<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Sold out iPhone 15 pre-orders and long queues in cities around the world signaled the launch of Apple’s latest iPhone Friday—more than a month after the company reported its <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/aug/03/apple-revenues-fall-third-straight-quarter#:~:text=Apple%20boss%20Tim%20Cook%20announced,fell%201.4%25%20to%20%2481.8bn." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">third straight quarter</a> of declining sales.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Lines formed in&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/KateKozuch/status/1705186743106916842?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/iphone-15-in-uae-long-queues-of-buyers-at-dubai-mall-apple-store-barricaded" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dubai</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/Reuters/status/1705260668356567522?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shanghai</a>&nbsp;and other cities for the launch of the iPhone 15, which features camera upgrades, new colors and USB-C charging among other subtle changes from the previous model.



Apple CEO Tim Cook made an&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/tim_cook/status/1705258046681686288?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">appearance</a>&nbsp;at one of the launches in New York, where several customers waited in line hours prior to the opening of Apple&#8217;s Fifth Avenue store.



Reservations for in-store pickups have sold out quickly, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-22/apple-s-iphone-15-goes-on-sale-in-test-of-holiday-resurgence" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bloomberg</a>, which reported online orders for the highest-end iPhone 15 models won’t reach customers in several countries until at least mid-November—an indication of high demand.



Apple is in its most drawn out sales slump since 2016, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/aug/03/apple-revenues-fall-third-straight-quarter#:~:text=Apple%20boss%20Tim%20Cook%20announced,fell%201.4%25%20to%20%2481.8bn." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Guardian</a>,&nbsp;with the company reporting last month its third straight quarter of revenue declines, with third quarter sales falling 1.4% to $81.1 billion over the last year.



Analysts expect the company to break the slump next quarter with slight revenue growth, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-aapl-q3-earnings-report-2023-46673f8f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wall Street Journal</a>&nbsp;reported.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



Apple shares closed up more than 0.49% at $174.79 Friday as the tech giant’s stock continues to trade up more than 39% since the start of the year.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/04/apple-shares-slide-after-it-reports-decreased-hardware-revenue.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$39.7 billion</a>. That’s how much revenue Apple’s iPhone brought in for the company in the third quarter.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forbes-valuation">FORBES VALUATION</h2>



We estimate Cook to be worth&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/tim-cook/?sh=2a64b4273ea4">$1.9 billion</a>, a sum of wealth bolstered by hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Apple shares he’s sold over the years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Declines in iPhone sales are the main culprit behind Apple’s minor slump, as the product typically makes up about half of the company’s total sales. The June period is typically the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/03/tech/apple-earnings-third-quarter/index.html#:~:text=iPhone%20revenue%20came%20in%20at,revenue%20was%20down%20nearly%2020%25." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">slowest quarter</a>&nbsp;of the year for Apple. The company usually reveals its new iPhone models in September after consumers have held out on phone upgrades until the new models hit the market. However, June was the same month Apple surpassed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/06/30/apple-hits-3-trillion-market-value-and-could-soar-another-800-billion/?sh=2af94dd852b1">$3 trillion</a>&nbsp;in market value, making it the first company ever to reach past the mark. Apple is worth nearly as much as Tesla, Meta, Berkshire Hathaway, UnitedHealth and Visa—firms in the top 10 of America&#8217;s most valuable companies—<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/06/30/apple-hits-3-trillion-market-value-and-could-soar-another-800-billion/?sh=2af94dd852b1">combined</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2023/09/01/apple-iphone-15-pro-max-ultra-design-camera-display-price-new-iphone-release/?sh=267597b442b0">Apple Analyst Details iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro Design, Display, Camera, Color Changes</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidphelan/2023/09/18/iphone-15-pro-max-serious-problem-highlighted-by-apple-insider-iphone-16-pro-leak/?sh=70265fd72faa">iPhone 15 Pro Max Serious Problem Highlighted By Apple Insider</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)

iPhone15 On Sale in Chongqing

iPhone 15 Global Debut Marked By Long Lines And Consumer Hype As Apple Looks To Turn Around Sales Slump

The tech behemoth’s latest iPhone features a new USB-C charging port and titanium frame for its higher-end models.



Apple has unveiled the iPhone 15, with the base models 15 and 15 Plus priced at $799 and $899 respectively, in its most anticipated product event of the year. The higher-end 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max will be priced at $999 and $1,199 respectively.



As usual, the iPhone 15 will come equipped with a better camera and upgraded processing power, but it will also feature a significant change: a USB-C port for charging and data transfers. Apple was forced to do away with its Lightning port in iPhones after the European Union passed a law last year that requires all mobile devices to accommodate a common&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/10/26/weve-no-choice-apple-says-iphones-will-switch-over-to-usb-c-chargers-to-comply-with-new-eu-law/?sh=786790cabcde">USB-C&nbsp;</a>charger.



The consumer tech giant also announced two new makes of the Apple Watch: the Apple Watch Series 9, which it said was its first carbon neutral product ever, and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Sustainability was one of the central themes of the event, where Apple detailed its increased use of recycled materials like cobalt in the battery and energy efficient manufacturing and transportation practices to produce the Apple Watch Series 9. This comes ahead of the company’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.



With inconspicuous changes in design and appearance, the screen sizes for the standard iPhone 15 models are the same as before (6.1 inch and 6.7 inch), but the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max have a slightly larger display as their bezels are thinner than previous iPhones, the company announced. The Pro iPhones are built with Grade 5 titanium frames for the first time rather than stainless steel, making them the lightest Pro phones Apple has ever built.



Similar to its predecessor, iPhone 15 has a matte finish, but the edges of the phone are more rounded than before. The regular models are available in pink, yellow, green, blue and black while the Pro models come in black, blue and white titanium. All new phones have the “Dynamic Island,” an interface that was first added to iPhone 14 Pro that lets users see notifications in the black pill-shaped notch at the top of the display.



Apple touted the phone’s upgraded camera capabilities: a 48-megapixel camera sensor is replacing the 12-megapixel and lets users zoom into photos while capturing minute details and nuances. The new Pro phones come with a feature that uses machine learning to detect when a person is in the photo, enabling you to automatically switch to portrait mode even after a photo has been taken.



If you’re on a call using the iPhone 15 Pro, a machine learning-based feature called “voice isolation” prioritizes the speaker’s voice and drowns out background voice. The phones are also enabled with an emergency SOS service and roadside assistance while off the grid.



