MacRumors

Last August, Apple Music was updated with a new section in Browse curated by Deutsche Grammophon, one of the biggest classical music labels in the world. While classical music fans welcomed the specific focus of the area, many of our readers quickly pointed out the numerous issues that remain for classical listeners on a daily basis within ‌Apple Music‌, and the fact that they've been there since the launch of the service with seemingly no correction in sight.

To help break down and highlight these problems, we reached out to a few experts in the classical music field, including professor Benjamin Charles, who wrote a blog post about his frustrations with streaming music services last October. We also spoke with Franz Rumiz, a classical music fan whose article "Why Apple Music fails with classical music" struck a chord with the community in early 2017.

Frustrations with classical music streaming are nothing new, but as Charles tells us, this is a problem that affects nearly every streaming music service, including ‌Apple Music‌ rival Spotify. In an effort to find out exactly what's wrong with classical music on ‌Apple Music‌ -- and what steps could be taken to address these problems -- we asked Charles and Rumiz to detail the biggest issues with classical music on ‌Apple Music‌.

The Problems

Classical music is treated as a single genre

When you tap on "Genres" in ‌Apple Music‌'s Browse tab, you're treated with a list of over 30 styles of music, from Alternative and African Music to Christian, Electronic, K-Pop, and Metal. This is where classical music fans have to visit to find their favorite music, within the singular "Classical" genre section.

For Charles, this is the first in a long line of problems. The section spans centuries, including all of the notable composers like Mozart (born 1756, died 1791), Maurice Ravel (b. 1875, d. 1937), and John Cage (b. 1912, d. 1992), but this grouping is frustrating for classical music aficionados, given how little these musicians have in common among one another.

Charles: "...We’re treating around 300 years of music from various countries, forms, philosophies, and so on as one genre. As far as modern commercial music, we don’t group the past 50 years together: can you imagine how strange it would be to group LL Cool J, Metallica, and The Spice Girls together? These are all artists that were popular in the 90s; beyond that, they have virtually nothing in common. Grouping together Mozart, Ravel, and Cage makes even less sense."

Rumiz: "The sorting of recordings follows the rules of pop & rock genre. For classical music this doesn’t fit at all, because you very often want to compare different recordings of the same pieces by the same composer with different soloists, orchestras and conductors. It is very complicated and sometimes impossible to sort and find recordings by these categories."

Classical music wasn't designed to fit in modern album templates

Streaming classical music on a service like ‌Apple Music‌ forces the expansive art form into a strict, boundary-ridden template. Because of this, numerous aspects of the music are truncated in a way that deflates their impact, particularly for anyone without existing knowledge of classical recordings.

Charles says that one aspect of classical music that's mixed up in the shuffle is the listener's interest in a piece's composer versus its performer. While some artists, like Leonard Bernstein, both compose and perform their music, Charles questions how ‌Apple Music‌ determines the best recording for a piece of music: "Is a recording more significant because it is composed by Bach, or is it more significant because it is performed by Glenn Gould?"

Further complicating matters, orchestral recordings introduce both the conductor and orchestra as contributors, essentially breaking any possibility for these pieces to be read and seen within the boundaries of a modern album format. With concerti, the soloist, composer, and orchestra also need credit.

This results in albums with names like "Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26 - Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major, M.83; Gaspard de la nuit, M. 55," credited to "Martha Argerich, Berlin Philharmonic & Claudio Abbado."

Not only is this far too much information to read clearly in ‌Apple Music‌, but the app's basic UI functions fail to provide links to every credited artist, making further classical music discovery a frustrating endeavor. In the above example, the link for "Martha Argerich, Berlin Philharmonic & Claudio Abbado" directs listeners only to Martha Argerich's ‌Apple Music‌ profile page.

Charles: "That is a lot more difficult to follow than The Wall by Pink Floyd. Clicking the performer’s name in this case links you to more Martha Argerich recordings—what if you’re curious to hear more of the Berlin Philharmonic or Claudio Abbado? (And I won’t even bother going into the complications that come with identifying an opera cast.)

In short, classical music was not designed with the album format in mind. Some pieces are substantial enough that they could fill up an entire album (Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 comes to mind); some are even so long that they would exceed the length of a traditional album (Steve Reich’s Drumming comes to mind). Some are also less than a minute long (Bach Two Part Inventions come to mind)"

On that note, Rumiz points out that classical music playlists are essentially nonsense. This is because each playlist takes in arias and overtures from various operas, completely disrupting the ordered way that classical music is intended to be listened to. This happens in playlists like Apple's "Essentials" for composers like Richard Wagner, and in mood playlists designed for studying or relaxing.

