MacRumors

U.S. Cellular, will begin offering the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c on November 8, according to an email the company sent out on Friday afternoon. U.S. Cellular, the fifth largest carrier in the United States, first announced that it would begin carrying Apple products back in May, but did not give a timeline on when the products might appear.

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Aside from a release date, U.S. Cellular has not given additional information on plan details, such as pricing, but the company’s current plans offer unlimited talk and text with 300MB to 75GB of data starting at $40 per month and it is likely that device prices will be competitive with other retailers.

While Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile offered the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c at launch, many smaller, regional carriers did not begin selling the device until October 1.

Supplies of Apple’s iPhone 5s remain constrained, with estimated shipping times from the Apple Store remaining at 2 to 3 weeks in the United States. iPhone 5c supplies remain plentiful, with all models and capacities shipping within 24 hours.

Related Forum: iPhone

ios_7_otaAfter iOS 7 was released, some iOS 6 users discovered that as much as 3GB of storage was being used up by an automated over-the-air download of iOS 7.

For many users, this was handy because they didn't need to wait for a large download to complete before updating -- but for those who wish to remain with iOS 6, they have found multiple gigabytes of storage used up by a software update that they will never use, with no way to free up that space.

One user, Mark Menacher of Poway, California, has filed suit in small-claims court against Apple CEO Tim Cook, alleging in a statement that "Apple's disregard for customer preferences in relation to iOS 7 is corporate thuggery".

Steve Jobs was reportedly rough on company employees in pursuit of happy customers, but Tim Cook apparently cultivates a culture of contempt for customer satisfaction in pursuit of corporate profits. It is a policy that will eventually fail.

According to CNET, Menacher asks for a way to delete the iOS 7 installer from his iOS 6 device, plus an additional $50. He has filed a similar complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

Apple's iOS 7 adoption rates may have been slower than previously thought, according to a new report from mobile advertising firm Millennial Media, which suggests that iOS 6 adoption happened more rapidly than iOS 7 adoption.

According to the report, iOS 7 impressions on Millennial Media's advertising platform climbed an average of 185 percent each day during the seven days following the September 18 launch of iOS 7. One week after launch, 16 percent of total iOS traffic came from devices running iOS 7.

Comparatively, Millennial Media saw an average of 264 percent growth per day following the seven day release period after iOS 6 was launched on September 19, 2012. A week after launch, 35 percent of total iOS traffic came from devices running iOS 6, suggesting users adopted iOS 6 more rapidly than they adopted iOS 7.

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Millennial Media hypothesizes that some consumers may have been hesitant to download iOS 7, given the major interface changes associated with the update.

What’s behind these patterns? We can’t say for certain, but we have a couple hunches. When comparing iOS 7 to iOS 6, we think that it is very telling that impressions were the same on Day 1, and iOS 7 slowed down significantly after that. Because iOS 7 was such a major update, it seems likely that early adopters downloaded it as soon as possible, but for other consumers, there may have been hesitation after reading about how radical the changes were. The internet was abuzz with iOS 7 reviews, and people may have decided to wait some time before adopting the new OS.

Millennial Media’s data seems to directly contradict earlier reports on iOS 7 adoption, which indicated users were downloading and installing iOS 7 much more rapidly than iOS 6. Back in September, just a day after iOS 7 was released, mobile analytics firm Mixpanel reported that 36 percent of active iOS devices were already running iOS 7, while ad network Chitika estimated iOS 7 adoption at 18 percent, putting both estimates far ahead of Millennial Media’s own estimates.

As of today, Mixpanel's data suggests that iOS 7 is now installed on approximately 72.5 percent of devices, with adoption continuing to climb steadily. In the past, Apple has emphasized the rapid adoption of its newest operating system upgrades as a major strength of the iOS platform comparative to competing platforms such as Android, which is plagued by fragmentation.

Apple is making considerable progress on its project started yesterday to cover the glass facade of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco with decals bearing a colorful design and a white Apple logo, with new photos from David Jones showing the project wrapping around two sides of the building now nearly complete.

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Apple's event kicks off next Tuesday, October 22 at 10:00 AM Pacific Time and the company is expected to introduce a number of new products including both hardware and software. New iPads are expected to be a major focus of the event, but OS X Mavericks, Mac Pro, and other products will also be addressed.

