In the wake of legal "requests" sent to its organizer, the London-based Apple Expo is now called the Appule Expo. Undaunted, Microsoft has recently booked space at the show. The newly named gathering will take place on October 11 and 12 of this year. Apple is not expected to attend.
The BlackBerry 10 developer device RIM plans to give away next week at BlackBerry World has been spotted days in advance. A CrackBerry forum poster got a quick, power-off look at the experimental smartphone, which is a relatively simple, brick-like design reminiscent of the BlackBerry PlayBook. Other than seeing both front and back cameras, little was discernible without turning it on.
Apple is quietly stocking its London stores with extra and international parts (such as replacement keyboards) to help cope with the expected "onslaught" of international journalists, many of whom use Apple products, coming to cover the 2012 London Olympics. The event, scheduled for July, is expected to see over 10,000 international print journalists as part of the 325,000 daily visitors coming to London for the games, reports TUAW.
RIM's developer relations VP Alec Saunders revealed in an interview Friday that it would give developers reference BlackBerry 10 phones. Those who visit the BlackBerry Jam developer event in early May, alongside BlackBerry World, would get to work on actual hardware, he told Bloomberg. Saunders cast this partly as reassurance that there wouldn't be another delay, as it was "tangible evidence" of getting closer to shipping.
The Intel-based Android phone shown off at CES may have secretly been the prototype for a production phone. A survey taker showed a sample description to Coolsmartphone that implied the phone was the London, a phone that would be branded by European carrier Orange. Along with its look, the specifications lined up closely, including the 1.6GHz Atom chip and the rapid-fire, 10-photo burst shooting.
New shots intercepted from a BlackBerry 10 ad briefing may have given some of the first detailed visuals of the OS. The CrackBerry images showed a device that at once had a shrunken parallel to the PlayBook interface but with traces of similarities to other platforms. It would use an always-up grid of all apps, like the iPhone, but have home screen widgets similar to, if more organized than, Android.
RIM's BlackBerry London has been refined in looks ahead of what could be an attempt to return to the US in force. New leaks to CrackBerry have the render of the first BlackBerry 10 phone's expected finished look making it considerably more refined than the very angular, Porsche Design-like look of a dummy unit. A presumably mock screenshot also points to a more refined media player than either on BlackBerry 7 or on the PlayBook.
RIM's hopes for 2012 might be brighter after a potential roadmap leak. According to a BGR tip, the BlackBerry PlayBook would get an update a year into its life with a 1.5GHz (presumably TI OMAP) processor, 42Mbps HSPA+ 3G, and NFC for tags and payments. It would reportedly ship in May or June.
RIM may have slashed two out of the three BlackBerry 10 phones it was planning to launch this year, a rumor emerging Thursday said. The Colt and Milan were said by BGR to have been dropped, leaving just the touch-only London. The Milan may not have even been a BB10 phone, instead being a BlackBerry 7 QWERTY slider that carriers didn't want given how similar it would have been to the Torch 9810.
RIM during the call discussing its latest quarterly results delayed its first BlackBerry 10 phone to the "latter part" of 2012. It wanted a dual-core processor with LTE-based 4G support, but this chip wouldn't be available until the middle of next year. Co-CEO Jim Balsillie justified the delay by noting that the company wanted a "fully featured" platform with a healthy ecosystem, specifications, and design, making it wait for the new chip.
An uncharacteristically detailed roadmap has popped up showing that RIM plans an aggressive launch of not just its phones but its tablets. The London is tentatively slated for March, CrackBerry said, but would be accompanied almost immediately by the Milan. This second model might be a variant of the London and could support GSM carriers like AT&T and Rogers where the London would head to CDMA networks like Verizon.
iPhone users are still very likely to remain loyal to the platform even with stepped up competition, GfK determined in a new study. Scanning the US, Brazil, China, Japan, and the largest five countries in Europe, it found that 84 percent of those who'd bought into Apple's ecosystem planned to buy another iPhone with their next upgrade. Only 60 percent of Android users anticipated the same, suggesting that a small but significant number would jump ship.
RIM in a pair of conversations has given clues as to the design language for its 2012-era BlackBerry phones. One interview with RIM's Industrial Design Senior VP Todd Wood told Pocket-lint that the phones would take a different tack than the serious designs that have dictated the BlackBerry for the past five years. These would be "charming, whimsical, and fun," he said.
