The iPhone X will officially go up for sale this Friday, November 3rd and Apple has said that it will have stock in retail stores available for walk-in customers. Starting on November 4th, however, the company will also activate its Reserve and Pickup system in select countries… Apple updated its website in Australia, Belgium, and the United Kingdom to indicate the launch of the system at 6AM on Saturday, while customers in Canada, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and UAE will also be able to take advantage of the system starting at 8AM....

According to the report, Apple’s second iPad manufacture will either be Pegatron or Quanta Computers. Pegatron, notably manufactures the Verizon iPhone and reportedly landed 15 million iPhone 5 orders for a fall release. Quanta manufactures some Macs and other Apple products. With Apple reportedly gearing up to launch a new iPad 2 model – dubbed iPad HD by This is my next – now is a perfect time for Apple to use more manufacturing power....

Facebook today has unveiled its own SDK for the new Apple TV’s tvOS. In a blog post on its Developers site, Facebook says that using the Facebook SDK on tvOS will allow developers to build “immersive” social experiences on the platform including tools like login, sharing, and analytics. One area in which many believe the new Apple TV has fallen short is text input, especially when logging into services and applications....

While many thought we would see an iPad come in as low as $250 with the iPad mini unveiling yesterday, Apple doesn’t think it will have a problem competing with the lower priced 7-inch Android tablets on the market. In a report from Reuters, Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller defended the price point of the new iPad mini that many analysts incorrectly predicted would come in under the $300 mark....

Apple today has launched a “benchmark” sized Australian dollar corporate bond issue, its first in Australian currency. Investors in Australia were informed of the two-part bond sales just recently and told that Apple will offer four-year and seven-year bonds in the country. Since the bond issue is referred to as benchmark-sized, Apple is likely looking to raise between $500 million and $1 billion. Seeing that Apple has a AA+ rating, lenders are aware that it’s a low credit risk investment, meaning that Apple shouldn’t have trouble raising the money and can offer bonds at a relatively cheap rate....

Situated in Munich on Rosenstrasse (Berlin’s equivalent is the subject of an award-winning German film), little is known about the store so far, but we can speculate it will offer Apple’s 21st-Century design aesthetic, be staffed by enthusiastic Mac users from across Germany, and will likely be run by a US-trained manager. Otherwise, it’s all simple speculation. MacPrime adds that the constuction plans for the site have been public since last month, though Apple hasn’t yet published any information pertaining to its new shop on its retails site....

[Update: Bloomberg corroborates.] Apple appears to be taking original content production very seriously. Building on significant talent hires, the Wall Street Journal writes Apple has readied a $1 billion budget to ‘procure and produce’ content over the next year. The report says the sum is about half what HBO spent on production last year. Apple could launch up to ten new shows, with Apple SVP Eddy Cue said to have ambitions to offer shows that rival Game of Thrones....

During Apple’s Q1 2019 earnings call today, Tim Cook shared updates on how some of the company’s Services have been growing including details on Apple News, Apple Pay, Apple Music, and more. This comes as Apple reported 19% Services growth YoY for a new record of $10.9B in revenue. Cook shared on the earnings call that the company saw its monthly active user rate for Apple News hit 85M. Apple News rolling out to more countries will also help drive growth....

A slew of new Apple Watch bands have been revealed today as the Apple Watch Series 4 was unveiled at Apple Park. The latest choices include a variety of new colors, including a new gold Milanese loop. The most recent release was the Pride Edition Woven Nylon band that Apple debuted back in June at WWDC. Before that Apple offered up a spring collection back in March. Today’s releases include a mix of new colors of bands and styles that work with the new 40mm and 44mm Series 4 Apple Watches as well as all previous Apple Watch generations....

Apple continues to expand its health efforts with another Apple Watch and iPhone study. CNBC reports that Apple has teamed up with Eli Lilly to study whether the Apple Watch and iPhone can be effectively used to spot early signs of dementia. Research published this week shows that Apple and Eli Lilly have been working with the health startup Evidation “to find ways to more quickly and precisely detect cognitive impairments like Alzheimer’s disease with the help of popular consumer gadgets....

