Apple Stores speed up Apple Watch try-on process, drop appointment requirement

 

Just over four months since the Apple Watch began its Apple Retail Store debut for try-ons, Apple has started to tweak the process this week, according to Apple Retail employees. Until this week, a customer who walked into an Apple Store seeking to try on Apple Watch was required to make an appointment and provide details such as their name and Apple ID to an Apple Store employees.

For this week forward, Apple Stores are speeding up the try-on process by dropping the former appointment requirement and not requiring potential customers to share their information with the store employee. Now, a customer can simply walk into an Apple Store and try on an Apple Watch without any delay, except if all of the Apple Watch try on areas are occupied by customers who arrived earlier.



Customers will still be able to provide their email address and the types of Apple Watches that they tried on, allowing for their preferences to be saved to their Apple Online Store wish list. For example, a user could try on a Space Black Apple Watch and be reminded of their selection when they go to purchase the model from the Apple Store app or website.

TAGS: apple, apple watch

Apple planning to score more Watch sales with Best Buy launch on August 7

The Apple Watch is set to arrive at Best Buy in August, making it the first store – besides Apple’s own – to offer the smartwatch to consumers since its launch three months ago. The retail giant announced Sunday it’ll start carrying Apple’s smartwatch at 100 of its U.S. stores, as well as at bestbuy.com, from August 7, with a further 200 stores stocking it in time for the holiday season.

Consumers visiting Best Buy stores will be able to choose from the Sport and Watch versions of Apple’s wrist-based device. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the priciest “Edition” version, which starts at $10,000, will stay with the Apple Store. Apple Watch accessories such as watch bands, screen shields, stands, and chargers will also be offered at Best Buy from next month.

The move marks the first big effort by the Cupertino company to widen availability of its debut smartwatch as commentators try to figure out just how popular the device is proving to be with the buying public. Apple decided to lump the watch’s sales figures in with those for its iPod line, Apple TV, and accessories, making it impossible to know exact numbers for the device.

Data from research firm Slice Intelligence in May suggested demand for the Apple Watch dipped significantly in the weeks following the gadget’s launch on April 24, though Apple CEO Tim Cook, speaking last week following the release of Apple’slatest quarterly figures, insisted sales have so far “exceeded expectations.” He noted initial sales of the watch were greater than those of both the iPhone and iPad during their early stages of availability.

At launch, the Apple Watch could only be ordered online, though interested consumers could see the watch and try it out at Apple’s retail stores. The company only started offering its smartwatch for sale at its physical retails sites from last month, and even then only at a limited number of locations.

Bringing its wearable to Best Buy gives Apple 300 more potentially lucrative sales spots, and even better, offers consumers the chance to handle it, ask questions, and listen to persuasive sales spiel – important factors considering the wider public’s apparent lack of interest in smartwatches, a situation Apple and other tech firms are determined to change.

How to Fix Most iPhone Problems Quickly & Easily

If you’re experiencing problems with your iPhone, usually there are a few specific things you can do that will fix most problems without any hassle.

It’s not uncommon for iPhone users to experience at least a couple of problems throughout their ownership, and sometimes these problems are a pain in the butt to fix, but many issues can actually be fixed quickly and easily.

While the iPhone is one of the easiest devices to use, it’s not 100% flawless. We’ve discussed a handful of iPhone problemsin the past and provided ways to fix them. While some of the problems require a specific fix, there are many iPhone problems that can be fixed by just remembering a short list of quick fixes that you should know.

Technology can be confusing and hard to fix when something breaks, but it sometimes isn’t too difficult, and before you get frustrated and escalate your problem to the next level if you can’t fix it, be sure to read this post, which includes just a small handful of fixes that will most likely fix a majority of iPhone problems.

How to Fix Most iPhone Problems

If you have an iPhone and want to avoid any big headaches in the future, here’s how to fix most iPhone problems.

Without a doubt, the best way to troubleshoot most (if not all) iPhone problems is by using the four Rs: Restart, Reset, Reset, and Restore.

Restart your device by holding down the power button for a few seconds until the power-down menu appears where you can use the slider at the top to power off your iPhone. After it turns off, hold down the power button until your iPhone turns on again. This restarts your iPhone.

