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In order to achieve its internal goal of shipping 40 million iPad products in 2011, Apple has occupied close to 60% of the global touch panel capacity causing tight supply among Apple's competitors, according to sources from upstream component makers. Sources from tablet PC makers also pointed out that the component shortage is causing their shipment volumes to be unable to catch up with their orders, especially for second-tier players. Touch panels are currently suffering the most serious shortage due to Apple holding control over the capacity of major touch panel makers such as Wintek and TPK, and with US-based...

Cisco CEO John Chambers wants to bring cash home without the tax hit.FORTUNE -- Economists, businessmen, and politicians of every stripe have spent months talking themselves hoarse about how to get the roughly $2 trillion in corporate reserves back into the economy. Get ready to start hearing a lot about that sum's international cousin. A group of tech, pharmaceutical and energy giants is readying a major lobbying blitz for a tax holiday that would allow them to bring home the estimated $1 trillion they've got parked overseas at a steeply discounted rate, Fortune has learned. The campaign is still in...

Apple didn't attend Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but it took the event's top award for a mobile device. The event, a major confab of the mobile industry, has been virtually ignored by Apple in much the same way as the more general Consumer Electronics Show held in January. Apple not only fails to show at both events, but also appears to leak news or hold press events of its own that tend to overshadow the announcements of competing firms. Judges didn't hold that against the company however, calling iPhone 4 "Best Mobile Device," saying that it has a "great...

Our January infographic in the Mobclix Index series takes a look at the value of an app user. We have all seen the research and impressive numbers around app success in 2010 but how does this translate to revenue potential for developers on a per user basis? We analyzed apps in the Utilities, Entertainment and Games categories across iPhone and Android (based on specific criteria, see below) and have found a monthly value based on ARPU (average revenue per user).Highlights: iPhone app users have a higher value than Android app usersUtility app users have a higher value than game and...

Apple on Tuesday announced a new subscription service for publishers of content-based applications, requiring them to offer the lowest subscription rates in the company's App Store. Publishers set the price and length of subscription. They can offer subscription on their own websites, but "Apple does require that if a publisher chooses to sell a digital subscription separately outside of the app, that same subscription offer must be made available, at the same price or less, to customers who wish to subscribe from within the app," said the company in a statement. Apple said it will keep 30 percent of the...

Best Buy has begun promoting Motorola’s Xoom tablet. Pre-orders begin on Thursday at Best Buy stores (or so they delusionally dream). Price: $1,199.99. 1 month data activation with Verizon Wireless required.Best Buy’s Motorola Xoom page is here.MacDailyNews Take: No wonder Motorola named it “exhume,” it’s already dead.[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Dan K." for the heads up.]

BARCELONA, Spain – Nokia Corp. will get billions of dollars from Microsoft Corp. to ditch its current smart-phone software in favor of Windows Phone 7, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said Sunday, in a defense of the deal. Nokia, the world's largest maker of phones, and Microsoft announced their alliance Friday. Both investors and employees reacted with dismay: Nokia's stock dived 14 percent and Finnish employees used flex time to go home early. On Sunday, a day ahead of the start of the Mobile World Congress cell phone trade show in Barcelona, Elop told press, analysts and industry players that apart...

Apple's new application-level encryption paves the way for companies to run business apps on the iPad As global accounts director at Altus, Inc., Michelle Klatt's job is to visit Fortune 500 companies and demonstrate her firm's video management software. When the iPad came out a year ago, she was all over it. "I was one of the first salespeople to get one," she says. "I fought very hard.'' Her company's videos look "absolutely beautiful" on the iPad, she says. And once the sales presentation is over, she uses her iPad to update the Salesforce.com entry for the sales prospect, log...

If you could get a tablet for the price of a smart phone, and if it also worked on one of the new, faster, 4G-class cellular networks, you’d jump at the chance, right? Dell and T-Mobile hope so, and that’s why they’ve brought out the Dell Streak 7, at just $200 with a two-year service contract. The Streak 7, Dell’s second effort to compete with Apple’s $500 iPad, is the least expensive tablet I’ve seen from a major manufacturer, and claims to be the first capable of 4G cellular speeds (it also has Wi-Fi). Like many planned iPad competitors, it...

Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi Vatican City, Feb 9, 2011 / 12:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The sacrament of Confession "cannot be substituted by any computer application," the Vatican said Feb. 9. The remarks by papal spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, came amid a flurry of misleading international media reports on a new application developed for Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod. "Confession: A Roman Catholic App" helps Catholics prepare for confession by offering a “step-by-step” guide to the sacrament and a “personalized examination of conscience.” Many media outlets wrongly reported that the application allowed Catholics to go to Confession on...

