It’s September, and the month will bring us some amazing new Apple devices. For now, we have some stories about your favorite fruit-flavored company:
- The iPhone 7s and 7s Plus may be the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, but who knows what the so-called “iPhone 8” will be called
- The Simi Valley, CA Apple Store is closing on September 15
- Apple’s fitness guru Jay Blahnik talked to Men’s Health about the company’s amazing fitness lab
The text version of the podcast can be read below. To listen to the podcast here, click the play button on the player below. Apple News readers need to visit Apple World Today in order to listen to the podcast.
Text Version
This is Steve Sande for Apple World Today, and you’re listening to the AWT News Update for September 1, 2017. It’s going to be a fascinating month in the world of Apple, and we’re happy that you’re taking the journey with us.
We love rumors, especially when they contradict each other. iculture.nl is reporting that the “s” version of the iPhone — in other words, what we thought would be the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus — will now get the iPhone 8 name while the new OLED screen design would get the name iPhone X — pronounced “iPhone Ten”. Another pair of sources, both of whom are accessory and case makers, told 9to5Mac writers the same thing about the “s” version becoming the iPhone 8, but they said the high-end iPhone would be named “iPhone 8 Edition”, not the “iPhone X”. Personally, I don’t care what they call it as long as I have one in September…
Apple always seems to be expanding its retail outlets around the world, with almost 500 locations now open. However, one of the stores will close on September 15, just after the announcement of new Apple products and presumably about a week before the new iPhones begin to hit the store shelves. The Simi Valley store, located in Simi Valley to the northwest of Los Angeles, will be closing on September 15 after more than 10 years of operation. The nearest stores remaining open will be at The Oaks, Northridge, and Topanga, and the latter store is currently undergoing renovation and expected to reopen on September 16. No word was given for the closure of the Simi Valley store, nor has Apple indicated what will happen with the store staff.
Apple has a fitness lab in Cupertino, California that’s used mainly for research related to the Apple Watch. Apple’s director of fitness for health technologies, Jay Blahnik, told Men’s Health that the lab has logged more than 33,000 workout sessions and 66,000 hours, which is “more data on activity and exercise than any other human performance study in history.” More than 10,000 unique participants have taken part in studies at the lab, which has been gathering data since 2012. The lab was first revealed to the public in 2015, at which time about 10,000 workouts with a duration of over 18,000 hours had been logged. Apple employees are recruited to perform exercises while being monitored with expensive equipment to ensure accuracy between the lab-quality devices and Apple Watch. It’s expected that Apple will unveil a new third-generation Watch with LTE at the September 12 press event, and it’s thought that Blahnik’s interview was some pre-publicity for the new Watch and the new activities it will be able to track.
That’s all for today; I’ll be back Monday afternoon with another edition of the AWT News Update.
