MyAppleMenu

The iPhone-City Edition Thursday, December 29, 2016

How China Built ‘iPhone City’ With Billions In Perks For Apple’s Partner, by David Barboza, New York Times

It all centers on Zhengzhou, a city of six million people in an impoverished region of China. Running at full tilt, the factory here, owned and operated by Apple’s manufacturing partner Foxconn, can produce 500,000 iPhones a day. Locals now refer to Zhengzhou as “iPhone City.”

The local government has proved instrumental, doling out more than $1.5 billion to Foxconn to build large sections of the factory and nearby employee housing. It paved roads and built power plants.

It helps cover continuing energy and transportation costs for the operation. It recruits workers for the assembly line. It pays bonuses to the factory for meeting export targets.

All of it in support of iPhone production.

An iPhone’s Journey, From The Factory Floor To The Retail Store, by David Barboza, New York Times

The iPhone is Apple’s most profitable and best-selling product. More than a billion have been sold since the first one was released.

About half of all iPhones now are made in a huge manufacturing facility in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou. This is the story of how an iPhone made there can end up in your hands.

Troubled Case

Some AirPods Users Facing Battery Drain Issues With Charging Case, by Mitchel Broussard, MacRumors

After the AirPods launched online and then arrived to the first set of customers earlier in December, some users have begun realizing that the charging case that comes with the headphones isn't holding Apple's advertised 24 hours of charge. [...]

Some users are theorizing that the problem could be an initial charge cycle hiccup that irons itself out over time, but some that have had the AirPods since day one are still posting about battery drainage with the charging case today.

Tim Cook Calls AirPods ‘A Run Away Success’, Says Apple Making Units ‘As Fast As We Can’, by Zac Hall, 9to5Mac

Tim Cook was spotted today visiting the floor of the New York Stock Exchange where he was asked by CNBC about the recently launched (and backordered) AirPods. The Apple CEO described the new wireless earphones as “a run away success” and promised Apple is making more units “as fast as we can” when asked about supply constraints.

Tim Cook Says AirPods Are ‘A Runaway Success,’ But That Means Nothing Without Numbers, by Jacob Kastrenakes, The Verge

The reality is that we have no idea how well the AirPods are doing, and we’re unlikely to get firm info on them out of Apple anytime soon.

Quotation Marks

Has The Internet Killed Curly Quotes?, by Glenn Fleishman, The Atlantic

The trouble with being a former typesetter is that every day online is a new adventure in torture. Take the shape of quotation marks. These humble symbols are a dagger in my eye when a straight, or typewriter-style, pair appears in the midst of what is often otherwise typographic beauty. It’s a small, infuriating difference: "this" versus “this.”

Many aspects of website design have improved to the point that nuances and flourishes formerly reserved for the printed page are feasible and pleasing. But there’s a seemingly contrary motion afoot with quotation marks: At an increasing number of publications, they’ve been ironed straight. This may stem from a lack of awareness on the part of website designers or from the difficulty in a content-management system (CMS) getting the curl direction correct every time. It may also be that curly quotes’ time has come and gone.

Stuff

Disk Drill 3 Brings File Recovery Tools To Mac Hard Drives, by Mike Wuerthele, AppleInsider

If you don't have a good backup of your Mac, and as a result have lost something important, Disk Drill 3 aims to restore what's gone and try to protect you against future problems.

TuneIn Radio Lets Your iPhone Receive A World Of Broadcasts, by Marty Edwards, Apple World Today

I grew up listening to radio more than any other means of entertainment including television, so I developed a deep interest in radio. The iPhone lets me continue that interest with a greatly expanded world of listening possibilities.

Notes

Indian Officials To Assess Incentives Requested By Apple, by Rajesh Roy, Wall Street Journal

Indian government officials will likely meet early next week to evaluate the incentives sought by Apple Inc. to manufacture its products in the country, two people familiar with the matter said.

In a letter to New Delhi last month, the Cupertino, Calif., firm sought financial incentives to firm up its plans to manufacture in India, officials said, as the company looks to expand its sales and presence in the South Asian nation.