Nike CEO ‘Excited’ About Future of Fitness Partnership with Apple

Late last week, it was revealed that Nike is scaling back its FuelBand hardware effort to focus on the software side of its fitness tracking ecosystem, sparking speculation of a potential partnership with Apple focused around the iWatch or other Apple hardware.

Nike CEO Mark Parker appeared on CNBC earlier today, and while he would not directly address specific plans with respect to Apple, he did note that Apple is a longtime partner and that he is “excited about where that relationship will go forward.”

Parker: [Y]ou’re going to continue to see us commit to this area, to focus on expanding the reach. Today, we have about 30 million FuelBand users. We’re hoping to push that to over 100 million. We have partners that we work with…obviously the most visible partner we have is Apple. We’ve been working with them for a long time. And we’re excited about where that relationship will go forward.

CNBC’s Sara Eisen: Well, can you give us a hint? Are we going to expect some sort of collaborative device coming out? Nike and Apple?

Parker: I can’t really say that. There’s been a lot of speculation, which I understand. I will just say the relationship between Nike and Apple will continue. And I am personally, as we all are at Nike, very excited about what’s to come.

Parker went on to discuss how Nike is going to focus on the software side of the wearable fitness device market going forward, integrating it into some of of Nike’s products as well as those of partners. With those partnerships, Nike is seeking to further its primary goal of expanding the overall Fuel ecosystem to as many people as possible.

Speculation of a Nike-Apple partnership is natural given the long history between the two companies, highlighted by the Nike+iPod initiative to bring pedometer and other fitness tracking to Apple devices. Apple CEO Tim Cook has served on Nike’s board of directors for nearly a decade, and he is frequently seen wearing a Nike FuelBand.

Spotify Approaching 10M Paying Users, Revenue May Soon Surpass iTunes in Europe [iOS Blog]

Streaming music service Spotify is growing in the UK and soon may overtake iTunes as Europe’s biggest digital music service, reports Music Week, which spoke to Spotify’s European head of media relations Kevin Brown [Via The Guardian].

Spotify’s growth in the UK is quickly accelerating with the service adding more than 1 million active users in the past four months, claims Brown. Many of these new customers are lucrative subscribers who are paying for the premium service instead of listening to the ad-supported, free version. Brown attributes this growth to Spotify’s partnerships with Vodafone and the Sunday Times.

“Some of our partners are saying Spotify is now generating more revenue each month across Continental Europe than iTunes,” Spotify’s head of label relations in Europe, Kevin Brown, told industry site Music Week.

“Given that download sales are declining and Spotify is growing rapidly, particularly in the UK, it is only a matter of time before Spotify is bigger than iTunes across Europe as a whole.”

Spotify last year had 24 million active users and 6 million paying users worldwide, but the company has not updated those figures to reflect this recent increase. Brown believes the company is close to surpassing 10 million paying users, and many believe the company is waiting for this milestone to announce updated membership numbers.

In the U.S., iTunes is the market leader for digital music downloads and iTunes Radio is number three for streaming music. In the streaming market, iTunes Radio holds an 8 percent market share, with Spotify holding 6 percent. The pair trail iHeartRadio (9 percent) and market leader Pandora, which dominates with 31 percent market share.

In an effort to standardize the experience across platforms, Spotify recently updated its iOS app with a darker theme as well as new fonts and icons that match the web and desktop versions. All platforms also received a new personalized Your Music section and an updated Browse feature.

StackSocial Offers 9 Apps in ‘Name Your Own Price’ Mac Bundle and MacBook Air in Giveaway [Mac Blog]

StackSocial launched its fifth ‘Name Your Own Price’ Mac Bundle earlier this week that offers up to nine apps and an online iOS development course for purchase with 10% of all sales going to charity.

There are two apps and an online iOS development course that all buyers receive:

MacX Mobile Video Converter ($50)
PDF Converter Pro for Mac ($80)
Projects in iOS E-learning Course ($147)

If a buyer pays more than the current average price shown on StackSocial’s sales page for the bundle ($8.00 at the time of this post), the buyer will receive all nine apps offered which includes the three items listed above plus the following apps:

RapidWeaver 5 ($79)
Tune Up ($50)
CrossOver 13 ($60)
Disk Drill Pro 2.0 ($99)
Voila ($30)
Snapheal Pro ($40)
mSecure for Mac ($20)

The total retail value of the entire bundle is $807. To encourage higher purchase prices, StackSocial is giving away an 11-inch MacBook Air in a random drawing with entries earned by taking a position on the price leaderboard at any time during the sale. At the time of this post, the person in the top position on the leaderboard paid $94 for the bundle.

The bundle will be on sale until May 7.

MacRumors is an affiliate partner of StackSocial.

