One of the best parts about Apple Stores is the ability to try out Apple products out of the box in an environment superior to big box retail stores. While that’s mostly true of almost all Apple products including Apple Watches, there’s one really compelling Apple product that I haven’t seen on demo at any Apple Stores: CarPlay.

If you want to try out CarPlay for yourself right now before spending some serious money, the easiest way is to find a car dealer with a CarPlay model available and go for a test drive. But there are a few ways Apple could bring most of the experience to customers in its retail stores …

CarPlay is a feature hidden inside iPhones that requires special infotainment systems in new cars or aftermarket displays to be unlocked. Connect your iPhone to a Lightning cable in the car (or wireless eventually) and see important apps like Phone, Messages, Maps, and Music appear on the car’s display. CarPlay relies on Siri for almost all text input and relaying messages, and the iPhone ignores alerts from all other apps to create a distraction-free experience.

The most obvious way Apple could demo CarPlay is to do exactly what Best Buy already does: set up demo units of car displays that work with CarPlay. If you walk into the back of a Best Buy store to the auto department, you’ll likely find working aftermarket car displays from Pioneer and others on the wall where you can actually connect your iPhone and see CarPlay in action … sort of.

The problem with this solution is it’s only a little better than reading about CarPlay online or watching a video of it in action. A screen fixed to a wall at eye level running CarPlay isn’t a very compelling demo. And Apple doesn’t sell aftermarket displays directly either (although maybe it should!), probably because the best CarPlay experiences are in new cars with tighter hardware integration.

The more complex but less compromised solution is to actually have a car with a working CarPlay system in stores. We saw an Apple Store design with glass doors wide enough to drive a car through in Apple’s 60 Minutes spot in December, and the Apple Store in Dubai already features this design. If Apple’s work on an electric vehicle ever turns into an actual shipping product, Apple Stores could use the practice of working around a floor model car and the logistics of putting it on display.

Apple has plenty of CarPlay partners with real cars at this point, too, so finding a good candidate wouldn’t be too difficult. Apple Stores could even opt for a battery-powered vehicle like the Chevy Volt hybrid Seth and I tested at CES this year. Its 8-inch capacitive touch display offered a much better CarPlay demo than a screen fixed to a wall, and there’s the benefit of being battery-powered. Easy to maintain in a store setting.

But you don’t even need an entire car to properly demonstrate CarPlay to an iPhone user … just the driver’s seat and part of the dashboard. Apple could present an arcade-style driving simulator where you can actually get behind the wheel and see CarPlay in action … and make Apple Stores a little more fun in the process! Remember how exciting cars at WWDC 2014 were?

Modern Apple Stores are plenty large inside and could probably sacrifice an extra iPad table to draw more attention to the iPhone using CarPlay as a strategy, but even smaller Apple Stores in malls could potentially use real cars to demonstrate the iPhone feature.

Local auto dealers typically have floor models on display in malls for advertising. It’d be a complex, logistical hurdle to work through, but while we’re spit balling here, considering the possibility of Apple working with a CarPlay partner to park a car in view of the Apple Store where customers can see CarPlay in action in a real car you can buy today.

Obviously demoing CarPlay isn’t a top priority for Apple, but the feature is getting better with every iOS update, especially iOS 9.3 which adds full Apple Music support and much better Maps features, and the iPhone could use all the help it can get if Apple wants to maintain growth in the category. Parking a car in an Apple Store would certainly draw some new eyeballs, be good practice for the eventual Apple Car, and let customers try CarPlay in action just like iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

For more on CarPlay, check out my initial review plus my look at what changed with iOS 9 and roundup of CarPlay apps.

Filed under: CarPlay, Feature Request Tagged: Apple Store, CarPlay

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Apple has released the third OS X 10.11.4 public beta for non-developer testers. Public beta testers running the El Capitan pre-release can find the new software update through the Mac App Store. The latest public beta update follows the third developer beta of the same update earlier this week. Apple has also released a second OS X 10.11.4 beta 3 build (15E39c to 15E39d) for developers as well.

Changes coming with OS X 10.11.4 include support for viewing and sharing Live Photos taken on iPhone 6s and 6s Plus through iMessage using the Messages app as well as the ability to password-protect items in the Notes app for the first time.

