Apple

6,149 'Apple News' stories November 2008 - July 2014

See All Stories

Apple News and Brief History

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.

Keep reading for the latest Apple news

Apple environment chief Lisa Jackson speaks at Apple Distinguished Educator conference

Mark Gurman Jul 16 2014 - 1:11 pm PT

At the Apple Distinguished Educator conference this week, Apple Vice President of Environmental Initiatives Lisa Jackson spoke to educators about the importance of the environment and Apple’s related work. Jackson showed the above photo and said “that little green leaf means a lot to me.” The leaf outlines multiple words expressing Apple’s work on the environment such as “Apple Campus 2” and “EPEAT.” During her talk, Jackson shared Apple’s work to trying to reach 100% renewable energy across its operations and she said that Apple is “not going to stop until we get to 101%…”

Expand
Expanding
Close

Claimed photos emerge of “more durable” Touch ID sensor for iPhone 6

Ben Lovejoy Jul 16 2014 - 7:01 am PT

French site NWE has posted photos from Japan of what it claims is the Touch ID sensor for the iPhone 6.

The photos don’t give anything away, with the only visible differences being in the location of screw holes – which is to be expected given the significant redesign of the new model iPhone.

There have been rumors that Apple has made changes to the Touch ID sensor to improve durability, but there’s nothing here to shed any light either way. For whatever it may be worth, though, you can see the second photo below …
Expand
Expanding
Close

Opinion: Seven reasons why the IBM partnership could be a pretty big deal for Apple

Ben Lovejoy Jul 16 2014 - 6:17 am PT

Wall Street seemed pretty unmoved by Apple’s announcement of its partnership with IBM, the pre-market share price barely twitching, and analysts pointing to the high level of existing iOS usage in the enterprise sector, suggesting that only trivial gains would result.

Part of the reason for that impression is the hype Apple has given to the penetration level of iOS devices in enterprise. Back in January, Tim Cook described the numbers as “unbelieveable,” stating that the iPhone is used in 97 percent and of Fortune 500 companies and the iPad in 98 percent.

It doesn’t sound from these impressive figures that there’s much room for growth. But I think the reality is somewhat different …
Expand
Expanding
Close

Tim Cook to employees on IBM partnership: ‘I’m really excited to see it take off’ (Memo)

Mark Gurman Jul 15 2014 - 2:00 pm PT

<a href="https://twitter.com/darth/status/489149634883747840/photo/1">Image by @Darth</a>

Earlier today, Apple and IBM announced an expansive, long-term partnership to integrate Apple’s iOS devices into the Enterprise with big data software powered by IBM. The partnership will allow for IBM to sell iPads and iPhones to its Enterprise customers, and the duo are also working on jointly developed software for the enterprise. The companies are also developing an enhanced AppleCare protection service for enterprise iOS device users. Following both the official announcement and a video interview discussing the plans, Apple CEO Tim Cook has sent a memo to employees detailing the partnership:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Volkswagen in talks with Apple to bring CarPlay to 2016 VW models

Mark Gurman Jul 15 2014 - 1:27 pm PT

Volkswagen’s VW line, one of the few notable holdouts from announcing future integration of CarPlay into its vehicles, is in talks with Apple to embed the iOS-based feature, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions.

An announcement from the two companies is expected in the coming months, but specifics on which models will receive CarPlay are currently unavailable, except sources say that Volkswagen is targeting CarPlay for 2016 models, not 2015 versions…

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple opening new store in Beavercreek, Ohio’s The Greene mall July 19

Mark Gurman Jul 15 2014 - 10:28 am PT

Apple has announced on its retail website that it will be opening up a new Apple Store in The Green Town Center in Beavercreek, Ohio this weekend. The store opens up on Saturday, July 19th at 10 AM. Store hours are 10 AM to 9 PM Monday through Saturday and 12 Noon to 6 PM on Sundays. We reported earlier this year that Angela Ahrendts is overseeing a push of several new mall-based stores in the United States as more, larger locations are prepared for China and Italy.

