Mob Apple

With the boost, Apple's market share in the U.S. grew to 12.9% during the third quarter, up from 10.8% in the year-ago quarter and 10.7% last quarter.    Gartner's Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q11 (Thousands of Units) As usual, Gartner did not cover Apple's worldwide market share for the quarter, as the company does not rank among the top five vendors on a worldwide basis.

It's been an extremely busy day of software releases for Apple as the company has rolled out updates across all of its platforms to support iOS 5 and iCloud. To help summarize the events of today, we've put together this wrap-up to highlight the myriad of releases.  Apple Releases iOS 5 with Notification Center, iMessage, Twitter, and More  The highlight of the day was the release of iOS 5, bringing over 200 new features to Apple's recent iOS devices. While many of the features have been extensively profiled over the past few months as Apple has highlighted iOS 5 several times in presentations and developers have had their hands on the release for quite some time, the new operating system is finally in the hands of the public for use on a variety of devices.  For those interested in taking another look at the new features in iOS 5, TiPb has put together an extensive walkthrough full of details and screenshots.  Some users have been experiencing difficulties with upgrading to iOS 5, as Apple's servers have been slammed by heavy demand for the new release. The situation appears to be improving, however, and users should begin to have more luck getting through.  Other iOS-related releases making an appearance today include:  - Send Real Greeting Cards With Apple's New Cards App  - Apple Releases 'iTunes Movie Trailers' App for iOS  - Apple Launches Store for Text Message/Alert Tones  iCloud and Migration from MobileMe Services Now Live  The other major piece of today's launches is iCloud, Apple's new service for syncing and pushing content across devices. The extensive level of integration has driven the massive number of software releases today, as Apple has updated numerous software offerings to be compatible with the new service.  Headlining the iCloud compatibility releases is OS X 10.7.2, which brings iCloud support and a number of other fixes and enhancements, as well as bundling Safari 5.1.1, which itself brings a host of improvements.  Additional iCloud-focused releases for today include:  - Apple Releases Aperture 3.2 with Compatibility for iOS 5 and iCloud  - Apple Updates iMovie and iWork for iOS, Remote, Find My iPhone Apps  - Apple Releases iPhoto 9.2  Not to be left out, Apple also released a software update for the Apple TV, adding support for the Photo Stream feature of iCloud as well as a number of other improvements including live NHL games and video from The Wall Street Journal.  All of today's software releases are of course leading up to Friday's official launch of the iPhone 4S in the United States and several other countries around the world. With shipments underway and a few lucky customers having already received their orders, users with pre-orders are eagerly awaiting delivery of the iPhone 4S while others are making plans to camp out at their local Apple retail stores to try to obtain one first thing Friday morning.

Macworld also notes that Apple has added support for subtitles in Netflix and three new slideshow themes: Photo Wall, Flip-up, and Shifting Tiles.

With iOS 5 and OS X 10.7.2 rolling out to users, Apple has officially flipped the switch to turn on iCloud for all users. The iCloud site lost its beta label earlier today and MobileMe users are now able to migrate their accounts to iCloud once they have upgraded their devices OS X 10.7.2 and iOS 5.  The migration process for MobileMe users will move Mail and Calendars to iCloud, and MobileMe users will continue to be able to use Gallery, iDisk and iWeb publishing through June 30, 2012 even though those services are not making the transition to iCloud. A number of syncing services that had been available for MobileMe, including Dashboard Widgets, Dock Items, Keychain, Mail Accounts, Mail Rules, Signatures, and Smart Mailboxes, and Mac OS X Preferences, will become unavailable immediately upon moving to iCloud.

In line with Apple's announced schedule calling for a release today, iOS 5 is now available to download for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch users. Users can obtain the update by connecting their devices to iTunes and clicking the "Check for Update" button. It may take a few minutes for the update to propagate to all users, however.  iOS 5 brings more than 200 new features, including Notification Center, iMessage, Newsstand, Reminders, and systemwide Twitter integration.  iOS 5 is compatible with the iPad 2, original iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and third- and fourth-generation iPod touch. It will also ship on the iPhone 4S, which launches on Friday. An iOS 5-based version of the Apple TV software, labeled software version 4.4, is also available.

