A lot of us have been wondering how it was that Apple’s design team went off the rails when designing the new iPhone Smart Battery Case. Nilay Patel at The Verge, has now put forward one possible explanation: Apple had to find a way to avoid infringing the patents of the market leader in battery cases, Mophie …

Patel’s argument is that Mophie has a whole set of patents that cover the most obvious ways of designing a battery case that doesn’t suck. These include design patents describing the visual form. One patent, for example, covers a rounded back which – somewhat ironically – resembles that of the original iPhone.

Others describe various approaches to two-part cases.

Mophie has an entire suite of patents on this kind of two-part design — here’s #8,971,039, which covers a slight variation of a two-piece design in which the top part slides over an extended piece of the bottom part. There’s also any number of design patents at play here; virtually every popular Mophie case has a design patent on its ornamental, nonfunctional elements. (For example, newer Mophie cases have a detachable bottom part; the company has design patents on that variation.)

The weakness in the argument is that there is no shortage of competitors out there with designs similar to Mophie. Patel argues these are too small for the company to pursue, while Apple’s exceedingly deep pockets would make it an obvious target. But those deep pockets also could buy the best legal team.

One other factor that may have played into Apple’s decision. The one downside of Mophie’s approach is it makes the entire unit look extremely thick. Apple’s design does at least reveal that there’s a slim phone in there somewhere. When only a minority of customers will want a battery case at all, Apple may take the view that it’s more important what potential Android switchers think of the phone than the case.

Incidentally, Apple isn’t the only company to have opted for the “bulge” approach – HTC did something similar with the Droid Incredible 2 – and arguably made a worse job of it with the camera lens and flash within the bulge.

Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS Devices

For more news on AAPL Company and iOS Devices continue reading at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “Patent issues suggested as explaining bulging design of Apple’s Smart Battery Case” with our community.

Deezer Music, the music streaming service with around six million subscribers, is today launching support for Apple’s CarPlay platform.

The service has both free, ad-supported and paid plans, but the CarPlay feature will be limited to its Premium+ and Elite subscribers. Premium+ is the company’s paid monthly plan that removes advertising and adds a few features, while Elite is an upgraded plan with high definition audio available only to Sonos users currently.

Some might remember that Deezer briefly added support for CarPlay before removing it earlier this year, but with today’s official launch the feature is here to stay (at least for premium subscribers).

Some features you’ll find in the app for CarPlay include:

• Listen to albums, playlists and tracks
• Use Flow to discover new music or hear your favourites based on your individual
• listening behaviour
• Listen to one of Deezer’s many Mixes to suit your mood
• Access your music in offline mode

Deezer has around 35 millions songs and 40,000 podcasts and it’s available in 180 countries. In the US the service is currently only available for Cricket Wireless subscribers, and Sonos and Bose customers.

The updated Deezer Music iOS app with CarPlay support should hit the App Store sometime today.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: app, App Store, CarPlay, Deezer Music, iOS, Podcasts, premium, subscribers, update

For more news on Apps, iOS, and App Store continue reading at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “Deezer Music app gets CarPlay support for paid subscribers” with our community.

From 9to5Toys.com:

Apple Watch is at the top of many holiday wish lists this year and luckily for gift shoppers it’s received numerous discounts since Black Friday. In fact, Target and B&H are both offering significant Apple Watch promotions right now.

This morning Best Buy jumped into the fray with the best straight up Apple Watch deal we’ve ever seen: $100 off any Apple Watch Sport or Apple Watch model. More than 20 different watch configurations are eligible for this discount. The smaller 38mm Sport models start at just $249 with free shipping. In comparison, past deals only offered a savings of $50 on Sport models and some also tossed in a free gift card. Best Buy’s deal represents the lowest out-the-door price we’ve seen for any Apple Watch in new condition.

Use your savings to grab a charging dock for your nightstand or desk. I’d recommend Nomad’s Apple Watch Stand (on sale for $41), Twelve South’s HiRise ($50), or one of Spigen’s low-cost options (from $11).

Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys, apple deals, Apple watch, Apple Watch deals, Apple Watch Sport, Best Buy

Continue reading more about Tips and Tricks, Apple watch, and 9to5Toys at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “Best Buy makes a splash with the lowest Apple Watch prices ever, deals start at just $249” with our community.

Earlier today Apple surprised us with the release of its first ever Smart Battery Case for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s. The case, which runs $99, adds an extra 1877mAh of battery power to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s. Popular YouTuber DetroitBorg has gone hands-on with the accessory and explained all of what we need to know about Apple’s first battery case…

One pro of the design choice Apple made is that it makes the case feel less bulky around the casing. This means that when you’re handling the phone, it doesn’t feel quite as bulky as some third-party cases. This doesn’t change the fact, however, that the case adds a significant amount of weight to the iPhone. In fact, in Apple’s quest to make the iPhone 6 and 6s battery life comparable to the larger Plus models, it has actually made the 6 and 6s heavier than the Plus.

With Apple’s Smart Battery Case installed, the iPhone 6s weighs about 8.6 ounces, whereas the iPhone 6s Plus with Apple’s leather case installed weighs about 7.4 ounces. That’s definitely a notable difference for those that have gotten used to the smaller form factor of the iPhone 6 and 6s.

Another positive, however, of the Smart Battery Cases’s design is that the speaker and microphone are now front facing. This improves the speaker quality of the device as the speakers are now pointed directly at the user as opposed to firing away from them.

As some of the reviews noted this morning, the Smart Battery Case also features a recessed headphone jack. This means that a lot of headphones available on the market aren’t going to be compatible with Apple’s battery case. Apple’s EarPods, of course, are compatible with the case, but any headphones that feature a slightly thicker bumper around the 3.5mm headphone jack are not going to work.

Apple’s Smart Battery Case features a capacity of 1877mAh, which is enough to take a dead iPhone 6 or 6s to around 80 percent battery. Apple touts that its Smart Battery Case increases the talk time of the iPhone to 25 hours and the Internet use to 18 hours on LTE. Thanks to integration between the software and hardware, you can easily monitor the battery life of your phone and case with the battery widget in the Ntoifcaiton Center on iOS.

Apple’s Smart Battery Case is available now in Charcoal Gray and White for $99. This makes Apple’s offerings competitively priced with similar offerings from Mophie ($99.95), although Mophie’s offering includes 2700mAh of added power.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Apple, iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, smart battery case

For more information about iOS Devices, Apple, and iPhone 6 continue reading at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “Quick unboxing and review of Apple’s new iPhone 6/s Smart Battery Case” with our community.

Apple this year introduced several major new pieces of hardware, the iPad Pro, Apple Watch, fourth-gen Apple TV and 12-inch MacBook. Like most Apple fans, the one that had me the most excited at launch was the Apple Watch. I thought Apple Watch would have a huge impact on my daily life, but 8 months in, the new Apple device that’s actually affected by day-to-day technology usage the most is the 12-inch MacBook.

I was incredibly skeptical of the 12-inch MacBook when Apple initially announced it. As someone who types for a living, I was worried about the new butterfly keyboard being less conducive to productivity than the standard scissor keyboard. I was worried that the single USB-C port would prove to be a huge roadblock in day-to-day use. 8 months later, however, I’m entirely sold on the 12-inch MacBook and think it’s the best new product Apple introduced in 2015 and I can’t wait to see where Apple takes it in the coming years. The 12-inch MacBook has renewed my faith in the fact that Apple can still design gorgeous pieces of hardware that actually improve on and fulfill a need in the market.

Before pulling the trigger on the new MacBook, I used a 13-inch MacBook Air. One of my biggest qualms about the MacBook Air was the low-quality display, especially when I made the switch to a 4k monitor at my desk. I used the MacBook Air because I loved the portability and how easy it was to slide in my backpack and take it to and from classes. The performance of the MacBook Air was always good but not great, but  I was willing to sacrifice performance for portability. And I still am. I never use my laptop for hardcore video editing, gaming, or anything of that sort. I use it to do research for homework, write things like this article, browse Twitter and Facebook, and listen to music, which the MacBook Air was more than capable of handling.

