Macworld | iWorld Kicks Off This Week in San Francisco - Sacramento Bee

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24, 2012 --

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Macworld | iWorld kicks off this week at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco and more than 20,000 people who use, create and love Apple products are expected to gather to celebrate the intersection of technology and art, IDG World Expo announced today. The "ultimate iFan event" will blend unparalleled educational opportunities with a show floor boasting innovations to see and buy for all Apple-related platforms, and a full agenda of new, cutting-edge music, film and art elements. The redefined and reimagined Macworld | iWorld, which represents the full breadth and depth of what Apple technology has to offer, will break new ground for consumer technology events when it open its doors on Thursday. 

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111025/NE93114LOGO)

Macworld | iWorld 2012 will take place January 26 â€" January 28, 2012, at the Moscone Center â€" West Hall in San Francisco. The new iFan Pass provides access to all Tech Talks, Music Experiences, Film Events, Art Showings, the Macworld | iWorld Midway and the exhibit hall all for just $100 pre-show and $125 on-site. Exhibits only passes start at $25 pre-show and $45 on-site. Additional information about event passes can be found at: http://www.macworldiworld.com/packages-and-prices. Attendees can register now at https://register.rcsreg.com/r2/macsf2012/ga/clear.html or onsite at the Moscone Center â€" West Hall, beginning on January 26th.  

"The new Macworld | iWorld builds on our deep and storied legacy as the gathering place for the Apple products marketplace, delivering the unique combination of unrivaled educational opportunities and show floor hands-on experiences and shopping that have kept attendees coming back year after year, with new, ground-breaking content and events in film, music, art and interactivity," said Paul Kent, vice president and general manager of Macworld | iWorld. "For three days in one place, attendees will have access to the leading product innovations, thought leaders and creative geniuses. We are excited to open the doors on a new year and a new evolution for Macworld | iWorld."

The Macworld | iWorld iFan event includes the following activities, with location and times listed at http://www.macworldiworld.com/ifan/. For a summary of event highlights, please see the show Hot Sheet:

• Macworld | iWorld Blast: The event will kick off with a launch celebration on Wednesday, January 25 at The Warfield in San Francisco headlined by indie rock powerhouse Modest Mouse and produced in collaboration with Superfly Productions, the entertainment and marketing agency responsible for world-class music festivals such as Bonnaroo, Outside Lands and Life is Good.
• Music Experience: Debuting at Macworld | iWorld, the Music Experience will celebrate how Apple technology is pushing the boundaries of innovation in music performance and production and feature special presentations and performances from some of today's most innovative and creative musical geniuses. Highlighted events and performances include: Hank Shocklee; moe.; the RISE Electronic Music DJ Battle & Bash, featuring BT and a competition between three of San Francisco's hottest up-and-coming DJs judged by DJ Solomon, DJ Dani Deahl, and DJ Ean Golden with event emcee "The Bastard Prince" of the Rondo Brothers and co-hosts The Cobra Snake and Jonny Makeup; a Silent 'Frisco dance party featuring Motion Potion, A.Skillz, and U9lift; Atomic Tom; Beats Antique; Eclectic Method; J Boogie's Dubtronic Science; David Mash; Sal Soghoian; the Macworld | iWorld Music Studio, presented in collaboration with Berklee College of Music; and a slew of Tech Talks led by topic experts, innovative thinkers and creative geniuses that offer attendees unparalleled educational opportunities on ways to leverage and maximize Apple and related tools for music creation, production and enjoyment.
• Film Event: Debuting at Macworld | iWorld, the Film Event celebrates the broad and varied ways that Apple technologies are redefining film and television. Highlights include: the iPhone Film Festival (IFF), sponsored by Epson Americas, Inc. and iPro Lens System, featuring screenings of never-before-seen films created on iPhones (including "Yearlapse '11: NYC to London," "Isobel & The Witch Queen," "992," and "Russian Roulette") and special talks with the filmmakers; an exclusive screening of the full-length, unaired South Park Pilot episode followed by a mind-blowing, myth-dispelling Q&A with South Park Studios show staff; The Making of South Park -- Inside South Park's Animation Studio, a special session that takes you behind the scenes of South Park Studios; and a host of Tech Talks that will offer attendees unique educational opportunities on ways to leverage and maximize Apple and related tools for film making, editing and distribution.A special Tech Talk, "'Beckinfield' â€" Mass Participation TV with a Special Performance by Jonathan Frakes," produced in collaboration with Theatrics, creators of the first Mass Participation TV series, focuses on the impact of social media and technology on collaborative story telling.And just announced, the exclusive premier of "Olive," the very first full-length feature film shot entirely on a cell phone, followed by a Q&A hosted by Marcus Osborne with co-directors Hooman Khalili and Patrick Gilles, actor Nick Childress, executive producer Chris Kelly and composer Ben Lear.
• Visual Art and Literature Events: Special events celebrate the impact of Apple technology on literature and the visual arts, including: a feature presentation and on-site exhibit by acclaimed digital photo-realist artist, author and lecturer Bert Monroy; a conversation with author and self-proclaimed geek Susan Orlean; and a wide variety of art-focused Tech Talks that will provide attendees of all skill levels opportunities for interactive education.Additional art-inspired events will take place in Macworld | iWorld's Midway, where a collection of attractions give attendees an opportunity to experience iOS and OS X products and technologies across the arts and education in unique and engaging ways. Highlights include: The Digital Art Gallery; iPad Sketch Stations; South Park Art Gallery; and Super Art Fight.
• Tech Talks (formerly known as the Users Conference): More than 75 Tech Talksâ€"including educational sessions, interactive panel discussions, practical "how-to" presentations and "tips and tricks" learning opportunitiesâ€"will be led by the industry's leading topic experts, innovative thinkers and creative geniuses, including 30 presenters participating for the first time. These sessions will feature new and unique educational and experiential content that takes attendees of all skill levels inside Apple products, including the iPhone, iPad, Mac, iOS and OS X Lion, and helps them get the most out of these technologies. The Tech Talks program also will include Macworld | iWorld RapidFire, a brand new two-hour event featuring consecutive five-minute presentations designed to inform and entertain attendees.Two special Tech Talks, developed with Superfly Presents, focus on the impact of Apple technology on the film and music industries, respectively. "The Creators," a panel featuring recording artist Fitz of Fitz and The Tantrums and director Brad Furman, best known for his work on the "The Lincoln Lawyer" and "The Take," will explore how Apple technology has been vital in the development of the modern-day artistic process. "Music and Marketing," featuring Jamie Sampson of SoundTracking and Jordan Kurland of Zeitgeist Artist Management, will examine how the establishment of a deep connection between artist and audience is vital to attain commercial success.And just announced, Actor Rob Corddry, best known for his work as acorrespondent on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and his starring role in the comedy film "Hot Tub Time Machine," will join David Sparks, Katie Floyd and Merlin Mann for the Mac Power User Workflows podcast live at Macworld | iWorld.
• Workshops: Macworld | iWorld's Workshops offer attendees a full-day of immersive learning on some of today's hottest Apple technology applications and software, including Keynote, OS X Lion, iLife and Adobe.
• Exhibit Hall: The vibrant Macworld | iWorld show floor will feature close to 300 companies offering the latest in Apple third-party technologies. This year, the show floor will again include the Mobile Apps Showcase, one of the most highly trafficked areas of the exhibit hall where the latest iPad, iPhone and iPod innovations will be on display, as well as the brand new, sold-out OS X Zone, specifically designed to showcase OS X software. Exhibiting companies include: Dolly Drive, Octa, SellYourMac.com, Snap Cases, Fujitsu, FLYGRIP, Gavio, Global Delight, Henge Docks and Parallels.
• The Macworld | iWorld First Looks program will showcase more than 100 of the newest innovations in software, hardware, peripherals, accessories and apps for the Apple products platform.
• Show Shopping Specials: Attendees will have access to hundreds of shopping deals available in exhibitor booths throughout the show floor, including show special product offers available exclusively to Macworld | iWorld attendees. More than 30 companies will offer special pricing on more than 50 of the newest product innovationsâ€"including hardware, software, applications and accessoriesâ€"for the Apple products marketplace. Participating companies include: Apparent/Doxie, Appmosphere Inc., CORPCOM, Crestron Electronics, Discovery Bay Games, DryCASE LLC, Global Delight, iKlear, LARK, RAGE Software, Rain Design, Rogue Amoeba, SecureMac, Sonoma Wire Works, Splashtop and Wisepower.
• Macworld "Best of Show Awards," presented by Macworld magazine, will recognize the best products making their debut at the show. Winners will be announced on Friday, January 27 at 3:00 p.m. on the Macworld Live Stage, Booth #752.

