Apple has cut the amount of time it takes to approve new submissions for the App Store down to just one day, claims a new report.
The initiative — which is part of Apple’s efforts to focus on improving its services at a time when iPhone sales are decreasing — means that, in the past year alone, the mean number of days it takes an app to be approved has fallen from 8.8 down to only 24 hours.
Imagine that you’re in a Samsung team meeting. You’ve been asked to come up with unique ideas for a Galaxy S7 case and, because it’s late in the day and all the good ideas have already been voiced, you start coming up with joke suggestions.
Since everyone seems to love giant smartphones, you quip that some people might like it if you created a case the size of a surfboard. People could even use it for real, since the S7 is water-resistant. You look at the rest of the group, expecting someone to laugh. Your boss doesn’t crack a smile. Then he reaches for his phone and you fear that you’re out of a job.
“I’ve got a member of my team down here who deserves a massive raise,” he says.
Apple has reportedly admitted defeat when it comes to saving the iPhone 6 belonging to 14-year-old Austin Stephanos, who went missing with his friend Perry Cohen last July 24 — only for his damaged, non-working smartphone to be discovered off the coast of Bermuda.
It was hoped that being able to get the iPhone up and running would offer some answers about what happened to the two boys, whose disappearance prompted an extensive eight-day search of the Atlantic, spanning 50,000 nautical miles.
Fighting Apple may, according to some, have been the FBI’s worst PR disaster in history, but even its failure to convince Congress of its goals isn’t stopping its war on encryption — with FBI director James Comey telling reporters this week that more litigation can be expected as the feds seek to hack devices.
Whether it’s DJs using MacBook Pros at their openings or shots of them looking emptier than a Killian Bell surprise birthday party, Microsoft Stores have long been a bit of a punchline compared to the crazy success of Apple’s own brick-and-mortar retail outlets.
But a new report underlines just how poorly Microsoft Stores are doing as they finally crawl past the 100 store milestone — but without being able to attract a significant number of customers along the way.
Having followed Cupertino’s lead with end-to-end encryption, WhatsApp is further ingratiating itself with Apple fans by introducing a new official Mac desktop app.
Even a year on from its launch, former Apple CEO John Sculley isn’t convinced the Apple Watch is a must-have Apple device just yet.
“I think the Apple Watch is beautiful, but it doesn’t have enough utility to be something that I feel I have to have at this point in time,” he says in a new interview with The Street, noting that it’s the only major Apple product he doesn’t use.
Apple display maker Japan Display has, quite literally, millions of reasons why it’s desperate for Apple to switch to OLED displays for the iPhone as soon as possible.
The company reported a ¥31.8 billion ($293.5 million) loss for the recently-ended fiscal year as the rising value of the yen, and slowing iPhone and iPad sales, hit the manufacturer hard. And according to its bosses, it’s counting on Apple introducing OLED iPhone displays to help bail it out!
If 2016 is like previous years, Apple will unveil its annual iOS refresh at next month’s WWDC event.
While currently we haven’t heard too much about the milestone iOS 10, a group of dedicated Apple fans have taken it upon themselves to imagine what the upcoming improvements and feature set mat look like in the form of a nifty concept video. And if Apple comes up with anything like what they’ve dreamed up, we’re happy to say that we’ll be very, very pleased indeed.
Check it out below.
Apple Pay’s availability in Canada has taken a giant step forward with two major Canadian banks starting to offer the service starting today.
Beginning Tuesday, Royal Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce will support Apple’s NFC payment technology, along with ATB Financial and Canadian Tire Financial Services — while three other banks out of Canada’s Big Five are set to hop on the bandwagon over the coming months.
Not all of Apple’s patents are focused on turning the iPhone into something as worthy as a next-gen medical data gathering device. A newly-published document reveals that Apple has considered an invention that would allow iPhone customers to use their handsets for a quick game of laser tag.
Particularly for those of us who have always used iPhones, it’s fascinating to be reminded of how far the technology has come in under a decade.
With that in mind, a recent video by YouTube channel EveryApplePro puts every iPhone model Apple has ever put out (with the exception, unfortunately, of the new iPhone SE) through a battery of tests to check everything from startup time to speaker output to, yes, even their heat signatures.
