Verizon Drops Many Data Plan Prices by $10 Per Month [iOS Blog]

Verizon today announced (via Re/code) that it is planning on dropping the price of most of its More Everything data plans by $10 per month, making its service offerings more appealing in the increasingly competitive cellular market.

Verizon’s 1GB data plan is now priced at $30 instead of $40, and a 2GB plan is priced at $40 instead of 50. Price drops extend all the way up to 8GB, available for $85 rather than $90, and there’s also a $10 price cut on the company’s highest tier 20GB plan, which is now available for $140 instead of $150.

The revamped pricing tiers are available to both new customers and existing customers, but current Verizon subscribers must go to the MyVerizon site on Thursday to opt in to a new plan to get the discount as their bills will not be updated automatically.

Verizon’s price cuts follow continued efforts by T-Mobile to shake up the mobile industry. T-Mobile has introduced a range of Un-Carrier options since 2013, uncoupling device costs from service costs, paying early termination fees, and more.

Most recently, T-Mobile announced a “Data Stash” program that allows customers to save unused data for up to 12 months. Sprint has also been offering aggressive promotions and discounts in an effort to draw customers from AT&T and Verizon.

Job Listings Spark Speculation of Unlikely Full-Fledged Apple Search Engine

Apple on Monday posted a listing to its Jobs at Apple page describing an Engineering Project Manager position for “Apple Search,” sparking speculation the company could be working on a full-fledged search engine for use on OS X and iOS platforms.

As first highlighted by Cult of Mac, the most recent position would be based in San Francisco and asks for applicants who are “technical, driven and creative,” with the ability to “manage back end operations projects for a search platform supporting hundreds of millions of users.” Though Apple’s website lists the job as posted February 2, 2015, entries on other job sites indicate it was originally posted on November 19, 2014.

Though the wording appears to hint at a new service, in all likelihood the job’s parameters are covering Apple’s already-existing search platform, largely embodied in Spotlight. Another job, posted in mid-January, supports the Spotlight probability thanks to frequent mentions of the updated Spotlight Suggestions service.

While gaining attention thanks to the use of the term “Apple Search,” the new listings are less likely to be aimed at an entirely new Apple-based search engine and more likely cover ongoing efforts to improve Spotlight. Job listings have in the past hinted at the company’s work on upcoming projects, but most of the time – as with patents – they are more of an intriguing tease into what may or may not be going on behind the scenes.

Apple is facing some search engine decisions this year, however, with Google’s search engine contract with Apple reportedly set to expire in 2015. That is most likely to be resolved, however, by an extension of the contract for an additional term or perhaps a shift to another provider such as Yahoo or Microsoft, both of which are reportedly lobbying for the lucrative deal.

U.S. iPhone Sales Overtake Android Sales by Slim Margin in Q4 2014 with iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Launch

For the first time since 2012, sales of Apple’s iPhone overtook sales of Android devices by a slight margin during the October to December 2014 period in the United States, according to the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel (via TechCrunch). Apple’s iPhone took a 47.7% sales share of the U.S. smartphone market while Android accounted for 47.6%, with Windows Phone accounting for 3.8% of sales.

In the US, Apple iOS overtook Android for the first time since this time in 2012, albeit by the slimmest 0.1% margin," reported Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. “While the success of the iPhone 6 and 6Plus is unprecedented, this quarter’s performance also points to Apple having its strongest portfolio ever. With a range of devices available at different price points in both contract and pre-pay Apple was able to take advantage of a weaker Android offering at the premium end of the market.

Kantar also notes that the iPhone 6 was the best selling smartphone in the United States, and that the iPhone’s market share rose 6.2% in Europe during the holiday quarter. By comparison, Android’s share declined 3.8% overall in Europe, as Italy was the only country to experience market share growth. In China, Apple grew 2.2% to claim a 21.5% market share, with the growth attributed to the launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

During the company’s earnings call last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus brought more Android switchers and new customers than prior models. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sold a record 74.5 million units during the holiday quarter, with a 46% growth when compared to last year and Apple’s launch of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c.

