Posts Tagged ‘iTunes’

Apple Announces iTunes 10

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

iTunes 10 is now available for download. It features:

  • iTunes Ping—New social network devoted entirely to music.
  • iTunes HD TV show and movie rentals—Choose from the largest selection of commercial-free HD TV shows and movies available to rent and stream on demand (TV show rentals available in the U.S. only).
  • AirPlay—Stream music and videos wirelessly to Apple TV from iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Coming soon.

Visit www.apple.com/itunes for an overview of iTunes features. iTunes marketing assets can be found in the iPod family channel asset kit.

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Apple Announces New Apple TV

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

The new Apple TV is now available for order in the U.S. and select countries and will ship in late September. It features:

  • Streamlined design—Less than four inches square, 80 percent smaller, quieter, and more energy efficient.
  • iTunes HD TV show and movie rentals—Choose from the largest selection of commercial-free HD TV shows and movies available to rent and stream on demand to an HDTV (TV show rentals available in the U.S. only).
  • Streaming-based design—Movies, TV shows, photos, and Internet content stream wirelessly to Apple TV.
  • Netflix streaming—U.S. Netflix subscribers can access the Netflix streaming catalog.

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Apple Set to Debut 99-Cent iTunes TV Show Rentals From Fox and ABC

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts prepped for Apple’s media event

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple will launch its 99-cent TV show rentals through the iTunes Store tomorrow, with Fox and ABC set to serve as launch partners for delivering content. A report earlier today had indicated that Walt Disney (which owns ABC) was on board with that plan and that News Corp. (which owns Fox) was undecided but leaning toward participating.
As part of the Apple event Wednesday, News Corp.’s Fox and Walt Disney’s ABC networks are slated to be announced as offering 99-cent rentals of television shows through the iTunes store, according to people familiar with the matter.

According to the report, Fox’s participation will be limited in duration, at least to start, and will be limited to shows such as Glee, Bones, and Lie to Me for which it owns both the production and broadcasting rights.

Echoing the report from earlier today, the new article claims that a number of News Corp. executives are uneasy about Apple’s plan, fearing a disruption of the traditional television business. The company ultimately agreed to go along with Apple, however, as an experiment in alternative means for delivering content to consumers and in order to win goodwill with Apple to set stage for partnerships in other digital content ventures.

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Apple’s Music Event, Sept 1, 2010

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

Apple’s Annual End-of-Summer Music Event is On
Just as they have since 2005, Apple will be holding a special event at the Yerba Buena center in San Francisco at 10am, this Wednesday, September 1st. If the event notification is in any indication, this should be a music-themed event, probably focusing on the iPod line.

What are the pundits saying Jobs and Co. will deliver? We’ve rounded up the flotsam and jetsam from around the blogosphere to give you an idea of what we could see on stage:
Peter Kafka over at All Things Digital thinks we may see a social sharing feature in iTunes.
MacRumors brings us rumors of a drastic change to the iPod nano form factor.
MacDailyNews brings news of a camera on the iPod touch (can you say FaceTime?), and possibly iTunes TV show rentals.
MacNN notes the possibility of an “iTunes in the cloud” announcement, with an updated MacBook air listed as a “wildcard possibility”.
Does anyone outside of Cupertino know for sure what will be on stage? No, but it’s always fun to see what the rumor mill dreams up (and what Apple actually delivers.)
Rest assured, once we have all the details we’ll get you the latest – totally speculation free.

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Only 400 iTunes accounts compromised in fraud, Apple says

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

Apple this week revealed more details on an iTunes fraud case, in which one developer managed to boost their sales, revealing that just 400 iTunes accounts were compromised.

Over the weekend, it was reported that some iTunes account holders were involved in a number of fraud cases. Just how many accounts were compromised, though, was unknown. Clayton Morris of Fox News reached out to Apple for comment, and reported the company’s official word on his personal blog this week.

“Apple told me that an extremely small percentage of users, about 400 of the 150 million iTunes users – that is less than 0.0003% of iTunes users, were impacted,” he wrote.

It’s the second time this week that Apple spoke out publicly on the issue. The company had previously revealed that the developer whose sales were boosted, Thuat Nguyen, was banned from the App Store and his applications were removed.

Nguyen occupied over 40 of the top 50 applications in the App Store’s books category with a number of Japanese manga titles. The books were listed under the name “mycompany” with the website “Home.com.” Apple’s official statement said that Nguyen was involved in “fraudulent purchase patterns.”

The company also recommended that users review their iTunes and credit card accounts to ensure that no unauthorized activity has taken place.

In addition, Apple said its own servers were not compromised at all in the incident, but the company is taking steps to further protect consumers who may have had weak passwords compromised.

