Apple has been working quickly to expand its Tap to Pay feature on iPhone to the rest of the world. After launching it in Italy next month, the feature that lets vendors take payments with their phone is now available to iPhone users in Germany.
A new environmental responsibility proposal from the German government to the European Union says Apple should require security updates and spare parts for iPhone for at least seven years. According to Heise Online, Germany’s Ministry of Economics also wants spare parts provided “at a reasonable price.”
Apple will resume sales of iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 devices in Germany, after a ruling in December forced the company to halt sales of the two devices for infringing on Qualcomm patents.
The legal odyssey between Apple and Qualcomm is continuing to escalate as the chipmaker is now accusing Apple of defying the court ordered iPhone 7 & 8 sales ban in Germany.
Now, Qualcomm is seeking fines against Apple, claiming available iPhone units sold throughout early January in Germany “intentionally defy the court order”.
In a small change to their online checkout system, Apple has removed the support for bank transfer payments (also known as prepayment) from their online store in Germany. It’s unclear if any other countries are currently affected in the online store change but the change today leaves German buyers with the choice of using a credit card, PayPal, or financing as payment options.
News first surfaced earlier this year that Apple and BMW had engaged in negotiations over the possibility of the Cupertino company using components from the carmaker for its own electric vehicle project. The negotiations reportedly fell through following a visit by Tim Cook and other Apple execs to BMW in Germany, but a report from Reuters today adds that talks between the two companies “may be revived at a later stage.”
The report also shares some more insight into Cook’s visit to BMW, noting that talks have stalled due to Apple wanting to “explore developing a passenger car on its own”: Expand Expanding Close
The recently released 12-inch MacBook will be available for purchase at all Apple Stores globally beginning the week of May 25th, according to a memo from Apple to its retail staff issued earlier today. Because of supply constraints, not unlike those for the also recently-launched Apple Watch, sales of the new MacBook have been mostly restricted to Apple’s Online Store…
Long-standing rumors of a second Apple Store in Cologne, Germany, appear confirmed by the appearance of Apple’s trademark wooden tables on the upper floor, visible in photos taken from the building opposite. Macerkopf reports that Apple began renovation work after fashion brand Pohland moved out of the wedge-shaped building a few weeks ago.
One of the photos also shows what appear to be markings for the position of the other signature Apple Store feature: the glass staircase.
The site says that the store, located on Schildergasse, is unlikely to open before the fall. The existing Apple Store in Cologne is located at the Rhein Center.
German Apple Stores have dropped Vodafone and O2 contracts for both iPhones and iPads, offering them only with Deutsche Telekom contracts or SIM-free. The change affects only post-paid contracts: pre-paid SIMs remain available on Vodafone. Expand Expanding Close
Speaking at the Berlin flagship Apple Store last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook told employees that the Apple Watch will not be exclusive to the United States in April, according to employees in attendance. Specifically, Cook said that the Apple Watch will launch in Germany during the month of April. It’s possible that the Apple Watch will launch first in the United States in early April, with Germany and other countries following later in the month, but it definitely appears that the Watch’s rollout will be more aggressive than the first iPhone and iPad launches…
Tim Cook appears to be using his international tour, which so far includes Israel, Germany and the UK, to push a second product every bit as hard as the Apple Watch: privacy. In an interview with the German newspaper BILDposted yesterday (paywall), Cook went as far as to praise Edward Snowden for his role in prompting discussion of the issue.
If Snowden did anything for us at all, then it was to get us to talk more about these things. [Apple’s] values have always been the same.
The comments follow a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at which data privacy was reportedly a key topic. Cook also told the Telegraphlast week that “none of us should accept that the government or a company or anybody should have access to all of our private information.” Cook has in the past resisted FBI pressure to compromise its strong encryption, and was the only tech CEO to attend a recent White House cybersecurity summit.
In the BILD interview, Cook reiterated Apple’s stance on privacy, and also said that as Apple had grown larger, it had taken deliberate decisions to be less secretive about some aspects of its business … Expand Expanding Close
ABC News, which was added to Apple TV in the U.S. last year as a dedicated channel, has now made it across the Atlantic to Europe and Scandinavia, reports iFun. The channel offers both live and recorded shows, including local news broadcasts from a number of US cities, handy for expat residents and anyone interested in an American take on the news.
