Big Retailers Begin Rolling Out iBeacon Trials

As Apple rolls out its iBeacon technology across its Retail Stores and investigates using it to enable mobile payments, a number of large retailers are testing the technology in their establishments.

Today, Shopkick announced it would be starting an iBeacon trial at 100 American Eagle stores in the U.S. This follows announcement earlier this month that InMarket would introduce iBeacons to more than 200 Safeway and Giant Eagle grocery stores in a number of markets across the country.

As shoppers enter an American Eagle Outfitters store, shopBeacon will welcome and show them location-specific rewards, deals, discounts and product recommendations – without them even having to remember to open the app. It can also tie at-home browsing behavior to in-store benefits; if the customer “likes” a specific product online, if they so choose, shopBeacon can remind them where in the American Eagle Outfitters store that product is sold. Even better, in the future, it can also deliver department-specific offers throughout the store – so must-have skinnies show up at the most useful time: in the jeans department.

Companies introducing iBeacons seem to understand the appeal of the devices, but it remains to be seen how consumers will respond and if they will download apps for individual stores — a necessity for the iBeacons to have any effect. Shopkick previously performed a retail trial of iBeacons in two Macy’s locations.

If the larger American Eagle trial is successful, Shopkick could introduce the technology to its other retail partners including Best Buy, Crate & Barrel, JCPenney, Old Navy, Sports Authority, Target and more.

Apple Seeds OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 Build 13C39 to Developers [Mac Blog]

Apple today seeded build 13C39 of OS X 10.9.2 to developers, marking the second developer beta iteration of 10.9.2. The release comes almost a month after the first OS X 10.9.2 beta, build 13C32, was seeded to developers.

The update is available to registered developers through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store as well as through the Mac Dev Center.

The first seed of OS X 10.9.2 introduced FaceTime Audio to the Mac and asked developers to focus testing on Mail, Messages, VPN, Graphics Drivers, and VoiceOver. The second build allows Mac users to block people on iMessage and FaceTime as can be done in iOS 7.

Apple has also seeded Safari 7.0.2 for Mavericks and Safari 6.1.2 for Lion/Mountain Lion, asking developers to focus on General Website Compatibility, Accessibility, AutoFill features, Printing and Emailing from Reader, Dragging Tabs Between Monitors, and Extension Compatibility.

Sonnet Shipping First New Thunderbolt 2 PCIe Expansion Chassis

Sonnet today announced the first Thunderbolt 2 expansion chassis, allowing owners of late 2013-era MacBook Pro and Mac Pro models to add two or three PCIe cards to their machines.

There are three new options, desktop and rack mount three-slot chassis, plus a two-slot desktop version.

The Echo Express III-D, Echo Express III-R, and Echo Express SE II incorporate ultra-fast Thunderbolt 2 technology, which delivers twice the throughput of 10 Gb/sec Thunderbolt and provides sufficient bandwidth to support many of the highest-performance and most-demanding PCIe cards. The new expansion chassis support every kind of Thunderbolt-compatible PCIe card available — enabling the use of professional video capture, audio interface, 16Gb and 8Gb Fibre Channel, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, SAS and SATA HBA, and RAID controller cards with Thunderbolt-enabled iMac®, Mac® mini, Mac Pro®, MacBook Air®, and MacBook Pro® computers. Plus, the Sonnet systems’ dual Thunderbolt 2 ports support full-bandwidth connectivity with Thunderbolt 2-equipped host computers, full backward compatibility with 10 Gb/sec Thunderbolt-equipped computers and devices, and daisy-chaining of other Thunderbolt 2 and Thunderbolt devices.

Customers who purchased Thunderbolt 1 equipped expansion chassis can get free upgrades to the Thunderbolt 2 version. All the Thunderbolt 2 chassis are fully backwards-compatible with older Thunderbolt equipped Macs.

The desktop three-slot version is available for $979, the rack mount three-slot is $1,199, and the two-slot desktop is $499.

