March 29, 2024

Apple Unveils New Look for Mobile Devices

The company on Monday introduced a major redesign of iOS, its mobile software system, as well as upgrades for some of its Mac computers.

It also unveiled a new online music service for its music player iTunes. The new service, called iTunes Radio, allows users to create their own stations by typing in an artist name; the feature finds and streams music that is similar to that artist’s. The service is free and supported by advertisements, Apple said.

Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, called the new mobile operating system, iOS 7, the “biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone.”

The new operating system is the first mobile software system made under the company’s lead hardware designer, Jony Ive. He was put in charge of software interface design after the company fired Scott Forstall, the former head of mobile software development, amid the flurry of negative news reports surrounding Apple’s new mapping software.

The new design introduces thin typography and a new color palette. The keys on the keyboard look simple, with gray letters on flat, white backgrounds. And Apple has removed textures that made some apps mimic real-life objects. The Calendar app has shed its fake leather, the Game Center app no longer has green felt, and the shelves in the iBookstore app are no longer wood-grained.

“We have always thought of design of being so much more than the way something looks,” Mr. Ive said in a video demonstrating the operating system. “It’s the whole thing, the way something actually works on so many different levels.”

A new iOS feature, called Activation Lock, disables the iPhone even when a thief turns it off or erases the data on the phone. It appears to be the “remote kill switch” that the police have been demanding.

Siri, the voice of the iPhone, now can be either a female or a male voice. It sounds more realistic and can respond to more commands.

While the iPhone is driving Apple’s business, the company is not lifting the gas pedal on its Macs.

The company unveiled a major upgrade for the Mac Pro, its desktop computer for professionals, which, it said, will be assembled in the United States. The computer, due for release later this year, looks like a metal cylinder — a dramatic change from the original rectangular tower. This was the first big upgrade for the desktop in three years.

It also unveiled new MacBook Airs, which it said would have enough battery life to last all day. The 11-inch version has nine hours of battery life and the 13-inch version has 12 hours, according to Phil Schiller, vice president of marketing at Apple. Both versions start shipping immediately.

“You can watch the entire trilogy of ‘Lord of the Rings,’” Mr. Schiller said.

Apple also previewed its next Mac operating system, called OS X Mavericks. (The name is the first in a new theme, California, for Apple’s operating systems after years of naming them after big cats. Mavericks is a reference to a major surf spot in California.) The new system includes some minor improvements to the operating system, like the ability to tag documents to be able to find them more easily. An urgent document can be tagged “Important,” for example, and can be quickly found in the operating system’s navigation window in a section labeled Important.

The announcements, on the first day of Apple’s annual conference for software developers, come as the company is under intense pressure from investors. Its stock has fallen to close to $450 after peaking at about $700 last September, amid concerns that the company’s growth is slowing.

At the same time, one of Apple’s chief competitors, Samsung Electronics, has risen as a potent challenger. Over the past two years, it has released several compelling smartphones and tablets. And Google has gradually bulked up the Android software running on Samsung’s phones with powerful Internet services.

Apple is, by some measures, still leading the mobile industry. The iPhone 5 is the best-selling smartphone in the world. Samsung Electronics sells the most phones over all because it sells multiple smartphones at different sizes and prices, whereas Apple has released one new iPhone a year.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/technology/apple-unveils-new-look-for-mobile.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

U.S. Stock Markets Largely Unchanged

The Dow Jones industrial average finished down 0.31 points at 12,815.08, as of 6 p.m. Monday. The closing level of the Dow was revised several times after trading closed. The New York Stock Exchange experienced a trading glitch during the day, forcing it to alter its normal procedure for determining the closing prices of some stocks.

The Dow spent the day alternating from small gains to losses, never rising more than 46 points or falling more than 32.

The Standard Poor’s 500-stock index edged up 0.18 points to 1,380.03. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.61, to 2,904.26.

Trading was light. The federal government and the American bond market were closed for Veterans Day, and no economic reports were released.

Federal spending cuts and tax increases are scheduled to begin with the new year, unless a divided Congress and the White House can find a compromise.

Some traders thought the tentative trading action was inevitable, because there has been no positive or negative news about the economy or the possibility of a deal to avoid the spending cuts and tax increases.

“Nothing good is going on,” said Scott Freeze, president of Street One Financial in Huntingdon Valley, Pa. “Everything forward-looking remains dreary.”

Last week, after voters returned a long-deadlocked and divided government to Washington, the Dow dropped 434 points in two days and had one of its worst weeks of the year.

Even if lawmakers work out a compromise, as they usually do, the political fight until then is sure keep investors on edge, pitching the stock market back and forth until the matter is resolved. Economists say the so-called fiscal cliff could cost the economy $800 billion and three million jobs and would steer the United States back into recession.

President Obama, a Democrat, and Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, have spoken of compromise but appeared to take firm stances on some issues. Mr. Obama will meet with labor representatives as well as other liberal groups on Tuesday. He will hold separate meetings with the business community on Wednesday.

The effect on the markets has been widespread. Fears about the American economy were blamed for keeping a lid on European markets and Asian markets, which closed mostly lower.

In Greece, lawmakers passed a new austerity budget, and the country’s international lenders drafted a report saying it had made progress in righting its finances. Greece is hoping the other euro countries will give it an additional $40 billion in bailout loans. The budget and the report are crucial steps toward that goal.

Still, the new bailout is no sure thing: some of the potential lenders must seek approval from their parliaments. Greece’s main stock market index closed down 3.6 percent.

Mr. Freeze of Street One Financial was among the underwhelmed. “At this point, all the Greek news is just noise,” he said. “None of these bailouts really solve the underlying problem. Now, if all of a sudden Spain became incredibly solvent and its unemployment rate went to 5 percent, then you’d see” a reason to buy.

Leucadia National announced it would buy the investment banking firm Jefferies Group. Jefferies’s chief will run the combined company. Stock in Leucadia, a holding company with investments in eclectic industries including beef processing and medical products, dropped 66 cents, or 3 percent, to $21.14. Jefferies shares soared $2, or 14 percent, to $16.27.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/business/daily-stock-market-activity.html?partner=rss&emc=rss