Mike Abramsky, RBC Capital Markets Managing Director believes that RIM has sold approximately 250,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets to date. In a note to investors recently, the analyst points to channel checks in stating PlayBook sales have remained steady since the device’s launch on April 19th. If these estimates are accurate, RIM’s PlayBook is already outselling Motorola’s flagship HoneyComb tablet, the XOOM, which managed to sell 250,000 units in its first two months of availability.

Abramsky belives RIM could move roughly around 500,000 units during RIM’s first fiscal quarter, though we would note that RIM’s current pace is way off RBC’s initial projects of 4 million units in 2011 and 6 million units total in the PlayBook’s first month of availability. Being way off, RBC later lowered its projections down to 3 million units in 2011 but at he current pace of 250,000 units per month, RIM is on track to sell just over 2 million units this year. Abramsky also noted that BlacKberry smartphones sales are slowing according to checks and he is now projecting project shipments to decline 9% from last quarter to 13.5 million units.

Although the PlayBook seems to be doing better than expected in terms of competition, it still seems to fall short of expectations. So far Apple’s iPad has no real competition with none in sight either. What do you think of the whole ordeal? Let us know in the comments below!

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The revolutionary Square credit card reader is now available through the Apple online store for only $9.95. Just plug it into your iPod Touch 4G, iPhone 4, or iPad 1 or 2 and install the free Square app via iTunes and you’ll be good to go. It allows you to be free from complicated contracts, monthly fees, or merchant accounts. All you pay is 2.75% per transaction.

The little Square credit card reader is available in black and white color that includes a $10 redemption code. The Square is currently only available for use in the U.S only and accepts U.S issued Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover Cards. The Square Credit Card Reader will be included in the store area where main consumer oriented accessories are displayed. Apple and Square plan to partner to host educational series at the stores, where consumers can learn how to use the device. It’s already pretty easy to use though as can be seen with Square’s most recent YouTube video:

Have any of you decided to get a Square credit card reader for yourself or your business? If so, let us know in the comments below!

As usual, stay tuned for more tech news and info by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

Today, Apple once again revised its estimated shipping time for orders placed online for the new iPad 2. The revision isn’t going to be well received by prospective iPad 2 buyers who are eager to get their hands on the second generation tablet. According to many people who placed their orders this morning. Apple has delayed shipping times again, saying it may now take four to five weeks for a delivery.

Despite initial rumors that Apple stores were getting massive iPad 2 shipments yesterday (and opening their doors extra early today) it seems that the supply shortage has somehow worsened between Monday and Tuesday. The iPad 2 continues to remain sold-out, with any new inventory quickly being snatched seemingly within moments of hitting the shelves. Apple’s isn’t addressing any supply shortages as of right now except to say that “demand for the next generation iPad 2 has been amazing. We are working hard to get the iPad 2 into the hands of every customer who wants one as quickly as possible.”

So far on each of the three iPad 2′s three business days of availability (Friday, Monday, and Tuesday), the estimated shipping time has been extended by a matter of weeks. Some analysts believe that delivery times could reach upwards of eight weeks before the end of this week. Apple is reportedly turning on the “supply faucet” to a degree to prevent any significant customer outrage and potential loss of business to a competing tablet. Although the exact numbers aren’t known yet, Wall Street analysts believe that Apple has likely sold somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million iPad 2s since the Friday product launch.

[Source: MSNBC]

According to analysts, Apple Inc. sold close to 1 million units of its next-generation tablet computer during its debut weekend. In comparison to the original version of the iPad, which launched in April of 2010, which crossed the one-million mark 28 days after its launch, the iPad 2 is already leaps ahead. The iPad 2 went on sale in the United States on Friday evening at Apple Stores, AT&T and Verizon Wireless stores, as well as Target, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy stores – all greeted by thousands of eager customers. Brian White, an analyst at Ticonderoga Securities, said it was difficult to find an iPad 2 over the weekend.

“Our field checks over the weekend indicate that the iPad 2 sold out at every Apple and non-Apple store we contacted,” White wrote in a research note. “In fact, all the stores had worked through iPad 2 inventory by Saturday afternoon, and there were no new iPad 2 deliveries on Sunday.”

“We would not be surprised to see Apple sell closer to 1 million iPad2s in the opening weekend,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Scott Sutherland.

Best Buy on Friday said some of its outlets ran out of the tablet and its accessories within 10 minutes.

Regarding buyer breakdown, Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry believes 60% of iPad 2 buyers were upgrading from last year’s model and the remaining 40% were first-time iPad buyers — and he believes 100% of iPad 2 buyers own at least one other Apple product. Chowdhry also thinks people preferred AT&T’s 3G model over Verizon Wireless’ iPad 2 because AT&T has better customer service (hearing this was a bit of a surprise). It would make more sense if you bought the iPad 2 with AT&T for faster service and an unlocked-SIM but either way, we are glad to see many users got their hands on the better version of the iPad 2.

