Apple may not have answer for Google’s music service at WWDC
Reports indicate Apple is still working out the licensing details with music publishers for its “iRadio” service. Read more »
Erica Ogg
Based in Philadelphia, Erica reports on Apple, though occasionally she'll detour into stories about how personal tech intersects with two of her favorite things: travel and food. Before joining GigaOM and heading east, she spent five years in San Francisco as a reporter for CNET, covering Apple as well as the broader consumer electronics and PC industries.
Apple CEO will detail his corporate tax policy ideas to Congress next week
photo: Credit: Asa Mathat | All Things Digital
It’s an unfamiliar role for an Apple executive to be in. But Tim Cook will say that while he believes 35 percent is too high of a corporate tax, he also doesn’t think “zero” taxes on that money is reasonable. Read more »
iOS app team behind Clear takes a shot at photos app, Analog Camera
Yes, it includes filters like every other photo app, but it also allows for a quick succession of shots to be taken. Then there’s a grid for helping to more easily select the best shot taken and best filter. Read more »
Just one month in, T-Mobile raises its $99 iPhone 5 down payment
The initial iPhone 5 pricing was part of what made T-Mobile’s big new “no-contract” phones push so attractive. Now the carrier is changing the rules: it requires a $149 down payment. Read more »
iTunes’ recent growth shows content could be a big business for Apple
iTunes’ increasingly good quarterly sales demonstrates how the long-rumored Apple video and “iRadio” subscription services the company has over the years tried to bring to fruition could become significant revenue sources. Read more »
With Cloud Drive Photos, Amazon makes a play to be the cloud app for iOS photos
Something Amazon is really good at and something Apple is not: the cloud. Amazon hones in on its competitors’ cloud-based photo territory on Apple’s own platform with a new app. Read more »
What Apple really means when it says it has “sold” a product
photo: Getty Images / Daniel Barry
When Apple says it sold 37.5 million iPhones and 19.5 million iPads this is often interpreted as Apple declaring that 37.5 million iPhones and 19.5 million iPads have been purchased by customers. That’s not quite the whole story. Read more »
Hotel Tonight is revamping the hotel review for mobile devices
Relying on the smartphone’s built-in camera, the app for last-minute, day-of bookings is looking to enhance its curated hotel choices with photo-oriented user reviews. Read more »
Google lets iOS apps direct users to Chrome instead of Safari
Google is helping third-party iOS app makers send their users to Chrome instead of the default Safari browser. It’s yet another step in the company finding ways to reach its users on Apple’s own platform. Read more »
If Apple decides to make a television, Foxconn will be ready to build it
Foxconn isn’t looking for ways to reduce its dependence on Apple; it’s really looking for ways to rely less on the iPhone. Read more »
Google keeps fighting for the heart of the iPhone with new Gmail update
Even as Apple has decoupled its iPhone partnership with Google for everything except search, the web company has still found a way to reach its users who have iPhones and iPads. Read more »
Recruiting new iPhone carriers may be harder than adding individual users
The key to Apple’s growth is finding international carriers that will sell the iPhone to new smartphone users. But, as Bloomberg points out, that’s getting harder to do because of Apple’s requirements. Read more »
iPhone remains top US smartphone, while iOS gains a bit of ground on Android
photo: Samsung
The U.S. smartphone story didn’t change too drastically in the first quarter of 2013: Android is still used by more than half of all smartphones and the iPhone is still by far the most popular smartphone in the U.S. Read more »
Apple devices coming to regional carrier U.S. Cellular this year
The carrier didn’t specify which Apple devices, but the iPhone seems a safe bet, in addition to possible LTE-capable iPads. Read more »
Why your favorite iOS apps may look different six months from now
Should Apple roll out a version of iOS with a new and fresher design language this fall, third-party iOS app makers will very likely follow suit. Read more »
iPad is top selling tablet, but Android now most common tablet OS, says IDC
Tablet sellers had a really good first quarter. As a result, Apple’s overall share of tablet sales is slipping. Read more »
With MetroPCS, T-Mobile could help Apple reach 9 million new potential iPhone buyers
It may not be the iPhone 5 they buy — the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S may prove more attractive — but that’s OK. Read more »
Major changes to iOS 7 coming — what will it mean for OS X 10.9?
