Apple

A new video published by Unbox Therapy provides a closer look at an alleged third-party case for Apple’s upcoming iPhone 6 that was recently shown off in a set of photos. The case’s design definitely falls in line with previous leaks and rumors that we’ve reported on, but could be a manufacturer’s attempt to take a risk and get ahead of the game.

The video below compares the case’s design to the iPhone 5s, Nexus 5, and Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Surprisingly, the case’s layout almost lines up perfectly with Google’s Nexus 5, which gives us a good idea of the iPhone 6’s overall form-factor if the leaked specifications used to manufacture this case are correct.

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Apple just announced its second quarter results for 2014 with revenue for the quarter coming in at $45.6 billion. That’s compared to the guidance it previously provided of $42 – $44 billion and estimates by analysts averaging approximately $43.5B. Apple’s $45.6 billion in revenue reported today is also up from the $43.6 billion in revenue in the year ago quarter.

Break down of device sales for Q2 2014 include 43.7m million iPhones, 16.3 million iPads, and 4.1 million Macs. Compare that to an average of 38M iPhones, 19.3M iPads, 4M Macs, and 3M iPods predicted by the analysts leading up to today. In the same quarter last year, Apple sold 37.4 million iPhones, 19.5 million iPads, just under 4 million Macs, and 5.6 million iPods.

It also reported net quarterly profit of $10.2 billion, or $11.62 per diluted share in contrast to quarterly net profit of $9.5 billion, or $10.09 per diluted share in the same quarter last year.

“We’re very proud of our quarterly results, especially our strong iPhone sales and record revenue from services,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re eagerly looking forward to introducing more new products and services that only Apple could bring to market.”

“We generated $13.5 billion in cash flow from operations and returned almost $21 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases during the March quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “That brings cumulative payments under our capital return program to $66 billion.”

Apple is providing guidance for its next quarter of revenue between $36 billion and $38 billion.

The question of the day for Tim Cook and other Apple executives on today’s call will surely be the new product categories that Cook previously said were coming across 2014 and have yet to make an appearance in the first quarter. With Apple’s WWDC developer conference just around the corner, we’ll have to wait and see if Cook gives us any clues of what’s to come during the call today at 2:00 p.m. PST/5:00 p.m. EST. Stay tuned to our live blog for coverage. 

Apple’s full press release is below:
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As part of Apple’s earnings releases, Apple has announced an extension to its buyback plans. The company will now buyback an additional $30 billion of Apple stock, totalling $90 billion, significantly accelerating its original plans.

Apple® today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized another significant increase to the Company’s program to return capital to shareholders. The Company expects to utilize a total of over $130 billion of cash under the expanded program by the end of calendar 2015.

The board has also announced a seven-for-one stock split beginning June 2nd 2014. Apple last split its stock in 2005, nine years ago. Apple will also increase the dividend by about 8 percent to $3.29 per common share. This will begin on May 15th. Apple plans to increase its dividend every year. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Cook said that the buyback will “show you how much confidence we have in the future of the company”.

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Code found within the iOS 7.1 SDK suggests that Siri is headed to the Apple TV in future. Pierre Blazquez first found the reference on Friday. 9to5Mac has since confirmed that the code does exist in both iOS 7.1 and iOS 7.1.1’s files. The reference does not exist in 7.0.6.

The file is a supporting property-list resource for Assistant (Apple’s internal name for Siri), containing information about the feature. The UIDeviceFamily array declares what platforms are compatible with the feature.

As shown by Apple’s documentation, ‘1’ and ‘2’ represent the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad families. The ‘3’ represents the Apple TV family.

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Martin Hajek has been busy again, following his earlier iPod Nano-inspired  and schematic-prompted concepts for the iPhone 6. Commissioned by French site NWE, his latest designs incorporate the more persistent rumors: a rounded profile, power button moved from the top to the right (for easier use with a larger, near edge-to-edge screen) and rectangular volume controls …

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In the ongoing patent trial where Apple is claiming Samsung infringed five of its patents, and Samsung is claiming Apple did the same to two of its patents, it has been suggested that Samsung bought the two patents concerned specifically to sue Apple. The allegation was made by Apple’s attorneys, reports The Verge.

The original inventors on the video patent, for instance, originated in Oklahoma, and the gallery patent originally belonged to Hitachi. In the case of the video patent, Samsung disclosed that it paid $2.39 million to acquire it in 2010, the same year FaceTime debuted alongside the iPhone 4. Apple hopes that will stand in stark contrast with its five patents, two of which were filed the day the company introduced the iPhone, and all developed within the company …

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StackSocial and 9to5Toys Specials are offering another Name Your Own Price Mac Bundle with 10 Mac apps regularly priced at $655. This bundle has some incredibly solid apps, and currently less than $5 will unlock all of the apps. In addition, 10% of your purchase will go to a charity of your choice including Child’s Play, World Wildlife Foundation, or Creative Commons. Also, if you are on the leaderboard at any time, you are entered to win a MacBook Air. The price will go up as more people buy so it is best to get in early.

