Apple

6,150 'Apple News' stories November 2008 - October 2014

Apple News and Brief History

Before you can properly understand Apple News, it’s important to know its history. Apple was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976. In 1977, Apple’s sales were growing with the success of its early computers. Within a few years, Jobs and Wozniak hired designers and a production line crew. Apple went public in 1980 and was an instant success. Over the next few years, Apple shipped new computers featuring new graphical user interfaces, such as the original Macintosh in 1984. As the market for personal computers expanded through the 1990s, Apple lost market share to the cheaper Microsoft Windows on PC clones. Eventually, Wozniak and Jobs both left Apple. Jobs would go on to found NeXT and would return to Apple when NeXT was acquired in the late 90s. Apple then began a journey to the great second act in the history of the business world.

Since the release of the iPod in 2001, Apple has become a major player once again in the technology industry. After releasing the iPhone in 2007, the iPad in 2010, and the Apple Watch in 2015, Apple is now one of the largest companies in the world. Apple’s worldwide annual revenue totaled $274.5 billion for its 2020 fiscal year.

Today, Apple operates retail stores all across the world, has a growing services division, and an ever-expanding hardware lineup. The technology industry follows Apple news to see where the company is headed in the future.

Keep reading for the latest Apple news

Morgan Stanley adds AAPL to Best Ideas list for investors, citing high iPhone 6/Plus margins

Ben Lovejoy Oct 15 2014 - 7:22 am PT

1 Comment

Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty has added AAPL to its Best Ideas list of investments, saying that increased margins from iPhone 6 sales see the stock “set for significant upside.”

While Credit Suisse had earlier suggested that margins on the iPhone 6 would be lower than that of the iPhone 5s and 5c, Huberty says that numerous sources are suggesting that more people this time are opting for the middle storage tier, thus pushing up both average selling price and margins …
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Digitimes still thinks the Retina MacBook Air is coming tomorrow, says Apple logos going 3D

Ben Lovejoy Oct 15 2014 - 6:15 am PT

32 Comments

Digitimes still seems to think the long-rumored 12-inch Retina MacBook Air is going to be announced tomorrow, claiming that shipments have already begun.

Shipments of a new MacBook Air model, reportedly equipped with a 12-inch Retina screen, have begun in small volumes and large-volume shipments will begin in November, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.

The claim seems highly unlikely given that just two days ago Re/code cited Apple sources as specifically stating that, while the product was in the pipeline, it would not be shown at tomorrow’s event …
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Apple to join Facebook in paying for female employees to freeze eggs to defer child-raising

Ben Lovejoy Oct 15 2014 - 4:41 am PT

13 Comments

NBC is reporting that Apple will offer female employees up to $20,000 to cover the costs of freezing their eggs if they want to defer having children until later in their career, following the example of Facebook which recently introduced the same employee benefit.

Fertility specialists advise that women who want to freeze eggs in order to have children later in life should freeze at least 20 eggs, which will typically take two rounds of treatment at a cost of $10,000 each. The $20k fertility benefit offered by both Apple and Facebook should cover this – though there can be storage costs on top amounting to several hundred dollars per month.

The move is likely to be a controversial one, seen by some as a means of supporting women who want to advance their career to a senior level before taking time off for children, and making a tech career more appealing to women, while others see it as a message that women are expected to put their career first and family life second.

Apple recently announced a range of improvements to its employee benefits program, including increased time off for parental leave, reimbursements for educational classes, a Student Loan Refinancing Program for U.S. employees and a matching program for charitable donations by employees.

Photo credit: Lex Van Lieshout/AFP/Getty Images

GT Advanced COO sold $1.2M in shares before bankruptcy, Apple asks court to seal documents

Jordan Kahn Oct 14 2014 - 1:01 pm PT

6 Comments

Apple is seeking to keep its involvement in GT Advanced’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing secret as it reportedly asked courts to file its objections in the case under seal. Bloomberg reports that Apple has requested permission to keep its comments in the case secret to avoid disclosing “confidential research, development, or commercial information regarding Apple’s business processes.”
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$30 ‘Mac to the Future’ Bundle: Fantastical, Ember, DiskDrill, Capo, Lucid, skEdit, Anonymizer and more

Seth Weintraub Oct 14 2014 - 12:00 pm PT

1 Comment

From 9to5Toys.com Specials:

Starting this evening, Specials.9to5toys.com has got a very impressive Bundle of 8 Elite Mac Apps + 25 Comprehensive OS X & Web Development Courses for $29.99. The ‘Mac to the Future’ Bundle includes all of the following:
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Amazon teases Apple over U2 album giveaway blunder as Prime users get deluxe version for free

Zac Hall Oct 14 2014 - 10:31 am PT

18 Comments

At your own risk, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NX53H2W/ref=tsm_1_tw_s_dm_ndg14u?tag=n003f1-20" target="_blank">stream U2’s album for free from Amazon Prime Music</a>

Now that Apple has finally wrapped up its U2 album giveaway to iTunes customers, a promotion that warranted its own removal tool named after the “Songs of Innocence” album, Amazon is picking up the record and giving it away to Amazon Prime subscribers through Prime Music… but not without taking a shot at Apple first.