T-Mobile to Expand ‘Un-Carrier 4.0’ Initiative, Offer Switch Incentives to U.S. Cellular, Regional Customers

T-Mobile will expand its recently introduced “Un-Carrier 4.0″ initiative, which saw the company offering to pay up to $350 in early termination fees for Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T customers who switched to T-Mobile. As part of the expansion, first detailed by Re/code, T-Mobile will pay the same contract termination fees for customers currently with U.S. Cellular and a dozen other small regional carriers.

T-Mobile also has plans to entice additional customers by accepting a larger number of handsets for trade-in, including damaged phones, albeit for a lower trade-in credit.

“This is not just a promotion,” T-Mobile marketing chief Mike Sievert told Re/code on Thursday. “What we are trying to do is bring an end to unfair one-way onerous contracts in this country.”

First unveiled last week, T-Mobile’s early termination deal pays up to $350 per line in fees for individuals and families with up to five lines who switch from their current carriers and trade in their phones to T-Mobile.

Under the terms of the program, customers have to leave their current carriers, trade in existing phones (T-Mobile offers up to $300 per trade-in), sign up for a new T-Mobile plan and port a phone number. After the above qualifications are met, customers can send the final bill from their previous carrier (with termination fees listed) to T-Mobile for reimbursement via prepaid MasterCard.

According to T-Mobile, upwards of 80,000 “break-up” letters have been shared on social media sites in the last week by customers leaving their carriers for T-Mobile and signups have increased as a result of the program.

Apple to Begin iPhone 5c In-Store Screen Replacements Next Week

Apple will begin offering in-store screen replacements or repairs for iPhone 5c displays next week, starting on Monday, January 20, according to 9to5Mac.

Apple has begun conducting iPhone 5c screen replacements in a small number of stores in the United States over the past couple of months, but the January 20th rollout will represent a full-scale launch in all of Apple’s retail regions aside from Hong Kong and Canada.

Broken displays that aren’t covered under AppleCare+ will likely cost $149 per device to replace or repair, while displays that are covered under AppleCare+ are likely to cost $79 per device, similar to the pricing structure Apple employs for broken iPhone 5 displays.

In-store replacements/repairs for iPhone 5s displays are still in Apple’s plans and are “coming soon”, though are not expected to roll out next week alongside iPhone 5c replacements/repairs. The moves are part of Apple’s larger shift to lower repair costs.

Tim Cook Asked About Larger iPhone at China Mobile Launch

After nearly six years of negotiations, the iPhone is finally available on China Mobile, which is the largest mobile carrier in the world with around 763 million subscribers. Apple CEO Tim Cook was on hand with China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua at the carrier’s headquarters store in Beijing at launch, according to Bloomberg.

Tim Cook with China Mobile’s Xi Guohua and a customer. Image via Eunice Yoon

Cook handed out autographed iPhones to the first few customers before he once again praised Apple’s new cooperation with China Mobile.

“Today is just the beginning of China Mobile and Apple coming together to deliver the best experience in the world,” Cook said as a few dozen people came in to look at the iPhones on display. China Mobile said Jan. 15 it signed a multiyear agreement with Apple containing “broad potential” for future cooperation.

Cook was soon asked whether the next iPhone would launch with a bigger screen, and responded that Apple does not like talking about future projects, but that they are working on “great things” and want to keep them secret because “you will be so much happier when you see it.”

Having fun in Beijing at the iPhone launch with China Mobile! pic.twitter.com/AqoqLbbeO7

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) January 17, 2014

China Mobile is focused on attracting premium customers for the iPhone, Canalys analyst Nicole Peng told Bloomberg, because the carrier is concerned the high subsidy on the iPhone would impact their profitability. Fellow Chinese carrier China Telecom reported a 10 percent drop in net income in the first year of offering the iPhone, largely because of the higher subsidy.

On January 15, China Mobile said that 1 million iPhones had been pre-ordered in advance of launch. Estimates of Apple’s potential iPhone sales have varied from 10-30 million units, with some claiming demand is lower due to satisfaction with China’s other two carriers China Telecom and China Unicom as well as waning interest in iPhone because of increased smartphone choices in the country.