Apple’s iPad media event has just gone live. The company will be providing a live video coverage of the new iPad keynote event. The event is being held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook, will take the stage to announce new product launches and updates for this year before we enter the holiday season. The email invite sent out to the media suggests that the company will “cover” many product announcements.

Rumors and reports published in the past provide enough evidence to expect new iPad 5 (fifth gen) and second gen iPad mini. We could also get new Haswell MacBook Pro models, final release of Mac OS X Mavericks, new iLife and iWork software updates and more.

iPad 5 is widely expected to feature a thinner and lighter design inspired by the advancements made with iPad mini. Hardware specifications are expected to include new 64-bit A7 chip, improved camera and possibly new Touch ID sensor.

There have been many conflicts reports about a second gen iPad mini with retina display. It is unclear if Apple will introduce the new smaller iPad with a high resolution display.

During WWDC Apple showcased a sneak peek at the new Mac Pro. Apple could use today’s event to announce shipping date for the high end Mac for the professionals.

This year Apple is offering a live video feed of the iPad launch event. Live video stream of the event is available on Apple’s website. In order to view live video streaming of the October iPad event you’d require Safari 4 or later on OS X v10.6 or later, Safari on iOS 4.2 or later. Streaming via Apple TV requires second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 5.0.2 or later.

Apple’s iPad mini has been around for several months now and has just passed its first holiday season of sales. Now, nearly a month after the holiday season ended, the online shipping estimates for the device have dropped to 3-5 days in a number of countries, including the US, Canada, Australia, China and Hong Kong.

As first noted by iPhoneinCanada.ca, the shipping estimates are slowly dropping, likely because the initial demand for the device has passed and the supply has now caught up. Apple has had issues with supply constraints this past holiday quarter, and is expected to fully meet the demand by this March.

The European stores reportedly have a 2 week lead time, which is the only one that has such a large time. The estimates appear to have dropped in all other parts of the world. With the web abuzz about rumors of an iPad mini and full-sized iPad refresh in October, it is likely that demand will ease slightly in anticipation for the new product and demand will catch up.

{Via MacRumors}

Apple’s iPhone 5 is currently sold in 47 countries around the world, however, the Cupertino, California company promised that they would bring the smartphone to 100 countries by the end of 2012. Now, in order to keep that promise, Apple is planning to bring the iPhone to 50 more countries in December alone. On Monday, Apple announced that they will in fact be adding to the list of countries in which the iPhone is available.

Apple today announced iPhone 5 will be available in South Korea on Friday, December 7, with more than 50 additional countries being added in December, including Brazil, Russia and Taiwan. iPhone 5 is the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever, completely redesigned to feature a stunning new 4-inch Retina display; an Apple-designed A6 chip for blazing fast performance; and ultrafast wireless—all while delivering even better battery life.

Apple is bringing the iPhone 5 to South Korea on December 7th, followed by 49 others on December 14th and December 21st.

On December 14th, the iPhone 5 will be available in Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Grenada, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Macedonia, Malaysia, Moldova, Montenegro, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

On the 21st, Apple will release to the rest of the countries, which includes Barbados, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Egypt, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St.Vincent & the Grenadines, Tunisia, Uganda and Vietnam.

With the iPhone 5 made available in so many different countries, and with the holiday season in full gear, Apple is sure to make record sales for the new iPhone, likely more than the iPhone 4S. Many of the Asian nations, such as Japan, South Korea, and China are major growth opportunities for Apple as a good portion of its revenue comes from that region.

{Via MacRumors}

Apple’s iPhone 5 is becoming more available online and in its retail stores, as the supply for the product catches up to the initial demand. The iPhone 5’s shipping estimate on the Online Store dropped to one week today, only a few days after dropping to two weeks. The new shipping estimate is going live in North America and in many parts of Asia, although there are some regions still showing two week estimates.

It is only a matter of time before those regions also reflect the change and customers are able to receive their devices a week earlier than before. Apple continues to ramp up production of the iPhone 5 as the holiday season kicks into full gear, and demand for the product may once again increase.

Apple plans to bring the iPhone to over 100 countries by the end of the year and must regulate the shipping estimate to under a week in certain regions, in order to make sure that they have enough devices to sell online and in stores.

{Via MacRumors}

Apple Inc. (AAPL) has officially begun its sales for the holiday season, introducing this year’s Holiday Gift guide. AAPL creates a Holiday Guide every year, and rounds up a list of products and accessories from both Apple and other companies that would make good gifts for the holidays.

The company updated its online store with the new 2012 Holiday Gift Guide, putting the iPad mini at the top of the list under “iPad Gifts”, likely because of its lower cost, which would be perfect for parents looking to spend less this holiday season. Other products in the holiday gift guide include the iPhone 5, iPod touch, iPod nano, full-size iPad, Apple TV, and MacBook Air.

