Apple

The social media company joins the antitrust effort against the iPhone maker, claiming that changes to the iOS that block targeted advertising that Facebook specializes in is an assault on small businesses.

Apple has unwrapped a new MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro and Mac mini, its first products using the M1, the computer makers’ first chip designed specifically for the Mac. With Tuesday’s news, some in the production community were encouraged by the potential of the new tech for many content creators.

While all five — Amazon, Google parent Alphabet, Facebook, Apple and Twitter — exceeded analyst expectations, gloomy forecasts and other uncertainties led to share-price declines for all but Alphabet in after-market trading.

Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet rallied on Thursday ahead of earnings reports from the group of technology heavyweights that has helped keep Wall Street in positive territory this year, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Apple will bundle some of its subscription services together for discount. Customers who want to buy subscriptions to Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and iCloud storage will soon be able to do so for a combined price that starts at $15 per month.

On Wednesday, Apple became the first U.S. company to hit a $2 trillion valuation when its shares climbed 1.2% to $467.78 in morning trading, capping a staggering ascent that began in the pandemic.

Apple Inc. plans to bundle access to CBS All Access and Showtime content at a discounted price for subscribers to its TV+ video service, according to people familiar with the plans. This is Apple’s first discounted bundle offering for video content with the TV+ service. Currently, users must subscribe to different content providers in the TV app on an à la carte basis.

Martin Scorsese and his Sikelia Productions banner have signed a first-look film and television deal with Apple. The acclaimed director is currently working with the streamer on the film Killers of the Flower Moon, which will directed by Scorsese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. The film is in pre-production and is expected to debut in 2021. Scorsese’s deal comes just over a week after it was announced that DiCaprio and his Appian Way production company had signed a first-look television deal with Apple.

The staggering economic fallout caused by the coronavirus pandemic was reflected in reports released Thursday from Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google’s corporate parent, Alphabet.

Invective flew Wednesday as legislators questioned Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai of Google and Tim Cook of Apple at a hearing of the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust. For the last year, that panel has probed the business practices of the Silicon Valley giants with an eye to determining if they need to be regulated more heavily, or even broken up.

The powerful executives sought to defend their companies amid intense grilling by lawmakers on Wednesday. The executives provided bursts of data showing how competitive their markets are, and the value of their innovation and essential services to consumers. But they sometimes struggled to answer pointed questions about their business practices. They also confronted a range of other concerns about alleged political bias, their effect on U.S. democracy and their role in China.

On Wednesday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Tim Cook of Apple will answer for their companies’ practices before Congress for the first time as a group. Summoned for a House hearing, they’ll raise a hand (remotely) and swear to tell the truth, in the manner of tycoons of Wall Street or the tobacco industry in earlier high-octane televised shamings.

The Federal Trade Commission has launched a lookback at some of the smaller past acquisitions by some of the largest tech companies. The FTC said Tuesday it has issued “special orders” to Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft, which require them to provide info on all acquisitions over the past decade (Jan. 1, 2010 through Dec. 31, 2019).

Apple Inc.’s streaming video service has gained limited traction with consumers, and this could represent a cautious signal as the company moves away from hardware sales and toward services, according to Bernstein. Analyst Toni Sacconaghi estimated that fewer than 10 million consumers had opted for their free 12-month trial of Apple TV+, citing an analysis of the company’s first-quarter results.

Apple TV+ was one of the biggest product launches in years for Apple. But you wouldn’t know that from Apple’s just-released earnings. The streaming service, which launched last November after years of stops and starts, was not mentioned once in the tech giant’s first-quarter earnings report. During the subsequent earnings call with analysts, CEO Tim Cook dedicated only a brief mention of the new service when he said it was off to a “rousing start” but declined to disclose any actual subscriber numbers.

Fresh off seven seasons of HBO stalwart Veep, she has signed a sweeping overall deal with the tech giant and streaming platform. Under the multiple-year agreement — which should be seen as a massive “get” for Apple video heads Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht — the Emmy-winning actress will develop new projects exclusively for Apple — as both an executive producer and star.

The Apple TV Plus launch this year was a multibillion-dollar bet. Next year we learn if Apple can move beyond being just the iPhone company.

Apple Inc. has a secret team working on satellite technology that the iPhone maker could use to beam internet services directly to devices, bypassing wireless networks, according to people familiar with the work. The Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker has about a dozen engineers from the aerospace, satellite and antenna design industries working on the project with the goal of deploying their results within five years, said the people.

Apple Inc. is considering bundling its paid internet services, including News+, Apple TV+ and Apple Music, as soon as 2020, in a bid to gain more subscribers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Apple, Disney and AT&T’s WarnerMedia want to jump-start their challenges to Netflix by offering freebies and deep discounts on emerging streaming plans.

Apple disclosed Iger’s departure in a regulatory filing Friday, but his resignation became effective last Tuesday. That’s the same day that Apple announced its long-awaited video streaming service will debut Nov. 1 and cost only $5 per month, less than half the price of Netflix’s most popular plan.

Fifteen years after Friends, she is returning to TV in Apple’s The Morning Show as a news anchor dealing with ageism, sexism and her co-host’s misconduct.

The service will launch Nov. 1 with original series such as The Morning Show starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston for $5 per month for a family subscription.

Apple Inc. plans to roll out the Apple TV+ movie and TV subscription service for $9.99 a month by November, part of a drive to reach $50 billion in service sales by 2020, sources say.