Apple Plans to Unveil a Revamped Apple Music UI at WWDC Next Month

Bloomberg is reporting that Apple is all set to debut a completely revamped look and feel for Apple Music at the company’s annual developer conference in June:

Apple is altering the user interface of Apple Music to make it more intuitive to use, according to people familiar with the product who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. Apple also plans to better integrate its streaming and download businesses and expand its online radio service, the people said. The reboot is expected to be unveiled at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The changes will be accompanied by a marketing blitz to lure more customers to the $10-per-month streaming service. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

According to the report, the redesign is being overseen by content head Robert Kondrk and Trent Reznor, with inputs from Jony Ive’s team, as well as Jimmy Iovine and Eddy Cue.

Following the Beats acquisition in 2014, Apple scrapped the international rollout of iTunes Radio just a few hours before an event where it would have been announced. Employees who had been working on the project for more than a year were told it would be rolled into a new streaming service based on Beats.

Ouch!

May 4, 2016 ✚ Permalink

Apple’s New ‘Redesigned & Reimagined’ Support Site

Apple has unveiled a fresh new design and layout for its support site yesterday. The new look and feel of the site is very streamlined and looks great. There are different ways you can seek help right on the homepage.

May 1, 2016 ✚ Permalink

Safari Search Suggestions Now Available in India

It looks like Apple has just flipped the switch that enables Safari Search Suggestions for iOS users in India. Up until now, this feature which was introduced by Apple with iOS 8 and shows you smart suggestions based on what you’ve typed in the search bar, was only available in a select few countries. Now, when you type in some search terms, Safari automatically looks them up and presents you with relevant content. This way, you completely bypass Google search results and can jump directly to where you wanted to go. Of course, you can still completely ignore this and still do a Google search using Safari.

Here’s what the smart suggestions work and look like in Safari on iOS.

safari-search-suggestions

Click to enlarge

 

Some suggestions can be expanded into a detailed view and have the “>” symbol on the right. These, when tapped, display additional information like so:

the-jungle-book-info-safari-ios

In case you aren’t seeing this, make sure you have enabled them under Settings > Safari > Safari Suggestions

[h/t @jayeshb for pointing this out]

April 29, 2016 ✚ Permalink

Govt. May Relax 30% Sourcing Norms for Apple in India

If you’ve been waiting to see official Apple Stores in India, your wait might’ve gotten even shorter. The Indian government might consider relaxing the 30% local sourcing norms for Apple, after the company gave a presentation before a committee headed by industrial policy and promotion secretary Ramesh Abhishek.

According to the Economic Times, the presentation did prove fruitful:

“The committee has found that the company’s products are cutting edge technology and state-of-the-art. It has recommended to exempt them from the local sourcing norms,” sources said.

April 28, 2016 ✚ Permalink

Apple Gets Closer to Opening Its Own Stores in India

If you’ve been waiting for Apple to open their own stores in India, your wait might have just gotten shorter, according to The Times of India:

On Tuesday, the iPhone and iPad maker made a presentation before a committee headed by industrial policy and promotion secretary Ramesh Abhishek where it made a case for use of the special provision. Sources told TOI that Apple was a fit case for relaxing the norms. “Their products certainly meet the requirement for waiving the local sourcing clause,” said a source, adding that a final decision will be announced in a few days.

There have been reports that the Indian government was considering relaxing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) since November last year, which were quickly followed by the government’s official announcement later that week. Following that, Apple had submitted their request for approval in January this year, but had to re-submit because “certain gaps [were] found in the initial proposal”.

After Tuesday’s presentation, I don’t think an announcement is all that far away.

April 23, 2016 ✚ Permalink

On the 9.7-inch iPad Pro’s Wider Color Gamut

The Iconfactory’s Craig Hockenberry has an insightful take on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro’s wider color gamut and DCI-P3 standard, seen also in the latest 5K iMacs.

After using this iPad for a couple of weeks, I’ve realized it’s like the advances of Retina in an important way: I never want to use a lesser display again. And as with higher density, I think it’s obvious that Apple will eventually update all its products to use this improved screen technology. I can’t wait!

We’re quickly reaching a point where more pixels don’t make better photos. Think about how much Apple likes to tout the camera and how better saturation improves photos. These new displays are the first step in a process were wider gamuts become a part of the entire iOS photography workflow. The number of places where your code assumes everything is sRGB will be both surprising and painful.

I haven’t been able to decide if I should be shelling out INR 49,900 on a new iPad, especially considering I’m still using the iPad Mini 2 (without Touch ID) and so far, it seems like Apple’s winning.

April 22, 2016 ✚ Permalink

WWDC 2016

I missed this yesterday when I posted about the new 12″ MacBook Lineup. Apple has also announced the dates and venue for its annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) held in San Francisco. And they also have a really cool website this time for it.

WWDC this year will be held between June 13th to 17th, with the Keynote being held at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on the first day and sessions, labs are more being held at Moscone West. There’s also the Bash scheduled on Thursday, June 16th again at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.

wwdc-2016

I love the colorful site this year, with what looks like a monospace variant of San Francisco (the font).

If you’re looking to attend this year, you can register now, but attendees will be chosen via a draw like last year.

April 20, 2016 ✚ Permalink

Apple Updates MacBook with Latest Processors & New Rose Gold Option [with India Pricing]

new-macbook-lineup-2016

Apple has today announced that it has updated the MacBook lineup, bringing along faster processors, improved graphics performance, faster flash storage and one hour longer battery life. Today’s refresh also introduces a new “Rose Gold” color option, taking the lineup to four color variants.

“MacBook is the thinnest and lightest Mac we have ever made and it’s our vision for the future of the notebook,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Customers are going to love this update to MacBook, with the latest processors, faster graphics, faster flash storage, longer battery life and a beautiful rose gold finish.”

The new MacBook now features the latest sixth-generation dual-core Intel Core M processors that go up to 1.3 GHz, with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.1 GHz. You also get faster 1866MHz onboard memory, Intel HD 515 Graphics that are up to 25 percent faster than previous generation as well as longer battery life that can take you up to 10 hours of usage.

Apple has also increased the pricing for MacBook in India. Previously, the 12″ MacBook was launched at ₹99,900, with the second model coming in at ₹1,19,900. The new lineup is priced at ₹1,06,900 and ₹1,29,900 respectively, which means India Pricing has gone up by ₹7000 for the base model and ₹10,000 for the top model.

Update April 19th, 2016 20:29: It should be noted that the price increase happened last year, not particularly with today’s announcement.

April 19, 2016 ✚ Permalink