Tim Cook apologizes for iPhone warranty troubles in China

Apple had come under fire from the Chinese media due to issues related to the warranty for the iPhone in China, related specifically to the iPhone 4 and the 4S.

It seems instead of replacing the phones entirely, which require the company to reset the one year warranty period from the point as per Chinese Law, Apple was simply choosing to replace key components. In contrast, the company always chooses to replace the handsets in the US.

To directly address this issue, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, released a letter on the Chinese Apple website, where he apologized for the discontent among some of the customers and offered a four point solution to the problem, involving changing the iPhone 4 and 4S repair policy, providing clear repair and warranty replacement statement on the website to avoid further confusion, increase the training of the Apple Authorized Service Provider and ensure customers are able to easily contact Apple Feedback Service if necessary.

Regarding the first point, until now Apple would either replace your phone entirely if it was within 15 days of purchase, replace components if it was over 15 days and if that does not work then they will replace everything component but the back cover of the phone.

Starting April 2013, however, Apple will instead simply replace your iPhone 4 or 4S instead of going with the third option of replacing all your components and then reset your warranty to one year. The second option remains unchanged, however, and if it's just a couple of components that need fixing only those will be replaced and given the 90-day warranty on replacement parts.

Apple would be hoping this would be enough to pacify the Chinese customers and media. Apple wouldn't have bothered with a public apology had they not seen this as a major issue. As usual, the company claims to remain committed to providing a satisfactory customer experience.

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Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/tim_cook_apologizes_for_iphone_warranty_troubles_in_china_-news-5791.php

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HTC One pre-orders on AT&T get tipped for an April 5 kick-off

AT&T's pre-order plans for the metal-clad HTC One made their way online slightly ahead of schedule. The smartphone's order books will reportedly be opened this coming Friday, on April 5.

Users who want to enjoy the aluminum unibody of the HTC flagship will have to prepare $249.99 for a device with 32GB of built-in memory - exactly the same amount AT&T will be asking for the Samsung Galaxy S4. The AT&T exclusive 64GB version of the handset will cost $299.99. Both price tags require a two-year commitment to the carrier.

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Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_one_preorders_on_at_t_get_tipped_for_an_april_5_kickoff-news-5790.php

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Ex-Windows Phone exec joins Amazon, may be working on smartphone

Hold the smartphone! Kindel at the Kindle company?

Former Windows Phone general manager Charlie Kindel revealed that Amazon, the company that sells the Kindle, brought him onboard today, which sounded like another April Fools' prank.

However, the only April 1-related joke was that he and the company were making a home server product called the "Amazon Kindle Charlie."

The home server is fictitious, but the experience that Kindel can bring to the online retailer is not.

At Microsoft, he was the driving force behind Windows Home Server and the Windows Phone 7 application platform and developer experience.

"Depending on your perspective you can either blame me or thank me for a large part of ActiveX," Kindel lightheartedly stated in his Google+ profile.

'Something secret' at Amazon

Although Kindel was in the joking mood about his move to Amazon, he was serious about keeping his future plans at the company top-secret.

"I'm building a new team going after a totally new area for Amazon. I'm hiring cloud and mobile developers and testers, program managers, and product managers," he wrote on his LinkedIn profile, according to GeekWire.

He described the role as the director of "something secret."

Amazon Kindle phone in 2013?

That "something secret" could be the long-rumored Amazon smartphone, which has been reportedly delayed to later this year.

This theory is backed up by Kindel's strong Windows Phone experience and the fact that his new job will focus on something new with "ginormous potential."

"Amazon presented an opportunity to build something new that has ginormous potential. I simply couldn't pass the opportunity up," he said.

"As a double bonus, the idea that I can work in such a principled and customer focused company is really exciting to me."

For now, the only other information Kindel is revealing about his day-to-day duties at the company came from a follow-up tweet.

"First task of Amazon new hire training: Remove laptop stickers," he wrote on Twitter followed by a photo of a half-peeled Windows computer sticker belonging to none other than his former employer.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/ex-windows-phone-exec-joins-amazon-may-be-working-on-smartphone-1141852

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Do Siri job postings point to expansion of the personal assistant?

