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Korea might be home base for Samsung (and LG), Apple’s biggest competitor in the smartphone world, but the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus have been well received in the country as local reports indicate all major carriers have sold out of both models after officially launching in the country earlier today..

Yonhap News Agency reports that all three major carriers in the region including SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Inc have sold out of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus after they began accepting preorders yesterday ahead of an official launch. The device officially went on sale in the country today following Apple’s second wave of launch countries earlier this month.

KT said preorders surpassed 10,000 within the first one minute after it opened the online site, and it closed the applications less than 10 minutes later as the first 50,000 units set aside for preorders were all sold out… KT began its second round of online purchase reservations from 10:30 a.m., the company said, adding that it’s also selling them at offline stores.

Samsung and LG notably dropped prices on their flagship devices ahead of Apple’s planned launch of the iPhone 6s this month in South Korea, and Samsung late last week announced a new pink gold color for the Galaxy Note 5, a move thought to be an attempt to combat sales of Apple’s new similarly colored iPhone 6s.

Earlier this month Apple launched its new iPhone lineup in 40+ countries following its initial launch in September. The company plans to have the device available in 130 countries in total by the end of the year.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: iPhone, iPhone 6s, iphone 6s plus, Korea, lg, Samsung

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The Apple TV is supposedly set to ship sometime in October although 9to5Mac has already reported that many orders will likely slip to November. While everyone waits to be able to get their hands on Apple’s new set-top box, I found a way to watch all of the brand new Apple TV aerial video screensavers right now, before the box is actually available. Visit my blog to see them all — there’s currently 34 videos in total on the random rotation.

The current set of videos includes scenes from Hawaii, London, China, New York City and San Francisco. Most locations have several different videos as well as shots for night and day — the Apple TV will pick the right one for the user’s local time. The slow pan over the Great Wall China is particularly stunning.

Apple is likely to add even more video sequences in the runup to release — it already added to the selection at least once last week.

You might be wondering how this is possible. Over the weekend, the URL for the server source of these videos was discovered. All I do on my blog is parse the video source on the server and display the available files in an interactive list. The videos themselves stream straight from Apple’s servers, just like how the Apple TV works.

As this is relying on completely private implementation details, there’s a good chance Apple will make it stop working soon, so watch them while they are still available.

The new Apple TV is set to launch by the end of October, starting at $149 for 32 GB and $199 for 64 GB. The old Apple TV is still sold for $69. As well as these new screensavers, the fourth-generation Apple TV brings Siri, App Store for third-party apps and games, universal search and much more.

Filed under: AAPL Company, Apple TV, iOS, iOS Devices Tagged: aerial, Apple TV, Apple TV 4, Screensavers, Wallpaper

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Apple delivered a major upgrade to Maps in iOS 9, OS X El Capitan, and watchOS 2 with the addition of transit directions in select cities, and now its rolling out additional cities and transportation methods to bolster that feature. In addition to expanding transit, Apple has found a new partner in Canada to provide rich local business data for use in Maps.

Transit in Apple Maps already supported buses, ferries, subways, and trains in supported cities including San Francisco, New York City, and Washington, DC, and today users noticed Amtrak train routes between major Northeastern cities in the United States (via MacRumors). Not all Amtrak routes are present within Apple Maps as routes for cities that currently support Apple’s transit feature are presented but the new data does add to the feature.

Continuing transit’s rollout, The Boston Globe reports that Apple Maps today turned on support for the new feature for customers in the area. Transit in Boston supports viewing routes for the city’s buses, commuter rail, subways, and trolleys within Apple Maps.

Before Apple officially unveiled its transit feature in Maps, 9to5Mac first reported that Boston would be absent at launch but on Apple’s list to target next. The rollout comes just as Apple pulls the plug on HopStop, which was a transit service app that provided data in Boston acquired by Apple in 2013.

Sydney, Australia is also set to gain transit in Apple Maps this moth according to Apple’s site, joining Baltimore, Berlin, Chicago, China, London, Mexico City, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto, and now Boston.

Finally, Apple Maps in Canada is set to improve with local business data. As iPhone in Canada points out, Apple has partnered with Yellow Pages in Canada to provide local business information like hours, ratings, website, and contact information within Maps. Apple has similarly partnered with Yellow Pages in other regions including Turkey for sourcing local business data for Maps.