Apple is also making it easier to import text files and data from competing take-taking apps like Evernote into Notes with OS X 10.11.4. A new ‘Import Notes…’ option lets you easily migrate from Evernote to Apple Notes in just a few steps, and also lets you add .txt and .rtf text files into the app with iCloud syncing the data back to iPhones, iPads, and the web.

Focus areas so far have included iBooks, Photos, Messages, and Notes. The update is also expected to resolve the issue with opening Twitter URL links in Safari.

Filed under: Mac Tagged: el capitan, Live Photos, Mac, notes, OS X, OS X 10.11.4

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Apple has released the third iOS 9.3 public beta to non-developer testers today. iOS 9.3 public beta 3 follows this week’s third developer iOS 9.3 beta release as well. The latest beta cleans up issues introduced in the last version while adding some new features as well.

iOS 9.3, which is expected to be released to everyone next month, adds loads of new features for iPhones and iPads including Night Shift mode to change the display temperature for evening reading, Touch ID/secure passwords to protect Notes, new 3D Touch shortcuts on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, enhancements to the Health and Activity apps, iCloud for iBooks PDF syncing, and much more.

Changes in iOS 9.3 beta 3 included:

• Verizon Wi-Fi Calling
• Fixed Control Center icons in landscape
• Apple News settings in Sweden, possibly other countries (although no app)
• Tweaked Night Shift explainer in Control Center
• Tweaked Lock/Unlock toggle in Notes outside of the share sheet

Check out our initial hands-on video with the first iOS 9.3 beta below:

For CarPlay users, iOS 9.3 also adds the full Apple Music experience with For You and New sections as well as Nearby in Maps. iOS 9.3 also includes a major new education initiative with multi-user support and much more.

See our hands-on video of those new features below:

Filed under: iOS Tagged: iOS, iOS 9.3, iPad, iPhone, IPod Touch, Night Shift, notes, public beta, Touch ID

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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

iPhone 6/s/Plus Cases from $3 Prime shipped: Dual-Layer w/ Screen Protector $8 (Reg. $16), 3,000mAh Battery Case $20, more

Save on Apple’s monster 12.9-inch iPad Pro: 32GB Wi-Fi $700 (Reg. $799), 128GB Wi-Fi $850 (Reg. $949), 128GB Wi-Fi + Cellular $950 (Reg. $1,079)

Best Buy just cut prices for Apple’s iPad mini 4 and iPad Air 2 by $100, deals start at $300 w/ free shipping

Apple iPad Air Wi-Fi 16GB $299 or 64GB $349 shipped (Reg. $399/$449)

Amazon offers rare 25% discount on Kindle Unlimited subscriptions: 6-months $45 (Reg. $60), more

Many Apple Watch models now $100 off at Target and Best Buy: 38mm Sport $249 w/ free shipping (Reg. $349), more

Apple 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro (Newest Version) 2.2GHz/16GB/256GB: $1,600 shipped (Reg. $1,999)

Heroes Reborn: Enigma for iOS goes free for the first time as IGN’s Game of the Month (Reg. $5)

Final Fantasy IX is now available for download on iOS/Android

The Martian official iOS/Apple Watch game goes free (up to $3 value)

Apple offering popular iOS video editing app ‘Videoshop’ for free ($2 value)

App Store Free App of the Week: Over graphic design & photo editing app ($4 value)

Final Fantasy II on iOS available free inside the FF Portal app ($8 value)

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

Internal 2.5-inch Solid-State Drives: Samsung 850 EVO 1TB $280 (Reg. $300+), PNY 240GB $60 (Reg. $80)

• Games/Apps: Evolve $10, Splatoon pre-owned from $26, Shovel Knight $20, more
• Daily Deals: Logitech Harmony Home Control Universal Remote (newest) $100, more
• Samson Meteorite USB Mic for Mac/PC: $30 Prime shipped (Reg. $40)
• Get your engines ready: Rocket League is coming to Xbox One next week
• EAS Sports/Nutrition products up to 50% off: Lean 15 Protein from $12 Prime shipped, more
• Moto X Pure Edition 32GB Unlocked Smartphone: $375 shipped (Reg. $400+)
• Here’s how to upgrade to the full version of Runtastic Butt Trainer Workout on Android for free ($6 value)

