MacRumors

Apple appears to be gearing up for a big marketing push for the Apple Watch ahead of its April launch, featuring the device on several magazine covers. The Apple Watch made its U.S. magazine cover debut earlier this month in the March issue of Self, and it's also being featured in a multi-page spread in the March issue of Vogue.

The Apple Watch is shown on multiple pages of the magazine, depicting different watch casings and band designs in clean ads that feature nothing but the Apple Watch itself. The images are actual size, giving readers an idea of how big the watch is in real life.

There's a heavy focus on Apple Watch bands, several of which are depicted in close up images that show off details on their construction. The Milanese Loop is featured on one page, while the navy-colored Leather Loop is shown on another page. The Apple Watch sport with a green band is also shown, as is the fitness interface for one of the Apple Watch's built-in fitness apps. Yet another page features the rose gold Apple Watch Edition with a Rose Gray Modern Buckle band.

It's likely that several other publications beyond Self and Vogue will be featuring the Apple Watch in the coming weeks as the device's April launch date approaches. Apple has targeted fashion and fitness markets thus far, and is expected to market the Apple Watch to a wide range of potential customers.

Up until this month, Apple's Apple Watch marketing has been somewhat reserved, limited to an appearance at Parisian fashion boutique Colette in September and the Vogue China cover in October, but the company appears prepared to begin more serious marketing efforts.

As we reported last month, Apple asked some developers creating content for the Apple Watch to have their apps completed by mid-February, possibly to have apps ready to go for marketing purposes or an upcoming event. Apple also invited select developers to its Cupertino headquarters to put the finishing touches on Apple Watch apps and the company may be preparing to launch a series of Apple Watch popup stores in various locations around the world.

While on a trip in Germany to visit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and meet with a few German-based Apple staff members, Apple CEO Tim Cook told Apple Store employees in Berlin that he wears his Apple Watch constantly, "even in the shower", according to iGen.fr [Google Translate].

The new piece of information from the Apple CEO could mean the company's been working on adding more water resistant features to the upcoming wearable, since at its early-September reveal event the company warned off wearing the device in the shower.

Cook went on to say that he charges his Apple Watch every night, which seems to fall in line with what he's said previously on the topic. But, as Apple Insider points out, some of his comments regarding the new information on the Apple Watch could have been lost in translation.

He also told a few of the Apple Store workers, specifically in fielding a question asked by a visually impaired employee, that apps and accessibility features focused on aiding the disabled would be coming to the watch over time. Cook even commented on a few recent bits of bad press the company has faced in regards to the working conditions at its Chinese facilities.

He said that Chinese workers want to work hard and their employers want them to always work more. Apple is trying to ensure that there is no abuse, and the number hours worked per week decreases with time. He said that wages in China are increasing much faster than anywhere in the world. While recalling that the cost of living is much lower there, compared for example to Germany or the United States.

Concerning the overseas launch of Apple Pay, which has been gaining steam in rumors lately, Cook stated that a European launch for the contactless payment service will come "before the end of the year." Cook's trip continues this week (via The Marker) [Google Translate], with the CEO moving on to Israel to visit the newly-built Apple offices in Herzliya and a planned meeting with former President Shimon Peres.

A federal jury in Tyler, Texas has ordered Apple to pay $532.9 million to patent licensing firm Smartflash LLC for using its patents without permission, reports Bloomberg. The court found certain iTunes apps to be infringing upon the Texas-based company's patents related to digital rights management, data storage and managing access through payment systems.

Apple argues that Smartflash is exploiting the patent system and plans to appeal the decision.

“Smartflash makes no products, has no employees, creates no jobs, has no U.S. presence, and is exploiting our patent system to seek royalties for technology Apple invented,” said Kristin Huguet, an Apple spokeswoman. “We refused to pay off this company for the ideas our employees spent years innovating and unfortunately we have been left with no choice but to take this fight up through the court system.”

Smartflash was originally seeking $852 million in damages from Apple for infringing three patents, claiming that it was entitled to a percentage of sales of Apple products used to access iTunes, such as iPhones, iPads and Macs. Apple believed that $4.5 million was fair at most, arguing that it was not infringing upon the inventions and that the patents were invalid. Developers Game Circus and KingsIsle Entertainment Inc. were also defendants in the case but were later dismissed from the lawsuit.

