iLounge

Reporting its fourth quarter 2011 financial results today, Apple said it sold 6.62 million iPods during the quarter—a 27 percent decrease compared to the same quarter last year. Apple sold 17.07 million iPhones in the quarter, a 21 percent increase year-over-year, and down slightly from the 20.34 million units sold in the third quarter. Apple also sold 11.12 million iPads during the quarter, up 166 percent from 4.19 million units in the year-ago quarter. The unit sales of iPhones, iPods, and iPads bring the cumulative unit sales for the three device categories to 145.96 million, 321.18 million, and 39.85 million, respectively. The company posted revenue of $28.27 billion and net quarterly profit of $6.62 billion, or $7.05 per diluted share, compared with revenue of $20.34 billion and net quarterly profit of $4.31 billion, or $4.64 per diluted share, in Q4 2010.

“We are thrilled with the very strong finish of an outstanding fiscal 2011, growing annual revenue to $108 billion and growing earnings to $26 billion,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Customer response to iPhone 4S has been fantastic, we have strong momentum going into the holiday season, and we remain really enthusiastic about our product pipeline.”

“We are extremely pleased with our record September quarter revenue and earnings and with cash generation of $5.4 billion during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 14 weeks rather than 13, we expect revenue of about $37 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $9.30.”

Marco Arment has released Instapaper 4.0, a major update to the popular offline reading app for iOS devices. The new version features a number of significant improvements including completely redesigned interfaces with a new grid view on the iPad version and a unified and restyled navigation view on the iPhone/iPod touch versions. Users can now also perform server-side searching of the full content of their entire Instapaper archive and can select multiple articles to archive, delete or move in a single operation. The update also adds support for hardware brightness control in iOS 5, draggable scrollbars for quickly navigating through documents and the inclusion of article authors, published dates and site titles in articles whenever available.

Instapaper 4.0 also expands Friends support allowing users to browse recent links from their Facebook news feed, Twitter timeline and Tumblr dashboard and users can also customize the number of liked and archived items stored on the device, take advantage of integrated Wikipedia lookups from within articles and opt to use the built-in dictionary under iOS 5. A number of other smaller enhancements and bug fixes have also been included. A detailed overview of the new features is available in a post at Macro Arment’s blog. Instapaper 4.0 is a universal app requiring iOS 4.2 or later and is available from the App Store for $5.

Apple has released iTunes Movie Trailers, a new iOS app that allows users to access new and exclusive movie previews in HD on their device. Users can browse trailers, clips and featurettes for both major Hollywood films and independent cinema along with high-resolution photos, a year-long calendar of movie releases and location-based showtime info. The application also allows users to purchase movie tickets directly from their iPad or iPhone. Favorite movies and theatres can be saved for quick access and images can be saved to the iPad photo gallery to use as desktop wallpapers or share with friends. AirPlay is also supported allowing users to view trailers on their Apple TV, and favourites can be pushed to multiple iOS devices via iCloud.

iTunes Movie Trailers requires iOS 4.3 or later and an iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad, iPad 2 or third- or fourth-generation iPod touch. iCloud sync requires iOS 5 or later and a valid iCloud account. iTunes Movie Trailers is available from the U.S. App Store as a free download.

Apple has released iOS 5 updates to its three iWork apps—Pages, Numbers and Keynote—adding support for sharing documents via iCloud. The latest versions allow users to automatically store presentations, spreadsheets and word procession documents in iCloud and automatically keep them up to date across all iOS devices. Documents can also be downloaded to a Mac or a PC from iCloud.com in either native iWork, PDF, or Microsoft Office compatible formats, and new compatible files can be uploaded to iCloud.com for automatic synchronization to iOS 5 devices.

Several other new features have also been added to each of the apps in addition to iCloud and iOS 5 support. Keynote 1.5 introduces the ability to stream presentations wirelessly to an Apple TV via AirPlay along with support for navigating slides, viewing presenter notes and using the virtual laser pointer while giving a presentation. Keynote also adds several new builds and transitions, advanced presentation controls including loops slideshows and autoplay and support for hyperlinks between slides.

