Apple on Wednesday rolled out a new feature on its iTunes Store to celebrate "A Decade of iTunes," offering customers a history lesson of the company's now-dominant digital download destination.  ...

With a limited number of tickets available to its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple has suggested it will reach the rest of its developer community by posting videos of all sessions while the conference is still underway.  ...

Apple launched a special iTunes Store area on Wednesday called "A Decade of iTunes" to celebrate the ten year anniversary of its online music store. The iTunes Store first launched as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, and the special tribute store points out highlights from every year it's been up and running.

Apple is marking the 10th anniversary of iTunes with a special microsite which, in a rather nice touch, opens in iTunes itself. While the anniversary is on Sunday, the site is already live in the US and UK, though not apparently in all countries …

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Decade of iTunes features key milestones from iTunes itself and other music-related Apple news – like the 3rd-generation iPod announced on the same day iTunes launched. It also allows a nostalgic trip down a musical memory lane, showing the top-selling songs and...

On top of the recent announcement that it will be bringing sponsored posts, aka advertisements, to its mobile apps, Tumblr today released an updated iOS app that includes new sharing features, the ability to save content for later reading, new templates for sharing posts through email, and much more.

Other enhancements include animated GIFs while scrolling, an alphabetized and searchable Following list, and support for sharing directly to Twitter and Facebook. A full list of what’s new in version 3.3.1 of the universal iOS app is below:

What’s New in Version 3.3.1

Now you can do more than just...

Apple on Wednesday posted “A Decade of iTunes” celebrating the 10th anniversary of iTunes and the achievements of the music and videos that came to the store. I must say, the timeline format that Apple chose for this feature is really great. It’s like a walk through memory lane for me.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Apple's earnings conference calls are typically brimming with interesting tidbits regarding Apple's operations, and Tuesday's was no different. Apple announced that it has, to date, paid out more than $9 billion to developers.

To put that figure into context, let's take a quick look at just how much Apple's payments to developers have risen since the App Store first opened.

Tim Cook noted in February that Apple had paid out $8 billion to developers. In June 2012, Apple announced that they had paid developers $5 billion. Going back further, Apple's first $1 billion payout to developers was reached in June 2010.

Seeing as the the App Store first opened in July 2008, we can do a little bit of basic math to track the growth of developer payouts.

It took Apple nearly two years to...

Alongside Apple’s announcement of its 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference, the company has announced that videos of developer sessions will actually become available during the conference. 

Can’t make it to WWDC?  We’ll be posting videos of all our sessions during the conference, so Registered Apple Developers can take advantage of great WWDC content.

Typically, these videos appear on Apple’s developer site days, weeks, or months after the WWDC conference. With tickets limited, this will be a great way for Apple to involve developers who could not make the trip to San Francisco.

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Apple’s cheer at the generally positive market reaction to its quarterly report may be somewhat muted by the news that iPhone sales fell at both AT&T and Sprint.

AT&T’s Q1 results revealed sales of 4m iPhones, or 67% of all its smartphone sales. This is down from 84% in the final quarter of 2012 which is of course the holiday quarter where people give and receive gifts…

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Sprint’s Q1 results revealed iPhone sales of 1.5m, a 31 percent fall from its 2.2m sales in the previous holiday quarter. Sprint’s absolute numbers paint a misleadingly negative picture, however: the company has lost half a million Nextel customers ahead of its planned shutdown of the olde-world network, so sales of all...

Apple said today that tickets for its Worldwide Developers Conference will go on sale tomorrow, Thursday, April 25, 2013 at at 10 a.m. PDT. The conference will take place June 10 through June 14 at San Francisco’s Moscone West.

At the five-day conference, developers from around the world will learn about the future of iOS and OS X, enabling them to create incredible new apps with innovative features. WWDC will also feature more than 100 technical sessions presented by over 1,000 Apple engineers, hands-on labs to help developers integrate new technologies, as well as the popular Apple Design Awards, a showcase of the most outstanding apps available through the App Store℠ and Mac® App Store.

