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.
Mark is regarded as one of the go-to reporters for all Apple-related matters, one of Wired‘s top 16 people to follow in technology, and one of TIME Magazine‘s top 25 bloggers of 2013. Mark has also been profiled by CNN Fortune multiple times, NPR, the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, the Huffington Post, Business Insider, Columbia Journalism Review, Marketplace, Haaretz, and USA Today. Mark was also recently named to the 2015 Forbes 30 under 30 List.
In 2012, Mark published the first photos of the iPhone 5, broke the news about Apple’s switch to an in-house Maps application, revealed the first 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, forecasted that Apple would update the iPad’s software with Siri support, and accurately revealed the iPad mini’s higher-than expected price point.
In 2013, Mark published the first photos of the original iPad Air, provided the first details about Jony Ive’s end-to-end iPhone and iPad software update called iOS 7, provided information about OS X Mavericks, and detailed Apple’s early work on the Apple Watch.
In 2014, Mark revealed Apple’s work on a new Health application for iOS 8 and the Apple Watch, Ive’s redesign of OS X called Yosemite, and details about the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Mark started out 2015 with a significant scoop detailing Apple’s yet-to-be-released 12-inch MacBook with a Retina display, thinner design, and more advanced trackpad and keyboard. He has continued the year by reporting on several details about iOS 9, including the new Proactive Assistant, redesigned Siri, upgraded Maps with transit functionality, new system font, split-screen iPad apps, Swift 2.0, as well as predicting a performance focus for both that software upgrade and OS X El Capitan. Mark finished the year by reporting the majority of the details about the new Apple TV, iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, Apple Watch updates, the iPad Pro, the iPad mini 4, and iMacs.
Mark started out 2016 with exclusive reports on Apple’s work on a pair of completely wireless Beats headphones for the iPhone 7, details on the iPhone SE, iPad Pro 9.7-inch, Apple Watch updates, Apple’s March product event, new Apple retail initiatives, and Tim Cook’s Town Hall meeting with Apple employees.
Mark has also written long-form features on “Apple Anonymous,” a group of retail employees who discuss work over Twitter and the fascination of watches by Apple executives. Most significantly, in fall 2014, Mark published an extensive profile of Apple’s PR and Communications department that was compiled over two months into nine chapters. Mark also provides analysis on relevant technology industry topics, such as Apple’s recent executive shakeup. Mark kicked off his writing career at the end of 2009, and he had his first significant break in 2011 with a story detailing Siri and the iPhone 4S.
You can follow him on Twitter.
In line with last week’s announcement, Apple’s fourth store in Switzerland opened this weekend in Basel. The store, like most Apple Stores, opened to significant crowds and Apple handed out commemorative shirts to celebrate. The interior of the store appears like most Apple Stores, and the location already has been equipped with the new interior visual design:
This past week, Chinese State TV called the iPhone a “national security concern” because of its location tracking capabilities. The iPhone’s operating system utilizes location for several applications, including Maps and Weather. iOS 7 also introduced a new feature that utilizes a customer’s location in order to provide improved traffic and route information. Now, Apple has quickly responded via a concrete and comprehensive message on its website for China. The message is advertised on the homepage, and is a direct response to the allegations from China State TV.
Apple denies the claims by stating that “privacy is built into [its] products and services from the earliest stages of design. We work tirelessly to deliver the most secure hardware and software in the world.” Apple also explains that it uses industry leading encryption to protect location data, and says that all location data is stored solely on the iPhone, not on Apple’s servers.
Apple goes on to, once again, explain that it does not work with government agencies to spy on its customers: “Apple has never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services. We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will. It’s something we feel very strongly about.” Apple goes on to list specific work it does for individual services in order to protect customer privacy.
On Maps:
Apple has launched a blog on its official developer website to promote the new Swift programming language. Swift, which was announced at WWDC 2014, is a successor to the Objective-C programming language for iOS and OS X, and it provides new, cleaner, and more robust tools for developing applications. The blog will be dedicated to Apple engineers working on Swift sharing tidbits behind the language’s development as well as hints. Here’s the first Swift blog post:
Welcome to Swift Blog
This new blog will bring you a behind-the-scenes look into the design of the Swift language by the engineers who created it, in addition to the latest news and hints to turn you into a productive Swift programmer.