“Apple doesn’t respect Smartflash’s inventions,” the company’s lawyer, John Ward of Ward & Smith in Longview, Texas, told the jury. “Not a single witness could be bothered with reviewing the patent.”

Smartflash has also sued Samsung Electronics in a separate lawsuit that is scheduled to begin following the end of this Apple trial. The patent licensing firm also recently filed against Google, which has attempted to move its lawsuit to California, and Amazon in December. This case is Smartflash LLC v. Apple Inc., 13-447, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Texas.

During its investor call today, Chase announced (via AppleInsider) that over 1 million customers have provisioned their credit and / or debit cards for use with Apple Pay. Additionally, the company provided a look at the demographics of its Apple Pay users.
Eileen Sierra, CEO of Chase Card Services, said that its customers who use Apple Pay tend to be young and have higher incomes, with 69 percent of their Chase card Apple Pay transactions credit based.

Sierra also revealed that the financial company has seen "good growth" in the number of its customers provisioning their cards on Apple Pay. Those customers have been using their Chase cards through Apple Pay at the top five merchants 58 percent of the time, with all remaining merchants making up the remaining 42 percent.

While Apple hasn't provided adoption details on Apple Pay, CEO Tim Cook did announce in January that Apple Pay accounted for two of every three contactless dollars spent on American Express, Visa and MasterCard. Bank of America announced in January that nearly 800,000 of its customers were using Apple Pay, and point-of-sale suppliers have seen a massive increase in interest following Apple Pay's launch last October.

Although Apple Pay is having early success in the United States, it has yet to expand past its borders. Reports indicate Apple is in talks with Canadian partners to launch Apple Pay in that country as soon as March, while Visa today announced it would launch tokenization in Europe in mid-April, paving the way for Apple Pay to expand into the continent.

The latest numbers from research firm IDC reveal that the smartphone market continues to be a largely two-horse race between iOS and Android, which accounted for 19.7% and 76.6% market share in the fourth quarter respectively. The mobile operating systems combined to dominate Windows Phone, BlackBerry and all other platforms with 96.3% market share during the three-month period ending December.

iOS increased 2.2 percentage points to 19.7% during the fourth quarter over its 15.1% market share in the year-ago quarter, while Android experienced a marginal year-over-year decline as its market share slipped from 78.2% to 76.6%. Apple shipped a record-breaking 192.7 million iPhones during 2014 on the strength of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, while overall Android device shipments on the year surpassed the 1 billion mark.

Android and iOS continue to dominate the smartphone operating system race, resulting in a smaller battle between Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Firefox OS and less popular platforms for third place. Windows Phone and BlackBerry were the closest runner-ups to iOS and Android, claiming 2.8% and 0.4% market share in the fourth quarter respectively to close out 2014. All other platforms held 0.6% market share on the year.

Pebble today revealed the Pebble Time, a new smartwatch in its line of smart wearable devices that includes the company's first color-based display and introduces a thinner, more ergonomic design than its predecessor.

Launched on Kickstarter earlier this morning, Pebble promises that power consumption of the new device is greatly lowered thanks to the e-paper display, giving the Pebble Time a battery life of up to 7 days. The company also introduced a new voice-control feature to send voice replies or take notes using a select few compatible apps. The feature is a bit more full-fledged on Android, and on iOS currently will only work with Gmail notifications.

The Pebble Time also features a new curved design to ergonomically conform to any wrist, and is about 20 percent slimmer than the original Pebble. The company says the lens is made of scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass with a stainless steel bezel, enabling a water-resistant device that Pebble still warns from being fully submerged.

Pebble Time comes with a soft silicone band in the color options of black, white, or red, but the company says any 22mm watch band will fit the new device. The watch also lives up to its name thanks to the chronological curating of multiple apps into one new feature called "Timeline." With past, present, and future buttons residing on the right side of the device, users can easily scroll through completed tasks and events, see what they need to be doing now, and check reminders for the future.

This is the new app menu, featuring new app faces with glanceable content. With timeline we've also created a system that dynamically loads and caches apps as needed, letting you access as many apps as you need.

As with all Pebble software, we’ve built an open platform. You can allow apps and developers to add ‘pins’ to your timeline, so you can keep track of things like upcoming events, sports, weather, traffic, travel plans, pizza specials and more.