Macworld | iWorld has also released the Macworld | iWorld Mobile Show Guide, the official app of the event developed by DoubleDutch. The Show Guide is a comprehensive iPhone/iPad app that allows users to explore the full show agenda and create personalized schedules, view the floor plan, interact with the real-time event feed (including location-based check-ins, photos, sessions, and more), share status updates seamlessly on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, connect with people that share their interests, view the speaker list, and even compete to earn points and badges. The Macworld | iWorld Mobile Show Guide is now available as a free download in the App Store.

ConnectFor current happenings, news and chatter follow Macworld | iWorld on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MacworldExpo and like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/MACWORLD/58481436623.

About Macworld | iWorldMacworld | iWorld is the world's ultimate fan event for those who use, create, and love Apple products. Attendees will encounter a unique celebration of Apple technology-infused art, music, and film, as well as learning opportunities, and a shopping mecca in our expo hall filled with products and services for Apple users of all skill levels and interests. From home users, to artistic hobbyists and professionals, and the true Technoratiâ€"Macworld | iWorld gives attendees the chance to experience all that the amazing world of Apple-related tools can offer. Macworld | iWorld will take place January 26 â€" January 28, 2012 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. For more information, please visit http://www.macworldiworld.com.

About IDG World Expo IDG World Expo (www.idgworldexpo.com) is a leading producer of tradeshows and events for professionals and consumers seeking world-class education, strategic business relationships, and access to industry-leading products and services. IDG World Expo's portfolio of conferences and events includes Macworld | iWorld, the MacIT® Conference, the Electronic Entertainment Expo® (E3®), Anime Expo®, Halo® Fest, Enterprise MobileNext (mNext) and Macworld Mobile. IDG World Expo is a business unit of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research and event company.

SOURCE IDG World Expo

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Surprise, Surprise! iPhone Sales Are UP! - PerezHilton.com

Things are NOT looking good for Team Blackberry!

As one should expect for ANY new apple product, sales for the iPhone 4S were up in quarter 1 for 2012!

According to preliminary numbers, Apple earned a total of $46.3 billion for Q1, thanks largely to the sale of 37.04 million iPhones! Wowsa!

Given the fact that only 17.07 million iPhones were sold LAST quarter (before the iPhone 4s was released), it's clear that EVERYBODY still purchased the new iPhone…even though version 5 will likely come out sooner than later!

Yeah…it's not a good time to be in competition with Apple. Not good at all.

What do U think? Will iPhone sales keep up during the next quarter???

Tags: 2012, apple, blackberry, iphone, iphone 4s, q1, quarter 1, sales, version 5

Posted: Jan 24, 2012 at 10:45 pm / Email this  »

How To Sync Music On iPod/iPhone Without iTunes - Problems Fix

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iPhone Buyers Hit Redial - Smartmoney.com (blog)

By Sarah Morgan

The record quarterly sales Apple announced Tuesday night were boosted in a big way by repeat customers â€" existing iPhone owners accounted for 43% of all sales of the new iPhone 4S, according to new research. And many recouped much of the cost by selling their older models.

Only 36% of iPhone 4S buyers switched from a rival smartphone operating system, while 43% upgraded from an older iPhone, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. Among those who bought in the first few weeks after the launch, about 70% were iPhone upgraders, says Michael Levin, a co-founder of the firm. In fact, in October and November, Apple claimed the top three spots among the top 10 smartphone models sold with the 4S, iPhone 4, and 3GS, according to research by the NPD Group, a market research firm. And consumers are clearly willing to play along with the upgrade cycle: About half of new smartphone buyers had owned their previous phone for two years or less, according to NPD Group.

And a large number of consumers managed to make the upgrade by reselling their older iPhones on sites such as eBay and Gazelle.com â€" often for as much as the full price of a new model. More than half of new iPhone buyers have sold their old phones, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. “Especially now that there’s a market for used phones, you’re more willing to buy the 4S because you know there’s a market for it,” Levin says. See our earlier stories for more on how these resale sites work and how much prices for older models fall when the latest upgrade is announced.

When the iPhone 4S was unveiled last year, many lamented it was a “relatively incremental” upgrade compared to the iPhone 4, says Tim Bajarin, the president of Creative Strategies, Inc. “Even though it was a marginal upgrade, it was a spectacular hit,” he says. “And we expect Apple to significantly update that phone this year.”

The 37.04 million iPhones during the quarter represent a a 128% increase from sales over the year-ago quarter. Apple set other records too: According to its earnings report, it made a net profit of $13.06 billion and sold 5.2 million Macs, and 15.43 million iPads.

Apple is certainly winning market share from competitors, chiefly Research in Motion. The BlackBerry maker’s operating system saw its market share fall nearly 60% in the first three quarters of 2011, according to the NPD Group. Apple’s iOS saw its market share grow 38% during that time. In October and November, iOS and Android between them accounted for 90% of smartphone sales in the U.S., making the market “a two-horse race,” says Ross Rubin, the executive director of the Connected Intelligence division of the NPD Group.).

IPhone Powers and Pinches Verizon - Wall Street Journal

By GREG BENSINGER

Verizon Communications Inc. swung to a fourth-quarter loss on a large pension-related charge, though it reported a jump in contract wireless subscribers thanks to Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

Verizon said it added 1.2 million of the sought-after wireless contract subscribers, a 38% improvement over a year earlier. That included about 4.3 million iPhone activations and 2.3 million smartphones for its burgeoning fourth-generation mobile broadband network.

Overall, Verizon reported a loss of $2.02 billion, or 71 cents a share, compared with a profit of $2.64 billion, or 93 cents, a year earlier. Excluding the actuarial valuation of Verizon's benefit plans, early debt extinguishment and other items, per-share earnings slipped to 52 cents from 54 cents, and missed the average analyst estimate of 53 cents on Thomson Reuters.

Verizon shares, up 4% over the past three months, fell 2.1% premarket to $37.60.

