Apple Expands Lower App Store Pricing Tiers to Canada and New Zealand
Apple today followed through with plans to expand its lower pricing tier options for the App Store to Canada and New Zealand. Introduced in 2014, alternate pricing tiers A and B allow developers to charge lower prices in countries like China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, and Australia.
With the new pricing tiers, apps in Canada and New Zealand can be priced as low as $0.99 (CAD and NZD). Apple first announced upcoming Alternate Tier A and Tier B pricing options for Canada and New Zealand just over a week ago, when it raised App Store prices in the two countries due to exchange rate fluctuations.
On January 18, the Tier 1 minimum App Store price was raised to $1.39 CAD in Canada and $1.49 NZD in New Zealand. For reference, Tier 1 pricing in the United States is set at $0.99, meaning apps and in-app purchases priced at $0.99 in the U.S. cost $1.39 in Canada and $1.49 in New Zealand. With alternate pricing tiers, developers will now be able to charge $0.99 in the United States while charging a lower price in Canada, New Zealand, and the other countries listed above.
Lower price tiers, Alternate Tier A and Alternate Tier B, now let you offer paid apps and In-App Purchases at $0.99 (CAD) and $0.99 (NZD). Existing apps that already use these price tiers have been automatically updated.
App Store pricing was also raised in Israel, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, and South Africa, with several of those countries already able to take advantage of lower Tier A and Tier B pricing.
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Chrome is now faster and more reliable on iOS
Google’s Chrome browser has a loyal following on iOS, but it’s certainly not for the speed or reliability — it has long used a second-tier iOS web rendering engine (UIWebView) that isn’t nearly as polished as what you get in Safari. At last, though, it’s catching up. The latest iOS version of Chrome now uses a newer engine (WKWebView), giving it performance much closer to Apple’s own browser — it’s “significantly” faster, particularly when it comes to JavaScript. You’ll be glad to hear that it’s much more stable, as well, with a crash rate that’s a whopping 70 percent lower.
And don’t worry, desktop users, you’re getting some updates of your own. There’s a new Data Saver extension that compresses websites, helping you get that much more web surfing out of a slow connection or a capped data plan. Also, Chrome itself now puts the icons for your extensions right next to the address bar, so it’s easy to spot and remove a rogue add-on. Both the iOS and desktop upgrades should be available today, so you won’t have to wait long to give the new features a shot.
Source: App Store, Chromium Blog, Chrome Web Store
Apple has 1 billion active devices
Apple’s device sales weren’t stellar as 2015 wound to a close, but it did cross an important milestone: it now has 1 billion active devices. The figure includes all iOS, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch units that have used Cupertino’s services in the past 90 days. While that’s not as huge a figure as you’ll see on the Android side (which crossed the 1 billion mark back in 2014), it’s no mean feat for a company that focuses almost exclusively on higher-priced hardware.
Not that Apple is depending solely on an ever-growing unit count to make money. As the company explained during its fiscal results call, there’s a lot of recurring revenue here. Customer satisfaction rates are very high, so existing owners are more likely to come back for upgrades and additional products (say, an Apple Watch to go with that iPhone). Also, there are services that are consistent money makers — Apple Music, anyone? We’re sure that Apple still wants to sell lots of devices (it remains “bullish” on places like China and India), but it’s adamant that this isn’t the only criteria that matters.
[Image credit: Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images]
Source: Apple (PDF)
Apple Reports Record Results: $18.4B Profit on $75.9B in Revenue for Q1 2016 on 74.8M iPhones
Apple today announced financial results for the first fiscal quarter of 2016, which corresponds to the fourth calendar quarter of 2015. For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $75.9 billion and net quarterly profit of $18.4 billion, or $3.28 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $74.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $18 billion, or $3.06 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Both revenue and earnings were company records.
Gross margin for the quarter was 40.1 percent compared to 39.9 percent in the year-ago quarter, with international sales accounting for 66 percent of revenue. Apple also declared an upcoming dividend payment of $0.52 per share, payable on February 11 to shareholders of record as of February 8. The company currently holds $215.7 billion in cash and marketable securities, partially offset by $53.2 billion in long-term debt.
