Just a few days ago, Apple released Tap to Pay on iPhone for users in Canada and Japan. And the company seems to be really committed to pushing the feature around the world, as it has just been launched in Italy.
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Apple first shared its plans for a new flagship Apple Store in Milan back in May of last year. The company said then that the store will sit beneath an amphitheater, and you’ll enter it using a staircase that descends through the middle of a fountain.
A local report now says that there will be a two-stage opening next month, and explains the reason for the delay …
It was back in January that we first heard that Apple was planning a new flagship retail store in Milan, Italy, with an outdoor amphitheater – and the company has now confirmed those plans.
It will be a square full of ideas. We are incredibly happy to be in the center of Milan, a town that for centuries combines creativity and innovation. In the coming months we will work to give you a new Liberty Square: an open space for everyone to take a break, meet with friends, discover new interests.
The store will sit beneath the amphitheater, and you’ll enter it using a staircase that descends through the middle of a fountain …
setteB.IT noticed that French, Italian and Spanish iPhone owners can now take advantage of Apple’s Trade Up With Installments plan, where you use your existing phone as a down payment on a new one, paying off the balance in installments over two years. It’s effectively the iPhone Upgrade Program available in the U.S., but with lower monthly payments in exchange for handing over your old phone.
Apple this morning has announced its first iOS App Development Center for Europe. The facility will be located in Naples, Italy and offer a place for students to learn who to develop iOS apps. The App Development Center will feature on-site teachers and a curriculum to facilitate a strong and diverse development community.
With a recent European Commission ruling making it look more likely than ever that Apple’s tax arrangements in Ireland will be declared illegal, Bloomberg has been doing the sums on how much the company may owe in back tax. The total? More than $8 billion.
Apple funnels all its European revenue through Ireland, where a special agreement with the Irish government means that it pays just 2.5% tax instead of the normal 12.5%. A long-running European Commission investigation into the legality of this arrangement was recently extended and expanded its scope.
Assuming the agreement is ruled to be illegal, it would be the Irish government – and not Apple – who broke the law, but Apple would still have to pay the difference between the tax it actually paid and the full amount that would have been due without the deal. The company warned shareholders last year that it may have to pay ‘material’ back taxes, but the figure calculated by Bloomberg is much larger than earlier estimates …
Apple, which was accused by the Italian government of failing to declare more than $1.3B of income when paying corporation tax in the country, has now agreed to pay the full €318M ($347M) claimed by the Italian tax office. The company has 16 Apple Stores in Italy.
Apple was accused of funnelling profits from Italian sales through its Irish subsidiary in order to benefit from the lower tax rate the company had agreed there. (Those tax arrangements are the subject of a separate EU investigation.)
La Repubblica (via The Local) reports Apple Italia was listed as a “consultant” for Apple Ireland, enabling the company to book profits through Ireland, paying just 2.5% tax under the terms of an agreement said to have first been reached with Steve Jobs back in the 1980s …
During his current tour to various locales abroad to accompany the launch of iPad Pro this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook stopped by Università Bocconi in Italy to deliver an inspiring speech to students.
The majority of Cook’s speech focused on his time as a student, but he also took time to talk about the importance of his mission to not just make money at Apple but to “leave the world better than we found it.”
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Apple’s rollout of the iPhone 6s/Plus beyond the dozen launch countries kicks off today, with customers in 36 more countries able to get their hands on the new devices. This follows Apple making SIM-free phones available in the USA.
The countries are Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan.
Those in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates will have to wait until tomorrow, while there’s a further week to go before sales open up in India, Malaysia and Turkey. Apple has promised that the new iPhones will be on sale in over 130 countries by the end of the year.
Apple sold more than 13 million iPhones in the opening weekend. If you’re still on the fence, some recent pieces that may help are my iPhone 6s diary, a video of the best 3D Touch features, plus a comparison video and opinion piece on the 6s versus 6s Plus.
The Apple Watch, originally launched in nine countries, hits seven more today – with a further rollout on July 17th. Apple has so far added the July 17th date to its websites in the Netherlands, Sweden and Thailand.
The countries going live today include Italy, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan …
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Sprint today announced that it’s expanding its free data roaming offer to a number of new countries, bringing its new total up to 22 locations around the globe.
New countries added today include: Colombia, Denmark, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, Paraguay and Sweden.
Those add to the full list of 22 supported countries where Sprint customers can take advantage of the International Value Roaming feature, which allows customers to use data for free when traveling to supported countries abroad.
The full list includes: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Russia, Sweden, South Korea, Spain and United Kingdom.
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…
<a href="http://9to5mac.com/2015/04/17/apple-phil-schiller-marc-newson-apple-watch-showcase-milan/" target="_blank">Apple Watch on display for one day only in Milan, Italy last week</a>
A new report out today claims Apple will soon be taking orders for the Apple Watch in more countries around the world — even as stock in the initial launch countries remains tight. According to Italian site iSpazio, citing anonymous sources, Apple plans to roll out the Apple Watch preview and try-on experience at its retail locations and begin taking pre-orders beginning May 8th. However, sources close to the situation say Apple is not currently targeting May 8th for its second-wave Apple Watch launch…
Apple’s PR tour for the Apple Watch doesn’t appear to be slowing down with Apple’s design chief Jony Ive showing off the device and revealing an exclusive collection of never before seen Sport band colors tonight in Milan. Apple this morning kicked off a showcase of the device at Milan’s Salone Del Mobile Design Fair in Itlay, which was attended by Apple executives including marketing head Phil Schiller and designer Marc Newson.