The pricier models come with a performance edge, thanks to a new A17 chip. All new iPhones are embedded with a new ultrawide-band semiconductor, a technology that uses radio waves to send and receive signals, to make location tracking on the Find My app more accurate.



The ring/mute slide switch, which has never changed since Apple launched the original iPhone in 2007, has been replaced in iPhone 15 Pro models with an “Action Button” that can be customized to set different functionalities like starting a voice recording, launching the camera or opening the flashlight.



For the Apple Watch Series 9 and a second generation of the Apple Watch Ultra , the look and design for the new watches has remained consistent, but their guts have gotten an upgrade, with 30% faster processing speed and brighter screens. The two new Apple Watches are equipped with a feature that lets users double tap their index finger and thumb to carry out actions like accepting or ending a call, and playing or pausing music with just one hand.



Apple’s latest product reveal comes at a crucial time for the company. Demand for smartphones is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-08-06/apple-iphone-15-comes-amid-us-sales-slowdown-tim-cook-q3-earnings-comments-lkzfs14u" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">slowing</a>&nbsp;down across the industry, and Apple’s iPhone sales dropped about 2% year over year in the third quarter of 2023. Core to its business, iPhones, Apple Watches and AirPods accounted for about 60% of Apple’s $394.3 billion annual revenue in 2022.



Although more mainstream, the new iPhone and Apple Watches aren’t the only products that Apple announced this year. In June, alongside new Macs, Apple introduced the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnpaczkowski/2023/06/07/this-is-what-its-like-to-use-apples-new-vision-pro-mixed-reality-headset/?sh=43c3323539e4">Apple Vision Pro</a> mixed-reality headset, its first major new product category since the Apple Watch made waves in 2015. The iPhone 15 lets users create photos and videos that are compatible with the Apple Vision Pro.

Apple Holds Product Unveiling Event

Apple Kills Lightning In iPhone 15 And Announces Carbon Neutral Apple Watches

Packages containing rifle parts hidden inside George Foreman Grills also contained Apple’s dime-sized location tracker, investigators say.



In November last year, Customs and Border Protection intercepted a package en route from Illinois to Israel. It contained a George Foreman Grill — innocuous enough. But when agents X-rayed the item and opened it up, they found rifle barrels wrapped in tinfoil and an Apple AirTag.



When Apple launched the dime-sized location tracking devices in 2021, they were pitched as a cheap piece of tech to help you keep tabs on your belongings, like luggage, keys and wallets. But AirTags and similar devices like Tile have also been put to use by criminals,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/sep/05/i-didnt-want-it-anywhere-near-me-how-the-apple-airtag-became-a-gift-to-stalkers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">most notably stalkers</a>.



Now, CBP inspectors claim to have found evidence of another illicit use for AirTags: helping illegal weapons smugglers keep tabs on their shipments, according to a search warrant for an Apple iCloud account linked to the trackers that was obtained by&nbsp;Forbes.



Drug and gun traffickers have long used GPS trackers to keep tabs on shipments, either in order to ensure they reached their destination, or detect when they go missing. But while older trackers have proven bulky and unreliable, Apple’s AirTag is small, lightweight and efficient.



“Like drug dealers, [weapons traffickers] want to make sure the load didn’t get ripped by police or somebody else,” said Brady Wilkins, a recently-retired investigator in Arizona. “If another group takes it or it gets seized, they can abandon it or know something is not right.”



Apple did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication, but it has been attempting to curtail malicious uses of the AirTag over the last two years. One recent addition is a feature that warns users when an unknown tracking device is detected, via Bluetooth, on their person. “We condemn in the strongest possible terms any malicious use of our products,” the company wrote in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apple.com/uk/newsroom/2022/02/an-update-on-airtag-and-unwanted-tracking/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">press release</a>&nbsp;last year.



According to the warrant, the DHS Homeland Security Investigations unit traced the rifle barrel shipment back to a Palos, Illinois-based man, Amin Betuni. Records the government said it obtained from an unnamed online gun supplier showed Betuni had bought various AR-15 and Glock barrels. Investigators said that CBP intercepted a package containing what appeared to be those same parts, together with the grill and an AirTag, en route to a contact in Jerusalem, Israel. The warrant says the package’s shipping label stated it was sent from “Ameen Betuni” from a vacant lot next to a property owned by the suspect.



Border patrol in Israel, meanwhile, reported intercepting a different package containing gun parts also hidden inside a George Foreman Grill and an AirTag alongside, according to the warrant. That parcel had a return address for Betuni’s residence, the DHS claimed. Israeli officials also seized an additional FedEx shipment containing other gun components that were concealed inside of auto parts, investigators said. An AirTag was discovered in that package too.



Wilkins said that adding a personal property as return address would be a stupid mistake. “Criminals become complacent too,” he added.



In late December, law enforcement raided Betuni’s property, though he was not at home. Investigators suspected, however, they were being watched by security cameras in his home, as only ten minutes after police entered Betuni’s residence, one of his AirTag devices was mysteriously unpaired with his iCloud account, the DHS said.



Betuni was arrested in July and has been accused of shipping illegal Glock switches, which effectively turn a pistol into an automatic weapon, in the U.S. However, he has not yet been charged for sending gun apparatus to Israel or any other nation. In a recent filing, the government asked the court for an extension to the deadline for filing an indictment, as it was continuing to investigate Betuni’s conduct. The request was granted last week.



Others involved in the alleged scheme, but whose identities were unknown to the government, were also using AirTags as part of their operation to “smuggle goods from the United States,” the agent wrote in the warrant. No more information on the wider use of the Apple devices was provided.



The Department of Justice declined to comment on the case. Betuni’s lawyer didn’t respond to requests for comment.



It’s not just criminals who’ve found uses for the AirTag — law enforcement has too, even if it goes against Apple policy to use the tools for surreptitious surveillance. In March, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2023/03/23/apple-airtag-becomes-dea-surveillance-device/?utm_campaign=forbes&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_term=Gordie">Forbes found a warrant detailing the DEA’s use of an AirTag</a>, after it placed one of the devices in a machine agents suspected was being ordered online to manufacture illegal narcotics.

