MacRumors

High-end Swiss watchmakers have generally been publicly dismissive of any threat posed by Apple's upcoming smartwatch, but now that the Watch is creeping closer to launch, fashion watch leaders are starting to take notice. According to Reuters, Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer has changed course and begun preparing a smartwatch and is willing to forge partnerships and acquire companies in order to produce an original luxury offering to compete with Apple Watch.

This endeavor is a marked change for the luxury watch maker, which is the largest brand under LVMH's umbrella. Following Apple's Watch announcement, LVMH watch chief and TAG Heuer interim chief executive Jean-Claude Biver dismissed the smart watch, saying it was "too feminine" and looked like "it was designed by a student in their first trimester." He added that smartwatches such as the Apple Watch will soon be outdated, while "luxury always has something timeless."

Biver admits he has changed his mind on the smartwatch category and already has outlined plans for a smartwatch device. He also has negotiated several partnerships and is open to future acquisitions if necessary to help jumpstart this smartwatch project.

"We started on the project about four months ago. We have done several partnerships and might also do acquisitions," Biver, head of LVMH watches and TAG Heuer interim chief executive, told journalists at the brand's headquarters at La Chaux-de-Fonds in western Switzerland.

Among the companies rumored to be working with TAG Heuer are Google and Intel, the latter of which could provide the microprocessor that drives the watch. The TAG Heuer watch is rumored to include mechanical actions accompanied by sensors to monitor physical parameters such as steps moved and calories burned.

Biver said his company would only do a watch if the company can be "first, different and unique." He also confirmed he won't make an announcement until he has a quality product to showcase, which could take as long as late 2015.

If it does launch a smartwatch, TAG Heuer will have to compete with Apple's Watch device, which is scheduled for an early 2015 debut. Apple is producing several variants of its Watch including a standard model, a sports model and a luxury Watch Edition, which features an 18-karat gold casing, sapphire crystal display, and exquisitely designed band selections.

Jury deliberations for the iPod antitrust lawsuit Apple faced in court last week began on Monday, and it appears the jury has already reached a verdict just a day later. As reported by The Verge, the jury has sided with Apple, finding the company not guilty of harming consumers with anticompetitive practices.

In the class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued that Apple had deliberately crippled third-party music services by locking iPods and iTunes to its own ecosystem, which in turn artificially raised the price of Apple's products. At issue was a specific iTunes 7.0 update that disabled the DRM workarounds put in place by RealNetworks, a competing music service, allowing its music to be played on the iPod.

Apple argued that the iTunes update in question was done mainly to improve the iTunes service rather shut down third-party music services, a point that the jury agreed with.

Delivering a unanimous verdict today, the group said Apple's iTunes 7.0, released in the fall of 2006, was a "genuine product improvement," meaning that new features (though importantly increased security) were good for consumers. Plaintiffs in the case unsuccessfully argued that those features not only thwarted competition, but also made Apple's products less useful since customers could not as easily use purchased music or jukebox software from other companies with the iPod.

During the trial, Apple also explained that its DRM efforts and the blocking of competing music services was done at the behest of record companies. According to Apple, its iTunes updates were designed to preserve deals and protect consumers from hackers and malicious content.

Apple executives like iTunes chief Eddy Cue and head of marketing Phil Schiller testified during the trial, and former Apple CEO Steve Jobs also had a large role, in the form of emails and a 2011 videotaped deposition that was shown in court.

The plaintiffs in the trial were asking for damages of $350 million, which could have gone up to $1 billion under antitrust law. Apple's victory means the company will not have to pay out any money at all.

While Apple is actively beta testing iOS 8.2 with developers well in advance of its public launch in order to provide tools for building Apple Watch apps, it appears there will be at least one more minor software update before iOS 8.2 launches to the public. Over the past week, MacRumors has seen an increasing number of devices from Apple's networks and in general that are identifying themselves as running iOS 8.1.3, likely another bug fix update.

The first sign of iOS 8.1.3 from Apple appeared in our logs December 8, just a day before the company released iOS 8.1.2 to the public to patch a minor issue with disappearing ringtones and deliver other minor bug fixes. A day later, Apple seeded the second iOS 8.2 beta to registered developers.

The number of hits from iOS 8.1.3 remains low, numbering just a few dozen in total from Apple's networks. A view of overall traffic from iOS 8.1.3 devices shows a clearer upward trend aside from a weekend dip, based on a much larger sample size. While there are more likely to be faked identifiers in the general pool of web visitors, the clear trend of increasing usage and visits coming from Apple's own networks have historically been reliable indicators of Apple's development work.

A potential release date for iOS 8.1.3 remains unknown, but with the holiday season rapidly approaching, it appears likely a launch will not occur until early next year unless the update addresses a significant issue that Apple needs to fix more quickly.

The company has not seeded any builds of the update to developers for testing, and it is unclear whether the company has plans to do so, as minor updates such as this one typically do not go through developer testing. One recent exception, however, was iOS 8.1.1 seeded in early November and released to the public a few weeks later.

