New iPad Hits 3 Million Sales

When Apple first started making iDevices, some thought it was a phase that would soon grow old. Yet, as Gizmodo's Jesus Diaz puts it, "they're unstoppable now." And unstoppable is the right word; for Apple just hit 3 million sales of the new iPad. Already.

Phil Schiller, Apple's SVP, says this is the "strongest iPad launch yet." Apple wouldn't release intitial sales numbers for the iPad 2 because they had quite a low supply, but it took 28 days for the iPad 2 to reach one million. The first iPad took 80 days to reach 3 million sales, an accomplishment the new iPad completed in 4 days. It still couldn't beat the iPhone 4S sales, however, as those topped 4 milllion in its first weekend.

The new iPad is currently available in only 10 countries, which makes this number even more impressive, but Apple plans to release the new iPad in 24 more countries on March 24th.

Foxconn Was Hiding Underage Workers During Audits

That's where your iPhone comes from

 As much as people love their iPhones, they can't help but wonder how they were made. And recent reports revealing employee treatment at Foxconn made them feel even worse about their purchase of an iDevice. Now, an interview with the Hong-Kong based Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), has produced one of the most frightening reports yet; Foxconn has been hiding their underage workers during audits.

Apple allows 16 and 17 year-olds to work in Foxconn factories if the local laws do, but they can't work in particularly dangerous fields, and they can't work overtime. According to SACOM's representative, Foxconn doesn't follow these two rules, so when they found out, probably through intelligence, that the Fair Labor Association was going to inspect their procedures, they tidied up, but only for the duration of the inspection.

Two Foxconn workers in the town of Zhengou said that Foxconn was "prepared for inspection." One even said that "all underage workers, 16 or 17, were not assigned any overtime work, and some were even sent to other departments." Other reports found that this isn't the only thing Foxconn does to prepare for inspections. They often tell their employees that if they tell the inspectors how badly they're being treated, they'll be fired immediately.

Apple iPod media event to be held September 7?

Kodawarisan has given us the first rumored date for Apple's annual iPod media event. They claim that this year's event will be held on September 7. In the last three years, the event has been held on September 1st once, and twice September 9th. This year we can expect to see 3 or 4 of the iPod lines refreshed (will the iPod Touch be refreshed?), as well as the iPhone 5 released.

Update: The Loop reports that sources have denied this date.

Next iPod Nano to keep tiny form, but add camera!

The 6th generation Nano was a horrible move by Apple. I had faith in Apple, however, that they would correct it and bring back the scrollwheel, camera, video playback, and larger screen. Unfortunately, when Apple releases the next iPod Nano in early September, they are going to keep the tiny 1.4" touchscreen. However, they will add a camera. The image above was sent to Apple.Pro recently. It shows the same design, yet a camera on the back. But how are you going to take pictures and videos with a devices this tiny? How good can the resoloution be? Apple still has not corrected their mistake.

The iPod Classic is done for.

The last update of the iPod Classic was in September 2009. The Apple Online Store has changed the shipping time of the iPod Classic from 24 hrs to 1-3 days. Suppliers of the iPod Classic report low numbers left. The conclusion: the iPod Classic is dead. This was the first iPod to be released. It was released in 2001. It offered only 5GB of hard drive storage (and everybody was saying 5GB?! That's a ton!) and costed a whopping $400. It used to be called the "iPod" (not the "iPod Classic") until more models were made. So, if you have a huge (75GB+) library and want to take it all with you, get the iPod Classic before it stops selling for good.

I also recommend looking at this forum from when the iPod Classic first came out; my favorite quotes are:

"We live in the YEAR 2001... not 6000 years from now when ridiculously awsome technology will exist. No other mp3 player has a harddrive like this... 5gigs... **** yeah. A rio of the same size offers 64megs"

I mean, it took 9 years, not 6,000! And 5GB is a lot?

"I mean 5GB in a little tiny thing like that, it's amazing. I don't see anyone else making something like that. Do you?"

No, because 5GB is so tiny for a hard drive! We have flash memory 64GB players!

The next iPod Touch: An accurate preview!

There's all kinds of information about the iPad 2, which can all be found in one post on Tech n' Cars, but you'll find nothing about the iPod Touch 5 on the web. Nothing! So, Tech n' Cars will present you with... a preview of the next iPod Touch. 5 or 6 of these will probably be correct.

- 1GHz dual-core A5 processor
- 4", 5", 6", or 7" screen
- Attachable SD card slot and camera connector
- Larger screens will have same pixel density
- Thinner bezel
- Possibly a glasses-free 3D screen
- iOS 5

My letter to Apple

I have just sent a letter to Apple explaining to them why they shouldn't have made the iPod Nano. I'm not going to bore you with the whole letter (which was about 1.5 pages), but in a nutshell, here's what I said:

I'm a huge Apple fan and always thought you've made the right moves, that is, until you made the 6th generation iPod Nano. CNET reviews also says that the iPod Nano is "perhaps the first misstep by Apple within the Nano line." It takes away the speaker, the video camera, the video watching ability and the scrollwheel just to achieve a jogger-friendly size, but the Shuffle is the perfect iPod for joggers, and the buttons are easier to press while jogging than on a touch-screen Nano. It also makes the least expensive video-capable iPod the iPod Touch, which is $230. And if you like the multitouch and iOS feel, an 80 dollar upgrade brings you to the Touch. I have faith that you can realize and correct your mistakes, because you've re-added buttons to the iPod Shuffle after realizing your mistake there, and even put two cameras on the iPod Touch after your CEO said "The iPod Touch doesn't need a camera; that's what the iPhone is for." Therefore, you should make the 7th gen Nano more like the 5th gen Nano, but upgrade the camera to make it be able to take still images. Hoping to hear back from you soon with your thoughts on this letter.

Obviously, that's a much shortened version of my letter, and because the letter is getting sent, I only had my outline on hand while writing the above. Certainly leave a comment telling me what you think about this topic.

Why Apple Shouldn't have made the iPod Nano 6G

Apple made a huge mistake when they introduced the Nano 6G. They took away the speaker, the video playback ability, the video camera, the larger screen, the clickwheel, Cover Flow, just to make it half the size. Well, if you're looking for a small iPod, there's the iPod shuffle right under your nose! Oh, and it costs three times less. The Nano looks like iOS, but actually there's no apps and you can't download apps. And by the way, paying just $80 gives you a much bigger screen capable of watching video, an HD video camera, a front-facing camera, an actual app store, and internet connection. It's called the iPod Touch. Hmmm... which is a better deal? Apple's always seemed to make the best moves, but this, unfortunately, is their first mistake.