Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus supplies may continue to be constrained as Foxconn reportedly is struggling to keep up with demand for the handsets, reports the Wall Street Journal. Unlike previous years that saw Foxconn handling the launch of one flagship handset, the manufacturer is now tasked with producing two iPhone models that are in high demand.
The Taiwan-based manufacturer, which has more than one million workers in China, is operating about 100 production lines around the clock in Zhengzhou. The challenge is to manufacture two complicated new iPhones on a large scale at the same time because Foxconn is the sole assembler of the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. It also makes the majority of the iPhone 6 that comes with a 4.7-inch display, the people said.
Foxconn reportedly has hired more than 200,000 workers at its Zhengzhou site to work on Apple's new iPhone. Even with this large labor force and daily output volumes of 140,000 iPhone 6 Plus units and 400,000 iPhone 6 units, the company is still not able to meet pre-order demand.
One issue reportedly facing the manufacturer is a shortage of 5.5-inch displays, which are still only at being produced at a 50-60 percent output rate, leading suppliers to reject almost half of the display units that come off the production line.
Apple has faced similar shortages with previous iPhone models and has been able to gradually ramp up supply to meet demand. Apple will begin selling its new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus starting Friday, September 19th in a handful of launch countries. A larger global rollout is planned the following week with sales beginning on September 26th.
LG Display will supply the AMOLED displays for the Apple Watch when it launches in 2015, reports Digitimes. According to the report, Apple is also expecting to ship five million units of the wearable device a month, and is aiming to sell more than 50 million Apple Watches in 2015.
Apple was also said to be in talks with Samsung to provide AMOLED panels for the device, however the company ultimately decided that all displays for its smartwatch would come from LG. The news is similar to a report last October from The Korea Herald, which noted that Apple was close to striking a deal with LG to supply panels for its wearable after talks with Samsung were said to be "not productive."
The Apple Watch will begin shipping in early 2015 and come in two sizes of 38mm and 42mm (1.5 and 1.7 inches), with six available casing materials and six different bands. The Apple Watch will be also organized into three editions, including the entry-level Apple Watch Sport collection, the stainless-steel Apple Watch collection, and the high-end luxury Apple Watch Edition collection. Pricing will start at $349.
As the first reviews of both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus hit the Internet, T3 took the opportunity to post the first unboxing of the iPhone 6, depicting the specific packaging and layout of the box for the smaller device.
The video starts off showing off the new packaging for the iPhone 6, which, unlike the packaging for other Apple products, does not feature a color photo of the device on the outside. Instead, the box features a white, textured silhouette of the device inside. The rest of the video goes through standard unboxing protocol, showing off included documentation, the EarPods and the Lightning cable.
Apple will begin selling both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus this Friday, September 19. The standard 16 GB configuration of the iPhone 6 will start at $199 with a two-year contract while the iPhone 6 Plus will start at $299.
Earlier today, a screenshot from iPhone monitoring app System Status suggested Apple's larger iPhone 6 Plus might be limited to 1 GB of RAM, much like the iPhone 6.
Several iPhone 6 Plus reviews, which were released this evening, appear to confirm that hypothesis, with multiple sites reporting the device has 1 GB of RAM. In its review, Macworld says that the iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus both "appear to have the same 1GB of memory as last year's devices."
TechRadar has a similar claim, stating that both the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus have 1 GB of RAM, as does The Guardian, listing 1GB of RAM in the specifications of the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. T3, TechRadar's sister site, said the iPhone 6 Plus's 1 GB of RAM seemed to handle all tasks thrown at it fairly well.
The 1GB of RAM inside, again, doesn't sound too beefy, but seemed to handle the new multi-tasking features well and propped up some simultaneous emailing, video watching and HD gaming. Internal tweaks such as the Metal graphics upgrade we must wait to see the benefit of, but the new BioShock port is one of the most demanding games on iOS currently and it performed great, as did The Wolf Among Us (check out that colour spectrum) and Asphalt 8 (speeeeeeed).
