Fortune has reported today that Apple iPad orders are finally shipping within 24 hours, the first time the tablet has shipped within a day since its launch in April.
It took 170 days for supply to catch up to demand on the popular tablet.
Apple has been struggling to get production moving since the iPad sold out during launch weekend.
The iPad 3G launch was pushed back a few weeks and the international rollout of the tablet was pushed back a full month.
Orders from Apple.com, at their worst, had shipping delays of 15 business days. By May, that number had dropped to 7-10 and by July it had hit 3 days.
The iPhone 4 still has a three-week delay.
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Earlier in the month, former Apple employee Paul Devine was arrested and charged with selling secrets to Asian suppliers in exchange for over $2 million in kickbacks.
Devine, one of Apple’s global supply managers, was charged “with offenses that include wire fraud, money laundering and unlawful monetary transactions,” which began in 2006.
Today, federal prosecutors have alleged that Devine stashed over $150,000 in cash in shoe boxes in his home, which were then discovered by federal agents during a raid.
Devine is also said to have been hiding $20,000 in different foreign currencies.
To be released from prison on bail, Judge Howard Lloyd says Devine must transfer all cash he has in foreign bank accounts and post that along with $600,000.
It is unclear how much money will be transferred over, but prosecutors say it is “very significant.”
Devine has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Result for: apple
Although it was recently judged to be a legal process, Apple still doesn’t want anyone to jailbreak their “i” devices, and has applied for a patent that would give them the right to “kill” jailbroken devices, as well as “kill” stolen iPods and phones.
The patent is titled “Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users of an Electronic Device,” and it covers a number of security measures to “protect” devices from “unauthorized users.”
Those unauthorized users are jailbreakers and those that have stolen devices from other legit owners.
The patent was filed in February 2009, and was just published this week. The application will help Apple identify “particular activities that may indicate suspicious behavior,” so that Apple can restrict those devices. Suspicious activities include “hacking, jailbreaking, unlocking, or removal of a SIM card.”
Reads the application (via CNET):
In some embodiments, an unauthorized user can be detected by comparing the identity of the current user to the identities of authorized users of the electronic device. For example, a photograph of the current user can be taken, a recording of the current user’s voice can be recorded, the heartbeat of the current user can be recorded, or any combination of the above. The photograph, recording, or heartbeat can be compared, respectively, to a photograph, recording, or heartbeat of authorized users of the electronic device to determine whether they match. If they do not match, the current user can be detected as an unauthorized user.
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