Many rumors of new iPhones and Mac this week centered around improved screens. Some reports say that new MacBooks and iMacs this year will feature retina displays — higher density displays that are used on the iPhone and iPad. The change could be announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June along with developer tools to allow Mac app makers to build resolution-independent interfaces.
Rumors also persist that a new iPhone may feature a slightly larger screen. This could mean simply that the number of pixels on the already-dense screens remains the same, but the physical size of the screen changes. Or, it could mean a taller screen that will continue to run existing apps without using the extra space, or leaving the extra space for notifications and other information. A new iPhone could be released in the fall, one year after the current model.
“I tried writing a book but couldn’t finish it. I tried blogging but couldn’t think of what to write. I tried tweeting and 140 characters was still too much.”
“What about Pinterest? All you need to do is click on photos you like.”
“Hmmm. Still seems like a lot of work.”
Recently the environmental organization Greenpeace has been staging events to pressure Apple into using more renewable energy to power their data centers. They have blocked a shipment of coal to power plants, and have projected messages on to Apple’s headquarters building.
On the one hand, encouraging Apple as opposed to another company may bring more awareness to the need for renewable energy. On the other hand, Apple does a lot in this area already, including powering 50% of its North Carolina data center with renewable energy and stating that they hope to power 100% of its future Oregon center with it.
Should Greenpeace target Apple?
Apple released Mac OS X 10.7.4 this week with bug and security fixes. No major new features were introduced. You can get it by running Software Update.
In addition, a new version of Safari, 5.1.7 is available. This version forces users to get the latest version of the Flash plug-in. It is important from a security standpoint to keep Flash up-to-date as well as your browser and OS, and it is interesting that Apple is now making that a requirement.
Three new regional U.S. carriers announced they will be selling the iPhone. Kentucky’s Bluegrass Cellular, Kansas’ Nex-Tech Wireless and California’s Golden State Cellular will all start carrying the iPhone on May 18.
Adobe released the next version of its software suite, CS6. This includes new versions of Photoshop, Premiere, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Illustrator and Flash Pro. The applications can be bought in the traditional manner, but starting tomorrow can also be acquired through Adobe’s new online subscription service, Creative Cloud, for a monthly subscription fee.
“Sure, they give you iPads while you wait, but they just have old outdated health magazine apps on them.”
Rumors this week have Apple working on a $800 MacBook model. Right now the cheapest MacBook is the $999 MacBook Air ($950 educational pricing). Does Apple need to have a cheaper MacBook model? Is $200 really enough to make a difference?
“Now with the Mac App Store I’ve got awesome games too.”
“Dude, I played all of those games back in 2004.”
Once again Apple’s quarterly report wowed investors, causing the stock to surge on Wednesday. Apple announced a profit of $11.6 billion on $39.2 billion in revenue. It sold 35.1 million iPhones, 11.8 million iPads and 4 million Macs.
In a conference call after the announcement, Apple confirmed again that Mac OS 10.8, Mountain Lion, will be out in late summer. In the education market the iPad outsold Macs two to one. iCloud now has 125 million users.
On Wednesday Apple announced the dates for its annual Worldwide Developer Conference: June 11 to 15. Tickets sold out in two hours.