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Apple has released on sale it’s new iPhone 4S smart phone.As thousands of people have queued for hours around the world waiting for the release, hundreds of people queued up for hours outside London’s Covent Garden Apple Store to be the first to get their hands on the new Apple iPhone 4S which went on sale for the first time on Friday morning.

Apple fans and staff from the store counted down the seconds until the store officially opened at 9am. Moments later customers emerged from the shop excitedly clutching the new piece of technology.

However, staff at the Covent Garden store were coy about the availability of the new phone.

“It’s very hard to judge how easy it will be as we don’t know how many people are going to come. The volume of phones we have in replicate the high demand and if you come early, say 8am, you will have a good chance of getting one,” one shop assistant said.

The smartphone’s UK launch repeated scenes similar in Australia and Japan, which were among the first countries to release of Apple’s new iPhone 4S.

The iPhone is the world’s biggest selling smartphone and some analysts expect fourth-quarter iPhone shipments to be as high as 30 million units, almost double last year’s figure.

It might look the same but the iPhone 4S is significantly faster than its predecessor, with a new camera and – this year’s most attention-grabbing feature – a clever voice control service called Siri. In hindsight, this year’s upgrade makes sense: it mirrors the 2009 upgrade from iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS.

Overall, the iPhone 4S is a good upgrade to a very good phone.

It retains the stylish design of the iPhone 4 and gives it a substantial boost. It’s certainly not cheap when you consider some of the alternatives but it feels like a luxury product and it’s an absolute joy to use.

If you own the iPhone 4, then whether you upgrade or not depends on how tempted you are by Siri and the new camera. The upgrades in iOS 5 might be enough for iPhone 4 owners. 3GS owners should be in the queue already.

Bolt on iOS 5 – the new version of the operating system – and iCloud, Apple’s cloud storage service, and you have a pretty compelling package. It’s especially compelling for those iPhone 3GS owners whose two-year contracts are just coming to an end.

Apple co-founder and former chief executive Steve Jobs, died on Wednesday at the age of 56, after a  multi year long battle with pancreatic cancer.Jobs’ death was announced by Apple in a statement late yesterday. The Apple.com homepage features a black and white picture (above) of him with the words “Steve Jobs, 1955-2011″.

A message on the site read: “Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor.

“Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.”

The Silicon Valley icon who gave the world the MAC, the iPod, the iPad and the iPhone had resigned as chief executive of the world’s largest technology corporation in August, handing the reins to current chief executive Tim Cook.

A survivor of a rare form of pancreatic cancer, he was deemed the heart and soul of a company that rivals Exxon Mobil as the most valuable in America.

“Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve,” Apple said in a statement announcing Jobs’ passing.

“His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.”

Job’s health had been a controversial topic for years. His battle with cancer had been a deep concern to Apple fans, investors and the company’s board alike.

In past years, even board members have confided to friends their concern that Jobs, in his quest for privacy, wasn’t being forthcoming enough with directors about the true condition of his health.

Now, despite investor confidence in Cook, who has stood in for his boss during three leaves of absence, there remain concerns about whether the company would stay a creative force to be reckoned with beyond the next year or so without its founder and visionary at the helm.

The news triggered an immediate outpouring of sympathy. Among others, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said he will miss Jobs “immensely”.

A college dropout, Buddhist and son of adoptive parents, Jobs started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in the late 1970s. The company soon introduced the Apple 1 computer.

But it was the Apple II that became a huge success and gave Apple its position as a critical player in the then-nascent PC industry, culminating in a 1980 IPO that made Jobs a multimillionaire.

Despite the subsequent success of the Mac, Jobs’ relationship with top management and the board soured. The company removed most of his powers and then in 1985 he was fired.

Apple’s fortunes waned after that. However, its purchase of NeXT – the computer company Jobs founded after leaving Apple – in 1997 brought him back into the fold. Later that year, he became interim CEO and in 2000, the company dropped “interim” from his title.