Siri is in need of an overhaul

It looks as if Apple is preparing to expand the virtual personal assistant Siri, as the iPhone maker posted a dozen Siri-related job ads over the weekend.

Apple began advertising on its jobs portal over the weekend for new positions related to Siri that range from "Siri Software Engineers" to a "Siri Interaction Designer" and a "Siri Monitoring Architect."

Apple has not announced anything regarding Siri, but given the new talent that the company is looking to bring on board it seems the old girl is about to get better.

The listings themselves also provide a glimpse, if an unreliable one, at Siri's possible future.

Sounds like a major Siri overhaul

Siri had a lot of promise when she hit the iPhone scene, but her crow's feet and split ends quickly began to show through her shiny, commercial facade.

But Apple began posting job listings in January that pointed to some improvements for her virtual personality. The latest job listings hint at even further improvements and expansions.

One asks for Hadoop engineers to "to implement, support, and maintain large-scale infrastructures" for Siri.

A Siri speech operations engineer would "take part in building and managing some of the worlds largest server deployments" that "will have the potential of directly and immediately benefiting millions of Apple of customers."

Siri software engineers will "contribute to the next big revolution in human-computer interaction" by, among other things, "[improving] Siri's accuracy."

Siri interaction designers, meanwhile, "will contribute to extending Siri's capabilities, knowledge, and intelligence, helping invent new techniques for conversational interaction."

And so on.

What's really in Siri's future?

Based on the job listings it seems Apple will soon begin working to improve Siri's accuracy (a much-needed effort) and add new functionality, though we can't currently guess what that might include.

Previous rumors have claimed that Siri could wind up expanding beyond the mobile realm to Mac OS X, but nothing in these Siri job ads seems to hint directly at that direction.

One thing is for sure: Siri is here to stay.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/do-siri-job-postings-point-to-expansion-of-the-personal-assistant--1141822

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Tim Cook apologizes to China over Apple's warranty practices

Apple's service warrants an apology in China

After catching some flack from the Chinese media about its warranty practices, Apple's CEO Tim Cook has issued an apology with a plan of action to rectify the situation.

A China Central Television Station report claimed Apple was providing better warranty service in other countries, while Chinese customers were only given repairs on broken parts, which led to Cook writing his letter.

The lengthy note on Apple's Chinese website indicated the company would look into its "Three Guarantees," with Cook also remorseful about the company's lack of communication with Chinese consumers.

As a result, Cook stated Apple would institute for new policy adjustments designed to make the process of repair, replacement, or other warranty-related issues much more consumer friendly.

Communication breakdown

Part of Apple's new plans include better and clarified iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S repair policies, including extended warranties for devices repaired within the last year.

The model 4 phones can also now be replaced or have parts replaced and repaired under warranty within one year of purchase.

Apple will be adding "concise and clear" warranty explanations on the official website, with an eye towards answering many questions that were left unclear previously.

The company will also be offering better training and will better police the proper enforcement of warranties at Apple Authorized Service Providers, and has already provided new training materials for such staff.

Finally, Apple has opened up its site to allow feedback directly from the consumers if they have any doubts or concerns about their service provider, including items that may fall outside the jurisdiction of the other addressed changes.

This is clearly an issue Apple hoped to rectify swiftly, and should go a long way in keeping Chinese customers happy with the Cupertino company's products.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/tim-cook-apologizes-to-china-over-apple-s-warranty-practices-1141817

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HTC Myst may welcome 'Facebook Home' to Androids everywhere

ET would approve of this Home phone (credit: Android Police)

Facebook's "new home for Android" will open its doors on Thursday, though that impending due date isn't stopping a number of leaks from bubbling to the surface.

First, some background: Reports from last week suggest that during its Menlo Park event, Facebook will introduce a handset built by HTC and injected with a tweaked version Android. The rumors said this 'droid will put Facebook front and center, including making account info pop up immediately on the home screen.