Coronavirus Pandemic 2022 –  iPhone SE

Criminals Are Allegedly Using Apple AirTags To Track Illegal Weapons

Apple Store in Shanghai, China

Inside Apple’s Impossible War On Child Exploitation

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Apple announced that its new 15-inch MacBook Air—the world’s thinnest 15-inch laptop, according to Apple—will be available starting next week, marking a middle-price point offering for the company that previously had a significant price difference between its smaller MacBooks and larger models.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



The new model will weigh in at 3.3 pounds and come in four colors.



Bergeron said the laptop will have Apple’s M2 chip, making it 12 times faster than Intel-based MacBook Air; it is quoted at an 18-hour battery life.



The new model will start at $1,299 and be available next week, while the 13-inch MacBook Air powered by the same chip will start at $1,099; the 13-inch MacBook Air with an M1 chip—Apple’s older version—will drop below $1,000, now priced at $999.



Customers can order the new model starting Monday.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Apple didn’t previously offer a 15-inch version of its MacBook Air—which comes in 13-inch options—or its MacBook Pro, its larger laptop that comes in a 14- or 16-inch option. The new model will provide a choice to users who don’t want the extra computing power of the MacBook’s 14- and 16-inch models, but do want the option of a screen bigger than 13 inches. The last time Apple offered a 15-inch laptop of any kind was 2019, but Apple&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/13/20961717/apple-macbook-pro-16-inch-model-screen-discontinued-display-laptop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">discontinued</a>&nbsp;its 15-inch MacBook Pro that year in exchange for the 16-inch option. Apple’s laptop prices have historically been high, too, with the 16-inch MacBook Pro starting at $2,499. Moving forward, the lower price and bigger screen size is meant “to deliver even more value and choice to everyone,” according to the Apple release.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



The big announcement expected from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is the company’s long-awaited mixed-reality headset that is rumored to have both virtual reality and augmented reality compatibility. The device is rumored to look like ski goggles, The Verge&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/23728368/wwdc-2023-date-time-live-stream-watch-how-to-rumors" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>, and is supposed to have external sensors to help users navigate reality.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forbes-valuation">FORBES VALUATION</h2>



Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, who kicked off the keynote address Monday at the Worldwide Developers Conference, is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/tim-cook/?sh=612f5e173ea4">estimated</a>&nbsp;to be worth $1.9 billion by&nbsp;Forbes.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/5/23739220/apple-macbook-air-15-features-specs-price-release-date-wwdc-2023" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apple’s new 15-inch MacBook Air is the ‘world’s thinnest’</a>&nbsp;(The Verge)



<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/live-blog/2023-06-05/apple-worldwide-developers-conference" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apple Headset, iOS 17, New Mac: Live WWDC 2023 Analysis With Mark Gurman</a> (Bloomberg)

Apple Store Opens In Knightsbridge

Apple Announces Plans For Its Largest MacBook Air Yet At Developer Conference

TOPLINE Apple has agreed to make some changes to its App Store policy as part of a proposed lawsuit settlement which will enable developers to contact customers about alternate payment methods for in-app transactions that will allow them to circumvent Apple’s sizeable commission fee, a move that comes at a time when the iPhone-maker is facing major antitrust and legal challenges around the world.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Is a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/08/apple-us-developers-agree-to-app-store-updates/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">press release</a>, Apple says it will allow app developers to reach out to their iPhone and iPad customers via email or other communication channels to inform them about alternate payment methods that don’t carry Apple’s fee—something Apple previously did not allow.



One caveat to this allowance is that users will need to consent to the communication and they will have the right to opt-out of receiving such communications.



The proposed settlement also expands the number of price points that developers can charge for subscriptions, in-app purchases, and paid apps.



Apple has also agreed to create a $100 million fund for payouts to small app developers.



The iPhone-maker has also agreed to not raise its commission rate for small developers—which it slashed from 30% to 15% last year—for at least three years.



The proposed changes will have to be approved by a U.S. federal court judge who is also presiding over Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chief-critic">CHIEF CRITIC</h2>



The Coalition for App Fairness—a group that includes the likes of Spotify and Epic Games as its members issued a&nbsp;<a href="https://appfairness.org/coalition-for-app-fairness-statement-on-apples-sham-settlement-offer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a>&nbsp;dismissing Apple’s settlement offer as a “sham.” Meghan DiMuzio the executive director of the group said: “Apple&#8217;s sham settlement offer is nothing more than a desperate attempt to avoid the judgment of courts, regulators, and legislators worldwide… If this settlement is approved, app makers will still be barred from communicating about lower prices or offering competing payment options within their apps.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



“We truly are proud that a case brought by two developers, standing in the shoes of tens of thousands of U.S. iOS developers, could help to bring about so much important change,” Steve Berman, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the suit,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/27/technology/apple-settles-app-store-lawsuit.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;the&nbsp;New York Times.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Apple’s settlement appears to be a rather minor concession from the world’s richest company as its App Store business practices face&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2021/08/25/south-korea-lawmakers-back-legislative-action-to-curb-google-and-apples-app-store-fees/?sh=7c082ba01813">increasing antitrust scrutiny</a>&nbsp;worldwide. Some app makers, like Spotify, already&nbsp;<a href="https://support.spotify.com/us/article/apple-payments/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">block new customers</a>&nbsp;from signing up for subscriptions inside their iOS app. In the past, the music streamer has also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2015/7/8/8913105/spotify-apple-app-store-email" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sent out emails</a>&nbsp;urging existing subscribers to ditch Apple’s payment system for a discount. Apple’s new proposal will simply formalize this for all developers. The company, however, made no concessions about payment methods within iOS itself, and app developers are still forced to only use Apple’s payment system for all in-app transactions taking place on an iPhone or iPad. The proposed settlement comes at a time when Apple is awaiting a decision from a federal judge in a separate lawsuit filed by Fortnite-developer Epic Games which seeks to allow developers to circumvent Apple’s App Store commissions altogether.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



On Wednesday, a South Korean parliamentary committee&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2021/08/25/south-korea-lawmakers-back-legislative-action-to-curb-google-and-apples-app-store-fees/?sh=7c082ba01813">voted</a>&nbsp;to move forward a key legislative amendment that would ban Apple and Google from forcibly charging app developers a commission on all add-on purchases by requiring them to use their proprietary payment systems. Previously this month, a group of bipartisan U.S. senators&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-lawmakers-introduce-bill-rein-apple-google-app-stores-2021-08-11/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">introduced</a>&nbsp;a similar bill that would bar companies from forcing their payment system on app developers. Last year, the European Union&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2020/12/15/new-eu-rules-could-fine-us-tech-giants-billions/?sh=5db2712f6a54">unveiled</a>&nbsp;a set of proposals that would force the likes of Apple and Google to divest parts of their business if they fail to adhere to fair competition rules.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/27/technology/apple-settles-app-store-lawsuit.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apple Settlement Gives App Developers a Way to Avoid Its Commission</a>&nbsp;(New York Times)