MacBook Air Roundup Updated

The 11″ and 12″ MacBook Airs may be updated soon. One report even claims next week. Meanwhile, a new 12″ MacBook Air with Retina display may be coming out this fall.

iPhone 6 Case Maker’s Renderings Display Antenna Cutouts, Thin Design

iPhone 6 design renderings aimed at helping case manufacturers create early iPhone 6 cases ahead of the device’s release have surfaced on Ukranian website UkrainianiPhone [Google Translate] (via Nowhereelse.fr), from what the site calls a “reliable source of information.”

The renderings are seemingly based on the same general design principles found in schematics leaked back in early March, but they provide more detail on what we might possibly expect from the iPhone 6. As with most of the current design leaks, the authenticity of the renderings cannot be confirmed.

While the majority of renderings, cases, and iPhone 6 details leaked up until this point have failed to explain how Apple will incorporate antennas into the iPhone 6, the new Ukrainian renderings suggest that the back shell of the iPhone will not be all one piece, potentially leaving room in the aluminum casing for possible antenna inserts, similar to the design of the existing iPhone 5s. There are separate top and bottom pieces depicted in the renderings as well, which also point towards an antenna.

According to the renderings, the device will have a thickness of 6mm, which is somewhat in line with predictions from reliable KGI securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who pointed towards a thickness of 6.5 to 7mm. At 6mm, the iPhone 6 would be significantly thinner than the iPhone 5s, which is 7.6mm thick. The renderings also suggest the iPhone 6 will have a length of 138mm and a width of 67mm.

As with the original design schematics, the renderings incorporate a rounded flash, which is a departure from the existing pill-shaped True Tone flash introduced with the iPhone 5s. There’s also a sleep/wake button located on the right side of the device, and rumors have thus far suggested Apple could move the button to make it easier to access sleep/wake on a larger device with one hand.

Overall, the renderings are more or less in line with previous iPhone 6 rumors, which have indeed pointed to a thinner design with smaller bezels. Apple’s iPhone 6 is also expected to include an upgraded A8 processor, Touch ID, and an improved camera.

Hints of Touch ID Support for iPad Found in iOS 7.1 Code

Since the release of the iPhone 5s last September, most observers have expected that the Touch ID fingerprint feature will be making its way into the iPad lineup as Apple is able ramp up production on the sensors, so it is no surprise that KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo earlier this month predicted that both the iPad Air and Retina iPad mini will be gaining the feature later this year.

Actual evidence of iPad Touch ID support has now been discovered by a French iOS developer, as noted by iDownloadBlog. The evidence comes in the form of a BiometricKit bundle in iOS that serves as the framework for the Touch ID functionality, with the bundle being listed as compatible with both iPhone/iPod and iPad families.

Apple classifies its iOS devices into three families, with iPhone/iPod receiving a “1″ designation, iPad receiving a “2″ designation, and Apple TV classified as “3″. BiometricKit is currently showing compatibility with both 1 and 2 families, although it is not exactly clear when iPad was added to the list.

Apple is likely to stick to its typical yearly upgrade cycle for this iPad generation, meaning that new iPads should appear in the latter part of this year. Kuo predicts that the new iPads will appear in late Q3 around the same time as new iPhones and perhaps Apple’s much-rumored iWatch.

iOS 8 Concept Video Features Siri with Shazam, iWatch-Synced Healthbook App [iOS Blog]

A concept video of what iOS 8 would look like if it was tailor made for the iPhone 6 has been created and posted by TechRadar. The video features a mockup iPhone 6 handset with an edge-to-edge display and no discernible Touch ID home button. The presentation style and background audio takes its inspiration from Apple’s own highly polished product videos.

The video shows a revised iOS 8 notification center with multiple panes that allow you to swipe between a “Today” view, a calendar view and a messages view. Items are actionable, allowing you to tap an unread email and open the mail app in a slide-up shade, which can be swiped down when you are done reading.

Pulling from the most recent round of rumors, the concept envisions a Healthbook app that syncs with the iWatch, a supercharged Siri with Shazam and an even better version of Apple’s new CarPlay feature.

Unlike an earlier concept that combined the notification center with the multi-task switcher, the Tech Radar concept keeps the radical ideas to a minimum, focusing on the core foundations of iOS 7 and exploring how they would look with a refreshed interface and few new features rumored to debut in iOS 8.

iPad Dominates Mobile Web Share with 77 Percent of April 2014 Traffic [iOS Blog]

Apple tablet sales may have been lower this past quarter than analysts expected, but usage of the tablet remains strong. According to a recent Chitika Insights report, the iPad accounted for more than three quarters of all U.S. and Canadian tablet-based Web traffic in April. Chitika derived this traffic data by sampling tens of millions U.S. and Canadian tablet online impressions across its ad network during the first week of April 2014.

