Apple’s long-time head of Apple Mail Terry Blanchard is leaving the company, but he will continue working on mail apps for iOS and Mac as he joins software company Readdle as the VP of Engineering for its Spark email app. The move comes after six years as the lead of Apple’s Mail app development. Blanchard joined Apple in 2011 and led the development and QA teams for Apple Mail until joining Readdle this month....
The Apple Store app on iOS has today received a major update, bringing it to version 5.0. The update includes a new Sessions screen for finding Apple Store, improvements to the in-store experience, and more… Apple touts that this update makes for a “more personal and relevant” in-store experience for shoppers. The Apple Store app now offers product and session recommendations, while it also clearly shows customers which of their “Favorite” products are in stock....
This morning’s biggest news comes from Apple’s long-standing advertising agency, TBWA/Media Arts Lab, where the esteemed Lee Clow (66) is resigning his position as chief creative officer. Clow’s abandonment of the creative lead he has held on the account that has distinguished his career suggests he is taking steps towards retirement. His role will be filled by Duncan Milner, who has been executive creative director on Apple and a TBWA alum since 1990....
Apple has earned the award for Best in Show at the 99th ADC Awards for its playful and fun AirPods ad, “Bounce.” Apple also took home the award for Client of the Year and its partner TBWA\Media Arts Lab won Best Ad Agency of the Year. The One Club for Creativity who puts on the annual ADC awards shared the news in a press release and on its website today. The ADC Awards “celebrate the very best in advertising, digital media, graphic and publication design, packaging and product design, motion, experiential and spatial design, photography, illustration and fashion design all with a focus on artistry and craftsmanship....
Analyst Charles Wolf notes Apple easily beat third quarter consensus estimates, reporting earnings per share of $1.19 on revenues of $7.46 billion, observing, “But the stock was crushed after the release by gross margin guidance that was materially lower than the historic numbers both for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2009. Our take is that Apple wants to continue the Mac’s momentum and will use pricing to do so.” The purported plan follows a stupendously strong Mac sales quarter, Apple reached 2....
Apple has just seeded a new build (13D55) of OS X Mavericks to developers. The update is currently showing for users on the beta from the Dev Center and doesn’t seem to be showing up yet for members of the recently-reopened AppleSeed program. This release is expected to include improved USB syncing in iTunes and enhanced support for 4k monitors on newer MacBook Pros. Typically Apple increases the frequency of beta builds as it gets closer to the public release of a piece of software....
Apple yesterday shared two new ‘Shot on iPhone’ TV advertisements and today it has followed them up with yet another pair of videos. While yesterday’s videos focused on animals, today’s videos break that trend. The first video, shot in Bregenz, Austria, shows a first person account of someone riding down what appears to be a zip line of sorts. As usual, Apple is sure to credit the original recorder of the video, with this one having been shot by Robert S....
Just after sharing our latest drone flyover video of Apple’s under construction “Campus 2” in Cupertino this weekend (this time in 4K), Apple today shared an updated aerial shot of the campus. The shot shows early progress being made on the structure of the main building and other buildings on the campus as well as earthwork and greenery on the surrounding property. The City of Cupertino’s website, which tracks construction and traffic updates related to the Campus 2 project for locals hasn’t changed the project schedule that still calls for building construction to wrap up by the end of 2016....
Apple held its annual shareholders meeting earlier today, which included votes on six different proposals, comments from Tim Cook, and a question and answer session. One of the proposals was specifically critical of Apple’s cooperation with requests from the Chinese government to remove certain apps from the App Store. Reuters reports this evening, however, that even though that proposal was voted down at today’s meeting, the pressure is mounting against Apple....
On top of our running list of apps being updated for iOS 7 today, Apple too is preparing for the release of iOS 7 later today with updates to its own apps. The latest to get support for iOS 7 is Apple’s AirPort Utility app, which allows users to manage their Wi-Fi networks and AirPort Base stations such as AirPort Express and AirPort Time Capsule. Apple has also updated its Apple Store app today with optimizations for iOS 7 and “a refined user interface....
