Simple. Apple is releasing its own music streaming service. The company announced today Apple Music, which as it smirked, is three things: a streaming music service, a worldwide live radio station, and a new way for music fans to connect with their favorite artists Beats 1 is Apple’s first 24 x 7 global radio station. It plays music “not based on research, not based on genre, not based on drumbeats, just music that is great and feels great....

Apple Pay is now available in yet another country. Apple today has updated its website and Apple Pay support page to reveal that the service is now available in Singapore. Through a partnership with American Express, users in Singapore can now take advantage of the company’s mobile payments solution. The expansion to Singapore means that Apple Pay is now available in the United States, Canada, China, the United Kingdom, and Australia for a grand total of six countries....

Apple has just released the first beta versions of new software updates for each of its platforms: iOS, OS X, tvOS, and watchOS. iPhone and iPad get iOS 9.3 beta 1, the Mac gets El Capitan 10.11.4 beta 1, Apple TV can test tvOS 9.2 beta 1, and Apple Watch users can try watchOS 2.2 beta. Interestingly, iOS 9.2.1 and OS X 10.11.3 are both still in beta so we’re seeing multiple betas running at the same time....

Finally, putting an end to all the speculations Apple Releases iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and the most awaited device iPhone XR. The latter was earlier rumored as iPhone 9 and iPhone XC. The devices were released at the Gather Round Event at Steve Jobs Theater. This time the only catchy change that takes place is the new chipset which is the Apple’s A12 Bionic chip. It’s quite powerful and all the three iPhones sport this processor....

This morning’s biggest news comes from Apple’s long-standing advertising agency, TBWA/Media Arts Lab, where the esteemed Lee Clow (66) is resigning his position as chief creative officer. Clow’s abandonment of the creative lead he has held on the account that has distinguished his career suggests he is taking steps towards retirement. His role will be filled by Duncan Milner, who has been executive creative director on Apple and a TBWA alum since 1990....

Apple has earned the award for Best in Show at the 99th ADC Awards for its playful and fun AirPods ad, “Bounce.” Apple also took home the award for Client of the Year and its partner TBWA\Media Arts Lab won Best Ad Agency of the Year. The One Club for Creativity who puts on the annual ADC awards shared the news in a press release and on its website today. The ADC Awards “celebrate the very best in advertising, digital media, graphic and publication design, packaging and product design, motion, experiential and spatial design, photography, illustration and fashion design all with a focus on artistry and craftsmanship....

Analyst Charles Wolf notes Apple easily beat third quarter consensus estimates, reporting earnings per share of $1.19 on revenues of $7.46 billion, observing, “But the stock was crushed after the release by gross margin guidance that was materially lower than the historic numbers both for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2009. Our take is that Apple wants to continue the Mac’s momentum and will use pricing to do so.” The purported plan follows a stupendously strong Mac sales quarter, Apple reached 2....

Apple Music is now partnering with businesses to play music at retail stores. In a partnership with PlayNetwork, businesses can sign up to Apple Music for Business plans and get licensed music to be played in their retail locations with Apple providing human-curated playlists and even custom recommendations matched to the individual store brand. Businesses can control the music being played using a special iPhone or iPad app. The Wall Street Journal notes the program has been piloted for a while and is now expanding to larger stores....

Could Springtime be coming a little early this year? You may have noticed that the Apple online store is down globally, and according to sources with a fairly accurate track record,there is a good chance that the white iPhone 4 will finally be released tomorrow, paint and all. The sources say that both the 16 GB and 32 GB models will hit the store tomorrow with part numbers MC604X/A (16GB) and MC606X/A (32GB)....

For the latest macOS 10.13.4 beta seed, the update notes merely say ‘This is the latest version of the macOS High Sierra developer beta and is recommended for all Apple developers’ in English locales as normal for pre-release builds. However, it seems Apple has accidentally published the final full release notes in some other languages. The release notes indicate that iMessage Business Chat will be available on macOS, as well as formally supporting external GPU (eGPU) systems....

