Alongside the new (RED) iPhone, Apple has also given existing iPhone 7/Plus owners the chance to update the color of their phone with a range of six new cases. These match the colors of the new Watch bands also announced today. As with the bands, the new colors are split between silicone and leather. You might need a color chart to make sense of some of the names, though …...
After a number of reports in recent months regarding Apple’s preparations to launch its Apple Pay payments service in China, the company today announced the service is now available to customers in the country. The announcement comes via Apple’s news site for developers and notes that apps and goods in the country can now accept the Apple Pay payments service using supported credit and debit cards. Apple first announced back in December of last year that it was partnering with China UnionPay to bring Apple Pay to users in China sometime in 2016....
Ahead of iOS 8’s release later this morning, Apple has released new versions some of its iOS apps. Remote, which allows you to control your iTunes library and Apple TV from your iOS device, received a performance improvement update with iOS 8 support. Logic Remote, which allows you to interface with both GarageBand and Logic X on the Mac, is also updated with iOS 8 support. An updated version of iTunes U is also available bringing iOS 8 support and the ability to add assignment due dates to the calendar....
At an event at the University of Arizona’s Department of Marketing, former Apple advertising lead Ken Segall has shared some additional details into the naming behind Apple’s massively popular smartphone. While Apple ended up calling its industry-changing smartphone the “iPhone,” Apple considered a few other names. Our own Scott Buscemi was on the ground at the event, and he has shared the details for this article. In addition to iPhone, Apple considered “Telepod,” “Mobi,” “Tripod,” and “iPad....
Apple’s Siri team has published a new Machine Learning Journal entry that details some of the process behind making voice-activated ‘Hey Siri’ work with just our voice. Apple previously documented part of the process behind pulling off voice-activated Siri in general last fall, and the first Machine Learning Journal entry of this year focuses on the challenge of speaker recognition. As referenced in the previous entry, Apple says the phrase ‘Hey Siri’ was chosen in part because a number of users were already using it naturally when activating Siri with a hardware button....
Apple issued a minor firmware update today to address issues specifically related to customers using USB hard drives with their routers, and fixes for intermittent loss in WAN connectivity as well as issues that may cause a network loop. You can view the full release notes below: Addresses an issue that prevents a USB hard drive connected to an AirPort Extreme from appearing as an available disk in Time Machine Resolves an issue that may intermittently cause a loss in WAN connectivity Resolves an issue that may result in a network loop If you own an AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule, you can view more information about grabbing new firmware updates here....
TechCrunch announced today that Susan Prescott, a vice president of markets, apps, and services at Apple, will speak at its “TechCrunch Sessions: Enterprise” event in San Francisco next month. Prescott has a variety of roles at Apple, ranging from services such as Apple News to managing marketing for Apple applications, and working with the company’s enterprise business. She has specifically focused on Apple News, and offered the early demo of the service on stage at WWDC in 2015....
There’s been much criticism of streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify for paying relatively small sums to artists, but a new report today suggests there’s some good news in the mix. Independent labels now represent 40% of the music market, twice the share they had back in the days of physical music sales, and they have never been more optimistic about the future … CNET reports that playlists surfacing lesser-known artists has been key....
With iPhone 6s pre-orders set to start in just a few short hours, Apple has pulled down its online shop for the update. While you wait in eager anticipation for the store to return, be sure to vote in our poll and let us know which model you’re planning on picking up. Haven’t decided whether you want to upgrade yet? Our Ben Lovejoy examines whether the latest and greatest model is enough of an improvement to justify the purchase....
Bloomberg is reporting statements to this effect made by the CEO of Singapore mobile phone carrier, MobileOne. Company boss Neil Montefiore told media: “I think, before the end of the year we will be” carrying the phones in our stores. It will become available in all markets, with all operators.” Now, this could simply mean Apple will be offering the device in all international markets by the end of the year through operators it has already reached a deal with, or could signal a newly liberal approach....
