Former Xerox CFO Luca Maestri officially joined Apple as Corporate Controller in late February and a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published earlier today reveals that he received 38,091 restricted stock units (RSUs) in March of this year. As with most RSUs handed out by Apple, these carry staggered vesting dates with 1/8 of the total number of units converting to actual shares every six months over a four year period. Apple's restricted stock grants are often issued as incentives to stay with the company because the shares vest over time and require employees to remain employed through each vesting date. At Apple's current stock price, Maestri's RSUs are worth approximately $15 million, but that total will shift depending on the stock price at the time that the shares vest. In his role as Corporate Controller, Maestri works directly under Apple senior vice president and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer. Before serving as CFO at Xerox, Maestri formerly worked at Nokia Siemens Networks and GM. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • AltWWDC Offers Free Alternative for Developers Without WWDC Tickets • 'LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes' Hits iOS App Store • Apple Sends Press 'Decade of iTunes' Anniversary Keepsake with 100 Free Songs • Popular Read-Later App Instapaper Sold to Betaworks • Leap Motion Controller Delayed Until July for Longer Beta Test • 'XCOM: Enemy Unknown' Elite Edition Now Available for Mac • Twitter for Mac Updated With Retina Support and More • LinkedIn Launches Standalone Contact Aggregation App    
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As noted by The Verge, a strange iMessage bug is causing the final word of certain phrases sent via Messages to an iPhone to be invisible to both the message sender and the recipient. When the following two phrases are sent using iMessage, the last word is not displayed on the iPhone: - I could be the next Obama (with a space after Obama) - The best prize is a surprise Both messages look complete when they are being composed, and the full text shows up in notifications, but within the Messages app itself, the words Obama and surprise are both invisible. Copying and pasting the message displays the original text. Many Twitter users have been able to confirm the problem, which only appears to affect the iPhone. The bug was first noticed back in December and posted on the Apple Support forums. It appears that additional phrases trigger the truncation as well, though it is unclear what is causing the issue. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • AltWWDC Offers Free Alternative for Developers Without WWDC Tickets • 'LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes' Hits iOS App Store • Apple Sends Press 'Decade of iTunes' Anniversary Keepsake with 100 Free Songs • Popular Read-Later App Instapaper Sold to Betaworks • Leap Motion Controller Delayed Until July for Longer Beta Test • 'XCOM: Enemy Unknown' Elite Edition Now Available for Mac • Twitter for Mac Updated With Retina Support and More • LinkedIn Launches Standalone Contact Aggregation App    
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Apple's market share of the worldwide smartphone market may have slipped, but a new Yankee Group survey (via AllThingsD) shows some promising data points for the company. In a survey of 16,000 U.S. smartphone users, the company found 91 percent of iPhone owners plan to purchase another iPhone when it's time to upgrade, while for Android the number is just 76 percent. And, three quarters of those looking to switch from Android plan to buy an iPhone. Yankee Group believes the incredible customer loyalty that Apple holds will drive market share gains well into the future. The firm predicts that, if these loyalty numbers hold, Apple will surpass Android in U.S. market share by 2015. Think of the Apple and Android ecosystems as two buckets of water. New smartphone buyers — mostly upgrading feature phone owners — fall like rain into the two big buckets about equally, with a smaller number falling into Windows Phone and BlackBerry buckets. However, the Android bucket leaks badly, losing about one in five of all the owners put into it. The Apple bucket leaks only about 7 percent of its contents, so it retains more of the customers that fall into it. The Apple bucket will fill up faster and higher than the Android one, regardless of the fact that the Apple bucket may have had fewer owners in it to begin with.The iPhone has traditionally demonstrated strong platform loyalty, and Tim Cook has played up both Apple's ecosystem of interconnected devices and apps, and the iPhone's "halo effect" as significant strengths for the company in recent earnings calls. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • AltWWDC Offers Free Alternative for Developers Without WWDC Tickets • 'LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes' Hits iOS App Store • Apple Sends Press 'Decade of iTunes' Anniversary Keepsake with 100 Free Songs • Popular Read-Later App Instapaper Sold to Betaworks • Leap Motion Controller Delayed Until July for Longer Beta Test • 'XCOM: Enemy Unknown' Elite Edition Now Available for Mac • Twitter for Mac Updated With Retina Support and More • LinkedIn Launches Standalone Contact Aggregation App    
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Research firm IDC yesterday released its estimates on worldwide mobile phone sales for the first quarter of 2013, showing Apple losing some ground in the smartphone market with only 6.6% year-over-year growth compared to 41.6% growth for the entire market. Still, Apple maintained a firm grasp on the number two spot behind Samsung, as challengers LG, Huawei, and ZTE were unable to reach the 5% mark during the quarter. Worldwide Smartphone Shipments in 1Q13 in Millions of Units (Source: IDC)Apple's smartphone shipment volume hit a new first-quarter high thanks in part to the iPhone 5, with volume growing 6.6% year over year. However, the last time the iPhone maker posted a single-digit year-over-year growth rate was 3Q09. The iPhone maker has held the second spot in the smartphone rankings for the past five quarters. Apple's mix of models shipped to market is increasingly diversified as it tries to reach new buyers.Apple does, however, continue to ride the wave of popularity for smartphones, with IDC noting that smartphones outsold feature phones for the first time during the quarter. As a result, Apple's 6.6% year-over-growth outpaced the 4.0% growth rate of the mobile phone market as a whole, allowing Apple to creep up to an 8.9% share. Worldwide Mobile Phone Shipments in 1Q13 in Millions of Units (Source: IDC) Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • 'LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes' Hits iOS App Store • Apple Sends Press 'Decade of iTunes' Anniversary Keepsake with 100 Free Songs • Popular Read-Later App Instapaper Sold to Betaworks • Leap Motion Controller Delayed Until July for Longer Beta Test • 'XCOM: Enemy Unknown' Elite Edition Now Available for Mac • Twitter for Mac Updated With Retina Support and More • LinkedIn Launches Standalone Contact Aggregation App • Apple's First Berlin Store to Open Friday, May 3    
