Apple’s website listed the refreshed Mac Pro as “new” after the opening keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference yesterday, but complaints from critics, including an ex-Apple engineer, likely spurred the company to remove the alerting icon. Former Apple engineer and current Google employee Andy Hertzfeld expressed his disappointment in the new Mac Pro through a Google+ post this morning. He said the high-end desktop “seems like it’s stuck in time in 2010” and only received an “inconsequential processor clock bump....

From 9to5Toys.com: Best Buy has the iPod nano 16GB (8th Gen – Latest Model) for $140 shipped or the open-box from $122 shipped. Walmart is essentially matching that price with a slightly wider color selection while retailers like Toys R Us and Target have it listed up at $150. As for the iPod shuffle 2GB (6th Gen – Latest Model), Best Buy has all color options at $50 shipped with an open-box price starting at $43 shipped....

As Business Week (and, later, MacRumors, informs), Apple plans to begin its own ad-attack when Win 7 climbs out of the trenches on October 22. And Apple VP Phil Schiller thinks Microsoft’s handing Apple an advantage in the desktop OS game… The ads will extol Mac OS X’s real virtues – lack of viruses, happy connections with iPods and iPhones and its simple upgrade process….after all, Windows XP users (still a big slice of Microsoft’s user base) are expected to jump through hoops and engage in mystical mantras if they want to upgrade to WIn 7....

Apple has seeded OS X Lion 10.7.2 build 11C55 to developers today, and it is the first OS X Lion 10.7.2 build to include iCloud for Mac built-in. Previously, developers had to download a separate iCloud for Mac package. OS X Lion 10.7.2 includes the ability for users to easily enable iCloud Mail, Contacts, Calendar, and Find my Mac on their computers. The software release will most likely ship alongside iCloud sometime this fall....

Apple has begun sending out a limited number of invitations to a developer workshop. It’ll be held next week at the Station F start-up incubator in Paris. As spotted by Mac4Ever (translated), Apple has set up a workshop for what seems like a limited amount of attendees for next Friday, March 23. The workshop is said to last two hours with the topic of app development and a focus on helping developers “improve and promote” their software....

TSMC is Apple’s primary chipmaker and serves as the exclusive supplier of A-series and M-series Apple silicon chips. The company today reported strong earnings results for the first quarter, with downstream partners such as smartphone, tablet, and laptop makers seeing strong demand as people continue to work from home. However, it warned that the global chip shortages will continue for the foreseeable future and well into next year. Naturally, this has concerning implications for Apple’s product rollouts....

Apple retail executives John Browett and Bob Bridger at an Apple Store opening (via Flickr) Earlier this month, we heard several reports that Apple Store part-time employees were seeing layoffs and that Apple was cutting hours for some employees. Apple followed up by stating that these new policies would be reversed. It seems that affected employees got their jobs back, however, IFOAppleStore comprehensively reports that newly implemented revenue-emphasizing policies and budget cuts remain in place....

Shopping analytics giant Kantar Worldpanel reports that Apple’s smartphone has experienced its first fall in market share in urban China since 2014. Kantar said that the increasing popularity of local smartphone brands was the main reason for the fall … “For the first time since August 2014, iOS share did not grow in urban China in the 3 months ending February,” said Tamsin Timpson, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia....

When Apple opens its new Upper East Side Apple Store on Saturday, visitors will have the opportunity to view historical architecture in addition to shopping for iPhones and Apple Watches. That’s because the new retail store located on 940 Madison Avenue was once the home of the U.S. Mortgage & Trust bank — there’s even a bank vault below the store — and Apple has restored much of the original design for its new showroom…...

Two weeks after releasing the first macOS 11.4 beta, Apple has seeded developers and public testers with the second. macOS 11.4 comes with expanded support for AMD GPUs. The OTA for the macOS 11.4 beta 2 should start showing up in System Preferences > Software Update if you’re enrolled in the developer or public beta program (keep refreshing if you don’t see it yet). You can also download it manually on Apple’s Developer site....

