Best Buy will sell the Apple Watch from August 7th
Until now, if you wanted an Apple Watch, you had to buy it in one of three places: online, at the Apple Store or at your nearest high-end luxury goods boutique. If none of those places are convenient, then you’ll be happy to learn that the wearable will also be available from Best Buy on August 7th. The store will be the first big national chain to stock the device, and in keeping with its mass-market appeal, won’t be stocking the pricey Edition model. It will, however, have both the 38 and 42mm versions of both the Sport and Watch models in 16 different configurations — not to mention a large supply of nightstands, screen protectors and third-party straps not approved by Apple.
It’s another step on the road to global domination for the Apple Watch, since despite not really being widely available in its first nine weeks of life. The company has already pulled in roughly a billion dollars worth of sales and could barely make the hardware fast enough to keep up with demand. If Best Buy is ready to announce a launch date for nationwide sales, then those initial supply issues must have eased. Oh, and given that the device is believed to account for 75 percent of the smartwatch market — in nine weeks — then Apple’s going to have to buy some bigger warehouses to store all of the money it’s about to make.
Via: WSJ
Source: Best Buy
Welcome (back) to the After Math
Our graphical calculators are back from repair, so it’s time to crunch the numbers once again. It’s a good week for it too: Apple Watch predictions, uneasily fast explanations of the entire universe and cable company that’s doing better in internet than, well, cable.
Best Buy to Begin Selling Apple Watch on August 7
Best Buy today announced it will begin selling the Apple Watch in some its U.S. retail stores and online on August 7, marking a substantial expansion of retail availability for the device. Starting with 100 stores and expanding to 300 over the next few months, he company will offer 16 models from the aluminum Apple Watch Sport and stainless steel Apple Watch collections, as well as nearly 50 accessories including stands and watch bands.
Starting Aug. 7, Best Buy will be the first national retailer, other than Apple Stores, where customers can buy the Apple Watch. It will begin to arrive in more than 100 Best Buy stores and will also be available on BestBuy.com. Another 200 of our stores will have the Apple Watch in time for holiday shopping.
“The Apple Watch is an important addition to an emerging product category, and we know our customers want it,” said Jason Bonfig, senior category officer at Best Buy. “We are excited to bring Apple Watch to more consumers, especially with the holidays coming up.”
Apple has provided a statement to iMore, noting the focus on expanding availability for the holiday shopping season.
“Customers love Apple Watch, and we are thrilled to begin offering it at Best Buy locations across the U.S. starting August 7,” an Apple spokesperson told iMore. “More than 300 Best Buy stores will carry Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport models in time for the holiday shopping season.”
The Apple Watch is currently available in 19 countries with Apple gradually expanding availability as supplies have allowed, and an additional three countries — New Zealand, Russia, and Turkey — will be added to the list this coming Friday.
Apple and Nike work out settlement terms for FuelBand lawsuit
Nike is ready to pay up to get a two-year-old FuelBand-related class action lawsuit off its back. The case filed back in 2013 against Nike and Apple claimed that there were some “false and/or misleading statements” in the wearable’s ads about its ability to track calories and steps accurately, as well as breach of warranty. While the companies maintain that they did nothing wrong, Nike has decided to settle the issue — it’s now offering class members a choice between a $15 cash payout and a $25 gift card redeemable in its US, Puerto Rico and online stores. Apple, which stopped selling FuelBand and other wearables earlier this year, won’t be shelling out a single cent.
Folks part of the lawsuit who bought their device(s) from January 19th, 2012 to June 17th, 2015 can file a claim through the settlement’s official website until January 4th, 2016. They can claim as many payments or gift cards as the number of FuelBands they bought within that period. Those who find the amounts a bit too small, though, can object to the settlement terms by following the instructions outlined in the court’s legal notice. Speaking of FuelBand, it was reported last year that Nike’s killing it off in the future to focus on software.
