Following his company's earnings release earlier today, T-Mobile USA CEO John Legeretold AllThingsD that the carrier is looking forward to expanding its Apple product offerings beyond the iPhone. Back in April, T-Mobile became the last of the four major U.S. carrier to begin selling the iPhone...
Read the full story here... Source: Mac Rumours
Apple today released the fifth beta of iOS 7, which brings a number of improvements, changes, and bug fixes to the operating system, including newly redesigned Settings icons and a Control Center option that allows the feature to be disabled within apps.
iOS 7 beta 5 also offers a slew of minor interface tweaks and improvements that continue to make iOS 7 feel both faster and more polished. Our forum members have noted multiple enhancements that have been bundled into the release...
Read the full story here... Source: Mac Rumours
Nokia has taken a page from Microsoft's advertising book and has today launched (via UKMR) a new advertisement comparing the company's Lumia 925 to the iPhone 5.
The ad focuses on the phone's photographic capabilities and is based on Apple's well known "Photos Every Day" commercial, which began running back in April. It uses a similar voice over and style, focusing on Lumia users taking photographs with their devices...
Read the full story here... Source: Mac Rumours
For the first time in more than 20 years, the White House squashed a verdict handed down by a top U.S. trade court, a result of an ongoing patent dispute between Samsung and Apple.
The move came as a surprise to industry watchers, despite coming only a couple of months after the government set up a task force to "protect innovators from frivilous litigation." The Obama administration has long had professional and political links with Apple, the iPhone and iPad maker at the center of the dispute with Samsung over patents crucial to industry standards...
Read the full story here... Source: CNET
Hours after the Department of Justice and 33 U.S. states proposed a set of remedies for Apple to comply with following its July loss in the e-books price-fixing case, the company came back with its own set of terms and called the government's proposals vague, overreaching, and unwarranted.
In a brief filed Friday, the company called the government's proposed measures a "draconian and punitive intrusion into Apple's business, wildly out of proportion to any adjudicated wrongdoing or potential harm."
Apple maintained that it did not violate antitrust laws, and that an earlier settlement struck with publishers means the behavior that the court found to be anticompetitive has already ended and can't recur.
But if the court does issue an injunction, Apple said, it recommended that it place "reasonable limitations on Apple's ability to share information," prohibit agreements with publishers from having "most favored nation" pricing pacts that give Apple the best price, and "reasonable antitrust training obligations for Apple, lasting a reasonable term."
Earlier Friday, the Department of Justice proposed a remedy that would require Apple to terminate its existing agreements with five major book publishers, staff a court-appointed monitor to keep an eye on internal antitrust compliance policies, and allow competing companies like Amazon to link to purchasable content within their e-book apps.
A plan from either side still requires court approval. The court will hold a hearing on proposed remedies on August 9.
Last April, the Justice Department sued Apple, along with five of the six largest book publishers in the U.S., accusing all parties of conspiring to set e-book prices and break Amazon's hold on the market with its Kindle e-book reader. Apple became the sole defendant in the case after the publishers made deals with the Justice Department.
A federal judge last month ruled that Apple violated antitrust laws, following a trial in the Southern District of New York. Judge Denise Cote said the Justice Department proved that publishers conspired together to eliminate price competition for e-books, and that Apple played a central role in that conspiracy. Apple has said it plans to appeal the decision.
Source: CNET
Apple has purchased Silicon Valley-based wireless chip developer Passif Semiconductor, reports technology writer Jessica Lessin. The company, which Apple has reportedly been after for several years, specializes in low-power communication chips that could be used to improve battery life in wearable devices such as Apple’s rumored iWatch.
Passif develops communication chips that use very little power. Its technology, which includes a radio that works with a low-energy version of Bluetooth called Bluetooth LE, is promising for health-monitoring and fitness devices that need extra-long battery life. (Apple, of course, is working on one of those.)
Apple has confirmed the acquisition, with Apple spokeswoman Amy Besette givingAllThingsD the following statement: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."