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With a flurry of activity today, bidding on the charity auction for a coffee meeting with Tim Cook at Apple's headquarters has passed $500,000, nearly doubling the previous record for a CharityBuzz "experience" auction set last year when a bidder paid $255,000 to spend a day with Bill Clinton. The bid list seems to be a combination of serious bidders and those likely simply seeking visibility for their names or brands and relying on the fact that there are 18 days left to bid to hope that they won't actually win the auction. CharityBuzz notes in its FAQ that all bids are legally binding and can not be retracted.Can I retract a bid? No, and we’re pretty strict about this. Here’s the legalese: All bids placed on the Charitybuzz website are legally binding. If you are the successful bidder, you will enter into a legal contract to purchase the item and will be considered the buyer of the lot. Please consider your bids carefully before placing them.The auction for coffee with Cook, which is part of a group of roughly 100 celebrity auctions supporting the RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights, will see the winner and a guest travel at their own expense to Apple headquarters to meet with Cook for 30-60 minutes over coffee on a mutually agreed upon date. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • 'LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes' Hits iOS App Store • Apple Sends Press 'Decade of iTunes' Anniversary Keepsake with 100 Free Songs • Popular Read-Later App Instapaper Sold to Betaworks • Leap Motion Controller Delayed Until July for Longer Beta Test • 'XCOM: Enemy Unknown' Elite Edition Now Available for Mac • Twitter for Mac Updated With Retina Support and More • LinkedIn Launches Standalone Contact Aggregation App • Apple's First Berlin Store to Open Friday, May 3    
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As noted by AppAdvice, Apple yesterday added a new "Learn More About In-App Purchases" feature to the iPad version of the App Store, marking yet another step in the company's efforts to make users aware that some free and paid apps may offer the ability to purchase additional content from within the apps. The document includes four sections, addressing what In-App Purchases are, types of In-App Purchases, how they work, and how Parental Controls in iOS can be used to turn the feature off entirely.On devices running iOS 4.3 or later, you must enter your password to make an In-App Purchase. Once you enter your password to make that purchase, additional In-App Purchases can be made without reentering your password for 15 minutes. To change your settings to require a password entry with every purchase, open Settings, tap General, then tap Restrictions, and change Require Password. The new addition comes roughly a month after Apple added prominent "Offers In-App Purchases" labels on App Store pages for apps supporting the feature. The company also recently settled a lawsuit related to children having been able to make In-App Purchases, occasionally for as much as thousands of dollars, without authorization. The new informational feature is currently visible only in the iPad version of the App Store, and it is unclear if and when it will make its way to the App Store on the iPhone and in iTunes. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • 'LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes' Hits iOS App Store • Apple Sends Press 'Decade of iTunes' Anniversary Keepsake with 100 Free Songs • Popular Read-Later App Instapaper Sold to Betaworks • Leap Motion Controller Delayed Until July for Longer Beta Test • 'XCOM: Enemy Unknown' Elite Edition Now Available for Mac • Twitter for Mac Updated With Retina Support and More • LinkedIn Launches Standalone Contact Aggregation App • Apple's First Berlin Store to Open Friday, May 3    
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Earlier this month, we reported that Apple had announced upcoming changes to the behavior of VPN On Demand for devices running iOS 6.1 or later. The changes, which were planned to be deployed in a software update later this month, were necessitated by a $368 million judgment against Apple in a patent lawsuit brought by VirnetX. Virtual private networking (VPN), which is most commonly used by corporate users to access company networks, allows a user to securely connect to a private network via public networks as if his or her device were directly on the private network. Apple's changes to the feature were to see the removal of the "Always" configuration option for VPN On Demand, with the behavior defaulting back to an "Establish if needed" option. That option does not, however, perform ideally under certain circumstances, leading Apple to suggest that users may need to resort to turning VPN On Demand on and off manually, a potentially significant inconvenience. The patent judgment covered previous infringement by Apple but did not address future use of VirnetX's intellectual property, and it seems that Apple had decided to simply remove the "Always" feature from iOS rather than agree to an additional licensing deal with VirnetX. But it now appears that the two sides may have reached an agreement, as Apple on Wednesday updated its support document on the issue to note that it no longer plans to make the previously announced change.Apple no longer plans to change the behavior of the VPN On Demand feature of iOS 6.1 for devices that have already been shipped. The "Always" option will continue to work as it currently does on these devices.It is, however, currently unclear why Apple specifically mentions that it will not be changing the VPN ON Demand feature on "devices that have already been shipped", leaving open the possibility that it may make changes to devices that have yet to ship. Apple's proposed changes had brought significant scrutiny from the enterprise-focused security community, with security firm Mobile Active Defense having released a detailed whitepaper (PDF) highlighting numerous issues with Apple's proposed changes. (Thanks, Jorge!) Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • 'LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes' Hits iOS App Store • Apple Sends Press 'Decade of iTunes' Anniversary Keepsake with 100 Free Songs • Popular Read-Later App Instapaper Sold to Betaworks • Leap Motion Controller Delayed Until July for Longer Beta Test • 'XCOM: Enemy Unknown' Elite Edition Now Available for Mac • Twitter for Mac Updated With Retina Support and More • LinkedIn Launches Standalone Contact Aggregation App • Apple's First Berlin Store to Open Friday, May 3    
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Apple started running a new iPhone ad this evening entitled "Camera". The ad is a departure from recent iPhone advertising, focusing on people actually using the phone, rather than just the phone itself. In a series of colorful shots, the iPhone is used to take photos and videos on a hike, a run, at the beach, on a walk, and more. The spot shows users editing their photos and using the iPhone's panorama feature, as well as its LED flash. Every day, more photos are taken with the iPhone than any other camera.The ad finishes with the above quote, likely referring to statistics from Flickr that show the iPhone as the most popular camera on the service. Three of the top four most popular cameras on Flickr are iPhones and Apple has put a lot of effort into improving the camera in the iPhone over its past few iterations. Apple's most recent iPhone ad campaign used a series of words flashing across the screen to showcase a number of different iOS apps. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • 'LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes' Hits iOS App Store • Apple Sends Press 'Decade of iTunes' Anniversary Keepsake with 100 Free Songs • Popular Read-Later App Instapaper Sold to Betaworks • Leap Motion Controller Delayed Until July for Longer Beta Test • 'XCOM: Enemy Unknown' Elite Edition Now Available for Mac • Twitter for Mac Updated With Retina Support and More • LinkedIn Launches Standalone Contact Aggregation App • Apple's First Berlin Store to Open Friday, May 3    
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Tickets for Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference sold out this morning in less than two minutes, leaving a number of developers with error messages stating that their purchase requests were unable to be processed. According to a tweet from Red Sweater Software founder Daniel Jalkut, Apple contacted some registered members of its developer program to offer them a second chance to purchase a WWDC ticket. Eric Doleki detailed his phone call from Apple in a blog post.I pick up and a nice guy tells me he's from Apple Developer Support and that they noticed that I tried to purchase a ticket today and that the transaction didn't go through. I told him that was true. I thought the next thing out of his mouth would be an apology or something – just to be nice. He then proceeds to tell me that he's got good news – a ticket has been reserved for me in my name and that I'll be receiving an email from Developer Support within 12 hours with instructions on how to purchase the pass. He thanked me for supporting the platform, etc.Dolecki's story has been confirmed by several other developers on Twitter who have also received phone calls from Apple. The company appears to be offering tickets to developers who experienced a failed purchase after placing a WWDC ticket in their shopping carts. Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference will take place June 10-14 at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco. Tickets are priced at $1599. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Popular Read-Later App Instapaper Sold to Betaworks • Leap Motion Controller Delayed Until July for Longer Beta Test • 'XCOM: Enemy Unknown' Elite Edition Now Available for Mac • Twitter for Mac Updated With Retina Support and More • LinkedIn Launches Standalone Contact Aggregation App • Apple's First Berlin Store to Open Friday, May 3 • German Appeals Court Stays Apple v. Google, Opens Door for Return of iCloud Push Notifications • Drafts Updated to Version 3.0, Adding Deeper Organization and New Actions    
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Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson has ordered T-Mobile to alter its new "Uncarrier" advertising strategy, calling its contract free claims "deceptive." Alongside the launch of the iPhone 5 earlier this month, T-Mobile rolled out new rate plans, which are designed to separate device costs from service costs. To purchase a device like the iPhone 5, T-Mobile customers make a small downpayment and pay off the rest of the cost over a two-year period, while also paying for a separate service plan. According to Ferguson, T-Mobile has failed to clearly state that while there is no annual contract for T-Mobile subscribers, customers who cease using T-Mobile's service must pay off the remaining cost of the device."As Attorney General, my job is to defend consumers, ensure truth in advertising, and make sure all businesses are playing by the rules," Ferguson said. "My office identified that T-Mobile was failing to adequately disclose a critical component of their new plan to consumers, and we acted quickly to stop this practice and protect consumers across the country from harm."As a result, Ferguson entered into a court ordered agreement with T-Mobile that will require the carrier to explicitly disclose the details of its contract free plans both through its advertisements and with employee training.T-Mobile cooperated with the Attorney General's Office in signing an Assurance of Discontinuance (AOD) filed in King County Superior Court today. Under the AOD, the company agrees not to: -Misrepresent consumers' obligations under its contracts, including those contracts that have not restrictions or limitations; and -Fail to adequately disclose that customers who terminate their T-Mobile wireless service before their device is paid off will have to pay the balance due on the phone at the time of cancellation.The agreement also requires T-Mobile to offer full refunds to customers who purchased T-Mobile service and equipment between the dates of March 26 and April 25, 2013. Subscribers who purchased phones during this time period can cancel their service plans and receive device refunds without the need to pay the remaining balance on the device. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Leap Motion Controller Delayed Until July for Longer Beta Test • 'XCOM: Enemy Unknown' Elite Edition Now Available for Mac • Twitter for Mac Updated With Retina Support and More • LinkedIn Launches Standalone Contact Aggregation App • Apple's First Berlin Store to Open Friday, May 3 • German Appeals Court Stays Apple v. Google, Opens Door for Return of iCloud Push Notifications • Drafts Updated to Version 3.0, Adding Deeper Organization and New Actions • First Reviews of Samsung Galaxy S4: Great Screen, Gimmick Features, Bad Plastic Design    
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After going on sale at 10:00 AM Pacific Time today, tickets for Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco have already sold out in two minutes. WWDC has sold out increasingly quickly in recent years, and this year in particular saw a massive rush of developers ready to purchase at the launch time due to Apple having announced the on-sale time a day in advance. Previously, Apple had begun sales at the moment it announced details on the annual conference, but with last year's tickets selling out in under two hours, some developers found themselves out of luck before they had even woken up for the day. WWDC 2011 sold out in under 12 hours, while the 2010 edition took eight days. This marks the sixth straight year that WWDC has sold out, a streak that began in 2008. With the increasingly quick ticket sellouts, there have been calls to increase the size of WWDC. Apple would, however, be hard pressed to do so given that a major focus of the conference is on assisting developers with their apps and Apple needs to have enough engineers on hand to provide that hands-on help. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Apple's First Berlin Store to Open Friday, May 3 • German Appeals Court Stays Apple v. Google, Opens Door for Return of iCloud Push Notifications • Drafts Updated to Version 3.0, Adding Deeper Organization and New Actions • First Reviews of Samsung Galaxy S4: Great Screen, Gimmick Features, Bad Plastic Design • Apple Reaches 45B App Downloads With $9B Paid to Developers • GoComics Offers Free Classic Comic Strips Like 'Peanuts' and 'Calvin and Hobbes' • iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013 • Apple Continues to See Significant Growth in Greater China    
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In line with yesterday's announcement, Apple has just begun ticket sales for its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which will take place June 10-14 at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco. Tickets are priced at $1599.Get an in-depth look at what’s next in iOS and OS X, and learn how to take your apps to the next level. With over 100 sessions, extensive hands–on labs, and engaging events, you’ll connect with Apple engineers and fellow developers for an incredible week of inspiration.Tickets are expected to sell out quickly, as seen last year when they disappeared in under two hours even without advance warning of the on-sale time. In order to buy tickets for WWDC, purchasers must have been registered as members of one of Apple's paid developer programs as of 5:30 AM Pacific Time on April 24, the time of Apple's announcement. Tickets are also limited to one per person and five per organization. Apple is also setting aside 150 free tickets for student developers, with those tickets being awarded through an application process with students being required to submit an app they have developed as well as responses to several essay questions. Apple will begin accepting applications for the student program at 9:00 AM Pacific Time on April 29, with a deadline of 5:00 PM Pacific Time on May 2. Applicants will be notified of the results by May 16. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Apple's First Berlin Store to Open Friday, May 3 • German Appeals Court Stays Apple v. Google, Opens Door for Return of iCloud Push Notifications • Drafts Updated to Version 3.0, Adding Deeper Organization and New Actions • First Reviews of Samsung Galaxy S4: Great Screen, Gimmick Features, Bad Plastic Design • Apple Reaches 45B App Downloads With $9B Paid to Developers • GoComics Offers Free Classic Comic Strips Like 'Peanuts' and 'Calvin and Hobbes' • iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013 • Apple Continues to See Significant Growth in Greater China    
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Over the past several months, a number of rumors have suggested that Apple will be looking to update its notebook lineup at or soon after its Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off on June 10. In particular, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a relatively strong track record, laid out a roadmap in January predicting that the MacBook Air could see an update by late in the second quarter with Apple's MacBook Pro moving to an all-Retina lineup early in the third quarter. Reports on whether there will be any design changes as part of a rumored June notebook update have varied, with a February report from Taiwan's Economic Times claiming that the MacBook Air will see a design refresh while Kuo has suggested that the Retina MacBook Pro may also see design tweaks. Digitimes has weighed in several times on the June notebook refresh rumors, first noting them in late December while suggesting that Apple may cut prices on the MacBook Air in the interim in order to keep sales moving. To that end, Apple did in fact drop pricing on its high-end 13-inch MacBook Air alongside a February spec bump for the Retina MacBook Pro. Digitimes weighed in again just weeks ago, claiming that Apple will be updating its notebook lineup late this quarter, again suggesting a June launch. In a new report out today, Digitimes claims that Apple's quarterly notebook shipments are expected to grow 10% sequentially as the company works through the remainder of its excess inventory and looks to begin ramping up production again in mid-May. The report notes that this new production will primarily be next-generation models based on the Haswell platform.Apple's MacBook shipments in the second quarter are expected to grow 10% sequentially as the company has almost finished digesting its excess inventory and should start placing new orders in mid-May, according to sources from the upstream supply chain. The orders in May are expected to be mainly Haswell-based models, the sources noted.Conflicting with some earlier reports of design changes for the MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro, Digitimes says that Apple's suppliers have not received any instructions for changes to designs or their equipment, suggesting that the upgrades may be limited to internal improvements. During Apple's earnings conference call earlier this week, CEO Tim Cook appeared to play down the company's product launch plans for the next several months, specifically noting optimism about "amazing" new products coming in the "fall and throughout 2014". Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Apple's First Berlin Store to Open Friday, May 3 • German Appeals Court Stays Apple v. Google, Opens Door for Return of iCloud Push Notifications • Drafts Updated to Version 3.0, Adding Deeper Organization and New Actions • First Reviews of Samsung Galaxy S4: Great Screen, Gimmick Features, Bad Plastic Design • Apple Reaches 45B App Downloads With $9B Paid to Developers • GoComics Offers Free Classic Comic Strips Like 'Peanuts' and 'Calvin and Hobbes' • iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013 • Apple Continues to See Significant Growth in Greater China    
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Earlier this week, we gave a brief preview of Delicious Monster's Delicious Library 3, a brand-new version of the company's popular cataloging app for OS X. The app is now available in the Mac App Store [Direct Link], and Ars Technica has a thorough overview of the new features. Among the most immediately obvious changes for existing users of Delicious Library is its updated look, which includes the use of SceneKit to boost the realism, along with subtle animation that allows shelf items to constantly move to face the user's mouse cursor."We cranked up all the visuals and then cranked down every visual effect so it was something you didn't notice very much," [Delicious Monster CEO Wil] Shipley said. "This has all the graphics effects and polish of a game from a couple years ago. As far as I know, nobody else has used OpenGL in consumer products like this at all, much less the environment mapping and other stuff like that."Other enhancements include a new stats pane to give users quick overviews of their collections, as well as a completely revamped recommendation engine."This isn't about what I own, it's about getting my personality in the computer," Shipley said. "Now, if you scan your whole DVD collection, it provides a bunch of recommendations based on the aggregate of that information. Then if you rate them all, it'll refine the recommendations." Finally, Delicious Monster has released a free companion iOS app, Delicious Scanner [Direct Link], that will pair with the user's Mac over Wi-Fi and allow his or her iOS device to serve as a mobile scanner. Delicious Library 3 is available now in the Mac App Store for $24.99. [Direct Link] Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • German Appeals Court Stays Apple v. Google, Opens Door for Return of iCloud Push Notifications • Drafts Updated to Version 3.0, Adding Deeper Organization and New Actions • First Reviews of Samsung Galaxy S4: Great Screen, Gimmick Features, Bad Plastic Design • Apple Reaches 45B App Downloads With $9B Paid to Developers • GoComics Offers Free Classic Comic Strips Like 'Peanuts' and 'Calvin and Hobbes' • iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013 • Apple Continues to See Significant Growth in Greater China • Apple Seeds Build 12E36 of OS X Beta 10.8.4 Developers    
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Earlier this month, a report revealed that Apple's upcoming "spaceship" campus in Cupertino is both behind schedule and $2 billion over budget. Apple was said to be looking to cut costs on the project, which is apparent in the revised campus plans that it submitted to the city today. Apple originally planned on constructing a 600,000 square foot area of buildings (known as the Tantau Development) in two phases. Phase 1 was to take place alongside the construction of the main Apple campus, while Phase 2 would be delayed until later. In order to trim 300,000 square feet of construction costs from its budget, Apple has pushed the entire Tantau Development to Phase 2, which means it will be completed after the main campus is built.Phase 2 includes 600,000 square feet of office, research and development buildings for up to 2,200 employees along North Tantau Avenue, providing flexibility to address future business needs. Construction of Phase 2 will follow completion of Phase 1. The Tantau sites will have small satellite plants.Apple's revised campus plan includes the addition of an expanded section detailing bicycle access improvements, which comes with an included visualization of what bike pathways and sidewalks might look like on the campus. Also notable in the plan is a minor increase to parking availability and updates to public improvements, as well as a new section on Public Art that details four locations where the company plans to install art near the campus. Apple Campus 2's budget rests near $5 billion, which is said to be because Steve Jobs insisted on design quality and expensive construction methods. The Campus, a circular 2,800,000 square foot 4-story building, is designed to hold 12,000 employees and has a prospective completion date of 2016. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Drafts Updated to Version 3.0, Adding Deeper Organization and New Actions • First Reviews of Samsung Galaxy S4: Great Screen, Gimmick Features, Bad Plastic Design • Apple Reaches 45B App Downloads With $9B Paid to Developers • GoComics Offers Free Classic Comic Strips Like 'Peanuts' and 'Calvin and Hobbes' • iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013 • Apple Continues to See Significant Growth in Greater China • Apple Seeds Build 12E36 of OS X Beta 10.8.4 Developers • Apple Store iOS App Updated With Push Delivery and iPhone Upgrade Notifications    
