Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Global sales of smartphones to end users returned to growth in the first quarter of 2018 with a 1.3% increase over the same period in 2017, according to <a href="http://www.gartner.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gartner, Inc</a>. The delayed sales boost for Apple from last quarter materialized, as the company’ smartphone unit sales returned to growth in the first quarter of 2018, with an increase of 4% year-on-year.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Subscription video on-demand (SVOD) app revenue growth is <a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsensortower.com%2Fblog%2Fsvod-revenue-2017&esheet=51809723&newsitemid=20180522005553&lan=en-US&anchor=skyrocketing&index=1&md5=95eaefe4669478bf09973ee70edd5c48">skyrocketing</a>. With <a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvariety.com%2F2017%2Fbiz%2Fnews%2Fcord-cutting-2017-estimates-cancel-cable-satellite-tv-1202556594%2F&esheet=51809723&newsitemid=20180522005553&lan=en-US&anchor=22+million+people+in+the+U.S.+%E2%80%9Ccutting+the+cord%2C%E2%80%9D&index=2&md5=dac0959af2fe83f135a9d92e12ee3b3f">22 million people in the U.S. “cutting the cord,”</a> one-size-fits-all approaches to entertainment must change rapidly to meet and exceed the evolving expectations of savvy consumers. The SVOD era puts customers in the driver’s seat, cementing the customer experience (CX) as the main competitive differentiator, according to UserTesting, a research group that “enables every organization to deliver the best customer experience powered by human insights.”</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">On a regular basis, <em>Apple World Today</em> posts a list of notable new apps or app updates that have been released. They may not necessarily be new, but they're popular and deserve mention. Here are today's picks.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">According to a report at <a href="https://9to5mac.com/2018/05/25/apple-project-star-arm-details/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>9to5Mac</em></a> — which you should definitely check out — Apple is working on a new project codenamed “Star,” which could be “the first Mac with an ARM processor, or the first iOS notebook…or something completely different.”</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple is making a “significant change” to the wireless NFC [near-field communication] chip in the iPhone that will allow users to more securely unlock doors enabled with the same technology, according to a report at <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/apple-to-expand-secure-wireless-chip-beyond-payments?shared=e9786c7aa654c9f4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>The Information</em></a>, which quotes an unnamed “person familiar with the matter.” If true, the tech giant could announce the change as part of iOS 12, which is expected to be previewed at next month’s Worldwide Developer Conference.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has announced the upcoming closure of a retail store in Atlantic City, N.J. without plans to open a new one in the immediate area, according to <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/05/25/apples-atlantic-city-store-to-close-displacing-52-workers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>AppleInsider</em></a>.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Here we go again. As noted by <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/05/25/voip-pal-again-accuses-apple-of-patent-infringement-with-facetime-imessage-wi-fi-calling-in-iphone" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>AppleInsider</em></a>, patent holder VoIP-Pal has launched a new set of lawsuits against Apple, once more accusing the iPhone maker of infringing a collection of four voice over IP patents with the iMessage, FaceTime, and Wi-Fi Calling functions. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">mophie has announced the charge stream travel kit. The compact wireless charging kit provides power for Qi-enabled devices while traveling, featuring the portable-sized charge stream pad mini.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has been granted a patent (number 20180146089) for an “intelligent digital assistant for declining an incoming call.” The tech giant wants to make it possible for Siri to help you manage phone calls.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple offers a Data and Privacy portal (<a href="https://privacy.apple.com">https://privacy.apple.com</a>) that allows users to download all of their personal data stored on the tech giant's servers. You can also permanently delete your account and associated data from all Apple services. For your security, Apple verifies all deletion requests. This process takes up to seven days. Your account will remain active while verification is in progress.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">You won’t believe it, but the question I get the most is, “What is the best MMORPG [massively multiplayer online role-playing game] for the Mac?” That’s an impossible question to answer, as there is no one MMO that can be called the best by everyone.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">On a regular basis, <em>Apple World Today</em> posts a list of notable new apps or app updates that have been released. They may not necessarily be new, but they're popular and deserve mention. Here are today's picks.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2018/05/24/apple-wins-533-3-million-from-samsung-in-latest-iphone-patent-retrial/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">been awarded $538.5 million in damages</a> from Samsung in a retrial of the damages portion of the never-ending patent lawsuit. The ruling comes almost six years after a jury awarded Apple more than $1 billion in the case.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple is offering free month-long trials of 50GB, 200GB, and 2TB plans to iCloud customers currently on the free 5GB plan. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">A judge says Apple <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40577503/apple-knew-the-iphone-6-would-bend-easier-than-predecessors-court-docs-show?partner=feedburner&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fastcompany%2Fheadlines+%28Fast+Company%29" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">knew</a> its iPhone 6 and 6 Plus phones were more likely to bend than previous models even with regular use. The information came out in an unsealed judicial opinion related to a class action lawsuit around “Bendgate.” </p>