Aside from the size difference between the 4.7 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 devices, the appearance of 1GB of RAM in both phones suggests that they have nearly identical internal specifications, offering the same A8 chip and memory. The larger iPhone 6 Plus does, however, have a larger battery due to its size and it also offers optical image stabilization as a differentiating factor.
Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will be arriving in stores and in the hands of customers beginning on Friday, September 19. We've rounded up a full list of all the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus reviews that have been released so far, giving users a clear picture of the two devices ahead of launch.
At its September 9 iPhone event, Apple provided multiple publications with iPhone 6 and 6 Plus review units. The embargo has now lifted on review posts, so we have gathered some of the relevant excerpts from each site in order to highlight general release reactions to Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
Apple's two new devices are essentially identical in design aside from the difference in screen size and the battery life/optical image stabilization in the iPhone 6 Plus, so we've chosen to combine the device reviews into one post.
Both iPhones are thinner than their predecessor. Whereas the 5s was 7.6mm thick, the 6 comes in at 6.9mm, with the 6 Plus measuring a hair thicker at 7.1mm. I don't always subscribe to the "thinner is better" mantra, but it's a benefit in this case because larger iPhones wouldn't feel as comfortable if they had the same shape as the 5s. If I had to choose based on in-hand feel alone, I'd pick the 6 over the Plus. I can still wrap my fingers around the 6 just as easily as I could with the 5s (and its curved sides don't cut as sharply as the edges on the 5s), but the large-screened 6 Plus is... well, it's manageable.
Both the 6 and 6 Plus use an IPS Retina HD display, but the Plus is even more high-def than the 6. It has a screen resolution of 1,920 x 1,080, which means you'll get a pixel density of 401 pixels per inch. On the flipside, the 6 maxes out at 1,334 x 750, which translates into 326 ppi. (That's the same screen density as the 5s.) Both displays are sharp, but I do see some minor differences between the two when I look at them side by side. Specifically, the Plus' text and images are sharper, with no jagged lines whatsoever.
[iPhone 6 Plus] Huge phones get to have huge batteries, and the iPhone 6 Plus is a huge phone with a huge battery: I consistently got about two days of battery life from the 6 Plus in regular daily use -- slightly more than the day and half we got from the iPhone 6, and basically the same as the Note 3.
[iPhone 6 Plus] That aluminum feels quite nice, but it's also a little slippery, especially when you factor in the size of the phone and its rounded sides. The iPhone 6 Plus is the first iPhone that looks and works better in a case -- I've been using Apple's leather sleeve and it makes the phone easier to hold, evens out that camera bump, and hides the weird lines on the back.
[iPhone 6] There's something perfectly polished about the way it feels to use this screen. I've never felt so much like I was truly moving things around under my finger, manipulating icons and pictures by hand. It's organic and natural in a distinctly Apple way.
[iPhone 6] And, despite the larger screen, all my apps -- by Apple and third parties -- just worked. None that I tested looked distorted or blurry. Apple says its App Store now offers 1.3 million apps, a new high.
[iPhone 6] In my tests, I found the iPhone 6's Wi-Fi speeds -- both downstream and upstream -- were roughly double those of the 5s, and about 25 percent faster than those of the Samsung Galaxy S5. But I saw little difference in LTE speeds, either on Verizon or AT&T.
[iPhone 6 Plus] Oh, and if, like me, you rarely get a full day out of your current iPhone's battery, this might excite you: In my tests, which involved setting the display brightness to 50 percent and cycling through my regular routine of apps and phone calls, the iPhone 6 Plus would last from early one morning until evening the following day. (Calls sounded great, as well.)
[iPhone 6] It is tough to reach the far top edge of the screen, but I can do it with a little stretch. It's easier to shimmy my hand up the phone and touch the far edge, if I need to, but to be honest, holding the iPhone in my left hand, there isn't much on the far right side that I ever need to touch.
