Tag: Apple Inc.

Spotify Eyes $1 Increase in Monthly Price of Its Ad-Free Service
22Jul By adminNo Comments
Technology

Spotify Eyes $1 Increase in Monthly Price of Its Ad-Free Service

[ad_1] Spotify Technology SA is planning a $1-a-month increase in the price of its premium subscription, the ad-free version of its music and podcast streaming service.The timing of the increase — which would boost the price to about $11 a month — isn't definite, but could be announced as early as next week, said a person familiar with the company's thinking who asked not to be identified. A higher price would fit with Spotify's intention, initially reported by Bloomberg last month, to introduce a super-premium plan with high-fidelity audio. The news, reported earlier Friday by the Wall Street Journal, sent Spotify up as much as 4.1% in intraday trading. The shares closed down less than 1% to $171.71. The music streaming leader has been an outlier in holding the line on prices after riv...
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Roblox Grapples With Employee Demands for More Diversity
18Jul By adminNo Comments
Technology

Roblox Grapples With Employee Demands for More Diversity

[ad_1] In the spring of 2021, the staff at video-game juggernaut Roblox Corp. gathered for an all-hands meeting over the video conferencing app Zoom. An employee submitted by text a question to executives about why there were so few women at the top ranks of the company. According to multiple people in attendance, the company's co-founder and chief executive officer David Baszucki accepted the query at the virtual get-together and responded by saying that Roblox has a very high bar in hiring.Several of the women there said they found the comment dismissive, but not surprising. In public and private forums, the 60-year-old Baszucki and his deputies often noted that the goal of the San Mateo, California-based company was to “hire the best people.” Three of the 15 current or former female ...
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Telecom Italia once tried to buy Apple, now It is in trouble. Here’s why
17Jul By adminNo Comments
Technology

Telecom Italia once tried to buy Apple, now It is in trouble. Here’s why

[ad_1] It's not a misprint. Telecom Italia SpA, Italy's beleaguered former telephone monopoly, once pitched a plan to buy Apple Inc.  About 25 years ago a group of executives from the carrier flew to California to meet Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, with an audacious plan to buy the tech company at a time it was struggling to make headway against rivals like International Business Machines Corp. Telecom Italia, on the other hand, was flying high, ranking as the world's sixth-largest telephone company by sales. Worth about €90 billion ($100 billion), it had minimal debt, held stakes in dozens of tech groups around the world and employed more that 120,000 people. Although Apple's rise back from the ashes is well documented, the fate of its would-be buyer is less well known outside Italy. ...
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Apple Store Union Accuses Company of Bad Faith Negotiations
14Jul By adminNo Comments
Technology

Apple Store Union Accuses Company of Bad Faith Negotiations

[ad_1] Apple Inc.'s contract talks with its first unionized US retail store reached a flashpoint on Wednesday, with labor representatives filing a complaint in response to what they called bad faith negotiations.The International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, which represents the Apple store in Towson, Maryland, said that the iPhone maker is stalling and hasn't responded to key proposals sought by employees. The group filed the complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, citing a “clear pattern” of regressive bargaining. The union argues that Apple has made counteroffers that would merely preserve the status quo. It also complained that Apple is sharing negotiation information with the company's other retail stores, despite asking for a closed bargaining proc...
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In Pixel smartphone drive, Google set to hire Sreenivasa Reddy as India policy head
4Jul By adminNo Comments
Technology

In Pixel smartphone drive, Google set to hire Sreenivasa Reddy as India policy head

[ad_1] Alphabet Inc.'s Google is set to appoint a manufacturing and policy veteran as its top government affairs executive in India to tackle legal challenges and expand hardware assembly to the country.Sreenivasa Reddy, currently a senior engineering executive at Microsoft Corp., is likely to join Google toward the end of this year, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. He previously worked in senior positions at Apple Inc. 's India regulatory team and headed government relations at the local unit of Swedish telecom-gear maker Ericsson AB, helping to drive domestic manufacturing at both companies. Reddy's experience will come in handy at Google, which is scouting for partners in India to assemble its Pixel range of smartphones as it...
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Apple Defies EU Over Antitrust Charges in Spotify Probe
30Jun By adminNo Comments
Technology