Stay tuned for more news on iPad 2 by following us on Twitter and/or by subscribing to our RSS Feed.

[Source: Reuters]

Apple’s iPad 2 was released on Friday and apparently sold out of every store in the United States by Saturday. That’s what Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray learned from a survey he did of retailers across the country this weekend, and what’s being confirmed by Deutsche Bank analysts this morning. Munster estimates something between 400,000 and 500,000 iPad 2′s were sold this weekend as compared to 300,000 original iPads sold on the opening weekend last year. Other analysts are putting the initial sales closer to one million iPad 2′s sold.

Munster’s team called several retailers such as Apple stores, Target, Best Buy, and found no stock of iPad 2 anywhere they checked. They also walked up and down lines in New York City and Minneapolis and interviewed 236 potential buyers to profile was who buying the new tablet. In addition to large sales to already existing iPad owners, they found about 70% of the people in those lines were getting their first tablet. Out of all the buyers, 47% of them got a 3G model and 41% bought the 32 GB iPad 2, an increase from 32% who had gotten the 32 GB first-generation iPad, and that 64 GB models also sold better than before. This may have been driven by availability: Fortune reports that many Apple stores ran out of 16 GB iPads first and 32 GB models. “iPads are sold out across virtually all channels,” said Munster, adding that his team was “unable to find any availability.” Munster now believes that sales could exceed his earlier prediction of 5.5 million iPad 2′s in this quarter.

DeutscheBank did its own survey this morning and found exactly zero iPad 2′s at any of the 50 Apple retail stores, 20 Best Buy and Wal-Mart stores as well as AT&T and Verizon stores they called. Wedbush Securities, a financial research firm, estimates even higher total sales than Munster.

What do you think of all the iPad 2 hype? Did you manage to get one yourself? Share your thoughts and comments in the section below!

As usual, stay tuned for more tech news and info by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

[Source: Fortune]

As many people lined up and joined the broad Apple customer base today in anticipation of the iPad 2′s arrival later today, there isn’t a shortage of interesting projections emerging today with regard to just how big this debut weekend could be for Apple’s second generation tablet. Watching the Apple’s shares presently trading $4.49 higher @ $351.16 as both hye for Apple’s new product and Wall Street expectations are certainly lighting a fire beneath the stock. Analyst Brian Marshal of Gleacher & Co. tells Bloomberg that more than 500,000 units of the iPad 2 will be sold this weekend, on its way to out-selling the original iPad, which only moved a relatively paltry 300,000 units in its debut one year ago.

Gene Munster, a prominent Piper Jaffray analyst – who happens to have a positive track record predicting Apple product sales and subsequent earnings – says Apple will sell between 5 and 6 million iPad 2s during the present launch quarter, topping the 3 million first generation iPads sold during its 2010 launch quarter. This helps Apple tremendously on this front helping a combination of factors poised to make the iPad 2 a sure-fire success. Among the factors are generally positive user experiences relating to the original iPad, the new concerted retail push by Apple and its partners, and the positive reaction from tech analysts who believe the improvements made to the iPad 2 make the premium tablet on the market today.

What do you guys think of Apple’s iPad 2? Do you think it’ll prove to be more successful than the original? Let us know in the comments below!

[Source: Bloomberg]

Consumer electronics outfit Pioneer has unveiled four new A/V receivers aimed at the digital media market, including the first of a planned series of eight devices this year that will support Apple’s AirPlay technology. The VSX-1021 AV receive functions as a 7.1 channel home theater receiver that enables users to push tunes from iTunes on their Mac or iOS device directly to the receiver via a wired or wireless home network.

“Our newest receivers make it extremely easy for consumers to connect their iPhones, iPads, and iPods, enabling them to access their music and video content as well as share them with others in one room or the home,” said Pioneer Electronics USA director of AV marketing and product planning Chris Walker, in a statement. “Pioneer receivers are made to deliver the highest level of audio and video performance consumers expect no matter of the source it comes from.”

Check out the video demo of the receiver:

Pioneer VSX-1021 also offers other connectivity choices:

The new receivers should be available this month, but you can preorder it from Amazon for $549.

[Source: 9to5Mac; Pioneer]

One of the most significant new features of the iPad (aside from the extra camera) is the new A5 processor. Apple’s claiming twice the performance and up to nine times the graphics power. As usual, the company was a bit shy on the details of what the chip contains exactly but a report released today though, says that not only has Apple included the same 512 MB of memory in the iPad 2 as the iPhone 4, but also that it’s faster LPDDR2 RAM.

During the announcement of the iPad 2, Apple gave only the smallest of ideas of what the device is packing. The company did refer to a dual-core 1GHz ARM processor and faster graphics chip. Apple habitually refrains from publishing specs on the iPad and iPhone internals, preferring to focus on performance claims (10 hours of battery life, twice as fast, etc). They  never said how much RAM is any of their devices: we only find out after it has been torn apart by the folks over at iFixIt. In a rumor stream leading up to Wednesday’s announcement, it was reported that the iPad 2 would get 512 MB of RAM, like the iPhone 4, and that the memory bus speed would be boosted to 1066 MHz instead of the 800 MHz of the A4.

