A report earlier this month from Bloomberg claimed that Apple could owe more than $8 billion in back taxes if the European Commission rules that its Ireland setup is illegal. Speaking to the Financial Times today, Apple CFO Luca Maestri commented on the ongoing European investigation and said that he estimates Apple will have to pay $0 in back taxes, assuming the investigation outcome is “fair.” Maestri had the following to say regarding the European Commission’s investigation into Apple’s tax practices:...

It’s well known that Apple is working hard to bring innovation to augmented reality and self-driving cars (in some capacity). However, new hires recently made by the company are making a satellite project seem likely. A new Bloomberg report details that Apple has hired two former Google satellite executives as it starts a new hardware team. Satellite design and operation are highly expensive and the report notes that most projects in this field are focused on collecting images or for communications....

Apple today has announced that it is expanding the tester limits in its TestFlight program. Whereas developers were previously limited to inviting 2,000 users to beta test an application, they can now invite up to 10,000 external testers. Apple says this expansion will allow for developers to receive even more valuable feedback from users before making an app or app update public on the App Store. For those unfamiliar, TestFlight is Apple’s way of managing application betas....

Apple has updated its Developer’s page to again waive the App Store requirement for paid online group services to use App Store in-app purchases for payments. This comes as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause businesses to pivot to digital services rather than in-person. Until December 31, 2021, digital services in place of an in-person group will continue to be exempted on in-app purchases. “Last year, to support apps that adapted services from in-person to digital due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we temporarily deferred the requirement to offer paid online group event services (one-to-few and one-to-many real-time services) through in-app purchase in accordance with App Store Review Guideline 3....

Apple has extended its limited time discount on certain USB-C accessories from the end of December through March. The timing follows the official availability of the LG 5K UltraFine display which works with Apple’s new MacBook Pro. This is the new footnote on discounted accessories: The rare discount on certain accessories was announced back in November after significant pushback from new MacBook Pro customers who were complaining about replacing USB-A, Thunderbolt, and other older I/O because of the USB-C-only MacBook Pro....

. Update: It appears that the ban has been lifted already Apple lost its first significant patent battle today as it was forced to take 3G iPads and iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4’s off its virtual Apple Store shelves in Germany today. The licenses at issue are supposedly “Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory” (FRAND) patents that are considered industry standards. This follows a previous ruling in Motorola’s favor at the end of last year....

Some put the blame on Apple for that and accuse Cupertino of threatening lost wages from iTunes if the labels sign up for the streaming service. Apple approved Spotify for use on the iPhone in Europe in April of last year so Apple probably has some definitive proof of lost revenue, if that is the case. A $1 billion Spotify deal with Google was apparently close to completion last year but the deal fell through because Google was “demanding that all label deals be grandfathered in....

Apple has today informed developers that it has changed the pricing of apps and In-App Purchases in the Russian App Store, following changes to exchange rates. The recent ruble-dollar rates have fluctuated so widely in recent weeks that Apple has been forced to take the Russian Apple Online Store down completely, as it reviews pricing for its products. Obviously, it is easier to adjust prices in the App Store so a complete takedown was unnecessary....

Apple will double its current built-to-order RAM configurations for the upcoming Mac minis, and perhaps the new iMacs according to sources familiar with the upcoming product releases. The current version of the iMac includes four RAM slots, and Apple’s top RAM configuration is four 4GB chips for a total of 16GB of RAM. The new iMac, however, will be sold with an options for 16GB of RAM across two chips (2 X 8GB) of RAM....

I’ve been interested in what Apple is doing in the health industry for a while now. I love reading stories about people using Apple Watch to get healthy, prevent accidents, and more. While I was at JNUC this past week, I got to spend some time with Lindsey Koshansky from Locus Health to hear how they are using the iPad in the healthcare field. They are heavily invested in the Apple and Jamf ecosystem, so I was eager to hear more about what they’re doing....

The sometimes stormy relationship between Apple and Google appears to be growing friendlier, with Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt telling Reuters at the annual Allen & Co conference in Sun Valley that the two companies were having “lots and lots” of meetings. The two companies started out close. Schmidt joined Apple’s board in 2006, and the iPhone launched with both Googlemaps and YouTube on board. That was to change after Google’s Android platform began growing in popularity....

On Monday (April 21), P.A. Semi informed its customers it was being acquired and it could no longer guarantee supplies of its chips. The startup did not identify the acquiring company but said that company may be willing to supply the chip on an end-of-life basis, if it could successfully transfer a third-party license to the technology. That license in question is probably a PowerPC architectural license that P.A. Semi has with IBM Corp....

Apple is offering a promotion for new Apple Card users throughout the month of March. The company says that new cardholders can score 6% Daily Cash on purchases from Apple, which is double the 3% Daily Cash offered traditionally for Apple Card users. The company explains that new Apple Card users can save 6% on Apple products when they pay in full with a new Apple Card through March 31. The promotion is only open to Apple Card users who open an account between March 1, 2021 and March 31, 2021....

Apple appears to have given a unique custom AirTag display to members of the team that created the Find My trackers. The display includes six custom AirTags with the signatures of the team members staged in a sleek glass frame. The company has also begun to distribute their annual gift for completing the “Close Your Rings” Apple Watch fitness challenge. In past years, Apple has given employees custom fitness ring themed watch bands in a variety of different styles....

Farewell iPhone 6 Plus, we hardly knew thee. Only seven years after Apple released that iteration of its smartphone, the tech has been sufficiently dated by successors – and time – for the iPhone 6 Plus to be rendered to the company’s list of vintage products this week. Launched in September 2014 and sold through the same month two years later, the iPhone 6 Plus was the first Apple smartphone to feature an enlarged 5....

Apple has recently hired a lead engineer from Microsoft’s HoloLens team, leading to more speculation that it could be working on its own augmented reality project behind the scenes. Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster first spotted the change of positions for Nick Thompson, who was reportedly previously leading audio hardware engineering efforts for Microsoft’s Hololens augmented reality project: “Based on recent acquisitions of augmented reality companies, hiring of a key Microsoft Hololens employee, and conversations with industry contacts within the virtual and augmented reality spaces, we believe Apple has a team exploring the AR space,” Munster said in a note to clients today....

Ahead of the public launch of Apple TV+ later this year, Apple has hired a former Walt Disney executive to join its video team. According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple has hired Disney’s Chiara Cipriani as it ramps up its video efforts. Cipriani joined Apple earlier this month, serving as the company’s director of video services out of its London offices. Prior to joining Apple this month, Cipriani spent over 10 years at Disney....

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In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Weldon Dodd from Kandji joins the show to discuss what’s next for MDM technology with Apple in the enterprise. Sponsored by Mosyle: Managing Apple devices at work shouldn’t be difficult. Mosyle makes it easy. Links Kandji Liftoff Apple Configurator for iPhone More about Kandji Liftoff Connect with Bradley Twitter LinkedIn Listen and subscribe Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Pocket Casts Castro RSS

Apple Arcade has added three notable titles over the last several weeks: “Game of Thrones: Tale of Crows” from Devolver Digital, “Next Stop Nowhere” from Night School Studio, and “The Last Campfire” from Hello Games. A new deep dive from TechRadar today offers a closer look at the development of the games, and how Apple Arcade was involved. Night School Studio co-founder Sean Frank explained that while he was skeptical of the role of premium games in today’s world, but Apple Arcade was an enticing choice for “Next Stop Nowhere” for several reasons....