MacRumors

Over the weekend well-known mobile phone leaker Evan Blass predicted that the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus would release the week of September 12. A short time later, he predicted that it should launch on Friday, September 16. Today, Blass has followed up and reported that pre-orders would take place on Friday, September 9.

Apple typically announces the newest iPhone a couple days before pre-orders start. With September 5 being Labor Day, it's likely Tuesday, September 6 would be the day of Apple's iPhone 7 event. The dates roughly line up with Apple's usual pattern for iPhone releases. Last year, Apple announced the iPhone on September 9, started pre-orders on September 12 and released it on September 25.

Blass is well known for leaking details and images from Android smartphones well before official confirmations. A couple days before predicting the release week of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, he revealed that the codenames for Apple's new smartphones are "Sonora" and "Dos Palos."

Other rumored features for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus include a faster TSMC-made A10 processor, repositioned antenna bands, faster LTE and Wi-Fi, a slightly larger battery, and a minimum 32 GB of base storage.

Apple today announced that it recently sold its one-billionth iPhone, marking a major milestone for the company. CEO Tim Cook shared the news with employees at a staff meeting this morning, as noted in a news story published by Apple.

In a statement, Cook called the iPhone one of the most successful, world-changing products in history, echoing similar sentiments from yesterday's earnings call where he said believes the iPhone is becoming a device that people can't live without.

"iPhone has become one of the most important, world-changing and successful products in history. It's become more than a constant companion. iPhone is truly an essential part of our daily life and enables much of what we do throughout the day," said Cook. "Last week we passed another major milestone when we sold the billionth iPhone. We never set out to make the most, but we've always set out to make the best products that make a difference. Thank you to everyone at Apple for helping change the world every day."

Apple first introduced the iPhone in 2007, and since then, the company has gone on to release nine generations, each with major improvements, revisions, and new features. While iPhone sales have been down for the last two quarters, the 1 billion milestone highlights what a successful product it is.

The iPhone has long been Apple's most important device, responsible for a majority of the revenue that the company brings in.

Next year, Apple will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the iPhone and the company has something big planned. Rumors suggest the 2017 iPhone will introduce some of the most significant design changes we've seen, with an all glass body and an edge-to-edge display with an integrated camera and Touch ID sensor. Other prospective features include wireless charging, biometric additions like iris or facial scanning, and a faster A11 chip.

Parking service company Parkopedia today announced that it will begin to provide its enhanced and detailed parking information services directly within Apple Maps. With the partnership between the two companies, that means iOS users will be able to visit Apple Maps to discover more than 40 million parking spots in 75 countries across North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America.

The integration of Parkopedia into Apple Maps actually began in March inside of the United States, but today marks the official worldwide launch of the new resource. With the parking company's "rich information," Apple Maps users will be able to search for parking garages and lots, while reading about their location, payment type, number of spaces, and more. Future updates will allow users to filter search results, in order to discover the cheapest lots first, for example.

While reading through some Parkopedia information for a parking lot in Apple Maps, users will be able to follow a link to reserve a spot, although that process takes them out of Maps to complete the payment process on the Parkopedia website or within the company's iOS app [Direct Link]. "More detailed information" will also be available outside of Apple Maps and in Parkopedia itself, including pricing, user reviews, special offers and real-time space availability.

"We're excited to deliver detailed information on more than 40 million parking spaces in 75 countries to Apple Maps customers. This is a very important milestone for Parkopedia. Our combined footprint in the consumer and automotive space is huge and this opens the doors to delivering a world of innovative solutions," stated Parkopedia's Head of Marketing, Christina Onesirosan Martinez.

Apple Maps has been receiving steady updates to help bolster its navigation and research abilities for users visiting new cities, or simply trying to find new venues in their hometown. Among these changes coming in iOS 10 are new parked car notifications, which reminds users where they left their car -- especially when parking in large garages or lots -- with the help of a simple geo-locked icon within Apple Maps. Combined with Parkopedia's information catalog, this could help Apple get a leg up on its rivals in the GPS map app space.

Last month, Japanese blog Mac Otakara reported that Apple plans to announce new MacBook Air models featuring USB-C ports based on the Thunderbolt 3 protocol by the end of June, and begin shipping the notebooks to retailers in August. It is now seven weeks later, however, and the rumor has yet to materialize.

But if a new report from Taiwanese website DigiTimes is to believed, Apple still has plans to release a new MacBook Air with USB-C ports after all. The report does not provide a launch timeframe for the updated notebooks, but the secondary rumor suggests Mac Otakara may have been off on timing only.

Currently, Apple has decided to adopt the USB Type-C interface for its MacBook Air, while Asustek Computer and Hewlett-Packard (HP) are upgrading one of their notebooks' regular USB port to the Type-C. Lenovo, Acer and Dell are still evaluating the option.

DigiTimes previously reported that Apple will begin shipping new "ultra-thin" 13-inch and 15-inch MacBooks at the end of the second quarter, which ended in late June. The report said the new MacBooks would "share a design similar to the existing 12-inch MacBook" and be "thinner than [the] existing MacBook Air."

DigiTimes also previously reported that Apple plans to release new ultra-thin MacBooks with metal injection molded hinges in the second half of 2016. The website is not always an accurate source of Apple's upcoming product plans, but it has well-connected supply chain sources that have proven reliable at times in the past.