Bloomberg News

Verizon had projected revenue growth throughout the year as the iPhone attracted new subscribers to Verizon Wireless.

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Revenue jumped 7.7% to $28.44 billion, slightly above the $28.39 billion expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

The carrier has taken an early lead on fierce rival AT&T Inc. in building out a 4G network and today offers it to nearly three times as many Americans. While AT&T was battling to keep its $39 billion bid for T-Mobile USA afloat, Verizon snatched up nearly $4 billion worth of wireless airwaves, or spectrum, from a consortium of cable television providers.

Verizon had projected quarterly revenue growth throughout the year as the addition of Apple Inc.'s iPhone attracted new subscribers to Verizon Wireless, which it owns jointly with Vodafone Group PLC. While the use of smartphones and other wireless devices has flourished, there are fewer new customers up for grabs, leaving carriers to woo customers from their rivals.

Verizon also is expanding its networking and cloud-computing services as it moves to replace its shrinking landline business.

The carrier added 1.5 million total wireless subscribers during the quarter, raising its base to 108.7 million connections, up 6.3% from a year ago. Wireless revenue rose 13% to $18.3 billion. Total churn, or customers who cancel services, was 1.23%, down from 1.26% in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, Verizon's traditional wireline business, which includes fixed telephones and FiOS cable television, continued to contract. Revenue for the unit fell 1.5% to $10.1 billion as more users switch their landline telephones out for mobile phones. Chief Executive Lowell McAdam vowed in a statement to improve wireline margins this year.

The company added 201,000 FiOS Internet and 194,000 FiOS Video subscribers during the quarter, up from 197,000 and 182,000, respectively, a year earlier. Average revenue per user at the wireline business jumped 8.5%.

Operating margin swung to negative 3.9% from 24.3%.

Write to Melodie Warner at melodie.warner@dowjones.com

iPhone vs. Android a tight race but iPad puts iOS 'way ahead' in mobile OS war - Apple Insider

iPhone vs. Android a tight race but iPad puts iOS 'way ahead' in mobile OS war

By Mikey Campbell

Published: 07:53 PM EST (04:53 PM PST) Apple CEO Tim Cook outlined his thoughts on the company's iOS device performance during Q1 2012 and sees iPhone sales momentum closing the gap with rival handsets running Google's Android platform, while iPad and iPod touch are in a league of their own.

During Apple's Q1 2012 earnings conference call on Tuesday, Cook made it clear that he believes iOS is a key component to the company's future, saying that the success of the iPhone 4S and iPad is indicative of a slow move away from the desktop PC.

When asked if iOS versus Android was becoming a two-horse race similar to the Mac and Windows rivalry, Cook explained that the mobile device market is much more nuanced and is a very important facet to Apple's sustainability.

"The Mac has outgrown the market for over 20 quarters in a row, but still has a single digit percentage of the worldwide market," Cook said. "iOS, you look at phones, tablets, the iPod touch, we've sold over 350 million iOS devices. Over 62 million of those were done in the last quarter alone."

In looking at recent data from analytics firms, the iPhone has been showing steady growth when compared to Android handsets. Despite a shortage of supply, Apple managed to move 37 million iPhones last quarter.

For the Oct./Nov. period in the U.S., which accounts for only a portion of iPhone 4S sales, NPD saw Apple's smartphone holding a 43% market share while Android had 47%. A following report from Nielsen, which adds in month of Decemberm shows iPhone market share slowly increasing to 45% while Android holds steady at 47%.

"It seems like all of the data that I've seen in the U.S. would say that it's a very close race in iPhone [and Android]," Cook notes. "I wouldn't say it's a two-horse race, there's a horse in Redmond that always suits up and always runs and will keep running, and there's other players that we can never count out."

Cook said that Apple will somewhat ignore how many "horses" there are in the crowded mobile marketplace and focus on innovating to "make sure [it's] the lead one."

Apple CEO Tim Cook at the iPhone 4S launch event in October | Source: Reuters

In looking to the future of iOS products, Cook commented that tablets like the iPad will one day surpass the PC market, and sees Apple's offering as being peerless among a litany of models running on Android, Windows and other platforms.

Citing recent IDC data that shows desktop sales in the U.S. were trumped by tablet sales during the last quarter of 2011, Cook claims that there are different indicators for significant momentum in the space.

"We're really happy with the 15.4 million iPads that we were able to sell," Cook said. "This is consistent with our long-term belief that we've had since before we introduced the product that this is a huge opportunity for Apple over time."

The Apple chief doesn't see other tablets like Amazon's Kindle Fire or similar Android models as threats to the iPad's crown. Cook notes that consumers want to use their tablets in a variety of ways and the "limited function" tablets and e-readers simply don't have Apple's robust ecosystem of over 170,000 iPad-optimized apps.

"I think on the iPad side, although I don't have specific numbers to share from third parties, I think that all of us inherently believe that iPad is way ahead there," Cook said, adding that "there's really no comparable product to iPod touch out there, so iOS is doing extremely well. What we focus on is innovating and making the world's best product."

Apple's Profit Doubles on Holiday iPhone 4S Sales - New York Times

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

With the 37 million iPhones that customers snapped up over the holidays, Apple has sold 183 million of the devices since the product went on sale in 2007.

It turns out Apple didn’t need an iPhone 5 to bolster sales.

The company reported on Tuesday that its profit for the holiday quarter more than doubled largely thanks to gangbuster sales of the iPhone 4S, a product that was greeted with grumbling when it came out in October from pundits and some users for lacking the razzle-dazzle of what many imagined an iPhone 5 would look like.

But consumers still came out in droves to buy the iPhone 4S, helping the company sell more than double the number of iPhones for the quarter ending Dec. 31 than it did a year ago, a figure that was also lifted by sales of cheap, older models of Apple’s cellphone.

With the 37 million iPhones that customers snapped up over the holidays, Apple has sold 183 million of the devices since the product went on sale in 2007. Underscoring the transformation of the Cupertino, Calif., company, revenue from the iPhone and iPad â€" neither of which could be bought five years ago â€" now account for 72 percent of Apple’s total revenue.

And although phones based on Google’s Android operating system had been gaining more customers in recent years, Apple has begun to chip away at some of the advantages of these phones, narrowing Apple’s lead in the United States over the holidays.

“We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs,” Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said in a statement. “Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.”

In the meantime, Apple said it sold 15.4 million iPads over the holidays, more than double the number it sold during the same period the year before.

After watching competitors stumble for the last two years, Apple faced its first credible competition in the tablet computer category this fall when Amazon introduced the Kindle Fire. The $199 device from the Internet retailer is significantly cheaper than the $499 starting price for the iPad and is closely linked to a variety of Amazon online offerings including its e-book store, movie and music services.

The rosy results sent Apple shares soaring 8 percent in after-hours trading.

Apple said its net income for the period rose 118 percent to $13.06 billion, or $13.87 a share, compared with net income of $6 billion, or $6.43 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 73 percent to $46.33 billion, from $26.74 billion a year ago. Apple’s results were inflated slightly because its 2011 holiday quarter included 14 weeks of sales, rather than the 13 weeks in 2010, due to a change by the company.

The results were better than the $10.08 a share in earnings and $38.85 billion in revenue expected by analysts, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters. Apple itself had previously forecast earnings of $9.30 a share and $37 billion for the quarter.

