Mark is an award-winning journalist who worked at 9to5Mac for over six years. He covers Apple and other topics related to the consumer technology industry.
With September’s iPhone release in the rearview and the iPad Pro set for an early November launch, Apple is ready to add some new Mac hardware into its fall product line. Apple is currently planning to announce new 21.5-inch iMacs with 4K screens next week, according to multiple reliable sources. While the new computers are likely ready to begin showing up in stores as soon as Tuesday, October 13th, Apple will ramp up larger quantities for November, according to the sources, so finding one early on may be a slight challenge.
ABC published some out-takes from a video Apple provided it showing Steve Jobs in the run up to the iPhone launch and at other times later in his tenure at Apple that depict his lighter, more humanistic side. Apple has previously worked with ABC, providing Tim Cook airtime to discuss both Apple and Steve Jobs a year ago.
James Bell, the former CFO of Boeing, has joined Apple’s Board of Directors, the company announced today. Bell fills an opening left by former Apple board member Millard Drexler, who retired from the board in January. Tim Cook, Apple Chairman Art Levinson, and Bell have all provided quotes for the announcement:
“James brings a wealth of global, financial and industrial experience from his successful career at Boeing as corporate president and CFO,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “I am thrilled to welcome him to Apple’s board of directors and I look forward to working with him.”
“We look for outstanding individuals to strengthen our board’s breadth of talent and depth of knowledge, and we are very happy to have identified a fantastic person in James Bell,” said Art Levinson, Apple’s chairman. “I’m confident that he will make many important contributions to Apple.”
“I am an avid user of Apple products and have a tremendous respect for the company’s ability to innovate,” said Bell. “I am delighted to join the Apple board and look forward to contributing to its continued success in any way I can.”
Apple says that Bell brings experience in “finance, strategic planning and leadership in complex organizations” to the Apple Board. Bell retired from Boeing in 2011, and he also served as interim CEO of the company in 2005. Bell is the second new Apple Board member in two years. Last year, Apple appointed Susan Wagner of BlackRock to its Board of Directors.
Just under two weeks following the first beta, Apple has seeded a second beta of the upcoming OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 release to developers. The first version of El Capitan comes out on the Mac App Store for consumers tomorrow. The first 10.11.1 beta brought new emojis over from iOS to the Mac, and we’ll keep this post updated with additional changes as they are discovered.
Apple today issued a press release reminding users that the next version of the Mac operating system, OS X El Capitan, will become available tomorrow (September 30th) on the Mac App Store as a free update. Of course, this has been known since Apple’s September 9th event, which included the Wednesday release date as an easter egg during the new iPhone’s 3D Touch demo. In its announcement today, Apple provides a quote from Craig Federighi that notes the success of the software’s public beta program:
Tomorrow will mark three months since the launch of iOS 8.4 and Apple Music, and this means that the first free trial sign-ups will begin expiring. In its latest push to retain users, Apple has begun emailing users with set-to-expire trials as well as pushing notifications to their devices. As can be seen in the image above, the notification encourages users to renew.
As we learned in the summer, users who do not manually end their free trial with Apple Music will be automatically opted into continuing their subscription for either $9.99 or $14.99 (family plan). Users who wish to not continue with Apple Music can disable their subscriptions manually via their iTunes account page. Last week, our own Ben Lovejoy weighed the pros and cons of Apple Music in order to make his own renewal decision.
With the Apple TV 4 developer kit in the hands of developers, select software makers are experimenting with different ways to take advantage of the iOS 9-based tvOS operating system. Developer Kevin Smith has created a MAME Emulator for the new Apple TV that is based on a similar port for iPhones and iPads. These special software kits allow users to run vintage video games on their modern devices, such as Frogger and Metal Gear Solid.
The video below shows some of these games in action. As MacRumors notes, the A8 chip in the new Apple TV is able to handle these simulated games fairly well. The developer explains on his YouTube channel how the emulator was developed:
Last week, news emerged that a small percentage of App Store apps on iOS devices have been infected by malware injected into versions of Xcode not directly downloaded from Apple’s website. In response to these hacks, Apple has today urged developers to validate their version of Xcode and ensure they only download new versions from Apple. The Cupertino-based company notified developers of the situation this morning via email:
Ahead of the Friday, September 25th retail launch of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Apple has begun preparing to ship orders of the new devices across the world. This stage in the Apple Online Store iPhone pre-ordering process indicates that Apple is packaging up units for shipment to customers for delivery next Friday and will likely begin charging customers soon as well. In similar news, packaging for the new phones in the wild has emerged online. A gallery below shows these images:
On the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus announcement day, Apple increased the pricing of its AppleCare+ protection plan from $99 to $129. We’ve since discovered that Apple has additionally discontinued its combined plans for the Apple Watch and iPhone. Since the launch of the Apple Watch earlier this year, Apple offered combined packages that allowed a customer to protect both devices on a single plan. Now, customers must purchase both plans separately. The combined packages did not bring any discount or value over purchasing the plans separately, so the discontinuation of the program does not come as a major change for consumers. Apple has told employees that customers who have already purchased the combined plans will not be affected through their deals.