Then came the 12-inch MacBook. The design of the device (which we leaked months before its announcement) was seemingly unrivaled at the time. With an ultra-thin profile, even thinner than the MacBook Air, the 12-inch MacBook is incredibly easy on the eyes. It features the same tapered design as the MacBook Air, but it starts tapering at a thickness much thinner than the MacBook Air’s.

Unlike any MacBook released in recent years, the 12-inch model was also launched in three color variations: space gray, gold, and the traditional silver. I opted for space gray to match my other Apple products and I have no regrets. The space gray color does tend to show fingerprints and smudges more easily than the traditional silver design, but nevertheless, the aluminum build has held up very well throughout 8 months of usage.

When I first bought the 12-inch MacBook, however, I didn’t immediately get rid of my MacBook Air. I wasn’t sold that the 12-inch screen, Core M processor, USB-C port, butterfly keyboard, and battery life were going to be changes that I welcomed. 8 months later, however, some of those things have grown to be my favorite features about the device.

Coming from a 13.3-inch MacBook Air, which I always found to be the perfect size, I was skeptical of the smaller 12.4-inch display. That is, until I laid eyes on the gorgeous Retina display. The MacBook features a 2304 x 1440 resolution, which comes out to 226 pixels-per-inch and it’s eye-popping. I was always annoyed by the 1440 x 900 resolution on the MacBook Air and upgrading to the 12-inch MacBook was incredibly welcomed.

The Core M processor was another factor of which I was skeptical. The MacBook Air was never a powerhouse of a machine, but it was always able to get the job done. Despite my skepticism, I decided to go with the base model MacBook, which packs a 1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core M processor and 8GB of RAM with Turbo Boost up to 2.4GHz. 1.1GHz seemed unfathomably slow to me, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Like the MacBook Air, the MacBook is in no way, shape, or form a powerhouse, but for me, it’s still able to get the job done. I rarely notice any slowdowns, although they do appear occasionally when I have a handful of windows and tabs running. Playing a video and trying to do too much else is also a recipe for disaster at times.

Like I said, I’m willing to compromise performance in favor of portability and the MacBook is a perfect example of having to do just that. It’s by no means the fastest machine Apple offers and for the price, you’re definitely paying a premium for the sleek, first-gen design.

Like everyone else, I was skeptical of having a laptop with a single USB-C port, but it’s proved to not be as big of an issue as I expected. I’m really reminded that I rarely plug anything into my laptop except a charger. I couldn’t tell you the last time I plugged my iPhone in to sync it with iTunes or plugged in a flash drive. I use Dropbox for all of my file storing needs at this point and all of peripherals are Bluetooth. Obviously, I can’t speak for everyone here and many people have needed to purchased adapters on top of adapters to use the MacBook everyday, but for me, this hasn’t been an issue.

Likewise, the butterfly keyboard and Force Touch trackpad are things I’ve grown used to, as well. At first, the butterfly keyboard is definitely a bit tedious due to the lack of movement from the keys, but now that I’ve gotten used to it, I’m able to type just as fast with it as I was the traditional scissor mechanism keyboard on the MacBook Air. Regarding the Force Touch trackpad, I really wouldn’t have been able to tell that it was a different kind of trackpad technology had Apple not disclosed it. The vibration that you feel when you press is nearly identical to the feedback received from a normal trackpad. I will say that using Force Click is not as useful as I expected it to be. 3D Touch is far more useful on the iPhone 6s than Force Click is on the MacBook due in large part to the more ample screen space on MacBook.

If I had one complaint regarding the MacBook it would have to be its battery life. Apple touts that you can get 9 hours of web browsing from the device, but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten that much life from a single charge. More realistically, I’m getting about 5 to 6 hours on a charge. This is somewhat frustrating because if the MacBook could last a workday – 8 hours – then it would be the ultimate on-the-go productivity machine, but having to worry about your laptop dying a little more than halfway through the day is just an added layer of stress.

