iOS devices refer to any of Apple’s hardware that runs the iOS mobile operating system which include iPhones, iPads, and iPods. Historically, Apple releases a new iOS version once a year, the current version is iOS 10. Here is the complete list of iOS 10 compatible devices.
Steve Jobs and the gang have confirmed during the WWDC keynote address in San Francisco’s Moscone West that the iOS 5 software sports a revamped and vastly improved notifications systems. There are over 250 new features in iOS 5 and more than 1,500 new APIs. The first feature Scott Forstall put up on slide is the new notification system. It’s called Notification Center and it’s a new place that collects all you notifications. And how do you access it? Just swipe down from the top, like on Android. Plus, you get stocks and weather in the Notification Center. Stay tuned as we update the post with more info right below the fold. Also, check out our complete WWDC 2011 coverage and follow us @9to5mac as we update you on the latest. More below the fold
Walmart has dropped the price of the 16 GB iPhone to $147 from $197. The promotion is active until June 30th and it applies to both black and white models, for AT&T and Verizon. Wonder why they are trying to clear these things out…
Depicted above: Notifications via Cydia tweak MobileNotifier
This is my next’s Joshua Topolsky (a former Engadget editor-in-chief) has some late rumors from a source related to iOS 5. He says iOS 5 will introduce a new notifications bar at the top of the screen which may or may not look like an imaged leaked earlier today. “Messages will appear and then slide back up in a unobtrusive manner, similar to webOS”, the author writes.
Topolsky also describes a dedicated notifications window and – yes, widgets. The lock screen will also provide access to notifications “through a pulldown window which you reach by swiping at the top of the screen downward… just like Android”, Topolsky writes. The notifications screen will also provide access to web widgets such as weather and stocks. As for the BlackBerry-style messaging and widgets…
Well, we don’t really know about the livestream (though it has the tech to do it). Taptic Toys uses a 4G Mifi to let you go to work in your PJs. The Robot is designed around an iPad 2 and a Segway-like base that is controlled from the iPod touch you see below. Pretty nice.
See that image? Tech Crunch published this supposed photo which allegedly depicts a rumored new iOS 5 notification system. Tech Crunch heard it’s the “right idea”. Even though it’s probably a fake, we nevertheless love it. Displaying notifications in a subtle transparent layer right below the top iOS status bar does make sense. That’s where, for example, you might be notified of your Twitter mentions. Tapping the notification would presumably either reveal the notification screen with more information or launch the corresponding app. Twitter, as you know, is said to be built right inside the bowels of iOS 5, possibly alongside Facebook and/or other popular social networks. Also cool: A new camera icon.
John Gruber at Daring Fireball has published his thoughts on what’s going down tomorrow with iCloud at WWDC. In short: “Don’t think of iCloud as the new MobileMe; think of iCloud as the new iTunes.” Gruber notes that the iOS syncing process of today requires a user to USB tether their device to their computer in order to sync music, video, apps, etc. iCloud might just be the future of iOS device syncing.
The ideal concept would be that a user can upload all of their media to the cloud, sign into their iOS device, and it will be ready to go.
But in short let’s just think about the ways that iCloud might be a major, dare I say game-changing, step away from USB tethering between iOS devices and iTunes running on your Mac/PC. Consider just the new out-of-box experience. Rather than “Take this out, plug it into your Mac or PC (after first making sure your Mac/PC is running the latest version of iTunes), wait for it to sync before you actually play with it”, you might get something like “Take this out, turn it on, sign into your iTunes account, and start playing with it.”
Gruber also published some interesting thoughts on what he would like to see in iOS 5.
iOS software head and frequent Apple Keynote presenter Scott Forstall got his Twitter account verified in July of last year. That was right after the Apple-Ping-Facebook breakup (iOS Facebook integration was planned in late betas) and, with the benefit of hindsight, about the time Apple may have started getting the idea of Twitter integration.
He follows one account: Conan O’Brien’s, but has yet to send out his first tweet.
MacRumors has discovered a new addition to the iTunes App Store update page and that is a new sentence hinting at an upcoming feature called Automatic Download. The greater meaning of Automatic Download is not completely clear at this point but it seems as if Apple will give iOS users the option to have their iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch automatically download and install App Store app updates. The leak also hints at this being an option, so perhaps Apple has an iOS update up its sleeve for an imminent release.
