MacRumors

T-Mobile today announced that it has added Apple Music to Music Freedom, allowing Simple Choice customers to listen to the streaming music service without the cellular data counting against their monthly 4G LTE data plan. Apple Music joins dozens of other streaming music services supported by Music Freedom, including Spotify, Pandora, Rdio, Google Play Music, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud and SiriusXM.

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T-Mobile also announced that customers who purchase an iPhone 6 for $15 per month through the JUMP! On Demand trade-in program will be automatically eligible to receive a free upgrade to the next iPhone -- the so-called "iPhone 6s" -- when it is released, with the $15 monthly promotional price carrying over to the new smartphone.


Purchasing an iPhone 6 through JUMP! On Demand will also land you priority access to the next iPhone, when T-Mobile receives inventory of the next-generation device, for those that upgrade within the first 48 hours of availability. T-Mobile claims these two new Apple promotions are the last of the carrier's Un-carrier Amped moves this summer.

Related Forum: iPhone

Danny Boyle's upcoming Steve Jobs film has been selected as the Centerpiece of the 53rd New York Film Festival, which takes place from September 25 through October 11. The announcement was made by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, which hosts the NYFF each year.

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Steve Jobs will be screened for audiences at the festival on October 3, about a week before the movie gets a wide release on October 9. New York Film Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair Kent Jones voiced excitement for the Aaron Sorkin-penned movie's Centerpiece selection at this year's NYFF, a position held in past years by movies like No Country For Old Men and Inherent Vice.

“You hear that a bio of Steve Jobs is being produced, and of course you see multiple possible movies in your head . . . but not this one. Steve Jobs is dramatically concentrated, yet beautifully expansive; it’s extremely sharp; it’s wildly entertaining, and the actors just soar—you can feel their joy as they bite into their material.”

The 17-day film festival previously announced that its opening and closing night films will be Robert Zemeckis’s The Walk and Don Cheadle’s Miles Ahead, respectively. Tickets to the festival aren't exactly open to the public at large, but those interested can sign up to become a Film Society member, and provide a small donation, to receive "exclusive benefits" like early ticket access to NYFF screenings and events ahead of the general public.

These benefits reduce the cost of the festival to packages ranging between $300 and $1,250. There are also VIP passes available that begin at $5,000 and go up to as much as $20,000 to include multiple tickets, exclusive VIP seating, and exclusive NYFF53 commemorative items like the festival's official poster and a limited-edition tote bag.

Apple Pay today expanded its participating issuers list within the United Kingdom, adding support for both HSBC and First Direct customers. Both banks were announced as starting partners for the UK branch of Apple Pay, but were delayed until late July at the last minute.

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HSBC and First Direct join a list of UK Apple Pay partners that includes: American Express, MBNA, Nationwide, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Ulster Bank. Still listed as coming soon are: Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Bank, M&S Bank and TSB. Although Barclays has confirmed "imminent" support for the contactless payment service, the bank has yet to be listed on Apple's Apple Pay UK site.

Along with the announcement of HSBC and First Direct support, customers using Apple Pay in the UK will also be able to start taking advantage of the service at both Five Guys restaurants and Wilko stores across the country. UK support of Apple Pay launched on July 14, and has been steadily expanding its roster of retail partners and financial institutions in the subsequent weeks.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Apple today introduced three new Apple Watch videos on its YouTube channel, highlighting third-party apps designed for the wrist-worn device. Each of the three videos focuses on a different subset of apps, covering music, fitness, and travel.

The videos all depict a single Apple Watch that displays a series of apps on the screen, with a selection of app icons in the surrounding space. Icons are enlarged to denote which app is on the screen.

In the "Music" video, for example, music discovery app Shazam, DJing app Pacemaker, and ticket-purchasing app StubHub are shown in quick succession.


The "Fitness" video highlights the Nike+ running app, the WaterMinder hydration tracking app, and sports scores provided by the MLB.com At Bat app.


