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Overcast 2.0 is out today and adds several nice updates to the popular podcast client. The app now includes streaming, so you don’t have to download episodes to listen to them: just stream the file contents as you go. This comes in handy for people with low-storage phones but also just helps everyone listen to shows faster, without having to wait for a 50-100MB episode to finishing downloading.

Overcast 2 also includes support for podcast chapter marks. When podcast authors include this metadata, Overcast will now show this information in its detail view. Tapping on a chapter title jumps to that point in the show. The app also displays the current chapter title at the bottom of the screen, which provides some nice context if you are picking up in the middle of show from where you left off.

Moreover, all features of Overcast are now free. The previous ‘freemium’ model has been dropped as Overcast has moved to a donation ‘Patreon’-esque model where you can optionally subscribe for $2.99/month. However, it is completely optional and there are currently no features exclusively available to paying users.

Although streaming is the headline addition, there are a lot of smaller changes including support for iOS 9 iPad Split View and Slide Over multitasking plus Smart Speed optimizations. You can download Overcast from the App Store for free.

Filed under: AAPL Company, Apps, iOS, iOS Devices, Tech Industry Tagged: iOS app, overcast, Podcast, Podcasts, podcats, Split View

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[Ed. Note: This is a guest post by Lontih Khatami who [disclosure] works at the same studio, Universal, that produced the film but did not work on the film. Spoiler: it’s better than iSteve]

Interested in seeing the new Steve Jobs movie that Universal is releasing this weekend in select markets (with wide expansion set for October 23)? Well, me, too. Only I’ve already seen it five times within the past dozen days. And I eagerly await my next few viewings.

You’re probably wondering how I’ve been able to see this inevitable Oscar contender so many times prior to its initial release. The more important thing to ponder, though, is “Why would anybody WANT to see it so many times in such a short timeframe?” The answer to that question, quite simply, is because the movie is masterfully made, and it works on so many different levels. Not unlike so many of the products the title character brought into this world…

To best analyze this movie, one would rightfully begin with the fertile subject matter — a titan of an entrepreneur, a revolutionary communicator, and a contradiction of a human being (after all, Jobs is a man who denied the paternity of his own illegitimate child for years while obsessing to marry technology with accessibility in order to procreate the most sought-after and sophisticated gadgetry of our time for strangers).

And who better to write the screenplay on such an intriguing individual than someone who possesses these same traits himself? Namely Aaron Sorkin, whose taut screenplay is fraught with conflict, three-dimensional characterization, expertly crafted scenes, transfixing dialogue exchanges, and an uncanny insight into the human condition; and he seems to accomplish all of this within every scene.

Steve Jobs, the movie, however, is not a one-man show (nor is Steve Jobs, the man/myth — Woz, anybody?). No, Sorkin had invaluable help from his filmmaking collaborators. I’d venture to say making a movie is akin to making a computer; there are hundreds of people (creatives and technicians alike), countless components and painstaking decisions involved in constructing both. But making a movie and/or a computer work magnificently is a whole other matter.

In tech/geek circles, Jobs and company are widely considered to have made their computers with an unmatched expertise. And in film circles, Sorkin and director Danny Boyle seem to share that same esteem. Allow me if you will to further this movie/computer analogy. If Sorkin is the programmer writing the sequences and instructions needed to make the movie, then Boyle is the central processing unit that flawlessly carries out these instructions with a flair.

There’s a scene halfway through the movie (a sequence, really) that has stayed with me more than the rest of the compelling scenes. It starts off with Jobs backstage at the second product launch of the three product launches that Sorkin utilizes to structure the movie (specifically the introduction of the NeXT computer, at a crushing time in Jobs’ life after he was fired from Apple).

On his way to the stage, Jobs enters a large, empty hall where a dozen or so tables are pushed up against the walls with chairs stacked high and haphazardly on each of them. There is only one man in the room, John Sculley – the man responsible for Jobs’ acrimonious dismissal from the very company Jobs created. The two hadn’t spoken in years, and there Sculley is, seated in the one chair on the floor.

As the two friends-turned-rivals begin to argue their own points of view of Jobs’ “firing”, the scene flashes back to the moment when Sculley first informs Jobs of his impending loss of stature within Apple. This flashback takes place in Jobs’ unfurnished home. The scene then continues to intercut between the NeXT pre-launch, Jobs’ home, and flashbacks of Jobs’ volatile demise in the Apple boardroom. The flashbacks climax in the boardroom where Sculley sits at the head of the table alongside the rest of the board as they unanimously oust Jobs.

