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.
Today, Apple has taken the wraps off of a version of its Apple Online Store for Turkey. Apple is promoting the new store with a large banner at the top of the site. The store is now being promoted on Apple’s homepage in Turkey, and it is also accessible at its direct link here.
This Apple Online Store for Turkey represents Apple’s first official sales presence in the country other than authorized resellers. Earlier this year, we noted that Apple is set to open up a large physical retail store in Turkey in 2014…
Earlier this week, Apple confirmed that some iPhone 5s units are affected by battery-life issues due to a manufacturing glitch. Apple said that customers with affected units would be contacted to receive a replacement device. Now, sources have shared some details into how exactly that process will work. Besides what is listed in the quote from Apple’s PR department, Apple has told AppleCare representatives that the issue can cause “shortened battery life, longer charge times, or a battery that will no longer charge…”
Just hours after going live for sale in several countries in the Asia-Pacific, all models of the iPad Air have become “currently unavailable” at the Hong Kong store. The store opened up with a quote for 1-2 week shipping times, which was substantially longer than the 24 hour shipping times seen in countries such as Australia. Overall, at least in the United States and Europe, iPad Air supplies are expected to be plentiful.
iPad Air units have begun arriving at Apple Stores and resellers across the world ahead of this Friday’s official launch, according to several sources. Additionally, a reader has spotted iPad Airs arriving at Walmart locations (see images above and below) and the device seems to have already been placed inside one store’s glass casing for iPads. The special $479 price point can be seen on the sticker in the photo above.
At Apple Stores, we’ve heard that multiple large stores across the United States have already received upwards of 500-1000 units, indicating that the supply of the new tablet will likely be plentiful at launch. We’ve heard similar from international iPad resellers, with some chains indicating that they will have a solid number of iPad Airs on tap for Friday. These stores say even more supply is promised for the next couple of weeks…
Apple has opened up a secondary dedicated AppleCare repairs warehouse in the United States in recent days, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the new center. The new warehouse is located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and public records indicate that the facility comes in at just under 200,000 square-feet with an additional 2500 square-feet of space available for offices.
Apple will use this facility to conduct repairs and replacements and to manage, package, and ship repaired Apple devices to both customer’s homes and Apple Store Genius Bars across the country. When an Apple customer of a Mac computer, for example, needs aspects of their device replaced and fixed, their product is typically shipped to a similar warehouse in Elk Grove, California…
In line with my report from earlier this month, Facebook has announced that it will be revamping its Android and iOS Messenger apps. As we previously noted, the new apps have an entirely new design that is flatter and distinct from the standard Facebook application on Android and iOS. The Verge was given a preview of the Android version has some new features besides the new design:
In terms of functionality, there are a host of under-the-hood improvements to make sending and receiving messages faster, says product manager Peter Martinazzi. There are also some front-end tweaks that makes the app faster — especially on Android, where the SMS texting feature, which let you text friends who don’t have Facebook, has been removed.
The highlight feature, however, of the new apps is phone number integration. The repot summarizes the functionality as a WhatsApp competitor:
While Facebook won’t let you text a phone number from Messenger, the company plans to use phone numbers in a new way: to identify its users, just like in WhatsApp. Upon opening Messenger for the first time, it will ask you to provide your phone number. Then, the app can match you with people whose numbers you have, but whom you aren’t Facebook friends with. Facebook guarantees your messages will reach somebody’s inbox if you have their phone number.
The Android version is available as a test with a limited number of users beginning today and iOS in the near-future. Also incoming, we previously reported, are updates to the main Facebook app that integrate Graph Search, but Facebook has not confirmed this as of yet.
Following significant updates to its app on iOS, the NBA has updated its app on the Apple TV for the 2013-2014 season. The new season begins tonight, starting with three games (and several games tomorrow night). The updated Apple TV application includes a new icon on the Apple TV Home screen, the ability to view NBA standings across the league, the ability to stream games if you have a League Pass subscription, view highlights, and access NBA downloads from iTunes. More photos of the updated app below. Thanks, David!
