MacRumors

Early last month we reported that Apple was planning to sell refurbished iPhones in India and had submitted a formal request to the country's government in order to allow it to begin importing pre-owned iPhones into the country.

This morning, however, news has surfaced that major smartphone makers in the Indian market including Samsung, Karbonn, Micromax and Intex are actively opposing Apple's move on environmental grounds.

According to Bloomberg, phone manufacturers argue that elevated electronic waste levels could threaten the viability of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India program, which promotes and encourages local manufacturing. Critics argue that destroying the phones produces toxic materials that could harm the country's precarious ecological balance, which is already struggling to deal with a massive e-waste problem.

The opposition came in a letter sent to the Indian government by a lobbying group recently set up by India's Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA). In the letter, manufacturers argued that allowing the sale of used iPhones in India would not only negatively impact the environment, but it would also go against the country's importation policy.

"Why even consider allowing import of used phones when import of other used goods such as cars are precluded by 300 percent duty levies?" asked Ravinder Zutshi, chairman of the newly formed Mobile and Communications Council, which issued the letter.

Apple’s initial application in 2015 was rejected by the environment ministry. The company's latest application has gone to "inter-ministerial discussion", leaving its outcome uncertain, according to the report. If approved, India would be the first territory with used iPhones to be sold directly from Apple.

Earlier in February, Apple was said to be close to opening its own retail locations within India, after having to rely on an "Authorized Mobility Resellers" program due to the country's strict real estate and zoning laws.

In December of last year, Apple cut the prices of its iPhone 6s and 6s Plus handsets in India by up to 16 percent, following a reported dive in sales. The move quickly followed Apple's decision to halve the price of iPhone 5s, from 45,500 Rupees ($688) to 24,999 Rupees ($377).

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently praised India's business environment and stated that the company is putting increasingly more energy into the country, which has the third largest smartphone market in the world, behind China and the U.S.

Apple has less than 2 percent of the market, in which four-fifths of phones cost less than $150. Branded smartphones are available for as little as $35 in India, yet less than one third of the population uses them.

In January of 2015, Belkin said it was working with Apple to add HomeKit compatibility to its popular line of WeMo smart products "in the very near future," but more than a year later, HomeKit-compatible WeMo products have not debuted.

As it turns out, Belkin appears to be putting its plans to introduce HomeKit compatibility on hold because there is no way to add HomeKit to products that are already on the market. Belkin would need to develop an entire line of new HomeKit-enabled WeMo products, something that the company says it is not interested in doing in at the time being. The information was shared with MacRumors reader Steve on Facebook after he asked about HomeKit.

We've been trying to integrate with HomeKit for sometime, as you know, but as of yet have not found a way to make existing WeMo products work with HomeKit that fall within the Apple guidelines. HomeKit integration requires a specific hardware component - it cannot happen with just a software or firmware update - which means that we would have to make a separate line of HomeKit enabled WeMo products in addition to the ones already out on the market.

This also means that all of the WeMo products you already own still wouldn't work with HomeKit and you would have to buy new ones in order to get compatibility. We have put HomeKit compatibility on hold until we can find a way to make it work for both new and existing users. We are sorry for the disappointing news.

The WeMo Facebook representative goes on to say that "nothing is off the table" but the company wants to be sure that its product decisions "make sense for the entire WeMo ecosystem" and all current and future users.

Apple's HomeKit system has specific and stringent security requirements [PDF] that must be included with products that Apple certifies as HomeKit compatible. Existing Belkin WeMo products may not meet Apple's security specifications, which have been described as "bleeding edge."

Apple's demand for strong end-to-end encryption, even for Bluetooth LE, has been citied as one of the reasons why HomeKit-enabled products were slow to roll out to consumers following the mid-2015 HomeKit launch. Unless Apple relaxes its requirements, which seems unlikely, HomeKit compatibility won't come to the WeMo line until Belkin decides to create new HomeKit-enabled products.

With a huge range of WeMo products, from smart outlets and bulbs to cameras and crockpots, already on the market, it's not hard to understand Belkin's reluctance to create all new products and alienate its existing customer base. Some customers using the WeMo line could have hundreds of dollars invested in various products, and for existing customers interested in HomeKit compatibility, all of those items would need to be repurchased.

