As part of the documents turning up in the ongoing Epic vs. Apple trial that commenced today, various details have leaked out about Epic’s planned road map for the game. Seemingly, when Apple and Epic were on better terms, the companies plotted a services bundle that would offer a bundle subscription of Fortnite Club (a Fortnite subscription tier, which was later released in the US named “Fortnite Crew”), Apple Music, and Apple TV+....

Apple today has officially reported its fiscal Q2 2020 earnings amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We already knew that Apple wouldn’t hit the guidance it originally provided for the quarter, and today’s release provides the official numbers. How did the COVID-19 outbreak affect Apple’s business during Q2 2020? The company has announced revenue of $58.3 billion and profit of $11.25 billion. This compares to $58 billion in revenue and $11.56 billion profit reported in the same quarter last year....

Apple is expanding its Everyone Can Code initiative to make it easier for elementary and middle school students to get started in the world of coding. Apple is introducing new curriculum for the program and expanding the availability of Today at Apple coding sessions. Apple says the new curriculum includes new materials for students, teachers, and more: Furthermore, from December 1 through December 15, Apple Stores around the world will increase Today at Apple coding sessions to celebrate Computer Science Education Week....

Several years late, Apple is finally dropping support for logging into the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore via an AOL username and password. Apple has emailed users with AOL accounts attached to iTunes to indicate that login support will end on March 31, 2015. Users have until then to convert their AOL login accounts to Apple IDs for iTunes services. Apple recently posted a support document with instructions on converting an AOL login to an Apple ID....

European Union regulators today announced the launch of a formal investigation of Samsung over mobile patents to determine whether the South Korean conglomerate breached EU antitrust rules in its legal dealings with competitors. The investigation is focused on so-called FRAND patents, a common rule that stipulates a patent applying to the standard must be adopted on “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms” (FRAND). According to the press release, EU regulators want to figure out whether Samsung “used certain of its standard essential patent rights to distort competition in European mobile device markets, in breach of EU antitrust rules....

Apple just released the following statement on the App corruption issue we reported earlier today: The “small number of users” seems to run counter to what Instapaper developer Marco Arment found as he publicized his issues with Apple (along with Good Reader) today. “The issue has been rectified and we don’t expect it to occur again,” Apple said. Those who have an affected app can re-download it from the App Store....

We were recently forwarded an email where a reader reached out to Senior Vice President of Marketing Philip Schiller to ask if Apple planned to release a dock for the new iPhone 5. Schiller apparently replied to the user’s email and said there were no plans to produce an iPhone 5 dock, as “most people who use docks use them with speaker or clock systems.” Based on the message header we received, we believe this correspondence is the real deal....

Update: The missing albums appear to be returning to Apple Music and can again be streamed. You can read the original article below. Here we are with another widespread issue on Apple Music. This time, users have been reporting on Reddit and other social networks that several albums are missing when you try to find them through search or the artist’s page. There are several missing albums from different artists on Apple Music right now, but the reasons are unknown....

Continuing its custom election coverage, Apple is launching a new guide in Apple News featuring the Democratic candidates in the run-up to the 2020 elections in the United States. The special section features content from a diverse set of news sources with primers for each candidate who has qualified for the first debate, detailing the candidate’s biography, stance on key issues, and associated news coverage. The candidate guide will be featured in the Apple News app across iPhone, iPad and Mac....

CEOs from massive tech companies like Apple, AOL Facebook, Microsoft and Google recently issued an open letter to the US Senate regarding the growing concerns about internet surveillance. Normally competitors, this unusual alliance agrees that change is needed and that the version of the USA Freedom Act that recently passed through the US House of Representatives needs some work. These tech industry leaders pointed out how this act fails to prevent bulk collection of internet metadata, like who emailed you or called you....

