Apple iTunes And App Store Experienced Outage Earlier Today

Earlier today countless individuals who use Apple’s devices had been unable to access iTunes and the App Shop. That’s simply because two from the biggest content shops on the planet had been struggling from an outage. This really is the next this kind of outage in just a couple of weeks that took Apple’s content material shops offline.

For as long as iTunes and App Shop remained offline users could not search for anything. Whilst the app would start the only result they would get to get a query was an error message which stated that there were no outcomes for his or her question. The outage was experienced across the iTunes Store, Mac App Shop, App Store and also the iBookstore.

Some customers even observed issues with the application throughout this time. The Featured menu was missing graphics and links. Some apps below categories had been also missing. Top Charts weren't exhibiting Paid out and Leading Grossing applications. Just the error that “No Top Charts Content material Accessible.”

Even if a consumer could see a list of these content material shops they couldn't download anything. The obtain would fail every single time so possess the capability to see the listing wasn't of any great.

Luckily Apple was able to obtain things back to track. All of the problems had been fixed by this afternoon and presently all content material stores are operating as they should.

Apple iTunes Business Is On Decline

Apple iTunes service is seeing a decline since 2012, Apple iTunes download have seen a sudden decrease in the graph after Q1 2012. Apple is taking smart step in bringing the iTunes service back to its position. You might know, it is now official that Apple is buying beats for $3 Billion and with this acquisition, Apple will bring back its iTunes to the top position. Apple iTunes Radio and streaming service are both on a decline because people are shifting to different music services like Spotify, Pandora and Beats. According to Apple, Beats music service is like " a precise grain of sand on the beach" and this is the only reason why Apple choose Beats music service to acquire because Apple knows Beats music service is the only way to bring back its customers back to the ecosystem.

According to Morgan Stanely report, Apple iTunes business needs a fresh update. The report shows that customers spent less money on iTunes, an average user spent $1.90 on iTunes on the first quarter of 2014, which is low as compare to $2.90 in 2013 and from $4.30 in Q1 2012. The sudden decrease from $4.30 to $1.90 needs much attention but Apple is calm because Apple's main business is from hardware sales and the only point Apple is concerned about is, If people shift to other music services, they might also shift to other hardware as well, because some music services works great Android smartphones. In order to keep customers locked in the companies ecosystem, Apple has to make its iTunes perfect and with Beats music service Apple will do wonders. 

Podcast App For iPhone And iPad Updated With Siri, Improved Browsing And Much More

Apple today updated its Podcast app for iOS with new great features and improvements that will take users experience to the next level. Podcast for iPhone and iPad is an amazing way to discover hundreds of free audio and video podcast and explore top charts to see which audio or video is going the top right now. Podcast app for iOS is now updated to version 2.1 bringing in new features which includes Siri support, Improved episodes browsing, CarPlay and much more. With Siri support users can now talk to their iPhone or iPad to play their favorite podcast. With improved episode browsing users can browse their favorite episodes more accurately and save their favorite episode to keep them offline. The new CarPlay option is superb which will allow users to connect their Podcast app in their vehicles, but this feature is debuting in selected vehicles this year. Check out more detailed features below.

Improved Episode Browsing
• Quickly find episodes you haven’t listened to in the new Unplayed tab
• Browse episodes that are available to download or stream in the Feed tab
• Save your favorite episodes to keep them offline
• Episodes can now be automatically deleted after you play them
• Tap on links that appear in podcast and episode descriptions to open them in Safari

Ask Siri
• You can now ask Siri to play podcast episodes by simply saying “play podcasts”
• To play specific podcasts or stations, just ask Siri to play them by name, like “play TEDTalks”
• Please note that Siri may not be available in all languages or in all areas.

Additional Improvements
• Podcasts now supports CarPlay
• Start playing a station right from the stations list — just tap the Play button next to the station name
• Share links to your favorite podcasts using AirDrop

You can download the latest Podcast 2.1 from iTunes.

New Tax Law In UK Will Increase iTunes And App Store Prices By 20 Percent

Apple iTunes customers in UK might be see a little increased price in app purchase and digital goods by next year when the new Tax Law is UK will take effect. Currently the digital download retailers like iTunes and Amazon in UK avoid the 20% VAT by selling from other countries like Luxembourg where the VAT is  3% - 15%. UK government will now close the tax loophole resulting in 20% higher price in purchases from iTunes or any other online retailer avoiding 20% value added tax. The news was first reported by The guardian where George Osborne -the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Second Lord of the Treasury of the United Kingdom will be applying the new laws by 2015. He would use this year's finance bill to impose the new law from 1 January 2015.

The budget document said:

"As announced at budget 2013, the government will legislate to change the rules for the taxation of intra-EU business to consumer supplies of telecommunications, broadcasting and e-services. From 1 January 2015 these services will be taxed in the member state in which the consumer is located, ensuring these are taxed fairly and helping to protect revenue."

Still they have an year to apply the law, so things might change, however with 20% VAT UK-based online digital companies will be facing disadvantage. iTunes customers can buy cheap music and digital goods from USA ,same goes for Amazon. According to the supporters of the new law, it will bring more fair competition among foreign and domestic companies.

Monitor Your Kids In-App Purchases From Oink - Money Management

Your kid can empty up your bank account if you are not aware what he is buying on iTunes. Some parents just forget their credit card is linked with iTunes and their iPad is being used by their kids playing candy crush or subways surfers. Every time when you are out of lives in Candy Crush, it asks you to add more lives for a dollar. Your kid will not let the game end , and if your credit card is linked with iTunes, you can judge what your bill would come up. It would be good , if parents set a budget and appoint some limits on exactly where the funds in the account can be spent, and how much money can be used in single purchase. We have a solution for you. Payments company 'Oink' has created a solution that lets kids buy what they want but they will stay within their parents budget.

Oink works similar like PayPal which asks for username and password before carrying out any purchases. A child could be set with certain amount of money limit to spend on their favorite game, which could be spent on certain retailers. Purchases can also be set according to ratings ( Your child cannot buy mature games) or can be disabled quickly if payment info falls into wrong hands. This service is very helpful for parents who wants to keep an eye on their child's in app purchases. This service is available now on a number of retailers and popular games such as Habbo Hotel . Oink has planned to roll out the service to more online retailers and game companies. This is also one of the good way to teach your child about budgeting when they are out to buy something in the mall. You can download the Oink app from iTunes to give your child the freedom  of buying but with in limits.