Satechi today announced the launch of two new keyboards that have been designed for use with the iMac and iMac Pro.
The Aluminum Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard and the Aluminum USB Wired Keyboard offer up enhanced scissor switch keys and an extended keyboard layout with full numeric keypads. Each of the keyboards is available in silver, space gray, gold, and rose gold to match Apple's lineup of Mac devices.
There are built-in hotkeys designed for macOS that are able to play/pause media, switch between applications, adjust brightness, adjust volume, search, and more.
With the Aluminum Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard, up to three devices can be connected at once with three buttons available for quick switching between them. It features a built-in USB-C port for recharging the battery, which Satechi says has enough capacity for 80 hours of uninterrupted work. The keyboard can continue to be used while charging with a USB-C connection.
The Aluminum USB Wired Keyboard connects to a USB-A port on an iMac or iMac Pro using an included USB-A cable and is ideal for those who prefer a wired connection to a Bluetooth connection.
Both of the keyboards can be purchased in silver today from the Satechi website or Amazon.com, while the space gray, gold, and rose gold options can be pre-ordered and will ship by the end of September.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Satechi and Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
The European Commission today announced it has approved Apple's proposed acquisition of music recognition service Shazam.
"After thoroughly analyzing Shazam's user and music data, we found that their acquisition by Apple would not reduce competition in the digital music streaming market," said Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition.
The regulatory body concluded that Apple and Shazam mainly offer "complementary services" and "do not compete with each other," and that a merged Apple-Shazam entity would not adversely affect competitors in the European Union:
In particular, access to Shazam's data would not materially increase Apple's ability to target music enthusiasts and any conduct aimed at making customers switch would only have a negligible impact. As a result, competing providers of digital music streaming services would not be shut out of the market.
The regulators were concerned that the merger could reduce choice for users of streaming music services in Europe. In particular, they were concerned that Apple might gain access to sensitive data that would allow it to directly target competitors' customers and encourage them to switch to Apple Music.
While the Commission did not name any specific companies, Apple Music's biggest rival in Europe is Spotify, headquartered in Sweden. Shazam is currently integrated with multiple services, including Apple Music, Spotify, and Deezer.
Apple announced its plans to acquire Shazam in December, describing the two companies as a "natural fit" with "exciting plans" ahead. In February, however, the Commission received requests from Austria, France, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Sweden to assess the deal under European merger law.
Shazam is a popular service that can identify the name and lyrics of songs, music videos, TV shows, and more. It has apps across iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, iMessage, and Mac, while the service has been built into Siri since iOS 8.
Apple this week announced it will be launching a dedicated web portal by the end of 2018 for authenticated law enforcement officers to submit lawful requests for data, track requests, and obtain responsive data from the company.
Photo: Alejandro Mejía Greene via Flickr/Creative Commons
Apple also said it is building a team of professionals dedicated to training law enforcement officers, which the company believes will improve its ability to reach smaller police forces and agencies around the world. This will include the development of an online training module for officers.
The web portal will be available globally as part of Apple's new Law Enforcement Support Program, which the company detailed on the Government Information Requests page of its privacy website this week.
Apple says the program will allow it to uphold its fundamental commitment to protect the security and privacy of its users:
We believe that law enforcement agencies play a critical role in keeping our society safe and we've always maintained that if we have information we will make it available when presented with valid legal process. In recognizing the ongoing digital evidence needs of law enforcement agencies, we have a team of dedicated professionals within our legal department who manage and respond to all legal requests received from law enforcement agencies globally. Our team also responds to emergency requests globally on a 24/7 basis.
We publish legal process guidelines for government and law enforcement agencies globally and we publish transparency reports twice a year detailing the types of requests we receive and how we respond. In addition, we regularly provide training to law enforcement officers on the types of data available from Apple and how to obtain it consistent with our legal process guidelines.
By the end of 2018 we will begin the launch of an online portal for authenticated law enforcement officers globally to submit lawful requests for data, track requests, and obtain responsive data from Apple.
We are building a team of professionals dedicated to training law enforcement officers globally, which will significantly increase our ability to reach smaller police forces and agencies. This will include the development of an online training module for officers. This will assist Apple in training a larger number of law enforcement agencies and officers globally, and ensure that our company's information and guidance can be updated to reflect the rapidly changing data landscape.
