Apps Store Online

Apple today introduced the new iPad — the third generation of its category-defining mobile device — featuring a stunning new Retina display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics, and a 5-megapixel iSight camera with advanced optics for capturing incredible photos and 1080p HD video. iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G connects to fast networks worldwide, including AT&T’s and Verizon’s 4G LTE networks, and still delivers the same all-day 10-hour battery life while remaining amazingly thin and light. The new iPad will be available in black or white through the Apple Online Store and in Apple Retail stores on Friday, March 16, beginning at $499 (US). Customers can begin pre-ordering their new iPad today on the Apple Online Store. Also beginning today, iPad 2 will be offered at an even more affordable price, starting at just $399 (US).

Apple today introduced iPhoto for iPad and iPhone and major updates to iMovie and GarageBand, completing its suite of iLife apps for iOS. iPhoto includes breakthrough Multi-Touch features so you can use simple gestures to sort through hundreds of photos and find your best shots, enhance and retouch your images using fingertip brushes, and share stunning photo journals with iCloud. iMovie now gives you the ability to create Hollywood-style trailers as you record HD video on your iPad or iPhone. GarageBand introduces Jam Session, an innovative and fun feature that allows a group of friends to wirelessly connect their iOS devices to play instruments and record live music together. iPhoto, iMovie 1.3, and GarageBand 1.2 are available today for $4.99 (US) each from the App Store. Updates are available for free to existing customers.

Apple today announced the new Apple TV featuring 1080p HD programming, including iTunes movies and TV shows, Netflix, Vimeo, photos, and more. The new Apple TV features a simpler, refined user interface, making it easier than ever to access your purchased movies, TV shows, and music with iTunes Match right from iCloud. With AirPlay, users can stream or mirror their favorite content from their iPad or iPhone 4S to Apple TV. And with iTunes in the Cloud, customers can purchase and play their favorite movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store and watch them instantly on their HDTV. Apple TV will be available on Friday, March 16 for a suggested retail price of $99 (US) through the Apple Online Store and Apple Retail Stores.

Apple today announced that more than 25 billion apps have been downloaded from its revolutionary App Store by users of the more than 315 million iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices worldwide. The 25 billionth app — a free version of “Where’s My Water?” — was downloaded by Chunli Fu of Qingdao, China. As the winner of the App Store Countdown to 25 Billion Apps, Chunli Fu will receive a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card.

For the fifth year in a row, Apple has been named the World’s Most Admired Company by Fortune Magazine. Apple also ranks first again in the Innovation category. Noting the “runaway success” of iPhone 4S and iPad 2 and increased sales across the board, the magazine writes: “To say it was another big year for Apple would be a gross understatement.”

Apple today released a developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion — the ninth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system — which brings popular apps and features from iPad to the Mac and accelerates the pace of OS X innovation. Mountain Lion introduces Messages, Notes, Reminders, and Game Center to the Mac, as well as Notification Center, Share Sheets, Twitter integration, and AirPlay Mirroring. The preview release of Mountain Lion is available to Mac Developer Program members starting today. Mac users will be able to upgrade to Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store in late summer 2012.

The New York Times reports that a MacBook Air one-to-one program is helping raise student attendance, engagement, and performance at North Carolina’s Mooresville Graded School District, which “has quietly emerged as the de facto national model of the digital school.” The article notes, “Mooresville ranks 100th out of 115 districts in North Carolina in terms of dollars spent per student — $7,415.89 a year — but it is now third in test scores and second in graduation rates.”

Apple today announced that the Fair Labor Association will conduct special voluntary audits of Apple’s final assembly suppliers, including Foxconn factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China, at Apple’s request. “We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment, which is why we’ve asked the FLA to independently assess the performance of our largest suppliers,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. A team of labor rights experts led by FLA president Auret van Heerden began the first inspections Monday morning at the facility in Shenzhen known as Foxconn City.

USA Today reviewer Edward C. Baig describes his experience using the first Multi-Touch digital textbooks published for the iBooks 2 for iPad app, noting that they are “engaging in ways that were simply not possible with the textbooks I grew up with.” Baig likes the portability, updatability, and low pricing of iBooks 2 digital textbooks and touts specific features like instant search, highlighting, bookmarking, and interactive graphics. Writes Baig, “It’s better to see an animated tour of the genome in E.O. Wilson’s Life on Earth than just to read about it. ”

Bloomberg’s Peter Burrows reports that Apple is making rapid headway selling into corporations — especially financial services and pharmaceutical firms. Burrows writes that Apple’s corporate sales are being driven chiefly by iPad, which “has become a standard business tool.” The article quotes Matt Wallach, co-founder of Veeva Systems, who says: “I’ve seen a lot of devices come and go over the years. Nothing touches the speed of adoption of the iPad.”