OK, now that we're up to speed, let's look at the most recent breeches. Android Police has gotten its hands on a system dump for "the Facebook phone," and while the information may make you go "eh," it does give us details about what we'll see come April 4.

It's important to note that the publication couldn't actually log into the program since, as a pre-release, it looks as though only employees of the social network have access, but there is plenty to glean from the available data.

Myst-ery solved?

According to the build.prop specs, Facebook is working with a phone made by HTC with a model of name Myst. That moniker should sound familiar, as rumors of the HTC Myst have lurked in the shadows for the last several weeks.

This particular handset is destined for U.S. carrier AT&T. Its skin is the old Sense 4.5 and it runs Android 4.1.2. There's a 4.3-inch display with 720p resolution, on which you can see the snaps you take with either the 5MP rear camera or 1.6MP front camera.

It looks as though the phone lacks an SD Card, though it has 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi. The processor is pegged as a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960.

Much of this we've heard before, thanks largely to regular leakster @evleaks. Previous info from the Twitter-handled tipper say that the same 4.3-inch display will own 320ppi. The MSM8960 is said to run at 1.5GHz while the phone will also pack 16GB of internal storage.

To wrap it all in a bow for you: We're definitely looking at a mid-range phone here, which may be a let down to those who've been waiting for "Buffy" to rise for the last two years.

But what about the Facebook?

What will set the Myst apart from other mid-tier devices, at least initially, is a one-of-a-kind Facebook app. According to Android Police, the package name for the regular Facebook app is "com.facebook.katana." Myst's package is titled "com.facebook.wakizashi."

Wakizashi has everything it needs to be a home screen app, one that's called "Facebook Home." We actually heard TechCrunch talk about Home last week in a report that also highlighted the social network's deep home screen integration on a new device.

"Rosie," HTC's traditional home screen app, is nowhere to be found on the Myst, and Wakizashi has a number of added Android permissions.

A few of those include the ability to turn off the lock screen, have Facebook boot up as soon as the phone starts, a way to control the Wi-Fi connection and a "SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW" function that lets the Facebook app generate windows that layer on top of all other windows.

Additionally, and more importantly, there are permissions that let Facebook read settings for the stock Android Launcher, HTC Launcher and TouchWiz Launcher.

That TouchWiz element is particularly ear-perking because it means that Facebook Home isn't limited to Myst: It can find its way onto other handsets as a standalone application, one Police thinks could end up on the Play Store.

All told, it looks like this is a "mutant Facebook app," and not a rewrite of the Android OS. However, this is coming from an unreleased dev build, so Thursday could bring about a whole other software beast.

At least for now we're a little less Myst-ified.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/htc-myst-may-welcome-facebook-home-to-androids-everywhere-1141808

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Dell blames 'deteriorating outlook' for PCs in SEC filing

SEC filing paints Dell's future as private company

In a massive filing with the SEC last Friday, Dell bares its soul on the company's reasons for going private.

CNET reported Sunday that PC maker Dell has plenty of valid reasons for going public, laying them all out for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) late last week.

In a 274-page filing presented to the SEC on Friday, Dell argues its case for the company going private by accepting a $24.4 billion offer currently on the table.

Included among the scathing evidence presented in the filing is a "deteriorating outlook for the PC market as a result of, among other things, smartphones and tablets cannibalizing PC sales."

Shaky PC future

Dell's filing includes portions of a December, 2012 presentation from founder and Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell, who told the Board of Directors that going private would be "the best course for the Company and its unaffiliated stockholders."

Other meetings from the same month point a finger at the "uncertain adoption of the Windows 8 operating system," which threatens to further drag on the ailing PC maker.

"Mr. Dell stated his belief that such initiatives, if undertaken as a public company, would be poorly received by the stock market because they would reduce near-term profitability, raise operating expenses and capital expenditures, and involve significant risk," the SEC filing added.

Dell Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden also painted a dreary picture last September, citing "adverse developments, coupled with generally weakening demand in the global PC market and lower PC margin rates."

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/pc/dell-blames-deteriorating-outlook-for-pcs-in-sec-filing-1141797

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