MacRumors

With rumors of a new 12-inch Retina MacBook Air circulating in recent months and the latest reports suggesting small-scale production has already begun, many have been wondering about Apple's plans for introducing the product. According to a new report from Re/code, the Retina MacBook Air will not be unveiled at this Thursday's media event.

Apple may well have a new MacBook Air with Retina Display in the pipeline, but it’s not going to unveil it this week. Sources familiar with Apple’s plans tell me that the company’s latest reimagining of the ultralight laptop won’t be shown off at its Thursday event.

In line with previous rumors, the report claims Thursday's event will focus on new iPads, Retina iMacs, and OS X Yosemite. One source has also claimed updated Mac minis could appear at the event, but there has been little additional chatter about the possibility.

Apple's media event kicks off at 10:00 AM Pacific Time on Thursday, and MacRumors will have full live coverage of the proceedings. There are likely to be additional leaks and rumors in the final lead-up to the event, so stay tuned as Apple prepares to finalize its product lineup for the holiday shopping season.

Finland's Prime Minister Alexander Stubb told CNBC in an interview that Apple is to blame for the decline of the country's two primary export industries, information technology (led by Nokia) and paper. "The iPhone killed Nokia and the iPad killed the paper industry, but we’ll make a comeback," said Stubb in response to a question about Finland's business environment following the country's recently downgraded credit rating. While the comment certainly appears to be more of a pithy jest than an outright accusation against Apple, it does aptly describe how several of the country's major boom industries have seen their fortunes slip in the face of a changing marketplace.

As noted by TechCrunch, this isn't the first time Stubb has singled out Apple in reference to his country's economic decline since he took over as Prime Minister in June of this year. Speaking in July, Stubb made a similar comment mentioning Apple.

"We had two pillars we stood on: one was the IT industry, the other one was the paper industry," Stubb told Swedish financial newspaper Dagens Industri.

"Nalle Wahlroos, president of (Swedish bank) Nordea, described it quite well when he said the iPhone knocked out Nokia and the iPad knocked out the forestry," accelerating the fall of paper demand.

In the same conversation with Dagens Industri, Stubb quipped "Steve Jobs took our jobs," with the promise that "this is beginning to change."

Apple may be an easy scapegoat for politicians to blame, but the Cupertino company is not responsible for Finland's struggles. While Apple did lead a revolution in the mobile phone industry with the iPhone, the Cupertino company did so by focusing on high-end handsets and not the entry-level phones that Nokia was selling by the millions. With a plethora of Android handset options at a variety of price points, Samsung instead was much a greater threat to the long-term survival of the Finnish company. Nokia has since sold its devices unit to Microsoft, tying its future to that of Windows Phone.

Apple's iPad also is not to blame for the downturn in the paper industry, which has been in decline for years. The reasons for the slowdown in paper manufacturing are myriad and include the increasing use of email over traditional mail, the adoption of digital documents, and the steady decline in print magazine and newspaper subscriptions. With tablet shipments reaching only 200 million globally, the proliferation of Kindles and tablets, such as the iPad, are not yet significant enough to decimate the paper industry as Stubb implies.

Ironically, Apple and other technology companies have been supporting Nokia even as its mobile phone sales decline. In 2011, Apple ended an ongoing patent battle with Nokia and has been paying the Finnish company an undisclosed amount to license cellular technology owned by the company. This intellectual property may be netting Nokia a collective $685 million per year from Apple and other technology companies.

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.

Ahead of Apple's Chinese launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus later this week, Apple today confirmed the launch of its new handset models in 36 additional countries and territories by the end of October. In its fastest rollout ever, Apple expects to launch the iPhone in 115 countries by the end of the year.

The next round of launches coming this month will include countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

• Friday, October 17: China, India and Monaco

• Thursday, October 23: Israel

• Friday, October 24: Czech Republic, French West Indies, Greenland, Malta, Poland, Reunion Island and South Africa

• Thursday, October 30: Bahrain and Kuwait

• Friday, October 31: Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Guam, Hungary, Iceland, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macau, Macedonia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, South Korea, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Thailand

Apple has been busy with new products this fall in a product lineup that has been described by Eddy Cue as being "the best product pipeline that I've seen in my 25 years at Apple." Apple already announced the new iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and the Apple watch at a press event held last month. An upcoming October event is expected to unveil new iPad models, new iMacs and possibly new Mac minis.

