Apple has announced details of the 2012 iTunes Festival, to be held at the Roundhouse in London, England. The event will consist of 30 nights of free concerts by over 60 artists, including the likes of Jack White, Norah Jones, and Usher; only a handful of artists have been announced so far. For 2012, the festival has been moved from July to September.
The government of the Netherlands has become the first European country to pass a net neutrality law. The legal precedent prevents internet service providers from traffic management except in the cases of congestion and network security, and also includes restrictions on ISPs performing deep packet inspection and other similar wiretapping techniques.
The third-generation iPad is now on sale in an additional 25 countries. The emphasis is mostly on Europe: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden are included. The only non-European countries are in fact Macau, Mexico, and New Zealand.
A researcher with MajorSecurity, David Vieira-Kurz, has discovered a serious security vulnerability in the iOS 5.1 version of Safari. The problem lies with the way iOS handles the JavaScript window.open() method, used to open a new browser window. A malicious coder could use this to spoof URLs, tricking people into visiting copycat websites that might contain other threats or ask for credit card information.
Apple has set an official date for the opening of the Amsterdam Apple Store. The location is scheduled to open Saturday, March 3rd at 10AM, situated in the Hirsch Building at Leidseplein 25. Regular hours will run from 9AM to 9PM Monday through Wednesday, 9AM to 10PM Thursday through Saturday, and 11AM to 7PM on Sunday. The shop will be Apple's first in the Netherlands, based in the same building as regional operating offices.
Apple has confirmed plans to open its first Dutch Apple Store, located in downtown Amsterdam. As expected the shop is being constructed in the Hirsch Building on Leidseplein, which now has orange stickers covering some of its windows, bearing Apple logos and text that translates to "Apple Store, Amsterdam. Opening soon." The shop should span at least two floors; a third floor already hosts Apple's Benelux headquarters.
Global iPlayer will make it to the iPhone and iPod touch on December 8th, the BBC has announced. The paid video-on-demand service has been available on the iPad for about five months. A list of countries getting the iPhone app on the 8th includes Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
The iPhone 4S is now formally on sale in 22 more countries, following an expansion of preorders exactly a week ago. For the time being Apple has adopted a European focus; new regions include Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. More regions should be added over the course of the next several months.
Apple has opened up iPhone 4S preorders to 22 previously unserved countries. The phone is now available in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Shipping times are typically listed at one to two weeks, a delay consistent with the US online store.
Apple will finally bring the Apple TV to seven more European countries on Tuesday, a MacRumors report says. The company has allegedly informed resellers of the plan, which should specifically see the set-top come to Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. In Finland, at least, pricing is expected to be €119, or about $160. In the US the hardware sells for just $99 before tax.
Apple has dramatically expanded the presence of iTunes in Europe, reports say. In addition to Poland, the iTunes Music Store is now accessible in 11 more European countries. The remainder of the list includes Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
(Updated with Swedish info) Ten more European Union countries should soon be getting access to the iTunes Music Store, according to a music industry source in touch with Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita. Only Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic are mentioned by name. Apple though is said to be essentially ready to go with the expansion; a separate source suggests an October launch, which could in theory coincide with the company's October 4th press event or follow sometime thereafter.
Deutsche Telekom will soon start selling iPad 2s in its stores, Dow Jones reports. While the carrier has offered iPad data plans for some time, the actual tablets have been sold elsewhere, whether through Apple Stores or third-party retailers. DT's in-house iPad sales will cover five different countries, including stores in Germany, Austria, Greece, Poland and the Netherlands.
Apple has once again falsely manipulated evidence in a case against Samsung, a Webwereld investigation suggests. This time an accusation has been directed at Apple's Dutch legal complaint, which if successful would see all Samsung Galaxy devices removed from European stores. A side-by-side comparison image in Apple's court documents -- only simulated in graphics here -- depicts the Galaxy S as the same size as the iPhone 3G, even though the S is significantly taller and wider in reality. Apple acknowledges the difference in text, remarking that there are "some non-identical elements, such as the slightly larger dimensions."
Apple's complaint against Samsung in the Netherlands could potentially cripple the latter company's phone and tablet lines across Europe, a closer examination shows. The document calls for an injunction against all Galaxy devices, not just the Galaxy Tab 10.1. This includes the 7-inch Galaxy Tab, as well as the Galaxy Ace, Galaxy S and Galaxy SII smartphones. The Gio, Nexus, 551, Europa, Apollo and Mini are "expected" to be "covered by one or more of the patent rights invoked," according to Apple.
The Netherlands has become the first European country to embrace network neutrality. Dutch lawmakers have passed legislation that prevents the nation's Internet service providers from charging customers extra for, or blocking access to, online-based services such as Skype. To date, the US is the only other country to have enacted net neutrality provisions.
The white iPhone 4 should finally go on sale on April 27th, a Dutch site suggests. iPhoneclub reports that the date comes from an internal memo at BelCompany, a local phone retailer. The first carrier to get white models may be the local branch of T-Mobile, which will allegedly get 16 and 32GB models, but only in limited quantities at first.
A bevy of new Apple Stores are in the works for 2011, a report says. At least several of these are forecast to open in Italy by the middle of the year, including one in Bologna, a previously unexpected outlet in Florence, and a second Milan location. Possible addresses for the Milan and Florence stores remain unknown.
Apple is planning to open its first Dutch retail store in Amsterdam, a local website claims. Citing several sources, One More Thing says that Apple has leased the ground floor and mezzanine of the Hirsch Building, found at Leidseplein 29. In August of last year Apple is reported to have leased upper-floor offices for local operations; the ground floor recently went vacant, however, and was filled only by a temporary art exhibit.
