Video streaming giant Netflix has announced plans to raise prices for new subscribers later this quarter, when it announced its quarterly earnings on Monday.
The price increase will cost between $1 and $2 more per month, depending on the country a user lives in. Netflix subscriptions currently costs $7.99 per month for unlimited streaming, so the increase will raise it close to $10.
Apple is ramping up internally to launch a mobile payments service, according to Recode. The publication reports Apple has been interviewing payment industry executives to fill two new senior positions at the company focused on mobile payments, as it plans to get into the industry.
The search team is being lead by Apple executive Jennifer Bailey, who previously ran the company's online stores including iTunes. The two new positions are heads of product and business development, two positions that are at the core of any new product at Apple.
Competition between Apple and Google not only covers smartphones and mobile operating systems, but the App Store and Google Play app marketplaces, as well. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday the two companies have been working to sway game developers over to their own platforms exclusively with special incentives.
Having an exclusive game title on an app marketplace could help smartphone users feel as if they're on the best platform, a task Apple and Google have been working hard at since 2008. Both companies have reportedly offered game developers premium placement on the App Store and Google Play, for exclusivity in return.
Mobile payments startup Square is looking to sell its business, following growing losses and shrinking cash reserves, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Square, founded by Twitter's Jack Dorsey in 2009, makes software, hardware products, and services, including Square Register and Square Wallet, for customers to pay merchants in an easier way.
Square has discussed an acquisition with Google in 2014, according to the report, with prior talks dating back to 2012. Additionally, Apple is said to have held informal talks with Square about a deal, interesting given the mobile payment rumors that have been circulating the Cupertino-based company.
Facebook is finally following the likes of Google and Yahoo and will launch an advertising network with a focus on mobile platforms, according to Recode.
Facebook hasn't publicly acknowledged its plans, but the publication says Facebook will take the wraps off its mobile ad network at its F8 developer conference in San Francisco at the end of April.
An ad network from Facebook essentially means you'll see Facebook ads even when you're not on Facebook - think any app on the App Store. In a way, Facebook's solution could go after Apple's iAd network, which has failed to catch wind with the industry.
Apple is responsible for the mobile industry's move to 64-bit processors within smartphones after it announced the iPhone 5s in September, according to Mark Liu, co-CEO of major chip company TSMC.
This is something many industry pundits have been whispering for sometime, so it's interesting to hear from such a higher-up in the chip business. Liu, speaking at a TSMC quarterly results meeting, said it pretty bluntly...
The Morgan Stanley Research group in Europe believes Apple has all the ingredients to cook up a proprietary mobile payment system, and makes a case for why the Cupertino-based company may launch it soon.
Primarily, Apple in a way is already the "de facto, in the mobile payment space," given it has 400 million credit cards on file through its iTunes Store.
One Morgan Stanley executive makes a strong case, based on public information and not insider Apple information, on why it sounds likely:
Users on iOS 6, iOS 7, and Macs are having issues connecting FaceTime video calls on Thursday.
Many complaints have rung across Twitter and Apple Support communities. Even some of our devices here at iDownloadBlog are unable to connect for unknown reasons.
LG is hoping to make it easier for users to beam media to their televisions, with a new SDK it's making available to developers to integrate into apps on iOS and Android.
Smart TVs have historically been one of the most closed platforms out there, with manufacturers developing features for only their own TVs and set-top boxes, and not the broader market - example being Apple's AirPlay. LG is changing this with its new Integrate Connect SDK, a standard to place into mobile apps to beam media across multiple platforms onto the big screen.
Siri within iOS 7 can be limited sometimes, thanks to Apple's "walled garden", but a new tool called GoogolPlex wants to change that by opening the voice assistant to new commands.
Self described as the "App Store for Siri", GoogolPlex opens Siri to work with Spotify, Philips Hue, the Nest Thermostat and more, just by an iOS user changing a few proxy settings...
Apple is working on a song-identification feature within its iOS software, in an effort to continue building out its Music offering to combat streaming services and declining iTunes sales, according to Bloomberg.
Apple is said to be partnering with Shazam, a third-party service on the App Store that allows users to press a button and recognize music and media playing around them. On the iPhone and iPad in a future iOS update, users will be able to identify songs and artists without having to download an app, the report says.
Angela Ahrendts, Apple's incoming SVP of Retail, may not be in her new position as quickly as once thought.
The Guardian first noted that Ahrendts can leave her gig as the CEO of Burberry during April, but may stay for a bit longer to collect an £8 million share bonus that will be awarded from the fashion giant in June.