Rushing to finish an overhaul to iOS 7 has meant Mac team members have “been roped in to help the mobile software group finish the job,” Bloomberg reports. Read more »
By 2018, tablets will be obsolete, says legacy smartphone company CEO
photo: Google
BlackBerry’s CEO is making waves again, this time by saying tablets won’t be necessary in five years and that they “aren’t a good business model.” Samsung, Apple and mobile computing trends beg to differ. Read more »
Apple looking for deeper iOS integration into cars
A report on Tuesday indicates Apple has bigger plans for the car beyond a hands-free assistant app: teaming up with carmakers to offer Apple Maps and Siri on a car’s in-dash system. Read more »
Intel, Samsung, Telefonica endorse anticipatory computing, invest in Expect Labs
Expect Labs more than doubles its current funding with latest round. The startup wants computers to be able to predict the kind of information we need instead of us having to ask for it. Read more »
Siri, watch out: personalized search service Google Now is coming to iOS
The feature is available as an update to the iOS Google Search app. It leverages user information in Google mobile apps and desktop services and its knowledge graph, aims to give users relevant answers to questions before they’ve even asked them. Read more »
iTunes turns 10. What’s in store for the next decade?
A decade after the launch of iTunes, Apple is still the king of digital music. But as attitudes about music ownership continue to shift, the software’s next 10 years will likely be more challenging than its last. Read more »
WWDC sold out in minutes — but ticket-less developers can follow along at home
Instead of waiting weeks after the conference is over, Apple says it will be posting the training session videos online as the conference is going on. Read more »
Survey: Amazon app developers not big fans of Kindle hardware
Developers who make apps for Amazon do so because it’s convenient, not because they believe Kindle Fire hardware is great or they’re widely anticipating it overtaking Android or iOS someday. Read more »
iOS users, meet Drippler, a personalized how-to manual for your iPhone
Drippler arrives on iOS after racking up 5 million downloads on Android. The goal is to automatically curate content relevant to an iPhone user based on their device model, carrier, software version and app preferences. Read more »
The Mac didn’t do as bad as the PC last quarter, but it’s stopped growing
photo: Om Malik
Apple said it sold 3.95 million Macs during its second fiscal quarter, which is ever-so-slightly below the 4.01 million it sold a year ago. It’s the second straight quarter of no growth for the Mac. Read more »
Apple’s WWDC starts June 10, will showcase new versions of iOS, OS X
It sounds like iOS 7 and OS X 10.9 will be introduced. What’s not as good a bet is that we’ll see new hardware introduced at the show — Tim Cook yesterday referenced “fall” and “2014″ for new products. Read more »
As the iPhone matures, Apple looks to older versions to drive growth
Apple’s CEO says the nearly three-year-old iPhone 4 is an important part of the company’s strategy for expanding the ranks of iPhone owners to include first-time ever buyers. Read more »
Apple reports shrinking profits with 37.5M iPhones, 19.5M iPads sold
Profits are down from a year ago — as Apple had already forecast — but it wasn’t all bad news: its iPhone and iPad sales are up, and it also slightly beat Wall Street’s expectations. Read more »
Apple’s online services struggles continue with GameCenter, iCloud, iTunes outage
Tuesday morning’s outage is the second multi-hour problem Apple iCloud and online services users have experienced in the last two weeks. Read more »
Older model iPhones are more popular than ever
By the end of March, Apple was selling more iPhone 5 devices as a share of iPhones than in December. But at the same time, the share of older model phones it is selling has never been higher. Read more »
Without a big product launch, don’t expect too much from Apple’s Q2 earnings tomorrow
photo: Chris Hondros/Getty Images
January through March sales are always slower compared to the holiday buying period. And all of Apple’s major products — iPhone, iPad, iPad mini, Macs — were refreshed in the fall, leaving Apple with no major new device release during the quarter. Read more »
Why are bad email habits so hard to break?
photo: Thinkstock
When it comes to mobile mail, today is one of the best times in recent memory to find a better solution. But changing email habits, even when they’re bad, turned out to be tougher than I expected. Read more »
Ever wonder what Apple does with your Siri data?
Apple confirms the anonymized information may be kept “for up to two years.” But when Siri is turned off all the user data is deleted. Read more »
MoPub says 3/4 of mobile ad spending went to iOS devices during Q1
MoPub’s report says the share of ad buying on Apple phones increase 12 percent between January and March. Android tablets saw less than 1 percent of money spent on ads for the quarter. Read more »
Ness updates its iOS app, a personalized dining guide for you
The subject happens to be dining, but what Ness is up to is really about maximizing the accuracy of personalization. Read more »
Apple stock tanks on bad news from audio chip supplier
Cirrus Logic is believed to be the main supplier of audio chips for the iPhone and iPad. It missed badly on revenue and has some investors worried that Apple way overestimated the number of mobile devices it could sell during the quarter. Read more »
China raps Apple once again, but this time over porn distribution
Echoes of the conflict with Google surface in the Chinese government’s attempt to crackdown on “obscene pornographic content” that it says is coming in through Apple’s App Store. Read more »
Content personalization still has a long way to go
Pointing people to “really interesting articles on the fringes of the internet that you had no idea existed or that you wanted” is still in its very early stages, according to Zite’s CEO and Prismatic’s CTO. Read more at paidContent »
