France

Apple is once again closing all of its retail locations in France due to the ongoing health crisis, the first time since last year where all 20 locations have been closed, MacGeneration reports. France currently remains on heightened alert due to the pandemic, with some regions under stricter lockdowns than others. The majority of Apple Stores in the country have remained closed, while...

Apple will face a French antitrust probe into its upcoming App Tracking Transparency feature, following a complaint from advertisers in the country that the planned changes are anticompetitive. Starting in iOS 14.5, Apple will require apps to get opt-in permission from users to collect their random advertising identifier, which advertisers use to deliver personalized ads and track how...

Apple is to be investigated by France's data-protection watchdog following allegations that the company's personalized advertising feature violates European Union data protection and e-privacy rules (via Bloomberg). The National Commission on Informatics and Liberty, known as "CNIL," is France's regulator that oversees privacy and data. CNIL is now examining antitrust allegations from...

Apple's advertising system for monetizing its apps and services is the target of a new complaint in France that has been brought against it by a lobby group representing startups and venture capital firms (via Bloomberg). Submitted on Tuesday by France Digitale to the country's National Data Protection Commission (CNIL), the complaint focuses on an Apple feature called Personalized...

Apple has begun adding repairability scores to its website and Apple Store app in France to meet the demands of new Right to Repair laws (via MacGeneration). The scores, displayed on purchase pages for a range of Apple products, give devices a rating out of ten for how easy it is to repair, much like iFixit repairability ratings. The scores are intended to inform customers about "whether...

Vivid Money now supports Apple Pay in France, the neobank has announced. As spotted by iGeneration, the Russian-German mobile bank announced the development on its Twitter account, and users have already confirmed that they're able to add their Vivid Visa card to Apple's Wallet app this morning. Launched in France last November, the neobank offers 25% cashback on daily expenses as well as ...

France is pushing for changes to the EU's upcoming regulations on big tech companies, including Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook, that would make it easier for governments to penalize bad behavior and widen controls on content, according to a new report by the Financial Times. The Digital Services Act, presented in December 2020, is designed to tackle illegal online content in the...

Apple this week shared a short film on its YouTube channel in France called "Le Peintre," which translates to "The Painter." Shot on the iPhone by Paris-bared director J.B. Braud, the video depicts a house painter who rings the doorbell of a large house and gradually realizes that he is the victim of a misunderstanding, according to Apple. Apple has highlighted the video on a new page on its ...

Navigo cards for travelling on the Paris metro and bus network are now supported on iPhone, with the ability to "recharge" passes using Apple Pay (via iGeneration). Last week, it was rumored that Apple had reached an agreement for Navigo cards to work with NFC on ‌iPhone‌, and now the feature has arrived with the latest update to the Navigo app from Paris's transport authority,...

Apple has reached an agreement to bring support for the Paris Metro system's Smart Navigo cards to Wallet, allowing users to roam Parisian public transport with just an iPhone or Apple Watch, according to a Le Parisien report. After talks with Île-de-France-Mobilités, France's transport authority that coordinates the different transport companies operating in Paris, Apple is said to have ...

Apple appears to be rolling out its Safari webpage translation to more countries. According to iPhoneSoft, iOS users in France have reported gaining access to the feature, and tips sent to MacRumors suggest Mac users in Sweden are also seeing it show up for the first time. Apple introduced Safari's machine translation earlier this year when it debuted iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur at WWDC in...

Apple is still including EarPods in the box of every iPhone in France due to legal obligations. According to Apple's regional French online store, every ‌iPhone‌ including the iPhone 12 comes with both a USB-C to Lightning cable and EarPods with a Lightning connector. The inclusion of earphones is likely due to legislation in France that requires all smartphones to include a "handsfree...

Disney's premium streaming service, Disney+, will launch across Europe on Tuesday with temporarily degraded video quality, according to Reuters. The measure aims to reduce the burden on the continent's data networks as millions of people switch to working from home. In a company statement, Disney said it had agreed to a European Union request for streaming-video providers to "ensure the...

France's competition watchdog on Monday fined Apple 1.1 billion euros ($1.23 billion) for anti-competitive behavior in its distribution network and an abuse of economic dependence on its resellers, reports Reuters. At the same time, France's Competition Authority also levied fines of $84.7 million and $69 million against Apple wholesalers Tech Data and Ingram Micro for their roles in the...

France's competition authority is set to fine Apple next Monday for anticompetitive behavior in its distribution and sales network, reports Reuters. Specific details about the fine and the fine amount are expected to be announced next week, and there's no word yet on just how much Apple will owe. Apple in its October earnings call said that France's competition authority had alleged that...

Apple has been fined 25 million euros by a French consumer fraud group for intentionally slowing down some iPhone models with a software update. The Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and the Suppression of Fraud (DGCCRF), which is part of the country's economy ministry, concluded that Apple had failed to inform users that iOS updates to older iPhones could slow down their...

Last week, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that Disney+ will launch in the United Kingdom and other select European countries on March 31, 2020. Iger didn't mention how much European customers would have to pay to access its 500 feature films and over 7,500 shows, including the entire Pixar library and a raft of original content. However, one MacRumors reader appears to have discovered the...

Apple's Powerbeats Pro totally wireless earphones officially went on sale today in the United Kingdom, >France, and >Germany, as predicted. However, the fitness-focused, Beats-branded earphones are only available in black, and stock appears to be limited. As of writing, Apple's online UK store is switching between allowing customers to add the earphones to their bag, and graying out the Add...

Apple's totally wireless Powerbeats Pro earphones become available to pre-order in the United Kingdom on May 31, according to a social media ad posted on the official Beats By Dre U.K. Twitter account. The date was spotted in the small print at the end of the 15-second video short, which features British professional boxer Anthony Joshua and touts the nine hours of listening time offered by...

Apple Pay adoption received a big boost in France today as two major banks officially announced their support for Apple's mobile payment system. HSBC officially launched a dedicated support page for ‌Apple Pay‌, confirming an earlier discovery by French tech news site iphon.fr. Meanwhile, BNP Paribas made good on an announcement last month to bring ‌Apple Pay‌ support to its customers by ...