128 GB iPads now on sale at Apple online store

Apple's new 128 GB iPads are now on sale at Apple's online store. The new iPads were 

and mark the first time users can buy an iPad over 64 GB in size. 

The new 128 GB models begin at US$799 for the Wi-Fi version.

The Wi-Fi + Cellular version will set you back $929. 

Currently Apple is showing a 1 to 3 day ship time for the Wi-Fi model and 3 to 5 day 

ship time for the Sprint and Verizon Wi-Fi + Cellular models. The AT&T Wi-Fi + Cellular

model is listed as shipping in 1 to 3 days.

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This Is How Many Apps, Songs, Videos, Photos & Games You Can Fit On A 128GB iPad

When it’s released, the new 128GB will be the highest capacity yet, but what does it mean in practical terms? How many games, apps, photos, songs, and videos will the new 128GB iPad store?
We did the math. Here’s what you can fit on your new 128GB iPad.

Here’s a table breaking down, on average, how many media files you’ll be able to fit on each of the fourth-gen iPads.

	Average Size (MB)	16GB iPad	32GB iPad	64GB iPad	128GB iPad
Photos	2.3	7,123	14,247	28,494	56,998
Songs	7.032	2,339	4,660	9,320	18,639
Apps	23	712	1,425	2,849	5,699
Games	60	273	546	1092	2,185
SD Video	1,536	11	21	43	85
HD Video	4,096	4	8	16	32

A word of explanation on these figures. First of all, the average file sizes are taken from a number of sources, all of which are linked. Second, the capacities of these iPads do not take into account the space the iOS operating system takes up on disk.
Even so, as you can see, the 128GB iPad can fit an absolutely astonishing amount of media: up to 64 hours of 1080p HD video, enough music to listen to for almost 40 days straight, over two thousand games and almost six thousand apps, and enough photos to open your own Getty.
The funniest thing about these numbers? Even so, there are going to be people for whom 128GB isn’t enough.

Source: Cult of Mac

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Leaked photos show iPad 5

Photos of a prototype back piece for the fifth-generation iPad have been leaked by a “purported China-based iPad accessories maker,” according to a new report. The photos show a smaller, thinner casing with chamfered edges and virtually no left or right bezel, confirming our exclusive report from last week.
The top of the backplate indicates that this is an LTE model. Our sources have said the fifth-generation iPad will launch in or near October.
sdf  

 

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Sprint confirms they'll be carrying the 128GB iPad 4

Sprint has confirmed that they will indeed be offering the recently announced 128GB variant of the iPad 4. This also leads us to assume other carriers will follow suit.
Fared Adib, senior vice president of Product Development at Sprint confirmed they'd be carrying the 128GB model today:

"Sprint is delighted to confirm that we will be offering our customers additional iPad options with the new 128GB iPad with Retina display."

As iPads become everyday devices for a lot of people, sometimes even replacing desktop computers and laptops, more storage capacity options are always welcome. The 128GB capacity iPad 4 will be available for purchase on February 5th.
Anyone out there readying their money to pick up the larger capacity?

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Would You Buy $800, 128-GB iPad?

For those who feel that 64 GB of storage in their iPad isn't enough, there's good news. A new SKU has appeared that suggests a higher-capacity model is on the way, according to 9to5Mac. Rather than an entirely new iPad, this new SKU points to a variation of the fourth-generation iPad.
9to5Mac's source says the new iPad will be available in both black and white, in both Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi+cellular versions, and will be offered to educational institutions and governments in packs of 10.

More Hardware Insights

The current fourth-gen iPad is available in capacities of 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB. Apple's SKUs refer to these different storage capacities with descriptions of "good," "better" and "best." The new SKU is described as being "ultimate," which points to a capacity of 128 GB.
The report is corroborated by evidence found in the latest iOS 6.1 beta. References in iOS 6.1 have also suggested that a 128 GB model iPad is on the way. A higher-capacity iPad has also been referenced in iTunes 11.


Pricing for the new model will fall in line with Apple's current scheme. The Wi-Fi only version of the 128 GB model will cost $799. Adding cellular radios will push the price to a painful $929 -- which is just $70 cheaper than Apple's 11-inch MacBook Air.
Apple has not announced plans for such a tablet, nor has it confirmed 9to5Mac's report.
Given the relatively inexpensive access to cloud storage services, the usefulness of such a high-capacity iPad is questionable. Speaking personally, I stick with a maximum storage capacity of 32 GB in my devices. With 32 GB I have plenty of room for apps (even those bigger than 1 GB, such as Infinity Blade 2), as well as a good supply of photos, music and a handful of HD movies. Considering that the entry-level iPad starts at $499, adding such a massive amount of storage and a cellular radio nearly doubles the price. I can't think of a competing tablet that offers 128 GB of storage, though some include support for microSD cards in addition to built-in storage.

