Before you can properly understand Apple News, it’s important to know its history. Apple was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976. In 1977, Apple’s sales were growing with the success of its early computers. Within a few years, Jobs and Wozniak hired designers and a production line crew. Apple went public in 1980 and was an instant success. Over the next few years, Apple shipped new computers featuring new graphical user interfaces, such as the original Macintosh in 1984. As the market for personal computers expanded through the 1990s, Apple lost market share to the cheaper Microsoft Windows on PC clones. Eventually, Wozniak and Jobs both left Apple. Jobs would go on to found NeXT and would return to Apple when NeXT was acquired in the late 90s. Apple then began a journey to the great second act in the history of the business world.
Since the release of the iPod in 2001, Apple has become a major player once again in the technology industry. After releasing the iPhone in 2007, the iPad in 2010, and the Apple Watch in 2015, Apple is now one of the largest companies in the world. Apple’s worldwide annual revenue totaled $274.5 billion for its 2020 fiscal year.
Today, Apple operates retail stores all across the world, has a growing services division, and an ever-expanding hardware lineup. The technology industry follows Apple news to see where the company is headed in the future.
When Apple quietly created a new MFi spec for headphones, allowing them to connect via the Lightning port rather than the headphone jack to deliver higher-quality audio, everyone expected Apple-owned Beats to be first to take advantage of it. But instead Philips has, ah, beaten them to it … Expand Expanding Close
Jonathan Zdziarski, who flared up the initial round of iOS surveillance claims a couple of months ago, is now reporting that some of these flaws have been rectified with iOS 8. Apple said that these services were used for debugging purposes, and had no connection to government agencies. It then proceeded to detail these processes in a support note.
Zdziarski’s post explains that many issues have been addressed, particularly with File Relay. Before, this service blindly sent data from the device to an external source, without authentication. In iOS 8, he says that the service has been disabled. It seems that data is no longer available either through physical connection or wirelessly. Zdziarski notes law enforcement will not be able to use current tools to access any of this previously-exposed information.
I tweeted earlier that it’s going to take a while to get used to referring to the Apple Watch instead of iWatch, and it seems I’m in good company. As The Verge noted, even Tim Cook said iWatch during his ABC News interview when talking about US jobs created by the company.
Developers writing applications for iPhone and iPad and Mac and now, of course, as of today, the iWatch
The question is, was the slip-up because Cook spends too much time reading tech sites, or was it that Apple originally intended to release it as the iWatch, having a change of mind some way down the line?
iWatch was (and I think still is) the obvious name for the product. Apple Watch feels awkward in comparison. As Mike Beasley observed, Apple Phone or Apple Tablet doesn’t have the same ring as iPhone and iPad, so why not iWatch? It surely can’t just be that Apple was miffed that the tech press has been using the term so long it felt it had to prove us wrong?
Its the most personal device we've ever created. But to throw you for a loop we're not using i-Prefix.<fingertouch> pic.twitter.com/fYngSAcIeq
Discover has tweeted that its cards will be joining Amex, Mastercard and Visa in the Apple Pay service, allowing electronic versions of its cards to be stored in Passbook for contactless payment using the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch.
We don’t yet know the price of the 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition, but it doesn’t require psychic powers to know that it isn’t going to be cheap. KGH analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s prediction of the most expensive model costing “several thousand dollars” is probably exaggerated, but may not be quite as far-fetched as it seemed.
David Pogue shared one of the things Apple didn’t mention on stage but did reveal during press demonstrations afterwards … Expand Expanding Close
After launching its new mobile wallet service Apple Pay during yesterday’s keynote, the company gave demos afterwards, TechCrunch sharing a video.
The card you have registered with your Apple ID becomes your default card, but you can add others by using the camera on the iPhone 6 to identify it. The iPhone requests permission from your bank, and the card is then added to Passbook … Expand Expanding Close
The day we’ve all been waiting for is finally here. Apple has officially introduced its new iPhone lineup and announced an entirely new product in the wearables department. There was quite a bit of information between most of the major announcements from today, and because of that, we thought it would be helpful to condense the “need to know” information into a short video…
After the unveiling of Apple Watch during the Sept. 9 iPhone launch event, Apple announced WatchKit for Apple Watch. This is a new development kit will allow developers to create interesting and exciting ways to use the Apple Watch hardware and software in their apps.
WatchKit allows integration for Actionable notifications, WatchKit apps, and Glances. During the keynote, Apple demonstrated Facebook and Twitter functionality with Apple Watch along with other apps with the ability to unlock a hotel door, get transit directions, post to Pinterest, find your car, change the temperature with a Honeywell thermostat, and use Nike fitness features. All of these features and functionality will exist within individual Apple Watch apps.