Apple kicked off its Apple Watch showcase today at Milan’s Salone Del Mobile Design Fair in Italy and on hand at the event were Apple executives including marketing chief Phil Schiller and designer Marc Newson.
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The Apple Watch may not be available in Italy at launch, but Apple will be showcasing its new device at the upcoming Salone del Mobile in Milan on Friday. According to the design-centric magazine Wallpaper (via Tim Bradshaw), Apple is planning a one-day only preview and try-on event at the design exhibition on April 17th. The Apple Watch’s presence will mark Apple’s first time attending the design fair.
While Apple was noticeably absent from last month’s Baselworld luxury watch trade show, Apple’s Design VP Jony Ive expressed his excitement over the Apple Watch being featured during the upcoming design exhibition.
Says Jony Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of design: ‘Salone del Mobile has such a deep-rooted history of embracing excellence in design so I’m particularly excited to celebrate our newest and most personal product, alongside our friends and fellow designers, at this special event.’
Ive went on to describe the marriage of technology, craftsmanship, and utility that went in to the Apple Watch:
In line with our report from earlier this month, Apple today launched its first trade-in program for non-iPhones in its Apple Retail Stores. The program allows users of select Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry phones to bring in their devices and receive credit toward the immediate purchase of a new iPhone 5c, iPhone 6, or iPhone 6 Plus (but not an Apple Watch). Apple first launched its standard iPhone Reuse and Recycle trade-in program in 2013, and the company expanded the feature to the iPad last year. Apple made today’s announcement on the individual retail store pages, indicating that the program is so far now available in the U.S., France, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Italy, and multiple retail sources say that the program has indeed gone live today. A version of the iPhone trade-in program that does not support non-iPhones is launching this week in China.
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.
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Apple is opening three new retail stores this weekend including one new store near Venice, Italy and two stores in the US.
We originally reported in June that the new stores were coming alongside others in China, Italy and the US as new retail chief Angela Ahrendts implements organizational restructuring for Apple retail.
Apple has now announced the upcoming grand openings on its website for three of the stores opening this Saturday. The new Italy store is located in the Centro commerciale Nave de Vero shopping centre in Marghera near Venice (via setteBIT).
Also opening this Saturday are two new stores in the US including one in Trumbull, Connecticut and another at Solomond Pond Mall in Marlborough, Massachusetts (via ifostore). All three of new stores will open at 10am local time this Saturday, October 11.
In addition to Trumbull and Marlborough, we reported in June that Apple also had also started hiring for new stores planned for Virginia Beach (Virginia) and Manchester (New Hampshire).
Apple has announced on its retail website that it will be opening up a new Apple Store in The Green Town Center in Beavercreek, Ohio this weekend. The store opens up on Saturday, July 19th at 10 AM. Store hours are 10 AM to 9 PM Monday through Saturday and 12 Noon to 6 PM on Sundays. We reported earlier this year that Angela Ahrendts is overseeing a push of several new mall-based stores in the United States as more, larger locations are prepared for China and Italy.
Apple will be opening up its fourth official retail store in Switzerland this weekend. A new store in the city of Basel will see its grand opening on Saturday, July 12th, according to a notice on Apple’s Retail Store website. Job listings for the store first appeared earlier this year on Apple’s jobs website. Apple has already surrounded the store with a black banner promoting the store’s website. Apple is also planning several new stores in China, Italy, and the United States under the guide of recently appointed retail head Angela Ahrendts.
An Italian competition organization has given Apple, Google, Amazon and Gameloft twenty days to submit a defence to its investigation into in-app purchases or face a fine of up to €5M ($6.9M), reports ZDNet.
The companies now have 20 days to comply with the requests for information that came with the letter, and to respond with their defences to the allegations. If the alleged violations proved to be true, the three internet giants and the European game developer could each face a fine up to €5m — although the Italian watchdog told ZDNet that the punishment would be proportional to each company’s size.
The complaint is based on two concerns. First, whether consumers are clear about the likely total cost of the app at the time they download it. Second, whether sufficient information is provided about how to prevent or limit in-app purchases, especially in games played by children.
Apple settled a similar complaint with the FTC in January, after last year offering refunds to parents whose children had made in-app purchases. At that time, Tim Cook pointed to the safeguards in place, which include the ability to disable in-app purchases with a single switch, and requiring a password for any purchases made more than 15 minutes after downloading the app.
iOS also now alerts customers that further purchases can be made within 15 minutes without re-entering their iTunes password, and all iTunes apps that offer in-app purchases are labelled as such in the App Store.
Belgian Apple Store concept image: belgium-iphone.lesoir.be
A Belgian judge is reportedly considering ordering local ISPs to block access to all Apple websites in the country in response to a long-running dispute over the company’s promotion of AppleCare warranties, according to local newspapers cited by Tech.eu.
A case brought by the consumer protection group FPS Economy argued that Apple misleads consumers by claiming a standard warranty of one year, and selling an optional AppleCare extension, when EU law means that manufacturers are legally obliged to offer a minimum warranty of two years as standard …
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Update: Apple says iBooks Textbooks are available in all countries with a paid iBooks store and that a full updated list of countries with access to iTunes U Course Manager can be found on its enrollment website.
Apple just put out a press release announcing that it’s expanding availability of its educational content– iBooks Textbooks and the iTunes U Course Manager– into new international markets. Starting today, both of the services are rolling out to new countries in Asia, Latin America, and Europe, bringing the total number of countries with textbooks up to 51 and the total number with access to the iTunes U Course Manager to 70. Apple also shared some stats on the growth of iBooks Textbooks, which now cover 100 percent of the US high school core curriculum:
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