Benjamin Mayo

Apple today unveiled its Black Friday holiday event for 2022, in which customers can get an Apple Store gift card worth up to $250 with the purchase of an eligible Mac, iPad, or iPhone from the Apple Store.

The Apple Shopping Event runs from November 25 through November 28, Black Friday through Cyber Monday. As usual, check 9to5Toys to find the best Apple deals.

Apple and Major League Soccer today announced pricing and availability details for the MLS streaming service, available through the Apple TV app beginning February 1, 2023 ready for the season start on February 25.

Named “MLS Season Pass,” the subscription unlocks access to all MLS games, live and on demand. The service is priced at $14.99 per month, or $99 per season. Apple TV+ subscribers will be able to watch some games at no cost, and can get the full MLS Season Pass at a discounted rate …

In a new report on Apple’s ad business, The Information cites an insider source regarding Apple’s ambitions for advertising. They are cited as saying that Apple is not seeking to add significantly more ads on the iPhone, and is satisfied with the current revenue growth.

This conflicts slightly with recent reports from Bloomberg that suggest Apple is targeting to 3x revenue from its ad business. Other tidbits in The Information story include the fact that Apple investigated adding ads to Spotlight search, back in 2018. This plan was cancelled and hasn’t shipped (yet?).

Apple confirmed today in a press release that the new satellite features for iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro will indeed launch in November for customers in the United States and Canada, as originally announced. When out of cell service, iPhone 14 users will be able to connect to a satellite overhead to send a short emergency text message, and share their location with family.

Apple today announced a $450 million investment, as part of the Advanced Manufacturing Fund, to support the satellite features. A significant chunk of that money will be going to Globalstar, the company actually in charge of running the satellites.

Update: This change was unfortunately reverted in the final shipping build of iOS 16.2.

Apple has made a useful little enhancement in the latest iOS 16.2 beta for iPhone 14 Pro users. In earlier versions, iPhone 14 Pro would only show two status icons (battery and either WiFi or single bars), as the activated Dynamic Island content was very wide.

However, this is no longer the case. Now when playing music, the island compresses down in width to allow all three status icons to be visible — complete with a sleek animation.

Apple today released a statement warning investors and customers that iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max availability is very constrained following recent factory closures due to recent COVID-19 restrictions in the region.

This means Apple is likely lowering shipment estimates for the critical holiday period, potentially impacting revenue figures for the quarter, and customers should expect longer wait times when ordering a new iPhone 14 Pro model at the moment.

Update [March 2023]: The Netflix ‘Basic with Ads’ tier is now supported on Apple TV.

Update [November 2022]: In a statement, Netflix told 9to5Mac that Basic with ads plan support is coming soon to Apple TV devices. Original story below.

Here’s a PSA for anyone out there looking to save some money on their Netflix. Beginning today, Netflix Basic with ads plan is rolling out around the world, priced at $6.99 per month.

However there’s a big gotcha for people in the Apple ecosystem: the ad-supported plan is not supported on the Netflix app on the Apple TV box.

It might be hard to believe, but it has now been a decade since Scott Forstall was fired from Apple. Forstall was replaced by Craig Federighi on October 29, 2012, although he stayed on in a perfunctory advisor capacity for approximately six months after that.

Here’s a look back at what happened… and what happened next.

Starting in 2023, Apple TV is the exclusive streaming home for all Major League Soccer matches. This deal involves the MLS taking on almost all production duties. The Athletic reports MLS wants to send on-site announcers to commentate all games, offer multiple audio streams and other interactive elements, and use as many as 12 cameras per match.

However, the report says technical production planning for the broadcast is running behind schedule. The league is yet to sign an executive producer, for instance, and is facing many logistical challenges to pull off such an ambitious broadcast. Some corners may be cut to hit the 2023 season start deadline …

This week, Apple rolled out new ad placements in the App Store for the Today tab and at the bottom of product pages of other apps. App Store ads are always a controversial (and widely disliked) subject, but this latest expansion was particularly grating to the developer community.

Developers were particularly fuming that many of the ads now being shown next to their apps in the ‘You Might Also Like’ were highly irrelevant, or ethically questionable, like seeing apps from gambling companies and casino-esque freemium games. In response to the complaints, via MacRumors, Apple has “paused ads related to gambling and a few other categories” from appearing on app product pages.

As described in a new update to its Time to Play Fair website, Spotify has faced the ire of App Review over its attempt to launch an audiobooks store inside the Spotify app on iPhone. The app was rejected three times by App Review due to violations of Apple’s In-App Purchase rules, before finally being approved on Tuesday. The eventually-approved app experience entails a nine step process, far more complicated than Spotify ideally wanted to offer, to comply with App Store rules.

Spotify says this is yet another case of Apple’s anticompetitive dominance on the app economy. Spotify first filed a formal complaint to the European Commission back in 2019 The commission is still investigating.

After first being previewed as part of the iPhone event back in September, flight tracking app Flighty is now rolling out comprehensive Live Activities and Dynamic Island support alongside the launch of iOS 16.1.

When using Flighty, a live activity for your upcoming flight automatically begins three hours before departure. This means you can easily follow along with your flight status, including delays and gate changes, from the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island on iPhone 14 Pro.

Apple is today increasing the prices of its Apple Music and Apple TV+ subscription services. The Apple One bundle price is also rising in unison.

The Apple Music monthly price has been upped by ~$1 for individuals and ~$2 for families. Apple TV+ is rising by $2 (which only has one tier and supports Family Sharing on all plans). Apple One is also going up by approximately $3 per month. Full pricing changes after the break …

One of the heads of Apple’s design group, Evans Hankey, is to leave the company, via Bloomberg. The former VP Industrial Design officially led Apple’s design team alongside software design chief Alan Dye, following the departure of Jony Ive in 2019.

Bloomberg says Hankey told employees she will stay at the company for the next six months, before departing. Apple has not yet named a replacement for Hankey’s role.