Roger Fingas
News stepped to a fast pace at the beginning of 2016, with numerous rumors about the iPhone 7, and worries about Apple's stock price and the prospects for iPhone 6s sales.
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Lawsuit accuses Apple of stealing heart rate tech
A company called Valencell said that Apple showed interest in its heart rate technology in early 2013, even proposing a partnership, but then simply exploited its resources and used patent-infringing technology in the sensor on the Apple Watch. Apple thought it would be more economically efficient to risk infringing patents than pay for a license, Valencell's lawyers claimed.
Both the Apple Watch and Valencell's sensors use optical technology to measure blood flow. If Valencell wins the case, it could damage Apple's reputation, since the latter is essentially being accused of outright theft.
'iPhone 7' dropping 3.5mm jack, going waterproof
A flood of rumors suggested that Apple's next-gen iPhone will lose a 3.5mm headphone jack to go even thinner, depending on Bluetooth and Lightning for audio output instead. The phone may also become waterproof, support wireless charging, and implement native noise-cancellation support.
Apple may even be developing a set of "premium" Bluetooth earbuds with completely separate left and right pieces, charged in a special carrying case with its own battery.
Apple rumored to be cutting iPhone 6s production
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On Tuesday a report said that Apple was cutting iPhone 6s/6s Plus production by some 30 percent for the March quarter. Although skepticism abounded, this was supported by a number of Apple suppliers — including Foxconn — declaring financial setbacks.
Nikkei suggested that rather than pointing to a drop in demand, Apple is simply performing an "inventory adjustment" to help clear out retail stockpiles.
App Store sets new records during 2015 holidays
Apple used Wednesday to trumpet the App Store's performance during the Christmas holidays. The shop raked in $1.1 billion in revenue during a two-week span including both Christmas and New Year's, with $144 million of that flowing from New Year's Day alone. The latter was Apple's best-ever day at the App Store.
Apple argues against mandated diversity in upper echelons
In a 2016 proxy statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple recommended that shareholders vote against a proposal that would require Apple to increase the number of non-white members in both its board of directors and upper executive ranks. Apple insisted that its current approach to diversity is better.
At the moment, Apple has only two non-white people in the highest tiers of the company: HR head Denise Young Smith, and Andrea Jung, who sits on the board of directors.
Apple stock takes price hit
Thursday saw Apple stock begin daily trading under $100, something that hadn't happened since Oct. 2014. Investors may have been concerned about the alleged drop in iPhone 6s production, as well as the iPhone's long-term potential, especially since a majority of Apple's revenue stems from the product.
Apple buys facial recognition firm Emotient
Emotient specializes in AI used to detect a person's emotional state from imagery. Prior to being snapped up by Apple, the technology was primarily exploited by the advertising and marketing industries.
What Apple might do with the tech is unknown, but in recent years the company has picked up a number of small companies connected to motion capture and facial analysis.
AppleInsider podcast
Editors Neil Hughes, Shane Cole, and Mikey Campbell had plenty to talk about this week, including not just iPhone rumors but the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show, and whether Apple could take a lesson from PC gaming hardware like the Razer Core.
Marko Zivkovic
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
Amber Neely
Andrew O'Hara
6 Comments
to preface this comment, i have an iphone 6 - 64 gb as far as the iphone 7 being waterproof and losing the headphone jack and so forth and so on... the iphone has become a nightmare to use because of the fact that the ios software hasnt been perfected and it makes the user experience with the phone in general frustrating.. No longer does Siri understand simple commands ... instead you get "uh oh...i couldnt create your reminder" No longer does the music app work with ease... instead it makes your whole phone freeze and crash... i dont care about waterproofing (who does) i dont care about removing the headphone jack to make the phone thinner... the phone is thin enough... You should be removing the headphone jack to lets say... DUH... put in another speaker and perhaps since you bought beats.. make both speakers stereo sound quality? Theres a lot that need to happen with the iphone 7 to make me buy it and not switch to something else because at this point im sick of my iphone not working.... what should happen with iphone 7: a redesign please...as with the HTC ONE they should put front facing stereo beats quality speakers on this phone for flawless sound (you did buy beats for flawless sound didnt you?), the home button should be removed as you can now pinch the corner to open up multi-task and voice recognition technology should allow you to say "home" or "go home" if you need to GO HOME. if you do that you can have a edge to edge display cant you? :) IOS software as a whole needs to be streamlined and stabilized... so it actual works PERFECTLY... the music app needs to become more stable and user friendly and not make your phone crash ...ITUNES needs to become more user friendly and stable... wireless charging needs to materialize, the phone needs at least 3 gb of ram, a state of the art oled display, and the battery life has to be tweaked so that it can at the very least last a whole day... These arent beyond realistic things to ask of apple the biggest tech company in the world... is it? Get on the ball apple or i will not being buying your products any longer.... I bought an Imac in 2011 the display was defective and died 3 times... then the machine went out of warranty, the display died again and apple made me pay 600.00 to have it replaced... And you wonder why your stock is going down the toilet.... Get with the program bitches!
I've generally been defending Apple's decisions since 1995, but some of the recent developments have led me to believe that the company is at the inevitable turning point big corporations ultimately get to. They've become big, like microsoft in the 90s. Big and arrogant, prioritizing form over function at the disadvantage of the customer. Software quality has been degrading for years, products are being released in unfinished states, the professional market has bern totally neglected for the better part of a decade.
The Apple of the future is going to end up being a fashion brand with overpriced but not superior products, like Louis Vuitton, Tommy Hilfiger or Burberry (hint hint).
Tim has to be very careful what kind of decisions he makes now, if he wants Apple to remain the most useable and user friendly manufacturer of electronic entertainment and productivity equipment.
The trend is certainly not pointing in the right direction. And I do feel that the stock market is feeling uncertain too. I know I am.
It's sad, because frankly if Apple becomes unattractive and its products mere fashion gadgets with good looks but horrible usability, we're stuck with no other, better options right now. Android is a mess and Windows, while better than with 95 or Vista, is still dragging awful amounts of legacy behind, hampering stability and usability in equal amounts.
You can play this card only for so long Apple. Eventually people with stop buying products that are inferior and overpriced and settle for the cheaper, lesser evil. Cave, cave!