When it comes to voice-enabled personal assistants on mobile devices, Apple and Google have dominated that space, forcing others to either play catch-up or risk losing a percentage of market share from users who require that advanced functionality. BlackBerry hasn’t exactly been up there batting alongside the best-of-the-best in recent years, but while the company may lack traction within the consumer space it still holds some weight with corporate users. In an effort to improve the BB10 experience for that loyal corporate user-base, the company has taken to its Inside BlackBerry blog to officially introduce the Blackberry Assistant, a digital experience that will attempt to rival Siri on iOS and Google Now on Android hardware.
Touch ID has proven an immensely successful feature within the iPhone 5s, and although the technology has remained exclusive to the current flagship since it rolled out back in September, Apple is expected to be treating the iPad line-up to the fingerprint-scanning tech later on this year. With the iPhone 6 slated for a September release, though, all eyes are on the next-gen handset, and today, we've an up-close look at the tweaked Touch ID component that'll apparently grace the forthcoming device.
It's a polarizing fact that, to many, celebrity is everything, and when we consider those who command the lion's share of the media spotlight, reality TV queen Kim Kardashian is right up there. But while, in tech circles, she doesn't really get much of a mention, her new iOS and Android game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood has taken the charts by storm, and the free-to-download app, it is reckoned, could rake in an eye-watering $200 million per year.
Apple has today struck a deal with IBM that will see devices like the iPhone and iPad build a stronger presence in the enterprise market, with IBM's obvious clout among business helping to seal what will no doubt be a mutually beneficial deal. Announced today by means of a press release, IBM will take the opportunity to integrate its own pool of services and solutions into these Apple-made devices before selling the tailored experience on to specific, pin-pointed businesses and industries.
The iTunes App Store is awash with great apps, but while most of us would love to simply download them all, we'd soon rack up a bill amounting to a small fortune. This is why, we try our utmost to present you guys with the best deals and freebies on a daily basis, and below, we've got another ten great apps gone free over at the App Store.
As rumors go, the Apple "iWatch" has been stalking blogosphere headlines for a good couple of years now, but with Samsung having come through with several smartwatches already and Google having just taken the wraps off Android Wear, the Cupertino company knows that this emerging industry is in the midst of a boom. As such, there's a genuine consensus that the iWatch will indeed arrive later this year, and although a new report out of Asia provides yet more circumstantial evidence as opposed to anything solid, it does offer insight as to the multiple models that Apple is said to be preparing.
The iPhone 6 is easily the most eagerly-anticipated device releasing in 2014, and although this tends to be the case with each year that goes by, the reported size increase has certainly helped to ramp up the hype this time around. A new listing on the Amazon Japan marketplace, which has since been removed, showed the device as on sale for upward of $1,300, and although the source of this posting is currently unknown, some intriguing details were recovered prior to the page's swift removal.
Snapchat has just added a cool new feature allowing users to add location-specific filters to snaps before sending them out. The image and video-sharing IM service, which has a popular following among college-age users, has seen its user base soar in recent times, and having added IM-like chat features in a large update earlier on in the year, has now baked in a geofiltering service as an extension of those traditional, Instagram-esque overlays it recently rolled out.
Google is inarguably the most innovative company in the modern mobile industry, with several exciting products already in the pipeline. The head-mounted Glass device is perhaps the most eagerly-anticipated of them all, but as far as allowing us to engage with digital products using just our eyes, it's not the only project that the search giant is plotting. The company is also working on some smart contact lenses offering significant health benefits those suffering with diabetes, and today, this enterprise got a significant boost with the Big G having struck a licensing deal with Novartis subsidiary Alcon.
It's a fair assessment to make that Apple's Passbook feature hasn't been adopted by consumers with the kind of enthusiasm that the early hype suggested, but with NFC said to be arriving with the iPhone 6, the voucher / pass / wallet service could soon become a staple part of iOS users' diets. The Cupertino's move to launch iTunes Pass in Japan is certainly indicative of a more concerted push with Passbook, and as of today, Japanese consumers will be able to top up their iTunes credit via Passbook at Apple's brick-and-mortar retail outlets.
