Coverage map

Visitors to the market will be able to meet the Mac Doctor, discuss any problems they might be having and get some free and friendly advice. They will also be able to book call outs, training or repairs.

Dr Happy Mac will also be offering a unique service, the sale of reconditioned second user Macs of all types direct to the customer. Dr Happy Mac himself, Andrew Stephens explains:

“For a while now I’ve been looking for a way to expand my business, and to make more people aware of my services, as well as show them they can buy reconditioned Macs from me. Opening a shop in town is an expensive business, which is why I’ve decided to come to the market (so to speak) this way. Cirencester market has just the right sort of visitors, as does Cirencester in general. The Cotswolds and Macs are a good mix and I’m looking forward to meeting more customers face to face.”

To set the stall off with a bang Dr Happy Mac has arranged for local cake superstar Cirencester Cup Cakes to produce a range of Apple themed cakes, which will be given away to customers during the day. There will be a prize draw competition, discount vouchers AND the stall is proud to announce that local celeb Dom Joly will be popping down to declare the stall officially open.

Initially Doctor Happy Mac will be in the Corn Hall on Mondays but hopes to expand this to Thursdays as well as soon as possible.

So, if you have a Mac and need help, or are looking to join the growing numbers of people switching from PC to Mac then come down to Cirencesters Corn Hall Market on the 4th April.

For further information Andrew Stephens (Dr Happy Mac) can be contacted on 01285 643255 or 07711 434912 or via email on help@doctorhappymac.co.uk The Doctor Happy Mac web site is available at www.doctorhappymac.co.uk for additional information on background and services.

/mac-news/documents/macs_in_the_market/c49c5_001.pdf

Jobs used the event to preview both OS X 10.7 and the new Apple App store for er Apps (real apps that is not phone apps). Also launched at the event was iLife 11 and the new slimmer line 11in MacBook Air.

To break it all down:

OSX 10.7. (Lion) The new OS. With heavy leanings on the look and feel of iOS4 from the mobile devices, Lion features plenty of interface "enhancements" such as a new springboard that mimics the app layout of the iPone/Pad, full screen apps (just like on the Pad) and an overview called Bridge. Plenty of multi touch enhancements so a Magic Track Pad is looking like a wise investment right now.

iLife 11 Plenty of shiny features included new interface design, new layout tools and new ways to buy albums. Garage Band get new effects while iMovie takes a step nearer to becoming the older more useful version again.

App Store Like on the phone. One click downloads of Mac Apps (well the ones that Apple approves of obviously. If you want apps like iRip and Handbrakes lets hope Apple doesn't lock up the OS any time soon.

MacBook Air Smaller (11in screen), lighter, slower (1.6GHz), or the same size (13in) lighter and faster. Still very very sexy, still very very expensive.

Users will be entitled to either an Apple "bumper" case (previously £25 from the Apple Store) OR be able to select from an approved range of third party cases. The free case campaign kicks off on the 22nd July and runs for 60 days.

Despite these huge numbers not everything has gone Apples way with reports of left handed users blocking the radio signal with their hands resulting is curt messages from Steve Jobs on how HE would like you to hold the phone. How widespread this issue actually is remains to be seen but the vast majority of users were reported as very happy with their new phone.

iPhone4 features a new faster A4 processor, a slimmer glass case and a new high resolution screen. Available in 16 and 32GB sizes from Apple direct as well as other mobile outlets.

Users downloading the new OS were treated to the traditional Apple server overload, resulting in slow downloads of the 360Mb update.

iOS4 brings with it several much heralded improvements to the iPhone environment including multi tasking, folders for apps, and improvements to the built in mail application. The iPad version of iOS4 should be available in the autumn according to Apple.

While upgrading to iOS4 has proved generally reliable, Apples servers were again hammered by the requests for downloads, while some users reported phones being slow to update, crashing or suffering data loss and needing restoring.

iOS4 runs on iPhone 4G 3GS and also 3G although 3G users loose access to many of the more advanced features.

iPad prices in full:

• 16GB WiFi - £429
• 32GB WiFi - £499
• 64GB WiFi - £599
• 16GB 3G - £529
• 32GB 3G - £599
• 64Gb 3G - £699

Apple supremo Steve Jobs defended the UK pricing robustly, asking UK consumers to "educate themselves" with regard to UK VAT laws.

The real story turns out to be the pricing for 3G data plans by UK mobile supplier, who true to form have identified another market to fleece on data charges, with Orange being the first to announce a distinctly ungenerous offer of:

£2 per day Pay AS You Go with a 200MB data cap or £25 per month with a 10GB data cap

Both these plans are unlikely to appeal to data hungry iPad users. The costs and restrictions are broadly echoed across all UK mobile suppliers.

After initially delaying the launch of the UK iPad by a month Apple again announced that the general launch of the device was being pushed back from the 28th May to the 7th June. However customers with existing pre orders would have these fulfilled by the original launch date. Apple again cited strong US demand for the device as the reason for the second delay.

In addition to multitasking Apple have announced improvements to the mail app, the arrival of the iBook store (in the US only so far) and the ability to vreate folders to organise apps.

Apples own OS 4 page is available here: http://www.apple.com/iphone/preview-iphone-os/

Initially users reported that their brand new iMacs were arriving with damaged screens, possibly due to insufficient packaging for these weighty items. In addition users began to report flickering issues with those screens that were undamaged. Two firmware updates were released to correct the problem but by then users had begun reporting yellowing of the screens that were undamaged and not flickering.

Tech blog TechCrunch reported that Apple were aware of the issues which became so bad that production of the 27in model was reportedly suspended, although Apple have repeatedly denied this despite all 27in models becoming abruptly unavailable on the Apple store.

Internet reports of the issues began to include rumours that Apple was actively recalling faulty Macs and even offering customers an additional $200 for their trouble, again denied by Apple.

Finally Apple has come clean, admitting that there were issues, which have no been addressed and that any customers with a faulty iMac should direct their concerns to AppleCare for a replacement.

The iPad will be available in two flavours, wifi only and 3G connectivity, and three sizes of storage capacity, 16, 32 and 64GB. The wifi models will be available in two months (in the US) with the 3G model following 30 days later. Prices start at $499 and range up to $829 for the 64GB 3G model. All 3G models come with an all you can eat data plan for an additional $30 per month.

The iPad is powered by Apples own A4 1GHz processor and features a 9.7in lcd backlit colour screen running at 1024x768 resolution. Apple promises 10 hours battery use.

The iPad contains full iPod functionality as well as the ability to use all existing iPhone and iPod touch apps, however developers will be free to take full advantage of the iPads larger screen and greatly increased processing power. The iPad also features Apples new iBook online book store designed to support the devices claim to being the worlds best eBook reader.

With subscription downloads to national and local newspapers as well as thousands of ebook titles, Apple is hoping that the iPad will do for the publishing industry what the iPod did for music.

For a full review of the iPad and the launch event Doctor Happy Mac can recommend tech journalist Andy Ihnatko's review for the Chicago Sun Times (also available on Andy's own blog the celestial waste of bandwidth.