What's up?
Brian Tong here and welcome to the Apple Byte for all the good and bad inside the world of Apple.
Plus we have a big price giveaway.
Now, it's been pretty quite on the Apple news front this week and as the Galaxy S4 is going to get a lot of the attention with its rumored 5-inch screen, 13-megapixel camera, and quad core processor with potential eye-tracking software but obviously know what the big
A is up again after the official announcement.
Now, it's important because we talked about how Apple will need to response and it probably won't happen until later in the summer when I'm working on my tan, just like that guy.
Now, the China Times reports that Taiwanese chip firm, Chipbond has been selected to provide a number of components for the iPhone 5S include chips that will support a fingerprint sensor and near field communications capabilities.
This is exactly the combination of tech that I use in Japan
in 2003.
Yes, you heard me right, 2003, that still hasn't arrived in the U.S. Now, the fingerprint sensor is for security to unlock the NFC functionality for mobile payments.
Apple acquired mobile security firm AuthenTec last year to presumably integrate fingerprint security into their own products and we'll see if this makes it into the next iPhone.
Now, in DigiTimes rumors, they pretty much use the throw spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks method.
Have also chimed in that it expects
Apple will add wireless charging to their 2013 flagship phone.
Now, I'm leaning towards probably not on this one right now.
Also, rumors have stated that Foxconn has already started production on the new iPhone 5s and guess what, it's a rumor that anyone of us could have made up.
So, guys, for the record, if you believe what you hear, the iPhone 5s will have all the unique features of other flagship phones combined.
It's a one package that looks like last year's phone.
Now, we beat up Siri a lot on the show and for a good reason but recently, a leaked video from Google, which has been taken down, showcase Google Now for iOS is coming soon.
This is Google's own assistant that gives you recommendations for best local travel routes, sports course or restaurant recommendations and it uses Google's superior voice recognition.
Now, the video also implies that the Google now feature will be part of the current Google search app, so, we'll keep watching this unless Apple rejects it, which they shouldn't.
Also Apple's streaming music service is still a long way out and a news that happened last week, a New York post report says Apple approached music labels and offered what they considered to be a low-ball royalty rate for a streaming service.
Apple's initial offer was 6 cents for every 100 songs streamed according to their sources.
Now, that's half of Pandora's 12 cents per 100 songs, a service that's struggling to make money, an online service iHeartRadio that's back by terrestrial radio stations, pays 22
cents per 100 songs.
And then you have Spotify which pays the highest rate at 35 cents per 100 songs streamed.
Now, Apple plans to bundle it with their iTunes match service and we don't know other specifics of the potential deal, but Apple starting that low, they just look like that cheap guy on the first date, who's getting nothing at the end of the night.
Now, the report says the music labels have rejected the initial offer, not surprisingly, and both sides are preparing their counteroffers.
Okay, guys, let's check out some Quick Bytes.
If you like your iPhone, you like cases, and you like Iron Man, like a lot, check out the pre-order from Brandel for this Iron Man iPhone case, base off is Mark VII armor design that has a white LED that shines on the backside and an opening shoulder camera cover.
It will cost $49 and I'm ordering mine immediately to match my awesome costume.
And a fun article by Ars Technica, they have a photo gallery of one of
the earliest prototypes of the iPhone from 2005 that included a 5 by 7-inch screen.
It was roughly 2 inches thick with USB ports and Ethernet port and a serial port.
Not that kind of serial the one you might find on a computer.
See, Apple was the first company to make a phone tablet or 7-inch tablet.
So, take that Samsung.
So, yeah, I just wanna let you guys know some of the e-mails I get from people
everyday.
And my name is Brian, not Samsung.
Okay.
Let's do our quick GelaSkins contest giveaway on Twitter.
My Apple Byter Chris Passy asked me, I need a sweet skin for my iPad mini, where can I find some cool unique skins?
-Chris, I happen to still have an iPad mini skin, it's a little more Norman Rockwell style for you but you all know gelaskins.com is my place to go.
So, we're giving out 5 $50 gift codes.
That's right, $50 for anything
on their site and this is no joke.
So, all you have to do is tell us if you could change or add one thing to the Apple Byte, what would it be?
Think hard, send us your e-mails to the applebyte@cnet.com or your tweets to me @briantong and we'll read your responses and our winners next week.
All right, guys.
That's gonna do it for this week's episode.
Keep sending us e-mails and I'll respond to as many as I can.
I'm Brian Tong, thanks for watching.
We'll catch you guys next time for another Byte of the Apple.
