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iPhone 5 vs. iPhone 4S: what's changed?
Its name is enough to send CEOs into cold sweats, which is why the rest of the mobile world spent last week announcing their hardware back-to-back to steal a march on this handset. Now, after all of the rumor, speculation and leaks, Apple's sixth iPhone has finally been unveiled in San Francisco. We've got around 45 minutes before the world begins idly speculating about next year's iteration, so let's spend what little time we have delving into what's changed between now and the last time we were here. Check out our liveblog of Apple's event to get the latest news as it happens! Check out all the coverage at our iPhone 2012 event hub!
iFixit tears the MacBook Pro with Retina Display to pieces, gets a few shocks on the way
Barely two full days have elapsed since Tim and the gang announced the gawkily-named MacBook Pro with Retina Display, and already the screwdriver-wielding mavens at iFixit have torn one apart. What did they find? The Samsung-made SSD and Hynix RAM are non-upgradeable, forcing you to decide how much of both you'll need now and in the future. Meanwhile, the battery is glued to the housing and that gorgeous display is fused into the assembly, so it'll be expensive to replace should the worst happen. Speaking of its power reserves, this laptop is packing 95 Wh of juice -- capable of seven hours of life and shocking the engineer silly when he tried to disassemble it. If you'd like to see the intermediate stages of this gadget-autopsy, head on via our source link.
Editorial: What we want to see in iOS 6
We asked for third party apps, copy and paste, multitasking, wireless sync, data-only messaging and better notifications and year by year, they all arrived. iOS 5 may be one of the most mature, and popular mobile operating systems out there, but that doesn't mean Apple can take the day off. If you'd like to know what we're hoping Scott Forstall announces when he takes to the WWDC stage in a few short hours, head on past the break.
Apple launches iBooks 2 e-Textbook platform (video)
We're here at Apple's education-flavored event at the Guggenheim museum in New York City. Phil Schiller has just taken to the stage and announced the first half of Apple's platform that's going to "reinvent the textbook:" iBooks 2. Saying that there were 1.5 million iPads currently in use in Education (using 20,000 specific apps), the revamped book-stand now includes education-specific features to help the budding students of the world. You'll be able to paw through content, stopping to flick through detailed 3D animated models of elements within, access video and definitions without leaving the page. VP of Productivity Applications, Roger Rosner said that "Clearly, no printed book can compete with this:" given the constantly-updated data available, that's kinda obvious. Still, you'll be able to read in a text-heavy portrait or picture-biased landscape mode and there's also the option to have random pop-quizzes appear to keep you on your toes. Annotations is an integral part of the system: you can add stickies to individual pages and aggregate them into virtual 3 x 5-inch note-cards for revision during finals. You'll also get the same purchase, download and re-download rights you enjoy in the company's other stores. The company's partnered (initially) with textbook makers Pearson, McGraw Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, as the trio are responsible for 90 percent of all textbooks sold -- as well as DK and the E.O. Wilson Foundation. Phil was gushing, saying that he couldn't "overemphasize the importance of these partners working with us." Pearson's High School Science, Biology, DK's Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life, Natural History Insects, Animals and My First ABC as well as the first two chapters of E.O. Wilson's Life on Earth will be available at launch -- the latter is free. You'll be able to download iBooks 2 from the app store free of charge, whilst textbooks themselves will cost $14.99 or less : a far cry from the $80 dead-tree textbooks we shelled out for in college. Update: We've got a hands-on up live from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City!
Phil Schiller gets a new title at Apple
As first spotted by TheNextWeb, Phil Schiller has a new title at Apple. Previously he was the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing, but now Apple's Executive Profiles page and Schiller's own bio state his title as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing. As TheNextWeb points out, the dropping of "Product" in the title could be be nothing other than semantics. However, it could also mean that Schiller's role at Apple has shifted a little. It's possible he is assuming some of the role left vacant by Ron Johnson, Apple's former head of retail, who has yet to be replaced. Or maybe Schiller just doesn't like the word "product." Other than the title change, his official bio hasn't been altered to reflect any new duties at Apple. This means that if any changes to his duties did happen they are probably still relatively minor, especially since Apple didn't issue any kind of press release or investors note about the title change.
