Even by Apple's impeccably-high standards, the launch of the new iPad over the past seven days has gone exceptionally well. The usual congregation of devotees could be found outside any given Apple Store last Friday morning, waiting to get their hands on the Retina-toting, 5 megapixel-snapping, LTE compliant device.
There's no doubt that an iPad is a useful - even invaluable tool for those with a vested culinary interest. After all, there are literally hundreds of apps for cooking, baking, and preparing that perfect meal from the random scraps of food lurking in the refrigerator.
Angry Birds has been to iOS and Android what Call Of Duty has been to consoles over the the last few years. Those crazy, unstoppable birds have flown as far as PC, Mac, Facebook and Google Chrome in their never-ending quest to defend the nest.
An internal email that found its way out of the company and into the hands of Microsoft blogger Mary-Jo Foley reveals that Microsoft will be putting a new policy in place which will prevent employees of the company's Sales, Marketing, Services, IT, and Operations Group (SMSG) from purchasing Apple products - they specified Macs and iPads within the email - with company funds. The email was sent out by Alain Crozier, the CFO of the SMSG division, which encompasses around 46,000 employees worldwide.
There's been much talk of late regarding Apple's expansive bank balance. As opposed to making a large acquisition like Google or Microsoft with its $100 billion kitty, the fruit company decided a share repurchase program would be a forward-thinking way to utilize some of that eye-watering wealth.
When it comes to mobile apps, the people in the know generally agree that keeping it simpler is the way to go. In fact, one widely used design model for developers is the Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) method which encourages designers and developers to make their creations as simple as possible. Mobile devices function differently from their desktop or notebook counterparts as they don't have as much screen real estate to take advantage of and need to function perfectly through a touchscreen interface.
Of all the essential everyday uses our smartphones give us, the simplest - and perhaps, the most vital - is the alarm clock.
Apple's recording breaking product, the new iPad, is not even a week old yet, but that hasn't stopped a subset of users picking up faults with the third-generation device. The new iPad officially went on sale last Friday, with Apple announcing in the last few days the they managed to ship a staggering three million units within the first weekend, making it the most successful iPad launch to date. Users have been queuing up outside Apple Stores in the hope of getting their hands on the tablet which features an A5X dual-core processor, a 5 mega-pixel rear camera and a beautiful high-resolution Retina display which contains a whopping 3.1 million pixels.
As a company, Apple is getting used to breaking their own sales records, so the fact that they shipped more than 3 million units of the new iPad in the first three days of availability shouldn't really come as a great surprise. The next-generation iPad has proved once again that Apple have the winning formula when it comes to tablet devices, something that has manifested through fantastic first weekend sales and will no doubt put the company on an even greater solid financial footing.
iOS-powered devices such as the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad are hugely popular around the world, with Apple's mobile OS considered to be one of the most complete offerings in the mobile world. Like all major operating systems that are updated periodically, iOS has seen organic growth over its life and has benefitted from multiple feature additions as well as numerous bug fixes. Apple have steadily introduced enhancements to their mobile OS over time which has significantly improved the software and ensured that it clings onto the top spot.