Apple said it sold 5.2 million Macintoshes during the holiday quarter, 26 percent more than it did a year earlier.

The performance of Apple’s iPhone business underscores how the company has thrived in the mobile phone market, even as Google steadily nibbled away at the iPhone’s share of smartphones in recent years with handsets based on the Android operating system. Not only are Android phones made by a wide array of manufacturers, they have had wider distribution on carrier networks.. The iPhone was initially limited to AT&T’s network in the United States and exclusive relationships with other carriers elsewhere in the world.

But the iPhone is now available on the three largest wireless networks in the United States, with the addition of Sprint in the fall. After it introduced the iPhone 4S in October, Apple also made its older iPhone 4 available for $99 and iPhone 3GS for free with contracts through wireless carriers. Analysts believe the move expanded the audience of potential iPhone buyers beyond people willing to spend $199 for Apple’s latest model of smartphone.

There are signs that Apple’s strategy helped narrow Android’s lead in the market over the holidays. Nielsen, the audience measurement firm, said in a recent report that 61.6 percent of United States consumers surveyed in October said they had gotten an Android phone within the last three months, while only 25.1 percent got an iPhone.

By December though, Android’s lead among people who had acquired a smartphone recently had narrowed to 46.9 percent while 44.5 percent of consumers said they got an iPhone, Nielsen said. About 57 percent of iPhone owners in December said they got the new iPhone 4S, while the remainder, 43 percent, got older models of the phone.

The iPhone 4S was initially derided by some critics for offering little improvement on the older iPhone 4, with none of the bold outward design changes that make it easy for cellphone users to brag about owning the latest Apple gizmo. On the inside though, the product has a better camera, faster microprocessor and a virtual assistant called Siri that lets people dictate texts and do Web searches with voice commands.

Apple said it expects to report earnings of $8.50 a share and revenue of about $32.5 billion during the fiscal second quarter.

After iPhone & iPad, an iTV?

1/24/2012 7:44 PM ET

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By Michael Brush, MSN Money

The electronics world is buzzing about the possibility of a TV set to match your iPod, iPhone and iPad. Here's what might be in the works -- and how it could affect your viewing habits and investments.

After Steve Jobs left the scene, he offered a tantalizing hint from the grave about the huge revolution in TV that lies just around the corner. "I finally cracked it," he says in his posthumous autobiography "Steve Jobs," alluding to the blueprint he developed for user-friendly Internet TV.

"This quote seems to offer the best evidence we have seen that such a device is actually in the works," says Goldman Sachs analyst Bill Shope.

That quote also set off rampant speculation about whether the next iteration of Apple TV will be an actual TV, a plug-in device or some kind of collaboration with a TV manufacturer (not likely). It reached a fever pitch at the huge Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, overshadowing lots of actual devices.

As is the way with Apple (AAPL, news), the details of any such device are a closely guarded secret. But the implications are clear. Apple may soon change the world of TV and movies the way it has the music industry -- leaving a host of video entertainment players wounded, from cable providers and content producers to traditional advertisers and the DVD industry.

Apple won't have this new world of TV to itself, of course. Just as Google (GOOG, news) proved itself to be a worthy Apple competitor in smartphones with the Android operating system, the search giant also wants to be a major force as TV and movies go online.

Michael Brush

Other major forces at work here are evolving consumer tastes and habits in video consumption -- including a willingness to pay a buck or two for a TV show you can get for free, or at least with a cable subscription -- and that inexorable source of change, technology itself. It's making the transition to online TV and movie consumption not only possible, but easy.

The Apple model

Except to extreme Apple fans, the exact form the Apple TV takes almost doesn't matter, because Apple's motivations are already clear. It needs a great Internet TV device to move more people onto its platform and into its cloud of online content storage services -- two key pieces of Apple's strategy, says Dave Eiswert, who manages the T. Rowe Price Global Technology (PRGTX) fund, which has beaten competitors by an annualized 8.5% over the past three years.

The model here is what's already happened to the music industry. Great devices, starting with the original iPod, combined online with Apple's easy-to-use iTunes store to change the way people buy and own music. The record store, the CD, makers of rival music players and a lot of online competitors were left in the dust. The recording industry learned to play by Apple's new rules.

The difference now is that Apple wants to move the entertainment its customers own off of their Macs and PCs and into its online cloud. This will tie more customers to Apple's ecosystem -- and make it more likely that the next device they buy will be an Apple product.

"Apple wants to move away from the Mac to the cloud as the center of your Apple experience, and Apple TV plays into that," says Eiswert. "It is a battle about platforms, and Apple TV is just one part of that platform strategy. The point of Apple TV is to hook you into their platform and sell more iPhones, iPads and Macs."

Apple TV: The device

Of course, you can already buy "Apple TV" -- a box that lets you stream video from computers to your television. And you can buy TV and movies from the iTunes store to watch on a computer or other Apple device.

But an actual Apple TV -- or a more sophisticated version of the current offering -- could be a game changer.

If history is our guide, we can guess the new Apple TV will be a cool device, probably the coolest of its kind. It will likely be voice-activated using a variation of the Siri system that already allows users to talk to the iPhone. Expect state-of-the art touch screens and intuitive controls. "They have revolutionized so many devices, it is almost inevitable that they would try with TV," says Peter Atkins, managing director of Permian Partners, an investment firm. "My guess is it is a near-term thing, within the next year, possibly."

Apple TV? Speculation stirs at CES

The device could spur Apple's next growth phase. It would also to contribute to an ongoing change in how we buy and watch video -- shifting consumption online while steamrolling traditional video and TV outfits like cable and satellite companies. SNL Kagan estimates the number of people who "cut the cord" and convert to what industry experts call "over-the-top" or online TV and video will grow to 12.1 million households by 2015, about 10% of homes.

Lots of college students -- who often shape trends -- are already there, viewing just about all their TV and other video content online, points out Michael Scanlon, a tech analyst with the John Hancock Balanced A (SVBAX) fund, which has beaten competitors by an annualized 3.5% over the past five years. "Long term, over-the-top content will succeed. It will just be a slow march to get there," says Eiswert.

iPhone eating the competition's lunch - Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)

1:28 pm January 24, 2012, by Christopher Seward

Just how much is Apple eating the competition’s lunch when it comes to smartphones? In a study released by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners and reported by CNET, a third of iPhone 4S buyers said they previously had Android, BlackBerry or Palm devices.

Half of the 36 percent of iPhone converts said they left the BlackBerry behind, 39 percent put the Android down and 10 percent the Palm.

Even those surveyed who had iPhones remain loyal to the brand: 43` percent upgraded from an older model, and 42 percent of all iPhone users broke an existing contract to upgrade, CIRP found.

IPhone’s success, however, can be a drag on the companies trying to get you to get one because the device is so heavily subsidized, which cuts into profits in the short term.

Verizon, for example, pays around $600 for an iPhone from Apple but sells it for $200, hoping to eventually make up the difference â€" and a profit â€" off two years of service fees, according to an AP report on Verizon’s latest quarterly financial results, which didn’t please Wall Street. Verizon, new to iPhone sales, sold 4.3 million of them, but warned that the hefty sales “would hold back earnings.”

Apple is expected to release its earnings later today, and we’ll see how many iPhones it has sold. Some analysts think the company sold at least 30 million in the last three months of 2011.