Expand
Expanding
Close

iPhone 5s remains world’s best-selling phone, iPhone 5c takes number 5 slot

Ben Lovejoy Jul 15 2014 - 7:06 am PT

Sales channel data from 35 countries compiled by Counterpoint shows that the iPhone 5s remained the world’s best-selling phone as of May, some eight months after its launch. This backs up a report from ABI Research that the phone had retained the number one slot through Q1.

Apple’s iPhone 5s continues to be the bestselling phone in the world, a spot that many expected to be taken by Samsung’s Galaxy S 5. The highly anticipated Galaxy S5 comes in at second place but still a quite distant number two in terms of (sell through) unit sales.

The news wasn’t quite so good for the iPhone 5c, which came in at number 5, behind both the Samsung S5 and last year’s S4 – as well as the company’s Note 3 phablet.

The iPhone 4S keeps on trucking: two-and-a-half years after its release, Counterpoint shows it at number 6 – one notch down from ABI’s Q1 data.

Overall, Samsung has roughly twice Apple’s market share thanks to a huge range of handsets at all price levels, a statistic that is unlikely to keep Tim Cook awake at night even if market share doesn’t increase, as Apple takes home the lion’s share of the profits – something you can watch in real-time thanks to an interactive graphic.

It’s widely expected that the iPhone 6 will boost Apple’s share of the market as it taps into demand for larger displays, with Cook saying last month that there is more growth to come from Android migration.

(via Business Insider)

Chinese report claims iWatch to come in three models, sapphire and non-sapphire varieties

Benjamin Mayo Jul 15 2014 - 6:28 am PT

A report from the Economic Daily, which has had better reliability than most Chinese news sites (although should still be treated with relative skepticism), suggests that the iWatch will launch in three distinct models (via GforGames). Rumors of multiple iWatch SKU’s have been circulating for months now, including last month in the Wall Street Journal. Specifically, the report says that there will be one iWatch model with a 1.6 inch display and two different models featuring 1.8 inch panels. According to the report, one of the 1.8 inch models will feature a sapphire display.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple begins encrypting iCloud email sent between providers

Jordan Kahn Jul 15 2014 - 5:56 am PT

Last month Apple confirmed that it would soon beef up encryption for iCloud email following a report detailing security flaws in major email services. While Apple previously encrypted emails sent between its own iCloud customers, now the company has enabled encryption for emails in transit between iCloud and third-party services for me.com and mac.com email addresses.

The change is documented on Google’s transparency website that shows the percentage of emails encrypted in transit for both inbound and outbound email exchanges (pictured below):
Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple is refused Touch ID trademark by USPTO – has six months to respond

Ben Lovejoy Jul 15 2014 - 4:24 am PT

Patently Apple reports that the US Patent & Trademark Office has refused Apple’s application for a trademark in Touch ID. The decision – made in May but only now made public – is because another company already holds a trademark for Kronos Touch ID, and there is a “likelihood of confusion” given the very similar names.

USPTO states that “Trademark Act Section 2(d) bars registration of an applied-for mark that so resembles a registered mark that it is likely that a potential consumer would be confused or mistaken or deceived as to the source of the goods and/or services of the applicant and registrant.

In this case, the following factors are the most relevant: similarity of the marks, similarity of the goods and/or services, and similarity of trade channels of the goods and/or services.

A search of the USPTO trademark database shows that the Kronos Touch ID trademark also related to a fingerprint recognition system, and that it has held the trademark since 2001:

Apple only applied for its trademark in January of this year:

Apple has six months to respond to the USPTO with a suggested remedy, otherwise the trademark application will be treated as abandoned and it would be forced to rename the feature. As we can’t imagine this happening – especially as we expect Touch ID to appear on iPads in the fall – it seems most likely that Apple will be heading over to Kronos’s offices, check-book in hand …

Apple debuts iTunes Pass in Japan, allows Passbook-based iTunes credit refills at Apple Stores

Mark Gurman Jul 14 2014 - 11:31 pm PT

Apple today has launched an interesting new service for iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore users in Japan with iPhones and iPod touches. The new service, called iTunes Pass (no, not that iTunes Pass), allows users to go to an Apple Store in Japan, purchase credit in-store for the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore, and have that money immediately applied to the Apple ID account instead of needing to receive a gift card and enter a redemption code…

