Dennis Sellers

<p>On a regular basis, <em>Apple World Today</em> posts a list of notable new apps or app updates that have been released. They may not necessarily be new, but they're popular and deserve mention. Here are today's picks.</p>

<p>Customer satisfaction with Apple’s AirPods is extremely high. Ninety-eight percent of owners of the device said in a <a target="_blank" href="https://techpinions.com/apples-airpods-a-consumer-success-with-98-customer-satisfaction/49880" rel="noopener noreferrer">survey</a> by Creative Strategies and Experience that they really, really liked the device.</p>

<p>In a note to clients -- as noted by <a target="_blank" href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/05/01/apples-siri-based-echo-competitor-to-carry-premium-price-feature-high-end-audio-with-1-woofer-7-tweeters" rel="noopener noreferrer">AppleInsider </a>— KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says there's a 50/50 chance Apple will announce its Siri-based competitor to Amazon Echo at next month’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), which will be held at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California, June 5-9.</p>

<p>Apple is reportedly <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ibtimes.co.in/make-india-wistron-start-apple-iphone-6s-6s-plus-production-bengluru-by-may-end-720662" rel="noopener noreferrer">planning to launch official online</a> store in India later this year. The tech giant will sell locally assembled iPhone SE and mobile accessories on its e-shop from Diwali onwards, <em><a target="_blank" href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/hardware/apple-to-make-an-online-store-debut-this-year/articleshow/58451155.cms" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Economics Times</a></em> reports, citing an unnamed Apple India official.</p>

<p>Another day, another lawsuit. Gustafson Nicolai pc, a Los Angeles-based law firm, is suing Apple and ATT for an iPhone 6 that purportedly exploded.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tynker.com&esheet=51550273&newsitemid=20170501005345&lan=en-US&anchor=Tynker&index=1&md5=6206be95e1ca80170ff27b9210dee955" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tynker</a>, a company that’s has introduced more than 50 million kids to computer programming through game-like learning activities and courses, has announced two new courses—Space Cadet and Dragon Spells—to support the Everyone Can Code program from Apple. </p>

<p>According to the latest market share survey from <a target="_blank" href="http://netmarkeshare.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">NetMarketShare</a>, the market share for both macOS and iOS was down in April.</p>

<p>This isn’t good news for the iBookStore (or any seller of digital books): sales of consumer e-books plunged 18.7% in the U.S. and 17% in the U.K. in 2016 over the first nine months of 2016, according to the Publishers Association — as noted by <a target="_blank" href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/27/media/ebooks-sales-real-books/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>CNN</em></a>. Sales of physical books and journals went up by 7% over the same period, while children's books surged 16%.</p>

<p>With macOS Sierra’s Back to My Mac, you can connect to your other Macs securely over the Internet. It’s an iCloud feature that lets you set up a network of Macs that you can access remotely. </p>

<p>On our recent vacation, my wife, daughter and I all had multiple electronic gadgets in tow. They needed charging at night, and the $49.99 <a target="_blank" href="https://thechargehub.com/product/chargehub-x5-5-port-usb-universal-charging-station/" rel="noopener noreferrer">ChargeHub X5</a> made this easy without dealing with cord tangle.</p>

<p>According to new <a target="_blank" href="https://technology.ihs.com/591258/apple-samsung-and-google-aim-to-differentiate-mobile-payments-services-while-expanding" rel="noopener noreferrer">analysis</a> from the IHS Markit research firm, 3.4 billion smartphones will be ready for Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay by the end of 2017, and the number is expected to increase to 5.3 billion by 2021.</p>

<p>According to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (<a href="http://www.idc.com/">IDC</a>) <a target="_blank" href="http://www.idc.com/tracker/showproductinfo.jsp?prod_id=37" rel="noopener noreferrer">Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker</a>, phone companies shipped a total of 347.4 million smartphones worldwide in the first quarter of 2017 (1Q17). Worldwide shipments grew 4.3% in 1Q17, which was slightly higher than the research group's previous forecast of 3.6% growth.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.santanderbank.com/us/personal" rel="noopener noreferrer">Santander Bank</a> has announced that customers can now add their Santander MasterCard credit and debit cards to Apple Pay. With its corporate offices in Boston, the bank's 9,500 employees, 675 branches, 2,100 ATMs and 2.1 million customers are principally located in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.</p>

<p>Apple is almost certainly planning to enter the augmented reality (AR) market, and now is a good time. Between 2008 and 2015, augmented reality (AR) was a technology gimmick looking for a market.  </p>

<p>On a regular basis, <em>Apple World Today</em> posts a list of notable new apps or app updates that have been released. They may not necessarily be new, but they're popular and deserve mention. Here are today's picks.</p>