29 April, 2011

People are lining up all over Singapore to get their hands on the iPad 2. Here are some photos taken from this morning. More to come.

(Photos credited to original posters)

29 April, 2011

Apple released a PR note with a Q&A in response to the controversy over the collection and storing of location data by your iOS devices which can be easily retrieved by software. This created a huge media witch hunt over what Apple collected, why they were collected and whether Apple has access to those data.

Please read the full Q&A.

Some highlights from the Q&A:

3. Why is my iPhone logging my location?
The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested. Calculating a phone’s location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes. iPhone can reduce this time to just a few seconds by using Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data to quickly find GPS satellites, and even triangulate its location using just Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data when GPS is not available (such as indoors or in basements). These calculations are performed live on the iPhone using a crowd-sourced database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data that is generated by tens of millions of iPhones sending the geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple

5. Can Apple locate me based on my geo-tagged Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data?
No. This data is sent to Apple in an anonymous and encrypted form. Apple cannot identify the source of this data.

8. What other location data is Apple collecting from the iPhone besides crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data?
Apple is now collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database with the goal of providing iPhone users an improved traffic service in the next couple of years.

Software Update
Sometime in the next few weeks Apple will release a free iOS software update that:

• reduces the size of the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database cached on the iPhone,
• ceases backing up this cache, and
• deletes this cache entirely when Location Services is turned off.

#8 is interesting as Apple seldom talks about future products or services, not less a few years ahead in time. What this traffic service might be is still an unknown – can be a street traffic congestion indicator like what Google Maps has now, or the missing point-to-point voice navigation service or it can be totally off the park service which one can never imagine.

Some of the issues brought up was the storing of the location data and the size of the data collected. These according to Apple were bugs. In a separate telephone interview, Ina Fried from AllThingsDigita had a chance to talk to Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller about this:

Steve, how active have you been in examining this issue over the past couple of weeks?

Jobs: It hasn’t been a couple of weeks. This all started last Wednesday and we put out our response this morning. It took us slightly less than a week. Scott and Phil and I have worked together over this last week, first to investigate the problem.

We’re an engineering-driven company. When people accuse us of things, the first thing we want to do is find out the truth. That took a certain amount of time to track all of these things down. And the accusations were coming day by day. By the time we had figured this all out, it took a few days. Then writing it up and trying to make it intelligible when this is a very high-tech topic took a few days. And here we are less than a week later.

So after reading the press release, do you have more questions to ask or you are satisfied and feel assured by their explanation?

29 April, 2011

Sale started 10 minutes after 1am. Accordingly, iPad 2 will be shipped within 1-2 weeks time and be delivered within 2-3 working days.

About 15 minutes before 1am, Apple flipped the switch and displays the iPad 2 on the Apple Singapore Online Store. However, at posting time, all you get if you choose the Select an iPad button is a big OOPS sign.

In the mean time, you can set up your account before the sale can be made, and add accessories for your iPad 2 – like Smart Covers or a dock.

28 April, 2011

Updated the post with new information about retail availability here

Apple just announced the availability of the iPad 2 for Singapore and 12 other countries in the next few days, starting with Japan tomorrow (28 April), followed by Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea on Friday and China next Friday.

They will be sold at select Apple Authorised Resellers and online via the Apple Singapore Online Store from 1am, 29 April 2011.

Pricing are as follows:

WiFi models
- 16GB S$668
- 32GB S$798
- 64GB S$928

WiFi + 3G models
- 16GB S$848
- 32GB S$978
- 64GB S$1,108

Glad to see that Apple has adjusted their pricing to reflect current exchange rate with the US$. You can see the previous pricing here

Where to buy?

We know major resellers and smaller Apple Shops in Singapore are geared up and ready for the expected mad queues that will form either tomorrow evening or early Friday. If you had not pre-order before, you might have to wait long hours and hope that there are still available sets for those in the line.

Back in July last year, almost all stores had sold out all their iPad stocks within the day. Pre-orders were then fulfilled over the next few days. We expect no different this time.

