Some users may be experiencing difficulty making purchases on the iTunes Store, according to Apple’s system status page. We’ve heard mentions of issues beginning this morning, and Apple reports trouble starting around 1:30 PM EST. Game Center and FaceTime also experienced issues this afternoon, though the former may be somewhat difficult to notice. Apple’s iMessage service has been suffering turbulence for days now, which is not reflected on the system status page as it may be limited to iOS 7 users....

Prior to WWDC, a report emerged claiming that Apple would at long last unveil iMessage for Android. Seeing how Apple had made its streaming music service available on Android, many found this report to be somewhat plausible. As you’re probably aware of by now, however, iMessage for Android was nowhere to be found at WWDC this week. Now, we’ve gotten a little bit of insight into Apple’s reasoning for not bringing its messaging service to Google’s smartphone platform…...

Apple is doing something a bit different for Black Friday this year. It is set to announce a four-day shopping event that stretches from November 23rd through November 26. You can click here to add the shopping event to your calendar. The event is obviously centered around the US Thanksgiving holiday, but offers will be available in many regions worldwide. Apple has not said what type of offers to expect. The page says ‘Mark your calendars’ to be reminded about the event kicking off on Friday....

Last year, Apple and GT Advanced struck a deal to open and operate a manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona related to sapphire crystal components. Earlier this year, we learned that Apple is “aggressively” pushing to make the facility operational by February 2014 and that the building would produce a “critical” and “new” sub-component for future Apple devices. Due to the vagueness and secrecy surrounding Apple and GT Advanced’s plans, there has been little to no confirmation regarding what exactly the partnership will yield for future Apple products....

It seems that Apple’s current campus in Cupertino is just not cutting it. In addition to Apple’s dream space-ship like campus that is expected to open in 2015, Apple has just leased out a nine building campus in Cupertino that could fit up to 1300 employees. The campus, which may be renovated prior Apple’s move in, is currently known as the Results Way Corporate Center and sits at 5 Results Way Cupertino, CA....

As noted by MacRumors, Apple’s self-imposed end of October deadline has come and gone without the promised public launch of iTunes Match. The service will scan your local iTunes library and fingerprint songs in order to make them available for download (or was it streaming?) via iCloud to all authorized devices – for $25 a year flat fee, no strings attached. It’s unknown what’s behind this unusual setback. Could be last-minute backend issues that needed sorting out....

Apple Music next month will release a documentary featuring the popular artist, Kesha. The documentary will be primarily focused on the making of her latest album, Rainbow, as well as never before seen footage of Kesha performances. As reported by Engadget, Rainbow – The Film gives the artist a creative space to depict the struggles and work behind Kesha. Apple Music has been steadily growing its video catalog over time. Anything from documentaries with Major Lazer and Pink, to exclusive live concerts from Taylor Swift, the streaming service is clearly wanting to use its leverage to give artists a voice and platform to speak to their audiences....

Apple has introduced a small but interesting tweak to the way it markets apps on the App Store. As you can see in the screenshot above, non-paid apps are now presented with the word ‘GET’ rather than ‘FREE’. While the reason for the change in how Apple is presenting non-paid apps isn’t clear, it’s likely due to the popularity of ‘freemium’ apps and in-app purchases, something that has been the source of controversy for Apple in the past…...

iOS 14 has brought several new privacy features, and there are more to come with App Tracking Transparency — which will let users opt out of being tracked by apps. As the launch of this new option approaches, Apple has begun to reject apps using third-party SDKs that collect user data without consent. Developers can implement some SDKs that help them track users by a method called “device fingerprinting,” which uses multiple attributes such as the device model, IP address, and other data to identify a person across the internet....

With the new MacBook Pro now shipping to customers, iFixit have got their hands on the new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and have disassembled it and completed their usual teardown. There are quite a few differences between this model and the cheaper 13-inch 2016 MacBook Pro that retains traditional keys; teardown for that model here. Much of the internal component layout has been adjusted to accommodate the inclusion of the Touch Bar....

