Apple

Bob Iger, the outgoing chairman of Disney, continues to double down on his belief that Apple and Disney would have eventually merged under Steve Jobs. In a new interview with CNBC, Iger said that he believes Apple and Disney would have completed a merger if Steve Jobs had lived.

Apple is in a global fight to protect its App Store business model, and the latest development lands us in Russia. Apple is taking legal action after objecting to a ruling by the country’s Federal Antimonopoly Service that would allow developers to promote alternative payment methods to Apple’s in-app purchases.

Update: Tesla CEO Elon Musk is denying that this interaction ever took place. He wrote on Twitter today that he and Cook have never spoken or written to each other. “There was a point where I requested to meet with Cook to talk about Apple buying Tesla. There were no conditions of acquisition proposed whatsoever. He refused to meet,” Musk says.

The history between Tesla and Apple, and between Tim Cook and Elon Musk, varies depending on who you talk to. At one point, Musk claimed to have reached out to Cook about selling Tesla to Apple, but Cook refused to even take a meeting. Cook, on the other hand, claims to have never spoken to Musk.

Now, Wall Street Journal reporter Tim Higgins is out with a new book next month called Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk and the Bet of the Century, and it recounts an expletive-ridden conversation between Cook and Musk about Apple acquiring Tesla.

Apple has officially started to present its case in the ongoing legal battle with Epic Games over the App Store. Things have kicked off with Apple Fellow and App Store boss Phil Schiller’s testimony, with Tim Cook and Craig Federighi expected to testify later this week and into early next week.

There was a wild rumor making the rounds last year that Apple planned to phase out its successful Beats hardware brand and go all in with Apple-branded audio hardware. 9to5Mac reported at the time that burying Beats was “not a strategy that Apple plans to pursue” or even consider.

We’ve since learned more about was happening behind the scenes in California. Rather than discontinuing the Beats brand, Apple was hiring its first in-house designer to oversee Beats product design.

Today Facer is releasing brand new watch faces for the Apple Watch that will let you show off your space passion everywhere you go.

Apple News is going to add Apple Music editorial content, as spotted by MacStories. This will add stories about artists and new releases to the Apple News application.

Less than a month away from the Apple vs. Epic trial, Facebook is getting involved. According to a letter filed with the court, Apple requested some documents from Facebook, but Facebook doesn’t want to provide them.

Apple is celebrating its 45th anniversary today. From a garage company created in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple is now the most valuable brand and company. To celebrate this date, we want to ask you, 9to5Mac readers, what is your current favorite Apple product?

Some Apple executives received on Friday a tentative initial witness list to testify in the Apple vs Epic Games case set to be held in May. The list includes Tim Cook, Craig Federighi, and others.

The Florida teenager who took control of well-known Twitter accounts last year has agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a three-year prison sentence, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The 18-year-old hacked accounts including Apple’s, Bill Gates’, and Joe Biden’s.

Update: After more research, the issue appears to be on DHL’s side rather than Apple, and it is only affecting developers in Europe. DHL is working to resolve the issues and ensure that the DTK units are delivered to Apple, but 9to5Mac has learned that developers will not be penalized for any issues caused by DHL shipping.

With less than a month left for developers to return the DTK Mac mini and receive a $500 credit, things seem to be a bit chaotic, according to some developers online. Developers outside of the US report that they are having some issues when attempting to return the A12Z-powered Mac mini.

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission wants to know the impact of Google being the predominant web search service on most devices, including on the iPhone and Safari browser. The press release sent today is seeking submissions from consumers and industry participants about choice screens.

Twitter has announced a handful of new features recent: Spaces, Fleets, the acquisition of the newsletter product Revue, and the Super Follow function, which will let people pay creators on Twitter for special content.

In a new interview with the Verge, Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter head of consumer products, addressed the new Super Follow feature and sharing a 30% cut with Apple.

Apple News has announced that it is teaming up with the National Association of Black Journalists, or NABJ, to “give early-career journalists the opportunity to work on the forefront of news and technology.” The new editorial fellowship runs from June 2021 through February 2022.

Apple continues to share insights from its collection of health studies. Last week, the company shared insights from a hearing study based on iPhone and Apple Watch data. Today, the Apple Women’s Health Study team at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health released a preliminary study update about women and their menstrual symptoms.