Pebble has been undeterred by the announcement and imminent launch of the Apple Watch, poking fun at Apple's overly enthusiastic unveiling of the device and pointing out their superior battery life and entry-level pricing in the process. Most recently the company claimed its new 2015 products would focus less on apps and more on something customers have never seen.

Those interested can visit the Pebble Time's Kickstarter page to claim their own rewards. The lowest pledge for the device begins at $159 for one watch with limited early-bird pricing, and ramps up from there. Retail pricing will be set at $199. The Pebble Time's $500,000 Kickstarter goal, which launched at 7:00 AM PT, reached its goal in just under twenty minutes of the campaign going live. As with most projects on the site, there are 31 days left to join in on the campaign.

Tim Cook tweeted this morning to honor what would be the 60th birthday of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who passed away in October 2011 following a lengthy battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer. Cook shared a quote from Jobs' heartfelt commencement address at Stanford University in 2005, in which he said "the only way to do great work is to love what you do."

Jobs co-founded Apple alongside Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976, with the roots of the company based in the garage of his childhood home in Los Altos, California. After turning the Macintosh into a commercial success in the decade following, Jobs was essentially ousted from Apple in 1985 following a power struggle and went on to found NeXT Computer the same year.

Apple went on to acquire NeXT in 1997, bringing Jobs back as CEO, at which point he led the company to become one of the most valuable in the world on the strength of products such as the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Apple has continued to be successful under the leadership of CEO Tim Cook, reporting the most profitable quarter in the history of any company to close out 2014. The Apple Watch, set to launch in April, will mark the first major new product since the passing of Jobs.

Today also marks the 15th anniversary of MacRumors, launched in February 2000 by Arnold Kim. MacRumors was a relatively early entrant in the Apple online community, arriving before the introduction of the iPod, iPhone, iPad, OS X and several other products and services used by millions of users today. As always, we express our gratitude to the several readers, contributors, sponsors and all those that allow us to continue sharing the latest Apple news and rumors.

Happy birthday, Steve.

Samsung Electronics has inked a deal with both Apple and LG to supply advanced DRAM memory chips in next-generation iPhones and the LG G4 respectively, according to sources "familiar with the deal" for The Korea Times.

The deal, rumored to be worth billions of dollars, would see Samsung produce at least half of the memory chips that Apple would need for its next-generation iPhone lineup. The report claims that Apple could ask Samsung to ramp up manufacturing of the chips if needed, with the alleged contract lasting at least a year.

"Under the agreement, Samsung will start providing LG Electronics with 100 percent mobile DRAM chips it needs for LG G4 smartphone, which will be unveiled in April. Also, Samsung will handle at least half of the amount that Apple needs for its new iPhone ― tentatively named iPhone 6S," an industry official who is familiar with the deal told The Korea Times.

The agreement was reached just a few months after Samsung began mass production of new 20-nanometer 8-Gigabit LPDDR4 memory chips, which are said to offer more than double the density and performance compared to its 4-Gigabit LPDDR3 predecessor. The sources say that on the LG side of things, Samsung will be providing 100 percent of the chips for the company's flagship G4 smartphone, set to be unveiled in the Spring.

Though Apple and Samsung have partnered in the past for manufacturing purposes, the two companies have been fierce rivals for several years. The two companies have dropped litigation against each other outside of the United States in recent months, however, and this agreement further suggests that the tech giants have an improved working relationship as of late.

While not expected to launch until September, news and rumors about the so-called "iPhone 6s" have begun circulating recently, with Samsung reportedly responsible for the majority of A9 chip production based on its 14nm process. Conflicting reports suggest that TSMC may supply Apple with the remaining chip orders.

Apple appears to have acquired popular music plug-in and effect maker Camel Audio, based on information found on corporate registry site Companies House [PDF]. Camel Audio's address has been updated to 100 New Bridge Street, which is Apple's London address, and the company's sole director is now listed as Apple lawyer Heather Joy Morrison, suggesting the company is in the possession of Apple.

Camel Audio is known for its range of plug-ins, synthesizers, effects, and sound libraries, which were available via the company's Alchemy software. Previously available for $249, Alchemy included more than 1000 sounds, 5.5GB worth of samples, a powerful additive resynthesis engine, spectral resynthesis, a virtual analog synthesizer, and more. Its powerful engine was highly useful to those who liked to create and manipulate audio for unique sounds.

