As part of today's Apple online store downtime, the company appears to have rolled out an enhancement of its sales chat support services for those looking to purchase an Apple product. While sales chat has been available for quite some time through individual product pages, the changes include a revamped chat window with a more modern appearance.
As has long been the case, sales chat support is available only during certain times of the day and dependent on availability of chat agents.
Even more interestingly, Apple appears to be using its Brazilian store as a test market for even further enhancements that allow sales specialists to share their screens with potential customers to help walk them through a product's features. MacMagazine.com.brprovides an overview the process [Google translation], showing how users can participate in a virtual tour with the chat appearing along the right side of the browser window while the specialist shares his or her screen to walk through the product's features.
The report indicates that the screen sharing virtual tour feature is limited to the iPad 2 for the time being, but that the company has plans to extend it across its product lines.
Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025:
Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Thursday April 24, 2025 2:14 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
If you missed the video showing dummy models of Apple's all-new super thin iPhone 17 Air that's expected later this year, Sonny Dickson this morning shared some further images of the device in close alignment with the other dummy models in the iPhone 17 lineup, indicating just how thin it is likely to be in comparison.
The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick – with a thicker ...
Thursday April 24, 2025 8:24 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the ultra-thin device.
Overall, the iPhone 17 Air sounds like a mixed bag. While the device is expected to have an impressively thin and light design, rumors indicate it will have some compromises compared to iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, a...
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
Tuesday April 22, 2025 10:22 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "iPhone 17 Air" will be.
The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be ...
Thursday April 24, 2025 10:15 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Starting today, April 24, Apple Stores around the world are giving away a special pin for free to customers who request one, while supplies last.
Photo Credit: Filip Chudzinski
The enamel pin's design is inspired by the Global Close Your Rings Day award in the Activity app, which Apple Watch users can receive by closing all three Activity rings today. The limited-edition pin is the physical...
Apple's $570 million fine from the EU has triggered a sharp rebuke from the White House, which called the fine a form of economic extortion, Reuters reports.
The fine was announced on Wednesday by the European Commission, following a formal investigation into Apple's compliance with the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark piece of legislation aimed at curbing the market dominance of ...
Thursday April 24, 2025 12:09 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
When an iPad running iPadOS 19 is connected to a Magic Keyboard, a macOS-like menu bar will appear on the screen, according to the leaker Majin Bu.
This change would further blur the lines between the iPad and the Mac. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously claimed that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS," with unspecified improvements to productivity, multitasking, and app window management,...
LOL. I live in Brasil. It's horrible to pay taxes like brazilian people pay. The government here in Brasil it's horrible. Is a government of corrupt politicians.
Thats the result of bad administration!!! Bad Government = Horrible Country
If you ever studied Tax Law, you would understand that, once a government approves additional taxation, it will almost never accept to relinquish it. Furthermore, Brazil is a federative republic - the President is not able to change the whole taxation system at will...exactly the same happens with the horrid tax system in the US - the only advantage is that taxes are still lower over there.
As for corruption, please stop this usual mongrel dog complex that affects many Brazilians - according to the latest Transparency International reports, Brazil's corruption levels are way better than China and Russia, better than most of the Americas, much better than most of Eastern Europe and Africa, and at similar levels as "rich" countries such as Italy. So try to put a little perspective into things instead of spouting the same blabla to non-Brazilians.
Good to see the Brazilian market leading the way once more - once the taxation of Apple devices gets to a more reasonable level there, the increasingly wealthier local consumers will be even more willing to buy from Apple than what they are already doing right now.
Next logical step: MAJOR Apple Stores in São Paulo, Rio and Curitiba - mark my words for this extremely important emerging Western power.
Well at the price they pay for Apple product, they at least deserve extra customer services.
Seriously how can people manage to live in Brasil with such taxes?
Just imagine what they could do WITHOUT excessive taxes, huh? In any case, the main burden talked about here is on imported electronics, which in any case can be fairly easily bought on instalments.
Moreover, Brazil has an extensive local industry for computers and the like, giving people the possibility to buy without incurring the same taxation as traditional Apple products.
Although this should change for the better once more and more iPads/iPhones are produced locally, the main issue depends on whether the average Brazilian consumer wakes up to the fact that what he pays is NOT ONLY due to taxes - companies love to put a huge mark-up due to those consumers' extremely high willingness to pay whatever price for a nice gadget. Ironically, they now face the same situation I see in Switzerland: people paying a LOT more just because they can and accept to - the traditional economic concept of welfare, if you will.
Besides, although there is still considerable poverty in the country, one cannot forget that Brazil has 190 million inhabitants, of which at least 30% can easily afford to buy the most expensive things...companies love that, especially for electronics and vehicles.