Apple Loop: Tattoogate Breaks Your Apple Watch, iOS 8.2 Terminated, iPhone 7 Plans.

Macbook, March 2015 (image: Apple PR)

Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop looks at Apple’s rush to remove iOS 8.2, three new iPhone 7 handsets, the iPad Pro feature set, emotions behind the Apple Watch, the wristband accessory guidelines, Applebot debuts, streaming music services and Beats, and the Apple Watch’s tattoo issue.

Apple Loop is here to remind you of a few of the very many discussions that have happened around Apple over the last seven days (and you can read our weekly digest of Android news here on Forbes).
Nice iOS Version, Shame We Have To Kill It
Unlike the slow rollout of Android Lollipop (not yet reaching ten percent in the ten months since it was announced), Apple’s rollout of iOS updates  is both slick and efficient, with the majority of eligible handsets upgrading in short order. Apple is also quick to lock out older version that may have a number of bugs that need to be avoided.
Gordon Kelly looks at just such an arrangement with Apple’s withdrawal of iOS 8.2 and a bigger push than normal to get everyone onto iOS 8.3.

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You have to hand it to Apple, it knows how to get the latest versions of iOS onto users’ devices – one way or another. The positive way is Apple’s unparalleled ability to make updates immediately available to all. But there is also a more sneaky method and Apple has just used it again…
As a result seven week old iOS 8.2 has been unceremoniously killed off by what Apple calls ‘code signing’. This leaves iOS 8.3 as the only version of iOS which the company will allow to be installed on owner’s iPads, iPhones and iPod touches.

A Triple Threat Of iPhones
Apple’s hardware release cycle strongly suggests that the next generation of iPhone handsets will be announced in September. The easiest answer to what they will feature would lead people to think that two models will be released, to replace the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus. Seeking Alpha’s Bill Maurer thinks that the mythical third handset will finally arrive in four months time:

This is the perfect time for Apple to go with three new phones. Apple can launch two new larger screen phones, and we’ll call them the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus for now. Eventually, I think Apple will need a new naming system because I don’t think in a few years consumers will be out celebrating the “iPhone 12″. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus would be the same screen size as the 6 and 6 Plus, but would have upgraded specs. Apple would then discontinue the 5S/5C, but could use those production lines to produce a 4 inch model with upgraded specs, and this would be the third model. We’ll call it the “7 Mini” for this argument. Thus, we would have new models with screen sizes of 4, 4.7, and 5.5 inches. Apple might also decide to stay with the 6 and 6 Plus, discounting these models a bit.

What do you think?

CUPERTINO, CA – OCTOBER 16: An attendee inspects new iPad Air 2 during an Apple special event. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Subtle Targeting Of The iPad Pro
Along with the potentially new iPhones, there is an expectation that the iPad range will receive an updated larger version of the table with a twelve-inch screen. Imaginatively titled by the media as  the iPad Pro, it is going to encroach on the same territory as the Microsoft Surface 3, but Tim Cook will likely be targeting a professional and artistic audience. Helping that will be the new technology seen in the new slimline MacBook. Luke Villapaz checks the boxes:

Force Touch, a feature first introduced in the Apple Watch and redesigned MacBook, could also find its way into the tablet’s touchscreen. The technology enables a touchscreen or trackpad to tell the difference between a tap and a hard press. Users of the iPad Pro may also be able to control it through an included Bluetooth stylus. That may also come with pressure-sensitive features which can be used with sketching and drawing apps.

