Most products and accessories purchased between November 10 and December 25 of this year are eligible for return until January 8, 2017 in the United States, Australia, Canada, and select other regions, or until January 20, 2017 in many European countries such as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Apple products that can be returned include, among other things, the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. The few items that cannot be returned include Apple or iTunes gift cards. Apple products can be opened and used prior to the return date, but must be returned undamaged with the original packaging.
When making a purchase at an Apple retail store, we recommend that you ask for printed and emailed copies of your receipt. Both printed and emailed receipts will indicate the return date for each product purchased, while Apple also lists the cutoff date under the "Your Account" section on its website.
All purchases made before today or after December 25 are subject to Apple's standard 14-day return policy in most countries.
Update: The extended holiday return policy is now reflected on Apple's delivery and pickup page.
Apple Maps has recently been updated with all-new traffic data in Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Slovenia, providing users with real-time updates about vehicular traffic in three more European countries. As usual, highly congested areas will display orange or red lines along the roads to indicate that drivers may face delays. The traffic feature is also now available in Gibraltar, a small British territory on Spain's south coast.
Apple Maps traffic data is available in over 40 other countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, China, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Gibraltar, and select other regions in Europe.
Last month, Apple delayed the launch of its all-new AirPods beyond the late October timeframe it originally promised, saying it needed "a little more time" before the wireless earphones are ready for customers. Since then, AirPods have remained listed as "currently unavailable" on Apple's website.
Shortly thereafter, a report citing supply chain sources indicated AirPods will not launch until January 2017, suggesting they will not be available in time for this year's holiday shopping season. But that timeline would seem awfully late, especially considering some Apple retail stores have already received AirPods demo units.
Lending credence to a launch sooner rather than later, an employee at Apple reseller Conrad has reportedly told a customer it will receive AirPods stock on November 17, and make them available to purchase by November 18-19. Here is the translated quote from German blog Apfelpage.de:
"Hello, I have just talked with an employee of the Conrad Online Store where I ordered [a pair of] AirPods on October 14 since I wanted to cancel my order today. According to the employee's information they will have them on stock starting November 17 and I will get them delivered between November 18-19.“
Conrad's website still says AirPods will be available for delivery in 7 to 8 weeks, so it is entirely possible the employee provided incorrect information, but there now remains at least some hope that customers will be able to purchase AirPods in time for the holidays. Nevertheless, treat the conversation as anecdotal evidence at best.
Apple recently expanded the universal search feature on its fourth-generation Apple TV to include MUBI, Hopster, and CW Seed. MUBI's universal search functionality has been added in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, while Hopster has been added in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Additionally, only users in the U.S. can take advantage of having CW Seed in universal search.
For those unfamiliar, MUBI is a $5.99 per month service that gives subscribers a new film every day, with up to a month to watch it, "so there will always be 30 extraordinary films" for users to watch each time they open the app. Hopster is also a straight-forward $4.99 per month streaming service, aimed at providing "safe and ad-free" entertainment for kids. The CW Seed app is an offshoot of the main CW network, and is home to shorter digital series, as well as older shows like Pushing Daisies and V, but it doesn't include currently-running CW series, which are housed in the main app for The CW.
With these apps added, users will now receive content updates from each service within relevant universal search prompts. Universal search lets Apple TV users conduct Siri voice searches or text-based searches to find TV shows and movies across any app supporting the feature. When the Apple TV launched, not many apps were included in universal search, but Apple has slowly been expanding its reach ever since.
The current list of all apps supported in universal search, broken down by countries, can be found here.
Following Target's Black Friday ad shared yesterday, today electronics retailer Best Buy posted its Black Friday deals, showcasing doorbusters and all-day sales that include a few Apple products. Sixteen sales in total are even beginning now, one on the 13-inch MacBook Air with Intel Core i5, 8GB memory, and 256 flash storage, which is $200 off its original price of $1,199.00.
For every other deal, customers will have to wait until Best Buy's doors open at 5 p.m. local time on Thanksgiving, November 24, and the sales mentioned in the advertisement will run through November 26. For those willing to wait in line, Doorbusters include deals on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, MacBook Air, and iMac.
