Dutch Authorities Still Not Pleased with Apple’s Third-Party Payment Plans for Dating Apps
News from the Netherlands that will shock no one. Apple Insider had that country’s Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) saying Monday that Apple’s plans for third-party payment acceptance in the Dutch Apple Store are “unreasonable.” In a statement released Monday, Apple Insider says:
…the ACM complains about Apple's requirement for developers to create a specific version of their app to be submitted to the App Store, if it is a dating app serving the Netherlands and is either linking users away from the app to facilitate an in-app payment, or is using a third-party payment processor within the app itself.
Well, when you put it that way… Apple Insider continues:
The ACM says "the revised conditions that Apple has imposed on dating-app providers are unreasonable, and create an unnecessary barrier." Since the policy demands a completely separate app to be created, rather than modifying an existing app to add the alternate payments, ACM finds it an "unreasonable condition that is at odds with the requirements that Apple had set out.”
Having reached no acceptable conclusion, and it being Monday, that was another 5 million euros ($5.65 million) on Apple’s invoice from the Dutch. The Netherlands has said it’ll fine Apple that amount every week that Apple is out of compliance until it hits the maximum allowed under the law there - 50 million euros. Yesterday’s added five brings the amount fined so far to 20 million euros.
Apple 3.0: Dutch Dating App Row a Product of Coalition for Apple Fairness Member MatchGroup
We kind of missed the beginning of the whole Dutch/Dating App/App Store thing around these parts. I’m pretty sure that’s because it started on Christmas Eve. Philip Elmer-DeWitt’s Apple 3.0 ran a couple of pieces over the weekend about how the whole thing began. Bottom line - it began with MatchGroup, which owns Tinder, Match.com, OkCupid, PelntyOfFish, and plenty of other dating apps. MatchGroup, by the way, also a member of the Coalition for App Fairness, which - this time last year - was lobbying a number of states, including North Dakota, Arizona, and Minnesota, to enact legislation to force Apple to allow third-party payment methods in the App Store. The supposition of one Apple 3.0 reader is that the dustup in the Netherlands is about “finding a convenient venue to establish a regulatory precedent somewhere in the world.”
Above Avalon’s Neil Cybart picked up on all of this a littler earlier. Writing of the moves from Dutch authorities, he said:
This order is not the byproduct of a multi-year study into the App Store’s impact on the Netherlands economy. It’s not a result of Dutch consumers demanding change. It’s not even driven by a grassroots campaign consisting of small businesses and indie developers. Instead, it’s the result of a $30B dollar company wanting to reduce the need to go through Apple to reach users on the iOS platform. For our discussion, instead of saying the order applies to “developers with dating apps in the Netherlands,” we will just say “Match Group in the Netherlands” as that description more accurately reflects the situation.
New Group Moves Against Apple and Google Over App Store Overpayment in Netherlands
While the fight between Apple and Dutch regulators may have been astroturfed by the world’s largest dating conglomerate, the scent of blood does attract other predators. The Mac Observer has word of a new movement against Apple in the Netherlands. According to that:
The Dutch App Stores Claim Foundation has taken on both [Apple] and Google over claims that Dutch consumers have paid up to 1 billion euros too much for apps. The foundation alleges both Apple and Google abuse their market power in the conditions placed on apps and in-app purchases.
The piece goes on to say:
The foundation, chaired by tech entrepreneur and journalist Alexander Klopping, believes both tech giants should refund the excess payments. Its argument stresses that Apple and Google couldn’t charge such high commissions if there was more competition in the app marketplaces.
In his call to action, Klopping says:
Dutch users have suffered damage that can amount to up to a billion euros. We are now going to reclaim the overpaid money through collective actions. Together we will ensure that Apple and Google play the game fairly from now on. Do you agree and do you want the overpaid money back, sign up now.
They say they don’t want to sue and are inviting Apple and Google to… I don’t know, discuss terms of their surrender, I suppose. Barring that, I guess Apple and Google could see The Dutch App Stores Claim Foundation in court at some point.
Apple Retail Watcher Sees Sign of New Apple Store for UK
It looks like Apple’s prepping for a new store in the UK - its first in nearly a decade. 9 to 5 Mac highlights a report from Michael Steeber’s Tabletops newsletter. The site has the newsletter indicating that:
…Apple has begun hiring for a brand new store in Greater London, which will be the first new store location in the UK since Apple Edinburgh opened in 2014.
Oh, man - we should go there. 2014?!? That would be awesome.