While Apple rather aggressively added the U2 album to every iTunes library automatically (prompting automatic downloads if the setting was enabled) and upsetting many customers, Amazon took to Twitter today to promote their copy of the “deluxe” version of the album while taking a shot at Apple in the process. “Add it to your library—we won’t do it for you,” Amazon said in a tweet followed by a teasing winky face.

Not bad, Amazon, not bad.

For its part, Apple boasted last week that 81 million customers experienced the free U2 album, which Apple is now selling for $9.99, through iTunes, iTunes Radio, and Beats Music.

Macworld/iWorld conference going on hiatus, no event in 2015

Mark Gurman Oct 14 2014 - 10:27 am PT

10 Comments

Jobs introducing MacBook Air at Macworld 2008

Macworld has announced that its Macworld/iWorld conference is going on hiatus and no show will take place in 2015. The show was previously planned to take place in March, which was a bit later than the typical January/February timeframe.

Early Tuesday, IDG World Expo released a statement noting that the venerable Apple-oriented trade show, Macworld/iWorld would go on hiatus and not be held in 2015 as planned. The contents of that statement are: “We are announcing today that Macworld/iWorld is going on hiatus, and will not be taking place as planned in 2015. Our MacIT event, the world’s premiere event for deploying Apple in the enterprise, will continue next year with details to be announced in the coming weeks.

Year-after-year in the 2000s, the January Macworld conference was a staple for the Macworld community. Each year, Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs would hit the stage and introduce breakthrough products like the first iPhone, MacBook Air, and key software releases.

Since Apple cut off its affiliation with the conference in 2009, ahead of the 2010 non-Macworld iPad introduction, the conference has seen less attendees and excitement. Five years out from Apple no longer attending the conference, and just weeks after Macworld cut down its editorial staff to a bare minimum, today’s announcement is, unfortunately, not very surprising. Macworld’s magazine also recently came to an end.

The organization behind the conference, IDG, says that this is just a “hiatus,” so perhaps (hopefully) there will again be a time where the Macworld conference exists. The company’s MacIT enterprise focused event will still exist in 2015, according to the announcement.

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Apple Stores now sell accessories for your dog with $99 Whistle Activity Monitor

Jordan Kahn Oct 14 2014 - 9:25 am PT

5 Comments

You can now buy an iPhone-connected accessory for your dog through Apple Stores as the Whistle Activity Monitor officially goes on sale in Apple’s retail stores in North America. The product was previously available through select retailers and online, but today arrives as the Apple Store’s first iPhone accessory specifically for dog owners. The company has also added some new features and dropped the price to $99 to accompany the Apple Store launch:

In addition to making Whistle more widely available to the nearly 68 percent of U.S. households with a pet (1), Whistle has announced two new tech capabilities to further simplify the important daily responsibilities of pet ownership: a brand new IFTTT (If This Then That) channel and custom in-app medication reminders.

The Whistle Activity Monitor attaches to any existing dog collar, syncs over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and allows dog owners to track a number of health and fitness related metrics for their pet through a companion iOS app. The app also lets users set goals, get reminders for activities and medication, and share updates with family members or others added as owners in the app. The San Francisco-based company was previously only selling the product through major retailers Amazon, PetSmart and Brookstone after launching last year. It also unveiled a new tracker for dogs earlier this year called WhistleGPS that will include GPS tracking features for a monthly subscription in addition to activity tracking.

The Whistle Activity Monitor is available in Apple Stores in the US and Canada starting today for $99. It’s also now available from Amazon and elsewhere for the new $99 price point. That’s down from $129, which is how much it will charge for the newer WhistleGPS that it’s now accepting preorders for. It joins the many other home automation and fitness products Apple is pushing in retail stores alongside its new iOS 8 Health and HomeKit features, but it’s the first on Apple Store shelves specifically made for pet owners.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSCf-K245BU]

Opinion: What can we expect from a Retina iMac, and who will buy it?

