In what seems rather unfortunate timing, Apple’s diversity head Christie Smith has left the company, with no replacement named as yet. It comes at a time when calls for racial equality are headline news globally, and Apple is promising to take a leading role in bringing about change. Yesterday is reported to have been Smith’s last day at the company … Bloomberg reports. Smith had been in post for just over two-and-half years....
Apple has finally taken its iTunes Radio streaming music service internationally: starting with Australia. The service, which launched in the United States late last year, works on iPads, iPhones, iPods running iOS 7, the Apple TV, and on iTunes 11 on the Mac or PC. Like in the United States, iTunes Radio in Australia is supported by advertisements. However, iTunes Match subscribers can listen to iTunes Radio without ads. Apple is yet to announce any other international iTunes Radio countries, but evidence and reports suggest that Canada, New Zealand, and some European countries will be gaining the feature soon....
If you’ve been eagerly waiting for the iPhone 6 to go on sale in your country, you may be in luck. While Apple has not yet made an official announcement of the next phase in its rollout of the iPhone 6/Plus, we’ve so far spotted that the new phones are scheduled to go on sale in at least ten (and counting) new countries on November 14th. Local carriers have so far announced the November 14th availability of the new iPhones in: Brazil, Philippines, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Uruguay, Guatemala, Lebanon, Kenya and Nigeria, with Malaysia also looking set to see the phones around the same time …...
[youtube http://youtu.be/77hi9SuKfiI] Apple has shared a behind-the-scenes video that tells the story of its widely praised holiday ad named “The Song” that it released on Sunday. The latest clip, titled ‘The story behind “The Song”’, features musician Dana Williams (iTunes) and vocalist Rhiannon Giddens (iTunes) from the holiday ad as well as several people from Third Man Records where part of the vintage vocals were recorded. The new video talks about the Voice-O-Graph, used to record your voice to vinyl for recording an audio post card, then shows Williams’ going through the process of recording the old record she found in the ad and remixing it into GarageBand with her own performance....
After sharing its latest Environmental Responsibility report this morning, Apple this evening has added a new Earth Day 2015 section to the App Store. The section highlights content that contribute to environmental awareness, as well as apps that promote green living and going paperless. Further, Apple’s Earth Day 2015 section aggregates books, movies, iTunes U content, podcasts, and TV shows that relate to the Earth. Selections include the TV show “Planet Earth,” the movie “March of the Penguins,” the book “Environmental Debt,” the apps Evernote Scannable and Green Living, and various National Geographic magazines....
While this release didn’t seem to see any stage time during the WWDC keynote today, Apple has just opened up its Health Records API to developers. In a press release, Apple detailed the new API that’s available today. Aimed at health researchers along with developers, the Health Records API should spur all-new apps that will give end-users even better experiences with various doctors and hospitals. Apple says this change will now make it possible for patients to “share medical records from multiple hospitals with their favorite trusted apps, helping them improve their overall health....
Right about a year ago, Apple began enforcing its enterprise certificate policy for developers more strictly. It all started with Facebook who was abusing its certificate but it didn’t end there. Google’s account was pulled temporarily among a wave of others. Now another developer who was found to be abusing Apple’s policies has seen its account disabled. BuzzFeed recently discovered that Clearview AI was breaking Apple’s enterprise certificate policy with its distribution of apps....
At long last, Apple today has started rolling out web links and iTunes web previews for tvOS apps, similar to how links to iOS/Mac apps and iTunes content has worked for years now. As reported by MacStories, users will now be able to easily share links to fourth-gen Apple TV apps on their computer and subsequently be able to view app details, as well. Prior to this rollout, there was no first-party way to view tvOS apps and descriptions on the web, which meant that it was hard for discovery and sharing to occur on social media networks and even Apple’s own website....
The goal of Worlds AIDS Day, recognized on December 1st in the UK, US and many other countries, is to raise awareness for the AIDS pandemic with a number of charities and organizations showing support and throwing events during the first week of December. One of those organizations is Product(RED), a charity that that Apple has long contributed to by selling red versions of its products. In September, the official (Product)RED Twitter account revealed that Apple’s contributions to the charity had reached $65 million, making it the largest contributor to the charity out of all participating companies....
