Rumors

Major changes coming to MacOS, iOS, watchOS and tvOS during WWDC 2016

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Right from the mouth of Mark Gurman (during the Jay and Fared Show Podcast), first reported by O’Grady’s Powerpage;

  1. No hardware announcements (that we already know)

  2. Siri in MacOS, to be featured in top right corner alongside Spotlight

  3. iOS Design Refresh with more colors – this is big. There are still many who insists that iOS 7 to 9 have been pretty bland and boring design-wise, coming from design powerhouse Apple, and refreshing the UI will definitely help in the looks department.

  4. Notifications will change (among other iOS system tweaks). Probably for the sake of watchOS 3, since the current less-than-perfect notification system is weighing watchOS 2 down.

  5. Big enhancement to Photos both on iOS and MacOS (to fend off Google Photos, as well as address the demise of Aperture somewhat. After all, Google Photo’s editing features are worked on by the former team at Nik.

  6. Redesigned Apple Music. (Whatever, just bring back the old Music app please)

  7. New encryption abilities (Wow).

  8. Send money to others through iMessage

iPhone 7? Maybe not

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For all it is worth, early rumors of the next iPhone are showing something different about Apple’s strategy this time round – iPhone 7 might be the iPhone 6ss.

Nothing says more about a new iPhone being “new” than a need to buy a new case for it.

Right now the rumors are;

  1. Same industrial design (aka phone body shape and size) with the exception of redesigned antenna lines

  2. Dual-lens cameras on a brand new iPhone Pro, which will be the higher spec-ed model of a iPhone 7 Plus

  3. Will underwhelm. LOL.

Kind of a bummer.

Well, it is not like real iOS people are going to jump ship to Android all of a sudden, and the random customers who do will eventually come back when a nicer iPhone comes around in a few years’ time, so no big deal I guess.

What I want for WWDC 2012 is a new iMac and the curious case of the 15″ MacBook Pro

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The past few days had seen a crazy mix of rumors about the exact new Macs that will be announced during the keynote tonight, and much of the rumors are about the big possibility that the new 15-inch Mac notebook will not be a MacBook Pro, but instead a new “MacBook”, and that the MacBook Pro line will live on a bit longer with only updates to the internals.

This mean that the Macs codenamed J30 and J31 in my previous post could instead be updated MacBook Pros as opposed to actually being new and redesigned iMacs.

Having absolutely no rumors/news about redesigned iMacs besides extremely vaguer mentions in the major rumor sites isn’t helping either. In the days leading up to WWDC 2012, we have heard a great deal about the new Mac Pros, the new 15-inch Mac notebook, and lesser about the updated MacBook Airs, but almost absolutely nothing about the iMacs, rather than some unverified news that redesigned iMacs will not make it in time for WWDC 2012.

However, something about the whole MacBook Pro line being retained despite having a new 15-inch Mac notebook stinks though.

Apple is not a company afraid to cut old products when they introduce new ones.

Apple is also not a company to keep complex product lines.

A 11/13 MacBook Air line, with a 13/15/17 MacBook Pro line, with a new 15 MacBook line, all for Apple’s notebook lineup, is absolutely nonsensical and not in Apple’s fashion to do.

What Apple will be in favor of, is a product lineup which they have implemented since day 1 of their big switch to intel more than 6 years ago.

6 years ago, there was a 13-inch MacBook, and a 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro.

Yes, this means that the notebooks are separated into two lines based on the size of the notebooks, which made sense since Apple could really only put in Pro-level graphics cards in the bigger Mac notebooks.

If you recall, Apple was all ready to follow that lineup when they introduced the unibody MacBooks (13-inch) and the unibody MacBook Pros (15-inch and 17-inch) in late 2008. But then they realized they had to have a Mac notebook under 1000USD, and thus the MacBook White was revived, and the 13-inch unibody MacBook became the 13-inch MacBook Pro, which in itself isn’t very “Pro”, being the only MacBook Pro without a dedicated graphics card (yes there was an oddball 15-inch without a dedicated card for a while, but nobody except Elsie Law wanted one).

