Best Buy Accepting Apple TV 4 Orders for Store Pickup on November 4

Best Buy is now accepting Apple TV 4 pre-orders on its U.S. website for in-store pickup or delivery beginning Wednesday, November 4. The electronics retailer is carrying the new Apple TV in 32GB and 64GB models for $149.99 and $199.99 respectively alongside an optional two-year AppleCare Protection Plan for $29.

Apple has not confirmed when the new Apple TV will be available at Apple Stores in the U.S. and other launch countries, but next week is a possibility based on Apple’s own shipping estimates and Best Buy’s in-store release date. Personal Pickup for the new Apple TV is currently unavailable through the Apple Online Store.

Apple began taking online orders for the new Apple TV a few days ago, and the first set-top boxes will begin shipping to customers later this week. The earliest deliveries should arrive on October 30 for those who opted for one-day shipping, while standard shipping delivery estimates range between November 2-6.

Apple TV 4 orders have shifted to “Preparing for Shipment” status for many customers.

Best Buy is a convenient option for prospective Apple TV 4 buyers that prefer in-store pickup and do not have an Apple Store within close proximity. The electronics retailer has around 1,050 stores in the U.S., in addition to nearly 200 locations in Canada. The chain also operates in Mexico.

Controversial Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act Passes in Senate

The U.S. Senate today passed the controversial Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, also known as CISA, in a 74 to 21 vote. A similar bill has already passed in the House, and the two cybersecurity bills will likely be combined before heading to the White House for a final decision from President Obama. The vote comes a week after Apple spoke out against the bill.

CISA is designed to allow companies to share information on cybersecurity threats with one another and the government. However, as noted by Wired, privacy advocates have asked Congress to kill the bill, saying that it hides “new government surveillance mechanisms in the guise of security protections.”

Apple spoke out against the bill last week after other technology companies, like Twitter, Yelp, Wikipedia, reddit also opposed the bill. The Computer and Communications Industry Association, which represents Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft had urged the Senate to make improvements to the bill, saying that they do not support the bill as it’s currently written.

The Cupertino company once again reiterated its commitment to user privacy in its opposition to the legislation, saying that it doesn’t support CISA and that the trust of its customers “means everything to us and we don’t believe security should come at the expense of privacy.” Apple has taken a strong privacy stance in recent years, continually noting that the government doesn’t have access to its servers. In iOS 8, Apple ended its storage of encryption keys for iOS devices, making it impossible for the company to unlock iPads an iPhones under police request.

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.

Apple Shares Humorous New iPhone 6s Ad Starring Bill Hader

Apple today shared yet another new ad for the iPhone 6s, this time focusing on the Siri personal assistant and the wireless “Hey Siri” feature built into the new device. The humorous ad stars Bill Hader, who also played a part in the funny “Backstage” video that Apple debuted during the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

In the video, Hader asks Siri to read his email, which turns out to be a spam email message from “Prince Oseph” who has a “once in a lifetime opportunity for the making millions of currency.” Siri asks if Hader would like to reply and he does so enthusiastically while eating a sandwich.

The iPhone 6s is here, and the only thing that’s changed with Siri is everything. Because now you just say “Hey Siri” and Siri’s there, hands-free. Which can come in handy.

The “Prince Oseph” ad is the fifth iPhone 6s advertisement that Apple has released this week, with each ad focusing on different aspects of the iPhone 6s, like 3D Touch, Live Photos, and the improved photo taking capabilities of the devices. Other ads have starred well-known personalities like Jamie Foxx and Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.

Apple Partnering With American Express to Bring Apple Pay to Canada, Australia, Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong

During today’s earnings call for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2015, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced a partnership with American Express that will bring the Apple Pay to customers in “key global markets.”

Under the partnership, Apple Pay will be available to eligible American Express customers in Canada and Australia later this year, and access will expand to Spain, Singapore, and Hong Kong beginning in 2016.

Since its launch in the United States in 2014, the international rollout of Apple Pay has been slow. Customers in the United Kingdom gained access to Apple Pay in July, but aside from the U.S. and the UK, Apple Pay has not yet expanded to additional countries.

It is not clear when other banks and credit card companies in Australia, Canada, and other above listed countries will begin accepting Apple Pay, making the initial Apple Pay rollout in those countries somewhat limited.

30% of iPhone Buyers in Q4 2015 Switched From an Android Smartphone

During today’s fourth quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company saw its highest rate of Android “switchers” Apple had ever measured in 4Q 2015.

According to Cook, 30 percent of customers who purchased an iPhone were upgrading from an Android-based smartphone, the largest number of switchers it had seen in the three years since it started measuring switching rates. “It’s a huge number and we’re very proud of it,” said Cook.

Based on the growing number of Android users switching to an iPhone along with the number of people who have not yet upgraded, the company believes iPhone sales during the first quarter of fiscal 2016 will be strong.

Only one third of Apple customers have upgraded to an iPhone 6, 6s, 6 Plus, or 6s Plus, leaving two thirds of the company’s customer base using older iPhones and ripe for a new iPhone.

For the past several quarters, Tim Cook has commented on the growing rate of Android switchers, noting earlier this year that the debut of the larger-screened iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which better competes with larger-screened Android phones, had spurred high numbers of Android switchers.