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oct_22_2013_inviteWith just four days to go until Apple's October 22 media event in San Francisco, expectations for what will be shown are in many cases continuing to firm up, while in other cases questions remain. Our regularly updated Roundups section continues to offer a good overview of what is expected for each product and highlights the significant number of Apple products due for updates. Among the expectations for next week:

- iPad: Expect a new iPad mini-inspired design that is thinner, narrower, and lighter. [Read More]

- iPad mini: Retina display expected, but there have been questions about production and whether Apple be able to ship the new device in significant quantities, if at all, before the holidays. [Read More]

- OS X Mavericks: Reportedly due for launch before the end of the month, we should see a final unveiling next week. Other software updates including new versions of Apple's iWork and iLife suites, including iWork for iCloud, are also expected. [Read More]

- Mac Pro: Announced by Apple as launching "this fall" following a sneak peek at WWDC in June, Apple's radically redesigned professional desktop should get a thorough introduction next Tuesday. Some have speculated that updated displays may arrive to complement the new Mac Pro, but there has been no specific evidence of a display refresh. [Read More]

- MacBook Pro: An update for Apple's Retina MacBook Pro line has been expected for several months, moving to Intel's new Haswell processors for improved battery life. While it seems that Apple would want to feature the MacBook Pro improvements at its event, the list of products to be covered is beginning to get rather long and so it is unclear if the updated notebooks will make an appearance at or alongside the event or at a separate time. [Read More]

- Mac mini: There have been no specific rumors about the Mac mini, but it too is due for an update to Haswell processors. [Read More]

- An Apple TV wildcard: There have been some rumblings over the past several months that Apple is planning some sort of TV-related announcement for late this year, but there has been no concrete evidence of any imminent introduction. While Apple has been said to be planning its own connected television set product, that product may not be ready and the effort could continue to progress incrementally with an updated set-top box.

ios_7_messages_iconYesterday, researchers made a presentation at the Hack in the Box conference arguing that Apple's iMessage system could theoretically allow Apple or another party to intercept the encrypted messages. The concern stems in part from Apple's use of a private server for storing users' public keys used to encrypt messages, meaning that senders have no way of knowing whether a potentially false key has been inserted in order to intercept messages intended for a different recipient.

In a statement to AllThingsD, Apple once again denies that it can read iMessages, noting that it would require the service's systems to be re-engineered and that the company has no interest in doing so.

Apple says that QuarksLab’s theory is just that — a theory, and one that would require a rearchitecting of iMessage for it ever to be a threat in the real world.

“iMessage is not architected to allow Apple to read messages,” said Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said in a statement to AllThingsD. “The research discussed theoretical vulnerabilities that would require Apple to re-engineer the iMessage system to exploit it, and Apple has no plans or intentions to do so.”

Apple's statement does not actually refute the original claim, simply confirming that as the service is currently configured it is impossible for Apple to intercept iMessages. The researchers' argument rests on the observation that changes could be made to Apple's systems to allow for iMessages to be intercepted without users being aware of the changes.

The result is that Apple is arguing users should trust that the company has no interest in making such changes, and if users take Apple at its word, the researchers' concerns remain merely theoretical. But some users may remained concerned that Apple could be quietly compelled to make changes by government security agencies, compromising Apple's touted "secure end-to-end encryption" for iMessage.

appletv.pngAmazon France and Amazon Germany are now displaying an avaliability date of October 23 for the Apple TV, indicating that a new version of the device may be available soon after after Apple's media event next week, reports German website iFun [Google Translation].

While the model number listed for future availability on both stores is that of the European 3rd-generation Apple TV, a new model of Apple's set-top box is well overdue for an update, having gone 590 days without a major release. A tweet from the well-connected MG Siegler last month hinted at an incoming updated version of the hardware, with Apple also releasing a major update for the Apple TV in September that brought iTunes Radio and AirPlay from iCloud functionality.

Apple will hold a media event next Tuesday, October 22 and is expected to unveil both the fifth-generation iPad and the second-generation iPad mini, along with other Apple products such as OS X Mavericks and the Mac Pro. However, potential announcements of other new products, such as an updated Apple TV and new MacBook Pros, is also likely at the event.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

macbook air 13 20121Apple today released MacBook Air Flash Storage Firmware Update 1.1 for the mid–2012 MacBook Air. The update tests the flash storage drives in these models to look for an issue that "may result in data loss" for 64 and 128GB models.

In most cases, the update merely installs new firmware, but in some cases Apple will replace the drive free of cost.

This firmware update is recommended for MacBook Air (mid 2012) models.

