MacRumors

Earlier this week, the San Francisco Chronicle addressed some criticisms of Apple's proposed flagship store for the city's Union Square retail district, a store that would replace the current flagship a few blocks to the south. While the announcement of Apple's plans several weeks ago had been accompanied by glowing remarks from city politicians, critics have pointed to a long blank wall along Stockton Street and the removal of a popular fountain behind the store as significant issues for the plans.

The Chronicle now follows up on the situation, quoting San Francisco mayor Ed Lee as saying that he hadn't realized Apple's plans called for removal of the fountain and reporting that he would be taking another look to see if it could be kept.

"We weren't necessarily focused on that side," Lee said, referring to a plaza along Stockton Street where the fountain stands. "It wasn't part of our discussion." [...]

"I need to take a look and visualize" how the fountain would or would not complement Apple's proposal for a raised narrow plaza between its store and the Grand Hyatt. The hotel tower was built in tandem with the plaza and the retail building in the early 1970s. "We have to see whether it might fit in."

Lee also addressed the issue of the 80 foot-long blank wall along Stockton Street, noting that city officials had raised objections to it during initial discussions and that Apple had been "very receptive" to those concerns. The city places distinct emphasis on activating the street-level experience in the pedestrian-oriented Union Square shopping district, and Apple's plans would create a significant gap in that experience.

The project still needs to proceed through reviews by the city's planning and historic preservation commissions, and it could see tweaks as a result of discussions with those groups. Apple has not commented further on the project, and the Grand Hyatt hotel that owns the property and fountain simply notes that "it's too premature" to address whether there may be changes to the proposal.

Apple today made a quiet update to its iPod touch lineup, launching a new 16 GB fifth-generation model without a rear camera for $229. The new iPod touch, which is only available with a black front and silver back, replaces the fourth-generation iPod touch that Apple had continued to offer since the introduction of new models late last year. The new model is available now in Apple's online store and should be available in the company's retail stores starting tomorrow.

Apple introduced the redesigned fifth-generation iPod touch last September with the same 4-inch display seen on the iPhone 5 and a number of other enhancements. But with the new hardware pushing the entry-level price to $299 for a 32 GB model, Apple decided to continue offering the fourth-generation models at cheaper $199 (16 GB) and $249 (32 GB) price points.

Now, with production on the fifth-generation models having been underway for roughly eight months, Apple has found a way to shave costs through both natural component cost declines and the removal of several features to be able to offer a stripped-down fifth-generation model at pricing close to that previously offered for the fourth-generation models. Beyond the loss of a rear camera, the new entry-level iPod touch also omits Apple's "Loop" wrist strap introduced on the fifth-generation models last year.

Earlier this year, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had predicted that Apple would discontinue the fourth-generation iPod touch in favor of a stripped-down fifth-generation model without a rear camera. Kuo had believed that Apple would introduce an 8 GB version of that device for $199, but Apple apparently decided that 16 GB of storage should be the minimum for the iPod touch lineup.

Apple today announced that it will once again hold its monthlong iTunes Festival in London this year, with 30 nights of concerts at The Roundhouse during the month of September. The full schedule of performances is yet to be announced, but Apple has revealed that the lineup will include Justin Timberlake, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Jack Johnson and Jessie J.

“This year’s iTunes Festival is the best ever with an incredible lineup of global superstars and stellar emerging artists,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “Music fans around the world are going to love watching this incredible month of music, whether in London at the Roundhouse or on their iOS device. We’re honored so many renowned artists are part of this year’s lineup.”

Free tickets for the concerts are available through iTunes in a lottery system, with media partners in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, Japan and Mexico also giving away tickets as part of promotional competitions. The concerts will also be broadcast via iOS app, iTunes on the computer, and Apple TV.

Apple also typically releases a series of live EPs from each year's shows through the iTunes Store.