Some of the notable apps in the bundle are photo editing software Snapheal Pro (Reg. $40), simple website builder RapidWeaver 5 (Reg. $79), Windows software utility CrossOver 13 For Mac, iTunes organizer TuneUp and screen capture software Voila ($30). You can see a full list of the apps in the bundle below, as well as more Mac deals on 9to5Toys Specials and in our daily app deal round-ups.

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODmfmUWqlSA]

Update: Apple has now posted an accompanying microsite for the ad, featuring the ads shown in the video.

Apple has begun airing a new iPhone 5s ad this evening, first premiering on ABC during Agents Of SHIELD. This ad, featuring the interesting song ‘Gigantic‘ by the Pixies, takes a very different tone than the “Metal Mastered” ad released in October, which showed that gold really is best.

The ad shows common and uncommon tasks people can accomplish with their iPhone, such as creating music, tracking their health, shooting videos and photos, and playing games. The ad ends with the tagline “You’re more powerful than you think”. A new page on Apple’s website shows off the ad along with the featured software.

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Our own 9to5Mac Senior Editor Mark Gurman joined John Gruber of Daring Fireball on The Talk Show this week to discuss Greg Christie’s departure, Apple’s upcoming Healthbook application, and Apple news reporting in general. The episode is just under two hours long and can be downloaded from Soundcloud. iTunes users and subscribers will find the episode available here. You can also listen to the episode below.
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The consensus view of 40 analysts polled by Fortune is that Apple’s year-on-year revenue for its fiscal Q2 (Q1 of the calendar year) has fallen by 0.2 percent to $43.6B. This follows earlier predictions that iPhone sales will have grown two percent, and iPad sales will have dropped by 0.7 percent.

Most of our analysts (31 out to 40) are playing it safe, offering estimates within the range of Apple’s guidance — between $42 billion and $44 billion.

Seven think Apple will beat its revenue guidance — by half to three-quarters of a billion dollars, according to Merrill Lynch’s Scott Craig and the Braeburn Group’s Patrick Smellie, respectively. Two analysts — Credit Suisse’s Kulbinder Garcha and the Braeburn Group’s Sunil Shah — think Apple’s revenue may actually have fallen year over year …

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How much did your iPhone cost? If you said $199, $299 or even $399 you’re somewhere near $350 off. As some consciously forget, the carriers often shield the owner from the real total cost of the iPhone. That may not last.

iPhone sales could be hurt as carriers switch from so-called subsidized contracts, where customers pay only a fraction of the cost a new iPhone up-front, to deals where the true cost of the phone is more visible, argues a piece in the WSJ.

Many U.S. iPhone customers are not aware that the full cost of an iPhone ranges from $549 for a 16GB 5c to $849 for a 64GB 5s. The reason is that carriers have traditionally asked for only $0 to $200 up-front, hiding the balance of the cost in the monthly tariff. With carriers now switching to separate instalment costs for the phone, and the cost of upgrading every year or two more visible to consumers, analysts believe some will choose to upgrade less often …

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As part of its recent environmental campaign, Apple has taken out some tongue-in-cheek full-page print advertising in newspapers around the world today. The ad reads ‘There are some things we want every company to copy’. The ad was first spotted by David McClelland on Twitter. (Hi-res version below:)

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Ahead of Earth Day celebrations planned for tomorrow, Apple today has completely revamped its environmental site with new stats alongside announcements for initiatives planned for the year to come. It also gave an interview with its new head of environmental issues Lisa Jackson. If you don’t want to dig through and read the multiple pages in Apple’s updated report, below we’ve put together a roundup of all the numbers and initiatives Apple announced today:
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There are Mac accessories that are exciting or fun, and others that are boring but useful. The Elgato Thunderbolt Dock most definitely falls into the latter category.

As regular readers will know, I’m of the view that wires are evil. Anything that can be wireless should be wireless, and any wires that are unavoidable should be hidden from sight. This is particularly easy if you have an Apple Thunderbolt Display, of course, since all you need in the way of wires from a MacBook is power and Thunderbolt: everything else can be plugged into the back of the monitor.

But if you share my aversion to visible wires and don’t have a Thunderbolt display, or you are frequently connecting and disconnecting your MacBook from a bunch of devices on your desk, the Elgato Thunderbolt Dock may be the answer …

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The Wall Street Journal has published a report saying that both Apple and Google are actively pursuing exclusivity deals with game developers. Whispers of these type of arrangements surfaced last year, with reports highlighting a partnership between Apple and EA for Plants vs Zombies 2.

The Journal confirms that Apple’s exclusivity deals do not include monetary payments. In return, the companies offer “premium placement” (such as featured spots on the home page) for launching first on their platform.

In regard to the Plants vs Zombies’ deal, the report says EA gave Apple agreed about two months of exclusivity.

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