Filed under: Apps, iOS, Mac Tagged: Amtrak, Apple Maps, Boston, Canada, iOS 9, maps, os x el capitan, Sydney, Transit, watchos 2, Yellow Pages

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Valve has announced in an email to customers that its new hardware accessories, the Steam Controller and the Steam Link are not yet fully compatible with OS X. The hardware, which was marketed as cross-platform ready, started arriving in customers’ hands this week.

The company says software issues are at the heart of the delay, and it will be pushing out firmware updates to enable support very soon. In the case of the Steam Controller, users can already start using the gamepad on their Macs by switching to the beta version of the Steam client in the app’s preferences.

In order to make up for this problem, Valve has gifted every single affected pre-order customer with the Valve Complete Pack, which includes every game the company has ever made, or will make in the future. Buyers who still want to get a refund on their hardware will still be able to do so.

Filed under: Mac Tagged: gaming, Steam, steam controller, steam link, Valve

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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:

JBL Charge 2 Bluetooth speaker, 9to5mac’s ‘2014 Bluetooth speaker of the year’: $80 shipped, (or 3 for $70/ea)

Ticket To Ride goes free on iPhone for the first time in years (Reg. $2)

Save $20 on select Kindle e-Readers, deals start at just $59 with free shipping

Unlocked iPhones (refurb): iPhone 5c 16GB 4G LTE $170, iPhone 6 64GB $430

More new gear from today:

Ditch the cable modem rental fees w/ these refurb deals: Motorola SB6121 $45 shipped (Orig. $100), more

• Amazon Gold Box – at least 50% off winter activewear + Old Navy clearance sale
• Display your iPhone 6/s w/ this Mpow Car Air Vent Mount $5 shipped (Reg. $9)
• Games/Apps: Zelda Link Between Worlds $30, Dragon Age Inquisition from $20, freebies, more
• Daily Deals: Sony Bluetooth Speaker $40, OtterBox iPhone 5/5s Power Case $30, more
• Save on apps, games, movies and more: $100 iTunes Gift Card for $90 shipped

More deals still alive:

OtterBox SYMMETRY Series iPhone 6/6s Case $20 Prime shipped (Reg. $40)

• Aukey 3-in-1 clip-on smartphone camera lens kit $10 Prime shipped (Reg. $16)
• The original Bluetooth-enabled August Smart Lock drops to $199 (Orig. $250)
• App Store Free App of the Week: Sky Gamblers Air Supremacy
• Apple’s new 4K & 5K iMacs already seeing the first price cuts and tax-free options
• Apple is dishing out free downloads of the award-winning puzzle game Shadowmatic
• HGST Touro 1TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive $40 shipped (Orig. $69)
• Amazon slashes prices on Levi’s jeans for Men, Women and Boys
• Griffin Technology merch credit 50% off
• Adjustable iPad mount for $17 Prime shipped (Orig. $30)
• D-Link PowerLine AV+ Network Extender Mini Adapter Kit $20 shipped (Reg. $35), more
• Goal Zero Nomad 7 USB 12V Charger w/ 7W Solar Panel (Refurb) $30 shipped (Orig. $80)
• Aukey adjustable wireless selfie stick w/ Bluetooth $6 Prime shipped (Reg. $11+)
• RuggedTec FlashBang mountable Bluetooth Speaker/Flashlight: $28 shipped (Orig. $79)
• Sony SRSX3 Portable Bluetooth/NFC Speaker: $60 shipped (Orig. $140)
• Audio-Technica Headphones + Blue Microphones USB Mic $200 shipped ($292+ value)
• Brother Color Duplex Laser Wireless Printer w/ AirPrint: $150 shipped (Reg. $200)
• Bluetooth Speakers: Inateck Honeycomb $30, SOL REPUBLIC DECK $40
• Freebies: Runtastic Sit Ups PRO for iOS + LEGO building event + More!
• Free MP3 Downloads: Greatest Hits from TLC, Muddy Waters, more
• Samsung Gear Virtual Reality headset for Galaxy S6/Edge $100 shipped (Reg. $200)

New products & more:

It took about 500,000 LEGO bricks to put this life-size Batmobile together

Waylens is the iOS-connected dashboard camera you’ve been waiting for

• These futuristic looking headphones could be straight out of the Transformers movie series
• Amazon and Toys R Us give a peek at this year’s must-have holiday gifts
• NBA 2K16 hits iOS and Android with new gameplay, controls and updated graphics
• Minecraft: Story Mode launches on iOS and Android with a new multi-episode campaign mode
• Electric Jukebox doesn’t want to be Spotify or Chromecast, so what is it?
• This is the Apple TV remote that Cupertino should’ve made…
• The BLOCKS modular smartwatch has flown past its Kickstarter goal in a just a few hours

Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys, Amazon Gold Box, apple deals, Black Friday, Bluetooth Speaker, coupon codes, Deals, Fashion, free apps, free shipping, Freebies, iOS deals, iphone deals, itunes deals, JBL, Lunch Break, New Toy of the Day, Ticket to Ride

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I’ve been waiting for Apple to update the 2007-vintage Apple Wireless Keyboard and 2010 Magic Trackpad since the first time OS X displayed a “low battery” notification — since then, I’ve had years of near-daily pop-up reminders that either my keyboard or my trackpad (both fueled by Apple’s official Battery Charger, no less) were supposedly running low on power. Although I preferred the minimalism of a wire-free desk, I reluctantly switched back to Apple’s old but still excellent Wired Keyboard to cut “low battery” notices in half, hoping that Apple would leverage 5+ years of Bluetooth and battery improvements to produce better wireless input accessories.

Last week, Apple finally released sequels to its three major input devices: the new Magic Keyboard ($99) replaces the $69 Wireless Keyboard, the Magic Mouse 2 ($79) updates the $59 Magic Mouse, and the Magic Trackpad 2 ($129) vaults over the $69 Magic Trackpad. The signature improvement to each is the replacement of AA batteries with integrated Lithium-Ion rechargeable cells, refueled once per month with an included Lightning cable — previously only used for iPad, iPhone, and iPod accessories. Apple also tweaked each of the accessory designs, one more significantly than the others.

Having given up mice five years ago (and radically improved a carpal tunnel-damaged wrist in the process), I opted not to test the Magic Mouse 2, but my colleague Dom Esposito discusses it and the other Magic accessories in the video below. My review is focused on the Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad 2, neither of which I’d call “must-have” accessories, though each has a couple of worthwhile assets, and at least one surprising Apple device compatibility limitation. Should you buy Apple’s latest accessories, or go with excellent third-party alternatives such as Logitech’s K811 Keyboard and Rechargeable Trackpad for Mac instead?…

Given the growth of Bluetooth keyboards since the Wireless Keyboard debuted in 2007, Apple could have gone in a half-dozen directions with the Magic Keyboard — it could have added multi-device-compatibility and backlit keys like Logitech’s K811, stripped features to go ultra-thin and light, or kept a body as thick as the Wireless Keyboard but with far longer lasting batteries, just to name a few possibilities. Instead, the Magic Keyboard feels like more of a “shrug” of a design, doing just enough to be “better than before” without attempting to push the envelope in any particular way.

Check out Dom’s video review below:

The Magic Keyboard’s biggest advance over its 2007 predecessor is a built-in battery that can be refueled using a packed-in Lightning cable. Plug the cable into your Mac and the Magic Keyboard into the cable, and the Mac will instantly pair the two together without requiring wireless configuration — a welcome but very minor trick that turns out to be the most “magic” you’ll find with this keyboard. The same trick works with the Magic Trackpad 2 (and the Magic Mouse 2), and all three promise the same one-month battery life on a complete charge, with the ability to run for an extended work session off a two-minute charge. A month of life between charges is short by modern Bluetooth keyboard standards, but based on my early testing, Apple may be understating the Magic Keyboard’s longevity (at least for some Macs).

Perhaps not surprisingly, Magic Keyboard looks a lot like every Apple keyboard released over the past 8 years: silver aluminum top, matte white keys, glossy white plastic bottom and gray rubber feet. The box and Apple’s web site note that it “requires Bluetooth-enabled Mac with OS X 10.11 or later.” This requirement is fairly specific — note that the language omits “iPad,” “iPhone,” and “Apple TV” — but Apple doesn’t specify either the version of Bluetooth the Magic Keyboard is using, or a mandatory Bluetooth version required by your Mac. During testing, my Bluetooth 2.1 (late 2011) iMac and Bluetooth 4.0 2013 Retina MacBook Pro both paired without complaint.