All of these products were upgraded at different times in the year, the first time in over 2 years that all of the company’s product were refreshed with a new model, including the full sized iPads record two refreshes in one year. Apple is just beginning to introduce deals for the holiday season, as the company will also reduced prices for its lineup for Black Friday on November 23rd.

Last year, Apple offered $101 off of all of its Mac products, except the Mac mini, as well as $41-$61 off on the iPad, over $21 off of the iPod touch, and $11 off of the iPod nano.

Apple will likely do the same price discounts for this year’s lineup, but may not include the iPad mini as part of the iPad discounts because of its lower than average cost.

{Via MacRumors}

Late last week, Apple Inc. (AAPL) reported its financial results third calendar quarter and fourth fiscal quarter of 2012. AAPL reported a net quarterly profit of $8.2 billion on $36.0 billion in revenue, which comes out to roughly $8.67 per diluted share. During the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, Apple reported $28.27 billion in revenue with a net quarterly profit of $6.62 billion, coming out to about $7.05 per diluted share.

With each passing year, Apple has posted a higher quarterly revenue and profit, increasing its per share price by almost $1.67 per share since this time last year. With improvements in each quarter, Apple has set a record revenue for for fiscal 2012, reporting a total revenue of $156.5 billion with a net profit of $41.7 billion. Revenue and profit for fiscal 2012 comes in much higher than 2011, which brought in $108.2 billion in sales and $25.9 billion in profit.

Apple CEO Tim Cook mentioned last year that Asia, specifically China is a major growth opportunity for the company, which proved to be true in 2012. International sales accounted for over 60 percent of Apple’s revenue, which shows major growth from several years ago. During fiscal 2012, Apple sold 4.9 million Mac, an increase of 1 percent from over a year ago, 5.3 million iPods which declined 19 percent from a year ago. Although Apple is posting revenue increases each quarter, the company’s iPod sales have been declining for several quarters, with most sales coming from iPad and iPhone sales.

We’re very proud to end a fantastic fiscal year with record September quarter results,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re entering this holiday season with the best iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod products ever, and we remain very confident in our new product pipeline.

Apple expects revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 to be yet another record with expected revenue of $52 billion and earnings per diluted share of $11.75. Apple has yet to include holiday sales for this year, which will likely be much higher than fiscal 2011, as Apple introduced an entirely new lineup of iPods, the new iPhone 5, as well as the iPad mini which is expected to be a major success this holiday.

{Via MacRumors}

On Tuesday, Apple Inc. (AAPL) introduced the widely rumored iPad Mini. Although the iPad mini was exactly what users were expecting, a smaller screen, a full sized experience, many are still disappointed with the pricing of the device, which starts at $329. Users expected AAPL to introduce a device in the $199-$299 price range, usually what Android tablets are selling for in the market.

According to Reuters, Apple’s SVP of Product Marketing, Phil Schiller was quick to defend the iPad mini pricing at $329, saying that it is correct when compared to Apple’s product category.

“The iPad is far and away the most successful product in its category. The most affordable product we’ve made so far was $399 and people were choosing that over those devices,” Schiller said.

“And now you can get a device that’s even more affordable at $329 in this great new form, and I think a lot of customers are going to be very excited about that,” Schiller said.

Apple’s competitors such as Google and Amazon are mainly content based companies and are looking to make money off of the services that they offer, selling the device as a secondary accompaniment in order to sell content and advertising. However, Apple is selling the hardware and software first, and is looking to give customers an experience, rather than to simply sell content. As the holiday season approaches, it will be interesting to see how Apple’s iPad mini plays out with customers and if the pricing will affect the sale of the device in the long run.

{Via MacRumors}

With Apple beginning to ship iPods in high volume this week, the Cupertino company aired their first television ads for the updated iPod lineup. The ad called, “Bounce” was originally shown during the media event in September where Apple unveiled the iPhone 5, 5th gen iPod touch (5G) with a taller screen and Lightning connector, and iPod nano with a larger 2.5 inch multi-touch screen and home button.

The ad shows off all of the new iPods in rapid succession, with the iPod touch bouncing along to music, which then “bounces” into two iPod nanos, followed by the iPod shuffle and so on.
Apple’s colorful and upbeat ad for the iPods captures the vision that the company has for the popular music players, to be fun, useful, and colorful.

Apple will likely create and air more ads as the Fall ends and the holiday season begins as it is crucial for Apple’s sales at that time.

Will you buy an iPod after seeing this ad? Which one are you planning to buy?