Apple today uploaded its latest ad to YouTube. The ad returns to the company’s popular “Shot on iPhone” campaign and focuses on Mother’s Day, which is one week away from today. The touching video comes in at 30-seconds long and follows two new iPhone 6s ads from last week, one that highlighted the device’s 4K camera and one that showed off Touch ID. In today’s new video, simply called “Mother’s Day,” a handful of images and videos are shown that represent motherhood....

As part of iOS 9, Apple today has announced a new app called Move to iOS that makes the transition from Android to iPhone more seamless for the user. While the app went unannounced during the WWDC keynote, it is listed on the iOS 9 feature page on Apple’s website. Move to iOS allows users to wirelessly switch from Android to iOS. The app, according to Apple, allows Android users to wirelessly transfer their contacts, message history, camera photos, videos, web bookmarks, mail accounts, calendars, wallpapers, and DRM-free media to their new iOS device....

The smaller company confirmed the news this morning, saying, “Vimpelcom announced today it has signed an agreement with Apple to bring iPhone 3G to Russia, expected later this year. With the Russian population pegged at 140,702,094, release of the device in the huge country is likely to be a major bonus for Apple. Company CEO Steve Jobs has reportedly suggested the company hopes to have deals in place for launching the iPhone in Russia and China before the end of the year....

Apple updated its COVID-19 screening app yesterday to version 4.0 but it didn’t appear to come with any user-facing changes based on the release notes. As it turns out, one noteworthy update is the option to anonymously share symptoms and health info with the CDC. The release notes for Apple’s COVID-19 app update yesterday just say version 4.0 “includes bug fixes and improvements.” But it was curious Apple moving the app from version 3....

Times of India is reporting that Apple is expected to have hit $1B in revenue in India in the financial year ended on 31st March – up 42% year-on-year, and a tripling of revenue over the past three years. India is one of the so-called BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China) where Apple is expecting to see a large chunk of its future growth. It had previously been reported that Apple sold half a million iPhones in the final calendar quarter of 2014, and Cybermedia Research estimates that it sold 1....

It’s been a busy morning for Apple news, with the company having officially announced its September 15 event that will reportedly be focused purely on Apple Watch and iPad announcements. Apple has also published a YouTube placeholder stream for the September event, and it includes a clear reference to the Apple Watch Series 6. In the metadata for the September event YouTube live stream, Apple includes a variety of search terms that it’s trying to target....

The Apple Store is down ahead of the first set of iPhone 12 preorders. Due to the pandemic, the iPhonne 12 launch season is staggered this year. Today, customers can order the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 and the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro. The store is down quite far ahead of time. Preorders open at 5 AM Pacific Time, or about six hours from now. The phones officially launch on October 23rd....

Apple is making a big push with gift cards for the holidays with the most notable change being gift cards for its retail stores arriving through third-party retailers, according to sources. The company already sold iTunes/App Store gift certificates through a number of retail parters, but it has just recently started selling its Apple Store gift cards outside its own channels as well. Apple Retail will also make changes to repair procedures tomorrow including the introduction of in-store repairs for Beats products....

Apple today announced a major expansion of its Independent Repair Provider Program in the US, adding hundreds of new authorized locations. Businesses in Canada and 32 countries in Europe will also be able to sign up for the first time. The repair program began last fall as a way for more customers to access safe and high-quality iPhone repairs with genuine Apple parts. With many Apple Store locations across the US still closed or reclosed due to COVID-19, access to repair options has become more important than ever before....

In addition to hyping today’s event with a countdown on the home page, Apple has debuted a dedicated page on its website to presumably break down the announcements shared by the company later today. The microsite so far includes photographs, captions, and a tweet from Apple CEO Tim Cook hyping the event under the header Apple Live. The blog-style page marks a first for Apple and how it presents its special events....