Mysterious Apple Car Spotted Roaming Bay Area Streets

There have been multiple sightings of a mysterious van with a strange apparatus on its roof in Concord, CA and, according to CBS affiliate KPIX 5, the car is leased to Apple. Bay Area blog Claycord posted photos of the Dodge Caravan earlier today.

Photo via Claycord
One possible use for the car could be for a mapping project, as the cameras on top of the vehicle are similar to other mapping cars. The Cupertino company has been planning on significantly improving its Maps application though, with plans for transit directions, improved points-of-interest data, indoor mapping and more. It would be likely that Apple would be prepping a feature similar to Google Street View or Bing StreetSide.

As noted by AppleInsider, Google’s Street View cars use a total of 15 5-megapixel cameras to stitch together its images. Apple’s leased minivan appears to have similar technology, with 12 cameras that could be used to stitch together images for a Street View-like picture.

Claycord noted that the Apple car looked similar to a self-driving Dodge Caravan spotted in New York in September 2014.Technology analyst Rob Enderle, who spoke to KPIX, also agreed that it’s a self-driving car rather than a mapping car.

“Too many cameras,” said Enderle. “It has cameras that are angled down at all four corners of the vehicle.”

However, Apple is not one of the six companies who have a permit for testing driverless cars. Enderle says it wouldn’t matter, noting that Apple could have a partnership with a manufacturer that allows them to lease and test a driverless car without a partner. An Apple spokesperson told KPIX that the company had no comment.

GMT Bug Now Fixed for Google Calendar Users in iOS 8

After widespread complaints over the past five months, the so-called “GMT bug” affecting iOS 8 calendar users appears to have been at least partially fixed. Without installing a software update, several users on the Apple Support Communities, Google Calendar Help Forum, Twitter and MacRumors forums are reporting that calendar events are now syncing in the proper time zone on iOS 8.1.3 and earlier versions. Given that users were not required to take action, it is speculated that Google may have quietly fixed the issue on their backend.

A significant number of users have been voicing their complaints about the GMT bug since iOS 8 was released in September. In short, the bug causes calendar items to be synced in the GMT time zone regardless of location. One particular topic posted within the Apple Support Communities about the issue has received over 300,000 views and close to 800 replies, although Apple has yet to officially address the bug in iOS 8.1.3 or previous software updates. For that reason, some calendar users syncing with Microsoft Exchange or other services may still experience syncing issues until a wider fix becomes available.

Apple appears to be aware of the GMT calendar bug after listing it in iOS 8.2 beta 5‘s release notes and, as corroborated by multiple reports, should include a proper fix for the issue in the public release of iOS 8.2. Many users are upset that a fix has taken this long, considering that multiple software updates have been released since the bug was uncovered, but the good news is that the bug finally appears to be nearly resolved.

Follow along in our GMT bug thread on the forums for the latest information.

Sapphire Displays to See Major Step Forward With Lower Reflectivity

For several months leading up to the launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, it was heavily speculated that the smartphones would be equipped with sapphire crystal displays. Those rumors failed to materialize, however, as Apple opted to continue using ion-strengthened Gorilla Glass for its displays. Just weeks later, Apple sapphire partner GT Advanced filed for bankruptcy in what turned out to be a dramatic fallout between the two companies over strict contract terms and sapphire production issues.

(Image via MKBHD)
While GT Advanced experienced difficulties with both the quality and quantity of sapphire, it is possible that Gorilla Glass was the better choice for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus after all. TIME reported in September that sapphire, in its current form, has several properties that are less ideal than glass, including being thicker and heavier, more expensive, unable to transmit as much light and less durable after exposure to normal wear and tear. Sapphire also has up to double the screen reflectance of glass, especially under bright light, which could make it difficult to read the screen.

The reflective issue in particular could soon be a thing of the past, however, as DisplayMate confirmed to MacRumors that it has lab tested new sapphire technology that it believes will be a major breakthrough for smartphone displays. The display calibration and evaluation company found the production-ready enhanced sapphire to be at an advantage over both regular sapphire and glass based on the results of its testing, and predicted that “rapidly falling production costs” could make the material go mainstream in the near future.

