MacRumors

Antitrust regulators are currently investigating competition in digital marketplaces, focusing on Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple.

Microsoft is not involved in the investigation, but Microsoft joined the conversation today when president Brad Smith said at a Politico event (via Bloomberg) that it's time for regulators to take a look at app stores. Smith was careful not to name Apple or Google, but those are the two companies that have major digital software marketplaces and that are the focus of the investigation.

"They impose requirements that increasingly say there is only one way to get on to our platform and that is to go through the gate that we ourselves have created," Smith said. "In some cases they create a very high price per toll - in some cases 30% of your revenue has to go to the toll keeper."

"The time has come - whether we are talking about D.C. or Brussels - for a much more focused conversation about the nature of app stores, the rules that are being put in place, the prices and the tolls that are being extracted and whether there is really a justification in antitrust law for everything that has been created," Smith said.

Microsoft distributes apps through the App Store and Google Play stores and has a vested interest in lowering the fees that app developers must pay. Microsoft pays Apple 15 to 30 percent for any customers who subscribe to Office 365 through Apple's platform.

Some app stores, says Smith, have created "higher walls and far more formidable gates" than what existed 20 years ago when Microsoft itself lost a Windows antitrust case.

Apple is facing an antitrust investigation in the United States, which is nearing completion, as well as a separate investigation in the EU that was just announced earlier this week. Both investigations are looking at ‌App Store‌ fees and the competitive advantages Apple's own apps have on Apple platforms.

Apple's App Store fees are akin to "highway robbery," Representative David Cicilline told The Verge in the latest Vergecast episode.

Cicilline, who is the Chairman of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Antitrust looking into the App Store agreements that Apple has with developers, spoke to The Verge alongside Basecamp CTO David Heinemeier Hansson, developer of the "Hey" app that Apple rejected for failing to offer in-app subscription options.

According to Cicilline, Apple's market power allows it to charge "exorbitant rents" that crush small developers. The antitrust committee has heard from "many people" afraid of economic retaliation.

"Because of the market power that Apple has, it is charging exorbitant rents -- highway robbery, basically -- bullying people to pay 30 percent or denying access to their market. It's crushing small developers who simply can't survive with those kinds of payments. If there were real competition in this marketplace, this wouldn't happen."

"Many people have come forward to share their experiences, who are terrified of economic retaliation, who are afraid they can't survive the economic retaliation that these large platforms can impose because of the power that they have, and we intend to pursue those allegations very seriously. This is a real problem in the marketplace. This is a direct consequence of enormous market power, the fact that Apple is the gatekeeper for these developers, and we have heard many, many examples."

The antitrust subcommittee began soliciting opinions from developers back in November, speaking with those who had been impacted by some of Apple's ‌App Store‌ decisions. Developers of parental control apps impacted last year by Apple's limitations on the use of Mobile Device Management capabilities were among those contacted, for example. Heinemeier Hansson, whose email app "Hey" is in the news this week, also testified in January.

Heinemeier Hansson has been vocal about Hey's rejection from the ‌App Store‌. After approving the app earlier this week, Apple rejected two updates and told the Hey team that it needs to provide an option to subscribe in the app, which would give Apple a 30 percent cut of the subscription fee.

Hey attempted to skirt Apple's rules around subscriptions by not offering a subscription in the app while also not linking to an outside subscription offering, something that Netflix and Spotify also do. Apple said that Hey isn't classified as a "Reader" app and isn't allowed to operate in that manner, a confusing stance that blindsided the Hey team.

Heinemeier Hansson in the podcast again explains the series of rejections, and shares his opinions on Apple's ‌App Store‌ policies.

So if we had the power, if we have the choice to distribute software to the iPhone without going through the App Store, we would. We would just have a link on our website that said, "Here you go. That's how you download the app for the iPhone," and we'd be fine.

The problem with the iPhone is that Apple sits as a gatekeeper. It blew my mind when the EU announced their investigation because they were literally going through the points that we were having: the only way to get on the iPhone is through Apple. Apple is a gatekeeper. Apple shakes down businesses for these 30 percent, and no one has a choice.

