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Although Apple has its own line of earphones and Beats accessories, the company used to offer third-party headphones in its stores — but this is about to change. A new Bloomberg report reveals that the company no longer sells rival earphones, headphones, or audio accessories, coincidentally ahead of the so-called AirPods Studio announcement. Consumers could find Bose, Sonos, and Logitech accessories in Apple Retail and Online stores, but these products have now been removed from Apple’s website and will soon not be available in their retail stores, either....

From 9to5Toys.com: The online Apple Store is having a clearance of the original iPad for three select WiFi and WiFi + 3G models, including the flagship 64GB WiFi + 3G iPad. Now available for up to $200-$230 less compared to their original list prices, these products come looking like new and with the same 1-year warranty that other Apple products receive. All refurbished iPad models also include a brand new battery and outer shell....

Apple CFO Jeff Williams has unveiled the next generation of Apple Watch on stage at its big event today. The new model is called Apple Watch Series 2. Adding to the splash proof feature of the original model, the new Apple Watch is actually swim proof. Apple Watch Series 2 adds swim tracking to the Workouts app including pool swimming and open water swimming. The Apple Watch speaker is the only unsealed part of the casing and it intelligently ejects water after a workout....

When Apple released the first beta of watchOS 2.0 last month following WWDC, users were surprised to learn that there was no way to downgrade from the beta build to the more stable Watch OS 1.0.1. Users tried a variety of different methods, but were ultimately left with one option: send their Watch into Apple and allow them to do the restore. With today’s launch of watchOS 2.0 beta 3, Apple has officially confirmed that there is no way to downgrade to an earlier version of watchOS without sending your device into Apple....

A certain Cupertino, California consumer electronics powerhouse has more cash on its hands than the cash-strapped US government which is struggling to raise its debt limit before the August 3 deadline and avoid a default at the same time. Business Insider nails it down, saying “the world’s largest tech company has more cash than the world’s largest sovereign government”. Apple sat on a cash pile of $76.2 billion at the end of the June quarter, the sum which is comprised of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities....

As noticed by Apfelpage, Apple has published a new page to be more open about why it rejects apps. A chart at the bottom of the page shows the top ten reasons for app rejection in the last seven days; such as lack of information, crashes or bugs encountered, complicated user interfaces. Around 60% of rejections come from violation of just ten guidelines of the App Store rules. Some of these, like the existence of placeholder text in applications, seem rather trivial issues and it’s interesting that it arises so frequently as a cause of rejection....

Health is one of the main areas that Apple has been investing in in recent years following the growth of the Apple Watch and services like Apple Fitness+. Now the company is hiring a cardiologist specializing in clinical product development to take its health features even further. As noted by MyHealthyApple, the company shared the job opening earlier today on LinkedIn, and according to the social network, seven candidates have already applied for the position....

That’s logical, as we already know the latest iPhone Software 2.0 pre-release build offers location-aware services that let you tag images with your location as you take images, if you like. And while the Skyhook system’s impressively effective, it’s no great leap to think GPS is on the road-map. Apple’s recruitment advertisment says: “As a member of a cross-functional design team at Apple, you will help to create the next generation of the world’s finest handheld devices....

Apple is one of four tech giants to come out in opposition to a proposed new law in Australia which would force companies to provide access to encrypted user data. The fear is that, if the law is allowed to pass, it could set a precedent which other countries are likely to follow – with the USA high up the list of likely candidates to effectively ban strong encryption …...

Variety reports today that ‘Captain America’ star Chris Evans has signed on to Apple’s upcoming limited series ‘Defending Jacob.’ Apple has placed a straight-to-series order for the drama, according to the report. Evans hasn’t held a regular TV role since 2000, when he appeared in the miniseries ‘Opposite Sex.’ He’s best known for his role playing ‘Captain America’ in multiple Marvel films. Apple’s series ‘Defending Jacob’ is said to be based on the 2012 best-selling novel of the same name by William Landay....