If you were expecting the Magic Keyboard to be a lot smaller than the Apple Wireless Keyboard, sorry: they’re very close to one another in size. Still 11″ wide with the same six rows of keys as before — all in the same locations — the Magic Keyboard is now around 4.4″ deep rather than 5.1″ deep, and a hint over 0.3″ tall rather than just over 0.7″ tall, differences attributable to two things: the removal of the prior battery tube, and a noticeable reduction in key depth. Apple has made the F-key row full-height rather than half-height, and updated one icon to match current OS X functionality, but otherwise left the F-keys unchanged from how they’ve been for years. Left and right cursor keys have become full-height as well, mimicking a change some people groaned about in the 12″ Retina MacBook. I personally don’t care much about this change, and was glad that that was the only major modification to the key layout.

Keys now hover around 1mm above the aluminum top frame, versus the Wireless Keyboard’s 2mm, a difference in travel that can be felt with every tap of input. If you love the decided “click” of a DAS Keyboard or Apple’s prior classics, Magic Keyboard takes another step away from that sort of pronounced “plunk” in the service of becoming slimmer and quieter. However, the new keys aren’t as soft or low-travel as the controversial ones in the 12″ Retina MacBook, making for a much faster adjustment period and — in my case — typo-free typing within a very short period of adjustment.

So far, nothing I’ve mentioned qualifies as “magic,” and unless you think of a rechargeable battery in that way, you’ll struggle to find a justification for either the keyboard’s name or its price. Apple touts the keys, which now use the San Francisco font, as more precise than before, though the average user may well take a few days to reach the same conclusion. I agree with the claim, and have enjoyed typing on the Magic Keyboard 2, though it’s not a night-and-day difference relative to the other Apple and top third-party keyboards I’ve tested.

There is one unusual and potentially show-stopping limitation of the Magic Keyboard: its compatibility with devices other than the Mac. How do you pair the Magic Keyboard with an Apple TV? An iPad? Maybe you don’t. The back of the Magic Keyboard has an on-off switch, a Lightning port in the center, and an antenna bar, but there’s no Bluetooth pairing button. Previously, the Wireless Keyboard’s power button could be held down to initiate pairing, but that’s no longer possible. And Apple’s instructions offer no guidance for iPad or Apple TV use: Magic Keyboard’s manual, packaging, and marketing are solely focused on the Mac.

Logitech’s K811 topped my list of the best Mac and iPad keyboards earlier this year by offering great features such as great backlit keys, the ability to switch instantly between three different Bluetooth devices (say, Mac, iPad, and Apple TV), and a rechargeable cell with up to 1 year of power between charges. The only knock against it was its $100 price, which represented a $31 premium over Apple’s Wireless Keyboard — but with at least three functional advantages that earned that premium. Now that the K811 and Magic Keyboard are peer-priced, there’s little reason save a slightly smaller footprint to prefer Apple’s option. If I was shopping today, I’d almost certainly pick the K811 given its superior features and device compatibility.

Magic Trackpad 2

With the Magic Keyboard (and Magic Mouse 2), what you see is what you get — there are no subtle frills or happy surprises to match or better options that have been available for years. But the Magic Trackpad 2 is a very different beast. It’s the starkest-looking Apple accessory design to date, taking the prize from the famously button-compromised third-generation iPod shuffle, and yet it’s also the most sophisticated standalone input device Apple has ever designed. I’m not going to tell you that I think it’s a must-have for trackpad fans — yet — but unlike the me-too Magic Keyboard, the Magic Trackpad 2 has a lot to admire under the hood.

The biggest visual change from the Magic Trackpad to the Magic Trackpad 2 is the color of its top surface. Apple shifted from the clean all-silver glass and aluminum top of the Magic Trackpad to an edge-to-edge uninterrupted white glass surface for the Magic Trackpad 2. I strongly preferred the prior color, which was mimicked (and improved upon) by the full-glass top of Logitech’s Rechargeable Trackpad for Mac, as white looks increasingly foreign alongside black-and-silver Macs and MacBooks. But given the typical longevity of Apple’s wireless accessories, perhaps the Magic Trackpad 2 is signaling an upcoming trend in Apple industrial design.

Measuring 6.3″ long by 4.5″ deep by just over 0.3″ tall, the Magic Trackpad 2 precisely matches the height and depth of the Magic Keyboard, and when they’re put right next to each other, the two Magic accessories are less than an inch wider than the Apple Wired Keyboard without anything else on its side. Like the Magic Keyboard, the Magic Trackpad 2 drops the rear AA battery tube to achieve a shallower profile, instead hiding its rechargeable cell in a glossy white plastic bottom compartment. But it’s actually 1.2″ wider than the original Magic Trackpad, which was already larger than the trackpad surface on any MacBook computer Apple has sold.