Apple traditionally sponsored the iTunes Festival each July since its inception in 2007, but last year moved the festival to September and has opted to keep to that schedule for 2013. More details on the concert lineup and schedule will be released over the coming weeks and months.

Apple has hired at least a dozen former AMD graphics engineers for its Orlando offices in recent months, according to a MacRumors review of employees' LinkedIn profiles.

The majority of hires, which include a graphics architect, hardware engineer and others, occurred in January of this year.

AMD laid off a number of employees last year in a corporate reorganization, and fired more in January. It seems likely that Apple hired a number of the laid off Orlando AMD engineers for a new team it's building in the region.

The company has also posted new job listings for Site Managers to head GPU teams in both Orlando and Cupertino.

These hires and new listings are in addition to job listings posted last month for chip engineers for its Orlando Design Center.

Site Manager

Job Number: 27994768 - Orlando, Florida, United States

Job Summary

Manager will be responsible for leading the Orlando GPU team to deliver high quality IP to specification and on schedule.

Key Qualifications

- 10+ years proven experience leading high performance GFX (or equivalent complexity) IP development teams
- 5+ years proven experience building/hiring medium/large (30+) complex ASIC IP development teams
- Excellent personnel management, mentoring, team building and hiring abilities
- Proven ability to manage parallel project efforts including effective resource/schedule planning & tracking
- Excellent written/verbal communication and project management skills
- Experience with GFX Architecture/Design, GFX APIs and overall GFX development is a significant plus
- Ability to work well in a cross-site team and be productive under aggressive schedules

The new job listings ask for extensive experience in building and leading teams, including hiring, mentoring, and more. They also focus on intellectual property development as well. The listings in both Cupertino and Orlando are identical.

Apple's interest in GPUs (Graphics Processing Unit) and CPUs coincides with an effort to develop more of its technology in house. Apple is a licensee for ARM and Imagination Technology, which power the company's iPhones and iPads.

Apple is continuing to seek improved supply-chain risk management by shifting more of its manufacturing needs from its longtime partner Foxconn to Pegatron, notes The Wall Street Journal in a new report that suggests Pegatron will be responsible for the assembly of Apple's low cost iPhone.

Pegatron Corp., named after the flying horse Pegasus, will be the primary assembler of a low-cost iPhone expected to be offered later this year. Foxconn's smaller rival across town became a minor producer of iPhones in 2011 and began making iPad Mini tablet computers last year.

Pegatron's rise means an end to the monopoly that Foxconn Technology Group—the trade name for Hon Hai Precision Industry, the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer—has held over the production of Apple's mobile products.

According to the report, the change is meant to help Apple expand its product lines and prevent supply chain disasters that could hold up the production of Apple's devices. At launch, the iPhone 5 was criticized for its tendency to scratch and scuff, which eventually led to increased quality control standards to reduce out-of-the-box issues.

Foxconn executives admitted last year that the iPhone 5 was difficult to assemble, and an April rumor suggested that Apple returned 5–8 million defective iPhone 5s to the company after continued issues with quality control.

Foxconn, in its growing heft as the world's largest electronics contract company, was also getting more difficult for Apple to control, with incidents such as changing component sourcing without notifying Apple, people familiar with the matter said. At the same time, Foxconn became frustrated with the growing complexity of Apple products, such as the iPhone 5, which is difficult to make in the volumes Apple needed.

In addition to cutting down on the risk of production issues, Pegatron is also said to have accepted less profit in order to secure orders from Apple. Tim Cook, too, is said to be responsible for the change, as he is more interested in diversification than maintaining a strong relationship with Foxconn chairman Terry Gou.

Despite being a smaller manufacturing partner, Pegatron has a long history with Apple. The company was responsible for packaging Apple's first generation iBooks, and as noted above, began assembling a small number iPhones for Apple in 2011. Currently, Pegatron produces the lion's share of Apple's iPad minis.

