Apple is planning an iPad event for Thursday, October 16, according to a new report from Recode's John Paczkowski. Citing sources familiar with the plans, Paczkowski says the event will be held in the company's Town Hall Auditorium in Cupertino, and will be used to talk about new iPads, new iMacs and of course, OS X Yosemite.
Sales of the iPhone 6 Plus are exceeding initial expectations, according to a new report from Digitimes. Citing sources with knowledge of part shipments to Apple manufacturers, the outlet says the 6 Plus is expected to account for 60% of total iPhone 6 shipments.
Apparently, Foxconn has been tasked with handling the bulk of production for the iPhone 6 Plus, and Pegatron has the iPhone 6. Digitimes says that part shipments to both suppliers were similar in early September, but have tipped in Foxconn's favor as of late.
Apple is working to bring down the fees associated with Beats Music, reports Recode. The site says the company is speaking with major record labels about a new set of rights and features it would like to include in a revamped version of the streaming music service for less than $10 per month.
Discussions are in their early stages, as Apple isn't launching the overhauled Beats Music service until next year, but some critics wonder just how successful the firm will be in convincing folks in the music industry to agree to a price cut on a product they never wanted to exist in the first place.
Oscar-nominated actor Leonardo DiCaprio has withdrawn from negotiations to play Steve Jobs in Sony's upcoming movie on the Apple founder, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The actor was slated to begin work on the film after wrapping up The Revenant, but he has instead decided to take an extended hiatus.
With DiCaprio out, a number of other high profile names have come back into the mix. THR says that top talent including Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Bradley Cooper are all on Sony's wish list, but it adds that Affleck seems unlikely given he just signed on to a film with a similar production schedule.
Apple is planning to debut Apple Pay on the third Monday of the month, reports Bank Innovation. The outlet claims that according to "multiple sources close to Apple," the mobile payment service is scheduled to launch on October 20, alongside iOS 8.1.
On Monday, Apple released the first beta of iOS 8.1 to developers, and hidden settings pertaining to Apple Pay were discovered within the firmware. Bank Innovation says it has learned that this code is there so Apple can test Apple Pay prior to launch.
Talks between Apple and PayPal regarding Apple Pay partnership soured following PayPal's deal with Samsung, reports Bank Innovation. The outlet says that the two sides began negotiations early on in Apple Pay's development, but when PayPal partnered with Samsung for Galaxy S5 payments, Apple backed out.
According to the report, PayPal’s now-former president David Marcus was categorically against the Samsung deal, knowing that it would jeopardize PayPal’s relationship with Apple. But apparently eBay CEO John Donahoe didn't agree with the executive, and essentially forced the company into the partnership.
Ron Johnson, former Apple retail boss who left in 2011, is working to start a high-end, on-demand delivery service for gadgets and is hiring some former Apple employees to help, The Information reports. The move to found a new company follows Johnson's failed stint at JC Penney as CEO, when he was fired after not turning around the struggling retail giant.
Following up on yesterday's news that Apple is looking to sunset the Beats Music brand, Recode reports today that Apple has picked a timeframe for when it wants to unveil the new service. The site says it hopes to make the introduction sometime in early February, possibly time to the Grammy Awards.
Recode's John Paczkowski hedges on the claim, calling it "a guess backed up by some industry scuttlebutt," but given his track record in predicting Apple's plans, we'd be crazy not to pay attention. The one thing he hasn't heard, however, is what the company plans on calling the new subscription service.
Apple is planning to unveil a new iPad Air next month, according to a new report from the Commercial Times. The Taiwanese news outlet says that the refreshed tablet is entering mass production this month, and will be ready to ship by mid-October.
Interestingly enough, the site claims that the next iPad mini may not launch alongside the new Air. Instead, it says the second-gen Retina iPad mini could be delayed until early 2015, meaning it could land around the same time as the rumored iPad Pro.
Apple and GT are continuing their work to strengthen sapphire, according to a new report from Wall Street Forensics. The site says the pair are hoping to reduce the material's "fundamental flaw of cracking," as well as improve its reflective properties.
On September 18th, the US Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that covers new processes to both aid in the strengthening of sapphire, and cut manufacturing costs—a major point of contention with sapphire critics.
The high-end version of the new Apple Watch could cost over $1,000, according to TechCrunch. The website has spoken to experts within the jewelry industry who say that if the 18-karat gold 'Edition' version of the Watch is actually made of gold, it could sell for as much as $1,200.
It's not clear if the entire case is made of gold, or the device is just gold-plated, but TC's contacts say it's more likely the former. For one, an all-gold case matches up with the size and weight provided for the watch, and two, gold-plating doesn't really live up to Apple's design standards.
Apple has negotiated a never-before-seen deal for its new mobile payment system, according to a new report from the Financial Times. Citing sources familiar with the terms of the agreement, the outlet says that the Cupertino firm stands to make 15 cents of every $100 spent (or 0.15%) using Apple Pay.
We knew that Apple stood to make a lot of money from its new Pay service, but this is the first time we're hearing hard numbers. "It's unprecedented," says Dickson Chu, former engineer at PayPal and Google Wallet. "It’s somewhat surprising that Apple was able to negotiate something Google couldn’t.”