MacRumors noticed that Apple placed images of their new LED Cinema Display on their website yesterday. The leaked display looks identical to the current model, but will have a Thunderbolt port on the back to easily connect with Apple’s latest Thunderbolt machines: iMacs, MacBook Pros and Mac Pros, MacBook Airs, and Mac minis in the very near future. You can tell that these are new displays based on the unreleased model number, previously thought to be a new White MacBook that they are attached to and by the OS X Lion wallpaper....

A new report tonight from Motherboard claims that an Apple spokesperson lobbied against California’s latest right to repair legislation by talking up consumer safety risks to lawmakers, an approach the company has used multiple times before. Motherboard’s anonymous sources said that an Apple spokesperson who is also a lobbyist for the trade organization CompTIA brought an iPhone to meetings with California lawmakers. The lobbyist is said to have demonstrated the internal components of the smartphone to legislators and highlighting the safety risks to consumers in scenarios like a punctured lithium-ion battery....

About Making The Grade: Every Saturday, Bradley Chambers publishes a new article about Apple in education. He has been managing Apple devices in an education environment since 2009. Through his experience deploying and managing 100s of Macs and 100s of iPads, Bradley will highlight ways in which Apple’s products work at scale, stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for students. The current situation has put Apple in a scenario where it’s a friend of Microsoft in education....

Apple shared new numbers for the App Store today announcing that last week set a new record for App Store billings. According to the company, customers have spent almost $500 million dollars through app and in-app purchases over the App Store through the first week in January.. In addition to the company’s App Store record announcement, Apple has presented a new microsite focused on its job creation efforts. Apple described its previous year as record breaking for the App Store noting a 50% increase in billings, developers earning more than $10 billion collectively from revenue, and $25 billion cumulatively earned from app sales in total....

It’s Black Friday and we’ve got the best deals from around the web on Apple products and accessories. Although most of the Apple Store prices (which we stumbled upon a few days ago) are moderate discounts, some are actually the lowest we could find, especially in iPads and accessories. We’re updating all day long so come back early and often…and don’t forget to check 9to5toys.com. Apple Store Refurbished items come with Apple’s one year warranty and are as good as new....

Apple continues to move away from the iTunes brand this week. Now, when you view an iOS or Mac app listing on the web, the URL is based on apps.apple.com, whereas it was previously itunes.apple.com. This isn’t the first URL structure that Apple has updated as part of its move away from iTunes. Earlier this year, the Podcasts web interface got a major overhaul, which included moving to podcasts.apple.com, as opposed to itunes....

When Apple introduced the Apple TV 4K in 2017, the Siri Remote had a small change with a white ring around the Menu button, which made it be identified as a new model. However, as the new Remote has an internal model number way above the current version, we believe the changes will be more significant. Siri Remote has always been a controversial accessory among Apple TV users. While some people love it, there are a significant number of users who hate it for not having physical navigation buttons or for having a glass surface, which makes it extremely fragile....

Every person always wishes to have an iPhone. If a person is switching from a non-apple smartphone to iPhone XS, XS Max or XR, they will have their contact information in their old SIM that needs to be imported to the new phone. The problem is that the SIM card may be too small or too big to insert into an iPhone and your iPhone would not be able to recognize it....

Back in late October we reported that PhotoFast began producing 256GB SSD upgrade kits for Apple’s latest MacBook Air lineup. PhotoFast’s third-party SSD upgrade for the new MacBook Airs read and write at 250MB/s while Apple’s included SSD runs at between 150MB/s and 160MB/s. Now, according to a source close to the company, Apple contacted PhotoFast last week and had them stop all production of their new MacBook Air SSD upgrades....

What originally began as Tidal exclusives, Prince’s future catalog of work may find its way onto Apple Music. Troy Carter, Spotify executive and Prince’s entertainment estate advisor, is currently negotiating deals to have unreleased footage of the late popstar exclusively available on a music streaming platform. Sources told Billboard that although Carter works for Spotify, the deals are being shopped with music streaming company’s rivals as well. In a 1983 performance by Prince, a film was shot where the artist debuted several songs that would go on to be in his 1984 movie Purple Rain....