I doubt the iPad Pro will have a huge impact on the iPad range’s sales numbers. The larger screen and use-cases mean the targeting of the iPad Pro will be tightly focused - think artists, designers, architects, and draughtsmen – but it will be a machine that delivers a unique experience to a group that has not been served especially well with tablet hardware
The Emotions Driving The Apple Watch
Forbes’s Lea Lane has spent a few weeks with the Apple Watch,. Being a ‘regular user’ rather than a fully paid up member of the Silicon Valley geekerati, she’s found Tim Cook’s wearable to be engaging and relatively hassle-free:

I’m a writer, not a techie, so mine are everywoman’s opinions of a product that arouses heated battles of yea-and-nay-sayers. These honest impressions of a typical consumer just might help you decide whether or not to magnetically strap this much-talked-about personal device on your wrist — or pass for now.GGG
Apple Watch Accessory Guidelines
As expected, the accessory and third-party wristband market for the Apple Watch is going to have some strict controls placed on it from Apple… assuming manufacturers are looking for a ‘Made for Apple Watch’ logo to feature on the packaging. Mark Gurman looks at the restrictions in place through the official program on 9to5Mac:

Apple’s guidelines for third-party band development indicate that the accessories must comply with certain environmental specifications and be able to be tightened enough to a wrist to remain compatible with the Watch’s heart rate sensor.
The guidelines do not mention the hidden diagnostic port that some accessory makers hope to leverage. Today’s announcement additionally does not provide official specifications for developing charging accessories

Given Apple is also discouraging software designers from making new watch faces, I suspect that the first wave of accessories are going to be very close to Jony Ive’s vision of a wearable and not deviate very far from Apple’s ideal.
Cupertino Starts To Crawl
Apple has introduced the world to Applebot, its own web crawler which will be showing up in web logs across the internet:

Applebot is the web crawler for Apple, used by products including Siri and Spotlight Suggestions. It respects customary robots.txt rules and robots meta tags. It originates in the 17.0.0.0 net block.

MacRumors’ Mitchel Broussard wonders what is up:

The confirmation of Applebot is the closest the company has come to speaking directly on the subject, but it is still unclear whether the web crawler is setting up to be the basis for an Apple-branded search engine, or simply acting as more support for third-party search platforms when running Apple’s Siri and Spotlight services.

Occam’s Razor suggests the latter opinion is the right one, but hiding a development in plain sight would be an ambitious and new move from Apple.

NEW YORK, NY – MAY 04: DJ Cassidy performs at Michael Kors and iTunes After Party at The Mark Hotel on May 4, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Michael Kors)

Apple Or YouTube, You Decide
The Verge has started an interesting discussion around Apple’s negotiations with the music labels over music streaming services. With many expecting Apple to launch a streaming music service based around Beats in the next few months, Micah Singleton looks at Apple’s negotiating process, and some interesting unconfirmed offers:

Apple has been using its considerable power in the music industry to stop the music labels from renewing Spotify’s license to stream music through its free tier. Spotify currently has 60 million listeners, but only 15 million of them are paid users. Getting the music labels to kill the freemium tiers from Spotify and others could put Apple in prime position to grab a large swath of new users when it launches its own streaming service, which is widely expected to feature a considerable amount of exclusive content. “All the way up to Tim Cook, these guys are cutthroat,” one music industry source said.

It’s certainly a hardball approach (and one that regulators may be interested in following). Time will tell if this is a negotiation ploy, or if the position will solidify in Apple’s favour.
…And Finally
With all the tattooed hipsters in San Francisco, I’m surprised that the presence of tattoos on the wrists of many Apple Watch users is causing so many unforeseen problems for users. Alex Hern for The Guardian looks at the issue, and why it will play a big part in the wearables movement:

But users with tattoos on their wrists have taken to social networks to report problems using the feature.
The optical heart sensor sits on the underside of the watch and uses infrared and green LEDs to determine the wearer’s heart rate. In Apple’s case, it also checks whether or not the watch is sitting on a wrist, which it uses to activate security features such as a pin lock.
The sensor, which is similar to those used in other heart-rate-tracking gadgets such as the Fitbit Charge HR and the Microsoft Band, works by shining green light into the wearer’s wrist. Blood, being red, reflects green light less than the surrounding tissue, and so the amount of reflected light picked up by the sensors on the underside goes up and down with each heartbeat.

…but is #tattoogate the right hashtag?

A new Apple Watch on display at the Apple Grand Central Station store on April 24, 2015 in New York (DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images)

Apple Loop brings you seven days worth of highlights every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future. 

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