Apple

On a day when investors began celebrating Apple’s report of having already sold its one millionth iPad, news from this morning’s New York Post — which was the first with the story of the Sirius + XM merger — has thrown a cold towel on investors’ sentiments. The Post cites a single anonymous source as saying that essentially the only thing stopping a government inquiry into whether Section 3.3.1 of Apple’s Developers’ Agreement violates antitrust law, is a dispute over which government department gets first crack: the Federal Trade Commission, or the Dept. of Justice Antitrust Division. ...

We suspected that the iPhone 4.0 would be nothing special compared to previous versions, at least when it comes to jailbreaking the operating system. Now, a jailbreak tool has been released for iPhone 4.0 Beta, and the eternal game of cat and mouse between Apple and the hacking community continues. Even if you’ve managed to install the iPhone 4.0 beta software on your iPhone, this jailbreak is not an easy one — just take a look at all of the warnings. In short, this jailbreak is aimed at app developers, not the general public. Nevertheless it’s here, meaning that a jailbreak for consumers will probably be ready and waiting when the 4.0 OS comes out of beta. ...

Thousands of travelers are stranded throughout Europe as ash continues to rain down from an erupting volcano in Iceland this week. Among them is Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg who, according to his press secretary, is “running the Norwegian government from the United States via his new iPad.” CNN reports that the Norwegian prime minister was in New York this week for President Obama’s nuclear summit and has been left stranded on American soil thanks to the widespread closure of most of European airspace. The volcanic eruption sent a cloud of ash toward mainland Europe that could take up to 48 hours to dissipate, resulting in over 6,000 canceled flights across the E.U. ...

There has been widespread speculation about the release date of Apple’s next generation iPhone, including (yet another) report that the Verizon iPhone is finally coming this year. Now we have perhaps the most substantial evidence yet that a new version of the Apple smartphone is coming to AT&T in June. Boy Genius Report confirms from multiple sources that AT&T has blocked its employees from taking vacations during the month of June. The only time the carrier has done this previously was for earlier iPhone launches. We know that the iPhone is due for a refresh and that it usually happens during the summer, but this is the strongest evidence to date that the new iPhone will arrive in consumers’ hands this June. ...

BusinessWeek and Fortune have both released their annual rankings — the 50 Most Innovative Companies and the Fortune 500, respectively — and Apple has strong showings in both publications. For the sixth consecutive year, Apple ranked number one in BusinessWeek’s 50 Most Innovative Companies report. When you consider that BusinessWeek only started this ranking system in 2005, that statistic becomes even more impressive. James Andrew, senior partner and head of global innovation at Boston Consulting Group (the company that provides the data to BusinessWeek) claims that every year Apple is the “hands down winner,” although Google remains a strong second. Furthermore, when those surveyed were asked what company would replace Apple as the most innovative over the next five years, the most common response was “no one.” ...

The CEO of Apple is certainly no stranger to the stage, being known for giving keynotes that typically have the effect of rendering tech geeks into little piles of goo after the announcement of a new product. But now Mr. Jobs — or at least, the story of his career — will be gracing a new stage: an Off Broadway theatre. Playwright Mike Daisey wasn’t scheduled to perform his new monologue about the Apple head honcho until next year, but popular demand from New York’s Ensemble Studio Theatre has pushed up the premiere of Notes Toward the Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs to a one-night-only run on April 22. The venue’s artistic director was reportedly so excited about the work that he commissioned a one evening run even though the play is officially a “work in progress and not ready for review.” ...

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin [iTunes link] has his own iPhone app, and it’s packed full of information, news, images and videos related to space exploration. It’s currently the one of the most popular apps in the Apple App Store’s Education category. “Buzz Aldrin Portal to Science and Space Exploration” is divided into five sections: Space Buzz, News, Interactive, Buzz Life, and More. We’ve pictured most of them below. The Space Buzz section serves up a variety of content (mission data, videos, photos, “buzz’s takes” and more) on nine subjects in space exploration, including Deep Space Exploration, Mysteries & Myths, Mars Exploration, Space Tourism & Private Ventures, Hubble & Other Telescopes, Moon Exploration, International Space Station and International Space Race. ...

The fact that Opera Mini was admitted to the App Store was a huge surprise, but judging from the popularity of the app, it was the right move, at least from the users’ point of view. At one point, Opera Mini was the most popular free app in all regional App Stores, as you can see in the screenshot below. Right now, the situation has changed slightly, but Opera Mini is still on top everywhere except in Australia, where it holds the second place. ...

Disney’s ABC television network was the first in the industry to market on the iPad with their impressive app. Downloaders can stream TV episodes free of charge and early data is showing that they’re doing so in droves. According to data shared with the Wall Street Journal, the ABC iPad app has been downloaded 205,000 times and users have already streamed 650,000 television episodes. Those streams have translated into several million ad impressions for the network’s iPad advertisers, including AT&T, Sears and Target. ...

If, like me, you live outside of the U.S. and you’re waiting for your chance to purchase the iPad, you’re out of luck. Apple has delayed the international launch of the device until the end of May because it has sold more iPads (over half a million) than it anticipated. Here’s the official announcement: “Although we have delivered more than 500,000 iPads during its first week, demand is far higher than we predicted and will likely continue to exceed our supply over the next several weeks as more people see and touch an iPad™. We have also taken a large number of pre-orders for iPad 3G models for delivery by the end of April. ...