Apple’s App Store policy changes are hardly a win for iOS developers who release apps on the company’s app stores for Mac and iOS, Apple has agreed to let them communicate to customers about offers and alternative payment methods via email. The proposed settlement, which also promised a $100 million fund for small developers, is now in court for final approval. As a part of this, Apple announcedsome other stepssuch as agreeing to publish a transparency report for the App Store review process....

Apple’s App Store, the mobile marketplace for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch,has unofficially passedthe 500,000 approved apps mark, reaching the figure within three years from when the platform launched. Early Tuesday morning, the App Store approvals team gave the green light to a fresh batch of apps and pushed them live on the market, taking the number of approved apps over the half million figure. However, given that apps launch and are then taken off the market or even banned, the number of apps available for download is thought to be closer to 400,000....

9 to 5 Macreports that during Apple’s annual back to school promo, education customers purchasing new macs will be given a free $100 iTunes gift cards instead of the usual free iPods. This year, 9to5Mac has been told, will be very different. In fact, Apple will not be offering free iPods during this promotion but will instead offer a $100 iTunes gift card. The annual promotion usually serves a way for Apple to clear out its iPod inventory ahead of the typical September refresh for the lineup, which coincides with the Cupertino-based company’s fall music-related event....

WWDC 2021 happened today, and as usual, Apple had a ton of news to announce at the event. Then again, with no hardware to announce, it wasn’t exactly the most exciting WWDC of all time, but here’s the best of what we learned from the company’s virtual conference. iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 Apple announced iOS and iPadOS 15 today. Big surprise! The updates do bring some useful new features, including text recognition in images, new AR features in Apple Maps, revamped notifications, government ID integration, background blurring in FaceTime, and more....

If Apple’s iconic CEO were to go, who would take his place? That’s the question that Apple’s board of directors is pondering according to theThe Wall Street Journal. As it stands, it appears that the dicusssions have centered around using executive recruiters and “at least one head of a high-profile technology company”. Jobs went on medical leavein Januaryof this year and rumors about his healthhave persistedfor many years before that....