It’s been a wild and wonderful year for Apple and its fans. There’s been several important acquisitions, lots of hearsay that turned out to be correct and a handful of new and exciting products. While we say goodbye to 2013 and hello to 2014, browse through the top Apple stories that are unforgettable on many different levels.
Apple acquires (Insert Company Name Here)
It was a big year for Apple in the acquisitions department. The company acquired up to 12 different firms including indoor location company WiFiSlam, maps/location company Locationary, maps/location company HopStop, Passif Semiconductors, media discovery app Matcha, maps/location company Embark , data compression firm AlgoTrim, personal assistant Cue, semiconductor company PrimeSense, social media analytics firm Topsy, maps/location company Broadmap and software company Catch.com.
Apple invests big time in sapphire
Apple is partnering with materials company GT Advanced to manufacture sapphire in the US. Though the partnership was announced by GT Advanced, details on how the sapphire will be used are not known. It’s possible the material could become an integral part of a future touchscreen display.
MacBook Air gets Haswell chip, becomes untethered from its power cord
The MacBook Air was updated with Intel’s new Haswell chipset that bundles both power savings and processing punch into one machine. The new MacBooks deliver up to an incredible 12 hours of battery life. For those who work on the run, it almost untethers you from your power cord, so you can work and travel without frantically searching for a power outlet.
Apple moves in a different directions with iOS 7
Apple unveiled iOS 7 at WWDC 2013 and took the mobile OS in a completely new direction. Gone is the skeuomorphic design with realistic-looking leather and stitching. Replacing it is a new flat design that simplifies the look and feel of the iOS. Apps followed suit as developers changed their apps to match the new design ethos set by Apple.
Apple Awarded $30 Million iPad Deal From LA Unified School District
Apple and LA Unified School District inked a deal that would bring iPads into the classroom in one of the nation’s largest school district. Though heralded before it began, the program suffered setbacks when students figured out how to hack the devices and an error underestimated the cost of the program.
The iPad gets a new name and the mini adds Retina
Instead of the iPad 5, Apple broke away from its tradition of naming its iPad models with a number and called its latest tablet, the iPad Air. The name is fitting — the Air is the smallest and lightest 9.7-inch iPad to date. Not be overlooked is Apple’s smaller tablet which got a sweet update — the much longed for retina iPad mini.
Apple blows away every other high-end desktop with the new Mac Pro
Jaw-dropping is the best way to describe the new Mac Pro. Once a huge desktop system, the new Mac Pro is less than a foot tall and fits easily even on a small desk. Despite its diminutive size, it still packs some power with dual-graphics and up to a 12-core processor.
Apple adds a fingerprint sensor and motion to the iPhone 5s and embraces plastic in the 5c
Rumors hinted at a plastic iPhone and a fingerprint sensor and those came to fruition when Apple announced both the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c. Apple surprised everyone with the M7 motion coprocessor, which offloads motion tracking away from GPS and onto to a dedicated chipset. The end result is reliable step counting with minimal impact on your battery life.
Carl Icahn goes after Apple cash on behalf of its shareholders
Carl Icahn holds $2.5 billion in Apple stock and believes the company should share some of its treasure trove of cash with its stockholders. Icahn proposes an aggressive stock buyback program that Apple is resistant to implement. That’s not stopping Icahn as he is very, very, very persistent.
This is a biggie that’ll come to fruition in the coming year. China Mobile is the world’s largest carrier and now all 760 million of its subscribers can run out and buy an iPhone if they want.
iOS 6.x gets the jailbreak treatment
The evad3rs kicked off the year with a successful jailbreak for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch on iOS 6.1, iOS 6.0.2, iOS 6.0.1 and iOS 6. Fast forward to the end of the year and the highly anticipated untethered jailbreak for iOS 6.1.3-6.1.5 was released by iH8sn0w, SquiffyPwn and winocm. The p0sixspwn tool brings jailbreaking to iPhone 3GS, 4, and iPod Touch 4G users.
12 iOS 7 jailbreak finally debuts
The evad3rs released the iOS 7 jailbreak without any notice to the jailbreak community when another competing group was allegedly close to a release as well. The launch was filled with drama when it was discovered that Cydia was broken and the Chinese version of the jailbreak tool included an alternative app store that included pirated apps. That was all smoothed out and the jailbreak team is updating evasi0n on a regular basis.