The first time I watched the above scene, I vacillated between feeling it was a bold sequence and feeling it was an overly showy, style-heavy choice – the ridiculously stacked chairs in the hall… the conspicuously empty house with Jobs sitting on the floor while working on his beloved Macintosh… the hyper-kinetic intercutting.

It all bumped me in that first viewing. I saw it again, and decided to just focus on the dialogue; pretty damn good dialogue, I thought. I saw it a third time, trying to pay close attention to the visuals AND audio (not an easy task when Sorkin is on a tear, and Boyle is getting visually adventurous). This time, I noticed a few other nuances, like many of the shots in Jobs’ house had him and Sculley speaking to each other from separate rooms (for the first time, these two literally and figuratively are not seeing eye to eye).

Hmmm, nice touch I thought. It wasn’t until my fourth viewing, when I just couldn’t shake my suspicion that those damn chairs piled high on the tables like post-modern art were meant to bump me, and thus make me think. Alas, they were there for a very precise reason – to highlight that Apple was in upheaval and disarray at that moment, and that Sculley had THE chair (on Apple’s board), the very chair that Jobs wanted.

Throughout that entire sequence, arguably the most dramatic of the movie, Jobs never once sits in a chair. He stands in the oddly chair-strewn hall, he squats/stands/walks in his own home, and he paces and fumes in the Apple boardroom (the sole person on his feet). At that moment, I was no longer just a fan of the movie; I was in awe… of the movie and the filmmakers.

There are plenty of other scenes and moments in the movie to laud, of course, but I’ll save those for you to discover and appreciate. Until then, get in line (or online), buy your ticket, take your seat, and enjoy the show.

Filed under: Opinion, Reviews Tagged: Aaron Sorkin, Danny Boyle, John Sculley, Michael Fassbender, NeXT, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Universal

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Health accessories for iPhones, iPads, and iPods have become more numerous and diverse over the past five years, evolving from Apple’s early Nike+ run sensors to heart rate monitors, increasingly complex Wi-Fi scales with body fat and ambient room sensors, blood pressure cuff docks… and even Bluetooth toothbrushes. Some health accessories are undeniably useful, but others raise the question “why?” — why pay more to see my weight on an iPhone rather than the scale’s built-in screen? Why track daily tooth brushing, body fat percentages, or the humidity of one’s bathroom? People survived for thousands of years without charting every seemingly minor blip on their personal radars.

My perspective changed last month when my wife was diagnosed with a serious cardiac condition. One of those “seemingly minor blips” that can now be constantly monitored is your heartbeat, and when something’s wrong with your heart, advance knowledge literally makes the difference between living or dying. As it turns out, a San Francisco-based company named AliveCor is now on its third-generation version of an iPhone accessory that helps people with cardiac conditions. The AliveCor Mobile ECG ($75) is an FDA-approved electrocardiogram (ECG) monitor that can record and share your heartbeat directly from your iPhone. Measuring roughly 3.2″ by 1.3″ by 0.2″, Mobile EGC can self-attach to your iPhone’s back, or integrate with a bundled custom iPhone 6/6s case for only $79. Given my family’s sudden need for quick access to ECG data, keeping it with an iPhone makes sense, as this is an accessory we’ll want to have on hand whenever it may be needed…

The AliveCor Mobile ECG arrives in a small, lightweight box with minimal documentation. There’s a threadbare three-step guide inside the front lid — “attach to phone case, download AliveECG app, record ECG” — which would be funny if it wasn’t a perfectly succinct statement of the very few steps that actually need to be followed; little more needs to be done. AliveCor ships the buttonless, switchless Mobile ECG pre-installed with a CR2016 coin battery and its “universal attachment plate” (a thin hard plastic mounting bracket with an adhesive strip on the back). A year of battery life is promised per CR2016 cell, but AliveCor notes that the battery could easily last longer than that given typical usage patterns; one battery is good for around 2,000 5-minute ECGs (five per day for a year), whereas most users record only 30-second or 1-minute ECGs.