Apple's Q1 will ride iPhone 4S wave - CBS News

(MoneyWatch) 

Summary: Wall Street is expecting fiscal first quarter earnings of $10.08 a share on revenue of $38.85 billion.

Apple is on tap to deliver its fiscal first quarter earnings and analysts are expecting the company's results to shine courtesy of the iPhone 4S launch.

Here's a look at the numbers to know ahead of Apple's earnings.

iPhone shipments will carry the fiscal first quarter. Peter Misek, an analyst at Jefferies, estimated 37 million iPhone builds with shipments of 35 million. Estimates for Apple's iPhone shipments have increased due to the launch of the iPhone 4S as well as strong revenue growth from Hon Hai and Pegatron.

Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore said in a research note:

We believe Apple experienced extremely robust demand for the iPhone 4S during the quarter. We believe there were three key drivers of strong iPhone demand: 1) pent-up demand leading into the Q, following a demand pause ahead of the iPhone 4S launch, 2) seasonal uptick due to the holiday season 3) carrier expansion (e.g. Sprint).

iPad shipments were solid in the fiscal fourth quarter and Misek is expecting sell through to top 13.5 million. Apple delivered 12 million iPad builds, but the iPad 3 launch looms in the March quarter, according to Misek.

Mac sales surged in the December quarter and U.S. and China drove the results. Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes is predicting 22 percent year-over-year Mac unit growth. Another positive for Apple is that it is in a better position in terms of units because the MacBook Air lacks a hard disk drive.

iPod units are likely to continue to slip. In fact, "the iPod category is no longer really material to Apple from a financial standpoint," said Reitzes. NPD data indicates that Apple has 77 percent market share in the MP3 market.

This article originally appeared on ZDNet.com.

The top iPhone and iPad apps on App Store

App Store Official Charts for the week ending Jan. 16, 2012:

Top Paid iPhone Apps:

1. Words With Friends (Zynga)

2. Angry Birds (Clickgamer.com)

3. Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick Studios)

4. Camera+ (tap tap tap)

5. Where's My Water? (Disney)

6. Cut the Rope (Chillingo Ltd)

7. Dot Lock Secure â€" Protect your Media & Files (BAI)

8. Pimp Your Screen â€" Your Device Never Looked Cooler (Apalon)

9. Color Texting for iMessages (Apps4Life)

10. Tiny Wings,Andreas (Illiger)

___

Top Free iPhone Apps:

1. Temple Run (Imangi Studios, LLC)

2. Angry Gran (AceViral.com)

3. Snappers (Mikhail Eliseev)

4. Zombie Farm (The Playforge, LLC)

5. Life is Crime (Red Robot Labs Inc.)

6. Doodle Sprint! (Wivvu)

7. Egg Punch (Pixel Juice)

8. Bejeweled Blitz (PopCap)

9. Social Girl (Crowdstar Inc)

10. Tap Fish 2 (Gameview Studios)

___

Top Paid iPad Apps:

1. Where's My Water? (Disney)

2. Words With Friends HD (Zynga)

3. Notability â€" handwriting, note taking, audio recording, annotate PDFs, cloud sync your notes to Dropbox, and more (Ginger Labs)

4. Angry Birds HD (Chillingo Ltd)

5. Pages (Apple)

6. Living Earth HD â€" World Clock and Weather (Moshen Chan)

7. Fruit Ninja HD (Halfbrick Studios)

8. Run Roo Run HD (5TH Cell)

9. Penultimate (Cocoa Box Design LLC)

10. Angry Birds Seasons HD (Rovio Mobile Ltd.)

___

Top Free iPad Apps:

1. Temple Run (Imangi Studios, LLC)

2. Bejeweled Blitz (PopCap)

3. OnLive Desktop (OnLive, Inc.)

4. CloudOn (CloudOn, Inc.)

5. Skype for iPad (Skype Software S.a.r.l)

6. iBooks (Apple)

7. Kindle â€" Read Books, Magazines & More â€" Over 1 Million eBooks & Newspapers (AMZN Mobile LLC)

8. The Weather Channel for iPad (The Weather Channel Interactive)

9. Words With Friends HD Free (Zynga)

10. Netflix (Netflix, Inc.)

___

(copyright) 2011 Apple, Inc.

Leading Hospitality Job Board Launches iPad and iPhone Job Search Application

DENVER, Jan. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In January Hcareers, the leading job board for hotel, restaurant, food service and travel, launched an iPad and iPhone job search application that allows hospitality job seekers to search job postings and apply for jobs directly from their iPhones and/or iPads.

"Our website data shows a trend in mobile job searches, making it the perfect time to introduce this app," said Bryan Sauder, Hcareers Product Director. "We are working to make the job search easier for our job seekers and to give our employers more distribution channels as well as increased engagement."

The trend for job search apps is expected to continue with more and more job seekers using their smartphones or tablets for their career search. According to Beyond.com's Mobile Job App Data and Poll Survey some 77 percent of job seekers use mobile job search apps.

Hcareers launched the iPad and iPhone job seeker application after finding that six percent of the total monthly page views on Hcaeers.com comes from Apple's iPhone and iPad devices. An Android app is slated to roll out later in 2012.

In the first week of availability the iPhone app was downloaded more than 2,700 times. Employers saw spikes in applies with nearly 400 direct applies from the iPhone job search app. Total page views (isolated to the iPhone app) in the first week reached almost five percent of the total site's monthly page views.

Job Search Features:

• Job seekers can use the app to search all jobs on Hcareers.
• Search functionality includes postal code, industry, position category and location.
• Searches can be saved on the application.
• Job Seekers can create alerts for specific job types.
• Job seekers can view their job applies.
• Job Seekers can review their resumes posted to Hcareers (resumes can only be uploaded via the website at this time).
• Email/SMS job postings to self or others.
• Receive notifications when new job posting match saved criteria.

Download the iPhone app online at the iTunes store.

About Hcareers (hcareers.com)
Hcareers, an onTargetjobs, Inc. company, is the leading job board for hotel, restaurant, food service, travel and other hospitality industries. In addition to thousands of searchable jobs, Hcareers offers resources to job seekers such as employment tips, industry articles and salary guides.

Verizon Posts Loss on Pension Costs as IPhone Boosts Expenses - San Francisco Chronicle

Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Verizon Communications Inc., the second-largest U.S. phone company, reported a fourth-quarter loss after booking a pension charge and having higher subsidy costs for rising iPhone sales.

The net loss was $2.02 billion, compared with a profit of $2.64 billion a year earlier, New York-based Verizon said today in a statement. Earnings, excluding some items, fell to 52 cents a share from 54 cents a year earlier, matching the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Verizon and rivals such as AT&T Inc. sell the Apple Inc. iPhone to customers at a loss to get them to sign up for contracts that typically run for two years. That strategy helped Verizon add 1.2 million subscribers on monthly contracts, meeting the average estimate from 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The carrier is banking the initial subsidy cost pays off as the users spend on data and calling throughout the life of the contract.

"The question is -- will this drive greater profitability in the wireless business down the road?" James Ratcliffe, an analyst at Barclays Capital in New York, said before the report. Ratcliffe has a "neutral" rating on Verizon shares.

