| Cult of Mac

Apple ‘in discussions’ over bringing RCS messaging to iOS

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Messages replay
Is Messages due for a big upgrade on iOS?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is said to be “in discussions” over adding Rich Communications Services (RCS) to iOS.

The upgrade to traditional text messaging would allow for some iMessage features — like read receipts and typing indicators — when talking to friends who use Android and other platforms.

International Apple Watch 3 won’t work with U.S. carriers

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apple watch
Don't buy a new Apple Watch on vacation.
Photo: Apple

If you want your Apple Watch Series 3 to work properly in the U.S., don’t buy it when you’re on vacation abroad.

Units purchased in other countries won’t connect to LTE networks in the U.S., and vice versa. That means you won’t be able to roam with your Apple Watch in the same way you can with your iPhone.

Virgin Mobile innovates by going iPhone-only

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Virgin is going all-in on the iPhone.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

In an effort to regain relevancy in the ridiculously competitive mobile network space, Virgin Mobile CEO Richard Branson revealed today that his company is going all-in on iPhone.

Virgin Mobile is set to become the first-ever iPhone-only carrier and to kick things off the company is offering a deal for Apple fans that just might convince them to switch from one of the major networks.

T-Mobile sprints into U.S. top 3 carrier spot

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Sprint added new customers, but not enough to keep its bronze model from T-Mobile.
Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr CC

T-Mobile is doing pretty hot lately, but it’s unfortunately at Sprint’s expense. While the latter carrier has been declining in market share for the past couple of years, it’s finally now in last place out of the four major U.S. wireless carriers. T-Mobile snatched the bronze model.

In the quarterly earnings call, Sprint said it had 57.7 million customers with a net gain of 675,000. T-Mobile, however, gained 2.1 million customers last quarter for a grand total of 58.9 million.

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September 19 iPhone 6 pre-order date affirmed by Dutch carrier

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We’re fairly confident that Apple will show off the iPhone 6 at its September 9th media event next week, but when will the new hardware actually go on sale?

Signs are pointing to Friday, September 19th for the date that preorders begin—at least in the Netherlands. The Chinese media and Deutsche Telekom support representatives have already mentioned the 19th as new iPhone day too.

The New iPhones Will Support All Four Of The U.K.’s 4G Carriers, Despite What Apple Says

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When Apple updated its website on Tuesday and added the new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c to its online store, we were surprised to see that it was only advertising support for two of the U.K.’s four 4G carriers — EE and Vodafone. But don’t worry, both Three and O2 have confirmed that the devices will support their new LTE networks, too.

Japan’s Largest Carrier NTT DoCoMo In Talks To Get The iPhone 5S, 5C? [Report]

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In every country, there’s the holdouts, the also-ran carriers that haven’t inked a deal with Apple and so soldier valiantly on, selling Android and (gasp) Blackberries to their sad clientele. In Japan, this also-ran carrier happens to be the nation’s largest, NTT DoCoMo. But eventually, even the holdouts come around, and shares of NTT DoCoMo are up this morning following reports that Apple is in talks to bring the iPhone to the network.