Alternatively, you can always stay up on Thursday night and surf to the Apple Singapore Online Store from 1am Friday morning and try to order direct from Apple. But be expected to have at least a week’s waiting time before shipping.

What to do before Friday?

Well, as resellers have started stocking up on iPad 2 accessories – go and grab the essentials – screen protectors and cases before they run out.

If you intend to get the Smart Cover, there are some cases which are created with those in mind. They are usually thin with cut-outs at the sides for the Smart cover to attached.

Next, if you intend to get the WiFi+3G models, go visit your friend Telcos shop and get the MicroSIM required for the iPad. Do research on the various iPad-specific plans or if you already have a mobile plan with data, then look into applying for Multi-SIM Value Added Service so as you can share the mobile data bandwidth.

In case you can’t remember what’s new with iPad 2 – watch the video below.

Lastly, ponder over the this one last important question – White or Black?

Reseller information updates

Authorised resellers will open their store at 10am instead of 9am as stated earlier. The stores that will have iPad 2 tomorrow:

• EpiCentre – All 6 stores at Wheelock Orchard, ION Orchard, Suntec, 313 Somerset, Bugis Junction and Marina Bay Sands
• Infinite – both stores at Millenia Walk and VivoCity and 10 Apple Shops at Best Denki (except Clementi Mall) * Nubox – All stores at Jurong Point, Raffles City, Tampines Mall, Nex and Marina BayLink Mall
• iStudio – to be confirmed
• Multimedia Integrated – to be confirmed

Please email us team@iheartapple.org if you have new information about the launch.

26 April, 2011

There are plenty of signs that Apple will release the white iPhone 4 to the market after more than 9 months wait.

As they say, better late than never. Besides having it in the market, that also says a few things about Apple, as Darrell Etherington says it at theAppleBlog

First, it shows Apple isn’t the kind of company that lets things slide. At this point, many considered the white iPhone 4 vaporware, myself included. It was just a product announcement that didn’t become a shipping product. It’s something that happens with fair enough frequency in the consumer electronics world. But it isn’t something that happens at Apple. If Apple says it will ship something, it will, and a white iPhone 4, even nine months delayed, upholds that reputation.

Second, it’s probably a good indicator that Apple means to continue to leverage the design. The white iPad 2 probably borrows from the technical lessons the company made in getting the process of painting glass surfaces white with its iPhone 4 design, but if Apple devoted as much time and effort to this as it seems to have, then you can bet we’ll see it carried forward in other device designs. Specifically, we should expect to see an iPhone 5 that looks very similar to its predecessor.

Totally agree on point one. Apple wouldn’t announce a product without having almost certainty of shipping (though their track record on shipping things with no problem is slightly off the mark sometimes). As for point 2, I think the external antenna design will change, but the use of the white front panel, like the iPad 2 will be there for some time.

As of now, we aren’t sure when the white iPhone 4 will be available, but we doubt it will be very far off from the rest of the world this time.

Will you have two white iOS device in your hands soon?

25 April, 2011

A MacRumor fan supposedly emailed Steve Jobs over the iOS location tracking controversy after two scientists wrote an app that pulls data from a file in your iOS backup that collates WiFi access point and cell tower locations data wherever your iPhone is connected. This led to furore all over about the lost of privacy and the security threat over the discovery of this data file and that Apple had collected this information.

In the email, the reader asked Steve Jobs about the need of collecting those information:

Steve,

Could you please explain the necessity of the passive location-tracking tool embedded in my iPhone? It’s kind of unnerving knowing that my exact location is being recorded at all times. Maybe you could shed some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid. They don’t track me.

In which Jobs replied in his usual short and vague replies:

Oh yes they do. We don’t track anyone. The info circulating around is false.

There is no official word from Apple about this as yet, but it won’t be long when they respond – either via a PR release or a iOS/iTunes update to secure the file.

We will update when we know more. Are you worried?