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

Luminid Touch light-up charging cable is ideal for plugging in at night: $10 (Orig. $20, CA Tax only)

A .edu email can get you the Sharp 32-inch 1080p HDTV for $150 shipped (Reg. $170)

Add 2TB of portable storage to your Mac, PC or Xbox One w/ this WD USB 3.0 Hard Drive for $73 (Reg. $90)

• Amazon’s 7-inch Fire tablet is on sale for $40 shipped (Reg. $50)
• Watch ‘Southpaw’ starring Jake Gyllenhaal & Forest Whitaker for just $0.99 (Reg. $5)
• SizeUp for Mac offers instant window control via keyboard shortcuts: $5 (Orig. $13)
• Sam’s Club Membership + $20 gift card + $21 food credits for $45 ($180 value)
• Free TV HD Digital Downloads at Google Play & iTunes
• Fitbit’s Aria Wi-Fi Scale tracks body fat percentage (open-box): $80 (Orig. $130)
• Rabbit Wine Aerator/Pourer $12.50 Prime shipped (Reg. $14+), more
• AmazonBasics 35-Mile HDTV Antenna $20 (Reg. $25)
• Aukey 15,000mAh Dual-USB Power Bank: $18.50 Prime shipped (Reg. $30)
• Xbox One 1TB Elite Bundle + $75 Microsoft Gift Card & game $499 ($600+ value)
• Bowers & Wilkins P3 Headphones (recertified) in multiple colors: $90 (Orig. $200)
• Media: $5 Blu-ray Sale – A Beautiful Mind, Seabiscuit, Knocked Up, more
• $100 worth of Xbox gift cards for $81 shipped
• Aukey’s Bluetooth 4.1 Sport Earbuds + Armband for $16 Prime shipped ($28 value)
• LG Google Nexus 5 32GB Unlocked 4G LTE (Refurb) $140 shipped
• ASUS Transformer Touch Laptop 1.6GHz/2GB/32GB: $179 shipped (Reg. $219)
• Kinda Deal – microUSB Flash Drives: Samsung 32GB $12 (Reg. $15)
• Beats by Dr. Dre Solo2 Wireless Headphones Active Collection: $230 (Reg. $300)
• Bluetooth Headphones: JayBird BlueBuds X $58 (Orig. $170), more
• Twelve South HiRise Apple Watch Dock $43 shipped (Reg. $50)
• Add two charges to iPhone 6s with this Poweradd 5,200mAh Power Bank: $5 (Reg. $12)
• 5 great video, 3D and music apps from Leawo, $8 (and rising! Orig. $150)
• Networking: TRENDnet AV600 Gigabit Powerline Kit $40 shipped (Reg. $53+), more
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• Toca Boca offers 4 of its popular kids iOS apps free (Reg. $3 ea)
• TechMatte’s approved USB-C cables are on sale right now: 1-ft $5 (Reg. $8), more
• Drive safely with these iPhone or Android device car mounts from $5 (Reg. up to $20)

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

3Doodler Start reimagines the popular Kickstarter project with a focus on children

BearTek’s new Smart Gloves offer iPhone/Android controls + GoPro support

• Review: Incase and surfer Kelly Slater team up for the ultimate GoPro-focused backpack
• Review: $13 GRDE Explorer Rugged 10,000mAh Solar dual USB Battery w/ 2 USB lamps
• LEGO strikes gold again w/ its latest Ghostbusters set based on the upcoming film
• Be a hero this Valentine’s Day w/ these best-selling Adult Coloring Books from $6
• Ubuntu’s first tablet offers a converged desktop PC experience as well

Filed under: Tips and Tricks

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According to the latest U.S. smartphone market share numbers from Parks Associates, Apple is still well in the lead compared to competing manufacturers, holding a beefy 40% of the smartphone market. But the latest figures also show that Android OEMs are gaining ground on the dominant Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker. Now, Samsung holds around 31% of the market and LG is next in line with 10%…

“Apple remains the dominant smartphone manufacturer in the U.S., but Samsung is catching up,” said Harry Wang, Director, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates.