- $125 off all 9.7-inch iPad Pro models - $200 off 13-inch MacBook Air with Intel Core i5, 8GB memory, and 128 flash storage - $200 off 13-inch MacBook Air with Intel Core i5, 8GB memory, and 256 flash storage - $200 off 21.5-inch iMac with Intel Core i5, 8GB memory, and 1TB hard drive
Deals running throughout the day on Black Friday include $40 off the fourth-generation Apple TV, iPad Air 2 discounts, and a few installment plans savings for those interested in the iPhone 7 and iPhone SE.
- $40 off fourth-generation 64GB Apple TV - $125 off all iPad Air 2 models - $50 off Apple Watch Series 1 - $200 off 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display, Intel Core i5, 8GB Memory, and 1TB Hard Drive - Buy one, get one 30% off for all iTunes gift cards - $160 off iPhone SE installment plans with Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint (starting at $9.99/month for 24 months) - Up to a $250 Best Buy gift card when purchasing iPhone 7 installment plan with Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint
Feral Interactive announced today that classic strategy game Rome: Total War is now available on iPad for a one-time purchase of $9.99.
The third title in the Total War series, Rome was hailed by MacRumors sister site TouchArcade as "not only one of the best strategy games ever, but one of the best PC games, period".
In what's considered the highlight of the series, players get to take control of one of three Roman houses vying for control of the Republic/Empire. The turn-based strategy gameplay is punctuated by real-time battles in 3D, where players command and control huge swathes of units in the field.
As one of the first desktop strategy titles to make the port to iPad, Feral says much time has been invested in heavily optimizing the game for the device, including reworked textures and a range of features designed with mobile gaming in mind.
"Optimizing Rome: Total War for iPad has been a huge design and programming challenge," said David Stephen, Managing Director at Feral Interactive. "Our aim has been to bring it to a new and very different platform without compromising its enormous content, superb gameplay or strategic depth. Working closely with Creative Assembly, I believe we have done that and am confident that Total War veterans and novices alike will enjoy the result."
Gamers need a first-generation iPad Air or newer, an iPad mini 2 or newer, or any iPad Pro to play the game, which requires just under 4GB of free space to install and iOS 9.3.5 or later.
Apple has shared its annual holiday gift guide on its website, with product recommendations such as the 12-inch MacBook, iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad Pro, fourth-generation Apple TV, gift cards, and related accessories. The guide also points gift-givers towards various music products, photography products, games, and toys.
This year's holiday gift guide is less sophisticated than in previous years, such as in 2015 when Apple split gift recommendations into six categories: gaming, photography, music, fitness, learning, and travel. Nevertheless, this year's list provides a basic overview of some of Apple's most popular products and accessories for those unfamiliar.
As a reminder, Apple offers free shipping in several countries:
• United States: Free two-day shipping on in-stock items ordered by 5:00 p.m. local time each day, and free next-day shipping on any in-stock iPhone. • United Kingdom: Free next-day delivery on in-stock orders over £40 placed by 19:00 local time each day. Free standard delivery for everything else. • Australia: Free next-business-day delivery to most metro areas on in-stock items over $250 ordered by 2 p.m. local time. Free standard delivery for everything else. • Canada: Free standard shipping on everything. • Western Europe: In countries such as France, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands, Apple offers free next-day delivery on in-stock orders over €40 placed between 15:00 and 17:00 local time each day. Free standard shipping is generally available otherwise. Free shipping on everything is also available in Italy.
PayPal has updated its iOS app to include Siri integration with support for a variety of languages across 30 countries.
In a post on its official blog, PayPal announced that users of the digital payment service will be able to use Apple's voice-activated AI personal assistant to send and request money among friends and family.
With so many P2P transactions happening during such a busy season, we're excited to give our users an early holiday present: starting November 10, Siri will be integrated with PayPal. For iPhone and iPad users running iOS 10, making a payment has never been easier – PayPal users can now send and request money via a voice command with Siri. Simply say, "Hey Siri, send Bill $50 using PayPal." Voila! One less thing to check off the to-do list this holiday season.
The company says it expects the number of peer-to-peer transactions to increase over the holiday period, and predicts more than 17 million transactions in December alone.
