The US Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeals filed by both Apple and Epic Games following a judge’s ruling that Apple must allow developers to offer alternative methods to pay for apps and services other than through the App Store. It did not provide an explanation as to why it refused to review Read more about Supreme Court declines appeals from Apple and Epic Games in App Store case[…]
Apple is keeping a firm grip on people with alternative marketplaces, fleecing them for money but also for other control. Here are some of the terms Apple requires you to conform to in order to start up your own app store (which they call alternative marketplace): If you’re interested in becoming a marketplace developer in Read more about I can have app store? Apple: yes but NO! Give €1,000,000 + lock in to Apple ecosystem. This is how to “comply” with EU anti competition law[…]
Security researchers warned Apple as early as 2019 about vulnerabilities in its AirDrop wireless sharing function that Chinese authorities claim they recently used to track down users of the feature, the researchers told CNN, in a case that experts say has sweeping implications for global privacy. The Chinese government’s actions targeting a tool that Apple Read more about Apple knew AirDrop users could be identified and tracked as early as 2019. Still not fixed.[…]
[…] after about 12 months of intensive investigation. Besides how the attackers learned of the hardware feature, the researchers still don’t know what, precisely, its purpose is. Also unknown is if the feature is a native part of the iPhone or enabled by a third-party hardware component such as ARM’s CoreSight Further Reading “Clickless” Read more about All Apples Wide open for 4 years, Kaspersky security company and many others in Moscow opened wide – photos, location, mic, etc – just by sending them an imessage. Shows how dangerous closed source is.[…]
Apple’s financial services, including Apple Pay, Apple Cash, Apple Card and Wallet, experienced service disruptions for some users between 6:15 AM and 6:49 AM Eastern this morning, according to the company’s System Status page. As AppleInsider notes, it’s unclear how widespread the issues were, but the company has experienced intermittent Apple Pay issues earlier this Read more about Apple Pay, Apple Card and Wallet were down for some users this morning – again[…]
When Epic went after both Apple and Google a few years ago with antitrust claims regarding the need to go through their app stores to get on phones, we noted that it seemed more like negotiation-by-lawsuit. Both Apple and Google have cut some deals with larger companies to lower the 30% cut the companies take Read more about Things That Make No Sense: Epic Lost Its Fight Over Apple’s Closed iOS Platform, But Won It Over Google’s More Open Android Platform[…]
The case was heard by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. As The Register has reported, the matter tested Epic’s allegations that Google stifles competition by requiring developers to pay it commissions even if they use third-party payment services, and paid some developers to secure their exclusive presence on the Read more about Jury finds Google’s Play store is illegal monopoly – now… Apple?[…]
In a letter to the Department of Justice, Senator Ron Wyden said foreign officials were demanding the data from Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) Google and Apple (AAPL.O). Although details were sparse, the letter lays out yet another path by which governments can track smartphones. Apps of all kinds rely on push notifications to alert smartphone users to Read more about Governments, Apple, Google spying on users through push notifications – they all go through Apple and Google servers (unencrypted?)![…]
Since the beginning of 2023, ESET researchers have observed an alarming growth of deceptive Android loan apps, which present themselves as legitimate personal loan services, promising quick and easy access to funds. Despite their attractive appearance, these services are in fact designed to defraud users by offering them high-interest-rate loans endorsed with deceitful descriptions, all Read more about SpyLoan apps don’t give you loans but blackmail you, steal your money, downloaded 12m times on Android – Apple won’t tell you how often they get duped[…]
Google pays Apple 36% of its search advertising revenue from Safari, according to new details brought to light in Google’s search antitrust trial on Monday as reported by Bloomberg. The mere utterance of the number, which Google and Apple have tried to keep sealed, caused Google’s main litigator John Schmidtlein to visibly cringe. “Like the Read more about Google Witness Spills on Apple’s Cut From Safari Search Revenue[…]
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) on Wednesday lost a bid to block a mass London lawsuit worth up to $2 billion which accuses the tech giant of hiding defective batteries in millions of iPhones. The lawsuit was brought by British consumer champion Justin Gutmann on behalf of around 24 million iPhone users in the United Kingdom. Gutmann Read more about Mass lawsuit against Apple over throttled and broken iPhone batteries can go ahead, London tribunal rules[…]
Users have been reporting that their iPhone 15’s NFC chips were failing after using BMW’s in-car wireless charging, but until now, Apple hasn’t addressed the complaints. That seems to have changed as MacRumors reported this week that an Apple internal memo to third-party repair providers says a software update later this year should prevent a Read more about Apple says BMW wireless chargers really are messing with iPhone 15s[…]
