Rumors have been floating around for some time about the possibility of some Apple products being assembled in Brazil.  These rumors got a lot more substance today as one of the two largest newspapers in the country published an article stating that components where already being shipped to the location of a Foxconn factory in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.  This facility currently produces computers and other types of electronic equipment for HP and Sony. If this rumor turns out to really be true it should drive down the price of the iPad in Brazil by a large  factor.  Such a reduction would...

The latest rumor floating around about the iPad 2 is that it will be announced on March 2nd. This rumor comes right on the heels of another about the general refresh of the MacBook line which is expected for tomorrow, February 24th. According to this rumor all MacBooks will have at least some SSD storage for fast startup and sleep, much like the iPad.

Over the past couple of weeks lots of baseless and sometimes conflicting rumors seem to have floated around regarding Apple’s plans for the iPad and the iPhone.  A lot of this is probably related to the total lack of official information about the next iPad generation in a moment in time in which everyone is expecting it to come next week. Everyone expects Apple to announce a second generation iPad either in February or in March and the large number of announcements from all the companies trying to get a piece of the pie is just making everyone everyone even more anxious for some information. ...

While other companies are releasing smaller 7 inch tablets, Apple is taking the iPad to a larger form factor.  Sources with knowledge on the subject revealed that Apple is testing iPad prototypes with displays that go from 13 all the way up to 17 inches in size. These larger size iPads will be focused in the education market (13 to 14 inches in size) and the home entertainment market (the larger 17 inch display).  In the education market the larger screens would help make the reading experience better when the iPad is positioned on a desktop, as when its used with the cover that Apple provides. In...

The Wall Street Journal published a small note today stating that Apple has already began production of the iPad 2, citing “people familiar with the matter”.  According with the note the new iPad will be thinner and lighter than the current generation device, with cameras and video calling capabilities, but won’t have a retina display. While it is hard to judge if this rumor merits any more credence than any of the countless that have circulated lately, it matches my own expectations.   That the new iPad will have a more powerful processor and more memory there is little doubt. ...

After a Verizon iPhone 4 was taken apart and its pictures published on the Web, articles are popping up right and left commenting on the fact that it uses a dual chip from Qualcomm which can work in both GSM and CDMA networks.  Apple did not include a GSM chip card module, so the phone can’t actually work on GSM networks but this might be an indication that both models will be merged when the iPhone 5 is released. More important at this point, however, is the question of whether or not the next generation iPad will use this same chip to work with both networks.  While we are still five months...

I just ran into the most intriguing post on Mac Observer: What if Apple continues iPad 1 sales after April.  When you stop to think about it, it might just make a lot of sense for Apple to do so.  There seems to be no lack of people interested in buying the current generation iPad and making it available as the low cost entry point into the iPad ecosystem might just help to bury all those competitors lining up for their shot at the iPad. After a year it can probably be argued that it costs a lot less to make the current model iPad than it did when it was introduced and it might take on the role of...

It seems that a number of people have come to the conclusion that the much talked about HiRes display (2048×1536) might make it into the third generation of the iPad, but probably not the iPad 2.  Just recently we published a post which argued this point, though coming at it with a different angle than MacRumors and PC World. Both of these sites have posts which comment on analyst opinions on the feasibility of Apple getting manufacturers to produce such a high resolution display, of such small size and in enough quantities.  That is certainly a valid point.  On the other hand, even considering...

Even though everyone already expected the iPad 2 to come equipped with one or more cameras, it is interesting to have this confirmed.  Images found in beta 2 of iOS 4.3 show the screen of the iPad with three new icons which seem to be fore FaceTime, Camera an Photo Booth applications. This image is used as an overlay to give the user a preview of how the device will look with a new wallpaper. MacRumors has a blowup of the image. While confirming the presence of cameras is interesting in itself, it is very interesting to see that Apple is not only bringing in the camera related functions of the iPhone...

While all iPad users are probably eagerly awaiting the final release of iOS 4.2, there isn’t much mystery left in it.  Now what really seems to be drawing in people’s attention is the second generation of the iPad.  Just in this last week a number of new rumors have surfaced about it.  Some are about how the device will be made, others about what features it will have and still others about when it will be available. The most recent rumors are about the possibility that the second generation iPad could shed its aluminum casing in favor of one made out of carbon fiber in an attempt to get...

Pictures showing an iPad casing with two 30 pin connection slots, the one currently found on the device and another for docking it in a horizontal position made their way to several sites today.   These pictures led to speculation that the next iPad may actually be released with two such connectors, but they are most likely from old iPad 1.0 prototypes. It is rumored that Apple experimented with such an arrangement for the current generation of the iPad before deciding on keeping just the port located on the “bottom” side of the unit.   This being the case, it is more likely that what we...

Apple has sent out invitations for a special media event on September 1st. The invitation which figures an acoustic guitar seems to imply that the focus of the event is still in music, which is what could be expected from the event in which Apple usually presents its new iPod line. The rumors floating around had these past few days have had all been centering around the possibility that Apple might have a new version of its Apple TV to introduce.  It is still possible that this will happen, however the main focus of the event would seem to be the new iPods.

Rumors have been flying around about a new iPad with a 7 inch screen for some time now.  Some people have gone as far as suggesting that this would be a second generation iPad which might be announced as soon as this September, when Apple will probably reveal its new iPod models. Without going into the merits of whether Apple will or will not, should or should not announce a smaller iPad, I will state that a smaller iPad would not be the second generation of the current iPad.  Apple is selling iPads just as fast as they can produced and I see no indication that replacing the current model with...

The rumor that a 7 inch iPad might be in the works for release by early 2011 started circulating today and was quickly picked up by most technology blogs.  It seems that the rumor started from a post on iLounge and spread from there. I’m not really sold on that idea, though. I can think of several activities, such as reading fiction, which I would prefer to do with a slightly smaller and much lighter version of the iPad. I would be reluctant, however, to give up the ease of use and productivity of the current crop of  iPad applications which go way beyond what you have on the iPhone and iPod...

A post on Boy Genius Report has got an immensely blown up picture of what the configuration screen of FaceTime should like on the iPod Touch.  Earlier today the habitual rumors about the presence of a camera on the next generation iPod Touch were circulating and this seems to tie in rather nicely with the configuration screen which is supposedly from the developer seed of iOS 4.1 which shows that FaceTime will use and email to identify the user for the purpose of placing video calls. It is not recent news that Apple has experimented with adding a camera to the iPod Touch in the past.  A couple of...