Eric Slivka
Eric is the Editor-in-Chief of MacRumors and has been writing for the site since 2008.
An avid swimmer and former biophysicist, Eric has been using Apple products for over 35 years and has been interviewed for pieces by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, CNBC, and other publications.
Eric's current primary role involves day-to-day oversight of the editorial operations at MacRumors, but he also contributes occasional news and review articles while handling various other duties related to the site's operation.
An avid swimmer and former biophysicist, Eric has been using Apple products for over 35 years and has been interviewed for pieces by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, CNBC, and other publications.
Eric's current primary role involves day-to-day oversight of the editorial operations at MacRumors, but he also contributes occasional news and review articles while handling various other duties related to the site's operation.
Eric Slivka's Articles
Apple Experimenting With 'New Way of Charging' for 2012 iPhone
Expanding on its report from earlier today regarding Apple's preparations toward a thinner and lighter next-generation iPhone set for launch in the September timeframe, The Wall Street Journal now reports that Apple is working on more ambitious plans for the 2012 iPhone, experimenting with a number of changes including a "new way of charging" the device.Investors expect a bigger boost to Apple's...
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Amazon Responds to Apple's iCloud With Music Storage Upgrades, iPad Player
Earlier this year, Amazon launched its Cloud Drive and Cloud Player services, offering users the ability to store music and other digital content on Amazon's servers for access from a variety of Internet-connected devices. With Apple's iCloud announcement last month, some have been wondering whether Amazon might tweak its offerings to compete with iCloud.
In response, Amazon today announced ...
Apple Gearing Up for 'iPad 2 Plus' Release Later This Year?
As with the debate over whether the next-generation iPhone should tentatively be referred to as an "iPhone 5" or "iPhone 4S", observers are also differing in their opinions on Apple's next-generation iPad. While Apple has so far used the yearly upgrade cycle that has been relatively among the company's mobile devices for the iPad, there have been rumors that Apple is planning to release an...
OmniVision's Production Issues Diverting iPhone Image Sensor Orders to Sony?
Last month, a report claimed that both existing supplier OmniVision Technologies and newcomer Sony had been lined up to produce 8-megapixel image sensors for the next-generation iPhone, with OmniVision said to be set to shoulder 90% of the load.
But Forbes today shares a report from FBR Capital Markets analyst Craig Berger, who claims that OmniVision has run into production troubles that may ...
Analyst Claims Sprint iPhone Likely Before Christmas
Barron's reports on a new research note from Citadel Securities analyst Shing Yin claiming that the iPhone is likely to debut on U.S. carrier Sprint sometime before Christmas of this year. Yin notes that with Verizon shifting to tiered data plans beginning tomorrow, Apple likely has additional motivation to strike a deal with Sprint, which continues to offer the unlimited data plans preferred by ...
HTC Gains Patent Foothold Against Apple With Purchase of S3 Graphics
VIA Technologies today announced that it and its partner investment firm WTI are selling off S3 Graphics to smartphone manufacturer HTC.
The acquisition is notable because S3 Graphics recently won a partial victory over Apple in an initial judgment on a patent dispute being reviewed by the U.S. International Trade Commission. HTC's purchase of S3 will turn those patents over to the smartphone ...
Flextronics Executive Pleads Guilty to Leaking Apple Secrets to Research Firm
The New York Times reports that former Flextronics executive Walter Shimoon has pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of security fraud over his role in leaking insider information on Apple's iPhone and iPad plans to research firm Primary Global Research.
Flextronics manufactured chargers for the iPhone, giving Shimoon access to nonpublic information...
Apple Preparing 'Thinner and Lighter' iPhone for Third Quarter Launch
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is indeed preparing a new iPhone for a launch during the third quarter of this year, with an initial production target of 25 million units through the end of the year."Apple's sales estimates of the new iPhone is quite aggressive. It told us to prepare to help the company meet its goal of 25 million units by the end of the year," said another person at...
Bing for iPad Adds 'Lasso' Search Term Selection
While Apple took a fair amount of time developing the current copy-and-paste mechanism for iOS, holding off on releasing it until iPhone OS 3.0 in mid-2009, Microsoft's new update for its Bing for iPad app shows off an alternative method for text selection known as "Lasso". The technique allows users to select text to serve as the...
