iOS Devices

Sprint subsidiary Boost Mobile will soon begin selling iPhones for the first time as the company preps for the launch of Apple’s new iPhone 5s and 5c on its usual no-contract, unlimited plans. The proof comes from the press material above posted by often reliable leaker @evleaks.

Boost Mobile’s competition will be other smaller prepaid carriers in the US that already carry the iPhone, such as Cricket, Straight Talk, and another Sprint subsidiary, Virgin Mobile. Cricket, Straight Talk, and many other smaller carriers have yet to announce availability of the new iPhones, but Virgin Mobile and a handful of regional carriers have been advertising for an expected October 1st launch. 

The news follows reports earlier this year claiming that Boost Mobile would be the latest carrier to add the iPhone to its lineup in the United States. There’s no other details from today’s leak, but at the time evleaks claimed that Boost Mobile would launch the device sometime in Q3 2013.  Also no word on whether or not the carrier will offer the iPhone 4S as well.
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The new gold color option for the iPhone 5s might be driving higher demand over the 5c in China, but for those unable to find or afford the more expensive model, gold stickers and skins have quickly become an inexpensive alternative. The Wall Street Journal reports that a long list of retailers in the country have started offering gold skins for the iPhone 5/5s, allowing users to give their iPhone a similar gold appearance for as little as $2.

“Dear, you don’t need to sell your kidney for the new iPhone,” one of the ads said.“Instead of paying 5288 yuan (the retail price of the 16-gigabyte iPhone 5S in China), you only need to spend 35 yuan to make your iPhone 5 look like a golden iPhone 5S in seconds.”

The report notes that online retailers through taobao.com have sold thousands of gold iPhone skins in less than a month, and there is certainly no shortage of similar options through Amazon and other online retailers.

The new gold iPhone is in limited supply at most retailers around the world, and even Apple’s own retail stores have had extremely limited supply of the model compared to other color options since the device’s launch on September 20.

As noted by WSJ, the gold iPhone 5s is considered somewhat of a status symbol in the country with local Chinese media often referring to the gold 5s model as “Tuhao Jin” or “local tyrant’s gold.”
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As per Mark’s scoop last week, Staples has indeed begun selling the iPad and is offering the full line with 5% back in Staples gift cards. Staples now also carries every iPod model including the iPod touch, Classic, Nano and shuffle. You can now order the iPad from its online stores (which will begin shipping next week), and if online sales go well, through its physical retail stores early next year. Staples will also begin putting up iPad kiosks in its stores next week.

You’ll recall from our iPad Product Page, we’d probably recommend holding off the purchase of any iPad because Apple will likely update its line in October.  However, those companies with Staples purchasing accounts will now be able to scoop up an iPad on the corporate account.

Staples began carrying Apple products in the US earlier this year and would seem to be doing well at it as evidenced by the expanding line of products. 
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Last week, Apple briefly allowed people who wanted to order a new iPhone 5s to purchase the device via its online store (or Apple Store app) and pick it up at their local Apple Retail Store. However, after just one day, the feature was retracted.

Apple did not reply to a request for comment regarding why the service was made available then quickly removed, but we speculate that it was due to two factors: a general lack of iPhone 5s supply and Apple’s want to save as much iPhone 5s inventory for customers that walk into stores wanting to buy a new iPhone 5s. (Update: Now hearing that Personal Pickup went live last week early due to a glitch.)

Now we’ve heard from two sources that Apple will restore the Personal Pickup option for the iPhone 5s as soon as this upcoming Monday, September 30th. Users will be able to reserve an iPhone via Apple’s website and then pick it up in-store on a day of their choosing. Sources added that Apple will continue to use a “queue card” system for walk-in purchases until the strong demand for iPhone 5s normalizes.

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With Apple’s iBeacon technology starting to see some real-world applications, we thought this would be a good time to take a brief look at what it is and what we might expect from it in future … 
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Mashable reports that Major League Baseball has demo’d using Apple’s iBeacon indoor mapping technology to provide live baseball fans with a whole range of personalised and interactive experiences when attending games at stadiums.

An update to its At the Ballpark app provides both practical assistance and additional entertainment and interest.

By loading the free app when you get off the subway and head towards the stadium, it immediately knows you are at Citi Field. It populates a ballpark guide with information specific to the stadium, so if you were to enter Phillies’ Citizens Bank Park, the entire experience and data wouldn’t be the same.