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Apple
Via: MacRumors
Source: Nike+ FuelBand Settement
Watch the trailer for ‘Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine’
Quite a few filmmakers have already unleashed their take on the life of Steve Jobs, with Aaron Sorkin’s Michael Fassbender-starrer slated to be released in October. But if you’d rather watch that Jobs documentary that premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in particular — the same one Apple SVP Eddy Cue found “mean-spirited” — then, well, here’s a taste of it. Oscar winner Alex Gibney’s The Man in the Machine doesn’t only depict the CEO as a visionary, but also as a ruthless leader. “His stuff was beloved, but it wasn’t that he was beloved,” a voiceover said in the trailer below the fold, which also shows parts of Gibney’s interview with some of Jobs’ old co-workers. The documentary will precede Sorkin’s movie by a month and will be shown in select theaters on September 4th.
[Image credit: Magnolia Pictures]
Via: Mashable
Apple and Nike Settle FuelBand Class Action Lawsuit
Apple and Nike settled a two-year-old class action lawsuit that challenged their advertising claims regarding the Nike+ FuelBand. The lawsuit alleged that Nike and Apple made misleading statements about the FuelBand’s ability to accurately track steps, calories and NikeFuel.
Under the settlement, customers who purchased a FuelBand between January 19, 2012 and June 17, 2015 can make a claim for either a $15 payment or $25 gift card redeemable at Nike-owned stores in the United States and Puerto Rico or at Nike’s online shop. The number of claims that a customer may submit depends on the number of FuelBands they purchased. Claims can be submitted until January 4, 2016.
While Apple was included in the class action lawsuit, Nike will be paying the settlement administrator and attorney’s fees on its own and Apple has no responsibility for payments or gift cards.
Apple stopped selling the Nike+ FuelBand and other fitness trackers in both its retail and online stores this past March, while a report last year indicated that Nike would discontinue making new FuelBands to focus on software for other devices.
Customers who bought a Nike+ FuelBand between January 19, 2012 and June 17, 2015 can find out more about the settlement via the legal notice authorized by the California state court.
New Report Says Apple Was in Talks to Use BMW i3 as Basis for Electric Car Project
Apple and BMW were in negotiations to use the German car manufacturer’s car platform for its electric i3 for Apple’s rumored car project, code-named “Project Titan”, according to a new report from German business magazine Manager Magazin [Google Translate].
The Cupertino company was interested in the body of the i3, which is a small hatchback that has a shell made out of carbon fiber, helping keep the car light. The two companies began talks in autumn 2014, but broke off talks before committing to check in with each other and their plans periodically. The report also states that Tim Cook and Apple senior managers made a trip to BMW’s factory in Leipzig, Germany to take a look at the production of the i3.
This isn’t the first time BMW and Apple have been linked to be working on a car. In March, a report from German automotive magazine Auto Motor und Sport claimed the two were in close negotiations to turn the i3 into an “Apple Car”. However, BMW denied the claim to Reuters hours after the report surfaced.
Earlier this week, Apple hired Doug Betts, former Senior Vice President of the Chrysler Group and the global head of operations leading product service and quality, continuing the company’s hiring of automotive experts. Additionally, Apple hired Paul Furgale, a researcher with a specialization in autonomous vehicles.
While details on Apple’s car project have been scarce, there have been reports of Apple recruiting talent from the automotive industry, including poaching employees from Tesla, Ford and GM, and that the company has hundreds of employees working on its car project. Rumors suggest Apple is aiming to produce a car by 2020, but because Apple often works on projects that never see the light of day, it’s possible the company could delay or shelve the project if it’s not happy with its progress.
Apple Launches ‘Why There’s Nothing Quite Like iPhone’ Web Campaign
Building on a series of recent ads centered around the “If it’s not an iPhone, it’s not an iPhone” tagline, Apple today rolled out a new web campaign for the iPhone under the theme of “Why there’s nothing quite like iPhone.”
The new campaign is highlighted on Apple’s main home page as well as its iPhone pages, and it includes a scrolling feature page drawing attention to a number of aspects of Apple and the iPhone that make the device stand out from its competitors.
Every iPhone we’ve made – and we mean every single one – was built on the same belief. That a phone should be more than a collection of features. That, above all, a phone should be absolutely simple, beautiful, and magical to use.
