Fiksu

Apple spotted testing new iPads

Potentially confirming KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s prediction of a planned iPad refresh due this spring, mobile marketing firm Fiksu (via TechCrunch) has spotted several new iPad models that are currently being tested in Cupertino and nearby locations.

According to unnamed but allegedly “reputable supply chain analysts” who spoke with MacRumors, Apple could announce new products between Monday, March 20 and Friday, March 24.

iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus appear in web traffic logs, but not iPhone 6c

Yesterday, we told you that reliable leaker Evan Blass claimed on his @evleaks Twitter account that it “Sounds like iPhone 6s, 6s Plus and 6c will all arrive concurrently.” Blass has proved himself extremely reliable in the past and has leaked accurate details and images pertaining to unreleased smartphones.

But now research firm Fiksu says it couldn't find traces of the iPhone 6c in logs, unlike iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus which it captured in web traffic logs and identified as 'iPhone 8,1’ and 'iPhone 8,2’.

iPad Air adoption dwarfs previous iPads

This past Friday, Apple's new iPad Air went on sale in 40+ countries at 8am local time. Third-party data suggests that early adopters are in fact liking the thinner, lighter and faster full-size iPad a lot, as corroborated by early reviews. If you compare usage data across its first three days of availability, the iPad Air usage is around five times that of its predecessor, the iPad 4. And compared to the popular iPad mini, the new iPad Air is four times more used during its first few days of availability than the first-generation iPad mini was...

Apple seen testing new App Store ranking scheme based on user ratings

Ever since Apple in February 2012 bought Chomp, an app discovery engine, and subsequently killed both its Android and iOS apps, the rumor-mill has been abuzz with the supposed improvements to the App Store discovery stemming from the acqui-hire.

Disregarding the occasional tweaks to the App Store search algorithm here and there, the experience of discovering popular software beyond the apps Apple exposes on the main App Store pages remains a very tedious affair.

To put it perfectly bluntly, it often feels like finding a needle in the haystack. But according to a new report out Friday, things could soon improve as the company's apparently been experimenting with new algorithms for iTunes and App Store rankings...