Native Union makes some really well designed accessories for Apple products, and TAG is the latest to join its collection. TAG is a stylish Lightning cable meant to look attractive enough to carry on your key chain or loop around your bag.
Mophie is today launching a new line of wireless Juice Pack products for iPhone that add wireless charging capabilities to the previous lineup of popular battery cases.
Apple has quietly rolled out a change to the Apple TV App Store on tvOS in the last few days, which affects how apps are listed in the Top Charts. For the Top Charts (Top Paid, Top Free, Top Grossing), the Apple TV App Store will now hide listings for apps that the user has already downloaded, so the charts update dynamically per user. This means users can only browse for apps they don’t already own, removing some clutter and allowing less popular apps more opportunity to be seen. This behavior is novel and isn’t currently replicated by the iPhone and iPad App Stores.
To try this out for yourself, open the Apple TV App Store and download the #1 Top Free app. After force-quitting and re-opening the App Store (by swiping it away in the multitasking tray), the app will disappear from the charts. What was previously listed at #2 will now take the top spot (via Equinux).
An IHS Technology analyst has posted on Chinese social media that company supply chain research indicates that the iPhone 7 will feature 32 GB storage as the $199 base model, which would mean Apple would finally drop the much-loathed 16 GB SKU from its lineup with its new flagship smartphone expected in the fall. IHS has a reasonable track record of accuracy when it comes to Apple rumors, correctly predicting last year that a 4 inch iPhone would debut in 2016 based on supply chain sources … which obviously transpired into reality as the iPhone SE.
The analyst also claims that iPhone 7 will feature 2 GB of RAM, the same specification as iPhone 6s. It is unclear if the analyst is referring to the iPhone 7 as a category or the specific 4.7 inch model. KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has reported that the larger 5.5 inch iPhone 7 Plus will be equipped with 3GB RAM to handle the processing needs demanded by the dual-camera components. The big story here though is the claim that we could finally be saying goodbye to 16 GB flagship iPhones later this year …
Update: Jawbone says that the report is “unequivocally false”. Read the company’s update at its blog.
According to a report this evening from Tech Insider, Jawbone, the company once famous for its Bluetooth headsets and more recently known for its Jambox speakers and fitness wearables, has stopped making the UP line of fitness trackers. This includes three devices that the company has reportedly struggled to sell: the UP2, UP3, and UP4. Another report says that a clinical-grade wearable is coming soon…
There are a pair of new iPhone 7 schematics circling the Internet today, depicting the 4.7 inch and 5.5 inch SKUs of Apple’s next-generation flagship phone. The 4.7 inch iPhone 7 drawing appears pretty much as expected, resembling the iPhone 6s by and large with repositioned (and larger) rear camera and redesigned antenna lines. Similar three dimensional schematics surfaced two weeks ago.
The measurements listed indicate the 7 will be a tad thicker at 7.2mm excluding the camera bump, compared to 7.1 mm for the iPhone 6s, but a 0.1mm difference is effectively nothing and effectively impossible to notice by humans. (Sadly, these schematics show that the new iPhone 7 camera will indeed protrude from the rest of the casing). The drawings reiterate the point that Apple will remove the headphone jack, re-using the space as a second speaker grille.
The Financial Times is reporting that Apple considered a buyout of Time Warner late last year, with Apple executive Eddy Cue raising the idea at a meeting with Time Warner’s head of corporate strategy, Olaf Olafsson. The idea of bid was very much tentative and did not enter serious negotiations involving Tim Cook, according to the report. However, Apple is still interested in acquiring media company talent and sources indicate the company is ramping spending on original content: “several hundred million dollars a year”.
Apple has long been rumored to want to launch a skinny cable subscription service for internet television, in concert with its Apple TV set top box. At Startup Fest earlier in the week, Tim Cook said he wants Apple to be a catalyst in the entertainment business.
