Apple just announced they have $110 billion dollars in the bank. We can’t give you that much — sorry, we’d love to! — but we can give you a $110 gift certificate for the iMore Accessory Store to spend on whatever you like! Need a case for your new iPad and a charger for your iPhone? We got you. Itching for one of those iSuper Helicopters? You got it! Want to grab some screen protectors and throw in an olloclip to make your pictures even more awesomer? Go for it!

To enter, just head on over to store.imore.com, figure out what you’d buy, and post a link to it in our new contest forum in this thread. Make sure you read through the contest rules then get to entering!

Enter the contest

The loyalty of Apple customers is well-documented, but according to the latest research data from NPD, iOS devices are doing a good job of raking in new customers, too. For over one in four iPad owners, the tablet is their very first Apple product. 33% of U.S. homes have an Apple product nestled inside somewhere, and of them, one in five houses an iPad – just about as many as those that own Mac computers. The trend marks a decline in iPod as the primary gateway to the wonderful world of Apple for many consumers; within the last two years, 57% reported the iPod as their first Apple gadget, versus 70% historically. One particularly interesting statistic uncovered by NPD is that almost 30% of Apple fans have a smartphone that isn’t an iPhone.

One of the hallmarks of Apple products is their simplicity, which means a nice, low barrier for entry when it comes to late adopters. Android, by comparison, tends to be overwhelming for the less technologically-inclined. The fact that the iPad is appealing just as much to first-timers as Mac computers adds at least a bit of credence to Apple’s supposed “post-PC” era, but those that are late to the game with gadgets likely have modest computing demands, and for them, the iPad is all the computer they need. I would be curious to hear about how many of those new iPad owners move on to get a Mac of any kind. Also, how many of these first-time Apple owners are hardened PC or Android users migrating to iOS or OS X?

Was the iPad your first Apple product? Did you manage to convince any friends to switch to Apple with the new iPad? I could imagine it’s getting harder and harder to say no to Apple products these days, regardless of which part of the computing world you’re coming from…

Source: NPD

Carriers have a love/hate relationship with the iPhone. They hate Apple’s control (because they want that control for themselves) but love the money and customer-retention having the iPhone on their network brings them. Sprint’s willingness to pay damn near all the money in their pockets, and delve into whatever passes for a corporate second mortgage, proves that that point.

AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint sell Android because they want to. They sell iPhone because they have to.

Apple isn’t exactly easy to deal with. Android gives carriers far more control, generally requires far less up front investment (in terms of subsidies), and promises a thus far inexhaustible cornucopia of new devices to thrust at consumers on a seemingly weekly basis. It just doesn’t generate the revenue or reduce customer churn the way the iPhone does.

They tried. They really did. Verizon pushed the Droid and Sprint pushed the Palm Pre and the EVO. They had successes to be sure, especially in sheer volume of units sold. But they never came anywhere near iPhone levels of profit or customer loyalty. And at the end of the day, even for carriers, that’s what matters.

Not that you’d know it by looking at their websites. Go to Verizon.com or AT&T.com or Sprint.com and iPhones have little to know home page presence and remarkably little wireless site presence.

Verizon’s home page features the eye of Sauron the Droid. Their wireless page does have the iPhone in the first of three small blocks at the bottom, but the massive feature boxes are filled almost entirely by Android. There’s even a token BlackBerry thrown into the mix. But no iPhone.

This despite Verizon selling 3.2 million iPhones last quarter, accounting for more than half the smartphones they sold (i.e. the iPhone outsold all Android and other smartphones combined.)

AT&T’s home page is all about Windows Phone and Android, with Nokia grabbing one of the hero slides and HTC and Samsung getting the other two. On their wireless page Nokia repeats in the spotlight, with Android and cheapy phones playing backup. There’s no iPhone in sight.

Yet AT&T sold 4.3 million iPhones last quarter, which was 75% of all the smartphones they sold, and 60% of all the on-contract phones AT&T sold period (including feature phones).

Sprint’s home page has the iPhone in the third of four feature spots, and the fourth of four bottom blocks. They don’t have a separate wireless page, so their home page does double duty.

