Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes using […]
Apple is extending Apple TV+ trials again
If you’ve got an Apple TV+ trial that’s set to expire sometime between now and June, good news: you’re getting some free bonus time. Apple TV+ first launched in November of 2019, alongside a one-year free trial for anyone buying a new iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV or Mac. As those initial trials approached […]
Apple said to be planning new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros with MagSafe and Apple processors
Apple has planned new upgraded MacBook Pros for launch “later this year” according to a new report from Bloomberg. These new models would come in both 14-inch and 16-inch sizes, with new and improved Apple Silicon processors like those that Apple debuted on the new MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro model late last year. […]
Apple announces new projects related to its $100 million pledge for racial equity and justice
Last June, Apple committed $100 million to a Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI). Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, is leading the initiative. Today, Apple is sharing some of its work as part of the initiative. “We’re launching REJI’s latest initiatives with partners across a broad range of industries […]
Companies rush to replace the gym at CES
The year of the first-ever all-virtual CES is, unsurprisingly, the year of the virtual gym. The past 12 months have seen most of our fitness routines completely transformed — speaking for myself, my Apple Watch step count shows two big empty spots where March and April are. Fitness startups have seen unexpected windfall in all […]
Healthvana’s digital COVID-19 vaccination records are about communication, not passports for the immune
As the vaccination campaign to counter COVID-19 gets underway (albeit with a rocky start), a number of companies are attempting to support its rollout in a variety of ways. Healthvana, a health tech startup that began with a specific focus on providing patient information digitally for individuals living with HIV, is helping Los Angeles County […]
Apple suspends Parler from App Store
Apple confirmed that it has suspended the conservative social media app Parler from the App Store, shortly after Google banned it from Google Play. The app, which became a home to Trump supporters and several high-profile conservatives in the days leading up to the Capitol riots, had been operating in violation of Apple’s rules. The […]
This Week in Apps: Social apps react to riots, Parler gets booted, FTC threatens regulation
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion downloads and $120 billion in global consumer spend in 2019. Consumer spend also hit a record $112 billion across […]
The deplatforming of President Trump
After years of placid admonishments, the tech world came out in force against President Trump this past week following the violent assault of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. on Wednesday. From Twitter to PayPal, more than a dozen companies have placed unprecedented restrictions or outright banned the current occupant of the White House […]
Shares of Hyundai Motor Co. climb more than 20% on potential EV deal with Apple
Hyundai Motor Company is downplaying reports that it is in talks with Apple to produce an autonomous electric vehicle, stating that discussions are still in the “early stage” and still undecided. But the news of a potential tie-up (however tentative) with Apple, which is known for keeping a tight lid on deals before they are […]
Apple App Store customers spent $1.8B over the week of Christmas, set a spending record on New Year’s Day
Apple this morning offered an updated look at its App Store business with the release of its holiday sales figures. The company said App Store customers spent $1.8 billion in apps during the week of Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, driven largely by games. And App Store customers also hit a new single-day spending […]
Google to add App Store privacy labels to its iOS apps as soon as this week
Contrary to reports, Google is not delaying updates to its iOS apps because it doesn’t aim to comply with Apple’s recently announced App Store Privacy Labels policy. The new policy, a part of the company’s larger privacy push, requires developers to disclose how data is collected from App Store users and used to track them. […]
This Week in Apps: Apple bans party app, China loses 39K iOS games, TikTok births a ‘Ratatousical’
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion total downloads and $120 billion in global consumer spend in 2019. Not including Chinese third-party app stores, iOS and […]
NYC MTA’s contactless fare system completes rollout, will phase out MetroCard in 2023
On the last day of 2020, New York City’s Metro Transit Authority announced that it has finished its roll out of contactless payment systems. With the addition of a final stop in Brooklyn, every MTA subway station and bus in the five boroughs now sports the OMNY “Tap and Go” system. We got an early […]
Daily Crunch: Judge dismisses Apple copyright claims against Corellium
Apple faces a major setback in one of its legal fights, VMware sues a former executive and Google tests a new short-form video feature. This is your Daily Crunch for December 29, 2020. The big story: Judge dismisses Apple copyright claims against Corellium Apple filed a lawsuit last year against Corellium, a company that allows […]
Apple’s lawsuit against Corellium has been partly thrown out
