iOS Devices

Apple has once again recruited actor Neil Patrick Harris alongside Siri to star in its latest iPhone 6s ad. The new commercial features NPH using the ‘Hey Siri’ voice command to read a legendary thank you speech from the Notes app … all completely hands-free.

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T-Mobile today announced a deal with Cuban carrier Empresa De Telecomunicaciones De Cuba, S.A. (ETECSA) that will see its customers get access to voice, text and data while traveling to Cuba as well as lower rates on calls to landlines and wireless phones in the country from the US.
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A claimed design sketch of the iPhone 7 shows identical dimensions to the iPhone 6s. The drawing (shown in full below) shows only the height and width, not the depth, so doesn’t shed any more light on the ‘headphone jack or no headphone jack’ question.

The sketch was posted by French site NWE with an @onleaks watermark, so has decent credentials, though of course neither can be sure that it’s genuine. It’s a very basic sketch that would be very easy to create.

The sketch does show one other small detail …

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iPad Pro’s Smart Connector

A purported casing leak back in March claimed to show what was referenced as iPhone 7 ‘Pro’ and featured dual iSight cameras and three dots resembling the iPad Pro’s Smart Connector. A separate leak appeared to show schematics for the same iPhone 7 Pro design from a previously reliable magazine late last month. Macotakara reports now, however, that Apple’s Smart Connector technology likely won’t be featured on any of the next generation iPhones.

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Apple is today introducing an Apple Music plan aimed at students. The service is identical in features to the standard plan but rather than paying $9.99 per month, qualifying students can subscribe to Apple Music for $4.99 per month. The offering is rolling out today in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and more countries (via TechCrunch). Prices vary per region but the discount should be around 50% of the normal Apple Music price.

To qualify, students must be currently attending an eligible university or college and gain the discount for up to four years. Apple has partnered with UNiDAYs to verify people who sign up to the student plan are legitimate students attending a school.

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Bob Kupbens, the Vice President in charge of Apple’s growing online retail business, resigned from the company last week to take on a new position elsewhere, according to multiple sources. Kupbens joined Apple in 2014 and has been in charge of all online-based Apple retail initiatives, ranging from the recently redesigned online store, its integration into the main Apple website, the online iPhone upgrade program and newfound connectivity with Apple’s physical retail stores.

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Apple has announced a new enterprise-focused partnership with SAP that it hopes will boost iPhone and iPad usage in the workplace. The Apple and SAP partnership follows an ongoing effort between Apple and IBM to create specific iOS apps for various industries and deploy iOS technology in the field. Apple’s latest effort will include an SDK, or software developer kit, in partnership with SAP that will let developers create business-specific apps plus offer resources for learning how to utilize iOS technology.

“This partnership will transform how iPhone and iPad are used in enterprise by bringing together the innovation and security of iOS with SAP’s deep expertise in business software,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

Apple previously partnered with SAP in a fundraising effort over iTunes during the peak of last year’s refugee crisis. According to today’s announcement, Apple and SAP will be using Apple’s developer language Swift to create the new enterprise software.

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[UPDATE: Users in comments and elsewhere are reporting similar issues with books and music, and Apple has now updated its status page.

Users are experiencing a problem with the App Store. We are investigating and will update the status as more information becomes available.]

[UPDATE 2: Apple says the issue is now resolved.]

A number of Reddit and Twitter users are reporting problems searching both iOS and Mac App Stores, with major iOS apps like Star Wars, Spotify and Google Apps failing to show up in search results – and even Apple’s own Xcode failing to show in searches of the Mac App Store. I’m seeing the same issues myself …

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LAPD detectives have successfully hacked into a locked iPhone 5s despite the phone having a Secure Enclave, according to an LA Times report.

Los Angeles police investigators obtained a method to open the locked iPhone belonging to the slain wife of “The Shield” actor Michael Jace, according to court papers reviewed by The Times.

LAPD detectives found an alternative way to bypass the security features on the white iPhone 5S belonging to April Jace, whom the actor is accused of killing at their South L.A. home in 2014, according to a search warrant filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

More intriguingly still, this appears to have occurred during the time that the FBI was still demanding that Apple help it unlock the less secure iPhone 5c in the San Bernardino shooting case …

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In a statement, Apple has said that it will appeal a Chinese trademark ruling which saw the company lose exclusive rights to the iPhone name, allowing other Chinese companies to use the name for leather goods products. Obviously, the iPhone is Apple’s cash cow so the initial ruling was a big blow allowing legal dilution of its most-valuable brand.

Apple will take the appeal to the Supreme People’s court, the highest court in the Chinese law system …

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In the middle of seemingly stalling profits and a general slowdown of the smartphone industry — like Apple‘s notable first quarter of YoY growth drop in years — Samsung seems to be enjoying a moment of sunshine bathing.

Eleven months after losing the leadership to the Cupertino giant, the Korean manufacturer has climbed once again to the top of the US vendors’ list, as per a Counterpoint Research report (via Business Korea)…

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In a TV interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer this week, Cook said the iPhone 7 will have a killer feature that would prove to be an upgrade customers won’t be able to resist. “We are going to give you things that you can’t live without that you just don’t know you need today,” Cook teased.

Could it really be something we already know about? Could any of the rumored features for the device possibly fall under the groundbreaking or irresistible category of features Cook hinted at? Perhaps the new rumoured dual-camera system could be enough to account for Cook’s comment? Of course, it’s also possible it’s all just post-Q2 PR hype after a quarter of declines. Will Apple have something new and exciting that we don’t yet know about for the iPhone 7?

That’s the question we ask readers in today’s poll. What rumoured new feature for iPhone 7 will make it upgrade worthy for you? Or will Tim Cook and Co need something beyond what’s expected to get upgrade numbers it didn’t get in 2015 with the 6s update and this year with the iPhone SE?
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Apple has lost the right to the exclusive name of the iPhone trademark in China after the Beijing Municipal High People’s Court ruled against the company. Apple retains the right to the trademark for electronic goods, but a local company that has been using the name for leather goods remains able to do so.

The ruling was reported by Legal Daily, which the BBC says ‘is widely recognised as the official mouthpiece for the country’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.’

The trademark dispute over the iPhone trademark has been a long-running one in the country …

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Apple has taken on board criticisms of the messiness of the Apple Music app, and will reveal a ‘more intuitive’ version at WWDC in June, reports Bloomberg. The revamp reportedly follows a management shake-up in which several execs involved in the music project have left the company.

Apple is altering the user interface of Apple Music to make it more intuitive to use, according to people familiar with the product who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. Apple also plans to better integrate its streaming and download businesses and expand its online radio service, the people said

Bloomberg‘s sources say that Apple has been struggling to unite the download-based iTunes business and streaming music service into a cohesive whole, but that it has now pulled in some support at the highest level to oversee the changes …

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TIME Magazine today released its list of the 50 most influential gadgets of all time and Apple appears on the list more than once. At the top of the list, however, is the iPhone. TIME says the iPhone is the most influential gadget of all time because of it “fundamentally changed our relationship to computing and information.”

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If a super-slim, high-quality leather iPhone case is on your wish list, the Nodus Shell case has a few perks that make it my new recommendation and go-to everyday case.

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