Dennis Sellers

<p><a target="_blank" href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2016/8/1/the-ipad-still-leads-as-global-tablet-market-growth-continues-to-decline" rel="noopener noreferrer">As we reported yesterday,</a> the worldwide tablet market fell an additional 16% in the second quarter of 2016, as shipments dropped to their lowest point in three years. </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>

<p>Apple has introduced its Apple TV Remote app for iOS devices using iOS 9.3.2 or later. It’s designed to “deliver the best of the Siri Remote.”</p>

<p>Apple has revved iTunes for Mac OS X to version 12.4.3.</p>

<p>China’s Didi Chuxing, in which Apple has invested, has announced a strategic agreement with Uber under which Didi Chuxing will acquire all assets of UberChina--including its brand,business operations and data--for operation within mainland China.  </p>

<p>VirnetX, an Internet security software and technology company, says that on July 29, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, has issued a new order in the company's pending litigation against Apple, vacating its previous order consolidating the two cases and ordering the parties to retry them as separate cases. </p>

<p>Worldwide tablet shipments reached 38.7 million in the second quarter of 2016 (2Q16) according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (<a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.idc.com%2F&esheet=51392557&newsitemid=20160801005182&lan=en-US&anchor=IDC&index=1&md5=89c78457e222b74e09b9e225f04ff8cd">IDC</a>) <a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.idc.com%2Ftracker%2Fshowproductinfo.jsp%3Fprod_id%3D81&esheet=51392557&newsitemid=20160801005182&lan=en-US&anchor=Worldwide+Quarterly+Tablet+Tracker&index=2&md5=8c33e88c6ed296ad052625de7cbeb912">Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker</a>. Growth continues to decline with the market receding 12.3% year-over-year “as vendors begin to refocus their product lines and consumers hold off on purchases,” according to the research group.</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 Mac OS X dipped again in July, while iOS rose a bit.</p>

<p>The most impressive thing about the REX portable speaker from <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/UkGSOk" rel="noopener noreferrer">Boombotix</a> is how much volume pumps out of the tiny thing. It's small enough to attach to your belt (and has a clip for doing just that), but you can really pump up the volume with surprisingly little distortion (notice that I didn't say there was no distortion — because there is when you push the volume a bit too high).</p>

<p>Mac OS X has its own desktop wallpaper app in the Desktop & Screen Saver, but if you want something a bit beefier, look into <a target="_blank" href="http://beta.aperio-lux.com/uDesktop-NEXT/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Aperio Lux's uDesktop NEXT</a>. It does everything the built-in OS X app does and more and is available for $3.99 at the <a target="_blank" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/udesktop-next-vast-wallpaper/id671040216" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mac App Store.</a></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>

<p>The second-generation Apple Watch will feature "One Glass Solution" (OGS) display technology instead of Glass on Glass (G/G) technology, according to <a href="http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20140610VL200.html"><em>DigiTimes</em></a> quoting Apple supplier TPK Holding. The goal (to no one’s surprise): to make the upcoming smartwatch slimmer and lighter.</p>

<p>Apple has <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-samsung-elec-lawsuit-idUSKCN1091Z0?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtechnologyNews+%28Reuters+Technology+News%29">reportedly</a> filed the brief in relation to damages the company believes it should be paid in a smartphone design patent battle with Samsung. <em>Reuters</em> says Apple has requested the Supreme Court rule on the case and not send it back to a lower court.</p>

<p>Global tablet shipments fell 8% year-on-year in in the second quarter (Q2) of 2016 to 46.7 million units while average selling prices (ASPs) went the other way, climbing 9% during the same period, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.strategyanalytics.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Strategy Analytics</a>. Consumers and enterprises alike are buying more “pro slates” (such as the iPad Pro and Surface Pro 4) than ever before “as prices reach tolerable levels and as computing behaviors and needs shift toward more mobility and touchscreen interfaces,” adds the research group.</p>

<p>Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz said U.S. tax law that allows Apple to hold a large amount of cash abroad is “obviously deficient” and called the company’s attribution of significant earnings to a comparatively small overseas unit a “fraud.”</p>