If the Apple today is still the Apple of Steve Jobs, I believe we will be seeing this new MacBook line-up tonight;

11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air (with Retina Displays)

and

the all-new 15-inch MacBook Pro (redesigned, with Retina Display)

And then I’ll have my redesigned iMacs too. Yay~

The new iPhone part

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The new iPhone back case machined out of a single piece of solid aluminum, I wonder if the black means it’s anodized.

What a beauty.

Take this and compare it to the pebble-shaped, faked “metal” plastic shell of the recently-released Samsung Galaxy SIII running the ugliest version of TouchWiz ever, and I seriously wonder if anyone can still tell themselves that the SIII is even a choice.

Then again, lots of commoners have no taste.

As I have previously stated, I truly believe this is legit.

Macs to be released at WWDC 2012

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Appleinsider just put out an article with regards to new part numbers (Australian) for what are supposed to be the new Macs to be unveiled next week at WWDC.

While Tim Cook did say during D10 that Apple will be doubling down on secrecy, when the products are actually in the final process of being shipped worldwide to Apple Stores and resellers, it’s pretty hard not to leak any info.

Judging from the part numbers above, the models to be introduced at WWDC next Monday night are as follows (it’s pretty obvious if you look at the models and the Australian prices);

1. J30 – iMac 21.5″
2. J31 – iMac 27″
3. J11 – MacBook Air 11″
4. J13 – MacBook Air 13″
5. K5BPLUS – Mac Pro (We know this from a previous 9to5mac leak)

Which will bring us to the last 2 machine part numbers, D2 and K31.

All these while we have been hearing rumors about a redesigned MacBook Pro, but every single rumor is about a redesigned MacBook Pro 15-inch model, and there is absolutely nothing on a redesigned 13-inch or a redesigned 17-inch.

Which brings us to the very, very obvious fact that next Monday night, there will only be one redesigned MacBook Pro, the MacBook Pro 15″. And from yet another leak reported by 9to5mac, we know that at least one of the MacBook Pro 15″ models will really be professional based, with very high specs listed, as well as the leak that this higher spec-ed model will cost around $3000 (that’s USD, mind you, which is almost on par with Australian Dollar right now). And the D2 BEST model do fit in with this pricing at $3000+. Therefore D2 = redesigned MacBook Pro 15″.

Which brings us to K31. And if the 15″ leak is accurate, so must the 13″ leak be. And therefore K31, the updated MacBook Pro 13″ with no retina display, is the new White MacBook, the cheapest model one can buy from Apple, and is still in the inventory because it was the most popular Mac before the redesign (just like the White MacBook), and some people can’t bear to give up the old.

The rest of the part numbers are likely to be new accessories, although with that large a number of accessory part numbers, whatever is going to be introduced looks really fun, especially B67, with so many versions of it being introduced.

P.S. A few minutes before I clicked published, 9to5mac just posted the entire price list with model names for the very same image Appleinsider put up, making this very post redundant. And K31 isn’t the MacBook Pro 13″ surprisingly (obviously based off the price), but the Airport Express…..A new Airport Express???

9to5mac’s full Apple inventory image below.

The New iPhone – Scoop by 9to5mac

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9to5mac (through ifixyouri) has a big scoop on the exterior look of the new iPhone. Metal backs, new dock connector, movement of the headphone jack to the bottom of the phone, and an overall thinner profile.

Get in on the details on their site now. This stuff is legit. A little birdie chirps that from what he/she knows, the parts posted by 9to5mac are legit. And the little birdie is often right. Unless of course, this is yet another “teardrop prototype drawing leaks into the wild and manufacturers start making cases off the leaked document” incident. Only this time there were actual parts made, parts that 9to5mac can order from a real iPhone parts OEM.

Apple employee “No more 13″ MacBook Pros in the future”

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A little bird chirps, “chatted with someone (let’s call her A-san) from Apple South Asia/Singapore education sales. She mentioned casually that ‘they will do away with the 13-inchers (MacBook Pros) in the future’. ”

We all have heard the rumors about the redesigned 15-inch MacBook Pros, and bigwigs like John Siracusa have repeatedly mentioned on his shows (Hypercritical) that he thinks that the 13-inch MacBook Pro will be removed from the line-up to simplify it, but this is the first time anyone heard something like this coming out from the mouth of a non-retail Apple employee in a relatively high position (locally at least).

