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Our Tuesday Morning Report has some good news for Americans in big cities still in search of an iPhone 6: Apple has officially announced a release in China, which should help alleviate the number of devices being purchased here and sent to the mainland for resale at a hefty profit. There’s also news about the next three iOS 8 updates, and Parisians get the first public look at the forthcoming Apple Watch — so don’t waste a moment, dive right in!
Regulatory Hurdles Cleared, iPhone 6 Arrives in China Oct. 17
It should be easier to buy an iPhone 6 next month, now that Apple announced Tuesday that the latest and greatest models will go on sale in China beginning Friday, October 17. At the US launch earlier this month, scores of people hired by Chinese gray marketers lined up to be the first to buy the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, only to wind up handing them off to be shipped back to China for sale at a steep profit — a practice that should be curtailed now that Apple is officially launching the handsets in that country.
Available from all three major carriers across mainland China (China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom), the new iPhone 6 models can be preordered starting Friday, October 10, with reservations for in-store pickup beginning the following week. Chinese iPhone 6 models include support for TD-LTE and FDD-LTE and start at a suggested retail price of 5,288 (RMB).
3 Big iOS 8 Updates In the Works, iOS 8.1 Beta Now Available
9to5Mac reported Monday that Apple engineers are already hard at work on the next three versions of iOS 8, with analytics logs revealing that the trio of updates appear to be in development simultaneously, something of a change of pace for Cupertino. The first such update is iOS 8.1, which arrived as a developer beta yesterday, while iOS 8.2 and iOS 8.3 appear timed for release sometime next year.
The report suggests Apple may attempt to unshackle major OS releases from new hardware launches, a practice that could have curtailed recent snafus such as the buggy iOS 8.0.1 update and the delay of HealthKit-compatible apps. The change in development could also be tied to new hardware: iOS 8.1 is widely expected to launch next month alongside the Apple Pay feature currently locked up inside new iPhone 6 models, and the Apple Watch has already been announced for early 2015.
In a separate report late Monday, 9to5Mac also confirmed the presence of an Apple Pay settings page hidden inside the new iOS 8.1 developer beta, but a tipster also claimed there’s a reference to Touch ID on the iPad as well: “Pay with iPad using Touch ID. With Apple Pay, you no longer need to type card numbers and shipping information.” That line of code apparently refers to making purchases online, however — there’s no indication Apple plans to include an NFC chip inside the next generation of iPads.
Paris Fashion Boutique First to Display Apple Watch
MacRumors reported Tuesday that the as-yet-unreleased Apple Watch is making its pubic debut today at a special event held during the Paris Fashion Show. The “one-day-only experience” at fashion boutique Colette features both 38mm and 42mm versions of the smartwatch from all three collections, although customers can only look at the devices for now. Starting at $349, Apple Watch is expected to be released in early 2015, although recent rumors claim Cupertino will be “lucky” to launch the device in time for Valentine’s Day on February 14.
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