With iOS 17.2 and tvOS 17.2, Apple introduced a new way to navigate within the TV app via a sidebar that lets users quickly jump between different sections, including Search, Watch Now, Channels, Store, and Library. But Apple will do more than that, as the company plans to soon phase out the dedicated iTunes Movie Store by merging it with the TV app.
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Right after Snapchat went down, it seems that some Apple services are also experiencing issues on Thursday night. Apple just confirmed that the App Store and iTunes Store are not available right now for some users, as shown on the System Status webpage on Apple’s website.
Update (4:43 PM PT): Apple says the outage has now been fixed. You can read the original article below.
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Apple certainly changed the music industry with the iPod and with the iTunes Music Store, which made it possible for customers to buy individual songs for very low prices. Interestingly, a 2003 email from none other than Bill Gates shows that other industry executives were quite surprised by Apple entering the music market.
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Want to check what your family has downloaded from the App Store or iTunes Store or add it to your own device? Follow along for how to quickly see and download Family Purchases on iPhone and iPad.
This week, Apple has upped the cellular download limit for iPhone and iPad that prevents users from downloading large files from Apple’s stores, including apps, games, video podcasts, iTunes Store films and more.
The cellular download limit has been increased from 150 MB to 200 MB. This means more apps and games are now allowed to be downloaded over cellular networks.
Apple has today shared refreshed assets for to help affiliates promote and share music, movies, and TV content that can be found on Apple Music and the iTunes Store.
Apple has slowly been improving the movie rental experience on iTunes this year as it focuses on revenue growth from services. Back in March, Apple introduced a new ‘rent once, watch anywhere’ feature that removed a playback restriction for viewing rentals on different devices. Now, Apple has doubled the amount of time you’re allowed to play a rental after you start watching.
Update (15/10/2015): Apple services again experiencing outages across App Store, iTunes Store and more services as reported by their system status page. Not a good week for Apple’s cloud uptime.
Following a similar outage yesterday, some iTunes users are continuing to experience service disruptions as Apple confirms the downtime. Apple recently updated its system status page tracking issues with its services, stores and iCloud to note the ongoing problem with the iTunes store for some users:
“Users are experiencing a problem with the service listed above. We are investigating and will update the status as more information becomes available.”
The outage has been affecting some users since around 12pm ET, according to Apple, and is yet to be resolved.
Yesterday a number of users reported experiencing issues with Apple’s online services but Apple didn’t detail the problems on its status page.
We’ll update here if Apple confirms the problem as resolved.
Apple has now activated the new iCloud Storage tiers, as announced last week at Apple’s September event. The new tiers do not bump the free tier — it remains at 5 GB. However, for $0.99 per month you now get 50 GB of storage, up from 20 GB. The 200 GB plan is now cheaper at $2.99 and the 1 TB plan is now half the price at $9.99 per month.
Apple has started a new big project in its web services division, according to The Information. The report claims Apple has decided to rewrite its cloud services to all fall under one single technology stack using open-source technologies. This will combine Apple’s services like iCloud, Siri, iTunes and more into a unified backend platform.
Apple has seemingly settled on Mesos, the backend infrastructure for Siri, as the core of its new platform which will take years to finish. Apple publicly revealed it had moved Siri to a Mesos stack earlier in the year.
Apple is continuing its promotion of Apple Music this weekend. After putting out a trio of television advertisements promoting Apple Music and its artist-integrated Connect platform, the company has announced a pair of statistics for the launch weekend of its employee Dr. Dre’s new Compton Album. In a statement, Apple says that Compton was streamed 25 million times over the course of its opening week as an Apple Music exclusive. The album was also downloaded half a million times via the iTunes Store.
Known for publishing previously confidential documents, WikiLeaks has released a large collection of emails from last year’s widely publicized hack of Sony, notably including Apple agreements covering Sony’s Crackle Apple TV channel, video sales through iTunes, and other topics. The leaks include:
The leaks go on to describe Apple and Sony product tie-ups, including the iPad’s “character” role in the film Sex Tape, as well as Sony’s internal reaction to Apple’s “Stickers” ad featuring a Breaking Bad reference, and an apparent effort by Dreamworks’ Jeffrey Katzenberg urging Sony not to collaborate with Apple…
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Apple has pushed out an update to its suite of pro video editing tools for Mac today, including new versions of Final Cut Pro X, Motion, and Compressor.
Final Cut has been upgraded to version 10.2, which adds support for 3D titles, improved color grading and effects tools, support for additional camera formats, and GPU-accelerated processing of RAW footage from RED cameras.
Update: The maintenance lasted about half an hour and is now complete with all services restored according to the system status dashboard.