Apple is committed to protecting the security and privacy of our users. The above developments and the work we do to assist investigations uphold this fundamental commitment.
Apple requires law enforcement and government officials to follow applicable laws when requesting customer information and data. If they do, Apple complies by providing the narrowest possible set of data relevant to the request.
That information can include device identifiers, customer service records, and iCloud content such as emails, stored photos, documents, contacts, calendars, bookmarks, Safari browsing history, Apple Maps search history, iMessages backups, and iOS device backups, according to Apple's guidelines.
Where and when legally required, Apple may also provide basic customer information such as name, physical address, email address, phone number, and IP address, along with customer service records and Find My iPhone logs.
Apple ensures that it has never created a backdoor or master key to any of its products or services, and never will. Perhaps the biggest example of this was Apple's refusal to create a loophole for the FBI to brute force their way into the passcode-locked iPhone owned by the shooter in the 2015 San Bernardino attack.
Twice per year, Apple publishes a transparency report that outlines how many data-related requests it has received from law enforcement, government, and private party officials, both in the United States and abroad.
In the United States, during the second half of 2017, for example, Apple received 4,450 requests for 15,168 devices. Apple provided data in 3,548 cases, or approximately 80 percent of the time. Worldwide, Apple received a total of 29,718 requests covering 309,362 devices, providing data 79 percent of the time.
Apple has adopted all of the recommendations in the CSIS report and, on Tuesday, Apple's Senior Vice President and General Counsel Katherine Adams sent a letter to U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) announcing the launch of several new programs meant to help law enforcement agencies.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
With the latest Apple Pay promotion you can get 10 percent off your next order from Under Armour through Wednesday, September 12. If you're in the United States, you can shop in the Under Armour app and then place your order before next Wednesday to see the discount automatically applied when you check out using Apple Pay.
Apple is promoting the beginning of football season with the new Apple Pay offer, which also points users towards apps like Fanatics, Gametime, and Grubhub, offering sports apparel, tickets, and food respectively.
The last few Apple Pay promotions have included partnerships with Postmates, Nike, StubHub, TGI Fridays, and Adidas. As we enter the fall, users can likely expect some of the same promos we saw last holiday season, potentially including free Postmates subscriptions, savings on Fandango tickets, free Instacart deliveries, and more.
Apple has temporarily halted plans to launch Apple Pay in India after facing troubles with regulators in the country and a few technical hurdles, according to The Economic Times. Specifically, Apple is said to be concerned about the Reserve Bank of India's recent data localization rule, which requires companies to store all of their payments data for local users only in India.
Because of this rule, numerous companies -- including Apple, Amazon, PayPal, WhatsApp, Visa, and MasterCard -- have faced uncertainties regarding the rollout of their respective mobile wallets in India. Apple is said to have gone so far as to meet with a few leading banks and the National Payments Corporation of India, which manages the country's Unified Payments Interface platform.
In addition, Apple has reportedly encountered a few technical and design hurdles surrounding Apple Pay's India launch, relating to the inclusion of Touch ID as a mode of authentication for payments in India on supported iPhones. The NPCI did not agree to this plan, because the country's UPI is based on a six or four-digit passcode to authenticate transactions and does not have support for smartphone-based biometric security features yet.
Following these hurdles, plans as of now have been shelved, according to two people familiar with the matter.
“Apple will not launch payments in India yet. They are waiting to see how the regulatory landscape shapes up,” one of them said.
In an attempt to finally rectify these issues, Bloomberg in August reported that Apple is planning a completely revamped India strategy led by Apple executive Michel Coulomb. This includes better and longer-lasting retail deals with higher sales targets, the opening of official Apple retail stores in India, "overhauling" the company's relationship with independent retailers, and improving apps and services "aimed more closely at Indians."
Apple Pay was never mentioned as part of that strategy, so it doesn't appear that users in India will have a chance to use the company's mobile wallet anytime soon. Otherwise, Apple Pay is available in over two dozen countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong, France, Russia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, UAE, Brazil, Ukraine, Norway, and Poland.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
In March, Feral Interactive announced that its latest video game port for macOS would be the adventure game Life is Strange: Before the Storm, and at the time said it would launch in the spring. After a delay, the prequel is set to release next week on Thursday, September 13 on macOS and Linux.
