American server supplier Super Micro is dropping Chinese chips from its products, despite zero evidence ever emerging to support claims of spy chips installed in Apple and Amazon servers – and a great deal of evidence to suggest that Bloomberg’s report was wrong.
Bloomberg last year claimed that Apple found Chinese surveillance chips in servers supplied by Super Micro, a claim which was quickly and aggressively refuted by Apple and others …
Analysts from Bank of America Merrill Lynch have suggested that Apple is facing a potentially worrisome “informal boycott” from consumers in China and India. A survey conducted by the bank’s equity research team, cited by Bloomberg, shows user interest in upgrading to iPhone dwindling, with most of the excitement coming from Samsung or Huawei products.
We learned last month that Twitter was expanding its push into video by opening its API to media partners, and the WSJ reports that the company will today be announcing a partnership with Bloomberg to stream news reports 24/7 …
New details on Apple’s ‘Reuse and Recycle’ trade-in program have surfaced in a new Bloomberg report. Tim Culpan details the break down and destruction process that each iPhone, Mac, and iPad receives at one of the many Apple recycling contractors’ plants. With over 50 agreed upon regulations and requirements, the contractors have a heavily imposed process to adhere to.
Angela Ahrendts, SVP Retail and Online Stores, is the latest Apple executive to make a public conference appearance this fall. Bloomberg announced today that Ahrendts is set to speak at its third annual ‘The Year Ahead’ business summit happening next week. Michael Bloomberg will open the two-day event on Monday, November 9, in New York City. Angela Ahrendts’s appearance follows the next day at Park Hyatt where Apple’s evolving retail strategy is likely to be a focus of the conversation. Expand Expanding Close
While health tech has to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the agency will be taking “an almost hands-off approach” to fitness-oriented wearables like the Apple Watch, says policy advisor Bakul Patel in an interview in Bloomberg.
“We are taking a very light touch, an almost hands-off approach,” Patel, the FDA’s associate director for digital health, said in an interview. “If you have technology that’s going to motivate a person to stay healthy, that’s not something we want to be engaged in.”
Patel said the FDA would be drawing a distinction between products whose health claims focused on fitness rather than diagnosis … Expand Expanding Close
In an essay published on Bloomberg’s website, Apple CEO Tim Cook has publicly come out as gay. Although his sexuality wasn’t really a secret, this is the first time he has officially confirmed his sexual orientation. Cook says he has relaxed this aspect of privacy to help others as part of Apple’s efforts against discrimination. The essay can be read in full at Bloomberg Businessweek.
At the same time, I believe deeply in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, who said: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ ” I often challenge myself with that question, and I’ve come to realize that my desire for personal privacy has been holding me back from doing something more important. That’s what has led me to today.
Bloomberg has uncovered details of what went wrong at Apple and who is to blame for the botched release of the iOS 8.0.1 update yesterday, citing sources who point to a quality assurance manager in charge of overseeing iOS updates who also managed QA for the Apple Maps project before its launch. To quote Bloomberg:
The same person at Apple was in charge of catching problems before both products were released. [redacted], the mid-level manager overseeing quality assurance for Apple’s iOS mobile-software group, was also in charge of quality control for maps, according to people familiar with Apple’s management structure.
According to the report, this was also the individual responsible for hunting down any crucial bugs in the iOS 6 Maps software, which debuted to a chorus of negative reviews and bad press.
Bloomberg‘s Adam Satariano has an interesting profile out this morning regarding the usage of wearable fitness devices in work environments. The report says that some companies are offering devices, such as the FitBit, in order to track the fitness of its employees. With that information, companies are able to slice costs off of insurance plans if employees hit certain fitness data thresholds:
While most of the Apple-watching world has its sights focused on the next iPhone, Apple has put next-generation versions of the iPad into production. That’s according to Bloomberg News, which says that the new full-sized iPad Air model will be announced later this quarter or early next quarter and that the new 7.9-inch model will hit the market by the end of the year:
Ford’s recently departed CEO and President Alan Mulally may have just joined Google’s Board of Directors, but the automobile company is handing its smartphone allegiance over to Apple. A Ford spokesperson tells Bloomberg the automobile manufacturer is positioned to replace its employee BlackBerry smartphones with company-issued iPhones to be used by its global workforce.
“We are going to get everyone on iPhones,” Tatchio said. “It meets the overall needs of the employees because it is able to serve both our business needs in a secure way and the needs we have in our personal lives with a single device.”
Having all employees on the same smartphone will improve security and simplify information technology management, Tatchio said. Ford is making “no extra investment” to convert to iPhones, other than the cost of replacing the devices, she said.