Apple's entire Mac lineup, beyond the 2016 12-inch MacBook, has stagnated. Apple has not released a new MacBook Air in over 500 days, beyond a minor 8GB RAM bump for 13-inch models in April. Some believe the MacBook Air's days are numbered, but perhaps the notebook will live on until Apple can sell the 12-inch MacBook from $999.

Alternatively, it is possible that DigiTimes is misinterpreting a thinner MacBook Pro with USB-C ports as a MacBook Air.

If a new MacBook Air is incoming, a late-year launch is most probable. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple will launch three new MacBook models by year's end: a thin and light 13-inch MacBook in the June-September quarter, and two thinner and lighter 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models in the September-December quarter.

Three of Australia's biggest banks have lodged a joint application with anti-trust regulators to negotiate with Apple over gaining access to the NFC-based mobile payment hardware in its smartphones (via Reuters).

Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank (NAB), and Westpac have so far resisted signing deals to use the company's Apple Pay mobile payment system, because they want their customers to be able to use digital wallets they have already financed and developed.

However, none of the banks want to be accused of violating anti-competition law by negotiating deals, which is where the application comes in.

If the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) lets the banks collectively negotiate with Apple under the terms of the application, it would enable them to undertake "a limited form of boycott" in which they would all agree not to negotiate with Apple individually while the talks take place.

Apple currently only allows its own mobile payment system to access the NFC-hardware in its iPhone devices, which banks argue is an anti-competitive restriction that hampers consumer choice.

"This is about providing Australians with real choice and better outcomes," said Lance Blockley, a senior advisor at Novantas who spoke to The Sydney Morning Herald on behalf of the banks.

"If successful, the application would have tremendous benefits for the entire Australian mobile payments landscape including for public transport fares, airlines, ticketing, store loyalty and rewards programs and many more applications yet to be developed."

Apple Pay launched in Australia in November, but has since been slow to roll out in the country. The delay was thought to be down to issues Apple was experiencing negotiating fees with the nation's largest banking institutes.

Three months ago it added Apple Pay support for credit and debit cards from the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (aka ANZ), the only bank in Australia's "Big Four" that played no part in the latest application.

Apple CEO Tim Cook today told investors that Apple is continuing to invest in augmented reality, and that the company is "high on AR in the long run." Cook's comments came after he was questioned about Pokémon Go, the hit augmented reality game developed by Niantic Labs, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company.

Cook, who continually referred to "Pokémon" as "Pokemans," said Pokémon Go is a "testament to what happens to innovative apps," giving the App Store credit for empowering developers to "press a button" and "offer a product around the world." He went on to say that augmented reality offers a great commercial opportunity and great opportunities for consumers.

AR can be really great. We have been and continue to invest a lot in this. We're high on AR in the long run and we think there are great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity. The number one thing is to make sure that our products work well with other developer's products like Pokémon, and that's why you see so many iPhones in the wild chasing Pokemans.

Cook went on to say that he believes augmented reality "can be huge." "We'll see whether it's the next platform," he said. "Regardless, it will be huge."

In the past, rumors have suggested Apple has a secret research team working on augmented reality and virtual reality, exploring the AR/VR field and investigating how the company could embrace augmented or virtual reality in the future.

Apple has also made a number of augmented reality acquisitions, purchasing companies like Metaio, Faceshift, and Flyby Media. How Apple might incorporate augmented reality into its products remains a mystery, but there are applications related to Maps and Photos that could be on the horizon.

Earlier this year, Cook made similar comments about virtual reality, calling it more than just a niche product. "It's really cool and it has some interesting applications," he said.

During today's third quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook told investors that he's "very optimistic" about prospective iPhone sales this fall, despite rumors suggesting the device will introduce only minor changes.

In response to a question about speculation that iPhone upgrade rates will be low in 2016 based on circulating rumors that the iPhone 7 will mark only a modest update to the iPhone 6s, Cook said he sees "so many signs that are positive" that point towards solid sales numbers.

I don't want to talk about new phones that aren't announced. That aside, what we have seen -- in past tense or in current tense -- on the upgrade rate is that the iPhone upgrade rate for the iPhone 6s is similar to the iPhone 5s. [...]

The iPhone 6 was significantly higher than that and it likely accelerated upgrades that would have been in the current year ahead of those. So what the future holds, we'll see, but I'm very optimistic about the future because I see so many signs that are positive.

As for the signs in question, Cook pointed towards an install base that has gotten "incredibly large," a switcher rate that continues to grow, a smartphone penetration rate that's only at 42 percent, changes coming in iOS 10, and the growing importance of the smartphone itself as it becomes "even more instrumental and important to people's lives."

On that last point, Cook said he expects AI to play a major role in turning the iPhone into an essential device that people can't live without. "As the iPhone becomes more and more your assistant, you're not going to leave without it," he said. "I see all of those things as vectors that are incredibly positive," he continued.

According to Cook, Apple will excel at AI because of the company's focus on user experience, which will drive people to adopt Apple devices. Apple is continually working to improve its virtual assistant Siri, and Cook's comments hint at Apple's continued focus on the service.

As the smartphone itself becomes more essential to customers' day-to-day lives, we think people will put more and more focus on what they're buying. The thing Apple does best is providing a killer user experience that's integrated across the entire product line, and that becomes more important and really plays to our advantage.

I think the deployment of AI technology is something we will excel at because of our focus on user experience. So I like that.

Apple will unveil its next-generation iPhone 7 this fall, likely in September. While the device is expected to have a design similar to the design of the iPhone 6s, it will feature camera improvements, a better processor, improved water resistance, no headphone jack, and more.