Apple CEO Tim Cook to Field Questions at Utah Tech Tour With Senator Orrin Hatch

Apple CEO Tim Cook will participate in a Q&A session with U.S. senator Orrin Hatch this Friday, as part of the senator’s Utah Tech Tour (via AppleInsider).

The event is being held to highlight the state’s technology community, and the Apple chief is scheduled to give a short address before taking questions from Hatch and members of the public. An online form has also been set up for submitting questions for possible inclusion in the Q&A.

It’s not clear what topics will be up for discussion during the event, although Apple’s run-in with the government over encryption and privacy issues following the San Bernardino shooting case is likely to be on the agenda.

Senator Hatch serves as the Chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, and in April he invited members of the Senate to a special Q&A session with one of the lawyers Apple hired to head its legal team during its dispute with the FBI.

The Utah Tech Tour takes place at the Grand America in Salt Lake City, from 5.30pm to 7pm MDT on Friday, September 30. The event is open to the public. Tickets of limited availability can be ordered online via the Utah Tech Tour website.

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.

Tag: Tim Cook
Discuss this article in our forums

Apple Opening R&D Center in Zhongguancun, China’s ‘Silicon Valley’

Apple has set up its first research and development center in China in Zhongguancun Science Park, according to a statement released by the Zhongguancun Park Management Committee (via DigiTimes).

Zhongguancun is a technology hub situated in the Haidian District in northwestern Beijing and is very well known in China. Often referred to as “China’s Silicon Valley”, the area has gathered nearly 20,000 technology enterprises since its emergence in the 1950s. The hub has many local prestigious academy affiliations, and is home to research centers for several global tech companies, including Google, Intel, AMD, Sony, and Microsoft.

Zhongguancun main street and plaza in northwestern Beijing, China..
Apple’s new R&D center in Zhongguancun has reportedly registered a capital of $15 million, with total investment likely to reach $45 million in the future, according to the park’s press release. The center will employ a total of 500 staff and focus on the development of “computer software and hardware products, communication, audio and video devices, as well as advanced technologies for consumer electronics products and the information industry”.

The R&D facility is expected to complete in 2016 and to be used to integrate Apple’s engineering and business teams to increase regional sales and services, according to media reports in China.

The news comes on the heels of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s announcement last month during a visit to China that an R&D center would be coming to the country “by the end of the year”.

The move has been seen as a response to the iPhone’s dwindling returns in the country as consumers opt for low-cost alternatives available on the Chinese market. Apple has also experienced a series of setbacks in the region this year, including the closure of the iTunes and iBooks store and a number of lawsuits that have prevented it from being able to focus on gaining traction in the country’s lucrative mobile segment. Although once Apple’s second largest market in the world, the company announced during July’s earnings report that its revenue in China had dropped 33 percent year-over-year.

Apple has set up similar R&D centers in Japan, Israel, and the UK, and is said to be planning similar facilities in Canada, India, Indonesia and Vietnam to take advantage of local resources.

Tag: China
Discuss this article in our forums

Soft Gold OnePlus 3 finally going on sale in India from Oct. 1

The OnePlus 3 is one of the best mid-range phones you can buy today, and those looking to pick up the handset in India will be able to select the Soft Gold color option starting October 1. The phone is sold exclusively on Amazon India for ₹27,999 ($420).

Mark your calendars, fans! The #OnePlus3SoftGold will go on sale on October 1st, only on @amazonIN. pic.twitter.com/yhKkpNswlE

— OnePlus India (@OnePlus_IN) September 28, 2016

The gold color variant is already available in the U.S., European Union, Hong Kong, and Canada.

OnePlus 3

• OnePlus 3 review: Finally, all grown up
• OnePlus 3 specs
• OnePlus 3 vs. the flagship competition
• Latest OnePlus 3 news
• Discuss OnePlus 3 in the forums

OnePlus

New Galaxy Note 7 sales resume in Korea Oct. 1 as recall expected to hit 80% completion

Samsung restarts TV commercials for the phone, throws in cheaper screen replacements for its home market.

Samsung moving towards the conclusion of its Galaxy Note 7 recall — at least in its home market of South Korea. According to Reuters, the company will restart sales of the phone on October 1, by which time it expects 80 percent of old, potentially hazardous Note 7s to have been returned.

In the run up to the new start date, Samsung has reportedly resumed Note 7 TV commercials in Korea, and to sweeten the deal it’s throwing in 50% off any repairs to the phone — including screen replacements — for customers buying a Note 7 in the month of October.

LG could take advantage of Samsung’s predicament with the timing of its V20 launch.

