Apple Temporarily Halts Online Sales in Russia Due to 'Extremely Sharp' Ruble Fluctuations [iOS Blog]

Apple has temporarily halted online sales in Russia due to fluctuations in the value of the ruble, reports Bloomberg . The online store will be down until Apple is able to revise its prices in the country.

"Our online store in Russia is currently unavailable while we review pricing," Alan Hely, a spokesman for the Cupertino, California-based company, said today in an e-mailed statement. "We apologize to customers for any inconvenience."

Similarly, an Apple spokesperson told Russian site Lenta.ru that the store was offline due to "extremely sharp" fluctuations of the Russian ruble.





As of right now, the Apple Online store for Russia is down, displaying Apple's typical "We'll be back" message that is offered when a store is taken offline. It is not clear how long it will take to making the pricing adjustments.



Due to the weak Russian ruble, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in Russia were priced much lower than other the devices in other European countries. Ahead of the store closure, the 16GB iPhone 6 was priced at 39990 rubles, equivalent to €447 or $558. The 16GB iPhone 6 Plus was priced at 46990 rubles, or €550/$681. In many other European countries, the 16GB iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are priced closer to €700 ($876) and €800 ($999), respectively.



This is the second time in recent weeks that Apple has had to adjust pricing in Russia. Last month, Apple increased the price of the iPhone 6 by 25 percent in the country. The ruble fell as much as 19 percent today to exceed 80 per dollar before rebounding somewhat. The ruble is down roughly 50 percent against the dollar this year.

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Posted in 2014 at 07:16PM, December 16

Mac Apps With OS X Yosemite-Specific Features Begin Hitting the App Store

Ahead of tomorrow's media event that will likely see Apple previewing OS X Yosemite one last time ahead of the software's public release, apps that contain support for Yosemite-only features have begun hitting the Mac App Store.



PCalc , a popular calculator app for Mac, for example, has been updated with full support for OS X Yosemite, offering a Notification Center Widget and Handoff capabilities.





The arrival of Mac apps with Yosemite support suggests that the new operating system will be debuting shortly after the upcoming media event, possibly arriving as soon as tomorrow. Apple has seeded three separate Yosemite GM candidates, suggesting the software is nearing completion.



OS X Yosemite introduces a system-wide redesign that brings a flatter, more modern look to OS X, with a heavy emphasis on translucency. The update includes a redesigned dock, a new look for windows, and a new "Dark Mode" option.



Along with a redesign, Yosemite also offers a range of new features, such as improved integration with iOS 8 through Continuity, a new "Today" view in the Notification Center that offers integration with third-party apps, a retooled Spotlight search with new data sources, and several new features for key apps like Mail, Safari, and Messages.



Like OS X Mavericks, OS X Yosemite will be available to all Mac users as a free download.

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Posted in 2014 at 07:16PM, October 15

Apple reportedly scrambling to meet surprisingly strong iPhone 6 Plus demand

After suggesting in a questionable report that Apple might be shifting more resources to iPhone 6 Plus production, Digitimes is back with a second report on the same theme. Apparently the strong iPhone 6 Plus demand has surprised Apple, and the company is currently adjusting supply ratio for the two phones.

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Posted in 2014 at 07:16PM, October 07

Chart Suggests Speed-Bumped 15-Inch Retina MacBook Pros with 16GB of RAM Standard Coming Soon

Apple may be planning to launch a slightly refreshed line of 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros complete with faster Haswell processors and 16GB of RAM standard, according to a photo said to have come from the company's Chongqing, China store (via BBS Feng, Google Translate).





The purported pricing chart shows two standard configurations priced at 14,288 yuan and 18,688 yuan, which is the same as Apple's current pricing for its 15-inch notebook line in China. If real, this pricing chart would likely indicate that Apple would keep its current pricing instead of offering each new model for less as done for the MacBook Air earlier this year.



The first configuration comes with a faster Intel Core i7 2.2 GHz processor and 16GB of RAM standard compared to the current 2.0 GHz Intel Core i7 and 8GB of RAM found on the current base model 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro. Meanwhile, the second configuration features a 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7 processor and the same 16GB of RAM, up from the current 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 processor. Both models feature the same graphics, with the first configuration coming with Intel's Iris Pro graphics and the second coming with both the Iris Pro and NVIDIA's GeForce GT 750M.



A third high-end configuration priced at 23,688 yuan also appears on the chart, boasting a 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of flash storage, and Intel's Iris Pro graphics plus a NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M.



All of the processors listed on the chart correspond to Intel's new line of Core i7 Haswell processors launched last week, perhaps indicating that an updated 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro line may be imminent. Apple's line of 13-inch Retina MacBook Pros should also see an update in the near future, as Intel also launched new Core i5 Haswell processors alongside its refreshed i7 Haswell chips.



A minor refresh of the Retina MacBook Pro line was originally noted earlier this year alongside a rumored 12-inch Retina MacBook. According to the latest reports, the 12-inch Retina MacBook may be pushed back to next year because of Intel's delayed Broadwell chips.

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Posted in 2014 at 07:16PM, July 27

StackSocial Offers 9 Apps in 'Name Your Own Price' Mac Bundle and MacBook Air in Giveaway [Mac Blog]

StackSocial launched its fifth 'Name Your Own Price' Mac Bundle earlier this week that offers up to nine apps and an online iOS development course for purchase with 10% of all sales going to charity.








There are two apps and an online iOS development course that all buyers receive:



MacX Mobile Video Converter ($50)

PDF Converter Pro for Mac ($80)

Projects in iOS E-learning Course ($147)



If a buyer pays more than the current average price shown on StackSocial's sales page for the bundle ($8.00 at the time of this post), the buyer will receive all nine apps offered which includes the three items listed above plus the following apps:



RapidWeaver 5 ($79)

Tune Up ($50)

CrossOver 13 ($60)

Disk Drill Pro 2.0 ($99)

Voila ($30)

Snapheal Pro ($40)

mSecure for Mac ($20)



The total retail value of the entire bundle is $807. To encourage higher purchase prices, StackSocial is giving away an 11-inch MacBook Air in a random drawing with entries earned by taking a position on the price leaderboard at any time during the sale. At the time of this post, the person in the top position on the leaderboard paid $94 for the bundle.



The bundle will be on sale until May 7.



MacRumors is an affiliate partner of StackSocial.

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Posted in 2014 at 07:16PM, April 25

Verizon offers the best deal yet on the HTC One (M8)

Customers that intend to purchase the HTC One (M8) with a new two-year agreement should check out Verizon’s current deals, as the carrier has some interesting promotions available to customers, Droid-Life reports. For starters, Verizon lets interested buyers get two new HTC One models for the price of one as long as each device is tied to its own two-year contract.

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Posted in 2014 at 07:16PM, March 27

LG smartphone evolution timeline pretends the iPhone never existed

LG has released an interesting infographic that presents the history of the smartphone, including its past, present and potential future, at least according to the company. But for some reason, LG left out one particular event that actually made possible the very smartphones the company is selling today – the invention of the iPhone – though it did mark the launch of Google’s Android platform.

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Posted in 2014 at 07:16PM, March 05