Life is Strange: Before the Storm was originally developed by Deck Nine and published by Square Enix on consoles and PCs in August 2017. The story takes place three years before the events of the original Life is Strange, tracking the friendship between rebellious sixteen-year-old Chloe and a popular schoolmate named Rachel.
Gameplay puts players in the shoes of Chloe as she must make choices that ultimately shape a branching story with multiple endings influenced by every decision. One of the main gameplay hooks of the game is "Backtalk," which the developers describe as a "risk and reward-based system" in which Chloe uses her wit to provoke NPCs or get her way.
The game requires macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 or higher, an Intel Core i5 2.0 GHz processor, 8GB RAM, and 28GB of hard drive space. Required graphics cards include 1GB Nvidia 650M or better, 2GB AMD Radeon R9 M290 or better, or 1.5GB Intel Iris 5100 or better. The full list of supported Macs can be found below:
All Mac Minis since Late 2014
All 13" MacBook Pros released since 2013
All 15" MacBook Pros released since mid 2012 with a 1GB graphics card or better (Mid 2015 models with an AMD 370X are not supported.)
All 21.5" iMacs released since late 2013
All 27" iMacs released since late 2013 (Late 2012 models with Nvidia 675 or Nvidia 680 graphics are also supported.)
All 27" iMac Pros released since late 2017
All Mac Pros released since late 2013
Life is Strange: Before the Storm includes three episodes that make up the base game, and will also come in a Deluxe Edition that includes all three episodes as well as all available additional content, including the bonus episode "Farewell." The Deluxe Edition will be priced at $24.82 and is available to pre-order beginning today on the Feral Store.
Mozilla today launched Firefox 62 web browser for macOS, bringing variable fonts support and a new automatic dark theme to Mac desktops.
By introducing a dark theme to the browser, Mozilla is following up the one it added to its mobile counterpart last month, the only difference being that the desktop version comes with intelligent support for the new native Dark Mode featured in macOS 10.14 Mojave.
What that means is Firefox automatically switches to the twilight theme whenever the the macOS Dark Mode is active, making for a more uniform desktop application interface without requiring action on the user's part.
Meanwhile, support for variable fonts makes it possible for web designers to create typography using a single font file, rather than generating several files for variations of the same font.
Also listed in this release's changelog: Firefox Home (default new tabs) can now display up to four rows of top sites, Pocket stories, and highlights, while a "Reopen in Container" tab menu option appears for users with Containers that lets them choose to reopen a tab in a different container.
Lastly, disconnecting from the desktop version of Firefox Sync prompts the browser to ask if you want to wipe your Firefox profile, including passwords, history, cookies, and web data.
Firefox now has 300 million active users, according to Mozilla's weekly user activity report. If you're already a Firefox user, you should receive an automatic upgrade after restarting the browser. For everyone else, Firefox 62 is available for macOS as a free download directly from the Mozilla website.
Logitech today announced that its Crayon stylus, which was previously only available to schools, is coming to Apple retail stores, which means it will be available for everyone to purchase for the first time.
Introduced in March alongside the 6th-generation 9.7-inch iPad, the Crayon is designed to operate as a lower-cost alternative to the Apple Pencil.
The Crayon features a slim aluminum body and an Apple Pencil-style tip. Functionally, it works just like the Apple Pencil, with support for palm rejection and the same latency and tilt as you get with the Apple Pencil. There is, however, no pressure sensitivity.
Logitech designed the Crayon with students in mind, so it has a flat surface to prevent rolling, a tethered rubber end cap, a comfortable grip for small hands, and the ability to withstand drops of up to four feet.
The Crayon does not need Bluetooth to connect to the iPad, and it's able to last for up to seven hours before needing to be recharged with the built-in Lightning port.
It's worth noting that the Crayon is designed to be compatible only with the sixth-generation iPad.
We were able to get our hands on one of Logitech's Crayons ahead of its Apple Store availability, so if you're considering picking one of these up for your 9.7-inch iPad, make sure to check out our review video above.
The Crayon will be available in Apple retail stores, on the Apple website, and on the Logitech website starting on September 12 before expanding to additional retail outlets in October.
While schools can purchase the device for $50, customers who purchase the Crayon from Apple or Logitech will need to pay $70.
