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Over the past day or so, Bloomberg reported that some of Apple’s servers were compromised by way of a third-party implementing micro chips, and sending data back to China. Apple came back with a strong response noting that it was never made aware of such accusations nor did it have any ongoing investigations with the FBI or law enforcement. Apple’s recently retired general counsel, Bruce Sewell, has today chimed in (via Reuters) on the debacle and says that he was also not aware of any sort of investigations....

Every time an app is closed, iOS takes a screenshot. When the app is started back up the screenshot is briefly shown while the real app loads in the background. To anyone using this system it will just appear like the app instantly loads, but in reality it is a splash of a screenshot that hides the actual loading. It’s really quite clever, and the feature is hidden well enough that most people don’t even think about it....

In order to further personalize the Apple Watch sales experience, Apple is positioning its retail employees to learn more about its customers in order to help them make an even better Apple Watch purchasing decision. Apple today sent a memo to retail employees that summarizes feedback from 16 retail store employees who helped show off the Watch during Paris Fashion Week at Parisian boutique Colette in September 2014. The most notable piece of advice:...

In a video sent directly to Apple Store employees, newly appointed Senior Vice President of Apple Retail John Browett has promised a three month advance on employee salary raises. Apple Store employees were previously scheduled to see their raises on September 30th of this year, but now these raises will come on June 30th. These raises come in addition to the Mac and iPad discounts promised by Apple CEO Tim Cook earlier this year....

Two separate market share reports show that Apple increased its share of the global smartphone market year-on-year, with Samsung’s share declining. Strategy Analytics estimates that Apple grew its market share from 12.2% in Q3 2014 to 13.6% in Q3 2015, while Counterpoint has the numbers at 11.9% to 13.1% … Both agree that Samsung’s share fell in the same period, from 24.5% to 23.7% according to Strategy Analytics, while Counterpoint reports 23....

Apple’s decision to end the Xserve has attracted criticism from some of the company’s existing enterprise users — critics who’ve managed to raise their voices on CNN. What is interesting is that despite their general displeasure at being given just four months to plan the change away from Xserve, “many Xserve customers say they’re sticking with the Mac plaform.” Indeed, a survey of 1,200 Xserve customers conducted by the Enterprise Desktop Alliance found that 70% of Xserve customers say Apple’s announcement will have no impact on their organization’s decision to buy new Macs....

Due to atypical inventory shortages of white 16GB iPhone 4 replacement units, 16GB white iPhone 4 customers seeking hardware replacements at Apple Store Genius Bars may get a free upgrade to the newer iPhone 4S. According to multiple sources, Apple has notified Apple Store Genius Bars that inventory of white iPhone 4 16GB replacements units is heavily constrained, and until further notice, stores lacking white iPhone 4 16GB replacements units should upgrade customers seeking a replacement phone to an iPhone 4S....

Apple has now published the full 2-hour Gather Round keynote on YouTube. The event goes over the new Apple Watch Series 4, iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max, and iPhone XR. This is Apple’s first lineup that takes on the all-screen design for the iPhone, ditching the Home button (and Touch ID) in favor of gestures and Face ID. For the Apple Watch, this is a pretty substantial upgrade as we see it gain electrodiogram functionality, a larger display, brining them now to 40 and 44mm, and an all new gold stainless steel finish....

Samsung will next week demo a new LCD display technology that will put future tablets in the Retina Display realm. Developed by Samsung’s subsidiary Nouvoyance, the new WQXGA 10.1-inch display stuns with a whopping 2560-by-1600 pixel resolution. Take a deep breath – that’s more pixels than on your 27-inch iMac and double the pixel count on full HD displays. It uses PenTile RGBW technology that consumes 40 percent less power, a statement claims....

Apple has addressed approximately 225 issues in the update, which reportedly weighs in at roughly 666 MB. The company is asking developers to focus their efforts on around 90 system components. Somewhere on the Internet we picked up the seed note which warns of four unresolved known issues: – Applications may not be updated if they had been moved from the default location.– Displays Preferences may show duplicate profile entries....