In The Future

The good thing about the 12-inch MacBook is that it’s a first-gen product. There’s so much room for the device to grow. Personally, I would love to see Apple work on improving the device’s battery life before it does anything else. As time progresses and battery technology gets more affordable and smaller, Apple will undoubtedly improve the battery life of the MacBook, but in the interim it’s far from great.

I would also like to see Apple add one more USB-C port to the device. With the shaky battery life of the device, it would be much more conducive to productivity to be able to charge the device and still have a free USB-C port. This again comes down to technology within the MacBook shrinking as it progresses.

Finally, Apple, can you please upgrade that horrendous 480p FaceTime camera? In 2015 using a 480p camera should be a crime. When FaceTiming, people can always tell when I’m using my MacBook and when I’m using my iPhone. The quality is just undeniably bad.

Wrap Up

2015 was a big year for Apple. The Apple Watch, iPad Pro, and MacBook were all released, as was Apple Music. All of these things have greatly impacted my daily tech usage (Apple Watch maybe less so), but the MacBook is by far my favorite Apple device or service of 2015. The combination of the gorgeous Retina display and ultra-slim hardware design makes the MacBook the best Apple laptop I’ve ever owned.

The MacBook allows for such seamless portability that it’s hard to make the case for ever needing a larger machine. Sure an extra USB-C port and improved battery life would be welcomed, but we have to remember that this is a first-generation product. Apple undoubtedly has some changes up its sleeve.

In a time when many are skeptical of Apple’s design trends and changes, the MacBook proves that the company still knows how to create a beautiful piece of hardware with a premium and elegant feel (and price tag). The MacBook is a prime example of an Apple product that is somewhat ahead of its time, but will gradually become the ‘norm’ for both Apple users and other users. At this point, you’re paying a premium for being ahead of the curve, but it’s undoubtedly worth it.

Read Dom’s take on the 12-inch MacBook here and Zac’s full in-depth review here. 

Filed under: Mac, Opinion Tagged: 2015, Apple, MacBook, Opinion

For more news on Apple, Mac, and MacBook continue reading at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “Opinion: The 2015 Apple product that most excites me for the company’s future” with our community.

Apple today has unveiled a new ad for the fourth-generation Apple TV that highlights the plethora of apps and content available on the new tvOS platform. The ad, which runs 1-minute long, follows a series of shorter advertisements all focused on specific apps and games available on the device.

Today’s new ad is entitled “The Future of Television,” a phrase Tim Cook has used in the past to describe apps running on the Apple TV. The ad showcases a variety of content and apps that are available on tvOS. It starts out by highlighting individual shows like The Late Show, The Muppets, and Game of Thrones. Siri is also briefly shown with the user asking to be shown the best sci-fi movies.

The ad then shifts its focus to the games supported on tvOS, such as Asphalt Racing and Guitar Hero. Then, Apple Music integration is shown off with Kendrick Lamar making an appearance. Apple then scrolls through the device’s home screen showing all of the different kind of apps available, ranging from Crossy Road to HBO Now to NBA TV.

The ad ends with the color bars as used in the earlier ads for the fourth-gen Apple TV and seen around major cities like New York and LA. You can view the new Apple TV ad “The Future of Television” below:

Filed under: Apple TV Tagged: Apple TV, Apps, Content, video

For more news on Apple TV, Apps, and video continue reading at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “Apple debuts new Apple TV ad showcasing tvOS apps & content” with our community.

According to a report out of Bloomberg, Apple is putting a hold on its plans to launch a streaming web TV service amid resistance from cable companies and networks. The report claims that Apple, while not entirely giving up on its plans, is instead shifting focus towards creating a platform on which companies can sell directly to the customer.

Media companies have reportedly been driven away by Apple’s desire to launch its package of around 14 channels for between $30 and $40 per month. The media companies want more for their content and Apple ideally wanted to keep the price below $40 per month.

Corroborating the Bloomberg report, CBS CEO Les Moonves stated that Apple has put tis plans “on hold.” Moonves stated that Apple and CBS were close to agreeing on a $35 per month price point before Apple backed out and decided to reconsider.