[iPhone 6 Plus] The 6 Plus was awkward for me to use at first--it was kind of like using a smaller version of the iPad mini, but it was a phone. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of using it on an ongoing basis, but the larger screen eventually won me over.
[iPhone 6 Plus] I still can't imagine walking around with a device as big as the iPhone 6 Plus to my ear, talking on the phone. That would just look silly. I've said it about other devices this size in the past and my opinion on that hasn't changed. Maybe a Bluetooth ear piece would be a nice add-on for the iPhone 6 Plus.
Inside, Apple has been up to its usual tightening and polishing. There's a new chip inside that Apple says is 25 percent faster. You wouldn't notice it without testing the old and new phones side by side. Apps, for example, pop open about a half-second faster on the new phone.
The Plus model has optical image stabilization -- the lens jiggles in precise motion to counteract the handheld movement of the phone itself -- that works supremely well.
Also on the Plus: When you're typing in landscape mode, there's so much extra space that Apple has thrown in some additional on-screen keys. On the left: buttons for Cut, Copy, Paste, Bold, and Undo. On the right: Punctuation keys and actual cursor keys--a first on the iPhone.
[iPhone 6] New also to this generation is the all-metal back casing, which replaces the glass top and bottom panels with thin connecting seams instead. This makes for a more unified look when you turn the phone around, and something that gets closer to the unbroken single plane of the iPad mini and iPad Air's rear shell. The Space Gray version I tested benefits very much from this unbroken look, and the front of the device is no less impressive.
[iPhone 6 Plus] Touch Assist is the feature Apple created to help users deal with much larger devices, regardless of the size of their hands and digits. The iPhone 6 Plus leans on this especially, as it's impossible for anyone not in the NBA to reach their thumb across to the top opposite corner. I find it difficult to even reach across the other side of the screen, let alone the corner, when one-handing the device.
[iPhone 6 Plus] For most tasks, I find the iPhone 6 Plus to be a two-handed device -- but I also find that I'm absolutely fine with that. The 6 Plus is closer in usage style to an iPad mini, in my experience, albeit one that's pocketable and capable of full cellular voice communications.
Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be available to the public beginning on Friday, September 19. Apple is currently accepting pre-orders for the devices in its online store, but shipping estimates for the iPhone 6 are at 7 to 10 days while estimates for the 6 Plus are at 3 to 4 weeks.
Earlier this year, popular Android alternative keyboard maker SwiftKey expanded to iOS with a note-taking app integrating the company's gesture keyboard. And with Apple opening up iOS to systemwide third-party keyboard as part of iOS 8, SwiftKey is ready to expand its presence.
In a blog post and appearance at TechCrunch Disrupt last week, SwiftKey showed off its iOS 8 gesture keyboard and announced that it will launch alongside iOS 8 when the new operating system debuts tomorrow. In addition to allowing users to type by dragging their fingers from key to key and offering predictive suggestions, the keyboard will integrate with SwiftKey Cloud to allow the user's preferences and learned language data to be backed up and synced across devices. And in the biggest news for the release, SwiftKey's keyboard will be available free of charge, allowing anyone to give the keyboard a try.
SwiftKey has also released a short promotional video narrated by Stephen Fry:
We've had some time to try out SwiftKey for iOS 8 and can say that it works very well. Available in dark and light themes, SwiftKey is accessible systemwide as is typical for these new keyboards under iOS 8, and users can easily switch between keyboards by tapping the globe icon on the keyboard.
In our testing, we found Swiftkey's suggestions to be relevant both in relation to words being typed and contextually with preceding words. The optional "SwiftKey Flow" input method of dragging from letter to letter also works well in most situations, accurately interpreting the patterns being traced out as the intended words.
SwiftKey for iOS allows users to type in two languages simultaneously without switching keyboards, and the keyboard will support over a dozen language-country combinations at launch with more to come. The keyboard will be available for all iOS 8 devices, including iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Apple is now offering app-specific passwords for third-party apps that access iCloud, allowing users to generate unique one-time use passwords to sign into iCloud securely. In a support document, Apple describes app-specific passwords as a feature of two-step verification and states that app-specific passwords will be required to sign into iCloud when using a third-party app beginning on October 1, 2014.
