Apple Sets Much-Anticipated September New-Product Preview

Apple will take the wraps off new products in a much-anticipated 9 September event at the Flint Center in Cupertino, California, where Steve Jobs launched the Mac computer. Some reporters are billing it as the most anticipated since Apple launched the iPad in 2010. The company has not released details. Industry observers speculate the firm will show new iPhones as well as its first wearable device. (The Associated Press)(re/Code – 1)(re/Code – 2)

View the original article here

Apple Allowing Virtual-Currency Transactions in Applications

Software developers can now offer virtual-currency transactions in their Apple-based applications for iPhones and iPads. Apple revamped its App Store guidelines to permit applications to process transactions with, according to the Apple developer blog, “approved virtual currencies provided that they do so in compliance with all state and federal laws for the territories in which the app functions.” Apple has not yet released a list of “approved” virtual currencies. Apple previously removed applications using virtual cash from its online store. In response, some developers reportedly deleted virtual currency coding from their programs so that they could remain in the store. Google Android currently supports transactions using several different types of virtual currency. (Reuters)(BBC)(Apple)

View the original article here

Apple Is Now the World’s Most Valuable Brand

Apple is now the most valuable brand in the world, displacing Coca-Cola from the top spot it held since the report’s inception 13 years ago. According to Interbrand—a corporate identity and brand consulting company that has compiled its Best Global Brands report since 2000—the Apple brand’s value is now $98.3 billion, up 28 percent from last year, when it ranked second. Google is second place in the new report, followed by Coke, IBM, Microsoft, GE, McDonald’s, Samsung, Intel, and Toyota. (The New York Times)(CNET)(Bloomberg Businessweek)(Interbrand) 

View the original article here

Working Apple 1 on the Auction Block

A functioning Apple 1—one of the first Apple computers—is set to be auctioned next week. The computer was discovered in storage by Ted Perry, a retired school psychologist who lives in Carmichael, California, a suburb of Sacramento. He obtained it in about 1979 or 1980 in a swap for other computer gear. The motherboard is the only original item remaining on the system. The market for early Apple products became hot, according to the Associated Press, after Steve Jobs’ death in 2011. Christie’s auction house will start the bidding on the Apple 1 at roughly $300,000 and estimates it could sell for as much as $500,000. In May, a working Apple 1 sold at an auction in Germany for a record auction price fetched by an Apple computer $671,000. Only 46 of the 200 Apple 1 computers made still remain, with only six in working condition. (PC Mag)(The Associated Press @ USA Today)

View the original article here