RIM's still unconfirmed BlackBerry London may actually be a replacement for a cancelled model, a new rumorclaimed Monday. Supposedly, BGR heard, the all-touch phone was replacing the Colt, which looked more like the BlackBerry PlayBook. Why the Colt had been dropped hadn't been given out.
RIM's first BBX phone may have been spotted in an as-yet unverified leak. The phone seen by The Verge, picking up a previously only hinted at codename, would take its visual cues from the angular, metal-clad Porsche Design P'9981. The design would reportedly be thinner than an iPhone 4S and as thin as the Galaxy S II.
Leaked AMD mobile platform roadmaps from German forum board 3D Center reveal that the Llano chip replacement, Trinity, is due to begin shipping in the winter of 2012, among other tidbits. There will be four specific models of the chip offered, though no specifics are available yet. A Bulldozer-based Piledriver core will be the basis, which will also underpin the company's upcoming AMD FX-series of processors.
At a special session of Parliament Thursday morning, UK Prime Minister David Cameron blamed social media sites for the way they were used to organize riots in London and other cities in England this week. Cameron suggested allowing law enforcement to track activity on social media sites to prevent them from being used to plot "violence, disorder and criminality." RIM reportedly had been cooperating with police before Cameron made his remarks.
In a series of Wednesday raids, detectives in London, England are reported to have arrested nine people, all accused of participating in a fraud conspiracy involving nearly a thousand stolen iPhones. Seized during the raids, aside from phones, were various SIM cards, computers, amounts of cash and assorted documents, including stolen bank cards and fake passports. The SIM cards were being shipped overseas and plugged into automatic dialing machines, which called phone lines charging as much as £10 per minute.
Apple's Regent Street outlet in London, England is the currently the busiest Apple Store in the world, according to the company's senior VP of retail, Ron Johnson. The feat is particularly significant due to the expense of the location, and the fact that it maintains regular hours, unlike the prominent Fifth Avenue store in New York City. Though perhaps no longer Apple's global flagship, Fifth Avenue is open 24 hours a day year-round, except when it has to prepare for product launches.
Apple is set to open its fifth retail store in London, with a new establishment located in the city's busy Covent Garden district. Customers can begin flooding the store beginning Saturday, August 7 for the grand opening.
Approximately 500 people are estimated to have lined up in front the flagship Regent Street Apple Store in London on Friday morning, hoping to be some of the first people in the UK to buy a retail iPad. The line is said to have originally extended from the entrance to around the corner of Hanover Street, and then down to Hanover Square. People are still reported to be in line as of early afternoon GMT, even with a number of iPads having been bought.
The iPad's official launch in nine additional countries has drawn lines of prospective buyers in certain locations. Customers are reportedly camping out in London, Tokyo, and Sydney, among other cities. Apple Stores in the UK will open an hour early, at 8am, to accommodate the influx of customers picking up pre-ordered devices or placing new orders.
Apple's Regent Street store in London reportedly generates sales of approximately £2,000 (~$3,300 USD) per square foot, according to an Evening Standard report. The store's sales numbers make it the most profitable retail outlet in London, beating the high-end retailer Harrods by a factor of three. Apple's presence on Regent street has also been credited with helping to vitalize the area and attract other retailers.
HTC has sent invitations to a press event to be held in London, UK, according to PhoneMag.com. The teaser simply reads "Come see..." but does not provide any additional details regarding the focus of the event. The company already announced the HTC Snap earlier this year, although a number of reports have provided details surrounding the Android-based Hero handset. The device is said to launch exclusively through Orange in Europe later this year.
Research in Motion may have plans to expand its retail presence worldwide, reports from England indicate. Though the company's BlackBerry smartphones constitute one of the most popular brands, RIM has only so far maintained a small number of shops within its home country of Canada. The first location outside of regional borders should be in London, say staff from a flagship Selfridges department store, situated on Oxford Street.
Two new Apple Stores opened this weekend, say reports. In addition to one in Altamonte Springs, Florida, another location opened its doors in Carlsbad, California. The Carlsbad store can be found within The Forum at 1923 Calle Barcelona, and is next to Z Gallerie and across from Anthropologie. It is open Monday through Saturday from 10AM to 9PM, and on Sunday operates from noon to 6PM. No workshops have been scheduled so far.