According to Apple's tracking, iOS 8 is installed on 63 percent of active iOS devices, a figure that continues to slowly rise as users upgrade their existing devices and purchase new ones already running iOS 8.

As part of its new Un-carrier 8.0 announcement, T-Mobile today unveiled its new "Data Stash" program that allows consumers to roll over their monthly unused data. At the end of the month, consumers will be able to store their unused data without limit for the next 12 months.

"Can you imagine your gas station siphoning unused gas from your car each month? The US wireless industry is even worse," said John Legere, president and CEO for T-Mobile. "Americans have been gamed by the carriers into buying huge data plans – all to avoid getting screwed with overage penalties. Only to find out they bought more than they need which is then confiscated by the carrier. For the consumer it’s lose, lose."

"That data is rightfully yours," added Legere. "And, we’re putting an end to this appalling industry practice today. With Data Stash, when you buy additional high-speed data, there’s no need to lose what you don’t use."

To kick start the program, T-Mobile will provide 10GB of free 4G LTE data to customers as a starting stash. This free 10GB data stash is not shared, but will be allotted to each line in a family or business plan. The new Data Stash program will be available starting in January 2015 and will be applied to every individual, family and business plan automatically.

Samsung may be developing a mobile payment system to rival Apple Pay, reports Re/code. The Korean handset manufacturer reportedly is negotiating with payments startup LoopPay about the system, which it plans to debut it in 2015.

The combined Samsung and LoopPay system would allow customers to wave their Samsung phones at payment terminals instead of swiping credit cards or paying with cash or check. Samsung could leverage NFC in its phones and use that standard to wirelessly process payments.

A partnership with LoopPay could expand the service to a variety of new and old payment terminals. The LoopPay technology mimics a card swipe by recording payment information from a card's magnetic strip and transmitting those details to a retail card reader. Since LoopPay does not require NFC or any other wireless standard, the LoopPay system can be used at most payment terminals capable of swiping credit cards.

Similar to Apple Pay, the Samsung system also may adopt tokenization to secure the transaction and may include fingerprint recognition technology, which Samsung has included on its latest Galaxy S5 smartphone.

Apple Pay rolled out in October of this year and interest in the service has remained strong. A recent expansion added banks such as TD Bank and retailers such as Staples. With this latest boost in adoption, Apple Pay now supports cards representing about 90 percent of U.S. credit card purchases by volume.

With the list of Apple Pay-supported companies growing more every week, Apple has revealed that the new mobile payments service now supports cards representing about 90 percent of the credit card purchase volume in the United States. This is up from the 80 percent figure cited at Apple Pay's launch just two months ago.

According to The New York Times, Apple Pay has proven popular with users as the rollout continues. Whole Foods saw more than 150,000 Apple Pay transactions in the first few days after release, and the service accounted for more than 50 percent of McDonald's tap-to-pay purchases in November.

The news comes on the soft launch day of Apple Pay support at TD Bank in the U.S., adding to the growing list of banks supporting the e-payments solution. The U.S. subsidiary of the Canadian bank is just another in a long line of companies with high hopes that Apple's electronic payments solution will be the first widely adopted, according to industry analyst Patrick Moorhead.

“Retailers and payment companies see Apple Pay as the implementation that has the best chance at mass consumer adoption, which has eluded prior attempts,” said Moorhead, president of Moor Insights & Strategy, a research firm. “They believe it will solve many of the problems they had before with electronic payments.”

One of the newest retailers to support the service is Amway Center, the home of the Orlando Magic basketball team, which announced support for Apple Pay will launch officially this Friday. Chief Executive of the Orlando Magic, Alex Martins, remarked that long lines keep customers from buying food at concession stands. He has hopes that, "This, and technologies like Apple Pay, will speed up our service.”

Google today released its "Year in Search" feature, highlighting popular and trending searches for 2014 in a number of categories. Unsurprisingly, a number of Apple-related search terms ranked highly among the most trending searches in the Consumer Electronics category, with "iPhone 6" taking #1, "Apple Watch" taking #8, and "iPad Air" taking #10.

Other popular search terms in the Consumer Electronics category include "Samsung Galaxy S5" which took #2, "Xbox One" which took #7, and "Nokia X" which took #9. Google's top 10 overall trending searches of the year did not include any tech products, however Dong Nguyen's ultra-popular app Flappy Bird did take the #6 spot.

Last year, Apple-related terms like "iPhone 5s", "iOS 7", and "iPad Air" ranked highly among the most popular Google searches for 2013, coming in at #3, #11, and #68, respectively. Apple-related terms also performed strongly in the trending tech category last year, with the iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPad Air, iPad mini, and even the iPhone 6 all placing among the top ten.

Apple's Beats Electronics and Bose already compete in the headphone and speaker markets, but it appears that Bose may be gearing up to compete with Beats in another area -- streaming music.