Get your credit cards ready.

Apple on Wednesday announced it will hold its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, where it has traditionally shown off the next version of its iOS mobile operating system, June 10 through 14 in San Francisco, Calif.  ...

After months of anxious developer anticipation, Apple on Wednesday announced the dates for its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, which the company says will run from June 10 to June 14 at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco. Tickets will go on sale on April 25 at 10 a.m. PT, 1 p.m. ET.

Last year, tickets for WWDC sold out in just two hours.

Apple says that this year’s conference will cover a wide range of topics for both iOS and OS X. As it did last year, Apple is promising more than 100 technical sessions led by Apple engineers, with more than 1000 Apple engineers in attendance to offer code-level assistance and advice to developers. As per tradition, WWDC 2013 will also play host to the annual Apple Design...

Sprint managed to sell 5 million smartphones in the first quarter of this year, making up 86-percent of its device sales, according to recently released financial results. While 1.5 million iPhones were sold in the period, 43-percent to new Sprint customers, this is a drop from the record 2.2 million iPhones sold during the fourth quarter last year....  ...

Apple dominated the earnings roundup this week. Investors braced for a quarterly report that could determine whether the company's stock heads back towards last September's highs -- or continues its 40 percent-plus decline. Expectations weren't stellar for Apple before the Q1 report, but the company did barely beat analyst estimates thanks to high sales for iPhones and iPads. It sold 37.4 million iPhones during the past quarter, slightly up from the 35.1 million during the same period last year.

App developer Subhransu Behera has described the popular iOS Mailbox app as ‘a security fail’ after discovering that it allows anyone with access to the phone to extract email contacts, content and attachments …

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I love iOS apps and developers. And it’s the apps that I love [which] motivates me to write better code. However, Mailbox is an exception. I like the UX of this application but I dislike its data protection approach more. As a matter of fact, there’s no data protection at all.

Behera used...

Developer Tapbots on Tuesday released a version update for its popular Twitter client Tweetbot, introducing an all-new feature called "media timeline" that limits a user's feed to those tweets with embedded photos and video.  ...

Samsung's latest mobile flagship is a good performer with a massive amount of new software, but reviewers found the sum of the handset's parts didn't add up to the great leap forward many had hoped for.  ...

Sony today introduced the Cyber-shot HX50V, a powerful new compact-form camera featuring 30x optical zoom coupled with a 20.4MP Exmor R CMOS image sensor. The device measures 4.4 inches wide, by 2.6 inches high, and 1.2 inches thick with a weight of 9.6 ounces, making it the smallest and lightest camera with 30x optical zoom capability, according to the company....  ...

There's good news, bad news, and the best news on this one, and I'll give you the good news first. Firaxis' Haunted Hallow appeared on the App Store this morning, which means the game is just about ready for prime time. The free-to-play strategy title was one of my favorite games I got to see at GDC a few months ago. It's a board game, basically, in that you move various monsters around a board trying to claim and conquer space as best you can, though there's a fun house-building mechanic as well, in the way you choose which monsters to summon and fight for you. Firaxis, the creators of Civilization and the recent hit XCOM: Enemy Unknown, are some of the most experienced strategy developers out there, and Haunted Hallow is a free-to-play gift from them straight to the App Store, so...

Glassdoor is a site that allows employees of various corporations to rate how they think they're management is doing anonymously, and the company has shared some info with TUAW that it says comes out of Apple's campus in Cupertino. The site works kind of like Yelp for employees, as users can come along and leave ratings and reviews for their own company. But presumably this information came from anyone who works for Apple, not just the employees that work directly with CEO Tim Cook in California.

And what's the word? In short, they love him. Cook has never had anything less than a 92% approval rating since this time last year, and his current approval rating sites at 93% among employees leaving reviews on Glassdoor. During his time overseeing the company, Steve Jobs held a 97% approval rating, and Cook is a few points below that, but...

