Dennis Sellers

<p>In a note to clients — as noted by <a target="_blank" href="https://9to5mac.com/2018/02/27/iphone-battery-availability-worsens/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>9to5Mac</em></a> — Barclays analyst Mark Moskowitz says the current wait times for iPhone battery availability have gone up to 3-4.5 weeks after a series of calls to Apple Stores. The longest wait of any Apple Store was found to be 9-10 weeks.</p>

<p>Michael Abbott, Twitter’s former vice president of engineering, has been scooped up by Apple, according to the French site, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.macg.co/aapl/2018/02/apple-aurait-recrute-michael-abbott-lancien-patron-de-webos-101513" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>MacGeneration</em></a>. </p>

<p>Coming off of the first year-over-year decline in iPhone shipments in 2016, Apple returned to growth in 2017 albeit only 0.2%, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.idc.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">IDC</a>. The tech giant shipped 215.8 million iPhones in 2017 with 64% of those coming from “plus-size” smartphones such as the iPhone X. </p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.joyoshare.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Joyoshare</a> has announced Screen Recorder for Mac, a video capture tool that can record screen videos with audio simultaneously on macOS.</p>

<p>Apple has “internally” announced that it’s launching a pilot program that will permit its retail stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers to continue offering repair service for 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac models released in mid-2011, despite the fact they will be classified as vintage in March, reports <a target="_blank" href="http://www.macrumors.com" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>MacRumors</em></a>.</p>

<p>Apple has filed for a patent (number 9,901,147) for a “case for a wearable electronic device.” It’s for a wireless charging case for the Apple Watch.</p>

<p>Future Mac laptops could sport dual displays if a new granted Apple patent (number 9,904,502) ever comes to fruition. In one embodiment, such a device would replace the physical keyboard with a second display that could show a virtual keyboard.</p>

<p>Apple is launching a group of medical clinics called AC Wellness to deliver the "world's best healthcare experience" to its employees and their families, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/27/apple-launching-medical-clinics-for-employees.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">CNBC reports</a>. The initiative includes two clinics in Santa Clara County, California, so far.</p>

<p>Apple hasn’t shown the Mac mini love in a long time, but the tiny computer still has its fans. And those fans may find the $18.75 <a target="_blank" href="https://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/ADP4KHEAD/" rel="noopener noreferrer">NewerTech HDMI Headless Video Accelerator</a> useful.</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>According to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.in.idc.asia/" rel="noopener noreferrer">International Data Corporation's</a> (IDC) Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, 717,000 tablets were shipped in India with a 32% sequential decline in the fourth quarter of 2017. However,<strong> </strong>Apple debuted to the fourth position with a healthy 30.5% annual and 9.1 percent sequential growth in 2017.</p>

<p>In the U.S., day one pre-orders of Apple’s HomePod were higher than all other smart speaker first day pre-orders, except Amazon’s Echo Dot, according to NPD’s Checkout service1. With Siri, Apple Music, and HomeKit, according to a new report from the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/blog/2018/with-homepod-apples-audio-ambitions-come-in-crystal-clear/" rel="noopener noreferrer">NPD Group</a>. What’s more, if taken together, Beats and Apple were the top-selling headphone brand of 2017, accounting for 44% of all dollar sales (not just wireless), notes the research group.</p>

<p>Apple will release three new iPhones this fall, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-26/apple-is-said-to-plan-giant-high-end-iphone-lower-priced-model" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Bloomberg</em></a>, quoting unnamed sources. This report is pretty much in line with what KGI securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo <a target="_blank" href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2018/1/23/analyst-lower-end-61-inch-iphone-for-2018-will-cost-700-800?rq=Ming-Chi%20Kuo" rel="noopener noreferrer">has predicte</a>d.</p>

<p>Cellebrite, a Petah Tikva, Israel-based vendor that's become the U.S. government's company of choice when it comes to unlocking mobile devices, is telling customers its engineers can now circumvent the security of devices running iOS 11. </p>

<p>A class action lawsuit was commenced on Friday, Feb. 23, in the Ontario Superior Court alleging that Apple substantially slowed iPhones without warning to or consent from consumers. This is part of the ongoing "Batterygate" brouhaha.</p>