How’s it going, everybody? It’s the weekend — so sit back, relax, and let us introduce you to a few of the apps which were generating headlines over the past week.
Whether it’s a great update for an iOS PDF editor or a fantastic puzzle game you’re looking for, check out our picks below.
How does the iPhone cost where you live stack up against the rest of the world? Deutsche Bank’s annual “Mapping the World’s Prices” report for 2016 has arrived, and it compares the prices of 20 popular items in global cities around the world — including Apple’s iPhone 6.
The big message? Mainly that you shouldn’t misplace your iPhone while in Brazil, India, Sweden, Denmark, Indonesia, or Italy. Check it out below.
Apple may be forced to ditch its chosen dual camera module supplier Sony in favor of LG Innotek, according to a new report claiming that Sony has fallen behind schedule.
Nomura analyst Chris Chang says that he thinks Sony won’t be able to deliver its full share of dual camera lenses for the iPhone 7 due to lower-than-expected yield and damage to its production facility from the April earthquake in Kumamoto. “As a result, we think LGI will gain majority share of the initial dual camera orders from Apple,” Chang writes.
Apple’s long-awaited first brick-and-mortar retail store in Brooklyn has been confirmed by a series of job listings posted by Apple.
Jobs include Creatives, Experts, Specialists, Retail Managers, Senior Managers, Geniuses and other positions, on both Apple’s job site and on LinkedIn.
As part of Apple’s top-ranking executive’s trip to India, VP of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives Lisa P. Jackson this week visited “solar mamas” and a rural school where students are taught there lessons using iPads.
Apple shares may be going through a rough patch right now, but according to Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi not only are the troubled times not likely to last, but Apple could see its value rise to a massive $1 trillion market cap.
Provided that it makes a change to it’s business model, that is!
Fifteen years ago today, Apple opened the doors of its first two brick-and-mortar retail stores in McLean, Virginia and Glendale, California.
For a trip down memory lane (a nice way of saying “a way to make you feel really old”), check out the below video of Steve Jobs offering a personal guided tour of what customers setting foot in an official Apple Store could expect.
It may not have been the first Apple Store, but Apple’s Fifth Avenue New York retail outlet (a.k.a. the big glass cube) is almost certainly the most famous Apple Store in the world — and it may be about to get even bigger and more impressive.
According to a new report, while Apple is overhauling its iconic New York store it plans to occupy the nearby 61,000 square foot FAO Schwarz space in the GM Building, and may even consider keeping this space permanently in addition to its existing site.
Tim Cook, Jeff Williams and other top Apple execs are on a packed tour of India right now, and to mark the occasion Apple has announced the opening of a new office in Indian tech hub Hyderabad that will focus on improving Apple Maps.
The office will create up to 4,000 jobs in the the region, and according to Chief Minister Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao, “is testament to [the] proactive approach, quality infrastructure and … excellent talent base we have in the region.”
Tim Cook doesn’t get much downtime to enjoy being the king of all things Apple, does he?
Recently he was troubleshooting in China, and now Apple’s CEO has landed for a week-long stay in India, with five other senior Apple execs, during which time they will meet with top execs and politicians in the country, visit the location of Apple’s new tech development center, and much more.
Apple has reportedly added Wistron as a supplier for its upcoming next-gen iPhone 7 Plus: the 5.5-inch handset we’re expecting to arrive this September.
Although the companies in question haven’t officially confirmed it, Wistron and Foxconn are said to be sharing orders for the plus-sized phone, while Pegatron and Foxconn will split orders for the smaller-size 4.7-inch iPhone 7.
Never let it be said that Apple doesn’t go above and beyond the call of duty in troubleshooting problems for its users in the name of achieving customer satisfaction.
After James Pinkstone, director of design service Vellum, posted a terrifying story on his company blog claiming that iTunes Match stole his files, Apple sprang into action — sending two engineers to his house to troubleshoot the problem.
The power of bad publicity, eh?
Chinese authorities are scrutinizing Apple devices before allowing them to be sold in the country, claims a new report.
The reviews involve Chinese officials requiring executives of foreign tech companies to answer questions in person, with the concern being that companies like Apple may be forced to trade trade secrets for market access.
Android handsets crash far more regularly than iPhones, a new study by the Blanco Technology Group claims.
Measuring the number of failures of Android phones and iPhones during the first three months of 2016, devices running Google’s mobile platform were found to have a failure rate of 44 percent, compared to 25 percent for the iPhone.
Have companies not yet worked out that trying to go against Apple rarely seems to work out? If not, they may be learning quickly — with Apple Pay rival CurrentC reportedly delaying its arrival yet again, while laying off 30 of its staff.
Hardly a ringing endorsement, is it?
Tim Cook’s in China right now, and what better way to showcase Apple’s dedication to growing its Chinese customer base than by updating GarageBand for Mac and iOS with new instruments intended to, “celebrate the rich history of Chinese music?”
The update adds 300 new Chinese musical loops including guzheng, dizi, yangqin and Peking Opera samples, as well as a plethora of Chinese musical instruments such as the pipa, erhu, and Chinese percussion.
I was an enormous fan of the puzzle game Monument Valley, and it appears that I was far from the only one.
That’s based on the look of new iOS puzzler Mekorama, which adopts a similarly surreal aesthetic for a game that looks set to dazzle, delight and downright befuddle gamers mobile gamers everywhere.
Check out the trailer — and download link — below.
The iPhone 7 is still four months away from debuting, but a new picture “leaked” online appears to give us another early glimpse of the next-gen handset — suggesting once again that this might not be a significant redesign from the current iPhone 6s.
Check it out below.
Oracle Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison gave the commencement speech at the University of Southern California late last week, and among other things he talked about a plan with his best friend, Steve Jobs, concerning a mid-1990s bid to stage a takeover of Apple.
And how Steve talked him out of it.
Tim Cook is in China again, and he marked the occasion by paying a visit to an Apple Store in Beijing on Monday — in the company of Liu Qing, a.k.a. the president of Didi Chuxing, the Chinese Uber rival Apple just invested a staggering $1 billion in.
With WWDC (and, presumably, iOS 10’s debut) weeks away, Apple has revealed that 84 percent of possible users are now upgraded to iOS 9, currently the latest version of its mobile OS.
For those keeping track at home, not only is that an extra 4 percent increase from the numbers announced at Apple’s iPhone SE launch event in March, but it also puts Android’s fragmented adoption figures to shame.
In the same week that Apple cut App Store approval wait times to just one day, here are the apps Cult of Mac was focused on. If you’re looking to find out what was rocking the App Store over the past seven days, check out our picks below.
The Penn Square Mall Apple Store in Oklahoma City is set to become the next brick-and-mortar Apple retail store to receive a “next-gen” makeover.
Planning documents suggest that Apple is spending upwards of $2.5 million on the renovation, which saw the Penn Square Mall site close its doors on April 18.
Apple has invested $1 billion in Chinese Uber rival Didi Chuxing in a move that continues Apple’s push into China and confirms the company’s interest in shaking up the automotive industry.
According to Tim Cook, the deal “reflects our excitement about their growing business … and also our continued confidence in the long term in China’s economy.” Perhaps more importantly, it could give Apple strategic insights and competitive advantages when it comes to Apple Pay and a possible Apple Car.
Walter Isaacson, a.k.a the author of the gajillion-selling 2011 Steve Jobs biography, says that Apple is “long overdue” coming out with its next great innovation; speaking at a time when Apple stock continues to fall in the wake of declining iPhone sales.
“I got the [Apple Watch], but I don’t use it that much,” Isaacson told CNBC. “I don’t think the watch is the next big thing.”