowing by makes for a more immersive exploration of music. Apple doesn’t underestimate the power of friends sharing what they’re listening to, with the huge iTunes ecosystem Apple attempted in 2010 to create a music based social network called Ping. I’ve discussed this before back in 2010 and concluded the similar; Apple doesn’t do social well, never has done and maybe never will. Problem is that two years down the line we’re more connected than ever and Apple more than ever looks like the train has left the station and they’re still fumbling with their luggage.
The solutions are now in front of Apple’s face, services like Last.fm have been forced into the background but the likes of Spotify, Rdio, and Pandora have supreme sharing and discovery. The kind of sharing and discovery that has time after time helped me discover and listen to new music.
Don’t get me wrong Apple has services to aid in music discovery, based on the thousands of songs I’ve bought I get average recommendations. Apple clearly underestimates the power of changing trends and how a large network of friends are the key to seeing that change.
Spotify opened my eyes in another way though and that was with the built-in apps. This is more shocking because Apple invented this game, they created the App Store and they cemented the idea of a platform and developing on a platform. Spotify has taken this idea and run with it.
Guardian Music app inside Spotify
Without going into too many specific examples the likes of having recently reviewed albums by The Guardian listed with their star ratings or having Rolling Stone magazine recommendations. How about apps curated on popular music around you or playlists created from all that recommendation data on Last.fm? Spotify has it all and it works superbly.
I have zero doubt that Apple could pull this off but there is a missing piece. It’s a piece that has been rumoured year after year for a while now and it comes down to streaming. Apple without a doubt has the largest collection of online music but I can’t get to it all readily. Without that ability to compile a playlist of 50 songs that I don’t own and have never heard is impossible without the ability to stream them.
iTunes streaming may never come but in the meantime it’d be wise of Apple to re-energise its Ping adventure, the share of music listening might be shifting away from Apple and it needs to claim it back. Although I have no doubt that Apple is still the offline listening king.
Or is Apple holding out for its streaming service to wipe the floor with the competition and create the largest music social network in the world without piggybacking on Facebook?
You can follow me on Twitter @alexbrooks, or follow @worldofapple for the latest on Mac refreshes this year.

Source: World of Apple