“We have just lab tested an important new sapphire technology that significantly lowers the screen reflectance of sapphire to much lower than glass, turning its former major disadvantage into a major new advantage,” said Dr. Raymond Soneira, DisplayMate President. “A technical note, this isn’t an Anti-Reflection AR coating, which would scratch off easily and defeat sapphire’s tremendous scratch resistance – so the enhanced sapphire is now number one in scratch resistance, low reflectance and performance in high ambient light. In addition, displays using it could run with lower screen brightness and result in increased running time on battery.”

While Apple’s recent partnership with GT Advanced made it clear that the iPhone maker is certainly interested in sapphire, it remains unknown if and when the company will ever use the material for the iPhone or other products. A number of smaller smartphone makers such as Huawei, Kyocera and Vertu have already turned to sapphire crystal displays, and these new technologies lay the foundation for Apple and other handset makers to follow suit.

Thousands Respond to Casting Call for Extras in Steve Jobs Film

With filming on the upcoming Steve Jobs film underway in the company’s hometown of Cupertino, California, thousands of people responded to a casting call over the weekend, hoping to be included as extras in scenes being filmed at the Flint Center where Jobs unveiled the original Macintosh in 1984.

As reported by CNET‘s Shara Tibken, well over 2,000 people showed up in 80s-inspired attire to be extras for a scene in the upcoming movie, but hundreds including Tibken herself were turned away due to the overwhelming fan response to the casting call.

I thought I’d have no trouble getting onto the movie set at the Flint Center here since I was “confirmed” as an extra and arrived at the designated time. Silly me. After years of covering the lines at Apple events and product launches, I should have known better.

Potential extras began lining up at 5 AM despite instructions to arrive between 9 and 10 AM, with one member of the casting company calling the response “absolutely overwhelming.”

According to the notice to be an extra, I was to take part in a scene from 1984 (which was evidently to be the Mac launch). It recommended that men have “big long sideburns” and that women should wear blouses that are “boxy in cut with larger shoulders.” Everyone was supposed to wear layers. […]

There were plenty of Cosby sweaters and plaid, flannel button-ups. And many women sported side ponytails and leg warmers, which didn’t seem quite appropriate for Apple shareholders (Jobs introduced the Mac during a stockholder meeting in 1984).

According to one of the line minders, the film will be shooting in the Bay Area for another six to seven weeks, giving aspiring extras additional opportunities to try for a spot in the film, which is planned for release next year.

iOS 8 Adoption Rate Hits 72% As Android Lollipop Distribution Reaches 1.6%

Apple’s newest operating system, iOS 8, is installed on 72 percent of iOS devices almost five months after it first launched in September of 2014, according to new numbers Apple shared on its App Store support page for developers.

Installation numbers are up 9 percent since mid-December and have jumped 3 percent since January 20, following the launch of iOS 8.1.3 at the end of the month. As iOS 8 adoption grows, the number of users running iOS 7 has dropped to 25 percent. 3 percent of users continue to use an earlier operating system.

iOS 8 adoption has been somewhat slower than iOS 7 adoption, as iOS 7 was running on 80 percent of devices in January of 2014, compared to iOS 8’s 69 percent adoption rate at that same time. Possible explanations for the slower adoption rate include the large amount of storage space required to update to iOS 8 and the major bugs the operating system has experienced. Excitement over iOS 7’s complete visual redesign may have also driven a larger number of upgrades.

Apple has resolved many of the initial bugs that were found in iOS 8 with several operating system updates, including iOS 8.1, iOS 8.1.1, iOS 8.1.2, and iOS 8.1.3, which has led to an uptick in adoption, and the company has also made an effort to inform customers that it’s possible to install iOS 8 via iTunes to alleviate storage space issues.

Though adoption of iOS 8 has been slower than iOS 7 adoption rates, Apple is still way ahead of Android. The latest version of Android (5.0, aka Lollipop), released in November, is currently only installed on 1.6 percent of Android devices. The vast majority of Android users are still running KitKat, which was released in October 2013, or even Jelly Bean, which first debuted in June 2012.

Android updates often take a long time to propagate to customers because of the large number of different Android-based devices on the market. Android updates must go through carriers and cell phone manufacturers, who like to build their own apps and interfaces into the operating system.