Apple : Cook maintains Apple innocence over ebook prices, won't sign settlement

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• Cook maintains Apple innocence over ebook prices, won't sign settlement
• Updated: iOS 7 release date, news and rumours
• Cook: Just because Android is bigger, doesn't mean it's winning
• Tim Cook calls wearable tech 'ripe for exploration,' knocks Google Glass
• iPhone 5S screen rumoured to double pixel count at 1.5 million pixels
• iPhones may soon be able to adjust volume based on proximity to your ear

Cook maintains Apple innocence over ebook prices, won't sign settlement Posted: Apple CEO Tim Cook has vowed to continue fighting allegations in the United States that it conspired with publishers to keep the price of ebooks artificially high. Speaking at the D11 conference, Cook said the company had never considered signing the court settlement offered by the Department of Justice as all five of the accused publishers now have. Instead, Apple will fight the allegations alone during the trial, which kicks off next month, with Cook insisting that the company did nothing wrong. He said in the interview: "We're not going to sign something that says we did something that we didn't do, so we're going to fight." Collusion Apple has had to watch as each of the publishers, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Simon & Schuster (owned by CBS, which publishes CNET), Macmillan Publishers, and Penguin Group, chose to pay hefty settlements, rather than risk a stronger penalty in court. Apple has always insisted there was no collusion with the publishers and Apple's iBook Store, dating back to Steve Jobs' time in charge of the company. When the trial commences, the court will hear evidence that the parties conspired to threaten retailers like Amazon with sales bans should they attempt to lower the prices. The settlements from the publishers now allow retailers to reduce prices, which should lead to better deals for consumers.

Updated: iOS 7 release date, news and rumours Posted: With Apple's WWDC 2013 developer conference just around the corner, we're about to learn more details on the forthcoming iOS 7 update for the the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The last major iOS 6 update for Apple's mobile devices was mostly hit, but there was a big Maps-shaped miss. Lots of people were rightly angry about Apple ditching Google data, but beyond that mis-step there were things to like: a more useful Siri (App launching plus the recognition that a world exists outside of the USA), shared Photo Streams, handy Phone app controls such as 'send to voicemail', and major improvements to Mail, Safari, accessibility and the Camera app. iOS 7 release date it looks like the new operating system might be running a little behind schedule. John Gruber believes that iOS 7 is "running behind", with engineers being pulled from OS X 10.9 to work on it. We're expecting a September or October release date for iOS 7 in line with previous releases. We'll almost certainly see a reveal at WWDC. Apple has promised to give devs "an in-depth look at what's next in iOS and OS X", Mobile web traffickers such as Onswipe have already reported seeing iOS 7 pop up in their logs. Find out what our TechRadar experts want to see from iOS 7 in the video below: FutTv : m6ZWxf4Bifq65 iOS 7 design A greater synergy between hardware and software design is something Apple is looking to achieve as it moves towards iOS 7. That's according to the Wall Street Journal in late March 2013, which also suggests that Jonathan Ive is pushing for a starker and simpler design for iOS 7 - that reminds us a little of what Microsoft has done to the desktop in Windows 8. In late May it seemed that iOS 7 had found its way out into the wild, as sources have given loads of details on the 'flat redesign'. The first major change indicated by the sources was a distinct lack of skeuomorphic style, as the fake textures and effects you're so used to seeing will be swapped out with a more basic design sense. It seems that everything starts with a new Lock screen, where the glossy image and clock have been replaced by a stark black screen with supposed improved gesture controls. Even the security code pad has been altered, and instead of the familiar overlay, a new interface with round, black keys with white text has emerged. It will be almost immediately apparent just how different everything looks as base apps like Calendar, Camera, Game Center and Safari will be pared down quite a bit from their current incarnations. Longtime iPhone users may be in for a bit of a surprise, as the leak suggests iOS 7 will replace the vibrant look and feel of the phone with a more minimalist, monochromatic approach. What else do we want to see in iOS 7? The rest of this article explores a dozen of the features we're clamouring to see in iOS 7. (And by 'clamouring', we of course mean 'asking really nicely'. C'mon, Mr Cook - pretty please?) 1. Hide Apple apps Pretty much everyone we know with an Apple device has a folder entitled 'Apple'. This isn't filled with must-have apps from the geniuses at Cupertino, but all the junk Apple installs that you can't get rid off. To be fair, what each individual considers junk is different, and these apps—Compass, Stocks, Voice Memos, Passbook, and so on—have their fans; but is it too much to ask for a switch in Settings that will hide those we don't use? 2. Better app management Change for change's sake is rarely a good thing. Recognition is key to satisfying experiences with technology. That's why we're not yelling at Apple to change how iOS home screens work. What we would like to see is improvements to app management: more screens; by default saving app data on delete; and an alphabetical list of installed apps, perhaps accessible from Spotlight. 3. Change app defaults We're pretty certain this request would be met with wide-eyes from Apple CEO Tim Cook, swiftly followed by a full twenty minutes of belly laughing, but we want the ability to use non-default apps for important things like email and calendaring. Apple's own apps would remain the defaults, but you should also be able to pick your own in Settings. 4. Provide a guest account It's extremely unlikely that Apple's ever going to enable multiple user accounts on iOS devices—they are, after all, designed as extremely personal computers. What is perhaps more realistic is some kind of guest account you could switch to when handing your device over to someone for a short while; something similar already exists on the Mac in OS X. 5. Change Siri's voice OS X is blessed with dozens of high-quality voices that witter away to you in various dulcet tones. By contrast, Siri is Siri. In the US, you get a slightly robotic woman; in the UK, Siri's that bloke who did The Weakest Link for a decade. It'd be great if you could choose the voice your device uses to speak. (Possible exception: Yoda voice.) 6. Provide App Store demos Apps and games might be cheap, but that doesn't figure cheapskates into the equation. Too often, people are unwilling to risk 69p on the latest release, forcing devs into irritating freemium models or making them clutter up the App Store with 'lite' versions of their output. Apple should just allow demos: 24 hours from first launch and then you buy or the app won't run. Boom. 7. Power up 'Do Not Disturb' Fed up of getting woken up in the middle of the night by the marketing efforts of [redacted, but quite possibly a well-known mobile network] or Game Center fanfares? Do Not Disturb is a great feature that enables you to time when your phone will quit bugging you. But you can define only a single schedule, and we want to see alternative options for weekends. 8. Make locking location-aware Locking is a great thing on iOS devices, making it at least a little harder for some scallywag to get at your data if they pinch your shiny Apple joy. But it could be more intelligent, locking on a location-aware basis, and not when you're, say, happily sitting at home on the sofa. 9. Improve the lock screen There's something to be said for Apple's minimalism regarding the iOS lock screen, and it's mostly that it's too minimal. We're not sure we want to see Android-style widgets sprayed everywhere, but a little more functionality wouldn't go amiss. For example, artwork from a currently playing song is displayed on the lock screen, but there are no controls for pausing or skipping to the next track, until you double-press Home, which isn't hugely discoverable. And beyond notifications, nothing else shows up there at all. 10 Cut all iTunes ties In recent years, Apple's made great leaps away from iTunes, and you can technically get away with never using the monstrous jukebox. However, there's still no way to easily get your existing music collection nor your photographs on to your device, and there should be. (Alas, with Apple wanting to push iTunes Match and the iTunes Store, there almost certainly never will be for the first of those.) 11. Make more icons dynamic We're hesitant at arguing Apple's home screen icons should be more like Windows 8 tiles, but there's something to be said for dynamic updates when such things work well. With iOS, you get update badges and a live calendar. It'd be nice at the least if Apple made its own Clock and Weather icons dynamic. 12. Enable cross-platform installs On a device, you now often see iOS-style banners on websites that when tapped take you right to the equivalent App Store app. But if you're browsing elsewhere, you have to email yourself a reminder and then install later. How good would it be if you were surfing on your PC, saw a great app and could install it across your devices without going near them, nor even to iTunes?