Ever since Apple re-branded as the “Privacy” company several years back, it’s been rolling out features designed to show its commitment to protecting users. Yet while customers might feel safer using an iPhone, there’s already plenty of evidence that Apple’s branding efforts don’t always match the reality of its products. In fact, a lot of Read more about Apple’s MAC Address Privacy Feature Has Never Worked[…]
A chip startup and several of its employees are being sued by Apple for theft of trade secrets and breach of contract and filed a countersuit. Rivos was sued [PDF] by Apple early last year over claims it lured away a gaggle of Apple employees working on the system-on-chip (SoC) designs like those in its Read more about Chip firm Rivos countersues Apple, alleges illegal contracts and unecessary court cases[…]
Apple’s “Batterygate” legal saga is finally swinging shut – in the US, at least – with a final appeal being voluntarily dismissed, clearing the way for payouts to class members. The US lawsuit, which combined 66 separate class actions into one big legal proceeding in California, was decided in 2020, with the outcome requiring Apple Read more about Apple 2017 Batterygate finally leads to $500m payout, no more courts (in the US, in the UK – tbc)[…]
Spain’s antitrust watchdog on Tuesday said it had imposed fines worth a total 194.1 million euros ($218.03 million) on Amazon (AMZN.O) and Apple (AAPL.O) for colluding to limit the online sale of devices from Apple and competitors in Spain. The two contracts the companies signed on Oct. 31, 2018 granting Amazon the status of authorized Read more about Spain antitrust watchdog fines Amazon, Apple $218 million for collusion and exclusion[…]
A US federal court this week gave final approval to the $50 million class-action settlement Apple came to last July resolving claims the company knew about and concealed the unreliable nature of keyboards on MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro computers released between 2015 and 2019. Per Reuters (via 9to5Mac), Judge Edward Davila on Thursday Read more about US judge grants final approval to Apple’s $50m broken ‘butterfly’ keyboard settlement[…]
Apple Inc. won an appeals court ruling upholding its App Store’s policies in an antitrust challenge brought by Epic Games Inc. Monday’s ruling by the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower-court judge’s 2021 decision largely rejecting claims by Epic, the maker of Fortnite, that Apple’s online marketplace policies violated federal law because Read more about Apple App Store Policies Upheld by Court in Epic Games Antitrust Challenge – Apple can continue monopoly and massive 30% charges in app store USA (but not in EU)[…]
Apple has quietly acquired a Mountain View-based startup, WaveOne, that was developing AI algorithms for compressing video. Apple wouldn’t confirm the sale when asked for comment. But WaveOne’s website was shut down around January, and several former employees, including one of WaveOne’s co-founders, now work within Apple’s various machine learning groups. WaveOne’s former head of Read more about Apple acquired a startup using AI to compress videos[…]
France’s data protection authority, CNIL, fined Apple €8 million (about $8.5 million) Wednesday for illegally harvesting iPhone owners’ data for targeted ads without proper consent. […] The French fine, though, is the latest addition to a growing body of evidence that Apple may not be the privacy guardian angel it makes itself out to be. Read more about Apple Faces French $8.5M Fine For Illegal Data Harvesting[…]
Many of you are likely to be familiar with WWDC, Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference. This is one of those places where you get a bunch of Apple product reveals and news updates that typically result in the press tripping all over themselves to bow at the altar of an iPhone 300 or whatever. The conference Read more about Apple Vanquishes Evil YouTube Account Full Of Old Apple WWDC Videos[…]
A new antitrust class-action lawsuit accuses Apple Inc. and Amazon.com of colluding to raise the price of iPhones and iPads, […] The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington accuses Apple and Amazon of seeking to eliminate third-party Apple resellers on Amazon Marketplace in a scheme to stifle competition, Read more about Antitrust Lawsuit Says Apple and Amazon Colluded to Raise iPhone, iPad Prices[…]
For all of Apple’s talk about how private your iPhone is, the company vacuums up a lot of data about you. iPhones do have a privacy setting that is supposed to turn off that tracking. According to a new report by independent researchers, though, Apple collects extremely detailed information on you with its own apps Read more about Apple Apps Track You Even With Privacy Protections on – and they hoover a LOT[…]
A former Apple employee has pled guilty to defrauding the company out of over $17 million. Dhirendra Prasad, who spent most of his decade at Apple working as a buyer in the Global Service Supply Chain department, admitted to “taking kickbacks, inflating invoices, stealing parts and causing Apple to pay for items and services never Read more about Former Apple employee admits to defrauding the company out of $17 million[…]
Instead of a week of profits, mere days of net income for Cook €1.1 billion fine levied against Apple by French authorities has been cut by two-thirds to just €372 million ($363 million) – an even more paltry sum for the world’s first company to surpass $3 trillion in market valuation. The three-comma invoice was Read more about French appeals court slashes Apple’s paltry 1 week profit price fixing anti competition fine[…]