Year: 2012

Awesome infographic shows Apple’s impressive stats

In the last decade, Apple has grown from a computer-maker with fractional marketshare to a consumer electronics powerhouse. It's popular iPhone and iPad lines, and even its retail stores are constantly setting records.

We've mentioned a lot of these impressive statistics on iDB in the past, but we all know that pictures are much more effective. So we thought we'd share this cool infographic with you from the folks over at Sortable.

Here's Apple by the Numbers...

Disney CEO: my job is to build more “brand deposits” than “brand withdrawals”

Disney CEO Bob Iger, who got named to Apple's board last year, shares some interesting tidbits with Fortune concerning life at Disney and his management style.

He apparently runs the Mickey Mouse house a lot like late Apple CEO Steve Jobs had used to lead the consumer electronics powerhouse he co-founded.

Iger also let us in on how he'd persuaded Disney's board of directors to greenlight a risky acquisition of Jobs-owned animation studio Pixar, even though the board was unsure whether Pixar was for sale at the time...

‘Chip’ now available on Cydia

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A few days ago, we gave you an exclusive preview of Chip, a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to customize banner notifications background color, text color, border color, and gradient using simple RGB sliders. Chip also includes the ability to customize the notification sound and banner animation. In short, it brings an insane level of customization to your notifications.

Chip is now available in Cydia, via the BigBoss repo for $1.99.

T-Mobile ad disses the iPhone 4S on AT&T’s network

As T-Mobile USA is getting ready to roll out an iPhone-compatible HSPA+ 19000 MHz network later this year (they already host more than a million iPhones on their network), the long overdue iPhone-friendly network expansion isn't stopping them to take potshots at Apple's smartphone and rival AT&T.

Their latest commercial, a part of the broader campaign dubbed 'Alter Ego', likens the speed of an iPhone 4S on the AT&T network to an ordinary motorcycle, which gets overtaken in a blink of a second by a badass 1000cc Ducati motorcycle....

iDB Deal of the Day: 33% off the Incipio Premium Kickstand case with stylus for iPad

Get a great deal on the Incipio Premium Kickstand case with stylus for the new iPad. Today, and today only, you can get it from the iDB store at a 33% discount.

The Incipio KICKSTAND features a convenient slide installation that utilizes three sturdy clips for secure storage. With three points of contact, your The new iPad will slide in the KICKSTAND without a struggle.

Angry Birds zooms past one billion downloads

For Finnish developer Rovio, there's no slowing down, their Angry Birds franchise just keeps chugging along.

According to the latest official data released this morning, the Angry Birds games have just passed a whopping one billion cumulative downloads across all platforms.

The number includes both free and paid downloads and is an astounding milestone for the popular franchise that debuted on the App Store in December of 2009...

Next game by Tiny Wings creator due “in less than three weeks”

We instantly fell in love with Tiny Wings by Andreas Illiger, an addictive game featuring a cute bird flying through a series of random hills. The game still files as one of the best entertainment releases to hit the App Store since Angry Birds.

Apple loves it, too, and it even inspired a charming knock-off dubbed Whale Trail. Having earned a fortune from Tiny Wings, the developer shared a little secret on his upcoming project, scheduled to hit the App Store by June.

Rumor: iPhone 5 due in September, iPad mini in August, iPad 4 in Q4

Citing sources close to Apple's supply chain, Asian hit-and-miss trade publication DigiTimes reported this morning that Apple will launch a sixth-generation iPhone in September, followed by the long-rumored seven-inch iPad mini in August and a fourth-generation iPad in the fourth quarter of this year.

According to the report, Pegatron has reportedly landed orders for the next iPhone while Foxconn is said to manufacture the seven-inch iPad mini, presumably designed to tackle the lower-end of the tablet market currently occupied by Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire tablet...

Apple’s modified Nano SIM gets a showing off ahead of the final vote

An Apple-proposed variant of the upcoming Nano SIM card standard is being shown off at the International CTIA Wireless show. Apple modified the design around Nokia's concerns and ahead of the final vote tally, which is mere days away. Voting for members of The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) began last month and wraps up in mid-May.

According to SIM card maker Giesecke & Devrient (G&D), the revised variant is being "driven by a supplier", in this case Apple. So, how has Apple changed the original design to counter Nokia's concerns? With a slight 'how come I didn't think of it' tweak, that's how...

U.S. version of Proview’s iPad lawsuit dismissed by California judge

By now, most of you are likely familiar with the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Proview over the iPad trademark. Much of the dispute has unfolded in or around China, but in February the monitor-maker brought its fight Stateside.

In the lawsuit, filed in Santa Clara California, Proview alleged that Apple committed fraud when it used a dummy corporation to purchase the iPad trademark, thus making the deal void. But this California judge doesn't want to hear it...

Upcoming version of RedSn0w will allow you to downgrade your iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and the new iPad

Awesome news for those who accidentally updated the firmware for their A5 device (iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and the new iPad aka iPad 3), possibly resulting in the loss of the precious untethered jailbreak. MuscleNerd has announced that an upcoming update to RedSn0w will allow users to downgrade their firmware.

The only catch is that you have to have your SHSH blobs saved for the firmware that you wish to downgrade to. That means that if you purchased your iPhone 4S with iOS 5.1 pre-installed, there's no way to downgrade to iOS 5.0.1 so that you can enjoy the benefits of pod2g's untethered jailbreak...

Both Target and RadioShack knocking $50 off iPhone 4/4S

Those looking to purchase an iPhone in the near future might want to make it a point to check out the prices at their local Target. 9to5Mac is reporting that the retailer is knocking $50 off both 4 and 4S models for all carriers.

This brings the iPhone 4S down to $150 — in line with discounts being offered by regional carriers, and the iPhone 4 down to just $50. And apparently, Target's not the only chain dropping the prices on the popular handsets...