The page proceeds to highlight the iPhone’s integration of hardware and software, camera capabilities, breadth of available apps, resistance to malware, and Apple’s commitment to privacy and security with Touch ID and Apple Pay.
The campaign also highlights how Apple includes a variety of built-in apps and tools to make text, audio, and video messaging free and easy, track fitness and activity, and control devices around the home, all with accessibility features to make the iPhone’s features available to as many people as possible. Finally, Apple points to its support network, from its retail stores to AppleCare phone and chat support.
First Trailer for ‘Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine’ Documentary Released
Magnolia Pictures has shared the first trailer and movie poster for Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine with Mashable, just over four months after the film premiered at SXSW 2015 in Austin, Texas. The upcoming documentary, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney, portrays Jobs as both a tech visionary and unapologetic leader throughout his career at Apple.
Apple senior executive Eddy Cue expressed disappointment in the documentary following its debut, describing the film on Twitter as “an inaccurate and mean-spirited view of my friend” and “not a reflection of the Steve I knew.” Cue added that the best portrayal of Jobs is in the book Becoming Steve Jobs by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, which he describes as “well done and first to get it right.”
Very disappointed in SJ:Man in the Machine. An inaccurate and mean-spirited view of my friend. It’s not a reflection of the Steve I knew.
— Eddy Cue (@cue) March 16, 2015
Universal previously released the full-length trailer for its aptly named Steve Jobs movie, starring Michael Fassbender, Seth Rogen, Kate Winslet and Jeff Daniels, earlier this month. The trailer mainly consists of a single shot of Fassbender as Jobs, with cast voiceovers providing snippets and teases of conversations regarding Jobs’ true legacy at Apple, which he co-founded with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1974.
Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine opens in select theaters on September 4.
Intel Skylake Processors: Up to 20% Performance Boost, 41% Faster Graphics and 30% Longer Battery Life
Less than two weeks before Intel announces new desktop Skylake processors, likely to be used in future Macs, at the Gamescom trade show in Germany on August 5, FanlessTech has leaked an Intel slide deck that offers a closer look at some of the performance enhancements the next-generation processors will deliver for both desktop computers and notebooks.
The leaked slides reveal that Skylake processors will provide a 10%-20% CPU performance boost in single and multi-threaded applications, with lower power consumption, and 30% faster Intel HD integrated graphics performance on average compared to current-generation Broadwell processors. The improved energy efficiency will also result in up to 30% longer battery life.
The specific performance improvements to the four main Skylake families are outlined below based on preliminary data, with the MacBook model appropriate for each chip listed in parentheses:
– Y-Series (MacBook): Up to 17% faster CPU, up to 41% faster Intel HD graphics, up to 1.4 hours longer battery life
– U-Series (MacBook Air): Up to 10% faster CPU, up to 34% faster Intel HD graphics, up to 1.4 hours longer battery life
– H-Series (MacBook Pro): Up to 11% faster CPU, up to 16% faster Intel HD graphics, up to 80% lower silicon power
– S-Series (iMac): Up to 11% faster CPU, up to 28% faster Intel HD graphics, 22% lower TDP (thermal design power)
Apple refreshed the MacBook Air and 13″ Retina MacBook Pro with the latest Broadwell processors in March, but the refreshed 15″ Retina MacBook Pro released in May remains powered by two-year-old Haswell architecture due to the lack of quad-core Broadwell processors appropriate for the notebook at the time.
Given that Intel announced a trio of Core i7 processors appropriate for the 15″ Retina MacBook Pro just weeks later, and both the iMac and Mac mini still have Haswell processors, it is plausible that Apple has chosen to skip Broadwell processors entirely and release Skylake-based Macs in late 2015 or early 2016 — and the jump from Haswell to Skylake would deliver an even higher performance boost.
Taiwanese blog DigiTimes, which has a hit-and-miss track record at reporting on Apple’s upcoming product plans, says that Intel is planning to launch 18 new Skylake processors for notebooks in the fourth quarter, starting in October. The mid-range and high-end processors could be used in the next-generation 12-inch MacBook, MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro.
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