Amid the antitrust investigation, Apple this week highlighted a study that said the ‌App Store‌ ecosystem supported $519 billion in billings and sales worldwide in 2019. Apple often promotes how much developers earn from the ‌App Store‌, a number that has reached over $155 billion.

Apple created the hardware and the platform that allows developers to distribute apps, but Cicilline doesn't believe that entitles the company to collect such high fees. "You cannot simply allow someone merely because they invented a system or a product to continue to enjoy that kind of monopoly power," Cicilline said. "It's contrary to our laws. It's unfair to new developers, new startups, and it hurts consumers."

Cicilline says that the antitrust investigation is "nearing completion" and that a final hearing will take place in July. The committee has been aiming to get major tech CEOs, including Tim Cook, to testify. Cook has so far declined, but Cicilline says that he expects when the hearing happens, "all four CEOs" will be there. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai have agreed to participate.

At the end of the investigation, the group will generate a report on the status of competition in the digital market, which will feature "recommendations with respect to legislative action." Cicilline believes a solution to the ‌App Store‌ problems will require "regulatory action and statutory changes" and that it's something that "Congress has a responsibility to fix."

The full Vergecast interview with Rep. David Cicilline and David Heinemeier Hansson can be accessed on The Verge's website.

Apple's 31st Worldwide Developers Conference will be a digital-only event in 2020, with no physical gathering planned due to the ongoing global health crisis.

The virtual event starts a little later in the month than usual, on June 22, and is free for anyone. As with previous years, Apple is kicking off WWDC with a keynote on the first day, offering a look at some upcoming products and providing the first details on new operating systems.

Rumors have suggested we could potentially see a new redesigned iMac and an announcement about Apple's planned shift to Arm-based Macs. We're also expecting a first-look at next-generation versions of macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS.

You can watch Apple's WWDC 2020 Keynote live as it happens using one of the methods described below. The stream for the event starts at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time from Apple Park in Cupertino, California. For reference, here's when the event will begin based on other time zones in the United States and around the world:

• Honolulu, Hawaii — 7:00 a.m. HAST
  

• Anchorage, Alaska — 9:00 a.m. AKDT
  

• Cupertino, California — 10:00 a.m. PDT
  

• Phoenix, Arizona — 10:00 a.m. MST
  

• Vancouver, Canada — 10:00 a.m. PDT
  

• Denver, Colorado — 11:00 a.m. MDT
  

• Dallas, Texas — 12:00 noon CDT
  

• New York, New York — 1:00 p.m. EDT
  

• Toronto, Canada — 1:00 p.m. EDT
  

• Halifax, Canada — 2:00 p.m. ADT
  

• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — 2:00 p.m. BRT
  

• London, United Kingdom — 6:00 p.m. BST
  

• Berlin, Germany — 7:00 p.m. CEST
  

• Paris, France — 7:00 p.m. CEST
  

• Cape Town, South Africa — 7:00 p.m. SAST
  

• Moscow, Russia — 8:00 p.m. MSK
  

• Helsinki, Finland — 8:00 p.m. EEST
  

• Istanbul, Turkey — 8:00 p.m. TRT
  

• Dubai, United Arab Emirates — 9:00 p.m. GST
  

• Delhi, India — 10:30 p.m. IST
  

• Jakarta, Indonesia — 12:00 a.m. WIB next day
  

• Shanghai, China — 1:00 a.m. CST next day
  

• Singapore — 1:00 a.m. SGT next day
  

• Perth, Australia — 1:00 a.m. AWST next day
  

• Hong Kong — 1:00 a.m. HKT next day
  

• Seoul, South Korea — 2:00 a.m. KST next day
  

• Tokyo, Japan — 2:00 a.m. JST next day
  

• Adelaide, Australia — 2:30 a.m. ACST next day
  

• Sydney, Australia — 3:00 a.m. AEST next day
  

• Auckland, New Zealand — 5:00 a.m. NZST next day

MacRumors will also provide a live blog both here on MacRumors.com and on our MacRumorsLive Twitter account, along with detailed coverage of everything Apple announces during the week.

