MacRumors

Apple's discussions with ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox for its much-rumored streaming TV service are gaining momentum, according to the New York Post. The report claims that Apple has enlisted networks to negotiate with local TV stations on their behalf, and the networks are said to be close to securing those rights with affiliate groups such as Tribune and Sinclair.

Networks are reportedly telling affiliates that they will be able to share the revenue generated from Apple's streaming TV service if they offer their feeds on the platform. The inclusion of local TV stations is important for the success of Apple's cable-cutter service, expected to launch in the fall for devices including iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. The service is speculated to cost between $10 and $40 per month.

At CBS, executives are talking to affiliates about conducting Apple negotiations on their behalf, one TV source confirmed.

At Fox, the network “has the ability to negotiate with Apple [for affiliates], or it will have it very soon,” a second executive added.

Disney and CBS will likely be among the first networks to reach a deal with Apple for its à-la-carte streaming TV service, according to the report, although some sticking points remain in the negotiations. Cable channels such as Discovery and ESPN are also expected to be included in the subscription-based service, which is rumored to include a skinny bundle of around 25 channels.

Barclays today announced that it will support Apple Pay for debit and credit cards in the United Kingdom in the future, confirming a MacRumors report that claimed the bank expected "imminent" support of the mobile payments service.

Apple Pay officially launched in the U.K. earlier today and can be used at more than 250,000 locations across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A full list of retail shops and apps that accept Apple Pay can be found on Apple's website.

Apple has also updated its Apple Pay participating banks list in the U.K. and moved First Direct and HSBC to the "coming soon" section. First Direct has confirmed on Twitter that Apple Pay will be "available later in July," while HSBC tweeted that it will be "launching Apple Pay by the end of this month." It was expected that the banks would support Apple Pay in the U.K. at launch today.

The full list of U.K. financial institutions that currently support Apple Pay per Apple's website includes American Express, MBNA, Nationwide, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Ulster Bank. The banks listed under coming soon include Bank of Scotland, First Direct, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, M&S Bank and TSB. As of today's announcement, Barclays should be added to that list soon as well.

Over the past several days, banks and merchants in the United Kingdom have been gearing up for the launch of Apple Pay, and as of today, Apple's payments service will be officially available for use in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Apple Pay works at participating retail stores and within apps that accept it. Because it requires NFC, it is only available for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users, and Apple Watch users who have an iPhone 5, 5c, 5s, 6, or 6 Plus. In-app Apple Pay purchases can be made with an iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, iPhone 6, or iPhone 6 Plus.

According to Apple's UK Apple Pay site, banks and credit card companies that are participating in the Apple Pay launch include American Express, First Direct, HSBC, Nationwide, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander, and Ulster Bank. Additional banks like Barclays, MBNA, TSB, and more are expected to add support in the future. Customers who have cards from participating banks will be able to add them to Passbook and use the Apple Pay service later today.

More than 250,000 locations in the United Kingdom support Apple Pay as of today, ranging from fast food places like KFC and McDonald's to shops like Boots, Marks & Spencer, and Waitrose. A full list of retail shops and apps that accept Apple Pay can be found on Apple's website.

Apple Pay has been available in the United States since last October and today's UK Apple Pay launch marks its first expansion. Apple is also rumored to be working on expanding the payments service to several other countries, including China and Canada.

Insider inventory constraint information from major retailer Target hints at some possible end of life timelines for various products like the iPod, iPad mini 2, and iPad Air, many of which may be discontinued in the near future following the launch of new products.

According to a screenshot of an internal inventory system shared by a Target employee, all models of the iPod are currently constrained by Apple ahead of a rumored update that could come as soon as tomorrow.

Images of unreleased iPod touches, nanos, and shuffles were first discovered hidden within iTunes 12.2, and a rumor has suggested the iPod touch could receive a processor upgrade and new color options while the nano and the shuffle might be available in new colorways.

As for the iPad mini 2 and the iPad Air, replenishment of existing stock is currently constrained, with Target aiming to have 1 color in stock at each of its stores. Dwindling in-store stock suggests Apple could be planning to discontinue the iPad mini 2 and the iPad Air following the release of new models, which is expected to happen in the fall.

The iPad mini 2 and the iPad Air may be replaced by the iPad mini 3 and the iPad Air 2 as lower-cost older-generation models following the launch of a third-generation iPad Air and a fourth-generation iPad mini. We haven't heard much on what a third-generation iPad Air might offer, but an A9 processor and Force Touch are solid guesses.

A fourth-generation iPad mini has been rumored to be in the works, with an iPad Air-style redesign that eliminates the mute switch and introduces larger speaker holes. An updated iPad mini would also likely incorporate a much-improved processor, more RAM, and possibly Force Touch.