Support for Siri-PayPal integration currently covers the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium (French and Dutch), Brazil, Canada (English and French), China, Denmark, Finland (Finnish), France, Germany, Hong Kong (Cantonese), India, Israel (Hebrew), Italy, Japan, Malaysia (Malay), Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia (Arabic), Singapore (English), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (French, German, and Italian), Thailand, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates (Arabic), and the United States.
With the launch of iOS 10, Apple opened up Siri to third-party developers for the first time by making a Siri API publicly available. Siri now supports a multitude of app types, including messaging apps like WhatsApp and ride-hailing apps like Uber.
Apple CEO Tim Cook sent out a memo to all U.S. Apple employees on Wednesday reassuring them that the company would "move forward together" following Donald Trump's surprise election win this week.
In the memo, obtained by BuzzFeed, Cook did not name Trump, but pushed back against some of his more divisive rhetoric uttered during the campaign by re-affirming Apple's commitment to diversity.
Team,
I've heard from many of you today about the presidential election. In a political contest where the candidates were so different and each received a similar number of popular votes, it's inevitable that the aftermath leaves many of you with strong feelings.
We have a very diverse team of employees, including supporters of each of the candidates. Regardless of which candidate each of us supported as individuals, the only way to move forward is to move forward together. I recall something Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said 50 years ago: "If you can't fly, then run. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward." This advice is timeless, and a reminder that we only do great work and improve the world by moving forward.
While there is discussion today about uncertainties ahead, you can be confident that Apple's North Star hasn't changed. Our products connect people everywhere, and they provide the tools for our customers to do great things to improve their lives and the world at large. Our company is open to all, and we celebrate the diversity of our team here in the United States and around the world — regardless of what they look like, where they come from, how they worship or who they love.
I've always looked at Apple as one big family and I encourage you to reach out to your co-workers if they are feeling anxious.
Let's move forward — together!
Best, Tim
Trump singled out Apple for criticism more than once during the bitterly fought election campaign, and at one point called for a boycott of the company's products if it didn't comply with the FBI's request to build a back door into its iPhone software so that authorities could unlock a phone used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook.
Apple withdrew its support of the Republican National Convention because of Trump's controversial remarks, particularly regarding minorities, women, and immigrants, and Cook held a separate fundraising event for Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and other Republicans instead.
Back in March, Tim Cook and other tech leaders attended the American Enterprise Institute's annual World Forum along with top Republican officials partly to discuss concerns regarding Trump's political emergence and candidacy.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues 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.
Target has posted its Black Friday ad for 2016, listing several deals on Apple products. The promotions include 25% off all Apple TV models, $150 off the 9.7-inch iPad Pro and $180 off the Beats Solo2 Wireless.
The retailer is offering discounts and promotions in two waves: there's an Early Access period that begins today and runs until November 24 both in-store and online. Then, on Thanksgiving Day at 6 P.M., Target will open its stores for further Black Friday deals.
Early Access deals on Apple products include three Apple TV models -- the 32 and 64GB fourth-generation Apple TV and a third-generation Apple TV -- and Beats Solo2 Wireless headphones and Beats Tour 2.5 in-ear headphones.
Regular Black Friday deals include $71.99 off Apple Watch Series 1, iPad discounts and iPhone 7 and 7 Plus deals.
- Save $71.99 Apple Watch Series 1 (Starting at $198) - 20% off all iPods - $0 Down and Free $250 Target Gift Card on iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models - Save $150.99 on 9.7-inch iPad Pro - Save $129.99 on iPad Air 2 - Save $70.20 on iPad mini 2 - Save $180 on Beats Solo2 Wireless (Reg. $299.99) - Save $65 on Beats Tour 2.5 in-ear headphones (Reg. $129.99)
In addition to discounts on Apple and Beats products, Target is offering 40% off all Otterbox Commuter cases.
Apple today debuted new (PRODUCT)RED color options for two of its Beats products, including the Beats Pill+ and the Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones. Both products will soon be available in a color called "Citrus Red," joining other standard color options.