The third and final video, "Travel," gives a brief glimpse of travel app Expedia, transportation requesting app Uber, and recommendation app Yelp.


Apple's newest short advertisements are the company's first that put third-party apps for the device directly in the spotlight. Previous ads have focused on showing off the different use cases for the device, including four videos released last week that depicted the Apple Watch being used in daily life while traveling, working out, and communicating with friends and family.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 10
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)

Apple today released the fifth beta of OS X El Capitan to developers for testing purposes, less than one week after releasing the fourth El Capitan beta and nearly two months after unveiling the operating system at its 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference.

Today's update is available through the software update mechanism in the Mac App Store and through the Apple Developer Center.

It is not clear if this update will add any outward-facing changes to El Capitan, as the past few betas have focused on under-the-hood performance improvements and bug fixes to optimize the operating system ahead of its public release. We'll add new features and bug fixes in beta 5 to this post should any tweaks be discovered.

As an update complementary to OS X Yosemite, OS X El Capitan builds on the myriad features introduced last year. Behind-the-scenes improvements in El Capitan make a number of apps and processes on the Mac faster, and the introduction of Metal makes system-level graphics rendering 40 percent more efficient.


El Capitan introduces a new system-wide font, a revamped Mission Control feature, a split-view feature for using two full-screen apps at once, deeper functionality for Spotlight, and improvements to Safari that include Pinned Sites and a universal mute button.

OS X 10.11 El Capitan is currently available to both registered developers and public beta testers. Apple plans to release El Capitan to the public in the fall.

Related Forum: OS X El Capitan

When Windows 10 is released to the public later this week, Windows users will have desktop access to Cortana, Microsoft's virtual assistant designed to compete with Apple's Siri. It appears Mac OS X users may also be able to access Cortana on OS X, using an updated version of the Parallels Windows virtualization software. For those unfamiliar with Parallels, it's software that's designed to let you run Windows and Windows apps on your Mac.

According to a now-deleted leaked site that details upcoming features in Parallels 11, the software is gaining a new Windows 10 feature that will let Cortana be accessed on OS X while Windows 10 is running in the background.

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As explained by Neowin, who shared the leaked site over the weekend, that means Cortana can be accessed with the "Hey Cortana" command while using other applications on the Mac. It is not clear if all of Cortana's functionality is available when run this way, but in Windows 10, Cortana has a wide range of useful features.

The virtual assistant can search the web, find installed files and apps, monitor calendar appointments, access the weather, and more. Like with Siri, Cortana can be asked fact-finding questions like "What are the latest NBA scores" or "What's going on near me this weekend?"

Announced last year, Cortana is a digital assistant named for an AI character in the popular Halo video game series and voiced by Jen Taylor, who also did the AI voice work. Cortana, which has a distinctly female personality, is powered by the Bing search engine and differs from Siri based on the ability to ask questions about users and monitor their activity to learn more about them.

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Cortana has a "notebook" that stores information on each user's interests, favorite places, preferred music, relationships with people, appointment dates, preferred quiet hours, and more. When Cortana debuted, Microsoft described this feature as "her view of you," designed to let Cortana perform functions a wide range of personalized functions.

While Windows 10 is set to be released this week on July 29, there is no word on when Parallels 11 with full support for Windows 10 and the new Cortana feature will launch. Parallels 10, the current version of Parallels, has been updated with experimental support for Windows 10 preview builds, but it is not currently compatible with the release version of Windows 10 or Microsoft's Windows 10 upgrade program.


In addition to being available on Mac OS X through Parallels 11, Cortana is also coming to the iPhone. Microsoft plans to launch a Cortana app for iOS later this year.

Continuing on with its stream of exclusive content, Apple Music is today premiering the video for Keith Richards' latest single, "Trouble." The video is exclusively available through Apple Music Connect on Keith Richards' page on the artist-focused social networking site.