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Charity auction site CharityBuzz kicked off a charity auction for a cup of coffee with Tim Cook this morning and the listing, which has an estimated value of $50,000, went from $5,250 to $100,000 in a matter of hours. Here are our best guesses of the identities of the top contenders vying to win a coffee date with Cook: owclarry - Larry O’Connor, the founder and CEO of Other World Computing, a company that provides computer upgrade products and services for Macs. "We would love the opportunity to sit down with Tim and maybe get some insights on where the future lies in his eyes," he told MacRumors. rory.oneill3 (now charitybidder10) - Rory O’Neill, Vice President of Product & Channel Marketing at BlackBerry. PasswordBox.com - PasswordBox is a secure password management app which is currently restricted to VIP members only and is available on a wait list basis. Its CEO and co-founder is Daniel Robichaud. USocketUSBOutlet - U-Socket is an AC receptacle with two built-in USB ports, produced by FastMac, so this bidder is likely someone from the company. stephen.gill.777 - Stephen Gill, an online marketing executive and co-founder of Leadnomics. BGStucki - Brian Stucki, Owner of Macminicolo, a Mac Mini colocation service that stores users Mac minis in data centers for use as servers. At the moment, Other World Computing founder Larry O'Connor, who has been actively bidding throughout the day has the winning bid. Prolific bidder O'Neill previously had the username rory.oneill3, which has now been changed to charitybidder10. While we have confirmed the identities of Stucki and O'Connor, the remaining guesses are based on usernames that match up with known people in tech. The auction, which ends on May 14, will allow two attendees to spend 30–60 minutes with Cook at Apple Headquarters in Cupertino. Proceeds will benefit the RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Drafts Updated to Version 3.0, Adding Deeper Organization and New Actions • First Reviews of Samsung Galaxy S4: Great Screen, Gimmick Features, Bad Plastic Design • Apple Reaches 45B App Downloads With $9B Paid to Developers • GoComics Offers Free Classic Comic Strips Like 'Peanuts' and 'Calvin and Hobbes' • iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013 • Apple Continues to See Significant Growth in Greater China • Apple Seeds Build 12E36 of OS X Beta 10.8.4 Developers • Apple Store iOS App Updated With Push Delivery and iPhone Upgrade Notifications    
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Former Apple employee and JailbreakMe.com hacker Nicholas Allegra, better known as Comex, will be interning at Google, reports Forbes. Comex, who tweeted the news on Tuesday night, was hired by Apple as an intern in 2011. News broke that he was no longer with Apple late last year, after he forgot to respond to an email that offered him continued employment at the company. Though Comex did not mention what he will work on at Google, he did mention his disdain for Android.He added on Twitter that he won't be working on Android, an operating system that he has never "like[d] enough to ever want to hack it."Before interning for Apple, Comex famously ran JailbreakMe.com, a site that offered a simple way for iOS users to jailbreak their devices. His clever exploits highlighted his talents and in an interview with Forbes, he likened jailbreaking to "editing an English paper… You just go through and look for errors. I don't know why I seem to be so effective at it." Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Drafts Updated to Version 3.0, Adding Deeper Organization and New Actions • First Reviews of Samsung Galaxy S4: Great Screen, Gimmick Features, Bad Plastic Design • Apple Reaches 45B App Downloads With $9B Paid to Developers • GoComics Offers Free Classic Comic Strips Like 'Peanuts' and 'Calvin and Hobbes' • iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013 • Apple Continues to See Significant Growth in Greater China • Apple Seeds Build 12E36 of OS X Beta 10.8.4 Developers • Apple Store iOS App Updated With Push Delivery and iPhone Upgrade Notifications    
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Apple announced its 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this morning, with plans to put tickets up for sale tomorrow at 10am. Tickets for WWDC can be hard to come by and sold out within two hours last year, but current students might be able to attend the conference through a WWDC 2013 Student Scholarship. Apple has set aside 150 scholarships for full or part-time students aged 13 years or older. Students must be current members of the iOS Developer Program, iOS Developer University Program, iOS Developer Enterprise Program, or Mac Developer Program. To win a scholarship, students must submit an application and create an app that demonstrates both creativity and strong coding abilities.Use your creativity and coding skills to build an app that tells us about you. Your app should highlight development projects you've worked on, your educational and professional background, technical skills, and interests.Scholarship applications must be submitted by Thursday, May 2, 2013 and will be judged on technical accomplishment, creativity, essay questions, and technical/work experience. WWDC 2013 is set to take place from June 10–14 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Tickets will go on sale tomorrow, April 25 at 10 a.m. PDT for $1599 each. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Drafts Updated to Version 3.0, Adding Deeper Organization and New Actions • First Reviews of Samsung Galaxy S4: Great Screen, Gimmick Features, Bad Plastic Design • Apple Reaches 45B App Downloads With $9B Paid to Developers • GoComics Offers Free Classic Comic Strips Like 'Peanuts' and 'Calvin and Hobbes' • iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013 • Apple Continues to See Significant Growth in Greater China • Apple Seeds Build 12E36 of OS X Beta 10.8.4 Developers • Apple Store iOS App Updated With Push Delivery and iPhone Upgrade Notifications    
