Update: The App Store is functioning again for some. Let us know in the comments if you can download from the store. Many users around the globe are currently having issues connecting to the App Store, as witnessed in the growing collection of tweets below. Most users are able to browse the store but unable to connect when actually trying to download an app. We’ll keep you posted as more info becomes available....

Checks run by the Washington Post revealed that App Store scam apps make up almost 2% of the top-grossing apps, despite CEO Tim Cook’s insistence that the app review process is effective at rejecting them. The paper estimates that the scam apps have cost iPhone owners a total of $48 million … Background The app review process, designed to ensure that scam and malicious apps don’t make it into the App Store, has been one of Apple’s key defenses in fighting antitrust lawsuits and investigations into its monopoly hold over the distribution of iOS apps....

Apple today confirmed that iPad 2 will launch in thirteen more countries in the coming days and weeks. China will get WiFi iPad 2 beginning Friday, May 6. The device will go on sale in Japan on Thursday, April 28, 2011 and in eleven additional countries on Friday, April 29, 2011: Hong Kong, India, Israel, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey and UAE. iPad 2 will be available at Apple retail stores at 9am local time, Apple said, in addition to select Apple Authorized Resellers....

Apple has announced a new enterprise partnership with professional services firm Deloitte focused on integrating iPhones and iPads in the workplace. The latest enterprise partnership follows similar arrangements with IBM and SAP. The arrangement with Apple will help Deloitte with “creating a first-of-its-kind Apple practice with over 5,000 strategic advisors” according to the press release. For some background on Deloitte per Wikipedia: IBM offered this statement on Apple’s latest enterprise effort:...

Some Apple users have been plagued with iCloud calendar invite spam in recent weeks, with calendar periods being blocked up with unsolicited events from anonymous senders (usually with Chinese names). It is thought that the spammers are mass targeting any iCloud email account it can find on the web, rather than targeting specific users. Apple has now acknowledged the issue in a statement to iMore, starting with an apology to anyone who has received iCloud calendar spam....

This year marks the 10 year anniversary of the iPhone and Apple is getting a head start on the celebrations. A decade ago tomorrow, Apple’s late founder Steve Jobs unveiled the first ever iPhone and Apple today has shared a look back at just how revolutionary the device has been. In a press release, Apple relives the iconic phrase Jobs used when he took the stage at Macworld 2007 in San Francisco, touting the iPhone as “a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone and a breakthrough internet communications device....

MacRumors points us to correspondence between Apple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following Apple entering an undisclosed license agreement with Nokia in June stemming from patent litigation. At the time, we knew the deal would include Apple paying a one-time sum to Nokia, followed by an on-going royalty, presumably based on devices infringing on Nokia patents. Below are letters between the SEC and Apple, in which the SEC urges Apple to disclose the terms of the settlement agreement....

Apple this evening announced that it is expanding App Analytics in iTunes Connect to display new information related to how customers are discovering applications. The company made the announcement on its official developer blog… The new features will allow developers to have a better look at how customers are discovering their apps. This consists information such as where a user initially found an application, including within other apps, on the web, or via App Store browsing and search....

Law360 (via BI) reports that Apple is facing a second class action lawsuit filed on behalf of hourly-paid Apple Store employees who have to spend 10-15 minutes daily in unpaid time waiting in line to clock-in and for security checks when leaving the store. Two other Apple Store employees had previously filed a similar action, later expanded to a class action, though it doesn’t appear to have gathered much support. A class action is a lawsuit which anyone in the same position can join, and which could potentially leave Apple with a compensation bill for all hourly-paid store employees....

It appears some local businesses and residents around the neighborhood of the New York SoHo Apple Store are annoyed at the ever-increasing crowds the store attracts – and the recent live performance by the Jonas Brothers was the final straw, angry neighbours moan (where we were unfortunately live on the scene). It gets worse: A lower Manhattan residents’ group has lodged a lengthy complaint against the store, moaning about loud parties, loitering crowds and “late-night disturbances”....

