Apple held its annual developers conference in San Francisco on June 8, 2015. Many Apple users here in Singapore and around the world are happy about the conference’s outcome, but for some start-up companies, they have a few reasons to be worried. This year, Apple will introduce a collection of new products that covers everything from videos to payments, pushing some companies offering these services out of the market.

What are the applications that kind of anxious after the declaration of Apple? Let us take a look:

• Flipboard: Flipboard boasts of their newsstand. Flipboard has many patrons (especially those who love to read newspapers) because of its graphics-rich streaming. Apple will release News.Apple which will give news publishers an avenue to give meaningful and important news at the same time presenting it in a more interactive way. According to the CEO of Flipboard, they are not anxious because Flipboard offers different experience.

• Evernote: Evernote is famous as an online-note taking app. It has been in the market for eight years now and it has established its name. The new version of Apple’s Note will surely present a challenge to Evernote but they remain unshaken.

• Spotify Radio: Spotify has been a household name when it comes to music streaming. They have been in the business for many years now and up to date, they have at least fifteen million paying subscribers. Apple declared that they have plans to create and launch a music streaming service like Spotify.

We will see if the nightmare of these companies will become a reality. For now, these companies should enjoy patronage and focus more on how to intensify their market presence.

Mobile phones have come a long way. We cannot begin to choose which one is best for us because mobile phones offer different things. In the sea of mobile phones here in Singapore and around the world, we have to choose something that suits our lifestyle and budget.

If we are currently possessing an Android phone and we want to change into iPhone, we can consider swapping. In swapping, we can pay less but we get more. Apple is actually thinking of a trade-in program that will accept rival smartphones in exchange of iPhone. This is an opportunity for Android users here in Singapore.

To date, Apple’s trade-in program is only limited to iPhone models. If we have older models of iPhone and we want to exchange or upgrade it, we can do so. Apple will recycle the old model and re-purpose it. This program is Apple’s way of boosting their sales and so far, they are succeeding.

Apple’s initiative to include rival smartphones is an excellent strategy to get more iPhone in the hands of many. The program will start in the coming weeks as soon as Apple employees are up to speed. The value of trade-in will be determined depending on the value of the device and the wear and tear it has endured.

If we are tired of our Samsung, Nokia and BlackBerry phones, we can exchange it for an iPhone in the near future. This is not the first attempt of Apple to persuade non-iPhone users to choose their devices. Last September, Apple posted a guide thoroughly explaining how to move content from Android to iPhone.

In a bid to make the world a ‘greener’ place to live, many sustainable things are developed by various scientists. There’s a green building, green house and surprisingly, there are group of experts that push green solar plane. The solar plane is called Solar Impulse 2.

The concept was first ridiculed by the aviation industry when it was unveiled but as the days go by, the venture proved to be useful. In fact, the world hailed the venture including Ban Ki-moon. Here are some things we need to know about Solar Impulse 2:

• Pilot: There are two pilots – Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg. The plane can only accommodate one pilot. The two pilots take turns in flying the plane.
• Solar cells: Since it boasts of solar energy, the plane is built with 17,000 solar cells in its wings.

• Trips: The team is planning to take the plane for twelve planned stops around the world beginning from Abu Dhabi on March 16, 2015. The flight time is around twenty five days which are spread for more than five months. The longest leg will be five days flying across the Pacific from China to Hawaii. The remaining members of the team will coordinate the landing.
• Challenges: There are many challenges in this kind of endeavour. Pilots will face dangers but the good thing is that there are safety measures. According to pilots, the plane is hard to manoeuvre when it is above the ocean because of the potential of power loss. Another challenge is getting stamps from different countries. The group had problems when they went to India because of airport delays.

We are not sure if the team plans to go to Singapore.