Along the way Jobs also had managed to revolutionize computer animation with his other company, Pixar, but it was the iPhone in 2007 that capped his legacy in the annals of modern technology history.

Two years before the gadget that forever transformed the way people around the world access and use the Internet, Jobs talked about how a sense of his mortality was a major driver behind that vision.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life,” Jobs said during a Stanford commencement ceremony in 2005.

“Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Apple has unveiled the latest iteration in its iPhone range, but there was no sign of the widely rumoured iPhone 5.The iPhone 4S, as the model will be known, boasts an improved camera, an extra antenna for faster loading, voice recognition software and a significantly extended battery life.

It will run the latest iOS5 operating system, which is set for release on 12 October.

The event was the first major announcement for new boss Tim Cook who took over from Steve Jobs in August.

The iPhone 4S, which will go on sale on 14 October, will be available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models – in both black and white.

It has the same look and feel as the existing iPhone 4 which was launched 15 months ago.

However, Apple said that updates to iOS meant the phone would boast some “200 new features”.

Shares in Apple fell by almost 5% within minutes of the eagerly anticipated launch, with analysts saying that investors and Apple fans had expected the latest version to be a more radical improvement over its predecessor.

However, the company’s shares later regained most of their losses to close down just 0.6%, albeit underperforming the NASDAQ index as a whole.

Among the additions is  a voice recognition software or a “intelligent assistant” that allows users to ask questions aloud and receive detailed answers back.

Siri, which began life as a third-party app, was purchased by Apple in 2010 but has yet to appear within its software.

Details of the new phone were unveiled by Apple’s Philip Schiller

For Apple’s new chief executive, the event was as much about making a statement about his leadership as it was new products.

Tim Cook had previously acted as interim boss, looking after the company while Steve Jobs was on sick leave.

Unlike his charismatic predecessor, Mr Cook left the biggest announcement of Tuesday’s event to a colleague – marketing boss Phil Schiller.

2G phones are often better for making phone calls than the latest 3G smartphones according to the communications regulator Ofcom.People living in rural areas should exchange their smartphones if they want to actually make phone calls new research from communications regulator Ofcom suggests.

New models, such as Apple’s top-selling iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S2, offer sophisticated “third-generation” (3G) technology to allow access to high speed networks, email and the internet, but the new Ofcom study found that starting and completing calls made from rural areas was better on older 2G phones.

These devices, called feature phones rather than smartphones, allow more internal space for aerials.

Ofcom found that “in the more rural areas that the phones were tested, the feature/entry-level phones generally returned somewhat better performance than smartphones for call completion and call setup.”

The regulator suggested that “This may be due to the reduced complexity of antenna on these devices and 2G phones not having issues in switching between 2G and 3G networks.”

Quality of sound was found to be the same between devices, however.

Ofcom carried out its research to assess whether consumers were being properly informed about mobile network coverage.

It found that, while individual phone companies provided valuable network maps, just three out of every ten consumers consulted them.

The regulator wants to encourage shops to inform customers about coverage when they’re buying mobile phones, and it also wants different networks to standardise their information so that consumers can compare services across providers.

Ofcom’s comparison of 2G and 3G handsets aimed to examine whether coverage maps were accurate across different devices.

The regulator found that “performance differences are likely in practice to be modest, and not necessarily a factor that consumers should base their choice of phone on”.

Overall, Ofcom found that mobile networks were making progress at addressing areas of poor-coverage both in rural areas and in buildings.

The regulator added, however, that there were a number of areas where commercial organisations were unlikely to be able to justify making sufficient investment to seriously improve coverage.

Apple’s new rules for iPad and iPhone apps payments have been criticised after they forced Amazon to change the Kindle app to make buying new books more complicated.The new terms and conditions, which mean publishers must give Apple 30 per cent of the price of any content they sell via apps, came into force on 30 June.

In response, in July, Amazon removed a “Kindle Store” link within its app in order to preserve its profit margin on e-books.

