Next Wave of Apple Pay Bank Launches Begins With Navy Federal, USAA, US Bank, PNC

Apple’s October 20 debut for Apple Pay included support from many of the biggest banks in the United States, including Chase, Citi, Capital One, and Bank of America, but the company has said it has over 500 other banks working to roll out support for the mobile payments service. A few of the larger ones are listed on Apple’s site as launching Apple Pay support “later this year”, and it appears that this next wave is now beginning to roll out.

Navy Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in the United States with over 5 million members, today announced the immediate launch of Apple Pay support.

“We’re excited to make this new service available to our members starting today,” said Randy Hopper, vice president of credit cards and business optimization at Navy Federal. “Our members live fast-paced and mobile lives. And, they have enthusiastically adopted our mobile banking solutions. Now, with Apple Pay, they’ll be able to save time when shopping while having a safe and easy payment experience.”

USAA, another of Apple’s key partners for the second wave, had previously announced plans to launch Apple Pay support this Friday, November 7, but several Reddit posters have noticed that support appears to have arrived a bit early.

A third partner for the second wave, US Bank, has also apparently flipped the switch, as several posters on Twitter have reported Apple Pay support going live today.

PNC Bank has also been telling customers it will launch Apple Pay support in the “next several weeks”, with one Reddit poster being given a date of November 7, but again posters on Twitter are reporting support going live today.

Update: According to a MacRumors poster, Barclaycard is also working today. M&T Bank is also working.

Digital Audio Veteran Peter Eastty Joins Apple as Director of SoC Audio Processing

Audio expert Peter Eastty of Oxford Digital Limited has left the company he co-founded to work for Apple. According to his LinkedIn profile, Eastty joined Apple in September of this year as the Director of SoC (System on Chip) Audio Processing.

Eastty’s career in digital audio spans more than 40 years, including oversight of a pioneering digital audio team at Solid State Logic, a 13-year stint at Sony as a chief consultant engineer, and more than eight years as CTO at Oxford Digital. Most of his work has focused on digital audio and digital signal processing for audio equipment.

“I’ve worked in the application of digital and computer technology to audio since I graduated from college and I still find the problems fascinating as well as the answers.”

Details on Eastty’s role as Director of SoC Audio Processing are unknown, but he likely is using his DSP expertise to improve the audio quality of Apple’s hardware. Earlier rumors suggested Apple was working to add support for 24-bit audio files in iOS 8 and create a new 24-bit capable version of its In-Ear headphones, but those reports have not yet panned out.

Eastty is not the only audio pioneer hired by Apple in recent years. Back in 2011, Apple hired THX pioneer Tomlinson Holman to help “provide technical direction for the company in audio” as he reports on his LinkedIn profile.

(Thanks, Manu!)

Southwest Airlines Adds Beats Music to In-Flight Entertainment Systems

Starting this week, travelers on select Southwest Airlines flights will be able to listen to music streamed via Apple’s Beats Music service. The airline today announced this new Beats Music option and provided a live demonstration onboard a 737 emblazoned with the Beats Music logo.

Southwest adopted Beats Music in response to growing consumer interest in streaming music.

“Southwest connects our Customers to what is important in their lives and in this case, it’s music,” said Kevin Krone, Southwest Airlines Chief Marketing Officer. “We continue to enhance our onboard offerings to remain current as our Customers’ needs evolve, and with the addition of Beats Music on our entertainment portal, we’re doing just that.”

The in-flight service is free and includes hundreds of music lists compiled by Beats’ own expert curators. It is available on WiFi-enabled Southwest flights and is compatible with iOS, Android, and other devices.

Apple purchased Beats Music and Beats Electronics in a $3 billion deal that was finalized earlier this year. As part of the deal, Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre joined Apple and are reportedly using their music contacts and Apple’s clout help make inroads in the streaming music market. Rumors suggest Apple is working to lower Beats’ pricing and revamp the service early next year.

Original Apple-1 Sold by Steve Jobs Headed to Auction in December with $600,000 Estimate [Mac Blog]

On December 11th, a fully functional original Apple-1 Personal Computer will go up for auction, reports Reuters. The rare machine, which Steve Jobs sold out of his parents’ garage in 1976 for $600, is expected to sell for over half a million dollars. This particular Apple-1 is the only documented machine to have been sold directly by Jobs himself.

Back in 1999, the computer was purchased by Bruce Waldack, an entrepreneur who had just sold his company DigitalNation. After Waldack’s death in 2007, the Apple-1 was auctioned at a self-storage facility in Virginia, where Robert Luther purchased it, along with the original buyer’s canceled check from 1976, knowing few details of its history.