Still, Sprint managed to sell 1.5 million iPhones last quarter. They don’t break out how many smartphones in general they sold, however, so there’s no way to calculate the iPhone’s percentage of total sales.

And that’s just in the U.S. Internationally, Apple sold over 20 million iPhones. Rogers in Canada reported 35% more iPhone activations, year-over-year, compared to just 20% more smartphone activations overall. (And their home page features Android and Windows Phone, and iPad, and their wireless page shows an iPhone only in a block advertising their Find my iPhone-like Phone Finder service.)

So with little attention, ad spend, and product placement, Apple’s iPhone still accounts for most of the carriers smartphone — if not all phone — sales, and reduces their customer churn. And that probably drives them up-the-wall crazy.

Apple, who doesn’t let them festoon the iPhone with their revolting logos, clog it up with their dodgy crapware, allow them to delay or refuse software updates, or arbitrarily alter casing designs, and charges them among the highest up-front prices of any manufacturer in the industry, is increasingly responsible for their financial and customer success.

And it doesn’t even have LTE (yet) or a ginormous screen (likely ever).

If carriers had their druthers, manufacturers — including Apple — would be little more than dumb assemblers (much as, if customers had their druthers, carriers would be little more than dumb pipes). Yet as much as Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint would far, far prefer to sell the always amenable Android, customers, increasingly, want iPhone. So carriers increasingly have to deal with Apple. Even if they continue to try to find viable alternatives.

That’s why carriers will never go all-in on iPhone promotion. They don’t want to become entirely dependent on Apple (or any one platform). It’s in their best interest to have several, highly competitive platforms on the market that they can hedge with, and against.

Still, it’s interesting to imagine a market where carrier manipulation didn’t influences the market. Free to compete strictly on customers and merits, would smartphones be more like tablets, and would the iPhone have the same relative positions as iPad does to Android tablets, BlackBerry PlayBook, and the like? The same position the iPod had in the carrier-free MP3 space?

Last week Apple debuted two new iPhone 4S commercials, once again highlighting the still-in-beta Siri, but this time using celebrities Samuel L. Jackson and Zooey Deschanel to do the demos (does Santa count as the first celebrity?). Apple rarely uses celebrities in their advertising, so maybe this is the beginning of something new and exciting? Could there be more celebrity Siri spots in the future? And if so, who would you like to see?

• Christian Bale: “Oh, good for you, Siri!”
• James Earl Jones: “Sir, I… am… your… father!”
• Sean Connery: “No, Shiri, I shaid Jammy Dodger!”

The possibilities are nearly as endless as they are entertaining.

If you have a great idea for a celebrity Siri conversation, head on over and add it to our Siri Forum. We’ll pick the best ones and feature them right here on the site!

Back on April 8th, AT&T started a new unlock policy that gave iPhone users the ability to have their devices unlocked via the carrier as stated in the following statement.

Beginning Sunday, April 8, we will offer qualifying customers the ability to unlock their AT&T iPhones. The only requirements are that a customer’s account must be in good standing, their device cannot be associated with a current and active term commitment on an AT&T customer account, and they need to have fulfilled their contract term, upgraded under one of our upgrade policies or paid an early termination fee.

Well, it has been almost three weeks now, so we decided to check in with the iMore forums and see how things were going. Was it easy? Was it difficult? Was it simply confusing?

One of the most interesting stories came from forum member xandermac, who said his back and forth with AT&T might just have caused them to change their unlocking policy.

Basically, there’s been some confusion around contract buyouts and if you could still keep AT&T service after paying your early termination fee. In some cases, AT&T figured if you wanted out, you wanted all the way out. Xandermac did not, he simply wanted his unlock.

Basically, Xandermac was in need of a easy solution to have his iPhone 4S unlocked for travel, but still on AT&T for home use. After email AT&T’s CEO, he was escalated to the Office of the President, and granted the ability to pay his early termination fee, keep his current service, and have his device unlocked to be used out of the country.

For a lot of other interesting stories involving the first few weeks of officially unlocked AT&T iPhones, and to share your stories, jump into our AT&T forums!

