Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items for today:
Bendable: A Korean news outlet reports that Apple‘s (AAPL) much-rumored smartwatch will include a versatile screen, CNET notes. The report cites unnamed “industry sources” indicating that Apple is developing a plastic OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display that is capable of bending around a user’s wrist. Apple is said to be planning to launch three models of the iWatch, each featuring a different screen size. The company has developed an iWatch prototype featuring a 1.5-inch screen. It is also planning iWatches with 1.3-inch and 1.4-inch screens. Rumors of an Apple smartwatch have circulated for about a year. The company has reportedly assembled a team of 100 designers and engineers to work on the project. Mobile device rival Samsung unveiled its own entrant into the smartwatch market, the Galaxy Gear, last month. The Galaxy Gear features a flat, non-flexible display and works with other Samsung mobile devices using Bluetooth connections. Some analysts had predicted the launch of an Apple smartwatch this year, but recent rumors suggested that the company is still encountering technical challenges and that the iWatch will not debut until some time in 2014.
Overtaken: A flurry of tablets from other manufacturers have finally ended Apple’s overwhelming domination of the tablet market, AppleInsider notes. During the second calendar quarter of 2013, tablets running Google‘s (GOOG) Android operating system, made by a variety of manufacturers, finally exceeded the iPad’s market share. That analysis comes from ABI Research. The iPad’s share of worldwide end-user revenues also slipped to 50%. The total global tablet market was valued at $12.7 billion during the quarter. Smaller tablets are now the majority of tablets shipped. The iPad remains the most popular individual tablet. The smaller iPad Mini comprised 60% of total iPad shipments and accounted for 49% of Apple’s tablet revenue during the second quarter.
Team Player: Apple has found a new head for the sports and entertainment area of the App Store, MacRumors notes. The iPhone-maker has lured Jay Sartori away from the Toronto Blue Jays, where he had served as the team’s assistant general manager since 2010. Sartori will reportedly join the technology giant to oversee its sports-related app offerings this month.
For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.