Nokia has announced that Nokia and Apple have finally settled all of their long-running patent disputes relating to mobile phone technology. As part of the patent agreement between Apple and Nokia, Apple has provided Nokia with a one-time payment and will continue to pay Nokia royalties for use of their patents. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop: “The patents in question relate to technologies for enhanced speech and data transmission, using positioning data in applications and innovations in antenna configurations that improve performance and save space, allowing smaller and more compact devices”, according to Nokia’s May 2010 lawsuit filing....

Apple has announced its favorite apps, music, movies, TV shows and books of the year, with Elevate – Brain Training declared iPhone App of the Year while number puzzle game Threes! won iPhone Game of the Year. For the iPad, ‘desktop-class’ image editor Pixelmator took the top slot, with the gorgeous Monument Valley winning best game. Both Threes! and Monument Valley previously won Apple Design Awards at WWDC back in June … For music, Beyoncé (who set a new iTunes sales record last year) took best artist, with Sam Smith best new artist....

Alongside AirPods, Apple has announced Beats will be launching a range of new headphones with wireless Solo3 and wireless Powerbeats 3. They are also launching a new range called BeatsX, which is a cheaper collection that uses cables. All three use the Apple W1 chip for audio output. The Powerbeats3 Wireless provide 12 hours of wireless battery life and ideal for workouts. The Solo3’s go are like earmuffs with a connecting band....

In an update to its retail website, Apple has noted that its 11-year-old location in Simi Valley, California, will be permanently shuttered on September 15th. The closure will occur just after the introduction of the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone Edition, but likely before the new models officially go on sale. Apple’s statement regarding the store’s closure simply reads: No further explanation for the sudden announcement is provided, but one factor may be declining traffic to the Simi Valley Town Center where the store is located....

Apple has announced watchOS 4 for Apple Watch at WWDC 2017. First up is a new Siri-based watch face… Details below. The new Siri watch face is a dynamic, intelligent option that changes what information is presented based on what’s on your calendar and in other apps. There’s also a new kaleidoscope watch face. There are also new character watch faces joining Mickey and Minnie: Toy Story characters. Apple Watch is also gaining new monthly challenges in the Activity app with new, personalized monthly challenges and new flair on achievements....

. In a press release, Apple confirmed today that it would indeed launch its iconic flagship phone into the world’s biggest market next month. Apple CEO Tim Cook told an analyst at an earnings conference call in October that Apple planned to launch in China in December. Specific carriers or prices weren’t mentioned. Apple has sold iPhones, the new Mini, and Retina iPads in Hong Kong since launch, and many Chinese have bought in the gray market from there (and elsewhere) to avoid China’s high luxury taxes....

Ahead of pre-orders for the new iMac beginning on Friday, Apple’s Colleen Novielli and Navpreet Kaloty joined the “Upgrade” podcast on Relay FM to talk in-depth about the new product. In the interview, Novielli and Kaloty touched on the new design, including some of the more controversial design elements, as well as the M1 chip inside. Navpreet Kaloty serves as an engineering program manager at Apple, while Colleen Novielli is the company’s worldwide senior product marketing manager for the Mac....

Apple is finally rolling out its Apple News Format to all publishers, after an initial announcement at WWDC 2015. The format lets anyone, big or small, create rich multimedia stories within the Apple News app, featuring panoramas, videos, animations and more. Until today, Apple News Format was limited to exclusive launch partners (like Wired) whilst everyone else had to resort to basic RSS import. Publishers interested in using the format should check out the documentation on Apple’s website....

Apple has lost its iPhone game team leader, Graeme Devine, who quit the iPhone Game Technologies division last Friday. Formerly of id Software where he had a hand in development of Quake 3 for Mac, Devine says he quit Apple in order to return to game development — with a focus on titles for the iPhone and iPad. Speaking to Kotaku he explained that his role was to help boost development of better titles for Apple’s iOS platforms, “My job there was basically to make gaming on the iOS devices fantastic,” he says....

At MWC 2019, Google announced Assistant for Messages on Android, expanded availability in Google Maps, and more languages for bilingual support. The next feature for Google Home speakers and Smart Displays appears to be Apple Music integration. This evening (via MacRumors), Apple Music began appearing as a supported service for Google Assistant. The Apple streaming service can be selected as the default audio provider on Google devices. It joins YouTube Music and Play Music, as well as Spotify, Pandora, and Deezer in the U....