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple seeking ‘photography enthusiast’ retail employees to test OS X Photos app

Mark Gurman Jul 14 2014 - 9:15 pm PT

Apple is seeking employees from its own retail stores who have shown an enthusiasm for photography to test the upcoming OS X Photos application and iCloud Photos feature. Apple, last week, reached out to retail employees offering such a “career experience,” and here is the message to retail staff as provided by multiple retail employees:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple employees are ‘swiped right’ on the least in Hinge app tech company survey

Mark Gurman Jul 14 2014 - 1:20 pm PT

Apple employees are certainly Geniuses, but their colleagues across the technology company sphere don’t find them the most attractive, according to a survey compiled by app Hinge and shared by the Wall Street Journal. Hinge, which works similar to app Tinder but with a professional twist, allows users to swipe left or right on another person. You swipe right if you want to connect, and you swipe left if you don’t want to connect.

The survey indicates that people swiped right on Amazon employees 14.2% more than the average rate, Microsoft employees 8.2% above the average rate, Google employees 7.2% above the average rate, Facebook employees 2.3% above the average rate, and Apple employees 0.2% below the average rate. On the other hand, Apple employees swiped right 0.5% more of the time than the average user:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Ad agency execs believe Beats can spruce up Apple’s ads as German World Cup team gets gold headphones

Mark Gurman Jul 14 2014 - 1:03 pm PT

Apple agreed to acquire Beats for several reasons: for the streaming music service, for the headphones, for the speakers, and to bring Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine into the Cupertino fold. But the New York Post believes that Apple is seeking help from the Beats team for another important area of the Apple business: advertising. It’s no secret in the technology and advertising world that Apple could not be anymore displeased with the services as of late from longtime ad partner TBWA, and unnamed ad agency executives are said to believe that the Beats team could improve Apple’s ads:

Expand
Expanding
Close

iPad may be one source of growing issue of nickel allergies in children, suggests Washington Post (Updated)

Ben Lovejoy Jul 14 2014 - 7:55 am PT

iPad Air with Apple’s Smart Case

A report in the medical journal Pediatrics claims that the allergic reaction of an 11-year-old boy may have been due to the nickel in his iPad, with the Washington Post saying that the case appears to be just one example of many.

The boy, treated at a San Diego hospital, had a history of skin issues, but a different rash developed all over his body and wouldn’t respond to typical treatment. His skin tested positive for nickel, one of the most common allergy-inducing metals, and doctors traced it back to an iPad he had used with increasing frequency the past six months. The iPad tested positive for nickel as well, according to the report.

Reportedly the boy’s condition improved when he switched to using a Smart Case, an example of which is shown above, seemingly confirming the cause.

The Washington Post does appear to be extrapolating rather a lot from a single case and a few forum posts, however. And similar cases have popped up for other consumer electronics products. Apple apparently told AP that it has no comment to make.

Update: Apple gave the following statement to The Wall Street Journal regarding the incident: “Apple’s products are made from the highest quality materials and meet the same strict standards set for jewelry by both the U.S. Consumer Safety Product Commission and their counterparts in Europe.”

Apple reportedly working w/ Intelligent Energy to integrate fuel cell tech in devices

Jordan Kahn Jul 14 2014 - 6:57 am PT

A report from the Daily Mail over the weekend claimed Apple is working with fuel cell company Intelligent Energy on a project that hopes to embed fuel cells in mobile devices “within a few years.” The Daily Mail doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to accuracy, but the report claimed “senior sources in the US” have confirmed the partnership between the two companies.

The technology could be rolled out in devices such as laptops and iPads, allowing them to run without being charged for days or even weeks…Intelligent Energy revealed upon floating that it bought a bundle of patents in tandem with a major ‘international electronics company’…It has kept the identity of its partner a closely-guarded secret. But a source, who has knowledge of the partnership, confirmed that Apple is the big name working with the Loughborough-based firm.

