MacRumors

The latest numbers from research firm IDC reveal that the smartphone market continues to be a largely two-horse race between iOS and Android, which accounted for 19.7% and 76.6% market share in the fourth quarter respectively. The mobile operating systems combined to dominate Windows Phone, BlackBerry and all other platforms with 96.3% market share during the three-month period ending December.

iOS increased 2.2 percentage points to 19.7% during the fourth quarter over its 15.1% market share in the year-ago quarter, while Android experienced a marginal year-over-year decline as its market share slipped from 78.2% to 76.6%. Apple shipped a record-breaking 192.7 million iPhones during 2014 on the strength of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, while overall Android device shipments on the year surpassed the 1 billion mark.

Android and iOS continue to dominate the smartphone operating system race, resulting in a smaller battle between Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Firefox OS and less popular platforms for third place. Windows Phone and BlackBerry were the closest runner-ups to iOS and Android, claiming 2.8% and 0.4% market share in the fourth quarter respectively to close out 2014. All other platforms held 0.6% market share on the year.

Pebble today revealed the Pebble Time, a new smartwatch in its line of smart wearable devices that includes the company's first color-based display and introduces a thinner, more ergonomic design than its predecessor.

Launched on Kickstarter earlier this morning, Pebble promises that power consumption of the new device is greatly lowered thanks to the e-paper display, giving the Pebble Time a battery life of up to 7 days. The company also introduced a new voice-control feature to send voice replies or take notes using a select few compatible apps. The feature is a bit more full-fledged on Android, and on iOS currently will only work with Gmail notifications.

The Pebble Time also features a new curved design to ergonomically conform to any wrist, and is about 20 percent slimmer than the original Pebble. The company says the lens is made of scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass with a stainless steel bezel, enabling a water-resistant device that Pebble still warns from being fully submerged.

Pebble Time comes with a soft silicone band in the color options of black, white, or red, but the company says any 22mm watch band will fit the new device. The watch also lives up to its name thanks to the chronological curating of multiple apps into one new feature called "Timeline." With past, present, and future buttons residing on the right side of the device, users can easily scroll through completed tasks and events, see what they need to be doing now, and check reminders for the future.

This is the new app menu, featuring new app faces with glanceable content. With timeline we've also created a system that dynamically loads and caches apps as needed, letting you access as many apps as you need.

As with all Pebble software, we’ve built an open platform. You can allow apps and developers to add ‘pins’ to your timeline, so you can keep track of things like upcoming events, sports, weather, traffic, travel plans, pizza specials and more.

Pebble has been undeterred by the announcement and imminent launch of the Apple Watch, poking fun at Apple's overly enthusiastic unveiling of the device and pointing out their superior battery life and entry-level pricing in the process. Most recently the company claimed its new 2015 products would focus less on apps and more on something customers have never seen.

Those interested can visit the Pebble Time's Kickstarter page to claim their own rewards. The lowest pledge for the device begins at $159 for one watch with limited early-bird pricing, and ramps up from there. Retail pricing will be set at $199. The Pebble Time's $500,000 Kickstarter goal, which launched at 7:00 AM PT, reached its goal in just under twenty minutes of the campaign going live. As with most projects on the site, there are 31 days left to join in on the campaign.

Tim Cook tweeted this morning to honor what would be the 60th birthday of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who passed away in October 2011 following a lengthy battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer. Cook shared a quote from Jobs' heartfelt commencement address at Stanford University in 2005, in which he said "the only way to do great work is to love what you do."

Jobs co-founded Apple alongside Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976, with the roots of the company based in the garage of his childhood home in Los Altos, California. After turning the Macintosh into a commercial success in the decade following, Jobs was essentially ousted from Apple in 1985 following a power struggle and went on to found NeXT Computer the same year.

Apple went on to acquire NeXT in 1997, bringing Jobs back as CEO, at which point he led the company to become one of the most valuable in the world on the strength of products such as the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Apple has continued to be successful under the leadership of CEO Tim Cook, reporting the most profitable quarter in the history of any company to close out 2014. The Apple Watch, set to launch in April, will mark the first major new product since the passing of Jobs.

