Author: Leif Johnson

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a currently a major legal battle being fought between Amazon.com and Hachette Book Group. While the battle wages on, Amazon is refusing to sell books by the popular publishing company. Apple isn’t, however, and Re/code reports that the Cupertino company is even taking advantage of the situation by offering a sale on digital copies of Hachette titles.

The sale chiefly includes pre-orders for upcoming Hachette books from popular writers such as James Patterson and J.K. Rowling. It’s not hard to find, either — you’ll find them all by clicking “Popular Pre-Orders: $9.99 or less” on the home page for the iTunes book store. Click “See All” in the same category, and you’ll find all 26 books available through the pre-order promotion. Try doing the same on Amazon, and you won’t find anything at all.

Source: Re/code

Not bad considering that Apple just settled a nasty lawsuit related to price fixing that could have ended up costing Tim Cook and friends around $840 million. And get this — almost all of that money would have gone to Amazon.

While Re/code managed to get confirmation from Apple that the promotion was a real thing, most details remain scant. It’s not known, for instance, if Apple itself is lowering the prices or if Hachette is lowering its wholesale costs. What we do know, however, is that Amazon isn’t getting any of it.

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It’s been a while since we’ve seen a good mockup of an unannounced Apple product, but never fear — some unidentified case makers for the next iPad in China or Japan allegedly have us covered. It’s not clear if the photos are entirely accurate (although it’s touted as a “perfect replica”), but they look as though they could be authentic owing to the relatively few deviations from the existing model.

Source: Nowhereelse.fr

The images popped up on various online sales sites this morning with flashy watermarks, although French site Nowhereelse.fr managed to snag some that show the units in their natural state. Based on the images, the most notable deviation from the current iPad Air is inclusion of Touch ID, which hardly comes as a surprise on account of Apple’s increased focus on the feature at WWDC.

Closer inspection reveals other surprises. The volume controls have been recessed into the iPad itself, for one, and a new hole that looks like it might fit a SIM card eject tool is positioned slightly above them. It’s currently unclear what purpose it serves, although some commentators have suggested it might be an additional microphone.

“Additional” is the key word here, as there appears to be another microphone near the rear camera lens such as we find on the iPhone and iPod touch. The power button is recessed as well, suggesting that Apple might embrace this style of design more broadly in the future. It also might lend some credibility to the mockup — after all, it was reportedly made by case makers, and recessed controls would be tough to reach with almost any case design to date.

All in all, though, it’s not a significant visual shift from the current model. The most noteworthy stuff for the next iPad Air is thought to be on the inside, whether it’s the rumored A8 chip, the improved camera sensor, or iOS 8 itself. We’ll likely get to learn if all of this is true sometime this fall.

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It’s a question many of us have asked ourselves at one point or another since Steve Jobs passed away in 2011: Is Apple still the design leader it once was? Apple’s design chief Jony Ive certainly seems to think so, or so he claims in an Q&A with the New York Times on the heels of the Gray Lady’s larger piece on Tim Cook this weekend. Not only is Apple’s approach to design in a good place, Ive says, but the company is about to extend it to products with “materials we haven’t worked in before.”

Ive understandably remains vague about the specifics of these new products, but past rumors may indicate what’s on the table. Large-scale production of sapphire crystal displays for the rumored “iWatch” and iPhone 6 seem all but a given, for instance, particularly in light of information from analyst Matt Margolis this weekend claiming that Apple can easily make untold tons of the stuff. Liquidmetal may also figure heavily into future Apple products; so far, it’s most notable for being used for the SIM eject tool for the iPhone 3G.

Ive’s interview also yields some additional information about Tim Cook. Most notably, Ive relays his belief that nothing significant has changed in Apple management since Cook took over the helm. Much of that smooth transition has a lot to do with Cook’s long history with the company, he says. “Steve established a set of values, and he established preoccupations and tones that are completely enduring – and he established those principals with a small team of people. I’ve been ridiculously lucky to be part of it,” says Ive. “But Tim was very much part of that team – for that last 15 or 20 years.”

Like Jobs, Cook reportedly insists on frequent meetings, and Ive notes that the two of them meet around three times a week. “Heading on for two decades working with Tim, one of the things I have always admired is the quiet consideration he gives to trying to understand how he perceives something,” says Ive. “He will take the time. I think that testifies to the fact that he knows it’s important.”

You can read the full interview over at the New York Times‘ website. If you missed the NYT‘s profile of Tim Cook this weekend, it’s also well worth a read.

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Of all the companies that would make sense for Apple to acquire, Nuance — the company behind Siri — would seem high on the list. That’s apparently not the case. A new report from the Wall Street Journal states that Apple’s chief rival Samsung is moving in to acquire the influential creator of voice-recognition software, which could mean dire things for the folks in Cupertino if the deal goes through.

Nuance isn’t just known for Siri; it’s also the company behind DragonNaturallySpeaking, one of the first and most reliable names in voice-recognition software. The company has also done some work for Amazon and other companies, but its relationship with Apple has earned it the most attention in recent years. Apple managed to keep the extent of the relationship secret for some time after Siri’s launch, but last year Nuance CEO Paul Ricci confirmed that the iPhone maker does, in fact, rely heavily on the service.

That could change in the near future. Just last April, Apple bought the rival speech recognition service Novauris, which was founded by former team members from DragonNaturallySpeaking. Back in July of last year, Apple quietly staffed its Boston office with voice-recognition specialists formerly employed by VoiceSignal Technologies. It was the first indication that the Cupertino company was attempting to distance itself from Nuance.

Apple thus appears to have been preparing for a development like this, but there’s always a chance that the transition to an entirely in-house service could see a few bumps as in the case of the launch of Apple Maps. As for Nuance, it’s possible Apple doesn’t even have anything to worry about. As the Journal reports, “It isn’t clear where sale talks, some of which happened earlier this year, currently stand or if they will lead to a deal.”

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A few weeks ago we heard that Touch ID was likely headed to other Apple devices in addition to the iPhone, and a new report from Asia backs up that claim. Notable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities claims (via Cult of Mac) that the feature will soon come standard in most new iOS devices, such as the iPhone 5, the second iPad Air, and the third-generation iPad mini.

In Kuo’s words, “Apple’s Touch ID module should see shipments soar 233{813a954d5e225a1509f22204ece89c855080ce25555f20805f61bed63cbfde3b} in 2014. We believe every new iOS device launched this year will be equipped with Touch ID, including 4.7″ and 5.5″ new iPhone 6, iPad Air 2, and iPad mini 2 with Retina display. Considering shipments of new products and iPhone 5s sales last longer than in 2013, we forecast unit sales of the fingerprint sensor module to grow 233{813a954d5e225a1509f22204ece89c855080ce25555f20805f61bed63cbfde3b} to 120mn for 2014.”

Kuo also claims that new models with Touch ID will prove more reliable thanks to Apple’s shift to using tin in the manufacturing process. But that doesn’t mean the Cupertino giant is bringing a new manufacturer into the mix; apparently the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and its subsidiary XinTec still hold the contract.

Rumors based on photos and similar evidence suggest that Kuo is correct. Last November some dubious images of an iPad mini with Touch ID appeared on Nowhereelse.fr, and new lines of code in iOS 7.1 seem to confirm Kuo’s speculations as well.

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This year’s WWDC might be one to remember, and Apple wants to make sure you witness the festivities firsthand. The iPhone maker announced today that it plans to host a live video stream of the event’s keynote address on the company’s home page on June …

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If you’re looking for a piece of Apple history to hang on your walls, you probably can’t get much better than two of the rainbow-themed Apple logos that once adorned the company’s Cupertino headquarters from 1977 through 1998. And if you happen to have a sizable chunk of change sitting around, we’ve got some great news — they’ll be auctioned on June 4 by British auction house Bonhams.

According to Bonham’s site, the signs were given to an unnamed “longtime Apple employee” after being taken down from the building in preparation for the new logo designs. The larger one measures 46×49 inches and the smaller one measures 36×33.5×6 inches. The larger one is made of 1.5 inch-thick foam and covered with vinyl stripes; the smaller is made of metal-backed fiberglass. It, too, features vinyl stripes. Bonhams estimates their value at $10,000-$15,000.

The auction page states the “larger sign was removed from the side of building 3, where it faced east and could be seen from a distance as one headed north on highway 280.”

The iconic logo was designed by Rob Janoff, who states on his website that it was created after only two weeks. Steve Jobs reportedly never saw any other logo concept save one without a bite which was presented at the same time (which is surprising, considering his penchant for perfectionism). The bright colors were meant to evoke the user-friendliness of Apple products and to drum up the color display of the Apple II.