Steeber bases his expectation on some Apple job postings. No word on where in London the new store will be, and no indication as to when it might open.
JustWatch: Oscar Nominated “CODA” and “Macbeth” Back in the Streaming Top-Ten
Whether it truly is an honor just to be nominated, it certainly seems to boost viewers. 9 to 5 Mac has the latest streaming charts from JustWatch. Last week, both the Apple TV+ film CODA and the Apple TV+ film The Tragedy of Macbeth made their way back into the top-ten. Not coincidentally, last week was also the week that both were nominated for a few Academy Awards, including “Macbeth’s” Denzel Washington for Best Actor and CODA for Best Picture.
The 2022 Academy Awards will be handed out on Sunday 27 March.
Report: Apple Retail Increasing Pay for Many Workers
Image by NikolayFrolochkin from Pixabay
It’s not just greater sick leave and more time off that employees at Apple Stores are getting. Last week we heard that the Cupertino-company’s retail wing was doubling paid sick days for full-time and part-time workers, increasing eligibility for paternal leave, speeding up the rate at which retail workers can earn more paid time off, and more such benefits. All of this as workers across many sectors start to balk at “business as usual” as we enter year-three of the pandemic.
Now, a piece from Engadget says Apple’s offering store workers one more thing: More money. Citing a piece from Bloomberg, the report says (in the U.S. at least):
…[Apple] has increased the pay of some of its retail workers, including sales staff, Genius Bar support personnel and senior hourly workers, by as much as 10 percent.
Who got how much more depends on where their store is and their exact role, according to the piece. If you work at Apple Retail and have not seen a pay increase… well… this conversation just got awkward, huh? Indications in the report are that some people only saw pay increases of two-percent, while others have seen no bump in pay.
More time-related benefits though, so… could be worse.
Apple NAND Supplier Warns of Product Contamination
Image via Kioxia
Last week, a spokesperson for Foxconn said that problems appeared to be easing in the supply chain. “Not so fast,” says the supply chain. According to a piece from 9 to 5 Mac:
One of Apple’s main flash storage suppliers has revealed a large-scale contamination incident at its production facilities, with TrendForce warning that this could see NAND chip prices rise by up to 10%.
’s gonna be great!
NAND from the supplier, Kioxia, is used in many Apple products. Among them are Apple’s recent M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pros, iPad Pro, and iPhone 13. According to a piece from The Verge, “Any potential NAND shortages or price fluctuations could affect the PC market over the next few months…” That piece goes on to say:
It’s not clear what caused the contamination, whether products on the market will need to be recalled, or when production will resume.
But - you know… It’s gonna be great.
Xiaomi Targeting Apple at the High End of China’s Smartphone Market
Remember how Xiaomi used to bristle at being compared to Apple? Close to a decade ago, the company’s founder and CEO, Lei Jun, told Reuters in an interview:
If people really want to compare Xiaomi to a foreign company, you can say it looks a bit like Apple. But it’s really more like Amazon with some elements of Google. So take these three companies together and it’s easier to clearly understand what kind of company Xiaomi is. Xiaomi selling mobile phones is like Amazon selling Kindles. So you can understand why we sell them for so cheap.
Back in the day, Lei indicated that Xiaomi’s business strategy was not centered on the sale of smartphones as Apple’s was. Instead, Xiaomi would make its bones selling accessories, making deals with wireless providers, and - wait for it - services.
Flash forward nine-years, and Lei’s declaring his company in a “War of Life and Death” with Apple, though one that seems to be focused on the hardware, not Apple’s growing services segment. A piece from MacRumors has the same Xiaomi CEO telling the South China Morning Post late last week that his company aims to:
“…fully benchmark against Apple in [terms of] product and experience, and become China's biggest high-end brand in the next three years…” (…) He went on to describe competition with Apple in the high-end smartphone segment as “a war of life and death” that Xiaomi must overcome.
Plans for domination are said to include 30,000 retail stores in China in the next three years, up from today’s 10,000 stores. “The company is also investing almost $16 billion in research and development over the next five years,” according to the report.
NYT: AirTag Not as Much of a Stalking Danger as Other Device Trackers
Good news about AirTag stalking: It’s apparently not nearly as dangerous as some other products out there. Apple Insider highlights a report from the New York Times. While Apple has announced plans to make stalking by AirTag harder, the protections already built-in seem to serve potential victims better than trackers from other companies.
According to Apple Insider, a privacy reporter for the New York Times tracked her husband with three different location tracking devices and - importantly - also with his permission. The three devices tried were a Tile, a LandAirSea GPS tracker, and an AirTag.