The average monthly revenue per user among wireless contract customers fell to $54.80 from $54.89 in the third quarter. Analysts predicted $54.87 on average. Contract-customer churn, or the monthly defection rate, was 0.94 percent, compared with the 0.96 percent analysts estimated.

Smartphone Payback

Sales rose 7.7 percent to $28.4 billion, matching the average analyst estimate. The net loss per share was 71 cents, compared with a profit 93 cents a year earlier.

On Jan. 4, Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said the company sold more than 4 million iPhones in the fourth quarter, weighing on the wireless division's gross margins by 500 to 600 basis points.

"The average smartphone customer will spend about $2,000 over the two-year contract, if the subsidy is $400, you're still getting $1,600, and that's very cash-flow positive," Ratcliffe said.

Verizon, which co-owns its wireless business with Vodafone Group Plc, fell 1.5 percent to $38.40 yesterday. The stock added 12 percent last year, compared with a 2.9 percent gain by AT&T.

Verizon is ahead of Dallas-based AT&T in building out a faster next-generation wireless network, helping it outpace the rival in subscriber gains. The company is also benefiting from rising demand for the iPhone and handsets that run on Google Inc.'s Android operating system.

--Editors: Ville Heiskanen, Cecile Daurat

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Moritz at smoritz6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net

Nearly 1 Million People Jailbroke Their iPhone or iPad Over the Weekend - ReadWriteWeb

People sure do love jailbreaking their iOS devices. In fact, after Friday's launch of the Absinthe A5 tool, jailbreaking iOS 5 on A5-powered devices was almost as popular as the iPhone 4S itself when it first launched.

Nearly 1 million people jailbroke their iPhone 4S or iPad 2 between Friday and Monday, according a blog post from the Chronic-Dev Team, who took the lead in developing the untethered solution for jailbreaking iOS 5 on Apple's newest gadgets.

News of Friday's launch of Absinthe A5 temporarily crashed the greenpois0n site, as it evidently gave hundreds of thousands of users a fun weekend mini-project. The initial tool was only released for Mac OS X, but a Windows version quickly followed over the weekend.

Not surprisingly, the iPhone 4S was the most-jailbroken device with over 491,325 phones broken free from the restrictions of the iTunes App Store. Since iOS 5 came pre-installed on the iPhone 4S, this is the first time its owners could jailbreak the device without tethering it to a computer, which is too cumbersome a process to be considered by most users. The iPad 2 saw n 308,967 new jailbreaks, on top of the 152,940 second generation iPads running iOS 4 that were re-jailbroken. Those users were likely waiting to upgrade to iOS 5 until this solution was available, which is one of the drawbacks of jailbreaking.

Why People Jailbreak

For devotees of the jailbreaking process, the drawbacks are vastly overshadowed by the benefits. Rather than be able to cite a single "killer app" that makes it worth it, most just prefer the general freedom and customizability it offers. That includes the ability to tweak the visual appearance of the device's UI and run any number of unauthorized apps.

Cydia, the repository of apps for jailbroken iPhones and iPads, contains many applications that would never meet Apple's approval requirements for inclusion in the official App Store. For some, it's because of trademark or copyright issues, such as video game emulators or controversial music services like Grooveshark.

Quite often, the apps don't adhere to Apple's agreements with the carriers, who would obviously never approve of an app that lets users tether their phone to their laptop and use its data connection without paying extra. With the iPhone 4S, the feature that offers perhaps the most new potential for jailbreakers is Siri, which developers have wasted no time hacking and tinkering with.

As controversial and officially frowned-upon as the whole thing is, many of the experimental features available on jailbroken iOS devices actually end up being included in the next release of the OS. This was true of recording video, which was technically possible on a jailbroken iPhone 3G. Similarly, the overhauled Notification Center found in iOS 5 bears a striking resemblance to the notification system available on jailbroken devices running iOS 4.

Jailbreaking May Not Be Mainstream, But Its Popularity is Growing

As Apple's gadgets continue to burn through sales records, there also appears to be a growing interest among users in doing more with their phones, much like Android device owners are already accustomed to.

Truth be told, jailbreaking probably isn't something the average user is going to get into, given the nature of the process, its risks and the tools involved. It's really something more geared toward tinkerers and those who want more control over what their device can do.

Given the massive number of iOS devices out in the wild, several hundred thousand new jailbreaks doesn't come anywhere close to a constituting majority of of users. Rather, it's the pace of the growth that's interesting to see.

Should I upgrade to the iPhone 4S for Siri? - CNET

Apple's voice-activated, personal assistant, Siri, is a cool app to show off at parties, but is it useful enough for me to upgrade to the iPhone 4S? And how can I make sure that I don't get socked with a surprise $1,000 bill when I return from my winter vacation in the Caribbean Islands?

These are the questions Ask Maggie tackles in this edition.

Should I upgrade to the iPhone 4S for Siri?

Dear Maggie,
I've had the iPhone 3G for a couple of years. But recently, I've really gotten tired of the slow download speeds for e-mails and Web surfing. Would the iPhone 4S be better? Also the Siri app looks really interesting, and I can't get it on my iPhone 3G. Is it worth it for me to upgrade to the iPhone 4S for this app?

I'm going to be buying a new phone in the next couple of weeks, and I am curious as to whether or not you think it is worth the money to get the iPhone 4S, or if I should consider something else. Now that I've been retired for almost five years, I've lost touch with the latest technology so your advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Jim

Dear Jim,

I have mixed thoughts about the Siri application. It's definitely cool to speak into your device, ask a question, and have Siri answer you. And some people I've talked to who own an iPhone 4S really love it. But the times I've tried the app, it hasn't worked that well for me. It doesn't understand what I am saying, or it just directs me to a Website without telling me the answer I wanted. So in my opinion, the app can be useful at times, but it's more a novelty at this point than a reason to buy the iPhone 4S.

Even though I don't think Siri is cool enough to make me upgrade to the iPhone 4S, there are many other features of the iPhone 4S that are worth upgrading for. And without a doubt, the iPhone 4S is a big improvement over the iPhone 3G, which is now two-generations old.

The biggest benefit for you is that the the iPhone 4S will likely offer you those faster downloads you want. The iPhone 4S sold by AT&T operates on the carrier's HSPA+ wireless network, which is a slightly faster network than AT&T's regular HSPA 3G network, which the iPhone 3G uses.

But just to be clear, the iPhone 4S does not operate over AT&T's new 4G LTE network, which promises to offer much faster download speeds. (There has been a lot of talk about 4G LTE networks and I just wanted to be clear that the "4" in the name of the iPhone doesn't mean it supports this network.) Most Apple iPhone fans are hopeful that 4G LTE will be coming to the next iPhone that's released. But it's unclear when that new phone will be released.

In terms of device performance, the network is just one piece of the puzzle. The real difference in download speed between the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 4S is likely attributable to the fact that iPhone 4S offers more processing power than the older iPhone 3G. So everything you do with the phone should be noticeably faster--from downloading e-mail to surfing the Web to switching between applications. The overall response time of the iPhone 4S will just be snappier than what you're used to.

(Credit: Apple)

There are also many other improvements on the iPhone 4S over the iPhone 3G. For example, the iPhone 4S offers a better camera with a built-in flash. It also has a front-facing camera, so you can use the FaceTime video chat app. The iPhone 3G doesn't have a front-facing camera and can't support FaceTime.