While the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s on some U.S. carriers is still available for delivery on the September 25th launch date, nearly all of the larger, 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus models are now scheduled to deliver in 3-4 weeks for new orders. According to KGI Securities, this is not entirely due to high demand for the largest iPhone model. According to a new note from the firm, the constraints are actually due to supply problems with the 6s Plus’s backlight hardware:
Apple acquired transit mapping startup HopStop in 2013 to help form the basis of the new transit mapping feature in iOS 9. Now, as is tradition when Apple launches a product based off of an acquired technology, Apple says it is shutting down the still-running HopStop app in October. This message was shared as a banner on HopStop’s website:
Unfortunately, Apple shutting down the HopStop service will create a gap in transit support. According to its website, HopStop’s transit functionality supports dozens of cities and counties across the world, even ranging from regions of Israel to Russia to Australia. Apple Maps only (so far) supports the following cities:
The day is here: Apple is holding one of its biggest events in company history. Apple is set to unveil a pair of new iPhones (the 6s and 6s Plus) two new iPads (the iPad mini 4 and iPad Pro) a revamped Apple TV set-top-box, Apple WatchOS 2, new bands, and Apple Watch Sport casing colors. We’ll be following the entire event from start to finish, and we’ll also be using this post to issue live updates of the latest information from before the event. We’ll be publishing separate articles detailing all of Apple’s major announcements, but this post will serve as a hub with direct links to all of them. Follow along with us, below:
Alongside the new iPhones, new Apple TV, new Apple Watch bands, and a gold anodized version of the Apple Watch Sport, Apple plans to debut a pair of new iPads on Wednesday: the larger iPad Pro and a new iPad mini. Since our report last week that the iPad Pro would be unveiled at this event, we’ve gathered a few more details about the device from several sources who have either used the iPad Pro or are familiar with the product.
Unlike earlier iPads, which have started at 16GB of capacity and been designed to appeal in both pricing and size to the masses, even the base model iPad Pro will have features fitting its name. We’re also hearing that it’s coming a little later than originally expected, but will still make it out by year’s end…
One of the cornerstone features of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, to be announced next Wednesday, is a screen based on the Force Touch technology from the latest MacBook trackpads and the Apple Watch. However, as we noted in previous articles such as our event expectations roundup from yesterday, the Force Touch feature in the new iPhones will actually be a next-generation version of the technology. According to sources familiar with the new iPhones, the new pressure-sensitive screen will likely be called the “3D Touch Display”…
Apple’s Wednesday, September 9th event is shaping up to be one of the largest in the company’s history. The Cupertino-based company is planning to unveil several major new products on stage, including a pair of new iPhones with revamped internals, a sequel to the Apple TV, a larger version of the iPad Air, a refreshed iPad mini, and new Apple Watch accessories. The company is also likely to discuss at least two of its latest software platforms: iOS 9 and watchOS 2. We’ve reported the lion’s share of what is to come at next week’s event, so this article outlines everything we’re expecting and adds some new details…
Apple is indeed planning to release a new version of its 21.5-inch iMac with a 4K display this fall, according to reliable sources. The current plan is to announce the refreshed version of the smaller iMac by the end of October alongside OS X El Capitan and begin shipping the product by the beginning of November. As indicated by references inside of El Capitan, the new 21.5 inch iMac’s 4K display will come with a resolution of 4096 x 2304, which is up from the current model’s screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. Faster processors and improved color saturation can also be expected. The higher-resolution screen will likely raise the price of the new iMac, much like the 5K display raised the price of the 27-inch iMac last fall. Apple may keep around the current 1080P models, much like the lower-resolution 27-inch iMac is still available for sale.
Apple is making its App Store a bit more social. The company today opened up a new Twitter account dedicated to the App Store’s gaming section. The account, @AppStoreGames, is yet to be officially verified by Twitter, but it was retweeted this morning by the official and verified @AppStore account, which launched a few years ago.
Apple’s September 9th event is set to be one of the company’s largest events in history, as is reflected by the expansive size of its San Francisco venue. Besides a pair of new iPhones, the substantially revamped Apple TV set top box, and new bands for the Apple Watch, Apple is currently planning to debut a pair of new iPads at next week’s event: the long-rumored iPad Pro, and a refreshed version of the iPad mini, according to trusted sources…
Starting with the iPhone 3GS, every new iPhone has started with 16GB of storage as a base model — a capacity that has come under increasing fire as both videos and apps have grown in size. Despite new capabilities and the presence of 4K video recording in the new iPhones, sources say that the new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus will retain the same storage tiers as the current iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus: 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB. On-contract pricing will also be the same as the 2014 models: $199, $299, and $399 for the iPhone 6S, versus $299, $399, and $499 for the iPhone 6S Plus. We previously posted images of pre-production next-generation iPhone components that indicated that the 16GB option could remain.
The fourth-generation Apple TV, set to be unveiled at an event on September 9th and released in October, will feature a mix of new and familiar hardware, according to reliable sources. While the new device will sport a much faster processor than the current Apple TV, a color-matched remote control, and a somewhat larger body, it will lack support for 4K video streaming and have the same basic ports as the third-generation model…
New Apple TV will look similar, but thicker (image via Michael Steeber)
Although iOS devices and the App Store have transformed the handheld gaming market, the first three Apple TV generations did not attempt to challenge Microsoft’s Xbox, Nintendo’s Wii, or Sony’s PlayStation game consoles for complete control of living room TVs. According to sources with knowledge of the product, the fourth-generation Apple TV will actively compete for TV gamers with updated hardware, software, and peripherals that will debut at Apple’s September 9 event in San Francisco.
One of the next Apple TV’s tentpole features will be near-universal Siri control, a feature hinted at in Apple’s invitation to the event. But the other will be deep support for gaming, representing Apple’s largest-ever effort to lure players from traditional consoles. In addition to the convenience of downloading games directly from the Apple TV’s built-in App Store, and controlling many of them via a new bundled remote control, Apple will also support more complex, console-style Bluetooth game controllers with the pressure-sensitive buttons and joysticks previously introduced for iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches…
Apple’s summer “Apple Camp” program for students will expand to become a year-round program beginning in September, according to a message from Apple Retail head Angela Ahrendts to employees this week. Ahrendts also noted that field trips and programs for teachers will also become year-round. Here’s Ahrendts message to employees on the matter, per Apple Retail employees:
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