Apple sold a record 74.8 million iPhones during the quarter, up slightly from 74.5 million a year earlier, while Mac sales were down slightly to 5.3 million units sold from 5.5 million units in the year-ago quarter. iPad sales were also down once again, falling to 16.1 million from 21.4 million despite the introduction of the iPad Pro during the quarter.
“Our team delivered Apple’s biggest quarter ever, thanks to the world’s most innovative products and all-time record sales of iPhone, Apple Watch and Apple TV,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The growth of our Services business accelerated during the quarter to produce record results, and our installed base recently crossed a major milestone of one billion active devices.”
Apple’s guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 includes expected revenue of $50–53 billion and gross margin between 39 and 39.5 percent. Revenue guidance is slightly below analyst expectations.
In supplemental materials, Apple explains that currency headwinds have cost the company 15 percent in earnings over the past 18 months. Using “constant currency” measures, Apple’s revenue for the holiday quarter would have been $80.8 billion for an 8 percent increase year-over-year.
Apple will provide live streaming of its fiscal Q1 2016 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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Apple Now Has Over 1 Billion Active Devices Worldwide
Apple has announced that its active installed base of devices has reached 1 billion, based on the number of iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod touch, Apple TV and Apple Watch devices that have been engaged with the company’s services within the past 90 days.
Apple sold a record 74.8 million iPhones, 5.3 million Macs and 16.1 million iPads during the first quarter of the 2016 fiscal year. Apple also earned slightly over $6 billion in revenue from services, including App Store and iTunes sales, AppleCare, Apple Music subscriptions, Apple Pay, licensing and more.
Earlier this month, Apple said the 2015 holiday season was the “biggest ever” for the App Store, with customers spending a record-breaking $1.1 billion on apps and in-app purchases over a two-week period ending January 3. New Year’s Day set a single-day record with $144 million in sales, just one week after record sales on Christmas Day.
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Microsoft’s iPhone keyboard has a one-handed mode
Microsoft isn’t just porting its Windows smartphone keyboard to iOS verbatim — it’s spicing things up in the process. Both Windows blogger Paul Thurrott and The Verge understand that iPhone users will get a fan-shaped one-handed keyboard. Based on the early peeks (including a few Verge pictures), the new mode resembles the touchscreen keyboard you got back in the Windows Vista days. Windows 10 Mobile already has a single-hand mode, but it only shunts the keys to one side — this is designed more explicitly to fit your thumb.
Besides that, you’re looking at a largely faithful rendition of the Windows keyboard, complete with Word Flow (swipe-to-type) and suggestions. The add-on still isn’t publicly available — you’ll have to wait a few months for that. Look at this way, though: you’ll at least know what you’re likely to get when this new input method arrives.
Many Samsung apps coming to iOS in 2016
Although no official announcement yet, the folks over at SamMobile say that inside sources they’re fairly confident in have revealed that Samsung plans to bring the vast majority of its apps to the iOS over the course of this year. In fact, it might even be possible that all of Samsung’s apps will be arriving on iPhones soon.
This comes right on the coat-tails of Samsung’s announcement that the Gear S2 will soon have iOS support. Although many Samsung apps are already available in the App Store, some key apps from the Samsung line are definitely missing. The company is looking to make even more of their stuff compatible with Apple products.
Right off the bat, it looks like the Gear Fit Manager is going to be one of the most important apps to land on iOS. This will add the Gear Fit to the list of potential fitness trackers available to iPhone users. Pairing nicely with this, Apple fans will also get access the S Health app, which is a pretty sleek all-around health monitoring tool.
See also: Apple demanding $180M extra cash in settlement from Samsung
Although the Smart Camera app is currently available on iOS, it looks like Samsung will soon be taking the photo-snapping program a lot more seriously. The UI right now is pretty clumsy, by many accounts, but it looks like the app is slated for a full overhaul. Before long, controlling Samsung smart cameras from your iPhone will be a cinch.