The screen on the iPhone 4S is much clearer than the one on the iPhone 3G. Also, you are not able to run Apple's latest iOS 5 software on the iPhone 3G. This software upgrade gets you access to a whole slew of new features, such as Apple's cloud-based music and storage services. And it also gives you access to iMessage, a nifty messaging application that allows you to text message other iPhone users without using up carrier text messages. iMessage bypasses the carrier SMS system so you can text for free with other Apple iPhone users.

So in short, the iPhone 4S is a solid phone that gives you much more than what you're used to with the iPhone 3G.

Now, you could also consider something other than an iPhone for your next smartphone. There are plenty of Google Android devices to choose from on AT&T as well as other carriers. And many of them will offer similar features to what you can expect on the iPhone 4S. AT&T is also now offering some Google Android devices with 4G LTE capability. These smartphones should offer you fast e-mail downloads and Web surfing when you're in 4G territory. But AT&T has only deployed 4G in limited areas, so you may not be able to access that network even if you have one of these phones.

If you're willing to wait a couple of months, you can also consider a Microsoft Windows Phone. I checked out the new HTC Windows Phone smartphone and Nokia's Lumia 900 at CES. And I really liked these phones. Windows Phone is an intuitive and easy to use platform, so I think it's worth considering. And both the HTC Titan II and the Nokia Lumia 900 are good smartphones, with advanced cameras and other hardware goodies that rival the iPhone 4S.

But since you already have an iPhone 3G, and it seems like you like the platform, I'd suggest just sticking with Apple. All your contacts, music, and most importantly all your apps will load easily onto the iPhone 4S. If you switch to the Google Android or Windows Phone platforms you will have to re-download and even repurchase your apps. Most of the apps you had on your iPhone, will likely be available on Android, but you may not have the same luck with a Windows Phone device.

More from Ask Maggie

• Is AT&T's data plan price hike justified?
• Will Verizon unlock my iPhone 4S?
• What's the best Windows Phone from CES 2012?
• World travelers beware: LTE phones won't get 4G abroad
• No 4G signal? Then what should I do with this Samsung Galaxy Nexus?

Even though Microsoft is quickly adding more apps to its marketplace, the company still doesn't have the same exact catalog as Apple or Android. For example, Words with Friends, the popular online Scrabble-like game that everyone is playing these days, isn't yet available on Windows Phone. It will probably be on Windows Phone at some point, but it's not there now.

So to summarize: if you are in the market for a new smartphone right now, I think someone like you, who is already a happy Apple iPhone user, can't go wrong with the iPhone 4S. Also you will have a lot of fun with Siri, but just don't expect too much of her just yet.

Take care. And good luck!

Avoiding 'bill shock'

Dear Maggie,
My wife and I are going on a western Caribbean Carnival cruise in March. We each have AT&T iPhone 4's with grandfathered unlimited plans, and iPad 2's that are Wi-Fi only. We access the Internet on our iPads via an AT&T Elevate 4G hotspot on a 5GB plan.

We want to take our devices on vacation with us. What should we ask AT&T and/or the cruise line so that we can have usable voice and data access without getting one of those surprise $1,000 phone bills?

Thanks,
James

Dear James,
The first thing you need to understand is that your U.S. voice minutes and unlimited data plans don't apply when you're traveling internationally. So the phone calls you make and receive and the data you use while on your trip will not be counted toward your monthly total for your regular AT&T plan. Instead, you will be charged per minute when it comes to voice and per kilobyte or per megabyte for data.

(Credit: CNET/Marguerite Reardon)

As you have probably heard, those roaming charges can be hefty. And people have been known to rack up massive bills while talking, texting and surfing the Net on their wireless devices while abroad. To make sure you are keeping your costs in check, you should sign up for an AT&T international plan before you leave home. You can access information about AT&T's international plans on the Web. Check to see if the countries you are traveling to are included in AT&T's international plan. And then you'll just sign up for the plan right before you leave for the trip.

The way these plans work is that for voice services, you will still pay per minute, but with the international plan, the per minute rate will be reduced. For data, you will sign up for a certain package for a flat rate. For example, you could get 50MB of data for $25. And each additional 10MB you use, you'd be charged another $10. AT&T's international plans go as high as $100 for 800MB of data.

Remember that you will just be signing up for the international service just before your trip, since you don't need it until you are abroad. If you want to use the full 25MB or even the full 800MB of data that you're paying for as part of this plan, make sure you wait until your billing cycle ends before you cancel the service.

If you cancel the service in the middle of your billing cycle, AT&T will prorate the cost of the service as well as prorate the amount of data you can use. So you could end up spending more if you exceed the monthly data cap on the International plan.

Your iPhones and iPads will allow you to track usage while you're away, so try to keep track of how much data you are using so you don't go over your limit. Since it's very easy to exceed these caps and those charges can add up quickly, I would use data service while you're on vacation much more judiciously than you do at home. If the cruise ship you are on has Wi-Fi or there is Wi-Fi in the cafes when you're in port, I'd use those networks as much as possible. Remember that when you use Wi-Fi, you are not using any carrier data. So all that usage isn't counted toward your monthly total.

I hope that information helps save you from bill shock. And I hope you and your wife have a fantastic vacation!

Ask Maggie is an advice column that answers readers' wireless and broadband questions. The column now appears twice a week on CNET offering readers a double dosage of Ask Maggie's advice. If you have a question, I'd love to hear from you. Please send me an e-mail at maggie dot reardon at cbs dot com. And please put "Ask Maggie" in the subject header. You can also follow me on Facebook on my Ask Maggie page.

Hackers jailbreak iPad 2 and iPhone 4S - ZDNet

The GreenPois0n Absinthe software uses a "ridiculously complex combination of exploits-within-exploits" to jailbreak the iPhone 4s and iPad 2 Apple devices running on the A5 chipset, according to a blog from the Chronic Dev Team, one of the iOS hacking groups.

Hackers from the Chronic Dev Team, including group leader 'p0sixninja', collaborated with researchers from the iPhone Dev Team such as 'MuscleNerd' and 'Saurik' as part of an iOS-hacking "dream team", according to the blog post. The groups worked with other iOS researchers, including 'planetbeing', due to difficulties in hacking A5 devices..

Chronic Dev Team initially had little success in jailbreaking A5 chipset devices, so launched a tool called CDevReporter to collate crash reports, according to the blog post. The reports were used by the researchers to find holes in the iOS operating system.

Jailbreaking an App is not illegal. It lets you build and run software from outside sources, and it also lets you copy files without agreeing to the iTunes end-user agreement.

For more on this story, read Hackers jailbreak iPad 2 and iPhone 4S on ZDNet UK.

Great iPhone/iPod/iPad Apps

	Great iPhone/iPod/iPad Apps Doodle jump Fruit ninja Jet packjoyride Temple Run	From: iPodKnowlegdeNeeder Views: 0 0 ratings
	Time: 03:10	More in Comedy

Verizon Posts Loss on Pension Cost as IPhone Boosts Expenses - BusinessWeek

(Updates with comment from analyst in fourth paragraph.)

Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Verizon Communications Inc., the second-largest U.S. phone company, reported a fourth-quarter loss after booking a pension charge and having higher subsidy costs for rising iPhone sales.