Microsoft has intentionally leaked the first relatively-clear picture of LG's E900 Optimus 7 handset. The image, which was posted on Microsoft Netherlands' WindowsPhoneNL Twitter feed, shows several new Windows Phone 7 tiles for media sharing and Vodafone 360 services.
Apple has confirmed plans to release the iPhone 4 in 17 more regions on Friday. In North America, Canada will finally get the device; the bulk of additional launches are in Europe, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Elsewhere, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore will begin sales.
Digiarty has announced that it is giving away free copies of HD Video Converter for Mac until June 20th. Supporting over 200 video and audio codecs, the app converts videos into formats compatible with a variety of devices. This includes multi-track HD videos containing several language and video tracks. Digiarty adds that it is also currently offering a small discount on DVD Ripper for Mac, bringing the price down to $36.
The Dutch division of T-Mobile is offering refunds to customers dealing with 3G connection problems, reports say. T-Mobile is the only carrier to offer the iPhone in the country; the device is currently being linked to complaints about slow 3G speeds, as well as difficulty making voice calls. The latter issue may moreover affect anyone with a 3G phone, not just iPhone owners. Turning off 3G is said to instantly remedy calling.
Clearing up a formerly ambiguous timetable, Apple has announced that the international launch of the iPad is now set for May 28th. Nine regions will get the tablet initially: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. A second wave is only expected in July, including Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore.
A hacker in the Netherlands has attempted to extort several iPhone owners, reports say. The hacker is believed to have used port scanning to identify T-Mobile-branded phones running SSH, commonly used in jailbreaking techniques. Because many people do not change the default root password on jailbroken devices, the hacker was able to take control of iPhones, and send custom text messages warning them to visit a website in order to resecure their firmware.
Japanese shoppers are already in line to buy the iPhone 3G S, which goes on sale with Softbank at 7AM local time on Friday, equivalent to 6PM Eastern on Thursday. Lines are smaller than those for the iPhone 3G launch, according to IDG, at present closer to 100 people at Softbank's flagship Omotesando store. When reservations opened for the 3G S last week, approximately 200 people arrived at the Omotesando location. Online preorders have not been allowed with Japanese iPhones.
Deutsche Telekom's wireless division, T-Mobile, has sold over 120,000 iPhone 3Gs since the device's launch on July 11th, according to the division's CEO. Hamid Akhavan claims that "expectations were surpassed," and that at least 75,000 of the phones were sold in Germany. Many people wanting one have not yet been able to obtain it though, as Akhavan notes that a backlog exists due to delivery problems.
At its current stage of development, the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard beta is not outperforming 10.5 Leopard by any wide stretches, as developers dive into the new OS with GeekBench. The Netherlands' Mac Zone writes that benchmarking numbers indicate that 10.6 performs better than 10.5, but only by a small margin. This hardly is conclusive of the final product, however, given that 10.6 Snow Leopard is still under early development – early betas of 10.5 Leopard had a very Tiger-like interface and poorer performance than the final build.
T-Mobile clarified its 3G iPhone offerings for the Netherlands, which were previously hinted at on the company's website, offering unlimited data plans starting at €30 (~$50). The plans start at a basic 150 minute/SMS plan, with the next at 300 and 500 minutes/SMS messages, and offer varying discounts on the actual device itself. From lowest tier to highest, the 8GB and 16GB iPhones are priced at €80 (~$130)/€160 (~$250), €1 (~$2)/€80 (~$130), and €1 (~$2)/€20 (~$30), offered under a two-year contract.
Hutchison Telecom and T-Mobile on Monday announced pricing and plan information for the 3G iPhone for Hong Kong and The Netherlands, respectively, while Debitel unveiled plans for German distribution of the device. According to iLounge, Hutchison will offer the device at a price dependant on the plan chosen, of which there are four. The 8GB model will range from free to HK$2938 (~$380), while the 16GB will sell for HK$138 (~$20) to HK$3738 (~$480).
The iPhone 3G will be available through Apple resellers in the Netherlands, writes MacWereld. The site says that several such retailers have claimed deals with T-Mobile, which will otherwise be the only legal vendor of the iPhone in the country. Apple's official stores are located solely in Canada, Italy, Japan, the US and the UK, and the only authorized third-party iPhone distributor is the UK's Carphone Warehouse.
Royal KPN is in negotiations with Apple about carrying the iPhone in the Netherlands, according to Thomson Financial. The news agency says that it has word of talks thanks to a KPN spokesman, who in turn explains that Apple actively approached the Dutch carrier, and met with a warm reception. No one at KPN has agreed to speak on the worth of a deal, however, or on matters like the progress of talks and how long they have been active.
An announcement of an iPhone for the Netherlands may come as soon as this Saturday, words from a local retailer may suggest. Dutch Apple reseller The Innovators has stated that it will reveal a new product on March 29th; indications that it may be the iPhone stem from a pair of hints, which first suggest that the product has never been available in the Netherlands to date, and also that it makes it easy to call. The announcement is scheduled for 11AM Dutch time.
Members of the Dutch royal family are among the latest to own iPhones, German and Dutch sites are reporting. Willem-Alexander, the Prince of Orange and heir to the Dutch throne, was yesterday spotted buying two iPhones with his wife, the Argentinian-born Máxima. The purchase was unusual in that it was not made at a European store, but rather at Apple's Fifth Avenue outlet in New York City, where the iPhones are by default locked to AT&T; to use an iPhone in the Netherlands, owners must either buy an unlocked device from France or Germany, or else install hacks.