Restarting is perhaps the quickest way to fix most iPhone problems, so if your iPhone feels sluggish or WiFi isn’t working, those minor problems can usually be fixed easily by restarting your iPhone.

The two reset choices are “hard resetting” and resetting various settings in iOS. With a hard reset, you hold down the power button and the home down at the same time until your iPhone shuts down and the Apple logo boot screen appears.

Hard resetting is ideal to use if your iPhone freezes up and you can’t power down the device using the traditional method.

As for resetting settings in iOS, you can do this by going into the Settings app and navigating to General > Reset. From there, you’ll have a few options to choose from.

For example, if you’re having problems with the WiFi, you can select Reset Network Settings. This can fix a lot of WiFi issues if you have them. You can also select Reset Location & Privacy if you’re having problems with the GPS.

The last option is restoring. This should be a last resort option if the other three things didn’t work. Restoring your iPhone completely wipes everything off of it and starts with a clean slate again, so be sure to back up your iPhone before you do this. Don’t worry, though, as you can restore your backed-up apps and settings after wiping your iPhone.

After you’ve tried these four things and the problem still persists, it’s likely that you have an issue that’s a bit more robust. It could just be a bug that only Apple can fix in a future update. For instance, if you’re getting poor battery life, it’s unlikely that these above fixes will actually fix, but rather your iPhone may just need an update from Apple.

However, if you’re WiFi problems or your iPhone feels a bit sluggish, it may just need a quick reboot to fix everything.

Facebook, Google and other tech giants back Samsung in patent court battle against Apple

We're certain patent battles are the last thing you'd like to read this morning, but things are getting interesting in the case between Apple and Samsung. The latter party has managed to garner support from various top tech giants, including Google, HP, and Facebook, who have filed a "friend of the court" briefing at the start of July, protesting against the decision to fine Samsung $548 million.

The patent battle between Apple and Samsung has been ongoing since 2011. Apple accused Samsung of multiple patent infringements of key features from the company's iPhone. The Silicon Valley companies banding together with Samsung argue that the decision against Samsung in this case would have a negative impact on companies that invest in R&D.

"If allowed to stand, that decision will lead to absurd results and have a devastating impact on companies, including [the briefing draftees], who spend billions of dollars annually on research and development for complex technologies and their components."

It's argued that a feature, which could be a result of a few lines of code, may appear during use of a particular product, allowing the owner of said patent to receive profit generated by said product, even if the infringing element was insignificant to the user experience. The tech companies backing Samsung have urged the courts to review their decision in a rehearing.

Apple posts another record quarter, with over $1 billion in Apple Watch sales

Apple reported its third quarter earnings today, putting another period of eye-popping profits on the books. Investors were eager to glean any details about how well the new Apple Watch sold, but the bulk of the company’s revenue is still coming from its trifecta of iPhone, iPad, and Mac sales, with digital goods and services a close fourth. Apple generated $49.6 billion in revenue, slightly above analysts’ expectation of $49 billion. It earned a profit of $10.7 billion, trailing its record of $18 billion that it set during the first quarter of this year.

The consensus among analysts was that Apple would sell around 4 million Apple watches during this quarter. But given the wide range of prices on different models of the Apple Watch, and the fact that revenue is lumped into a larger bucket that includes sales of devices like the iPod, Apple TV, and Beats hardware, it is difficult if not impossible to work out exactly how many were sold.

APPLE SOLD WELL OVER $1 BILLION IN WATCHES DURING ITS FIRST QUARTER ON THE MARKET

What we can say is that the revenue for “other products” jumped to $2.64 billion, well above the $1.76 billion Apple earned for that category during this same period last year. Apple CFO Luca Maestri told The New York Times that sales for the Apple Watch “in its first nine weeks exceeded those of the iPhone and iPad in their first nine weeks of availability.” Maestri also told the Associated Press that revenue from Apple Watch sales was well about the $952 million increase in “other product” revenue, as revenue declined for the iPod and other accessories. In other words, Apple sold well over $1 billion in watches during its first quarter on the market.

Apple Earnings (Q3/2015)

iPhone sales continued to be the biggest area of growth for Apple, amounting for nearly 70 percent of its operating income. Apple sold 47.5 million iPhones in the third quarter, up from 35 million during the same period last year. But analysts had been expecting sales of around 49 to 50 million units, and Apple shares were down about 7 percent in after-hours trading.

