The team behind Evolve has announced that the upcoming update – which will introduce a new playable monster alongside four new hunters – will arrive on March 31.

Made from hand-crafted, genuine leather, this OEM pouch features a beautifully textured exterior that feels as good as it looks. The interior has a very soft microsuede lining that keeps the front and back of your BlackBerry Classic safe from scratches while inside. Yours today for only $23.95!

This spring clip holster keeps your device clipped in tight, no matter the hustle and bustle. Just snap it to your belt, pants or bag and pop in your device! The top spring clip is extremely tough and provides quick-release access when you need to answer a call, text or email. On sale today for $16.95

If Apple holds to pattern — though sometimes the company doesn’t — we’ll be getting an iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and perhaps an iPhone 6c this fall.

That Apple is continuing to make iPhones isn’t particuarly interesting. (If they were to shut the place down and go into the hot tub business, now, that’d be something else.) How Apple continues to solve problems and bring greater value to the phone space is what’s interesting to me. With iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, the answers seem apparent, if not obvious — better cameras, better processors, and the continued expansion of Force Touch and Taptics across the product line. But what about an iPhone 6c?

Small problems

One of the “problems” customers face with the current iPhone lineup is size. People who really, truly prefer smaller phones have to choose between getting a 2013-era iPhone 5s with a 4-inch display, sacrificing a little on camera and specs, or a 2014-era iPhone 6 with a 4.7-inch display, sacrificing on one-handed ease of use.

High-end Android, for the most part, abandoned the 4-inch market segment years ago. These days, the “small” section of many Android lineups starts around five inches; no one seems to even ask about smaller Android phones anymore.

In contrast, up until six months ago, the iPhone’s flagship model was four inches. That phone remains available today, though with inferior specs when compared to its bigger siblings. Which prompts people to ask about new 4-inch iPhones all the time.

• Do people really want smaller screens… or smaller iPhones?

Big problems

Then, there’s distinction: Come next year, how does the company drop the existing iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus by $100 without also dropping average margins or demand for the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus? What’s more, how would they introduce a 4-inch variant without doing the same?

Traditionally iPhone price tiers are based on storage. It’s an abstract and has no direct correlation to cost, but it’s something people easily understand. Bigger costs more. 128 GB is bigger, so it costs $100 more than 64 GB. Everyone gets it.

With iPhone 6 Plus, Apple expanded the definition of “bigger” to include screen sizes as well. 5.5-inch screens are bigger, so they cost $100 more than 4.7-inch screens. Everyone still gets it.

“Smaller” works the same way, just in reverse. 16GB is smaller, so it costs $100 less than 64 GB. 4.7-inch displays are smaller, so they cost $100 less than 5.5-inch displays. (So does “older” — Apple often drops the price of the previous generation iPhone by $100 and keeps it in the lineup as well.) Still getting it.

But this means that if Apple goes smaller again, introducing a 4-inch iPhone 6c, the expectation would be for it to cost $100 less. That may be one of the reasons we didn’t get a 4-inch iPhone 6 in 2014 — all that bleeding-edge technology crammed into an even smaller casing would be expected to be delivered at an even lower price.

The iPhone 5c solution

Apple faced a similar “problems” in 2013 when they introduced the iPhone 5s. Instead of dropping the nearly identical looking iPhone 5 by $100 and slotting it into the mid-tier, they replaced it with the iPhone 5c. The iPhone 5c was both easier to manufacture and visibly distinct from the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s. It used brightly colored plastic for the casing and added an element of pop-art appeal to the lineup.

The iPhone 5c wasn’t the blockbuster the iPhone 5s was, but it wasn’t meant to be. iPhone sales are traditionally like major motion pictures: They spike on release day, then trend down until the next release. iPhone 5c was meant to be more like a TV show. The numbers may not be blockbuster-style, but they’re solid, week in, week out. More importantly, the iPhone 5c preserved margins and demand for the iPhone 5s.

iPhone 6c potential

To me, there are two avenues Apple can take when it comes to a potential iPhone 6c.