A look at Apple's "all-star" executives
Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, Jony Ive, and Steve Jobs are big names at Apple. These top executives are known around the technology industry and around the world for their operational excellence, marketing know-how, design genius and powerful reality distortion fields. While these four men often get credit for much of Apple's success, the company boasts an enviable collection of talented "chiefs" and senior vice presidents who help carve its skyward path. A new gallery from CNN Money takes a brief look at eleven of Apple's all-stars. For avid fans of Apple, some of the names mentioned in CNN Money's gallery may be familiar. But if you don't recognize names like Craig Federighi, Scott Forstall, Bob Mansfield, Ron Johnson, Peter Oppenheimer, Bruce Sewell, Jeff Williams, Eddy Cue, Katie Cotton, Dr. Guy "Bud" Tribble, or Greg Joswiak, this may be a good opportunity to brush up on the men and women who help shape one of the world's most successful companies.
White iPhone 4 releases tomorrow, finally (update: Phil Schiller explains the delay)
The rare albino iPhone 4 has been spotted numerous times in the wild, skulking through the trees in the magical United Kingdom, cavorting across the mysterious lands of Vietnam, and most recently standing in formation in Belgium. Now it's coming somewhere rather less exotic: the Apple Store. Apple has finally announced it will release the white iPhone 4 tomorrow around the world. Here in the US it'll come in both AT&T and Verizon flavors, warming the hearts and minds of those who like a little less pigment on their handsets. Other than a proximity sensor tweak nothing else has changed on the device, and so the pricing remains the same: $199 on contract for the 16GB model, $299 for 32GB. Sadly, though, your contract also remains the same, and we're pretty sure really wanting a new phone to match your earbuds isn't grounds for avoiding an ETF. Update: All Things D's Ina Fried had the pleasure to sit down with Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller to learn the reason behind the white iPhone 4's delay. According to Schiller, it wasn't as simple as getting the right whiteness like we reported previously -- turns out this is more to do with adding extra UV protection to keep the internal components behaving normally. Looking on the bright side, Jobs implied that this lesson allowed them to bring out the white iPad 2. Separately, some time ago our sources added that the white iPhone 4's spring launch window was set in stone back in September (and consequently announced in October), as Apple foresaw the need to delay the iPhone 5 to free up resources for the OS X Lion team and the new maps team ahead of WWDC in June. All will be revealed in good time.
Phil Schiller says white iPhone coming this spring
Increasingly it seems that when you have a question about an Apple product, you should bypass the support forums and go directly to Apple's top brass. When asked about the white iPhone 4 on Twitter, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, Phil Schiller, responded with an enthusiastic "The white iPhone will be available this spring (and it is a beauty!)." This report confirms earlier rumors that point to an imminent launch of the elusive white handset. Renewed interest in the white iPhone 4 most likely stems from the release of the white iPad 2. Customers have been waiting for the white handset since June 2010 when the latest generation Apple smartphone was announced at WWDC by Steve Jobs. Much to the chagrin of customers, Apple has twice announced the handset was delayed due to an unidentified production issue. Rumored reports hinted the problem arose from paint quality issues that were recently fixed. Considering the source of this latest tidbit of information, it is a fairly safe bet we will see the white iPhone 4 soon. Anyone excited? [Via Engadget]
Apple's Phil Schiller confirms: white iPhone to be available 'this spring'
Whoa, Nelly. Ready for another round? The elusive white iPhone -- spotted only in the hands of Woz and occasionally in those of our own Richard Lai -- may ship after all. After hearing from Apple that it was being delayed twice in 2010, we've heard an extended radio silence ever since. Sure, we've seen hints here and there from third parties that this here unicorn was still making its way through the production line, but there's nothing quite like a direct tweet from Cupertino's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing to really rekindle some interest. In response to a question on how to obtain a white iPhone, Philip Schiller fired back: "The white iPhone will be available this spring (and it is a beauty!)." That's about as clear-cut as it gets for now, but we've still got a few inquiries we'd love answered. Is he talking about the iPhone 4, or the next one in the pipeline? And does he have any intention of building us up, only to let us down (let us down) once more? We shall see, won't we? [Thanks, Stefan]
Make a free Apple-oriented Christmas Creche
If you've got a bit of time on your hands before Christmas (yeah, that could happen), you might want to build a Christmas Creche using a bunch of Apple favorites and pundits to witness the birth of the iPad. Our Dutch friends at One More Thing have put together a free print, cut and glue kit, where you can download all that you need to build your very own version of the Apple nativity scene. If you know your way around a pair of scissors, you can probably construct it in about an hour. The cast of characters include: Steve Jobs and a segway-riding Steve Wozniak as Joseph and Mary, Jonathan Ive, Tim Cook and Phil Schiller as the shepherds, and three pundits -- David Pogue, Walt Mossberg and John Gruber -- as the three wise men. Interesting choices there. It looks like Pogue is announcing the miracle using FaceTime. Take a look after the break for a quick video on how it all goes together.