“Apple says that starting today they’re implementing a new security feature to minimize this type of fraud in the future,” Morris wrote. “Basically you’ll have to enter your credit card’s CCV code a little more often from now on.”

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Apple on iTunes fraud: Developer banned, users should check accounts

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Apple on Tuesday publicly responded to recent reports of developer and account fraud, revealing it banned the developer in question from its App Store, and also suggested that customers review their iTunes account for unauthorized transactions.

Over the weekend, reports surfaced that some iTunes account holders were involved in an increasing number of fraud cases, some of which appeared to be orchestrated by developers who allegedly used the accounts to boost their sales ratings. In addition, some others were affected by a widespread hack of user accounts.

A wave of suspicious purchases appeared to boost a single developer named Thuat Nguyen, who took over 40 spots in the top 50 applications on the App Store’s books category. Nguyen was the creator of a number of Japanese manga titles, and listed under the name “mycompany” with the website “Home.com.”

On Tuesday, Apple told Engadget that Nguyen and his applications were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement. The official statement said that Nguyen was involved in “fraudulent purchase patterns.”

“Developers do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data when an app is downloaded,” the company said. “If your credit card or iTunes password is stolen and used on iTunes we recommend that you contact your financial institution and inquire about canceling the card and issuing a chargeback for any unauthorized transactions. We also recommendt hat you change your iTunes account password immediately. For more information on best practices for password security visit http://www.apple.com/support/itunes.”

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Apple leverages iTunes account data to create targeted iAds

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Apple’s iAds for its iOS mobile operating system could have an advantage over competing advertising networks in creating targeted ads, due to extensive data found in users’ iTunes, App Store and iBooks purchases.

Apple collects “standard targeting options” from customers through its digital storefronts, with 150 million active iTunes accounts collecting a history of downloaded applications, movies, songs, TV shows and more. That data could help Apple create more appealing and effective advertisements, giving the company a leg up on the competition, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

Author Adam Satariano wrote that Apple doesn’t share information on individuals, but it does allow companies to advertise in “buckets” of applications that meet a targeted demographic, based on the tracked characteristics of its users.

The report used the Dove Men+Care soap campaign as an example. One of the first iAds to appear when the service launched last week, it has been targeted toward married men in their late 30s who have children.

“Relying on the music, videos and apps that customers are downloading from its iTunes, App Store and iBooks helps Apple sketch a behavioral profile that can be paired with appropriate promotional messages,” the report said.

iAds aim to provide richly interactive ad experiences inside developers’ apps, providing them a 60 percent cut of the advertising revenue. The hope is the advertisements — noted by the iAd logo in the corner — will be more compelling to users, because they don’t have to leave their app and launch a browser to view them.

Advertisements act more like full-blown applications, complete with features like videos, interactive games, and the ability to find information such as local stores or product availability.

An Apple spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company is just getting started, and partners are expected to ramp up campaigns as the year goes on. Advertisers are expected to jump on board with seasonal marketing campaigns including back to school and the holidays.

“We’re just taking our first few steps,” spokeswoman Trudy Miller said. “We’ll work our way up to walking and running as this year progresses.”

Apple has said that it expects its iAd service to represent half of the mobile advertising market by the end of 2010. Before it was launched, Apple had secured commitments for more than $60 million in advertisements over a six month span, with partners including AT&T, Best Buy, JCPenney, Nissan, Sears, Target, and Walt Disney Studios.

While demographics and data from iTunes accounts will be a major selling point for iAds, Apple also allows users to opt out of data collection as well. Users can visit oo.apple.com on any device running iOS 4 and Apple will allow the user to opt out of data collection for iAds. Those who visit will receive the message “You have successfully opted out.”

Apple plans to use iAd as a program to incentivize App Store development, and does not expect to turn a great profit from its new advertising business, made possible due to the purchase of Quattro Wireless for $275 million.

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Apple Releases iTunes 9.2 With iPhone 4 and iOS 4 Support

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Apple today released iTunes 9.2 via Software Update and the company’s website, bringing support for iPhone 4 and iOS 4 features, as well as several other enhancements.

iTunes 9.2 comes with several new features and improvements, including:

- Sync with iPhone 4 to enjoy your favorite music, movies, TV shows, books and more on-the-go

- Sync and read books with iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 4 and iBooks 1.1

- Organize and sync PDF documents as books. Read PDFs with iBooks 1.1 on iPad and any iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 4

- Organize your apps on your iOS 4 home screens into folders using iTunes

- Faster back-ups while syncing an iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 4

- Album artwork improvements make artwork appear more quickly when exploring your library

The update also brings several security fixes, as detailed in an associated support document.

A beta version of iTunes 9.2 was seeded to developers at last week’s Worldwide Developers Conference in order to support the new iOS 4 gold master candidate released at the event.

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