The North Mobile Post

    Apple is very secretive about the design and spec of its latest gadgets. That secrecy has led to a year round rumor mill as anxious fans await the latest Apple products. The rumors began to circulate about the iPhone 5 almost as soon as the iPhone 4S was released. The latest rumor, reported by TechCrunch, states that Apple is changing the connector from the 30 pin configuration that has been used since the iPod 3 to a 19 pin configuration.

    This would have a big impact, as it would make all of the accessories that consumers have used with previous iPhones obsolete. Everything from power chargers, to portable speakers will no longer be of any use if you upgrade to the iPhone 5.

    Two reasons are suspected for the decision. The first is that it will save space inside the phone. The iPhone 5 could need additional room because Apple has whipped up something new and exciting to place inside the phone. The company could also just want to make it smaller or slimmer.

    The second reason suggested is that by changing connectors now, Apple will have more control over the accessories market. Apple is notorious for maintaining tight control over their devices every step of the way. By changing connectors, they could reign in an accessories market that they feel has grown to far beyond their control.

    We won’t know for sure until Apple releases any official information. That usually happens right before the actual release of the phone. The iPhone 5 is expected to be released sometime this fall, roughly a year after the release of the iPhone 4S.

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    For the first time since May of 2008 the Dow Jones Industrial Average has closed above 13,000. It is now only about 1,200 points off its all time high set in October of 2007. Growing confidence in the economy has led the Dow to gain 6% so far this year. The stock market is having one of its best starts to a year in over a decade, and today’s finish may cause additional investors to start believing in the recovery.

    The Dow has flirted with the 13,000 mark for the past two weeks. Polls showing growing consumer confidence finally put the index over the top today. Other indexes are doing even better. The Nasdaq is up 14%, and the S&P 500 is up 9%. The markets have show surprising resilience to gridlock in Washington and turmoil in the middle east. The easing of uncertainty in Europe has helped the market the past few weeks.

    There could be bumps in the road for the rally. If gas prices continue to rise then the economy could falter. If the economy begins to slow down under the weight of inflated gas prices then stocks will follow, with the exception of energy stocks.

    The market has some good news to look forward to as well. Facebook will have its IPO sometime later this year. Apple is expected to announce its new iPad 3 in the coming weeks. Tech stocks should be strong this spring. Barring unforeseen jarring events the Nasdaq should do well in the coming months.

    February’s job numbers will be a good indicator of how strong the recovery is. We have had a few good months of nice job creation. The unemployment numbers will also be an interesting read. Even if job creation is strong, the unemployment rate could go up as those without jobs try and reenter the workforce. Weekly trends have yet to show that bump, but it could come at any time. If the numbers are strong again, then the free market will be ready for them.

    Apple has sent out invites for an event it is having on March 7. The event will go down at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco at 10:00AM PST. Speculation is running rampant that the event will showcase the new iPad 3. Apple has not leaked any info, as per usual. Rumors of the iPad 3 point towards a faster quad core processor, a better display, 4G compatibility, and a better camera.

    Apple Inc. has become the most profitable company in the world on the backs of its iPhone and iPad devices. The long time computer maker failed to make a dent in the market with its Mac computers for most of the 1990s. Things changed around the turn of the millennium with the development of the iPod MP3 player. That device quickly became the dominant MP3 player on the market. Its dominance is so thorough that iPod has become the generic term for MP3 players in popular culture.

    Apple’s success went through the roof when it introduced the iPhone. The popular iPad tablet computer followed, and now Apple’s stock trades at over $500 a share. Apple’s market capitalization is now over $456 billion, making the company more valuable than Microsoft and Google combined. The passing of co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs has not slowed the company at all. Robertsdale native Tim Cook has stepped into the former CEO’s shoes and kept the good times rolling for Apple.