My first reaction to the Magic Trackpad 2’s gigantic touch surface was that I didn’t need something so big — bigger than the iPhone 6 Plus — for cursor movement or gestures. Several days later, I still feel like it’s unnecessarily large, enough that my whole hand tends to rest on it rather than only the fingers needed for movement and gestures. But “unnecessary” doesn’t mean “unreasonably,” nor “uncomfortably,” as OS X’s touch recognition is sophisticated enough to recognize that a thumb or pinky now lingering on the trackpad’s edge is not there for pinch or other gestures. There’s a lot more going on with the Magic Trackpad 2 than meets the eye.

For instance: the Magic Trackpad’s clickable buttons, hidden in the bottom two rubber feet, are gone. Instead, the “click” is mimicked perfectly using basic haptic feedback. Turn off the Magic Trackpad 2 and you cannot click it at all; turn it on and you can not only “click” normally with the anticipated feedback, but press harder to Force Click to a more pronounced level with deeper feedback. The mind-blowing moment is when you open System Preferences > Trackpad > Point & Click and choose “Silent Clicking.” Treble disappears from the click, leaving you with nothing more than the bass and a subtle vibration or two to signal input. After a not-too-extended period of time with the Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad 2, you’ll notice that your Mac is now even quieter than it was before (a goal of mine, as noted in my recent Make Your Mac Run Silent article). The Magic Trackpad 2 will be great for people who enjoy working quietly.

I’ll be the first person to admit that paying $129 for a quieter, bigger version of the Magic Trackpad doesn’t make a lot of financial sense, as the last one wasn’t super loud or too small. Similarly, the current state of Force Touch/Force Click on the Mac is pretty underwhelming: deeply pressing the trackpad on a web link lets you open a preview version of the page in a floating window; selecting a word lets you check its definition in the dictionary; in some cases, hitting it on a fast forward/reverse button changes the rate from 2x to 60x based on the pressure you’re applying. OS X Preview’s signature feature can sense differences and using them to make ‘ink’ look thick or thin, as shown here, but like most of the Force features, this is a hidden trick that you need to hunt to discover. Even as someone who has looked forward to using Force Click features on the Mac, I can only describe them as forgettable at this point.

One other oddity with the Magic Trackpad 2 is its Mac support. Unlike the Magic Keyboard, which one would reasonably have expected to use on non-Mac devices (only to be disappointed), the Magic Trackpad 2’s stated Mac-only compatibility isn’t a huge shock. But here, the requirement is for a “Bluetooth 4.0-enabled Mac with OS X 10.11 or later,” seemingly denying compatibility to most Macs sold before late 2012. I’m honestly not sure why Apple says this, as I was actually able to get a Magic Trackpad 2 to pair with my late 2011 Bluetooth 2.1 iMac without complaint, though I’m not sure whether battery life or pressure sensitivity data transmission work the same on older and newer Macs. Apple promises only a month of battery life between Trackpad 2 charges, but it’s already clear from the battery percentage indicators on my iMac that the Keyboard will last longer than the Trackpad 2 on a charge.

Who is the Magic Trackpad 2 really made for? The answer, as I discovered during testing and discussions with Dom Esposito, is “anyone looking for greater input precision.” Unlike the Magic Trackpad, where top-of-surface clicks rarely registered properly, every input from edge to edge registers properly on the Magic Trackpad 2. Having a larger surface can really help during video editing today, and there will unquestionably come a point (say, OS X 10.12) where many apps will take advantage of the added depth and pressure sensitivity of a surface like this. Calling the Magic Trackpad 2 a solution in search of problems isn’t quite right, but it’s certainly a tool that isn’t being properly exploited quite yet.

The Magic Trackpad’s $129 price point isn’t really mainstream for an input device, and the Force Click/Force Touch hardware functionality it offers really needs more software support to be truly worthwhile. But unlike the Magic Keyboard, which could easily be replaced with (and bettered by) Logitech’s K811, the Magic Trackpad 2’s technology and design give it additional value — particularly the prospect of greater future value — that I wouldn’t write off. Even if you don’t want to buy it for yourself because of the price, consider putting it on your holiday wish list, because over time, you’re probably going to want to have access to the next generation of Mac input devices, and if history’s any indication, this may be the only accessory to offer it for the next 5 years.