If the company wants to make 4.7- and 5.5-inch iPhones less expensive and get them into more hands — all while maintaining the same kind of high-end exclusivity on metal finishes that the company did for iPhone 5s — then unabashedly plastic iPhone 6c and iPhone 6c Plus options could be on the horizon. The candy-coated casings would make such phones feel even bigger, of course, but that would be a different “problem”.

More likely, Apple wants to keep 4.7- and 5.5-inch iPhone models exclusive to the high-end, a 4-inch iPhone 6c could make a lot of sense.

It would let the company remove the current iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus from the product lineup, just like the company removed iPhone 5 in 2013. It could sell the smaller model for $100 less and preserve both average margins and demand for the latest, greatest iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 Plus. It would also look different and have more modern specs, including a better camera than the iPhone 5s, which will presumably drop by an additional $100 this fall to take up position at the bottom of the lineup. (And punt the iPhone 5c out of most markets.)

Most importantly, it would let the existing 4-inch iPhone customer base move forward. It would keep them one year behind the flagships in terms of technology, and on a separate path in terms of design, but it would keep the range — and hence the value of the iPhone — for those customers.

John Gruber and I spoke about a potential iPhone 6c on his podcast, The Talk Show, many moons ago. It’s an interesting idea and one Apple has almost-certainly explored because, again, they explore every interesting idea. Whether they ultimately go forward with an iPhone 6c or not will depend on whether they consider what I termed “problems” above to actually be problems, and if they do, whether or not the company feels an iPhone 6c would be the best solution.

Either way, unless and until Apple gives it all up for hot tubs, there are new iPhones coming our way this fall. And it will be fascinating to see how Apple arranges the rest of the product lineup around them.

Since the removal of music and movies from BlackBerry World, BlackBerry users have had to look elsewhere to get music on their devices and one option available is the HMV Music app. Truth be told, the app has been neglected for a bit as one might be able to tell from reading the reviews, but that’s neither here nor there now as v2.0.0.4 has arrived and is readily available for download from BlackBerry World.

Read More »

Protect your Lumia 920 from drops and scratches with this low-profile, textured hard case from Amzer. The included belt clip holster is a great addition, granting quick access when you need to answer a call, text or email. Get this combo today for only $8.95!

Tim Cook talks about his time at the helm of Apple and following Steve Jobs in a new interview.

Cook says that he has learned a lot from his time as CEO, a position that he’s occupied full-time since August 2011. He had to develop a thicker skin, he says, against the scrutiny from outside of Apple, and doubts that he might not be up to the task of following Steve Jobs. Stepping into that spotlight showed him just how much Jobs had insulated the executive team from outside noise, according to Fortune:

“What I learned after Steve passed away, what I had known only at a theoretical level, an academic level maybe, was that he was an incredible heat shield for us, his executive team. None of us probably appreciated that enough because it’s not something we were fixated on. We were fixated on our products and running the business. But he really took any kind of spears that were thrown. He took the praise as well. But to be honest, the intensity was more than I would ever have expected.”

Even with the new level of criticism and scrutiny, Cook never tried to emulate Jobs.

“He never tried to be Steve,” says Eddy Cue, senior vice president for Internet software and services, who joined Apple in 1989. “He tried to always be himself. He has been very good at letting us do our thing. He’s aware and involved at the high end, and he gets involved as needed. Steve got involved at the pixel level.”

Cook spoke about his decision to come out in October 2014, saying that he might not of done it if he didn’t thing it would help.

“To be honest, if I would not have come to the conclusion that it would likely help other people, I would have never done it,” he says. “There’s no joy in me putting my life in view.” Referencing the often-cited line that “to whom much is given, much is required,” Cook says, “I’ve certainly been given a lot.”

