MacRumors

In recent weeks, Apple has been sending out surveys to users asking about MacBook Pro features, most notably the headphone jack. A survey question shared by MacRumors reader Blake asks "Do you ever use the headphone port on your MacBook Pro with Retina display?"

There are several other reports on Twitter from users who have been asked similar questions about the headphone jack, suggesting Apple is exploring the removal of the headphone jack in a future version of the MacBook Pro. Apple has eliminated the headphone jack from the iPhone, so it makes sense that the trend will continue for other products.

Apple is also asking users about battery life and other ports, including the SD card slot. One question asked "How do you upload photos from a digital camera or phone to your MacBook Pro with Retina Display?"

Based on a leaked MacBook Pro shell, the upcoming MacBook Pro will include four USB-C ports and a headphone jack, with Apple doing away with all other ports on the machine. If the shell is an actual part, the machine will not include an SD card slot, HDMI port, USB-A port, or a MagSafe connection.

The design of the MacBook Pro that's launching in 2016 has already been finalized ahead of its release, and Apple is likely to continue using the same design for several years going forward, so the removal of the headphone jack is probably not something that MacBook Pro users need to worry about for the foreseeable future.

Rumors suggest Apple will release a redesigned MacBook Pro with a redesigned chassis and an OLED touch panel as early as October.

Many customers who pre-ordered the Apple Watch Series 2 from Best Buy will not be receiving their new devices on launch day, according to emails the company sent out this evening.

During pre-orders that took place on Friday, September 9, Best Buy listed a Friday, September 16 delivery date, leading customers to believe they would receive their devices on launch day. Instead, Best Buy won't be shipping out orders until 9/28, nearly two weeks later.

To compensate pre-order customers who are facing delays, Best Buy has included a promo code for a $50 discount on a future Best Buy purchase in each email, which must be used by October 14, 2016. That will get pre-order customers an extra Sport Band or another Apple Watch accessory.

Customers affected have ordered a wide range of Apple Watch Series 2 models, including the stainless steel Apple Watch with White Sport Band and various Sport configurations.

Apple Watch Series 2 supplies were constrained from the moment Apple's pre-orders started, with shipping estimates on many models slipping within a matter of minutes, so it is no surprise Best Buy has been forced to delay its own shipments. Most Apple Watch Series 2 models placed today won't ship from Apple for 3 to 5 weeks, and Best Buy now lists all Series 2 watches as "Coming Soon."

Former Time Warner Cable executive Peter Stern has joined Apple to work on the cloud services team, reports The Wall Street Journal. Stern will serve as a vice president, reporting to iTunes chief Eddy Cue.

During his tenure at Time Warner Cable, Stern was involved in talks with Apple about a potential deal for a joint television service that would be offered on the Apple TV. No such deal was able to be established, however, as Apple has had ongoing negotiation difficulties with content providers. Stern left Time Warner Cable following its acquisition by Charter Communications earlier this year.

He served in senior strategy and corporate development roles at the cable company as it maneuvered through multiple takeover attempts over the past few years.

Most recently, as chief product, people and strategy officer, Mr. Stern helped implement a strategy focused on customer service that helped Time Warner Cable grow its cable TV subscribers last year after nearly a decade of losses.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Stern is a vocal proponent for eliminating proprietary cable boxes provided by cable companies. He believes content providers should "be more open" to offering TV channels as apps across a wide range of devices.

Given his expertise in the cable industry, Stern may help Eddy Cue negotiate deals with media companies for a future television service. Cloud services also encompasses Apple Music, iTunes, and other iCloud-based products, so his hiring does not necessarily suggest a renewed interest in television streaming.

With just two days to go until the official launch of the iPhone 7, customers who are hoping to get their hands on one of Apple's devices have started lining up outside of Apple retail locations around the world.

At the 5th Avenue Apple Store in New York, one of Apple's flagship locations, people have been waiting in line for days, saving spots with folding chairs and small one-person tents. Other stores in New York also have short lines at this time, based on photos sent in by MacRumors readers.

Shipping estimates on some of the most popular Black and Jet Black iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models range into several weeks and last until November in some cases, so waiting in line on launch day is the only way to get one of the highly coveted devices if you missed out on pre-orders.

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus launch on Friday, September 16, and will debut first in Australia. It's Thursday morning in the country, so there's just a day to go until people start getting their hands on devices and sharing videos, pictures, and first impressions.

When the Messages App Store first launched just ahead of iOS 10, there was no categories section, making it difficult to discover apps beyond those that were featured by Apple.

As more and more Messages App Store apps have rolled out, Apple has updated the App Store to include a new Categories feature, improving discovery.

