iTunes Radio release another thing to get excited about this September!

September is IT guys.

Not only do we have the HUGE Apple September 10th announcement believed to be announcing the new iPhones ( 5S and 5C ), there is also the unveiling of Samsung’s smart watch Galaxy Gear, IFA – the huge techie consumer electronics trade show in Berlin 6th – 11th September, the Apple iTunes free concert series, the final Breaking Bad ever on Sept 9th (gulp), the return of Sons Of Anarchy and Southpark, America’s cup, TechCrunch Disrupt, and just, just so much more.

So much more like what iPhone Antidote?

Well, for one thing, the release of Apple’s iTunes Radio! Yay!

Apple has managed to get a bunch of brand partners including McDonald’s, Nissan, Pepsi, and Procter & Gamble, who will all get exclusive ads on the Radio product through the end of 2013.

The internet radio service, similar to Spotify and Pandora, will offer a way to listen to the radio which intuitively personalizes the tracks and artists you listen to, introduced you to new artists based on the style of music you listen to, as well as giving you the ability to create your own playlists from their selection and your own music from iTunes.

The system is free with ads, but has a super competitive premium ad-free option, if you subscribe to iTunes Match, at just $24.99 a year.

For the free service, listeners can look forward to walking out of the room grumpily every 15 minutes for an audio ad, and once an hour if you’re listening on a platform where you can exposed you to video ads. You will also get an ad if you skip songs six times in a row, if this stays the same as it currently is in the iOS 7 Beta testing.

The iTunes Radio service is part of iOS 7 and will be released with it. We don’t know the exact date… but we’re thinking it’s pretty likely that it will be released on or very close to September 10th!

We think we might rename September YAYtember!

Image courtesy of iTunes.

How many android users switching to Apple?!

The study, conducted over a year between June 2012 and June 2013, shows clearly that 20% of iPhone buyers had previously owned an Android powered smart phone. Winning, Apple?

Twenty-six percent of iPhone buyers were updating to Apple’s phone from a basic or feature phone, while 43 percent had already owned an Apple phone and were upgrading.

On the other end, though, only seven percent of Samsung phone buyers were switching from Apple devices.

Looking only at customers who had switched brands, fully one third of Apple’s new customers had previously owned Samsung devices. Only 11 percent of Samsung’s customers came from Apple.

Image courtesy of Forbes.

Apple shares over $500! Time to invest?

Because of one man, the shares in Apple have gone up by more than 5%, almost reaching the $500 mark and making over 17 million dollars for Apple. Sweet.

First, it started with a simple tweet from stockbroker turned billionaire hedge fund manager and investor Carl Icahn. It read;

“Had a nice conversation with Tom Cook today. Discussed my opinion that a larger buyback should be done now. We plan to speak again shortly.”

Then came the second tweet;

“We currently have a large position in APPLE. We believe the company to be extremely undervalued. Spoke to Tim Cook today. More to come.”

Less than two hours later, Apple shares had closed up by nearly 5 percent at just under $490.

In the days leading up to the Icahn tweets the shares had already been rising due to the leaked news of the Apple iPhone 5S announcement on September 10th,  as well as the news that the Obama administration had overturned an import ban on some older iPhones and iPads, and that the International Trade Commission had ordered several Samsung smartphones be banned for infringing on Apple patents.

All positive things for Apple, which reflects in their share prices.

Icahn is investing in Apple because he believes it to be undervalued, yes, but also because he thinks that if Apple use some of their massive $150 billion cash stockpile to buyback stock, the value of the stock could skyrocket to around $700.

No news yet if this is something Apple will be doing, but with a slate full of new product releases scheduled for the end of this year through to 2014, the general consensus is that Apple shares will remain positive.

As of today, the stock prices have reached $507.15 after hitting a peak of 513.43 April 19th, the highest the shares have been since September 19th 2012, when it reached the peak of $702.10. Although the price has gone slightly down, the fact that they remain above the $500 mark is a good sign.

So, time to invest?

Images courtesy of Appleinsider.

jOBS

Ashton Kutcher fans and Steve Jobs Fans, rejoice! Not only do we have some awesome, goose bump giving teaser material for you guys, but we also have a final release date for the Steve Jobs biopic, jOBS!

The Joshua Michael Stern directed film charts Steve Job’s inspirational ascension from college dropout to one of the most admired tech heads and entrepreneurs ever. It’s a purported cinematic celebration of Apple’s visionary leader and the rebellious and unorthodox way he wanted to lead his company.

As skeptical as iPhone Antdiote may have been in the beginning about this biopic, the promotional material and buzz leading up to the release is getting us excited and changing our mind about how much we think we’re going to like the movie.

As well as Kutcher in the lead role, other stars include James Woods, Dermot Mulroney, and Josh Gad as Apple’s other founder, Steve Wozniak.

The independent film was first glimpsed by a lucky few at the Sundance Film Festival in January and according to some Apple employees in the crowd who knew the man, Kutcher did an uber awesome admirable job playing Steve.