The net loss was $2.02 billion, compared with a profit of $2.64 billion a year earlier, New York-based Verizon said today. Earnings, excluding some items, fell to 52 cents a share, matching the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The pretax charge for a pension-plan revaluation was $3.4 billion.

Verizon and rivals such as AT&T Inc. sell the Apple Inc. iPhone at a loss to get customers to sign up for contracts that typically run for two years. While iPhone sales more than doubled from the third quarter, total smartphone sales fell short, signaling waning demand for handsets that run on Google Inc.'s Android operating system, said Walt Piecyk, an analyst with BTIG LLC in New York.

“This is a little surprising during a holiday period, especially given all the marketing around 4G phones,” he said.

Verizon, which co-owns its wireless unit with Vodafone Group Plc, fell 1.9 percent to $37.67 in early trading. It added 12 percent last year, compared with a 2.9 percent gain by AT&T.

Smartphone Payback

On Jan. 4, Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said fourth-quarter iPhone sales topped 4 million units, weighing on margins. Total smartphone sales were 7.7 million units, 1.5 million fewer than Piecyk predicted.

The strategy of subsidizing smartphones helped Verizon add 1.2 million subscribers on monthly contracts, meeting the average estimate from 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The carrier is banking the initial subsidy cost pays off as the users spend on data and calling throughout the life of the contract.

“The question is -- will this drive greater profitability in the wireless business down the road?” James Ratcliffe, an analyst at Barclays Capital in New York, said before the report.

Total sales rose 7.7 percent to $28.4 billion, matching the average analyst estimate. The net loss per share was 71 cents, compared with a profit 93 cents a year earlier. Year-earlier earnings excluding some items were 54 cents.

Wireless revenue rose 13 percent to $18.3 billion, led by a 19 percent increase in data sales. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization from providing wireless service, a measure of profitability, was 42.2 percent of sales, down 5.3 percentage points.

Video Growth

The average monthly revenue per user among wireless contract customers fell to $54.80 from $54.89 in the third quarter. Analysts predicted $54.87 on average. Contract-customer churn, or the monthly defection rate, was 0.94 percent, compared with the 0.96 percent analysts estimated.

“The average smartphone customer will spend about $2,000 over the two-year contract, if the subsidy is $400, you're still getting $1,600, and that's very cash-flow positive,” Ratcliffe said.

Verizon is ahead of Dallas-based AT&T in building out a faster next-generation wireless network, helping it outpace the rival in subscriber gains.

At the wireline business, Verizon added 201,000 FiOS Internet customers and 194,000 FiOS TV subscribers. Michael Nelson, an analyst at Mizuho Securities USA Inc., estimated Verizon would add 200,000 Internet users and 200,000 TV customers.

--Editors: Ville Heiskanen, Cecile Daurat

New Free Avery(R) App for the iPad(R) Mobile Digital Device Offers Easy, On ... - MarketWatch (press release)

BREA, Calif., Jan 24, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Office and Consumer Products Group of Avery Dennison /quotes/zigman/218695/quotes/nls/avy AVY -0.80% , a global leader in office products, today announced its new Apple(R) iPad(R) mobile digital device app. The Avery(R) Templates Everywhere iPad(R) app joins the Avery(R) family of mobile solutions along with the highly-rated iPhone(R) mobile digital device app, which was unveiled in December 2011. The Avery(R) Templates Everywhere app for iPad(R) makes it easy for consumers to import contacts from their iPad(R) to print on Avery(R) mailing labels, shipping labels and return address labels.

Users simply choose which Avery(R) label to use and select the desired data from the contact list in their iPad(R). The address labels or shipping labels are then automatically formatted into the correct layout for their Avery(R) product.

The Avery(R) Templates Everywhere app also makes it easy to add new contacts to an iPad(R).Users can simply scan addresses from envelopes or business cards using their iPad(R) 2 mobile digital device and quickly update their address book--a great way to conveniently update mailing lists while attending conferences or meetings.

The easy-to-use app offers the flexibility of printing directly with a compatible printer, saving the project online to a MyAvery(TM) account for printing later, or sending the label project by email for later use. The Avery(R) Templates Everywhere app is available for free online at the Apple(R) App Store(SM) for iPad(R).

"We are delighted to introduce Avery(R) Templates Everywhere app for the iPad(R)," says David Maxson, Director of Interactive Marketing for Avery Dennison Office and Consumer Products Group. "Following the release of the highly rated Avery(R) Templates Everywhere iPhone(R) app, the new iPad(R) app adds another way for consumers to easily access the content in their MyAvery(TM) account almost anywhere. The ability to place your addresses right onto the most popular Avery(R) labels using your iPad(R) or iPhone(R) brings labeling to your mobile lifestyle."

Taking a picture of a name and address on a business card or envelope and adding that information to your iPad(R) or iPhone(R) contacts is the kind of fast, convenient organizing tool that busy people value. The app also provides consumers access to all the Avery(R) Design & Print Online projects saved in their MyAvery(TM) account that can be printed or emailed directly from an iPad(R). Additionally, any project created with the app and saved can be opened and edited from Avery(R) Design & Print Online, which is available at Avery.com/print.

The Avery(R) Templates Everywhere app can help make quick work of business mailings. For more information and links to download the app, visit avery.com/everywhere.

About Avery Dennison

Avery Dennison /quotes/zigman/218695/quotes/nls/avy AVY -0.80% helps make brands more inspiring and the world more intelligent. For more than 75 years the company has been a global leader in pressure-sensitive technology and materials, retail branding and information solutions, and organization and identification products for offices and consumers. A FORTUNE 500(R) company with sales of $6.5 billion in 2010, Avery Dennison is based in Pasadena, California and has employees in over 60 countries. For more information, visit www.averydennison.com .

About Avery Dennison Office and Consumer Products

Avery Dennison Office and Consumer Products Group ( www.avery.com ) markets products under the well-known Avery brand name and is one of the world's leading manufacturers of self-adhesive labels for laser and ink jet printers, binders, sheet protectors, index and tab dividers and other office-, home- and school-related supplies. Avery Office and Consumer Products, a business unit of Avery Dennison Corporation, is based in Brea, California. For more information about Avery-brand products, consumers can visit the Avery Office and Consumer Products web site at www.avery.com or call the Avery Consumer Service Center at 1-800-GO-AVERY (1-800-462-8379).

(C)2012 Avery Dennison Corporation. All rights reserved. Avery, Avery Dennison and all other Avery brands, product names and codes are trademarks of Avery Dennison Corporation. All other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Apple, iPhone, iPad, iPad 2 and App Store are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of Apple Computer, registered in the U.S. and other countries. None of the Avery brands or products are in any way affiliated with or made, sponsored, approved or endorsed by Apple, Inc. Fortune 500 is a trademark of Time, Inc. None of the non-Avery brands or products are in any way affiliated with or made, sponsored, approved or endorsed, in any manner, by Avery Dennison.

SOURCE: Avery Dennison

                    Avery Dennison          Michelle Cannellopoulos, +1-714-674-8195          michelle.cannellopoulos@averydennison.com          or          Red Sky PR          Leigh Ann Dufurrena, +1-208-287-2199          ladufurrena@redskypr.com            

Copyright Business Wire 2012

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Volume: 103,802

Jan. 24, 2012 10:15a

/quotes/zigman/218695/quotes/nls/avy

Volume: 103,802

Jan. 24, 2012 10:15a