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Apple announces iOS 7 will be released on September 18
The much-anticipated refresh of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 7, finally has a release date: September 18th. There isn't a whole lot we don't already know about iOS 7 thanks to weeks of developer beta testing and a number of showcases by Apple itself, but at today's iPhone event, Craig Federighi took the stage to show off a few key features. Improved web search, a more responsive Siri, advanced photo organization based on time and location and the new command center were all part of the presentation, as was iTunes Radio, which allows users to create their own stations and customize their own audio streams. The OS will work with "almost every" iOS device. Get ready folks, only a week to go.
Apple's next-generation iPhone liveblog!
You've arrived! But we haven't. If you're here a little early, fret not -- we'll be back at 10AM PT to kick things off from Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California. The topic of conversation? iPhone, naturally. We're expecting an iPhone 5S and perhaps an iPhone 5C for those seeking something a little more vibrant. Of course, a gilded iPhone is also pretty vibrant. At any rate, be sure to bookmark this very page and return at the time listed below -- if the machines behind the scenes are working properly, it'll calculate based on your time zone. Huzzah! September 10, 2013 1:00:00 PM EDT
Sony takes aim at Apple TV with PS Vita TV, a budget-priced streaming, gaming station
Today, Sony announced the PS Vita TV, a small set-top, budget-priced multimedia streaming station that directly competes with Apple TV. The basic US$95 set gives users the basic streaming utilities they've come to expect from devices like Apple TV and Roku, including Hulu and movie rentals. However, it takes things one step further with the addition of DualShock 3 controller and PS Vita game support. PS Vita is Sony's hand-held game device, which, by Sony's own admission, isn't selling as well as it might like despite some strong gaming titles. Vita TV is a potential game changer for the struggling system, allowing users to play Vita games on their big-screen TV for a cost well below the standard entry fee for any current-generation gaming system. In addition to game support, Vita TV has some cutting-edge cross-connectivity with the upcoming PlayStation 4 game console. Gamers will be able to stream their games from the PS4 to the PS Vita TV in another room of the house. For single TV homes, this isn't a big deal, but for families looking to keep the peace when junior wants to play video games and the folks want to watch American Idol, this feature is going to be a big selling point. Currently, the device is priced at ¥9,480 in Japan, $95, for the basic model and ¥14,280, or $143, for a version that comes with a DualShock 3 controller and an 8 GB memory card. While Apple TV allows gaming via the AirPlay feature, it lacks a standard recognizable game controller beyond your iPhone or iPad. Sony's competitive pricing, even for the version that comes with its controller, and the Vita's existing library of new games and ports of PS1 / PS2 titles, gives it a strong selling point entering the market. We know that Apple is bringing game controller support to iOS with iOS 7. Given that Sony currently hasn't announced plans for a PS Vita TV release in North America, Apple seemingly has plenty of time to improve the gaming landscape of Apple TV. Sony's announcement might just be the starting gun on a new race to see whose budget streaming-media device will rule them all. The low cost of entry on both devices will make them attractive to users in developing countries who want to game, but don't have hundreds and hundreds of dollars to put into a normal console. Considering Apple TV gaming currently requires an iOS device as a controller, Sony is currently winning on that price front. Hopefully Apple has an answer to that problem in the planning stages.
Daily Update for September 9, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Amazon warns users to update iOS Kindle app before installing iOS 7
Readers of Kindle books, take note: Amazon has issued a critical update to its Kindle app on iOS, warning users to install the latest update before upgrading to iOS 7 or risk losing their Kindle libraries. The company pushed out the Kindle 3.9.2 update last night to the App Store. In the app's release notes, the company states: This is a fix for a Kindle issue with the upcoming iOS 7 OS upgrade that may cause customers to have to re-register and re-download books from Amazon. Please download and install - this is a required update before upgrading to iOS 7. Without Amazon explicitly stating what the problem is, it's not clear whether the fault lies in the Amazon app itself or in some code in iOS 7. Should users fail to update the app before they install iOS 7, they will have to re-register and then re-download all their Kindle books, but that's as far as their troubles would go; there's no suggestion from Amazon that failure to do so would produce dire consequences, like losing all their Kindle books across multiple devices.