The team behind Pixelmator has today released yet another free update to its Mac photo editor, Pixelmator version 3.5 ($29.99 in the Mac App Store). Alongside the usual round of performance improvements and bug fixes, the app includes a few handy new end-user features. There’s a smarter Auto Selection tool and a brand new Magnetic Selection tool to accurately and quickly cutout objects from a scene in a photograph. There’s also a brand new Retouch extension for the native OS X Photos app, integrating refined brush-style edits into iCloud Photo Library. Video demo after the break …
Ten months after Microsoft wrote-off its Nokia acquisition, the company has now announced that it is effectively out of the consumer phone business. It is cutting 1,850 jobs, and setting aside almost a billion dollars to cover the costs of exiting the business.
Microsoft on Wednesday announced plans to streamline the company’s smartphone hardware business, which will impact up to 1,850 jobs. As a result, the company will record an impairment and restructuring charge of approximately $950 million […]
“We are focusing our phone efforts where we have differentiation — with enterprises that value security, manageability and our Continuum capability, and consumers who value the same,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft.
The company recently saw its market share fall below 1%. While Microsoft is – for now – insistent that it has a future in the corporate smartphone business, the reality seems doubtful …
Update: Adonis Pixel is now on sale for $69.99.
The stylus market was shaken up last fall with Apple’s first-party entrance into the race with the Apple Pencil, which works in concert with special sensors in the iPad Pro display for pixel-accurate recognition. This left third-party stylus accessory manufacturers in a quandary — how can they compete with the officially-endorsed Apple Pencil?
The Pixel stylus is the answer from Adonit, on sale today for $79.99. Not only is Adonit’s stylus $20 cheaper than Apple’s, it has a huge advantage in terms of iOS device compatibility. It’s the closest you’ll get to an Apple Pencil for an iPhone, or an Apple Pencil for iPad that isn’t a Pro model.
Pebble has just unveiled its latest smartwatches, and has done so in the most Pebble-like way possible, by launching a new Kickstarter project. The smartwatch maker has returned to the platform it used so successfully with the original Pebble, and the following iterations, with a true second generation Pebble and a second generation Pebble Time along with an all-new 3G wearable called the Pebble Core.
After a few months of speculation, Twitter has officially announced its plans to extend the length of tweets by no longer counting mentions and media attachments towards the 140 character limit as well as some new announcements including the ability to retweet yourself and the removal of the ‘.@’ convention to simplify the service. Twitter will roll all of these updates in the coming months.
The headline change is that Twitter handles (@mention), embedded photos, videos and other media attachments will no longer count towards the 140 character limit. This will allow users to fit more content into every tweet as metadata will not use up valuable characters.
[UPDATE: Video embedded below.]
Tim Cook featured at StartupFest this morning, in an interview with Neelie Kroes discussing Apple’s influence in startups and entrepreneurship culture. Cook covered many topics including the role of entrepreneurs and the App Store, the startup climate in Europe, economic optimism, technology in education, Apple Watch and more. We’ve included some snippets of the talk below …
In the interview, Tim Cook says Apple gives entrepreneurs the ability to sell their app instantly worldwide through the App Store. Apple provides technical and marketing assistance to clear the path so the developer can focus on their product. Most young companies should be principally focused on the product; Apple tries to help ease the frictions to fuel more entrepreneurs to do exactly that. Apple is bringing an app development center in Naples to kickstart the app economy in places it hasn’t yet been.
Changes are coming to AT&T’s Next program starting in June. AT&T Next, the company’s monthly payment program for buying smartphones and tablets, is shifting from four options to two options and adding ways to lower the monthly payment.
A new report from Economic Daily News is shining some positive news on the Apple iPhone outlook, after several months of narratives regarding slowing iPhone growth. The report suggests that Apple has ordered production of around 72-78 million iPhone 7 devices this year, significantly above analyst estimates.
The 72-78 million target is in fact a record for iPhone production in recent years, implying that the iPhone 7 could return Apple’s smartphone division to sales growth later in the year. Apple supply chain partners are booming today in the markets following the news; Pegatron stock is currently up 10%. Consensus from analysts had expected production circa 65 million, so a jump in ten million units is significant.
