Apple has said that staff at its flagship Beijing store acted in self-defence when customers waiting for the iPad 2 began fighting, but has moved to compensate a customer who was injured in scuffles during the weekend. Chinese Apple fans had waited patiently outside the Beijing store on Saturday before crowds started jumping queues and smashing the glass front door as they surged to purchase the iPad 2 and white iPhone 4 when they first went on sale....

Apple has completed its deal with Sony for its unannouncedupcoming cloud music service,Bloomberg reports. The company wrapped up an agreementwith EMIyesterday, and finalizeddeals with Warner Music Groupsome time ago. This means there’s only one more major label to go, and it also happens to be the largest: Universal Music Group. Depending on how smoothly talks with them go, it’s becoming more and more likely that we’re looking at aWWDCannouncement. Google and Amazon have already launched their own cloud music services, but they have foregone licensing deals and don’t have the ubiquity in the music space that Apple’s iTunes does....

Apple has published an update on the software it will be unveiling at its Keynote Address at itsWWDC eventin San Francisco on June 6, highlighting updates to its Mac OS X and iOS operating systems for desktops and mobile platforms. The company also references for the first time its new iCloud service, a cloud-based storage platform that will likely incorporate its current MobileMe service and take its music service onto the web, so that users no longer need to physically sync their iOS devices with iTunes on their desktop computer....

Apple today confirmed that the company has welcomed morethan one billion visitorsto its stores since its first outlet opened in Washington DC in May 2001, indicating that it intends to increase the number of stores to 363 by the end of its financial year. Apple’s PR team – responding to questions from Australian electronics retailer Current.com.au on its latest store opening in Penrith, Australia – stated: Apple Retail has been in business for 10 years....

During the company’searningscall, Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer announced that its newest operating system, Mac OS X Lion, would be launching tomorrow. This confirms therumorsthat have been swirling over the last few days. OS X Lion is an extensive upgrade to Apple’s OS X operating system, bringing sweeping changes across the OS. The addition of features like full-screen applications, Launchpad and extensive gesture support have led many to make correlations between Apple’s iOS and OS X platforms....