Get started with Swift by downloading Xcode 6 beta, now available to all Registered Apple Developers for free. The Swift Resources tab has a ton of great links to videos, documentation, books, and sample code to help you become one of the world’s first Swift experts. There’s never been a better time to get coding!
– The Swift Team
Additionally, the blog now discusses Swift and its compatibility with current and future versions of Apple software. You can read those details below:
Noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has provided relatively accurate information on future Apple product plans in the past (but frequent misses on timing), has issued a new report today indicating that the Apple smart watch will enter mass-production in November. Kuo’s previous estimate on production for the “iWatch” indicated that the device would enter mass-production rounds in September. “We have pushed back our estimated time of iWatch mass production from late-September to mid-/ late- November. We also lower our forecast of iWatch 2014 shipments by 40% to 3mn units,” Kuo wrote in today’s report. The analyst claims the push back is due to more complex hardware and software engineering in this first generation Apple product category.
Kuo also provides some tidbits as to what he is expecting the device to feature:
Both a flexible AMOLED display and sapphire crystal display covers have been rumored in previous reports about the Apple smart watch, waterproofing technology makes sense in light of this being a fitness device that straps to a wrist, and we first reported in January that the iWatch will sport a new system on a chip to pack in numerous sensors that could track health data such as steps taken, calories burned, hydration, and sweat. The device, which will also include advanced mapping functionality per multiple sources, will integrate deeply with the iOS 8 operating system and its HealthKit software. We expect the device to be announced at a keynote address in October and launch by the 2014 holiday season.
MLB.com at Bat’s iOS application today received a significant update in line with the league’s All Star Game. Today’s update brings live video coverage to the app along with notable breaking news alerts:
MLB is also starting phase 2 of its iBeacon roll-out with new features through the At the Ballpark app at the upcoming All Star Game:
Fans attending All-Star events at Target Field with At the Ballpark on their iPhone (iOS 7 required) will be able to use iBeacon when visiting these attractions, offering a unique mobile perspective through original content automatically delivered to their iPhone. The locations in Target Field are: The Golden Glove; Twins Digital Clubhouse; 2 Gingers Pub; Target Field Ballpark Model; 573 and Herb Carneal Pressbox; Kirby Puckett Atrium; Rod Carew Atrium; The Townball Tavern; and Target Plaza.
The free update, which is available for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, is now available on the App Store. Subscriptions to the service cost $9.99 per year or $2.99 per month.
Misfit, the creator of the popular shine fitness tracking wearable, and Beddit, the creator of sleep analysis hardware, today announced a partnership that brings sleep tracking to Misfit’s iOS app. The Beddit is a thin strip-like sensor that you place under your bed sheets. It can track heart rate, respiration, movement, snoring, sound, and sleep cycles, and it will now connect to Misfit’s app. Apple’s iOS 8 Health app will feature sleep analysis, and Misfit says it has no current information regarding an integration for sleep analysis with the Health app. Apple’s upcoming iWatch is expected to include some sort of sleep analysis functionality as the company has brought on the world’s top expert in sleep analysis, Roy E. Raymann. Misfit today has also begun selling a branded version of the Beddit via its online store for $149.
Apple updated its Environmental Initiatives website and has issued its 2014 Environmental Responsibility Report today. Today’s update fulfills a promise from Earth Day in which Apple said that it would more frequently update consumers on its environmental progress. Apple has always been focused on the environment, but it has pushed its attention to new levels with the hire of former EPA head Lisa Jackson last year.
Today’s report has several updates. First, Apple says that it will now be providing carbon emissions data to the Carbon Disclosure Project at the request of shareholders. Apple says that it has made this data public for the past 6 years, but today’s change is the planned submissions to the aforementioned CDP. Apple also announced that it has re-calculated its 2012 emissions data and has found that its carbon footprint actually shrank (for the first time) 3% between 2012 and 2013:
Apple’s executive team
At this week’s Sun Valley conference in Idaho, Apple CEO Tim Cook told Bloomberg reporters that Apple will release diversity data on its workforce. Cook did not specify when this data release would come, but this is the first confirmation from Apple that the company is planning to release such data. A CNN report from March detailed Apple as one of the several technology giants that have objected to releasing the information.
“We’ll release the information at some point,” Cook said at the annual Allen & Co. media and technology conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, without giving a timetable for a disclosure. “We are more focused on actions.”
