Apple's Continuity, Handoff break barriers between Mac, iPhone, iPad

​CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA: If you've upgraded your iPhone or iPad to iOS 8, the new software update for Mac computers will seem familiar.

The Yosemite update to Apple's OS X system, available as a free download, adds several features to bring the Mac in line with last month's iOS 8 update for mobile devices. There's also new functionality to make Macs act more like iPhones. 

Yosemite still has plenty of touches that make a Mac a Mac. But it continues a trend of breaking down barriers between the various devices as people depend more on smartphones and tablets for their everyday computing through its Continuity and Handoff features. 


Seamless
Let's say you're writing a lengthy email on your iPad and would prefer the Mac's keyboard. You can just click an icon on the lower left corner of the Mac and continue there. What you've already started on the iPad automatically appears on the Mac, including the "Sent from my iPad" footer.

It works with several other apps, too. The Safari web browser opens to the specific page being viewed on the other device. The Maps app launches to the location you were viewing. This feature came in handy as I was chatting with a friend through Messages and got tired of pecking on the iPhone's small keyboard.

You can also start tasks on a Mac and continue on an iPhone or iPad.

Hello!
Mac computers already come with a FaceTime app for video conferencing, but that's limited to calling other FaceTime users. With Yosemite, you can make voice calls to anyone. Yosemite connects wirelessly to your iPhone to make and receive calls. The recipient sees Mac calls as coming from the iPhone's number.

You don't get video, and there's a slight lag with audio. In my tests, call quality was comparable to what you'd get over a speakerphone. It won't replicate a landline, but it's useful when your phone is charging in another room. The phone and the Mac must be on the same Wi-Fi network.

With the iOS 8.1 update coming Monday, you'll be able to send regular texts from the Mac, too. Currently, you're limited to reaching other Apple users through iMessage chats.

Universal search
The Mac's Spotlight feature already is good about finding various documents on your computer, no matter where you stored them. Yosemite goes further by pulling related items from the web as well, similar to a feature Microsoft introduced last year with Windows 8.1.

A search for "Lady Gaga" got me not just an email receipt for an album I bought, but also her Wikipedia entry, Twitter account and other albums I can buy on iTunes. A search for "Empire State Building" delivered news and map results. I can get directions with just one click.

Simpler browsing
Web browsers have gotten more powerful over the years, but added functionality also leads to complexity. The Safari browser that comes with Yosemite simplifies all that by consolidating many basic functions into a single box.

While most browsers now combine the box for web addresses and search, Safari moves bookmarks and frequently visited sites there, too. A menu pops out when you click there, with choices that sync with those on your iPhone and other devices. And as you type in search terms, you also get Spotlight's web suggestions. 
What's happening
On iOS devices, you can swipe down from the top to get nuggets to help you through the day — calendar appointments, weather conditions, stock quotes and more. Now, you can do that on the Mac as well by pulling out the Today panel from the right. 

Preferences sync with your mobile devices, though content will vary. For instance, I noticed the iPhone gave me weather for the current location, while Yosemite offered me additional choices based on past settings. I'm also able to add tools such as a calculator to the Today panel, so I no longer have to dig for it in the recesses of the Mac's Dashboard. 
More versatile storage
Apple's iCloud online storage service has been mostly useful for sharing and syncing music, photos and other documents among Apple apps on various Apple devices. With iCloud Drive, you can do that with non-Apple apps and Windows computers, too. Just move files to a special Mac folder for syncing. It's similar to what Dropbox and other storage services offer.

For iOS 8 mobile devices, though, developers need to tweak individual apps to take advantage of it. That's just starting to happen. Android devices aren't supported at all.

A related feature lets you send large attachments through the Mac's Mail app without clogging your recipient's inbox. Attachments get uploaded to iCloud, without counting against your storage quota. Your email then includes a link instead of the massive file. I was able to open a 27-second video clip of kangaroos on Windows, but not Android. 
Time to upgrade?
Yosemite works with all Macs introduced since 2009 and some older ones, too.
If you use a lot of obscure or specialty software, you might want to check first to make sure it's compatible with Yosemite. If you mostly use Apple software and services, you're not likely to encounter problems because Apple tested Yosemite with Apple users more extensively than before.

Apple strategy continued in India

                      Apple's first midnight launch saw buyers queueing up from Thursday night at stores that stayed specially open to allow those who pre-ordered the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to be the first to get them. The company has been seeking to remedy its former neglect of India as a market for smartphones, currently dominated by Samsung and others, by stepping up its sales efforts, including exchange offers, installment plans and now midnight sales.

People who pre-ordered the devices and many who didn't lined up at stores across the big Indian cities. "I came in early, so I got a chance to be among the first few," said 25-year-old Didar Singh, who picked up an iPhone 6 Plus from a reseller in an upmarket south Delhi locality, having reached the store at around 9.30 pm.

