MacRumors

Accompanying the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, iPad Pro and next-generation Apple TV set to be announced next week, Apple is also planning a revamped iPad keyboard and new metal finishes for the Apple Watch Sport, including a less expensive gold version, according to The New York Times.

9to5Mac reported similar information, claiming the iPad Pro will have expanded Bluetooth keyboard support and that Apple is working on a new keyboard accessory for the rumored 12.9-inch tablet, which could be released by year end. The report also hinted at the possibility of new gold Apple Watch Sport colors.

Last month, a new Apple Wireless Keyboard with Bluetooth 4.2 and a rechargeable lithium-on battery was discovered in filings with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Images of an Apple Wireless Keyboard with backlit keys and a power button also briefly surfaced on the Apple Online Store in March.

MacRumors has also received information about Apple's plans to release at least one new metal finish for the Apple Watch. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo first noted the Apple Watch may gain additional casing options in March, and three months later said a yellow and rose gold Apple Watch Sport will launch in the fall.

MacRumors will be providing live blog coverage of Apple's "Hey Siri" media event, which begins next Wednesday at 10:00 AM Pacific.

Apple has constructed a creative barricade with colorful artwork that confirms its first Apple Store in Belgium will open on Saturday, September 19. The retail store will be located on Avenue de la Toison d'Or in the capital city of Brussels.

Apple confirmed the store opening to Belgian website Apple Nieuws Vlaanderen, which has shared several photos of the storefront. The store has not yet been listed on Apple's website, but store hours and grand opening details should be available soon.

Update 8:32 AM: Apple's store page for the new Brussels location is now live, but with the opening still two weeks away the store is not yet taking reservations for Genius Bar appointments or workshops.

Apple will announce an updated 21.5-inch iMac with a 4K display at the end of October alongside the release of OS X El Capitan, reports 9to5Mac. The new iMac will then begin shipping out to customers in early November.

A new 21.5-inch Retina iMac has been anticipated for several months, following the discovery of code in OS X El Capitan that pointed towards a 21.5-inch machine with a resolution of 4096 x 2304. That code pointed towards Broadwell chips with Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6200 and AMD Radeon M380 - M395X discrete graphics, which may hint at the hardware we'll see in the updated iMac.

Reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also said in early August that the iMac line would receive a refresh this quarter, adding new processors and improved display quality that brings greater color saturation.

Apple began updating its iMac lineup last October, with the launch of the 27-inch Retina iMac. Updates across the line have been slow, however, due to Intel's ongoing Broadwell chip delays, and the 21.5-inch iMac has not seen an update since 2013.

It is not clear if Apple will release multiple 21.5-inch iMac models during the October refresh, or which chips those machines might use. Skylake chips appropriate for the iMac are launching "later this year," but there are a handful of Broadwell chips appropriate for various 21.5-inch iMac models.

The latest data from digital media analytics firm comScore shows that Apple continues to increase its lead over Samsung, LG, Motorola, HTC and other handset makers in U.S. smartphone market share, less than one week before the launch of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

iPhones captured 44.2% market share among U.S. smartphone subscribers aged 13 and older based on a three-month average ending July 2015, an increase of 1.1 percentage points over the preceding three month average.

Samsung's smartphone share in the U.S. dropped to 27.3% in July 2015, a decline of 1.3 percentage points over April 2015. LG, Motorola and HTC rounded off the top five smartphone makers with 8.7%, 4.9% and 3.5% smartphone market share in the U.S. respectively.

Android remained the most widely adopted smartphone platform in the U.S. with 51.4% market share based on the July 2015 data, trailed by iOS with 44.2% market share. Windows Phone, BlackBerry and Symbian accounted for 2.9%, 1.3% and 0.1% market share in the U.S. respectively.

Facebook ranked as the most popular smartphone app in the U.S. with 73.3% reach, according to comScore's Mobile Metrix. Facebook Messenger, YouTube, Google Search, Google Play, Google Maps, Pandora Radio, Gmail, Instagram and Yahoo Stocks rounded off the top ten apps.

Apple is set to announce the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus at its September 9th media event in San Francisco.

6S Marketing, an ad agency located in New York, is hoping to persuade Apple to change the name of its upcoming iOS device, the iPhone 6s, to the iPhone 7. The company has written an open letter addressed to Apple and rented several billboards, one in Times Square, reading "Dear Universe, Please call it the iPhone 7. Sincerely, 6S Marketing."

6S Marketing has also tagged its billboards with a campaign hashtag, #WeAre6S, which it says it uses to "highlight our unique and fun company culture."

