The high cost of Apple’s iPhone means that it struggles to compete in China, with rivals like Samsung offering a whole range of devices designed for different budgets. But a low-cost iPhone 5C could change that.
One analyst believes that as long as Apple prices it right, the device could help the Cupertino company become the number one smartphone vendor in China, crushing Samsung on the way.
The iPhone 5 has been on sale for almost a year now — in fact, its successor is right around the corner — and the award-winning physical puzzler World of Goo has finally been updated to support its larger 4-inch display. If you’re one of the many millions of people who love this title, this is a great excuse to play it all over again.
Apple is expected to make iOS 7 beta 7 available to registered developers today, just days after it released iOS 7 beta 6. This is expected to be the final beta before Apple seeds the Gold Master release early next month.
Remember Gameloft’s $80 Duo Gamer Controller? It was launched in October 2012 and it brought physical controls to our favorite Gameloft games on iOS — but it had a number of major flaws. The biggest one was that it was only compatible with Gameloft games, and that made its $80 price tag all the more bemusing.
But it’s not such a bad purchase at $6.36, which is all you’ll pay for it on Amazon right now.
Steve Wozniak has made his feelings about Ashton Kutcher’s Jobs movie pretty clear, but how does he really feel about the film? Kutcher believes Woz’s views could be swayed by the fact he’s being paid by another studio to support a different Steve Jobs movie, and because Jobs doesn’t place enough focus on Woz’s contribution to Apple.
German retail chain Media Markt has added a 128GB iPhone 5 model to its inventory, sparking speculation that Apple could be planning to double the handset’s maximum internal storage at its iPhone event on September 10. The iPhone 5 is currently available in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB variants, but a 128GB model is sure to appeal to plenty of customers.
Shadowgun: DeadZone, the award-winning multiplayer shooter that has attracted millions of players on Android and iOS, is now available to download on your Mac.
Like its mobile counterparts, the desktop version is completely free, and you can even sign into the same account you’ve already been playing with — so all the characters and weapons you’ve upgraded will be available to you right away.
China Mobile may be the world’s biggest carrier with over 740 million subscribers, but it is yet to tie up a deal with Apple for the iPhone. That could change this fall when the Cupertino company unveils the iPhone 5S and a low-cost “iPhone 5C” for emerging markets, which are expected to include support for China Mobile’s 4G LTE network.
According to China Mobile chairman Xi Guohua, the company is already in talks with Apple, and “both sides are keen” to reach a deal.
Until Apple’s Developer Center was taken down due to a security breach, the Cupertino company was steadily rolling out new iOS 7 betas every other Monday — and it appears that trend is set to continue now that everything’s back to normal.
Sources familiar with Apple’s plans say that we can expect iOS 7 beta 6 to arrive next week, ahead of a Gold Master release on Friday, September 5.
Although we expect the iPhone 5S to look a lot like the iPhone 5, there may be one model that won’t be confused with its predecessor — a white and gold one. It’s been the subject of countless rumors in recent months, and this photo, posted to Chinese social networking site Weibo, could prove it’s real.
The low-cost “iPhone 5C” hasn’t been announced yet, but it already feels like we’re pretty familiar with it — mostly because we’ve seen so many pictures of its plastic rear shell. But most of those — the high quality ones, at least — have included the white model.
A new hands-on video that has surfaced today shows off the yellow model in all its glory.
We expect the upcoming iPhone 5S to look a lot like the iPhone 5, so its biggest changes will all be internal. We’re likely to see a faster processor and better graphics, an improved camera, and if we’re really lucky, a fingerprint scanner. This purported iPhone 5S rear shell shows the changes Apple has made to the handset’s design to accommodate the new components.
Apple has acquired Matcha, a second-screen video search and recommendation service that was recently closed, for a fee believed to be between $1 million and $1.5 million.