Apple has begun preparing its retail employees and retail partners for the upcoming launch of its Apple Pay mobile payments service with a host of new training materials that show the feature in action, reports 9to5Mac.

Users will be able to set up Apple Pay in Passbook or through the Settings app, as up to eight credit or debit cards be connected with an iTunes account or by scanning one in with the iPhone's camera. Every card connected to the service will allow users to access a number of features, including the ability to see a simple transaction list, the ability to turn on push notifications, and an area that allows quick access to a bank's phone number and an accompanying app. Passbook will also be able to automatically update an expired card with a new expiration date without the need to re-enter information.

For Apple's own stores, a customer will be able to return an item simply by holding an iPhone near a payment terminal to give a list of their recent transactions. Receipts from Apple Store purchases will also not display a customer's contact information or credit card number, but will rather show just the last four digits of a device's Apple Pay ID. If Apple Pay is not working properly for an Apple Store customer, retail employees will be able to use the "Apple Pay Demo" diagnostic software that can determine whether a device is having a hardware problem or other issue. For non-hardware issues, customers will be referred to their appropriate credit card providers or banks.

Apple's training materials note that its retail employee should emphasize the simplicity and security of Apple Pay to convince customers to use the service. All Apple Store employees will receive one hour of mandatory Apple Pay training this week ahead of the service's impending launch. The report also notes that Apple has already launched Apple Pay at its Caffe Macs cafeteria located in its 1 Infinite Loop headquarters.

An internal memo addressed to Walgreens employees that surfaced yesterday suggested that Apple Pay may be going live next Saturday, October 18. Apple Pay will be enabled on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus through an update to iOS 8. The seeded versions of iOS 8.1 to developers first revealed hidden Apple Pay settings and set up screens, which may indicate that the service might be launching alongside the update.

Apple is expected to detail full launch plans for Apple Pay and iOS 8.1 at its event this Thursday, October 16. The company is also expected to announce its next-generation iPad Air and Retina iPad mini, new iMacs with at least the 27-inch version receiving a high-resolution Retina display, and perhaps even a new Mac Mini.

An internal memo addressed to Walgreens employees designed to prepare them for the upcoming launch of Apple Pay suggests that Apple's new payments service might be going live on Saturday, October 18.

A Saturday launch is unusual, but it could make sense as Apple Pay is designed for in-store shopping and a weekend debut would give customers time to try the service. It is, however, also possible that Apple Pay will go live shortly before the October 18 date, following the company's Thursday, October 16 iPad event, with support coming to Walgreens a day or two later.

At its October 16 event, Apple is expected to debut a new iPad Air, Retina iMacs, and possibly a new Retina iPad mini. The event, which will also likely see Apple previewing OS X Yosemite one last time before its public debut, would also be an opportune time to divulge more information about Apple Pay and possibly even launch the payments service.

As announced on September 9, popular drug store Walgreens is one of Apple's major launch partners, along with other companies like McDonalds, Macy's, Staples, and more. According to the Walgreens memo, customers who have an iPhone 6 will be able to use Apple Pay in Walgreens stores by tapping their devices "to the upper portion of the pinpad to pay for their purchase."

Earlier this week, USAA assistant vice president Vikram Parekh suggested the bank would begin supporting Apple Pay on November 7, leading many to believe the service might see an official launch on that date, but it is possible that USAA and other banks may roll out support at different times following the launch of Apple Pay. Apple originally promised an October launch for Apple Pay when it unveiled the service.

Apple Pay will be enabled on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus devices through an update to iOS 8. iOS 8.1, which has already been seeded to developers, includes hidden Apple Pay settings and set up screens. With Apple Pay set to launch on or around the time of Apple's October 16 event, that also means we should be seeing iOS 8.1 at that time as well.

Thanks, Enrique!

Apple.club.tw (Google Translate) has shared new images that appear to show a variety of components from the iPad Air 2, which include pictures of the logic board, home button flex cable, front panel, and volume control flex cable.

The home button flex cable appears to contain a space for a Touch ID home button, complete with the stainless steel ring. Previous reports claimed that Apple's forthcoming iPads would receive Touch ID functionality, and these newest pictures likely confirm that the feature will at least be on the iPad Air 2.