Apple’s homepage returned to normal with the iPhone 4S headlining last night (US only atm). Apple had the Steve Jobs memorial picture up for two weeks following his passing. There is still a Remembering Steve link at the bottom of the page which leads to the thousands of words of condolence taken from the millions of submissions following his death. In fact, it appears that Apple has purchased the RememberingSteveJobs.com domain....

I recently suggested that Apple’s antitrust issues aren’t going to go away, and that the company should start taking action to address them. With iOS 14, Apple is doing exactly that. The company didn’t pitch things like that, of course, but we got five announcements that directly tackle some of the antitrust claims facing it… I summarized the position in which the company finds itself. A new antitrust probe is now imminent....

While Apple’s Black Friday deals started going live in Australia and elsewhere today with Apple Store Gift Cards in place of traditional discounts, it appears Apple will be offering discounts and not gift cards in at least some countries. The UK, France, Germany and other European Apple Online Stores have now started posting Black Friday promotions with discounts on iPads, MacBooks, iPods, Apple TV, and many accessories. In the UK, MacBooks and iMacs are discounted £80, while iPods are going for as much as £25 off for the iPod touch and iPads as much as £31 for the iPad Air....

While Apple does not have a booth or keynote at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the company is on the show floor scouting the competition. PaidContent’s Tom Krazit spotted Apple’s head of iOS product marketing Greg Joswiak at Sony’s booth. Joswiak talked to PaidContent, with a grin on his face, and said he was on location to see “How other companies present their products at events such as CES, from things like booth layout and aesthetics to which products are highlighted within a company’s booth....

Apple has published a new support article detailing an issue with some new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pros that debuted alongside the iPad Air earlier this month. The issue can lead to the computer’s keyboard or trackpad becoming unresponsive. There have been numerous reports of the issue in a 67-page thread on the Apple support forums. Apple’s statement: According to the new support page, Apple is aware of the issue and working on a permanent fix....

Apple today has shared its latest iPhone X. This one, like many of the ads we’ve seen so far, focuses on Face ID and how it can be used to log-in to third-party applications. Head below to watch it… Apple’s latest iPhone X ad is just over 1 minute and 30 seconds long, entitled ‘Memory.’ In the video, a game show contestant is quizzed on the password to his bank account....

Apple VP Guy ‘Bud’ Tribble is to testify at a Senate hearing into potential federal privacy legislation, set to take place on September 26. Discussion about a possible federal privacy law was prompted by Europe adopting the strongest protections ever seen for customer and user data, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). With even Apple forced to increase its privacy protections for European Union citizens in order to comply with GDPR requirements, questions have been asked about why US citizens shouldn’t receive the same guarantees....

Apple’s system status webpage indicates that the company has resolved an outage affecting “iCloud Account and Sign In” services. Apple doesn’t indicate how widespread this outage was, but it does say that the issue was affecting users for 36 hours. A variety of reports on Twitter indicated that some Apple users were unable to activate new devices, with the majority of complaints seemingly centering on the Apple Watch. The issue notably came as users everywhere began unwrapping new Apple products on Christmas morning....

For you server types: Apple just seeded OS X Mountain Lion Server Developer Preview 4 to developers apart of Apple’s Mac developer program. The update is available on the Developer Center and can be downloaded by grabbing the redemption code available. Today’s server release (build 12S219n) comes after yesterday’s release of OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview 3 (build 12A206j). Go ahead and grab it on the Developer Center if you are a registered member....

Apple has released an official company statement in response to the recent controversy surrounding Apple’s decision to remove apps that relied on MDM systems to provide features similar to those introduced by Apple in iOS 12 as Screen Time. Echoing comments made in an email from Phil Schiller, the statement directly refutes the claims made by The New York Times this week: ‘Contrary to what The New York Times reported over the weekend, this isn’t a matter of competition....