TUAW over-analyzes the Apple event invitation
Shortly after @jdalrymple announced to the world that the invitations for the September 10, 2013 Apple event had been sent out, TUAW Editor-in-Chief Victor Agreda, Jr. noted that @HereIsTrev had tweeted the following message: "Please don't over analyse every last aspect of the apple invite ... oh, too late." Here's our take on the invitation, BuzzFeed-style: There are 25 full or partial circles on the invitation (I counted). 25 is the square of five, which means that the "S" in iPhone 5S means "Five-squared." Of course, these colors represent the spectrum of case colors for your new iPhone. Only two of the circles are green, which Greenpeace should take notice of as it means that the new iPhone is ruining the environment. The four empty circles are representative of the loss of Steve Jobs, Scott Forstall, John Browett and (most recently) Bob Mansfield from the executive ranks of Apple. Blue is the most prevalent color on the invitation, which proves that Bondi Blue will be one of the colors for the new iPhone. The phrase "brighten everyone's day" is all about the new display technology for the iPhone, which will be incredibly readable in full sunlight. Many of the overlapping circles appear to be Venn diagrams. We are doing our best to determine what that means... The fact that Apple couldn't come up with a color for its logo in the center is a sign that the company is fresh out of innovative ideas. Tracing the path of the colored dots reveals a new gesture that'll conjure up the spirit of Steve Jobs. The dots are stylized fingerprints, meaning that the new iPhone will feature a fingerprint-authentication feature. The dot-filled invite also suggests iOS 7 will be sponsored by America's favorite candy, DOTS. See Android KitKat for context. The thin font used on the invite hints at a thinner bezel for the iPhone display. The multiple colors used on the invite suggest Apple will surprise us with multi-user support in a subsequent version of iOS 7.x. Those round circles are indicative of pixels on the screen of Apple's long-awaited HDTV, which will be known as "Munstervision" in honor of the one man who believed in the product, Gene Munster.
Apple confirms September 10th iPhone event, and we'll be there live!
The next iPhone will be (presumably) unveiled on September 10th, as hinted at on the Apple-delivered invite that you see above. When the curtains pull back, it'll be nearly a year to the day since the iPhone 5 was ushered into reality, and it'll no doubt be a monumentally important day for the company. Particularly compared to the barrage of products Apple introduced in 2012 -- iPad mini, iPhone 5, the MacBook Pro with Retina display, enhanced MacBook Air / iMac / Mac mini lines, a redesigned iPod nano, a revised iPad / iPod touch / Apple TV, ad OS X Mountain Lion -- 2013 has been eerily quiet. Outside of a tweaked iPhone 5 for T-Mobile's network, a Haswell-infused MacBook Air and a tease of the next-generation Mac Pro, we've been left with little more than hopes for newly-inspired versions of iOS and OS X. That changes on the 10th of September, as at the very least, we're expecting a next-gen iPhone to hit the stage. We'll also be holding out hope for an oh-so-colorful lower-end iPhone 5C for emerging markets -- markets where Android and even Windows Phone are the platforms of choice for communities making the move into the smartphone era. We wouldn't put it past Apple to also revise its iPad line while it's at it, and naturally, iOS 7 should be just about primed for release to the masses. As you'd expect, we'll be on hand in Cupertino in order to liveblog every second of the action, and we'd invite you to cast your best guesses on what's to come in comments below.
Siri has snappy retorts for 'OK, Glass'
I've always been a fan of Siri's sarcastic wit, and now that Google Glass is on the verge of encroaching on its space as an intelligent assistant, it's ready to drop some snark on you if you so much as even hint that it is Glass. The Verge showed a bunch of the silly responses to "OK, Glass" this morning, ranging from "I'm not Glass. And I'm just fine with that" to "I think that Glass is half-empty." Contrary to The Verge's claim that iOS 7 adds more comments to the mix, exhaustive testing of Siri's wit was unable to prove that the upcoming mobile operating system adds anything. We can only hope that the personality engineers on the Siri staff are able to add another big dose of snark before Glass goes into general release.
Apple releases iOS 7 beta 6 to developers
Apple is moving quickly on iOS, releasing the beta 6 version of iOS 7 today to developers. This latest update should bring some minor improvements and bug fixes to Apple's mobile OS. It is yet another quick turnaround between versions as Apple just released beta 5 less than 10 days ago. Developers can download beta 6 over the air via Settings > General > Software Update on devices running the current iOS 7 beta. Developers also can download iOS 7 manually from Apple's developer website.