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Charity auction site CharityBuzz is hosting a listing to have coffee with Apple CEO Tim Cook at Apple's Cupertino headquarters (via The Next Web). The proceeds from the auction will benefit the RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights, a fitting charity as Cook said at the D10 conference that Bobby Kennedy was one of his heroes. The high bid on the listing, which closes on May 14th, is currently at $5,250, with an estimated value of $50,000. Legendary investor Warren Buffett routinely auctions lunch with himself for charity. Last year's auction sold for nearly $3.5 million. The winner won lunch for eight with Buffett at Smith & Wollensky in New York. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Drafts Updated to Version 3.0, Adding Deeper Organization and New Actions • First Reviews of Samsung Galaxy S4: Great Screen, Gimmick Features, Bad Plastic Design • Apple Reaches 45B App Downloads With $9B Paid to Developers • GoComics Offers Free Classic Comic Strips Like 'Peanuts' and 'Calvin and Hobbes' • iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013 • Apple Continues to See Significant Growth in Greater China • Apple Seeds Build 12E36 of OS X Beta 10.8.4 Developers • Apple Store iOS App Updated With Push Delivery and iPhone Upgrade Notifications    
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Amazon is developing a set-top box to stream video over the Internet via its Amazon Prime and Instant Video services, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. The box will compete with similar offerings like the Apple TV and the Roku, though both Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's Playstation have moved into the streaming video arena in recent years. The set-top box is being developed by Amazon’s Lab126 division, based in Cupertino (Calif.), which has toyed with building TV-connected devices for several years, the people familiar with the effort say. The project is being run by Malachy Moynihan, a former vice president of emerging video products at Cisco who worked on the networking company’s various consumer video initiatives. Moynihan also spent nine years at Apple during the 1980s and 1990s. Among the other hardware engineers working at Lab126 with considerable experience making set-top boxes are Andy Goodman, formerly a top engineer at TiVo and Vudu, and Chris Coley, a former hardware architect at ReplayTV, one of Silicon Valley’s first DVR companies.Amazon has stepped up its streaming content offerings recently, producing 14 original television pilots and using customer feedback to decide which get made into full shows, as well as spending significant amounts of money to secure exclusive rights to shows like Downton Abbey and The West Wing. The tactic takes on both Netflix's subscription streaming service and Apple's iTunes content store. Currently Amazon's Instant Video service is available on iPads and iPhones, the Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii, the Sony Playstation 3, smart televisions from LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, and Vizio, TiVo, the Roku box, as well as a number of Blu-ray players. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • First Reviews of Samsung Galaxy S4: Great Screen, Gimmick Features, Bad Plastic Design • Apple Reaches 45B App Downloads With $9B Paid to Developers • GoComics Offers Free Classic Comic Strips Like 'Peanuts' and 'Calvin and Hobbes' • iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013 • Apple Continues to See Significant Growth in Greater China • Apple Seeds Build 12E36 of OS X Beta 10.8.4 Developers • Apple Store iOS App Updated With Push Delivery and iPhone Upgrade Notifications • FocusTwist Allows iPhone Users to Capture Refocusable Lytro-style Images    
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With the 10th anniversary of the iTunes Store coming up on Sunday, April 28, Apple has posted a new iTunes Store feature honoring the event. The feature is an expanded version of the iPod + iTunes Timeline that has long been available on the company's site. The feature walks through a number of important events over the ten-year history of the iTunes Store, from the launch day when U2's "Stuck in a Moment" and Beck's "Sea Change" topped the sales list to the 2010 launch of The Beatles on iTunes to new milestones of 40 billion app downloads and 25 billion songs reached earlier this year. iTunes has maintained its dominance in both the music and video markets in the United States and other countries for many years, with the music store now available in 119 countries following a major expansion last December. Apple's App Store is even larger, with Apple noting in yesterday's earnings conference call that the marketplace is now available in 155 countries covering 90% of the world's population. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • First Reviews of Samsung Galaxy S4: Great Screen, Gimmick Features, Bad Plastic Design • Apple Reaches 45B App Downloads With $9B Paid to Developers • GoComics Offers Free Classic Comic Strips Like 'Peanuts' and 'Calvin and Hobbes' • iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013 • Apple Continues to See Significant Growth in Greater China • Apple Seeds Build 12E36 of OS X Beta 10.8.4 Developers • Apple Store iOS App Updated With Push Delivery and iPhone Upgrade Notifications • FocusTwist Allows iPhone Users to Capture Refocusable Lytro-style Images    
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Apple today announced that its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will take place June 10-14 at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco. The company also announced that tickets for the event, which will be priced at $1599, will go on sale tomorrow at 10:00 AM Pacific Time.“We look forward to gathering at WWDC 2013 with the incredible community of iOS and OS X developers,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Our developers have had the most prolific and profitable year ever, and we’re excited to show them the latest advances in software technologies and developer tools to help them create innovative new apps. We can’t wait to get new versions of iOS and OS X into their hands at WWDC.”In past years, Apple has put tickets on sale simultaneously its announcement, but with tickets selling out in shorter and shorter amounts of time, it appears that Apple has decided to announce the on-sale time a day early in order to give developers equal chances at obtaining tickets. Tickets for WWDC 2012 sold out in less than two hours. As was the case last year, Apple's requirements for purchasing a ticket to WWDC include membership in one of the company's paid developer programs. With the advance notice of ticket sales, Apple is also requiring that developers have been members of a paid program prior to today's announcement, preventing last-minute signups. Developers between the ages of 13 and 17 must also have their tickets purchased by a parent or guardian who is also a member. Tickets are limited to one per person and five per organization. For developers who are unable to obtain tickets to WWDC, Apple notes that it will be posting session videos during the conference rather than afterwards as it has in the past. Apple previously charged hundreds of dollars for access to the session videos, but made them free for registered developers several years ago and by last year had shortened the time lag between the end of the conference and the video launch to just a few days. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Apple Reaches 45B App Downloads With $9B Paid to Developers • GoComics Offers Free Classic Comic Strips Like 'Peanuts' and 'Calvin and Hobbes' • iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013 • Apple Continues to See Significant Growth in Greater China • Apple Seeds Build 12E36 of OS X Beta 10.8.4 Developers • Apple Store iOS App Updated With Push Delivery and iPhone Upgrade Notifications • FocusTwist Allows iPhone Users to Capture Refocusable Lytro-style Images • Apple to Open New Retail Locations in Melbourne and Quebec on Saturday    
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Tim Cook was asked during today's earnings call about his feelings regarding the mobile payments market. While he didn't address the topic directly, he did note that the mobile payments were "just getting started" and still "in its infancy." In a different part of the call, Cook said Apple would continue to augment the existing "iTunes ecosystem with new services and make existing ones even better." There have been persistent rumors for several product cycles that the iPhone would gain some sort of mobile payments system, perhaps through near field communications (NFC). Passbook, the system that Apple released last year to make it more convenient for customers using gift card or ticketing apps, could be a precursor to a larger mobile payments play by the company. Apple already has a mobile payments system of sorts, allowing Apple Retail Store customers to self-checkout with the Apple Store app. The company has hundreds of millions of credit card numbers stored in its iTunes system, providing a natural groundwork for a possible future payments system. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013 • Apple Continues to see Significant Growth in Greater China • Apple Seeds Build 12E36 of OS X Beta 10.8.4 Developers • Apple Store iOS App Updated With Push Delivery and iPhone Upgrade Notifications • FocusTwist Allows iPhone Users to Capture Refocusable Lytro-style Images • Apple to Open New Retail Locations in Melbourne and Quebec on Saturday • Tweetbot for iOS Updated with Redesigned Image Viewer and New Media Timeline • Logitech Announces New FabricSkin Keyboard Folio    
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During the Q&A portion of today's earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked about the number of product releases in the fall of 2012 and whether he wished Apple had done things differently. His answer was somewhat revealing, as Apple is usually hesitant to disclose internal discussions and deliberations, but Cook said that looking back, he would have delayed the release of the new iMac until 2013 to avoid some of the the delays that many customers experienced after ordering a new Mac. I don't spend a lot of time looking back except to learn from it. If we could run it over, I'd announce the iMac after the turn of the year. We felt customers had to wait too long for that specific product.Apple's new iMacs, first announced in October, experienced significant delays in shipping, presumably due to the thinness of the machine. The displays required a new manufacturing process along with advanced welding techniques, causing some customers to wait for weeks before receiving their orders. During Apple's Q1 earnings call, Tim Cook admitted that the iMac was constrained for the entire quarter, resulting in a "significant shortage". The above quote is from a rough transcript of the earnings call Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013 • Apple Continues to see Significant Growth in Greater China • Apple Seeds Build 12E36 of OS X Beta 10.8.4 Developers • Apple Store iOS App Updated With Push Delivery and iPhone Upgrade Notifications • FocusTwist Allows iPhone Users to Capture Refocusable Lytro-style Images • Apple to Open New Retail Locations in Melbourne and Quebec on Saturday • Tweetbot for iOS Updated with Redesigned Image Viewer and New Media Timeline • Logitech Announces New FabricSkin Keyboard Folio    
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There have been several rumors stating that Apple is working on a larger iPhone to compete with the large screen phones from competitors like Samsung, but Tim Cook’s comments during today’s Q2 financial results call indicate that the company is not currently planning to ship an iPhone with a larger screen size. When asked about his thoughts on the 5-inch phone market at this time, Cook had this to say:My view continues to be that iPhone 5 has the best display in the industry. We always strive to create the very best display. Some customers value large screen size. Others value other factors such as resolution, color quality, white balance, reflectivity, power consumption, compatibility of apps, portability. Our competitors have made some significant tradeoffs in many of these areas to ship a larger display. We would not ship a larger display iPhone while these tradeoffs exist.Though Cook's comments do not rule out the possibility of a larger phone in the future, it does not sound like one is in the works at the current time given the technical limitations and the company’s commitment to quality. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • iCloud Boasts 300M Users and 20 Percent Growth in Q2 2013 • Apple Seeds Build 12E36 of OS X Beta 10.8.4 Developers • Apple Store iOS App Updated With Push Delivery and iPhone Upgrade Notifications • FocusTwist Allows iPhone Users to Capture Refocusable Lytro-style Images • Apple to Open New Retail Locations in Melbourne and Quebec on Saturday • Tweetbot for iOS Updated with Redesigned Image Viewer and New Media Timeline • Logitech Announces New FabricSkin Keyboard Folio • 'FedEx Mobile' Now Lets Recipients Sign for and Manage Shipments    
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