During the iPhone 6 launch event, Apple announced that the 1.3 million apps available on the App Store should “just work” on the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus that are expected to be released soon. This is possible thanks to the Auto Layout that was introduced at WWDC…
Live on stage, Apple has just kicked things off during its event by officially announcing the new iPhone lineup: the much rumored 4.7-inch device is called iPhone 6, while the larger 5.5-inch model is dubbed “iPhone 6 Plus”. Here’s what we know so far: Expand Expanding Close
Seth Weintraub|9:37Apple making your typo famous? Priceless
We’ll, can’t deny it any more. I’m in Cupertino, CA. At the Flint where the iMac was launched and today … ? We’ll soon see!— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) September 09, 2014
There are DSLRs on tripods pointed at the cube, taking pics on timers. Whatever happens will be on time-lapse. http://t.co/MU0Ds02upk— Tim Stevens (@Tim_Stevens) September 09, 2014
Seth Weintraub|8:52Sage advice:
I'm telling you guys, don't go into that white box. You will not be the same when you come out.— Joe Brown (@joemfbrown) September 09, 2014
Descending into a nation of livebloggers “@9to5mac: Apple shares dedicated page w/ updates of iPhone/Wearable event wp.me/p1xtr9-1qnu”— Seth Weintraub (@llsethj) September 09, 2014
LOL
Shouldn't have used Apple Maps. “@cue: Just got to Moscone, where is everyone! 😄 #AppleLive”— Chris O'Brien (@obrien) September 09, 2014
Seth Weintraub|8:34He needs coffee?
Its Craig Federighi waiting in line for coffee like a normal. The hair blessed, they're just like us. http://t.co/wTLxrouiCI
It’s September 9th, and you know what that means: Apple’s biggest event in several years is happening today. We’re expecting Apple CEO Tim Cook and his team of executives to discuss two new and larger iPhone models, a mobile payments system, and of course, a fashion/health/fitness-centric wearable device. We’ll be following along and providing articles with the latest news throughout the day. This News Hub will embed the latest action from the ground at the Flint Center in Cupertino and provide an easy access view of the latest news articles. You can also follow us on Twitter at @9to5Mac for quick updates as they break, and all our updates below:
Last time we asked you, back in April, we’d seen only reports and alleged molds for the two different sizes of iPhone 6. At that stage, 60 percent of you planned to buy the 4.7-inch iPhone 6, with just under a third eyeing-up the 5.5-inch model. A further 8 percent were planning to stick with existing models, and two percent expecting to get a Droid.
Since then we’ve of course seen a huge number of leaked parts, and even what appear to be working versions of the 4.7-inch model. Both models are now expected to go on sale on 19th September, so we thought it would be interesting to see if and how your plans have changed
Apple announced on Thursday that it will broadcast this year’s iPhone event live for Safari and Apple TV users, and today Apple TV has revived the dedicated Apple Events channel for viewing the announcement live during the event. The channel usually remains for a short time after the event for on-demand viewing. As always, we’ll be sharing major announcements from Apple’s event for those who cannot view the live stream throughout the event. Expand Expanding Close
We’re less than 24 hours away from Apple’s big iPhone 6, iWatch/iBand, and mobile payments event. Apple is continuing to raise hype for the event by forwarding its www.apple.com homepage to the actual live stream page for the event. We’ll know for sure tomorrow, but it seems like Apple believes it has several surprises in store for tomorrow. We’ll have a full news hub with the latest coverage before, during, and after the event tomorrow.
iGen.fr, who has proved reliable in the past with Apple launch dates, is now claiming that sources informed the site that the new iPhones will launch on the 19th. This is generally to be expected, following historical patterns. Apple traditionally puts new iPhones on sale the Friday the week after the announcement. This year, everyone seems convinced that the 4.7 inch iPhone 6 will be on sale then.
The release schedule of the 5.5 inch model is less clear. Some, citing supply constraints, have said that the 5.5 inch model (most recently dubbed the iPhone 6 Plus) will not launch for a couple more months. However, a consensus on this has not really been reached. iGen.fr says that the larger device will in fact launch on September 19th as well and is certainly still a possibility.
While we seem to know all about the features in the new iPhone and the new design, something still left up in the Air are the names of the new phones. While some have long-referred to the new devices as the “iPhone 6” or the “iPhone Air,” no outright claims have been made about the names until a new report today. According to Macotakara, the 4.7-inch model will be known as “iPhone 6” while the 5.5-inch version will be called the “iPhone 6 Plus.” Apple has not used the “Plus” suffix for a product since the “Mac Plus“, so that would be a first for an iOS device. iLounge first presented the Plus name as a possibility in January 2013. This naming convention does not seem incredibly likely, but Macotakara did indeed accurately predict the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c names last fall. Leaning toward iPhone 6 being at least one of the two names is that the camera data shared by the “reviewer” of leaked 4.7-inch iPhone 6 hardware refers to the device as the iPhone 6.