Reality Absorption Field: From Passé to Pastels
If tradition and reported rumors prevail, September will likely mark the debut of iOS 7, which Apple characterizes as the biggest revision to its mobile operating system since the its debut. It includes a host of features that range from the nice-to-have (such as iTunes Radio and updates to Notification Center) to features that could make for huge changes in how consumers navigate and use their iPhones and iPads (Control Center, AirDrop and better photo management). There have also been some key gesture changes. For example, on the app launchpad, Control Center is activated with a swipe from the bottom and the search page has been replaced with a swipe down. And that would all be fine, but what would an Apple product be without something at least a bit polarizing. In this case, it's the aesthetics of iOS 7, with a host of parody Web sites giving the "Jonny Ive" software design makeover to all manner of logos and other artwork. iOS 7 may also introduce some icon inconsistencies between Apple's mobile devices and the Mac; an example is the proposed icon for Safari. But current iOS users will hardly be lost in iOS 7; the icon grid remains intact with no top-level bubbling of app functionality to answer Android widgets or Windows Live Tiles. The new aesthetic of iOS 7 has a few main characteristics. Simplification and minimal ornamentation. At the introduction of iOS 7, several jokes were made at the expense of current and former releases of Apple operating systems and apps, including the green felt casino game motif of Game Center and the remnant torn paper in OS X's Calendar. Instead, iOS 7 will err on the side of abstract representations. One of the best examples of this kind of change is iOS' Photos app. Today, it features a detailed depiction of a flower. But that's slated to be replaced by eight overlapping color ovals. New typography with a focus on taller fonts with a thinner weight that take advantage of Apple's high-density displays. A new color palette that leans heavily on pastels. Extended use of translucence. To the extent there is a real risk, however, it is not that consumers will reject the look of iOS 7 so much as that Apple risks losing some differentiation on the look of the OS. This is particularly true when compared with Android, which has also embraced taller, thinner fonts albeit mostly in Google's own apps (on Android and iOS). Windows Phone has also done this to an extent although mostly in the navigation of its "panoramic" navigation at the top of its apps. Skeumorphism brought a bit of levity to the Apple OS experience. Regardless of whether one loved it or hated it, though, it was -- in part due to their competitive reactions -- a contrast from the flatter designs of other phone interfaces. The new look of iOS 7 is but one of its new features. It may not ease the daily routine -- or even the eyestrain -- of its users, but ultimately it is something of a red herring once the initial visual shock subsides. Most users will probably not think twice about it a few days after acclimating to it. For those whose feelings for green felt were heartfelt, a trip to your friendly Internet poker site may be able to help relive the glory days. Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research, a research and advisory firm focusing on consumer technology adoption. He shares commentary at Techspressive and on Twitter at @rossrubin.
What iOS 7 means for enterprise developers
Apple's latest mobile operating system, iOS 7, is nearing release, and over at VentureBeat, Solstice Mobile CEO J Schwan offered up a guest post positing that iOS 7 is "the most noteworthy iOS upgrade since the iPhone first hit the market in 2007." Schwan is taking the view that "organizations that do not take advantage of iOS 7's new enterprise features will end up serving an outdated app experience to a market of future-hungry end users." Schwan points out that there are significant benefits to quick adoption of iOS 7 for enterprise developers. Enterprise Single Sign-on will both increase security in the enterprise, as well as make it much easier for users to access corporate data assets. AirDrop Sharing for Apps is seen as a way to use real-time document and content sharing for more efficient use of sales, presentation and collaboration tools. Apple's take on Low Energy Bluetooth, known as iBeacon, will enable things like indoor navigation (helping to navigate large buildings or campuses), device presence awareness (what devices / people are in the area right now) and the ability to have location trigger workflow tracking. Schwan sees the "scan to acquire Passbook passes" capability of iOS 7 as a huge potential boon to the company and mobile marketing as well. Apple has over 575 million iTunes customers on file, most of whom link credit cards to those accounts. Should the company be able to integrate mobile payment into Passbook and connect to those credit cards, the sky is the limit for iOS-based mobile commerce. In his post, Schwan also notes that the UI changes in iOS 7 really put content over aesthetics. That gives developers an opportunity, especially in the enterprise, to really make it possible for users to focus on critical tasks instead of navigation. As Schwan concludes, "Enterprises that put the work in now to prepare for the September release of iOS 7 will be ahead of the game."
iCloud.com beta gets iOS 7-like redesign
Apple has redesigned the iCloud.com beta website to match the look and feel of iOS 7. Now, when users navigate to beta.icloud.com they are greeted with new icons for Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Notes, Reminders and Find My iPhone, plus a new animated, blurred background. All the web apps listed have also received a redesign inspired by iOS 7, which may give some hint to what OS X would look like if Apple decided to port iOS 7's design influence to the desktop. iOS 7 and the new OS X, which so far has not been previewed with any new design UI changes, are expected to ship this fall. It is likely that the design changes being seen in the beta iCloud.com site will be rolled out to the normal site around the same time.
