Hasta La Gadget!

Welcome back to our annual tradition of speculating on just when and how Apple will freshen up its laptop range. AppleInsider is citing multiple sources today in support of its assertion that the MacBook Pro line will be getting upgraded by Apple, potentially as soon as next week. The Mac OS vendor is reportedly briefing folks to be ready for a “significant product launch” soon, which is narrowed down to its laptop division by a couple more pieces of circumstantial evidence. Apple’s Asian online stores have shifted their promised MBP delivery times from 24 hours to “one to five days,” indicating potentially lower stock quantities, while Italian blog iSpazio has dug up five new product SKUs that could be the markers for new laptop models. None of that sets anything in stone, of course, but we’re also hearing the expected upgrade to Sandy Bridge won’t afflict Apple’s new machines with that Cougar Point chipset flaw, so whenever Apple deigns to bring us this upgrade it should be nice and pristine.

MacBook Pros may be in for an imminent refresh, about time too originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Things tend to get messy for the competition when Apple decides to direct its vast cash reserves on “very strategic” components. Especially when Cupertino starts waving around stacks of dough in the range of $3.9 billion to $7.8 billion. For reference, just look at what Apple did to NAND supplies as the flash-based iPod rose to dominance. Today DigiTimes is reporting that Apple is occupying close to 60 percent of the global touch panel production capacity from the likes of Wintek and TPK resulting in “tight supply” for the competition. The impact on consumers, according DigiTimes‘ sources at upstream component makers, is that tablet PC makers are unable to ship enough product to match orders due to component shortages. The issue is especially troublesome for second-tier tablet hopefuls who must compete with the likes of HP, RIM, Motorola, HTC, Samsung, LG, Dell (everyone but Sony) for the scraps. As a result, Apple should be able to more easily meet iPad demand in 2011, according to DigiTimes, while its competitors struggle to keep up.

Apple creating touch panel shortages for tablet competition? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Feb 2011 01:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple isn’t much of one for customer surveys, but this recent missive to select MacBook Air owners has all sorts of goodies inside it. Most notable is the large amount of questions on 3G data connectivity, a feature that Apple has so far avoided adding to any of its laptops, even though it sells a tablet computer with the functionality. Interestingly, Apple has waited so long on this feature that its primary objection — the need to pick a specific carrier over another — has disappeared thanks to Qualcomm’s Gobi chipset. On the other hand, most people get 3G data onto their laptops these days through tethering, whether it be with their phone or a dedicated MiFi-style device, and Apple’s survey seems to be designed to pick up on the prevalence of all these tendencies. Other aspects of the survey deal with data storage and syncing (MobileMe and Dropbox get shout outs), missing functionality that keeps the Air from being a primary computer, and other miscellany. If you want to get overanalytical with the whole thing, Apple might actually be trying to feel out the dividing line between an iPad and a MacBook Air, instead of the dividing line between a MacBook Pro. Perhaps this year’s expected Sandy Bridge or (we wish) Fusion refresh of the MacBook Air could have something more in store? Check out the source link for the whole thing.

Apple MacBook Air survey gets chatty about 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thus far we still know surprisingly little about the next generation iPhone (or iPhone 5 for lack of a better name) expected this summer in keeping with Apple’s traditional launch cycle. We’ve heard that the completely redesigned handset will boast a next generation A5 processor and Qualcomm chipset that will unify the CDMA / GSM / UMTS radios. Others have heard that it’ll also feature NFC integration along with the possibility of a “universal SIM.” But what about the display? How will it size-up to the existing iPhone 4’s rather puny 3.5-inch display and the smaller and lighter iPhone model that the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg say is in the works? Well, if DigiTimes and its chatty “upstream component suppliers” are to be believed then the next generation iPhone will be sporting a 4-inch display. While DigiTimes can, at times, be a suspect source for Apple information, the idea of a larger 4-inch iPhone flagship to help differentiate itself from a smaller iPhone nano and legacy iPhone 4 (that becomes the budget model) does make some sense.

iPhone 5 to feature a bigger 4-inch display? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 01:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, MWC is in full swing, where folks like LG, Samsung, Sony, and Nokia are pouring their souls out in front of us in device form. So, naturally, the rumors are swirling about… the iPhone nano. In a followup to the Wall Street Journal‘s big story, Cult of Mac is claiming some additional inside info from a source with a “great track record.” The main idea is that the iPhone nano would rely on the cloud to such an extent that the device wouldn’t really have any local storage to speak of, outside of a streaming buffer. This would of course go hand in hand with a MobileMe / Lala-powered streaming music service, and result in significant component cost savings (flash memory is still pretty spendy). While this sounds like a beautiful dream, it doesn’t make much sense in 2011. Streaming all your music and other media over a capped 3G connection doesn’t sound very consumer-friendly, and there are still plenty of situations where having a nice offline stash of music is a lifesaver. But there’s a bigger problem: where do you put your apps without local storage? Android’s historic shortage of app storage really bit it in the ass, and we doubt Apple wants to go down that route. Sure, we can see a 4GB or so ultracheap device, with a heavy reliance on streaming media (many people get most of their music from Pandora these days, anyways), but a memory-free iPhone just doesn’t sound feasible at this point in time.

The iPhone nano to forgo local storage? Common sense says ‘no’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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