Or if your device has Automatic Download enabled for apps, your updates will download to your device without having to sync.
Right now, users have to open the App Store app and manually pick and choose (or click update all) every time they want to update an app. The new sentence, quoted above, has appeared roughly three months prior to the rumored public release of iOS 5. Either Apple is just testing out some of their new iOS 5 literature, or Apple will be making this Automatic Download feature available to the public as soon as next week. Apple, afterall, will be talking the cloud and iOS on Monday at WWDC.
The phrasing of the new sentence does seem to be hinting at just more than App Store apps. This may be the first hint from Apple at their plans to deliver over-the-air iOS software updates and a new iOS software update solution via a new version of the Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme.
Our own source tells Ars that the revised hardware is believed to be built around Apple’s own A4 or A5 processor, and will run iOS much like the most recent Apple TV model.
Money-back guarantee – a promise by a retailer to give you back your money if you are not satisfied with something that you bought – is taken for granted with tangible products and re-packaged intangibles such as the MobileMe box. When it comes to apps, it just seems weird to ask for a refund in the 99-cent economy, many people feel. The Taipei City Government begs to differ, arguing the same rules should apply to digital goods. They are ordering Apple and Google to introduce a seven-day money-back guarantee for sales of iOS and Android apps, Taipei Timesreports.
An official said the lack of a return and refund mechanism violated the Consumer Protection Act. In an example of the problem the city government is trying to prevent, Yeh cited a case of software bought on Apple Store on Thursday that did not work, but left the buyer without recourse.
In other words, Taipei imagines a world where you could buy an app and “return” it for a full refund within two weeks if you’re not fully satisfied. When the App Store debuted as this phenomenal virtual bazaar to buy iPhone apps, nobody ever expected someone some day could demand the same consumer protection for digital deliveries. But Taipei’s demands have their merits. After all, the city officials cut a similar refunding deal with online auction web sites. If online sites are OK with it, so should app stores be, right?
Robert Scoble says, that according to a source who worked on Twitter integration, iOS 5 will feature more than just Twitter photo sharing. He says that integration will be very deep. We can imagine a Twitter widget, Twitter notifications, and Twitter photo and video sharing. Any other possibilities?
Apple will fork over between $100 million and $150 million in advanced payments to the four major music labels in order to get its iCloud off the ground, three separate sources told The Post. The Cupertino, Calif., tech giant has agreed to pay the labels between $25 million to $50 million each, as an incentive to get on board, depending on how many tracks consumers are storing. The size of the advance payments have been a major hold-up for Google, which had been negotiating with the music companies and now will likely have to pony up higher fees to get a rival cloud service into action, said music industry sources.
So money after all was that major roadblock Eric Schmidt hinted at during his D9 chat with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher…
The LATimesreports that iCloud will be a low-priced add on to iTunes costing users just $25/year, perhaps as an add on to MobileMe?
Dubbed iCloud, the service initially will be offered for a free period to people who buy music from Apple’s iTunes digital download store, allowing users to upload their music to Apple’s computers where they can then play from a Web browser or Internet-connected Apple device.
The company plans to eventually charge a subscription fee, about $25 a year, for the service. Apple would also sell advertising around its iCloud service.
Earlier CNet reported that Apple had sewn up the last major record label, Universal, to sell its products in the iCloud. The deal had reportedly been finalized late last week (plenty of time!).
Some people think, rightfully perhaps, that a fifth-generation iPhone will only run on fourth-generation cellular networks that are based on 3G HSPA+ radio technology rather than the latest LTE technology. Don’t kill the messenger, folks – this one comes from the mouth of Hudson Square Research‘s Todd Rethemeier, as relayed by Barron’s Tiernan Ray:
The next version of the iPhone – he suggests it’s going to be an iPhone 5, rather than recent discussion of an interim model, an “iPhone 4S” – will have 4G wireless only for the AT&T version, not for the one shipped to Verizon.
And what does an eagle-eyed analyst do on such news? Cut Verizon from Hold to Sell and upgrade AT&T from Hold to Buy. Man, I should have been an analyst…
The Shanghai Dailyis reporting that a 17-year old sold a kidney so he could buy an iPad 2.