We're here at HP's webOS 2.1 event in San Francisco. HP has announced a couple of big things today; a tablet (HP TouchPad), a (tiny) smartphone (HP Veer) and a professional phone (the Pre 3), all running the webOS 2.1 operating system.The TouchPad is a 9.7" (1024x768) tablet powered by the Qualcomm MSM8x60 SoC with a 1.2GHz dual-core Scorpion CPU, a 1.3MP webcam, 16 or 32GB storage, 1GB RAM and 802.11 b/g/n. The TouchPad weighs in at about 1.6 lbs and 13mm thick. The TouchPad WiFi-only version will be coming to US sometime this summer with 3G/4G versions and other...

HP unveiled its iPad clone, the TouchPad today. While the TouchPad is not a complete disaster -- it looks pretty nice, and seems to have good software -- it is NOT a significant threat to Apple's iPad. We still expect Apple to dominate the tablet market for years to come. Why isn't HP a threat? * It's not better than the iPad -- especially the improved iPad 2 that is already in production. The hardware and software need to be MUCH BETTER than the iPad to stand out -- a "leapfrog" product -- and they're not. Sure, there is nifty...

TUAW reader Aaron told the site "how an iPad belonging to a fellow employee handled being run over by the front and rear wheels of a Chrysler PT Cruiser," Steven Sande reports for TUAW. "As the video shows, the iPad was in the standard Apple Case and the front glass was crushed quite extensively," Sande reports. "However, the Home button still worked and the rest of the components in the display were totally functional. The touchscreen still responded to gestures, and the accelerometer responded by rotating the screen."

We got our hands on the new iPhone 4 Verizon on the morning of February 7th, 2011. Compare this phone to our original GSM iPhone 4 teardown. If you're happy with your current coverage, then by all means hang on to it! Keep it running if you drop it or your battery wears down using our iPhone 4 repair manual and parts. Make sure to also check out the Verizon iPhone 4 Teardown video on YouTube!

"The mission-style building that houses the recently renovated Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library in Simi Valley, Calif., perches atop a bluff with spectacular views that conjure up the dozens of Westerns that Reagan the actor shot on location," Kelly DiNardo reports for The Washington Post. "But what's most in keeping with the 40th president's first career can be found inside: elaborate interactive programming that brings the Gipper to life." "The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation has orchestrated a $15 million renovation to be unveiled in a private ceremony as part of Reagan's 100th birthday celebration Sunday. It will open to...

According to the International Data Corporation's (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped a total of 100.9 million smartphones during the fourth quarter of 2010 (4Q10), up 87.2% from the 53.9 million smartphones shipped during 4Q09. For the full year, vendors shipped a total of 302.6 million smartphones worldwide, up 74.4% from the 173.5 million smartphones shipped in 2009. IDC expects further gains for the smartphone market in 2011, as smartphone vendors deepen and broaden their offerings. Top Five Smartphone Vendors Nokia noted the positive progress of its new Symbian^3 smartphones during 4Q10: five million units combined from the...

Countless bloggers and analysts have claimed that Steve Jobs has a divine touch. Apple's legions of devout follows have been compared to a spiritual sect. And overall, Cupertino's line of sleek gadgets and "enlightened lifestyle" has prompted many to deem Apple a religion. So it stands to reason that the Catholic Church would want in on that action and approve a church-themed iPhone app. Confession: A Roman Catholic App guides the user through the confession process and atoning for one's sins. Described as "the perfect aid for every penitent," the app features a step-by-step manual to the sacrament, password-protected profiles,...

Call us crazy, but we're having a hard time interpreting this line of fine print in any other way: "To activate WiFi functionality on this device, a minimum of one month data subscription is required."That's listed under Best Buy's most recent ad highlighting the world's first Android 3.0 tablet, and it most certainly sounds both ominous and ridiculous. Hardcore Verizon followers may remember the days of Big Red crippling Bluetooth radios in phones in order to "coerce" users to purchase ringtones and such from them rather than snagging one on the subway from Tom, Dick and / Jane, so we...

WASHINGTON -- The FDA has moved into the "got an app for that" market by approving the first diagnostic radiology application for the iPhone and the iPad. In announcing the approval, the FDA said the application can be used to view results of CT, MRI, and PET scans on the mobile devices and use those images to make diagnoses. But the agency noted that the app was "not intended to replace full workstations and is indicated for use only when there is no access to a workstation." "This important mobile technology provides physicians with the ability to immediately view images...

With Verizon Wireless preparing to offer Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone starting Feb. 10, the news media have focused most of their attention on AT&T (T) iPhone users who might switch to Verizon. But a new survey shows an even bigger percentage of switchers to the Verizon iPhone coming from Verizon BlackBerry and Android users. A survey by uSamp found that 26% of current AT&T cell phone users are likely to switch to Verizon when it begins offering the iPhone.