Verizon Introduces New Monthly Service Plans, Eliminating Smartphone Subsidies for New Customers

Verizon today announced that the company will be introducing a new set of smartphone rate plans for its customers while simultaneously eliminating the traditional subsidized two-year contract option for new users joining the network. The new plans come in four sizes of data allotments, and will go into effect officially on August 13.

Once customers choose the smartphone they want to pay for on its own monthly cost, they will then choose which data option they need for their plan. The new plans are going to apply to both single lines but can also be shared with up to ten devices on one plan. Verizon likens the new plan options as a simplified version of its former offerings.

Many things in our lives come in familiar sizes. Morning coffee? A medium, please. New t-shirt? That’s a large – at least for now. From small to XL, everyone understands these common sizing options.

Beginning August 13, our newest price plan will offer four easy sizes of data to match how our customers use wireless service. These new data options come in sizes just like other things we buy:

–Small: $30/month for 1GB of shareable data

–Medium: $45/month for 3GB of shareable data

–Large: $60/month for 6GB of shareable data

–X-Large: $80/month for 12GB of shareable data

With the new plan structure, monthly device access charges will be priced at $20 for smartphones, $10 for tablets and Jetpack MiFis, and $5 for “connected device lines” such as smart watches. These device access charges are, of course, in addition to one of the four data options each customer will pick and any financed cost for the devices themselves. Verizon hopes that the new offerings will result in “a simpler and more streamlined bill” for its customers in the future.

New customers will have to choose between paying the full device cost up front or using interest-free financing to spread the costs out over 24 months, as subsidized pricing with a two-year contract will no longer be available to new customers. Existing customers will be able to move to the plans or retain their existing plans, with some restrictions that have yet to be detailed.

‘iPhone 6s’ Mass Production Ramping Up in Late August Ahead of Mid-September Debut

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today provided more information on the launch of the next series of iPhones, the so-called “iPhone 6s” and “iPhone 6s Plus,” noting that mass production on the smartphone line will begin in late August, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency [Google Translate] (via GforGames). The production ramp-up will reportedly come roughly 1-2 weeks later than originally expected, but the change should not affect Apple’s launch plans, which are anticipated involve a mid-September debut as has been typical for the past several years.

iPhone 6s display assembly
The analyst notes that Foxconn is manufacturing 60 percent of all iPhone 6s models, with Pegatron taking the remaining 40 percent. Foxconn will reportedly handle all of the manufacturing for the larger-screened “iPhone 6s Plus.”

Components for the iPhone 6s such as A9 chips and Force Touch-equipped display panels have been said to have been in production for several weeks now, and all of these components will be brought together at Foxconn’s and Pegatron’s facilities for final assembly.

Apple is facing increasing demand for the new line of iPhones, and a few of Foxconn’s factories — such as the one in Zhengzhou — are rumored to be ramping up overtime for employees heading into mass production just to be able to meet demand. GforGames also notes that slowing production of the iPhone 6 line ahead of the updated models is providing some breathing room for the manufacturing and production of the new iPhones.

Earlier in the year, Kuo predicted a mid-to-late August time window for mass production on the new line of iPhones, so today’s 1-2 week delay still falls inside the previous estimate. Recent rumors regarding the “iPhone 6s” and “iPhone 6s Plus” include the addition of Force Touch, a slightly thicker body to accommodate the new technology, camera improvements and perhaps a rose gold or pink color option.

Jimmy Iovine Hints at Possible Apple Music-Like Apple TV Curation, Admits ‘Connect’ as Weak Point

Following an interview yesterday with Evening Standard, Wired today posted an interview with Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine, in which the Beats co-founder admits the company’s need to work to make Connect a better platform for artists and fans alike, and even hints at a possible curation aspect for Apple TV, similar to that of the company’s new streaming music service.

“We all know one thing, we all have different television delivery systems, don’t we all wish that the delivery systems were better, as far as curation and service?” he says.

“They’re all technically good. And Netflix is starting to cross the code because they’re starting to make some original content. It is really good, but still I mean none of us make movies here right, so we’re all punters, or what do you call them in the music business, fans right? We want to watch movies. Sit down with your girlfriend or a bunch of friends and try to find a movie online. That box helps you none — it doesn’t help. You’re on your own. And eventually that will catch them unless somebody digs in and really helps the customer. And entertainment needs that, it needs to live and breathe.”

Iovine admits, however, that he wouldn’t be the one spearheading such an innovation for the TV side of things, doubly noting that if such a curation aspect for Apple TV did appear, it probably won’t be for some time. Speaking candidly with Wired, he said, “I’ll tell you man, right now, this [music] is so daunting that I can’t even think about anything else.”

