Tim Cook gave a rare public interview on Monday night at the Wall Street Journal’s new tech conference, WSJD. The Apple CEO touched on a range of topics, including Apple Pay’s success, a big potential partnership, why the iPod classic was discontinued, and more.
Here are the biggest takeaways from Cook’s comments:
In 2004, at the height of the original iPod’s success, Apple started asking itself internally what would eventually kill the iPod. Whatever it was, Cupertino wanted to make sure they stayed ahead of the curve.
What did Apple think would doom the iPod? According to ex-iPod-chief Tony Fadell, Cupertino called it correctly: Music streaming would eventually kill the iPod. But Apple didn’t call it streaming, or even music in the cloud. They called it the “celestial music jukebox.”
The iPod Classic is dead.
After serving faithfully in the iPod lineup since 2009, the iPod Classic and its iconic click-wheel interface have finally gotten the ax. Along with redesigning the Apple website and adding an Apple Watch page, Apple has removed the iPod Classic from the iPod section of its site.
We knew this day was coming for years, and what better way to give the old iPod the boot than right as the sexy new smartwatch is walking through the doors at Apple’s campus.
Fare thee well, oh click wheel. Fare thee well.
This time on The CultCast: rumored new EarPods take your pulse and more; updated Macbook Airs get faster and cheaper; a leaked “iPhone 6” case indicates an iPod-inspired design; Google takes on Office with new iOS apps for Drive; we ponder the state of the iPod; and we pitch our favorite tech and apps then vote on which is best… it’s an all new Faves N Raves!
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Back in November we reported on the UK resident thrown in jail for accidentally buying what turned out to be a clay iPad from his local supermarket.
Well, jump forward another month and here’s a similarly bizarre tale: the man who set out to buy an iPod Classic for his wife’s Christmas gift — only to discover a box full of erasers and index cards instead. Twice.
Apple was hit with a Y330 million (about $3.3 million) bill by the Tokyo District Court on Thursday after the company was found guilty of patent infringement. Japanese inventor Norihiko Saito was awarded by Presiding Judge Teruhisa Takano after the court ruled that Mr. Saito’s patent, which had been filed in 1998, covered technology for the Click Wheel controller Apple added to the iPod back in 2004.
For Americans, AppleCare+ is a fantastic service that takes a lot of the background stress out of having an iPhone. For just $99 and $49 per incident, Apple will replace your iPhone up to two times for accidents or damages, due to clumsiness, accidents, or whatever. I replaced a completely watersoaked iPhone 5 through AppleCare+, and a screen-cracked iPhone 4s. It really takes a load off.
Until now, AppleCare+ was only available to Americans, and was only available for iPhones and iPads. But yesterday, Apple unveiled some big changes to AppleCare+ that makes it accessible to Europeans for the first time.
Having gone without a refresh since 2009, the iPod classic is one of the oldest products still on sale in the Apple Store. Will Apple finally update it this fall to add flash storage and a Lightning connector? Probably not. In fact, some expect the Cupertino company to finally kill it off.
Those with older iPhones and iPods are now being contacted regarding a possible payout over faulty liquid damage indicators that caused some customers to lose out on free AppleCare repairs. Apple agreed to pay $53 million in a class action lawsuit earlier this year, and those who may be eligible for damages should be receiving an email soon.
Every time Apple introduces a new product they love to compare it to a common object that shows just how magically small it is. The MacBook Air fits inside an envelope. The iPod Classic is the size of a deck of cards. The iPad mini is thinner than a pencil. And the 4th generation iPad with Retina display is thinner than a penny! Wait, what?
A typo on Apple’s website says that the depth of the iPad is .37mm, which would make it about as thick as four sheets of paper copy. For sake of comparison a penny has a depth of 1.57mm, so the new iPad is hella skinny. Obviously the image should show .37 inches thick, not millimeters. We’re just surprised this little mistake has slipped through Apple’s perfectionist fingers without much notice.
Source: Apple
Via: Reddit