<a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-will-change-app-store-practices-after-settlement-with-small-developers-2021-08-27/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apple strikes App Store deal with small developers as it waits for &#8216;Fortnite&#8217; ruling</a> (Reuters)



By Siladitya Ray, Forbes Staff

American multinational technology company Apple store seen

Apple Agrees To App Store Policy Changes In Settlement With Small Developers As Antitrust Threat Looms

TOPLINE Amazon and Google are facing a formal investigation in the U.K. over concerns they are not doing enough to protect users from fake reviews, the competition watchdog announced Friday, adding to increasing regulatory efforts around the world to compel tech companies to take more responsibility for problematic content on their platforms.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h4>



The Competition and Markets Authority said it had opened an investigation to determine whether Google and Amazon had broken consumer law by failing to take sufficient steps to “protect shoppers from fake reviews.”&nbsp;



The probe follows a broader investigation into fake reviews last year that “raised specific concerns” the two companies were not doing enough to detect and remove fake or misleading reviews or to identify “suspicious patterns of behavior” among reviewers.



The CMA said it was also concerned that neither platform had done enough to discourage businesses or reviewers from posting bogus reviews and Amazon in particular had failed to prevent sellers from manipulating its product listings.&nbsp;



“Fake and misleading reviews have the potential to impact on businesses’ star ratings and how prominently companies and products are displayed to consumers, changing their whole shopping experience,” the watchdog said.&nbsp;



The companies face enforcement action should the investigation find they have broken the law, the CMA said, which could include formal commitments to deal with the issue or, should they fail to do so, court action.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Amazon and Google did not respond immediately to&nbsp;Forbes’&nbsp;request for comment.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h4>



Andrea Coscelli, the CMA’s chief executive, said the watchdog’s worry is “that millions of online shoppers could be misled by reading fake reviews and then spending their money based on those recommendations.” In addition, “it’s simply not fair if some businesses can fake 5-star reviews to give their products or services the most prominence, while law-abiding businesses lose out,” Coscelli added.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



Online reviews are a powerful driver of consumer decisions, whether that be for what to buy, where to go or what to eat. Many people rely on them as a metric to determine quality and authenticity and reviews will shape what is shown to consumers. A 2015 study by the CMA&nbsp;<a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/436238/Online_reviews_and_endorsements.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">estimated</a>&nbsp;them to drive around £23 billion (around $32 billion) in spending a year in the U.K. alone. To seize upon this, an entire&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56069472" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">industry</a>&nbsp;has emerged trafficking in fake or misleading reviews. The CMA has previously&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/21/facebook-and-ebay-told-to-take-action-over-fake-reviews-cma" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ordered</a>&nbsp;Facebook and eBay to tackle the problem after it found “troubling evidence” of a thriving marketplace for fake reviews.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h4>



16,000. This is how many&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/09/facebook-removes-over-16000-groups-trading-fake-reviews" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">groups</a>&nbsp;Facebook took down earlier this year after the CMA intervened for a second time after the platform failed to honor its promise to deal with fake reviews.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-contra">CONTRA</h4>



Amazon recently&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jun/16/amazon-blames-social-media-for-struggle-with-fake-reviews" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blamed</a>&nbsp;social media companies for a large chunk of its fake review problem, saying they are not doing enough to remove the “bad actors” coordinating or soliciting reviews from their platforms. “While we appreciate that some social media companies have become much faster at responding, to address this problem at scale it is imperative for social media companies to invest adequately in proactive controls to detect and enforce fake reviews ahead of our reporting the issue to them,” the company said.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/09/facebook-removes-over-16000-groups-trading-fake-reviews" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Facebook removes over 16,000 groups trading fake reviews</a>&nbsp;(Guardian)



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/06/amazon-reviews-thousands-are-fake-heres-how-to-spot-them.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Amazon is filled with fake reviews and it’s getting harder to spot them</a> (CNBC)



By Robert Hart, Forbes Staff

In this photo illustrative Google, Amazon and Apple logos

Amazon And Google Face U.K. Investigation Into Fake Reviews

TOPLINE Apple reported a profit of $23.6 billion in its second quarter, up twofold from a year ago, on record sales of $89.6 billion, blowing past analysts’ expectations as iPhone sales remained strong after a record end to 2020.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



<ul><li>Apple’s sales were up 53.7% jump from the same quarter last year, exceeding the $77.4 billion <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AAPL/analysis?p=AAPL" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">expected by analysts</a>.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Net earnings were $1.40 per share, also well ahead of the consensus analyst expectation of 99 cents per share.</li></ul>



<ul><li>iPhone sales totaled $47.9 billion, accounting for 53% of Apple’s total revenue, far surpassing the $29 billion reported in the first quarter of 2020 and the $41.7 billion predicted by Wall Street analysts.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Revenue from services like iTunes and the App Store grew 27% to $16.9 billion, and sales of Mac computers, iPads and accessories like AirPods and watches also increased from last year.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h3>



“Success was broadly distributed across our product categories,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a Wednesday evening conference call.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h3>



In the final three months of last year, Apple logged the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2021/01/27/apples-biggest-quarter-ever-all-the-insane-numbers/">best quarter</a>&nbsp;in its 45-year history, topping $100 billion in total sales and growing revenue for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/27/apple-aapl-earnings-q1-2021.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">virtually every product line</a>. Over&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/q4fy15datasum.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the last</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/Q1FY17DataSummary.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">decade</a>, iPhones have served as the Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s largest driver of revenue. Some&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/timbajarin/2020/11/01/will-5g-kick-off-a-smartphone-upgrade-supercycle/?sh=9fcbe876fd2b">observers</a>&nbsp;expected iPhone sales to remain fairly strong at the start of this year, as consumers continue&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-aapl-2q-earnings-report-2021-11619572929" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">upgrading to pricier</a>&nbsp;5G-enabled smartphones. But the company has also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/Q1FY17DataSummary.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rapidly</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/FY21%20Q1%20Consolidated%20Financial%20Statements.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">increased</a>&nbsp;the share of its revenue from online services, and sales have grown for accessories like watches and AirPods.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h3>