Back in August of last year Apple filed a lawsuit against the virtualization software company Corellium, arguing that the product infringed its copyright and later adding claims that Corellium’s product violates the DMCA. While the DMCA claims will still need to be settled in court, a judge in Florida has tossed out Apple’s copyright claims. […]
Tesla to make India debut ‘early’ next year
Tesla will begin operating in India in “early” 2021, a top Indian minister said on Monday, a day after the tech-centric carmaker said it was confident it would enter the world’s second most populated market next year. Tesla’s operations with begin with sales in early 2021 and then “maybe” look at assembling and manufacturing vehicles […]
Elon Musk claims he tried selling Tesla to Apple but Tim Cook wasn’t interested
Tesla stock’s miraculously bizarre 2020 might have a gone different way had Apple’s Tim Cook agreed to a meeting in recent years, or so says Elon Musk. Reacting to Reuters’ recent news that Apple has not abandoned its electric car program and is still pursuing plans to build a physical vehicle, Musk tweeted that in […]
The ‘Apple car’ chatter is back with new reports pointing to a 2024 launch date
The demise of the Apple car, the technology giant’s not-so-secret secret project, was perhaps overstated. Apple’s so-called Project Titan, which last year reduced the team by some 200 employees, is not only alive, it has plans to produce an electric passenger vehicle with “breakthrough battery technology” and automated vehicle technology by 2024, according to a […]
Dozens of journalists’ iPhones hacked with NSO ‘zero-click’ spyware, says Citizen Lab
Citizen Lab researchers say they have found evidence that dozens of journalists had their iPhones silently compromised with spyware known to be used by nation states. For more than the past year, London-based reporter Rania Dridi and at least 36 journalists, producers and executives working for the Al Jazeera news agency were targeted with a […]
This Week in Apps: App Store privacy labels, Facebook criticizes Apple over ad targeting, Twitter kills Periscope
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion downloads and $120 billion in global consumer spend in 2019. Not including third-party Chinese app stores, iOS and Android […]
Apple puts contract partner Wistron on probation after violence at India plant
Apple has placed its contract manufacturing partner Wistron on probation and won’t give the Taiwanese firm any new business until it takes “complete corrective actions” following lapses at its southern India plant earlier this month. The iPhone maker said on Saturday that its employees and independent auditors hired by the company to investigate the issues […]
Daily Crunch: Facebook escalates Apple criticism
Facebook takes aim at Apple, Texas sues Google and we interview the CEO of Boston Dynamics. This is your Daily Crunch for December 16, 2020. The big story: Facebook escalates Apple criticism Facebook took a big swing at Apple’s upcoming app tracking restrictions today with full-page ads in the print editions of The New York […]
Facebook highlights small businesses as it ramps up Apple criticism
Facebook already made it clear that it isn’t happy about Apple’s upcoming restrictions on app tracking and ad targeting, but the publicity battle entered a new phase today. Over the summer, Apple announced that beginning in iOS 14, developers will have to ask users for permission in order to use their IDFA identifiers for ad […]
Major US news publishers join the Coalition for App Fairness advocacy group to fight the ‘Apple tax’
A group of major U.S. news publishers have joined the Coalition for App Fairness (CAF), the advocacy group pushing for increased regulation over app stores and fair treatment for all developers. The publisher trade association now joining CAF is Digital Content Next (DCN), a representative for the AP, The New York Times, NPR, ESPN, Vox, […]
Daily Crunch: Apple launches Fitness+
We review Apple Fitness+, Gmail goes down and Pornhub cracks down on unverified content. This is your Daily Crunch for December 14, 2020. The big story: Apple launches Fitness+ Brian Heater tried out Apple’s new $10-per-month subscription service for guided workouts, prompting some broader reflections on exercise during this terrible year — and on how […]
Apple launches its new app privacy labels across all its App Stores
At Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June, the company announced it would soon require developers to disclose their app’s privacy practices to customers via new, glanceable summaries that appear on their apps’ product pages on the App Store. Today, these new app privacy labels are going live across all of Apple’s App Stores, including iOS, […]
It won’t replace the gym, but Fitness+ will help you break a sweat
I’m glistening. My heart rate is finally slowing a bit as I type this. The slightest hints of my asthma are subsiding. I’m not going to tell you I feel “good,” as relative as that term might be in a year when everything has gone to hell somehow both gradually and all at once over […]
This Week in Apps: Apple scolds adtech, Facebook hit with antitrust suits, Twitter buys Squad
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion downloads and $120 billion in global consumer spend in 2019. Not including third-party Chinese app stores, iOS and Android […]
Oracle is headed to Texas now, too
Austinites, watch out; another tech company is headed into town. Just days after Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed during an interview that he has moved to Texas, and less than two weeks after HP Enterprise, a spin-out of the iconic Silicon Valley company Hewlett-Packard, announced that it is separately moving to Texas, yet another of […]