Rumiz: "Again Apple offers something for their mainstream audience which doesn’t fit the genre. I don’t want to hear just one part of a symphony, I want to listen to the whole thing! The same applies to classical music radio."

Siri isn't very helpful

Because of these wordy titles, any voice-enabled features touted by Apple and found within ‌Apple Music‌ are much harder to use for classical music fans.

As Charles bluntly puts it, "Can you imagine: 'Hey Siri, play the third movement of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 from the album Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26 - Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major, M.83; Gaspard de la nuit, M. 55 by Martha Argerich, Berlin Philharmonic & Claudio Abbado."

In our tests, simply stating "Hey ‌Siri‌, play Prokofiev's Piano Concerto" did lead to ‌Siri‌ playing the correct concerto in the correct order, but as with all things ‌Siri‌, the command was not consistently reliable. The proclivity toward the use of foreign language titles for some pieces, and the acceptance of English versions of the same titles, also regularly stumps ‌Siri‌.

"Sometimes we use English titles, sometimes we use foreign language titles; 'The Rite of Spring' and 'Le Sacre du printemps' seem to be used equally to describe the same piece," Charles explains.

There are breaks between each track

Rumiz's biggest issue with classical on ‌Apple Music‌ is the breaks that happen between tracks in recordings (this frustration originally led Rumiz to write his Medium post on the topic). For any classical piece that is through-composed (music intended to be played from beginning to end in one continuous stream), ‌Apple Music‌ interrupts the fluidity of the piece by placing a break of ~1 second between each track.

Rumiz does point out that Apple has removed these breaks from many recordings over the years, but it isn't solved for all recordings.

Rumiz: "I find these breaks in the middle of a thrilling, highly emotional classical symphony to be annoying — they are destroying the concentration and pleasure of the listener."

There is a large barrier to entry for new listeners

This is Charles' biggest problem with classical on ‌Apple Music‌. Although the browsing and playback experience can be awkward, the music professor ultimately notes that his background and education in the subject help him navigate ‌Apple Music‌'s less-than-stellar classical music selection with some ease. If you're on the other end of that spectrum, trying to get into the genre and navigating 300+ years of music on ‌Apple Music‌, it's "effectively impossible."

Charles is understandably disappointed in the lack of education and forethought put into classical selections on ‌Apple Music‌. There are no program notes, select few pieces of biographical information, and no guidance when navigating among composers. Despite the music having thorough research readily available, ‌Apple Music‌ ditches all interconnections between notable composers in favor of static tabs of music lists.

Listening to classical music often requires the listener to understand the work in context to get everything out of it. Without these tidbits of history, connective tissues between composers, and educational program notes, ‌Apple Music‌ fails this fan base.

Charles: "So in short, classical music is left to an exclusive crowd of enthusiasts that already know what they are looking for. Apple prides itself on making devices and services with user interfaces that anyone can use, yet classical music remains locked in a vault for the select few that already know it inside and out."

There's a lack of legitimacy

As an extension of the previous grievance, ‌Apple Music‌'s Beethoven page lacks a link to the composer's spiritual successor, Brahms, but it does provide a link to an artist named "Chopin." Unfortunately, this is not the Polish composer, but a rapper who appeared on a hip-hop song named "Circumstance," which was released in 2018. "Even if it did link to the correct Chopin, there are far more relevant composers to link to," Charles points out.

Furthermore, Apple populates composer pages with songs from albums and playlists that don't necessarily paint these artists in a respected light. Beethoven's "Top Songs" include songs from albums like "The World's Most Beautiful Wedding Music," "Classical Music for Power Pilates," and "Exam Study." While relevant to each of these activities, Apple's decision to push these results higher on the page above more reputed collections "sends strong signals of a lack of legitimacy in the classical music world," Charles argues.

The Solutions

Build better composer pages and offer more categories

This would be feasible, since Apple just last year updated the artist pages across ‌Apple Music‌ with new profile picture designs, new featured albums, album reorganization, and a "play all" button. Although composers and their works are inherently more complex, Charles points out that some already have their own identification systems, including the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV) catalog for Bach and the Köchel (K) catalog for Mozart, which have the potential for streamlined integration into ‌Apple Music‌.