Kindle app users are still able to buy more books, but they must exit the app and navigate to the Kindle Store via the iPad or iPhone web browser.

But the change has left users confused and angry. On the iTunes page for the app, some indicated they didn’t understand the new purchasing process.

“Pointless update,” said SJH31. “Wish I didn’t update now. What’s the point if I can’t buy books.” and “In reality Apple didn’t like the competition and so has hamstrung apps like Kindle. Shameful from Apple.”

Those who did understand the change overwhelmingly blamed Apple.

Apple is competing with Amazon via iBooks, which still allows users to make purchases from within the app. The rule change has forced Barnes and Noble, Kobo and Google to make similar changes to their e-books apps too.

Apple’s rivalry with Amazon is expected to intensify, with the online retail giant reportedly poised to expand its range of gadgets beyond e-readers to include a full colour touchscreen tablet.

Steve Jobs originally announced the new apps payments regime in February.

Apple has since softened it slightly by allowing publishers to charge more for content in apps than they do on their own website, where they do not have to pay a 30 per cent cut to a third party.

Apple inc (AAPL) now has more cash to spend than the United States of America’s government.
Latest figures from the US Treasury Department show that the country has an operating cash balance of $73.7 billion (£45.3 billion).

Apple’s most recent financial results put its reserves at $76.4 billion (£47.75 billion).

The US House of Representatives has just voted to raise the country’s overdraft debt ceiling, allowing it to borrow more money to cover spending commitments.

The United States is currently spending around $200bn more than it collects in revenue every month.

Apple, on the other hand, is making money hand over fist, according to its financial results. In the three months ending 25 June, net income was 125% higher than a year earlier at £4.56 billion ($7.31 billion).

With more than $75bn either sitting in the bank or in easily accessible assets, there has been enormous speculation about what the company will do with the money.

Industry watchers believe that it is building up a war chest to be used for strategic acquisitions of other businesses, and to secure technology patents with Bookstore Barnes and Noble and the online movie site Netflix possible targets.

The company may also have its eye on smaller firms that develop systems Apple might want to add to its devices, such as voice recognition.

Apple dipped into some of its reserves recently when it teamed-up with Microsoft to buy a group of technology patents from the bankrupt telecom firm Nortel.

The bidding consortium paid $4.5 billion (£2.81 billion) for more than 6,000 telecommunication patents.

Apple has become the world’s biggest seller of smartphones according to new research.
The US firm overtook both previous leader Nokia and Samsung in the second quarter of the year, when total smartphone sales hit a record 110,000,000.

The figures from Strategy Analytics also showed that 361m handsets were shipped, up 76% on the previous year.

Nokia remained the biggest seller of all types of handsets, but the numbers shipped and its market share fell.

It shipped 20% fewer handsets in the second quarter – 88.5 million. The Finnish firm’s market share dipped to 25% – its lowest level since 1999.

The report describes Apple as the “star performer” during the quarter, more than doubling its handset shipments to a record 20.3 million units.

However, its share of the overall market was 6%, making it the world’s fourth biggest mobile phone seller behind Nokia, Samsung and LG.

Samsung shipped 74 million units, rising 16% from 63.8 million in the quarter a year earlier.

The company’s market share rose to just above 20%, and Samsung is now “breathing down Nokia’s neck”, the report said.

Strategy Analytics said Nokia was plagued by problems.

“An unexciting touchphone portfolio, inventory corrections in Asia and Western Europe, wavering demand for the Symbian platform and limited presence in the huge US market continue to weigh on Nokia’s near-term performance,” the report said.

Third-placed LG shipped 24.8 million handsets during the three months, with volumes down 19% from a year earlier.

China-based ZTE shipped 18 million handsets, giving it a global market share of 5%.

Seperately, Taiwan’s HTC said it had shipped 12m handsets in the second quarter of the year, helping its profits double to 17.5 billion Taiwan dollars ($607m; £372m).