More From This Author

Check out more of my editorials, How-To guides, and reviews for 9to5Mac here! I’ve covered a lot of different topics of interest to Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, and Apple Watch users. I’ve recently discussed how to safely prepare and wipe your iPhone for resale or trade-in, and how to get the best iPhone trade-in price to help buy an iPhone 6s, amongst many other topics.

Filed under: AAPL Company, Mac, Reviews Tagged: Mac accessories, Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad 2

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In 1995, two years before his return to the company, Steve Jobs gave a characteristically blunt answer when asked why Apple found itself struggling in the early to mid 1990s. The issue, he said, was that Apple had gotten greedy.

What ruined Apple wasn’t growth … They got very greedy. Instead of following the original trajectory of the original vision, which was to make the thing an appliance and get this out there to as many people as possible, they went for profits. They made outlandish profits for about four years… What that cost them was their future. What they should have been doing is making rational profits and going for market share.

Much has changed since then, of course. Apple has a substantial market share in both the personal computer and mobile markets, demonstrating that the two goals – growth and profitability – are not mutually exclusive. This is not an ‘Apple is doomed’ piece, nor anything like it. But I do wonder whether the company is once more putting short-term profits ahead of long-term brand loyalty … ? 

Many of us have expressed dismay at the fact that Apple still, in 2015, sells an iPhone with just 16GB of storage. Apple would, of course, argue its corner. It would point to app thinning, enabling apps to take up less storage than they used to. It would point to iCloud, suggesting that much of what we used to store on our phones can now be stored online. Why bother loading up your phone with lots of music, for example, when Apple Music allows you to stream it instead?

These arguments will one day make sense. When we have affordable, ubiquitous, high-speed Internet access, then sure, there’ll be little sense in storing much on the device itself. But we’re not there yet. Most of us aren’t on unlimited data contracts, and even if we are in theory, there are ‘fair use’ provisions in the small-print.

We often don’t have access to data connections on subway systems. There are still areas of the country where LTE is either patchy or non-existent. If planes offer Wi-Fi at all, it’s slow and expensive. I could go on, but the simple reality is that most of us need local storage, and trying to palm people off with 16GB is simply unreasonable. Apple is offering an iPhone which pretty much guarantees frustration down the line, and there’s absolutely no reason to do so when it could offer a 64GB starting point at the cost of a few bucks less profit.

For years, Apple limited iPhones to 1GB RAM. It would argue that tightly integrating the hardware and software meant that it was able to make much more efficient use of that RAM than Android phones, and I don’t doubt that. But at a time when many users were complaining that lack of memory meant inactive tabs refreshing when you returned to them, Apple was risking a poor user experience for the sake of a few dollars. (It has, of course, finally bumped up the RAM to 2GB in the iPhone 6s/Plus.)

And then we have the latest Retina iMacs, where Apple reduced the SSD component of the 1TB Fusion Drive from 128GB to a miserly 24GB. That’s less than the RAM available in some configurations. Effectively, Apple has swapped out a genuine fusion drive – one that really did combine the responsiveness of an SSD with the affordability of a hard drive – for one that is, at the very least, severely compromised. One that is unlikely to deliver the snappiness expected of SSD storage. One which, we might even say, can still be marketed as a fusion drive without genuinely delivering on the promise of the technology.

I am not in any way suggesting that Apple should sacrifice profit for market share. When the company takes home 92% of the entire smartphone industry’s profits, Apple could quite rightly argue that it has all the market share it needs, thanks very much. It would make no sense at all for it to drop prices significantly to put itself in a position where it has to sell more phones to make the same total profit. Its strategy of selling expensive items to the premium end of the market has proven incredibly successful, and I wouldn’t for one moment suggest changing that.

What I am suggesting is far more modest. I’m merely suggesting that if Apple were a little less penny-pinching with its specs, were willing to sacrifice maybe $10-20 of profit on an iPhone, perhaps slightly more on a Mac, that would help it retain its premium positioning.

Customers know they are paying more for an Apple product (though a smaller premium than many imagine). They are happy to do so, knowing they’re getting a premium product. Apple delivers that premium product in a great many ways, The designs are fantastic. The operating systems are great. The customer service is unrivalled. Above all, the ecosystem is way better than anything else available.

