MacRumors

Apple has announced that the Apple Watch will be available for purchase on the Apple Online Store in New Zealand, Russia and Turkey starting July 31 after 7:01 AM local time.

Turkish customers should also have the option of in-store pickup at one of two physical Apple Store locations at the Zorlu Center and Akasya Shopping Center in Istanbul.

Apple Watch will now be available in over 20 countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

New Zealand
- Apple Watch Sport: NZ$599 to NZ$699
- Apple Watch: NZ$949 to NZ$1,949
- Apple Watch Edition: NZ$17,500 to NZ$30,000

Russia
- Apple Watch Sport: 23,990 RUB to 27,990 RUB
- Apple Watch: 37,990 RUB to 78,990 RUB
- Apple Watch Edition: 660,000 RUB to 1,120,000 RUB

Turkey
- Apple Watch Sport: 1,249 TRY to 1,399 TRY
- Apple Watch: 1,999 TRY to 3,899 TRY
- Apple Watch Edition: 34,000 TRY to 56,000 TRY

(Thanks, Vladislav!)

Facebook, Google, eBay, HP, Dell and other Silicon Valley companies weighed in on the ongoing Samsung and Apple patent case, siding with the Korean company in a "friend of the court" briefing filed on July 1 to the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and first spotted by Inside Sources [PDF via AppleInsider]. The companies argue that the court ordering Samsung to turn over profits would lead to stifled innovation.

If allowed to stand, that decision will lead to absurd results and have a devastating impact on companies, including [the briefing draftees], who spend billions of dollars annually on research and development for complex technologies and their components.

The companies contend that technology like smartphones, which include thousands of different components in both hardware and software, is too complex to award profits, like Samsung is being ordered to do, based on individual component infringements. They argue that any company could then be opened up to patent infringement cases for insignificant features like a specific user interface creation that only appears on a single screen of an app, therefore stifling innovation.

After the companies submitted their thoughts to the court, Apple responded by arguing their thoughts should be dismissed. The Cupertino company specifically called out Google, pointing out that the company has a strong interest in the case because its behind the Android operating system used by Samsung and that the Mountain View company cannot be an impartial "friend of the court".

In mid-June, Samsung asked the court to reconsider a central part of a recent ruling that ensured Apple would receive $548 million in damages, with Samsung wanting the court to rehear the case with a full 12-judge roster rather than the 3-judge panel it used in the previous ruling. That previous ruling reduced Apple's reward from $900 million to $548 million.

Apple recently made a major automotive hire that hints at the company's continued work on an electric car, reports The Wall Street Journal. The company hired Doug Betts, who previously served as the Senior Vice President of the Chrysler Group, where he was the global head of operations leading product service and quality.

According to Betts' LinkedIn page, he began working at Apple in July. Aside from a role in "Operations," in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are no details on what he is doing at the company.

Betts' LinkedIn profile suggests he made major customer satisfaction improvements and warranty cost reductions during his tenure at Chrysler, with job duties that included quality engineering, field issue problem solving, manufacturing operations, and supplier quality, among other tasks. Prior to working at Chrysler, Betts worked at Nissan, Toyota, and Michelin.

Along with Betts, The Wall Street Journal suggests Apple also recently recruited a researcher, Paul Furgale, with a specialization in autonomous vehicles to join its team of employees working on its car project. The company is said to be seeking out other experts with robotics and machine experience, with Furgale recruiting both students and researchers.

Earlier this year, Apple hired Paul Furgale a well-regarded autonomous vehicle researcher in Switzerland, and has begun recruiting other robotics and machine vision experts to work on a confidential project.

Mr. Furgale had been deputy director of the Autonomous Systems Lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, or ETH. Mr. Furgale previously had led a European Commission project called V-Charge that sought to develop self-parking vehicle technology.

News of Apple's car project, code-named "Project Titan," leaked in February, but details on the top secret effort remain scarce. Apple reportedly has hundreds of employees working on developing an electric vehicle and has been recruiting talent from the automotive industry and other car-related fields, poaching employees from companies like Tesla, Ford, and GM. Rumors have thus far disagreed on whether Apple is focusing on self-driving capabilities for the vehicle.

Rumors have suggested Apple is aiming to produce a car by 2020, but because Apple often works on projects that never make it to fruition, it's possible that its car plans could be shelved or delayed in the future if the company is unhappy with its progress.

The NFL has long offered various packages that let football enthusiasts watch games on their mobile devices, but it's always been difficult to get that content on the Apple TV. That may be changing, however, according to a website dedicated to a revamped Game Pass program that the NFL plans to debut later this summer.

For viewers in the United States, the NFL currently offers Game Rewind, with access to on-demand NFL games after they air on broadcast television. As of July 31, 2015, Game Rewind is being discontinued in favor of Game Pass, a consolidated service that will offer all 256 NFL season games on-demand as well as access to live out-of-market preseason games.

