Apple posted iOS 6.1.3 update to fix a bug that allows someone to bypass the passcode and access the iPhone app and also improvements to Maps in Japan.
Note that for those who had jailbreak their phone with evasi0n – 6.1.3 is not supported yet – so refrain from clicking the upgrade button.
IOS 6.1.3 is out.Jailbreakers stay away!There’s no coming back to 6.1.2 JB even if you saved blobs (except iPhone4 and ipt4g)
— MuscleNerd (@MuscleNerd) March 19, 2013
China’s state-own TV network CCTV ran an annual live consumer protection show that hammers well known brand for their shoddy products, scams or non-existant after sale service. This year, their target was Apple. One of the topic brought up was Apple’s replacement program for faulty iPhones where they will exchange it with a refurbished (not new) set with the old backcover so that the warranty will not reset but continue from where the old set left off. (Here in Singapore, you will get a refurbished set and with new serial number
After the show, China’s Sina Weibo was ablaze with criticisms of Apple about their practices and a number of them came from celebrities. But one that came from Peter Ho (何润东), got local netizens thinking that it might be a coordinated campaign by CCTV to get celebrities to post such anti-Apple sentiments. It read like this:
#315isLive# Wow, Apple has so many tricks in its after-sales services. As an Apple fan, I’m hurt. You think this would be acceptable to Steve Jobs? Or to those young people who sold their kidneys [to buy iPads]? It’s really true that big chains treat customers poorly. Post around 8:20.
Within minutes, that first post was removed and re-posted without the words “Post around 8:20″, followed quickly by another post which says that his account was hacked and illegally posted about Apple.
Weibo users who spotted the first post quickly linked that last sentence as a sign that it was a paid, coordinated effort by CCTV to get celebrities to endorse the sentiments put forth on the show. The hashtag #postaround820 became viral and many denounce the hypocrisy surrounding the postings of those celebrities. Ironically many of these were posted from either an iPhone or iPad.
What started off as a tirade against Apple became a PR disaster for CCTV, Sina Weibo and the celebrities involved. Many are speculating the agenda behind all these – from Samsung’s involvement to some arm-wrangling by CCTV to get Apple to advertise on their network – nobody will actually know. But this will not stop Apple’s inroad into the Chinese market.
(via The Atlantic, TeaLeafNation, Lady.163.com, OffBeatChina)
Apple recently added a new section within the US’s iPhone product page called Why iPhone which talks about why iPhone is better than everything else in the market. There are awards on customer satisfaction, emphasis on Apple’s focus on quality in finishing, the retina display, battery life, processors, connectivity and camera. Besides the hardware, the page also highlighted Apple’s huge apps ecosystem, iOS, Siri and iCloud. The last point was about customer service.
For example on the build of the iPhone 5:
It’s nearly impossible to make a device so thin and light without sacrificing features or performance. Yet iPhone 5 achieves that goal. It’s an accomplishment of engineering as much as one of design. Every detail and every material — particularly the sleek aluminum enclosure — has been meticulously considered and refined. And it’s made with a level of precision you’d expect from a finely crafted watch, not a smartphone. As a result, iPhone feels substantial in your hand and perfect in your pocket.
Most feel that this is in direct respond to Samsung launching the Galaxy S4 and that Apple finally is feeling the heat and is on the defensive. Yadadada. With most media out there taking the easy route and sounding Apple’s death knell, it is no surprise that Apple whip up this page to remind people that though the iPhone 5 is half a year old, it is still one of the best smartphone in the market.
With new product announcements possibly coming only in the middle of the year, we will definitely see more of such marketing efforts from Apple.
Can’t wait for JOBS the Steve Jobs biopic staring Ashton Kutcher – well before that hit the big screen there’s iSteve – the latest project from the site Funny or Die.
According to the article in New York Times, the movie stars Justin Long as Steve Jobs, James Urbaniak as Bill Gates, Michaela Watkins as Melinda Gates and Jorge Garcia from Lost plays Steve Wozniak.
“In true Internet fashion, it’s not based on very thorough research — essentially a cursory look at the Steve Jobs Wikipedia page,” said Ryan Perez, who wrote and directed “iSteve.” “It’s very silly. But it looks at his whole life.”
Funny or Die will release iSteve on 15 April, while the Ashton Kutcher version will come out later in the year after the distributor scrapped its initial opening date of 19 April. Besides these two, there will be one more movie on Jobs, written by Aaron Sorkin based on Walter Isaacson’s best-selling Jobs biography.
Looks like we’ll see three different Steve Jobs on the big screen this year – which will come closest?
(via ArtsBeat NYTimes)
Popular chat client WhatsApp is aligning their payment model across platform to that similar to how it is implemented for WhatsApp on Android, BlackBerry, Nokia and Windows Phone platforms according to a report on TechCrunch. Currently users on iOS just need to pay an one-time fee of US$0.99 to get access to the app while users on Android for example, gets the first year free but subsequent fee of US$0.99 per year to use the chat network. This change in payment model will begin some time later this year and will apply only to new users.
According to Jan Koum, WhatsApp’s CEO, the rational for this change is just “… to keep things simple,” he explained. He also mentioned that unlike other popular messaging apps in the market, they have no plans to extend WhatsApp onto the desktop.
Are you still using WhatsApp with apps like Line, WeChat and the latest MessageMe entering the market with more features than just text messaging?
(via TechCrunch)