From a personal safety standpoint, indications are that the LandAirSea GPS tracker was the worst. That’s thanks to a combination of its accuracy and its stealth. The device uses “GPS and satellite” and updates “its location every three minutes.” Originally designed for tracking airplanes, it does nothing to warn potential stalking victims of the potential stalking.
As for Tile, the piece says, “The Tile tracker rarely, if ever, updated its location since it relied heavily on its dedicated network.” While that might not make it the best device for stalking, it also might make it not great for actually keeping track of things you would want to be able to track.
Sitting, it seems, in the Goldilocks spot is Apple’s AirTag. While not wonderful out in the boondocks, take it someplace like New York City and its’ got “creepy accuracy.” That’s thanks to “the density of Apple products wandering around in people's pockets.” The piece says the reporter “was able to tell a hired photographer where her husband was at any moment,” when in the Big Apple.
At the same time, AirTag was doing its best to let the guy know he was being tracked. The down sides were that he had trouble using his iPhone’s precision tracking to find the thing and that he couldn’t tell where exactly the AirTag’s alert noise was coming from. But, he did know that something was up. According to the reporter’s husband:
For all the bad press the AirTags have gotten, and as flaky as the detection mechanisms were, at least I was consistently getting notifications they were following me… The privacy dangers of the other trackers were way worse.
Zoom for Mac Update Fixes Hot Mic Indicator Issue
If you use the Zoom conferencing tool on your Mac, you’ll want to run the latest update. “Since last December” says a piece from 9 to 5 Mac, a number of users have been complaining about a bug that left a Mac’s microphone on, even after a Zoom call had ended. Zoom has confirmed that bug and now, the company’s released an update to fix it. Actually, what Zoom confirmed was that for at lest some users, “the orange indicator light [would] continue to appear after having left a meeting, call, or webinar.” According to the company:
This bug was addressed in the Zoom client for macOS version 5.9.3 and we recommend you update to version 5.9.3 to apply the fix.
Zoom also “recommends keeping automatic updates enabled to get security patches as soon as they are released,” according to the report.
Apple Teases Fourth Store for UAE
Image via Apple
Apple’s got a fourth store planned for the UAE. iDownloadBlog says the Cupertino-company has started teasing its Al Maryah Island store in Abu Dhabi. “A natural island situated northeast of Abu Dhabi,” the piece says Al Maryah Island “is home to exclusive hotels and businesses.” And, of course, an Apple Store, pretty soon. That said, there’s no word yet on exactly when the location will open its doors.
Apple TV+ Announces Docuseries “Omnivore”
Image via Apple
News of an interesting sounding show from Apple TV+. The Cupertino-streamer issued a press release late last week, announcing the docuseries “Omnivore.” Narrated by globally acclaimed chef René Redzepi, the release says:
…“Omnivore” will look at the world through the lens of food and explores how food binds and defines us, powers politics, shapes our beliefs, explains our past, and forecasts our future.
“Omnivore” explores the beauty, complexity and interconnectivity of human culture and the natural world through the way we manipulate, celebrate and consume its best resources – the ones we eat. Each episode will take viewers on a journey around the world, exploring the ingredients that have built societies, shaped spirituality and forever altered the human story.
Think they’ll do Cheez Whiz? I hope they do Cheez Whiz.
Behind the camera on “Omnivore,” Cary Joji Fukunaga. If you’re like me, you may not know the name but you do know the work. He directed the first season of HBO’s “True Detective,” the film Beasts of No Nation, and the recent James Bond installment No Time to Die. He’s currently directing the Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks produced series “Masters of the Air” for Apple TV+. He also has a first-look deal for scripted television projects with the Cupertino-streamer.
No word on when we can sink our teeth into “Omnivore.”
“The Problem with Jon Stewart” Returns to Apple TV+ in Early March
Image via Twitter
The hit-and-miss scheduling of “The Problem with Jon Stewart” will hit again, soon. Apple Insider says the comedian and host took to Twitter late last week to let the world know that the show will be back for four-weeks, starting on Thursday 3 March. Unlike the show’s first run, episodes will premier weekly, not every other week.
Topics listed by Stewart for this run include “Wall Street, climate, race, and the media.” Apple Insider also cites a Deadline report, saying that the show and its associated podcast will be “more closely partnered (…) as far as themes and topics” this time around.
