Dennis Sellers

<p>Apple Music officially has more than 20 million paying subscribers less than 18 months after the streaming service launched on June 30 last year, reports <a target="_blank" href="http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/apple-music-surpasses-20m-paying-subscribers-17-months-launch/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Music Business Worldwide</a>.</p>

<p>Speaking at the Code Conference today in San Francisco, Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey said that 35% of U.S. merchants now accept Apple Pay, <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/6/13864376/35-percent-apple-pay-us-merchants">reports</a> <em>The Verge</em>.</p>

<p>Owners of the new MacBook Pros need a way to protect the (very) expensive laptops. <a href="http://www.prweb.net/Redirect.aspx?id=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc2ZiYWdzLmNvbS8=">WaterField Designs</a> has, yet again, delivered a solution in its US$159 Syde Case.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.olloclip.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">olloclip’s new Core lens set</a> features new optics and a new design that allows it to work over screen protectors and allows you to change out the lenses. This kicks the company’s already impressive line-up of photography accessories for the Apple smartphone to a new level.</p>

<p>Reinvented Software has announced <a target="_blank" href="http://reinventedsoftware.com/together/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Together 3.7 for Mac</a>. The app is for collecting, organizing and searching all kinds of files. </p>

<p>The most popular camera used by Flickr users this year is …. the iPhone. In its <a target="_blank" href="http://blog.flickr.net/en/2016/12/06/smartphones-dominate-flickr-in-2016-apple-leads/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Year in Review report</a>, the image hosting and video hosting website and web services suite said that smartphones accounted for 48% of the photos uploaded to Flickr, up from 39% last year. </p>

<p>Apple has added new providers to its Single Sign-on feature in tvOS 10.1 and iOS 10.2: CenturyLink Prism, Hawaiian Telecom, MetroCast, and GTA (available in Guam). Strangely, GVTC Communication has been removed from the list.</p>

<p>This is a bit of a ding on the “green image” Apple is proud of: the California Environmental Protection Agency says the tech giant has agreed to pay $450,000 to settle claims it improperly dealt with e-waste at facilities in Cupertino and Sunnyvale, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-waste-violations-idUSKBN13V2HS" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a>.</p>

<p>The AWT News Update is on hiatus while my compadre, Steve, takes a road trip. In its place, I’ll offer a text-only (no podcast) summary of breaking stories with a tip o’ my hat to my former website, <em>Apple Daily Report</em>.</p>

<p>In a bid to become the “Netflix of Mac software,” <a href="http://setapp.com/">Setapp</a> is a new subscription service that makes a growing suite of more than 45 macOS applications available to users for a flat monthly fee. </p>

<p>Kanex has announced the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.kanex.com/gopowerplus" rel="noopener noreferrer">GoPower Plus</a>, a portable power solution featuring built-in micro USB with a Lightning adapter for use with both Apple and Android devices. </p>

<p>There’s a joke that 99% of all statistics are made up. Today, you have to wonder. First, the IDC research group <a target="_blank" href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2016/12/5/idc-apple-watch-sales-drop-71-year-over-year" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a> that Apple Watch sales dipped 71% year-over-year from 3.9 million units in the this quarter of 2015 to 1.1 million units in the third quarter of 2016.</p>

<p>Here we go again: as noted by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-iphone-idUSKBN13V1XL?il=0" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a>, the Supreme Court has sided with Samsung in its never-ending patent fight with Apple, throwing out an appeals court ruling that said the South Korean company had to pay a $399 million penalty to its American rival for copying key iPhone designs.</p>

<p>It’s widely believed that the 2017 iPhone will have a curved, possibly flexible, display. A new patent filing (number 9,516,743) by Apple hints that iPads and even Mac laptops could benefit from such technology.</p>

<p>Apple CEO Tim Cook refutes the <a target="_blank" href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2016/12/5/idc-apple-watch-sales-drop-71-year-over-year" rel="noopener noreferrer">data from the IDC research group</a> that says Apple Watch sales dipped 71% year-over-year from 3.9 million units in the this quarter of 2015 to 1.1 million units in the third quarter of 2016.</p>