There are several good Bluetooth keyboard options for the iPad but the Brydge is simply cool. It aims to make your iPad look like a MacBook Pro, complete with aerospace-grade, anodized aluminum, and optional stereo speakers. Brydge connects to the iPad using a special hinge that “clicks-in” and provides almost 180 degrees of rotation. That means your iPad will be held securely, and at just the perfect angle for you to view it.

s it just us, or does it feel like the options for iPad keyboards and accessories are excessive in quantity, yet lacking in quality? This is why we created Brydge, which simply transforms your iPad into a laptop worthy of Apple.

This idea of turning your iPad into a high quality laptop seemed obvious to us and we were shocked when we could not find any accessory that accomplished this. So we set out to make such a product from the highest quality materials that would compliment your iPad perfectly.

The project is on Kickstarter now, so if this is the iPad Bluetooth keyboard look you’ve been dreaming about, head on over and get with the backing!

Source: Kickstarter

iOS developers on the west coast might be just a little bit peeved that WWDC sold out before they were even awake, and even more may have been cut out from the fun today as Apple canceled some tickets. Luckily, another event called the Indie Developer Lab has been put together for the same time (June 11 – 14) and only a few blocks away from the Moscone Center at The Box (it’s fancier than it sounds). Tickets are considerably cheaper at $100/day as an early bird special, compared to $1600 for the whole four days at WWDC.

The show will host a contest called the IDL Remix, where groups of one to three developers will be given some rough source code, and they have to turn it into a polished final product. There’s no mention of what the prize is, but it should be a fun little exercise nonetheless. Otherwise, you’ll be able to code away in a nice, relaxed environment with lots of other clever programmers to meet and help you out.

The guys organizing this show are @kinkadius, @natetrue, and @flawlessfox of JailbreakCon. So, IndieDevLab may also be a good place to talk about operating outside of the Apple-approved ecosystem, if you’re into that sort of thing.

If this sounds like your bag, you can register via the link below.

Source: Indie Dev Lab, via @kinkadius, @natetrue, @flawlessfox

Contacts Journal is a CRM (contacts relationship management) app for your iPhone and iPad. It allows you to log information about your contacts, add to-dos associated with them, and even attach documents to specific contacts. You can add contacts from the built in Contacts app (and keep information in sync between the two apps), or add contacts separately that you don’t want in your main Contacts app.

Contacts Journal is available for the iPhone and iPad (separate purchases), but all screenshots in this review will be from an iPhone. Both versions have the exact same features.

Adding contacts to Contacts Journal is very easy. You just tap the plus sign and either manually add a contact, or select some or all of all the people stored in the built-in Contacts app. When you add contacts that were already stored on your iPhone or iPad, Contacts Journal and Contacts will stay in sync.

The contact screen shows the photo you have stored for that person as well as buttons to call, message, or email that contact from directly within the app. You will also find buttons that cycle between logs, to-do’s, and documents that you have associated with that individual. To add an entry or document, simply tap the plus sign.

When adding a to-do, you can choose to sync it with the built-in Calendar app and also to receive a reminder notification. You can also choose specific locations for your logs and to-do’s.

The easiest way to add a document to a contact is to browse to the document from somewhere else on your iPad, like email or Dropbox, and “Open In” Contacts Journal. You will immediately be prompted to select a contact to attach the document to. The other option is to directly send a document from your computer to the app by connecting both devices to the same Wi-Fi network and typing a special URL into your browser.

The Logs and To-do tabs are simply filled their respective lists. The Maps tab show a map filled with green, red, and purple pins. The green ones represent the addresses that you have stored for your contacts. The red pins indicated places that have to-dos, and purple pins are places associated with a log.

Contacts Journal let’s you backup and sync your data with Dropbox. Unfortunately, Dropbox sync is not automatic and you must manually force Contacts Journal to send or receive data from Dropbox. When I expressed my concern about this to the folks at zaal, however, they let me know that the reason for this is because an automatic sync would take up a lot of data. The good news is that Contacts Journal does add a badge to the more tab of the app with the number of changes that I have not been synced with Dropbox. This works as a great reminder — especially for people like me who must make sure all badges get cleared.

