Apple introduces web login; challenges Google, Facebook on privacy

The company, meanwhile, retired the iTunes app for the Mac.

Apple Inc on Monday launched a "Sign In With Apple" function to rival Facebook and Google web login accounts, drawing a contrast with rivals by stressing protection of users' information.

Apple will also tighten controls on location tracking. When users sign in with their Google or Facebook Inc profiles to third-party apps, the apps often share valuable data with Google and Facebook, a practice that Apple is looking to stop. Apple said it created a system to let users generate a random, unique email to use with each app so that users do not have to reveal their real email address.

The company, meanwhile, retired the iTunes app for the Mac. Originally introduced in 2001 by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as a way to load songs onto the then-new iPod, iTunes became sprawling over the years, letting users manage music and movies as well as handle backups and updates to iPhones and iPads. Apple said it will replace iTunes with standalone apps for music, video content and podcasts.

Apple delivered the announcements to app developers who descended on San Jose, California, for the annual developer conference. Apple's App Store is a key driver of the iPhone maker's services segment, which brought in $37.1 billion in revenue last year.

Apple takes a cut of sales from apps sold through the store, though that practice is under scrutiny in several legal proceedings.

Investors are looking to Apple's services business to power revenue and profits as iPhone sales decline. Revenue from the company's signature device had its biggest-year-over year drop in Apple's most recent quarter.

But the company still sold more than 10 times as many iPhones and iPads as it did Mac computers last year, so many developers focus on writing their apps for them rather than the Mac.

Apple announced an update of the Mac Pro, a $6,000-and-up high-powered machine intended for professional users such as movie editors, with pricy add-ons such as a $1,000 monitor stand. The Mac Pro has never sold in great numbers but the device is important to Apple's image as a technology leader and in courting the creative professionals who Jobs won over. Microsoft Corp has targeted the same users with its Surface Studio computers.

Buisness Standard

Google spends record $21.2 mn on US lobbying amid anti-trust, bias battles

Facebook Inc disclosed that it also spent its most ever on US government lobbying in 2018, $12.62 million.

Alphabet Inc's Google disclosed on Tuesday that it spent a company-record $21.2 million on lobbying the United States government in 2018, topping its previous high of $18.22 million in 2012, as the search engine operator fights wide-ranging scrutiny into its practices.

Google said in a quarterly disclosure to Congress that it spent $4.9 million on lobbying activities during the fourth quarter, slightly above $4.4 million in the same period a year ago. The 2018 total also surpassed $18.04 million spent on lobbying in 2017, according to tracking of the filings by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Google declined to comment beyond its filing.

Facebook Inc disclosed that it also spent its most ever on US government lobbying in 2018, $12.62 million. That was up from $11.51 million a year ago, according to the Center for Responsive Politics data.

Microsoft Corp spent $9.52 million on lobbying in 2018, according to its disclosure on Tuesday, up from $8.5 million in 2017.

Lawmakers and regulators have weighed new privacy and antitrust rules to rein in the power of large internet service providers such as Google, Facebook Inc and Amazon.com Inc .

Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, who testified in December before a US House of Representatives panel for the first time, has said the company backs the idea of national privacy legislation. But he has contested accusations of the company having a political bias in its search results and of stifling competition.

The company disclosed that among new lobbying areas in the fourth quarter were its search technology, criminal justice reform and international tax reform. Google is perennially among the top lobbying spenders in Washington.

Regulatory backlash in the United States, as well as Europe and Asia, is near the top of the list of concerns for Alphabet investors, according to financial analysts. Shares of Alphabet closed down 2.6 percent on Tuesday.

The company appointed former General Electric executive Karan Bhatia as its head of global policy last year. Susan Molinari, Google's top U.S. public policy official, stepped down to take on an advisory role this month.

Amazon.com Inc's filing was expected later on Tuesday.

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