According to rumors, battery life is one area where Apple has struggled in its iWatch development. A report in March suggested that the batteries in Apple’s iWatch prototypes were only lasting a couple of days, with the company targeting at least 4–5 days of battery life.
After trademarking the iWatch name in a number of countries, Apple has been pouring its resources into the smart watch in recent months. The company hired a number of new employees to join the iWatch team, including health sensor experts, as the iWatch is said to focus on health related applications and biosensors.
Passif's low-power chip technologies could also be used in other Apple products going forward, improving battery life across the board. In addition to Passif, Apple has acquired a number of other small companies in recent months, including Locationary and HopStop.
Source: Mac Rumours
According to the iOS 7 beta, Apple is testing a new iPad mini model that includes an A6 chip -- the same as the current iPhone 5 -- and a non-retina display, reports 9to5Mac.
The information was sent to the site by developer Nick Frey, who found the details inside a file that lists all the iOS devices that support iOS 7. The A6 processor would be a logical upgrade for the iPad mini, advancing its main processing chip to the next generation.
According to the provided information, Apple is considering three new iPad mini models: iPad “2,8,” iPad “2,9,” and iPad “2,10.” The respective code names for the devices are J75, J76, and J77. This points to one WiFi-only model and two cellular-compatible models (just like the current iPad minis).
As for what these new iPad minis will feature, the references state that the devices include the “s5l8950x” processor. This is the same A6 system-on-a-chip inside of Apple’s iPhone 5, and this would offer significant speed improvements for the iPad mini compared to the current A5-based model.
Current iPad mini models are nicknamed '2,5'; '2,6'; and '2,7'. 9to5Mac also notes that the models don't include references to '@2x' code that relates to Retina-display supported artwork -- that code is included in the iPhone 5 and the fourth-generation iPad, leading the site to conclude that the new mini will not include a Retina display.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has vacillated in recent months over Apple's plans for the iPad mini, most recently saying that a Retina-equipped device would launch sometime in March or April of 2014, with Apple not planning to upgrade the device at all until that time.
It's possible that this non-retina iPad mini is merely a device in testing, but while Kuo has a strong track record, it's always possible that Apple could change product release plans at the last minute.
Source: Mac Rumours
An image posted on Chinese site WeiPhone appears to show plastic retail packaging marked with the name "iPhone 5C". If the packaging is genuine, and it has not yet been confirmed to be, it could be for Apple's long-rumored plastic iPhone.
The "C" designation would presumably refer to the various color options available on the rumored lower-cost device.
The packaging appears to be a white plastic box that would hold the device and associated accessories and documentation. A front cover, unseen in the photo but perhaps clear to show off the various color options for the device itself as seen on Apple's iPod lineups, would appear to rest on a small lip around the interior.
A number of photos showing plastic rear shells alleged to be for Apple's rumored lower-cost iPhone have surfaced in recent weeks, and Apple is rumored to be launching the device alongside the iPhone 5S later this year.
The WeiPhone forums are a fairly frequent source of Apple rumors, although the site itself does not frequently report on them, making it difficult to determine a steady track record as posting in the site's forums come from a variety of different posters. Still, the alleged plastic packaging and official look of the "iPhone 5C" moniker appear to have some legitimacy, and would increasingly make sense as Apple may be gearing up for a launch of the low-cost iPhone this Fall.
Source: Mac Rumours
Apple Senior Vice President Bob Mansfield has been removed from Apple's Leadership website in the past 24 hours with no explanation.
“Bob is no longer going to be on Apple’s executive team, but will remain at Apple working on special projects reporting to Tim,” company spokesman Steve Dowling told AllThingsD.
He declined any further explanation, refusing to comment on the reasons behind Mansfield’s abrupt demotion or whether Apple plans to appoint a new SVP of technologies.
Mansfield is currently Senior Vice President of Technologies reporting directly to Tim Cook, a position he took last October, overseeing a group focused on innovation in wireless technology and semiconductors.