It’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2021/04/28/the-two-most-important-numbers-in-apples-earnings-announcement/?sh=6df247e93b49">not unusual</a>&nbsp;for Apple’s revenue to drop significantly from the end of one year to the beginning of the next, as holiday shopping brings&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/01/apple-reports-first-quarter-results/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">consumers into stores</a>&nbsp;and drives&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/apple-app-store-customers-spent-record-540-million-on-new-years-day.html#:~:text=On%20top%20of%20that%2C%20Apple,for%20its%20Apple%20Books%20app." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">digital sales</a>.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h3>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2021/04/28/the-two-most-important-numbers-in-apples-earnings-announcement/?sh=6df247e93b49">The Two Most Important Numbers In Apple’s Earnings Announcement (Forbes)</a>



By Joe Walsh, Forbes Staff

Apple_announce-iphone12pro_10132020

Apple Profit Doubles On Record Revenue In Second Quarter As iPhone Sales Beat Expectations

TOPLINE Apple will introduce privacy features this spring limiting the ability of apps to track users—but while the change is applauded by privacy advocates, Facebook is staging an all-out offensive by announcing Monday it would send out its own notifications extolling the benefits of tracking.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h4>



<ul><li>Apple’s new privacy update will ask all users whether they want to be tracked across different apps, preventing third parties like Facebook from collecting data from other apps and using it to build profiles on individual users for targeted advertising.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Currently, if a user puts something into their cart on the Amazon app, for example, Facebook can access that data,  and users might see an ad for that same product on Facebook. </li></ul>



<ul><li>The new notifications that allow users to opt-out will pop up as soon as users open or download an app, making them more visible than Apple’s current system, which requires users to go into their settings to make that choice.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Facebook has been outspoken against the change because it threatens its lucrative advertising business, and could result in a 7% revenue dip, according to recent <a href="https://mobiledevmemo.com/facebook-may-take-revenue-hit-from-apple-privacy-changes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">estimates</a>.</li></ul>



<ul><li>In its fiercest opposition yet, Facebook said Monday it would send out its own prompt directly countering Apple’s, telling users that collecting such data allows for more personalized ads and supports “small businesses that rely on ads to reach customers.”</li></ul>



<ul><li>Facebook argues that if users opt-out, they won’t see fewer ads, the ads will just be less relevant, and at the same time, small businesses would lose some of their ability to serve hyper-targeted ads, forcing some to raise prices or turn to a subscription model.</li></ul>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



&nbsp;Facebook and Apple have been on a collision course since Apple made the App Tracking Transparency announcement over the summer. Facebook took out full page ads in several newspapers declaring it was “standing up to Apple for small businesses.” And last week Zuckerberg&nbsp;<a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4401479-facebook-inc-fb-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-on-q4-2020-results-earnings-call-transcript" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said&nbsp;</a>Apple is increasingly one of the social network’s biggest competitors. Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook fired back, saying “if a business is built on misleading users on data exploitation, on choices that are no choices at all, then it does not deserve our praise” during a speech in Brussels.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h4>



&nbsp;“This is a laughable attempt from Facebook to distract you from its poor track record of anticompetitive behavior and privacy issues as it tries to derail pro-privacy changes from Apple that are bad for Facebook’s business,”&nbsp; the Electronic Frontier Foundation&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/12/facebooks-laughable-campaign-against-apple-really-against-users-and-small" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said&nbsp;</a>in December. “Requiring trackers to request your consent before stalking you across the Internet should be an obvious baseline, and we applaud Apple for this change.”&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h4>



Public polling has&nbsp;<a href="https://epic.org/privacy/survey/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">consistently&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/11/15/americans-and-privacy-concerned-confused-and-feeling-lack-of-control-over-their-personal-information/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">shown&nbsp;</a>that users don’t like being tracked. It’s unclear just how many iOS users will opt-out when prompted, but dating app Bumble&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/15/bumble-ipo-filing-warns-apple-privacy-changes-could-harm-its-business.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">estimates&nbsp;</a>that only 0-20% will choose to be tracked.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h4>



Apple’s privacy update will go into effect early this spring, Apple says.



By Rachel Sandler, Forbes Staff

In this photo illustration the Apple and Facebook logos are

Apple Wants To Make It Harder For Apps To Track You. Facebook Isn’t Happy.

Apple hit a new milestone on Wednesday, becoming the first publicly traded U.S. company to reach a market capitalization of over $2 trillion and doubling in valuation over the last two years.



KEY FACTS



The iPhone maker’s stock is up almost 55% so far in 2020, and shares have rallied more than 106% since the market hit a low point amid the coronavirus recession on March 23 (compared to the benchmark S&amp;P 500’s gain of 51% over that period).



Now trading at nearly $470 per share, Apple’s stock is at an all-time high, and Wall Street analysts are still quite bullish that it can continue to rally: 61% give it a “buy” rating and 27% a “hold” rating, according to Bloomberg data.



Apple’s market cap now eclipses that of other U.S. tech giants, including Microsoft ($1.7 trillion), Amazon ($1.6 trillion), Google parent Alphabet ($1.1 trillion) and Facebook ($761 billion).



Apple was also the first U.S. company to reach a $1 trillion market cap, which it did just over two years ago, on August 2, 2018.



On July 31, 2020, after reporting strong&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/07/apple-reports-third-quarter-results/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">third-quarter earnings</a>, Apple surpassed Saudi state oil giant Aramco to become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company.



While Saudi Aramco&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/12/saudi-aramco-hits-2-trillion-market-cap-on-second-day-of-trading.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">surpassed a $2 trillion valuation</a>&nbsp;in December 2019, plunging oil prices amid the coronavirus pandemic have since hurt its stock.



SURPRISING FACT



At $2 trillion, Apple’s market value is now&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1296095582533148674?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">higher than the GDP</a>&nbsp;of numerous developed countries, including Italy, Brazil, Canada, Russia and South Korea, to name a few.



WHAT TO WATCH FOR



Apple shares are about to get more affordable for investors, too. The company will finalize its four-for-one stock split at the end of August, which means a single share will be worth around $117. While the value of the company will remain the same, there will now be more shares available trading at lower prices.