Apple Defies EU Over Antitrust Charges in Spotify Probe

[ad_1] Apple Inc. is set for a showdown with European Union antitrust regulators, insisting it doesn't need to make any more changes to its App Store after it was hit by formal charges over its treatment of music streaming rivals such as Spotify Technology SA.Ahead of a hearing in Brussels on Friday, the iPhone maker insists that the EU wrongly accused it of illegal curbs on the likes of Spotify that prevent developers from steering users away from the App Store. Apple considers it already addressed any possible competition concerns over the past two years with changes that create a fair balance between the interests of Apple and app developers, according to a person familiar with the US firm's thinking, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Apple was slapped with a revised charge sheet ...
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Android surpasses iOS, but not on taking screenshots and scanning QR codes
26Jun By adminNo Comments
Technology

Android surpasses iOS, but not on taking screenshots and scanning QR codes

[ad_1] A new study reveals that Android users encounter fewer problems while using their phones compared to iOS users. This suggests that Android may be a more user-friendly operating system. The study was conducted by Green Smartphones, a company that compares smartphones, and it looked at 12 common tasks performed on both Android and iOS, such as recording the screen, sharing location, and taking screenshots.The results show that Android performed better than iOS in ten out of the twelve tasks examined. Android users needed less help and instructions for these tasks. However, iOS was found to be more user-friendly than Android when it came to taking screenshots and scanning QR codes. The study also compared the number of searches made by Android and iOS users for help with basic and i...
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Apple Pro Vision headset gets big Mira boost
7Jun By adminNo Comments
Technology

Apple Pro Vision headset gets big Mira boost

[ad_1] In a significant development within the augmented reality (AR) industry, Apple has taken over Mira, a startup focused on creating AR headsets. While the exact financial details of the acquisition remain undisclosed, the move coincides with Apple's introduction of its own AR headset named Vision Pro, priced at $3,499. Apple officially confirmed the acquisition after reports surfaced that 11 Mira employees had been hired by the tech giant. Mira's CEO, Ben Taft, shared his excitement for the company's "next chapter at Apple" in a private Instagram post, reflecting on the journey from a small startup founded in a dorm room to being acquired by Apple.Mira, founded by Ben Taft in 2016 and headquartered in Los Angeles, specialised in the development of AR headsets. The company boasted a...
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Alphabet CEO’s Pay Soars to $226 Million on Huge Stock Award
23Apr By adminNo Comments
Technology

Alphabet CEO’s Pay Soars to $226 Million on Huge Stock Award

[ad_1] The pay package awarded to Alphabet Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai soared to $226 million in 2022, boosted by a triennial stock grant, making him one of the world's highest-paid corporate leaders.The stock award portion of his pay amounted to $218 million, according to a filing from the Google parent company Friday. He received a total of $6.3 million in compensation in 2021, when he didn't receive the grant, and his salary has remained steady at $2 million the past three years. The 50-year-old CEO has been navigating a more competitive industry, with AI products such as the chatbot ChatGPT from startup OpenAI threatening to undermine Google's dominance in search. A broader tech slowdown also has taken a toll on the company, with its shares sliding 39% in 2022. Still,...
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Apple Readies Arsenal of Apps for New Headset, Aiming to Win Over Wary Users
20Apr By adminNo Comments
Technology

Apple Readies Arsenal of Apps for New Headset, Aiming to Win Over Wary Users

[ad_1] Apple Inc. is racing to build a trove of software and services for its upcoming mixed-reality headset, seeking to win over potentially wary consumers with apps that use the device's novel 3D interface.The offerings will include gaming, fitness and collaboration tools, new versions of Apple's existing iPad features, and services for watching sports, according to people with knowledge of the plans. The roughly $3,000 headset is set to debut at an event in June, with the product going on sale months later. Apple's hardware products have long depended on having a robust assortment of software — epitomized by the Steve Jobs-era slogan, “There's an app for that.” But there may be even more pressure when it comes to the mixed-reality headset, a technology that will be unfamiliar to many...
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