Apple has hired a former marketing executive from Microsoft to help promote the App Store and iTunes in Europe, MCV reports. Robin Burrowes, former head of Xbox LIVE marketing in the EMEA region for Microsoft, joined Apple in January according to his LinkedIn profile. His formal duties at Apple remain unclear — Burrowes’s profile only states that his role involves “App Store Marketing” — but the executive’s background suggests gaming will be a strong focus. Apple has hired a numb...

Ed McLaughlin, MasterCard’s head of emerging payments, sat down with Austin Carr of Fast Company to discuss the future of credit cards. “We’re rapidly moving to a world beyond plastic,” said McLaughlin. “In many ways, plastic is just convenient packaging.” The future of on-the-go payments may lie in the hands of near-field communication but unfortunately, adoption and availability have been extremely slow and limited. While NFC technology has been featured in a number of An...

Apple on Thursday released an updated version of its iTunes software following a series of announcements made during the company’s press conference in New York City. The Cupertino, California-based firm unveiled its new interactive iPad textbook product alongside iBooks 2 Thursday morning, and it also took the wraps off of an updated iTunes U service that includes new tools for teachers and a new iPad app. To accommodate Apple’s new features, the company also pushed out iTunes 10.5.3, which is...

Album sales in the United States jumped 3% during 2011 according to one report. That may seem like minor growth, but it is actually the first time album sales have increased since 2004. Nielsen SoundScan said Adele’s album “21″ sold 5.8 million copies, and total sales came in at 458 million albums for the year. Make no mistake, however, CD sales are still on the decline. Sales of full digital albums climbed 20% to 103 million units but CD sales dropped 6% to 225 million units. Nielsen’...

Apple’s design boss Jonathan Ive is reportedly hard at work on two models of Apple’s upcoming “iTV,” a new report claimed on Wednesday. Earlier rumors suggested that Apple is preparing to launch 32 and 37-inch HDTVs this summer, but USA Today cites an anonymous former Apple employee in stating Apple is prepping a 42-inch model and a 50-inch model. The report also reaffirms a number of previously reported iTV features such as Siri-powered controls, iOS app support, AirPlay, iCloud supp...

Until recently, iTunes users were able to purchase episodes of television shows a-la-carte or buy a whole season outright. The problem was, however, a user still had to pay full price for a television season even if he or she already owned a few individual episodes. Apple has reportedly fixed that problem by adding a “Complete my season” button that functions just like the “Complete my album” button in the iTunes Music Store. That means, for example, if you’ve purchased nine epis...

Apple on Monday released a new update for its iTunes software. ITunes 10.5.2 adds a number of enhancements for iTunes Match, and it includes several additional updates and bug fixes. “iTunes 10.5.2 includes several improvements for iTunes Match and fixes an audio distortion problem when playing or importing certain CDs,” Apple said in a note with the update. Users can update their iTunes software by downloading version 10.5.2 from Apple’s website or by using the integrated software update to...

Apple has finally released iTunes 10.5.1 to the public after months of internal and developer testing. Besides bug fixes, the big change that iTunes 10.5.1 brings is support for iTunes Match, Apple’s cloud-based music storage service that will allow your entire music library, purchased from Apple or not, to be accessible from all your computers and iOS devices for a yearly fee. There’s a good chance that after missing the October launch time frame, Apple will make iTunes Match available today.UPDA...

Battery life with iOS 5 eating away at you? Apple’s software update, and the first update since iOS 5 was released, is finally out. Changes include improved battery performance on iOS devices, other bug fixes and changes like the return  of multitasking gestures for the original iPad, improved voice recognition, and more.iOS 5.0.1 Software UpdateThis update contains improvements and other bug fixes including:Fixes bugs affecting battery lifeAdds Multitasking Gestures for original iPadResolves bugs wi...

Apple’s iTunes Match service was supposed to be released to the public by the end of October and while we’re still not sure why the service has been delayed, Apple just released a new beta build of iTunes that allows developers to continue testing the service. Apple’s release notes are as follows:iTunes 10.5.1 beta 2 is now available and includes a number of important stability and performance improvements. iTunes Match is also now available for testing on Apple TV.iTunes Match stores your m...

Apple has failed to make good on its promise to deploy its iTunes Match service by the “end of October.” A beta version of the service, which allows users to access their entire music library in iCloud from any iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or computer, originally became available in late August and it was first included in early builds of iTunes 10.5. The service was supported in the latest iTunes 10.5.1 developer build, too, but that version expired on Tuesday. It remains unclear when Apple will offi...

Apple on Tuesday released the latest version of its iTunes software to the general public. ITunes 10.5 brings with it several anticipated new features including support for Apple’s iTunes in the Cloud service, and it will be required for users who wish to update an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad to iOS 5 following its release on Wednesday. Apple’s change log for iTunes 10.5 is as follows:What’s new in iTunes 10.5iTunes in the Cloud. iTunes now stores your music and TV purchases in iCloud and makes ...

Apple released iTunes 10.5 beta 9 to developers on Friday. Apple said the new release includes a number of bug fixes and performance enhancements. The update is required for developers currently testing Apple’s iTunes Match beta. Additionally, Apple reiterated that iCloud libraries will be deleted at the end of the beta period. Apple said known issues include:The scan & match feature is not yet complete. Some songs may not match (even if they is available in the iTunes Store) and will be uploaded to...

Freemium applications are driving in-app purchases according to a new report from Distimo, which was completed for the Verizon Developer Community. It is like getting a free ice cream sample at Baskin-Robbins: give a consumer a taste of something for free and then let them come back for more. Just 4% of all iPhone applications feature in-app purchases but, among the 200 highest-grossing applications in the iTunes App Store, 72% of the application revenue came from those with in-app purchases. That figure is u...