Following Apple’s earnings results for Q4 2013, which includes a record iPhone sales number for the September quarter, Apple CEO Tim Cook has emailed employees to congratulate them on the results. Cook says that Apple “has never been stronger,” and highlights the products being released this fall. “I am happy to report that Apple’s business has never been stronger, and we are heading into the holidays within amazing lineup led by the new iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, the stunning iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display,” Cook says in the memo…
<a href="http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Peter+Oppenheimer+Tim+Cook+Discusses+Tax+Code+EFIrcwcsO7Cx.jpg">Image</a> of CFO Oppenheimer and CEO Cook
Apple has announced its earnings for Q4 2013, including $37.5 billion in revenue and sales of 33.8 million iPhones, 14.1 million iPads, and 4.6 million Macs. As usual, Apple will be holding a conference call to discuss the results, provide some additional information, and take questions from analysts. Below, we’ll be holding a live blog of the proceedings:
<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/apple-iphone-5s-5c-line-around-the-world-132626546.html">Photo of iPhone line</a>
As planned, Apple today announced its financial results for Q4 2013. This is a quarter highlighted by iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c sales and is the quarter preceding the launches of several new Macs and the new iPads:
In contrast to the supply constrained launch of the iPhone 5s, Apple will offer Personal Pickup for the iPad Air beginning on the November 1st launch date, we’re hearing from sources. MacRumors is reporting the same. When the Apple Online Store goes live on November 1st at midnight Pacific Time (3 AM EST), customers will be able to order iPad Airs to be shipped to their addresses…
In addition to implementing several bug fixes with iOS 7.0.x updates, Apple has simplified its user-interface for the iPhone 5s’s new Burst Mode camera feature in iOS 7.0.2. For those unfamiliar, Burst Mode allows a user to keep their finger on the Camera app’s shutter button in order to capture photos at a rate of 10 pictures per second. This ability allows a user to capture a good image in action sequences or at other times.
Previously, the feature would present a user with all of their photos from a Burst Mode session in one group. If a user liked a particular photo (or multiple photos) from the Burst Mode session, the user could swipe between all of the photos from the group and select their favorites. When the user chose the favorites, they would be duplicated into standalone images in the Camera roll. The rest of the photos from Burst Mode session would remain as an original group in the Camera Roll.
Because photos from the 8 megapixel camera take up so much space, retaining the entire group of photos could have caused a negative effect on what users could store on their iPhones. With iOS 7.0.3, Apple has rectified this potential issue by making it simple to choose favorite images from the Burst Mode session and delete the other photos. This can be seen in the image above. GottaBeMobile first reported the enhancement, and we’ve verified the change occurred in iOS 7.0.2 earlier this month.
Instead of just duplicating and retaining the original session, a user is prompted to either only keep their favorite photos (and delete the rest) or still keep all the Burst Mode shots.
Following the debut of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c in several new countries late last week, Apple will begin rolling out the new devices in several countries during the month of November. Apple previously indicated that it would ship the devices on November 1st in Albania, Armenia, Bahrain, Colombia, El Salvador, Guam, Guatemala, India, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and UAE…
<a href="http://www.skyscraperlife.com/ciudades-y-arquitectura-la/80727-andares-guadalajara-vs-village-mall-rio-de-janeiro.html">Image of the mall</a> where the Apple Store will be located
Apple currently plans to expand its retail store presence to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil early next year, according to information provided by a source. This person says that Apple is targeting a store opening between February and March 2014, but delays due to construction and staffing are always possible.
Approximately one year ago, Apple confirmed to various media outlets in Brazil that it is planning to open a store in the country. However, Apple has remained mum on when this store would open. “We look forward to the opening of the first Apple Store in Brazil, where we have long standing customers and hope to win many more each day,” the company said last year…
U.S. Cellular has informed us that it will begin carrying the iPad Air on November 8th. This morning, we reported that multiple regional cellular providers in the United States will begin carrying the iPad Air “in the coming weeks,” but U.S. Cellular’s announcement is more notable in that the carrier is the nation’s fifth largest and because a firm launch date has been provided.
U.S. Cellular today announced that iPad Air with Wi-Fi + Cellular will be available online on November 8. U.S. Cellular will offer iPad Air with a range of attractive data plans that will allow customers to connect to its fast 4G LTE network with speeds up to ten times faster than 3G.