Schiller answering questions on Twitter
Last week, we reported that Apple's Phil Schiller has gotten a verified account on Twitter, and since then, his popularity on the short form social networking service has apparently skyrocketed. Rather than just retreat to the shadows, he's stepping up into the limelight, sharing insights and answering questions of all kinds from Apple fans. It's pretty awesome, actually -- he's sharing everything from his favorite apps to why you have to put in your iTunes password every time you install a new app (for security's sake -- Apple wants your approval for every piece of software on your machine). It's cool to see a senior member of Apple not named Jobs getting so hands-on with Apple's customers. TechCrunch has a few other tidbits from Schiller's tweets so far: the @appleincnews account that seems real on Twitter actually isn't, but the @itunes accounts are completely official. And he hasn't yet tried Reeder for Mac, but he is a fan of the iOS version. All in all, it seems like Schiller is really "getting" Twitter -- he's declined to share his Game Center name, so he still wants some privacy, but he is using the service as it's meant to be used, reaching out directly to customers en masse. You never know -- maybe a good word from Schiller to Jobs might get us a verified account for Steve himself.
Why did Apple take Facebook Connect out of Ping?
Apple certainly took its sweet time releasing iTunes 10 yesterday, and we're beginning to think it's because the company was making a last-second change to its new Ping social-network-for-music: the removal of Facebook Connect for finding friends. Seriously -- although an option to find friends via Facebook was conspicuously present during Steve's keynote demos, it's not there anymore. Oddly, the option was there at the very beginning -- several Engadget staffers definitely saw a Facebook button when they signed up for Ping last night, and there's a whole thread on Apple's support site of people who also saw it and are now wondering where it's gone. Just to make things even more confusing, Kara Swisher at All Things D got two very different statements from Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller at the event yesterday: Schiller was enthusiastic about finding friends via Facebook, while Jobs said Zuckerberg and co. were demanding "onerous terms" that Apple refused. We're assuming Jobs was talking about something deeper than just finding friends via Connect, but it's still all very strange -- and as it stands, finding friends on Ping right now requires a fair bit of guesswork and searching, so we're hoping this all gets sorted soon. Check the video of Phil Schiller talking about Facebook and Ping after the break, as well as a snap of it (sort of) working from last night. Update: We can't confirm this, but we've just gotten a tip saying the problem is primarily on Facebook's end -- the service is currently denying requests from Ping, and the resulting errors apparently caused enough other problems for Apple to pull the plug on the connection entirely until it's fixed. That certainly would explain why Ping has seemed buggy and slow from the outset, but we're still waiting for some official explanation of what's going on.
Poll: Who's gonna keynote?
