Last month Apple rolled out support for dozens of banks and credit unions with Apple Pay bringing the count to more than 45 institutions, and today Apple is out with the first wave of the month adding more than a dozen new banks to its list of supported Apple Pay banks bringing the total count to over 60 institutions. Here are the new banks listed as supporting Apple Pay as of today:...

Apple Pay revenue hasn’t gotten much attention so far. The most valuable role Apple Pay plays for the Cupertino company is further lock-in to the ecosystem. Once you’ve experienced the convenience of Apple Watch payments in particular, and know the security you get from the use of Apple Pay on any device, it’s not something you’ll want to give up. (Sure, there’s Google Pay and Samsung Pay too, but it still adds friction to switching platforms....

Apple has shared the latest progress with Apple Pay rolling out to major US retailers. Today’s news includes Target, Taco Bell, Speedway, and more as the latest businesses to accept Apple’s payment platform. Apple announced the news this morning in a Newsroom post: We reported last year that Target was testing Apple Pay support in San Francisco in November. Apple says Target is rolling out support for its payment platform now and will be functional in all of its US stores in the “coming weeks....

Apple just posted its 2012 Proxy Statement for investors. Within, we find that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook was awarded almost $400 million in 2011, while Steve Jobs was paid his $1 a year salary. Mr. Forstall’s annualized base salary was increased to $700,000 —from $600,000 in 2010— to match the then-current base salaries of his peers on the executive team. Mr. Cue had a base salary of $444,000 during 2011, the lowest base salary out of the executive team....

Following the recent release of the iTunes 10.5.1 beta 3 to developers, Apple today started pushing out iTunes 10.5.1 to the public. You should see the update appearing in Software Update any second, otherwise it’s already available for download from Apple’s site here. Apple also confirmed the availability of iTunes Match in the U.S., with the following announcement on their iTunes page. iTunes Match syncs users’ music to iCloud for $24....

With both the iPad Pro’s Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil showing availability of 4-5 weeks, and neither available in-store, Apple has issued a brief statement to Mashable acknowledging the issue and promising ‘regular shipments.’ Customers are very excited for iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard. We have limited supply of Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard in Apple Retail stores. Our stores will continue to receive regular shipments and we encourage customers to visit Apple....

Black Hat, famously known for its information security conferences, has just released the ‘Behind the Scenes of iOS Security’ video from this year’s USA event. The talk, led by Ivan Krstic, dives into some of the security methods that currently exist in iOS and what Apple does to keep users secure. This talk was also where Apple had introduced its first security bounty program. This year has been a major year in security for Apple....

According to our sources, Apple’s new, smaller 9-pin dock connector is dubbed “Lightning” internally. As of this evening, we believe that this name will extend to the new connector’s marketing name. The moniker makes sense for two reasons. One: it goes along with the Thunderbolt connector name on the Mac (Thunderbolt and lightning!). Two: perhaps “Lightning” means that the new dock connector will be able to sync via a computer at faster speeds than the current 30-pin connector....

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....

Starting this week, Apple Music is livestreaming some concerts from major artists as part of Apple Music Live. This new feature kicks off with a Harry Styles concert Friday, alongside the release of his third album, Harry’s House. Apple Music subscribers in 167 countries can watch the live shows at no extra cost. From Apple Music: The Harry Styles concert, One Night Only in New York, will be at UBS Arena in Long Island, New York....

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....

About a month ago, Apple began letting users review some built-in apps via App Store review. Now, just after the release of iOS 15.1, the company is opening up Messages, Phone, Photos, and Safari to user’s scrutiny. The funny thing is that Apple now lets users review some unusual apps. For example, what can you do about Messages or Phone? Of course, the company can always improve iMessage features, as we’ve written about several times, but the Phone app?...

Apple just released iOS 10.3 beta for developers and within has surprised with a new Find My AirPods feature that allows users to locate their missing cord-free Apple earbuds. The feature lives inside Apple’s Find my iPhone app, which allows users to locate their missing iOS devices on a Map via iCloud and a standalone iOS app. But since the AirPods rely on Bluetooth connectivity, it will only be able to locate the AirPods if they are in range of your other Apple devices....

Apple has released the first software update for Apple Watch today with the release of Watch OS 1.0.1. The update is available through the Apple Watch app on iPhone. The update measures in at 51.6 MB and includes “performance improvements and bug fixes” as Apple notes. In addition to adding support for the 300+ new Emoji characters added in iOS 8.3 and OS X 10.10.3, Apple lists these as improvements areas:...

Apple has released the first iOS 11.1, tvOS 11.1, and macOS 10.13.1 public betas for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Mac. Each public beta versions come one day after the release of the first developer beta updates to iOS 11, tvOS 11, and macOS 10.13. None of the new public betas appear to introduce any new user-facing features, at least in the first betas, although we expect Apple Pay Cash, Messages in iCloud, and AirPlay 2 to launch during a future update....

Alongside an update for Logic Pro X today to version 10.3, GarageBand for iOS is also getting an update that introduces Logic integration, a refreshed design, and a handful of new features. Perhaps most notably, version 2.2 of GarageBand for iPhone and iPad introduces a mobile version of the Alchemy virtual synth that it picked up through its Camel Audio acquisition and first integrated into Logic last summer. New recording features |...

Apple has now released iOS 11.2, bringing the fix for the repeated crashes users experienced since the date rolled over to December 2, as we reported on earlier today. iOS 11.2 also includes Apple Pay Cash, for peer-to-peer payments between friends in the US, but it is not yet available to use (it will be activated OTA in a few days). Download iOS 11.2 now for your iPad, iPhone and iPad touch....