ABC first made it to Apple TV in 2013 with a Watch ABC channel, but it required a cable subscription to view it. ABC News is free to view. The company revealed last year that Apple TV owners watch 50% more live ABC News video than desktop and mobile users combined.
It seems Tim Cook had more on his schedule than a meeting with BILD during his visit to Berlin yesterday: the newspaper reports that he also met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Cook told BILD that they discussed security, net neutrality, environmental protection and education–but the key topic appears to have been data privacy.
Cook said that he could well understand Germany’s strong stance on data privacy, stating that Germans “have the same views on privacy as I do” … Expand Expanding Close
As Tim Cook honors what would have been Steve Jobs’ 60th birthday, the Apple CEO has been spotted in Berlin, Germany. Specifically, Cook has made an appearance at the newsroom of BILD (Bild-Zeitung), the famous German newspaper, alongside the publication’s editors-in-chief Kai Diekmann and Julian Reichelt. Expand Expanding Close
The Apple Maps Connect service, which allows small businesses to add their listings to the Apple Maps database, has been expanded to Canada, France and Germany. The service has also gained two new language options, French and German, to correspond with the regional expansion.
Apple first launched Maps Connect in the U.S. last October, enabling businesses to edit or add listings, as well as set up indoor mapping within selected areas. Entries made by businesses typically show up in Apple Maps around a week later. The international rollout began last month with the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Singapore.
Apple switched from Google Maps to its own mapping service on iCloud.com in December. Apple-leased camera cars have been spotted recently, with some suggesting that they are being used to add Street View style images to Apple Maps, while others believe they are part of the Apple Car project.
Apple has recently introduced a new 14-day no questions asked return policy for iTunes, App Store and iBooks purchases in Europe including the UK,Germany, Italy, France, and many other EU countries. Expand Expanding Close
Sony’s Album of the Day app for iPhone and iPod Touch, which provides a daily discount of up to 70 percent on albums by popular artists, has gone international. Originally launched in Germany in March, it is now available in the U.S., Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
Every 24 hours, Album of the Day offers you one album from the artists you know and love at a special limited time promotional price. All deals live on your iPhone and are purchased safely through iTunes and saved to your iTunes library.
If you allow push notifications, you’ll receive a notification of each day’s deal, which is available for just 24 hours. You can download the free app from iTunes.
Apple is today touting a lot of new stats regarding Apple’s contribution to European economies. The company has done similar things for the United States, in the past. For Europe, Apple claims to have created or supported 629,000 jobs across Europe, with over 500,000 of those representing the ‘app economy’. Apple says this number is made up of employees whose jobs can be directly attributed to the App Store. Out of $20 billion in worldwide developer earnings, $6.5 billion has gone to European developers.
In 2014, Apple estimates the ‘app economy’ will add $86 billion to worldwide GDP this year. Aside from the App Store, Apple employees 16,000 Europeans directly and indirectly supports a total of 132,000 jobs elsewhere. The company has also calculated that 116,000 European jobs have been created at other companies as a result of Apple’s growth.
Samsung and Apple just announced that they have agreed to drop all patent suits against each other in countries outside the United States, Bloomberg reports. The two companies will drop suits against each other in Australia, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Netherlands, the U.K., France and Italy. This agreement does not include any licensing agreements, though. This has no effect on United States battles either.
In a joint statement, the two companies had the following to say:
Apple has added another market for its Apple Store iPhone “reuse and recycle” trade-in program: Italy. This is indicated by a new panel inside of the Italy Apple Store listings within the official Apple Store app. The app indicates that Apple is offering trade-ins of older iPhones models for up to €220. This converts to roughly 300 U.S. dollars.
According to a source, Apple is also planning to rollout the same program in Australia as soon as this upcoming week. Apple is said to have been training employees in Australia on the program over the course of the last several days.
The trade-in program allows a user of an older iPhone model (3G and up) to bring the phone in and receive gift card credit toward the purchase of an iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, or iPhone 4s…
Apple’s association with the United States National Security Agency may once again put the company in the spotlight as Germany begins to investigate the agency’s recent activity. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, members of a German parliamentary commission want the heads of a number of US-based tech companies, including Apple, to participate in their investigation of the NSA’s involvement in monitoring German officials.