iPad

iPad price cuts: A signal Apple is about to release new ones

Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and MacMall have all lowered their prices on iPads and iPad minis.

FORTUNE -- It's only been 163 days since Apple (AAPL) introduced the iPad mini and updated its full-size iPad line -- roughly half the tablet's usual 311-day product cycle according to MacRumors' invaluable Buyer's Guide.

In fact the guide, which advises readers when it's safe to buy an Apple product, still has a "Buy Now! Product just updated" recommendation MORE

The iPad death watch

Celebrating the three-year anniversary of Apple's tablet computer.

FORTUNE -- "Behold the Apple iFlop" was TheStreet's headline. Bill Gates declared it not quite there yet. Paul Thurrott called it "a high priced, unnecessary trinket." Dan Lyons was let down. Eric Schmidt couldn't see the difference between a tablet and a large phone. John Dvorak couldn't see anyone under 30 ever wanting one.

And those were some of the nicer things the early MORE

China vs. Apple: The iPad is now in the Party's crosshairs

A watchdog agency demands Apple classify iPads as computers with 2-year warranties

FORTUNE -- In the latest twist in China's state-sponsored attack against Apple (AAPL), the China Consumer's Association -- a government funded watchdog group -- has zeroed in on the iPad. In a statement posted on the CCA's website, according to a report Sunday on China.org.cn:

"Apple Inc. was told to equalize the warranty periods in China compared with other countries. Buyers MORE

Paper: Silicon Valley's favorite drawing app

With Paper, a handful of ex-Microsoft employees are proving the iPad is more than just a consumption device, one digital brush stroke at a time.

FORTUNE -- If you thought the iPad was still purely a consumption device, take a few minutes to doodle around with Paper by FiftyThree.

Since co-founders Georg Petschnigg, Andrew S. Allen, Julian Walker, and Jonathan Harris launched the company nearly a year ago, its drawing app MORE

Japan: Where the iPad is changing lives

Apple's iPad is a revolutionary device, yes. But Japan has embraced it in unusual ways.

By Michael Fitzpatrick

FORTUNE -- Best-man Toshiyuki hands out two iPads at a Japanese wedding reception. He's something of an early adopter while some of the older guests are unfamiliar with touch screens, despite their country's tech-savvy reputation. But the tablet's intuitive quality wins them over as they begin happily perusing a slide show of images MORE

Apple patent watch: The iPhone that lands like a cat

To protect the iPhone's fragile screen when falling, it would shift its center of balance

FORTUNE -- We don't usually write about Apple's (AAPL) patents because the company files so many and so few ever see the light of day.

But for Patent Application No. 20130073095, published Thursday and spotted by AppleInsider's Mikey Campbell, we'll make an exception.

It describes a sensor-and-microprocessor system that can detect when an iPhone or iPad is falling and MORE

Japanese manufacturers finally take on the iPad

Japanese - yes, Japanese - electronics manufacturers have gotten the memo about what customers really want. And they're finally fighting back against the iPad.

By Michael Fitzpatrick

FORTUNE -- Stung badly by soaring sales of foreign-made smartphones and tablets, Japan's electronics makers are fighting back with a bevy of hi-tech tablets they hope will turn the tables on the dominant Apple iPad.

Sony (SNE) is setting its hopes on the svelte, bantam-weight, MORE

5 Apples for every Android on Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi networks

iPads are the most popular aircraft device. Then laptops. Then iPhones.

FORTUNE -- "Apple devices are still reigning above the clouds," according to Gogo Inflight, the largest U.S. provider of in-air online connectivity (with services on Virgin America, Delta, United, American, US Airways, Alaska and Frontier).

According to the text that accompanied the release of Gogo's sky-blue infographic Thursday:

Tablets and smartphones make up 67% of the devices used to connect to Gogo's Wi-Fi networks
Tablets are the MORE

Apple and Google: The tables have turned

Tech rivals Apple and Google have traded places. But for how long?

By Kevin Kelleher

FORTUNE -- In July 2012, the Presidential election was kicking into high gear, the Olympics were about to begin, and most people thought it was a matter of time before shares of Apple hit $1,000.

Google (GOOG), meanwhile, was just muddling along. After doubling during 2009, its stock had been treading water around $600 a share for MORE

Apple hits a 57-week low

The last time Apple traded below $430 was Jan. 24, 2012

FORTUNE -- The selling pressure on Apple (AAPL) continued unabated Friday, pushing the stock back to where it was 13 months ago.

Two minutes before the close of trading, Apple shares briefly touched 429.98. That's their lowest point since Jan. 24, 2012, when the stock closed at $420.50 in advance of the company's fiscal Q1 2012 earnings release. When Apple reported MORE