Storage solutions manufacturer Akitio today announced the release of the company's new 256GB one-bay, bus-powered "Neutrino" Thunderbolt storage solution. Akitio's new larger-capacity device is a follow-up to the company's successful 120GB SSD solution, which was previously launched in 2012....  ...

Gadget and computing accessory manufacturer Belkin has announced the new NetCam HD Wi-Fi Camera. The new wireless networking camera provides users with instantaneous access via a smartphone or tablet to pets, children and other family members at home in 720p high-definition (HD) video resolution with accompanying digital audio.  ...  ...

Apple’s fiscal second quarter earnings announced Tuesday proved to be a mixed bag for the company—record sales for the March quarter, offset by a drop in income. But Apple CEO Tim Cook is optimistic about the company’s future, as he made clear during a conference call with analysts.

Here’s an edited transcript of what Cook had to say on Tuesday about Apple’s most recent quarter.

We’re now halfway through our fiscal 2013 and we’ve accomplished a tremendous amount. We’ve introduced and ramped production of an unprecedented number of new products, and we’ve set many new sales records. Our revenue for the first half was over $98 billion, and our net income was over $22 billion. During that time, we sold 85 million iPhones, and 42...

Apple released Apple Store 2.6 for the iPhone and iPod touch on Tuesday, adding the ability to receive notifications when iPhone owners are eligible for upgrades. The APple Store app lets users purchase products, set up in-store appointments, and more.

Apple on Tuesday updated its Apple Store app for iOS, adding an ability to send notifications to users when they are eligible for upgrade pricing on a new iPhone through their carrier. The new version (2.6, free) also adds notification support for changes in orders, such as shipping or delivery notices. Previously, the program was able to track a user's order but only when the app was actually in use. Users can now opt for push notifications, as well as schedule Genius, One to One or Specialist appointments, order products for pickup or use EasyPay to buy accessories.... ...

Apple CEO Tim Cook has shed fresh light on Apple's reluctance to build an iPhone with a larger display, while fueling speculation that such a device may be in the works. Answering an analyst question during the company's fiscal Q2 financial conference call, the executive claimed competitors have made sacrifices to resolution, white balance, color quality, screen longevity and portability in their drive to create ever-larger smartphones....  ...

Casey Johnston

Apple CEO Tim Cook surprised investors and Apple-watchers alike on Tuesday by strongly hinting that new products would come out during the fourth fiscal quarter of the year, continuing throughout fiscal 2014. That indicates there still won't be much to see as we charge into Apple's Q3 (which Apple will report toward the end of June), but there may be new products in our grubby little hands by the time the holidays hit this year.

Let's back up a few steps. Apple reported its second quarter 2013 earnings today, which included a quarterly revenue of $43.6 billion (compared to $39.2 billion a year ago) and a quarterly net profit of $9.5 billion (compared to $11.6 billion a year ago). Apple sold 37.4 million iPhones during the second quarter, up slightly from 35.1 billion in last year's Q2, as well as 19.5 billion iPads, up from 11.8 billion. Macs stayed...

The popular Twitter client Tweetbot has been updated to version 2.8, bringing the addition of a new "media timeline" and image viewer for the iPhone and iPad apps. Media view allows users to see photos and images that have been tweeted directly in their feeds, with the text of the Tweets neatly located above the media.

The app's image viewer has also been updated to be faster and features a redesign. In addition tweet details such as the number of favorites and retweets have been changed to update in real time, Instagram previews have been fixed, along with the standard bug fixes that come with every update.

To locate the new media view, scroll to the top of your timeline and tap the square next to the search button. The update is live...

With the 10th anniversary of the iTunes Music Store coming up this Sunday, Apple on Tuesday reported its digital storefront, which now includes music, video, apps, and e-books, hit record-breaking revenues of over $4.1 billion for the second quarter of 2013.  ...

