Apple

Workers’ plight at Foxconn sweatshops is real despite fabricated facts, monologuist says

The  controversial topic surrounding inhumane working conditions at Foxconn plants (often likened to sweatshops) has entered a new phase as monologuist Mike Daisey backtracks on his unpleasant claims, now admitting they were partly fabricated from sensationalist news reports.

As you might recall, the whole thing gained traction as the New York Times published a lengthy piece on the conditions of Apple’s supply chain in China. Other mainstream outlets immediately picked up the story as consumer groups began demanding an ethical iPhone. The public backlash also pushed Apple to list its suppliers for the first time. CEO Tim Cook dismissed the allegations as "patently fales", insisting that "We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain."

Now, as the popular NPR radio program This American Life retracted their story based on Daisey's highly acclaimed show “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs”, the monologuist ran a post on his personal blog this morning basically saying that even though he spiced up his original report, the basic premise on workers' plight in China sweatshops still holds true...

Sharp to begin cranking out Retina displays of its own

A new report out of the Wall Street Journal claims that Sharp is closer than ever to being able to ramp up production of Retina displays for Apple's new iPad.

Current shipping iPads feature Retina display panels manufactured by, ironically enough, Samsung, with both Sharp and LG supposedly set to join the fray sooner rather than later.

The Wall Street Journal suggests that Sharp may be the first to offer backup for Samsung, with mass production set to be underway "as soon as possible," according to a source...

Tim Cook says Apple has a “pipeline full of stuff”

As expected, Apple held a conference call this morning to discuss plans regarding its stockpile of cash. Although investor relations and iPad numbers were the highlights of the call, Tim Cook did make another interesting announcement.

When asked about Apple's growth outlook — now that it's going to spend $10 billion dollars repurchasing stock, investors want to know how it's going to make that money back — Cook said that Apple's "pipeline is full of stuff..."

Apple announces record iPad sales this weekend

Apple's new iPad may have been released on Friday, but the company is already crowing about its sales performances.

New CEO Tim Cook was asked about the new iPad's sales results during the conference call the company just held to explain what it is doing with that $100 billion war chest, and the answer was a simple one: Apple is "thrilled" by the iPad's performance.

Cook also went on saying that the new iPad had produced a "record weekend" although he did not elaborate on that comment. For all we know, he could mean the new iPad holds the record for most pixels, or shiniest box...

Apple announces dividends and share repurchase program

Apple CEO Tim Cook just announced the company's plans on what to do with their cash balance at this morning's conference call. Tim Cook announced that the Cupertino company plans to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program beginning later this year.

Cook said the company will offer a quarterly dividend of $2.65 a share in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2012 beginning in July. Additionally, Apple announced its Board of Directors has authorized a $10 billion share repurchase program starting in fiscal 2013, which begins September 30. Apple said it expected the move to take place over three years and said its goal was "neutralizing the impact of dilution from future employee equity grants and employee stock purchase programs."

Apple to make big announcement tomorrow regarding cash balance

During Apple's quarterly earnings call earlier this year, it was discovered that the company's pile of cash was approaching the $100 billion dollar mark. And everyone wants to know what it plans to do with it.

Well it looks like we won't have to wait much longer to find out. As noted by MacStories, Apple has just sent out a press release announcing that it will be holding a conference call early tomorrow morning regarding its massive cash balance...

New iPad already accounts for 5% of total iPad traffic on the web

Analysts have already predicted the new iPad having a record weekend, perhaps selling over a million units of the new tablet. The new iPad out of Cupertino went on sale Friday, and while Apple hasn't sold out in its retail stores yet, demand for the new tablet is said to be high. New customers are especially interested in the iPad's beautiful Retina display.

According to new numbers from advertising network Chitika, the new iPad already accounts for 5% of all iPads that are currently rummaging through the Internet...

Apple TV contains 8GB of flash storage and 512MB of RAM

We finally got our hands on the new Apple TV last Thursday and have had the chance to bask in its 1080p glory. While we already knew there was a single-core A5 processor inside, a forum user from XBMC.org has done a teardown of the device to reveal its insides.

From the teardown, we find that the new Apple TV still has the same 8GB of flash storage like its second-generation brother, but has received a bump to 512MB of RAM...

European carriers not impressed with the iPad’s 4G branding

Apple may be an American company, but at times it forgets that it also deals in markets that are outside the United States. Australia, the whole of Europe and plenty of other countries and continents are represented in Apple's list of release territories for new devices, and the new iPad was no different.

Apple is now very much branding its new iPad as a 4G device, something which makes plenty of sense in the United States thanks to LTE being available on both AT&T and Verizon. The problem is, 4G isn't exactly prevalent elsewhere, and branding the device as 4G has apparently upset carriers in both Australia and Europe, leaving Apple with something of a problem.

Just how does a 3G carrier explain that a 4G iPad isn't quite 4G...

The new iPad costs Apple at least $316 to build

It's become something of a ritual for some. Apple releases a new device, be it iPhone or iPad, and then someone waits patiently to get their hands on it with the sole aim of ripping it apart. It's a regular assurance these days, and the new iPad has suffered the same fate as its brethren.

This time around, amongst others, IHS iSuppli got their hands on a new iPad and set about doing the only honorable thing: ripping it apart with the sole aim of trying to figure out just how much one of these things costs to make and, thus, how much the device is adding to Apple's world famous bottom line.

The answer very much depends on the model sold, but regardless, Apple is indeed making plenty of profit on each iPad sold...

iPad’s Retina display put under a microscope

Perhaps the highlight feature of the new iPad is its Retina display. And folks I'm not kidding, the Retina display is absolutely gorgeous. It features more pixels than your 1080p HDTV, leaving it to be clearest tablet display that is currently on the market. The Retina display boasts a 2048 x 1536 resolution, which contains a whopping 3.1 million pixels. The eye can't even single the pixels out.

We've already shown you the iPad 2 and iPad 3's display shown off side-by-side, and it's obvious which one is better. Our test was pretty unscientific, but hey, it worked. However, software engineer Lukas Mathias put both the iPad 2 and new iPad's display under a microscope, to take a look at the total pixel count, giving us a better look...

Steve Wozniak has been in line for the new iPad since Thursday

While Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak could probably stroll into Apple's HQ in Cupertino to pick himself up an iPad, he's made it very clear that he'd rather join in on the excitement and wait in line. Wozniak was first in line for the iPhone 4S this fall.

This time around isn't any different. Wozniak has joined other enthusiastic Apple fans to wait for the new iPad to go on sale. It's already hit the East Coast this morning, and will be available on the West Coast in about an hour.

Wozniak has been in line for the iPad since yesterday afternoon: