When Apple's former retail chief Ron Johnson presented the idea for tech support stations—dubbed Genius Bar—that would be located inside the company's brick-and-mortar stores, Steve Jobs loathed the concept and thought it would never work.
“I remember the day I came in and told Steve about the Genius Bar idea and he says, ‘That’s so idiotic! It’ll never work!’”, Johnson told Recode.
As you know, iPhone 5, iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 models were each released in September of 2012, 2014 and 2016, respectively.
This year, Apple is expected to release a pair of iterative updates in the form of LCD-based iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus models along with an all-new model based on power-saving organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screen and other technological perks.
Based on recent reports, however, it doesn't look like iPhone 8 will be ready in time for a September launch, creating a unique situation where Apple could pre-announce the new flagship in September before its arrival later in the year.
Some users of the mobile Facebook Messenger app have noticed that the empathetic Reaction emojis, which launched in the company's mainland mobile app in February 2016, are now available to them inside the standalone messaging app, along with a brand now iMessage-like Dislike button that's yet to launch in the main Facebook app.
Facebook's confirmed this new feature to TechCrunch.
Nikkei Asian Review in a research note Monday corroborated previous reports which said that only a brand new iPhone 8 model would switch to organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens, with the two smaller models—iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus—expected to retain their existing LCD panels.
Korean publication The Bell also said this morning that about forty percent of 2017 iPhones would have OLED screens, predicting that all new iPhones introduced in 2019 would sport power-sipping OLEDs.
Apple is expected to use organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens for all new iPhones in 2019, according to a report Monday by The Bell. Meanwhile, suppliers Samsung Electro-Mechanics (a parts unit of Samsung) and Interflex are allegedly boosting production of flexible printed circuit boards (FPCB) for iPhone 8, the first iPhone to adopt OLED display technology.
Apple should use OLED screens on about 60 million iPhone units this year and double the adoption next year. By 2019, all iPhones should use power-sipping OLED screens.
Apple just rolled out a pair of new iPad Pro commercials via its YouTube channel, running sixteen seconds each and titled “Need Less Stuff” and “Take Better Notes”. The former positions iPad Pro as a clutter-free alternative to clunky desktop PCs.
The latter makes the bold claim that iPad Pro and Apple Pencil “revolutionized the way people take notes,” adding that users can even record voice notes. Watch the new videos, then jump into the comment section to tell us how you liked them.
Apple's ambitions in terms of securing lucrative deals with Hollywood are reportedly being stymied by internal infighting between three senior executives who have been clashing over who will secure the first major content deal for Apple TV. According to The New York Post, Hollywood insiders are scratching their heads over who exactly is driving the effort.
YouTubers Matthew Roberts and Duncan Sinfield usually publish their monthly drone flyovers of Apple's new headquarters around the same time. This time around, Sinfiled took the time to edit a longer birds-eye overview of Apple Park, which opens in April. Sinfield's video arrives a week following Roberts' aerial clip of Apple's massive new office building.
Running four minutes and six seconds long, filmed using DJI's Inspire 1 Pro drone and put together using dynamic editing techniques, the video shows off the stunning progress made on the main 280,000 sq ft ring-shaped building which is set to accommodate over 13,000 employees, as well as a new research and development building and many other impressive details.
Speaking with journalists at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Google's Vice President of Hardware, Rick Osterloh, has confirmed that the successor of the company's Pixel smarthones will be launching later this year, Android Pit reported Friday. Osterloh shot down reports calling for a budget Pixel edition, saying Pixels remain premium smartphones.
While Google showed no intent to abandon its premium smartphone brand, the company's premium notebook bearing the Pixel brand has reached the “end of the line” status after shipping just two generations since 2013, according to Osterloh in a report by Frederic Lardinois for TechCrunch.
Rather than use one of the few readily available off-the-shelf fingerprint scanners that can be integrated into a smartphone display, Apple's iPhone 8 will sport biometric fingerprint recognition via a custom-designed sensor, also embedded into the display. In addition, according to DigiTimes' report Friday, the built-in fingerprint sensor inside iPhone 8 will replace Apple's capacitive-based Touch ID fingerprint reader, as previously rumored. The handset is expected to enter mass production in September, claimed industry sources cited in the report.
Do I have any HomeKit accessories in my home? No, not yet, but that's because I currently live in a rented apartment. I'll be getting smart home gadgets when I buy my own house, that's for sure. Until that day arrives, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for prices of HomeKit products to continue dropping.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of how HomeKit brings these appliances together in the Home app with support for scenes, Siri voice control, remote management via Apple TV and other perks. I also like it a lot how HomeKit products are required to use hardware encryption for security purposes. It's just that outfitting my home with these smart gadgets would represent too sizable an investment for my budget, that's all.
So, what about you? Do you own any HomeKit-certified accessories? Cast your vote and meet us in comments if you'd like to share your thoughts about the HomeKit platform or any HomeKit devices you already own, or may be planning on buying.
Assistant, Google's conversational helper, debuted last year exclusively on Pixel smartphones before quickly making its way into Google's voice-activated speaker, called Home, and the latest version of Android Wear. The power of the AI-driven feature is readily apparent in Allo, the search giant's cross-platform messaging app.
As Assistant began reaching more Android devices, including third-party smartphones running Android 6.0 and Android 7.0, a Google director hinted Thursday that the technology could be coming to Apple's iPhone and iPad in the future.