Amidst generally positive numbers presented by Apple in its quarterly earnings conference call, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer presented some facts about the burgeoning smartphone market in China. When presented a question by an analyst questioning Apple's present and future success in China -- considering that it doesn't yet sell the iPhone on the largest carrier in the country -- Apple claimed to have its "best quarter ever" regionally....  ...

In a call that alternated between statistics and cheerleading, Apple reported a record breaking $43.6 billion in revenues, albeit with declining profits, results which, nonetheless, actually beat analyst estimates by a whisker.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Speaking during a conference call following the company's Q2 results, Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted that the company may have no major product launches until the fall. He refused to talk about the specific timing for particular devices, but told analysts that there is "great stuff coming in the fall and across 2014." The statement may quash rumors of summer updates for the iPhone and/or the iPad and iPad mini....  ...

Apple just had its "best quarter ever" in the increasingly important Chinese market, according to CEO Tim Cook, who says the iPhone maker is well positioned to address China going forward.   ...

In conjunction with its earnings report for Q2 2013, Apple issued a press release announcing some major plans for its ever-growing stockpile of cash.

In March 2012, Apple announced that the company would be instituting a $2.65/share dividend on a quarterly basis with Apple's first dividend payment to investors going out in August of last year.

Now, about one year later, Apple announced its plan to increase its quarterly dividend to $3.05 per share. The next dividend payout to investors is scheduled for May 16, 2013.

What's more, Apple also announced a massive increase to its stock-repurchasing plan.

As part of this program, the Board has increased its share repurchase authorization to $60 billion from the $10 billion level...

It’s 18% lower than it was last year, but it’s still US$9.5 billion in the bank…

Per AppleInsider, Apple on Tuesday said second quarter profits fell roughly 18% to US$9.5 billion — or US$10.09 per diluted share — despite record second quarter sales of US$43.6 billion — the first year-over-year decline in earnings for the one-time tech darling in nearly a decade.

The results for the three-month period ended March 30, 2013 compare to revenue of US$39.2 billion and net profit of US$11.6 billion, or US$12.30 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 37.5 percent, approximately 100 basis points lower than the 47.4 percent reported in the year-ago quarter, as consumers gravitated to more affordable, lower-margin products like the iPad...

During its live Q2 2013 earnings call today, Apple execs confirmed that iCloud now boasts 300 million users. That’s up about 20 percent from the 250 million it had in January despite the service continuing to experience relatively regular outages over the last few months.

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Apple Q2 2013 Earnings Call liveblog originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook is currently answering questions from the press following the company’s live Q2 2013 earnings call.  Here are some of the highlights:

Cook on growth in China:

We had our best quarter ever in greater China. Revenue came in at 8.8B. That’s up 11 percent y-o-y. It’s the same as Apple’s growing… iPads grew 138% y-o-y… set new records for sell through for iPhone…

Added about 8000 iPhone point of sales, plan to add more and further grow our distribution. Innovating with our online store there and adding different functionality to the store. China has an usually large number of potential first time smartphone buyers… We’ve seen a significant interest in iPhone 4 there and recently made it even more affordable to make it even more attractive to first time buyers.

Cook on competition:

“In the beginning RIM was the strongest player. Of course today our top competitor from a hardware point of view would be Samsung, and married to Google...

Helping Apple post a Street beat on Tuesday was unexpected growth for iPhone and booming iPad sales, contributing to the company's revenues which hit $43.6 billion for the second fiscal quarter of 2013.   ...

It's the earnings report everybody has been waiting for. Apple just announced earnings for the second quarter of its 2013 fiscal year, and the news is actually quite good.