Game Pass access will be added to the existing NFL Mobile app on the iPhone and the iPad, and the website indicates Game Pass content will also be available on "select connected TV devices" including the Apple TV. When the new Game Pass service is made available on the Apple TV, it'll be the first time the NFL has allowed full game broadcasts on Apple's set-top box, which is big news for football fans who are also cord cutters.

At the current time, there's an NFL Now channel on the Apple TV, but this is limited to historic videos, breaking news, and game highlights, rather than complete games due to contracts with television providers. With the prior Game Rewind service, the NFL went so far as to disable AirPlay mirroring to the Apple TV in an effort to keep broadcasts limited to iOS devices.

The new Game Pass works a lot like the former Game Rewind service. It includes live access to most preseason games, aside from those that are nationally broadcast, plus on-demand regular season, playoff, and Super Bowl games that are available after they air on broadcast television.

Game Pass is available in the United States, Bermuda, Antigua, the Bahamas, any U.S. territories, possessions and commonwealths (including American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands), and Mexico. Pricing for the Game Pass is not yet listed.

NFL fans outside of the United States already have access to an international "Game Pass" service that offers up live games and on-demand content, and while it confusingly shares the same name as the new service available in the U.S., it appears the international service will continue to be available.

(Thanks, Tyler!)

Apple has agreed to lease office space in the Two Union Square skyscraper in downtown Seattle, according to Bloomberg. The report claims that Apple will occupy the 44th floor and half of the 45th floor in the 56-story office building, which is a roughly 30,000-square-foot space that can house 120 to 200 employees based on standard corporate leasing ratios.

Seattle has become a hotbed recently for Silicon Valley companies because of its talent pool and lower cost of living compared with the San Francisco Bay Area, with Amazon, Facebook, Google and Alibaba Group among the tech giants with offices in the region. Apple opened its first engineering office in the city last year after acquiring Union Bay Networks.

Apple has hired more than 9,000 employees in the last year and now has a worldwide headcount of about 115,000, according to the report. The company's existing Seattle office focuses on core infrastructure services such as iCloud, suggesting the northwestern U.S. city could serve as a hub for its rumored high-speed content delivery network for faster cloud services.

While some critics within the tech media have heavily scrutinized the Apple Watch since its launch, new survey data shared by Techpinions suggests that the true mass market sentiment toward the wrist-worn device is overwhelmingly positive. In particular, the survey found that traditionally "non-tech" users liked the Apple Watch more than those with a closer connection to the tech industry.

According to research firm Wristly and Creative Strategies analyst Ben Bajarin, overall customer satisfaction with the Apple Watch is 97%, which is the highest customer satisfaction rating of any first-generation Apple product ever released. Wristly determined that rating by combining the "Very Satisfied/Delighted" (66%) and "Somewhat Satisfied" (31%) boxes together.

The survey data is based on the Wristly Apple Watch Owner Network, a diversified panel of over a thousand Apple Watch buyers. Wristly says that it asked respondents a series of pre-qualification questions to ensure that the panel did not skew towards only early adopters and instead represented a healthy range of consumers. Among those profiled, Wristly found 34% to be "tech insiders" and 53% to be "non-tech" users.

What has been fascinating about the Wristly Apple Watch Panel is how diverse it is across the adoption cycle spectrum. We have those on the bleeding edge of adoption all the way through mainstream consumers who aren’t buying it for the sake of Apple fanaticism or love of tech and gadgetry but because they saw the utility and usefulness of the product right off the bat. They are all represented in our panel.

Apple Watch customer satisfaction was found to be higher than the original iPhone and iPad, which scored 92% and 91% ratings respectively, although satisfaction levels were contrasting among different types of users. "Non-tech" users and "tech insiders" were most satisfied with the Apple Watch, while "app builders" were slightly less satisfied, with less than half choosing the "Very Satisfied" box.

Apple has not publicly disclosed any official Apple Watch sales figures to date, and will be grouping the wrist-worn device under its "Other Products" category in quarterly earnings reports. Apple Watch global sales estimates range between 2.8 million and 5.7 million ahead of the company's third quarter fiscal results set to be announced on Tuesday at 1:30 PM Pacific.

Ten days after releasing its first two iPhone ads using the new tagline of "If it's not an iPhone, it's not an iPhone," Apple today debuted a third ad in the series. The new ad, entitled "Amazing Apps" focuses on the array of apps available in the App Store.

This is an iPhone. And it comes with something amazing: an App Store with over one and half million of the best apps available. That's over one and a half million hand-picked, awe-inspiring, just plain surprising, who knew a phone could do that apps. If it's not an iPhone, it's not an iPhone.

The latest campaign is the third series of ads for the iPhone, following an initial set from Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake and a more recent "Shot on iPhone 6" campaign that focuses on the phone's camera capabilities..