Apple’s system status dashboard is reporting an ongoing service disruption for multiple store services “due to scheduled maintenance.” Apple’s message says service unavailability may affect all users. Specifically, the maintenance is impacting the App Store, Apple TV, iBooks Store, iTunes in the Cloud, iTunes Store, and Mac App Store services.
Unlike recent Apple service outages, the service disruption is intentional as part of scheduled maintenance, although some users are reporting iCloud syncing issues and iCloud Mail delays not acknowledged by the system status dashboard. A widespread outage last month prompted Apple to publicly apologize to customers for the service interruption.
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Last week, we reported on a flaw with the EU’s new no-questions-asked 14-day refund policy that meant customers could effectively get paid apps for free, as refunding the app does not delete it from customers’ devices.
In response, Apple has adjusted its App Store purchases slightly for customers who have an excessive number of refunds on file. This means people with a track record of refunding purchase effectively lose the right to refund their purchase.
A week ago, Apple introduced 14-day no-questions-asked refunds in the EU for iTunes Store and App Store content. This means that, without the need for a reason, any Apple customer in Europe can get their money back for (primarily) app purchases in 5-7 days time. That’s how it is described, at least.
This opens up some possibilities for abuse. For instance, if you complete a game within two weeks, then you can get your money back and end up paying nothing. As a developer, I tested this out myself. It turns out there is an even bigger problem. At least, right now, when the refund is processed, the app continues to work. You get the app for free, forever.
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 now offering its annual Boxing Day sale for Canadians with select discounts on albums and songs through the iTunes store.
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Apple has released iOS 8.1.2 as an over-the-air software update for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users running iOS 8. The latest release contains bug fixes for users as well as a fix for a problem regarding ringtones purchased from Apple being removed from devices. We’ll check out the software release for any significant changes or issues and update accordingly.
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Apple released a new iPad Air 2 campaign during Sunday football today showcasing various unique physical and software applications for the iPad Air 2.
Featuring the song “Who Needs You” by The Orwells [iTunes Store, YouTube], the ad is a departure from last year’s iPad Air which were focused on a single user.
iPad Air 2 isn’t just the thinnest and lightest iPad we’ve ever created. It’s the most powerful. From the studio to the classroom, the field to the garage, it’s helping people discover new and better ways to do the things they love. Imagine what you’ll do with it.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROZhrRm88ms]
Microsite embedded below:
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Apple has released a nice update for the developer-focused iTunes Connect app today. Besides iPhone 6 and 6 Plus support (finally), developers can now login to the app using the Touch ID fingerprint reader on the iPhone and new iPads. This should make it even quicker for developers to check their app submission status and upload new information to their iTunes Store pages. The update is free… on the App Store.
Apple’s iTunes Affiliate program has notified users of the program that developers can now earn affiliate commission via the Store Kit feature in iOS 8. StoreKit Product Sheet, which has existed since 2012’s iOS 6, allows developers to put a page inside of their apps to download other items from the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore. However, the feature was not compatible with affiliates until iOS 8. Here’s Apple’s email to affiliate users:
We are excited to announce that Store Kit Product Sheet is now affiliate commissionable on iOS 8.
Store Kit Product Sheet allows app developers to promote the purchase of music, apps, books and more directly from a sheet within your app and earn the standard affiliate commission on all sales within 24 hours.
We encourage you to use Store Kit Product Sheet to provide a superior user experience and keep users in your app longer. Learn how to integrate your affiliate token into the Store Kit Product Sheet in the Developer Documentation.
Apple briefly discussed this iOS 8 enhancement for developers during a WWDC 2014 session, but this email indicates Apple is pushing developers to utilize all of the resources available to increase their monthly revenues.
Yesterday Apple rolled out its new iTunes Pass service to Japan, allowing users to use a Passbook card to add credit to an iTunes account from an Apple Retail Store. Starting today, the offer is also available in the United States and Australia. Users in Canada, Germany, and the UK are also reporting seeing the feature, though it’s not officially listed on Apple’s website for those countries just yet.
To take advantage of this new program, you need to use the iTunes Store app on an iOS device to obtain an iTunes Pass. You can get one of these by tapping the “Redeem” button at the bottom of the home page within the app. To use the card, you can visit an Apple Retail Store and ask a specialist to help you add credit to your account. The specialist can then scan the barcode on the Passbook card to immediately add credit to your account.
Apple today issued a significant update to its iTunes U application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The application focuses on enhancements for both teachers and students, and the application was first announced by Apple last week alongside the new Back to School retail initiatives.
Here’s what is new for students:
