Apple issues voluntary recall for some international AC adapters

Heads up, world travelers. If you have an Apple AC plug adapter or Travel Adapter kit meant for use in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Continental Europe, New Zealand and South Korea, you might want to talk to the folks in Cupertino about getting a replacement. The company just announced a voluntary recall of those adapters — ones that shipped with Macs and iDevices between 2003 and 2015 — because there’s a risk their prongs could break and shock someone. Apple says it’s aware of 12 such incidents around the world, so check out the company’s recall site to see if yours is one of the problematic bunch.

To be clear, if you’ve got the two-prong plugs used in the US and China, or the bulky three-prong affair for the UK and Hong Kong, you’re alright. It’s just the long, round-pronged adapters mostly seen in Europe and the angled prongs used in Australia that you need to be on the lookout for. Assuming you do fall into the former camp, check your plug adapter for “either four or five characters or no characters on the inside slot where it attaches to the main Apple power adapter.”

If you’ve got those telltale characters, you’ll be able to visit an Apple Store for a replacement, or request one online.

Source: Apple

Skylake Mac Notebooks May See Staggered Launch in 2016, Led by MacBook and 13″ MacBook Pro

Apple is expected to refresh its MacBook lineup in 2016 with Intel’s faster Skylake processors and Thunderbolt 3 with USB-C, and supply chain sources now indicate the updated notebooks may see a staggered launch throughout the year.

The company’s manufacturing partners are expected to start producing new 12-inch MacBook and 13-inch MacBook Pro models around late March or early April, followed by 15-inch MacBook Pro models in the third quarter, according to the sometimes-reliable Taiwanese website DigiTimes.

If accurate, new 12-inch MacBook and 13-inch MacBook Pro models could debut at Apple’s rumored March media event, alongside the new 4-inch iPhone, iPad Air 3, and Apple Watch updates, or at WWDC, likely scheduled for mid-June. Smaller updates could also be announced at any time via press release.

The larger 15-inch MacBook Pro may not be launched until after WWDC, however, as the third quarter translates to between July and September. While that seems questionable, Apple may elect to announce a new 15-inch MacBook Pro at WWDC and begin shipping the notebook later in the year.

Last year, Apple refreshed the 13-inch MacBook Pro in March, but its 15-inch sibling was not updated until May. For this reason, the 13-inch model is classified as Early 2015, and the 15-inch model is Mid 2015. Both notebooks received Force Touch trackpads, faster flash storage, longer battery life, and improved graphics.

The Early 2015 13-inch MacBook Pro is based on Intel’s newer Broadwell chip architecture, while the 15-inch model still has older Haswell architecture. Since then, Intel has announced Skylake chips appropriate for the 13-inch MacBook Pro in September and 15-inch MacBook Pro earlier this week.

Given that Skylake chips have been announced for both the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro, there does not appear to be any reason for Apple to stagger the release of its notebooks this year. But, perhaps in line with its 2015 release cycle, Apple may plan to give the current 15-inch MacBook Pro a longer shelf life before replacing it.

Intel also announced Skylake chips appropriate for the 12-inch MacBook and MacBook Airs throughout 2015, so it is likely we will see Mac updates across the board over the coming months. The report also claims a new iMac will be released in 2016, but an update is unlikely until later in the year.

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Skylake Mac Notebooks May See Staggered Launch in 2016, Led by MacBook and 13″ MacBook Pro

Apple is expected to refresh its MacBook lineup in 2016 with Intel’s faster Skylake processors and Thunderbolt 3 with USB-C, and supply chain sources now indicate the updated notebooks may see a staggered launch throughout the year.

The company’s manufacturing partners are expected to start producing new 12-inch MacBook and 13-inch MacBook Pro models around late March or early April, followed by 15-inch MacBook Pro models in the third quarter, according to the sometimes-reliable Taiwanese website DigiTimes.

If accurate, new 12-inch MacBook and 13-inch MacBook Pro models could debut at Apple’s rumored March media event, alongside the new 4-inch iPhone, iPad Air 3, and Apple Watch updates, or at WWDC, likely scheduled for mid-June. Smaller updates could also be announced at any time via press release.

