Apple has recently received official approval from the FCC to test 5G wireless broadband. The company was granted permission in the form of an experimental license to test millimeter wave technology at two locations near its offices in Milpitas, California (via DSL Reports). Apple specifically referenced using the 28GHz and 39GHz bands for its testing, which the FCC initially approved for commercial 5G last year. Apple’s testing of next-generation 5G was first reported earlier this year, but it’s now confirmed thanks to the release of the FCC application....

Apple has launched a new online store through Tmall, a Chinese popular e-commerce site Tmall, reports the Wall Street Journal. Tmall, which is owned by the Alibaba Group, is already home to thousands of official retail outlets for other brands, such as Nike. The new storefront will not replace Apple’s own first-party store, but will instead complement it. Like the store on Apple’s website, the Tmall store will be participating in Apple’s “Red Friday” sales event later this week....

App Store analytics suggest that Elon Musk may be right in his contention that the big problems have already been solved. While we once had an appetite for new apps, that’s no longer the case: we’re increasingly downloading the more established ones. The founding CTO of Hulu points to a stark difference in the app charts between 2014 and today … Elon Musk made his comment about the Internet in general, rather than mobile apps specifically....

Apple’s vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Pascal Cagni, has taken a seat on the Infogrames board, that’s in addition to his normal duties at Apple. Infogrames chairman Michel Combesof said: “We are convinced that Cagni’s competence, his experience in the consumer technology and internet sectors and his independence will help to strengthen and enrich our board”. Cagni’s response? “I’m delighted to join the exemplary board at Infogrames....

Apple and IBM announced a new partnership today that will see the companies collaborate to bring over 100 enterprise apps & cloud services to the iPhone and iPad and launch a new AppleCare service specifically for enterprise customers. The products will be branded “IBM MobileFirst for iOS Solutions” and IBM will also soon sell iPhones and iPads to enterprise customers along with the new services: “iPhone and iPad are the best mobile devices in the world and have transformed the way people work with over 98 percent of the Fortune 500 and over 92 percent of the Global 500 using iOS devices in their business today,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO....

Tim Cook really wants people to know that he’s deeply interested in AR. The Apple CEO hypes augmented reality every chance he gets, and he’s doing it in the same way he teased the wrist as an interesting space before the Apple Watch and the living room as stuck in the 70s before tvOS. During his week-long trip across Europe, Cook went as far as saying he regards AR “as a big idea like the smartphone” in an interview with The Independent....

Streamed music is great for having access to almost everything, but it isn’t always ideal when you’re on the move thanks to patchy data coverage and carrier data caps. While Apple didn’t mention it yesterday, it has now confirmed to Re/code that Apple Music supports offline listening. The feature is also listed in a feature checklist on Apple’s website. Apple didn’t give any details, but offline listening is likely to work in the same way as Spotify Premium … As an Apple Music member you can add anything from the Apple Music library — a song, an album or a video — to your collection....

Apple just released its major macOS update with Big Sur. While downloads are often slow with the large file and many users trying to get the software at the same time, it looks like download times are particularly slow this year and are failing in many cases. Meanwhile, it seems that Apple’s Developer website is down as is iMessage and we’re even seeing macOS Catalina performance impacted. 11/15: We’ve learned the technical details behind why macOS Catalina and earlier users saw performance problems during Apple’s server issues, check it all out here....

Data reported by Bloomberg indicates that Apple is estimated to make around $218 more profit per phone on the 512 GB models of the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, than the 64 GB base models. Apple charges a $350 premium for the 512 GB model, but the report claims that the jump in storage only costs Apple $132 in memory component costs. Higher-storage options are easy ways for Apple to push the profitability of its devices and it’s a tactic the company has exploited for many years....

Update – delayed until March 6th We’ve gotten reports as well as TUAW that there will be an Apple event tentatively scheduled for February 26th. The event will likely be the launch pad for the iPhone/iPod touch SDK and applications including Exchange support and Lotus Notes support. The date was likely finalized recently as Apple, who usually announces some new products at NAB, pulled out of the early April event for the first time in recent memory....