It's the little things: The tiny changes that may make you fall in love with iOS 7
When Apple launches iOS 7 later this year it will be the biggest overhaul the mobile operating system has ever received. But with change comes fear, and there's already a divide forming between those who can't let go of the iOS they know and love and those who welcome the revamp with open arms. There are a number of relatively small tweaks and additions that have really sold me on iOS 7, and they may do the same for you. These aren't big things that you're likely to see on an iPhone commercial -- like automatic app updating or a smarter Siri, for example -- but they may indeed be just as important. Massive folders I can't tell you how excited I was when folders were first introduced to iOS, and though the feature did take care of the issue of having pages and pages of apps, I was soon left with several pages full of folders instead. Instead of allowing folders to just hold however many apps could fit on the drop-down screen like they do now, folders have pages that can be swiped through, allowing you to put all of your games in a single folder, all of your business apps in another, and so on. Smart contrast features Without the shaded black bars of iOS 6 and earlier to host the clock on the lock screen and the info section on the top of the home screen, picking a single color for these rather important bits of text would have made them hard to read against certain wallpapers. iOS 7 gets around this by monitoring the brightness of your background and adjusting the color of the font accordingly. Depending on your wallpaper the font will switch between black and white, and there's also a slight shading that will be applied to the areas around the text depending on what the system determines will be the easiest to read. It's a remarkably intelligent feature that could have very easily been completely overlooked. Safari's slick tabs To be fair, there isn't necessarily anything wrong with the way Safari handles tabs in iOS 6. It's functional, if a bit ugly, but it gets the job done. But when I first saw iOS 7's tab browsing feature I may have audibly uttered "oooh." Not only is it now possible to see many more tabs on a single screen, flipping through them is buttery smooth in a very CoverFlow-esque way. You can snap to the window you want and kill unneeded tabs much faster, all with the added bonus of it being just plain pretty to look at. Multitasking previews Yet another new feature that ups both form and function, the multitasking feature has been overhauled to offer a preview of the current state of the app, rather than just a list of icons that leave you to guess what exactly you might have been in the middle of. The preview windows look great and are large enough that you'll instantly know exactly where you were in just about any app, be it a game, messaging client, etc. I have a feeling this is going to be one of the features that we'll look back on next year and wonder how we got by without it. Newsstand finally falls in line Newsstand has been a problem for a long time. No, I'm not talking about the app itself -- from all accounts it's matured since its introduction and it's a reliable way to catch up on magazines and other editorials -- I'm referring to its ability to ruin an otherwise well-organized app collection. Ever since it was introduced, Newsstand has refused to be placed in folders or deleted, regardless of whether or not you have ever used it. Because of this, it's often one of the first things people remove when jailbreaking their devices, and if someone told me they voided the warranty on their device for the sole purpose of removing the offending app, I would have a hard time holding it against them. But now, along with the death of the app's skeumorphic design, comes the ability to grab Newsstand by the scruff of the neck and shove it into whatever folder you see fit. I hope you'll join me in saying: Finally.