Pages 1.5 adds voice dictation support for the iPhone 4S, the ability to create footnotes and endnotes in documents and character, paragraph and page counts. Numbers 1.5 improves formatting and data entry features adding sliders, steppers and pop-ups to simplify entering data and support for merging cells and hiding rows and columns. All three apps also improve compatibility with their iWork for Mac and Microsoft Office counterparts and include improved support for Chinese, Japanese and Korean language input.

Pages, Numbers and Keynote 1.5 are universal apps and require iOS 5.0 or later. Each is sold separately from the App Store for $10.

As expected, Apple today released iOS 5 for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The anticipated update offers over 200 new features, including a new Notifications system, Reminders app, Twitter integration, Camera enhancements, full support for iCloud, Wi-Fi Sync, PC-less setup, and more. iOS 5 is available now for the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad, iPad 2, third-generation iPod touch, and fourth-generation iPod touch via the Update feature in iTunes 10.5.

iLounge has confirmed that the new white models of the fourth-generation iPod touch are now available at Apple Retail Stores, as scheduled. Announced during Apple’s “Let’s talk iPhone” event, the white models are virtually unaltered from the prior version, save for the fact that they arrive with iOS 5.0 pre-installed. The new white models of the fourth-generation iPod touch are available for purchase now and are priced from $199.

Updated: We’ve added additional photos, including one comparing the white model with the existing black version.

Updated x2: We have now received our test white iPod touch 4G unit, and have posted a complete unboxing gallery, which is available on Flickr.

Apple has released an iOS version of its Airport Utility for configuring and managing Airport and Time Capsule wireless devices. The free universal app provides similar functionality to the Mac version, allowing users to manage Airport Express, Airport Extreme and Time Capsule devices from an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. Users can see a graphical overview of the Wi-Fi network and devices, get more information about a connected Wi-Fi device and view and change base station and network settings, including restarting devices and updating firmware versions and configuring passwords, DNS and router addresses and DHCP reservations and port mappings. AirPort Utility requires iOS 5 and is available from the App Store as a free download.

According to the latest data from comScore, the iPad accounted for 97.2 percent of all tablet traffic in the U.S. in August 2011. The research firm also found that iPads have also started to account for a higher share of Internet traffic than iPhones, representing 46.8 percent of all iOS device traffic, compared to 42.6 percent for the iPhone. Despite Android’s larger share of the smartphone market, iOS had the highest market share of connected devices and smartphones in use with 43.1 percent, compared to Android’s 34.1 percent, a difference largely attributed to the iPad’s dominance in the tablet market. iOS as a platform also accounted for the largest share of Internet traffic among such devices, representing 58.5 percent of all non-computer traffic in the U.S., compared to a 31.9 percent share for Android.

Mobiata has released an update to FlightTrack and FlightTrack Pro adding support for the upcoming iCloud release and integration with the new Twitter features in iOS 5. With FlightTrack 4.2 users can now synchronize their flight lists and FlightTrack settings across multiple iOS devices using iCloud and post flight updates to Twitter using the new integrated iOS 5 Twitter integration. The update also fixes a number of bugs, improves performance when tracking large numbers of flights, adds thousands of additional airports and provides more readable and concise airport weather forecasts. FlightTrack is available in both standard and Pro versions: FlightTrack ($5) includes a full set of flight tracking features including weather radar, gate and baggage claim information, flight delay forecasts and SeatGuru charts; FlightTrack Pro adds push notifications, airport delay and closure information and TripIt synchronization. Both apps are universal and require an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad running iOS 4.0 or later; iCloud and Twitter integration features require iOS 5.

Facebook has released an update to its iOS application adding the anticipated native iPad support. Originally reported by the New York Times in June to be appearing in the “coming weeks,” the app was inexplicably delayed, prompting a prominent developer to leave Facebook in frustration and report that it had in fact been “feature complete” as far back as May. Many later expected the rumoured iPad update to be released at Facebook’s f8 developer conference in September, however the event came and went with no mention of iOS at all.

Today’s update to Facebook 4.0 finally adds native iPad support to the existing Facebook application providing an iPad optimized user interface with higher resolution photos, improved navigation and access to Facebook apps and games. Users can also zoom in on photos, updates and stories and share photos and status updates without leaving the news feed. The update adds several new features to the iPhone and iPod touch version as well, including improved searching and browsing, similar games and app support, bookmarks and improved navigation. Facebook 4.0 is available from the App Store as a free download.