In addition to this new profile, Fortune has also given Cook the top spot on their list of greatest world leaders, saying:

Cook has led Apple so strongly, including in some surprising directions, that he has earned the No. 1 spot on Fortune’s list of the World’s Greatest Leaders. Apple’s stock has hit all-time highs, in Apple Pay and the Apple Watch the company has shown its continued appetite for innovation, and it is gradually becoming more open and outspoken, including on a variety of non-corporate social issues.

You can read Fortune’s full profile of Cook, as well as his entry on their list World’s Greatest Leaders at the links below.

Source: Fortune (1), (2)

New import data from India has revealed possible prices for the Lumia 640 and the Lumia 640 XL Windows Phones for that country. The data shows that the Lumia 640 Dual SIM has a declared price of INR 4,683 ($75), while the Lumia 640 XL Dual SIM has a price of INR 6,710 ($107).

Microsoft and local carrier Entel teamed up to announce the Lumia 635, Lumia 435 in Peru. The two Windows Phones will offer affordable options for consumers in the region, but it’s also good to see support growing from carriers in more markets.

Last week Square Enix announced that their popular Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) Final Fantasy XI will be coming to mobile in 2016. Mobile Final Fantasy fans need not wait for next year for a new Final Fantasy game, luckily! Final Fantasy: Record Keeper from DeNA and Square Enix has just launched on iOS and Android.

Final Fantasy: Record Keeper is the first mobile Final Fantasy game to bring classic moments from the entire series to life. Think of it as a greatest hits release, with players able to recruit famous Final Fantasy heroes like Cloud and Lightning and participate in battles from beloved games in the series. Record Keeper is free to play and quite a lot of fun for RPG fans. Read on for our quick impressions!

Saving the Final Fantasy universe

In Final Fantasy: Record Keeper, a special kingdom exists in which stories are celebrated as artwork. The entire history of the Final Fantasy series is preserved as paintings and kept within a castle. Walk along its halls and you’ll see paintings dedicated to the 16-bit Final Fantasies, fan favorite Final Fantasy VII, and even newer games like Final Fantasy XIII. One day the content of the paintings starts to vanish, threatening the very existence of the kingdom.

To save the kingdom, players will have to jump into each painting and relive the events it celebrates. The first painting is Final Fantasy VII. You’ll start out battling Shinra soldiers and robots. Only instead of 3D battles like in the original PlayStation game, the battle now takes place entirely in two dimensions! It’s a real treat seeing characters from various Final Fantasy games all rendered in the same 16-bit art style.

Familiar battle system

Record Keeper’s battles work the same way as in traditional Final Fantasy games. An Active Time Battle meter constantly fills at the bottom of the screen. Once it fills up, players can attack, defend, use abilities like spells, or perform a Soul Break.

The Soul Break is a devastating special move capable of hurting every enemy the party faces. Naturally it uses its own meter that fills as you land hits against opponents. Finally, you’ll also be able to summon giant monsters like Bahamut to fight for your side.

Build your army of heroes

After completing the first Final Fantasy VII dungeon, a black mage and a white one will join your party. They look just like their 8-bit sprites from the original Fantasy. But Record Keeper has much more exciting rewards to work towards. Complete dungeons and earn high ratings to unlock classic heroes like Squall from Final Fantasy VIII, Cloud from VII, Lightning from XIII, and many more. You can even auto equip party members if you’re not concerned with manually setting your dream team’s lineup.

Being a free to play game, Final Fantasy: Record Keeper has a stamina system. Each dungeon you play will deplete some of your stamina, which refills over time. Should you lose in the middle of a dungeon, it costs premium currency to continue as well. We’ve seen in many games of this type, and everything seems pretty reasonable and fair so far.

If you’re a fan of the Final Fantasy series, Record Keeper is a must-play. Try it, build your own team of heroes, and save the Final Fantasy universe one classic battle at a time!

• Free – Download Now