2023 Apple News

If you thought you missed your chance to buy the latest Apple Watch, you're in luck. A court has ruled sales can resume, at least temporarily.

Apple was forced to pull its latest version of the Apple Watch, the Series 9 and the Ultra 2, from shelves after the International Trade Commission (ITC) claimed that the tech company violated a technology patent from Masimo, a medical device company. 

The dispute in question was over technology in the Apple Watch that’s used to measure users’ blood-oxygen levels. According to the ITC, Apple was violating a Masimo patent on pulse oximeters. 

This ban dates back to October 2023, when the ITC initially ruled that Apple was in violation of Masimo’s patent. At that point, the decision went to the Biden Administration, who decided to uphold the ITC’s ban. 

The ITC banned Apple from importing the latest versions of the Watch that contained this specific technology. While retailers could sell whatever they had on the shelves, new watches weren’t able to be shipped into the country. 

Watches are now available in the U.S. 

Now, the U.S. Court of Appeals has temporarily put a pause on the ban, allowing Apple to start reselling the Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches both in stores and online. 

While Apple might think this is a step in the right direction, the legal battle isn’t over. This most recent decision has put a pause on the import ban, but Apple is hopeful that the courts will rule in its favor for the long-term.

Apple has submitted a redesign of the Series 9 and Ultra 2, and the ITC has until January 12 to make a long-term decision on the future of the Watch. 

“Apple’s teams have worked tirelessly over many years to develop technology that empowers users with industry-leading health, wellness, and safety features and we are pleased the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has stayed the exclusion order while it considers our request to stay the order pending our full approval,” the company said in a statement. 

Over the past couple of years, location-tracking devices have found a home with people who want to keep tabs on where their keys are, their purse, their luggage, literally their everything.

Sometimes, those devices depend on crowdsourced finding networks and can wind up being misused for unwanted tracking of individuals, as Apple found out the hard way when people were using the company’s AirTags to stalk people.

Apple and Google aren’t typically two companies you’d see in bed with each other, but when they sense that there’s a planet full of consumers who are being tracked against their will, they’re coming together to do what they can to stop it.

The two companies have jointly submitted a first-of-its-kind proposal to help combat the misuse of Bluetooth location-tracking devices for unwanted tracking. The specification will allow Bluetooth location-tracking devices to be compatible with unauthorized tracking detection and alerts across iOS and Android platforms.

Others who have tracking devices – Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, eufy Security, and Pebblebee – have expressed their support, too. Together, the entire group can put together best practices and instructions for manufacturers, should they choose to build these capabilities into their products.

Covering every aspect possible

It’s evident that a lot of thought has gone into this idea. According to the specs, "Unwanted tracking detection can both detect and alert individuals that a location tracker separated from the owner's device is traveling with them, as well as provide means to find and disable the tracker."

It will also have technology that can identify the owner of a tracking device -- for example, an email address or a phone number -- as well as the serial number of the tracking device.

Another neat feature is that trackers will shift from a "near-owner" mode to a "separated" mode should the device no longer be near an owner's paired device for more than 30 minutes.

Now that the proposal has been submitted, interested parties are invited and encouraged to review and comment over the next three months. Following the comment period, Google and Apple will re-huddle to address the feedback the initiative received, then set about to implement what it learned about how unwanted tracking alerts will fit into future versions of Android and iOS. Their goal is to have that done by the end of this year.

Safety groups weigh-in

When Apple and Google initially pow-wowed this initiative, they decided that while getting feedback from manufacturers was vital, input from various safety and advocacy groups was equally important and also needed to be integrated into the development of the specification.

“Today’s release of a draft specification is a welcome step to confront harmful misuses of Bluetooth location trackers,” said Alexandra Reeve Givens, the Center for Democracy & Technology’s (CDT) president and CEO. 

“CDT continues to focus on ways to make these devices more detectable and reduce the likelihood that they will be used to track people. We commend Apple and Google for their partnership and dedication to developing a uniform solution to improve detectability. We look forward to the specification moving through the standardization process and to further engagement on ways to reduce the risk of Bluetooth location trackers being misused.”

Apple is offering its credit card holders a new way to increase their savings with a new high-yield savings account. 

The company announced that all Apple Card holders will be eligible to open a high-yield savings account with Goldman Sachs – which also comes with a 4.15% annual interest rate. That rate is more than 10 times the national average. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), traditional savings accounts yield a 0.37% annual interest rate. 

“Savings helps our users get even more value out of their favorite Apple Card benefit – Daily Cash – while providing them with an easy way to save money every day,” said Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. “Our goal is to build tools that help users lead healthier financial lives, and building savings into Apple Card in Wallet enables them to spend, send, and save daily cash directly and seamlessly – all from one place.” 

