Apple Corporate

Apple faces $118K fine in China for copyright breach

Apple will have to compensate three Chinese writers for infringing their copyright rights when it sold their books online without first seeking permission.

A China Daily report stated the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ruled in favor of the authors, and Apple will have to pay them in excess of 730,000 yuan (US$118,000) for the infringement. Apple had not gotten permission before selling their books on the Apple App Store, it noted.

The presiding judge, Feng Gang, said Apple has the duty of checking whether the books uploaded by third-party providers are in line with … Read more

Apple to open first Berlin store on May 3

Apple's plans to increase the number of retail stores it operates around the world are in full swing in Germany.

The company posted to its German site today that its first store in Berlin will officially open its doors on May 3. Oddly, Apple will open the store at 5 p.m. local time, rather than in the morning, as it has in previous store openings.

The Berlin Apple Store will be open from 10 a.m. local time to 8 p.m. local time Monday through Saturday. It'll be closed on Sunday.

(Via 9to5 Mac)

Apple releases revised plans for its 'spaceship' headquarters

As Apple waits for the city of Cupertino, Calif., to give the final thumbs-up for the design of its new spaceshiplike headquarters, the company has been tinkering with the details.

Cupertino published the software giant's project update for the headquarters on the city Web site on Wednesday. Included in the documents are the project description, site and landscaping plans, floor plans, renderings, and a bicycle plan.

While a ton of information was submitted, it appears that the basic essentials haven't changed too much. The building still looks like a circular spaceship; in fact, many of the renderings in … Read more

Auctioning Tim Cook: Winner gets coffee with Apple's CEO

Apple CEO Tim Cook is selling his time, and it's worth $50,000.

Cook is auctioning off a coffee meeting with himself at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., to raise money for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. Nine bids have already been submitted on charity auction site Charitybuzz, with the current highest at $10,500.

Charitybuzz is calling the item a "power meeting" that lets a lucky winner "nab one-on-one access to one of the most powerful figures in tech and business." The meeting can run between 30 minutes … Read more

Apple celebrates 10 years of iTunes

Apple on Wednesday started celebrating the 10-year anniversary of its iTunes store.

When users head to the iTunes Store, they'll find a new feature called "A Decade of iTunes." The reason? Simple: on April 28, Apple will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the iTunes store.

The feature allows users to browse a timeline of stories and the events that got iTunes to its place today. Things kick off with 2003 and the events that marked that year for iTunes. Users can then move their way through subsequent years and get glimpses of the way the store looked … Read more

Apple shares sputter after profit decline

Apple's shares were hovering around the $400 mark again today, and not in a good way.

By the end of trading on Wednesday, the shares had largely pulled themselves out of their funk, closing at $405.46, just a hair below the previous day's close.

But things were a bit gloomier in the first few hours of trading Wednesday, when shares in the high-profile technology company were generally down 1 percent or more to just around $401, with a handful of dips into the $399 range or below. Shares had closed Tuesday, just ahead of Apple's earnings … Read more

Apple: Newest victim of the law of large numbers

Give Tim Cook his due. The man could sweet talk the spots off a leopard and the big cat would be left feeling awfully proud about his suddenly spanking new coat of gold.

So it was that following Apple's second-quarter earnings report on Tuesday Cook came across in the company's conference call with analysts as a CEO without a care in the world. He was "confident." He was "pleased."And of course, he was "excited."

He also was spinning Apple's performance for all it was worth.

"We do want to … Read more

A measure of Apple's success: Oppenheimer cites Japan

Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer took a minute during Tuesday's earnings conference call to cite Apple's success in Japan -- an important metric in a country where national brands were once invincible.

"In Japan, IDC Japan announced that iPhone gained the number one position for all of calendar year 2012, as well as for calendar Q4 2012 in both handsets and smartphones," Oppenheimer said.

He continued. "This is also the first time a non-Japanese company has achieved the No. 1 spot for an entire year...In addition, Apple was ranked No. 1 in Nikkei'… Read more

Tim Cook leaves door open for larger iPhone

While Apple maintains that the iPhone 5's 4-inch display is the best around, the company hasn't totally ruled out making a device with a larger screen.

When questioned Tuesday about Apple's stance on a 5-inch screen, CEO Tim Cook didn't exactly expound on the virtues of a larger screen -- in fact, he did just the opposite -- but he never wholly rejected the idea of going bigger either.

"My view continues to be that iPhone 5 has the absolute best display in the industry," Cook said on a postearnings call with investors. "… Read more