Watch the Keynote on Mac, iPhone or iPad

You can watch the WWDC keynote on any Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch using Apple's native Safari browser. Bear in mind, to meet the stream's requirements, iOS devices must be running iOS 10 or later, while Macs need to be running macOS Sierra 10.12 or later.

Launch Safari from your chosen device and follow this link to the WWDC 2020 Keynote.

Watch the Keynote on the TV App

You can watch the WWDC keynote via Apple's TV app on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV.

1. Open the TV app on your chosen device.
   

2. Scroll down the Watch Now category and select WWDC 2020. Alternatively, type "WWDC" into the Search field and select WWDC 2020 from the results.
3. Click Play.

The app may tell you to tune in at your local time on June 22 to watch the event live. In the meantime, you could always watch the WWDC 2019 keynote while you wait.

Watch the Keynote on a Windows PC

If you don't have an Apple device handy, you can still watch the WWDC 2020 keynote on a PC running Windows 10. Open Microsoft Edge browser and follow this link to the WWDC 2020 Livestream.

While Apple offers no guarantees, other platforms may also be able to access the WWDC 2020 keynote using recent versions of Chrome or Firefox (MSE, H.264, and AAC codecs/extensions must be installed).

Watch on YouTube or in the Apple Developer App

Apple will also stream its keynote event on YouTube. A WWDC Special Event video has been added to its YouTube channel. The video lets you set reminders for the keynote, so you can get an alert ahead of when it starts, so you don't miss a thing.

Lastly, Apple plans to stream the keynote in the Apple Developer app, and on the Apple Developer website, giving Apple fans and developers multiple ways to watch.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today announced that Canada plans to launch a nationwide COVID-19 contract tracing app based on Apple's and Google's Exposure Notification API, as noted by iPhone in Canada. Trudeau said the app is slated for release in early July, with testing set to begin in Ontario soon.

Canada will join a growing list of countries that have committed to using the API, including the United Kingdom, Italy, Latvia, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and others. At least three U.S. states are also adopting the solution.

Built into iOS 13.5 on the Apple side, the API allows iPhones and Android smartphones to interface with one another for contact tracing purposes. If and when you happen to be nearby someone who later tests positive for COVID-19, you can receive a notification and take the appropriate steps to self isolate and seek medical help if necessary.

Apple and Google have stressed the privacy of their Bluetooth-based solution, which must be enabled in the Settings app under Privacy > Health > COVID-19 Exposure Logging to function. Read our Exposure Notification guide for more details.

As planned, Apple's redesigned and overhauled Developer Forums launched today ahead of WWDC. The new design is cleaner, streamlined, and simpler to use, with top posts, top tags, and more highlighted.

The Developer Forums allow developers to interact with one another and troubleshoot issues together, but when WWDC kicks off on Monday, developers will also be able to chat with and interact with over 1,000 Apple engineers who will be available on the forums.

With the new forums, anyone can search and view the forum discussions, while Apple Developer Program members can post questions.

Apple announced plans to introduce the revamped Developer Forums when it announced the schedule for its first ever digital WWDC event, which kicks off on Monday, June 22.

Apple is widely expected to release its first 5G iPhones later this year, and multiple sources have indicated that these models will be equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X55 modem, including analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and the Nikkei Asian Review.

To the contrary, a paywalled snippet from DigiTimes today claims that Apple's chipmaking partner TSMC will begin manufacturing A14 chips and Snapdragon X60 modems this month for use in upcoming iPhones slated for launch later in 2020. This is the first time that we have seen this possibility mentioned.

TSMC to start chip production for next-gen iPhones in June
TSMC will start manufacturing Apple's custom-designed A14 SoCs and Qualcomm's X60 5G modem chips, with both set to power the upcoming iPhones slated for launch later in 2020, using 5nm process technology in June, according to industry sources.

Built on a 5nm process, the X60 packs higher power efficiency into a smaller footprint compared to the X55. Smartphones equipped with the X60 will also be able to aggregate data from both mmWave and sub-6GHz bands simultaneously to achieve an optimal combination of high-speed and low-latency network coverage.