Apple is now sending emails to users when they log in to iCloud.com. This is part of Apple’s latest security upgrades to iCloud, which Tim Cook announced late last week. In the interview, Cook said Apple planned to launch the feature within two weeks, but obviously it has been deployed much sooner. The notification is supposed to act as a warning for users, to detect account infiltrations as early as possible. Supposedly, these emails will only be sent once, the first time an account logs in to a particular device, so it shouldn’t spam your inbox with login notifications.
A YouGov survey of more than 1,000 American consumers commissioned by security company Tresorit found that just over a third of them have taken steps to beef-up their online security in response to the iCloud hacks.
The most common response was to change passwords for stronger ones, with 13 percent creating different passwords for each online service and 6 percent enabling two-step verification … Expand Expanding Close
In the final run-up to the official launch of the iPhone 6, we’ve been seeing a number of videos of what appear to be the real thing. With just one day to go, Miaopai has just posted no fewer than 17 short videos claiming to show the Chinese version of the iPhone 6 in use.
We don’t learn anything from them we didn’t already know, but they do give a sense of what the size of the 4.7-inch display is like to use in practice.
French site NWE has also re-posted video of what it says is the battery from the 5.5-inch iPhone 6, showing a capacity of 2915mAh. This is consistent with earlier reports. While it has almost twice the capacity of the 1560mAh battery used in the iPhone 5s, it’s unknown how much of that power will be needed to drive the extra size and resolution of the larger display.
We heard over the weekend that Apple’s long-rumored NFC-based mobile payment system will use tokenization to maximize security, transmitting coded one-time tokens to payment terminals, and that the 5.5-inch model may run landscape apps, giving a more iPad-like user experience.
All will be revealed tomorrow at 10am PDT. We’ll of course be bringing you live coverage and commentary. In the meantime, you can see a whole bunch of the videos below … Expand Expanding Close
While the 4.7-inch version of the upcoming iPhone 6 will seemingly function as a large version of the current iPhone interface, it appears that the larger model with a 5.5-inch display could run software in landscape mode with an iPad-like user interface (portrait views likely remain unchanged). Developer Steven Troughton-Smith altered the iOS simulator to run at 736 points x 414 points (1472 x 828 at 2x or 2208 x 1242 at 3x), the resolution we first reported was likely in the cards for at least one iPhone 6 model, and provided us with screenshots of the presented interface…
Apple and longtime partner Disney this week are bolstering their stores with upgraded versions of iBeacon sensors and NFC readers, according to sources. Apple Stores have had iBeacons stationed throughout showroom floors for several months as a way to pinpoint exactly where a customer is within the store. This allows Apple to better serve customers by providing relevant sales information to their iPhones and iPads while in the store. The upgrades happening this week within Apple Stores place several new Gimbal Series 20 Proximity Beacons across stores to make location tracking within the store even more accurate.
In addition to providing relevant information for the Apple Store app, iBeacons can be useful for NFC mobile payment technologies as a form of authentication. If Apple knows where a customer is in the store to a precise degree, it can ensure that is it wirelessly connecting to the correct iPhone for mobile payments. As has been widely reported, the new iPhone 6 and upcoming Apple wearable device will include new wireless sensors (including a near field communication chipset) to conduct mobile payments with credit cards stored in an upgraded Passbook application.
The iPhone 6 leaks are coming fast and furious ahead of Tuesday’s event. This latest video is a supposed review of the iPhone 6 in Mandarin. We won’t know how legit it is for another 48 hours but it is certainly convincing.
One notable feature of these latest leaks is the Passbook (which they conveniently failed to open) icon which looks to have a Credit card on top. Update: The Weibo Account owner opened up Passbook and screenshotted (below)
A brief translation of the video from Stan1028 below (more in comments): Expand Expanding Close
Apple’s upcoming wearable device, based on iOS, will run third-party applications and, furthermore, may come equipped with an App Store, according to two sources with knowledge of the new device. It is currently unclear if the App Store will be full-fledged, like on the iPhone and iPad, or if it will be a special section with in the iPhone App Store for apps that play nicely with the new wearable device.
A small handful of high-profile social network and services companies with apps on the iPhone and iPad App Store have already been seeded with a pre-release version of the Apple SDK (Software Development Kit) for wearables under strict non-disclosure agreements. One of the developers with access to the pre-release SDK is Facebook, according to a source. Facebook is also said to be finishing up work on an iOS 8-optimized version of its iPhone app with improved notifications. The social network is also experimenting with ways it can leverage the new Notification Center widget APIs.
The SDK was seeded “very recently” to these developers, and Apple likely wants to demonstrate some third-party wearable apps at Tuesday’s event, according to one source. Apple, in the past, has provided select developers with early versions of SDKs in order to boast new apps on the keynote stage. For example, several apps from companies like AOL were shown off with the first public demonstration of the iPhone SDK, fancy gaming and drawing apps were demonstrated alongside the first iPad in 2010, and the iPhone 4S’s dual-core A5 chip was launched alongside a graphics-intense video game…
