It may come as a surprise given the handset's rip-roaring success, but Apple's iPhone very nearly didn't make it out of the company's development labs, according to a man who would know; Apple Senior VP of Design, Jony Ive.
The smartphone industry is one of the most fiercely contested in tech space, and although Windows Phone 8 will bring Microsoft well and truly into the fold, the battle is currently fought between Google's Android and Apple's iOS platforms.
We’ve discussed and shown you plenty of prototype iPhones and iPads from 2006 and earlier here at Redmond Pie recently. These design documents have made their way onto the web thanks to the aggressive Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit that started yesterday; both companies are forced to reveal classified information about their already released or upcoming products in order help the Court make a just decision.
The last few days have provided us with not only intense speculation surrounding the possible launch dates of Apple's next-generation iPhone but also a possible scheduling for the announcement and release of a new smaller and more lightweight iPad Mini. The iPad Mini has been a long speculated product but with no real concrete details being known, it has just been put down to conjecture until this morning when a possible release date emerged.
By means of a press release, Apple has announced its OS X Mountain Lion has amassed three million downloads in just 96 hours, rendering it most successful operating system release ever for Apple.
We’ve previously seen prototype iPhones and iPads from 2006 and earlier which show some of the many iterations the class-dominating smartphone and tablet went through before being finalized. Now, as the Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit continues to heat up even more, more and more classified design documents are making their way online for us to feast our eyes on.
Not even Apple themselves could have predicted the influence that the iPhone would have on the world when it was first launched in 2007. Obviously the company knew that they had created something special, but if asked to answer honestly, it is highly unlikely that anyone involved from the start would have thought it would become the iconic product that we have today. The current model iPhone, the 4S, is the fifth-generation device and although we are still a couple of months away from seeing what the technology giants have to offer us with their next iteration, the interest and demand is already unprecedented.
With just a few short months left until we expect the next iPhone to be announced, ready for an expectant public to drool over. We go through this around the same time every year, but we are right bang in the middle of a time we like to call 'silly season,' when any and all rumor has just as much chance of being absolutely true as it does being completely made up!
There is one big story in Mac software right now, and that's OS X 10.8, Mountain Lion. Available for less then twenty dollars via the Mac App Store, the update to Mountain Lion is all geared around building on top of your current, working system. If you're like us though, you probably like to have a nice clean install of your operating system every once in a while, but the Mac App Store doesn't always make that the easiest thing in the world.
Apple has finally given the people what they want by taking the plunge and releasing OS X Mountain Lion onto the Mac App Store. And judging by the mounting reviews, it seems to have been greeted with extreme positivity. With that being said, we all know that you can't please all of the people all the time, and it was always going to be the case that there would be some unhappy campers with certain aspects of the release. As part of Mountain Lion 10.8 and also as part of the OS X Lion update, Apple has made a few changes to their Safari web browser taking it to version 6 and in turn removed some much loved features.