If you use iCloud with any third party apps, such as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, or BusyCal, you can generate app-specific passwords that allow you to sign in securely, even if the app you're using doesn't support two-step verification. Using an app-specific password also ensures that your primary Apple ID password isn't collected or stored by any third party apps you might use.
App-specific passwords, which have long been used by other sites like Google, are a function of two-step verification. Typically, two-step verification requires a user to enter a verification code, but oftentimes, the codes will not work properly in third-party apps, so app-specific passwords are substituted instead.
As outlined in the support document, app-specific passwords can be generated by accessing My Apple ID, where the option to generate an app-specific password is listed under Password and Security. According to Apple, users can have up to 25 active app-specific passwords at a time, which are listed in the Password and Security section of My Apple ID.
Generating an app-specific password is limited to accounts with two-factor authentication turned on, and for security reasons, Apple sends an email whenever an app-specific password is generated. App-specific passwords will be revoked whenever a user's primary Apple ID password is changed, requiring new app-specific passwords to be generated.
Apple's new app-specific passwords follow the launch of two-factor verification for accessing iCloud.com and come after a hacking incident that saw the iCloud accounts of several celebrities compromised due to weak passwords.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised to improve iCloud security by increasing awareness about two-factor verification, as well as sending out security emails whenever a device is restored, iCloud is accessed, or a password change is attempted.
The second half of Tim Cook's extensive interview with Charlie Rose has been released online, which means that both parts are now viewable for those who haven't seen it. Both interviews are available on Hulu and Charlie Rose's website (via Daring Fireball). However, Hulu limits the interviews to those in the United States.
The first half of the interview, has Cook speaking about Steve Jobs, the acquisition of Beats as well as Apple's interest in television alongside some thoughts on management from the Apple CEO. The second half of the interview, has Cook talking about privacy and how the Cupertino company does not try to collect data on its users.
The second interview, below, also features a segment with notable designer Yves Behar, who has designed numerous iPhone-connected products like the Jawbone and Vessyl Smart Cup.
Those who cannot watch the interview on Hulu can watch both parts on Charlie Rose's website.
Ahead of the launch of the large-screened iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple has released a detailed support document that walks Android users through moving data from their Android devices to the iPhone.
The document includes information on moving email accounts to the iPhone, giving Android users instructions on how to add email accounts to the Mail app. It suggests using a third-party app (Copy My Data [Direct Link]) to transfer data like contacts, calendars, and photos.
Apple suggests Android users can transfer photos, videos, books, and music from Android devices to iPhones using iTunes on a Mac or PC, giving step-by-step instructions. The document also walks users through transferring various documents to iCloud, which can then be opened in Pages, Keynote, and Numbers via iCloud and on iOS devices using the three apps.
Ahead of the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, analysts suggested that the introduction of a larger-screened device could trigger a massive spike in upgrades and lure Android users who were using the Android platform due to the availability of devices with big screens.
Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook made similar statements, suggesting the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus would trigger "the mother of all upgrades" with Android users also looking to switch to the iPhone due to the fact that the phones are "appreciably better in every single way."
On Monday, Apple announced that it had processed more than four million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus pre-orders on the first day of pre-launch dales, doubling the previous iPhone 5 pre-order record set in 2012. Pre-order supplies of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus dwindled quickly, with iPhone 6 Plus shipping estimates slipping to 3 to 4 weeks early Friday morning and iPhone 6 shipping estimates slipping to 7 to 10 days on Friday evening.
Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be available in stores beginning on Friday, September 19. Early pre-orders will also begin arriving to customers on that date.