Apple also sold 10.9 million iPads this quarter, compared to 13.3 million during the third quarter of 2014. And it moved 4.8 million Macs, compared to 4.4 million this time last year. Greater China continues to be the biggest driver of new growth, with sales there once again up more than 100 percent year over year.

“We had an amazing quarter, with iPhone revenue up 59 percent over last year, strong sales of Mac, all-time record revenue from services, driven by the App Store, and a great start for Apple Watch,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. He ended the earnings call on a high note, telling analysts that sales of the Apple watch in June were the highest of any month yet, demonstrating an increasing consumer appetite for the product.

Apple Device Sales

Cheap Apple Watch Bands On Sale

Should You Buy the New iPod Touch Right Now?

Apple released a new iPod Touch that comes with a heap of all-around improvements over the old model, but is it worth buying the new iPod Touch right now?

The new iPod Touch keeps the same general design as the 5th-gen iPod Touch that was released back in 2012, but there are some notable improvements under the hood. Specifically, the new iPod Touch comes with an A8 processor, which is the same processor that can be found in the iPhone 6, although the A8 in the iPod Touch is just a tad under-clocked.

Furthermore, the new iPod Touch has double the memory as the old model, coming with 1GB of RAM instead of 512MB, and the rear-facing camera received a boost to 8 megapixels from the previous 5 megapixels of the old model.

Not everything improved, though. The screen remains the same 4 inches at the same 1136×640 resolution. The front-facing camera also remains the same, with a 1.2-megapixel sensor that can only record 720p video. Apple also did away with the camera strap loop that they introduced on the 5th-gen iPod Touch.

Still, it’s no doubt that the new iPod Touch is the device to get if you’ve been waiting for an upgrade, but is now the right time to buy a new iPod Touch in the first place?

Wait for Used Models

If you’ve been waiting a couple of years for a new iPod Touch to release, you can probably wait a few more months before used models pop up on the market. The new iPod Touch just released, so it’s going to take a while for consumers to buy them new and then sell them used at some point in the future.

However, we wouldn’t be surprised to see buyer’s remorse  hit a handful of shoppers who bought the new iPod Touch but are deciding to sell it a couple of months later.

You’ll probably be able to get a used 6th-generation iPod Touch for around $175 or even $150 if you shop around on eBay or Craigslist in the next few months. That’s when used models will likely hit the market, and the longer you wait, the more used models you’ll most likely see. Thus, more competition between sellers, which means lower prices for buyers.

Of course, $199 for the new iPod Touch is a great price already, but if you’re looking to save as much cash as possible, you may want to wait until used models are for sale.

Wait for the iPhone 6 Price Cut

If you’re wanting to get an iPod Touch mostly because the iPhone 6 is more expensive, you could wait until the iPhone 6s is released, which is the time that the iPhone 6 could see a price cut.

Usually when Apple releases a new iPhone, they permanently discount the previous model by $100, meaning that an off-contract unlocked iPhone 6 should be priced at $550 brand new when the iPhone 6s releases, instead of $650. You could probably get a used one for even cheaper as well. On-contract models will most likely be discounted to $99 too.

You could even get an iPhone 5s for even cheaper at this time, Apple will most likely keep the iPhone 5s around as a low-cost option, even with the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6s in its stores. Plus, that device will have the same screen size and similar performance specs as the new iPod Touch, since the processor in the new iPhone Touch is under-clocked slightly).

The iPhone 5s also comes with Touch ID, which is a huge, convenient feature to have, and if you already have an iOS device with Touch ID, it’s hard to imagine owning another iOS device without it.

The New iPod Touch Is a Steal

If you really want the new iPod Touch and have been waiting for a while for a new one to release, there’s nothing stopping you. In fact, at $199, the new iPod Touch is a great deal no matter what. You’re essentially paying for an iPhone 5s without the cellular radios for $350 less than what you would pay for an actual iPhone 5s.

Beforehand, the 5th-gen iPod Touch was an outdated device that was really only good for kids who’s last thought would be the performance specs of the device, but now the iPod Touch is revived, and it’s a device that anyone can use for all sorts of tasks that goes beyond playing children’s games.

If you can get over the fact that you’re stuck with WiFi, the new iPod Touch is a steal.

Fashion Series 42mm Classic Leather Apple Watch Band