Located at the top of the Messages App Store between "Featured" and "Manage," the new Category section breaks down apps into different groups, including Entertainment, Food & Drink, Games, Lifestyle, Photo & Video, Productivity, Shopping, Social Networking, Stickers, and Travel.

Each section includes a selection of apps chosen by Apple as "Our Favorites," along with a "More to Explore" option. As the Messages App Store grows, these categories will likely fill out and gain new sections.

In the Stickers category, there's a further breakdown to make it easier to sort through the myriad stickers in the Messages App Store. Sticker categories include Animals & Nature, Comics & Cartoons, Eating & Drinking, Emoji & Expressions, Fashion, Gaming, Kids & Family, and Places & Objects.

Though the Messages App Store has only been available for a day, it's already flush with apps. We've rounded up some of the best sticker packs we've come across and some of the must-have time-saving apps that genuinely improve the Messages experience. For tips on installing apps and using stickers, make sure to check out our how to.

iOS 10 includes support for Apple Pay on the web, allowing users to make purchases from websites using Apple's payment service and Touch ID fingerprint authentication. Now that iOS 10 is available to the public, websites have started rolling out support for the Apple Pay on the web feature.

Time Inc. today announced that its customers are now able to use Apple Pay to purchase subscriptions for its line of magazines, including Sports Illustrated, People, Entertainment Weekly, and Real Simple.

Last week, online retailer Wayfair announced support for Apple Pay on the web, giving shoppers an option to pay for furniture and home décor products through Apple Pay. Apple, of course, is accepting Apple Pay on its website too.

Backend payment services including Big Commerce, Shopify, Stripe, and Squarespace have all announced support for Apple Pay on the web, giving smaller merchants an easy way to accept Apple Pay payments for purchases.

In the coming weeks, we should see Apple Pay rolling out to many websites, giving customers an alternative to existing payment services like PayPal. With Apple Pay, purchases can be made with a single touch, and there's no need to enter credit card or shipping details. Apple Pay is also secure, keeping card numbers and other personal information out of the hands of vendors.

When macOS Sierra is released to the public next Tuesday, Apple Pay on the web will also be available on the Mac. As with Apple Pay on the iPhone, purchases will be authenticated through a connection with an iPhone 6 or later or an authenticated Apple Watch.

According to Apple, macOS Sierra's Apple Pay on the web feature will be available to all customers who have a Handoff-enabled Mac that is able to run the Sierra operating system.

On mobile devices, Apple Pay on the web is available on the iPhone 6 and later, the iPad Pro, the iPad Air 2, and the iPad mini 3 and later.

Apple's latest operating system, iOS 10, is seeing quicker adoption rates than iOS 9 saw during the same adoption period last year, according to data collected by Mixpanel. As of 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, 24 hours after iOS 10 was released, the OS is installed on 14.45 percent of devices.

Comparatively, 24 hours after iOS 9 was released, it was installed on 12.60 percent of devices, also based on data gathered from Mixpanel. That's also similar to iOS 8 adoption rates in 2014, suggesting iOS 10 is slightly outpacing both updates, likely due to the wide range of new features introduced.

iOS 10 saw some early installation issues that have undoubtedly made people weary of downloading the update and have slowed adoption rates.

Shortly after iOS 10 was released, users began seeing their installations fail, requiring them to connect to a computer to repair the installation or restore via iTunes. Apple fixed the issue within an hour, but not before it impacted hundreds.

Since then, iOS 10 has installed smoothly and we've seen few bug reports, suggesting it's stable and safe to download. iOS 10 adoption will likely jump up as we hit the weekend, as people will have time to do the installation, and with the iPhone 7 releasing on Friday, there will be millions of new devices running the operating system.

With iOS 10 adoption on the rise, the number of devices running iOS 9 is steadily falling. iOS 9 is now installed on 81.09 percent of devices. 4.46 percent of devices continue to run iOS 8 or earlier.

iOS 10 is a free update that's available for the iPhone 5 and later, the iPad mini 2 and later, the iPad 4 and later, and the 6th generation iPod touch.

Spotify has announced that it now has over 40 million paying subscribers as of this month, meaning that it has added some 10 million subscribers since March. Spotify remains the most popular streaming music service worldwide, and its new subscriber growth continues to outpace its biggest rival, Apple Music.

Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek hinted about the milestone in a tweet earlier today:

Earlier this year, Spotify vice president Jonathan Forster said Apple Music is "raising the profile of streaming," which has helped, not hurt, its business.

"It's great that Apple is in the game. They are definitely raising the profile of streaming. It is hard to build an industry on your own," said Forster. "Since Apple Music started we've been growing quicker and adding more users than before."

Spotify may benefit from Apple, but its relationship with the iPhone maker is not perfect. The two companies were recently embroiled in a major dispute after Apple rejected a version of the Spotify app that replaced the option to purchase a subscription via in-app purchase with an external sign-up function.