KEY BACKGROUND



Apple has thrived during the pandemic, as many people were forced to stay at home. The company has benefited from work-from-home trends and strong online sales; It posted record third-quarter earnings in late July, with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/07/apple-reports-third-quarter-results/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">nearly $60 billion in revenue</a>, not to mention double-digit growth in its products and services segments.



FURTHER READING



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/08/13/competition-from-apple-wont-derail-peloton-analysts-say/">Could Competition From Apple Derail Peloton? Not So Fast, Analysts Say</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/07/24/apple-microsoft-amazon-google-and-facebook-make-up-a-record-chunk-of-the-sp-500-heres-why-that-might-be-dangerous/">Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google And Facebook Make Up A Record Chunk Of The S&amp;P 500. Here’s Why That Might Be Dangerous</a> (Forbes)



-Sergei Klebnikov, Forbes Staff

DOUNIAMAG-US-IT-APPLE-NEWS-FEED

Apple Becomes First U.S. Company Worth More Than $2 Trillion

Facebook on Friday became the latest major tech company to criticize Apple for taking a 30% cut of app purchases, adding to growing criticism over what companies say are Apple’s unfair and anti-competitive App Store policies that amount to a “shakedown” of competitors.



KEY FACTS



Apple&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apple.com/ios/app-store/principles-practices/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">takes</a>&nbsp;a 30% cut of all app purchases and requires developers use Apple’s payments systems so it can also charge a fee for in-app purchases and subscriptions.



Facebook said Friday it asked Apple to reduce the 30% fee for a new feature letting small businesses charge users for online Facebook events, but Apple “dismissed” their requests and as a result small businesses will only be paid 70% from transactions on iPhones, the company said.



Facebook’s rebuke comes a day after Fortnite owner Epic Games sued both Apple and Google over the 30% fee and launched a public relations blitz against the tech giants with the hashtag #FreeFortnite, arguing the “tax” forces companies to increase prices in order to pay for the fee.



Music streaming service Spotifty last year&nbsp;<a href="https://newsroom.spotify.com/2019-03-13/consumers-and-innovators-win-on-a-level-playing-field/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filed</a>&nbsp;a complaint with the European Union’s Antitrust Commission over what it called the “Apple Tax,” arguing that it can’t compete with Apple Music—which isn’t subject to the fee—if it has to raise prices to cover the charge.



Though Airbnb and ClassPass don’t normally have to pay the fee because the fee doesn’t apply to physical services outside their apps, they did have to start paying when they began offering virtual classes and information sessions during the pandemic,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/technology/apple-app-store-airbnb-classpass.html?action=click&amp;module=Top%20Stories&amp;pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a>&nbsp;to the&nbsp;New York Times, drawing complaints from both companies.&nbsp;



In June, Basecamp founder David Heinemeier Hansson called Apple’s fee a “shakedown” and a “ransom” after the company’s email app was rejected from the App Store because it used a different payments system,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/dhh/status/1273019513538314245?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">adding</a>&nbsp;that “Apple&#8217;s abusive behavior with the App Store has been an open secret in the developer community for years.”



CHIEF CRITIC



Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from&nbsp;Forbes, but CEO Tim Cook defended the company’s App Store practices at a House Antitrust Subcommittee hearing last month. “For the vast majority of the apps on the App Store, developers keep 100% of the money they make,” he said. “&#8230;Commissions are comparable to or lower than commissions charged by the majority of our competitors. And they are vastly lower than the 50-70% that software developers paid to distribute their work before we launched the App Store.”



KEY BACKGROUND



Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) asked Cook during the hearing if continuing to charge companies a 30% fee as they move their services online during the pandemic amounts to “pandemic profiteering.” Cook responded by saying Apple “would never do that,” and acknowledged he was working with companies to find a solution. But even as Cook said the fee applies to all developers and apps equally, emails released during the hearing show that Apple&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/07/29/apple-offered-to-reduce-its-fee-to-get-amazon-prime-video-on-devices-emails-show/#58889c313eae">offered</a>&nbsp;to lower its fee in order to get Amazon Prime Video on devices in 2017.



TANGENT



Google also charges a 30% fee for apps on the Google Play Store, but much of the focus has been on Apple, which is usually more lucrative for developers than Google.



-Rachel Sandler, Forbes Staff

Allen & Co. Holds Its Annual Sun Valley Conference In Idaho

Spotify, Epic Games, Facebook: Major Companies Take Aim At Apple’s App Store Fee

Topline: Apple will donate 9 million N95 protective masks to combat the coronavirus, Vice President Mike Pence said on Tuesday, making Apple one of several California tech companies pitching in as hospitals across the country report a shortage of protective gear.



<ul><li>Pence thanked Apple for agreeing to donate 9 million N95 respirator masks to healthcare facilities across the country during a press briefing on Tuesday.</li><li>Pence’s remarks come after Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted over the weekend the company was “working to help source supplies for healthcare providers fighting COVID-19” and “donating millions of masks for health professionals in the US and Europe,” but did not offer more specifics.</li><li>N95 respirators are masks that form a protective seal around a wearer’s mouth, filtering&nbsp; out at least 95% of particles in the air, according to the Centers for Disease Control, which makes them necessary to protect healthcare workers from being exposed to the disease from patients.</li><li>Facebook has also said it is donating its stockpile of 720,000 masks purchased during the California wildfires last year, which degraded the air quality in the San Francisco Bay Area.</li><li>Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;asking if all of the donated masks were stockpiled because of the wildfires or if the company got them from somewhere else.</li></ul>



Chief critic: Teddy Schleifer, a reporter at Recode, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/23/21191147/medical-masks-coronavirus-shortage-silicon-valley-donations-salesforce-apple-facebook-tesla" target="_blank">wrote</a> that health systems shouldn’t rely on the generosity of big tech companies to make up for the failures of the federal government. 



“But there is a risk in relying on corporate philanthropy—rather than the government—in solving this problem. For starters, it depends on the voluntary generosity of these companies to deal with an unprecedented emergency, an altruism that could vanish at any time,” he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/23/21191147/medical-masks-coronavirus-shortage-silicon-valley-donations-salesforce-apple-facebook-tesla" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote</a>.