Ahead of next week’s iPad Air launch, dozens of countries across the world, regional carriers within the United States have begun announcing their plans for carrying the LTE-capable version of the tablet. While major carriers AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, and Sprint will begin selling the iPad Air on Friday, November 1st, these smaller, region-specific networks say that they will start selling the device in the “coming weeks.”
So far, Bluegrass Cellular and C Spire are the two regional carriers to announce iPad Air plans, and other carriers will likely share their own announcements in the coming days and weeks. Bluegrass Cellular operates in Kentucky while C Spire is based in Mississippi. Both of these carriers began carrying the new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c earlier this month alongside several other regional providers…
Since its launch yesterday, popular Twitter client Tweetbot 3 for iPhone has topped the paid app charts in several App Store-supported countries across the world. A look at AppAnnie’s data indicates that the new application is the top paid app overall in 35 countries, and it is the top app in the Social Networking category in 70 countries. As Tweetbot developer Paul Haddad notes, these impressive launch day statistics are evidence for why developers should charge for major app updates…
Apple has updated its support website with a new list of countries in which iCloud Keychain is supported. iCloud Keychain was announced at WWDC 2013 earlier this year, and the feature allows users to create complex passwords and sync them via iCloud to their supported devices. The feature also allows users to store their credit card information in order to make payment processing online a faster process. The feature launched earlier this week with OS X Mavericks and iOS 7.0.3. We will be publishing a thorough how-to guide for setting up and utilizing iCloud Keychain in the coming days. The full list of currently supported countries is available below:
Silently announced alongside the new iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display, Apple has begun selling a Space Gray version of the first-generation, non-Retina display iPad mini at its physical retail stores.
Sources say that the model is now available via several Apple Stores, but not every store. Interested customers should call their store to ensure availability…
Fandango, the popular app for browsing movies and theater information, has been redesigned to fit iOS 7’s new interface aesthetic. The new design is simpler and has lots of white space. In addition to the fresh design, the app includes improved trailer playback in the main menu, more powerful search, and exclusive video content.
Via email, Apple is now promoting Xcode 5.0.1’s new automated continuous integration feature to developers.
As an iOS developer, you can now take advantage of continuous integration in Xcode by creating bots with OS X Server for Mavericks that automate the process of building, analyzing, testing, and archiving your apps. As the bots do their work on the remote Mac, Xcode on your development machine displays the build and test reports. Bots can generate a regular release for your QA team, be configured to execute on every check-in, and even test your apps on connected iOS devices.
Continuous integration via automated bots in the new Xcode will multiple developers working on different aspects of a software product to integrate their code with the other projects in development. This eases up the development procedure of pulling parts of an app together to make the final copy…
For many years, Tweetbot from Tapbots has been my favorite Twitter app and definitely my most used app on iOS. The application includes several powerful features wrapped up in a quick, smooth interface. However, the design began to look dated with the launch of iOS 7, Apple’s revamped iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch operating system, last month. For several months, the Tapbots crew has been hard at work on a complete, end-to-end redesign of their flagship app, and it is available now via the App Store. Check out my complete review…
As noted by Electrek, Doug Field, who most recently served as Hardware Vice President at Apple, has defected to Tesla Motors to lead the company’s vehicle engineering programs. Field will lead the development of Tesla’s future cars, according to a release from Tesla. Field worked under Dan Riccio (and previously Bob Mansfield) on computers like the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and iMac. Before Apple, Field was the Chief Technology Officer at Segway.
“Doug has demonstrated the leadership and technical talent to develop and deliver outstanding products, including what are widely considered the best computers in the world,” said Elon Musk, Tesla co-founder and CEO. “Tesla’s future depends on engineers who can create the most innovative, technologically advanced vehicles in the world. Doug’s experience in both consumer electronics and traditional automotive makes him an important addition to our leadership team.”
It is unclear if Apple plans to fill the void left by Field or if this will have a negative impact on the iPhone and Mac maker. In today’s announcement, Field says that “until Tesla came along, I had never seriously considered leaving Apple.” Field says that he left Apple to take up the opportunity to build “the best cars in the world.” A source says that Field left Apple last month.
The full press release from Tesla is available below:
