Pretend to be shocked: Apple has been slapped with another fine of five million euros by the Authority for Consumers and Markets in the Netherlands. This comes after the Dutch watchdog took issue with Apple’s proposed plans for third-party App Store payments, and Apple has not yet addressed the regulator’s concerns. The ACM is holding true to its plans to charge Apple a five million euro fine every week after Apple missed a January 15 deadline to address antitrust concerns around the App Store....

The App Store ads expansion faces backlash, but it’s unclear whether Apple cares. iOS 16.2 beta gives us our first look at Freeform app. Moreover, macOS Ventura is released to the public — Zac and Benjamin share their hands-on with Stage Manager. And, we also discuss the surprise price hikes to Apple Music and Apple TV+. Sponsored by LinkedIn Jobs: LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster....

Apple and IBM have announced an exciting expansion of the partnership started back in 2014 to bring enterprise apps to iOS devices. The latest step is designed to combine IBM’s powerful Watson AI system with Apple’s Core ML framework to create the smartest mobile apps yet developed. The companies said that Coca-Cola is currently testing the setup … Fortune reports that the Coca-Cola test is intended to see whether it can be used to help field technicians inspect and service vending machines....

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Apple just issued a press release announcing that its App Store mobile bazaar now carries over half a million apps for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Additionally, customers have downloaded apps from the Mac App Store over a hundred million times. The App Store has passed over eighteen billion downloads since its inception and continues to clock more than a billion downloads a month. An Apple spokesperson confirmed to The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple that Mac App Store downloads don’t include Lion, updates or downloads to other Macs....

Following the decision from the Obama administration from earlier today to veto an ITC product ban on the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, first-generation 3G iPad, and 3G-capable iPad 2, both Apple and Samsung have responded. Apple has praised the decision: Samsung is not happy with the move: Today’s decision is not the first time in which the United States has sided with Apple over Samsung. Last summer, a California court granted Apple a $1 billion dollar verdict in a wide ranging case regarding Apple and Samsung’s mobile product design patents....

Verizon and Apple have partnered to offer a new enterprise iPhone upgrade program called “Fleet Swap.” As the name suggests “Fleet Swap” allows businesses to upgrade all their smartphones — from any carrier — to the new iPhone 12 models and notably with zero upfront cost. Verizon and Apple held a webinar and shared a press release today to detail the latest partnership. The carrier is also debuting indoor 5G at GM and Honeywell....

With all of the items and sale prices that we revealed on Tuesday, Apple has kicked off their annual Black Friday sale in the United States, Mexico, and Canada (North America). The sale is very similar to Apple’s offerings in past years, but does give better discounts to higher capacities of the iPads and iPods. The deals on the Mac end cover the iMac, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro, while the iPod nano and iPod touch are the discounted iPod offerings....

Apple today unveiled its Black Friday – Cyber Monday shopping event for 2021. Similar to previous years, Apple will be giving away gift cards with eligible purchases of iPhones, AirPods, Mac and iPad models. The Apple Store offers run from November 26 through November 29. As usual, Apple’s Black Friday offer don’t beat out what you can get from third-party sellers this week. Check out 9to5Toys for the best deals....

Apple today has officially stopped signing iOS 13.3.1 following last week’s release of iOS 13.4. This means users can no longer downgrade from iOS 13.4 to iOS 13.3.1. Apple has also stopped signing iOS 12.4.5 and tvOS 13.3.1. iOS 13.4 was released to the public last week. The update included major changes such as iPad trackpad support, iCloud Drive folder sharing, and more. Now that Apple has stopped signing iOS 13....

ARM, the British processor designer responsible for the core chip technology found inside many of Apple’s past iOS devices, today announced the Cortex-A72 — its latest mobile CPU design, designed to run at up to 2.5GHz and improve the processing power of next-generation smartphones. Combined with an enhanced graphics chip such as ARM’s Mali-T880, the new CPU promises to enable upcoming phones to offer “console-class gaming performance,” up to 120fps 4K video capture, and natural language user interfaces....

Apple has announced a notable change to its App Store commission structure today. The company is launching the App Store Small Business Program, which will lower the App Store commission to 15% for developers who earned up to $1 million in proceeds during the previous calendar year. Apple says that existing developers who earn up to $1 million in a calendar year are eligible for this new App Store Small Business Program....

Apple has added a page to its website for deregistering and turning off iMessage for users that have switched from an iPhone to an Android device or other non-Apple smartphone. The new web-based tool arrives after Apple faced a lawsuit over Android users having undelivered text messages from other iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users still using iMessage. For those that have switched to another smartphone and no longer own an iPhone, the website provides a field where you can enter your phone number, receive a confirmation code and enter that code to confirm your iMessage deregistration....

Apple is facing a class action lawsuit for not paying New York State employees weekly. A former Apple Store employee, Raven Ramos, who worked at the Fifth Avenue location, is suing on behalf of herself and current employees in New York. In the state of New York, law requires companies to pay manual workers on a weekly basis. This counts for employees that “engaged or have engaged in manual work in the course of their employment....

The Anthem release dates schedule is very confusing, so when can people play it on Xbox One, PS4, and PC? To answer that question means deciphering the insane Anthem release schedule that BioWare and EA recently released online, which breaks down the various release dates for people who’ve pre-ordered Anthem, purchased Anthem at retail, and/or can play Anthem through EA Access and EA Origin Premier. It’s not exactly straight to the point....

The Apple Store app on iOS and iPadOS is currently displaying an unavailable California poppy version of the new AirTag leather key ring. The poppy version of the key ring is visible on the main AirTag shop page side by side with AirTag loops. Apple currently only offers the leather key ring in baltic blue, saddle brown, and red. Apple offers California poppy versions of the MagSafe leather case, MagSafe leather wallet, and Apple Watch leather link band....

Apple has been gradually switching its international app store pricing from US dollars or Euros to local currencies, doing so in eight countries at the end of last year. It told developers last week that it would be doing the same thing in a further nine countries ‘within 7-10 days,’ and these changes have now taken effect … Four countries are switching from US dollar pricing to local currencies: Chile (Peso) Columbia (Peso) Croatia (Kuna) Peru (Sol) Five more are switching from Euros:...

Apple has announced that on the 10th anniversary of the Employee Giving program, almost $725 million has been raised for 39,000 different organizations. The company says this includes nearly 2 million hours of voluntary work by Apple employees… Apple said that the company donates millions of dollars of additional funds through separate programs. When Apple employees volunteer their time through the program, the company donates a matching sum of money to the organization....

Apple introduced multiple new products earlier this month at its “Peek Performance” event, including the iPad Air 5, Mac Studio, and the Studio Display. Now that customers can get their hands on these products, some Apple execs shared details in new interviews about how and why they were created. iPad Air 5 with M1 One of the biggest surprises of the new iPad Air 5 is the addition of Apple’s M1 chip, which was first introduced with new Macs and then added to the iPad Pro....

Signs of change are beginning to surface on the App Store after December 17th’s notable leadership changes involving Apple’s Worldwide Marketing SVP Phil Schiller. That move happened after growing discontent from Mac App Store developers, who noted communication breakdowns and overall frustration with the direction that the Mac App Store was headed in. Schiller is now in charge of all App Stores, taking over responsibilities from Eddy Cue, which most prominently include the iOS App Store and the Mac App Store....