Because the video is shared on Apple Music Connect, it does not require an Apple Music subscription to watch. Designed to let fans connect with artists, Apple Music Connect's content is all available for free and will continue to be free after people's three-month free trials expire.

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"Trouble" is the newest single from Rolling Stones member Keith Richards, originally released in mid-July. The single is part of his upcoming album, Crosseyed Heart, which is his first solo album in over 20 years. The full album is set to be released on September 18.

Alongside the debut of the "Trouble" music video on Apple Music Connect, Keith Richards also did an interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1 radio. It will replay tonight at 10:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

Apple uses exclusive content and interviews as a way to lure customers and distinguish itself from the myriad other music services available, and has premiered videos like Pharrell's "Freedom" and Eminem's "Phenomenal." A recent rumor has suggested some of the exclusive videos Apple has offered, including Drake's "Energy," have been developed in-house with Apple working alongside artists to produce content for Apple Music.

While several reports since last December claimed that Apple was planning to release a new 4-inch "iPhone 6c" as a low-cost option alongside the so-called "iPhone 6s" and "iPhone 6s Plus" later this year, Cowen and Company analyst Timothy Arcuri recently told investors that supply chain evidence of the rumored smartphone has seemingly disappeared since around March.

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Arcuri, in a research note obtained by Business Insider, speculates that Apple may have delayed or dropped plans to release the "iPhone 6c" due to concerns that the budget smartphone would cannibalize the iPhone 6, which has experienced record-breaking sales and could continue to be a hot product for Apple if given a price reduction alongside the "iPhone 6s" and "iPhone 6s Plus" in September.

"I think one of the reasons is because the iPhone 6 has sold so well," Arcuri said. "And they said, 'Look, why would we want to cannibalize? If we came out with an iPhone 6C, we would essentially cannibalize a price-reduced iPhone 6.'"

Arcuri believed that the "iPhone 6c" would essentially be iPhone 6 hardware shrunken down to the size of an iPhone 5s, including an all-metal unibody that would differentiate itself from the plastic iPhone 5c released in 2013. Investment banking firm Jefferies predicted in late June that a 4-inch metal "iPhone 6c" will be released in early 2016, but that timing appears questionable.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo issued a note to investors in April that claimed a new 4-inch iPhone was unlikely in 2015, and a few weeks later said that Apple is instead likely to release a new 4-inch iPhone with Apple Pay compatibility in 2016. Kuo said that Foxconn will be the primary manufacturer of the low-cost handset, but Apple's product roadmap could have changed since that time.

Apple frequently tests new products and services internally that are never released, so it is entirely possible that the company never planned to make the "iPhone 6c" available to the public. Sketchy rumors and leaked images of the purported "iPhone 6c" shell -- notably plastic -- began picking up in December, but few concrete details about the rumored smartphone have surfaced since that time.

Related Forum: iPhone

Apple will join twelve other companies from across the country today at the White House in support of the American Business Act on Climate Pledge, which aims to tackle climate change head-on thanks to the backing of partners like Apple.

The new pledge will cut nearly 6 billion tons of carbon pollution through the year 2030, "an amount equivalent to taking all the cars in the United States off the road for more than 4 years." Apple's addition to the pledge doesn't appear to include any projects debuting exclusively for the new initiative, but the company will seemingly continue to heavily support a positive environmental message, now in partnership with the White House.

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Apple, already running all of its U.S. operations on 100% renewable energy, will bring an estimated 280 megawatts of clean power generation online by the end of 2016 through investments in Arizona, California, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon and Sichuan Province, China. Since 2011, Apple has reduced carbon emissions from its global corporate facilities, data centers and retail stores by 48%.

The other companies signing the pledge include: Alcoa, Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Cargill, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Goldman Sachs, Google, Microsoft, PepsiCo, UPS, and Walmart. By signing on as a partner, the companies are voicing support for a "strong" outcome for the climate negotiations in Paris this December, and promising an "ongoing commitment" to positive environmental action.