Elsewhere, the Galaxy Note 7 is set to go on sale again from October 28 in Europe, assuming the local Note 7 exchange program has successfully wrapped up by that point. In the U.S., the official recall program continues, with an October 21 date for new sales being rumored.

The timing of the Note 7’s Korean relaunch puts it up against LG’s V20, which hits the country’s three major carriers this week. Samsung’s local rival will be looking to take advantage of the Note 7’s ongoing publicity problem with its own high-specced, big-screened handset. Although no U.S. launch date has been confirmed for the V20 yet, it’s widely rumored to go on sale the same day new American Note 7 sales begin.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Galaxy Note 7 recall: Everything you need to know
• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
• Here are all four Note 7 colors
• Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

Verizon
AT&T
T-Mobile
Sprint

Volkswagen’s I.D. arrives in 2020 with up to 370 mile range

VW has kicked off the Paris Motor Show with some (much needed) flair, unveiling the fully electric I.D.. The I.D. looks like something straight out of Back To The Future II, and has a suitably futuristic release date too: 2020. Volkswagen claims the 125 kW motor in the I.D. will have a huge range, landing somewhere between 250 and a pretty impressive (if true) 370 miles. You might have to wait a few years to get one, and be prepared to pay “Golf” money for it, but VW says the I.D. is actually the “ambassador” for a whole new electric line-up. For now, we took a look at the concept model right here in 2016 in Paris.

One thing’s for sure about the I.D., VW’s unlikely to get into another pickle regarding omissions (it has none). When it finally launches, the I.D. will be the first electric vehicle from VW with the company’s new “Modular Electric Drive Kit” E.V. platform — which is distinct from its current combustion, and hybrid models. We’d heard rumours that VW was planning an all electric with a pretty decent range back in August, and it looks like Volkswagen is willing to up its own ante, boosting the projected top end range to an estimated 370 miles (600Km).

There are also plans to include automated driving (called I.D. Pilot), but that’s not going to be ready until 2025, so you’ll have a few years behind the wheel yet. We’re a little early to put a price on it, but VW says it’ll cost about the same as a Golf, despite it being smaller (yet with “the generous space of a Passat”). For us, it’s all about those sweet wheels though.

Steve Dent contributed to this report.

Spotify launches in the world’s second biggest music market: Japan

After protracted deal-making with the country’s record labels, Spotify has finally launched in Japan. To sweeten the deal to prospective listeners, it’s already putting particular focus on the service’s lyric display feature — and the karaoke possibilities that (vaguely) come with that. But what’s another country in Spotify’s empire? Japan is the second largest music market in the world; Bloomberg pegs it at around 300 billion yen (almost $3 billion). The country continues to sell physical music media like CDs well — it’s the country where Tower Records stores still lives on. Spotify Japan has launched both a free ad-supported service as well the typical 980 yen per-month ($9.70) subscription — it’s in invite-only beta for now.

Japan has a notable lack of free-to-listen music services, with rivals like Apple Music, Google Play and Line music only offering paid subscription options. Will Japanese listeners go for the free option, and graduate to paid? I guess it depends how annoying the ads turn out to be. The company certain needs to keep expanding. Spotify still remains unprofitable: something that success in Japan (and perhaps with Soundcloud?) could help fix.

Spotify Launches in Japan, the Largest Music Market Outside the U.S.

Spotify launched in Japan today, 18 months after it opened its first offices in the country (via TechCrunch).

The streaming service has been in protracted negotiations with record labels to flesh out rights for the region, allowing rivals like Apple Music to get a head start in the country’s hugely lucrative market.

Music sales in Japan are estimated to be almost $3 billion a year, making it the second largest market outside of the U.S. One potential obstacle for streaming services is that people in Japan prefer to buy and own music on CD rather than purchase digital files, although the convenience of streaming could sway consumers and allow services like Spotify to build a significant subscriber base in the country.

Spotify also becomes the only mainstream streaming service in Japan that offers a free-tier option for users, which may have been a factor in its protracted negotiations with the music industry, but could serve to persuade Japanese consumers to give streaming a try over competitors.

Back in March, Spotify launched in Indonesia, the company’s first big expansion in Asia for some time. It first entered the continent in 2013 with launches in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia, but had been relatively quiet in the region since.

Spotify has 40 million paying customers compared to Apple Music’s 17 million paying customers. Yesterday it was reported that Spotify is in ‘advanced talks’ to purchase SoundCloud, which has upwards of 175 million listeners per month and could provide a huge influx of users to the service, giving it an edge over Apple.

Tag: Spotify
Discuss this article in our forums