iPad: 2 Million Sold

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Only a short time after the release of the iPad internationally, Apple says that sales of the iPad have exceeded 2 million. This comes in less than two months after the device was initially launched in the U.S.

The iPad recently went on sale in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K. By July, the iPad will be available for purchase in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore.

Source: MarketWatch

Hobbit Sees Del Toro Departure

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Guillermo Del Toro recently announced that he’s stepping down as director of the two Hobbit movies, due to delays in production caused mostly by financial troubles at co-distributor MGM. He will still co-write the screenplays and remains committed to making the Hobbit movies a success.

“In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming The Hobbit, I am faced with the hardest decision of my life,” says Guillermo. “After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures.I remain grateful to Peter, Fran and Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all my crew in New Zealand.”

“We feel very sad to see Guillermo leave the Hobbit, but he has kept us fully in the loop and we understand how the protracted development time on these two films, due to reasons beyond anyone s control has compromised his commitment to other long term projects,” says Executive Producer Peter Jackson. “The bottom line is that Guillermo just didn’t feel he could commit six years to living in New Zealand, exclusively making these films, when his original commitment was for three years.”

Jackson will work with his studio partners to find a replacement for the Hobbit movies, which haven’t been officially greenlit but are currently penciled in for December 2012 and December 2013. Notably, Jackson did say he would direct the $150 million project himself if necessary to ensure the movie is filmed in his native New Zealand.

Source: The One Ring

Verizon Customers Want iPhone

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An iPhone that is compatible with Verizon has been rumored for a long time, and according to a recent survey, there’s demand among Verizon customers for the Apple device.

“According to our [Alphawise U.S. consumer iPhone survey], there is substantial pent up iPhone demand within the Verizon installed base as 16.8 percent of Verizon subscribers said they are very likely to purchase an iPhone if offered on the Verizon Network, said Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty to HotHardware. This 16.8 percent is higher than AT&T subscriber s 14.6 percent extreme interest in the current AT&T iPhone, and well above the overall iPhone extreme interest of 7.5 percent.”

That may be good news for Apple, since Rodman Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar says that the company is looking to increase its production rate by 25 percent to 4 million a month. Kumar says to TheStreet this is being done to prepare a Verizon iPhone for as early as November, though some think the move is simply to ramp up in production of the anticipated iPhone 4G.

Apple Planning New TV Solution – Report

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According to reports, Apple is planning its next move in the sector of TV. In the works since before Google TV was announced, the device will have the same architecture as the iPhone 4G, though lacking a screen and with only a power socket and video out, continuing Apple’s traditional paucity of ports.

While external storage will be available via a Time Capsule, the main model of storage will be cloud-based, with streaming 1080p. While Apple TV currently has a variation on OS X, this one will have the iPhone OS. Intriguingly, this device is set to release at $99.

An announcement for the new device is apparently not planned for the World Wide Developers Conference. It seems Apple isn’t going to give ground on digital TV content to Google without a fight.

Source: Engadget

Virtual Good Purchases On The Rise, Says Study

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Frank N. Magid Associates and PlaySpan today announced the results of their study on virtual good purchases. 13 percent of the population (ages 12 to 64) bought a virtual item in the last year, with the mean and median of digital goods purchases both up 14 and 67 percent. The iPhone saw the most digital good purchases, followed by virtual worlds.

“There’s been a substantial increase in the number of consumers buying digital goods and an upward trend of players spending more on average than in the previous year,” said Mike Vorhaus, President, Magid Advisors. “With the proliferation of smartphone users, and players becoming more comfortable paying for items within virtual worlds and social networks, Magid believes there is a huge opportunity for developers and publishers to capitalize on this growing multi-billion dollar industry, especially as virtual credits and pre-paid payment options become more widely accepted.”

21 percent of those who bought virtual goods plan to spend more on them in the next year. Males were much more enthusiastic about virtual good purchases, with 31 percent of males ages 18 to 24 saying they have purchased a virtual good in the past 12 months.

“We’re on the upward curve of a huge growth industry with younger players leading the charge,” said Eric Hartness, Chief Marketing Officer of PlaySpan. “In addition to growth in online games and virtual worlds, the data shows, and our internal metrics corroborate, tremendous virtual goods purchasing behavior in social network games.”

iPhone: 40% Of Sales To Businesses, Says AT&T

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When the iPhone first launched, some wondered how the smartphone would work for businesses, given its lack of a keyboard. Still, the head of AT&T’s Business Solutions division, Ron Spears, says that sales of the iPhone to businesses have been quite brisk.

“Four out of 10 sales of the iPhone are made to enterprise users,” said Spears at an investor conference. “When the iPhone came out, what most people heard in the first year from ’07 to ’08 was ‘oh my God, it’s not BlackBerry secure. This is not going to work on the enterprise space.’ At the end of the day, it’s just software. That’s all it is.”

“And by the time the 3G came out in ’08 [Apple] had solved about 80 percent of the security issues, detailed Spears. “By the time the 3GS came out last summer, most CIOs will tell you today they have very few issues around the security that they need provided, as they have come to know that RIM can do it because of the way RIM provides their solution. So enterprises today view the iPhone as a mobile computer.”

Source: CNet

Kane & Lynch Loses Simon Crane As Director

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The Kane & Lynch movie is set to begin filming in August, but the project apparently has no director. Sources close to Millennium say that Simon Crane has left the project.

After F. Gary Gray declined the role, the studio is reportedly in talks with Wayne Kramer to direct the film. Kramer’s previous work includes The Cooler, Running Scared and Crossing Over.

The Kyle Ward script has mercenary Adam “Kane” Marcus and schizophrenic killer James Lynch paired up to find a stolen microchip. Bruce Willis and Jamie Foxx are already confirmed for the roles of Kane and Lynch respectively, while Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter are producing.

Source: Latino Review {link no longer active}