His page has been completely removed from Apple's website, though it is still visible on Google's cache.
Last year, Apple announced that Mansfield would be retiring, but several months later announced he would instead be staying at the company. Later, it leaked that Tim Cook had faced an "insurrection" after Mansfield announced his retirement, and Cook gave him an extremely generous benefits package.
At the time, it was reported that Mansfield had committed to stay at Apple through at least 2014, influenced in no small part by the departure of former iOS chief Scott Forstall.
Mansfield has been instrumental in Apple's success in recent years, overseeing the development of the very successful MacBook Air notebooks, as well as recent iPhone and iPad designs.
Source: Mac Rumours
Marketing research firm Harris Interactive has awarded Apple the title of “Brand of the Year” in the categories of smartphones, tablets, and computers, as first reported byVentureBeat. The distinction comes after a poll asking 38,500+ Americans about the perceptions of their favorite brands, in which Apple was placed above other competitors such as Hewlett-Packard, Amazon, Samsung, and HTC.
"Americans continue to give Apple brands strong ratings," says Manny Flores, Senior Vice President at Harris Interactive. "And while their Consumer Connection scores are strong within their respective categories, what really stands out is that in all three of the categories Apple brands are measured - Computer, Tablet and Mobile Phone - its Brand Momentum scores are in the top 30 of all 1,500 brands evaluated in the study, showing that consumers see this as a brand of the future.
These awards come after BBC reported about a survey done by marketing group Added Value (AV), who claimed that Apple’s brand has become “less inspiring” among consumers.
Source: Mac Rumours
Korean site ETNews.com is reporting [Google translation] that Apple will be discontinuing production of the iPhone 5 in the fall, instead putting all of its efforts towards the iPhone 5S and the rumored entry-level plastic iPhone.
Apple has been presumed to be discontinuing the iPhone 4 and 4S in order to make way for an all-Lightning iPhone lineup, allowing Apple to standardize around its latest connection standard and phase out the older 30-pin connector standard with the possible exception of the iPod classic, which has not been updated in a number of years. The fate of the current iPhone 5 has, however, not been the subject of much discussion as it has remained unclear whether the new lineup of iPhone 5S and plastic iPhone would leave room for Apple to continue offering an iPhone 5 model.
Today's report claims that the in-cell technology used on the iPhone 5’s touchscreen is "not suitable for low-volume production", contributing to Apple's decision to stop production on the phone and focus all of its efforts toward producing parts for newer products. The iPhone 5 and 5S are, however, expected to share nearly identical display technology although leaked photos have a shown a change to the orientation of the flex cable connectors on the display assemblies.
The iPhone 5S is reportedly scheduled to begin production later this month, with both that device and the lower cost iPhone rumored for launch in the September-October timeframe.
Source: Mac Rumours
After news that government officials would be testing the efficiency of iOS 7’s Activation Lock against thieves, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón has come out in support of the feature, saying that “clear improvements” have been made to stop criminals, according to the San Francisco Examiner.
Last week, Gascón and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman brought in security experts from the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center to test out Apple’s Activation Lock feature as well as Absolute Software’s Lojack service on the Samsung Galaxy S4 in order to determine how effective they are against thieves.
"I'm very optimistic that they came and were willing to share their technology with us," Gascón said in a statement, also noting that Microsoft and Google had not yet come forth with their plans to combat theft. Gascón did not detail how the specific features work, explaining that they were not yet finished.
Both attorneys called for the tests as a part of the Secure Our Smartphone (S.O.S) program that aims to stop the theft and black market resale of stolen mobile devices. While carriers have already established a database to track stolen phones, it has proven to be largely futile. Prior to these tests, Gascón and Schneiderman called for smartphones to have a kill switch that would disable them in the event of theft.
Announced at WWDC, Activation Lock is set to be included in iOS 7, which is expected to be released to consumers this fall.
Source: Mac Rumours