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Apple Loop: iPhone 6 Plus Outgunned By S6 Edge, Critical iOS 8 Wi-Fi Bugs, Apple Hobbles Pebble Apps

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Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop looks at the match-up between the S6 Edge and the iPhone 6 Plus, a potential Wi-Fi exploit across iOS, the return of the iPod, Apple's flexible screen patent, older iOS devices lose YouTube app support, celebrity placements of the Apple Watch along with the first apps for your wrist, don't mention Pebble, and every Apple homepage design in one collection.

Apple Loop is here to remind you of a few of the very many discussions that have happened around Apple over the last seven days (and you can read our weekly digest of Android news here on Forbes).

The Battle Of The Relief Pitchers - S6 Edge Takes On 6 Plus

Along with the mainstream flagships, both the iPhone 6 and the Android competition in the Galaxy S6 from Samsung, have companion handsets that push the ethos of the respective companies - but in the opposite way to what you would expect. Apple has went down the phablet route with the iPhone 6 Plus, while Samsung went with the radical design and styling through the Galaxy S6 Edge. Which of the phones in the bullpen is better? I set out to answer that question earlier this week on Forbes:

Dare I say it, but the iPhone 6 Plus was the minimum viable product to bring Apple into the phablet world. It was a gap in the line-up, so a quick application of a theoretical 120% scale on the design, and the handset arrived, was accepted, and started selling well.

...While the iPhone 6 Plus is simply ‘a bigger iPhone’, the S6 Edge – while clearly a close relation of the flagship standard smartphone – is its own device with unique quirks and charms. Apple did the bare minimum to its hardware to reach for the phablet, while Samsung did something new and relatively unexplored.

Apple as the jaded manufacturer relying on off-the-shelf components, and Samsung the forward looking purveyor of innovation? Curiouser and curiouser.

Touch The Future, Remember The Past

With no updates to the range since September 2012, you would be forgiven for thinking that the iPod range is has put in its final orders at the last chance saloon. Neil Hughes, writing for Apple Insider, is not so sure. Could we be seeing an update to the iPod Touch during 2015?

A source familiar with Apple's future product plans indicated that Apple's iPods — specifically the largest-screened model, the iPod touch — are expected to see an update later this year. The source suggested that Apple could retain the same 4-inch screen size as the current iPod touch model, though they didn't offer any certainty on that front.

Though the iPod lineup has been neglected for years, this year could be an opportune time for an update, as Apple works to further integrates Beats products into its ecosystem.

Read Hughes' thoughts and see if you agree.

Wi-fi Exploit Can Render iOS Devices Unusable

Forbes' Gordon Kelly has been following the updates to iOS 8 since September, and the latest announcement on bugs and exploits is worrying.

Dubbed ‘No iOS Zone’ it allows a malicious WiFi hotspot to launch a DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) attack which renders devices unusable. It works by exploiting a flaw in the SSL security certificate of iOS 8 which leaves the device wide open:

“This is not a denial-of-service where you can’t use your Wi-Fi – this is a denial-of-service so you can’t use your device even in offline mode,” explained SkyCure CEO Adi Sharabani in an address to the RSA security conference in San Francisco.

Right now SkyCure has released no further details and is in discussion with Apple to close the exploit. With the release of iOS 8.4 expected in the next few weeks (in time for WWDC perhaps) there's an option to push the update out once it has been fully tested.

Older iOS Devices Lose YouTube Support

With Google's update to YouTube to support more devices, older devices are being caught up in the clear out of older codecs and supporting technologies. The new restrictions could see as many as 100 million older devices unable to access media on YouTube's iOS App:

The good news is affected iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners can use their web browsers to access YouTube. It is also worth looking for unofficial third-party YouTube apps which support the newer Data API v3.

Similarly older smart TVs and Blu-ray players with a web browser that supports Flash or HTML5 will be able to keep accessing the site. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Android handset owners are also unaffected as Google continues to update all core APIs through the Play Store.