In the same vein, Rumiz says more categories would do wonders for expanding the ease-of-use of classical on ‌Apple Music‌, by offering more complex categories like "soloist" and "conductor," instead of following the rules of pop and rock music where songs only have one artist. While this would be a big task for Apple, Rumiz notes that it will be "necessary if they want classical music fans to continue using ‌Apple Music‌ on the long run."

Fix irrelevant recommendations

In a simpler and easier solution, Charles hopes Apple can more intelligently guide users to important and noteworthy composers, pieces, and musicians, that actually have relevance to one another. No more erroneous "Chopin" pages and "Ode to Joy" recommendations found within Power Pilates playlists.

Make it smarter and hire a human curator

Overall, Charles is hoping for Apple to boost the intelligence of its classical music section on ‌Apple Music‌. To start, he recommends Apple hire a musicologist whose job it would be to personally back the rejuvenation of the classical music features on the service. This would be just like most other sections of ‌Apple Music‌, where algorithms are backed and double-checked by human editors, like Arjan Timmermans's role as Apple Music's "Head of Pop."

This includes adding program notes that would enhance the listener's understanding of classical music, so that they're actually taking part in digesting and understanding the composition and not just passively listening. Charles explains the importance of knowing a piece's real-world history: "Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique is a great example: it features a story (loosely based on the composer's own life) of an artist obsessing with a love interest, taking opium, and murdering his beloved in a drug-induced trip. This sort of thing kind of changes how you hear a piece!"

Charles: "Effectively, the service should offer somewhat of a university-style music appreciation course for the average listener."

Acquire a company that does most of this already

In a move that would make sense given Apple's history, Apple could also simply acquire a company that's doing most of these things already, and implement the technology within an update to ‌Apple Music‌. Charles pointed me toward the Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall [Direct iTunes Link], a classical music streaming service that has live and on-demand concerts (up to 40 each season), hundreds of archived recordings covering five decades, composer interviews, documentaries, artist portraits, and a family-friendly education program that dives into the history of each piece.

While the Digital Concert Hall mostly lacks simple music streaming, if Apple made a deal with Berlin Philharmonic, the service's features would greatly boost classical music offerings on ‌Apple Music‌.

Rumiz doesn't recommend an outright acquisition, but he does point towards a company and service that is already leagues ahead of Apple in the classical music field: IDAGIO [Direct iTunes Link]. This service costs $9.99/month and focuses solely on classical music. While some important recordings are missing and require him to return to ‌Apple Music‌ or Spotify, Rumiz says that IDAGIO's usability and interface are far better than ‌Apple Music‌, eliminating many of the frustrations classical fans have with streaming services.

Boost the video offerings

According to Rumiz, a well-organized and fully featured suite of classical video content "could be an important selling point" for a streaming service intent on gaining more classical fans. Apple has a few of these, offering background interviews with artists, but Rumiz points toward YouTube Music as the current leader in this category, since it offers full recordings of concerts and operas.

The Future

In the end, Apple -- and Spotify, Google, Amazon, etc. -- have a tricky battle ahead of them if and when they decide to address the issue of classical music on streaming services. "It doesn't seem to be a business priority [for Apple]," Charles admits, and in the current scheme of things, the company's focus on pop and hip-hop in ‌Apple Music‌ is logical from a financial standpoint.

But that doesn't change the fact that there are millions of classical music fans willing and ready to pay the company that can get these things right. "This is a completely untapped market," Charles tells me. "One streaming service could completely own the classical music audience if it wanted to."

Samsung has leaked its upcoming wearables lineup through its Galaxy Wearable app for Android ahead of its February 20 event.

As spotted by Twitter account SamCentralTech, and reported by The Verge, the initial "pick your device" screen of the app reveals the names and marketing images for a new Galaxy Watch Active, Galaxy Fit fitness trackers, and Galaxy Buds.

Galaxy Buds are the least known of the three products, serving as Samsung's latest AirPods competitor. They won't be Samsung's first pair of truly wireless earphones, succeeding the Gear IconX in 2016, but rumors suggest they'll be able to charge wirelessly on the back of the upcoming Galaxy S10.

As for the Galaxy Watch Active, the app reveals the bezel-less smartwatch will be available in a 40mm size in at least two colors.