The report is apparently being bolstered by a tweet from Korean analyst Kakeun Lee in response to reports that the new tablet has the same amount of RAM as the first-generation iPad. Contradicting an Apple employee at a press demo in London who claimed the iPad 2 has only 256 MB of memory, Lee stated that the A5 has 512 MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM. The low power double data rate synchronous DRAM was used in the A4 to lower overall power consumption to deliver more power without sacificing battery life. The new and second generation, LPDDR2, runs the memory core and I/O at 1.2 V, a significant savings over the 1.8 V required by the A4′s LPDDR1 SDRAM. It also runs at 1066 MHz as opposed to the 800 MHz on the A4, again which lines up with info from earlier reports.

We don’t know for sure and won’t until the guys over at iFixIt get their hands on an iPad 2 in a week’s time. However, it would be surprising if Apple didn’t stay ahead of the curve. With many smartphones and tablets getting Qualcomm’s second generation Snapdragon SoC with LPDDR2 Ram this year, Apple wouldn’t be able to hide behind unpublished specs for long.

[Source: MacRumors]

It’s become pretty well known that if you’re wanting to theme your iPhone you just hop on Cydia and grab Winterboard Themes. With it being one of the best selling items in the Cydia store it’s safe to say that there’s hundreds of millions of iDevice users theming their products with it and that has created quite a large community in itself. Since the acquisition of Rock by Cydia, its more than likely that every theme you’ve bought has come through Cydia, unless of course you donated to a designer.

Saurik, the man behind Cydia, is seeing some possible variables that could stir up the “competition” as well as bring headaches his way. The folks at ThemeIT are still planning on launching their product on schedule even after being contacted directly by Saurik, who asked if they could hold off on the launch. There’s now talk traveling around the community that ThemeIt has lost their original repository partner and to make things worse for the company, so are saying that users are being encouraged to boycott ThemeIt all together. A response has been issued by ThemeIt which can be seen at ReadWriteWeb, the article talks about the response by ThemeIt in which they speak their mind about how they view competition as well as seem to say some things to make the situation more heated. How you guys view ThemeIt’s position on competition and more importantly, do you think all the drama happening pre-launch will effect the company’s success? Check out part of the response from ThemeIt below.

From ThemeIt:

A carefully designed platform (application and website) allowing focus on high-quality themes and also the artists behind the themes in a way that wasn’t possible before… it’s the Theme Store you’ve been dreaming of using.

With some of the best theme creators already on-board we can guarantee you’ll have access to amazing and exclusive content in an environment that’s sure to meet everyone’s needs. Focusing on high-quality, complete themes, the goal of Theme it isn’t to have a million themes in the gallery… but the best ones available.

The platform includes a very user-friendly website and an iPhone/iTouch application to showcase and distribute the themes with instant access to the information you really want, such as screenshots, details, compatibility and much more. You’ll also have the opportunity to learn a little more about the artists that create the themes you love and use. A section will be dedicated to these wonderful designers.

Stay tuned for more news and updates and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and/or subscribe to our RSS Feed.

[Sources: ReadWriteWeb, ThemeIt]

We saw on Wednesday the release of iOS 4.3 beta to developers. This release has proved to be almost rock-solid proof that the next-gen iPad will have a camera or it’s very likely it will have 2, one in front and one in back. When developers got their hands on the beta they began digging and it didn’t take long before they found photo evidence that shows there might be plans for a camera on the iPad 2 which looks to be released some time in the first half of this year.

The image causing the uproar was found in the beta and titled ‘homeScreenOverlayFaceTime~ipad.png’ that according to sources, is used by iOS to allow the user a preview of wallpapers before selecting it. There’s 3 new app icons included in the image which even further hint at a camera on the device. The apps are titled FaceTime, Camera, ad Photo Booth, which makes it pretty obvious that we’ll be seeing for the camera at the launch. Even though there’s no way to be 100% sure there will be both front and rear cameras, it’s extremely likely there will be a camera on the front of the device after seeing the FaceTime and Photo Booth apps. It also looks like the iPad 2 will be heading in a more social direction with the iOS 4.3 update. Find My Friends was found in the first beta and now we’re seeing 2 new services that point at being made for social aspects. The services titled “Media Stream” and “Photo Stream” were discovered and could possibly be used to integrate media, movies, and photos through Apple’s MobileMe service. Evidence also points to these services coming to users as free, similar to how we saw FindMyiPhone become free with the release of iOS 4.2.1. With the discoveries found in this beta release, what are some other services you’d like to see make it to the final cut of the iOS?

Stay tuned for more news and updates, also, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and/or subscribe to our RSS Feed.

[Source: MacRumors]