Apple's own guidance for Q2 2013 expected revenues in the range of $41-43 billion, with gross margins in the range of 37.5 to 38.5 percent. Wall Street analysts were in the same general range, with institutional investors looking at an average earnings number of $41.82 billion and independent analysts a bit more bullish at $43.75 billion. Results for the same quarter last year were $39.19 billion in revenue, earnings per share of $12.30, and a gross margin of 47.4 percent.

Actual results for the quarter were as follows:

• Revenue: $43.6 billion (beat expectations and institutional investors)
• Earnings Per Share: $10.09
• Gross Margin: 37.5% (met expectations,...

Apple hasn't released any new products in about six months, but investors have plenty to look forward to this year and in 2014. Company CEO Tim Cook said plenty is coming later this year and throughout 2014, and that includes more than just hardware.

Apple is set to hold an investor conference call detailing the company's fiscal second-quarter financial performance. Check our live page for continuous updates from the event, which is scheduled to begin at 2PM Pacific, 5PM Eastern....   ...

After weeks of negative speculation on the Street, Apple hit its numbers in its second-quarter earnings released on Tuesday.

The stand-out product this time around, however, wasn’t the iPhone — usually the darling of consumer tech sales estimates. It was the iPad.

Apple sold 19.5 million iPads during the second quarter, 7.7 million more devices compared to the same period a year ago.

That’s a healthy boost, especially when contrasted against the relatively modest gains in iPhone sales; Apple sold 37.4 million iPhones in Q2, just 2.3 million more devices than the company sold in the year-ago quarter.

My guess is, Apple’s lower cost iPad mini likely bolstered those numbers from last year — though there’s no concrete way to tell, as the company doesn’t break those numbers down for us. It’s all iPads. (CFO Peter Oppenheimer said much of that growth, however, was...

Along with earnings that hit US$43.6 billion, Apple reported on Tuesday that it is more than doubling its investment in returning capital to investors. The company is adding $55 billion to its shareholder returns, bringing the total up to $100 billion, and includes a 15 percent increase in the quarterly dividend.

As some investors feared, Apple on Tuesday reported numbers that were worse than its performance a year ago for the second quarter—though the company still saw record sales for its March quarter.

The company posted $43.6 billion in revenue for the quarter, with net profit of $9.5 billion. That puts earnings at $10.09 per diluted share, down from $12.30 a year ago. In the same quarter last year, Apple reported $39.2 billion in revenue and profit of $11.6 billion.

While Wall Street is sure to take a dim view of Apple’s quarterly performance, it’s worth noting the company had a large bar to clear to surpass the second quarter of 2012. In that year-ago quarter, Apple saw profit nearly double to record levels for the March quarter on the strength of the strength of the third-generation iPad’s debut. In the just-completed quarter, Apple didn’t introduce...

Apple today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a significant increase to the Company’s program to return capital to shareholders. The Company expects to utilize a total of $100 billion of cash under the expanded program by the end of calendar 2015. This represents a $55 billion increase to the program announced last year and translates to an average rate of $30 billion per year from the time of the first dividend payment in August 2012 through December 2015.

As part of this program, the Board has increased its share repurchase authorization to $60 billion from the $10 billion level announced last year. This is the largest single share repurchase authorization in history and is expected to be executed by the end of calendar 2015. Apple also expects to utilize about $1 billion annually to net-share-settle vesting restricted stock units.

Additionally, the Board has approved a 15% increase in the Company’s quarterly dividend and today has declared a...

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Daily Update for April 23, 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:45:00 EST. Please see our...

Apple’s second-quarter earnings are in, and it’s a beat. Not the downturn in numbers the street was expecting, exactly.

There’s even better news for shareholders: The company is boosting its dividend by 15 percent, adding a healthy $50 billion, the “largest single share repurchase authorization in history,” according to the company. Apple expects the full execution of $100 billion under the program to be finished by the end of 2015.

“We are very fortunate to be in a position to more than double the size of the capital return program we announced last year,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We believe so strongly that repurchasing our shares represents an attractive use of our capital that we have dedicated the vast majority of the...