It is not clear when Apple plans to introduce new iPad mini and iPad Air models, but Target's guess of fall 2015 is a safe bet. For the last several years, Apple has updated its iPad lineup in October or November, and that's when we're likely to see new iPads in 2015. This year's iPad update may include an all new model, the much-rumored larger-screened iPad Pro.

Apple today released iTunes 12.2.1, a minor update that introduces some much needed bug fixes for iTunes Match and other features introduced with Apple Music. Apple Music was first released two weeks ago, but included several major bugs with iTunes Match that caused the deletion of entire music libraries and other issues, such as an inability to sign up for Apple Music for former iTunes Match subscribers.

The iTunes 12.2.1 update is available immediately from the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.

- Fixes an issue for iTunes Match where iTunes incorrectly changed some songs from Matched to Apple Music.
- Provides a way to correct a library problem affecting former iTunes Match subscribers.
- Includes minor bug fixes and improvements for Beats 1.

Today's update fixes the iTunes Match issue that caused iTunes to incorrectly label songs from Matched to Apple Music and it will allow several former iTunes Match subscribers who were unable to sign up for Apple Music to get the service for the first time. In addition, it also includes bug fixes for the Beats 1 radio station, which is built into Apple Music.

iTunes 12.2, first released two weeks ago alongside iOS 8.4 and OS X 10.10.4 Yosemite, is the second major update to iTunes 12 and the version of iTunes that includes support for the Apple Music service. Apple Music lets iTunes listeners get access to on-demand music, create playlists, and more, plus it includes the Beats 1 radio station and Apple Music Connect, Apple's artist-centric social network.

Apple Watch online sales in the United States are estimated to have totaled 3,039,353 at an average price of $505 through July 10, exactly three months after Apple began accepting pre-orders for the wrist-worn device, according to the latest data from market research firm Slice Intelligence obtained exclusively by MacRumors.

The entry-level Apple Watch Sport has been the most popular model among early adopters by almost a two-to-one margin, with an estimated 1,950,909 units sold at an average price of $381 since April 10. Meanwhile, stainless steel Apple Watch sales are estimated at 1,086,569 units to date, at an average price of $695.

Apple has also sold 1,875 Apple Watch Edition models to date, at an average price of $13,700, according to Slice Intelligence. The 18-karat gold Apple Watch models, seen on the wrists of celebrities such as Beyonce, Drake, Kanye West, Katy Perry and Pharrell Williams, cost between $10,000 and $17,000 in the U.S.

Slice Intelligence's data does not include Apple Watch sales in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United Kingdom, nor does it account for walk-in purchases made through the Apple Store.

A Recap of Slice Intelligence's Previous Estimates

Last week, Slice Intelligence released new data that showed Apple Watch online sales in the U.S. steadily declined throughout June. Specifically, the survey revealed that Apple Watch sales in the U.S. remained consistent at around 20,000 per day in May before dropping to less than 10,000 per day last month.

The research firm previously estimated that Apple received 1 million Apple Watch pre-orders at launch, averaged 30,000 Apple Watch sales per day in late May and had topped 2.8 million total Apple Watch sales as of mid June. It also found that around 17% of online shoppers buy at least one extra band for the Apple Watch.

A Closer Look at Slice Intelligence's Methodology

Given that Apple has not publicly disclosed any official Apple Watch sales figures, and will be grouping the wrist-worn device under its "Other Products" category in quarterly earnings reports, the accuracy and methodology behind the Slice Intelligence data has been called into question -- so we went looking for answers.

MacRumors spoke with Slice Intelligence's Chief Data Officer Kanishka Agarwal and VP of Marketing and PR Jaimee Minney to learn more about Slice Intelligence's methodology. The details below should provide a better understanding of how its Apple Watch sales estimates were calculated over the past three months.

Slice Intelligence tracks e-receipts from 2.5 million online shoppers in the U.S., which it claims is the largest panel anywhere, that sign up for the company's value-added services such as Slice and Unroll.me. Slice, for example, is a free app for tracking packages, receipts, price drops, product recall alerts and more.

The research firm had a sample size of about 22,000 Apple Watch customers among its panel of 2.5 million online shoppers in the U.S. through July 10, more than double the sample size of about 9,000 shoppers it had when it estimated Apple Watch pre-orders reached nearly 1 million on launch day in the U.S. on April 10.

Slice Intelligence also offers an API for developers to provide users with their purchase history and can aggregate e-receipt data through some of these third-party apps and services. The research firm claims to be the only one to provide direct measurement of all digital commerce activity and customer loyalty.

Slice Intelligence says it is "very confident" that its Apple Watch sales estimates are within proximity to what Apple has actually sold, noting that its data is measured against third-party sources such as Amazon and the U.S. Department of Commerce with between 97% and 99% accuracy. Slice and Apple have not been in contact.

