Some things are just never going to happen. Some things are just highly unlikely. With Steve Jobs around it was unthinkable for Apple to bring the iTunes Store to Google's Android mobile platform, but in a post-Steve Jobs world, it's looking increasingly possible that those packing non-Apple hardware could be able to buy songs from iTunes.
Yesterday, it became apparent that actor Christian Bale may well be in the running to play Steve Jobs in the upcoming biopic, written by Aaron Sorkin. Rumor has it that Sorkin will team up once again with director David Fincher, with whom he made The Social Network, and with the script ready, the process of arranging the cast and crew looks well under way. To give us an idea of how Bale might look as Jobs, one image editing wiz has superimposed his face into the famous pose of the late Apple co-founder from the front cover of his official biography, and in all honesty, he pulls off the look plausibly.
Apple-bashing from Samsung is nothing new, particularly given the ongoing court hearings between the two relating to supposed theft of patented technologies, but in a rare treat, the Korean outfit has taken a swipe at Apple, Microsoft and Amazon in one fell swoop with its latest Galaxy Pro Series Ad. The Galaxy Tab Pro and Galaxy Note Pro, which Samsung was heavily pushing at Mobile World last month, offer quite a few features built with the power user in mind, and with the advertising machine in full flow, the company has wasted no time in having a swipe at the Apple iPad, Amazon Kindle Fire and Microsoft Surface for their respective shortcomings.
Back in January, an interesting infographic emerged comparing the actual amount of storage space our smartphones offer versus the quoted capacity, and it showed that Samsung's Galaxy S4 was the biggest culprit for filling devices up with bloatware. Conversely, the iPhone 5c offered the most storage for a 16GB device, and the release just yesterday of a new 8GB iPhone 5c has thrown up the fascinating statistic that in terms of actual storage, the 16GB Galaxy S4 is a mere 3.7GB ahead of Apple's new 8GB iPhone 5c.
Since the past few days, we've been hearing about Apple's supposed iOS 8 Healthbook app endeavors, and today, a new screenshot released into the wild via China's Twitter-like service Weibo offers what appears to be a legitimate glimpse of the app running on iOS 8.
A new iPad Pro concept cooked up by the folks of German design outfit CURVED Labs demonstrates precisely the kind of product that power users of the Apple slate would probably be seeking. Packing a sumptuous 12.9-inch 4K display of almost 300ppi, the device, which does seem a little idealistic if we're honest, manages to retain the same thinness as the iPad Air, and although we doubt that Apple could possibly stuff such a high-spec IPS panel in this kind of form factor, it's not as though Jony Ive and his hardware design team haven't pulled off similarly improbable feats in the past.
Amid a swirl of rumors over the past couple of days suggesting that Apple would be adding a cheaper, 8GB variant of the iPhone 5c to its smartphone roster, the company has now confirmed this to be the case, with the handset launching today in select markets.
It's not uncommon, as has been the case over the past couple of months, for talk of the next iPhone to begin swiftly following the release of the current model. But while we've only seen tentative upgrades in terms of the Apple smartphone's form factor since the original handset arrived in 2007, the talk of two new devices - the larger of which may pack a display in excess of 5.5 inches - has raised more than a few eyebrows. With this in mind, ISI analyst Brian Marshall not only believes that we'll see unprecedented numbers of consumers upgrading to the new, larger model, but he also foresees scores of Android users jumping ship as Apple finally decides to go big.
Apple's iPhone 6 is highly expected to be an embodiment of the company's future direction, both in form and function. A number of early rumors have already alluded to the fact that the Cupertino company is intending to step away from the 4-inch form factor that has served the iPhone 5, 5s and 5c so well in favor of something a little larger. In addition to that change of physical size, one well-placed analyst is predicting that the iPhone 6 will introduce a number of new internal sensors that could open up the device to a whole host of new possibilities.
The colorful iPhone 5c is widely regarded as a flop, and the fact that Apple remains tight-lipped about sales of its polycarbonate-clad handset speaks volumes. But while many are tipping it for the axe later on this year by the time the iPhone 6 comes around, there may still be life left in the handset yet, with leaked documents from O2 Germany appearing to suggest that an 8GB model is in the offing; and at a cheaper price point.
