Just like rust, the rumor mill never sleeps. Following a leak and confirmation that Apple Pay will be debuting in China later this week, a French website has posited that a formal announcement of
Apple Pay coming to France will be made in the next few months, possibly on or around the Worldwide Developers Conference in June. In other news, the alleged "iPad Air 3" and "iPhone 5se/iPhone 6c" will debut in stores
on March 18, just three days after its alleged announcement, there's more guessing about the "iPhone 7" (and even the iPhone 7s!), and a new iCar rumor is amusingly debunked and walked back.
It is certainly possible, even likely, that Apple will make announcements about the expansion of Apple Pay into other countries over the next few months, putting this particular bit of speculation firmly into the "duh" category. Indeed, Apple has traditionally expanded its services into English-speaking and western European countries first, with some other select places (such as Japan and China) added to the top of the priorities in recent years.
Apple is already known to have been talking with banks and banking authorities in Canada and Australia, so a rumor of Apple Pay in France or other parts of Europe would not be surprising. Canada and Australia already have support for Apple Pay through bank-issued American Express branded cards, and can already accept US-based cards supported in Apple Pay. Amex has already said it plans to roll out similar support in Spain, Hong Kong, and other regions throughout this year.
In another "duh" rumor, analysts are now speculating that the "iPhone 7" due to launch next fall will (as previously widely speculated) remove the headphone jack, but have now given a reason why Apple might move to an all-digital (Bluetooth wireless or Lightning-base wired) strategy: to
add a second stereo speaker to the iPhone. Providing the loss of the headphone jack is true, this has been a rather obvious conclusion -- even simulated mockups of the headphone jack-less "iPhone 7" have show it with two speakers, since it is easy and logical to Photoshop in a mirror image of the current single speaker.
This has led to various analysts (who rarely have actual insider information, but tend more to expand on current rumors with further guesswork) claiming that to help make up for the loss of the analog audio jack, the "iPhone 7" will instead ship with (depending on who's saying) either Bluetooth EarPods or Lightning-wired EarPods, and may (or may not) show off the advantage of the digital connection by enhancing the sound with dynamic noise cancellation (or just a simple digital codec allowing for "high-rez audio" file playback, with the noise cancellation idea pushed back to being speculated for the "iPhone 7s" in 2017).
On the topic of new iPhone models, while the alleged four-inch iPhone "revamp" (as it's now called, since nobody can decide if its an iPhone 5se or iPhone 6c) continues to stubbornly not provide any physical evidence of its existence, such as parts leaks or blurry, ill-shot prototype photos of the sort we would normally see at this point, this has not stopped it having a decided-upon announcement date and, now, a retail debut date. The four-inch iPhone mashup, which is expected to be accompanied by a new "iPad Air 3" and
various minor Apple Watch announcements, will arrive in stores
on March 18, allegedly -- just three days after its alleged announcement on the Ides of March.
A
breathless report of "engine noises" coming from an alleged "Apple Car" or "iCar" automotive facility in California that was claimed to be "proof" that Apple was working on its own car was swiftly debunked when readers pointed out that the alleged electric vehicle wouldn't make "engine noises," what with the imaginary vehicle being electric and all. This then got quickly
walked back to a more plausible theory, that Apple has leased its own testing center to work on integrated CarPlay-like systems for
existing (albeit "high-end") vehicles, rather than making its own.
Apple building a car in there, some say
The story follows (and completely debunks) previous claims that "Project Titan," as the car project is allegedly known, was experiencing a hiring freeze and
"under review" from Apple executives due to a lack of progress, foreshadowed by the loss of the alleged project leader.
While it is clear that Apple has an interest in doing more with automotive technology than it presently offers, there's been very little firm evidence that Apple is actually working on its own vehicle. Apart from hiring many specialists from automotive makers and related industries, no paperwork has been filed with the state of California (or elsewhere) by Apple that would be required if the company was actually interested in creating automotive prototypes to road-test, or building manufacturing facilities to make full vehicles. More likely, the company is working to integrate and improve CarPlay and similar technologies in future automobiles, which may or may not extend to concepts like "self-driving" cars and more advanced navigation systems.
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