Italy

Apple’s European iOS App Development Center opening at University of Naples in October

We learned in January that Apple would be opening its first European iOS App Development Center in Italy and now German website Macerkopf.de notes that the Università di Napoli Federico II in Naples has officially confirmed partnering with Apple on the initiative.

Beginning in October 2016, the upcoming iOS App Development Center will let Naples university students take part in a nine month curriculum which was designed by Apple itself.

“Trade Up with Installments” iPhone program expands to France, Italy and Spain

MacRumors is reporting that Apple's trade-up program for the iPhone, dubbed “Trade Up with Installments”, has expanded to an additional three countries today: France, Italy and Spain.

Customers in these countries can now trade in a used iPhone, Android or Windows Phone smartphone and put the value of that device towards a new iPhone based on a 24-month payment plan.

Apple opening iOS App Development Center in Italy

Apple on Thursday announced it is opening Europe's first iOS App Development Center in Italy. Located at a partner institution in Naples, it will support teachers and provide a specialized curriculum to give students practical skills and training on developing iPhone, iPod touch and iPad apps. This new program should expand to other countries around the world.

Across Europe, iOS developers have earned over €10.2 billion thus far, or about $11.11 billion, with the App Store having helped create more than 75,000 new jobs in Italy alone.

Personal Pickup now available in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden

Personal Pickup, a handy option which makes it easy for customers to order an Apple product online and have it delivered a few hours later to a specific retail store for pickup, is now available in the following major markets within the European Union: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, as first reported by German blog Macerkopf.de.

iPhone 6s in-store reservations open in Italy, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland & Netherlands

As Apple gears up to launch the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus in an additional 40 countries this coming Friday, October 9, in-store reservations for the new handsets have gone live through Apple's Reserve and Pickup program in Belgium, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands, MacRumors reported this morning.

These six European countries are part of Apple's second wave of iPhone 6s launch. Apple has said that the new iPhones will be available in a total of over 130 countries by the end of the year.

Jony Ive shows off exclusive Apple Watch Sport band colors in Milan

Apple continued its PR push for Apple Watch in Italy this evening, Jony Ive hosting a Design Week event in Milan allowing folks to try on the new wearable. The design chief also used the occasion to unveil what appear to be exclusive new colorways for the Apple Watch Sport band.

The photos you see both above and below, first spotted by 9to5Mac, were posted to Instagram by Umberta Gnutti Beretta, wife of heir to the Beretta firearms empire Franco. In them you can see Ive posing for photos, and a platter with dark blue, red, yellow, and light pink Sport bands.

Apple shows off Watch at Milan’s Salone Del Mobile Design Fair, with executives on hand

Apple is showing off the Apple Watch at the Salone Del Mobile Design fair in Milan, Italy, with SVP of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, and industrial designer, Marc Newson, both on hand at the event.

The device is displayed in rows of glass-topped tables inside the Carlo e Camilla restaurant in Segheria. In addition to using literally the same tables found in its own retail stores, Apple's replicated the U.S. Apple Store try-on experience at the fair.

This despite the device not yet being available for pre-order in Italy. Thankfully, Italian blog Macitynet.it and French site iGen.fr have provided several photographs of Schiller and Newson showing off their device and posing for photographs.

Apple launches iPhone trade-in in Italy, coming to Australia later this week

Last August, Apple Stores in the United States started accepting customers' older iPhones (iPhone 3G and up) in exchange for a credit redeemable against the purchase of a brand spanking new iPhone.

The iPhone trade-in has since expanded to Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany and has now gone live in Italy. Furthermore, the initiative is set to expand to Australia in the coming days.

Customers in Italy can now trade in their older iPhone model for an Apple Store Gift Card worth up to €220, which works out to about $300. Folks can then use the store credit towards the purchase of a new iPhone, helping bring upfront payment down to a more bearable level...

Italian watchdog to Apple: respond to In-App Purchase allegations or else…

Italy's Antitrust and Competition Authority is probing Apple, Google, Amazon and Gameloft over accusations that these companies are intentionally misleading consumers who download freemium smartphone and tablets apps without realizing In-App Purchases are needed to unlock more features.

According to a new report, Italian investigators have asked Apple and others to submit their defense within the next twenty days or face a fine of up to €5 million each (about $6.84 million), although the punishment would be proportional to each company's size...

Italian regulators investigating Apple over ‘freemium’ app pricing model

Apple is one of a handful of tech companies being investigated by Italian regulators over the popular 'freemium' app pricing model. On Friday, Italy's Antitrust and Competition Authority said it's investigating Apple, Google, Amazon and Gameloft over apps that offer in-app purchases.

The agency wants to determine whether or not the companies offer sufficient information in their respective apps and app stores regarding pay-for in-app content. It feels consumers may be confused by the idea of downloading a game for free, and then receiving charges after the fact...

Two-step Apple ID authentication launches in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and Spain

Following a flurry of reports which criticized various security holes allowing hackers to break into people's Apple ID accounts, Apple in March of 2013 finally stepped up account security by rolling out two-step verification for Apple IDs in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand.

Two months later, the feature launched in nearly a dozen additional countries: Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland and Russia.

And now, as part of the third wave of expansion, the firm is enabling stronger account security for Apple ID users located in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and Spain...