“I wanted to buy an iPad 2 but could not afford it,” said the boy surnamed Zheng in Huaishan City. “A broker contacted me on the Internet and said he could help me sell one kidney for 20,000 yuan.”
On April 28th, the boy went to Chenzhou City in neighboring Hunan Province for the kidney removal surgery arranged by the broker. He was paid 22,000 yuan (an extra 2,000–) or $3,400 after his right kidney was taken out at Chenzhou’s famous No. 198 Hospital.
His mom later found out (probably because he was rocking a new white iPad 2 and a huge scar) and called the police.
The hospital claimed they had no idea about Zheng’s surgery because the department that did the surgery had been contracted to a Fujian businessman.
Suddenly, waiting in line overnight doesn’t seem so insane anymore. Expand Expanding Close
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The laptop mods keep coming but this one might be our favorite so far.
The new Crux Case Loaded comes with an extra battery and working bluetooth trackpad and will be available in July for $250. Older models without are a somewhat more reasonable $150.
Following the last month’s explosion that knocked offline Foxconn’s iPad 2 assembly facility in Chengdu, China and left three killed and at least fifteen injured, the news is reaching us that the assembly line has resumed operation. John Paczkowski on the All Things D blog relays this tidbit from a Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White’s note:
Our meetings today indicate that the Chengdu facility has been held back by yield issues on certain outside components; thus, the operation may not have reached the optimal utilization rate. Therefore, the explosion in Chengdu may result in more of an equilibrium situation with certain component vendors, rather than a shortage situation. Netting this all out, we believe the production of iPad 2 will be supply constrained during the June quarter; however, we are not prepared to place the bulk of the blame on the Chengdu operation.
Foxconn has concluded investigation into the explosion, but has yet to release any results, Paczkowski says. The explosion may have cost Apple anywhere between half a million iPads up to a third of total iPad 2 output.
Apple doesn’t want to annoy Hollywood majors and record labels who provide iTunes with valuable content. No wonder the company is happily bowing to content owners’ every whim, actively seeking ways of preventing us from capturing stills and recording video in certain situations. That’s right, future iPhones could refuse to capture cams of the latest blockbuster flick and might keep you from snapping images of your favorite band’s live performance. Come on, you’re aware this files as copyright infringement after all…
Remember Seagate’s GoFlex Satellite, a nice-looking portable wireless storage for iOS gear? This market is obviousyl booming due to the onslaught of smartphones, tablets and personal media players. The latest entrant includes Kingston which previewed a similar pocket-sized drive at Computex. Aptly named Wi-Drive, this battery-powered, flash-based portable drive acts as a media server that streams 720p video, music and other media to your devices via a dedicated iOS app (Android app is coming within 1-2 months). It’s got other features and we’ve got a quick video tour right below…
With five days to go before WWDC, Apple now is the official registrant behind iCloud.com. It appears that there may just be some live iCloud demos in store (shocking, we know). Also, it explains why Apple had to go public about the iCloud.com – the domain registration would have went public beforehand anyhow
So, you have a great blog and want to run an iPad or iPhone giveaway that would drum up interest and keep those eyeballs glued to their screens… Hope you read Apple’s Guidelines for Third Party Promotions first. Fortune’s Philip Elmer De-Witt did some digging and figured out the document imposes all kinds of restrictions on sweepstakes that are no doubt attractive for your audience, but also devaluing Apple’s reputable brand.
The two-page document that lists these guidelines – and many more – has been around at least since January, but it seems that Apple has begun reaching out to companies to enforce them only recently.
Did you know you’re expected to send Apple all marketing materials related to your promotion? And don’t you ever use “free” as a modifier in headlines and call-outs related to the promotion, like the teaser image we cunningly used for this article. The list goes on and one, here are a few more examples:
Net Applications is out today with a new survey that paints iPad’s web usage share 53 times greater compared to Android slates. As always, their findings stem from tracking browser and operating system usage across their global network of more than 40,000 websites so you should take them with a pinch of salt. Of course, iPad’s web usage lead might progressively decrease as the Android camp carries out their tablet carpet bombing. For now, though, iPad is king. Now, onto the numbers, more amazing facts plus nice embedded chart from Net Applications…