When the X60 was introduced in February, it seemed destined for 2021 iPhones rather than 2020 ones, as Apple needs adequate time for testing and production. Qualcomm itself said that 5G smartphones featuring the X60 are expected to begin launching in early 2021, so this rumor should be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism for now.

DigiTimes is a Taiwanese publication with sources within Apple's supply chain. The website is often dismissed as being wrong, but it shares correct information from time to time. In January, for example, it claimed that Apple planned to release a backlit keyboard with scissor switch keys for the iPad Pro. Two months later, the Magic Keyboard launched.

Apple typically announces new iPhones in September, but due to the global health crisis, there is a possibility of a slight delay to the launch plans.

Apple will unveil iOS 14 on Monday at its first ever digital WWDC keynote, but thanks to a leaked version of iOS that circulated around the internet this spring, multiple details about the new operating system are already known.

New features are coming to Messages, there's a new Fitness app, Safari will see major changes, and now, a rumor from 9to5Mac suggests the update will also include changes to the Podcasts app.

Podcasts in iOS 14 may include a "For You" tab much like Apple Music, offering up podcast content based on personal preferences to help with content discovery.

Podcast creators will have the option to develop bonus content for their podcasts, which will be similar to movie extras, and a user profile will allow you to see what friends are listening to.

Apple has been ramping up its podcast efforts to better compete with Spotify. Recent rumors have indicated Apple is working on original podcasts that will be exclusive to the Podcasts app.

Apple is working to create audio spinoffs of movies and TV shows on Apple TV+, but is also looking to purchase original programs that could potentially be adapted into future TV+ content.

Apple competitor Spotify has been investing heavily in original content and has purchased several well-known podcasts. In 2019, Spotify purchased Gimlet Media known for podcasts like "Reply All" and "Homecoming," and earlier this year, Spotify bought the exclusive rights to popular podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience."

Apple continues to work on an AirPower-like wireless charging mat that would be able to charge multiple devices at once, according to leaker Jon Prosser, who shared photos of an alleged prototype codenamed "C68" today.

The mat shown in the photo looks identical to the AirPower mat that Apple previewed in 2017, planned to release in 2018, but canceled in 2019. Prosser previously said that Apple was facing issues with Apple Watch charging, but it has apparently overcome that problem, with both an Apple Watch and AirPods Pro case shown charging on the mat.

Apple revealed its plans for the AirPower mat at its iPhone X event in September 2017. The key feature of the mat is that it would have been able to charge a compatible iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods case simultaneously, regardless of each device's position on the mat, and it also would have offered deep integration with iOS.

Apple canceled the AirPower in March 2019, noting that the mat failed to meet its high standards, without diving into specifics. Thanks to patents, we do know that the AirPower was equipped with several overlapping coils inside, and leaker Sonny Dickson previously indicated that one of the primary issues with the mat was overheating.

A few months ago, Prosser claimed that Apple has addressed overheating with its latest wireless charging mat prototypes by reducing the number of coils and integrating an A11 chip that can dynamically manage heat. Prosser added that the mat could be released between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021 if testing is successful.

In January, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo forecasted that one of Apple's major new hardware products in the first half of 2020 would include a "smaller wireless charging mat," but this is believed to be a single-device solution. That mat could be announced at WWDC 2020 next week, but it is quite possible that timing has changed due to the global health crisis.

Update: The images of the alleged wireless charging prototype have turned out to be fake.

In what appears to be a reversal of course, the BBC today reported that the United Kingdom's National Health Service will adopt Apple's and Google's Exposure Notification API for its COVID-19 contact tracing app after all.

Other countries that have committed to using the API include Italy, Latvia, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, and Saudi Arabia, among others.

Apple released the API as part of iOS 13.5 last month. At the time, the company said that 22 countries had requested and received access to the API, along with the U.S. states of Alabama, North Dakota, and South Carolina.