The next run starts in just under three-weeks. You can, of course, catch the first four episodes of “The Problem with Jon Stewart” now on Apple TV+.
A Big Day of Small Updates
It was a day of small, but important updates for Apple gear on Thursday. A piece from Engadget had Apple releasing x.x.x updates for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS. While each brought fixes and tweaks specific to their platforms, each had one thing in common: A fix for, what Engadget calls, “a major web security flaw.” Addressing an issue in Webkit, the piece says:
Specially crafted websites can take advantage of a “use after free” bug (that is, referencing memory after it's freed for use) to run arbitrary code on your device. This isn't a theoretical exercise, either — Apple said there was at least one report of the vulnerability being “actively exploited” before a patch was ready.
Now, it’s ready, and turning up in iOS and iPadOS 15.3.1, macOS Monterey 12.2.1, and watchOS 8.4.2. But wait. There’s more.
Tweaking the Tablet and Phone
In addition to the Webkit fix, Apple’s release notes tell of another issue addressed for iPhone and iPad. Notes for both both updates (because they are totally different operating systems) say each “fixes an issue that may cause Braille displays to stop responding.”
Stopping the Sleeping Power Drain
We’d heard earlier this week that the macOS 12.3 beta addressed an issue that was causing some sleeping Macs to lose power thanks to a problem with Bluetooth peripherals. Since they were fixing the security thing anyway, the company seems to have decided there was no point in waiting. MacRumors says that issue was addressed with Thursday’s release of macOS Monterey 12.2.1.
Watch What Happens!
As for what the watchOS update did… you tell me. All Apple’s release notes say is that “watchOS 8.4.2 includes security updates and bug fixes for your Apple Watch.”
Collect ‘em all! Or, don’t and say you did. We’ll never know!
Hon Hai Spokesperson Expresses Hope for Supply Chain (Despite Reality)
An encouraging headline from Bloomberg (via Yahoo Finance) on Thursday. That said, “World’s Largest iPhone Assembler Says Parts Shortages Are Easing.” Encouraging! Then you read the story and wonder a couple of things: First, “what makes them think so?” and second, “why couldn’t you leave well enough alone and just be happy with the headline?”
It was James Wu, a spokesman for Hon Hai Precision Industry (you can call ‘em Foxconn), who offered the encouraging words. “There will be a major improvement in parts shortages in the first quarter,” read the report, “with ‘overall supply constraints’ set to ease in the second half,” according to Mr. Wu.
The only problem with the report is the rest of it. Bloomberg reminds readers that TSMC and other semiconductor companies “have indicated chip supply will remain tight throughout 2022.” That’s forced carmakers, including Ford and Toyota, to warn of ongoing impact to their business. Hon Hai’s Wu also indicated that power management chips are still on the hard to get list. Bloomberg had him indicating that his company “is striving to minimize the impact from supply-chain challenges…”
But, you know… ’s gonna be great!
Statista: Apple + Beats = Half of U.S. Headphones
Statista is out with numbers on the U.S. headphone market. Not surprisingly, Apple owns half of it. The tracker of stats put out a short blurb with a pretty chart on Thursday. Apple’s dominance of the space is down to a couple of things: it’s purchase of Beats in 2014 and the introduction of AirPods in 2016. On the AirPods, Statista says:
While many were impressed with the technology behind Apple's first true wireless headphones, their design drew a lot of criticism and the internet was having a field day cracking jokes about the headphones’ looks, price and overall appeal.
Five years later, it's clear that Apple is getting the last laugh once again, as AirPods, now in their third generation, are quite possibly the most popular headphones on the planet.
I saw a Tweet the other day from @theramalmedia. It said in part, “You don't actually NEED an Apple Watch until you have one…” I kind of agree, and that’s also where I am, personally, on AirPods. When they came out the price seemed crazy, the look seemed stupid, and now I’m on my second pair.
The piece has Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives estimating that - by themselves - AirPods are a $20-billion-a-year business. Statista gives Apple a 34.4% share of the U.S. headphone market. That’s followed by Apple subsidiary Beats with a 15.3% share, and there’s your (just under) 50%.