Launch Settings and go to iCloud » Storage & Backup. Here you’ll see the available storage of your free 5GB account. Tap Manage Storage. Now tap your device. Next, you’ll be at the Info screen. Here you can manage what app data is backed up to iCloud. Scroll down the screen and turn off the apps you don’t want to be backed up. A list of apps using the most space is available....

Analyst predictions that the Retina iPad Mini would be in short supply in the run-up to the holidays appear to be confirmed by slipping dates for the cellular models at carriers, reports CNET. Apple made store purchase of the new iPad Mini exclusive to personal pickup, though availability of cellular models currently looks very poor. Apple is currently quoting availability of 5-10 days for all four major US carriers for iPad Minis ordered from its own website....

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLgQ22naQhE] Talk over an iPhone 4S security flaw regarding Siri working from the lock screen has made the rounds the past few days, but this “security flaw” is not so much a flaw, but an intended feature from Apple. In fact, Apple allows users to choose to turn off Siri from the lock screen in the iPhone 4S settings menu. Now, a real iOS security flaw has emerged, and anyone with a Smart Cover can break into your “password-protected” iPad 2....

Apple has agreed to pay $24.9M to settle a long-running lawsuit alleging that Siri violated a patent owned by a New York institute and exclusively licensed to a company in Dallas. The patent predates the launch of Siri by four years. The Albany Business Review notes that Apple was sued not by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, which holds the patent, but by Dallas-based Dynamic Advances, which licensed it. The company reportedly receives $5M now, and the balance after meeting unspecified conditions....

Apple has just sent out press invites for its latest event, via The Loop, where the company is expected to announce the iPhone 6. The event is scheduled for 10 AM Pacific Time on September 9th. Atypically, Apple is holding the event at a new venue, the Flint Center for the Performing Arts in Cupertino. This is the same venue that Apple introduced the original Mac, over 30 years ago. Apple has constructed a ‘three-story structure’ at the site, which may be used as the hands-on area after the presentation is over....

Apple has announced it is holding WWDC 2017 from June 5th to June 9th, with a big change from previous years: the conference will be held in San Jose, at the McEnery Convention Center. At WWDC, Apple unveils the next major versions of its software operating systems. This year, expect the announcement of including iOS 11, macOS 10.13 as well as updates to tvOS and watchOS. The 2017 conference marks a big shift in location — Apple typically holds WWDC in San Francisco — but it seems the logistics of the conference will otherwise be the same....

Crossy Road is a popular mobile game that was launched in 2014 for iOS and Android devices. The game was even featured at an Apple special event in 2015 as part of Apple TV demos. Hipster Whale, the company behind the game, today announced a new franchise title, Crossy Road Castle, which will be available exclusively at Apple Arcade. The announcement was made through a video posted on YouTube. Crossy Road Castle brings all the visual style of the first game, but with new ways to play....

If you’ve been keeping up with the progress on Apple’s upcoming campus since our last check-in, you’ll definitely want to see the latest drone flyover video from Myithz, which boasts an impressive 4K look at the construction. If you’ve picked up a 4K monitor (or 5K iMac!), you can check out the three-minute video in all of its high-res glory below. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj8cI4G5_PQ&channel=myithz] While the video above shows off some of the construction progress made since last checking in, Apple’s general project schedule remains the same for the project with street utilities and demolition work expected to finish this year, earthwork continuing into early 2015, and building construction into late 2016:...

Starting with iOS 5 in 2011, Apple has released a major new iOS version each fall and a notable follow-up update early in the following year. For example, iOS 6 launched in September 2012 and was updated to iOS 6.1 in January, and iOS 7, which was launched in September 2013, was updated to iOS 7.1 with CarPlay and interface improvements in March 2014. But starting with the recently released iOS 8, it appears that Apple has a different development schedule for 2015 and perhaps beyond....

Lisa Jackson was one of the speakers during the Austrian World Summit 2021, which was organized by the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative. The vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives at Apple spoke about various environmental topics and called out business leaders to take action on climate change. With former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lisa Jackson spoke about environmental protection, according to the German website Macerkopf: It’s not the first time Jackson has spoken about Apple’s goals to be 100% carbon-free, including the industries that work with the company....