Dennis Sellers

<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>

<p>Apple has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-21/apple-hires-top-google-satellite-executives-for-new-hardware-team" rel="noopener noreferrer">hired a pair of top satellite executives from Google</a> for a new team, <em>Bloomberg</em> reports, suggesting that the iPhone maker may be looking at satellite broadband.</p>

<p>In a note to clients — as noted by <a target="_blank" href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/data-suggests-iphone-8-very-expensive-2017-4?r=US&IR=T" rel="noopener noreferrer">Business Insider UK</a> — Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty disagrees with other Apple analysts on what the average selling price of an “iPhone 9” will be in 2018. She thinks the next gen Apple smartphone will sell for $753 in 2018, which is significantly higher than the Street's consensus of $675.</p>

<p>Apple currently has more iPhone users in the U.S. than at any point in history, and it’s been the iPhone 7 models driving its most recent growth push, according to comScore, which “measures the digital world.” As reported in the research group’s <a target="_blank" href="http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations-and-Whitepapers/2017/2017-US-Cross-Platform-Future-in-Focus" rel="noopener noreferrer">2017 U.S. Cross-Platform Future in Focus</a> report, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus accounted for 15% of the 85.8 million U.S. iPhone owners ages 13-and-older in quarter four of 2016.</p>

<p>Apple has announced that it’s now powering 96% of its operations with renewable energy in the company’s offices, retail stores, and product distribution centers. The company says it’s now 100% renewable in 24 countries, including all of its data centers.</p>

<p>Flummoxed with web design problems? Get Fluxed instead. <a target="_blank" href="http://tinyurl.com/yazuwbr" rel="noopener noreferrer">Flux</a> is a web design application for macOS that can work with everything from a modern site using HTML5 and CSS3 to legacy sites built on older technologies.</p>

<p>If you have an iCloud account, you can use Back to My Mac to connect to your other Macs over the Internet. You can use Screen Sharing to control the remote computer from anywhere you are connected to the Internet. </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’s developer website now offers info on a Live Photos API [application programming interface] dubbed <a target="_blank" href="https://developer.apple.com/reference/livephotoskitjs/" rel="noopener noreferrer">LivePhotosKit</a> building apps for macOS, iOS and tvOS. Developer can also use the LivePhotosKit JS library to play Live Photos on web pages.</p>

<p>Apple has uploaded four videos to its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Apple" rel="noopener noreferrer">YouTube channel</a> ahead of Earth Day (April 22) featuring Apple employees and executives explaining the company’s environmental initiatives.</p>

<p><a href="https://setapp.com/">Setapp</a>, Macpaw’s app subscription service, has launched a user face enhancement: an inbuilt app search and discovery tool. In response to the top requested feature by current customers, it offers quick access to the collection of all the apps in a single window by introducing an in-built App Discovery tool.</p>

<p>Last September, Apple and Nike introduced the <a target="_blank" href="http://news.nike.com/news/apple-watch-nike" rel="noopener noreferrer">Apple Watch Nike+</a>, exclusive Nike Sport Bands with the Apple Watch Series 2. The partnership continues with NikeLab with the launch of Apple Watch NikeLab. </p>