Apple

iPad mini sales overtaking full-size iPad faster than Apple envisioned

Yesterday came more evidence that the 7.9-inch iPad mini is outselling Apple's larger tablet. The findings show increasing sales of the iPad mini amid declining demand for the 9.7-inch iPad. Between December and January, shipments of 9.7-inch panels (such as the iPad) fell from 7.4 million to 1.3 million units. In contrast, shipments of 7.9-inch display panels rose to more than five million units, according to the findings by hardware research firm NPD DisplaySearch that echo recent supply chain chatter.

The changing levels of demand suggests consumers prefer the smaller footprint of smaller tablets. However, this faster adoption of the iPad mini over its big brother is causing analysts to revise expectations for 2013 tablet sales...

iTunes exclusively streams free David Bowie’s new album until its March 12 release

It's been a decade since musician David Bowie's 2003 album, "Reality". To promote his upcoming album entitled "The Next Day", Bowie turned to Apple's iTunes, the leading music store in the world which previously cut exclusive free streaming deals to promote new albums from the likes of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ke$ha, One Direction, Matchbox 20 and Jack White.

That's right, iTunes is going to stream the upcoming David Bowie album in its entirety, free of charge, until its March 12 release. "The Next Day" can be pre-ordered for via iTunes right now, as either the $11.99 'normal' release or the $13.99 Deluxe version which comes with three bonus tracks. By the way, the album is Mastered for iTunes...

Barclays: budget iPhone and China Mobile-compatible iPhone 5S due in August

Per a rumor out of China, Apple won't release a new iPhone at its upcoming summer developer conference. Instead, Tim Cook & Co. are thought to be targeting an August 2013 launch for both the iPhone 5S, a specs upgrade, and an inexpensive iPhone model, aimed at emerging markets that sell mostly unsubsidized handsets. And for the first time, the next iPhone will be Apple's first truly world phone capable of supporting a bunch of flavors of fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio technology, including China Mobile-compatible TD-SCDMA network...

Apple executives required to hold 3x base salary in AAPL stock

If you wanted to make sure that your business' executive team was deeply committed to making it thrive, it'd probably be a good idea to make sure they held a lot of company stock. That way, their livelihoods directly depended on its success.

And that's exactly the way it works at Apple. The company has amended its corporate bylaws to require that executive officers hold three times their annual (base) salary in AAPL stock, and it's even higher for Tim Cook and his board of directors...

Shazam stats: One in five US iPhones run the app, 10M songs tagged per day

Speaking to the UK's The Guardian newspaper at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Shazam's marketing boss revealed that last month twenty percent of iPhones in the United States used its media discovery and recommendation software. It gets better as even more fans overseas in countries like France and UK used Shazam on their Apple handset, as much as forty percent of them.

And with iPads growing stronger and the next iPhone looming around the corner, any increase in the installed iPhone base is bound to reflect positively on Shazam's numbers. On Monday, Shazam announced it passed 300 million active users globally, 90 million in the United States alone.

The company also launched an update to its iOS client with a revamped iPad interface, a much faster tagging and more streamlined sharing features...

Apple opposes iPhone tracking class-action bid as ‘desperate’

Apple is once again in U.S. District Court, attempting to derail a lawsuit claiming apps for the iPhone and iPad collected location data and other personal information without explicit permission from users. Responding Thursday to an effort by plaintiffs' attorneys to classify the lawsuit a class action, Apple's legal team argued no harm was suffered and suggested the call for class action status is a "desperate attempt" to collect legal fees...

Apple ranks #1 again in Fortune’s ‘Most Admired Companies’ list

For the sixth year in a row, Apple was named the most-admired company in the world. In spite of a stock free fall and the Apple Maps gaffe, the iPhone maker topped rivals Google and Amazon, Fortune announced Thursday.

Described as a "financial juggernaut" which became the most profitable company on the globe, Apple was named the over-all most admired firm while also topping the list as the most admired technology firm of 2013...

Galaxy S III named Best Smartphone of 2012 at Mobile World Congress

The world of smartphones can essentially be divided into two camps: iPhone and Android. Sure there are some BlackBerry and Windows Phone users out there, but Apple and Google handsets make up most of the market.

And as in any situation where there are two dominant players, each platform has their own army of loyal fans. And I'm sure both sides have plenty to say about Samsung's Galaxy S III being named the Best Smartphone of 2012...

Apple sold eight million iPads to education institutions worldwide

The iPad is the perfect epitome of the 21st century learning. When schools and faculties integrate these things into their workflow, anything is possible. The iPad, as you know, debuted as the first mainstream tablet and it immediately bolstered Apple's already strong and undisputed credibility in education.

Of course, the gizmo owes much of its success to a strong library of more than 300,000 apps designed specifically for it. That said, it shouldn't really surprise anyone that Apple's tablet is replacing textbooks fast and becoming an indispensable teaching tool for educators and an interactive learning aid for students.

Thursday, the company officially confirmed it has sold a cool 4.5 million iPads to U.S. education institutions alone and a total of eight million iPads to education institutions worldwide - a notable rise versus about 1.5 million iPads found in U.S. education institutions as of January 2012.

While Samsung shipped as much tablets to the entire market during the holiday quarter of 2012, the South Korean giant did not break down sales by region or industry verticals so we really can't tell how strong Galaxy tablets are in education, but our guess is they're virtually non-existent...

Files hits iOS: manage all your files in one app

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bjO2sLw2AU

One of the biggest iOS drawbacks (or blessings, depending on your view) compared to other mobile operating systems is that users cannot mess with the file system directly. That Apple doesn't provide an app to pull all your documents together in one place doesn't help either. Enter Files, a new app German developer Sonico Mobile created with the very specific purpose of tackling this issue.

It's available now at a special introductory price of 99 cents, optimized for all your iThings, including the original iPad. I've been playing with the software for the past couple of days and will be posting a thorough review over the weekend. In the meantime, here's how Files makes your mobile computing easier...

Google adds ‘send to TV’ and video recording features to YouTube iOS client

Google last updated its official YouTube iOS client on December 4, adding native iPad and iPhone 5 support, the ability to beam clips to your Apple TV via AirPlay, a brand spanking new icon and other under-the-hood goodies.

Today, the Internet giant has issued a new version which improves streaming over slow Wi-Fi connection and packs in overall stability improvements. In addition to a pair of these tidbits, two major changes stand out.

First, you can now use the new YouTube app version 1.2.1 to pair with YouTube on your Xbox or PlayStation 3 console and control playback from your iOS device. This also works with Google TV devices and Android users got the 'send to TV' feature in November 2012. Also, the program finally lets you record and upload video clips via YouTube Capture, a standalone app Google released on December 17, 2012...

Samsung hires judge who ruled against Apple

Remember a UK judge who took at face value the ruling that Galaxy devices didn't infringe any of Apple's patents because Samsung's tablets "are not as cool" as the iPad? The one who recently chastised Apple for lack of integrity and opined for the appeals court it should be ordered to apologize in newspaper ads for asserting Samsung's tablets had copied the iPad? Yeah, that guy.

A well-known patent blogger revealed Thursday that same judge is now receiving paychecks from Samsung as a legal expert through a law firm which represents Samsung Electronics in its case against Ericsson. Conflict of interest, much?