Meanwhile, the logic board image also shows what may be Apple's A8 processor along with RAM chips and other components. Currently, it is unknown as to whether the A8 chip on the iPad Air 2 will be clocked at a higher speed than the A8 chips found on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The logic board also appears to contain a noticeably different layout when compared to the board from last year's iPad Air. For instance, the SIM slot appears to be directly on iPad Air 2's logic board, while the component was located in a separate compartment for the iPad Air.

The front panel of the iPad Air 2 contains a more prolonged connector on its side and contains cutouts for the Touch ID home button and FaceTime HD camera. While the panel doesn't appear to be notably different when compared to the front panel for the iPad Air, some reports have claimed that the iPad Air will have an integrated display to make way for a thinner profile. Lastly, the volume control flex cable shows the up and down volume buttons and what may be a microphone. With this layout, it is possible that Apple may be getting rid of the mute/screen rotation switch to further reduce the tablet's overall thickness.

Apple is expected to unveil the iPad Air 2 alongside the next-generation Retina iPad mini at a media event in Cupertino, California next Thursday, October 16. Other reports have also claimed that the company will announce updated Mac Minis and updated iMacs with at least the 27-inch model carrying a high-resolution Retina display.

Update 5:26 AM: As shown by forum user primordian, enhancing the contrast on the main chip reveals it to be labeled as an A8X. Apple has traditionally used "X" versions of its main chips with enhanced graphics for its iPads, but the company abandoned that strategy with the first-generation iPad Air, opting to use a regular A7 chip with the only difference being that it was clocked slightly faster than the version found in the iPhone 5s and Retina iPad mini.

Apple has started rolling out a new iTunes Store design for OS X Yosemite testers that have iTunes 12 installed. The revamped storefront takes several design elements from the iTunes Store and App Store on iOS, adopting a cleaner, flatter look that does away with a lot of shadowing and texture that was previously seen in the design. The revamped look fits in with the design of iTunes 12, which takes on the flatter, more iOS-like look seen across OS X Yosemite.

For example, the top bar of the iTunes Store that currently displays cards in a rotating carousel for featured music, movies, apps, and TV shows in their respective categories has been flattened out into a scrollable banner with the new iTunes Store design, doing away with the previous card-style layout.

The slight bit of shadowing that used to highlight app icons, music icons, and categories, has been eliminated and as can be seen in the screenshot below, Apple is using a slightly lighter and larger font for menu options. The light gray background of the existing store has now been replaced with a white background.

Prominent rounded menu buttons have been eliminated in favor of flat, unobtrusive buttons as can be seen with the “Download” option in the individual App Store view shown below. Individual content pages have also lost all highlight shadowing, with screenshots and app icons flat against the background of the page. Movie, TV Show, and Music pages all have the same flattened design.

While main content pages now have a white background, some individual movie, app, TV show, and music pages continue to have a colored background, that also adopts all of the flat interface elements.

As noted by 9to5Mac, the new design has not yet been implemented on all pages, with some, like the gift card redemption page, continuing to use older interface elements.

iTunes 12 will launch alongside OS X Yosemite, which is expected to be released to the public in late October. The operating system may be shown off one last time at Apple’s October 16 iPad event ahead of its official launch.

Though Apple is launching Apple Pay with a number of high-profile retail partners including Macy's, Disney, Whole Foods, Sephora, Walgreens, and Staples, among others, there's a long list of retailers who have decided not to offer Apple Pay in their stores.

Walmart and Best Buy, for example, have been two high-profile companies that have vocally opted out, and The Daily Dot has compiled a list of several other retail outlets that have no current plans to support Apple Pay. Clothing store H&M said that it has no plans to accept Apple Pay at this time, as did high-end retailer Coach.

A Bed, Bath & Beyond spokesperson said the company was "unable to participate," while a spokesperson for retailer Belk also said "we don't have the capability to accept Apple Pay right now," suggesting the store has not adopted payment systems with NFC capabilities.

Sears, Kmart, and Publix have also said they won't be accepting Apple Pay, as has gas company BP, though BP stations may be able to accept Apple Pay in 2016.