No fees, no minimum balance requirements 

For current Apple Card holders, the option to open a savings account with Apple and Goldman Sachs will appear in the Wallet app. Once you click on your Apple Card, and then get into your Daily Cash, you’ll see the option to create an account. 

When the account is set up, all Daily Cash earned from purchases with your Apple Card will be automatically deposited into your new savings account. Users aren’t required to keep a minimum balance in the account, there are no fees associated with the account or any transactions, and there are no minimum deposit requirements. However, accounts do have a maximum balance – $250,000. 

While Daily Cash will be one source of deposits in the savings account, users can also add funds to their accounts by linking other bank accounts or transferring their Apple Cash to their savings accounts. The only banking functions that are unavailable with the Apple savings account are wire transfers and cash deposits. 

Account holders will be able to withdraw the funds from their savings accounts and deposit them into other bank accounts or into their Apple Cash cards. However, you are only able to transfer up to $20,000 from your account every seven days. 

Apple Card holders earn Daily Cash on every purchase made with their card, and there is no limit to how much Daily Cash you can earn. 

Shopping for a new iPhone just got easier. 

The tech company announced that shoppers will now be able to video chat with an Apple specialist from the comfort of their homes – or wherever they happen to be – to help guide them through the purchase of their next iPhone.

These video chats will be in real time and give Apple customers the chance to go through all of the different features, prices, phone carrier plans, and more of each iPhone model. 

“We’re constantly innovating to deliver an even more personalized experience for our customers, meeting them where they are to deliver the best of Apple,” said Karen Rasmussen, head of retail online at Apple. 

Consumers have more options

With the announcement of this new shopping feature, consumers now have another option to choose from when looking to buy a new iPhone – shopping in-store, shopping online, and now over video chat.

Specialists will be available to video chat from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time every day of the week. Unlike a regular video chat, the camera doesn’t work both ways. When connecting with an Apple Specialist, customers will be able to see their customer service rep and their screen, but the Apple Specialist won’t be able to see them. 

Consumers can join the video chat session with just about any question: deciding which device will best suit their lifestyles, deciding between colors, figuring out payment options, or gaining insight into their device trade-in options. 

Get ready for new prices in the App Store

Apple also announced that shoppers can expect to see some new prices in the App Store starting in May. 

While the changes are primarily targeted toward app developers, consumers will feel the effects. In the coming months, app developers will have the option to charge anywhere from $0.29 to $10,000 (with special permission from Apple) for their apps. The new updates will also allow for apps to be charged in $0.10 increments, and many apps will transition from $0.99 to $1.00. 

In making the change, Apple said it hopes to give creators more flexibility, while also creating more uniformity among the different countries and currencies that host and sell apps on the App Store. 

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, a restaurant chain based in Dallas, has settled a class-action suit by agreeing to pay $2.35 million to people impacted by a data security breach. In the breach, hackers were able to access customer’s payment card information.

The breach took place between April 2019 and late October 2020. Attorneys say the restaurant’s customers who paid with credit and debit cards during that time period are eligible to receive money and credit monitoring.

Affected consumers can submit a claim here. The deadline is April 23, 2023.

Conservice

Conservice, a utility management company, has agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle a class-action suit filed by a Maryland consumer. The suit charges, among other things, that the company collected debts from Maryland consumers without having a proper license.

Even though it isn’t a debt collection firm, Conservice provides that service for the utilities serving multi-family communities and other residential and commercial properties.

Under the terms of the settlement, class members can receive an equal share of the net settlement fund. Maryland residents can file a claim here.

Apple

The clock is ticking for affected Apple MacBook customers to file a claim for part of a $50 million settlement. The class-action suit, filed last year, claims that MacBook laptop computers sold between 2015 and 2019 were equipped with defective butterfly keyboards. It followed an initial suit filed in 2018.

The suit claims the defect resulted in "characters repeating unexpectedly; letters or characters not appearing; and/or the keys feeling "sticky" or not responding in a consistent manner."

Eligible class members will receive up to $395 but court documents say the payout will be awarded based on a tier system. More information is available on the MacBook settlement website.

A record year

It turns out that 2022 was a record year for class-action lawsuits and consumers who received compensation. The legal publication Duane Morris Class Action Review analyzed 635 class action judgments last year. It found the total value of the judgments was more than $63 billion.

One reason for the record amount is the settlements are getting larger. In the last year, there were 15 class action cases that produced $1 billion or more in settlements.