As it had been anticipated the European Parliament approved a law on Tuesday that will require companies to ensure that every smart-phone, tablet and camera has the same charger.
Apple's largest retailer in South America, iPlace, which is present in 27 Brazilian states has landed this week in Uruguay. The company iPlace chose Montevideo to start its international expansion to be able to keep an eye on the Argentine market thanks to its geographical proximity, iPlace CEO Matheus Mundstock explained.
Just two years after Apple became the first publicly listed US company with a US$1 trillion stock market value, the iPhone maker has now topped US$2 trillion. The Cupertino, California-based company's shares briefly rose to as high as US$468.65 on Wednesday, equivalent to a market capitalization of US$2.004 trillion.
Apple scored a major win on Wednesday as Europe's second-highest court rejected an EU order for the iPhone maker to pay 13 billion euros (US$15 billion) in Irish back taxes, dealing a blow to the bloc's attempts to crack down on sweetheart tax deals.
Apple has been fined 25 million Euros (US$ 27m) for deliberately slowing down older iPhone models without making it clear to consumers. The fine was imposed by France's competition and fraud watchdog DGCCRF, which said consumers were not warned.
A Mexican sales tax on foreign digital businesses providing audio or visual services could generate tax revenue of about 3.6 billion pesos (US$ 185 million) a year, a senior lawmaker in Mexico’s ruling party said on Tuesday.
Amazon, Apple and Google all employ staffs who listen to customer voice recordings from their smart speakers and voice assistant apps. News site Bloomberg highlighted the topic after speaking to Amazon staff who reviewed Alexa recordings.
French lawmakers on Monday approved a new tax on digital giants such as Facebook and Apple that has angered the United States, with Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire boasting that France was proud to be in the vanguard of such a move.
China's economy continued to slow in the last quarter of 2018, official figures showed, stoking fears about the impact on the global economy. In the three months to December, the economy grew 6.4% from a year earlier, down from 6.5% in the previous quarter. For the full year China expanded at 6.6%, its slowest rate since 1990.
Apple has rattled investors with news that its sales have been slowing, blaming economic weakness in China. In a surprise disclosure, the iPhone maker said it anticipated revenue of about US$ 84bn for the three months to 29 December. In November it forecast sales of at least US$ 89bn - a prediction that had already disappointed investors.