Crucial quote: &#8220;And I spoke today, and the president spoke last week, with Tim Cook of Apple. And at this moment in time Apple went to their store houses and is donating 9 million N95 masks to healthcare facilities all across the country and to the national stockpile,” Pence said.



Key background: Apple is one of several California tech companies to give away N95 masks. In addition to Facebook, Salesforce, Tesla and IBM have also announced mask donations.



News peg: Doctors and nurses are sounding the alarm that they don’t have enough masks to protect healthcare workers. Not only does inadequate protective gear put important frontline health workers at risk, public health experts say, any situation endangering medical personnel may only further depletes the U.S. health system which already doesn’t have enough capacity to handle a surge in cases. State officials in New York and Illinois have criticized President Donald Trump for not stepping in to force companies to manufacture masks or allocate masks from private companies to ensure that states don’t <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-cuomo-says-states-are-bidding-up-cost-of-supplies-2020-3" target="_blank">outbid</a> each other for the same supplies. 



&#8211;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/">Rachel Sandler</a>, Forbes Staff, Breaking News

gettyimages-1207642189-594×594

Apple Is Donating 9 Million Masks To Combat The Coronavirus

Facebook is hiring a small team of journalists to help curate breaking news and repair its strained relationship with news publishers, the social media giant announced Tuesday. 



The company says it will employ journalists to select breaking news and top stories that will appear in its soon-to-be-launched feature called News Tab, rather than using algorithms to determine what is shared with its vast network of users.



With the move, Facebook is part of a growing trend in the tech industry. Apple, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn and Snapchat have all employed journalists to help their companies sort through the news and cozy up to news organizations.



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Apple, for example, has used some form of human curation since its subscription Apple News app launched in 2015. In June 2017, the company hired former New York magazine executive editor Lauren Kern as the app’s editor-in-chief. Twitter has also employed some form of human news curation since 2015. 



Even with a team of in-house journalists, companies like Twitter continue to struggle in the fight against misinformation. On Monday, Twitter announcedit will no longer accept advertising from state-controlled media, in large part as a response to the discovery that China ran a misinformation campaign to combat Hong Kong protesters. 



Facebook, facing similar scrutiny for the same Chinese misinformation campaign, said that employing journalists will help “surface more high quality news.”



“Our goal with the News tab is to provide a personalized, highly relevant experience for people,” Campbell Brown, Facebook’s head of news partnerships said in a statement sent to Forbes. “The majority of stories people will see will appear in the tab via algorithmic selection. To start, for the Top News section of the tab we’re pulling together a small team of journalists to ensure we’re highlighting the right stories.”



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Facebook says the team will take into account user controls, pages and publisher as well as the news that users interact with or share,&nbsp;and other unnamed signals from its vast network to personalize content.&nbsp;



The company has been under pressure to mitigate its misinformation problem since it was revealed in 2016 that Russian operatives carried out a misinformation campaign in a “sweeping and systematic fashion” on the network, as it was described by special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.



The Mueller Report found that Russia spent $1.25 million per month on digital advertisements in an effort to sow discord in the U.S. and influence the presidential election. On Monday, Facebook came under fire for taking money from China to spread disinformation about Hong Kong protests.



The social media giant remains an important part of many Americans lives, much more than its rivals Twitter and Snapchat. According to Pew Research, about 69% of American adults use Facebook, and of those who use it, about 74% visit the site once a day. By comparison, only one in five U.S. adults (22%) use Twitter.



According to a survey conducted in 2018, about four in ten (43%) U.S. adults get at least some news from Facebook.



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In January 2017, Facebook hired Campbell Brown, a former television news anchor, to lead its news partnerships team. She remains a key figure in easing the tension between large national news outlets—those who have historically provided an endless trove of free content for the social media giant—and the company.



Publishing executives have slammed Facebook for siphoning advertising revenue away from traditional news publishers while also demanding that those same companies provide content for free. Following years of backlash, the social media company is now trying to work with publishers to create a more even relationship.



Facebook’s news partnership program involves deals that are potentially worth millions of dollars. The Wall Street Journal reports that several news outlets including the Washington Post, Bloomberg, Dow Jones, and the New York Times have discussed receiving as much as $3 million per year to license news content.



The News Tab, which has not been publicly viewed, is being positioned in stark contrast to the company’s Trending Topics news section, which shut down in 2016 following increasing pressure from users.



In 2016, the tech website Gizmodo published an article alleging contractors hired to curate the now-defunct Trending Topics feed were actively suppressing conservative news stories. In a letter to Congress, Facebook said, “We could not reconstruct reliable data logs from before December 2014, so were unable to examine each of the reviewer decisions from that period,” thus suggesting that it may have very well suppressed conservative news when the tool first launched.



-Michael Nuñez; Forbes

gettyimages-904274222-170667a

Facebook Joins Other Tech Giants In Employing Journalists To Curate News

Apple aficionados have learned to wait for the end of its product announcements for the most tantalizing news: the &#8220;one more thing&#8221; that Steve Jobs would toss off, almost as an afterthought, and send the audience into a frenzy.



This time, the finale of Apple&#8217;s long-anticipated announcement launching its Apple TV+ video subscription service Monday in Cupertino — the signature moment that brought some in the audience to their feet — took human form. Oprah Winfrey strode on stage wearing Apple-white and, as the applause died down, responded with a comically understated, &#8220;Hi.&#8221;



Winfrey talked publicly for the first time about her multi-year deal with Apple — a partnership CEO Tim Cook has referenced frequently, if vaguely, on earnings calls with the Wall Street analysts. 



The talk show host turned media executive said she&#8217;s working on a documentary dealing with the sexual harassment and assault in the workplace, currently titled&nbsp;Toxic Labor,&nbsp;and an untitled multi-part series exploring mental health issues.



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&#8220;The Apple platform has allowed me to do what I do in a whole new way — connecting people and taking it to a whole new level, because they have a billion pockets y&#8217;all,&#8221; Winfrey said, a reference to the 1.4 billion Apple devices in use around the world that some analysts believe give its streaming service a competitive edge over established rivals, such as Netflix.



Winfrey was the headliner at an event packed with Hollywood celebrities. Director Steven Spielberg took the stage for his inaugural appearance at an Apple event to talk about his revival of the anthology series&nbsp;Amazing Stories.&nbsp;



Actors Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston touted their new project,&nbsp;The Morning Show,&nbsp;which explores the power and gender dynamics of morning news shows — an opportunity so appealing, the&nbsp;Friends&nbsp;star said it brought her back to TV.