Apple released iPhone 4S last October, with a very positive adoption and witnessed increase in sales figures when compared with previous launches. However, rumors on the web are already focusing on the upcoming iPhone 5 (sixth gen), expected to debut this September or October. Japanese blog Macotakara reported on Monday that the sixth gen iPhone will arrive in September or October, similiar to the iPhone 4S and will retain the Fall release pattern.

The report also suggested that Apple is looking to keep this announcement cycle for “many years”. This would allow Apple to release the next gen iPhone exactly one year after the 4S debuted in October of 2011. It would not make any sense for Apple to scale back the announcement to June and release a re-designed iPhone only 8 months after the last generation. However, the possibility of Apple looking to introduce new hardware during WWDC 2012 can’t be completely ruled out.

The iPhone launch now occupies the place of the iPod event, usually held the first week of September as the iPhone and iPad begins to gain more attention from Apple. The iPod line has remained unchanged from the previous year and may experience some serious changes in the coming months, with iPod sales declining drastically over the past few quarters.

The launch of a new iPhone 5 in the September / October timeframe works well for Apple and allows them to take advantage of the upcoming holiday season and experience an increase in sales. The iPhone 4S saw a record 37 million units sold during Apple’s December quarter because of the late debut.

There have been many rumors that Apple is looking to switch back to a June release, however based on this report and many others, it appears that the September/October timeframe will be kept for iPhone 5 release.

{via AppleInsider}

The holiday season sends iOS Developers scrambling each year in order to finish up their apps for submission before Apple stops accepting new submissions for the year. However, over the last three years, its become obvious that during this time, app developers experience much higher sales. This could be due to one of two things, either people are downloading more of the old apps because there is less to choose from during this time or because of Apple’s App Gifting service, accessible directly through the App Store.

During this time, popular game devlopers such as Gameloft and EA push out as many apps as they can to flood the market, in order to increase the number of downloads. EA and Gameloft apps often show up under the featured list, claiming #1 and #2 spots, and even App of the Week on many occasions.

Camera+[App Store] developer’s TapTapTap revealed their download numbers with MacRumors early Thursday, describing a significant increase in sales. Camera+ moved up and down the list between 4-8 and settled at position #8 in the Top 200 list during the holiday freeze. Camera+ typically experiences about 18,000 downloads on any given day, but jumped to over 73,808 sales on Christmas day.

Camera+ sells for $0.99 in the App Store, which means that after Apple’s 30% cut, TapTapTap received $51,665 in revenue only for the day of Christmas. That’s a significant increase, but not surprising considering the number of iPod Touches, iPhones, and iTunes gift cards being activated and given as presents on Christmas. The App Store is the basis for numerous success stories, about small developers making a hit with their apps and becoming millionaires overnight, some making anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 dollars in one day.

Is this on your wish list?

ChangeWave Research has carried out a survey on just under 3000 US consumers which focusses on their plans for purchases for the holiday season. The survey was primarily interested in finding out what electronics goods consumers might be sticking under Christmas trees and in stockings this year.

The upshot of what is a very expensive, and quite detailed report from ChangeWave is that of those 2812 people surveyed, a peak for the the last three years of 10% are planning to buy a netbook computer in the next 90 days.

And of that 281.2 people in that 10%, over 36 percent are planning to buy an Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) computer. That is up from 25% previously in similar survey groups, from previous years.

This rise is probably because of two things:

One is the very affordable and attractive MacBook Air that Apple recently revamped to be smaller and significantly more sexy than its previous “netbooks” which were not netbooks. Perhaps MacBook Airs are in fact “Not”-Books. Sorry.

But the other reason is undoubtedly the growing halo effect that the iPhone, iPod Touch and especially the iPad have had in making consumers more aware of what Apple’s User Experience is like, and making them want more in the form of real computers from Apple.

Time will tell. But it seems that Apple is still on a very significant roll rounding out 2010, and heading into 2011.

How does this survey’s figures match up with your experience in your social groups? Who is buying what where you work and play? Let us know in the comments…

The research department of Concord Securities has predicted that, out of an estimated 4.1 million Mac shipments this fall, the MacBook Air will count for 17%. And 60% of MacBook Airs sold will be the 11.6-inch model.

If Apple manages to achieve these figures and ship 4.1 millions Macs, it would be yet another record for the computer giant. At the ‘Back to the Mac’ event earlier this week, it was announces that the company had sold 3.89 million Macs in the previous quarter, the best three-month frame for the company yet.

It is believed that Apple’s latest MacBook Air models carry a gross margin profit of greater than 30%, according to Brian Marshall, an analyst with Gleacher & Company. Marshall sees the low-end $999 model with a total cost to Apple of $718, while the high-end 13-inch model boasting 256GB of storage retailing at $1,599 costs Apple $1,007.40.

While Marshall has not changed his forecast for just over 4 million Macs in the December quarter, he added the new lower price MacBook Air models could add a “kicker” in the future.