He was among about 250 people queuing up at four stores holding midnight iPhone sales at the market in Greater Kailash. On hand were bean bags, free energy drinks and a big TV screen on which a countdown started at 11.30 pm.

The launch is part of Apple's bid to drum up excitement about the new devices as it seeks to gain a stronger foothold in the Indian market and attempts to compete with rivals unveiling new devices. The India iPhone launch followed sales openings in the US and other markets on September 19. Thursday also saw the unveiling of upgraded iPads in the US by Apple while Google announced a new phone and tablet the previous day. Rival Samsung has recently launched the Samsung Galaxy Alpha and started selling the Note 4 on Friday.

In Gurgaon, a Starbucks outlet stayed open late to provide sustenance to those waiting for iPhone sales to start. There was a significant police presence as well, to keep the peace. The demand, more for the iPhone 6 than the 6 Plus, wasn't restricted to Delhi and Mumbai, with Kolkata and Chennai also seeing an unprecedented rush for the devices as Apple embarked on its biggest pan-India launch. India is a focus area for the Cupertino-based company as underlined by CEO Tim Cook's references to it in recent comments.

Enthusiasm for the devices was "surprisingly high in Kolkata," said Himanshu Chakrawarti, CEO of The Mobile Store, India's largest cellphone retail chain. "The first day and this weekend will be all about providing the new handsets to the pre-booked customers and we will start booking again from Saturday to ensure that customers can get it when fresh inventory arrives," said Chakrawarti.

Harirul Anam Khan, a third-year B Com student, was happy to buy the champagne gold iPhone 6 for Rs 53,500, although he had pre-registered for the space gray version, which was unlikely to be in stock anytime soon, he was told. "I use an iPhone 4S now, but couldn't resist upgrading to an iPhone 6," he said.

Just ahead of Diwali, there is concern that Apple may not be able to keep up with demand. The Apple India team has asked the parent to rush another 50,000-55,000 units by early next week, according to two senior executives close to Apple's trade team. "There is a strong indication that fresh stocks will hit by Monday evening so that Apple can make the maximum of Dhanteras and Diwali sales," said one of them. Some stores weren't that hopeful about an early replenishment of stocks.

A store manager in Kolkata said it had stopped taking any pre-orders until fresh supplies from distributors Ingram Micro and
Redington arrived to help with its immediate delivery commitment of some 60-80 units. "We are telling new customers who haven't pre-booked to expect fresh stocks only by November-end."

The All New i-Pad

Apple launches new iPad Air, mini

Apple on Tuesday launched latest models of its popular tablet computers called iPad Air and the new iPad mini with Retina display. 

The new Apple tablet is called iPad Air and is thinner and lighter than its predecessors iPad 4 and the mini. It looks just like the first generation iPad mini and is 25% thinner at 7.5mm thickness and has 43% smaller bezels. Apple claims it is the thinnest full-sized tablet in the world. 

iPad Air has the same 64-bit A7 chip and the M7 motion co-processor that was introduced with the iPhone 5S. It has the same 9.7-inch Retina screen and can open files twice as fast as the iPad 4. The new model will be available at $499 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and $629 Wi-Fi and 4G variant. It will hit the market on November 1 and will come in Space Grey and Silver colours. 

Apple has retained the iPad 2, which was launched two years ago, in its lineup, but phased out the fourth-generation iPad that arrived only last October. 

Apple said it has sold over 170 million iPads and now has 4,75,000 iPad-exclusive applications in the App Store.

New Macbook Pro :*

Apple revamps Macbook Pro, offers free OSX Mavericks

 Apple has revamped its Macbook Pro laptops with two new models and rolled out the latest operating system OSX Mavericks as a free download later today.

At an event held in San Francisco, the company unveiled its next-generation 13-inch and 15-inch Macbook Pro models and will shortly announce the new series of its popular iPad and iPad Mini tablets. 

The 13-inch Macbook Pro will run on the fourth-generation Intel Haswell chip with 2.4GHz dual-core i5 processor and Iris GPU. The graphics of this machine are 90% faster than predecessors and battery is life now nine hours, up from seven hours in the previous model. It is also thinner and lighter and the flash storage and Wi-Fi are faster as well. 

Apple’s 15-inch Macbook Pro will pack the Intel Crystallwell chip and Iris Pro graphics under the hood. The battery life of the laptop is eight hours. 

The 13-inch and 15-inch Macbook Pro models will hit the market today at $1,299 and $1,999. 

Apple said that the Mavericks update, which was unveiled in June at WWDC 2013, will be available free for download starting today. It will support old devices like the 2007 iMac and Macbook Pro, along with newer Mac desktops and laptops. The iLife suite of programmes like iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb etc will be available for free with any new iOS or Mac device, Apple said. 

