Ask Rene: New iPod touch, Jony Ive reports, Skylake Macs, and more!

When you combine Twitter, email, forums, and all the other channels, Rene gets sent dozens and dozens of questions a day. Since it's not even inhumanly possible to answer, let alone research, them all, we're starting a new column where he can post answers for everyone. So, if you want to share your questions and concerns, hopes and gripes, send them to askrene@imore.com or tweet them to @reneritchie with #askrene.

Apple Music madness

We've received hundreds and hundreds of questions about Apple Music this week, which makes total sense. Rather than repeat answers we've already posted, however, I'll point everyone to our frequently asked questions piece. We're updating it all the time:

• Apple Music FAQ

Skylake Macs: To wait or not to wait?

I've got an early 2011 13" MacBook Pro that's starting to show its age. I've done a few surgeries on it to give it 10GB of RAM and an AirPort card that supports Continuity, but it's still limping along such that I'm really looking forward to the day when I can finally replace it. I've got my heart set on the 13-inch Retina Pro, but I'm scared it'll go obsolete within a year. I've heard plenty of rumors that point to a major hardware overhaul coming when Skylake processors come out, claiming such features as USB-C and/or Thunderbolt 3 ports, Touch ID, a 3K Retina Display, the new MacBook's butterfly keyboard, and an even thinner machine. I know that I should take all of these with a grain of salt, and I do, but I still don't like the idea of getting a new computer not long before said computer gets a massive update.

Here's my question: Should I buy the current 13" rMBP, which is still a huge upgrade from my current dinosaur, or should I attempt to tolerate what I've got until we see what happens with Skylake? I need to take into account how long a wait it'll be, what kind of things I can expect from the new computer, and the fact that it could mean missing out on a free Apple Store gift card from Apple's back-to-school promotion, if that happens eventually. Thank you! — AC

My typical answer to this question is: Wait as long as you can possibly wait, then upgrade and be happy with whatever you upgrade to. The longer you wait, the more computing bang you'll get for your buck, but no matter when you buy, there'll always be something better coming down the pike. Such is technology.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display did get a Broadwell update this year. That's better than the 15-inch MacBook Pro which, due to the trouble Intel had with its new 14 nanometer process, stayed on the previous Haswell process.

Intel has said the delays with Broadwell won't affect Skylake, it's next-generation chipset. Skylake won't have another die-shrink but rather an architectural change that could offer significant improvements for power efficiency, and will also support Thunderbolt 3. Intel could be completely sincere about that, but at this point I'll believe it when they ship it.

If everything happens at ludicrous speeds, we could theoretically see Intel show off Skylake as soon as August and Apple ship something with Skylake as soon as October. Otherwise we're probably looking at sometime between next spring and next summer.

And that's if you're the kind of person who doesn't mind jumping on new platforms. Some people prefer to avoid "Rev A" and wait for second generation. That would stretch the timeline out further for you.

Personally, if it were me, I'd try my best to wait. But your needs might be more immediate than mine.

Why are Apple's new VPs of design reporting to Tim Cook?

Why are Jony Ive's new lieutenants reporting to Tim Cook? Is he leaving? — JP

Alan Dye, new vice president of human interface design (HI) and Richard Howarth, new vice president of industrial design (ID) reporting to Tim Cook means nothing more nor less than where they've been positioned on "paper". (In quotes because Apple never publishes an org chart for the general public.) And who they report to is identical to who all the other vice presidents listed on Apple's company leadership page report to — the CEO.

Apple isn't like most other companies, so trying to read into the reporting structure is an exercise in futility.

There are plenty of other vice presidents at Apple who don't report to Tim Cook and aren't publicly listed on that page, but Dye and Howarth do, and so they are.

There are all sorts of theories as to why, from Apple not wanting Jony Ive to have any direct reports so they don't have to disclose his compensation, to Ive not wanting to have any official management duties so he can devote all his time to what he's best at—design.

For a while at Apple Steve Jobs reportedly had no direct reports aside from Steve Wozniak. Anyone think he had any trouble running any division anyway?

Apple isn't like most other companies, so trying to read into the reporting structure is an exercise in futility.

Mail, and the bulk deleting thereof

As a longtime (as in ALWAYS), iPhone user, I was wondering if there are any ways to bulk delete emails in iOS? I've been patiently waiting to see if Apple would implement this feature, but so far it doesn't seem like something they will be doing, so I'm wondering if there are any alternative methods I might not know about? Thanks! — MS

You can already tap Edit in the mail list, then check off all the mail you want, then tap Trash (or Archive depending on your settings) and banish it from your inbox. Is that the kind of bulk delete you're looking for, or something bulkier?

Will there be any Force Touch magic for the Magic Trackpad?

Rene, do you think Force Touch will come to the Track Pad?

I'm guessing you mean the external Magic Trackpad? I certainly hope so. I've been using Magic Trackpads for years and the idea that I could access the Force Click and other forms of press-sensitive input on my iMac holds a lot of appeal.

This spring was all about getting the Force Touch trackpad into the Retina laptop line. That's been done. So, it's simply a question of how high the Magic Trackpad is on the priority list. Apple typically wants its new technologies available on all its major products, and it's rumored we'll see Force Touch on the iPhone 6s this fall.

While a Force Touch Magic Trackpad could just show up in the store or in a press release at any time, we could also see it announced alongside the next updates for the Mac mini, iMac, and/or Mac Pro.

Multicolor mail flags in iOS

Will iOS 9 finally bring support for multiple flag colors like Mac mail? Thanks! — Pete Murray

Apple hasn't announced anything, so odds are Flag remains a binary state in iOS 9.

Will the new iPod touch really be new?

I saw the stories about a new iTouch. Tell me it's not just the same old hardware with new colors. I swear I'll freakout! — KB

Freak not! While nothing is for certain until Apple shows it off on stage or details it in a press release, my understanding is that the next generation iPod touch will finally leave the A5 processor behind and leap ahead, at least as far as the A7.

The perpetual challenge with the iPod touch is to give it enough technology to maintain platform compatibility, but not so much that it negatively affects the cost. (Look at an off-contract iPhone 6 or iPad Air 2 to see what the latest screens and chipsets do to the price points of iOS devices.)

The A7 would get the iPod touch onto Apple's 64-bit platform, open it up to all the same technologies the other A7 (and above) devices enjoy, and yet keep it affordable and entry-level.

That's it for this week! Thanks to everyone who contributed! To get your questions in for next week, email them to askrene@imore.com or tweet them to @reneritchie with #askrene.