Verizon's Tiered iPhone Data Plans to Debut on July 7th
Even before the iPhone launch on Verizon earlier this year, the carrier had announced that the unlimited data plans being offered with the device were a temporary program, set to be discontinued as soon as this summer in favor of tiered data packages.
Just two weeks ago, Verizon confirmed that it would be dropping the unlimited data plan in July, with leaks pinpointing the new data plans and a ...
Jon Rubinstein Compares Lukewarm TouchPad Reception to Original Mac OS X
As HP has sought to take on Apple in the tablet market with its webOS-powered TouchPad tablet, the PC giant has been dinged with a number of lukewarm reviews that suggest a fair amount of potential for the platform and device but with only a mediocre initial implementation.
Former Apple executive Jon Rubinstein, who led the development of the original iPod before leaving the company in 2006 to ...
Skype 5.2 for Mac Adds Group Screen Sharing, Video Call Control Bar
Skype today released its new Skype 5.2 for Mac, adding a pair of significant new features in group video screen sharing and a revamped call control bar that includes video support.
Group screen sharing, which requires the same premium package as for basic group video, allows users to share their screens with all participants in the group call, marking a significant enhancement for...
Display Suppliers' Production Numbers Support Upcoming Boost in iPad 2 Shipments
Last week, DigiTimes reported that Apple would be targeting shipments of 12-14 million iPad 2s during the third quarter of 2011, and a new report backs up that conclusion with claims that Apple's touch panel suppliers pushed out five million units in June and plan to produce another five million in July.Five million touch sensors for the iPad 2 will be shipped in July, according to sources with...
Booting OS X Lion GM: No Welcome Video, New Introduction to Scrolling
With Apple having seeded the Golden Master (GM) version of OS X Lion earlier today, users are finally getting a look at what the OS X Lion experience should be like in the shipping version.
One staple of Mac OS X installations over the past several versions has been the welcome video that displays at first boot, displaying an animation of the word "Welcome" in a number of different languages...
Apple Not Yet Pulling Apps, Helping Developers Meet In-App Guidelines
Yesterday, we noted that Apple's new rules for in-app purchases and subscriptions for iOS were going into effect, and certain high-profile apps such as Amazon's Kindle app had yet to be updated to comply with the new terms. But with the calendar now having rolled over to July 1st and Kindle and other similar apps still apparently out of compliance, some have been wondering what Apple's plans...
Apple Ranks as 21st Largest U.S. Retailer in 2010
In its annual ranking of the largest retailers by U.S. sales, the National Retail Federation has pegged Apple in 21st place in 2010 with over $18 billion in sales between its retail and iTunes stores (via The Next Web).
Apple's retail sales grew 32.3% year-over-year in 2010, second only to Amazon's 46.2% growth among the top 100 U.S. retailers. Interestingly, Apple's $18 billion in U.S....
Adobe and Avid Target Final Cut Pro Users With 'Switcher' Discounts
Adobe today announced a new "switcher" promotion clearly designed to take advantage of the significant amount of criticism being levied against Apple's new Final Cut Pro X. The new program offers a 50% discount on either Creative Suite CS5.5 Production Premium or Premiere Pro CS5.5 to current users of Apple's Final Cut Pro or Avid's Media Composer. Certain current Adobe users are also eligible...
Apple's Suppliers Preparing for Fall Launch of iPhone 5 and iPad 3?
DigiTimes reports that upstream suppliers in Apple's manufacturing chain have been given orders to begin preparing for production of next-generation iPhone and iPad models, with a debut expected in the September-October timeframe.Taiwan-based companies included in the supply chain for iPhone 5 and iPad 3 have begun to prepare materials for the production of the two devices, which are likely to...
Ahead of OS X Lion, Mac App Store Sales Numbers Still Comparably Small
During the keynote address at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month, Phil Schiller noted that Apple's Mac App Store, launch in early January, has rapidly risen to become the top selling distribution channel for computer software, beating out Best Buy, Walmart, and Office Depot. According to Schiller:In the last six months, something incredible has happened. In the last six...
Shortages of Boxed iWork '09 at German Retailers
MacLife.de reports [Google translation] that the boxed version of iWork '09 is currently out of stock at a number of prominent German retailers, including Amazon.de, Cyberport.de, Gravis.de, and Alternate.de.
Apple of course began offering the individual iWork '09 applications via the Mac App Store from its launch in early January, pricing the three applications at $19.99 each. The company...