Samsung will be hosting a media event on Wednesday, February 20 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, where it is widely expected to unveil a trio of new Galaxy S10 smartphones alongside these wearables.

A red variant of the iPhone XS and XS Max could be launching in China sooner rather than later, if a social media rumor proves to be accurate.

A Weibo post spotted by iPhoneHacks.com claims Apple will launch the red color models by the end of this month, in a bid to boost struggling ‌iPhone‌ sales in the region.

The leaker, who claims to have received the tip from sources in Apple's supply chain, says that Apple will call the model "China Red," and not the PRODUCT(RED) branding that the company typically associates with the color.

Apple globally launched a mid-cycle (PRODUCT)RED edition ‌iPhone‌ 7 and ‌iPhone‌ 7 Plus in March 2017 and a similar edition for the ‌iPhone‌ 8 and ‌iPhone‌ 8 Plus in April 2018, so the timing wouldn't be completely off. Apple already sells a (PRODUCT)RED variant of the ‌iPhone‌ XR.

There's also precedent for Apple using a different name in China – the company dropped the PRODUCT(RED) branding in the country for both the ‌iPhone‌ 7 and ‌iPhone‌ 8 models, instead promoting them simply as additional colorways.

Apple has partnered with the (RED) Global Fund for nearly 13 years to sell a variety of red-colored devices and accessories. For each product sold, Apple makes an unspecified contribution to HIV/AIDS charity. However sex remains a controversial issue in China, where AIDS and HIV have been characterized in the past as a consequence of contact with the West.

Despite the lack of any PRODUCT(RED) mention in China, Apple CEO Tim Cook assured MacRumors in a March 2017 email that the company upholds its charitable Global Fund donations commitment for every special edition red ‌iPhone‌ sold in every country in the world, with or without said branding.

If there's any weight to today's rumor of a red ‌iPhone‌ XS and XS coming to China, it could potentially signal the early launch of PRODUCT(RED) versions for the rest of the world, although nothing is certain. Rumors last year of a mid-cycle PRODUCT(RED) edition of the ‌iPhone‌ X never transpired, for example.

It's also worth noting that several Chinese mobile makers will be launching their 2019 flagship phones over the next couple of months, so Apple may be using new red ‌iPhone‌ models as a counterweight to new rival devices on the market.

Right around the time that Apple debuted new Smart Battery cases designed for the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR, Mophie, a popular accessory maker, also introduced its Juice Pack Access battery cases for the new iPhones.

In our latest YouTube video, we went hands-on with the Juice Pack Access to compare it to Apple's Smart Battery Case to see if it's a better option for those looking to extend their ‌iPhone‌ batteries.

The cases are similar in weight and thickness, and both cases have a hump design with an area where the battery inside the case protrudes. The Juice Pack Access is also made from a smooth plastic while the ‌Smart Battery Case‌ is silicone, so those who don't like silicone may prefer the plastic.

Like the ‌Smart Battery Case‌, the Juice Pack Access allows Lightning accessories to be used because it leaves the Lightning port unobstructed. Prior cases used the Lightning port to supply power to the ‌iPhone‌, but the new model uses Qi wireless charging exclusively.

The Juice Pack Access charges the ‌iPhone‌ at the 5W wireless charging speed, which is a bit slow. Apple's solution, meanwhile, builds an extra Lightning port into the ‌Smart Battery Case‌ because Apple has access to tighter integrations.

The benefit there is Lightning support with faster charging, though with a battery case, charging speed isn't a huge factor since it's meant to be used throughout the day, but it can be important if you're putting the battery case on in a situation where your battery is already nearly drained.

You can charge the Juice Pack Access wirelessly on a Qi charger or through an included USB-C port, though those who don't already have USB-C devices and cables may find that cumbersome. Apple's ‌Smart Battery Case‌ charges either wirelessly or through the Lightning port, which is more convenient.

There's a 2,200mAh battery in the Juice Pack Access for ‌iPhone‌ XS Max and a 2,000mAh battery in the cases for the XR and XS, while Apple's ‌Smart Battery Case‌ offers more power thanks to two 1,369mAh batteries in the device.

For example, Mophie says the ‌iPhone‌ XS Max paired with the Juice Pack offers 31 hours of talk time, 16 hours of internet use, and 18 hours of video playback.

The ‌iPhone‌ XS Max with the ‌Smart Battery Case‌ offers a total of 37 hours of talk time, 20 hours of internet use, and 25 hours of video playback.

