iOS

A 16-year-old programmer named Ash Bhat is attending Apple's WWDC next week for free. How? He created an iOS app that earned him one of 150 scholarships.

Tickets to Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference sold out within two minutes after going on sale in April. But the company held out hope for student developers, promising scholarships for 150 of those able to create an app that would knock Apple's socks off.

The scholarship awarded one free ticket to join the conference, which runs from June 10 to June 14 in San Francisco.

Those qualified to enter the competition … Read more

Sure, Samsung won a victory over Apple when a judge imposed a limited sales ban on older iPhones and iPads. But Apple would survive such a ban virtually unscathed, according to Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster.

Tuesday's ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission found Apple guilty of infringing on certain Samsung cellular technology patents. Assuming the ruling stands, a ban on the infringing devices would halt sales of the AT&T models of the iPhone 4 and 3GS and the 3G versions of the first and second iPad.

A ban on most of those devices would … Read more

The World Wide Developer's Conference is next week, and preparations are already under way. While Apple is predictably tight-lipped about what exactly it will announce, it's all but certain we'll hear about an update for iOS 7. The question is, will the new features and tweaks be enough to keep people from jumping ship to other smartphones?

Tune in to CNET's live blog on Monday, about an hour before the 10 a.m. PT start time:

Probably the biggest rumors are about a newly redesigned look … Read more

Apple apparently still has its eye on NFC, at least as described in a freshly won patent.

Awarded Tuesday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, an Apple patent called "System and method for simplified data transfer" describes a way of automatically transferring data from one device to another.

Both devices would be configured to copy data from one to the other. The first device may be set up to save and transfer data associated with specific apps. Powering up the second device would automatically tell the first device to transfer the data. The devices outlined in … Read more

Apple could see more than 600 million users by the end of 2013, up from 500 million currently, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Hubert.

The 600 million figure assumes that 40 percent of Apple's device sales will be to new customers. If the forecast holds true, Apple stands to generate a healthy amount of revenue and free cash flow per account.

Following growth of an estimated 55 percent in 2012, Apple's current tally of 500 million users ranks second only to the number of people on Facebook. Each of those accounts spent on average $329 last year, … Read more

Getting that cracked iPhone 5 display fixed might be a tad bit easier than it previously was.

Apple has decided to start repairing iPhone 5 displays in-store for those who have signed up for its $99 AppleCare+ package, Macrumors reported Monday, citing people who claim to have knowledge of its plans. The site also pointed to a forum in which one member says he has a friend who works at the Apple store and who said the company is now charging $149 to fix cracked iPhone 5 screens.

Another poster said the replacement takes only about 10 minutes.

Although Apple'… Read more

Microsoft's Windows Phone will account for 12.7 percent of all global smartphone shipments in another four years, Canalys said in a forecast released Tuesday.

The growth from just 2.4 percent in 2012 means that Windows Phone will capture third place among all smartphone platforms in 2017, just behind Apple's iOS. To obtain that growth, Microsoft will require an assist not just from Nokia but from Chinese vendors such as Lenovo, Huawei, and ZTE, according to Canalys.

"Nokia is the most active vendor in the Microsoft camp and it continues to make steady progress with its … Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook announced last week that Apple had acquired nine startups since October. And, Cult of Mac's Mike Elgan believes one of these companies could be the predictive search app Grokr.

While neither Apple nor Grokr has given any signals that this is the case, such an acquisition would indeed make sense for the tech giant.

Grokr is an app that can be used with iOS. Like Google search, it uses a type of knowledge graph that takes bits of information from across the Web and synthesizes it for users. In a sense, Grokr works a bit … Read more

Apple's AirDrop tool, which allows OS X users to share files between computers quickly and efficiently, is on its way to the company's mobile platform, a new report claims.

Apple is currently in the process of testing AirDrop on iOS 7, 9to5Mac is reporting, citing people who claim to have knowledge of its plans. According to the site's sources, AirDrop is currently embedded in the iOS share menu. It's possible that it could allow for sharing to Macs, though right now, it's focused on sharing between iOS devices.

Apple is expected to show off iOS … Read more