Apple has created a new vice president of People position which will be held by Deirdre O’Brien starting this fall. Today’s announcement marks the second newly created position at Apple this week following Isabel Ge Mahe’s move to vice president and managing director of Greater China on Tuesday. According to the announcement, O’Brien will be in charge of HR tasks including “talent development, recruiting, benefits, compensation and business support” while also “overseeing Apple University....

Apple today has published its testimony proposing corporate tax reform and detailing the company’s tax practices ahead of CEO Tim Cook’s appearance at a Senate hearing on offshore tax practices scheduled for tomorrow. In the testimony, Apple proposed what it called comprehensive corporate tax reform that should: Be revenue neutral, eliminate all corporate tax expenditures, lower corporate income tax rates; and implement a reasonable tax on foreign earnings that allows free movement of capital back to the US....

Apple has released the fourth tvOS 11.4 developer beta for testing on Apple TV 4 and Apple TV 4K. tvOS 11.4 turns Apple TV into an AirPlay 2 speaker which supports multi-room AirPlay from iOS. The latest developer beta of tvOS follows the official release of tvOS 11.3 to all customers last month. The new version added support for frame rate matching to older Apple TVs and Apple Music highlighted new music video playlists....

Apple has allegedly started removing apps originating in Iran from the App Store. According to Techrasa, Apple removed the app of Digikala, the biggest Iranian e-commerce service, a few days ago. Apple has yet to comment on the procedure but it seems to stem from international trade laws (via TechCrunch). Apple started opening up the App Store to users in Iran in September of 2016, gradually lifting limitations that had previously been in place....

Yesterday, we told you the iPad 2 was discounted by $100, as announced by Apple during the new iPad unveiling, through a number of retailers including BestBuy and RadioShack. According to one tipster, Apple retail stores are also offering the discounted iPad 2. However, in the case of the West Farms Apple Store in Connecticut, Apple discounted at least one Wi-Fi + 3G 32GB iPad 2 (White, AT&T) by $200. As you can see from the receipt above, store employees mistakenly added an extra $100 discount to the already discounted iPad 2....

While most of the numbers announced yesterday were broadly in line with analyst expectations, there was one particularly disappointing element: revenue from China. This was down 29% on the previous quarter, and a full 33% year-on-year – from $13.2B in Q3 2015 to $8.8B the same quarter this year. CEO Tim Cook pointed to slowing growth in the Chinese economy as a factor, but there are two other factors at play …...

Update: The chart above was updated to reflect Sprint’s just announced iPhone Forever upgrade plan pricing. Sprint is offering $22/month regular pricing ($15 for those that trade-in a device) through its iPhone Forever Upgrade program. Customers can upgrade every time there is a new iPhone, but they’ll have to pay off the remainder of the retail price to keep it. Yearly cost for all plans added. With the launch of its new iPhone 6s lineup this week, Apple is competing directly with its carrier partners by introducing an iPhone Upgrade Program that aims to rival similar offers from T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, and others....

Apple Maps has made slight adjustments to better promote things like food delivery and medical services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Apple’s adjustments follow similar changes made by Google Maps, though Apple does not go as far in its efforts. As first spotted by iPhone Ticker, Apple has adjusted the order of Apple Maps categories. Grocery stores are now featured at the top, followed by a new category for Food Delivery. Other categories that are less practical during the COVID-19 outbreak have been shifted downwards....

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Just off the wires, Apple is more than doubling its capital returns citing its inability to stop making more money than it can spend to “operate the business, invest in our future, and maintain flexibility to take advantage of strategic opportunities.” As part of this program, Apple’s board has increased its share repurchase authorization to $60 billion from the $10 billion level announced last year. This is the largest single share repurchase authorization in history and is expected to be executed by the end of calendar 2015....

In case you weren’t tuned in to the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards last night (it’s okay, I missed them too), Apple has shared its two-part Apple Music promo video that ran during the music awards show on Sunday night. Both clips together run two minutes in total and feature hip-hop artist The Weeknd (who performed at Apple’s 2015 WWDC) plus a cameo from actor John Travolta in one. Aside from pushing the Apple Music three-month free trial in front of MTV’s audience, the promo shows The Weeknd using the Beats 1 radio station and Apple Music to create a playlist to post on the artist activity portal Connect....

Apple’s controversial U2 album giveaway is about to wrap up as the record is only scheduled to be free through October 13th, and the company is sharing some numbers about the promotion to celebrate. Apple SVP of Internet Software & Services Eddy Cue told Billboard that more than 81 million customers ‘experienced songs’ from U2’s Songs of Innocence album either through plays or streams over iTunes, iTunes Radio, or Beats Music where the album was exclusively available to users....

An Apple patent published today describes how Siri could interject in iMessage chats to do things like help schedule meetings based on the location and availability of chat participants. In one illustration, when one chat participant asks ‘How long ’til you guys get here?’ Siri interjects by checking everyone’s location and then answering the question. In another, a chat participant asks Siri when the group could get together for lunch, and it checks each of their diaries to offer slots when all are free …...

Apple Podcasts app is adding two new charts as it wants to make sure people know the shows and channels with the most subscribers. These charts are available for popular channel subscriptions in the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia. Apple Podcasts Subscriptions option was added a year ago. It allows creators to host bonus content and ad-free versions of their shows in exchange for a monthly subscription. With more podcasts switching to a subscription offer, Apple is creating these new charts....

[Update: As first noted by Mac Generation, Apple has also recently overhauled the Movies and TV show web interfaces with designs similar to the new Podcasts interface.] Apple this week has overhauled the web interface for Apple Podcasts. The new design is much cleaner and easier to navigate, while also offering support for playback, individual episode details, and more. The old Apple Podcasts web interface was akin to the iTunes web design that was dropped back in 2017....

Software developers have been given access to a new OS X 10.11.2 build in preparation for the update’s public release. This is the third beta of the 10.11.2 update that has been published. The first two software betas didn’t bring any notable user-facing changes to the desktop OS, but Apple encourages developers to continue testing in areas like Wi-Fi connectivity, graphics capabilities, and built-in apps like Mail and Notes. The new beta is available through the Updates tab of the Mac App Store for users already on the developer release channel, and through Apple’s developer website for those who are on a retail build....

Apple today has officially released the first version of beta firmware for AirPods Pro users. The new beta enables features such as Spatial Audio for FaceTime as well as Ambient Noise Reduction, but the process to install the beta requires you use Xcode on your Mac. Head below for the full details. The AirPods Pro beta firmware is only available for developers, and the configuration profile is only available via Apple’s Developer website....

Apple had previously announced that developers of new apps must support 64-bit architectures (to take full advantage of the A7 and A8 technology) by February 1st, 2015. Today, Apple has reminded developers of this deadline as well as clarifying the situation for existing apps. Updates to existing apps must be made 64-bit compatible by June 1, 2015. After that date, any submissions of only 32-bit apps will be rejected by App Review....

While Apple officially announced via a sign at the location that the mega Apple Store in New York’s Grand Central Terminal will open its doors for the first time on December 9th, Apple has now noted this on its website. The new retail webpage for the Grand Central Terminal Apple Store, notes the 10 AM Grand Opening on that Friday. The new retail store’s official address is marked as 45 Grand Central Terminal New York, NY 10017....

In a post on the Apple Developer website today, Apple announced that it is now rolling out two new features for App Store product pages. With these new tools, developers can now create and test different versions of their app’s product page in the App Store. Apple explains: Product page optimization. Try out alternate versions of your app’s product page with different icons, screenshots, and app previews to find out which one gets the best results....