Apple's website lists both products as "coming soon" with price points that are the same as standard options. The Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones in Citrus Red is priced at $299.95, while the Citrus Red Beats Pill+ is priced at $229.95.
Apple has a longstanding partnership with the (PRODUCT)RED charity, and all proceeds from the sales of (PRODUCT)RED items go towards the global fight to prevent AIDS and HIV through research and education.
Apple often runs (PRODUCT)RED promotions around World Aids Day, coming up in December, in addition to continual (PRODUCT)RED accessory sales. Over the course of a multi-year relationship, Apple has donated upwards of $100 million through (PRODUCT)RED sales.
Along with new (PRODUCT)RED options for the Beats Pill+ and the Beats Solo3, Apple also recently debuted urBeats Earphones and Beats Solo 3 Wireless Headphones in an exclusive Ultra Violet color, which is a rich medium purple shade.
Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.2 update to public beta testers, approximately one week after releasing the first public beta of 10.12.2 and one day after seeding the second beta to developers. It's also been more than two weeks since Apple released macOS Sierra 10.12.1 to the public.
Beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program will receive the macOS Sierra beta through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.
Those who want to be a part of Apple's beta testing program can sign up to participate through the beta testing website, which gives users access to both iOS and macOS Sierra betas. Betas should not be installed on a primary machine due to the potential for instability.
In addition to bug fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements, macOS Sierra 10.12.2 introduces support for dozens of new emoji, ranging from those introduced in Unicode 9 to several professions in both male and female genders.
Some new emoji include fox face, clown face, selfie, face palm, crossed fingers, owl, shark, eagle, avocado, bacon, croissant, potato, carrot, and more. Apple has also updated the artwork on many existing emoji, adding much more detail.
Apple today seeded a minor version change to iOS 10.1.1, the current version of the iOS 10 operating system. The update is minor enough that it did not warrant a full 10.x.x number change, but it does include an updated build number.
iOS 10.1.1 being released today has a build number of 14B150, while the initial iOS 10.1.1 release, which came on October 31, had a build number of 14B100.
The new build of iOS 10.1.1 is only available as a download from Apple's servers and cannot be obtained over-the-air at this time for those who have already installed the first version of iOS 10.1.1. The new version of iOS 10.1.1 will likely be provided to those who have yet to install iOS 10.1.1, as it otherwise requires an iTunes connection to obtain.
There is no new information in the changelog for the updated build, so it is unclear what minor bug fixes or changes it brings.
The first version of iOS 10.1.1 fixed a bug that caused Health data to be unavailable for some users. A minor update, iOS 10.1.1 was released shortly after iOS 10.1, a more significant update that brought a new "Portrait" mode and dozens of bug fixes and feature improvements.
Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced in March of 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.
Safari Technology Preview release 17 includes bug fixes and updates for Safari Extensions, Custom Elements, Web APIs, Input Events, URL Parser, Fetch API, JavaScript, Web Inspector, CSS, Media, Networking, and more.
Apple's goal with Safari Technology Preview is to receive feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. Safari Technology Preview can run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download.
Apple's latest MacBook Pro has already outsold all competing laptops this year, according to new data shared by research firm Slice Intelligence.
Slice Intelligence says the new MacBook Pro accumulated more revenue from online orders during its first five days of availability than the Microsoft Surface Book, ASUS Chromebook Flip, Dell Inspiron 2-in-1, and Lenovo Yoga 900, based on e-receipt data from 12,979 online shoppers in the United States.
The new MacBook Pro generated over seven times the revenue that the 12-inch MacBook did over its first five days of availability, according to Slice Intelligence. If accurate, that means it took the new MacBook Pro just five days to accumulate 78% of all the revenue generated by the 12-inch MacBook since its April 2015 launch.
The new MacBook Pro's apparent early success may come as a surprise to a vocal crowd of professional users who have criticized, among other things, the notebook's lack of ports and limited RAM. Schiller said the early criticism and debate has been "a bit of a surprise" to him, but common for any new Apple product.
Slice Intelligence extracts detailed information from hundreds of millions of aggregated and anonymized e-receipts. The research firm has a panel of 4.4 million online shoppers signed up for its services such as Slice and Unroll.me. It is also the exclusive e-commerce data provider for the NPD's Checkout Tracking e-commerce service.