In total, the American Business Act on Climate Pledge amounts to about $140 billion in environmental investments, with all of the participating companies estimated to generate more than 1,600 megawatts of new renewable energy. As the White House points out, the partnerships announced today "are only the beginning," with a second round of pledges expected to be announced sometime this fall.

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.

ipadair2ipadmini3Apple's fourth-generation iPad mini could be a miniaturized version of the iPad Air 2, according to Japanese blog Mac Otakara. The report claims that the iPad mini 4 will adopt some of the same features and specifications as the iPad Air 2, including an 8-megapixel rear-facing iSight camera, ultra-thin 6.1mm design and possibly a fully laminated display with anti-reflective coating.

Mac Otakara claims that Apple may release the new iPad mini alongside an A9-based iPad Air 3, contrary to a sketchy report last week from Taiwan's Economic Daily News that said no new iPad Air will be released in 2015 and that the iPad mini 4 could be Apple's last 7.9-inch tablet as the company focuses on its larger-sized iPad Air and much-rumored "iPad Pro" in the future.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a respectable track record at reporting on Apple's upcoming product plans, recently issued a note to investors that also claimed the iPad mini 4 will essentially be a smaller version of the iPad Air 2. Kuo did not make any predictions about the iPad Air 3 or the "iPad Pro" in his note, but he has mentioned the latter 12.9-inch tablet in previous notes to investors.

Apple releasing a trio of new iPads later this year -- the iPad Air 3, iPad mini 4 and "iPad Pro" -- could help the company rebound from five consecutive quarters of declining iPad sales. Moreover, while Mac Otakara has a respectable track record reporting about Apple, there is not enough substantive evidence at this time to firmly suggest that all three tablets will actually be unveiled this autumn.

Related Roundups: iPad Pro, iPad mini
Related Forum: iPad

Following a focus on expanding its presence in the greater China area, sources speaking with NDTV Gadgets have confirmed Apple is looking to increase its foothold in India as well through the launch of a new retail store program. The new initiative -- dubbed the Authorized Mobility Resellers program -- will reportedly see the company open 500 retail store locations across 12 cities in India.

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The stores will showcase a heavier focus on Apple's mobile offerings, like the iPhone and iPad, along with "related third-party accessories." Apple has already signed up over 100 partners it wants to work with on the AMR program and has even begun to earmark specific locations it wants for the new retail sites. The company will also allow the program to discount iPhones below retail price, according to the information gained from NDTV Gadgets.

Apple products are rarely sold at a discount across the world and there was a time when India was pretty much the same. However, in recent years Apple has changed its distribution model and has been happy to turn a blind eye to retailers discounting the iPhone, MacBook Air, and other products as it looks to gain marketshare. NDTV Gadgets has learnt that Apple will follow a similar model with AMR partners, which means they will be able to sell below MRP.

Apple will hire a contractor to be sure that all of the sites adhere to the company's strict guidelines regarding size and design, but afterwards the company will hand back over reigns to the third-party resellers it's partnering with to operate and run the stores. The exact timeline of the AMR program remains unclear, however, with no word from Apple on whether its presence in the country could be seen as early as this year or not.

Beijing police have shut down a large iPhone counterfeiting ring within the city that had managed to produce more than 41,000 fake versions of the flagship smartphone, some of which even managed to reach the United States (via Reuters). All told, the ring's counterfeit production had grown to be worth as much as 120 million yuan (about $19 million).

The police have arrested a total of nine suspects thought to be involved directly in the counterfeiting operation, all due to a combined effort to enforce stricter counterfeit and intellectual property laws in China. Of the nine arrested were a 43-year-old man and his 40-year-old wife, whom police believe ran the counterfeit scam under a gadget maintenance shop front before the operation was raided in May.

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The information is just coming out today, however, thanks to a social media post from the public security bureau in Beijing, which said the couple had set up the factory in January, beginning with as many as six assembly lines and "hundreds" of workers. The raid, which took place on May 14 thanks to a tip from United States authorities, ended with the police seizing as many as 1,400 counterfeit smartphones and "large quantities" of accessories.