Lion Recovery Update weighs in at 431.91 MB and requires OS X Lion.

The iPhone 4S, officially set to launch on Friday, is a world-mode device capable of supporting both GSM and CDMA networks, but carrier locking and other requirements will substantially limit that flexibility for customers purchasing subsidized versions of the device.

While some German customers appear to have been the first to receive deliveries of the iPhone 4S several days ahead of the official launch date of this Friday, it now appears that the premature deliveries are making their way to the United States. AppleInsider reports that one U.S. customer who ordered his iPhone 4S from Verizon has already received his shipment two days early.  Customers who pre-ordered the iPhone in the U.S. and other launch countries have been tracking their deliveries since shipment notices began going out over the weekend, hoping that delivery companies might slip up and offer early arrival of the devices. Apple typically coordinates with shipping services for delivery on the scheduled launch day, but occasionally some shipments have slipped through for early delivery.

In line with the announced October 12th launch date for iOS 5, Apple has also transitioned its iPod touch line to begin shipping with the operating system pre-installed. The most visible change to the iPod touch lineup, however, is the addition of white models, and iLounge reports that the white iPod touch is now on display and available for sale in Apple's retail stores.  Apple's online store is also listing all six models of the iPod touch as "In Stock", indicating that they will be available to ship within 24 hours of ordering.

                      One of the iCloud features launched immediately in the United States upon the service's announcement back in June was "iTunes in the Cloud", offering users the ability to re-download music previously purchased from the iTunes Store to any registered device. The service allows users to forgo storing their entire iTunes-purchased music library on every device and only download tracks to a given device as needed.  With the full iCloud service set to launch today, we have begun receiving reports from international users that iTunes in the Cloud has already begun going live for them. Reports have come in from Canada and the United Kingdom so far, but it is unclear whether additional countries will be included in the initial round of launches.  UK iTunes Store with new "Purchased" tab The changes add a "Purchased" tab to the iTunes Store app in iOS, offering users access to an iCloud-hosted list of all of their purchased tracks, allowing for easy download. iTunes in the Cloud also supports automatic downloads, allowing users to purchase content on one device and have it automatically appear on other devices associated with the user's account.  Apple had reportedly been working hard to secure international iCloud music rights in time for last week's iPhone 4S media event, with sources indicating that Apple had indeed secured such agreements by that date, with the UK set to see the first expansion of the service in Europe.  Update: We've now received reports of iTunes in the Cloud being live from the following additional countries: Australia, France, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, and Spain.

Apple appeared to originally be preparing to integrate AirPort Utility directly into iOS 5, but apparently decided to break the functionality out into a separate app. Users entering the Wi-Fi portion of the Settings app in iOS 5 will be offered the ability to download the app to manage their networks. AirPort Utility is a universal app compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, and requires iOS 5.

Find My Friends is a universal app compatible with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. As previously mentioned, it requires iOS 5 and is therefore limited to the models capable of running the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system, which include the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, 3rd- and 4th-generation iPod touch, and the iPad and iPad 2.  Apple's new Cards app, which was also announced last week, will be released today as well.

Apple seems to be putting the finishing touches on their new iCloud service. iCloud.com has been updated this evening with a new login screen. The service now shows icons in the background and a new login that no longer is listed as "beta". iCloud.com, itself, still seems restricted to developers for the most part. There have been sporadic reports of non-developers being able to upgrade, but it seems you must have created one in iOS 5.  iCloud is expected to launch today (Wed, October 12th) alongside iOS 5 and Mac OS X 10.7.2. Apple released iTunes 10.5 on Tuesday in preparation. We don't expect iOS 5 to actually be released until later in the day. Apple has historically released their major iOS updates around 1pm eastern time.

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