Diversity reports, such as the one that Facebook released on its workforce a couple of weeks ago, typically detail demographics in terms of ethnicity and gender. Apple has been criticized for having both a mostly male executive team and board of directors, but Cook has added Angela Ahrendts to the executive team and has been seeking new board members in recent months. Apple has also hired Lisa Jackson to run Environmental Initiatives and recently appointed Denise Young Smith as the new head of Human Resources.
As expected due to their appearances on the guest list, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Senior VP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue are in attendance at this week’s Sun Valley media conference in Idaho. The WSJ’s Doug MacMillan shared the above photo of Cook walking around the Sun Valley resort. The Information’s Jessica Lessin spotted Cue, and the executive provided a witty response to Lessin’s question about TV deals:
Just asked $aapl's @cue if he was talking to media cos. abt TV programming deals at #sunvalley. A: Nah, just going back to my hotel room.
— Jessica Lessin (@Jessicalessin) July 9, 2014
Cue and Cook both attended the conference last year, and Cook attended as the sole Apple representative the previous year. Several Apple partners, including board member and Disney CEO Bob Iger, are also attending the event. Cook and Cue’s attendance comes in the months following the Cupertino-company’s blockbuster deal to acquire Beats, and perhaps the duo have plans to create new deals at this conference.
More photos of Cook at the conference below:
This is an update to a February post in which we rounded up all recent Apple hires pertinent to the development of the upcoming iWatch. This post includes the addition of several new hires and experts, including a pair of key Nike FuelBand hardware engineers, and the new hires are labeled with italics.
Apple has been developing a sensor-laden, fitness- and medical-focused wearable computer as indicated by several notable recent hires and information we have received from sources. The device will have a focus on both fashion and exercise as Apple has been testing the device with key professional athletes. We’re expecting the product to be announced in October of this year and ship by the holiday season. As the launch of the “iWatch” approaches, we have compiled an up-to-date list (into categories of leadership, fashion, fitness, and health) of all known and pertinent recent Apple hires to provide a clearer picture of what Apple’s future wearable technologies could offer to consumers…
Apple today issued a significant update to its iTunes U application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The application focuses on enhancements for both teachers and students, and the application was first announced by Apple last week alongside the new Back to School retail initiatives.
Here’s what is new for students:
Apple will be opening up its fourth official retail store in Switzerland this weekend. A new store in the city of Basel will see its grand opening on Saturday, July 12th, according to a notice on Apple’s Retail Store website. Job listings for the store first appeared earlier this year on Apple’s jobs website. Apple has already surrounded the store with a black banner promoting the store’s website. Apple is also planning several new stores in China, Italy, and the United States under the guide of recently appointed retail head Angela Ahrendts.
Apple has made significant enhancements to its upcoming Health application for iOS 8 in the latest beta of the new iPhone operating system. Most notably, the Health application can now utilize the iPhone’s own M7 motion tracking hardware for data sourcing.
The Health app’s Steps counter tab can now report steps without connecting to any third party applications or hardware devices. Because this feature likely uses the M7 processor, an iPhone 5s is required to get the steps data directly from the device…
<a href="https://twitter.com/matthewmspace/status/486222893349490688">Image via @matthewmspace</a>
Besides adding performance and user-interface improvements, iOS 8 beta 3 has activated WiFi-calling for iPhones on T-Mobile in the United States. The feature, which was announced in June, brings the ability for T-Mobile customers to make phone calls on iPhones over a WiFi connection instead of a standard 3G or LTE connection. According to people who have used the feature on iOS 8 beta 3, the calls sound far better over WiFi than over cellular. The Setting for enabling WiFi calling is found under the Phone preferences in the Settings iPhone app. As can be seen in the image above, users are required to enter their physical address for emergencies for WiFi calling. This is presumably to assist emergency services for people who call for help over WiFi. Apple also discusses the feature in the iOS 8 beta 3 release notes:
The Wall Street Journal today published a brief profile on Apple CEO Tim Cook as the Cupertino-based company continues to be shaped in the image of Cook rather than co-founder Steve Jobs. The profile has some interested tidbits, but it is otherwise light on new information aside from information regarding Cook’s plan for the Apple Board of Directors. According to the report, Cook is “actively” looking to add fresh faces to the Board:
Alongside beta 3 of iOS 8, Apple has released the third preview of OS X 10.10 Yosemite to developers. The update is available in the Mac App Store and under Software Update. We’ll be updating this post with new discoveries. You can let us know what you find at tips@9to5mac.com.
