Adsense

Showing posts with label 2014 at 01:44PM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2014 at 01:44PM. Show all posts
Apple CEO Tim Cook said he is deeply offended by allegations that Apple permits the mistreatment of workers in its supplier factories and mines, reports The Telegraph . The accusations were levied by the BBC news program, Panorama, which sent undercover reporters to work in Chinese factories and Indonesian mines. The BBC aired the documentary titled "Apple's Broken Promises" last night on its BBC One channel.



apples-broken-promises-bbc-one

Apple senior vice president of operations Jeff Williams relayed Tim Cook's message in an email sent to its UK staff, published in its entirety by Silicon Alley Insider . Cook and Williams both stated they were "deeply offended by the suggestion that Apple would break a promise to the workers in our supply chain or mislead our customers in any way."
"Panorama’s report implied that Apple isn’t improving working conditions," he continued. "Let me tell you, nothing could be further from the truth."

Williams also implied in the email that Apple provided the BBC with pertinent facts regarding the company's commitment to its workers worldwide, but that information was not included in the documentary.



The BBC report claims that Chinese workers were forced to work long hours assembling Apple devices and denied requests for a day off, even after working 18 days in a row. The BBC also uncovered issues with off-hour work meetings, underage workers and other violations with dormitories and ID cards.



The BBC also investigated tin mines in Indonesia, where it found children mining the ore in dangerous conditions. The BBC claims this tin makes its way into Apple's supply chain without the company's knowledge.






















Smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech (via Business Insider ) indicates consumer interest in the iPhone 5c remained strong in the UK ahead of the iPhone 6 announcement, with the lower-cost phone actually becoming the top-selling smartphone in the country for the month of August.



smartphone-sales-uk
Kantar Worldpanel ComTech



According to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Apple's share of smartphone sales in the UK fell just 1.6 percentage points between July and August, with strong sales of the iPhone 5c helping to prop up overall sales just ahead of the iPhone 6 launch.
Apple has managed to limit the drop this year with its share of sales dipping just 1.6 percentage points versus July this year - almost half the equivalent drop seen in 2013 ahead of the iPhone 5 launch. This has in part been achieved through focusing on the iPhone 5c which tends to attract a slightly less tech savvy buyer who will be less likely to be holding off for the iPhone 6. The iPhone 5c was the best selling phone in Britain in August with 8.9% share, outselling the flagship iPhone 5s with 7.6% and the Samsung Galaxy S5 with 6.0%.

This sales momentum for the iPhone 5c is not expected to impact future iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sales, however, as an estimated four million iPhone owners -- one-third of all iPhone owners in the UK -- are eligible for upgrade this year.



Apple released the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus last month, with strong consumer interest generating record-breaking pre-order and first weekend sales. Apple has struggled to supply enough handsets to meet consumer demand with shipping times slipping to seven to ten days for the iPhone 6 and three to four weeks for the 6 Plus.


















imac_27_angleFollowing several recent reports on Apple's long-rumored ultra thin 12-inch notebook, Jack March is now reporting that Apple is indeed working on a 27-inch "5K" Retina iMac with a resolution of 5120 x 2880. According to the report, which MacRumors has reason to believe is based on legitimate information, the machine could launch as soon as next month.
A source familiar with Apple’s plans tells me that Apple is indeed planning to launch a Retina iMac at their next press event, however the 27″ Model will be the only model that gets this feature. The source says the new 27″ iMac will use a 5120 x 2880 panel as leaked in the OSX Yosemite code a few months ago. This resolution is double the current resolution of the 27″ iMac which is 2560×1440.

This new 27-inch Retina iMac would continue to use Haswell processors, topping out at the 4.0 GHz Core i7-4790K, as Intel's next-generation Broadwell processors will not be ready until possibly the middle of next year. The report also claims Apple will be switching to AMD graphics for this new iMac, while the overall design and port configuration would remain the same as the current model.



The report's sources suggest the move to Retina will be limited to the larger 27-inch iMac at this time, with the 21.5-inch model continuing to use the current 1920 x 1080 display.



Rumors of a 27-inch Retina display or iMac from Apple have been circulating for some time, but have picked up steam in recent weeks with a specific claim of a 5K Apple display launching before the end of the year, as well as Dell's own announcement of such a display. With finalization of the DisplayPort 1.3 specification, connectivity will also become easier as that standard rolls out, allowing for single-cable uncompressed video at 5K resolutions.


















Last week we posted renderings of what the iPhone 6 might look like based on leaked design drawings of the unreleased device. Since that time, we've seen early cases and possible design molds for the device.



Ferry Passchier, the designer we commissioned for the original designs, has rethought the design as if it was modeled after the iPhone 5C with colorful plastic backings. Passchier produced these renderings with that in mind:



iphone6c-back



iphone6c-front



The original renderings assumed it followed Apple's aluminum design of the iPhone 5S, though an all-aluminum design would introduce issues with Apple's antenna design.



Apple is expected to release the iPhone 6 this fall, and we expect to see more design and part leaks as production starts ramping up.


















iOS Details

Apple just released iOS 7.1 to the public on Monday but now it's time to move on. We first saw details surrounding Apple's upcoming iOS 8 update begin to trickle out last month, including the uncovering of a new Healthbook app that will see Apple's mobile platform join the recent rush of fitness-related apps and features that are pouring into smartphones. Now, 9to5Mac is back with a report covering more new features set to arrive in Apple's iOS 8 update later this year.


Continue reading...





Adsense