Apple and Google created the API to allow iPhones and Android smartphones to interface with one another for contact tracing purposes. If and when you happen to be nearby someone who later tests positive for COVID-19, you can receive a notification and take the appropriate steps to self isolate and seek medical help if necessary.

The API relies on Bluetooth, is designed with privacy in mind, and is disabled by default. Read our Exposure Notification guide for more details.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

South Korea's antitrust regulator has decided to allow Apple to map out a set of measure to address its anti-competitive business practices in the country, reports the Korea Herald.

The Fair Trade Commission investigated Apple Korea for requiring SK Telecom, KT Corp, and LG Uplus Corp to pay the cost of television advertisements and warranty service for its iPhones.

The investigation found that Apple holds a clear advantage over local mobile carriers and that handing over the cost of advertisements was another means of squeezing the profits of the carriers, according to the report.

The law requires that Apple comes up with a correction scheme necessary to restore competition practices or to improve business practices. The commission said it will review detailed corrective measures crafted by Apple Korea and decide whether to approve them.

Apple Korea welcomed the commission's decision and issued the following statement.

"We don't believe we have done anything wrong but are happy to put this process behind us so we can focus on doing even more for our customers and communities," Apple Korea said in a statement.

Apple has faced criticism over its business practices in the country before. In April, the FTC ordered the company to change unfair provisions in its contracts with certified repair service partners which stipulated that the firms could not file lawsuits against Apple within a year after any dispute.

The repair service partners were seen to have little choice but to agree with the terms, due to the market power of Apple's iPhones. Apple complied with the FTC order and changed the contracts.

In 2015, the FTC also ordered Apple to allow customers refunds for repair services.

YouTube channel creator EverythingApplePro caused a minor Twitter storm this morning by claiming a CAD image of the so-called "iPhone 12" suggests some rumors floated by leakers about Apple's upcoming lineup are off base.

The leaked CAD image in question shows the same size of notch and triple-lens camera layout as found on the current ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro series. Previous rumors have suggested Apple's 2020 iPhones will have a smaller notch and a rear LiDAR 3D camera in addition to the three existing lenses.

EverythingApplePro now believes that only the larger 6.7-inch "iPhone 12 Pro Max" will get LiDAR. The expected 3D camera setup was also absent in molds and designs leaked earlier this week.

It's worth noting that CAD images of unreleased iPhones shared online are usually presented as official designs leaked from production factories, but are often made by case makers themselves to predict the design of unreleased devices. With that in mind, it may be that the notch is no smaller in these designs because case makers would probably not need to have an accurate replica of that area. The same could also be said about the absence of the fourth camera lens in the renders.

Other CAD images have shown a Smart Connector-style input where the SIM card try used to be. EverythingApplePro now thinks the "Smart Connector" is actually an mmwave antenna. According to rumors, all of the iPhones in the ‌iPhone‌ 12 lineup will feature 5G connectivity, though it's not yet clear if all models will have super fast mmWave support in all countries.

Apple is expected to announce four iPhones in three different sizes this fall: A 5.4-inch ‌‌iPhone‌‌, a 6.7-inch ‌‌iPhone‌‌, and two 6.1-inch iPhones. One 6.1-inch model and the 6.7-inch model will be higher-end iPhones, while the other 6.1-inch ‌‌iPhone‌‌ and the 5.4-inch ‌‌iPhone‌‌ will be lower-end models and successors to the ‌‌iPhone‌ 11‌.

Rumors also suggest at least two of the new iPhones coming in 2020 will feature a significant redesign with a metal frame that's similar to the frame of the ‌iPhone‌ 4 or the iPad Pro.

Several other rumor mongers have since waded into the Twitter thread with their own claims and counterclaims. Suffice to say there is much disagreement on the origins and accuracy of the shared CAD image. Apple is expected to begin production of its 2020 ‌‌iPhone‌‌ lineup next month. For more on what to expect from the 2020 ‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌ models, be sure to see our dedicated roundup.

MacBook Air and MacBook Pro owners who have one of the new 13-inch 2020 models released earlier this year appear to be experiencing problems with USB 2.0 accessories that connect to their machines though a hub or adapter.