BP spokesperson Scott Dean said the company "won't be in a position to do this in 2014, but we're working with our marketers (BP gas stations are independently owned and operated) to upgrade our retail site technology progressively over the next two years and as part of those upgrades we will be setting ourselves up to be ready for mobile payments."

Some fast food restaurants aren't on board yet either, including Pizza Hut and Chipotle, while others, like KFC, are "looking into the prospect of accepting Apple Pay" but have no timetable for support.

It's important to note that even if a retailer does not explicitly state that it offers support for Apple Pay, the Apple Pay payments system will work in any retail store that allows contactless payments via NFC. Many modern point-of-sale (PoS) systems come with NFC capabilities, and Apple is counting on regulatory changes that will require merchants to update their payment hardware over the course of the next year.

As of October 2015, merchants that do not offer support for EMV credit cards (cards that contain integrated circuits to prevent fraud) will assume responsibility for any fraudulent transactions that take place. Normally, banks assume liability, so it is in the best interest of retailers to deploy these new payment processing systems. EMV cards, or chip cards, are already used in many other countries around the world.

Though many merchants will be upgrading to new payment systems, many of which offer NFC, these upgrades take time and it may be several months before retailers decide whether or not to adopt NFC to allow them to process payments through Apple Pay.

The list of merchants not on board with Apple Pay is considerable, but contactless payments are growing in popularity and with the help of Apple Pay, the adoption of NFC systems may accelerate even faster. According to Apple, more than 220,000 retail stores across the United States will be able to accept Apple Pay.

Apple Pay is expected to roll out in October as an update to iOS 8. iOS 8.1, with hidden Apple Pay settings, has already been seeded to developers for testing.

Yesterday, lawyers for Apple's bankrupt sapphire production partner GT Advanced Technologies notified the court that the company would be seeking to "wind down" operations at its sapphire production facilities in Arizona and Massachusetts, while also pursuing efforts to escape from contracts related to those operations.

In a pair of filings today, GT has followed through on those plans, with one filing asking for court approval to void its contracts related to the operation, calling the terms of its contracts with Apple "oppressive and burdensome."

As discussed in detail in the Supplemental First Day Declaration, the agreements imposed oppressive and burdensome terms and obligations on GTAT. The contracts and leases...provide no benefit to GTAT's estates, and GTAT's continued performance under the Agreements is no longer a viable business option. [...]

GTAT has determined that the Agreements are no longer necessary for GTAT's business operations. The Agreements also are not a source of potential value for GTAT's future operations, creditors, or interest holders and constitute an unnecessary drain on GTAT's resources.

GT believes it will be able to pursue further claims against Apple, but is unable to do so at this stage of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, and so has asked that the agreements be voided while maintaining its right to pursue future claims against Apple related to the agreements.

GT's second filing addresses the wind down procedure for its sapphire production facilities, noting that sapphire boules currently being grown in furnaces are valued at roughly $20,000 each and take up to 30 days to grow, and thus it is in the interest of the company and its creditors to allow boules already being grown to be completed.

[M]erely "pulling the plug" is not a viable option given the significant value of GTAT's equipment at these facilities (most notably, the sapphire growing furnaces) as well as the significant value of the sapphire boules that are currently being grown in the furnaces (a process that can take up to 30 days). For these reasons, GTAT has developed the Wind Down Process, which will allow GTAT to wind down its sapphire manufacturing operations in as orderly a manner as possible while preserving the value of its assets.

The first stage of GT's Wind Down Process involves maintaining a crew of 75 employees to monitor ongoing sapphire growth and then remove the boules and prepare them for sale, a process expected to be completed by mid-November. The second stage, requiring 15 employees, involves the cleaning and decommissioning of the furnaces themselves to preserve their value. Finally, roughly 35 employees will be needed to "shut down and clean up" the Arizona facility, with final closure coming by December 31.

Overall, GT projects that 890 employees will lose their jobs with the shutdown, with the company seeking approval to spend approximately $65,000 in incentives to ensure certain qualified employees remain with the company during the wind down process.

Apple has not commented publicly on the matter beyond its initial statement expressing surprise at GT's bankruptcy filing and pledging to work to preserve jobs in the area.

(Image: GT sapphire furnace)

Apple is preparing to remove all Bose audio products, both demo and sellable, from its retail environment, according to a reliable source who spoke to MacRumors. The inventory change will begin early next week, with instructions for removal being sent to employees in the coming days.