According to Bloomberg’s report, Ford will distribute Apple’s iPhone to 3,300 company employees by the end of this year while the goal is to replace 6,000 phones within the next two years. The report also notes Ford is hiring for a position to monitor global corporate iPhone deployment. Globally, Ford employs about 181,000 employees although it’s unclear from the report how many receive company-issued cell phones. Expand Expanding Close
Another day, another patent dispute. This time Apple is defending the use of its HTTP live-streaming service against Emblaze, Ltd., Bloomberg reports.
Specifically, the lawyer for Emblaze has accused Apple of pushing its video streaming technology on sports-related services like WatchESPN and MLB At Bat which support live streaming over apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and more.
Apple began working on its HTTP live-streaming service, or HLS, “no earlier than 2007,” demanding that services such as “At Bat” use the format to drive sales of iPhones and iPads — and inducing infringement of Emblaze’s patent, Pavane said.
“Apple’s HLS is nothing more than Emblaze’s patented solution under a different name,” he said.
Last night we noted a report from a Taiwanese news outlet which claimed in part that Apple would be putting the next-generation iPhone into production in July. Now, Bloomberg has confirmed that the company will indeed be starting production on two different models of the upcoming smartphone next month.
The iPhone 6 is expected to be available in two sizes: one with a 4.7-inch display and a larger 5.5-inch design. Both are larger than the current iPhone 5s which features a 4-inch display. iOS 8 has introduced useful changes for developers that seem to indicate a larger screen is coming (possibly with a resolution of 1704 x 960), and leaked dummies and parts have given us an idea of what the phone will look like when it officially launches. Both models will reportedly sport curved glass and rounded edges…
The Wall Street Journal has published a report that largely corroborates what Bloomberg said earlier; a new Apple TV is under development with Apple currently in negotiation stages for content deals, with at least Time Warner Cable. However, the Wall Street Journal adds some new information about what these talks entail.
Initially, it appears that Apple wanted an independent Apple TV product to offer TV shows and films exclusively over the Internet. However, now it appears that Apple is scaling back some of its ambition due to resistance from content companies.
Following our reports in recent months that Apple was looking to introduce a revamped Apple TV set-top box sometime around the month of March, Bloomberg is out with its own report today confirming much of what we’ve already reported. The report claims Apple is currently planning to launch the new Apple TV set-top box as early as April:
Apple Inc. (AAPL) is planning to introduce a new Apple TV set-top box as early as April and is negotiating with Time Warner Cable Inc. and other potential partners to add video content, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
In January we reported that Apple was working testing the new box that could include a revamped operating system and possibly app and game support for sometime in the first half of 2014. We also reported that Apple was testing upgraded hardware that included built-in AirPort Express 802.11ac router functionality and versions that include a built-in TV tuner to control existing cable boxes. Most recently we reported that code in recent builds of iOS 7 point to refreshed hardware, at least internally. Bloomberg today confirmed a couple of the same details including a new interface for navigating content. It also said the hardware will include a faster processor.
Bloomberg adds that a launch of the product is currently planned for Christmas but that might change if Apple isn’t able to nail down deals with content partners in time. Content from Time Warner has been rumored to be arriving soon for quite a while now, but negotiations are still ongoing according to Bloomberg’s report from today.
If you were wondering why Apple chose Mesa, Arizona, as the location of its latest manufacturing plant in the U.S., a story today from Bloomberg explains that Apple, not shy about going after tax breaks, has taken advantage of many perks put in place by the suburb’s mayor:
So last year, when Apple was searching for a place to house a factory that makes a stronger glass for its gadgets, Mesa pulled out the stops. The city, which was ravaged by the 2007 housing crash, offered tax breaks, built power lines, fast-tracked building permits and got the state to declare a vacant 1.3 million-square-foot facility that Apple was exploring a foreign trade zone. With unemployment high, such are the lengths that towns are willing to go to to lure the world’s most valuable company.“Any time you have a company like Apple come in and invest in your area, especially with this type of operation, it’s significant,” said Smith, who triumphed late last year when Apple spent $114 million to buy the factory. The mayor celebrated by placing bowls of green and red apples in City Hall.
Smith added that original preparations were done before the city even knew it was Apple, but later Apple requested additional perks before moving in and even got construction permits expedited. Among the other advantages of choosing Mesa for Apple was a $10 million building grant from the Arizona Commerce Authority and an agreement with the city’s power company to build solar and geothermal installations and a new power substation for the plant: Expand Expanding Close
Apple has added a couple of new channels to the Apple TV for UK users. The addition of Sky Sports (provide through Now TV) makes live sports available to UK owners of Apple TV for the first time without the need for a cable subscription. Users can buy £9.99 day passes and get unlimited access to all six Sky Sports channels encompassing the Barclays Premier League football matches, cricket, F1 racing and more.