The Mac Pro, which was also announced at WWDC this year, will also available in the market today at $2,999. This professional computer has a 3.7GHz quad-core Xeon processor, 12GB RAM and 256GB SSD.

Earlier, taking a jibe at Microsoft’s OEM partners, CEO Tim Cook called the competition “confused” and said they tried to make tablets into PCs and PCs into tablets and chased after netbooks. He reaffirmed the company’s commitment to desktops and described how the new Mavericks operating system update improves performance and battery life. 

Cook kicked off the event by describing the adoption rate of iOS (200 million downloads, running on 64% Apple phones), the new iPhones (9 million sold within three days of launch), iTunes Radio music streaming service and developer revenues. 

iMessages a threat ?

Apple reasserts claim it doesn't want to spy on your iMessages

Apple has said time and again in the wake of the NSA snooping scandal that it cannot read user iMessages. But new research has shown that it's theoretically possible.

Security firm QuarksLab on Thursday issued a white paper describing a method by which a hacker or Apple itself could access iMessages. The white paper states that Apple could intercept messages between sender and recipient and make them believe that their communication is secure. In order to do so, however, Apple would need to disrupt the encryption between communications and effectively change how iMessages works.

Back in June, Apple issued a statement on its site discussing its "commitment to customer privacy" in the wake of revelations about the National Security Agency. The company said at the time that iMessages are kept entirely secure.

"Conversations which take place over iMessage and FaceTime are protected by end-to-end encryption so no one but the sender and receiver can see or read them," Apple wrote in June. "Apple cannot decrypt that data. Similarly, we do not store data related to customers' location, Map searches or Siri requests in any identifiable form."

In a statement sent to All Things Digital in response to the new research, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said that Apple would have to jump through hoops to achieve access to iMessages and that it has no desire to do so.

"The research discussed theoretical vulnerabilities that would require Apple to re-engineer the iMessage system to exploit it, and Apple has no plans or intentions to do so," Muller told All Things Digital.

CNET has contacted Apple for further comment and will update this story when we have more information.

Has iPhone 5C proved itself ?

Has iPhone 5C proved Steve Jobs right?

   Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who emphasized high-end consumer gadgets over cheaper ones, may have been right all along. Last month, chief executive officer Tim Cook introduced the colorful iPhone 5C, a less-expensive version of Apple's smartphone, to "serve even more customers" around the world. It turns out people so far are more interested in its pricier, feature rich cousin, the 5S. 

Three surveys in the past two weeks said the company's new high-end model is outselling the 5c by at least 2 to 1. KGI Securities, a brokerage firm, slashed its quarterly estimates for 5C sales by a third, and retailers like Wal-Mart Stores and Target have reduced the phone's price. The Wall Street Journal reported Apple's orders to suppliers for the iPhone 5C have been cut by a third. 

Customers are shrugging off the $99 iPhone 5c even as Apple spends heavily to advertise the handset, which is last year's model repackaged in a colored plastic case. The 5C, which costs $100 less than the souped-up iPhone 5S, is Apple's attempt to lure buyers in developing markets like China, where Samsung and other Android phone makers lead. Even so, big sales of the pricier model are a boon because they carry fatter profit margins. 

"Apple customers are still interested in premium products from a premium brand," said Laurence Balter, an analyst at Oracle Investment Research in Fox Island, Washington. "If anything, the 5C is a failed experiment in trying to please the masses. Apple should stay focused on the premium and let Samsung take the lower end of the market."

What a reverse feedback ;) Unexpected :o

iPhone 5S outsells 5C two to one: Analyst

Apple's iPhone 5S is outselling any other iPhone model by a huge margin, including its cheaper cousin iPhone 5C. In fact, iPhone 5S is overselling iPhone 5C by a ratio of two to one. 

According to a report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) while iPhone 5S accounted for 64% of all Apple smartphone sales, iPhone 5C sales were only 27% in September. The 2011 released iPhone 4S accounted for just 9% of the sales. 

The new data suggests that despite its cheaper price tag and colourful back covers, cheaper iPhone 5C has failed to cash in on the hype of a new iPhone launch as the bulk of buyers are flocking to buy the better endowed iPhone 5S. 

Both the models were launched together by Apple on September 20, the first time ever that the tech giant has come up with two new iPhone models at the same time. 

However, in due course, the sales of iPhone 5S are expected to slow down in favour of iPhone 5C. 

According to CIRP co-founder Josh Lowitz, "Over time, the lower-priced phones have tended to gain share versus the flagship phone, after the initial rush of dedicated upgraders to the newest device. So we expect that the 5C will account for a higher percentage of the total US iPhone sales in the coming months. But the design changes may alter that dynamics. iPhone 5C may appeal to different buyers than the legacy iPhone 4S did last year, or the new 5S will this year." 

The cumulative first weekend sales of the iPhone 5S and 5C at the time of launch stood at a record 9 million units.