In a move that will surely keep the Mac and iPhone maker on top of the digital music and software application industry, Apple is preparing its first iTunes Store redesign in nearly three years. In late 2009, Apple launched a new iTunes Store that traded in a blue-themed, convoluted store for a much simpler, white-themed store that provides a great focus on the store’s downloadable content. The new design is said to be even simpler and more user-friendly than the current design....

Winning tickets for the Apple Music Festival is a long shot at the best of times, but many are reporting that they can’t even get as far as entering the lottery – either getting a blank screen or an error message when they click the Win Tickets link … When Business Insider tried it, they got an error message (right), while my own attempt just got a header with a blank screen (left)....

Update: Apple has confirmed in a statement to Buzzfeed that Apple is working with Sonos to get Apple Music available on the connected speaker system by the end of the year. Original story below. Apple Music senior director Ian Rogers — ex Beats Music CEO — has announced on Twitter that integration with Sonos for Apple Music is coming as soon as possible. Although Beats Music did have native support on the popular internet-connected speaker system, there have been no announcements about a partnership with Apple Music so far....

Third-party app developers will for the first time get access to the NFC chip in the iPhone 7/Plus (and presumably this year’s iPhones) in iOS 11. To date, only Apple Pay has been allowed to use the near-field communications chip. Apple’s WWDC keynote did give one hint that use of the chip was being extended beyond payment when it showed the Apple Watch syncing data with gym equipment, but a new developer document says that third-party apps will be able to use it too …...

Apple has acquired a camera sensor startup called InVisage Technologies, TechCrunch reports. InVisage touts its QuantumFilm Image Sensor as specializing in capturing light while using a thinner camera module. Here’s a brief description of the technology InVisage created and Apple now owns: As Apple continues to focus on improving camera quality in iPhones each year, it’s easy to see how Apple could incorporate this technology into their hardware. […] In a QuantumFilm pixel, light passes through the color filter array, and is then detected by the quantum dots in the QuantumFilm layer....

During the WWDC Keynote, Apple announced macOS Big Sur with several new changes to the UI, Control Center on macOS for the first time, revamped Safari, modern notifications, and widgets. They’ve also added a new developer option to enable the sharing of in-app purchases and subscriptions across Family Sharing. I’ve been using Family Sharing since Apple Music launched in 2015, and I now have my entire family set up on it....

Image via TechCrunch At WWDC today, Apple officially announced the winners of the Apple Design Award for 2018. The company gives the award to applications that it feels best represent the capabilities and goals of its various platforms. Winners this year came from nine countries around the world and include utilities, games, translation apps, and much more. Here are the winners of the 2018 Apple Design Awards: Agenda: Bandimal: Calzy 3: iTranslate Converse: Florence: Playdead’s INSIDE: Alto’s Odyssey: Frost: Oddmar: Winners of Apple’s Design Awards receive a one-of-a-kind aluminum cube, as well as a prize package consisting of:...

Apple CEO Tim Cook has once again made TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People List today after appearances last year and back in 2012 when he first took over the CEO job. On the list for 2016, Cook joins other executives in the tech industry, including: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, among others in categories including Pioneers, Titans, Artists, Leaders, and Icons. Cook’s entry on the list was written by Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger (Apple board member too) who notes that the Apple CEO continues to uphold “the highest ethical standards and routinely challenges the status quo, including encouraging vital conversations about who we are as a culture and a community....

Apple has today been granted a patent for augmented reality apps for interior design and animated movie posters. The patent award comes the day after we learned more about plans for an AR app in partnership with Swedish furniture company Ikea. Apple recently announced ARKit as part of iOS 11, providing hands-on demos at WWDC … The patent was assigned from augmented reality app company Metaio, which Apple acquired back in 2015....

Apple is about to go head-to-head with Google on smartwatches and also encroaching on Google’s territory with research into electric and possibly autonomous vehicles, but what about virtual reality? Today we get a look at yet another area in which Apple might compete with Google as the US Patent and Trademark office grants a patent to Apple for a Google Cardboard/Samsung-Oculus style VR headset for iPhone (via PatentlyApple). It isn’t the first time we’ve heard of such a device from Apple, but up until now the majority of hints have been limited to old patent applications....

Apple appears to be making an aggressive move to poach more staff from Imagination Technologies, the British chip designer behind the GPUs used in iOS devices. The Telegraph reports that Apple has set up its own GPU design team in offices just a few miles from Imagination’s campus. The Telegraph reports that Apple has already hired a number of Imagination employees over the past few months, including COO John Metcalfe, but it seems likely that others would be reluctant to move to either London or Cupertino....

Apple News+ audio stories could be the company’s next bid to attract subscribers to the subscription news service. A new report today – corroborating one of our own sources – says that Apple has pitched the idea to at least four publishers as a zero-cost way to attract a broader audience, but publishers think it could actually make matters worse … Digiday reports. Our own source tells us that Apple plans to use actors to read long-form pieces....

Parents of kids who racked up hundreds of even thousands of dollars in in-app purchases can now begin to seek compensation for their bills. The “Apple In-App Purchase Litigation Administrator” just sent out an email with information regarding the settlement and deadlines for submitting payment requests. In short, those with charges under $30 will receive a $5 iTunes gift card. Cash refunds will be distributed to those with bills exceeding that amount....

During its WWDC 2019 keynote this afternoon, Apple has officially unveiled iOS 13 for iPhone and iPad. We’ll update our story below with details as they’re announced. iOS 13 and AirPods: Reply to messages instantly with Siri, share audio between people, HomePod handoff Siri Shortcuts now built-in to iOS with support for new multi-step shortcuts and suggested automations New “Photos” tab in the Photos app, easy to scroll by years, months, days, and all....

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....

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 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....