If it is a deliberate move (which it seems to be) – Amazon just dropped a bomb on the music industry. When everyone in the world including Apple have hit a wall when it comes to music licensing, Amazon’s announcement of the Cloud Player is nothing less than a thunderbolt. Read : Apple TV, iTunes and the Cloud
“Cloud Player is an application that lets customers manage and play their own music. It’s like any number of existing media management applications. We do not need a license to make Cloud Player …

There have been a handful of issues reported on the iPad2 – Hot Hardware highlights Facetime freezing and backlight bleeding as the top 2 –
“One of those is the issue of Facetime freezing. As one user complains in Apple’s support forum, “When I opened up Facetime the first time, the camera was working fine, but now whenever I open it up, it just shows a still image from when I left. How can I fix it?””
“What is specific to the iPad 2, however, is the reported issue of backlight …

Fortune is reporting that the world will soon run out of stock of iPad2s.
“Reports are still drifting in, but it seems likely that most of the 25 countries where Apple (AAPL) launched the iPad 2 on Friday had run out of product by Saturday afternoon.
Pocket-lint reports that the two flagship Apple Stores in London — Regent Street and Covent Garden — are completely out of stock and won’t be getting more before Monday. Checks by Electronista and The Province with several Canadian Apple Stores found the same. A shopper …

Amazon has a Kindle app on pretty much every platform, and Barnes and Noble has a Nook app on most platforms as well. The only player in the ebook market thats the exception here – Apple. So the question – will Apple ever make iBooks readable across platforms?
If History is any indication, the answer is NO. Apple has been highly protective of its iOS platform – no exceptions granted so far. Yes, the Amazon App store is a genuine challenge to Apple’s 200 Million one-click-pay customers. But we …

Well we have been following the Apple – iPad – closed ecosystem thing for quite some time now, John Battelle has a review on the whole app economy thing: Principles of Web2: A Report Card
“The beauty of the Web was that anyone could innovate on top of it, without permission. This is simply not true in the App World, for now.”
“It’s my belief that soon consumers will demand value from their data, and that the web will be a place where that demand is met. Apps? I’m not so sure …

CNet confirms that the iPad now has iAds:
“The first company to put out an iAd is Unilever, maker of Dove Men+Care. The company is working with the National Collegiate Athletic Association to give users an up-close view of three of its stars. Earvin “Magic” Johnson, John Thompson III, and Bobby Hurley will be highlighted in a new series of video ads called “Journey to Comfort.”
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20043558-37.html#ixzz1GjTl4Tiz”
Source: CNet

Statspotting is reporting that Apple has sold more than Half a million iPad2s this saturday.
“While we’ll wait for Apple’s official word on this one, we have some solid estimates from Piper Jaffray: 500,000 iPad2s have been sold on a single day (saturday).”

CNN has a report that claims that many game developers are unhappy with Apple, for encouraging over supply thereby bringing the average income way down.
“With more than 350,000 apps available on Apple’s digital store, game creators are finding it tough to attract attention despite tens of millions of potential customers who own Apple gadgets, he said.
“They have over-encouraged supply,” Hawkins said on a panel at the conference. Using statistics that Apple has made public, Hawkins calculated that each app earns, on average, about $4,000.
“Four thousand per application: Do you …

Statspotting is reporting that Apple now has a 200 Million One Click Customer base –
“One stat we spotted as part of the iPad2 launch : Apple has 200 Million iTunes accounts now, that is, 200 Million People with their credit cards tied to their user accounts.
That reach is unbeatable by any measure – there is NO other platform anywhere that can promise that kind of a one click purchase base. (Amazon might come close, but we doubt it, plus its not really the same thing).”
Link: StatSpotting

Well, here is our top 5 of what is missing in the iPad2:
1. Retina Screen – there is just no reason this shd be missing.
2. No USB / SD – Some things never change with Apple.
3. Near field Communication / Wireless Sync – when is this picture going to be complete?
4. HDMI. Its just logical ?
5. An eInk reader mode or something similar. coould just have killed the Kindle in one shot.
When is the iPad3 coming out?