In our testing, the ‌Smart Battery Case‌ lasted for a longer period of time than the Juice Pack, which is not surprising given that it offers a bit more power.

The ‌Smart Battery Case‌ has the edge over Mophie's version when it comes to checking battery level. Because of the tight iOS integration, you can see your ‌Smart Battery Case‌ battery level on the Lock screen and in the Notification Center, with Apple offering exact charge numbers.

There are four LEDs to indicate charge on the Juice Pack, but it's not nearly as granular. You also don't need to turn the ‌Smart Battery Case‌ on - it just works and is constantly supplying power to the ‌iPhone‌ when it's on the ‌iPhone‌. You will need to make sure turn on the Juice Pack Access, which could be a benefit or a hassle depending on your perspective.

Apple sells its Smart Battery Cases for the 2018 iPhones for $129 in Apple retail stores, third-party stores, and online. Mophie's Juice Pack Access, available from the Mophie website, is more affordable at $99, but it loses out on some bells and whistles you get with Apple's case.

What do you think of the Juice Pack Access? Is the $29 savings worth it over Apple's ‌Smart Battery Case‌? Let us know in the comments.

Apple recently purchased Data Tiger, a UK startup focused on digital marketing, reports Bloomberg. The acquisition, says Bloomberg, could improve Apple's digital marketing and make it "more relevant to customers."

DataTiger's website is blank, but a LinkedIn page for the company says that it offers a set of tools that enable customers to build marketing software that "puts data to work."

Using DataTiger is the fastest and easiest way to increase retention & monetisation. With our platform you can individually optimize the marketing flows for your customers in real-time across all channels.

DataTiger can be used as an online tool, importing your data and set up user flows in minutes, with all of your data living in the cloud - or it can be fully customized in-house, building your own marketing solution via our APIs + open-source front-end components.

Specifically, the site more accurately takes advantage of customer data to send relevant materials and advertisements to them.

Apple appears to have made the purchase in December, and based on a regulatory filing discovered by Bloomberg, now controls Operatedata, DataTiger's legal name. A spokesperson has yet to confirm the acquisition, however.

While Apple is planning to preview its rumored streaming TV service at an event that's set to be held on March 25, a launch may not happen for several months.

According to sources that spoke to Variety, Apple will announce the service in March, but it may not be available to customers until the summer, or as late as fall.

Sources familiar with the plans say Apple's video service will be targeted for a launch in summer or fall rather than the April timing that has been the subject of media speculation. Apple has vowed to its high-caliber producing partners to mount marketing blitzes on behalf of the shows in addition to the service itself.

Apple has more than two dozen original television shows in the works, many of which have already been cast. It's not clear if filming has started, but holding the launch of the service until at least some of the shows are available would make sense.

Apple has not yet announced its March 25 event, but multiple rumors from well-respected sites have indicated that's the date when it will be held.

The March 25 event will be focused on services, and Apple is not expected to debut new hardware even though there are multiple rumors of products getting a spring refresh.

We could instead see devices like the AirPower, iPad mini 5, new AirPods, a seventh-generation iPad, and a seventh-generation iPod touch announced via press release given that these are all minor updates.

Major stars that include Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell, all of whom have roles in Apple shows, have been invited to attend the March event, which will also include an announcement of a new Apple News service.

Variety's sources caution that specific plans for the event and how the video service will be introduced may be "in flux until the minutes Cook steps on the stage."

Google is planning to unveil a cheaper smartphone as part of an aggressive effort to draw more users into the Google ecosystem and to better compete with Apple, according to a recent report from Nikkei.

Google is said to be planning to exploit Apple's current pricing issues. Apple suffered poorer iPhone sales than expected during the holiday quarter, and one major factor was the high cost of iPhones around the world.

Google's upcoming smartphone will be priced similarly to Apple's iPhone XR, which costs $749 for the entry-level model in the United States. Google is targeting customers looking for a more affordable smartphone option and customers in emerging markets where higher-priced smartphones don't sell well.

Prior Google smartphones, such as the latest Pixel, have started at higher prices. The 2018 Pixel 3 released in October was priced starting at $799.

Along with a new lower-cost smartphone, Google is planning on hardware that includes new smart speakers, wearables, and web cameras. Google has been planning its hardware push for years and has scooped up hundreds of hardware engineers and supply chain specialists from Apple.