Apple has just released iOS 8 beta 3 build number 12A4318c to developers for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The update is available in Software Update using the over-the-air update tool. Apple says the new beta brings various bug fixes and improvements. We’ll be updating this post as changes are found. You can send us what you find at tips@9to5Mac.com.
Earlier today, the CEO of Tag Heuer revealed to CNBC that Apple has hired one of the watch-makers sales directors. However, the company did not announce the name of this “director” or the person’s exact position. A source directly familiar with the Apple hire confirmed that the Cupertino-based company hired Patrick Pruniaux late last month. Pruniaux is not just any “Sales Director:” he was the Vice President of Sales and Retail, a major loss for Tag Heuer and a significant hire for Apple in the run up the launch of the Apple smart watch in October. Pruniaux is pictured in the photo above (second person from the right), and his LinkedIn profile reveals his impressive work in jewelry and watch marketing:
Less than two months after the Saudi Arabia government cleared Apple to begin marketing products and officially operate in the region, Apple has struck a sales deal with major Saudi Arabia-based retailer Jarir Bookstore. The deal includes both official sales inside of the Jarir retail stores as well as technical support for the products. Previously, Jarir had to use third-party means to secure its supply of Apple products, but now with Apple officially providing product supply, costs will go down for both the Bookstore and its customers, creating an overall improved experience for those looking to purchase Apple gadgets in Saudi Arabia.
Yesterday we posted some gorgeous iPhone 6 renders, and today some fresh renders, first highlighted by The Tech Block, that compare the next-generation iPhone’s potential gold, space gray, and silver/white designs have appeared online. You should check out the full gallery below, it’s probably the closest look you’ll get at Apple’s iPhone 6 marketing slides until the first half of September.
For months, physical mockups, display components, front covers, and schematics for Apple’s upcoming iPhone 6 have leaked on the web. However, the physical reconstructions and diagrams simply do not do the potential design of the redesigned smartphone justice. Based on recent reports and earlier part leaks, designer Mark Pelin has created a set of iPhone 6 design renders that might just be the clearest and nicest looking view of the potential phone. You can see the full image gallery below from Pelin:
Earlier this week, Apple released OS X 10.9.4 with various enhancements and bug fixes for wake-from-sleep and WiFi connectivity. In addition to those fixes, many professional video editors who use Mac Pros are reporting that graphics rendering and performance issues found in the preceding OS X 10.9.3 have been resolved. Graphics card incompatibility issues with 2013 Mac Pros bundled with AMD D700 and D500 graphics engines resulted in videos stalling during the exporting process, pink and green lines appearing in exported video, and various application crashes and freezes with key video production apps like Adobe Premiere Pro and Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve…
Back in March, we reviewed Mophie’s Space Pack storage case for the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s. The case is both a battery pack that boosts the battery life of the iPhone as well as an external storage drive. Mophie has shipped variants that add 16GB and 32GB of storage to your iPhone, and today the company has announced a new 64GB version. That means with this case, you can technically have an iPhone that can store approximately 128GB of data. Data on the Space Pack is managed via a free Space app on the App Store. The app can store and access many types of files including songs, videos, and photos. The new 64GB model costs $249.95 and Mophie is quoting a ship date of July 22nd. As of now, pre-orders for the 64GB model are only available in the black color, while the lower-end versions are also available in white (shown above) and red finishes.
9to5Toys: As part of its 4-day Sale for the 4th of July, Best Buy offers the Mophie Juice Pack Helium iPhone 5/5s battery pack in silver for $39.99 with free shipping.
Apple has quietly introduced an official solution for users seeking to lock their 2013 Mac Pro to a stationary desk or other item. The $49 adapter attaches to the rear of the Mac Pro without any additional tools or instruction and can connect to a series of different Kensington locking mechanisms (via MacRumors). Here are the accessory’s highlights from Apple:
Earlier this year, third-party solutions with a more advanced setup process began hitting the Mac Pro accessory marketplace. This new Apple adapter marks the second first-party accessory optimized for the new Mac Pro design. Alongside the computer’s launch, Apple released black Thunderbolt cables to match the exterior color of the computer.
Customers interested in the new lock adapter will have the easiest time purchasing it from the Apple Online Store, which is currently showing shipment times of 24 hours. Apple’s stores, according to Apple’s ship to store tool, are not yet stocking the adapter.