Ahead of her appearance at Bloomberg’s ‘Year Ahead’ business summit tomorrow, Apple’s SVP of Retail and Online Stores Angela Ahrendts has today made an appearance at Fast Company’s Innovation Festival in New York City. Ahrendts sat down with Fast Company Editor at Large Rick Tetzei to discuss her role at Apple since joining the company in 2014… Ahrendts first noted that when she originally joined Apple, she spent the first 6 months on the job visiting the company’s retail locations in 40 markets and listening to the thoughts and opinions of retail employees....
Does your Apple Watch keep reminding you to breathe? You’re not alone. People all over the world are interrupted by the Apple Watch reminding them to breathe every day — even if they’re already breathing. So what gives? Does the Apple Watch detect stress? One of the most common misconceptions about Breathe alerts is that they are related to stress. The idea is that the Apple Watch detects when you need to take advice from Taylor Swift and calm down....
Update: Apple says iBooks Textbooks are available in all countries with a paid iBooks store and that a full updated list of countries with access to iTunes U Course Manager can be found on its enrollment website. Apple just put out a press release announcing that it’s expanding availability of its educational content– iBooks Textbooks and the iTunes U Course Manager– into new international markets. Starting today, both of the services are rolling out to new countries in Asia, Latin America, and Europe, bringing the total number of countries with textbooks up to 51 and the total number with access to the iTunes U Course Manager to 70....
Just two days before Apple’s education focused event in New York City, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple’s vice president of the iWork suite of productivity applications is heading up the development of Apple’s entry into the textbook market. Rosner, an Apple veteran, oversees the development of the Pages, Keynote, and Numbers Mac applications, and most recently, has been heading up the iOS variants of the three Apple productivity applications....
Apple opened its new flagship retail store in Chicago earlier this year to much acclaim, but as the weather turns from fall to winter, a design oversight is causing some problems. As reported by Chicago blog Spundart, Apple seemingly didn’t design the MacBook Air-like roof of the store to account for snow…in Chicago… Apple’s newest Chicago store garnered earlier attention for its roof design that mimics a MacBook Air, but one clear oversight is that there are no gutters to catch snow or ice....
In addition to the new features detailed earlier today, iOS 14.4 also brings a trio of notable security improvements. In a new Support document published this afternoon, Apple said that iOS 14.4 fixes a kernel vulnerability and two WebKit vulnerabilities, all three of which “may have been actively exploited.” First, Apple says that iOS 14.4 patches a security vulnerability in the kernel affecting iPhone 6s and later, iPad Air 2 and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)....
Update: Public beta testers may not see the update currently as it appears to have been pulled for now. Apple has pushed out the fifth public beta version of OS X 10.11 “El Capitan.” The update brings bug fixes and tweaks the pre-release operating system in preparation for its launch later this year. The new beta comes with a build number of 15A262c, putting it ahead of the current developer build 15A244d....
This evening Apple shared a new ad that’s part of the Behind the Mac campaign, aimed at newly admitted college students. Like Apple’s previous Behind the Mac ads, this one features black and white clips of people interacting with their Macs. In this new ad you can see a series of college students reacting to acceptance letters on their Macs. Cheerful students and excited families explode with joy as they read letters on MacBooks....
Ahead of its major media event next week, Apple has issued a significant update to its Apple Store shopping iOS app. The first addition is a complete redesign for the iPhone and iPod touch application’s interface. The new design is more in-line with the recently released iPad variant. Speaking of the iPad version, the tablet-optimized layout is now a universal bundle (single download) with the iPhone/iPod touch version, and it has also gained support for making Apple Store One to One reservations....
Apple demoed the technology to the Associated Press earlier in the week in New York City. Apple has setup over 20 iBeacon transmitters in its flagship 5th Avenue store. However, starting today, everyone can benefit from the update, as the Apple Store app has been updated silently from the server side. Customers in the US can sign up inside the app today … Upon opening the Apple Store app, users will be asked whether they want to install In-Store notifications....