While shipping vendors have been instructed to hold deliveries of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus until Friday's official launch date, there is no such restriction on the official Apple cases designed for the new devices. As a result, several MacRumors readers and others who placed orders for cases when iPhone pre-orders went live last Friday have already begun receiving their case orders.
iLounge has shared some good photos of the brown leather iPhone 6 Plus case. The cases are very similar to the leather iPhone 5s cases with a microfiber interior to protect the iPhone itself, although the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus cases have an open bottom edge where as the iPhone 5s cases are enclosed with distinct holes for the various physical features.
At least one MacRumors reader has received his black leather case for the iPhone 6 Plus, while others are receiving iPhone 6 cases as well.
A Reddit poster has received one of each size of case, allowing for a comparison between the two sizes. The poster has also shared some photos showing how the two cases fit in the hand.
Apple's leather cases are priced at $45 for the iPhone 6 and $49 for the iPhone 6 Plus, while silicone cases are also available priced at $35 for the iPhone 6 and $39 for the iPhone 6 Plus. The leather cases are currently shipping with delays of a few business days, while silicone cases are listed as shipping in October.
Apple's two-factor authentication system is now enabled for iCloud.com, with the site asking for a verification code before allowing users with two-factor authentication enabled to access various iCloud.com apps.
Access to iCloud.com apps like Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote is restricted until the verification code is entered on the website, but Find My iPhone remains accessible.
Users also receive an email when their Apple ID is used to sign into iCloud via the web browser, a feature that was implemented following the recent hacking of celebrity iCloud accounts that led to hundreds of photos being shared on the Internet.
Following the hacking incident, Apple CEO Tim Cook pledged to improve iCloud security by expanding two-factor authentication to iCloud and sending out security emails when a device is restored, iCloud is accessed, or a password change is attempted. Cook also said that Apple will aim to increase awareness about two-factor verification.
Originally implemented back in March of 2013, two-factor verification is an opt-in system designed to increase Apple ID account security by requiring identity verification before allowing users to make account changes or purchase content on new devices. It replaces standard security questions with a security code delivered to a trusted device.
Apple first tested two-factor authentication for iCloud.com back in June, well ahead of the iCloud breach, but the feature was not implemented until today.
Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus won't be available to consumers until Friday, September 19, but some devices have been trickling out early ahead of the phone's launch. Korean site UNDERkg has managed to get both an iPhone 6 and an iPhone 6 Plus, sharing hands-on videos and photos.
The first video focuses on the 4.7-inch gold iPhone 6, walking through all of the features including the display, the Touch ID home button, the protruding lens, and the power button, which has been relocated to the right side of the device for easier one-handed access.
In the video, the iPhone 6 is also compared to earlier models of the iPhone, like the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 3G, as well as Samsung devices like the Galaxy S5 and Alpha. The device is shown running iOS 8, with several of the apps demonstrated in the video. Authenticity is of the iPhone 6 in the video is confirmed via a FaceTime call.
UNDERkg's second video shows off the larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, again running through all of the newly introduced design features, including the wraparound screen, relocated power button, and redesigned pill-shaped volume buttons.
As with the iPhone 6, the 6 Plus is shown powered on, with the reviewer showing off a few apps on the phone as well as the larger available home screen space. The iPad-style landscape mode is also demonstrated, showing how the device uses its additional real estate.
Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will be available to consumers beginning on Friday, September 19. The devices will be available in stores on that date, and that is also the date that early pre-orders will begin arriving. Official iPhone 6 and 6 Plus reviews should be available tonight.
Apple has significantly expanded content offerings on the Apple TV over the past year or two, but many of the additions have been limited to the United States. The Netflix channel has, however, been available in many of the markets served by Netflix, which has included the U.S., Latin America, and a number of countries in Europe. As a result, it is unsurprising that the channel has expanded to Germany, but viewers there will be happy to see Apple TV support arriving right alongside the general launch of Netflix in the country.
Back in 2012, patent holding company VirnetX won a patent lawsuit against Apple over virtual private networking (VPN) connectivity related to Apple's FaceTime video calling feature. VirnetX was awarded $368.2 million after a jury trial.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today threw out the decision, reports The Wall Street Journal, ruling that the verdict was influenced by the instructions given to the jury during the trial.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, a specialized Washington-based court that handles patent appeals, ruled the verdict was "tainted" by erroneous jury instructions in the case. The court also held some trial testimony from a VirnetX expert should have been excluded from the case.