Apple Making Moves to Stop AirTag Stalking
Image via Apple
Apple is working to make stalking by AirTag harder to do. Engadget says the Cupertino-company published “an update on AirTag and unwanted tracking,” on Thursday. After addressing the seriousness of the issue, as well as some of the innocent or accidental ways a person might get a “you’re being followed” type notification, Apple listed a few plans for fighting the problem. Among them:
Warning users during AirTag setup that using the device to track people without their knowledge is a crime in a lot of places, and that Apple might have to tell authorities who they are, if asked
The company plans to tweak the on-screen messaging, differentiating between an “Unknown Accessory Detected” and a pair of AirPods detected
The company has also updated its unwanted tracking support article with more granular info about how devices and the Find My network work. It’s also added “links to resources individuals can use if they feel their safety is at risk, such as the National Network to End Domestic Violence and the National Center for Victims of Crime”
The company also promises a series of updates later this year, including:
Precision Finding: letting users of iPhone 11, 12, and 13 locate an unknown AirTag exactly
Display alert with sound: Rather than just the beeping, an alert will also be displayed on a potential victim’s iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Apple says, “This will help in cases where the AirTag may be in a location where it is hard to hear, or if the AirTag speaker has been tampered with.”
Refining unwanted tracking alert logic
Tuning AirTag’s sound
No word on when those updates will be out. One hopes they won’t be iOS 16 additions, since that probably won’t be out for another eight-months.
9 to 5 Mac: Feeling Eight-Percent Better About Cellebrite
A story today that might make you feel eight-percent better about Cellebrite, maybe. I told you earlier this week about what a friend Cellebrite has in the U.S. government. According to the Israeli phone-busting company’s own filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, over 2,800 of its customers hold positions in the U.S. Org Chart. That’s the power to snoop on iPhones and Android phones all up and down the ladder, from 14 of the 15 U.S. cabinets, all the way down to the local PoPo.
Here’s the good news: A piece from 9 to 5 Mac says Cellebrite’s current hardware is not quite as powerful as it used to be. The site says it’s learned that Cellebrite hardware sold to customers cannot unlock an iPhone. Of course, if authorities have someone against a wall (figuratively or literally) and force that someone to unlock the phone for them, 9 to 5 Mac says Cellebrite’s hardware “can still perform full data extraction from unlocked iPhones.”
Cellebrite can still break into locked iPhones, by the way. According to the report:
[Cellebrite’s] business was significantly disrupted last year when secure messaging service Signal managed to get its hands on the company’s kit. [Signal] managed to crack the software and work out how to place a file on an iPhone that would prevent data-extraction.
So now, it seems, Cellebrite’s keeping its most valuable know-how in house. “If you want to unlock an iPhone,” says 9 to 5 Mac:
…you have to send it to the company, paying a fee of $4k per device. The company calls this Cellebrite Advanced Services, or CAS. While the company’s website implies that CAS is limited to law enforcement agencies, we’re told that private sector customers can also use it.
See? Don’t you feel eight-percent better, maybe?
Signs of Apple’s Classical Music Service Surface
Image Josep Molina Secall via Unsplash
If you’ve been wondering what became of Apple’s plans for Primephonic, you may have an answer, soon. Apple acquired, then shut down, the streaming classical music service in September of 2021. When it did, it offered Primephonic customers six-months of Apple Music for free. The company also said then:
Apple Music plans to launch a dedicated classical music app next year combining Primephonic’s classical user interface that fans have grown to love with more added features.
Five-months later, giving folks six-months of Apple Music might be reason enough to think we’d see something out of the acquisition around now. Then there was the hint from the Android side. Cult of Mac ran a piece this week about an “unreleased ‘Apple Classical’ service [that] appeared in a new Apple Music beta for Android.”
9to5Google actually found a reference to a whole new “Apple Classical” app in the Apple Music beta. The piece says the string “reveals the name ‘Apple Classical,’ and the upcoming ability to open a compatible track directly in the optimized service…”
One more reason to think the Primephone successor might make the scene, soon. Folks in the know say Apple is planning another socially distanced product event in the near future. Folding the music offering in with other announcements would certainly make sense.
Apple TV+ Announces Series Order for “The New Look”
Image via Apple
What’s cooler than an Apple TV+ series with Ben Mendelsohn? My hope is an Apple TV+ series with Ben Mendelsohn and Juliette Binoche. The Cupertino-streamer issued a press release announcing just such a show on Thursday. The series is called “The New Look.” Apple says it’s:
…an epic thriller set against the World War II Nazi occupation of Paris when Coco Chanel’s reign as the world’s most famous fashion designer ends and Christian Dior rises helping return spirit and life to the world with his groundbreaking, iconic imprint of beauty and influence that will go on to define generations to come,
Mendelsohn plays Dior. Binoche plays Chanel. It’ll be shot in Paris… and I am so there for it. When it premiers. And no telling when that will be.