Over the course of the past year, Apple has pursued Android users aggressively. The company introduced a dedicated website for Android switchers in the fall of 2014, and with the launch of iOS 9 in September, it also introduced a new “Move to iOS” app to make it easier for Android customers to switch to an iPhone.

Apple has also introduced a trade-in program designed to lure Android users, allowing customers to exchange their Android devices for Apple gift cards that can be put towards the purchase of an iOS device.

Overall, Apple reported quarterly revenue of $51.5 billion and net profit of $11.1 billion, or $1.96 per diluted share. The company sold a total of 48.04 million iPhones, 9.88 million iPads, and 5.71 Macs.

Tim Cook: 40 Million People are Using Apple News

Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed Apple News usage numbers for the first time during today’s fourth quarter earnings call, announcing the service has approximately 40 million users.

Cook did not specify whether that number represented people who use the Apple News app on a regular basis or if it simply measured the number of people who have accessed the app at one point or another, so it’s still difficult to gauge the popularity of Apple News.

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Introduced alongside iOS 9, Apple News was initially restricted to the United States, but with the launch of iOS 9.1, Apple News expanded to the UK and Australia for the first time.

Apple News is an all-new app for iOS 9 that’s designed to aggregate stories from a wide range of sources into a single mobile-friendly format for the iPhone and the iPad. It’s similar in design to magazine-style news apps like Flipboard and Zite and replaces the previous Apple Newsstand app.

Apple has partnered with dozens of publications for Apple News, like The New York Times, CNN, ESPN, The Atlantic, The Daily Mail, Slate, and more.

Apple Pay comes to Australia and Canada this year

At last, Apple Pay will be available outside of the US and the UK… if you have the right credit card. Tim Cook used his company’s fiscal results call to confirm that the tap-to-pay service will be available in Australia and Canada by the end of 2015, while Hong Kong, Singapore and Spain will get it in early 2016. However, it sounds as if you’ll be limited to using an American Express card at first. Despite leaks, you probably won’t be using any other account for iPhone-based purchases on launch. It’s likely that other providers will get with the program, though, so don’t despair if you prefer MasterCard or Visa.

Source: Apple

Apple starts offering carrier billing for iTunes in Germany

Up until now, Apple’s held out on offering carrier billing for services like iTunes and the App Store. But it looks like that’s coming to an end, at least in Germany. As reported by TechCrunch, Apple seems to have quietly flipped the switch on this feature, which lets digital goods be charged directly to a phone bill, for people using O2’s wireless network. A spokesperson for Telefonica, the owner of O2, confirmed to the publication it is in fact working with Apple on carrier billing. If you’re an O2 wireless customer in that country, it means you can start charging Apple Music, iTunes, App Store and iBooks purchases directly to your monthly bill. Access is limited at the moment, but Telefonica says everyone on O2 will get it by the beginning of November.

Source: TechCrunch

Apple Seeds First OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan Beta to Developers

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan update to developers, just under one week after releasing the first OS X El Capitan update, OS X 10.11.1.

The new beta can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center and through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.

It is not known what improvements the second update to OS X El Capitan will bring, but it’s likely to focus on bug fixes, security enhancements, and performance improvements to address issues that have been discovered since the release of OS X 10.11.1. According to Apple’s release notes, focus areas for the beta include Graphics, Mail, Wi-Fi, Calendar, USB, Notes, Photos, and Spotlight.

Apple’s Record 4Q 2015 Results: $11.1 Billion Profit on $51.5 Billion Revenue

Apple today announced financial results for the third calendar quarter and fourth fiscal quarter of 2015, setting a number of company records. For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $51.5 billion and net quarterly profit of $11.1 billion, or $1.96 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $42.1 billion and net quarterly profit of $8.5 billion, or $1.42 per diluted share in the year-ago quarter.

Gross margin for the quarter was 39.9 percent compared to 38 percent in the year-ago quarter, with international sales accounting for 62 percent of revenue. Apple also declared an upcoming dividend payment of $0.52 per share, payable on November 12 to shareholders of record as of November 9. The company currently holds $205.6 billion in cash and marketable securities.

For the quarter, Apple sold 48 million iPhones, up from 39.2 million in the year-ago quarter. iPad sales were down to 9.9 million from 12.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, and Mac sales rose to 5.7 million from 5.5 million.

For the full fiscal year, Apple generated $233.7 billion in sales, a new record for the firm, with $53.4 billion in net income.

“Fiscal 2015 was Apple’s most successful year ever, with revenue growing 28% to nearly $234 billion. This continued success is the result of our commitment to making the best, most innovative products on earth, and it’s a testament to the tremendous execution by our teams,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are heading into the holidays with our strongest product lineup yet, including iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Apple Watch with an expanded lineup of cases and bands, the new iPad Pro and the all-new Apple TV which begins shipping this week.”

Apple’s guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 includes expected revenue of $75.5-77.5 billion and gross margin between 39 and 40 percent.

Apple will provide live streaming of its fiscal Q4 2015 financial results conference call at 2:00 PM Pacific, and MacRumors will update this story with coverage of the conference call highlights.

Conference call starts at 2:00 PM Pacific – No need to refresh

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