There are a number of complaints about the issue on the MacRumors forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Communities. Affected customers appear to be seeing devices connected to the Mac randomly disconnect, as explained below by a MacRumors reader.

At random times the USB devices connected to the mac though a usb-c hub would just lose connection and stop working all at the same time. This happened with two different USB-C hubs (both expensive, one of them is Satechi which was recommended in many threads), so I am leaning towards ruling out the hubs being at fault.

I'm connecting a few things in the hub - HDMI for an an external monitor, USB audio interface (powered by the mac) and a mouse. When the issue occurs, the mouse and the USB audio interface stop working, but the HDMI connection continues to work without issues, each time.

The issue happens at random moments and there are no steps to reproduce it. It seems to be happening more often when at least two usb devices are connected at the same time.

There are many other similar complaints about disconnection and freezing issues when using USB 2.0 accessories that connect to a Mac through a hub, though there seems to be no clear pattern as to which accessories are affected or when the issue occurs, making it difficult to determine what could be causing the disconnects.

MacBook owners have run into connectivity problems with all kinds of devices that require a USB-A connection, including mice, keyboards, and other accessories. Multiple hubs have been tested, which suggests that the issue is not caused by a particular brand of hub, and it also appears that most of the complaints are limited to USB 2.0 accessories rather than USB 3.0 and 3.1 accessories.

SMC resets, safe mode, Disk Utility repairs, different user logins, and operating system reinstalls have all been unsuccessful addressing the bug, which suggests that it may be something that Apple needs to fix in a future software update, if it is a software problem.

A Reddit user found that USB 2.0 devices that become unresponsive remain indefinitely in the System Information even if unplugged from a hub, while USB 3.0 devices behave properly, so this is one possible cause. He was able to solve the problem with a Thunderbolt CalDigit hub, but whether that fix will work for all impacted machines is unknown, and CalDigit Thunderbolt hubs are pricey.

Apple has a USB 2.0 issue with either the chipset they are using, or a Catalina bug regarding the handling and refreshing of USB 2.0 devices.

However this can be worked around.

USB-C hubs vary in their functionality and there are two types:

1. USB hubs that are transparent proxies
- The Anker, Satechi and StarTech hubs
2. USB hubs that are terminating proxies
- The CalDigit hub and anonymous person on the internet and their monitor hub

Transparent proxies take the USB 2.0 input and present it as USB 2.0 to the MacBook Pro. The Mac or Catalina then will do something wrong and the USB 2.0 devices will freeze / become unresponsive at some point (minutes or hours after being attached).

Terminating proxies take the USB 2.0 input, terminate it, and present it as a fresh input that is USB 3.0 to the MacBook Pro. Everything is good in this scenario.

Multiple ‌MacBook Pro‌ and ‌MacBook Air‌ owners have contacted Apple so Apple may be aware of the issue and could have a fix in the works. Apple has been replacing some affected machines with new models, but users report that the problem persists even when a new Mac is provided.

Twitter today announced the launch of a new feature that's designed to allow people to tweet with their voice, sending voice-based messages instead of text.

Twitter is where you go to talk about what's happening. Over the years, photos, videos, gifs, and extra characters have allowed you to add your own flair and personality to your conversations. But sometimes 280 characters aren't enough and some conversational nuances are lost in translation. So starting today, we're testing a new feature that will add a more human touch to the way we use Twitter - your very own voice.

Voice tweets can be created by opening up the tweet composer and tapping the new wavelengths icon. From there, a screen opens with a user's Twitter icon, which can be tapped to begin a recording.

Twitter users can capture up to 140 seconds of audio, but continuous recording is possible and longer audio will create multiple voice tweets.

Voice tweets will appear on the Twitter timeline just like other tweets. Listening to a voice tweet can be done by tapping on the image, and on iOS, playback starts in an audio player that's docked at the bottom of the timeline users can continue to scroll through Twitter.

Twitter is testing voice tweets with a limited number of people on Twitter for iOS at the current time, but the company says that in the coming weeks, everyone on iOS should be able to send voice tweets.