Apple executives in charge of the company's video efforts will be attending the Toronto International Film Festival this week to scope out potential movie acquisitions, reports Variety.
The site says that at least one of the top programming executives, which includes Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, will be at the festival to look for new content that could fill out an upcoming entertainment service.
The Toronto International Film Festival is set to kick off on Thursday, September 6, and it will run through Sunday, September 16. This will mark the first time that Apple executives have attended the film festival, and the company will be competing with at least one other TV giant -- Amazon. Amazon executives are also going to be attending the festival to look for new movies to pick up.
342 films are set to be shown off at the Toronto International Film Festival, with a list of content available on the website for the festival.
While Apple has more than a dozen original television shows that are in the works, it has thus far established few deals for movies.
In fact, we only know about one potential movie deal with Cartoon Saloon, a company that develops animated movies like "The Secret of Kells," "The Song of the Sea," and "The Breadwinner."
Rumors have suggested that Apple is planning to launch some kind of streaming television service in the future where all of the television shows are in the works will be available, and if Apple is aiming to compete with Netflix and Amazon, exclusive movie offerings will help to fill out its content catalogue.
There has, however, been no concrete information outlining exactly how Apple is going to distribute its original content, nor details on what a potential streaming service could cost if it is in the works, but we may learn more next year as the first of the TV shows is rumored to be debuting in March 2019.
Apple's upcoming Apple Watch Series 4 models will feature larger displays thanks to reduced bezel size, and information 9to5Mac discovered in the most recent watchOS 5 beta suggests the 42mm Apple Watch will likely have a screen resolution of 384x480.
The current 42mm Apple Watch Series 3 model, for comparison, has a resolution of 312x390.
With the higher resolution (and increased PPI), Apple Watch Series 4 apps will be able to display more information at a higher resolution on the display, as shown in the example image below that were taken from a modified Apple Watch Simulator using a guesstimated PPI of 345.
As was seen in leaked marketing materials last week, the upcoming Apple Watch Series 4 models will feature at least one new watch face capable of displaying up to nine complications at one time.
Additional new watch faces could be included, and information taken from the beta suggests there will be new types of complications for Apple Watch apps to use.
Given the increase in resolution, third-party app developers will need to tweak their apps to work with the new Apple Watch Series 4 screen sizes.
Apple today updated the Events app on the Apple TV to prepare for next Wednesday's "Gather Round" iPhone-centric event, which will see the debut of the 2018 iPhone lineup, new Apple Watch models, and new accessories.
The Events app, along with the Events section of Apple's website, will be used to live stream the product unveiling. Apple's Gather Round event will kick off at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time at the Steve Jobs Theater on the Apple Park campus.
To see the updated Events app on the Apple TV, it needs to be updated through the Apple TV App Store.
Apple is set to introduce the new 2018 iPhones, which will include the 5.8-inch OLED iPhone Xs, the 6.5-inch OLED iPhone Xs Max, and the lower-cost 6.1-inch LCD iPhone, which we don't yet know the name of. All three iPhones are expected to adopt edge-to-edge designs with a TrueDepth Camera System that will replace the Touch ID Home button.
We're also expecting to see new Apple Watch Series 4 models with smaller bezels for more screen real estate, refreshed AirPods with "Hey Siri" support, new Apple Watch bands, and perhaps the long-awaited debut of the AirPower, which is able to charge the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods all at once.
For those who are unable to watch Apple's live stream, MacRumors will have live coverage of the event on MacRumors.com and on our MacRumorsLive Twitter account.
Apple's upcoming 6.5-inch iPhone could be called the "iPhone Xs Max" according to information shared by both BGR and 9to5Mac citing sources with knowledge of Apple's marketing plans.
Naming for Apple's 2018 iPhone lineup has been unclear and Apple is said to have struggled to decide on a new naming scheme to follow the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus.
Last week, leaked information suggested Apple has settled on "iPhone Xs" as the name for the 5.8 and 6.5-inch OLED devices that are in the works. At the time, it was believed both could use the same "iPhone Xs" name like the iPad Pro, but now it looks like the larger model could continue to feature a unique name.
Apple is not planning to use the same "Plus" labeling that it has used since the iPhone 6 Plus was introduced, and "Max" could potentially be the replacement. "iPhone Xs Plus" is a mouthful and difficult to say, but "iPhone Xs Max" is easier to pronounce.
