NEW APPLE iOS INTRODUCED
Apple Inc. on Monday introduced new health and connected-home features for the software powering the iPhone and iPad, laying the groundwork for a busy second half of the year as the company seeks to rev up its growth.Apple released new mobile software, called iOS 8, at its annual developer conference in San Francisco. The software includes HealthKit, which lets people monitor their health and acts as a data hub for fitness apps, and HomeKit, which includes home-automation elements so people can control locks, garage doors, and lights from their devices. The company also showed products for storing and sending files, and an updated version of its Mac operating system dubbed Yosemite.
As smartphones and tablets with similar shapes and designs proliferate globally, Apple, Google Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., and other technology companies are focused on differentiating their products through software and services that run on the devices. The release of its new tools shows how Apple is increasingly positioning its gadgets to be more of a hub for people's lives.
"Our operating system, devices and services work together in harmony," chief executive officer Tim Cook said at the event. "Together they provide an integrated and continuous experience across all of our products."
The updates offer a glimpse of Apple's direction since the death of cofounder Steve Jobs in 2011. With iPhone and iPad sales no longer the source of growth they once were, Cook has been under pressure to deliver another hit.As smartphones and tablets with similar shapes and designs proliferate globally, Apple, Google Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., and other technology companies are focused on differentiating their products through software and services that run on the devices. The release of its new tools shows how Apple is increasingly positioning its gadgets to be more of a hub for people's lives.
"Our operating system, devices and services work together in harmony," chief executive officer Tim Cook said at the event. "Together they provide an integrated and continuous experience across all of our products."
"It was a show for laying the foundation for the next structures that are going to be built," Horace Dediu, a mobile-industry analyst who runs Asymco, said at the show.
Apple shares fell less than 1 percent to $628.65 at the close in New York. The stock is up 12 percent this year, compared with a 4.1 percent rise in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
The event follows last week's announcement that Apple is buying headphones and music-streaming company Beats Electronics L.L.C. for $3 billion, another move to boost growth. The company plans to keep the music and headphones products as a separate brand, a first for Apple, and the deal brings on board music-industry veteran Jimmy Iovine and musical artist Dr. Dre. Iovine was among the attendees at Monday's event, which is Apple's 25th such conference and included programmers as young as 13.
Tuesday 3/6/14
How to prevent your iMessages getting lost
Apple has said it's working to fix a bug in its iMessaging system that causes messages to get lost once the owner switches to an Android or Windows phone
12:19PM BST 23 May 2014
Comment
Apple has said it is addressing several bugs within its iMessaging system which have caused text messages to become lost after the recipient switches to a non-Apple phone.
iMessaging allows iPhone users to send texts to other iOS devices via Apple's servers, bypassing text messaging charges. The problem arises once an iPhone user switches to an Android or Windows phone and chooses to keep their number previously recognised as an iPhone.
Users have complained that iMessages sent to them once they have changed phones have failed to be delivered as regular text messages, to the extent that a California-based woman has filed a law suit against the company.
Adrienne Moore, who now uses a Samsung phone, filed a complaint against Apple earlier this week, claiming the company failed to disclose its knowledge of the problem.
While the issue does not appear to affect all previous iPhone users, Apple issued a statement saying it recently "fixed a server-side iMessage bug which was causing an issue for some users," and was working on an additional fix for future software updates