Camel Audio first shut its doors on January 8, 2015, removing all access to its software from its website. At the time, the company did not divulge why it had suddenly ceased selling its content, but Camel Audio fans speculated about a potential takeover.

We would like to thank you for the support we've received over the years in our efforts to create instruments and effects plug-ins and sound libraries. Camel Audio's plug-ins, Alchemy Mobile IAPs and sound libraries are no longer available for purchase.

We will continue to provide downloads of your previous purchases and email support until July 7, 2015. We recommend you download all of your purchases and back them up so that you can continue to use them (Instructions: How to Download and Backup Your Products).

It is not known what Apple plans to do with Camel Audio, but it's possible the company's technology could be incorporated into a future version of Logic Pro X, Apple's software designed for professional musicians, or GarageBand.

(Thanks, Sepp!)

Update 2/24 12:33 PM PT: The Loop's Jim Dalrymple contacted Apple for a comment on the possible purchase of Camel Audio, and the company gave him its standard statement on acquisitions: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

Following rumors of an acquisition, Google today announced that it has purchased some technology and intellectual property from NFC-based mobile payment service Softcard, formerly known as Isis Mobile Wallet. The purchase will allow Google to improve upon its existing mobile wallet technology to better compete with Apple Pay.

Owned jointly by AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, Softcard was established in 2010 in an effort to allow the three carriers to enter the mobile payment market. As an NFC-based payment option that works primarily with Android-based phones, Softcard has been a major Google Wallet competitor, arguably stunting NFC mobile payment growth for both companies.

Google Wallet nearly floundered following its 2011 debut after Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile refused to support the app in favor of Softcard (then known as Isis). Google later found a way to circumvent the Google Wallet lockout, but its growth has suffered amid competition from Softcard and other payment technologies.

Today's purchase consolidates the number of payment options for Android devices and it lets Google establish a deal with the three carriers to build Google Wallet into future Android phones for the first time.

So today, we're excited to announce that we're working with AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, as well as their mobile payments company Softcard, to help more Android users get the benefits of tap and pay. Under this relationship, the Google Wallet app, including the tap and pay functionality, will come pre-installed on Android phones (running KitKat or higher) sold by these carriers in the US later this year. We're also acquiring some exciting technology and intellectual property from Softcard to make Google Wallet better.

The early success of Apple Pay has sparked a lot of interest in mobile payments in recent months. Along with Google's acquisition of Softcard, Samsung has recently purchased LoopPay in an effort to develop its own payments solution.

It is not clear if Google's purchase of Softcard technology means Softcard will be shutting its own payments service down entirely. According to Softcard, its existing customers can continue to use the Softcard service for the time being, and more information is forthcoming from the company.

Today's second OS X 10.10.3 beta builds on the emoji groundwork laid with the first OS X 10.10.3 beta, introducing all new emoji and emoji skin tone modifiers. When selecting an emoji with a skin tone, such as one of the many people emoji, it's now possible to choose a specific skin tone from one of six options.

There are also several new people emoji that introduce greater diversity. Family emoji now include multiple same sex couples, both with children and without, all with variable skin tone options. Apple first promised to add more diversity to its emoji character set in early 2014, stating at that time that it was working with the Unicode Consortium to add more characters, and it appears the company will be making good on that pledge with the release of 10.10.3.

Along with a range of diversified people emoji, today's update brings 32 new country flags, including flags for Canada, Australia, and India.

Apple has also made several changes to emoji that are related to Apple products. The existing standard watch emoji has been replaced with an emoji that's based on its upcoming Apple Watch, with a black band and an analog watch face. The iPhone emoji has been updated to resemble the iPhone 6, and the computer emoji is now an iMac.

In addition to new emoji characters, OS X 10.10.3 introduces a renamed Character palette that focuses more heavily on emoji. Accessible through the "Edit" menu in most Mac apps, the palette was previously named "Special Characters," but is labeled "Emoji & Symbols" in OS X 10.10.3. The emoji picker has also been redesigned, featuring a layout with a single larger vertical-scrolling page for easier access to emoji.

The same diversified emoji options will be coming to iOS as well. Today's iOS 8.3 beta 2 update includes the same diversified emoji options and a redesigned emoji picker.

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