Today also marks the 15th anniversary of MacRumors, launched in February 2000 by Arnold Kim. MacRumors was a relatively early entrant in the Apple online community, arriving before the introduction of the iPod, iPhone, iPad, OS X and several other products and services used by millions of users today. As always, we express our gratitude to the several readers, contributors, sponsors and all those that allow us to continue sharing the latest Apple news and rumors.

Happy birthday, Steve.

Samsung Electronics has inked a deal with both Apple and LG to supply advanced DRAM memory chips in next-generation iPhones and the LG G4 respectively, according to sources "familiar with the deal" for The Korea Times.

The deal, rumored to be worth billions of dollars, would see Samsung produce at least half of the memory chips that Apple would need for its next-generation iPhone lineup. The report claims that Apple could ask Samsung to ramp up manufacturing of the chips if needed, with the alleged contract lasting at least a year.

"Under the agreement, Samsung will start providing LG Electronics with 100 percent mobile DRAM chips it needs for LG G4 smartphone, which will be unveiled in April. Also, Samsung will handle at least half of the amount that Apple needs for its new iPhone ― tentatively named iPhone 6S," an industry official who is familiar with the deal told The Korea Times.

The agreement was reached just a few months after Samsung began mass production of new 20-nanometer 8-Gigabit LPDDR4 memory chips, which are said to offer more than double the density and performance compared to its 4-Gigabit LPDDR3 predecessor. The sources say that on the LG side of things, Samsung will be providing 100 percent of the chips for the company's flagship G4 smartphone, set to be unveiled in the Spring.

Though Apple and Samsung have partnered in the past for manufacturing purposes, the two companies have been fierce rivals for several years. The two companies have dropped litigation against each other outside of the United States in recent months, however, and this agreement further suggests that the tech giants have an improved working relationship as of late.

While not expected to launch until September, news and rumors about the so-called "iPhone 6s" have begun circulating recently, with Samsung reportedly responsible for the majority of A9 chip production based on its 14nm process. Conflicting reports suggest that TSMC may supply Apple with the remaining chip orders.

Apple appears to have acquired popular music plug-in and effect maker Camel Audio, based on information found on corporate registry site Companies House [PDF]. Camel Audio's address has been updated to 100 New Bridge Street, which is Apple's London address, and the company's sole director is now listed as Apple lawyer Heather Joy Morrison, suggesting the company is in the possession of Apple.

Camel Audio is known for its range of plug-ins, synthesizers, effects, and sound libraries, which were available via the company's Alchemy software. Previously available for $249, Alchemy included more than 1000 sounds, 5.5GB worth of samples, a powerful additive resynthesis engine, spectral resynthesis, a virtual analog synthesizer, and more. Its powerful engine was highly useful to those who liked to create and manipulate audio for unique sounds.

Camel Audio first shut its doors on January 8, 2015, removing all access to its software from its website. At the time, the company did not divulge why it had suddenly ceased selling its content, but Camel Audio fans speculated about a potential takeover.

We would like to thank you for the support we've received over the years in our efforts to create instruments and effects plug-ins and sound libraries. Camel Audio's plug-ins, Alchemy Mobile IAPs and sound libraries are no longer available for purchase.

We will continue to provide downloads of your previous purchases and email support until July 7, 2015. We recommend you download all of your purchases and back them up so that you can continue to use them (Instructions: How to Download and Backup Your Products).

It is not known what Apple plans to do with Camel Audio, but it's possible the company's technology could be incorporated into a future version of Logic Pro X, Apple's software designed for professional musicians, or GarageBand.

(Thanks, Sepp!)

Update 2/24 12:33 PM PT: The Loop's Jim Dalrymple contacted Apple for a comment on the possible purchase of Camel Audio, and the company gave him its standard statement on acquisitions: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

Following rumors of an acquisition, Google today announced that it has purchased some technology and intellectual property from NFC-based mobile payment service Softcard, formerly known as Isis Mobile Wallet. The purchase will allow Google to improve upon its existing mobile wallet technology to better compete with Apple Pay.

Owned jointly by AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, Softcard was established in 2010 in an effort to allow the three carriers to enter the mobile payment market. As an NFC-based payment option that works primarily with Android-based phones, Softcard has been a major Google Wallet competitor, arguably stunting NFC mobile payment growth for both companies.

Google Wallet nearly floundered following its 2011 debut after Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile refused to support the app in favor of Softcard (then known as Isis). Google later found a way to circumvent the Google Wallet lockout, but its growth has suffered amid competition from Softcard and other payment technologies.