AliveCor’s hardware is disarmingly simple, yet can perform as a Lead I ECG, Lead II ECG, or Anterior Precordial Lead depending on which parts of your body are touching it. There are two silver metal pads atop an otherwise black plastic surface. In its primary use as a Lead I ECG, you place three fingers from one hand on pad one, and three fingers from your other hand on pad two. For Lead II, your left knee touches the top pad and the right hand touches the bottom pad. For use as an Anterior Precordial Lead, you place the Mobile ECG on the lower left side of your chest, below the pectoral muscle, with the bottom pad closer to the center of your body.

Rather than using Bluetooth, Mobile ECG communicates with your iPhone using inaudible ultrasonic signals, requesting access to the microphone — a smart trick that reduces battery consumption by around 92% versus Bluetooth. Ultrasonic transmission provides “much higher resolution data” than Bluetooth LE would have, AliveCor says, but requires the Mobile ECG to be no more than a foot away from your iPhone, which isn’t a problem. To use the accessory, you just load the aforementioned (and free) AliveECG app, make sure you’re in “record” mode, and properly touch both pads. Again, there are no hardware switches or buttons to worry about. Due to streamlining and optimizations on both the hardware and software sides, Mobile ECG is certainly one of the easiest-to-use health accessories I’ve tested.

If there’s any brief hitch with AliveCor Mobile ECG, it’s the system AliveCor has (reasonably) put in place to handle your first ECG recording. It would be one thing if the AliveECG app merely recorded your heartbeat and presented you with a graph; assuming that you knew what your heartbeat was supposed to look like, you might or might not be able to tell whether something was amiss. But AliveCor actually includes one free human analysis of your ECG recording per account, a process that “could take up to 24 hours,” the app notes, but in my testing ranged from mere minutes to a few hours. Your first ECG is sent to an ECG technician to read, then analyzed as normal or abnormal, before the app is unlocked to enable as many recordings as you want to make over time. The app can provide basic analysis on its own, or you can pay per read for one of three types of human analysis.

When I tested Mobile ECG on myself, I received my initial report within less than 5 minutes; the technical analysis was provided by a service called CompuMed. The analysis was very basic — “normal sinus rhythm” — with an evaluation of “stable,” which could have been “needs review” or “serious” if something appeared to be wrong. My single biggest complaint is that the blue sharing icon to send the PDF format report to a doctor is barely visible on the blue-topped screen, an issue I’d expect AliveCor will address. On many subsequent tests of my own heartbeat, the app came back with automated conclusions that my heartbeat was “normal,” with no abnormalities detected in the ECG. But when I used the Mobile ECG on my young kids, most of the results came back as “unclassified.” It’s unclear at this point as to whether this was due to their ages or actual irregularities.

My wife’s initial report took longer — nearly 3 hours, still less than the 24 hour maximum — yet came back with the same conclusions: “normal sinus rhythm,” and “stable.” This wasn’t a surprise given that her particular heart condition typically presents on ECGs as a completely normal rhythm, up until the point at which her heart fails spectacularly and requires major assistance. That said, she could have palpitations, feel dizzy, or experience other symptoms ahead of a complete collapse, and with Mobile ECG around, we could instantly check her heartbeat wherever we might be, and send the results over to her cardiologist for follow-up. At a minimum, AliveCor suggests that a person with her condition could use Mobile ECG to make sure that everything’s normal when she “feels strange.” Peace of mind is part of the pitch, and by contrast with having no tool on hand (or a $200-$250 fully self-contained 1-lead ECG device), Mobile ECG strikes me as a much better solution.

Should you want to get more information on a given ECG reading, you have options. For $2, AliveCor offers a “preliminary finding by a U.S. based cardiac technician” — not a doctor — within 24 hours, notably only “technical findings” with “no recommendations.” If you need answers more quickly, you can get the same technical findings in only 30 minutes for $5. Or for $12, you can get a “clinical analysis and report by a U.S. board-certified cardiologist” with at least 12 years of education and 6 years of residency/fellowship in cardiology. This service takes up to 24 hours, and includes a “doctor recommended course of action.” Perhaps not surprisingly, there is no option to get a cardiologist’s read within 30 minutes. Although those numbers are listed as “Introductory Pricing,” and credit card information is taken for each per-ECG analysis you run, AliveCor says that it doesn’t have plans to raise the prices.