App Cubby has released Tweet Speaker, a new Twitter client that allows users to listen to their streams spoken aloud. The app features an attractive user interface displaying a single tweet per screen with standard buttons for replying, marking favourites, retweeting and viewing conversation threads, with a radio dial styled time indicator displayed at the bottom. Tweet Marker support allows synchronization of timeline positions with other Twitter clients such as Twitterrific and Tweetbot.

Tapping the playback button begins reading back tweets from the current timeline position using a synthesized voice system specifically optimized for Twitter; replies, mentions, hashtags and even external links are interpreted and read appropriately—for example Tweet Speaker will attempt to follow short links and read the actual web page title rather than simply speaking an unintelligible URL. Users can also adjust the reading speed and the application includes AirPlay support. Tweet Speaker requires iOS 4.2 or later and is available from the App Store for $3.

Apple has posted a streaming video feed of today’s “Let’s talk iPhone” event. At the event, which lasted upwards of 90 minutes, Apple highlighted its upcoming iOS 5 operating system and iCloud, announced modest updates to the iPod nano and iPod touch, unveiled its new Cards and Find My Friends apps, and debuted the iPhone 4S. The stream is available for viewing now from Apple’s website.

Rumored to be discontinued amidst an increased focus on touchscreen devices, Apple’s screenless iPod shuffle and Click Wheel-based iPod classic have survived for yet another year. Oddly, while Apple’s Senior Vice-President Phil Schiller acknowledged that the fourth-generation iPod shuffle was not being updated this year—a decision now reflected in Apple’s web pages, which continue to show the same device at its prior 2GB size, $49 price, and colors—he omitted any mention of the iPod classic, which was previously left out of last year’s iPod announcement event as well.

The iPod classic has not been updated since 2009, when it became a single model with a 160GB hard disk, replacing the nearly identical 120GB model introduced in 2008. Apple.com’s web pages continue to show it as a $249 device with 160GB of hard disk capacity, with the same 2.5”, 320x240 screen and two body color options; it is offered as a high-capacity iPod given that no iPhone or iPod touch model exceeds 64GB in capacity.

Apple has released its Gold Master seed of iOS 5 to registered developers. Listed as build 9a334, the GM build is likely the last to be seeded prior to the software’s official launch on October 12, and as such can be used to submit iOS 5 applications to the App Store for review. Notably, the iOS 5 GM seed is not available as an over-the-air software update, as has been the case with past iOS 5 beta releases. iOS 5 GM seed, and the accompanying SDK, is available for download now from the iOS Dev Center.

Apple’s official web pages for the new iPod nano and iPod touch models have been intermittently online since they were announced, and suggest that the updates are as minor as they were portrayed on stage. New iPod nano pages suggest no changes to the body, screen, or colors of the new model, which continues to have a clip on the back and did not regain video camera functionality as was suggested many months ago by a rear shell leak; the most significant changes appear to be the addition of built-in Nike+ support, “Fitness Walk + Run” support, the redesigned one-plus-quarter-quarter icon interface, and the lowered $129/$149 price points. Additionally, the iPod touch does not appear to have gained any new internal functionality beyond what was offered in iOS 5-related software updates; it continues to have an A4 processor with Bluetooth 2.1 capabilities, while the iPhone 4S has gained a dual-core A5 processor with Bluetooth 4.0.

Updated: Despite having pitched the iPod nano as “new” during its presentation and in an accompanying press release, Apple will apparently offer all of the new features as a free version 1.2 software update to the sixth-generation (2010) iPod nano, to be available through the iTunes Store.

Apple today updated its iPod touch lineup with a white model while dropping the price on the low end unit. Described by Apple executive Phil schiller as the most popular portable game player in the world, the updated unit comes with iOS 5, and thus iCloud, pre-installed, and is priced at $199 for 8GB models—down from $229—$299 for 32GB units, and $399 for 64GB models. The updated fourth-generation iPod touch will be available October 12.

Apple today announced that iOS 5, the latest version of its mobile operating system, will be available as a free download for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users on October 12. The updated software brings with it over 200 new features, including a new Notifications system, Reminders app, Twitter integration, Camera enhancements, expanded iCloud support, Wi-Fi Sync, PC-less setup, and more. iOS 5 will be available for the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad, and third- and fourth-generation iPod touch.

