Guide to Mac, iPod, iPad and iPhone news and reviews
Apple’s storefront went offline last night and returned with a new Valentine’s Day theme featuring accents of red and a handpicked shopping guide for gift buyers. Holiday graphics replace the standard stock product photos and updated captions like “Lov…
A Monday report from Japanese business newspaper Nikkei claimed Nintendo is planning unveil an iOS app to market content for its Wii U and 3DS, with the app allegedly featuring information about new games from Nintendo and the mobile initiative potentially also including playable demos of console and handheld games. In a statement provided to Engadget today, however, Nintendo has denied it is planning to offer such minigames on smartphone platforms.
“Nikkei’s article contains information previously stated by Mr Iwata during past press conferences, including statements which relate to Nintendo’s willingness to make use of smart devices to promote our products.
However during such past announcements Mr Iwata has also stated that Nintendo’s intention is not to make Nintendo software available on smart devices and as such, we can confirm that there are no plans to offer minigames on smartphone devices.”
Nintendo is at a crossroads as mobile gaming makes gains on both the console and handheld market. The Japanese game maker reported its third consecutive annual loss and adjusted its forecast to reflect a 35 billion yen ($335.76 million) operating loss, instead of the previously projected profit of 100 billion yen. The company also slashed it sales forecasts for the Wii U from 9 million to 2.8 million units and cut its estimates for the 3DS from 18 million to 13.5 million units.
Many investors and Nintendo fans have called for the legendary game company to embrace mobile platforms, but the company’s executives have so far remained steadfast in focusing their valuable game franchises only on Nintendo-branded hardware.
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Apple slipped behind Samsung, Sony and Microsoft in a 2014 customer experience survey from Forrester Research (via The Wall Street Journal). This is the third annual survey, and the first time Apple has fallen behind these rival companies.
The survey measures customer experience, which involves difficult-to-define criteria based on how a customer feels about his or her interaction with a company. Forrester queried 7,500 consumers about their retail and customer support experiences and used the responses to assign each company a customer-experience index score.
Amazon scored highest among the 17 consumer-electronics manufacturers operating in North America. It was the only manufacturer to garner an “excellent” rating of 91 for Kindle customers.
Sony came in second with a rating of 83, while Microsoft and Samsung followed one point behind at 82. Apple scored an 81. All three brands rated below Apple in the 2013 survey.
Though it slipped behind the competition, Apple still improved its score in the 2014 survey and earned a “good” score according to the survey’s criteria.
Apple has struggled somewhat with the continually increasing volume of customers visiting its retail stores for sales and support, particularly under the leadership of former retail chief John Browett. Browett was ousted as part of a management restructuring after spending just six months on the job, during which Apple’s retail unit saw staff cutbacks and an emphasis on profits erode the customer experience and employee satisfaction. After nearly a year and a half without a retail chief, Apple will see Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts take the helm in the coming months to oversee both retail and online store operations.
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Apple today was awarded U.S. Patent No. 8,633,916 (via AppleInsider), which describes a touchpad that utilizes force sensors and acuator feedback. The buttonless design uses an array of sensors and an actuator to mimic the function and tactile feedback…
It’s time to save some of that hard-earned cash with our Daily Deals, featuring exclusive TUAW Deals, a handy list from Dealnews and our own handpicked iOS and OS X selections.
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Stuffit Deluxe: The Ultimate File Compression Tool …
One of the great things about a Swiss Army knife is that it is packed full of helpful tools, yet it still remains easy to use. This combination of simplicity and utility is one of the reasons why I like the Survival GPS app.
The Survival GPS app giv…
Pixelmator announced on Tuesday the availability of Pixelmator 3.0 FX. This latest version of the popular image editing software ships with several major improvements including layer styles, liquify tools and more.
Layer styles are useful for digita…
It’s time to save some of that hard-earned cash with our Daily Deals, featuring exclusive TUAW Deals, a handy list from Dealnews and our own hand-picked iOS and OS X selections.
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Free High Speed 4G LTE Internet With FreedomPop H…
Apple is moving steadily forward on OS X Mavericks, releasing the Preview 7 version to developers today. The release includes a few extra wallpapers and a link to a new OS X Mavericks page that is not fully live, yet. There are also a handful of bug …
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Bizness Apps – one year of mobile app development […
SpiritClips from Hallmark has a star-filled history. It was founded in 2007 by filmmaker Rob Fried who produced the inspiring film Rudy and worked on the equally uplifting flick Hoosiers. Fried originally founded SpiritClips as way to showcase inspir…
Believe it or not, many new iPhone owners are not customers switching from Android, but customers who have never owned a smartphone. These first-time smartphone buyers are choosing the iPhone, especially older models, at an increasing rate, says a re…
Aspiring artists may want to grab their stylus and check out Draw This App from Peter Hamilton. The app improves your drawing skills by practicing your copying technique and challenging you to do better each time you sit down and draw.
The app is ba…
It has been busy in the App Store with a handful of new apps like FocusTwist, Circles and Delicious Scanner landing on iOS and OS X. Take a few minutes and check out our list of other standout apps from the past few weeks!
iOS Apps
iLuv Drawing Veh…
It’s time to save some of that hard-earned cash with our Daily Deals, featuring a handy list from Dealnews and our own hand-picked selections that include some sweet deals on iOS and OS X software (all prices are USD).
Deals from Dealnews
Othe…
It’s time to save some of that hard-earned cash with our Daily Deals, featuring a handy list from Dealnews and our own hand-picked selections that include some sweet deals on iOS and OS X software (all prices are USD).
Deals from Dealnews
Othe…