Starting today, Walmart is offering $100 off its selection of Apple iPhones, including the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and newly released iPhone SE, making the already affordable device available at an even lower price point.

The discount applies to iPhones purchased through AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint and is available on devices bought using a monthly installment plan. The discounted price will be reflected through each customer's cell phone bill, with the monthly payments lowered by an appropriate amount.

Customers who want to purchase an iPhone eligible for the discount will need to do so in store, as AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint iPhones are not sold online. Walmart plans to offer the $100 off deal through the end of June.

In other deal news, Belkin.com is offering a 25 percent discount on all of its products through the end of the day with the promo code IMNOFOOL, and Best Buy is offering solid discounts on the 12-inch Retina MacBook, MacBook Air, and Retina MacBook Pro dropping prices by up to $300.

For a full list of this week's deals and discounts, make sure to check out our dedicated deals roundup, which is updated on a daily basis with new accessories, significant deals, and app discounts. It also contains a price list for all of Apple's major products and is an excellent resource for finding the best deal on a Mac or iPad.

Dyson recently launched the Pure Cool Link, a fan that looks and functions similarly to the company's previous line of high-end oscillating personal air controlling devices, but now with the added bonus of cleaning the air in a home (via The Guardian). Thanks to its HEPA filter, the Pure Cool Link promises to remove 99.97% of particles as minuscule as 0.3 microns, so potentially hazardous pollutants like pollen, bacteria, mold, Asbestos, odors, tobacco smoke and even carbon dust can all be successfully captured.

The company is also integrating its connected smartphone app, Dyson Link, into its new Pure Cool Link fan, which marks the first time one of its fans will be able to be controlled through an app. The experience will let users monitor both indoor and outdoor air quality, and even let them set the connected device to automatically clean a room whenever the standards for clean air drop below a certain mark. The Dyson Link app was previously supported as a connected accessory to the Dyson 360 Eye robotic vacuum cleaner.

Company founder James Dyson said: “We think it is polluted outside of our homes, but the air inside can be far worse. Dyson engineers focused on developing a purifier that automatically removes ultrafine allergens, odours and pollutants from the indoor air, feeding real time air quality data back to you.”

Beyond air quality monitoring, the app gives users a suite of basic remote control functionality to the Pure Cool Link while displaced from it, including: a scheduling system, manual on/off controls, temperature and humidity numbers, and a complete history of the air quality levels in a room. It can also give users an updated reminder of the filter life inside of the Pure Cool Link, so they can be warned ahead of time when it needs to be changed.

Other features of the Pure Cool Link include a "night-time mode" that turns down the audible noise disturbance of the fan and dims the display, for users who want to keep its features running through night hours. Although the fan isn't directly billed as a personal air condition device like Dyson's other products, the Pure Cool Link can sense when it is a warmer day, automatically helping to drop the temperature within the room a few degrees "with smooth, long-range air flow."

The range of connected Dyson devices is limited to the Pure Cool Link system, but the company is expected to continue to expand these smartphone app connectivity features to its other products in the future. At launch, the new Pure Cool Link system does not integrate with Apple's HomeKit platform.

Those interested can purchase the Dyson Pure Cool Link tower for $499.99 from the company's website, in either blue or white. There is also a smaller desktop version of the new air quality-controlling fan, but it appears to currently not be available to purchase from Dyson's United States store. If abiding by the pricing tiers of previous Dyson products, the desk fan version of the Pure Cool Link would be $100 less and come in at $399.99.

The Dyson Link app can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Apple has filed a patent application hinting that the company could be working on modular smart bands for the Apple Watch, allowing users to add functions such as wireless charging battery packs and GPS receivers to an existing timepiece (via AppleInsider).

The application, titled "Modular functional band links for wearable devices", was published yesterday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and details strap designs with embedded electronic devices that connect via the Apple Watch's diagnostics port.

Rather than building complex components into the Apple Watch chassis, the designs propose breaking functional units out into a range of separate watch band 'links' that can work serially or in parallel.

A number of Apple Watch accessories with added functionality are described in the patent, including batteries, displays, processors, electricity generators, GPS sensors, cameras, thermometers, blood pressure sensors, sweat sensors and speakers.