    It will be interesting to see if Apple plans to keep the iPad 2 on the market at a cheaper price. The company has yet to offer a cheaper version of the iPad, but rumors began flying that it would after the success of the much cheaper Kindle Fire from Amazon. Though the company does not seem to be feeling the heat from competition, a cheaper iPad would definitely be a big seller to those who can not the steep price tag of $500 for a new iPad.

    The company that brought us the iPod is about to be launching a new music service. Apple is on the verge of signing a deal with the four major record labels that will allow it stream music to customers from Apple servers. Under Apple’s new service you will be able to buy a song and stream it to any Apple made device you own without having to download it to the device. You would no longer have to worry about running out of hard drive space on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad. The concept is known as cloud computing.

    It is unknown at this point what the price of this service will be. The service itself could be free and you just continue to pay per song. Apple could possibly change to a subscription service similar to Netflix. More details are expected at Apple’s annual developers’ conference on June 6.

    For the first time digital books have out sold their printed counterparts at Amazon.com. The changing of the guard was inevitable given the runaway success of Kindle. Amazon recently released a cheaper version of the e-reader that is ad supported at $114. With Apple’s iPad also selling well it probably won’t be long before digital books become the industry standard.

    Baldwin County High School is moving into the digital age in a big way. The school is purchasing over 1300 Mac-books from Apple for its students and teachers. The purchase will be made via a $2 million grant from the state. Most of the money will have to be repaid by the Baldwin County school board. The school decided to make the move after seeing the program work well in North Carolina. Superintendent Alan Lee says the school board plans to implement the program county wide eventually. Let us know if you think the Saraland and Satsuma school systems should follow suit and get computers for all of its students, or do you think the traditional pen, paper, and school book method is the way to go.

    Rumors are beginning to come in on Apple’s new iPhone. The new phone is expected to be released this fall and will be called the iPhone 4S. The phone is not expected to be that much different than the current iPhone 4. There will be minor cosmetic changes in addition to improved cameras and a better processor, the A5 dual-core. Analysts believe Apple will open the phone to new carriers as well, including Sprint, T-Mobile, and China Mobile. T-Mobile was likely to happen anyway as the company is in merger talks with AT&T. Adding to the phone to China Mobile would make the iPhone available to 600 million new customers.

    The company behind the iPhone and the iPad is now the most valuable brand in the world. Experts put the value of Apple’s brand at $153 billion. Apple surpassed Google as the top dog in terms of branding. Google had been the top brand for the past four years. Technology companies dominate the list of the top ten brands worldwide. Below is the full top ten list compiled by global brands agency Millward Brown.

1. Apple
2. Google
3. IBM
4. McDonald’s
5. Microsoft
6. Coca Cola
7. AT&T
8. Marlboro
9. China Mobile
10. General Electric

    Researchers announced on Wednesday they had discovered that Apple’s iPhone and iPad collect information on the location of their users. Apparently this has been going on since June of 2010 when Apple upgraded to iOS version 4. This information is recorded at random times, but is done so fairly often.

    The good news is that this data can only be accessed on the device itself or on the computer you connect the device to with iTunes. Apple itself is not receiving the data. There is even a free app you can get to track where you have been since the tracking began called iPhone Tracker.

    The bad news is that anyone with access to your device or computer could get the information. You can manually delete the file (file name: consolidated.db) at this location: /Users/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backups/ but you must do so each time you sync your device to your computer.

    Apple has not commented yet on why this feature was added. Since Apple itself is not receiving the data I do not believe they had any nefarious intentions. More than likely the data was being collected for an app they intended on bundling with iOS 4 that got left out. It is important to note that cell phone companies already track you in the same way. This data can only be accessed by a court order.

    We are in the midst of a philosophical war between advancing technology and privacy concerns. The digital age is erasing much of the privacy we once enjoyed. A simple Google search will reveal more information than some people would care to give out about themselves. The rise to prominence of Facebook and Twitter shows that today’s generation does not seem to concerned with maintaining their privacy. For those that do wish to maintain their privacy it is important to stay up to date on the latest technology and weigh the pros and cons of using it.