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 Building Cash Reserves for 'Big, Bold' Moves
Bloomberg reports on comments from Apple CEO Steve Jobs out of the company's shareholders meeting today regarding Apple's growing war chest of cash and the company's plans for it in the face of questions from shareholders. According to Jobs, Apple is building its reserves for future investments that would be calculated to return significant value rather than simply returning the money to...
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Apple Planning to Open 25 Retail Stores in China [Updated]
Apple is currently conducting its annual shareholders meeting on the company's campus in Cupertino, California, and while attendees were not permitted to bring communication devices into the meeting, Fortune is gathering reports from those in attendance who were able to get details out. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is in attendance and reportedly answering the majority of questions from shareholders...
Survey Reveals Application Usage and Demographic Data on iPhone and iPod Touch Users
Mobile advertising firm AdMob today released its January 2010 Mobile Metrics Report, revealing some interesting data about application usage and demographics for iPhone and iPod touch users, as well as users of Android and webOS handsets.
Among the more interesting statistics collected in the opt-in survey of nearly 1,000 respondents were results showing that 50% of iPhone users download at...
Intuit Debuts Rebuilt Quicken Essentials for Mac
Intuit today announced the release of Quicken Essentials for Mac (QEM), a complete rebuild of the company's personal financial management application. QEM launches a new era for Quicken on the Mac. It marks Intuit's first Mac-native application for Quicken, that is, a product developed specifically to run on a Mac operating system, instead of adapting a product originally designed for a PC....
Apple Patent Application Details iPhone Control Via Finger Swipes Over Camera
Patently Apple points to another interesting patent application from Apple filed in August 2008 and published this morning detailing means of controlling an iPhone or other handheld device by swiping one's finger across the camera lens. Most prominently, the document suggests the use of the proposed functionality to control voicemail options such as rewind, fast forward, pause and other...
Apple Announces Winner of 10 Billion Song Contest [Updated]
Apple today announced that its iTunes Store has reached the significant milestone of 10 billion songs downloaded, as we noted yesterday. The company also revealed that the winner of its "Countdown to 10 Billion Songs" contest is Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia, who purchased "Guess Things Happen That Way" by Johnny Cash to push Apple to the milestone. Sulcer will receive a $10,000 iTunes...
Apple Releases Aperture 3.0.1
Apple today released Aperture 3.0.1, addressing several issues with the latest version of its professional photo editing and management application released earlier this month. This update improves overall stability and addresses a number of issues in Aperture 3, including:
- Upgrading libraries from earlier versions of Aperture
- Importing libraries from iPhoto
- Importing photos directly...
Apple Publishes Annual Progress Report on Supplier Responsibility
Apple yesterday began promoting on its home page the release of its annual Supplier Responsibility progress report, describing the company's commitment to responsible business practices on the part of its suppliers and other partners around the world. Apple requires suppliers to commit to our comprehensive Supplier Code of Conduct as a condition of their contracts with us. We drive compliance...
Apple Adds 'Explicit' Category for New App Store Submissions [Updated]
Just days after Apple removed over 5000 "overtly sexual" applications from the App Store, the company appears to have taken a curious turn that could result in the reinstatement of many of these applications.
Cult of Mac reports and MacRumors has confirmed that Apple has added a new "Explicit" category in the iTunes Connect system for App Store submissions. The category is included in...
iTunes Store Reaches 10 Billion Songs Downloaded
Apple's iTunes Store today reached 10 billion music downloads since its inception in 2003, and along with the milestone comes the end of the company's "Countdown to 10 Billion Songs" promotion. The winner of the promotion, who is yet to be announced, will be awarded a $10,000 iTunes Store gift card.
iTunes Store Music Download Growth Since Launch
The milestone is being featured...
Apple COO Tim Cook Speaks at Goldman Sachs Conference
Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook today participated in a Q&A session at the Goldman Sachs Technology & Internet Conference, and while he did not offer any major revelations, some of his comments offered a bit of perspective on Apple's business, including comments on the Apple TV, iPad sales channels, exclusive carrier relationships, and other topics. Here is a paraphrased summary of some...
Apple Releases iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta 3 for iPad [Updatedx3]
Apple today released an update to its iPhone SDK 3.2 for developers looking to create applications for the company's forthcoming iPad tablet device. The new update is the third beta version of the SDK, and there is no word yet on changes included in the update.
The initial version of the SDK was released late last month alongside the iPad introduction, and was last updated two weeks ago.
...
AT&T Tops 3G Wireless Performance Study
PCWorld reports on the results of its recent 13-city performance tests of wireless carriers in the United States, and Apple's iPhone partner AT&T came out well ahead of the pack in both upload and download speeds while also faring well in reliability. After registering the lowest average download speeds in our 3G performance tests last spring, AT&T's network turned in download speeds that were 84...
Fidelity Introduces Mobile Trading App for iPhone
Fidelity Investments today announced the release of a new, free iPhone application allowing brokerage customers to monitor their portfolios and execute trades directly from their iPhone or iPod touch. "At Fidelity, we recognize the growing popularity of the iPhone and iPod touch, and in fact, nearly half of the customers using our current mobile trading application, Fidelity Mobile, log in from...
Gartner: iPhone Sales Double in 2009 as Apple Claims Third Place in Smartphone Sales
Earlier this month, research firm IDC released sales figures for 2009 showing Apple holding 14.4% of the smartphone market for the year on nearly 82% sales growth over 2008, with the company grabbing third place among smartphone vendors behind Nokia and Research in Motion.
Gartner today released similar results taking a slightly different look at its data by opting to rank smartphone sales by...
Survey Sees Pent-Up iPad Demand, Some Cannibalization of Other Apple Products
In research note released this morning, RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky shares the results of a ChangeWave survey of over 3,200 respondents earlier this month revealing pent-up demand for Apple's forthcoming iPad, with demand even exceeding that for the original iPhone in 2007. According to the survey, 13% of respondents are either somewhat or very likely to purchase an iPad, compared...
One More New iPhone Ad: 'Family Travel'
Just a day after Apple released a pair of new iPhone commercials, a third ad entitled 'Family Travel' has begun airing on television and been posted to the company's ad gallery.
Although the new ad returns to Apple's common theme of featuring individual iPhone applications, it is notable because it utilizes a female first-person narration rather than the standard male voice-over used for...
Apple Job Posting Suggests Future iPhone OS Devices
Computerworld points to an Apple job listing posted last week which suggests that Apple is looking to expand the iPhone OS beyond the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad to additional platforms. The position, entitled "Engineering Manager (Platform Bring-Up)", requires that the employee lead a team of software engineers working with hardware and "custom silicon" teams on new platforms and protoypes. Th...
Aerial Footage of Apple's North Carolina Data Center
Data Center Knowlege points to a brief YouTube video posted late last week reportedly showing aerial footage of Apple's massive new data center being constructed in the town of Maiden, North Carolina. It's plenty big, as illustrated by this aerial video posted to YouTube (apparently taken by an area realtor) of the 500,000 square foot facility. The new $1 billion data center will be nearly five...
Apple's iPad Chip Development Cost Estimated in $1 Billion Range
In an article from The New York Times, the cost for a company like Apple to develop an ARM-based mobile chip such as the A4 used in its forthcoming iPad tablet is estimated at approximately $1 billion, even without the need to invest in manufacturing facilities for the chips due to agreements with existing chip foundries for production. At the same time, Apple, Nvidia and Qualcomm are designing...