The report noted that Intelligent Energy already has ties to Apple with former Apple Computers product specialist Joe O’Sullivan sitting on the company’s board and a new office in San Jose not far from Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino.
Expand
Expanding
Close

iCloud Mail down for a small number of users

Ben Lovejoy Jul 14 2014 - 6:23 am PT

Apple’s system status page is showing that iCloud Mail is down for a small number of users. Apple says that the outage, which has lasted almost 18 hours, is currently affecting around 0.1 percent of users.

Users affected by the outage are seeing a ‘Cannot Get Mail: iCloud is currently unavailable’ message. There is as yet no word from Apple on when the service is expected to be restored.

No other iCloud services appear to be affected.

Ecosystem and brand loyalty will see iWatch sales grow as fast as iPhone or iPad, says Morgan Stanley

Ben Lovejoy Jul 14 2014 - 4:53 am PT

Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty is predicting that the iWatch could achieve sales of 30-60 million units in its first year as sales growth mimics that of the iPhone or iPad, reports Fortune.

While some analysts point to modest sales of existing smartwatches as evidence that the iWatch is likely to be a relatively minor new category for Apple, Huberty believes that they are using the wrong measure.

It’s that loyalty and the so-called “halo effect,” Huberty writes, not the current watch market, that will drive sales of the unannounced product that she (like everybody else) is calling the iWatch …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple-designed iBeacon hardware hits FCC: for Apple Stores, developers, or consumers?

Mark Gurman Jul 12 2014 - 11:49 pm PT

On July 4th of this year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made filings public from Apple regarding an Apple-branded piece of iBeacon equipment. The hardware is shown above to be a rounded hub-like device with a USB port and a dedicate on and off switch at the bottom…

Expand
Expanding
Close

National Federation of the Blind says ‘Apple has done more for accessibility than any other company’

Mark Gurman Jul 12 2014 - 12:54 pm PT

Last week, inaccurate reporting emerged in regards to Apple’s work on making its products accessible to all consumers. As many Apple customers are aware, and as CEO Tim Cook takes extremely seriously, Apple works hard to ensure that Macs, iPhones, iPods, and iPads can be used to their full extent by people who are deaf or blind, for example. In response to the reporting (Philip Elmer-DeWitt has a good summary of the original reporting and takedowns at Fortune), Mark A. Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind, has published a comprehensive blog post describing Apple’s work on accessibility, the technology industry as a whole, the resolution regarding iOS device accessibility, and what can be done to improve accessibility of third-party apps into the future.

The full blog post can be read here, but here is a key line that should further dispute last week’s inaccurate reports: “Apple has done more for accessibility than any other company to date, and we have duly recognized this by presenting the company with at least two awards (including our annual Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award) and publicly praising it whenever the opportunity arises.” The blog post goes on to explain that the Federation believes Apple could work further with App Store developers on making all of the more than one million App Store apps more accessible to all users. “We simply want Apple to continue to discuss with us what measures the company can put in place to ensure accessibility,” the blog post reads.

It is also worth watching Cook’s speech regarding human rights and accessibility, below:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Basel Apple Store opens to crowds as Apple promotes upcoming Edinburgh location

Mark Gurman Jul 12 2014 - 12:30 pm PT

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:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple China denies location tracking claims: we’re ‘deeply committed to protecting the privacy of all our customers’

Mark Gurman Jul 12 2014 - 12:09 pm PT

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:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Chinese clone-makers already have functional ‘iPhone 6’ knockoffs for sale

Benjamin Mayo Jul 12 2014 - 7:28 am PT

NowhereElse.fr has posted some pretty amusing pictures today of working iPhone 6 clones from China. These devices use the rumored specification and schematics of the actual iPhone 6 that we have seen so much over the last few months, but obviously use off-the-shelf internals and don’t run iOS.

Although unconfirmed what knockoff OS these devices are running, it is most likely a skinned version of Android with a custom launcher that imitates the appearance of iOS 7. The Google Play store is already full of iOS 7 Home Screen and app clones.

The real thing is expected to be announced by Apple in September, featuring larger 4.7 and 5.5 inch displays.

Apple launches blog to highlight new Swift programming language

Mark Gurman Jul 11 2014 - 10:50 am PT

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:

Expand
Expanding
Close