Cook: Just because Android is bigger, doesn't mean it's winning Posted: Apple CEO Tim Cook stills believes his Cupertino-based firm is on top in the smartphone and tablet war, even though Android commands a larger market share. Cook opened up about Apple's competition during AllThingsD's annual conference, and he still firmly believes that it's still the number one player in the technology market. "For us, winning has never been about building the most. "Arguably, we make the best PC, but we don't make the most. Same with the MP3 player. However, with the tablet, we make the best and most. With phones we make the best, but not the most." Those are some pretty bold claims and the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, Sony Xperia Z and Nokia Lumia 920 probably won't agree that the iPhone 5 is the best smartphone on the market. iPad has "changed the game" According to Cook, iPad users are far more engaged when it comes to tablet usage compared to Android based rivals. "We look at usage: what customers are doing. A study said there were twice as many e-commerce transactions on iPad than on all Android devices combined during Black Friday last year. "What the numbers suggest over and over again are that people are using our products more. "My own iPad personal use is a significant percentage of my computing work. It has changed the game. I don't hear that from Android tablet users." People love us! But don't just take Cook's word for it, apparently Apple products are the most loved among consumers too. "Customer satisfaction is sort of the report card no matter the business: iPad and iPhone have the highest customer satisfaction in tablets and phones. "We want customers of all ages… we try to appeal to everyone." Although once again, those are actually Cook's words, and he's probably got reason to be a little bit biased towards his own company - and he needs to do some defending as critics claim the firm is starting to go in the opposite direction in its post-Jobs era.

