On the other hand, iOS 9 and iOS 8.4 also take on challenging third-party developers who currently offer apps in 5 thriving app store categories. Many developers behind the apps in these categories are venture-backed and now Apple has become their competitor.
Here are the 5 categories that will be deeply impacted by iOS 9 and iOS 8.4.
Apple Music will be available on June 30 as a part of iOS 8.4 update. The revamped music app on iOS will feature Apple’s latest music streaming service. There are three parts to the new service from Apple.
The service will be priced at $9.99 per month and $14.99 per month for family plan.
Apple Music will directly compete with streaming giants like Spotify, SoundCloud, Rdio, iHeart Radio, Pandora Radio, TuneIn Radio, and even Vevo to name a few.
iOS 9 will replace Newsstand with all new Apple News app. It allows publishers to create unique experiences by providing engaging content with brilliant typography, animated objects, transitions and more.
Users will be able to find articles and stories relevant to their interest, bookmark and view recommended content. The new app will support iAd advertising for publishers.
News app in iOS 9 will directly compete with Flipboard.
In iOS 9 Apple is going after productivity apps that let you take rich notes with the all new Notes app.
The updated app allows you to add photos, scribble on your note, insert checklists, embed links and maps. It also has a new Attachments Browser that “organizes all the items attached to your notes in one simple view, so it’s easy to find what you’re looking for.”
It will also support a share extension so that you can take notes within apps like Safari, Maps, and many more.
Notes in iOS 9 will compete with Evernote, Google News, Feedly, and many more.
Apple has been working on transit direction for iOS since a long time. The company is now ready to launch its own transit directions in iOS 9 Maps app. It will feature public transit information with routes and directions.
Since the Maps app works on both iOS and OS X, you’ll be able to plan your trip on the Mac and follow in on the way on your iPhone or iPad. It’s worth noting that Transit will be available only in select cities in the US for the time being,
The new Maps app in iOS 9 with transit information will compete with Moovit.
Apple announced its Health app as a part of iOS 8 last year. In iOS 9 the Health is receiving an update to track “Sexual Activity”. In the updated Health app users will be able to record the date and time you had sex and whether you used contraception or not.
With a special focus on women, the Health app will now be able to track menstrual cycles and help in monitoring physical changes.
This update will now put many third-party apps on alert. Some of the apps that help in tracking mensural cycles include Glow, Ovia Fertility, Clue and many more.
{via CB Insights}
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HBO has made a move into yet another one of Apple’s products, allowing customers of its HBO GO streaming service to stream shows and movies on their Apple TV devices. On Tuesday, during the AllThingsD Dive Into Media Conference, Eric Kessler of HBO announced that the company will be adding support for its users to stream to their Apple TV devices via AirPlay.
Our longterm goal for Go is to be on all devices all platforms. HBO Go is HBO’s streaming service that allows subscribers to watch HBO content on PCs, tablets, and consoles.
With this new addition, HBO would only allow streaming of video from the HBO GO app as there is currently no available app for the Apple TV. Other streaming services such as Watchever, Netflix and Hulu Plus already have applications for the Apple TV, which allows users to browse directly through the device instead of channeling it through a MacBook or iOS device.
Despite the fact that Apple currently does not have an HBO app for the Apple TV, the two companies are reportedly working together to create a native HBO GO application for the Apple TV. The Apple TV only supports streaming content at this point, with Apple consistently adding new services in the US and abroad.
With rumors that Apple is looking to introduce a television set, it is very likely that the company will continue to add more content and perhaps even its own App Store for games, TV shows, and movies.
{Via MacRumors}
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According to The Next Web, Apple has added yet another service to its Apple TV device, a movie streaming and TV service called Watchever. Watchever is a Hulu Plus type streaming service that requires a subscription and allows users to log into the application on their Apple TV and stream movies and TV shows on their HD televisions. The service costs €8.99 a month and carries both international and local television series and movies.
