Submitted by Jon Reed on
Much of the news over the past week was about Apple's big event this coming Tuesday, September 9th. Apple announced on Thursday that the event would be streamed live on Apple.com. Official invitations were sent out the previous Thursday. The iPhone 6 will definitely be unveiled, and it is almost certain at this point that the company's wearable device (popularly, but unofficially, dubbed "iWatch") will make its debut as well. The event will take place at the Flint Center for Performing Arts, which has about four times the capacity of Apple's traditional venue, the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco.
In addition to the unveiling of the iPhone 6 and iWatch, many analysts believe the next generation iPad Air will be announced as well. Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities believes it will debut next week and will feature an A8 processor, Touch ID fingerprint sensor and an improved camera. You also may be able to get it with a gold chassis.
Although after investigating the theft of celebrity photos from iCloud and finding that the celebrities in question were specifically targeted and their passwords and security questions were compromised (meaning it wasn't a failure of iCloud security), Tim Cook announced new security measures for iCloud. Beginning with the rollout of iOS 8, iCloud users will be notified whenever there is a login attempt to their account from a new device and any time passwords or security questions are changed.
According to a New York Times report on Thursday, the so called "iWatch" will feature a flexible display protected by sapphire glass (a material much stronger than glass). The report also claims that the device will rely on wireless charging, though no more detail is given. The iPhone 6, which will come in 4.7" and 5.5" models as compared to the current 4" iPhone 5, will feature a one-handed mode that will make them easier to manage with, well, one hand.
Many analysts have speculated that the iPhone 6 will contain an NFC chip to facilitate mobile payments, and this week the Wall Street Journal chimed in: not only will the iPhone 6 have an NFC chip, but the iWatch will as well. NFC (Near Field Communication) technology will allow the device to make secure payments at brick-and-mortar retail locations simply by bringing the device in close proximity to the receiving device, e.g. waving your phone over a scanner. The technology is already widespread in many European nations and Japan and South Korea.re/code reported this week that Apple execs were floating around a $400 price tag for the iWatch. That isn't final and there probably won't be an official price come next Tuesday, but there is plenty of time, as the device isn't expected to ship until early 2015.