At the time, Spotify accused Apple of using the App Store approval process as a "weapon to harm competitors," to which Apple responded that Spotify is "publicly resorting to rumors and half-truths" about the App Store and "asking for exemptions to the rules we apply to all developers."

Spotify has remained competitive by matching Apple Music's $14.99 family plan in June and introducing new features such as Release Radar.

Apple CEO Tim Cook continued his New York City tour this week with a wide-ranging Good Morning America interview about the iPhone 7, AirPods, virtual reality, and other topics. A teaser of the interview was first shared yesterday.

On the subject of virtual reality, Cook said that augmented reality is actually the "larger of the two," because it allows people to "be very present" while using the technology. Cook added that "less people would be interested" in virtual reality, but that the technology has interesting use cases for education and gaming.

"There's virtual reality and there's augmented reality -- both of these are incredibly interesting. But my own view is that augmented reality is the larger of the two, probably by far, because this gives the capability for both of us to sit and be very present, talking to each other, but also have other things -- visually -- for both of us to see. Maybe it's something we're talking about, maybe it's someone else here who's not here present but who can be made to appear to be present."

When questioned about the iPhone 7's lack of a headphone jack, Cook touted wireless as the future and said the plug's removal provides space for other features like a larger battery and stereo speakers:

Wireless is the future. When you decide on what the future is, you want to get there as soon as you can. Why is that important for the consumer? Well, that plug, that jack, takes up a lot of space in the phone, and there's a lot more important things we can provide for the consumer than that jack. We can provide a larger battery. The stereo speakers I mentioned -- those were also enabled because the jack is not there anymore.

Addressing potential concerns about AirPods falling out or being misplaced, Cook said their charging case is a "great place" to keep them and added that he has "never personally had one fall out" thanks to the wireless design.

“There’s a little case that you put the AirPods in. Magnetically, they’re sort of sucked down into the case. It’s a great place to both charge them and keep them. I’ve been wearing them for a while, and because they don’t have wires on them — the wires tend to help the earbud to fall out, because it applies weight on those. By snipping the wires, I have never personally had one fall out. I’ve been on treadmills. Walking. All the things you would normally do.”

During his trip to New York this week, Cook has also visited P.S. 161 The Crown School in Brooklyn and Apple's new World Trade Center store in Manhattan. Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts, services chief Eddy Cue, and marketing executive Greg Joswiak were also on hand for the store visit.

Following the publication of reviews for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus yesterday, now the first official reviews for the Apple Watch Series 2 have begun hitting the web. Apple announced its second-generation Apple Watch alongside the iPhone 7 last week, and both devices will launch this Friday, September 16.

While there are varying opinions among reviewers, the consensus on Apple Watch Series 2 is epitomized in TechCrunch's straightforward headline, calling it “the first real Apple Watch.” Reviewers think that the 50 percent faster processor, improved durability in water, and fitness-focused features have elevated the second generation of Apple Watch to become a more sensical purchase option, going beyond its previous status as a simple luxury item and into functional usability.

This new wireless freedom is the Apple Watch’s greatest strength and greatest downfall. A 20-minute run with music playing knocked out 20% of my watch battery’s juice. While there is a bigger battery inside this slightly thicker watch, those who plan to use GPS for a daily jog won’t get longer battery life. (Apple says it designed the GPS on the Apple Watch to last through a marathon.) On days where I didn’t use GPS, I went to bed with nearly 40% of the battery left. That’s strong, though the Fitbit Blaze lasts four days, so you can even wear it to track sleep.

The Series 2 is what the first Apple Watch should have been—a more advanced Fitbit with the good looks and features to justify wearing it all day, every day. It’s speedy, helpful and able to go where you can’t—or won’t—take your smartphone.

TechCrunch's reference to the Series 2 as "the first real Apple Watch" comes from the site's idea that a wearable should be able to accomplish little tasks throughout the day in 1-3 seconds, which the original Apple Watch struggled with due to long app loading times. But thanks to the additional processor speed, and bright display, TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Matthew Panzarino says he has "already found myself using the Watch for interactions more often."

The Apple Watch Series 2 is the first real Apple Watch. It delivers on the promise of a mostly passive device that can accomplish simple tasks in 1-3 seconds. There is now built-in GPS which allows for exercising without having to lug along a comparatively heavy iPhone just to get accurate tracking. And it’s completely waterproof, as any decent sport watch should be.

The screen is noticeably brighter now, making text, especially on activity summary screens, much easier to read. Because of the speed and brightness, I have already found myself using the Watch for interactions more often. This had already started happening a bit with Apple’s WatchOS 2 update last year, which improved performance significantly, but it’s incredibly apparent now with the faster processor.