Apple has discovered that a small percentage of flash storage drives in these MacBook Air models have an issue that may result in data loss. This update tests your drive and, in the majority of cases, installs new firmware to resolve the issue. If your drive cannot be updated, Apple will replace it, free of charge.

The firmware update should be available on the Mac App Store for mid–2012 MacBook Airs and can also be downloaded from the Apple Support site.

Update: Apple has also initiated a Flash Storage Drive Replacement Program, which details how to get a faulty drive replaced. Users with an affected MacBook Air will be directed to the page after installing the firmware update.

The Cupertino City Council today posted a video of the press conference it held yesterday, announcing its approval of Apple's Campus 2 plans. Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer spoke during the conference, thanking the community for green lighting its plans and providing some additional details on the campus.

This is a very special moment for us at Apple. We have put a tremendous amount of love and energy into this campus, and we can’t wait to get started building it. Cupertino is Apple’s home. We love Cupertino, we’re very proud to be here, and we were thrilled that Apple Campus 2 will be a part of Cupertino.

We’re going to build the best office building ever built in the world and we’re going to put it in a hundred acre park, returning the site to its natural beauty. It will be a place for the best team in the industry to innovate for decades to come.

We’re very grateful to the city council, to the city staff, and most importantly, our neighbors and the citizens of Cupertino and the surrounding communities who supported us last night and along the way to get to this point.

Oppenheimer went on to say that Apple’s new campus will be the most environmentally friendly building of its size, using water and landscaping efficiently and garnering 70 percent of its energy from solar and fuel cells with the rest coming from green energy sources within California.

During a question and answer period when he was asked about the use of the campus should Apple vacate, Oppenheimer noted that Apple is excited about the future products it has in the pipeline, which are going to surprise and delight customers, keeping Apple at its Campus 2 location for decades to come.

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The Cupertino City Council unanimously approved Apple’s "spaceship campus" on Tuesday. Provided no petitions for reconsideration are filed within the next 10 days, Apple will be able to break ground with ancillary permits later this month. A second public reading, which will result in a full set of permits, is scheduled for November 19.

Apple’s first building phase will include the construction of the 2.8 million square foot ring-shaped structure along with multiple parking facilities, a fitness center, and an auditorium. During a second phase, Apple will construct offices with an additional 600,000 square feet of space and will also continue to occupy its current buildings in Cupertino and surrounding areas.

facebookFacebook has updated its Facebook for iOS app to version 6.6, adding new options to allow users to edit published posts and comments on their iOS devices. First introduced on the desktop version of Facebook, the editing tools let spelling errors and other mistakes be corrected, though edited posts are denoted by an "Edited" tag.

The app update also lets users post images within comments and it includes new emoticon wall posting options. Emoticon posts were first introduced in June, but have thus far been limited to status updates. The emoticon icons are used to give details on what a user is feeling, watching, reading, drinking, eating, listening to, or playing, and can now be included in wall posts.

Along with new posting features, Facebook made its mobile privacy options easier to access, offering a lock icon in the navigation menu that displays both privacy options and frequently asked questions.

What's New in Version 6.6
- Edit your posts and comments, and tap to see all your changes
- Add a photo when you comment
- Express yourself with icons when you post to someone's timeline (English only)
- Get to privacy shortcuts by tapping the lock by your name in the main menu
- Bug fixes

Facebook is said to be working on a more significant iOS app update that will include the company’s Graph Search feature, first introduced earlier this year, along with an update for its Messenger app that will include iOS contacts integration.

Facebook is a universal app that can be downloaded for free from the App Store. [Direct Link]

attlogo375wide.jpgAT&T senior vice president Chris Penrose today announced that AT&T plans to introduce a new $5 daily 250MB data plan for tablet users who want to use cellular data occasionally, reports AllThingsD. Penrose announced the news at today’s GigaOM Mobilize conference in San Francisco and the company hopes the offering will entice users to purchase cellular devices over Wi-Fi models.

"We really think that a Wi-Fi only tablet is good, but it is not good enough," said AT&T senior VP Chris Penrose, speaking at the event. The cost of adding a cellular module to tablets is also going down, Penrose said.

"We’ve seen that price go down substantially over the past several years,” Penrose said. “Ultimately we’d like to see tablet manufacturers build just one tablet."

Along with $5 day passes, the company also plans to introduce a $25 plan that provides 1GB of data that can be used over a three month period. The two new plans will be offered in addition to AT&T's existing $10 Mobile Share data plan for iPads.