Update: On Twitter, Tim Cook has tweeted, for the second time, to thank customers for the “amazing” sales. [tweet https://twitter.com/tim_cook/status/382172377569689600] Apple has just announced first-weekend sales figures for the iPhone 5s and 5c. Sales for both phones total 9 million. In comparison, the iPhone 5 shipments topped 5 million in the same period. These numbers come in at the higher end of analyst estimates, with many predicting bearish sales similar to the iPhone 5 launch last year....

Apple has today announced ResearchKit, a system that lets iPhone users contribute to the world’s scientific research about health and medicine. For instance, as an opt-in procedure, users can now sign up to take part in Parkinson’s tests. A tapping test evaluates hand tremors, for example. You can also see graphs directly on the iPhone to track activity and such. Most notably, Apple has announced that ResearchKit is open source. This means anyone can contribute, regardless of their platform....

It certainly been a huge week for those glued to the latest out of Cupertino: After the iPhone 5 unveiled at a media event in San Francisco Sept. 12, Apple further continued the excitement by making the device available for pre-order on its website this morning in nine countries. The three largest U.S. carriers also joined in on the fun, offering the iPhone 5 at $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB, $399 for 64GB on a two-year contract....

Apple announced last night its campaign to support World AIDS Day 2014 with a series of App Store promotions and plans to donate a portion of Apple Store sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to the Global Fund to support the fight against AIDS. Specifically for November 28th, or Black Friday, Apple shared that select Apple products will include a special edition (RED) iTunes gift care with a percentage going toward the Global Fund, and now we know exactly which products will qualify for Apple’s (RED) promotion on Black Friday....

Apple today has stopped signing iOS 13.2.2. This follows the release of iOS 13.2.3 a few weeks ago, which included more improvements to background app performance, the Mail app, Messages, and more. Now that Apple has stopped signing iOS 13.2.2, it means that no one can downgrade from iOS 13.2.3 to that version via iTunes/Finder. Reverting to older iOS builds is common for those in the jailbreak community and can sometimes also be useful for users who experience significant bugs after updating to the latest version of iOS....

Since the release of the first Apple Watch in 2015, Apple has expanded the device’s health capabilities with features like the ECG app and fall detection. In a new interview with the Independent this weekend, Apple’s Jeff Williams, Sumbul Desai, and Kevin Lynch have offered more details on how health became one of the central focuses of Apple Watch. Williams, who serves as Apple’s chief operating officer, said that Apple’s expansion into health has been “very organic....

As part of its billion dollar Advanced Manufacturing Fund, which supports domestic US manufacturing, Apple has announced a $390 million investment into Finisar. This follows a $200 million Corning investment earlier this year. Apple says that Finisar makes vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers used in iPhone X (as part of the TrueDepth camera system) and the proximity-sensor inside AirPods. All of the VCSELs purchased by Apple from Finisar will be made in Texas....

After confirming the closure dates of stores in Frisco and Plano, Texas earlier today, Apple has formally announced the grand opening of its newest U.S. retail store. Apple Galleria Dallas will open to customers on April 13th at 10:00 A.M. local time. Galleria Dallas is located less than 10 miles from Dallas Love Field airport and directly north of downtown. The indoor shopping mall is best known for its central atrium featuring an ice skating rink and expansive glass dome....

According to a report from Reuters this evening, a federal jury in California has found Apple guilty of infringing on two patents held by Canadian intellectual property company WiLan. The jury awarded WiLan $145.1 million in damages, the report says… In a statement released by WiLan, it says the patents in question relate to wireless technology used by the iPhone. One is for a “method and apparatus for bandwidth request protocols in a wireless communication system,” while the other is for “adaptive call admission control for use in a wireless communication system....

PatentlyApple covered a number of Apple patents today that were recently published by the US Patent & Trademark Office. One of the 21 patents originally filed in Q1 2011 is for an iOS remote control that would clip onto a steering wheel. The remote shown in the patent drawings essentially looks like the iPod click wheel, but Apple described it as a touch-sensitive, rotatable faceplate: You can get full coverage on the patent at PatentlyApple…...