The 6.5-inch iPhone Xs Max will be sold alongside the 5.8-inch iPhone Xs and the 6.1-inch iPhone, which we don't yet know the name of.
In other related news, German site Macerkopf has shared details on potential European pricing for the 2018 lineup. Citing a pair of unnamed sources, the site says that the 6.1-inch LCD iPhone could cost 799 euros, the 5.8-inch iPhone Xs could cost 909 euros, and the iPhone Xs Max could cost 1149 euros.
These are the same prices Apple currently charges for the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X, and would translate to pricing of $699, $799, and $999 in the United States.
That's mostly in line with rumors we've heard about U.S. pricing, which have pegged the cost at $600 to $700 for the 6.1-inch iPhone, $800 to $900 for the iPhone Xs, and $900 to $1,000 for the iPhone Xs Max.
With Apple's event set to take place in one week on Wednesday, September 12, we don't have long to wait to find out Apple's exact naming and pricing plans for the three devices.
The new iPhones will be unveiled at an event set to take place at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time at the Steve Jobs Theater on the Apple Park campus. Apple plans to live stream the event, and MacRumors will also feature live coverage both on MacRumors.com and on the MacRumorsLive Twitter account.
Just ahead of when Apple plans to release new 2018 iPhones, the company has quietly updated its AirPort Utility app to introduce support for the longer display of the iPhone X.
AirPort Utility is one of the last remaining Apple apps that have gone for months without an iPhone X update.
For those unfamiliar with the app, it is designed to allow AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Time Capsule owners to manage their devices.
Apple has discontinued development on all of these products, but has pledged to continue to support them for the next several years. Today's app update follows a major firmware update for the AirPort Express that introduced support for AirPlay 2.
Apple will soon allow hardware developers to manufacture Made for iPhone (MFi) certified USB-C to Lightning cables, reports Japanese site Mac Otakara. Apple is said to have recently informed developers who participate in the MFi program about the change.
Right now, there are no Apple-approved USB-C to Lightning cables available for purchase, which means customers who want a USB-C to Lightning cable must purchase one directly from Apple for $19. With the new MFi update, third-party hardware manufacturers will be able to create USB-C to Lightning cables.
These cables are necessary for fast charging the iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and Apple's upcoming 2018 iPhones when paired with an 18W+ power adapter.
Rumors have suggested that Apple is planning to ship its 2018 iPhones with an upgraded power adapter and a USB-C to Lightning cable, enabling fast charging right out of the box with no need to make an additional purchase.
The approval of Made for iPhone USB-C to Lightning cables indicates that this rumor could be true, with Apple and third-party manufacturers starting to make a shift from standard USB-A Lightning cables to the new fast charge compatible USB-C version.
According to Mac Otakara, developers who want to manufacture a Lightning to USB-C cable will need to use a new C94 Lightning connector provided by Apple, which offers a maximum of 15W of charging with a non-fast charging compatible power adapter and 18W with a compatible power adapter.
Apple has also upgraded its other Lightning connectors, charging about 50 cents more for the new technology.
Apple plans to move C48 Lightning connector to C89 Lightning connector, C68 Lightning connector to C78 Lightning connector, C12 Lightning connector to C79 Lightning connector, the price will also be about $ 0.5 higher.
Mac Otakara expects the first third-party USB-C to Lightning cables to start appearing in mid-2019.
Beats by Dr. Dre, Apple's well-known headphones brand, today announced a marketing and merchandising partnership with the NBA, which will make it the official headphone, wireless speaker, and audio partner of the NBA, and sister associations WNBA, NBA G League, and USA Basketball as of October 2018.
Under the terms of the partnership, which will span multiple years, Beats will establish separate deals with NBA teams to launch audio products for NBA fans, including NBA team-branded headphones.
Apple is aiming to boost Beats by Dre brand recognition through the NBA deal by leveraging NBA stars that include LeBron James, Draymond Green, James Harden, Ben Simmons, Jayson Tatum and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Luke Woods, Beats by Dr. Dre president, said that the company's partnership with NBA is the "perfect alignment," an unsurprising statement given that Beats has long used major athletes to advertise its headphones, even prior to the purchase by Apple.