Apple's low cost iPhone could bring in huge profits for the smaller supply partner, as it is said to be aimed at untapped emerging markets. Earlier this month, Pegatron announced that it would boost its workforce by 40%, fueling initial rumors that the company would produce the cheaper iPhone.

The low cost iPhone is expected to come with an unsubsidized price tag between $350-$400. Release dates for the device have been murky, with sources targeting both a late 2013 release and a 2014 release.

At the All Things Digital D11 conference today Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Mary Meeker published her 2013 Internet Trends report, a 117 slide presentation that covers a range of topics from Internet usage and traffic to mobile device growth trends.

Unsurprisingly, mobile adoption continues to grow. Both Apple and Samsung have experienced enormous smartphone market share unit growth over the past two years, with Apple going from 16% share in Q1 2010 to 22% share in Q4 2012 and Samsung growing from 4% to 29% during the same time period.

Tablet growth has exploded as well, outpacing even smartphone growth. When comparing the first 12 quarters after launch, iPad shipments ramped up three times more quickly than iPhone shipments.

In fact, tablet shipments surpassed both desktop PC and notebook shipments in the fourth quarter of 2012, less than three years after tablets surged in popularity. A similar report from IDC earlier this week confirms the rapid tablet growth, estimating that yearly tablet shipments will surpass notebook shipments by 2013 and the total PC market in 2015.

Other highlights from the report include overall smartphone growth, which is up 28% year over year in the United States and 31% in China, and mobile internet traffic, which now accounts for 15% of total global internet traffic.

Following Tim Cook's appearance at D11 last night, respected Apple journalist Jim Dalrymple has posted his expectations for Apple's WWDC Keynote next month.

It's not clear if Dalrymple, who is known to have excellent contacts at Apple, is passing on something in particular from the company or it's just a summary of what he expects ahead of WWDC.

Dalrymple writes that he doesn't expect a new iPhone or iPad model, largely because the devices are flagship products and would have their own, separate media events. Instead, he believes that the Mac wouldn't warrant its own event -- but an announcement of Mac updates would fit well at WWDC.

The Mac is still an important part of what Apple does, but I don’t know that Apple would hold a special event specifically for a Mac product anymore. If they did, it would have to be quite a spectacular product.

For me, the Mac products fit well with a Tim Cook keynote at WWDC. That’s all I really expect from Apple in the way of hardware at the conference.

Finally, Dalrymple expects Apple to show off new versions of both the Mac and iOS operating systems, which Tim Cook confirmed last night at D11. A number of previous reports have claimed that much of the iOS user interface would receive a Jony Ive-led revamping, with a "flatter" design and fewer skeuomorphic elements.

Last month, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple's notebook line would receive updates at WWDC, with non-Retina models shipping soon after WWDC and Retina machines shipping later due to production bottlenecks on the displays.

A number of reports have suggested that Apple will introduce new iPhone and iPad models this fall, including a Retina-display equipped iPad mini, as well as a new iPhone model perhaps equipped with a fingerprint sensor.

Hours after Apple CEO Tim Cook's talk with AllThingsD's Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, AllThingsD has posted the full video of the interview online. The 81-minute video contains the full interview in addition to the Q&A session that followed. MacRumors provided live updates of the event. Last year it took several weeks for the full video to find its way online.

Steve Jobs was a regular participant of the D conference, having been interviewed on the stage and even appearing alongside Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Cook has carried on that tradition by serving as the opening session interview for the past two years.

Among the topics discussed by Cook yesterday:

- Apple Television - There Is a Grand Vision
- Wearables Are Incredibly Interesting, Nothing Great on the Market
- Executive Change Up Has Been "Great", Revamped iOS/OS X to Be Unveiled at WWDC
- Apple to Open Up APIs in the Future, but No Chat Heads
- Apple Hires Former EPA Chief Lisa Jackson to Oversee Environmental Efforts

At this year's annual All Things Digital conference hosted by AllThingsD, Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook, where he revealed that Apple is planning to open up additional APIs in the future, giving third party developers more control over iOS.