Arranged as links, the modules would connect to each other and to the 6-pin diagnostics port on the Apple Watch. In some cases, links also act as an external port for accepting electronic components, such as a SIM card or powered memory module.

Even before the launch of the Apple Watch, the inclusion of a diagnostics port on the device fueled speculation that Apple is planning to bring smart band accessories to market at some point in the future. However, if the patent is indicative of upcoming Apple Watch products, such a significant extension of functionality would more likely be held back for inclusion in a second-generation device. Apple Watch 2 is expected to launch later in the year.

Apple refreshed its Apple Watch lineup on March 21, 2016, introducing new spring colors in yellows, blues, and pinks, along with new Nylon Apple Watch bands.

Since the launch of iOS 9.3 last week, some Sprint users have been unable to connect to LTE networks, according to reports on Twitter and reddit. After updating, affected users say their iPhones will only connect 3G, and there appears to be no clear fix with resets and reinstalls not solving the problem for most people.

According to one reddit user in California, he's having issues when his iPhone attempts to connect to a specific LTE band. Affected users are frustrated with the connectivity problems, with some reporting an inability to receive any messages or updates when not on Wi-Fi. Most users seeing problems appear to be using Apple's latest devices.

I'm having data issues as well on my 6s Plus in the LA/OC market. Over the past three days I've been troubleshooting on my 80 mile round trip commute via Field Test and Speedtest. I've figured out that data transfer is broken when connected to Clear B41. No problems on Sprint B41, B25 or EVDO. I've created a ticket with Sprint Care, and supposedly they have notified their network team. I'm awaiting a response.

I've talked to Apple as well, they did a diagnostic test that came up normal...of course it did, because I was not connected to Clear B41 at the time. At this point, the only course of action is to either disable LTE or revert back to 9.2.1 before Apple stops signing it. I'm not sure if this has to do with the WiMAX shutdown in my market, but I have noticed that the TAC went from 9xxx to 3xxxx after the shutdown. I've restored three times via iTunes to no avail.

As of this afternoon, Sprint has begun sending out text messages to its subscriber base, acknowledging the data connection problem. Sprint says that it is aware of the issue and "working quickly" on a fix.

Apple this morning released an iOS 9.3.1 update with a fix for an unrelated web linking bug, and while it's not clear if the new update fixes the Sprint issue, it's unlikely as Sprint's text messages were sent out after the update was released.

Update 4/1: According to Sprint, the data connection issues affecting users were resolved this morning.

Apple launched the iPhone SE today in the United States and eleven other countries and territories, prompting a number of early adopters looking to get their hands on the refreshed 4-inch smartphone to line up over the past twenty-four hours.

Early morning lines for the iPhone SE could be found in a handful of major cities, ranging from Sydney, Australia to Miami, Florida, but many other Apple Stores had no queues whatsoever as excitement was unsurprisingly more tepid compared to the launch of a flagship smartphone like the iPhone 6s.

In fact, the launch of the iPhone SE was arguably overshadowed by Model 3 reservations, which began today at Tesla stores and galleries, some of which are located directly adjacent to or within close proximity to Apple retail stores.

At the Tesla store in the Bellevue, Washington shopping mall pictured below, for example, the queue at around 10:30 a.m. local time was significantly longer than many of those outside of Apple Stores today.

Meanwhile, the Tesla Model 3 reservation queue in Düsseldorf, Germany actually extended past an adjacent Apple Store earlier today.iPhone SE reaction has been mixed in Asia, where the smartphone launched to little fanfare in Japan but reportedly received over 3.4 million pre-orders in neighboring China. The low-cost smartphone is expected to be particularly popular in emerging markets such as India and Pakistan.

Investment bank Piper Jaffray performed a spot check of iPhone SE stock in select American markets and found that 90% of stores had the device in stock:

We checked 100 Apple Stores in NYC, LA, Dallas, and Minneapolis market areas for availability of the Space Gray iPhone SE 16GB and found that 90% of stores checked had the device in stock. We did spot checks for other device colors (Gold, Rose Gold, Silver) in about 25 stores and found a similar ~90% availability.

For new orders, Apple currently lists delivery estimates of between April 6 and April 21 in the U.S. depending on the iPhone SE size, color, and carrier selected.