Fortune reports that Apple’s stock repurchase scheme – buying back some of its own shares – is proceeding more than three times faster than scheduled. If Fortune‘s numbers are correct, then Apple has already spent almost all of the $17B it borrowed back in April. Accelerating the planned repurchase program makes sense if you expect the stock to cost less now than it will later. In other words, if you’re expecting the stock price to climb … If you’re wondering why a company awash with cash (now standing at $146B) would need to borrow money, the reason is tax....
Apple’s new iCloud Web apps are built using the same SproutCore Javascript engine that was used throughout MobileMe. If the favicon above doesn’t prove it, looking at the underlying code below seems to offer undeniable evidence. SproutCore describes itself as an open-source framework for building blazingly fast, innovative user experiences on the web. Here’s a nice interview with Charles Jolley, one of the founders of SproutCore and previous MobileMe Javascript Frameworks Manager....
As promised, Apple has begun pre-orders for the anticipated iPhone 4S. Pre-ordering is now available in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom through Apple’s website. Additionally, carriers in these countries are offering pre-orders through their individual websites. In the US, the iPhone 4S is available for order right now through AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and for the first time, Sprint. Pre-orders placed in time through Apple will be delivered on the October 14 release date....
Bloomberg reports today that Apple’s external advertising agency, Media Arts Lab, has cut around 50 employees this week. The report explains that the job cuts were made “in several divisions,” but that many happened in the strategy division that worked closely with Apple. One of the job cuts was Geoff Edwards, Media Arts Lab’s executive creative director and head of advertising for Apple Services. Edwards was promoted to this position in May, so it’s certainly notable to see him on the way out after less than six months....
Apple’s annual Back to School program returns in Australia and New Zealand with a promotion to receive a pair of Beats Solo2 On-Ear Headphones with qualifiying Mac purchases. Customers may also alternatively choose to receive savings on a new iPad (although there is currently an error on both sites not indicating how much can be saved). Last year’s promotion in Australia and New Zealand included an Apple Store gift card up to A$100/NZ$125, so it’s nice to see them promoting the acquired Beats brand and giving away instant credit for the headphones....
Apple seemingly wasn’t too happy that it was singled out for an FTC investigation into making it too easy for children to make in-app purchases: following its own settlement back in January, the company’s general counsel Bruce Sewell promptly reported Google for the same thing, reports Politico. “I thought this article might be of some interest, particularly if you have not already seen it,” Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell wrote to FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez and Democratic Commissioner Julie Brill, pointing to a report that criticized Google’s app store over the same issue of unauthorized purchases …...
Apple today has officially scheduled its fiscal Q4 2020 earnings call for Thursday, October 29. As usual, the company will hold a call with investors and analysts at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET, right after the release of its Q4 earnings. Just like last quarter, Apple didn’t provide any official guidance for Q4 2020 due to the economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic. Apple reported revenue of $59.7 billion and a profit of $11....
Right on time… Digitimes reports that Apple has lowered GSM and CDMA iPhone 4 production ahead of the September launch for the fifth-generation iPhone – “iPhone 4S.” The report says that “Apple has lowered its expected shipment volume of iPhone 4 for the second quarter of 2011 from 20 million units, to 17.5-18 million units consisting of 16 million units of the 3G version and 1.5-2 million units of the CDMA version....
Today’s best deals include up to $550 off the 16-inch MacBook Pro, Retina 27-inch iMac on sale, and Wyze Cam sees a rare discount. Head below for all that and more in today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break. Take up to $550 off 16-inch MacBook Pro B&H is offering up some big discounts on Apple’s latest 16-inch MacBook Pro with price drops by as much as $550. Free shipping is available for all....
This fall, Apple plans on enhancing the paid iCloud tiers it offers, rebranding them iCloud Plus (or iCloud+). No, this won’t give you more storage or let you back up your entire Mac drive in the cloud. And yet, iCloud Plus is packed with some significant new features, and best of all, they won’t cost you any more money. Here’s a look at the differences between the current iCloud service and upcoming iCloud Plus offerings....
Tim Cook hinted at significant developments to the iPad line in describing the recent 16 percent drop in year-on-year sales yesterday as “a speedbump” in an interview with Re/code. He made that same comment before during the last earnings call and obviously that’s not the whole story… “We couldn’t be happier with how we’ve done with the first four years of the iPad. I’d call what’s going on recently a speed bump, and I’ve seen that in every category” …...