Key features include the ability to choose between a German dubbed version of international movies, or the original. There is also a personal recommendation algorithm à la Netflix.
Apple has also updated its second and third generation Apple TV support page which shows all of the services currently available for use on the device. Watchever is the latest addition and mentions Germany on the bottom to note that it is only available in that country. Watchever announced during its launch that it would be compatible with the Apple TV and has now officially released it.
With more services being added to the Apple TV, the Cupertino company is continuously building relationships with different companies that may also hash out deals if Apple was to release a television set in the near future.
{Via MacRumors}
]]> https://touchreviews.net/apple-tv-adds-movie-streaming-tv-service-watchever-germany/feed/ 2Unfortunately, it doesn’t really matter what we think. Even if we think that being able to opt out of giving our personal data to publishers, or that being able to easily manage all our subscriptions in one payment system, are great ideas. Because what matters is what the publishers think.
So far the battle lines seem to be pretty well drawn as far as Amazon, and Rhapsody (the music streaming service) are concerned. Apple is muscling in on 30% of their cash flow – and they don’t like it. Amazon has met Apple’s announcement, an announcement which would require it to route purchases from its iOS apps via Apple’s iTunes, with a stony silence. And Rhapsody have basically said that they don’t have 30% of their revenue to spare – and went so far as to say they would consider a legal rebuff to Apple’s new contract terms. Reading their financial data this week I actually believe them.
Of all the people who could have a problem with Apple’s plans, those are probably the only two who have a point. They provide all their content directly to consumers, for which they foot the shipping, or bandwidth, and they already pay royalties to content creators; writers, musicians, software companions etc. So another 30% to Apple for simply providing two already high profile businesses with a payment solution seems opportunistic from Apple. On the other hand, for smaller publishers looking for a leg up the 30 / 70 split with Apple is actually a great deal. And for consumers Apple’s price promise means an even shopping playing-field for all.
Other than that, the usual print magazines which only days ago were waxing lyrical about Apple’s iPad, have declined to herald the era of Apple’s Digital Print revolution, with digital subscriptions through the App Store. In fact they’ve barely reported on it.
Most likely all these publishers are more concerned about losing control over our personal data. And any complaints over revenue share could easily be swept aside – or used as a whipping post to drive other demands they’d rather not fight over in public. Advertising crazy Conde-Naste who pepper their web pages with so many garish adverts that even my work Mac is brought to its knees by the explosion of Flash in my browser when I visit their site, and who also brought a version of their Wired magazine to the iPad near launch, were decidedly unenthusiastic about Apple’s new deal. Unsurprisingly so.
At launch yesterday Apple had no new partners to announce with the arrival of Subscription Digital Content. Unusual for them, especially as they have reportedly been negotiating with publishers for two years. And Apple’s only partner currently in this new media adventure is Rupert Murdoch’s “The Daily”. Information on how well the Daily is going has not been forthcoming, and the free period for the digital newspaper has been extend in recent days.
So is it a bust Apple’s new Subscription Publishing model? Probably not. This period now reminds me a little bit of the initial stages of iTunes. And I am sure Apple is playing the long game. “The Daily” may well fall by the way side. But 100s of millions of tablet computers out there in the wild next year are too bigger catch for publishers, advertiser and salesmen to resist.
The publishers are simply biding their time, and hoping to give away less to Apple moving forward. It will be interesting to see who blinks first. But with Rupert Murdoch’s “The Daily” looking like a bust right now, it might be Apple who blinks first – this time.
Do you think Apple will do the same with digital print that it has done with iTunes? Or is this one going to be a tougher nut to crack for Apple? Have your say in the comments…
]]> https://touchreviews.net/publishers-initial-response-apples-app-store-subscriptions-packages-muted/feed/ 0Polar Rose are the company behind the facial recognition technology that was built into Facebook and Flickr, and used for photo tagging.
After that success Polar Rose continued to refine its tools, culminating in an Android app called “Recognizr”, which uses Augmented Reality and Facial Recognition to create a very unique user account feature for Android devices.