Today's purchase consolidates the number of payment options for Android devices and it lets Google establish a deal with the three carriers to build Google Wallet into future Android phones for the first time.

So today, we're excited to announce that we're working with AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, as well as their mobile payments company Softcard, to help more Android users get the benefits of tap and pay. Under this relationship, the Google Wallet app, including the tap and pay functionality, will come pre-installed on Android phones (running KitKat or higher) sold by these carriers in the US later this year. We're also acquiring some exciting technology and intellectual property from Softcard to make Google Wallet better.

The early success of Apple Pay has sparked a lot of interest in mobile payments in recent months. Along with Google's acquisition of Softcard, Samsung has recently purchased LoopPay in an effort to develop its own payments solution.

It is not clear if Google's purchase of Softcard technology means Softcard will be shutting its own payments service down entirely. According to Softcard, its existing customers can continue to use the Softcard service for the time being, and more information is forthcoming from the company.

Today's second OS X 10.10.3 beta builds on the emoji groundwork laid with the first OS X 10.10.3 beta, introducing all new emoji and emoji skin tone modifiers. When selecting an emoji with a skin tone, such as one of the many people emoji, it's now possible to choose a specific skin tone from one of six options.

There are also several new people emoji that introduce greater diversity. Family emoji now include multiple same sex couples, both with children and without, all with variable skin tone options. Apple first promised to add more diversity to its emoji character set in early 2014, stating at that time that it was working with the Unicode Consortium to add more characters, and it appears the company will be making good on that pledge with the release of 10.10.3.

Along with a range of diversified people emoji, today's update brings 32 new country flags, including flags for Canada, Australia, and India.

Apple has also made several changes to emoji that are related to Apple products. The existing standard watch emoji has been replaced with an emoji that's based on its upcoming Apple Watch, with a black band and an analog watch face. The iPhone emoji has been updated to resemble the iPhone 6, and the computer emoji is now an iMac.

In addition to new emoji characters, OS X 10.10.3 introduces a renamed Character palette that focuses more heavily on emoji. Accessible through the "Edit" menu in most Mac apps, the palette was previously named "Special Characters," but is labeled "Emoji & Symbols" in OS X 10.10.3. The emoji picker has also been redesigned, featuring a layout with a single larger vertical-scrolling page for easier access to emoji.

The same diversified emoji options will be coming to iOS as well. Today's iOS 8.3 beta 2 update includes the same diversified emoji options and a redesigned emoji picker.

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.

Apple today seeded the second beta of iOS 8.3 to developers, two weeks after seeding the first iOS 8.3 beta. The initial iOS 8.3 beta came as a surprise because iOS 8.2 with the WatchKit SDK also remains in testing.

The beta is available through the iOS Developer Center. It includes Xcode 6.3 and a new version of Apple's programming language, Swift. Apple has also released a new Apple TV beta for third-generation Apple TVs.

While iOS 8.2 appears to bring only minor bug fixes to the operating system along with the WatchKit SDK and support for the Apple Watch, the first beta of iOS 8.3 introduced several new features including support for wireless CarPlay connectivity, a new emoji picker, support for Google 2-step verification, and Apple Pay support for the China UnionPay network. It also removes the "beta" label from iCloud Photo Library.

iOS 8.3 will be released following iOS 8.2, which is expected in March, so it may be a few months yet before we see a public iOS 8.3 launch.

What's new in iOS 8.3 beta 2:

Release notes - According to iOS 8.3 release notes, the new beta is not compatible with LTE Voice on Verizon. Apple asks that customers using Verizon set LTE to data only. There's also been a fix to the dialog that appears when an iPhone is connected to a CarPlay-compatible car.

Emoji - iOS 8.3 beta 2 introduces all new diversified emoji and skin tone modifiers. There are also new country flags and updated emoji for the iPhone, iMac, and Apple Watch.

Siri - Siri has gained support for several new languages, including Danish, Dutch, English (India), English (New Zealand), Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish.

Crash reporting - The new Xcode 6.3 beta 2 update includes a crash log reports service that collects and aggregates crash log data into crash reports that will be available in Xcode.

Apple today seeded the second beta of OS X 10.10.3 Yosemite to developers, two weeks after releasing the first OS X 10.10.3 beta and three weeks after releasing OS X 10.10.2 to the public.

