Apple services - page 2

Anyone who struggled to download the just-released macOS Big Sur might not be surprised to learn that Apple’s backend systems experienced major problems Thursday. By early afternoon, Apple said it fixed the problem. However, glitches lingered, as Apple admitted late in the afternoon.

“At present, you may see this error message appear when attempting to download macOS Big Sur,” Apple Support said on Twitter. “Apple is aware of this behavior and is currently investigating. Try waiting a while and attempting the download again.”

Apple added up to three months to the free Apple TV+ subscriptions it gave many of its customers in 2019. And it’s giving monthly rebates to some of those who paid for an annual subscription.

Apple did not give a reason for the extension. But it might give the service time to start the second seasons of its original slate of programs. These likely would be beginning already, but the COVID-19 pandemic shut down production for months.

Over the past 12 months, Apple quietly assembled an elite team of fitness trainers from around the world. Bound to secrecy, they’ve been moving across the country to start new lives in Los Angeles, without even being able to tell their friends exactly what they’re up to.

These are the stars of Cupertino’s latest subscription service, Apple Fitness+. It’s the first Apple-branded product to focus so intensely on a handful of individuals. So, as you’d expect, they’re a pretty extraordinary bunch. Let’s meet them!

Apple took its fitness offering to the next level Tuesday with a new addition to its stable of subscription services: Apple Fitness+.

Integrating with Apple Watch and featuring exclusive workout videos from a team of “world-class” trainers, this upcoming service is designed to provide a new way to log workouts and close your Activity rings.

Apple TV+ took over the Apple.com home page on Friday. And the company also released a lengthy video about a game recently added to Apple Arcade. These Apple services are seen as increasingly important to its bottom line. And the company is using new ways to advertise them.

Liz Schimel joined Apple’s news division in 2018, and was on board during the launch of News+. But the subscription service hasn’t seen much success, and now Schimel has left the company according to a published report on Tuesday.

Apple just can’t stop touting its surging revenue from subscription services. But when it comes to Apple TV+ subscriber numbers, Cupertino is keeping suspiciously quiet.

“2019 was a historic year” for Apple’s services business, CEO Tim Cook said Tuesday during the company’s latest record-smashing earnings call. He then went on to drop specific numbers about services like the App Store and Apple Pay. But when it came to new services like Apple TV+, Cook kept things decidedly vague.

Cook loves to reiterate that Apple TV+ serves as a creative place for the world’s best storytellers. And the story he’s masterfully spinning about the streaming video service is a great big mystery.

Revenue from Apple services reportedly grew 16% year-over-year in 2019 even as sales of iPhones declined. This indicates this company’s growth doesn’t depend on increasing handset sales, according to a market analysis firm.

Investor optimism about Apple’s services may have helped increase its share price almost 2% in the last month.

Apple News+ has been struggling to ramp up its subscriber numbers since launching in March, according to a new report that claims growth has been stuck in neutral for months.

News came out this morning that Apple is considering bundling services like Apple Music, Apple News+ and Apple TV+ together for a monthly fee. At this point, the company might need to do that to get more people onto the Apple News+ platform in order to make it worthwhile for publishers.

Apple is reportedly mulling offering all its entertainment services in one giant bundle as a sort of “Apple Prime.” If true, then a single subscription would include the company’s music, video, and gaming services

This news is apparently leaking from music-industry executive who aren’t thrilled with the idea.

Apple reports that every iCloud service is currently experiencing problems. This affects users of iCloud Drive, Keychain and many more.

However, this doesn’t seem to be cropping up for every user. And many of this company’s other online services are running fine.

Update (3:40pm): All today’s issues with Apple services have been cleared up.

There’s a bit of myth that’s trotted out every now and then suggesting that gaming hasn’t really taken off in the App Store in the way some people hoped.

A look at the top 10 downloaded iPhone apps worldwide for the month of April tells a different story, however. It shows that seven of the top 10 iPhone apps were games. Altogether, these were downloaded a massive 74 million times in April alone.

Although a recent report indicated that Apple is spending about $30 million a month for Amazon’s cloud services, new information indicates that’s a considerable reduction from the past.

This is a result of Apple’s growing collection of data centers around the world.

Publishers airing their gripes anonymously suggest that the early days of Apple News+ haven’t exactly been smooth sailing.

Complaints include teething problems with article formatting and design, as well as broader worries that Cupertino favors large publishers over smaller ones.

Apple is poised to create an entirely new ecosystem in health care with a value that could be three times greater than the global smartphone market, according to a Morgan Stanley report.

Apple devices and a growing number of App Store apps are in the early stages of what the 14 analysts predict will be a digital disruption to the health care industry worth as much as $313 billion by 2027.

The new Apple Card may be titanium but it’s not the first Apple-issued plastic.

Some Twitter and Reddit users with amazing recall reacted to the news by posting ads from 1986 promoting two kinds of credit cards issued by Apple.

Leave it to Apple to make the rollout of a new credit card as exciting as a new iPhone.

The Apple Card, on iPhone or in a physical titanium form you stash in a wallet, aspires to change the way people pay with credit.

Hundreds of TV shows are available through dozens of streaming services, and Apple has just added itself to the mix with a stable of original programs. But rather than increasing the complexity, Apple is hoping to simplify everything by becoming a one-stop-shop for multiple offerings, including HBO, Showtime and more.

This service is called, logically enough, Apple TV+

The wait for details on Apple’s rumored games subscription service could be over as soon as Monday, according to a new report.

This will supposedly offer a bundle of iPhone and iPad titles for a monthly fee.

Doxo, an online bill-paying service for more 2.5 million people announced today its users can now pay bills Apple Pay.

Most of its users pay bills with a mobile device using the company’s app. More than half, according to a written statement, use an iOS device.

The Wall Street Journal has reportedly agreed to participate in Apple’s paid news subscription service. Apple should offer details on the new service during the “It’s show time” media event.

News of the WSJ’s participation comes shortly after reports that The New York Times and Washington Post both opted out.

Update: The problems have apparently been fixed, as all the indicators on Apple’s System Status page are now green, and there are no outstanding issues listed.

If you’re having difficulties with some feature of iCloud, don’t reboot your computer or network because it’s not just you.

Apple’s official System Status page has lit up with a rash of yellow icons indicating problems.

In what would have been radical change a few years ago, your Amazon Fire TV can now stream songs from the Apple Music service.

This is the latest move from the iPhone maker to allow users to access its services on hardware made by rival companies.

The first Apple event of 2019 is nearly here. Tim Cook and friends are set to take the stage at the Steve Jobs Theater on March 25 to unveil the company’s newest goodies, only instead of unveiling some shiny new gadgets you can buy, Apple is supposedly going to bust out some services you can subscribe to.

The Apple rumor mill has been working in overdrive leading up the event, so we have a pretty solid idea of what we’ll see.

If you hate Apple keynote spoilers, stop reading now.

Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has proposed breaking up some of the biggest names in tech, including Apple. She says these companies have “bulldozed competition.”

She turned most of her ire on Amazon, Facebook and Google, though.