Ben Lovejoy Oct 14 2014 - 7:29 am PT

114 Comments

Desktop fans have waited a long time for a Retina iMac, but it now seems pretty clear the wait won’t last too much longer. Our sources told us last month that the machines are “in the late testing phases,” and the rumor is that the machine will have a 5K display, with a resolution of 5120×2880 – exactly double that of the current 27-inch iMac.

We may even have identified the specific display Apple intends to use: a 27-inch 5K panel announced by Dell is looking like a very plausible candidate. This panel would provide a pixel density of 218 PPI, about the same as that of the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro …

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Apple Stores expected to provide after-sales service for Beats headphones and speakers soon

Ben Lovejoy Oct 14 2014 - 5:29 am PT

1 Comment

Greek site Techingreek.com is reporting that Apple Service Providers will be providing after-sales service for Beats headphones and speakers within the country, suggesting that Apple itself may be doing the same in countries with Apple retail stores.

The site says that the above message was sent to Apple Service Providers in Greece, stating that they will provide service for Beats Electronics products “in the near future” …
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Apple releases OS X Yosemite Public Beta 6 to match latest developer GM

Mark Gurman Oct 13 2014 - 10:15 am PT

32 Comments

Apple today released the sixth public beta of the upcoming OS X Yosemite to AppleSeed testers. The build number is 14A388b, which coincides with last week’s OS X Yosemite Golden Master Candidate 3.0 release for registered developers. Apple plans to provide final details on OS X Yosemite at the October 16th event, then release it as soon as later that date.

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Retina MacBook Air unlikely to be announced this week

Zac Hall Oct 13 2014 - 8:54 am PT

14 Comments

With Apple scheduled to kick off its second special event in the last six weeks on Thursday, Re/code has set some expectations for what not to expect noting that Apple is not expected to introduce a Retina MacBook Air.

Apple may well have a new MacBook Air with Retina Display in the pipeline, but it’s not going to unveil it this week. Sources familiar with Apple’s plans tell me that the company’s latest reimagining of the ultralight laptop won’t be shown off at its Thursday event.

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FBI director continues push against Apple & Google on smartphone encryption (Video)

Zac Hall Oct 13 2014 - 7:11 am PT

41 Comments

FBI Director James Comey isn’t backing down from his position that Apple and Google are wrong to encrypt customer smartphone data preventing law enforcement agencies the possibility of access if requested. After last month sharing that the FBI was in talks with the two companies to discuss concerns with marketing devices as being inaccessible to third-parties including the government, the FBI Director spoke with CBS News in an interview where he continued to make the case against such encryption…
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GT Advanced court filings reveal $50M penalty Apple imposes for leaking product information

Ben Lovejoy Oct 13 2014 - 6:43 am PT

16 Comments

Not much is known about Apple’s deals with its suppliers, but court filings by former sapphire supplier GT Advanced reveal that the contract included a $50M penalty for any leak of Apple product information, reports the Financial Times.

While the amount of the penalty clause may vary according to the size of the supplier, it seems likely that a substantial leak penalty is a standard condition of supplying product components to Apple – though the number of leaks over the iPhone 6 suggests that such penalties offer limited protection.

Contracts between Apple and its suppliers will undoubtedly be subject to strict non-disclosure agreements, but lawyers for GT Advanced are asking the court to allow details to be made public …
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Apple rolls out iPhone 6/Plus to 36 more countries this month

Ben Lovejoy Oct 13 2014 - 5:48 am PT

13 Comments

Apple has announced that it will be rolling out the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to an additional 36 countries this month, bringing the total number of markets to 69. The latest rollout will begin with India and Monaco alongside China on Friday.

Apple today announced that iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the biggest advancements in iPhone history, will arrive in 36 additional countries and territories across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa by the end of October. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be available in a total of 69 countries and territories by the end of the month and are on track to be available in more than 115 countries by the end of the year, making this the fastest iPhone rollout ever …

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Apple Pay setup detailed & retailers begin training as service launches at Apple HQ

Mark Gurman Oct 12 2014 - 3:22 pm PT

25 Comments

The launch of Apple Pay, Apple’s NFC and Touch ID-based mobile payment solution, is upon us. Apple has begun preparing for the launch by kicking off Apple Pay training programs for its own group of retail store employees and by working with retailers to prepare for the debut later this month. The training materials, shared by a reliable source, for the Apple Pay launch at Apple retail stores have also detailed some new specifics regarding the Apple Pay setup and transaction processes both on customer iPhones and in Apple retail stores…

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Leaked A8X chip teases more powerful iPad Air 2 as Touch ID button appears