I'm sure Apple would prefer users to buy a newer device (and Google would suggest something powered by Android) but the use of the web browser means video is not completely lost.

Scoble Can Wait, Pharrell Williams Needs An Apple Watch

Watching the increased PR around the Apple Watch, and its worth noting that the usual Silicon Valley routes are having to be subservient to the Hollywood A-Listers, music industry starts, and key players in the fashion world. It's all part of Apple's push to be seen as a huge company of influence through its wearable:

Silicon Valley already loves that product. It already instinctively ‘loves’ Apple.  It loves its shiny toys and web services. Success for the Apple Watch in that group is pretty much guaranteed. But that’s not enough for Apple. The true product from Cupertino is not the wearable… it’s the influence, the mystery, the magic, and the status. And success will be measured in the world’s perception of Apple. Will it be mentioned in the same breath as Cartier, Ferrari, Tiffany, Rolex, Gucci, and the like?

More of my thoughts on the PR angle can be found here on Forbes. One thing that is worth noting is that while the Apple Watch will not be immediately available in the Apple Store, there will be a number of high-end boutique stores that received stock to sell on April 24th.

According to The New York Times, Apple has allotted Apple Watch stock to fashion-forward stores Colette in Paris, Dover Street Market in London and Tokyo, Maxfield in Los Angeles, the Corner in Berlin and 10 Corso Como in Milan.

Are You Ready For Your Apps?

One store that is read for the Apple Watch is Apple's App Store itself. With over 3,000 applications now available, there are a lot of options for everyone who's sporting their latest wearable, writes Zac Hall at 9to5Mac:

Apple appears to have given BuzzFeed an early look at what the Apple Watch App Store will include on day one. In addition to Apple’s Keynote Remote update, the Watch’s App Store will highlight various categories of Apple Watch apps including games, health & fitness apps, social & news apps, and more.

I wonder how many of those third-party apps have actually been tested on a physical Apple Watch?

Just Don't Mention Pebble

One smartwatch that you might be seeing less of in iOS is Pebble, as one developer reports that Apple has rejected an app update because it specifically names the Pebble. Zac Hall once more:

The developer of SeaNav US for iPhone shared on Pebble’s developer discussions forum that a recent update has been rejected by Apple as the app and description “declare support for the Pebble Smartwatch.” Specifically, the developer says that Apple cited rule 3.1, which says apps that name competing mobile platforms in their description will be rejected.

We noticed that your app or its metadata contains irrelevant platform information in the app. Providing future platform compatibility plans, or other platform references, is not appropriate for the App Store.”

Bend It, Shape It, Any Way Jony Ive Wants It

You can be sure that the next smartphone released by Apple is going to have a lot of people leaning on the edges to see if it bends. If that's going to be the case, then Apple's latest patent might prove useful. It's for a flexible screen, reports The Week:

The company has been granted a patent for a flexible handset, in which the frame, screen, battery and other components will bend and move over one another without being damaged. "A flexible electronic device may include a flexible display, a flexible housing and one or more flexible internal components configured to allow the flexible electronic device to be deformed," the patent filing states.

This doesn't necessarily mean you can practice origami on your next iPhone, as the flexing capabilities might be used in the circuitry and hardware to improve elasticity and the ability to absorb impact damage in a solid chassis. Useful, but I still love the idea of folding up a phone that has a full-sized edge-to-edge screen in use!

And Finally...

It wasn't always clean lines and white spaces on the Apple home page, as Flickr user Kernelpanic finds out.His latest set of images on the photo sharing networks looks at the ever-changing front door of Cupertino's website:

Apple, one home page after the other Thanks Daring Fireball. The New York Times loves it...

Take a walk down memory lane here.

Apple Loop brings you seven days worth of highlights every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future. Last week’s Apple Loop can be read here, or this week’s edition of Loop’s sister column, Android Circuit, is also available on Forbes.

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