The computer will be sold alongside that original canceled check for $600 from July 27, 1976. The check was made out to Apple Computer by Charles Ricketts, who later labeled it as “Purchased July 1976 from Steve Jobs in his parents’ garage in Los Altos.” A second canceled check for $193 from August of 1976 reads “Software NA Programmed by Steve Jobs August 1976.” These two canceled checks were used as evidence in convincing the city of Los Altos to designate the Jobs family home on Crist Drive eligible for a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Apple-1 was tested by having an expert run the standard original software program, Microsoft BASIC, along with an original Apple-1 Star Trek game.

Just a few weeks ago, the Henry Ford Museum paid $905,000 for an original working Apple-1, more than doubling the pre-sale estimate of the computer. And just last year, German auction house Breker sold two Apple-1 computers, complete with their original boxes. One sold for $330,000, while the second doubled that price to $671,400 because of the inclusion of a letter written by Steve Jobs intended for the original owner. Of the few hundred originally produced, fewer than fifty Apple-1 computers are believed to still be around today.

Starwood Begins First Phase of Mobile Phone Hotel Room Key Rollout With 10 Properties

Following an initial pilot program at a pair of its properties, hotel chain Starwood today announced the official launch of its SPG Keyless program that will allow hotel guests to use their iPhones or Android phones to check in for their stays and unlock their doors via Bluetooth. The system will go live this Wednesday in ten hotels around the world under Starwood’s Aloft, Element, and W brands and expand to 150 hotel comprising 30,000 hotel room doors by the end of next year.

SPG Members must register their phone once through the SPG App and allow push notifications. After booking a reservation at a keyless hotel and approximately 24 hours before arrival, SPG members are invited to opt-in to SPG Keyless. Guests will receive a push notification noting that they are checked in and the SPG App will update with his/her room number and Bluetooth key when the room is ready. Upon arrival at the hotel, the guest can completely bypass the front desk (where available) and go directly to his/her room. After ensuring his/her Bluetooth is enabled, the guest simply opens the SPG App, holds the smartphone to the door lock, waits for the solid green light and enters the room.

Starwood’s SPG: Starwood Hotels & Resorts app [Direct Link] has been updated today to support the iPhone check-in program, which is going live at hotels in Beijing, Cancun, Cupertino, Harlem, Doha, Hollywood, Hong Kong, New York City, and Singapore.

Starwood is not the only hotel chain working on phone-based room keys, with Hilton previously announcing its intentions for a similar program including check-in and room selection via app available in 4,000 hotels by the end of this year and and mobile phone room keys rolling out in 2015. And just today Hilton has reiterated those plans, announcing pilot testing of room keys early next year with an initial rollout to its Conrad brand soon after and expansion to additional brands coming in the summer.

Apple Reportedly Planning for Investor Call Today Ahead of New Bond Sale

Apple is planning to hold an investor call today ahead of a potential bond sale, reports The Wall Street Journal. A banker working on the deal says that Apple may begin issuing bonds in Euros, as Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group are said to be arranging the call.

Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs Inc. are arranging a call for the firm with investors Monday, and a deal, possibly at least partly in euros, could come as soon as this week, according to a person familiar with the matter. The iPhone maker has never issued debt in currencies other than the dollar before.

Apple last entered the bond market in April with a $12 billion sale, which followed last year’s $17 billion sale. The order book for Apple’s bond offerings in April 2013 topped $40 billion, as investors oversubscribed and offered bids for more than twice the amount of debt issued. Apple’s bond offerings are a part of its expanded capital return program, which centers around a major stock buyback program and a quarterly dividend. Apple has pledged to return more than $130 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015.

Microsoft Launches New Ad Comparing MacBook Air to Lenovo’s Convertible Yoga 3 Pro Laptop

Microsoft today launched a new ad targeting the MacBook Air and comparing the notebook to Lenovo’s Yoga 3 Pro convertible laptop. The latest spot, which is titled “Let’s Dance”, features both laptops side-by-side and highlights the differences between the form and functionality of both.

Microsoft first highlights the thickness of both devices, showing that the MacBook Air is 17mm thick while the Yoga 3 Pro measures in at 13mm thick. Next, both laptops are shown in a “tablet” and “tent” position, showcasing the Yoga 3 Pro’s ability to fold back while the MacBook Air is unable to do the same. Microsoft finally highlights the Yoga 3 Pro’s touchscreen, which is then shown as a non-feature on the MacBook Air.

The new ad comes after Microsoft launched a new round of Surface Pro 3 ads targeting the MacBook Air in August, which showed off the tablet’s versatility and power when compared to Apple’s laptop. Microsoft has also released a number of ads comparing its “Cortana” virtual assistant on its Windows Phone platform to Apple’s Siri virtual assistant on iOS, showing off the former’s ability to integrate with a number of apps and perform contextually-aware tasks.