The reasons behind this removal were not disclosed, but it is very likely tied to to Apple's recent acquisition of Beats Electronics. As part of this deal, Apple obtained the popular Beats headphone division as well as the company's subscription music streaming service. With Beats now featured prominently by Apple, either Bose or Apple may have decided to end their retail relationship.

Bose also has a new sponsorship deal with the National Football League that has seen the league prohibit players from wearing Beats headphones while in the presence of television cameras at practice and on game days. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick defied the ban by wearing bright pink Beats headphones at a postgame press conference last Sunday, a move that saw the league hit Kaepernick with a $10,000 fine.

Bose and Beats are also currently embroiled in a patent dispute that has seen Bose file suit against Beats, claiming infringement of five patents related to noise cancelation technology.

Apple acquired Beats Electronics earlier this year in a deal worth $3 billion. Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre reportedly have assumed senior roles within the company and are said to be working to improve Apple's influence in the music industry. This partnership may help Apple as it supposedly negotiates with music labels in order to lower the price of its Beats Music service ahead of a planned revamp rumored for February of next year.

Update 11:07 AM: Just today, Bose has agreed to a dismissal of its lawsuit against Beats, with the parties having settled their claims.

Apple has plans to offer a live stream of its October 16 event, according to a source that spoke to MacRumors. As with its September 9 iPhone event, Apple will likely offer a stream of the event both on its website and through a dedicated channel on the Apple TV.

Invitations for the October 16 event, which will be held at the Town Hall auditorium on the company's Cupertino campus at 10:00 AM Pacific Time, went out earlier this week with the tagline "It's been way too long."

At the event, Apple is expected to introduce an updated iPad Air and possibly a new Retina iPad mini, as well as updated iMacs with a 27-inch model that has a high-resolution Retina display. OS X Yosemite is also likely to be previewed one more time before its public launch, and updated Mac minis, which are rumored to be in the works, might possibly see an announcement at the event.

In addition to Apple's live stream, MacRumors will be providing its own live coverage of the event, both on MacRumors.com and on the MacRumorsLive Twitter account.

Update: Apple has now officially confirmed it will be streaming the event live.

Apple's head of design Jony Ive today gave a live interview at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in San Francisco. In the interview, which BusinessInsider attended, Ive gave some rare insight into the design process at Apple and some of the design choices the team made with the iPhone 6.

According to Ive, he has a great design team that's quite small, numbering 16 or 17 employees. During a typical day, Ive says that designers gather around tables like those in the Apple Store to draw. The team meets three or four times a week.

One of the major advantages of being part of a design team that's been together so long is that it's given them time to develop a design process. Ideas, Ive says, don't really come along until the design team has created a physical object from their drawings. "It really galvanizes and focuses our team," said Ive.

When asked whether or not he had experienced a "eureka moment" in a design meeting, Ive pointed towards the iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus, saying that there's a "special moment" when there's an object you can touch. He says he's surprised and thrilled every time he gets to see a new first model.

On the iPhone 6's rounded edges, Ive says that Apple opted to go back to rounded edges because they were necessary to make the device feel less wide. Apple made bigger-screened prototypes years before, but they were "clunky."

Ive also shared details on Steve Jobs, saying that Jobs was "the most remarkably focused person" he'd ever met in his life. "You can achieve so much when you truly focus," Ive said. "What focus means is saying no to something that with every bone in your body you think is a phenomenal idea. And you wake up thinking about it, but you say no to it because you're focusing on something else."

During audience questions, Ive gave some interesting thoughts on Xiaomi, the Chinese manufacturer that closely copies Apple's designs. Ive says what Xiaomi is doing is theft, not flattery.

There is a danger...I don't see it as flattery. I see it as theft. (Talking about copying designs in general). When you're doing something for the first time and you don't know it's going to work. I have to be honest the last thing I think is "Oh, that is flattering. All those weekends I could've been home with my family...I think it's theft and lazy. I don't think it's OK at all."

The full paraphrased text of Ive's interview, where he also shares why he chose to be an industrial designer, what he thought was well designed as a kid, how he came to work at Apple, and his thoughts on Steve Jobs, can be found over at BusinessInsider. Both TechCrunch and The Verge have shared details on the interview as well.