Director J.J. Abrams shared the stage with Grammy-nominated artist Sara Bareilles to tout their collaboration on&nbsp;Little Voice,&nbsp;a show about a young, flawed artist finding her voice. Kumail Nanjiani of the HBO series&nbsp;Silicon Valley&nbsp;will explore immigrant stories in the series&nbsp;Our Little America.&nbsp;Even&nbsp;Sesame Street&nbsp;staple Big Bird stepped into the spotlight to announce a children&#8217;s series called&nbsp;Helpsters.



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Apple spelled out its broad ambitions for the forthcoming streaming service, saying it had partnered with the most accomplished storytellers as it seeks to define Apple TV+ as a home for quality entertainment. The tech company did more showing than telling at the Steve Jobs Theater Monday — each celebrity presentation was notably devoid of trailers.



It&#8217;s possible that the marking impresarios at Apple are holding their promotional firepower until a date closer to the Apple TV+ launch. Today&#8217;s event serves as a placeholder, staking Apple&#8217;s claim on the TV landscape ahead of the Walt Disney Co.&#8217;s April 11 investor briefing to discuss details of the Disney+ streaming service, or the television industry&#8217;s Upfront presentations, showcasing the fall schedule.



The Apple TV+ service will launch sometime this fall — though pricing has not been announced. It will be available through an updated version of the Apple TV app that&#8217;s already on millions of iPhones, iPads and Apple TV streaming devices. A new version of the app, due out in May, will work like a cable-TV service, where users can choose which TV channels they want to pay for and watch, including HBO, Showtime and Starz.



On the same day as Apple&#8217;s big announcement for original programming,&nbsp;Bloomberg reported&nbsp;that Google has cancelled plans for big budget scripted shows on YouTube. Google&nbsp;denied claims&nbsp;from Bloomberg sources that said the tech giant stopped accepting pitches for original scripts, but confirmed plans to launch ad-supported programming alongside YouTube Premium, $11.99-per-month ad-free access to YouTube Music and original content.



-Dawn Chmielewski; Forbes Staff

Apple Holds Product Launch Event In Cupertino

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Software pirates have hijacked technology designed by Apple Inc to distribute hacked versions of Spotify, Angry Birds, Pokemon Go, Minecraft and other popular apps on iPhones.



Illicit software distributors such as TutuApp, Panda Helper, AppValley and TweakBox have found ways to use digital certificates to get access to a program Apple introduced to let corporations distribute business apps to their employees without going through Apple’s tightly controlled App Store.



Using so-called enterprise developer certificates, these pirate operations are providing modified versions of popular apps to consumers, enabling them to stream music without ads and to circumvent fees and rules in games, depriving Apple and legitimate app makers of revenue.



By doing so, the pirate app distributors are violating the rules of Apple’s developer programs, which only allow apps to be distributed to the general public through the App Store. Downloading modified versions violates the terms of service of almost all major apps.



TutuApp, Panda Helper, AppValley and TweakBox did not respond to multiple requests for comment.



Apple has no way of tracking the real-time distribution of these certificates, or the spread of improperly modified apps on its phones, but it can cancel the certificates if it finds misuse.



“Developers that abuse our enterprise certificates are in violation of the Apple Developer Enterprise Program Agreement and will have their certificates terminated, and if appropriate, they will be removed from our Developer Program completely,” an Apple spokesperson told Reuters. “We are continuously evaluating the cases of misuse and are prepared to take immediate action.”



After Reuters initially contacted Apple for comment last week, some of the pirates were banned from the system, but within days they were using different certificates and were operational again.



“There’s nothing stopping these companies from doing this again from another team, another developer account,” said Amine Hambaba, head of security at software firm Shape Security.



Apple confirmed a media report on Wednesday that it would require two-factor authentication &#8211; using a code sent to a phone as well as a password &#8211; to log into all developer accounts by the end of this month, which could help prevent certificate misuse.



Major app makers Spotify Technology SA, Rovio Entertainment Oyj and Niantic Inc have begun to fight back.



Spotify declined to comment on the matter of modified apps, but the streaming music provider did say earlier this month that its new terms of service would crack down on users who are “creating or distributing tools designed to block advertisements” on its service.



Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds mobile games, said it actively works with partners to address infringement “for the benefit of both our player community and Rovio as a business.”



Niantic, which makes Pokemon Go, said players who use pirated apps that enable cheating on its game are regularly banned for violating its terms of service. Microsoft Corp, which owns the creative building game Minecraft, declined to comment.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">SIPHONING OFF REVENUE</h4>



It is unclear how much revenue the pirate distributors are siphoning away from Apple and legitimate app makers.



TutuApp offers a free version of Minecraft, which costs $6.99 in Apple’s App Store. AppValley offers a version of Spotify’s free streaming music service with the advertisements stripped away.



The distributors make money by charging $13 or more per year for subscriptions to what they calls “VIP” versions of their services, which they say are more stable than the free versions. It is impossible to know how many users buy such subscriptions, but the pirate distributors combined have more than 600,000 followers on Twitter.



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Security researchers have long warned about the misuse of enterprise developer certificates, which act as digital keys that tell an iPhone a piece of software downloaded from the internet can be trusted and opened. They are the centerpiece of Apple’s program for corporate apps and enable consumers to install apps onto iPhones without Apple’s knowledge.



Apple last month briefly banned Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc from using enterprise certificates after they used them to distribute data-gathering apps to consumers.



The distributors of pirated apps seen by Reuters are using certificates obtained in the name of legitimate businesses, although it is unclear how. Several pirates have impersonated a subsidiary of China Mobile Ltd. China Mobile did not respond to requests for comment.



Tech news website TechCrunch earlier this week reported that certificate abuse also enabled the distribution of apps for pornography and gambling, both of which are banned from the App Store.



Since the App Store debuted in 2008, Apple has sought to portray the iPhone as safer than rival Android devices because Apple reviews and approves all apps distributed to the devices.



Early on, hackers “jailbroke” iPhones by modifying their software to evade Apple’s controls, but that process voided the iPhone’s warranty and scared off many casual users. The misuse of the enterprise certificates seen by Reuters does not rely on jailbreaking and can be used on unmodified iPhones. -Reuters



-Stephen Nellis and Paresh Dave

Tag: Apple

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