In the United States at least, Samsung is clearly the Android OEM to beat. LG is less than one third the size of the Korean giant according to these numbers, and manufacturers like Motorola, HTC sit around 4-5% of the market. The “Other” category — which includes emerging manufacturers such as Huawei, OnePlus, and others — makes up about the same amount of the market as LG.

Also, while Apple is clearly in the lead among broadband households compared to any other hardware makers, it’s worth noting that the Android platform as a whole, which includes almost all manufacturers besides Apple, makes up around 60% of the pie.

The report also mentions a major shift in how people are upgrading their phones as carriers move away from two-year contracts.

“Operators are pulling out all the tricks to encourage phone upgrades,” Wang said. “The once-familiar two-year contract, which tied consumers to a two-year phone upgrade cycle, is gradually fading. U.S. carriers started to do away with two-year contracts in 2012, and by the third quarter of 2015, only 51% of mobile consumers had a contract, down from almost 70% at the end 2011.”

Market share looks a lot different when you look at the whole world, however. Q3 2015 numbers from Strategy Analytics show Apple in a distant second to Samsung, with marketshare at 13.6% and 23.7%, respectively. This is followed by Chinese electronics company Huawei at 7.5%, Lenovo at 5.3%, and Xiaomi at 5%.

Filed under: iOS Devices, Tech Industry Tagged: Apple, Market share, Numbers, parks associates, share, Strategy Analytics

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Apple CEO Tim Cook already leads the most profitable company in history and holds meetings with powerful world leaders and heads of state, and now he can add to that list receiving several votes for President of the United States in yesterday’s New Hampshire primary.

Okay, technically not that Tim Cook, but his name did appear on the ballot yesterday and 50 New Hampshire Republican voters picked Cook as their guy. The Tim Cook whose name appeared on the ballot is actually a Republican from North Carolina who also qualified to be on the ballot in Arizona and Louisiana (but not his home state).

Speaking of Louisiana, ‘Tim Cook’ received as many votes in yesterday’s primary as former Louisiana governor and actual serious presidential candidate Bobby Jindal, which either speaks to the boost the North Carolina Republican got from sharing his name with the Apple CEO or Bobby Jindal’s chances for ever winning his party’s nomination. (Other GOP candidates who have since dropped out received more votes.)

Last night wasn’t the first time the North Carolina resident who shares Tim Cook’s name has ran for public office either; Tim Cook ran for Lt. Governor, Senate, and the House of Representatives in his home state before mounting his 2016 presidential campaign.

So far having the same name as the CEO of Apple hasn’t translated into winning elections, but there’s still two more states where people can technically vote Tim Cook 2016 … you can follow the election (and Cook’s progress) using these tips.

Filed under: General Tagged: GOP, New Hampshire, primary, Tim Cook

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No, it’s not as dumb a question as it seems. While keeping the full iPhone display on full-time would quickly drain the battery, there are ways of keeping a partial display on all the time to display time and notification alerts – and LG has today confirmed that its upcoming G5 flagship handset will do just that.

LG hasn’t explained the technology, but the graphic it teased on Facebook shows a mono display, which raises a couple of possibilities that perhaps the iPhone could consider …

The first possibility is an e-ink display on the back of the handset. This is the approach that Yota took with its phones: white on black in the first generation, black on white in the YotaPhone 2. Yota’s solution isn’t ideal when most people use cases, but LG’s graphic shows a relatively small display – something that could be accommodated by a cut-out in the back of cases.

The second possibility is to use a low-power mode on an OLED display. An OLED uses no power to display black pixels, so devoting a small area to a low-light mono display when the phone is not in active use could be a viable approach. (While the tiny battery means it’s not always-on, this is the approach Apple takes with Power Reserve mode on the Watch.)

It’s long been rumored that Apple plans to switch from its existing IPS LCD displays to OLED, and while these have come to nothing so far, the company is said to be close to agreement with suppliers. The smart money, however, is on Apple not making the switch until 2018, so we shouldn’t expect OLED on the iPhone 7.

Apple could also use a similar approach to the Watch, which switches on the display when you turn your wrist to face you. It could leave the screen totally off when the light sensor indicates that it’s in a pocket or bag, but when the light sensor says it’s in front of you, any motion could immediately light up the mono display of clock and notifications. If you just wanted to check the time, or see whether you’ve missed any notifications, simply picking up the phone or nudging it on your desk would do the job.