According to a report from German language blog iFun, Apple is preparing to release iOS 6.1.2 early next week to address the much talked about Microsoft Exchange bug and passcode vulnerability. Apple already confirmed that both issues would be fixed in an upcoming software update, but iFun confirmed the update would land sometime before Feb. 21 based on its checks with carriers. iFun accurately predicted the launch of iOS 6.1.1 through the same sources earlier this month....

Apple agreed to pay a $5 million settlement to Taiwanese touch chip and module maker Elan Microelectronics Corp that will provide both companies with access to each other’s patents and end ongoing patent infringement cases, according to a report from Reuters. Taiwan-based Elan Microelectronics Corp originally sued Apple in 2009 claiming Apple infringed on their multitouch patents with the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, MacBook, and Magic Mouse. Elan was originally seeking bans on the products in the United States....

Ahead of Apple’s WWDC in June and an expected Apple TV refresh, shipping times for its current generation Apple TV have just slipped from in stock to 1-2 weeks. Apple’s estimates for shipping Apple TV from its online store often jump between being “in stock” and “1 day”, but a longer delay in shipping could signal Apple’s intent to introduce a refreshed Apple TV in the near future. We reported earlier this year that Apple’s work on a next-generation Apple TV product continued including slimmer hardware, a new tactile remote, and a redesigned operating system with App Store-like functionality....

Last week, we reported that criminals in Brazil are stealing people’s iPhones to access bank accounts. Now, Procon-SP, the Brazilian consumer protection regulator based in São Paulo state, said banks are promising to create emergency centers to fight this kind of criminal activity, and Apple and Google are committed to making it easier to erase people’s stolen smartphone. According to a new report by Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, in a meeting with mobile carriers and banks, they committed to Procon-SP to create emergency centers to block phone accounts after a smartphone is stolen....

Details about Apple’s upcoming video service continue to surface with The Hollywood Reporter reporting that Kristen Wiig will star in a comedy series distributed by Apple. Reese Witherspoon, who already has two upcoming shows through Apple, will produce the comedy show. Kristen Wiig has been involved with SNL off and on since 2005 and starred in the Ghostbusters reboot in 2016. Apple’s streaming video service should offer a handful of shows when it launches sometime in the future....

One of the tentpole features of iOS 13 is the new Photos app, which includes new curation features and interface changes that make it easier to surface your old pictures. Taking things a step further, Apple has partnered with the band Maroon 5 to promote the new Memories feature of the Photos app. As detailed by Billboard, when an iOS user goes to create a curated memory video in the Photos app, they’ll now be able to pick Maroon 5’s new song “Memories” as the soundtrack:...

Core Group, Apple’s official distributor in South Africa, just announced details for the launch date and pricing of Apple TV in the country. According to a statement by the company (via mybroadband.co.za), Apple TV will finally launch through select retailers starting Jan. 18. The launch follows Apple’s official opening of iTunes Store and iPhone 5 in South Africa alongside 50+ other countries last month. Core Group suggested Apple TV will retail for R1099 (roughly $125 USD) but also noted, “resellers are entirely free to determine the actual prices at which products will be sold....

Image via GDGT As we told you a few weeks back, Apple just unveiled its all-new mapping solution that ditches Google Maps. Apple said the new solution was “built from the ground up,” and it covers the entire world. It features integration with Siri and turn-by-turn navigation with the ability to go multiple routes. Siri directs the way, of course. As for integration, for instance, you could ask Siri, “Are we there yet?...

With over a hundred million iCloud accounts now in use, Mountain Lion’s setup assistant will now ask you to set up an iCloud account for the Documents in the Cloud and Find My Mac features, as well as to sync contacts, email and chat messages and calendar entries. You can also access your iCloud storage in Finder and drag and drop documents for manual syncing between iOS apps that support Documents in the Cloud and their desktop counterparts....

With Apple’s online store updated after the iPhone X event today, the company has raised its AppleCare+ extended warranty pricing for all iPhone Plus models, while the iPhone X coverage is most expensive of all. Along with the exciting new hardware and features of the just announced iPhone 8/8 Plus and iPhone X comes more expensive repairs. And it looks like Apple is raising its AppleCare+ pricing to adjust for that....