Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Apple : Apple's Retina MacBook could get bumped from EPEAT registry

Apple : Apple's Retina MacBook could get bumped from EPEAT registry

Apple's Retina MacBook could get bumped from EPEAT registry

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Apple's Retina MacBook could get bumped from EPEAT registry

Just because Apple is back in the EPEAT fold doesn't mean the green technology organization will be greeting all of their products with open arms.

After briefly leaving the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) in early July, green tech lovers made so much noise that Cupertino reversed its decision and jumped back on board with the voluntary registry.

No sooner had Apple again listed 40 different products, than its latest 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display came under scrutiny for being assigned a "Gold" rating by the computer maker.

Solid gold?

EPEAT's highest certification for sustainable green tech products, the MacBook Pro with Retina Display's Gold rating raised eyebrows for featuring batteries that are glued into the chassis, making it more difficult to recycle.

Apple was soon accused of "greenwashing" its latest high-profile notebook, forcing EPEAT to take a closer look at the company's voluntary ratings - which could be changed or removed entirely.

"They can be completely taken out of the system," EPEAT communications director Sarah O'Brien told Talking Points Memo.

"That's happened very rarely. I don't think it's ever happened with a larger player, but it's always theoretically possible for a product, if it doesn't meet criterion, to disappear from the EPEAT system."

More likely, however, is that EPEAT will downgrade Apple's MacBook Pro with Retina Display to a more relevant rating, such as Silver or Bronze.

"It doesn't say in the EPEAT standard that a product 'cannot be glued,'" O'Brien added. "It just says that it has to be easy to take apart. When we investigate it, they have to conclusively demonstrate to us that it is easy."

EPEAT plans to revisit the certification by mid-August, which includes all of Apple's newest products.

Updated: OS X Mountain Lion now available in Mac App Store

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Updated: OS X Mountain Lion now available in Mac App Store

Apple's latest desktop OS has now been released, with OS X Mountain Lion available from the Mac App Store.

It is available to Mac users as an upgrade costing $19.99 (£13.99), but if you bought your Mac computer on or after June 11, you will be able to upgrade for free. Download it now from the Mac App Store.

Apple announced during a Q3 earnings call that Mountain Lion would be released on July 25.

OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion does not feature a lot of major updates, but integrates iOS functionality that you can currently find on Apple's mobile devices.

This includes reminders, notifications and Twitter integration as well as Messages, Notes and Game Center.

Cloud syncing capability

Additionally, the latest version of this OS was built so users can sync their desktop to the cloud.

Now, once you download Mountain Lion, you don't have to spend hours setting up your contacts or calendar.

OS X 10.8, will use your Apple ID to automatically set up Contacts, Mail, Calendar, Messages, FaceTime and Find My Mac.

New OS makes old Macs obsolete

Last month, Apple confirmed on its official Mountain Lion upgrade page that older Macs will not support the upgrade despite being 64-bit systems.

If you want to install the new OS, make sure that your machine is compatible with this new version.

Here's the list of supported systems:

Plunging sales make Apple iPod redesign more likely

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Plunging sales make Apple iPod redesign more likely

Apple today released its third-quarter earnings report, and it turns out the iPod is no longer quite the hot ticket item it used to be.

In Q3 2012, Apple reports, 6.8 million iPods were sold, down 10 per cent from the same period last year.

Plummeting iPod sales seem to lend more credence to recent rumors that Apple's planning an iPod redesign the likes of which haven't been seen since the iPod Touch was introduced in 2007.

The newly redesigned iPod could drop as early as September, if the rumors prove accurate.

How does the iPod factor in Apple's future?

The new iPod touch redesign could sport a screen as large as 4 inches, according to the rumors.

An even larger screen possibly putting it in the realm of smaller tablet/phone hybrids like the 5.3-inch screened Samsung Galaxy Note isn't out of the question either, though that's pure speculation.

The rumors also claim that the new iPod Touch redesign will be housed in aluminum like the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, making it somewhat unique as far as current Apple handsets go (unless the long-awaited iPhone 5 winds up in a similar casing).

The iPod touch hasn't changed much since it was introduced in 2007. It even still sports the beveled edges of the first three generations of iPhones.

Other iPod models, like the iPod Nano, haven't changed significantly either.

That design stagnation may be part of the reason iPod sales are lagging, though ever-rising iPad and iPhone sales likely haven't helped either.

In Q3 Apple sold 26 million iPhones (up 28 per cent since last year) and 17 million iPads (an 84 per cent increase from last year's third quarter), as well as 4 million Macs (an increase of two per cent), the company reported today.

With the iPhone offering everything the iPod does and the iPad being a more attractive non-phone Apple device than the current iPod Touch, the iPod's role going forward is up in the air, whether or not a redesign even occurs.

Apple earns $35B in third quarter, misses analysts' mark

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Apple earns $35B in third quarter, misses analysts' mark

Despite predictions that Apple might pull in $37.4 billion in revenue for the June quarter, analysts had to be content with a slightly less spectacular $35 billion, with $8.8 billion in net profit.

While $35 billion marks a big jump from $28.6 billion made during the same quarter in 2011, it falls short of Apple's previous quarter, which saw $39.2 billion in revenue.

But the star of the quarter was clearly the iPad -- the Company's 10-inch tablet, which spawned many competitors.

The iPad racked up an impressive 17 million units sold during fiscal Q3, marking an 84 percent year-over-year increase.

Record iPad sales

"We're thrilled with record sales of 17 million iPads in the June quarter," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO in a press release.

"We've also just updated the entire MacBook line, will release Mountain Lion tomorrow [Wednesday, July 25] and will be launching iOS 6 this Fall," Cook added.

"We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we've got in the pipeline."

Although executives were reticent to share details about those amazing new products, they found themselves having to defend the iPhone, which only sold 26 million units for a 28 percent year-over-year growth.

Buoyed by new Ivy Bridge MacBooks introduced last month, Apple also sold an impressive 4.0 million Macs during fiscal Q3, a two percent year-over-year gain even as the overall PC market slid by another one percent.

Last but not least, even though iPod sales were down, Apple continued to dominate more than 70 percent of the portable MP3 player market in most countries.

Apple sold 6.8 million units during the quarter - a 10 percent decline over last year, but not bad considering its age.
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