If you’re comfortable relying upon app-based analysis, AliveECG can get you basic “normal” or “not normal, so seek human guidance” answers within seconds. The app has a collection of five software “detectors” that can be enabled or disabled individually, including “normal,” “atrial fibrillation,” “interference,” “unclassified message,” and “BFx” (beat fluctuation),” each capable of flagging what appears to be a regular or abnormal ECG reading for potential human follow-up. Notably, AliveECG is optimized for detecting atrial fibrillations — problems with the small (atrial) bump that comes after the big (ventricular) spike in a typical heartbeat — so you have to turn off the “interference” detector to discover ventricular irregularities. Atrial fibrillations are the most common issue with heartbeats, however, so the app’s default settings to focus on revealing them is appropriate.

Although AliveCor’s Mobile ECG hardware has enough independent value to keep around if you’re concerned about a heart condition, the AliveECG app has some other hooks to increase its daily utility. It journals all of your ECG readings, chronologically providing heart rate, beat fluctuation, and notes for each one. You can also have it log your medications and provide reminder alarms to take them, or consult an educational guide to heart conditions, ECGs, and anatomy. It’s to AliveCor’s credit that these features don’t feel tacked-on or half-implemented, though I couldn’t find any way to automatically share Mobile ECG data with iOS 8/9’s Health app, a non-trivial software omission that could improve AliveECG’s value to iPhone users.

Would I recommend Mobile ECG? It goes without saying that AliveCor’s Mobile ECG isn’t for everyone — no health accessory really is — but for people who need it, it’s great: the rare iPhone add-on that could actually be a life-saver, or at the very least serve as a stress reliever for cardiac patients. More importantly, it’s extremely easy to use, maintain, and use as a transmission device to send results for analysis. I’m also comfortable with the sub-$80 price, which is reasonable for a tool of this type, and particularly appealing given Mobile ECG’s ability to integrate with an affordable AliveCor case or third-party alternatives. AliveCor has done an impressive job of streamlining everything with this accessory, so it’s very easy to recommend if you have a heart condition that would benefit from the monitoring Mobile ECG and AliveECG can provide.

More From This Author

Check out more of my 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.

Filed under: iOS, iOS Devices, Reviews Tagged: AliveCor, AliveCor Mobile, electrocardiogram, FDA, Health, heart monitor, iPhone, Mobile ECG

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Interviewed on Conan, Steve Jobs screenplay writer Aaron Sorkin said that he understood why Tim Cook had described movies about Jobs as “opportunistic.” Sorkin had previously responded angrily, then later apologized.

Tim Cook and Steve Jobs were very close friends, and I absolutely understand the man protecting the memory and the legacy of his friend.

He did, however, make a slight dig at criticizing movies without seeing them … 

Tim Cook […] said that he hasn’t seen the movie, but– Anytime you start a sentence that way, it isn’t going to end well

Sorkin said that the spat was all over as far as he was concerned, but joked that there might be a building full of people in Cupertino wanting to hack into his computer (he writes on a Mac).

Sorkin said that while he hadn’t met Steve Jobs, he had spoken on the phone with him three times, including the time he helped Jobs with his Stanford commencement speech, which Sorkin described in modest terms.

It’s a great speech. I have nothing to do with its greatness, I fixed some typos …

He said that he got a good sense of the man through numerous interviews with people who knew Jobs well.

I got a sense of who he was by talking to dozens and dozens of people who knew him very well and loved him very well, from Woz to his eldest daughter Lisa

Sorkin also told a story about Jobs washing his feet in a toilet, something he was known to do but had not been in the script until Michael Fassbender decided to add it.

Sorkin also said that while he was known for writing great arguments, he was a terrible arguer himself.

A number of those close to Jobs have weighed-in on the movie, among them Steve Wozniak, Andy Hertzfeld and John Sculley, with the consensus being that what the film depicts isn’t factually accurate but does reflect something of the man himself.

The movie begins its general release today on east and west coasts, gradually rolling out nationwide between then and 23rd October, with a new clip released yesterday.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs biopic, Steve Jobs movie

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While research firms IDC and Gartner disagree on whether Mac sales are falling or rising, they do agree on two things: Q3 Mac sales were at their most sluggish for two years, but still well ahead of the rest of the PC industry.