Mark Gurman Oct 11 2014 - 10:21 am PT

46 Comments

Ahead of next Thursday’s Apple event, new images purportedly showing parts for the new, full-sized iPad have emerged. Photos re-published by blog apple.club.tw show a full logic board for the new iPad Air as well as parts for the new Home button, glass screen cover, and audio control components. At first glance, the new iPad Air logic board does not reveal too much new, but adjusting the colors of the image shows a fairly unexpected addition: an A8X system-on-a-chip:

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iOS 8 How-to: Use Camera to enter in credit card info

Sarah Guarino Oct 11 2014 - 9:00 am PT

18 Comments

With iOS 7, Apple added a new feature in iBooks, iTunes and the App Store that allowed users to scan iTunes gift cards with the device’s camera rather than manually entering the string of characters on the back of the card. Now in iOS 8, you can use the device’s camera to scan and enter credit card information.

To add your credit card for purchases open up Settings and tap on Safari.

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NPD: Accessory sales hit record levels in US following iPhone 6/6 Plus launch

Jordan Kahn Oct 10 2014 - 8:31 am PT

17 Comments

Sales of accessories for mobile phones in the US reached record numbers following Apple’s launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, according to the latest data published today by NPD. Accessory sales topped $249 million in the two weeks following the launch, which NPD notes is “43 percent higher than the two weeks prior.” The report breaks down numbers by accessory category and highlights that screen protector and case manufacturers experienced the biggest increase:
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Apple reportedly removing Bose products from retail stores as NFL bans & Bose sues Beats

Jordan Kahn Oct 10 2014 - 7:23 am PT

54 Comments

Bose headphones and audio products could soon get the boot from Apple retail stores, according to a report from MacRumors citing “a reliable source.”

While Apple’s acquisition of Beats would seem like the obvious reason behind replacing the many Bose headphones and speakers currently used with iOS and Mac demo units, the report also claims that Apple will be removing Bose products from store shelves in addition to the demo units.
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Apple fans vs Windows fans: BMW & Mercedes vs Yahoo & eBay

Ben Lovejoy Oct 10 2014 - 4:45 am PT

22 Comments

Business Insider asked analytics company Ranker to churn through 20 million data correlations to identify the biggest differences of opinion between Apple and Microsoft fans. Apple fans were found to be more likely to like BMW, Mercedes, Gap and Starbucks; to dislike Samsung (no surprise there); to prefer Breaking Bad to Married With Children; and The Godfather to Pulp Fiction.

The rest of the infographic below.

GT Advanced closed court hearing was to seek permission to close the sapphire plant

Ben Lovejoy Oct 10 2014 - 3:47 am PT

9 Comments

The motion GT Advanced filed earlier for a closed hearing was to seek court permission to close its sapphire manufacturing plant, reports Re/code.

Sapphire crystal maker GT Advanced Technologies, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this week, has asked the court’s permission to “wind down” operations at its manufacturing plant, less than a year after announcing a high-profile deal to supply the material to Apple.

As we noted earlier, the reason for the company’s failure appears to be that it was unable to meet Apple’s requirements for sapphire displays for the iPhone 6, though it remains unclear whether this was a quality issue or an inability to supply the volumes needed.

The court will hear the company’s motion on 15th October.

KGI stated earlier this week that the bankruptcy of GT Advanced is unlikely to have any impact on the Apple Watch as there are other suppliers able to provide sapphire screens in the sizes needed, but it may be that Apple will rethink its plans to use sapphire for future iPhones.

Image credit: azcentral.com

Apple will stream its October 16 event, featuring new iPads and Macs

Benjamin Mayo Oct 10 2014 - 1:53 am PT

24 Comments

Apple has confirmed on its website that the October event will be streamed. The URL is ‘apple.com/live’, so it seems that Apple is using the same video/blog platform that it first used for the iPhone 6/Apple Watch event in September. As the event progressed, Apple added tweets, product information and photos to the timeline below the main video.

Let’s hope the stream doesn’t also experience the same issues as the September event this time around, which made the event unwatchable for many people.

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Second Apple Store in Turkey appears to be nearing completion

Ben Lovejoy Oct 10 2014 - 1:30 am PT

5 Comments

Apple’s second retail store in Turkey appears to be finally nearing completion, as Apple branding has been added to the black cladding on the storefront in photos posted by Apple Toolbox as the company confirmed its plans to open the store.

Apple opened its first store in the country back in April, on the European side of the city, first announced during a meeting between Tim Cook and President Abdullah Gül. Istanbul straddles the European and Asian continents, and the second store is located in the Asian side, in a shopping mall called Akasya …
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