Mac OS X Lion is here!

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion is here. OS X, the desktop counterpart to Apple’s mobile iOS, has taken iPad innovation “Back to the Mac” with this release, including the iPad home screen-like LaunchPad for app management, automatic save and resume, etc.

“Lion is the best version of OS X yet, and we’re thrilled that users around the world can download it starting today,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Lion makes upgrading a Mac easier than ever before; just launch the Mac App Store, buy Lion with your iTunes account, and the download and install process will begin automatically.”

It’s also the first time a major Mac OS X version will be distributed online, through the Mac App Store. Gigabytes of download will be an interesting challenge for those with multiple machines, but especially for those with slower internet connections or restricted bandwidth. (Never mind what the launch day rush might do to the internet in general — Apple servers have gone down during iOS releases in the early days.)

UPDATE: Apple has announced that Lion will be available “later this August” on a USB thumb drive for $69.

All that aside, we welcome our Mac OS X cousins to the goodness we’ve been enjoying for a while now in iOS. Who’s getting it?

[Apple PR, $29 - Mac App Store]

OfficeDrop now available for iPhone and iPad

OfficeDrop by Pixily has been updated as a universal application for iPhone and iPad. OfficeDrop is an app to scan, search, organize and store your paper files, PDFs and other documents.

The OfficeDrop digital filing system is a simple, cost-effective way to scan your paper and manage it online in our searchable web-based document portal. With OfficeDrop for iPhone, all of your converted paper and uploaded digital documents will be available for text searching, sharing and organization on you iPhone and on the web at officedrop.com. Best of all, there is a new free plan that give you search, OCR and storage on your iPhone, iPad and browser! Scan on your computer and have your files available everywhere.

OfficeDrop is available for Free. Screenshots after the break.

[iTunes link]

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Apple introduces new MacBook Airs, other stuff

To coincide with the release of Mac OS X Lion, Apple has also released a new generation of MacBook Airs, Mac Minis, and LED displays (now dubbed Thunderbolt displays). The most interesting to us, of course, is the MacBook Air, particularly the 11-inch version which is a real — if more expensive — rival to the iPad.

Now with more processing power, courtesy of Intel’s Core i5 or Core i7 (Sandybridge) processor, a high speed Thunderbolt I/O port, and a backlit keyboard(?!), it makes an already compelling alternative even more so. (If rumors of an early iPad 2 Pro or iPad 3 turn out to be true, it could make the decision even harder.)

“Portable, affordable and powerful, MacBook Air is the ultimate everyday notebook,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “MacBook Air features our most advanced technology and is an ideal match for Lion, especially with its new Multi-Touch gestures, full-screen apps, Mission Control and Mac App Store.”

Mac Mini with the new chips and port make a good if expensive home theater PC even more powerful and (eventually) flexible, while the new LED displays can be chained together to turn your desktop into a NASA-style control center.

“Mac mini delivers the speed and expandability that makes it perfect for the desktop, living room or office,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With faster processors, more powerful graphics and Thunderbolt in an incredibly compact, aluminum design, the new Mac mini is more versatile than ever.”

“The Apple Thunderbolt Display is the ultimate docking station for your Mac notebook,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With just one cable, users can dock with their new display and connect to high performance peripherals, network connections and audio devices.”

Anyone going to pick up a new Air?

[Apple PR (Air), Apple PR (Mini), Apple PR (Display)]

New and updated iPhone and iPad apps for Wednesday, July 20

Apple Sells Record Number of iPhone and iPad Devices

Apple’s third fiscal 2011 quarter was full of company records – and since we are talking about one of the world’s biggest companies, that means significant margins. Not only are iPhone sales up 142% from last year, but onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.ipadngravy.com');" target="_blank" title="iPad" href="http://www.ipadngravy.com">iPad sales are also up 183% even as Apple is still scrambling to meet demand. That accounts to 20.34 million iPhones and 9.25 million iPads having been sold.

It is amazing just how much the iOS ecosystem has grown since its introduction in 2007 with the original iPhone. The iPad was released a little over a year ago, making it one of the fastest-adopted devices of the last decade. There is no doubt that the mobile operating system’s four-year period has made those two devices Apple’s most significant market in terms of owners. Neither the Mac, with 3.95 million system sales, nor the iPod, at a 20% decline with 7.54 million, reach the ownership numbers of iOS devices. However make no mistake, the Mac is still significant on the report with a much higher revenue per unit sold since systems have a much broader price range.

A revenue of $28.57 billion and a net profit of $7.31 billion are both the highest-ever for Apple’s quarterly report. Both figures are almost twice what they were during this quarter last year, plus the revenue/profit ratio has increased in the favor of profit. 62% of the revenue can be attributed to the international market.

Steve Jobs expresses his enthusiasm over Apple’s success that has continued to grow at an incredible rate, “We’re thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82 percent and profits up 125 percent. Right now, we’re very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall.”

Today Apple will be releasing Mac OS X Lion, the latest version of the Mac operating system, exclusively through the App Store recently brought to the platform. With Lion, Apple has proclaimed that they are bringing what they have learned from iOS to their personal computers, including a focus on multi-touch gestures and a page-organized app collection.

Analyst expectations for the quarter have been beat by a fairly wide margin, and next quarter is looking to continue the success as Apple is due to release the highly-anticipated successor to iPhone 4 and possibly a new href="http://www.iphonealley.com/news/ipad-hd-for-pro-market-and-brand-new-iphone-design-this-fall">iPad.

[onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/07/19Apple-Reports-Third-Quarter-Results.html');" target="_blank" href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/07/19Apple-Reports-Third-Quarter-Results.html">Apple Press Release]

Chinese counterfeit phones are nothing new, counterfeit Apple Stores, now that’s something new!

We have all seen pictures of fake iPhones coming out of China but blogger BirdAbroad discovered something far more impressive on her travels. She walked into a fake Apple Store in the Chinese town of Kunming.

The products appear to be real Apple products so at least that is one bit of good news. Unfortunately though, Apple does not have stores in this part of China. The store could be an approved re-seller, if that is the case it has really over stepped the mark with its blatant Apple branding and attempt to copy a real Apple Store model.

RP and I went inside and poked around. They looked like Apple products. It looked like an Apple store. It had the classic Apple store winding staircase and weird upstairs sitting area. The employees were even wearing those blue t-shirts with the chunky Apple name tags around their necks.

Sadly, the staff in the store believe they are working for Apple too. Security and sales staff did try and prevent the blogger from taking photos. Strangely when she explained that she worked for Apple, they were allowed to take some more pictures.

Apparently this store is one of three in close proximity. In fact one of the stores even has a sign calling it an “Apple Stoer”. I can’t see these fake Apple Stores being around for too much longer!

[BirdAbroad via AppleInsider]

 

Keep a diary with style with Wonderful Days for iPhone

HandyPadSoft has released their diary, journal, and note-taking app, Wonderful Days – Diary with Style.

It is a polished with a lot of customization options, including themes, photo frames, font, and tags. You can effortlessly keep track of your wonderful moments everyday, and enjoy them in exciting ways.

I’ve played around with Wonderful Days for a bit and it really is fantastic. Every thing looks great and runs smoothly. I’m not much of diary keeper, but Wonderful Days makes me want to be.

Wonderful Days – Diary with Style is available on the iPhone for $2.99. Screenshots and video after the break.

[iTunes link]

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