Google wants to use Google-branded hardware to push various Google services, a tactic that has been successful for Apple.

Alleged photos of Google's lower-cost Pixel smartphone surfaced earlier this year, depicting a device that looks a lot like the Pixel 3 but with a plastic shell.

Rumors have suggested the smartphone will feature 1 5.56-inch 2,220 x 1,080 LCD display instead of an OLED panel, along with a Snapdragon 670 processor, 32GB of storage, a headphone jack, 4GB of RAM, the same high-quality 12-megapixel camera that's in the Pixel 3, and a 2,915mAh battery.

It's not entirely clear when Google will debut the new lower cost smartphone, but one solid guess is Google I/O, which will take place in May.

For those who have been unable to take advantage of the $249 iPhone SE deal on Apple's U.S. clearance site, Apple again has a limited supply of the discounted 4-inch devices.

You can purchase the 32GB iPhone SE in gold for $249 or the 128GB ‌iPhone‌ SE in space gray or silver for $299.

Apple has been offering ‌iPhone‌ SE models on clearance since mid-January, but available stock often sells out quickly. Apple has done several restocks, however, giving those who prefer smaller devices one last chance to purchase a 4-inch ‌iPhone‌ on the cheap.

Apple originally discontinued the ‌iPhone‌ SE in September 2018 when the ‌iPhone‌ XS, XS Max, and XR were announced. Apple's ‌iPhone‌ lineup now starts with the ‌iPhone‌ 7 and 7 Plus as its entry level devices.

The ‌iPhone‌ SE, first announced in March 2016, was the last 4-inch smartphone that Apple offered, with the 4.7-inch ‌iPhone‌ 7 and ‌iPhone‌ 8 models now the smallest that Apple officially sells in retail stores.

With these clearance sales, Apple seems to be getting rid of remaining ‌iPhone‌ SE stock, and it's clear that available supply is dwindling. There are just three ‌iPhone‌ SE models that can be purchased on the site now, while earlier stock updates had more options.

Those who want to get an ‌iPhone‌ SE should do so soon because it's not clear how many more restocks Apple will be offering.

The creative mastermind behind some of Apple's most iconic advertising campaigns announced his retirement today.

Lee Clow, the Global Director of Media Arts at Apple's advertising agency partner TBWA, will move into an advisory role as Chairman Emeritus of TBWA\Media Arts Lab, a division of the agency he founded in 2006 to exclusively serve Apple. His iconic, award-winning career spanned five decades.

Over a 30-plus-year partnership with Apple, Clow worked on some of the company's most famous campaigns, including its "1984" ad for the original Macintosh, "Get a Mac" series of Mac vs. PC ads, "Think Different" slogan after Steve Jobs returned in 1997, and colorful silhouette ads for the iPod and iTunes.

Apple CEO Tim Cook reflected on Clow's legendary career:

During his long partnership with Steve and Apple, Lee told powerful visual stories that elevated new technologies with the passion, creativity and ingenuity that define our own humanity. He helped Apple carry itself through times of challenge, and his work inspired audiences to look beyond the horizon as an exciting future came into view. Lee's body of work over five decades hums with cleverness, warmth and enthusiasm—and there is no doubt that it will inspire and motivate generations of 'Crazy Ones' still to come.

A look back at some of those ads:

TBWA\Media Arts Lab will continue to serve Apple around the world, led by executives Katrien De Bauw and Brent Anderson.

Apple today confirmed rumors that it will start selling modified iPhone models in its German stores to comply with a patent infringement lawsuit Qualcomm won against the company in December.

The California-based company said it had "no choice" but to replace Intel chips in the ‌iPhone‌ models with chips from Qualcomm in order to allow them to be sold again in the country.

"Qualcomm is attempting to use injunctions against our products to try to get Apple to succumb to their extortionist demands. In many cases they are using patents they purchased or that have nothing to do with their cellular technology to harass Apple and other industry players," an Apple spokesperson said.

"To ensure all iPhone models can again be available to customers in Germany, we have no choice but to stop using Intel chips and ship our phones with Qualcomm chips in Germany. Qualcomm is working to eliminate competition by any means they can, harming consumers and stifling industry innovation along the way."

Sources in German retail hinted last week that Apple was working on new versions of the ‌iPhone‌ 7, 7 Plus, 8, and 8 Plus with updated modem hardware that does not violate the injunction levied against it in Germany that resulted in a sales ban on the devices.