But the only constant in the tech industry is change. Take Windows. Microsoft has opted, in essence, to offer a single operating system for all devices, from desktops to phones. It has majored on hybrid devices, that combine tablets and laptops in one. Personally, I’m not convinced that’s the right direction, but it does have one implication. Microsoft can, for the first time, offer an integrated ecosystem. Not one that comes remotely close to rivalling that offered by Apple, but it will improve over time.

Perhaps more worryingly, look at Google. The Google ecosystem comes very close to rivalling that offered by Apple. Its one weakness is that the ecosystem is predominantly geared to mobile. At a time when most Android users have Windows PCs, neither Google nor Microsoft can offer the level of seamless integration between desktop and mobile environments delivered by Apple.

But … Chromebooks are becoming increasingly viable as laptops for the type of things most people do with them. Sure, a Chromebook is no MacBook. Most are weedy, and they have the same issue as that 16GB iPhone I complained about earlier – they are designed for an always-connected world which doesn’t yet exist.

But they have enough power and offline capability for many people, and Chromebooks no longer look like the poor relation. Some of them come close to rivalling the stylishness of a MacBook. Give Google a bit of time, and it’s going to be delivering a complete mobile/desktop ecosystem that genuinely competes with Apple in terms of performance using devices that give Apple a run for its money on the desirability front.

Again, I stress: I am not arguing that Apple is doomed. Nor I am suggesting that the average Apple customer cares about how much RAM their device has, or the size of the SSD component of the fusion drive. But even non-techy Apple customers do care that the company’s products Just Work. And nickel-and-diming customers on specs that impact the degree to which products Just Work is, in my view, not a sensible path for Apple to take.

Photos: Top & bottom Hangzhou store Apple; chips iFixit; iPhone in store AP; Chromebook chromebookworld.com.

Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS Devices, Mac, Opinion, Tech Industry Tagged: AAPL, Apple, Chromebooks, Google, iPhone, Mac, Microsoft, profit, Steve Jobs, Windows

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We all know the features of OS X El Capitan pretty well by now: Split View multitasking, new San Francisco system font, overhauled Notes app, and smaller changes throughout. Before anyone upgrades to El Cap, however, we’re all faced with the usual scrolling wall of text that we’re asked to read and agree to before ever using OS X: the licensing agreement.

I’m guessing virtually no one reads beyond the first paragraph if even that, but Robb Schecter, a self-described programmer/lawyer, took for one the team this year and translated El Cap’s license into plain English. These 7 points tell me more than I admittedly knew before:

I can’t use the Capitan with illegal copies of anyone’s stuff.

Apple didn’t sell me this software. They still own it, in fact. I’m just borrowing it.

If I install more Apple software, those are on loan as well.

I can use the Capitan in two virtual Machines, and on one computer.

But these VM’s cannot be used for business. The only exception is for software developers (I guess they wouldn’t follow this rule anyways.)

I’ve got to read the separate rules that came with the fonts, and obey them. (I can only borrow those too.)

Those cool voices for the clock? — no remixing!

Sorry if I’ve ever remixed those voices … Schecter breaks down 15 more rules translated from the El Capitan license that we technically agree to before using the operating system. Read the full rundown on his blog.

Filed under: Mac Tagged: Apple, legal, License, licensing agreement, Mac, Operating system, OS X, os x el capitan

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Code analytics platform SourceDNA has found hundreds of apps on the App Store that used private APIs to collect private user data, like email addresses and device identifiers, slipping under Apple’s radar in the approval process. The code got into these apps through the inclusion of a mischievous third-party advertising SDK, which secretly stored this data and sent it off to its own servers.

Apple has now verified the SourceDNA report and is removing all of the apps that included the advertising SDK from the store, as using private API calls is a breach of App Review Guidelines. Apple has also patched its approval processes to prevent any more apps that use this technique to make it onto the App Store.

The SDK under examination comes from a Chinese advertising company, Youmi. SourceDNA used its own binary search tools to find 256 apps that included the unscrupulous SDK, which have received over a million downloads in total.

The SDK used a variety of techniques and APIs to collect identifying personal information it shouldn’t normally be able to. This includes serial numbers, peripheral serial numbers, lists of installed apps and obtaining the user’s Apple ID email. The analytics company speculates Youmi became more confident with its methods over time, slowly adding more and more data collection code over a two-year span.