A Bose job listing first noticed by Hypebot (via VentureBeat) seeks a Senior User Experience Designer to work on prototyping Bose's "next generation streaming music platform and ecosystem of products."

You will help to develop a holistic view of the customer journey through the Bose ecosystem as it relates to our streaming music experiences. You will work with a cross-functional team to implement meaningful and delightful design solutions into experiential concepts and prototypes. You will collaborate with development teams to realize the execution of your designs.

Aside from the information obtained in the job listing, details on Bose's potential music project have been kept under wraps. Bose does, however, ask for job candidates that have worked for Pandora, Spotify, Songza, Beats Music, SiriusXM, Rhapsody, iHeartRadio, RDIO, and several other radio-based streaming music services, suggesting a potential Bose music offering could emulate either the on-demand style of Beats Music or a radio-style service akin to Pandora.

Bose and Beats have had an ongoing rivalry since July of this year, when Bose sued Beats for product infringement. Though the two reached quickly a settlement, Apple briefly removed all Bose products from its retail stores before resuming sales last week.

Beats and Bose have also clashed over NFL players, after Bose signed a deal with the NFL that saw players banned from wearing Beats during games. Jimmy Iovine, Beats co-founder, praised Bose's "culturally inept" move to block the popular headphone brand and said it made Beats "look like superheroes."

Along with returning Bose products to store shelves, Apple has demonstrated that it's open to offering competing products by recently adding Master & Dynamic headphones to its online store and by continuing to offer several non-Beats headphones and speakers in its retail locations. While Apple has made an effort to allow competing products on store shelves, it will be interesting to see if the relationship between Beats and Bose shifts again should the latter company also enter the streaming music market.

Each year, Apple provides its employees with an exclusive Apple-branded holiday gift to thank them for their contributions to the company and to celebrate the holidays.

This year, Apple employees received an exclusive black Apple-branded Incase backpack that's similar to the Incase Staple Backpack. Incase's Staple Backpack, which has a slot for a MacBook along with several different pockets for accessories, typically retails for $59.99. Apple distributed the backpacks with an accompanying poem.

This is our gift to you.
But it can never compare to what you've given.

What does it take to give a gift?
It takes thoughtfulness. Compassion.
And sometimes, sacrifice of your time,
your talent, and your heart,

These are the gifts you give:
kindness, knowledge, humor, and patience.
You give them when you cover for a teammate,
so they can go on a much-deserved break.
When you send an email recognizing a job
well done. Or when you grab an extra coffee
for a friend before you clock in.

You give these gifts whether it's the beginning
of the season, or the end of a very long day.
You do it over, and over, and over again.

Amazing products are designed in Cupertino.
Amazing moments are made by you.
These moments are your gift this
holiday season -- to your customers,
to your team, and to the world.

Thank you.

As noted by 9to5Mac one of the Incase backpacks gifted to an Apple employee has already been listed on eBay and purchased for a buyout price of $99.99. In past years, Apple employees have received blankets, water bottles, hoodies, free apps, and more.

TD Bank plans to soft launch Apple Pay on Tuesday, December 16, according to a source with knowledge of the bank's plans. As of tomorrow, the U.S. subsidiary of the Canadian bank will begin allowing customers to add their TD Bank Visa Debit or Credit Card to Apple Pay, making purchases with their iPhone 6 or 6 Plus.

As with other credit and debit cards, TD Bank cards will be added via Passbook or in the Apple Pay Settings menu. Some customers may be required to confirm their cards by calling TD Bank's customer service numbers.

Eligible cards are listed below:

- TD Bank Visa Debit Card
- TD Bank Business Visa Debit Card
- TD Bank Private Client Visa Debit Card
- TD Easy Rewards Visa (Platinum & Signature) Credit Card
- TD Cash Rewards Visa (Platinum & Signature) Credit Card
- TD Payment Plus Visa Platinum Credit Card
- TD First Class Visa Signature Credit Card
- TD Business Solutions Visa Credit Card
- TD Simply Flexible Visa Business Card

TD Bank employees have been training for the Apple Pay launch since early December, and training wrapped up last week ahead of tomorrow's soft launch. Though Apple Pay is soft launching at TD Bank on Tuesday and will become available to customers, a full launch, complete with advertising, is not expected to come until mid-January.

TD Bank's Apple Pay support is launching later than many other banks, but TD Bank has been an eager partner and announced that it would support Apple Pay shortly after the service first launched.

Apple formed partnerships with many of the largest banks in the United States that saw them adding support for Apple Pay just after it was released, but Apple has also been hard at work getting additional banks on board. In November, for example, several major banks began accepting Apple Pay, including Navy Federal, USAA, US Bank, and PNC.

According to Apple, more than 500 banks are signed on to support Apple Pay and are working on Apple Pay support. A running list of banks that currently support Apple Pay can be found on Apple's site.