Ahead of new retina 4K iMac and likley accessories launch next week, IDC estimated that Apple sold 5.3M Macs in Q3 2015, a year-on-year fall of 3.4%. Gartner instead estimated 5.6M sales, representing a 1.5% increase. Both firms did, however, agree on two pieces of good news for Apple … 

First, both sets of figures show that Apple is outselling the PC market as a whole, which fell by either 7.7% (Gartner) or 10.8% (IDC). Second, both agree that Apple increased its market share: from 6.9% to either 7.5% (IDC) or 7.6% (Gartner).

Both firms said that Apple is losing out on overseas sales, reports the WSJ.

Mac sales may have slowed due to a strong U.S. dollar, which made the computers more expensive outside the U.S., said Jay Chou, an IDC analyst.

Apple was hurt by weak markets in Japan and Europe, said  Mikako Kitagawa, a Gartner analyst.

We’ll have to wait until later this month to see the actual figures, when Apple reports Mac sales as part of its calendar Q3/fiscal Q4 earnings report on October 27.

Filed under: AAPL Company, Mac Tagged: Apple Inc, Apple Mac, china, Gartner, IDC, Mac, Mac sales, Market share

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Apple’s rollout of the iPhone 6s/Plus beyond the dozen launch countries kicks off today, with customers in 36 more countries able to get their hands on the new devices. This follows Apple making SIM-free phones available in the USA.

The countries are Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan.

Those in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates will have to wait until tomorrow, while there’s a further week to go before sales open up in India, Malaysia and Turkey. Apple has promised that the new iPhones will be on sale in over 130 countries by the end of the year.

Apple sold more than 13 million iPhones in the opening weekend. If you’re still on the fence, some recent pieces that may help are my iPhone 6s diary, a video of the best 3D Touch features, plus a comparison video and opinion piece on the 6s versus 6s Plus.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s availability, iphone 6s plus, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan

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Apple this evening has removed a handful of apps from the App Store that install root certificates of their own. By installing their own root certificate, the app developers could theoretically gain access to encrypted traffic from users. Among some of the apps being removed are a select number of ad blockers. The ad blockers that have been removed are ones that block content both in Safari and in other apps.

The process that developers went through to be able to block ads in third-party apps is basically setting up a VPN where all traffic is run through the developer’s servers to remove the ads. This is a process that, obviously, could be used for malicious practices.

One of the most prominent apps that has been removed is ad blocker Been Choice, which performs essentially the exact aforementioned process of installing a root certificate on the device. Been Choice, because it did this, was able to block ads inside other apps.

Apple said in a statement to TechCrunch that it removed “a few apps” because they compromise SSL/TLS security solutions. The company also noted, however, that it is working with the developers of the removed apps to get them back onto the App Store with more security measures in place.

Apple is deeply committed to protecting customer privacy and security. We’ve removed a few apps from the App Store that install root certificates which enable the monitoring of customer network data that can in turn be used to compromise SSL/TLS security solutions. We are working closely with these developers to quickly get their apps back on the App Store, while ensuring customer privacy and security is not at risk.

Whether or not these apps will return with the capability of blocking content inside other apps remains to be seen, but given that Apple doesn’t offer an official method by which to do that, it seems unlikely.

Filed under: Apps, iOS Tagged: App Store, Apple, Apps, iOS

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Two weeks following the initial launch of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Apple has added a new purchasing option for the devices to its online store. Starting today, customers can buy an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus SIM-free, unlocked, and without a carrier…

Apple explains on its online store that purchasing a SIM-free iPhone means customers do not have to sign a contract commitment with a carrier, nor do they have to deal with carrier financing. It also notes that the device does not come with a nano-SIM, meaning that customers can go to a carrier of their choice and get a SIM, assuming the carrier supports the wireless bands the iPhone has. This, of course, means that the entire cost of the device must be paid upfront.

The SIM-free iPhone comes without a wireless contract commitment or carrier financing. It doesn’t come with a nano-SIM card for iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, or iPhone 5s. And because it’s unlocked, it isn’t tied to one carrier, so you can get a nano-SIM from any supported carrier worldwide, such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, or Sprint in the United States.

The SIM-free iPhone 6s holds the A1633 model number, while the 6s Plus is model A1634.