Update: Apple has now advised that AirPods Max cannot be used for Lossless Audio even in wired mode! After multiple clues, Apple has now officially announced Apple Music Lossless Audio for all 75 million songs in the library by the end of the year, at no extra cost to subscribers – along with Spatial Audio. With Spatial Audio, when listening on compatible equipment, everyone should be able to hear the difference....

Update: Apple has reverted all of these changes listed below. Aside from the US site, the respective pages for all other regions now say that Apple Watch will be ‘Available in 2015’ again. The change to early 2015 seems to have been a mistake. Apple’s online pages for Apple Watch have today been updated with a slightly narrower timeframe for several European countries. Previously, whilst the US site stated ‘Coming Early 2015’, localized pages in the UK and other regions were less concrete, simply stating that Apple Watch would be ‘Available in 2015’....

We’ve been hoping for a new Apple TV since Apple began transitioning its iOS device lineup to dual-core A5 processors, and we now have some compelling evidence for a next-generation Apple TV being in the works. Deep inside the iOS 5 file system is a reference to a Apple TV 3,1. This would be an upgrade from the current Apple TV’s 2,1 marking. The number changing from 2 to 3 represents major changes, and with the Apple TV recently gaining a fully re-designed case, we expect this upgrade to mainly consist of internal changes....

Throughout this spring, visitors to the Fundació Joan Miró modern art museum in Barcelona, Spain will have the opportunity to attend a Today at Apple session in a whole new creative setting. For eight weeks beginning on April 27th, Apple will host a special selection of weekly sessions that highlight the art and architecture of Barcelona. Apple’s program of free creative and educational sessions has traditionally been held only in Apple retail stores themselves....

Last month Apple introduced the first Activity Challenge for Apple Watch users on Thanksgiving Day, and now it appears a ‘Ring In the New Year’ challenge will be the next Activity Challenge. The next Apple Watch Activity Challenge has slightly different rules than the first… For Apple’s Thanksgiving Day Activity Challenge in the United States, Apple Watch users needed to complete a 5K walk or run using the Workout app or a compatible third-party fitness tracking app to unlock a special iMessage sticker and an Activity achievement....

Update: Apple has also shared a shorter one-minute cut of the Homework ad. Check it out here. Following the announcement of a new education-focused iPad and a slew of new software features, Apple has shared a new video of the iPad in use by students. The ad, cleverly entitled ‘Homework,’ follows a group of students as they put the new $329/$299 iPad to test… Apple today introduced a new 9.7-inch iPad with Apple Pencil support....

Apple has released the third OS X 10.11.4 public beta for non-developer testers. Public beta testers running the El Capitan pre-release can find the new software update through the Mac App Store. The latest public beta update follows the third developer beta of the same update earlier this week. Apple has also released a second OS X 10.11.4 beta 3 build (15E39c to 15E39d) for developers as well. Changes coming with OS X 10....

Apple this evening sent an email to podcasters outlining some reminders about changes to the Apple Podcasts platform, as well as an announcement that makes podcast submission easier for hosting partners… First and foremost, Apple reminded podcasters that Podcast Analytics is currently in beta and allows creators to see more detailed information about listener patterns and show performance over time. Apple released Podcast Analytics in beta last month. Apple also outlines some of the specification changes that the Podcasts platform offers in iOS 11, which were previously announced:...

First noticed by French news outlet Jeanne Magazine, Apple modified its Mother’s Day iPhone ad in several countries to remove a same-sex couple that appears in the United States version of the ad. The couple does not appear in the German, Italian, Turkish, Japanese, or French versions of the ad, while they do appear in the Mexican, Australian, and Canadian versions (via BuzzFeed News). In the countries where the couple was removed from the video, the image was replaced with an image of one of the mothers and the child....

Ahead of her appearance at Bloomberg’s ‘Year Ahead’ business summit tomorrow, Apple’s SVP of Retail and Online Stores Angela Ahrendts has today made an appearance at Fast Company’s Innovation Festival in New York City. Ahrendts sat down with Fast Company Editor at Large Rick Tetzei to discuss her role at Apple since joining the company in 2014… Ahrendts first noted that when she originally joined Apple, she spent the first 6 months on the job visiting the company’s retail locations in 40 markets and listening to the thoughts and opinions of retail employees....