Tim Cook calls wearable tech 'ripe for exploration,' knocks Google Glass Posted: Apple hasn't confirmed the existence of the rumored iWatch yet, but the company's CEO Tim Cook did call the idea of wearable technology "ripe for exploration" at a conference today. "I think wearables is incredibly interesting. It could be a profound area," Cook said at All Things Digital's D11 conference, according to The Verge. "It's an area that's ripe for exploration, it's ripe for us to get excited about. Lots of companies will play in this space." When asked if wearable technology is part of the post-PC era beyond fitness devices, Cook concurred. "Yes, I think so. I wear a Fuelband, I think Nike did a great job," he said. "I would say that the ones that are doing more than one thing, there's nothing great out there that I've seen." A pain in the Google Glass Of course, when he was asked about Google Glass, Cook was considerably less excited about his competitor's wearable technology product, calling it "risky" from a mainstream point of view. "I'm interested in a great product. I wear glasses because I have to. I don't know a lot of people who wear them because they don't have to." "There are some positives in the product. It's probably likely to appeal to certain vertical markets. The likelihood that it has broad appeals is hard to see." "[There's] nothing that's going to convince a kid that's never worn glasses or a band or a watch or whatever to wear one. At least I haven't seen it. So there's lots of things to solve in this space." Jony Ive working on iOS 7 While the head of Apple wasn't willing to out the iWatch, he did reveal that the company's longtime hardware designer, Jony Ive, is working on the iOS 7 redesign. "We recognized that Jony had contributed significantly to the look and feel of Apple over many many years," said Cook of Ive, who has been the lead designer of everything from the MacBook Air to the iPad mini. "And he could do that for our software as well," he said, calling Ive "really key" the iOS redesign, according to The Verge. Ive's iOS 7 design has been rumored to feature a flat look that gets rid of the textured patterns that makes up Apple's iOS and OS X software. Cook wouldn't confirm the skeuomorphic-free design, but did promise that both operating systems will be revealed at next month's WWDC. See what we think the Apple iWatch looks like.

iPhone 5S screen rumoured to double pixel count at 1.5 million pixels Posted: It remains unclear as to whether the iPhone 5S or iPhone 6 will be the name of Apple's next iPhone, but rumours suggest its screen will be extremely clear with double the pixel count. That means the iPhone 5S display could reach a total of 1.5 million pixels, according to the Chinese-language Wei Feng Network. This would be a vast improvement over the 727,040 pixels found in the current iPhone 5 Retina display, which stands at 640 x 1,136 resolution and 326 pixels per inch. It would also keep Apple from trailing competitors like Samsung, which recently launched its Galaxy S4 smartphone containing a 1920 x 1080 resolution and 441 ppi. Similarly, the HTC One features a 1920 x 1080 display at 468 ppi, heightening the iPhone 5 vs Galaxy S4 vs HTC One debate. iPad mini-like bezel The iPhone 5S is also said to be taking some design tips from the iPad mini by adopting a much narrower bezel around the screen like its tablet counterpart. It's not the only Apple product taking cues from the iPad mini. The full-sized iPad 5 is rumoured to feature a thinner bezel and be 33 percent lighter than the iPad 4. While the all-important iPhone 5S release date and price haven't been confirmed, previous reports suggest that the Apple's 2013 iPhone will enter mass production in June and launch in September. The iPhone 5S launch should be accompanied by the company's next mobile operating system, the iOS 7, and what's expected to be a flat, skeuomorphic-free design. Read up all of the WWDC news in addition to Jony Ive's iOS 7 redesign gamble.

iPhones may soon be able to adjust volume based on proximity to your ear Posted: While the battle for which company has the better smartphone often devolves into a mere spec war, sometimes it's the simplest features that can help a phone stand out from the competition. Even though Apple may be outgunned by other manufacturers like HTC and Samsung when it comes to screens, cameras, or raw power, the Cupertino company has arguably always had a leg up on the ease of use over its competitors. Now, Apple is potentially readying a new feature which could make using the iPhone 5S easier and intuitive for its users. With its latest patent, Apple has created a way for the iPhone to automatically adjust its volume based on the device's proximity to a user's ear. Hear, hear According to Apple Insider, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted Apple the patent for "Adjustment of acoustic properties based on proximity detection." Using a variety of sensors in the phone, the software would adjust the volume on the call accordingly based on which of the sensors was covered up or exposed. As long as a distance could be calculated by the device, both the receiver and speaker volume could be configured with no input from the user. Additionally, the patent works while the phone is already in use, and could switch the phone from the receiver to the speaker should a person set the phone down during a conversation. Though the patent doesn't explicitly state when or where Apple might use such a feature, the hardware already exists, so it's entirely possible such an update could come to older iPhones as well as future devices. Curiously, the patent's approval comes just a short time after the U.S. International Trade Commision (ITC) threw out a sensor-related patent complaint levied by Motorola against Apple. Now that Apple appears to be free and clear, we could see this patent put to use sooner rather than later. So which one will we see first the iPhone 5S or the iPhone 6? Read our coverage of all the latest news and rumors to see which one Cupertino will release.

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