After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this week, Apple sapphire partner GT Advanced has asked for the court's permission to "wind down" operations at its Mesa, Arizona manufacturing plant, reports Re/code and The Wall Street Journal.

GT is said to be filing motions to get expedited hearings to cease certain operations and get out of both contracts and leases connected to those operations.

The facility, which was purchased and outfitted by Apple and run by GT Advanced, has operated for less than a year. Approximately 700 employees are employed at the manufacturing plant, where GT Advanced was rumored to be creating sapphire for use in Apple products like the Apple Watch and the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

Little information about the reasoning behind GT Advanced's bankruptcy filing is available as the company has asked for a non-disclosure in its bankruptcy proceedings. GT is subjected to a confidentiality agreement with an unnamed third party (confirmed to be Apple by a courtroom reference) that has prevented it from disclosing details about the bankruptcy. The company could be fined up to $50 million per violation for breaking the agreements.

GT's bankruptcy filing took both Apple and Wall Street by surprise. Apple has reportedly been working with GT Advanced to help it remain solvent and to help it receive its final $139 million payment, but it is unclear how this latest request will impact the relationship between the two companies.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the deal between GT Advanced and Apple may have crumbled following the former's failure to deliver sapphire iPhone screens for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Apple was widely expected to use sapphire screens in at least some models, but both the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus continue to feature Gorilla Glass displays.

GT Advanced will again appear in court on October 15 at a hearing related to its wind-down request. Apple, for its part, has again said that it plans to focus on "preserving jobs" in Arizona and that it will "work with state and local officials" as it considers its next steps.

Earlier this month, Chinese model Liu Wen hinted that she might be involved in a fashion-oriented advertising campaign for the Apple Watch. As it turns out, Liu Wen will be featured in Vogue China's November issue, wearing the Apple Watch on the cover of the magazine.

Wen appears to be wearing the 18-karat yellow gold Edition Apple Watch, which features a red Modern Buckle Band. She's also featured wearing other Apple Watch models on a spread inside the magazine.

In an interview with The Business of Fashion, Vogue China editor-in-chief Angelica Cheung has revealed the details behind the partnership between Vogue and Apple that led to the device being featured on the popular magazine's cover. According to Cheung, she met with Apple CEO Tim Cook and design head Jony Ive ahead of the device's September 9 unveiling.

Cheung says that the duo walked her through the development of the Apple Watch, which left her "impressed by their thoughts and passion for the project." Cheung said that she thought the watches "combined technology, style, and functionality and were very modern," making them a good fit for Vogue China.

Cheung believes that Cook and Ive opted to give the Apple Watch its editiorial debut in Vogue China due to China's willingness to embrace new technology.

"Chinese people are actually very digitally minded and we embrace new technology and digital products more easily than perhaps people elsewhere," said Ms Cheung. "We are an ancient country but at the same time a very young country when it comes to fashion and new products. We love to embrace everything that is new, modern and positive," she added. "All these convince us that the intersection of fashion and technology is a natural progression, not something alien."

Apple's choice to show off the Apple Watch in Vogue China speaks to how important the country has become to the company. China marks an opportunity for significant growth for Apple and earlier this year, China's largest cell phone carrier, China Mobile, began offering the iPhone in what Tim Cook called a watershed moment. Cook visited China several times in 2013, and Apple has opened several new retail stores in the country in 2014, including locations in Wuxi, Chongqing, and Beijing.

The Apple Watch marks Apple's first foray into the fashion world, and the company has been working to position it as a high-fashion accessory. In addition to getting its editorial debut in Vogue China, the Apple Watch saw its retail debut at French luxury boutique Colette in late September.

Apple is likely to hold additional fashion-oriented events as the Apple Watch's early 2015 debut date approaches, aiming to promote the device as much as possible. Apple may also take a variety of approaches in its Apple Watch advertising, to reach a wide range of potential customers. June rumors suggested the Apple Watch was also being tested with multiple professional athletes that could also take part in future advertisements.

The Apple Watch is expected to launch in early 2015 and the device will be available in a wide range of materials and at several different price points. On the lower end, the Sport version of the device will retail for $349, and rumors have suggested the higher-end solid gold Edition models could sell for thousands of dollars.