The research firm claims to have a diversified pool of consumers that is highly representative of the online shopping population and balanced to eliminate biases. Agarwal says that his firm's panel lines up nicely with the overall market and is supplemented by detailed competitive insight and data from clients.

Apple's Q3 FY 2015 results are scheduled to be released on July 21 at 2:00 PM Pacific.

On Wednesday, Spotify sent emails to subscribers asking them to cancel their App Store subscriptions to the service to resubscribe on the web to avoid a $3 surcharge because of Apple's App Store policies. The Federal Trade Commission is now looking into Apple's policies, which include a 30 percent fee that it collects on all app and subscription revenue routed through the App Store, reports Reuters.

U.S. government antitrust regulators are looking into claims about whether Apple's treatment of rival streaming music apps is illegal under antitrust law, according to three industry sources.

The antitrust concerns stem from certain App Store restrictions placed on streaming companies, which include a prohibition that the company is on other platforms, a ban on advertising how users can subscribe on a company's website and the ban on links to the company's website. While users can still subscribe to the service of their choice outside of the App Store, avoiding the 30 percent fee for the respective companies, sources tell Reuters that many users do not realize its an option.

That 30 percent fee reduces margins for those streaming companies in an industry with already thin margins and makes it difficult for them to compete, Deezer CEO of North America Tyler Goldman tells the news organization. The news also comes after the FTC and other government bodies began looking into Apple's efforts to set up deals with music labels.

While the FTC is looking into the App Store rules, there's no guarantee they launch a formal investigation as antitrust lawyers that spoke to Reuters were split on whether Apple is breaking the law. This isn't the first time Apple has gotten in trouble for its 30 percent subscription cut, as it landed in hot water with the Department of Justice during the e-book price fixing case. In June, it was reported that Apple was considering changing the 30 percent cut for media apps like Netflix, Hulu, Spotify and more.

Earlier today Apple Music exclusively debuted a new music video from Drake, titled "Energy" from his latest album "If You're Reading This It's Too Late". Previously, Apple has exclusively debuted the music videos for Pharrell's "Freedom" and Eminem's "Phenomenal". These music videos may be developed in-house at Apple, reports Pitchfork.

The launch of Apple Music hasn't only included a new radio station, social network, and streaming service. Apple have also started creating their own original content. The company made Drake's amazing "Energy" video in-house, as well as Pharrell's "Freedom" and Eminem's "Phenomenal". Next up: M.I.A.'s "Matahdatah Scroll 01 Broader Than a Border", coming to Apple Music on Monday, July 13.

In addition to M.I.A.'s forthcoming music video, Pitchfork, which is an Apple Music Curation Partner, says rumors indicate that Apple Music has projects in the works with artists like Purity Ring, Diddy and James Bay. However, M.I.A.'s music video has been in the works since before May, when the artist insinuated that her label was holding up her "Matahdatah" music video because of potential controversy around its cultural appropriation of African culture.

Pitchfork claims that when they reached out to Larry Jackson, Apple Music's head of content, for comment he responded with a tweet consisting of a dig at Spotify CEO Daniel Elk's "Oh ok" tweet when Apple Music was announced in addition to the hashtags "Content", "Curation", "Culture" and a link to Drake's music video on Apple Music.

Apple has been trying to secure exclusive content for its new streaming service in an effort to lure customers away from rival services like Spotify and Tidal. That effort continues with Drake, who today announced he'll have a radio show on Beats 1 that'll start on Saturday, July 11 at 6 PM EST.

MacRumors has learned that a high-level executive at Barclays, one of the largest banks in the United Kingdom, anticipates "imminent" support of Apple Pay in the country. Apple Pay in the U.K. is expected to go live on Tuesday, although it remains unclear if Barclays will be a first wave launch partner because of its delayed negotiations with Apple about the mobile payments service.

Apple confirmed at WWDC last month that Apple Pay will be available in the U.K. in July, but stopped short of providing a specific launch date. Recently released employee training documents have suggested the launch could come next week, on July 14, and some Santander customers were able to add their cards to Passbook for use with Apple Pay and make purchases ahead of that date.

Barclays was notably absent from Apple's list of banks that will support Apple Pay in the U.K. at launch or soon after, which presently includes HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland, First Direct, Halifax, M&S Bank, MBNA, NatWest, Nationwide, Santander, TSB and Ulster Bank. The bank's subsidiary Barclaycard has offered an Apple Rewards Visa Card for several years.

Barclaycard recently expanded its "bPay" lineup of wearable solutions for contactless payments to include a wristband, key fob and sticker, leading to speculation that Barclays may be electing to use its own mobile payments services as opposed to Apple Pay, similar to how some retailers maintained exclusivity to the CurrentC platform last year. Today's confirmation, however, indicates otherwise.