Apple Watch Launching in ‘Spring’ According to Apple Retail Chief Angela Ahrendts

In a video message sent out to retail employees, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores Angela Ahrendts revealed that the Apple Watch will be launching in the Spring of next year, reports 9To5Mac. The timeframe given is slightly more specific than Apple’s own launch projection of “early next year”, which was shared during its initial unveil of the Apple Watch back in September.

“So, again, we do – you guys were hired because you’re the best people in the world. And you know how to service customers, but we are sprinting a marathon and it’s not going to stop. Right? We’re going into the holidays, we’ll go into Chinese New Year, and then we’ve got a new watch launch coming in the spring.”

The report also notes that Apple will be training its retail employees on how to introduce customers to the Apple Watch. Apple Retail Stores will allow customers to try on the wearable device and experience the different sizes and bands offered. The Apple Watch’s presence at the company’s retail stores are said to be a big emphasis for Ahrendts, who believes that sales of the device will help deepen relationships with customers.

A source briefed on Apple’s plans for the Apple Watch told The Information in September that the company would be “lucky to ship it by Valentine’s Day.” That report stated that Apple planned to have the watch ready to ship in time for the 2014 holiday season, but had problems finishing software development in time. Hints of a delay on the software side first surfaced shortly after the device’s unveiling, as members of the press who were invited to spend some hands-on time with the devices noted that none of the display units were running the actual Watch OS operating system.

Intel Launches New Broadwell Core M Processors, Likely Destined for Apple’s Ultra-Slim Notebook

While Intel’s next-generation Broadwell processors for most Macs are not shipping until early 2015 or even later, the company began shipping some ultra low-power Broadwell chips known as Core M a couple of months ago. These chips are designed to run at just 4.5 watts and are intended for next-generation fanless PCs and tablets, fitting perfectly with circulating rumors of a thinner, fanless 12-inch MacBook Air, potentially with a Retina display.

The first batch of Core M chips launched in early September consisted of the 5Y10/5Y10a running at a base frequency of 800 MHz with a maximum of 2 GHz turbo, along with the more powerful 5Y70 running at 1.1 GHz with a max turbo of 2.6 GHz. But as pointed out by CPU World, Intel now appears to have quietly added several new processor options to the Core M family. Internal roadmaps had targeted an early 2015 launch for these chips, but Intel’s chip database shows the new chips as having launched this quarter.

The new chips, which we understand Apple has indeed been testing with the upcoming 12-inch MacBook Air, include a new high-end 5Y71 chip running at 1.2 GHz with a max turbo of 2.9 GHz, two new mid-range chips arriving as 5Y51 and 5Y31, and a new low-end 5Y10c variant. As noted by CPU World, all of the new chips offer faster graphics than the initial batch of Core M chips, with base graphics frequencies moving from 100 MHz to 300 MHz across the board and turbo frequencies in some cases rising slightly to as high as 900 MHz.

Lenovo’s Yoga 3 Pro is the first PC to advantage of the first batch of Broadwell Core M chips, and performance has been lackluster. It is unclear, however, whether the issues are due more to Core M’s limitations for the sake of power efficiency or to Lenovo’s design decisions. Still, the new second batch of Core M chips appears to mark a significant step forward from the earlier versions while maintaining the same low power draw.

The launch timing of Apple’s rumored 12-inch MacBook Air remains up in the air, with one rumor pointing to a likely mid-2015 launch. But with Intel moving forward on its Broadwell Core M chip lineup and perhaps accelerating its launch plans for those chips, it will be interesting to see if Apple looks to launch the new, thinner MacBook Air earlier in the year.

Sam’s Club Selling iPhone 6 as Low as $99 Starting November 15 [iOS Blog]

Warehouse club chain Sam’s Club will be selling the 16GB, 32GB, and 128GB iPhone 6 at $99, $199, and $299 with a two-year contract beginning November 15th, according to a leaked flyer posted by GottaDeal.com (via BestBlackFriday.com).

The flyer notes that each Sam’s Club location will have between 40 and 50 units per club, as the promotion will run through December 31. Sam’s Club is also selling last year’s 16GB iPad Air at $100 off, which is in line with promotional deals from other retailers.

More retailers are expected to announce a number of discounts on Apple-related products as we move closer to “Black Friday”, which is known as the traditional kickoff to the holiday season and falls on November 28th this year. Those looking to keep up with holiday sales on Apple-related products should check out our Black Friday Roundup, which will be frequently updated with the best deals as they are announced.