Tomorrow, Apple will introduce its iPhone OS 4.0 roadmap. And we'll be there, metaliveblogging our hearts out as the events unroll. The big mystery tonight, at least here in TUAW-land, is who will give the speech. Is this going to be a big-time Steve Jobs keynote? Or can we expect Phil Schiller to pick up the slack? Is it time for Scott Forstall to take his turn in the sun, or is there someone else waiting in the wings? Get on your best predictive sunglasses and let us know who you think will be pitching the 4.0 update tomorrow in the poll below. %Poll-44108%
Phil Schiller responds to sex app purge
Late last week, Apple removed some 5,000 apps from the App Store for what it called "objectionable content." The story broke when Jon Atherton of Chillifresh, developer of the app Wobble iBoobs, sent an email to Techcrunch detailing his app's removal. Since then, Jon posted what is allegedly Apple's definition of "objectionable content"* to his site, which includes: No images of women in bikinis No images of men in bikinis No skin No silhouettes that indicate that Wobble can be used for wobbling boobs No sexual connotations or innuendo: boobs, babes, booty, sex – all banned Nothing that can be sexually arousing No apps will be approved that in any way imply sexual content Of course, that immediately raises the question about the Playboy app and Sports Illustrated (SI) Swimsuit app, which are both in the store as of this writing. Apple's head of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller addressed this question and others in a New York Times article published today. "It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see," Mr. Schiller said. When asked why the SI and Playboy apps are still available, Mr. Schiller replied, "The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format." Now that Apple has put its foot down, they've got stick with it. In the meantime, developers who have been making decent money off of consenting adults who enjoy their apps cry foul. At the same time, developers like Wally Chang, founder of Donoma Games, welcome the change. "There just seems to be too many of these really simple applications that do nothing but show pictures of girls in bikinis or in suggestive, adult poses," he said. Some parents would agree. Some have suggested that Apple could create a "red light district" area of the App Store that's disabled by default, while others suggest that parents simply monitor what their kids are downloading. *This list has not been confirmed by Apple.
Molinker is no more on the App Store -- ratings scam results in expulsion
Well, here's the happy side to the police state known as Apple's App Store. One of the more prolific app makers out there, Molinker, has been recently unceremoniously expelled from the Apple orchard due to its manipulation of app ratings and reviews. As it turns out, Molinker has been massaging the truth by pumping out false five star reviews for its wares, and now Phil Schiller himself has stepped in and pulled the company's whole catalog -- consisting of more than 1,000 apps -- seemingly permanently: Yes, this developer's apps have been removed from the App Store and their ratings no longer appear either. So the App Store is now a bunch of travel guides lighter and Mr. Schiller gets a "good boy" badge from the blog brigade. Good news all around then.
Schiller defends App Store approval process
Well here we go. Up until now, we've heard a lot from developers about how much of a mess the App Store's approval process is, from people who've been rejected outright to people who've been forced to resubmit to people who've just given up completely. But we haven't heard much from Apple, and now Phil Schiller has spoken with Business Week about what it is about the App Store's approval process that has devs pulling their hair out. The verdict? Schiller says the process is in place for a reason. About 90% of the apps submitted merely have bugs or technical issues, and he says for the most part that devs are happy to get that feedback (though TechCrunch doesn't buy that for one second). But the other 10% of the apps Apple denies are simply what they deem "inappropriate," which could be anything from problematic coding (code that steals passwords or other private information), or app content that doesn't belong on the store, from porn to apps that help break the law or steal in some way. Apple is also vicious about trademark defense -- Schiller says that "if you don't defend your trademarks, in the end you end up not owning them." That all sounds fine and dandy (ok, well, the "inappropriate" label is a little unclear -- that's broad enough that Apple could fit almost anything under that umbrella, which is a bit troubling), but what about all of those angry devs? Unfortunately, Schiller doesn't address at all the idea that Apple might someday allow devs to release apps that haven't been through their approval process, on the App Store or anywhere else. As far as Apple is concerned, it seems like they're keeping their grip on what gets released, and anyone who doesn't like it is welcome to go elsewhere. [via TheAppleBlog]
