Dennis Sellers

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">With Christmas just around the corner, it's time to buy a special gift for the person most important in your life. In my case, that would be me.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">In writing for <a href="http://www.osnews.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">OS News</a> last year, Thom Holwerda said that Apple was exploring MacBook Pro features such as hooking an iPad up to a Mac to use it as a Cintiq-like device. That’s a great idea.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">In  a weekend note to clients — as noted by <a href="http://www.macrumors.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>MacRumors</em></a>—Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo updated his predictions for Apple’s AirPods, with a relatively minor upgrade expected in the next six months, and a more pronounced revision with design changes launching before the end of 2020.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has launched a <a href="https://www.apple.com/us_epp_805199/shop" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Veterans and Military Purchase Program </a>that provides a 10% discount on select products for U.S. activity military and veterans, National Guard, and Reserve — and members of their households. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Select categories in the the 61st Grammy Awards nominations will be announced live on “CBS This Morning” and on Apple Music at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern), reports <a href="https://variety.com/2018/music/news/grammy-nominations-announcement-moved-to-dec-7-1203078160/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Variety</em></a>. Then, at 8:45 a.m., the Recording Academy will announce nominations across all 84 categories.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">In the third quarter of 2018, Chinese brands Huawei and Xiaomi, helped drive global smartphone sales, according to <a href="http://www.gartner.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gartner, Inc.</a> Apple’s performance was flat in the period with 0.7% growth. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> Apple sold 4.1 million smartwatches during the third quarter, a 54% increase year-over-year. The tech giant now has 13.1% of the wearable market and 17% of the smartwatch market.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Don’t look for a 5G iPhone until at least 2020, according to a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-03/apple-is-said-to-miss-rapid-5g-takeoff-sitting-out-tech-shift" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Bloomberg </em>report</a>, quoting unnamed “people familiar with [Apple’s] plans.”</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">According to the latest market share survey from <a href="http://netmarkeshare.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NetMarketShare,</a> the market share for macOS was up, but iOS was down last month.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Alas, AirPower, we never knew you. If, like me, you’ve given up on Apple’s wireless charging pad ever seeing the light of day, you’re probably investigating other options. Worth your consideration: Satechi’s cumbersomely named <a href="https://satechi.net/pages/search-results-page?q=Aluminum+Type-C+PD+%26+QC+Wireless+Charger" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Aluminum Type-C PD & QC Wireless Charger</a>. </p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">U.S. consumers spent an estimated $52 million on Apple’s App Store on Black Friday, setting a new single-day revenue record for the store. This marked an increase in spending of 31.6% over 2017’s Black Friday, when gross revenue on the store hit an estimated $39.5 million, and 31% more than Christmas 2017’s $39.8 million tally, according to new Sensor Tower <a href="https://sensortower.com/solutions/store-intelligence" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Store Intelligence</span></a>.</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 this week’s picks.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,135,839) for “electronic devices having adaptive security profiles and methods for selecting the same.” The goal: to further beef up security on Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">While Apple Pay is slowly gaining adoption from retailers everywhere, one notable holdout has been Target. According to a handful of shoppers at a Target store in San Francisco, however, the retailer could be testing Apple Pay support at its physical locations, reports <a href="https://9to5mac.com/2018/11/29/apple-pay-target" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>9to5Mac</em></a>.</p>

<p style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Tired of waiting for Apple to implement anti-spam measures for iPhones, TRAI, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, threatened in July to ban iPhones from the country’s cellular networks if the tech giant didn’t approve a government-developed Do Not Disturb app by January 2019. Now an Apple spokesperson has confirmed to <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2018/11/30/apple-approves-indian-governments-do-not-disturb-app-avoiding-iphone-ban/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>VentureBeat</em></a> that the app become available today in the Apple App Store.</p>