The larger 15-inch MacBook Pro may not be launched until after WWDC, however, as the third quarter translates to between July and September. While that seems questionable, Apple may elect to announce a new 15-inch MacBook Pro at WWDC and begin shipping the notebook later in the year.

Last year, Apple refreshed the 13-inch MacBook Pro in March, but its 15-inch sibling was not updated until May. For this reason, the 13-inch model is classified as Early 2015, and the 15-inch model is Mid 2015. Both notebooks received Force Touch trackpads, faster flash storage, longer battery life, and improved graphics.

The Early 2015 13-inch MacBook Pro is based on Intel’s newer Broadwell chip architecture, while the 15-inch model still has older Haswell architecture. Since then, Intel has announced Skylake chips appropriate for the 13-inch MacBook Pro in September and 15-inch MacBook Pro earlier this week.

Given that Skylake chips have been announced for both the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro, there does not appear to be any reason for Apple to stagger the release of its notebooks this year. But, perhaps in line with its 2015 release cycle, Apple may plan to give the current 15-inch MacBook Pro a longer shelf life before replacing it.

Intel also announced Skylake chips appropriate for the 12-inch MacBook and MacBook Airs throughout 2015, so it is likely we will see Mac updates across the board over the coming months. The report also claims a new iMac will be released in 2016, but an update is unlikely until later in the year.

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Apple Recalls Some International Wall Adapters Due to Risk of Electrical Shock

Apple today issued a voluntary recall for certain two-prong AC wall plug adapters designed for use in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Continental Europe, New Zealand, and South Korea, due to the risk of electrical shock if touched in very rare cases.

The recalled wall plug adapters shipped with some Mac and iOS devices sold between 2003 and 2015, and were also included in the Apple World Travel Adapter Kit. The recall does not affect any other Apple AC wall plug adapters designed for the U.S., Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and United Kingdom, or any Apple USB power adapters.

Apple has posted a AC Wall Plug Adapter Exchange Program with more details for affected customers.

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Angela Ahrendts Says She Views Apple Store Staff as ‘Executives’

Angela Ahrendts spoke yesterday to Fast Company about her first two years as Apple’s retail chief and her strategy to improve the company’s customer experience at its global chain of retail stores.

In an interview titled “Apple’s Angela Ahrendts On What It Takes To Make Change Inside A Successful Business,” the Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores explains that, in her first six months at Apple, she travelled to 40 different markets and met with retail leaders to learn about how stores were “uniting people and getting them to collaborate.”

When asked if Apple Store staff feel the same pride working for the company as Cupertino employees do, Ahrendts boasted about the company’s 81% retention rate in 2015:

We just ended the year with the highest retention rates we’ve ever had: 81%. And the feedback [from Apple Store employees is that it’s] because they feel connected. They feel like one Apple. They don’t feel like they’re just somebody over here working with customers. I don’t see them as retail employees. I see them as executives in the company who are touching the customers with the products that Jony Ive and the team took years to build. Somebody has to deliver it to the customer in a wonderful way.

Ahrendts goes on to explain that her experience at Apple has taught her just how strong the culture is within the company, which was “built to change people’s lives”, and that the same core value is being continued by Apple’s current CEO Tim Cook:

That foundation, that service mentality, that drive to continue to change lives — that is a core value in the company. And Tim Cook has added his on: He says it’s also our responsibility to leave it better than we found it. So you have these two amazing pillars and a culture built around that. It’s the same in retail and in Cupertino. That is the underlying mission, and how could you know that unless you’re inside? But it is deeper than you would ever imagine.

Apple has aggressively expanded in China under Ahrendts’ retail leadership, with stores opening last year in Chongqing, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Nanjing and Tianjin, and several more on the way throughout 2016.

In an interview for 60 Minutes late last year, Ahrendts spoke about how Apple is continually refining new designs for its stores worldwide to achieve a common “wow” factor, so that customers are “transfixed” from the moment they walk through the doors.

Ahrendts officially joined Apple in mid-2014 to replace former SVP of Retail John Browett, who was fired from the company a year and a half earlier. Previously CEO of hugely successful UK fashion retailer Burberry, she is currently Apple’s highest paid executive, according to a recent regulatory filing.

Read more of the Fast Company interview with Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts here.

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