Benjamin Mayo

Apple has just announced that the holiday season set another new record for the App Store with app sales on the 1st January 2017 topping $240 million. Across December, Apple customers made $3 billion worth of purchases from the App Store.

In total, the company announced developers made $20 billion from the App Store across 2016, up 40% compared to the previous year. Top markets includes the US, UK, Japan and China with 90 percent revenue growth compared to 2015 …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Joining the crowd of Thunderbolt 3 products announced at CES 2017, CalDigit has announced a new generation of its Thunderbolt 3 USB-C dock designed for the new MacBook Pro. As well as a range of I/O ports (for 5K displays, dual 4K displays, eSATA and more) the TS3 Dock will feature 85 W power — this means it can fully charge the new MacBook Pro whilst in use.

The TS3 is the successor to CalDigit’s existing Thunderbolt 2 Dock. The new dock is available to preorder now with availability for ‘Q1 2017’ …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Rumors for the next-generation Apple Watch have begun, whilst the latest Apple Watch Series 2 models continue to be supply constrained. The report from Chinese media Economic Daily News, via Digitimes, indicates that Quanta will manufacture the ‘Apple Watch Series 3’ (name unknown) with a release in the third quarter of 2017.

However, the report is pessimistic on the inclusion of major new features for the Apple Watch citing minor improvements, in performance and battery life.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Spotify has updated its Mac client app today featuring integration with the new MacBook Pro Touch Bar for the first time, with a similar experience to the iTunes Touch Bar interface. Spotify continues to lead in the streaming music space with 40 million paid subscribers, Apple Music currently touts 20 million customers on the $9.99/month subscription plan.

The Spotify app now shows transport, shuffle and search controls in the Touch Bar whilst the app is frontmost as well as integration with Now Playing for persistent access to playback options whilst music is playing in the background. Moreover, Spotify now supports the Apple AirPods auto-pause feature.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Super Mario Run launched last week with much anticipation, as Nintendo’s first real entrance into the iOS gaming market. Today, Apple and Nintendo have announced that the game has set a new App Store record with more than 40 million downloads in four days. The game continues to rank #1 for Top Free and Top Grossing in the App Store.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple has now activated in-store pickup on its website as another way to buy Apple AirPods from retail stores. If you are lucky, your local store might just have some units in stock and you can go and collect them today. If you are desperate to buy AirPods before Christmas, it’s worth refreshing your local pickup options as retail stores are getting new shipments all the time.

AirPods are also now being sold on Verizon’s website, which is another place where you might be able to buy some before the end of 2016. They were briefly available with two-day shipping this morning. eBay scalpers continue to sell AirPods with Christmas availability at inflated prices.

For UK readers, Carphone Warehouse is now selling AirPods for £159 with free Christmas delivery if you order before the 23rd.

Expand
Expanding
Close

The Apple AirPods are a marvel of miniaturization, packing a lot of features into a small and light body. iFixit has completed its teardown of the AirPod earbuds and case revealing all the tiny chips, components and circuity hidden inside the plastic.

Perhaps most interestingly, the earbuds each contain a tiny 93 milliwatt battery — that’s 1% the size of an iPhone battery. Fitting so much stuff into a small product comes at a cost though; iFixit says the AirPods are not repairable or recyclable.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Yesterday, we shared a video of a marathon runner testing the real-world resilience of the AirPods as fitness workout headphones. Apple doesn’t claim that the wireless earbuds are waterproof so there were some fears that they would be ruined by sweat or simply fall out.

These concerns appear unfounded as the AirPods excelled in that test and now another video show the AirPod earbuds and case going through multiple drop tests, water submersion and even a washing machine cycle with detergent. Incredibly, they still work after all of that with only minor scuffs …

Expand
Expanding
Close

I’ve been looking forward to using Apple’s wireless earbuds, AirPods, ever since they were teased at the iPhone 7 event. They gripped me as something that is quintessentially Apple; a streamlining of earbuds as far as they can go, headphones stripped to the bare essentials.

I just got my new Apple AirPods delivered this morning and I’m happy to say they seem to be living up to my expectations a few hours in. Here’s my first impressions ..

Expand
Expanding
Close

If you weren’t in the festive holiday spirit already, Apple is launching its legal challenge this week to oppose a 13 billion euro charge levied on the company in August by the EU Commission for supposed illegal tax benefits from Ireland.

Apple will argue that the EU ignored tax experts and disregarded corporate law. Bruce Sewell, Apple SVP, said that the company was targeted to ‘generate lots of headlines’ in a statement.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple AirPods wireless headphones are now being delivered to customers and the usual bevy of real-world tests have started hitting YouTube. One interesting test is from Daniel Garcia, who takes the AirPods on a hilly mountain run to see how they work as earbuds for fitness workouts in terms of comfort, secure fit and battery life.

