Apple confirms September 9 launch event in San Francisco

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Media invitations went out this morning from Apple for an invitation-only event to be held on September 9th at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in downtown San Francisco. The invitation has the Apple Logo as well as the Siri waveform graphics that appear on the Apple Watch with a "Hey Siri, give us a hint" text below. Siri is iOS's digital personal assistant which is native to the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch lines. Just out of curiosity, I queried Siri and asked her to give me a hint, I got the response below.

Traditionally an iOS and iPhone event, September events are held in the Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts in San Francisco, although last year's event was equally focused on the Apple Watch and was held at the Flint Centre in Cupertino. For this year, Apple is expected to update the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus lines and possibly add a lower cost model. Aside from the de rigueur OS and processor upgrades, we expect to see improved cameras, possible Force Touch functionality as well as the introduction of new colours. Seeing as Siri features in the invitation, we might get new and improved Siri functionality as well. Stay tuned for more development on this story.

Air Canada to use IBM apps on Apple mobile devices

Air Canada joins around 500 companies working with Apple and its enterprise partner IBM. This partnership was formed to help boost the stagnant sales of the iPad and to help make inroads in the enterprise market. Apple CFO Luca Maestri revealed details of this partnership during a call to discuss the company’s third-quarter earnings.

Maestri won’t divulge how many workers are using the apps. Although, for example, only a few Air Canada flight attendants could be using the Passenger+ app. This app lets them see passenger and flight information via an iPad. Other companies and even governments working with Apple and IBM include U.K. energy provider National Grid, Mexican bank Banorte, and American Eagle Outfitters. The companies are also working with the Japanese government for solutions to help care for its aging population. The partnership has yielded 35 apps and they still seem to be on track to meet the 100 apps they plan to release by the end of the year.

Source: ComputerWorld

Apple celebrates iPhone appreciation with new series of ads

iPhone is Apple's most important and profitable product, it is also the nerve-centre of various expanding ecosystems (i.e. HealthKit, watchOS, CarPlay, AirPlay, HomeKit). The latest series of ads titled 'If it's not an iPhone," celebrate iPhone ownership while possibly shooting missives at some rival devices that have copied aspects of the iPhone's look and feel. The new ads have a slick yet playful vibe, reminiscent of the classic iPod advertisements of years past.

Source: Apple

First Apple-designed packaging for third-party peripherals shows up at stores

There's a huge ecosystem of Apple and Mac peripherals ranging from MacBook cases to external hard drives and docking solutions to an endless assortment of iPhone and iPad cases, battery solutions and add-ons. Few of these products are lucky to be selected by Apple to be featured in the Apple Retail Store displays. 

Apple has apparently redesigned the packaging for many of these products so that they look more pleasing and also represent the products more accurately. There's a certain familiar Apple-ness to the way the above products are represented. 

Source: 9to5Mac