According to Cook, while Apple will open up more APIs, it will continue to protect customers from the "risk of bad experiences."

Always a fine line, or maybe not so fine. The customer pays us to make choices on their behalf. But you'll see us open up more.

When Facebook released its Home software for Android phones in April, Facebook director of product Adam Mosseri mentioned that the company was in ongoing talks with Apple about bringing Home (and its Chat Heads functionality) to iOS.

According to Cook, while Chat Heads were not the ideal choice, Apple will allow third party apps to take over some iOS features in the future, allowing developers to build better and more versatile experiences.

During the question and answer session, Cook also mentioned that Apple had no issue with porting Apple apps to Android or other platforms should the need arise in the future, though such functionality doesn't make sense at the current point in time. Full coverage of Tim Cook's comments can be found here.

While sitting down with AllThingsD's Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg at D11: All Things Digital, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked about the new iOS and whether it was what Jony Ive was working on. Cook confirmed, noting that the change was part of Apple's executive shakeup last fall.

Yes. What we did last fall was change things up — to really ramp up our innovation. The key in the post-PC era for having a great product is incredible hardware, incredible software, and incredible services, and to combine them so you can't tell what's what. The magic is at the intersection.

Cook went on to explain how Apple recognized that Ive had contributed significantly to the look and feel of Apple products over the years and that he could do the same for Apple's software as well. Swisher followed up by asking Cook about collaboration within Apple and whether that was why former Apple senior vice president Scott Forstall was ousted. Cook responded that the goal was simply to tighten the groups within Apple, which echoes his comments to Bloomberg in December.

I don't want to talk about people who aren't there. The whole concept is to tighten the groups even more, so we could spend more time finding magic at the intersection. Now it's seven months later, and I think it's been an incredible change. Craig is running iOS and OS X, which has been fantastic. Eddy is focused on services. It's been great.

Cook also confirmed that Apple is set to talk about the futures of both iOS and OS X at WWDC on June 10, which includes Ive's "more than skin deep" rumored redesign of iOS 7. Cook's full commentary can be found in our coverage, available here.

At this year's annual All Things Digital conference hosted by AllThingsD, Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher asked Apple CEO Tim Cook about wearable devices, such as Apple's much rumored smart watch, which has been dubbed the "iWatch."

Tim Cook mentioned that he found wearables to be "incredibly interesting" and went on to say that it could be a "profound area." Cook himself is equipped with a Nike Fuelband, but believes that there's nothing "great" on the market, and that wearables are an area "ripe for exploration."

Of course, when pressed on whether Apple will be developing a wearable device, Cook declined to answer, though he did hint that it was an important area of potential development, and that while both glasses and watches had drawbacks, the wrist was "natural."

There's nothing that's going to convince a kid who has never worn glasses or a band or a watch or whatever to wear one. Or at least I haven't seen it. So I think there's lots of things to solve in this space, but it's an area where it's ripe for exploration, it's ripe for us all getting excited about. I think there will be tons of companies playing in this.

I see it as another very key branch of the tree.

I think from a mainstream point of view [glasses] are difficult to see. I think the wrist is interesting. I'm wearing this (Nike Fuelband) on my wrist, it's somewhat natural. But as I said before, I think for something to work here, you first have to convince people it's so incredible that they want to wear it.

With the growing popularity of smart watches like the Pebble, the Jawbone UP, and the Nike Fuelband, rumors about Apple’s own smart watch have ramped up in recent months. Most recently, reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that Apple's rumored iWatch will debut in the second half of 2014.

The watch, which will integrate with Apple's existing mobile lineup, is expected to feature a 1.5–2.0 inch display. The New York Times has suggested that Apple is experimenting with curved glass, and according to a February report from Bloomberg, Apple has a team of 100 product designers working on the smart watch.

MacRumors has full coverage of the interview with more of Tim Cook’s comments on the iWatch.