Apple

A man ran up a $7,753.22 bill at an Apple store.

When his debit card was declined, he pretended to call his bank. He gave the store clerk a fake authorization code to punch into the card reader.

And that’s how the man, 24-year-old Sharron Laverne Parrish Jr. of Tampa, scammed one of the biggest high-tech companies in the world — not once but 42 times — totaling $309,768, according to federal court records.

Some Apple Store employees have some explaining to do.

This was expected, but still an important step. Next up, US approval of the acquisition.

One point I pulled from this article: The Chinese smartphone market is maturing, moving from a jailbroken wild west to a market that appreciates aesthetics and is willing to spend more for a better experience.

Apple is holding the line here, playing the long game. And it’s working.

Apple’s presence in China continues to grow.

This is Apple’s official press release. Bill Campbell is a strong part of Apple’s history. It’s sad to see him step down.

When two-step verification rolled out in March, 2013, it was only available in the US, the UK, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. It’s now available in 59 countries.

The memo is worth reading.

But the picture posted above the memo (and, to be clear, not part of the memo) really made me laugh. It’s a Photoshop mod of a classic photo posted by original Mac team member Andy Hertzfeld, seen here. So very funny. Rock on, Darth.

ZDNet:

The biggest challenge for team Android is that Google and Samsung, two partners with enterprise ambitions, will have to herd cats to reach corporations. Android will need channel, integration and services support and there are few players that can match IBM’s reach.

Fragmentation is the enemy of any operating system. 90% is a huge adoption rate. Android has some catching up to do here.

9to5mac:

Apple today has launched an interesting new service for iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore users in Japan with iPhones and iPod touches. The new service, called iTunes Pass (no, not that iTunes Pass), allows users to go to an Apple Store in Japan, purchase credit in-store for the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore, and have that money immediately applied to the Apple ID account instead of needing to receive a gift card and enter a redemption code.

Here’s another magical way to add money to your iTunes account:

[VIDEO] Back in January 2000, Ron Johnson joined Apple as Senior Vice President of Retail Operations with a mission to create and roll out Apple’s retail operations.

Back in May, Johnson appeared, one-on-one, on Stanford Business School’s View From the Top interview series. The video of that interview is embedded below.

WSJ:

China’s influential state broadcaster on Friday called a location-tracking function offered by Apple Inc.’s iPhone a “national security concern,” in the latest sign of a backlash in the country against U.S. technology firms.

In its national noon broadcast, state-run China Central Television criticized the “frequent locations” function in Apple’s iOS 7 mobile operating system, which records time and location for the owner’s movements. The report quoted researchers who said that those with access to that data could gain knowledge of China’s economic situation or “even state secrets.”

Last June, Tim Cook hired Lisa Jackson, former administrator of the Environment Protection Agency, as Apple’s Vice President of Environmental Initiatives. This report is the first under her leadership.

Here’s a link to the report. And here’s a link to an FAQ that highlights some of the major environmental questions addressed by the report. Finally, here’s a link to the updated environment section of Apple’s website.