While it seems likely that Apple is intending to eventually establish iBeacon as a wireless electronic wallet system, rather than the existing NFC system commonly used in parts of Europe and Asia, a patent filing published today incorporates both protocols. It also allows for other forms of Bluetooth payment. The secure payment system Apple describes would work in much the same way as the chip-and-PIN cards which are well-established in Europe....

As Apple’s Finance department transitions into a new era under the watch of incoming CFO Luca Maestri, the team is seeking acquisition integration analysts. The new job position was posted earlier today on Apple’s job listings website. The listing is seeking an analyst who could examine companies acquired by Apple and assist in integrating that company’s resources into existing teams within Apple. The person will need to work on integration with the HR, Legal, IS&T, Real Estate, Operations, Finance, and Tax teams:...

The US Patent & Trademark Office published more patent applications today from Apple that indicated the company envisioned much more NFC capabilities than a Wallet app. The company apparently filed the applications between 2009 and 2010, and the graphics depict an iPhone interacting and controlling everything from a television and DVR to a standalone camera and a projector. Patently Apple detailed the patent applications: Related articles New iPhone prototypes have NFC chips and antenna – SlashGear (9to5mac....

Apple has published a Newsroom story today highlighting its Teacher Coding Academies and how the educators that are attending them are making an impact on their students and local communities. Apple’s Teacher Coding Academies are open to teachers from all levels and run during the summer. Apple notes that those who attended this year had a common goal of helping students learn to code and how to use the skill to make positive change....

The South China Morning Post is reporting that Apple is investigating reports that a Chinese flight attendant was fatally electrocuted when getting out of the bath to answer a call on her iPhone 5 while it was plugged into the charger. While the SCMP describes the phone as an iPhone 5, there are conflicting reports about the model. According to mainland media reports, Ma Ailun, a 23-year-old flight attendant with China Southern Airlines, was picking up her iPhone 5 to answer a call while the battery was being charged when she was electrocuted and killed … Although a report in Fortune says that “a cheap, third-party charger would seem to be ruled out by the report of Ma Ailun’s family that she was using genuine Apple parts,” we would observe that many extremely convincing counterfeit products originate in China, with numerous reports of electric shocks and fires resulting....

Apple’s brand continues to dominate mindshare for the festive season, according to a survey by Piper Jaffray. The company holds the top two spots for most wanted gift this holiday season with both iPhone and MacBook far ahead of any other product category. The iPhone was the clear leader, with 7.2 percent of people surveyed wanting a new iPhone, up from 5.2 percent in 2015. MacBook took second place on the chart (embedded after the jump), at 2....

Apple took their support discussions website down this morning and now it is back up. It’s not back up as support discussions, though. Apple has finally replaced their aging support discussions board website with Apple Support Communities. Products and services from Apple are now arranged by “community.” If you have questions, answers, or issues with a particular device, service, or anything Apple just find the related community and start doing whatever you came to do....

In an effort to keep up iPhone numbers ahead of a quarter in which Apple expects sales to drop year-over-year for the first time, Apple will encourage Apple Store employees to sell more iPhones through a new rewards program. Apple informed retail staff of the new program today, and it will take place between February 21st and March 26th, according to sources. The program’s goal is to push Apple retail employees to sell more iPhones by promising rewards and all-expense paid vacations to Cupertino, California to employees who sell the most iPhones in their region, according to sources....

Apple has made another valuable contribution to pandemic relief efforts with the ability to easily search for coronavirus testing centers on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac. Read along for how to find COVID-19 testing locations on Apple Maps. Apple has been contributing to COVID-19 relief from a lot of different angles including financial aid, creating and donating face shields, giving away masks, creating contact tracing software with Google, and more....

Apple Music executives are no strangers to public interviews and now, Trent Reznor has sat down with Vulture for a wide-ranging discussion. The conversation jumped between Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails life, his work at Apple Music and Beats, and more. Nine Inch Nails this week released a new EP called ‘Add Violence.’ Asked about whether his work with Beats and Apple had convinced him that “tech entrepreneurs are the new rock stars,” Reznor quickly put that idea to bed....

