So how is everyone enjoying their first weekend with the iPad mini? Judging from our own Twitter feed, it seems like the junior iPad made an impressive debut on Friday and the smaller, lighter sibling appears to be favored by those who have put their hands on one. It's a shame there's no Retina Display, but we figure that oversight will get rectified next year with the second-generation model...
Now that the iPad mini and fourth-gen iPad have joined the iPhone 5 and fifth-gen iPod touch on the Lightning connector parade, Apple has introduced the $19 Lightning to Micro USB Adapter on the U.S. online store. The adapter, which legally became a requirement in European Union countries recently, allows iOS products to sync and charge using micro-USB cables and chargers instead of Apple's own. The diminutive adapters are now available online (and presumably coming to retail stores as well) with a ship date of one to three days.
Still holding out for an unlocked iPhone 5? That day appears to be nigh, as AppleInsider reported on Sunday that a search on Apple.com's online store for "iPhone 5 factory unlocked" offers up at least prices for the unavailable models. Sadly, there's no way to purchase them yet, but a 16GB unlocked iPhone 5 will set you back $649, with an extra $100 added to each of the other storage capacities to max out at $849 for 64GB. No word on when Apple might light up sales on these contract-free models, but given the struggle they're having getting caught up on carrier-subsidized versions (some of which are backordered three to four weeks), it may not be anytime soon.
In case you missed it during the live streamed iPad mini keynote address, Apple is now airing the "Piano" television commercial which helped launched the smaller tablet. The spot begins with a full-sized iPad playing "Heart & Soul" on a Garageband keyboard, only to be joined moments later by the iPad mini doing the same for the second part of the duet. Don't know what we're talking about? Then click below to view the embedded YouTube version, won't you…?
The Washington Post did some digging into Apple Inc.'s 2012 SEC filing we noted last week, and found that the income tax Cupertino is paying on foreign-earned income is down quite a bit from the previous year. After earning $24 billion overseas and paying 2.5 percent income tax on it in 2011, the newspaper discovered Apple paid only $713 million on foreign earnings of $36.8 billion for fiscal 2012, which ended on September 29. That's an income tax rate of only 1.9 percent, most of which can be blamed on the company leaving that cash overseas -- in fact, there is $82.6 billion languishing worldwide. However, Apple does appear to be setting aside a portion of those foreign profits as "subject to U.S. taxes sometime in the future."
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