Apple

iPod Godfather says Apple built Google Glass style eyewear prototypes

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

Tony Fadell, the brains behind the popular Nest thermostat, used to work at Apple where he'd helped engineer the iPod music player, earning him a nickname of the iPod Godfather. He also led the development of the first eighteen iterations of the original iPhone. In a recent interview, the famous engineer revealed that Apple in the past had experimented with the idea of a virtual reality headset and has actually built a few prototypes of a Google Glass-style device.

"The craziest thing we talked about was something like Google glass," says former Senior VP of iPod division...

Apple refrains from iPhone price hike in India following unprecedented rupee drop

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 10, 2013

Even though India is home to 1.24 billion people and is part of the emerging BRIC markets, high import taxes and a number of other factors have contributed to often too high prices of consumer electronics products such as smartphones. The off-contract iPhone 4S which costs $450 in the United States, for example, used to be desperately out of the reach for most of that nation’s consumers.

Realizing its mistake, Apple has tweaked its pricing tactics in the country and started offering installment plans and other benefits. According to a new report, the iPhone maker also decided to eat into its high iPhone margin in order to preserve the current iPhone pricing in India whereas Samsung has chosen to raise prices due to Indian rupee’s unprecedented plunge...

iDB is ready for Apple’s iPhone event tomorrow, are you?

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

In case you haven’t picked up on it yet, tomorrow is a huge day for Apple. The company is expected to unveil not one, but two new smartphones: an iPhone 5S, which will replace the current flagship iPhone 5 handset, and an all-new low-cost 'iPhone 5C' model.

We're assuming there won’t be a live stream of tomorrow’s presser (although you never know), and a clip of the event won’t likely be available until hours after it’s over. But never fear, iDB will be here all day providing you with coverage and commentary…

Apple said to double ad and marketing teams

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 9, 2013

A new report Monday by AdAge asserts Apple is doubling headcount across its internal marketing and advertising teams, ostensibly in a bid to tighten the message and produce even more marketing and advertising in-house. Saying the timing of the hiring spree is telling would be an understatement.

Apple's Fall was recently called "blockbuster" and we have every reason to believe 2014 will be a landmark year as the firm readies the rumored iWatch, iTV, iPhablet, 13-inch iPad Pro and other gizmos unbeknown to us yet.

With that in mind, Apple is going to need some of the world's top creatives to get its message across, retain the narrative and talk its non-gullible customers into purchasing new-category products...

Apple dresses up Cupertino campus ahead of tomorrow’s iPhone keynote

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 9, 2013

Ahead of tomorrow's iPhone keynote, which starts at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern, colorful banners have now gone up the facade of Apple's Town Hall auditorium building in Cupertino, California. Watchful folks could point out that Apple typically holds its high-profile product unveilings at major venues like San Francisco's Moscone West or Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

This time around, they've opted for a more intimate (and more controllable) setting at its own campus. The last time Town Hall was used was for the iPhone 4S introduction in October 2011. As yo can see yourself, the media event livery pictures the same colorful dots we first saw on Apple's event invitation.

I've included more shots right after the break...

1 out of each 4 US smartphones users has an iPhone

Ed Sutherland ∙ September 9, 2013

America is now a smartphone nation and the iPhone is increasingly becoming the favored device. Smartphones now account for 56 percent of cell phones in the United States. That's up nearly ten points from a year ago, according to a new Pew Research poll. Additionally, the iPhone is used by 25 percent of US smartphone owners - or one out of each four smartphone owners in the country.

That's a notable six-point increase from nineteen percent a year ago. The rise in US smartphones mirrors a drop in feature phones, which fell to 35 percent. Just nine percent of US adults do not own a cellphone...

Yahoo’s new Screen iOS app is a remote control for web video

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 23, 2018

The struggling Internet giant - once synonymous for anything remotely dealing with online content - on Monday issued a brand new app called Yahoo Screen.

The company is billing the app as a remote control for web video of sorts. More appropriately, Yahoo Screen is your one-stop shop for both Yahoo's original and licensed video content.

You can instantly stream news, sports, food, and entertainment videos from MLB, UFC, The Onion, Martha Stewart and lots more, free of charge (no strings attached). But that's just scratching the surface as Yahoo's licensed video library includes such TV shows as Saturday Night Live, along with Yahoo Originals featuring Jack Black, Ed Helms, Zachary Levi, Cheryl Hines, Rachael Harris and more...

A quick look at the Apple stock price before and after an iPhone announcement

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Here is an interesting graph to look at, a day before Apple is set to announce not one, but two new iPhones, which we'll call the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C, at least until Apple proves us wrong.

This chart, created by Deutsche Bank's Chris Whitmore takes a look at the Apple stock price during the months before and after an iPhone announcement...

Apple’s design guru Jony Ive lends his touch to Sotheby’s charity auction products

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Apple's senior vice president for design, Jony Ive, has joined a designer friend to contribute special creations for a charity auction at Sotheby's benefitting Bono's PRODUCT (RED) campaign. Among the items is a pair of rose gold Apple EarPod headphones.

Ive, along with designer Marc Newson, represents a "design which is both iconic and sublime," the musician said in a statement. Other items which received the Ive touch which will be part of the November auction: a Leica Digital Rangefinder Camera, a Steinway & Sons Grand Piano and a 2012 Range Rover...

NFC/fingerprint sensor patent tips off exciting iPhone 5S Home button potential

Ed Sutherland ∙ September 9, 2013

Much has been made about the highly-expected iPhone 5S containing a fingerprint sensor within the Home button. Other talk has surrounded the promise of Near Field Communications (NFC) and Apple's off-and-on interest in the technology. It appears both a fingerprint sensor and NFC may join together to turn the next iPhone into an electronic wallet and more.

According to a new Apple patent that's surfaced in Europe, the iPhone 5S may include an updated Home button encircled by a ring which detects your finger. But this super-charged Home button also adds NFC, potentially replacing passwords and enabling secure wireless e-commerce, next-generation docks and other exciting opportunities...

NSA slides: Steve Jobs is Big Brother, Apple users are ‘zombies’

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 9, 2013

In case you missed our Sunday coverage of the newly exposed NSA tactics, the snooping agency - thanks to its secret 10-year initiative code-named Bullrun which runs at $250 million a year - has been able to successfully crack much of the Internet's widely-used encryption technologies to compromise everyone's online communications, banking transactions and other sensitive data.

And now, internal NSA slides from a 2010 report titled 'Exploring Current Trends, Targets and Techniques' and leaked by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden shamefully depict iPhone customers as 'zombies'. As if that weren't enough, in a reference to the George Orwell book '1984' Steve Jobs himself is being portrayed as Big Brother...

Apple’s budget-minded iPhone 5C will fit T-Mobile ‘like a glove’

Ed Sutherland ∙ September 9, 2013

Apple's much-expected iPhone 5C, noted for its multi-colored plastic body and inexpensive price, could become known for something more: mortally wounding cellular contracts. The test could come this month as Apple unveils the less-expensive iPhone at around what analysts believe will be $400-$500, unsubsidized. For the first time, US carrier T-Mobile - which doesn't require subscribers sign a two-year contract - will go head-to-head against traditional carriers AT&T and Verizon.

Both carriers may lose customers to T-Mobile as all four domestic carriers offer the new iPhones simultaneously, analysts say. While both AT&T and Verizon provide a subsidy on the iPhone's price in return for a two-year contract, T-Mobile lauds its absence of such a requirement. T-Mobile began selling the iPhone in April of 2013...