In the letter posted on its website, 6S Marketing goes on to say the company has heard rumors the next-generation iPhone will be called the iPhone 6s, and urges Apple to "reconsider" before detailing the company's long history.

See, our company name is 6S Marketing, but our clients, friends, and colleagues simply refer to us as good ol' "6S." It's a small name but a big part of our identity -- one we've been using since 2000, when we started this company in my tiny apartment. At that time, we didn't think that one of the biggest, and most well-respected, companies would use it to name a mobile device. (We were still using Motorola flip phones at the time, after all.)

The reason we chose the name "6S" is that it sound like "success" (get it?).

As we're now less than a week away from the unveiling of the next-generation iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, there would be no time for Apple to change its own marketing materials and packaging even should it choose to consider 6S Marketing's plea, a fact the company likely knows, making this more of a publicity stunt than a genuine request.

Apple's iPhone naming scheme has been the same for multiple years in a row, having kicked off with the iPhone 3GS. 6S Marketing's publication of its letter at this late date in Apple's development cycle suggests the company is simply hoping to garner some attention ahead of the September 9 introduction of the next-generation iPhone.

6S Marketing ends its open letter with the following: "Hopefully, this message will reach you in time and you'll reconsider leaving "6S" to the originals -- we've been rocking it since the millennium, after all."

Just over two months after the launch of Apple Music, the streaming music service has received a mix of praise and criticism from early adopters. Beats 1 and curated playlists are among the most acclaimed features of Apple Music, while a confusing user interface and iTunes library issues have caused frustration among some users.

Addressing those issues, iTunes executive Oliver Schusser told The Guardian on Thursday that the company is actively working to improve Apple Music, ahead of its launch on Android and Sonos-connected hi-fi systems in the fall.

“There’s a lot of work going into making the product better. Our focus is on editorial and playlists, and obviously we have teams all around the world working on that, but we’re also adding features and cleaning up certain things,” Oliver Schusser, vice president, iTunes International, told the Guardian.

Schusser also said Apple still has "a bit of homework to be done" to improve Apple Music Connect, a social platform for artists to connect with fans. Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine admitted last month that Apple Music Connect is a work in progress.

“Apple Music Connect is growing big-time with more and more artists connecting to their fans, but we still have a bit of homework to be done for the rest of the year.”

Apple Music launched for iOS, Mac and PC on June 30, with some 11 million users signing up to take advantage of the service's free three-month trial period. That trial will expire for some users soon, meaning they will have to choose between paying $9.99 per month or using iTunes or other methods of listening to music.

“If you follow the industry and look at the numbers, the download business has been really, really healthy. iTunes is a big part of our business, still, and will continue to be, so we focus just as much time and energy on maintaining that, editorially and working on features,” said Schusser.

Schusser assures that Apple is only interested in the long-term picture for Apple Music, rather than constantly measuring how many users are signing up. Starting later this month, it should become clearer just how many users are interested in using the service as paid subscribers.

Apple today expanded its presence on social networking site Twitter, creating a new Twitter account dedicated to sharing App Store games. According to the account bio, which features the tagline, "Embrace the future of gaming," it's run by Apple's team of Games Editors.

Apple has long had an App Store Twitter account that frequently shares new and popular games, but it also shares standard apps, creating a feed that's somewhat unfocused. Apple appears to have made the decision to distinguish and promote games separately from non-gaming apps going forward, in an effort to streamline each account and give both games and regular apps more attention.

Games have been a cornerstone of the App Store since it first launched, and Apple makes an effort to highlight different game compilations and editor's picks on a weekly basis, in addition to offering frequent sales and detailed gaming categories.

Thus far, the App Store Games account has only tweeted once, but following a retweet from the main App Store account, it's already at more than a thousand followers in just a half hour.

Update: The Verge spoke to Apple about the new App Store Games account and got some details on how it will be used. App Store editors will share sneak previews of games, tips and tricks, and profiles of talented gamers. The account will also let App Store editors interact with game developers, and it's "part of a broader push into gaming."

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has issued a note to investors that claims the so-called "iPhone 6s" will be offered in 16GB, 64GB and 128GB storage capacities, the same sizes available for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Kuo also claims the iPhone 6s will have an improved front-facing FaceTime camera with a 5-megapixel sensor, and reaffirms three much-rumored features: Force Touch, a new rose gold casing color and an upgraded Touch ID fingerprint scanner.

Kuo's prediction corroborates multiple rumors that claim Apple will retain 16GB, 64GB and 128GB storage sizes for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, which are expected to be announced at the company's September 9th media event in San Francisco.

Kuo says the iPhone 6s entered mass production in mid-August after some manufacturing bottlenecks due to Force Touch, casing and vibration motors.