Pandora today began the rollout of a "completely overhauled" desktop site for its streaming radio service, coming on the heels of its rebranded iOS and Android apps last month. Pandora.com now has a couple of new features including an enhanced user interface and new additions for Pandora Plus listeners, which should begin appearing throughout the day as the rollout continues.
The changes begin with the music player on Pandora's web platform, which is now a fixed bar at the bottom of the screen, ensuring that users will "never lose sight" of the currently playing track. Because of this shift, album artwork is at the center of the screen and provides prompts to artist information like tour dates, lyrics, bios, and more. The flat blue aesthetics of the site also now closely mirror that of the company's mobile app and its logo.
Pandora has also streamlined a few navigation features when users create and organize stations, look at their favorite tracks, and use playback controls. The company said that "the updated features across the platform allow you to easily control your listening experience."
Listeners on Pandora Plus can use the replay button to restart a song from the beginning, or even jump back in the current listening session and find an old track to replay. A skip option will also let them get to the next song quicker, as well. The ad-supported version of Pandora on the web supports these features too, but in a limited capacity. Whenever users on the free tier run out of skips or want to listen to a track again, the company said that they can "watch a video ad to get those extra features for added control" over the service.
Much like the app rebranding in October, the slight shift in Pandora's web platform today is setting up the launch of the company's impending on-demand music listening service, which CEO Tim Westergren has confirmed will arrive "later this year." The service -- which is believed to cost $9.99/month -- will enter the music streaming race as an Apple Music and Spotify rival, with features expected of such a competitor, including on-demand music listening, playlist creation, radio access, and more.
Popular messaging app Viber today launched a new commercial account format to enable businesses and brands to communicate with users (via TechCrunch).
Approximately 1,000 Public Accounts including the likes of the BBC and The Weather Channel were launched with the v6.5 update, allowing users to subscribe to them and share stories with users in their contacts list.
Public Accounts are also set to introduce chat bots to the messaging service, as Japanese-owned Viber rolls out its scalable API to companies which will include tools for bot developers.
Public Accounts come on the back of a feature Viber introduced in 2014 called Public Chats, which allow people to carry on a conversation with the general public. However, unlike the latter, users will be able to interact with the new commercial accounts without needing to add them as a contact.
Viber was bought in 2014 by Japanese internet company Rakuten, the owner of online retailer Play.com. The Cyprus-based messaging service has over 800 million users.
Apple recently inked a deal with Cuscal Payments Group, which will see Apple Pay expand to more than 30 small banks and credit unions in Australia in the near future. Apple Pay is expected to be available for up to four million Australian customers through the partnership.
Some of the banks and credit unions that will accept Apple Pay include Credit Union Australia, Bank Australia, Beyond Bank Australia, QT Mutual Bank, and Central West Credit Union, with a full list available on the Cuscal website. In a statement, Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey said Apple is eager to expand the payments service in Australia.
"We want as many Australians as possible to be able to use Apple Pay," she said.
"Today more than 3500 banks across 12 countries already support Apple Pay and we think Cuscal's customers will really love using Apple Pay for everyday purchases in stores, apps and on the web."
While Apple Pay has been available in Australia since November of 2015 through partnerships with American Express and ANZ, other major banks in Australia have not signed on to accept Apple Pay and are embroiled in a dispute with Apple.
Three of Australia's largest banks, including Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, and Westpac, have filed an application with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to collectively negotiate with Apple to gain access to the NFC hardware in iPhones.
The banks want customers to be able to use already-established bank-run digital wallets rather than being limited to Apple Pay, but Apple does not allow third-party services to access the NFC chip built into the iPhone.
The banks have argued that Apple's refusal to allow access to the iPhone's hardware is an anti-competitive restriction, while Apple has told the ACCC that allowing the banks to "form a cartel" to dictate the terms of new business models would "set a troubling precedent," delay the introduction of "potentially disruptive technologies," and compromise security.
Apple CEO Tim Cook sent out a memo to all U.S. Apple employees on Wednesday reassuring them that the company would "move forward together" following Donald Trump's surprise election win this week.
Apple today 