In a new research note outlining his predictions for Apple's recently completed financial quarter and beyond, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo shares his thinking about some of Apple's upcoming product plans that will provide sales momentum in the latter portion of the year.

- Apple Watch: Kuo remains conservative about the Apple Watch, pegging Apple's second quarter shipments at roughly 3.9 million and growing to 5.5 million in the current quarter as supply shortages ease and availability expands to more countries. As a result, he believes it will be difficult for Apple to reach Wall Street consensus estimates for 15 million units total through the end of the year, though analyst estimates have seen wide variations and Apple is indicated it will not be reporting Apple Watch unit sales in its financial results.

Notably, Kuo believes Apple could launch the Apple Watch Sport in new color options to match iPhone 6s colors later this year, anodizing the watch's aluminum casing with yellow and rose gold. Kuo and other sources have previously pointed to a new iPhone color (reportedly rose gold) and Kuo indicated months ago that Apple could use new casing options for the Apple Watch later this year.

- iPhone: Kuo believes Apple shipped roughly 54.2 million iPhones during the second calendar quarter, and he predicts that number will fall to 40.1 million in the current quarter as sales slow ahead of the "iPhone 6s" launch and shipments of the new device may get off to a somewhat slow start due to "low yield of Force Touch."

- iPad: Apple's iPad sales continue to slide, with Kuo predicting the company shipped just 8.8 million in the current quarter. He believes a thinner and lighter iPad mini that is essentially a smaller version of the iPad Air 2 could begin shipping at the tail end of the quarter, helping boost overall shipments to 11 million units during the third calendar quarter. Apple's iPad launches typically come in October, however, so shipments may not begin until the fourth quarter. In line with a recent report claiming Apple may not introduce a new iPad Air this year, Kuo does not mention any pending updates to that device. He also does not address the even larger "iPad Pro" that has been rumored to launch later this year.

- Mac: Kuo predicts strong Mac shipments of 5.3 million units for the second quarter, rising to over 5.8 million in the current quarter, which is traditionally Apple's best quarter on the strength of back to school sales. He sees Apple releasing new iMacs late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter, helping to sustain Mac demand.

Kuo has a solid track record based on information from Apple's supply chain, but he does occasionally make incorrect predictions. As a result, some caution should be taken with these predictions.

As we noted earlier this week, Apple has yet to launch its annual "Back to School" promotion that in recent years has launched in early July and offered educational customers free $50-$100 Apple Store or iTunes/App Store gift cards with the purchase of a Mac or iOS device, in addition to the usual educational discount available on some products.

With the usual timeframe having come and gone and no signs of an imminent launch for the promotion, many have speculated Apple has decided to end the long-running program.

According to Consomac.fr [Google Translation], however, Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts in her latest video message to store employees this week revealed that she will "share a little bit more insight" on the Back to School situation with them in next week's video.

I'm sure many of you are thinking also 'but is there anything else for Back to School'? Well, I need you to wait until next week's video and I'll share a little bit more insight with you then.

Ahrendts' comment does not confirm that the usual Back to School promotion will be launching in the near future, but the report notes her "enthusiastic tone" suggests the company will be offering something for customers.

Ahrendts is in Tokyo this week and recorded her weekly message from there, but the reason for her trip is unknown.

Apple Music appears to be experiencing some issues today, with some users reporting continual 503 errors for the last several hours. When attempting to play an Apple Music song via iTunes, an error message that says "The shared library 'Cloud Music Library' is not responding."

More annoying than debilitating, the error can be dismissed and music will play after another attempt to connect. The error also seems to pop up occasionally when no music is being played. Errors are being reported by MacRumors readers, redditors, and people on Apple's Support Communities.

Apple's System Status page is not reporting an outage at this time and the 503 error does not appear to be affecting all users. It is not clear what is causing the issue or when it will be fixed by Apple.

Since its June 30 debut, Apple Music has experienced a few outages, including an hour-long Beats 1 radio outage on launch day.

Apple is objecting to GT Advanced Technologies' financing plan over concerns that it would undermine its existing settlement reached with the bankrupt sapphire crystal supplier last year, reports Re/code. GT Advanced reached a settlement with Apple in October 2014 after failing to produce sapphire crystal of the quality desired by the Cupertino-based company for potential use in future products.

GT Advanced is attempting to restructure by raising $95 million through a loan agreement under the supervision of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for New Hampshire, but the financing plan is contingent upon the company receiving enough insurance money to repair any damage to sapphire furnaces following a fire at its former Mesa, Arizona facility a few months ago.

GT Advanced filed for bankruptcy last October after it became clear the company was spending over one million dollars per day to run its operations, despite being unable to produce sapphire acceptably by Apple's standards. The company began winding down its sapphire production and decommissioning the furnaces to prepare them for storage and resale through the end of last year.