The iPad is the dominant tablet in North America with a mobile web traffic share of 77 percent as compared to 8.3 percent from number two Samsung. Amazon’s Kindle Fire devices generated 6.3 percent of web traffic, while Google’s Nexus tablets accounedt for 2.2 percent. The remaining tablets from Microsoft, Asus, Acer and others contributed 4.5 percent combined.

Though the iPad is the market leader with significantly more web traffic than all the other manufacturers combined, the tablet’s traffic share fell slightly year over year from the 81.3 percent measured in April 2013. Samsung showed the biggest yearly gains, growing from 4.7 percent in April 2013 to 8.3 percent in April 2014. Amazon, similar to Apple, also lost 1.3 percentage points year over year.

The proverbial elephant in the room is iPad usage share, which still stands at over 77% of all U.S. and Canadian tablet-based Web traffic (Section 4). This is down a few percentage points year-over-year, but the current share is very notable in the context of the North American tablet market, which analyst estimates pointed to growing significantly throughout 2013 from a penetration standpoint. While it is uncertain if Apple can reverse the tide and grow its domestic tablet usage share in the coming months, it is clear that iPad users remain the most active aggregate tablet user base by a wide margin, with that likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future.

During Apple’s Q2 2014 earnings conference call earlier this week, CEO Tim Cook commented on the slight drop in iPad sales this past quarter, citing high channel inventory levels that artificially inflated the company’s March 2013 sales. Channel inventory in 2014 was significantly reduced, with a balance between iPad supply and demand achieved early in the launch cycle of the iPad Air and Retina iPad mini.

Apple is expected to introduce updated versions of the iPad Air and Retina iPad mini later this year. The company also may be developing a 12.9-inch iPad Pro that could possibly debut sometime next year.

New iPhone 6 Renderings Highlight Curved Display, Rounded Corners

Following a report from Mac Otakara yesterday claiming the iPhone 6 will feature a curved glass display and an all-aluminum rear shell, French website Nowhereelse.fr [Google Translate] and designer Martin Hajek have partnered up to showcase renders visualizing such a device based off of the recent information.

The renderings show an iPhone 6 that emphasizes rounded corners, complete with display glass that slightly wraps around the front of the device. Similar to other previous renders, the phone is shown with a power button on its upper right side, with rectangular volume controls on its left. The bottom of the device is also shown housing a headphone jack, Lightning port, and speaker.

To this point, multiple reports have indicated that the iPhone 6 will feature slightly rounded edges, which would be a departure from the straight edges seen on the iPhone 4 and 5s. However, only Bloomberg noted that the device will carry a curved glass display, with a report last December stating that Apple would be releasing two iPhones will large curved screens in the second half of 2014.

iPhone 5s (left) and iPhone 6 with curved glass display (right)
Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 6 later this year in two different sizes of 4.7 inches and 5.5 inches. According to recent reports, the 4.7-inch version will be the first to ship, while the larger 5.5-inch version will ship later as Apple attempts to solve issues with the phone’s battery life and display.

Aside from a larger display, both models of the iPhone 6 are expected to feature a thinner profile, faster A8 processor, an improved camera with optical image stabilization, and Touch ID fingerprint sensor. According to Jefferies analyst Peter Misek, Apple is also negotiating with carriers for a $100 price increase on the iPhone 6.

California Rejects ‘Kill Switch’ Requirement Legislation for Smartphones

California legislators narrowly rejected a bill that would require smartphone manufacturers like Apple to preload and automatically enable antitheft “kill switch” in their phones, according to CNET. The law was backed by California State Senator Mark Leno and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon.

Failing to reach a minimum of 21 votes in favor, the final tally was 19 yes’s to 17 no’s, with one senator not voting. Leno told CNET that he plans to take the bill up again next week. “The game is not yet over,” he said.

Gascon accused opposition of the bill of protecting the interest of the “billion dollar industry profits” of the wireless industry and their insurance partners. Though some critics of the plan note that wiping software and locking phones would be ineffectual as thieves are likely to sell the device’s hardware components.

The law was unlikely to affect Apple much, as the company introduced its own antitheft technology with iOS 7′s Activation Lock feature, which locks a device to a user’s iCloud account and is automatically turned on when Find My iPhone is enabled. However, Apple would likely have to make Find My iPhone mandatory to meet the requirements of Leno’s bill.

Activation Lock won cautious optimism from both Gascon and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman when it was announced at 2013′s WWDC.

The Smartphone Theft Prevention Act, a federal bill that would also mandate the inclusion of a “kill switch” in smartphones, has been introduced at the national level.