Apple has begun installing decorations at the Yerba Buena Center ahead of Tuesday's media event, where Apple is widely expected to introduce new iPad and iPad mini models.

MacRumors reader David Jones sent in this image of colorful decorations going up on the side of the San Francisco building. The graphics match the invitations sent out to media members earlier this week.

iPad Decorations

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The October 22 date was first reported by AllThingsD earlier this month, and was quickly confirmed by the The Loop's ever-reliable Jim Dalrymple.

The original AllThingsD report claimed that event will focus on the iPad updates, but that OS X Mavericks and the redesigned Mac Pro will also be featured at the event. Apple is due to release a number of other product updates, perhaps most notably new MacBook Pros, but it is apparently still unclear whether those updates will be a part of next week's event.

Update: Jones has now caught a photo of the plans showing the overall design for the graphics.

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Along with Windows 8.1, Microsoft today launched new Microsoft Remote Desktop apps for iOS and OS X, designed to give users access to a Windows PC via RemoteFX on their Macs, iPhones, and iPads. News of a potential Remote Desktop app for Apple devices first surfaced last week.

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The iOS app offers a secure connection to data and applications through NLA technology along with multi-touch capabilities. It supports high quality video and sound streaming and connects to external monitors or protectors to for presentations. The Mac version also includes the ability to access local Mac files from Windows applications and printer capabilities.

iOS Features:

- Access to remote resources through the Remote Desktop Gateway
- Rich multi-touch experience with remote desktop protocol (RDP) and RemoteFX supporting Windows gestures
- Secure connection to your data and applications with breakthrough Network Layer Authentication (NLA) technology
- Simple management of all remote connections from the connection center
- High quality video and sound streaming with improved compression and bandwidth usage
- Easy connection to external monitors or projectors for presentations

Mac Features:

- Access to remote resources through the Remote Desktop Gateway
- Secure connection to your data and applications with breakthrough Network Layer Authentication (NLA) technology
- Simple management of all remote connections from the connection center
- High quality video and sound streaming with improved compression and bandwidth usage
- Easy connection to multiple monitors or projectors for presentations
- Print from Windows applications to any printer configured on your Mac
- Access local files on your Mac from your Windows applications

In addition to Remote Desktop tools for iOS and OS X, Microsoft is said to be developing similar tools for Android and Windows RT. Earlier this month, former Microsoft CEO Steve announced that the company also plans to expand its iOS offerings with an iPad version of Office to be released after the launch of the next major version of its Office suite.

Microsoft Remote Desktop for iOS is a universal app that can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Microsoft Remote Desktop for Mac is a free app that can be downloaded from the Mac App Store. [Direct Link]

Apple has topped the second J.D. Power Wireless Smartphone Satisfaction Study of 2013, landing above competitors like Nokia, Samsung and HTC. This is the tenth consecutive time Apple has led the biannual ranking, and Apple has prominently mentioned this fact in the past.

For the first time, the survey breaks out smartphone rankings by carrier. Verizon iPhone customers were the happiest with their experiences, scoring 861/1000, while AT&T iPhone owners ranked 856/1000. The iPhone led on all carriers except for Sprint, where it came in second place to Samsung. Apple did come in well above average across all carriers. AT&T had the strongest average rating amongst major U.S. carriers.

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Apple also led the rankings in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and earlier this year.

Following the revelation of government data gathering program PRISM in June, Apple released a statement on customer privacy that suggested the company was unable to access or decrypt iMessage and FaceTime conversations.

According to researchers who presented at the Hack the Box conference in Kuala Lumpur (via Macworld), it is actually possible for someone inside Apple to intercept messages because the company has access to public iMessage keys.

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The company's claim that iMessage is protected by unbreakable encryption is "just basically lies," said Cyril Cattiaux, who has developed iOS jailbreak software and works for Quarkslab, a penetration testing and reverse engineering company in Paris.

The researchers emphasized they have no indication that Apple or the government is reading iMessages, only that it would be possible to do so.

To encrypt iMessages, Apple utilizes public key cryptography, which means that every Apple device is assigned both a private key and a public key. When an iMessage is sent, it requests the public key of the recipient's device to encrypt the message, which is then decrypted by a private key upon receipt.

Because Apple manages public keys and does not divulge them to users, it is not possible to verify that a sent iMessage is going to the intended recipient. Apple could, for example, substitute or add a public key to intercept an outgoing message without the sender being aware of the change, as end users do not have access to public keys.