Basically it used facial recognition to have different home pages for different people’s profiles on a device. User accounts, something which is common place in desktop operating systems is something that people have been clamouring for on the Apple iPad for some time now.
A more mundane use might simply be face tagging in iPhoto. More likely is facial recognition on mobile devices and if this will factor into the Near Field Communications technology Apple are rumoured to be working on for financial transactions is another matter for consideration.
Apple has bought quite a few technologies in the last year or two. Many of which that have not actually shown up in products yet.
When one thinks back to Apple’s purchase of LaLa (a music streaming service), Siri (a new kind of search technology in the form of a kind of digital PA) and hirings like Near Fields Communications expert, Benjamin Vigier, there is almost a tangible feel of lots of jigsaw puzzle pieces coming together…
Most certainly all these pieces have a relationship to one another.
What do you think Apple is up to? Have your say in the comments…
[TechEYE] ]]> https://touchreviews.net/apple-purchased-facial-recognition-firm-polar-rose/feed/ 3It is very clear that Apple is closely watching Google’s moves in the music market place. And is making tentative moves to consolidate its position as the worlds digital content leader. But it is clear that Apple is eyeing an expansion of all of its own data services for its products and their users, they are not in a rush.
All of these services, be they related to financial transactions via your iPhone, more synergy and connectivity between iDevices, more music or more movies, all require something that is not ready yet. Apple’s huge server facility in the US, which is not online until 2011.
Apple realises that Google has a long way to go yet, before it can pull off a music service to rival iTunes. Or really bring a cohesive movie viewing / downloading service to your living room. And because of this Apple are taking their time to line up the right services for music, movies and TV. As well as watching to see which way Google ultimately goes, and probably flounders.
According to several sources, the work done at Lala shortly after Apple took it over was more in the direction of video than audio. And Apple has not made any major moves to obtain rights for a more flexible license for music or movie ownership, yet. But movie execs. have been speaking of a set of “digital shelves” that consumers can purchase content for. The idea being that they own the rights to view the content for life, and not a physical DVD. Rather like iPhone apps, Steam Games, or eBooks, which you move from device to device, but always keep the rights to use.
Needless to say the legal side of this will all take more time to work out than either the construction of Apple’s server farm, or for “The Hobbit” to be made into a movie.
So if Apple get an Apple TV to us this year (something I doubt), or roll out any kind of music service, expect it to be limited at first. But perhaps growing through the second half of 2011.
Does Apple’s rumoured plan sound appealing to you? Let us know your view in the comments…
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Rhapsody, the popular music streaming service recently updated their blog with information about the latest update to their iPhone, iPod touch and iPad app. The latest version 2.0 adds ‘offline caching’ functionality and enables caching of playlist which can then be played without an active WiFi or 3G connection.
In the earlier version of Rhapsody for iPhone users could only stream music when they were connected to the internet. In version 2.0 now you will be able to download user created playlists and enjoy your favorite music offline.
Rhapsody for iPhone can be downloaded for free, however to enjoy the streaming service you will need a Rhapsody subscription account to access the downloads. You can either purchase the $10-per-month Rhapsody Premier plan which provides access on 1 mobile device or the $14.99 Rhapsody Premier Plus plan which provides access on up to 3 mobile devices.
Jon Maples, the product lead for Rhapsody said,
We think it’s a big step forward, but it’s just part of our effort to make Rhapsody all you need to hear your favorite music wherever you find yourself.
Other developments coming soon:
Offline Playback for Rhapsody iPhone App
App Info:
Price: Free (iTunes Store)
Category: Music
Released: Apr 25, 2010
Version: 2.0.0
Size: 1.7 MB
Language: English
Seller: Rhapsody International Inc
© 2010 Rhapsody International Inc.
Rated 12+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes
Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References
Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.
[blog.rhapsody.com] ]]> https://touchreviews.net/rhapsody-offline-playback-iphone-ipad-app-v2/feed/ 2