The counterfeit iPhone -- and now Apple Watch -- market has grown in China since the device's debut, and only became more prevalent a few years back when entire counterfeit Apple Stores were discovered by a blogger who posted photos of the false retail stores online. China remains a big target for Apple, with the company stating during last week's earning call that the country is positioned to be its "largest market in the future." It's already begun to affect changes in the design of its products, with Tim Cook confirming that Chinese consumer tastes are the main reason behind the new gold color options of the iPhone, MacBook, and Apple Watch lines.

Related Forum: iPhone

Apple has announced that its fleet of vehicles collecting street-level mapping data in multiple countries will begin surveying France and Sweden throughout August. The vehicles will be driving through the Malmö and Stockholm metropolitan areas in Sweden and Île-de-France region of Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne in France.

Apple Maps Vehicle
Apple Maps vehicles will also begin surveying Tennessee later in August, raising the total number of U.S. states that Apple has driven through to 30. Apple began collecting street-level mapping data in 13 more U.S. states this month, including Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Apple confirmed in June that it is driving vehicles around the world to collect data to improve Apple Maps, and the mapping imagery is almost certainly being used to create a Google Maps "Street View" competitor. Apple Maps vehicles are also taking photos of businesses and storefronts in major metropolitan areas to replace current imagery provided by third-party sources such as Yelp.

Apple has posted a complete list of new areas in the United States, France, Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom it will be surveying throughout August on its Apple Maps vehicles website, including extended coverage of unmapped areas in California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Utah and Washington.

Update Jul 29: Apple Maps vehicles will also begin surveying Italy between August 1 and August 31, collecting street-level mapping data in Rome and the surrounding Lazio region.

Best Buy today announced it will begin selling the Apple Watch in some its U.S. retail stores and online on August 7, marking a substantial expansion of retail availability for the device. Starting with 100 stores and expanding to 300 over the next few months, he company will offer 16 models from the aluminum Apple Watch Sport and stainless steel Apple Watch collections, as well as nearly 50 accessories including stands and watch bands.

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Starting Aug. 7, Best Buy will be the first national retailer, other than Apple Stores, where customers can buy the Apple Watch. It will begin to arrive in more than 100 Best Buy stores and will also be available on BestBuy.com. Another 200 of our stores will have the Apple Watch in time for holiday shopping.

“The Apple Watch is an important addition to an emerging product category, and we know our customers want it,” said Jason Bonfig, senior category officer at Best Buy. “We are excited to bring Apple Watch to more consumers, especially with the holidays coming up.”

Apple has provided a statement to iMore, noting the focus on expanding availability for the holiday shopping season.

"Customers love Apple Watch, and we are thrilled to begin offering it at Best Buy locations across the U.S. starting August 7," an Apple spokesperson told iMore. "More than 300 Best Buy stores will carry Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport models in time for the holiday shopping season."

The Apple Watch is currently available in 19 countries with Apple gradually expanding availability as supplies have allowed, and an additional three countries — New Zealand, Russia, and Turkey — will be added to the list this coming Friday.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 10
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)

Apple and Nike settled a two-year-old class action lawsuit that challenged their advertising claims regarding the Nike+ FuelBand. The lawsuit alleged that Nike and Apple made misleading statements about the FuelBand's ability to accurately track steps, calories and NikeFuel.

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Under the settlement, customers who purchased a FuelBand between January 19, 2012 and June 17, 2015 can make a claim for either a $15 payment or $25 gift card redeemable at Nike-owned stores in the United States and Puerto Rico or at Nike's online shop. The number of claims that a customer may submit depends on the number of FuelBands they purchased. Claims can be submitted until January 4, 2016.

While Apple was included in the class action lawsuit, Nike will be paying the settlement administrator and attorney's fees on its own and Apple has no responsibility for payments or gift cards.