During today’s “Let’s talk iPhone” event, Apple executives Tim Cook and Scott Forstall offered several updates on the company’s iOS platform. Most notably, the company has now sold over 250 million iOS devices, and offers more than 500,000 apps in the App Store, with over 140,000 of those made specifically for the iPad. Overall, more than 18 billion apps have been downloaded from the store, with the rate accelerating to over 1 billion downloads per month. Over 100,000 developers have been seeded with the iOS 5 beta, and over $3 billion has been paid out to app developers. When all iOS devices are counted, the platform is the top mobile operating system with 43 percent of the market.

In his opening remarks at Apple’s “Let’s talk iPhone” media event today, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that the company has now sold over 300 million iPods. Cook stated that the iPod holds a 78 percent share of the MP3 market, that the company sold 45 million iPods from July 2010 to June 2011, that nearly half of iPod customers are purchasing their first iPod, and that the iPod still represents a “large and important” market for Apple. He also revealed that the company has now seen over 16 billion song downloads from iTunes, calling the Store’s success “mind boggling.”

Apple’s “Let’s talk iPhone” media event is being held today at the company’s campus Town Hall auditorium. As there are plenty of announcements expected to come from the event, we’re providing this story as a starting point—we’ll be linking to all the major news from the event right here, so check back periodically throughout the afternoon for more updates.

So far:

iPhone 4S to launch October 14, iPod nano to see update

Apple introduces Cards, a new free app that lets you create and send cards directly from your iPhone. It will mail printed cards through the mail after you design them, then provide tracking notifications to your iPhone. Cards will be $3 each when mailed within the U.S. Available October 12.

iOS 5 is coming October 12. As is iCloud.

Apple announces Find My Friends application for iCloud, enabling you to locate your friends and family if they’re using Apple’s devices.

“New” iPod nano announced - new user interface, 16 new clock faces, Nike+ without the need for shoe-based sensors. $129/$149, available today. Seven colors like the previous ones. Updated! Originally claimed to be a “new” iPod nano, this appears to be little more than a price change with a minor software update. Following the event, it was discovered that the software will be released for the 2010 iPod nano as well.

Updated iPod touch: black and white, $199 8GB, $299 32GB, $399 64GB. Available October 12. Nothing mentioned about under-the-hood changes of any sort. Updated! Apart from the color addition, there does not appear to be any change to the iPod touch hardware at all this year.

iPhone 4S officially announced with A5 processor, dual-core graphics chip that’s up to 7x faster than prior iPhone (down from 9x in prior iPad). Yet now gets eight hours of talk time, six hours of 3G browsing, 9 of Wi-Fi browsing. Now can switch between two antennas for improved call quality. Data speeds now doubled for downloading—now up to nearly 14.4Mbps downloading speed. Apple is not calling this 4G, but saying that the performance is 4G-caliber. It’s a dual-band world phone with both GSM + CDMA. Improved camera sports an 8-Megapixel sensor with backside illumination, gathering 73% more light than before, with a hybrid IR filter and 1/3 faster performance. The lens now has 5 elements and is f/2.4—really wide angle with 30% greater sharpness, macro photo feature, plus 1080p video recording.

iPhone 4S also gets AirPlay mirroring. And expanded voice controls thanks to an integrated Siri assistant. “What’s the weather like today?” can be answered by the iPhone 4S with a forecast. “Find me a great Greek restaurant in Palo Alto,” and it returns a bunch of results sorted by rating. The interface is a mix of prior Siri and the linen backdrop of OS X and iOS, tying into iOS applications to look up calendar information, messages, and other things stored on the device. It can read to you, and understand what you’re saying. It will initially be available in English, German, and French support, with other languages to follow. 16GB, 32GB, 64GB $199/$299/$399. 3GS and 4 will still be sold, 3GS free on contract, iPhone 4 is $99 for 8GB. Preorder on 7th, available October 14, Verizon AT+T and Sprint. First countries: U.S., Canada, Australia, U.K., France, Germany, and Japan, with more to follow on the 28th, then more through end of the year.

A summary of the presentation thus far is available after the break.