Check it out below.
AAPL stock fell to a new 52-week low last week, signaling its longest loss streak in 18 years, but portfolio managers aren’t close to throwing in the towel on Apple just yet. In fact, this could turn out to be the equivalent of a Black Friday sale for anyone wanting to get their hands on some massively undervalued stock!
“Things aren’t as bad as everybody thinks,” said Dan Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust, speaking on CNBC‘s “Squawk on the Street.” “[Apple has] a tremendous amount of room to grow.”
The Apple Watch is the first major new Apple product line to be launched under Tim Cook, but according to Apple analyst Tim Bajarin (who, unlike many Apple commentators, actually knows a lot of the people he writes about), it’s a product which owes a tremendous amount to Steve Jobs and his experiences.
Here’s how Bajarin explains it:
It’s been rumored for some time now, but according to a new report Apple’s main manufacturer Foxconn is on the verge of bringing iPhone production to India, thanks to a new manufacturing plant likely to be based in Maharashtra.
Apple is raising money via iTunes donations to help victims of the Alberta fires, the massive wildfire currently raging across Alberta, Canada, which has destroyed more than 1,600 homes and buildings and forced the biggest evacuation of wildlife in Canadian history.
Apple has once again been named the No. 1 seller of PCs, based on shipments of just over 14 million units in the first three months of 2016.
The study comes courtesy of independent analysts Canalys, which claim that worldwide PC shipments — which it defines as being desktops, notebooks, two-in-ones and tablets — totaled 101 million units this quarter. That means that, broadly speaking, seven out of every 50 PCs sold bore the Apple brand.
Right now it seems like Apple is set for a collision of sorts with the Chinese government — and things may not be helped by the fact that a state-owned Chinese company just bought a stake in Imagination Technologies, a British chip design company Apple was previously reported as being in “advanced talks” to acquire.
After Apple Maps got off to a rocky start, it is continuing its quest to become the go-to maps service on mobile by adding transit information for yet another city — meaning that the app will provide detailed information on transportation options ranging from buses to railway lines.
The latest city to get the Transit treatment? Sacramento, CA.
In another piece of evidence that September’s iPhone 7 may not offer a radical redesign of the curvaceous iPhone 6 or 6s, a newly-released schematic suggests that the next-gen iPhone 7 will boast an identical height and width to last year’s 2015-era iPhone refresh.
Good thing or not? Either way, check out the picture below.
Apple reportedly hosted a meeting between Eddy Cue and seven leading podcasters last month in Cupertino, in which the company listened to the concerns they had for Apple’s podcast services going forward.
Some of the most pressing issues are said to involve the ease of sharing podcasts on social media, the possibility of offering paid podcasts, and providing podcasters with data about their audience which could then be used to help generate more money.
In a week in which we heard about the impending Apple Music refresh, Drake’s Views album proved a smash hit for Apple, and the LAPD revealed that it had successfully hacked the iPhone 5s as part of a high-profile murder investigation, some great new — and newly-updated — apps arrived in the App Store.
Check out our picks for the week’s best below. What better way to spend a lazy Sunday?
So far this year, vulnerabilities have been exploited to help unlock the older-generation iPhone 5s and 5c, both as part of murder investigations. However, the newer iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, and 6s Plus remain secure devices no government has been able to break into.
Although that record may have been broken in India, according to the country’s telecom minister.
Tim Cook is set for a verbal shootout in China as he meets with high-ranking officials in Beijing later this month to discuss some critical issues Apple faces in the country.
The visit comes at a time when Apple is facing various problems in China, including the loss of its exclusive iPhone trademark, and the Chinese government’s decision to ban the company from operating its iBooks and iTunes Movies stores locally.
From the sound of things, Apple is focusing a lot of attention on next year’s iPhone launch as the biggest handset refresh since 2014’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
Alongside OLED displays, wireless charging, an all-glass enclosure and a lack of physical home button, the iPhone 7s (or possibly iPhone 8 if certain rumors are to be believed) will also include a next-next-gen A11 chip. And Apple’s already working on it.