Apple stopped selling the Nike+ FuelBand and other fitness trackers in both its retail and online stores this past March, while a report last year indicated that Nike would discontinue making new FuelBands to focus on software for other devices.

Customers who bought a Nike+ FuelBand between January 19, 2012 and June 17, 2015 can find out more about the settlement via the legal notice authorized by the California state court.

Apple and BMW were in negotiations to use the German car manufacturer's car platform for its electric i3 for Apple's rumored car project, code-named "Project Titan", according to a new report from German business magazine Manager Magazin [Google Translate].

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The Cupertino company was interested in the body of the i3, which is a small hatchback that has a shell made out of carbon fiber, helping keep the car light. The two companies began talks in autumn 2014, but broke off talks before committing to check in with each other and their plans periodically. The report also states that Tim Cook and Apple senior managers made a trip to BMW's factory in Leipzig, Germany to take a look at the production of the i3.

This isn't the first time BMW and Apple have been linked to be working on a car. In March, a report from German automotive magazine Auto Motor und Sport claimed the two were in close negotiations to turn the i3 into an "Apple Car". However, BMW denied the claim to Reuters hours after the report surfaced.

Earlier this week, Apple hired Doug Betts, former Senior Vice President of the Chrysler Group and the global head of operations leading product service and quality, continuing the company's hiring of automotive experts. Additionally, Apple hired Paul Furgale, a researcher with a specialization in autonomous vehicles.

While details on Apple's car project have been scarce, there have been reports of Apple recruiting talent from the automotive industry, including poaching employees from Tesla, Ford and GM, and that the company has hundreds of employees working on its car project. Rumors suggest Apple is aiming to produce a car by 2020, but because Apple often works on projects that never see the light of day, it's possible the company could delay or shelve the project if it's not happy with its progress.

Tags: BMW, i3

Building on a series of recent ads centered around the "If it's not an iPhone, it's not an iPhone" tagline, Apple today rolled out a new web campaign for the iPhone under the theme of "Why there’s nothing quite like iPhone."

nothing_like_iphone_1The new campaign is highlighted on Apple's main home page as well as its iPhone pages, and it includes a scrolling feature page drawing attention to a number of aspects of Apple and the iPhone that make the device stand out from its competitors.

Every iPhone we've made — and we mean every single one — was built on the same belief. That a phone should be more than a collection of features. That, above all, a phone should be absolutely simple, beautiful, and magical to use.

The page proceeds to highlight the iPhone's integration of hardware and software, camera capabilities, breadth of available apps, resistance to malware, and Apple's commitment to privacy and security with Touch ID and Apple Pay.

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The campaign also highlights how Apple includes a variety of built-in apps and tools to make text, audio, and video messaging free and easy, track fitness and activity, and control devices around the home, all with accessibility features to make the iPhone's features available to as many people as possible. Finally, Apple points to its support network, from its retail stores to AppleCare phone and chat support.

Magnolia Pictures has shared the first trailer and movie poster for Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine with Mashable, just over four months after the film premiered at SXSW 2015 in Austin, Texas. The upcoming documentary, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney, portrays Jobs as both a tech visionary and unapologetic leader throughout his career at Apple.


Apple senior executive Eddy Cue expressed disappointment in the documentary following its debut, describing the film on Twitter as "an inaccurate and mean-spirited view of my friend" and "not a reflection of the Steve I knew." Cue added that the best portrayal of Jobs is in the book Becoming Steve Jobs by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, which he describes as "well done and first to get it right."
Universal previously released the full-length trailer for its aptly named Steve Jobs movie, starring Michael Fassbender, Seth Rogen, Kate Winslet and Jeff Daniels, earlier this month. The trailer mainly consists of a single shot of Fassbender as Jobs, with cast voiceovers providing snippets and teases of conversations regarding Jobs' true legacy at Apple, which he co-founded with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1974.

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Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine opens in select theaters on September 4.