Apple today updated its App Store review guidelines regarding some of the features introduced with iOS 13, besides the compatibility of apps with the latest iPhone and iPad models, and more. The company notes that 77% of all Apple devices shipped in the last four years are running iOS 13, the latest version of the operating system. On iPad, the number rises to 79% with iPadOS 13. That means it’s important for developers to update their apps with the latest technologies available....

Apple today updated Aperture to 3.0.2 to support iPad and fix some lingering problems from the previous releases. Apple says 3.02 “Enables support for importing photos from iPad to the Aperture Library, as well as syncing of photos to iPad.” Interesting. Why would you need to import photos from a device without a camera? Yes, the iPad has a camera attachment, but why wouldn’t you do that directly to your Mac?...

Earlier today, Apple issued a response to inquisitions from Senator John Thune regarding its iPhone battery debacle. Apple explained in the response that it is “considering” offering rebates to those customers who paid full price for battery replacements. The letter, shared in full by Business Insider, also offers some additional details on whether or not iPhone 8 and iPhone X users could soon be plagued by the same throttling… Thune, who heads the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, sent Apple a clear list of questions regarding how it throttles iPhone performance, its rollout of the feature, and more....

Apple is in the process of purging “thousands of video game apps” from the App Store, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. This comes as China cracks down on unlicensed games in the country, but the removals extend beyond the gaming category in some cases. Over the last month, Apple has been warning Chinese developers that “a new wave of paid gaming apps are at risk of removal,” the report says....

According to a report from French Apple blog Mac4Ever, Apple has just dropped the outside public relations company, Rumeur Publique, that it has used in recent years to handle communications with journalists in France. Instead Apple will now be moving its public relations in the country in-house as it does in the US and most other countries. A separate report from Macg.co notes that Rumeur Publique tells them Apple’s decision to move its press relations to an internal team was “not a surprise”, hinting that the transition has been in place while Apple beefs up its internal PR teams in the country....

New IDC numbers released today reveal that Apple has jumped into the top five PC vendors worldwide by shipment this quarter, with Mac shipments coming in at 4.9 million units for 6.3% market share. That’s a year-over-year growth of just under 9%. Lenovo and HP held the top two slots with 20% and 18.8% respectively. The same report indicated that the Cupertino company had held steady in third place for domestic shipments....

In honor of the passing of musician Prince, Apple is featuring a collection of albums, songs, movies and more on iTunes. In total, the Prince collection on iTunes features 268 tracks across the artist’s various studio albums, soundtracks, collaborations, movies, and music videos from the 70s through the 2000s. “Virtuoso, rebel, sex symbol, icon— Prince was a wildly versatile musical genius who electrified us at every turn. He was a prodigy who created a fusion of funk, R&B, rock, jazz, and pop, often playing all of the instrumental tracks that accompanied an acrobatic set of vocals that told stories of pleasure, pain, seduction, or revolution....

Apple is expanding its Fitness+ subscription service today with new workout categories and types, as well as more trainers and a new “Time to Walk” guest. Apple made these announcements in a press release today. First off, Apple says there are new workouts specifically for women who are pregnant. Apple says these are designed to help women “stay active during a healthy pregnancy and prepare for life with a new baby....

Just a day after a prominent legal expert described the proposed anti-encryption Burr-Feinstein bill as unconstitutional, unenforceable and harmful, Apple has called the proposal ‘well-intentioned but ultimately unworkable.’ The description is in an open letter from the Reform Government Surveillance coalition, of which Apple is a key member, alongside companies such as Google, Dropbox, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter. The letter, addressed to the two Senators behind the proposed bill, explains why it would be harmful to the interests of both the U....

A developer who worked at Apple for seven years has accused the Cupertino company of violating its own App Store guidelines. Dave DeLong says that the Apple News+ sign-up screen is in clear violation of three requirements, with The Verge pointing to another major no-no … Dave DeLong tweeted his complaint. The Verge added that Apple has particularly stringent guidelines for making it clear to users how much they will pay if they take out a free trial of a subscription and then don’t cancel....