AT&T has announced today that it is reversing its decision to limit iOS 6's FaceTime over Cellular ability to customers on its new shared data plans. The carrier says that subscribers with LTE devices will now be able to use the feature regardless of what data plan they're on, as long as it's not unlimited...
In an effort to distance itself further from its rival, and to enjoy the benefits of building its own in-house software, Apple replaced Google Maps in iOS 6 with its own mapping solution. And it's been taking criticism over the switch ever since.
But iOS 6 Maps isn't just negatively impacting Apple. It's also substantially eating into Google's mobile maps marketshare around the globe. According to a new report, Google Maps marketshare declined by nearly 50% in China last quarter...
Google submitted its native Maps iOS app to Apple in September with the hope of having it approved by Christmas. Two weeks later, its chairman Eric Schmidt acknowledged that a Google Maps iOS app is up to Apple and a newspaper report this morning now suggests that insiders don't have high hopes that it will be approved by the iPhone maker after all. Google previously released a native YouTube app for iOS devices following the removal of stock YouTube software from iOS 6. Last month, the search Goliath also enabled Street View as a web app in the mobile Safari browser...
Senior Vice President Eddy Cue is known as the fixer at Apple, a reputation he built back in 2008, when Steve Jobs appointed him head of iTunes and online services after giving Apple's cloud team a serious dressing down over the MobileMe(ss) debacle. This 23-year Apple veteran immediately retired the flaky service, built iCloud from the ground up and took control of Apple's iTunes and App Store infrastructure.
Last September, CEO Cook appointed Cue Apple's new SVP of of Internet Software and Services, the role that encompasses the iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore, as well as the iAd advertising platform and iCloud services.
Monday, Cue assumed Maps and Siri responsibilities after Cook fired iOS chief Scott Forstall for shipping buggy software prematurely, clashing with his peers and refusing to apologize personally for Mapgate (it was Cook who eventually signed the public apology instead). We, of course, already knew all of the above. Today, CNET runs an interesting profile which reveals a couple previously unknown tidbits about this able exec...
Earlier this evening, Apple announced some major changes to its executive team. John Browett, the head of Apple Retail, will be leaving the company. And more importantly, so will Senior Vice President of iOS Software Scott Forstall.
Browett's departure comes as no surprise, as he's had several missteps in his short time at Apple. But Forstall's exit caught some folks off guard, begging the question: was it his decision? And according to a new report, the answer is no...
Coupons.com makes a living from distributing digital coupons, including online printable, social, mobile and loyalty card promotions, in Sunday newspapers. Yesterday, the company rolled out Passbook integration for 20 big-box retailers, allowing you to save a selection of its coupons to your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad running iOS 6.
The system is pretty straightforward. First, you add a coupon to the Passbook via the mobile app or web site. It comes with the expiration date, a scannable barcode and a description of the offer. Cashiers can scan the code or use a numeric code on the back of a Passbook card to process it and apply the offer to your purchase...
It's always good to think two or three steps ahead to prepare for any situation, and that's obviously what Apple's been doing when it comes to the iPad mini, and iOS 6.
As we told you about earlier, improvements needed to be added to iOS' Multi-Touch in order to accommodate the smaller bezel of the iPad mini. With the mini, you no longer have the luxury of a half-inch bezel wrapping around the screen like the bigger iPad models.
That means that fingers and thumbs will now rest on the actual screen of the device instead of the bezel, and this would in turn result in a litany of false positive finger inputs. If the iPad mini shipped with iOS 5, such an issue would be a major problem.
Fortunately, as iPhoneinCanada points out, Apple planned well ahead in advance for such a scenario. As it turns out, the iPhone and iPod touch versions of iOS 6 shipped with improved Multi-Touch out of the gate. Take a look inside as we compare iOS 5's Multi-Touch detection, with the improved and iPad mini ready iOS 6.
With three and a half hours left to go, why not get your Passbook vanity ticket for today's iPad mini event? I first checked with digital ticketing company Flon Solutions because they already provide some nice novelty Passbook passes from historic events.
Unfortunately, the company hasn't yet updated their database with the iPad mini event ticket. Luckily, Twitter came to the rescue. Obviously this isn't a real event ticket so don't try to get into the press conference with it...
According to a new Chitika survey, a month following its public release iOS 6 is found on approximately 61 percent of devices. When Chitika conducted a similar survey just 24 hours after iOS 6 availability, it found the software on some fifteen percent of devices (25 percent after 48 hours of availability).
People who want to be on the bleeding edge of technology usually install the latest and greatest version of iOS within the first week or two, with some opting to hold out until early kinks have been worked out. The numbers do suggest that the rate of iOS 6 adoption is stabilizing.
Apple itself on September 24 said iOS 6 ran on one-quarter of all iOS devices it sold to that date, amounting to a total of a hundred million iPhones, iPads and iPod touches running iOS 6...
Apple has allegedly begun testing iOS 6.0.1, a maintenance release that should address the annoying screen flicker which some users reported as happening when the iPhone 5 keyboard pops up. The release should also fix another issue with the camera’s flash not going off. Apple is also working on iOS 6.1, the first so-called dot update to its mobile operating system powering iPhones, iPads and iPods. This release is not expected until after holidays, indicating that the upcoming iPad mini will initially run the current iOS version...
In addition to the big ones in iOS 6 and a host of lesser-known but otherwise welcome enhancements, every now and then a small tweak surfaces, capturing our imagination and delighting us with simplicity. More often than not, these little nuggets clearly prove Apple remains as obsessed with agonizing over every little aspect of its products as it's ever been. For example, the FaceTime preview window where a live video stream of the person you're calling is displayed now indicates their device's aspect ratio...
In what appears to be a repeat of the DST software bug - and we've been here plenty of times before - some owners of Apple's new iPhone 5 report that their handset is showing incorrect time and/or day. Several people on Apple's discussion forum decribe their device as displaying times and dates that are days, even weeks, ahead or behind actual ones. The issue appears to manifest itself on devices that have automatic date and time setting feature enabled. Specifically, owners of a Verizon iPhone 5 appear to be affected the most...