Unlike its developer program and vast ecosystem of apps on iOS and Mac, there’s not much we know about Apple’s strategy for content on the Apple TV. There’s been a lot of talk that a much rumored refreshed Apple TV set top box— or perhaps even the rumored full-fledged TV set— might also come alongside a more open developer platform with app distribution.
For now, however, Apple is slowly and quietly behind closed doors making deals with select content partners that are building apps for the platform. How is Apple working with developers to build and approve these apps? Does it have an Apple TV SDK that could in theory be released to all developers? With Bloomberg TV today becoming the latest app to launch on the platform, we’ve talked with the people that built the app to get some insight into the Apple TV development process. Expand Expanding Close
Sony’s Crackle service offers a number of television shows and movies without any subscription cost.
The new Watch ABC channel features a number of hit TV shows from the broadcaster including the new Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D series, but requires a subscription from a service provider including AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Google Fiber, Verizon FiOS, and others.
KORTV offers Korean-based content including paid video on-demand.
With all of these channels being added (and many requiring cable subscriptions), it should come as a relief to many that the next update to Apple TV offers a simplified interface for hiding channels in the main menu of the settings. Currently, hiding unused channels requires disabling channels in the parental settings.
Following Apple’s steady release of new content and features for its existing Apple TV platform in recent months, this week it adds yet another as Bloomberg becomes the first channel to live stream business news 24/7 to Apple TV customers. We spoke with Bloomberg’s head of mobile Oke Okaro who told us all about the new Apple TV app.
The majority of the content you’ll find in the new app is the same Bloomberg TV content you’ll find on its website and in its mobile apps but specifically optimized for the larger screen. That includes a live stream of business news, on-demand content with a mix of full TV show episodes and clips, and a special live stream that will appear only for events and breaking news. While there is similar news programming already on the Apple TV through apps like The Wall Street Journal and SkyNews, Bloomberg will be the first to have a 24/7 live stream of business news. That’s compared to the WSJ app which often only live streams content on certain hours throughout the day. It’s also going beyond the other news apps by offering all of its content for free in full-length form in addition to integration with its iOS apps coming in a future update. Expand Expanding Close
Following a lawsuit filed three and a half years ago by NetAirus Technologies LLC, Apple is preparing for a legal battle in Los Angeles federal court over a patent regarding the iPhone and smartphone technologies, Bloomberg reports.
California man Richard L. Ditzik filed for a patent in 1997 that describes smartphone technologies and behavior, but Apple believes his claim should be invalidated based alone on capabilities of its Newton message pad three years prior.
“The technology at issue was so well known at the time NetAirus filed its patent, that independent patent watchdogs have made NetAirus’s patent a poster child in the movement to limit the proliferation of facially invalid patents,” Apple said in its July 2011 request to throw out the case. Expand Expanding Close
Concept render by <a href="http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/Brilliant-iPhone-6-Design-with-Fingerprint-Scanner-and-Curved-Glass-Envisioned-Video-5.jpg/">Federico Ciccarese</a>
Bloomberg is reporting that “sources familiar with the plans” say Apple is planning to release two new iPhone models next year with curved displays. The two phones would have 4.7 inch and 5.5 inch displays respectively, both substantially bigger than the 4 inch Retina Display currently offered in the iPhone 5s and more in line with Samsung’s S4 and Note 3.
AAPL investors should pay close attention to the revenues generated from the iPad when the new models are launched later this month, as they provide a better predictor of Apple’s stock price than iPhone revenue, argues Bloomberg.
Here’s where investors should start paying attention. By at least one measure, as the iPad goes, so goes Apple stock. Quarterly iPad revenue has a 68 percent correlation with Apple’s share price. That’s higher than the stock’s correlations to iPhone revenue (62 percent) or Mac revenue (40 percent).
The piece goes on to acknowledge that in unit sales terms, the positions are reversed, with a 77 percent correlation with iPhone sales against 68 percent to the iPad, but it’s an interesting observation when iPhone sales account for half of Apple’s revenue while the iPad comes in at just 20 percent.
Apple is set to launch the iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2 at an event on 22nd October. Bloomberg reports that currently 47 of the 66 analysts who cover AAPL rate it as a buy. Apple is due to hold its Q4 earnings call on 28 October, before the new iPad models are expected to go on sale.
This morning, news is circulating regarding claims of a September iPad launch, gold iPhone 5S scratch tests, Apple products being allowed to be imported into Iran, and Apple potentially disrupting the way that mobile carriers work. Let’s take a look at each of these claims…