"The NBA and its players have long been significant drivers of global culture. Basketball, music, and style speak as one voice: Julius Erving became a style icon, Allen Iverson cemented hip hop's place on and off the court and LeBron James is breaking new music every day... the list goes on and on," said Luke Wood, President of Beats by Dr. Dre. "This partnership with the NBA is the perfect alignment for Beats. It feels like coming home."
In addition to developing NBA-themed headphones for fans, Beats also plans to provide headphones to players and advertise during major events like the NBA All-Star, NBA Draft, international games, WNBA games, and more.
The Beats NBA partnership will kick off in October, which is when the 2018-2019 NBA season will begin.
A new profile on Apple chief Eddy Cue has been shared online today by The Information, highlighting Cue's history and leadership at the company, as well as a few of his more interesting quirks. Specifically, the story looks at Apple's services segment -- which Cue oversees -- and some of the missteps it has taken over the years, despite being a consistent revenue earner for the company.
According to analyst James McQuivey, Apple's services business "has been the biggest opportunity that Apple has misspent for the last ten years." Issues include the company's need to play catchup with Netflix, Amazon, and Spotify in streaming TV and music, fading into irrelevance in the eBooks category, and ongoing struggles with Apple Maps and Siri, the latter of which Cue no longer is responsible for.
As he looked into Cue's history with Apple, The Information's Aaron Tilley interviewed more than two dozen people who have worked with Cue. While some describe him "as a leader of intelligence and empathy," others say he "seems overextended" and has "failed to intercede in conflicts." Specifically, one former Apple employee gave an example related to the early days of Apple Music, ultimately claiming that Cue is "always doing too many things."
But others who have worked with him say he seems overextended and, at important moments, has failed to intercede in conflicts—for instance, during the creation of the company’s subscription music service, Apple Music, when former employees of Beats, which Apple acquired, battled with counterparts at iTunes.
“Apple tries to do too much with too few people,” said one former Apple executive, who like most people interviewed for this story requested anonymity to avoid the disfavor of one of the tech industry’s most powerful companies. “That sometimes backfires. Eddy is the best example of that at Apple. He’s always doing too many things.”
According to former employees, Cue "seemed to lack much interest in [Siri]" from "the moment he gained responsibility." During meetings about technical data for Siri's performance, Cue "seemed to fall asleep in at least two meetings." Siri leadership recently moved to Craig Federighi and is now under John Giannandrea.
“Putting Siri under Eddy was a bad fit to begin with,” said one former Siri engineer. “I don’t think he ever had a great deal of interest.”
The profile also looks at Apple's entry into streaming music, following former CEO Steve Jobs' derision of the idea of renting music. Apple reportedly "fought tooth and nail" to keep Spotify out of the United States following its debut in Europe, with Jobs going so far as to privately threaten Universal Music by stating Apple would remove its content from iTunes if it worked with Spotify in the U.S.
Following his death in the fall of 2011, Cue decided that Apple had to shift its music business to streaming somehow, ultimately spearheading the largest acquisition in Apple's history with the purchase of Beats for $3 billion. Following the deal, one former Beats employee who joined Apple told The Information that it eventually became clear that "Apple was under-resourced to manage this."
Moreover, the two companies clashed so much about decisions over how Beats Music would transition into Apple Music, "there were almost literally fistfights over design aspects, features, aesthetics," one person said. "They all hated each other." Amid all of this, Cue's leadership style was put into question:
As tensions mounted on the Apple Music team, Mr. Cue, who was known for his hands-off leadership style, was rarely seen by the team working on the project, said people working on the streaming service. “One downside with Eddy as a manager was that it’s unlikely for Eddy to mediate between warring factions,” said one former lieutenant. “If there were conflicts or tensions between groups, Eddy didn’t get involved.”
Looking ahead, The Information says that Cue's "biggest test yet" will be Apple's streaming TV service. In meetings, Cue is said to have discussed the possibility of making the Apple TV app available beyond Apple's own devices -- even on smart TVs and Android -- in an effort to make sure its shows are seen as widely as possible. This also hints that Apple is considering making the TV app the location of its original TV shows, which has been suggested in the past.
The rest of The Information's profile on Eddy Cue is available to read if you have a subscription.