While a similar fan of the new fitness abilities, The Verge reminded potential buyers that "familiar hassles remain" with Apple Watch Series 2. These include raise to wake not working consistently, troubles with syncing music into the 2 GB of storage, and the consistent fact that you have to charge the Apple Watch every day, particularly if you use it during workouts.

But for all of the improvements, some of the hassles from the original Watch remain. Apple still has a lot of work to do. I’ve noticed the display still doesn’t wake every time I raise or twist my wrist, which is annoying. For whatever reason, I’ve had trouble syncing my iTunes to the Watch, which can support up to 2GB of music.

Finally, the battery life: the new Watch has a bigger battery in it to compensate for the GPS and the brighter display. And it’s definitely better than the first Watch: a couple days ago I put the Watch on first thing in the morning, popped the display up to full brightness, went through a day of notifications, used GPS during an hour-long bike ride, and still had 20 percent battery left later that night. But it’s still a charge-every-day kind of thing if you work out, which is one of my least favorite aspects of smartwatches.

Early adopters of the Apple Watch Series 2 will be able to check out the wearable device for themselves beginning this Friday, September 16, when it launches to the public. On that day, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will also debut, and so far reviews for the smartphones have generally noted that while the devices might not be essential upgrades, they are nice advancements and form an important foundation for the iPhone's future.

Check out more reviews for the Apple Watch Series 2 at these websites:

- Mashable
- The Independent
- USA Today
- BuzzFeed
- Daring Fireball
- The Loop
- Pocket-lint
- CNET

Last week, a number of customers enrolled in the iPhone Upgrade Program were unable to pre-order the specific iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus model they wanted due to limited stock when orders began at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time on Friday.

Apple had already warned that demand would outstrip supply as usual, but unlike regular customers, iPhone Upgrade Program members were not given the option to pre-order a new iPhone online for home delivery.

Instead, would-be upgraders were directed to a separate queue that only allowed reserving the iPhone from a local Apple retail store -- many of which were sold out. The experience led to frustrations and even a class action lawsuit, prompting Apple to collect information from customers affected in an attempt to make the situation right. Now, the company appears to have delivered on that promise.

Apple has sent an email to some iPhone Upgrade Program members to inform them that more reservation times for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, sans Jet Black models, have been added for September 16. Accordingly, over the past 24 hours or so, several MacRumors readers enrolled in the program have been able to reserve the iPhone model they desired for pickup at a local Apple Store later this week.

If you tried to upgrade through the iPhone Upgrade Program, you may have had difficulty reserving a new iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus due to high demand. We’ve made two important changes to help you.

We’ve added more reservation times for this Friday, September 16.
Simply confirm your eligibility and then see if the model you want will be available at an Apple Store near you. Please note that there are no reservations available to pick up the jet black model on Friday.

Tell us which iPhone you want and we’ll let you know when it’s in.
If you’re still unable to reserve the model you want for pickup on Friday, let us know your preference by completing this short form. We’ll contact you within 48 to 72 hours to let you know when your iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus will be available for in-store pickup after Friday, September 16.

MacRumors reader Ryan Lister:

I was one of the people who ran into the shortage on launch day from the iPhone Upgrade Program, but stock must have been recently updated and I was just able to make a reservation on launch day for the black iPhone 7 Plus.

MacRumors reader Nathan Walczak:

I'm not sure why, but I was just able to reserve an upgrade for an iPhone 7 Plus. Pickup this Friday. Yesterday all stores in my area were out of the iPhone 7 Plus models. I currently am enrolled in the Upgrade Program from Apple. Seems Apple is trying to fix the glitch?

While availability is still limited, and varies between stores, it is clear that Apple is working to satisfy as many of its customers as possible. iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus officially launch on September 16, including the first pre-order deliveries and the start of in-store purchases split between those who reserved for pickup and walk-in customers on a first come, first served basis.

Inspired by Apple's new Jet Black color for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, designer Martin Hajek recently created a few mockups of what the company's all-new wireless AirPods could look like if the accessories had a similar dark color option.

In his blog post, Hajek said he "modeled these earphones and rendered them in brand-new iPhone gloss black," making them visually identical to the new, shiny finish of the iPhone 7 in Jet Black.

Hajek even visualized the AirPods charging case in Jet Black. When inside of the case, the AirPods can get up to 24 hours of battery life, according to Apple. On their own, the Bluetooth headphones have up to 5 hours of music playback on a full charge.

Although most hardware announced at Apple’s September 7 event is debuting later this week, on September 16, the AirPods still have an unspecified launch in "late October." If you want to check out more of Hajek’s renderings of the Jet Black AirPods, visit the designer's website.