Apple

Companies still deploying iOS first as Android remains MIA online

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

You would think, given Android's raw numerical advantage, that app developers would first build for the larger market. However, Apple's iOS appears to offer companies other, more valuable qualities. Indeed, one need only look to last Friday, when Twitter unveiled its #music service - available initially only to iOS users. Another iOS exclusive, Twitter's Vine, has yet to hit the Android platform.

Key to why companies are still developing apps first for iOS are findings that Apple's mobile software is both used more often and the users are more loyal to the apps they download. What is Android's response: change how such things are measured....

Are Samsung drones trolling Apple?

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated December 6, 2022

We don't usually go in for conspiracy theories, but one is drawing quiet a bit of attention - and factual basis. Has corporate giant Samsung, stung by its more than $1 billion patent lawsuit loss to Apple in 2012, waging war on the iPhone maker? A number of signs point to the affirmative, including an apparent tactic to swamp any critics with pro-Samsung comments.

Along with blatant examples of the business press spinning news against Apple and for Samsung, there has been reports of fake Samsung product reviews. Additionally, we've seen up-close attempts by pro-Samsung 'trolls' to dominate comments...

Mailbox app security fail exposes your contacts, attachments and email messages

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 26, 2017

Orchestra's Mailbox has quickly become my default iPhone email application. As you know, Mailbox offloads backend email management to the cloud so the thin client running on your device can let you zip through your inbox at a rapid pace while rethinking the workflow with abilities such as snoozing individual messages as if they were reminders and more. So is there anything not to like about Mailbox?

Apparently there is. According to one app developer, a database Mailbox maintains on your device is unsecured, potentially exposing your contacts, attachments and message contents to anyone who has physical access to your device, using just a simple file transfer tool like iExplorer or DiskAid...

Employees give Apple’s Cook approval rating just shy of Jobs

Ed Sutherland ∙ April 24, 2013

Wall Street has often questioned whether Apple CEO Tim Cook could ever fill the managerial shoes left by co-founder Steve Jobs. What's more, some anti-Apple analysts like Rob Enderle in an article titled "The impossible task of fixing Apple" opines the board should fire Cook over the recent stock slide.

Despite those doubts, employees of the iPhone maker give Cook an approval rating just shy of Jobs, according to a new survey.

Cook - who oversaw one of Apple's rockiest financial periods - gets a 93 percent approval rating from company employees, Glassdoor announced. The web site is similar to Yelp, but posts anonymous ratings of corporate management rather than businesses...

Tumblr iOS app updated with read later and social sharing features

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 24, 2013

Tumblr is the home to over a hundred million blogs that have published nearly 50 billion posts. In between blogging for a living here on iDB, checking out new gadgets and just leading an ordinary life, I have little time to maintain a personal blog. But if I did, I'd definitely consider Tumblr as my blogging platform of choice. If you run a Tumblr blog, updating your posts on the go has just become a tad easier as a new version of the official Tumblr iOS app has been released on the App Store with a couple noteworthy additions...

Apple publishes ‘A Decade Of iTunes’ interactive anniversary timeline

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 24, 2013

Hot on the heels of announcing its quarterly earnings yesterday and promising this morning to show off the next major versions of iOS and OS X at WWDC 2013, Apple has posted a new web page in celebration of ten years of the iTunes Store.

What started out twelve years ago as a jukebox application eventually evolved into the Internet's biggest content store responsible for the vast majority of a record $4.1 billion in Apple's first quarter revenue from its software and services division. The interactive web page titled "A Decade Of iTunes" features ten tabs, each corresponding to a particular iTunes milestone...

Apple announces WWDC 2013 for June 10-14, confirms iOS 7 and OS X 10.9 previews

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Having posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings yesterday, Apple this morning officially announced that its annual developers conference will take place at Moscone West in San Francisco from Monday, June 10 until Friday, June 14. I know what you must be wondering: will the five-day conference serve as a launchpad for a next major revision to Apple's iOS and OS X operating systems, right?

According to Apple's marketing honcho Phil Schiller, that's in fact in the cards. “Our developers have had the most prolific and profitable year ever, and we’re excited to show them the latest advances in software technologies and developer tools to help them create innovative new apps," he was quoted as saying in a press release...

Sprint activates 1.5M iPhones in Q1, 43 percent to new customers

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 12, 2017

Sprint Nextel, the nation's third-largest wireless carrier, Wednesday posted its fiscal 2013 first quarter earnings. The telco saw strong smartphone sales of five million units, with iPhone sales exceeding 1.5 million with 43 percent to new customers.

A whooping 86 percent of quarterly Sprint platform postpaid handset sales were smartphones. Sprint described the 43 percent of iPhone sales that were to new customers as a rate "that continues to outperform larger competitors"...

15 interesting points from today’s earnings call

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Apple just announced its earnings for its first quarter of 2013, second fiscal quarter, and despite all of the lead-in 'doom' talk, the numbers are actually very impressive. The company beat Wall Street projections in nearly every metric.

We’re just finishing up the conference call, where Tim Cook and company have made several announcements and dropped a number of impressive statistics. And as usual, we've rounded up the 15 most interesting points for you…

Apple Q2 2013 earnings: 37.4M iPhones, 19.5M iPads, $43.6B revenue

Cody Lee ∙ April 23, 2013

The news headlines for Apple have been getting progressively worse over the past few months, as rumors continue to swell of falling iPhone and iPad demand, and the company's stock dipping below $400 for the first time since 2011.

But it looks like they might be able to change the conversation. Q2 numbers are out, and Apple beat Wall Street projections in nearly every category, selling 37.4 million iPhones, 19.5 million iPads and producing $43.6 billion in revenue...

AT&T activates 4.8M iPhones in Q1

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 23, 2013

Just as we're counting down the remaining time until Apple's earnings release, the company's trusted iPhone distributor AT&T reported corporate earnings related to the first three months of this year. The company added 1.2 million new subscribers and sold six million smartphones, of which 4.8 million were iPhones, accounting for a whopping 80 percent of new smartphone additions.

By contrast, rival Verizon last week said it added 677,000 net new subscribers during the first quarter. Additionally, out of the 7.2 million new smartphone owners in the quarter, Verizon reported that four million were iPhones.

Even with the slowing growth slowed, key metrics matched Wall Street expectations. That wasn't enough to prevent shares from going down by nearly 1.25 percent in after hours trading. We'll be listening to AT&T's conference call later this afternoon for additional data points...

Apple bans smileys and other special characters from app descriptions

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 23, 2013

From time to time, Apple updates its iTunes marketing requirements. The goal is to provide the most accurate and reliable descriptions for the mobile applications, movies, television shows, songs and other media content types customers download from iTunes.

In the most recent example, the iPhone maker has reportedly taken issue with app blurbs. Long story short, Apple is no longer willing to turn a blind eye on luring would-be buyers with "enhanced" app descriptions that contain exclamation marks, stars, smileys and other special characters.

The change was communicated via the iTunes Connect web portal, a venue registered iOS developers use exclusively to upload their submissions and iTunes marketing materials...