As you near the gates, the app displays your ticket’s barcode on screen, as well as a map of where the seats are located. If tickets are loaded into Apple Passbook or purchased online through certain ticketing partners, the app will automatically pull them up … 
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Chinese site DoNews has posted two photos of what it claims is a champagne-colored iPad Mini 2 with Touch ID fingerprint sensor.

Concept photos and outright hoaxes are commonplace in the run-up to an anticipated product launch (we debunked one of these just yesterday), so there is no telling whether or not these are the real deal, but it’s obviously logical to expect Apple to release both the iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2 in the same colour schemes as the iPhone 5s. It’s also pretty likely that both will be fitted with the Touch ID fingerprint sensor (shown below the fold), though we have heard some whispers that it doesn’t … 
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Apple has released iOS 7.0.2 over-the-air for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This is a bug fix release that focuses on rectifying an issue that could allow users to bypass the passcode unlock on the Lock screen. Another fix in this release is to re-add the Greek keyboard options for pass codes.

iOS 7.0.2 brings iOS 7 parity across all supported devices. Alongside the launch of the new iPhones, Apple released iOS 7.0.1, but this release was exclusive to the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c.

Today’s over-the-air update requires a WiFi connection to download and install, and the file size ranges from between 17MB and 20MB depending on which device you are using.

Apple has been testing this bug fix release internally for a couple of weeks, and the company seems to also be testing an update known as iOS 7.1. Perhaps this will arrive alongside the new iPads next month.

Direct download links below:

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When Apple announced on Monday that it had sold a record 9 million iPhones during the launch weekend for the new iPhone 5s and 5c, it also said that around 200 million iOS devices have been updated to iOS 7 since the update was released less than a week before on Sept.18. Apple said it was the “fastest software upgrade in history”, but didn’t compare iOS 7 adoption to previous releases.

Mobile app marketing platform Fiksu has been tracking millions of iPhones hourly since the launch of iOS 7 and it’s latest numbers show iOS 7 adoption is much higher than previous releases. Fiksu has iOS 7 usage at almost 58 percent just 7 days after release, compared to under 47 percent iOS 6 had in the same timeframe and 27.2 percent of devices for iOS 5. That almost 60% share for iOS 7 is up from the 30 percent estimated by Mixpanel less than 24 hours after the release of iOS 7.

Mixpanel and other tracking services also have iOS 7 adoption at around 60% as of today.

Fiksu is tracking usage of the new iPhone models as well and reports iPhone 5s currently makes up 1 percent of their sampling versus 0.3 percent for the iPhone 5c:
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The LA Times is reporting that the distribution of iPads to all 640,000 students in the LA school district may be temporarily halted after high school pupils worked out how to bypass the restrictions placed on the devices. Apple announced back in June that an initial start to the rollout was worth $30M.

While the school networks block apps such as facebook while at school, a personal profile was used to limit usage of the devices when taken home. Within a week, children at Theodore Roosevelt High School had worked out that deleting this profile removed the restrictions … 
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KGI’s Mingchi Kuo, an analyst with an excellent track record, has disputed an earlier suggestion by web analytics company Localytics that the iPhone 5s is outselling the 5c three-to-one, suggesting that actual sales are closer to 50/50 – with 5c sales actually likely to be somewhat higher.

KGI estimates that the 9M initial sales comprised 3.5-4.5M iPhone 5s, and 4.5-5.5M iPhone 5c.

The confidential briefing document points out that analytics data is based on activation (or, more specifically, use of the phone to browse the web and run certain apps), which is not the same as sales. KGI’s estimates are based on production numbers … 
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Supposed posters from China Mobile promoting the iPhone 5s and 5c have leaked out, touting “the strongest iPhone in China” (via UnwiredView). The ‘100’ visible on the poster indicates the network’s 100Mb/s maximum speed will be supported by the iPhone. Naturally, the iPhone will be China Mobile’s flagship 4G phone.

Apple has already received the necessary certification to put the iPhone on all Chinese spectrum, including the TD-LTE strand used by China Mobile, earlier this month. Now, the only holdup is getting permission from the MITT governing body to let China Mobile use the spectrum on a commercial basis.

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