Finally, iPhone users will be getting Galaxy View support via Remote Control and Family Squar apps for the iOS. This will give these users the ability to control the Galaxy View from their smartphones as easily as Android users currently can.
Although the company is clearly up to its elbows in the Android operating system, it’s important for Samsung to ensure that its non-smartphone devices interact smoothly with smartphones regardless of operating system. This initiative is part of their push for the ever-developing Internet of Things, which requires fluid interaction between a wide variety of devices, accessories, and wearables.
What do you think of Samsung filling out their iOS app line? Let us know in the comments below!
Samsung may bring all of its apps to iOS this year
According to SamMobile, Samsung could release all of its apps on Apple’s platform before the end of the year, also said to be working on a Gear Fit Manager for iOS.
The intriguing report from the tech website notes that Samsung could potentially go a step further and release ‘all’ of its apps on iOS, following the group’s decision to bring iOS support to the Gear S2.
SamMobile’s Asif S. writes that sources have revealed Samsung is working on a Gear Fit Manager for iOS, which will allow Gear owners to pair the gadget with an iPhone. The smartphone group is also said to be planning an iOS release for the S Health app for iPhone, plus the Remote Control and Family Square apps.
It doesn’t end there, as SamMobile also reports that the Level app for Level audio devices is taking a journey to the world of Apple too. Sources have lifted the lift on Samsung’s home entertainment plans, adding that the company is bringing iOS support to the Galaxy View tablet.
Other projects mentioned by SamMobile’s sources include Samsung’s progress on an updated build of the Smart Camera app for iOS, which could potentially bring a fully-redesigned UI with it.
If the rumours are true, it’ll certainly be interesting to see how Samsung’s app lineup is received on iOS.
Come comment on this article: Samsung may bring all of its apps to iOS this year
Web link crashes Safari on your iPhone or Mac
You’ve probably run into websites (or buggy browsers) that have inadvertently bogged down your devices, but there’s one lurking out there that causes very intentional grief. If you visit crashsafari.com (we’re not going to link it, for obvious reasons), the site will generate an ever-larger character string that creates a lot of problems. As the name implies, it’ll reliably crash Apple’s Safari browser on Macs — and on iOS devices, you’ll probably need to reboot. The code also appears to affect Chrome on Android and PCs, although not to such a severe and predictable degree.
There doesn’t appear to be any malware lurking behind the code, and you should be fine once you restart your browser or device. However, there are concerns that someone could use the crash to compromise your security (some attacks rely on crashes to open vulnerabilities)… or at least, use a URL shortener to hide the link and pull a prank. We’ve reached out to Apple for its take on the situation, and we’ll let you know if it has a response. In the meantime, you’ll probably want to avoid visiting any obscured links from people you don’t trust.
crashsafari working on Android and PC
— Fake Jailbreak (@hatefakejb) January 25, 2016
Via: AppleInsider
Source: Guardian, Fake Jailbreak (Twitter)
Donald Rumsfeld helped make an iPhone game
Like him or hate him, Donald Rumsfeld has been a jack of all trades — and apparently, that now includes mobile games. The veteran politician has teamed up with programmers to release Churchill Solitaire, an iOS game based on the card game that Winston Churchill supposedly played to sharpen his strategic thought processes. Rumsfeld was strictly a creative director (he’s not exactly a coder by trade), but his influence is everywhere. Reflections on Churchill’s life appear while you’re playing, and even the pricing mirrors Rumsfeld’s values — while the base game is free, hints and retries cost money (“there are damn few undos in life,” he says).
The title isn’t going to make you rethink your views on Rumsfeld, but it might be worth a go if you’re not averse to efforts with his name attached. It’s not only considerably tougher than regular solitaire, but requires the kind of long-term thinking that’s not always present in card games. A careless decision early on can ruin your chances of winning much later. Our only major question right now: where’s the Android version?
[Image credit: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images]
Via: Wall Street Journal
Source: App Store
AIVAnet 