Apple’s latest profits soared past expectations as sales of its best known iPhone and iPad products more than doubled.
Net income was £4.6 billion in the three months to 25 June, 125% higher than a year earlier and a record quarterly profit for the firm. Revenue was £17.87 billion, also a quarterly record.

Apple sold more than 20 million iPhones in the quarter and 9.25 million iPads. However, iPod sales continued to slip, down by 20% to 7.54 million units.

The results assuaged concerns about the supply of the iPad 2, partly because of parts supply interruptions caused by Japan’s tsunami and earthquake in March.

Apple chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, said: “We are extremely pleased with our performance. Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $25bn.”

Mr Oppenheimer also said that Lion, the new version of the Mac OS X operating system, will go on sale Wednesday.  The Lion software mimics some of the features of the iPhone and iPad interface.

The company has a reputation for being conservative with its forecasts.

Apple shares (AAPL) jumped 5.3% in extended after hours trading to their highest for a year.

The price had suffered after its founder and Chief Executive, Steve Jobs, took a long term break last January for medical reasons.

The future stewardship of the company remains an open question. On Tuesday the Wall Street Journal was reporting that several Apple board members had discussed a successor to Mr Jobs, and had talked about the matter with at least one head of a high-profile tech company.

Another uncertainty for the company is a web of patent battles with rivals.

It claims Taiwanese rival HTC has infringed its patents, with HTC claiming a number of infringements against Apple.  Apple is also in dispute over the rights to technology with South Korea’s Samsung and US competitor Motorola.

Mobile phone company HTC will appeal against a US ruling that it infringed two of Apple patents.
If Friday’s ruling by the US International Trade Commission is not overturned, the US may ban imports of some HTC phones.

HTC and Apple are rivals in the smartphone market and analysts said the ruling may have industry-wide implications.

Shares in HTC fell by 7% in far east trading today following the news.

The US trade commission said that HTC was guilty of violating two Apple patents when it produced mobile phones based on the Android operating system.

Apple had filed a complaint against HTC for infringing ten of their patents.

However, the findings are preliminary and are subject to review by the full six-member committee in Washington. A final decision is expected on 6 December.

HTC said that it was confident it had a strong case for appeal, and maintains that it has not violated any of the patents mentioned in the case.

This is the latest move in a longer running battle between Apple and HTC.

Last year, HTC filed a complaint with the trade commission claiming that Apple was infringing its patents.

The Taiwanese company is not the only firm fighting Apple over the rights to technology, with the US firm also in disputes with South Korea’s Samsung and US-based Motorola.

The announcement by the US International Trade Commission came late on Friday, and in an effort to boost its share price HTC said over the weekend that it would buy back some of its listed equity.

Apple has apparently ordered 15 million new iPhone 5s smart phone handsets from its Taiwanese suppliers and plans to start shipping in September.iPhone 5 rumours have been intensifying for weeks now and, like this latest one, most seem to suggest an Apple launch some time in the next couple of months.

DigiTimes, which is the main source of most of the recent reports, says that Taiwanese manufacturer Pegatron Technology has just taken an order for 15 million iPhone 5s, to begin shipping in September. It attributes the story to “sources from upstream component makers”.

The report also says that the iPhone 5 “does not have any major update from iPhone 4”.

If that’s correct it would suggest that the new phone will be simply a slightly improved iPhone 4, just as the 3GS was a slight improvement on the iPhone 3G, and not a completely overhauled device.

Based on the rumours so far, it’s expected that the new iPhone will contain the same A5 processor that is in the iPad 2 and a better camera, possibly an 8-megapixel sensor rather than the 5-megapixels of the iPhone 4.

The new handset will apparently look similar to the iPhone 4. However, some rumours have suggested that Apple will release two iPhone models this year, including a cheaper version of the handset.

Apple does not comment on rumours and is yet to confirm any events for August or September, though it typically holds an iPod-related event every September.