It’s the longest-running logo in Apple’s history. In 1998, Apple started using a monochrome variant, a practice which it has maintained with some slight variations to this day. The rainbow-colored version isn’t actually Apple’s first logo; in 1976, the company used a complex hand-drawn logo featuring Isaac Newton under a tree, just seconds before the fabled apple fell on his head.

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The news over the last few days has been swirling with speculation about Apple’s possible acquisition of Beats Electronics, and most commentators assume that the Cupertino company wants to buy it for its pre-built music streaming service that’s similar to Spotify. But Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson believes that’s not the case. Instead, he states in an interview with Billboard, Apple primarily wants to secure Beats for the industry connections of co-founder Jimmy Iovine.

And get this — Isaacson believes Apple’s main interest is actually in video (which makes a bit of sense, considering the excitement over the changes to Apple TV in 2013). As the interview states, “[Isaacson] speculates that Cook wants Iovine to run Apple’s content business and help Apple launch the TV product that analysts have been gossiping about for years. The product has been held up because Apple can’t get all the content owners on board.”

Source: SteveJobs.fr

It makes some sense, considering Iovine’s history with the folks in Cupertino. Iovine, who has many connections in the fields of both video and music, was a key figure in the process of securing music labels for the launch of iTunes in 2002, and he tried to convince Apple to buy Universal Music Group in 2002. Just one year later, he was instrumental in the creation of the popular U2-themed iPod.

In Isaacson’s view, Iovine could be just want Apple needs to get its long-rumored “revolutionary” TV content delivery service off the ground. “Maybe Iovine has the charisma and connections to round up the networks the way he did the music labels in 2002, although ‘it’s a lot more complicated’ this time around,” says Isaacson in the interview.

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Samsung’s anti-Apple commercials sometimes suggest that the iPhone is for the older crowd, but new data from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster (via MacRumors) suggests that the Cupertino company’s smartphone is actually growing in popularity among the teen demographic. Based on a sampling of 7,500 teenagers, a full 61 percent now own an iPhone.

Compare that to the mere 55 percent who owned Apple’s smartphone in October of 2013 or the 40 percent who owned one in the autumn of 2012. That number doesn’t look likely to decline any time soon. The survey claims that 67 percent of the polled teenagers want their next phone to be an iPhone — a slight improvement from what Piper Jaffray reported in October.

The news is also decent for Apple on the tablet front, as the report claims that, of the 60 percent of teenagers who own tablets, 66 percent own an iPad. Unfortunately, that’s down a bit from October, when 68 percent of those polled reported owning Apple’s tablet.

The long-rumored iWatch also figured into the survey, although the level of interest isn’t anywhere near as high. Only 17 percent claimed they would buy an iWatch if Apple sold it for $350 or less. It does, however, point to some interest in new products designed by the folks in Cupertino. A mere 6 percent claimed they currently own a smartwatch, would could mean members of the demographic plan on what seeing Apple has to offer before they buy into the smartwatch hype.

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If the latest rumors from China are correct, we may be getting the iWatch on our wrists a lot more quickly than anticipated. As reported by the Economic Daily News (via DigiTimes), Apple’s long-rumored piece of wearable tech will be built by Quanta Computer of Taiwan, who’ll be manufacturing 65 million units at first. And we could see it as early as August.

The iWatch will allegedly share the same A-series of chips that we’ve come to know and love from the iPhone and iPad lines, but as so often in the past, they’ll be manufactured by Samsung. The Cupertino company allegedly keeps heading back to its archenemy because there are really no alternatives for quality chips — not even from TSMC, with whom Apple’s worked in the past.

Concept via Todd Hamilton

The report also claims that the new device will feature Apple’s ultra-durable sapphire glass, which first made headlines when it was used for the fingerprint sensor on the home button of the iPhone 5s. The rest of the report echoes rumors we’ve long heard about the device, such as how it’ll feature biometric scanners that can sense a user’s blood pressure, heart rate, and more.

Is the report reliable? The Economic Daily News isn’t as well known as some other sources for accurate rumors, and at any rate, delivery times could be pushed back even if the current date is accurate. With so many iWatch competitors slowly creeping into the area, however, it’s probably a good idea for Apple to get the device out sooner rather than later.

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