The iPad 2’s A5 processor not only is a speedy, dual-core chip, but also works to provide nine times the gaming performance of its predecessor, A4. So, what’s Apple to do for their best-selling gaming phone? Give it the A5 chip with remarkably better gaming performance. We have already discovered, in the iOS 4 SDK, that Apple is bringing the A5 chip to the next iPhone, and now we have heard Apple is going to push this gaming performance and speed as one of the next-generation iPhone’s major marketing points....

Apple continues to promote the “slofie” feature of iPhone 11. The company has shared two new advertisements for the feature on YouTube today, highlighting the slo-mo selfie capabilities of the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro. Today’s new videos continue Apple’s trend of highlighting the slofie feature of the iPhone 11 in different environments. Apple invented the “Slofie” term as a way to describe the slo-motion selfie feature of the latest iPhone models....

Apple has begun removal of the innumerable amount of unofficial games based on popular cartoon characters from their app store. As of this time, Apple has not released an official statement as to why they’re suddenly removing all of these programs. In the Apple developer guidelines, Apple states that “apps should not include content that is offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust, in exceptionally poor taste, or just plain creepy,” as of its latest update....

Apple announced the new iPhone SE last week, and the phone is now available to order in more than 40 countries, according to Apple. While Brazil is not in the first wave at launch, the 2020 iPhone SE may arrive in the country in the coming weeks, as ANATEL (Brazil’s FCC-equivalent) has just released the documentation of the product homologation process. More surprisingly, there’s evidence that Apple is planning to assemble the new iPhone in Brazil....

[Update: Apple tells us that The Chronic will definitely be available tomorrow on Apple Music.] [Update #2: The Chornic is available on Apple Music and available to purchase digitally for the first time on the iTunes Store.] Taylor Swift’s 1989 album isn’t the only high profile record exclusive coming to Apple’s new streaming music service when it launches tomorrow. Apple Music is said to include Dr. Dre’s classic album The Chronic for streaming, Rolling Stone reports, which will be a digital first for the hip-hop album....

Openload and Streamango have been shut down by an anti-piracy settlement. The two sites had previously thrived at a time when subscription streaming has become more popular than ever, with costs for the numerous services continuing to change. Illegal torrent and streaming sites have existed for decades now, having made their mark long before legal streaming services were even an option. Sites like LimeWire, Demonoid and The Pirate Bay have all been the focus of efforts by the relevant authorities at one time or another, with the pressure of anti-piracy organizations ultimately becoming far too great for most well known illegal sites to stay alive....

Apex Legends may not be the Titanfall 3 some fans were hoping for from developer Respawn Entertainment but it’s the best battle royale game on the market. Respawn and publisher Electronic Arts’ surprise release is instead a spinoff of the Titanfall series but barely resembles the mech-heavy, wall-running game. Instead, Apex Legends is a multiplayer-only, squad and class-based spin on the battle royale formula that draws inspirations from several other hit games, and adds to them all in player-friendly ways....

In addition to sending out invitations to its upcoming March 9th event, Apple has announced on its website that it will provide a live stream for what is anticipated to be an event focused largely on the Apple Watch. On the event page, Apple also invites you to “follow every moment” on its live event webpage. This presumably means that Apple will return to providing quotes, photos, and videos from the event in real time as it first did at the Apple Watch’s first unveiling last September....

[tweet https://twitter.com/tim_cook/status/381131235247923201] Other Apple executives have been on Twitter for a while, and today CEO Tim Cook sent out his first tweet mentioning that he visited retail stores in Palo Alto for the retail launch of the iPhone 5s and 5c. Cook has been a member of Twitter since July, but his account is not yet verified by Twitter. Apple marketing chief Philip Schiller retweeted Cook’s tweet earlier today proving that the account is indeed run by the Apple CEO....

Apple has added Israel to its list of upcoming iPhone 7 launch countries today as it officially launches the device in India. The device will become available in the country on Oct. 20, as will the new Apple Watch Series 2 lineup. Apple also confirmed upcoming iPhone 7 launches for a handful of African and Middle Eastern countries today, including: Jordan and Oman on October 15, and Maurice, Madagascar, Maroc, and Uganda on October 21st....