Explosion at iPad plant in China. Foxconn explosion could hit iPad 2 production. Two people have been killed and 16 injured after an explosion occurred at a Foxconn manufacturing plant in China.
The explosion, which happened on Friday evening, took place at a subsidiary of large manufacturing company Foxconn in Chengdu, China and could have knock-on effects on the production of iPad 2s. Foxconn is known to be Apple's prime contractor for the manufacture of its consumer electronics hardware.
Mike Abramsky, an analyst from RBC Capital who specialises in Apple, released a note on Friday in which he wrote that the manufacturing plant is one of two key sites for the production of Apple's iPad 2 tablet, according to CNN Money. The Chengdu plant was opened in October to boost Foxconn's manufacturing capacity at a purported cost of $2bn (£1.23bn).
Abramsky envisaged two ways the event could affect Apple. He believes that if Chengdu was the prime site for iPad 2 manufacture then stoppage of the plant could crimp production of iPad 2s by between 1.8m and 2.8m units in Apple's third financial quarter.
However, if the bulk of iPad 2 production still occurs in Shenzhen, or the plant damage isn't to severe, then the shortfall will be around 1m units, he wrote.
The cause of the explosion is being investigated, Chinese's state-backed news service Xinhua reported. Source:zdnet
A split from the norm: Sony unveils its twin-screen tablet that opens like a book - but will it take a bite out of Apple? * Sony will also produce a conventional tablet as it aims to break the market * S1 and S2 will use Google's Android 3.0 operating system * Tablets will both be wi-fi and 3G/4G compatible * Prices and release dates not revealed
Being able to carry your entire book collection has become a feature of tablet computers. But Sony has gone one further by making a device that folds open like one too.
Sony announced it is entering the tablet market dominated by Apple's iPad with not one, but two devices.
The tablets - called S1 and S2 - will use an operating system based on Google's Android 3.0.
And in what Sony hopes will provide a key selling point, the latter has two 5.5-inch displays that can be folded like a book. The S1 has a 9.4inch display.
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Both will be Wi-Fi and 3G/4G compatible, Sony's Kunimasa Suzuki said during a press event in Tokyo this morning.
They will both allow the use of Sony PlayStation games and are designed for sending emails, social networking, and enjoying online content such as movies, music and electronic books.
'We offer what is uniquely Sony,' Mr Suzuki said after demonstrating how the S1 was designed with a tapered width for carrying around 'like a magazine'.
Sony did not give any indication of how much the tablets will cost or when they will be released.
The devices will connect to Sony's cloud-computing based library of content such as movies and music, as well as to PlayStation games adapted for running on Android and digital books from Sony's Reader store.
Sales of tablet devices are expected to quadruple to about 294million units between 2011 and 2015, with almost half that Android-based, research firm Gartner has forecast.
Mr Suzuki raised eyebrows in January when he told reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that Sony was aiming for the number two spot in the tablet market within a year even though it had yet to put a product on the market.
The company has emphasised the need to differentiate its tablet from rivals, even if that takes time.
'Although it's a late comer in the market, it has potential as what you need is just one big uniqueness that can sell to customers be it design or whatever,' said Lee Sun-tae, an analyst at Meritz Securities in Seoul.
'By the same token it can be just one of another Android phones flooding the market amid intensifying competition.'
In a bid to tap that burgeoning demand, competitors including Samsung Electronics - whose Galaxy Tab is Apple's strongest competitor in the tablet market - and Motorola , LG Electronics and HTC are flooding the market with tablets running Android.
The announcement of Sony's key net-linking offerings comes as it tries to fix the outage of its PlayStation Network, which offers games and music online.
It is unclear when that can start running again. Sony has blamed the problem on an 'external intrusion' and has acknowledged it would have to rebuild its system to add security measures and strengthen its infrastructure.
Sony, which makes the Vaio personal computer and PS3 gaming console, has lost some of its past glory - once symbolised in its Walkman portable music player that pioneered personal music on-the-go in the 1980s, catapulting the Japanese company into a household name around the world.
It has been struggling against flashier and more efficient rivals including Apple's iPhone, iPod and iPad machines, as well as South Korea's Samsung, from which Sony purchases liquid-crystal displays, a key component in flat-panel TVs.
Sony has already promised a successor to its PlayStation Portable machine for late this year, code-named NGP for 'next generation portable', promising the quality of a home console in an on-the-go machine boasting a screen double the size of smart phones.
Shares in Sony, which unveils its quarterly results on May 26, fell 2.1 per cent this morning.
"What is uniquely popular, we have called Smart Cover, - said Steve Jobs on stage. - We have developed this case under the iPad 2. Although it is not quite cover it in the understanding, to which you are accustomed to. ... It's a plaid" . Further, any number can play with the translation of the word cover, but one thing is clear - a remarkable case came out. He and the truth is not like anything - there really Apple has shown that its industrial design is one of the best in the industry. iPad 2 is so thin that it makes no sense to increase its volume, or else lose all the beauty. Apple is to protect only the screen, leaving intact the aluminum cover. Due to its flexibility iPad Smart Cover can act as a multifunctional base. The beauty of the cover is that it at any time can be removed for a few seconds: as fixatives used magnetic mount. One magnet is built into the tablet, the other - in the case itself. Together, they cling to each other. If you close the cover, the iPad will automatically turn off itself, without any buttons. Obviously, with the help of electromagnetic induction. The choice will be available five polyurethane colors for $ 39 and five leather for $ 69. The inner surface is covered by iPad Smart Cover microfibre to automatically scrape away the dirt screen tablet. In my opinion, a worthy solution. I do not need iPad 2, just wrap this cheholchik.
If the latest chatter is true, we may finally get our first glimpse at the next iPad in a little more than a week.
Kara Swisher over at All Things Digital says she has "multiple" sources who claim that Apple will hold a media event in San Francisco on March 2.
Apple has yet to officially confirm an event next week, but according to Swisher, the company "seems poised" to take the wraps off the long-anticipated iPad 2, with the event "likely" to take place at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The story comes just hours after a flurry of rumors that the next-generation iPad had been delayed, with major news outlets eventually backtracking on the claim Monday.
While Apple hasn't said a peep about the new iPad yet, rumors peg it to be both thinner and lighter than the 1.5-pound, 0.52-inch original, with at least one camera for video chat, a souped-up processor, and more RAM.
There had also been talk that the iPad 2 would arrive with an improved screen similar to the "retina" display on the current iPhone 4, but a recent report in the Wall Street Journal shot down those rumors, noting that the new display may "disappoint customers" hoping for a "significant improvement" in resolution.
The news comes just days before the arrival of the Motorola Xoom, a tablet with a 10.1-inch display that runs on Android 3.0 "Honeycomb," the new tablet-centric version of Google's mobile Android platform.
The next iPad also faces competition from the upcoming, Android-powered LG G-Slate, RIM's BlackBerry Playbook, and the WebOS-powered Touchpad from HP. Read More: Yahoo