Video platform Vimeo today is expanding its recent focus on software tools for video creators, part of a continued pivot away from earlier attempts to get into original content creation itself. Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud confirmed the move to Axios today, explaining that the company saw "so much organic growth" from software tools it already sells that the pivot "became a no-brainer."
Currently, Vimeo calls itself "the high quality home for video hosting and watching," with many videos like short films, documentaries, and more residing on the service. Vimeo found a niche for smaller content creators to host their videos on its site, since they could sell their content to interested viewers and take 90 percent of the revenue each video earned after fees.
Now, as more tech companies enter the already "saturated" video viewing market, and are willing to invest billions in original content, Vimeo has pulled back from competing in that space to focus on helping professional creators through the launch of tools such as stock video clips.
The pivot allows Vimeo to go after a less competitive social “SaaS” (software as a service) market that focuses on stock video, as opposed to the saturated original content viewing market, which is dominated by massive tech companies investing billions in original content to win eyeballs.
“Today 100% of our business model is software as a service, like a Dropbox or a Slack … We just saw so much organic growth from the software tools side among the creators that it became a no-brainer that this is what we should focus on.”
Although Apple is not directly mentioned, the company has set aside a "$1 billion war chest" in planning its upcoming streaming television service, and Vimeo has recognized that this expensive pursuit of original content is making for a very crowded marketplace. Ahead of a rumors 2019 launch, Apple has hired executives from Sony Pictures and Amazon Studios, prepared a lineup of over a dozen original shows, and is said to be "completely all in" on original content, according to iTunes chief Eddy Cue.
Vimeo does have a small collection of original series, but its Vimeo Originals platform never took off in comparison to rival video services. Ahead of the pivot, over the past year Vimeo has been "trying to pull back" from being a video viewing platform by "no longer investing in original content." Instead, Vimeo will now present itself as an "agnostic and independent home" full of tools and services that let creators edit their work, to then be shared on other platforms like YouTube or Facebook Watch.
“Most large video-viewing destinations, like YouTube and Facebook, are ad supported, and are focused on keeping content and eyeballs on their platform. But if you’re a creator, you need an agnostic and independent home to create and distribute your work and there really are no other creator platforms that do that at scale.”
Vimeo's new tools will be called "Vimeo Stock," with HD clips starting at $79 and 4K clips starting at $199. Vimeo is also offering paid memberships with various upload limits, tools, and team member limits, with memberships and clips available at discounted prices when purchased together.
On the other side of the equation, Vimeo says it will offer contributors of stock footage for the service a "higher revenue share" than its competitors, as much as 60-70 percent of revenue generated from their content.
As part of its quiet year-long move away from its own original content creation, Vimeo in April launched a dedicated macOS app aimed at Final Cut Pro users. The app gives these users "more control over file formats and video codecs," and integrates Vimeo with Final Cut Pro to export ProRes videos, manage uploads, share videos for team reviews, and more features that are exclusively focused on content creation and editing.
For Apple devices, Vimeo is available on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, but the company did not give any word regarding how these apps will change following the pivot.
Update: This article has been updated to clarify that Vimeo is not moving away from its traditional video hosting platform for creators. The company's ongoing shift away from its own original content is being augmented with today's launch of Vimeo Stock tools to assist independent creators with producing their own content.
This is the first model year of the ILX available with factory installed CarPlay in the U.S., following in the footsteps of the 2017 and newer NSX, 2018 and newer MDX, 2018 and newer TLX, and 2019 RDX.
While the 2019 ILX is available with a stacked dual-screen setup, including a seven-inch capacitive touchscreen on the bottom, CarPlay is displayed on the top screen, which is controlled by in-car knobs only.
Like most automakers, Acura is using wired CarPlay, so an iPhone must be connected to the system with a Lightning to USB cable.
Acura provides a brief demo of CarPlay in the 2019 ILX in its teaser video for the vehicle, starting at the 25 second mark. Fine print in the video confirms that CarPlay is available on the Premium trim and above.
CarPlay enables iPhone users to access a range of apps from the dashboard, such as Messages, Apple Maps, Apple Music, Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pandora, and WhatsApp. Google Maps and Waze are also supported as of iOS 12.
The 2019 Acura ILX will begin arriving at Acura dealerships across the U.S. in October. Pricing has not been disclosed.