Apple’s web TV service has been long rumored and was originally expected to launch in conjunction with the fourth-gen Apple TV, but that didn’t happen due to slower than expected negotiations with networks.

The fourth-gen Apple TV, however, supports Apple’s new tvOS platform which features an App Store. Instead of putting its efforts towards securing deals for a streaming service, Apple will now continue to encourage developers to build for the tvOS app store and allow users to choose what they want to watch and how much they are willing to pay to watch it.

Filed under: Apple TV Tagged: Apple TV, service, streaming, TV, web tv

For more news on Apple TV, Apple TV, and streaming continue reading at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “Report: Apple suspends plans for web TV service as it struggles to negotiate w/ networks” with our community.

As it’s done with past releases, Apple today released the open source code of OS X 10.11 El Capitan. The release comes after Apple made good on its promise to open source its Swift programming language last week.

Apple updated its Open Source webpage last night, where it also provides downloads to open source code for current and past releases of its developer tools, iOS, and OS X Server, with downloads of the OS X 10.11 source code for developers interested in taking a look.

Apple’s open source release of OS X (aka Darwin) has been around since 2000 and usually arrives in the weeks following the public release of OS X. 

Darwin is an open sourceUnix-like computer operating system released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code developed by Apple, as well as code derived from NeXTSTEP,BSD, and other free software projects.

Darwin forms the core set of components upon which OS X and iOS are based. It is mostlyPOSIX compatible, but has never, by itself, been certified as being compatible with any version of POSIX. (OS X, since Leopard, has been certified as compatible with the Single UNIX Specification version 3 (SUSv3).

The open source code comes as the latest release of OS X, 10.11.2, hit the Mac App Store earlier today. Read more about Apple’s history of open sourcing here.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Open source, OS X

Continue reading more about iOS Devices, OS X, and Open source at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “Apple releases OS X 10.11 El Capitan open source code” with our community.

Alongside the release of iOS 9.2 today, Apple is making some improvements to its recently launched News app that it hopes will improve the service for both readers and publishers.

One of the changes is listed in Apple’s release notes for the iOS update: “A new Top Stores section in News so you can stay up to date with the most important news of the day.”

The new Top Stories section will be available in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia (everywhere News is), but will presumably include a different selection of stories for users in each country. Recode has a bit more information on the new feature and notes that in addition to the curation based on a user’s preferences, Apple News editors will now “assemble a handful of stories it thinks all of its users would want to see. You know — like a newspaper.”

Back in June ahead of the launch of Apple News with iOS 9, we noted that Apple was hiring human editors to curate content for the News service, and it sounds like today’s update will put them to use.

And while Apple has allowed publishers to keep ad revenue for ads they sell on their own or 70% of iAd revenue that Apple sells on behalf of publishers, Recode reports that it’s now integrating ComScore technology to track traffic and make sure publishers “get advertiser credit for the views their content generates.” Having those stats will be helpful to publishers attempting to sell ads for content on the service and will also give them insight into how their content is performing in the app. 

You can check out the full release notes for the iOS 9.2 update here.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: ad revenue, ads, apple news, ComScore, curation, editors, ios 9.2, publishers, web traffic

Continue reading more about Apps, ads, and ComScore at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “Apple aims to improve News app w/ human curated Top Stories, traffic stats for publishers” with our community.

‘There’s a new software update awaiting Apple Watch owners. watchOS 2.1 is now available through the Watch app on iPhone. The update includes Arabic language support for Siri plus other bug fixes and improvements. Full change log below.

To update Apple Watch to watchOS 2.1, first update your iPhone to the new iOS 9.2 update released today, then check the Watch app on iPhone for the watchOS update under General > Software Update. Apple Watch will need to be at least 50% charged and actively charging while on Wi-Fi to properly update. See what’s new below:

We’ll update with any other notable changes as well.

Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: Apple watch, watchOS, watchos 2, watchOS 2.1

For more information about Apple watch, Apple Watch, and watchos 2 continue reading at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “watchOS 2.1 software update is now available for the Apple Watch” with our community.