Furthermore, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s are now available in a second wave of countries. As the clock turns to October 9th around the world, the devices are available in the following additional countries:

Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Taiwan

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple, iPhone, iPhone 6s, iphone 6s plus

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Apple’s so-called “poaching war” with Tesla has been a hot topic for the company’s CEO Elon Musk and in a recent interview, Musk fired even more shots at Apple. Speaking to German newspaper Handelsblatt, Musk voiced his lack of concern regarding Apple’s tendency to hire Tesla engineers and executives. Musk is currently traveling about Europe to speak to with politicians and Tesla employees.

When it comes to the ongoing poaching war with Apple, Musk stated that the people Apple is poaching are ones that have been fired by Tesla. “They have hired people we’ve fired,” Musk said. “We always jokingly call Apple the ‘Tesla Graveyard.’ If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple.” And in case you thought Musk was just joking, he made sure we knew that he wasn’t. “I’m not kidding,” he stated.

Furthermore regarding Apple’s plans to manufacture its own electric car, Musk said that it’s a very ambitious move on the company’s part, but he’s glad they are doing it. He warned Apple, however, that there’s a lot more that goes into building cars than building phones and smartwatches. With that said, Musk noted that cars are the “next logical thing” for Apple to move towards and investigate.

“Did you ever take a look at the Apple Watch? (laughs) No, seriously: It’s good that Apple is moving and investing in this direction. But cars are very complex compared to phones or smartwatches,” Musk said.

While Musk’s comments come off as slightly defensive and trash talk-like, he makes a very good point. There are thousands of unique parts in a car and the supply chain to produce one is more complex than any of Apple’s current products by a few orders of magnitude.

Musk has previously said that he “hopes” Apple will enter the car market and that it will be “great” for the industry. Most recently, reports have suggested that Apple’s electric car project, codenamed Project Titan, is moving along more quickly than first believed. Apple is reportedly already testing its car at a secret car test track. Apple is said to be working with BMW on the Titan project, and operating the entire endeavour under a shell company called SixtyEight Research.

You can read much more about Tesla, Elon Musk, and other solar projects on our sister site Electrek. 

Filed under: Apple Car Tagged: Apple Car, Elon Musk, Musk, Tesla

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Earlier this week Apple stated that Apple Pay is off to a “great start” following its launch nearly a year ago, seeing double-digit growth in transactions every month. Now, it looks as if Apple has inked a deal that will greatly expand the presence of its mobile payments solution. Speaking at Re/code’s Code/Mobile conference today, Apple Pay head Jennifer Bailey announced that Starbucks will soon begin accepting the payment method in its 7,500 locations.

Bailey stated that Starbucks will begin testing Apple Pay in select stores this year via a pilot program before expanding it to all stores sometime in 2016. Starbucks has long supported Apple Pay in its iOS app, allowing users to choose it as a payment method when paying via the app or reloading cards, but never to pay at the register in a store. The Starbucks app accounts for 20 percent of all in-store transactions for the company.

Bailey also announced that Apple Pay will soon be supported at the fast food chain KFC and in the sit-down chain Chili’s. Apple’s Bailey noted that the KFC expansion has a special place in her heart because it was her first job.

Regarding the possibility of expanding Apple Pay to additional countries, Bailey said that Apple is working to bring the service to as many countries as possible. “We want to bring Apple Pay to as many countries as possible,” the exec stated.

Apple Pay has been expanding at a brisk pace recently. The service launched in the U.K. a few months ago, while CEO Tim Cook proclaimed that 2015 would be the “year of Apple Pay.” Some retailers, however, have questioned the uptake of the platform. For instance, Panera Bread and Firehouse both claim that Apple Pay transactions make up a low single-digit percentage of all transactions.

Filed under: Apple Pay Tagged: Apple, Apple pay, jennifer bailey, Starbucks

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Facebook today issued a notable update to its Facebook Messenger iOS app today, bringing three major iOS 9 and watchOS 2 enhancements. Most importantly, today’s update includes the native Apple Watch application introduced at Apple’s September 9th event. The app has support for viewing and responding to conversations as well as sending stickers. Specific to the iPad, Facebook Messenger’s interface is now dynamic so it can support split-screen apps in the updated multitasking view. Across all iOS 9 devices, Facebook will now show conversations and contacts in the Proactive Spotlight screens.

Filed under: AAPL Company

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