Apple’s fall event will be on campus in Cupertino. Jason Snell breaks open the Kremlinology.
Category: Apple
iOS 8 adoption slower than previous releases⇢
Chuong H Nguyen:
Almost three weeks since it has launched, iOS 8 adoption currently sits at 47%, identical to the current share of its predecessor, iOS 7. That’s a change of only 1% over the course of the last couple of weeks. iOS 7, by contrast, is believed to have hit over 60% adoption by this time last year.
There are lots of factors at play here.
There are a ton of iPhone 4 users still out there; the phone was still for sale this year in some countries.
Slowing down may be good for Apple⇢
Fraser Speirs:
It’s no secret that I have been a huge fan of iOS since its inception. It brought many great improvements in security, stability and approachability for the beginner-to-moderate computer user.
Unfortunately, it increasingly feels like those days are at an end. The iOS 7 and now iOS 8 rollouts have simply not been up to the quality of earlier releases.
For sure, iOS 8 is highly ambitious. I have long been an advocate for many of the features that iOS 8 brought: extensions, interoperability and so on. Sadly, complexity has brought with it fragility.
Doing ‘actual work’ on vintage Macs⇢
Riccardo Mori, chiming in on this article:
I’m quite experienced when it comes to vintage Macs and optimising them to make the most of them. The Ars Technica piece by Cunningham left a bitter taste in my mouth, and as I voiced on Twitter and App.net, I believe the author (perhaps due to inexperience and impatience with vintage hardware and software) hasn’t painted a completely fair picture of how these machines and systems can actually perform.
A Rare Look at Jony Ive⇢
David Sims article in Vogue on Jony Ive is today’s required reading.
Mac mini rumored for fall update⇢
Eric Slivka:
MacRumors has now received word that Apple is planning a Mac mini update possibly launching next month alongside new iPad models and presumably OS X Yosemite. While we have been unable to obtain corroborating information of an imminent update, the mere possibility of an update as soon as next month is likely to be welcome news to Mac mini fans. The single source has provided no additional details on what to expect in terms of a next-generation Mac mini, but has provided accurate information in the past.
Pebble, on the Apple Watch⇢
Pebble, maker of what most would argue is the first usable smartwatch, is on the defensive:
I would be too, I suppose, but their current messaging sure comes across as … immature.
Apple posts bash updates
They can be downloaded now from Apple’s support site:
A Look at Apple’s iLife and iWork Software Boxes
While my kids may never believe it, software used to come in boxes. While the iLife and iWork brands are all but gone today, the retail boxes Apple used to package their CDs and DVDs are even more distant of a memory for most.
iLife
iWork
On using OS 9 in 2014⇢
Andrew Cunningham has learned what I did back in 2008: while OS 9 is fun to play with, it’s terrible for getting actual work done.
iPhone 6 review follow-up
I wanted to follow up on some open items that have come up since I published my iPhone 6 review.
- I finally got some photos of my space gray iPhone 6 up over on Flickr.
- I ordered the black leather Apple case for my iPhone. It arrived today, and my first impressions are positive. I haven’t put a case on an iPhone since my original phone in 2007, but the 6 is just too thin and slippery for me to be comfortable. The case is lightweight and thin, but time will tell if I stick with it.
- Today, David Sparks let me show off what’s on the home screen of my iPhone. Filling a new row of apps was harder than I thought; but as always, I’ve left an empty row above the Dock for a little breathing room.
iPhone 6 torture chamber⇢
This is almost as cool as those radio testing rooms Apple shared with the press a couple of years ago.