Despite siding with Apple and reversing some of $368 million verdict, the court did rule that Apple infringed on some of the claims in VirnetX's patents, which means damages will need to be redetermined.
As a result of today's appeals court verdict, Apple and VirnetX will go back to trial court for further proceedings, further drawing out a lawsuit that first began in 2010.
Part leaks have previously suggested that the iPhone 6 has just 1 GB of RAM, much like its predecessor the iPhone 5s, but the memory status of the iPhone 6 Plus has thus far remained a mystery, leading many to hope that the larger device has been upgraded to 2 GB of RAM.
New information suggests that the iPhone 6 Plus may not be getting a memory upgrade, and will continue to offer 1GB of RAM like the iPhone 6. A screenshot allegedly from an iPhone 6 Plus depicting what appears to be iPhone monitoring app System Status has surfaced on a Korean message board (via Phone Arena), showing the device's memory maxing out at close to 1 GB.
Despite the size difference, the appearance of 1 GB of RAM in the iPhone 6 Plus seems to suggest that the two phones have nearly identical internal specifications, both offering the same A8 chip and memory. The larger iPhone 6 Plus does, however, have a larger battery due to its larger size and it also offers optical image stabilization, while the iPhone 6 is limited to electronic image stabilization features.
While the apparent lack of 2 GB of RAM in the iPhone 6 Plus will undoubtedly come as a disappointment to those who were hoping for a memory increase, Apple has to work carefully to balance performance with battery life. Competing devices from companies like Samsung do offer more RAM, but at the cost of performance. Samsung's Galaxy S5, for example, offers impressive battery life at up to 10 hours of Internet browsing and 12 hours of HD movie watching, but it appears the iPhone 6 Plus may exceed that, based on battery information unveiled during the keynote.
Apple's iPhone 6 Plus is rumored to include a 2,915 mAh battery that offers up to 12 hours of Internet browsing and 14 hours of HD movie watching. Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will be arriving in stores and in the hands of customers on Friday, September 19, which will unveil more concrete information about the device's internals.
A Foxconn worker is being detained after being accused of stealing six iPhone 6 rear shells from the factory line and reselling them to an unidentified party in Shenzhen, China, reports The Wall Street Journal, citing details in Chinese newspaper Taihang Daily. The thefts started in late July and netted the 40-year-old male factory worker a total of 6,000 yuan ($960).
The suspect, identified only with the surname Qiao, allegedly responded to an advertisement that offered to purchase "parts from Apple Inc. at high prices." Qiao snuck out his first shell on July 24 and shipped the product to an address in Shenzhen.
"On July 24, according to the article, Qiao hid one shell in his pocket and successfully avoided the security check by leaving at the peak of quitting time, when lots of workers swarm out of the factory at the same time. He sent the shell to an address in Shenzhen via a local courier service and received his money couple days later.
Apparently encouraged, he stole another five shells that month and sent them to the same buyer, the article said."
Foxconn reported the thefts to local police in mid-August, who identified Qiao within 20 days through the use of video surveillance, employee records, and courier service logs. Foxconn told CNET in a statement that Foxconn expects its employees to follow the company's strict Code of Conduct.
"As a matter of company policy, Foxconn does not comment on any aspect of our work for any customer," a Foxconn Technology Group spokesperson told CNET in an e-mailed statement. "However, we can say that we have a strict Company Code of Conduct that our company and our employees are expected to follow and we do not hesitate to take the appropriate action, including bringing matters to the attention of the relevant law enforcement authorities, should we determine that this Code has been violated."
Numerous components from the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were leaked in the months leading up to Apple's September announcement event. Detailed photos and videos of the shells provided a glimpse into the design of the two handsets, while internal components hinted at NFC and other features that ultimately appeared in the final device.