Would an always-on or motion-activated time-and-notification display be a good move for future iPhones? Take our poll, and share your thoughts in the comments.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Always-on display, Apple watch, E Ink, iPhone, iPhone 8, Motion-activated display, OLED, poll

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If you’re having trouble setting up Apple Pay this morning, it’s not just you. Apple is currently reporting an hours-long issue with adding credit cards and debit cards to the mobile payment service.

The issue only appears to be affecting Visa cards, not American Express, MasterCard, or Discover cards. Making payments with Apple Pay and Visa cards also appears unaffected as the issue is only with adding new cards to Apple Pay.

However, the issue is the first we’ve seen of its kind and has been going on for roughly five hours and counting. Apple acknowledges the issue began affecting “some users” around 4:15 am ET.

We’ll keep an eye on the situation and update when everything clears up. In the meantime, you’ll have to pay for your latte the old-fashioned if you’re setting up Apple Pay for the first time.

Filed under: Apple Pay Tagged: Apple pay, Visa

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When you download or stream content from Apple – be it Apple Music, an app or an OS X update – that content is often delivered by a third-party Content Delivery Network, or CDN. The idea is to allow you to download it from a server close to you to maximize download speeds. It now appears that Apple is moving more of its content delivery in-house, as the company brings more data centers online.

Business Insider notes that Apple’s main CDN company, Akamai, has warned shareholders that it expects to see its combined revenue from Apple and Microsoft more than halved this year. Apple is the company’s largest client.

“Over the last two years, our two largest customers in particular, comprise about 13% of Akamai’s overall revenue. As we look ahead to 2016, we expect these two accounts to still be our largest media customers, and they will contribute about 6% of our overall revenue,” Akamai CEO Tom Leighton said during its earnings call […]

“This seven point change in contribution results from their increased do-it-yourself, or DIY efforts,” Leighton said. 

BI cites this as a further hint that Apple is gearing-up for its own streaming TV service. While the move would make sense either way, recent reports have suggested that the company is hard at work on securing the necessary deals, NFL ‘Thursday Night Football’ among them.

Apple is reportedly preparing to build a second data center cluster in Reno, with a major new one in Ireland said to be on hold following community concerns. The company’s own CDN went live in 2014, and was first used to roll out iOS 8.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Akamai, Akamai Technologies, Apple data center, Apple data centers, CDN, Content Delivery Network, Data center

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Attempts by states like California and New York to ban the sale of encrypted phones could be overruled by federal law. The Verge reports that a cross-party bill is being introduced today in Congress by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX).

The ENCRYPT Act of 2016, or by its longer name, the Ensuring National Constitutional Rights of Your Private Telecommunications Act, would preempt state and local government encryption laws. The two men said today they are “deeply concerned” that varying bills surrounding encryption would endanger the country as well as the competitiveness of American companies. The argument is that it wouldn’t be easy or even feasible to tailor phone encryption capabilities for specific states.

New York last month kicked off the attempt to ban the sale of encrypted phones in the state unless the manufacturer built in a back door, with a virtually identical bill proposed in California later the same month. The moves – which would effectively outlaw the sale of current iPhones in both states – followed similar proposals in the UK last year …

Apple’s strong stance on encryption – using strong encryption for data stored on iPhones and end-to-end encryption of both iMessages and FaceTime – has brought the company into conflict with numerous government and law enforcement agencies, among them the U.S. Attorney General, the FBI, the DOJ and the Homeland Security Committee and CIA.

Tim Cook has repeatedly pressed the White House to back the use of strong encryption to protect the privacy of its citizens, stating that we should not be frightened into giving up those rights. It’s a debate which has even seen Presidential candidates asked how they would respond to Apple’s stance.

As The Verge notes, there are competing bills on the way, so this is an issue unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. I made my own position clear in an opinion piece last year, outlining the three reasons I believe Apple is right to stand firm.

Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS Devices Tagged: Apple Inc, Congress, Encryption, FaceTime, House of Representatives, iMessages, iOS 8, iOS 9, iPhone encryption

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