Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2017/07/thursday-morning-news060717/
Thinking about Ming-Chi Kuo’s prediction of removed Touch ID, it’s hard to imagine Apple removing what has now become a cornerstone of the iOS experience. Face recognition sounds futuristic and all, and I’m sure Apple will be able to make it work better than you thought, but there are plenty of scenarios where Touch ID has become so ingrained back into the iOS experience that removing it would be very strange indeed.
The ACCC will be questioning Apple over its ban of the Westpac mobile payments keyboard, with the ACCC’s primary concern understood to be that Apple may be removing competitors in a bid to launch its own payments system. That’s kind of what they’re doing in iOS 11, but it won’t be available outside of the US. While security issues are a legitimate reason for the removal of the feature, Westpac argues that it previously addressed Apple’s concerns before submission.
Imagination Technology is up for sale now that Apple has announced it would stop using the company’s patented graphics technology within the next two years. Imagination has also claimed that Apple has been unable to provide evidence of the same level of graphics performance on the iPhone without violating Imagination’s patents.
Changes to the taxation system in India has resulted in price cuts for Apple devices in the region. The price of iPhones in India has dropped by up to 7.5%, with GST reduced from its previous rate of 13.5% down to 12% for iPhones in particular. There’s now a single GST tax with five different tiers, replacing the previous system where central and state governments had their own taxes.
MacRumors reports Apple News may be looking into ways for publishers to monetise their content on Apple News. The floated ideas appear to be enabling publishers to sell ads or via microtransactions, and I’m honestly not sure which I’d prefer.
Apple has released the sixth betas of iOS 10.3.3 and macOS Sierra 10.12.6 to developers. Seeing as we’re now fairly late into the beta-testing cycle, there’s a good chance that we’ll see the release of these by the end of the month, but even then there’s no new or notable features.
Pocket Casts 6.8 is now available on the App Store, bringing with it an all-new Apple Watch app. It’s now a remote for the Pocket Casts player on your device. The actual app also includes improvements to the way Pocket Casts works within CarPlay, and automatically correcting labelling information for podcasts.
MG Siegler says the 10.5-inch iPad Pro is the one to get. The iPad mini hasn’t seen updates in a little while and has an uncertain future — while it’s not a bad iPad by any means, you’ll only really want to buy it if you really love the form factor. If you don’t need the features of the Pro, then there’s a perfectly capable iPad that will satisfy your tablet needs for just $469.
Apple will be reopening its Cambridge, Massachusetts and Danbury Fair Mall, Connecticut stores this weekend. They were previously closed for renovations to bring them in line with Apple’s new design, which includes spaces for collaboration, large glass doors, and light boxes that span the entire ceiling.
But what about Apple Fifth Avenue? 9to5Mac claims Apple’s iconic cube location in New York isn’t slated to re-open until November 2018, which seems like a really long time to be closed. Maybe that’s just how long renovations take when you’re in the heart of the Big Apple.