Apple may be forced to wait until 2015 to launch the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in China, according to a report in 21st Century Business Herald [Google Translate]. If true, the delay could have consequences for the company both in terms of customer momentum in the critical Chinese market and overall earnings projections.
Sources with knowledge of the situation told 21st Century Business Herald that Apple's latest iPhone models have failed to receive the necessary approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). This certification is required for Apple to begin selling the iPhone in the Asian country. A re-application date for approval has not been determined, leaving Apple's Chinese iPhone 6 debut uncertain.
Apple unveiled the iPhone last week, announcing launch dates of September 19 for its first wave of markets and September 26 for a second wave of countries. Noticeably absent from either list was China, which is a region of significant growth for Apple. For the past year, Apple consistently has reported increased revenue growth from China, with plans to double its retail footprint and build out its channels in the coming years. Apple last year touted its progress in China, with the company having worked hard to ensure the iPhone 5s and 5c launched in the first group of countries.
Initially, this year's China delay may impact Apple's important holiday quarter and affect its stock price over the coming months as the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus expand to other countries except China. Demand for the iPhone 6 in China is high, with carriers having prematurely accepted pre-orders of the phone ahead of Apple's announcement.
Due to such demand, Apple will have to battle the gray market in which resellers purchase iPhone 6 units in other countries, import them into mainland China and then sell the phones to wealthy Chinese consumers at exorbitant prices. iPhone 6 models already have started to appear in China ahead of this week's global launch.
Over the long term, the delay may have a beneficial effect on subsequent quarters, which usually show a decline in iPhone sales and company revenue. If Apple were to launch the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in January 2015, the company may forestall this slump due to a spike in sales from Chinese consumers.
This delay also may help Apple balance supply and demand of the iPhone, which is selling out quickly in the regions that are currently accepting pre-orders. A 2015 launch would help Apple meet the current demand and ensure it has ample supply for a major Chinese launch at the beginning of next year.
Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus go on sale this week starting Friday, September 19 in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK. A second round of sales will begin September 26 in 20 additional markets, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, and more. Contract pricing starts at $199 for the 16 GB iPhone 6 and $299 for the larger 16 GB iPhone 6 Plus.
Following last week's iPhone and Apple Watch media event, Apple officially invited developers to begin submitting their iOS 8 apps for App Store review ahead of tomorrow's public release of the new operating system. While a number of developers have been tweaking their apps to work better with iOS 8 over the past few months, the major step forward comes as apps begin to support the new functionalities supported in iOS 8.
Apple has already begun approving some of these iOS 8-optimized apps, but a few high-profile developers are finding that some of their highly anticipated extensions are not working properly in the updated apps being distributed through the App Store. While only a small subset of iOS users are affected due to limited distribution of the iOS 8 golden master released to developers last week, the issue has been a concerning one for developers trying to diagnose it.
One example is OmniFocus 2 for iPhone [Direct Link], which will include an extension to add an OmniFocus list of tasks to the "Today" view in Notification Center. In the iOS 8-optimized version of OmniFocus 2 released over the weekend and a bug fix released yesterday, the Today view is currently not being properly populated with data from OmniFocus itself.
All indications are that this is a problem Apple will thankfully be able to fix without requiring developers to submit new versions of their apps, and presumably the company will have it fixed in time for the public release of iOS 8 tomorrow.
Update: Apple has fixed the issue, and is prompting users to re-download properly signed versions of the affected apps.
Generating an app-specific password is limited to accounts with two-factor authentication turned on, and for security reasons, Apple sends an email whenever an app-specific password is generated. App-specific passwords will be revoked whenever a user's primary Apple ID password is changed, requiring new app-specific passwords to be generated.
Following last week's iPhone and Apple Watch media event, Apple officially invited developers to begin submitting their iOS 8 apps for App Store review ahead of tomorrow's public release of the new operating system. While a number of developers have been tweaking their apps to work better with iOS 8 over the past few months, the major step forward comes as apps begin to support the new functionalities supported in iOS 8.