It’s also unfortunate that Contacts Journal doesn’t support iCloud sync, but the developers let me know that this is actually something they are diligently working on, but are running into issues due to bugs on Apple’s end. Once those are worked out, iCloud sync will be available in an update.

The Good

• Add logs and to-tods to contacts
• Attach documents to contacts
• Create groups of contacts
• Keeps contacts synced between Contacts Journal and built-in Contacts app
• Keep devices synced with Dropbox

The Bad

• Dropbox syncing isn’t automatic. Must manually send and retrieve data.
• iPad version has a boring UI
• No paid universal for iPhone and iPad version available, even though the lite version is universal

The Conclusion

Contacts Journal is a great way to manage important information about contacts, make notes about meetings and assign documents to them. I’ll admit to approaching this app with a “when will I actually use this” attitude, but my thoughts changed as I started exploring the app. Personally, I will probably use Contacts Journal to manage photography clients and attach contracts and receipts to each client as well as make notes about the photo sessions and client requests.

It’s somewhat annoying that the iPhone and iPad version are separate, rather expensive purchases. I’m willing to pay a premium price for premium software, but since the iPhone and iPad versions are virtually the exact same app with no UI differences, I would’ve liked to see a universal version available, even if at just a discounted price than if I were to buy them separately.

The good news is that there is a free, universal version of Contacts Manager available for the iPhone and iPad that restricts you to just 10 logs, to-dos, and documents. It’s a great way to take the app for a test drive and see if it’ll meet your needs.

$9.99, iPhone – Download Now

$9.99, iPad – Download Now

Free Lite universal version – Download Now

For today only, the iMore Store has the Ballistic Hard Core (HC) Series Case for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 on sale for only $21.95! Get them before they’re gone!

Get the Ballistic Hard Core (HC) Series Case for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 now!

The Ballistic Hard Core (HC) Series Case is engineered with five layers of protection, including a built in screen protector, water resistant mesh over all speakers and an extremely durable rotating holster. This case offers security from drops, fingerprints, scratches, dust, and more.

Features:

• Improved design
• Advanced five layer protection
• Layer 1: Built-in screen protector
• Layer 2: Ballistic shock absorbent polymer
• Layer 3: Tough impact resistant polycarbonate
• Layer 4: Additional shock polymer layer
• Layer 5: Optional outer layer of silicone
• Button and ports covers built right onto case
• Includes durable, rotating holster
• Water resistant mesh covering speakers

This morning Apple has apparently canceled some WWDC 2012 tickets, claiming that they are “ineligible” because individuals aren’t supposed to buy more than one. Of course, companies with teams of developers are allowed to buy more than one, but some combination of using the same address and Apple’s system not working the way it’s supposed to has flagged legitimate tickets for cancellation. Much to the rage and consternation of developers. Apple is apparently reinstating the purchases but needless to say, it’s been a dramatic day for some iOS developers.

The Worldwide Developer Conference sold out after two hours of being on sale. That’s with zero advance notice and a 5:30am PDT start time. If a developer was unfortunate enough to be in a bad time zone, or simply away from a computer when they went on sale, tough luck. WWDC policy prohibits the transfer and resale of tickets, which prevents scalping but compounds the problem for developers who missed the tiny window of availability.

That’s led to some opportunists still trying to pull of sales on eBay, and to some desperate developers offering to change their name to that of the original purchaser (and pull jury duty!) in order to get access.

Have you had any problems getting your WWDC tickets? Have you been unpleasantly surprised by one of these e-mails from Apple? Developers, how important is WWDC attendence to your business? Let us know in our iOS Developer and Designer Forum

Source: TNW, eBay, Craigslist

Samsung and a marketing team working on its behalf were reportly behind a flashmob protest at an Apple Store in Australia. The flashmob took place outside the Apple Store in Sydney; a bus full of protestors all dressed in black left the bus and lined up outside the store’s window. They then produced signs that they held up against the windows with the words ‘Wake Up' emblazoned across them. The flashmob then chanted 'Wake Up' through the window at Apple's staff and customers.