Update: Apple has now informed developers that they can submit iOS 9, El Capitan and watchOS 2 apps to the App Store. Three days later than the normal schedule, Apple is finally letting developers submit iOS 9 apps for review. Apple usually enables submission for apps built against the new SDK as soon as the Xcode GM is published but for unknown reasons, this milestone was delayed. Although there hasn’t been an official announcement, developers are now successfully uploading binaries through iTunes Connect and are ‘Waiting For Review’....

Alongside the iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2, Apple at its event earlier this month quitely introduced a lineup of new Beats products. At the lower-end of the lineup were the BeatsX earphones, coming in at $149.95 with a launch this fall. Originally, Apple announced the wireless earphones in two color options of white and black, but Apple’s website now hints a trio of new colors that could be in the pipeline....

Apple flags are now flying over Bill Graham Civic Center in San Francisco, California, as the company prepares the venue for Wednesday’s iPhone 7 announcement. Apple’s keynote kicks off at 10am PT/1pm ET, where we expect to see upgraded iPhones and a new Apple Watch introduced. Check out more shots of the scene after the break… Apple typically decks out the venue with black and white Apple flags and the Apple Store-like logo at the entrance of the civic center, and this year is no different....

Since last checking in a month ago, today Duncan Sinfield gives us an update on progress at Apple’s under construction Campus 2 in his latest drone flyover video of the site. In the video, we see Apple’s progress in recent weeks including the continuation of the installation of the giant glass panels — the largest in the world — on the main building, as well as preparations for installing the nearly 700,000 sq....

Apple has been slowly adding more electric charging station listings to Apple Maps since the release of iOS 10, and today the world’s largest EV charging network, ChargePoint, officially confirmed integration. The official integration not only means that ChargePoint’s network of charging stations will now be visible as EV Charger badges within Apple Maps, allowing users to tap through to get more info on the station, but users can also initiate charging and complete payment from a link in Apple Maps to the ChargePoint app (Apple Pay included)....

Apple is reportedly calling some business owners to verify information that has been marked as incorrect through its Maps app’s “Report a Problem” feature. According to a Reddit post this evening, at least one business has received a call from the Maps team to check up on an incorrect address. As it turns out, the location was outdated and had been taken from Yelp’s listing some time ago, but Apple never updated its own database to reflect recent changes to the business on Yelp....

While the market seemed largely unmoved by Apple’s announcement yesterday of a record year (and guidance suggesting that more records will be set), that’s because analysts had already predicted the numbers. But roundups of analyst notes by Fortune and Business Insider show that almost all are rating the stock a buy. None of them rate AAPL a sell, and only two consider it neutral … Most pointed to Q1 guidance that was on a par with the more optimistic predictions, and better than most....

Earlier this month, iLounge and Macotakara reported that Apple made several changes to its MFi (Made for iPhone/iPad/iPod) policy that tightens control over manufacturers producing accessories. In its report, iLounge included word about a seminar in China where Apple plans discuss its policy change with manufacturers—talking specifically about Apple’s new Lightning technology. Today, thanks to a report by TechCrunch and a picture of the seminar’s program provided to us by a tipster (as seen above), we have learned more about the seminar....

Starting this week the trade-in value for iPhones will no longer be impacted by the phone’s liquid damage indicator, according to Apple retail employees. Previously, if a device’s “liquid contact indicator” was tripped, the phone would be completely worthless as a trade-in under the company’s “Reuse and Recycle” program. This week’s changes to the program, however, will allow more customers to trade in their devices. However, the company isn’t going to start allowing seriously water-damaged phones for trade-in anytime soon....

Apple has started selling Anker’s eufyCam 2 Pro security camera system at its retail stores and online. The bundle includes 2 cameras alongside the Eufy base station for $350. The eufyCam 2 Pro also features support for HomeKit integration as well as HomeKit Secure Video. This marks the first smart home camera made by Anker to be sold at Apple. The eufyCam 2 Pro features a 2K resolution, although that drops down to 1080p when you use it with HomeKit....