He came away impressed; the AirPods stayed in his ears throughout the jogging and sprinting in windy conditions. Watch the video after the jump …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple’s new iPhone for next year is widely expected to be a radical departure from the existing aluminium and glass design. A report from the Korea Herald indicates that the new display in next year’s major new phone, currently dubbed iPhone 8 by the rumor mill, will be a plastic OLED panel that curves ‘all over’.

This report reaffirms the idea of Apple introducing three new phones in 2017: one flagship OLED-display device and two less-radical models (iPhone 7s?) that resemble the existing iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

Expand
Expanding
Close

After more than a year, Apple has updated the videos shown on the Aerial screensaver available on the fourth-generation Apple TV. The rotation of clips of landmarks and places has not changed since tvOS launched … until today.

Apple has added about twenty new clips of famous landmarks and places, including Dubai skyscrapers, Greenland snowscapes and the Liwa desert. All the new videos linked below …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Since iOS 7, Apple has allowed third-party manufacturers to make game controller accessories for iPhones and iPads so users can play iOS games by mashing physical buttons and waggling real joysticks, rather than rely on the touchscreen for input. The Gamevice (~$99, price varies) is one such MFi accessory in an interesting form factor, almost like a GameBoy with buttons on either side of the screen.

Apple is featuring the Gamevice in Apple Stores now, and the iPad Pro models are recommended on the company’s gift guide. Read on for our hands-on review …

Expand
Expanding
Close

The first ever Mario game for iPhone has launched to much fanfare from Nintendo and Apple. Download Super Mario Run from the App Store now, on any iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 8, iOS 9 or iOS 10.

Super Mario Run is a one button 2D platformer. Mario automatically runs through the level, players press the screen to make him jump onto ledges, avoid enemies and collect coins.

For free, the game includes a selection of levels as a trial; the full game content can be unlocked with a one-time $9.99 In-App Purchase. We’ve got a walkthrough of the three different modes and a raft of screenshots after the jump to give you a taste of what the game has to offer before you play …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple has just dropped iOS 10.2.1 beta 1 for developers. The contents of the update are currently unknown. The update swiftly follows the public release of iOS 10.2 on Monday. iOS 10.2 included new redesigned emojis, the TV app for US users, a couple of new screen effects in Messages, amongst other enhancements.

The first seed of iOS 10.2.1 weighs in at 1.82 GB for developers over-the-air. Given the minor bump in version number, this is likely a simple bug fix release.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Twitter is rolling out a new feature into its native client app for iPhone and iPad. From today, users will be able to start video live stream broadcasts from within the Twitter app courtesy of a new integration with Periscope, which Twitter acquired in 2013.

To start a live video, open the tweet compose screen and tap the new “Live” button. You can frame your shot and then press Go Live to start broadcasting to the world. The feature is rolling out gradually over the next few days.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Update: As expected, AirPods stock is limited. An hour later, the product is no longer available for Christmas delivery. In the US, delivery estimates are now quoting December 29th availability. eBay is already flooded with scalpers selling AirPods at inflated prices.

The AirPods are now available to buy from Apple’s Online Store, with delivery before Christmas. You can buy AirPods from Apple and Best Buy (delivery in 2017).

After many delays, Apple’s truly-wireless headphones are finally on sale which are the company’s preferred solution to the wireless audio future heralded by the iPhone 7. Quantities are likely to be limited so get in quick if you want to secure a pair before Christmas Day.

AirPods will be available at Apple retail stores next week. Online, delivery estimates indicate customers will receive their units as soon as December 21 in the US, with some international customers getting even earlier estimates, as soon as Monday 19 …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple has held talks to invest in a Softbank technology ‘vision’ fund worth a total of $100 billion, according to Dow Jones (via CNBC). President-elect Donald Trump announced last week that Softbank will use about half of that money, around $50 billion, to invest in American businesses.

Apple’s cash pile is currently estimated to be worth more than $200 billion, with the majority kept outside of the United States. Apple does not have a history of investing in venture capital funds, so this is an interesting new direction for its capital. Apple is reportedly looking to contribute up to $1bn of the $100 billion total, although the deal is not finalized.

Expand
Expanding
Close

The new MacBook Pro has caused countless controversies over the last few weeks, from its lack of legacy I/O ports to graphics issues and battery life concerns, and Microsoft says this is leading to more Mac users than ever switching to Surface PCs and laptops.

In a yearly review on the Windows blog, the company said that more people are switching from Mac to Surface than ever before with Mac customers disappointed by Apple’s new MacBook Pro and enticed by Surface innovations.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple is rolling out a fix for the iCloud Calendar spam issue that has plagued users over the past few weeks. On iCloud.com, the company has added a new Report Junk feature. This lets users remove spammy invites from their calendar and reports the sender to Apple for further investigation.

The feature is currently only available on Apple’s iCloud.com Calendar web app but it is likely to roll out to the iOS and Mac native Calendar in a future software update …

Expand
Expanding
Close