Apple’s decision to disable VPN on demand functionality on iOS due to the virnetX lawsuit isn’t the only patent related Apple news today. Head below for a roundup of Apple’s court woes and wins from earlier today: Samsung infringes key text-selection patent: Reuters reports that the International Trade Commission has handed down a preliminary decision ruling Samsung infringed on an Apple patent related to a text-selection feature. However, the courts also ruled Samsung didn’t infringe another patent related to detecting when other devices are plugged into a microphone jack....

Apple has quietly increased the cost of its iOS & Mac Developer Programs in some EU countries with price hikes confirmed for at least the UK and Germany. In Germany, the programs are up from the previous €80/year to €99/year, while in the UK pricing has been adjusted from £60/year to £79/year. While the price increase is already live in at least the UK and Germany, pricing for the program in the US remains at $99/year....

Apple has announced that it will start ground truth surveys in Canada from today. Apple will be driving sensor-equipped car fleets around the country to collect road details, signage and landmarks throughout the year to improve Apple Maps in Canada. Apple will incorporate this information into its modern Apple Maps dataset, which is being rebuilt literally from the ground up. The company published its statement online and in local Canadian newspapers....

Headlines are whirling this week with talk of a cheaper iPhone, but Apple Senior Vice President of Marketing Phil Schiller is apparently balking at the rumors. Schiller allegedly admitted to the Shanghai Evening News (translation) in an interview that his company is not developing a cheaper smartphone to “grab market share away.” He reportedly said the iPhone 5 is the best iPhone for Apple and his company is not concerned with market share....

One of the reasons for the $999+ price-tag of the iPhone X is the cost of the Samsung-made OLED screen. The latest estimate is that Samsung charges Apple around $97 per display. Apple’s negotiating position has been weak, as Samsung has so far been the only company able to make the displays to the iPhone maker’s exacting standards in sufficient volumes. That looked set to change as Apple worked to bring LG on board as a second supplier for this year’s iPhones, but that plan now seems to be in doubt …...

A new profile of Apple Music’s VP, Oliver Schusser from Billboard takes a detailed look at how his leadership has affected the team as well as the service’s growth and results over the last year. Colleagues describe him as “a partner, a great listener and a champion of innovation” and he’s optimistic about the future of Apple Music. While Oliver Schusser has over 15 years experience at Apple in building the international operations for iTunes, taking over Apple Music happened just last year....

Just a week before Apple is due to announce its Apple News subscription service, expected to cost $10/month, at least two major US newspapers have reportedly not yet signed up. A report today says that neither The New York Times nor The Washington Post have as yet agreed to Apple’s terms – as we predicted last month … Business Insider says that it has talked to half a dozen publishing execs with knowledge of the negotiations....

From 9to5Toys.com: Apple is offering a rare sale on iTunes movie bundles yielding the lowest prices we’ve seen on digital downloads of 25 popular movie collections. Save even more by snagging a 20% off $60 iTunes gift card at ebay: $48. Bundles are available in SD/HD and start at $9.99 making a lot of these “buy one get two free” pricing (US Only). (Update: We’re hearing Apple is changing prices on many of these) Here’s the full list via:...

Ahead of next week’s iPhone 6 announcement, Apple has finally debuted the new design for its iTunes Connect web app that was initially shown off during the WWDC Platforms State of the Union. The new design features a more iOS-like look, similar to that of iCloud.com, and now gives developers even more information about their apps. Analytics feature have also been added for helping users track App Store page views and more....

Update: Apple has also shared its roundup of Mac mini and MacBook Air reviews. Just as it did for the iPhone XS and iPhone XR, Apple has rounded up today’s iPad Pro reviews and pulled the best quotes from each, compiling them into one shining press release. While the common theme from many reviewers was that the new iPad Pros are incredibly powerful tablets hindered by iOS, Apple has glossed over the latter part of that in its roundup....