Before WWDC this year, a brand-new A8-Based Apple TV Box was expected to premiere alongside a long-rumored Apple streaming content service. New rumors point towards a September reveal, alongside the new iPhones, for the set-top box, with no word yet regarding what stages of development the streaming service is in. No specific reference to in-depth curation has been made in the past regarding the next generation of Apple TV, however.

Elsewhere in the interview, Iovine tackles the subject of Apple Music’s Connect service, which allows artists to upload videos, songs, and short blog posts to keep fans up-to-date on the behind-the-scenes aspect of their work. As of yet, not much noise has been made coming out of the social network aspect of Apple Music, and Iovine knows the company has to work hard to make Connect what he and his team intended it to be in the first place.

“We have to prove [Connect’s value to artists], and we will slowly prove that. That will be the piece of the service that comes along last, or later, and we have some real plans,” he tells WIRED. “We’re building it out a lot more, it needs a lot of technical work as well. But we believe we’ll get there and it’ll be a great place for artists to communicate and with a lot of independence and freedom to do what they want to do. But we’re still building it.”

Wired‘s full interview with Iovine is worth a read, with more in-depth looks behind the team that curates Apple Music for its users, his history in making and producing records for artists like Eminem and Dr. Dre, and even his opinions on Apple’s old earbuds as a fuel for co-founding Beats.

Best Buy Begins Selling Apple Watch

In late July, Best Buy announced plans to begin Apple Watch sales online and in its retail stores beginning on August 7, and as promised, Apple Watch sales have now kicked off, with the device available for purchase on Best Buy’s website.

Best Buy plans to offer 16 models from the aluminum Apple Watch Sport and stainless Steel Apple Watch collections. Models available online include all 38 and 42mm Apple Watch Sport models, and 38 and 42mm stainless steel Apple Watch models with Black Sport Band, White Sport Band, and Milanese Loop.

Apple Watch purchases placed online ship immediately, and in-store pickup is also available. Best Buy will likely begin in-store sales of the Apple Watch when participating retail stores open in the morning across the United States. The Apple Watch is available in 100 Best Buy stores, with Best Buy planning to expand retail availability to more than 300 stores over the next few months.

Best Buy is also selling a selection of Apple Watch Sport Bands and the Milanese Loop, plus the company is offering a wide range of Apple Watch accessories from third-party manufacturers, including charging stands, screen protectors, protective cases, and bands.

Best Buy is the first major national retailer aside from Apple to sell the Apple Watch. Since the device’s launch in April, it’s been limited to the online Apple Store, Apple retail stores, and select boutiques around the world due to constrained supplies.

Apple has managed to ramp up production and catch up with demand rapidly over the past few months, with the expansion to Best Buy coming less than two months after the Apple Watch became available for purchase in Apple’s own retail stores.

Apple’s website redesign kills separate ‘Store’ section

You’ll notice something new if you visit Apple’s website right now. Things might look the same at first glance, but a closer look will reveal the absence of the familiar “Store” tab. Apple has chosen to get rid of its separate online shop entirely — “store.apple.com” doesn’t exist anymore and redirects to the homepage if you load it. Instead, you’ll find Buy buttons in each specific product page, and clicking them adds items to a unified shopping bag (yep, it’s no longer a “cart” either) instead of forwarding you to the store subdomain like in the past.

If you’re wondering why Cupertino has decided to merge its virtual storefront and warehouse after all these years, an Apple spokesperson told TechCrunch that it’s “to give customers one simple destination to learn and buy without navigating between two different sites.” The redesigned Apple website is now visible to everyone on the planet. Yep, the company has managed to give it a complete overhaul without downtime, which makes one wonder why it has to go on maintenance mode every time a new product is announced.

Filed under:
Misc, Apple

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Source:
TechCrunch, Daring Fireball

Tags: apple, applestore, retail

Apple’s Back to School Sale Kicks Off Online, Expands to Additional Countries

Apple introduced its 2015 Back to School promotion in late July, but it was initially limited to Apple’s Retail Stores in a few select countries. As of today, the Back to School Program is also available in the Apple Online Store, and it has expanded to additional countries.

With Apple’s 2015 Back to School promotion, students, parents of students, and educators who purchase an eligible Mac will receive a free pair of Beats Solo2 On-Ear Headphones or a pair of Beats Solo2 Wireless On-Ear Headphones at a $200 discount.

Eligible Macs include the iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac Pro. The Mac mini, refurbished Macs, iPads, and iPhones are excluded from the 2015 Back to School program.