Apple has defended the App Store app review process following formal complaints lodged by Epic Games and other developers to the Australian antitrust watchdog. In addition to complaining about Apple’s 30% cut, Epic had told the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that the app review process could delay the launch and update of apps; apps could be rejected by Apple without proper cause; and that it was hard to engage with the company when this happened …...
Update: Apple says its investigation has found no evidence of ‘inappropriate data transfers’ of photos from customer phones – via CNET. An Apple Store in Australia is under fire for accusations of employees stealing personal images from the phones of customers, as well as taking images of female customers and female staff without their knowledge. The employees then used the images to “rank their bodies” from 1 to 10. According to a report from The Courier Mail, which calls this “the biggest scandal to hit [Apple] in Australia,” more than 100 “close-up and explicit photos” were taken of female staff and customers without permission....
Shortly after dropping the price from $99 to $69, Apple has updated the Apple TV channel lineup with a few additions in the United States. New apps for viewing content from TED, Tastemade, and Young Hollywood are now available. The channels should appear automatically or after a restart on the latest Apple TV set-top box, and all three offerings are available without a cable or satellite subscription. The refresh does not yet include the new HBO NOW offering, which will enable Apple TV owners to subscribe to the premium network as a standalone service similar to Netflix starting next month....
Who will control video on the mobile web? Need evidence? If Apple were planning on releasing Flash on the iPhone, why would Youtube be converting their library to H.264? Yes, the Quicktime quality is better – but not that much better than Flash on a 480×320 inch screen. What is more important is that every Youtube video put on the web is effectively a interface for a Flash interfaced mobile video platform....
The Wall Street Journal summarizes information from court documents and various sources that points to Apple and Samsung being back at the bargaining table after the two companies spent much of 2012 in court proceedings regarding patent infringement claims. During the summer of 2012, Apple won a major lawsuit in California court against Samsung due to design patent infringement claims regarding the iPad and iPhone. Today’s report shares that since that time, the Cupertino and South Korean tech firms have met multiple times in private to come to some sort of settlement....
Image via GeekWire Apple today confirmed its rumored plans for expansion in Seattle. Apple’s Kristina Raspe and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan held a press event today announcing Apple’s expansion in Seattle that will see it grow to over 2,000 employees in the city with a new campus. As detailed by GeekWire, Apple plans to hire its first 200 new employees in Seattle by the end of this year. From there, it plans to hit 2,000 over the next five years....
Update: A law firm known for filing Apple patents now says that the listing of Apple as the patent assignee was a ‘typographical error’ and that the true assignee should be the inventor, BAE Systems. This suggests the firm may have used a boilerplate form and forgotten to remove Apple from the document. It could only be a matter of time before we started seeing vehicle-related patents for Apple, but the first one spotted by Patently Apple is an odd one: it’s assigned from another company, and it relates to articulated vehicles – not quite what one would expect for an Apple car....
If past iPhone sales are anything to go by, Apple is set to move a whooping hundred million iPhone 5 units. In other words, a fifth-generation iPhone will match sales of all previous models combined, helping Apple maintain a healthy 20+ percent market share in smartphones. The assumption is based on the above chart from Asymco that outlines monthly sales for all four iPhone models, approximated based on actual quarterly sales divided over the months according to the number of days available....
At the Apple Distinguished Educator conference this week, Apple Vice President of Environmental Initiatives Lisa Jackson spoke to educators about the importance of the environment and Apple’s related work. Jackson showed the above photo and said “that little green leaf means a lot to me.” The leaf outlines multiple words expressing Apple’s work on the environment such as “Apple Campus 2” and “EPEAT.” During her talk, Jackson shared Apple’s work to trying to reach 100% renewable energy across its operations and she said that Apple is “not going to stop until we get to 101%…”...
You have to feel for The New York Times. I mean, Apple leaked the 7-inch iPad information to The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg over a week ago as orders for Google’s 7-inch tablet were opening up. Perhaps Apple was not pleased with the iEconomy series that The New York Times insisted on running. Nevertheless, Apple’s PR machine has a message to get out (even turncoats MG Siegler and Walt Mossberg love the Nexus 7!...
