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Facebook Launches New ‘Pages Manager’ App for iPhone
May 16th
9to5Mac reports that Facebook has begun rolling out Pages Manager, a new iPhone app that works exactly like the existing Facebook app for iOS, but is specifically intended to manage business and fan pages on their social network, shifting the focus away from individual users.
The app is currently only available to a select few users, who are presented with a notification inviting them to download and try the new app. It also appears that the invitation is only being extended to users in New Zealand, although it will likely roll out to additional users soon.
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Gartner: Apple Top Smartphone Vendor For 2011, Third For All Mobile Devices Sold
May 16th
Analysis firm Gartner has revealed that not only has Apple established itself as the number one smartphone vendor of Q4 of 2011 and 2011 as a whole, it has also overtaken LG as the third biggest seller of mobile devices with 89 million units sold for 2011.
As you can see, Apple sold 35 million of those in Q4 alone, a considerable chunk of their total. Nokia had a considerable lead over Samsung with 111 million units sold.
However these tables don’t illustrate the number of smartphones sold. If you think about how many people buy cheap Nokia prepayed phones, then Apple are doing amazingly well to be competitive in that ranking.
Smartphone sales soared to 149 million in units in Q4 of 2011 according to the report, with Apple having a market share of 23.8%. for that quarter and a 19% share over the whole of 2011.
“Expectations for 2012 are for the overall market to grow by about 7 percent, while smartphone growth is expected to slow to around 39 percent,” said Annette Zimmermann, principal research analyst at Gartner.
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Apple Releases Second Update for OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview 3
May 16th
As noted by 9to5Mac, Apple has just released an update for OS X Mountain Lion DP3 – their second update to the third developer preview. It’s unclear what changes the update may contain, as Apple has not offered any release notes with the update.
It’s also unclear why Apple continues to release updates for Mountain Lion Developer Preview 3 instead of releasing a fourth developer preview. It’s also odd that Apple hasn’t listed changes for either of the two updates to DP3. The current build number is now up to 12A206j.
My suspicion is that Apple is preparing another major update to the developer preview that will include features unveiled at WWDC in June, and that Apple is simply pushing critical stability and performance updates to developers in the meantime.
The update is available through Software Update for those who have Mountain Lion DP3 installed, although the update is not currently showing in Apple’s developer portal.
We’ll be digging around in Mountain Lion today to see if we can see anything new – please let us know if you notice any changes!
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Apple Scaling Back iPhone Production Ahead of New Models This Fall
May 16th
With Apple’s next iPhone likely to launch this fall, it’s hardly surprising to hear that Apple is starting to scale back orders of existing iPhones. In fact, according to Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu (via CNET), Apple appears to be scaling iPhone productiion back as much as 25% – a significant sign that new iPhone hardware is indeed planned to launch within the coming months.
Production changes among Apple’s manufacturing partners are typically very good signs of what’s coming from the company – and it makes sense for Apple to begin decreasing production of current iPhone models now so they have less inventory to deal with when the next-gen iPhone launches this fall.
Wu’s claims seem very believable, especially when placed in a historical perspective. Apple launched the iPhone 4S in October of last year, and reportedly began scaling back production of the iPhone 4 in late June.
Considering that the next-gen iPhone will likely be in even higher demand than the iPhone 4S, it makes sense for Apple and their suppliers to begin preparing somewhat earlier than last year.
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Verizon to Kill Unlimited Data, Force All Customers Onto ‘Data Share’ Plans
May 16th
While Verizon Wireless stopped offering unlimited data plans for the iPhone shortly after the iPhone 4 launched on the carrier last year, customers that have already subscribed to unlimited plans have been allowed to keep them – until now, that is!
Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo, speaking at a JP Morgan conference (via Fierce Wireless, MacRumors), revealed that Verizon is planning to eliminate those plans once they launch their shared data plans, forcing all of their grandfathered customers to give up their unlimited data (emphasis added):
As these 3G unlimited data plan customers migrate to 4G LTE, they will have to purchase the company’s data-share plan (which Verizon plans to launch in mid-summer) and move off the $30 per month unlimited data plan. “Everyone will be on data share. When they migrate off 3G they will have to go to data share. That is beneficial to us for many reasons.“
Verizon has been working on their shared data plans for awhile, which are expected to launch sometime this summer, effectively giving customers currently on their unlimited data plans a couple more months at most to enjoy the data buffet. Apparently all good things must come to an end.
It’s unfortunate that Verizon has resorted to ripping unlimited data right out from under their customers’ noses – hell, even AT&T still allows their customers to keep their unlimited data plans (although they have begun throttling their users after 3GB of data usage).
I find it particularly irritating that Shammo used the phrase “that is beneficial to us.” Beneficial to Verizon, sure! But what about their subscribers? Doesn’t the customer matter anymore? Or are all wireless carriers allowed to break their promises at will and screw their customers for their own benefit?
I never though I’d see the day when Verizon respects their customers even less than AT&T. I guess it just goes to show that there’s no such thing as a large wireless company that actually cares about their customers…
Sprint remains the only large mobile provider in the United States to continue offering unlimited data plans.
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