Apple has added a link to the Back to School promotion on its main site, which takes users to the Education Store and details the promotion. Viewing any Mac in the Education Store also brings up information on the Back to School program.

When an eligible Mac is added to a shopping cart, buyers will have the option to select their free Beats Solo2 headphones in Gloss Black, Gloss White, Gloss Blue, Gloss Pink, Gloss Gray, Gloss Red (Product RED), Gold, Silver, or Space Gray. Students hoping to take advantage of the $200 discount on Wireless Solo2 headphones will need to add them to the cart manually.

This year’s Back to School promotion is a significant deviation from the deals offered in past years. Previously, Apple provided iTunes or Apple Store gift cards in amounts between $50 to $100 with the purchase of a Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

Apple’s Back to School promotion will run until September 18, 2015.

Apple Merges Apple.com Website and Online Store

Apple made a significant change to its online presence today, merging its Apple.com website with its once-separate online store, to create one main website. There is no longer a standalone store.apple.com website that is used for making purchases, and the “Store” tab that was once at the top of Apple.com has been removed.

Instead, there’s a universal shopping bag icon that displays products in the shopping cart, past order information, account details, and favorites. Purchasing an item is now done by clicking the “Buy” button on each individual product page, which links to the same purchasing menus that were present in the online store.

Apple’s main site includes direct links to Mac, iPad, iPhone, Watch, Music, and Support. Despite the major integration, Apple’s main site is largely unchanged, as are the product pages. Locating accessories is somewhat more difficult, however, with the removal of the central store site and the lack of dedicated store sections. Accessing accessories is largely done by visiting the main product sections and clicking on banners like “Accessories for Apple Watch” and “Accessories for iPhone.”

Apple’s integrated online store streamlines the shopping experience. Instead of viewing information about a product on the main site and then having to click over to the store, everything is now done in the same place.

In a statement given to TechCrunch, an Apple spokesperson said the change was done in an effort to create a simpler site for customers to learn about and shop for products.

“We redesigned Apple.com knowing that our customers want to explore, research and shop in one place,” said an Apple spokesperson in a statement. “The new Apple.com takes the very best of our existing site and our online store to give customers one simple destination to learn and buy without navigating between two different sites. We’ve also improved several of the site’s features to make shopping easier than ever for our customers.”

The changes to the Apple.com site were made this afternoon and are live in the United States and several additional countries.

Microsoft Launches Early Version of Windows Bridge for Porting iOS Apps to Windows

Microsoft today announced the release of an early version of its Windows Bridge software, which is designed to let software developers quickly port iOS, Android, and web apps to the Windows platform.

As of today, Windows Bridge for iOS is available as an open-source project under the MIT license and can be downloaded on GitHub. With Windows Bridge, iOS developers can begin testing the software that will let them convert iOS apps built for x86 and x64 processor architectures to a format that will run on Windows 10 and Windows 8.1.

As outlined by Microsoft, Windows Bridge for iOS includes four components to construct Windows apps using existing Objective-C code: an Objective-C compiler, Objective-C runtime, iOS API headers/libs, and Visual Studio IDE integration.

We’re releasing the iOS bridge as an open-source project under the MIT license. Given the ambition of the project, making it easy for iOS developers to build and run apps on Windows, it is important to note that today’s release is clearly a work-in-progress — some of the features demonstrated at Build are not yet ready or still in an early state.

Regardless, we’d love for the interested and curious to look at the bridge, and compare what we’re building with your app’s requirements. And, for the really ambitious, we invite you to help us by contributing to the project, as community contributors — with source code, tests, bug reports, or comments. We welcome any and all participation in building this bridge.

Microsoft first announced its plans for Windows Bridge at its April BUILD conference for developers, demonstrating an iPad app that had been converted to a Windows 10 app. Tools designed to help developers create Windows apps from their iOS apps could be a huge boon for Microsoft, as app availability has always been one of the major downsides to Microsoft’s Windows mobile devices.

Both Google Play and the iOS App Store have always had far more apps than are available on Windows, so Microsoft is hoping its new tools will encourage developers to spend time creating Windows apps, heavily boosting the number of available Windows apps. As of July, there were 1.6 million Google Play apps, 1.5 million App Store Apps, 400,000 Amazon Appstore apps, and 340,000 Windows Phone Store apps.

Microsoft plans to release a completed version of Windows Bridge in the fall. Windows Bridge for web apps became available alongside the launch of Windows 10, and Windows Bridge for Android is available as a technical preview by invitation only.