An Australian blogger just happened to be in the Sydney Apple Store at the time of the flashmob's appearance and managed to capture it on video. Maybe a coincidence or maybe not, who knows but he certainly seemed to capture the action from all angles. This is not the first time that Samsung has targeted Apple’s customers with its strange marketing tactics. We have already seen a few adverts which blatantly make fun of iPhone users.

Samsung looks like it will be announcing its latest Galaxy S III Android phone in the next few days. This sort of marketing is its attempt at creating some buzz for the launch, but also at hitting Apple in an area where it may really hurt — the perception that Apple is “cool”. It’s a risky gamble. Some Apple or would-be Apple users might have second thoughts and consider Samsung. Others might just think Samsung are a collective bunch of jackasses and want nothing to do with their brand.

Samsung initially became the largest Android manufacturer in the world largely by making products as close to Apple’s as possible without being made by Apple. If you wanted Apple but either couldn’t get it, or were adverse to getting it, Samsung positioned themselves to be there for you. They brilliantly rode the wave of general smartphone awareness and preconceptions Apple established in the modern market.

Now Samsung has become bolder and are striking out with different devices like the Galaxy Note line, and are trying to distance themselves from Apple, aggressively, with their new marketing.

It’s more interesting, more exciting, and more offensive. It’s also likely transitional. After “we’re just like Apple” and “don’t be like Apple”, the next phase has to be “we’re Samsung” and that will be the one to really watch.

UPDATE: Samsung has denied that they were involved with the flashmob… Anyone taking bets on who else would want to do this? Maybe Greenpeace? They’ve had protests at an Apple store in London following on their iCloud report; maybe this campaign in Australia is a part of the same movement.

Source: The Next Web, SlashGear, YouTube

Apple will roll out the new iPad to nine more countries starting from today. This is the third phase of new iPad launches and will see it now available in a total of forty six countries.

Beginning on Friday, April 27, the new iPad will be available in Colombia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa and Thailand.

The new iPad was originally available on launch day in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK; along with Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Apple launched its second phase rollout on March 23; which saw the new iPad available in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

If you do manage to pick up a new iPad, don't forget to pop in to our new iPad forums where you can find out all you need to know about your new device.

Rene and Seth talk WWDC 2012 and iOS 6, Apple’s Q2 2012 financial results, free iPhone games, Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability, and Google Drive. This is iPhone & iPad Live!

• Subscribe via iTunes: Audio | Video
• Subscribe via RSS: Audio | Video
• Download directly: Audio | Video

Meta

• Ultimate guide to iCloud
• How to fix cellular antenna reception problems on a Verizon or Sprint iPhone 4

WWDC 2012

• Apple announces WWDC 2012, June 11 – 15
• WWDC 2012 sells out in 2 hours. At $1600 a ticket. At 5:30am Pacific time.

Apple Financial Results

• Apple reports Q2 2012 results, 35.1 million iPhones, 11.8 million iPads, 7.7 million iPods, $11.6 billion in profit
• Highlights from Apple Q2 2012 financial results conference call
• Stellar Q2 2012 highlights why Apple is a must-own tech stock
• Verizon sells 3.2 million iPhones, earns $3.91 billion in Q1, 2012
• AT&T activates 4.3 million iPhones in Q1 2012, accounts for 78% of smartphone sales
• Sprint scrapes by in Q1 2012 with 1.5 million iPhone sales, sees $863 million net loss
• Tim Cook tells competitors to invent their own stuff — Apple is not the world's developer
• Tim Cook thinks Apple's iPad + MacBook Air strategy is better than Microsoft's Windows 8 everywhere plan

Apps

• Best free iPhone games
• Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability: Read later app for iPhone shootout!
• Google announces Google Drive, gives 5GB of free cloud storage to all users
• Eddy Cue says Apple can't treat magazines differently than FarmVille when it comes to iBooks
• Yes, sometimes you do need to kill all the apps in your multitasking dock

Hosts

• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford)

Credits

You can reach all of us on Twitter @iMore, or you can email us at podcast@imore.com

For all our podcasts — audio and video — including iPhone and iPad Live, ZEN and TECH, Iterate, and more, see MobileNations.com/shows

If you haven’t already please subscribe to all our shows in iTunes and leave a rating. It helps people find the show and means a lot to us!