Designer gives OS X the iOS 7 treatment
iOS 7 will give iPhones and iPads a rather drastic makeover when it launches publicly later this year. While we already know that the next version of OS X, Mavericks, doesn't offer the same visual refresh, that didn't stop designer Stu Crew from doing Apple's work for it. The new OS X concept, which Crew has named "Ivericks," employs the same simplistic, modern design principles as iOS 7 to create a rather appealing product. Gone are the beveled windows and faux 3D buttons and in their place are narrow lines and a minimalist aesthetic that seems very much like it could have come straight from Cupertino. My own personal favorite touch is the completely revamped calculator, which takes obvious cues from the calculator app in iOS 7, and still looks gorgeous. Take a look at the full set of concept renders on Crew's blog. [via TheNextWeb]
Polar polls show high user acceptance of iOS 7 UI and icons
iOS 7 is now in its fifth beta incarnation and going through intense scrutiny by developers as the release date for the new mobile OS nears. Several iOS 7 beta testers have apparently decided to break NDA and conduct polls to judge the public's opinion on both the user interface and specific app icons when compared to the iOS 6 versions. Polar user LukeW went through the various iOS interface elements such as switches, the date picker, status bar, navigation bar, etc. and asked the public to vote on whether they preferred the iOS 6 or iOS 7 version. In every case, the iOS 7 versions were the winner. While I won't go through every result, here are some vote results for important iOS 7 UI elements: Date Picker -- iOS 7: 1,365 votes, iOS 6: 404 votes Status Bar -- iOS 7: 1,199 votes, iOS 6: 543 votes Share Sheet -- iOS 7: 1,022 votes, iOS 6: 261 votes Lock Screen -- iOS 7: 1,054 votes, iOS 6: 254 votes Notification -- iOS 7: 1,087 votes, iOS 6: 200 votes Of course, there were certain commenters who hated all of the iOS 7 elements in this decidedly unscientific poll (we're looking at you, autumn...). Not to be outdone, Polar user Giantsquid looked at side-by-side comparisons of app icons. The results weren't as grossly tilted towards iOS 7 as they were in the UI elements poll: Contacts icon -- iOS 7: 19,702 votes, iOS 6: 8,979 votes Siri icon -- iOS 7: 6,914 votes, iOS 6: 8,243 votes Passbook icon -- iOS 7: 16,096 votes, iOS 6: 14,233 votes Maps icon -- iOS 7: 10,904 votes, iOS 6: 4,195 votes Safari icon -- iOS 7: 10,597 votes, iOS 6: 17,593 votes The results of both of these polls are subject to scrutiny; the votes represent only a tiny sample of the millions of iOS users around the world. But it's interesting to see how people are reacting to the look and feel of iOS 7 -- mostly in a positive light. [via 9to5Mac]
Apple opens iOS 7 beta 5 to developers, public release creeps ever closer
It seems like Apple just rolled out its iOS 7 beta 4 -- and its bevy of bug fixes -- to developers, but Cupertino is already seeding the next build. The iOS 7 beta 5 is available as an OTA download via Software Update, and we imagine it will bring even more performance tweaks this time around. Registered devs can hit up the source link to learn more, while the rest of us will have to be content with knowing the mobile OS must be getting pretty close to a public release.
Apple releases iOS 7 beta 5 and new Apple TV beta to developers
Apple released iOS 7 beta 5 today to developers, hopefully bringing some new features and bug fixes to the next version of Apple's mobile OS. This is a quick turnaround between versions as Apple just released beta 4 a little over a week ago. You can download the latest version over-the-air via Settings > General > Software Update on devices running the current iOS 7 beta. Besides iOS 7 beta 5, Apple also released a new beta version of Apple TV 5.4 to developers. Developers can download iOS 7 or the Apple TV software manually from Apple's developer website.
Daily Update for August 5, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Over half of surveyed developers will require iOS 7 for their apps
Twitterrific developer Craig Hockenberry has posted the results of an interesting survey he performed over on his blog. Hockenberry was deep into the development cycle of getting his apps ready for iOS 7 when he wondered if many other developers out there are doing what he's doing -- that is, dropping support for any version of iOS below iOS 7. So Hockenberry ran an informal survey and discovered some interesting things. Out of 575 responses: 95 percent of developers said they are working on updating their apps for iOS 7. 52 percent of developers said they will drop support for any iOS below iOS 7 in the next major version of their app. The first finding isn't surprising, as developers are keen to be on Apple's latest iOS. However, the second finding is a bit shocking, but that's a reflection of the work developers need to undertake to make sure their apps run fluidly and look good on iOS 7. What this means for users is that most apps are going to have an iOS 7 look and feel so they will get a continued uniformity on their iOS devices. However, those users with older devices that don't support iOS 7 may find that it's time to upgrade or else some of their favorite apps may leave them behind.
Apple releases beta 4 version of iOS 7 to developers
Apple released iOS 7 beta 4 today to developers, hopefully bringing some new features and bug fixes to the next version of Apple's mobile OS. Apple was on a two week release schedule with beta 2 and beta 3, but this fourth version is arriving at the three-week mark. This version is arriving a few days after the developer portal was reopened following a malicious hack on the site. The latest version is available over-the-air via Settings > General > Software Update on devices running the current iOS 7 beta. Developers can also download it manually from Apple's developer website.