In this instance, almost all of the offending apps were targeted at the Chinese market. However, given that evasion of Apple’s app review process has been going on for many months, SourceDNA is concerned that there may be other cases of similar bad behavior already on the App Store, as yet undetected.

This is Apple’s full statement on the matter.

“We’ve identified a group of apps that are using a third-party advertising SDK, developed by Youmi, a mobile advertising provider, that uses private APIs to gather private information, such as user email addresses and device identifiers, and route data to its company server. This is a violation of our security and privacy guidelines. The apps using Youmi’s SDK have been removed from the App Store and any new apps submitted to the App Store using this SDK will be rejected. We are working closely with developers to help them get updated versions of their apps that are safe for customers and in compliance with our guidelines back in the App Store quickly.”

Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS, iOS Devices Tagged: Advertising, API, App Approval Process, App Store, Apple, china, Data, privacy, SDK, Security, User Data, Youmi

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The iOS Waze app has been given a major redesign intended to make it easier to use for navigating, reporting problems and sharing your ETA with others.

Steps to navigate have been minimized. The Waze map, menus and road reporting system are redesigned for higher visibility and clarity, including less clutter on the map, brighter buttons, and color-coded pins per report type. From head to toe, Waze has been revamped with a stronger focus on the driver and the social driving experience.

Interestingly, although Waze is now owned by Google, the iOS app has been updated ahead of the Android version … 

The main aim of the new UI is to reduce the number of taps required in use. For example, a single panel now shows your ETA, allows you to add stops en-route, shows alternate routes and lets you send your ETA to friends.

Check out the video below for a quick overview. Waze 4.0 is a free download from iTunes.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: Google, maps, navigation, Waze

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San Francisco-based Mission Motorcycles, a maker of high-end electric motorcycles, recently filed for bankruptcy amid financial troubles. In the filing, current CEO Mark Seeger said the company is so low on cash that it can’t afford to pay for an attorney for the bankruptcy process, but while recently talking with Reuters, former CEO Derek Kaufman dismissed the company’s lack of money and instead blamed Mission’s demise on Apple’s poaching of top engineers…

Rumors are all but confirmed that Apple has been developing its own electric vehicle under Project Titan and Kaufman wouldn’t be the first person deploring Apple’s hiring efforts for the project. Battery maker A123 Systems filed a lawsuit against Apple earlier this year for poaching five of its engineers and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has often commented on the Cupertino company trying to hire automotive engineers from Tesla.

In the case of Mission, Kaufman said Apple hired two key engineers from his team as the company was trying to close a round of funding. After the engineers left for Apple, the investors backed out and consequently more employees left.

According to Reuters, Apple hired Nancy Sun, Mission’s vice president of electrical engineering, Mark Sherwood, director of power train systems engineering, and Eyal Cohen, vice president of software and electrical engineering.

Kaufman said:

“Mission had a great group of engineers, specifically electric drive expertise. Apple knew that – they wanted it, and they went and got it.”

Following Mission’s financial troubles, other employees joined Tesla and Harley-Davidson, the company had previously worked with the later on their electric motorcycle project: LiveWire.

Before stopping their operations, Mission was working on two motorcycles: Mission RS, a racing bike. and Mission R, a street bike (see picture above). The company had developed its own system of battery pack and charging algorithms. They were advertising a range of 150 miles on a single charge.

You can visit our sister site Electrek.co for more electric vehicle news.

Filed under: Apple Car Tagged: Apple Inc, bankruptcy, electric bike, electric motorcycle, Elon Musk, engineers, Mission, Mission Motorcycles, Mission Motors, Tesla Motors

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Apple has announced the grand opening of its latest retail store in China, this one in the city of Dalian, a major port and financial center. The store opens at 9.30am on Saturday 24th October.

The store, located in the six-storey Parkland Mall shown above and below, has been a long time coming. It was first announced way back in 2012, when the mall boasted that it would be “Apple’s World’s Biggest Flagship Store.” That claim is almost certainly out of date now, with the Dubai store set to open later this month rumored to be taking that title, but it is still likely to be one of the largest stores in the world … 

Apple began hiring for the store earlier this year, with US-based retail employees encouraged to apply.

Darian is a modern city, and its famous beaches make it a popular tourist destination for both domestic visitors and those from Japan, South Korea and Russia. Photos of the city and Parkland Mall can be seen below.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple Retail Store, Apple Store, china, Dalian, Dalian China, Dalian Department Store, Parkland Mall

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