Watch our LIVE 9to5Mac Happy Hour April 12, 2013
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Disguised discount on iPhone 4 triples sales in India in less than a week
Four large Apple resellers in India have reported a trebling of iPhone 4 sales in just five days after Apple introduced a trade-in scheme allowing customers to hand in their existing phone as part-payment on an iPhone 4, reports The Times of India.
Customers are offered a minimum Rs7,000 ($128) trade-in on any handset against the Rs26,500 ($486) cost of an iPhone 4. Retailers pay Rs,2000 of this in return for the right to sell the used handset, while Apple pays the Rs5,000 balance. As there appear to be no restrictions on brand, age or condition of the handset used for the trade-in, the move effectively amounts to a disguised discount, and suggests that the much-rumored low-cost iPhone is likely to prove successful.
The move appears to be a further strand in Apple’s push to expand its market share in India after last month’s news that it was trebling the number of franchisees in the country.
Apple to pay $53 million in class-action suit following iPhone warranty policy
Bring your faulty iPhone into your local Apple Store and probably the first thing the technician behind the Genius Bar troubleshooting your device will do is check the status of Liquid Contact Indicator, which signals excessive exposure to water.
This hidden tape strip reacts to moisture and can be found in your device’s headphone jack and charging port. The status of your warranty coverage depends on its color: if it is white, you pass, which means you are probably not responsible for replacement costs; if it is pink, your warranty is void, which can lead to expensive repair costs.
Apple’s practice of not honoring its hardware warranty based on this practice led to a class action lawsuit against the company in California.
Apple has reportedly agreed to pay up to the tune of $53 million in a settlement, nearly $16 million of which will go toward the legal counsel of the plaintiffs, and should be filed in a San Francisco federal court in the coming days, according to Wired.com.
Apple nears ‘iRadio’ streaming deal with Warner and Universal in a dozen markets, royalties on par with Pandora rates
We’ve heard no end of rumors of a streaming Radio player from Apple. We even found pay radio buttons in the iPad’s music player app code earlier this year:
The Apple radio service, once rumored for late 2012 to Q1/2013, has now been pushed back to mid-late 2013 because of difficulty signing the labels. Today the Verge says that Warner is all but signed up at rates comparable to what Pandora pays the labels – which is to say a lot. Earlier reports put Apple’s asking price much lower.
Apple is expected to sign its first interner radio licensing agreement with a major record label perhaps as soon as next week, multiple sources with knowledge of the talks have told The Verge…Apple initially offered to pay 6 cents per 100 songs streamed, or about half of what Pandora pays. Now, Apple will pay rates nearly “neck and neck” with Pandora, one of the sources said.
Update: CNET reports that Universal is also close to signing and that Apple is hoping to go into a dozen territories by summer:
The press has dubbed the service iRadio, in negotiations with the labels Apple is referring to it as its “new streaming service,” says a source…Apple is building some unique features, such as the ability to jump back to the beginning of a song…Apple is hoping to quickly unveil the service in up to a dozen territories, according to sources, including the U.K, France, Germany, Australia, and Japan.
We’re hoping that Apple has an announcement to make at WWDC, if not earlier.
Real Racing 3 iOS app updated with vehicles from Chevy, 100+ new events, cloud save, much more
While the highly anticipated Real Racing 3 from EA received a lot of press when it first launched back in February, much of it was negative attention due to developer Firemonkey’s decision opt for an in-app purchase, freemium model. Despite that, Real Racing 3 is considered one of the top racing games for iOS devices, and today it receives a massive update bringing new vehicles, events, and game modes to the title.
Version 1.1.0 of Real Racing 3 includes the return of vehicles from Chevrolet such as the Chevrolet Cobalt SS and the Camaro ZL1, 100+ new events bringing the total up to over 1,000, and the ability to save to the cloud and transfer saves between devices. The update also brings a new event type called “Hunter!”:
What’s New in Version 1.1.0
Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. American fan favorite Chevrolet makes its return to Real Racing! This update features the Chevrolet Cobalt SS and the Camaro ZL1, an all-new Hunter mode, Cloud Save functionality, and 100+ new events! Plus, compare and compete using the new friends leaderboard.
• New manufacturer – Chevrolet! The Cobalt SS and the Camaro ZL1 join the lineup
• New event type – Hunter! Chase down the hunted car and overtake within one lap
• 100+ new events! Total number of events now exceeds 1,000!
• Cloud Save functionality! Transfer your save data between devices
• New social features! See who is online and compare how your friends are doing with the statistics leaderboard
• Check your TSM mailbox for the latest friend notifications
• Improved tutorial and main menu
• Numerous additional improvements, fixes, and performance optimizations
US Mac shipments down 7.5% … or maybe up 7.4% … or possibly up 14%
Market tracker IDC says Apple’s Q1 Mac shipments in the US fell 7.5 percent year-on-year, while rival company Gartner says they increased 7.4 percent in the same period. Meantime, the NPD Group – which measures sales rather than shipments – says those are up 14 percent …
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iMessage/FaceTime has been down for about a half hour, Apple just acknowledged it (Update: Fixed)
Update: 8PM ET – Just 4 short hours after we first started hearing issues, iMessage and FaceTime are back
Update: 8:45PM ET – Apple’s status website also saying the issues are resolved
As many have reported on Twitter, iMessage and FaceTime have been down for the past half hour, but Apple just updated its Services Status page. Meanwhile, Apple is aptly offering the opportunity to complete a survey regarding its online Apple Support quality.