With a public server, such as MIT’s PGP Public Key Server, the sender can at least see more information, such as whether a key has changed. At that point, the sender can decide whether they want to trust it or not if they suspect a man in the middle attack. Apple’s key server is not public, the researchers say.

"The biggest problem here is you just cannot control that the public key you are using when you are ciphering the message is really the key of your recipient and not, for example, the public key of some guy in Apple," Cattiaux said.

According to the researchers, there would be no way for an end user to detect an intercepted or rerouted message from their iOS device, as it is impossible to see whether or not a key has been switched or where a message has been routed. The solution to the issue, to introduce true end-to-end encryption, would require Apple to store public keys on each iOS device to allow users to compare keys to verify that messages are going to the intended recipient.

Earlier this year, a Drug Enforcement Agency document noted that it was impossible for law enforcement agencies to eavesdrop directly on iMessage conversations due to Apple's encryption, but it appears that Apple itself could potentially intercept those messages using public keys.

Update: Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said in a statement to AllThingsD that "iMessage is not architected to allow Apple to read messages," adding that "The research discussed theoretical vulnerabilities that would require Apple to re-engineer the iMessage system to exploit it, and Apple has no plans or intentions to do so."

rj_pittman_ebayeBay today announced that it has hired Apple's RJ Pittman into a newly created role of Chief Product Officer for the online marketplace company. Pittman had been at Apple since early 2010, when he left Google to become Apple's head of e-commerce, and he shared some thoughts with AllThingsD about his new career move.

“I think it’s pretty clear today eBay dominates the marketplace category,” Pittman said in an interview with AllThingsD. “I’m excited to come in and reinvent the way people buy and sell.”

“I loved what I was doing at Apple; it’s a great company … but eBay is on a completely different level by an order of magnitude when it comes to e-commerce,” he added.

Pittman's departure comes just days after Apple announced that Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts will be joining the company early next year as head of retail and online store operations, but sources tell AllThingsD that the timing was coincidental. Ahrendts' arrival will see a restructuring of Apple's sales efforts, with both retail and online operations operating under the same umbrella.

Apple has started a new print advertising campaign for the iPhone 5s. The first spot, running on the back of this week's issue of The New Yorker, showcases the Touch ID-equipped home button of the new gold iPhone 5s.

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Your finger is the password.

Touch ID was created not only to protect all the important and personal information on your phone, but to be so easy to use, you'll actually use it. Its state-of-the-art technology learns your unique fingerprint, so you can unlock your phone or even authorize purchases with just a simple touch.

Touch ID. Only on iPhone 5s.

The spot in our image includes T-Mobile branding, but Apple's iPhone TV ads have traditionally rotated branding between all the carriers that carry the iPhone, likely as part of a co-marketing agreement.

Apple has been heavily advertising the iPhone 5c on television in recent weeks, but we have seen relatively little about the 5s, likely because of tight supplies. The print ads mention 'limited availability' of the iPhone 5s in fine print.

Update: Entertainment Weekly and Sports Illustrated are running the same ad but with Sprint co-branding, while Rolling Stone is running it with Verizon co-branding and TIME is running it with AT&T co-branding.

According to new data from ad platform and market research firm Nanigans (via VentureBeat), Facebook advertisers are seeing approximately 1790% more profit from mobile ads on iPhone when compared to ads on Android. The study tracked over 200 billion ads on Facebook, and also revealed that cost of mobile advertising on Android is greater than the return on investment received through the platform.

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“Retailers are realizing significantly greater return from audiences on iOS than audiences on Android,” the report says. “For the first three quarters of 2013, RPC [revenue per click] on iOS averaged 6.1 times higher than Android and ROI [return on investment] on iOS averaged 17.9 times higher than Android.”

“Audiences cost more on iPhone, and the reason is that it’s worth it,” Slagen said. “Typically, we’re not looking to acquire one-time customers, we’re looking to invest over time … so we pay more up front for better long-term results.”

Another graph showing the return on investment percentages by retailers advertising on Facebook Mobile showed that iOS brings retailers 162% more cash than spent on the ads, while advertising on Android returned 10% less than the cost of the ads:

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The results are interesting given the fact that Facebook has traditionally seen deeper integration within the Android platform, including the release of the Android-only Facebook Home launcher earlier this year, as well as the multiplatform Chat Heads feature which is more feature-filled on Android devices.