The film was originally due to be released on April 19th but delays (thought to be reshoots or the desire for more time to create better buzz) meant that everyone had to just cool their butts for a while… and that while is almost over!

Drum roll….

You can see jOBS on August 16.

Here is the official promotional poster released yesterday:

And you can see the trailer for jOBS here. And it’s pretty damn excitement making!

The other film biopic of Steve Jobs, the big budget Sony produced and Aaron Sorkin written ‘official biopic’, is still in development and, similar to an Apple product release, is being kept well under wraps…

Happy viewing kids!

Images courtesy of  The Verge and 9to5mac.com.

iWatch trademark update

So, we now have news that Apple has applied to trademark the name ‘iWatch’ in more countries across the world.

All of the applications were filed on June 3rd but have only become public in the last few days.

As well as Russia and Japan, Apple has filed to trademark ‘iWatch’ under both software and hardware categories in Jamaica, Taiwan, Turkey, and Mexico.

Momentum is building! Aghhhh!

Image courtesy of Forbes.

Free Stuff!

You heard us! Free stuff! And actually good free stuff too!

To celebrate the 5 year anniversary of the App store, Apple are giving away 5 games and 5 regular apps.

This is for a limited time, so get in there quick kids!

The apps you can get are:

Barefoot World Atlas
Day One ( Journaling app)
How To Cook Everything
Over
Traktor Dj for phone

The games you can get are:

Badland
Infinity Blade 2
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery
Tiny Wings
Where’s My Water?

All for freeeee! Happy Free Stuff Monday!

Image courtesy of appadvice.com

The iWatch

Good news for those of us waiting for a brand spanking ( ooh) new Apple product!

Yesterday, Apple’s application to trademark the term ‘iWatch’ in Japan was made public.

iWatch is, of course, the rumored name for the first wearable Apple device and the potentially out of this world Smart Watch. The trademark was applied for on June 3rd this year and is actually the second time that Apple has applied to trademark the name, the first being in Russia in February.

Momentum (and the rumor mill) for this product is building rapidly. Yesterday’s reports come after Bloomberg posted in March this year that according to their sources there were 100 engineers working on the planned smart watch, and after Tim Cook said in May that the wearable device market is one just waiting for innovation. And who better to do it than Apple?

Unlike other Smart Watches currently available (see the wonderful Pebble Watch), the much speculated iWatch will most likely be a stand alone device, with biometric potential that could turn the way we use technology on it’s head.
Suckily, experts agree that we probably won’t see the iWatch until the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2014.

C’mon Tim Cook! We want wearable device innovation, and we want it now! Or soon! Please?

Image courtesy of  Forbes.

The Annual Apple ‘Back To School’ Promotion

Something for the learners & learned amongst us!

Apple have announced that to celebrate that magical time of year- the beginning of the school year- their annual Back To School promotion will be starting as soon as tomorrow.

The promotion offers students who purchase a Mac a $100 iTunes/App store gift voucher, and for those students who purchase an iPad or an iPhone, they will be offered a $50 gift voucher.

Sweet deal!

What’s sweeter? This promotion is added on top of the usual student discount of $200 off a new Mac.

To be eligible you must be a college student, parents buying for college students, teachers (including homeschool), school administrators & Staff.

Happy learning guys. Also, we apologize for calling the beginning of the school year magical.

Image courtesy of top10films.co.uk

Microsoft Games coming to iPhone

This is one to be filed under F for Fun! Erm… yeh, so anyway, who likes playing games?

Everyone? Cool. Later this year, according to reports via Reuters, Microsoft will be bringing a bunch of their X-Box and Windows games to the iPhone.

Helping bring their gamey goodness over into the smartphone world is Japanese gaming firm KLab Inc.

The first game is said to be Age of Empires, and is also said to be F for Free!

P.s We do apologize, some of the team here at iPhone Antidote appear to have been taken over by Sesame Street.

Images courtesy of isource.com and blogs.sfweekly.jpeg

Deal of the day

Listen up kids! One most excellent deal of the day, brought to you by AT&T.

Online only, for a limited time and with waived activation, you can now get a new phone on a 2 year contract for HALF the price at AT&T. That’s  a HALF price discount. Divided by two, people.

Here’s how you get it:

Step 1. Choose a smartphone priced between $0.99 and $199.99 ( we’d say go for the iPhone 5. Wait, was that obvious?…).

Step 2. Magic! ( also…choosing an appropriate plan and stuff)

Step 3. You get a 50% discount automatically applied to the phone in your shopping cart.

So, iPhone Antidote, can you give me an example?

We sure can guys! This means that you can get a 16gb iPhone 5 for only $100! That’s RAD!

You wanna know what else would be rad?  I got a couple more steps for you…

1. Buy shiny new iPhone online using 50% discount. Laugh maniacally.

2. Send us your old stinky iPhone. Laugh maniacally.

3. We give you a bunch of cash for stinky old iPhone, and hey, that new phone cost you next to nothing! LAUGH MANIACALLY.

This deal is only available online and for a limited time so get your butts into gear! As always, terms and conditions apply, check out the deal here: http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/smartphones.html

Image courtesy of Forbes.