When Apple debuted the new iOS 8 for its iPhones earlier this month, beta testers saw a whole host of technological upgrades that the company had made. One of the most striking differences between the old smartphone operating system and the new one was the weather feature, which is now being run by the Weather Channel instead of Yahoo, which typically provided the information for Apple.

While this change might seem small, it is significant in terms of what it means for consumers and the companies themselves. In previous versions of the iPhone OS, the weather service app - which comes standard with each phone - had information provided by Yahoo that was repackaged from the Weather Channel. Because Yahoo was essentially acting as a middleman, Weather Channel CEO saw the iOS 8 as an opportunity to expand his company's brand and reach.

Users will directly benefit from this upgrade because of the new features that will be available with this OS update. One of the most noticeable improvements will be better location-based weather information, which can be tailored directly to where a person is in real time. Because the Weather Channel was not working directly with Apple, there were features - such as a nine-day forecast and weather conditions summary - that it had not included with the Yahoo deal.

Although it is certainly clear that consumers will be better off with this new deal, those in the technology world have remarked on how this is such a high-profile loss for Yahoo, which has been trying to increase its overall presence through Apple's iPhone operating systems.

If you are in the market for a new Apple product, whether the iPad mini or Apple TV, be sure to shop with PortableOne today!