Apple Stores pushing new table-based sales strategy, minor emphasis on third-party product support
Apple is slowly rolling out a new customer service initiative across its retail stores called ‘table selling.’ With the new strategy, Apple Store employees are assigned a product table where they are responsible for working with groups of customers with different needs, albeit the same device, according to people familiar with the strategy. Previously, customers were individually helped on a first-come, first-serve basis and organized by an “iQueue” system that often resulted in lengthy wait times and customers walking out.
Parallels app is now iPad Retina-optimized with iOS 5 compatibility
The app that lets users wirelessly access their Mac applications and Windows programs on-the-go, while running Parallels Desktop for Mac, was just updated to version 3.1.530.
Parallels Mobile allows users to remotely control all the software on a computer from an iOS device, but today’s upgrade includes iOS 5 compatibility and new iPad optimization. It also offers support for international keyboard layouts when working in Mac applications, fixed scrolling in Mac and Windows, and a host of other improvements.
The app requires Parallels Desktop for Mac version 6 or 7 (Amazon currently offers v7 for $62), but 9to5Mac found Parallels Desktop 7 to be a huge leap ahead of its predecessor. This is especially true for Lion users that want to run the odd Windows app, try Windows 8, or for devs that just want to run another instance of OS X.
Parallels Mobile is $4.99 in the App Store.
Corning Gorilla Glass 2 to debut at CES 2012: Will latest innovation be on iPad 3 or iPhone 5?
Corning Inc., announced today its plan to unveil Gorilla Glass 2 at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, and the company said more product details would be made available Jan. 9.
The Corning, N.Y.-based company plans to “showcase the critical role of highly engineered specialty glass in addressing emerging trends” at CES 2012. Some of the highlights include increased functionality from smaller form factors; connected devices in new applications; touch technology; and, large-format design aesthetics.
However, the main attraction to the Corning booth will be the introduction of Gorilla Glass 2, which is the next generation of the damage-resistant cover glass found on practically every consumer electronic today. CES attendees will have access to Corning experts and products featuring the latest Gorilla Glass applications.
The timely debut of Gorilla Glass 2 comes just before the rumored early-2012 launch of the iPad 3, as well as the rumored summer-to-fall launch of the iPhone 5, leaving room for Apple to include the latest technology on its upcoming devices.
Although not confirmed, it is worth speculating whether Corning supplied Apple, before today’s announcement, with Gorilla Glass 2 for iOS device production. The idea does not seem far-fetched considering the nature of both companies’ relationship…
Apple Store Grand Central closer to opening
Apple is beginning to prepare for the upcoming holiday shopping season by putting the final touches on several retail locations and reinventing the way their visitors buy Apple gear. Most notable is opening up a flagship store in New York’s iconic Grand Central Station. Why is Grand Central such a big deal, especially when there are already Apple Stores in New York in affluent neighborhoods? Here are some quick facts on Grand Central:
- 750,000 people pass through Grand Central daily and over 1,000,000 people during the holidays
- Mean household income for Grand Central Terminal commuters is $95,800; 50% of household incomes are over $100,000, and 20% are over $200,000.
- The captive shopping population of more than 326,000 neighborhood office workers earn a combined $11.3 billion a year.
- An average 7,500 people an hour pass the corner of 42nd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, making it one of the busiest intersections in the city.
- 21.6 million out-of-town tourists, with a mean income of $62,000, visit Grand Central each year.
- Grand Central is served by Metro-North commuter trains, 31 commuter and 15 city bus routes, 7 subway lines, buses to and from the area’s three airports, and two million taxis a year.
- Grand Central Terminal subway station is the busiest stop in the New York City subway system.
The future Grand Central Station Apple Store is progressing towards an end of November opening. Future employees for the store have been going through their “Core” training for the past several weeks at a hotel in Times Square, Midtown Manhattan…
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W3 Innovations pays the FTC $50,000 for collecting children’s info in iOS apps
The FTC filed a lawsuit against W3 Innovations Friday, the parent company of Broken Thumbs Apps, for collecting the personal information of children in their apps. Broken Thumbs Apps have been downloaded more than 50,000 times in the iTunes App Store, and titles include Zombie Duck Hunt, Truth or Dare, and Emily’s Dress Up. Monday, the company settled with the FTC for $50,000.
The FTC’s complaint includes W3 storing more than 30,000 children’s (probably parent’s) emails and personal information on their servers. In one game, the company asked for the child’s name. In the game Emily’s Girl World, it gave children the opportunities to make comments on a related blog, which were stored on a server.
The FTC says since these apps were directly marketed to children and transmitted information over the internet, the apps are in violation of the Children’s Online privacy Protection Pact (COPPA), and the FTC’s COPPA rules. Besides settling, the company agreed to delete all of the children’s personal information off of their servers. (via Ars Technica)