The current 13-inch MacBook Pros are actually designed, and marketed as MacBooks when they first debuted in 2008, but the higher than 999USD starting price made Apple rethink its strategy and they eventually relaunched them as MacBook Pros instead. It definitely won’t be weird for them to return to a “11-inch and 13-inch = Airs, and 15-inch and 17-inch = Pros” lineup, one that they have been adopting ever since the Intel switch in 2006, before the Aluminum MacBooks become MacBook Pros in 2009.

Possible pricing for iPad 2 (wifi only) in Singapore?

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Some information came in regarding possible prices when the iPad 2 launches in Singapore next Friday, 29th April 2011.

16GB $668

32GB $798

64GB $928

Only time will tell if they are accurate, but if they are, it will represent quite a major drop from the original pricing for the iPad 1 when it launched in Singapore last July, for the original 16GB wifi set cost $728, and will also put it in line with my previous information that the 16GB wifi will launch with a price between $650 to $690.

When is the iPad 2 launching in Singapore?

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Chatter and whisperings for the past 30 days point to 29th April 2011 as the day us Singaporean mortals will finally be able to buy the magical device from a local store.

More chatter also enlightens us to the fact that the cheapest wifi model will start at a price lower than the original $728 the original 16GB wifi iPad launched with last year, most likely between $650 to $690.

I will be at my favourite iPad Launch Day queueing location as usual this year.

Why is Apple hiring for the “Apple Travel Team”? What is that?

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Maybe I am really ignorant, but this is the first time I have ever heard of the “Apple Travel Team”.

Apple is currently hiring for the following positions in the “Apple Travel Team”;

i. Travel Counselor

ii. Operations Manager

iii. Operations Supervisor

For example, the Apple Travel Counselor position lists;

The Apple Travel Team in Singapore is seeking Travel Counselors who will be responsible for providing outstanding service and professionalism to travelers, make accurate and timely travel reservations, and maintain high levels of productivity in our fast pace Regional Service Center (RSC). This is an exciting position for an individual that is extremely customer focused and has a passion to provide service excellence to customers. The right individual must have a thorough knowledge of the travel industry, travel reservation systems, pricing, and international markets.

The successful candidate will:

•Professionally interact with travelers to respond to all travel inquiries including reservations, price quotations, and customer service issues

•Ensure optimum customer service through effective use of phone system, e-mail and positive telephone service techniques

•Achieve individual and team service level goals related to telephone, quality, accuracy and productivity

•Knows and properly uses airline terminology, codes, fare basis, airline rules and tariffs, resource guides, books, and industry contacts

•Maintaining a favorable company image when interfacing with outside resources

•Effectively work in a team environment supporting management and staff, follows policies, providing feedback, assisting in special projects, and taking on additional responsibility

•Outstanding organizational skills that result in high productivity

•Efficiently and effectively respond to customer service issues

•Must work weekends, may require night shift..

All these positions have been posted a few days ago. No one seems to have reported anything strange, which is why I am skeptical of this being something interesting. But never before have I seen the words “Apple Travel” on the Apple jobs site in all my lousy attempts at applying for a job at Apple.

It’s no secret that a large part of Apple’s call centre services for their Online Stores and sales is located in the Singapore campus, but I have never heard of Apple providing “outstanding service and professionalism to travelers, make accurate and timely travel reservations, and maintain high levels of productivity in our(Apple’s) fast pace Regional Service Center (RSC)”.

Pardon me but that totally sounds like the work of a TRAVEL AGENT.

And since when is Apple a travel agent?

Is Apple providing a new service? Maybe this has something to do with their purchase of some company providing mapping solutions a while back? Or to do with the Tim Cook visit to the Singapore campus a while back?

Or am I just plain dumb (well there’s a big chance) to the obvious presence of a “Apple Travel Team” in Apple Singapore all these years?

Anyone in the inside mind dropping me a PM? LOL.

Interesting.

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