Via Weibo, the above image is claimed to be a real photo of an actual iPhone 7 back, not a mockup or case. Most interestingly in this picture is the new rear camera — it appears to be bevelled and protrude outwards. The camera is also aligned differently compared to current iPhones; it is positioned closer to the top-left corner. The camera hole also appears to be slightly larger than the current 12 megapixel shooter in the iPhone 6s. Unfortunately, people hoping for the camera bump to go away will be disappointed with this leak, as it suggests the bump will continue to be a part of iPhone design for at least another year.
On the positive side, the new design of the camera does suggest that substantial improvements to photo and video quality are on the cards. Whether the image truly shows an actual iPhone 7 back (not merely a dummy case) is hard to assert due to the low-resolution but the design mirrors previously-leaked schematics. The same source correctly leaked the iPhone 6 design too, adding to its legitimacy. More photos below …
Shipments of Chromebooks outpaced Macs in the US for the first time in Q1 2016, that’s according to data from IDC shared during a session at Google’s I/O developer conference today.
In a press release, Apple has announced it is opening a new development office in Hyderabad, India. The team located here will apparently focus on improving Apple Maps, which is deeply integrated across Apple’s hardware and software as dedicated apps and embedded in other services, like Siri. The new center will create up to 4000 new jobs in the local economy. It is currently unclear as to the nature of the workforce, as Apple has preferred to keep its core software engineering team in California with most working solely in Cupertino.
Economic Daily News is reporting that Apple suppliers have begun hiring en-masse this month as they prepare for assembly of Apple’s upcoming flagship iPhone, the iPhone 7. The new iPhones (coming in 4.7 inch and 5.5 inch sizes) are expected to debut in the fall, following tradition. The report comes via CNBC.
Interestingly, the report notes that the surge in hiring at Foxconn and Pegatron is happening earlier than usual (‘at least a month earlier’). Apparently, the new Apple iPhone includes a ‘more complex design’ than previous models meaning suppliers need more time to train staff about the assembly process. This somewhat contradicts previous leaks in the rumor mill which indicated the iPhone 7 would look very similar to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus …
A new report from CBC News details the progress being made to unlock the FM radio chip that many smartphones feature. Many smartphones have an untapped FM chip inside them that users are unable to take advantage of and while many Android devices are confirmed to have the chip, the iPhone also has despite Apple not officially recognizing it.
A petition has been running in the United States to urge carriers and manufacturers to unlock the hidden FM chip in smartphones. The campaign has gained significant steam since its inception, so much so that carriers are starting to agree to unlock the chip…but Apple has yet to comment.
Google parent company Alphabet has once again surpassed Apple in terms of value based on market capitalization. CNBC points out that Alphabet (GOOG) saw its market cap around $498.56 billion during trading today, while Apple (AAPL) saw its market cap down around $496.69 billion.
Taylor Swift is continuing her partnership with Apple Music, with yet another ad featuring the singer and the streaming service. The new minute-long commercial features Taylor Swift dancing around to ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ by The Darkness.
Swift demonstrates using the Apple Music discovery features (via the ‘Friday Night Rocks!’ playlist) to find the track. The ad ends with the slogan ‘Dance like no one’s watching’. Watch the ad after the jump …
The discontinuation of the iPod Classic back in 2014 gave prices of used models a boost in the following holiday season, some models selling for up to four times the original price. A Guardian report says that collectors are now paying even more for some models, with special editions selling for as much as $90,000.
Terapeak, a company which tracks pricing of collectibles on eBay, […] found that classic iPods in their original packaging were priced at collectibles levels – one U2 special edition, Terapeak noted, sold in November for $90,000.
Re/code reports that Microsoft now has more than 100 of its Apple Store clones across the U.S. and Canada, in sizes ranging from tiny stores of 15o square feet to the 22,000 square feet store strategically positioned close to the iconic glass cube Apple Store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.
What Microsoft’s stores don’t have is customers.