Mobile chip supplier Qualcomm sued Apple in Germany alleging that some older ‌iPhone‌ 7 and ‌iPhone‌ 8 models violated Qualcomm patents related to so-called "envelope tracking," which helps mobile phones save battery power while sending and receiving wireless signals. The German court sided with Qualcomm and demanded Apple stop selling the offending iPhones in the country.

In its ongoing legal dispute with Qualcomm, Apple has also had some ‌iPhone‌ models banned in China. However, Apple was able to get around that ban with a software update and has continued selling ‌iPhone‌ 7 and ‌iPhone‌ 8 models in that country.

Misuse of Apple's enterprise developer program certificates continues to make news, with a new report from Reuters outlining how software pirates have been using the program to distribute hacked versions of popular apps like Minecraft, Pokemon Go, Spotify, Angry Birds, and more.

Using so-called enterprise developer certificates, these pirate operations are providing modified versions of popular apps to consumers, enabling them to stream music without ads and to circumvent fees and rules in games, depriving Apple and legitimate app makers of revenue.

The software pirates in turn make money by charging some users annual subscription fees for "VIP" versions of their hacked apps that are "more stable than the free versions."

After being alerted by Reuters to these developer accounts being used to distribute hacked apps, Apple removed a number of them, but more have since sprung up to take their place.

Revelations regarding abuse of Apple's enterprise developer program surfaced late last month, led by word that Facebook and Google were using the program to distribute market research apps to users that were capable of tracking all of their online activity in exchange for rewards.

Apple briefly revoked enterprise certificates for both companies, which had the side effect of temporarily disabling Facebook's and Google's internal apps including custom testing versions of their own public apps as well as private internal apps for corporate use such as transportation and food.

And just yesterday, additional abuse of Apple's enterprise program came to light in the form of apps featuring adult content and gambling that can not be distributed through the traditional App Store due to Apple's rules prohibiting or limiting those types of content.

Apple today announced that as of February 27, all developer accounts will require two-factor authentication to be turned on, a move that will help secure these accounts and limit their ability to be traded or sold amongst those seeking to skirt Apple's rules.

Apple is set to launch an Apple News service that will provide access to paywalled news content and magazines for one $9.99 monthly fee in March, but the company is still working to establish deals with newspapers.

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal said that Apple was having trouble convincing some major news publications like the Washington Post and The New York Times to sign up for the service, due to Apple wanting a 50 percent revenue split.

Apple would keep 50 percent of all subscription revenue and the other half of the revenue would be split among publishers "according to the amount of time users spend engaged with their articles."

Compared to Apple's 70/30 App Store split and the more than 70 percent of revenue that goes to Apple Music artists, the 50/50 split sounds stingy, but Recode today spoke with industry insiders and provided some insight into why Apple settled on that number.

As it turns out, there are many magazine publishers already on board with the 50/50 revenue agreement, with most convinced that Apple will get millions of people to subscribe to the new service, providing a lot of revenue to publishers despite the dramatic split. From Re/code:

And some publishers are happy to do it, because they think Apple will sign up many millions of people to the new service. And they'd rather have a smaller percentage of a bigger number than a bigger chunk of a smaller number.

In the words of a publishing executive who is optimistic about Apple's plans: "It's the absolute dollars paid out that matters, not the percentage."

Magazine publishers, though, have little to no online monetization of their content, which is not true of major newspapers. The New York Times and the Washington Post, for example, have existing digital subscription businesses that allow them to collect 100 percent of the revenue brought in by subscribers.

According to Recode, magazine publishers that have been participating in Texture, the magazine service Apple purchased, are already familiar with that kind of revenue split. Texture will form the base for the ‌Apple News‌ subscription service Apple is creating, with Apple planning to charge one fee for access to news and magazines.

Since Apple's Texture purchase, magazines have been receiving approximately half of the revenue the service generates, along with 100 percent of ad revenue. It's not clear if major newspapers will ultimately agree to a similar terms given that doing so could cannibalize more profitable subscription options available outside of ‌Apple News‌.

Apple is telling publishers that the new ‌Apple News‌ service will be heavily promoted and that it has the potential to generate millions of subscribers, which, as Recode points out, is not impossible given the success of the ‌Apple Music‌ service. ‌Apple Music‌, which launched in 2015, now has more than 50 million paid subscribers.