The new beta, build 14D87h, is available for registered developers through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store and through the Mac Dev Center.

OS X 10.10.3 brings several new features to Yosemite, including the new Photos for OS X app. Photos is designed to serve as a replacement for both iPhoto and Aperture, and is on track to see an early 2015 launch. Early reviews have suggested that while Photos is a suitable replacement for iPhoto, with more advanced tools and performance optimizations, it may leave professional users disappointed, at least in its initial incarnation.

The first beta of OS X 10.10.3 also brought a new emoji picker that consolidates emoji into a single page with clear labels, and support for Google 2-step verification when setting up accounts in System Preferences.

Update: Today's 10.10.3 update introduces new diversified emoji options and new skin tone modifiers for emoji, as hinted at in the previous 10.10.3 beta. There are also new country flags and updated emoji for the iPhone, iMac, and Apple Watch.

Apple is hiring away Samsung employees working on next-generation technology, including signal- and visual-processing management, according to The Korea Times.

The report, citing unnamed officials at the South Korean tech giant, also claims that Apple has expanded its recruitment efforts to focus on Samsung personnel with expertise in battery technology amid rumors that it is working on an electric vehicle project.

"Some of our personnel have been hired by Apple. They now work at Apple's headquarters in San Jose, Calif.," said one official, adding that Apple offers highly-competitive benefits and large annual paychecks.

"Those former Samsung workers are given greater independence to proceed with their tasks. Apple prefers to use Samsung's chip experts because they are very diligent, mission-oriented and are prepared to acquire new knowledge," said another official.

Apple has reportedly assembled an automotive team with hundreds of employees working at a "top-secret research lab" near its Cupertino, California headquarters. Apple appears to be recruiting battery experts from multiple companies to join the team, as the company also faces a lawsuit for poaching key battery engineers from A123 Systems. That lawsuit also listed Samsung as one of the companies that Apple has been poaching battery engineers from.

Apple's appetite for hiring former Samsung personnel has expanded to the battery arena as the Cupertino-based company is reportedly developing electric vehicles, which means Apple needs battery experts. […]

"As the electric vehicle business is a new one, Apple needs patents and experts in battery technology. Top human resources firms have been approaching Samsung's battery experts, individually, and I think such human exchange moves are a win-win for both," said the official.

Earlier this month, multiple reports from credible sources claimed that Apple is working on an electric and possibly autonomous vehicle that could enter production in 2020. Some other reports, however, downplay the rumors by claiming that Apple is working on expanding its dashboard presence through CarPlay. Any electric car project at Apple is likely in the early stages of research and development at this time.

Apple announced on Monday that it will invest €1.7 billion to build and operate two new data centers in Europe. The state-of-the-art facilities will be located in County Galway, Ireland and the Central Jutland Region of Denmark, powering Apple's online services such as the App Store, iTunes Store, iMessage, Maps and Siri for European customers.

“We are grateful for Apple’s continued success in Europe and proud that our investment supports communities across the continent,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “This significant new investment represents Apple’s biggest project in Europe to date. We’re thrilled to be expanding our operations, creating hundreds of local jobs and introducing some of our most advanced green building designs yet.”

The data centers will be powered by 100% clean and renewable energy sources, with each having the lowest environmental impact yet for any Apple data center. Apple will also work with local partners to develop additional renewable energy projects derived from wind and other sources for future usage.

“We believe that innovation is about leaving the world better than we found it, and that the time for tackling climate change is now,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environmental Initiatives. “We’re excited to spur green industry growth in Ireland and Denmark and develop energy systems that take advantage of their strong wind resources. Our commitment to environmental responsibility is good for the planet, good for our business and good for the European economy.”

The 166,000-square-meter data centers are expected to be begin operations by 2017 and help support nearly 672,000 jobs in Europe, a large portion of which relate to the development of iOS apps. Apple claims that developers have earned more than €6.6 billion through app sales since the App Store launched in 2008.

Apple hired former NV Energy VP Bobby Hollis to serve as its Renewable Energy Manager in April 2014, just over two years after outlining that it achieved 100% renewable energy usage at its data centers in its 2012 environmental responsibility report. Last year, the iPhone maker reached a deal for a third solar farm at its North Carolina data center and expanded its Reno data center with several new data cluster buildings.