Matcha was previously available as an iOS app, and it allowed users to get an overview of everything they could watch on a variety of cable TV networks and video-streaming services. But the service was closed back in May as it focused on a new direction — one which will now be controlled by Apple.
There’s been a recurring theme with the iPhone its debut in 2007, and that’s that every model Apple releases sells significantly better than the last. Phil Schiller once said that each new iPhone model sells as many units as all previous models combined, and analysts expect to see a similar trend this fall with the iPhone 5S.
In fact, one analyst predicts the new iPhone will be “the most successful product launch ever in the history of Apple.”
Ember for Mac, the terrific scrapbooking tool from Realmac Software, has just received its first update following its debut late last month. The release adds a new feature called “Smart Drawing,” which magically turns your shaky sketches into “beautifully-smooth shapes.”
Pocket Casts is arguably the finest podcast client on Android, and it’s pretty terrific on iOS, too. But it’s about to get even better. With the upcoming Pocket Casts 4 update, we’ll see a brand new user interface based on iOS 7’s new design, iPad support, cross-platform syncing for subscriptions, playlists, and play states, and lots more.
Apple announced a new charge trade-in program earlier this month, which gives those with third-party iPhone, iPad, and iPod adapters the chance to take them in and swap them for official ones at a special price. At first, it seemed the program was only available to customers in the U.S. and China, but that’s not the case.
According to a new support document on Apple’s website, those in the U.K., Canada, Australia, Japan, and parts of Europe can also take advantage of the offer.
A rumored September 10 iPhone event has been given an all-important “yep” from The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple. It’s the closest we’ll get to an official confirmation before Apple sends out invites to the much-anticipated shindig, which will likely see the iPhone 5S and the plastic low-cost iPhone 5C get their official unveilings.
You don’t have to spend too much time in a public place before you hear the iPhone’s default “tri-tone” alert — it’s everywhere, and everyone knows exactly what it means. But do you know where it came from? You might be surprised to hear that it wasn’t actually composed for the iPhone, but for a 1998 MP3 player for the Mac called SoundJam MP.
The Skype app for iPad has been updated today to introduce support for HD video calling — but there’s a catch. The feature is only available on the fourth-generation iPad with Retina display, and not any of its predecessors or the iPad mini.
The fifth-generation iPad will use the same touch-panel technology as the iPad mini to allow it to become thinner and lighter, according to “people with knowledge of the matter,” who have been speaking to The Wall Street Journal. The device is expected to look just like the iPad mini, with narrow bezels and a significantly thinner shell, but it will maintain a 9.7-inch Retina display.
The id America SmartFold is a leatherette folio case for the iPad mini which offers drop protection and a smart design that will fit in just nicely at your next board meeting. It protects your iPad mini from top to toe, with a reinforced back for impact absorption and a sturdy front cover that stays closed with magnets.
The SmartFold provides access to all of your iPad mini’s ports and buttons, and leaves its front- and rear-facing cameras exposed. Its front cover can be folded back into a stand for typing or watching movies, and it has a soft microfiber lining to prevent your device from getting scratched.
The SmartFold is available in black and white and it’s priced at $39.95. I’ve been using it for the past two weeks to find out if it’s any good.
AgileBits has announced today that 1Password 4 will be on sale for just $7.99 for a limited time. That’s 55% off its regular price tag, and the app’s cheapest price tag to date. But what’s the reason for the sale? Well, on September 1, Dropbox syncing will stop in 1Password 3 for iOS, and AgileBits wants you to upgrade to the latest version to keep this functionality.
Are you unable to download content from the App Store and iTunes this morning? Don’t worry—you’re not the only one. Lots of people are experiencing the same thing, and Apple has acknowledged a problem affecting “some users” on its system status page.
By now we know exactly what the iPhone 5C is going to look like thanks to more component leaks than you probably care to look at. But the latest gallery is the only one you should care about, because these high-resolution pictures show off the iPhone 5C’s plastic rear panel better than ever before.