Phil Schiller: Holiday lineup in place
It's now safe to shop for Apple products without fear of getting burned by a last-minute release, at least for the next few months. Apple's senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, Phil Schiller, told Gizmodo today that "... the holiday lineup is set." Apple typically does this in late autumn to simply let customers know that it's safe to start spending money. Gizmodo notes that they originally stated, "No more Apple products this year," but they subsequently received a call from Apple asking (by "asking" we mean "telling" ) them to use the language, "The holiday lineup is set." Conspiracy theorists will say that means there could be new stuff still in the pipe, but we think it's just meant to get people in a shopping mood. [Via The Loop]
Phil Schiller on Windows 7: 'No matter how you look at it, it's still Windows'
Windows fans expecting Apple to let Microsoft have its moment in the sun next week when Windows 7 launches should probably know better by now -- the Mac maker is actually planning a marketing counter-offensive to hit alongside 7's debut. According to Phil Schiller, the convoluted upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 7 represents a big opportunity for Apple, since users have to back everything up and reformat. "Any user that reads all those steps is probably going to freak out. If you have to go through all that, why not just buy a Mac?" Well -- we're sure most of you can think of several reasons. Of course, Microsoft has long said that most people will actually get Windows 7 when they purchase a new machine, which is one reason we're seeing such an absolute flood of interesting and innovative new PC hardware -- but Phil seems to remember that was also the company line about Vista, and homeboy isn't backing down. "We've been through these transitions before, and no matter how you look at it-it's still Windows." Harsh burn, amigo. Any last predictions? "I expect Snow Leopard will have an amazing upgrade rate, and Windows 7 won't." We thought you might say something like that. Good thing we're giving Steve Ballmer a chance to respond live on the air next week, no? [Via AppleInsider]
BW: Apple's Schiller sees opportunity for Mac with Windows 7 launch
One week from today, Microsoft will try to shake the stink of Vista. BusinessWeek reminds the world that Microsoft is set to launch Windows 7 on October 22nd. I've got the day free, since all of my invitations to Windows 7 launch parties seem to have been lost in the mail. As the spotlight shifts toward Redmond, WA, Apple Senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller says that Apple sees "a very good opportunity" in the Windows 7 noise, in an interview with Business Week's Peter Burrows. While no one expects Windows 7 to be as poorly received as Vista, the new operating system will mark the first time in a long while that millions of PC owners will start looking seriously at replacing existing machines, especially with so many PC-people having skipped the purchase cycle when Vista came around. And there's where Apple gets them. Or tries to, anyway. Apple is likely to aim new ads at PC users, trying to pull them to the Mac side in the coming days. The ads will probably hit familiar points, such as the susceptibility to malware worn by Windows, and extra programs buyers get with a Mac out of the box, like iMovie and GarageBand.
Apple hires former Newton guru as new VP of Product Marketing
The New York Times Bits Blog is reporting that Michael Tchao, a member of the team that brought the Apple Newton MessagePad to market, is going back to work for Apple after a 15-year absence. In Tchao's new job as Vice President of Product Marketing, he'll be reporting to Apple Senior V.P. of Product Marketing Phil Schiller. For the past 7 years, Tchao has been General Manager of Nike's Techlab, which has been responsible for the Nike + iPod line as well as the online integration that makes nikeplus.com so powerful. If you wanted to start doing a bit of speculating, it's interesting to note that Tchao was part of the team that was responsible for Apple's first tablet computer. Of course, the Newton platform wasn't exactly a huge success during its 5 years of life, owing primarily to its high price and (at least in the first versions) less-than-stellar handwriting recognition. Tchao wasn't in a marketing position at the time as the General Manager of Product Planning and Strategy for Apple's Personal Interactive Electronics group, and most of the marketing fumbles of the Newton era can be laid at the feet of the Apple execs in charge at the time. Tchao certainly has the street cred as a tablet computing expert, with 5 patents to his name during his time with the Newton team. Although we don't know for sure at this time if Tchao has been tapped to resurrect tablet computing at Apple, his background both at Apple and Nike Techlab shows that he not only has the technical background to shepherd a new product to market, but the marketing savvy as well. Welcome back, Mr. Tchao! [via Mashable]