What do you think? Is 128 GB a necessary option? Is it too much? Or is the pricing enough of a roadblock for people? Please comment below

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300m iPhones, iPads and iPods running iOS 6

People queuing to buy the new iPhone 5 in October. Apple sold 76m devices running iOS6 in the past three months. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Apple says that nearly 300 million iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches are now running its iOS 6 software released in September - possibly helped by the release in mid-December by Google of its Maps app, after Apple replaced it with its own implementation.
The announcement came as it released iOS 6.1, its third update to the software since its launch in September.
The figure means that a majority of iOS devices are now running the newest version - a fact that Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller was quick to point up, saying in a statement that it "may be the most popular new version of an OS in history".
Chief executive Tim Cook said in October 2012 that there were 200m devices running iOS 6, and then during Apple's most recent quarterly earnings said the company had sold a total of 500m iOS devices since 2007. That suggests a substantial majority of the iOS devices still in use are running the newest version of the software. Every iOS device sold since 2009 except the original iPad, which lacks sufficient RAM, can run iOS 6.
With Apple having sold a total of 47.8m iPhones and 22.9m iPads, as well as about 6m iPod Touches during the fourth quarter of the year - totalling 76.7m devices with iOS6 pre-installed - the new figure suggests that existing owners of older devices are still moving to iOS 6, despite the concerns that have been expressed about the quality of Apple's Maps, seen by some as a key reason to hold back.
The growing proportion will be a relief for Apple, which dumped Google as its maps partner after the two sides could not agree on data and revenue sharing from the app, for which the search giant had been used on the iPhone since its inception in 2007.
It suggests that existing users with older devices are willing to upgrade to get new services - which is crucial to Apple's strategy of retaining customers by locking them in to its app store and services. Two of those are its Photo Stream (photo uploading to the cloud) and iMessage service, an iOS-only equivalent to RIM's BlackBerry Messenger (BBM): Schiller said that "iOS users have uploaded over nine billion photos to Photo Stream [and] sent over 450 billion iMessages."
The number of users of iMessage, introduced with iOS 5 in October 2011, could now be as many as 400m, far exceeding the number of BBM users, where RIM's worldwide user base fell by 1m during its last financial quarter to 79m.
Although Apple's maps implementation brings turn-by-turn navigation and vector graphics which require less data to download - putting it at feature parity with Google's Android, which had had those features in the newest version of its OS since January 2011 - users complained about misplaced airfields, misnamed towns and incorrect landmarks.
The arrival of Google's own Maps app for iOS 6 in December may have been an important step encouraging users to upgrade: according to the ad network MoPub, the release on 13 December of the app saw the number of users running iOS 6 increase by a third soon afterwards.

Google said that the Maps app, which brought its own routing and Street View offerings to a separate app which works on both iOS 5 and iOS 6, was downloaded more than 10m times in the 48 hours after its launch. It has not released any further download figures, nor any that would indicate which version of iOS the downloads are being used on.
Apple has pledged to improve the quality of its Maps app.
• iOS 6.1 brings compatibility with a larger number of 4G/LTE carriers around the world, as well as the ability to buy film tickets in the US via Fandango, individual song downloads via iCloud and a new button to reset the advertising identifier - found in Settings –> General –> About –> Advertising - which deletes any cookies and effectively makes the user look like a brand new visitor to any site.
• Apple has launched a 128GB version of the iPad 4, costing £639 inc VAT for the Wi-Fi model and £739 inc VAT for the 4G/Wi-Fi version. The pricing and capacity may mean it is aimed at businesses: the press release accompanying the release quotes three businesses which require large amounts of onboard storage, for AutoCAD files, high-resolution music files and the developer of an app for American football teams.

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128GB iPad how much really costs

Apple's long been at the top of the heap when it comes to making money on one key aspect of its portable devices: storage.
That trend continued with this morning's announcement of a 128GB model of the iPad, a device that costs just a steak dinner short of a full-blown Mac notebook.
The new models ring in at $799 for the Wi-Fi only, or $929 for the version with 4G LTE connectivity. That's $100 more than the 64GB model, which is $100 more than the 32GB model, which is -- you guessed it -- $100 more than the 16GB iPad. The end result is that Apple can make a healthy profit on those buying the top-of-the-line model, with nearly all of it coming from the storage.
The timing on the new model is no accident. NAND flash, which is what Apple uses in the iPad, costs far, far less than what it did a year ago, says IHS' Andrew Rassweiler.
"Apple's cost per GB in NAND flash is currently around $0.55/GB. Last year it was closer to $0.90/GB," Rassweiler said in an e-mail to CNET. "So it's clear that pricing has eroded to the point that Apple can afford to offer 2X memory configurations while maintaining the kind of incremental profit margins they were making on the memory upgrades a year ago."
That means Apple's spending about $35.20 more for an upgrade that it's charging buyers $100 for, Rassweiler says. And that's on top of what people are already spending over the two other storage upgrades from the base model.
The new model comes as analysts are watching Apple's margins closer than ever, with fears that the iPhone, iPad, and Mac maker is losing its touch when it comes to maintaining high margins on its products. That's been especially true with iPads, with Apple's newer, less-expensive iPad Mini bringing in less profit per device than its bigger brother.
So will this new, high-end iPad fix that? Not necessarily. In announcing the product this morning, Apple was keen to note that this device is good for "enterprises, educators and artists," as opposed to the standard consumer. That's a lucrative group to sell to, but far removed from the millions snapping up the entry-level model.

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Apple announces 128GB iPad 4, available Feb. 5 starting at $799

Apple this morning announced new versions of the fourth-generation iPad, bringing the maximum storage level to 128 gigabytes. The upgraded storage applies to the Wifi-only and Wifi/cellular versions of the iPad and doubles the previous max. 9 to 5 Mac first reported the impending change earlier this week.
The beefier iPads will be available Feb. 5, in either black or white (or both if that's how you roll), for $799 for the Wifi model, and a whopping $929 for the cellular version.

Source
Apple Press Info...

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